The writings of controversial ???underground??? figure Iceberg Slim feature identities and sub-cultures either antagonistic to, or otherwise not commensurable with, mainstream American Orders of Discourse. Within the ex-pimp???s narrative dystopia, a provocative and unreservedly profane idiom is employed not only to champion normatively marginalized or demonized subjectivities (such as African-Americans, the underclass, pimps and ???hustlers???), but also to identify and condemn the policies and praxes hegemonizing the Social domain. Moreover, although Slim is one of the most widely-read African-American authors, there has been to date almost no critical engagement with his work. The two primary objectives of this Thesis were: firstly, to evaluate and elucidate the transgressive potential posed by the Slimian narrative universe; and secondly, to demonstrate that the genus of Lacanian, post-Marxian and other dialectical heuristics developed by Slavoj ??i??ek offered the most expedient means of achieving the first objective. More specifically, via investigating the discursive and trans-discursive coordinates of marginal identity as dramatized in four of Slim???s most popular novellas (Pimp, Trick Baby, Mama Black Widow, and Death Wish), we sought to ascertain the degree to which Slim???s particular representational negotiations of identity and identification operate to undermine, or (inadvertently) support, dominant ideological formulations. Further, this investigation adopted a ??i??ekian approach to develop a framework through which the (social, ethical, ideological, aesthetic, psychical and libidinal) issues surrounding Power that are at stake could be meaningfully evaluated. Our cardinal hypotheses concerned the basic dialectical postulation that the key to understanding hegemonic operations lies not in the content of those operations, but rather in the form(s) through which they are brought to bear. The results obtained in this Thesis were consistent with the fundamental hypotheses posed and served also to achieve our primary objectives. Namely, our ??i??ekian approach identified and explained various structural and psychical features which were crucial in determining not only the antagonisms between (and inherent to) the vicissitudes of Power and the metastases of Its transgression (or not) within the Slimian universe, but also our apprehension of those antagonisms. In our enumeration of at least three discreet modalities of transgression, we finally concluded that the most radical dimension of the Slimian universe was to be located in the inherent undecidability between its affiliations with incommensurable ideological domains.

The writings of controversial ???underground??? figure Iceberg Slim feature identities and sub-cultures either antagonistic to, or otherwise not commensurable with, mainstream American Orders of Discourse. Within the ex-pimp???s narrative dystopia, a provocative and unreservedly profane idiom is employed not only to champion normatively marginalized or demonized subjectivities (such as African-Americans, the underclass, pimps and ???hustlers???), but also to identify and condemn the policies and praxes hegemonizing the Social domain. Moreover, although Slim is one of the most widely-read African-American authors, there has been to date almost no critical engagement with his work. The two primary objectives of this Thesis were: firstly, to evaluate and elucidate the transgressive potential posed by the Slimian narrative universe; and secondly, to demonstrate that the genus of Lacanian, post-Marxian and other dialectical heuristics developed by Slavoj ??i??ek offered the most expedient means of achieving the first objective. More specifically, via investigating the discursive and trans-discursive coordinates of marginal identity as dramatized in four of Slim???s most popular novellas (Pimp, Trick Baby, Mama Black Widow, and Death Wish), we sought to ascertain the degree to which Slim???s particular representational negotiations of identity and identification operate to undermine, or (inadvertently) support, dominant ideological formulations. Further, this investigation adopted a ??i??ekian approach to develop a framework through which the (social, ethical, ideological, aesthetic, psychical and libidinal) issues surrounding Power that are at stake could be meaningfully evaluated. Our cardinal hypotheses concerned the basic dialectical postulation that the key to understanding hegemonic operations lies not in the content of those operations, but rather in the form(s) through which they are brought to bear. The results obtained in this Thesis were consistent with the fundamental hypotheses posed and served also to achieve our primary objectives. Namely, our ??i??ekian approach identified and explained various structural and psychical features which were crucial in determining not only the antagonisms between (and inherent to) the vicissitudes of Power and the metastases of Its transgression (or not) within the Slimian universe, but also our apprehension of those antagonisms. In our enumeration of at least three discreet modalities of transgression, we finally concluded that the most radical dimension of the Slimian universe was to be located in the inherent undecidability between its affiliations with incommensurable ideological domains.

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Slavoj Zizek is a contemporary political philosopher widely recognized for his aphoristic style. Contrary to many forms of more traditional theory, Zizek does not forward his arguments as a series of well-argued, logically flowing propositions, but rather as a cacophony of diagnoses running the gamut of social science and culture studies while nevertheless always slipping from one position to another, occupying at times the position of the orthodox Marxist in the face of post-modernism’s excesses, and at other times doing quite the opposite. This study proposes a reading methodology that takes aphorism and hyperbole as key elements of writing; more specifically, this study understands writing as a political intervention, and reads Zizek’s recent works in this light. Arguing that Zizek occupies a multitude of positions against a multitude of interlocutors on the post-Marxist scene, this thesis claims that it is precisely his ability to navigate between two distinct scenes which constitutes his novelty. Zizek combats conventional forms of leftism in order to open up a space for a new theoretical position, denying the coordinates of both post-Marxism and postmodernism.

Slavoj Zizek is a contemporary political philosopher widely recognized for his aphoristic style. Contrary to many forms of more traditional theory, Zizek does not forward his arguments as a series of well-argued, logically flowing propositions, but rather as a cacophony of diagnoses running the gamut of social science and culture studies while nevertheless always slipping from one position to another, occupying at times the position of the orthodox Marxist in the face of post-modernism’s excesses, and at other times doing quite the opposite. This study proposes a reading methodology that takes aphorism and hyperbole as key elements of writing; more specifically, this study understands writing as a political intervention, and reads Zizek’s recent works in this light. Arguing that Zizek occupies a multitude of positions against a multitude of interlocutors on the post-Marxist scene, this thesis claims that it is precisely his ability to navigate between two distinct scenes which constitutes his novelty. Zizek combats conventional forms of leftism in order to open up a space for a new theoretical position, denying the coordinates of both post-Marxism and postmodernism.

I define intellectual urbanite as a person that exists on the margins of two societies. In this project, I will empty the term "urbanite" of its chic cultural value and use it to refer to a member of society who lives in the inner city and is subjected to multifarious racial, economic, and/or cultural forces perpetuated by controlling ideologies. The intellectual urbanite is marginalized by mainstream culture due to physical location, lack of wealth, racialization, racialized discourses, or any combination of these factors. Intellectual urbanites are also exiled to the margins of their own culture as those who act in ways other than what is coded for them within their home communities. This project will explore the postmodern psychological condition of the intellectual urbanite and suggest a means by which intellectual urbanites can differentiate themselves as nomadic thinkers rather than (re)productions of ideological domination.

This thesis considers how desire might be theorised in the twenty first century against the backdrop of New Zealand society, culture and film. Methodologically, this exploration is addressed with reference to Žižek’s return to a critique of ideology, whose conceptual basis is drawn from Marx, Althusser and Lacan, and which is significant in its analysis of contemporary desire as emanating from social conditions and constellations of power. Žižek’s challenge to call for a new Master is one that this thesis responds to enthusiastically. Such a response is posited from a location which intersects Lacanian psychoanalysis and sociological theories. The method this exploration employed focus groups and individual interviews from which talk of desire is constructed and critically explored. Focus groups and individual interviews were conducted following a viewing of the New Zealand film, Heavenly Creatures, which enabled an exploration of how participants offer competing ideological locations which can reveal the hidden and not so hidden mechanisms regulating social relations and ambiguities. The participant profiles of the focus groups were designed around key themes relating to the film: fathers of teenage daughters; those working or heavily involved within the creative industries; young women aged between 18-25; and those who grew up in Christchurch during the 1950’s. Heavenly Creatures is a film interpretation of the actual murder of Christchurch resident Honora Rieper in 1954 by her teenage daughter and this daughter’s friend. In exploring both the themes of friendship and the figure of the mother, Heavenly Creatures deliberately conflates fantasy with ideology, so that it is from this intersection that possibilities of subjective desire are confronted. When addressing desire set against this particular film, participants confront deadlocks and misrecognitions, in particular the disintegration of those ideological conditions with which they are identifying. These include the limitations of modern capitalism, concerns about the ‘environment’, the pervasive engagement with cynicism, and frustrations with the inability to intimately and socially self-express. In order to understand and articulate desire various locations are posited in the guise of subjective truth. These points of fixation are structured by the conditions of dominant social and cultural ideologies, which the participant seeks to symbolise in returning to the ambiguity of the promise of the Master’s discourse as proposed by Lacan. This thesis critically explores three of the modalities through which Lacan’s construct of the Master is revealed in participants’ talk about desire: these are the precarious position of belief, the fragmented body, and love as an ideological act. It is argued that these modalities work within discourse in such a way as to offer participants ideological personification as well as a complexity of circumstances from which they can designate the objet a (the truth of one’s desire in psychoanalytic terms) insisted by the superego. In this way these three modalities are configured as enabling a speaking, or a saying, from a position of knowledge. This position in turn insists that the subject does not have to abandon the problem of desire but rather engage with knowledge attained through confronting and developing a literacy of desire. Desire read alongside the modalities of belief, the body and love posit a contemporary ontology in which the gaze commands an ethical and somewhat moral dimension from which the subject can construct a Master which not only seeks to recognise and speak about desire, but also manage it within daily life.

This work seeks to address the major texts of Slavoj Zizek using a reading methodology which treats political philosophy as a practice, rather than a series of logical propositions or claims of truth or falsity. Philosophy is herein understood as a field of relations among authors who occupy precise theoretical and political coordinates. Writing produces and reproduces an author's position within this field via the way in which an author communicates with his/her peers, draws on past concepts, and designs new ones. This paper argues that Zizek cannot usefully be grasped as a theorist attempting to provide positive political solutions or analyses, but rather as a 'negative' force who occupies an impossible position by attempting to negate his peers and popular contemporary theoretical concepts - Zizek wishes to create a new intellectual space where political possibilities can be rethought and rediscovered, and he does this in his texts by ephemerally occupying multiple positions only to displace them.

This work seeks to address the major texts of Slavoj Zizek using a reading methodology which treats political philosophy as a practice, rather than a series of logical propositions or claims of truth or falsity. Philosophy is herein understood as a field of relations among authors who occupy precise theoretical and political coordinates. Writing produces and reproduces an author's position within this field via the way in which an author communicates with his/her peers, draws on past concepts, and designs new ones. This paper argues that Zizek cannot usefully be grasped as a theorist attempting to provide positive political solutions or analyses, but rather as a 'negative' force who occupies an impossible position by attempting to negate his peers and popular contemporary theoretical concepts - Zizek wishes to create a new intellectual space where political possibilities can be rethought and rediscovered, and he does this in his texts by ephemerally occupying multiple positions only to displace them.

(in English): The thesis deals with the formulation of a new theoretical perspective on terrorism. Terrorism has become a frequent topic in the academic, political and laical environment, especially in recent years as a result of the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001. It acquired a new form of a global threat; however, it is still a phenomenon of socially ambiguous approach. This thesis aims to analyze terrorism through its ideological background. Criticism of social inequality, which is masked by ideology, is the basic subject of Marxist thinkers. The thesis focuses on the Slovenian philosopher and sociologist Slavoj Zizek. He enriches the Marxist theory of psychoanalysis, which provides him a tool for the interpretation of social phenomena, and ideology is one of his central themes. The main goal of this thesis is to show the analysis of ideology through Žižek's original approach, which can be used to understand the causes of terrorism.