Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 381-400).

Thesis (MA (English))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / In this dissertation the dominant metaphor for the fusion between the feminine and technology, the cyborg, will be examined through various texts to assess the value the cyborg has for feminism as a tool to exposes the constructedness of boundaries of identity and gender, thereby enabling a reconstruction of a new feminine identity in a subversive and transgressive space. The main themes which will be addressed are those that often feature in feminist science fiction: reproduction, sexuality, the construction of identity and gender through science, culture and ideology, and the power relations between men and women. Other related concepts which will be dealt with are language, self and Other, representation and perspective. Feminist science fiction and theory attempt to destabilise conventional boundaries concerned with gender and identity and the texts which this dissertation deals with are all, to varying degrees, concerned with this destabilisation, each offering a unique perspective on feminine identity and the attempted transformation of current gender categories which will be explored in detailed analysis.

This dissertation examines the figures of the shaman and the cyborg, arguing that both act as intermediaries between the organic world of bodies and the artificial world of culture and machines. Using the sf of Robert Holdstock, David Zindell and Kathleen Ann Goonan as starting points, new forms of embodiment in the context of the cyborg and the shaman's shared narrative of radical boundary dissolution are critically and imaginatively examined. Throughout this thesis, the works of Deleuze and Guattari, Sadie Plant, Manuel De Landa, Erik Davis, Donna Haraway, Terence McKenna, and other speculative theorists who operate at the nexus of technological culture and the shamanic imagination serve as guidelines. / English Studies / M.A.

This study is an examination of the several themes and conventions of science fiction that seem to appear in the texts of Samuel Beckett. Expectedly, many of the texts produced by both science fiction and Beckett just before, during, and immediately after World War II share similar concerns; though perhaps less expectedly, these two relatively unlike bodies of work can be used to help better understand and illuminate one another. In Waiting for Godot, nuclear anxieties shed light on the play's apparent post-apocalyptic landscape and the profound emptiness that permeates the stage. In Molloy, Hugh Kenner uses Centaur imagery to explain the title character's Cartesian relationship with his bicycle; however, contemporary sensibilities at the time of the novel's publication suggests a cyborg reading of the Molloy/bicycle hybrid can also be productive. And in Krapp's Last Tape, the tape recorder serves as a figurative time machine, which allows readers to consider the ways technology continues to allow for the capture of time and subsequent reflection. / by Aaron Pancho. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

This dissertation examines the figures of the shaman and the cyborg, arguing that both act as intermediaries between the organic world of bodies and the artificial world of culture and machines. Using the sf of Robert Holdstock, David Zindell and Kathleen Ann Goonan as starting points, new forms of embodiment in the context of the cyborg and the shaman's shared narrative of radical boundary dissolution are critically and imaginatively examined. Throughout this thesis, the works of Deleuze and Guattari, Sadie Plant, Manuel De Landa, Erik Davis, Donna Haraway, Terence McKenna, and other speculative theorists who operate at the nexus of technological culture and the shamanic imagination serve as guidelines. / English Studies / M.A.

In hierdie studie word die manifestasies en ontwikkelings van mens-masjien-verhoudinge in die Afrikaanse poësie vanaf 1990 tot 2012 ondersoek. Relevante uitgangspunte van die fenomenologie, posthumanisme en transhumanisme dien as teoretiese begronding om die gekompliseerde en gevarieerde aard van mens-masjien-verhoudinge in die Afrikaanse poësie te bestudeer. Die studie beoog om deur kwantitatiewe data-analise die manifestasie van tegnologiese terme en verwysings na tegnologiese objekte in Afrikaanse poësie vanaf 1990 tot 2012 te karteer. Hierbenewens word deeglike kwalitatiewe ondersoek gedoen na die verskillende representasies van mens-masjien-verhoudinge in geselekteerde Afrikaanse gedigte. Laastens word rolle en metaforiese betekenisse van digitale tegnologie in posthumane subjekte se belewing op drie tematiese vlakke ondersoek, naamlik liefde en seks, spiritualiteit en die dood. / In this study the different manifestations of human-machine relationships in Afrikaans poetry between 1990 and 2012 are investigated. Relevant viewpoints from the phenomenology, posthumanism and transhumanism form part of the theoretical framework in which the often complicated and varied nature of human-machine relationships are studied. It is the goal of this study to map the manifestations of technological terms and references to technological objects in Afrikaans poetry from 1990 to 2012, utilising quantitative data analysis. Furthermore, the in-depth qualitative analysis will investigate various representations of human-machine relationships in selected Afrikaans poems. The roles and metaphorical meanings of digital technology within the experiences of posthuman subjects are investigated on three thematic levels, namely love and sex, spirituality and death. / Afrikaans and Theory of Literature / M. A. (Afrikaans)