News, Television, and Performance: the Case of the Los Angeles Riots

1998 ◽  
Vol 14 (55) ◽  
pp. 210-219
Author(s):  
Ian Watson

When the ‘action’ at major news events is observed over days or weeks by television cameras, how far does the medium become, whether knowingly or not, a participant and shaper in the action it observes? How far does the action itself become, to some degree, a performance before the cameras? While not ignoring either the moral or practical implications of such questions, lan Watson sets out primarily to analyze the ‘frame’ of television news broadcasting, and to consider the events within that frame as elements of performance. He considers the six days of rioting in Los Angeles in 1992, sparked by the acquittal of police officers charged with the beating of Rodney King – itself caught on camera – as a case study, in which the often ignored role of the observer, whether the news anchor-man in the studio or the audience watching at home, comes in for corrective scrutiny. He concludes that in the ‘mediated present’ of the news event on television, the medium is indeed as much a producer as a reporter of an action which is pervasively shaped by its presence. An Advisory Editor and regular contributor to New Theatre Quarterly, lan Watson teaches in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts at Rutgers, where he is Co-ordinator of the Theatre and Television Programs.

Author(s):  
Kathleen Jasonides ◽  
Janet Karvouniaris ◽  
Amalia Zavacopoulou

Innovative since its inception, the ACS Honors Humanities program has a long history of more than 40 years as an interdisciplinary team-taught course that examines essential questions through literature, visual and performing arts, philosophy and history.  This innovative approach has continued to motivate successive teaching teams to modify and enhance a program that challenges students academically, utilizing the best possible resources and taking advantage of new technology. In this article, we present one in-depth case study where we explain how we transformed the Honors Humanities course from Face To Face to i2Flex. We will describe and present examples of how we redesigned the course format and presentation, learning activities and assessment. We present data on student feedback and our findings regarding the benefits and challenges of adopting the i2Flex methodology for this course.


Author(s):  
Jane W. Davidson

This article explores the fundamental role of bodily movement in the development of musical knowledge and performance skills; in particular, how the body can be used to understand expressive musical material and to communicate that meaning to coperformers and audience. The relevance to the educator is explored (whether working with a child or adult beginner, or a more advanced learner). The article is divided into six main sections, tracing the role of body movement skill in music production, expressive musical performance, developing learners to play their musical instruments with technical and expressive appropriateness, coperformer coordination, and projection for audience perception. The work builds on a growing interest in the embodied nature of musical experience. The article concludes with case study observations of practical insights and applications for the teacher.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Manav ◽  
E. Kaymaz

In the last years, as a result of environmental concerns, changes in lifestyle during the COVID-19 crisis, the role of healthy buildings in addition to the main lighting design principles are highlighted. Therefore, today’s lighting design issues include social well-being, mental well-being, and physical well-being more than we discussed in the last century. Hence, we are familiar with occupant-centric and performance-based metrics for residential and non-domestic buildings. The study analyses the extended occupancy patterns, daylight availability, and annual lighting energy demand through a case study in Bursa, Turkey including the COVID-19 pandemic scenario.


Author(s):  
Jan Söffner

This chapter presents a case study for the use of enactivist phenomenology as a paradigm for Cultural Analysis and Renaissance Studies. It begins by describing a mask used in commedia dell’arte, first as a simple object and then as embedded in an acting praxis. The focus then turns to Renaissance cultures of the performing arts, fiction, and the constitution of subjectivity. Finally, the chapter considers what the mask has to say about sixteenth-century Italy, comparing the outcomes of this analysis with those of more conventional approaches, which are mostly focused on Renaissance humanism. The line of argumentation follows a bottom-up methodology based on enactivist assumptions. By the end the chapter will render the adopted approach theoretically explicit and offer closing remarks about the use of enactivist phenomenology for cultural analysis, by comparing it with neighbouring theories and methods in Cultural Studies (especially Praxeology, Actor-Network-Theory, studies on Material Cultures, and Performance Studies).


2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-96
Author(s):  
Baah Aye Kusi ◽  
Abdul Latif Alhassan ◽  
Daniel Ofori-Sasu ◽  
Rockson Sai

Purpose This study aims to examine the hypothesis that the effect of insurer risks on profitability is conditional on regulation, using two main regulatory directives in the Ghanaian insurance market as a case study. Design/methodology/approach This study used the robust ordinary least square and random effect techniques in a panel data of 30 insurers from 2009 to 2015 to test the research hypothesis. Findings The results suggest that regulations on no credit premium and required capital have insignificant effects on profitability of insurers. On the contrary, this study documents evidence that both policies mitigate the effect of underwriting risk on profitability and suggests that regulations significantly mitigate the negative effect of underwriting risk to improve profitability. Practical implications The finding suggests that policymakers and regulators must continue to initiate, design and model regulations such that they help tame risk to improve the performance of insurers in Ghana. Originality/value This study provides first-time evidence on the role of regulations in controlling risks in a developing insurance market.


2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (9/10) ◽  
pp. 1886-1908 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgia Stavraki ◽  
Emmanuella Plakoyiannaki ◽  
Jackie Clarke

Purpose Recognizing the value and limitations of current knowledge of the appropriation process in the consumption of aesthetic experiences, this research aims to generate a localized account for novice and expert consumers of the varying role of cultural capital in the appropriation cycles and interpretative responses of an aesthetic experience. Design/methodology/approach This research uses a single case study design of Miró’s blockbuster exhibition, and draws on multiple sources of evidence, notably 50 in-depth visitor interviews, observations and archival records. Findings An evidence-based framework of the appropriation process for novice and expert consumers of aesthetic experiences is offered. This framework highlights the significance of appropriation pace and personal versus communal interpretations – amongst other features – in distinguishing distinct versions of the appropriation process in accordance with the varied accumulation of consumer cultural capital. Research limitations/implications The transferability of the findings to other aesthetic or experience-based consumption contexts such as performing arts or sports is discussed, alongside the relevance of the proposed framework for researchers of aesthetic experiences. Practical implications The empirical investigation of the understudied connection between visitors’ cultural capital and their museum experiences provides insights into curatorial and marketing practices in terms of broadening, diversifying and engaging museum audiences. Originality/value This research provides new theoretical insights into the literature of appropriation process and consumption of art experiences by bringing together consumers’ cultural capital with the appropriation process and interpretive responses to an aesthetic experience.


2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Susan Shurden ◽  
Juan Santandreu ◽  
Mike Shurden

For a formal definition of ethics, Webster’s New World Dictionary (1995) defines the term as “the study of standards of conduct and moral judgment”. Ethics is important to individuals because we are concerned with what leaders do and who they are—their conduct and character. “Conduct” is a word that implies behavior. Behavior can change under differing circumstances. For instance, in a “low key”, unstressed situation, most individuals tend to be civil and polite; however, the introduction of stress factored into a scenario can totally change the dynamics of the situation, as well as the ability of those involved to “cope”. Stress can cause individuals to become hostile, rebellious, and oftentimes uncompromising. Stress introduced into a situation can also cause individuals to become unethical. For example, take natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005 whereby individuals were under tremendous stress of discomfort from not having a clean environment in which to live, as well as conditions of hunger and thirst from lack of food and fresh water. Most of us have witnessed the television footage of the “looting” that occurred from these conditions. Or take the civil unrest that occurred in the streets of Los Angeles after the verdict of 1992 when police officers were acquitted of the beating of an African American named Rodney King. Again, anger and stress caused looting and violence to erupt in the streets. While these are “extreme” situations, the question arises as to how individuals cope with stress in an atmosphere where civility is taught and encouraged. For instance, consider a classroom situation where an assignment to produce an outcome is given with few rules, and the members of the group are from other classes, possibly even in other states. The means of communication for these individuals are e-mail, a relatively new virtual reality website, similar to face book, or telephone should one choose to use that method. This type of situation would most likely exist in a graduate program and in fact, did. This paper is a case study of just that type of situation.


Author(s):  
Miriam Phillips

Performing arts festivals featuring artists representing distinct world dance traditions have proliferated in American cities since the 1980s. Often arranged in a potpourri format, these performances demonstrate a city’s multicultural make-up and proclaim dance to show unity between diverse populations. However, what happens when these dances each with distinct production and performance standards get placed with other dances onto a stage dominated by Western theatrical aesthetics? How do culturally specific production values become skewed and how do power relations play out when people outside the cultures represented produce the performances? Using one of America’s more prominent festivals, The San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival as a case study, this chapter explores issues around the politics of representation and highlights some misconceptions about diversity that are presumed in these types of multicultural spectacles. The chapter also considers possible methods to create more culturally appropriate world dance events.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrico Bracci ◽  
Giorgia Gobbo ◽  
Luca Papi

PurposeThis paper investigates the role of boundary objects and boundary work in the integration of risk management (RM) and performance management (PM) systems. In particular, the paper combines theoretical insights with an empirical focus to examine how shared contexts are created through the boundary work performed by key actors across knowledge boundaries.Design/methodology/approachThe paper develops an exploratory qualitative case study from a local government context. The methodology is based on document analysis and semi-structured interviews.FindingsBoundary objects can act as knowledge integration mechanisms, allowing key actors to understand the meanings and uses of RM and PM practices. The paper shows how collaborative versus competitive boundary work exerted by key actors can explain the creation of shared contexts leading to integration between RM and PM.Originality/valueThe results contribute to the debate about the integration of RM with other managerial systems. Differently from previous research, the integration theme is addressed in the present work by looking specifically to the integration between RM and PM. In doing so, the role of both boundary objects and the boundary work performed by relevant actors to demarcate their legitimacy and autonomy over preferred practices is portrayed.


2013 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 45
Author(s):  
Joshua Dickson

Canntaireachd (pronounced ‘counter-achk’), Gaelic for ‘chanting’, is a complex oral notation used by Scottish pipers for centuries to teach repertoire and performance style in the courtly, ceremonial ceòl mór idiom. Its popular historiography since the 19th century suggests it was fixed and highly formulaic in structure and therefore formal (as befitting its connection to ceòl mór), its use the preserve of the studied elite. However, field recordings of pipers and other tradition-bearers collected and archived since the 1950s in the School of Scottish Studies present a vast trove of evidence suggesting that canntaireachd as a living, vocal medium was (and remains) a dynamic and flexible tool, adapted and refined to personal tastes by each musician; and that it was (is) widely used as well in the transmission of the vernacular ceòl beag idiom - pipe music for dancing and marching. In this paper, I offer some remarks on the nature of canntaireachd, followed by a review of the role of women in the transmission and performance of Highland, and specifically Hebridean, bagpipe music, including the use of canntaireachd as a surrogate performance practice. There follows a case study of Mary Morrison, a woman of twentieth century Barra upbringing, who specialised in performing canntaireachd; concluding with a discussion on what her singing of pipe music has to say about her knowledge of piping and the nature of her role as, arguably, a piping tradition-bearer.


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