front cover of Athenian Tragedy in Performance
Athenian Tragedy in Performance
A Guide to Contemporary Studies and Historical Debates
Melinda Powers
University of Iowa Press, 2014
Foregrounding critical questions about the tension between the study of drama as literature versus the study of performance, Melinda Powers investigates the methodological problems that arise in some of the latest research on ancient Greek theatre. She examines key issues and debates about the fifth-century theatrical space, audience, chorus, performance style, costuming, properties, gesture, and mask, but instead of presenting a new argument on these topics, Powers aims to understand her subject better by exploring the shared historical problems that all scholars confront as they interpret and explain Athenian tragedy.

A case study of Euripides’s Bacchae, which provides more information about performance than any other extant tragedy, demonstrates possible methods for reconstructing the play’s historical performance and also the inevitable challenges inherent in that task, from the limited sources and the difficulty of interpreting visual material, to the risks of conflating actor with character and extrapolating backward from contemporary theatrical experience.

As an inquiry into the study of theatre and performance, an introduction to historical writing, a reference for further reading, and a clarification of several general misconceptions about Athenian tragedy and its performance, this historiographical analysis will be useful to specialists, practitioners, and students alike.
[more]

front cover of Global Environmental Governance
Global Environmental Governance
Foundations of Contemporary Environmental Studies
James Gustave Speth and Peter M. Haas
Island Press, 2006
Today's most pressing environmental problems are planetary in scope, confounding the political will of any one nation. How can we solve them?

Global Environmental Governance offers the essential information, theory, and practical insight needed to tackle this critical challenge. It examines ten major environmental threats-climate disruption, biodiversity loss, acid rain, ozone depletion, deforestation, desertification, freshwater degradation and shortages, marine fisheries decline, toxic pollutants, and excess nitrogen-and explores how they can be addressed through treaties, governance regimes, and new forms of international cooperation.

Written by Gus Speth, one of the architects of the international environmental movement, and accomplished political scientist Peter M. Haas, Global Environmental Governance tells the story of how the community of nations, nongovernmental organizations, scientists, and multinational corporations have in recent decades created an unprecedented set of laws and institutions intended to help solve large-scale environmental problems. The book critically examines the serious shortcomings of current efforts and the underlying reasons why disturbing trends persist. It presents key concepts in international law and regime formation in simple, accessible language, and describes the current institutional landscape as well as lessons learned and new directions needed in international governance. Global Environmental Governance is a concise guide, with lists of key terms, study questions, and other features designed to help readers think about and understand the concepts discussed.
[more]

front cover of Textual Dynamics
Textual Dynamics
Historical & Contemporary Studies Of
Charles Bazerman
University of Wisconsin Press, 1991
Textual Dynamics of the Professions is a collection of fifteen essays examining the real effects of text on professional practices—in academic, scientific, and business settings. Charles Bazerman and James Paradis describe textual dynamics as an interaction in which professional texts and discourses are constructed by, and in turn construct, social practices. In the burgeoning field of discourse theory, this anthology stands apart in its treatment of a wide range of professional texts, including case studies, student papers, medieval letters, and product instructions, and in the inclusion of authors from a variety of disciplines.
    Invaluable to the new pedagogical field of “writing across the curriculum,” Textual Dynamics of the Professions is also a significant intervention into the studies of rhetoric, writing theory, and the sociology of knowledge.
[more]


Send via email Share on Facebook Share on Twitter