This study brings the insights of Slavoj Žižek’s Lacan-inspired approach to bear upon a series of influential 20th century plays and their engagement with what Lacan calls the Real. The plays to be explored share a focus on experiences, events or encounters which transcend, exceed, disrupt, and in some cases shatter characters’ normal, familiar realities. Examined through the lens of Žižek, these confrontations with the sublime and the fantastic reveal a crucial relation to the plays’ contemporary contexts, prompting us to “look awry” upon the dynamics of our own symbolically-regulated reality and the ever-changing and precarious nature of our relation to it. Similarly crucial is the relation of the Lacanian Real to our theatrical forms and modes of perception in the theatre. In staging “encounters with the Real,” these plays prompt us simultaneously to explore the ways in which the Real operates —and “appears” — in our own theatrical experience, ensnaring our gaze and the force of our desire. The study offers a Žižekian approach to works including Peter Shaffer’s Equus, John Mighton’s Possible Worlds, S. An-sky’s The Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds, Caryl Churchill’s The Skriker, Tony Kushner’s The Illusion, and Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt’s Enigma Variations.

This thesis argues that economic development, in both theory and practice, is inevitably based on moral questions. These questions have been explored in recent years by "development ethicists," a multidisciplinary group of scholars and practitioners committed to evaluating the policy implications of economic development. Chapter 1 engages this body of literature, arguing that the capability ethic articulated by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum can provide a valuable ethical framework for evaluating economic development in the Canadian north. Their approach is considered in conjunction with other ethical proposals, and, in particular, how theological insights provide an additional dimension for a more comprehensive development ethic. / Chapter 2 investigates the ethical assumptions in the theories and models of economic development proposed for the Canadian north, and how public policy based on these theories and models has infringed on the claims and aspirations of Aboriginal peoples. The chapter then shifts from the larger Canadian context to Manitoba, and explores the story of how two hydro development projects impacted several Aboriginal communities. / This story provides the context for understanding why four church denominations became involved in defending the rights and aims of five Aboriginal communities in northern Manitoba. Chapter 3 examines the moral vision of the four Christian churches and their rationale for sponsoring four days of public hearings on the Churchill-Nelson Rivers hydro diversion project. The public hearings provide an opportunity to analyse how development affects the lives of a people group when it is thrust upon them without consideration of their economic, cultural, and social value systems. / The final chapter examines the issue of the loss of cultural identity for Aboriginal communities as economic development occurs. A major issue pertaining to the loss of cultural identity is whether a development ethic should be based on a universal ethic, or on local traditions, for example, the traditions of the five Aboriginal communities in northern Manitoba. The efforts of the Interchurch Task Force are investigated as a particular type of response to these issues.

La presente tesi ha come oggetto di ricerca la riscoperta e l’approfondimento della vicenda storica e intellettuale di Richard Nikolaus Coudenhove-Kalergi, in qualità di fondatore di uno dei progetti di unità europea più importanti del Novecento, la “Paneuropa”. La ricerca ha avuto, come primo obiettivo, quello di sondare soprattutto le modalità con cui l’Italia recepì il suo messaggio durante gli anni Venti e Trenta, risultato ottenuto attraverso l’analisi di alcune tra le riviste e testate giornalistiche più rappresentative di quegli anni. Il lavoro ha successivamente dimostrato non solo se e quanto la cultura italiana fosse attenta alle dinamiche europee, ma anche il numero e la qualità dei rapporti amicali che Coudenhove-Kalergi, durante la sua vita, fu in grado di intrecciare con numerose personalità note e meno note del panorama italiano. / The present dissertation is focused on the rediscover and in-depth analysis of the biography and intellectual life of Richard Nikolaus Coudenhove-Kalergi, as a founder and promoter of one the most important European unity projects in the XXth century, "Paneuropa". The research had, at first, the purpose to investigate how Italy adopted his message during the ’20s and ’30s, particularly analyzing some periodicals, magazines and newspapers most representative of those years. Afterwards, it has been demonstrated not only if and how much Italian culture was attentive to European dynamics, but also the number and quality of friendly bonds that Coudenhove-Kalergi was able to establish during his life with many more or less well-known personalities of the Italian scenario.

The study unpacked the meaning and the value of intonjane in traditional Xhosa communities. It also provides a critical analysis and interpretation of the intonjane custom and in particular its impact on the upbringing of a Xhosa traditional girl child. It investigates the value of this practice, especially in relation to where it is still being performed, even in our modern times. I researched closely into all aspects of how the girls were brought up, and with what social values. The data collection has been conducted through interviews with the Philakukuzenzela group when they were in Grahamstown Art Festival in July 2011 who come from a place called Centuli, and other people (abaThembu) who practice and have knowledge of the different aspects of the intonjane process and observation during the actual ceremonies in O. R. Thambo district, and in Gemvale near Port St Johns in the Province of the Eastern Cape. Interviews were conducted in Xhosa and translated into English. This Visual Narrative investigates and contributes to the debate regarding the value of traditional African thought and how it can enrich our contemporary belief system. The objective was to investigate the essence and merit of the knowledge imparted by elderly women to young girls during the initiation period of intonjane within Xhosa traditional communities. This study provides a foundation and springboard for my practical artworks which utilized symbols and metaphors to express my understanding of the important events and stages associated with this traditional ceremony. Clay medium was used as the medium of expression, applying different techniques such as throwing, press mold, slab building, coiling, engraving, sewing and inlaying, with press mold being the main technique utilized. My artworks are of three different types, which are symbolic of the three aspects or stages, of liminality, namely: pre-liminal, liminal and post-liminal. / Art history, Visual arts and Musicology / M.A. (Visual Arts)

Caryl Churchill, the most widely performed female dramatist in contemporary British theatre, is a playwright preoccupied with the dissection of the traditional relations of power. She challenges social and dramatic conventions through her innovative exploration of the male gaze, the objectification of women, the performativity of gender, and women as objects of exchange within a masculine economy. In so doing, Churchill locates her concerns in the area of `materialism and gender'. Churchill explicates a socialist-feminist position by pointing directly at the failure of liberal feminism. The lack of a sense of community among women, highlighted by Churchill's portrayal of women such as Marlene in `Top Girls', forms a critical aspect of Churchill's work. Her drama re-iterates how meaningful change is impossible while women continue to oppress one another, and while economic structures perpetuate patriarchy. Altered consciousness, aligned to socio-political re-structuring, is necessary for both the oppressors and the oppressed, in a society where too much emphasis has been placed on individualism. The outspoken hope for a transgression of the conventional processes of identification and other omnipresent, oppressive socio-political phenomena, is a strong aspect of Churchill's work. Her plays reveal how signs create reality rather than reflect it, and she uses Brechtian-based distancing methods to induce a critical examination of gendered relations. Time-shifting, overlapping dialogue, doubling and cross-casting are used by Churchill to manipulate the sign-systems of the dominant order. Cross-gender casting, Churchill's most widely reviewed dramatic device, is employed to destabilise fixed sexual identities determined by dominant heterosexual ideology. She calls into question the traditional sign `Woman' - which is constructed by and for the male gaze - and addresses the marginality of the female experience in a non-linear framework. Although dealing with serious issues, Churchill's plays are often executed in a style that is at once amusing and thought-provoking to exclude the possibility of didacticism. With her skilful use of language and innovative techniques as her highly effective instruments, Churchill accomplishes her broader purpose with originality. In its originality and complexity, her drama is in itself a `new possibility' for different forms. / English Studies / M. A. (English)

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There is a brief introduction explaining the themes in the literature available to date and how this thesis aims to add to available material. In chapter one I give an account of early British research into nuclear science, including collaboration between British universities and the effect the MAUD Report had on accelerating the United States atomic programme. I introduce the main British scientists here . In chapter two I focus on diplomacy between Britain and the United States in the period up to the Quebec Agreement. The two countries had their own atomic programmes at this stage and I discuss the lead up to the amalgamation of both programmes in August 1943. Chapter three examines the British raids on German heavy water facilities and the efforts to stop Germany acquiring the means to make an atomic bomb before the Allies. Co-operation between the British and U.S teams at Los Alamos is discussed, along with the crucial role played by Britain in assisting the American scientists. The British nuclear spies are featured in chapter four, focusing on Alan Nunn May and Klaus Fuchs. Their actions are discussed along with their arrests and trials. Effects of their cases on British atomic diplomacy with the Americans are highlighted. The final section sums up the legacies of Britain¿s nuclear programme and its effect on British Cold War politics with America and the U.S.S.R. The fusion, or hydrogen, bomb is mentioned briefly and an overall assessment of the achievements of the British scientists is included.

Winston Churchill fut l'un des principaux acteurs du drame de 1940. Son rôle dans ces événements demeure un sujet de débat historique, et ce pour deux raisons majeures. La première concerne son rôle sur le déroulement des opérations navales de son pays en tant que Premier Lord de l'Amirauté, qui n'est pas clairement établi. Les historiens s'interrogent sur les conséquences des gestes posés. La seconde a trait à sa responsabilité dans l'échec en Norvège, qui ne l'empêcha pas de devenir Premier ministre. Comment les historiens perçoivent-ils le rôle d'un individu? Comment traitent-ils les hommes politiques exceptionnels? Nous avons choisi d'aborder ce problème à travers le cas de Winston Churchill lors d'un moment critique dans sa carrière, soit l'année 1940. / Québec Université Laval, Bibliothèque 2013

British influence on the diplomacy of WWII, as it relates to postwar planning, is underappreciated. This work explores how the use of astute tactical maneuvering allowed Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden to impact the development of the post-war world in a greater degree than is typically portrayed in the narratives of the war. Detailing how the study of business negotiations can provide new insights into diplomatic history, Yalta exposes Britain’s impact on the creation of the post-war order through analyzing the diplomacy of WWII as a negotiation. To depict WWII post-war planning diplomacy as a negotiation means that the Yalta Conference of 1945 must be the focal point of said diplomacy with all the negotiations either flowing to or from the conference. This analysis reveals that Britain harnessed the natural momentum of the negotiation process to create bilateral understandings that protected or advanced their interests in ways that should not have been afforded the weakest party in the Grand Alliance. By pursuing solutions to the major wartime issues first and most stridently through the use of age-old British diplomatic tactics, they were able to enter into understandings with another member of the Grand Alliance prior to the tripartite conferences. Creating bilateral understandings with the Americans on the direction of military operations and the Soviets over the European settlement produced the conditions under which the tripartite negotiations transpired. Options available to the excluded party were thus limited, allowing for outcomes that aligned more favorably to British interests. A synthesis of diplomatic documents, diaries, and memoirs with historical writings as well as research on business and international negotiations brings to life the diplomatic encounters that led to the creation of the post-war order. To provide the reader a basis for analysis of wartime diplomacy, this work is broken down into two parts. Part I focuses on the strategies created for Yalta. Part II (future doctoral dissertation) will use these strategies to evaluate the performances of each party. Combined the two parts expose that British diplomatic maneuverings is an undervalued aspect of wartime diplomacy.