The Anthropology of Performing Arts. How and Why Study Performance?

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2025-4/159-171

Authors

Keywords:

performing arts, choreology, music, cinematography, performance, dance and movement studies, theatre

Abstract

The article considers performing arts as a way of transmitting social norms, values and identities through collective bodily and cultural experiences. Performative practices in this case are not just a form of artistic expression, but also a key tool for social organization and communication, ensuring the continuity of traditions and the development of society. For a long time, the humanities have studied performance using an external approach — an art-historical, critical view from the outside, from the perspective of the audience. Modern social anthropology helps to reveal the insider experience of a researcher included in the communities they study, focusing on how the researchers' performing experience influences their academic texts. In this paper it is proposed to use both of these approaches and to examine the current theoretical and methodological trends in the anthropology of performing arts.

Author Biography

  • Tatiana Samarina, the Russian Academy of Sciences N. N. Miklouho-Maklay Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology

    Samarina, Tatyana N. — Junior Researcher, the Russian Academy of Sciences N. N. Miklouho-Maklay Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology (Moscow, Russian Federation). E-mail: tatyana.samarina@iea.ras.ru ORCIDID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-5138-3580

    For citation: Samarina, T. N. 2025. The Anthropology of Performing Arts. How and Why Study Performance? Herald of Anthropology (Vestnik Antropologii) 4: 159–171.

    Funding: The study was carried out as a part of the research plan of the Russian Academy of Sciences N. N. Miklouho-Maklay Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology.

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Published

14.12.2025

Issue

No. 4 (2025): Herald of Anthropology (Vestnik antropologii)

Section

The Anthropology of Performance