Questions

Several weeks ago, I wrote down several questions I want to answer in the theoretical part of my thesis:

Was ist kulturelle Identität?

Was für Bestandteile hat sie?

Wie entsteht sie?

Was für Bestandteile/Prozesse sind notwendig, damit sie entsteht?

Wie drückt sie sich aus, in Alltag, kulturellen Werken etc?

Funktioniert die Psychologie-Allegorie?

Postkolonialer Raum und seine Besonderheiten...

Wie adaptiert man eine vorhandene kulturelle Identität an neue Gegebenheiten?

Wie geht man mit dem neuen Raum um?

Was bringt kulturelle Identität?

Wozu eigentlich das Ganze?

Warum ist sie wichtig?

Was ist kulturelle Identität, was Stereotypen?

Das eine innen, das andere von außen?

Gibt es Ähnlichkeiten?

Wie kreiert man die Identität eines literarischen Charakters?

Wie dann die kulturelle Identität so eines Charakters?

Haben Einzelpersonen eine KI oder nur die Nation selbst?

Vermutlich beides, aber mit was will ich mich beschäftigen?

Nationale Identität, ausgedrückt in kulturellen Artefakten?

In my theoretical part, I want to write about what cultural and national identity are, their differences and similarities, which one I am talking about (I think it is national identity, but we'll see). I want to write about how identity is constructed (in general - individually, then culturally, nationally - I think these are similar), how this is somewhat alike to what happens in museum exhibitions (many many little things creating a greater whole, my current hypothesis). I want to show how cultural artefacts, such as literature, fill an important place in creating, defining, describing that identity, reflecting it.
In my, hm, empirical part, I want to show how Murray Bail does that so brilliantly. How he characterises Australians, their relationships to each other, their reactions to other cultures, to their own country, their LAND. How he uses stories within stories to give his country its own story. A collection of stories that make up a sort of narrative about what Australianess IS.
In the end, it is not just like that in Australia, it is like that in any culture - the stories we experience together, the stories we tell about ourselves, are what make us US.
Does that sound sappy? I don't care. If, by incident, my thesis becomes a 200-page-ad for the power of storytelling, I do. Not. Mind. At. All.
;)