Depuis la fin de la guerre froide, la notion de Failed State est utilisée dans les relations internationales pour décrire des États rencontrant des difficultés à exercer un monopole de la violence légitime sur leur territoire. La thèse se pose la question de savoir dans quelle mesure cette notion a pu jouer un rôle dans les rapports de domination en cours dans les relations internationales. L’étude montre que la notion a été créée par un communauté épistémique et des entrepreneurs de sens avant tout américains et proposait en effet un système de représentation selon lequel le salut des Failed State reposerait avant tout sur la mise en place de politiques très intrusives de la part des États les plus puissants de la planète. L’étude poursuit en montrant que ce système de représentation, créé à grands frais par un ensemble d’acteurs académiques, médiatiques et philanthropiques, n’a toutefois pas toujours réussi à justifier la mise en place des politiques intrusives souhaitées. A travers de nombreuses études de cas (Afghanistan, Haïti, Irak, Somalie, Palestine, Liban, Libéria, Soudan, Zimbabwe, Bolivie, Pakistan, Colombie, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Guinée-Bissau et République centrafricaine), le travail démontre que la notion de Failed State n’a pas toujours eu l’efficacité souhaitée et a au contraire été détournée, parfois avec succès, pour résister aux politiques perçues comme intrusives par des acteurs prétendument dominés. L’étude conclut que si il est théoriquement possible de dominer par les idées, il est aussi possible de résister aux idées par les idées. // Since the end of the Cold War, the notion of Failed State is used in international relations in order to describe States that have difficulties to exercise a monopoly of legitimate violence on their territory. The thesis raises the question of how this concept influenced the relations of domination in the international relations. The study shows that the concept of Failed State was created by an epistemic community and a group of entrepreneurs primarily based in the United States. The notion promoted a system of representation based on the idea that the salvation of the Failed States rested on their acceptance of very intrusive policies leaded by the most powerful States of the world. The study also shows that this representation system, created at great expense, has not always been able to justify the intrusive policies it was designed to legitimize. Through numerous case studies (Afghanistan, Haiti, Iraq, Somalia, Palestine, Lebanon, Liberia, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Bolivia, Pakistan, Colombia, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau and Central African Republic), it is shown that notion of Failed State has not always reached the efficiency desired by its creators and has instead been used, sometimes successfully, to resist policies perceived as intrusive by the allegedly “dominated” actors. The study concludes that while it is theoretically possible to rule with ideas, it is also possible to resist ideas with ideas.

Haitian university students represent a part of the increasing diversity of Haitian migrants in the Dominican Republic. Using an ethnographic approach, I explore university students’ motivations for studying in the Dominican Republic, their experiences at Dominican universities and in Dominican society, Haitian student organizations, and their future plans. Additionally, I focus on Haitian students’ experiences with discrimination and how they relate to other Haitian migrants in the Dominican Republic. I find that most students come to the Dominican Republic due to the difficulty of gaining entrance to affordable Haitian universities and logistical convenience. The university is a unique setting where Haitian and Dominican students are clearly peers, which results in increased interactions between the two groups and decreased discrimination towards Haitian students. However, Haitian students remain a relatively isolated group within the university and in the larger Dominican society. Many students reported experiencing discrimination, although students identified class, rather than race or nationality, as the main reason for discrimination. Furthermore, I focused on the role of language in migrants’ experiences. I found that while a high command of Spanish allowed migrants to avoid identification as Haitian and subsequent discrimination, Kreyòl was used as a resource to create solidarity and maintain cultural ties to Haiti. My research suggests that it is important to keep in mind the distinct notions of race and nationality in Haiti and in the Dominican Republic when considering contemporary struggles for the rights of Haitian migrants and their descendants in the Dominican Republic.

The trials of a comfort woman was never revealed after the conclusion of WWII. More than half a century has passed before the name was uttered on the international stage. Why the sudden break of silence? What is the response of the Japanese government. In this paper, we discuss the issue of the comfort women and the the political implications it holds on Japan. Japan's failure to accept wartime reparation, largely due to Allied intervention, has resulted in the widening gap between Japan and Asia. This paper focuses on the combination of increased US influence as a result of the San Francisco Treaty of 1951 and Japan’s fervent nationalistic identity served to widen the gap between Japan and other East and Southeast Asian nations, making reconciliation over the issue of comfort women a problem that remains unresolved to this day.

This thesis aims to investigate the traces of multicultural implications in Joachim Heinrich Campe’s Robinson der Jüngere 1779/80. On one level, Campe’s adaptation of Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe appears to awaken or sustain potential colonial fantasies among its German readers. However, Campe’s Robinson der Jüngere does not follow colonial conventions, such as exhibited in Defoe, but instead depicts a society based much more on the concept of a common humanity shared by Europeans and Caribbean natives alike. It conceives of cooperation and exchange as a mutual gain for both parties. Robinson’s island functions as a kind of social testing ground offering opportunities for trial runs of Campe’s social-utopian concepts. In this way, the society Campe portrays offers an implicit critique of the colonial realities in his era as practiced by the European colonial powers. Thus, Robinson der Jüngere goes beyond the obvious pedagogical aim, inspired by Rousseau, to raise pious, self-sufficient and industrious citizens. Instead its underlying socio-political message deserves attention. In comparison with Defoe, Campe distances himself from practices of then-current colonial behavior, such as slavery and self-enrichment from exploiting natural resources. Among the indications that Campe was attempting to establish an ideal alternative to the colonialism of his era are his depictions of an amicable bond between Robinson and Freitag, the marriages of Europeans and natives and even the distinct wish of the Spaniards and Englishmen to remain in the ideal society Robinson had crafted on his island, rather than returning to Europe. The international success of Robinson der Jüngere suggests the lasting influence it had on generations of readers. In the analysis I present, Campe subliminally educates the listening children in the book and the reading public to become open-minded citizens of future societies.

Since the end of World War II, and especially over the past three decades, there has been a dramatic increase of interactions between international financial institutions (IFIs) and states. This paper will explore these interactions by examining the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This paper rests on the assumption that the complex implications of these interactions are not yet comprehensively understood and will move towards that goal by setting forth a collection of new approaches to further understand IFI-state interaction. It will discuss Jordan’s economic and political history, structural adjustment policies implemented by the IMF, and responses and consequences of such policy on economic, cultural, and political dimensions. Then, theories on sovereignty, identity, nationalism and colonialism will be applied to Jordan-IMF interaction in order to suggest new ways of understanding the implications of IFI-state interaction.

This dissertation examines the scope and limitations of the re-appropriation of the term barbarism by modern Jewish intellectuals in conversation with Third World social movements. Emmanuel Lévinas is my paradigmatic example of this re-appropriation, as his Talmudic interpretations illuminate this process, and his work is located on the axis of the encounter between Jewish and decolonial thinking. I contend that Lévinas follows a classic line of modern European interpreters who expressed their discomfort with the description of the Jewish people as barbaric. While this discomfort can be traced within this orthodox interpretation of Lévinas, I argue that his particular solution for the problem can only be explained by a more heterodox exploration. Lévinas’ positive re-appropriation of the term is part of contextual conversations that he sustained with other peoples characterized as barbarians (i.e. Third World decolonial theorists). While this re-appropriation was originally conceived in order to establish an East-East revolutionary conversation between Eastern European rabbinical interpreters and other radical Eastern projects (i.e. Maghrebi Marxism) it became an East-South decolonial conversation between Jewish and Afro-Caribbean/Latino-American intellectuals. This conversation, however, ultimately challenges the apologetic Jewish re-appropriation of exteriority in the concert of multiple barbarians. I explore the limitations of Jewish thought to engage with this community and cross from an apologetic to a critical barbarism. This dissertation, in conclusion, seeks to make an original contribution in the interrelation between Jewish and post-colonial studies. I aim to do so by first, demonstrating that the Jewish return to classical sources is historically and conceptually a decolonial counter-narrative that was influenced by (and in turn influenced) Third World discourses; second, explaining the reasons and consequences of the persistence of Jewish imagery and influences in Third World decolonial theory; third, exploring the limits of Jewish thinking and the benefits of the expansion of Jewish apologetical dialogues into barbaric critical conversations. And finally, challenging most contemporary scholarship in modern Jewish philosophy, which holds that Jewish thought and the modern re-reading of its sources can only be understood in the context of Western consciousness.

A seguinte Dissertação de Mestrado é o resultado de uma etnografia em campo, dentro do Mestrado em Desenvolvimento Rural. A pesquisa centra-se no Movimento das Mulheres Camponesas (MMC) e na Farmacinha Comunitária do vale da Solidão (Maquiné, RS), espaço onde as mulheres se reúnem para elaborar remédios com plantas medicinais. Esta Farmacinha surgiu em 1991, sendo a precursora de mais de 70 experiências similares. Esta dissertação tem como objetivo analisar, sob a ótica da teoria pós-colonial e da pós-modernidade, qual é o modelo de desenvolvimento que estas mulheres propões e constroem, frente a lógica do discurso desenvolvimentista institucional. Para este fim o trabalho divide-se em três partes. A primeira analisa os diferentes discursos de desenvolvimento a respeito da mulher e do rural, para tratar na segunda parte sobre o próprio MMC e seu discurso feminista e de desenvolvimento, percebido aqui como uma forma de resistência e de revindicação da importância do 'papel da mulher' e da 'luta pela vida'. A terceira e última parte do trabalho analisa as práticas concretas e cotidianas da Farmacinha da Solidão, cujas atividades vêm sendo acompanhadas desde 2012. Se bem estas atividades referem-se em grande parte à elaboração de remédios com plantas medicinais, a perspectiva aqui adotada faz com que percebamos a Farmacinha como um lugar onde o cotidiano e o pessoal tornam-se políticos e enfrentam o modelo, que pretende-se hegemônico, de desenvolvimento. / The following Master' s thesis is the result of an ethnography in the field, within the Masters in Rural Development. The research focuses on de “Movimento das Mulheres Camponesas” (Movement of the Peasant Women, MMC), and the “Farmacinha Comunitária” from the valley of Solidão (Maquiné, RS), space where women come together to develop drugs with medicinal plants. This “Farmacinha” appeared in 1991, being the precursor of more than 7 similar experiences. This thesis aims to analyze, from the perspective of post-colonial theory and post-modernism, which is the development model that these women proposes and built, compared to the logic of the institutional development discourse. To this end, the thesis is divides into three parts. The first one analyzes the different discourses about development about women and rural, and explores in the second one the MMC itself ans its feminist and development discourse, perceived here as a form of resistance and a claim of the importance of 'women's role' and the 'struggle for life'. The third and final part analyzes the practical and everyday practices of the “Farmacinha” from Solidão, whose activities have been followed since 2012. Although these activities relate largely to the development of drugs with medicinal plants , the perspective adopted here makes we realize the “Farmacinha” as a place where the everyday and the personal become politics and face the model, which aims to be hegemonic, of development. / El siguiente trabajo es el resultado de una etnografía en campo, dentro de la Maestría en Desarrollo Rural. La investigación se centra en el Movimiento de las Mujeres Campesinas (MMC) y en la Farmacinha Comunitaria del valle de la Solidão, (Maquiné, RS), espacio donde las mujeres se reúnen para elaborar remedios con plantas medicinales. Esta Farmacinha surgió en 1991, siendo precursora de más de 70 experiencias similares. Esta disertación tiene como objetivo analizar, bajo la óptica de la teoría pos-colonial y de la pos-modernidad, cuál es el modelo de desarrollo que estas mujeres proponen y construyen frente a la lógica del discurso desarrollista institucional. Para este fin el trabajo se divide en tres partes. La primera analiza los diferentes discursos del desarrollo con respecto a la mujer y la medio rural, para tratar en la segunda parte sobre el propio MMC y su discurso feminista y de desarrollo, percibido aquí como una forma de resistencia y de reivindicación de la importancia del 'papel de la mujer' y la 'lucha por la vida'. La tercera y última parte del trabajo parte analiza la práctica concreta y cotidiana de la Farmacinha de la Solidão, cuyas actividades acompaño desde 2012. Si bien estas actividades se refieren en gran parte a la elaboración de remedios con plantas medicinales, la perspectiva aquí adoptada hace que percibamos la Farmacinha como un lugar donde lo cotidiano y lo personal se tornan políticos y enfrentan el modelo, que se pretende hegemónico, de desarrollo.

The aim of this study is to offer a critical analysis of representations of gender violence and resistance to such violence in selected novels by Zimbabwean women writers. A great deal of scholarship on Zimbabwean women writers focuses on well-known authors such as Yvonne Vera and Tsitsi Dangarembga. Even here, the critical emphasis tends to be on the representation of women’s suffering under patriarchy and their status as victims. Although the exposure of gendered suffering is important, these studies often fail to take into consideration the female characters’ agency and survival strategies, including how they go about rebuilding lives and identities in the aftermath of violence. This thesis argues that the fictional texts of other, lesser known Zimbabwean authors are similarly worthy of critical scrutiny, yielding as they can important insights into female characters’ resistance to gender violence. The current study analyses Zimbabwean women writers’ literary contributions to discourses on gender-based violence and explores how female characters have embraced the concept of agency to recreate their identities and to introduce a new gender ethos into the contexts of lives that are often shaped by severe restrictions and oppression. Violence is a phenomenon that is always shaped by specific cultural, ideological and socio-economic forces. As the study shows, characters’ identities are constituted by the complex intersections of a number of markers of difference, including their gender, race and class. This study thus regards identity as intersectional and takes all these factors into consideration in its analysis of the representations of violence and resistance in the selected texts. The study also aims to determine whether these literary representations offer any solutions to the difficulties of characters affected by or living with violence. The works critiqued are Lillian Masitera’s The Trail (2000), Valerie Tagwira’s The Uncertainty of Hope (2006), Virginia Phiri’s Highway Queen (2010) and Violet Masilo’s The African Tea Cosy (2010). / English Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (English)

Le récit magico-réaliste entretient avec l’écriture de l’histoire un rapport très étroit. Entre les années 1940 et les années 1980, dans toute l’aire géographique américaine, s’est développé et a évolué une fiction magico-réaliste qui se donne comme objectif la transcription de données anthropologiques, concernant les populations dominées américaines, qu’elles soient composées d’autochtones, d’esclaves ou de descendants d’esclaves, dans un univers romanesque où réalisme et magie se côtoient sans tensions. Ainsi, en abordant les périodes passées du continent américain, les auteurs de récits magico-réalistes ont construit un type de fiction qu’ils ont façonné dans le but de permettre une expression littéraire de l’opération historiographique, qui ne peut pas se substituer à la science historique, mais qui peut donner, d’une façon qui tire parti des potentialités de la fiction, une voix à ceux qu’un discours dominant et des structures de pouvoir ont longtemps laissés dans l’ombre. Nous étudierons donc comment les récits magico-réalistes écrivent l’histoire, et notamment restituent des visions du monde longtemps ignorées, dans une perspective proche de l’histoire des représentations. Une telle entreprise littéraire et historique constitue par-là même un phénomène structurant pour le champ littéraire américain, mais aussi caribéen. Notre corpus d’étude trilingue réunit des auteurs de tout le continent américain : Miguel Ángel Asturias, Alejo Carpentier, Juan Rulfo, Toni Morrison, Wilson Harris, Toni Cade Bambara, Jean-Louis Baghio’o, Jacques Stephen Alexis et Maryse Condé. / The magical realistic narrative is deeply linked with the writing of history. Between the 1940’s and the 1980’s, throughout the entire America, has been developed and has evolved the magic realism which let the authors of such narratives to transcribe anthropological datas, coming from dominated populations of America (Natives, slaves or former slaves) in novels in which realism and magic can mix without tension. Then, by describing the past periods of the American continent, the authors of magic realism narratives have built a kind of fiction able to imitate, but not replace, the historical investigation : they can, with the help of the specific resources of fiction, give a voice to those who where kept in the dark for so long. We will study how the authors of magic realism narratives write history, et transcribe the representations of people who were not considered before. Such a literary phenomenon is fundamental in the building of an American literary filed. Our trilingual corpus gathers these nine authors : Miguel Ángel Asturias, Alejo Carpentier, Juan Rulfo, Toni Morrison, Wilson Harris, Toni Cade Bambara, Jean-Louis Baghio’o, Jacques Stephen Alexis et Maryse Condé.

Portuguese global expansion was initiated by the capture of Cueta in 1415. Voyages of discovery along the West African coast ensued, resulting in the conquest and colonisation of the N’Dongo Kingdom. This dissertation comprises an archaeological survey of the Lusitanian Empire in the Republic of Angola. The Portuguese first established a settlement at Luanda in 1576, after which they set forth into the interior, following the Kwanza River upstream. The strategy for conquest was to take possession of the river with the objective to control the indigenous population, subjugate the N’gola, and, ultimately, to reach the silver mines at Cambambe. Various settlements developed along the margins of the river with associated forts and churches. Fortifications dominated the landscape while the churches expressed religious idealism. Social contact between the Mbundu people and the Portuguese at the colonial frontier is discussed. Post-colonial theory is used as the research methodology. / Anthropology and Archaeology / M. A. (Archaeology)