A marxist methodology for critical collaborative inquiry

This chapter attempts to trouble the author's performance of the Stampede as a way to begin a conversation about what and how the Stampede teaches. It aims to engage what Dewsbury describes as the "imperceptibles" lost when treating visual culture and performance solely as representation. The chapter attempts to discern possibilities for a sensory, embodied pedagogy, occasioned or shaped by unsettling affect. It explores the performance of complicity from the standpoint of experiences derived from diverse and incompatible roles. The selection of bite-sized food adds a gala quality to the Calgary Stampede's annual Western Art Auction. Cultural performance like the Calgary Stampede offers nothing to teach except the complete absence of oppositional critique. Although the brand of the Calgary Stampede may be widely recognized, there are a number of features about its formation that are less well known. The Stampede doubled the square footage of the art show, which must be a sign of something.