Re: [xmca] Events: Assistance requested

[Greg Thompson <greg.a.thompson@gmail.com>]

Mike,

Seems like events are some kind of meaningful conglomeration of social acts
(where the whole of meaning is greater than the sum of the acting parts, of
course).

A more theory-ish way to get into this is that Adam Moore paper "The
eventfulness of social reproduction". It engages deeply with the social
science-y question of when a happening becomes an "event" - and in the
process questions what others (esp. William Sewell and Marshall Sahlins)
have had to say about what makes an "event". In particular Moore suggests
that one should not just consider revolutionary moments but should also
consider reproductive moments to be events in need of analysis.

But that seems to have less to do with "event planning" - other than to
raise the question: what makes it an "event"? Certainly an important
question for historians and event planners alike.

If I understand you correctly, you are trying to help them to understand
the ritual constituents of an event and how these can be marshalled to make
a more or less effective event. Semiosis and ritual are key and Goffman is
a good place to turn. He does have a nice lecture on The Lecture - in Forms
of Talk - where he decomposes the elements of The Lecture and why it
succeeds, or fails, as a ritual.

Maybe a chapter or two from Durkheim's Elementary forms? That would at
least get you to the starting point of developing a mood of collective
effervescence. Always a good place to start when trying to get an event off
the ground!

Randall Collins would be the other person to consider. His book Interaction
Ritual Chains is all about ritual events in the here and now. These are
mostly spontaneous events so there isn't much "planning" involved, but the
analyses definitely capture the ritual sense of events that come off well
or not.

Be interested to hear where it all goes with the class.
-greg



On Wed, Feb 13, 2013 at 9:36 AM, Laure Kloetzer <laure.kloetzer@gmail.com>wrote:

> We use the term events in analyzing interactions from a pragmatic
> perspective. Communicative events are small episodes generating
> something in the course of the interaction... (in my perspective). Or
> interactional context giving sense to speech acts... (in another
> tradition)... The definition of communicative events is fuzzy, but at
> least they exist in applied pragmatics.
> Hope it helps,
> Best
> LK
>
> 2013/2/13 Lois Holzman <lholzman@eastsideinstitute.org>:
> > Mike,
> > I don't know of any intellectual traditions here but at least some
> people who go into event planning/special events often have a theatre
> management or theatre production background.  In small organizations, the
> position is often tied to development (fundraising) and/or public
> relations/communication. It's a highly stressful, complex job that requires
> good "relationship-building" and "communication skills" (I've helped a few
> people obtain these positions).
> > Lois
> >
> >
> >
> > Don't forget to check out the latest at http://loisholzman.org
> >
> > Lois Holzman, Ph.D.
> > Director, East Side Institute for Group and Short Term Psychotherapy
> > 104-106 South Oxford St.
> > Brooklyn NY 11217
> > Chair, Global Outreach for All Stars Project UX
> > tel. 212.941.8906 ext. 324
> > fax 718.797.3966
> > lholzman@eastsideinstitute.org
> > eastsideinstitute.org
> > performingtheworld.org
> > loisholzman.org
> > allstars.org
> > http://esicommunitynews.wordpress.com/
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Feb 12, 2013, at 6:57 PM, mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Ah! Well, I started to send this note to all of you, then decided to
> send
> >> to daughter, but ended up sending to all of you after all, so here is
> the
> >> problem. Delete if this is an intrusion on your time.
> >>
> >> I am teaching a class where students are interest in an activity called
> >> "event planning" for which people are sometime paid enough to make a
> >> living. The difficulty is that the students do not
> >> appear to have been taught anything they can remember about
> >> events and this is a senior class. So I am doing some digging with them,
> >> and now with you.
> >>
> >> The dictionary is of limited use:
> >> * *
> >> *a. * Something that takes place; an occurrence.
> >> *b. * A significant occurrence or happening. See Synonyms at
> >> occurrence<http://www.thefreedictionary.com/occurrence>
> >> .
> >> *c. * A social gathering or activity.
> >>
> >>
> >> A philosophical dictionary lays out the problem territory in greater
> >> detail: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/events/#EveVsObj
> >>
> >> For events of type c, which the students are most concerned with of
> course,
> >> my thought was to turn to the work of Turner, Goffman..... but I cannot
> use
> >> an entire book.
> >>
> >> I would appreciate suggestions for sources that would help me and my
> >> students to think about events, especially as they relate
> >> to a process called communication.
> >>
> >> mike
> >> __________________________________________
> >> _____
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> >
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-- 
Gregory A. Thompson, Ph.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor
Department of Anthropology
883 Spencer W. Kimball Tower
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT 84602
http://byu.academia.edu/GregoryThompson
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