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The first fifty years of Romain Rolland’s life were spent in inconspicuous and almost solitary labors. From then on this name became a storm center of European discussion The significance of his life’s work becomes plain only when it is contemplated as a whole. It was slowly produced, for it had to encounter great dangers; it was a gradual revelation, tardily consummated. The foundations of this splendid structure were deeply dug in the firm ground of knowledge, and were laid upon the hidden masonry of years spent in isolation. Owing to the strength of its foundations, to the solidity of its moral energy, was Rolland’s thought able to stand unshaken throughout the war storms that have been ravaging Europe. The monument he had built stands firm “above the battle,” above the medley of opinions, a pillar of strength towards which all free spirits cna turn for consolation amid the tumult of the world.

This thesis examines the banal nationalism of La Vuelta Ciclista a España (Spain’s national cycling tour) in the post-Franco period. In light of recent work completed on post-Franco Spanish nationalism, this project provides a robust empirical analysis of four newspaper’s coverage of the race between 1975 and 2000. The object of this thesis is to provide empirical ballast to a number of hypotheses and suggestions that have been made, primarily as to the role of informal symbols such as sport in the immediate post-Franco period where formal national symbols suffered a delegitimisation. There are two major themes in this work: firstly, a theme that comprises Spanish national identity and nationalism in the post-Franco period, and secondly, a theoretical theme that looks to interrogate and develop Michael Billig’s theory of Banal Nationalism (Billig 1996). Utilising Billig’s original publication, as well as other work on Le Tour de France, this thesis constructs a mixed quantitative/qualitative content analysis of newspapers in this period, seeking to expand our knowledge of informal national symbols beyond areas, such as football, where analyses have already been done. Newspapers from the main territorial cleavage in the country, Spain and Catalonia, are represented in an examination of the growth of La Vuelta as a national symbol as well as how this has been mediated across political and territorial lines.

This thesis presents an insight into the phenomenon of cranberry collocations. In opposition to their prevailing conception as a marginal part of phraseology, it shows, on the basis of corpus data, that their nature is very diverse and deserves a broader view. It suggests statistical tools which can be used to search for cranberry words in corpora. Based on an analysis of the data obtained by this method, it presents a classification and description of the phenomenon in Czech, including some problematic points. These findings are subsequently used for comparison of cranberry collocations in Czech with data obtained in the same way in Slovak, French and English.

This thesis examines the theme of women’s madness in the 1960s and 1970s through the works of four English and French writers and film-makers: Chantal Akerman, Emma Santos, Jane Arden and Mary Barnes. It examines how these four writers and film-makers inscribe madness into their texts from a sociological angle, presenting the texts and films discussed as socio-historical artefacts while analysing each writer and film-maker’s representation of women’s madness. Inspired by psychologist Phyllis Chesler, who argues that madness is tied to socially defined gender roles and used to demarcate violations of expected gendered behaviour, this research analyses various manifestations of ‘madness’ from the everyday madness of Chantal Akerman, to psychiatrically incarcerated madness in the texts of Emma Santos, to madness influenced by anti-psychiatry through the works of Jane Arden, to complete immersion in anti-psychiatry with Mary Barnes. The interdisciplinary and cross-cultural nature of this thesis combines fields from both English and French studies, from the study of female writers and film-makers, psychoanalytic theory, the history of psychiatry and how they intersect with gender combined with contemporary feminist writings of philosophy, psychology, and theology.

After the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991, Bosnia and Herzegovina erupted into ethnic conflict and ultimately genocide. Nearly 100,000 people, mainly Bosniaks, died in the Bosnian War. Two decades later, the violence has ended but the conflict is still present in Bosnia; the societal segregation of the 1995 Dayton Accords, intended only as an immediate solution to the violence, still stands. Population and language distribution are evidence of this segregation. Bosnia’s two entities are home to two different ethnic majorities: Serbs in the Republika Srpska and Bosniaks in the Federation of BiH. In an environment so sensitive that the government recently feared that merely releasing statistics on ethnic populations might cause violence, the languages that represent these populations are important indicators of social presence and power. In order to evaluate the presence of the Serbian and Bosnian languages, as well as the English language, in Bosnia, signage on the main streets in the country’s capitals were photographed in great detail. It was hypothesized that linguistic majority would match ethnic majority on both main streets, and that English would appear frequently in advertisements. The number of photographs in which each language appeared was tallied up in order to determine how often the languages are typically used. Analyses of these results demonstrated that the English language is the second-most ubiquitous on both streets, after Bosnian, and the comparatively small presence of the Serbian language on both streets indicated that the linguistic environment in Bosnia is not conducive to peace and reconciliation.

In reformation London, the shift of the governed religion enabled laymen to recognize individuality in their faith, to read scripture in the vernacular, and to exercise their faith outside of mass. Therefore, the overall perception of personal piety took a turn from being exercised communally to becoming something reflective of the individual. Analyzing gender dynamics, language, religious orders, and theology reveal this transition and help gain a holistic understanding of transitioning perceptions of piety. This thesis contributes to the rich historiographical conversation in understanding Reformation studies. By adopting elements from top-down and bottom-up approaches, this thesis further develops on the understanding of perceptions of religious piety in reformation London.

The Islamic minority in France today is experiencing adversity as the government of France passed legislation stating that all facial coverings will be henceforth illegal, restricting or prohibiting religious symbols in various public spaces. Some Islamic women feel as though this is a pointed attack on women of the Muslim faith for their choice to wear traditional clothing which covers the face and body. There have been outcries that this is a human rights violation and restriction of religious rights. This project is an examination of the effects of France’s “burqa ban” and restrictions on religious symbols on both Islamic men and women who live in France. The goal of this project is to speak directly to those affected by this legislation and to understand the perspective and opinions of French Muslims. Records such as documented personal testimonies, legal archives, and transcriptions of in-person interviews are utilized to study the perspective of this minority in response to the controversial legislation. Neglecting to pursue an understanding of another culture and belief system will only yield disharmony among groups, and this research aims to avoid this phenomenon. In collecting the data, I set a goal to have and later discuss a better understanding of this issue and the people affected by it.

Ce mémoire analyse l’histoire et le développement des relations franco-africaines du colonialisme au XXIe siècle. Je montre comment, à chaque étape de ces relations, que ce soit pendant le colonialisme, la décolonisation, la Françafrique ou "l'amitié" de Macron, l'objectif de l'État français n'a pas changé : préserver l'Afrique comme le pré carré de la France. Je soutiens qu'au XXIe siècle, alors que le continent africain se mondialise de plus en plus, l'État français cherche désespérément à renforcer ses liens avec ses anciennes colonies, notamment par l'éducation, la langue et la culture. Bien qu'Emmanuel Macron déclare que la Françafrique est terminée, sa stratégie visant à faire appel à la jeunesse africaine fait écho à la tactique de la « mission civilisatrice » du colonialisme français. Je soutiens donc que des questions concernant l'héritage colonial français, et leur impact sur l’identité africaine, restent essentielles même au XXIe siècle.