Performing (Ab)normal: Reframing Ageing, Dementia, and Temporality

• Author / Creator

  Lee, Heunjung

• In response to the broader discourse that scrutinises cultural constructions of dementia, this thesis investigates how performance theories and theatrical practices can disrupt, reshape, and transform the stigmatised cultural imaginary of persons living with dementia. By bridging Performance Studies, Age Studies, and Critical Disability Studies, this dissertation engages in activism and advocacy to rethink living with dementia as an alternative way of being and living.
  More specifically, by focusing on alternative perception of time and reality experienced by people with dementia, this thesis engages in a sharp critique of discourses and representations that contrast normal versus abnormal experiences of consciousness. This study provides critiques of ableist assumptions in medical terms and cultural rhetoric framing the temporality of dementia, including notions of disorientation, asynchrony, and atemporality. Furthermore, by analysing theatrical representations of alternative temporal and reality experience of people living with dementia, this thesis demonstrates how theatre and performance can offer embodied
  and affective understanding of the experience of a syncopated time and an inter(in)animation between different times, memories, multiple age-selves, and realities. It suggests that theatre and performance can challenge the dominant, normative, and ableist perspective imposed on people with dementia and promote a more inclusive approach.
  Additionally, this research problematises the ideas of normative ageing which cast out older adults with illnesses and disabilities from desirable ageing futures. By analysing three case
  studies of age-critical performance, this thesis demonstrates how theatre can disrupt normative cultural scripts of ageing and old age and expand and reshape our consciousness and imaginations of old age. Specifically, by showcasing the performative strength of older community performers in the analysed productions who convey intricate realities of ageing, this research considers the implications of dementia futurity in theatre and performance, advocating for a reimagining of theatre to include people with dementia as creators and performers. This dissertation concludes by introducing my own artwork that encapsulates my activist point of view regarding persons living with dementia. By examining the performance of dementia in both aesthetic and everyday contexts, this study highlights the unique contribution of Theatre and Performance Studies to the rethinking and reimagining of ageing and living with dementia.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • aging/ageing
  • performance
  • dementia
  • temporality
  • crip time
  • normativity
  • ageism
  • ableism
  • disability
  • stigma

• Graduation date

  Spring 2024

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Philosophy

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-3ftt-rr94

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.