Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

A new body of order: designing social meaning through performance

This study identifies an absence of order in contemporary social life and offers a design-based response to that absence, theorising order as a living phenomenon of regulation, meaning and authority that may be generated through the participatory, symbolic, embodied, creative and relational practice...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Jenkin, Juliet
Other Authors: Matchett, Sara
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Drama 2024
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867614499077357568
access_status_str Open Access
author Jenkin, Juliet
author2 Matchett, Sara
author_browse Jenkin, Juliet
Matchett, Sara
author_facet Matchett, Sara
Jenkin, Juliet
author_sort Jenkin, Juliet
collection Thesis
description This study identifies an absence of order in contemporary social life and offers a design-based response to that absence, theorising order as a living phenomenon of regulation, meaning and authority that may be generated through the participatory, symbolic, embodied, creative and relational practice of performance. This participatory interpretation of order motivates the study's methodology which proposes performance as a mode and method of design and suggests that order may be designed through performance. An initial case study (reflecting on the process of a theatre production) presents a design methodology based on the identifying elements of performance, namely: embodiment, mimesis, ephemerality and agon. The practice of designing order is tested through two participatory design projects that identify an absence of order and address that absence using an exploratory process of performance-as-design. The first project investigates an order of authority in a classroom context, and the second an order of consent in response to participant concerns around physical intimacy. Both projects build embodied, relational structures that enact regulation, meaning and authority and demonstrate that designing order through performance is possible, productive, and effective.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/39498
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:53:00.718Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2024
publishDateRange 2024
publishDateSort 2024
publisher Department of Drama
publisherStr Department of Drama
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/39498 A new body of order: designing social meaning through performance Jenkin, Juliet Matchett, Sara Fleishman Mark Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies This study identifies an absence of order in contemporary social life and offers a design-based response to that absence, theorising order as a living phenomenon of regulation, meaning and authority that may be generated through the participatory, symbolic, embodied, creative and relational practice of performance. This participatory interpretation of order motivates the study's methodology which proposes performance as a mode and method of design and suggests that order may be designed through performance. An initial case study (reflecting on the process of a theatre production) presents a design methodology based on the identifying elements of performance, namely: embodiment, mimesis, ephemerality and agon. The practice of designing order is tested through two participatory design projects that identify an absence of order and address that absence using an exploratory process of performance-as-design. The first project investigates an order of authority in a classroom context, and the second an order of consent in response to participant concerns around physical intimacy. Both projects build embodied, relational structures that enact regulation, meaning and authority and demonstrate that designing order through performance is possible, productive, and effective. 2024-04-30T09:09:00Z 2024-04-30T09:09:00Z 2023 2024-04-30T08:24:53Z Thesis / Dissertation Doctoral PhD http://hdl.handle.net/11427/39498 eng application/pdf Department of Drama Faculty of Humanities
spellingShingle Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies
Jenkin, Juliet
A new body of order: designing social meaning through performance
thesis_degree_str Doctoral
title A new body of order: designing social meaning through performance
title_full A new body of order: designing social meaning through performance
title_fullStr A new body of order: designing social meaning through performance
title_full_unstemmed A new body of order: designing social meaning through performance
title_short A new body of order: designing social meaning through performance
title_sort new body of order designing social meaning through performance
topic Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/39498
work_keys_str_mv AT jenkinjuliet anewbodyoforderdesigningsocialmeaningthroughperformance
AT jenkinjuliet newbodyoforderdesigningsocialmeaningthroughperformance