Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009. / Full text also available online. Scroll down for electronic link.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 289-303).

Thesis (M.A.) in Theatre--University of Maine, 2002. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 60-62).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Queensland, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

The  anatomic  human  body  is  increasingly  visible  in  public  culture.  Representations  of  the  body  sourced  from  or  imitative  of  the  images  produced  by  medical  imaging   technology  are  bloodless  depictions  that  highlight  the  body’s  internal  structures  and  elide its viscerality. Despite the deliberate exclusion of the flesh, many of these images are saturated  in  erotic  potential,  both  implicitly  and  explicitly.  These  images  emerge  in  a  culture   preoccupied  with  the  visualization  and  control  of  women’s  bodies  and  sexualities. Feminist  scholars  have  long  been  critical  of  the  ways  in  which  popular  media   constructs  the  body  as  an  object  for  erotic  consumption;;  the  anatomic  images  I  consider   here  go  one  step  further.  The  mainstream  gaze  has  previously  been  limited  to  the  exterior   surfaces  of  the  body,  with  the  penetrating  gaze  into  the  body’s  interior  restricted  to  the   medical  and  legal  establishments.  The  penetrating  gaze  is  increasingly  democratized  as   x-ray  and  other  interior  views  of  the  body  become  more  prevalent.The  texts  under  discussion  in  this  thesis  traverse  the  opaque  barrier  of  the  skin  and  serve  to  construct  the  totality   of  the  human  body  as  an  object  to  be  examined  and  consumed. While  X-­rated  x-­rays  can,  sometimes,  offer  a  potential  site  of  resistance  to  gen-­ dered  surveillance  of  the  anatomic  body,  their  increasing  ubiquity  demonstrates  the   escalation  of  a  dominating  surveillant  regime  intent  on  penetrating  and  controlling  the   anatomic  body.  The  images’  uncritical  public  consumption  provides  an  insidious  route  by which that regime may be normalized, furthered and even glorified. / text

Despite the enormous interest in recent years in the movement to recover the ‘historical memory' of the Spanish Civil War and the Franco dictatorship, the teaching of these contentious and bloody periods of Spanish history has received relatively little attention. This qualitative study, which explores the experiences and perspectives of secondary school teachers of history, aims to address this gap in the literature. To select the participants for this research, I adopted a stratified, multi-stage, purposive approach, sampling by region, city, school and teacher. The sample comprised 24 history teachers from 17 separate secondary schools in the cities of Madrid (Torrejón de Ardoz), Barcelona, Seville and Oviedo. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted with five history education experts. All interview transcripts were imported into QSR NVivo 9, a computer-assisted qualitative data analysis package. The data was then analysed using Framework, a systematic, matrixbased approach to data management and analysis. The research findings build on Kitson and McCully's (2005) work by developing their ‘continuum of risk-taking', which relates to the teaching of controversial issues associated with history in Northern Ireland. An adapted model of risktaking is presented. It helps to explain the challenges and pressures teachers face in the Spanish context by identifying and exploring five distinct approaches to the teaching of the history of the Civil War and the Franco dictatorship: avoiding (‘natural' and ‘reluctant'), containing, risk-taking and activist. The research also highlights teachers' frustration with the dominant narrative presented in textbooks of Spain's ‘exemplary' transition to democracy. In so doing, it points to the danger of retrospective inevitability if the history of the transition is not presented in a nuanced fashion and if the alternatives are not explored. As such, the research constitutes an original contribution to the literature, opening up space for new conversations about the teaching of the history not only of conflict but also of the difficult and often controversial compromises that help to bring about cessations of violence. The study also considers the role of history education in the recovery of historical memory and, more broadly, in contributing to the wider reconciliation of Spanish society. Finally, the thesis highlights implications for curriculum and teacher education policy in Spain and beyond.

This dissertation argues that in industrial society technology is not merely an immaterial, abstract set of machines but instead has a rhetoric all its own. This rhetoric of technology consists of myriad elements, ranging from cultural conversations about machines and the engineering principles from which they're derived to class relationships naturalized by industrial structures.In the United States, the rhetoric of technology focuses on individuals, creating cults of personality that embody an otherwise abstract entity. This dissertation asserts that these cults focus on specific components of the process of technological development, represented as inventors, engineers, and hackers.The bulk of the dissertation explores the creation and continuation of these cults in American popular culture. Specifically, it examines how these representations are used in the science fiction pulp magazines, published from 1926-1949. Each cult has a period of ascendancy followed by a lessened importance in the rhetoric of technology, and these ebbs and flows are thoroughly represented in the pulps.Each of these cults has its own chapter, with Chapter 1 focusing on the history and definition of the term 'rhetoric of technology' and Chapter 5 examining ways to teach the rhetoric of technology in the college classroom. Chapter 2 focuses on inventors; Chapter 3 examines engineers; and Chapter 4 traces the beginnings of hackers.

Contemporary Western legal storytelling relies heavily on images and discourses in popular culture to secure meaning and give credibility to certain legal arguments. This thesis focuses on the legal stories told in the trial of a celebrity in Western society. As a system of meaning, the celebrity sign operates on the levels of signification and affect. The ambiguous semiotic power of the celebrity sign forces an examination by the legal audience regarding the "real" nature of the celebrity. Reality and truth are seen to emanate from this private self. Moreover, the affective power of the celebrity sign guarantees that, at times, emotion will dictate how much credibility will be given to particular celebrity legal stories and what stories will be considered plausible by a jury. In the trial of a celebrity "Other" — that is, one of the celebrated few who defies the white male norm -- celebrity legal storytelling looks towards issues of race, class, and gender, in addition to celebrity, in order to secure meaning and effect credibility. The aesthetic acceptance of the celebrity "Other," along with discourses of authenticity in Western society, work to shape what is considered credible and true in a courtroom. These factors place limits on the semiotic and affective power of the celebrity "Other" and, thus, on what celebrity legal stories will be accepted as truth in the courtroom. Looking specifically at the 1949 acquittal of jazz singer, Billie Holiday, and the 1994 acquittal/partial conviction of gangsta rapper, Tupac Shakur, this thesis will demonstrate the ways in which law, culture, race, gender, class, and the celebrity intersect in the Western mass media and how this intersection affects legal process and the trial tactics utilized in the trial of a celebrity "Other."

In 2005, MTV Movies and ThinkFilm released Murderball, a groundbreaking documentary about wheelchair rugby. Due to its popularity and its subject matter, the film presents a unique opportunity to reflect on representations of disability in the contemporary North American context. The narrative of the film constructs a rivalry between Team U.S.A., captained by Mark Zupan, and Team Canada, coached by Joe Soars. Murderball works exceptionally well to disrupt notions of people with disabilities as fragile and helpless, countering ableist assumptions about what persons with quadriplegia can accomplish. However, based on a close reading of the film, I suggest that Murderball accomplishes this disruption by also celebrating ableist, sexist and heterosexist representations. I critique the film’s construction of the relationship between competitive international sport settings, disability, and masculinity by drawing on the tools of feminism and anti-normative politics. I also examine representations of hegemonic masculinity that are discursively linked to sport competition and violence in ways that work to support a U.S. nationalist and imperialist impulse. Overall, I suggest that recuperations of normative identity in Murderball rely on a jingoistic and violent air of moral authority where American men work to preserve the winning reputation of the U.S.A., while subjecting themselves to the constraints of normalcy. / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2009-09-14 16:16:58.087

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.