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To view the Spring 2025 Academic Calendar, go to www.sfu.ca/students/calendar/2025/spring.

Department of English | Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Simon Fraser University Calendar | Summer 2025

Performance Studies

Certificate

The Certificate in Performance Studies will provide students an opportunity to complement their BA and focus their interdisciplinary work via the methods and perspectives of performance studies, through the critical analysis of the intrinsically scripted and performed character of much human action. This unifying thematic encompasses a diversity of courses across disciplines, providing students with a broad yet coherent course of study, one with ample opportunity for program customization.

Admission Requirements

Normal requirements for admission to Simon Fraser University apply. Students are required to satisfy the prerequisites of all courses (upper and lower division) taken toward the Certificate, and should consult regularly with departmental advisors regarding course selection.

Prior to formal program admission, students must complete two of*

  • ENGL 113W-3 Literature and Performance
  • CA 118-3 Contemporary Art History
  • GSWS 100-3 Sex Talk: Introduction to Contemporary Issues in Sexuality Studies
  • GSWS 101-3 Gender Talk
  • SA 101-4 Introduction to Anthropology (A)

*The Certificate is composed of courses from participating units in both FASS and FCAT. It is possible, with approval from the program coordinator, to count courses with related content from cognate units towards completion of the Certificate.

Program Requirements

Students successfully complete a minimum total of 26 units, including three of

CA 217 - Introduction to Performance Studies (3)
CA 257W - Context I (3)
CA 289 - Selected Topics in the Contemporary Arts (3)
ENGL 214 - History and Principles of Rhetoric (3)
ENGL 216 - History and Principles of Literary Criticism (3)
GSWS 204 - Sex and the City (3)
GSWS 205 - Gender, Sexuality and Popular Culture (3)
SA 201W - Anthropology and Contemporary Life (A) (4)
SA 218 - Illness, Culture and Society (A) (4)

and two of**

CA 314 - Readings in the History of Art, Performance and Cinema (3)
GSWS 331 - Queer Genders (4)
SA 474 - Cultures, Politics and Performances (A) (4)

and three of**

CA 312 - Selected Topics in Contemporary Arts (3)
CA 319W - Critical Writing in the Arts (3)
CA 357W - Context II (3)
CA 389 - Selected Topics in the Contemporary Arts II (3)
CA 457 - Context of Theatre III (4)
ENGL 312 - Shakespeare and the Stage: 1570-1642 (4)
ENGL 413W - Seminar in Literature and Environment (4)
ENGL 414W - Seminar in Literature and History (4)
GSWS 306 - Gender, Sexuality and Autobiographical Media (4)
GSWS 330 - Masculinities (4)
GSWS 398W - Feminist Currents (4)
GSWS 431 - Local Sex on Global Screen (4)
SA 301 - Contemporary Ethnography (A) (4)
SA 318 - Technologies of Health and Expectation (A) (4)
SA 352 - Games, Sports, and Practices (S) (4)
SA 364 - Urban Communities and Cultures (A) (4)
SA 368 - Language, Ideology, and Power (A) (4)
SA 371 - The Environment and Society (SA) (4)

In meeting these requirements, no more than four courses may be in any one department. Substitutions may be approved on a case-by-case basis by the program coordinator. A cumulative grade point average of 2.5 is required in the courses used for the certificate.

** Additional core and upper-level elective courses may be developed and/or substituted following the Certificate program's formal approval and launch.