Date of Award
12-19-2009
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Speech Communication
First Advisor
Pineau, Elyse
Abstract
Homeplace of Hands: Fractal Performativity of Vulnerable Resistance is a feminist autoethnography of possibility that puts on display two new concepts I’ve named fractal performativity and vulnerable resistance. Fractal performativity as a way of seeing is an integrative performance methodology that utilizes fractal geometry and performative autoethnography and brings together performance studies, feminist theory, multiethnic literature, personal story and poetry to communicate vulnerable resistance as a strategy for social transformation and selfhood. Vulnerable resistance as a way of being embodies a praxis of homeplace enacted through five modes I’ve identified as nurturance, sustenance, maintenance, performance, and alliance, expressed through the daily work of the hand as a metaphor, tool, and fractal. Deploying fractal performativity as an integrative method and conceptual framework, I design the fractal hand as a template that embodies intersecting identities and holds my stories as I cultivate homeplace and enact vulnerable resistance through the five modes. For scholar-artist- activists working on the margins, this integrative strategy offers hope to keep coming back day after day, and a template for cultivating homeplace of vulnerable resistance.
Access
This dissertation is Open Access and may be downloaded by anyone.