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[pt] Costuma-se relacionar o problema da imaginação com o tratamento do ficcional ou do artístico, mas esta associação não foi sempre assim. Além do campo da arte, a imaginação envolve também o campo das disciplinas humanas, como a história, a antropologia, a política e inclusive a teologia. Pela sua estreita ligação com processos ditos físicos, a imaginação também intervém nas classificações das capacidades e funções físicas do cérebro. A discussão sobre a imaginação gravita entre o conhecimento do homem como ser biológico e como ser moral, entre a exterioridade da percepção e a interioridade do pensamento e do sentimento, entre a sua condição terrena e seu pertencimento ao universo divino. A abordagem da disputa sobre a imaginação no longo século XVIII, isto é, aproximadamente desde a época de Gottfried Leibniz, em que se condensa uma discussão propriamente alemã, até a época de Hegel, em que a história se torna uma espécie de necessidade da razão, começa com um problema. Por um lado, ela é acometida como estratégia para compreender em um plano profundo as condições de possibilidade da formalização disciplinar da historiografia no contexto da formalização e especialização disciplinar generalizada de todos os saberes previamente contidos nos vocábulos de ciência ou filosofia. Por outro lado, essa discussão tem sido recuperada somente a través do seu sequestro por cada uma dessas disciplinas formalizadas, e incorporada como parte de uma memória disciplinar que oblitera a sua pluralidade e produtividade iniciais. Essa produtividade contém uma noção de conhecimento muito mais ampla do que aquela que é manejada hoje em dia pelas disciplinas humanas, e aparece como muito mais conveniente para os seus objetivos. Neste trabalho se entende que a amplitude da concepção de conhecimento que convém às humanidades reside na unidade fundamental de criação e conhecimento que se verifica no pensamento anterior à discussão alemã do século XVIIIXIX sobre a imaginação, e que os termos de criação e conhecimento se tornaram antitéticos somente partir e como produto dessa discussão. / [en] The problem of imagination is most commonly related to fictional or artistic concerns. This association, however, hasn t always been so evident. Apart from the field of art, imagination concerns the humanities, such as history, anthropology, politics and even theology. Due to its close bind to so called physical processes, imagination also intervenes in the classification of the capacities and functions of the brain. The debate over imagination thus gravitates somewhere between the knowledge of man as a biological body and as a moral being, between exterior perception and the interiority of thought and feelings, between man s earthly condition and its belonging to the divine universe. The analysis of the dispute over imagination during the long nineteenth century, that is, approximately from the times of Gottfried Leibniz, in which a properly German discussion is articulated, until Hegel s time, when history became some kind of necessity of reason, begins with a problem. For one thing it is pursued as a strategy to understand more deeply the conditions of possibility for the disciplinary formalization of historiography in the context of the generalized formalization of all knowledge previously contained in the terms science or philosophy. On the other hand, this dispute has been so far undertaken only through its kidnapping by each one of those individual formal disciplines and incorporated as part of a discipline memory which obliterates its original productivity and plurality. That productivity contains a much wider notion of knowledge than the one nowadays adopted by the humanities, and appears as a more convenient approach for their goals. This thesis works on the understanding that the generosity of the concept of knowledge that better suits the humanities lies in the fundamental unity of creation and knowledge that was overthrown during the eighteenth-nineteenth century German debate over imagination, which made the terms creation and knowledge antithetical concepts.

[pt] O presente trabalho apóia-se nos pressupostos da Psicologia da cultura que visa apreender as modalidades pelas quais se constrói e se expressa a pessoa em determinada cultura e, a partir desta observação, tenta compreender aspectos fundamentais da realidade humana (Augras, 1995). No bojo do imaginário sóciohistórico brasileiro, recorta o universo religioso referido como afro, focalizando os pretos-velhos, figuras de destaque neste campo. Um diálogo com autores das ciências sociais (Geertz, 1989; Berger, 1985; Bourdieu, 2004 et al.) põe em evidência as dinâmicas sócio-históricas que delineiam seus papéis, dentre estes, os de personagens de avôs e avós, junto dos quais os fiéis buscam conselhos e proteção. Propõe-se uma leitura desse tipo de relação, apoiada no conceito winnicottiano de holding. / [en] The present work is based on the presuppositions of the psychology of culture that it seeks to apprehend the modalities which is built and it shows the person in a certain culture and, starting from this observation, it tries to understand the main aspects of the human reality (Augras, 1995). The main idea about the social imaginary - historical brazilian, appears the religion universe known as afro, having as the main character the pretos-velhos. A dialogue with authors of the social-sciences (Geertz, 1989; Berger, 1985; Bourdieu, 2004 et al.) it puts in evidence the hystoricals-social dynamics that leads their roles, among these, the characters of grandfathers and grandmothers, that the followers look for pieces of advice and protection. It intends a reading about this kind of relationship, based on the concept winnicottian of holding.

Parmi les nombreuses apocalypses composées durant l’Antiquité judéo-chrétienne, seules l’Apocalypse de Jean et l’Apocalypse de Paul (par l’intermédiaire de la Vision de saint Paul) ont bénéficié de traductions en ancien français. Leur réception textuelle fait l’objet dans ce travail d’un classement exhaustif et d’une étude détaillée. En raison de leur succès, ces deux apocalypses ont laissé une empreinte durable dans les mentalités médiévales, car elles répondaient à deux préoccupations majeures : le Jugement collectif (Apocalypse johannique) et le Jugement individuel (apocalypse paulinienne). Elles ont donné naissance à un imaginaire dont on peut déceler la trace dans la littérature française du Moyen Âge grâce à une approche intertextuelle. Plusieurs pans de la littérature médiévale recourent à cet imaginaire, qu’il s’agisse de la littérature visionnaire (avec La Vision de Tondale et Le Purgatoire de saint Patrick), de la littérature allégorique (dans La Tournoi de l’Antéchrist et Le Roman de la Rose) ou de la littérature didactique et religieuse (dans La Somme le roi, les sermons ou les épîtres farcies). L’imaginaire apocalyptique imprègne ainsi une part considérable de la littérature de cette époque, de telle sorte qu’on peut l’envisager comme un univers mental autonome, riche de motifs, de lieux, de créatures, et parfois d’inquiétudes. De texte en texte, cet imaginaire s’est propagé au gré de strates intertextuelles que la philologie est en mesure de distinguer. Mais ce réseau complexe d’interférences ne doit pas nous faire oublier que la réception de l’imaginaire apocalyptique ne s’appréhende pas uniquement à une échelle textuelle. Elle met aussi en jeu des mécanismes cognitifs comme la compréhension, la représentation ou l’imagination. / Among the numerous apocalypses written during the Judeo-Christian Antiquity, only the Revelation of John and the Apocalypse of Paul (through the Vision of Paul) got old french translations. In this work, their textual reception is the subject of a complete inventory and a detailed study. Because of their success, both left a durable trace in the medieval mindset, as they solved two major concerns : collective judgement (Johannine Apocalypse) and individual jugdement (paulinian apocalypse). They gave birth to an imaginary world which can be detected in medieval french literature thanks to an intertextual approach. Many parts of the medieval literature use this imagination : the visionary literature (in the Vision of Tondale and St Patrick’s Purgatory), the allegoric literature (in the Tournoi de l’Antéchrist and the Roman de la Rose) or the didactic and religious literature (in the Somme le roi, the homilies and the “épîtres farcies”). The apocalyptic imagination thus spreads through a considerable part of this literature, and therefore we can consider it as an independent world of the mind, full of motives, places, creatures, and sometimes fears. From a text to another, this imagination has disseminated according to intertextual levels which can be distinguished by philology. But this complex web of correlations must not make us forget that the reception of the apocalyptic imagination is not only accessible from a textual viewpoint. It also employs cognitive mechanisms like understanding, representation and imagination.

Migration has become a topical theme both in academia and in public discourses across the media which have contributed to create a highly political and visual 'migrant subject'. However, the highly mediatized figure of the migrant has left crucial aspects of migration underrepresented and unrecognised. What is normally concealed and left to the margins of public debate is the individual experience of the protagonists, their imaginative lifeworlds and the complexity of their stories. This practice-based research has centred its inquiry on the relationship between the lived experiences and the imagination of past, present and future existential possibilities, by engaging three Egyptian migrants through the creative processes of theatre improvisations, storytelling practices, participatory photography, collaborative filmmaking and animation. It recognizes the fundamental role that imagination and future existential possibilities play in people’s perceptions of reality, in their decisions and actions, and finally in the way they narrate their experiences. In order to better understand how individuals make their choices, interact with each other, understand themselves and the world around them, I have argued that we need to take into account their biographies and imaginative inner lives as the ways people retell their stories allow space for contradiction, feelings of ambivalence and uncertainty, unlaced and unfinished thoughts and existential dilemmas. Imaginative realms of existence are ever-changing and ungraspable, posing a challenge to conventional methodologies in the social sciences which rely heavily on observation, interviews and text. The thesis is divided into two parts. By using the ethnographic material that emerged during fieldwork and from the creative processes, in the first part I look at the role imagination and the future play in Ali’s, Mohamed’s and Mahmoud’s relationships to their origins, and to their decisions and experiences of illegally crossing the Mediterranean Sea in order to reach Milan (Italy). The second part describes and reflects upon the performative and audio-visual collaborative practices that involved my participants in producing their own narrations and theoretical reflections on their experiences, aspirations and memories. It is thanks to the ‘subjunctive possibilities’ enabled by performative improvisations, creative storytelling and the animation that my participants and I could explore their mnemonic and imaginative processes. Finally, the thesis concludes by arguing for social research to engage participants in more collaborative and creative practices in the study of migration, as a necessary way of involving the protagonists in producing the questions and counter-narratives that reclaim their acts of struggle and their creative imaginative abilities to contrast objectifying political discourses and exclusionary legal and bureaucratic procedures.

This BA thesis is about an attempt to explore micro-utopianism through design, an investigation that seeks which driving forces come into play in a search for a better place. In comparison to conventional utopianism, I will give my insights about why micro-utopianism should instead be practiced as an alternative approach to the subject. It is more about the process, exploring, imagining and experimenting rather than constituting a perfect place. The way I chose to go about this was through participatory design, which is a discipline that involves the stakeholders throughout the whole design process and beyond. I will also talk about dissecting as a design method and how I tried this out to explore micro-utopianism. To do this, the participants and I conducted two workshops so that, together with the participants, we could have a space where our imagination could ‘gestalta’ (or ‘exterpret’) thoughts of critique and opportunities. The two workshops were targeting different age groups: in the first one mainly adults participated and the second workshop was with youth. This will give you an insight of how dissecting can be applied to stimulate the utopian impulse using the power of imagination.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilka faktorer som påverkar elevers intresse och lust till att läsa skönlitteratur och vilka strategier som används för att motivera till läsning. För att möjliggöra denna studie intervjuas femton elever i en klass fem och deras tre lärare genom en metod som kallas fokusgrupper. Fokusgrupper är en kvalitativ intervjumetod som grundar sig helt på deltagarnas personliga upplevelser och åsikter. Deltagare i fokusgrupper får i förhand information om vad som skall diskuteras vid intervjutillfället. Det är deltagarnas diskussioner och resonemang som sedan analyseras och används som data till examensarbetet. Resultatet av studien visar att deltagarnas läsning av skönlitteratur präglas av en rad olika faktorer som skall gynna läsningen. Den främsta och viktigaste faktorn för att gynna den skönlitterära läsningen är valet av skönlitterär bok, den skall helst vara tilltalande och spännande. / The aim of this study is to investigate which factors that affect students interest and desire to read fiction and what strategies are used to motivate reading. In order to enable this study, fifteen students are interviewed in class five and their three teachers through a method called focus groups. Focus groups are an interview method that takes place in the participens per- sonal experiences and opinions. Participants in focus groups receive prior information about what should be discussed before and at the interview session. It is the participants discussions and reasoning that are important and then analysed and used as data for the exam project. The results of the study show that the participants reading of fiction is characterized by a variety of factors that should benefit from reading. The primary and most important factor for favouring the literary reading is the choice of fiction literature, it should preferably be appealing and exciting.

This thesis examines major publications produced between 1891-2015 that portray the trial of Florence Maybrick. Inspired by Paul Davis’ Lives and Times of Ebenezer Scrooge, it considers the various iterations of Florence’s story as “protean fantasies,” in which the narrative changed to reflect the realities of the time in which it was (re)written. It tracks shifting patterns of emphasis and authors’ rigid conformity to associated sets of discursive strategies to argue that this body of literature can be divided into three distinct epochs. The 1891-1912 era was characterized by authors’ instrumentalization of sympathy on Florence’s behalf in response to contemporary concerns about the administration of criminal justice in England. From 1923 until 1964, this “Victorian tragedy” was re-structured according to the tropes of detective fiction and non-fiction crime writing in a cultural atmosphere increasingly preoccupied with postmodernism, “the psychological,” and shifting gender relations. The concept of the “permissive society” and emergence of “new social history” following the late 1960s and early 70s produced a revised version of the story that accentuated aspects of the case that were illustrative of the structures of Victorian society. As such, this thesis is a metahistorical examination of how authors’ approaches to the question of whether or not Florence poisoned her husband in 1889 have been shaped by contemporary mentalités. / Graduate

This thesis considers The Winter's Tale and The Tempest as William Shakespeare's last great plays which foster re-enchantment for an age suffering spiritual disenchantment. Chapter 1 identifies a critical context for studying these between theological studies of the arts and literary-critical studies of Shakespeare and religion. Section 1 surveys David Brown's work on religious enchantment and imagination through the arts. Section 2 takes in literary criticism's turn to Shakespeare and religion. Section 3 explores recent theological studies of theatre and Shakespeare. Section 4 revives overlooked criticism from religious poets of the past. Chapter 2 introduces a progression of theoretical constructs that revitalize these plays as spiritually re-enchanting. Section 1 looks at affect theory as a means to understand the body-spirit relationship in the context of performance. Section 2 draws on Scott Crider's reading of The Winter's Tale as the performance of a complete ethical rhetoric demanding both theatrical and mythical interpretations. Section 3 expands T. G. Bishop's study of the theatre of wonder as Shakespeare's affective convergence of reason and emotion. Section 4 builds on the preceding sections to re-establish Renaissance alchemy as the most directive evidence for reading these plays as spiritually re-enchanting. Chapter 3 is my reading of The Winter's Tale. I argue that a wondrous, alchemical reading of the play suggests Hermione dies and is bodily resurrected in the last scene. Paulina's alchemical art is cryptic, but the resolution is a corporate miracle that re-enchants the audience through the awakening of faith. Chapter 4 is my reading of The Tempest. I identify Prospero as an all-powerful and benevolent alchemist who, instead of imposing vengeance on everyone within his control, at the end relinquishes his potent art in exchange for the less certain but greater spiritual enchantment of redemption through the free and loving act of forgiveness.

Tendo como objeto de estudo a palavra no processo de criação do ator, esta dissertação reflete sobre a possibilidade de torná-la ação, a partir da mobilização dos elementos da ação física: atenção e imaginação, elementos fundamentais que se inter-relacionam para gerar a ação físico-vocal da palavra. A pesquisa estende-se à prática investigativa de novos procedimentos para a utilização da palavra no processo criativo do ator, evidenciando-a como elemento instigador tanto do imaginário do ator quanto do espectador. Para tanto, o trabalho prático foi realizado pela pesquisadora-atriz utilizando-se, em um primeiro momento, de exercícios com os cantos rituais aprendidos durante experiência no Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski and Thomas Richards e, em um segundo momento, sobre experimentações com os círculos de atenção apresentados por Constantin Stanislavski nos quais relacionou a palavra e a ação física. A autora cercou-se das obras teórico práticas de Grotowski e Stanislavski e dos referenciais teóricos de Bachelard, Damásio e Sara Lopes, entre outros. / Having as objective the role of the word in the actor’s process of creation, this dissertation reflects on the possibility to turn this word into action, using as source the mobilization of the elements of physical action: Attention and imagination, fundamental elements that relate to each other to generate the physico-vocal action of the word. The research reaches the investigative practice of new procedures for the use of the word in the actor’s creative process, making it evident as a provocative element both the actor’s and the spectator’s imaginary. To achieve this goal, the practical work was carried out by the researcher-actress, taking hold, in a first moment, of exercises using the ritual chants, developed during experience in the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski and Thomas Richards, and, on a second moment, of experimentations with the circles of attention presented by Constantin Stanislavski, in which she related the word and the physical action. The author surrounded herself by Grotowski’s e Stanislavski’s practical and theoretical works and by the theoretical references of Bachelard, Damásio e Sara Lopes, among others.