Thesis (MA (English))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The concept of the city has evolved over time with generations of city dwellers. The rapid advance of technology has promoted globalisation, which has brought about increased familiarity with diverse cultures, but has also exposed issues of marginalisation among communities in cities. In order to approach a more comprehensive understanding of the complexity of the “open” postmodern view of the city it is essential to consider the relevant literature that grapples with issues of human identity and appropriation in the city. This dissertation examines narrative perspectives in the literary works of four postmodern writers: Jonathan Safran Foer, Neil Gaiman, China Miéville, and Lauren Beukes. References to underlying philosophical viewpoints, various perceptions, both “real” and fictional, were incorporated in the discussion. Close attention is paid to the correlation between the novel and the city, and to what extent the city itself can be viewed as a narrative – since, within a postmodern approach, fictional narratives may form discourses that represent, and in a fashion constitute, the city, while subjects at the same time form themselves in terms of their environment. Fiction becomes an invaluable tool for exploring the cityscape and commenting on contemporary issues. In conclusion, the urbanised human subject may be said to play a vital role in establishing the concept of the city, both in “real” culture and in fictional narrative. The representation of the contemporary South African urban milieu in the discussed literature serves to confirm the relevance of local as well as global influences. To justify multiple perspectives on the city consequently means to grant each individual viewpoint validity. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die konsep van die stad het deur die jare ontwikkel saam met geslagte van stadsbewoners. Die vinnige vooruitgang van tegnologie het globalisasie bevorder, wat op sy beurt weer bewustheid van diverse kulture bevorder het, maar ook kwessies blootgelê het rondom marginalisasie in stadsgemeenskappe. Ten einde ‘n meer omvattende begrip van die kompleksiteit van die “oop” postmoderne perspektief op die stad daar te stel, is dit belangrik om te kyk na die relevante literatuur wat bemoeienis maak met kwessies van menslike identiteit en eienaarskap in die stad. Hierdie dissertasie het gekyk na vertellerperspektiewe in die literêre werke van vier postmoderne skrywers: Jonathan Safran Foer, Neil Gaiman, China Miéville, en Lauren Beukes. Met verwysing na onderliggende filosofiese gesigspunte is verskeie persepsies, gegrond op die werklikheid sowel as fiktief, in die bespreking ingesluit. Daar is aandag gegee aan die verband tussen die roman en die stad, en in watter mate die stad self as ‘n teks beskou kan word, aangesien die teks volgens ‘n postmoderne aanslag die stad kan “representeer” en “laat ontstaan”, terwyl menslike subjekte hulself terselfdertyd vorm in terme van hul omgewing. Fiksie word dus ‘n waardevolle werktuig vir waarneming van en kommentaar lewer op komtemporêre sake. Ten slotte kan gesê word dat die verstedelikte menslike subjek ‘n belangrike rol speel in die bevestiging van die stad as konsep, beide in reële kultuur en in fiktiewe vertelling. Die verteenwoordiging van die kontemporêre Suid-Afrikaanse stedelike milieu in die bespreekte tekste bevestig die relevansie van lokale sowel as internasionale invloede. Om veelvuldige perspektiewe op die stad gelyk te beregtig beteken gevolglik dat elke individuele gesigspunt geldig is.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The historic and patrimonial city of Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais/Brazil, has a strong characteristic of youthful university life, like other historic towns such as Coimbra, Portugal. The presence of the University printed new habits and forms of urban cultures, marked by the installation of the houses of students. This work, resulting from research conducted within the Center for Graduate Studies and Research in Social Sciences, Federal University of Sergipe, it is proposed to discuss these youthful sociability, in order to observe the cultural practices of the University of Ouro Preto. We analyze how the different identities appropriate the urban space and enunciate different lifestyles, pointing out places in this city. Our argument is that both the university and certain republics of the city spaces can be characterized as hybrid spaces or fragmentary, to enunciate that uses the locus of social change into public. The empirical comprises both traditional republics - are limited to the assets of the old town area of Ouro Preto - for new dwellings that have arisen in non central city, as well as streets and squares in which cultural manifestations are observed typical urban youth culture. What follows, as analytical suggestion is that the strong enrollment social and simbolic that culture gives to everyday urban life of Ouro Preto is a city space dissonant identity of different social practices and sociability. / A histórica e patrimonial cidade de Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais/Brasil, tem uma forte característica de vida juvenil universitária, a exemplo de outras cidades históricas, como Coimbra, em Portugal. A presença da Universidade imprimiu novos hábitos e formas diferenciadas de culturas urbanas, marcadas pela instalação das republicas estudantis. Esta dissertação, resultante de pesquisa realizada no âmbito do Núcleo de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Ciências Sociais da Universidade Federal de Sergipe, propõe-se a discutir essas sociabilidades juvenis, em vista a observar as práticas culturais dos universitários de Ouro Preto. Analisamos como as diferentes identidades urbanas apropriam-se dos espaços e manifestam estilos de vida distintos, demarcando lugares na cidade. Nosso argumento é que tanto as repúblicas universitárias quanto certos espaços da cidade podem ser qualificados como espaços híbridos ou fragmentários, ao enunciarem usos que os transformam em lócus de sociabilidades públicas. O recorte empírico compreende tanto as repúblicas tradicionais circunscritas à área patrimonial do centro histórico de Ouro Preto quanto às novas habitações que surgiram em espaços não centrais da cidade; assim como ruas e praças nas quais se observam manifestações culturais típicas da cultura urbana juvenil. O que se conclui, como sugestão analítica, é que a forte inscrição sociossimbólica que essa cultura imprime à vida urbana cotidiana de Ouro Preto faz da cidade um espaço identitário dissonante de práticas sociais e sociabilidades diversas.

Istanbul est une métropole anatolienne. Destination préférentielle, depuis le début des années 1950, des flux migratoires internes à la Turquie, la ville est devenue comme une maquette démographique de la Turquie au sein de laquelle chaque groupe et chaque habitant exprime ses propres pratiques, manières de vivre, spatialités et traits culturels. Dans ce contexte, l’analyse de la population originaire du département oriental de Gaziantep et de ses pratiques alimentaires montre comment des groupes immigrés instrumentalisent l’alimentation comme moyen d’inclusion dans un très vaste ensemble urbain, à la fois comme outil identitaire et comme mode d’action sur le fonctionnement métropolitain. Originaires d’un département dont la réputation est associée à sa cuisine, les Gaziantepli se construisent, à Istanbul, une identité qui valorise des pratiques alimentaires héritées, des réseaux spéciaux d’approvisionnement, un entrepreneuriat commercial autour de la cuisine, et l’organisation d’événements valorisant la nourriture régionale. Les significations accordées au séjour stambouliote, ainsi que la nature des systèmes de référence utilisés apparaissent comme des facteurs clés de différenciation et, par rétroaction, se traduisent dans les pratiques alimentaires et urbaines des citadins immigrés. En outre, par leurs manières d’utiliser la référence alimentaire comme outil d’urbanité, ceux-ci contribuent à la recomposition urbaine par une redéfinition des citadinités, une complexification des marquages sociaux dans des quartiers en restructuration, la création d’une offre commerciale et culturelle spécifique. Ce rôle d’acteurs urbains repose sur le statut ambivalent des immigrés gaziantepli à Istanbul, entre partage d’une nationalité commune et distance inhérente à une condition immigrée. / Istanbul is an Anatolian metropolis. Since the beginning of the 1950s, the city has become a preferential destination for the internal migratory flows in Turkey. Hence, Istanbul has become to some extent a demographic miniature copy of Turkey, where each group and inhabitant expresses its own practices, ways of life, spatialities and cultural characteristics. It is in such a context that the food practices of the population from the territorial unit of Gaziantep (East of Turkey) are analysed. Through their food pratices we show how an internal immigrant group uses food as a way to include itself within a huge urban space, but also as an identity tool and a way to leave its mark in the functioning of the metropolis. Coming from a region which reputation is linked to its cuisine, the Gaziantepli people build in Istanbul their own identity through inherited food practices, special supply networks, food retailers entrepreneurship and the organization of special events. The very fact of living in Istanbul and the meanings attributed to that, and the system of identity references the Gaziantepli people use in Istanbul are key factors of differentiation. They influence their urban practices and food choices as immigrant city-dwellers. Moreover, thanks to their ways of using food as a tool of urban integration, they contribute to the growing complexity of the metropolis and its urban dynamics, restructuring districts and creating a specific commercial and cultural supply. This role of urban actors does not erase Gaziantepli immigrants’ ambivalent status: they share a common Turkish citizenship but are still tied to their immigrant condition in Istanbul.