Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wyoming, 2008. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Mar. 9, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 50).

Thesis (doctoral)--Université Michel de Montaigne - Bordeaux III, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 367-382).

Nation-building novels are novels which attempt to weave the experiences, values and richness of a variety of cultures, language groups and social contexts into a national heritage that creates a sense ofnational identity and identification for all people within a particular nation-state. This dissertation explores how Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie, Keri Hulme's The Bone People and Margaret Laurence's The Diviners all use the particularly illuminating metaphor of family to explore nation-building in India, New Zealand and Canada respectively. In questioning traditional definitions of family through the image of the adopted child (or changeling in the case of Midnight's Children), the novels also explore new ways of understanding "belonging" and the "other". Since the meaning of these terms is rooted in the past, these novels also question the "truth" of the past by exposing the fallibility of memory. In chapter one a working definition of "nation" and "nation-building" is given and the vision, purpose and characteristic features of nation-building novels are discussed. Chapter two focuses on Rushdie's novel in which the metaphor of pickling is used to explore history not as a collection of hard facts but as a conglomeration of subjective, sensuous, manufactured and carefully created and preserved flavours. In chapter three Hulme's novel is discussed, particularly in relation to what is "other" and the importance of names. The narrator's idea of "commensalism" is explored as an ideal of syncrecity which does not deny individual identity. Chapter four looks at the development from consolation to contradiction to construction in the development of a hybrid national identity in Laurence's novel. Chapter five looks at the narrative techniques used in order to convey the prophetic nature of the novels' message and discusses the importance of the intertexts of each novel. Chapter six focuses on belonging as it looks at the return of each narrator to her/his symbolic or literal home. The chapter also discusses how the novels attack linearity by separating "time" and "space" (instances of social interaction) from "place" (specific geographical locations) in order to "disembed" their message to emphasise its universal applicability. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1998.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2009. / Title from title screen (site viewed February 25, 2010). PDF text: iv, 132 p. ; 6 Mb. UMI publication number: AAT 3386563. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Canterbury, 2006. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 113-120). Also available via the World Wide Web.

In her novel Arabian Jazz, Diana Abu-Jaber attempts to explore the Arab American identity as something new; as an identity that exists related to, but ultimately separate from, the Arab and American identities from which it was originally created. This thesis discusses the emergence of the depiction of the Arab American female identity in the novel, examining how the characters explore issues of race, class, imperialism, and sex within both the Arab and the American cultures as those issues shape female identity. The thesis also presents a rhetorical analysis of the speeches that allow the characters a voice with respect to how identity is shaped and reshaped throughout the novel.

Aspects of memory and identity with reference to the prose of Dana Snyman will be reflected in this research report. Concepts from memory studies, such as cultural and collective memory, collective identity as well as nostalgia and loss will serve as the matrix for a reading of his narratives. The reception of Weg, an Afrikaans outdoor magazine (and specifically the contri- butions by Snyman) amongst readers typified as the Weg-generation will be studied. Since the political transformation of 1994, there has been a renewed attempt by Afri- kaners to explore their identity and status in the new dispensation. Snyman’s nostalgic representation of this process can be linked to a current trend in Afrikaans literature where identity and roots are explored in order to redefine Self and Other. His stories document the Afrikaner culture of a bygone era with a view of coming to terms with that past. / Afrikaans / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans))

Aspects of memory and identity with reference to the prose of Dana Snyman will be reflected in this research report. Concepts from memory studies, such as cultural and collective memory, collective identity as well as nostalgia and loss will serve as the matrix for a reading of his narratives. The reception of Weg, an Afrikaans outdoor magazine (and specifically the contri- butions by Snyman) amongst readers typified as the Weg-generation will be studied. Since the political transformation of 1994, there has been a renewed attempt by Afri- kaners to explore their identity and status in the new dispensation. Snyman’s nostalgic representation of this process can be linked to a current trend in Afrikaans literature where identity and roots are explored in order to redefine Self and Other. His stories document the Afrikaner culture of a bygone era with a view of coming to terms with that past. / Afrikaans / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans))

Brian John Hooper. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 118-149). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Preface --- p.iv / Introduction --- p.vi / Chapter Chapter One: --- """The Matrix and Fusion in Hong Kong Anglophone Literature""" --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter Two: --- """The Matrix and its Malcontents in Acheson's Flagrant Harbour´ح" --- p.39 / Chapter Chapter Three: --- """Lee's Running Dog´ح" --- p.65 / Chapter Chapter Four: --- """Mo's Signifying Monkey King""" --- p.76 / Conclusion --- p.106 / Bibliography --- p.109

This study examines a range of South African speculative novels which situate their narratives in futuristic or ‘alternative’ milieus, exploring how these narratives not only address identity formation in a deeply divided and rapidly changing society, but also the ways in which human beings place themselves in relation to Nature and form notions of ‘ecological’ belonging. It offers close readings of these speculative narratives in order to investigate the ways in which they evince concerns which are rooted in the natural, social and political landscapes which inform them. Specific attention is paid to the texts’ treatment of the intertwined issues of identity, belonging and ecological crisis. This dissertation draws on the fields of Ecocriticism, Postcolonial Studies and Science Fiction Studies, and assumes a culturally specific approach to primary texts while investigating possible cross-cultural commonalities between Afrikaans and English speculative narratives, as well as the cross-fertilisation of global SF/speculative features. It is suggested that South African speculative fiction presents a socio-historically situated, rhizomatic approach to ecology – one that is attuned to the tension between humanistic- and ecological concerns.