Urban spaces have appeared in literature for a long time and they seem to fascinate a lot of contemporary writers. The constructions of cities become exceptionally complex in postcolonial British fiction that portrays urban landscape from the perspective of first and second generation immigrants from Britain's former colonies. All of the novels discussed in this work are set in London and the characters are immigrants of the South Asian and Caribbean diasporas in Britain: the thesis focuses namely on Brick Lane (Monica Ali), White Teeth (Zadie Smith) and Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee (Meera Syal). However, the work also makes short digressions to a number of older works which deal with the immigrant experience in London: The Lonely Londoners (Sam Selvon), The Satanic Verses (Salman Rushdie) and The Buddha of Suburbia (Hanif Kureishi). The entire thesis consists of five parts and begins with an introduction to several theoretical terms that are necessary for analyses of immigrant identities and urban spaces. All of the theory that is discussed in the first chapter is then applied to the chosen novels by Ali, Smith and Syal. Overall, the thesis focuses on the ways in which the ex-colonial subjects in the books perceive London according to their gender and the particular generation of immigrants that...

My study examines three female Black British bildungsromane: Monica Ali’s Brick Lane, Joan Riley’s Waiting in the Twilight, and Buchi Emecheta’s Second-Class Citizen. By combining a study of a relatively established novel form with contemporary female diasporic fictions, my work looks at how gender, race and location complicate the tropes of the genre, while still adhering to many of its parameters. I explore ways in which the existential states of loneliness, isolation, and solitude faced by the female protagonists in England assist or inhibit the formation of collectivity and subjectivity. This study pays particular attention to ways that community formation and friendship, as well as work and affective labor, serve as means to find/create a sense of home in diasporic conditions, as in Brick Lane and Second-Class Citizen. I also study how a sense of community falters because of a disconnection from productive work in Waiting in the Twilight. / Department of English

This work relates, within the context of globalization, contemporary art with human rights, taking as a case study on the experience of the artist Monica Nador in to Miriam Garden Art Club (Jamac), a nongovernmental organization headquartered in São Paulo. Divided into three chapters, this study aims at first, to characterize the object studied and demonstrate that the right to access, know, understand and make art to be understood as part of human rights. Below, defines the processes of globalization, localization, hegemony and counter-hegemony, inserting the Jamac this context. In the final chapter, defines four generations of human rights, identifies discourses they share with contemporary art and discusses how Miriam Garden Art Club, by exercising the transformative power of artistic activity, is able to promote art as a human right. / Este trabalho relaciona, dentro do contexto da globalização, a arte contemporânea com os direitos humanos, tendo como estudo de caso a experiência da artista plástica Mônica Nador junto ao Jardim Miriam Arte Clube (Jamac), uma organização não-governamental sediada na cidade de São Paulo. Dividido em três capítulos, este estudo busca, no primeiro, caracterizar o objeto pesquisado e demonstrar que o direito a acessar, conhecer, compreender e fazer arte precisa ser entendido como parte dos direitos humanos. A seguir, conceitua os processos de globalização, localização, hegemonia e contra-hegemonia, inserindo o Jamac nesse contexto. No capítulo final, conceitua as quatro gerações de direitos humanos, identifica discursos que eles compartilham com a arte contemporânea e discute como o Jardim Miriam Arte Clube, ao exercer o poder transformador da atividade artística, é capaz de promover a arte como um direito humano.

This essay focuses on the topics of sexism and the function of gender and oppression in Monica Ali’s Brick Lane. Instances in the novel are related to real world incidents in order to show how Ali, in spite of her Western upbringing and perspective, has accurately depicted several problematical cases of injustice in Muslim culture. Even though Ali has been criticized for her, supposedly, incorrect portrayal of Bangladeshis in London, this essay will argue that the topics of the novel remain relevant in the larger scheme of Muslim society.

Through a comparative literary study of Monica Ali’s Brick Lane and Olga Grjasnova’s Der Russe ist einer, der Birken liebt, this thesis concludes that although the migrant experience is heterogeneous and that integration is a difficult process that varies through the diversity of experiences, these experiences can be unified by the common way in which migrants learn to “belong” by connecting with voices of the past and present and by building and maintaining relationships that extend beyond the limits of place. In defending this argument, the thesis draws upon themes of Bakhtinian heteroglossia, nationalism and transnationalism, space, globalism, and migration. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015 / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Bibliography: leaves 273-284. This thesis examines the autobiographical texts of the Aboriginal women writers, Oodgeroo, Margaret Tusker and Monica Clare, in light of the 'community of commitment' which supported their publications. It considers how and why the Aboriginal women elicted outside support and how the ideology of the group informed the epistemology of the text.The role of collaborating white editors and professional editors are examined as crucial in influencing the style and content of the finished piece. The original manuscripts are compared against the published editions and the changes implemented by the editor are described. Following Frantz Fanon and Homi Bhaba, the adoption of the white ideological lattice by the Aboriginal author is characterised as the white mask of colonial mimicry. The outcomes of cross-cultural impersonation of the white editor are discussed, with the editorial collaboration viewed as the imposition of stereotyped representations of Aboriginality.

Bibliography: leaves 273-284. / 284 leaves : ill. (some col.) ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / This thesis examines the autobiographical texts of the Aboriginal women writers, Oodgeroo, Margaret Tusker and Monica Clare, in light of the 'community of commitment' which supported their publications. It considers how and why the Aboriginal women elicted outside support and how the ideology of the group informed the epistemology of the text.The role of collaborating white editors and professional editors are examined as crucial in influencing the style and content of the finished piece. The original manuscripts are compared against the published editions and the changes implemented by the editor are described. Following Frantz Fanon and Homi Bhaba, the adoption of the white ideological lattice by the Aboriginal author is characterised as the white mask of colonial mimicry. The outcomes of cross-cultural impersonation of the white editor are discussed, with the editorial collaboration viewed as the imposition of stereotyped representations of Aboriginality. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Social Inquiry, 2001

This thesis examines the discursive position of 'goddess feminism', in relation to some of the difference- and eco feminist positions from the1960s and until today. In focus are the texts of the two goddess feminists, Monica Sjöö and Starhawk. The thesis contributes to a historiographical (re)situating of their political and religious narratives. It also contributes to an elaborated understanding of these goddess feminists and the goddess feminist discourse they are part of. The tentative feminist figuration 'the goddess identified feminist’ is articulated as a tool to discuss the religious and political discourse of goddess feminists as part of contemporary feminist and environmental political conversations and practices. Donna Haraway’s and Karen Barad’s post humanist theoretical interventions are used to explore and discuss the affinities between goddess feminists (re)negotiation of the subject/s 'goddess/nature/human' – and the (re)negotiation of 'nature/human’ made by new materialist/post humanist difference- and eco feminists of the 2000s. Rosi Braidotti’s writings on sexual difference, becoming and feminist figurations further informs the conclusions drawn in the thesis. Drawing on the methodological approaches of Clare Hemmings and Mieke Bal in the analysis of story-telling and subject construction, a contribution is also made, to the understanding of how story-telling as part of a discourse, produces meaning and asymmetric subject relations. In particular the thesis shows how a compassionate feminist storytelling involuntarily produces subject positions through, essentialist dualisms, hierarchical ordering and othering. In parallel, the thesis also discusses alternative narrative strategies that focus on both the discursive boarders and affinities. / Baksidestext: Det här är en bok om två gudinnefeminister och deras religiösa och politiska berättande. Men det är lika mycket en bok om ’gudinnefeminism’ och hur denna feministiska position relaterar till, skiljer sig från och överlappar med andra skillnads- och ekofeministiska positioner från 1960-talet och till idag. Magdalena Raivios doktorsavhandling omförhandlar historien om ’gudinne-feminism’. Den synliggör även innehållet i Monica Sjöös och Starhawks berättelser om samhället, gudinnan/naturen/människan, framtiden och revolu-tionen. Här visas hur problematiska generaliseringar och uppdelningar i ”vi” och ”de andra” skapas i berättandet – men att Sjöö och Starhawk även vidgar och omförhandlar innebörden av begrepp som ’kvinna’ och ’natur’. En feministisk figuration kallad ’den gudinneidentifierade feministen’ används som tentativ utgångspunkt för nutida samtal om feministiska och miljöpolitiska visioner och för-ändringsstrategier. Avhandlingens resultat styrker tidigare forskning som visat att ett ”feministiskt medkännande berättande” – trots sin välmenta ambition – ofrivilligt medverkar i skapandet av diskursiva gränser, hierarkier och generaliseringar. Som ett teoretiskt bidrag, formuleras och diskuteras här några skillnadsfeministiska ansatser till alternativa berättandestrategier.

I denna uppsats analyseras det hur genus representeras och framställs i de tre svenskproducerade filmerna Call Girl (Mikael Marcimain, 2012), Monica Z (Per Fly, 2013) och Svinalängorna (Pernilla August, 2010). Filmerna kommer från en självständig katalog som visar upp en mångfald av filmer och tv-serier som gjorts inom det senaste decenniet där samtliga präglats av ett historiskt återblickande av det svenska 1960-och 1970-talet. Den historiska perioden var en omvälvande tid för kvinnorörelsen som ledde till stora förändringar som vidare har påverkat vår samtid. Studiens övergripande syfte undersöker hur historieförmedlingen och representationen av genus framställs i filmerna. Med stöd av det teoretiska ramverket förs resonemang fram om att kvinnorepresentationen uppvisar ett individualiserat porträtt av kvinnor, som på grund av deras samhällsposition söker förebilder och stöd i deras yttre och inre genusrelationer. Intersektionalitet används som perspektiv för att påvisa hur samverkande maktordningar förekommer i representationen. I den historiska porträtteringen ges ett kritiskt granskande av kvinnornas levnadsvillkor tillsammans med budskap som menar till att stärka och stödja kvinnor. Filmerna kan ses som samtida källor då det historiska återblickandet består av föreställningar och värderingar som återfinns i vår samtid.

Ce projet de recherche en danse est né du désir et du besoin de questionner ma propre pratique artistique en danse contemporaine, en la mettant en perspective et en conversation avec celle de deux autres artistes chorégraphes, Monica Klingler et Barbara Manzetti. L’étude de ces (nos) pratiques, que j’ai qualifiées de «mineures» (au sens deleuzien) a été réalisée en les approchant par le «milieu», dans leur devenir, en les «accompagnant» pendant une période délimitée, celle de la durée de la thèse. Les questions qui dynamisent la recherche concernent les notions de présent et de vivant, contenues dans le terme «processus» : comment rendre compte de processus créatifs au moment même de leur surgissement? Comment se positionner pour pouvoir les décrire, les analyser? Une autre question explorée à travers différentes pratiques d’écriture, dont la thèse, est celle du rôle de l’écriture dans un projet de danse. Quelles pratiques d’écriture mettre en place pour accompagner la danse, pour la penser et pour la partager à travers le langage? L’analyse des démarches artistiques des trois artistes étudiées a été réalisée à l’aide de concepts issus de théories féministes. Elle s’appuie sur la notion de «hors de soi», du choix d’exacerber la vulnérabilité (Judith Butler) ; sur le positionnement des artistes comme des sujets non unitaires, des «sujets nomades» et en devenir (Rosi Braidotti) ; sur la mise en mouvement de formes fluides, changeantes et non réductibles à une œuvre, à l’«un» (Luce Irigaray).La recherche, considérée comme un «processus de danse», a donné forme à différents projets artistiques, Materia Viva, Figuras, Avec le masque, ainsi qu’à l’écriture de la thèse. / The desire and need to question my own artistic work in contemporary dance has led to this project in dance research. To do so, my own practice had to be put into perspective and into conversation with the practices of two other artists, Monica Klingler and Barbara Manzetti. These (our) practices, which I qualify as « minor» (according to Deleuze), were studied in midst, in their process of becoming, and were «accompanied» during the limited lapse of time of this research project. The main questions arise from the notions of the present and liveliness which are contained in the word « process ». How could a creative process be described at the very moment of its emergence? What stance must one take in order to analyse these creative processes?Another main question deals with writing practices. Which is the part of writing in a dance project? Which writing practices should we set up to accompany the dance, to reflect upon it and to share it through language? I have analyzed the artistic approach of the three artists using some concepts taken from feminist theories : « out of oneself», exacerbating the vulnerability (Judith Butler) ; the positioning of artists as non-unitary subjects, « nomadic subjects », and subjects in the process of becoming (Rosi Braidotti) ; and how the artist sets fluid and changing forms in motion, which cannot be reduced to «one» single work (Luce Irigaray).The research project, considered as a « dance process », has given birth to different artistic projects, such as Materia Viva, Figuras, Avec le masque, along with the writing of the thesis.