Este trabalho tem como principal objetivo analisar as representações do falante nativo e do falante não-nativo de inglês construídas sob o ponto de vista do aluno brasileiro, e as implicações dessas representações no processo de constituição da identidade desse aluno, que tem o português como primeira língua e aprende inglês como língua estrangeira. Nossa hipótese é que a diferença significativa que se observa na relação entre o aluno brasileiro e falantes nativos, de um lado, e entre o mesmo aluno e falantes não-nativos, de outro, afeta as representações construídas pelo aprendiz, podendo resultar numa tentativa de resistência ao lugar aparentemente fixo ocupado pelo brasileiro enquanto falante não-nativo de inglês. A análise dessas representações baseia-se num corpus constituído por dez entrevistas com alunos brasileiros de inglês de uma escola de idiomas de São Paulo. Nossa pesquisa é embasada nos preceitos teóricos da Análise do Discurso, assim como em conceitos dos Estudos Culturais e da perspectiva psicanalista. Com base na análise da materialidade lingüística do corpus, destacamos representações sustentadas por oposições binárias que, se por um lado, parecem imobilizar o sujeito-aluno na relação com o falante nativo, pelo fato de o aluno brasileiro ser sempre representado como o polo negativo da oposição, por outro, permitem, na relação com o falante não-nativo, vislumbrar a possibilidade de um deslocamento dessas representações associadas ao aprendiz brasileiro. Porém, observamos que esse deslocamento é sempre adiado e não se concretiza devido à força que o falante nativo ainda exerce sobre o aluno brasileiro/falante não-nativo. Concluímos que essas representações fixistas, baseadas em oposições binárias, dificultam a prática de ensino de língua inglesa como um lugar de produção de novos sentidos. Com base nessa conclusão, ressaltamos a importância de uma prática pedagógica que vá além do ensino de inglês como mero instrumento de comunicação, permitindo desconstruir as oposições binárias e contribuir para uma ressignificação do lugar do aprendiz brasileiro/falante não-nativo de inglês em relação ao falante nativo e à língua inglesa. / This work aims at analyzing the representations of native and non-native speakers of English built by Brazilian students, and the implications of these representations to students identity as Portuguese native speakers and learners of English as a foreign language. Our hypothesis is that the significative difference noticed in the relationship between Brazilian students and native speakers of English, on the one hand, and between these students and other non-native speakers, on the other, affects the way Brazilian students represent themselves and other speakers, and may result in an attempt to resist the apparently fixed place occupied by Brazilians as non-native speakers of English. The analysis of these representations is based on a corpus containing ten interviews with Brazilian students of English from a language school in São Paulo. Our work is based upon the theoretical tenets of Discourse Analysis, as well as on concepts from the Cultural Studies and Psychoanalysis. The analysis of the linguistic materiality of the corpus showed representations that were sustained by binary oppositions, which seemed to immobilize the learners in the interaction with native speakers, since the Brazilian student is always represented as the negative pole of the opposition, but also suggested the possibility of dislocation of these representations when the interaction involved Brazilian students and other non-native speakers of English. However, it is argued that this dislocation is always postponed and never takes place because of the power that the native speaker has over the Brazilian student/non-native speaker of English. We concluded that these fixed representations, based on binary oppositions, make it difficult for the English language teaching practice to allow for the production of new meanings. Based on this conclusion, we highlight the importance of a pedagogical practice that goes beyond teaching English merely as a communication tool, by deconstructing binary oppositions and making it possible for the Brazilian student/non-native speaker of English to occupy a new place in the relationship with the native speaker and the English language.

The present essay examines the linguisitc conceptualisation of otherness in the present party platforms of the Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SPD, Social Democratic Party of Germany) and the Christliche Demokratische Union Deutschlands (CDU, Christian Democratic Union of Germany). The language and the textual structure of their party platforms is analysed, its function described and compared with each other by using representative text excerpts. The theoretical background of this study is grounded in cultural studies. The methodological framework consists of a combination of critical discourse analysis and textual analysis. Criterias of the linguistic analysis are: coherence (including implicit meanings, propositions and presuppositions), modality, thematic roles, deixis and pronouns and keywords.    The study shows that the Other is cleary conceptualized by using binary oppositions whereas those who are reperesented by we can not always be clearly identified. By using both objective and subjective modality authority and legitimacy are linguistically constructed by those who represent we. The analysis shows that stipulations and issues are mentioned which are supposed to be abided by the Others without being justified by those who represent we. Consequently the Other is excluded. Analysing both party platforms shows that the Other is  subcategorized, too. Myths about the Others are confirmed by representing a stereotypical image of the Other through language. However there are differences in the linguistic conceptualization of alterity. The representatives of CDU speak out more explicitly on specific issues concerning the Other than representatives of SPD do. Consequently SPD’s statements concerning the Other are more implicit.   The study shows that meaning is created by language and that myths of the Other are reproduced in political discourse.

This thesis is an attempt to analyze the binary oppositions between the &ldquo / rich&rdquo / and the &ldquo / poor&rdquo / as well as the &ldquo / good&rdquo / and the &ldquo / evil&rdquo / in the 1960s&rsquo / YeSil&ccedil / am melodramas. It analyzes the narrative structure of YeSil&ccedil / am melodramas which interweave fiction with certain embedded social values and argues that a number of cooperating and contending discourses interanimate each other in the form of binary oppositions in YeSil&ccedil / am narratives. The cinematic representation of the lower and upper class is analyzed, underlining how the relation between the two was constructed by YeSil&ccedil / am melodramas. The study focuses on the symbolic world established by YeSil&ccedil / am narratives through the use of common meanings attributed to characters (e.g. delikanli and z&uuml / ppe), values (e.g. honesty, modesty, ostentation and artificialness) and places (e.g. meyhane and coffeehouse).

This thesis is related to the research direction Knowledge and Educational Practices which is part of the Master s Degree Program at Faculdade de Educação da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (FACED/UFU), located in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. This study was aimed at investigating and analyzing the exclusion/inclusion processes within the classroom stemming from the treatment given to students regarded as different. The purpose of this research is to examine how the problems concerning differences are dealt with in the classroom, as well as their outcomes, by investigating the teachers attitude in various circumstances in which it is possible to analyze differences and prejudice. Inferiorized differences that take place through hierarchization processes and through the use of violence under the indiscipline bias were defined as line of analysis. For this purpose, an eighth grade class in a municipal school was observed and examined. In order to assay these differences, the following binarisms were taken into account: homossexuality/heterossexuality; syndromes/absence of syndromes; beauty/ugliness; discipline/indiscipline; and black skin/white skin. A qualitative research method was adopted and data were collected through direct observation, documentary analysis, and semi-structured interviews with the teachers, the principal, the pedagogue and the school psychologist. From the overall information gathered from the interviews, the direct observation and the documents, the study showed that designing a curriculum which caters for differences demands new attitudes, new knowledge, new objectives, new contents, new strategies and new assessment methods from the teacher; more importantly, it demands new views so as to allow for the understanding of differences. However, what can be actually noticed nowadays is that teachers are unprepared to reflect upon a subject matter as complex as the one concerned. / Esta dissertação vincula-se à linha de pesquisa Saberes e Práticas Educativas do Programa de Mestrado da Faculdade de Educação da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, MG (FACED/UFU). Esta pesquisa teve por proposta investigar e analisar os processos de exclusão/inclusão no contexto da sala de aula, decorrentes do tratamento dispensado aos alunos considerados diferentes. O objetivo desta pesquisa é verificar como são tratados os problemas relacionados às diferenças em sala de aula e suas consequências, indagando a postura dos professores em situações diversificadas, nas quais é possível verificar diferenças e preconceitos. Tomamos como eixo de análise as diferenças inferiorizantes que se materializam por meio de processos de hierarquização e de uso de violência velada sob o viés da indisciplina. Para tal, observamos e analisamos uma sala de oitavo ano de uma escola municipal. Buscando analisar essas diferenças, selecionamos os seguintes binarismos: homossexualidade/heterossexualidade; síndromes/ausência de síndromes; beleza/feiura; disciplina/indisciplina e negritude/branqueamento. Usamos o método da pesquisa qualitativa, realizando observação direta, análise documental, entrevistas semiestruturadas com professores, diretora, pedagoga e psicóloga escolar. A partir da articulação das informações obtidas nas entrevistas e na observação direta de documentos, a pesquisa indicou que construir um currículo que atenda às diferenças requer do professor novas posturas, novos saberes, novos objetivos, novos conteúdos, novas estratégias e novas formas de avaliação, principalmente novos olhares, a fim de melhor compreendê-las. Entretanto, o que se vê são professores despreparados para refletir acerca de tema tão complexo como o caso em questão. / Mestre em Educação

This thesis investigates cultural associations and values connected to women in Swedish society, with regard to action space, autonomy and social position. This is done through a discourse analysis of the media debate about public breastfeeding between the years 1980-2016, especially putting focus on the female body, motherhood, and women's access to public space. Main theories are Sara Ahmed’s various works on feelings and public comfort, as well as theories about taboo, mainly Purity and Danger by Mary Douglas. In line with early feminist anthropology on women’s subordinated position, this study finds liminality between opposing binaries to be important for the discourse, placing breastfeeding women in a position of taboo and inconvenience. In the discourses I studied, the two most important binaries are the nature-culture dichotomy, and the separation between private and public space. The discourses concerning public breastfeeding are also connected to notions of Swedish Exceptionalism and gender equality, mostly in contrast to beliefs about prudish influences from the U.S. In the thesis is discussed how the media debate about public breastfeeding seems to have intensified from the 1990s onwards, which correlates with increased neoliberalization of the Swedish welfare system, causing changes in women’s life circumstances. In the concluding chapter is brought forth how public breastfeeding is a focal point for several contradictory expectations on breastfeeding women, placing them in a double bind and making women responsible for everyone else’s comfort. It is also illuminated how the binary oppositions mainly contribute to disadvantaging categorizations of women, as well as how neoliberal reforms seem to have a damaging effect on gender equality in Sweden.

This essay uses some tenets of structuralism as well as the concept of “discourse” to analyze David Lodge’s novel Nice Work (1988). The opposite discourses of Academia and Industry, as expounded through the life and character of the main protagonists, are analyzed as they are exposed throughout the novel through the involuntary mingling of the main characters. The governing idea is that three separate discourses can be gleaned as a basic structure in the novel, forming a triad that suggests the idea of a possible synthesis, which is shown to be what propels the plot of the novel onward. As in Hegelian dialectics the clash between a thesis and its antithesis makes the reader expect the third term, a synthesis, which is offered in the mediating discourse of the narrator. Further, this essay focuses on three levels of exchange within the novel and its protagonists: the intellectual, emotional and practical ones. The synthesis of discourses is shown to come to a halt in the end, and the opposites seem to stand unperturbed, even though an exchange of values, ideas and actions has occurred.

Fairy tales are usually described as short narratives that end with happily-ever-afters, imposing patriarchal ideologies. The Grimm’s fairy tales serve as the foundation of many other stories which promote stereotypes like woman passiveness, submissive beauty, while men are put on a pedestal for being active and violent at the same time. Angela Carter’s collection The Bloody Chamber depicts patriarchal oppression in classic fairy tales by challenging what can be identified as patriarchal binary oppositions with a strategic subversion of gender roles. Through problematizing and critiquing the patriarchal fairy tales, Carter’s texts can be read through the lens of écriture féminine. Following Hélène Cixous’s notion of écriture féminine, outlined in “The Laugh of the Medusa”, this essay explores how Carter’s  “The Lady of the House of Love'' can be read as a narrative that has strong echoes of the kind of female writing Cixous advocates. Moreover, this essay argues that  “The Lady of the House of Love” contradicts the Western myth of femininity by resisting, exploring, even undermining the patriarchal representation of woman as “heroine”-the fairy tale princess who needs a man to save her -and “femme fatale.”

The aim of this thesis is the examination and analysis of postmodernist overtones in the medium of comics. It is concerned both with the postmodernist content in comics, and comics' possibilities and attributes as a postmodernist medium. The first part of the thesis elaborates on sequential art in general and the essential elements of postmodernism, such as deconstruction, metafiction, and intertextuality, within its context. The second part of the thesis is concerned with selected postmodernist works of prominent comicbook authors: Alan Moore and Grant Morrison. Key words Comics, comicbook, graphic novel, postmodernism, metafiction, intertextuality, continuum, narration, binary oppositions, deconstruction, superhero, author, creation, Watchmen, Animal Man

This essay examines the inherent instability present in Diana Wynne Jones’ 1986 novel Howl’s Moving Castle. I suggest that in relying on the ambiguity of the story and the setting, Jones creates not only a more complex universe, but allows the characters to be multidimensional -- both literally and figuratively -- without having any stable selves. Using deconstruction as a (non-existent) foundation for my analysis, I contend that the strength of the story is in the looseness of it. Thus, by using a Derridean approach with added Cixousian feminist elements and a heap of Kristevian intertextuality, I further argue that Jones invites the reader to embrace the ambiguity of identity by closely analyzing the conflicting behaviours of the two main characters in the novel, Sophie Hatter and Wizard Howl. In conclusion, I argue that Diana Wynne Jones through subverting classic fairy tale tropes in an ingenious way, suggests that there is no such thing as a final finished growing person and that there is comfort to be found in embracing this incompleteness.

Based on the Salem witch trials of 1692-1693, Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible treats a historical event that could be considered overflowing with patriarchal oppression. Despite the author’s clear disapproval of the historical cruelty, the play continuously reveals patriarchal structures and shows misogynist tendencies in its depiction of women. This essay suggests that the two main female characters Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Proctor function as representations of binary oppositions based on the patriarchal assumption of two categories of women: the ‘bad girl’ and the ‘good girl,’ which both reinforce the idea of women as unnuanced objects rather than multifaceted subjects. By arguing that Abigail and Elizabeth represent the binary pairs ‘selfish/sacrificing’ and ‘promiscuous/frigid,’ the essay finds that the two women are depicted as ‘either/or’ and that the unnuanced portrayals result in an unsympathetic reading of them. Finally, the essay concludes that regardless if the woman is a ‘good girl’ or a ‘bad girl,’ she is socially punished or given unflattering characteristics in order not to compete with the male protagonist in terms of reader sympathy. / Arthur Millers pjäs The Crucible skildrar häxprocesserna i Salem 1692-1693, en historisk händelse som kan anses vara genomsyrad av patriarkalt förtryck. Trots författarens uttalade förakt gentemot häxprocessernas grymhet finns det tydliga och återkommande patriarkala strukturer i den stundom misogyna pjäsen, särskilt i dess kvinnoporträtt. Denna uppsats visar hur de två kvinnliga huvudkaraktärerena Abigail Williams och Elizabeth Proctor fungerar som representationer av binära motsatser baserade på den patriarkala idén om två kategorier av kvinnor: den ’dåliga flickan’ och den ’duktiga flickan’, vilka förstärker synen på kvinnor som onyanserade objekt snarare än mångfacetterade subjekt. Genom att argumentera för hur Abigail och Elizabeth representerar de binära paren ’självisk/självuppoffrande’ och ’promiskuös/frigid’ finner denna uppsats att Abigail och Elizabeth är porträtterade som ’antingen/eller’ och att den onyanserade karaktäriseringen resulterar i en osympatisk läsning av dem. Slutligen påvisar uppsatsen att oavsett om kvinnan är en ’duktig flicka’ eller en ’dålig flicka’ blir hon socialt bestraffad eller försedd med osmickrande karaktärsdrag i syfte att inte konkurrera med den manliga protagonisten om läsarens sympati.