Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Notre Dame, 2007. / Thesis directed by Mary Rose D'Angelo for the Department of Theology. "December 2007." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 381-407).

Thesis (Ph.D. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

This dissertation attempts to research the construction of meaning through the analysis and interpretation of the multi-textual novel Memorandum: 'n verhaal met skilderve by Marlene van Niekerk and Adriaan van Zyl. Memorandum is an exceptionally multifaceted text in which various patterns overlap. Any adequate analysis and interpretation of the novel must pay due attention to the comprehensive and variegated processes of meaning generation that are simultaneously active in this very dense text. Given the fact that all themes and motives are kept relevant all the way through, there is a danger that the researcher might get lost and that the argument (s)he produces might become too vague. Therefore this study focuses on only four aspects, which will then also determine the structure of the dissertation: (1) the unusual and complex narrative structure of the text; (2) the wide variety of forms, spheres or dimensions of the representation of spaces; (3) the disseminating intertextual game; and (4) the textual manifestations of liminality, which include liminal persons, situations, processes and the innovative approach and style of the text with regard to the relation between text and paintings. The dissertation attempts to participate in and add to the ongoing conversation between word, image, structure and theory through utilising not only narrative theory and narrative methods (which include the basic theory for studying spaces in literary texts), but also intertextual and liminal theory, in order to add to accepted notions of textual boundaries. / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Resumen En La Virgen de los Sicarios del escritor colombiano Fernando Vallejo asistimos a la representación del fracaso del modelo de la modernidad que se revela en la condición liminar de los personajes, de las instituciones tradicionales y de los espacios de la ciudad de Medellín. El objetivo de nuestra investigación es analizar la representación de la liminariedad religiosa en la novela, para lo cual adoptamos como método de análisis el concepto de focalización de Gérard Genette. En nuestro estudio son centrales los conceptos antropológicos de ritos de pasaje y liminariedad, de Arnold Van Gennep y Victor Turner, dado que nos brindan modelos para explicar el comportamiento de los personajes. Asimismo nos servimos de la noción de carnavalización y voz polifónica de Mijail Bajtin y del concepto de intencionalidad textual siguiendo a Umberto Eco. La aplicación del concepto antropológico de liminariedad nos ha permitido demostrar que en la novela se representa la liminariedad religiosa y que ésta tiene una relación interdependiente con la liminariedad lingüística. Hemos demostrado que en La Virgen de los Sicarios (LVS) se representa el descoronamiento de la Iglesia, de la clase letrada, del adulto, del sistema patriarcal y del Estado, y que la condición liminar de los personajes y del espacio ficticio de Medellín, lejos de resolverse se vuelve condición permanente. Palabras clave: Fernando Vallejo, focalización, liminariedad, carnavalización, transgresión, La Virgen de los Sicarios, religiosidad, representación.

This comparison of two urban public spaces in the city of La Paz, Baja California Sur, examines the production of gendered space within an ethnohistorical context of material and discursive practices related to socio-spatial order, cultural and biological reproduction, and the construction of urban scale. The focus of the study of these two “commons” is on the liminal spatiality of the central plaza and the seaside promenade, the role of everyday life and consumption in the production of these spaces, and the role of women in these successive spatial transformations. In order to understand the relations and practices that produce these commons, the various spatial transformations that have affected the southern Baja California Peninsula are described and discussed. It is a place that has been constituted and reconstituted within successive globalizing forces since at least the beginning of the sixteenth century, up to and including contemporary international tourism. The city of La Paz, its people, and its sense of itself as expressed in its public spaces have emerged from these historical and cross-cultural processes. By examining and comparing the Parque Velasco and the Malecón as the products of both past and emerging patterns of spatial discourse in the negotiation, rehearsal and affirmation of gender identities, the following specific questions are addressed: What is the role women play in the cultural production and reproduction of these public spaces in a borderland? How do the spaces differ--materially, discursively, and in usage? What or whose purposes do they serve? How do they position peripheral agents within a hegemonic globalizing process? Finally, the study considers the question of what future can be envisioned for La Paz and its commons as border spaces.

The volume of poetry Kleur kom nooit alleen nie (Colour never comes on its own) by Antjie Krog, is analysed extensively in this thesis. The main focus of the study is the way in which metaphors associated with boundaries, bordering, transgression and the crossing of boundaries are used to represent the struggle to come to terms with a traumatic past and to rethink new possibilities of co-existence in the future. In the poems the boundaries of the word, the text and the genre of poetry, as well as geographical and political boundaries and the boundaries of gender, especially the boundaries instituted by the patriarchal order, are challenged. The narration of alternative histories to supplement and correct documented history may also be considered as a boundary-crossing activity. Although colour is the most obvious metaphor of the divisions between people and is indeed used as the central metaphor throughout the volume, many other, sometimes more subtle examples of boundaries and bordering are explored and developed. There is for instance a strong focus on the psychological complexity of creativity and of writing poetry. The poet's withdrawal to a liminal zone which incorporates the almost spiritual dimension of her creative activities clearly forms a kind of leitmotiv in the collection. The text clearly suggests that the artist as a liminal figure achieves an enhanced ability to understand the forces at work in a community. Sharing the results of this insight from the liminal zone with the community implies that the artist can stimulate innovative processes which will obliterate boundaries and enable people to co-exist peacefully. Although the crossing of borders in most cases result in being wounded, there are also the possibilities of recovery and healing. The resultant scars are often regarded as strong identity-shaping features in people. Krog argues that language plays a decisive role in processes of reconciliation and that the text itself becomes a threshold area where different discourses interact and cross-fertilise one another. The structure of the thesis reflects the theoretical approach and is an attempt to present a balanced discussion of the aesthetic and the ideological aspects of Kleur kom nooit alleen nie as a poetic text. Appropriate theories are implemented to do justice to both the aesthetic qualities and the ideological undercurrents of single poems as well as the volume as such. Two discourses are therefore superimposed in order to present an adequate reading of this polyphonic and ambivalent text. 'The exploration of the varied manifestations of the boundary forms a continuous thematic line throughout the thesis but related themes such as identity, liminality and hybridity are also incorporated. On account of the postmodernistic nature of the text, the basic theoretical framework is that of literary postmodernism, with narrativity of the text, intertextuality, post-colonialism and feminism as its most significant manifestations. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

This dissertation attempts to research the construction of meaning through the analysis and interpretation of the multi-textual novel Memorandum: 'n verhaal met skilderve by Marlene van Niekerk and Adriaan van Zyl. Memorandum is an exceptionally multifaceted text in which various patterns overlap. Any adequate analysis and interpretation of the novel must pay due attention to the comprehensive and variegated processes of meaning generation that are simultaneously active in this very dense text. Given the fact that all themes and motives are kept relevant all the way through, there is a danger that the researcher might get lost and that the argument (s)he produces might become too vague. Therefore this study focuses on only four aspects, which will then also determine the structure of the dissertation: (1) the unusual and complex narrative structure of the text; (2) the wide variety of forms, spheres or dimensions of the representation of spaces; (3) the disseminating intertextual game; and (4) the textual manifestations of liminality, which include liminal persons, situations, processes and the innovative approach and style of the text with regard to the relation between text and paintings. The dissertation attempts to participate in and add to the ongoing conversation between word, image, structure and theory through utilising not only narrative theory and narrative methods (which include the basic theory for studying spaces in literary texts), but also intertextual and liminal theory, in order to add to accepted notions of textual boundaries. / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

The volume of poetry Kleur kom nooit alleen nie (Colour never comes on its own) by Antjie Krog, is analysed extensively in this thesis. The main focus of the study is the way in which metaphors associated with boundaries, bordering, transgression and the crossing of boundaries are used to represent the struggle to come to terms with a traumatic past and to rethink new possibilities of co-existence in the future. In the poems the boundaries of the word, the text and the genre of poetry, as well as geographical and political boundaries and the boundaries of gender, especially the boundaries instituted by the patriarchal order, are challenged. The narration of alternative histories to supplement and correct documented history may also be considered as a boundary-crossing activity. Although colour is the most obvious metaphor of the divisions between people and is indeed used as the central metaphor throughout the volume, many other, sometimes more subtle examples of boundaries and bordering are explored and developed. There is for instance a strong focus on the psychological complexity of creativity and of writing poetry. The poet's withdrawal to a liminal zone which incorporates the almost spiritual dimension of her creative activities clearly forms a kind of leitmotiv in the collection. The text clearly suggests that the artist as a liminal figure achieves an enhanced ability to understand the forces at work in a community. Sharing the results of this insight from the liminal zone with the community implies that the artist can stimulate innovative processes which will obliterate boundaries and enable people to co-exist peacefully. Although the crossing of borders in most cases result in being wounded, there are also the possibilities of recovery and healing. The resultant scars are often regarded as strong identity-shaping features in people. Krog argues that language plays a decisive role in processes of reconciliation and that the text itself becomes a threshold area where different discourses interact and cross-fertilise one another. The structure of the thesis reflects the theoretical approach and is an attempt to present a balanced discussion of the aesthetic and the ideological aspects of Kleur kom nooit alleen nie as a poetic text. Appropriate theories are implemented to do justice to both the aesthetic qualities and the ideological undercurrents of single poems as well as the volume as such. Two discourses are therefore superimposed in order to present an adequate reading of this polyphonic and ambivalent text. 'The exploration of the varied manifestations of the boundary forms a continuous thematic line throughout the thesis but related themes such as identity, liminality and hybridity are also incorporated. On account of the postmodernistic nature of the text, the basic theoretical framework is that of literary postmodernism, with narrativity of the text, intertextuality, post-colonialism and feminism as its most significant manifestations. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

This dissertation attempts to research the construction of meaning through the analysis and interpretation of the multi-textual novel Memorandum: 'n verhaal met skilderve by Marlene van Niekerk and Adriaan van Zyl. Memorandum is an exceptionally multifaceted text in which various patterns overlap. Any adequate analysis and interpretation of the novel must pay due attention to the comprehensive and variegated processes of meaning generation that are simultaneously active in this very dense text. Given the fact that all themes and motives are kept relevant all the way through, there is a danger that the researcher might get lost and that the argument (s)he produces might become too vague. Therefore this study focuses on only four aspects, which will then also determine the structure of the dissertation: (1) the unusual and complex narrative structure of the text; (2) the wide variety of forms, spheres or dimensions of the representation of spaces; (3) the disseminating intertextual game; and (4) the textual manifestations of liminality, which include liminal persons, situations, processes and the innovative approach and style of the text with regard to the relation between text and paintings. The dissertation attempts to participate in and add to the ongoing conversation between word, image, structure and theory through utilising not only narrative theory and narrative methods (which include the basic theory for studying spaces in literary texts), but also intertextual and liminal theory, in order to add to accepted notions of textual boundaries. / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1995. / Includes appendices. Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Elizabeth Tucker. Dissertation Committee: Herve Varenne. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-132).