Digital Media and Virtual Performance

This seminar investigates digital media practices at the intersection of virtual and embodied experience, exploring overlapping genres of play, performance, pedagogy, and participatory culture. Topics include digital games, viral videos, online music and dance lessons, and the performative aspects of virtual communities. Theoretical approaches draw on scholarship in media ethnography, performance studies, human-computer interaction studies, gender studies, and ethnomusicology. We will give equal attention to production, circulation, and reception practices, and consider their contemporary convergence. The course requires critical engagement with a diverse range of media, genres, and cultural contexts, encouraging students to examine their own media practices. Registration permission granted based on questionnaire distributed at first class meeting.