This thesis examines the issues of body, embodiment and indentity in relation to the novel Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. The duality between speech and embodiment is explored in depth, both in the story of the novel and in the author's narrative style. Furthermore, the issue of power in relation to the society as well as towards one's own identity is discussed.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Historical ethnographic and early psychoanalytic epistemologies on 'fetishism' focus primarily on the fetish 'object', whereby the subject of 'fetish practices' was identified, pathologised and/or socioculturally invalidated primarily on the basis of affiliation with a taboo object. Such uncritical reliance on dualist, oppositional thinking and divisive, psychopathologising tendencies attenuates subjectivities and agency, and is inconsistent with contemporary postcolonial and queer scholarship. Contemporary discourses around (gay male sexual) 'fetishism', lodged in the definitions and diagnostic criteria of sexual 'fetishism' in the World Health Organisation's International Classification of Diseases, efface the subjectivities of sexual subjects who incorporate material objects into their sexual scripts. I argue that these classifications should be completely revised, since more appropriate subject-oriented epistemologies on sexuality incorporating material objects should acknowledge the constitution of the subject as phenomenologically taking place through intersections between materiality and discourse. This implies that no separate psychopathology of 'fetishism' can exist, since subjects, material objects and discourse cannot be effectively separated from each other.In contradistinction, a subject-oriented approach should, I suggest, be adopted, oriented around the (non-essentialist) constitution and lived experiences of sexual subjects, rather than on human or inanimate objects of sexual attention. This approach focuses on the necessary role of the human(sexual) body, which is neither entirely discursively nor materially constructed, but rather is engaged in a complex interaction with subjectivities, discourse and the phenomenal world. The(non-unitary) 'self' is him/herself subject, object and part of a cultural environment, experientially delineated through 'embodiment', with the phenomenological paradigm allowing for validation of sexual expression from an inclusive perspective, to develop complex cartographies of subjectivities.Based on this foundation, the thesis argues that the embodied sexual experience of the 'gay male fetishist' subject therefore serves to link him, objects and environments dialectically. Rather than being the 'object' of supervening drives, he is a valid agent, exploring his subjectivity and orienting himself in relation to his environment through his embodied experience. 'Sexual fetish' practices therefore function as connecting (rather than divisive) forces in human relations with the world. At the same time, consensual, non-harmful 'gay male fetish' sexualities are potentially selftransformative and socially transformative practices, called on as resources for recognising personal value.

The number of children being abandoned in South Africa is rising steeply. With already existing challenges in the current South African labour market, one must consider the expectations of abandoned adolescents in terms of future careers. It is unreasonable to expect an abandoned adolescent to be guided towards making career decisions using modern career counselling methods, as these were developed for use with individuals from traditional, nuclear families. Most abandoned adolescents are taken in by extended family; grow up in children’s homes or on the streets. One can expect these circumstances to negatively impact the abandoned adolescent’s outlook and hope for the future. There is thus a need for an approach to career facilitation, which takes into account the abandoned adolescent’s subjective experience of his/her context. It was the primary goal of this study to investigate the possibility and limits of life design counselling with an abandoned adolescent. This was done against the background of both the systems theory and social constructionism in order to help the researcher to focus on the experience of the participant within his/her unique context. The study specifically focused on the experience of an abandoned adolescent. In order to better understand the subjective and diverse experiences of the participant, I aimed to investigate, through the lens of social constructionism, the way in which abandoned adolescents in general (and my participant in particular) create meaning through interaction with others as well as his/her environment. Within the qualitative paradigm this study was conducted by means of a case study during which a variety of postmodern techniques were implemented in order to facilitate co-constructive conversations with the participant. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

The purpose of this study is to develop an interpretative understanding of how discursive therapists’ linguistic actions enhance the couple alliance. Additionally, this study includes an exploration of whether these models hold up to a common factors conversation in the practice of couples therapy. The couple alliance is the central relationship in couples therapy. Previous research suggests that therapists’ actions might have an effect on enhancing this alliance by creating a dyadic orientation. In postmodern/discursive models of practice, therapists’ actions have gone mostly unexplored, leaving therapists with little understanding of what is done in the process of couples therapy that enhances the couple alliance and creates a dyadic orientation. Results from a Conversation Analysis of couple’s cases in Narrative Therapy, Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, and Collaborative Language Therapy suggest the linguistic actions of discursive therapists appear mostly congruent with the claims they make regarding couples therapy. These actions may produce an enhanced couple alliance based on the empirically supported characteristics of a strong couple alliance. Findings also support model-dependent common factors of discursive couples therapy. In all three approaches the couple alliance appears to be enhanced by: (a) developing a symmetrical structure of the dialogue, (b) developing a contextual understanding of the self and the partner, (c) expanding the changes to the larger system, and (d) using thematic summaries. These findings have implications for practice and training in discursive couples therapy. Recommendations for future research include utilizing deductive reasoning in outcome studies to explore the effectiveness of a discursive couples therapy common factors approach to enhance the couple alliance.

This thesis examines the recent emergence of corporeal protest art in Russia. Through analyses of cultural, social, and economic shifts in the post-Soviet Era, I observe how this corporeal turn reflects a significant cultural transition away from the literary text, which has traditionally held a role of major importance in Russian culture. Detailed analysis of the contemporary performances of Pussy Riot and Petr Pavlensky are conducted in order to elucidate the social and political causes and implications of such a shift. Manifestation of oppositional discourse on the site of the human body is understood theoretically through Giorgio Agamben’s biopolitics, Mikhail Bakhtin’s grotesque body, and Inke Arns’ and Sylvia Sasse’s theory of subversive affirmation. Interestingly, this artistic divergence has coincided with the rise of relative economic and social wellbeing in Russia – conditions that tend to foster the development of a burgeoning public sphere, now standing at odds with an increase in political repression. Oppositionists and protest artists are, therefore, exploring new and unconventional ways of expressing dissent. My study contextualizes these new methods of expression within the larger tradition of the cultural expression of political will, examining the ways in which these works are readable through Russian cultural norms and to whom they speak. / Graduate

Place has been a fundamental topic for geographers (Agnew, 1987). It stands both for a study object and a manner of perceiving the world. This thesis departs from the theoretical debate regarding places and how places are considered as being spatially fixed in the sense that places cannot be reproduced or imitated elsewhere. However, technological innovations have extraordinary significance in all the realms of leisure and lifestyle (Godbey, 1997) whereas, leisure activities increasingly are being simulated and reproduced exemplifying the new postmodern culture and the ‘post-tourist’ (Urry, 1990). Thus, challenges the spatial fix of places (Shaw & Williams, 2004). There has been little empirical research regarding artificial environments and therefore, the research problem contributes to understand how artificial environments are altering habitual travel patterns regarding the ‘genuine’ or as previous authors have stated, regarding the ‘real thing’. The research questions proposed for the study, directed the researcher to a quantitative approach using the questionnaire as a main source of data collection. The simulated environment that was investigated in the study was the indoor ski slope located in Madrid (Spain). The results showed that the simulated environment is enhancing and intervening the ski activity. For most of the skiers the indoor ski slope is complementing their ski activity in front of the outdoor ski resorts. Furthermore, the facility is recruiting every year a great number of new skiers that after skiing indoors desire to experience the ‘real thing’. Due to the proximity of the facility to the major urban areas, the indoor ski slope is acting as an intervening opportunity and boosting the visitors towards outdoor skiing.

The diploma thesis combines the theoretical concepts of postmodernism and biopower, that are subsequently applied to the particular issue of covering Muslim women living in the Czech Republic. This problem includes the religious, gender, media, social and philosophical level. Each of them is supported by key authors who are experts in this issue. Michel Foucault's concept of biopower, that covers both social and individual bodies through power discourse, interferes with the clothing, that gender attribute, like the Muslim veil, is based on the ideas of Judith Butler. The priority is the ambivalent conception by Jean-François Lyotard, as a kind of conflict, the outlet of which is pluralistic debate. The aim of the thesis is to find a tolerant solution of the current erratic situation in the collision of European and Middle Eastern cultures in the Czech Republic, like wearing the Muslim veil, as the expression of Islam in public with applying Lyotard's demanding ethics of accepting pluralism as an alterity. Key words: postmodern, contradiction, biopower, Muslim veil, media discourse, gender, plurality

The main topic of the doctoral dissertation Intersubjectivity and postmodern society: On the phenomenology of the Other is the problem of intersubjectivity. The work discusses the question of the other with the particular part of phenomenological thinking which does ask how we experience the other. Our starting point stems from the context of postmodern society, which we discusse in the first chapter ("The paradox of atomicity"). The aim of the second chapter ("Tacitness") is to enable us to phrase the question of the other properly. The third chapter ("Searching for the other in dialogue with Edmund Husserl") at first introduces selected fundamental concepts of the Husserl's phenomenology related to our topic (e.g. epoché) and then discusses the understanding of the other in Husserl's works Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy - Second Book and Cartesian Meditations. The fourth chapter ("Breaches of harmony") is focused on such types of experience that problematize and disturb the altogether harmonic world of Husserlian intersubjectivity. We deal with the phenomenology of the blindness (Jana Moravcová) and the phenomenology of emotions (Jean-Paul Sartre). The fifth chapter ("Strange, weired eyes") uses the them of exile in the poetry of Josef Straka to...

Magister Artium - MA / The focus on space and spatiality is relatively new in literary studies and also not unproblematic. Problems arise from the way in which these concepts are constructed, described, defined and interpret~. It is possible to derive numerous kinds of space, such as historical space, physical space, metaphysical space and religious space, to name a few, from the structure or thematics of a novel. This in itself presents a problem, since the literary scholar must differentiate between these spaces in order to determine which will be most useful for study of a particular aspect. There does not seem to be a coherent theoretical position in literary scholar regarding space, and thus various views of theorists will be considered. Gullon (1975:21), in a seminal article on space entitled On Space in the Novel provides a possible definition of space, with reference to another seminal article, this time by Joseph Frank when he states that "Frank calls 'spatial' the form of those works that at a given instant in time concentrate actions that can be perceived, but not related, simultaneously". This definition denotes a further complication engendered by space, namely the notion that different spaces intersect and interrelate with each other, and consequently that it is very difficult - if not impossible - to separate the various kinds of literary spaces in order to analyse the occurrence of a single space in a text. It also seems bound to time, but in a sense bridges the temporal gaps in a novel since it brings together parts that are not necessarily adjacent to each other temporally. Time becomes spatialized by treating events in the novel as separate chunks which can be rearranged and linked to each other. 1bis creates a more coherent and comprehensive picture of events in a text. namely the notion that different spaces intersect and interrelate with each other, and consequently that it is very difficult - if not impossible - to separate the various kinds of literary spaces in order to analyse the occurrence of a single space in a text. The main point in this regard seems to be creating patterns. This brings together more elements for the reader to be viewed at once, allowing him or her to attain a broader perspective on the text.

This thesis examines the implications of Preciado’s 'Testo Junkie' for our understanding of subjectivity and human rights. Preciado’s political project of embodied and performative selfexperimentation with testosterone constructs a self against normalization techniques and static identities. As such, it may be read in line with postmodern critiques that complicate the justification of the human rights project. Adami’s theory of the narratable self and human rights is deployed in a narrative analysis structured as a thematic close reading of Preciado’s text. This is accomplished by identifying four themes within Adami’s approach that structure the analysis of Testo Junkie: narration as political subjectification; equality of difference and uniqueness; the singular other and relationality; and fluidity, becoming and learning. Within these categories, significant common ground between Preciado’s ideas and a human rights narrative framework is found. This points to the possibilities a discursive human rights theory that focuses on narratives may hold for reading transgressive projects of justice aligned with postmodern understandings of the self such as Preciado’s.