Questioning the carnivalesque: poetry slams, performance, and contemporary forms of resistance

Abstract

This thesis explores the form that resistance takes in poetry slams. In this study, Mikhail Bakhtin's theory of carnival is applied to the poetry slam as a contemporary form of resistance. Carnival provides a place outside of everyday life where different rules are in effect. Through the carnival, participants see new possibilities for their everyday lives. The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate whether poetry slams show carnivalesque resistance. Research was conducted using a hermeneutic perspective. The data was collected through observation and interviews with subjects at two poetry slams: the Open Counter Poetry Slam and the Rue Vermilion Poetry Slam. Observations were conducted at multiple occurrences of each slam. Thirteen individuals were interviewed with eight coming from the Open Counter Poetry Slam and five from the Rue Vermilion Poetry Slam. Thematic analysis was used in interpreting the data. Two approaches were used to examine the results of the analysis. A spatial approach was used to see how the times and spaces that poetry slams occur show carnival resistance. The second approach used the perspectives of the interviewees and observations of poetry slam participants' interactions to explore carnival's role in poetry slam events. By showing how carnival manifests within poetry slams, this research shows how events can provide safe havens from the pressures of power that permeate the social hierarchies of everyday life.