Gigging it in the shire: information practices of Renaissance faire performers and artisans
| Date | 28 November 2022 |
| Pages | 937-954 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-07-2022-0164 |
| Published date | 28 November 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
| Author | Vikki C. Terrile |
Gigging it in the shire:
information practices
of Renaissance faire performers
and artisans
Vikki C. Terrile
Kurt R. Schmeller Library, Queensborough Community College,
Bayside, New York, USA
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of thisstudy was to explore the information behaviors (IBs) of performers and artisan/
vendors in American Renaissance faires. This research is exploratory in nature and seeks to discover how
existing IB theories, including embodied information practices, can explain the information seeking and use of
performers and artisan vendors working in American Renaissance faires.
Design/methodology/approach –This study used semi-structured qualitative interviews with three
artisan/vendors and 12 performers at Renaissance faires to explore their IBs around the roles at the festivals.
Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed and analyzed from an exploratory framework, looking for how
existing IB theories might explain the findings.
Findings –Although the participants in this study described information practices that were embodied and
corporeal, they shared more experiences around the complex and fraught nature of information sharing within
the Renaissance faire community. Information sharing prohibitions were related to power dynamics and the
participants’roles as gig or contingent workers.
Originality/value –This was the first study to explore the IBs of Renaissance faire performers and artisan/
vendors and as such, was exploratory in nature. The findings point to several areas for additional research.
Keywords Power, Information practices, Artisans, Embodied information, Information behaviors, Gig
workforce, Performers, Renaissance faires, Small world theory
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
While ubiquitous within American culture since the 1960s, with more than 60 currently
operating, Renaissance faires are understudied phenomena. Korol-Evans (2009) and Rubin
(2012) have written the onlybook-length ethnographic studies, joinedby a handful of academic
articles (Kim and Jamal, 2007;Slocum et al.,2020,2022), and theses/dissertations (Gunnels, 2004;
Johnson, 2010;Kim, 2004;Koehn, 2017;Lumbley, 2013;Markijohn, 2009). Prior to the COVID-19
pandemic, these faires reported a combined annual attendance of over 5.4 million visits, an
impressive number, given they are typically only open on weekends for seasons that range from
one weekto three months a year. Inaddition to their popularity, Renaissancefaires also serve a
number of cultural roles, including in the development of the 1960s counterculture (Rubin, 2012),
as living history (Korol-Evans, 2009;McCarthy, 2014) and as a location for engagement in
modern geek culture (McCain et al., 2015). Within the limited research on Renaissance faires,
there has been almost no examination of the faire particip ants [1], specifically the performers and
artisanvendors whowork at (often multiple)faires.For these workers,the faires serve numerous
roles, including workplace, community and tribe or extended family (Rubin, 2012). Additionally,
there have been no studies connecting information behaviors (IBs) or information-seeking to
Renaissance faires (or even to related areas including festivals, circuses and carnivals).
Renaissance
faire
performers and
artisans
937
Funding: Support for this project was provided by a PSC-CUNY Award, jointly funded by The
Professional Staff Congress and The City University of New York.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0022-0418.htm
Received 26 July 2022
Revised 31 October 2022
Accepted 6 November 2022
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 79 No. 4, 2023
pp. 937-954
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-07-2022-0164
Performers and artisans who work the American Renaissance faire circuit do so at the
intersection of an array of professional identities. As performing and craft artists, their information
practices are situated in their specific embodied work, similar to other professional artists. At the
same time, they are hired as independent contractorsbyeachfaireatwhichtheyparticipate,
making them part of the “gig economy”and contingent workforce. As such, Renaissance faire
performers and artisans navigate an information landscape that finds them expressing the power
of their embodied expertise while often being oppressed by management and how they control
access to and sharing of information. This studyexploredtheinformationpracticesof15
Renaissance faire participants, 12 performers and 3 artisans, and found fraught and contested
information practices that may be used to theorize information practices of other workers in the
contingent or gig workforce.
2. Literature review
2.1 American Renaissance faires
Rubin (2012) traced the origins of the American Renaissance faire from its beginning as an
educational project for children in 1960s southern California to its modern incarnations. She
posited that the faires were essential to the development of the counterculture movement of the
time, and that, despite trends toward corporate ownership and “Disneyfication”(Rubin, 2012,
p. 211) since the 1980s, still include features that support openness, sexuality and identity
exploration. Similarly, Newmahr (2014) explored Renaissance faires as sites of eroticism, based
on the highly sensual experiences of those participating in and attending the events. To Korol-
Evans (2009), the multiple sensescapes participants and guests move through during the faire
day were key to creating and maintaining the illusion of being in another time and place. Trilling
(2011) problematized thepopularity of Renaissance fairesin America as a formof nostalgia and
noted that “The combination of minute details that serve to reinforce the experience of
authenticity and the tongue-in-cheek reminder that such detail is unauthentic in the extreme
exemplifies the dialecticat the heart of nostalgic medievalisms”(p. 220).
Renaissance faires have been studied most frequently within the recreation and tourism
disciplines, often using the serious leisure framework. These studies have focused on festival
attendees rather than performers and artisans employed by the faires and also tend to focus
on repeat attendees who devote significant time and money to visiting faires. Kim and Jamal
(2007) positioned Renaissance faires as “period theme parks”(p. 182) and attendance as
“a liminal tourist space”(p. 184) outside of the norms of daily life. Slocum et al. (2020)
connected the categories of Renaissance faire attendees described by Korol-Evans (2009) with
Stebbins’(2001b) categories of serious leisure enthusiasts. Serious leisure has been used as a
framework within library and information science (LIS) and IB research, but Cox et al. (2017)
observed that while there has been significant work on serious leisure within the field, most of
that literature has focused on documentation and has ignored the importance of bodies and
embodied behaviors to many serious leisure activities. In their study of the information
practices of Australian hobbyist historic reenactors within the serious leisure framework,
Robinson and Yerbury (2015) found that “authenticity is a currency of status and a mark of
competency”(Robinson and Yerbury, 2015, p. 593). This emphasis on authenticity led to a
body of documentation created within the hobbyist community, but also led to information
hoarding behaviors. Although there is some connection between historical reenactment and
Renaissance faires, reenactment is often a leisure or hobby activity, rather than professional
work; in this way, the information practices of its participants may be more aligned with
Renaissance faire guests than with the performers and vendors who work in the festivals.
Additionally, the fantasy world of the American Renaissance faire does not value strict
adherence to historical accuracy; while there are some attempts at regulating language and
clothing, this is often tongue-in-cheek, part of the in-joke between participants and guests.
JD
79,4
938
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