Cette thèse traite de l’évolution des modes de représentations et de l’image du Polynésien dans les littératures française, anglaise et américaine depuis 1842, la date du Protectorat de Tahiti, jusqu’en 1911, la période qui précède la Première Guerre mondiale. Il s’agit d’une lecture postcoloniale analysant l’influence des facteurs temporels et culturels des voyageurs occidentaux sur l’image de l’Autre et sur sa transformation du bon sauvage ou du cannibale païen en métis tiraillé entre les traditions et la modernité. Cette analyse a pour ambition de tracer la métamorphose qui marque le discours occidental sur la Polynésie et qui atteint son paroxysme à partir de la fin du XIXe. Il est question de tracer les origines de cette métamorphose, son impact sur la littérature et de déterminer si cette évolution dans le discours colonial représente une prise de conscience de l’Autre ou bien s’il s’agit des symptômes avant-coureurs d’un état de décadence qui frapperait la littérature coloniale. / This thesis deals with the evolution of the modes of representation and the image of the Polynesian in the French, English, and American literatures since 1842, the date of the French Protectorate over Tahiti, until 1911, the period which precedes the First World War. It is about a postcolonial reading of the influence of temporal and cultural factors of Western travelers on the image of the Other, on its transformation from a Noble Savage or a Cannibal into a person who lives in a cultural hybridity, and who is in a conflict between tradition and modernity. This analysis aims to outline the metamorphosis that affects the Western discourse on Polynesia and which reaches its peak starting from the late nineteenth century. It endeavors to study the origins of this metamorphosis, its impact on the literature and to determine if the evolution of the colonial discourse represents a growing awareness of the Other or if it is only a kind of warning symptoms of a literary decadence.

Nikos Kazantzakis� Captain Michales is a freedom fighter in nineteenth century Crete. Patrick White�s Voss is a German explorer in nineteenth century Australia. Two men struggling for achievement, their disparate social contexts united in the same fundamental search for meaning. This thesis makes comparison of these different struggles through thematic analysis of the texts, examining within the narratives the role of food, perceptions of body and soul, landscapes, gender relations, home-coming and religious experience. Themes from the novels are extracted and intertwined, within a range of theoretical frameworks: history, anthropology, science, literary and social theories, religion and politics; allowing close investigation of each novel�s social, political and historical particularities, as well as their underlying discussion of perennial human issues. These novels are each essentially explorations of the human experience. Read together, they highlight the commonest of human elements, most poignantly the need for communion; facilitating analysis of the individual and all our communities. Comparing the two novels also continues the process of each: examining the self both within and outside of the narratives, producing a new textual self, arising from both primary sources and the contextual breadth of such rewriting.

<p>The aim of this study is to identify, map and understand the anthropology – the science of man – that can be distinguished in foreign news pages in Swedish daily papers. Concepts of nationality, ethnicity and gender are crucial parameters in this anthropology. Foreign news can be regarded as a textual system in which form and content interact to create its own object of knowledge: the Other, or rather, the Others. Thus, the relationship between foreign news as a textual system and foreign news as anthropology is central to this dissertation.</p><p>The years 1987, 1995 and 2002 have been selected for examination on the following grounds: 1987 belongs to the cold war era; 1995 belongs to the post-cold war era, and is also the year when Sweden joined the EU; and 2002 belongs to the era defined by the events of September 11 2001. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of a total of 1,162 foreign news articles published during one week in each year, was carried out. The qualitative analysis consists mainly of discourse analysis. Foucault’s discourse theory constitutes the theory of knowledge in the study. It is combined with Barthes’ theory on myths as well as postcolonial and other theories on nationality, ethnicity and gender and the representation of these aspects in journalism and elsewhere.</p><p>Discourse type is a central concept in the analysis. Discourse types resemble subgenres, but are specifically defined by certain perspectives. Other defining aspects are voices, style, mode of address and closeness/distance to an event/a development. Seven discourse types that constitute the order of the discourse in foreign news pages were identified in this study: On location narratives, Elite event reports, Catastrophe event reports, Situation reports, Commentaries, Picture paragraphs and Quotation paragraphs. The representation of different regions of the world, of different nationalities and ethnicities, and of men and women, are related to these discourse types throughout the study.</p><p>The anthropology of foreign news establishes vast differences between people. These differences depend on regions, spheres in society, gender and skin colour. They also depend on the textual setting, i.e. the discourse type. Some regions, like Western Europe, USA, the Middle East and North Africa, are always centred. Others, like South America and parts of Africa, are practically ignored. Women are also ignored, hence “othered” by exclusion. When women do appear, this occurs in discourse types which exoticize them concerning gender as well as nationality/ethnicity. Women with darker skin are generally more negatively represented, compared to “white” women. The ruling groups, normally represented by men, appear as quite alike around the world. They are not exoticized and generally speak for themselves. However, powerful men from the Middle East and North Africa and from the (former) Soviet Union are treated differently and represented as threats, sometimes even as tabooed.</p><p>All these aspects stand out as relatively stable during the research period. Differences in the order of discourse consist mainly of an increase of exoticizing perspectives and of the use of pictures — both of which correspond to a relative increase of women — and of a simultaneous decrease of plain, scanty reports and increase of explicitly subjective articles. International aspects also increase over the years. However, this undermining of the hegemony of the nation on the foreign news pages, still exists within the discourse of the nation. The idea of the nation still limits the understanding of the world. In a similar way, the explicitly subjective articles increase within the discourse of journalistic objectivity. This is an interesting and thought-provoking paradox in the genre of foreign news.</p>

<p>Denna uppsats undersöker olika perspektiv av den föreställningsvärld och de myttraditioner som förknippas med Japans kakure kirishitan och kristendomens tidiga historia i Japan. Av speciell vikt är den värld som ligger bortom denna. Detta är inte heller främmande inom inhemsk japansk religiös tradition. Utifrån denna kontext kan vi bättre förstå varför man också i Japan har funnit undervisningen om frälsningen i livet efter detta lätt att ta till sig som målet för tron. Den japanska Mariagestaltens status har stärkts betydligt på bekostnad av Sonen, då hon på många vis har övertagit rollen, fått en gudomlig status och blivit en himmelsk härskarinna. <em>Deusu</em> är inte heller den allsmäktige gudom och fadersgestalt som vi känner genom kristendomen då han är tvungen att vända sig till en ängel för att få råd om hur människosläktet ska räddas.</p><p>Medeltida katolska traditioner har bevarats i <em>Tenchi Hajimari no Koto, </em>den enda doktrinära text författad av de underjordiska kristna själva.<em> </em>Det heliga dramat har dock i <em>Tenchi Hajimari </em>fått vissa japanska särdrag. Inför korsfästelsen pryglas till exempel Jesus med bambukäppar så hårt att de splittras. De skriftlärda som Jesus talar med i templet är inte längre skriftlärda judar utan buddhistiska lärare. <em>Tenchi Hajimari no Koto </em>kan framförallt vägleda oss att förstå samband mellan de underjordiska kristna och myter med koppling till kristendomen. Dessa har bevarats inom den lokala japanska folkliga traditionen fram till våra dagar. Den populära japanska buddhistiska modersfiguren <em>Kannon</em> har på många vis sammansmält med bilden av en Mariagestalt som förmedlas genom europeiska traditioner. Förvandlingen av Maria till Maria-Kannon har också inneburit att Mariagestalten har övertagit vissa buddhistiska egenskaper. Språkförbistringen beskrivs som en annan faktor som kan ha bidragit till den tidiga kristendomens förvandling i Japan. Buddhistiska termer, lånord och kristna symboler har sannolikt fått annan innebörd än den som missionärerna själv representerade. Gudsbegrepp och kopplingen till förfädernas roll inom religionen är påverkade av den lokala kulturen.</p> / <p>This essay examines different perspectives of the myth traditions and the world of faith among the Kakure Kirishitan, and the underground Christians of Japan. Of special interest is the coming world. However, the concept of afterworld is also familiar to the domestic Buddhist tradition. Being aware of this we can better understand why the teaching of salvation (and a life after death) is the most important target of faith also for believers within the domestic tradition. The only document from the time of persecution, compiled by the Kakure themselves, is the <em>Tenchi Hajimari no Koto,</em> ‘The Beginning of Heaven and Earth’, a text with topics covering the creation of heaven and earth, the angels, the fall of the ancestors of humankind, Mary, the life of Christ, and the end of the world. Even if the text is not a part of the living tradition of the Kakure Kirishitan today, <em>Tenchi Hajimari no Koto</em> can guide us, and help us to understand the relation between the Kakure Kirishitan of Japan and European Christian tradition. Myths referred to in <em>Tenchi Hajimari</em>, and other local myths related to European apocryphal tradition have survived until present days as tales in areas historically populated by underground Christians.</p><p>Gradually the faith of the underground Christians tended to move away from a god who was a strict father and judge. Instead they turned to a forgiving motherly “goddess” of indefinite tenderness, Mary. <em>Deusu</em>, the Father, is not the almighty and omniscient God we know from Christian traditions, instead he has to consult an angel about the need to save the humankind. The popular merciful Buddhist mother figure, <em>Kannon</em>, has in many ways fused together with the image of the Virgin Mary, rooted in European tradition. The transformation of Virgin Mary to a Maria-Kannon has infused the image with some Buddhist traits. Language confusion is described as another important factor of the acculturation of the Early Christianity of Japan. Buddhist terminology, loanwords, and the interpretation and use of Christian symbols, has most likely given the teaching a somehow different meaning, than the one represented by the early missionaries themselves. The domestic concept of gods, which connects the role of the ancestors to religion have also embraced Christianity. The faith world of Kakure Kirishitan is influenced by folk beliefs, Shintō, and the surrounding Buddhist tradition.</p> / Uppsatsen har skrivits inom ramen för masterprogrammet "Forntida religioner" som ges i samarbete mellan Högskolan i Gävle, Uppsala universitet och Högskolan Dalarna.

The purpose of this doctorate thesis is to investigate the historical discursive construction of swedishness and foreignness in the Swedish culinary field, primarily during the period of 1900-1970, and to relate the changes in the articulation of these concepts to the overarching ideological shifts during this time-period. To achieve this objective a conceptual apparatus inspired by cultural studies, discourse analysis and rhetorical analysis is employed upon the primary material, which consists of Swedish- and foreign-signified cookbooks published in Sweden during the period of 1600-1970. It is further argued that communities of consumption, such as nationalized culinary cultures, are discursive constructions and that actors attempt to write individuals into these communities through the articulation of nationalized subject positions. In the thesis it is thus investigated how, when and perhaps why certain actors on a field attempt to discursively construct such communities of consumption during a certain era. The chapters 2-5 of the thesis contain analyses of the historical construction of foreignness on the Swedish cultural field. Here various trends are traced in the construction of individual foreign cuisines, both in relation to each other and to the concept of culinary swedishness. An analysis is also made of the varied rhetoric that is used to promote foreign-signified cooking to the Swedish public during the examined time-period. It is concluded that the variations in rhetoric seem to covariate with larger ideological shifts in Swedish society. Chapters 6 and 7 specifically examine the construction of swedishness in the culinary field by focusing on the construction of national culinary icons such as the Smörgåsbord and Husmanskost and also on the evolution of the ideas of a distinct Swedish palate and a Swedish national cuisine. As a result of this investigation the perhaps surprisingly late codification of a Swedish national cuisine during the 1960’s is noted. It is further argued that this development coincides with a shift in the popular mood, where “the Swedish way of life” increasingly comes to be seen as threatened by external forces such as foreign influences and modernity, why certain actors on the culinary field express a necessity for the codification of what is perceived of as the “true Swedish cuisine”. A paradoxical result of this urge for preservation is the construction of new cultural phenomena dressed in a traditionalist and nationalist rhetoric that anchors them in a distant past.

The aim of this study is to identify, map and understand the anthropology – the science of man – that can be distinguished in foreign news pages in Swedish daily papers. Concepts of nationality, ethnicity and gender are crucial parameters in this anthropology. Foreign news can be regarded as a textual system in which form and content interact to create its own object of knowledge: the Other, or rather, the Others. Thus, the relationship between foreign news as a textual system and foreign news as anthropology is central to this dissertation. The years 1987, 1995 and 2002 have been selected for examination on the following grounds: 1987 belongs to the cold war era; 1995 belongs to the post-cold war era, and is also the year when Sweden joined the EU; and 2002 belongs to the era defined by the events of September 11 2001. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of a total of 1,162 foreign news articles published during one week in each year, was carried out. The qualitative analysis consists mainly of discourse analysis. Foucault’s discourse theory constitutes the theory of knowledge in the study. It is combined with Barthes’ theory on myths as well as postcolonial and other theories on nationality, ethnicity and gender and the representation of these aspects in journalism and elsewhere. Discourse type is a central concept in the analysis. Discourse types resemble subgenres, but are specifically defined by certain perspectives. Other defining aspects are voices, style, mode of address and closeness/distance to an event/a development. Seven discourse types that constitute the order of the discourse in foreign news pages were identified in this study: On location narratives, Elite event reports, Catastrophe event reports, Situation reports, Commentaries, Picture paragraphs and Quotation paragraphs. The representation of different regions of the world, of different nationalities and ethnicities, and of men and women, are related to these discourse types throughout the study. The anthropology of foreign news establishes vast differences between people. These differences depend on regions, spheres in society, gender and skin colour. They also depend on the textual setting, i.e. the discourse type. Some regions, like Western Europe, USA, the Middle East and North Africa, are always centred. Others, like South America and parts of Africa, are practically ignored. Women are also ignored, hence “othered” by exclusion. When women do appear, this occurs in discourse types which exoticize them concerning gender as well as nationality/ethnicity. Women with darker skin are generally more negatively represented, compared to “white” women. The ruling groups, normally represented by men, appear as quite alike around the world. They are not exoticized and generally speak for themselves. However, powerful men from the Middle East and North Africa and from the (former) Soviet Union are treated differently and represented as threats, sometimes even as tabooed. All these aspects stand out as relatively stable during the research period. Differences in the order of discourse consist mainly of an increase of exoticizing perspectives and of the use of pictures — both of which correspond to a relative increase of women — and of a simultaneous decrease of plain, scanty reports and increase of explicitly subjective articles. International aspects also increase over the years. However, this undermining of the hegemony of the nation on the foreign news pages, still exists within the discourse of the nation. The idea of the nation still limits the understanding of the world. In a similar way, the explicitly subjective articles increase within the discourse of journalistic objectivity. This is an interesting and thought-provoking paradox in the genre of foreign news.

This dissertation offers an analysis of the image of loss in modern American drama at three levels: the loss of physical space, loss of psychological space, and loss of moral space. The playwrights and plays examined are Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie (1945), Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman (1949), Marsha Norman's 'night, Mother (1983), and Paula Vogel's How I Learned to Drive (1998). This study is the first scholarly work to discuss the theme of loss with these specific playwrights and works. This dissertation argues that loss is a central trope in twentieth-century American drama. The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze how the image of loss is modified and transformed in each playwright's work leading these images to reveal an emotional truth that transcends the plight of particular individuals or families and casting a universal appeal to a diverse audience. Chapters examine specific themes related to the theme of loss. As part of the critical methodology, the live spectacle of performance has been acknowledged. This study analyzes how Williams, Miller, Norman, and Vogel modify and transform the image of loss by focusing on the myth of the American dream, illusion versus reality, empowerment, and the complexity of human relationships. Although these plays are meant first and foremost to be appreciated as theater, that is to say "live performance," this study deals with these plays as drama, that is, as written texts. The audience observing the "live" spectacle and the reader of the text are both challenged to define their "own space." Williams, Miller, Norman, and Vogel, modify and transform the image of loss to reveal a common humanity that is not only a force in their work, but also a strong presence in the works of American dramatists as diverse as Eugene O'Neill and Adrienne Kennedy. From domestic drama to the drama of social and political criticism, Williams, Miller, Norman, and Vogel along with a medley of American playwrights, have taken the genre of American drama from backseat status (secondary to the novel and poem) into the forefront of recognized American literature.

This dissertation demonstrates that a group of western women connected to May Maxwell through ties of faith and friendship exemplified a distinct form of early twentieth-century feminism in their adoption and promotion of the transplanted Bahá’í Faith. In actualizing their doctrinal principles, they worked to inaugurate a millennial new World Order predicated on the spiritual and social equality of women. This group championed a unique organizational structure and transnational perspective that propelled them to female leadership, both as inspirational models and agents of practical change. By examining how Bahá’í doctrines shaped the beliefs, mythologies, relationships and reform goals of women, this dissertation broadens understandings of the ways in which religion can act as a vehicle for female empowerment and transformative identity. Together, western early Bahá’í women built individual and collective capacity, challenging gender prescriptions and social norms. Their millennial worldview advocated a key role for women in shaping nascent Bahá’í culture, and initiating personal, institutional, and societal change. Their inclusive collaborative organizational style, non-western origins and leadership, diverse membership, and global locus of activity, made them one of the first groups to establish and sustain a transnational feminist reform network. Although in some respects this group resembled other religious, feminist, and reform-oriented women, identifiably “Bahá’í” features of their ideology, methodologies, and reform activities made them distinctive. This research contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the role of women in the creation of modern religious and social mythologies and paradigms. A study of Bahá’í millennial religious feminism also expands current conceptions of the boundaries, diversities, and intersections of early twentieth-century western millennial, feminist, religious, and transnational reform movements.

Denna uppsats undersöker olika perspektiv av den föreställningsvärld och de myttraditioner som förknippas med Japans kakure kirishitan och kristendomens tidiga historia i Japan. Av speciell vikt är den värld som ligger bortom denna. Detta är inte heller främmande inom inhemsk japansk religiös tradition. Utifrån denna kontext kan vi bättre förstå varför man också i Japan har funnit undervisningen om frälsningen i livet efter detta lätt att ta till sig som målet för tron. Den japanska Mariagestaltens status har stärkts betydligt på bekostnad av Sonen, då hon på många vis har övertagit rollen, fått en gudomlig status och blivit en himmelsk härskarinna. Deusu är inte heller den allsmäktige gudom och fadersgestalt som vi känner genom kristendomen då han är tvungen att vända sig till en ängel för att få råd om hur människosläktet ska räddas. Medeltida katolska traditioner har bevarats i Tenchi Hajimari no Koto, den enda doktrinära text författad av de underjordiska kristna själva. Det heliga dramat har dock i Tenchi Hajimari fått vissa japanska särdrag. Inför korsfästelsen pryglas till exempel Jesus med bambukäppar så hårt att de splittras. De skriftlärda som Jesus talar med i templet är inte längre skriftlärda judar utan buddhistiska lärare. Tenchi Hajimari no Koto kan framförallt vägleda oss att förstå samband mellan de underjordiska kristna och myter med koppling till kristendomen. Dessa har bevarats inom den lokala japanska folkliga traditionen fram till våra dagar. Den populära japanska buddhistiska modersfiguren Kannon har på många vis sammansmält med bilden av en Mariagestalt som förmedlas genom europeiska traditioner. Förvandlingen av Maria till Maria-Kannon har också inneburit att Mariagestalten har övertagit vissa buddhistiska egenskaper. Språkförbistringen beskrivs som en annan faktor som kan ha bidragit till den tidiga kristendomens förvandling i Japan. Buddhistiska termer, lånord och kristna symboler har sannolikt fått annan innebörd än den som missionärerna själv representerade. Gudsbegrepp och kopplingen till förfädernas roll inom religionen är påverkade av den lokala kulturen. / This essay examines different perspectives of the myth traditions and the world of faith among the Kakure Kirishitan, and the underground Christians of Japan. Of special interest is the coming world. However, the concept of afterworld is also familiar to the domestic Buddhist tradition. Being aware of this we can better understand why the teaching of salvation (and a life after death) is the most important target of faith also for believers within the domestic tradition. The only document from the time of persecution, compiled by the Kakure themselves, is the Tenchi Hajimari no Koto, ‘The Beginning of Heaven and Earth’, a text with topics covering the creation of heaven and earth, the angels, the fall of the ancestors of humankind, Mary, the life of Christ, and the end of the world. Even if the text is not a part of the living tradition of the Kakure Kirishitan today, Tenchi Hajimari no Koto can guide us, and help us to understand the relation between the Kakure Kirishitan of Japan and European Christian tradition. Myths referred to in Tenchi Hajimari, and other local myths related to European apocryphal tradition have survived until present days as tales in areas historically populated by underground Christians. Gradually the faith of the underground Christians tended to move away from a god who was a strict father and judge. Instead they turned to a forgiving motherly “goddess” of indefinite tenderness, Mary. Deusu, the Father, is not the almighty and omniscient God we know from Christian traditions, instead he has to consult an angel about the need to save the humankind. The popular merciful Buddhist mother figure, Kannon, has in many ways fused together with the image of the Virgin Mary, rooted in European tradition. The transformation of Virgin Mary to a Maria-Kannon has infused the image with some Buddhist traits. Language confusion is described as another important factor of the acculturation of the Early Christianity of Japan. Buddhist terminology, loanwords, and the interpretation and use of Christian symbols, has most likely given the teaching a somehow different meaning, than the one represented by the early missionaries themselves. The domestic concept of gods, which connects the role of the ancestors to religion have also embraced Christianity. The faith world of Kakure Kirishitan is influenced by folk beliefs, Shintō, and the surrounding Buddhist tradition. / Uppsatsen har skrivits inom ramen för masterprogrammet "Forntida religioner" som ges i samarbete mellan Högskolan i Gävle, Uppsala universitet och Högskolan Dalarna.

Den här uppsatsen undersöker på sociologiskt vis möjligheterna att spåra möten mellan tidigamänniskor och jätteprimaten Gigantopithecus från östra Asien i myter som överlevt fram till idag,detta för att försöka peka på ett gemensamt ursprung till den ofta förekommande figurtypen jätten imyter och folksagor i världen. Teoretikerna som uppbådas till hjälp är Emile Durkheim, MartinCortazzi, Josef Ludvik Fisher samt Forrester Sibelan, vilka visar på dels hur myter fungerar och kanuppstå och hur de fungerar i relation till människor.Till metod har arbetet utgått ifrån diskursteori då denna lämpar sig väl för att förstå relationenmellan den sociala verklighet en text rör sig inom och den text sagda verklighet bidrar till att skapa.Arbetet börjar med att försöka motivera sin hypotes genom att påvisa dels belägg för att primatenoch människan i urtiden mötts och dels genom att visa på att myter och berättelser i muntlig formkan överleva länge nog för att det ska vara rimligt. Den fortsätter med att presentera och beskrivamytbildningar från olika delar av världen; Nordiska, Grekiska, Babyloniska, Indiska Afrikanska,Nord- och Sydamerikanska samt Kinesiska där fokus ligger på att jämföra och sammanföra myterför att försöka peka på samband som andra forskare redan upptäckt eller sådana som pekar mot denöstasiatiska primaten.Det visar sig snabbt att några sådana belägg inte finns att finna under de förhållanden den härundersökningen utgår ifrån när den går in på ämnet. Istället försöker den fokusera på att visa på debevisliga ursprungen från de jätterelaterade myter som i världen förekommer. Till stor del härrör de,enligt forskarna uppsatsen använder som källor, från Mesopotamien och rent sociologiskt så kanuppsatsen peka på ett samband mellan ett behov av politisk kontroll och den roll jättar i mytbildningbrukar få. Platser som Grekland, Inkariket och Kina har oberoende av varandra utvecklat deursprungliga mytbildningarna på ett sätt som underbygger auktoritära figurer både inom och utanförmyterna så att berättelserna passar den grupp som styr området, något som i viss utsträckning gällerför alla mytbildningar som undersöktes. Jättarna får ofta roller såsom förfäder eller fientliga folksom människor och deras gudar obrydda kan avsky eller diskreditera. Genomgående så stämmer dei teoridelen presenterade forskarnas teorier med det sätt som myterna som undersöks visas fungerapå. / This paper tries to explore the sociological possibilities of finding a link between interactionsbetween the giant primate Gigantopithecus and early humans of eastern Asia and surviving mythsfrom around the world that have survived up until today. Theorists that have been drafted to attemptto prove this are Emile Durkheim, Martin Cortazzi, Josef Ludvik Fischer and Forrester Sibelan,who's work revolve around the area of the inner workings of myth and its relation to the peoplesustaining them.As Method the paper operates on the basis of discourse theory as it is well suited to explain theways in which reality and text co-opt in the creation of the other.To begin with the paper puts out hypothesis strengthening research to try to show ways that theprimate in theory could have acted as a forefather to the giant, due to prehistoric humans havinginteracted with Gigantopithecus and the way oral myth is able to survive for very long stretches oftime. It continues by presenting and describing various myths from around the world; Nordic,Greek, Babylonian, Indian, African, North and South American as well as Chinese. The focus lieson showing the many themes the myths share between themselves, with an initial focus on pinningits origins to Gigantopithecus.Early on any such connections prove to be without credible proof, and as it is the paper is illequipped to attempt to claim any connections between the myths and the primate. To stay relevant,the paper tries to present other more substantiated potential origins of the concept of giants andfinds other researchers pointing towards old Mesopotamia. Sociologically however the paper canpoint towards connections between political control and the role of the giants of myths in the storiesof many of the stories it presents. Places such as Greece, the Inca empire and China all, apparentlyindependently of one another created and developed myths wherein giants assist in reinforcing theauthoritarian positions of leader characters both within and outside of the stories. Giants in mythoften played the role of ancient ancestors or non human or non tribe people that gods and peoplebereft of conscience could paint as enemies or buffoons.