De-authoring or Authoring?: A plunge into the question of authorship and language in J.M. Coetzee's Foe

J. M. Coetzee's Foe is not only a post-colonial novel, but it is also a re-writing of a classic, and its main themes are language, authorship, power and identity. Moreover, Foe is narrated by a woman, while written by a male, Nobel prize winning South African author. The aim of my tesina is to focus on the question of authorship and the role of language in Foe. Without any claim to be exhaustive, in the first section I will examine some selected extracts of Coetzee's book, in order to provide an analysis of the novel. These quotations will mainly be its metalinguistic parts and will be analysed in the “theory” sections of my work, relying on literary theory and on previous works on the novel. Among others, I will cover themes such as the relationship between speech and writing, the connection between writing, history, and memory, the role of silence and alternative ways of communicating and the relationship between literary authority and truth. These arguments will be the foundation for my second section, in which I will attempt to shed a light on the importance of the novel from a linguistic point of view, but always keeping an eye on the implication that this has on authorship. While it is true that it is less politically-permeated than Coetzee's previous works, Foe is above all a “journey of discovery” in the world of language and authorship. In fact, it becomes a warning for any person immersed in the ocean of language since, while everyone naturally tends to trust speech and writing as the only medium through which one can get closer to the truth, authority never is a synonym of reliability, and language is a system of communication behind which structures of power, misconceptions, lies, and treacherous tides easily hide.

Taboo Language and Illness Online: The Use of Specific Emoticons and Graphic Signs to Talk about HIV/AIDS in South Africa

South Africa is one of the countries most affected by HIV/AIDS: According to 2014 UNAIDS data 6.8 million South Africans live with HIV/AIDS, which means a 18.9% prevalence rate among adults (15-49 years old). Despite this strong presence of HIV/AIDS in South African society it remains relatively stigmatized and is not openly talked about. The silence about HIV/AIDS maintained in everyday conversations and the superstitions associated with this illness have led to the creation of a taboo language. This study aims at shedding light on how South African users resort to specific emoticons and graphic signs to talk about HIV/AIDS online. For this purpose 368 Facebook status updates and comments concerning HIV/AIDS and its side effects were analysed. All participants, aged 14-48, lived at the moment of data collection in Cape Town, in the Cape Flats area. The online conversations investigated are mainly in English mixed with Afrikaans and/or Xhosa. The emoticons and graphic signs in most cases display a graphic depiction of the physical (and mental) effects of the illness. These linguistic and semiotic practices employed on Facebook provide insight into how Capetonian users, on the one hand, express solidarity and sympathy with people suffering from HIV/AIDS. On the other hand, the emoticons and graphic signs are used to label and position people affected by HIV/AIDS. Thus, in the South African context social network sites have become an important space and means for communicating HIV/AIDS issues.

Identification and characterization of a liver stage-specific promoter region of the malaria parasite Plasmodium.

During the blood meal of a Plasmodium-infected mosquito, 10 to 100 parasites are inoculated into the skin and a proportion of these migrate via the bloodstream to the liver where they infect hepatocytes. The Plasmodium liver stage, despite its clinical silence, represents a highly promising target for antimalarial drug and vaccine approaches. Successfully invaded parasites undergo a massive proliferation in hepatocytes, producing thousands of merozoites that are transported into a blood vessel to infect red blood cells. To successfully develop from the liver stage into infective merozoites, a tight regulation of gene expression is needed. Although this is a very interesting aspect in the biology of Plasmodium, little is known about gene regulation in Plasmodium parasites in general and in the liver stage in particular. We have functionally analyzed a novel promoter region of the rodent parasite Plasmodium berghei that is exclusively active during the liver stage of the parasite. To prove stage-specific activity of the promoter, GFP and luciferase reporter assays have been successfully established, allowing both qualitative and accurate quantitative analysis. To further characterize the promoter region, the transcription start site was mapped by rapid amplification of cDNA ends (5'-RACE). Using promoter truncation experiments and site-directed mutagenesis within potential transcription factor binding sites, we suggest that the minimal promoter contains more than one binding site for the recently identified parasite-specific ApiAP2 transcription factors. The identification of a liver stage-specific promoter in P. berghei confirms that the parasite is able to tightly regulate gene expression during its life cycle. The identified promoter region might now be used to study the biology of the Plasmodium liver stage, which has thus far proven problematic on a molecular level. Stage-specific expression of dominant-negative mutant proteins and overexpression of proteins normally active in other life cycle stages will help to understand the function of the proteins investigated.

Violencia e invisibilidad indígena : La cuestión de los pueblos originarios durante el primer peronismo

El presente trabajo busca profundizar en el análisis de los vínculos existentes entre el primer gobierno peronista y la cuestión indígena, centrándose en las políticas gubernamentales desarrolladas por el gobierno de Perón frente a dos fuertes conflictos violentos que tuvieron lugar entre 1946 y 1947: el "Malón de la paz", la movilización indígena llevada a cabo entre mayo y agosto de 1947, cuando 174 kollas caminaron 2000 kilómetros desde la Puna y el valle de Orán hasta la Capital Federal para reclamar por la titularidad de sus tierras, en manos de terratenientes y en denuncia de las condiciones de explotación en las que trabajaban; y "Masacre de Rincón Bomba", el conflicto desarrollado en una pequeña localidad de Formosa, cuando indígenas de comunidades wichi, tobas y principalmente pilagás fueron masacradas por la Gendarmería Nacional en un confuso episodio, que sale a la luz hace pocos años. El objetivo en ambos puntos es doble: por un lado analizar la relación entre los intereses e intenciones del gobierno de Juan Domingo Perón para con las comunidades originarias, visibilizando su existencia y sus condiciones de vida en tanto sujetos de derechos históricamente vulnerados. Por otro, abrir el debate historiográfico sobre el quehacer de los historiadores respecto de una temática que ha sido silenciada durante décadas, negando la existencia y la identidad de los pueblos originarios

Intercambio entre lectores. Un proyecto con mujeres y niños en contexto de encierro

El artículo expone algunas experiencias y resultados del proyecto "Lectura y escritura en la Unidad 33. Madres, niños e instituciones educativas" que se inició como proyecto de Extensión de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata en el año 2010. El proyecto implementa con mujeres y niños que viven en situación de encierro un conjunto de acciones con diferentes grados de formalización en torno a las culturas de lo escrito y otras formas de expresión, en tanto prácticas culturales que tienen derecho de ejercer y ampliar en diversas situaciones de interacción social. Se presentan los distintos espacios de trabajo y se sintetizan algunos resultados de un un taller denominado "la ronda: historia, poesías y canciones" Del análisis de las situaciones propuestas y los datos recogidos de un corpus de entrevistas semiestructuradas a un grupo de mujeres participantes, con edades entre 19 y 33 años, se destaca el sentido y valor de las lecturas e intercambios entre lectores literarios en la vida cotidiana del encierro

Pieces that have won prizes; also many encore pieces.

Encore pieces: An old man's soliloquy / Roswell Field -- A n old sweetheart of mine / James Whitcomb Riley -- And the band played / Maurice E. McLaoughlin -- The ballad of the colors ; Ben Bolt / Thomas Dunn English -- A brave little girl ; Casey at the bat / Anon -- The cataract of Lodore / Robert Southey -- The countersign was Mary / Margaret Eytinge -- Dinnis Kilboo's sanatarium / Chas. T. Catlin -- A dude in a horse-car / G.W. Kyle -- Elsinore / Lucy H. Hooper -- Entertaining sister's beau / Bret Harte -- Family financiering ; Farmer John ; Father's voice ; A fly's cogitations / Anon -- Foreign views of the statue / Fred. Emerson Brooks -- Going to school / Anon -- Grandma -- The granger and the gambler / W.H. -- A great tune / John Habberton -- Hail fellow, well met / Albert Hardy -- Hans and Fritz -- How girls study / Belle McDonald -- Jack the evangelist / N.Y. Evangelist -- The kitchen clock / J.V. Cheney -- Life's magnet / Ella Wheeler Wilcox -- The little boy's prayer / S.M. Talbot -- Little Nan -- Little orphant Annie / James Whitcomb Riley -- A little woman / Eugene Field -- Maud Rosihue's choice / T. Edwin Leary -- The mischievous misses / James G. Small -- Miss Maloney on the Chinese question / Mary M. Dodge -- Mrs. Stuart learns how to skate / Clara Augusta -- My lover / Emma Mortimer White -- My garden / Anon -- Nancy / Arty Brace -- Now and then / Anon -- O captain, my captain / Walt Whitman -- The old man in a palace car / John H. Yates -- The orthod-ox team / Fred Emerson Brooks -- The porter's story / Maurice Edmunds -- The proposal -- Romeo and Juliet / The Poet-Scout -- Room enough for all / Anon -- The saint and the sinner / Madeline Bridges -- Sam / Albert Hardy -- A schoolroom idyl / Charles B. Going -- A telephone message -- The countersign / J. Hooker Hamersley -- Uncle Ned's defense / Anon -- Unforgiven / Frank McHale -- The valentine / Mary D. Brine -- Wash dolly up like that / Eleanor Kirk Ames -- What is a gentleman / N.L. O'D -- The witness / Anon -- Yellow roses / J. Hooker Hamersley.

Hawthorn and lavender. [music] : a song-cycle for women's voices with piano accompaniment /

Poems printed as text: p. 3-5.

The treasure of the humble,

Introduction.-- Silence.-- The awakening of the soul.-- The pre-destined.-- Mystic morality.-- On women.-- The tragical in daily life.-- The star.-- The invisible goodness.-- The deeper life.--The inner beauty.

The works of "Fiona Macleod" [pseud.]

v. 1. Pharais. Mountain lovers.--v. 2. Sin-eater. The washer of the ford & other legendary moralities.--v. 3. The dominion of dereams. Under the dark star.--v. 4. Divine adventure. Studies in spiritual history.--v. 5. Winged destiny. Studies in the spiritual history of the Gael.--v. 6. Silence of Amor. Where the forest murmurs.--v. 7. Poems & dramas.

Hopes for English religion,

Hopes for English religion.--Our Catholic inheritance.--University sermons; I. The Church and the future. II Freedom and authority. III. Christianity and culture. IV. The eternal refuge.--The need of God.--The Pharisee and the publican.--"Rejoice evermore."--Service.--'There was silence in heaven.'--Angelic ministry.--The ideal of a university life.--The ineluctable charm.

The white shield : stories /

Partly reprinted from various periodicals.

Intercambio entre lectores. Un proyecto con mujeres y niños en contexto de encierro

El artículo expone algunas experiencias y resultados del proyecto "Lectura y escritura en la Unidad 33. Madres, niños e instituciones educativas" que se inició como proyecto de Extensión de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata en el año 2010. El proyecto implementa con mujeres y niños que viven en situación de encierro un conjunto de acciones con diferentes grados de formalización en torno a las culturas de lo escrito y otras formas de expresión, en tanto prácticas culturales que tienen derecho de ejercer y ampliar en diversas situaciones de interacción social. Se presentan los distintos espacios de trabajo y se sintetizan algunos resultados de un un taller denominado "la ronda: historia, poesías y canciones" Del análisis de las situaciones propuestas y los datos recogidos de un corpus de entrevistas semiestructuradas a un grupo de mujeres participantes, con edades entre 19 y 33 años, se destaca el sentido y valor de las lecturas e intercambios entre lectores literarios en la vida cotidiana del encierro

Violencia e invisibilidad indígena : La cuestión de los pueblos originarios durante el primer peronismo

El presente trabajo busca profundizar en el análisis de los vínculos existentes entre el primer gobierno peronista y la cuestión indígena, centrándose en las políticas gubernamentales desarrolladas por el gobierno de Perón frente a dos fuertes conflictos violentos que tuvieron lugar entre 1946 y 1947: el "Malón de la paz", la movilización indígena llevada a cabo entre mayo y agosto de 1947, cuando 174 kollas caminaron 2000 kilómetros desde la Puna y el valle de Orán hasta la Capital Federal para reclamar por la titularidad de sus tierras, en manos de terratenientes y en denuncia de las condiciones de explotación en las que trabajaban; y "Masacre de Rincón Bomba", el conflicto desarrollado en una pequeña localidad de Formosa, cuando indígenas de comunidades wichi, tobas y principalmente pilagás fueron masacradas por la Gendarmería Nacional en un confuso episodio, que sale a la luz hace pocos años. El objetivo en ambos puntos es doble: por un lado analizar la relación entre los intereses e intenciones del gobierno de Juan Domingo Perón para con las comunidades originarias, visibilizando su existencia y sus condiciones de vida en tanto sujetos de derechos históricamente vulnerados. Por otro, abrir el debate historiográfico sobre el quehacer de los historiadores respecto de una temática que ha sido silenciada durante décadas, negando la existencia y la identidad de los pueblos originarios

Intersectionality in the Language and Writing Classroom

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

On being loud and proud: Non-conformity and counter-conformity to group norms

Most experiments on conformity have been conducted in relation to judgments of physical reality; surprisingly few papers have experimentally examined the influence of group norms on social issues with a moral component. In response to this, participants were told that they were either in a minority or in a majority relative to their university group in terms of their attitudes toward recognition of gay couples in law (Expt 1: N = 205) and a government apology to Aborigines (Expt 2: N = 110). In both experiments, it was found that participants who had a weak moral basis for their attitude conformed to the group norm on private behaviours. In contrast, those who had a strong moral basis for their attitude showed non-conformity on private behaviours and counter-conformity on public behaviours. Incidences of nonconformity and counter-conformity are discussed with reference to theory and research on normative influence.