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Bears, Baby Carrots, And The Colbert Bump: An Analysis On Stephen Colbert's Use Of Humor To Set The Public's Political Agenda, Dominique Mckay

Masters Theses

In recent years, political satire has risen in popularity and recognition as an effective means of transmitting political news to a younger generation of voters. This recent development brings forth new questions about the role of political satire in setting the public's political agenda. Using Agenda-Setting Theory as a framework, this study takes The Colbert Report, one of the most popular satire television shows of this generation, and analyzes it for a possible political agenda. In the end, what this study finds is that in the six weeks leading up to the 2008 U.S. presidential election The Colbert Report chose …

Busting A Gut: Portrayals Of Obesity In Popular Culture, Carly Babel

Annual Undergraduate Conference on Health and Society

Obesity is America’s number one leading health epidemic, affecting more than 93 million Americans today (OAC). From 1985 to 2010, obesity has gone from affecting an average of 10% of individuals in just about every state to today affecting 33.8% of people within each state. Children and adults alike all over the U.S. are being diagnosed with obesity and encouraged to change their lifestyles. Doctors are prescribing patients to lose weight, exercise, eat healthy, and in extreme cases, go under the knife, but none of these recommendations are making a dent in lowering the rate of obesity. Rather, the number …

Queer Love In Woolf's Orlando And Chu's Notes Of A Desolate Man, Pei-Wen Clio Kao

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Queer Love in Woolf's Orlando and Chu's Notes of a Desolate Man" Pei-Wen Clio Kao analyses Virginia Woolf and T'ien-Wen Chu's novels in the context of gender studies. Kao's reading of Orlando and Notes of a Desolate Man is an elaboration on homosexual sensibilities of both men and women based on the concept of écriture féminine in the context of patriarchy and the former's power of subversion and change. Kao's analysis results in the finding that while Woolf's Orlando is more attuned to the feminist discourse based on an extended Western project in its period and …

The Role Of The Intellectual In Contemporary Turkish Women's Narratives, Adile Aslan

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "The Role of the Intellectual in Contemporary Turkish Women's Narratives" Adile Aslan analyzes the figure of the woman intellectual in two of the most widely praised novels written in Turkish, Adalet Ağaoğlu's 1971 Ölmeye Yatmak (Lying Down to Die) and Leyla Erbil's 1985 Karanlığın Günü (The Day of Darkness). Aslan discusses how the two authors represent in their texts intertwined personal histories with political history. The novels present, as well as surmount the obstacles that the current socio-historical conditions impose on people in general and intellectuals in particular and how these circumstances have a bearing on their …

Nation In Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front And Eastwood's Flags Of Our Fathers, Brent M. Smith-Casanueva

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "Nation in Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front and Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers" Brent M. Smith-Casanueva explores the commonalities between the antiwar narratives of Erich Maria Remarque's novel All Quiet on the Western Front (1929) and Clint Eastwood's film Flags of our Fathers (2006). Taking the position that narration of nation must be considered a site of hegemonic struggle, Smith-Casanueva argues that both texts employ a similar deconstructive logic to subvert the nationalist discourses and dominant war narratives of their respective nations and the national myths constructed through these narratives. In particular, both All …

Imperialist Nostalgia In Masters's To The Coral Strand, Fikret Mehmet Arargüc

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "Imperialist Nostalgia in Masters's To the Coral Strand" M. Fikret Arargüç discusses nostalgia as a resource of identity formation. Arargüç argues that imperialist nostalgia is no innocent emotional attachment to the past; rather, it is an adaptation to changed circumstances and its discursive practices (i.e., eulogizing) evade responsibility. In addition to practices to alleviate or absolve repressed guilt about the past, they often relate to discourses of power and regret that the past is no more. This type of nostalgia is another neo-imperialist form of exploitation by (ab)using or generating fluid, dynamic, and ever-evolving identities. Arargüç …

Homosexual Identity, Translation, And Prime-Stevenson's Imre And The Intersexes, Margaret S. Breen

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Homosexual Identity, Translation, and Prime-Stevenson's Imre and The Intersexes" Margaret S. Breen examines the role of translation in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender studies. Breen's focus is Edward Prime-Stevenson, who, under the penname Xavier Mayne, wrote two works: a short novel, Imre: A Memorandum (1906), and a general history of homosexuality, The Intersexes: A History of Similisexualism as a Problem of Social Life (1908). Breen argues that Prime-Stevenson's texts are relevant to late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century discussions of (homo)sexuality because they point to the importance of translation in writings concerning sexual and gender identities and …

Bellow's Letters And Biographies About Bellow: A Book Review Article Of New Work By Atlas And Taylo, Gustavo Sánchez-Canales

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

Trauma, Apocalypse, And Ethics In Israeli Theater, Zahava Caspi

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Trauma, Apocalypse, and Ethics in Israeli Theater" Zahava Caspi traces the traumatic experience as a point of departure in apocalyptic plays in Israeli literature. Caspi argues that in Israeli apocalyptic plays a critical gap opens up between the fictional narrative that ends with destruction and the theatrical apparatus that creates a sense of continuity. The theatrical text delivers a message to the audience inviting them to increase their engagement with and accountability for continuity not merely during the theatrical event, but more significantly, once the performance is over. The play's moral imperative to provide a "positive" ending …

Aesthetics, Opera, And Alterity In Herzog's Work, Jacob-Ivan Eidt

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "Aesthetics, Opera, and Alterity in Herzog's Work" Jacob-Ivan Eidt analyses Werner Herzog's 1982 film Fitzcarraldo. Eidt's analysis is executed in the context of opera, cinema, and aesthetics. Eidt argues that Herzog uses opera as a romantic motif with which he creates a self-critical process whereby elements of the Romantic vision are called into question thus providing a nuanced reading of the main character and the Indigenous world he encounters. This process, Eidt argues, produces a complex narrative of colonial alterity where colonial self-inscription upon an Other is ultimately doomed to failure.

Travel, Culture, And Society: A Book Review Article Of New Work By Andraş And Tötösy De Zepetnek, Wang, And Sun, Katerina Soumani

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

Davis's Poetic Dialogue With Leiris's Autobiography, Jonathan Evans

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "Davis's Poetic Dialogue with Leiris's Autobiography" Jonathan Evans analyzes Lydia Davis's translation of the first two parts of Michel Leiris's autobiography, which shows an encounter between two writers. Davis has also written stories which reference Leiris and thus position him as a precursor. Evans proposes that Leiris is not only a source of influence for Davis, but that their texts can be read as a dialogue. Using a methodology that draws on Lacanian psychoanalysis, Evans shows how Leiris focuses on sound and graphological patterns in order to understand his own conscious and unconscious relationship with words. Davis, …

The Wounded Healer As Cultural Archetype, Galia Benziman, Ruth Kannai, Ayesha Ahmad

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In their article "The Wounded Healer as Cultural Archetype" Galia Benziman, Ruth Kannai, and Ayesha Ahmad discuss the topos of the wounded healer, a concept of an archetypal dynamic coined by Jung to describe a phenomenon which may take place between analyst and analyzed. They examine representations of the archetype in diverse cultures and demonstrate how a reading of its various narratives may enrich our theoretical and practical understanding of the importance of empathy and mutuality in the healing process. The archetype of the wounded healer is valuable in acknowledging cultural diversity, as well as universal parallels between healing practices …

The Notion Of Life In The Work Of Agamben, Carlo Salzani

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "The Notion of Life in the Work of Agamben" Carlo Salzani analyzes the notion of "nudity" Giorgio Agamben's understanding of Western culture. Beginning with a reading of the essay "Nudity," in which Agamben proposes an archaeological investigation of the theological apparatus of the concept, Salzani analyzes the pivotal trope in Agamben's Homo Sacer project, "bare" or "naked life," that is, the nudity of life in the grip of sovereign power. Nudity and the nudity of life are construed as a "limit-concept" in a double movement of simultaneous positing and negation or in a positing that grants at …

Us-American New Women In Italy 1853-1870, Sirpa A. Salenius

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "US-American New Women in Italy 1853-1870" Sirpa A. Salenius discusses the Italian experience of sculptors such as Harriet Hosmer and Edmonia Lewis, who were independent, career-oriented women studying and working in Rome in the mid-nineteenth century. They were among the most representative New Woman figures who started to challenge US-American society's male-dominant norm and gender-imposed limitations, while reinventing an identity for themselves. Other progressive women, who observed them in Italy, were impressed and influenced by the example of their lives and work. For instance, the influence of Frances Willard's visit to Italy became visible after her return …

National Trauma And The 'Uncanny' In Hage's Novel De Niro's Game, Hany Ali Abdelfattah

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "National Trauma and the 'Uncanny' in Hage's Novel De Niro's Game" Hany Ali Abdelfattah attempts to decipher the "uncanny" in the character of George who has been haunted by the memories of Bassam, a Lebanese survivor of trauma. Rawi Hage's De Niro's Game crystallizes the national trauma of Lebanon and the massacre of Sabra and Shatila as it unfolds in the story of the friendship between George and Bassam. Abdelfattah employs the psychoanalytic method of analysis with a focus on Freudian concepts such as "repression," "belatedness," "effacement," "displacement," and "non-abreaction of experience" in order to trace …

Free Indirect Discourse In Farsi Translations Of Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, Zohreh Gharaei, Hossein Vahid Dastjerdi

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In their article "Free Indirect Discourse in Farsi Translations of Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway" Zohreh Gharaei and Hossein Vahid Dastjerdi discuss the degree to which free indirect discourse is reproducible in Farsi translations of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway. Gharaei and Vahid Dastjerdi's analysis reveals that while it is possible to employ free indirect discourse in Farsi, the grammatical features of the technique represent the most problematic areas of translation to Farsi. Although some studies have attributed deviations from the style of the original writer to the structural differences between Farsi and English or domesticating strategies on the part of …

(Dis)Quieting The Canon: A Book Review Article Of New Work By Fishelov And Papadema, Damrosch, And D'Haen, Marta Pacheco Pinto

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

Japoñolés: The Use Of Japanese, Spanish, And English In The Peruvian Japanese Community, Lily Niland

Fulbright Grantee Projects

Linfield alum and Fulbright grantee Lilian Niland returned to campus to give a presentation about her Fulbright experience in Peru. Niland studied language usage in the Peruvian Japanese community.

Implicating Bitzer's Rhetorical Situation In Comparative And Non-Violent Rhetoric: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Three Ecofeminist Movements From East To West, Shahreen Mat Nayan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the study of social movement rhetoric, scholars often focus on movements based in Western nations, foregoing study of social change in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and other parts of the world. Similarly, the focus on non-violent rhetoric has also been lacking, despite its use by great leaders such as Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King. This dissertation contributes to the study of social change in a globalized world, by taking a comparative approach to non-violent rhetoric in three diverse case studies. As sub-areas, both comparative rhetoric and non-violent rhetoric require further deliberation due to the numerous debates concerning …

Japoñolés: El Uso Del Japonés, Español E Inglés En La Comunidad Peruano Japonesa, Lily Niland

Fulbright Grantee Projects

In today's global economy, people from diverse cultures strive to find a balance between cultivating their heritage language and mastering the dominant languages that create economic opportunities. This ethnographic study examines a specific case of this cultural, linguistic, and emotional struggle by analyzing language mixture, usage, and change among the descendents of Japanese immigrants (Nikkei) in Lima, Peru. Participant observation, analysis of written sources, and recordings of public speeches and conversations in small groups are used to examine the current linguistic situation among diverse groups within the community; individual interviews are then used to explore the linguistic experiences, …

Queering Kinship In ‘The Maiden Who Seeks Her Brothers', Jeana Jorgensen

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

The fairy tales in the Kinder- und Hausmiirchen, or Children's and Household Tales, compiled by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are among the world's most popular, yet they have also provoked discussion and debate regarding their authenticity, violent imagery, and restrictive gender roles. In this chapter I interpret the three versions published by the Grimm brothers of ATU 451, "The Maiden Who Seeks Her Brothers," focusing on constructions of family, femininity, and identity. I utilize the folkloristic methodology of allomotific analysis, integrating feminist and queer theories of kinship and gender roles. I follow Pauline Greenhill by taking a queer view of …

Editor's Introduction: Playing For Keeps: Games And Cultural Resistance [Special Issue], Marc A. Ouellette, Jason Thompson

English Faculty Publications

This edition is as much about Game Studies as it about the games being studied. At its heart there are really two impulses behind the collection of critical thought we have been fortunate enough to gather for this issue of Reconstruction. First, there is the sense that games can’t do anything. Second, there is the sense that games don’t do anything. Their origin (and the underlying biases) makes these sentiments particularly intriguing. In the simplest terms, these premises delineate competing camps, as well. Roger Ebert notoriously asserts that video games will never be art (Ebert). Similarly, and yet quite differently, …

Mexican-Americans In Los Angeles: Strengthening Their Ethnic Identity Through Chivas Usa, Stephanie Goldberger

CMC Senior Theses

A large Mexican-American population already exists in Los Angeles and, with each generation, it continues to rise. This Mexican-American community has maintained its connection to its heritage by playing and watching soccer, Mexico’s top watched sport. In this thesis, I analyze how Major League Soccer's Chivas USA serves as an outlet through which many Mexicans in Los Angeles have developed their ethnic identities. Since the early twentieth century, Mexicans in Los Angeles have created separate residential communities and sports organizations to strengthen their connections with one another.

To appeal to Mexican-Americans, Chivas USA has branded itself closely to its sister …

“All Girls Are Barbies”: A Feminist Critique Of Nicki Minaj’S Barbie Persona, Camellia Sarmadi

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.

The Spatial Turn In Literary Historiography, Fernando Cabo Aseguinolaza

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "The Spatial Turn in Literary Historiography," Fernando Cabo Aseguinolaza examines the spatialization of literary history in recent years. He evaluates the resurgence of interest in literary geography and argues that the geographic dimension is not the only aspect of the predominant spatiality in new literary histories. Further, Cabo Aseguinolaza postulates that although the emphasis on spatiality marks many current literary histories, all literary histories imply spatial elements of different character and scope and that these options constitute an essential part of the performative capacity of history writing. In particular, Cabo Aseguinolaza discusses categories proposed by Henri Lefebvre …

National Theaters On The Iberian Peninsula, Anxo Abuín González

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "National Theaters on the Iberian Peninsula," Anxo Abuín González discusses the rise of national theaters understood as processes of national planning, starting with certain common systemic parameters developed and implemented in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. While the context Abuín González's analysis is located in is Spain's centralized literary system, his focus is on the interliterary and systemic relationship between Galician and Portuguese theater, with some references to Catalan theater.

Galician Portuguese Medieval Poetry And The Iberian Interliterary System, Santiago Gutiérrez García

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "Galician Portuguese Medieval Poetry and the Iberian Interliterary System" Santiago Gutiérrez García explores the notion that the possibility of carrying out a comparative study of Iberian literatures is determined by its interliterary system. Gutiérrez García postulates that the said interliterary system comprises a series of peripheral literatures which seek their self-affirmation through opposition to the hegemonic center, namely Castilian literature. He uses the example of Galician Portuguese medieval poetry and illustrates the problematic nature of his approach elaborating that despite the fact that this medieval poetic tradition is shared by both Galician and Portuguese literatures, as literary …

Comics And The Graphic Novel In Spain And Iberian Galicia, Antonio J. Gil González

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article, "Comics and the Graphic Novel in Spain and Iberian Galicia," Antonio J. Gil González develops a comparative and interart analysis of graphic novels by examining the evolution of the genre on the Spanish peninsula in general and in Galicia in particular. Gil González builds his analysis on Roman Ingarden's concept of literature as not only traditional fiction, but also theater and cinema. Gil González presents his argumentation by identifying the peculiarities of the comic as a medium, starting with its historical beginnings, and discussing its principal formats and generic and thematic variants. Further, he discusses the principal …

The Don Juan Myth In Iberian Galician Literature, Carmen Becerra Suárez

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "The Don Juan Myth in Iberian Galician Literature" Carmen Becerra Suárez discusses the presence of the Don Juan myth as it has developed in Galicia. She presents a panorama of the ways in which Galician authors — studies independently of their belonging to the Galician or Spanish literary systems — have dealt with this myth. The aim is to study the presence of the myth in this culture and the causes giving rise to several versions: from the three possibilities of "Don Juanness" found in the work of Ramón María del Valle-Inclán up through a short story …