Matching Items (8)
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- All Subjects: Comparative Literature
- All Subjects: Art criticism
- All Subjects: Motion pictures--Latin America.
- Creators: Tompkins, Cynthia
Description
This dissertation analyzes three films from Mexico, Spain, and Argentina--Kilómetro 31, El orfanato, and Aparecidos (2007)--and their interplay with the historicism that has traditionally served as the default referent for "reality" in Western narrative. While grounding my approach in temporal critique, I borrow from deconstruction, psychoanalysis, and queer theory to explore ways in which ghosts and the rhetorical figure of the family are manipulated in each national imaginary as a strategy for negotiating volatility within symbolic order: a tactic that can either naturalize or challenge normative discourses. As a literary and cinematic trope, ghosts are particularly useful vehicles for the exploration of national imaginaries and the dominant or competing cultural attitudes towards a country's history, and thus, the articulation of a present political reality. The rhetorical figure of the family is also pivotal in this process as a mechanism for expressing national allegories, for articulating generational anxieties about a nation's relationship with its history, and for organizing societies and social subjects as such, interpellating them into or excluding them from national imaginaries according to its grammar/logic. The proposed trajectory through these films will help facilitate a study of the potential of these rhetorical figures to either reinscribe or question two of the most fundamental processes that go into the cartography of ideology: the imposition of (a) time and the negotiation of social subjectivity within it. Competing political narratives may use any number of rhetorical strategies to position themselves in time to promote their agendas while continuing to reinforce the overall framework that determines the parameters of what is visible, and thus debatable. As temporal anomalies who are defined by their (in)visibility, ghosts can be used to either reinforce this framework or they can be used to articulate alternative relationships to time, and consequently, other political possibilities. Ghosts, families, and children are especially volatile rhetorical figures because of their potential to expose the mechanisms of societal organization--the construction of social subjects through their relationship to the time and the families of which they are presumably products--as negotiable processes rather than self-evident truths.
ContributorsSt-Georges, Charles (Author) / Foster, David W (Thesis advisor) / Urioste, Carmen (Committee member) / Tompkins, Cynthia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The comparative study of the poetics of landscape of the Argentinian poet Diana Bellessi in Sur (1998) and the U.S. poet Mary Oliver in What Do We Know (2002) reveal how each writer acknowledges discourse and perception as means to bridge the nature/culture dichotomy and to unsettle the American landscape from cultural and epistemological assumptions that perpetuate the disconnection with matter. While Bellessi re–signifies the historical and cultural landscape drawn by European colonization in order to establish a dialogue with the voices of the past related to a present–day quest to reconnect with nature, Oliver articulates an ontological and phenomenological expression to reformulate prevailing notions of cognizing materiality aiming to overcome the culture
ature divide. I therefore examine the interrelationship between perception, language and nature in Bellessi’s and Oliver’s poetic works by deploying Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenological theory of perception into material feminist theoretical works by Karen Barad and Susan Hekman. In so doing, I demonstrate how both poets act on language to forge a non–dualistic expression that, in allowing matter as an agentic force that relates with humans in dynamics of mutual impact and intra–activity, entails a phenomenological and onto–epistemological approach to ground language in materiality and produce ethical discursive practices to relate with nature. I argue that Bellessi’s and Oliver’s approach toward nature proves as necessary in the articulation of efforts leading to overcome the nature/culture dichotomy and thus, to address ecological and environmental concerns.
ature divide. I therefore examine the interrelationship between perception, language and nature in Bellessi’s and Oliver’s poetic works by deploying Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenological theory of perception into material feminist theoretical works by Karen Barad and Susan Hekman. In so doing, I demonstrate how both poets act on language to forge a non–dualistic expression that, in allowing matter as an agentic force that relates with humans in dynamics of mutual impact and intra–activity, entails a phenomenological and onto–epistemological approach to ground language in materiality and produce ethical discursive practices to relate with nature. I argue that Bellessi’s and Oliver’s approach toward nature proves as necessary in the articulation of efforts leading to overcome the nature/culture dichotomy and thus, to address ecological and environmental concerns.
ContributorsSan Martín Vásquez, Angela (Author) / Horan, Elizabeth (Thesis advisor) / Tompkins, Cynthia (Committee member) / Hernández-G, Manuel (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Hispanic Narratives of the Ill or Disabled Woman: A Feminist Disability Theory Approach, is a comprehensive study that delves into the topic of the ill or disabled female in the narratives of Hispanic female authors who either have a disability or who have been affected by a chronic or terminal illness, causing debilitation. In order to address this topic, this thesis investigates disability identity by utilizing feminist disability theory by Kim Q. Hall, Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, and Susan Wendell, amongst others, and at the same time reviews current disability policies in both Latin American and Spanish societies. By providing a critical view of this theme from a feminist standpoint, this study places emphasis on the lived experiences that ill or disabled Hispanic women face, doubly marginalized, not only based on their illness or (dis)ability, but also their gender.
This in depth analysis of Fruta Podrida (2007) and Sangre en el ojo (2012) by Lina Meruane, Diario del dolor (2004) by María Luisa Puga, Clavícula: (mi clavícula y otros inmensos desajustes (2017) by Marta Sanz, Diario de una pasajera by Ágata Gligo (1997), Si crees en mí, te sorprenderé (2014) by Ana Vives, and The Ladies Gallery: A Memory of Family Secrets by Irene Vilar provides relevant information on societal norms, policies and current debate about healthcare and women’s rights in various Hispanic countries and the United States. At the same time, it emphasizes the disabled female as subject, and investigates the societal perpetuation of disability. This dissertation discusses various concepts from disability studies, such as the illness/disability narrative, corporeal invisibility, normalcy, medical pathologization, stereotyping, and ableism, and investigates them in relation to both chronic and terminal illness or physical and mental disability in relation to the ill or disabled Hispanic female.
This in depth analysis of Fruta Podrida (2007) and Sangre en el ojo (2012) by Lina Meruane, Diario del dolor (2004) by María Luisa Puga, Clavícula: (mi clavícula y otros inmensos desajustes (2017) by Marta Sanz, Diario de una pasajera by Ágata Gligo (1997), Si crees en mí, te sorprenderé (2014) by Ana Vives, and The Ladies Gallery: A Memory of Family Secrets by Irene Vilar provides relevant information on societal norms, policies and current debate about healthcare and women’s rights in various Hispanic countries and the United States. At the same time, it emphasizes the disabled female as subject, and investigates the societal perpetuation of disability. This dissertation discusses various concepts from disability studies, such as the illness/disability narrative, corporeal invisibility, normalcy, medical pathologization, stereotyping, and ableism, and investigates them in relation to both chronic and terminal illness or physical and mental disability in relation to the ill or disabled Hispanic female.
ContributorsKnupp, April M (Author) / Urioste-Azcorra, Carmen (Thesis advisor) / Tompkins, Cynthia (Committee member) / Foster, David W (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Coming out from under the shadow of sight, blindness has a story to tell. From Tiresias to The Miracle Worker, literary and visual representations of blindness are cornerstones of compelling tales of loss and overcoming. In support of the inherent value of sight, these conventional narratives overshadow the stories and lived experiences of blind people themselves. In light of this misrepresentation, I explore what it means to read, write, and see blindness, as well as consider the implications of being blind in present-day Latin America. I achieve this through a transnational and interdisciplinary analysis of novels, short stories, film, and photography by blind and sighted artists and writers whose work has been published or exhibited after the year 2000. In this context, I will demonstrate how blindness can serve as a lens through which the production and reception of narrative and visual culture can be critically evaluated from a blind person’s perspective. Most importantly, this dissertation showcases the critical and creative work of blind people in order to demystify stereotypes and contextualize anxieties surrounding blindness, perception, and identity.
ContributorsNewland, Rachel Renee (Author) / Tompkins, Cynthia (Thesis advisor) / Foster, David W. (Committee member) / Urioste-Azcorra, Carmen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Due to its interdisciplinary nature, the history of emotions has engaged much scholarly interest. This project draws from the historical, sociological and philosophical research on emotions to analyze the representation of emotions in narratives from Argentina and Chile. This historical investigation posits that socio-political, cultural and economic forces, which are represented in literature and film, shape emotions and emotional standards. The analysis of Rayuela (1963) by Julio Cortázar and Raúl Ruiz’s Tres Tristes Tigres (1968) is centered on the impact of Existentialism, capitalism and modernity on the construction of emotional standards in urban societies. The impact of militant groups in the shaping of collective emotions in Latin America during the 1960s and 70s is examined in Reina Roffé’s novel Monte de Venus (1973) and Aldo Francia’s film Ya no basta con rezar (1972). The analysis of Alberto Fuguet’s Las películas de mi vida (2002) and Pablo Larraín’s No (2012) sheds light on the paradigmatic shift in the construction of emotional standards resulting from the implementation of neoliberalism through dictatorships as well as the insertion into the globalized consumerist culture by way of technology and media. Finally, this project encourages future research of the emotions in literary and cultural studies of Latin America.
ContributorsBondi, Erika (Author) / Tompkins, Cynthia (Thesis advisor) / Foster, David W (Committee member) / Gil-Osle, Juan Pablo (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
This dissertation focuses on the study of Western esotericism in European culture and forms a method of discovering esoteric topics in cultural artifacts. Using the definition as a corpus of knowledge historically divided between esoteric, reserved for the intellectual and power elite, and exoteric, available for everybody, I argue that esotericism represents the knowledge that always accompanied the cultural production of the Mediterranean zone, adding a spiritual meaning to any visual or written work of art. The contemporary novels of the past decade by the Spanish author Javier Sierra are fully based on a historical investigation, in which esotericism appears as a nuclear topic, revealing the great interest of the public in the mysteries of the past. Through the postmodern cultural theories, together with sociological and historical methods, the dissertation explores the cultural processes that lead to the shift of esoteric knowledge in the 20th century from secretive to publically available. The study defines the purpose of recreating the European past and investigates the secrets of European cultural formation. Through an insider-outsider perspective, it analyzes the cultural artifacts, that appear in the novels in the form of reference or as a nuclear part of the plot. It presents the scope of esoteric currents, that are divided between the discipline of religion, science, and philosophy, which form the tetrahedron of knowledge as a theoretic model for this study. The constructed model reveals the interaction of the three disciplines throughout the history and examines the reasons for the religious disenchantment of the 20th century, proven through Digital Humanities’ research as the predominance of science over the Catholic Church, which allowed the esoteric knowledge to reappear. The study explores the affiliation of esotericism with science through the scientific-cultural inquiries between the ancient myths and reality, by showing that man’s consciousness had always been dependent on the scientific perception of the world. It explores the pagan symbolism that is mixed with Christian traditions and reveals the stories, hidden behind the representation of the greatest works of art, by combining and analyzing the wisdom of the past and the contemporary spiritual inquiries in their philosophical meaning.
ContributorsCordan, Elena (Author) / Urioste Azcorra, Carmen (Thesis advisor) / Tompkins, Cynthia (Committee member) / Gil-Osle, Juan Pablo (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
This paper explores the psychological experiences of domestic workers in three contemporary Latin American films: Roma (Mexico, 2018), Crímenes de familia (Argentina, 2020) and Que Horas Ela Volta? (Brazil, 2015). Specifically, the motherhood of these three protagonists is explored and analyzed using psychological research that pertains to motherhood, trauma, and the relationships between domestic workers and the families that employ them. This paper reveals that contemporary Latin American cinema portrays domestic workers as having negative experiences of motherhood as a direct result of their occupation and proposes for further protections, policy change, and psychological research to take place for domestic workers in Latin America and beyond.
ContributorsSamuels, Alana D (Author) / Tompkins, Cynthia (Thesis director) / Bezerra, Ligia (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
This research aims to develop a narration theory based on Argentinian writer Juan José Saer’s (1937-2005) four collections of essays: El río sin orillas (The River Without Banks) (1991) —which is thought by critics to be the Facundo of the 20th century—, El concepto de ficción (The Concept of Fiction) (1995), La narración-objeto (The Narrative Object) (1999) and Trabajos (Works) (2005). His essays examine the Latin American novel from 1960 to 2000, in other words, from the founding of the modern novel during the Latin American boom to its establishment as the most commercial genre upon the arrival of neoliberalism in Latin America in the 1990’s. Saer not only questions the novel in literary terms, but also contextually: from its relationship to politics and the Cuban Revolution and the years of literary compromise à la Sarte and the historical novel’s insurgency as the favored genre that settled the region’s past and present in the 1980’s to the conception of the genre as a commodity as large transnational entertainment consortia purchased all publishers. Within this context, Saer simultaneously critiques and formulates a theory on narration to oppose the novel. He presents narration as a continuation of a wasted and formulaic genre such as the historical novel. He juxtaposes the “real” to realism, ponders the impossibility of the historical novel, defends and rehabilitates the French noveau roman, which was much vilified by authors of the boom, demystifies Borges’ reading of the Argentinian tradition and at the same time confronts it with Witold Gombrowicz. He removes literature from the bonds of nationalism and Latin Americanism and contrasts Sartre’s ideas with German philosopher Theodore W. Adorno’s proposals about the novel during the cultural industry era.
ContributorsArellano Serratos, José Francisco (Author) / Foster, David W (Thesis advisor) / Tompkins, Cynthia (Committee member) / Volek, Emil (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015