DOCSLIB.ORG

Label Use and Mixed Race Asian Americans: Discourses, Performances, and Boundaries

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones 8-1-2012 Label Use and Mixed Race Asian Americans: Discourses, Performances, and Boundaries Ellen Macdonald University of Nevada, Las Vegas Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations Part of the Asian American Studies Commons, Ethnic Studies Commons, and the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons Repository Citation Macdonald, Ellen, "Label Use and Mixed Race Asian Americans: Discourses, Performances, and Boundaries" (2012). UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones. 1682. http://dx.doi.org/10.34917/4332663 This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones by an authorized administrator of Digital Scholarship@UNLV. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LABEL USE AND MIXED RACE ASIAN AMERICANS: DISCOURSES, PERFORMANCES, AND BOUNDARIES By Ellen C. MacDonald A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts in Anthropology Department of Anthropology College of Liberal Arts The Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas August 2012 THE GRADUATE COLLEGE We recommend the thesis prepared under our supervision by Ellen MacDonald entitled Label Use and Mixed Race Asian Americans: Discourses, Performances, and Boundaries be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Anthropology Department of Anthropology Heidi Swank, Committee Chair Jiemm Bao, Committee Member Liam Frink, Committee Member Rainier Spencer, Graduate College Representative Ronald Smith, Ph. D., Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies and Dean of the Graduate College August 2012 ii ABSTRACT A person’s identity is not fixed or stable, rather it changes over time and even from moment to moment (Nagel 1994). Throughout an individual’s life he or she constantly cites discourses that relate specific appearances, actions, and behaviors to certain labeled social categories and those discourses make an individual intelligible as an acknowledged type of person (Butler 1990). The self, or identity, that someone presents at any point in time is comprised of the different types of information, both verbal and nonverbal, that the person provides to his audience (Goffman 1959). Labels are one verbal source of information that can both reinforce and subvert the discourses associated with them. Mixed race Asian Americans have a variety of labels to choose from when asserting a racial, ethnic, or national identity to an audience. Through interviews with 21 mixed race Asian Americans (Asian-white, Asian-black, Asian-Hispanic, and Asian- multiple other races), my research examines what factors influence mixed race Asian Americans to choose to assert a particular label at any given moment in time. Since ethnic identity is a result of the interaction of both internal and external opinions (Nagel 1994), my research also investigates how other people select labels to assign to mixed race Asian Americans. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2: THE ACT OF CHOOSING A LABEL TO PRESENT A SELF .............. 14 Labels and Why People Choose Them ......................................................................... 15 Performativity and Race ............................................................................................... 17 Agency and Performance: Choosing a Label to Present a Self .................................... 21 Negotiating Boundaries and Authenticity ..................................................................... 28 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 33 CHAPTER 3: METHODS ................................................................................................ 35 Participants .................................................................................................................... 40 CHAPTER 4: LABEL USE ON FORMS ........................................................................ 42 Opting Out .................................................................................................................... 46 Personal Benefit ............................................................................................................ 47 Physical Appearance ..................................................................................................... 49 Others’ Expectations ..................................................................................................... 50 Personal Identification .................................................................................................. 52 Majority Percentage of Heritage ................................................................................... 53 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 53 CHAPTER 5: LABEL USE IN EVERYDAY LIFE ........................................................ 55 Creating Boundaries ..................................................................................................... 57 Setting ........................................................................................................................... 58 Appearance ................................................................................................................... 60 Manner .......................................................................................................................... 62 Bringing Together ‘The Front’ ..................................................................................... 64 The Audience ................................................................................................................ 65 Expediency .................................................................................................................... 72 Stance ............................................................................................................................ 73 Explanatory Value of Labels ........................................................................................ 75 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 76 CHAPTER 6: ASSIGNING LABELS .............................................................................. 78 Creating Boundaries ..................................................................................................... 79 iv Setting ........................................................................................................................... 80 Appearance ................................................................................................................... 81 Manner .......................................................................................................................... 82 Bringing Together ‘The Front’ ..................................................................................... 84 The Audience ................................................................................................................ 85 Explanatory Value of Labels ........................................................................................ 86 Negating Assigned Labels ............................................................................................ 88 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 89 CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION ......................................................................................... 91 APPENDIX A: PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW ............................................................ 102 APPENDIX B: IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW ..................................................................... 104 APPENDIX C: FREE LISTS OF LABELS ................................................................... 109 APPENDIX D: QUESTIONS ON RACE AND ETHNICITY: 1990-2010 CENSUSES ......................................................................................................................................... 111 1990 Census ................................................................................................................ 111 2000 Census ................................................................................................................ 112 2010 Census ................................................................................................................ 113 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 114 CURRICULUM VITA ................................................................................................... 119 v CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION I was at school on a Saturday with a bunch of
Recommended publications
  • Changing Family Structures of Nepalese Transmigrants in Japan: Split-Households and Dual-Wage Earners

    Changing Family Structures of Nepalese Transmigrants in Japan: Split-Households and Dual-Wage Earners

    Changing family structures of Nepalese transmigrants in Japan: split-households and dual-wage earners KEIKO YAMANAKA Abstract Based on surveys and interviews conducted in Japan and Nepal, this study of Nepalese labour migration to Japan examines the changing patterns of family responses to international migration, the increasing participation of married women in the global labour force, and the implications of these changes for households, communities and the Nepalese economy. The split-household family has long supported sojourning males of Tibeto–Burman linguistic groups as Gurkha soldiers in Indian and British Armies before returning to Nepal upon retirement. As women have increasingly left Nepal to take advantage of overseas employment, a pattern of husband–wife migration has emerged, with children being left in the hands of relatives – the dual-wage earner family. Thus, Nepal has recently witnessed the development of transnational families and individuals whose work, residence and life trajectories extend beyond the nation-state. International migration has been one of several strategies for economic survival among subsistence farming households in Nepal (KC 2004; Seddon et al. 2002; Thieme et al. 2003). For decades, hundreds of thousands of farmers have descended from the Himalayan middle hills to the Indian plains every year to serve as security guards, domestics, manual labourers, low-level public servants, and to join the Indian or British armies as foot soldiers (Dixit 1997). By the late 1980s global capitalism had integrated this Hindu kingdom into the expanding economies of East and Southeast Asia, and by the mid-1990s, into those of the Gulf region (Graner and Gurung 2003; Yamanaka 2000).
  • The Lived Experiences of Our Community: Stories & Data From

    The Lived Experiences of Our Community: Stories & Data From

    The Lived Experiences of Our Community: Stories & Data from Needham, MA September 2020 Updated Version (10.23.20) Submitted by The Lived Experiences Project, Needham, MA Acknowledgments The Lived Experiences Project (LEP) would like to gratefully acknowledge the time and emotional effort invested by every LEP survey respondent to date. Thank you for entrusting us with your stories, but also for exhibiting courage and resilience, and for speaking up to make our town a place of belonging and equity. We hear you. We see you. Additionally, LEP would like to thank the Needham High School alumni network for offering their survey data for inclusion in this analysis. LEP is also grateful to the Needham Diversity Initiative and Equal Justice in Needham for their survey respondent outreach, and to Over Zero, a nonprofit in Washington DC that works with communities to build resilience to identity-based violence, for its encouragement and support. This report was conceived, researched and written by local residents of diverse backgrounds and disciplines who wish to see their town become a true home of inclusion and equity. Dr. Nichole Argo served as the report’s primary author (and takes full responsibility for any errors within), with support from Sophie Schaffer, who cleaned and organized the survey data, and Lauren Mullady, who helped to produce data visualizations. The report was reviewed by The Lived Experiences Project (LEP) Review Committee, which provided feedback on the write-up as well as earlier input on the survey design input and methodology. The Review Committee includes: Caitryn Lynch (anthropology), Lakshmi Balachandra (economics), Smriti Rao (economics), Rebecca Young (social work), Jenn Scheck-Kahn (writing), Christina Matthews (public health), Beth Pinals (education), and Anna Giraldo-Kerr (inclusive leadership).
  • Preoccupations of Some Asian Australian Women's Fiction at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century

    Preoccupations of Some Asian Australian Women's Fiction at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century

    eTropic 16.2 (2017): ‘Bold Women Write Back’ Special Issue | 118 Preoccupations of Some Asian Australian Women’s Fiction at the Turn of the Twenty-first Century Carole Ferrier The University of Queensland Abstract This paper offers a look back over the rise of the visibility, and the rise as a category, of Asian Australian fiction from the beginning of the 1990s, and especially in the twenty-first century, and some of the main questions that have been asked of it by its producers, and its readers, critics, commentators and the awarders of prizes. It focuses upon women writers. The trope of “border crossings”—both actual and in the mind, was central in the late-twentieth century to much feminist, Marxist, postcolonial and race-cognisant cultural commentary and critique, and the concepts of hybridity, diaspora, whiteness, the exotic, postcolonising and (gendered) cultural identities were examined and deployed. In the “paranoid nation” of the twenty-first century, there is a new orientation on the part of governments towards ideas of—if not quite an imminent Yellow Peril—a “fortress Australia,” that turns back to where they came from all boats that are not cruise liners, containerships or warships (of allies). In the sphere of cultural critique, notions of a post-multiculturality that smugly declares that anything resembling identity politics is “so twentieth-century,” are challenged by a rising creative output in Australia of diverse literary representations of and by people with Asian connections and backgrounds. The paper discusses aspects of some works by many of the most prominent of these writers.
  • Emerging Paradigms in Critical Mixed Race Studies G

    Emerging Paradigms in Critical Mixed Race Studies G

    Emerging Paradigms in Critical Mixed Race Studies G. Reginald Daniel, Laura Kina, Wei Ming Dariotis, and Camilla Fojas Mixed Race Studies1 In the early 1980s, several important unpublished doctoral dissertations were written on the topic of multiraciality and mixed-race experiences in the United States. Numerous scholarly works were published in the late 1980s and early 1990s. By 2004, master’s theses, doctoral dissertations, books, book chapters, and journal articles on the subject reached a critical mass. They composed part of the emerging field of mixed race studies although that scholarship did not yet encompass a formally defined area of inquiry. What has changed is that there is now recognition of an entire field devoted to the study of multiracial identities and mixed-race experiences. Rather than indicating an abrupt shift or change in the study of these topics, mixed race studies is now being formally defined at a time that beckons scholars to be more critical. That is, the current moment calls upon scholars to assess the merit of arguments made over the last twenty years and their relevance for future research. This essay seeks to map out the critical turn in mixed race studies. It discusses whether and to what extent the field that is now being called critical mixed race studies (CMRS) diverges from previous explorations of the topic, thereby leading to formations of new intellectual terrain. In the United States, the public interest in the topic of mixed race intensified during the 2008 presidential campaign of Barack Obama, an African American whose biracial background and global experience figured prominently in his campaign for and election to the nation’s highest office.
  • ABSTRACT Stereotypes of Asians and Asian Americans in the U.S. Media

    ABSTRACT Stereotypes of Asians and Asian Americans in the U.S. Media

    ABSTRACT Stereotypes of Asians and Asian Americans in the U.S. Media: Appearance, Disappearance, and Assimilation Yueqin Yang, M.A. Mentor: Douglas R. Ferdon, Jr., Ph.D. This thesis commits to highlighting major stereotypes concerning Asians and Asian Americans found in the U.S. media, the “Yellow Peril,” the perpetual foreigner, the model minority, and problematic representations of gender and sexuality. In the U.S. media, Asians and Asian Americans are greatly underrepresented. Acting roles that are granted to them in television series, films, and shows usually consist of stereotyped characters. It is unacceptable to socialize such stereotypes, for the media play a significant role of education and social networking which help people understand themselves and their relation with others. Within the limited pages of the thesis, I devote to exploring such labels as the “Yellow Peril,” perpetual foreigner, the model minority, the emasculated Asian male and the hyper-sexualized Asian female in the U.S. media. In doing so I hope to promote awareness of such typecasts by white dominant culture and society to ethnic minorities in the U.S. Stereotypes of Asians and Asian Americans in the U.S. Media: Appearance, Disappearance, and Assimilation by Yueqin Yang, B.A. A Thesis Approved by the Department of American Studies ___________________________________ Douglas R. Ferdon, Jr., Ph.D., Chairperson Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Baylor University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Approved by the Thesis Committee ___________________________________ Douglas R. Ferdon, Jr., Ph.D., Chairperson ___________________________________ James M. SoRelle, Ph.D. ___________________________________ Xin Wang, Ph.D.
  • Am I Enough? a Multi-Race Teacher’S Experience In-Between Contested Race, Gender, Class, and Power

    Am I Enough? a Multi-Race Teacher’S Experience In-Between Contested Race, Gender, Class, and Power

    FEATURE ARTICLE Am I Enough? A Multi-Race Teacher’s Experience In-Between Contested Race, Gender, Class, and Power SONIA JANIS University of Georgia AM NOT WHITE. I am not Black. I am mixed. I am one half Polish, one quarter Russian, and one-quarter Japanese. I was born, raised, and educated in public schools in the suburbs of Chicago, and then abruptly transitioned to public schools located in north Alabama when I was an adolescent. My inquiry explores my mixed race experience of childhood, adolescence, college years, teaching and administration positions, pursuing curriculum studies, and working as a pre-service teacher educator in a predominantly White institution. My inquiry explores the spaces in-between race and place from my perspective as an educator who is multiracial and/or hapa according to the latest race-based verbiage. I search for language to portray the experience of people of mixed race such as myself and come across a long list of such words as: Afroasian, Ainoko, Ameriasian, biracial, Eurasian, Haafu, half-breed, hapa haole or hapa, griffe, melange, mestizo(a), miscegenation, mixie, mono-racial, mulatto(a), multiracial, octoroon, quadroon, spurious issue, trans-racial, and zebra (Broyard, 2007; Murphy-Shigematsu, 2001; Root, 1996a; Spencer, 1999). I find that most of these words, whether they are verbs, nouns, or adjectives, have negative connotations. I use “multiracial,” “biracial,” and “mixed race” interchangeably throughout my writing. As I reflect on my experience as a seventh grade student, a public school administrator, and now as a pre-service teacher educator in a predominantly White institution, I explore my rememory (Morrison, 1990) of lives in two distinct regions of the United States: the Midwest and the South.

  • 10 Things to Know About Asian Americans

    10 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT ASIAN AMERICANS 1 2 ASIAN AMERICANS THE TERM ARE NOT A MONOLITHIC “ASIAN AMERICAN” GROUP OF PEOPLE was first used in 1968, when Yuji Ichioka and Emma Gee, students of the University of Asia is made of 4.46 billion people California in Berkeley, were inspired by the in 48 countries speaking over 2,300 different Black Power movement and protests against languages with rich and diverse ethnic, the Vietnam War to found the Asian American cultural and religious backgrounds, so that Political Alliance (AAPA). Their purpose was Asian Americans live with vastly different to unite different ethnic student groups cultural, religious and linguistic traditions. of Asian heritage on their campus. Calling There is no common language that all themselves Asian American signaled a shared Asian Americans speak. For the above and interconnected history of immigration, reasons, most Asian Americans, when asked labor exploitation and racism, as well as a to describe our race or ethnicity, tend to common political agenda. It was also used as say, “I am Korean American,” or “I am Thai, pushback against the pejorative word oriental, Cambodian, Chinese, Filipino, etc.” a Eurocentric term that geographically Very few of us would start out by saying, referenced “the East” relative to Europe. “I am an Asian American.” 3 4 THE HISTORY OF ASIAN AMERICANS OF ASIAN AMERICANS JAPANESE ANCESTRY goes back to the 16th century, much earlier During World War II, while the United States than when many people think in the 19th was at war with Japan, about 120,000 people century, with the more visible presence of of Japanese ancestry—most of whom lived Chinese and Filipino immigrants.
  • Factors That Influence Asian Communities' Access To

    Factors That Influence Asian Communities' Access To

    Blackwell Science, LtdOxford, UKINMInternational Journal of Mental Health Nursing1445-83302005 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd1428895Feature ArticleFACTORS INFLUENCING ACCESS TO MENTAL HEALTH CARED. WYNADEN International Journal of Mental Health Nursing (2005) 14, 88–95 Feature Article Factors that influence Asian communities’ access to mental health care Dianne Wynaden,1,2 Rose Chapman,1,3 Angelica Orb,1 Sunita McGowan,1,2 Zenith Zeeman1,2 and SiewHo Yeak2 1School of Nursing and Midwifery, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, 2Fremantle Hospital, Fremantle, and 3Emergency Department, Joondalup Health Service, Joondalup, Australia ABSTRACT: This paper presents the findings of a qualitative study to identify factors that influence Asian communities’ access to mental health care and how mental health care is delivered to them. Semistructured interviews were completed with Asian community members/leaders and health-care professionals. Content analysis identified major themes. Participants also completed a demographic data sheet. The research aimed to provide health professionals with an increased understanding of the values and beliefs held by people from Asian communities regarding the cause and treatment of mental illness. Data analysis identified six main themes that influenced Asian communities’ access to mental health care and how mental health care is delivered to them. They were: shame and stigma; causes of mental illness; family reputation; hiding up; seeking help; and lack of collaboration. The findings highlighted that people from Asian communities are unwilling to access help from mainstream services because of their beliefs, and that stigma and shame are key factors that influence this reluctance. The findings also highlight that the mental health needs of refugee women are significant, and that they comprise a vulnerable group within Australian society.
  • American Hindu Activism and the Politics of Anxiety Arun Chaudhuri

    American Hindu Activism and the Politics of Anxiety Arun Chaudhuri

    American Hindu Activism and the Politics of Anxiety Arun Chaudhuri A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Anthropology York University Toronto, Ontario September 2012 © Arun Chaudhuri, 2012 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du 1+1 Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-92758-8 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-92758-8 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distrbute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation.
  • Reconsidering the Relationship Between New Mestizaje and New Multiraciality As Mixed-Race Identity Models1

    Reconsidering the Relationship Between New Mestizaje and New Multiraciality As Mixed-Race Identity Models1

    Reconsidering the Relationship Between New Mestizaje and New Multiraciality as Mixed-Race Identity Models1 Jessie D. Turner Introduction Approximately one quarter of Mexican Americans marry someone of a different race or ethnicity— which was true even in 1963 in Los Angeles County—with one study finding that 38 percent of fourth- generation and higher respondents were intermarried.1 It becomes crucial, therefore, to consider where the children of these unions, a significant portion of the United States Mexican-descent population,2 fit within current ethnoracial paradigms. As such, both Chicana/o studies and multiracial studies theorize mixed identities, yet the literatures as a whole remain, for the most part, non-conversant with each other. Chicana/o studies addresses racial and cultural mixture through discourses of (new) mestizaje, while multiracial studies employs the language of (new) multiraciality.3 Research on the multiracially identified population focuses primarily on people of African American and Asian American, rather than Mexican American, backgrounds, whereas theories of mestizaje do not specifically address (first- and second- generation) multiracial experiences. In fact, when I discuss having parents and grandparents of different races, I am often asked by Chicana/o studies scholars, “Why are you talking about being multiracial as if it were different from being mestiza/o? Both are mixed-race experiences.” With the limitations of both fields in mind, I argue that entering these new mixed-identity discourses into conversation through an examination of both their significant parallels and divergences accomplishes two goals. First, it allows for a more complete acknowledgement and understanding of the unique nature of multiracial Mexican-descent experiences.
  • Popular Culture Imaginings of the Mulatta: Constructing Race, Gender

    Popular Culture Imaginings of the Mulatta: Constructing Race, Gender

    Popular Culture Imaginings of the Mulatta: Constructing Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Nation in the United States and Brazil A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Jasmine Mitchell IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Bianet Castellanos, Co-adviser Erika Lee, Co-adviser AUGUST 2013 © Jasmine Mitchell 2013 Acknowledgements This dissertation would have been impossible without a community of support. There are many numerous colleagues, family, friends, and mentors that have guided ths intellectual and personal process. I would first like to acknowledge my dissertation committee for their patience, enthusiasm, and encouragement while I was in Minneapolis, New York, São Paulo, and everywhere in between. I am thankful for the research and methodological expertise they contributed as I wrote on race, gender, sexuality, and popular culture through an interdisciplinary and hemispheric approach. Special gratitude is owed to my co-advisors, Dr. Bianet Castellanos and Dr. Erika Lee for their guidance, commitment, and willingness to read and provide feedback on multiple drafts of dissertation chapters and applications for various grants and fellowships to support this research. Their wisdom, encouragement, and advice for not only this dissertation, but also publications, job searches, and personal affairs were essential to my success. Bianet and Erika pushed me to rethink the concepts used within the dissertation, and make more persuasive and clearer arguments. I am also grateful to my other committee members, Dr. Fernando Arenas, Dr. Jigna Desai, and Dr. Roderick Ferguson, whose advice and intellectual challenges have been invaluable to me.
  • The Integration of Asian People Into the American

    The Integration of Asian People Into the American

    UNIVERSITE D’ANTANANARIVO ECOLE NORMALE SUPERIEURE DEPARTEMENT DE FORMATION INITIALE LITERAIRE C.E.R LANGUE ET LETTRES ANGLAISES THE INTEGRATION OF ASIAN PEOPLE INTO THE AMERICAN SOCIETY AS SEEN THROUGH AMY TAN’S NOVEL The Joy Luck Club AND JHUMPA LAHIRI’S Interpreter of Maladies WITH SOME EXTRACTS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF READING SKILLS IN “CLASSES TERMINALES” CAPEN Dissertation by RANDRIAMIARANA Fenitrarinofy Dissertation Advisors -Mrs RAZAIARIVELO Ascence Maître de Conférences -Mr MANORO Régis Maître de Conférences Academic Year 2006-2007 The Glory is for the Lord God Almighty To Michael and Danielle RAVALINIAINA Acknowledgements This end-of-study dissertation would not have been completed and ready for public presentation without the help and support of very many people to whom we are deeply indebted. First of all, we would like to praise the name of Jesus for giving us all the opportunity to accomplish this present dissertation. We are extremely grateful to Mrs RAKOTOMENA Norosoa, not only for her useful comments and advice, which have greatly contributed in the improvement of the initial version of our dissertation, but also for having accepted to preside over this public presentation of our dissertation. Special thanks are also due and thereby tendered Mr RAZAFINDRATSIMBA Eugène whose helpful comments have helped us to improve the present work and who have kindly accepted to assess our work. Acknowledgements are offered to Mrs RAZAIARIVELO Ascence and Mr MANORO Régis, our dissertation advisors, for their constant encouragement and their generous, patient and most invaluable guidance and supervision of our work. We are deeply indebted to each and every teacher of whom we feel fortunate to have been a student at the English Department of the Ecole Normale Superieure of Antananarivo.