abstract: Women are under-represented in engineering, in school and in the workplace. Reasons for this include the socio-historical masculinization of technology, which has been established by feminist technology researchers such as Faulkner, Lohan and Cockburn, and makes developing role models of women engineers difficult. The under-representation of women in engineering is a social problem that typically lies outside the area of interest of rhetoricians. However, my dissertation considers storytelling by women engineers as a powerful rhetorical tool, one that is well-suited for the particular structural inequalities endemic to engineering. I analyze stories told by participants in an oral history project conducted by the Society of Women Engineers, with women engineers who worked between the 1940’s and the early 2000’s. I use a textual coding research method to reveal the claims participants make through stories, themes that are evident across those claims, and how women engineers effectively use stories to advance those claims. My study extends the scholarly understanding of the rhetoric of engineering work. I find that in their stories participants argue for a complex relationship between social and technical work; they describe how technical thinking helps them work through social problems, how technical work is socially situated, that an interest in technical work impacts family and interpersonal relationships, and how making career decisions is facilitated by social relationships. They also demonstrate considerable rhetorical expertise in their use of narrative. As a collection these stories meet a pressing need: the need for an understanding of engineering and women engineers that creates possibilities for change. They meet this need first by helping the audience understand both significant systemic oppressions and the problem-solving individual actions that can be taken in response (in ways that highlight possibilities without placing the full responsibility for change on women engineers), and second by illustrating a heterogenous understanding of engineering and women engineers (in order to avoid essentializing women and essentializing technology). As a result of these qualities, the stories are a way to get to ‘know’ engineers and engineering from a distance, which is exactly the pressing lack felt by so many potential women engineers. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation English 2020

This dissertation examines the role of the spatial in four works of digital interactive literature. These works are Dreamaphage by Jason Nelson (2003), Last Meal Requested by Sachiko Hayashi (2003), Façade by Michael Mateas and Andrew Stern (2005) and Egypt: The Book of Going Forth by Day by M. D. Coverley (2006). The study employs an original analytical method based on close reading and spatial analysis, which combines narrative, design and interaction theories. The resulting critique argues that the spatial components of the digital works define reader interaction and the narratives that result from it. This is one of very few in-depth studies grounded in the close reading of the spatial in digital interactive literature. Over five chapters, the dissertation analyzes the four digital works according to three common areas. Firstly, the prefaces, design and addressivity are present in each. Secondly, each of the works relies on the spatial for both interaction and the meanings that result. Thirdly, the anticipation of responses from a reader is evaluated within the interactive properties of each work. This anticipation is coordinated across the written text, moving and still images, representations of places, characters, audio and navigable spaces. The similar divisions of form, the role of the spatial and the anticipation of responses provide the basic structure for analysis. As a result, the analytical chapters open with an investigation of the prefaces, move on to the design and conclude with how the spaces of the digital works can be addressive or anticipate responses. In each chapter representations of space and representational space are described in relation to the influence they have upon the potentials for reader interaction as spatial practice. This interaction includes interpretation, as well as those elements associated with the ergodic, or the effort that defines the reception of the digital interactive texts. The opening chapter sets out the relevant theory related to space, interaction and narrative in digital literature. Chapter two presents the methodology for close reading the spatial components of the digital texts in relation to their role in interaction and narrative development. Chapter three assesses the prefaces as paratextual thresholds to the digital works and how they set up the spaces for reader engagement. The next chapter takes up the design of the digital works and its part in the formation of space and how this controls interaction. The fifth chapter looks at the addressivity of the spatial and how it contributes to the possibilities for interaction and narrative. The dissertation argues for the dominance of the spatial as a factor within the formation of narrative through interaction in digital literature, with implications across contemporary storytelling and narrative theory.

Notre thèse est consacrée à l'étude des Mystères de Paris (1842-1843) d'Eugène Sue et des romans qui ont cherché à profiter de son succès. Ces « mystères urbains » font du ressassement une stratégie narrative fort développée : ils tentent de se différencier en répétant. Notre thèse met en lumière les modifications et les recontextualisations de clichés et de scénarios convenus pour fictionnaliser la grande ville en fonction d'une prise de conscience aiguë des nouvelles réalités, au premier rang desquelles la découverte du prolétariat, la fascination de la modernité et la peur de la criminalité urbaine. Notre thèse offre un panorama des horizons culturels convoqués par les mystères urbains, une typologie de leur personnel romanesque criminel et l'examen de la construction du lecteur par l'œuvre – et de l'œuvre par le lecteur. Elle révèle une poétique des mystères urbains issue et ancrée dans un moment sociohistorique précis mais dotée d'une vaste portée et d'une pérennité surprenante. / Our thesis studies Eugène Sue's “Mystères de Paris” (1842-1843) and the “romans-feuilletons” that have tried to gain profit out of its success. The “urban mysteries” make use of repetition as a much-developed narrative strategy: they intend to differentiate themselves while repeating. Our thesis shines light on the manners in which clichés and agreed scenarios are used and modified to fictionalize the big city, according to an acute awareness to new realities, first of which are the discovery of the proletariat, the fascination with modernity, and the fear of urban criminality. Our thesis presents a panoramic shot of the cultural horizons convened by the urban mysteries, a typology of the criminal characters, and the scrutiny of the construction of the reader by the novel – and of the novel by the reader. This thesis reveals a poetics of the urban mysteries stemming from and anchored within a precise sociohistorical moment, yet endowed with considerable reach and surprising endurance.

Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, a distinct female voice has emerged in Persian fictional literature which has ventured beyond the established feminine stereotype of male literary tradition, and remarkably valorized female identities through focusing on interests and concerns of Iranian women, from feminist issues to social and political problems to cultural and moral dilemmas. This body of literature that has been gradually developed, tries to reflect realistic depictions of female protagonists with emotional, intellectual, and moral complexity. To study this progressive process, this research has focused on characterization of seven female protagonists that have been created by different generations of Iranian female authors in the genre of novel.

Although Hmong students are among the lowest demographic to enter college, the “model minority” myth continues to mischaracterize the unwavering success of Asian Americans across all educational levels. Furthermore, the “model minority” myth continues to uphold master narratives that silence the voices of Hmong American students whose educational experiences deviate quite drastically from their East Asian counterparts due to traumatic social-political contexts that continue to exert influence on their migration in the United States. Utilizing AsianCrit as a lens, the purpose of this narrative study was to explore Hmong American students’ perceptions of how race impacts their secondary educational experiences. The study suggests that race, gender, gangs, language work in complex ways to shape how Hmong American students perceive race in education and their choices within educational settings at the secondary level as they transition to post-secondary education. In addition, the study identifies three additional themes that gesture toward the manner in which Hmong American students make sense of their racial and cultural identity in the space of education.

Cette thèse propose de porter une réflexion génétique sur les corpus d’archives cinématographiques à travers la notion centrale de processus d’écriture filmique. L’utilité de ce concept est de servir de cadre permettant d’observer les différentes interactions entre les différentes écritures filmiques selon les étapes de la fabrication d’un film, cela dans la perspective de montrer le lien qui existe entre les « choix » de l’auteur et les conditions de productions du film. L’entreprise marque sa filiation avec la génétique littéraire dont les concepts et méthodes ont été adaptés, transformés au contact des spécificités des genèses cinématographiques. A travers la notion de scripteur filmique, la pluralité de l’instance « auteur » est mise en évidence tout comme la notion d’avant-texte qui est dépendante du stade de la genèse que l’on choisit d’étudier. [etc.] / This thesis proposes to broach on a genetic reasoning about the film archives corpus via the central notion of filmic writing process. The usefulness of this concept is to provide a framework for observing the different interactions between the different film writingsaccording to the steps of making a film, in order to show the link between " the author’s “choices " and the conditions of production of the film. This undertaking marks its affiliation with the literature genetics whose concepts and methods have been adapted and transformed in contact with the specificities of the genesis of film. Through the notion of “film writer”, the plurality of the instance "author" is highlighted as the notion of pre-text that is dependent on the stage of genesis that one chooses to study. [etc.]

In this dissertation, I argue that contemporary cultural narratives are infused with ongoing ideologies of Euro-American imperialism that prioritizes Western bodies and ways of engaging with living and nonliving beings. This restriction severely hinders possible responses to the present environmental crisis of the era often called the 'Anthropocene' through constant creation and recreation of imperial power relations and the presumed superiority of Western approaches to living. Taking inspiration from postcolonial theorist Edward Said and theories of cultural studies and empire, I use interdisciplinary methods of narrative analysis to examine threads of imperial ideologies that are (re)told and glorified in popular American science fiction television series Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001). Voyager follows the Star Trek tradition of exploring the far reaches of space to advance human knowledge, and in doing so writes Western imperial practices of difference into an idealized future. In chapters 2 through 5, I explore how the series highlights American exceptionalism, Manifest Destiny, a belief in endless linear progress, and the creation of a safe 'home' space amidst the 'wild' spaces of the Delta Quadrant. Each of these narrative features, as presented, rely on Western difference and superiority that were fundamental to past and present Euro-American imperial encounters and endeavors. Through the recreation of these ideologies of empire, Voyager normalizes, legitimizes, and universalizes imperial approaches to engagement with other lifeforms. In order to move away from this intertwined thread of past/present/future imperialism, in my final chapter I propose alternatives for ecofeminist-inspired narrative approaches that offer possibilities for non-imperial futures. As my analysis will demonstrate, Voyager is unable to provide new worlds free of imperial ideas, but the possibility exists through the loss of their entire world, and their need to constantly make and remake their world(s). World making provides opportunity for endless possibilities, and science fiction television has the potential to aid in bringing non-imperial worlds to life. These stories push beyond individual and anthropocentric attitudes toward life on earth, and although such stories will not likely be the immediate cause of change in this era of precarity, stories can prime us for thinking in non-imperial ways. / Doctor of Philosophy / In this dissertation, I argue that contemporary cultural narratives feature continuing Euro-American imperialism that prioritizes Western bodies and ideas. These embedded narratives recreate centuries of Western imperial encounters and attitudes, and severely hinder possible responses to the present environmental crisis of the 'modern' era. Taking inspiration from postcolonial theorist Edward Said, I use interdisciplinary methods of narrative analysis to examine threads of imperialism written into popular American science fiction television series Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001). Voyager follows the Star Trek tradition of exploring the far reaches of space to advance human knowledge, and in doing so inscribes Western imperial practices of difference and power into an idealized future through features of exploration, modernity, and progress. In order to move away from these imperial modes of thinking, I then propose alternatives for new narrative approaches that offer possibilities for non-imperial futures. As my analysis will demonstrate, Voyager is unable to provide new worlds free of imperial ideas, but the possibility exists through the loss of their entire world, and their need to constantly make and remake their world(s). World making provides opportunity for endless possibility, and science fiction television has the potential to aid in bringing non-imperial worlds to life. These stories push beyond individual and human centered attitudes toward life on earth, and although such stories will not likely be the immediate cause of change in this era of environmental crisis, stories can prime us for thinking in non-imperial ways.

La thèse a été réalisée dans le cadre d'une cotutelle entre l'Université de Montréal et l'Université Stendhal - Grenoble 3. / Notre thèse est consacrée à l’étude des Mystères de Paris (1842-1843) d’Eugène Sue et des romans qui ont cherché à profiter de son succès. Ces « mystères urbains » font du ressassement une stratégie narrative fort développée : ils tentent de se différencier en répétant. Notre thèse met en lumière les modifications et les recontextualisations de clichés et de scénarios convenus pour fictionnaliser la grande ville en fonction d’une prise de conscience aiguë des nouvelles réalités, au premier rang desquelles la découverte du prolétariat, la fascination de la modernité et la peur de la criminalité urbaine. Notre thèse offre un panorama des horizons culturels convoqués par les mystères urbains, une typologie de leur personnel romanesque criminel et l’examen de la construction du lecteur par l’œuvre – et de l’œuvre par le lecteur. Elle révèle une poétique des mystères urbains issue et ancrée dans un moment sociohistorique précis mais dotée d’une vaste portée et d’une pérennité surprenante. / Our thesis studies Eugène Sue’s “Mystères de Paris” (1842-1843) and the “romans-feuilletons” that have tried to gain profit out of its success. The “urban mysteries” make use of repetition as a much-developed narrative strategy: they intend to differentiate themselves while repeating. Our thesis shines light on the manners in which clichés and agreed scenarios are used and modified to fictionalize the big city, according to an acute awareness to new realities, first of which are the discovery of the proletariat, the fascination with modernity, and the fear of urban criminality. Our thesis presents a panoramic shot of the cultural horizons convened by the urban mysteries, a typology of the criminal characters, and the scrutiny of the construction of the reader by the novel – and of the novel by the reader. This thesis reveals a poetics of the urban mysteries stemming from and anchored within a precise sociohistorical moment, yet endowed with considerable reach and surprising endurance.

[pt] O chamado Novo Imperialismo e os processos colonizatórios levados a cabo pelas grandes potências europeias nos séculos XIX e XX não apenas tiveram um papel fortemente constitutivo nas disciplinas da História, Sociologia, Antropologia e Relações Internacionais como também definiram em grande medida a geopolítica do sistema internacional contemporâneo. Apagado pela sequência de acontecimentos que fizeram do século XX um dos mais conturbados da História Ocidental, o colonialismo alemão tem passado nas últimas décadas por uma revisão profunda do ponto de vista historiográfico. O presente trabalho apresenta os marcos da inserção da mulher durante o Kaiserreich questionando as narrativas que a apresentam como questão. Uma das soluções à Frauenfrage será a criação das escolas coloniais femininas de Witzenhausen, Bad Weilbach e Rendsburg, temática retomada aqui a partir das lentes epistemológicas da História Global. A partir não apenas da história da experiência de formação colonial feminina, mas também de achados documentais que atestam uma troca de cartas entre as egressas da escola por mais de 20 anos, a pesquisa é guiada pelas seguintes perguntas: onde estão, ou estiveram, as mulheres no projeto de formação colonial? (Enloe, 2014) E o que disseram sobre o mundo ao seu redor? As percepções da realidade política e social partilhadas nas Rundbriefe - correspondências que circularam entre a narrativa pública e privada entre os anos o de 1938 e 1960 - desvelam um outro mapa de relações transnacionais: uma cartografia em que mulheres reescreveram os destinos traçados pelo modelo de formação colonial e política populacional da Alemanha imperial definidos no início do século passado, escreveram a partir de novos lugares materiais e sociais e, por fim, construíram narrativas da geopolítica do decorrer do século XX com efeitos até os dias de hoje. / [en] During the XIX and XX centuries, what was known as New Imperialism and the wave of colonization fuelled by major European powers played a leading role in structuring studies of History, Sociology, Anthropology and International Relations, while also defining the international framework of contemporary geopolitics, to a great extent. Eclipsed by the string of events that made the XX century one of the most turbulent in Western History, German colonialism has undergone a sweeping review during the past few decades from the historiographic standpoint. This analysis explores the roles of women during the Kaiserreich, examining narratives presenting them as a question. One of the solutions to Frauenfrage was to set up colonial girls schools at Witzenhausen, Bad Weilbach and Rendsburg, exploring this topic here through the epistemological lenses of Global History. Based not only on the track-record of colonial schooling for women, but also documentary findings reflecting exchanges of letters between school friends for more than twenty years, this research project is steered by the following questions; where are (or were) the women addressed by the colonial schooling project? (Enloe, 2014) What did they say about the world around them? Perceptions of the political and social realities are shared in these Rundbriefe that move seamlessly between public and private narratives between 1938 and 1960, disclosing very different depictions of transnational relationships. In this personal cartography, women rewrote the fates shaped for them by the colonial education model and population policies of Imperial Germany defined at the start of the past century. Described from unsuspected locations both in material and social terms, they built up geopolitical narratives that streamed through the XX century, with effects that extend through today.

Notre thèse est consacrée à l’étude des Mystères de Paris (1842-1843) d’Eugène Sue et des romans qui ont cherché à profiter de son succès. Ces « mystères urbains » font du ressassement une stratégie narrative fort développée : ils tentent de se différencier en répétant. Notre thèse met en lumière les modifications et les recontextualisations de clichés et de scénarios convenus pour fictionnaliser la grande ville en fonction d’une prise de conscience aiguë des nouvelles réalités, au premier rang desquelles la découverte du prolétariat, la fascination de la modernité et la peur de la criminalité urbaine. Notre thèse offre un panorama des horizons culturels convoqués par les mystères urbains, une typologie de leur personnel romanesque criminel et l’examen de la construction du lecteur par l’œuvre – et de l’œuvre par le lecteur. Elle révèle une poétique des mystères urbains issue et ancrée dans un moment sociohistorique précis mais dotée d’une vaste portée et d’une pérennité surprenante. / Our thesis studies Eugène Sue’s “Mystères de Paris” (1842-1843) and the “romans-feuilletons” that have tried to gain profit out of its success. The “urban mysteries” make use of repetition as a much-developed narrative strategy: they intend to differentiate themselves while repeating. Our thesis shines light on the manners in which clichés and agreed scenarios are used and modified to fictionalize the big city, according to an acute awareness to new realities, first of which are the discovery of the proletariat, the fascination with modernity, and the fear of urban criminality. Our thesis presents a panoramic shot of the cultural horizons convened by the urban mysteries, a typology of the criminal characters, and the scrutiny of the construction of the reader by the novel – and of the novel by the reader. This thesis reveals a poetics of the urban mysteries stemming from and anchored within a precise sociohistorical moment, yet endowed with considerable reach and surprising endurance. / La thèse a été réalisée dans le cadre d'une cotutelle entre l'Université de Montréal et l'Université Stendhal - Grenoble 3.