No abstract.

Masters thesis in Creative Nonfiction Writing

This project evaluates the work of Canadian author and playwright Ann-Marie Macdonald in the context of links between ecocritical, feminist and post-colonial perspectives; it seeks to understand how broader definitions for gender provide an alternative to the patriarchal binaries that limit both individual and national identities. Part of the Canadian conscious is an anxiety that questions not only the way difference impacts their culture, but also how these differences speak to a lack of a homogenized national identity. This study focuses on Macdonald�s novels Fall on Your Knees (1996) and The Way the Crow Flies (2003) , in order to examine histories that have traditionally been excluded, stories outside of colonial, and later, national rhetoric. Macdonald exhumes these stories, elevating women�s voices, in particular, to reveal the danger of limiting visions of personal identity. These identities, particularly national identities, implicitly reflect deeply imbedded, and often disregarded, relationships with our natural environment. Thus, national and individual identities are inseparable from ecological concerns. Fall on Your Knees uses the image and context of gardens as a means of discovery, particularly in imaging the history of colonial settlement. The Way the Crow Flies continues this work to explore the impact of modernity and the continued policies of categorization and, subsequently, subjugation. Modern visions for land development and industrialization inform perspectives about place and selfhood as landscapes experienced a form of colonization that revised definitions for natural and unnatural spaces. These definitions are similar to those for male and female, which have traditionally place the latter in a subjugate position. The inscription of femininity parallels that of the land, its traumas providing an important collusion between land and people. It is this paper�s contention that Macdonald uses her stories to destabilize male/female binaries and, ultimately, suggest an alternative to restrictive identities.

This thesis considers how contemporary British literature helps us negotiate better ways of being in an increasingly diverse world. Britain understood itself as a relatively homogenous white society and reacted badly when commonwealth citizens unexpectedly began to return following World War II. Colonial migrants increasingly large presence, particularly as many settled and had children, challenged the myth of a pure Anglo-Saxon Britain and forced a re-conceiving of what it is to be British. This thesis particularly examines how colonial immigrants found ways to (re)negotiate their identities as British in the face of hostility in their mother country. Chapter One looks at how Sam Selvons The Lonely Londoners depicts ways early West Indian immigrants found to endure in immediate post-war, nationalist, Britain. I argue that while working class migrants found ways to survive, they did so at the expense of personal growth. Nevertheless, their tenacity laid down the foundations of a new Britishness on which future generations could build. Chapter Two examines Hanif Kureishis The Buddha of Suburbia. I argue that Kureishis novel indicates how second-generation migrants, who are often more psychically flexible, form their identities differently to their immigrant parents. They negotiate ways of being British via their heritage and immediate family, but also with peers, and across various boundaries including those of class, gender, and culture. Chapter Three considers Zadie Smiths White Teeth. I argue that this novel suggests how immigrants negotiate their identities across even more boundaries and increasingly take advantage of the changing circumstances of life in Britain. This literature indicates reasons for some minority groups disaffection and subsequent behavior and so helps us to better understand and negotiate difference. In the Afterword, I reiterate that, starting from Britains nationalistic fear of hybridity in the 1950s, the novels in this study show the trajectory of how colonial immigrants found ways of being accepted as British. While it must remain vigilant to possible peril, Britains social imaginary has expanded to understand the benefits of multiculturalism and of valuing all citizens as equal.

Poetry Collection

A book of poems.

Sorting Yard

This project evaluates the work of Canadian author and playwright Ann-Marie Macdonald in the context of links between ecocritical, feminist and post-colonial perspectives; it seeks to understand how broader definitions for gender provide an alternative to the patriarchal binaries that limit both individual and national identities. Part of the Canadian conscious is an anxiety that questions not only the way difference impacts their culture, but also how these differences speak to a lack of a homogenized national identity. This study focuses on Macdonalds novels Fall on Your Knees (1996) and The Way the Crow Flies (2003) , in order to examine histories that have traditionally been excluded, stories outside of colonial, and later, national rhetoric. Macdonald exhumes these stories, elevating womens voices, in particular, to reveal the danger of limiting visions of personal identity. These identities, particularly national identities, implicitly reflect deeply imbedded, and often disregarded, relationships with our natural environment. Thus, national and individual identities are inseparable from ecological concerns. Fall on Your Knees uses the image and context of gardens as a means of discovery, particularly in imaging the history of colonial settlement. The Way the Crow Flies continues this work to explore the impact of modernity and the continued policies of categorization and, subsequently, subjugation. Modern visions for land development and industrialization inform perspectives about place and selfhood as landscapes experienced a form of colonization that revised definitions for natural and unnatural spaces. These definitions are similar to those for male and female, which have traditionally place the latter in a subjugate position. The inscription of femininity parallels that of the land, its traumas providing an important collusion between land and people. It is this papers contention that Macdonald uses her stories to destabilize male/female binaries and, ultimately, suggest an alternative to restrictive identities.

The purpose of this thesis is to review the positions of women in Islam in light of the primary sources of faith, The Quran and Prophet Muhammads Sunnah, and hence, contributes to a better understanding of the highly stereotyped and Westernized image of Muslim woman as exemplified in the literary work of the Egyptian writer, Nawal Al Saadawi. The thesis focuses on how Nawal Al Saadawi, through her novel Woman at Point Zero, believes, as the Western world, feminists and readers do, that Islam has degraded the social status of women. She enforces the image of Muslim women as an oppressed, silent, victim of her religion. In doing so, she collaborates with the West and its image of the inferior status of Muslim/Arab women and the violence of patriarchal Muslim societies, strengthens the colonial, orientalist discourse and thus ends up being perceived in the Muslim and Arab societies as an agent of Westernization.

Iowa history reveals a long-term progressive stance towards implementing civil liberties laws. Yet many outside of the state equate Iowa with staid provincialism because of its rural isolation in the American heartland. Novelist Marilynne Robinsons Gilead brings attention to a little known time in Iowa history when residents were actively involved in the Underground Railroad. Her protagonist, John Ames, recalls family stories of past activism from a hundred year vantage point. Due to the gradual, but pervasive homogeneity of his Iowa small town, Ames struggles with implementing his progressive, yet abstract ethics into practice. Ames journals about his specialized homing in memories, which show how Iowans have struggled with their past and present pursuit of equality and fairness. This essay corroborates Amess recollections with an investigation into place, society and the past, as it relates to rural Iowa communities, by exploring the causality of the states more liberal legislation and the tension created when actual application comes into play. Research of the past reveals that in the absence of historical touchstones common to other regions, Iowans must fall back upon local stories to create continuity. Robinsons Gilead follows unspoken customs in Midwestern storytelling by telling about real events, people, times and places. Gilead was published in 2004, yet Robinsons protagonist lives in 1956. Amess examination of the past, and along with his own struggles, caution of the dangers from resting on the laurels of ones forbearers. The invasion of a subconscious racism in 1956 Gilead offers a warning for todays society, which may have become complacent after the reforms during the 1960s. Yet the blessing Ames eventually is able to give his adult namesake provides a positive model of hope for the future to his young son and wife. Amess testimony encourages Iowans and readers in general about the value of contemplating past history since the stories in Gilead demonstrate a sense of eternal connection with humanity. Additionally, Gileads homing in memories and reflections maintain authenticity according to Iowa analysis while offering hope and encouragement to readers about the value of continuing to strive for fairness and empathy.