“I haven’t had that much fun since labour.” Subtitling sarco-ironic remarks in Gilmore Girls

The purpose of this study is to explore how the potential cues of spoken sarcasm and irony are transferred into written Finnish subtitles in the American television series Gilmore Girls. The aim is to discover how the use of cuing differs between the English source text and the Finnish target text. The research is conducted through qualitative and quantitative analysis and comparison between the two languages. Three (3) episodes from Gilmore Girls are analysed using the Finnish DVD subtitles and the episodes’ English unofficial transcripts. The sarco-ironic remarks and their translations are identified, and their individual sarco-ironic cues are categorised. The number of cues, the number of cues in each category and the number of cue shifts are compared quantitatively in order to find whether the translator uses less or different cues than the writer of the original source text. The qualitative analysis focuses on the cue types used in both texts. The results confirmed the hypothesis of sarcasm and irony being relatively straightforward linguistic phenomena to translate, and the hypothesis of the category of words of reinforcement/trivialising being the most used in conveying sarcasm and irony. However, the study also showed that even though some cues were cut in the translation process, the sarco-ironic meaning was rarely omitted entirely from the translation. The findings also showed that the number of cue shifts was surprisingly low. From these results we can deduce that at least in the context of DVD subtitles, sarcasm and irony can be conveyed also in writing, and even though some cues were omitted or shifted, sarcasm and irony were still detectable in the Finnish subtitles. The language used in DVD translations uses less cues of sarcasm and irony and it could thus be considered less versatile than the original source language.

Not Getting By: Poverty Management and Homelessness in Miami

Urban inequality has emerged as one of the dominant themes of modern life and globalization. More than three million people experienced homelessness in the United States last year; in Miami-Dade, more than 15,000 individuals were homeless. Surviving extreme poverty, and exiting or avoiding homelessness, involves negotiating a complex mix of public and private assistance. However, a range of factors influence what types of help are available and how they can be accessed. Frequently, larger social structures determine which resource are available, leaving many choices entirely out of the individual’s control. For single men, who are ineligible for many benefits, homelessness can be difficult to avoid and even harder to exit. My study seeks to better understand how adult, minority men living in extreme poverty in Miami-Dade negotiate their daily survival. Specific research questions address: Do black and Hispanic men who are homeless or at risk of homelessness have different personal characteristics and different experiences in avoiding or exiting homelessness? How does Miami’s response to extreme poverty/homelessness, including availability of public benefits and public and private service organizations, either maximize or constrain the choices available to this population? And, what is the actual experience of single, adult men who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, in negotiating their daily survival? A mixed methods approach combines quantitative survey data from 7,605 homeless men, with qualitative data from 54 semi-structured interviews incorporating the visual ethnography techniques of Photo Elicitation Interviewing. Results show the differences experienced by black and Hispanic men who are poor and homeless in Miami. Findings also highlight how the community’s official and unofficial responses to homelessness intersect with the actual experiences of the persons targeted by the policies and programs, challenging preconceived notions regarding the lives of persons living in extreme poverty. It adds to the existing body of literature by focusing on the urban Miami context, emphasizing disparities amongst racial and ethnic groups. Findings are intended to provide an empirically grounded thesis that humanizes the subjects and illuminates their personal experiences, helping to inform public policy around the needs of extremely poor populations.

¿Y la memoria para qué? participación política de mujeres víctimas del conflicto armado. Estudio de caso: ruta pacífica de las mujeres (2005-2014)

El interés de este Estudio de Caso es identificar y explicar los alcances de la construcción de memoria en la sociedad colombiana, no sólo como elemento de no olvido sino también como herramienta de resistencia y de acción de aquellos que la construyen y reconstruyen. Por ello, la investigación pretende determinar el vínculo existente entre memoria y participación política, analizando y explicando la manera como mujeres pertenecientes a Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres han construido memoria respecto a los procesos de violencia que enfrentan y la forma como ello ha hecho posible la consolidación de una identidad colectiva por medio de la cual resisten a la violencia y a los códigos culturales que la perpetúan. En consecuencia, se efectúa un análisis a los documentos elaborados por Ruta Pacífica respecto a construcción de memoria y junto con ello, un examen a los procesos participativos que han adelantado las mujeres pertenecientes a Ruta Pacífica.