Creative Arts Therapies Theses

Date of Award

12-9-2017

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Art in Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling (MA)

Department

Creative Arts Therapies

First Advisor

Imus, Susan

Second Advisor

Downey, Laura

Third Advisor

Caldwell, Christine

Keywords

dance/movement therapy, American society, systems of oppression, inequality, injustice, qualitative research.

Abstract

Twenty-first century American society requires individual and collective bodies to navigate large and often invisible systems of oppression despite the felt-influence of inequality, injustice, and affective control. Drawing from convergent theories of social movements and dance/movement therapy, collective embodied resilience emerges as a dually activating and healing resource for change making. This qualitative research study utilized a participatory/action embodied artistic inquiry methodology to investigate how arts-activist co-researchers experience collective embodied resilience during participation in collective action. Employing arts-based methods of data collection and analysis, coresearchers explored collective embodied resilience to generate and share an accessible ritual movement practice within a Chicago community setting. An accompanying lyrical documentary narrates the process: https://vimeo.com/238143420. Analysis of the resultant social change process-practice revealed implications for developing advocacy and social justice promotion competence with dance/movement therapy graduate students. 102 pages.

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