Here’s my abstract as it stands right now.  Feel free to shot me any feedback on it.  It’s really short but I don’t want to give too much more background.

Thanks!

-Greg

This study utilizes Thomas Kuhn’s cyclic model of paradigm shifts and Paul Feyerabend’s criticisms of it to create a new model for the progression of paradigms in the history of science. This new ‘Poly-Cyclic Model’ takes Kuhn’s phases of the structure of scientific revolutions (Pre-Paradigm, Normal, and Revolutionary) and elucidates the effects of cultural and non-rational thought on the progression and regression of scientific paradigms. Through textual analysis of primary source material, this model is applied to classical western fields of medicine, the brain, and the mind—what is now called the medical and cognitive neurosciences, from the fifth millennia BCE to the early second millennia CE.

Western culture is rife with apocalyptic imagery as depicted in the Christian bible, especially from the Book of Revelation. These symbols and descriptions (brimstone and the four horsemen of the apocalypse just to name a few) have been ingrained into our “collective consciousness” and appear throughout our art. Since the conception of Revelation, apocalyptic imagery has always played a prominent role in fine art. Writers like Alan Moore or artists like Frank Miller are simply the modern equivalents of earlier apocalyptic thinkers (Dante and Bosch, respectively). This thesis is aimed at illuminating the presence of apocalyptic symbolism in Western Comic Books, Graphic Novels and Cinema and why such images are so powerful thousands of years after they were written. The concept of Armageddon resonates deeply in our society, as best said by Lee Quinby in her work Millennial Seduction: “Americans have been taught to reside in apocalyptic terror and count on millennial perfection.” While not all Americans subscribe to fundamentalist interpretation, it is important to note that “for a large majority these fears and hopes are more nebulous, a loose blend of religious symbols and secular expression” (Quinby, 5). In this way, earth’s end has become embedded in our minds.

Millennial Media is steeped in doomsday visions as well as the language characteristic of Revelation: a kind of apocalyptic vernacular. Whether Batman gallops into Gotham atop his horse (vigilante army in toe) in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns or Simon Pegg beats zombies with a cricket paddle in Shaun of the Dead, the traditional views of the apocalypse linger in the background. Revelation acts as a base upon which Graphic Apocalypse is built. The scenes aren’t new, only the style and the players. Perhaps the best example of this lies in Watchmen. Here, seemingly godlike beings (superheroes) battle it out for the fate of the world and of mankind. They are mirror images of their biblical counterparts. But why is this connection important?

In Revelation Jesus Christ leads the armies of Justice against those of evil in a war for the souls of all. Replace Jesus with Superman and the story suddenly seems more familiar. It would not be outlandish to state that Jesus was the first superhero, and Satan the supervillian. The characters of Revelations are the archetypes for those we seem to see in major blockbusters and popular graphic novels. Both millennial media and the Bible are obsessed with absolutes; absolute good and absolute evil and the apocalypse is where these two philosophies meet (often with violent consequences). Such a formula works well in a country like the United States. Often we depict ourselves as the savior of the world fighting against the unjust. In turn we occupy this role and carry it out with violent efficiency. This is partly why apocalyptic imagery is so popular in the West; it reflects our own attitudes as a nation and civilization. Judging from our media, it seems some part of us all wants to be the hero; wants to save the innocent from harm. More important, as Americans, we often see it as our job to do so. Yet, because most of us lack the ability to fly like Superman or have yet to fight a zombie, millennial media allows us identify with these archetypal characters we worship (in the case of Jesus, religiously). In this way we can live out the heroics we grew up with as children, from the safety our living rooms.

This heroism is closely linked to hope, a common yet seemingly contradictory view of Armageddon. In his work, Holy Superheroes, Greg Garrett argues that apocalypse represents rebirth and renewal; a chance to restore what is torn down. This is reflected in Watchmen, when in an attempt to save the world from war, one of the superheroes destroys New York City. In the death of millions lays the salvations of billions. In the same way, God ends the world in the Book of Revelation to begin life anew as a “shining city on the hill.” This is what Superheroes are all about, fighting desperately in hopes of creating some idealized crime free (sin free?) society. To take it even further, this is what America claims to be about; clearing the world of despotism to make room for democracy. This is where the popularity of the Graphic Apocalypse lies, the ideology surrounds us, be it secularized or straight from biblical texts. Rebirth is an immensely powerful biblical/end time concept, so too is death.

Graphic Apocalyptic narratives allow us to securely experience the threat of death and it some cases laugh at it. Batman risks his life every time he ventures out of his cave, be it from psychotic criminals or corrupt law officials. And yet every morning he returns, perhaps a bit a worse for the wear, but still alive. He regularly faces death, and in the process fends off evil. At the same time, Batman has gained control over death through his pledge to never take a life; he controls the ultimate fate his nemesis. In doing this, Bruce Wayne manages to conquer his own mortality as well those he hunts. Batman, the warrior of justice, allows for introspection of our mortality in comfortable safety (well, not for Batman). In the same way, Shaun’s comedic zombie like demeanor, as he goes about his monotonous life, pokes fun at the concept of death and of our fear of what we cannot control. Death suddenly seems much less frightening when you face it being beaten (to death?) with vinyl records. The absurdity allows for acceptance of ideas and images that are usually too hard to stomach.

I aim to uncover the influence of biblical end time ideology through careful analysis of graphic narratives and comparison to Revelation. There is a good deal of literature that explores religion in such sources, but there is little that specifically evaluates the effect that apocalyptic imagery has had or why it is there to begin with. Why should such a secularized form of art be so biblically inclined? The answer lies in the state of the West. As a civilization we are constantly bombarded with images of the end, so it makes perfect sense that the rising popularity in graphic narratives should also reflect a rising influence of Revelation.

Feelings of justification, belonging, integrity, and undying devotion could all be felt by members of a fraternity, church congregation, and a family. These feelings, too, could be felt (and arguably, to a much stronger degree) by members of militant New Religious Movement. A number of theories have been explored regarding why people join larger groups and the feelings that are evoked. I propose to write a thesis that would investigate socio-psychological questions surrounding the case of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). Although not formally considered a terrorist organization, the MB preaches moderately violent courses of action against those who oppose aspects of their ideology and they have allied themselves to extreme thought, namely the denial of the Holocaust, reinstatement of dar al-Islam, and complete segregation of genders, as Shari’ah (Muslim Law) mandates.

Past psychological literature focuses on inherent aspects of “personality” which are responsible for people becoming members of NRMs, such as terrorist organizations. In addition, they focus on the negative aspects (i. e., deindividuation) of an individual submitting to a larger and more powerful group. Through the case study of the MB, “personality” orientations will be shared and discussed, more emphasis will be placed on a situational attribution, and the positive aspects of belonging to such an organization will be discussed.

For the development of my thesis, I will draw on the work of the following authors: Weber, Herriot, Juergensmeyer, Horgan, James, Stern, Zimbardo, Galanter, Festinger, Strozier, etc. Although a number of these works are relatively antiquated, they have had a strong influence on the literature that currently exists on the subject and have given a strong foundation to the social psychological study of NRM. Mainly, I intend to use journal articles which will be derived from social psychology.

The Anti-Heroine in Zhang Ailing’s “A Love that Topples a City”
& Wang Anyi’s The Song of Everlasting Sorrow

Spanning nearly half a century in their respective emergence onto the literary scene of China, prominent Chinese women writers Zhang Ailing and Wang Anyi directly pushed the boundaries of literature, engaging in a discourse on gender, sexuality, and modernity within their text.  Such engagement is most evident in the canonical works of the novella “A Love that Topples a City” (1944), the most renowned of Zhang’s Hong Kong stories, and Wang’s The Song of Everlasting Sorrow (1995), recipient of the Mao Dun Prize—China’s highest literary award.  In this thesis, I will show how the main female protagonists, apolitical and driven by motives of self-interest, are anti-heroines who nonetheless exert profound political influences.

I intend to explore the writing styles of both texts as being itself a form of antiheroic writing, against the conventional literary epic form dominant within the period of their writing. I will draw upon Rey Chow’s theory of the feminine detail and Jie Lu’s theory of gossip to show how the texts’ focus on the everyday, the banal, feminine spaces, and interiority as support for my claim of an antiheroic writing.  This will be further argued through drawing evidence that the protagonists’ actions are motivated by self-interest and not by intents of nation-building. Unlike the traditional hero, Liusu and Wang Qiyao become admired not for their actual qualities, but for their existence of an idealized abstract, as a form of Oriental past.  They are romanticized as embodiments of the bygone Shanghai.

In order to demonstrate how the protagonists are antiheroines, I will discuss the role of antiheroines as defined by other critics.  Beckson argues that “the anti-hero[ine] finds commitment to ideals difficult or impossible because of his sense of helplessness in a world over which [s]he has no control.”    In “A Love that Topples a City,” Bai Liusu is a divorcee trapped within her own household, enduring the harsh antagonism of multiple members of the extended family.  Discontent with her helpless position, her attraction to playboy Fan Liuyuan, who recently returned from London, is the physical form of her individualistic desire to escape her boredom—to divorce her family.  Her apoliticalness is observed by her response to the societal disruption caused by the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong as a pure means of obtaining Liuyuan and escaping from her family altogether.  Conversely, this revolutionary atmosphere that is essentially beneficial for Liusu has the opposite effect for Wang Qiyao of The Song of Everlasting Sorrow.  Wang Qiyao is a figure unwilling to adapt to the modernizing ideals and norms set into motion by the Communist takeover.  This unwillingness is not caused by political ideology, but by the individualistic desire to escape boredom, desperately clinging onto the customs of a past.  She becomes a portrait of “Old Shanghai,” remaining static, ahistorical and apolitical as the architectural, cultural, and social landscape of Shanghai constantly transform and evolve around her.

Notwithstanding the apolitical motives of the anti-heroines, they exert influences within a political and social context.  This claims attempts to respond to traditional connotations of antiheroines as being failures and therefore unable to leave a certain impact or relate significantly with the greater world.  At the conclusion of “A Love that Topples a City,” Liusu’s impact is generalized to the collective actions of others just like her that disrupts social norms to the point that an entire city collapses.  Meanwhile, Wang Qiyao is presented as a distinct individual within society, a microcosm that is indicative of the macrocosm that is a transforming society. Wang Anyi calls attention to the fact that there are many other Shanghainese girls just like Wang Qiyao.  The ordinariness of both characters is yet another quality aligning them as anti-heroines.

Aside from analyzing the primary texts of both novels in English as well as the original Chinese, I will also be drawing upon a number of secondary texts, including peer-reviewed journal articles, literary criticism books, essays by both authors, and one New York Times Sunday Book Review on Anyi’s novel by Francine Prose.  I also intend on gathering articles written in Chinese.  In examining what factors allow both protagonists to constitute an anti-heroine, a key aim of my research is to focus on the relationship of women within a modernizing, revolutionary society and the implications on women identity and gender politics.

Since India’s economic liberalization, media attention has been focused on its development. While its growth has been phenomenal economically, India continues to lag behind in other critical areas such as women’s rights, rural development, and child labor. Despite rapid modernization, India fails to meet some of the millennium goals proposed by the United Nations. In spite of the advancement, India has a long journey ahead. Socially, it has not progressed at the same rate as it has witnessed its economic growth. Women have secured great success in other parts of their lives, although their struggle continues in these areas also. Such achievements include an increasing number of women in the workforce, illegal pronouncement of the dowry system, acquiring political rights and attaining a valuable education.

My thesis addresses the issue of women’s health in India, specifically the subject of women’s sexuality and reproductive health. I will examine how Indian societal views on sexuality have affected its policies on reproductive health, particularly those on abortion rights, contraceptives (implied is safe and protected sex), and pregnancy and child- birth. Furthermore, I intend to compare the trends and access to reproductive health facilities between urban and rural areas. In order to fulfill my latter aim more effectively, I might limit my comparative research to certain key areas, on which I am undecided currently.

In regards with reproductive health, I would argue that it would be beneficial to women and the Indian society to modernize using the western countries as a model. This does not necessarily mean imitation of their struggles against a patriarchical society. It only means that women could use this model as a building block for their movement. It should be noted that even in western countries, women have not fully gained equal rights to those of men. While this is a shortcoming in looking towards the West for inspiration, it does offer Indian feminists a point of departure. As I will show, the western model will have to be tweaked and prodded to accommodate the Indian cultural, political, economic and social environment to achieve equal and complete rights for women. It is my hope that our Indian counterparts will aim to achieve even those goals not yet accomplished by the feminist movements in the West.

Historians normally utilize archives and secondary sources to support their arguments. Consequently, I plan to use both categories of sources, although one more than the other. The majority of my research will be secondary. But I also intend to look into the World Health Reports, other Indian government statistics regarding the health of its citizens, the Indian Constitution and the five year developmental plans, etc. 

By examining the current issues facing the progress of women’s reproductive and sexual health, I hope to learn the difficulties of their development. Acknowledging their difficulties and the problems they experience, better governmental policies could be formed. It would aid in establishing more effective and constructive programs for organizations and government to utilize in developing this critical health concern. 

NOTE: I have footnotes in the original proposal but in order to save space, I have deleted them on the blog.