Zugl.: Mannheim, Universiẗat, Diss., 2007.

Este trabalho investiga como se articulam, no discurso da atuação teatral, as ideias de presença e do verdadeiro e como o ator se forja a partir da emergência desses objetos de pensamento. Procura aproximar a voz de dois diretores pedagogos em atividade, Peter Brook e Ariane Mnouchkine, aos conceitos de verdade e presença de filósofos como Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, Michel Foucault, Hannah Arendt, Friederich Nietzsche, entre outros. Ao inscrever-se na categoria dos Estudos da Presença, a metodologia possui um caráter autorreferencial. Parte-se de quatro relatos de experiência da autora para abordar aquilo que se diz da prática na prática e de que forma os dizeres da filosofia auxiliam na compreensão desses discursos. Pretende-se fazer perceber que as ideias de presença e verdade confundem-se como modos de dizer dos atores para se referir a algo não possível de ser dito. / This thesis investigates how the ideas of presence and of truth are articulated in the discourse of theatrical performance, and how actors shape themselves upon the emergence of these objects of thought. It seeks to approximate the voice of two pedagogue directors in activity, Peter Brook and Ariane Mnouchkine, to the concepts of truth and presence in philosophers such as Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, Michel Foucault, Hannah Arendt and Friedrich Nietzsche, among others. Inscribing itself in the category of Studies of Presence, the methodology possesses a self-referential nature. It departs from four accounts of the author's own experience to approach that which is said of practice in practice, and how statements of philosophy help the understanding of these discourses. It aims to make perceptible that the ideas of presence and truth are confounded as manners of speaking of the actors to refer to something which is not possible to be said.

215 pages / On the border between Beadle & Adam’s dime novel and Edwin Porter’s ground-breaking film, The Great Train Robbery, this dissertation returns to a period in American theater history when the legendary cowboy came to life. On the stage of late nineteenth century frontier melodrama, three actors blazed a trail for the cowboy to pass from man to myth. Frank Mayo’s Davy Crockett, William Cody’s Buffalo Bill, and James Wallick’s Jesse James represent a theatrical bloodline in the genealogy of frontier heroes. As such, the backwoodsman, the scout, and the outlaw are forbearers of the cowboy in American popular entertainment. Caught in a territory between print and film, this study explores a landscape of blood-and-thunder melodrama, where the unwritten Code of the West was embodied on stage. At a cultural crossroads, the need for an authentic, American hero spurred the cowboy to legend; theater taught him how to walk, talk, and act like a man. / Committee in charge: Dr. John Schmor, Co-chair; Dr. Jennifer Schleuter, Co-chair; Dr. John Watson, Member; Dr. Linda Fuller, Outside Member

Este trabalho investiga como se articulam, no discurso da atuação teatral, as ideias de presença e do verdadeiro e como o ator se forja a partir da emergência desses objetos de pensamento. Procura aproximar a voz de dois diretores pedagogos em atividade, Peter Brook e Ariane Mnouchkine, aos conceitos de verdade e presença de filósofos como Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, Michel Foucault, Hannah Arendt, Friederich Nietzsche, entre outros. Ao inscrever-se na categoria dos Estudos da Presença, a metodologia possui um caráter autorreferencial. Parte-se de quatro relatos de experiência da autora para abordar aquilo que se diz da prática na prática e de que forma os dizeres da filosofia auxiliam na compreensão desses discursos. Pretende-se fazer perceber que as ideias de presença e verdade confundem-se como modos de dizer dos atores para se referir a algo não possível de ser dito. / This thesis investigates how the ideas of presence and of truth are articulated in the discourse of theatrical performance, and how actors shape themselves upon the emergence of these objects of thought. It seeks to approximate the voice of two pedagogue directors in activity, Peter Brook and Ariane Mnouchkine, to the concepts of truth and presence in philosophers such as Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, Michel Foucault, Hannah Arendt and Friedrich Nietzsche, among others. Inscribing itself in the category of Studies of Presence, the methodology possesses a self-referential nature. It departs from four accounts of the author's own experience to approach that which is said of practice in practice, and how statements of philosophy help the understanding of these discourses. It aims to make perceptible that the ideas of presence and truth are confounded as manners of speaking of the actors to refer to something which is not possible to be said.

Este trabalho investiga como se articulam, no discurso da atuação teatral, as ideias de presença e do verdadeiro e como o ator se forja a partir da emergência desses objetos de pensamento. Procura aproximar a voz de dois diretores pedagogos em atividade, Peter Brook e Ariane Mnouchkine, aos conceitos de verdade e presença de filósofos como Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, Michel Foucault, Hannah Arendt, Friederich Nietzsche, entre outros. Ao inscrever-se na categoria dos Estudos da Presença, a metodologia possui um caráter autorreferencial. Parte-se de quatro relatos de experiência da autora para abordar aquilo que se diz da prática na prática e de que forma os dizeres da filosofia auxiliam na compreensão desses discursos. Pretende-se fazer perceber que as ideias de presença e verdade confundem-se como modos de dizer dos atores para se referir a algo não possível de ser dito. / This thesis investigates how the ideas of presence and of truth are articulated in the discourse of theatrical performance, and how actors shape themselves upon the emergence of these objects of thought. It seeks to approximate the voice of two pedagogue directors in activity, Peter Brook and Ariane Mnouchkine, to the concepts of truth and presence in philosophers such as Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, Michel Foucault, Hannah Arendt and Friedrich Nietzsche, among others. Inscribing itself in the category of Studies of Presence, the methodology possesses a self-referential nature. It departs from four accounts of the author's own experience to approach that which is said of practice in practice, and how statements of philosophy help the understanding of these discourses. It aims to make perceptible that the ideas of presence and truth are confounded as manners of speaking of the actors to refer to something which is not possible to be said.

This is a study of architectural competitions as they engage with the design practices of architects within the UK and Europe. Since only one firm or one design emerges at the end, and the project programme exists prior to the submissions, there tends to be a gap between programme and practice, past and future, language and situation. It is the aim of this research to investigate what changes in our understanding of architectural practice when we acknowledge that architects work to linear programmes and submit deliverables within the set of relations that make up the competition. In conducting this research I address a gap in the social scientific understanding of architectural practice. While ethnographies of architectural studios have described the way design emerges through an interplay of humans and nonhumans, formats or structures like the competition have not yet become analytical categories in the ethnographic literature. To bridge what seems like a gap between the immaterial world of the competition and the material world of the studio, I draw from actor-network theory to view the competition as a set of relations that include objects and practices. Considering the technology of the competition, I follow five different strands of research. I identify the matters of concern that architects talk about when they talk about competitions; examine the documents involved in administering a competition; follow an atelier at an architectural school where students participate regularly in competitions; observe the Office of Metropolitan Architecture prepare a concept design; and visit an exhibition of submissions. Here I describe the ways in which competitions come together within the practice of architects. This study makes three contributions. First, the study adds to our understanding of architecture as a set of relations, rather than a stable identity. The second contribution has to do with language and practice, demonstrating that ‘big’ categories like ‘building’ nevertheless act within collectives of architects, clients, contractors and so on. A final implication is for methods. Since certain categories exist between sites, organising the activity of actors in different offices across what might be hundreds of miles, ethnographic fieldwork on architecture can become fragmented and multi-sited. The implications of the architectural competition for an ethnographic understanding of architectural practice, then, are to see more and ‘bigger’ collectives within the lives of architects.

An anthropological study of urban practice, this thesis contributes a nuanced understanding of the role of visual art in regeneration. Inspired by the experiential philosophy of Dewey (1934), we have traced the effects mobilised by art as part of urban transformation. The literature of cultural policy and ‘culture-led regeneration’ (Vickery, 2007), discusses art as physical artworks, in support of development; or as socially-engaged practice, in support of social renewal. Through tracing the movements of all the actors involved, our research goes beyond explanation in support of policy targets. We have described what happens in practice, on its own terms. To account for a range of professional perspectives, the research included four empirical studies at different proximities to practice: an exploratory study embedded in art practice; eighteen in-depth interviews with a range of art and regeneration professionals; sixteen in-depth interviews with practitioners of an Urban Regeneration Company (URC) case study; and a six-month ethnography of the same URC case. Accounting for the agency of humans and non-humans (Latour, 2007a), our explications took close account of the effects produced by the associations of urban relationships, between: engineers, planners, construction workers, and artists; as well as plans and drawings, objects, materials, concepts, ideas and natural elements. Through tracing actors at the ‘microscopic’ (Geertz, 1973) scale, we did not observe art as ‘works’, but the way art works as a driver for re-imagining the urban. In practice, we see regeneration not as buildings or communities, but as a continuous process of re-shaping human-physical relationships. As part of this relational network, art ‘mediates’ (Hennion, 1997) participation, collaboration and reflection on the ambitions of regeneration: producing new ideas for urban possibilities. The effects are produced through the continuous associations between ‘inner’ (human) and ‘outer’ (physical) materials. These material associations meld to create a neutral platform for professionals to shift from their usual remit; to re-consider the ‘big picture’ from a new perspective. Regeneration is an active part of the political landscape. As a catalyst for urban imagination, rather than deliver policy objectives, art re-shapes them. Through tracing practice this research contributes new understandings to the study of art and regeneration. By revealing urban networks through tracing art, rather than explaining regeneration as physical or social, we have made a contribution to urban studies by describing the micro movements of regeneration as a relational practice. As a contribution to art studies, through tracing how art works in regeneration, we have produced nuanced descriptions of how art ‘mediates’ action and reflection in and on urban practice. As a contribution to policy and practice, we have articulated the role of visual art in regeneration as: mediating emergent imaginings; re-shaping rather than delivering objectives. As a tool for the policies of the time, ‘regeneration’ has a shelf-life. As an articulation of the role of art as a catalyst for collaboration in support of positive urban transformation, the findings of this study continue to be relevant.

Especially since the publication of Hernando De Soto’s book The Mystery of Capital in 2000, there has been a great deal of scholarship on the relationship between property rights and economic growth. There is fairly broad consensus among policy makers and many academics that secure property rights have a wide range of benefits but significantly less agreement on what impedes secure property rights in developing countries, what types of rights work best and under what circumstances, or how to improve the situation in developing countries. Through a case study of land institutions and reform in the Greater Accra Region of Southern Ghana this thesis examines the complexities of overlapping and often contradictory land tenure regimes. Actor Network Theory is used to analyze the role of the various actors, including humans, organizations, and material actors, like documents. I argue that although the system of land rights institutions in Ghana is extremely complex, one of the main challenges is a relatively simple one: the materiality of the documents, and the related costs of producing, storing, managing, and maintaining them., Despite attempts by the state, with the support of the World Bank, to codify existing land relations, transaction costs have not been dramatically reduced. The result is a complicated environment of institutional pluralism, in which the documents involved in registration have taken on a life of their own, where users must recruit these material actors to support their land claims if they wish to have their rights protected. This process of producing and collecting documents to support their land claims can be costly for landholders, in terms of both time and money. In this way, the centrality of documents can be burdensome for landholders, but also creates interesting opportunities for landholders to mobilize land documents in unconventional ways in order to support their claims and seek protection for their rights to land. Especially since the publication of Hernando De Soto’s book The Mystery of Capital in 2000, there has been a great deal of scholarship on the relationship between property rights and economic growth. There is fairly broad consensus among policy makers and many academics that secure property rights have a wide range of benefits but significantly less agreement on what impedes secure property rights in developing countries, what types of rights work best and under what circumstances, or how to improve the situation in developing countries. Through a case study of land institutions and reform in the Greater Accra Region of Southern Ghana this thesis examines the complexities of overlapping and often contradictory land tenure regimes. Actor Network Theory is used to analyze the role of the various actors, including humans, organizations, and material actors, like documents. I argue that although the system of land rights institutions in Ghana is extremely complex, one of the main challenges is a relatively simple one: the materiality of the documents, and the related costs of producing, storing, managing, and maintaining them., Despite attempts by the state, with the support of the World Bank, to codify existing land relations, transaction costs have not been dramatically reduced. The result is a complicated environment of institutional pluralism, in which the documents involved in registration have taken on a life of their own, where users must recruit these material actors to support their land claims if they wish to have their rights protected. This process of producing and collecting documents to support their land claims can be costly for landholders, in terms of both time and money. In this way, the centrality of documents can be burdensome for landholders, but also creates interesting opportunities for landholders to mobilize land documents in unconventional ways in order to support their claims and seek protection for their rights to land.

My thesis paper will address why I act and different aspects of my work as an actor. Acting training is a constant process and it is the job of the actor to keep up a regular routine that keeps one from going out of practice. I will discuss what I personally do regularly to stay in training. I will also discuss the process I go through to prepare myself to perform in acting roles. Though my approach to developing each new character is different, there are some aspects of my approach that remain constant. This paper will also describe the kinds of stories I am interested in telling. Though actors are equipped to tell a wide variety of stories from many different perspectives, I, as a Ghanaian female artist of color, am drawn to specific kinds of projects that relate to my life experiences. These are the stories that I feel compelled to tell. I believe my work is not just an occupation but rather encompasses the way I choose to live my life. So I will also discuss the ways in which I think my acting work is relevant in the world at large. I will include the ways in which I feel my work has had an impact in my environment, as well as how I hope to use my acting a vehicle to influence change in the future.

In this Thesis I will examine technology adoption by analyzing how different organizations come to interpret a technology as a specific kind of innovation based on a certain set of criteria. The kind of innovation an organization interprets a technology to be effects how quickly the organization will adopt that technology. To analyze how organizations come to interpret technologies as a specific kind of innovation I will construct a model. I will utilize the Actor-Network Theory from Science and Technology Studies as the framework to combined theories regarding technology adoption from other disciplines. This new model of technology adoption will be able to address the individual weakness of each theory that I use, and at the same time build on the strengths of the Actor-Network Theory. I will conclude my thesis by testing my new model using an event study from econometrics. Using the surrogate measure of the stock market to represent consumers, the event study will allow me to gauge if the kind of innovation a technology is interpreted as affects the rate of its adoption. / Master of Science