This paper will seek to provide a detailed analysis of the creative and technical elements of the filmmaking process as they pertain to the thesis project, Notes on Forgiveness. Attention will be given to the conceptual framework of the project, specifically the genre the film seeks to work through and beyond, the theoretical aspects of the feminist gaze, and the post-modern elements that were initially incorporated into the screenwriting process. Further, details will be provided on the pre-production and production phases of the project, including creative aspects such as the cinematography, production design, sound design, and technology. A discussion of the logistical aspects, such as budget constraints, insurance concerns, and contract negotiations, will likewise be provided, as they constituted a large aspect of the production timetable. Throughout all of these discussions, analysis will be provided on the implementation of the original plot directives described in the screenwriting process.

This research project participates in the genre of Performance art. It explores performativity in relation to Emmanuel Levinas' formulation of two interlacing modes of language, the ethical saying and the ontological, political said. The saying is of my originary, ethical relation to the other person that constitutes me, whereas the said is the mode of 'content', knowledge, and ontology. The project suggests that at least two registers of performativity pertain to the saying. One is in Simon Critchley's description of the saying as performative, prior to any decision to perform. In regard to another meaning of performativity, I propose that a political signification of art may be what Levinas calls a "reduction" of the said that 'performs' a showing of the saying. To perform a showing of the saying, would, in a Levinasian engagement, be to make apparent the ultimate interruption by ethics of ontology and politics, thus pointing to a constitutive non-closure of the political like that theorized by Jacques Derrida and by Critchley. Such a non-closure of the political is tentatively linked with critiques of Nicolas Bourriaud's Relational Aesthetics such as Claire Bishop's which draw on Jacques Lacan's notion of the subject. Performances explore the notion of the "reduction" of ontology resourced by Derrida's formulation of Levinas' later writing style as involving a sériature; serial and heterogeneous interruptions of the said1. The project has unfolded in a series of performance pieces, and will conclude with a final performance in March 2007. This exegesis articulates the major provocations for the project, contextualises the project with regard to selected art practices, and documents and discusses the major performance pieces.

Les sciences des religions acceptèrent l’universalité de la religion comme une prémisse indéniable dès sa fondation. Néanmoins, certaines réserves peuvent être émises. Cette thèse poursuit la problématisation de l’universalité de la religion, entamée par un groupe d’auteurs de la critical religion, et oriente la réflexion sur les conditions d’intelligibilité de cette croyance par l’entremise d’une analyse discursive déconstructiviste contextualisant l’universalité de la religion dans son épistémè. Plus précisément, cette thèse propose que la croyance en l’universalité de la religion soit supportée par des réseaux de croyances métaphysiques et ontologiques. La déconstruction des conditions d’intelligibilité du concept de l’universalité, juxtaposée à celle de la réification de la religion, expose des jeux de langage délimités et circonscrits par une ontologie moderne. Ces jeux de langage ontologiques sont déployés par des démarcations radicales où des séries dichotomiques, le sujet et l’objet par exemple, circonscrivent les discours dans une clôture métaphysique. Bref, cette thèse déconstruit le signifié transcendantal « religion » et expose les conditions d’intelligibilité de l’universalité de la religion, c’est-à-dire les jeux de langage ontologiques modernes étroitement tissés et calqués sur l’ontologie classique où les discours auxquels la grande majorité des approches en sciences des religions adhèrent puisent leur intelligibilité.

An analysis of Ernest Buckler's novel The Mountain and the Valley using Jacques Derrida's theoretical perspectives on the nature of writing as supplement. David Canaan is a writer who dreams of writing the perfect novel: his failed dream reveals that writing cannot capture perfection or presence.

This research project participates in the genre of Performance art. It explores performativity in relation to Emmanuel Levinas' formulation of two interlacing modes of language, the ethical saying and the ontological, political said. The saying is of my originary, ethical relation to the other person that constitutes me, whereas the said is the mode of 'content', knowledge, and ontology. The project suggests that at least two registers of performativity pertain to the saying. One is in Simon Critchley's description of the saying as performative, prior to any decision to perform. In regard to another meaning of performativity, I propose that a political signification of art may be what Levinas calls a "reduction" of the said that 'performs' a showing of the saying. To perform a showing of the saying, would, in a Levinasian engagement, be to make apparent the ultimate interruption by ethics of ontology and politics, thus pointing to a constitutive non-closure of the political like that theorized by Jacques Derrida and by Critchley. Such a non-closure of the political is tentatively linked with critiques of Nicolas Bourriaud's Relational Aesthetics such as Claire Bishop's which draw on Jacques Lacan's notion of the subject. Performances explore the notion of the "reduction" of ontology resourced by Derrida's formulation of Levinas' later writing style as involving a sériature; serial and heterogeneous interruptions of the said1. The project has unfolded in a series of performance pieces, and will conclude with a final performance in March 2007. This exegesis articulates the major provocations for the project, contextualises the project with regard to selected art practices, and documents and discusses the major performance pieces.

Thèse (M.A.)--Université Laval, 2008. / Bibliogr. : f. 131-132. Publié aussi en version électronique dans la Collection Mémoires et thèses électroniques.

Les sciences des religions acceptèrent l’universalité de la religion comme une prémisse indéniable dès sa fondation. Néanmoins, certaines réserves peuvent être émises. Cette thèse poursuit la problématisation de l’universalité de la religion, entamée par un groupe d’auteurs de la critical religion, et oriente la réflexion sur les conditions d’intelligibilité de cette croyance par l’entremise d’une analyse discursive déconstructiviste contextualisant l’universalité de la religion dans son épistémè. Plus précisément, cette thèse propose que la croyance en l’universalité de la religion soit supportée par des réseaux de croyances métaphysiques et ontologiques. La déconstruction des conditions d’intelligibilité du concept de l’universalité, juxtaposée à celle de la réification de la religion, expose des jeux de langage délimités et circonscrits par une ontologie moderne. Ces jeux de langage ontologiques sont déployés par des démarcations radicales où des séries dichotomiques, le sujet et l’objet par exemple, circonscrivent les discours dans une clôture métaphysique. Bref, cette thèse déconstruit le signifié transcendantal « religion » et expose les conditions d’intelligibilité de l’universalité de la religion, c’est-à-dire les jeux de langage ontologiques modernes étroitement tissés et calqués sur l’ontologie classique où les discours auxquels la grande majorité des approches en sciences des religions adhèrent puisent leur intelligibilité.

No / Not available

A obra de Roy Wagner trata de um problema candente para a antropologia: a relação com a diferença. A partir do regime de leitura desenvolvido por Jacques Derrida, pretendo seguir os movimentos do texto de Wagner com o objetivo de compreender sua proposta de antropologia e articulá-la ao universo epistemológico mais amplo da disciplina. O texto wagneriano será, assim, articulado ao texto-contexto da antropologia, considerado como um conjunto de linhas de força em tensão e distensão. Na análise da obra de Wagner será privilegiada a relação entre proposta teórica e análise empírica por ser este um aspecto central para a antropologia e também um ponto de ruptura frequente nos textos da disciplina. De modo a estabelecer a mediação entre esses dois níveis, relacionarei em um primeiro momento a ideia de diálogo, no plano de interação em campo, ao conceito de dialética, no plano teórico. Em seguida, acompanharei o movimento de desconstrução e reposição conceitual realizado pelo autor para os conceitos de grupo e cultura com o objetivo de pensar o estatuto da nomeação em seus textos e relacioná-lo à concepção da diferença como alteridade em antropologia. / The work of Roy Wagner deals with a core issue in anthropology, that of the relation to difference. Based on the regime of reading developed by Jacques Derrida, I intend to follow the moves of Wagners text with the purpose of understanding his proposal for anthropology and articulating it to the disciplines broader epistemological universe. Wagners text will thus be articulated to the text-context of anthropology, considered as a set of lines of strength in tension and distension. In the analysis of Wagners work, the relationship between theoretical stance and empirical analysis will be privileged because this is a central aspect to anthropology and frequently the point at which the disciplines texts break. In order to mediate between these two levels, I will first relate the idea of dialogue at the level of field interaction to the concept of dialectic at the theoretical level. I will then follow the movement of conceptual deconstruction and reestablishment carried out by the author for the concepts of group and culture with the purpose of considering the status of nomination in his texts and relating it to anthropologys conception of difference as alterity.

Esta tese busca pensar o desfuncional latente em toda escritura, linguagem e vida: suas potências não dominadas, nem domináveis, pelo corte finalista, utilitarista, entre funcional e disfuncional, e o devir-poesia destes interditos quando revertidos em afirmação de possibilidades para além das determinadas pelos códigos fixados e modelos de composição existentes. As obras de Jacques Derrida e Gilles Deleuze (parte com Felix Guattari) são as referências centrais para a constituição deste pensamento, que constantemente se volta ao fazer poético. O trabalho, porém, é conduzido pela extravagante figura que ele livremente se cria do engenhoso fidalgo e cavaleiro Dom Quixote de la Mancha, por seu modo errante de atuar, sua andante poesia. Sua relação com a morte iminente; o papel da leitura em sua fantasia, cuja extensão se mostra incontornável a quem quer que se aproxime; sua irredutibilidade a qualquer juízo que se possa tentar de sua sanidade mental; sua constante construção de uma equívoca e fugidia identidade; e seu permanente e delirante improviso no teatro do mundo configuram uma escritura lúdica, inventiva, aberta, consciente de sua formação, de seu contexto e de seus percursos, o que possibilita a construção da noção de uma poética da existência, sugerida pelas especulações teóricas preliminares. / This thesis seeks to think the latent defunctional in every writing, as language and life: its potencies not dominated by the finalist and utilitarian cut between functional and dysfunctional, and the becoming-poetry of this interdicts when reversed in the affirmation of possibilities beyond those determined by fixed codes and existing composition models. The works of Jacques Derrida and Gilles Deleuze (part with Felix Guattari) are the central references to the constitution of this thought, constantly turned to the poetic making. The work, however, is conducted by the extravagant figure that it freely creates of the ingenious gentleman and knight Don Quixote of la Mancha, by his errant acting mode, his walking poetry. His relationship with imminent death; the role of reading in his fantasy, which extension shows up inescapable to whoever gets close to it; his irreducibility to any judgment that could be tried on his mental sanity; his constant construction of an equivocal and elusive identity; and his permanent and delirious improvisation in the theatre of the world configure a ludic, inventive and open writing, aware of its formation, its context and its routes, which enables the construction of the notion of a poetics of existence, suggested by preliminary theoretical speculations.