OWL (One World League): A Lever for Social Change? David Richard Stevens Supervisor not appointed for resubmission A novel, website and exegesis resubmitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Creative Arts in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences University of Technology Sydney 2018 Table of Contents Certificate of original authorship .......................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................ iii Abstract .............................................................................................................. iv Preface ............................................................................................................... v Introduction ......................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1 A political necessity for a twenty-first century cyber democracy ......... 5 Chapter 2 Social psychology, crowds and identity ............................................ 19 Chapter 3 Literary forms, models and histories................................................. 27 Chapter 4 Case Studies: Historical examples of truth creation in literature ...... 53 Chapter 5 Exegesis conclusions ....................................................................... 62 Addendum: Full text of OWL website ............................................................... 71 Addendum: Diagrammatic representation of the DCA structure ....................... 94 Exegesis references ......................................................................................... 95 OWL: The hybrid fiction-to-fact novel ............................................................. 102 i Certificate of original authorship I certify that the work in this thesis, to the best of my knowledge and belief, has not previously been submitted for another degree nor has it been submitted as part of requirements for a degree, except as fully acknowledged within the text. I also certify that the thesis has been written by me. Any help that I have received in my research work and the preparation of the thesis itself has been acknowledged. In addition and to the best of my knowledge and belief, I certify that all information sources and literature used are indicated in the thesis. This research is supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. Production Note: Signature removed prior to publication. Signature of Student Date: 22/09/2018 ii Acknowledgements I acknowledge the initial assistance of Dr Sue Joseph and Dr Anna Clarke who gave significant and important advice on the exegesis and also on the supplementary creative work. For the first part of the degree I also acknowledge the assistance of Associate Professor Tony Maniaty. Dr Teresa Goudie provided much needed support, both technical and emotional, in her capacity as proof-reader of the first draft manuscript of the creative component. Dr Andy Kissane worked tirelessly to review, re-review and review yet again my attempts to create a convincing and distinctive creative component to the DCA. An integral part of the exegesis and the creative work is the creation of the bespoke website. For the technical advice on this I acknowledge the assistance of James Gosbell and Ally Mosher. Without their assistance I could not have created this website that links the reader through the creative work to a potentially new political party. I would especially like to acknowledge the contribution of Caroline Shindlair who helped tremendously with the initial construction and typing of much of the documentation associated with this DCA. For editorial assistance with the exegesis I acknowledge Dr Terry Fitzgerald and Angela Rossiter. Also I wish to thank Professor Paula Hamilton who took over supervision at a critical time and helped guide me through to completion of the first submission after some chaotic episodes in my life. Working remotely from Timor for the final drafts of the exegesis was extremely difficult. Her contribution was invaluable. Finally I acknowledge the good counsel provided by Professor Sandy Schuck in facilitating this resubmission of the exegesis and creative work based on feedback provided by external examiners. iii Abstract This thesis attempts to create the precedent as to whether it is possible to facilitate change in civil society by challenging existing political and social values through the medium of a documentary or realist literary piece involving a mixture of fact and fiction. The hybrid fiction-to-fact book OWL thus created deals with a figure who functions as an ‘everyman’ who has all the human frailties but struggles for a society to evolve beyond the current and seeming everlasting ‘battle of the demagogues’. The website accompanying the creative work is a central component of this exegesis. It was created in order to appeal to a broader audience and encourage immediate engagement with its ideas. I aim at motivating readers to actually create a new political party (OWL – One World League) just as is done in the part-fictional story embedded in the creative work. In the exegesis I have examined three main themes underpinning my creative work. I canvas some of the issues wrought by the information and technological revolution, particularly the impact of relatively new social media on democratic politics. I also draw on my psychology and organisational background to examine how group and mass movements work. Finally, I outline the reasons for my choices of both the literary form and the presentation of the creative work. iv Preface The central focus of the exegesis is a creative work or works, for instance a painting, installation, photo media portfolio or film script. In the exegesis, the student critically examines their creative product in the light of contemporary theory and practice … to meaningfully situate (the) work in contemporary theory and practice … and may explore the influences, ideas, decisions, materials, technologies, events, theories, which inspire, inform, restrain or facilitate the process and production of (the) work. http://www.ecu.edu.au/CLT/tips/docs/exegesis.pdf (as quoted in an exegesis seminar, University of Technology, Sydney 2011). These are the parameters I worked within for this exegesis because I found conflict as to what actually constitutes a DCA with respect to the written creative component. Nowhere here does it state my experimental creative work must conform to strict literary guidelines. David Richard Stevens, 30th June 2017 v Introduction This Doctor of Creative Arts (DCA) is an experiment. To say it is just a creative literary work with a supporting exegesis misses the point. It is presented as a ‘package’ of creative work that includes a literary piece, which may or may not be considered a novel. I will argue for the latter in this exegesis and especially in the Conclusion. I will argue the literary piece1 is a fiction to non-fiction hybrid form which necessarily integrates with its bespoke website. The hybrid form as fiction to non-fiction has many manifestations, two of which are particularly important. First, conspiracy theory to truth. This is where alleged conspiracies are revealed as true. For example, in the book (the creative work) the historic sinking of the Lusitania conspiracy is irrevocably proven to be true. Then there is the fiction story OWL itself using social media to promulgate the creation of a new political party OWL which is turned in to fact. A real website, with a real social media campaign (YouTube, Twitter, Facebook etc.) has been actually launched into the real world subsequent to the first DCA submission. Even OWL the book mentioned in the fiction story has become ‘real’.2 The creative component in its final published form is included as an addendum. It has the embellishments of a finished, print-on-demand (PoD) e-book with cover design; profile of the pseudonymous author ‘d’ettut’; and the dedicated website and the social media strategy as mentioned. So, as the author I hope the assessment of this DCA and all of these critical components will be carried out in an ‘holistic’ spirit and not atomised into traditional academic components. The research question is: ‘Can an especially formulated hybrid fiction work3 fabricate truths to the point of credible fact?’ In the exegesis specifically I will be exploring the context and nature of the ideas that inform my political creative work OWL (One World League), which I wrote part-time between January 2010 and June 2017. I will address the conceptual underpinnings for the world I have created and the politics that have been its impetus. I will also discuss 1 Note it is not called a novel at this stage. There is a significant argument in this respect in Chapters 3 and 5. 2 The real website is cited later. ‘One World League’ is a real Facebook page. The book is referenced in the ‘references’ and has been published. 3 The argument as to whether a novel can be anything else but fiction and vice versa is taken up in the exegesis conclusions where I address Gerald Clarke’s biography of Truman Capote and Capote’s assertion that he created the ‘non-fiction’ novel. 1 my techniques and historical antecedents for the hybrid fiction-to-fact literary form that I am using to enhance the cogency of the written work as a ‘lever for social change.’ I am in my seventy first year and my professional background is as an organisational psychologist. Over