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

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.