Question 3. We began this unit by discussing assumptions and differences that we carry into our class. In “First Contact as Spiritual Performance,” Lutz makes an assumption about his readers (Lutz, “First Contact” 32). He asks us to begin with the assumption that comprehending the performances of the Indigenous participants is “one of the most obvious difficulties.” He explains that this is so because “one must of necessity enter a world that is distant in time and alien in culture, attempting to perceive indigenous performance through their eyes as well as those of the Europeans.” Here, Lutz is assuming either that his readers belong to the European tradition, or he is assuming that it is more difficult for a European to understand Indigenous performances – than the other way around. What do you make of this reading? Am I being fair when I point to this assumption? If so, is Lutz being fair when he makes this assumption?
I chose this question because of the element of performativity involved within answering it; I think that whenever approaching performance, certainly in North American circles, there is an emphasis on “Western” traditions. Western here implying European and not Indigenous.
In Lutz’s understandings he writes that “performance requires artifice” (9). From a North American point of view that statement is nothing but accurate. “Of course performance requires artifice – it is a reflection of the world but not the world itself.” However, there are many cultures that have many performative elements to their rituals (indeed their rituals themselves are often viewed as performance). Yet, to these cultures this is not an artifice, but in order to carry out the ritual, the ‘performer’ falls into a trance. The ritual then progresses from a trance-like state where the performer acts from what is believed to be another level of being. This is seen in Korean Shamanism, African Yoruba, etc. The performative trance described may have props or costumes, like European traditions, but there is an awareness to their usage. Bode Omojola discusses the separation in her article on Yoruba, “Yoruba performers are constantly aware of the discursive engagement between asa (social reality and cultural practice) and esin (spiritual devotion)” (30). The performers are aware of the both the links and the disconnect between the two ideas of the essential spirituality and their performance within it; however, the two ideas are interconnected. They need to exist together.
I feel the need here to reflect on how I use performance in my own life: when I’m nervous socially or tired and still have work to do, I fasten myself to what I consider to be a persona of myself; a peppier, brighter me. This other Jamie I would look at as an artifice, but so often I find I have shuffled off my bad mood or the other side of myself that this performance is actually how I feel; indeed, this performance is as much a part of myself as the every other aspect of my outward presentation. Thus my performance loses it’s artifice and becomes a reality.
I agree that Lutz’ stance towards performance certainly comes across as someone who grew up with a rather limited scope in relation to their experience with performance styles. However, with the abundance of Western media throughout the world, it’s not that unusual. Certainly most people on earth can associate a face to the name “Brad Pitt”, which in North American culture does not usually happen with more ‘foreign’ actors. You can see American made movies just about anywhere in the world (I saw Sex & the City 2 in Rome – don’t judge), but often have to go to specialty cinemas to see films made outside of the Hollywood mainstream (often to see Canadian made films even!). So certainly there is a global side to north american performance culture that has ingrained itself into our brains as being a ‘standard’ for performance; however, this diminishes the status of other performance cultures. By creating an standard we then relegate all other forms of performance to the fringes, making them alternative and looking at them through a lens of the forms they are diverting away from.
Where I’m getting at in a roundabout way is that Lutz’ view of the ‘standards’ of performativity are largely established, but they devalue the importance and history of other performance cultures; first contact would have been bizarre for both sides, not just from the side that mainstreamed culture has spawned from.
Works Cited
Grim, John A. “Chaesu Kut: A Korean Shamanistic Performance.” Asian Folklore Studies 43.2 (1984): p 235-259. Web. 24 June 2015. <URL>
Omojola, Bode. “Rhythms of the Gods: Music and Spirituality in Yoruba Culture.” Journal of Pan African Studies 3.5 (2010): 29-50. Web. 24 June 2015. <URL>
“Season Two – Episode One – Piggies” Worst Idea Of All Time Podcast. Stitcher. Web. 26 June 2015. <URL>
