Cette thèse porte sur les discours de et sur la francophonie au XXIe siècle, à un moment où l´argumentaire de la Francophonie officielle reposant sur le modèle républicain français et les valeurs qui lui sont associées est contraint de se renouveler, dans un contexte de tiraillement des identités culturelles entre la mondialisation et l´ethnicisation. Nous proposons de désigner par l´expression : f(F)rancophonie, le tissage de liens problématiques, contradictoires et source de violence symbolique, entre la francophonie, en tant qu´ensemble de locuteurs, et la Francophonie institutionnelle. Les discours de la f(F)rancophonie révèlent l´existence d´une manipulation politique de la langue et de la culture s´appuyant sur différents modèles idéologiques de société. L´approche pluridisciplinaire de notre étude permet de mettre au jour, notamment grâce aux outils théoriques de l´analyse du discours et de la pensée postcoloniale, l´alimentation problématique de l´impérialisme culturel à l´œuvre dans la construction de la politique d´influence française (soft power). En effet, le dispositif institutionnel franco–centré offre une force pragmatique à la stratégie discursive de la Francophonie et à sa rhétorique de lutte, de rayonnement et d´universalisme contre l´anti–modèle anglo–américain. Le nouveau paradigme de la diversité culturelle peine parfois à masquer la conception d´une langue française porteuse de l´universalisation d´une culture et d´une identité nationale. L´observation de la langue et de la littérature au prisme des institutions permet d´éclairer les discours de la f(F)rancophonie littéraire dans lesquels l´écrivain francophone semble souvent contraint de composer avec l´héritage colonial d´une langue française auréolée de prestige. Enfin, notre analyse de la théorie et des études littéraires francophones interroge les postures d´écrivains face à l´interrelation du centre français et de ses périphéries. / The doctoral thesis carried out is based on francophonie discourse in the XXIth century, both from and about francophonie. This is a period in which official Francophonie arguments are based on the French republican model, as well as the values associated with it, which is obliged to renew itself within the present context whereby cultural identities are torn between globalisation and ethnicisation. For the purposes of the present research the term f(F)rancophonie shall be defined as the weaving of problematic and contradictory links, which are sources of symbolic violence, between francophonie, in terms of speakers as a whole, and institutional Francophonie. f(F)rancophonie discourse reveals the existence of political manipulation of language and culture through different ideological models of society. The multidisciplinary approach of the present investigation has enabled the updating of the problematical extension of cultural imperialism at work in the construction of French influence policy (soft power), notably thanks to discourse analysis and postcolonial thought theoretical tools. Indeed the francocentered institutional system provides pragmatic power to the Francophonie discursive strategy and to its rhetoric of struggle, influence and universalism against the anglo-american anti-model. At times the new cultural diversity paradigm struggles to conceal the conception of a French language which is the bearer of universalisation of one single cultural and national identity. The comment of language and literature through institutions sheds light on literary f(F)rancophonie discourse within which the francophone writer often appears obliged to compose with the colonial heritage of the French language which is haloed with prestige. Lastly the present analysis of francophone literary theories and studies examines the positions of writers in view of the interrelation between the French center and its peripheries.

Social work can be perceived as a global profession, built upon a certain foundation of global values and ethical principles - like human rights, social justice, equity and empowerment - that are applicable everywhere regardless of context. In contrast, it can also be perceived as a locally based profession that needs to take local-specific conditions – such as culture and indigenous traditions – into account. Regardless, it is a profession that exists all over the world, due to globalization having spread both social issues and profession itself across national borders. From a postcolonial perspective, contemporary international social work is equivalent to a new form of imperialism, i.e. that what started out as a western profession has now spread its values and methods to non-western contexts where they are not as well suited. This puts the profession in an almost paradoxical situation, as social work’s aim is to help socially vulnerable people improve their living situations and inspire them to self-actualization and empowerment, but by advocating this in the non-western world, western social work imposes ideas and methods onto contexts where they do not occur naturally. This brings a dilemma for social work regarding how to deal with global issues. One option is to acknowledge social workers’ role as ‘helpers’ and strive to help people regardless of context, using existing methods and values. Another option is to acknowledge the West’s historic role as imperialists trying to take over the world, and thus let the third World solve their own issues without further involvement in order to avoid contemporary colonialism. By interviewing Swedish social work students - whom all have completed educational field placements in non-western countries - this study strives to analyse how social work students that have experienced social work in non-western contexts relate to international social work and issues that come with it. This includes theoretical understanding, the role of social work education and their own roles as future professionals. The results show that the students found it frustrating to simultaneously want to help out and not be perceived as imperialistic. The conclusion was that the most important contributions western social workers can make in non-western contexts is to be aware of historical events and the contemporary part they play in global power structures, as well as try to humbly adapt to foreign cultures and accept differences rather than assume your own culture as automatically normative.

The thesis studies the human rights in Islam and evaluates them in concrete comparison of Muslim women's position in two different Muslim countries. It approaches two main human rights concepts: universalism and cultural relativism and describes the system and structure of Islamic law which determine all Muslims and Muslim society and therefore human rights perception itself. The diploma work follows two main goals:1) analysis of human rights from Islamic perspective, namely by its confrontation with prevalent universal model of human rights and 2) comparison of the status of Muslim woman in Turkey and Saudi Arabia. The thesis is logically divided into four consequential parts. First two chapters introduce to theoretical issues of human rights and Islamic religion, the two other pivotal parts are concentrated on the above mentioned set goals. The objectivity of the thesis should be ensured by using various foreign-language sources of information from which studies and reports of international organizations such as United Nations, Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International form a considerable part.

Masters of Commerce / Rwanda is characterised as a low-income country amongst the poorest on the African continent.Poverty in Rwanda has been persistent for a long period of time and it was made worse by the genocide that took place in 1994 and claimed over a million people. Although a variety of social policies, both home-grown and foreign, have been adopted since 1994 by the government of Rwanda to try and alleviate poverty, none has up to now succeeded to get rid of the povertyconflict trap, partly because they are all means tested. It should be noted here that Rwanda’s situation needs a universal approach in order to help ameliorate the current poverty level which is now at 60 percent, and the rising inequality. The researcher, when investigating a universal approach to use, suggested that a UIG could be the appropriate social policy option for Rwanda.Rwanda has set itself goals through its Vision 2020 and the EDPRS to have changed the country’s position by the year 2020 from being categorised as a low-income country into a middle-income country like South Africa. However, for this to be possible, economic growth must be robust. An annual growth rate of 7 percent needs to be maintained. It also means that the current per capita annual income of $290 needs to be increased to $900. The researcher concurs with these developmental goals but at the same time cautions policy makers that although growth is necessary, it should not crowd out redistributive justice.There seems to be a strong argument that development approaches which focus on income transfers are more prudent in attaining economic development and poverty reduction than those whose sole intention is to attain economic growth. Although policies that pursue economic growth usually lead to inequalities in the societies, governments should take it upon themselves to ensure that there are also counter measures that will reduce poverty at the same time.The researcher in this dissertation advocates for a universal income grant financed by an increase in indirect taxes supplemented by foreign aid as the best approach towards poverty alleviation in Rwanda. It must be noted that dependency on foreign aid is not sustainable in the long-term.There is a need to come up with measures of utilizing the already existing foreign aid in alleviating poverty and also to take care of future uncertainties when the foreign aid has been stopped.In order for Rwanda to break out of the poverty–conflict trap, it needs to adopt social policies that are geared towards alleviating poverty and assuring growth. A UIG was chosen as a social policy option that is capable of alleviating poverty.This research had three major aims. First of all it shows the possible impact of a universal income grant (UIG) in as far as the alleviation of poverty in Rwanda is concerned. Secondly it considers how a part of the existing foreign aid could be channelled into a UIG for all, with the funding effectively being recouped from those who do need support by an increase in the indirect taxes, e.g. in VAT. Thirdly develops a micro-simulation model which could show the impact of the combination of a UIG, partly being financed out of foreign aid and partly by the increases in indirect taxes, on poverty and income distribution in Rwanda. It is clear from the analysis that if the UIG is introduced in Rwanda it will have a multiplier effect when it develops social capital,stimulate aggregate spending, increase economic activity, bring investor confidence, promote economic growth and job creation and in the end alleviate poverty.

Les inégalités de participation au dépistage du cancer du col de l’utérus (CCU) sont multifactorielles et la prévention primaire du CCU par la vaccination contre les papillomavirus humains (HPV) oncogènes pourrait présenter des similarités. Médecin de premier recours de l’ensemble de la population, le médecin généraliste (MG) pourrait avoir une place importante dans la limitation de ces inégalités et nous voulions l’explorer avant l’implémentation du dépistage organisé national français (DONF) du CCU.La comparaison des données de remboursement de deux départements français dont l’un participait à l’expérimentation de dépistage organisé, a mis en évidence une participation au dépistage plus importante dans le département d’expérimentation. Le gradient de participation diminuant avec l’augmentation du niveau de défavorisation était plus fort dans le département d’expérimentation, et plus encore en milieu rural. Nos données ne nous ont pas permis d’explorer ces aspects pour la vaccination contre les HPV.Interrogés sur leurs préférences pour limiter ces inégalités dans le cadre du DONF, gynécologues et MG étaient favorables au ciblage des femmes non dépistées, par invitations centralisées impliquant le médecin traitant déclaré ou en leur fournissant la liste des femmes non dépistées de leur patientèle. Le ciblage des femmes de plus de 50 ans ou défavorisées, de même que les autoprélèvements de dépistage des HPV, étaient rejetés par les praticiens.L’ensemble de nos travaux confirmaient l’importance d’un universalisme proportionné lors de l’implémentation du DONF. L’adhésion des praticiens, dont les MG, nécessitera une information sur la motivation des mesures proposées. / Unequal participation in uterine cervical cancer screening (UCC) is multifactorial and primary prevention of UCC by vaccination against oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) may have similarities. As primary care physicians for the overall population, general practitioners (GPs) could be a major contributor in limiting these inequalities. We aimed to explore these contributions before the implementation of the French national organized screening (FNOS) of UCC.The comparison of reimbursement data from two French departments, one of which experimented a regional organized screening, revealed a greater participation in screening in the experimental department. The participation gradient decreasing with the increase of deprivation was stronger in the experimental department, and moreover in rural areas. Our data did not allow us to explore these aspects for HPV vaccination.Asked about their preferences to limit these inequalities when implementing the FNOS, gynecologists and GPs were in favour of targeting unscreened women, by centralized invitations involving the declared attending physician, or by providing them with a list of unscreened women among their patients. Targeting women over 50 years old or deprived women, as well as HPV self-sampling, were options rejected by practitioners.Our results confirmed the importance of a proportionate universalism when implementing the FNOS. The involvement of practitioners, including GPs, will require information on the rational of the proposed measures.

This study seeks to extend observations on critical citizenship education by examining what the edutainment Comics Uniting Nations, which presents the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), may tell us about the UN view of imagined agency and citizenship, and subsequently, its broader view of development. Given that the SDGs’ message within the comics targets a global audience, the research work in this thesis puts the comic Heroes for Change to the test by surveying how the minority community in Gaza, occupied Palestine feel and situate themselves in the SDGs’ universal message. This is done via interviews with representatives who work with the youth in Gaza at local NGOs. The main discursive and visual analytical tools are postcolonial critical literacy in international development initiatives, soft vs critical theories of citizenship, and superhero semiotic and panel rhetoric organization. The result of this work shows that while the comic uses a universal and convivial citizenship discourse, it misses being a bottom-up designed agenda and hence misses distinguishing between marginalized and ordinary citizens. Also, the superhero metaphor echoes a problematic aspect in opening space for critical thinking and challenging the status quo, which calls to spark further debate on the limitations/potentials of superhero discourse as a communicative tool for radical development/social change.

The hypothesis of this study is as follows: If Psalm 47 is analysed intra-, inter and extratextually, we will be able to gain greater insight into the cultural and historical context in which it originated, the cultic use of the Psalm in later periods, as well as its general meaning. All this is done to determine whether there are any indications of universalism in Psalm 47 and that has indeed been found to be the case on various grounds. Each chapter deals with one of these aspects. Chapter 1 forms the introduction that stipulates the research question and how the study will go about resolving it. Chapter 2 focuses on an intratextual analysis of Psalm 47 in an attempt to determine the interrelatedness of all textual features (morphology, syntax, poetic stratagems, structure, genre) on the literary level. This analysis will aid the interpreter in establishing a structure of the text, suggesting one that could meet with relative consensus amongst some exegetes. It, in turn, forms the framework for the socio-historical interpretation of the text. Other interpretation problems such as its Gattung, Sitz im Leben and dating are also discussed in this section. Chapter 3 investigates Psalm 47 from an intertextual perspective. Attention is paid to similarities with other texts in the immediate and more remote context of the psalm. An intertextual analysis is conducted between Psalm 47 and Psalms 46 and 48, and a brief overview of intertextual relations between Psalm 47 and the rest of the Korahite Psalms are given. Here the study links up with a recent trend in Psalms research, namely to concentrate less upon individual poems and their so-called Sitz im Leben and more upon the composition and redaction of the Psalter as a book especially by focussing on concatenation of a psalm and the psalms which follow on it and precede it. Attention is also given to a spatial reading of these texts to understand how they fit into the Ancient Near Eastern spatial orientation, but also transcend it. Chapter 4 consists of an extratextual analysis of Psalm 47. It had three aims: First, to identify and explain terminology referring to patronage and how patron-client/vassal relationships functioned in the Ancient Near East. This was done through a socio-scientific investigation of the poem in its social context, in order to understand the behaviour of the different role-players in the psalm. Second, to identify and explain war terminology occurring in Psalm 47. Third, to “illustrate” the psalm by investigating Ancient Near Eastern iconography and art. The main goal of this chapter was to gain a clearer understanding of the relationship between Israel and her neighbours. Are the nations considered to be incorporated into Israel or do they function merely as a vassal to their patron in Psalm 47:10? Chapter 5 is a summary of the insights gained in the previous chapters. It critically discusses the results of the study, the conclusions reached, the contribution of this work to the field of study, areas opened for further research, and possible shortcomings in the researcher’s own approach. Copyright / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Ancient Languages / unrestricted

The thesis offers an interpretation of Paul's political thought and political theology in the context of current philosophy. The first part presents a methodological basis of the work: the concept of political theology is conceived as a methodological tool that enables us to concentrate on interrelations and mutual effects of religion and politics and to expose implicit or explicit political meanings and implications of religious ideas. The second methodological subchapter deals with Max Weber's approach to "economic ethics of world religions": Weber concentrates on historical crossroads and switches which are a result of random chain of coincidences and factors forming a specific relation to values (Wertbeziehung) which enables us to understand further historical development. Paul's missionary activity and theology is seen as such historical crossroad with far- reaching social consequences. Another part elaborately deals with the most important and influential interpretations of Paul in current non-Christian philosophy: Jacob Taubes, Alain Badiou, Giorgio Agamben. The attention is given not only to presentation of their interpretations but also to utilizations and interpretative gaps, which could be observed in the way these authors read and understand Paul. Though for different reasons, for all of them...

Denna uppsats definieras tydligt av sin undertitel, En komparativ studie av den moderna universalismen hos Hans Urs von Balthasar och David Bentley Hart.. Den utgör just en jämförelse mellan de universalistiska argumenten hos dessa två tänkare. Det angivna syftet är att klarlägga vad som teologiskt kan ligga till grund för ett universalistiskt synsätt på eskatologin, samt att evaluera dessa i relation till varandra, till kristen ortodoxi samt deras retoriska koherens. Frågan om vad som sker med människan efter döden och då framförallt vad som sker med dem som står utanför den egna religiösa traditionen har alltid varit en känslig fråga. Den har blivit så alltmer i modern tid där ett alltmer mångfacetterat samhälle innebär att en gemensam religiös tillhörighet inte kan förutsättas. Detta har i sin tur lett till ett ökat intresse för den kristna universalismen. Tanken om att alla i slutändan oavsett tro och gärningar i livet blir frälsta. Och då specifikt genom det kristnafrälsningsekonomiska narrativet. Det har därför varit av intresse att i denna uppsats undersöka vad som kan ligga till grund för ett sådant ställningstagande, och huruvida dessa argument kan kombineras med den rådande majoritetstolkningen i frågan. Det grundläggande perspektiv som förfäktas av både Balthasar och Hart är att det i såväl Bibeln som i den kristna traditionen finns en till synes omöjlig syntes mellan en Gud som är god, en Gud som dömer åtminstone vissa människor till ett evigt helvete. Balthasars tes är att människan trots detta inte bara kan utan bör känna ett hopp för att alla människor i slutändan blir frälsta. Att det är möjligt att känna hopp för att ingen döms till ett evigt helvete. Harts tes är mer konträr och gör snarare gällande att syntesen som sådan är omöjlig eftersom den är inkorrekt i sak. Hart argumenterar därför istället för en radikal omtolkning av kristna eskatologiska läror. Uppsatsen har därför dels klarlagt dessa tänkares respektive argumentation, kontrasterat dem medvarandra, och evaluerat dem utifrån ett antal kriterier. Fokus har lagts framförallt på deras kompatibilitet med den historiska såväl som nutida majoritetstolkningen av det eviga helvetet. Frågan om den dubbla utgången i allmänhet har också avhandlats. Därmed har i förlängningen hur representativt ett sådant synsätt kan sägas vara för kristendomen som religiös tradition i relation och dialog med andra traditioner också belysts. Slutsatsen blir att skillnaden utmynnar i två säregna påståenden. Utifrån en undersökning grundad i uppsatsens problemformulering framgår att Balthasars argument är potentiellt förenligt med kristen majoritetstolkning. Hoppet för universellfrälsning är det centrala, inte det faktiska utfallet. Hart menar att det eviga helvetet är teologiskt omöjligt utifrån Guds självuppenbarelse. Hart lyckas dock inte på ett övertygande sätt belägga denna tes i det att han inte lyckas vederlägga de infernalistiska argumenten.

The thesis offers an interpretation of Paul's political thought and political theology in the context of current philosophy. The first part presents a methodological basis of the work: the concept of political theology is conceived as a methodological tool that enables us to concentrate on interrelations and mutual effects of religion and politics and to expose implicit or explicit political meanings and implications of religious ideas. The second methodological subchapter deals with Max Weber's approach to "economic ethics of world religions": Weber concentrates on historical crossroads and switches which are a result of random chain of coincidences and factors forming a specific relation to values (Wertbeziehung) which enables us to understand further historical development. Paul's missionary activity and theology is seen as such historical crossroad with far- reaching social consequences. Another part elaborately deals with the most important and influential interpretations of Paul in current non-Christian philosophy: Jacob Taubes, Alain Badiou, Giorgio Agamben. The attention is given not only to presentation of their interpretations but also to utilizations and interpretative gaps, which could be observed in the way these authors read and understand Paul. Though for different reasons, for all of them...