Abjection
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Recent papers in Abjection
Gonzalez-Ruibal (2014) evocatively described a "time of agony" for contemporary ruins between their abandonment, destruction, or incorporation into some formalized heritage regime. Agonal time often escapes recognition as socially... more
This thesis hopes to give special significance to the emotion of hatred in Jane Eyre by exploring the significance of hatred in the novel. It will be arguing that hatred is essential to Jane’s subjectivity, thus shifting the focus of... more
The Feminist Uncanny in Theory and Art Practice investigates the widely debated, deeply flawed yet influential concept of the uncanny through the lens of feminist theory and contemporary art practice. Not merely a subversive strategy but... more
This paper examines cancer through the lens of abjection. While cancer can be understood as an abject lifeform, we explore what we name the abject ontologies created through both cancer detection technologies/practices and cancer... more
Resumo: O presente ensaio faz um exercício de reflexão sobre a construção das identidades e diferenças, problematizando como o eu se constrói a partir de um outro e o que ocorre quando no processo de formação do sujeito há um desejo não... more
En la posmodernidad el recorrido artístico por el cuerpo tiene todavía bastante de antropomórfico, de orgánico, de referencial, de natural, en línea directa con las prácticas de body art de los años setenta, pero sobretodo es un cuerpo... more
“Illness works to deform and distort all the meaning and value one gives to one’s life” (Ahlzén, 2011, p.325). A feeling of terminal loss is experienced within the physical body as chaos floods the brain. Even language is incapable of... more
The immune system is built from our cells, organs, proteins and tissue, and it is the sum of the whole that defends the body against illness. In this paper, we introduce the immune system as a site to explore morethan-human design.... more
Skyfall (2012) signals a crisis in global espionage in a post-9/11 era of schizophrenic digital terror. James Bond and his enemy are both internally excluded from their agency-MI6-and this "abjection" leads to terrorist revenge and... more
In this project completed for my Master of Arts in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at UNC Greensboro, I locate Grindr as a critical site of the (re)production of the respectable queer subject. Examining the mobile smartphone... more
Dirt is evoked to signify many important facets of mountain bike culture including its emergence, history and everyday forms of practice and affect. These significations are also drawn upon to frame the sport's (sub)cultural and... more
Unni Lindell's thriller Rødhette (2008) är en subversion av den traditionella folksagan " Rödluvan ". Romanen präglas av en kvinnlig mördare som jagar män och baserar sig dels på en medeltida, muntlig sagotradition av kvinnliga berättare,... more
Stanley Kubrick’s political films can be revitalized regarding psychoanalytic biopolitics on power, desire, and subjectivity. Paths of Glory exemplifies how the military system renews itself by scapegoating some of its members, making... more
This paper examines representations of suffering and female subjectivity in Greg Rucka’s Batman: Death and the Maidens. In this series, Rucka introduces a new female villain to the DC Universe, Nyssa Raatko. Her quest for vengeance... more
Salman Rushdie's The Moor's Last Sigh revolves around the Moor who needs to record his genealogical history in order to survive at a madman's castle and restore his mother's reputation. While re-telling his family's story that originated... more
Hans Baldung Grien, the most famous apprentice and close friend of German artist Albrecht Dürer, was known for his unique and highly eroticised images of witches. In paintings and woodcut prints, he gave powerful visual expression to late... more
Elena Ferrante’s novel My Brilliant Friend showcases the lives of mainly two girls growing up in a patriarchal society in Naples. This paper argues that living in that society, the formation of an identity as a young woman is very... more
From the publisher: "We are conditioned over time to regard environmental forces such as dust, mud, gas, smoke, debris, weeds, and insects as inimical to architecture. Much of today's discussion about sustainable and green design... more
Isayama Hajime’s Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan 2009–present, hereafter SnK) has gained huge resonance since its first release, a popularity by no means limited to Japan, and enhanced by the high-quality animation series by the same... more
For a long time critically neglected or disparaged, Edith Nesbit's Gothic fiction is beginning to receive the scholarly attention it deserves. This essay extends analysis beyond the much anthologized “Man-Size in Marble” (1893) to argue... more
This paper examines how the novel Let the Right One In (2004) by John Ajvide Lindqvist and the 2008 film of the same name directed by Tomas Alfredson, utilize the vampiric monster as a means of showing the abjection inherent in... more
From Savage to Sensational, from lawyer to hulking beast, from advocate to Avenger and from independent woman to hyper-sexualised feminista – She-Hulk provides a case study in what occurs when ‘great power’ meets the ‘great... more
FATHER | GENOCIDE (Turtle Point Press, 2021) https://bookshop.org/books/father-genocide/9781933527048 In 1996, on the night before he "walked on," Margo Tamez's father recorded two questions with a handheld cassette recorder: "Where... more
**** Note: this is a preprint, please refer to final published version for page numbers Abstract: Drawing on ethnographic work on menstruation and gynecological examinations and surgeries in Salvador, Brazil, this article explores the... more
This chapter studies the relationship between dark humor, addiction, and abjection. As a case study, it examines a stand-up routine by comic Craig Ferguson in which the comedian touches on such varied topics as peeing his pants,... more
This dissertation looks at maternal representations in post-war, regional British fiction with particular focus on how the mother is portrayed in relation to male protagonists navigating a path towards masculine identity. In a period of... more
Andalusian poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca explains the mysterious duende, animating force behind deep, raw flamenco song and dance. In this paper I share connections with the darkly spiritual duende that wend throughout the... more
In this paper, I interpret the musical performativity of Jamie Stewart, frontman for experimental pop/rock band Xiu Xiu, in terms of abjection. In contradistinction to analyses that represent abjection primarily as a psychic property or... more
The Things We Lost in the Fire presents a wave of femicides in Argentina, committed by men burning and deforming women, leaving them to die or to become disabled. As a protest to these femicides, a group of women devises a vendetta by... more
This essay engages with works produced by American artist Kiki Smith between 1986 and 1993. In particular, I will engage with her sculptures that deal with the body and its fluids. Drawing on feminist theorizations of abjection, I will... more
This paper endeavors to explore the role of food in the ambivalent and ambiguous modernization processes of late nineteenth-century Rio de Janeiro and early twentieth-century São Paulo, as expressed through Aluísio Azevedo's O Cortiço and... more
In the 1980s and 1990s, a moral panic swept across America and spread through much of the English-speaking world. It would later be dubbed the Satanic Panic. A number of factors contributed to this phenomenon, including the 1970s... more
In the appropriately titled A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche DuBois’s lust infested lifestyle, and her promiscuous behavior led to a tragic fall. A once pure hearted girl from the Old South aristocracy of Louisiana takes refuge in her... more
This paper analyzes J. Halberstam’s interpretation of the transgender gaze as it applies to the character portrayal of Brandon Teena in the film Boys Don’t Cry. An oppositional approach examines the idea of a cisgender gaze that... more