Taylor has also established a reputation for her studies of Latino/a performance, seen here in the chapters on Univisión's astrologer, Walter Mercado, and performance artists Guillermo Gómez-Peña and Coco Fusco. Those who are familiar with Taylor's earlier books will recognize chapter topics related to her scholarship on Latin American theatre, specifically her work on Mexican playwright Emilio Carballido and on plays and events related to Argentina's Dirty War. Another key word from the title, "Americas," addresses the author's conviction that our political, social, and cultural worlds of North, Central, and South America overlap and intermingle in important ways that demand greater attention and engagement. "Repertoire" applies to culture that is embodied in the practices of such events as ritual, dances, or political rallies and that follow a script or scenario, but nonetheless are perceived as temporary, fragile, and easily forgotten. "Archive" refers to cultural events that are preserved in a permanent manner, such as in writing, photographs, or recorded tapes, and therefore are perceived as stable and unchanging over time. The key words in the title-"archive" and "repertoire"-appear to present a dichotomy, yet Taylor argues that these terms function in a dynamic relationship, since each one illuminates and invigorates the other. The methodology of performance studies, as Taylor explains, looks at paradigms of human events that contain recognizable elements of narrative and plot but that also attend to theatrical elements such as setup and action, as well as to the specifics of social, economic, and political contexts. Therefore, following an introduction to key terms and their definitions, it moves quickly into a series of nuanced and sophisticated arguments about a fascinating range of performances past and present from the American hemisphere. ![]() ![]() Diana Taylor's new book promises to spend more time doing performance studies than debating how to define it.
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