2024-2025 Humanities Lab

Ethics, Politics, and Performance

Professor Nicholas Buccola

In this Humanities Lab, we will consider how various forms of live performance – e.g., theater, stand-up comedy, and music – can inspire us to ask and answer big questions about how we ought to live together. During our time together, we will attend and discuss performances on our campuses and in surrounding communities. What vistas do various forms of performance open up for us as ethical and political thinkers? What are the limits of various forms of performance for our ethical and political understanding? The lab will culminate in student projects that analyze the ethical and political implications of a particular performance and/or a mode of performance (e.g., “the ethics of stand-up comedy” or the “politics of representation on stage”).

Research Assistants

Nicolas Changbencharoen ’26

Ellie Halaby ’28

Ismail Iftikhar ’28

Katie Kosch ’28

Jenna McComas ’28

Evelyn Montoya ’27

Sophia Prosper ’27

Sadie Saba ’28

Aarav Sheth ’28

Ilma Turcios ’25