The objective of this exegesis is to show how linguistic and cultural hybridity create a unique prose style, and how my stories sit within that style. I will use Grace Paley and Lucia Berlin to demonstrate the distinctive narrative techniques. These include the use of sensuous details (instead of descriptions) to make place and character palpable; dialogue that convincingly evokes living speech; plots which emanate from the characters, rather than the other way round; and open-ended resolutions, as in real life. I will then show how I use these narrative techniques in my collection Happiness and other stories. The collection of stories is embargoed until 31 March 2012.

The objective of this exegesis is to show how linguistic and cultural hybridity create a unique prose style, and how my stories sit within that style. I will use Grace Paley and Lucia Berlin to demonstrate the distinctive narrative techniques. These include the use of sensuous details (instead of descriptions) to make place and character palpable; dialogue that convincingly evokes living speech; plots which emanate from the characters, rather than the other way round; and open-ended resolutions, as in real life. I will then show how I use these narrative techniques in my collection Happiness and other stories.

The objective of this exegesis is to show how linguistic and cultural hybridity create a unique prose style, and how my stories sit within that style. I will use Grace Paley and Lucia Berlin to demonstrate the distinctive narrative techniques. These include the use of sensuous details (instead of descriptions) to make place and character palpable; dialogue that convincingly evokes living speech; plots which emanate from the characters, rather than the other way round; and open-ended resolutions, as in real life. I will then show how I use these narrative techniques in my collection Happiness and other stories. The collection of stories is embargoed until 31 March 2012.

In Critical Practice, Catherine Belsey states how traditionally, classic realism is interpreted as a genre that"presents individuals whose traits of character, understood as essential and predominantly given, constrain the choices they make" (Belsey 74). Belsey's claim is significant in that it articulates what is often the locus of tension and conflict in the genre: rigid, essentialist identitary discourse.In summarizing and considering the various identitary discourses at play within Mordecai Richler's The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and The Street and Gérard Bessette's La bagarre and Les pédagogues, the purpose of this thesis is to analyse how issues surrounding constructions of identity are dramatized in these classic realist, satirical texts in order to show how their cultural work in terms of identity can be understood as being more ambivalent than has heretofore often been thought. The thesis' theoretical focus is rooted primarily in post-colonial theory, especially the ways it interrogates representations of cultural and ethnic struggles for recognition and power that are a result of colonial and/or cultural hegemonic domination. More specifically, the thesis discusses and appropriates the theory and concepts of the post-colonial critic Homi K. Bhabha, particularly in terms of how the selected primary texts can be said to exemplify Bhabha's notions of ambivalence, hybridity and a Third Space of identity; how the narratives' main conflicts and tensions around identity can be better understood by looking at how some of the characters can be said to inhabit a Third Space. However, the thesis will also show that while Bhabha's claim that instances of ambivalence, hybridity and the Third Space in the selected texts can be said to represent" neither the one [...], nor the Other [...] but something else besides which contests the terms and the territories of both [i.e. of competing identities]," (Bhabha 41) their concomitant essentialist discourses can be said to trouble the idealism of Bhabha's faith in such notions.In short, this thesis posits that though the selected texts perform important cultural work via their complex problematizations of the ambivalence of said discourses, they also satirize and critique essentialist and ethnocentric discourses.

This thesis examines how hip-hop has become a meaningful cultural movement for contemporary artists in Hamburg and in Oldenburg. The comparative analysis is guided by a three-dimensional theoretical framework that considers the spatial, historical and social influences, which have shaped hip-hop music, dance, rap and graffiti art in the USA and subsequently in the two northern German cities. The research methods entail participant observation, semi-structured interviews and a close reading of hip-hop's cultural texts in the form of videos, photographs and lyrics. The first chapter analyses the manifestation of hip-hop music in Hamburg. The second chapter looks at the local adaptation of hip-hop's dance styles. The last two chapters on rap and graffiti art present a comparative analysis between the art forms' appropriation in Hamburg and in Oldenburg. In comparing hip-hop's four main elements and their practices in two distinct cities, this research project expands current German hip-hop scholarship beyond the common focus on rap, especially in terms of rap being a voice of the minority. It also offers insights into the ways in which artists express their local, regional or national identity as a culturally hybrid state, since hip-hop's art forms have always been the result of cultural and artistic mixture. The theoretical focus on spatiality, historicality and sociality moreover reveals different and even contradicting manifestations of cultural hybridity and identity in hip-hop. In particular, this thesis looks at the formation of post-hybrid identities, with which hip-hop artists aim at expressing their multiculturality as an inherent part of their life in Germany.

This study uses a postcolonial perspective to examine the construction of cultural identities in second generation South Asian women. It critiques traditional strategies of immigrant incorporation, including assimilation and cultural pluralism, for their androcentric and essentialist tendencies. It was found that the women constructed a cultural hybrid identity, and using Homi Bhabha's notion of third space, I discuss the process of how this hybrid identity is constructed. A phenomenological approach, in which the subjective voices of the participants are privileged, was used to analyze nine interviews for themes relating to the construction of a hybrid identity.

Esta pesquisa objetivou investigar como se estrutura nos enredos de quatro romances de Moacyr Scliar o diálogo ambivalente entre a memória judaica e a diáspora brasileira. Nas obras escolhidas no corpus, foi verificada a presença comum de dois planos narrativos. Um deles se ancora no passado, possui dicção memorialista e documental, retrata a longa saga do povo judeu, ficcionalizada por intermédio de vários recortes históricos. Já o segundo plano narrativo relaciona-se a distintos contextos da diáspora. Este se desenvolve no tempo presente do discurso e apresenta uma cronologia gaúcha brasileira que transcorre em meados do século XX. A metodologia adotada averiguou a possível validade da seguinte hipótese: a mescla discursiva entre elementos da memória judaica e da diáspora brasileira é responsável pela produção de um discurso híbrido de caráter multicultural. Foi realizado também o cotejo entre diversos elementos intratextuais bem como os entre-lugares e hibridismos representados nos romances. / This research aimed to investigate how the ambivalent dialogue between the Jewish memory and the Brazilian diaspora is structured in the plots of four Moacyr Scliar´s novels. In the works chosen from a corpus, the common presence of two narrative plans was verified. One of them is anchored in the past, has memorialist and documentary diction, portrays the long saga of the Jewish people, fictionalized by means of several historical cuts. The second narrative plane is related to the different contexts of the diaspora. It develops in the discourse present time and presents a Brazilian Gaucho chronology that takes place in the middle of the 20th century. The methodology adopted has validated the following hypothesis: the discursive blend between elements of the Jewish memory and the Brazilian diaspora is responsible for the production of a multicultural hybrid discourse. A comparison between several intratextual elements as well as the inter-places and hybridity represented in the novels was also made.

O objetivo deste trabalho é investigar a relevância do conceito de hibridismo cultural para a compreensão dos fenômenos de mudança social e cultural. Pretendo me concentrar nos autores que questionam a homogeneidade das culturas e das identidades, e que em vez disso acreditam que todas as culturas são inerentementes híbridas, sendo a interação entre elas capaz de intensificar essa mistura de formas imprevisíveis. Ao mesmo tempo, analiso o modo como o filme Minha Adorável Lavanderia trata do hibridismo, procurando relacioná-lo com os autores investigados. / The aim of this dissertation is to investigate the relevance of the concept of cultural hydbridity to an understanding of the phenomena of social and cultural change. It is my intention to focus on those theorists who question the purity and homogeneity of cultures, and believe instead that all cultures are inherently hybrid, and that intercultural exchange helps to intensify the mixture in unpredictable ways. At the same time, I examine the concept of hybridity underlying My Beautiful Laundrette, trying to relate it to the theories above

Esta dissertação busca desenvolver uma etnogeografia sobre a presença dos Galpões no cotidiano de alguns grupos sociais no Vale do Rio Três Forquilhas (Litoral Norte do Rio Grande do Sul), para tanto se aporta em Bonnemaison (2002), como referencial para o entendimento dos acontecimentos na área delimitada, para analisar não somente a arquitetura contemporânea de algumas casas, mas também ressaltar a importância da etnicidade e período das ocupações “não nativas” como vetores dos processos de hibridismo. Para este conceito (hibridismo) serão utilizados textos de Canclini (2006) e Burke (2008). O “Galpão” investigado não é somente o “Galpão gaúcho”, mas também os espaços do habitar, trabalho e lazer de vários grupos étnicos e sociais presentes nesta região (Japoneses, alemães, açorianos, quilombolas e pescadores). Amalgamando-se culturalmente, estes grupos constituem seus territórios domésticos e representações sociais dentro do hibridismo. Os acontecimentos que motivam a ascensão dos diferentes espaços domésticos de representação social, em análise, constroem esta pesquisa; seus vetores, razões e as diversas composições da paisagem cultural (CLAVAL, 2007), como feição praticada do processo geográfico de (re) construção do espaço. / This dissertation aims to develop an ethnogeography about the presence of Galpões on the daily life of some social groups in Três Forquilhas River Valley (North Coast of Rio Grande do Sul). To do so, it is contributed in the formulation of ideas of Bonnemaison (2002) as referential to the understanding of the events in that delimited area in order to analyse not only the contemporary architecture of some houses, but also to highlight the importance of ethnicity and “non native” occupation periods as values of the hybridity process. For the concept of hibridity, Canclini’s (2006) and Burke’s (2008) conception will be used. The investigated “Galpão” is not only the “Galpão Gaúcho”, but also places of habitation, work and leisure of many ethnic and social groups that inhabit that region (japanese, german, azoreans, quilombolas and fishermen). Culturally amalgamating, these groups constitute their domestic territory and social representations inside the hybridity. The events that motivate the rise of distinct domestic spaces of social representation, in analysis, constitute this research; their vectors, reasons and the various compositions of the cultural landscape (CLAVAL, 2007), as practiced feature of the geographical process of (re)construction of spaces.

Dans les années 1990, l’Australie met en place une politique de réconciliation s’étalant sur dix ans et visant à développer une meilleure relation entre Australiens aborigènes et non-aborigènes. Cette politique est fondée sur la reconnaissance de l’existence continue de tensions entre les deux communautés, et ce malgré une plus grande reconnaissance de la place des Aborigènes en Australie depuis les années 1970. La relation complexe entre Australiens aborigènes et non-aborigènes – en particulier "blancs" et dont les origines sont anglo-celtes – est le résultat du processus de colonisation, des politiques ultérieures conçues pour contrôler la population aborigène, et de la domination des Aborigènes par l’Australie "blanche" au cours de l’histoire. Du fait des politiques discriminatoires, de nombreuses familles aborigènes décidèrent de cacher leurs origines et de se faire passer pour blanches. De nombreux enfants métisses à la peau claire furent enlevés à leurs familles et perdirent leurs liens avec leurs familles aborigènes. Aujourd’hui, un nombre grandissant d’Australiens choisissent de revendiquer leur identité Aborigène et de reprendre possession d’un héritage dont ils ont été privés. Mais si avoir des origines aborigènes n’est plus source de honte, en revanche, le chemin à parcourir pour retrouver son identité aborigène peut être difficile. Cette étude analyse les parcours identitaires de onze Australiens élevés dans une culture "blanche" anglo-celte et qui ont des origines aborigènes. L’analyse de leurs perceptions de l’identité aborigène révèle la prédominance des discours "blancs" sur les Aborigènes en Australie aujourd’hui, mais aussi la présence de discours essentialistes restreignant la définition de l’identité aborigène, et maintenant utilisés par la communauté aborigène afin de contrôler cette définition. L’analyse de la relation d’opposition entre Aborigènes et Australiens "blancs" dans l’Australie contemporaine révèle la difficulté à revendiquer à la fois des origines "blanches" et "noires", ainsi que des identités multiples. / In the 1990s, Australia set up a ten-year policy of reconciliation aiming at developing a better relationship between Indigenous people and the wider Australian community. This policy was based on the recognition of the enduring dichotomy between both communities despite an increasing acknowledgement of the place of Indigenous people in Australia since the 1970s. The complex relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians – and especially ‘white’ Anglo-Celtic Australians – is the result of the process of colonisation, of the subsequent policies designed to control Indigenous people, and of the historical domination of ‘white’ Australia over Indigenous people. As a result of discriminatory policies, many Indigenous families decided to hide their heritage and ‘passed’ into ‘white’ society. Many mixed-race and fair-skinned children were taken from their families and lost their connection with their Indigenous relatives. Today, an increasing number of Australians choose to identify as Indigenous and to reclaim a heritage they were deprived of. But although having Indigenous heritage is no longer regarded as shameful, the road back to Indigeneity can be a difficult one. This study is the analysis of the identity journeys of eleven Australians who were raised in a ‘white’, Anglo-Celtic Australian culture and who have Indigenous heritage. Their perceptions of Indigeneity are analysed to reveal the dominance of ‘white’ discourses about Indigeneity in today’s Australia, but also the presence of restricting essentialist discourses now used by the Indigenous community to keep control over the definition of Indigenous identity. The analysis of the oppositional relationship between Indigenous and ‘white’ Australians in contemporary Australia reveals the difficulty of embracing both ‘white’ and ‘black’ heritages and of claiming multiple identities.