{"id":{"repo_id":"siu-theses","oai_identifier":"oai:opensiuc.lib.siu.edu:dissertations-1187"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/siu-theses/oai:opensiuc.lib.siu.edu:dissertations-1187","repository":{"repo_id":"siu-theses","name":"Southern Illinois University","base_url":"https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/do/oai/"},"display":{"title":"At the Mercy of Ruin: Performative Sites/Sights of Landscapes and Loss","abstract":"While scholars of ruin have long foregrounded the importance of imagination in encountering sites of ruin, they have failed to provide concrete examples of their own imaginative experiences. This dissertation is a collection of aesthetically rendered moments at various sites of ruined landscapes and of the autobiographical (in)sights of loss I have gleaned in their presence. In speaking from a concept I refer to as the autobiographical imaginative--a performative exchange between land and self where life narratives are summoned as a result of land's presence--this project weaves biographical stories of landscapes and others with stories of my own autobiography. As such, the work utilizes multiple interpretive, ethnographic methods and representational strategies, including documentary ethnography, autoethnography, performative writing, and performance auto/ethnography, as a means of illustrating the dialogic, reflexive, evocative, and fluid relationship among researched and researcher, site and self. In doing so, it reveals how land can signify lived experience, extending the traditional geography-centered notion of landscapes toward the creation of memoryscapes, bodyscapes, and mediascapes.","abstract_html":"While scholars of ruin have long foregrounded the importance of imagination in encountering sites of ruin, they have failed to provide concrete examples of their own imaginative experiences. This dissertation is a collection of aesthetically rendered moments at various sites of ruined landscapes and of the autobiographical (in)sights of loss I have gleaned in their presence. In speaking from a concept I refer to as the autobiographical imaginative--a performative exchange between land and self where life narratives are summoned as a result of land's presence--this project weaves biographical stories of landscapes and others with stories of my own autobiography. As such, the work utilizes multiple interpretive, ethnographic methods and representational strategies, including documentary ethnography, autoethnography, performative writing, and performance auto/ethnography, as a means of illustrating the dialogic, reflexive, evocative, and fluid relationship among researched and researcher, site and self. In doing so, it reveals how land can signify lived experience, extending the traditional geography-centered notion of landscapes toward the creation of memoryscapes, bodyscapes, and mediascapes.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Santoro, Patrick"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy","degree_level":"Campus Only Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Speech Communication","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Pineau, Elyse"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2010,"date_issued":"2010-12-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2010-12-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:33:31Z","subjects":["Autobiography","Ethnography","Loss","Performance","Ruin","Sexuality"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/dissertations/187","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Pineau, Elyse"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Santoro, Patrick"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Speech Communication"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Campus Only Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Autobiography","Ethnography","Loss","Performance","Ruin","Sexuality"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/dissertations/187"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["While scholars of ruin have long foregrounded the importance of imagination in encountering sites of ruin, they have failed to provide concrete examples of their own imaginative experiences. This dissertation is a collection of aesthetically rendered moments at various sites of ruined landscapes and of the autobiographical (in)sights of loss I have gleaned in their presence. In speaking from a concept I refer to as the autobiographical imaginative--a performative exchange between land and self where life narratives are summoned as a result of land's presence--this project weaves biographical stories of landscapes and others with stories of my own autobiography. As such, the work utilizes multiple interpretive, ethnographic methods and representational strategies, including documentary ethnography, autoethnography, performative writing, and performance auto/ethnography, as a means of illustrating the dialogic, reflexive, evocative, and fluid relationship among researched and researcher, site and self. In doing so, it reveals how land can signify lived experience, extending the traditional geography-centered notion of landscapes toward the creation of memoryscapes, bodyscapes, and mediascapes."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["At the Mercy of Ruin: Performative Sites/Sights of Landscapes and Loss"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Pineau, Elyse"],"dc:creator":["Santoro, Patrick"],"dc:description.abstract":["While scholars of ruin have long foregrounded the importance of imagination in encountering sites of ruin, they have failed to provide concrete examples of their own imaginative experiences. This dissertation is a collection of aesthetically rendered moments at various sites of ruined landscapes and of the autobiographical (in)sights of loss I have gleaned in their presence. In speaking from a concept I refer to as the autobiographical imaginative--a performative exchange between land and self where life narratives are summoned as a result of land's presence--this project weaves biographical stories of landscapes and others with stories of my own autobiography. As such, the work utilizes multiple interpretive, ethnographic methods and representational strategies, including documentary ethnography, autoethnography, performative writing, and performance auto/ethnography, as a means of illustrating the dialogic, reflexive, evocative, and fluid relationship among researched and researcher, site and self. In doing so, it reveals how land can signify lived experience, extending the traditional geography-centered notion of landscapes toward the creation of memoryscapes, bodyscapes, and mediascapes."],"dc:identifier":["https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/dissertations/187"],"dc:subject":["Autobiography","Ethnography","Loss","Performance","Ruin","Sexuality"],"dc:title":["At the Mercy of Ruin: Performative Sites/Sights of Landscapes and Loss"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Speech Communication"],"thesis:degree_level":["Campus Only Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:33:31Z"}