This thesis explores contemporary representations and discourses on the nature of animals through the development and investigation of the psychodynamics of dehumanisation. Psychodynamics integrates the discursive structuring of knowledge with the psychoanalytical defence mechanisms of projection and introjection. Hollway's (1989) theory of psychodynamic investment is applied here to account for the reproduction of species-differentiated beliefs and behaviours. This provides the parameters for a model of dehumanisation which is the referent for the empirical exploration. The methodological approach employed centres on triangulation. Semi-structured interviews with vegetarians and non-vegetarians are discourse analysed to reveal patterns of naturalisation in the production of social meanings and the participation in social practices. The analysis reveals the content of the psychodynamic investments in three hegemonic discourses: nonhuman animals as Objects, Referents and Utensils. In order to explore representations of the referent, 'beast', newspaper articles are semiologically content analysed. This analysis identifies aspects of human experience which are projected onto nonhuman animal representations, through anthropomorphism and zoomorphism. To explore one example of these metaphors, the fantasy 'beast', a semiotic analysis of narrative was conducted on Wilderness, the book and derived drama, further articulating the symbolic dimension of irresolute species boundaries in a modem twist on the lycanthropic myth. The model of dehumanisation is developed to interpret the analysis of the texts. Deconstruction of these texts provide evidence for the anthropocentric, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic dialectics of self:other reflected in the violent construction of human versus nonhuman animal identity. The synthesised model of dehumanisation illustrates both the human desire to acknowledge and oppress nonhuman animals and the ubiquitous 'beast within', as part of the psychodynamic construction of subjectivity. In conclusion, the deconstructed 'beast' is revealed as a modern-day ideological chimera which signifies the ambivalence of humans' understanding of themselves as animals.

A grounded theory analysis was carried out with participants aged 18-25 from around New Zealand, particularly within the Christchurch vicinity, to develop an understanding of the behavioural responses by individuals when they are anonymously communicating online. It was found that detachment from an individual’s identity occurred, creating an impersonal and distant interaction free from the normal social constraints of the offline, real life environment. The study found that technological dehumanisation was evident, which proposes that individuals relinquish linkages to their persona as a means to subconsciously justify behaviours, which are contrary to the norms of society. Repercussions of this dehumanised interaction include reduced external power to manipulate and influence, and emphasises the importance of an individual’s internal power, such as self-efficacy, to control one’s persona such as likeability and expertise as a means to feel personal empowerment. This study helps further the understanding between anonymous behaviours and behavioural power dynamics by identifying a new dimension to the behavioural discrepancies seen online. It also creates a foundation for future works to develop further understanding of both the positive and negative repercussions of anonymous online behaviours, both in a social context and in the workplace.

The aim of this study is to investigate how Todor Enchev sustained and negotiated his humanity, faith, and freedom of conscience in prison, labour, and concentration camps in late 1940’s-1950’s Bulgaria. Through a hermeneutic study, this investigation analyses Enchev’s book From Spiritual Death to Eternal Life (1998). Having been imprisoned first as a teenager for his vocal political beliefs against the communist regime in Bulgaria and thereafter for his newfound Christian faith, this study examines his narrative. This study concludes that Enchev was ultimately sustained by a vision of a greater eternal dimension and new humanity, while viewing his current suffering as a mission set before him. This vision changed his self-awareness and allowed him to persevere. His focus remained on the communication, for him, between the eternal dimension of heaven and the earthly dimension of his present. This was expressed through his behaviour and attitude towards others in the camps, a period he referred to as a ‘spiritual university’. Through this, Enchev was able to identify as a contemporary disciple and martyr, giving him a sense of duty, which gave meaning to his time in the camps and beyond.

In October 2016 the newspaper the Guardian published an interactive database online with classified incident reports from an Australian overseas asylum seeker processing centre on the island republic of Nauru. The incident reports describe events that occurred within the Nauru Regional Processing Centre and this collection of over 2000 documents were given the name of “Nauru Files”. By using Nick Haslam's dehumanisation theory this thesis aimed to analyse the Nauru Files to find if the documents present evidence of animalistic and/or mechanistic dehumanisation. Upon reviewing the Nauru Files the author found four overacting themes; (1) deteriorating mental health for asylum seekers; (2) sexual assault, abusive behaviour and misbehaviour by staff, (3) incidents involving children and (4) misrepresentation of information. Furthermore, the evidence connected with these themes within the incident reports indicates dehumanisation, mainly mechanistic - meaning asylum seekers were deprived of aspects of humanness and were repeatedly treated as objects. Related to the Nauru Files a closer review of Australian immigration policies was conducted. The results show that the dehumanisation that is evident in the Nauru Files can be considered to be a product of Australia's long history of systematic dehumanisation of asylum seekers from non-European countries.

In 2000, Iraqi-born film director, poet and author Hassan Blasim fled Iraq to escape persecution for his films on the forced migration of Kurds by Saddam Hussein's regime. After travelling through Europe for four years, he was granted asylum in Finland. It was in Europe that many of his short stories were published, including Majnūn Sāḥat Al-ḥurrīya (2015) which offers a haunting critique of the war and post-war experiences of migrants fleeing Iraq and settling in Europe. This thesis is an investigation of how the migrant figure is dehumanised during the migration trajectory from displacement to integration through three of the short stories in Hassan Blasim’s Majnūn Sāḥat Al-ḥurrīya: Šāḥinat Barlīn (The Truck to Berlin), Al-ʾaršīf Wa-al-wāqiʿ (The Reality and the Record) and Kawābīs Kārlūs Fuwantis (The Nightmares of Carlos Fuentes). This thesis uses close reading in order to highlight how the migrants in these short stories are depicted as ingenuine asylum claimants who cheat and perform to gain entry to the West and as terrorists or animals who are a threat to the cultural norms of the receiving nations. In this thesis, it is argued that it is these depictions and assumptions which lead to their negative treatment and societal rejection.

Cette thèse de littérature comparée a pour objectif de mettre en rapport des œuvres habitées par l’Histoire, et d’interroger les représentations littéraires du corps face à l’épreuve extrême de l’enfermement. Le but de cette recherche, qui se déploie en trois temps, est de questionner la nature humaine à travers le prisme de l’écriture face à l’expérience bouleversante des camps de concentration et d’extermination nazis pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, en mettant en parallèle des œuvres tant de témoignage que de fiction, qui puisent leurs ressources chacune dans le réel et le fictionnel, dans un jeu de vases communicants.Plus précisément, dans le cadre de la première partie, nous nous concentrons sur la manière dont l’expérience-limite de l’être se manifeste dans ces récits : la confusion identitaire et la déshumanisation y bousculent la représentation du corps, le mettent en doute. Ce doute s’inscrit dans le langage même : comment raconter ce qui paraît inimaginable ? Dans cette deuxième partie, nous mettons l’accent sur l’aspect indicible de l’évènement, et réfléchissons aux contournements, aux déplacements que peut offrir la littérature pour dire ce qui semble, au premier abord, inénarrable. Les images et symboles créent de nouvelles formes littéraires. Ces analyses nous permettent de développer enfin la thématique de ce que nous appelons l’écriture organique, qui se compose et s’articule autour de la corporéité. Langage et corps se superposent dans une dynamique architecturale. Écrire laisse une trace. L’écriture engendre. La littérature serait alors le terrain fécond d’une renaissance, de l’écriture d’un homme nouveau, à jamais métamorphosé par l’expérience concentrationnaire. / This thesis of comparative literature aims to relate pieces inhabited by history and to question literary representations of the body in the face of the extreme hardship of confinement. The aim of this research, which unfolds in three parts, is to question human nature through the prism of writing when confronted with the traumatic experience of concentration camps and Nazi exterminations in the Second World War, by paralleling pieces, factual and fictional, which draw their ressources from both reality and fiction like interconnecting vessels. More specifically, as part of the first section we concentrate on the way the limit-experience of being manifests itself in these accounts. The confusion of identity and the dehumanization disrupt the representation of the body, thus impeaching it.This doubt fits into the language itself : how does one tell the unimaginable ? In the second section we focus on the inexpressible aspect of the event and reflect on the diversions, the displacements that literature can offer to say what, at first, seems indescribable. Imagery and symbolism create new forms of literature.This analysis allows us to develop the theme that we call organic writing, which is composed of and articulates itself through corporeity. Language and body superpose themselves in an architectural dynamic. Writing leaves a trace. Writing gives rise to new forms. Literature would therefore be the fertile soil of revival, the writing of a new human being, forever metamorphosed by the concentration camp experience.

Jews have been represented in Latvian literature for centuries. This dissertation investigates the images of Jews in a comprehensive selection of Latvian novels published between 1934–1944 in order to establish whether, and to what extent, the traditional images are subject to change under the pressure of modernity, nationalism and a rapidly changing political situation. Since most representations of, and references to, Jews in this literature are very brief, it is necessary to initially deprive the individual works of their titles and authors and let them form an authorless entity, a Corpus, however diverse, yet representative of Latvian society at the time. Through this approach the centres of attention are put aside, and the scattered images of Jews are brought into focus. With the help of a Matrix designed for this purpose, all ‘Jews’ are sorted and analysed. The Matrix, including also linguistic references, illustrates how Jews in the discourse are made to represent the ‘other’ through the provision of certain pieces of information and the omission others. The Jews in the Corpus, with very few exceptions, are thus systematically and consistently reduced to blank images and stereotypes. Through this process they are also subject to ‘othering’ and dehumanisation, albeit not necessarily articulated as such. The social distance between Latvians and Jews becomes more pronounced in the Corpus compared to in the Latvian literary tradition, and there are several examples of negative attitudes and anti-Semitism. Yet, with regard to the extreme political situation, especially under Soviet and Nazi occupations, these examples are fewer than expected: the investigated literature follows its own traditions and, with hardly any exceptions, does not reflect societal and political changes immediately.

Procédant dʼune volonté de modernisation et de rationalisation de lʼinstitution judiciaire, la présence des nouvelles technologies dans l’administration de la justice pénale est croissante. Ces outils esquissent un changement sans précédent, dans une institution pourtant marquée par un certain traditionalisme. Touchant aux aspects juridiques, symboliques, humains, et gestionnaires de lʼintervention judiciaire, cette émergence du numérique pose les jalons de la justice pénale du XXIe siècle. Inexorablement, le formalisme qui caractérise lʼinstant de justice, procédural ou ritualisé, subit de profondes modifications, parfois dans le sens dʼune altération ; le fond culturel fondamental de la justice pénal est alors mis à lʼépreuve. Entre influence néfaste et renouveau bénéfique, les apports de ces instruments du travail judiciaire sont marqués par lʼambivalence. La résistance obstinée semble inadaptée, et le modernisme irréfléchi au nom d’une optimisation des moyens de l’institution, à proscrire. Seule la régulation de lʼusage dʼoutils qui sʼimmiscent jusque dans le contenu de la décision de justice peut être gage dʼune évolution harmonieuse. Afin que cette transition technologique nʼinduise pas une dénaturation de lʼintervention judiciaire, mais constitue au contraire, une aide à la relégitimisation dʼune justice pénale encore traversée par une crise à la fois de confiance et fonctionnelle, un véritable processus dʼintégration des nouvelles technologies doit sʼinstaurer, mêlant considérations éthiques, juridiques et institutionnelles / As a result of a will to modernize and rationalize the legal institution, the use of new technologies in criminal courts administration is increasing. Nowadays, those tools of communication, information, and management represent essential ways of evolution of justice, at the heart of its performance. They imply an unprecedented change for an institution marked by a certain traditionalism. Related to judicial, symbolic, human and managerial aspects of the legal intervention, the emergence of digital is paving the way of (characterizing) the criminal justice in the XXI century. Inexorably, the formalism characterizing the justice moment, procedural or ritualized, is going through deep changes. Sometimes those changes are distorting the cultural founding of criminal justice. Between bad influence and beneficial renewal, the inputs of these judicial work tools are characterized by ambivalence. The obstinate opposition is inadequate. As the thoughtless modernism to optimize the institution tools, is to proscribe. The regulation of the tools’ practice, which is even involved in the content of the justice decision, is a necessity to ensure a smooth evolution. In order to avoid a denaturation of the legal intervention, a real integration processs of new technologies should be established, mixing ethical, legal and institutional considerations. In that way, this technological transition will be helping to legitimate the criminal justice, still affected by a functional and trust crisis

Vicarious humiliation as a devaluing intergroup event is a rather common experience, which has the potential to adversely influence present and future intergroup relations. Based on an extensive literature review and previous research, we hypothesised that highly identified group members experience an intensified feeling of humiliation after witnessing an ingroup member being humiliated when compared to low identifiers (Hypothesis 1), that the role of visual exposure as situational determinant of humiliating events, the appraisals, and the emotional patterns elicited, differ between personally and vicariously humiliating events (Hypotheses 2a, 2b, 3 and 4), and lastly, that vicarious humiliation regulated through emotional blends leads to behavioural intentions that influence future intergroup relations (Hypotheses 5a to 5c). Evidence for our hypotheses was exploratively and experimentally provided in six studies. Results implied that vicarious humiliation is a common experience, that visual exposure as situational determinant is more important for personally than vicariously humiliating events, and that humiliation is indeed a blended emotion (Study 1, N = 1048). Moreover, results showed that highly identified group member feel relatively stronger humiliated (Study 2, N = 175), that the appraisal and emotional patterns are related to identity processes (i.e., personal and vicarious humiliation) (Study 3, N = 74; Study 4, N = 359; Study 5 = 376), and that the feeling of humiliation and accompanying emotions regulate the relationship between vicariously humiliating events and the intentional responses such as avoidance, non-normative approach, dehumanisation and social exclusion (Study 6, N = 998). Overall, our results imply that vicarious humiliation as an emotional experience has the potential to provoke intergroup conflict. SUMMARY The present research studied a phenomenon that we are all familiar with – being humiliated. Unfortunately, this is an experience that is rather common as we might not only experience to be humiliated personally but also to be humiliated on behalf of others. It is this vicarious experience of humiliation that the present research aimed at studying. We firstly explored people’s experiences with and understandings of humiliation through a cross-sectional survey (Study 1). Results indicated that vicarious humiliation is indeed a rather common experience, that personally and vicariously humiliating events differ in terms of the situational determinants that characterise these events, and that the feeling of humiliation is experienced as a blended emotion. We furthermore tested experimentally the effects of ingroup identification, identity processes and the presence of an audience on the appraisal processes of and the emotional and motivational responses to vicarious humiliation. We found that people who highly identified with the group they share with the humiliated person, experienced stronger feelings of humiliation (Study 2), and that being personally humiliated and being vicariously humiliated resulted in different appraisal patterns, which consequently elicited the different emotional blends of humiliation with self-focused and other-focused emotions, respectively (Studies 3 to 5). We were, however, unable to provide evidence that the presence of an audience aggravated the appraisal processes and the feeling of humiliation (which we attributed to methodological limitations of our studies). That the emotional blends of humiliation regulate the behavioural intentions, that people engage in as a result of being vicariously humiliated, was demonstrated in our last study (Study 6). More specifically, we found that humiliation accompanied by self-focused emotions was related to intentions to avoid, to non-normatively approach, and/or to socially exclude the humiliator(s) through dehumanising them. It is this latter finding that provides evidence for both the role of the social context that might determine the appropriateness of certain behaviours (e.g., social norms) and for the proposed cycle of humiliation in that humiliated persons are often believed to retaliate by humiliating the humiliator(s) in return, which has the potential to provoke intergroup conflicts. / Psychology / D. Phil. (Psychology)

This dissertation undertakes a comparative study of certain works of literature concerning Vietnamese and American troops during the United States’ involvement in Southeast Asia in the 1960s and 1970s. My assumption was that during war it is possible to conclude that enemy forces behave in the same manner in order to reach the identical goal, that of victory over the ‘other’ side. I sought to ascertain how under the selfsame conditions they could be considered as enemies. Divided only by the 17th Parallel: A Study of Similarities Between American and Vietnamese Soldiers in Selected Works By close reading of six texts, three from Vietnamese and three from American perspectives, I have attempted to extract their similar views from each in order to create a context in which the likeness of each side is demonstrated. This was achieved by exploring four themes: those of landscape, time, conflict and ghosts. It was discovered that the protagonists’ behaviour was the same and that rather than being the others’ adversary their true enemies were found within their own ranks. The results indicate that a wider perspective should be adopted on war than one which regards it as a simplistic binary consisting of two opposing sides. Contrary to any supposition that enemies must remain separated, there is more than enough evidence for one to conclude that they actually occupied mutual psychological territory. Key Terms: Landscape, time, ghosts, psychological damage, Reader Response, CSR, PTSD, New Historicism, dehumanisation, conditions of war, 1954 Geneva Agreement, ideology, war literature. / English Literature / M.A. (English Literature)