In Toronto and Montreal, Brazilian popular music performances constitute a context for intercultural encounter. Performances offer Brazilians the opportunity to present their culture of origin while emphasising their identification with it. The issue of representation is quite complex, however, due to the involvement of a majority of non-Brazilian musicians, audience members, artistic directors, producers, promoters, and journalists. This dissertation focuses on music reception and cultural representation and how these may influence each other after music has been decontextualised and recontextualised. I look closely at local non-Brazilian audiences possessing different degrees of familiarity with Brazilian music, and I demonstrate how cultural stereotypes influence their conceptions and expectations of Brazilian music, culture, and people. I argue that a desire for cultural difference and the exotic, encouraged by discourses of cultural diversity, influences the reception of performances. I suggest that, through the privileged gaze of non-Brazilian attendees, performances may be adjusted to correspond to audience fantasies of Brazil. Some non-Brazilians would like to become knowledgeable of, and even intimate with Brazilian culture, which would satisfy their desire to be cosmopolitan. However, pleasure frequently matters more to them than a nuanced understanding of Brazilian culture; this explains, I contend, why some Torontonians and Montrealers have become comfortable with essentialist and stereotypical representations. I examine how some non-Brazilian musicians, promoters, and band agents reinforce mythologies of Brazil to meet audience demands and sometimes to satisfy their own fantasies. I analyse the reproduction of similarly problematic discourses on Brazil in the presentations of Brazilian artists as both a form of autoexoticism and a particular type of tactical or strategic essentialism. Rather than to represent and understand Brazilian culture, I argue that, through local music performances, Brazilians and non-Brazilians in Toronto and Montreal interpret Brazilianness.

In Toronto and Montreal, Brazilian popular music performances constitute a context for intercultural encounter. Performances offer Brazilians the opportunity to present their culture of origin while emphasising their identification with it. The issue of representation is quite complex, however, due to the involvement of a majority of non-Brazilian musicians, audience members, artistic directors, producers, promoters, and journalists. This dissertation focuses on music reception and cultural representation and how these may influence each other after music has been decontextualised and recontextualised. I look closely at local non-Brazilian audiences possessing different degrees of familiarity with Brazilian music, and I demonstrate how cultural stereotypes influence their conceptions and expectations of Brazilian music, culture, and people. I argue that a desire for cultural difference and the exotic, encouraged by discourses of cultural diversity, influences the reception of performances. I suggest that, through the privileged gaze of non-Brazilian attendees, performances may be adjusted to correspond to audience fantasies of Brazil. Some non-Brazilians would like to become knowledgeable of, and even intimate with Brazilian culture, which would satisfy their desire to be cosmopolitan. However, pleasure frequently matters more to them than a nuanced understanding of Brazilian culture; this explains, I contend, why some Torontonians and Montrealers have become comfortable with essentialist and stereotypical representations. I examine how some non-Brazilian musicians, promoters, and band agents reinforce mythologies of Brazil to meet audience demands and sometimes to satisfy their own fantasies. I analyse the reproduction of similarly problematic discourses on Brazil in the presentations of Brazilian artists as both a form of autoexoticism and a particular type of tactical or strategic essentialism. Rather than to represent and understand Brazilian culture, I argue that, through local music performances, Brazilians and non-Brazilians in Toronto and Montreal interpret Brazilianness.

Selon le recensement de 2009, la population néo-calédonienne se compose de 245 558 personnes ; les moins de 30 ans en représentent approximativement la moitié. Les Mélanésiens, appelés Kanaks/Canaques, primo-habitants, forment alors 40 % environ de la population totale. De par l’héritage historique, cette population se trouve dans un entre-deux culturel, partagée entre l’attachement à la tradition des ancêtres et les tendances d’une occidentalisation liée à la colonisation. Selon les informations fournies par la police de Nouméa, depuis les années 2000, la Nouvelle-Calédonie connaît une augmentation très importante de la délinquance.Notre étude a pour but d’identifier les caractéristiques de la délinquance chez les adolescents néo-calédoniens, leur nature et leurs origines. Nous chercherons ainsi à mettre en évidence les facteurs qui ont prévalu à l’installation de cette situation. Dans cette recherche, nous nous interrogerons particulièrement à la substitution du rite de passage par l’acte délictueux comme moyen de reconnaissance sociale et nous analyserons les relations qui existent entre la délinquance et les facteurs culturels. Pour la présente étude, nous nous appuyons sur un échantillon de 331 adolescents issus de deux populations : des jeunes « conventionnels » et des jeunes « judiciarisés ». Tous ont été soumis à un même questionnaire relatif à leur identité ethnique, à leur degré d’attachement à leur groupe d’appartenance culturelle ainsi qu’à leurs pratiques de délinquance auto-révélée. Concernant la population « judiciarisée », le recueil de données s’appuie également sur des entretiens cliniques, ainsi que sur la passation de tests psychométriques. Les résultats portent respectivement sur les données quantitatives et les analyses qualitatives. / In the heart of the Pacific Ocean, the archipelago known as New Caledonia is experiencing a significant increase in crime since the 2000s, according to information provided by police in Nouméa, the capital city. Its population is relatively young. Those who are less than thirty years old represent approximately half the population. In this multicultural country, modernity and ancestral tradition coexist for some indigenous ethnic groups. Our study aims to identify the characteristics of adolescent delinquency in New Caledonia, addressing its nature and origins. Thus we seek to highlight the factors that have prevailed which created this circumstance. In particular, our research will examine the relationship between delinquency and cultural factors, and the existing links between the quest for ethnic identity and belonging to emerging gangs.For our study, we relied on a sample of 331 adolescents drawn from two groups: conventional youth, and young offenders. All were subjected to the same questionnaire regarding their ethnic identity, their degree of attachment to their gang, their cultural practices, as well as their professed delinquency. Regarding the offenders, our data collection also relied on clinical interviews, as well as the results of their psychometric tests. The findings will focus respectively on quantitative data and qualitative analyses.