Doing Spontaneity

<p>This dissertation considers the rhetorical use of the term “spontaneity” and action affiliated with it from the perspective of ethnomethodology, as a dynamic social practice emergent from concrete interactions among people. I first consider a variety of existing operationalizations of “spontaneity” in academic research from the perspective of what is ethnomethodologically accomplished by these operationalizations, i.e., what questions do they answer or attempt to answer? I then turn to a detailed rhetorical analysis of the term “spontaneity” as an ideograph in improvisational theatre, a social practice in which enactment of spontaneity is treated as criterial to identity and recognition of the practice. In this ideographic analysis, I consider both a set of popular improv method texts and a collection of interviews with improviers who relate narratives about their experiences or observations of spontaneity. I assess the rhetorical practices in these artifacts both through the operationalization framework I identify and from a critical perspective, asking how practices of spontaneity in improv relate to social structures and practices of privilege, oppression and power.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Communication Studies

Year dc:date.available

2016

Author dc:creator

• Zaunbrecher, Nicolas J.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Stucky, Nathan

• Ethnomethodology
• Ideograph
• Improv
• Improvisation
• Spontaneity
• Theatre

Repository record dc:identifier

https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/dissertations/1238

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:opensiuc.lib.siu.edu:dissertations-2242