As one of the major institutional platforms for the activist intellectuals to inaugurate political and cultural modernity, study societies had been proliferating throughout late Qing China (ca. 1894-1911). While existing studies have subsumed this distinctive sociological phenomenon under the political programmes of the broader reform and revolutionary movements, or conceived it as an instance of prototypical formation of civil society in the sociopolitical context of late Qing, they fail to problematize the meanings and functions of 'civilization' and 'civility' as the constitutive (albeit highly contested) principles of the various cultural-political practices of study societies. This study purports to fill this gap by analyzing the symbolic and practical aspects of the study society movement, with specific reference to its guiding motifs of 'Confucian religion' and 'military citizenship'. Despite their manifold differences, these notions implicated the reconstruction of social ties and cultural tradition with the distinctive purpose of constituting and strengthening a 'civilized' community of the Chinese people and citizens, which was to engage in cultural and political competition with Christianity and the imperialist states of the West. / The dual themes of competition and civilization in study societies are then explained in terms of the sociological theory of state formation and civilization, which has been articulated on the basis of European experiences of absolutist and bureaucratic state-building. Art alternative model of nationalist-imperialist state formation is set forth to explain why and how the late Qing study societies arose as a civilizing movement despite the breakdown of the state monopoly of violence and powers, an exceptional setting standing in contrast to the rise and spread of 'civilization' in the European and other world-historical contexts. The concrete courses and outcomes of the study society movement in reformist Hunan and revolutionary Shanghai are further compared and explained in terms of the cultural impacts of war-making, which in the context of late Qing had led to the rapid rise and demise of study societies by transforming the gentry elites along the directions of local militarization and semi-colonial commercialization. / Chen, Hon Fai. / "August 2007." / Adviser: Suk-ying Wong. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-02, Section: A, page: 0774. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 248-267). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

Thesis (D.Phil.)--University of Oxford, 2007. / Supervisor: Dr Chris Gosden. Bibliography: leaves 235-264.

Writing groups are used regularly in the academic arena, but they are also used in the non-academic community. This paper is an exploration of the use of nonacademic writing groups in Salem, Oregon. In Chapter 2 I discuss the theory behind writing groups--what it is about writing and responding that is beneficial and useful. Chapter 3 explores the roots of writing groups in Salem including some self-improvement groups, which were the precursors of writing groups. Chapter 4 then includes detailed descriptions of the groups which are currently meeting in Salem, including their formats, purposes, and some examples of their processes. Based on this information, the paper discusses the educational and social benefits of writing groups and the role of these groups in the community of Salem, Oregon. / Graduation date: 1993

This thesis uses the minute books and manuscript magazines of Glasgow’s literary societies as evidence for my argument that the history of mutual improvement groups—including literary societies—needs to be re-written as a unique movement of ‘improvement’ during the long nineteenth century. In foregrounding the surviving records, I examine what it meant to be literary to society members in Glasgow during this period. I discuss what their motivations were for becoming so, and reflect on the impact that gender, occupation and social class had on these. I demonstrate that these groups contributed to the education and literacy of people living in the city and to a larger culture of ‘improvement’. Further, I argue that there is a case to be made for a particularly Scottish way of consuming texts in the long nineteenth century. In Glasgow, there were at least 193 literary societies during this period, which I divide into four phases of development. I provide an in-depth examination of two societies which serve as case studies. In addition, I give an overview and comparison of the 652 issues of Scottish and English society magazines I discovered in the context of a larger, ‘improving’ culture. I offer possible reasons why so many literary societies produced manuscript magazines, and show that this phenomenon was not unique to them. These magazines fostered a communal identity formed around a combination of religion, class, gender and local identity. I determine that societies in England produced similar types of magazines to those in Scotland possibly based upon the Scottish precedent. These materials substantially contribute to the evidence for nineteenth-century mutual improvement societies and their magazines, and for working- and lower-middle class Scottish readers and writers during the long nineteenth century, social groups that are under-represented in the history of reading and in Victorian studies.

La présence culturelle française en Italie du sud s'est développée durant l'entre-deux guerre, sous l'ère délicate du fascisme, à travers la création et le développement de l'Institut Français de Naples. La première partie dresse le portrait de Naples : malgré sa déchéance politique, cette ville reste attractive culturellement et économiquement. Sa tradition cosmopolite est envisagée à travers les récits de voyageurs depuis le Grand Tour. Elle est dotée d'institutions locales capables de répondre aux défis lancés par un institut étranger. La description des principales communautés étrangères montre par contraste la faiblesse de l'enracinement français. La deuxième partie s'attache à décrire la création puis l'évolution de l'Institut entre 1914 et 1925. Les pouvoirs publics français considèrent sa création comme le moyen de s'assurer une zone d'influence sur les régions méridionales italiennes et en Méditerranée. Son développement est considérable, surtout en considérant l'ascension du fascisme et la menace de la "dictature légale". Le charisme des professeurs, l'intérêt croissant des services officiels français et les motivations inhérentes à la nature même du fascisme méridional sont des facteurs favorables à ce succès. La troisième partie se penche sur le développement paradoxal de l'Institut, menacé par un fascisme triomphant et radicalisé. Il apparaît comme une institution inadaptée face aux exigences d'un nouvel équilibre mondial et à la précarité des relations politiques franco-italiennes. Malgré la réorganisation des Instituts d'Italie en 1938, l'établissement,démuni, subit une lente agonie avant d'être séquestré par les autorités en 1940. / French cultural presence in Southern Italy grew during the in-between wars period, against the tricky backdrop of fascism, through the birth and development of the French Cultural Institute in Naples. The Opening part of this work is about Naples, a city which, in spite of political decline, remained culturally and economically attractive, while its ever cosmopolitan tradition is best depicted borrowing the words of travelers who visited the region, starting with the Great Tour. Local institutions live up to challenges set by the foreign institute. Closer scrutiny of the main foreign communities however, reveals how shallow-rooted France is, over there. The second part focuses on the creation and evolution of the Institute between 1914 and 1925. The French government sees it as way of starting an area of influence in the Southern Italian regions and across the Mediterranean. The Institute develops at quite an impressive pace, especially considering the contemporaneous rise of fascism and the threat of a "legal dictatorship". Charismatic professors, a increasing interest of the French officials and the very motivations of fascism in the South contributed to its success. In the third part, we shall see how paradoxical the development of the Institute is. An institution faced with an all conquering radicalized Fascism, unfit to meet the needs of a new world order and the poor relation between France and Italy. Despite the 1983 reshaping of all Institutes in Italy, the one in Naples is literally slowly dying ans will end up hostage of the Italian government in 1940.