A Clown, A Cannibal, and A Scholar do a Deep Study : A mastication of an alternative learning method in the Kalamazoo circus community

Abstract

This project will produce knowledge to be passed on/generated within/for the Cirque du K community (in the form of journals and videos and embodied knowledge), knowledge to share with CES and other scholars about the implementation of Deep Study (in the form of a methodology paper), and knowledge for the community at large (in forms of various performances). This project is not limited to producing only these knowledges. I will also expand upon the Argument with the Given concept of conversation as research method to include circusing as research method: producing knowledge via the act of doing circus. This will allow us to conceive of producing information with our bodies during practices, and so extends what ‘study’ can be. There are two methodologies attached to this project (and which influence each other): (1) the methodology of implementation of Deep Study practices within the Cirque du K community, (2) the methodology of the methodology. The Deep Study will be enacted by the embodiment of Love, Study, Struggle into everyday practices. Circus is an area in which discipline is important for safety, where love and struggle and study produce and are produced by each other; therefore it should be relatively easy to implement new responsibilities. Of course, the Nanabush methodology requires that the theory be changed by doing. Therefore conversation/circusing as research method will be something that is both embodied in and influences the embodiment of Deep Study; additionally, part of my methodology will be to keep a journal that catalogues how practices work and which ones have been tried and how they have changed over time. That is: Read, Write, Resist. Within this journal, and outside of it, I will Read, Write, Resist. I choose writing because it will be less obtrusive: on a practical scale, it is hard to produce good video of circus practices. I am also more familiar with writing, and most of my intended audience is familiar with it as well. This is not to say the I will not produce any videos during this project--in fact, I plan on producing hundreds of hours worth--but these videos are for the Cirque du K (and perhaps Circus) communities, and not for the College or anyone outside of the Cirque community.