This thesis examines the question of how primitive states form. The first part of the thesis defines a state. I then analyse Hobbes�s Theory of the Commonwealth by Acquisition (TCA), expounded in Leviathan. I conclude that this theory fails as an answer to the question of how primitive states form as it suffers from at least five major flaws. I go on to explain, modify and correct Hobbes�s TCA through techniques that have been used in modern critiques of Hobbes�s Theory of the Commonwealth by Institution. The result is the strongest possible answer that Hobbes can give to the question of how primitive states form. I conclude that his attempt fails as even if the technical aspects of his theory can be fixed, the overall problem of empirical falsification occurs. I then put forward my own theory, based on the modified Hobbesian theory. The major innovation is the replacement of individuals with groups in the Hobbesian State of Nature. This move answers the problem of empirical falsification, at least initially. The theory also helps to explain several of the more technical problems with Hobbes�s theory. The resulting theory is a Hobbesian theory of primitive state formation. The next step in the thesis is to match the Hobbesian theory of primitive state formation to the empirical evidence of primitive state formation, represented by anthropology. I analyse the anthropological literature and put forward that at least one recent research program in anthropology matches my Hobbesian theory of primitive state formation. I conclude that Hobbesian theory, based on the TCA can be successfully modernised into a plausible answer to the question of how primitive states formed.

If, as author Toni Morrison believes, we tell stories about what we find most terrifying, then our cultural narratives suggest an overwhelming preoccupation with the murderous mother ??? the monster in our minds. This dissertation examines some of the most powerful and enduring stories told about the murderous mother and considers how these stories are shaped by the unconscious fears and fantasies that dominate the cultural psyche. Revolving around the idea of infanticide as an ???imaginary??? crime, this dissertation uncovers the psychoanalytic foundations of the obsessive telling and consumption of stories of maternal child-murder in Western culture and contends that infanticide narratives can be read as symptoms of psychocultural dis(-)ease. Underlying all stories about the murderous mother is an unconscious fear of infanticide and fantasy of maternal destructiveness that is repressed in the individual psyche. These fears and fantasies are expressed in our cultural narratives. Chapter 1 examines fairytales as the literary form that most clearly elaborates individual fears and psychic conflict and locates the phantasmic murderous mother within psychoanalytic narratives of individuation. Chapter 2 shows how individual fears and fantasies of maternal monstrosity are transferred to society and revealed in the myths through which our culture is transmitted. Chapters 3 and 4 focus on the particular neuroses of ancient Greek society and early modern culture and consider stories of the murderous mother that most powerfully reflect anxieties of maternal origin and fantasies of maternal power. Chapters 5 and 6 shift to a contemporary setting and consider stories that reveal, in differing ways, how the murderous mother haunts the cultural psyche. Examining a variety of texts and drawing material from a spectrum of disciplines, including law, literature, criminology, theology, philosophy, and medicine, this dissertation concludes that it is only by exposing the underpinnings of our cultural stories about the murderous mother that we can hope to break free from the unconscious attitudes that imprison us. Emerging from this study is an original and important theoretical framework concerning conceptualisations of infanticide, the ways in which we imagine maternal child-murder and the limits of that imagination, and how we might escape the murderous maternal monster buried deep in the labyrinths of the mind.

This dissertation consists of a critical component, 'Memoir-Writing and the Post-Colonial Southeast Asian Subject' and a creative piece titled Across Three Languages, Two Lands: A Life Narrative. Critical Component: Stuart Hall's definition of the individual as a subject underpins the critical component of my dissertation. Hall, working with Foucault's concept of subjectivity, states that 'the subject is produced within discourse ... It must submit to its rules and conventions, to its dispositions of power/knowledge' (Hall, 1997a, p. 55). For the purpose of this dissertation, I focus on cultural and social influences that impact on the post-colonial subject of Southeast Asia during the time period covered in the life narrative. In terms of cultural discourse, I investigate the adoption of English over the individual's native language, and by inference culture, as one's first language. In the area of social discourse, I look into the influence of nationalism in the context of Malaysia and Singapore. My investigation is carried out through an analysis of Maxine Hong Kingston's Woman Warrior. The Return by K.S. Maniam and Among the White Moonfaces by Shirley Lim. Through the creative component, I strive to do two things: narrate a personal story and in it, portray aspects of social history. The critical essay provides explanations for a more cogent reading of the life story. In addition the essay brings another facet of understanding to the postcolonial experience, one from the Southeast Asian point of view. Creative Component: Across Three Languages, Two Lands: A Life Narrative is the life story of the protagonist, Leong Kah Yan. Yan was born into a traditional Cantonese/Chinese family and grew up in newly independent, post-colonial Malaysia, in the 1960s and 1970s. Being Chinese and educated in English resulted in her subsequent marginalisation when Malaysia switched to privileging the Malays in the country's version of nationalism. Her migration to Singapore in the late 1970s coincided with the country plunging into vigorous nation-building and brought questions of delineation between nation and self. In addition, there was also the personal struggle between the role of English and her native language and culture in her life. Coming to terms with all these factors brought resolution to a certain degree. With awareness that each factor had left an indelible mark on her identity, Van's reconciliation is a middle ground where the individual is comfortable amidst communal and nationalistic demands. Reference Hall, S. (1997a) The Work of Representation. IN HALL, S. (Ed.) Representation: Cultural Representations & Signifying Practices. London, Sage Publications.

This thesis examines transnational Chinese masculinity as the articulation of Asian scopic modernities in contemporary Hong Kong, Hollywood and mainland Chinese films. Transnational Chinese masculinity is a transborder formation of Chinese male representations that occurs across national boundaries via dispersed networks of production, distribution, and consumption. These representations constitute the modernity of transnational Chinese masculinity. This thesis investigates significant cinematic events that contribute to these new conditions of visibility: the popularity of Hong Kong actors Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung who embody marginalised paradigms of masculinity in Asia; the crossovers of Hong Kong stars into Hollywood; and the advent of Zhang Yimou's alternative blockbuster films and Quentin Tarantino's trans-Asian films. These cinematic events form part of a mosaic of visual modernities in Asia - what is herein defined as Asian scopic modernities.

The rapid diffusion of digital technologies since the 1970s has produced significant cultural change within industrialised societies and this dissertation examines the particular challenge that digital technologies and a burgeoning digital culture pose to copyright law. The hypothesis is that the international copyright regime, based on the private ownership of intellectual property, is being undermined by the collaborative and sharing dimensions of a networked digital culture. The argument is premised on evidence that digital culture is now so pervasive and so disruptive of traditional social and economic institutions that current copyright laws are no longer capable of managing the production and distribution of the knowledge, information and entertainment products that are fundamental to the operation of the global information economy. Ideological and cultural differences have led to conflict and ‘copyfights’ between the owners of copyright works and the digital creators who produce and share copyright works outside the commercial marketplace, and often, outside the law. Defending their legal rights, the owners have generally adopted a copyright maximalist approach. They have successfully argued for stricter laws to protect their valuable private property rights and have enforced the law against digital pirates and new technologies that they claim threaten their businesses and the orderly operation of the knowledge economy. The digital sharers have adopted a ‘copyleft’ approach. Demonstrating little respect for laws that inhibit digital creativity and innovation, and supportive of a public domain of accessible cultural works, they argue for less stringent legal controls over copyright works and for a new intellectual commons in which knowledge, information and entertainment products are shared, rather than privately owned. Analysis of the culture clash between owners and sharers and between their private and public interests demonstrates that the 21st century copyfights are divisive and expensive. This dissertation, as well as addressing the challenge that digital culture poses to copyright law, suggests possibilities for legal reform and opens up new terrain for further study into the question of who should own and benefit from the knowledge and information that form our cultural heritage. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Thesis (M.A.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Anthropology, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Carleton University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 90-92). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (doctoral)--Freie Universität Berlin, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 282-316).

Habilitationsschrift--Würzburg. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [173]-202) and index.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Toronto, 2007. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2981.