GHOST TREE SOCIAL tells a coming out story of sorts. In terms of style, many of the poems are short, imagistic lyrics, though some are extended catalogues. Specific natural images—lakes, rivers, and snow—are often contrasted with cultural markers. The imagistic poems are thinking through the work of Sylvia Plath. The catalogue poems shift between diaristic, narrative, and critical modes, responding to the poetry of Elizabeth Bishop and the essays of Edouard Glissant. Voice-driven fragments disrupt the more traditional lyric poems. The fragments fall between formal lyrics like confetti from a gay club’s rafters; or the fragments hold the lyric poems in bondage. The lyric poem then re-signifies as form through resonances with the other discursive and poetic form of the fragment. Following critical writers such as Adrienne Rich and Audre Lorde, the re-signification of lyric form reflects the need for new signs for self and community organized queerly as opposed to more typical binary categories—man or woman, living or dead, rich or poor, white or black—where the first term is privileged and the second term often denigrated.

Pensar sobre a felicidade não é um exercício particularmente recente. Desde os gregos antigos, pensar sobre a felicidade e propor aquilo que ela significa faz parte da história dos Homens. Em meio a esse longo percurso, de mais de dois mil anos, o tema continua polêmico, sendo entendido de diferentes formas mesmo após ser investigado intensamente como objeto científico desde a segunda metade do século XX. Neste trabalho, a partir de três questões provocadoras (\"por que um mesmo objeto gera conceitos tão diferentes?\", \"por que os recentes achados científicos, com evidências de causalidades confiáveis, não têm sido capazes de aprofundar a compreensão do que é felicidade e não são indicadores de caminhos para se promover felicidade?\" e \"como a ciência poderia estudar a felicidade?\") traçou-se os objetivos a seguir: (1) apresentar definição abrangente de felicidade; (2) identificar inconsistências entre conceito, objetivos e fundamentos nas pesquisas atuais sobre a felicidade; (3) apresentar uma forma de a ciência investigar a felicidade de modo coerente e rigoroso. Para tal, analisaram-se diferentes proposições de felicidade na filosofia, na ciência (especialmente a Psicologia Positiva) e na política, buscando aquilo que há de comum em relação ao conceito. A partir de referencial construcionista social e do conceito de performatividade, chegou-se, ao entendimento de que felicidade \"aquilo que determinada pessoa entende ser, em dado momento, a melhor forma de se viver a partir de sua relação dialética com o mundo\". Entender a felicidade dessa maneira evidencia seu caráter líquido, em constante transformação. Mais promissor do que estudar seu aspecto estável, é estudá-la enquanto objeto em constante transformação. Quanto mais se tenta aprisioná-la e torná-la mensurável, mais complexidade lhe é acrescentada (ao invés de inteligibilidade). É por tal razão que a empreitada empirista da Psicologia Positiva, na medida em que fragmentou o conceito, não fertilizou a discussão sobre o tema. Ao invés disso, acrescentou novos sinônimos e correlatos, bem como exigiu abandonar importantes discussões e adotar termos vagos para definí-la. Ainda, é importante considerar o caráter performativo de se falar sobre a felicidade. Por ser um tema de interesse tão amplo, comunicações sobre a felicidade evidenciam capacidade de interferir no modo com que as pessoas vivem. Falar sobre a felicidade nunca será um simples falar. De modo geral, pode-se apontar para três oportunidades de pesquisa em relação ao tema: aprofundar as consequências de se utilizar o conceito e a rede de construção de credibilidade em torno dele; entender aquilo que faz o entendimento do conceito mudar e de que forma; utilizar o conceito como forma de acessar características individuais e sociais relevantes / Happiness is not a particularly recent subject. Since ancient Greece, the exercise of thinking about happiness and proposing what it means is part of human history. In the midst of this long journey, of more than two thousand years, the subject remains controversial. It is understood in different ways even after being intensively investigated as a scientific object since the second half of the twentieth century. This work derives from three provocative questions (\"why does the same object generate such different concepts?\", \"why recent scientific findings, with evidence of reliable causality, have not been able to deepen the understanding of happiness and are not indicators of ways to promote happiness?\" and \"how could science study happiness?\"), outlining the following objectives: (1) introduce a broad and comprehensive definition of happiness; (2) identify inconsistencies between concept, goals and foundations in current research on happiness; (3) present a way for science to investigate happiness in a coherent and rigorous way. To accomplish these three objectives, different propositions of happiness were analyzed in philosophy, in science (especially Positive Psychology) and in governmental practice, seeking what is common in relation to the concept. From a social constructionism referential and using the concept of performativity, it came to the understanding that happiness \"is what a particular person understands to be, at a given moment, the best way to live from their dialetic relationship with the world.\" Understanding happiness in this particular way reveals its liquid character, implying it is in constant transformation. More promising than studying its stable aspect is to study it as an object in constant transformation. The more you try to imprison it and make it measurable, the more complexity you add (rather than intelligibility). It is for this reason that the empiricist enterprise of Positive Psychology did not fertilize the discussion on the subject. Instead, it added new synonyms and correlates, as well as required abandoning important discussions and adopted vague terms to define it. Still, it is important to consider the performative character of happiness. Because it is a subject of such wide interest, talking about happiness shows an ability to interfere with the way people live. Talking about happiness will never be a simple speech. In general, it is possible to point to three research opportunities in relation to the subject: to deepen the consequences of using the concept and the network of credibility building around it; understand what makes the understanding of happiness to change and in what ways; use the concept as a way to access relevant individual and social characteristics

Esta tese centra-se nas operações artísticas dos brasileiros Cildo Meireles e Paulo Bruscky e do coletivo catalão Grup de Treball, nos anos 70. Ancorada na teoria e método da psicanálise e na história, teoria e critica de arte contemporânea, debruça-se sobre os atos de criação desses artistas, sublinhando e entrecruzando as singularidades de suas poéticas. Em um tempo permeado pela violência e censura ditatorial, tanto no Brasil quanto na Espanha, esses artistas, de diferentes formas, tinham o ato criativo como estratégia critica e política de transformação. No despertar da arte contemporânea, revelam que as transformações do objeto de arte comportam, necessariamente, uma alteração nos seus objetivos e em sua dimensão utópica. / This thesis focuses on the operations of the Brazilian artistic Cildo Meireles and Paul Bruscky and the collective Catalan Group Treball, in 70 years. Grounded in theory and method of psychoanalysis and history, theory and criticism of contemporary art, focuses on the acts of creation of these artists, underlining and crisscrossing the singularities of their poetry. In a time permeated by violence and censorship dictatorship, in Brazil, as in Spain, these artists, in different ways, had the creative act as a critical strategy and political transformation. In the wake of contemporary art, reveal that the transformation of the art object, involves necessarily a change in its objectives and its utopian dimension. / Esta tesis se centra en las operaciones artísticas de los brasileños Cildo Meireles y Paulo Bruscky y del colectivo Catalán Grupo de Treball en los años 70. Basado en la teoría y el método del psicoanálisis y en la historia, teoría y crítica del arte contemporáneo, se centra en los actos de creación de estos artistas, destacando y entrecruzando las singularidades de su arte. En una época impregnada por la violencia y la censura de la dictadura, en Brasil, como en España, estos artistas, de diferentes maneras, tuvieran el acto creativo como una estrategia crítica y de transformación política. En la estela del arte contemporáneo, ponen de manifiesto que la transformación del objeto de arte implica necesariamente, un cambio en sus objetivos y en su dimensión utópica.

Thesis (MA)--Macquarie University, Institute of Early Childhood. / Includes bibliographical references. / Introduction -- Literature review -- A brief history of Utopia's art production; its place in the indigenous art movement -- The role of the wholesaler -- The retail sector -- Report on survey of the buyers of indigenous art -- Emily Kame Kngwarreye -- Authenticity -- Conclusion. / Summary: The thesis focuses on marketing art from the Aboriginal community, Utopia, where the majority of artists, and the best known artists, are women. It documents methods by which the art moves from the community to retail art outlets; it includes detailed documentation of marketing in the retail sector and also includes research into the buying of indigenous art by private buyers. -- Emily Kame Kngwarreye is the best known of the Utopia painters. The study proposes reasons for her success and points to further questions beyond the scope of this study. Problems inherent in criticism and editing of her work are raised and interpreted in the context of the marketplace. -- The original thesis plan did not include detailed discussion about authorship. However, in 1997 the media reported controversy about authorship of a prize-winning work. As such controversy must affect marketing, this topic (as it relates to this artist), was included. -- Although possibilities for improvement in marketing methods have become apparent as a result of this research, areas where further research would be beneficial have also become apparent. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / 265, [48] p

Esta tese centra-se nas operações artísticas dos brasileiros Cildo Meireles e Paulo Bruscky e do coletivo catalão Grup de Treball, nos anos 70. Ancorada na teoria e método da psicanálise e na história, teoria e critica de arte contemporânea, debruça-se sobre os atos de criação desses artistas, sublinhando e entrecruzando as singularidades de suas poéticas. Em um tempo permeado pela violência e censura ditatorial, tanto no Brasil quanto na Espanha, esses artistas, de diferentes formas, tinham o ato criativo como estratégia critica e política de transformação. No despertar da arte contemporânea, revelam que as transformações do objeto de arte comportam, necessariamente, uma alteração nos seus objetivos e em sua dimensão utópica. / This thesis focuses on the operations of the Brazilian artistic Cildo Meireles and Paul Bruscky and the collective Catalan Group Treball, in 70 years. Grounded in theory and method of psychoanalysis and history, theory and criticism of contemporary art, focuses on the acts of creation of these artists, underlining and crisscrossing the singularities of their poetry. In a time permeated by violence and censorship dictatorship, in Brazil, as in Spain, these artists, in different ways, had the creative act as a critical strategy and political transformation. In the wake of contemporary art, reveal that the transformation of the art object, involves necessarily a change in its objectives and its utopian dimension. / Esta tesis se centra en las operaciones artísticas de los brasileños Cildo Meireles y Paulo Bruscky y del colectivo Catalán Grupo de Treball en los años 70. Basado en la teoría y el método del psicoanálisis y en la historia, teoría y crítica del arte contemporáneo, se centra en los actos de creación de estos artistas, destacando y entrecruzando las singularidades de su arte. En una época impregnada por la violencia y la censura de la dictadura, en Brasil, como en España, estos artistas, de diferentes maneras, tuvieran el acto creativo como una estrategia crítica y de transformación política. En la estela del arte contemporáneo, ponen de manifiesto que la transformación del objeto de arte implica necesariamente, un cambio en sus objetivos y en su dimensión utópica.

Esta tese centra-se nas operações artísticas dos brasileiros Cildo Meireles e Paulo Bruscky e do coletivo catalão Grup de Treball, nos anos 70. Ancorada na teoria e método da psicanálise e na história, teoria e critica de arte contemporânea, debruça-se sobre os atos de criação desses artistas, sublinhando e entrecruzando as singularidades de suas poéticas. Em um tempo permeado pela violência e censura ditatorial, tanto no Brasil quanto na Espanha, esses artistas, de diferentes formas, tinham o ato criativo como estratégia critica e política de transformação. No despertar da arte contemporânea, revelam que as transformações do objeto de arte comportam, necessariamente, uma alteração nos seus objetivos e em sua dimensão utópica. / This thesis focuses on the operations of the Brazilian artistic Cildo Meireles and Paul Bruscky and the collective Catalan Group Treball, in 70 years. Grounded in theory and method of psychoanalysis and history, theory and criticism of contemporary art, focuses on the acts of creation of these artists, underlining and crisscrossing the singularities of their poetry. In a time permeated by violence and censorship dictatorship, in Brazil, as in Spain, these artists, in different ways, had the creative act as a critical strategy and political transformation. In the wake of contemporary art, reveal that the transformation of the art object, involves necessarily a change in its objectives and its utopian dimension. / Esta tesis se centra en las operaciones artísticas de los brasileños Cildo Meireles y Paulo Bruscky y del colectivo Catalán Grupo de Treball en los años 70. Basado en la teoría y el método del psicoanálisis y en la historia, teoría y crítica del arte contemporáneo, se centra en los actos de creación de estos artistas, destacando y entrecruzando las singularidades de su arte. En una época impregnada por la violencia y la censura de la dictadura, en Brasil, como en España, estos artistas, de diferentes maneras, tuvieran el acto creativo como una estrategia crítica y de transformación política. En la estela del arte contemporáneo, ponen de manifiesto que la transformación del objeto de arte implica necesariamente, un cambio en sus objetivos y en su dimensión utópica.

This dissertation investigates the interplay between a selected set of museum practices, such as online strategies, digitisation of artwork reproductions, and crowdsourcing, through a theoretically grounded perspective. Existing discourse and debate on the museum's movement from an exclusively physical, to a digital or hybrid presence display an excessive interest in advocacy, usually focusing on small examples of successful practices which are then argued as somehow empowering or resolutive, usually from a 'social justice' point of view. Conversely, in those same discourses little attention is paid to the macro-context within which these cases take place: current debates lack an articulation of how museum practices reflect ongoing trends and paradigms on a culture-wide level, and also eschew non-advocative, neutral discussion of the politics, discourses and power relations that such practice entail. I suggest that the contemporary constructivist, digital museum can be better contextualised if we frame emergent digital museum praxis within a framework that resorts to well-established, and well-described theoretical paradigms that can be observed in other cultural and social contexts as well. The advantage of such an approach is that museum practice, and the museum as an institution, can then be seen in continuity with current macro-trends, rather than as isolates whose usefulness and sustainability begins and ends within the museum's precinct. This dissertation begins this proposed shift in point of view by addressing emergent museum practices such as the drafting of digital strategies; the creation of digital reproductions of artworks for online display; and crowdsourcing in the context of theoretical frameworks such as the utopian imagination; ontology of digital-beings; and contemporary labour practices. While not comprehensive, and exploratory in nature, this dissertation contributes to the discipline by providing a new, more in-depth point of view on 'hot' practices, encouraging a contextualisation of the museum that goes beyond the museum itself, into a theoretical and interdisciplinary field that takes advantage of ideas developed within digital humanities, labour critique, informatics and cultural studies.

We live in an age of rapid change. The advance of science and technology, throughout history, has culminated in periods of transition when social values have had to adapt to a changed environment. Such times have proved fertile ground for the expansion of the imagination. Utopian literature offers a vast archive of information concerning the relationship between scientific and technological progress and social change. Alterations in the most basic machinery of society inspired utopian authors to write of distant and future worlds which had achieved a state of harmony and plenty. The dilemmas which writers faced were particular to their era, but there also emerged certain universal themes and questions: What is the best organisation of society? What tools would be adequate to the task? What does it mean to be human? The dividing line on these issues revolves around two opposed beliefs. Some perceived the power inherent in technology to effect the greatest improvement in the human condition. Others were convinced that the organisation of the social order must come first so as to create an environment sympathetic to perceived human needs. There are, necessarily, contradictions in such a division. They can be seen plainly in More's Utopia itself. More wanted to see new science and technique developed. But he also condemned the social consequences which inevitably flowed from the process of discovery. These consequences led More to create a utopia based on social reorganisation. In the main, the utopias of Francis Bacon, Edward Bellamy and the later H. G. Wells accepted science, while the work of William Morris, Aldous Huxley and Kurt Vonnegut rejected science in preference for a different social order. More's Utopia and Bacon's New Atlantis were written at a time when feudal, agriciTfural society wasbeeing transformed by new discoveries and techniques. In a later age, Bellamy's Looking Backward and Morris's News From Nowhere offer contrary responses to society at the height of the Industrial evolution. These four authors serve as a prelude to the main area of the thesis which centres on the twentieth century. Wells, though his first novel appeared in 1895, produced the vast bulk of his work in the current century. Huxley acts as an appropriate balance to Wells and also exemplifies the shift from utopia to dystopia. The last section of the thesis deals with the work of Kurt Vonnegut and includes an interview with that author. The twentieth century has seen the proliferation of dystopias, portraits of the disastrous consequences of the headlong pursuit of science and technology, unallied to human values. Huxley and Vonnegut crystallised the fears of a modern generation: that we create a soulless, mechanised, urban nightmare. The contemporary fascination with science in literature is merely an extension of a process with a long tradition and underlying theme. The advance of science and technology created the physical and intellectual environment for utopian authors which determined the form and content of their visions.

This study serves as an introduction to three recent narratives in Spanish Science Fiction. While this literary genre has long been read in Spain in translation, it is only recently that Sci-Fi has been successful as a popular literature produced by native authors. Álex de la Iglesia, Gabriela Bustelo and Rafael Reig have worked in realist and genre fiction through their careers but chose to use Science Fiction to speak of the rapidly changing space of Madrid. Their criticism is centered on the changes to the physical, social, economic and political landscape of Madrid post-1992. My analysis is based on the works of the geographer David Harvey, among others, which helps to underline the importance of the urbanization of capital and consciousness that the three narratives disentangle. While being three very different texts - one film and two novels -, they all manipulate concerns of time and space to come to a similar conclusion. Their narratives serve as a warning about how the good intentions of humanist theories like feminism or scientific advancement can easily turn into a nightmare by instead serving the needs of capitalism rather than those of social justice.

This dissertation applies the concept of utopia to literature surrounding the English exploration and colonization of America. The term "utopia" refers to both a literary form and to that concept in human consciousness which catalyzes change in physical reality. Authors express utopia in the visionary aspects of their written representations. Visionary representations produce expectations of what the future may hold, and in this way they helped bring European civilization to America. Studying these representations is valuable for historical clarity and because these representations reveal utopia's function in affecting the course of the future.The study of early English-American literature requires terminology that the current reservoir of utopian terminology does not provide. I offer new terminology. This study defines four broad types of utopian vision specifically applicable to the English exploration and colonization of America. Active Complex visions prioritize maximum manipulation of the landscape to accommodate all the needs of a large and diverse population. Active Simple visions center on one staple venture, like sheepherding, to accommodate the needs of a small population. Divine Patent visions prioritize conformity to values inscribed in theistic religious literature. Natural Primitive visions prioritize the elimination of social infrastructure to achieve harmony with nature. These four types of utopian vision correspond to myths of the past that authors projected as hope for an ideal future.The four types of utopian vision appear throughout the narratives collected by Richard Hakluyt. Voyages by explorers like Sir John Hawkins, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and Sir Walter Raleigh generated representations of America that expressed Active Complex, Active Simple, or Divine Patent visions. These representations also provided imagery that led to Natural Primitive visions of America. Captain John Smith's narratives about Virginia and New England reveal visions of Active Complex utopias. Puritan authors like William Bradford, Edward Winslow, John Winthrop, and Cotton Mather represented New England with Divine Patent visions. All of these utopian representations influenced later authors, including Thomas Jefferson, Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, and Timothy Dwight. They also continue to influence the way we imagine the United States of America today.