Borderless Fandom and Contemporary Popular Cultural Scene in Chinese Cyberspace

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Comic relief: Subversion and catharsis in organizational comedic theatre

There has been a growth of interest in the role of humour in organizations from both practitioner and academic perspectives. Various claims for the functionality of humour have been made, ranging from stress reduction to helping form and cement corporate cultures. Latching on to these presumed benefits, businesses and consultants have begun to employ humour and comedy in a direct and explicit manner. However, there is a counterpoint, which suggests that humour cannot always be managed and in fact has subversive qualities. This article addresses the issue of the subversive potential of comedy in organizational contexts. It draws illustratively on the case of a successful corporate comedian to do so. The article argues, through an analysis of the case, the history and philosophy of comedy, and theories of the comedic, that while comedy has inherent subversive potential, it most often is contained. Indeed, it suggests that comedy works by intruding as a potential threat to mundane reality, but offers comic relief when it is apparent that the threat will not be actualized and the status quo ante prevails. Implications for using corporate comedy are drawn..

Selling, resistance and reconciliation:a critical discursive approach to subsidiary role evolution in MNEs

Studies of political dynamics between multinational enterprise (MNE) parents and subsidiaries during subsidiary role evolution have focused largely on control and resistance. This paper adopts a critical discursive approach to enable an exploration of subtle dynamics in the way that both headquarters and subsidiaries subjectively reconstruct their independent-interdependent relationships with each other during change. We draw from a real-time qualitative study of a revealing case of charter change in an important European subsidiary of an MNE attempting to build closer integration across European country operations. Our results illustrate the role of three discourses – selling, resistance and reconciliation – in the reconstruction of the subsidiary–parent relationship. From this analysis we develop a process framework that elucidates the important role of these three discourses in the reconstruction of subsidiary roles, showing how resistance is not simply subversive but an important part of integration. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of the micro-level political dynamics in subsidiary role evolution, and of how voice is exercised in MNEs. This study also provides a rare example of discourse-based analysis in an MNE context, advancing our knowledge of how discursive methods can help to advance international business research more generally.

La traducción como mecanismo de (re)canonización:el discurso nacional y feminista de Rosalía de Castro en sus traducciones a inglés

Women authors have been traditionally ignored by patriarchal values informing the dominant literary canon. The most important icon of Galician literature, however, is a woman – Rosalía de Castro (1837-1885). She is not only a foundational myth for Galician letters, but also one of the most widely translated Galician authors. That said, the way she has been canonized in the Galician literary system has generally presented her work as exclusively committed to the construction of the national/ist identity, disregarding and muting her subversive feminist ideas. Taking this context as a starting point, in this article I shall examine most English translations of her work published between 1909 and 2010 in order to assess to what extent these translations have contributed to either disseminating or concealing Rosalía de Castro’s national and/or feminist discourse. I also aim to offer new critical readings of some of the author’s texts written in 19th century, which show how the Galician author is a real pioneer in Western literary feminism.

Representación de la mujer transgresora en la novelística de la Cuba republicana

This dissertation explored the subversive feminine discourse in the most representative novels of the first quarter of the twentieth century in the newly born republic of Cuba. Drawing on the feminist theories of Simone de Beauvoir, Toril Moi and Pierre Bourdieu, these women were analyzed in the context of their time, their class level and their race. Because it is oppressive and theoretically unsatisfactory to reduce women to their general "humanity" or to their "femininity", my purpose was to analyze them as human beings in a "specific situation" and show how they curtailed the laws that patriarchy has prepared for them. The novels studied were: Doña Guiomar, by Emilio Bacardí; A fuego lento, by Emilio Bobadilla; La manigua sentimental, by Jesús Castellanos; Las honradas, by Miguel de Carrión; Las impuras, by Miguel de Carrión, and Ecué-Yamba-O, by Alejo Carpentier. Women will obtain freedom and independence from patriarchal control, symbolic power, symbolic violence, and hypnotic power when they are educated and have obtained a working position in society similar to men or by joining the political struggle in their community, in their country, or in the global organizations.

The (Wo)Man in the Masque: Cross-Dressing as Disguise in Early Modern English Literature

Characters’ identities are integral to how audiences relate to them. But what happens when the character suddenly alters his or her outward appearance? Are they still the same person? This thesis seeks to argue that disguise does not alter a character’s true nature, as evidenced by Pyrocles in Sir Philip Sidney’s The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia and the Prince in Margaret Cavendish’s The Convent of Pleasure. Both Pyrocles’ suit of Philoclea and the Prince’s suit of Lady Happy are successful because, however subversive they appear at first, they ultimately adhere to societal norms of the time. The relationship between the cross-dressed prince and his love interest in both works only appears to subvert heteronormative expectations for the time, but ultimately adheres to these societal norms once the disguised character’s true identity is revealed to his chosen partner.

A COMUNICAÇÃO POPULAR NA CONSTRUÇÃO E PRESERVAÇÃO DA MEMÓRIA DAS LUTAS POPULARES NO BRASIL (décadas de 1970 e 1980)

Nas décadas de 1970 e 1980 houve a eclosão de experiências comunicacionais populares, em todo Brasil, com vasta produção de materiais, especialmente arquivados pelos centros de documentação. Em sua maioria, criados e financiados por setores progressistas da Igreja Católica e Protestante. Entre eles, o Centro de Pastoral Vergueiro (CPV) e o Centro de Comunicação e Educação Popular de São Miguel Paulista (CEMI) que também tiveram importante papel na construção e preservação da memória das lutas populares no período de reorganização social, no contexto de distensão da ditadura militar. No entanto, tais acervos estão em iminente risco, por falta de investimento e vontade política. O que seria um prejuízo histórico e científico para movimentos sociais atuais e à pesquisa acadêmica. O objetivo do estudo é identificar a que se deve este desinteresse. A abordagem se dá pelo método da história oral e como técnicas de investigação adotamos a pesquisa bibliográfica, documental e a pesquisa de campo, por meio da entrevista em profundidade. A falta de uma política pública que garanta a preservação dos documentos é sinal de que no Brasil predomina uma cultura que não privilegia a memória, sobretudo das camadas empobrecidas da população. Além do que, a memória pode ser subversiva. Afinal tais documentos expressam a força da participação popular no processo de transformação social e podem despertar novas ações, o que não interessa aos grupos que estão no poder.

Dark journeys: Jacques Tourneur's Experiment Perilous

An analysis of Jacques Tourneur's 1944 film

The civilising tension at the heart of market-making: a case study of the stent industry

We are interested in the emergence of new markets. While the literature contains various perspectives on how such new markets come to be, the dynamics of the marketization process are less clear. This paper focuses on the development of stent technology and examines the activities characteristic of its emerging market. We identify four market ‘moments’: a mutable marketing moment prior to the point of disruption; two parallel moments at the point of disruption – internecine marketing between emergent competitors, and subversive marketing between those competitors and established actors; and finally, a civilized marketing moment. We conclude that emergent competitors operate two distinct strategies at the point of disruption. Also, legal activities are central to marketization dynamics during this period. In terms of process, while creative destruction may broadly describe the move from disruption to acceptance, there is a period of creative construction prior to disruption, when the new market is coming into being.

Arabic theater in early khedivial culture, 1868-72: James Sanua revisited

This article revisits the official culture of the early khedivate through a microhistory of the first modern Egyptian theater in Arabic. Based on archival research, it aims at a recalibration of recent scholarship by showing khedivial culture as a complex framework of competing patriotisms. It analyzes the discourse about theater in the Arabic press, including the journalist Muhammad Unsi's call for performances in Arabic in 1870. It shows that the realization of this idea was the theater group led by James Sanua between 1871 and 1872, which also performed Ê¿Abd al-Fattah al-Misri's tragedy. But the troupe was not an expression of subversive nationalism, as has been claimed by scholars. My historical reconstruction and my analysis of the content of Sanua's comedies show loyalism toward the Khedive Ismail. Yet his form of contemporary satire was incompatible with elite cultural patriotism, which employed historicization as its dominant technique. This revision throws new light on a crucial moment of social change in the history of modern Egypt, when the ruler was expected to preside over the plural cultural bodies of the nation. © 2014 Cambridge University Press .

Quema de libros y antitotalitarismo : Manuel Rivas Los libros arden mal y Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451

El presente artículo se propone comparar dos novelas cuyo común denominador es el compromiso antitotalitario con motivo de la quema de libros considerada como el culmen de la barbarie anticultural, a saber Los libros arden mal (2006) de Manuel Rivas y Fahrenheit 451 (1953) de Ray Bradbury. Partiendo de las reflexiones de Fernando Rodríguez de la Flor en torno al biblioclasmo (2004), el paralelo se centra en los siguientes aspectos: la descripción zoo- y antropomorfizada de los libros en llamas; el biblioclasmo como expresión del totalitarismo, denotando asimismo una relación ambivalente y dialéctica entre cultura y barbarie; los movimientos subversivos dedicados a mantener el culto al libro y la tradición filosófico-literaria; la intertextualidad y el papel destacado de la Biblia en cuanto Libro de los libros. En conclusión se podrá constatar que, a pesar de numerosos puntos en común, en particular su compromiso antitotalitario, ambos autores se distinguen en concreto por su orientación política y el enfoque de su crítica cultural.

"Macanas", "tragedias" y "dramas" : Los jueces y su presentación del pasado de terrorismo de Estado en el Juicio por la Verdad de Bahía Blanca, Argentina

El trabajo que aquí se presenta tiene como objetivo indagar en las diferentes manifestaciones sobre el pasado reciente de terrorismo de Estado realizadas por los jueces durante las audiencias de uno de los denominados "Juicios por la Verdad", que se realizó en la ciudad de Bahía Blanca, Argentina entre 1999 y 2000. Se trabajó con una metodología de análisis cualitativo y se utilizaron distintas fuentes de información tales como entrevistas a jueces y abogados de organizaciones de derechos humanos y la totalidad de los videos de las audiencias del Juicio por la Verdad de Bahía Blanca. Como resultado se establece la manera en que estos profesionales del derecho interpretaron el terrorismo de Estado confrontando la posición adoptada por los militares de no brindar información y de reivindicar la "guerra antisubversiva", deslindando a la vez las distintas responsabilidades entre los miembros de las Fuerzas Armadas.

Citizenship and Inclusion: Rethinking the Analytical Category of Noncitizenship

The paper problematises the category of noncitizenship. It traces its trajectory in accounts of inclusive citizenship and argues that it is difficult to theorise it as a distinct theoretical category outside of citizenship. To support this argument, the paper distinguishes between a pluralist, political and democratic variant of accounts of inclusive citizenship and it shows how they all end up reducing noncitizenship to a journey to citizenship. To overcome this limit, the paper develops the idea of subversive politicisation and suggests that injustices and inequalities can be challenged without falling back on the vocabulary of citizenship.

"Paseo por una guerra antigua" (Juan Antonio Bardem, 1948-49): una contramemoria de la Guerra Civil

Este artículo pretende demostrar en qué medida Paseo por una guerra antigua (1948-1949), la práctica de segundo curso del Instituto de Investigaciones y Experiencias Cinematográficas (IIEC) en la que Juan Antonio Bardem rueda a un joven mutilado caminando por las ruinas de la Ciudad Universitaria de Madrid, constituye un intento pionero de desmontar los relatos oficiales de la Guerra Civil Española y rescatar la memoria de los vencidos. Filmar las ruinas del campus madrileño en aquellos años era un acto sub­versivo, puesto que el Régimen había emprendido su reconstrucción para borrar las huellas del Madrid republicano y de la Guerra Civil, resignificando por completo el recinto universitario. Por tanto, en Paseo por una guerra antigua, Bardem intenta reapropiarse de un espacio que en la época iba imponiéndose como uno de los “lugares de memoria” del franquismo. Esta película se vale de la función documental del cine para inmortalizar unas ruinas que simbolizan la República y la guerra, para preservarlas de la muerte simbólica que representa su reconstrucción. Mostrar esas ruinas en 1948-1949 equivale a “materializar” el pasado, a traerlo al presente de la posguerra, en un proceso que recuerda a los planteamientos sobre la Historia de Walter Benjamin, para proponer una visión alternativa de la contienda. Se trata de una visión teñida de una memoria íntima, ya que la película es un paseo no solo por las ruinas sino también por los recuerdos de este joven mutilado. En suma, Bardem propone una contramemoria de la Guerra Civil.