The question of animal culture has been of interest for decades. Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have played a key role in the debate of whether or not it is appropriate to use the term ‘culture' to describe animal behaviour and they continue to be one of the prime species for the study of the origins of human culture. Data suggesting that chimpanzees can be considered a cultural species continue to accumulate, but this has only enhanced the debate between proponents and opponents of animal culture. Opponents do not deny that behavioural diversity exists between different populations of the same species, but they maintain that such phenomena have little to do with human cultures and may be the result of genetic and environmental influences. In their view, human cultures are centred on socially shared sets of ideas, not behavioural traditions. In this thesis, my goal is to tackle this problem and to investigate whether a cognitive dimension can be found in some behavioural patterns of chimpanzees that have been put forward as examples of animal culture. To this end, I examine the different factors that could account for the development of tool use in animals (genetics, ecology, social). My first empirical contribution is a study of the tool use behaviour of the chimpanzees' closest relative, the bonobos, which are known to be limited tool-users in the wild. I show that captive bonobos are as flexible tool-users as chimpanzees, suggesting that genetic factors are unlikely to account for differences in tool use behaviour in the Pan clade. Second, through the use of field experiments, I show that wild chimpanzees from different Ugandan communities respond to the same apparatus and task in strikingly different ways. I interpret this finding as an outcome of differences in cultural knowledge, mainly because the affordances of their immediate environment do not determine their tool use behaviour. Finally, through a broad ecological and tool use survey of different chimpanzee communities in Uganda, I show that current ecological differences are poor predictors of tool use. I conclude that, if ecology plays a role in the development of tool use, then its influence is that of a selective force. Finally, when reviewing the outcome of this research I will argue that there is a profound cognitive dimension to tool use in wild chimpanzees, suggesting that behaviourally based definitions of animal culture may miss a key feature of the phenomenon, at least in chimpanzees. Chimpanzees are not only a cultural species, they also have a cultural mind.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--College of William and Mary. / Includes bibliographical references.

Cette recherche vise à comprendre de quelle manière l’exploitation des sites du Net participatif et de leur dimension sociale peut favoriser les apprentissages en classe de langue. Notre recherche s’appuie sur deux expériences de terrain réalisées auprès de deux publics différents, un public en FLE en 2012 et en 2013, à l’Alliance française Paris Île-de-France, et un public faiblement ou non scolarisé, en 2014, aux Cours Municipaux pour Adultes de la Ville de Paris, en post-alphabétisation. Dans une approche sociocritique, nous avons analysé des dispositifs pédagogiques dans lesquels les apprenants ont posté des messages sur des forums de discussion, des avis et des commentaires sur différents sites dont TripAdvisor, YouTube, Doctissimo, Le Parisien. Essentiellement qualitative, notre analyse a tout particulièrement interrogé la prise en compte de la dimension interactionnelle et sociale du Net participatif qui est sa caractéristique et son avantage principal. L’expérience en FLE nous a permis, en adoptant une approche émique, de repérer un certain nombre de conditions, favorables et défavorables, à l’intégration du Net participatif en classe de langue, de montrer le rôle déterminant de la culture d’usage dans l’appropriation de l’outil par les apprenants et de mettre en avant les notions de besoin et d’utilité de la tâche. À partir de ces conclusions, nous montrons qu’en post-alphabétisation les sites du Net participatif utilisés semblent avoir répondu aux besoins des apprenants faiblement ou non scolarisés. Grâce à la socialisation des écrits qu’il permet, et à l’engouement certain qu’il suscite chez ce public, le Web participatif, crée un effet d’entraînement dans les tâches de lecture-écriture. Nous émettons l’hypothèse que l’hybridité entre oral et écrit et entre langage et action des messages de forums de discussion et des sections commentaires lève certaines inhibitions généralement constatées chez ce public et facilite le processus d’écriture. Ainsi, nous avons repéré sur ce deuxième terrain le potentiel du Net participatif en tant que levier d’acquisition de la littératie traditionnelle et numérique chez un public en insécurité scripturale, et examiné les liens synergiques qui peuvent se créer entre ces deux littératies. Nous dégageons l’intérêt heuristique que présente le Net participatif dans les tâches de lecture-écriture, quel que soit le public, et nous montrons les avantages d’une démarche centrée sur l’apprenant. / The aim of this research was to understand and evaluate the use of some sites of the participative web, viewed in their social dimension, to meet the learning needs of learners in language courses. Our study was based on two field experiments conducted on two different types of audiences, one in 2012 and 2013 with French as a Foreign Language (FFL) students at the Alliance française Paris Île-de-France, and another in 2014 with learners with low levels of education at the Cours Municipaux d’Adultes de la Ville de Paris (adult training provider of the City of Paris) in a post–literacy programme. Following a sociocritical approach, we worked on case-based scenarios in which learners were asked to post messages on discussion forums and in the comments section of online magazines on websites such as TripAdvisor, YouTube, Doctissimo and Le Parisien. In a qualitative analysis, we took into account the interactional and social dimensions of the Web 2.0 which are its distinctive features and main advantages. In FFL our experiment enabled us, through an emic approach, to pinpoint some conditions necessary for the effective use of the participative web in language courses, to show the decisive role of culture of use in tool appropriation and to underline the two notions of need and purpose. Our first results led us to show in a second experiment that in post-literacy programmes, the participative websites seemed to answer the needs of learners with low levels of education. Socialization of writing skills and the keen interest these tools arouse in this type of audience were the main factors of improved achievements. The fact that the participative web seemed to improve the performance of reading and writing tasks leads us to formulate the hypothesis that the hybridization of written and oral languages and of language and action found in discussion forum messages and comments section frees this second type of learners from some of the anxieties generally observed at a low education level and helps the writing process. We suggest from our findings that the participative web is a potential lever for the acquisition of traditional and digital literacies in learners with writing skill insecurities, and examine the synergies that could be created in the acquisition of these two literacies. We look into the heuristic value of the participative web in writing-reading skills, regardless of the learner's level of education, and we discuss the benefits of a learner-centered approach.

Copyright is conventionally justified as an incentive to produce and disseminate works of authorship. We can justify and theorise copyright more richly, not least because empirical evidence does not support the incentive narrative. Rather than focussing on quantitative matters such as the number of works incentivised and produced, we should consider copyright's qualitative influence on culture. A threshold objection to such an approach is the risk of cultural paternalism. This objection can be overcome. Rather than specifying paternalistic standards of merit for works, we can target the conditions under which their creation and consumption takes place. I argue, firstly, that we should adopt the following high-level principles: (i) that the conditions of creation and consumption of works should be conducive to democratic deliberation (democracy) and (ii) that they should facilitate the development of human capabilities (autonomy). Secondly, I propose that we pursue three mid-level objectives, which are helpful indicia of democracy and autonomy: - a fair and wide distribution of communicative and cultural power (inclusiveness); - diversity in the content and perspectives available to the public (diversity); and - conditions that permit authors and users of works to engage rigorously with the conventions of the media in which they operate (rigour). It is often said that copyright obstructs important qualitative objectives, like freedom of expression, and that we could better pursue these goals by weakening copyright and relying on non-proprietary alternatives. My approach produces a more optimistic, but also more complicated, view of copyright. While copyright's qualitative influence is not optimal, reductions in the strength and scope of copyright sometimes produces conditions and incentive structures that are worse for inclusiveness, diversity and rigour than stronger copyright. For example, both attention and wealth are highly concentrated in networked information economies driven by free sharing of content, and this is bad for diversity or inclusiveness. Online business models, based on surveillance of users' consumption of free works, are corrosive of autonomy and democracy. Merely removing copyright-based restrictions on the sharing of works is not a panacea for copyright's ills. A qualitative theory such as mine equips us to better understand and calibrate more richly the trade-offs involved in copyright policy decisions, and encourages us to treat copyright as part of a broader, qualitatively-oriented information and cultural policy.