Performing Tribal Rituals: A Genre Analysis of “Crits” in Design Studios

Abstract

Grounded in a communication in the disciplines (CID) theoretical framework, this study was the first phase of a multiphased project exploring oral genres in the academic discipline of design. The purpose of this study was to provide a baseline understanding of how faculty perceive and assign meaning to the oral genres that students performed in their studios. Through qualitative observation and ethnographic interviewing over a year-long period, I explored the types of oral genres in design education, their distinguishing features, skills faculty ascribe to success for these genres, and the role of oral genres in the social communities and practices of design studios. Results illustrate four distinct oral genres in this context*/specifically defined by the prominence of visual and spatial elements and audience feedback*/within which specific skills mark success. Results also suggest oral genres function as ritualistic performances*/a metaphor that illustrates the social, situated, and rhetorical role of oral genres in this context. Ultimately, this study provides an empirically grounded foundation for communication across the curriculum practitioners and makes important theoretical contributions by suggesting a complex connection between orality and the academic discipline of design.The foyer of the College of Design is a large, rotunda shaped area. There are wires strung from one wall to the next, and metal structures hang from those wires. On the wall that faces the entrance way, there is a computer image of a threedimensional oval shaped graphic simulation being projected onto a transparent wall that leads into a set of offices. Moving out of the foyer and into the hallways,

Communication in the Disciplines: Interpersonal Communication in Dietetics

“…Although registered dietitians meet with clients several times, content of these meetings is negotiated by the dietitian and client as a result of the disclosures of the client rather than on the basis of an established typology. Other design research (Dannels, 2005) discovered established competencies for "crits," but again this is not so in the dietetics interview. Competency is not so clearly structured but is a result of the registered dietitian's ability to identify detrimental dietary habits of clients which, when changes are proposed and monitored, result in improved client health.…”

“…Other CXC research, for example Dannels, 2002, Darling, 2005Dannels, 2005;Dannels & Norris Martin, 2008;and Darling & Dannels, 2003, found the central oral genres in design and engineering to be based on public speaking. Darling & Dannels (2003, p. 14), suggested CXC research should focus on other genres, and it was the case that interpersonal communication emerged from the current research as the central oral genre of dietitians.…”

“…Much of CXC research thus far focuses on public communication. The work of Dannels (2003) and Dannels (2002) and Darling (2005) and others in engineering and Dannels (2005) in design classes explores public speaking as a disciplinary site in those areas.Tthe current research shows that interpersonal communication in the dietetics discipline performs a similarly important function. Future CXC research should locate other disciplines in which interpersonal genres serve similarly important roles and identify the functions of these interpersonal genres in maintaining and advancing those disciplines.…”

“…Previous research demonstrated that oral genres in design and engineering are not simply generic vehicles for disseminating information, they reflect the traditions of the discipline that encompass ways the work of the discipline is conducted, ways new knowledge in the discipline is generated, and ways the discipline is maintained. On the basis of the previous CXC research, it is clear that communication genres through which the design process is conducted differ from the genres of note in engineering (See, e.g., Dannels, 2005 andDannels, 2002). The CID framework illustrates that if communication scholars were to assume a one size fits all communication approach to other disciplines, vast amounts of critical knowledge would be overlooked.…”

“…For these reasons, CXC research in dietetics stands to inform communication scholars and members of the dietetics discipline of the intricacies of these oral activities. Dannels (2005) has indicated it is time for the CXC research agenda to move to more discipline specific inquiry. As the CID framework proposes, knowledge about oral genres must come from the disciplinary site.…”