Performance as Critical Posthuman Pedagogy

Abstract

In this essay, I argue that performance studies practitioners are well positioned to participate in, as well as educate the public about, discourses of science and technology. Arguing that technoscientific conditions create the need for alternative pedagogical practices, I turn to critical performative pedagogy (CPP) as one way to begin moving toward technoscientific literacy. Drawing lessons from a collaborative performance installation in which I embodied a cyborg persona, I highlight connections between CPP and cyborg/posthuman pedagogies, demonstrate some of the dynamics of these approaches, and argue for their value as public pedagogical practices for a technoscientific, posthuman world.

Keywords:

• Technoscience
• Posthumanism
• Critical performance pedagogy
• Persona performance
• Performance art

She wishes to thank the anonymous reviewers for their generous feedback. She is eternally grateful to Craig Gingrich-Philbrook, who directed the dissertation from which this work springs, and her artistic collaborators for the project described here: William Bowling, Nicole Defenbaugh, Aubrey Huber, Violet Juno, Meagan Oestry, Joe Hassert, and Brian Healy. Portions of the arguments in this essay have been presented at the National Communication Association annual convention (2009, 2012) and the Southern States Communication Association annual convention (2010, 2011) as part of the author's dissertation work.

She wishes to thank the anonymous reviewers for their generous feedback. She is eternally grateful to Craig Gingrich-Philbrook, who directed the dissertation from which this work springs, and her artistic collaborators for the project described here: William Bowling, Nicole Defenbaugh, Aubrey Huber, Violet Juno, Meagan Oestry, Joe Hassert, and Brian Healy. Portions of the arguments in this essay have been presented at the National Communication Association annual convention (2009, 2012) and the Southern States Communication Association annual convention (2010, 2011) as part of the author's dissertation work.