Doctoral candidate, Omotayo Jolaosho (Rutgers University), under the guidance of Dr. Dorothy Hodgson, will investigate the role of embodied performance in community mobilizations for social change through ethnographic and archival research in South Africa. Freedom songs and dances created within anti-apartheid struggles continue to flourish well after apartheid's demise as South Africans adapt anti-apartheid performances and create new forms in response to current conditions. To situate contemporary performance activism within a longer historical trajectory, the researcher will examine continuities and transformations between earlier anti-apartheid performances and current adaptations.
The researcher will investigate the relationship between performance and mobilization in three contexts: 1) internal organizational practices; 2) the interaction of activists with external audiences; and 3) the everyday events and common routines from which articulated strategies develop. She will employ participant observation in a community organization and conduct interviews to collect detailed interpretations from organizers and their audiences. She also will collect and analyze archival materials to provide a historical backdrop for contemporary practices. Through these methods, the researcher will develop a comprehensive analysis of how bodily expressions mobilize collectivities for social change.
Incorporating an integrative bodily approach to political performance, the researcher will further recent innovations in the study of collective action. The research will produce insights into how citizens respond to the effects of changing macro-economic policies and advance international social science research that investigates local manifestations of trends that transcend national and regional boundaries. Funding this research also supports the education of a social scientist.
