Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Fall 2025 - CA 257W D100

Context I (3)

Class Number: 6216

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Sep 3 – Dec 2, 2025: Mon, 9:30 a.m.–12:20 p.m.
    Vancouver

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

The first of two courses in the Context cluster. With a grounding in performance studies, this course explores histories and theories of the avant-garde, live art, and theatre. With a rotating topic each term, students develop the foundational skills for analyzing, researching, and writing about contemporary performance. Writing/Breadth-Humanities.

COURSE DETAILS:

Emphasising local and national performance ecologies, CA 257W invites students to consider how performance operates as both a reflection of and an intervention into the cultural, social, and environmental conditions of the communities in which it takes place.

Students will engage with a range of performance practices—from historically significant productions to contemporary local works—while developing key analytical and expressive writing skills. Course work integrates theoretical inquiry with practice-based exploration, drawing on foundational texts in performance studies and encouraging students to experiment with performative and auto-ethnographic writing forms. Special attention will be given to describing, analysing, and interpreting the affects and effects of live performance, both as artistic practice and as social event.

As a writing-intensive (“W”) course, CA 257W supports students in developing a rigorous, reflective, and adaptive writing practice. Through a series of short assignments, in-class creation, and longer written projects, students will strengthen core academic skills such as active reading, performance analysis, project development, peer review, and revision. Writing will be approached as both a method of inquiry and a creative act in its own right.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

  • Develop familiarity with contemporary writing practices in and around live performance, with particular attention to local and Canadian contexts.
  • Cultivate the ability to identify and engage key ideas, strategies, and interventions in both critical and creative performance writing.
  • Explore ways to translate the live, affective, and embodied dimensions of performance into written form.
  • Understand performance as situated—shaped by its cultural, historical, and environmental contexts.
  •  Strengthen writing through collaborative feedback, revision, and peer engagement.

Grading

  • Note that the specific outline of multiple assignments and its assorted values will be developed by the sessional instructor hired to teach the course. 100%

REQUIREMENTS:

 

  • Students are expected to arrive on time for all scheduled classes and any group work sessions held outside of class. Unexcused absences or frequent lateness will negatively impact the final grade.

  • All assignments must be fully prepared and submitted on time. This includes completing assigned readings, preparing materials for presentations, and meeting any other specified deadlines.

  • All students are expected to contribute meaningfully to group discussions and presentations. We maintain a shared responsibility for respectful and constructive engagement in the studio.
  • Please refrain from wearing scented products to class in consideration of those with sensitivities or allergies.

Materials

MATERIALS + SUPPLIES:

 

REQUIRED READING NOTES:

Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

At SFU, you are expected to act honestly and responsibly in all your academic work. Cheating, plagiarism, or any other form of academic dishonesty harms your own learning, undermines the efforts of your classmates who pursue their studies honestly, and goes against the core values of the university.

To learn more about the academic disciplinary process and relevant academic supports, visit: 


RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION

Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.