Saarbrücken, Univ., Diss., 2006.

Saarbrücken, Universiẗat, Diss., 2006.

I am submitting this thesis to the Faculty of Law, the University of Ottawa in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in August 2016. The thesis examined the issue of land-grabbing through an environmental justice lens. The thesis first reviewed the concept of environmental justice and the threats that land-grabbing by powerful transnational corporations pose to subsistence communities in Africa. Additionally, this study investigated the adequacy of international guidelines to regulate against land-grabbing, including the Minimum Human Rights Principles, the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure, and the Principles for Responsible Agricultural Investments. Using Cameroon as my case study, the study also examined the adequacy of Cameroon’s land tenure rules and environmental impact assessment (EIA) system to protect vulnerable communities against land-grabbing. Drawing on examples from Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda, this thesis argues that subsistence communities who failed to have their customary land rights formalized or failed to adequately participate in environmental decision-making end up dispossessed of their means of surviving and thriving. There were three key findings: first, international guidelines regulating against global land-grabbing lack the binding force to coerce host states to take the necessary action to enforce the guidelines and, hence promote responsible agricultural investments. Next, the land rights of subsistence Cameroonians are not formally recognized under Cameroon`s land tenure system, making it difficult for vulnerable populations to contest these allocations or receive compensation in the event of expropriation. Thirdly, EIA follow-up in Cameroon is driven entirely by the investor: the EIA system does not encourage a joint follow-up activity initiated by all groups of stakeholders involved in EIA. Without an independent environmental oversight body that can provide expert evaluation and monitor the Cameroon government and (agricultural) corporations, there is no guarantee that proposed mitigation measures will be translated into specific actions by Herakles Farms. Based on the evaluation results, the following recommendations are made to the Cameroon Government to promote environmental justice in communities that are vulnerable to land-grabbing: (1) formalize customary land tenure, (2) promote environmental contracting; (3) encourage sustainability assessments.

La tesi contiene un commento continuo al poemetto tardo arcaico noto col titolo di Scutum Herculis e falsamente assegnato a Esiodo; vi sono affrontate in prevalenza questioni mitografiche, geografiche, antiquarie e iconografiche, ma talora anche aspetti linguistico-letterari, laddove siano utili all'inquadramento dell'orizzonte storico-culturale sotteso alla composizione dell'epillio. Nell'introduzione si dimostra come la sensibilità artistica dell'autore dell'ekphrasis possa essere ricondotta al periodo a cavallo tra il VII e il VI secolo a.C. / The dissertation contains a continuous commentary on the late archaic poem known as Scutum Herculis and wrongly attributed to Hesiod. It discusses especially mythographical, geographic, antiquarian and iconographic issues, but also some linguistic and literary aspects, which can contribute to the outline of the historical and cultural milieu, within which the poem was composed. In the introduction it is showed how the artistic taste of the author of the ekphrasis could date back to the period between the 7th and the 6th century B.C.

MPhil University College London, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [211]-240) and indexes.

Héraclès est une des figures les plus importantes dans la littérature et l’art de la Grèce ancienne et il est le sujet d’une vaste geste aussi complexe que variée. Celle-ci est développée dans les traditions orales et retranscrite dans les textes, ainsi que largement mise en image. Héraclès est énormément représenté dans la céramique attique, qui constitue un support polysémique, rendant toutes les variations que permet sa figure complexe. Déjà la nature d’un vase est susceptible de regards variés, allant de la simple réception jusqu’à une pensée plus élaborée, suivant les occasions et la culture des spectateurs. De plus, Héraclès est le seul personnage de la mythologie grecque à posséder une nature aussi ambiguë, de héros et de dieu. Les imagiers grecs ont donc adapté, sur divers supports, de l’architecture jusqu’aux céramiques, un nombre important de ses exploits, mettant en lumière telle ou telle qualité, souvent en fonction de la nature de l’épisode suscité. Naturellement, le contexte particulier d’une cité, de la situation politique de l’époque et de l’objet en question sont autant de données qui entrent dans l’interprétation des images d’Héraclès aux périodes archaïque et classique de l’Antiquité grecque / Herakles is one of the most important figures in the literature and art of ancient Greece, and he is the subject of a huge mythology as complex as varied. Herakles’ story is developed in the oral traditions and transcribed in the texts, as well as widely put in image. He is profusely represented in attic ceramics, which constitute a polysemic support, making all the variations that allow his complex figure. First, a vase could be seen in differents ways and views : from a simple reception to a more elaborate thought, according to the abilities and the culture of the spectators. Then, Heracles is the only character in Greek mythology who has such an ambiguous nature, of heroes and gods. So the Greek artists have adapted, on various media, from architecture to ceramic, a large number of his deeds, highlighting one quality or an other, depending on which episode is represented. Obviously, in order to interpreting the image of Herakles in the archaic and the classical periods of Greek antiquity, the particular context of a city, the political situation and the object must all be considered.

Disney's Hercules is an apt modern reception of the ancient mythology of Herakles, acknowledging ancient and modern sources surrounding three types of classical hero: the archetypal hero, influenced by the ideas of Joseph Campbell; the Pan-Hellenic hero, distilled from ancient Greek exempla of heroism from epic and other genres of ancient literature; and the tragic hero, inspired by the heroic criteria presented in Aristotle's Poetics. By adapting these heroic types from their traditional ancient source myths, Disney's Hercules produces a new, contemporary definition of heroism—one informed by modern, Western family values. This adaptation renews the power of the myth of Herakles for a modern era, whose image and characteristics have been changed and adapted since ancient times to suit each receiving culture's conception of true heroism.

I den här uppsatsen undersöks den intertextualitetsteori som framkommer i Kallifatides 2000-talslitteratur, och hur den kan användas för att läsa de autofiktiva inslagen i romanerna. Uppsatsen kommer fram till att Kallifatides ansluter sig till en poststrukturalistisk syn på intertextualitet, där intertextualitet inte så mycket handlar om direkta referenser i ett verk till ett annat, utan utgör en del i den poststrukturalistiska insikten att allt är konstruktion. Genom att människans syn på världen anses sakna essens och istället konstrueras genom språket kan text med denna syn endast referera till andra språkliga konstruktioner, det vill säga, annan text. Livet är något som ”levs mellan två citattecken”. Parallellt tycks dock Kallifatides intertextualitet inneha en mindre språkburen dimension som går tillbaka på en mer konkret historieskatt, och ett arv av kollektiva erfarenheter. Överlag ansluter sig Kallifatides trots allt till kända intertextualitetsteoretikers, såsom Kristeva och Barthes, syn att språket bär på en inneboende intertextualitet. I uppsatsen finner jag emellertid att Kallifatides skiljer sig från nämnda teoretiker i sin inställning till detta beroende. Där Kristeva och Barthes ser en förlorad individuell frihet och agens, ser Kallifatides en vunnen samhörighet och gemenskap. Insikten om synen på intertextualitet i Kallifatides litteratur används sedan i en läsning av de autofiktiva inslagen i verken. Där finner jag att man med en medvetenhet om nämnda intertextualitetsdiskussion kan läsa de autofiktiva inslagen som en sorts praktisk tillämpning av tankarna kring beroendet av myt och fiktion. Sammanblandandet av verken och det litterära arvet, med författarens liv, blir en exemplifiering av idén att livet levs inom redan uppdragna narrativa strukturer. Genom att blanda dåtid och nutid, fiktion och verklighet, exemplifierar Kallifatides att ”det är detaljerna som skiljer oss” från historien och myten, och ”ibland inte ens de”. Individen och författaren lever på så vis texter som redan är skrivna. Vidare menar jag i uppsatsen att de autofiktiva inslagen på detta vis upprättar en sorts ”oklar linje” mellan författare och verk och författare och myt, där synen på förhållandena mellan verk och litterärt arv, och författaren, inte ses uteslutande som enkelriktat kausala. Författarens relation till verket blir alltså inte likriktad: istället för att författaren allena formar verket, formar verket också författaren. Även om skrivandet visserligen anses sprunget ur erfarenhet, ger det på samma gång struktur och form till erfarenheten. Fiktionen är på så vis en del av konstruktionen av oss som individer. Relationen mellan författaren och myten är mer kausalt riktad, det är arvet som påverkar författaren. Den oklara linjen handlar här mer om en oklarhet kring var författarens liv börjar och var myten slutar. Sammantaget läses autofiktiva inslagen som en praktisk tillämpning av de teoretiska resonemangen. Funktionen blir att illustrera tidlösheten hos det litterära arvets narrativa strukturer, och att peka på författarens dubbelriktade förhållande till sin fiktion.

"Exclusion in Sophocles" dass Exklusion als Motiv sich durch alle erhaltenen Sophoklesstücke zieht nebst einiger der längeren Fragmente. Auffällig ist die Vielfalt des Motivs, welches sich auf einen Ausschluss aus der Familie (Elektra), der Stadt (Ödipus-Dramen), der Armee (Philoktet), der Gemeinschaft der Menschen (Tereus) und noch vieles Weitere bezieht. Diese Arbeit sammelt, ordnet und analysiert sophokleische Exklusionsszenarien. Insbesondere wird der Gebrauch von Tropologien des Un/Menschlichen in der extrinsischen Charakterisierung der tragischen Protagonisten herausgestellt sowie damit verbundene Metaphern des Pathologischen, Monströsen, Bestialen und sog. Primitiven als Marker und Auslöser von strukturellen Exklusionen. Dabei wird das Exklusionsmotiv nicht als vollendete Tatsache erfasst, sondern als dynamischer und sich teilweise über ganze Plots hinweg erstreckender Prozess, als Narrativ eines ehemals gut Eingegliederten und von der Gemeinschaft nach und nach Exkludierten. Gleichwohl diese Entwicklung vom tragischen Protagonisten in eloquenten und selbstdarstellerischen Reden vehement kritisiert wird, erwächst im Bereich der Metaphern und rhetorischen Bildsprache der Gemeinschaft eine regelrechte Ausradierung und Neuzuweisung seiner Identität. Durch eine vergleichende Gegenüberstellung beider Standpunkte stellt sich heraus, wie tiefgreifend die als Exkludierend handelnde Gemeinschaft in das Vorantschreiten des tragischen Geschehens involviert ist und die Dramen eben nicht nur—wie in zahlreichen Forschungsstandpunkten festgehalten—die Manci des Exkludierten Protagonisten als moralische Fabel vorführen. / Social exclusion as a literary theme is common to all of Sophocles' fully extant plays as well as some of the longer fragments. The variety of settings is wide, between exclusion from the family like for example in Electra, exclusion from the city as in the case of Oedipus, from a regiment of the armed forces like in Ajax or Philoctetes, or even humankind, like with Tereus. This inquiry sets out to present, taxonomize and unpack Sophoclean discourses of exclusion and their attaining literary tropes of the pathological, the bestial, the brutish, the monstrous, and the so-called uncivilized. The aim is to demonstrate how deeply implicated the whole cast of characters and their language are in the process of a tragedy unfolding, rather than the causes of tragedy being lodged in the doings of one protagonist alone. One key point argued here is that, instead of taking 'the isolation of the tragic hero' as fait accompli, exclusion is a dynamic process that often takes up the entire plot arc of a tragedy. In the space of extrinsic characterization, it is argued that a process of rhetorical erasure and overwriting of identity takes place, where peer groups gradually dismantle a formerly well-established identity and re-assign a new and undesirable one. It is shown how the protagonists seek to resist, lament or somehow negotiate this process through long and expansive speeches of futile self-reinstatement. In the synthesis of both, it is argued that Sophocles' deployment of the theme puts a critical spotlight on the rhetorics of exclusion and its discourses of the bestial, the brutal, and especially the pathological, which embed and frame the work's overall literary, cultural and dramatic effects.