This thesis investigates the relationship between the apocalyptic narrative and the postmodern novel. It explores and builds on Patricia Waugh‟s hypothesis in Practising Postmodernism: Reading Modernism (1992) which suggests that that the postmodern is characterised by an apocalyptic sense of crisis, and argues that there is in fact a strong relationship between the apocalyptic and the postmodern. It does so through an exploration of apocalyptic narratives and themes in five postmodern novels. It also draws on additional supporting material which includes literary and cultural theory and criticism, as well as historical theory. In using the novel as a medium through which to explore apocalyptic narratives, this thesis both assumes and affirms the novel‟s importance as a cultural artefact which reflects the concerns of the age in which it is written. I suggest that each of the novels discussed in this thesis demonstrates the close relationship between the apocalyptic and the postmodern through society‟s concern over the direction of history, the validity of meta-narratives, and other cultural phenomenon, such as war, the development of nuclear weaponry, and terrorism. Although the scope of this thesis is largely confined to the historical-cultural epoch known as postmodernity, it also draws on literature and cultural criticism from earlier periods so as to provide a more comprehensive framework for investigating apocalyptic ideas and their importance inside the postmodern novel. A number of modernist writers are therefore referred to or quoted throughout this thesis, as are other important thinkers from preceding periods whose ideas are especially pertinent. The present thesis was researched and written between March 2010 and August 2011 and is dedicated to all of those people who lost their lives in the apocalyptic events of the February 22nd Christchurch earthquake.

La tesis doctoral „Ficcionalizar el referente. Violencia, Saber, Ficcion y Utopía en El Primer Nueva Corónica y Buen Gobierno de Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala“ tiene como objetivo explicar la violencia, el saber, la ficción y la utopía en El Primer Nueva Corónica y Buen Gobierno. Este estudio se inicia con la Historia de la Recepción de El Primer Nueva Corónica y Buen Gobierno en el siglo XX. El criterio principal en la elaboración de este registro ha sido analizar estudios destacados sobre la crónica peruana y que han abierto nuevos significados desde diferentes disciplinas. De esta manera la Historia de la Recepción de El Primer Nueva Corónica y Buen Gobierno se inicia a partir de un "Ensayo de Interpretación" desde la arqueología hasta arribar a la ciencia filológica que amparada por el fortalecimiento de los estudios culturales y el cuestionamiento de los "metarrelatos" en las tres últimas décadas del siglo XX desarrolló un "acto de descolonización" desde la crítica histórica y literaria. Los conceptos de violencia, saber, ficción y utopía han sido constantes a lo largo del proceso de lectura y reflexión de la crónica peruana. De esta manera este estudio responde a interrogantes sobre las dimensiones y los espacios de la violencia en la crónica peruana. Este estudio reconoce además que los relatos del fin del mundo andino y su recomposición corresponden a la confluencia de saberes y a su ubicidad. En El Primer Nueva Coronica y Buen Gobierno se hallan escenas de "experiencia límite" que puede tener un desenlace trágico con la desaparición y la muerte del autor o el abandono y perdida de esperanza de sus ideales. Sin embargo la crónica de Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala concluye por una apuesta por la vida y por tanto participa de un "saber de vida" o un "saber vivir" debido a que se halla el registro sobre la vida y de un saber que tiene la vida como objetivo central en el relato histórico. De esta manera la crónica peruana contiene una lógica narrativa que "socava la estática de un destino irrevocable" y elabora una denuncia del mundo desolador con el anhelo de transformarlo. Esta escena produce fricción entre lo que afirma el cronista y la representación ficcional del dibujo, de esta manera se halla un espacio entre lo vivido e inventado que abarcaran todo un campo de experimentación que oscilan entre una dicción plena y la fórmula ficcional. La tesis doctoral „Ficcionalizar el referente. Violencia, Saber, Ficcion y Utopía en El Primer Nueva Corónica y Buen Gobierno de Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala“ identificó una eclosiva fuga de la referencialidad textual de la crónica peruana para crear sus propias referencialidades bajo un sentido utópico. El testimonio dramático, la denuncia en voz e imagen no estarán distanciados del elemento fantástico y legendario propio de los primeros escritos latinoamericanos. Los artificios narrativos de El Primer Nueva Corónica y Buen Gobierno crea territorialidades textuales aptas para la imaginación y la leyenda, cercano a lo real maravilloso. La crónica indígena fue concebida cuando se organizaba el "Buen gobierno y justicia", en un ambiente confrontacional, pero también en un mundo que era nuevo, naciente en un momento que América aparecía como idealización del ansiado proyecto platónico de nación feliz, de un buen gobierno, una mejor nación, una utopía. / The dissertation "Ficcionalizar el referente. Violencia, Saber, Ficcion y Utopía en El Primer Nueva Coronica y Buen Gobierno de Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala" aims to explain violence, knowledge, fiction and utopia in El Primer Nueva Coronica y Buen Gobierno. This study begins with the history of the reception of the El Primer Nueva Coronica y Buen Gobierno in the twentieth century. The main criterion in making this record was to analyze outstanding studies on Peruvian chronic and have opened new meanings from different disciplines. The history of the reception of the El Primer Nueva Coronica y Buen Gobierno starts from a "ensayo de intrepretación" from archeology to arrive at the philological science covered by the strengthening of cultural studies and questioning the "metarrelatos" in the last three decades of the twentieth century developed an "acto de descolonización" from the historical and literary criticism. The concepts of violence, knowledge, fiction and utopia have been constant throughout the process of reading and reflection of Peruvian chronic. Thus, this study answers questions about the dimensions and spaces of violence in Peruvian chronic. This study also recognizes that the stories of the end of the Andean world and its reorganization correspond to the confluence of knowledge and its "ubicidad". El Primer Nueva Coronica y Buen Gobierno hat scenes of the "experiencia límite" that can have a tragic "desenlace" with the disappearance and death of the author or the abandonment and loss of hope for his ideals. However chronicle Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala concludes with a commitment to life and therefore part of "saber de vida" or "saber vivir" because the record is about life and knowledge that has life as a central objective in the historical narrative. Therefore the chronic Peruvian contains a narrative logic that "undermines the static of an irrevocable destiny" and prepares a report of the bleak world with the desire to change it. This scene produces friction between the claims of the writer and the fictional representation of the design, thus is a space between experience and invented that would cover a whole field of experimentation ranging from full diction and fictional formula. The dissertation "Ficcionalizar el referente. Violencia, Saber, Ficcion y Utopía en El Primer Nueva Coronica y Buen Gobierno de Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala" identified an "eclosiva fuga de la referencialidad textual" of Peruvian chronic to create their own "referencialidades" under a utopia. The dramatic testimony, the complaint in voice and image will not be alienated from himself and legendary fantasy element of the early Latin American writings. The narrative artifices of the El Primer Nueva Coronica y Buen Gobierno creates "territorialidades textuales aptas para la imaginación y la leyenda, cercano a lo real maravilloso". The Indian chronicle was conceived when organizing the "Buen Gobierno y Justicia" in a confrontational environment, but also in a world that was new, rising at a time when America appeared as idealization of the Republic of Plato, a good government, a utopia.

The period of English history between the second Civil War and the Restoration opened up seemingly unlimited possibilities for shaping the country�s future. The period likewise witnessed an unprecedented surge of political imagination, a development which is particularly visible in Interregnum utopianism. More than ever before, utopianism orientates itself to a hopeful and expectant reality. It is no longer fictional or contemplative. Its ambitions and fulfilment are political; there is a drive towards active political participation. Utopianism reshapes its former boundaries and reinvents itself as reality utopianism. Considering this new reality-orientated identity, the utopias of the 1650s are especially useful in providing an insight into the political imagination of this period. This thesis studies three reality utopias of the 1650s: Winstanley�s The Law of Freedom, Harrington�s Oceana and Hobbes�s Leviathan. Each work represents a uniquely different utopian vision: Winstanley imagines an agrarian communism, Harrington revives classical republicanism, and Hobbes stresses absolute sovereignty. These three different utopian visions not only illustrate the range of the political imagination; they provide an opportunity to examine different ways to deal with the existing political and social concerns of the Interregnum and different perspectives for ideal solutions. Interregnum utopianism is shaped by the expectations and violence of the English Revolution and accordingly it is characterised by the heightened hopes and fears of its time. Despite substantial differences in the three utopias, the elemental hopes and fears expressed in these works remain similar. The hope for change and a better future is negotiated textually with a fear of anarchy and violence. In the end a compromise between opportunity and security has to be found. It is this compromise that shapes the face of Interregnum utopianism and reflects a major aspect of the post-revolutionary political imagination in England.

Cette thèse interroge l'existence d'une utopie environnementale de coopération entre Nature et Technique dans le secteur de l'énergie, qu'il s'agisse d'énergie renouvelable au Royaume-Uni ou d'énergie nucléaire en France. Dans la première partie de ce travail, nous avons établi que les systèmes énergétiques, par le biais de projets de coopération entre Nature et Technique, offraient un tableau pertinent des concurrences, et de plus en plus des coopérations entre Nature et Technique dans les discours et les pratiques étudiés, et ce en France. La deuxième partie de ce travail a consisté à démontrer dans quelle mesure les résistances à ces visions de la Nature et de la Technique en coopération sont plus fortes en France qu'au Royaume-Uni, car ces visions en coopération, comme nous l'avons montré en première partie, sont plus explicitement présentes en France qu'au Royaume-Uni. Dans la dernière partie de cette recherche, l'objectif a été enfin de démontrer dans quelle mesure ces représentations de la Nature et de la Technique en coopération traduisaient la rencontre d'idéologies technologiques propres au champ énergétique et de visions utopiques de l'environnement. Nous avons donc réussi à démontrer qu'au Royaume-Uni, cette vision utopique de l'environnement était davantage saisie comme une opportunité pour les acteurs du projet de centrale houlomotrice, tandis qu'en France, cette vision utopique de l'environnement menaçait l'idéologie technologique incarnée par l'énergie nucléaire. / This thesis is dealing with the reality of an environmental utopia of cooperation between Nature and Technique in the energy sector, in the renewables in the United-Kingdom and in the nuclear energy in France. In a first part, we have established that energy systems, through cooperation projects between Nature and Technique, offered an interesting map of the competition, and more and more of the cooperation, between Nature and Technique in the studied discourses and practices, and especially in France. The second part of this work was about to show to what extent any resistances to these visions of Nature and Technique were stronger in France rather than in the United-Kingdom, because the se visions, as we have seeing in the first part, were more explicit in France. In the last part of this research, the aim was to demonstrate to what extent these representations of Nature and Technique cooperating meant the meeting of technological ideologies, belonging to the energy field, and of utopian visions of environment. We managed to show that, in the United-Kingdom, this utopian vision of the environment was more understood as a chance for energy actors in a project of a wave power plant, instead of France, where these utopian visions of the environment were a threat for the technological ideology, embodied by the nuclear energy

Dystopian fiction as intended in the Western literary tradition is a 20 th century phenomenon on the Arabic literary scene. This relatively new genre has been experiencing an uplift since the beginning of the 21st century and many works that have been defined dystopias have been published and translated into English in the last 10 – 15 years. In order to find out their main features, Claeys’s categorization of literary dystopias is applied and a thematic analysis is carried out on four Arabic dystopian works of narrative, written by authors from different parts of the Arabic world. The analysis shows that 21st century Arabic dystopias are political dystopias, with totalitarianism as their main variation. Rather than on society, their focus is on the individual, and more specifically on personal freedom. The totalitarian constraints are mainly caused by religious fundamentalism and bureaucratic procedures. Surveillance and control over population are implemented by means of religious precepts and bureaucratic constructions, together with, in some instances, control over language and technological devices. Political totalitarianism regardless of a specific political ideology is identified as main theme. The thesis suggests that a Western-based classification framework is only partially suitable for Arabic dystopian fiction of the 21st century and that further research, including but not limited to a specific classification theory for Arabic dystopian fiction, is necessary to properly investigate this new literary trend in Arabic literature.

A proposta deste trabalho constitui-se através do acompanhamento de um projeto de habitação popular na Vila dos Tocos (Palmares do Sul / RS), realizado no ano de 2004. Ele é o ponto de partida para pensarmos as intervenções públicas nas formas de habitar. Analisaremos os elementos que antecedem os projetos, as propostas apresentadas no papel e os efeitos desta junção para pensarmos em alternativas que ampliem a autonomia dos sujeitos e mantenham a esfera do desejo presente. Como alternativa possível para alcançarmos um respeito mútuo inclusivo, capaz de não apagar o desejo, propomos um olhar maior sobre as utopias iconoclastas. Estas se apresentam como possibilidade por serem capazes de mostrar os limites de nosso pensamento, propondo um tempo de espera e uma possibilidade outra de vir-a-ser. / The purpose of this paper is established through the observation of a housing project in Vila dos Tocos (Palmares do Sul / RS), held in 2004. This project is the starting point for thinking about public interventions in diverse forms of living. We will analyze the elements prior to the project, written proposals and the effects of this junction to think of alternatives to enhance the autonomy of individuals and keep the desire present. As a possible alternative to achieve an inclusive mutual respect, one that will not erase the desire, we propose a greater look on iconoclastic utopias. These are presented as a possibility for being able to show the limits of our thinking, proposing a standby time and potential outcomes.

This BA thesis is about an attempt to explore micro-utopianism through design, an investigation that seeks which driving forces come into play in a search for a better place. In comparison to conventional utopianism, I will give my insights about why micro-utopianism should instead be practiced as an alternative approach to the subject. It is more about the process, exploring, imagining and experimenting rather than constituting a perfect place. The way I chose to go about this was through participatory design, which is a discipline that involves the stakeholders throughout the whole design process and beyond. I will also talk about dissecting as a design method and how I tried this out to explore micro-utopianism. To do this, the participants and I conducted two workshops so that, together with the participants, we could have a space where our imagination could ‘gestalta’ (or ‘exterpret’) thoughts of critique and opportunities. The two workshops were targeting different age groups: in the first one mainly adults participated and the second workshop was with youth. This will give you an insight of how dissecting can be applied to stimulate the utopian impulse using the power of imagination.

A proposta deste trabalho constitui-se através do acompanhamento de um projeto de habitação popular na Vila dos Tocos (Palmares do Sul / RS), realizado no ano de 2004. Ele é o ponto de partida para pensarmos as intervenções públicas nas formas de habitar. Analisaremos os elementos que antecedem os projetos, as propostas apresentadas no papel e os efeitos desta junção para pensarmos em alternativas que ampliem a autonomia dos sujeitos e mantenham a esfera do desejo presente. Como alternativa possível para alcançarmos um respeito mútuo inclusivo, capaz de não apagar o desejo, propomos um olhar maior sobre as utopias iconoclastas. Estas se apresentam como possibilidade por serem capazes de mostrar os limites de nosso pensamento, propondo um tempo de espera e uma possibilidade outra de vir-a-ser. / The purpose of this paper is established through the observation of a housing project in Vila dos Tocos (Palmares do Sul / RS), held in 2004. This project is the starting point for thinking about public interventions in diverse forms of living. We will analyze the elements prior to the project, written proposals and the effects of this junction to think of alternatives to enhance the autonomy of individuals and keep the desire present. As a possible alternative to achieve an inclusive mutual respect, one that will not erase the desire, we propose a greater look on iconoclastic utopias. These are presented as a possibility for being able to show the limits of our thinking, proposing a standby time and potential outcomes.

Esta dissertação é resultado da realização de diversas discussões e reflexões sobre as formas de viver e habitar a cidade atual. Tais questões surgem do processo de pesquisa da mestranda junto às pessoas em situação de rua, que ocorreu no município de Novo Hamburgo-RS durante o ano de 2011. A escolha por dizer da cidade a partir do olhar dessa população ocorre pelas afirmações de Calvino, Foucault e Peixoto de que uma escolha ética em pesquisa não está pautada na reprodução dos modos hegemônicos de vida na cidade, mas numa ética que luta por instaurar uma diferença na paisagem opaca através do detalhe que interroga a condição totalizante. Sustentados pelas colocações de Benjamin, Agamben e Gagnebin, de que os verdadeiros narradores da cidade são aqueles que não nos deixam esquecer a fratura que funda a sociedade e, tendo a utopia como aposta ética-estética-política, escolhemos utilizar o dispositivo imagético, inspirado nas produções fotográficas de Jeff Wall, para dar visibilidade ao habitar a cidade. Dessa forma, propusemos aos participantes da pesquisa que pensassem e escolhessem uma imagem do habitar a cidade que fosse significativa a eles para que pudéssemos recriá-la através da escrita e da fotografia. Através dessas imagens, tal trabalho tem como objetivo interrogar como ocorrem os processos de subjetivação e exclusão nas cidades atuais. Reconhecendo nos pequenos esquecimentos da história fragmentos potentes de experiência da cidade, como a discussão sobre o testemunho irá revelar e, por isso, busca-se a força de interrogar os modos de habitar a cidade através da função de testemunho. Para tanto, a escrita compõem-se, essencialmente, de três partes. Num primeiro momento, se abordará o percurso de pesquisa, discutindo a constituição e as escolhas sobre o método de pesquisa, a partir de interrogações sobre a função do testemunho. Num segundo momento, se discutirão algumas considerações que se entendem como fundamentais à compreensão sobre a cidade; como a indagação sobre uma ética do olhar sobre a cidade; o modo como se estabeleceu o urbano enquanto ciência e método para compreender a cidade e, como isso, passou a fazer parte do discurso da urbe; a análise do processo de urbanização brasileiro e a cidade de Novo Hamburgo, que foi cenário dessa pesquisa; e, através das discussões de Foucault e Agamben, os modos de subjetivação que se configuram na cidade a partir de duas questões centrais: a questão das vidas infames e a questão do modo como as políticas são estabelecidas às vidas infames, o modo como o biopolítico torna-se o paradigma das cidades, influenciando as políticas públicas. A parte final compõe-se das imagens que foram possíveis desse percurso, bem como das discussões sobre elas. / This dissertation is the result of the completion of several discussions and reflections on ways to live and dwell in the city nowadays. Such issues arise in the research process of the author, which occurred in the town of Novo Hamburgo-RS during the year of 2011, together with people on street situation. The choice of telling about the city through the eyes of this population occurs by the statements of Calvino, Foucault and Peixoto that an ethical choice on research is not based in the reproduction of hegemonic ways of city life, but an ethics which strives to establish a difference in the landscape through the opaque detail that questions the total condition. Supported by the placement of Benjamin, Agamben and Gagnebin, that the true storytellers of the city are those who will not let us forget the deep fracture that establishes society and having the utopia as a ethical-esthetic-political bet, we chose to use the imagery device, inspired in photographic productions of Jeff Wall, to give visibility to the inhabit of the city. Thus, we proposed to the research participants to think and choose a living image of the city that was meaningful to them so we could recreate it through writing and photography. Through these images, this paper aims to examine how the processes of exclusion and subjectivity occur in contemporary cities. Recognizing the small forgetfulness of history powerful experience fragments of the city, as the discussion on the witness will prove and, therefore, seeks the strength to question the ways of inhabiting the city via the witness function. To do so, the writing consists essentially of three parts. At first, it will address the way of research, discussing the constitution and the choices on the method of research, from questions about the role of witness. Secondly, it will discuss some considerations that are understood as fundamental to the understanding of the city, like the ethical questioning about over viewing the city, how they established the city as a science and the method to its understanding and, how it became part of the discourse of the town; the analysis of the Brazilian urbanization process and the city of Novo Hamburgo, which was the setting of this research and, through discussions of Foucault and Agamben, the modes of subjectivation that constitute the city from two central issues: the question of the infamous lifes and the question of how policies are set at the infamous lives, how the biopolitical becomes the paradigm of cities, influencing public policies. The final part is composed of images that were possible from this path, as well as the discussion of them.

"A Utopia antecipada: Ação Direta na Educação em Direitos Humanos", analisa as ações e resultados do "Itinerantes" para promover a educação em direitos humanos em 19 municípios no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. "Ação Direta" aponta para as iniciativas de educadores itinerantes ("Os Itinerantes") para buscar os alunos onde quer que eles estejam – nas perspectivas geográfica, social e educacional - e transformar espaços não-tradicionais e em arenas educativas. A Educação em Direitos Humanos foi implantada por meio de aulas abertas, debates, rodas de conversa, narrativas e filmes, com o objetivo de criar "momentos de formação" para desmantelar a "sociedade do espetáculo" que mistifica a violência institucional. Os educadores itinerantes em direitos humanos buscam as "vivências" dos alunos, registrando seu discurso, como forma de conscientização transformadora em futuras ações educativas. Propõe-se que a educação direta em direitos humanos promoverá a revolução educacional e social. / “The Dawning of Early Utopia: Direct Action in Human Rights Education”, analyzes the actions and outcomes of “Itinerant Wanderers” to introduce human rights education into 19 municipalities in Brazil's Rio Grande do Sul State. “Direct Action” points to the iniciatives of Itinerant educators (“Wanderers”) to seek students where they are – geographically, socially, and educationally – and to transform non-traditional spaces into teaching arenas. Human Rights Education was implanted through lectures, debates, dialogues, narratives, and films, with the objective of creating “teaching moments” that dismantle the “society of spetacle” that mystifies institutional violence. Human rights itinerant educators solicit the “lived experiences” of students, recording their discourse which is transformed into consciousness raising teaching in future classes. It is proposed that direct human rights education will promote educational and social revolution.