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This dissertation develops an existential-aesthetic theory of the subversive power and lure of limited and recessive forms of social intimacy that it calls queer indifference. By putting queer concerns with the normative politics of identity, visibility, and inter-relationality in conversation with philosophical concepts of indifference, it responds to expectations of the self-evident value of active bodies, personal recognition, and mutual experience for meaningful social political agency, and argues that recessive relations experienced and cultivated in the fortuitous spaces of “shared-separation” constitute a queerly-imagined rapport with alterity rather than being the source of social deprivation. Queer indifferences, I argue, effect their own ethical engagements beyond the self that are not reducible to readily legible connections to the social, while they may be continuous with such modes of connection. Drawing on a number of critical resources from queer theory, poststructuralist philosophy, film criticism, dream science, and the history of AIDS activism, this dissertation seeks to discover the generative impasses in perception, consciousness, and connection articulated by queer aesthetic media that make themselves seen and heard through the involutions of social legibility and recognition. In social postures such as solitude, techno-mediated encounters with cinematic worlds, and the creative automation of dreamlife, this dissertation locates aesthetic-ethical expressions of justice oriented towards the defiant persistence of queer life. Films such as Brokeback Mountain and Last Address, and the dream diaries of American artist and activist David Wojnarowicz, access and communicate a certain inaccessible and incommunicable core of self and intimate expression that elicits relations with the other in appearances of isolation or remoteness, and that generates creative and imaginative possibilities for justice ahead of indeterminate futures. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This dissertation explores a series of limited and obscure relations marshalled under the concept of “indifference” to develop what I call a theory of queer indifference. By bringing concerns from queer theory about socially compulsive forms of inclusion and connection in conversation with philosophical concepts of indifference, this dissertation expands the political, ethical, and aesthetic potential of such ways of being to challenge existing relations of power. It argues that the dissident force of indifferent relations generates the queerly critical, imaginative, susceptible, and hospitable capacities inherent to doing justice. Experiences of solitude, film-viewing, and dreaming illustrate the social lure of indifferent relations as practices or embodiments that can be understood otherwise than as a source of deprivation. From the un-belonging spaces of solitude, to the film camera’s technological gaze, to the unwitting intelligence of dreamlife, this dissertation examines the “space of shared-separation” between self and other, viewer and camera, and waking and sleeping selves as a type of existence that produces queer relations to social order and that nurtures creative orientations to indeterminate futures. The films Brokeback Mountain and Last Address, and the dream diaries of American artist and activist David Wojnarowicz, are the aesthetic core of this dissertation’s investigation of and experimentation with ways of being that are queerly at odds with the way things are.

Andrew Feenberg, a philosopher of technology, argues for a democratic rationalization of technology, whereby subjugated actors intervene in the design process to achieve their interests. He claims that environmentalism represents one of the greatest opportunities for this kind of intervention. His suggestion seems viable; most if not all of the current environmental problems stem from maladaptive technologies. Transforming these technologies is therefore imperative if we are to move toward more sustainable societies. Feenberg, however, does not address the details of his proposal or offer more than a few brief examples of what he is advocating. I use Feenberg's Critical Theory of technology to analyze and assess various environmentalisms. Along the way I expose the deficiencies of his theory and attempt build on his work. One problem, however, is that environmentalism is by no means a homogonous entity; rather, it is composed of numerous strands with their own unique histories, aims, and strategies. I argue that of the various environmentalisms grassroots environmental justice resonates most with Feenberg's theory. To illustrate, I present a case study of the toxics movement that emerged out of the Love Canal incident. I conclude by showing how grassroots environmental justice could enhance their effectiveness by employing the suggested Critical Theory of technology. / Ph. D.

Proceeding from the assumption that psychoanalytic theory has yielded insightful literary interpretations, I propose that equally legitimate readings result from analyzing consciousness in literature. William James' "Stream of Thought" offers a psychological theory of consciousness from which I develop a literary theory that counterbalances the Freudian emphasis on the unconscious. Examining two works by Henry James, I demonstrate how assessing the elements of a character's consciousness leads to conclusions at which other theories do not arrive. This analytical approach leads to not only an alternative critical agenda but also a fuller understanding of the psychological function of the character's and, by extension, the human mind. / Master of Arts

Yes / This paper sums up the findings from the first comprehensive study on the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara. This research project explores the possibilities of using a Foucualtian analysis to look at the links between peacekeeping practice and Western policies of conflict containment in the Western Sahara with a view to enhancing UN conflict resolution capabilities.