scholarly journals Corporeal Sounding: Listening to Bomba Dance, Listening to puertorriqueñxs

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-59
Author(s):  
Jade Power-Sotomayor
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rican ◽  
Performance Studies ◽  
Sound Studies ◽  
Important Case ◽  
Space And Place ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
White Supremacist ◽  
The Social ◽  
And Performance

Afro-Puerto Rican bomba, the island’s oldest extant genre of drum, dance, and song, is a fundamentally sonic practice. Unique in the tight relation between the execution of movements and the simultaneous sounding of the lead drum, bomba dance enacts a challenge to the Western focus on the visual spectacle of dancing and draws attention to what Ashon Crawley calls the “choreosonic,” or the inextricable linking of movement and sound. Bomba dance attends to creating rhythmic variation through specific movement choices strategically placed within and simultaneously producing the sonic framework of drumming and dancing. As such, it requires a listening that ultimately structures a relationality that interrupts the colonial, white supremacist and heteropatriarchal logic that contains Puerto Rican bodies. Through a close reading of different bomba dancings, this article examines how the dancer’s sounded movements claim, not space itself, but a relation to space and place, pulling bodies into the social and unravelling temporal boundedness. It argues that bomba’s growing popularity on the island and in the diaspora is a measure of its capacity for “listening to flesh,” “listening to flesh speak,” underscoring how this particularly addresses and is attuned to a subaltern, racialized, and femme-identified flesh. As such, bomba is an important case study examining the intersections between sound studies and performance studies, blurring clear distinctions between listening to and doing sound.

Tusslers, Beatdowns, and Brothers: A Sociohistorical Overview of Video Game Arcades and theStreet FighterCommunity

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 742-762
Author(s):  
Michael Ryan Skolnik ◽  
Steven Conway
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Moral Panics ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Historical Movement

Alongside their material dimensions, video game arcades were simultaneously metaphysical spaces where participants negotiated social and cultural convention, thus contributing to identity formation and performance within game culture. While physical arcade spaces have receded in number, the metaphysical elements of the arcades persist. We examine the historical conditions around the establishment of so-called arcade culture, taking into account the history of public entertainment spaces, such as pool halls, coin-operated entertainment technologies, video games, and the demographic and economic conditions during the arcade’s peak popularity, which are historically connected to the advent of bachelor subculture. Drawing on these complementary histories, we examine the social and historical movement of arcades and arcade culture, focusing upon the Street Fighter series and the fighting game community (FGC). Through this case study, we argue that moral panics concerning arcades, processes of cultural norm selection, technological shifts, and the demographic peculiarities of arcade culture all contributed to its current decline and discuss how they affect the contemporary FGC.

Robot Double

2013 ◽  
pp. 680-702
Author(s):  
Yuji Sone
Keyword(s):  
Performance Studies ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Culturally Specific ◽  
Human Identity ◽  
Physical Movement ◽  
Self And Identity ◽  
Japanese Studies ◽  
And Performance

This chapter discusses Japanese roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro’s performance experiments with robotic machines (humanoid and android) as a case study for this book’s theme, “the techno-self.” Ishiguro’s robots are highly sophisticated pieces of engineering intended to replicate human physical movement and appearance. In addition to claims relevant to robot engineering, for Ishiguro, these machines are reflexive tools for investigations into questions of human identity. In Ishiguro’s thinking I identify what I call a “reflexive anthropomorphism,” a notion of the self’s relation to the other that is tied equally to Buddhism and Japanese mythology. Using concepts from Japanese studies and theatre and performance studies, this chapter examines one culturally specific way of thinking about concepts of the self and identity through Ishiguro’s discussion of the human-robot relation.

Masked Interaction: The Case for an Enactive View of Commedia dell’Arte (and the Italian Renaissance)

2019 ◽  
pp. 153-170
Author(s):  
Jan Söffner
Keyword(s):  
Performance Studies ◽  
Performing Arts ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Cultural Analysis ◽  
Italian Renaissance ◽  
Commedia Dell'arte ◽  
Renaissance Humanism ◽  
Renaissance Studies ◽  
And Performance

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).

scholarly journals A Terror to the People: The Evolution of an Outlaw Gang in the Lower Midwest

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 54-68
Author(s):  
Randy Mills
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Border Region ◽  
Important Case ◽  
The People ◽  
The Social ◽  
One Act

The details of the heretofore unexamined Reeves Gang may serve as an important case study of violence and lawlessness in the Lower Midwest in the decades following the Civil War. Unlike the “social bandits” such as the Jesse James and Dalton Gangs of the Middle Border region, most outlaw gangs made little attempt to get along with locals. These groups ruled by fear and typically fell afoul of vigilante hangings and shootings— a one-act play, if you will. The Reeves Gang, the focus of this study, would come to be atypical, their tale turning into a three-act play, moving from petty crime to more sophisticated criminal activities, and then to an attempted life of normalcy. Though now long forgotten, several instances of the Reeves Gang’s violent activities, as well as their eventual capture, were to be found in newspapers across the nation at the time.

scholarly journals A market approach to social value co-creation: Findings and implications from “Mageires” the social restaurant

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianna Sigala
Keyword(s):  
Social Entrepreneurship ◽  
Performance Metrics ◽  
Social Value ◽  
Social Entrepreneurs ◽  
Business Partners ◽  
The Social ◽  
Market Approach ◽  
Market Practices ◽  
And Performance

Literature on social entrepreneurship provides a limited understanding of how to generate social value. The article expands on a “learning with the market” approach for developing a framework, explaining how social entrepreneurs can manage, get engaged with, form, and create (new) markets for co-creating social value and transformation. The applicability and implications of the framework are examined through a case study of a social restaurant (Mageires). Data collected from various restaurant stakeholders (customers, employees, suppliers, owners/founders, and other business partners) identified three market capabilities for generating social value and change: network structure (building networks with various stakeholders), market practices (e.g. institutionalization of “new currencies” for conducting economic transactions, adoption of ethical, flexible, and all inclusive recruiting practices), and market pictures (e.g. use of a common terminology and performance metrics and generation of stakeholders’ dialogues for creating intersubjective meanings).

“You Looked Better on MySpace”: Deception and authenticity on the Web 2.0

First Monday ◽  
2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren F. Sessions
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Social Web ◽  
Case Study Approach ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Trend ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Web

This paper examines Social Network Site (SNS) users’ criticism of a popular style of SNS profile picture referred to as “MySpace Angles.” Reactions to this style of portraiture label the display of these photographs “deceptive,” alleging that MySpace Angles fool users into believing that the subject is more attractive than they actually are. This case study approach utilizes a close reading analysis of the MySpace Angle commentary, revealing three main themes in users’ critique of MySpace Angles: 1) users who post these photographs are conforming to a social trend at the expense of their individuality; 2) the presentation of these photographs is narcissistic; and, 3) these photographs purposefully conceal the body. This case study displays a shift in the conception of deception online; on the social Web populated by SNSs, theories of deception and authenticity are called into question as users are increasingly anchored to their bodies and expected to effortlessly present an online self mirroring the off-line self.

Towards Integrating a Model of Urban Socioeconomic Structure and Urban Imagery

1982 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 765-787 ◽  
Author(s):  
A N Spector
Keyword(s):  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Space And Place ◽  
Urban Residents ◽  
Time Geography ◽  
Place And Space ◽  
Activity Spaces ◽  
Socioeconomic Characteristics ◽  
The Social ◽  
Socioeconomic Structure

In this paper a link is made between variations in socioeconomic characteristics of urban residents and the understanding of spatial relationships in an urban landscape. It is contended that the development of activity spaces and the understanding of space and place are tied to the social, political and economic organization of a social formation. Although some of the arguments posed here parallel recent works on space-time geography, it is argued that these could be usefully augmented with the consideration of the factors influencing the knowledge and understanding of place and space. Salient features of a case study undertaken in Columbus, Ohio, are included which indicate interrelationships between the activity space elements, the knowledge of the location of various commonly known places, and the socioeconomic characteristics that urban residents have in this city.

Documentary and Performance

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Pullen
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Gay Men ◽  
Performance Studies ◽  
Reality Television ◽  
Social Agency ◽  
Social Actor ◽  
The Social ◽  
Biographical Film ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Television Formats

This chapter considers the representation of the straight girl and the queer guy within varying documentary media forms, considering the notions of social agency and performativity. Foregrounding both documentary theory and performance studies, the documentary biographical film drama Carrington (Christopher Hampton 1995, UK), offers a historical precedent in the representation of the straight girl and queer guy, all the while foregrounding notions of devotion and intensity. The context of the social actor is further examined in more recent documentary case studies such as Fag Hags: Women Who Love Gay Men (Justine Pimlott 2005, Canada), My Husband Is Gay (Benetta Adamson 2005, UK) and My Husband Is Not Gay (TLC 2015, US), framing the intense relationships between straight girls and queer guys – in many instances relating legal marriages and questioning issues of fidelity. Also the performative potential of reality television is explored in Would Like to Meet (BBC 2001, UK), Boy Meets Boy (Bravo 2003, US) and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (Bravo 2003–7, US), through examining the confines and opportunity of television formats.

Robot Double

2019 ◽  
pp. 432-455
Author(s):  
Yuji Sone
Keyword(s):  
Performance Studies ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Culturally Specific ◽  
Human Identity ◽  
Physical Movement ◽  
Self And Identity ◽  
Japanese Studies ◽  
And Performance

This chapter discusses Japanese roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro's performance experiments with robotic machines (humanoid and android) as a case study for this book's theme, “the techno-self.” Ishiguro's robots are highly sophisticated pieces of engineering intended to replicate human physical movement and appearance. In addition to claims relevant to robot engineering, for Ishiguro, these machines are reflexive tools for investigations into questions of human identity. In Ishiguro's thinking I identify what I call a “reflexive anthropomorphism,” a notion of the self's relation to the other that is tied equally to Buddhism and Japanese mythology. Using concepts from Japanese studies and theatre and performance studies, this chapter examines one culturally specific way of thinking about concepts of the self and identity through Ishiguro's discussion of the human-robot relation.

scholarly journals Active Experiencing in Postdramatic Performance: Affective Memory and Quarantine Theatre's Wallflower

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-159
Author(s):  
Tracy Crossley
Keyword(s):  
Performance Studies ◽  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Binary Opposition ◽  
Senior Lecturer ◽  
Performance Traditions ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The University

Postdramatic approaches to performance and Stanislavsky's methodology seemingly occupy divergent performance traditions. Nonetheless, both traditions often require performers to mine their own lives (albeit to different ends) and operate in an experiential realm that demands responsiveness to and within the live moment of performing. Tracy Crossley explores this realm through an analysis of Quarantine Theatre's Wallflower (2015), an example of postdramatic practice that blends a poetics of failure with a psycho - physical dramaturgical approach that can be aligned with Stanislavsky's concepts of affective memory and active analysis.Wallflower provides a useful case study of practice that challenges the binary opposition between the dramatic and postdramatic prevalent in theatre and performance studies scholarship. Aspects of Stanislavsky's system, nuanced by cognitive neuroscience, can expand the theorization of postdramatic theatre, which in turn generates techniques that can prove valuable in the rehearsal of dramatic theatre itself. Tracy Crossley is a Senior Lecturer in Theatre and Performance at the University of Salford, Manchester. She is currently developing a practical handbook, Making Postdramatic Theatre, for Digital Theatre Plus.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document