Please note: creative writing theses are permanently embargoed in OpenBU. No public access is forecasted for these. To request private access, please click on the locked Download file link and fill out the appropriate web form. / Creative writing. / 2031-01-01T00:00:00Z

Nonfiction, Documentary, and Family Narrative:
 An Intersection of Representational Discourses and Creative Practices explores the role of personal memory, family history, and inter-generational storytelling as the basis for making a nonfiction film. The film, American Boy, tells the story of my mother’s immigration to the United States after the failed Hungarian Revolution of 1956, opening a discussion of four generations of my family life in the context of historical events, exile, self re-invention, and identity formation. As a media producer and nonfiction author, I narrate my understanding of these events to my infant son, as a way of communicating my grandfather’s role in the revolution, my mother’s childhood, and my own mediation of my family’s trauma. Through the use of archival footage including newsreels and commercials, as well as my own archive of family photos and documents, I re-construct the existing materials to build my own associations concerning time, memory, and place. The film, as my creative practice, leads to a theoretical analysis of representational discourses which inform the work. This deconstruction of nonfiction and meta-analysis includes my study of several practitioners in the craft of non-fiction: Kati Marton, Robert Root, Primo Levi, Eva Hoffman, Patricia Hampl, Dinty W. Moore, Peter Balakian and others.

Culture, as defined by Edward Said, is a concept of identity selectively curated through imperialism. Through my ceramic practice, I explore what constitutes my cultural identity as a first generation Arab American. My work, primarily influenced by family narrative was initially expressed through investigations in the figure and viewer relationships with my sculpted figures. As my research progressed into Western Imperialism, I began noticing extensive evidence of colonialism’s lasting effects, especially within Western consumer markets. Interest in the writings of Said, works by French Orientalist painters, family memory, and a general displeasure with the plethora of Middle Eastern design used in Western decor culminates into Arab Americanesque; an installation that explores ideas of cultural obfuscation, power, and belonging.

食物往往蘊藏著無形情感與過往生命記憶。以家庭飲食而言，舉凡食物的味道、口感與氣味皆可能牽引出家庭關係與父母形象等生命故事。據此，本研究旨在以「家庭敘事」之研究視角探討家庭中飲食、記憶與生命傳承之關聯，主要鎖定「家傳菜餚」之家庭共食情境與敘事內涵，從而探討家庭中獨有的飲食口味如何承載與紀錄家庭生命歷程。 　　研究發現，家傳菜餚的故事內容由個人、家庭與菜餚在各式情境之下交織而成，描述昔日飲食經驗時更展現家庭生活背景、家庭信仰與成員性格等內涵。而過往家庭記憶主要透過「倒敘」手法浮現，但其不只是單向回溯過往經驗，敘事者的記憶軌跡往往與現今家庭生活與未來人生交錯對話。 　　此外，家傳菜餚的味道與意義可協助個人理解家庭與建構自我。由於日常飲食經驗於長遠家庭生命歷程中可逐漸形塑為家庭獨有之飲食習慣與傳統，後輩成員得以透過經驗之複製與轉移進而將家庭生命的「過去」、「現在」與「未來」彼此牽連並開展新機。 / Food often contains invisible emotions and life memories, and its taste and smell are also likely to touch off family stories. With this in mind this study aims to explore possible connections among food, memory and life in families from the perspective of “family narratives,” focusing on clues that may be inherent in “family recipes,” with a purpose to understand how family tastes may record life courses. 　It was found in this study that stories of family recipes are co-constructed by food and different members of the family. These stories not only describe these members’ past experiences in food cooking but also trace their life backgrounds, family values and personalities. Following this sense family memories often emerge from "flashbacks" while describing food story, and in doing so the time flow of present and future appears commonly. 　In addition, when food stories are always linked up with family traditions, the taste and meaning of family recipes are also useful in identity construction.