| This dissertation, Spatial Consciousness and Self-Identification in Contemporary British Film and Literature, traces the role that space and spatial practices have in both determining and critiquing cultural ideology in novels by J. G. Ballard, Monica Ali, and Eoin McNamee and films directed by Danny Boyle, Stephen Frears, and Shane Meadows. Examining imagined, cartographic, and contested spaces, and drawing upon spatial concepts from Henri Lefebvre and Michel de Certeau as well as postcolonial concepts of space and place, the dissertation analyzes the depiction of the spatial relationships between cultural ideology, agency, and identity. By combining ideas from postcolonial critics with the insights of foundational spatial theorists, the dissertation argues that the construction, use, and conceptualization of space are significant in determining identity within Britain and that colonialism has lasting effects on physical, mental and social space. Ultimately, this work reveals contemporary British society's preoccupation with and dependence on space for identity formation. These spatial practices are heavily rooted in colonialism even as the arrival of immigrants from the former empire are redrawing the mental and cultural map of Great Britain. |
