This dissertation focuses on the analysis of Costa Rican literature from 1885 to 1930 in order to explore the problematic configuration of national heroes in the construction of the modern Costa Rican social imaginary. Costa Rica was unique among Central American nations in that its participation in the regional campaign against William Walker (1856-1857) served as a foundational moment for its national project in the 1880s. Two major figures emerged as potential symbols of national heroism: Juan Rafael Mora Porras and Juan Santamaría. Authors Carlos Gagini, Manuel Argüello Mora and Ricardo Fernández Guardia were the only writers who tried to narrate Mora Porras and Juan Santamaría's lives and legacies between 1885 and 1931. In addition, as intellectuals of the liberal elite, their works had to address the consolidation of a national discourse characterized by a desire to highlight distance from, and superiority to, the other Central American nations. According to that vision, Costa Rica could be singled out as racially white and politically peaceful, both attractive traits for enticing foreign investment. Interestingly the paradox of writing on war heroes in this context has not been explored in academia. In fact, publications and academic writing about Costa Rica's military conflicts and heroes are scarce. Within the field of literary criticism, which may have considered these topics taboo, I propose to begin filling this void by analyzing the liberal elite's literary writings on heroism within the context of constructing modern nationhood. My intention is to demonstrate how the literary representations of heroes fracture Costa Rican national discourse, thus explaining the intellectual's resistance to writing on the topic and giving voice to Santamaría and Mora Porras, regardless of the importance of their roles for the foundational "social drama". If we avoid studying how national discourse suppressed violence from its origins and cut short the narrative representations of heroic figures, we deny the possibility of understanding and embracing the need for reinventing traditions and heroes in the 21st century. / text

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T17:55:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2016Roger_Renilto_Diniz_Costa.pdf: 2044736 bytes, checksum: 20e0fdfc2ab01a9d98eedca813eff08d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-08 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This study aims to lecture about the historiography of Manuel de Oliveira Lima in view of the representation of the emperors of Brazil as national heroes during the First Republic. To this end, our emphasis is to analyze some books of the historian Oliveira Lima in which his historiographical discourse turns to the Brazilian imperial past highlighting the role of governments as heroic and praising them in epic way in his narrative. Methodologically we conceive the historiography as a discourse for the purpose of analyzing it in its historicity, that is, addressing context of production and its discursive articulation. The reflection by us developed is back to the question of the constitution of Brazilian nationality, recurrent literate in production of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. In the analysis, we established a dialogue with other historians who have dedicated themselves to researching the life path of Oliveira Lima, and on other aspects, their historiography. We analyzed five works of Oliveira Lima, specifically: Dom João VI no Brasil; Formação Histórica da Nacionalidade Brasileira; O Império Brasileiro (1821-1889); O Movimento da Independência (1821-1822) e Historia Diplomatica do Brazil: O Reconhecimento do Imperio / Este trabalho tem por objetivo dissertar sobre a historiografia de Manuel de Oliveira Lima tendo em vista a representação dos imperadores do Brasil como heróis nacionais durante a Primeira República. Para tanto, nossa ênfase é analisar algumas obras do historiador Oliveira Lima nas quais seu discurso historiográfico se volta ao passado imperial brasileiro destacando a atuação dos governantes como heroica e enaltecendo-os de forma épica em sua narrativa. Metodologicamente, concebemos a historiografia como um discurso, para fins de analisá-lo em sua historicidade, isto é, abordar seu contexto de produção e sua articulação interna. A reflexão por nós realizada se volta, portanto, à questão da constituição da nacionalidade brasileira, recorrente na produção letrada dos fins do século XIX e no início do século XX. Na análise, estabelecemos um diálogo com outros historiadores que se dedicaram à pesquisar a trajetória de vida de Oliveira Lima e, sobre outros aspectos, sua historiografia. Analisamos cinco obras de Oliveira Lima, especificamente: Dom João VI no Brasil; Formação Histórica da Nacionalidade Brasileira; O Império Brasileiro (1821-1889); O Movimento da Independência (1821-1822) e Historia Diplomatica do Brazil: O Reconhecimento do Imperio

The study critically examines public art in postcolonial Zimbabwe‘s cities of Harare and Bulawayo. In a case by case approach, I analyse the National Heroes Acre and Old Bulawayo monuments, and three contemporary sculptures – Dominic Benhura‘s Leapfrog (1993) and Adam Madebe‘s Ploughman (1987) and Looking into the future (1985). I used a qualitative research methodology to collect and analyse data. My research design utilised in-depth interviews, observation, content and document analysis, and photography to gather nuanced data and these methods ensured that data collected is validated and/or triangulated. I argue that in Zimbabwe, monuments and public sculpture serve as the necessary interface of the visual, cultural and political discourse of a postcolonial nation that is constantly in transition and dialogue with the everyday realities of trying to understand and construct a national identity from a nest of sub-cultures. I further argue that monuments and public sculpture in Zimbabwe abound with political imperatives given that, as visual artefacts that interlace with ritual performance, they are conscious creations of society and are therefore constitutive of that society‘s heritage and social memory. Since independence in 1980, monuments and public sculpture have helped to open up discursive space and dialogue on national issues and myths. Such discursive spaces and dialogues, I also argue, have been particularly animated from the late 1990s to the present, a period in which the nation has engaged in self-introspection in the face of socio-political change and challenges in the continual process of imagining the Zimbabwean nation. Little research focusing on postcolonial public art in Zimbabwe has hitherto been undertaken. This study addresses gaps in this literature while also providing a spring board from which future studies may emerge. / Microsoft� Word 2010 / Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in