*Performance: A Critical Introduction* is the first textbook to provide an overview of the modern concept of performance and how it has developed in various fields. In a highly accessible style, Marvin Carlson introduces the reader to the contested interpretations of performance art as a theatrical activity and to the ways that performance has been understood by ethnographers, anthropologists, linguists, and cultural theorists. The topic he discusses include: - the evolution of performance art since the 1960s - developments of performance as a concept within the various social sciences - the relationships between performance, postmodernism, and the politics of identity. For any student of performance studies, visual and performing arts or theatre history, *Performance: A Critical Introduction* provides a vital insight into the diverse meanings and uses of performance.