Towards the transformed body: the case study of "Unshelved"
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Date
2010-09-02
Authors
Kunutsor, Alfred Eikem
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Abstract
ABSTRACT
This research report explores the notion of the transformed body through the case study of
Unshelved. The production of Unshelved serves as a vehicle to investigate the depth and extent
of different performance dance inscriptions, traditional and contemporary, embedded in the
body.
This research is structured in Episodes. Episode One deals with how my identity as an Ewe
Ghanaian boy was constructed and expressed through my traditional dance, and how this identity
formed the base on which other identities were realized in my interaction with other cultures and
their dance forms. Episode Two introduces my contemporary experience in South Africa and
how my already codified Ghanaian body reacted to this experience. It deals with how my body
transformed through experience with the old and the new. Episode Three unravels my journey
through five identified societal structures and how my interactions with these structures were
inscribed upon my body. It deals with the deconstruction of these societal structures as expressed
through the creative research project Unshelved. Episode Four deals with the methodology used
in this research as it investigates how materials could be excavated from the body which is a
store house of memory. This Episode puts the body at the heart of the investigation as a primary
tool from which intelligence is gathered. In conclusion, Episode Five defines the notion of the
transformed body through a hybrid of practices that acknowledge the multi layered inscriptions
that lie embedded in the contemporary body.