Circus As Multimodal Discourse: Performance, Meaning, And Ritual
by Paul Bouissac /
2014 / English / PDF
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Now available in paperback, this volume presents a theory of the
circus as a secular ritual and introduces a method to analyze its
performances as multimodal discourse.
Now available in paperback, this volume presents a theory of the
circus as a secular ritual and introduces a method to analyze its
performances as multimodal discourse.
The book's chapters cover the range of circus specialties (magic,
domestic and wild animal training, acrobatics, and clowning) and
provide examples to show how cultural meaning is produced,
extended and amplified by circus performances. Bouissac is one of
the world's leading authorities on circus ethnography and
semiotics and this work is grounded on research conducted over a
50 year span in Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas.
The book's chapters cover the range of circus specialties (magic,
domestic and wild animal training, acrobatics, and clowning) and
provide examples to show how cultural meaning is produced,
extended and amplified by circus performances. Bouissac is one of
the world's leading authorities on circus ethnography and
semiotics and this work is grounded on research conducted over a
50 year span in Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas.
It concludes with a reflection on the potentially subversive
power of this discourse and its contemporary use by activists.
Throughout, it endeavours to develop an analytical approach that
is mindful of the epistemological traps of both positivism and
postmodernist license. It brings semiotics and ethnography to
bear on the realm of the circus.
It concludes with a reflection on the potentially subversive
power of this discourse and its contemporary use by activists.
Throughout, it endeavours to develop an analytical approach that
is mindful of the epistemological traps of both positivism and
postmodernist license. It brings semiotics and ethnography to
bear on the realm of the circus.
