Disputes concerning performance in Communication studies: theoretical challenges, methodological drifts¹

This paper discusses the term “performance” in media and Communication studies, by means of a critical and theoretical background review. We start with a conceptual reconstitution of the term in its strands in Anglo-Saxon and French Humanities in order to present its development in the Brazilian Studies context, especially regarding issues such as music and entertainment, fandoms and social network websites. We argue that performance studies are relevant to understand human actions, as well as their mediations with the bodies, apparatuses, environments, materialities and audiences in contemporary everyday life. However, we indicate the need to re-discuss the concept for the analysis of different objects and environments which are mediated by communication technologies, and point to the possibility of understanding performance as a research method.

Keywords
Performance; Communication; Method; Entertainment; Digital Culture