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A Fluid Sense of Self
In this era of increasing global mobility, identities are too complex to be captured by concepts that rely on national borders for reference. Such identities are not unified or stable, but are fluid entities which constantly push at the boundaries of the nation-state, thereby re-defining themselves and the nation-state simultaneously. Contemporary literature pays specific attention to internal and external notions of belonging ("Politics of Motion") and definitions of self resulting from interpersonal relationships ("Politics of Longing"). This collection looks at texts by authors who are British, American, or Canadian, but for whom a self-definition according national parameters is insufficient.
Contemporary Perspectives on Language, Culture and Identity in Anglo-American Contexts
This collection of essays highlights the great variety one finds in contemporary scholarly discourse in the fields of English and American studies and English linguistics in a broad and inclusive way. It is divided into thematically structured sections, the first two of which examine the motif of travelling and images of recollection in literary works, while the third and the fourth parts deal with male and female voices in narratives. Another chapter discusses visual and textual representations of history. The last two subsections focus on the rhetorical and theoretical questions of language. The pluralism of themes indicated in the book’s title can thus be regarded not as a limitation, but, rather, as evidence of its potential.
Terrorism and Narrative Practice
Terrorism as a factor of public life has generated far-reaching, and as yet underexplored, questions about narrative and representation. Different textual forms can investigate both the symbolic and the performative character of terroristic acts. Diverse literary traditions, ranging from countries of Eastern and Western Europe to North America and the Middle East, bring their respective historical imaginations to bear on such representations. The essays collected in this volume join together in a transdisciplinary effort to understand the role of narrative practice in all its varieties in approaching the phenomenon of terrorism, whether historical or contemporaneous. (Series: Swiss: Forschung und Wissenschaft - Vol. 7)
Gender and Laughter
This essay collection is dedicated to intersections between gender theories and theories of laughter, humour, and comedy. It is based on the results of a three-year research programme, entitled "Gender - Laughter - Media" (2003-2006) and includes a series of investigations on traditional and modern media in western cultures from the 18th to the 20th century. A theoretical opening part is followed by four thematic sections that explore the multiple forms of irritating stereotypical gender perceptions; aspects of (post-)colonialism and multiculturalism; the comic impact of literary and media genres in different national cultures; as well as the different comic strategies in fictional, philosophical, artistic or real life communication. The volume presents a variety of new approaches to the overlaps between gender and laughter that have only barely been considered in groundbreaking research. It forms a valuable read for scholars of literary, theatre, media, and cultural studies, at the same time reaching out to a general readership.
Betwixt and Between Liminality and Marginality
Betwixt and Between Liminality and Marginality: Mind the Gap offers an interdisciplinary thinking on “the marginal” within society. Using the framework of Victor Turner’s earlier notions of liminality, the book both challenges Turner’s symbolic anthropology, and celebrates its continued influence across disciplines, and under new theoretical constraints. Liminality in its simplest forms provides language for meaningful approaches to articulate transition and change. It also represents complex social theories beyond Turner’s classical symbolic approach. While demonstrating the enduring relevance of Turner’s language for expressing transition, this volume keeps an eye toward the va...
Polish Culture in Britain
This edited volume explores the historical, cultural and literary legacies of Polish Britain, and their significance for both the British and Polish nations. The focus of the book is twofold. First, it investigates the history of Polish immigration and the ways in which Polish immigrants have conceptualised their own experiences and encounters with Britain and the British. Second, it examines how Poles and Poland have been represented by Anglophone writers in both fictional and non-fictional forms of discourse. Inevitably, these issues are intertwined. Polish experiences of Britain have been shaped, in part, by British ideas about Poland, just as British notions of Poland have been transformed by the emergence of large and culturally active Polish communities in the UK. By studying these issues together, this volume develops a wide-ranging and original analysis of Polish Britain.
Resistance and the City
The contributions collected in the second volume of Resistance and the City are devoted to the three markers of identity that cultural studies has recognised as paramount for our understanding of difference, inequality, and solidarity in modern societies: race, class, and gender. These categories, tightly linked to the mechanics of power, domination and subordination, have often played an eminent role in contemporary struggles and clashes in urban space. The confluence of people from diverse ethnic, social, and sexual backgrounds in the city has not only raised their awareness of a variety of life concepts and motivated them to negotiate their own positions, but has also encouraged them to develop strategies of resistance against patterns of social and spatial exclusion. Contributors: Oliver von Knebel Doeberitz, Barbara Korte, Anna Lienen, Gill Plain, Frank Erik Pointner, Katrin Röder, Ingrid von Rosenberg, Mark Schmitt, Ralf Schneider, Christoph Singer, Sabine Smith, Merle Tönnies, Ger Zielinski
Postcolonial Gateways and Walls
Metaphors are ubiquitously used in the humanities to bring the tangibility of the concrete world to the elaboration of abstract thought. Drawing on this cognitive function of metaphors, this collection of essays focuses on the evocative figures of the ‘gateway’ and the ‘wall’ to reflect on the state of postcolonial studies. Some chapters – on such topics as maze-making in Canada and the Berlin Wall in the writings of New Zealand authors – foreground the modes of articulation between literal borders and emotional (dis)connections, while others examine how artefacts ranging from personal letters to clothes may be conceptualized as metaphorical ‘gateways’ and ‘walls’ that le...
Transcultural Images in Hollywood Cinema
Transcultural Images in Hollywood Cinema discusses how cinema, particularly Hollywood, impacts the cultural identities we construct for ourselves in order to make sense of who we are in the world. The politics of representation in cinema influence the boundaries of ethnic and racial characteristics and invent cultural and symbolic meanings that create a conventional image throughout the world. The transnational perspective, dissolves, fragments, and decentralizes this image, leaving the nationalist understanding of identity to a hybrid form. Cultures and identities that are expanded across borders form a mosaic by combining their local characteristics with those of the host cultures. This book examines the transnational and transcultural characteristics of Hollywood cinema. The narrative, cinematographic, and aesthetic structures of Hollywood cinema are turned upside down as chapters analyze gender, social, cultural, and economic-political contexts. Scholars of international communication, film, and social sciences will find this book particularly interesting.
The Oxford Handbook of the British Musical
The first comprehensive academic survey of British musical theatre from its origins, The Oxford Handbook of the British Musical offers both a historical account of musical theatre from 1728 and a range of in-depth critical analyses of key works and productions that illustrate its aesthetic values and sociocultural meanings.
