Restaging the Record: the Role of Contemporary Archives in Safeguarding and Preserving Performance As Intangible Cultural Heritage
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RESTAGING THE RECORD: THE ROLE OF CONTEMPORARY ARCHIVES IN SAFEGUARDING AND PRESERVING PERFORMANCE AS INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE by Tonia Sutherland B.A. Hampshire College, 1997 M.L.I.S. University of Pittsburgh, 2005 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of School of Information Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2014 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF INFORMATION SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Tonia Sutherland It was defended on June 26, 2014 and approved by Dr. Ronald Larsen, Dean and Professor, School of Information Sciences Dr. Brian Beaton, Assistant Professor, Library and Information Science Dr. Alison Langmead, Assistant Professor, Library and Information Science Dr. Leonard Berkman, Professor, Smith College Department of Theater and Dance Dissertation Advisor: Dr. Richard J. Cox, Professor, Library and Information Science ii Copyright © by Tonia Sutherland 2014 iii RESTAGING THE RECORD: THE ROLE OF CONTEMPORARY ARCHIVES IN SAFEGUARDING AND PRESERVING PERFORMANCE AS INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE Tonia Sutherland, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2014 Bounded by and framed within the question of the role of contemporary archives in preserving expressions of intangible cultural heritage, this dissertation examines the existing ways performed and event-based cultural heritage are fixed and represented; problematizes prevailing notions of information as evidence in archives; and disrupts issues of archival custody. The dissertation offers new ways of thinking about the points where archives and intangible cultural heritage intersect; as such, the project analyzes these intersections by examining three differing modes of performance-based archivy. With an eye toward existing archival theory and practice as well as an understanding of “the archive” grounded in performance studies, this dissertation uses three unique case studies to analyze and interrogate the perceived disconnect between “the archive and the repertoire,” as well as to expand the body of research on the preservation of event-based cultural heritage. The cases selected for this study, representative of the digital humanities, local practice and international policy, are: the Live Performance Simulation System’s Virtual Vaudeville prototype; the Katherine Dunham Archives and the Dunham Technique; and the implementation of the United Nations Scientific, Educational and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. iv These cases collectively interrogate boundaries between archive and repertoire, illuminating the existing ways contemporary archives document, safeguard and preserve event- based cultural heritage. At the same time, each individual case investigates instances of event- based archivy, highlighting necessary shifts in archival theory and practice to better support the preservation of performative means of cultural expression. v TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Abbreviations ......................................................................................................................x Preface .......................................................................................................................................... xii A Note About Terminology ..........................................................................................................xv I. Problem Statement .......................................................................................................................1 A. Background ....................................................................................................................1 B. Significance of the Study ...............................................................................................2 C. Research Questions ........................................................................................................7 II. Literature Review .......................................................................................................................8 A. Introduction ....................................................................................................................8 B. Evidence: Function Over Form ......................................................................................9 C. Performance: Form Over Function ................................................................................15 D. Stewardship: Maintaining Form and Function ..............................................................33 E. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................38 III. Methodology ...........................................................................................................................40 A. Case Study Research .....................................................................................................41 B. Sampling ........................................................................................................................42 1.The Live Performance Simulation System: Virtual Vaudeville Prototype ...............43 2.The Katherine Dunham Archives and the Dunham Technique ................................44 3.UNESCO’s 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage .................................................................................................................................45 C. Data Collection .............................................................................................................46 vi D. Data Analysis ...............................................................................................................50 E. Validity, Reliability and Replication ............................................................................52 F. Limitations .....................................................................................................................53 IV. The Live Performance Simulation System: The Virtual Vaudeville Prototype .....................55 A. Background ..................................................................................................................56 B. Vaudeville ....................................................................................................................60 C. The Virtual Vaudeville Prototype .................................................................................62 D. The Archive and the Repertoire ....................................................................................73 E. Summary .........................................................................................................................83 V. The Katherine Dunham Archives and the Dunham Technique ...............................................85 A. Katherine Dunham .........................................................................................................86 B. The Katherine Dunham Archives ..................................................................................95 C. The Katherine Dunham Repertoire: The Dunham Technique .......................................97 D. The Archive and the Repertoire ..................................................................................101 E. Summary .......................................................................................................................111 VI. UNESCO: 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage .............112 A. UNESCO .....................................................................................................................112 B. Intangible Cultural Heritage ........................................................................................115 C. The 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage ..............117 D. Deployment of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage ......................................................................................................................120 1. Belgium ...............................................................................................................120 vii a. About Belgium ................................................................................................120 b. The Government of Flanders: Deploying the Convention ..............................121 2. Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada .................................................................126 a. About Newfoundland and Labrador ................................................................126 b. The Heritage Foundation: Deploying the Convention ....................................127 3. Trinidad and Tobago ...........................................................................................133 a. About Trinidad and Tobago ............................................................................133 b. The Remember When Institute: Deploying the Convention ...........................134 E. The Archive and the Repertoire ..................................................................................141 F. Summary ......................................................................................................................149 VII. Comparative Analysis .........................................................................................................152 A. Heritage Communities and Archival Custody ............................................................153