If, as author Toni Morrison believes, we tell stories about what we find most terrifying, then our cultural narratives suggest an overwhelming preoccupation with the murderous mother ??? the monster in our minds. This dissertation examines some of the most powerful and enduring stories told about the murderous mother and considers how these stories are shaped by the unconscious fears and fantasies that dominate the cultural psyche. Revolving around the idea of infanticide as an ???imaginary??? crime, this dissertation uncovers the psychoanalytic foundations of the obsessive telling and consumption of stories of maternal child-murder in Western culture and contends that infanticide narratives can be read as symptoms of psychocultural dis(-)ease. Underlying all stories about the murderous mother is an unconscious fear of infanticide and fantasy of maternal destructiveness that is repressed in the individual psyche. These fears and fantasies are expressed in our cultural narratives. Chapter 1 examines fairytales as the literary form that most clearly elaborates individual fears and psychic conflict and locates the phantasmic murderous mother within psychoanalytic narratives of individuation. Chapter 2 shows how individual fears and fantasies of maternal monstrosity are transferred to society and revealed in the myths through which our culture is transmitted. Chapters 3 and 4 focus on the particular neuroses of ancient Greek society and early modern culture and consider stories of the murderous mother that most powerfully reflect anxieties of maternal origin and fantasies of maternal power. Chapters 5 and 6 shift to a contemporary setting and consider stories that reveal, in differing ways, how the murderous mother haunts the cultural psyche. Examining a variety of texts and drawing material from a spectrum of disciplines, including law, literature, criminology, theology, philosophy, and medicine, this dissertation concludes that it is only by exposing the underpinnings of our cultural stories about the murderous mother that we can hope to break free from the unconscious attitudes that imprison us. Emerging from this study is an original and important theoretical framework concerning conceptualisations of infanticide, the ways in which we imagine maternal child-murder and the limits of that imagination, and how we might escape the murderous maternal monster buried deep in the labyrinths of the mind.

How the artist deals with death, loss and the spiritual has been a major theme of art throughout history. New media tools provide renewed opportunity to explore these themes while testing the tools against a familiar subject. This research attempts to deal with these themes by examining and reinterpreting them through myths while evaluating the tools of creative media. In so doing, this has the potential to uncover any revealing insights that are relevant to the times. The project uses myth to explore the potential of the interaction between 2D digital images and 3D virtual environments. Elements of particular significance in the 3D virtual environment - such as Lighting and Point of View - are examined from the perspective of an artist who has practised only in 2D. Twelve final works have been generated for this project and presented as large-scale digital prints, along with a short video piece. In particular, the research explores 3D lighting techniques of 2D images by applying theatrical protocols within a virtual, computer-generated environment, and using myth as context and driving principle. The idea of theatre 'flats' has been applied as a device within the virtual realm to provide a conceptual housing and rationale for virtual lighting techniques, virtual camera techniques, digital rendering and digital printing.

Increasingly, cultural workers and artists from many disciplines are finding themselves involved in the creation of public and private rituals, ceremonies and celebrations. Focusing on ritual and celebration in Australian contexts, this thesis posits a new categorisation of the types of event that might be encountered, grouping and examining them according to their action upon participants with the aim of enabling a more practical methodology of design in contemporary societal conditions. Existing categories, which have defined these age-old activities in terms of anthropological observation or social intention, must now be regarded as obsolete because they take no account of rapid and widespread changes in degrees of adherence to traditional belief systems, in social orientation and in Western cultural practices. There is a need to reappraise why individuals and communities might continue to hold rituals and celebrations, and how these can be designed, managed and operated most effectively. The thesis identifies four major categories of ritual: Transformation, Reinforcement, Transcendence and Catharsis. It argues that, by recognising the differences between how each category operates for participants and also certain commonalities across categories, effectiveness of design is facilitated. In developing parameters for each category and giving examples of contemporary praxis, the writer stresses the importance of understanding traditional ceremonies so that elements of a rich repertoire of techniques developed over long periods can be planned into new rituals for contemporary application, despite the dissipation of shared, coherent belief systems in a highly secularised culture. This impels consideration of questions of cultural sensitivity, raises the need for close community involvement in design, and requires exploration of managing the challenges of multiple signification. Contemporary cultural contexts for ritual and celebratory events are marked by plurality, multi-vocalism and multicultural experience. Designers thus need to achieve, out of difference, an event that produces coherence, deep effects for each participant and a sense of shared experience. The thesis demonstrates means to this end through informed praxis, that is, by practitioners ensuring that theory and practice are working together in these complex contexts that involve the well being of individuals and communities. The categories have been identified through investigations into the literature of myth, ritual and celebration, helpful frameworks developed in cognitive science, and extensive research provided by thirty years of practice in the field. As a designer and director of rituals and celebrations, the writer seeks both to confirm the importance of the artist within the process and to demonstrate a new, practical, ethically located and effective approach for the education of intending practitioners. No claim is made that the four categories are definitive or mutually exclusive of one another. It is accepted that in many situations the categories might coalesce, be added to and/or fragment. However, the categorisation provides a fresh vantage point from which to view the potentially powerful effects of ritual experience, an effective tool of construction for the use of artists and cultural activists working in this field, and an informed basis for praxis. In developing this new categorisation the writer argues an ongoing need for rituals and celebrations to clarify and enrich the lives of individuals and the community while stressing the importance of careful and appropriate design of such events.

The novel Children Of The Earth is about transformation. It uses Ovid's Metamorphoses as a metaphor for the processes which occur in the psyche of each character, and is based on Jungian insights into myth and alchemy. Archetypes that underlie the unconscious processes of all humanity are seen in the symbolism of three very different religious traditions, namely Greek mythology, the Hebrew Old Testament and Australian Aboriginal beliefs. I explore the ways in which these three great mythologies might have converged in colonial South Australia. The story deals with the troubled marriage of isolated settler couple, Hestia and Adam George, and the effects on it of three people who come into their lives. Itinerant German mineralogist Johannes Menge ( based on a real life pioneer ) is a self-taught, eccentric polymath, and a devout but unorthodox exponent of the Bible. In Jungian terms he fulfils the role of an archetypal, but flawed, ' Wise Old Man'. Menge represents nineteenth century Protestantism, albeit still trailing some arcane superstitions. His protégé, a disgraced young teacher of classics, calls himself Hermes, and represents the role of Greek mythology in European civilization. Reliving the life of the mercurial god in the antipodes, he becomes messenger, trickster and seducer. Unatildi, an Indigenous girl whom Adam finds in a burnt-out tree trunk, is an archetypal maiden. She introduces the Europeans to the mythology of their new land, as sacred for her people as the Bible is for Johannes Menge. Each of these three characters plays a part in transforming the marriage of Adam and Hestia, and each, in turn, undergoes a personal metamorphosis. Aboriginal women act as midwives at the birth of the love-child of Hestia and Hermes. Named Sophia, after the goddess of wisdom, the new child is thought to have inherited the miwi spirit of Unatildi's lost infant. On his deathbed, as Menge bequeaths his wisdom to his Australian friends, he predicts that Sophia will understand the sacredness of all spiritual life. Eventually Hestia and Adam find themselves changed by their encounters with the archetypes of myth. News of Menge's death on the goldfields gives them the courage they need to begin rebuilding an honest relationship. The novel is 107,400 words in length and is accompanied by an exegesis of 20,170 word, entitled Myth And Alchemy In Creative Writing. The exegesis describes the interactive process of researching and writing, as well as exploring the value of Jungian concepts for creative writing, and current issues of creating Indigenous characters. There is an emphasis on the Jungian approach to mythology and alchemy. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--School of Humanities, 2006.

<p>This thesis in social anthropology is based on the inner essence, manifestations and tendencies of Scottish nationalism and regionalism. The thesis intends to investigate how Scottish nationalism and regionalism are related to each other. It is meant to highlight the meaning of the Wallace-myth for maintenance of the Scottish national consciousness and to illuminate factors lying behind this myth. It is also meant to study how Turner, Lévi-Strauss, Anderson, Eriksen, Hobsbawm and Hettne’s theories work in the Scottish field. This thesis intends to contribute to a better understanding and deeper insight into Scottish nationalism.</p>

<p>What are the basic thoughts formulated in the Heraclitean fragments? A cosmology, a philosophy of nature, the idea that all can be reduced to a single substance? There is always a risk that Heraclitus is fitted into a thought pattern he doesn’t belong to, if we – from our present horizon – focus on continuity in an attempt to frame his thinking as part of an overall progress, running from the so-called pre-Socratics to Aristotle, in the history of philosophy. If we picture the dawn of Western civilization as an early development of scientific thinking, built on a gradual and continuous growth of knowledge, we will easily go astray as we try to discover the Greek origins of philosophy. Assuming, for example, that the readings of Heraclitus as a natural philosopher have come to a dead end, can we approach the fragments from a different angle?</p><p>The aim of this paper is not to give a systematized reading of all the remaining fragments of Heraclitus, but neither to necessarily contradict the various interpretations that emphasise how these shattered remains reflect a coherent philosophy. The focal point is the role of the sun in the fragments, but every chapter presents different perspectives, thematically possible to connect to (Diels-Kranz) Fragm 94: “The sun will not transgress his measures. If he does, The Furies, ministers of Justice (<em>Dikê</em>), will find him out.” (transl. C.H. Kahn)  This is the centre of the text, the hub that thematically will intertwine the Heraclitean sun with philosophical questions of measure, necessity, law, violence and destiny.</p><p>It is argued that a tragic structure is discernable in Fragm 94, a structure distinguished and displayed as three oscillating layers: myth, tragedy and philosophy. The archaeological approach shows remains of an archaic (Homeric) heritage, a mythological framework crucial for the expression of a tragic experience. The mytopoetical background of the fragment indicates a series of tragic markers – <em>helios</em>, <em>metra</em>, <em>furies</em> etc. – a layer revealing possible resemblances to early Greek tragedy. The third layer shows how this experience, from a philosophical perspective, in the first phase of philosophy, before the consolidation of philosophical concepts, is staged as the tragic harmony we find in Heraclitus Fragm 94.</p>

<p>The present thesis focuses on Type A behavior in children and its possible relation to hyperactivity/ADHD. Type A behavior in children has commonly been studied as the child equivalent behaviors of the adult pattern, in other words, competitive achievement-striving, impatience/time-urgency, and aggressiveness. </p><p>Study I investigated the convergent and discriminant validity of observationally assessed Type A behavior with regard to parent- and teacher-rated Type A behavior (Matthews Youth Test for Health [MYTH] questionnaire) and hyperactivity (questionnaire) among 8-year-olds. Study II was similar although these relations were studied longitudinally between 4 and 8 years of age, and hyperactivity was observationally assessed at age 4. The results of Studies I and II showed that Type A behavior is discernible already at age 4 and that it should be regarded as a phenomenon rather distinct from hyperactivity. Assessing aspects of Impatience, however, was found to be problematic, both in terms of discriminating between Type A behavior and hyperactivity, and in terms of showing stability over time. The MYTH was concluded to measure Type A behavior too indiscriminately, showing a substantial overlap with hyperactivity.</p><p>Study III attempted to differentiate Type A behavior (MYTH-defined) and hyperactivity/ADHD using observed motivation during a reaction time task. The results pointed to the MYTH as indiscriminant from hyperactivity measures with regard to observed motivation and task performance. The perception of Type A individuals as highly motivated to achieve was not evident in this study.</p><p>In Study IV, an observationally assessed Type A group was compared to a Type B group and an ADHD group on measures of inhibitory control and executive functioning. The results pointed to similarities between Type A and ADHD boys regarding overt displays of time-urgency and impatience. However, differences on other tasks of executive functioning lead to speculations concerning differing origins of overtly similar characteristics of Type A behavior and ADHD.</p>

Thesis (M.A.) -- University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2006. / Title from title page screen (viewed on Feb. 8, 2007). Thesis advisor: Thomas Haddox. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

The present thesis focuses on Type A behavior in children and its possible relation to hyperactivity/ADHD. Type A behavior in children has commonly been studied as the child equivalent behaviors of the adult pattern, in other words, competitive achievement-striving, impatience/time-urgency, and aggressiveness. Study I investigated the convergent and discriminant validity of observationally assessed Type A behavior with regard to parent- and teacher-rated Type A behavior (Matthews Youth Test for Health [MYTH] questionnaire) and hyperactivity (questionnaire) among 8-year-olds. Study II was similar although these relations were studied longitudinally between 4 and 8 years of age, and hyperactivity was observationally assessed at age 4. The results of Studies I and II showed that Type A behavior is discernible already at age 4 and that it should be regarded as a phenomenon rather distinct from hyperactivity. Assessing aspects of Impatience, however, was found to be problematic, both in terms of discriminating between Type A behavior and hyperactivity, and in terms of showing stability over time. The MYTH was concluded to measure Type A behavior too indiscriminately, showing a substantial overlap with hyperactivity. Study III attempted to differentiate Type A behavior (MYTH-defined) and hyperactivity/ADHD using observed motivation during a reaction time task. The results pointed to the MYTH as indiscriminant from hyperactivity measures with regard to observed motivation and task performance. The perception of Type A individuals as highly motivated to achieve was not evident in this study. In Study IV, an observationally assessed Type A group was compared to a Type B group and an ADHD group on measures of inhibitory control and executive functioning. The results pointed to similarities between Type A and ADHD boys regarding overt displays of time-urgency and impatience. However, differences on other tasks of executive functioning lead to speculations concerning differing origins of overtly similar characteristics of Type A behavior and ADHD.

This thesis will examine the emergence of Albanian national identity. It will analyze this process in two different phases. The first phase includes the period after the League of Prizren until the independence. The second phase starts after the independence. This thesis will try to understand this process by focusing on the intellectual activity of the Albanian intellectuals and mainly on the intellectual thoughts of three Albanian figures: Semsettin Sami, Ismail Kemal, and Fan S. Noli. These intellectuals formulated their ideas on the basis of both the process of modernization and the international context. As such, they enabled the transition from a mere ethnic Albanian identity to an Albanian national identity. The main components of the Albanian national identity analyzed in this thesis are language, territory, and myth.