• Refine Query
  • Source
  • Publication year
  • to
  • Language
  • 353
  • 337
  • 143
  • 132
  • 49
  • 21
  • 10
  • 9
  • 9
  • 8
  • 8
  • 7
  • 5
  • 4
  • 3
  • Tagged with
  • 1248
  • 561
  • 534
  • 216
  • 197
  • 111
  • 98
  • 88
  • 85
  • 83
  • 82
  • 78
  • 75
  • 72
  • 72
  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
51

Le jeu du clown dans la Colombie contemporaine : la renaissance du clown, un acteur social et politique et le rire du spectateur de résistance et de liberté / Clown acting in contemporary Colombia : the lown's rebirth as a social and political actor and the spectator's laugh, a form of resistance and freedom

Velasquez Angel, Ana Milena 11 January 2013 (has links)
Le jeu du clown dans la Colombie contemporaine est en voie de développement. Bien que la figure du clown n’ait jamais cessé d’exister dans la société, quelles que fussent ses formes à travers l’histoire, on assiste à la renaissance de l’art du clown dans notre pays depuis ces dix dernières années. L’art du clown devient une possibilité de revalorisation du langage comique et poétique de l’artiste dans la société colombienne actuelle, conférant à l’acteur clown un rôle social et politique et permettant au spectateur de vivre une forme de résistance et de libération de sa réalité quotidienne violente.La mise en perspective historique du cirque comme langage artistique moderne permet de comprendre comment le clown va se constituer et se développer tout au long des XIXe et XXe siècles jusqu’à devenir un art autonome avec son incursion dans le théâtre et les écoles de formation théâtrale. Cette démarche vise à donner les fondements théoriques de la naissance et de l’évolution du cirque et du clown dans le cirque depuis l’époque de l’Amérique préhispanique jusqu’à la Colombie contemporaine. La perspective historique remarque que, bien avant l’arrivée des clowns dans les cirques modernes après le XVIIIe siècle, on peut constater l’existence de personnages comiques et clownesques dans la culture précolombienne et pendant la période de la colonisation. L’histoire des fêtes populaires de l’Amérique latine, les personnages itinérants et comiques vont se développer parallèlement aux formes spectaculaires religieuses de l’idéologie espagnole. Les cirques européens et américains arriveront dans une atmosphère de résistance et, plus tard, d’indépendance et commencera à s’écrire l’histoire du cirque en Amérique latine.Le modèle économique latino-américain, la récente industrie culturelle et le manque d’écoles de formation du cirque marqueront l’évolution du cirque comme institution sociale, cherchant à travers la discipline et ses techniques à former des jeunes et enfants en situation de violence. D’autre part, le théâtre subira des divisions entre la tradition et l’apparition d’idéologies modernes sur la formation de l’acteur jusqu’à la consolidation de la méthode artistique de création collective. Le clown du cirque traditionnel deviendra une sorte de stéréotype avec les duos clownesques à la télévision, les clowns dans la rue, les restaurants, et les mendiants habillés en clowns. Cette étude aborde les éléments sémiotiques de la figure des nouveaux clowns en tant qu’art autonome impulsé par la pédagogie du français Jacques Lecoq diffusée dans le monde entier, avec une incidence importante en Amérique latine, où elle rencontre la création collective basée sur l’improvisation. Cette pédagogie arrive à travers les festivals internationaux du théâtre où artistes et public accèdent au panorama de l’art du clown dans le monde, au travers de stages et de spectacles. Rénovant ainsi le phénomène de marginalisation du clown par un changement de statut artistique et social. La pratique enracinée de la création collective, letravail du collectif et l’implication du théâtre dans les transformations sociales et politiques du pays, rencontre le langage des nouveaux clowns, pour donner forme à des créations clownesques collectives tout à fait solides et originales. Nous nous concentrons sur la fonction qu’exercent les clowns contemporains au présent de la société colombienne résultant d’une vaste période de crises marquée par des affrontements et des vagues successives de violence. L’humour comme trait particulier de la culture devenant une forme incontestable d’affronter une réalité douloureuse rencontre le clown que par le rire permettra de récupérer la valeur sacrée du chaman, bobo, bouffons et fous de l’histoire. Ainsi nous reconnaissons l’incursion du langage du clown sur plusieurs terrains (l’hôpital, l’humanitaire et le social) pour admettre que le spectateur vive une forme de libération par la communication établie avec le clown dans le rire. / Clown acting in contemporary Colombia is developing. Even though the figure of clowns has always being present in society, regardless of its forms through history, we are now witnessing the rebirth of the art of clowning in Colombia in the last decade. The art of clowning becomes an enhancement possibility of comic and poetic language of the artist in the current Colombian society, conferring the clown actor a social and political role, and allowing the spectator to live a form of resistance and freedom from their daily violent reality.The historical perspective of the circus as modern artistic language allows understanding how the clown is built up and developed through the XIX and XX centuries until the point of becoming an independent art with its foray into theater and theater schools. This perspective aims to provide the theoretical foundations of the birth and evolution of the circus and the clown in the circus since the time of pre-Hispanic America until contemporary Colombia. The historical perspective points out that the existence of comic and clownesque characters in the Pre-Columbian culture and during the colonization era can be recorded even before the clowns’ arrival to the modern circus after the XVIII century. The history of Latin America popular celebrations and the itinerant and comic characters are developed at the same time as the spectacular religious forms of the Spanish ideology. The European and American circuses arrived amid an atmosphere of resistance and, later, of independence. The history of the circus in Latin America begins to be written.The Latin American economic model, the recent cultural industry and the lack of schools for circus training mark the circus evolution as a social institution which, through its discipline and techniques, looks to form young people and children that are in violence situations. On the other hand, the theater is subjected to divisions between tradition and the emergence of modern ideologies on actor’s training until the consolidation of the artistic method of collective creation. The traditional circus clown becomes a kind of stereotype with the clownesque duos on T.V., the clowns in the streets and restaurants, and the beggars dressed up as clowns.This study approaches the semiotic elements of the new clowns’ figure as an independent art encouraged by French Jacques Lecoq’s pedagogy, spread all around the world with an important impact in Latin America, where this pedagogy meets the collective creation based on improvisation. It arrives through international theater festivals, where artists and spectators have access to the panorama of the clown art around the world, by means of courses and shows renewing the clown’s marginalization phenomenon through an artistic and social status change. The established practice of collective creation, the collective work and the involvement of theater in social and political transformation of the country, meet the language of the new clowns to give shape to absolutely strong and original collective clownesque creations.We will focus on the function performed by the contemporary clowns in the current Colombian society resulting from a large period of crisis marked by confrontations and successive waves of violence. Humor, as a particular feature of the culture and becoming an unquestionable way of facing a painful reality, meets the clown, who makes possible to recover the sacred value of the shaman, bobo, buffoons and mad characters of history. Thus, recognizing the foray of clown language into different fields (the hospital, the humanitarian and the social ones) in Colombia, it is possible to accept that the spectator lives a form of freedom through the communication established with the clown in the laughing.
52

Transforming Actor Training: Michael Chekhov's Psycho-Physical Technique

Wion, Brenda 12 May 2008 (has links)
No description available.
53

Samhällets tvåsidighet : Aktör-struktur i tre forskningsansatsers program och tillämpningar / The Two-Sideness of Society : Actor-structure in the Research Programmes and the Applications of Three Approaches

Rundqvist, Mikael January 1998 (has links)
Samhällsvetenskapliga portalfigurer som Durkheim, Marx och Weber har medverkat i diskussionen om aktör och struktur. Diskussionen om intentioner; agerande och samhällsstrukturer pågår fortfarande. Om de samhällsvetenskapliga fenomenen utgår från individen – aktören – och/eller dess omgivning - strukturen - är en evig fråga. Denna avhandling är ett bidrag till den moderna diskussionen om aktör och struktur. Syftet är att analysera problemkomplexet aktör-struktur. Många tidigare studier i genren är abstrakta och generella. I detta arbete studeras också samhällsforskares tillämpning. Efter analyser av den aktörsteoretiska ansatsen (statsvetaren Axel Hadenius' forskning, den strukturteoretiska ansatsen (sociologen Bruce Mayhews forskning), samt a ansatsen (statsvetaren Bo Rothsteins forskning), samt redovisas ett preciserat förhållningssätt till problemkomplexet. Studiens utgångspunkt är att både den ensidiga aktörsteoretiska ansatsen och den ensidiga strukturteoretiska ansatsen kommer att uppvisa brister. De respektive ensidiga ansatserna antas inte brista främst på grund av sin ensidighet, vilket flera företrädare för den aktör-strukturteoretiska ansatsen hävdar. Utifrån avhandlingens vägledande analysram förväntas de respektive ensidiga ansatsernas filosofier, teorier och förklaringar brista på så sätt att företrädarnas programförklaringar inte stämmer överens med företrädarnas tillämpningar. Därmed uppfyller de ensidiga ansatsernas företrädare inte det grundläggande kravet på vetenskaplig klarhet. Av analysen framgår att det i den aktörsteoretiska ansatsens tillämpning också återfinns strukturfaktorer av ett slag som ansatsens företrädare programmatiskt vill utesluta. I den tillämpade strukturteoretiska ansatsen återfinns aktörsfaktorer. Också den aktör-strukturteoretiska ansats som analyseras uppvisar brister i överensstämmelse mellan programförklaring och tillämpning. Resultaten tas till intäkt för att överge både den individualism som den aktörsteoretiska ansatsen vilar på och den strukturalism sätts i detta arbete den filosofiska antagande att den samhälleliga verkligheten innehåller både aktör och struktur, Antagandet om samhällets tvåsidighet utgör en viktig grund för den preciserande aktör-strukturteoretiska ansats som är studiens övergripande slutsats. / This thesis is a contribution to the age-old discussion in the social sciences about actor and structure. From the outset it is argued that the question of actor and structure constitutes a complexity of problems which contains philosophical, theoretical and explanatory elements. Different ways of comprehending the complexity of problems constitute a watershed between research approaches. The three main approaches are the actor theoretical approach, the structural theoretical approach and 1he actor-structural theoretical approach. The purpose of this study is to analyse these three approaches and thereby present a fruitful approach to the complexity of problems. The author adopts the combined actor-structural theoretical approach from the start, but not in an uncritical and self-evident manner. This study is based on two lines of argumentation. Firstly, it is stipulated that a social scientist's research programme on actor and structure should be consistent With the researcher's application. Secondly, it is stipulated that social reality consists of both actor and s1ructure, and that actor and  structure do not mean the same thing. The author's suggestion is that this idea about the two-sidedness of soc iety is a prerequisite for interna! consistency. Hence, traces of both actor and structure should a lso be found in the applications of the two one-sided approaches. In order to discern the one-sided actor theoretical approach, three ideas are stipulated as philosophy, theory and explanation in a specified ideal type: methodological individualism, instrumental rationality and intentional explanation. These ideas are present in the research programme of the chosen representative of the actor theoretical approach, the Swedish political scientist Axel Hadenius. It is found that Hadenius' application does not correspond with his research programme. In his application. factors occur that are not totally reducible to facts aboul separale or aggregated individuals. In order to discern the one-sided sructural theoretical approach, three ideas are stipulated as philosophy. theory and explanation in a specified ideal type: structuralism, theoretical relations between structures and nomothetical-deductive explanations with structures. These ideas are present in the research programme of the chosen representative of the structural theoretical approach, the American sociologi st Bruce Mayhew. It is found that Mayhew's application does not correspond with his research programme. In his application, fac1s about separate or aggregated individuals occur. The three ideas behind the ideal type actor-structural theoretical approach are two-sided level realism, theoretical actor-structural relations and actor-structural explanation. These ideas are present in the research programme of the chosen representative of the actor-structural theoretical approach, the Swedish political scientist Bo Rothstein, even if there are also traces leading off in other directions. Finally, the testing of the occurrence of the preliminary actor-structural approach in the three research approaches is combined with the elabora1ion of philosophy, theory and explana1ion in the specified actorstructural theoretical approach. The latter approach constitutes the author's stand on the complexity of problems of actor and structure. The philosophy in the specified approach, two-sided leve! realism, is allegedly composed of three closely related ideas: actual closeness between actor and structure, situational irreducibility, and the relational concept of social structure. The idea of the theoretical relation between actor and structure is allegedly composed of three closely related ideas: empirical openness, analytical dualism and generative mechanisms. All are, in tum, closely related to the three ideas of the two-sided leve! realism, as well as to the idea of actor-structural explanation. The specified approach lays the foundations for clarity in terms of internat logical congruence between research programme and application.
54

Voz no corpo gritante: os desafios do processo solo de ator / -

Lorenzo, Tatiana Maria Sobrado 14 March 2014 (has links)
Este estudo é uma aproximação ao processo de criação da obra solo de ator. Pretende chamar a atenção acerca do potencial que envolve esse percurso como caminho para a constituição do ator em um sujeito/criador, artista pleno, que participa da criação teatral posicionando-­-se com seu corpo/voz e sua Voz. Partindo de uma experiência, a investigação é um estudo comparativo de cinco casos, experiências de criação de obras solo desenvolvidas na Costa Rica. Vale-­-se de entrevistas em retrospectiva e documentos de processo. Em um primeiro momento proporciona um breve panorama do contexto teatral costarriquenho atual. Apresenta a experiência disparadora e identifica a presença de obras solo nos âmbitos pedagógico, espetacular e de festivais. Apresenta outras abordagens da obra solo e estabelece um diálogo com os principais aportes. No seguinte capítulo examina a experiência disparadora à luz de princípios do Pensamento Complexo e da Crítica do Processo Criador, mostrando as dinâmicas internas e identificando seus elementos constitutivos. Na sequência são expostos os procedimentos de criação identificados como os mais recorrentes e sua presença na experiência gatilho. Os quatro processos restantes são examinados em seguida, com foco nas motivações, procedimentos e ressonâncias. Expõem-­-se ainda as tendências que caracterizam a experiência de criação de um solo de ator. Por fim, uma reflexão sobre o processo solo como experiência do sujeito é proposta como indício de mudanças no teatro costarriquenho contemporâneo e como ponto de partida para repensar a formação do ator. / This study is an approach to the creation process of the solo work of the actor. Intended to raise awareness about the potential that surrounds this resource as a way for the constitution of the actor in a subject/creator, full artist, who participates in the theatrical creation positioning himself as his body/voice and his Voice. From an experience, research is a comparative study of five cases, experiences of creating solo works developed in Costa Rica. Draws on interviews with hindsight and process documents. At first provides a brief overview of the current Costarrican theatrical context. Presents the triggering experience and identifies the presence of solo works in teaching, festivals and spectacular areas. Presents other approaches to solo work and establishes a dialogue with key contributions. The next chapter examines the triggering experience in the light of principles of Complex Thinking and the Critique of the Creator Process, showing the internal dynamics and identifying its constituent elements. Following are exposed creation procedures identified as the most applicants and their presence in the trigger experience. The remaining four cases are then examined, focusing on motivations, procedures and resonances. Still expose trends that characterize the experience of creating a solo actor. Finally, a reflection on the solo process as an experience of subject is proposed as an indication of changes in contemporary Costarrican theater and as a starting point for rethinking the training of the actor.
55

Teknik på bönders villkor : de tekniska och politiska aktörernas inflytande på den statsreglerade tekniska förändringen i Sverige 1806-1972

Hamilton, Ulf January 1997 (has links)
The dissertation deals with History of technology in Sweden before, during and after the industrialization. A theory that technical actors have a growing influence on state technology chiefly owing to the industrialization is presented. Five case-studies the Göta Canal 1806-1818, The railway-issue 1829-1848, The issue of motor traffic 1900- 1916, the issue of air transport 1912-1925 and the issue of nuclear power 1945-1972 are examined in order to test the theory. The principal results of the dissertation are as follows: The process of decision- making owing to state technology is dealt with not only by technical and political actors but also with technical/political actors. They are generally of two kinds; actors representing the technology in question and with an added political platform and politicians with an interest in technology and/or a profession with a relation to the technology in question. To this you can add a during time growing and more and more influential state bureaucracy. The possible decision on some state technical issue is framed by political actors. Inside this frame technical/political actors supported by the state bureaucracy are shaping the issues. Along with this it is apparent that technical actors with no or weak contact with political arenas take little part in the shaping- process. Owing to the study the process of industrialization and/or the professionalisation of technicians has no or a poor impact on the process of decision- making. Instead the agricultural political representation acts as a strong body with great influence on the state technical development up to the issue of nuclear power. The political representants of technology and/or industry on the other hand are not able to take advantage of the political structure in order to influence the technical issues. This depends to some extent on lack of political conformity. Another cause is however that technology when put into practice has a multiplex content which from time to time put technical actors in conflict with one another. This is apparent in the issue of air transport and nuclear power and to some extent in the choise between canal and railway. When technicians are not united the political actors, especially the ones representing agriculture, reinforce their influence on the studied state technical issues.
56

Voz no corpo gritante: os desafios do processo solo de ator / -

Tatiana Maria Sobrado Lorenzo 14 March 2014 (has links)
Este estudo é uma aproximação ao processo de criação da obra solo de ator. Pretende chamar a atenção acerca do potencial que envolve esse percurso como caminho para a constituição do ator em um sujeito/criador, artista pleno, que participa da criação teatral posicionando-­-se com seu corpo/voz e sua Voz. Partindo de uma experiência, a investigação é um estudo comparativo de cinco casos, experiências de criação de obras solo desenvolvidas na Costa Rica. Vale-­-se de entrevistas em retrospectiva e documentos de processo. Em um primeiro momento proporciona um breve panorama do contexto teatral costarriquenho atual. Apresenta a experiência disparadora e identifica a presença de obras solo nos âmbitos pedagógico, espetacular e de festivais. Apresenta outras abordagens da obra solo e estabelece um diálogo com os principais aportes. No seguinte capítulo examina a experiência disparadora à luz de princípios do Pensamento Complexo e da Crítica do Processo Criador, mostrando as dinâmicas internas e identificando seus elementos constitutivos. Na sequência são expostos os procedimentos de criação identificados como os mais recorrentes e sua presença na experiência gatilho. Os quatro processos restantes são examinados em seguida, com foco nas motivações, procedimentos e ressonâncias. Expõem-­-se ainda as tendências que caracterizam a experiência de criação de um solo de ator. Por fim, uma reflexão sobre o processo solo como experiência do sujeito é proposta como indício de mudanças no teatro costarriquenho contemporâneo e como ponto de partida para repensar a formação do ator. / This study is an approach to the creation process of the solo work of the actor. Intended to raise awareness about the potential that surrounds this resource as a way for the constitution of the actor in a subject/creator, full artist, who participates in the theatrical creation positioning himself as his body/voice and his Voice. From an experience, research is a comparative study of five cases, experiences of creating solo works developed in Costa Rica. Draws on interviews with hindsight and process documents. At first provides a brief overview of the current Costarrican theatrical context. Presents the triggering experience and identifies the presence of solo works in teaching, festivals and spectacular areas. Presents other approaches to solo work and establishes a dialogue with key contributions. The next chapter examines the triggering experience in the light of principles of Complex Thinking and the Critique of the Creator Process, showing the internal dynamics and identifying its constituent elements. Following are exposed creation procedures identified as the most applicants and their presence in the trigger experience. The remaining four cases are then examined, focusing on motivations, procedures and resonances. Still expose trends that characterize the experience of creating a solo actor. Finally, a reflection on the solo process as an experience of subject is proposed as an indication of changes in contemporary Costarrican theater and as a starting point for rethinking the training of the actor.
57

A sociology of medical innovation : deep brain stimulation and the treatment of children with dystonia

Gardner, John January 2014 (has links)
This project explores the dynamics of medical innovation using the development of deep brain stimulation therapy in paediatric neurology as a case study. Ethnographic research was conducted with a multidisciplinary clinical team developing a novel clinical service that uses deep brain stimulation (DBS) to treat children and young people with movement disorders. Interviews and observations were carried out to identify key challenges encountered by team members, and to explore the way in which team members attempt to manage these challenges in day-to-day clinical practice. Four key challenges were identified: coordinating multidisciplinary teamwork, identifying suitable candidates for deep brain stimulation; managing the expectations of patients and families; and measuring clinical outcomes. By exploring the strategies used by team members to overcome these challenges, this thesis develops the Complex Model of Medical Innovation which challenges prevalent, linear ‘bench-to-bedside’ understandings of innovation. While scientific ‘discovery’ is one source of medical innovation, new therapies in medicine also emerge from technology transfer (the transfer of technology from one sector into another) and clinicians’ learning-in-practice (the ability of clinician to learn ‘on the spot’). Importantly, this thesis demonstrates that technology transfer, learning-in-practice, and medical innovation in general are shaped by various socio-political trends. The activities of the multidisciplinary team and their novel DBS service, for example, have been shaped by the evidence based medicine movement, commercial interests, and a movement that promotes multidisciplinary approaches to paediatric service provision. A consequence of these influences is that the team subjects their patients to a broad clinical gaze. Adopting the Complex Model of Medical Innovation has important consequences: First, it draws attention to the innovative activities of clinicians, activities that may be worth disseminating in other contexts. Second, it highlights the role of existing social and material factors in shaping the development of new clinical services. The social impact of new technologies will be influenced by these contextual factors and cannot be attributed to the technology alone.
58

Doing, describing and documenting : inscription and practice in social work

Doyle, Rosemary January 2009 (has links)
The thesis explores the role of inscription in the management of social work and the effect of this on front-line practice. Inscription is a response to current trends in public sector management, in particular the focus on transparency, accountability and performance management, which drive an increasing demand for the documentation of work in areas of professional practice, traditionally assumed to be at odds with codification. The research investigates the effect of new documenting procedures in social work, specifically, the introduction of a ‘standard assessment format’ and responses to this by social work practitioners. The thesis uses a constructivist theoretical framework drawn from Actor Network Theory, which understands inscription as a performative technology, which is used to manage the process and content of practice through representation and translation. The thesis is based upon an exploratory, critical case study in a Local Authority Children and Families Social Work Service between November 2004 and May 2006. The thesis explores the translations between practice (doing), articulation (describing) and textual representation (documenting). For front-line practitioners, practice is understood as the ‘doing’ of work whilst the ‘describing’ and ‘documenting’ of work are categorised as secondary, bureaucratic concerns, with no material effect on the core processes and outcomes of social work practice. The research indicates that social work practice is in fact is a series of practices, which include the doing, describing and documenting of work. The research suggests that the conceptualisation of practice as ‘doing’, rather than ‘describing’ and ‘documenting’ work determines practitioner responses to the use of inscription in managing social work practice.
59

Accounting, trust and the government in labour-management negotiations: The crisis in the Canadian automotive industry

Kenno, Staci 11 October 2013 (has links)
This thesis investigates the role of accounting information in the automotive industry restructuring of 2008 and 2009 in Canada. The crisis in the automotive industry led to government-funded restructurings for two of the top manufacturers in North America, effectively adding the government as a third party to the negotiations. Following a series of negotiations that occurred between AutoCo and UnionA, I conduct a case study that examines the individual actors’ use of accounting inscriptions in negotiations, as well as explore the dynamic interaction between accounting and trust at the negotiation table. The use of actor network theory highlights the individual actors, their actor-networks, accounting inscriptions and the continuous translation process inherent in labour-management negotiations. Accounting inscriptions are shown to play a central role in negotiations, particularly as a forum for bringing the actor-networks together. Furthermore, I explicate the notion of tactical trust, as it emphasizes the assessment, monitoring, and adjustment inherent in decisions to trust actors within dynamic business contexts. I also investigate the roles that the Canadian government played throughout the restructuring of the automotive industry. Through an in-depth case study of the restructuring from its antecedents through to outcomes, the research focuses on the roles of the government officials in the negotiations between the company and the unions, and their use of accounting information. The empirics highlight that the government not only acted at a distance but utilized sovereign power and direct intervention to achieve their objectives in the automotive industry restructuring. I find that the accounting served as the flexible substitute for the government’s presence at the negotiations table while they were acting at a distance and is used as an immutable parameter when the government directly intervened. This paper extends the governmentality literature by highlighting the coercive character of government actions, technologies and programs, and the notion of government in action. I consider the implications of these research findings on the labour-management negotiations, accounting, actor network theory and governmentality literature. In conclusion I also highlight various avenues of future research. / Thesis (Ph.D, Management) -- Queen's University, 2013-10-09 20:46:13.009
60

Life and limb : prosthetic citizenship in Serbia

Milosavljevic, Kate Louise January 2013 (has links)
The term ‘prosthetic’ is used increasingly across the social sciences and has taken on a theoretical life as a result of debates springing from contemporary studies of science and technology, medical anthropology and citizenship. This research considers whether the usage of ‘prosthetic’ and ‘prosthesis’ has however, become all too distanced from a grounded understanding of these terms, and is now in many ways synonymous with the term ‘cyborg’, therefore obscuring the specific relationships that prostheses represent. It asks if these terms have become a ‘catchall’ of technological subjectivities, without any basis in lived experience. Through ethnographic research into the manufacture, marketing and usage of medical prostheses in a Serbian inpatient rehabilitation centre, as well as interviews with prosthesis manufacturers, salespeople, as well with various citizens young and old, I present a nuanced view of the way in which citizenship itself is enacted. Citizenship is also a process of augmenting the body, both explicitly, such as in the (re)construction of socially acceptable bodies who have the capacity to labour, and implicitly, such as in the process of acquiring passports and identity documents. This process of externalising, and of the distributing of elements of the self into objects and relationships outside of the biological body forms the basis of what I term prosthetic citizenship. In my search for a grounded and ethnographically informed understanding of prostheses, and of prosthetic citizenship, key themes emerge, such as hope, normality, morality and the relationship of technology to the bodies. I find that prostheses are always sites of entanglement and paradox, but that they are also equally full of promise, and that in understanding how, why and in what capacities they are used, they emerge as capable of bridging the divide between theoretically complex abstract relationships, and the pragmatic realities of daily life.

Page generated in 0.2167 seconds