This essay provides an in-depth analysis of E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India through the lens of postcolonial criticism, with a specific focus on Edward Said’s theory of Orientalism. It explores the complexities of colonial relationships in India during the British Raj, examining themes of power dynamics, cultural dominance, and racial discrimination. By drawing from key postcolonial theorists such as Edward Said and Frantz Fanon and other writers like Albert Memmi, the essay explains how Forster’s narrative exposes the influence of Western superiority and the perpetuation of cultural disparities between the colonizer and the colonized. It underscores the portrayal of Chandrapore as a microcosm of colonial tensions, where privileged English settlers dominate over the marginalized native population. The essay also discusses Forster’s critique of colonial conditions and the accidental reinforcement of Orientalist stereotypes. Ultimately, it concludes that A Passage to India effectively portrays the clash between Eastern and Western cultures within the colonial context, thereby highlighting the expressed urgent and significant desire for autonomy.

This project explores the technological hybridity of early color formats against medium-specific definitions of photography and cinema. It argues for the centrality of female photographers as early practitioners and innovators of color photography in the United States and England. It claims that color featured prominently in the late Victorian and Edwardian imperial imaginary to construct orientalizing views of colonial subjects. Early color photographic technologies (1890-1920) are situated within contemporaneous scientific and social debates around color. These debates evince a crucial epistemological shift in the conceptualization of color: from a relational phenomenon of the human senses and world to an empirical and physical one affixed to objects. The first chapter advances the color image as an event: a co-production of the human sensorium and machine technologies, rendered in time and space. The second chapter charts the intersections of photography, color, and gender discourses, with an emphasis on three female photographers who successfully marshalled the gendered biases of color in order to establish expressive modes and photographic careers in the new color medium. The gendering of color also helped to define orientalist photography and film of the British colonial era, particularly that of India, the subject of the third chapter. Comparing color in orientalist depictions of India and the use of color in Indian photographic portraits compels us to reconsider the links between technology and subjectivity as well as modernity and colonialism. This dissertation seeks not only to rewrite the history of early color photography but also to reconfigure understandings of aesthetic modernity as a complex imbrication of art, technology, gender, and imperialism.

The Swedish school and the teaching aids have been reworked multiple times during the 1900s. Textbooks had a central place and the material that was supposed to be included in the books was changed for every new curriculum. The subject “religion” has had one of the biggest changes during these years. It went from “Christian knowledge“ to “religious knowledge“ in 1969. The changes in the curriculum made it impossible for the old books to be used in the education, because they did not include the variation of information of different religions apart from Christianity. This essay investigates the differences between textbooks in Christian knowledge and religious knowledge from 1949–1990. The methods used are image analysis alongside comparative content analysis in order to decode the intention behind the images in the books and the thought behind the choices of legends, myths and daily life of Hindus and Buddhists represented in the books. The differences in the description of Hindus and Buddhists show a clear change from 1949 to 1990. Moreover, the essay shows how the language changed from an exotifying depiction to a more neutral tone in the description of the different religions. The conclusion is that the textbooks until 1972 had a very negative and deeming way of describing non-Abrahamitic religions.

The small Chinese community in South Africa has played an important part in the economic and political life of South Africa. From 1660 to 1912, it reflected the experiences of migrant Chinese who left the mainland during and after centuries of isolation. This thesis therefore examines the Chinese in South Africa in the context of a growing historiography of the overseas Chinese, noting particularly the comparisons with other colonial societies, such as the United States of America and Australia. It is also concerned with tracing the history of the free Chinese at the Cape in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, before engaging in a more detailed discussion of the period of indentured Chinese labour on the Witwatersrand gold mines in the early twentieth century. Although the political economy of indenture has been copiously dealt with in recent historical research, the focus here is more on the social and cultural dimensions of Chinese labour, including aspects such as privacy, sexuality and living conditions in the compound system. This cultural history is interpreted against the background of political and legislative developments in South Africa leading to the formation of the Union in 1910. One of the main arguments of the thesis is that the indentured labour scheme had profound repercussions for the racial status of the free Chinese in the late colonial period. The different experiences of the Chinese in the Cape and the Transvaal are given special attention to illustrate regional patterns of social stratification, and explain the vicissitudes of race relations in South Africa up to 1912. In the Cape it led to subjection under the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1904, while in the Transvaal it resulted in political involvement in the initial phases of Mahatma Gandhi's "satyagraha". Cultural exclusivity and minority status are at the heart of this· analysis and are indices of how the Chinese were brought under the yoke of segregation, which anticipated the oppression of apartheid after 1948. / History / D. Litt. et Phil. (History)

西方自從1970年代末期逐漸重視華語電影，國內外影評、輿論經常以「中國電影熱」形容這個現象，本研究將此現象置入歷史文化的脈絡中分析，認為這個現象肇因於當時西方面對封閉而陌生的中國，一種交織過去文化想像、殖民經驗、神秘氛圍、現實需求（戰略考量、廣大的市場）所形塑的心理動機，並展現在許多不同領域，而電影「中國熱」是在此情況下的一個環節。 另一方面，本研究以「中心╱邊陲」的後殖民思考架構，視「中國熱」現象為華語電影走向世界的過程中的四個階段－「重新被發現、新電影運動與西方中級影展、納入主流藝術電影院線、與好萊塢電影工業接軌」。同時，本研究也將進一步探討背後的文化意涵及其所代表的意義。 / Since late 1970s, the Western has gradually put more and more concentration on the Chinese films. The film reviews and the public opinions always regard the phenomenon as the “Chinese Cinema Fever”. This article, on the one hand, analyzes the phenomenon in the historical and cultural veins. While facing China, a state once made the western feel so distant and unfamiliar before, a kind of mentality in the “Western” has been molded by the cultural imagination, colonial experience, mysterious atmosphere, and realistic demand (such like strategic consideration and large-scale market, et al.), and displayed in the various fields. Meanwhile, the “Chinese Cinema Fever” is being a part in such complicated situation. On the other hand, the phenomenon, the Chinese Cinema Fever in the Western Film Festivals since late 1970s, will be considered under the framework of “Center-Periphery” and be regarded as a process of the Chinese film toward the world, which is composed of re-discovering, re-emphasizing, including into the mainstream in the system of the Art Theatre. Nowadays, the Chinese films have turned into a part of the worldwide culture and universal consumption. At the same time, I would like to go a step further to discuss the cultural meanings behind the appearance.

<p><p>The present essay examines the linguisitc conceptualisation of otherness in the present party platforms of the Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SPD, Social Democratic Party of Germany) and the Christliche Demokratische Union Deutschlands (CDU, Christian Democratic Union of Germany). The language and the textual structure of their party platforms is analysed, its function described and compared with each other by using representative text excerpts. The theoretical background of this study is grounded in cultural studies. The methodological framework consists of a combination of critical discourse analysis and textual analysis. Criterias of the linguistic analysis are: coherence (including implicit meanings, propositions and presuppositions), modality, thematic roles, deixis and pronouns and keywords. </p><p> </p><p>The study shows that the<em> Other </em>is cleary conceptualized by using binary oppositions whereas those who are reperesented by <em>we</em> can not always be clearly identified. By using both objective and subjective modality authority and legitimacy are linguistically constructed by those who represent <em>we</em>. The analysis shows that stipulations and issues are mentioned which are supposed to be abided by the <em>Others</em> without being justified by those who represent <em>we</em>. Consequently the <em>Other</em> is excluded. Analysing both party platforms shows that the <em>Other</em> is  subcategorized, too. Myths about the <em>Others</em> are confirmed by representing a stereotypical image of the <em>Other</em> through language. However there are differences in the linguistic conceptualization of alterity. The representatives of CDU speak out more explicitly on specific issues concerning the<em> Other</em> than representatives of SPD do. Consequently SPD’s statements concerning the <em>Other</em> are more implicit.</p><p> </p><p>The study shows that meaning is created by language and that myths of the <em>Other</em> are reproduced in political discourse.</p><p> </p></p>

電影作為跨文化傳播的重要媒介，反映當下他國與該國權力結構的認知，對一國的國家形象塑造有著重大作用。國家形象就是他國人民對一個國家的概念性印象，在傳統好萊塢的商業大片上，中國的形象多半遭受「東方主義」的臆測，中國政府亟於透過文化宣傳的方式來改善中國的國家形象，其中中美合拍電影傳達出的中國意象扮演重要角色。觀察近年來的中美合拍片，相較於過去的好萊塢電影，中美合拍電影的中國形象似乎獲得大幅提升，但仍存在東方主義對「他者」的視角。 中美合拍片有將「中國國家形象」與「中國人形象」與之區分，分別對應「專制的中國政府」與「順從無主見」的人民，最終只能希冀西方的拯救者來救贖之現象。就連東方的導演都「自我東方化」，電影傳達的中國形象，其實是透過中國導演觀察與西方的差異，自我建構出的「東方形象」。 雖然中美合拍片裡中國形象仍是西方對東方的「再現」，但中國政府透過合拍的攝製法規與審查制度，「一手拿棍棒，一手拿紅蘿蔔」。一方面獎勵遵守中國規則的劇組，提供資源協助，一方面針對不符合中國期望的電影情節，在審查過程中要求刪除甚至擱置。 中美合拍片不但存在國際社會的文化爭霸，更有一國之內政治社會與市民社會的交互作用，在國際社會上，中美合拍電影的中西方文化元素交相呼應，同樣的符號在個別電影中有不同的詮釋。在政治社會與市民社會的面向上，中國政府以電影審查制度控制電影內容，來維護既有的意識型態；但電影劇組仍可以透過導演或主演的個人聲望、隱晦的針砭手法，迫使官方妥協，重構出新的意識型態。中國政府與合拍片商在彼此爭霸中，互有消長與妥協，故中美合拍片中的中國形象，呈現正負面兼有之的特徵。 / Film as an important medium for intercultural communication, it becomes one of the effective ways to promote a nation’s image. The national image is the conceptual impression of the people from other countries. In traditional Hollywood commercial movies, the image of China suffered “Orientalism” speculation. By co-producing films with American, government of China has tried to get rid of the stereotype of China’s national images. In recent year, compared to the previous Hollywood movies, the images of China in Sino-U.S. co-production films seem to get significantly improved. However, some of them still implicate Orientalism speculation. Sino-U.S. co-production films distinguish “the national image of China” from “the image of the Chinese people”, describing a society that an autocratic government and a crowd of lackey, hoping a savior from the west would liberate them. Even Chinese directors have “self-orientalization” issues, the image of China that they described in the movie is just a reflection compared with the west. Although the image of China in Sino-U.S. co-production film is the “representation”, the government of China still could use “carrot and stick” to receive the hegemony. On the one hand, they encourage and reward the producer for obeying the regulations; on the other hand they use censorship as a punishment. Sino-U.S. co-production film not only consists of the cultural hegemony of the international community, but also includes the interaction between political society and civil society in the domestic system. In the international community, the same symbols of Western/Eastern cultural elements has different interpretations of individual Sino-US co-production films, and in the political society and civil society, the Chinese government regulates movie contents building the movie censorship system to secure the existing ideology; But the director or big shots still can use their expand their personal Influence, or metaphor in the script, to force the authority to compromise and reconstructs a new ideology.

Picking up on current research about settler colonialism, this study uses a modified version of a model explaining modern-state formation to explain settler-colonial formation. Charles Tilly identified two simultaneous processes at work – war-making and state-making which produced modern states in Western Europe. Settler-colonial systems engage(d) in a particular type of war to produce their existence: total war. Hence, a modified version of total-war-making and settler-colonial-existence-making (production) occuring in the settler-colonial-creation phase is proposed. However, before this conceptual analytical framework could be developed, it was necessary to examine the meanings of terms such as 'nation' and ‘nation-state’ as well as concepts such as settler-colonialism and total war. The sample of relevant literature analyzed revealed inconsistencies in the meanings of the terms when applying W.H. Newton-Smith’s theory of meaning, suggesting the influence of what Edward Said identified as the workings of orientalism. This has conceptual implications on terms such as settler-colonialism and the meaning of the type of war it wages upon the indigenous nations. It also has implications on developing a conceptual analytical tool to understand the dynamics of the production of the settler-colonial existence. Thus, the terms and concepts needed to be de-orientalized before using them in the modified model which was then used to examine initially three settler-colonial cases: the United States, Australia and Apartheid South Africa. The modified analytical model was able to highlight particular dynamics relevant to settler-colonial systems and was then used – with the incremental and imbricate research done in the first three chapters – to examine the Zionist case. It illustrated that while the cases of the United States and Australia were able pass their creation phases, the Apartheid case could not and subsequently collapsed. The Zionist case seems to be still in its settler-colonial-creation phase. This has implications on current analysis concerning the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Le présent travail se veut être une tentative pour dé-couvrir un canal de dialogue interculturel et interreligieux, en prenant comme plate-forme et terrain de discussion le jihad et une perspective inspirée de la psychanalyse freudienne et lacanienne qui discute du rapport entre le sujet-chercheur et l’objet de recherche. Pour cela, la présente recherche tente de désengager une compréhension du jihad qui serait subvertie par un héritage colonial dénoncé par Edward Said sous l’appellation d’ « orientalisme », et dont l’empreinte académique circonscrirait le jihad à « ce qu’on lui permet d’être ». Ceci amène donc la recherche à questionner le statut ontologique de l’objet jihad, statut que l’articulation linguistique du présent travail fait glisser de celui de concept vers celui de signifiant. Ce signifiant est alors conceptualisé par une opération de « retour à la lettre », qui fait réapparaitre « un signifiant arabe » longuement oublié se structurant à partir de la racine trilitère JHD ainsi que l’élaboration d’un nouvel outil conceptuel dit de « nuage sémantique ». Ce signifiant est ainsi réinséré dans son environnement naturel qu’est le Qur’ān en langue arabe et dont l’analyse est utilisée pour tester l’hypothèse : Il existe dans le Qur’ān un signifiant arabe se structurant à partir de la racine JHD, déterminé par l’article al- et qui prend la forme/structuration « al-jihād ». / This research is an attempt to unveil a channel for interreligious and intercultural dialogue by using the jihad as common ground for discussion using a perspective inspired by Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis which discusses the relation between the subject-researcher and the object of research. Thus, this scientific endeavour tries to disengage an understanding of jihad that would be subverted by a colonial legacy identified by Edward Said as “orientalism”, legacy that circumscribes the object jihad in “whatever is allowed it to be”. This leads the research to question the ontological status of the object jihad, and shifts this status from concept to signifier due to the linguistic nature of this work. Signifier which is conceptualised by a “retour à la lettre” from which emerges a long forgotten “Arabic signifier” constructed from the trilateral root JHD and the development of a new conceptual tool: the “semantic cloud”. This signifier is hence inserted in its natural environment which is defined as the Qur’an in the Arabic language and is analysed to test the hypothesis: There is in the Arabic Qur’an a signifier constructed from the root JHD determined by the definite article al- which takes the form “al-jihād”.

L’objectif de ce mémoire est de rendre compte d’une figure particulièrement dynamique dans l’écriture de Leïla Sebbar, celle de l’adolescent fugueur. Mohamed dans Le Chinois vert d’Afrique (1982) et Shérazade dans Shérazade, 17 ans, brune, frisée, les yeux verts (1984), personnifient une réalité autre que celle accolée aux jeunes descendants de l’immigration maghrébine (surtout algérienne), partagés entre les codes culturels du pays d’origine et ceux du pays de naissance. L’hybridité des personnages et leur mobilité aléatoire permettent de réévaluer les discours sociaux dominants émis en France, pays tiraillé entre les aspirations d’unité nationale et l’histoire coloniale. Le premier chapitre fera état du contact des fugueurs avec la représentation picturale et sa place dans la constitution de leur identité. À la lumière de ces observations, la seconde partie du travail se penchera sur la prise de conscience du regard de l’Autre et le questionnement de l’image préconçue de l’adolescent de banlieue inculte en mal d’insertion sociale. La déconstruction de ce cliché permettra dans le troisième chapitre d’aborder la réappropriation de l’objet culturel par les fugueurs, procédant à une véritable démocratisation de la culture élitiste. Le quatrième chapitre sera enfin consacré au mouvement des fugueurs dans l’espace et dans le temps. Nous y verrons comment les fugueurs, intermédiaires entre la ville et sa banlieue mais aussi entre le paradis perdu du pays d’origine et le désarroi des parents immigrés, provoquent la relecture de l’histoire des générations passées tout en gardant un œil critique sur l’avenir. / The purpose of this master’s thesis is to study the dynamic figure of the runaway in the writing of Leïla Sebbar. Mohamed in “Le Chinois Vert d’Afrique” (1982) and Shérazade in “Shérazade, 17 ans, brune, frisée, les yeux verts” (1984), personifie a reality that the young descendants of the North African immigration must encounter, torn between the cultural codes of the country of origin and the country of birth. The blend of the characters’ culture and their constant mobility reassess the dominant social discourse during a time when France was torn between the aspirations of a national unity and colonial history. The first chapter examines the cultural blend of the runaways with the pictorial representation and its place in the formation of the young protagonists’ identity. In light of these observations, the second part of the thesis will focus on the characters’ awareness of the Other’s perception. The stereotypical suburban teenager lacking culture resulting in the character feeling out of place is being questioned. The breakdown of the “cliché” in the third chapter will address the importance of culture by characters, allowing for a democratization of an upper class culture. The fourth chapter is devoted to the movement of the runaways in space and time. Between the city and its suburbs, the lost paradise that Algeria represents, and the distress of the parents that have left their beloved country, the last part of this study will focus on the characters’ contribution to the rewriting of the history of past and future generations.