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contained in the magic of the micro-chip
shrinking the human to nothing
dispersing the human everywhere
destabilizing the human
(where are we in this?)
a culture founded on narcissism:
we are always looking for ourselves
through spectacles of deconstruction
(in which we always see ourselves looking)
mighty cultural processes
the ways power circulates
create performative societies
(with
spectatorial
participation
and agency
as key
to activism)
(Kershaw, 2003, pp. 605–606)
The Performative Society: How to Do Things With People
British performance theorist Baz Kershaw first coined the term “performative society” in 1994, and it has become a touchstone concept in his various writings (see Kershaw, 1994, 1999, 2001a, 2001b, 2003). The word “performative” has had an interesting history in its theorization over the past 4 decades, since the landmark Harvard lectures of philosopher and linguist J. L. Austin, How To Do Things With Words (1962). Austin distinguishes performative language as that which does something, rather than simply describes or represents. For example, saying “I do” at a wedding is both word and action combined into a performative utterance. Austin’s germinal work was to have a deep resonance with emerging performance studies scholars and has been theorized in multiple ways (see Schechner, 2002, pp. 110–142).