La présente étude vise à explorer les mécanismes scripturaux d’oeuvres littéraires qui thématisent le retour au pays natal. À partir d’un corpus formé de romans publiés par des écrivains expatriés, elle ambitionne de démontrer l’adéquation de leur forme à leur contenu. À cet égard, La contrainte de l’inachevé d’Anthony Phelps, Pays sans chapeau de Dany Laferrière et Les urnes scellées d’Émile Ollivier répondent au critère de fictions qui associent étroitement thème et structure, sens et composition, fond et forme. Ces trois romans, en effet, procèdent de choix structurels et thématiques qui découlent du principe du retour, défini comme la propension à se soumettre à un mouvement régressif ou, pour le dire plus clairement, à évoluer à reculons dans le temps aussi bien que dans l’espace. Deux axes sont ainsi retenus afin de mettre en évidence le fil conducteur de notre recherche : le retour définitif au pays natal et le retour en alternance entre le pays d’accueil et le pays d’origine. Le premier axe prend en considération la volonté de réinstallation permanente dans leur société de provenance de certains personnages de roman exilés, l’enquête, la répétition, l’interprétation, le rituel, l’affiliation constituant les manifestations textuelles du parcours de ces individus. Quant au deuxième axe, il est focalisé sur l’aller-retour entre deux territoires de personnages romanesques, et se traduit par l’affleurement dans les récits de l’entre-deux, du motif du double, de l’autoréférentialité, de la mise en abyme et par la place réservée aux zombis, aux sosies, aux rêves ou aux miroirs. La recherche est ainsi parvenue à établir que le retour, comme signification, va de pair avec le retour, comme principe de composition, dans les romans analysés. Sur le plan de l’énonciation, chez Ollivier, Laferrière et Phelps, des procédés scripturaux font toujours écho, sur le plan de l’énoncé, au geste régressif des personnages de fiction. / The purpose of this study is to explore the scriptural mechanisms of literary works that thematize the return to the homeland. Based on a corpus of novels published by expatriate writers, it aims to demonstrate the adequacy of their form to their content. In this regard, La contrainte de l'inachevé by Anthony Phelps, Pays sans chapeau by Dany Laferrière, Les urnes scellées by Émile Ollivier meet the criteria of fictions which closely associate theme and structure, meaning and composition, substance and form. These three novels are based on structural and thematic choices that stem from the principle of return, defined as the propensity to submit to a regressive movement or, to put it more clearly, to evolve backwards in time as well as in space. Two axes are thus chosen to highlight the main theme of our research: the definitive return to the country of birth and the return alternately between the host country and the country of origin. The first axis takes into consideration the will for permanent resettlement in their society from certain exiles, the investigation, the repetition, the interpretation, the ritual, the affiliation constituting the textual manifestations of what animates these migrants. As for the second axis, it is focused on the round trip between two territories of fictional characters and is reflected in the stories by the outcrop in the narratives of the motif of the double, the in-between, self-referentiality, of the mise en abyme and by the place reserved for zombies, doppelgangers, dreams, mirrors, etc. This research has thus managed to establish that return as meaning goes hand in hand with return as a principle of composition in the novels analyzed. In Ollivier, Laferrière and Phelps, with the regressive gesture of the fictional characters, on the level of the statement, always echoes in the texts, on the level of the enunciation, the scriptural processes characterized by the principle of return.

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Orifice of Return is a collection of poetry that posits Black femme bodies as living and breathing archives, corporeal manifestations of intuitive and intellectual claims at survival. The poems in this collection illustrate the multifaceted nature of my craft, through which the personal, the collective, and the political are commingled, but wrestling forces. As Audre Lorde declares, there are many kinds of open, the poems of this collection are orifices, textual portals, spatial and temporal fissures, and entryways into Black past, present, and future. These poems use received forms (the ghazal, the ode, the cento, the obverse, litany, etc.) and employ stylistic devices like (direct address, song lyrics, colloquial speech and slang, etc.) These poems interrogate histories and imagine speculative futures for Black folks. They exist in lineage— familial, imagined, literary ancestral, and with the theoretical underpinnings of Black feminist hauntology and Toni Morrison's "rememory." Some of these poems are lyrically driven, while others are performance and rhythmically driven— all facing inwards and outwards, aware of the world they exist in. / Master of Fine Arts / ORIFICE OF RETURN is a poetry collection.

In this essay, two voices are heared, from two women: a certain artist Xena, who talks about her life and its dramas, interwoven with her own experiences from her diaries; and the voice of Maria, who analyzes Xena's life story and her art, diffracted through the prim of the history of 21stC art.  Art the outset, "President of Crimea. Constitution", announces its author as Xena-Maria; but it is not yet clear whether the author is one person or two, nor who they are. Is it Maria who writes here, or Xena, or both? Or are they one and the same person? But at the end of the story, which is told rather in a form of certain legends and fairy tales, Maria and Xena turn into one whole, and meaningfully put an ellipsis after the words "to be continued". This reception was specially intended by the artist Maria Kulikovska, author of this essay, in order to protect both herself and the reader from possible persecutions by migration services and goverment officials of various countries, especially Russia. Also, for her it is an opportunity to step aside and analyze her own life and art form a third person, about which, perhaps, a fictional character from her childhood talks - a sensible step for Maria Kulikovska. The step that her creative language conceptually continues is to replicate casts of her own body and establish them in different spaces and contexts. So she fairly confuses the viewer as to where is the truth, and where is fiction; where is herself, and where is her clone - only now, here, she has applied the same trick in her text. This essay tells a very personal story of the life of a human body, a migrant woman in forced relocation, displacements, alienation and persecutions for her views on life and the conduct of society, and for her moral values expressed throught architecture, sculpture, drawings, performances, actions and public statements. Through the prism of geopolitical upheavals, it tells the artist's own story: How her analysis of own body position and boundaries helped her overcome stigma regarding the body of a woman from Eastern Europe, and how art can save and redeem in an unending inner drama.

This thesis looks at literature by two South Asian, diasporic writers, Jhumpa Lahiri and Monica Ali, as a space where creative, cross-­cultural and independent identities for diasporic women might be created. The central claim of the thesis is that diasporic migration affects South Asian women in particular ways. The most positive outcome is that these women adopt new trans-­border identities but that these remain shaped by class, culture and gender. Hence a working class milieu such as the one depicted by Monica Ali, leads to an immigrant, ghetto-­ised, community-­based identity, located solely in the land of adoption, with return or travel to the homeland no longer possible. However, the milieu imagined in Jhumpa Lahiri’s text, a middle-class, suburban environment, creates a solitary, transnational identity, lived between countries, where travel between the land of birth and the land of adoption remains accessible. / English / M.A. (English)

Text in Afrikaans / Die eng definiering van kerkmusiek staan tans in die spervuur vanwee: 1. Ingrypende wendinge binne die praktiese teologie in die afgelope paar dekades, wat pleit om 'n hernieude ondersoek binne die handelingsveld van viering (waaronder himnologie); 2. 'n Verskuiwing in wereldbeskouing weg van modernisme na postmodernisme; 3. Die geboorte van 'n totaal nuwe geslag adolessente, bekend as die 'Verlore Generasie' of 'Generasie X' . Kerkmusiek, in die engere sin, soos dit steeds grootliks verstaan word, hou nie genoegsaam met hierdie tendense rekening nie. Vandaar verloor kerkmusiek sy impak en inspraak in die leefwereld van die hedendaagse tiener. Dit veroorsaak gevolglik 'n groterwordende kloof tussen adolessente en die erediens, gemeente en kerk. In hierdie studie word gepoog om genoegsaam op bostaande tendense ag te slaan, sodat 'n breer def iniering van kerkmusiek tot stand mag kom, wat ruimte vir grater verskeidenheid en aktualiteit tot gevolg sal he, en die spanning random kerkmusiek en die tiener kan probeer ontlont. / The narrow defining of church music today experiences a critical assault on account of: 1. Drastic turns within the development of Practical theology in the past few decades, which ask for a renewed investigation within the field of himnology; 2. a Shift in worldview away from modernism to post-modernism; 3. The birth of a total new generation of adolescents, known as the 'Lost Generation' or 'Generation X' . Church music in the narrow sense, as it is still understood to a great extent, does not take these tendencys serious enough. For this reason it's impact and influence in the life of today's teenagers declines. With this study a thorough acknowledgement of these shifts is attempted, which will result in a much broader defining of church music, and in turn will bring forth a scope for more variety and actuality, so that hopefully the growing gap between teenagers and church music can be bridged. / Practical Theology / M.Diac. (Jeugwerk)

This thesis investigates the period in Judah which took place precisely a century between the death ofHezekiah (687 BCE) and the final fall of Jerusalem (587 BCE) Seldom has a nation experienced so many dramatically sudden reversals of fortune in so relatively short a time. Throughout the first half of the seventh century BCE the Assyrian empire reigned supreme. In the second half, in rapid succession, Judah, as a vassal, experienced periods of independence and of subjection, first to Egypt, then to Babylonia, before finally destroying herself in a futile rebellion against the latter. The aim of the thesis was to set Judah in the global context and investigate the role she played. To this end the Great Powers, namely Assyria, Egypt and Babylonia were surveyed, as well as were the Small Powers, like Judah, Phoenicia and the Transjordanian states, and the relationships probed. The thesis traces the life of the wicked but extraordinarily successful King Manasseh, and his equally reprobate son, Amon, who was brutally murdered by his servants, and was avenged by 'the people of the land'. Josiah is the only monarch who fits the Deuteronomistic requirements of a good king. Religious and national reform generally go hand in hand with politics, and the cultic reform and centralization of the cult characterise his reign. · With the fall of Assyria, the temporary surge into prominence by Egypt and the tragic death of Josiah in 609 BCE, Judah experienced radical political fluctuations and with them alternate subjugation by, and rebellion against, each of the major powers. Inexperienced leadership and a situation of dual kings, followed Josiah's death. The rapidly changing international scene demanded of the rulers of Judah skillful manoeuvring and exceptional adaptability, and frequently confronted them with ominous political situations. Judaean leaders and the puppet King Zedekiah, propped up by false prophets, failed to grasp the shift in the balance of power, and clung to questionable Egyptian aid against the new world power, Babylonia. Highly vulnerable and left in the lurch, Jerusalem faced protracted siege and famine in Jerusalem, destruction ofthe Temple, and deportation ofthe cream ofher people. / Classics and Modern European Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (Judaica)

The narratives about the postexilic Judean community are an ancient biblical account of the socio-economic and political experiences of the Judeans when they were finally restored back to Judah from Babylonian captivity. Although the Judean restoration was celebrated when they were restored by King Cyrus’ decree, real freedom did not prevail in the Persian province of Yehud; corruption, usury, greed, oppression, enslavement and loss of property impacted negatively on the poor. The leadership expropriated from poor citizens land, vineyards, and houses in exchange for food. In addition, the governors also charged heavy interest on money borrowed by poor members of society. Parents and their children were subjected to enslavement. In response to these corrupt practices, Nehemiah challenged the leadership to stop oppressing the poor. Nehemiah went further to provide food to the starving Judeans and other people from surrounding nations which served as a stimulus to strive towards alleviating poverty and starvation among communities. By employing an approach known as hermeneutics of appropriation, this thesis appropriates the experience of the postexilic Judean community to the post-independence Zimbabwean context. Between the years 1999 and 2008 many people lost their lives due to unemployment and lack of income, shelter, nutrition, and access to health-care facilities because of the economic meltdown following the controversial fast-track land reform programme in Zimbabwe. The majority of people are still experiencing the negative impact of the land reform as people strive to make a living in the absence of jobs and income scarcity. Corruption by the leadership has continued to further exacerbate starvation among the poor until today.This study attempts to employ the biblical Nehemiah’s social justice reforms (Neh 5) to challenge the Zimbabwean leadership to focus on rebuilding the country which was ravaged by a decade of both political and socio-economic crises. Lessons drawn from Nehemiah would be used to stimulate the leadership in the Zimbabwean government and members of society at large, to strive towards helping the poor and alleviating poverty. / Old Testament & Ancient Near Eastern Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Biblical Studies)

Spanish Republican philosophers in exile defended the Second Republic, legally proclaimed on April 14, 1931. They embraced the anti-fascist cause rising in the 1920s and the 1930s in Europe. During the Civil War, which lasted three years, they stood among the people. 1939 saw the victory of General Francisco Franco, supported by Nazi Germany and the Italy of Mussolini. Threatened with death, they had no choice but to escape from Spain. Some intellectuals experienced French concentration camps but, for the most part, they found refuge in Latin America, especially in Mexico and Venezuela. In exile, they swore to remain loyal to the Second Republic and to the spirit of the Spanish people. Moved by liberal views and humane ideals, these philosophers belonged to the vanquished, as those everywhere in Europe who rose against Fascist barbarity. As a result, their respective works are still widely unknown today – despite relentless efforts made to promote their thought to a larger audience for over half a century. In addition to the historical context of crisis during the interwar period, the situation of Spanish philosophy itself is suggestive. Indeed, Spanish philosophy was institutionalised at the beginning of the twentieth century only: the Schools of Madrid and Barcelona were created. These politics of cultural and intellectual renovation are first bestowed upon the generation of philosophers I study, born in the 1900s. When the Spanish War erupts, they had become professionals of international recognition. This shows the actual limits of academic philosophy, incapable of acknowledging unorthodox ways of philosophising. The experience of exile itself serves in my opinion as a catalyst: Spanish Republican philosophers in exile seek emancipation from academic conventions to philosophise freely; that is, in Spanish and according to the spirit of the people. No doubt “poetic reason” – the true invention of Spanish Republican exile – stems from this ideal of autonomous thinking.

This thesis seeks to interpret the cinematic representations of Hong Kongers’ identity quest during a transitional state/stage related to the sovereignty transfer. The Handover transition considered is an ideological one, rather than the overnight polity change on the Handover day. This research approaches contemporary Hong Kong cinema on two fronts and the thesis is structured accordingly: Upon an initial review of the existing Hong Kong film scholarship in the Introduction, and its 1997-related allegorical readings, Part I sees new angles (previously undeveloped or underdeveloped) for researching Hong Kong films made during 1982-2002. Arguments are built along the ideas of Hong Kongers’ situational, diasporic consciousness, and transformed ‘Chineseness’ because Hong Kong has lacked a cultural/national centrality. This part of research is informed by the ideas of Jacques Derrida, Homi Bhabha and Stuart Hall, and the diasporic experiences of Ien Ang, Rey Chow and Ackbar Abbas. With these new research angles and references to the circumstances, Part II reads critically the text of eight Hong Kong films made during the Handover transition. In chronological order, they are Boat People (Hui, 1982), Song of the Exile (Hui, 1990), Days of Being Wild (Wong, 1990), Happy Together (Wong, 1997), Made in Hong Kong (Chan, 1997), Ordinary Heroes (Hui, 1999), Durian Durian (Chan, 2000), and Hollywood Hong Kong (Chan, 2002). They meet several criteria related to the undeveloped / underdeveloped areas in the existing Hong Kong film scholarship. Hamid Naficy’s ‘accented cinema’ paradigm gives the guidelines to the film analysis in Part II. This part shows that Hong Kongers’ self-transformation during transition is alterable, indeterminate, and interminable, due to the people’s situational, diasporic consciousness, and transformed ‘Chineseness’. This thesis thus contributes to Hong Kong cinema scholarship in interpreting films with new research angles, and generating new insights into this cinematic tradition and its wider context.