Against a Divided Land is a tale of escape from the poverty of the Yuma Indian reservation, the flight of a young girl and her family into modern American in the 1970's. The stories in the collection emerge via the narrator: a forty-year-old woman exploring landscape and memory. Her recollections as a mother and international traveler, juxtaposed alongside her childhood on the reservation, reveal the unique concerns of Native Americans in the era of government relocation and displacement. The stories in this collection paint a picture of United States subculture rarely seen. The accounts link the narrator to the past in surprising ways as they push forth with a modern voice, imagining a brighter future: a future filled with both loss and beauty. From Africa to the Southwest, the characters in these essays seek relationships across typical boundaries.

<p>  </p> <p>This dissertation enriches the field of Comparative Literature by examining the trauma narratives of Chinese women in wartime through a cross-cultural and cross-medium lens. It focuses on their experiences as they are articulated in a variety of texts and visual media, in the process offering an exploration of the intersection between gender, trauma, and war. By incorporating theoretical frameworks from Western trauma studies into an analysis of Chinese and Asian contexts, the study further contributes to Comparative Literature by fostering an intercultural dialogue. This unique approach uncovers shared patterns of human suffering and resilience, providing new insights into the universality and particularity of trauma representation. The dissertation extends the boundaries of Comparative Literature by examining the influence of gender on the construction and reception of trauma narratives. It also gives a novel contribution by addressing broader social and political issues both in the context of China, Asia, and globally. The four chapters examine the portrayal of women’s experiences produced generations after the war, focusing on the following topics, respectively: the witness of sexual violence, the challenges of representing feminine pain, repetition of traumatic memory, and the complexity of individual and collective experiences in relation to wartime traumas. By analyzing mostly novels, as well as films and testimonies, the dissertation emphasizes the importance of considering both historical records and shared personal memories, as well as the role of artistic expression in fostering empathy and understanding. This research offers a valuable contribution by illuminating the enduring and complex impact of war on women’s lives. Furthermore, it provides a strong foundation for future studies, ultimately contributing to a more nuanced understanding of the representation of traumatic experiences of individuals and communities affected by trauma. </p>

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This dissertation examines transnational flows and identities in the work of four European filmmakers and writers that have done extensive work in Latin America around the mid-twentieth century. Not renouncing to the thematic and formal analysis of representation in the works themselves, it focuses more broadly in the modes of production and circulation of cinematic and literary creations. More specifically, it pays close attention to the location in which the work was produced, understood as a conglomerate of circumstances, places, people, as well as symbolic and cultural demands that exert pressure on the author. Understanding that a transnational piece establishes a multi-national dialogue, I emphasize the frequently unacknowledged dialogue that these authors establish with the Latin American tradition and culture. Not only were they conscious of the symbolic landscape in which they were working, but also their production represents a valuable contribution for such landscape, even when their primary audience might be European. The case studies include: an introduction on the globalization of “Tercer Cine”; Werner Herzog and his two Amazonian feature films in Peru; Luis Buñuel and his abundant Mexican production, with special attention to his American and French co-productions shot in Mexico; Max Aub and his Mexican stories and chronicles; and Witold Gombrowicz’ Trans-Atlantyk, as well as his translation of his novel Ferdydurke into the Spanish language. / Romance Languages and Literatures

This thesis examines Switzerland’s conflict around the integration of non-citizens in the context of the Swiss system of direct democracy. Through a case study on three recent referendum initiatives on immigrant policy, my research sought to answer the question: How does the use of referenda on immigrant policy impact public discourses on the social and political integration of non-citizens in German-speaking Switzerland? In exploring this question, I focused on how public discourses addressed the link between direct democracy, immigrant policy and non-citizen experiences. I analysed political advertisements, newspaper articles, and data collected in an interview with Swiss resident author Dragica Rajčić. My research findings showed that the use of referendum initiatives to make decisions on immigrant policy has had a significant impact on integration discourses. In particular, it has provided the conservative nationalist Swiss People’s Party with the opportunity to move their political agenda to the forefront of public debates. My findings also demonstrated that non-citizen perspectives were marginalized in the public discourses under examination. I therefore concluded that the process of transforming the Swiss conflict around the integration of immigrants will require Swiss governments to re-imagine how the political participation of non-citizens can be institutionalized. Granting non-citizens a more active political role would promote cross-cultural dialogue and understanding, making Switzerland’s direct democracy more democratic. / Graduate

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<p>  </p> <p>The transition of Folk music in the USA from the margins to notoriety, had its roots in the ‘leftist’ ideology of their proponents, and a message of communal solidarity, based on the ‘we’. The arrival of Bob Dylan in the 60s to an already recognized folk movement propelled him to global stardom, which made it possible for his music to permeate Spanish houses and songwriters’ circles. Dylan focused on the ‘you’ as a finger-pointing technique that questions his listener’s alliances. He had a revolutionary character that influenced songwriters both in the USA and Spain, whether through his lyrics or his rebellious rejection of any kind of pressure group. </p> <p>His lyrical content of vivid images placed before the eyes of the listeners (<em>enargeia</em>), captivated his audiences. Spanish songwriters, who at the same time received influence from France, or the social poets of the first half of the 20th Century, among others, found in Dylan a valuable source to widespread a non-conformist message of freedom. They translated and reinterpreted some of Dylan’s protest songs, and in the case of Catalonia or Galicia, used their native languages as a symbol of defiance against the Francoist Government.</p> <p>Early Dylan and his counterparts in Spain became organic intellectuals as a bridge between the subalterns and the ruling bloc. They used epideictic discourses to put their audiences in questioning and decision-making positions. Their use of <em>prosopopeia</em> bestowed memory to those individuals who were wronged by the judiciary system in the USA and Spain; aiding in developing a counter-hegemonic discourse that placed them in the tradition of the <em>euphantasiotos</em>, who is as skilled in the <em>ars </em>of <em>enargeia </em>as in the <em>ars </em>of <em>actio</em>, as a poet and a performer. </p>

<p dir="ltr">Violent death that violates the ontological dignity of the body and the disappeared corpse often results in a crisis of mourning for those left behind, with the matter made all the more complicated when it comes to instances of politically motivated violence in the context of war. What follows such death/disappearance are issues of identification, collection of remains and, ultimately, an inability to enact necessary death rituals such as washing, shrouding and burial, leading to a separation between the dislocated soul and the corporeal form on part of the dead and the issue of incomplete mourning on part of the bereaved. Both the living and the dead, thus, come to occupy a liminal space (<i>barzakh</i>) where the boundaries between past/present, human/non-human, and dead/alive fall away. This paper argues that this in-between state helps the mourner gain access to a radical state of bearing witness outside of the oppressive binaries of the modern world. This work makes use of Middle Eastern (Iraq, Palestine, Egypt) and South Asian (Kashmir) literatures dealing with dehumanization and violent death in the context of what Achille Mbembe refers to as “death-worlds,” inhabitants of which are deemed “living-dead.”</p>

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

Les migrations planétaires, massivement produites par les renversements historiques et politiques de la fin du siècle dernier, sont en train de bouleverser les ordres nationaux actuels et de soumettre les populations à un nouveau mélange identitaire et linguistique dont résultent des cultures hybrides et la remise en question de la légitimité des canons littéraires nationaux. Les littératures transnationales plurilingues sont en train de dessiner la carte de plus en plus vaste d’un nouvel univers littéraire constitué d’écrivains omniprésents, inclassables, dont la production narrative et poétique échappe aux définitions de genre et met l’accent sur les dynamiques linguistiques inhérentes à ces écritures en transit. Comment s’intègre l’Italie dans cette nouvelle scène littéraire plurilingue ? Avec quels résultats et quelles perspectives ? Après un premier chapitre introductif – un cadre général de la littérature transnationale italophone à partir de ses débuts officiels, à l'aube des années 90 –, cette recherche s'orientera spécifiquement vers l’étude de l'italophonie poétique. En remontant de manière inédite aux débuts des années 60, la production transnationale italophone sera analysée pour la première fois à travers un panorama chronologique et raisonné des voix poétiques, où se dégagent les plus représentatives. Nous mettrons l’accent sur la littérarité des textes, qui seront toujours remis en perspective avec la poésie italienne contemporaine pour délimiter la relation entre les différentes expressions de l’écriture poétique en italien qui vient s’imposer au fil du temps. / The mass planetary migrations set into motion by the historical and political transformations of the last years of the 20th century are disrupting current national status quos, while populations are undergoing a re-mixture of identities and languages that has produced hybrid cultures and, from the strictly literary point of view, a challenge to the legitimacy of national canons. The pluri-language transnational literatures are drawing an ever-wider map of a new literary universe made up of ubiquitous, unclassifiable writers whose production in prose and poetry escapes genre definitions, emphasizing the linguistic dynamics inherent to these writings in transit. How does Italy fit into this new pluri-language literary scenario? With what results and prospects? After a first introductory chapter, in which a general framework of Italian-language transnational literature is presented from its official beginnings at the start of the Nineties until today, my research focuses specifically on poetic Italophony. Locating its birth back in the early Sixties – the decade when the first « compelled » migrations to Italy began –, transnational Italian-language production is for the first time analyzed through a chronologically ordered panorama of poetic voices, against which the most representatives ones are silhouetted. Stress is laid on the literariness of the texts, and Italian contemporary poetry is always present, in perspective, to trace the relationship that is being created over time between the different expressions of poetic writing « in Italian ».