O escritor angolano Pepetela possui em sua produção literária a obra O quase fim do mundo (2008), na qual cria condições para o reinício da humanidade a partir de poucos sobreviventes a uma hecatombe, o que a faz ser inserida no rol de discursos escatológicos. Seu diferencial, a nosso ver, estará nas discussões suscitadas quanto à realidade africana, em especial de Angola. Nesse sentido, há no romance a formação de uma sociedade a partir de valores principalmente africanos, já que África surge como o espaço central da nova era - são desse continente, em sua quase totalidade, os indivíduos selecionados e ali reconstroem suas vidas e o passado que ficará como História. Paralelamente, é possível relacionar a narrativa e seus elementos à formulação de uma nova utopia, desta vez priorizando características próprias em detrimento daquelas importadas (a não ser que relidas sob a ótica local). No entanto, o autor sabe da complexidade da empresa e não se furta a apontar e problematizar entraves. Com o livro OQFM, Pepetela volta a pôr em pauta os rumos e os projetos de seu país, situando-o na produção estético-política da literatura angolana de língua portuguesa. / The Angolan writer Pepetela has in his compose the work O quase fim do mundo (2008), wherein creates conditions for the resumption of humanity from few survivors of a catastrophe, which puts it in the list of eschatological discourses. Its differential, in our view, will be in the discussions raised about the african reality, especially Angola. Thus, there is in novel the formation of a society from mainly African values, since Africa emerges as the central space of the new era the selected individuals are, almost entirely, from this continent, where rebuild their lives and the past that will be leave as History. In parallel, it is possible to relate the story and its elements to the formulation of a new utopia, this time prioritizing characteristics over those imported (unless re-read from the viewpoint location). However, the author knows the complexity of the feat and does not shirk from pointing and discuss barriers. With the book OQFM, Pepetela backs to put in question the direction and projects of his country, placing it in the production aesthetic-political of Angolan literature in Portuguese.

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The 1998 television broadcast of The New Zealand Wars documentary series was a significant public event, which had a major impact on a broad range of communities and individuals in Aotearoa New Zealand. This popular television history engaged with issues of historical veracity, race, culture and nationhood and challenged previously dominant discourses associated with these concepts. In doing so, it provoked heated debate, and a re-imagining of 'nation', and also opened up spaces for alternative ways of engaging with historical narrative. Informed by post-colonialism, cultural studies and cultural memory, this thesis explores the discursive and affective role of The New Zealand Wars, as it has operated within the turbulent climate of 1990s New Zealand cultural relations. This catalytic function is described in this thesis as a phenomenon of a television series shaped by, whilst also intervening in, processes of cultural colonisation and decolonisation. While both of these processes involve the transmission of discourse via cultural forms, the act of cultural decolonisation requires, in addition, the convergence of a number of agents (people and communities, discursive and memory resources) and circumstances, within particular contextual conditions. Such a convergence provided the conditions for the discursive synthesis, which shaped the production, construction and reception of this series. The role of audio-visual media (and specifically television documentary) in transmitting cultural memory is significant as it enables the flow of memory through channels or forms (such as visual, oral and aural traditions) that can bring about new perspectives and critical reflections upon colonial discourse and dominant concepts of nation and culture. In addition to these social and intellectual processes of audience engagement, this thesis argues that experiential and affective dimensions of cultural memory can (in these specific circumstances) open up radical spaces, offering the potential for generating awareness and sparking political action. These issues are explored through a tripartite analysis of the production context, construction and reception of The New Zealand Wars series. The integration of these three phases of analysis has generated a number of insights into the potential of audio-visual forms, including their producers and audiences, to participate in the negotiation of, and resistance to, colonial discourse. Such insights serve to challenge taken-for-granted constructions of nation and history, and suggest the increasing relevance of alternative concepts such as community-building and cultural memory. Ultimately, this thesis argues that television documentary can serve as a prime site for the articulation of these concepts. The New Zealand Wars serves as a case study, which demonstrates both the potential of this site, and the significance of the social-historical and cultural context in framing this series.

Recently new novels about the Biafra war have appeared, proving the ongoing impact of the Nigerian civil war on writers’ interest, and the importance of memory in our life. For all these reasons, I decided to write the present thesis on how memory function in a literary work. The objective is to analyse the literary representation of the Biafra war, with a special focus on individual and collective memory production through two fictional novels: Half of a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Under the Udala Trees, by Chinelo Okparanta. In analysing the literary representations of Biafra in the light of memory studies, I have identified two levels of memory: literary characters’ memory and writers’ memory. Focusing on the level of the memory of the characters, I explored what the characters remember about the Biafra war both when the war is over and when it is still in progress, and what strategies they use to remember or to forget painful memories of the war.  What emerged through this first level of analysis is how Adichie and Okparanta have offered narratives focused not only on accounts of the war, but also on feelings and emotions. Moreover, the strategies of remembering and of forgetting represent tools of survival, and they are not in a relationship of exclusion. Focusing on the level of writers’ memory, I explored the perspectives used by Adichie and Okparanta to narrate and remember the Biafra war: a perspective from below, focused on ordinary people and on their daily lives; a female perspective which represents a novelty in a literary landscape dominated by male writers; the danger of a single story and its risk to create hegemonic narratives; the fictional perspective as a way to enrich a historical event with suggestive details fruit of writers’ imagination; the Afropolitan perspective and the greater openness of mind of the new generation of African writers.

O escritor angolano Pepetela possui em sua produção literária a obra O quase fim do mundo (2008), na qual cria condições para o reinício da humanidade a partir de poucos sobreviventes a uma hecatombe, o que a faz ser inserida no rol de discursos escatológicos. Seu diferencial, a nosso ver, estará nas discussões suscitadas quanto à realidade africana, em especial de Angola. Nesse sentido, há no romance a formação de uma sociedade a partir de valores principalmente africanos, já que África surge como o espaço central da nova era - são desse continente, em sua quase totalidade, os indivíduos selecionados e ali reconstroem suas vidas e o passado que ficará como História. Paralelamente, é possível relacionar a narrativa e seus elementos à formulação de uma nova utopia, desta vez priorizando características próprias em detrimento daquelas importadas (a não ser que relidas sob a ótica local). No entanto, o autor sabe da complexidade da empresa e não se furta a apontar e problematizar entraves. Com o livro OQFM, Pepetela volta a pôr em pauta os rumos e os projetos de seu país, situando-o na produção estético-política da literatura angolana de língua portuguesa. / The Angolan writer Pepetela has in his compose the work O quase fim do mundo (2008), wherein creates conditions for the resumption of humanity from few survivors of a catastrophe, which puts it in the list of eschatological discourses. Its differential, in our view, will be in the discussions raised about the african reality, especially Angola. Thus, there is in novel the formation of a society from mainly African values, since Africa emerges as the central space of the new era the selected individuals are, almost entirely, from this continent, where rebuild their lives and the past that will be leave as History. In parallel, it is possible to relate the story and its elements to the formulation of a new utopia, this time prioritizing characteristics over those imported (unless re-read from the viewpoint location). However, the author knows the complexity of the feat and does not shirk from pointing and discuss barriers. With the book OQFM, Pepetela backs to put in question the direction and projects of his country, placing it in the production aesthetic-political of Angolan literature in Portuguese.

This thesis examines the politics of World War II memory in Thai screen culture with special reference to films and television series produced between the 1970s and the 2010s. Framed by memory studies and film studies approaches, the thesis hopes to answer 1) how WW II memory on screen is related to other memory texts: monuments, museums and commemorative rituals and 2) how the memory is coded by various genres: romance, biopic, combat film and horror. The project relies on a plurimedial network which has not yet been extensively studied by film scholars in Thailand. Through the lens of memory studies, the on-screen memory is profoundly intermingled with other sites of memory across Thailand and beyond. It potentially is counter-memory and vernacular memory challenging the state's official memory. The politics of WWII memory are also engaged with cultural politics in Thailand in terms of class, gender and ethnicity. The politics of commoners and trauma are given more voice in WWII memory compared to other moments of the national past, which are dominated by the royal-nationalism. From film studies perspectives, the genres mediating WWII memory are shaped by traditions of Thai-Thai and transnational screen culture; the Thai WWII combat film is a newly proposed genre. The thesis also explores directors, the star system, exhibition and reception. The findings should prove that WWII memory on Thai screen serves their roles in memory institutions which construct and maintain mnemonic communities as well as the roles in entertainment and media institutions. Another crucial implication of the research is that politicising WWII memory on the Thai screen can illuminate how memory and visual texts travel. The research likewise manifests its contributions to a better understanding of how Thai screen culture can be positioned within both global memory culture and global screen culture.

This master’s thesis in the realm of cultural heritage deals with the changes in identity, memory and interactions with heritage and culture among the Estonian Seto community in relation to the control line, wishing to evaluate what sort of everyday changes have taken place, as well as changes in cultural celebrations and traditions. It also seeks to analyse how the Setos on the Estonian side perceive the Seto culture across the border, and how they view their own situation in a changing landscape. In addition to this, the participants’ views on how they wish to see the situation with the control line mitigated are investigated. All these changes are framed by theories on cultural memory and border-making. The thesis uses qualitative interviews to gather the necessary data. The results reveal that many changes the Seto community face are connected to loss and restricted access, affecting the cultural memory of the community. The restrictive border is also a tool used in identity creation, using "lost ancestral lands" to create a view of the past that supports the existence of a strong and unified Seto community mitigating a loss.

ABSTRACT The orally transmitted tradition of Lobolo is a common and widely practiced cultural tradition and an established marriage institution within African societies in Southern Africa, differing only in terms and minor variations of practice. Lobolo therefore has the status of being an intangible heritage and is acknowledged as such by South Africa’s National Heritage Resource Act of 1999. Its role in society today on the one hand and its oral way of transmission on the other has placed it in the center of an ongoing post-colonial discourse, particularly around the standing of the African intangible heritage in post-1994 South Africa. The Heritage Transformation Charter, following its mandate by the National Heritage Council, intended to attend to and correct existing imbalances in the Heritage sector and its institutions. It also aimed to identify and establish ways for the preservation and continuation of African heritage. The study reviews the literature on Lobolo, highlighting the ways in which it has been described as a multifaceted cultural and social institution. In consideration of these findings it critically engages in a discussion of the Draft Heritage Transformation Charter, to assess its acknowledgement of the characteristics of living heritage. In doing so the study probes the ability of a policy guiding document such as the Heritage Transformation Charter, to accommodate and guide the survival of oral traditions such as Lobolo, as part of the intangible heritage of South Africa.

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