The aim of this thesis is to analyse the postmodernist and poststructuralist elements in Samuel Beckett&rsquo / s The Trilogy: Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable and Oguz Atay&rsquo / s Tehlikeli Oyunlar. One text from English literature and one from Turkish literature will be compared. In Beckett&rsquo / s and Atay&rsquo / s novels the main issues of postmodernism and poststructuralism such as subject-object dialectic, the metaphysics of presence, the correspondence theory of truth, origin, self, language, intertextuality and metafiction will be analysed. Both Beckett and Atay problematize the very nature of narrative and display the inefficiency of language, and they successfully create their own &ldquo / expression of interface&rdquo / . That is, Atay and Beckett do not try to imitate the &ldquo / natural world&rdquo / to reach &ldquo / meaning&rdquo / or &ldquo / reality&rdquo / on the contrary, they create a world for the play of signifiers that can be called &lsquo / interface&rsquo / . In other words, both Beckett and Atay create a new sphere to show this problem of expression. This new sphere, which is narrated in their novels, is what the thesis will highlight.

Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, Division of Society, Culture, Media & Philosophy, Department of Critical and Cultural Studies, 2004. / Bibliography: leaves 310-325.

The purpose of the present study is to examine the theme of literature in Rayuela (Julio Cortázar, 1963) and Tres tristes tigres (Guillermo Cabrera Infante, 1967), taking into account the importance of this theme within the socio-historical and intellectual context of 1960's Latin America, an era characterized not only by the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in the political field, but also the height of poststructuralist literary theory, which arrives in Latin America via Europe. As we will see, the convergence of these two historical and literary moments implies the co-existence in Latin America of a call for a politicized literature that supports revolutionary efforts, and a crisis in terms of our ideas about language and its possibilities of representation with great implications for any critical debate regarding literature and its relation to extra-literary "reality". We will first present an overview of the critical debates regarding the "role" of literature and its relationship with extra-literary "reality" in the context of revolutionary Latin America, focusing on specific criticism of Rayuela and Tres tristes tigres. We will see that in spite of the fact that some revolutionary criticism has accused these texts of nihilism and escapism due to their playful, open structures, a reconsideration of Rayuela and Tres tristes tigres in light of the Poststructuralist theories of Michel Foucault and Roland Barthes--which maintain that language does not "reflect" a pre-existing reality, but rather "signifies" or "creates" the "reality" that we perceive as real within the discourse of our society--demonstrates that the true ethical value of these texts resides in their challenge of the discursive violence that dominates in our extra-literary space, and their constant deconstruction and "re-writing" of "reality" in order to suggest new ways to see and live. Subsequently, we will examine the use of literary parody in these texts to highlight the historicity of all language, and consider how these texts define literature as a vital, existential attitude: we should live as literature, treating our reality like a "text" that can constantly be deconstructed and re-written so that no lie can gain status as an irrefutable truth.

The institution of schooling is one of the most formative spaces in which young people learn about gender norms and expectations. Rather than being a biological given, gender identity is achieved through gender practices and gender achievements (Butler, 1990/1999; Nayak & Kehily, 2008). This study was a year-long ethnography during which I observed an all girls’ after-school club. The club included 15 girls who were in sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. The majority of the club’s participants were African American girls. This ethnography utilized participant observation and interviews. Club documents were also analyzed during data analysis. My primary research question was: How was girlness conceptualized, perpetuated, and performed in an after-school club for middle school girls? Using critical theory and feminist poststructuralism, I investigated the work that goes into creating and maintaining current binary gender formations, and how this is related to race, class, and sexuality.

No description available.

Syftet med detta examensarbete är att utifrån ett genusperspektiv visa hur pojkar och flickor beskrivs i bilderböcker för barn. För att få syn på detta har karaktärernas grad av aktivitet i handlande situationer analyserats. För att vidare fördjupa resonemanget och problematisera könsstereotyper så har ett feministiskt poststrukturalistiskt perspektiv använts som har applicerats på hur bokens karaktärer presenteras.   Metoden som använts är feministisk poststrukturalistisk textanalys där fokus legat på texternas samverkan med bilderna. Elva böcker har analyserats med hjälp av Maria Nikolajevas teorier rörande barnlitteratur och Hillevi Lenz Taguchis forskning om feministisk poststrukturalism.   Resultatet visar att även om teman och historier vid första anblick verkar vara könsneutrala så visar en noggrannare analys att mer dolda könsroller förekommer. Slutsatsen i detta arbete är att vissa könsroller ligger så djupt rotade i vårt samhälle att de kan vara svåra att se. Böckerna som barn kommer i kontakt med i sin vardag är väldigt viktiga när det handlar om hur de lär sig se på genusfrågor och därför är det viktigt att vuxna har en djupare förståelse kring hur de pratar om sådana frågor.   Aspekter på kön och genus är med det feministiska poststrukturalistiska synsättet något som ligger mer eller mindre dolt i hur människor förhåller sig till varandra. Strukturer och handlingsmönster tas för givna och risken finns att de återupprepas och normaliseras om man inte närmare studerar dem. Med en textanalys som den som gjorts i denna text kan man kritiskt granska företeelser som förekommer i böckerna. Genom att se på hur och varför saker presenteras som de gör kan man lättare få diskussionen till ytan. / The purpose of this thesis is to study how boys and girls are described regarding actions in children’s literature through a gender perspective, in order to observe whether the characters are passive or active when it comes to actions. To further deepen the reasoning and to problematize gender stereotypes a feministic poststructuralistic perspective has been applied to observe how the characters are being presented.   The method being used is a feministic poststructuralistic text analysis where focus has been on how text cooperates with pictures. Eleven books has been analyzed based on Maria Nikolajeva’s theories on children’s literature and Hillevi Lenz Taguchi’s research on feministic poststructuralism   The result shows that even though themes and stories seems to be gender neutral at first glance a deeper analysis shows that hidden gender roles are present. The conclusion in this thesis is that some gender roles are so deeply rooted in our society that they might be hard to perceive. Books that children come in contact with during a day are very important when it comes to how they learn about gender issues and therefor it is important that adults have a deeper understanding on how to talk about such issues.   Aspects on sexuality and gender are with the feministic poststructuralistic point of view something that lies more or less hidden when it comes to how people interact. Structures and action patterns are being taken for granted and there is therefore a risk that they are being repeated and normalized if not being studied. With a text analysis such as the one being done in this thesis one can critically study phenomena being present in books. By studying how and why things are presented the way they are one can easier move the discussion to the surface.

In spite of its thematic and stylistic heterogeneity, Jean-François Lyotard’s corpus may be plausibly interpreted as, by and large, an attempt to grapple with the following problem set: a) In general: if we reject all transcendent/systematic philosophical frameworks, can we consistently make normative claims? Can we ground them in any way? Do we need to? b) In particular: if we reject the philosophical framework of humanism, what does this mean for ethics and/or politics? Can one be an antihumanist without abandoning ethics? The basic issue is over the titular possibility of a “wild normativity” – that is, a normativity that does not derive its force from any kind of transcendent guarantor. As I reconstruct him, Lyotard begins from a methodological rejection of transcendent guarantors in general; this plays itself out in particular terms as a rejection of humanism. Thus, beginning from a thought not of universality and totality but of singularity and difference, and wishing at a certain point in his career to ensure that the problem of justice stays firmly on the agenda, Lyotard gives us to think the very possibility of an ethical antihumanism. My dissertation is both an interpretation of Lyotard’s work as it unfolds in time, as well as a contribution to thinking through the general-particular problem set that I argue is at play in his work.

The concept of the self was central to the development of North American child and youth care (CYC). The self has been understood in CYC as the mediator of knowledge and skills, the foundation of authentic and therapeutic relationships, and the essence of ethical, moral, and professional practice. In this research project, I engage with the concept of the self in CYC by analyzing the literature on the topic, conducting research conversations with scholars in the field, and articulating my own thinking on the subject. I pay particular attention to the work of faculty and students at the University of Victoria’s School of Child and Youth Care (SCYC) to better understand our current problems and possibilities for theorizing the self in relation to praxis, professionalization, and curriculum. I approach my research engagements through a geophilosophical (Deleuze & Guattari, 2003) methodology and emphasize the roles of relationship, wonder, mentorship, and connections in my research engagements. In this thesis I analyze various conceptualizations of the self in CYC, as well as concepts of identity and subjectivity that I found to be important for understanding the topic. I focus on concepts that (1) have traditionally played a central role in CYC curriculum and professionalization; (2) emerged from my research conversations; and (3) specifically relate to issues of diversity, power, and decolonization. As a work concerned primarily with conceptualizations of the self and how they relate to CYC praxis, professionalization, and curriculum, I articulate my own understanding and process of conceptualizing. I elaborate and experiment with my own thinking through a geophilosophical (Deleuze & Guattari, 2003) approach that emphasizes the relationship between thinking and the land and bodies through which it occurs, as well as thinking’s pragmatic, constructive, and creative aspects. I suggest that some of the important and interesting questions and possibilities for conceptualizing the self in contemporary North American CYC are related to politicized praxis as a framework for CYC; decolonization and identity-based solidarity and allyship; intersectionality as means to conceptualize diversity; mentorship and relationship in the learning encounter; immanence, dualism, and Indigenous cosmology; and the notion of a CYC community identity. / Graduate / 0745 / skouri@uvic.ca

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2005.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 315-342).