This diploma thesis reveals the processes of shaping the image of Emil František Burian, the theater director, composer, journalist and playwright in three key headings. The first heading explains the principles of self-presentation and choice of characteristic means to build its external image in the changing personal attitudes and social development in the 30th - 50 years of 20th century. The second heading shows the coordinates of cultural policy communist regime and monitors the construction of public image representative of official socialist culture. Both headings are mainly based on a detailed analysis of Burian's theater activity, broadcasting activities and articles in professional and social printing. The third heading of qualification work pays attention to creating individual memory of a systematic effort to build a "cult of personality" of E. F. Burian. Interpretation biography and memories of actors, directors, journalists and politicians attempts to profile the professional and private life of this artist.

Paul L. Rosenfeld ( 1890-1946) almost single-handedly established the music of living American composers on a solid critical foundation in the period between the two world wars. Although he built a reputation chiefly as a critic of music, he was a man ofletters who ranged across all the arts with unrivaled competence and ease. Rosenfeld's contemporaries acknowledged him as a champion of that strain of modernism which celebrated the interrelatedness of the arts. His importance for the wider culture of early twentieth-century American modernism also lay in his seriousness about the arts. Rosenfeld earned forward the American democratic and romantic belief, epitomized by Walt Whitman and Alfred Stieglitz, in the capacity of art to articulate basic values that enrich and even ennoble the human person. Such an idealistic conception of the value of art was increasingly losing favor among the American literati during the 1920s, the period when Rosenfeld enjoyed his greatest influence and prestige. During this decade of"terrible honesty," American intellectuals tended to dismiss the "ideals of men" in favor of a single-minded interest in a more bitter realism. Inasmuch as they denigrated the notion that art held any kind of privileged status as a conveyor of values, they were in effect nascent postmodemists. This study ofPaul Rosenfeld's life and work examines the achievements ofPaul Rosenfeld as a critic of the arts in their relation to the wider American culture of the interwar years, and as a purveyor of modernism against the background of the first strains of postmodemism. It will also treat at length Rosenfeld's efforts as a writer, editor, and minor philanthropist on behalf of establishing a distinctively American music, literature, and painting. This cultural nationalism, I argue, is best understood as part ofRosenfeld's modernist project. To a lesser degree this thesis also deals with the changing position of the man of letters in American life. / History / D. Litt et Phil. (History)

Bertha von Suttner (1843-1914) reste connue pour son engagement pacifiste. Son ouvrage Bas les Armes! (1889) lui a valu une grande notoriété mondiale, avant la première guerre mondiale. Son engagement dans le mouvement de la paix qu’elle a contribué à organiser lui a valu le prix Nobel de la paix en 1905. Engagée dans multiples combats, elle est encore méconnue. Où la situer ? Comment caractériser sa lutte pour la paix, l’émancipation des femmes ou la sécularisation de la société, alors qu’émerge en Europe un discours pacifiste et libérateur ? Il importait de mettre en évidence sa rupture face à la tradition et sa position spécifique politiquement non révolutionnaire. Voilà à quoi s’attache la présente thèse, qui s’appuie sur l’analyse inédite des romans et nouvelles à tonalité autobiographique, et qui s’emploie à jeter un éclairage sur l’influence persistante de la philosophie populaire des Lumières allemandes à la fin du XIXe siècle. Ainsi se trouve montrée l’actualité des positions de cette aristocrate novatrice / Bertha von Suttner (1843-1914) is well known for her commitment to peace. Her book Lay down your arms! (1889) made her famous before World War First. She becam one of main advocates of the idea of universal peace through the creation of a European suprantional identity. She owes the 1905 Nobel Peace Prize to her international fame. But beyond this fight she was committed to the defence of women or against the dogmatism of society and the church. How to define the consistency of her many fights at the very time when a pacifist and emancipating discourse was emerging ? the present thesis, based on a original analysis of the author's novels and short stories with an autobiographical undertone, is driving to light her breaking away from tradition but on a politically not revolutionary way, with the persitent influence of the popular philosophy of the German Enlightenment Age at the end of the XIXth century. The thesis shows the topicality of this innovative aristocrat's positions

What did it mean to be a Catholic elite in Protestant England? The relationship between the Protestant crown and its Catholic subjects may be examined fruitfully through a study of an individual and his world. This thesis examines this relationship through the example of Sir Thomas Tresham, who has often been seen as the archetypal Catholic loyalist. It is argued that the notion of Catholic loyalism must be reconfigured to account for the complexities inherent in the relationship between Catholics and the government. The duty to honour the monarch's authority was bound up with social and national sentiment, but it often accompanied criticisms of the practice of that authority, and the ways in which it encroached on personal experience. Intractable tensions lay behind expressions of loyalty, and this thesis travels in these undercurrents of cultural, social, religious, and political conflict to investigate the nuanced relationship between English Catholics and English society. Political resistance as classically understood - actions which directly opposed and undermined government policy - risks the exclusion of culture and identity, through which resistance was redefined. It is argued that Tresham's participation in elite activities became vehicles for resistance in the Catholic context. Book-collecting, reading, and the donation of books to an institutional library are framed as forms of resistance which countered the spirit of government legislation, and provided for the continuation of a robust tradition of Catholic scholarship on English soil. Through artistic and architectural projects, Tresham found ways to participate in elite culture which were not closed off to him, and in which Catholicism and gentility could sit side by side. These activities were also avenues for resistance, whereby the erection of stone testaments to Tresham's faith defied the government's attempts to redefine Englishness and gentility in Protestant terms, to the devastation of Catholicism. These artistic works combined piety, gentility, and resistance, and, together with Tresham's two Catholic libraries, they were to be his legacy.

[pt] Duas construções discursivas sobre o moderno arquitetônico que acharam destaque no Brasil e na Argentina entre os anos 20 e 40, encarnadas nas figuras de Lucio Costa e Alberto Prebisch, constituem a matéria desta reflexão. Seu eixo é o embate produzido entre os novos valores disciplinares tomados dos discursos europeus já constituidos - com destaque para a versão corbusierana - e os valores e demandas presentes nos arcabouços socioculturais e políticos argentinos e brasileiros a partir dos quais esses discursos foram lidos e apropriados. O conjunto de representações e formulações resultantes, que contribuíram com sua singularidade à retroalimentação do nó ideológico do moderno como problema, são analisados comparativamente através dos textos que estes dois arquitetos produziram dentro do periodo assinalado. / [en] The basic theme of this text is the comparison between two discourses on the architechtural modern, which were especially relevant in Brazil and Argentina from the 20s to the 40s. These positions are well represented by Lucio Costa and Alberto Prebisch. The text considers the confrontation between two different forms of reading the European discourse -with emphasis on the interpretation given by Le Corbusier- and the values and demands present in the Argentinian and Brazilian sociocultural and political structures; starting on them those discourses were read and appropriated. The wole resultant representations that contributed with their singularity to the feedback of the ideological node the modern as a problem, are comparatively analyzed through the texts which these two arquitects wrote during the period previosly marked.

Estudo histórico que tem por objetivo localizar e analisar a produção escrita por mulheres sobre música, relacionada a diversos contextos educacionais no Brasil, durante as primeiras cinco décadas do século XX. Como fontes, foram consultadas as publicações inventariadas na pesquisa, documentos manuscritos de arquivos históricos, documentos oficiais, periódicos, iconografia e arquivos pessoais de professoras. O 1º capítulo é dedicado a uma visão de conjunto sobre a produção escrita por mulheres sobre música. O capítulo 2 analisa as primeiras décadas e estabelece uma discussão sobre as representações de música brasileira e europeia na educação musical. O capítulo 3 trata da música na escola formal e da participação de mulheres no canto orfeônico, considerando o processo de institucionalização e escolarização da música e o papel da publicação de hinários, cancioneiros e livros didáticos nesse processo. O capítulo 4 aborda a formação de professores e a pedagogia da escola nova, destacando os conflitos na historiografia e na prática do canto orfeônico. O capítulo 5 concentra-se na formação artística, tendo por foco o ensino especializado de música, a presença de mulheres na atividade artística e as representações sobre o feminino. São analisados três exemplos da produção escrita, como dispositivos de inscrição no campo musical. Nas considerações finais, discute-se a função da memória (individual e coletiva) e sua relação com as práticas e as representações encontradas sobre a professora de música (em suas múltiplas atuações). Entre as principais noções e conceitos utilizados estão: campo (principalmente campo artístico), habitus, doxa e capital cultural, de Pierre Bourdieu; práticas, representações e apropriação, de Roger Chartier, bem como sua discussão metodológica (sobre a história do livro e da leitura) e teórica (sobre cultura escrita); estratégias e táticas, de Michel de Certeau, assim como sua análise da operação historiográfica. O conceito de gênero, presente em diversos autores, permitiu tratar a produção escrita por mulheres como conjunto, de forma relacional. Para a história das mulheres, tivemos como principal referência Michelle Perrot. A produção acadêmica em história da educação, sobretudo a brasileira, auxiliou a definição e exploração do tema, assim como as pesquisas musicológicas recentes. Um dos resultados da pesquisa foi um inventário de livros publicados (46 autoras e 100 obras), com a identificação de editoras, instituições, temáticas e modalidades de ensino musical praticadas na primeira metade do século XX no Brasil. Como parte das conclusões, a produção escrita sobre música é vista como intrínseca à profissão docente, utilizada como estratégia de valorização profissional e pessoal. As práticas de leitura e escrita (textual e musical) foram adquiridas no ambiente escolar, no espaço social da família e nas instituições de formação artística. Constata-se uma diversidade de processos de publicação, entre eles: iniciativas particulares das autoras; projetos editoriais, inclusive os patrocinados por governos estaduais ou pelo federal; programas institucionais para provimento de material didático adaptado às exigências legais; requisito formal para o ingresso no magistério superior. / Historical study that aims to situate and analyze the written production of women about music, related to several educational contexts in Brazil, during the first five decades of the 20th century. The sources include the publications collected during this research, manuscript documents from historical archives, official documents, periodicals, iconography, and educators personal archives. The first chapter is devoted to an overview of the production about music written by women. Chapter 2 analyzes the first decades and establishes a discussion about the representations of Brazilian and European music in music education. Chapter 3 is about music in formal school and the participation of women in canto orfeônico (school choir singing), analyzing the process of institutionalization and schooling of music and the role of hymnal, songbook and didactic book publishing in the process. Chapter 4 focuses on teachers training and the escola nova (new school) pedagogy, emphasizing the conflicts in the historiography and in the practice of canto orfeônico (school choir singing). Chapter 5 concentrates on artistic training, with focus on specialized teaching, the presence of women in artistic activity and the representations about the feminine. Three examples of written production are analyzed, as devices of inscription in the musical field. In the final considerations, the function of memory (both individual and collective) is discussed, inasmuch as its relation to practices and representations of female music educators (in their multiple roles). The main notions and concepts used are: field (specially artistic field), habitus, doxa, and cultural capital by Pierre Bourdieu; practices, representations and appropriation by Roger Chartier, as well as his methodological discussion (on the history of the book and the history or reading) and theoretical (on written culture); strategies and tactics by Michel de Certeau, as well as his analysis of the historiographical operation. The concept of gender, employed by numerous authors, allowed for a discussion of womens written production as a whole, in a relational manner. For the history of women, our main reference was Michelle Perrot. Academic production on the history of education, mainly the Brazilian one, facilitated the definition and exploration of the subject, as well as recent musicological research. One of the results of this investigation was an inventory of published books (46 authors and 100 works), with the identification of publishers, educational institutions and of the themes and modalities of music teaching that were current at the first half of the 20th century in Brazil. As part of the conclusions, the written production about music is seen as intrinsic to the teaching profession, used as strategy of both professional and personal valorization. The practices of reading and writing (of text and music) were acquired in the school environment, in the social space of the family and in the artistic training institutions. Diverse processes of publishing are detectable, such as: individual initiative of the authors; editorial projects, including those sponsored by state or federal governments; institutional programs for the provision of didactic material adapted to legal obligations; formal requirements to start a university teaching career.

La dramaturgie fut la première des ambitions machadiennes. Une oeuvre de poète exalté s’il en est, sobrement contenue pourtant, à la fois discrète en surface et bouillonnante en sourdine. Elle s’impose ainsi harmonieusement classique dans sa facture et dans sa tenue. Sur un plateau réduit à sa plus simple expression et dans une trame débarrassée du superflu, Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis confère à la langue théâtrale de ses comédies, une prose poétique et lyrique, une charge nouvelle, faite de vertige, de nervosité, qui déroute et innove dans le paysage esthétique brésilien des années 1860-1870. Sa démarche de dramaturge ne sera guère comprise, voire méjugée, jusqu’à être réduite au silence par l’ensemble de la critique et de l’historiographie du théâtre brésilien du XIXe siècle. Le XXe siècle, à quelques exceptions près, agira de même. C’est ainsi qu’il incombe aux interprètes de porter ce théâtre à la scène, de l’ancrer physiquement et concrètement, sans phrasé affecté ou trop de lyrisme. À cette seule condition, alors, peut-être, pourront sourdre des tempêtes intérieures. Il y a chez cet écrivain, une volonté farouche et affichée de dégager, dans une démarche consciente et mesurée, une synthèse viable pour asseoir durablement la dramaturgie brésilienne de son époque. Tout à l’écriture de ses pièces, il débuta une carrière de critique théâtrale qui hisse l’exercice à un véritable magistère, tant le genre souffrait, avant son passage dans la presse carioca, d’un discrédit et d’un manque de légitimité. Le journaliste, le chroniqueur, livre un corpus hétérogène qui fait de sa critique une activité plus complexe qu’on n’a bien voulu le dire. Elle devient un lieu de tensions paradoxales pour appréhender et penser le théâtre autrement. Partant, Machado – qui n’a pas encore trente ans – conférera à la discipline une autonomie jamais démentie depuis, et confortera sa place sur la scène intellectuelle brésilienne. Cette réflexivité critique, cet engouement pour le théâtre dans toute son étendue, enfin sa maîtrise de l’art dramatique, irradient, contaminent en profondeur l’écriture de ses contes et de ses romans les plus aboutis. Son immense fortune critique, sans contredit, doit tout à l’art du romancier inclassable et indompté – le plus grand prosateur brésilien – qu’il fut et offusque donc, le dramaturge. Il reste que par le théâtre et à travers lui, l’écrivain carioca livre une matière fictionnelle incandescente, labyrinthique, en lien organique avec la matière sociale et historique, en somme, un matériau artistiquement achevé, vibrant, lucidement classique. / Machado de Assis’first ambition ever was Drama. His is the work of an exalted poet, though sober and contained, apparently discreet and inwardly irrepressible: it sets itself as harmoniously classic in facture. On stage and with effective plots, Machado de Assis provided the theatrical language, which he utterly mastered, with a new function, made of the restlessness and excitability that disturbed and renewed Brazilian theatre in the 1860s and 70s from an aesthetical point of view. His approach as a playwright would cause misunderstanding and unsettle contemporary critics of his time, to date. Interprets have to take his theatre onto the stage, to root it physically and concretely, avoiding too much affectation or lyricism. On that condition only will underlying conflicts become apparent. In Machado, there is a definite, aware restlessness in willing to make a viable sum so as to durably lay the foundations of Brazilian dramaturgy of his time. In parallel, the writer started a career as a theatre critic, hoisting the practice to a high office, as indeed the genre had, before him, been widely despised as lacking legitimacy. Here, the journalist and chronicle writer presents a more heterogeneous body of works showing a complexity still overlooked to date: it became a space of paradoxical tensions to understand and think theatre in a different way. Hence, Machado – a young man of not thirty years of age – would provide the discipline with an autonomy still standing today and comfort his own significance in the theatrical and intellectual milieu of his time. Such critical reflexivity, such passion for drama in general and, finally such mastery of dramatic art, would illuminate the writing of his most accomplished short stories and novels. His immense legacy as a critic undeniably owes everything to his talent as an original and wild, untamed novelist – the greatest Brazilian prose writer of all times. The playwright is overshadowed by the novelist. Nevertheless, through his theatre, Machado de Assis presents a live and labyrinthine matter, intimately linked with the social and historical fabric of his time: an artistically though unaccomplished, and far from consensual, material.

Cette thèse a pour objectif d'étudier le monde journalistique turinois sous le régime fasciste, et en particulier lors de la deuxième décennie du régime. Cette période, coïncidant avec la montée et la consolidation du consensus (1929-1936) avant une remise en question progressive (1936-1940), est pour le journalisme italien celle de l'instauration progressive du contrôle de la profession par le régime. La répression, puis la mise au pas de la presse nationale et régionale, la création de structures de contrôle, particulièrement avec le Syndicat national fasciste des journalistes et son albo ou le ministère de la Culture populaire, l'uniformisation et l’institutionnalisation de la presse, notamment pour des usages propagandistes, bouleversent le monde journalistique et ses acteurs. Il s'agit dès lors de se focaliser sur les parcours collectifs et individuels de ces journalistes, en prenant comme laboratoire d'étude la ville de Turin. Les influences politiques, sociales et culturelles font en effet de cette ville un lieu particulier pour le fascisme, difficile à « normaliser ». Turin possède par ailleurs deux des plus importants journaux du pays (la Gazzetta del Popolo et La Stampa). L'étude prosopographique des 278 journalistes identifiés permet de mettre en perspective des caractéristiques sociales particulières, notamment en terme d'origine géographique ou de niveau d'instruction. De même, en s’intéressant aux liens avec le monde politique local et national, elle éclaire les frontières mouvantes entre politique et journalisme et permet de replacer la question du journalisme dans le cadre plus large du régime fasciste et particulièrement de ses ambiguïtés, entre contrôle, surveillance et répression d'un côté et les limites du totalitarisme de l'autre. L'étude prosopographique met également en évidence une continuité certaine, en terme de rédacteurs, entre le journalisme de l'époque libérale et celui de l'époque fasciste, remettant en question l'image d'une « épuration » sévère et totale de la profession. Dès lors, la question de la place nouvelle génération de journalistes, formés techniquement et imprégnés d'idéologie fasciste et dont la création était chère à certains hiérarques fascistes, Ermanno Amicucci en tête, prend tout son sens. Enfin, la seconde partie de la thèse s’intéresse à quelques parcours singuliers et itinéraires comparés, permettant d’illustrer une partie de la diversité des attitudes des journalistes turinois confrontés au régime fasciste et à sa volonté d'instituer un « nouveau modèle de journalisme ». Ces parcours se proposent ainsi d'éclairer plus spécifiquement certains aspects centraux de l'univers journalistique durant le régime, abordant notamment l'épuration des années 1927-1931 (avec par exemple Gino Pestelli, Leo Galetto ou Santi Savarino), les liens avec le monde politique local (Angelo Appiotti, Leo Rea) ou même la question des lois raciales (Deodato Foà). Entre relative résistance et renoncement, entre acceptation et tractations, entre illusions et pragmatisme, ces trajectoires biographiques mettent alors au jour des postures diverses dont les croisements, les stratégies, les contenus s'insèrent dans un cadre bien plus large, celui du ventennio fasciste et de ses tragédies. / This work studies the turinese journalistic world during fascist system, especially the second decade. This decade coincide with the rise of the consensus (1929-1936) before the first time of contestation (1936-1940). The italian journalism is more and more controlled by the political authorities. The repression of the national and regional papers, and then the organization, standardization and institutionalization of the press, change drastically the journalism background. In view of this, this work focuses on collective and individual trajectories, with Turin as study place. The political, social and cultural influences of Turin make this city a particular place for the fascism, hard to “normalize”, and which possess two of the principal papers of the country (the Gazzetta del Popolo and La Stampa). The prosopographical study of the 278 identify journalists allows to put in perspective social characteristics (geographical origins, level of schooling etc...). The national and regional political connections light up the moving mark between politic and journalism and allow to replace the journalism question in the ampler setting of fascist regime and his ambiguities (between control, surveillance and repression, on one hand, and limits of totalitarianism of the other hand). The prosopographical study shows also a clear continuity of journalist between liberal and fascist periods, which questions the image of a harsh and total “purge” of the profession. In this context, the question of the place of the new journalistic generation, technically formed and permeated of fascist ideology, like Ermanno Amicucci and other fascist figures wanted, is central. Finally, the second part of the study takes an interest in a few singular trajectories and compared itineraries, which allows to illustrate a part of the diversity of turinese journalist attitudes, confronted with a regime who wants to institute a “new journalism model”. This trajectories intend to light up more specifically some of central aspects of journalistic world during the regime, like the purge of the years 1927-1931 (with for example Gino Pestelli, Leo Galetto or Santi Savarino),, the connections with local politic world (Angelo Appiotti, Leo Rea) or the racial laws and their impact (Deodoato foà). Between opposition and resignation, acceptation and negotiation, illusions and pragmatism, this biographical trajectories expose some varied positions, insert into a ampler context, which is the fascist ventennio, and his tragedies.

Laurence Prempain consacre sa thèse de doctorat d’histoire aux Polonais-es et Juif-ve-s polonais-es venu-e-s vivre à Lyon (France) entre 1935 et 1945. Dans une première partie, elle présente le cadre géographique (Lyon) ainsi que sa méthodologie (approche par le genre, choix de la microhistoire, le silence comme source) et sa volonté de donner à entendre leurs voix afin de les placer au coeur de sa démarche. Pour cela, suite au dépouillement de quelque 600 dossiers administratifs constitués par le bureau de contrôle des étrangers (préfecture du Rhône), les lettres qu’ils-elles ont écrites ont été collectées pour ce qu’elles mettent au jour de la lutte de leurs auteur-e-s pour vivre et survivre. L’historienne part du postulat que les Polonais-es et Juif-ve-s polonais-es venu-e-s en France composent une population hétérogène n’ayant en commun qu’un rattachement à une citoyenneté, mais qu’ils-elles n’en demeurent pas moins des réfugié-e-s économiques, politiques ou de guerre. Ainsi, un temps considéré-e-s comme les bienvenu-e-s, les ressortissant-e-s polonais-es sont tous-tes, à un moment de leur parcours de vie, considéré-e-s comme indésirables. Aussi, la deuxième partie est consacrée à l’exploration des procédés auxquels la Troisième République, puis le régime de Vichy ont recours : expulsions, refoulements, exclusions, internements sinon déportation. Par ailleurs, l’auteure s’intéresse aux sorties de guerre et démontre l’existence d’une dimension genrée de l’épuration, comme expression d’une tentative de réappropriation de l’autorité. L’attention est également portée sur l’organisation du rapatriement des étranger-ère-s déporté-e-s raciaux et politiques. Enfin, dans une troisième partie, elle affirme que loin de subir, ces hommes et femmes agissent et développent des stratégies évolutives. Au travers des lettres qu’ils-elles ont écrites, de ce qui est dit mais aussi passé sous silence, elle établit que ces stratégies semblent relever de ce qu’elle choisit de nommer esquive et transgression. L’une s’accommode des limites quand l’autre s’y oppose délibérément. Esquive et transgression se complètent. Il est montré qu’à l’arbitraire sans cesse croissant du régime de Vichy, répondent des stratégies de plus en plus transgressives, dont relèvent notamment le passage de frontière, l’entrée en clandestinité et en résistance. Le passage d’une forme de stratégie à l’autre dépend de l’individu, du contexte, de ses habiti, de son parcours et de son identité. L’historienne conclut qu’en 2016, la crise des réfugié-e-s qui secoue l’Europe résonne des mêmes voix, de celles et ceux qui cherchent à protéger leurs vies et à vivre dans la dignité / Laurence Prempain dedicates her PhD (History) to the study of the Poles and Polish Jews who came to live in Lyon (France) between 1935 and 1945. In the first part, she presents the geographical framework (Lyon), her methodology (Gender approach, microhistory and silence as a source) and her will to understand their voices and place them to the heart of her work. For that purpose, upon the examination of approximately 600 administrative files amassed by the « bureau des étrangers » (préfecture du Rhône), the letters they wrote have been then systematically collected to shed light on their authors’ struggle to live and survive. The historian starts from the postulate that Poles and Polish Jews in France make up a heterogeneous population, only sharing a common citizenship, nonetheless they remain economic, political and war refugees. Thus, once considered welcomed, all Polish nationals are , at their life, considered as unwanted, « indésirables ». Therefore, the second part investigates the processes used by the Third Republic and then the Vichy Regime to get rid of them: expulsions, driving back, exclusions, internments or deportation. Moreover, the author raises the question of the war ends and demonstrates that purges have a gendered dimension, which can be seen as an attempt of reappropriation of the authority. She also focuses on the foreign deportees repatriation’s organisation. Finally, in a third part, she asserts that far from being subjected, these men and women have acted and developped evolutive strategies. Through the letters they wrote, through what is said and what is silenced, she establishes that those strategies are a matter of what she names sidestep and transgression. The first one adapts itself with the limits while the other is deliberately opposed to it. Sidestep and transgression complete each other. It is also showed that to the arbitrary of the richy regime respond strategies more and more transgressive, such as clandestinity, cross borders and resistance. The moving from a strategy to another one, depends on the person, the context, the habits, the life course and the identity. The historian concludes that in 2016, the refugees crisis that shakes Europe resonates of the same voices, of those who are looking for protecting their lives and to living in dignity..

This thesis examines the regulation of women in public space in Liverpool between 1908 and 1957. It considers the complex relationship between the laws used to police solicitation, governmental debate about female prostitution and local purity campaigners’ concerns with the moral vulnerability of young, working-class, urban women. It is argued that the ways in which prostitution was understood and managed had an impact upon all women’s access to and use of public space, together with wider definitions of female morality and immorality. The thesis adds to historical understandings about the implications of prostitution regulation in the twentieth century, by moving away from London-focused histories to offer a detailed analysis of the ways in which national debates about vice were taken up at local level and with what consequences. I begin by exploring the problems with policing prostitution in the early-twentieth century and argue that increasing concern about the difficulty in differentiating prostitutes from ‘ordinary’ women provoked anxiety amongst law makers and government officials alike. It is argued that the debates canvassed by the 1927 Macmillan Committee indicate the degree to which moral codes about female sexuality informed official approaches to prostitution. The thesis considers the implications of these broad debates in Liverpool. Focusing on the work of the Liverpool Vigilance Association (LVA), it is proposed that fears about the moral threat of prostitution fuelled the organisation’s belief in the necessity of preventative patrol work centred on the moral surveillance of young, working-class women. This thesis shows that in interwar Liverpool, women’s movements were circumscribed first and foremost by their gender. Traditional, nineteenth-century ideas about women’s place within the domestic sphere created a sense among local purity campaigners that female morality was being threatened by women’s visibility in urban spaces. Other aspects of social status, such as class, race and employment experiences, heightened the interest of the LVA in targeting distinctive groups of women. The thesis demonstrates that in their efforts to regulate women’s movements through the city of Liverpool, local purists singled-out working-class and immigrant (especially Irish) women, as they believed them to be the most susceptible to corruption. This thesis draws on a wide range of archival sources, especially Home Office Records relating to the Public Places (Order) Bill and the establishment of the 1927 Macmillan Committee, as well as the LVA archive, in order to show how national and local policies on prostitution were both interdependent and distinct.