Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Communication Studies
Document Type
Dissertation
Abstract
This critical performance ethnography presents the theory, methodology, and practice surrounding the fieldwork, scripting, and performance of Baton Rouge SLAM!: An Obituary for Summer 2016. As participant-observer, director, and co-performer, I unpack social drama, performance ethnography, and slam culture by employing a lens rooted in critical race theory. Local poets permitted me to de- and re-contextualize their interviews into ensemble scenes and theatricalize their slam poems about the recent summer’s charged events. One year later, this involved and embodied process of ethnographic bricolage became the ensemble cast performance of Baton Rouge SLAM!: An Obituary for Summer 2016. Community members and live audiences in Louisiana and Georgia were invited to reflect on a capital divided. A performance-based analysis of this slamnography reveals why local slam communities matter as modes of redress following times of crises, and how the neoliberal nature of the slam form can be revealed and transcended by its members.
Recommended Citation
Hamzehee, Joshua, "Baton Rouge SLAM!: An Obituary for Summer 2016: A Critical Performance Ethnography of Eclectic Truth Poetry Slam" (2020). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 5238.
https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/5238
Committee Chair
Stephenson Shaffer, Tracy
DOI
10.31390/gradschool_dissertations.5238
Included in
Acting Commons, Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Other American Studies Commons, Other Anthropology Commons, Other Arts and Humanities Commons, Other Communication Commons, Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures Commons, Other Theatre and Performance Studies Commons, Performance Studies Commons, Playwriting Commons, Poetry Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, Social Influence and Political Communication Commons