Research in Cinema and Theatre History
Topic (and model questions) for test
Test will include 8 questions from 4 different methodological fields/issues.
Time for test will be 60minutes.
Cultural History and collective biography
I. Theory
1/ Explain what the term “Culture” means in the tradition of cultural history
2/ Explain the concept of Prosopography (collective biography) – both in its
traditional meaning and in its “French” alternative
II. Applications and case studies
1/ Describe Burke´s application of prosopography to Italian artists. What was the
research sample in his research?
2/ What were Peter Burke´s main findings in his research on Italian artists? Which
factors influenced the careers of the artists in Burke´s sample?
• Obligatory reading: Peter Burke, The Italian Renaissance. Culture and Society in
Italy, chapter 3 (Artists and Writers)
• Recommended reading:
1/ Peter Burke, The Italian Renaissance. Culture and Society in Italy,
Introduction
2/ Robert Darnton, The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French
Cultural History. Basic Books, 1999, Introduction (p. 3-7)
Pierre Bourdieu and concept of the field
I. Theory:
- Explain concepts of the field and habitus.
- Explain concept of heteronomous and autonomous poles of field of production.
- Explain concept of homology of the field.
II. Application:
- How could be biography of an artists conceptualised through Bourdieusian
concept of the field?
- How Maria Shevtsova appropriates concept of the field into study of theatre
production?
- What specific features of field of theatre criticisms finds Petrikas in case of
Norwegian theatre?
Obligatory reading:
Jen Webb, Tony Schirato and Geoff Danaher: Understanding Bourdieu, chapter 2, 8 and
9.
Shevtsova, Maria: Appropriating Pierre Bourdieu's champ and habitus for a sociology of
stage productions, January 2002, Contemporary Theatre Review 12(3)
Petrikas, Martynas: Bourdieusian Concepts and the Field of Theatre Criticism, Nordic
Theatre Studies, Vol. 31, No. 1. 2019, 38-57
Michael Baxandall Concept of Brief
Theory:
- Define concepts of charge and brief
- How Baxandall conceptualised relation of artist and his/her art work?
Obligatory reading:
Baxandall, Michael: chapter THE HISTORICAL OBJECT: BENJAMIN BAKER'S FORTH
BRIDGE in Patterns of Intention
Ethnographical Approach of Film
I. Theory
1/ What is the ethnography of media production? Provide at least two examples of
ethnographic research in media and explain the methods and arguments used by the
researchers.
2/ Explain the meaning of the following terms: “fully-embedded deep texts and
rituals”, “semi-embedded deep texts and rituals”, and “publicly disclosed deep texts
and rituals” (John T. Caldwell)
3/ Pick up one of the following “trade genres”: War story; Against-all-odds allegory;
Path not taken parables; Making-it saga; Genesis Myth. Explain its use in production
discourse and its cultural functions. Give an example.
II. Applications and case studies
1/ Describe one of the rituals analyzed by John T. Caldwell. Explain why such
knowledge on media industry is valuable.
2/ Explain the role of socialization (hustling) in the production process of students´
films. What research methods Mehta used to analyze hustling?
• Obligatory reading:
• Ritesh Mehta, “Hustling” in film school as socialization for early career work in
media industries. Poetics 63, 2017
• John T. Caldwell, Production Culture. Industrial Reflexivity and Critical Practice
in Film and Television (Duke University Press, 2008), chapter 2 – Trade Rituals
and Turf Marking
Social Network Analysis
Sample questions:
I. Theory
1/ Explain the basic parameters of Social Network Analysis methodology: in which
fields it is used, and for what respective purposes; what kind of research questions
can SNA effectively answer
2/ Explain the difference between whole-network and ego-network approaches
3/ Explain the following metrics of SNA – what they mean, how they can be used and
interpreted: Degree (average degree; weighted degree); Centrality (Closeness C.,
Eigenvector Centrality, Betweenness Centrality)
II. Applications and case studies
1/ Crossley and Ozturk examined the network formed between artists and music
festivals. How did they define ties between the nodes “artist” and “festival”? What was
the main intention of the project?
2/ Crossley and Ozturk identified “core” and “periphery” in the network of artists and
festivals. What do “core” and “periphery” mean in their research? How did they
interpret the network structure?
3/ We discussed research on characters in books (Les Misérables, The Witcher) and
films (Wes Anderson movies). What kind of ties between characters does SNA allow us
to visualize? What research questions on fiction characters can SNA answer?
• Obligatory reading: Nick Crossley – Tugba Aydin Ozturk, Music, social structure
and connection: Exploring and explaining core-periphery structure in a twomode
network of music festivals and artists in Turkey. Miscellanea
Anthropologica et Sociologica 2019, 20(2): 192–210
• Recommended reading: Travis J. Grosser – Stephen P. Borgatti, Network
Theory/Social Network Analysis. In: Theory in Social and Cultural Anthropology:
An Encyclopedia. Sage, 2013
Cultural Transfers
I. Theory:
1/ Explain the difference between “Cultural Transfer” approach and comparative
research
2/ Why was concept of “cultural transfer” introduced into historical research?
3/ How is culture conceptualised in theory of cultural transfers?
II. Application:
4/ What is influencing transformations of elements of Japanese theatre when
transferring to Europe (according to Nic Leonhardt and Stance Scholtz-Cionca) ?
Obligatory reading:
Nic Leonhardt and Stance Scholtz-Cionca: Circulation Theatrical Mobility and its
Professionalization in The Nineteenth Century in A cultural history of theatre – The Age
of Empire.
Recomended reading:
Steen Bille Jørgensen and Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink: Introduction: Reframing the Cultural
Transfer Approach in Cultural Transfer Reconsidered (2021)
Greenblatt, Stephen: A cultural mobility – a manifesto (2009)
Concept of intercultural theatre
I. Theory:
- Compare concept of cultural transfer and concept of intercultural theatre
- Explain concept of hourglass coined by Patrice Pavis?
Obligatory reading:
Pavis, Patrice: Toward a Theory of Culture and Mise en Scene
Recomended reading:
Fischer-Lichte: Historiography (p.71-99) in Routledge introduction to Theatre and
performance studies
Balme: Introduction: theatre and theatre studies (p.1-17) in Cambridge Introduction to
Theatre Studies
Problems of reconstruction of historical theatre event
I. Theory:
- Explain variety of level on which could be historical theatre event analysed and
reconstructed.
Obligatory reading:
Postlewait: Theatre Events and Their Political context (In Critical Theory and
Performance, p.198-222)