Ethnography - Philosophical
PERFORMANCE PHILOSOPHICAL RESEARCH ETHNOGRAPHY:
EIGHT STAGES GUIDELINES
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NINE SENTENCES FOR PERFORMANCE
NINE PARAGRAPHS FOR RESEARCH PAPER!
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Essay and Argument Formulation / Introduction Protocol
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The development of an introduction is the foundation of the entire performance ethnography. All formal writing is structured writing and performance within a narrative coheres with a similar structure. An apt metaphor for the structure of any narrative is the architectural design of a home. It is helpful to view this section of the performance ethnography as the foundation and the frame for the entire work. Whatever is in the introduction is the essential blueprint for the unique realization of your performance ethnography.
The performance ethnography is a praxical performative communication with the reader…a discussion of philosophical theory and its praxical approach in performance from an informed and passionately articulated perspective. It must be written in the third person-formal voice—except in the final debrief and appendix sections.
~
The introduction is the compressed template for the entire ethnography-the frame of the house. What you do with the interior of the home is your own content-a rich discussion that is grounded with primary and secondary research that you have researched, read, digested, and utilized into a formally developed argument.
~
As you develop your ideas, develop the ethnography as a performative spoken word text that covers a discussion of the ideas of the philosophical discourse, for example, what is deconstruction? Then consider how it may be likened to a current social issue, problem, and movement that will connect the audience to the main tenets of the theory. Remember to refine the ethnography into a goal directed performative text that can easily be delivered as a performance presentation. Read it out loud frequently for clarity and polish. Strive to engage the reader or subsequent listener in a stimulating, thorough and thought provoking coverage of the organization and its activist/artivist practitioners. Use praxical reflection and grounded humor frequently…it helps the reader to actively engage in the discussion.
~
Sentence 1: OVERVIEW: THE PURPOSE / POSITION OF PHILOSOPHY
(TOPIC FOCUS OF THE PAPER)
Select only one of the following two choices: A fact or statement (Find this from one of the following: a question, anecdote, legend, story, quote, poetic phrase, philosophical orientation for longer ethnographies), as the best way to illustrate to the reader of your organization: your introduction to the organization. This is the opening to your argument-a rapport inducing strategy. Remember that this opening is the discussion starter statement or question to your entire ethnography and the keys ideas and practitioners. This opening paragraph will introduce the theory, ideas, frame of how they evolved, the key practitioners, and their impact on society’s thought and action.
~
Sentence 2: STAGE ONE-NORMALCY
(COMMON GROUND):
Prevailing Common Ground - Ideas
Establishing the common ground of any topic or subject is one half of the thesis and is always going to be related to that which most readers will agree to as an undisputable fact or value judgment in regards to the subject. An easy way to remember how to find the common ground is to identify the historical context of the subject, country or corporation and find the general consensus-positive or negative. Develop the sentence from your research into the subject and link it concisely to the initial sentence (frame of the house) of your introduction.
~
Sentence 3: STAGE TWO- FINDING THE CONFUSION or DEBATE
(DISRUPTION):
The Argument for the New Way of Thinking-What Needs to Be Clarified?
This section is the actual thesis/anti-thesis statement of the ethnography. You must select and include at the beginning of the third introduction sentence the connector word HOWEVER, as a signal to the disruption to the common ground. Remember that you are developing a performance that has been born out of both participation and observation of a key theoretical philosophy. You are exploring a theory that may be difficult to understand for the average person. It may be unexplored or under evaluated. You are the knowledge de-constructor of this body of philosophical thought, so using illustrated examples are very advisable. Use the connector word: HOWEVER, as the word signaling a huge disruption to the reader of previous ways of thinking…so that the way you have chosen to identify the theory is fresh and introduced as an undiscovered territory in this area of performance philosophy. Articulate and unpack what has not been discussed adequately, discovered or anticipated thus far in the general coverage of the theory.
~
Sentence 4: STAGE THREE-RIPENING CONDITIONS
(HISTORICAL CONTEXT)
The Historical Conditions Leading to the Social Condition (problem) Driving the Concerns.
The Need for the Knowledge of the Past.
Identify, clarify and explicate the historical past. For this information use whatever you can get your hands on and glean it down to a single paragraph. Describe the organization’s journey from inspiration to inception in the past, present, and its anticipated future. Use five to fifteen sentences to accomplish this historical coverage.
~
Sentence 5: STAGE FOUR-SOCIAL MOVEMENT TAKE OFF
(PRESENT DAY ANALYSIS)
Locating The Social Action: What are the Needs of the Current Situational-Context.
Identify the most pressing idea the organization in this present moment is meeting regarding the social concerns of activism in the arts. Generate an assessment meant to deepen the current comprehension of the organization’s praxical endeavors and thought. After consulting your research, use your creativity and problem solving skills to generate this analysis. Also consider this sentence/thought paragraph to be a deepening of the common ground.
~
Sentence 6: STAGE FIVE-IDENTITY CRISES OF POWERLESSNESS
(COST OR BENEFIT)
Assessment Choice: Defending A Change Theory
Or The Reasons Behind the Need To Keep Things The Way They Are.
Position this assessment of where the organization and the social issue will be best served in the future. This is a position argument, a prediction or a vision of a conditional future. If the cost of the problem is not too severe, then a change theory should be offered… The change will render the envisioned benefit and how it best can be realized. If there is none, then why not? Analyze the subject with your own cultivated knowledge of the social problem. Read the research over again to do this sentence. It is intended as a deeper assessment of the disruption sentence. This can be practical logistics of running a show, or it can be a larger concern of organizational structure.
~
Sentence 7: STAGE SIX-MAJORITY PUBLIC SUPPORT
(FUTURE PREDICTION)
Identify the Solution the Philosophy (or Organization) Provides in Addressing The Social Concern.
Identify the solution (resolution) the organization offers to the social issue and your academic problem. Clarify whether you believe the solution is working, possible, or not realizable (utopian), or may not be immediately recognizable. You may decide that the solution to the problem is simply a call for further research, or a way to view the situation in a different context. Keep all of your assertions and opinion making at arm’s length…third person.
~
Sentence 8: STAGE SEVEN-SUCCESS
(CONCLUSION AND SYNTHESIS)
Poetically Summarize the Successful Approaches or Accomplishments Resulting From A Philosophical Synthesis.
This is THE Formal Argument.
It is What Has Been Discovered By Conducting the Ethnography.
Wrap up the introduction (and your entire ethnography) with a poetic, philosophical or positioning distillation of your academic problem and what is discovered. This leads you into the body of the ethnography (as the eighth sentence of the introduction) and ends the entire ethnography as a final concluding paragraph. This section has introduced your reader into what you are writing about. It is a refining deepening of your solution/resolution.
~
CODA: STAGE EIGHT-CONTINUING THE STRUGGLE (A DEBRIEF ASSESSMENT)
This is a final first person debrief on what you thought your would find, what you found, and what you hope to see the organization do in the future.
Identify the philosophy of the environment, the contribution of the founder(s), the theorist(s), the practices, and how all is performed in the service of a great cause
and the constituencies that most benefit from the organization’s endeavors.
EIGHT STAGES GUIDELINES
~
NINE SENTENCES FOR PERFORMANCE
NINE PARAGRAPHS FOR RESEARCH PAPER!
~
Essay and Argument Formulation / Introduction Protocol
~
The development of an introduction is the foundation of the entire performance ethnography. All formal writing is structured writing and performance within a narrative coheres with a similar structure. An apt metaphor for the structure of any narrative is the architectural design of a home. It is helpful to view this section of the performance ethnography as the foundation and the frame for the entire work. Whatever is in the introduction is the essential blueprint for the unique realization of your performance ethnography.
The performance ethnography is a praxical performative communication with the reader…a discussion of philosophical theory and its praxical approach in performance from an informed and passionately articulated perspective. It must be written in the third person-formal voice—except in the final debrief and appendix sections.
~
The introduction is the compressed template for the entire ethnography-the frame of the house. What you do with the interior of the home is your own content-a rich discussion that is grounded with primary and secondary research that you have researched, read, digested, and utilized into a formally developed argument.
~
As you develop your ideas, develop the ethnography as a performative spoken word text that covers a discussion of the ideas of the philosophical discourse, for example, what is deconstruction? Then consider how it may be likened to a current social issue, problem, and movement that will connect the audience to the main tenets of the theory. Remember to refine the ethnography into a goal directed performative text that can easily be delivered as a performance presentation. Read it out loud frequently for clarity and polish. Strive to engage the reader or subsequent listener in a stimulating, thorough and thought provoking coverage of the organization and its activist/artivist practitioners. Use praxical reflection and grounded humor frequently…it helps the reader to actively engage in the discussion.
~
Sentence 1: OVERVIEW: THE PURPOSE / POSITION OF PHILOSOPHY
(TOPIC FOCUS OF THE PAPER)
Select only one of the following two choices: A fact or statement (Find this from one of the following: a question, anecdote, legend, story, quote, poetic phrase, philosophical orientation for longer ethnographies), as the best way to illustrate to the reader of your organization: your introduction to the organization. This is the opening to your argument-a rapport inducing strategy. Remember that this opening is the discussion starter statement or question to your entire ethnography and the keys ideas and practitioners. This opening paragraph will introduce the theory, ideas, frame of how they evolved, the key practitioners, and their impact on society’s thought and action.
~
Sentence 2: STAGE ONE-NORMALCY
(COMMON GROUND):
Prevailing Common Ground - Ideas
Establishing the common ground of any topic or subject is one half of the thesis and is always going to be related to that which most readers will agree to as an undisputable fact or value judgment in regards to the subject. An easy way to remember how to find the common ground is to identify the historical context of the subject, country or corporation and find the general consensus-positive or negative. Develop the sentence from your research into the subject and link it concisely to the initial sentence (frame of the house) of your introduction.
~
Sentence 3: STAGE TWO- FINDING THE CONFUSION or DEBATE
(DISRUPTION):
The Argument for the New Way of Thinking-What Needs to Be Clarified?
This section is the actual thesis/anti-thesis statement of the ethnography. You must select and include at the beginning of the third introduction sentence the connector word HOWEVER, as a signal to the disruption to the common ground. Remember that you are developing a performance that has been born out of both participation and observation of a key theoretical philosophy. You are exploring a theory that may be difficult to understand for the average person. It may be unexplored or under evaluated. You are the knowledge de-constructor of this body of philosophical thought, so using illustrated examples are very advisable. Use the connector word: HOWEVER, as the word signaling a huge disruption to the reader of previous ways of thinking…so that the way you have chosen to identify the theory is fresh and introduced as an undiscovered territory in this area of performance philosophy. Articulate and unpack what has not been discussed adequately, discovered or anticipated thus far in the general coverage of the theory.
~
Sentence 4: STAGE THREE-RIPENING CONDITIONS
(HISTORICAL CONTEXT)
The Historical Conditions Leading to the Social Condition (problem) Driving the Concerns.
The Need for the Knowledge of the Past.
Identify, clarify and explicate the historical past. For this information use whatever you can get your hands on and glean it down to a single paragraph. Describe the organization’s journey from inspiration to inception in the past, present, and its anticipated future. Use five to fifteen sentences to accomplish this historical coverage.
~
Sentence 5: STAGE FOUR-SOCIAL MOVEMENT TAKE OFF
(PRESENT DAY ANALYSIS)
Locating The Social Action: What are the Needs of the Current Situational-Context.
Identify the most pressing idea the organization in this present moment is meeting regarding the social concerns of activism in the arts. Generate an assessment meant to deepen the current comprehension of the organization’s praxical endeavors and thought. After consulting your research, use your creativity and problem solving skills to generate this analysis. Also consider this sentence/thought paragraph to be a deepening of the common ground.
~
Sentence 6: STAGE FIVE-IDENTITY CRISES OF POWERLESSNESS
(COST OR BENEFIT)
Assessment Choice: Defending A Change Theory
Or The Reasons Behind the Need To Keep Things The Way They Are.
Position this assessment of where the organization and the social issue will be best served in the future. This is a position argument, a prediction or a vision of a conditional future. If the cost of the problem is not too severe, then a change theory should be offered… The change will render the envisioned benefit and how it best can be realized. If there is none, then why not? Analyze the subject with your own cultivated knowledge of the social problem. Read the research over again to do this sentence. It is intended as a deeper assessment of the disruption sentence. This can be practical logistics of running a show, or it can be a larger concern of organizational structure.
~
Sentence 7: STAGE SIX-MAJORITY PUBLIC SUPPORT
(FUTURE PREDICTION)
Identify the Solution the Philosophy (or Organization) Provides in Addressing The Social Concern.
Identify the solution (resolution) the organization offers to the social issue and your academic problem. Clarify whether you believe the solution is working, possible, or not realizable (utopian), or may not be immediately recognizable. You may decide that the solution to the problem is simply a call for further research, or a way to view the situation in a different context. Keep all of your assertions and opinion making at arm’s length…third person.
~
Sentence 8: STAGE SEVEN-SUCCESS
(CONCLUSION AND SYNTHESIS)
Poetically Summarize the Successful Approaches or Accomplishments Resulting From A Philosophical Synthesis.
This is THE Formal Argument.
It is What Has Been Discovered By Conducting the Ethnography.
Wrap up the introduction (and your entire ethnography) with a poetic, philosophical or positioning distillation of your academic problem and what is discovered. This leads you into the body of the ethnography (as the eighth sentence of the introduction) and ends the entire ethnography as a final concluding paragraph. This section has introduced your reader into what you are writing about. It is a refining deepening of your solution/resolution.
~
CODA: STAGE EIGHT-CONTINUING THE STRUGGLE (A DEBRIEF ASSESSMENT)
This is a final first person debrief on what you thought your would find, what you found, and what you hope to see the organization do in the future.
Identify the philosophy of the environment, the contribution of the founder(s), the theorist(s), the practices, and how all is performed in the service of a great cause
and the constituencies that most benefit from the organization’s endeavors.