published_or_final_version / Fine Arts / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Chinese / Master / Master of Philosophy

No description available.

The "demise" of Native American cultures and the possibility of their "renascence" is the subject of the literary work analyzed in this thesis. The German popular novelist Karl May (1842-1912) aspired to write the epic drama of the American Indians. Using randomly selected anthropological and linguistic information, he described particularly Apache and Comanche Indian cultures with regard to leadership, warfare, women, and intermarriage. May viewed the Indians' assimilation as necessary and arrogantly recommended the "benign" influence brought by Germans to the New World. The Indians would be able to withstand the lure of "Yankee" materialism and pursue the path of righteousness. As this thesis points out, there is a correlation between Karl May's biography and his compassion for a wronged people such as the Native Americans. This study analyzes Karl May's thoughts on the "Indian question" and his emphasis on the role of change.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Interpretations of the Nationalist Revolution in modern Chinese history, especially the so-called “Nanjing decade” (1927-1937) are dominated by theoretical notions which see the state as autonomous in its relationship to society. This autonomous state model, the dissertation argues, finds its roots in the voluntaristic ideas of Talcott Parsons. Arguments based on Parsons’s ideas view the Nationalist Revolution as abortive. The dissertation rejects these views and develops an alternative perspective based on the construction of a quasi-market model of social relations. The theoretical underpinnings, in contrast to Parsons’s ideas, are termed “de-voluntaristic.” These arguments suggest that individuals participate in, and have influence on, the operation of the state. The application of a quasi-market model suggests that there was a major transformation in Chinese society during the Nationalist period. The dissertation argues that the Nationalist Government after 1927 did not continue to achieve the initial objectives of the Nationalist Revolution which, it is suggested, aimed to build a quasi-market society. The revolution, however, was not abortive. It transformed the political system. In the Imperial tradition of government, local elites protected local communities against state encroachment through their involvement in property management. After 1927, the Nanjing Government adopted a “free market” approach to political affairs, and centralized the use of military and legal power to protect property against labour and the peasants. Peasant demands for rights to the land they tilled, a key element in Sun Yat-sen’s programme for the revolution, questioned the brokerage market economy, in which local elites acted as the intermediaries of contractual partners. Workers, in the context of industrialization, and with support from Communist organizers, attempted to improve working conditions. Peasants and workers contested the power of active elites that grew in the new political order established by. the Nationalist Government. The Nationalist State abandoned the traditional role of the Chinese state to protect the well-being of society. Deeply influenced by new elites, it protected capital accumulation and safeguarded the sanctity of contracts. The Nationalist Revolution ultimately failed as it was unable to resist the invasions of the Japanese, or the alternative social formulations of the Communist movement.

No abstract available. / Thesis (D.Th.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1987.

Light in the poetry by Saint-Denys Garneau appears in touches. At first imperceptible, it is soon revealed through the movement of wind or water. If the light in movement gives form to the landscape by outlining the contour of things, the fixed light, on the other hand, hollows out large holes of darkness which engulf the landscape. The space thus displayed reduces the poet to anonymity and silence. The conflict pulling the poet between these two forms of light, which refers to the problematics of Orpheus' song and sight, as defined by Blanchot, constitutes the drama of Saint-Denys Garneau. The poet thus seems to rest only in the midst of the transparence, this excess of clarity which transfigures things without however destroying their unchanging appearance. / Light thus determines the poet's attitude facing the world. Each day is lived out according to the ascent or decline of light. One can thus observe how the morning, afternoon and night inspire in Saint-Denys Garneau particular states of mind and songs. Light is indissociable from Saint-Denys Garneau's poetic process. This study should allow me to show that the poet's failure is not exclusively the result of exterior hostile forces acting upon his poetic undertaking, but that it places itself, on the contrary, within this poetic undertaking insofar as the silence (the darkness of the fixed light) is the necessary risk to the word (the light in movement).