Corporeal Archives of HIV/AIDS: The Performance of Relation, explores how choreographers and theater artists in the early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in New York City used time and space to involve their audiences experientially in the project of grieving and rebuilding in the midst of the temporal chaos of mass death and illness (crisis time). Refusing to portray HIV/AIDS as a discrete or singular phenomenon, these artists revealed how it intersected with every aspect of life, including artistic practice, thereby delinking their bodies from a singular association with pathology and death. Undertaking extensive archival research on the work and lives of choreographer Neil Greenberg (b. 1959) and poet and playwright Assotto Saint (1957-1994), this project examines the structures that differently produce the archives of these two artists, and expands Saint’s archive by conducting new oral history interviews. In light of the particular challenges of documenting performance, and the tendency for HIV/AIDS to be framed as historical, I argue that oral history is a research method that can better serve performance, given its durational, relational, improvisational, and contingent nature, which allows for multiple temporalities to coexist at once.
","abstract_html":"<p><em>Corporeal Archives of HIV/AIDS: The Performance of Relation</em>, explores how choreographers and theater artists in the early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in New York City used time and space to involve their audiences experientially in the project of grieving and rebuilding in the midst of the temporal chaos of mass death and illness (crisis time). Refusing to portray HIV/AIDS as a discrete or singular phenomenon, these artists revealed how it intersected with every aspect of life, including artistic practice, thereby delinking their bodies from a singular association with pathology and death. Undertaking extensive archival research on the work and lives of choreographer Neil Greenberg (b. 1959) and poet and playwright Assotto Saint (1957-1994), this project examines the structures that differently produce the archives of these two artists, and expands Saint’s archive by conducting new oral history interviews. In light of the particular challenges of documenting performance, and the tendency for HIV/AIDS to be framed as historical, I argue that oral history is a research method that can better serve performance, given its durational, relational, improvisational, and contingent nature, which allows for multiple temporalities to coexist at once.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Coan, Jaime Shearn"],"institution":"The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York","degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy","degree_level":"Doctoral","degree_discipline":"English","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Kandice Chuh"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":["Wayne Koestenbaum","Eric Lott","Alexandra Juhasz","David Román"],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-06-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2020-06-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:00:35Z","subjects":["African American Studies","Africana Studies","American Literature","American Studies","Dance","English Language and Literature","Ethnic Studies","Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies","Performance Studies","Theatre History","HIV/AIDS","New York City","Black Performance","Queer Performance"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3829","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Kandice Chuh"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Wayne Koestenbaum","Eric Lott","Alexandra Juhasz","David Román"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Coan, Jaime Shearn"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2022-06-02T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["English"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Doctoral"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["African American Studies","Africana Studies","American Literature","American Studies","Dance","English Language and Literature","Ethnic Studies","Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies","Performance Studies","Theatre History","HIV/AIDS","New York City","Black Performance","Queer Performance"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3829"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Corporeal Archives of HIV/AIDS: The Performance of Relation, explores how choreographers and theater artists in the early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in New York City used time and space to involve their audiences experientially in the project of grieving and rebuilding in the midst of the temporal chaos of mass death and illness (crisis time). Refusing to portray HIV/AIDS as a discrete or singular phenomenon, these artists revealed how it intersected with every aspect of life, including artistic practice, thereby delinking their bodies from a singular association with pathology and death. Undertaking extensive archival research on the work and lives of choreographer Neil Greenberg (b. 1959) and poet and playwright Assotto Saint (1957-1994), this project examines the structures that differently produce the archives of these two artists, and expands Saint’s archive by conducting new oral history interviews. In light of the particular challenges of documenting performance, and the tendency for HIV/AIDS to be framed as historical, I argue that oral history is a research method that can better serve performance, given its durational, relational, improvisational, and contingent nature, which allows for multiple temporalities to coexist at once.
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"],"dc:identifier":["https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3829"],"dc:subject":["African American Studies","Africana Studies","American Literature","American Studies","Dance","English Language and Literature","Ethnic Studies","Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies","Performance Studies","Theatre History","HIV/AIDS","New York City","Black Performance","Queer Performance"],"dc:title":["Corporeal Archives of HIV/AIDS: The Performance of Relation"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["English"],"thesis:degree_level":["Doctoral"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy"],"thesis:institution_name":["The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:00:35Z"}