The focus in Afrofuturist scholarship has always been on the ways in which the black experience, particularly the forcible dislocation of the Middle Passage, has been akin to sensations of...Show moreThe focus in Afrofuturist scholarship has always been on the ways in which the black experience, particularly the forcible dislocation of the Middle Passage, has been akin to sensations of alienation and “Othering” explored in science fiction and speculative fiction. While a range of technologies have been analyzed in the context of Afrofuturism, from sonic, to digital, to even aerospace technologies, I argue in this thesis that there is a gap in scholarship on the medical technologies that undergird the alienation experienced by African Americans. To fill this gap, my research focuses on two works of fiction, Ralph Ellison’s classic novel Invisible Man (1952) and Jordan Peele’s recent movie Get Out (2017), that deal with the oppressive power of medicine. I argue that in both narratives medical experiments are used to take control over black bodies and minds, and I position this political violence into a history of medical experimentation and abuse on African Americans as well as Afrofuturism. As much as the medical mistreatment that the protagonists in these texts suffer seems exclusive to the world of science fiction, it has been, and might continue to be, part of the real experience of black Americans.Show less
A intellectual history research. How did the ideas on philanthropy and doing good in America evolve from 1650-1830? Increased individualism and secularism influenced the way in which philanthropy...Show moreA intellectual history research. How did the ideas on philanthropy and doing good in America evolve from 1650-1830? Increased individualism and secularism influenced the way in which philanthropy and doing good were viewed.Show less
The claim to female slave agency is compared in the narratives of Sojourner Truth and Harriet Jacobs, in which the claim that slavery is immoral, is presented as the main argument.
The genre of the captivity narrative is closely connected both historically and ideologically with the colonization of the Americas. The genre emerged in the 1550s, when Hans Staden published an...Show moreThe genre of the captivity narrative is closely connected both historically and ideologically with the colonization of the Americas. The genre emerged in the 1550s, when Hans Staden published an account of his Brazilian captivity in True Story and Description of a Country of Wild, Naked, Grim, Man-eating People in the New World, America in 1557 (Michaela Schmolz-Haberlein 745). In 1575, Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda published Memoir on the Country and Ancient Indian Tribes of Florida, in which he describes his captivity with the Calusa Indians. The first example of a captivity narrative in colonial North America is Mary Rowlandson’s The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson (1682), which became the prototype of the genre in American literature. These three early autobiographical narratives and the fictional captivity narratives that were produced in their wake offer the colonizer’s perspective on the often violent conflicts and cultural encounters between European colonizers and the indigenous population that are a central theme in the genre. In this thesis I will focus on the ideological and cultural work that the captivity narrative performs, both in Mary Rowlandson’s prototypical narrative and Kevin Costner’s 1990 film Dances with Wolves, which presents itself as a kind of counter-captivity narrative. I will do so by providing a comparative close reading of the text and the film in their cultural context.Show less
At the end of the nineteenth century, department stores formed a new type of shops with new selling methods, lavish shop design and an innovative business model. Literary naturalism provided a way...Show moreAt the end of the nineteenth century, department stores formed a new type of shops with new selling methods, lavish shop design and an innovative business model. Literary naturalism provided a way of understanding these changes in society and consumption. Based on Herbert Spencer’s concept of the survival of the fittest, characters in novels by authors such as Émile Zola and Theodore Dreiser are fiercely competing individuals who are determined to gain economic advantage at the expense of others. Their behaviour is often described in terms of brutal nature, uncontrollable temperaments, and animal instincts. This comparison of human beings to animals - which in the case of naturalism is not merely metaphorical - is also at the core of what retail theory nowadays labels as impulse buying, a type of shopping behaviour without overt rational consideration and deliberation. According to retailers, lavish shop design was expected to provoke this new type of shopping behaviour, and, around the turn of the twentieth century, the naturalist novel tended to describe and explain this combination of manipulation and shopping behaviour.Show less
One might argue that the Christian themes in Flannery O'Connor's fiction were prevalent not because she wished to produce religious texts about redemption, but rather because Christianity and the...Show moreOne might argue that the Christian themes in Flannery O'Connor's fiction were prevalent not because she wished to produce religious texts about redemption, but rather because Christianity and the church played a great role in her life and in the South in general. In fact, she claimed that “the South is hardly Christ-centered, it is most certainly Christ- haunted” (861). This thesis argues that Wise Blood is not a religious novel nor does it have a religious message. Instead, O’Connor deploys the gothic, or more specifically its southern variety of the grotesque, to criticise Evangelical Protestantism for obscuring and sustaining the social injustices in the South.Show less
Drawing on a relatively recent trend in Melville criticism, this BA thesis gives a detailed close analysis of some passages in Moby-Dick to demonstrate Melville’s destabilisation of Orientalist...Show moreDrawing on a relatively recent trend in Melville criticism, this BA thesis gives a detailed close analysis of some passages in Moby-Dick to demonstrate Melville’s destabilisation of Orientalist stereotypes and his deconstruction of contemporary racial theories.Show less
In her book Borderlands (1987), Gloria Anzaldúa reconstructs the mythology of the indigenous people of the U.S. to serve her feminist purpose of empowering women. More particularly, Anzaldúa means...Show moreIn her book Borderlands (1987), Gloria Anzaldúa reconstructs the mythology of the indigenous people of the U.S. to serve her feminist purpose of empowering women. More particularly, Anzaldúa means to inspire Chicana women to rebel against the double oppression they endure from Mexican-American (Chicano) culture as well as from the dominant American society. Anzaldúa finds a way to transform the borderlands, the marginal space in which Chicana women live, into a space that grants herself and other women the power to construct their own identities. She recreates legends and mythical figures from ancient Aztec culture that other Chicana women can relate to and draw strength from. Sandra Cisneros, one of the Chicana writers inspired by Anzaldúa, in her short story sequence Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories (1991) draws on Anzaldúa’s reconstructed feminist mythology. By connecting these legends with the female protagonists in her story, Cisneros enables empowerment for the latter.Show less
Making use of trauma theory and Erin H. McGlothlin's concept of the third-level narration, this thesis will discuss how Vladek's trauma and its transmission to Artie are visually and narratively...Show moreMaking use of trauma theory and Erin H. McGlothlin's concept of the third-level narration, this thesis will discuss how Vladek's trauma and its transmission to Artie are visually and narratively represented. An analysis of particularly the third level of narration in Art Spiegelman's "Maus" shows that Vladek and Artie do not succeed in fully working through their traumas.Show less
