Utilizing the Jungian framework of Archetypes, Carl Jung's concept of the Shadow, especially the Underdeveloped Shadow (or Other) as defined by Janice H. Rushing and Thomas S. Frentz, and the affective interaction of the Other with spectators' fears, this dissertation contributes a new model as a concurrent and complementary approach to existing Freudian-based psychoanalytical readings of films. The proposed model is applied to three selected films from the New German Cinema--Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Ali, Fear Eats the Soul (1974); Margarete von Trotta and Volker Schlöndorff's The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (1975); and Werner Herzog's Nosferatu (1979)--to enhance and further the critical understanding of these films and their effect on spectator fear through the visual portrayal of the Jungian Other. / A Dissertation submitted to the Program Lq Interdisciplinary Humanities in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2012. / March 12, 2012. / Archetypes, Jung, New German Cinema / Includes bibliographical references. / Birgit E. Maier-Katkin, Professor Directing Dissertation; Ernest C. Rehder, University Representative; Raymond R. Fleming, Committee Member.

This dissertation seeks to understand how a re-invigorated sense of American exceptionalism circulated within the texts of several prime time serial television programs. American exceptionalism has functioned as a foundational mythology and a justifying discourse that works to create a sense of national unity through participation in rituals of national belonging. Television is a cultural site where rituals of national belonging are experienced and shared. As such, it is important to examine how television texts engage with and participate in the creation, cultivation, and circulation of nationalist mythologies, ideologies, and discourses. To understand serial television's engagement with exceptionalist themes and myths, I begin in chapter one by offering a history of American exceptionalism as it emerged through the institutionalization of American studies as a discipline. Chapter two looks at HBO's Deadwood and CBS's Jericho and examines how they engage with foundational exceptionalist tropes such as destiny, frontier, and the jeremiad. Chapter three engages with the Fox series 24 and the Showtime series Dexter, to describe the intersection of American exceptionalism's history as a justifying discourse and the legal construction of the state of exception in the discourse of the ticking time bomb scenario as it was deployed to legitimize the use of torture. The final chapter analyzes how ABC's Lost and SyFy's Battlestar Galactica negotiate with American exceptionalism in terms of both the state of exception and the ticking time bomb as well as with the foundationalist tropes of mission and destiny, the frontier and the garden. / A Dissertation submitted to the Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2010. / March 25, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references. / Leigh H. Edwards, Professor Directing Dissertation; R. M. Berry, University Representative; David Johnson, Committee Member; Amit Rai, Committee Member; Jennifer Proffitt, Committee Member.

This dissertation explores feminist strategies in three American women's writings from the twentieth Century. Specifically, the language of dance and the movement of women's bodies will be examined as the site of feminist resistance against the male, Western literary canon as well as a method to liberate the woman's body from cultural, political and social oppression. Dance, and writing the female dancing body, it will be argued, offers a symbolic language for insurgency and a counterhegemonic system for women writers to subvert and contest existing literary traditions which privilege male writers. The importance for studying dance in women's writings as feminist theory is argued as a method in which to further the feminist theory project. Each chapter begins with a brief biographical sketch of the author and the historical overview (i.e. publication, reception, criticism) of the specific novel examined. Existing feminist literary theory will be reviewed so that the dancing female body can be further explored in context. In order to better understand the importance of writing the female dancing body, three novels from the early twentieth century were chosen due to the importance of the literary, social and dance periods in which they were written, as well as their relationship to one another as part of the broader, female, American literary canon. Chapter One provides a literature review of selected feminist theories used throughout the dissertation as well as brief introductions to dance theories and techniques Chapter Two examines the authors and their respective novels within the framework of the literary and dance canons. Chapter Three focuses on Edith Wharton's novel, Twilight Sleep. Chapter Four examines Jessie Redmon Fauset's There is Confusion, and Chapter Five explores Zelda Fitzgerald's Save Me the Waltz. / A Dissertation submitted to the Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2011. / February 14, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references. / Raymond R. Fleming, Professor Directing Dissertation; David Johnson, University Representative; Patricia Henry Young, Committee Member; Jerrilyn McGregory, Committee Member.

War films display how cultures conceive war and how perceptions of war are shaped. Essentially, wars are fought on two fronts, both on the battlefield and as propaganda for national cultures. This study examines Hollywood's depictions of militarism and gender in post-9/11 war films about U.S. military conflicts in the Middle East. The purpose is to examine cinematic representations of masculinity and militarism and decode how these representations shape ideologies of American nationalism. Included are discussions of films representing the Persian Gulf War, U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, war films addressing the use of torture, and "global corporate war films." This study is organized both chronologically and thematically. Chapter One serves as an overview of the study and explains some of the theoretical concepts and terminology utilized throughout. Chapter Two discusses some of the major themes in war films and their relation to American nationalism up to 9/11. Chapter Three focuses on representations of masculinity in one of the most well-known films about the Gulf War, Sam Mendes' Jarhead (2005). Chapter Four explores concerns regarding how military and governmental practices affect soldiers and their families on the home front. Chapter Five discusses the "War on Terror" and the issue of torture as represented in the films Five Fingers (2006), Rendition (2007) and Unthinkable (2010). Chapter Six turns away from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to cinematic depictions of corporate war and militarism and looks mainly at Stuart Townsend's Battle in Seattle (2007). Chapter Seven concludes the study of post-9/11 war films and provides possibilities where further research might be done. Hollywood's geo-political post-modern war films are moving away from simple binary distinctions, (us/them, west/east, linear/non-linear) into more fluid and complex conceptions of geo-political war. / A Dissertation submitted to the Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2012. / March 16, 2012. / 9/11, Hollywood, Masculinity, Torture, War Film, War Films, Men's Studies / Includes bibliographical references. / Daniel Vitkus, Professor Directing Dissertation; Neil Jumonville, University Representative; Kathleen Erndl, Committee Member; David Johnson, Committee Member; Terence C. Coonan, Committee Member.

The dissertation's case study is on a repertoire of American and European war related films featuring effigy-like female characters. The repertoire of films is investigated as a cinematic making of cultural trauma in a cyclical response to a series of catastrophic wars and to the advancement of women in the leading Western societies. Central to the case study is the question of whether the effigy-like female character stands for an inverted or deflected self-image of the society engulfed in the men's business of war. The methodological approach adopted in this investigation is an interdisciplinary one. It is derived from Claude Lévi-Strauss' study of the 'deep logic' of myth-narratives, Carl Jung's notion of 'a contra-sexual figure' in the production of an inverted self-image, and Erwin Panofsky's iconographic study of the visual form. Conceptually, it is grounded in a brief examination of form-productive activities via the notion of signifying practices as advocated by Stuart Hall. In the dissertation, it is also demonstrated that the cinematic production of the effigy-like female character as an inverted self-image of the society has resorted to the narrative/visual resources valorized by the long-standing practices in the tradition of Western humanities. In this regard, it may be said that the cinematic making of 'cultural trauma' is not entirely a modern invention but a collective representation culturally inherited. / A Dissertation submitted to the Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2013. / March 18, 2013. / Advancement of Women, Cultural Trauma, Signifying Practices, Wars / Includes bibliographical references. / Michael Uzendoski, Professor Directing Dissertation; Lauren Weingarden, University Representative; David Johnson, Committee Member; Svetla Slaveva-Griffin, Committee Member; Reinier Leushuis, Committee Member.

Sports and sports films mean a great deal to many Americans. Since the historic Title IX legislation passed in 1972, opportunities for female athletes reached unpredictably high numbers. Likewise, there was an increase in the number of female protagonists within American sports films. Of the scholarly work regarding the female athlete in film, the focus is almost exclusively on the post-Title IX film. This makes the scholarly study of the reel female athlete in early American women's sports cinema relevant and necessary. In this work, I argue that the image of this athlete in early American sports films is paradoxical. Her representation is at once traditionally feminine and gender bending. In the long run, the female athlete was always a threat to the patriarchal order because she complicated traditional notions of femininity. This limited, but did not erase, her representation on the silver screen. Female athletes serve as an important site of resistance in 20th century American film, yet they receive little attention by scholars. I discuss the complex gendered nature of representations of women athletes in pre-Title IX American film. I propose that the paradoxical representation of this athlete mirrors the divisiveness of sports feminist agendas. / A Dissertation submitted to the Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2013. / April 1, 2013. / gender, motion pictures, sports history, twentieth century, United States / Includes bibliographical references. / William Cloonan, Professor Directing Dissertation; Kathleen M. Erndl, University Representative; Donna Marie Nudd, Committee Member; B. Cecil Reynaud, Committee Member.

ABSTRACT According to sources from the Haitian consulate in both the Dominican Republic and Cuba, there are approximately 800,000 to 1.2 million self-identified HIDs (Haitian immigrants and their descendants) living in each of these nations. HID is an acronym that I employ to highlight the invisibility of Haitian immigrants and their descendants in American societies and cultures. This research is primarily concerned with the effects of migrations from Ayiti (mountainous land) to Cuba (land or great land) and the Dominican Republic, also known as Kiskeya (the cradle of life). The historical impact of Haitian migrations both before and after the U.S. occupations in Cuba and the Dominican Republic is central to this research. HIDs in the Dominican Republic and Cuba had been marginalized by their own governments, and during the period when the United States occupied these Caribbean nations along with Haiti during the early 20th century, a brand of Wilsonian Southern racism, such as that represented in the film "The Birth of a Nation," was layered on the traditional Spanish, French, and English style racisms that were already prevalent prior to the twentieth century. I will argue that HIDs maintained their culture in the diaspora, mainly because of their spiritual rituals, religious services, and related activities, which most of the times involved Kreyols speaking, chanting, and singing during holy days, and music and dance during festivals and holidays, while facing ethnic discrimination in some of their communities. Although my main sourceis my reflexivelyfiltered fieldwork experiences, I will engage Scott's concept of hidden and public transcripts, Bhaktin's thought on dialogism, and Althusser's idea of ideological apparatuses in unpacking HID's cultural expressions and associated responses. Furthermore, because who we are as different ethnic groups are interwoven in our cultural fabrics, maintaining one's cultural identity is a human rights issue. Cultural traditions not practiced by any diaspora are doomed to obsolescence, and mark the onset of cultural genocide. A research participant expressing his sentiments on the importance of keeping one's beliefs explained that to not employ one's traditions in the service of one's ancestral spirits is to obliterate vital aspects of one's existence, which I surmised was essentially ethnospiritual as well as cultural genocide. / A Dissertation submitted to the Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2013. / April 29, 2013. / Creole, Cuban, Dominican, Haitian, Migration, Taino / Includes bibliographical references. / Michael Uzendoski, Professor Directing Dissertation; Jose Gomariz, University Representative; Frank Gunderson, Committee Member; David Johnson, Committee Member.

In the ever-developing field of media, the primary manner in which users access, interact with, and use media is continuously becoming more physical in nature. As greater physical demands are placed on the user, the means through which users control media continue to shift from the use of a traditional control device (i.e. keyboard, mouse, gamepad, etc.) to the use of the body. This use of the entirety of the user's body both allows and obligates users to move with greater effort and freedom: the degree to which a user moves determines the final outcome of the media. As the amount of bodily movement required of the user continues to increase, it becomes critical to focus on the relationship between bodily movement and media. In view of these circumstances, this dissertation reconsiders movement, taking into account the physical aspects of the movements initiated through the actions of the users' bodies as they engage with selected forms of movement based media. Relying on various theories concerned with movement, dance, kinesiology, media, and culture, this rethinking of movement renders the methods necessary to identify and define the relationship between bodily movement and media, and to consider what impact this relationship may have on further studies of media and culture. / A Dissertation submitted to the Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2014. / April 10, 2014. / Body, Dance, Digital, Immersion, Interaction, Movement Based Media / Includes bibliographical references. / Amitabh S. Rai, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Andy Opel, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Delia Poey, University Representative; Leigh H. Edwards, Committee Member; Jennifer M. Proffitt, Committee Member.

This dissertation explores how the relationship between individuals, society, and communication technologies is represented in television narratives and their overflow. My choice in using television as my media case study stems from the assumption that analysis of popular culture and television highlight the significance of everyday life. The selected programs offer a view into attitudes that are in circulation about how individuals and society are being affected by technology. In this project, I identify four primary emphases in television's presentation of the Internet and communications technologies: gender, generation gaps, security and privacy, and the impact of the virtual on the physical realm. These areas form the basis for each chapter of the dissertation. Chapter one begins with the idea that we are now living in a new age. It then explores media and scholarly considerations of how digital technology and the virtual have impacted activities based in the physical realm. This chapter seeks to illuminate what value is attributed to face-to-face communication and activities versus those of the virtual as well as to understand if these same concerns are expressed in television narratives. Chapter two explores how gender has been constructed in relation to technology. The third chapter addresses how television representations of generation gaps function to narrate the impact technology has made on the dynamic between digital natives and those who learned--or are learning--to navigate the innovations of the digital era later in life. The final chapter addresses how debates about privacy, freedom, and security have been actively incorporated into television narratives. / A Dissertation submitted to the Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2014. / February 3, 2014. / Digital Age, Representation, Technology, Television / Includes bibliographical references. / Leigh H. Edwards, Professor Directing Dissertation; Kathleen M. Erndl, University Representative; Jennifer Proffitt, Committee Member; Kathleen Yancey, Committee Member.

ABSTRACT ...coming out of darkness, moving toward the light... -- Maya Angelou The following are the questions at the very heart of this dissertation. What is mothering and what are the roles and duties that mothering entails? Who defines mothering? What is hegemony and what are the constraints that hegemony places upon mothering within both the individual and systemic realms? How are the roles of motherhood and mothering affected by hegemony? How do people mother when they are under the constraints of hegemony? To what means and resources do people turn in order to mother in the face of hegemony? In sum: what is hegemony and how does it affect mothering on both systemic and individual levels? To answer these questions, this dissertation explores hegemony and mothering as they are represented within the work of two feminist novels and their respective motion pictures. Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale (1985) is a dystopian tale of patriarchal-state rule where state agents forcibly render female humans "national resource" breeders. Toni Morrison's novel Beloved (1987) is the story of one woman and her quest to protect her children from the atrocious physical, sexual, emotional, and psychological abuses of white supremacists. This dissertation exposes and theorizes various phenomenal and elemental components of hegemony, thus filling a gap in the current critical discourse; the dissertation then reveals how hegemony constrains mothering in both novels and their filmic adaptations. As I argue that collusion is a main ingredient in the life-force of hegemony, it is relevant and necessary to explore collusion. I examine how the characters within the novels--as well as how, at times, the authors themselves--unintentionally collude with socially existent hegemonies in their artistry via internal colonization. I argue that, if the harms of internal colonization had been less and that also if the authors had been more aware of defaulted language and the importance of avoiding it, their novels may possibly speak more powerfully than they already do. I go on to compare the difference in severity of collusion between the novels, while also engaging with canonical and recent criticism of these texts. The majority of criticism has tended to collude with the problem I have identified; not only authors but also critics are trapped in defaulted language. In addition, I theorize another hegemonic self-preservation phenomenon, which I entitle the wolf-in-sheep's-clothing effect. This effect is a powerfully covert function of both individuals' thought and of macro-societal perceptions and it is made all the more effective by being nearly undetectable. Ultimately, while the examination of hegemony specifically pertains to the novels, it is worth considering that this theorization can be applied to all forms of hegemony. I make the case that hegemony, no matter the form it takes (nationalism, patriarchy, white supremacy, etc.), has the same underlying formula. In order to destroy hegemony, we must destroy it in all of its manifestations. / A Dissertation submitted to the Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2014. / July 10, 2014. / Defaulted Language, Feminism, Hegemony, Liberation, Motherhood, Mothering / Includes bibliographical references. / Celia Daileader, Professor Directing Dissertation; Joyce Carbonell, University Representative; Linda Saladin-Adams, Committee Member; Eric Walker, Committee Member.