The Enhanced Single-dish Control System and wide surveys of compact sources

The Italian radio telescopes currently undergo a major upgrade period in response to the growing demand for deep radio observations, such as surveys on large sky areas or observations of vast samples of compact radio sources. The optimised employment of the Italian antennas, at first constructed mainly for VLBI activities and provided with a control system (FS – Field System) not tailored to single-dish observations, required important modifications in particular of the guiding software and data acquisition system. The production of a completely new control system called ESCS (Enhanced Single-dish Control System) for the Medicina dish started in 2007, in synergy with the software development for the forthcoming Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT). The aim is to produce a system optimised for single-dish observations in continuum, spectrometry and polarimetry. ESCS is also planned to be installed at the Noto site. A substantial part of this thesis work consisted in designing and developing subsystems within ESCS, in order to provide this software with tools to carry out large maps, spanning from the implementation of On-The-Fly fast scans (following both conventional and innovative observing strategies) to the production of single-dish standard output files and the realisation of tools for the quick-look of the acquired data. The test period coincided with the commissioning phase for two devices temporarily installed – while waiting for the SRT to be completed – on the Medicina antenna: a 18-26 GHz 7-feed receiver and the 14-channel analogue backend developed for its use. It is worth stressing that it is the only K-band multi-feed receiver at present available worldwide. The commissioning of the overall hardware/software system constituted a considerable section of the thesis work. Tests were led in order to verify the system stability and its capabilities, down to sensitivity levels which had never been reached in Medicina using the previous observing techniques and hardware devices. The aim was also to assess the scientific potential of the multi-feed receiver for the production of wide maps, exploiting its temporary availability on a mid-sized antenna. Dishes like the 32-m antennas at Medicina and Noto, in fact, offer the best conditions for large-area surveys, especially at high frequencies, as they provide a suited compromise between sufficiently large beam sizes to cover quickly large areas of the sky (typical of small-sized telescopes) and sensitivity (typical of large-sized telescopes). The KNoWS (K-band Northern Wide Survey) project is aimed at the realisation of a full-northern-sky survey at 21 GHz; its pilot observations, performed using the new ESCS tools and a peculiar observing strategy, constituted an ideal test-bed for ESCS itself and for the multi-feed/backend system. The KNoWS group, which I am part of, supported the commissioning activities also providing map-making and source-extraction tools, in order to complete the necessary data reduction pipeline and assess the general system scientific capabilities. The K-band observations, which were carried out in several sessions along the December 2008-March 2010 period, were accompanied by the realisation of a 5 GHz test survey during the summertime, which is not suitable for high-frequency observations. This activity was conceived in order to check the new analogue backend separately from the multi-feed receiver, and to simultaneously produce original scientific data (the 6-cm Medicina Survey, 6MS, a polar cap survey to complete PMN-GB6 and provide an all-sky coverage at 5 GHz).

Über die Linearität der Teichmüllerschen Modulgruppe des Torus mit zwei Punktierungen

Über die Liniarität der Teichmüllerschen Modulgruppe des Torus mit zwei Punktierungen. In meiner Arbeit beschäftige ich mich mit Darstellungen der Teichmüllerschen Modulgruppe des Torus mit zwei Punktierungen. Mein Ansatz hierbei ist, die Teichmüllersche Modulgruppe in eine p-adische Liegruppe einzubetten. Sei nun F die von zwei Elementen erzeugte freie Gruppe und Aut(F) die Automorphismengruppe von F. Inhalt des ersten Kapitels ist es nun zu zeigen, daß folgende Aussagen äquivalent sind: - Die Teichmüllersche Modulgruppe des Torus mit zwei Punktierungen ist linear, - Aut(F)ist linear, - F besitzt eine p-Kongruenzstruktur, deren Folgen- glieder von Aut(F) festgehalten werden, also charak- teristisch sind. Im zweiten Kapitel wird unter anderem gezeigt, daß es eine Einbettung einer Untergruppe endlichen Indexes der Aut(F) in die Automorphismengruppe einer einfachen p-adischen Liegruppe gibt. Bisher ist unbekannt, ob die Buraudarstellung treu ist.In dieser Arbeit wird ein unendliches, lineares Gleichungssystem, dessen Lösungen gerade die Koeffizienten der Wörter des Kernes der Buraudarstellung sind, vorgestellt.Im dritten Kapitel wird mit den Methoden des 1.Kapitels gezeigt, daß der Torus mit zwei Punktierungen genau dann linear ist, wenn die Teichmüllersche Modulgruppe der Sphäre mit 5 Punktierungen es auch ist. Bekanntlich ist die 4. Braidgruppe linear. Nun ist aber die 4. Braidgruppe letztlich die Teichmüllersche Modulgruppe der abgeschlossenen Kreisscheibe mit 5 Punktierungen. Wenn man nun deren Randpunkte miteinander identifiziert und anschließend wegläßt, erhält man die 5-fach punktiereSphäre.Mit der eben beschriebenen Abbildung kann man zeigen, daß die Teichmüllersche Modulgruppe der fünffach punktierten Sphäre linear ist.

Frauen und AIDS in Tansania /// Arbeitspapiere / Institut für Ethnologie und Afrikastudien ; 60

Mehr als die Hälfte aller HIV-positiven Tansanier sind Frauen. Ihre schwächere gesellschaftliche Stellung ist einer der Faktoren, der dazu beiträgt, dass sie einem erhöhten Infektionsrisiko ausgesetzt sind. Aufgrund geringerer Bildungschancen und einer anhaltenden gesellschaftlichen Idealvorstellung von der Frau als Mutter sind Frauen auch auf dem Arbeitsmarkt benachteiligt. Im Kontext von HIV/AIDS werden afrikanische Frauen häufig als passive Opfer der Epidemie dargestellt und es wird zu selten aufgezeigt, wie sie als Akteure eigene Strategien im Kampf gegen die Krankheit entwickeln. In letzter Zeit gewinnen Frauenorganisationen an Bedeutung, denn viele Frauen wollen ausdrücklich eigenverantwortlich und ohne Männer arbeiten. Eine solche Organisation ist die in meiner Arbeit vorgestellte NGO KIWAMWAKU („Kikundi cha Wanawake Mwanga kupambana na Ukimwi“ – Vereinigung von Frauen aus Mwanga zum Kampf gegen AIDS). Meine Forschung hat gezeigt, dass Frauen ihre gesellschaftliche Stellung durch das Engagement in einer NGO verbessern können. Sie können ein eigenes Einkommen erwirtschaften und nützliche Kenntnisse etwa in der Führung einer Organisation erlangen. Allerdings profitieren nicht alle Beteiligten gleichermaßen. Die drei Leiterinnen der erforschten NGO verfügten über die meisten Vorteile; sie profitierten finanziell, aber auch ideell, denn sie genossen durch ihre Arbeit hohes Ansehen im gesamten Mwanga-Distrikt. Dagegen konnten einige der Klientinnen nur in sehr geringem Maße von Interventionen profitieren. Letztlich bin ich jedoch überzeugt davon, dass durch solche Frauenorganisationen ein wichtiger Prozess angestoßen worden ist, durch den Frauen mittel- oder langfristig eine stärkere Stellung innerhalb der tansanischen Gesellschaft erlangen können, was sich wiederum positiv auf die immer noch steigenden HIV/AIDS-Infektionsraten auswirken kann.

La ville picaresque

Cet extrait (le début du projet) peut être essentiellement considéré comme un travail de synthèse, de traduction et d’argumentation concernant un des textes de référence parmi les plus importants au sujet de la littérature picaresque : “La literatura picaresca desde la historia social” écrit par Jose Antonio Maravall. Mon but en développant ce projet était de me focaliser sur les idées principales contenues dans ce volume et en particulier sur la relation existante entre la littérature picaresque et le concept de ville, en termes urbanistiques. Je tiens à souligner le fait que ce travail a été longuement approfondi dans mes nombreuses activités d’étude et de recherche et en me référant, volontairement, au texte lui-même. La raison fondamentale de mon désir de rester près du texte se justifie par le fait que je venais de commence ce qui seraient mes futures activités de recherche de doctorat. J’ai utilisé ces idées à propos de la littérature picaresque, idées qui sont aujourd’hui universellement acceptées, afin de m’orienter moi-même dans ce genre littéraire. Les autres idées que j’ai étudiées et décrites au cours de mes activités de recherche successives sont plus personnelles, car j’avais eu l’occasion de les analyser auparavant. Ce travail n’inclut pas seulement des activités de recherche , mais il s’est agi aussi d’un projet de traduction puisque j’ai dû traduire de l’espagnol(texte original) en italien, pour ensuite concevoir et puis rédiger ma synthèse et mon argumentation en langue française. En conclusion, je peux affirmer que j’ai été capable de construire de solides bases pour élaborer et planifier ma thèse de Doctorat, avec les typiques thèmes de la littérature picaresque, pour exemple la recherche de la nourriture dans la ville.

Identity formation at the beginning of the twenty-first century: Intersubjectivity, art, and medicine in Siri Hustvedt’s works

„Ich bin, weil du bist“ – so lautet eines der Schlüsselzitate in What I Loved, dem 2003 erschienenen dritten Roman der zeitgenössischen amerikanischen Autorin Siri Hustvedt. Die Bedeutung von Beziehung und Interaktion für die Identitätsbildung spielt eine zentrale Rolle nicht nur in diesem Roman, sondern auch in ihrem Gesamtwerk, das vier Romane, ein memoir, drei Essay-Sammlungen und einen Lyrikband umfasst. Hustvedt erforscht die Identität als ein vielschichtiges Produkt bewusster und unbewusster Verknüpfungen innerhalb der sozialen und biologischen Umwelt. Das Bewusstsein wird als eine dialogisch geprägte Entität gezeigt, dessen Identität erst durch die Beziehung auf ein Anderes geformt werden kann. Um dem Mysterium der menschlichen Identitätsfindung nachzuspüren, bedient sich Hustvedt sowohl philosophischer, psychoanalytischer, biologischer als auch kunsttheoretischer Diskurse. In ihren Romanen stellt sich die Frage nach der Erklärung von Identität als komplexe Problematik dar: Ist die Beziehung zu anderen Menschen vor allem durch unsere Entwicklung als Kind und die Nähe zu Bezugspersonen geprägt? In welchem Ausmaß ist das Empfinden von Subjektivität beeinflusst von körperlichen und unbewussten Mechanismen? Inwiefern ist die Wahrnehmung visueller Kunst eine Kooperation zwischen Betrachter und Künstler? rnDiesen und anderen Fragen geht diese Dissertation nach, indem sie Hustvedts Werk als Anlass für eine Analyse intersubjektiver Strukturen der Identität nimmt. Die Intersubjektivitätsphiloso¬phien von Hegel, Buber, Bakhtin, Husserl, und Merleau-Ponty dienen hierbei als Ausgangspunkt für die Interpretation von relationaler Identität in Hustvedts Werken. Die Dissertation konzentriert sich auf Hustvedts Darstellung der Beziehung zwischen Selbst und Anderem in der Photographie und in der Malerei, der Überschreitung von Körpergrenzen in Hysterie und Anorexie sowie der Auswirkung des Verlustes von Bezugspersonen auf die persönliche Identität. Entscheidend für den Hustvedtschen Kunstbegriff ist das Zusammenspiel von Kunstobjekt, Künstler und Betrachter. Die Grenzen zwischen Innerem und Äußeren werden aufgelöst: mal wird der Rezipient Teil des Kunstwerks, mal verschmilzt der Künstler förmlich mit seinem Objekt. Auch hier wird wiederum deutlich, dass Identität nur in Wechselbeziehung und als zwischenmenschliche Kooperation entsteht. Hustvedt betritt durch ihre einzigartige Auseinandersetzung mit den Wechselbeziehungen und fragilen Grenzen zwischen Ich und Umwelt Neuland auf dem Gebiet der literarischen Identitätsforschung, da sie ihr Prinzip des „mixing,“ des unausweichlichen Eindringens fremder Substanz in die eigene Identität, aus dem Blickwinkel dieser verschiedenen Erklärungsansätze beleuchtet. rn

Graph algorithms for bioinformatics

Biological data are inherently interconnected: protein sequences are connected to their annotations, the annotations are structured into ontologies, and so on. While protein-protein interactions are already represented by graphs, in this work I am presenting how a graph structure can be used to enrich the annotation of protein sequences thanks to algorithms that analyze the graph topology. We also describe a novel solution to restrict the data generation needed for building such a graph, thanks to constraints on the data and dynamic programming. The proposed algorithm ideally improves the generation time by a factor of 5. The graph representation is then exploited to build a comprehensive database, thanks to the rising technology of graph databases. While graph databases are widely used for other kind of data, from Twitter tweets to recommendation systems, their application to bioinformatics is new. A graph database is proposed, with a structure that can be easily expanded and queried.

Corpora e universali della traduzione in ambito sociologico: il caso degli anglicismi nella rivista “Lavoro Sociale”

Contacts between languages have always led to mutual influence. Today, the position of authority of the English language affects Italian in many ways, especially in the scientific and technical fields. When new studies conceived in the English-speaking world reach the Italian public, we are faced not only with the translation of texts, but most importantly the rendition of theoretical constructs that do not always have a suitable rendering in the target language. That is why we often find anglicisms in Italian texts. This work aims to show their frequency in a specific field, underlying how and when they are used, and sometimes preferred to the Italian corresponding word. This dissertation looks at a sample of essays from the specialised magazine “Lavoro Sociale”, published by Edizioni Centro Studi Erickson, searching for borrowings from English and discussing their use in order to make hypotheses on the reasons of this phenomenon, against the wider background of translation studies and translation universals research. What I am more interested in is the understanding of the similarities and differences in the use of anglicisms by authors of Italian texts and translators from English into Italian, so that I can figure out what the main dynamics and tendencies are. The whole paper is has four parts. Chapter 1 briefly explains the theoretical background on translation studies, and introduces and discusses the notion of translation universals. After that, the research methodology and theoretical background on linguistic borrowings (especially anglicisms) in Italian are summarized. Chapter 2 presents the study, explaining the organisation of the material, the methodology used and the object of interest. Chapter 3 is the core of the dissertation because it contains the qualitative and quantitative data taken from the texts and the examination of the dynamics of the use of anglicisms. Finally, Chapter 4 compares the conclusions drawn from the previous chapter with the opinions of authors, translators and proof-readers, whom I asked to answer a questionnaire written specifically to investigate the mechanisms and choices behind their use of anglicisms.

Essays in Applied and Labor Economics

This thesis consists of three self-contained papers. In the first paper I analyze the labor supply behavior of Bologna Pizza Delivery Vendors. Recent influential papers analyze labor supply behavior of taxi drivers (Camerer et al., 1997; and Crawford and Meng, 2011) and suggest that reference-dependence preferences have an important influence on drivers’ labor-supply decisions. Unlike previous papers, I am able to identify an exogenous and transitory change in labor demand. Using high frequency data on orders and rainfall as an exogenous demand shifter, I invariably find that reference-dependent preferences play no role in their labor’ supply decisions and the behavior of pizza vendors is perfectly consistent with the predictions of the standard model of labor’ supply. In the second paper, I investigate how the voting behavior of Members of Parliament is influenced by the Members seating nearby. By exploiting the random seating arrangements in the Icelandic Parliament, I show that being seated next to Members of a different party increases the probability of not being aligned with one’s own party. Using the exact spatial orientation of the peers, I provide evidence that supports the hypothesis that interaction is the main channel that explain these results. In the third paper, I provide an estimate of the trade flows that there would have been between the UK and Europe if the UK had joined the Euro. As an alternative approach to the standard log-linear gravity equation I employ the synthetic control method. I show that the aggregate trade flows between Britain and Europe would have been 13% higher if the UK had adopted the Euro.

Extracting evolutionary information from the spectral decomposition of early-type galaxies.

Holding the major share of stellar mass in galaxies and being also old and passively evolving, early-type galaxies (ETGs) are the primary probes in investigating these various evolution scenarios, as well as being useful means to provide insights on cosmological parameters. In this thesis work I focused specifically on ETGs and on their capability in constraining galaxy formation and evolution; in particular, the principal aims were to derive some of the ETGs evolutionary parameters, such as age, metallicity and star formation history (SFH) and to study their age-redshift and mass-age relations. In order to infer galaxy physical parameters, I used the public code STARLIGHT: this program provides a best fit to the observed spectrum from a combination of many theoretical models defined in user-made libraries. the comparison between the output and input light-weighted ages shows a good agreement starting from SNRs of ∼ 10, with a bias of ∼ 2.2% and a dispersion 3%. Furthermore, also metallicities and SFHs are well reproduced. In the second part of the thesis I performed an analysis on real data, starting from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) spectra. I found that galaxies get older with cosmic time and with increasing mass (for a fixed redshift bin); absolute light-weighted ages, instead, result independent from the fitting parameters or the synthetic models used. Metallicities, instead, are very similar from each other and clearly consistent with the ones derived from the Lick indices. The predicted SFH indicates the presence of a double burst of star formation. Velocity dispersions and extinctiona are also well constrained, following the expected behaviours. As a further step, I also fitted single SDSS spectra (with SNR∼ 20), to verify that stacked spectra gave the same results without introducing any bias: this is an important check, if one wants to apply the method at higher z, where stacked spectra are necessary to increase the SNR. Our upcoming aim is to adopt this approach also on galaxy spectra obtained from higher redshift Surveys, such as BOSS (z ∼ 0.5), zCOSMOS (z 1), K20 (z ∼ 1), GMASS (z ∼ 1.5) and, eventually, Euclid (z 2). Indeed, I am currently carrying on a preliminary study to estabilish the applicability of the method to lower resolution, as well as higher redshift (z 2) spectra, just like the Euclid ones.

Il libro di spese diverse di Lorenzo Lotto. Analisi e commento

Il progetto si concentra sull’analisi ed il commento del libro dei conti di Lorenzo Lotto. Esso viene conservato nell’Archivio storico della Santa Casa di Loreto, ed è meglio conosciuto con il nome apocrifo di Libro di spese diverse. Possiamo considerarlo uno dei più significativi documenti del Rinascimento italiano: infatti esso ci parla dei rapporti che l’artista ha intessuto con committenti, colleghi ed amici, rivelando tanto la sua condotta di vita che la sua attività. È una ricerca che tenta di concentrarsi sull’artista attraverso una lettura più corretta di questa fonte: infatti in passato il Libro di spese diverse era considerato un diario e studiato attraverso una visione non consona al genere di riferimento.

Modulation of network excitability and epileptiform activity in the hippocampus of immature rats by the activation of GlyRs

Epileptic seizures are the manifestations of epilepsy, which is a major neurological disorder and occurs with a high incidence during early childhood. A fundamental mechanism underlying epileptic seizures is loss of balance between neural excitation and inhibition toward overexcitation. Glycine receptor (GlyR) is ionotropic neurotransmitter receptor that upon binding of glycine opens an anion pore and mediates in the adult nervous system a consistent inhibitory action. While previously it was assumed that GlyRs mediate inhibition mainly in the brain stem and spinal cord, recent studies reported the abundant expression of GlyRs throughout the brain, in particular during neuronal development. But no information is available regarding whether activation of GlyRs modulates neural network excitability and epileptiform activities in the immature central nervous system (CNS). Therefore the study in this thesis addresses the role of GlyRs in the modulation of neuronal excitability and epileptiform activity in the immature rat brain. By using in vitro intact corticohippocampal formation (CHF) of rats at postnatal days 4-7 and electrophysiological methods, a series of pharmacological examinations reveal that GlyRs are directly implicated in the control of hippocampal excitation levels at this age. In this thesis I am able to show that GlyRs are functionally expressed in the immature hippocampus and exhibit the classical pharmacology of GlyR, which can be activated by both glycine and the presumed endogenous agonist taurine. This study also reveals that high concentration of taurine is anticonvulsive, but lower concentration of taurine is proconvulsive. A substantial fraction of both the pro- and anticonvulsive effects of taurine is mediated via GlyRs, although activation of GABAA receptors also considerably contributes to the taurine effects. Similarly, glycine exerts both pro- and anticonvulsive effects at low and high concentrations, respectively. The proconvulsive effects of taurine and glycine depend on NKCC1-mediated Cl- accumulation, as bath application of NKCC1 inhibitor bumetanide completely abolishes proconvulsive effects of low taurine and glycine concentrations. Inhibition of GlyRs with low concentration of strychnine triggers epileptiform activity in the CA3 region of immature CHF, indicating that intrinsically an inhibitory action of GlyRs overwhelms its depolarizing action in the immature hippocampus. Additionally, my study indicates that blocking taurine transporters to accumulate endogenous taurine reduces epileptiform activity via activation of GABAA receptors, but not GlyRs, while blocking glycine transporters has no observable effect on epileptiform activity. From the main results of this study it can be concluded that in the immature rat hippocampus, activation of GlyRs mediates both pro- and anticonvulsive effects, but that a persistent activation of GlyRs is required to prevent intrinic neuronal overexcitability. In summary, this study uncovers an important role of GlyRs in the modulation of neuronal excitability and epileptiform activity in the immature rat hippocampus, and indicates that glycinergic system can potentially be a new therapeutic target against epileptic seizures of children.

When Beauty Goes to Sleep: an analysis of the symbolism behind the sleeping beauty tale

Approaching the world of the fairy tale as an adult, one soon realizes that things are not what they once seemed during story time in bed. Something that once appeared so innocent and simple can become rather complex when digging into its origin. A kiss, for example, can mean something else entirely. I can clearly remember my sister, who is ten years older than I am, telling me that the fairy tales I was told had a mysterious hidden meaning I could not understand. I was probably 9 or 10 when she told me that the story of Sleeping Beauty, which I used to love so much in Disney’s rendering, was nothing more than the story of an adolescent girl, with all the necessary steps needed to become a woman, the bleeding of menstruation and the sexual awakening - even though she did not really put it in these terms. This shocking news troubled me for a while, so much so that I haven’t watched that movie since. But in reality it was not fear that my sister had implanted in me: it was curiosity, the feeling that I was missing something terribly important behind the words and images. But it was not until last year during my semester abroad in Germany, where I had the chance to take a very interesting English literature seminar, that I fully understood what I had been looking for all these years. Thanks to what I learned from the work of Bruno Bettelheim, Jack Zipes, Vladimir Propp, and many other authors that wrote extensively about the subject, I feel I finally have the right tools to really get to know this fairy tale. But what I also know now is that the message behind fairy tales is not to be searched for behind only one version: on the contrary, since they come from oral traditions and their form was slowly shaped by centuries of recountals and retellings, the more one digs, the more complete the understanding of the tale will be. I will therefore look for Sleeping Beauty’s hidden meaning by looking for the reason why it did stick so consistently throughout time. To achieve this goal, I have organized my analysis in three chapters: in the first chapter, I will analyze the first known literary version of the tale, the French Perceforest, and then compare it with the following Italian version, Basile’s Sun, Moon, and Talia; in the second chapter, I will focus on the most famous and by now classical literary versions of Sleeping Beauty, La Belle Au Bois Dormant, written by the Frenchman, Perrault, and the German Dornröschen, recorded by the Brothers Grimm’s; finally, in the last chapter, I will analyze Almodovar’s film Talk to Her as a modern rewriting of this tale, which after a closer look, appears closely related to the earliest version of the story, Perceforest.

A 'Female Columbus' in 1887 America: Marking New Social Territory

As a self-styled 'female Columbus', E. Catherine Bates took a transcontinental journey across North America with a woman companion in the late 1880s and, on her return to England, published A Year in the Great Republic . This paper, following critical theory approaches to the study of travel writing, explores the ways in which several of Bates's many-layered social identities as a woman of the British e lite class came to the fore in her travel narrative. I argue that Bates constructed her narrative primarily around her shifting gender identities- as 'feminine' and 'feminist'- and suggest that imperialistic writing was less apparent because she was travelling to a place that had an 'empire-to-empire' rather than a 'colony-to-empire', relationship to Britain during its 'Age of Empire'. In this paper I am searching for a middle ground between what I have termed 'modernist' interpretations of women's travel writing and the more recent post-structural interpretations. I make the case that Victorian women travellers' revisionist commentary on gender roles, as well as their observations of domestic scenes, should remain in focus as we continue to mark them for historical study.

The Catholic Doctrine of Transubstantiation: An Exposition and Defense

The purpose of this thesis is to offer both an exposition and defense for the Catholic Church's traditional understanding of eucharistic transubstantiation. I hope to show how a belief in such a doctrine is in no way irrational nor is it indefensible; butinstead, the doctrine of transubstantiation makes sense when it is viewed in light of what Catholic Christians believe about who the human being is, what the human desires, and the special way in which God personally works in human history. The method I am following investigates how the doctrine of transubstantiation coheres with and follows the other beliefs that Catholics hold; that is, beginning with certain presuppositions, there is a certain rational progression to the Catholic understanding of real presence.

"Hey, Hey, He Gay, He Gay . . . Okay" . . . Or Is It?: The Sociological Importance of Bruno

Sacha Baron Cohen is a British comedian who has garnered a great deal of controversy over the years. Through his characters, Ali G, Borat, and Bruno, he attempts to trick people into letting down their guards and revealing any prejudices (racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, misogyny, et cetera) that they may have. In doing so, each of his three characters has sparked a debate concerning the different issues they bring up: with Ali G, it was whether the character was racist or exposed racism; with Borat, it was whether the character was anti-Semitic or revealed anti-Semitism; and with Bruno, it is whether the character reinforces homophobia or mocks it. I am concerned with the last of these three debates, specifically in relation to Baron Cohen's film Bruno. Many say the film reinforces gay stereotypes and is thus harmful for the gay community, while a seemingly equal number of people say it effectively mocks homophobia and is thus beneficial for the gay community. Using the data I collected from thirty-one interviews conducted after five separate screenings of the film, I argue that Bruno is not harmful for the gay community as audiences understood that the Bruno character is based on exaggerated stereotypes of homosexuals. That is, the film did not reinforce any negative stereotypes. But, I also explain that the film did not change any opinions on homosexuality either. Also in this work, I argue that within the world of cinema, Bruno fails to fit into any pre-existing genre, including the 'mock-documentary' genre where it is most commonly placed. Rather, I suggest the film is better categorized as what I call a Real Fake Mock-documentary. While 'mock-documentaries' are made up of fictional characters in fictional situations, this new term encompasses the fact that Bruno involves a fictional character placed into real situations. I conclude by noting that the content, release, and debate surrounding Bruno all reveal that it is still difficult to bring up the issue of homosexuality in American society, even forty years after the Civil Rights era.