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This thesis, consisting of four chapters, examines the shifting identities in contemporary québécois migrant literature, as well as the way the Other is represented by the authors in our study. The first chapter is devoted to the methodology and the theoretical framework for our research, which, in terms of postcolonial critique, is based on Homi Bhabha’s concept of « third space » as a creative literary space and fertile ground for the exploration of identity. Our study also explores concepts pertaining to specific traits of migrant literature, such as oral tradition, irony and humour, and transcultural identity, from theorists such as Janet Paterson, Linda Hutcheon and Lise Gauvin. The second chapter focuses on the writing of Marie-Célie Agnant and Abla Farhoud, both of whom use the notions of home and of oral tradition to gather the generations and to establish family histories. These two authors portray the image of a grandmother, exiled in Québec, and represent these women as the backbone of their respective families. The third chapter takes a very different approach to the question of Otherness, examining the use of irony and humour as tools for social critique in the work of Dany Laferrière and Pan Bouyoucas, two authors who use humour to mask the serious nature of their subject matter. Their critique of modern society is developed by exploiting the concept of «Otherness». The fourth and final chapter is dedicated to a more contemporary expression of the experience of migration, as portrayed in the work of Kim Thúy and Ying Chen, whose writing signals a significant departure from the themes of the earliest literature classified as « migrant », in the sense that they both adopt a neutrality of tone and create a literary production mostly absent of spatiotemporal reference. For Thúy and ! vi Chen, writing represents an apprenticeship of the French language and of cultural integration. Today’s Québécois migrant literature questions the pluralisation of identities, as well as the concepts of individual identity and collective identity. As such, the developing pluralistic nature of Québécois society is better represented within its literary scene. Within the framework of our study, what interests us the most is the changing face of the migrant identity over the course of the past fifty years, as well as the trajectory of its representation in this body of literature. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis examines the evolution in the representation of migrant identity and the experience of migration at the heart of contemporary Québécois literature. This research questions the pragmatic aspect of literature, specifically the establishment of new identities in twentieth and twenty-first century Québec and Canada. Our corpus explores the literary representation of life on the margins of a host society. By applying the postcolonial research on Otherness and Identity of theorists such as Homi Bhabha, Lise Gauvin and Janet Paterson, we are able to analyse the distinct characteristics of the literary production on memory and history, and on displacement, that originate from what Bhabha calls the gap between cultures.

The study examines two selected Yorùbá movies, focuses on the oral tradition, feelings, and messages in them. Its purpose is to show that the classification or categorisation by previous scholars is not limited to Yorùbá movies; it is adaptable to other movies. Consequently, the study sets out to find an identity for Yorùbá movies and is able to accomplish its aim. It draws on copious examples of oral tradition genres in the selected movies, extract their examples from the movies, and use the extracts to make an argument that the unique way to identify Yorùbá movies is the Yorùbá oral tradition which frequents in the movies. In its attempt to find its focus, it highlights scholars’ ideas of oral tradition worldwide and narrows the concept to the Yorùbá paradigm. The dissertation contains information on research approach, theories, analysis, and findings. Also, it presents the weaknesses of the study and offers useful recommendations. Finally, the study asserts its claim and proves it with evidence from its data. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

This study is a literary and ethnographic examination of The Vision of Theophilus, a fourth century Coptic narrative, as influential counter-narrative and source of counterdiscourse against the narrative created by the historically dominant Egyptian Arab Muslim state. It shows that The Vision has provided the Copts with the means to articulate their identity as different from their oppressors through its function as a repository of Coptic ideology, history and knowledge. Specifically, it has helped them resist the erosion of those aspects of their cultural identity targeted by colonial practices through its promotion of the Coptic language, pride in Coptic history, and Christianization of the landscape. This study also suggests that The Vision tradition has helped alleviate the conditions of material and economic oppression of Copts. Drawing upon theories of Foucauldian genealogy and postcolonialism my research examines the development of Coptic identity and subjectivity in relation to assimilation practices. Using oral studies and ethnopoetics, this study traces the process of composition, transmission, stabilization and systemization of The Vision over sixteen hundred years and its dispersion over a wide geographic region from Egypt to Ethiopia, Syria, and the US. My research suggests that the resilience and effectiveness of The Vision as oral tradition lies in the stability of its core message and its ability to absorb and adapt peripheral changes to the needs of each given historical period. Close analysis of this core message as gleaned through comparative manuscript study also supports important revisions to its datation, and enables us to claim its Coptic authenticity. Previously, the only academic scholarly work concerning The Vision centered on its diffused Syrian and Ethiopian variants while its Coptic manuscript history remained largely unknown. / This study, which emphasizes the specifically Coptic origins, history and significance of The Vision of Theophilus, therefore fills a vital scholarly gap: Locating cultural resistance and agency in orality, this study shows how The Vision has historically acted (and still acts today) as a repository of Coptic history and culture enabling Copts to articulate a separate identity over long periods of time, and amidst a wide range of historical and socio-economic factors. / by Fatin Morris Guirguis. / Vita. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The study examines two selected Yorùbá movies, focuses on the oral tradition, feelings, and messages in them. Its purpose is to show that the classification or categorisation by previous scholars is not limited to Yorùbá movies; it is adaptable to other movies. Consequently, the study sets out to find an identity for Yorùbá movies and is able to accomplish its aim. It draws on copious examples of oral tradition genres in the selected movies, extract their examples from the movies, and use the extracts to make an argument that the unique way to identify Yorùbá movies is the Yorùbá oral tradition which frequents in the movies. In its attempt to find its focus, it highlights scholars’ ideas of oral tradition worldwide and narrows the concept to the Yorùbá paradigm. The dissertation contains information on research approach, theories, analysis, and findings. Also, it presents the weaknesses of the study and offers useful recommendations. Finally, the study asserts its claim and proves it with evidence from its data. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

Basotho family odes (diboko) form part of oral literature, and refer to names of families, clans or totems. They constitute poetic compositions conveying information about clans' historical origin, philosophy and ancestors. The performance of this oral art form makes use of formulaic techniques such as linking, parallelism, alliteration, etc., which are commonly used in praise poetry. As basis to the content of these oral art forms, the genealogies of the various Basotho clans are discussed to show the reflection of the progenitor names in the clan praises. The functions of family odes are of educational, social and religious nature. Other functions include their use in compositions of other genres, such as, praise poems, mine workers' chants, traditional doctors' falls (mawa) and songs. The recitation of this oral art form is characterised by the instability of the texts, which takes the form of extensions, additions, truncations, improvisations and genre transitions. / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)

Num contexto de iniquidade social em que os matizes étnicos são escala de privilégio a partir da vinculação com os valores europeus advindos ainda do processo colonial, qualquer traço de negritude ou vinculação com as culturas nativas tende a ser fonte de discriminação. Tal realidade se reflete de forma potencializada em desrespeitos e perseguições nas escolas nos momentos em que estas pertenças têm de ser assumidas em função de preceitos religiosos.Este trabalho procura debater tensão entre a multiplicidade de matrizes que compõem a cultura, e por consequência a religiosidade brasileira, e a ascensão de um pensamento religioso hegemonizante no ambiente escolar. Esta discussão foi proposta a partir da implementação de oficina culinária tradicional com professores, funcionários e alunos de Educação de Jovens e adultos. A oficina, uma intervenção artístico-pedagógica chamada Conversa ao pé do fogão, calcada nas leis 10.639 e 11.645 versou sobre as matrizes étnicas afro-brasileiras por meio do resgate da Tradição Oral. Nas cozinhas dos estabelecimentos de ensino, rememorando os saberes dos mais velhos, os participantes prepararam pratos típicos afro-brasileiros amplamente difundidos enquanto discutiam os choques, atritos e tensões entre essa cultura e a escola. Reunir-se em círculo, contar histórias, cozinhar, comer e discutir foi o meio de trazer a tradição oral e a ancestralidade para um ambiente em que a suposta laicidade escolar esconde uma cosmovisão específica e excludente, tentando propiciar acolhimento e inclusão da miríade de formas de ver, pensar e entender o mundo presentes na cultura brasileira. / In a context of social inequality where ethnic nuances are a scale of privilege based on the linkage with European values still derived from the colonial process, any trace of negritude or attachment to native cultures tends to be a source of discrimination. This reality is reflected in a potentialized way in disrespect and persecution in schools at a time when these belongings have to be assumed due to religious precepts. This work seeks to discuss tension between the multiplicity of matrices that shape the culture, and consequently the Brazilian religiosity, and the rise of a hegemonizing religious thought in the school environment. This discussion was proposed from the implementation of traditional culinary workshop with teachers, staff and adult students. The workshop, an artistic-pedagogical intervention called \"Conversation at the foot of the stove\", based on the laws 10.639 and 11.645, approached the Afro-Brazilian ethnic matrices through the rescue of the Oral Tradition. In the kitchens of educational establishments, recalling the knowledge of their elders, participants prepared typical Afro-Brazilian dishes that were widely disseminated while discussing the shocks, frictions and tensions between this culture and the school.To gather in a circle, to tell stories, to cook, to eat and to discuss was the means of bringing oral tradition and ancestry to an environment in which the supposed school secularism hides a specific and exclusive worldview, trying to foster acceptance and inclusion of the myriad forms of seeing, thinking and understanding the world present in Brazilian culture.

Com esta análise, procuro investigar a presença da oralidade nos documentos municipais da cidade de São Paulo do século XIX (1820-1870), de modo a se enxergar a constituição e preservação de tradições orais na sociedade, e de que maneira os poderes advindos desses saberes populares conseguiam se verticalizar, entrando também nas esferas políticas. Para isso, trabalhei com conjuntos documentais camerários, tais como as Atas da Câmara, os Papéis Avulsos e os Maços de População, buscando neles os deslizes no estilo mais oficial do registro, nos quais a palavra falada, livre da censura, pudesse se manifestar. Esse detalhamento analítico de cada palavra, e da própria natureza do documento, juntamente com a investigação de seu conteúdo, busca expandir o escopo teórico-metodológico da historiografia que trabalha com grupos menos favorecidos e menos letrados, cujos conhecimentos, mais orais do que escritos, podem ficar escondidos atrás do estilo mais formal e burocrático dos documentos oficiais. A cidade de São Paulo da época, de reduzidas dimensões, além de ser objeto do estudo, também serviu de palco para se aprofundar as questões teóricas levantadas acerca das tradições oral e escrita. Para se trabalhar a aproximação entre essas duas culturas, foi preciso entender também os arranjos sociais da população entre as mais diferentes classes e grupos, contemplando seus desejos mais particulares e suas necessidades. / The purpose of this study was to evaluate oral evidences found in the municipal documents of the city of São Paulo corresponding to a 19th-century period (1820-1870) as a means to determine the features and preservation of oral traditions in society, as well as the way by which these popular knowledge could reach a political scope. For that reason, official documents were analyzed with a focus on the absence of the official writing style, so that uncensored speech evidences could be identified. The detailed word-by-word analysis and the investigation of its contents have the purpose of spreading the theoretical and methodological scope of historiography that studies lower and less educated social classes whose knowledge is shared orally rather than by written. This knowledge may be concealed by the writing style of official documents, which is formal and standardized. Geographically smaller by then, São Paulo was not only the subject of study, but also promoted a deeper understanding of theoretical matters that were raised from oral and written traditions. A comprehension of social arrangements among different classes and groups was also necessary to study the proximity between both cultures, observing their particular aspirations and needs.

O presente trabalho, resultado do contato com sociedades da Reserva Indígena Kadiwéu, localizada no Pantanal Sul-mato-grossense, verifica a cerâmica ali produzida pelas índias, no período compreendido entre o final do século XIX e a atualidade. A investigação focaliza o processo de produção, os padrões ornamentais, a forma e a função dos objetos, além dos materiais e técnicas utilizados. A cerâmica Kadiwéu difere, atualmente, das demais produções brasileiras principalmente pela ornamentação, marcada por grafismos e cores muito peculiares. Essa produção sofreu, durante o período ao qual a pesquisa se ateve, transformações significativas no que se refere aos padrões e técnicas ornamentais, possivelmente devido à fixação dos índios próximo a Serra da Bodoquena, que oferece grande variedade de matérias-primas, incorporadas às produções correntes. Foram utilizadas como referência para esta pesquisa duas importantes coleções etnográficas: a de Guido Boggiani, que esteve entre os Kadiwéu em 1892 e 1897 e se encontra, sobretudo, em museus da Itália e a coleção recolhida por Darcy Ribeiro na década de 1940, período em que conviveu com eles. Essas coleções diferem muito da produção atual, conforme verificação feita durante os anos 2000 e 2005. A aproximação aos processos de produção, das formas, cores e padrões, impressos na cerâmica Kadiwéu, possibilitou a compreensão da real dimensão das inúmeras possibilidades de exploração do barro transformado pelo fogo, propondo, então, uma tradução poética dessa observação. São de essencial importância a apresentação desse percurso, a verificação e o registro dos processos de produção atuais, usados pelas mulheres índias para preparar, modelar e submeter o barro à ação mágica e transformadora do fogo. A tradução poética aqui delineada nasceu desse encontro, que provocou reflexões manifestadas por dois conceitos: persistência e tradição oral. / This work, resulting from contact with Reserva Indígena Kadiwéu (Kadiweu Indian Reserve) societies, located in South Mato Grosso state marsh region (Pantanal), focuses on pottery made by female Indians between late XIXth century and today. Besides material and techniques used, the investigation focuses on objects production process, ornamental patterns, form, and function. Nowadays, Kadiweu pottery differs from other Brazilian natives production mainly in ornamentation, marked by distinctive graphisms and colors. During the period researched, this productions patterns and ornamental techniques have significantly changed, possibly due to the settlement of that native group near Bodoquena Range, where they find a variety of raw material, incorporated to their current production. Two important ethnographic collections were used as a reference for this research: that of Guido Boggiani (who visited the Kadiweu Indians in 1892 and 1897), now specially found at Italian museums, and that accumulated by Darcy Ribeiro in the last century 40s, when he lived with them. These collections differ a lot from current production, as verified in 2000 and 2005. Approaching production processes, forms, colors and patterns imprinted in Kadiweu pottery provided comprehension of the actual dimension of the numberless possibilities of fire-transformed clay exploitation, leading then to a poetic translation of this observation. Of essential importance are presenting this trajectory, checking and registering present production processes used by female Kadiweu Indians in preparing, modelling and subjecting clay to the magic and transforming action of fire. The poetic translation here outlined was born from this meeting, which caused reflections manifested through two concepts: persistence and oral tradition.