Ambitionen med denna uppsats är att skapa en översikt över hur modern forskning ser på den hierarkiska indelning av de kristna änglarna som Dante redogör för i Den Gudomliga Komedin, samt vad som ligger till grund för rangordningen. Dessutom analyseras sambandet mellan hierarkin och änglarnas kosmologiska funktioner och deras betydelse för upprätthållandet av världen. En viktig faktor för förståelsen av Dantes änglalogi är dess relation till senmedeltidens filosofi och kristna tro; hur den påverkades av – och i sin tur påverkade – sin kontext, vilken sedan bidrog till utvecklingen av den moderna västerländska synen på världen. Den teologiska diskurs som sträcker sig ända tillbaka till de första århundradena når nämligen en höjdpunkt i Dantes änglahierarki, där tron slutligen förenas med filosofin. I Dante möts således den kristna ängladoktrinen, med utgångspunkt i Bibeln, med den neo-platonska emanationsläran och Aristoteles kausalitetslära, vilka tillsammans utgör fundamentet för det senmedeltida västerländska sättet att se på verkligheten. I denna uppsats redogörs följaktligen för Dantes änglahierarki och änglarnas kosmologiska betydelse genom att analysera den assimilation av tro och filosofi som utgör dess metafysiska grund. / The ambition with this essay is to create a general idea of how modern research estimates the hierarchic division of the Christian angels, as Dante accounts for in The Divine Comedy, as well as the hierarchy it is based on. In addition to that, the connection between the hierarchy and the cosmological functions of the angels, and the subsequent task to uphold the world, is analyzed. An important factor for the comprehension of Dante’s angelology is its connection to the philosophy and Christian faith of the late medieval period; how it was affected by – and at the same time affected – its context, which eventually contributed to the generation of the modern Western world view. In fact, the theological discourse that expands from the first centuries of Christianity reaches a summit in Dante’s angelic hierarchy, where faith and philosophy finally consolidate. Thus, Christian angelic doctrine, with starting point in the Bible, meets in Dante the neo-platonic doctrine of emanation and Aristotle’s principle of causality, which together count for the foundation of the Western late medieval view of reality. The aim of this essay is consequently to investigate Dante’s angelic hierarchy and the cosmological functions of the angels, by investigating the assimilation of faith and philosophy that constitutes their metaphysical base.

[pt] Quadros comparativos entre as relações raciais no Brasil e nos Estados Unidos abundam no campo dos estudos raciais e da história comparada. Mas a prática de comparar essas duas sociedades transborda o meio estritamente acadêmico. Elaborar uma visão sobre o local a partir de comparações com outras porções do mundo é uma prática comum à circulação atlântica de sujeitos e ideias. Assim, é possível encontrar discursos que sistematicamente opõem Brasil e Estados Unidos desde o século XIX, cujas autorias são bastante diversas. Esta tese busca mergulhar nesse universo comparativo a partir de um fio condutor específico: as visões norte-americanas de um paraíso racial brasileiro. O paraíso racial consiste na miragem de uma idílica sociedade com duas grandes características: um sistema escravista mais suave e a ausência de barreiras raciais legais. Perseguir a história dos coautores do paraíso racial significa, portanto, adentrar a longa história da democracia racial, que remonta a dinâmicas que antecedem a sua nomeação e posterior denúncia como mito. A partir da revisão bibliográfica e do acesso a fontes primárias – como imprensa, cartas e discursos – foram identificados e analisados sujeitos históricos produtores dessa visão do Eldorado brasileiro. Esses interlocutores da tese estão dispostos em quatro grandes tempos, entre 1833 e 1947: começando pelos abolicionistas imediatistas do pré-Guerra Civil, em 1833; a seguir, os abolicionistas do pós-Guerra Civil, em 1865; na década de 1920, são evocados os ativistas negros entusiastas da migração para o Brasil; por último, atravessando a década de 1920 até 1947, estão Gilberto Freyre e Frank Tannenbaum, responsáveis por uma consolidação científica do paraíso racial. O amplo recorte se volta aos momentos de criação e sedimentação da ideia de democracia racial, antes da sua crescente derrocada, na segunda metade do século XX. O objetivo é analisar de que forma esses sujeitos, ao retratarem o Brasil como um paraíso racial, apresentavam os aspectos jurídicos dessa sociedade idílica. De pronto se conclui que as duas dimensões caracterizadoras do paraíso racial estão bastante intrincadas com o direito. Por um lado, a noção de escravidão suave se sustenta na notícia de uma elevada taxa de alforrias, que teria sido possibilitada por normas e instituições sistematicamente favoráveis à liberdade. Por outro lado, a imagem de uma sociedade na qual negros e negras livres não possuiriam diante de si qualquer barreira racial frequentemente usa como parâmetro a ausência de lei impeditiva do acesso a cargos militares, eclesiásticos e políticos. Mas além do endosso, durante a longa trajetória dos discursos estadunidenses sobre paraíso racial houve movimentos de contestação dessa mesma imagem, e neles a crítica jurídica se mostrou um argumento central. A partir da polivalência estratégica dos discursos, entendeu-se que direito e raça foram associados por sujeitos num amplo espectro político e, ainda que os sinais táticos fossem invertidos, elementos de continuidade permaneceram. / [en] Comparative charts between Brazil and the United States race relations abound in the field of racial studies and comparative history. But the practice of comparing these two societies goes beyond the strictly academic milieu. Drawing up a local view based on comparisons with other parts of the world is a common practice in the Atlantic circulation of individuals and ideas. Thus, it is possible to find discourses that systematically oppose Brazil and the United States since the 19th century, whose authors are quite diverse. This thesis seeks to delve into this comparative universe based on a specific guideline: North American visions of a Brazilian racial paradise. The racial paradise consists of the mirage of an idyllic society with two great characteristics: a softer slave system; the absence of legal racial barriers. Pursuing the history of the co-authors of the racial paradise means, therefore, entering the long history of racial democracy, which goes back to dynamics that precede its naming and subsequent denunciation as a myth. Based on the bibliographic review and access to primary sources – such as the press, letters and speeches – historical subjects who produced this vision of the Brazilian Eldorado were identified and analyzed. These interlocutors are arranged in four main periods, between 1833 and 1947: starting with the immediate abolitionists of the pre-Civil War, in 1833; then post-Civil War abolitionists in 1865; in the 1920s, the subjects are black activists who were enthusiastic about migrating to Brazil; Finally, spanning the 1920s to 1947, there are Gilberto Freyre and Frank Tannenbaum, responsible for the scientific consolidation of the racial paradise. The broad sample goes back to the moments of creation and consolidation of the idea of racial democracy, before its increasing colapse during the second half of the 20th century. The objective is to analyze how these subjects, when portraying Brazil as a racial paradise, presented the legal aspects of this idyllic society. It is immediately concluded that the two dimensions that characterize the racial paradise are quite intricate with the law. On the one hand, the notion of soft slavery is supported by the news of a high rate of manumissions, which would have been made possible by norms and institutions systematically favorable to freedom. On the other hand, the image of a society in which free black men and women would not have any racial barrier against them often uses the absence of a law preventing access to military, ecclesiastical and political positions as a defining parameter. But in addition to the endorsement, during the long trajectory of US discourses on racial paradise, there were movements to contest this same image, and in them legal criticism proved to be a central argument. From the strategic polyvalence of the speeches, it was understood that law and race were associated by subjects in a wide political spectrum, but even if the tactical signs were inverted, elements of continuity remained.

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This thesis concerns the themes of godhood and creation in modern, secular works. Using literary analysis, the thesis examines how the creation myth and the relationship between creator and creation is written in David Almond’s novel Clay and the video game Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, in comparison with how the same relationship is presented in Frankenstein and Paradise Lost. The thesis focuses on how the different works portray the themes of god, creation, original sin, and atonement, where the portrayals differ and where are the same. It ends with a discussion on how modern, secular stories using these themes manage to separate themselves from their religious origins while still remaining true to their inspirations. / Denna uppsats behandlar ämnena gudomlighet och skapelse i moderna, sekulära verk. Genom att använda litterär analys undersöker uppsatsen hur skapelseberättelsen och förhållandet mellan skapare och skapelse skildras i David Almonds roman Clay och datorspelet Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs i jämförelse med hur samma förhållande presenteras i Frankenstein och Paradise Lost. Uppsatsen fokuserar på hur de olika verken skildrar temana gud, skapelsen, syndafallet och försoningen, samt skillnader och likheter i skildringarna. Den avslutas med en diskussion om hur moderna, sekulära berättelsen som använder dessa teman separerar sig från sitt religiösa ursprung men ändå förblir trogna sina inspirationer.

The purpose of this paper is to present an opening to argue for a transtheoretical and - activist fellowship with Satan and the values connected to hir. A transactivist fellows-hip with Satan builds on two primary points of contact. It is on one hand the opportu-nity to take advantage of the non-conformist, non-normative and polemical signifi-cance Satan has been attributed, especially in the history of literature, but also in the history of religion. And on the other hand this study also dwells upon how Satan as a figure has served as an expression of evilness, hatred, darkness and suffering amongst people. The questions i ask, is if there is a course that allows me to theorize for a stra-tegic collaboration between the transactivist struggle and the ideas that is connected to the satanfigure in John Miltons Paradise Lost. I also ask if there is a transtheoretical-and activist approach where Satan can function as an ally within the transactivist re-sistance. The purpose of this paper also carries on a confrontation with the notion of ”tone-policing", and love and tenderness as the only sanctioned (and praised) incenti-ves for political struggle. In this thesis I make a link between the logic that connects to Satan as an ideological basis and a non-conformist (militant), seperatist, anti-capi-talist and queer attitude in transactivist struggle. With the help of Susan Stryker's the-ory of the monsteridentity I will experiment with extracts from John Milton's Paradise Lost, where the Satan figure and the transactivist position builds on a fellowship as my analysis proceeds. To do this i use a queer-deleuzian tool as a method that focuses on textual framings within the idea of spatial relations, meaning how the actual text can and should correspond with discourses outside its territorial space. This allow me to di-sengage Satan from its original amplitude, and instead of interpreting how Satan handles hirself in Paradise Lost, i will liberate Satan from this narrative and create a relation between hir and my thesis. In this way I create an occasion, through a theore-tical approach to trans-subjectivity as comparable to the perception of the monster as a non-normative figure, to bring the transgendered monster together with the satanic monster. The ”what” that will subsequently crystallize during the analysis have the intention to tell the story about the ways in which the non-confirmative transactivist have in common with Satan. After doing this i will conclude my thesis with a discus-sion that reflects on how this fellowship has evolved in relation to the proposed politi-cal and emotional connections between the non-confomative transactivist and Satan.

La forêt a été, et reste encore, un sujet clé de la littérature hispano-américaine. Ce travail étudie les images de la forêt dans le roman hispano-américain du dernier siècle, tout en mettant l’accent sur l’analyse d’ouvrages dont l’action se situe dans la forêt amazonienne, le milieu sylvestre latino-américain par excellence. Quelles sont les visions de la forêt qui priment dans la production narrative ? Comment la crise écologique mondiale a-t-elle influencé les manières de « raconter la forêt » ? De quelle façon reflètent-elles la tournure prise par la situation environnementale aujourd’hui ? Quelles sortes de rapports entre les sociétés humaines et les écosystèmes forestiers sont représentés dans ces ouvrages ? Quelle est la participation des peuples autochtones dans les faits racontés ? Et celle des animaux, des plantes et d’autres entités non humaines ? Est-ce que les œuvres expriment des notions de « nature » et de « culture » différentes de celles de l’Occident moderne, ou des besoins et regards différents de ceux des humains ? Pour trouver une réponse à ces questions, le travail se focalise sur quatre sujets clés de la production romancière : la construction d’une conscience historique des images de la nature, les rapports entre les peuples de la forêt et les colonisateurs occidentaux, la vision de la forêt comme un écosystème complexe et fragile, et la quête de façons coopératives de bâtir notre relation avec l’environnement. Bien que la méthodologie choisie favorise les outils de l’écocritique et de l’écologie politique, le travail s’appuie aussi sur l’essor récent de la philosophie environnementale, la biogéographie des forêts tropicales et l’anthropologie culturelle. Par le truchement d’une telle approche, nous misons sur la possibilité d’ouvrir une plateforme de dialogue entre la critique littéraire et d’autres champs du savoir. L’objectif est d’utiliser les textes littéraires comme des fenêtres pour explorer la dimension environnementale de la condition humaine, en fournissant des idées et des points de vue féconds pour les débats actuels autour du changement de paradigme qu’il faut opérer afin que la civilisation humaine soit capable de créer un nouveau rapport, symbiotique et non simplement extractif, avec les écosystèmes naturels. / The forest has been, and remains, a key theme in Hispanic American literature. This research examines images of the forest in the Hispanic American narrative of the last century, stressing the analysis of works of writing set in the Amazon rainforest, Latin America’s quintessential natural setting. What are the most common imaginaries of the rainforest in this narrative production? What impact has the global ecological crisis had on different ways of “narrating the forest”? What types of relationships between human societies and rainforest ecosystems are represented in this corpus? What environmental and ecological problems are thematized in the texts? What role do Indigenous peoples play in the stories? And what role do animals, plants, and other nonhuman entities play? Do these works give a voice to notions of “nature” and “culture” that are different from Western ones? Do they give a voice to needs and perspectives that are different from human ones? To answer these questions, my work delves into four key issues of canonical rainforest narratives: the cultural perceptions of a tropical rainforest setting, the relationships between Indigenous peoples and settlers, the development of a historical consciousness of images of nature, and the search for new forms of relating to the natural environment. Although the proposed methodology favors the tools of ecocriticism and political ecology, the work also draws on current developments in environmental philosophy, rainforest biogeography, and cultural anthropology. By means of such an interdisciplinary approach, my work seeks to create a suitable setting for dialogue between literary criticism and other areas of knowledge. Ultimately, I aim to use these chosen literary texts as a window to exploring the human condition’s environmental dimension, providing ideas and viewpoints that could contribute to building a distinct, symbiotic and not merely extractive relationship between human societies and natural ecosystems. / La selva ha sido, y sigue siendo, un tema central de la literatura hispanoamericana. Este trabajo estudia las imágenes de la selva en la narrativa hispanoamericana durante el último siglo, enfatizando el análisis de obras cuya acción se sitúa en la selva amazónica, el entorno natural latinoamericano por excelencia. ¿Cuáles son los imaginarios de la selva más comunes en la producción novelística y cuentística? ¿Cuál ha sido el impacto de la crisis ecológica global en las formas de «contar la selva»? ¿Qué tipos de relación entre las sociedades humanas y los ecosistemas selváticos aparecen representados en estas obras? ¿Qué problemas ambientales y ecológicos son tematizados en ellas? ¿Qué papel desempeñan en los hechos narrados las poblaciones autóctonas? ¿Y cuál desempeñan, a su vez, los animales, las plantas y otras entidades no-humanas? ¿Las obras le dan voz a nociones de «naturaleza» y «cultura» distintas a las de Occidente, o a necesidades u ópticas distintas a las de los humanos? Para responder estas preguntas, el trabajo profundiza en temas claves del canon de las narrativas de la selva, como las percepciones culturales del ambiente selvático, las relaciones entre los pobladores indígenas de la selva y los colonizadores, el desarrollo de una conciencia histórica de las imágenes de la naturaleza y la búsqueda de nuevas formas de relación con el entorno ambiental, entre otros. Si bien la metodología escogida privilegia las herramientas del ecocriticismo y la ecología política, el trabajo se apoya igualmente en desarrollos recientes de la filosofía ambiental, la biogeografía de las selvas tropicales y la antropología cultural. Mediante este enfoque pluridisciplinar, el trabajo procura abrir un escenario de diálogo fecundo entre la crítica literaria y otras áreas del conocimiento. El objetivo último es aprovechar los textos literarios seleccionados como una ventana para explorar la dimensión ambiental de la condición humana, proveyendo ideas y puntos de vista que contribuyan en la construcción de una relación distinta, simbiótica y no simplemente extractiva, entre las sociedades humanas y los ecosistemas naturales.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

L’une des questions primordiales dans l’étude de l’Antiquité tardive concerne le passage de l’ancienne religion polythéiste au christianisme. Or, les découvertes archéologiques faites dans la partie orientale du Bassin méditerranéen ont révélé de nombreux pavements chrétiens (ou juifs) tardifs décorés de riches mosaïques polychromes réutilisant des figures issues de la tradition iconographique grecque, parmi lesquelles des personnifications d’éléments cosmologiques. On rencontre ainsi des éléments du temps, comme les quatre Saisons (Tropai) ou les Mois (Ménès), la Terre (Gê) parfois accompagnée de ses Fruits (Karpoi), certains astres comme le Soleil (Hélios), la Lune (Séléné), parfois accompagnés du Zodiaque, l’Élément marin féminin (Thalassa) ou masculin (Okéanos, Abyssos) et les quatre Fleuves du Paradis (Géon, Phison, Tigre et Euphrate). Cette présente thèse se propose d’étudier chacune de ces personnifications, leur iconographie et leur symbolique, en contexte religieux, mais aussi profane, dans une analyse stylistique et comparative. Cette étude a ainsi pour but de mettre en relief la spécificité de cette partie orientale de l’Empire romain, entre le IVe et le VIe siècle, et d’insister sur la pérennité de la culture grecque et de ses traditions iconographiques, malgré un changement de religion officielle. / One of the primordial questions in the study of Late Antiquity concerns the transition from the ancient polytheistic religion to Christianity. The archaeological discoveries that have been made in the Eastern part of the Mediterranean Basin have revealed a number of late Christian (or Jewish) pavements decorated with rich polychrome mosaics that reuse figures stemming from the Greek iconographic tradition, which include personifications of cosmological elements. In this manner elements of time can be encountered, such as the Four Seasons (Tropai) or the Months (Menes), the Earth (Ge) sometimes surrounded by her Fruits (Karpoi), specific celestial bodies such as the Sun (Helios), the Moon (Selene), sometimes accompanied by the Zodiac, the female marine Element (Thalassa) or the male (Okeanos, Abyssos) and the four Rivers of Paradise (Geon, Phison, Tiger and Euphrates). This thesis makes a stylistic and comparative analysis of each of these personifications, their iconography and their symbolism, in a religious context, but also in a secular one. The object of this study is to emphasise the specificity of the Eastern part of the Roman Empire between the Fourth and the Sixth centuries. And also to insist in particular on the longevity of the Greek culture and its iconographic traditions, despite an official change in religion.