In recent decades, the field of performance studies has undergone an energetic renovation, and “performance” itself has become critical to scholarship and research across the humanities. At the same time, this disciplinary ferment has demanded a much higher degree of specialization and of scholarly rigor from Ph.D. candidates seeking academic careers at the college and university level.
The Performance Studies Ph.D. program at UC Berkeley provides an interdisciplinary and individually crafted curriculum directed at advanced studies in the literatures, performances, cultural contexts, and theories of performance throughout the world. Based in the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies, the program takes advantage of Berkeley’s distinguished history in the field of drama and theater studies and opens out to a wider interrogation of the disciplines and methodologies of performance studies. The program is administered by the Graduate Group in Performance Studies, comprised of faculty from a wide range of related departments. Students in the Ph.D. program conduct research in a diverse array of interdisciplinary methodologies, on projects spanning the fields of theater, dance, and performance studies.
The Ph.D. in Performance Studies is designed as a six-year program (12 semesters). It offers core courses, but no predetermined areas of emphasis. Each student determines an individual research agenda within the broader field of performance studies, using faculty resources to develop both a clear field specialization and a sense of interdisciplinary innovation.
