Critical and Cultural Studies Commons^™

Religion In Modern Sports Fanaticism: From Classical Antiquity To Online Sports Forums, Matthew Prokopiw

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In tracing the concept of religion to its theorization and study by French sociologist Émile Durkheim this dissertation presents concrete and abstract support for a commonly forwarded proposition: fanaticism of the modern spectacle of sports amounts to religiosity, characterized by a social logic of vitality and totemism, notably present as well in the ancient Roman spectacle and Greek agōn. Based in the contemporary theory of French sociologist Michel Maffesoli, following Durkheim and the study of the sacred by Le Collège de Sociologie, this dissertation contributes an immersive and critical investigation into the nascent but encompassing online dimension of fanaticism …

Children Of The Corn, Quetzali Lopez

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

“Child of the Corn” was a short script inspired by my family’s taqueria in Chicago. The story is intended to be a light comedy, but still addresses the issues of gentrification happening in cultural communities. Xiomara and her little brother, Abel, are working at their family’s restaurant when they discover a new yuppie taco joint has opened up across the street. While Abel is excited to scope out the competition, Xiomara is concerned about how can affect her family’s work.

For Those Who Grew Too Fast, Erik Soto-Vasquez, Leonardo Dominguez-Ortega, Kiana Liu, Veronica Gomez, Maria Fernanda Meléndez Miranda, Megan Mcnaughton, Haley Gronski, Quetzali Lopez, Marieann Garzon, Brisa Gutierrez, Saúl Rascón Salazar, Mariel Fuentes, Renato Guzman, Karina Pena, Aviva Schwaiger, Denise Espinoza, Tiana Lockett, Katherine Comasil-Hernandez, Ashley Mccluskey, Brayan Vazquez, Manuel Armendariz Castro, Hannah Agbaroji

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

This volume welcomes you amid multiple global epidemics. It welcomes you home, hoping that these words provide visibility, comfort, introspection, and roadmap for pushing boundaries. We know we are tired, we know we are facing uncertainty at every turn, and we know that connection is wearing thin. This collection of words serves as an “I see you,” as an “I am with you,” as an “I love you.” These pieces came together toward end of the Spring 2020, when a group of first-year and transfer students came together to speak their existence. They bring memories and a reminder that together …

What If Black Lives Meaningfully Mattered In Research?, Monique Guishard

Black Lives Matter in Research

No abstract provided.

Mummy Cave; North Fork Shoshone River; Park County, Wyoming, Timothy Andrews

Conspectus Borealis

Mummy Cave represents the silence of the Sheepeater Shoshone. Little evidence of human occupation can survive this close to the river. The bank is low and rocky, with a thin deposit of alluvial soil, from the present shoreline to the angle of the ridge, where the ruddy breccia and tuff rise acutely, providing a rockface where the erosive action of the frigid mountain water could lap over eons at the igneous wall to form a shallow overhang. Camp placement in this proximity to a river was likely common, making use of a broad level riverbank to live close to water …

Looking At Environmental Consciousness Through The Lenses Of Morphic Fields And Systems Theory, Johara Bellali

Journal of Conscious Evolution

This paper is an exploration of a space in which questions of self-determination and planetary crises can co-exist. It swims in uncomfortable seas of accepting that environmental consciousness is as innate as our existence, and at the same time not aligned to healthy ecosystems. In this paper, I will first explore environmental consciousness from an ecosystem perspective and present some self-organizing principles of our systems; then I will look into our perceptions, awareness, and sensing of them and finally propose an understanding of how the morphic fields in ecosystems and the creative flow of the life force co-exist in our …

Centaur Mind: A Glimpse Into An Integrative Structure Of Consciousness, Azin Izadifar

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Jean Gebser’s theory of consciousness suggests that we are experiencing a new era in the history of consciousness. Human consciousness moves like a pendulum. The current Integral Structure of Consciousness is not unprecedented, yet we are experiencing it in a multi-layered, deeper, and vaster way. Centaurs are imaginal creatures that first appeared within the Mythical Structure of Consciousness, making a bridge between the unity of the Magical and the duality of Mental structures. In this paper, I view the centaurs through the lenses of mythology and archetypal depth psychology and discuss the critical role of this mythic figure in the …

The Journey Back To Wholeness That Already Is, Jenna Dishy Wes

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Sunrise’s father had had lost his own, rather impactfully at the tender age of seven, just as he was transitioning into what Piaget called the Concrete Operations Period. “With this change, he (began) to behave in many ways much like an adult and, indeed, in terms of lines for the self and moral reasoning, many adults never grow past this stage” (Combs, 2009). And so would be the case for Sunrise’s father. Having never been given the tools or guidance to heal from such trauma, he resorted to substances that subdued what it was he could not face. Sunrise …

An Exploration Of Linguistic Relativity Theory For Consideration Of Terence Mckenna’S “Stoned Ape Theory” On The Origins Of Consciousness And Language: Implications For Language Pedagogy, Nicole Lopez

Journal of Conscious Evolution

The “linguistic turn” from the early 20^th century created a shift in the ontological underpinnings of various disciplines within the social sciences. Several key figures asserted that much of what we think of as reality is constructed based on a system of social institution that we call language. Language shifted to becoming a fundamental aspect of the ontological realities within a given discipline in the social sciences. Most significant to my understanding of the relationship between language, its origins, and the emergence of higher forms of human consciousness is Terence McKenna’s Stoned Ape Theory. In this article, …

The Structure, State, And Stream Of Mary Consciousness In The Quest For The Knowing Body, Christine Dennis

Journal of Conscious Evolution

The science of consciousness has traditionally situated knowledge creation in the mind, and thus, marginalizes the knowing body. Returning to the body requires a decolonization of consciousness in Euro-Western research paradigms and in our bodies. This research is grounded in the spirituality indigenous to my Latinx matrilineage known as Mary consciousness, which frames the body as an epistemic pillar of knowledge creation. A feminist fleshing of the knowing body displaces the centrality of the mind by elevating indigenous ways of knowing. Material feminist worldviews contribute by expressing the degree to which the body has been marginalized as a valid source …

A Whiteheadian Innervation Of The Soma: A New Vision For The Peripheral Nervous System, David Milliern

Journal of Conscious Evolution

This essay draws attention to two problems in neuroscience’s set of assumptions. These self-defeating assumptions include: 1) the assumption that what the nervous system, especially the brain, does is synthesize experience, while also assuming philosophical realism, and 2) the problem of biological signal transduction. In the latter, neuroscientists and philosophers of biology have left unaddressed the issue that the signal differences between the inside and outside of the organismic boundary are of distinct ontological types; and yet no concern has been expressed regarding how it is possible that an organism’s inner states could reflect the experiential content flowing from outside …

“Surveilling The Maternal Body”: A Critical Examination Through Foucault’S Panopticon, Sarah Symonds Leblanc

The Qualitative Report

This article analyzes my personal experience of having a maternal body through autoethnographic means. Being pregnant is a time of celebration, but moms experience private and public changes in their bodies. These public changes continue during the postpartum period. Ground in Foucault’s panopticon, this paper explores how the maternal body undergoes self-surveillance as well as surveillance by the proverbial others. I provide vignettes and personal experiences to highlight the panopticon: moms self-surveil but moms are also being surveilled when in the public eye. I make the argument of how the maternal body is a site of surveillance often used to …

Using Indigenous Research Frameworks In The Multiple Contexts Of Research, Teaching, Mentoring, And Leading, Darryl Reano

The Qualitative Report

Indigenous research frameworks can be used to effectively engage Indigenous communities and students in Western modern science through transparent and respectful communication. Currently, much of the academic research taking place within Indigenous communities marginalizes Indigenous Knowledge, does not promote long-term accountability to Indigenous communities and their relations, and withholds respect for the spiritual values that many Indigenous communities embrace. Indigenous research frameworks address these concerns within the academic research process by promoting values such as: relationality, multilogicality, and the centralization of Indigenous perspectives. Indigenous research frameworks provide a framework that can be used in multiple contexts within higher education to …

Demechanizing Whiteness: Lessons From Theatre Of The Oppressed, Elizabeth J. Simpson

Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal

The Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) provides small group techniques to strategize and “rehearse” for collaborative liberation using popular education forms of systems analysis, bolstered by practices that counter implicit biases and habituated behaviors. This essay draws on interviews with jokers at CTO-Rio to advocate the need for continual engagement of demechanizing practices both within TO and in the lives of practitioners in order to demechanize the tenets of white supremacy that we are born into, despite our essential loving nature, with particular focus on counteracting a the habit of exploiting Black suffering for creative capital.

Don't Poke The Bear - A Project Report, Nicole Kontolefa, Grace Cannon

Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal

In 2018, four applied theatre practioners created a forum theatre play and workshop for a small Wyoming community. They wanted to engage participants in a dialogue about inclusion, racism and homophobia, in particular how it manifests in a state known as the "Equality State."

Forum theatre focuses on a protagonist experiencing oppression and how they may break their own bonds. In this report, two of the facilitators and creators reflect on how using forum theatre to follow the actions (or inaction) of a potential ally in a play about the exclusion of a gay woman of color was useful in …

Highlander Center: Hotlines And Cultural Bazaars, Je Naé Taylor

Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal

Since the pandemic’s arrival,Highlander has created specially tailored on-line community-building spaces, programs, and re-granting opportunities for artists working at the intersection of cultural production and social change. This report documents two examples. The first is a “Cultural Workers Hotline” for BIPOC artists to share struggles, needs, and strategies for (a) coping with the impact of the pandemic on their livelihoods and (b) creating change-oriented artistic responses to the pandemic in their communities. Highlander staff have held multiple weekly virtual spaces for all of our programs, and each gathering has employed an artist to be a graphic note taker. Illustrations are …

Joker Exchange Online - Meeting The Risks And Opportunities Of The Covid-19 Crisis, Uri Yitzchak Noy Meir, Anne Larcher

Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal

In this article, we narrate and analyse patterns of engagement and harvest key learning from the Joker Exchange Online (JEO) events on 11th April and May 2nd. We map the impact of these online events to inform future events as an effective collective response/strategy to global challenges. At the same time, we are Theatre of the Oppressed practitioners who attended/presented in the JEO, and this informs our research and engaged interest in theatre and community work on the margins of theatre, activism, and social change. The article has three parts: the first part look at the “triggers” for the Joker …

Virtual Newspaper Theatre: Zoom As A Theatrical Playing Space, Nabra Nelson

Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal

This article presents findings from a virtual Newspaper Theatre workshop that took place via Zoom on May 5, 2020 through Seattle Rep. Nelson reflects on the way that the constraints of the Zoom format can add meaning to Theatre of the Oppressed performance techniques in the era of quarantine and social distancing due to COVID-19. The article describes elements of the one-minute performances created during the one-and-a-half-hour workshop, and how the virtual sphere interacted with them and even enhanced them in meaningful ways. Nelson also describes “production” elements unique to Zoom, and the nature of the virtual “spect-actor.”

Application Of Applied Theatre Online With Children And Its Effects In The Indian Perspective During Covid Age, Chetna Mehrotra, Sooraj Amin, Roshan Karkera, Viral Champaneri

Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal

Applied Theatre in general and Theatre of the Oppressed in particular have been put into practice for a long time now. Right since when Augusto Boal started Theatre of the Oppressed in the 1960's the tools have been utilized in many oppressive situations. Augusto focused on marginalized societies and their people. He believed that every individual who is not allowed to voice out their opinion, thoughts (political, social), views, and choices can be considered to be oppressed.

Today, in the year 2020 with the current crisis of the breakout of the communicable virus Covid 19 everyone is forced to stay …

Joker's Log 2020: An Odyssey, Julian Pimiento

Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal

Join our passengers as we embark on a voyage of Theatre of the Oppressed discovery during the destabilization of 2020. Experience one Joker’s facilitating choices and how those decisions led to unexpected pedagogical destinations.

The Year In Review, 2019-2020, Rachel Desoto-Jackson, Reg Flowers

Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal

The work of the Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed organization and its members remains vital. As we reflect on the 2019-2020 organization cycle, we share with you the ways in which the PTO organization has continued to grow amidst these global shifts. We continue to embrace the challenges and opportunities of this moment and continue to support people whose work challenges oppressive systems by promoting critical thinking and social justice through liberatory theatre and popular education.

Theatre Of The Beat’S Restorative Justice Theatre Program: Highlights From The Baseline Evaluation, Karen Nelson, Keely Kavcic, Courtney Primeau, Kimberlee Walker

Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal

This report highlights the findings from the evaluation of Theatre of the Beat’s (TOTB) Restorative Justice Theatre Program, which works with incarcerated persons at the Grand Valley Institution for Women (GVIW), a federal prison in Kitchener, Ontario. The project was conducted by the Research Shop, part of the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute (CESI) at the University of Guelph, in partnership with Theatre of the Beat (TOTB), a not-for-profit theatre company with a process rooted in restorative justice principles and a passion for promoting conversations around social justice.

Abbreviating Boal At The Louisiana Old State Capitol Museum: Using Image Theatre, Bonny Mcdonald, Joshua Hamzehee, Naomi P. Bennett, Montana Smith

Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal

This article describes the execution of and reflections of a Theatre of the Oppressed workshop offered in 2017 to middle and high school groups visiting the Louisiana Old State Capitol Museum on half-day field trips. The workshops accompanied The Power of Children: Making a Difference exhibit, which features the stories and struggles of Ruby Bridges, Ryan White, and Anne Frank. Despite initial plans for an hour-long session, the workshop designed to connect youth participant experiences to the stories of the children featured in the exhibit was cut to only fifteen minutes. Our group of four facilitators discusses ways we modified …

Rehearsing For Transformation: Theatre Of The Oppressed, Pedagogy And Human Rights, Amir Al-Azraki

Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal

The report showcases a series of TO training workshops and projects in several contexts and settings. The aim of the report is to show how TO techniques and forms could contribute to the transformation of the learning environment and the social justice issues relevant to diverse communities across cultures (North America, Latin America, Middle East). It highlights and facilitates critical discourse and interchange through working with various participants (students, faculty, refugees, women, artists, prison staff etc.) and tackling significant issues such as trauma, violence, oppression, discrimination, gender inequality and homophobia. The report shows how TO could be used as a …

Forum Theatre On Post-Election Violence In Kenya, Mecca Burns, Caleb Seda, Bonface N. Beti

Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal

In August 2017, a Forum Theatre workshop focusing on the Prevention of Crime and Post-Election Violence, took place at Kerith Brook Secondary School, Nairobi, Kenya.

Domino, An Experience Of Theatre Of The Oppressed, Hamze Aleepayam

Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal

In this moving report the author recounts a series of TO workshops with immigrant mothers in Tehran as the women try to cope with arranged marriages, poverty, sexism, and child-rearing issues. The problems are passed from one generation to the next, but the intervention of TO creates change.

Citizenship On Stage: A Project Of The Popular Theatre School In Rio De Janeiro, Etp Staff

Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal

Cidadania em Cena (Citizenship on Stage) was born of an initiative to create permanent Theater of the Oppressed workshops in popular pre-university school units in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Conducted by pairs of monitors formed by the School of Popular Theater, the goal of the year-long project was to create groups that use the theater as an instrument for reflection and intervention in their own reality.

Begin To Play: The Case For Play In Community Engagement In Higher Education, Naomi B. Roswell

Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal

Although little is written about the role of play in community engagement in higher education, professors and administrators intuitively grasp its value in building trust and democratizing spaces, but use games thinly. This paper acknowledges the challenges of developing effective community engagement partnerships and demonstrates how and why games based in Theater of the Oppressed deepen and enhance initiatives to dissolve town / gown divisions and enable collaborative knowledge generation. Through an analysis of literature reviews and interviews, this paper makes a case for deliberately incorporating games from Theater of the Oppressed (TO) - to advance community engagement initiatives by …

A Continued Theatre Of The Oppressed, Tania S. Cañas Dr

Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal

Abstract: A Continued Theatre of the Oppressed

There have been calls within the Theatre of the Oppressed community for a development of a poetics of the oppressor, a form of Theatre of the Oppressor; as an extension and reimagining of Theatre of the Oppressed (Chinyowa 2014, Harrison &Weinblatt 2011) Such calls centre on three main points: a less binary framing of oppressor-oppressed, developing allyship from the oppressor who is in a resourced position to make material structural changes, and finally as a call towards an increased dialogue through inclusion. Theatre of the Oppressed has a close relationship with social change, …

Global To Movement(S) And Its Discontents, Joschka Köck

Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal

In this article, I deal with the following questions: What qualifies it as a movement? What are its goals, potentials and resources as well as difficulties and contradictions? Why do we need a TO movement at all? I first give an auto-ethnographic account of how I experience moving in the global TO movement. My frustrations, expectations, ambitions become visible as well as the need to let go all the pressures connected to TO as a global movement. Then I deal with the organizational structure of the global TO movement using Resource Mobilization Theory (RMT), and I focus on failures of …