The Anthropology of Performance is an invaluable guide to this exciting and growing area.  This cutting-edge volume on the major advancements in performance studies presents the theories, methods, and practices of performance in cultures around the globe. Leading anthropologists describe the range of human expression through performance and explore its role in constructing identity and community, as well as broader processes such as globalization and transnationalism.

• Introduces new and advanced students to the task of studying and interpreting complex social, cultural, and political events from a performance perspective
• Presents performance as a convergent field of inquiry that bridges the humanities and social sciences, with a distinctive cross-cultural perspective in anthropology
• Demonstrates the range of human expression and meaning through performance in related fields of religious & ritual studies, folkloristics, theatre, language arts, and art & dance
• Explores the role of performance in constructing identity, community, and the broader processes of globalization and transnationalism
• Includes fascinating global case studies on a diverse range of phenomena
• Contributions from leading scholars examine verbal genres, ritual and drama, public spectacle, tourism, and the performances embedded in everyday selves, communities and nations

Frank J. Korom is Professor of Religion and Anthropology at Boston University, where he teaches courses on verbal art, anthropology of religion, and cultures of South Asia. He has conducted extensive fieldwork in India, Sri Lanka, Trinidad, amongst other places. His interests range from ritual and performance studies to visual and material culture. His extensive publications include Hosay Trinidad: Muharram Performances in an Indo-Caribbean Diaspora (2003) and Village of Painters: Narrative Scrolls from West Bengal (2006).