Tyhjä taivas : Georges Bataille ja uskonnon kysymys

Empty Heavens. Georges Bataille and the Question of Religion. The dissertation explores the question of religion in the texts of Georges Bataille (1897 1962), the controversial French avant-garde writer and philosopher. Passionate about religion throughout his life, Bataille devoted to it both critical analyses and personal meditations. In this study, Bataille s multifaceted relationship to religion is interpreted as expressing a passion for radical otherness. Bataille is approached as a characteristically modern thinker who, nevertheless, questions some landmarks of modernity insofar as modernity is interpreted as a triumph of secularization. The dissertation is situated at the intersection of comparative religion and philosophy of religion. Methodologically, the study resorts to theoretical contextualization and concept analysis. Acknowledging that Bataille s writings challenge the assumptions about coherent meaning taken for granted in traditional philosophical analysis, the study also pays attention to the literary means and, in general, the performative level of Bataille s texts. The study constructs three theoretical contexts for Bataille s question of religion first of all, the interpretation of Hegel in the mid-20th century French philosophy. In the first section of the study, Bataille s uneasy relationship with Hegel as mediated by Alexandre Kojève is explored. The motivation of his question of radical otherness is argued to arise from his struggle with the Hegelian Kojèvean notion of negativity. The second context is the dialogue with the Christian mystical tradition. Starting from the analysis of two Bataillean notions, dramatization and contestation , it is argued that, firstly, Bataille s approach to radical otherness is analogous to certain procedures of mystical texts while, secondly, the function of otherness providing no firm foundation in Bataille s texts differs from its function in mystical texts. In the third section of the study, Bataille s quest for otherness is concretized by analyzing his views on otherness of other person, on violence, and on death themes that are brought together in Bataille s lasting interest in sacrifice. Bataille s understanding of sacrifice is proportioned to social scientific and philosophical discussions on sacrifice. It is argued that the commitment to the idea of sacrifice accounts for a partial failure in the Bataillean approach to otherness, the otherness of other person remaining its (at least half) blind spot. The study presents an overview of Bataille s thought on religion. It brings out Bataille s view of the paradoxical fundamental yet impossible role of otherness in the construction of human world, as well as his understanding of religious representations as both covering over and indicating this otherness. It describes Bataille s atheological mysticism as a peculiar modern form of religiosity, as an ambivalent mourning for and exaltation of fundamental loss.

"Pour l'amour de Dieu": des missionnaires coréens à la rencontre des Anicinabek

Cette recherche vise à comprendre comment le processus d’évangélisation fonctionne à l’époque contemporaine, caractérisée par la globalisation. Elle prend comme étude de cas les activités missionnaires d’une église coréenne évangélique dans une communauté anicinabe du Québec (Abitibi). L’analyse d’une séquence de mission estivale relate la rencontre entre deux groupes représentant chacun l’un pour l’autre l’altérité radicale : des jeunes non occidentaux et qui ne sont pas missionnaires de carrière, face à des enfants amérindiens et à leurs parents plus familiers avec le catholicisme. Du côté des missionnaires, l’analyse révèle les motivations, les objectifs, les stratégies employées et les impacts potentiels de ce temps hors du quotidien. Du côté des Anicinabek, elle montre la variété des réponses, dont la réception, principalement autour de la notion de guérison, et les limites de la réciprocité recherchée.

La communauté du dehors : imaginaire social et représentations du crime au Québec (XIXe-XXe siècle)

La société québécoise a, comme toutes les sociétés, ses crimes et criminels légendaires. Or, si ces faits divers célèbres ont fait l’objet, dans les dernières décennies, de quelques reconstitutions historiographiques, on connaît beaucoup moins, en revanche, le mécanisme de leur légendarisation, le processus historique et culturel par lequel ils passent du « fait divers » au fait mémorable. C’est d’abord ce processus que s’attache à étudier cette thèse de doctorat, qui porte sur quatre crimes célèbres des XVIIIe et XIXe siècles (le meurtre du seigneur de Kamouraska [1839] ainsi que les crimes commis par « la Corriveau » [1763], par le « docteur l’Indienne » [1829] et par les « brigands du Cap-Rouge » [1834-1835]) : pour chacun de ces cas particuliers, l’analyse reconstitue la généalogie des représentations du crime et du criminel de manière à retracer la fabrication et l’évolution d’une mémoire collective. Celles-ci font chaque fois intervenir un système complexe de discours : au croisement entre les textes de presse, les récits issus de la tradition orale et les textes littéraires, l’imaginaire social fabrique, à partir de faits criminels ordinaires, de grandes figures antagoniques, incarnations du mal ou avatars du diable. Ce vaste processus d’antagonisation est en fait largement tributaire d’une époque (le XIXe siècle) où, dans les sociétés occidentales, le « crime » se trouve soudainement placé au cœur de toutes les préoccupations sociales et politiques : l’époque invente un véritable engouement littéraire pour le crime de même que tout un arsenal de savoirs spécialisés, d’idées nouvelles et de technologies destinées à connaître, mesurer et enrayer la criminalité. Dès les premières décennies du XIXe siècle, le phénomène se propage de ce côté-ci de l’Atlantique. Dans la foulée, les grands criminels qui marquent la mémoire collective sont appelés à devenir des ennemis imaginaires particulièrement rassembleurs : figures d’une altérité radicale, ils en viennent à constituer le repoussoir contre lequel, à partir du XIXe siècle, s’est en partie instituée la société québécoise.

O outro artificial e a alteridade na cultura pós-moderna

A presente pesquisa nasceu a partir de inquietações frente a um fenômeno que mostra a fascinação de homens que se relacionam com bonecas realistas – Real Dolls. Estas modelos simulam de forma perfeccionista altura, peso, forma, textura, cor, sexo, como se fossem “de carne e osso”, mas são “de metal e silicone”. As bonecas, contudo, não são meros brinquedos sexuais, pois adquirem muitas vezes a função de companhia, colocando em cheque a própria dimensão da alteridade. Esta relação construída artificialmente funciona, portanto, como um disparador de indagações acerca do outro e da atualidade. Assim, o objetivo deste estudo foi realizar uma discussão teórica, de cunho psicanalítico, a respeito da noção de alteridade na cultura contemporânea. Para isso, seguimos a trilha de questões chave: quem são o outro e a alteridade? Qual o seu lugar na cultura atual? Estaria a alteridade ameaçada pelo simulacro? Como pensar tal “negação da alteridade” sob o prisma da pós-modernidade? Seguindo este fio condutor, colocou-se em foco complexidades de um outro ao mesmo tempo familiar e estranho, ora configurado a partir de um “estrangeiro ao eu”, ora como um “eu estrangeiro” – remetendo à alteridade radical que constitui o eu, o inconsciente. A referência à atualidade se dá a partir do embate entre modernos e pós-modernos, onde se destaca a apreensão de uma sociedade regida pelo espetáculo narcísico e de um sujeito extremamente individualista, hedonista e consumista. Ganha espaço neste contexto a figura de um “outro artificial” que obedece a lógica perversa de predação que configura a primazia do eu em detrimento da alteridade. Desta forma, o outro se revela um artifício e a alteridade uma presença/ausência que joga com as aparências da atualidade e escamoteia seu “corpo” em uma aparente familiaridade. Assim, a alteridade persiste e desloca-se, fundamentando o outro como elemento que estrutura e desestrutura o sujeito, dando uma peculiaridade inevitavelmente “alteritária” para o mal-estar contemporâneo. Assim, o outro é, por um lado, descartável, pois a lógica narcísica proclama a autossuficiência do eu-ideal, enquanto, por outro lado, é a peça chave do espetáculo. É importante ponderar, portanto, que o lugar da alteridade está garantido, ainda que maquiado pela indiferença, ao contrário da impressão passada pelo panorama que deixa a entender sua extinção.

Diásporas de encantados na Amazônia Bragantina

Partindo de exercícios etnográficos, o texto apresenta experiências diaspóricas de mulheres rezadeiras que, ao migrarem do Nordeste brasileiro para a “Amazônia Bragantina”, no Estado do Pará, a partir da década de 1950, tiveram suas vidas marcadas pelo processo de iniciação junto a entidades da encantaria brasileira (Prandi, 2004). Em viagens noturnas a cemitérios, transfigurações, transportes físicos, vidências e andanças em corpos de animais, ventos e águas, essas rezadeiras revisitaram “mundos” e “tempos” imemoriais, passando a dialogar com pajés e “poderosos” rezadores do Maranhão, Paraíba, Piauí e Ceará, deixando ver pessoas e encantados em outros sentidos de deslocamento. A crença na capacidade das entidades de acompanhar as pessoas detentoras do “dom de rezar” até o Pará, bem como de transitarem continuamente nesses locais, nomadizando-se (Deleuze; Guattari, 1995) entre o “lá” e o “aqui”, constitui o fenômeno da “diáspora dos encantados” (Brah, 2011; Hall, 1999, 2009). A convivência com essas mulheres ensina, entre outros aspectos, a defender concepções de encontros e deslocamentos de culturas que percebam a alteridade radical da cosmologia das ciências humanas, mesmo quando esta se crê fielmente situada em lugares de partida, movimentos de passagem ou chegada, esquecendo, muitas vezes, que se trata não de lugar, mas de trânsitos materiais e simbólicos.

Highly efficient, stoichiometric radical exchange reactions using isoindoline profluorescent nitroxides

Exchange reactions between the isoindoline profluorescent nitroxide 1,1,3,3-tetramethyldibenzo[e,g]isoindolin-2-yloxyl (TMDBIO) and a TEMPO capped polystyrene were carried out. High conversions to the desired products were achieved using only stoichiometric ratios of nitroxide relative to polymer. The scope of this study was expanded by exploiting a di-nitroxide 9,10-bis(5-[1,1,3,3-tetramethylisoindolin-2-yloxy])anthracene (BTMIOA) as a connector between two polymer chains forming PS–nitroxide–PS systems.

Critical communications research in Australia : from radical populism to creative industries

This paper tracks the development of critical communicatiosn research in Australia over a 30 year period. It assesses the relative significance of critical theory, Marxist political economy and cultural studies to the development of such a tradition. it also evaluates the rise of 'creative industries' dicourse as an emergent development in the field, and a distinctive contribution of Australian media and communications research.

Prospective, non-randomized phase 2 clinical trial of carboplatin plus paclitaxel with sequential radical pelvic radiotherapy for uterine papillary serous carcinoma

Objective Uterine Papillary Serous Carcinoma (UPSC) is uncommon and accounts for less than 5% of all uterine cancers. Therefore the majority of evidence about the benefits of adjuvant treatment comes from retrospective case series. We conducted a prospective multi-centre non-randomized phase 2 clinical trial using four cycles of adjuvant paclitaxel plus carboplatin chemotherapy followed by pelvic radiotherapy, in order to evaluate the tolerability and safety of this approach. Methods This trial enrolled patients with newly diagnosed, previously untreated patients with stage 1b-4 (FIGO-1988) UPSC with a papillary serous component of at least 30%. Paclitaxel (175 mg/m2) and carboplatin (AUC 6) were administered on day 1 of each 3-week cycle for 4 cycles. Chemotherapy was followed by external beam radiotherapy to the whole pelvis (50.4 Gy over 5.5 weeks). Completion and toxicity of treatment (Common Toxicity Criteria, CTC) and quality of life measures were the primary outcome indicators. Results Twenty-nine of 31 patients completed treatment as planned. Dose reduction was needed in 9 patients (29%), treatment delay in 7 (23%), and treatment cessation in 2 patients (6.5%). Hematologic toxicity, grade 3 or 4 occurred in 19% (6/31) of patients. Patients' self-reported quality of life remained stable throughout treatment. Thirteen of the 29 patients with stages 1–3 disease (44.8%) recurred (average follow up 28.1 months, range 8–60 months). Conclusion This multimodal treatment is feasible, safe and tolerated reasonably well and would be suitable for use in multi-institutional prospective randomized clinical trials incorporating novel therapies in patients with UPSC.

Playing with picturebooks : postmodernism and the postmodernesque

This thesis traces the influence of postmodernism on picturebooks. Through a review of current scholarship on both postmodernism and postmodern literature it examines the multiple ways in which picturebooks have responded to the influence of postmodernism. The thesis is predominantly located in the field of Cultural and Literary Studies, which informs the ways in which children’s literature is positioned within contemporary culture and how it responds to the influences which shape its production and reception. Cultural and Literary Studies also offers a useful theoretical frame for analysing issues of textuality, ideology, and originality, as well as social and political comment in the focus texts. The thesis utilises the theoretical contributions by, in particular, Linda Hutcheon, Brian McHale, and Fredric Jameson as well as reference to children’s literature studies. This thesis makes a significant contribution to the development of an understanding of the place of the postmodern picturebook within the cultural context of postmodernism. It adds to the field of children’s literature research through an awareness of the (continuing) evolution of the postmodern picturebook particularly as the current scholarship on the postmodernism picturebook does not engage with the changing form and significance of the postmodern picturebook to the same extent as this thesis. This study is significant from a methodological perspective as it draws on a wide range of theoretical perspectives across literary studies, visual semiotics, philosophy, cultural studies, and history to develop a tripartite methodological framework that utilises the methods of postclassical narratology, semiotics, and metafictive strategies to carry out the textual analysis of the focus texts. The three analysis chapters examine twenty-two picturebooks in detail with respect to the ways in which the conventions of narrative are subverted and how dominant discourses are interrogated. Chapter 4: Subverting Narrative Processes includes analysis of narrative point of view, modes of representation, and characters and the problems of identity and subjectivity. Chapter 5: Challenging Truth, History, and Unity examines questions of ontology, the difficulties of representing history, and addresses issues of difference and ‘otherness’. The final textual analysis chapter, Chapter 6: Engaging with Postmodernity, critiques texts which engage with issues of globalisation, mass media, and consumerism. Brief discussion of a further fifteen picturebooks throughout the thesis provides additional support. Children’s texts have a tradition of being both resistant and compliant. Its resistance has made a space for the development of the postmodern picturebook; its compliance is evident in its tendency to take a route around a truly radical or iconoclastic position. This thesis posits that children’s postmodern picturebooks adopt what suits their form and purposes by drawing from and reflecting on some influences of postmodernism while disregarding those that seem irrelevant to its direction. Furthermore, the thesis identifies a shift in the focus of a number of postmodern picturebooks produced since the turn of the twenty-first century. This trend has seen a shift from texts which interrogate discourses of liberal humanism to those that engage with aspects of postmodernity. These texts, postmodernesque picturebooks, offer contradictory perspectives on aspects of society emanating from the rise in global trends mentioned above.