Food and Pleasure in Modern American Literature is a study of the dynamics of pleasure in literary scenes of food, eating, and hungering in American poetry and novels from the early 20th century to the present. From infamous poetic instances of plums and memorialized moveable feasts in the early twentieth century to present-day preoccupations with overdetermined foods and bodies, food scenes in literature help develop character, play out cultural or social dynamics, or dramatize appetite and desire. In many instances, pleasure (or its absence) is what gives such scenes weight and dimension. I apply tools and concepts from both structuralism and phenomenology to explore the tensions between seemingly opposing ideas introduced in food-focused texts, which have been selected from a broad range of genres and eras. Chapters 2 through 6 focus specifically on poetry, which offers the opportunity to explore specific structuralist and phenomenological concepts within the space of a few lines, for closer attention. Chapters 7 through 10 examine fiction and non-fiction prose at lengths which permit many more layers of conflict and desire in regard to food and pleasure. The culminating chapters examine contemporary food writing and recent novels that shed light on the food issues of the present day. / English

The Paintings of Jeff Koons: 1994 - 2008" is an in depth look at the painting of an artist who is still primarily known for his sculptural work of the 1980's. This thesis examines Koons' paintings in light of his previous work and looks at his studio practices, sources, connection to Photorealism, Surrealism, and Duchamp, etc. The thesis contends that a greater understanding and appreciation for Koons' paintings is necessary in order to grasp the importance of his entire oeuvre. / Art History

<p>This dissertation investigates several contemporary texts I can subversive defamiliarizations in which charn.cters take extreme measures in order to exist outside of the hegemonic limits of late-capitalist culture. It is my assertion that these texts are different to previous representations of counter-cultural resistance in important ways, precisely because of the wildly unusual methods necessarily adopted by their characters to evade a culture that seems to have become increasingly perverse and pervasive. Chapter 1 contains an introductory definition of subversive defamiliarizations and the specific cultural milieu which they interrogate. Chapter 2 is a consideration of Chuck Palahniuk's novel Fight Club and David Fincher's t1lm adaptation, in which the anarchic protagonist instigates a broad range of extreme acts of resistance in an attempt to place himself ideologically outside of consumer culture. Chapter 3 discusses Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting and Danny Boyle's film version, which argue that the rules of modem existence have become so detrimental to the contemporary subject that even a potentially life threatening alternative lifestyle (heroin addiction) may be more rewarding. Chapter 4 examines Lars von Trier's Dogme95 film The Idiots, about a group of Danes who are united by the bizarre belief that "spassing," or pretending to be mentally retarded, constitutes a genuine critique ot~ and alternative to, late-capitalist life. Chapter 5 concludes this dissertation with a brief analysis of three novels--Chuck Palahniuk's Survivor and Bret Easton Ellis's Glamorama and American Psycho--subversive defamiliarizations that frame their critiques by presenting characters who completely immerse themselves in their culture's ideology. The critical function ofthese texts emerges because, in each case, an escalating surrender to, and absorption by, the dominant culture occurs simultaneously and causally with encroaching madness.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This article is about the alternative forms of power emerging in contemporary activism. It conceptualizes this new form of power as ‘non-dominating’, and puts forward six propositions which characterize this form of power. It builds on work about power with eight diverse communities in the North of England, to argue that this form of power does exist in practice at the neighbourhood level, even though it is not articulated as such. While neighbourhood activists have difficulty in making this form of power effective, at the level of the ‘square’ and global activism, new understandings and practices of power are under conscious experimentation. This contribution therefore suggests that better connections need to be built between these levels of activism. At the same time, non-dominating power should be recognized as enhancing the debate about effective and transformative change and how it can avoid reproducing dominating power.

The stories in this collection reflect the absurdities of contemporary American family life, and the particularly distressing economic conditions of the present moment. These stories often employ absurdist elements. Because of the personal history that informs my work, realism does not seem an appropriate form for me. My oldest son, in whom my emotional well-being is heavily invested, is autistic. He is not “normal"? in a way that others would understand as “normal."? Parenting a child with special needs changes the way a marriage operates, deforming it. The personal experience that drives these stories often seems fantastical even to me. I don’t write about my personal experiences, but I write about the impressions that those experiences make upon me. In this way, my work is descriptive rather than didactic. / Master of Fine Arts

Political disillusionment is widespread in contemporary Japanese society, despite people’s struggles in the recession. Our social relationships become entangled, and we can no longer clearly identify our interest in politics. The search for the outside of stagnant reality sometimes leads marginalised young people to a disastrous imaginary for social change, such as war and death. The imaginary of disaster was actualised in March 2011. The huge earthquake and tsunami caused the meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which triggered the largest wave of activism since the 1960s. Based on the author’s fieldwork on the post-Fukushima anti-nuclear movements in Tokyo, this thesis investigates how the disaster impacted people’s sense of agency and ethics, and ultimately explores the new political imaginary in postmodernity. The disaster revealed the interconnected nature of contemporary society. The thesis argues that their regret about their past indifference to politics motivated the protesters into social commitment without any totalising ideology or predetermined collective identity. They also found an ambiguity of the self, which is insufficient to know what should be done. Hence, they mobilise their bodies on to the streets, encountering others, and forcing themselves to feel and think. This is an ethical attitude, yet it simultaneously stems from the desire of each individual to make a difference to the self and society. The thesis concludes that the post-Fukushima anti-nuclear movements signify a new way of doing politics as endless experiments by collectively responding to an unexpected force from an outside in a creative way.

The study of work-life balance, teleworking, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility are increasingly studied among scholars using different theoretical frameworks. However, no study examines work-life balance, teleworking, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility as needs in these contemporary times that, when met, lead to higher employee job satisfaction. Existing scholarship suggests that employee job satisfaction is a function of needs. However, with globalization, human needs have changed to include social justice concerns and the desire to have a more fulfilling family life. When organizations respond to these needs, it leads to employee job satisfaction, which ultimately improves organizational performance. This dissertation proposes a Contemporary Needs Theory of employee job satisfaction and contends that work-life balance, teleworking, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) are contemporary needs that influence employee job satisfaction. Just as physiological, safety, love, self-esteem, and self-actualization needs are important, so are efforts to meet needs that contribute to work-life balance, teleworking, and DEIA policies. Using the 2022 federal employee viewpoint survey data and multivariate regression analysis, the findings indicate that work-life balance, teleworking, and commitment to DEIA policies contribute to employee job satisfaction. The study's policy and management implications inform researchers and practitioners of the socio-demographic dimensions affecting federal employee job satisfaction, the need for the federal government to examine policies from a historical perspective, and more effective ways of managing organizations. The study recommends that policymakers constantly review their policies and evaluate the workplace for disparities, cultural changes, and policy effect on employee behavior.

This thesis argues that consumerism and the mass media wield an unparalleled influence over contemporary North American society, and that these forces constitute the primary means through which identity is constituted. The historical and theoretical developments that have led to the foregrounding of these forces are outlined in the introduction - developments, it is argued, that are intrinsically connected to the social upheava1 that characterized America in the late 1960's and early 1970's, while their presence in and effects on the fiction of four contemporary North American writers - Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo, Bret Easton Ellis and Douglas Coupland - are examined in the main body of the thesis. Chapter I focuses on Pynchon whose novels, it is argued, are the product of a uniquely post-1960's America, which mourns the sacrifice of traditional ideals to the corporate mindset which has been prevalent since ths 1980's Pynchon's dominant metaphor for the direction in which he believes American society to be moving is the thermodynamic concept of entropy, which stipulates that all prqress is towards death. His novels abound with characters who disintegrate due to the information overload fostered by their media-based world. However, he retains his faith that a return to historical values and traditions will stem and even reverse the entropic tide DeLillo, a close contemporary of Pynchon's, draws on a different aspect of the legacy of the 1960's, for his writing is overshadowed by the 1963 assassination of President Kennedy and the years of turbulence that ensued. His novels are ultimately more pessimistic because his characters do not succeed in escaping from the repressive narratives of consumerism and the mass media in order to reassert their own personalities. One reason for this failure, it is argued, is that DeLillo's characters represent a metaphorical dramatization of the dichotomy between the modernist desire for structure and the postmodernist embrace of fluidity and uncertainty. The fictional characters of the younger authors, Ellis and Coupland, inhabit this postmodern world where all experience has been rendered depthless and traditional ontological and epistemological certainties have been collapsed Ellis' characters fluctuate between the extremes of apathy and violence as they search for a way of preventing their psyches from disintegrating amidst the surrounding chaos. Neither one of these options brings - any relief. Coupland is more optimistic about the ability of his characters to survive and even prosper in the contemporary world. He arms them with the linguistic and technological skills necessary to adapt to the rapid social and technological changes. Most importantly of all, he draws on the sense of objectivity fostered by his own background as a Canadian in order to provide them with an alternative and a sense of escape from the media-saturated environment of the American West Coast. What is perhaps most remarkable about these four authors as a group is that in spite of their obvious insight into the nature of the contemporary postmodern world, they are unwilling - or perhaps even unable - to fully relinquish their hold on a number of traditional metanarratives, most notably the ideal of the stable, supportive family unit. This implies a degree of uncertainty and perhaps even of fear on their parts about fully committing to the fluidity of contemporary culture.

Baigiamajame magistro darbe „Šiuolaikinio šokio profesionalų rengimo ypatumai“ siekiama nustatyti šiuolaikinio šokio profesionalų rengimo ypatumus. Pirmoje darbo dalyje, remiantis mokslinės literatūros analize, atskleidžiama šiuolaikinio šokio samprata bei raidos ypatumai, taip pat šiuolaikinio šokio raiška Lietuvos kultūroje. Antroje darbo dalyje, remiantis mokslinės literatūros analize, apibrėžiami šiuolaikinio šokio atlikėjų, choreografų bei šokio mokytojų profesinės veiklos ypatumai ir tai veiklai atlikti būtinos kompetencijos. Trečiojoje darbo dalyje analizuojami empirinio tyrimo rezultatai – JAV ir Vakarų Europos aukštųjų šiuolaikinio šokio mokyklų studijų programos, taip pat šiuolaikinio šokio profesionalų požiūris į šiuolaikinio šokio specialistų rengimą, studijų galimybes bei kokybę Lietuvoje. Darbo pabaigoje pateikiamas, mokslinės literatūros, studijų programų bei profesionalų požiūrio į specialistų rengimą analizės pagrindu, sukurtas šiuolaikinio šokio profesionalų rengimo modelis. / Final MA thesis “Features of Education of Contemporary Dance Professionals” aims to discover and describe features of education of contemporary dance professionals. By analyzing theoretic literature in the first section of this thesis author tries to reveal concept and traits of development of contemporary dance as well as contemporary dance in Lithuania. By analyzing theoretic literature the second section of this thesis describes features of contemporary dance professions such as dancer, choreographer and teacher along with necessary competences for these careers. The third part of the thesis analyzes the results of empirical research – contents and structure of study programmes of higher education institutions in USA and Western Europe as well as opinion of Lithuanian contemporary dance professionals about options of contemporary dance studies in Lithuania and their quality. In accordance with analysis of theoretic literature, study programmes of foreign institutions and opinions of contemporary dance professionals about studies in Lithuania the final section proposes a new model for education of contemporary dance professionals.

O estudo a seguir desdobra as questões de site specificity na arte contemporânea e suas modificações nas três últimas décadas. A compreensão do espaço em arte tomou novas formas não só em função dos espaços e dos discursos artísticos, mas também em função dos novos meios e linguagens. Essas mudanças demandaram alguns acompanhamentos por parte dos espaços expositivos, bem como um novo olhar sobre o que se entende por site specific art. Com base, principalmente nas propostas de Miwon Kwon, o presente material compara as obras de arte contemporânea, tecendo diálogos com as mudanças vistas. Espaços institucionalizados, como Inhotim, dialogam com a noção de site specificic arts, demonstrando as observações sobre site specificity. A pesquisa apresenta esta jornada e fornece subsídios para vislumbrar o espaço da arte contemporânea na segunda década do século XXI. / The following research unfolds site specificity matters on contemporary art and its changes for the last three decades. The comprehension of the space in art had reached new standards, not only due to artistic spaces and discourses, but also for new media and languages. Theses changes demanded some accomplishments at the exhibition spaces as well as new looks over what one understands as site specific art. Upon Miwon Kown premisses this study compares contemporary art works creating dialogs with the modifications already achieved. Institutionalized spaces, such as Inhotim, converse with site specific arts, what reinforces the need for a site specificity stare. The probe validates the jouney and endorses a fresh look over contemporary art on the second decade of the 21st century