Thesis (Ph.D) -- University of Western Sydney, Nepean, 1999. / Bibliography : p. [295]-312.

New Orleans indigenous cultural traditions such as Mardi Gras Indians, Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs and second line parades were born out of the disenfranchisement of the African American community. Though the practices have existed for over a century and provide social benefits, they have faced hostility from the police department, indifference from elected officials and city planners, as well as economic exploitation, denying them the ability to thrive. With a restructuring of public policy and outside assistance, these cultural traditions will be able to help revitalize the economically depressed areas where they continue to be practiced.

Mardi Gras draws millions of tourists to New Orleans yearly, contributing to the economy of the city. Visitors soon discover the thrill of catching "throws" tossed to paradegoers by members of parade organizations' riding floats. For tourists and locals alike, throws become the cultural currency of New Orleans during Carnival. Beads, doubloons, coconuts, cups and other throws develop an inherent value, enticing crowds. People esteem throws enough to compete for them, with varying levels of intensity, along parade routes and on the streets of the French Quarter. The purchase of throws by Carnival krewes also brings revenue into New Orleans. Scholars have written many studies on Mardi Gras, including studies on individual organizations, tourism and economy. However, no study examines the history of Mardi Gras throws. This thesis seeks to fill that void, and establishes an earlier date for the first time beads were thrown from floats.

Ce mémoire examine comment des Cadiens perpétuent la tradition du Courir du Mardi gras dans une perspective de développement durable de leur patrimoine par l’étude du cas du Courir de Faquetaique. Un survol de la tradition est présenté ainsi qu’une mise en contexte du Courir de Faquetaique, qui s’éloigne du caractère touristique et commercial de d’autres Courirs. Au moyen d’observations participantes et d'entrevues avec des participants, une analyse de sa mise en œuvre et d’aspects spécifiques est proposée. Ayant recours aux caractéristiques d’un développement durable d’un patrimoine suggérés par l’ICOMOS, en 2011, cette analyse démontre que n’est pas tant son caractère géographique local qui définit, aux yeux des participants, ce Courir de Faquetaique, mais plutôt « l’esprit du lieu », et les gens avec qui ils le réalisent. Ces acteurs montrent qu’ils font évoluer consciemment cette tradition en faisant en sorte qu’elle s’inscrive dans un esprit de continuité. / This thesis examines how Cajuns are keeping the tradition of the “Courir du Mardi Gras” alive in a perspective of sustainable development of their heritage through the case study of the Courir of Faquetaique. After a presentation of the Cajun Mardi Gras, the Faquetaique run is put in context, as it detaches itself from other Courirs considered more touristic or commercial. Drawing from participant observations of the event and interviews with participants, this research analyzes the organization and some specific aspects of the Faquetaique run. Through the perspective of the criteria of a sustainable development of heritage proposed by the ICOMOS, in 2011, our analysis concludes that it is not so much the local and geographical character that defines, in the eyes of the participants, the Faquetaique run, but, rather, the “spirit of place” that takes place and the people, or community, by which it is performed. These actors show how they consciously develop this tradition by inscribing it into continuity.

Perpetuating African ancestral customs, Mardi Gras Indians in New Orleans avoid the African American identity crises illuminated by the poetry of the Harlem Renaissance. The poetry of Langston Hughes, Claude McKay and Waring Cuney incorporate W.E.B. DuBois’ double-consciousness theory to reveal the identity issues and ancestral alienation plaguing African Americans at the turn of the twentieth-century. In comparison, unique political and social circumstances in New Orleans allowed enslaved Africans to practice their ancestral customs weekly. The preservation of this heritage fostered a black community in New Orleans rich in traditions, pride and self-conviction. The development of Mardi Gras Indian culture and the allusions to Africa in Harlem poetry reveal the power of ancestry to establish identity.

This thesis explores Herman Melville’s relationship to sceptical philosophy. By reading Melville’s fictions of the 1840s and 1850s alongside the writings of Descartes, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant, I seek to show that they manifest by turns expression, rebuttal, and mitigated acceptance of philosophical doubt. Melville was an attentive reader of philosophical texts, and he refers specifically to concepts such as Berkeleyan immaterialism and the Kantian “noumenon”. But Melville does not simply dramatise pre-existing theories; rather, in works such as Mardi, Moby-Dick, and Pierre he enacts sceptical and anti-sceptical ideas through his literary strategies, demonstrating their relevance in particular regions of human experience. In so doing he makes a substantive contribution to a philosophical discourse that has often been criticised – by commentators including Samuel Johnson and Jonathan Swift – for its tendency to abstraction. Melville’s interest in scepticism might be read as part of a wider cultural response to a period of unprecedented social and political change in antebellum America, and with this in mind I compare and contrast his work with that of Dickinson, Douglass, Emerson, and Thoreau. But in many respects Melville’s distinctive and original treatment of scepticism sets him apart from his contemporaries, and in order to fully make sense of it one must range more widely through the canons of philosophy and literature. His exploration of the ethical consequences of doubt in The Piazza Tales, for example, can be seen to anticipate with remarkable precision the theories of twentieth-century thinkers such as Emmanuel Levinas and Stanley Cavell. I work chronologically though selected prose from the period 1849-1857, paying close attention to the textual effects and philosophical allusions in each work. In so doing I hope to offer fresh ways of looking at Melville’s handling of literary form and the wider shape of his career. I conclude with reflections on how Melville’s normative emphasis on the acknowledgement of epistemological limitation might inform the practice of literary criticism.