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ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF ...

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effort to adapt his memory <strong>of</strong> specific experiences to suit his orientalist leanings.<br />

Yet there is an enigma present in this puppet orientalism. His view <strong>of</strong> African<br />

Americans amalgamated with the mountebank spirit <strong>of</strong> his varied performance<br />

experiences. From his first day as an independent showman, he determined to personify<br />

the pitchman. His wide travels, jobs in medicine shows and circuses, and his cabalistic<br />

approach to puppetry’s secrets, as surveyed in the next section, had a pr<strong>of</strong>ound impact on<br />

his notions <strong>of</strong> the purpose <strong>of</strong> shows. All contribute to a belief that shows must be<br />

innovative rather than richly detailed, and must constantly catch the audience’s eyes and<br />

ears, rather than serve up a pr<strong>of</strong>ound artistic experience. The two apperceptions unite in<br />

blackface puppetry that is both crude and clever, manipulating the pecieved, or rather<br />

apperceived otherness <strong>of</strong> the black body for artistic expediency.<br />

81

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