http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/32834 Wed, 22 Apr 2026 14:34:16 GMT 2026-04-22T14:34:16Z http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/33081 Title: Psychedelic layerings: Fluid identities of a self-placed young Chinese immigrant in the U.K. Authors: Gan, Weizhi Abstract: This study aims to explore the complex interplay of cultural identity and artistic expression, situated within my personal experiences in the UK, in which I have imagined or self-placed myself as a young Chinese immigrant through the lens of cultural identity within my privilege as a PhD student. My goal is to address the gap in understanding the nuanced perspectives of a self-placed young Chinese immigrant in Britain, wherein I navigate a sense of dual identities amidst prevailing stereotypes. Through a Practice-led Research approach, this project employs psychedelic experimental film techniques, including non-linear narratives and psychedelic aesthetics, to portray the author's journey of self-placement as a young immigrant in Britain through the lens of cultural identity. The methodology integrates psychedelic aesthetics with auto-ethnography methods in the process of filmmaking, providing a personal exploration of identity which reverberates into the experiences of other members of my community. The key findings attest that psychedelic aesthetics, with its fluid style open to varied analysis, serves as an apt medium for relaying the multifaceted nature of a transnational/cultural persona. My psychedelic film practice will demonstrate how cultural identity places ‘self’ within the context of an anti-essentialist binary form that will create a ‘hybrid space’. This research, therefore, discusses the theoretical intersection of post-colonialism and transnationalism that focuses on cultural identity. The overall research centres around an important question, how can we identify the sensation and affection in psychedelic film elements as a creative method for the perception of our cultural identity in the transnationalism of Chineseness. My film’s visuality serves as key evidence that presents some fresh perspectives for experimental filmmakers involved in transnational experiences. Description: This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/33081 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/32383 Title: Timeless: Wings ascend forever – novel extract and gothic reflections: The gothic double and double identities in timeless: Wings ascend forever and R. L. Stevenson’s the strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), a reflective thesis Authors: Charles-Edwards, Karina Abstract: This thesis includes chapters one to nine of a novel and a critical reflective essay. My novel Timeless: Wings Ascend Forever is a neo-Victorian Gothic Fantasy inspired by R. L. Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886). The novel examines the double identities of the protagonists James and Seraph and explores the moral ambiguity of the characters in a Victorian setting. Through an analysis of the novel as a significant addition to the neo- Victorian gothic and fantasy genres, this critical thesis underscores the importance of reassessing the gothic motif of doubling in both contemporary and forthcoming literary works. The reflective essay focuses on both the novel and Jekyll and Hyde in the context of gothic reflections between the Victorian past and the contemporary present. It examines how double identities interact and how these identities are represented in late-Victorian and neo- Victorian gothic works. This thesis critically reflects on the novel in relation to its key gothic intertexts. The first chapter of the reflective essay explores the types of genres and narrative structures that my novel encounters and the purpose of using the themes and tropes of said genres in relation to the representation of double identities. The second chapter is a comparative study that analyses the novel alongside Jekyll and Hyde in terms of the texts’ representations of double identities, reflecting on questions of moral ambiguity and degeneration. This chapter also reflects on my writing choices and demonstrates the relationship between double identities in contemporary (textual and filmic) reworkings of Victorian gothic fiction and fantasy fiction. This thesis explores the limitations of the gothic double and the implications of double identities in relation to attempts to differentiate between reality and fantasy, considering questions of historical accuracy, myths, and fantastical elements that are central to the construction of my novel and its intertextual relationship with Jekyll and Hyde. Description: This thesis was submitted for the award of Master of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/32383 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/26199 Title: A critical review of four novels: The Lamplighters (2011): The Jack in the Green (2013); The Skintaker (2015); Hearthstone Cottage (2019) Authors: Lee, Frazer Abstract: This critical review will reflect upon the thematic concerns and creative methodologies of four published novels, their plot summaries and themes, and their positioning in the genre publishing landscape. Part One discusses the themes of The Lamplighters (2011) and The Skintaker (2015) in the contexts of myth-making and malice. Part Two explores The Jack in the Green (2013) and Hearthstone Cottage (2019) as folk horror narratives in the context of monstrous feminine characterisations. A published novelist, produced screenwriter and film director, I specialise in the horror and thriller genres. At Brunel I lecture in writing Horror, and Screenwriting in different genres. My work is informed by narrative theorists Robert McKee, Syd Field, Christopher Vogler, and Laurie Hutzler, each of whom promotes the practice of establishing characters and their worlds before developing storylines and structures. The interaction between world building, characterisation and plotting techniques provides the focus of this critical review as follows: All four of the novels feature a fictional corporation, The Consortium Inc., which I created in part to provide an extra-personal dimension of conflict for the characters and communities depicted in each story, and also in which to explore my own political beliefs. The Consortium’s deity, and healthcare professional of choice, is the Skin Mechanic (aka the Skintaker), a homicidal surgical alchemist who possesses the knowledge and power to bestow eternal life upon his followers. Considering Coupe’s (1997) commentary on myth-making, I will reflect on the creation of the Skin Mechanic as an act of myth-making, and his development as a villain across the two novels The Lamplighters and The Skintaker in the context of Flahaut’s (2003) notions of malice. I will also consider the nefarious activities of The Consortium Inc. as nature cult ritual versus corporate greenwashing. With reference to Scovell’s (2017) definitions of the sub-genre, my folk horror positioning of two of the texts The Jack in the Green and Hearthstone Cottage will consider the ‘Folk Horror Chain’ of isolation, landscape, skewed morality, and the summoning or happening. The critical review concludes with a reflection on how the demonised figure of the wise woman, shaman, or witch being wronged by rationalist men is explored in The Jack in the Green and Hearthstone Cottage via Barbara Creed’s (2015) analysis of The Monstrous Feminine. Description: This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University Sun, 01 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/26199 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/25191 Title: (Un)Belonging, affect and gender in a selection of contemporary British South Asian women’s novels by Sunetra Gupta, Meera Syal, Monica Ali, and Rekha Waheed Authors: Hamed, Yaser Abstract: Questions of human being and identity have been around for centuries. But questions of belonging and identity politics in Britain have only upsurged since the large-scale waves of postwar immigration in the latter part of the twentieth century, especially from the Indian Subcontinent. Across the Atlantic, this era has also seen the birth of affect theory in 1962 with the publication of the Affect Imagery Consciousness by the American psychologist Silvan Solomon Tomkins. From an affective perspective, this thesis discusses feminist questions about women’s (un)belongings in selected novels by the British South Asian women writers Suntra Gutpa, Meera Syal, Monica Ali, and Rekha Waheed. It seeks to establish whether the affective experiences of disgust, distress, pride, shame, interest, fear and anger can provide new insights into the British Asian women’s belonging and sexist social and cultural identity politics. Therefore, this thesis highlights the gendered interplay between intra-personal (psychological) and extra-personal (sociocultural) dynamics of (un)belonging as an act as well as an affect. This thesis asks whether the women characters in the selected novels in question belong or wish to (un)belong. At this postmodern age of globalisation and increased communication, crossborder movements and intercultural transactions, identity and belonging have become plural and even more variable and controversial. A simplistic yes/no answer to plural belonging is no longer the question. Instead, this thesis explores the affective social and political dynamics that influence men’s and women’s (un)belongings in various settings. If (un)belonging involves subjective and, at times, silent affects and feelings, I wonder what if one gives a voice to these unvoiced states and whether these affective states can react and imply action. What sort of original commentary would they produce concerning the status quo of diasporic (refugees, diasporans and immigrant) women’s belongings and identities? Furthermore, if identity is fluid, dynamic and postmodern, can a critical analysis of these affective responses indicate a specific trend or trajectory in women’s attitudes and aspirations concerning their being (self-identity) and (un)belonging within specific British South Asian contexts? This thesis aims to answer these controversial questions affective interdisciplinary approach that draws on affect theory as first conceptualised by Spinoza and Charles Darwin and as pioneered by Tomkins and later studied by Donald L. Nathanson, Brian Massumi, Sara Ahmed and Nira Yuval-Davis. It dismantles the intersections between the ‘affected’, on the one hand, and the various ‘affecting’ social, cultural, racial or patriarchal forces outside subjectivity, on the other, to use Spinoza’s words. This thesis argues that uncharted trajectories transpire about the South Asian women’s aspirations to (re)define their being and belonging. This thesis is not a definitive and exhaustive account of the cornucopia of British South Asian women’s writing. I hope that it will provide a missing link between gender, affect and belongings and thereby initiate a stepping-stone for further topic-related interdisciplinary studies in the future. Description: This thesis was submitted for the degree of Master of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMT http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/25191 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z