Playing with Purpose: Adventures in Performative Social Science

by Mary M Gergen, Kenneth J Gergen

Overview

Distilling decades of work spanning their prestigious careers, Mary M. and Kenneth J. Gergen make a strong case for enriching the social sciences through performative work. They present a unique exploration of the origins of performative social science and provide an intellectually rich overview of its significance in the field, as well as its evolving potential. Many of their own performance pieces are included in the volume. The authors envision a broadening of the social sciences, making it more accessible to non-experts and opening up new dialogues between society and science—and changing the world in the process. Social scientists and researchers will gain a valuable new perspective from this insightful tome.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781598745467
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	04/30/2012
Series:	Writing Lives: Ethnographic Narratives , #12
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	247
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Mary M Gergen, Kenneth J Gergen

Table of Contents

Purpose: Contributions of a Performative Social Science; Literary Arts: Playing With Potentials; Chapter 4 Duographic Writing; Chapter 5 Collaging Voices, Mary Gergen; Chapter 6 Multiplying Metaphors, Mary Gergen; Chapter 7 The Dialogic Alternative, Mary Gergen, Kip Jones; Chapter 8 Juxtaposing Genres, Ken Gergen; Chapter 9 Reflections on Writing; Dramatic Arts: Ideas in Action; Chapter 10 Performing the Mind, Ken Gergen; Chapter 11 Performing Theory, Mary Gergen; Chapter 12 Theatrical Power, Mary Gergen; Chapter 13 The Costume is the Message, Mary Gergen; Chapter 14 Reflecting on Dramatic Performance; Visualizing Ideas: Believing Is Seeing; Chapter 15 Playing with Sam, ken Gergen, Sam Maitin; Chapter 16 Relational Art, Ken Gergen, Regine Walter; Chapter 17 Photographic Playtime, Ken Gergen, Anne Marie Rijsman-Lecluyse; Chapter 18 Visual Deconstruction, Ken Gergen, Anne Marie Rijsman-Lecluyse; Chapter 19 Reflecting on Visual Performance; Extending Experiments: Flying Furniture; Chapter 20 Sculpting Ideas, Ken Gergen; Chapter 21 Cartooning and Critique, Mary Gergen; Chapter 22 To Song; Chapter 23 The Power of Multimedia, Ken Gergen; Chapter 24 Cybergraphics, Ken Gergen, Anne Marie Rijsman-Lecluyse; Chapter 25 Fragmented Moments: Haiku, Mary Gergen; Chapter 26 Teaching through Fiction, Mary Gergen; Chapter 27 Reflecting on Extended Experiments;

Editorial Reviews

This long awaited and eagerly anticipated book by two of social psychology’s most illustrious and adventurous innovators erases the divisions between the social sciences and the arts that have blocked the development of a truly unified arts-based human science. Introducing a dizzying array of diverse aesthetic forms that widen the space available for social research aimed at social justice and the good life, the Gergens don’t just talk about what the human sciences can become, they show it. Charming, playful, and fresh, Performing Social Science reveals the promise of an embodied, emotional, and ethical social science that situates the performance arts at the center of inquiry aimed at understanding the fullness of what it means to be human."

—Arthur P. Bochner, Distinguished University Professor of Communication, University of South Florida

From the Publisher