The Return Home : Mongo Beti's Late OeuvreIn 1991 amid the wave of democracy sweeping Africa, Mongo Beti returned to his native country of Cameroon to continue his literary career after 32 years of exile in France. My dissertation investigates the originality of his homecoming discourse. I explore how this prominent writer's late oeuvre illustrates his struggle to re-discover the country he left decades earlier as well as how his experience of returning shaped a new literary perception. His work after returning home reflects his gradual re-acquaintance with and re-integration into his native country. I argue that at the outset, his perception is initially guided by a backward glance on the past and that his assessment of the present aims at resisting pessimistic representations of Africa. In his later works, however, one cannot but notice the same sentiments of dissatisfaction and disillusion that were based on his first hand experience. To this extent, Mongo Beti's post-return literature can be considered dynamic as it evolved over time. A diachronic approach allowed me to examine his changing perceptions and representations of Africa based on the magnitude of his comprehension of his environment at each point in time. His post-return writing demonstrates a progressive redefinition of some of his previous narrative techniques as regards such elements as political resistance, authoritative narrators, linear unfolding of the plot, time and space, and character development. My analysis also questions the concept of "home" as a place of safety and refuge just as his post-return novels portray exile as an ambiguous state of being in-between worlds, as an expression of a simultaneous connection to the "new old" home and the distant former one abroad. Therefore, there is a shift in Mongo Beti's post-return discourse away from questions of national responsibility and social progress rooted in a consciousness of belonging to a defined community. The conceptual organization of my dissertation is derived from my reading of each of the four texts of the post-return era, and the way they illustrate the author's process of re-discovery of postcolonial Cameroon.

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abstract: Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) have a polarizing effect in the US. The first commercially viable GMO was Roundup Ready Soy, introduced by Monsanto in 1996, to be used in conjunction with Roundup herbicides. This thesis investigated and delineated the development and deployments of the discourse of Monsanto’s agricultural assemblage of Roundup Ready seeds and Roundup herbicides and its resistant discourses. Monsanto builds its discourse around the safety and necessity of Roundup Ready seeds through federal regulation and toxicology studies. Resistant discourses deployed by Monsanto’s critics problematize Roundup safety and reject Monsanto’s contention that GMOs are necessary for meeting world’s food demands. The discourse analysis pursued in this thesis explored interactions between the dominant discourse and counter discourses and charted their deployments in Colorado’s and Oregon’s 2014 ballot measures that would have required mandatory GMO labeling. Analysis suggested counter discourses were successful in mobilizing people to engage civically. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Communication Studies 2015

Le présent travail s’est proposé d’analyser avec les outils de la linguistique textuelle les autobiographies des jeunes Allemands de l’Est après 1989 souvent présentées comme inclassables dans le genre autobiographique. Il s’ouvre sur une description de la position interdisciplinaire adoptée dans ce travail de linguistique textuelle qui porte sur un corpus de textes relevant du discours littéraire tout en investissant des notions de l’analyse de discours s’inscrivant dans la tradition de Michel Foucault. Il se poursuit avec l’analyse des spécificités énonciatives, pragmatiques, thématiques et stylistiques des autobiographies des jeunes Allemands de l’Est après 1989, sur lesquelles se fonde leur appréhension en termes d’autobiographies contre-discursives, genre textuel désignant une sous-variante autobiographique produite par des auteurs-narrateurs marginalisés dans la réalité socio-historique, à destination du centre discursif, en réaction au discours dominant dont ils sont l’objet et qu’ils réfutent. Enfin ce travail propose une analyse détaillée des lexèmes nominaux composés ayant pour déterminant Ost- ou West- et à leur mise en texte dans les autobiographies des jeunes Allemands de l’Est après 1989. Parmi ces dénominations référant aux réalités de l’Est et de l’Ouest, certains complexes nominaux peuvent être qualifiés de composés phraséologiques : éléments linguistiques clés dans la diffusion des stéréotypes du discours sur l’Est, ils donnent lieu dans les textes du corpus à de nombreuses [dé]constructions lexicales permettant une critique du discours dominant, qui illustre la dimension défensive du contre-discours autobiographique est-allemand. / Through the use of text linguistics tools, this work aims to analyse the post 1989 autobiographies of young East Germans, which are often considered to be unclassifiable in the autobiographic genre. It starts with a description of the interdisciplinary position adopted in this text linguistics work. While focussing on a corpus of literary discourse texts it invests notions of discourse analysis which fall within the tradition of Michel Foucault. It continues with the analysis of the enunciative, pragmatic, thematic and stylistic specificities of these post 1989 autobiographies, which reveal, through a counter-discursive text type, the apprehension of their young East German authors. This text type refers to an autobiographic subvariant produced by author-narrators who have been marginalised from the social-historic reality, with a discursive purpose in reaction to the dominant discourse of which they are the objects and which they refute. La! stly, this work offers a detailed analysis of nominal compound lexemes having Ost- or West- as their determiner and their inclusion in the text of these post 1989 autobiographies of young East Germans. Among these denominations referring to East and West realities, certain nominal compounds can be qualified by phraseological compounds: as key linguistic elements in the diffusion of East discourse stereotypes they give rise, in the corpus texts, to numerous lexical [de]constructions which allow a criticism of the dominant discourse, thereby illustrating the defensive dimension of the East German counter-discourse autobiographies.

This dissertation analyzes the (de)construction of gender and nation through animal symbols in Franco’s Spain. The project explores, first, a web of miscellaneous discourses articulated around the official bestiary rhetoric that serve in the composition of uniform gender models tailor-made for the virile totalitarian state. The selection of texts presented is eclectic, both in its nature and form. It encompasses a wide repertoire of multi-media discourses (i.e., scientific, religious, legal, educational, political, commercial, humorous and popular) presented visually (movies, posters, comics, cartoons, flags, advertisements, logotypes), aurally (songs, harangues, sermons, speeches, radio programs) and in the written form (literary excerpts, newspapers, magazines, medical and religious treatises, conduct manuals, epistles), and whose aim is, ultimately, to illustrate the dissemination and scope of zoomorphic images in the representation of nation and gender during the Francoist dictatorship. Apart from providing a panoramic view of the gendered fauna, these historical documents will also serve as the unifying thread to unravel the complexities of several censored artistic productions that cunningly resort to the prevailing bestial iconography to attack the androcentric state. By focusing on the animalized portrayals of the female characters of la Gata [the She-Cat] in Margarita Alexandre and Rafael María Torrecilla’s movie La gata (1956), la Loba [the She-wolf] in Rafael de León, Andrés Moles and Manuel López Quiroga’s copla “La Loba” (1960), and the surrealistic centaur woman Albina in Ana María Moix’s novel Walter, ¿por qué te fuiste? (1973), this work attempts to illustrate the co-existence of a counter discourse able to re-define the monolithic pillars of gender and nation upon which the Francoist regime was constructed. Finally, to highlight the relevance of animal symbolism in the formation of concepts of gender and nation, this dissertation notes a similar deployment of the Francoist bestiary rhetoric in the nationalist discourse of the far-right Spanish political party VOX (2013-present).

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T14:16:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maria Jacinta Xon Riquiac.pdf: 672164 bytes, checksum: e9998761b01c40775605ca589af1c354 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-03-19 / Fundação Ford / We analyzed the ideologies and negativistic discourses regarding the knowledge of indigenous peoples, theoretised and paradigmised as mere myths and beliefs or subjective notions by ethnoscientific studies, what has been used to justify and fundament exploitation, racism and prejudice against those peoples. In the last decades of XX century, we have observed a deconstruction process of such discourses from indigenous analysis made by groups organized through political identities, which aim at claiming for the right to be and exist in the world; the validity and not the truthfulness of their perspectives of knowledge. Based on a de-continuistic, de-constructivist and endogenous histographical analysis we discuss the process of institutionalization of the non-sciences against the formalizing of ethnosciences as subjects intended to approximate and represent the systems of knowledge of non-western peoples, thus making evident the ontological and epistemological emptiness of the natural sciences, social sciences and the indigenous knowledge systems. Therefore, we discuss the relation between: non-science, science, discourse, representation, power, authority and representativity, to propose the construction of a counter-history from counter-discourses by means of a trans-subject dialogue or dialogue of knowledge s based on some diversity ethics in the relations society-nature and societies-societies / Analisamos as ideologias e discursos negativizadores a respeito dos sistemas de conhecimento dos povos indígenas, teorizados e paradigmatizados como simples mitos e crenças ou noções subjetivas pelos estudos etnocientíficos, que de alguma maneira têm servido para justificar e fundamentar a desigualdade, exploração, racismo e discriminação contra esses povos. Nas últimas décadas do século XX, tem começado um processo de desconstrução de tais discursos a partir de análises endógenas feitas por grupos organizados na forma de identidades políticas, que têm por objetivo, reivindicar um direito de ser e estar no mundo, -a validade e não a verdade das suas perspectivas de conhecimento. A partir de uma análise historiográfica descontinuísta, desconstructivista e endógena, discutimos o processo de institucionalização das não-ciências em contrapartida com a formalização das etnociências como disciplinas que têm por objetivo a aproximação e representação dos sistemas de conhecimento dos povos não-ocidentais, desta maneira, evidenciamos o vazio ontológico e epistemológico existente entre ciências naturais, ciências sociais e os sistemas de conhecimento dos povos indígenas. Portanto, discutimos a relação entre: não-ciência, ciência, discurso, representação, poder, autoridade e representatividade, para propor a construção de uma contra-história a partir de contra-discursos por meio de um diálogo transdisciplinar ou diálogo de saberes que se fundamentem numa ética da diversidade na relação sociedade-natureza e sociedades-sociedades

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The purpose of this study is to investigate how Swedish researchers portray a counter-discourse of New Public management in contemporary social work thru a Swedish context. The selection of empirical material is limited to Manifest: för ett socialt arbete i tiden which is an anthology with different research grants. The empirical material is limited to two chapters in the book; ”Det sociala arbetets kontrollmaskineri” written by Marcus Herz and ”Privatisering av individ- och familjeomsorgen” written by Marie Sallnäs and Stefan Wiklund. For analysis of the empirical material a critical discourse analysis will be applied which also is a part of social constructivist theory. When analysing Winther-Jørgensen and Phillips (2000) interpretation of Norman Faircloughs three-dimensional model will be applied. The goal with the critical analysis is to expose linguistic constructions that has been dominated by society for analysis. In this way liberation from incorporated images and power relationships can be received by challenging them. A counter-discourse occurs when different meanings try to take place in the same domain. This means that different values collide in the same domain and therefore they can be challenged.  NPM has a salience roll in social work but many researchers are questioning if it is the right way to go for the social work. The conclusions show that researchers highlight the consequences of the implementation of NPM and challenges the establishment by highlighting values they consider being elementary for the welfare system and social work. In this way a welfare discourse is portrayed as the counter-discourse against NPM.

There is a generalized perception on the 1991-1995 war in the former Yugoslavia as an ethnic conflict caused by longstanding antagonisms among homogenous ethnic groups inhabiting its territory. In such a worldview, which became part of the dominant discourse, inter-ethnic violence in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina was inevitable and the division of the population along ethnic lines was needed to stop the violence. In this thesis I problematize the dominant discourse on the ethnic nature and inevitability of violence, as well as on the ethnic fracturing as a solution, by exposing the experiences of two largest communities that remained ethnically mixed and preserved communal peace throughout wartime – the community of the region of Gorski kotar in Croatia and the community of the city of Tuzla in Bosnia-Herzegovina. By documenting and analysing their discourses and practices, and by contrasting them with the dominant discourses of war in these two countries, I provide evidence that these two communities were oases of peace which developed a counter-discourse and resisted violence by preserving their multi-ethnic character, promoting multiple identities, cherishing inter-ethnic cooperation and ensuring equality and good governance for all their citizens. Their narratives challenge the well-established «truths» about the war in the former Yugoslavia and add to the complexity of collective memories of its peoples.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.