The thesis revisits film and film-culture history in Sweden, Denmark and Norway with a view to discourses and practices of the inter- and trans-Scandinavian in the silent era. Excluding the earliest films, but including the transition to synchronised sound, it covers the period of the 1900s to 1930 with emphasis on the 1910s and 1920s. The thesis identifies notions about the relations between the Scandinavian and the national by means of a number of case studies based on textual historical sources. As a consistent Scandinavian perspective on this period is new, the investigation substantially supplements and revises the individual national film histories of these countries. It adds missing context to national developments and makes visible border phenomena such as transnational collaborations and co-producing practices. The thesis finds that film production in Scandinavia in the silent era was orientated towards one of two poles, at times combined or in a state of negotiation: international economic ambitions or national cultural aspirations. The latter was frequently conceptualised as northern, Nordic and Scandinavian. ‘Scandinaviannesses’ performed when drawing on nature, folklore, literature and heritage, not least that of Norway, were employed for use in and out of Scandinavia by means of strategies of ‘double-entry book-keeping’.  During the period, the notion of location underwent changes from an illusory, theatrical device to an inherently meaningful entity carrying identities infused with the Scandinavian. Examining the effects of shared comprehension of language and a shared recent history of Scandinavist ideas, the thesis identifies instrumental notions of kindredness and senses of cultural proprietorship extending to the output of the neighbouring countries. These notions were mobilised selectively within film culture and motivated practical transnational collaboration from the side of the authorities as well as in trade organisations.

This thesis examines the industry of non-profit educational filmmaking in Sub-Saharan Africa, from the 1930's to the present, with particular attention on the contemporary period of video production from the late 1980's to approximately 2010. This thesis, first, identifies that there is a consistent industrial infrastructure around non-profit educational filmmaking in Sub-Saharan Africa, which has not previously been articulated. Second, it describes the industry's historical origins and contemporary manifestation, delineating the pathways for funding, systems for production, and avenues of distribution and exhibition, as well as the ideological underpinnings of each. Finally, this thesis proscribes alternative industrial practices for the imagination and execution of non-profit educational videos that alleviate some of the otherwise deeply engrained hierarchical features of the industry by drawing on several examples of recent innovations in the industry. This thesis claims that the standard procedures by which non-profit educational films and videos in Sub-Saharan Africa come to be are problematic in the way that they maintain colonial hierarchies between Western philanthropic funders, cosmopolitan humanitarian professionals acting as producers, African casts and crews, and audiences that are necessarily objectified in order to be studied quantitatively. This structure has profound effects on content, most recently evident in neoliberal ideas that valorize the privatization of solutions to public health problems and quaint stories designed to encourage audiences to emulate ideal behavior based on Western gender norms as a primary solution to complex social problems, such as HIV/AIDS. Drawing on examples from recent innovations in the industry, this thesis finally proposes that changes in the balance of decision-making power in the African educational film and video industry - changes such as sourcing audiences for stories addressing HIV/AIDS, integrating with existing media markets, or more loosely providing international support to existing local initiatives that pinpoint local concerns - are necessary in order to better realize the potential of cinema to effectively address the myriad of social, environmental, political, economic, and medical challenges faced by real and distinct Sub-Saharan audiences.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(人間・環境学) / 甲第18351号 / 人博第664号 / 新制||人||160(附属図書館) / 25||人博||664(吉田南総合図書館) / 31209 / 京都大学大学院人間・環境学研究科共生人間学専攻 / (主査)教授 加藤 幹郎, 教授 服部 文昭, 教授 松田 英男 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Human and Environmental Studies / Kyoto University / DGAM

This thesis investigates representations of happiness in recent German literature and film. The interpretations focus on how happiness is negotiated in the context of home and travel, of Heimat and Fremde, in order to understand happiness, not only insofar as it contributes to “the good life”, but also as an element that shapes public discourses. My readings of works of fiction take into account how notions of happiness have shifted since the turn of the millennium. One reason for this shift is the heightened interest in happiness research, one of the most thriving interdisciplinary research fields of the last decade, which includes disciplines such as psychology, neurosciences, political science, sociology and economics. The following texts and films are examined in this context: Sommerhaus, später (1998) and Nichts als Gespenster (2003) by Judith Hermann, Transfer Lounge (2003) by Gregor Hens, Die Habenichtse (2006) by Katharina Hacker, Head-On (German: Gegen die Wand, 2004) by Fatih Akın, When We Leave (German: Die Fremde, 2010) by Feo Aladağ, Der Blick hinab (2007) by Shirin Kumm, Unveiled (German: Fremde Haut, 2005) by Angelina Maccarone, Cherry Blossoms (German: Kirschblüten – Hanami, 2008) by Doris Dörrie and Zehn (2010) by Franka Potente. My theoretical framework is informed in part by Sara Ahmed’s 2010 influential study, The Promise of Happiness, which takes a critical view toward recent happiness research from a cultural studies perspective. My analysis is directed at the ways in which concepts of happiness are narrated, negotiated and challenged within the context of transnational stories, which are inscribed with the effects of “supermodernity” (Augé) in a globalized world. I show how these works subvert themes and motifs that are associated with happiness, such as home and Heimat and travel or migration into the West. Finally, my readings show how these works mediate and reflect public dialogues and traditional notions about what makes us happy or unhappy, and I demonstrate how new configurations of happiness arise from these narratives. / Thesis (Ph.D, German) -- Queen's University, 2013-05-30 17:42:26.632

Die vorliegende Arbeit setzt sich mit dem Zusammenhang von „Rasse“- und Geschlechterdiskursen in den USA, Deutschland und England entlang der Schauspielerin Anna May Wong (1905-1961) auseinander. Anna May Wongs mehrere Jahrzehnte umspannende Karriere ist insofern außergewöhnlich, als dass sie als chinesisch-amerikanische Schauspielerin in der US-amerikanischen und europäischen Filmbranche erfolgreich war, dabei jedoch auf Widerstände stieß und sich mit diesen auf ambivalente Weise auseinandersetzte. Die Arbeit geht Anna May Wong als Kristallisationspunkt für Verhandlungen über rassifizierte und vergeschlechtlichte Grenzziehungen nach. Im Mittelpunkt stehen die Inszenierung Wongs in den Filmen, die sie von 1922-1937 in den jeweiligen Ländern gedreht hat, und ihrer Wahrnehmung durch sich selbst und das Publikum. In der Untersuchung ihrer Inszenierung und Wahrnehmung werden diskursive Verflechtungen, Unterschiede und Brüche sichtbar. Im Untersuchungszeitraum verändern sich zudem geopolitische Machtrelationen zwischen Europa, den USA und China signifikant, die auf die Konstruktion von Differenzfiguren erheblichen Einfluss haben und die in der vorliegenden Arbeit herausgearbeitet werden. Zugleich nimmt sie auch Wongs eigene Subjektivierungsstrategien in den Blick und fragt danach, in welchem Verhältnis Leben und Werk zueinander stehen. Anhand einer Mikrogeschichte entlang der Person Anna May Wong wird eine Geschichte der Abgrenzungs- und Aneignungsbewegungen zwischen Europa, USA und China erzählt. Die Untersuchung von Anna May Wong als Ausnahmephänomen verweist zum einen auf die diskursiven Regeln rassifizierter und vergeschlechtlichter Abgrenzung. Zum anderen bringt sie den spannungsreichen Überschuss zum Vorschein, der zeigt, dass das Andere im Eigenen immer schon enthalten ist. / This dissertation examines the life and work of the actress Anna May Wong (1905-1961) through the lens of discourse on race and gender in the USA, Germany, and England. Vice versa: it interrogates the discourse of race and gender by engaging the figure of Wong and her work both on screen and off. Wong’s decades-long career is extraordinary in the sense that, as a Chinese American, she achieved success in the American and European film industry in spite of gendered and racially-based resistance, an experience that her films explore in ambivalent ways. Wong serves as a prism in this dissertation to explore the ways in which racial and gendered boundaries were drawn during the span of her career, but with a specific focus on the films that she made between 1922-1937, which were shot in the United States and Europe. An interrogation of the manner in which Wong appears in these films, as well as the films’ reception(s), reveals a web of complex interweavings, intersections, and ruptures along sexual, gendered, and racialized lines. During the period on which this dissertation focuses, geopolitical power relations between Europe, China, and the United States shifted significantly with dramatic effects on the construction of difference, which the following project explores. The dissertation interrogates, therefore, the relationship between her life and the global context of her work. Her micro-history serves as a fulcrum for examining the larger history of bordering, appropriation, and identity negotiation(s) between Europe, the United States, and China. The investigation of Anna May Wong as a unique phenomenon reveals, on the one hand, a discursive and material history of raced and gendered constructions of difference. On the other hand, her work consistently engages a suspenseful type of excess, which demonstrates the ways in which the “other” is always already embedded in the “self”.

No description available.