This project seeks to deepen the understanding of economic “performativity” – the effects of economic theory and models on the economy - by examining the history of financial markets and the relationship between economic and political forces. Chapter One demonstrates how the culture of finance (and economics, more generally) began changing in 1950 from methods that aimed in the production of epistemologically true, descriptive statements to abstract theories that illuminated the potentials of markets. As a result, economics was able to provide the mechanisms necessary to transform markets for the first time. Chapter Two demonstrates that this departure from orthodox methods birthed a new field of research concerning the ability of economics to construct theoretically described worlds: performativity. This chapter demonstrates that all conceptions of performativity are able to be organized into weak and strong claims, being further united by their depiction of economics as an independent force that comes up against external forces in periods of market emergence and transformation. Interestingly, a dichotomy emerges between performativity and political-cultural approaches to understanding economies: the former claims economics is the force that practically transforms markets and the latter claims transformation occurs through mediation of political and institutional interests. It is the purpose of Chapter Three to unveil a new context to understand economic performativity. It will first be demonstrated that there exists little evidence for the performative claim that economics is a force unto itself: instead, economics is utilized as tool to provide organization and stability for actors in periods of market transformation and as such, relies on external forces for performative success. Reconceptualizing performativity in this way addresses many critiques against variations of the performative thesis and suggests that the dichotomization between performative and political-cultural approaches may be reconciled, illuminating a more plausible account of how economics interacts with its objects. It is concluded that performative accounts of economics ought to be subsumed within political-cultural approaches to understanding economic organization. / Thesis (Master, Philosophy) -- Queen's University, 2013-09-28 08:05:52.036

Identifying (with) performance: Representations and Constructions of Cultural Identity in Contemporary Theatre Practice - Three Case Studies discusses ways in which contemporary live performance affirms, challenges or constructs collective models of cultural identity by addressing the performative relationship through which identity is joined to the process of identification. The thesis argues that cultural identity is constructed within the process of identification, and that this process is articulated through performance. It examines strategies of intervening in this process by theatricalizing those cultural practices that establish and confirm our collective attachments. The thesis explores these strategies through an -in-depth case study of three exemplary artistic practices: Welsh theatre company Brith Gof; Guillermo Gómez-Peña and Coco Fusco, a Mexican and a Cuban-American performance artist based in the U. S.; and the Israeli Acco Theater Center. Using techniques of reiteration, reframing, decontextualization, emphasis, or exaggeration, these artists defamiliarize established patterns of cultural performance in order both to affirm and question the way in which these performances attach us to a collective identity. They utilize forms of interacting and counter-acting the processes of 'seeing' and 'feeling in the identification of and with others in performance. The thesis is composed of six chapters. Chapter One outlines recent theoretical debates on cultural identity and its relationship with identification, focusing in particular on anthropological and ethnographical approaches to performative cultural practices and on sociological and philosophical approaches to performative practices in the constitution of identity. Chapter Two scrutinizes three theatre historical models for a study of identity, and complement these with an account of the current debate on performance theatre, performativity and theatricality. Chapter Three analyses Brith Gof’s theatrical oeuvre in reference to its articulation of spatial concerns. Chapter Four discusses Gómez-Peña’s and Fusco’s performance work in relation to its corporeal strategies. Chapter Five focuses on a discussion of the Acco Theater Center’s seminal performance Arbeit macht frei vom Toitland Europa, in an investigation of its address to the temporal orders of biography, memory and history. Chapter Six concludes the thesis with a general look at the constitution of identification in theatre and performance.

In a world where the actions of firms have profound consequences, and in which existing corporate norms frequently have controversial impacts on the broader society, the issue of transforming corporate institutions is of increasing importance. What mechanisms allow reforms to be proposed, understood, accepted and eventually adopted throughout an organizational field? How do practices which diverge markedly from prior norms become both acceptable and widely imitated? There is an accelerating use of social movement theory and organization theory to understand and explain campaigns for social change and corporate responses. In this study, I explore the influence of governance activists on the norms of corporate governance in Canada. In the years immediately after the introduction of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the United States, Canadian governance activists began to advocate a new model of the role of corporate boards. They wished to strengthen the independence of board from management, and their model quickly became normative. Institutions changed swiftly and unmistakably. This setting provides an opportunity to investigate the means by which institutional entrepreneurs introduce new practices to an organizational field, how the practices they advocate acquire value, and the conditions under which new practices are integrated into the decision-making processes of organizations. I first conduct a multi-practice study that examines the importance of rankings as an algorithm or calculative device that is congruent with corporate logics. I then examine the diffusion of these practices using a heterogeneous diffusion model. The logic of activists, the structure of organizational fields and the rational decision making of individual firms each play an essential part in the process of institutionalizing new and divergent practices.

In a world where the actions of firms have profound consequences, and in which existing corporate norms frequently have controversial impacts on the broader society, the issue of transforming corporate institutions is of increasing importance. What mechanisms allow reforms to be proposed, understood, accepted and eventually adopted throughout an organizational field? How do practices which diverge markedly from prior norms become both acceptable and widely imitated? There is an accelerating use of social movement theory and organization theory to understand and explain campaigns for social change and corporate responses. In this study, I explore the influence of governance activists on the norms of corporate governance in Canada. In the years immediately after the introduction of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the United States, Canadian governance activists began to advocate a new model of the role of corporate boards. They wished to strengthen the independence of board from management, and their model quickly became normative. Institutions changed swiftly and unmistakably. This setting provides an opportunity to investigate the means by which institutional entrepreneurs introduce new practices to an organizational field, how the practices they advocate acquire value, and the conditions under which new practices are integrated into the decision-making processes of organizations. I first conduct a multi-practice study that examines the importance of rankings as an algorithm or calculative device that is congruent with corporate logics. I then examine the diffusion of these practices using a heterogeneous diffusion model. The logic of activists, the structure of organizational fields and the rational decision making of individual firms each play an essential part in the process of institutionalizing new and divergent practices.

The objective of this practicum project was to address the lack of overall cohesion of identity and culture in Winnipeg’s Cultural District through the development of a Bistro and Lounge. Theoretical concepts of placemaking helped ground the design within Winnipeg and it’s performing arts community. The project investigates how the relationship between an interior and its surrounding community context might influence one another. Aspects of performance theory, used in conjunction with theories of performativity provided a framework for the design in order to relate the act of performing to the simple rituals of the everyday. Finally, the project seeks to explore the performance opportunities a bistro and lounge environment present when the private element of a dressing room is introduced in to the space. The intention of the facility is to provide the user with a place to socialize and a means to feel as though they have assumed the role of a performer for the evening. Most importantly, this facility will provide the district with another rich, cultural experience, different from what is already available.

The objective of this practicum project was to address the lack of overall cohesion of identity and culture in Winnipeg’s Cultural District through the development of a Bistro and Lounge. Theoretical concepts of placemaking helped ground the design within Winnipeg and it’s performing arts community. The project investigates how the relationship between an interior and its surrounding community context might influence one another. Aspects of performance theory, used in conjunction with theories of performativity provided a framework for the design in order to relate the act of performing to the simple rituals of the everyday. Finally, the project seeks to explore the performance opportunities a bistro and lounge environment present when the private element of a dressing room is introduced in to the space. The intention of the facility is to provide the user with a place to socialize and a means to feel as though they have assumed the role of a performer for the evening. Most importantly, this facility will provide the district with another rich, cultural experience, different from what is already available.

This research project proposes to examine the role of religious/secular identities and spaces in processes of newcomer settlement. By focusing on how newcomer participants performed socio-spatially contingent religious/secular identities and experienced religious/secular spaces fluidly, I shed light on the importance of these negotiations of identity and space as settlement strategy. I examined these settlement strategies through participants’ navigation of religious organizations and other spatial contexts such as the workplace, school and home. Informed by their individual agency, participants were shown to perform identities and experience different spaces in such a way as to address a variety of structural constraints and settlement challenges. This thesis research was conducted using a feminist geography framework, drawing on qualitative research methods. I relied on a mixed-methods approach, using participant observation, individual semi-structured interviews and mental maps to collect data. My data collection took place in Ottawa, focusing on the settlement experiences of 11 newcomers to the National Capital Region of Canada.

This research asks the question of how three young adults construct identity while living in diaspora. The subjects of the research came to the United States as a part of the Somali Bantu resettlement in 2004. The study begins with a trajectory analysis of the people now known as Somali Bantu, beginning with their forced migration to Somalia and the various factors shaping their status in the country. The analysis continues through the period of displacement, flight, and human warehousing in the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps of Kenya and includes an examination of how bureaucratic labeling as refugees, and the public rhetoric of mainstream media further shaped the story of the Somali Bantu. Each of these moments through the refugee trajectory are foundational to the self-representations emerging in diaspora. Using autoethnographic and portraiture methodologies, the author analyzes the subjects' discursive practices associated with cultural sustainability, as well as deployment of social media in rejecting and resisting social and cultural influences that threaten the integrity of Somali Bantu identity in the United States. The dissertation also situates the subjects within the broader Somali Bantu diaspora in the United States and Europe as they create home through a Somali Bantu aesthetic, form community through mutual assistance associations, construct mediascapes that circulates information globally, and build a transnational movement that aims to end the suffering of Wagosha people in Somalia. Overall, the research demonstrates the discursivity of identity, showing how a particular group reconstitutes itself through engagements with multiple and often disparate cultures, traditions, languages, and histories. / Ph. D. / This research asks the question of how three young adults construct identity while living in diaspora. The subjects of the research came to the United States as a part of the Somali Bantu resettlement in 2004. The research begins with an historical overview of the people now known as Somali Bantu that includes their forced migration to Somalia and their status as second class citizens in the country through their flight to Kenyan refugee camps in the 1990’s and eventual resettlement to the United States as people of humanitarian concern. The author analyzes the subjects’ cultural practices and their use of social media to understand how they are creating Somali Bantu identity while living in the United States. The author also analyzes the broader Somali Bantu diaspora to understand how they are creating home, forming community, communicating across distances, and connecting to the emerging Wagosha movement in Somalia. Overall, the research shows how group identity is influenced by engagements with multiple and often disparate cultures, traditions, languages, and histories.

This essay explores gender roles in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1940) by American author Carson McCullers. Theories and texts by Judith Butler, Nancy Chodorow, Raewyn Connell, Don Zimmerman, and Candice West among others, are used to support the thesis statement that stereotypical gender norms serve to compromise the main character Mick Kelly’s identity formation and her early sexual experiences. One important element of this discussion is the idea that gender is socially constructed rather than biologically given. Moreover, it is argued that gender is something that a person does repeatedly according to a strict set of socially constructed regulations. Based on the premise that gender is performativity, the conclusion is drawn that Mick Kelly’s ability to create her own identity within her gender-free world of music is severely diminished. In short, adherence to conventional gender norms makes her go from being a loner to being socially accepted as an equal among her peers; and from being a leader to being a follower, especially regarding her sexual relations.

I have examined the conditions for participation in an opera masquerade. Theoretical support has been found in Michail Bachtin, Richard Schechner and Judith Butler. The main study object has been a masquerade organised by the workers of The Royal Opera of Stockholm in 1925. The masquerade is examined as a social practise with distinct aesthetic framing. The analysis shows that the opera masquerade share some characteristics with the medieval carnival culture as described by Bachtin, but differ in many ways as well. It is easy to place the opera masquerade within the concept performance as discussed by Schechner, since it is framed in time, space and make use of certain social agreements. A look at the architecture shows that physical and social border between the stage and the auditorium had to be dissolved to let opera viewers become opera masquerade participants. Using Butler I discuss how the masquerade could challenge as well as preserve traditional gender structures.