Against the background of The Buddha of Suburbia and The Black Album, this study explores the ways Hanif Kureishi problematizes the notion of identity. The present study aims to lay bare how Kureishi moves the previously fixed categories into a slippery ground in his fiction and, in the process, how he challenges the fundamental givens of identity politics against the background of Homi Bhabha&rsquo / s key concepts: hybridity, mimicry, ambivalence, agency, liminality and the third space. It will also make references to the category of nation as narration in relation to Thatcherite politics and identity as a performative act/process. Bhabha&rsquo / s theories will also help highlight how Kureishi&rsquo / s characters create their liminal spaces and how they perform their identity within these spaces. Looking at both novels, it is concluded that the nature of identity is fluid since it is configured according to many variables such as religious practice, political activism, arts and sexual discourse which are not stable, either. Kureishi&rsquo / s novels fictionalize that identity can never be reified by the essentialist pre-givens of the traditional ideologies. In a multicultural world, rather than assimilation, it is important to grasp the unstable nature of identity in order to respect cultural differences. Thus, in a world where the dominant voices do not/cannot suppress the marginal ones, identity, national or individual, will keep on transforming itself.

This study problematizes the down play of heroic perspectives in the currently rising critical and post-heroic leadership research. It argues that compromising either the critical or the post-heroic perspectives in favour of the other would constrict or mislead our understanding of the social influence of leadership processes. This study calls for maintaining the theoretical uniqueness of both perspectives in order to enhance new understandings and broader knowledge claims. Therefore, the study adopts a reflexive-ethnographic examination of the leader-follower and group dynamics, in an International Human Rights Based Organization. The overall aim is to develop an understanding of how individuals in an International Organization like Global Peace Organization (GPO) cope with the universal scope of their organization and the diversity in their work environment. This aim is fulfilled through examining self-narratives generated by the participants in their day to day interactions. To facilitate the coherence between the two leadership perspectives in this examination, a dialectical dimension is enhanced by extending the emerging tactics of reflexivity and intertextuality to the various stages of research. The critical perspective then reveals a context-driven approach in the self-narratives where participants use their particular worldviews to interpret dilemmas and conflicts originating in their work. Conflicts between participants and their leaders also reflect power interplays based on crafting a sense of we-ness / us in self-Other encounters. However, an added perspective on interpersonal relations suggests the significance of the single factor where the less secure participants tend to mask their resistance with creative impression-management strategies. This eventually transforms their insecurities into more positive attitudes and behaviours which repositions them as informal leaders in their groups.

This study provides a theoretical and methodological contribution to ongoing debates relating to the purpose and nature of international higher education. It does so by examining globalisation, lifelong learning and postgraduate international study through the voice of the individual student. The voice of the student is under represented in the literature and this research contributes by providing an in-depth, longitudinal study focusing on the student voice. The experiences of international postgraduate students within one English university from 2009-2014 provide the research context. Their experience is explored through a number of integrated and interactive narrative based research methods: written narratives, interview narratives and narratives as conversations in action. There is a dearth of empirical research which integrates these methods. It is not an intention of this study to make generalisation claims or to claim universal applicability. However, the findings do add to knowledge relating to internationalisation, globalisation, lifelong learning and identity construction within higher education programmes. The neoliberal economic view of motivation to become an international student is contested. This study suggests that motivation to take on a period of international study may be more complex and more heavily weighted towards passion, rather than towards an economic or employment based rationale. Participants do demonstrate many of the qualities identified for the international or globalised learner. However, international experience and international learning is largely brought about the agency of the international student, often in spite of, rather than as an outcome of their formal university programme of study. The study confirms that culture and identity are permeable and are influenced by the postgraduate student experience. However, nationality rather than being reduced is reinforced during the period of international study. The findings confirm that narrative research approaches such as those used in this research, can provide a rich learning experience for both participant and researcher. Such approaches may be of particular importance to individuals in transition stages, such as the international student.

xii, 185 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / This dissertation examines the intersection between aesthetics and politics in the French Caribbean novel. The major argument of this work is that French Caribbean novels pursue a political agenda. I contend that in this literature, unlike in that of any other part of the contemporary world, theoretical considerations take precedence over aesthetic concerns in writers' works. I call this an "aesthetics of rupture." Considering works by authors such as Aimé Césaire, Léon-Gontran Damas, Maryse Condé, Edouard Glissant, Patrick Chamoiseau, Daniel Maximin and Gisèle Pineau, I argue that only by looking beyond aesthetic innovations in these authors' texts, can we fully ascertain the significance of this politically committed literature. The first chapter discusses the relevance of the theoretical approach and the contribution this work brings to the field. The second chapter examines how West Indian writers use theoretical approaches to regain control over the metadiscourses applied to their works. The third chapter looks at Caribbean aesthetics as the product of writers' collective effort and of the dialogic nature of their texts. The fourth chapter analyses the question of the hero in the Caribbean novel and the fifth chapter discusses the crossing of politics and ethics in Caribbean writing. The last chapter addresses the post-Césaire era and the future of literary production in the French Caribbean. I contend that, preoccupied about the power of their writing to effect any real world change, Caribbean writers seem haunted by Fanon's call to engage in political action. The issue of ethics thus arises as a result of a dilemma born from the conflict between the subject's political agenda and his/her human values. The ethical question in this literature concerns the crossing of an ethical subjectivity with a political agenda. The first response to this quandary is a redefinition of the notion of the hero that departs from Western "vertical" heroism and promotes a "horizontal" heroism. In addition, through their novels, Caribbean writers distance themselves from a universal humanism to advocate for an "ethics of action" which locates its legitimacy in the urgency of political agency for their people. / Committee in charge: Karen McPherson, Chairperson, Romance Languages; Massimo Lollini, Member, Romance Languages; Andre Djiffack, Member, Romance Languages; Steven Shankman, Outside Member, English

This thesis looks at literature by two South Asian, diasporic writers, Jhumpa Lahiri and Monica Ali, as a space where creative, cross-­cultural and independent identities for diasporic women might be created. The central claim of the thesis is that diasporic migration affects South Asian women in particular ways. The most positive outcome is that these women adopt new trans-­border identities but that these remain shaped by class, culture and gender. Hence a working class milieu such as the one depicted by Monica Ali, leads to an immigrant, ghetto-­ised, community-­based identity, located solely in the land of adoption, with return or travel to the homeland no longer possible. However, the milieu imagined in Jhumpa Lahiri’s text, a middle-class, suburban environment, creates a solitary, transnational identity, lived between countries, where travel between the land of birth and the land of adoption remains accessible. / English / M.A. (English)

La tesi cerca di rispondere alla domanda: 'La libanese intifadha al-Iqtad poteva essere prevista?'. la tesi prima definisce l'evento politico, e. Successivamente esamina le condizioni epistemologiche in base alle quali una predizione del futuro possa essere considerata scientifica. In terzo luogo, propone uno schema di previsione organizzato in funzione del coinvolgimento degli agenti nella creazione della storia umana. Infine, analizza la intifadha al-Iqtad in base allo schema analitico proposto. / The thesis aims to answer the question 'could the Lebanese Intifadha al-Iqtad have been predicted?' In order to do so, it first of all tries to define the political event, in terms of features, dynamic, and outcome. Secondly, it outlines the epistemological assumptions on which a scientific prediction of the future could be based. Thirdly, it puts forward a framework for foreseeing the future organised on different levels and divided into macro-categories. Finally, it analyses the Lebanese Intifadha al-Iqtad according to the proposed framework.

This thesis looks at literature by two South Asian, diasporic writers, Jhumpa Lahiri and Monica Ali, as a space where creative, cross-­cultural and independent identities for diasporic women might be created. The central claim of the thesis is that diasporic migration affects South Asian women in particular ways. The most positive outcome is that these women adopt new trans-­border identities but that these remain shaped by class, culture and gender. Hence a working class milieu such as the one depicted by Monica Ali, leads to an immigrant, ghetto-­ised, community-­based identity, located solely in the land of adoption, with return or travel to the homeland no longer possible. However, the milieu imagined in Jhumpa Lahiri’s text, a middle-class, suburban environment, creates a solitary, transnational identity, lived between countries, where travel between the land of birth and the land of adoption remains accessible. / English / M.A. (English)