This thesis examines spectrality in Elizabethan literature, focusing on the ghost as a figuration of disjuncture within contemporary constructions of the dead. Taking account of the cultural unease and uncertainties about the afterlife generated during the Reformation, I explore how particular conceptualizations of the dead manifest instabilities that move the figure of the ghost into the disturbing role of the spectre. The literature I examine ranges from Elizabethan translations of Seneca and key theological treatises to examples of the English revenge tragedy produced by Shakespeare, Marston, and Chettle. In drawing upon this cross-section of work, I highlight the resonances between varying forms of spectrality in order to explore ways in which the ghost incorporates, but also exceeds, the theatre’s requirement for dramatic excess. It thus becomes clear that the presence of the spectre extends beyond the immediate purposes of particular writers or genres to expose a wider disruption of the relation between, and ontologies of, the living and the dead. The theoretical apparatus for this project is drawn primarily from deconstruction and psychoanalytic theory, with attention to the uncanny as an area in which the two intersect and overlap. These modes of analysis usefully highlight areas of disturbance and slippage within the linguistic and conceptual structures by which the living and dead are defined and understood. In adopting this approach, I aim to expand upon and complicate existing scholarship concerning the figure of the ghost in relation to sixteenth-century theological, philosophical, mythological, and popular discourses and traditions. I do so by demonstrating that the emergence of the uncanny arises through a culturally specific haunting of the form and language of Elizabethan treatments of the dead. The spectre thereby emerges as a figure that is as much the product as the cause of instabilities and erosion within the Elizabethan construction and containment of the dead.

The term “ghost marriage” is a loose translation for a Chinese phrase which literally means “netherworld marriage” (冥婚,minghun). It is the marriage which involves at lease one deceased. It has many similarities to an ordinary marriage and yet is fundamentally different. In this thesis, an inscription from an ancient Chinese tomb is transcribed and translated, followed by a discussion on several key terms in the text. Through the examination of the inscription, the vision of the afterlife in ancient China is found to be both a continuation and a separation from this world.

My work explores hallucinatory landscapes of the US American West by using a combination of painting styles outside of the Western painting canon. I cross-reference painting and cinema, interweaving video, acrylic paint and the panorama to create a satirical homage to the history and present state of the USA. However, through an earnest devotion to the medium - both painting and cinema - I find my criticisms also yearn to hold onto a belief in a myth I know to be false. This is an American History conversation about artifice and consumerism through advertising. I use Las Vegas and the Mojave Desert as my metaphor. Las Vegas’ rapidly expanding population has displaced actual plants and animals to replace them with artificial sculptures of the desert cactus and coyote. This desert landscape occupies what was previously Mexico and before that Indigenous lands. TV and hallucinogens play a part in my work - as a means to tap into the psychological staticky holiness of the desert, and I use certain painting techniques to mimic the optical effects of these phenomena. These techniques reference my experience with theater backdrop painting and psychedelic movie posters as well as kitsch hobbyist landscape painting. My focus is the specific territory outside of the National Parks service, the government lands leased to mining companies and housing developers. These are the mystical desert tracts of spacious landscape, just as ecologically important to the whole, yet considered “not quite pretty enough” to warrant a National Park sign or roaming ranger.

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Ghost-money burning is an important ritual custom in Taiwanese folk religion. But with the growth in population and residential density, such burning becomes more and more threatening to air quality and public health. To make compromise between folk customs and air quality, the government urged the public to change the custom. To understand how successful the government¡¦s strategies are, this study used 4 social marketing variables and people¡¦s concern for ritual custom to predict people¡¦s attitude toward ghost-money burning. A convenience sample of college students, workers in local court, and people from the general public were invited to answer the questionnaire in this study. A total of 255 participated and gave valid answers. Results found that: 1. The more people believed that ghost-money burning was required by ritual customs, the more positive their attitude would be. That is, they would regard the burning as less harmful, and would be less willing to reduce it. 2. Social marketing strategies that changed cost and convenience had negative effect on attitude. That is, when people believed burning less ghost money was good for them, they would regard the burning as harmful and be more willing to reduce it. The same happened when people believed it was convenient to take alternatives for burning ghost money. 3. The effect of ritual customs on attitude toward ghost-money burning was greater than the effect of social marketing variables. In light of these findings, when urging the policy of Ghost-Money Burning reduction by means of social marketing, the government should both focus on changed cost reduction and convenience enhancement, which will be more effective on changing people¡¦s attitude toward Ghost-Money Burning.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 207-218). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 234-247). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2003. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 142-146).

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