published_or_final_version / Literary Studies / Master / Master of Arts

This investigation of the origins and impact of the 'new reportage' in the '30s interrogates the 'dominant tradition' of documentary, i.e. an 'objective' recording of facts and historical events, by reconstructing an alternative 'broken' tradition of radical reporting which was both 'counterfactual' and criticised the status of documents (including photographs and film) as privileged forms of realistic representation. The implications of Russian Formalist 'defamiliarization' led to an avant-garde 'literature of fact' in the USSR and Weimar Germany, inspired by John Reed's Ten Days that Shook the World, with the potential not only to represent suppressed facts but to subvert 'automatized' concepts, thus challenging official paradigms defining historically significant data and putting the model of reality constructed by dominant ideology under strain, as the work of the LEF group and Egon Erwin Kisch shows. The new reportage was self- consciously mediating and 'bared its devices', often using montage to expose the construetedness of discourses. Hence the thesis maps the growth of a parallel alternative reportage in '30s Britain which did not simply resuscitate the realistic project of Naturalism but built on the Modernist legacy, examining in detail the work of Orwell, Sommerfield, Priestley, and Hanley among others. The thesis focuses on prose forms of reportage, from individual I-witnessing in articles and autobiographies, to 'participant observation', documentary novels, encyclopaedism, Mass-Observation and photojournalism, outlining the historical and cultural factors which gave reportage literary prominence at the time, as well as issues, such as unemployment, poverty and Appeasement, which it represented. Consequently, it explores the ways and means by which new reporters expressed their awareness of connections between political and cultural representation, in order to question authorized representations of fact and the sanctioned national self-image.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Indiana University of Pennsylvania. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Thesis (M.A.)--Rowan University, 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references.

Within ethnic literature, there appears to have been a rise in unique narrative styles. What was once considered a minimized form of expression, creative nonfiction as a genre is now evolving and includes a diverse group of authors. Yet, the usage of ethno-literacy styles in the creative nonfiction genre is still largely unnoticed amongst the academic community. For students within academe, there is a limited comprehension of the expansive ethnic genres for writing and reading, simply that traditional genres of prose and poetry exist. Through analysis of the writing style know as testimonio within Latino/a literature, this thesis will attempt to dismantle the notion that one must write solely with traditional creative writing limitations. In particular, this research will focus on whether the testimonio writing style can be considered its own genre, or a sub-genre of creative nonfiction. It will also draw upon various feminist theories in order to show the perspectives and contributions of women within the genre. Furthermore, I aim to reconstruct such creative writing restrictions by providing a historical analysis and survey of literatures of both testimonio and creative nonfiction. For the survey of literatures, four creative nonfiction personal essays and four testimonios were chosen according to chronological and cultural influence. Nonfiction authors, Seneca, Michel de Montaigne, Virginia Woolf, and F. Scott Fitzgerald created the personal essays being analyzed. The testimonies that will be examined were written by Helena Viramontes, Sandra Maria Esteves, Dolores Prida, and Rigoberta Menchu. Finally, a synthesis of the research will be brought to close by including a creative piece that will aim to utilize a cross-blending of the two writing styles.

The purpose of this research was to hear the stories of Northern Cheyenne women's educational experiences using the method of testimonio, a method culturally aligned and academically appropriate for use among indigenous people. The researcher, also a Northern Cheyenne tribal member used testimonio based on its roots in resistance literature and as a means of perpetuating cultural survival in the face of contemporary cultural and racial genocide. The Northern Cheyenne use oral history and storytelling to perpetuate and influence cultural survival. The primary significance of the stories was based on what other Northern Cheyenne women hear in the voices in the story that impact their own educational journey, achievement and success. Secondary impact will be what the teller's family and community hear in the stories and then what those outside the reservation community hear. The theoretical foundation of the research focused on the literature of the following areas: colonization and genocide; oral history and storytelling; collective voice, the plural self, voice and empowerment and roles in healing historical trauma; American Indian education and Indian women's experiences with education. The research includes the testimonios of six Northern Cheyenne women gathered on or near the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation. The findings suggest that the following story threads were significant to Northern Cheyenne women in their educational journeys and experiences: spirituality; family especially grandparents and parents; cultural traditions- especially language and ceremonies; cultural values of honesty, integrity, generosity, hard work; value for land, cultural pride and identity even when it's fragmented or a struggle to maintain; Cheyenne lifeways meals, cooking, gathering, hunting, singing, spending time with family, and social events; the opportunity of access to higher education; living between two worlds; remembering our past history and using it as a guide for now and the future; and finally thinking of future generations. The findings suggest the tools needed for Northern Cheyenne women to succeed academically and educationally, already inherently exist in Northern Cheyenne social and cultural structures. Continuing to deconstruct the barriers and tenets of oppression will fully allow a rebirth of these cultural concepts and practices strengthening Northern Cheyenne society and education. / Graduation date: 2005

Thesis (M.A.)--Rowan University, 2005. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references.

The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on January 19, 2010). Thesis advisor: Dr. Berkley Hudson. Includes bibliographical references.