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The Essential Question: So What’s Phenomenological About Performance Phenomenology?

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Performance Phenomenology

Part of the book series: Performance Philosophy ((PPH))

Abstract

This chapter lays the critical groundwork for the book by focusing on the single question in its title: what makes something phenomenological? In many ways, the chapter does the work of a conventional introduction to an edited volume: it sketches a brief history and genealogy of phenomenology and its usage in performance scholarship. In doing so, however, it also makes a strong and clear call for increased rigour and definition in that usage; it argues that while there exists a wide range of phenomenological tenets and approaches, we can and should be clear about a select number of interrelated criteria or conditions that make a project “phenomenological”. For Grant, these include (i) an aim towards essences (or fundamental structures) of the object of study; (ii) some uptake of the process(es) of reduction; and (iii) some engagement with the concept of intentionality.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Stuart Grant

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  1. Stuart Grant
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Correspondence to Stuart Grant .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Stuart Grant

  2. Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Jodie McNeilly-Renaudie

  3. University of Surrey, Guildford, UK

    Matthew Wagner

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Grant, S. (2019). The Essential Question: So What’s Phenomenological About Performance Phenomenology?. In: Grant, S., McNeilly-Renaudie, J., Wagner, M. (eds) Performance Phenomenology. Performance Philosophy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98059-1_2

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