An Ethnographic Study of the Moth Detroit Storyslam
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East Tennessee State University Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University Electronic Theses and Dissertations Student Works 8-2012 An Ethnographic Study of The othM Detroit StorySLAM Catherine Jo Janssen East Tennessee State University Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.etsu.edu/etd Part of the Linguistic Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Janssen, Catherine Jo, "An Ethnographic Study of The othM Detroit StorySLAM" (2012). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1461. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1461 This Thesis - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Works at Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. An Ethnographic Study of The Moth Detroit StorySLAM ___________________________ A thesis presented to the faculty of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction East Tennessee State University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in Reading ___________________________ by Catherine Jo Janssen August 2012 ___________________________ Joseph Sobol, PhD, Chair Delanna Reed Melissa Schrift, PhD Keywords: storytelling, ethnographic study, performance event, slam, Detroit ABSTRACT An Ethnographic Study of The Moth Detroit StorySLAM by Catherine Jo Janssen The Moth Detroit StorySLAM is one of many storytelling events staged in urban bar environments. Unlike the increasingly aged audiences attending the National Storytelling Festival and similar story festivals, the Detroit StorySLAM consistently yields “at capacity” crowds of college students and young professionals. Participants were informally interviewed during the September, October, and November slams of 2010 and the January 2011 slam. In addition to conducting these interviews, the researcher was a participant observer – throwing her name into the hat and being twice called to the stage. Data are presented as a thick description organized according to Richard Bauman’s 6 situational factors of the performance event. Until now questions about the nature and meaning of storytelling have been largely considered from the storyteller’s perspective. By redirecting those questions to the listeners, this study reveals the ethos of hundreds of story enthusiasts – an undisputed admiration for the revelation of authentic, individual truths. 2 CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………………….2 Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………..5 2. LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………………………………………...8 3. METHODOLOGY…………………………………………………………………...23 Research Design………………………………………………………………….23 Sample……………………………………………………………………23 Instrumentation…………………………………………………………..23 Procedure Details………………………………………………………...24 Data Analysis…………………………………………………………….25 Limitations……………………………………………………………….26 4. RESULTS…………………………………………………………………………….28 What Happens at the SLAM ?...............................................................................29 Situational Factor 1: Participant Identity-Role……………………….....32 Situational Factor 6: Action Sequence ………………………………….33 Situational Factor 2: Expressive Means of Performance……………......36 Situational Factor 3: Social Interactional Ground Rules-Norms………..37 Situational Factor 4: Social Interactional Performance Strategies……...42 Situational Factor 5: Criteria for Performance Interpretation and Evaluation……………………………………………………………......46 Reflections from Participants ……………………………………………………51 5. THE STORYTELLERS………………………………………………………………62 John………………………………………………………………………………63 3 Bill……………………………………………………………………………….66 Shannon…………………………………………………………………………..68 The Participant Observer: Cathy…………………………………………………69 6. CONCLUSIONS……………………………………………………………………..74 Discussion………………………………………………………………………..74 “The BS Detector”……………………………………………………….75 Directions for Further Research………………………………………………….86 REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………………..…91 APPENDICES…………………………………………………………………………………...94 Appendix A: Field Notes: Thursday, September 2nd, 2010…………………………...…94 Appendix B: Field Notes: Thursday, October 7th, 2010………………………………..113 Appendix C: Field Notes: Thursday, November 4th, 2010……………………………..132 Appendix D: Field Notes: Thursday, January 6th, 2011………………………………..142 Appendix E: Provenance of Slam Participants…………………………………………160 VITA……………………………………………………………………………………………161 4 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION In 2005 Dr. Caren Neile of Florida Atlantic University, then managing editor of Storytelling, Self, Society, lamented the relegation of storytelling to child audiences in “A Place at the Hearth: Storytelling, Subversion, and the U.S. Culture Industry.” In this paper Neile questioned storytelling’s absence from “night-clubs, top-flight theaters, [and] the media”, suggesting that storytelling’s reputation as a folk art, combined with its association with children’s entertainment and a general ignorance of the art form in adult circles, were at fault (p. 9-10). Arriving 32 years after the first National Storytelling Festival, Neile’s theory coincided with the general graying of the festival’s audiences. The gathering that was to become the National Storytelling Festival and later recognized as the beginning of the “American Storytelling Revival” began in the little town of Jonesborough, Tennessee in 1973. The festival is still staged every October in that same little town. But this festival – and the numerous regional festivals that have followed in its footsteps and its mold – is no longer representative of the increasingly diverse world of American storytelling. Looking into the tents of the festival, it’s possible to count hundreds of adult heads and feel assured that storytelling is working for adult audiences. But a closer look reveals that most of those heads have gone gray, leading to the question, “Is there a next generation of the American storytelling revival, and if so, where is it?” In the past decade and a half, storytelling has stepped out from under the brightly striped tents of the festival grounds and into the dark, smoky atmosphere of urban night clubs. And although bars have always been the place to find beer-holding raconteurs, something has changed. These storytellers are now holding microphones, as well as pints, and tickets are being sold. This is where you will find young Americans telling stories. Many members of the 5 festival-going storytelling community do not know what this younger generation looks like or how it operates. Likewise, the people crowding into the story slam and climbing behind its microphone may have even less awareness of that community or the American Storytelling Revival. Young adult and middle-aged story enthusiasts are flocking to bars and night clubs, places – not surprisingly – to which those age groups have been gravitating for generations. Cliff Bells is one of those venues. The Detroit jazz club is now home to The Moth Detroit StorySLAM. The Moth first appeared in New York City back in 1997 as a storyteller’s collective. It has since exploded into what the Washington Post has called “the literary crowd’s answer to stand-up,” operating large, so-called “Main Stage” events as well as smaller, monthly StorySLAMs in L.A., Chicago, and Detroit. The Moth also goes on tour, staging events across the nation. Meanwhile, other groups are producing events along similar lines as The Moth. There’s San Francisco’s Porchlight, Milwaukee’s Ex Fabula, and DC’s Speakeasy, to name a few. A broad survey of these adult-centered and urban-situated story events would be interesting but beyond the scope of this investigation. This is an ethnographic study of The Moth Detroit StorySLAM with fieldwork carried out by the student researcher in the role of participant observer. Field notes on the performance event were gathered while interacting with members of the audience as well as adding my name to the lottery of potential storytellers. To be clear, any audience member could be one of the evening’s featured tellers. All hopefuls were asked to enter their names via a consent form into a lottery. No one knows who will be telling until the emcee draws the teller’s name from a hat and calls that person up to the stage. 6 This project examines The Moth’s Detroit StorySLAM, which is just one of the many storytelling events being staged in urban bars across the country. My intent in conducting this study was to produce an in-depth rendering of one particular story event that is regularly and successfully reaching an urban adult population (in many months, selling out of tickets) and initiate within the academic storytelling community through a thick description of that particular event a conversation about this new generation of the American storytelling. It is important to note that I conducted this research and wrote this thesis from the emic perspective of someone who was raised in the periphery of suburban Detroit. Though not a resident of metro Detroit, I did spend the first 18 years of my life in a small suburb outside of the city. This meant that my news, my music, and my sports came out of the city of Detroit. At the same time, I am currently a graduate student in East Tennessee State University’s Storytelling Program. I am no longer a Michigan resident. Admittedly, my observations were passed through the double lens of a southeast Michigander and a student of storytelling tradition and craft. 7 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW Imagine what it feels like to enter