Is an actor performing live if that actor is out of sight in the wings and appears on stage as a computer-mediated representation? Is co-presence with such a mediated embodiment problematic for the performer? This project seeks to explore the use of digital media elements, from the perspective of the actor, in the collaborative process of devising, designing, rehearsing and performing a Shakespearian theatre production. It raises issues of the creative possibilities that applications of new technologies afford and of a changing perception of the nature of liveness. Can digital media techniques usefully enhance the liveness of performance and extend the audience’s experience of the production? Specifically, can it augment their perception of themselves, mirrored on stage? Exploring the usefulness of digital media techniques takes a theatre practitioner into the intermedial, liminal spaces where the two fields converge. These are spaces of possibility where new ways of working might emerge. This thesis is presented primarily as an experimental performance and is contextualised by this exegesis with its written and DVD components.

This project explores notions of seeing and knowing, underpinned by performative and phenomenological fields of enquiry that relate this exploration to the sensate experience of the viewer. A specific interest considers ideas of embodied vision with an aim at generating events that vacillate in the bodies of the audience. A primary focus is on the arena of encounter as a multi-sensory experiential event, and within this context this project proposes a temporal and spatial framework for exploration. Studio methods develop a cinematic-body of video work negotiating performative practice involving video projection and temporality. Pivotal goals are to explore the significance of the ‘chiasm’ between seeing and knowing, raising questions about how humans see, and how humans make how they see matter. Therefore, this thesis project progresses along experimental approaches to video installation, particularly in relation to the phenomena of encounter, the viewer, and film experience. The central motivation of this video practice is aimed at corporeal affect in the body/s of the audience. This thesis project is constituted as 80% practice-based work accompanied by a 20% exegesis.

The education of health professionals is based on a series of discourses of professionalism that privilege notions of control and choice (Riggs, 2004a; Titchen and Higgs, 2001). These discourses are expressed through both explicit and implicit curricula, which encourage the enactment of a particular construction of the 'self' of both health professionals and clients or patients. This thesis adopts a feminist poststructural analysis of relations of power to explore some of the effects of the enactment of these curricula, drawing on three case studies of education in rural health settings and interviews with 17 health workers. The results indicate that the enactment of these curricula seems to produce a particular sense of self for health workers – one that is bound up with notions of control and choice, and one that may require struggle on an inner level with the self-regulation and self-policing (O'Grady, 2005) required to fit this norm. The struggle for female health workers to link the abstract theorizing with the actualities of their lives (Williams, 2002) seems to produce a paradoxical type of relationship with themselves and their clients. On one hand there is a discourse of conformity, compliance and obedience, which suggests more of a slippage of self while at the same time the expert-novice relationship characterizing the health professionals‟ interaction with clients emphasizes autonomy, control and empowerment of self. Further, while health workers see themselves as having high levels of internal locus of control this is in direct contrast to the helplessness and powerlessness they experience at work, and revealed through the research. The curriculum reform taking place within all health professional education at the moment emphasizes evidence-based practice and scientific content, and thus reinforces the dominant norm of the neo-liberal individual capable of self-regulation and self-policing. This research suggests the limitations of this approach, given the practices of power that continue to disadvantage women in general and patients in particular in relation to their health and the institution.

The topic of my research is the lived experiences of eight psychotherapists and counsellors who consciously work with unusual phenomena as it arises in the therapeutic encounter. Unusual phenomena in this thesis refers to felt experiences which are considered to be beyond the everyday in the Cartesian paradigm and are often referred to as spiritual and/or mystical phenomena. Exploring these phenomena brings to light the potentialities in the vastness of consciousness which is considered to be an integral aspect of human existence in the thesis. I chose Heidegger’s hermeneutic phenomenological methodology for the research because it gives credence to the many and varied possibilities and potentialities both in particular lived experiences and in human existence as a whole. Van Manen’s lived existential provides the framework in which the participants’ experiences are explored. What emerged from the research is that unusual phenomena are not unusual for the participants. Although such phenomena are less visible and therefore less familiar in the everyday world, they are recognizable through their consistent presentation. This includes the participants having a powerful sense of ‘knowing’ which is all-encompassing and is beyond familiar landmarks such as the linear models of time and space. The participants bring their ‘knowing’ into the everyday world through embodiment and through their acknowledgment of the interconnectedness of existence. The expression of interconnectedness is experienced by the participants as lovingness, from which the ability for immediate healing in their therapeutic work becomes apparent. The participants’ accounts show a capacity for accessing the subtleties of human existence which emerge in the phenomenological process as the forgotten feminine of consciousness. The feminine of consciousness is a term used to describe a fundamental state of ‘being’ in contrast to the everyday masculine principle of ‘doing’. The research has implications for psychotherapy and counselling as it illuminates the need for a holistic approach which acknowledges the multidimensionality of human existence.

Is an actor performing live if that actor is out of sight in the wings and appears on stage as a computer-mediated representation? Is co-presence with such a mediated embodiment problematic for the performer? This project seeks to explore the use of digital media elements, from the perspective of the actor, in the collaborative process of devising, designing, rehearsing and performing a Shakespearian theatre production. It raises issues of the creative possibilities that applications of new technologies afford and of a changing perception of the nature of liveness. Can digital media techniques usefully enhance the liveness of performance and extend the audience’s experience of the production? Specifically, can it augment their perception of themselves, mirrored on stage? Exploring the usefulness of digital media techniques takes a theatre practitioner into the intermedial, liminal spaces where the two fields converge. These are spaces of possibility where new ways of working might emerge. This thesis is presented primarily as an experimental performance and is contextualised by this exegesis with its written and DVD components.

Thesis (MA (English))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The end of the second millennium saw a sudden return to corporeality, especially within feminist scholarship, where embodiment and issues surrounding the body were, for the first time, made explicit. This study examines the corporeal body in relation to technology and the impact that newly emerging virtual technologies have on our understanding of the body, not only through examining representations of the technologically modified body, but also by exploring how contemporary cultural practices produce corporeal bodies that view themselves as somehow integrated with technology. It focuses on the material artefacts of contemporary culture in relation to explicitly virtual technologies, both arguing for a return to corporeality and contesting the pervasive trope of disembodiment that characterises so-called “posthuman” age. This study thus takes one of the most popular metaphors for the relationship between the corporeal body and technology as its starting point, namely Donna Haraway’s cyborg figures. Following the publication of Haraway’s “A Manifesto for Cyborgs” (1985), the female cyborg became an icon of emancipation for many feminist scholars, who utilised Haraway’s cyborg discourse as a means of discussing the cultural practices that both construct and limit female gendered identity. Through closely examining the metaphor of Haraway’s cyborg figures in relation to cultural representations of female cyborg bodies, this study argues that, ultimately, the metaphor of the cyborg is inherently neither challenging nor liberating. It then examines the failure of the cyborg as an icon of postgenderedness in terms of its negation of the corporeal, as cyborg figures paradoxically only strengthen the same Cartesian dualism Haraway’s cyborg discourse attempts to deconstruct. It explores representations of three female cyborg figures found in contemporary popular culture to illustrate how the cyborg body’s negation of the corporeal only results in the reiteration of conventional gendered stereotypes, rather than liberation from oppressive gendered practices. Finally, this study examines the crucial interplay between the corporeal and the technological, not only when speaking of more imaginary cyborg configurations and tropes, but also when speaking of the physical reality of lived bodies and embodied experiences. By examining the increasingly embodied nature of cyberspace, this study explores possible alternatives to the figure of the hypersexualised and disembodied cyborg, through investigating new figurations with which to describe the embodied postmodern subject and his/her dependence on technology. Since the central task for a feminist ethics of embodiment would be grounded in the project of representing the female body, in such a way that it constructs autonomous women’s representations without falling prey to patriarchal, stereotypical or estranging images of women’s bodies, this study concludes with more useful methods of representing the corporeal body in relation to virtual technology through an appeal to an ethics of embodiment. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die einde van die tweede millennium het ‘n skielike belangstelling in beliggaamdheid ontlok, veral binne feministiese vakgeleerdheid, waar beliggaamdheid en kwessies rondom die ligaam vir die eerste keer eksplisiet gestel is. Hierdie studie ondersoek die stoflike liggaam in verhouding tot tegnologie en die invloed wat nuwe, virtuele tegnologiëe op ons begrip van die liggaam het, nie slegs deur voorstellings van die tegnologies-gemodifieërde ligaam te ondersoek nie, maar deur ook te kyk na hoe kontemporêre kulturele praktyke beliggaamde subjekte produseer wat huself op een of ander wyse as geïntegreerd met tegnologie sien. Die studie fokus op die materiële artefakte van kontemporêre kultuur in verhouding tot eksplisiet virtuele tegnologiëe. Dit bevorder ‘n terugkeer tot beliggaamdheid, terwyl dit teen die sogenaamde “postmenslike” era se mees kenmerkende troop van ontliggaamdheid argumenteer. Die studie begin dus deur een van die mees populêre metafore vir die verhouding tussen die liggaamlike en die tegnologiese te ondersoek, naamlik Donna Haraway se siborgfigure. Sedert die publikasie van Haraway se “A Manifesto for Cyborgs” (1985), het verskeie feministiese vakgeleerdes die vroulike siborg-figuur beide as ’n ikoon vir emansipasie beskou en gebruik om die kulturele praktyke wat vroulike geslagsidentiteit gelyktydig konstrueer én beperk te bespreek. Deur Haraway se siborg-figure met kulturele voorstellings van vroulike siborg-liggame te vergelyk, kom hierdie studie tot die gevolgtrekking dat die metafoor van die siborg inherent nóg uitdaagend nóg bevrydend is. Gevolglik ondersoek die studie die onbevoegdheid van die siborg-figuur as ‘n ikoon vir postgeslagtigheid in terme van die siborg-liggaam se negering van beliggaamdheid, aangesien siborg-figure op ‘n paradoksale wyse die selfde Cartesiaanse dualisme versterk wat Haraway se siborg-diskoers wou dekonstrueer. Dit ondersoek voorstellings van drie vroulike siborg-figure in kontemporêre populêre kultuur om te illustreer hoe die siborgliggaam se negering van beliggaamdheid slegs konvensionele geslagstereotipes versterk, eerder as om ons van beperkende, patriargale geslagspraktyke te bevry. Ten slotte ondersoek hierdie studie die deurslaggewende tussenspel tussen die ligaamlike en die tegnologiese, nie slegs in terme van meer denkbeeldige siborg tropes nie, maar ook in terme van die fisiese reailiteit van konkrete, beliggaamde lewenservaringe. Deur die toenemend beliggaamde kwaliteit van kiberruimtes te ondersoek, stel hierdie studie moontlike alternatiewe maniere voor om die postmoderne subjek en sy/haar afhanklikheid van tegnologie te beskryf, eerder as om op ontliggaamde en hipergeseksualiseerde siborg-figure staat te maak. Aangesien ‘n feministiese beliggaamde etiek gegrond is in ‘n projek om die vroulike liggaam op só ‘n wyse voor te stel dat patriargale, stereotipiese of vervreemdbare beelde van die vroulike liggaam vermy word, eindig hierdie studie met meer nuttige metodes om die stoflike liggaam in verhouding tot virtuele tegnologie voor te stel deur ‘n beroep tot ‘n meer beliggaamde etiek te maak.

Embodiment is the experience of one's own body. It is often studied using the Rubber Hand Illusion (RHI). This illusion varies the consistency between visual, tactile and proprioceptive signals to elicit a change to embodiment. Changes to embodiment are typically measured using a single sensory outcome measure of proprioceptive drift, which is interpreted as a proxy measure of embodiment. This approach obscures the unique contribution of other modalities such as vision and touch. The work presented in this thesis uses a mixed method approach to investigate the unique contribution of visual, tactile and proprioceptive modalities within the multisensory process of embodiment. In study one, a qualitative analysis showed that when visual-tactile discrepancies were present in the RHI, participants described both body ownership and body extension type changes to embodiment, and changes to tactile perception. In study two, psychophysical measurements of the RHI showed changes to visual, tactile and proprioceptive aspects of embodiment, suggesting that embodiment in the RHI could be measured using multiple sensory outcomes. Studies three and four assessed the utility of measuring multiple sensory outcomes of the RHI, by exploring changes to embodiment following internal and external forms of body perception training. Study three showed that brief body scan meditation, as a form of internal body perception training, reduced the longevity of the visual sensory outcome of the RHI and that this reduction was negatively correlated with improvements in interoceptive sensitivity. Study four showed that learning about the body through anatomical dissection training, as a form of external body perception training, reduced the longevity of the visual sensory outcome measure and decreased interoceptive sensitivity, but only in medical students who were high in trait personal distress. Collectively, these findings suggest that aspects of the multisensory processes of embodiment can become specialised and identify some unique contributions of individual sensory modalities to embodiment. The proprioceptive sensory outcome appears to be stable over time but the visual sensory outcome is a longer-term change to embodiment, which is susceptible to interference from body perception training. In study five, confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the psychometric properties of an embodiment change questionnaire measuring body ownership, body extension and perceived causality in the RHI. Factor scores from the questionnaire were correlated with visual and proprioceptive outcome measures of the RHI and measures of trait empathy. The results suggested factor scores had better convergent validity than the standard illusion score used in previous research. This work has improved subjective and perceptual measures of the RHI and specified ways that individual sensory modalities provide a unique contribution to embodiment. The methods developed have further applications for studying the multisensory process of embodiment and investigating embodiment in a number of clinical groups.

abstract: Masculinity has been increasingly recognized as a critical and relatively unexplored area of inquiry in anthropological gender studies. This project seeks to expand anthropological research on masculinity to contemporary American society. Using the case study of a male-centered popular new sport, Mixed Martial Arts (also known as cagefighting) this project integrates theories of embodiment and feminist perspectives to explore how masculinity and masculine hegemony are shaped, contested, and perpetuated in the United States. Using a multi-level framework this project explores: 1) How is masculinity experienced and expressed by Mixed Martial Arts fighters as a form of self-identity? How do their bodies play a role in constructing masculinity? 2) What are the pervasive forms of masculinity associated with Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)? Are they truly representative of the sport? 3) Can these pervasive forms of masculinity be seen as hegemonic? How would hegemony operate in relation to individual experience? Using multiple methods to capture multiple points of view was critical to thoroughly examining the complex notion of masculinity. This study employed participant observation, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, surveys, photo elicitation, and media content analysis, as each presented particular benefits and allowed for the development a more well-rounded understanding of masculinity within the realm of MMA. This study also situates the rise of MMA and its representations of masculinity within the greater perspective of contemporary American society. By doing so reveals how ideologies of prescribed masculinity do not arise out of a vacuum but in relation to particular economic, social and political contexts. An emphasis of this study was to examine the daily lives of MMA fighters to understand how their participation in what may be regarded as a hypermasculine activity affects their own perceptions of masculinity. In looking at how masculinity is embodied, the gaps and often contradictions between representation and individual experiences are revealed. Ultimately, the goal of this research is to contribute to a better understanding of masculinity as both an embodied and relational construct. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Anthropology 2011

Comme l’indique le titre de cette étude, notre travail se situe dans le prolongement de celui de Franck, et plus précisément de sa thèse déployée dans son livre, Chair et Corps : sur la phénoménologie de Husserl. Dans ce livre, Franck a démontré clairement le fondement dernier de la phénoménologie de Husserl, en disant que dans la mesure où la chair est définie par Husserl comme « auto-affection pure », cette chair ne peut pas se constituer comme un corps. Notre travail est un essai pour éprouver la phénoménologie de Henry, à partir de cette objection adressée à Husserl par Franck : l’impossibilité de l’incorporation de la chair. Notre question est donc la suivante : comment l’incorporation est-elle possible pour Henry, dans la mesure où, pour lui, l’auto-affection de la chair est pure. Notre travail sera conduit par cette seule question. Cependant, ce dont il s’agit ici ne peut pas être une simple interprétation de la philosophie de Henry. S’il est vrai que la phénoménologie de Husserl est un essai qui, en désirant « la phénoménologie comme science rigoureuse », cherche le fondement indiscutable de la philosophie, notre question touche ce fondement même, c’est-à-dire, le commencement de la philosophie. Lorsque nous interrogeons Henry sur le problème auquel est conduit inévitablement Husserl, cela nous conduit à poser la question du fondement dernier de la philosophie, à savoir, la question de son commencement qui, à vrai dire, est un commencement qui a toujours et déjà commencé. / As like the title of this study, our work is a continuation of the Franck’s work, specifically, which he deployed in his book Flesh and body : on the phenomenology of Husserl. In his analysis on the phenomenology of Husserl, Franck demonstrates that the flesh cannot be embodied, if it is defined as “pure auto-affection.” Our work expands on this thesis : the impossibility of emboyding the flesh, and attempts to examine the phenomenology of Michel Henry. The most important question is : how can Michel Henry explain an embodiment of flesh to the extent that he defines the flesh as pure auto-affection. However, what is involved here cannot be a simple interpretation of the Henry’s philosophy. While it is true that Husserl’s phenomenology is a test that, desiring "phenomenology as rigorous science", seeks the indisputable foundation of philosophy, we are asking for this foundation of philosophy that means the beginning of philosophy, when we ask Henry about the problem which inevitably leads Husserl. So, our question is the ultimate foundation of philosophy, the question of its beginning which, indeed, is a beginning that has always already begun.

This thesis explores what I call 'physical spectatorship' as it is generated by a group of films concerned with the mutilation of the human body. Focusing on the representation of mutilation on the screen and the physical responses this evokes, the thesis is organised around the study of a series of dynamic engagements that reconfigure the film-viewer relationship; these include: corporeal mimicry and the cinematic visualisations of mutilation; generalised anxiety and experimental use of sound; and the nausea generated by audio-visual techniques that both signify and locate the filmic gut in the viewer's body. Combining close textual analyses with theoretical approaches, this thesis draws upon psychoanalytic, phenomenological and feminist theories of film and spectatorship. Throughout the chapters, my argument builds upon the work of Vivian Sobchack and Laura Marks in order to interrogate further what might be meant by the notion of the embodied spectator. The chapters explore this notion, alongside that of the film viewer, to generate a dialogue with previous theorists of the cinematic spectator, including Christian Metz and Richard Rushton. Exploring through close textual analyses the specific filmic techniques that generate intense physical responses, this thesis argues that the mutilation film demands a rethinking of some of the key categories in theories of spectatorship. Extending across national cinemas and reaching beyond conventional generic distinctions, the mutilation film produces a visceral aesthetic that has yet to be analysed. Focusing on particular aspects of the mutilation film, such as the assault narrative sequence, use of extreme frequencies and haptic sounds and images, the thesis offers detailed readings of the following texts: Dans Ma Peau (Marina de Van, 2002), Irréversible (Gaspar Noé, 2002), Saw II (Darren Lynn Bousman, 2005) Saw III (Darren Lynn Bousman, 2006) Saw IV (Darren Lynn Bousman, 2007) Saw V (David Hackl, 2008) Saw VI (Kevin Greutert, 2009) Saw 3D (Kevin Greutert, 2010), Hostel (Eli Roth, 2005), À l'intérieur (Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury, 2007), The Human Centipede: First Sequence (Tom Six, 2009) and The Human Centipede: Full Sequence (Tom Six, 2011).The analyses that form this thesis demonstrate the problems with separating notions of the 'spectator as textual construction' from that of the 'viewer as physically embodied'; yet these readings also indicate the necessity of continuing the task of conceptualising their interrelatedness, rather than simply using them interchangeably. The conclusion argues that the concept of physical spectatorship offers one way to understand how particular contemporary aesthetics have reconfigured the boundary between viewer and film.