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Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01

Baron's work has not been extensively studied nor is it known in full. Critical writings and scholarly attention have focused on the work as representative of Holocaust suffering. This thesis intervenes in that assumption by arguing that it is possible to understand Baron's processes of making collage as a significant case study in the problematic of signification and a complex of differences none of which are reducible to or deducible from each other. Drawing together a range of biographical information, primary source material and close readings of many of Baron's collages (including two hitherto unseen series) traces are revealed of both a maker, an artistic subject finding itself in its own practice, and a making, in the sense of a process that cannot be bound into the singularity of the subject who made it. A framework is established using psychoanalytic theory and second generation Holocaust theory that allows for the possibility of reading into Baron's life story both the symptoms of unresolved conflicts and a particular set of strategies that enabled her to sustain a creative subjectivity. Kristeva's formulation of art as an imaginaire du pardon permits a reading, however tentative, of Baron's art in terms of a poetics of imaginary restoration and reparation in which archaic and traumatic-affects are given the structure of symbolic representation. This is especially pertinent to Baron's fourteen year experience of cancer. Finally, a consideration of Baron's collage making as a process of inscription that is in relation to the body as a coalition of history, memory, corporeality and the psyche is not only significant to contemporary understandings of identity and subjectivity, but also makes it possible to propose an ethical dimension concerned with a feminine understanding of difference.

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / This research was formulated within the framework of psychoanalytic theory and deals with the grammatical structure of primary-processing thinking investigated in a particular stae of weakened ego controls (alcohol intoxication). In line with Freud's and Rapaport's formulations on cognitive processes, two types of thinking are differentiated: Primary-process thinking (ideation) and secondary-process thinking (thought). Ideation is characterized as autistic, egocentric, and affect-laden. It is oriented to the immediate present, and does not consider past experiences or future possibilites. It lacks spatial, temporal, and causal organization, does not concern itself with the relations of time and space, and fails to make a definite estimation or evaluation of events and external reality. It is undifferentiated, diffuse, and vague. Since it abides by the laws of syncretic mechanisms, it manifests itself in symbolic forms and when expressed in speech, it is fragmented and disorganized. According to psychoanalytic theory, the primary thought processes can be observed in states of weakened ego controls, such as dreams, psychosis or sometimes neurosis [TRUNCATED]

Tom Cruise was one of the most financially successful stars of the 1980s and 1990s and remains an important Hollywood player. In his time at Paramount, he negotiated new deals which redefined how stars earned revenue from their films. Yet little substantial study has been made of him or his persona. Cruise came to prominence in the 1980s, an epoch which redefined the terms of masculinity, moving away from a particular martial ideal following American defeat in Vietnam. His persona addresses the consequent anxieties surrounding these significant social changes. In addition to this, his image can be understood within a psychoanalytic framework to be offering a 'compromise formation' to the difficulties of psychosexual development. Cruise appears to offers a challenge to the father, but in reality recedes from Oedipal threat. Chapter One examines the nascent Cruise star persona and its development across his films. The chapter provides a historical overview and contextualisation of the persona. Chapter Two explores how the persona offers a 'performative' model of masculinity based on a heroic martial ideal, as well as his positioning as an object of spectacle and the onscreen homoerotic relationships he enjoys. Chapter Three looks at the star's association with the racial 'other' and preoccupation with male friendships at the expense of heterosexual romance. Objectification through spectacle, which black characters and Cruise share in his films, indicate a symbolic shared powerlessness within the hegemony. Chapter Four argues that this lack of status is characterised by Cruise's struggle against male authority figures, which represent both corporate America and the punishing father. This relays the trauma of Oedipal struggle, which Cruise attempts to evade. Chapter Five looks in further depth at the Cruise persona's preoccupation with male bonds and lack of interest in women, both indicative of a regression from the phallic to the earlier anal/cannibalistic psycho-sexual stage, as he is unable to overcome the symbolic father . The thesis concludes by suggesting Cruise's persona is a compromise: it presents a triumphant young man who in reality is oppressed by patriarchal forces. This compromise is premised on youth and is threatened as Cruise ages, exaggerated by social changes within America. Biologically and socially, Cruise's persona is no longer tenable.

This work examines the use of psychoanalytic terms and concepts in postcolonial theory, with attention to the social and historical contexts in which those terms and models originated. The thesis provides an overview of the different academic and political contexts out of which postcolonial theory evolved, focusing on how identity came to be a central term within postcolonial debates. Drawing on the work of scholars such as Anne McClintock, it critiques the current use of psychoanalytic models by postcolonial theorists, arguing that psychoanalysis is itself implicated in the history of European imperialism and brings with it concomitant assumptions about the nature of race, class, gender, and sexuality. The thesis provides an overview of the work of Charcot, Freud and Lacan. It takes up some of their major contributions to psychoanalysis, and discusses the social and political contexts in which those works were developed. The thesis goes on to provide a detailed analysis of the intersection of postcolonial theory and psychoanalysis in the work of Frantz Fanon, Edward Said, Homi Bhabha and Helene Cixous. The thesis concludes by discussing what I view as the two major ethical and intellectual problems that arise from the use of psychoanalysis in postcolonial theory. I argue, first, that psychoanalysis developed within the same cultural and political context as European colonialism. In spite of its moments of self-consciousness, psychoanalysis, nonetheless, reproduces some of the models of identity that supported European imperialism, both in Europe and abroad. Secondly, I argue that psychoanalysis takes, at root, a pessimistic view of human nature and this pessimism is fundamentally at odds with the emancipatory motives of postcolonial theory.

Although psychoanalytic theory can provide a large number of testable hypotheses concerning personality development, scientific psychology has been slow to realize this potential. The concept of character type is one aspect of Freudian theory which merits further investigation. It is believed that certain traits occur together in adult personality because they arise at the same level of psychosexual development. The present study tested the empirical validity of the oral, anal and hysterical character constructs in a normal sample. Relationships between character type and perceptions of parental attitudes and behavior were also explored. 143 psychology students completed a personality questionnaire, which provided scores for traits relevant to the character typology, and the Parental Role Patterns questionnaire (PRP), a measure of adult's perceptions of their own childrearing. Subjects also provided information about birth order, number of siblings, parents' marital status and other demographic variables thought to be relevant to the personality types. It was hypothesized that those traits which have been attributed to the oral, anal and hysterical types would form correlation clusters. Factor analysis was used to test the nature of these intercorrelations. Several hypotheses concerning relationships between personality and childrearing were also advanced. These were tested by computing correlations between personality factor scores and PRP scores. For both male and female subjects, factors identifiable as the oral, anal and hysterical emerged, although the results did not support a view of the oral character as a unitary construct. The anal character emerged most clearly. These findings were discussed in relation to published studies in which the same personality questionnaire was used in a psychiatric population. The majority of the hypotheses pertaining to relationships between personality and childrearing also received support. The oral character was associated with perceptions of low parental warmth and high control, the anal character with high warmth (for females), and the hysterical character with low warmth. A multivariate analysis of variance performed on groups of subjects typical of one of the three character types failed to indicate significant differences in childrearing perceptions. Since an adequate typology should enable researchers to make predictions on the basis of subject assignment to type, the usefulness of the psychoanalytic character typology remains in question. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

This work examines the use of psychoanalytic terms and concepts in postcolonial theory, with attention to the social and historical contexts in which those terms and models originated. The thesis provides an overview of the different academic and political contexts out of which postcolonial theory evolved, focusing on how identity came to be a central term within postcolonial debates. Drawing on the work of scholars such as Anne McClintock, it critiques the current use of psychoanalytic models by postcolonial theorists, arguing that psychoanalysis is itself implicated in the history of European imperialism and brings with it concomitant assumptions about the nature of race, class, gender, and sexuality. The thesis provides an overview of the work of Charcot, Freud and Lacan. It takes up some of their major contributions to psychoanalysis, and discusses the social and political contexts in which those works were developed. The thesis goes on to provide a detailed analysis of the intersection of postcolonial theory and psychoanalysis in the work of Frantz Fanon, Edward Said, Homi Bhabha and Helene Cixous. The thesis concludes by discussing what I view as the two major ethical and intellectual problems that arise from the use of psychoanalysis in postcolonial theory. I argue, first, that psychoanalysis developed within the same cultural and political context as European colonialism. In spite of its moments of self-consciousness, psychoanalysis, nonetheless, reproduces some of the models of identity that supported European imperialism, both in Europe and abroad. Secondly, I argue that psychoanalysis takes, at root, a pessimistic view of human nature and this pessimism is fundamentally at odds with the emancipatory motives of postcolonial theory. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

Terms such as "fascist" and "nazi" retain light and even comical currency in contemporary pop culture despite the gravity of the events that produced them. Departing from this common usage, I consider within political and psychoanalytic frameworks the normative effects common understandings of fascism and totalitarianism exercise vis-a-vis collective attachments (patriotism, nationalism), and specifically how this discourse shapes notions of citizenship. Working within this political-psychoanalytic model, I analyze the substance behind Barack Obama's Presidential campaign themes of hope and change by way of his Inaugural Address in relation to that of George W. Bush. I conclude by engaging the discourse on cosmopolitan citizenship, considering both how it fits into the framework developed for this project and the relation of Obama's understandings of citizenship and foreign policy to cosmpolitanism. / Master of Arts