Summoning the Spirit of Obsolescence in Media and Performance: A Posthuman Sèance

In this dissertation, I explore the fantasies and paradoxical desires belying spiritual medium performances of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries and new media practices of remediation. Forming the organizing construct of this dissertation, spiritual medium performance gives me a medium to explore fantasy as a means of suspending and manipulating audience belief. Through the use of my performance persona, Lucida Fox, I further connect the spiritual medium’s communication with the dead to the practices of remediation meant to summon the influences of obsolete media. Through Lucida, I remediate the past (Chapter 2), future (Chapter 3), and experiment with several spiritualist techniques in the present (Chapter 4). In the final chapter, I address the implications of this research on current discussions within the field of performance studies and conclude by offering future direction of this research.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

Campus Only Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Communication Studies

Year

2017

Author dc:creator

• Greer, Lindsay Patrice

Contributors dc:contributor

• Gingrich-Philbrook, Craig
• Walker, Rebecca

• Media
• Performance
• Performance Studies
• Spirit Photography
• Spiritualism
• Spiritual Medium

Repository record dc:identifier

https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/dissertations/1460

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:opensiuc.lib.siu.edu:dissertations-2464