Thesis (Ph.D.)--Hong Kong Baptist University, 2008. / Adviser: Kenneth Kong. Thesis submitted to the Dept. of English Language and Literature. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed June 27, 2006). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 347-379).

No description available.

Originally presented as the author's thesis--Universität Tübingen, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2001. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 357 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 134-137).

Al-Jazeera asserted itself in the global media scene shortly after the attacks of September 11th, 2001 in the United States. The station's regional prominence had already been entrenched in the new Arab media environment before it was overshadowed by the station's newfound global fame. Subsequently, al-Jazeera was considered an Arab media ambassador and the "voice of the Arab world." This dissertation provides an analysis of al-Jazeera's programming in Arabic that is lacking in the burgeoning English language academic literature. The dissertation furthermore highlights the way treatment of global current affairs informs a sense of Arab identification on a regional level. Moreover, it argues that, apart from competitive broadcast journalists, al-Jazeera offers an oppositional discourse of identification that does not necessarily challenge the hegemony of Western media discourses. By employing an oppositional stance expressed in typical anti-colonialist and anti-imperialist terms, it constructs an overarching notion of "Arabness" that is predominately discursive. / The dissertation analyzes three live talk shows: al-Ittijah al-Mu'akis (The Opposite Direction), Bila Hudoud (Without Boundaries), and Li-Nisa' Faqat (For Women Only). These talk shows are ideal sites for examining this oppositional discourse because they constitute important forums in which perceptions of identity are cultivated in the discussion of current affairs. In my analysis, each episode is treated as a media "text" that contributes to the formation of a discourse of "Arabness." The objective of the analysis is to identify the recurrent discursive patterns and strategies in providing the basis for this discursive category of identification across Arab state borders. In constructing an oppositional discourse, the United States and Israel are employed as necessary rhetorical references; Islam is infused into "Arabness" as a homogenizing constituent in identity formation; and finally, a culturally-threatened "Arabness" converges upon a context in which the world is marked by globalization. The dissertation concludes by indicating that al-Jazeera offers merely a representation of "Arabness" that, despite its power to influence, remains one way of perceiving Arab identity.

Cette thèse porte sur l’émergence des groupes subalternes, particulièrement des minorités ethnoraciales et des femmes, sur la scène télévisuelle de l’humour, depuis Coluche jusqu’à nos jours. Elle interroge l’état des discours au moment de leur apparition et les capacités d’agir de l’humour. Elle articule le passage du comique en humoriste. Dans les années 1970, le comique bouffon incarne une figure de contestation d’un système de pouvoir centralisé, dont il est un observateur critique. Il se transforme avec la montée de l’individualisme en acteur d’un monde dont il produit une vision subjective. L’analyse d’un corpus de sketches tirés de douze émissions de talk show montre que les humoristes femmes proposent des personnages aux identités de genre fluctuantes et multiformes, à la charnière du masculin et du féminin, à travers des procédés parodiques et un jeu d’incarnation basé sur le corps. Les humoristes issus des minorités ethnoraciales proposent des contre-modèles à l’intégration républicaine avec des récits « authentiques ». Ils ouvrent la voie à l’expression de subjectivités non blanches et à la dénonciation des discriminations sur la base de la couleur de peau. Leur humour s’actualise en 2006 avec l’appropriation du stand-up, la mise en scène de la diversité et des multiples territoires de l’identité. Cette thèse conclut sur un processus de contre-offensive, ou backlash, contestant aux groupes subalternes les avancées conquises durant la période précédente. Ce backlash se manifeste à partir de 2007 par un humour basé sur des commentaires d’actualité et des caricatures. Il favorise les visées hégémoniques blanches et masculines dans l’humour et l’éviction des politiques des identités. / This thesis deals with the emergence of subaltern groups in mainstream television, from Coluche until today. It focuses on two groups, female humorists and ethnic minorities. It questions the agency of humour and its power of displacement of hegemonic media representations, as well as the state of discourses at the moment of the appearance of subaltern groups. It articulates the transformation of comedian into humorist. The buffoon of the late 1970s stands for the figure of contestation of a centralized power, which it comments with a critical gaze. The growth of individualism and expressions of identities turn the comedian into a humorist that assumes a role of actor of the world and a subjective gaze. The analysis of sketches in television talk shows reveals that female humorists expose multiple subjectivities and destabilize the binary system masculine-feminine, by resorting to body acts as parts of humoristic mechanisms. Humorists from ethnic minority groups denounce discriminations and perform hybrid bodies and identities that destabilize the republican model of integration. Their appropriation of stand-up comedy genre renews in 2006 the staging of diversity and of the multiple territories of identities. The period 2007-2010 shows a counter-offensive, a backlash that marks the return to dominant values in the field of humour and denies to subaltern groups the advantages they’ve gained during the previous period. It is characterized by a renewal of humour based on news comments and caricatures, by the hegemonic power of masculine white humorists and the eviction of identity politics.