Suchergebnisse

National movements in the Baltics were widely covered in the American press, and drew more and more attention with every little step towards independence. Research revealed the image of Lithuania in the American press in the period between 1988 and 1991. In the beginning of the national movement, Lithuanian movement was covered not individually, but rather within context of the Baltics. Support of the grassroots has led The Restruction Movement of Lithuania to be considered as one of the most organised and the most successful national movements in the Soviet Union. G. Bush has delayed to recognize the government of Lithuania after anouncing the declaration of its independence because of relationship with the Soviet Union. American press, the American-lithuanians and the Americans agreed the U.S. was in a position where it was easy not to recognize independence of Lithuania, since this question seemed utopian. The American press supported Lithuania, however, it was critisized because of its chosen method to gain independence. G. Bush has expressed only deep concern and did not take any sanctions after Moscow anounced blockade against Lithuania. American-lithuanians have strongly critisized such president's position. The West turned to Lithuania and decided to recognize its government after the 13th of January 1991 and events in Medininkai. Lithuania was strongly supported by the American press while president G. Bush was critisized for delaying to recognize the Republic of Lithuania.

National movements in the Baltics were widely covered in the American press, and drew more and more attention with every little step towards independence. Research revealed the image of Lithuania in the American press in the period between 1988 and 1991. In the beginning of the national movement, Lithuanian movement was covered not individually, but rather within context of the Baltics. Support of the grassroots has led The Restruction Movement of Lithuania to be considered as one of the most organised and the most successful national movements in the Soviet Union. G. Bush has delayed to recognize the government of Lithuania after anouncing the declaration of its independence because of relationship with the Soviet Union. American press, the American-lithuanians and the Americans agreed the U.S. was in a position where it was easy not to recognize independence of Lithuania, since this question seemed utopian. The American press supported Lithuania, however, it was critisized because of its chosen method to gain independence. G. Bush has expressed only deep concern and did not take any sanctions after Moscow anounced blockade against Lithuania. American-lithuanians have strongly critisized such president's position. The West turned to Lithuania and decided to recognize its government after the 13th of January 1991 and events in Medininkai. Lithuania was strongly supported by the American press while president G. Bush was critisized for delaying to recognize the Republic of Lithuania.

National movements in the Baltics were widely covered in the American press, and drew more and more attention with every little step towards independence. Research revealed the image of Lithuania in the American press in the period between 1988 and 1991. In the beginning of the national movement, Lithuanian movement was covered not individually, but rather within context of the Baltics. Support of the grassroots has led The Restruction Movement of Lithuania to be considered as one of the most organised and the most successful national movements in the Soviet Union. G. Bush has delayed to recognize the government of Lithuania after anouncing the declaration of its independence because of relationship with the Soviet Union. American press, the American-lithuanians and the Americans agreed the U.S. was in a position where it was easy not to recognize independence of Lithuania, since this question seemed utopian. The American press supported Lithuania, however, it was critisized because of its chosen method to gain independence. G. Bush has expressed only deep concern and did not take any sanctions after Moscow anounced blockade against Lithuania. American-lithuanians have strongly critisized such president's position. The West turned to Lithuania and decided to recognize its government after the 13th of January 1991 and events in Medininkai. Lithuania was strongly supported by the American press while president G. Bush was critisized for delaying to recognize the Republic of Lithuania.

This dissertation analyzes five memoirs written in English by North American writers of Lithuanian descent, published between 2001 and 2017 in the United States and Canada: Painted in Words—A Memoir (2001) by Samuel Bak, The Barefoot Bingo Caller (2017) by Antanas Sileika, White Field, Black Sheep: A Lithuanian-American Life (2010) by Daiva Markelis, A Guest At the Shooters' Banquet (2015) by Rita Gabis, and Siberian Exile: Blood, War, and a Granddaughter's Reckoning (2017) by Julija Šukys. In their memoirs, these writers reflect on and challenge aspects of Lithuanian historical trauma (the Holocaust) and Lithuanian cultural trauma (deportations to Siberia, World War II, the postwar experience, the refugee experience, immigration). They consider the impact of those historical events on their ancestors, themselves, and their descendants. All five embarked on postmemory rite of return journeys to Lithuania after Lituania's independence from the Soviet Union, seeking answers about family narratives. These memoirs function both as memory and postmemory narratives. In each of the memoirs, the writers explore personal narratives as narratives of culture against the backdrop of collective memory and historical and cultural trauma. Superimposed onto their individual memory narratives are explorations of familial and affiliative postmemory that are geographically, historically, and culturally distant for these writers living on the North American continent, and yet vitally important to them. There is a belatedness to these memory narratives, which in part is caused by the divisions of the Iron Curtain and Cold War politics, and in part because of the time needed to process and heal from extreme trauma (the first generation) or come to terms with inherited postmemory traumas (the second and third generations). Writing in English about Lithuania, these writers function as cultural translators who translate their postmemory experience for an audience of North American readers. Their work is representative of a growing body of literary novels, memoirs, essays, plays, and poems that explore postmemory topics related to Lithuanian cultural and historical trauma and collective memory that are written in English and published in North America by both university presses and commercial publishers.

This dissertation analyzes five memoirs written in English by North American writers of Lithuanian descent, published between 2001 and 2017 in the United States and Canada: Painted in Words—A Memoir (2001) by Samuel Bak, The Barefoot Bingo Caller (2017) by Antanas Sileika, White Field, Black Sheep: A Lithuanian-American Life (2010) by Daiva Markelis, A Guest At the Shooters' Banquet (2015) by Rita Gabis, and Siberian Exile: Blood, War, and a Granddaughter's Reckoning (2017) by Julija Šukys. In their memoirs, these writers reflect on and challenge aspects of Lithuanian historical trauma (the Holocaust) and Lithuanian cultural trauma (deportations to Siberia, World War II, the postwar experience, the refugee experience, immigration). They consider the impact of those historical events on their ancestors, themselves, and their descendants. All five embarked on postmemory rite of return journeys to Lithuania after Lituania's independence from the Soviet Union, seeking answers about family narratives. These memoirs function both as memory and postmemory narratives. In each of the memoirs, the writers explore personal narratives as narratives of culture against the backdrop of collective memory and historical and cultural trauma. Superimposed onto their individual memory narratives are explorations of familial and affiliative postmemory that are geographically, historically, and culturally distant for these writers living on the North American continent, and yet vitally important to them. There is a belatedness to these memory narratives, which in part is caused by the divisions of the Iron Curtain and Cold War politics, and in part because of the time needed to process and heal from extreme trauma (the first generation) or come to terms with inherited postmemory traumas (the second and third generations). Writing in English about Lithuania, these writers function as cultural translators who translate their postmemory experience for an audience of North American readers. Their work is representative of a growing body of literary novels, memoirs, essays, plays, and poems that explore postmemory topics related to Lithuanian cultural and historical trauma and collective memory that are written in English and published in North America by both university presses and commercial publishers.

Fragmentation of the society and poverty existed in Latin America both before the 15th century when the Europeans colonized this region, as well as in the second half of the 20th century when liberation theology came into existence. Liberation theologians maintained that the Church cannot stay aside of the oppression that envelops the region but should rather condemn it and seek to transform the existing order through social and political means. The theologians perceived a division of the society into different classes and oppression both on the national and internationals levels, while maintaining that Christian love of one's neighbor is incapable of uniting the polarized classes. Liberation theology employed Marxist methodology to explain the present situation. Liberation was reduced to a political and socio-economic level, while interpretations of the Scripture highlighted the political aspect of liberation. Theologians judged society structures to be sinful and sought to liberate people from socio-economic oppression through a social revolution. Modern social teaching of the Catholic Church emerged in 1891 with Pope Leo XIII 's encyclical letter Rerum Novarum – On Capital and Labor. Catholic social teaching is based on ethics, theological anthropology and the conception of human salvation. Viewing human work from an anthropological perspective, the dignity of human work and his participation in the work of the Creator is emphasized. An important principle of Catholic social thought is solidarity; it indicates people's duty to help those in need both on the national and international level. The Church also stresses the principle of subsidiarity, according to which nothing should be done by more complex organizations which can be done by the people, communities or associations. The Catholic Church maintains that socialism is opposed to justice, whereby no one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true socialist. It suggests improving the capitalist order not politically but rather in the light of the Gospel, whereby human society can heal by a return to Christian life and institutions. In 1984 and 1986 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which oversees the doctrine of the Catholic Church, condemned the liberation theology for employing Marxist methodology, since the latter is inseparable from atheist ideology. The liberation theology's view of ongoing class struggle is incompatible with the Christian idea of unity. The Church maintained that the notion of liberation used by the liberation theologians was erroneously reduced to political and socio-economic aspects, without taking into account the most important form of slavery – slavery to sin. Also corrupting was the liberation theologians' interpretation of the Scripture which highlighted the political rather than religious aspect of liberation. Although the liberation theologians claimed they could produce new structures of the society through a social revolution, the Church views evil of the structures as a consequence of man's actions, so evil will remain until people's hearts are transformed by the grace of Jesus Christ.

Fragmentation of the society and poverty existed in Latin America both before the 15th century when the Europeans colonized this region, as well as in the second half of the 20th century when liberation theology came into existence. Liberation theologians maintained that the Church cannot stay aside of the oppression that envelops the region but should rather condemn it and seek to transform the existing order through social and political means. The theologians perceived a division of the society into different classes and oppression both on the national and internationals levels, while maintaining that Christian love of one's neighbor is incapable of uniting the polarized classes. Liberation theology employed Marxist methodology to explain the present situation. Liberation was reduced to a political and socio-economic level, while interpretations of the Scripture highlighted the political aspect of liberation. Theologians judged society structures to be sinful and sought to liberate people from socio-economic oppression through a social revolution. Modern social teaching of the Catholic Church emerged in 1891 with Pope Leo XIII 's encyclical letter Rerum Novarum – On Capital and Labor. Catholic social teaching is based on ethics, theological anthropology and the conception of human salvation. Viewing human work from an anthropological perspective, the dignity of human work and his participation in the work of the Creator is emphasized. An important principle of Catholic social thought is solidarity; it indicates people's duty to help those in need both on the national and international level. The Church also stresses the principle of subsidiarity, according to which nothing should be done by more complex organizations which can be done by the people, communities or associations. The Catholic Church maintains that socialism is opposed to justice, whereby no one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true socialist. It suggests improving the capitalist order not politically but rather in the light of the Gospel, whereby human society can heal by a return to Christian life and institutions. In 1984 and 1986 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which oversees the doctrine of the Catholic Church, condemned the liberation theology for employing Marxist methodology, since the latter is inseparable from atheist ideology. The liberation theology's view of ongoing class struggle is incompatible with the Christian idea of unity. The Church maintained that the notion of liberation used by the liberation theologians was erroneously reduced to political and socio-economic aspects, without taking into account the most important form of slavery – slavery to sin. Also corrupting was the liberation theologians' interpretation of the Scripture which highlighted the political rather than religious aspect of liberation. Although the liberation theologians claimed they could produce new structures of the society through a social revolution, the Church views evil of the structures as a consequence of man's actions, so evil will remain until people's hearts are transformed by the grace of Jesus Christ.

In this study, irony is analysed applying the theory of Conceptual Blending, developed by G.Fauconnier and M.Turner (the theory developed out of two traditions of cognitive linguistics: the Theory of Conceptual Metaphors (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980) and the Theory of Mental Spaces (Fauconnier, 1985)). Blending has been presented as a scientific model which encompasses and explains a variety of divergent phenomena, and shows how new meanings can emerge from old information. It claims to be capable of accounting for such a dynamic phenomenon as irony and treats irony as a complex mental operation, which exploits the mechanism of Conceptual Blending. In the analysis of Lithuanian and American news headlines it has been noticed that both Lithuanian and American ironic headlines make use of a metaphoric mode, as the integration structures exploit the mental models of conceptual metaphors, e.g., poli­tics is sport or poli­tics is a tale in Lithuanian ironic headlines and poli­tics is sport or politics is Business in American ironic headlines. The analysis shows that the use of the conventionalized models of metaphors enables irony to be accessible without its context. Irony, in its own way, exploits metaphors which have been conventionalized in political discourse in general. Metaphor- based input spaces (target and source) contain cardinally contrary elements, the clash of which supports the ironic shift of meaning. Though certain common patterns of metaphor- based ironies in news. [to full text]

In this study, irony is analysed applying the theory of Conceptual Blending, developed by G.Fauconnier and M.Turner (the theory developed out of two traditions of cognitive linguistics: the Theory of Conceptual Metaphors (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980) and the Theory of Mental Spaces (Fauconnier, 1985)). Blending has been presented as a scientific model which encompasses and explains a variety of divergent phenomena, and shows how new meanings can emerge from old information. It claims to be capable of accounting for such a dynamic phenomenon as irony and treats irony as a complex mental operation, which exploits the mechanism of Conceptual Blending. In the analysis of Lithuanian and American news headlines it has been noticed that both Lithuanian and American ironic headlines make use of a metaphoric mode, as the integration structures exploit the mental models of conceptual metaphors, e.g., poli­tics is sport or poli­tics is a tale in Lithuanian ironic headlines and poli­tics is sport or politics is Business in American ironic headlines. The analysis shows that the use of the conventionalized models of metaphors enables irony to be accessible without its context. Irony, in its own way, exploits metaphors which have been conventionalized in political discourse in general. Metaphor- based input spaces (target and source) contain cardinally contrary elements, the clash of which supports the ironic shift of meaning. Though certain common patterns of metaphor- based ironies in news. [to full text]

In this study, irony is analysed applying the theory of Conceptual Blending, developed by G.Fauconnier and M.Turner (the theory developed out of two traditions of cognitive linguistics: the Theory of Conceptual Metaphors (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980) and the Theory of Mental Spaces (Fauconnier, 1985)). Blending has been presented as a scientific model which encompasses and explains a variety of divergent phenomena, and shows how new meanings can emerge from old information. It claims to be capable of accounting for such a dynamic phenomenon as irony and treats irony as a complex mental operation, which exploits the mechanism of Conceptual Blending. In the analysis of Lithuanian and American news headlines it has been noticed that both Lithuanian and American ironic headlines make use of a metaphoric mode, as the integration structures exploit the mental models of conceptual metaphors, e.g., poli­tics is sport or poli­tics is a tale in Lithuanian ironic headlines and poli­tics is sport or politics is Business in American ironic headlines. The analysis shows that the use of the conventionalized models of metaphors enables irony to be accessible without its context. Irony, in its own way, exploits metaphors which have been conventionalized in political discourse in general. Metaphor- based input spaces (target and source) contain cardinally contrary elements, the clash of which supports the ironic shift of meaning. Though certain common patterns of metaphor- based ironies in news. [to full text]

In this study, irony is analysed applying the theory of Conceptual Blending, developed by G.Fauconnier and M.Turner (the theory developed out of two traditions of cognitive linguistics: the Theory of Conceptual Metaphors (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980) and the Theory of Mental Spaces (Fauconnier, 1985)). Blending has been presented as a scientific model which encompasses and explains a variety of divergent phenomena, and shows how new meanings can emerge from old information. It claims to be capable of accounting for such a dynamic phenomenon as irony and treats irony as a complex mental operation, which exploits the mechanism of Conceptual Blending. In the analysis of Lithuanian and American news headlines it has been noticed that both Lithuanian and American ironic headlines make use of a metaphoric mode, as the integration structures exploit the mental models of conceptual metaphors, e.g., poli­tics is sport or poli­tics is a tale in Lithuanian ironic headlines and poli­tics is sport or politics is Business in American ironic headlines. The analysis shows that the use of the conventionalized models of metaphors enables irony to be accessible without its context. Irony, in its own way, exploits metaphors which have been conventionalized in political discourse in general. Metaphor- based input spaces (target and source) contain cardinally contrary elements, the clash of which supports the ironic shift of meaning. Though certain common patterns of metaphor- based ironies in news. [to full text]

The video game industry has been growing rapidly in the recent years, reaching almost 2 billion players worldwide and sometimes even exceeding profits and other numbers put up by such entertainment juggernauts as the Hollywood. It is safe to say that video-games have become an integral part of contemporary popculture, contributing to the formation of attitudes, especially among younger audiences (18–35 years old). This is especially poignant in the case of historical games, which have always been popular and have been representing one or another version of historical narration for years. Nevertheless, despite the immense popularity of videogames and their growing presence within contemporary culture, historians, political and social scientists have been often neglecting video game studies primarily because of its infancy and inadequacy to provide space for political reflection and argumentation. According to the skeptics, video games can only reflect the current tendencies within the order of neoliberalism prevailing in the world. However, the article contradicts this by proposing to treat this situation as an opportunity instead of an excuse – the fact that video games can reflect the injustices of today's world without providing criticism should act as a catalyst for further studies of political argumentation within the medium of video games, which in turn would contribute to further theorizations on the critical potential of video games in connection to politics. This is deemed especially important in the case of reconstructing historical narratives in the most popular video games, the majority of which focus on various historical instances of war. As a result, the first part of the article presents an analysis on both the potential and limitations of videogames to act as spaces for the commemoration of historical memory. The second part aims to ground the theoretical implications by considering to examples of video game industries – the United States and Russia – and techniques as well as directions that they employ in reconstructing the popular prosthetic memory related to wars in which these countries had participated. The article concludes with the idea that historical games can indeed act as a space for producing specific historical narratives oriented toward the popular memory. When it comes to American games, they mostly focus on presenting more personal stories regarding the heroic and virtuous American soldiers during a given War. This, supplemented by a diminished or exaggerated account of actions taken by other allies (as well as enemies) aims at whitewashing the American historical memory. Among the Russian games, however, personal identification through emotional storybuilding is much less pronounced. Its place is taken by focusing on the technological domination and de-personalized stories of bravery employed by the Russians and Soviets. To conclude, the article once again calls for more engagement with the medium of videogames from the side of social and political science as well as history. Video games have quickly become one of the main venues for younger demographic groups to get their first pieces of knowledge regarding history, politics, gender and other topics. The importance of this is understood not only by American but by Russian officials as well, which demands more research on the power of games and their critical potential. This engagement would allow for less political manipulation (especially in the case of historical games) and for a better understanding and fulfillment of the potential of video games.

The video game industry has been growing rapidly in the recent years, reaching almost 2 billion players worldwide and sometimes even exceeding profits and other numbers put up by such entertainment juggernauts as the Hollywood. It is safe to say that video-games have become an integral part of contemporary popculture, contributing to the formation of attitudes, especially among younger audiences (18–35 years old). This is especially poignant in the case of historical games, which have always been popular and have been representing one or another version of historical narration for years. Nevertheless, despite the immense popularity of videogames and their growing presence within contemporary culture, historians, political and social scientists have been often neglecting video game studies primarily because of its infancy and inadequacy to provide space for political reflection and argumentation. According to the skeptics, video games can only reflect the current tendencies within the order of neoliberalism prevailing in the world. However, the article contradicts this by proposing to treat this situation as an opportunity instead of an excuse – the fact that video games can reflect the injustices of today's world without providing criticism should act as a catalyst for further studies of political argumentation within the medium of video games, which in turn would contribute to further theorizations on the critical potential of video games in connection to politics. This is deemed especially important in the case of reconstructing historical narratives in the most popular video games, the majority of which focus on various historical instances of war. As a result, the first part of the article presents an analysis on both the potential and limitations of videogames to act as spaces for the commemoration of historical memory. The second part aims to ground the theoretical implications by considering to examples of video game industries – the United States and Russia – and techniques as well as directions that they employ in reconstructing the popular prosthetic memory related to wars in which these countries had participated. The article concludes with the idea that historical games can indeed act as a space for producing specific historical narratives oriented toward the popular memory. When it comes to American games, they mostly focus on presenting more personal stories regarding the heroic and virtuous American soldiers during a given War. This, supplemented by a diminished or exaggerated account of actions taken by other allies (as well as enemies) aims at whitewashing the American historical memory. Among the Russian games, however, personal identification through emotional storybuilding is much less pronounced. Its place is taken by focusing on the technological domination and de-personalized stories of bravery employed by the Russians and Soviets. To conclude, the article once again calls for more engagement with the medium of videogames from the side of social and political science as well as history. Video games have quickly become one of the main venues for younger demographic groups to get their first pieces of knowledge regarding history, politics, gender and other topics. The importance of this is understood not only by American but by Russian officials as well, which demands more research on the power of games and their critical potential. This engagement would allow for less political manipulation (especially in the case of historical games) and for a better understanding and fulfillment of the potential of video games.