L’objectif de cette thèse est d’étudier les appropriations politiques de l’œuvre de Stéphane Mallarmé. Nous explorerons comment on a pu faire de Mallarmé un objet de réflexion politique, tout en examinant les ressources conceptuelles dont on s’est servi pour donner aux écrits du poète une signification politique, ainsi que les différentes conjonctures, à la fois intellectuelle et politique, dans lesquelles ils ont pu jouer un rôle politique. Nous aborderons d’abord les travaux de Sartre, en étudiant le dialogue qu’il a entretenu avec Mallarmé tout au long de sa carrière. Nous expliquerons comment Mallarmé a pu être pour Sartre à la fois un membre d’un courant littéraire anti-démocratique et nihiliste et un héros existentialiste avant la lettre. Ensuite nous nous tournerons vers les premiers travaux de Julia Kristeva. En étudiant de près sa lecture de Mallarmé, nous montrerons pourquoi Mallarmé devait être pour les telqueliens à la fois un objet de réflexion privilégié et de critique. Dans notre troisième chapitre, nous examinerons la lecture de Mallarmé proposée par Alain Badiou en nous focalisant sur son premier livre, Théorie du sujet. Nous tâcherons aussi à cerner la signification de Mallarmé pour Badiou après la publication de son chef-d’œuvre, L’Etre et l’événement. Dans notre quatrième chapitre, nous nous tournerons vers les écrits de Jacques Rancière et proposerons une exégèse critique de sa lecture du poète. Nous clarifierons la signification politique que Rancière accorde à Mallarmé. Nous terminerons en examinant brièvement l’intervention récente dans cette histoire interprétative de Quentin Meillassoux. / The aim of this thesis is to study the political appropriations of the work of Stéphane Mallarmé. We will explore how Mallarmé has been made an object of political reflection, as well as examining the conceptual resources used to give his writings a political significance, and the different conjunctures, at once political and intellectual, in which his writings have played a political role. We begin with the works of Sartre and study his dialogue with the poet, which lasted the entirety of his career. We will explain how Mallarmé could be, for Sartre, at once a member of an anti-democratic and nihilistic literary tendency and a proto-existentialist hero. Then we will turn to the early work of Julia Kristeva. By closely studying this reading, we will show why Mallarmé had to be for the Telquellians at once an object of privileged reflection and an object of critique. In our third chapter, we examine the reading of Mallarmé proposed by Alain Badiou, focusing on his first book, Théorie du Sujet. We will also attempt to determine the political signfication of Mallarmé for Badiou after the publication of his masterwork, L'Etre et l'événement. In our fourth chapter, we turn to the writings of Jacques Rancière and offer a critical exegesis of his reading of the poet. We will clarify the political signification that Rancière gives to Mallarmé. We will end by briefly examining the recent intervention into this interprétative history by Quentin Meillassoux.

Este trabalho discute o emprego da topologia como ramo da matemática nos desenvolvimentos teóricos de Jacques Lacan. O ponto de partida é a crítica apresentada por Sokal quanto à falta de fundamento deste recurso em seu uso pela psicanálise, em contraposição às afirmações lacanianas quanto a ser a topologia a própria estrutura. O objetivo central é defender a idéia de que o recurso metodológico à topologia, às matemáticas e à lógica é compatível com o conceito de significante, oriundo do estruturalismo saussuriano e este pode ser fundamentado na noção lógica de conjunto tal como a matemática, após Cantor o concebeu. Discute-se três argumentos contrários a uma possível formalização nas ciências do homem: o da qualidade, o do sentido e o da singularidade. Realiza-se em seguida: (1) uma análise das relações entre o conceito de significante e o de conjunto a partir dos axiomas da teoria de Zermelo-Fraenkel, (2) a apresentação de uma possível lógica para o significante tomado em suas relações de significação tal como a psicanálise lacaniana as concebe, e (3) a proposição do emprego do conceito matemático de modelo, como o que reúne o conceito de conjunto à lógica. Os três resultados obtidos baseiam-se nos desenvolvimentos do filósofo francês Alain Badiou em seu esforço de discutir filosofia através do mesmo recurso à matemática. Conclui-se que nos limites da fundamentação da lógica e da matemática encontra-se os problemas que também norteiam as investigações psicanalíticas a respeito da subjetividade e de suas possíveis transformações / The present study discusses the use of topology as a branch in mathematics in Jacques Lacans theoretical developments. The starting point is the criticism presented by Sokal concerning a supposed lack of fundament of such an appeal in its use within psychoanalysis, contrary to lacanians assertions of topology as its proper structure. Our central objective is to defend the idea that the methodological appeal to topology, to mathematics and to logic is indeed compatible with the concept of significant, as brought by saussurian structuralism, and that the former concept can be grounded on the logical concept of set, as mathematics after Cantor conceived it. Three arguments that oppose to a possible formalization within human sciences are discussed: one concerning quality, one regarding meaning and one that affirms singularity. The following are developed in the sequence: (1) an analysis of the relations between the concept of significant and that of set, according to the axioms of Zermelo- Fraenkel theory, (2) a presentation of a possible logic for the significant taken in its signifying relations, as lacanian psychoanalysis conceives it, and (3) a proposition of adoption of the mathematical concept of model, as one that unites the concept of set and logic. These three results are based on Alain Badious developments and effort to discuss philosophy through this same appeal to mathematics. One concludes that in the very limits of mathematical and logic fundaments one finds the same problems that guide psychoanalytical research regarding subjectivity and its possible transformation

Este trabalho discute o emprego da topologia como ramo da matemática nos desenvolvimentos teóricos de Jacques Lacan. O ponto de partida é a crítica apresentada por Sokal quanto à falta de fundamento deste recurso em seu uso pela psicanálise, em contraposição às afirmações lacanianas quanto a ser a topologia a própria estrutura. O objetivo central é defender a idéia de que o recurso metodológico à topologia, às matemáticas e à lógica é compatível com o conceito de significante, oriundo do estruturalismo saussuriano e este pode ser fundamentado na noção lógica de conjunto tal como a matemática, após Cantor o concebeu. Discute-se três argumentos contrários a uma possível formalização nas ciências do homem: o da qualidade, o do sentido e o da singularidade. Realiza-se em seguida: (1) uma análise das relações entre o conceito de significante e o de conjunto a partir dos axiomas da teoria de Zermelo-Fraenkel, (2) a apresentação de uma possível lógica para o significante tomado em suas relações de significação tal como a psicanálise lacaniana as concebe, e (3) a proposição do emprego do conceito matemático de modelo, como o que reúne o conceito de conjunto à lógica. Os três resultados obtidos baseiam-se nos desenvolvimentos do filósofo francês Alain Badiou em seu esforço de discutir filosofia através do mesmo recurso à matemática. Conclui-se que nos limites da fundamentação da lógica e da matemática encontra-se os problemas que também norteiam as investigações psicanalíticas a respeito da subjetividade e de suas possíveis transformações / The present study discusses the use of topology as a branch in mathematics in Jacques Lacans theoretical developments. The starting point is the criticism presented by Sokal concerning a supposed lack of fundament of such an appeal in its use within psychoanalysis, contrary to lacanians assertions of topology as its proper structure. Our central objective is to defend the idea that the methodological appeal to topology, to mathematics and to logic is indeed compatible with the concept of significant, as brought by saussurian structuralism, and that the former concept can be grounded on the logical concept of set, as mathematics after Cantor conceived it. Three arguments that oppose to a possible formalization within human sciences are discussed: one concerning quality, one regarding meaning and one that affirms singularity. The following are developed in the sequence: (1) an analysis of the relations between the concept of significant and that of set, according to the axioms of Zermelo- Fraenkel theory, (2) a presentation of a possible logic for the significant taken in its signifying relations, as lacanian psychoanalysis conceives it, and (3) a proposition of adoption of the mathematical concept of model, as one that unites the concept of set and logic. These three results are based on Alain Badious developments and effort to discuss philosophy through this same appeal to mathematics. One concludes that in the very limits of mathematical and logic fundaments one finds the same problems that guide psychoanalytical research regarding subjectivity and its possible transformation

[pt] A partir dos movimentos de maio de 1968, a figura intelectual da emancipação toma conta da filosofia francesa: enquanto Jacques Rancière aposta na radical hipótese da igualdade das inteligências, Alain Badiou desenvolve uma teoria do acontecimento. Em comum, concernem a ambos processos de subjetivação, dentre os quais Badiou destaca quatro: amorosos, científicos, políticos e artísticos. Neste âmbito, o regime estético rancièriano e a inestética badiousiana oferecem aporte teórico para reformular as categorias segundo as quais se compreende a criação artística – em geral – e o cinema – em particular. No entendimento comum de uma arte contemporânea das relações, este trabalho aproxima os autores com o objetivo de pensar a obra do diretor austríaco Michael Haneke. Dividindo seus filmes em blocos temáticos – entre cinema e amor, entre cinema e ciência, entre cinema e política e entre cinema e outras artes –, investigam-se distâncias e intervalos pelos quais podem passar ideias e nos quais se formam espectadores como sujeitos igualitários. / [en] From May 68 on, the intellectual figure of emancipation takes over French philosophy: while Jacques Rancière bets on the radical hypothesis of the equality of intelligences, Alain Badiou develops the theory of the event. In unison, both are concerned with processes of subjectivation, amongst which Badiou highlights four types: amorous, scientific, political and artistic. In this last scope, the rancièrian aesthetic regime and the badiousian inaesthetics offer a theoretical approach to reformulate the categories within which art – in general – and cinema – in particular – are perceived. In the common understanding of contemporary art of relations, this work links the authors, intending to analyze the work of Austrian director Michael Haneke. Splitting his movies into thematic blocks – between cinema and love, between cinema and science, between cinema and politics and between cinema and other arts –, the investigation lies on the distances and intervals within which ideas pass and spectators form themselves as egalitarian subjects.

This thesis explores how theatre informs Badiou's philosophy through detailed analysis of Badiou's theory of theatre and his six plays L'Écharpe rouge, Incident at Antioch and the Ahmed tetralogy . It argues that theatre has provided an ideal and material ground for Badiou to rehearse concepts he developed in his Logics of the Worlds (2006) and Second Manifesto for Philosophy (2009), such as that of ideation and incorporation. By placing theatre at the core of Badiou's work, this thesis provides a different point of entry into Badiou's philosophy: it demonstrates the overarching nature of Badiou's materialist dialectic, which leads to exploring the relationship between politics and theatre. By ultimately defining Badiou's theatre as a theatre of inexist[a]nce and insisting upon the ontological nature of theatre, this thesis heralds new approaches to the relationship between theatre and philosophy.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The primary concern of this dissertation will be to understand under what conditions novelty arises within a system. In classical philosophy, the notion of novelty is usually said to arise out of an event. However, the notion of an event often carries with it metaphysical and conservative implications. Therefore, part of the concern of this dissertation is to begin to develop an approach to novelty which is not dependent upon the event. This approach is developed through the insights offered by Critical Complexity and post‐structuralist philosophy. In social science the model of the frame has dominated how to think about the limitations to the context specific nature of knowledge. Instead of the analogy of a frame, this dissertation argues that it is better to adopt the notion of an ‘economy’. This is due to the fact that the notion of an economy allows social scientists to better theorize the relationships which constitute the models they create. The argument for an economy is made by exploring the connections between the work of Jacques Derrida, the complexity theorist Edgar Morin and Georges Bataille. However, when using the notion of an economy, one must always take the excess of this economy into consideration. This excess always feeds back to disrupt the economy from which it is excluded. Using terms developed in complexity theory, this dissertation illustrates how a system adapts to the environment by using this excess. Due to this there can never be a comprehensively modelled complex system because there are always facets of this system which remain hidden to the observer. The work of Alain Badiou, whose central concern is the notion of novelty arising out of an event, is introduced. The implications of depending on the event for novelty to arise are drawn out by discussing the affinities between the work of Derrida and Badiou. In this regard, Derrida’s use of the term ‘event’ much more readily agrees with a complexity informed understanding of the term in contrast to the quasi‐religious definition which Badiou uses. This complexity‐informed understanding of the event illustrates that what the event reveals is simultaneously a dearth and wealth of possibilities yet to be realized. Therefore the event cannot be depended upon to produce novelty. However, the notion of the event must not be discarded too quickly; classical science has traditionally discarded this idea due to its reductive approach. The idea of process opens up an understanding of the radical novelties produced in history to the possibility of the event and to a new understanding of ontology. This dissertation proposes that one can begin to think about radical forms of novelty without the event through the notion of experimentation. This approach allows one to engage with what exists rather than relying upon an event to produce novelty. This argument is made by following Bataille, who argues that through an engagement with non‐utilitarian forms of action, by expending for the sake of expenditure, the world is opened up to possibilities which remain unrealized under the current hegemony. In this light, this dissertation begins to develop a definition of novelty as that which forces a rereading of the system’s history. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie proefskrif onderneem hoofsaaklik om die omstandighede waaronder nuwigheid binne ʼn stelsel ontstaan te verstaan. Daar word in die klassieke filosofie voorgehou dat nuwigheid gewoonlik vanuit ʼn gebeurtenis ontstaan. Die idee van ʼn gebeurtenis hou egter dikwels ongewenste metafisiese en konserwatiewe implikasies in. Hierdie proefskrif onderneem dus om, deels, ʼn benadering tot nuwigheid te ontwikkel wat onafhanklik van die gebeurtenis staan. Hierdie benadering word verder uitgebrei met behulp van insigte vanuit die Kritiese Kompleksiteits‐ en Post‐Strukturalistiese filosofie. Tot onlangs het die model van die raamwerk die wyse waarop daar oor die beperkinge van die konteks‐spesifieke aard van kennis in die sosiale wetenskappe gedink word oorheers. In hierdie proefskrif word voorgehou dat die idee van ʼn ‘ekonomie’ in plaas van die analogie van ʼn raamwerk hier gebruik behoort te word, omdat dit ons sal toelaat om die verhoudings binne die modelle wat deur sosiale wetenskaplikes gebruik word beter te verken. Verder word die moontlike verbande tussen Jacques Derrida , die kompleksiteitsfilosoof Edgar Morin en Georges Bataille teen hierdie agtergrond verken. Wanneer daar van ʼn ekonomie gepraat word, moet die oormaat van die ekonomie altyd in ag geneem word. Hierdie oormaat ontwrig altyd die ekonomie waarby dit uitgesluit word. Om te wys hoe die stelsel van so ʼn oormaat gebruik maak om by sy omgewing aan te pas, sal terminologie wat in die konteks van kompleksiteitsteorie ontwikkel is gebruik word. As gevolg van die oorvloed binne ʼn stelsel sal daar nooit ʼn volledige model van die stelsel ontwikkel kan word nie ‐‐ fasette van die stelsel sal altyd vir die waarnemer verborge bly. Verder sal die werk van Alain Badiou, wie se filosofie rondom die idee van nuwigheid wat uit ʼn gebeurtenis ontstaan gesentreed is, in hierdie verhandeling bespreek word. Die implikasies van die idee dat nuwigheid van die gebeurtenis afhanklik is word uitgelig deur die verwantskappe tussen die werke van Derrida en Badiou te bespreek. Derrida se gebruik van die term ‘gebeurtenis’ dra ʼn noue verwantskap met kompleksiteitsteorie, en dit word teenoor Badiou se amper‐godsdienstige gebruik van die term gestel. Daar word aangevoer dat daar binne ʼn kompleksiteits‐ingeligte verstaan van ʼn gebeurtenis beide ʼn skaarste en ʼn oorvloed van moontlikhede bestaan wat vervul kan word. Daarom kan daar juis nié op die gebeurtenis staatgemaak word om nuwigheid te skep nie. Die idee van die gebeurtenis moet egter nie te gou verwerp word nie. As gevolg van die klassieke wetenskap se reduksionisme is die idee van ʼn gebeurtenis tradisioneel ontken. Daarteenoor ontsluit die idee van ʼn proses die moontlikheid van radikale nuwighede in die geskiedenis as gevolg van ʼn verstaan van die gebeurtenis wat tot ʼn nuwe verstaan van die ontologie lei. Hierdie proefskrif stel dus voor dat ons voortaan aan radikale nuwigheid dink in terme van die denkbeeld van eksperimentering eerder as in terme van die gebeurtenis. Eksperimentering laat ons toe om te werk met wat ons het, eerder as om op ʼn gebeurtenis te moet wag. Na aanleiding van Bataille is die voorstel dat daar deur om te gaan met nieutilitaristiese vorms van optrede nuwe geleenthede vir die wêreld oopgemaak word; geleenthede wat onder die huidige hegemonie ongerealiseerd sal bly. In hierdie verband stel die proefskrif ʼn definisie van nuwigheid voor as dít wat mens dwing om die geskiedenis van ʼn stelsel te herformuleer.

Submitted by Caroline Xavier (caroline.xavier@pucrs.br) on 2017-07-05T14:17:42Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TES_CARLOS_ROBERTO_DE_SOUZA_ROBAINA_COMPLETO.pdf: 1444502 bytes, checksum: fb6e82d9ee9a99fb2b070e5d49a890e9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-05T14:17:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 TES_CARLOS_ROBERTO_DE_SOUZA_ROBAINA_COMPLETO.pdf: 1444502 bytes, checksum: fb6e82d9ee9a99fb2b070e5d49a890e9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-22 / The object of this thesis is Alain Badiou's claim of the communist idea as the principle of politics, his identification of communism as the modern name of the concept of justice in Plato. Characterizing the regime of Capital as the inconsistency of the present world, the communist hypothesis defended by Badiou states that the failures experienced in the attempts to construct a new world, a project of emancipation, should serve to assess the reasons of this failure, and never lead to relinquishment of further attempts. In the face of the failure in the attempt of making real a true idea, trying again is a feature of Badiou?s thinking and action. This thesis also analyzes the evolution of Badiou?s political thought and the nature of this evolution, still in course. It is also demonstrated that Badiou was affected by political processes and events of the class struggle in his militant period of life, the changes in the=o9?ituation and the effects of these changes in his formulations: the changes in his communist project. At the same time, it is evidenced the continuity in his thought, pointing out the most detachable indications of Badiou's fidelity to the communist idea, as well as to Marxism as a fundamental reference of his thought, of his general coordinates of political thinking and action. The central thesis is his loyalty to this idea. The thesis concludes with a case study, using the philosophical categories of the transformation theory formulated by Alain Badiou. This case study is the evaluation of the characteristics and meaning of the popular and youthful uprising experienced by Brazil in June 2013, analyzing whether this social and political process was what Badiou defined as the "event" or whether it was a normal fact, one more modification, trying to visualize its possible features and the subjects involved in its effects. It is also shown that June 2013 represented and continues to represent a political process which produces truths and, in this sense, has a close relationship with philosophy. / O tema desta tese ? a reivindica??o de Alain Badiou da ideia comunista como princ?pio da pol?tica, sua identifica??o do comunismo como o nome moderno do conceito de justi?a em Plat?o. Caracterizando o regime do Capital como a inconsist?ncia do mundo atual, a hip?tese comunista defendida por Badiou afirma que os fracassos experimentados nas tentativas de constru??o de um novo mundo, de um projeto de emancipa??o, devem servir para que se fa?am balan?os das raz?es deste fracasso, mas jamais devem levar a abandonar o empenho em novas tentativas. Diante do fracasso da implementa??o de uma ideia verdadeira, tentar de novo ? uma marca do seu pensamento e a??o. Nesta tese analisa-se a evolu??o do seu pensamento pol?tico e a natureza desta evolu??o ainda em curso; ainda, v?-se como, ao longo de sua trajet?ria, Badiou foi afetado por processos pol?ticos e acontecimentos da luta de classes em seu per?odo de vida militante, as mudan?as no estado da situa??o e os efeitos destas mudan?as nas suas formula??es: as mudan?as no interior da continuidade de seu projeto comunista. Ao marcar o fio de continuidade em sua elabora??o, apontamos as indica??es mais destac?veis da fidelidade de Badiou ? ideia comunista, bem como ao marxismo enquanto refer?ncia fundamental de seu pensamento, de suas coordenadas gerais de localiza??o pol?tica. A tese central ? sua fidelidade a esta ideia. A tese ser? conclu?da com um estudo de caso, utilizando as categorias filos?ficas da teoria da transforma??o formulada por Alain Badiou. Trata-se da avalia??o das caracter?sticas e do significado do levante juvenil e popular vivido pelo Brasil em junho de 2013, analisando se este processo social e pol?tico constituiu-se no que Badiou definiu com o conceito de ?acontecimento? ou se foi um fato normal, uma modifica??o a mais, tratando de visualizar suas eventuais marcas e os sujeitos envolvidos em seus efeitos. Mostra-se, ainda, que junho de 2013 representou e continua representando um processo pol?tico produtor de verdades e que, neste sentido, tem uma rela??o estreita com a filosofia.

Propõe-se examinar o processo de afirmação de novos direitos, tomando por ponto de partida o pensamento dos filósofos Alain Badiou e Antônio Negri, de quem se realiza uma leitura seletiva e intensiva das obras. Disserta-se sobre a articulação entre ontologia, evento e poder constituinte, como polos para uma teoria do sujeito. Trata-se da questão da afirmação de direitos além, ou antes, de o estado reconhecê-los. Um direito vivo liberto das mediações do estado e do mercado. O direito como potência e não sob a espécie da norma. Discutem-se ainda os conceitos de direito singular e direito comum. O sujeito em pauta é o sujeito comunista, interno ao movimento real de abolição do estado de coisas, na esteira de Karl Marx. Outros autores abordados com frequência são Spinoza e Hegel. Apresentam-se brevemente o método da copesquisa militante (do operaísmo autonomista), o materialismo dialético da cisão (Badiou) e a práxis constituinte (Negri). Mais além de uma discussão restrita ao campo de filosofia política, adota-se a perspectiva de que o pensamento é imediatamente político, que se pode exercer uma política na filosofia e produção do conhecimento. Conclui-se com o cotejamento entre as teorias do sujeito de Negri e Badiou, quanto aos pontos desdobrados neste trabalho, e como esse parcial encontro pode potenciar ferramentas práticas e teóricas. Especial destaque na conclusão, ao duplo processo pars construens pars destruens, para uma política subversiva e radical. A mútua implicação de um e outro é vital para a capacidade um movimento real transformar o estado das coisas. / This dissertation addresses the issue of how to create new rights, breathing the air of the radical thought of Alain Badiou and Antonio Negri, from whom it has been made an intensive and selective review. It goes over the articulation of ontology, event and constituent power, as polarities for a theory of the subject. The question in discussion is about rights beyond, or before, the state recognizes them. A living law freed from states or markets mediations. Law as power [potentia], and not sub species of the norm. Singular right and common right are also discussed. The subject in question is communist subject, internal to the real movement for the abolition of the present situation, following Marx. Other authors frequently referred: Spinoza and Hegel. Some methodological aspects are presented briefly: con-ricerca (of operaismo autonomist), dialectical materialism of scission (Badiou) and constituent praxis (Negri). Beyond some debate limited to political philosophy field, this work adopts premise that thinking is immediately political, and that there can be exerted a political intervention in philosophy itself and knowledge production. The conclusion puts Negris and Badious theories of subject to interact, on points developed through the text, aiming hopefully to contribute for some practical or theoretical tools. A special remark must be made for the importance of the double procedure pars construens pars destruens, for a truly subversive and radical politics. The mutual incidence of one over the other is vital for any movements real capacity of transformation.

This investigation constitutes an attempt towards(1) understanding issues and problems relating to the notions of one, many, part and whole in Parmenides and Plato; (2) extracting conditions for a successful account of multiplicity and parthood;(3) surveying Deleuzian conceptions and uses of these notions; (4) appraising the extent to which Deleuze’s metaphysics can answer some of these ancient problems concerning the status of multiplicity and the nature of mereological composition, that is, of the relations that pertain between parts and the wholes that they compose.

<p>Impure Cinema: Political Pedagogies in Film and Theory asks what are the ways that the politics of film theory have been conceptualized since the era now known as "70s film theory." In particular, it analyzes the writings on cinema, politics and art by contemporary French philosophers Alain Badiou and Jacques Rancière in relation to the influential approaches of Louis Althusser and Gilles Deleuze and to theories of documentary cinema. I argue that unlike the political modernism of 70s film theory and the post-theory turn of 90s film studies, Badiou and Rancière offer an approach to film theory that neither assumes that all films are political, nor that politics underdetermine theory, but rather suggests that we analyze both theories and films in terms of how they construct connections between cinema and politics. Following Deleuze, I call these connections "pedagogical" not because they transmit knowledge but because they always involve a new kind of connection or relation that seeks to transform habitual ways of seeing, saying or doing. For Badiou and Rancière this is based on a conception of cinema as "impure." Cinema, they argue, is never free of elements from other arts or daily life, but it is this impurity that is the grounds for linking its artistic and political possibilities. I look at various film forms that highlight cinema's impurity, in particular the "actuality" and how it has been reappropriated in various forms of documentary and essayistic practices as a way of giving cinematic form to questions of political equality.</p> / Dissertation