Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Science fiction Criticism, Textual'
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Stratton, Sarah Louise. "More than throw-away fiction : investigating lesbian pulp fiction through the lens of a lesbian textual community." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2018. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/8245/.
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This thesis argues for, and conducts close reading on, lesbian pulp fiction published in the United States between 1950 and 1965. Though a thorough investigation of a lesbian textual community centred on the lesbian periodical, The Ladder (1956-1952), this thesis forms a lens through which to closely read lesbian pulp fiction novels. This thesis maintains that members of this textual community were invested in literary discussions, as evinced through the publication of book reviews. Moreover, the lesbian textual community of The Ladder actively participated in literary discussions through the ‘Readers Respond’ column. Spring Fire (1952) by Vin Packer and The Beebo Brinker Chronicles (1957 to 1962) by Ann Bannon are investigated for implicit and explicit criticisms of 1950s sexual politics and the politics surrounding lesbian representation in popular media. For the members of The Ladder’s lesbian textual community, pulp novels belonging to the ‘Golden Age of Paperbacks’ were more than cheaply produced reading materials.
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Stedman, Barbara A. "The word become fiction : textual voices from the evangelical subculture." Virtual Press, 1994. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/917838.
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Between 1979 and 1994, conservative, Protestant Christian fiction, or simply "evangelical fiction," has burgeoned into a powerful literary representative of America's modern evangelical subculture. This study examines that phenomenon by combining: (a) close textual analysis of the novels, particularly novels written by two important evangelical novelists--Janette Oke, romance writer, and Frank Peretti, author of supernatural thrillers; (b) analysis of the reading habits and tastes of 218 readers of evangelical fiction in the Muncie, Indiana, area by way of questionnaire responses and also follow-up interviews with 75 of those respondents; and (c) careful investigation of the cultural context in which these novels are written, published, and read.One particular issue investigated is whether readers read these novels primarily for entertainment or for spiritual edification. On one hand, these novels fit into the category of "popular" fiction and therefore meet readers' needs for entertainment, albeit entertainment that is consistent with evangelicals' theology, lifestyle, and world view. On the other hand, these novels fill readers' needs for edification, for overt religious support and teaching, for perpetuation of what evangelicals already believe. They are, in Roland Barthes' words, examples of doxa, i.e., history transformed into nature.Another special issue investigated is the role that these novels play in the battle against mainstream secular culture. In particular, Oke's novels function as cultural preservers, particularly of nineteenth-century models for the family, morality, and unworldliness; and Peretti's novels function as cultural combatants, actively naming and attacking secular enemies, especially the New Age movement and abortion industry.The study concludes that evangelical fiction not only reflects evangelical subculture, but also affects it; that the genre has undergone dramatic changes from 1979 to 1994 and that publishers, writers, and readers are calling for more sophisticated fiction. However, evangelical fiction, as a cultural expression, falls within what is sometimes called the "evangelical ghetto" and, since evangelicalism is a religious orthodoxy, the fiction will have difficulty emerging from that ghetto.Department of English
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Jorgensen, Darren J. "Science fiction and the sublime." University of Western Australia. English, Communication and Cultural Studies Discipline Group, 2005. http://theses.library.uwa.edu.au/adt-WU2005.0116.
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[Truncated abstract] This thesis makes three assertions. The first is that the sublime is a principal pleasure of science fiction. The second is that the conditions for the emergence of both the sublime and science fiction lie in the modern developments of technology, mass economy and imperialism. Maritime and optical technologies; the imagination that accompanied imperialism; and the influence of capitalism furnished the cognition by which the pleasures of both science fiction and the sublime came into being. The third claim is that a historical conception of the sublime, one that changes according to the different circumstances in which it appears, offers privileged insights onto changes within the genre. To make such extensive claims it has been necessary to make a cognitive map of the development of both the sublime and science fiction. This map reaches from the Ancient Romans, Lucian and Longinus; to Thomas More, Jonathan Swift, Johannes Kepler, Voltaire and Immanuel Kant; to Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Shelley, Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. This thesis then examines how the features of these fictions mutate in the twentieth-century fiction of A.E. van Vogt, Clifford Simak, Philip K. Dick, Arthur C. Clarke, Ivan Yefremov, the Strugatsky brothers, J.G. Ballard, Pamela Zoline, Ursula Le Guin, Vonda McIntyre, Octavia Butler, Kim Stanley Robinson, Stephen Baxter, William Gibson, Ken MacLeod and Stanislaw Lem. These writers are considered in their own specific periods, and in their national contexts, as they create pleasures that are contingent upon changes to their own worlds. In representing these changes, their fictions defamiliarise the anxieties of the reading subject. They transcend the contradictions of their times with a sublime that betrays its own conditions of transcendence. The deployment of the sublime in these texts offers a moment of critical possibility, as it betrays the fantasies born of a subject's relation to their world
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Beaulé, Sophie. "L'institution de la science-fiction française, 1977-1983." Thesis, McGill University, 1985. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=65469.
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Jordan, Linda. "German science-fiction magazines of Hugo Gernsback, 1926-1935." Thesis, McGill University, 1986. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=65493.
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Proietti, Salvatore. "The cyborg, cyberspace, and North American science fiction." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape11/PQDD_0021/NQ44558.pdf.
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Leperlier, Henry. "Canadian science fiction, a reluctant genre." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1999. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape9/PQDD_0033/NQ61856.pdf.
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McFarlane, Anna M. "A gestalt approach to the science fiction novels of William Gibson." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/6263.
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Gestalt psychologists Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Köhler argue that human perception relies on a form, or gestalt, into which perceptions are assimilated. Gestalt theory has been applied to the visual arts by Rudolf Arnheim and to literature by Wolfgang Iser. My original contribution to knowledge is to use gestalt theory to perform literary criticism, an approach that highlights the importance of perception in William Gibson's novels and the impact of this emphasis on posthumanism and science fiction studies. Science fiction addresses the problem of difference and the relationship between self and other. Gestalt literary criticism takes perception as the interface between the self and the other, the human and the inhuman. Gibson's work is of particular interest as his early novels are representative of 1980s cyberpunk while his later novels push the boundaries of science fiction through their contemporary settings. By engaging with Gibson the thesis makes its contribution to contemporary science fiction criticism explicit. In Gibson's Sprawl trilogy autopoiesis defines life and consciousness, elevating the importance of perception (Chapter I). The Bridge trilogy uses the metaphor of chaos theory to examine dialectic tensions, such as the tension between space and cyberspace (Chapter II). Faulty pattern recognition is a key theme in Gibson's post-9/11 work as gestalt perception allows and limits knowledge (Chapter III). Chapter IV explains how the gestalt in psychoanalysis creates a fragmented subject in Spook Country (2007). Finally, the gestalt appears as a parallax view, a view that oscillates between the world we experience and the world as represented in the text (Chapter V). I conclude that gestalt literary criticism offers an exciting new reading of Gibson's work that recognises its engagement with visual culture and cyberpunk as a whole.
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King, Edward Carlos Richard. "Mapping the control society : science fiction tropes and digital technologies in contemporary Argentine and Brazilian narrative." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2012. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.610135.
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Rose, Sharon L. "Isaac Asimov's Profession : a Burkeian criticism." Virtual Press, 1990. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/722234.
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This is a rhetorical criticism of the science fiction short story, "Profession," by Isaac Asimov. Primary focus is on Asimov's persuasive use of this message to influence potentially creative young people to consider technological careers. A brief synopsis of the story is given, along with a statement of the functional role of science fiction in accustoming individuals to societal changes resulting from technological advancements.Methodology is based upon Kenneth Burke's dramatism which views human action in terms of a drama. Burke's concepts of identification and occupational psychosis are used in discovering the rhetor's use of persuasive strategies. Burke's pentad is used for analysis of significant ratios. The dominance of the act-scene ratio is demonstrated by the supremacy of action over motion.Asimov's work shows the influence of a philosophy of realism, identifiable by the featuring of the pentadic term "act." Asimov's primary motives are identified as a desire to share his belief in the benefits of technology and his own need for creative self-expression.Department of Speech Communication
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Warren, John Rodger. "A visual examination of artificial life and science fiction using 3D computer graphics and animation." The Ohio State University, 1997. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1382949898.
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Kwan, Wing-ki Koren, and 關詠琪. "Experiments in subjectivity: a study of postmodern science fiction." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2005. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B3681250X.
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James, Sarah J. "Not without my body : feminist science fiction and embodied futures." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/14613.
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This study explores the interaction between feminist science fiction and feminist theory, focusing on the body and embodiment. Specifically, it aims to demonstrate that feminist science fiction novels of the 1990s offer an excellent platform for exploring the critical theories of the body put forward by Judith Butler in particular, and other feminist/queer theorists in general. The thesis opens with a brief history of science fiction's depiction of the body and feminist science fiction's subversions and rewritings of this, as well as an overview of Judith Butler's theories relating to the body and embodiment. It then considers a wide range of feminist science fiction novels from the 1990s, focusing on four key areas; bodies materialised outside patriarchal systems in women-only or women-ruled worlds, alien bodies, cyborg bodies and bodies in cyberspace. An in-depth analysis of the selected texts reveals that they have important contributions to make to the consideration of bodies as they develop and expand the issues raised by theorists such as Butler, Elisabeth Grosz, Luce Irigaray and Julia Kristeva.
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Hall, Karen Peta. "Discovering the lost race story : writing science fiction, writing temporality." University of Western Australia. English and Cultural Studies Discipline Group, 2008. http://theses.library.uwa.edu.au/adt-WU2008.0216.
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Genres are constituted, implicitly and explicitly, through their construction of the past. Genres continually reconstitute themselves, as authors, producers and, most importantly, readers situate texts in relation to one another; each text implies a reader who will locate the text on a spectrum of previously developed generic characteristics. Though science fiction appears to be a genre concerned with the future, I argue that the persistent presence of lost race stories where the contemporary world and groups of people thought to exist only in the past intersect in science fiction demonstrates that the past is crucial in the operation of the genre. By tracing the origins and evolution of the lost race story from late nineteenth-century novels through the early twentieth-century American pulp science fiction magazines to novel-length narratives, and narrative series, at the end of the twentieth century, this thesis shows how the consistent presence, and varied uses, of lost race stories in science fiction complicates previous critical narratives of the history and definitions of science fiction.
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Parera, Rodriguez Caterina. "Xavier Benguerel i Llobet. Obra novel·lística de la primera etapa (1929-1953)." Doctoral thesis, Universitat de Barcelona, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/393883.
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En un moment marcat per la polèmica sobre la represa del gènere novel.la i l'entrada, a Catalunya, de la influència proustiana a les acaballes dels anys vint, les primeres novel•les de Xavier Benguerel porten l'empremta d'aquestes coordenades i, alhora, suposen l'esforç d'un jove escriptor per tal de fer-se un estil. L'autor parteix de la tradició literària i cultural que li aporten els entorns familiar, escolar i social, per confegir aquestes novel•les de la primera etapa, en les quals incorpora diversos elements innovadors, d'entre els quals cal assenyalar el psicologisme, que és el model que li sembla més adequat per tal de recrear i mitificar el món que coneix, que està en continu canvi i que, finalment, s'extingirà. La cultura popular, les seves vivències més personals i la poesia simbolista vindran a enriquir les seves possibilitats literàries sempre en llengua catalana. Precisament l'estudi i l'anàlisi de l'elaboració de les vuit primeres novel•les és el tema de la meva tesi amb l'objectiu de veure qui na és I a seva manera de treballar, quines són les constants de la seva producció primerenca, com consolida I a seva manera d'entendre i resoldre el gènere com a creador de novel•les i quina recepció troba entre el seu públic lector.
Amb la primera novel•la, Pàgines d'un adolescent, a les acaballes dels vint, comença a dibuixar el seu personal coneixement del món a partir d'una sèrie d'elements autobiogràfics i d'un estil impregnat de lirisme que constitueixen les bases de I a seva novel•lística. A La vida d’Olga, El teu secret i Suburbi, Benguerel continua la línia endegada en la construcció de la novel•la de formació, d'estil poètic i amb elements autobiogràfics, en una progressiva evolució dins el marc de la novel•la psicològica. Aquestes novel•les configuren el procés de formació de l'escriptor que no consolidarà la seva veu literària fins als anys quaranta, quan salvades mínimament les vicissituds de la guerra i de l'exili, podrà reprendre l'escriptura i oferir títols com La màscara, L’home dins el mirall, La família Rouquier i La veritat del foc.
Al final de l'exili, Benguerel reprendrà també unes coordenades d'espai i temps, creades anteriorment, amb les quals podrà reconstruir el record del seu món perdut, fugint de la realitat d'exiliat. L'exemple més clar és La família Rouquier, que pot ser caracteritzada per la mirada retrospectiva arrelada en el passat familiar català anterior a la guerra
del 1936-39 i en les tendències narratives de les lletres catalanes de les primeres dècades del segle XX.
En conclusió: el pensament estètic i la producció novel·lística de Xavier Benguerel, entre 1929-1953, dibuixen dues grans etapes, de formació, la primera, i de represa literària, la segona, separades per la profunda crisi que suposa la marxa a l’exili. Malgrat tot, el corpus novel·lístic estudiat presenta unes característiques unitàries i comunes, que coincideixen a constituir un conjunt autobiogràfic, amb rerefons poètic i psicologista. Efectivament, partint de la seva experiència personal i del seu coneixement del món, Benguerel aprofundeix en la introspecció psicològica dels personatges amb la incorporació del flux de la consciència, del monòleg interior, dels diaris íntims o de les cartes. D’altra banda, en el rerefons d’aquestes novel·les benguerelianes, hi bateguen els versos que l’autor escriu paral·lelament i que recull a Poemes de Suburbi i Carroussel de somnis. En prosa o en vers, l’autor vol penetrar l’ànima humana que facilita l’actualització de grans temes: la infantesa i l’adolescència com a estats transitoris de la consciència vers el món dels adults, la complexitat de les relacions humanes i la gestió de les emocions com ara la descoberta de l’amor, la passió, l’angoixa i el patiment humans.At a time marked by controversy over the resumption of the novel and the beginning of Proust's influence in Catalonia in the late twenties, Xavier Benguerel's early novels are marked by these coordinates and also represent the efforts of a young writer to draw an own style. The author starts from his own literary and cultural tradition that is brought by his fami I y, school and social environment, and incorporates several innovative elements, among which he can find an especially valid psychological model, to evocate and recreate a world that he knows is going to become extinct. Popular culture, their most personal experiences and symbolist poetry come to enrich their literary possibilities always in Catalan. Precisely the study and analysis of the development in the first eight novels is the subject of my thesis in order to see the way he works, the constants in his early production, his consolidation as a creator of novels and the reception of his works among his readers. With his first novel, Pagines d'un adolescent, he begins to outline his personal knowledge of the world through a series of autobiographical elements and a style steeped in lyricism that constitute the bases of his novels. In La vida d'Olga, El teu secret and Suburbi, Benguerel continues the work begun on the construction of the novel of formation, with poetic style, autobiographical elements and a progressive evolution within the framework of the psychological novel. In the forties, when he minimally saves the vicissitudes of war and exile, he resumes writing and offers titles such as La mascara, L'home dins el mirall, La familia Rouquier and La veritat del foc. At the end of exile, with Rouquier Family, characterized by a retrospective view rooted in the past before the Civil War and by the narrative tendencies of Catalan literature in the first decades of the twentieth century, Benguerel recovers the memory of his lost world, eluding the reality of exile. In conclusion, Benguerel’s aesthetic thinking and novel work, 1929-1953, draw two major stages, training and renewal of literary, marked by the deep crisis that involves walking in exile. However, the studied novel corpus shows some common and uniform features which coincide to form a psychologist set with a poetic and an autobiographical backdrop.
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Ross, Simon David. "Nostalgia in postmodern science fiction film." Thesis, Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 2001. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk:8888/cgi-bin/hkuto%5Ftoc%5Fpdf?B23472741.
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Blatchford, Mathew. "The old New Wave : a study of the 'New Wave' in British science fiction during the 1960s and early 1970s, with special reference to the works of Brian W. Aldiss, J.G. Ballard, Harry Harrison and Michael Moorcock." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 1989. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/22150.
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Bibliography: pages 174-184.This thesis examines the 'New Wave' in British science fiction in the 1960s and early 1970s. The use of the terms 'science fiction' and 'New Wave' in the thesis are defined through a use of elements of the ideological theories of Louis Althusser. The New Wave is seen as a change in the ideological framework of the science fiction establishment. For oonvenience, the progress of the New Wave is divided into three stages, each covered by a chapter. Works by the four most prominent writers in the movement are discussed.
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Bar-On, Gefen. "True light, true method : science, Newtonianism, and the editing of Shakespeare in eighteenth-century England." Thesis, McGill University, 2006. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=102786.
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The promotion of Shakespeare to the centre of the English literary canon was largely facilitated by ten major eighteenth-century editions of his plays: by Nicholas Rowe (1709), Alexander Pope (1723-25), Lewis Theobald (1733), Thomas Hanmer (1744), William Warburton (1747), Samuel Johnson (1765), George Steevens (1766), Edward Capell (1767-68), Johnson and Steevens (1773) and Edmond Malone (1790). The popularity of Newtonian science in eighteenth-century England helps to explain the mentality that impelled this energetic enterprise. In their Prefaces, the editors describe Shakespeare as a Newton-like genius who understood the underlying principles of human nature and expressed them through his characters. Shakespeare, however, unlike Newton, was not a systematic thinker, and the editors are critical of his language and of his tendency to cater to the low tastes of the Elizabethan theatre. They view him as a genius who understood fundamental truths about human nature and, at the same time, metaphorically, as nature itself---a site of heterogeneity and confusion where the editor must find hidden knowledge. They figure themselves as, scientists charged with the task of altering, restoring and annotating Shakespeare's writings. In the editions leading to and including that of Johnson, the editors' focus is on the universality of Shakespeare's discoveries. The early editors promote a transcendental image of Shakespeare as a timeless genius who rose above the relatively barbaric age in which he lived. The two editors following Johnson, however, place an increasing emphasis on Shakespeare's Englishness. While the idea of Shakespeare as a universal genius persists, Steevens and Capell also view him as a specifically English figure whose writings are to a large extent a product of his society. This nationalist emphasis goes hand in hand with an increasingly historical approach to the annotation and textual restoration of Shakespeare. The development of editing as a professional scientific vocation culminates with Malone, who augmented the editorial apparatus with thoroughly researched accounts of Shakespeare's life and theatre. The persistent emphasis on knowledge in the editors' work helps to account for the rise of Shakespeare's canonicity in relation to the Newtonian truth-seeking project of the eighteenth century.
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Dye, Scott Allen. "The Concept of Dignity in the Early Science Fiction Novels of Kurt Vonnegut." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2003. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc4155/.
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Kurt Vonnegut's early science fiction novels depict societies and characters that, as in the real world, have become callous and downtrodden. These works use supercomputers, aliens, and space travel, often in a comical manner, to demonstrate that the future, unless people change their concepts of humanity, will not be the paradise of advanced technology and human harmony that some may expect. In fact, Vonnegut suggests that the human condition may gradually worsen if people continue to look further and further into the universe for happiness and purpose. To Vonnegut, the key to happiness is dignity, and this key is to be found within ourselves, not without.
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Lane, Cara. "Moments in the life of literature /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/9458.
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Zajac, Ronald J. (Ronald John). "The Dystopian city in British and US science fiction, 1960-1975 : urban chronotopes as models of historical closure." Thesis, McGill University, 1992. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=61046.
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In much dystopian SF, the city models a society which represses the protagonist's sense of historical time, replacing it with a sense of "private" time affecting isolated individuals. This phenomenon appears in dystopian SF novels of 1960-75--including Thomas M. Disch's 334, John Brunner's The Jagged Orbit, Philip K. Dick's Martian Time-Slip, J. G. Ballard's High-Rise, and Samuel R. Delany's Dhalgren--as well as some precursors--including Wells, Zamyatin's We, Huxley's Brave New World and Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. In these novels the cities also reveal in their chronotopic arrangement the degree to which revolutionary forces can oppose the dystopian order. While the earlier dystopias see revolution crushed by despotic state power, those of 1960-75 see it thwarted by the dehumanizing effects of capitalism. The period from 1960-75 ends in resignation to an existence in which individual action can no longer effect political change, at best tempered by irony (Disch, Delany).
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Franks, Jamie N. "Becoming Other: Virtual Realities in Contemporary Science Fiction." FIU Digital Commons, 2015. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1908.
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The purpose of this thesis was to explore the boundary between human and other created by virtual worlds in contemporary science fiction novels. After a close reading of the three novels: Surface Detail, Existence, and Lady of Mazes, and the application of contemporary literary theories, the boundary presented itself and led to the discovery of where the human becomes other. The human becomes other when it becomes lost to the virtual world and no longer exists or interacts with material reality. Each of the primary texts exhibits both virtual reality and humanity in different ways, and each is explored to find where humanity falls apart. Overall, when these theories are applied to real life there is no real way to avoid the potential for fully immersive virtual worlds, but there are ways to avoid their alienating effects.
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McGinney, William Lawrence. "The Sounds of the Dystopian Future: Music for Science Fiction Films of the New Hollywood Era, 1966-1976." Thesis, connect to online resource, 2009. http://digital.library.unt.edu/permalink/meta-dc-9839.
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Marburger, Anna C. "Queer Content in Science Fiction Allegory and Analogue: Is It In Disguise?" Scholarship @ Claremont, 2015. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/609.
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This thesis performs a textual analysis of two for-profit science fiction texts in which the authors implanted queer content: Bryan Singer's X-Men films and James Robert's Transformers comic series, "More Than Meets the Eye". The argument incorporates queer (referring to attraction and gender variance) media representation and western identity politics lenses into its critique.
By interrogating reality through the masquerade of an impossible universe, science fiction affects how subversive a text can be. When authors designate the natural and the unnatural in a strange universe, they designate what and who belongs in our society. Whatever they imagine has an effect on our reality.
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Reynolds, Hannah C. "The Electric Era: Science Fiction Literature in China." Wittenberg University Honors Theses / OhioLINK, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wuhonors1617805441166436.
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Ejsmund, Arnika Nora. ""Light is the left hand of darkness" : breaking away from invalid dichotomies in science fiction." Diss., Pretoria : [s.n.], 2002. http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-06172005-111926.
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Steenkamp, Elzette Lorna. "Identity, belonging and ecological crisis in South African speculative fiction." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002262.
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This study examines a range of South African speculative novels which situate their narratives in futuristic or ‘alternative’ milieus, exploring how these narratives not only address identity formation in a deeply divided and rapidly changing society, but also the ways in which human beings place themselves in relation to Nature and form notions of ‘ecological’ belonging. It offers close readings of these speculative narratives in order to investigate the ways in which they evince concerns which are rooted in the natural, social and political landscapes which inform them. Specific attention is paid to the texts’ treatment of the intertwined issues of identity, belonging and ecological crisis. This dissertation draws on the fields of Ecocriticism, Postcolonial Studies and Science Fiction Studies, and assumes a culturally specific approach to primary texts while investigating possible cross-cultural commonalities between Afrikaans and English speculative narratives, as well as the cross-fertilisation of global SF/speculative features. It is suggested that South African speculative fiction presents a socio-historically situated, rhizomatic approach to ecology – one that is attuned to the tension between humanistic- and ecological concerns.
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Toerien, Michelle. "Boundaries in cyberpunk fiction : William Gibson's Neuromancer trilogy, Bruce Sterling's Schismatrix, and Neal Stephenson's Snow crash." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/51639.
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Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2000.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Cyberpunk literature explores the effects that developments in technology will have on the lives of individuals in the future. Technology is seen as having the potential to be of benefit to society, but it is also seen as a dangerous tool that can be used to severely limit humanity's freedom. Most of the characters in the texts I examine wish to perpetuate the boundaries that contain them in a desperate search for stability. Only a few individuals manage to move beyond the boundaries created by multinational corporations that use technology, drugs or religion for their own benefit. This thesis will provide a definition of cyberpunk and explore its development from science fiction and postmodern writing. The influence of postmodern thinking on cyberpunk literature can be seen in its move from stability to fluidity, and in its insistence on the impossibility of creating fixed boundaries. Cyberpunk does not see the future of humanity as stable, and argues that it will be necessary for humanity to move beyond the boundaries that contain it. The novels I discuss present different views concerning the nature of humanity's merging with technology. One view is that humanity is moving towards a posthuman future, while some argue that humanity is not discarded, but that these characters have merely evolved to the next step in the natural development of humankind. Both these views deal with constant change, a notion advocated by both postmodernism and cyberpunk.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: "Cyberpunk" literatuur ondersoek die uitwerking wat tegnologiese ontwikkeling in die toekoms op die lewens van individue sal hê. Tegnologie word gesien as tot moontlike voordeel vir die samelewing, maar dit kan ook 'n gevaarlike wapen wees wat gebruik kan word om die mens se vryheid in te perk. Die meerderheid van die karakters in die romans wat ek bespreek verkies om die grense wat hulle inperk te handhaaf in 'n desperate strewe na stabiliteit. Slegs 'n paar individue kry dit wel reg om verby die grense te breek wat deur multinasionale organisasies geskep word vir hul eie gewin. In hierdie tesis kyk ek na 'n definisie van "cyberpunk" en ek ondersoek die invloed van wetenskapsfiksie en postmodernisme op die ontwikkeling van die beweging. Die invloed van postmodernistiese denke kan gesien word in "cyberpunk" se fokus op veranderlikheid eerder as stabiliteit. "Cyberpunk" sien nie die toekoms van die mens as stabiel nie, en die argument is dat dit nodig is vir die mens om verby die grense te beweeg wat vryheid inperk. Die romans wat ek bespreek bevat verskillende sieninge oor die tipe samesmelting wat die mens en tegnologie sal hê. Sommige voel dat die kategorie "mens" permanent agterlaat gaan word, terwyl ander argumenteer dat individue slegs sal ontwikkel tot die volgende stap in die natuurlike ontwikkeling van die mens. Voortdurende verandering is die fokus van beide hierdie standpunte, en dit is ook die belangrikste fokus van beide "cyberpunk" en postmodernisme.
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彭文慧 and M. W. Petti Pang. "The image of physics and physicists in modern drama: portraits and social implications." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2000. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31225056.
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Floerke, Jennifer Jodelle. "A queer look at feminist science fiction: Examing Sally Miller Gearhart's The Kanshou." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2005. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2889.
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This thesis is a queer theory analysis of the feminist science fiction novel The Kanshou by Sally Miller Gearhart. After exploring both male and female authored science fiction in the literature review, two themes were to be dominant. The goal of this thesis is to answer the questions, can the traditional themes that are prevalent in male authored science fiction and feminist science fiction in representing gender and sexual orientation dichotomies be found in The Kanshou? And does Gearhart challenge these dichotomies by destabilizing them? The analysis found determined that Gearhart's The Kanshou does challenge traditional sociological norms of binary gender identities and sexual orientation the majority of the time.
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Santos, Cassia dos. "Uma paisagem apocaliptica e sem remissão : a criação de Vila Velha e da Cronica da casa assassinada." [s.n.], 2005. http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/270213.
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Orientador: Vilma Sant'Anna AreasTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem
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Resumo: A tese tem como objetivo principal investigar como se deu a elaboração do romance Crônica da casa assassinada do escritor mineiro Lúcio Cardoso (19121968). O processo de redação do livro é reconstituído através do exame dos seus originais e de sua edição critica publicada em 1991 pela Coleção Arquivos. Entrevistas concedidas pelo autor, trechos do seu Diário, a sua correspondência e outras de suas obras ficcionais, parte delas inacabada contribuem igualmente para a discussão. O romance é entendido, ainda como parte de um projeto maior idealizado em tomo de uma cidade imaginária: a pequena Vila Velha situada na Zona da Mata mineira
Abstract: The main purpose of the thesis is to research on the making of the novel Crônica da casa assassinada by Lúcio Cardoso (1912-1968), a writer from Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The book's writing process is reconstructed trough the examination of the original drafts and the critical edition, published in 1991 by Coleção Arquivos. Interviews with the author, excerpts from bis personal joumal, bis mail and other fictional works of bis, some of wbich unfinished, contribute to this discussion as well. The novel is understood also as part of a greater project idealized around an imaginary town: the small Vila V elha located in the Zona da Mata region, in Minas Gerais
Doutorado
Literatura Brasileira
Doutor em Teoria e História Literária
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Thoday, Heather Frances. "Lived spaces of representation : thirdspace and Janette Turner Hospital's political praxis of postmodernism /." Title page, abstract and table of contents only, 2004. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09PH/09pht449.pdf.
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Swirski, Peter. "Dystopia or dischtopia : an analysis of the SF paradigms in Thomas M. Disch." Thesis, McGill University, 1990. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=61241.
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On the basis of an ontological analogy between the worlds of myth and dystopia, the present thesis argues the latter's inherently "metaphysical" character. As such, dystopia is regarded as categorically different from Science Fiction which, however grim in its surface presentation, always remains paradigmatically "non-metaphysical," i.e., neutral. This generic distinction is then applied to the analysis of the three most important SF works of Thomas M. Disch, one of the most interesting and accomplished contemporary SF writers. The generic, as well as socio-aesthetic discussion of Camp Concentration, 334, and On Wings of Song, traces Disch's development of a characteristically "Dischtopian" paradigm of social SF.
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Fogelholm, Jens. "Lost in Space : Sökandet efter mening hos människan i Titan A.E." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Teologiska institutionen, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-339480.
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This thesis deals with the depiction of meaningfulness and meaning-making, as seen in human characters in the 2000 animated science fiction film Titan A.E. (directed by Don Bluth). The analysis aims to show how Titan A.E. portrays a collective humanity in their search for a meaningful existence, given the outer space setting of its story. Evil is also brought up, in the context of how it creates meaning within the main narrative of the story. The emotions expressed by the story's characters are treated as if they were real. Meaningfulness and meaning-making get exemplified in both dialogue and visual components seen in the film. In addition to this, some reflection is made on the promotional trailers of Titan A.E. and how their displayed contents differ from the finished product. In parallel to the main analysis, there is a wider discussion made about the relationship between films and their real-world process of production, especially regarding whether theological reflection and the film industry can intersect or not.
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Mighall, Robert. "The brigand in the laboratory : a study of the discursive exchange between Gothic fiction and nineteenth-century medico-legal science." Thesis, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, 1994. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.683119.
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Hudspeth, Logan Matthew. "Rulers, Rhetoric, and Ray-Guns: A Post Colonial Look at 90's Alien Invasion Media." TopSCHOLAR®, 2014. http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/1439.
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This thesis opens discussion on American alien invasion films of the 90s as a self-critique, a reaction to being an imperial power at the end of the Cold War. The alien menace in these films is not the "other" but rather the U.S. itself being the colonizer or conqueror looking to expand its sphere of influence. Furthermore, it discusses how Presidential rhetoric in the films play a role in this postcolonial reading. Specific works studied are: Independence Day (1996), Mars Attacks! (1996), Babylon 5: In the Beginning (1998), and The Puppet Masters (1994).
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Ngo, Quang. "We Have Always Been Posthuman: The Articulation(s) of the Techno/Human Subject in the Anthology Television Series Black Mirror." Ohio University / OhioLINK, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1588760350394684.
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McRae, Leanne. "Aliens, bodies and conspiracies: Regimes of truth in The X-files." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 1999. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1247.
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The X-Files is a television program that first screened on Australian television in 1993. This thesis will investigate the role of The X-Files as a cultural text. The X-Files is a significant program, and has contributed to a shift in the way in which television texts represent ideas about society, knowledge and truth. This thesis argues that The X-Files presents ‘knowledge’ in particular ways, and makes it possible to think about the relationship between the body, knowledge, and society in ways which have not previously been so visible.
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Dedman, Stephen. "Techronomicon (novel) ; and The weapon shop : the relationship between American science fiction and the US military (dissertation)." University of Western Australia. School of Social and Cultural Studies, 2008. http://theses.library.uwa.edu.au/adt-WU2008.0093.
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Techronomicon Techronomicon is a science fiction novel that examines far-future military actions from several different perspectives. Human beings have colonized several planets with help from the enigmatic and more technologically advanced Zhir, who gave spaceships and habitable worlds to those they deemed suitable and their descendants. The Joint Expeditionary Force is the military arm of the Universal Faith, called in when conflicts arise that the Faith decides are beyond the local government and militia and require their intervention. Leneveldt and Roader are JEF officers assigned to Operation Techronomicon, investigating what seems to be a Zhir-built defence shield around the planet Lassana. Another JEF company sent to Kalaabhavan after the murder of the planets Confessor-General loses its CO to a land-mine, and Lieutenant Hellerman reluctantly accepts command. Chevalier, a civilian pilot, takes refugees fleeing military-run detention camps on Ararat to a biological research station on otherwise uninhabited Lila. The biologists on Lila discover a symbiote that enables humans to photosynthesize, which comes to the attention of Operation Techronomicon and the JEF's Weapons Research Division. Leneveldt and Roeder, frustrated by the lack of progress on Lassana, are sent to Lila to detain the biologists, who flee into the swamps. Hellerman's efforts to restore peace on Kalaabhavan are frustrated by the Confessors, and his company finds itself besieged by insurgents. The novel explores individuals' motives for choosing or rejecting violence and/or military service; the lessons they learn about themselves and their enemies; and the possible results of attempts to forcibly suppress ideas.
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Glover, Jayne Ashleigh. ""A complex and delicate web" : a comparative study of selected speculative novels by Margaret Atwood, Ursula K. Le Guin, Doris Lessing and Marge Piercy." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002241.
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This thesis examines selected speculative novels by Margaret Atwood, Ursula K. Le Guin, Doris Lessing and Marge Piercy. It argues that a specifiable ecological ethic can be traced in their work – an ethic which is explored by them through the tensions between utopian and dystopian discourses. The first part of the thesis begins by theorising the concept of an ecological ethic of respect for the Other through current ecological philosophies, such as those developed by Val Plumwood. Thereafter, it contextualises the novels within the broader field of science fiction, and speculative fiction in particular, arguing that the shift from a critical utopian to a critical dystopian style evinces their changing treatment of this ecological ethic within their work. The remainder of the thesis is divided into two parts, each providing close readings of chosen novels in the light of this argument. Part Two provides a reading of Le Guin’s early Hainish novels, The Left Hand of Darkness, The Word for World is Forest and The Dispossessed, followed by an examination of Piercy’s Woman on the Edge of Time, Lessing’s The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five, and Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. The third, and final, part of the thesis consists of individual chapters analysing the later speculative novels of each author. Piercy’s He, She and It, Le Guin’s The Telling, and Atwood’s Oryx and Crake are all scrutinised, as are Lessing’s two recent ‘Ifrik’ novels. This thesis shows, then, that speculative fiction is able to realise through fiction many of the ideals of ecological thinkers. Furthermore, the increasing dystopianism of these novels reflects the greater urgency with which the problem of Othering needs to be addressed in the light of the present global ecological crisis.
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Masters, Kenneth Andrew. "Observing and describing textual "reality": a critique of the claims to objective reality and authentication in new critical and structuralist literary theory, seen against a background of Feyerabend's ideas concerning paradigms, dominance and ideology." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002290.
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This thesis sets out to examine the claims to objective reality and authentication in New critical and Structuralist literary theories, concentrating on their claims to "objectivity" and "scientific validity." It examines the nature of these claims in the light of the original ideas proposed by some of the major New critics and structuralists in the development of their respective "sciences" of literary theory. Taking direction from the nature of reality and objectivity shown by the theorists, the thesis then attempts an assessment of the validity of some of the original perceptions and presuppositions concerning scientific objectivity and reality. It proposes that inconsistencies within the literary theories resulted from the theorists' inability to grasp the complexity and fluctuating nature of the borrowed terminology and principles that they were using. It does so by taking a closer look at the development of some of the more influential physical theories and the philosophical ideas raised by these developments. It then uses Feyerabend's work on paradigms, dominance and ideology to attempt an assessment of the reasons for the literary theorists' perceptions and presuppositions regarding objectivity and reality. This amounts to accounting for the specific scientific models chosen as bases, and also to accounting for the desire for the "scientific approach" at all. Its conclusions give an indication of the extent to which these original errors contributed to the theories' necessary adaptations of perspective and eventual loss of influence, and emphasises the need for the total understanding of concepts in one field by researchers in other fields, especially if those concepts are to be used by the researchers with any degree of precision.
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Furlanetto, Elton Luiz Aliandro. "Reificação e utopia na ficção científica norte-americana da Guerra Fria." Universidade de São Paulo, 2010. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/8/8147/tde-27042010-121239/.
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Esta dissertação busca analisar três romances e um conto produzidos nos Estados Unidos nos anos 1950, pertencentes ao gênero de ficção científica. Trata-se de Um Cântico para Leibowitz, de Walter Miller Jr, escrito entre 1955 e 1957; Saia do meu céu!, de James Blish, escrito entre 1956 e 1957; Os mercadores do espaço, de Frederik Pohl e C.M. Kornbluth, escrito em 1953; e \"Invasores do Espaço Interior\", de Howard Koch, publicado em 1959. O objetivo do trabalho é estudar e entender de que maneira as forças sociais que formavam a \"estrutura de sentimento\" daquela época se materializaram nas obras. Para isso, procuramos os momentos de utopia presentes nos romances e no conto, indicando como tais momentos são neutralizados ou deslocados por aspectos ideológicos, que barram a imaginação e as possibilidades criativas dos autores. Seguindo a tradição crítica materialista histórica, vemos que as obras de arte, mesmo aquelas que se ligam mais fortemente à chamada Indústria Cultural, são atos sociais simbólicos, os quais intentam responder aos questionamentos mais pungentes de sua época. A análise é realizada em camadas, iniciando-se no nível textual, passando para um estudo de estruturas narrativas: o foco narrativo, a representação do espaço e do tempo. Depois, selecionamos um material social fundamental para o gênero, dentre os que as obras dão voz: a ciência. Analisamos como esse material é revelado em suas potencialidades utópicas ou suas restrições históricas. O que todos os exames demonstram é que existe uma tentativa de deslocar ou neutralizar a vontade de mudanças presente nas obras. Nossa hipótese era que o crescente fechamento político e a repressão nos primeiros anos da década de 1950 tinham sido as responsáveis por essa dificuldade de pensar alternativas positivas e viáveis para o presente e o futuro dos homens. Isso fica evidenciado ao observarmos o episódio final de cada um dos objetos sob estudo. Entender como os autores responderam no passado a certa pressão social parece ser relevante hoje, como forma de evitarmos, num novo momento de repressão e crise, respostas repetidas e desviadas das preocupações reais atuaisThis dissertation, Reification and Utopia in Science Fiction of the Cold War, aims at analyzing three novels and a short-story produced in the United States in the 1950s, all part of the science fiction genre. They are A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller Jr, written between 1955 and 1957; Get out of my sky by James Blish, written between 1956 and 1957; The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth, written in 1953; and \"Invasion from Inner Space\" by Howard Koch, published in 1959. The objective is to study and understand the way in which the social forces that formed the structure of feeling of that time was materialized in the works. In order to do this, we looked for moments of utopia present in the novels and short-story and how such moments are neutralized or displaced by ideological aspects, which block the authors imaginations and creative possibilities. Following the Marxian criticism, we believe that the works of art, even those closely associated to the Culture Industry, are social symbolic acts, which try to answer some of the most pressing questioning of its own time. The analysis is carried out in layers, starting in the textual level, going to the study of narrative structures: point of view, the representation of sapce and time. Afterwards, we selected one fundamental social material to the genre, among those the works include, which is science. We analyzed how such material is revealed in its utopian potentialities or historical restrictions. What all the examination demonstrate is that there is na attempt to displace or neutralize the wish for a change we can find in the narratives. Our hypothesis is that the increasing political closure and repression of the early 1950s was responsible for such difficulty in thinking of viable and positive to the present of future of humanity. This becomes evident when we observe the ending episode of each text of this study. Also, grasping how the authors answered to certain social pressures in the past seems relevant today, as a way of avoiding, in a new moment of repression and crisis, repeated and diverting answers, unconnected with the current real preoccupations.
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McKagen, Elizabeth Leigh. "Visions of Possibilities: (De)Constructing Imperial Narratives in Star Trek: Voyager." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/99063.
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In this dissertation, I argue that contemporary cultural narratives are infused with ongoing ideologies of Euro-American imperialism that prioritizes Western bodies and ways of engaging with living and nonliving beings. This restriction severely hinders possible responses to the present environmental crisis of the era often called the 'Anthropocene' through constant creation and recreation of imperial power relations and the presumed superiority of Western approaches to living. Taking inspiration from postcolonial theorist Edward Said and theories of cultural studies and empire, I use interdisciplinary methods of narrative analysis to examine threads of imperial ideologies that are (re)told and glorified in popular American science fiction television series Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001). Voyager follows the Star Trek tradition of exploring the far reaches of space to advance human knowledge, and in doing so writes Western imperial practices of difference into an idealized future. In chapters 2 through 5, I explore how the series highlights American exceptionalism, Manifest Destiny, a belief in endless linear progress, and the creation of a safe 'home' space amidst the 'wild' spaces of the Delta Quadrant. Each of these narrative features, as presented, rely on Western difference and superiority that were fundamental to past and present Euro-American imperial encounters and endeavors. Through the recreation of these ideologies of empire, Voyager normalizes, legitimizes, and universalizes imperial approaches to engagement with other lifeforms. In order to move away from this intertwined thread of past/present/future imperialism, in my final chapter I propose alternatives for ecofeminist-inspired narrative approaches that offer possibilities for non-imperial futures. As my analysis will demonstrate, Voyager is unable to provide new worlds free of imperial ideas, but the possibility exists through the loss of their entire world, and their need to constantly make and remake their world(s). World making provides opportunity for endless possibilities, and science fiction television has the potential to aid in bringing non-imperial worlds to life. These stories push beyond individual and anthropocentric attitudes toward life on earth, and although such stories will not likely be the immediate cause of change in this era of precarity, stories can prime us for thinking in non-imperial ways.Doctor of Philosophy
In this dissertation, I argue that contemporary cultural narratives feature continuing Euro-American imperialism that prioritizes Western bodies and ideas. These embedded narratives recreate centuries of Western imperial encounters and attitudes, and severely hinder possible responses to the present environmental crisis of the 'modern' era. Taking inspiration from postcolonial theorist Edward Said, I use interdisciplinary methods of narrative analysis to examine threads of imperialism written into popular American science fiction television series Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001). Voyager follows the Star Trek tradition of exploring the far reaches of space to advance human knowledge, and in doing so inscribes Western imperial practices of difference and power into an idealized future through features of exploration, modernity, and progress. In order to move away from these imperial modes of thinking, I then propose alternatives for new narrative approaches that offer possibilities for non-imperial futures. As my analysis will demonstrate, Voyager is unable to provide new worlds free of imperial ideas, but the possibility exists through the loss of their entire world, and their need to constantly make and remake their world(s). World making provides opportunity for endless possibility, and science fiction television has the potential to aid in bringing non-imperial worlds to life. These stories push beyond individual and human centered attitudes toward life on earth, and although such stories will not likely be the immediate cause of change in this era of environmental crisis, stories can prime us for thinking in non-imperial ways.
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Keys, Philip Mark. "Primary and secondary teachers shaping the science curriculum : the influence of teacher knowledge." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2003. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/15920/1/Philip_Keys_Thesis.pdf.
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This thesis reports on how primary and secondary teachers' knowledge influenced the implementation of a Year 1-10 science syllabus which was introduced into Queensland in 1999. The study investigated how the teachers' knowledge of the primary and secondary teachers differed and how teachers' knowledge impacted on the implementation of the science curriculum. Teacher knowledge otherwise referred to as teacher beliefs and practices has been acknowledged as an influence in the implementation of curriculum. Yet, a considerable portion of curriculum evaluation has focused on measuring the successful implementation of the intended curriculum and not the enactment. As a result, few studies have investigated how the curriculum has been influenced by teacher knowledge or have compared primary and secondary teacher knowledge. Furthermore, in order to provide a seamless grade one to ten science syllabus it is necessary to compare primary and secondary teacher beliefs and practices to determine whether or not the beliefs and practices held by these two groups of teachers is similar or dissimilar and how these beliefs and practices in turn, impact on the implementation of a curriculum. The research adopted Eisner's (1991) methodology of educational criticism and used a comparative case study approach to investigate the teacher knowledge of four primary and three secondary teachers. Data were presented as a dialogue between three composite characters, a lower primary, a middle/upper primary and a secondary teacher. The results revealed that teachers utilised three sets of beliefs to shape the implementation of the science curriculum. These were categorised as expressed, entrenched and manifested beliefs. The primary and secondary teachers did possess similar sets of beliefs and knowledge bases but their strategies for implementation in some instances were different. Furthermore, these sets of beliefs and knowledge bases served as motivator or an inhibitor to teach science in the manner that they did. A theoretical model was developed to explain how these sets of beliefs influenced the curriculum. This study provides professional developers with a framework to observe teacher beliefs in action and thereby to assist in the facilitation of curriculum change.
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Keys, Philip Mark. "Primary And Secondary Teachers Shaping The Science Curriculum: The Influence Of Teacher Knowledge." Queensland University of Technology, 2003. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/15920/.
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This thesis reports on how primary and secondary teachers' knowledge influenced the implementation of a Year 1-10 science syllabus which was introduced into Queensland in 1999. The study investigated how the teachers' knowledge of the primary and secondary teachers differed and how teachers' knowledge impacted on the implementation of the science curriculum. Teacher knowledge otherwise referred to as teacher beliefs and practices has been acknowledged as an influence in the implementation of curriculum. Yet, a considerable portion of curriculum evaluation has focused on measuring the successful implementation of the intended curriculum and not the enactment. As a result, few studies have investigated how the curriculum has been influenced by teacher knowledge or have compared primary and secondary teacher knowledge. Furthermore, in order to provide a seamless grade one to ten science syllabus it is necessary to compare primary and secondary teacher beliefs and practices to determine whether or not the beliefs and practices held by these two groups of teachers is similar or dissimilar and how these beliefs and practices in turn, impact on the implementation of a curriculum. The research adopted Eisner's (1991) methodology of educational criticism and used a comparative case study approach to investigate the teacher knowledge of four primary and three secondary teachers. Data were presented as a dialogue between three composite characters, a lower primary, a middle/upper primary and a secondary teacher. The results revealed that teachers utilised three sets of beliefs to shape the implementation of the science curriculum. These were categorised as expressed, entrenched and manifested beliefs. The primary and secondary teachers did possess similar sets of beliefs and knowledge bases but their strategies for implementation in some instances were different. Furthermore, these sets of beliefs and knowledge bases served as motivator or an inhibitor to teach science in the manner that they did. A theoretical model was developed to explain how these sets of beliefs influenced the curriculum. This study provides professional developers with a framework to observe teacher beliefs in action and thereby to assist in the facilitation of curriculum change.
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Suppia, Alfredo Luiz Paes de Oliveira 1975. "Limite de alerta! Ficção cientifica em atmosfera rarefeita : uma introdução ao estudo da FC no cinema brasileiro e em algumas cinematografias off-Hollywood." [s.n.], 2007. http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/285029.
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Orientador: Jose Mario Ortiz RamosTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Artes
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Resumo: ¿A Ficção Científica no Brasil: Um planeta quase desabitado.¿ Esse é o título de um artigo do crítico e escritor Fausto Cunha1, referente à literatura de ficção científica, mas que poderia ser aplicado também à análise do gênero no cinema brasileiro. Na Europa, nos EUA e no Japão, o cinema de ficção científica encontra terreno fértil. Sua relevância estética e econômica é evidente, desde o período mudo, sendo até hoje freqüente objeto de estudo. No Brasil, entretanto, a situação é um pouco diferente, uma vez que a ficção científica cinematográfica tem sido frequentemente encarada como algo ¿fora de lugar¿. Afinal, podemos falar de ficção científica no cinema brasileiro? Esta tese traz uma resposta afirmativa a essa pergunta, muito embora tenhamos de levar em consideração algumas peculiaridades. Ao contrário dos EUA e Europa, o Brasil não tem grande tradição no estudo da ficção científica. Apesar disso, escritores brasileiros de ficção científica têm obtido reconhecimento internacional, e o cinema brasileiro tem tido experiências na produção de filmes do gênero. Por exemplo, manifestações da ficção científica no cinema brasileiro podem ser detectadas em comédias ou chanchadas dos anos 1940/50, distopias ecológicas dos anos 1970/80 e na produção mais recente, da retomada aos dias atuais. Mas por que o cinema brasileiro de ficção científica não tem tido maior desenvolvimento e visibilidade? Esta e outras perguntas serão discutidas neste trabalho, com base em bibliografia geral e especializada, análise fílmica e entrevistas com autores, cineastas e pesquisadores. Em suma, o objetivo desta tese é levantar um novo debate mais detido acerca da ficção científica no cinema brasileiro e demais cinematografias que não a hollywoodiana, apresentando um panorama que busca melhor compreender o passado, presente e futuro de um gênero que insiste em sobreviver numa atmosfera muitas vezes hostil e rarefeita
Abstract: ¿SF in Brazil: A barely inhabited planet¿ is the title of Fausto Cunha¿s essay on Brazilian science fiction literature, and the starting point for this paper, as this approach could be also applied to the study of Brazilian science fiction cinema. In Europe, the United States and Japan, science fiction film has a long history since the early days of cinema, and continues to find fertile ground still today. Its economical and aesthetical relevance is outstanding and widely recognized. However, in Brazil the situation is rather different, and a national science fiction cinema is usually overlooked by film critics and scholars. Then again, can one talk about science fiction in Brazilian cinema? This dissertation brings an affirmative answer to this question, even though considering some particular features. Contrary to the United States and Europe, Brazil does not have a tradition in science fiction studies. Despite this fact, Brazilian science fiction writers have been awarded around the world and Brazilian cinema does have experiences in science fiction film production ¿ for example, from the 1940/50¿s comedies and chanchadas to 1970/80¿s ecological distopias and fin-de-siècle dark comedies. But why has Brazilian science fiction cinema been prevented from further development? This question, among others, will be herein discussed, based on general and specific bibliography, film analysis and interviews with writers, scholars and filmmakers. In sum, the aim of this paper is to raise a new and careful discussion on science fiction in the Brazilian cinema and other off-Hollywood filmographies, outlining a panorama that attempts to better understand the past, present and future of a genre that insists on surviving in a rather hostile and rarefied atmosphere
Doutorado
Doutor em Multimeios
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Carstens, Johannes Petrus (Delphi). "Uncovering the apocalypse : narratives of collapse and transformation in the 21st century Fin de Siècle." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/85700.
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Thesis (PhD)-- Stellenbosch University, 2013.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation examines the idea of apocalypse through the lens of science fiction (sf) written during the current fin de siècle period. I have dated this epoch, known as the information era, as starting in 1980 with the advent of personal computing and ending in approximately 2020 when the functional limits of silicon-based digital manufacturing and production are expected to be reached. By surveying the field of contemporary sf, I identify certain trends and subgenres that relate to particular aspects of apocalyptic thought, namely, conceptions of the ‘terror of history,’ the sublimity of accelerated techno-scientific advance, the ‘affective turn’ in media-culture and posthuman philosophy. My principal method of inquiry into how the apocalypse is imagined or ‘figured’ in sf is the concept of hyperstition – a neologism (combining the words ‘hyper’ and ‘superstition’) coined by the Cybernetic Culture Research Unit (CCRU). Hyperstition describes an aesthetic response whereby cultural fictions – principally, ideas relating to apocalypse – are imagined as transmuting into material realities. I begin by scrutinizing two posthumanist works of theory-fiction (theory written in the mode of sf) by the CCRU and 0rphan Drift which anticipate immanent human extinction and imagine the inception of a new evolutionary cycle of machine-augmented evolution This sensibility is premised on the sociallydestabilising cycles of exponential growth that characterise information-era technological developments, particularly in the digital industries, as well as the accelerated human impact on the natural environment. Central to my argument is the romantic materialist philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari and their concepts of accelerationism, schizoanalysis and Bodies without Organs (BwO’s). Their ontology is constructed around the idea that exponential rates of development necessitate a new aesthetic paradigm that ventures beyond philosophies of human access. The narrative of apocalypse, approached from this perspective, can be interpreted in catastrophic or anastrophic terms; either as a permanent ending or as the beginning of something radically new. Using hyperstition, I also investigate the sf of Russell Hoban, Michael Swanwick, Brian Stableford, Charles Stross, Dan Simmons, M. John Harrison and Paul McAuley to see not only how these authors interpret the concept of cultural acceleration, but also to identify common threads. Countering the catastrophic ‘death of affect’ postulated by theorists such as Jean Baudrillard and Paul Virilio with the anastrophic rejoinder of cyberdelic information-era countercultures, I conclude by investigating the new ‘affective turn’ in contemporary media theory. The works of theoretical fiction and sf that I investigate are informed, as I demonstrate, by the Situationist techniques of psychogeography, dérive and detournement, as well as by the literary tropes of 18th and 19th century fin de siècle Gothic and dark Romantic fiction.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie proefskrif ondersoek die idee van apokalips deur die oogpunt van wetenskap fiksie (wf) soos geskryf gedurende die huidige ‘fin de siècle’ tydperk. Ek dateer hierdie epog, bekend as die inligtings-era, as die tydperk wat in 1980 begin met die koms van persoonlike rekenaars en nagenoeg eindig in 2020, wanneer die funksionele limiete van silikon gebaseerde digitale vervaardiging en produksie na verwagting bereik sal word. Deur die veld van kontemporêre wf in oënskou te neem, identifiseer ek sekere neigings en sub-genres wat vergelyk met sekere kenmerke van apokaliptiese denke, naamlik: begrippe soos die ‘verskrikking van geskiedenis’, die verhewendheid van versnelde tegno-wetenskaplike vooruitgang, die ‘emosionele omkeer’ in media-kultuur en post-humanistiese filosofie. My primêre metode van ondersoek van hoe die apokalips voorgestel of ‘beskryf’ kan word in wf, is die begrip van hiper-bygelowigheid - ‘n neologisme (samevoeging van die woorde ‘hiper’ en ‘bygeloof’) soos geskep deur die Kubernetiese Kultuur Navorsings-Eenheid (KKNE) en Nick Land, medestigter van die KKNE. Hiper-bygelowigheid beskryf die proses waarvolgens kulturele versinsels - hoofsaaklik opvattings met betrekking tot apokalips – in materiële realiteite omgeskakel kan word. Ek ondersoek ek twee post-humanistiese werke van teorie-fiksie (teorie geskryf volgens die wf metode) deur KKNE en 0rphan Drift, wat inherente menslike uitwissing verwag en die ontstaan van ‘n nuwe evolusionêre siklus van masjien-toename voorstel. Hierdie proses is gebaseer op die sosiaal-destabiliserende siklus van eksponensiële groei wat kenmerkend is van die inligtings-era se tegnologiese ontwikkelinge, veral in die digitale industrie, sowel as versnelde menslike impak op die natuurlike omgewing. Die kern van my beredenering is die goties-materialisties-teoriese standpunt soos deur Land ingeneem, sowel as die romanties-materialistiese filosofie van Deleuze en Guattari. Hierdie gevalle van neo-materialistiese (of objek-georiënteerde) filosofië word toegelig deur ‘n apokalipties-teoretiese basis bekend as akseleerasionisme. Hierdie uitgangspunt is ontwikkel rondom die idee dat die eksponensiële tempo van ontwikkeling ‘n klimaks sal bereik in ‘n evolusionêre ‘wipplank punt’ en dat ‘n nuwe estetiese paradigma nodig is wat dit bokant die filosofie van menslike vermoë kan waag sodat daar oor hierdie waarskynlikheid geteoretiseer kan word. Die beskrywing van apokalips, soos vanuit hierdie oogpunt beskou, kan vertolk word in beide katastrofiese of anastrofiese terme of as ‘n permanente einde of as die begin van iets wat radikaal nuut sal wees. Deur gebruik te maak van die hiperbygelowigheidsteorie, wat ‘n onderafdeling is van akseleerasionisme, ondersoek ek WF van Russell Hoban, Michael Swanwick, Brian Stableford, Charles Stross, Dan Simmons, M. John Harrison and Paul McAuley ten einde vas te stel hoe hierdie skrywers die konsep van kulturele akseleerasie interpreteer, maar ook om gemeenskaplike leidrade te identifiseer. Met teenargumentering ten opsigte van die katastrofiese ‘dood van affek’ gepostuleer deur teoretici soos Jean Baudrillard en Paul Virillio met die anastrofiese samevoeging van kuberdeliese inligtings-era-kontra-kulture, ondersoek ek die nuwe ‘gemoedsomkeer’ in kontemporêre mediateorie. Die werke van teoretiese fiksie, sowel as baie van die ander gevalle van wf wat ek ondersoek en soos deur my gedemonstreer, word toegelig deur Situasienistiese tegnieke van psigo-geografie, dérive en detournement, sowel as deur die literêre menigtes van die 19de eeu ‘fin de siècle’ donker Romantiese en Gotiese fiksie.
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Bastos, Clodoaldo do Nascimento. "Capitalismo e crítica social no filme Blade Runner." Universidade Federal de Goiás, 2018. http://repositorio.bc.ufg.br/tede/handle/tede/9112.
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In this research we analyze the film Blade Runner and its social criticism related to capitalism; the problem raised here is to answer the question: there is a positioning of the film in relation to capitalism, but what kind of position is this: critical, conservative, revolutionary? We begin the dissertation with a chapter dedicated to theoretical foundation, which is based on Marxism and its critical and totalizing perspective, going against the post-structuralist hegemony with its micro vision of the social. Still in this tuning fork we work with the concept of a regime of accumulation within a theory about the mode of production of capitalist production, in order to understand the historical context of the last decades of the twentieth century. In the warp of the first chapter we also devoted some lines to explaining the sociological theory of cinema used in research, here materialized in the form of a dissertation; including what we consider to be fundamental in a film, which is the film message, where the feelings, interests, political positions, etc., of the team that produces the cinematographic work are expressed. The second chapter is a panoramic flight on the history of the regime of integral accumulation, we start from the concept and then we make a historical-sociological study on the world-wide and American reality of the sixties, seventy and eighty of the twentieth century. In the third chapter we have the analysis of the movie Blade Runner. We start from its realization, from production, and then analyze its social critique of capitalism, in view of a totalizing look at social relations that are in concrete reality and expressed in the film as consumerism, exploitation of labor, individualism, destruction the environment and neoliberalism. All encompassed by a dystopian and pessimistic perspective on capitalism in the age of integral accumulation.
Nesta pesquisa analisamos o filme Blade Runner e sua crítica social relacionada ao capitalismo; o problema levantado aqui é responder a indagação: há um posicionamento do filme em relação ao capitalismo, mas que tipo de posicionamento é esse: crítico, conservador, revolucionário? Começamos a dissertação com um capítulo dedicado a fundamentação teórica, que tem como base o marxismo e sua perspectiva crítica e totalizante, indo na contramão da hegemonia pós-estruturalista, com sua visão micro do social. Ainda nesse diapasão trabalhamos com o conceito de regime de acumulação dentro de uma teoria sobre o modo de produção de produção capitalista, para entendermos o contexto histórico das últimas décadas do século XX. Na urdidura do primeiro capítulo também dedicamos algumas linhas para explanar sobre teoria sociológica do cinema utilizada na pesquisa, aqui materializada em forma de dissertação; mostrando inclusive, o que consideramos fundamental num filme, que é a mensagem fílmica, onde estão expressos os sentimentos, interesses, posicionamentos políticos etc., da equipe produtora da obra cinematográfica. O segundo capítulo é um voo panorâmico sobre a história do regime de acumulação integral, partimos do conceito e depois fazemos um estudo histórico-sociológico sobre a realidade mundial e estadunidense das décadas de sessenta, setenta e oitenta do século XX. Já no terceiro capítulo temos a análise do filme Blade Runner. Partimos da sua realização, da produção, e depois analisamos sua crítica social ao capitalismo, tendo em vista, um olhar totalizante das relações sociais que estão na realidade concreta e expressas no filme como o consumismo, a exploração do trabalho, o individualismo, a destruição do meio ambiente e o neoliberalismo. Tudo englobado por uma perspectiva distópica e pessimista em relação ao capitalismo na era de acumulação integral.
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Smith, Roslyn Nicole. "Medias Res, Temporal Double-Consciousness and Resistance in Octavia Butler's Kindred." unrestricted, 2007. http://etd.gsu.edu/theses/available/etd-11242007-230409/.
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Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2007.Title from file title page. Elizabeth West, committee chair; Layli Phillips, Kameelah Martin Samuel, committee members. Electronic text (52 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed Jan. 30, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 49-52).
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Franco, Jefferson Luiz. "Ensinando o futuro: visões da ficção científica sobre o ato de lecionar." Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, 2017. http://repositorio.utfpr.edu.br/jspui/handle/1/2821.
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Esta pesquisa apresenta uma abordagem teórico-analítica da questão da representação da docência em textos de ficção científica de três autores norteamericanos do século XX: Isaac Asimov, autor do conto Como se divertiam, de 1951; Lloyd Biggle Jr, que escreveu Maneira doida de lecionar em 1966 e Connie Willis, cuja narrativa analisada tem o título Muito barulho por nada e data de 1990. Discutir as relações potencialmente passíveis de serem estabelecidas entre o imaginário retratado nessas obras e a visão neoliberal contemporânea do ato de ensinar como objeto de automatização e normatização estrita pode certificar o fato de que tais representações idealizadas tornaram-se, em grande medida, paradigmas advindos das práticas do capitalismo avançado (as quais têm como modelo primário a nação estadunidense) capazes de influenciar a forma como são entendidas, representadas e planejadas as relações entre a figura docente e as tecnologias em nosso país. Portanto, como objetivo primário, elencamos a tentativa de compreender como é realizada a construção discursiva da representação do trabalhador da educação (e das tecnologias imaginárias que cercam essa representação), inserindo-a nas dimensões culturais do imaginário norte-americano a fim de discutir sobre seus reflexos contemporâneos e seu conteúdo determinístico. Para isso, metodologicamente empregamos a recensão e análise bibliográfica de artigos científicos e textos literários nacionais e estrangeiros (que incluíram, mas não se limitaram, às obras designadas como objetos) e, entre as conclusões levantadas, apontamos a constatação de que a relação do corpus com a indústria cultural não permite um afastamento radical das teorias educacionais tradicionalistas familiares aos leitores que constituem o público-alvo dos autores, além de destacarmos vieses marcados pelo determinismo nos textos, embora seja, em alguns casos, apenas insinuado ou surja em contraste com produções posteriores do escritor. Como apontamento final, entretanto, é possível enxergar o conteúdo último dos textos do corpus como prioritariamente humanista: Asimov retrata o desejo de um ensino comunitário em lugar do isolamento do discente em nome da eficiência; Biggle Jr. discute, de forma subjacente, a desvalorização da figura do docente ante uma técnica voltada para a maximização de resultados econômicos e, por fim, Willis coloca em pauta as possibilidades e perigos de tentar se banir ideologias do ambiente escolar, dentro de um molde supostamente democrático que acaba servindo à aniquilação das possibilidades de aprendizado.This research presents a theoretical-analytical approach to the question of representation of teaching in science fiction texts of American authors of the 20th century: Isaac Asimov, author of The fun they had! (1951); Lloyd Biggle Jr, who wrote And madly teach at 1966 and Connie Willis, whose analyzed narrative is called Ado and dates back to 1990. Discuss the relationships potentially liable to be established between the imaginary depicted in these works and the contemporary neoliberal vision of the act of teaching as the object of automation and strict standardization can certify the fact that such idealized representations have become, to a large extent, paradigms from the practices of advanced capitalism (which have as their primary model the American nation) capable of influencing how relationships between teachers and technologies in our country are understood, represented and planned. Therefore, as a primary objective, we attempt to understand how the discursive construction of the representation of the education worker (and the imaginary technologies surrounding this representation) is carried out, inserting it into the cultural dimensions of the North American imaginary in order to discuss its contemporary reflections and its deterministic content. In order to do this, we methodologically used the review and bibliographical analysis of scientific articles and national and foreign literary texts (which included, but were not limited to, works designated as objects), and, among the conclusions drawn, we pointed out that the relationship of the corpus with the cultural industry does not allow a radical departure from traditionalist educational theories familiar to the readers who constitute the target audience of the authors, in addition to highlighting perspectives marked by determinism in the texts, although in some cases, it is just insinuated or emerged in contrast to subsequent productions of the writer. As a final point, however, it is possible to see the ultimate content of the texts of the corpus as having a humanistic priority: Asimov portrays the desire for a communal education in place of the isolation of the student in the name of efficiency; Biggle Jr. discusses, in a subtle way, the devaluation of the teacher's figure before a technique focused at the maximization of economic results and, finally, Willis points out the possibilities and dangers of trying to ban all the ideology of the school environment, following a supposedly democratic mold that ends up serving the annihilation of the possibilities of learning.