Walter Benjamin warned in 1940 of a certain inconspicuous threat to political thinking, not least of all to materialism, that takes progress as an historical norm. Implicit in this conception is what he describes as an empty continuum of time along which the prevailing tradition chronicles its own mythic development and drains everyday life of genuine historical experience. The myth of progressive history advances insidiously today in consumeristic and technocratic attempts at reconciling cultural imagery with organic nature. In this dissertation, I pursue the contradictions of such images as they crystallize around the natural history of twenty-first century commodity society, where promises of ecological remediation, sustainable urban development, and climate change mitigation have yet to introduce a true crisis of historical experience to the ongoing environmental crisis of capitalism. A more radical way of seeing the cultural representation of nature would, I argue, penetrate its mythic determination by market forces and bear witness to the natural-historical ruins and traces that constitute, in Benjamin's terms, a single "catastrophe" where others perceive historical continuity. I argue that Benjamin's critique of progress is instructive to interpreting those utopian dreams, ablaze in consumer life and technological fantasy, that recent decades of growing environmental concern have channeled into the recovery of an experience of the natural world. His dialectics of nature and alienated history confront the wish-image of organic abundance with the transience of its appropriated expression in the commodity-form. Drawing together this confrontation with a varied literature on collective memory, nature, and the city, I suggest that our poverty of experience is more than simply a technical, economic, or even ecological problem, but rather follows from the commodification of history itself. The goal of this work is to reflect upon the potentiality of communal politics that subsist not in rushing headlong into a progressive future but, as Benjamin urges, in reaching for the emergency brake on the runaway train of progress.

Cette thèse consacrée à Die Ausgewanderten de W.G. Sebald (1992) procède à une étude microscopique et détaillée de l’écriture dans sa singularité, une radiographie du texte et de sa matérialité hétérogène. L’étude montre la structure binaire sous-jacente de l’ouvrage, la complexité des stratégies stylistiques et narratives, la manière dont le signifiant se soumet à l’impératif catégorique du signifié mais aussi la prééminence de signes tangentiels et obliques ; elle s’intéresse également à la singularité de l’enchaînement des discours rapportés et met en lumière le geste mélancolique du narrateur sébaldien. Il apparaît que l’intertextualité revêt une spécificité particulière puisque la polyphonie sébaldienne est orientée différemment de celle envisagée par M. Bakhtine. La deuxième partie s’attache à étudier la critique de la civilisation (Kulturkritik) dans une œuvre fortement marquée par la constellation idéologique de l’École de Francfort et plus précisément par « La Dialectique de la Raison » de Horkheimer et d’Adorno. La prose allemande muséale de l’auteur, qui rappelle celle d’Adalbert Stifter mais aussi, par ses emboîtements narratifs, emprunte la virtuosité bernhardienne, est incrustée de « moments » de bonheur ou de beauté qui mettent en évidence et soulignent l’inouï du monde concentrationnaire. Les thématiques de l’exil et du pays natal sont au centre des intérêts de la troisième partie. L’étude s’attache à montrer que l’ouvrage réécrit en quelque sorte une littérature de l’exil que l’auteur, professeur de littérature de langue allemande, a eu l’occasion de fréquenter mais aussi d’analyser. C’est un « chœur d’exilés » qui se fait entendre dans Die Ausgewanderten et qui manifeste la tragédie de l’homme moderne. / This thesis on The Emigrants by W.G. Sebald (1992) focuses on a microscopic and detailed study of Sebald’s writing in its specificity, a radiography of the text and of its heterogeneous materiality. The study pays attention to the binary structure of the work, the complexity ot the stylistic and narrative strategies, the way the signifier obeys the categorical imperative of the signified and the primacy of tangential and oblique signs ; it also deals with the singular linking of reported speech and underlines the melancholic gesture of the narrator. It appears that intertextuality owns a particuliar specificity because the polyphony it creates differs from the Bakhtinian model. The second part deals with cultural criticism (Kulturkritik) which owes a lot to the ideological model of the Frankfurt School and to Horkheimer and Adorno’s Dialectic of Enlightenment in particular. The museum-like German prose of the author, which recalls that of Adalbert Stifter, but also, thanks to narrative nesting, emulates the virtuosity of Thomas Bernhard, is embellished with happy or beautiful “moments” which underline and emphasize the unprecedentedness of the extermination camps. The third part will set out the themes of exile and the native country. The study underlines that The Emigrants reconstructs a literature of exile that the author, a professor of German literature, has perused, studied and analysed. The chorus of emigrants that can be heard imparts what the tragedy of modern man amounts to. / Diese Dissertation über Die Ausgewanderten von W.G. Sebald (1992) führt eine mikroskopische Untersuchung der Schreibweise, ein “Röntgenbild” des Textes und dessen heterogener Materialität durch. Die Studie legt die binäre Struktur des Werks an den Tag, beschreibt die Vielschichtigkeit der stilistischen und narrativen Strategien, die Unterordnung des Signifikanten unter den kategorischen Imperativ des Signifikaten, aber auch den Vorrang des tangentialen und indirekten Zeichens. Sie kommentiert ebenfalls die sonderbare Einschachtelung der direkten Rede und den melancholischen Gestus des Erzählers, und arbeitet die eigenartige Dimension der Intertextualität im Rahmen der vom Bachtinschen Modell stark abweichenden sebaldischen Polyphonie heraus. Der zweite Teil geht auf die kulturkritische Dimension ein, die durch die ideologische Konstellation der Frankfurter Schule, beziehungsweise durch die Dialektik der Aufklärung von Horkheimer und Adorno tief geprägt ist. Die museale deutsche Prosa des Schriftstellers, die an diejenige Adalbert Stifters, infolge der narrativen Einschachtelungen aber auch an die Virtuosität Thomas Bernhards erinnert, ist mit Glücks- oder Schönheitsmomenten verziert, die das Unerhörte der Shoah umso mehr unterstreichen. Im dritten Teil steht die Thematik von Exil und Heimat im Mittelpunkt des Interesses. Es wird deutlich, dass W.G. Sebald eine Literatur des Exils umschreibt, mit der er Umgang und geistigen Austausch gepflegt hat, die er erforscht und kommentiert hat. Hier ist ein “Chor von Ausgewanderten” zu hören, der die Tragödie des modernen Menschen zum Ausdruck bringt

Notre travail de thèse de sociologie présente le passage du cinéma allemand en France depuis 1990, de sa sphère de production jusqu'à sa sphère de réception individuelle. Il mobilise les études sur la culture de l'École de Francfort ainsi que les apports de la sociologie de la réception, et s'appuie sur une enquête empirique menée auprès d'acteurs de la branche de production allemande et de spectateurs français. La production contemporaine est traversée par des mutations qui convergent pour générer un paysage cinématographique plus diversifié. L'apparition d'une voie médiane entre cinéma commercial et cinéma d'auteur, les « divertissements de qualité », principalement représentés par les films historiques à caractère authentique, favorise une reconnexion du cinéma allemand avec son public local et international. Les instances d'exportation déploient une nouvelle politique de visibilité polarisée autour de cette voie médiane, valorisée en tant que marchandise culturelle. La réputation du cinéma allemand auprès des distributeurs français est revalorisée, mais s'opère selon un mode conformiste qui tend à privilégier les motifs historiques et à exclure les comédies allemandes des écrans français. Cette orientation guide des horizons d'attente spectatoriels en termes de cinéma historique de qualité, crédible et fiable. Cette catégorisation de la germanité filmique mène alors au réinvestissement actif de visions du monde plus ou moins stéréotypées par rapport à l'Autre. Cette réception favorise en outre la matérialisation de phénomènes abstraits, liés à une expérience généralisée de l'altérité, entre germanité et universalité. / This PhD presents the mechanisms of the appearance of German cinema in France since 1990, from its sphere of production to its individual reception. How can contemporary German cinema support new forms of encounter with the Other for French spectators? The analysis draws on the studies of culture undertaken by the Frankfurt School, as well as on contributions from the sociology of cinema and its reception. It also builds on empirical research conducted with major stakeholders : people working in German production on the one hand, and French spectators on the other. Since 1990 the production of German cinema has undergone changes resulting in the creation of a more productive film landscape. The rise in production has led to an increased export of German cinema, notably to France. This is a contradictory development: it has admittedly allowed a diversification in the nature of movies screened, but this diversification has been based on conformist approaches, smoothing out any heterogeneity. The export and advertising of the productions has tended to support historical themes whilst German comedies have been excluded from French screens in a self-fulfilling prophecy. The reception of contemporary German cinema has then led to an active reinvestment in more or less stereotypical worldviews of the Other. The encounter with German cinema has also fluctuated between being an experience of Germany and an experience of the world. The exoticism of German cinema has been too subtle to have any direct impact on the representation of the Other. Its influence has occurred implicitly on intertwined levels: on iconographic images, societal representations, as well as meta-representations. / Die Dissertation aus dem Fachbereich Soziologie stellt die Passagen des deutschen Kinos in Frankreich seit 1990 dar - von der Produktionssphäre bis hin zur individuellen Rezeption. Hierbei bedient sie sich sowohl an den Kulturstudien der Frankfurter Schule als auch an den Beiträgen der Rezeptionssoziologie. Des weiteren basiert sie auf einer empirischen Studie, die die Sichtweise von Akteuren der deutschen Produktionsbranche und französischer Konsumenten analysiert. Die zeitgenössische Produktion zeichnet sich durch diverse Mutationen aus, deren Kreuzung zu einer vielfältigeren Kinolandschaft führt. Die Entstehung einer Schnittmenge aus kommerziellem Kino und Autorenfilmen, die zu einer qualitativ hochwertigen Unterhaltung führt, basiert überwiegend auf Historienfilme mit authentischem Charakter und führt zu einem Rückschluss auf das deutsche Kino auf lokaler und internationaler Ebene. Der Export der Filme, die durchaus als Kulturgut wahrgenommen werden, trägt zu einer polarisierten Sichtweise bei. Das deutsche Kino wird aus der Sicht französischer Händler neu bewertet, bedient sich jedoch dabei einer sehr konformistischen Art und Weise, die dazu neigt, sich an historischen Filmen zu bedienen und deutsche Komödien auszugrenzen. Dies führt dazu, dass der französische Zuschauer, von seinem Nachbarn, qualitativ hochwertige Historienfilme erwartet. Diese Kategorisierung von Deutschtum in Filmen führt zu einer Art Stereotypisierung im Hinblick auf den Anderen. Diese Rezeption fördert wiederum die Materalisierung abstrakter Phänomene, die an einer generalisierten Erfahrung des Andersseins bezüglich Deutschtum und Universalität anknüpft.

成功的企業變革蘊涵著規範、觀念、與文化上的改變，其最終目的是要達成新規範的運作、成員對新組織的再認同、與新組織文化的再建構。一般如常管理主要考慮的是如何創造競爭優勢與提高效能，主要參照的「企業策略科學」與「科學管理學」並無法處理價值與信仰的課題，也未注重資訊與知識的流動與管理。單憑這兩類管理理論，無法因應變革管理的挑戰。本論文分析科特與彼德˙聖吉等管理學者提出的變革失敗原因，並將其歸納予批判社會學者哈伯瑪斯所述「生存環境的意義生產」的失效。作者檢討組織變革過程中的「社會規範」、「成員主觀」、與「客觀環境」等三個面向，認為有效溝通與真正共識為成功企業變革之所必需。 作者認為組織內的活動可以區分為「溝通」與「執行」兩個面向，各別對應到哈伯瑪斯所述的「實踐性理性」與「工具性理性」。本論文批判缺乏「實踐性理性」制衡的「工具性理性」妨礙企業的執行效能與知識生產，並闡述實踐性理性不可或缺的價值。唯有摒除由工具性理性發展的階層權力對溝通過程的干預，有效溝通與真正共識才能達成。作者亦就實行的層面提出在組織內建立「理想言辭情境」的方法。本論文從「實踐性理性」的觀點檢視組織變革，以「變革之輪」來闡明各變革階段應注意的工作。作者結合「生存環境的意義生產」與野中郁次郎的「組織知識創造論」檢視變革過程中，包含認知、價值觀、信仰、規範遵從、組織認同等「意義」的創造過程。如果變革過程中「實踐性理性」能得到彰顯，成功的變革會使成員得到意義生產的正向迴饋。這個「正向意義迴饋系統」將使企業進入一種得以持續對應新競爭局勢的動態平衡。 本文藉由Intel在1985年策略大轉折的實際案例來檢驗本文論述。對「導致組織變革失敗的根本原因為何?」、「如何建構適合因應外在環境的變化，並能成功完成變革的組織?」、「如何成功地完成組織的變革?」等三個組織變革管理的根本問題提出有系統的答案。本論文終結於對自我論述的批判。 / Organizational change is essential for the modern business entities to survive in the dynamic economical environment. However, many companies, which are successful in day-to-day operation, cannot accomplish the organizational change process, and result in fading out in the new competition environment. During organizational change processes, authority swinging and uncertainty about future make rumors prosperous; new rules and tactics have not been proved and are doubted; mutual trust between staffs and organization is shaky; and staffs become difficult to identify themselves with the organization. The above challenges are related to the dynamic management of information sharing, knowledge creating, staffs’ cognition, emotional consideration, mutual trust, and common consensus about new rules and the business entity’s future. The above conditions make changing management to be fundamentally different from the routine operational management. Strategic science and science management principles, which are generally adopted by companies to increase competition advantages and operational efficiency in the routine management, do not take account for the information and knowledge management, and cannot deal with the values and belief issues. Companies cannot just rely on the above two management principles to face challenges of the organizational change. The thesis analyzes the failure factors of changing management, which are disclosed by scholars like John P. Kotter and Peter M. Senge etc. The author correlates them with “meaning reproduction of living situation”, which was introduced by social critical philosopher Jürgen Habermas. Habermas believes efficient communication and true common consensus are essential to revive the meaning reproduction and to coordinate the social operation. The author inspects the “social”, ”subjective”, and “objective” aspects of the “living situation” of companies’ change phases, which were inferred from the eight steps of successful organizational changing addressed by John P. Kotter. The author elucidates that efficient communication and true common consensus are requisite for organization changing management. Habermas based on the two human basic actions, “labor” and “communication”, to categorizes rational into “instrumental rational” and “practical rational”. Instrumental rational aims at environment control and material productivity. Practical rational endeavors mutual understanding and common consensus. Habermas argued that the power developed by instrumental rational should be balanced by the values generated by practical rational; otherwise the power will oppress human society. The thesis criticizes that companies’ hierarchical power obstructs organizational operation, policy execution, information sharing and knowledge creation, as organizational instrumental rational is not tempered by corresponding practical rational. The irreplaceable values of organizational practical rational are further illustrated. To illuminate practical rational, it is necessary to eliminate the intimidation and temptation, which are induced by hierarchical power, from the communication actions. Habermas believes that comprehensive speech, true statement, right position and sincere attitude are the four valid assertions for the communication actions. If only all communicating participants have equal opportunities to partake, declare, interrogate, and explain, authorities and ideologies can be excluded from the communication actions. Habermas defined the above circumstances as the “idea speech situation”. The thesis argues that organizational activities can be categorized into the “execution” and “communication” dimensions, which correspond to the organizational “instrumental rational” and “practical rational”. Communication actions should not be interrupted by the hierarchy power of execution dimension. Rules and tactics should be supported by common consensus and thorough communication. Staffs should apply instrumental rational to execute the rules and tactics without objection. If only the organizational culture and merit system can ensure the above working principles, the business entity can achieve the advantages of both instrumental and practical rational. In additional to the theoretical elaboration, the thesis proposes manners to establish organizational ideal speech situation from “managers’ attitude”, “staffs’ consensus”, and “discussion processes” aspects. The author applies the above ideal speech situation exposition to different organizational changing management phases. The thesis constructs the organizational changing wheel to illustrate the key executive points to successfully drive continuous organizational evolution. Furthermore, the author integrates the above argumentation with the “organizational knowledge creating theory”, which was proposed by Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi. The “meaning reproduction” flow of the organizational changing wheel is constructed by investigating the internalization, externalization, universalization, and integration processes of meanings, which include information, knowledge, interests, intuition, values, belief, cognition, emotion, identification, obedience, and consensus etc. If the communication processes of the organizational change follow practical rational, and the organizational changing is successfully accomplished, staffs will received positive feedback from the intrinsic meanings they generated. The author expounds that the “positive meaning feedback loop” will accelerate the iteration of meaning reproduction cycles. The dynamic stability, supported by the “positive meaning feedback loop”, will ensure the business entity to continuously adjust itself to conquer new competition circumstances. To exam the above theorem, the author adopts Intel’s strategic transition in 1985 as an example. The case is interpreted fro

In this thesis, I examine three works of modern German fantasy fiction for young adults, their common grounding in the Romantic aesthetic framework and in particular the Romantic notion of creativity, and the implication of their unique fantasy fiction paradigm in our modern day. The novels are Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story (1979), Inkheart (2003) by Cornelia Funke and The City of Dreaming Books (2006) by Walter Moers. They represent a Germany-specific narrative paradigm which can be seen in the protagonist readers’ transformation from mere readers into storymakers/storytellers, and in the conflict between a book-loving hero and antagonists who are against literature. The protagonists embody the Romantic notion of creativity that involves the sublimation of a poet’s crisis into an exploration of the self. The mundane is infused with fantasy, thereby elevating reality to an idealised state. These Romantic storytelling readers act as tricksters, a fairy tale archetype that shares similarities with the figure of the Romantic poet. I employ the theoretical frameworks of German Romanticism, Frankfurt School critical theory, and postmodern models, including those by Deleuze and Guattari. I argue for a modern version of the trickster archetype which explains how a complacent, passive reader becomes an active storyteller. / Graduate

Notre thèse d’analyse des idées politiques retrace l’histoire intellectuelle de larevue de pensée critique étasunienne Telos de 1968 à 2001. A travers notre travail denarration critique, nous cherchons à comprendre, au sens wébérien, l’évolution idéologiquesignificative de la publication-organisation, qui est passée en moins de trente ans d’unpositionnement néo-marxiste affilié à la Nouvelle gauche américaine à un populisme prochede la Nouvelle droite européenne. Notre hypothèse de travail est que le rapport que Telosentretient avec la Théorie critique de l’Ecole de Francfort est déterminant pour comprendreson évolution et écrire son histoire. Nous défendons ici la thèse que Telos constitue unorgane dissident de « théorie critique nord-américaine » (Mooney, Calhoun) qui s’exprimesous la forme d’un « traditionalisme critique » qui tient lieu de synthèse entre différentesbranches de théorie critique contemporaine. En tant que synthèse, la théorie telosiennedépasse l'héritage de la vieille Théorie critique francfortoise, dans un double rapportd’intégration et de négation. In fine, Telos produit sa propre critique, une autre théoriecritique. / Our doctoral dissertation traces the intellectual history of the American criticalthought journal Telos from 1968 to 2001. Through our critical narrative, we intend tounderstand, in the weberian sense, the significant ideological evolution of the publicationorganization,which, in less than thirty years, moved from a neo-Marxist position affiliatedwith the American New Left to a populism related to the European New Right. Our workinghypothesis is that the link between Telos and the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School isdecisive to understand its evolution and write its history. Our thesis is that Telos is adissenting organ of “North-American Critical Theory” (Mooney, Calhoun) expressed as a“critical traditionalism” that acts as a synthesis between various trends of contemporarycritical theory. As a synthesis, the telosian theory overcomes the legacy of the old Criticaltheory in a dual relationship of integration and negation. Ultimately, Telos produces its owncriticism, another critical theory.

Punk rock provided not only a watershed of creativity, innovation and a do-it-yourself spirit to a culture saturated in the mainstream, it physically brought like-minded people together in a community, or rather extended family, which in today’s hyper-d.i.y. culture, is progressively declining. As early as the 1940s, theorists such as Adorno and Horkheimer warned us about alienation in a society increasingly dependent on technology. By looking to punk, and other resilient and robust counter-cultures, perhaps we can find solutions to the pitfalls of the ‘culture industry’ (Adorno, Horkheimer, 1944). My thesis, consisting of a feature-length documentary film and textual analysis, is a culmination of: ethnographic research into the punk scene in my own community; theoretical research into the sociology, ethnography and subculture theory; and my own subjectivity. My personal findings are presented to offer insight into punk philosophy and to spur discourse, rather than deliver an objective account or didactic reproach. / Graduate