Les technologies émergentes, telles que les objets connectés et les réseaux sociaux sont en train de changer notre manière d’interagir avec autrui. De par leur large adoption, ces technologies génèrent de plus en plus de données. Alors que la gestion de larges volumes de données fut l’un des sujets majeurs de la dernière décennie, un nouveau défi est apparu récemment : comment tirer profit de données générées en temps réel. Avec la croissance des capacités de mémoires vives, plusieurs fournisseurs services, tel que Facebook, déploient des péta-octets de DRAM afin de garantir un temps d’accès rapide aux données. Néanmoins, les mémoires vives sont volatiles, et nécessitent souvent des mécanismes de tolérance aux pannes coûteux en termes de performance. Ceci crée des compromis entre la performance, la tolérance aux pannes et l’efficacité dans les systèmes de stockage basés sur les mémoires vives. Dans cette thèse, nous commençons, d’une part, par étudier ces compromis : nous identifions les facteurs principaux qui impactent la performance, l’efficacité et la tolérance aux pannes dans les systèmes de stockage en mémoire.Ensuite, nous concevons et implémentons un nouveau mécanisme de réplication basé sur l’accès à la mémoire distante (RDMA). Enfin, nous portons cette technique à un nouveau type de système de stockage : les systèmes de stockage pour streaming. Nous concevons et implémentons des mécanismes de réplication et de tolérance aux pannes efficaces et un impact minimal sur les performances sur le stockage pour streaming. / Emerging technologies such as connected devices and social networking applications are shaping the way we live, work, and interact with each other. These technologies generate increasingly high volumes of data. Dealing with large volumes of data has been an important focus in the last decade, however, today the challenge has shifted from data volume to velocity: How to store, process, and extract value from data generated With the growing capacity of DRAM, service providers largely rely on DRAM-based storage systems to serve their workloads. Because DRAM is volatile, usually, distributed in-memory storage systems rely on expensive durability mechanisms to persist data.This creates trade-offs between performance, durability and efficiency in in-memory storage systems We first study these trade-offs by means of experimental study. We extract the main factors that impact performance and efficiency in in-memory storage systems. Then, we design and implement a new RDMA-based replication mechanism that greatly improves replication efficiency in in-memory storage systems. Finally, we leverage our techniques and apply them to stream storage systems. We design and implement high-performance replication mechanisms for stream storage, while guaranteeing linearizability and durability.

O trabalho discute o conceito de performance na esfera pedagógica, que ficou submetido a uma racionalidade instrumental e objetivista, incidindo na pedagogização dos processos formativos e na orientação para uma educação técnica. Investigar a performance docente, problema pouco estudado sob o ponto de vista teórico e prático, é, portanto, possibilitar a superação da apática limitação do próprio conceito, proveniente da sua redução ao princípio da identidade cientificista e da autoridade didática. Em vista dessa exigência, pretendemos lançar um olhar hermenêutico-reconstrutivo com o intuito de repensar os equívocos nos rumos do debate para sugerir sua compreensão como forma de fazer com que a multiplicidade interpretativa possa interagir de modo comunicativo entre formadores, formandos e interlocutores pedagógicos, aperfeiçoando a competência comunicativa na formação de professores. A tese analisa a dimensão performativa reconstruída pela via da racionalidade comunicativa de Jürgen Habermas e Paulo Freire, em diálogo com outros pensadores, reconhecendo a interdependência das várias formas de argumentação e de inter-relações formativas para justificar a singularidade do trabalho pedagógico, tendo em vista a possibilidade realizadora da fala na educação, que integra e inclui a verdade do mundo objetivo, o moralmente prático e o esteticamente expressivo. Ensinar não consiste apenas num dizer, mas num fazer, num agir, no sentido ético, estético e técnico, isto é, produtivo, formativo e expressivo da comunicação humana. Tal racionalidade poderia satisfazer as demandas estéticas e sociais frente aos reducionismos intelectuais, abrindo espaço à pluralidade e à contingência da prática cotidiana, admitindo justificações argumentadas pelo enfoque performativo que assegura validades em favor de um mundo da ação intersubjetiva, dialógica e humana, que é sempre suscetível de refutação. Tal proposta exigiria entre outras modificações, desenvolver o saber linguístico-expressivo dos professores, a ser construído durante o processo formativo, relativizando as concepções positivistas de competência em benefício de uma racionalidade aprendente, performativa e mais alargada de compreensão do mundo. / This work discusses the concept of teacher’s performance in the educational sphere, which was subjected to an instrumental and objective rationality, focusing on the pedagogization of formative process and orientation for technical education. The investigation of teaching performance - a problem poorly studied from the theoretical and practical point of view - is, therefore, a means of enabling the overcome of apathetic limitation of the concept itself, descendant of its reduction to a principle of scientific identity and didactic authority. Given this requirement, we intend to cast a hermeneutic-reconstructive glance in order to rethink the mistakes in the debate course to suggest its understandings as a way of making the interpretative multiplicity interact in communicative manners among educators, apprentices and pedagogical interlocutors, improving communicative competence in teacher’s formation. The thesis examines the performative dimension reconstructed by the communicative rationality of Jürgen Habermas and Paulo Freire, in dialogue with other intelectuals, recognizing the interdependence of the various forms of argumentation and formative inter-relations to justify the singularity of the educational work, raising the possibility of speech in education, which integrates and includes the truth of the objective world, the morally practical and aesthetically expressive. Teaching is not only a telling, but rather a doing, an act in an ethic, aesthetic and technical sense, that is, productive, formative and expressive of human communication. Such rationality could satisfy the aesthetic and social demands in face of intellectual reductionism, giving space for plurality and contingency in daily practice, assuming justifications argued by performative approaches which ensure validity in favor of a world of intersubjective action, dialogic and human, which is always susceptible to refutation. This proposal would require, among other changes, the development of linguistic-expressive knowledge of teachers, which should be built during the formative process, relativizing the positivist conceptions of competence in favor of a rationality learner, with a performative and broader comprehension of the world.

Esta pesquisa de doutorado em Educação, realizada com recorte etnográfico, analisa um determinado lugar na cidade de Porto Alegre, reconhecido como um lugar de sociabilidades e práticas homossexuais, mas que se diferencia ao acolher qualquer público adulto (homens heterossexuais, travestis, mulheres). Mesmo se tratando de lugar reconhecidamente gay, paradoxalmente se percebem indicações eróticas e hierarquizações a partir de comportamentos e práticas heterossexuais. Inspirado na obra do Marques de Sade, Os 120 dias de Sodoma ou a Escola de Libertinagem, penso nesse local com a ajuda da metáfora do Castelo de Silling, que sofreu inúmeras adaptações para comportar tantas atuações a partir de manifestações eróticas e das próprias práticas sexuais. O ‘castelo’ pesquisado também possibilitou a análise de uma específica prática corporal, o strip tease masculino, a partir de variados investimentos no substrato corporal de homens jovens, masculinos, que diariamente exibem-se para uma plateia predominantemente homossexual. Nesses shows foram percebidos elementos pedagógicos relacionados a gênero e sexualidade, pautados em uma possível supremacia da heterossexualidade que se apresenta no palco, ao mesmo tempo em que se desvalorizam as próprias homossexualidades dos clientes, o gênero feminino e a condição travesti. Portanto, tal ‘castelo’ pode ser também analisado a partir de referenciais heteronormativos percebidos em alguns espaços e nesses shows com o rechaço das homossexualidades e feminilidades ali representadas. / This qualitative doctoral research in education, conducted with ethnographic inspiration, examines a particular place in the city of Porto Alegre, recognised as a place of homosexual sociabilities and practices, but that also excepts any adult audience (heterosexual men, transvestites, women). Even if it came to be recognized as a gay place, paradoxically it is possible to notice some hierarchies based upon heterosexual practices and behaviors. Inspired by the work of Marquis de Sade, The 120 days of Sodom, or the School of Licentiouness, I see this particular research field as he metaphor of the Silling castle, which suffered numerous adaptations to accommodate several performances and erotic practices. The ' Castle ' that was researched also enabled the analysis of a specific bodily practice, the male strip tease. The analysis problematized the various investments in the body young masculine men who, daily entertain an audience that is predominantly homosexual. In these shows pedagogical elements related to gender and sexuality were perceived. These elements presented on stage were mosty based on a possible supremacy of heterosexuality, which at the same time that devalues the homosexuality of the customers, the feminine and transvestite conditions. Therefore, though being mostly dedicated to gay customers the shows presented in this “castle” also have heteronormative referentials like the rejection of feminine traits and homosexuality.

Esta tese realiza uma pesquisa bibliográfica acerca das acepções do termo performance e suas possibilidades para pensar o campo da Educação. Problematiza-se a noção de ensino como performance, propondo pensar o professor e o aluno como performers. Busca-se demonstrar a potência de se projetar a escola como entre-lugar, como espaço liminar, como lócus de transformação de práticas escolares em processos de ensino-criação. Aduz-se a possibilidade de recuperação da corporeidade de professores e estudantes. Procura-se relativizar a crise da oposição professor-estudante, reproduzida em nosso sistema educacional, revendo hierarquias e estabelecendo novas bases para se refletir sobre a educação escolarizada. Apresentam-se as noções de professor-performer e estudanteperformer como sujeitos de trabalho colaborativo. A tese propõe diálogo entre a performance e a educação escolarizada, retomando cadernos de notas da pesquisadora, registros em fotografia e vídeo, oriundos de sua atuação como professora de teatro. A pesquisa circunscreve a performance na educação como forma de mobilizar os papéis de professor e aluno hegemonicamente aceitos. / This thesis consists of a literature review focused on the meanings of the term performance and its possibilities to think the field of Education. It discusses the notion of teaching as performance, proposing to consider teachers and students as performers. The aim is to demonstrate the power of designing the school as an inbetween place, a liminal space, a place to turn school practices into teachingcreating processes. We raise the possibility to recover the corporeity of teachers and students. The thesis seeks to relativise the crisis of the teacher-student opposition, reproduced in our educational system, reviewing hierarchies and establishing new bases to reflect on school education. It presents the notions of teacher-performer and student-performer as subjects of collaborative work. The thesis proposes a dialogue between performance and school education, including material from the researcher's notebooks, and photo and video records of her practice as a theatre teacher. The research confines performance to education as a way to mobilise the hegemonically accepted roles of teacher and student.

O presente trabalho objetiva compreender através da etnografia da música os processos e os procedimentos estéticos e sonoro-musicais, envolvidos nas musicalidades Funk na comunidade do Campo da Tuca, zona leste de Porto Alegre. Para tal, analiso a partir de trajetórias individuais e coletivas as representações e interações dos colaboradores e suas percepções sobre o Baile Funk e a comunidade. Busco também através da análise de páginas do Facebook, vídeos do YouTube, reportagens de jornais e entrevistas com funkeiros de diferentes gerações, bem como a observação participante entender como a produção musical Funk compõe uma rede de pessoas de diferentes capitais no fortalecimento e na circulação do cenário nacional e local de Funk. Os dados apontam para quase quatro décadas de bailes de música negra na cidade. O trabalho de campo desenvolveu-se entre julho de 2014 e dezembro de 2015. Baseio-me nas noções de espaço banal (Milton Santos), diáspora (Stuart Hall), evento musical (Anthony Seeger) e quilombismo (Abdias Nascimento). / This study aims to understand, through music ethnography, the aesthetic and sound-musical processes and procedures involved in the Funk musicality at Campo da Tuca, east zone of Porto Alegre. In order to reach this goal, I analyze, through individual and collective trajectories, the representations and interactions presented by collaborators and their perceptions on the “Baile Funk” and the community. I also try to understand, through the analysis of Facebook pages, YouTube videos, newspaper articles, interviews with “funkeiros” from different generations and participant observation, how Funk music production creates a network of people from different cultural capitals that contribute to the strengthening and to the circulation of the national and local Funk scenes. The data shows nearly four decades of black music parties in the city. The fieldwork was developed between July 2014 and December 2015. I base myself on the notions of banal space (Milton Santos), Diaspora (Stuart Hall), musical event (Anthony Seeger) and quilombismo (Abdias Nascimento).

Les trois essais, qui constituent les principales contributions théoriques et empiriques de cette thèse, sont présentés dans les chapitres1 à 3. Le chapitre 1 présente le premier essai intitulé « Relations politiques d'entreprise en Russie et leurs implications pour la performance et la rentabilité des entreprises ». Le chapitre 2 représente le deuxième essai intitulé « Banque et relations politiques en Russie et leurs implications pour les coûts au niveau de la dette ». Le chapitre 3 présente le troisième essai intitulé « Relations politiques d'entreprise en Russie et leurs implications pour l'activité d'acquisition au niveau de l'entreprise » Bien que développés séparément, ces chapitres sont interconnectés de façon cohérente, comme le montre la figure GI-1. Conceptuellement, la construction théorique principale dans ces trois chapitres est l'effet ultime que les liens politiques des entreprises ont sur la performance et la rentabilité des entreprises. Cet effet peut être étudié directement (pour obtenir une grande image de l'impact que ces différents types de liens politiques ont sur la rentabilité et la performance), et aussi indirectement (en examinant précisément les effets des différents types de liens politiques sur les déterminants de rentabilité et de performance). Plus précisément, le chapitre 1 aborde la grande image en régressant les ratios de rentabilité et de performance et de leurs déterminants fondamentaux sur différents types de relations politiques. Le chapitre 2 enquête précisément sur l'impact des différents types de relations politiques et bancaires sur le coût au niveau de la dette de l'entreprise, qui à son tour affecte la rentabilité et la performance, et le chapitre 3 examine les effets des différents types de liens politiques sur l'activité des acquisitions au niveau des entreprises qui potentiellement peuvent également affecter les ratios de rentabilité et de performance. Suite à ces trois chapitres, le mémoire se termine par une conclusion générale présentant les principales conclusions de cette thèse, les limites et les perspectives pour la recherche future. / This dissertation consists of three chapters representing three self-contained essays on the effects of corporate political connections on firm operational, financial, and investment activities. The research is based on a sample of Russian non-state-owned companies operating within the period of 2000-2013. Chapter 1 investigates the effect of corporate political connections on firm performance and profitability. I find that political connections to the executive branch of the central (federal) government positively affect connected firm’s return on sales, return on assets, return on equity and market-to-book ratio. These improvements are conditioned by better operating performance of the connected firm. At the same time financial and taxation costs are not seriously affected by political connections. Contrary to the effect of federal ties, connections to regional authorities bring more costs than benefits to the connected firms with both operating performance and overall performance indicators showing decline in presence of regional political ties. The latter effect can be explained by greater costs which regionally connected firms have to bear in order to contribute to the economic development of regions and provinces to which they are connected. Overall, Chapter 1 provides direct evidence on the effects of corporate political connections on firm profitability, performance, and their basic determinants, also showing that different types of connections differently affect performance. Chapter 2 examines the effect of corporate political and bank connections on firm-level cost of debt. I find that corporate connections to banks decrease cost of debt of a firm. However this effect works only if a firm has connections to a state-owned bank, not a private bank, and connections to a state-owned bank are to be maintained through a significant shareholder of the firm, not CEO, or board member. I also find that corporate connections to the executive branch of the central (federal) government decrease cost of debt. The latter effect works only if political connections are strong and cohesive enough, i.e. they were formed under circumstances that required high level of mutual trust and reliability between parties. Overall, the second chapter provides evidence that political and bank connections do really affect cost of debt and reveals important conditions under which connections can have an impact on this variable. Chapter 3 investigates the effect of corporate political connections on firm-level acquisitions activity. I find that political connections to central (federal) government positively affect firm’s propensity to purchase stakes in other firms. This effect works well in the domestic market, but not in the foreign markets. It does also work well with regard to acquisitions of stakes in the open market, but, ironically, not in the process of privatization. At the same time I find that political connections to regional governments are negatively associated with the probability of purchasing a stake by the acquirer. The latter effect may have an explanation that in a “small world” of regional political and business elites it is risky for participants to violate the regional equilibrium of wealth and power, thus firms demonstrate acquisitions activity levels lower than that of the reference group of unconnected firms. Overall, the third chapter provides evidence on the effects of corporate political connections on bidder’s acquisitions activity, showing, however, that different types of connections may differently impact bidder’s propensity to acquire stakes in other firms.

La compétence des gestionnaires de placements est l'un des sujets les plus étudiés en finance, de sorte que les lecteurs peuvent se demander pourquoi il existe encore des thèses comme celle-ci qui lance trois nouveaux Essais sur le sujet. Pris ensemble, ces essais contribuent à divers flux de la littérature de gestion des investissements en jetant un regard neuf sur les compétences dans les classes d'actifs où il est difficile de mesurer (private equity), ou si le sujet n'a pas été étudié en profondeur.). Les résultats donnent des résultats contrastés, car il existe des preuves substantielles de compétences pour le capital-investissement, même après les frais, mais moins de preuves de compétences pour les familles de fonds communs de placement. Les raisons possibles de cette divergence peuvent inclure des incitations élevées des gestionnaires de fonds dans le secteur du capital-investissement, des rendements d'échelle décroissants dans le secteur des fonds communs de placement, des coûts de recherche pour les investisseurs, une inefficacité du marché ou une combinaison de ces facteurs. Ces Essais contiennent également des informations utiles pour les praticiens et les investisseurs. En identifiant au moins quelques déterminants de compétence, les praticiens peuvent avoir une idée des comportements qui ajoutent (ou soustraient) à la valeur de leurs fonds. En quantifiant et en localisant les compétences dans différents types de fonds, les résultats des études peuvent également aider les investisseurs à concentrer leur recherche de compétences, et au moins augmenter la probabilité de trouver un gestionnaire de fonds qualifiés. Pour conclure cette introduction, le sujet de la compétence dans la gestion de fonds est extrêmement important pour beaucoup de gens, mais c'est un sujet complexe qui nécessite encore beaucoup de recherches sérieuses. Le mieux que je puisse espérer, c'est que ces Essais apportent un éclairage nouveau sur certains aspects du sujet qui n'ont pas encore été complètement explorés dans la littérature existante. Sur une note personnelle, j'ai trouvé que la recherche était une tâche très intéressante et stimulante qui fournissait un cadre riche pour faire progresser mes compétences en tant que chercheur financier empirique. J'espère que vous aimez lire ces Essais autant que j'ai aimé les assembler. / Investment manager skill is one of the most researched topics in finance, so readers may wonder why there are still theses such as this one which launches three new Essays on the topic. There are two parts to the answer. The first part lies in the fact that the issue is an extremely important one for many people, organizations, and even governments, at all levels of society and in all corners of the globe. The second part of the answer lies in the fact that, despite intensive research going back 50 years at least, investment manager skill is not yet a well understood phenomenon. Taken together, these Essays contribute to various streams of the investment management literature by taking a fresh look at skill in asset classes where it is difficult to measure (private equity), or where the topic has not previously been studied in depth (mutual fund families). These Essays also contain useful information for practitioners and investors. By identifying at least some determinants of skill, practitioners can get a sense of the behaviors which add to (or subtract from) the value of their funds. By quantifying and locating skill in different type of funds, the papers' findings can also aid investors to focus their search for skill, and at least increase the probability of finding a skilled fund manager.

Les futurs chirurgiens orthopédistes apprennent leur métier sur le mode du compagnonnage en participant, à hauteur de leurs compétences, à certains gestes opératoires. Cet apprentissage se déroule dans un milieu professionnel particulièrement stressant. Des travaux antérieurs ont déjà étudié l'incidence du stress sur la pratique professionnelle des chirurgiens experts et novices, mais la plupart n'ont pas utilisé une méthode expérimentale et ont considéré uniquement la performance comme un résultat d'action. Or, nous pensons qu'il est primordial de considérer les stratégies mobilisées par les internes (l'efficience de traitement) et le résultat d'action pour pouvoir correctement appréhender les effets du stress sur la performance et le rôle joué par l'expertise et la difficulté de la tâche. Ainsi, ce travail de thèse a donc eu pour objectif de déterminer les effets du stress sur la performance des internes en chirurgie orthopédique, et ce en prenant en compte l'efficience de traitement et la performance. Une première partie de ce travail a eu pour objectif de déterminer ce qui, dans l'activité, correspond à la performance comme résultat d'action et ce qui relève de l'efficience de traitement. Nous avons pour cela mené une analyse de l'activité (Etude 1). Les résultats de cette analyse d'activité nous ont permis de tester expérimentalement les effets du stress sur la performance et sur l'efficience de traitement. Bien que les résultats ne nous permettent pas de confirmer l'ensemble des hypothèses émises, nous mettons en évidence un effet du stress sur la performance et sur l'efficience de traitement des internes dans une tâche de lecture et d'interprétation de radiographies (Etude 2) puis, sur l'efficience de traitement dans une tâche de simulation opératoire (Etude 3). En nous appuyant sur les résultats obtenus, nous avons mis en place un simulateur d'apprentissage destiné aux futurs chirurgiens afin de renforcer l'enseignement de l'activité. Puis, nous avons proposé que l'enseignement de la gestion du stress soit intégré à la formation des internes. Pour cela, nous avons dirigé nos recherches sur les techniques de gestion émotionnelle en testant l'applicabilité d'une technique au domaine du stress (Etude 4). Le travail réalisé dans cette thèse s'est articulé autour de plusieurs disciplines, et la complémentarité de ces approches nous a permis d'apporter une contribution importante à la compréhension et la gestion des effets du stress sur la performance médicale. / Future orthopedic surgeons learn their craft on the mode of companionship by participating in proportion to their skills, some operative procedures. This learning takes place in a stressful workplace. Previous works have studied the effect of stress on the professional practice of expert and novice surgeons, but most of them did not use an experimental method and considered only the performance as a result of action. However, we believe that it is essential to take into account the strategies used (processing efficiency) and the result of action in order to properly understand the effects of stress on performance and the moderating role of expertise and task difficulty. Thus, this thesis has aimed to determine the effects of stress on performance for future orthopedic surgeons, and taking into account the efficiency of processing and performance. The first part of this work aimed at disentangling efficiency and output in the concept of performance. To do so, we conducted an analysis of the activity (Study 1). Results of this analysis allowed us to experimentally test the effects of stress on performance and efficiency. On the hole, the results show that stress impairs performance and efficiency for future orthopedic surgeons in a task of reading and interpretation of radiographs (Study 2) and in in a surgical simulation task (Study 3). In line with these findings, we developed a simulator for training future surgeons to enhance their training. Then, we proposed that the teaching of stress management should be integrated into the training of interns. To do so, we have focused our research on emotion regulation skills by testing the applicability of a technique to the field of stress (Study 4). The work done in this thesis is structured around several disciplines, and complementarity of these approaches has allowed us to make an important contribution to understanding and managing the effects of stress on medical performance.

Audience agency, text-reading practices, and the roles mediated cultural texts play in the lives of readers have long been at the center of enduring debates among Critical, Cultural, Performance, and Rhetorical Studies scholars. One salient ongoing dialogue among scholars and critics questions the degree to which audiences actively participate in the process of making sense of mediated texts. How capable are media consumers of comprehending and responding to texts containing oppressive discourses? If pop culture is vital in shaping what it means to belong to a culture, can politically minded consumption of cultural texts be a tool by which we can resist or subvert dominant ideologies? This study enters into this dialogue through critical engagement with the emergent embodied audiencing practice of movie riffing, which is characterized by performers talking back to a film, or any matter of mediated text, as it is screened, through a series of humorous and/or critical speech acts. Embracing performative riffing as both a text-reading ethic for negotiating ideologically loaded pop culture texts and a space-based return of embodied performance in a social setting typically characterized by stillness and silence, this study explores the present state of riffing and looks to riffing's future by theorizing a movie-riffing ethic that constitutes explicitly political performance. This study is divided into eight chapters. Chapters 1 and 2 consider contemporary and historical anecdotes on audiencing practices to situate riffing within a rich legacy of embodied audiencing, text appropriation, meta-commentary, and ritual performance. Chapter 3 discusses the theoretical implications of riffing by situating riffing in scholarly discussions concerning audience agency in making sense of ideologically loaded pop culture texts; I argue riffing explicates the possibilities and constraints of audience agency, all of which should be recognized if riffing is to become a valuable performance tactic by which consumers of U.S. popular culture might enter into struggle over ideologically loaded cultural texts and reclaim a space for embodied audiencing in the cultural marketplace. Chapters 4 through 6 are dedicated to site- and text-specific inquiries into the current state of performative riffing and embodied audiencing. Chapter 4 chronicles my initial foray into ritual embodied audiencing with an ethnographic account of the 24-hour participatory "bad" movie festival B-Fest. Recounting my experiences of a B-Fest spent riffing alongside a group of enthusiastic B-Fest aficionados, I consider both the shortcomings and potential power of B-Fest riffing as a participatory, embodied audiencing ethic. Chapter 5 continues my exploration into site-specific audiencing rituals and weaves elements of text-specific inquiry, as I examine the popular audiencing ritual of the 2003 film The Room through a lens of Victor Turner's social drama model. I argue The Room's audiencing ritual and its related performances constitute part of a discursive struggle between the film's fanbase and the film's director, Tommy Wiseau, to claim the film's enduring success as a midnight movie phenomenon. In describing ways in which audience members interact with the film and each other during screenings of the film, I explore the implications of tactical in-theater performance in reading pop culture texts. Chapter 6 moves out of the realm of physical theaters and into the world of popular media as I explore today's most famous and influential riffing showcase, Mystery Science Theater 3000, and consider the tactical strengths and weaknesses of its model of movie riffing as a vessel for cultural criticism. I undertake a close textual reading of MST3K's characteristic movie riffing and identify themes that politically minded riffers might utilize to aid their efforts to read and potentially challenge ideologically loaded texts. Yet, recognizing that the discourse of the show at times showcases problematic attitudes that can be read as destructive or offensive in ways that suggest ridiculing a text is not necessarily the same as subverting it, I also consider ways in which MST3K's model of riffing falls short or presents challenges--and, therefore, avenues for innovation and growth--to politically minded riffers. Chapters 7 and 8 reflect on the lessons gleaned in previous chapters to articulate theoretical contributions and future directions for riffing and embodied audiencing practices. Chapter 7 reflects upon the observations and ideas gathered in Chapters 4 through 6 and localizes them in three related contexts--amateur riffing and online communities, mediated activist art, and the political use of humor--which I offer as further illuminating possibilities, challenges, and new directions and paradigms for riffing. Finally, Chapter 8 draws from my observations in Chapters 4 through 7 and discusses future directions that performative riffing and embodied audiencing performances provide as text-based discursive tools for interpreting and critiquing mediated cultural texts and the ideologies and interpretations of reality they convey. I glimpse into the future of riffing and in-theater performance and discuss the possibilities of riffing as a method of political performance by which media consumers can talk back to mediated texts and those texts' ideologies and interpretations of reality.

In this dissertation, I explore the fantasies and paradoxical desires belying spiritual medium performances of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries and new media practices of remediation. Forming the organizing construct of this dissertation, spiritual medium performance gives me a medium to explore fantasy as a means of suspending and manipulating audience belief. Through the use of my performance persona, Lucida Fox, I further connect the spiritual medium’s communication with the dead to the practices of remediation meant to summon the influences of obsolete media. Through Lucida, I remediate the past (Chapter 2), future (Chapter 3), and experiment with several spiritualist techniques in the present (Chapter 4). In the final chapter, I address the implications of this research on current discussions within the field of performance studies and conclude by offering future direction of this research.