Model
Digital Document
Publisher
Florida Atlantic University
Description
Contemporary thinking, bound as it is to a dualistic paradigm,
inherently privileges one side of the duality over the other. Feminists - most
notably in this dissertation, Val Plumwood - argue that we must overcome
these privileged dualities and reconstruct a way of knowing that recognizes
difference while not granting privilege to one side or the other. Dualities result
from the modernist and postmodernist desire to name and control. One of the
reasons that we cannot transcend this desire is because we have lost our
connection to our environment. Examining novels and films set in Detroit,
Michigan, as well as coming to terms with that city's history, will allow us to
find places where clairvoyant messengers can commune with the
environment and offer us an insight into ways of overcoming the radical
"othering" ofduality.
This project begins by examining the literary history of urban fiction in
the United States and pointing to the tradition of duality and some of its
surface problems. Then, the project begins to construct a history of Detroit that
exposes the complex layers of duality that have informed the city's growth
and ultimately led to the 1967 riots. Next, the argument suggests the
importance of fiction and film in understanding modern dualities.
The first fictive example, Maureen, from Joyce Carol Oates's novel
them is an example of a potential clairvoyant. However, bound as she is to a
postmodern existence, Maureen experiences her "other'' but fails to provide a
didactic example of non-dualistic thinking. Ultimately, postmodernism and
postmodern/post riot Detroit only mystify and compound the problems
associated with modern dualities. Likewise, Jeffrey Eugenides transgendered
hero/ine Calliope (Middlesex) experiences her natural "other" and allows us to
call into question the traditional binaries we use to create our understandings
of gender. Both characters retell their experience and re-present their bodies
in an attempt to bridge dualities and overcome their "otherness." Finally, the
dissertation finds a representation of contemporary Detroit, Eminem's 8 Mile,
and argues that violence and shame are at the root of dualities and ultimately
distract us from overcoming both fictional and real examples of the
oppressive "othering" which results from a culture steeped in dualistic
thinking.
inherently privileges one side of the duality over the other. Feminists - most
notably in this dissertation, Val Plumwood - argue that we must overcome
these privileged dualities and reconstruct a way of knowing that recognizes
difference while not granting privilege to one side or the other. Dualities result
from the modernist and postmodernist desire to name and control. One of the
reasons that we cannot transcend this desire is because we have lost our
connection to our environment. Examining novels and films set in Detroit,
Michigan, as well as coming to terms with that city's history, will allow us to
find places where clairvoyant messengers can commune with the
environment and offer us an insight into ways of overcoming the radical
"othering" ofduality.
This project begins by examining the literary history of urban fiction in
the United States and pointing to the tradition of duality and some of its
surface problems. Then, the project begins to construct a history of Detroit that
exposes the complex layers of duality that have informed the city's growth
and ultimately led to the 1967 riots. Next, the argument suggests the
importance of fiction and film in understanding modern dualities.
The first fictive example, Maureen, from Joyce Carol Oates's novel
them is an example of a potential clairvoyant. However, bound as she is to a
postmodern existence, Maureen experiences her "other'' but fails to provide a
didactic example of non-dualistic thinking. Ultimately, postmodernism and
postmodern/post riot Detroit only mystify and compound the problems
associated with modern dualities. Likewise, Jeffrey Eugenides transgendered
hero/ine Calliope (Middlesex) experiences her natural "other" and allows us to
call into question the traditional binaries we use to create our understandings
of gender. Both characters retell their experience and re-present their bodies
in an attempt to bridge dualities and overcome their "otherness." Finally, the
dissertation finds a representation of contemporary Detroit, Eminem's 8 Mile,
and argues that violence and shame are at the root of dualities and ultimately
distract us from overcoming both fictional and real examples of the
oppressive "othering" which results from a culture steeped in dualistic
thinking.
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