Blackpentecostal
On page 4 of Ashon Crawley’s essay Blackpentecostal breath Crawley writes “Blackpentecostalism is an intellectual practice grounded in the fact of the flesh, flesh unbounded and liberative, flesh as vibrational and always on the move. Such practice constitutes a way of life”. Further exploring the word itself, during one of Dr. Pyles plenary lectures, he explained that the word is one single phrase rather than multiple separate words because it allows it to hold on to a unique identity. He further described the word as the origin of the concept of blackness, giving rise to the blackpentacostal community.
Docile body
In Foucault’s Docile Bodies, he describes a docile body as “manipulable … a body is docile that may be subjected, used, transformed and improved” (Focoult 136). Focoult later goes on to describe how structures like the military and school go on to form docile bodies. The bodies that are subject to greater systemic power become docile. Focoult writes of a “mechanics of power” (Focoult 138) that defined how to have power over other bodies, getting them to do things ordered upon them.
Double Consciousness
In Of Our Spiritual Strivings, W. E. B Dubois writes “It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity.”(Dubois 37). Looking at one’s self through the eyes of others is referring to how societal constructs cause people to view themselves through the lens of those societal constructs. In a sense you have your own consciousness as well as the consciousness of the general society, the ability to see yourself through the eyes of others.
Choreosonicity
In Blackpentacostal Breath, Ashton Crawley defines choreosonicity as “a portmanteau underscoring the fact that choreography and sonicity— movement and sound—are inextricably linked and have to be thought together” (Crawley 28). Crawley’s point highlights that movement combines with sound to form a more humane form of communication. For example during one of Dr. Pyles plenaries, Dr. Pyle asked us to think about how the combination of watching the James Baldwin interview combined with listening to it conveys a different message than simply listening to it in the background. Human body language is equally in conveying information and functions along side speech.
Technique
In Ben Spatz’s, What A Body Can Do, Spatz defines technique as “knowledge that structures practice” (Spatz 1), later describing it as being “made up of countless specific answers to the question: What can a body do?” (Spatz 1). Spatz argues throughout What A Body Can Do that technique allows people to learn how to develope a true form of knowledge of our bodies, allowing us to feel complete and free. Technique is the result of devoting the body to the repetition of a task, allowing people to develop strong healthy habits, giving people control over their body and ability to use it.
Veil
In W. E. B Du Boise’s The Souls of Black Folk Du Bois wrote that the main character was “shut out from their world by a vast veil” (Du Bois 38). This use of the term veil in the context of the novel is one that represents discrimination and segregation. It refers to how African Americans were born into a society that was discarded by the US and separated them against their will, producing a veil between the two separate societies.
Spect – actor
In Jan Cohen-Cruz & Mady Schutzman’s article In A Concise Introduction To Augusto Boal, they write that a spect – actor is an “engaged participant rehearsing strategies for personal and social change.” (Cruz, Schutzman, 5). Boal interpreted the insights of another progressive thinking theater organizer who shared similar ideas, and developed the spect – actor off of his insights. This created the spect – actor, an actor who plays out scenarios in public spaces, appearing as a spectator. This was often used as a form of protest to act out scenarios that conflicted with the oppression of the Brazilian government.
Cyborg
Donna Haraway, “A Manifesto For Cyborgs” “a cybernetic organism, a hybrid of machine and organism, a creature of social reality as well as a creature of fiction” (Haraway, 7). This definition is quite different than the mainstream definition of a living being that is altered or enhanced by technology. Haraways definition is meant to be an alternative to the capitalist, colonialist and patriarchal aspects of our society that shape individuals.
Utopia
In Jill Dolan’s Utopia in Performance, Dolan describes utopia as a process rather than a “preset goal” (Dolan 13) for the future. Dolan introduces a concept by Victoria Turner who suggests that “any ‘social world is a world in becoming, not a world in being’” (Dolan 14). Dolan introduces this concept in Utopia in Performance because this is what they are trying to offer. Dolan wants to offer the audience a unique experience where they are in the process of moving towards utopia during theater performances, where being part of the process is the goal itself. This concept of utopia is directly contrasted in Thomas More’s book Utopia. More laid out an ideal version of a utopian future that had very specific ideals that society would be structured around. Dolan would argue that the idea of utopia as a fixed place that we are constantly working our way towards would suggest that once we get there, there would be no more desire for societal improvement. The reality, Dolan would argue, is that humans are always within a process that strives to build towards a “better” more utopian future. Todays present may have been yesterday’s utopia, but by no means does that make the people of the present aware of that and content with society, willing to accept their existence as one within utopia.
Dada
In Tristan Tzara’s Dada Manifesto, he defines Dada as nothing. He explicitly states “Dada means nothing” (Tzara 1). He goes on to explain how Dadaism is about the abolishment of logic and structure. This practice appeared as a movement in the arts which deviated from all conventional tropes and rules of artistic expression. In humes our experience with fluxus performances were meant to explore this type of art. Art without meaning allowed for a specific kind of expression, one that did not rely on conforming to artistic or societal expectations, often these performances outright transcended those constricting boundaries.
Queerness
In José Muñoz’s Cruising Utopia he defines queerness as a focus on “the rejection of a here and now and an insistence on potentiality or concrete possibility for another world” (Muñoz 1). He literally suggests a utopia that is queerness through not being accepting of the here and now. Similar to Dolan’s interpretation of utopia, the process of rejecting the now is utopia, or working towards it. Muñoz states queerness is a vessel for imagining a future beyond the present. Queer people, in this sense, are visionaries who are unwilling to accept the here and now, because they cannot and are often not allowed to exist in the present, so they must imagine and work towards a utopian future. The ACT UP protests are a great example of queerness embodied as a vision for utopia. The physical efforts and purposeful language of the ACT UP members allowed them to imagine and work towards a future where the government did not hinder helping those with AIDS.
Manifesto
Drawing similarities between the many manifestos we have covered throughout humes, a manifesto is a call to action, a set of principles or ideology that people can align themselves with to challenge the present. In the Dada manifesto the aim is to reject the discourse around what art can and should be whereas in The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles it is a set of principles that offer an alternative form of economy/government than the emerging western capitalistic system. In a sense, manifestos are an outline for the present to reach a more ideal future, or utopia. They are often in response to a sense of oppression or overruling.
Afrofuturism
In Mark Dery’s paper Black to the Future he defines Afrofuturism as “African-American signification that appropriates images of technology and a prosthetically enhanced future” (Dery 180). The depictions of Afrofuturism we have looked at in humes such as Space Is The Place fits this definition very well as Sun Ra’s approach to Afrofuturism focused on complex technologies used by African Americans to enhance their existence. Using these sci-fi technologies, they were able to transcend the societal boundaries of oppression found on earth. At the same time, they were countering the erasure of the cultural past of African Americans by adopting prominent features of African culture, such as Sun Ra naming himself after the Egyptian sun god. Sun Ra’s technology was powered by his music, which is what he used in real life as a form of freedom from oppression through his Arkestra. Sun Ra’s Arkestra explored musical limitations and freedom through genres like free jazz, using this music like a tool to find sanctuary from societal oppression.
Dystopia
Dystopia, as we have seen in several examples throughout humes texts, is a future where individuals have little freedom or hope for the future due to an oppressive ruling police state, societal collapse, or some kind of plague. As we saw in Children of Men, the people in Britain had an illusion of freedom, but it was at the expense of the immigrants who became a scapegoat in their society. Other countries were said to have fallen into lawless anarchy which was what caused the mass fleeing of refugees from other countries. 7 Miles a Second found dystopia within the lives of AIDS victims during the AIDS crisis. A community found itself suffering from a plague and negligence from powerful political parties in government and church. The response was social uprise with protest and assembly of bodies, which eventually resulted in progressive social and policy changes. This fate was also brought upon the indigenous people in Bartolomé’s DE LAS CASAS: A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE INDIES. An entire society capable of building large, non-stinky cities, unlike Europe, found itself almost entirely culturally wiped out and replaced by the Spaniards. Today Mexico city sits on the drained lake Texcoco, the original capital of the lands indigenous people.
Protest
In Susan Leigh Foster’s Choreographies of Protest, she describes protest in terms of its relation to how bodies are assembled and choreographed. She also discusses the significance of the bodies present and how different bodies can entail different social responses. For example, she discusses the sit-in protests in Greensboro during the civil rights movement. She points out that the bodies of the protesters were not “out of place, but rather, the wrong color” (Foster 399). The particular effectiveness of putting bodies in places that are not illegal but are socially disruptive is an aspect of protest we discussed much in class. Nonviolent assembly of bodies with the goal of disruption challenges social norms comes with less risk to protesters because they are non violent and they cannot all be arrested. This was the case in the grand central station ACT UP protests, where they disrupted the travel of rich people who worked in New York City but relied on the transit system to get them to and from their homes.
History
In plenary history was brought up to be defined as “past human experiences recollected”. This is an important distinction to make between what is likely the common misconception of what history is. History is not a chronology, a timeline, of things that happened in the past. History is the interpretation of present people of these events through many different methods or recollection. In this sense, history is a subjective experience because of the lack of certainty and truth in the past and its ability to be recollected differently by different histories.
Bibliography
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Crawley, Ashon. BLACKPENTECOSTAL BREATH: THE AESTHETICS OF POSSIBILITY. New York, Fordham University Press, 2017.
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Dolan, Jill. Utopia in Performance: Finding Hope at the Theatre. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2005, pp. 13-14.
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Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt) 1868-1963. and Brent Hayes Edwards. “Of Our Spiritual Striving.” The Souls of Black Folk. Oxford, England; New York, Oxford University Press, 2007, pp. 38.
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Foster, Susan Leigh. “Choreographies of Protest.” Theatre Journal, Vol. 55, No. 3, 3 Oct. 2003, pp. 399.
Haraway, Donna. A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Social Feminism in the 1980’s. Socialist Review, 1985. Pp. 7.
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Spatz, Ben. What a Body Can Do : Technique as Knowledge, Practice as Research. Routledge, 2013. pp. 1.
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