Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
open access
Valeria Luiselli, in her book-length essay, Los niños perdidos, uses an immigration questionnaire to structure her story of the refugee crisis taking place across the US-Mexico border. In Examen de...Show moreValeria Luiselli, in her book-length essay, Los niños perdidos, uses an immigration questionnaire to structure her story of the refugee crisis taking place across the US-Mexico border. In Examen de mi padre, Jorge Volpi uses the schema of his father’s body to structure his “autopsy”—not only of his father but also of the Mexican nation in the depth of an existential crisis. This thesis studies these two pieces of literary non-fiction through the lens of teaching and the interrogative mood in the “Ithaca” episode of James Joyce’s Ulysses. In “Ithaca,” a question and answer structure subverts the Roman Catholic catechism and its drive toward a single truth, as well as the scientific objectivism which the questions and answers themselves mimic stylistically. To what extent does the question and answer structure subvert the scientific and political discourse in Volpi’s essay in 10 lessons and Luiselli’s essay in 40 questions? I borrow from the methodology of secondary language teaching to explore and order the different types of questions and their linguistic relevance to literary style. How do Joyce’s experiences as a language teacher, using the interrogative mood as a teaching method, influence his literary use of interrogatives? The grammatical progression of the interrogative mood serves as an organizing principle for my own research questions. I argue that Luiselli’s use of the interrogative mood, like Joyce’s in “Ithaca” and Volpi’s in Examen de mi padre evades the determinacy and conclusion of an ending as well as any purely objectivist approach to its subject.Show less
Research master thesis | Latin American Studies (research) (MA)
closed access
The thesis talks about art and activism in Cuba, and is focused on Tania Bruguera and the Institution of Artivism Hannah Arendt. The study analyze informations from art critic and anthropological...Show moreThe thesis talks about art and activism in Cuba, and is focused on Tania Bruguera and the Institution of Artivism Hannah Arendt. The study analyze informations from art critic and anthropological field research. Through a description of Cuban society of 2017 will be examined how freedom of speech of art can be used for social goals. However the main topic is the Relational Art and the development of a new paradigm which involves a political aim as part of the work of art. This research discusses controversies about the effects of aRtivism on the Cuban society and propose an interpretation of an elaborated cultural landscape.Show less
