This thesis explores the politics and problematics of Asian American self-representation in popular cinema by focusing on film adaptations of Asian American texts. In the first chapter I consider the Chinese American director Wayne Wang's adaptations of Amy Tan's novel The Joy Luck Club (1989) and Louis Chu's novel Eat a Bowl of Tea ( 1961). Here I demonstrate how the representations of Asian Americans in the domain of popular cinema are "simplified" and constrained to universalizing tropes, such as "generational conflict," that negate the heterogeneous factors (i.e. culture, gender, class) that contribute to the making of Asian American subjectivity. As well, though I find that both films tend to de-problematize the United States as a context for the Asian American's assimilation, Eat a Bowl of Tea, in its historicizing efforts and cinematic flair, manages to posit a more ironic view towards the narrative of assimilation than Joy Luck does. In the second chapter I shift my discussion to David Henry Hwang's 1988 play M. Butterfly and its film adaptation by David Cronenberg. The opening (longer) section of this chapter explores Hwang's critiques of Western (American) discourses of sexism, racism, and imperialism in relation to Edward Said's and Judith Butler's theories of orientalism and gender performance respectively. When Hwang' s arguments are also understood in the context of Asian American history and contemporary debates over "identity" in the Asian American community, it is possible to see how his antiessentialist stance challenges all (Western and Asian) impositions of discursive power. The second section of this chapter compares the formal/performative construction of the play to that of the film version. Here I argue that Hwang' s utilization of Brechtian theatrical techniques corroborates his anti-essentialist political argument. Cronenberg's film, however, attempts to situate this critique within the traditions of realist cinema, and thereby significantly diminishes (and "simplifies") the Asian American perspective of the play. Taken collectively, these film adaptations, despite moments of opposition, attest to the ideological limitations that severely restrict the possibilities for complex Asian American self-representations in the realm of popular cinema. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) has emerged in the 1980's as a major health threat of epidemic quality. The panic and fear accompanying this epidemic have been more extreme than the relatively small numbers of cases might suggest, however. This paper contextualizes that panic within a discussion of the epistemological implications of AIDS as it articulates with the ideology of sexual identity and gender domination in North American culture. Based on an analysis of print media AIDS news-stories, from 1985 through 1987, books about AIDS, and AIDS urban legends, I determine that the 'epidemic of fear' that characterizes the AIDS epidemic is the inevitable outcome of AIDS complex and ineluctable corrosion of the symbolic foundations of the ideology of masculinism in North America. Through the development of a model of mass media news as revealed reality, and a discussion of the core resonant signs of that ideology, I argue that AIDS violates the meaningful integrity of the hegemonic discourse of sexual identity, gender and reproduction, and undermines the capacity for this "regime of truth" to sustain itself. By placing AIDS within the framework of a critical analysis of the significant potential for ideological transformation, I argue for a broader and more comprehensive understanding of the AIDS epidemic as a sickness event. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Cette thèse consiste en une analyse épistémologique comparée et très détaillée de l’ensemble du corpus saussurien publié ainsi que d’une portion très significative des oeuvres de Hjelmslev, Jakobson, Martinet et Benveniste. Il s’agit de montrer qu’en dépit d’une filiation revendiquée le structuralisme européen n’est pas saussurien, et par là de faire apparaître, par contrecoup, la spécificité de la problématique saussurienne, ainsi que ses enjeux pour la linguistique et plus largement pour les sciences de l’humain. La problématique saussurienne avait permis, pour la première fois dans l’histoire de la linguistique, une appréhension théorique de la langue. La problématique structuraliste est en revanche entièrementempirique, de sorte que sa scientificité relève en réalité d’une idéologie scientifique, au sens de Georges Canguilhem. Le point nodal de cette radicale différence de problématique est l’absence de théorisation structuraliste du rapport son/sens, et corrélativement la mécompréhension du concept saussurien desystème. Celui-ci devient alors structure, c’est-à-dire, comme nous tentons de le faire apparaître, appréhension structurale d’un objet dont la définition commune et évidente (celle de la langue comme instrument de communication) n’est pas remise en cause. A la problématique étiologique saussurienne, constitutive du concept de langue, répond ainsi une problématique analytique qui conduit quant à elle à la construction d’un objet (forme ou structure) en lieu et place d’un concept. Plus précisément, la problématique structuraliste est idiomologique. Elle manque ainsi la distinction entre langue et idiome dont nous tentons dès lors de démontrer la nécessité et le caractère constitutif de la théorisation de lalangue et, au-delà, du langage, notamment dans le cadre d’une articulation entre linguistique et psychanalyse. / This thesis consists in a compared and thorough epistemological analysis of the whole of Saussure’s published work and of a significant part of Hjelmslev’s, Jakobson’s, Martinet’s and Benveniste’s. Its aim is to show that although it has acknowledged Saussure as an influence, European structuralism is not Saussurean. In doing so, it aims at bringing out the specificity of Saussure’s problematics and its stakes for linguistics and more widely for the sciences of the human being. Saussure’s problematics had made a theoretical apprehension of language (la langue) possible for the first time in the history of linguistics. On the other hand, the problematics of structuralism is entirely empirical, so that its scientificity is in fact a product of a scientific ideology (idéologie scientifique), in Georges Canguilhem’s sense of the word. The very core of this radical divergence in the problematics lies in the lack of structuralist theorization of the sound/meaning relation, and correlatively, the misunderstanding of Saussure’s concept of system. This system then becomes a structure, that is to say, as we try to show, the structural apprehension of an object whose commonly held and evident definition (language as an instrument of communication) is not questioned. Thus, Saussure’s etiological problematics, which is constitutive of the concept of language (langue), is echoed by an analytical problematics, which itself leads to the construction of an object (form or structure), instead of a concept. More precisely, the structuralist problematics is idiomological. Thus, it misses the difference there is between language (langue) and idiom, a distinction we thus try to demonstrate as necessary as well as constitutive for the theorization of language in the narrow sense of the word (la langue), and beyond it, of language in its larger sense (le langage), particularly in the context of an articulation between linguistics and psychoanalysis.

Thesis advisor: Kevin Newmark / This dissertation constitutes a systematic literary study of the image of the mother in Camus’s works. The study is twofold: it represents 1) a reconstruction of the story of the image of the mother through the analysis of the image’s manifestations and meanings and 2) a reading of Camus’s oeuvre through the lens of this image. In this dissertation, the image of the mother is approached as a unique entity that 1) has its distinctive parameters, inner logic, language, manifestations, and levels of meaning, 2) manifests a tendency to remain central, and 3) leads an uninterrupted existence throughout the entire oeuvre. The narrative unfolding of the image of the mother repeats Camus's progression through his project and shows an intimate connection to the problematics of the self and the expression of emotion. Paralleling the twists and turns of Camusian creation, the existence of the image of the mother in the texts remains dual: embodied and hidden. Hence, the analysis of the sequence of the image’s perceptible forms – i.e., the mothers who appear in different works, in particular the mother of “Entre oui et non” (L’Envers et L’Endroit), Mme Meursault (L’Etranger), the mother of Jan (Le Malentendu), Mme Rieux (La Peste), and Catherine Cormery (Le Premier Homme) – is supplemented by an account of the image’s less perceptible forms – i.e., veiled presences, echoes, traces, and avatars. The narrative is not only cumulative, it has a specific direction. As the story of the image of the mother unfolds, moving from text to text, from one manifestation to another, the image of the mother is gradually unveiled as a living symbol, the Mother-Christ – a figure of conciliation of the living and the symbolic and a point of convergence of the vertical and the horizontal. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Romance Languages and Literatures.

This work contributes to the theme of ICT outsourcing to PRC. It brings main themes of contemporal chinese economy and society which can enter outsourcing relation and influence it positively or negatively. These complex themes are presented with cultural, socioeconomic and historic relations. Thereof brings the framework for outsourcing to PRC. Themes, problems and opportunities of ICT outsourcing to PRC are based in research of international and local literature as well as own research in enterprise practice. First part of the work deals with term definition and description of ICT market in China. It brings the goal of this work, specify structure, and mentions important information regarding transcription of chinese characters in roman alphabet. Second part specify drivers and risks of outsourcing relations to PRC according to contemporal theories of respected academic authorities. It localise these theories to chinese reality based on statistical reading of international institutions. Third and fourth part deals with problematic of outsourcing relations based on relation lifecycle and case study. He lifecycle comes from MMDIS methodics and is supplemented with problems defined by international literature research. Case study is based on qualitative research and questioning of HP Enterprise Services employees. This part brings new views not included in literature and enrich this work. Fifth part deals with description of typical outsourcing relations. It assess it's suitability for outsourcing to PRC. Assessment is based on the facts and information in previous parts. The final part brings the framework for ICT outsourcing to PRC. It respect facts mentioned in previous parts. Based on that it defines the procedure, roles and documents which are suitable during outsourcing process.

The work deals with Rastafari, gender promatics and the leisure phenomenon reggae, which is a means of presentation of identity the rastafarian musical artists. The beginning of the theoretical part the work deals with identity, gender roles and stereotypes as aspects of education. Next part is concerned with attributes of rastafarian identity, historical roots of Rastafarians, their religion, lifestyle, specific language, gender problematics and the spread of Rastafari in contemporary global world. The last chapter discusses the reggae musical style from the viewpoint its functions, creation and international development as the contemporary cultural trend. The practical part is concerned with qualitative research using method of content analysis and coding of the obtained data. The aim of the research is to describe the gender problematics explicitly and implicitly contained in the musical texts of reggae and genres deriving from it.

This diploma thesis is called "The Ethnonational problematics in history textbooks for high schools in current Russia" and is divided into four parts. The first one opens the problematics and aspects of history teaching at schools in general, what factors have impact on its performance and, at the same time, how this imprinting influences individuals and the society. Second part is focused on Russian background of teaching and presenting historical events, and also its institutional base, system and major sources of influence. The focal part analyses current history textbooks for high schools in order to point out the approach to miscellaneous ethnics living in Russians lands in the past and now, and the presentation and explanation of the fact, that Russia has ever been a multinational state. The results and conclusions - the main determination in Russian history teaching - are discussed in the last part.

The purpose of this study is to pose possibilities in addressing the problem of ethnical discrimination, its development into supersessionism and the perpetual discriminatory practices in the contemporary church by engaging Acts 6:1-7 from a rhetorical and deconstructive perspective. The episode in Acts 6:1-7, where the seven men have been selected to deal with the issue of the “daily distribution of food” presents a problem with regard to its interpretation. The problem resides in the fact that the text itself contains a certain number of inconsistencies. The most obvious is the contradiction between the task assigned to the seven and their actual function in the subsequent narrative. The account of the selection of the seven has attracted the attention of many scholars. However, although they have identified the contradictions and incoherencies, the methodologies applied by these scholars to uncover the original meaning, did not enable them to dismantle the hierarchical dichotomies underlying the text, and to question how ethnical discrimination can be prevented as well as how the leadership is differently constructed. The objective of this study is to expose these contradictions and to ask how we can deal with this exposure, and how we can think with a text such as Acts 6:1-7 in addressing the problem of ethnical discrimination, supersessionism and leadership, not only in the church but also in its wider political manifestations. The research methodology used in this study derives from deconstruction and rhetoric within the wider ambit of critical theory. Acts 6:1-7, when read from a conjunction of rhetorical and deconstruction perspectives, demonstrates that there is indeed a problem of ethnicity in Acts 6, reveals how the author of Acts privileges an engendered masculinity ethos, exposes the absence of taking the plight of widows into full consideration, shows that the roots of supersessionism can be found in Acts 6: 1-7, and also infuses the notion of leadership with an ethical overturning that requires rethinking the implications for leadership. The significance of the study lies in considering how a continuation of ethnical discrimination in contemporary denominational context can be resisted via my thinking with Acts 6:1-7. / New Testament / D. Th. (New Testament)

Parmi les indicateurs de la mondialisation, le secret bancaire est au centre d'un débat animé en ce moment historique, caractérisé par la globalisation de l'économie, les exigences de sécurité croissantes, l'urgence de la lutte contre le blanchiment des capitaux provenant d’activités criminelles et l’internationalisation expansive des réseaux bancaires. La tendance vers le renforcement de la coopération internationale, met en discussion la forte sauvegarde du secret bancaire de plusieurs pays. La question dirimante est plutôt claire. Il s'agit, effectivement, de savoir jusqu'à quel point le secret, dans sa conception la plus inextensible et inflexible, devient par contre un instrument décisif pour contourner les règles communes,faire une concurrence déloyale sur les marchés et assurer des véritables crimes, par exemple de type terroriste. Pour faire évoluer les situations jugées problématiques, la démarche parallèle des trois organismes BÂLE, l’OCDE puis le GAFI est d’autant plus significative, qu’elle a été inspirée par les préoccupations exprimées au sein du G7 sur les dangers que présenteraient pour l’économie internationale certaines activités financières accomplies sur et à partir de ces territoires. L’ordre public justifie aussi la mise en place de mesures particulières en vue d’enrayer le blanchiment des capitaux provenant du trafic des stupéfiants. Selon les pays, des systèmes plus ou moins ingénieux tentent de concilier la nécessaire information des autorités publiques et le droit au secret bancaire, élément avancé de la protection de la vie privée dont le corollaire est, entre autres, l’article 7 et 8 de la Charte canadienne des droits et libertés et l’article 8 de la Convention européenne de sauvegarde des droits de l’homme et des libertés fondamentales du citoyen, et donc de l’atteinte à ces libertés. Nous le verrons, les prérogatives exorbitantes dont bénéficient l’État, l’administration ou certains tiers, par l’exercice d’un droit de communication et d’échange d’information, constituent une véritable atteinte au principe sacré de la vie privée et du droit à la confidentialité. Cette pénétration de l’État ou de l’administration au coeur des relations privilégiées entre la banque et son client trouve certainement une justification irréfutable lorsque la protection est celle de l’intérêt public, de la recherche d’une solution juridique et judiciaire. Mais cela crée inévitablement des pressions internes et des polémiques constantes,indépendamment de l’abus de droit que l’on peut malheureusement constater dans l’usage et l’exercice de certaines prérogatives. / Among the indicators of globalization, banking secrecy is currently at the centre of a historic and heated debate over the globalization of the economy, growing security requirements, the urgency of the fight against the laundering of funds from criminal activities and the expansive globalization of banking networks. The trend toward strengthening international cooperation calls into question the firm safeguarding of banking secrecy in several countries. The telling question is quite clear: it essentially involves knowing how far secrecy in its most restricted and inflexible form nevertheless becomes a decisive instrument in bypassing common rules, making for unfair competition in the markets and ensuring real crimes: terrorism, for instance . In the development of situations considered problematic, the parallel approach of the three organizations, the Basel Committee, OECD and FATF, is all the more significant for having been inspired by the concerns expressed within the G7 about the dangers to the international economy presented by certain financial activities performed on and from these territories. Public order also justifies the implementation of dedicated measures to curb the laundering, of funds from drug trafficking. Depending on the country, more or less ingenious systems attempt to reconcile the necessary informing of the public authorities and the right to banking secrecy, an advanced element in the protection of private life, the upshot of which are, among others, Articles 7 and 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Article 8 of the European Convention for the Safeguarding of Citizens’ Human Rights and Fundamental Liberties, and the corresponding breach of these liberties. As we shall see, the exorbitant prerogatives the State, the administration or certain third parties enjoy by exercising a right to public performance and information exchange constitute a veritable breach of the hallowed principle of private life and the right to confidentiality. This penetration by the State or the administration into the heart of privileged relations between banks and their customers certainly finds irrefutable justification when protection involves the public interest – the search for a juridical and judicial solution. But this inevitably creates internal pressures and constant controversy, regardless of the abuse of law that can unfortunately be seen in the use and exercise of certain prerogatives.

Parmi les indicateurs de la mondialisation, le secret bancaire est au centre d'un débat animé en ce moment historique, caractérisé par la globalisation de l'économie, les exigences de sécurité croissantes, l'urgence de la lutte contre le blanchiment des capitaux provenant d’activités criminelles et l’internationalisation expansive des réseaux bancaires. La tendance vers le renforcement de la coopération internationale, met en discussion la forte sauvegarde du secret bancaire de plusieurs pays. La question dirimante est plutôt claire. Il s'agit, effectivement, de savoir jusqu'à quel point le secret, dans sa conception la plus inextensible et inflexible, devient par contre un instrument décisif pour contourner les règles communes,faire une concurrence déloyale sur les marchés et assurer des véritables crimes, par exemple de type terroriste. Pour faire évoluer les situations jugées problématiques, la démarche parallèle des trois organismes BÂLE, l’OCDE puis le GAFI est d’autant plus significative, qu’elle a été inspirée par les préoccupations exprimées au sein du G7 sur les dangers que présenteraient pour l’économie internationale certaines activités financières accomplies sur et à partir de ces territoires. L’ordre public justifie aussi la mise en place de mesures particulières en vue d’enrayer le blanchiment des capitaux provenant du trafic des stupéfiants. Selon les pays, des systèmes plus ou moins ingénieux tentent de concilier la nécessaire information des autorités publiques et le droit au secret bancaire, élément avancé de la protection de la vie privée dont le corollaire est, entre autres, l’article 7 et 8 de la Charte canadienne des droits et libertés et l’article 8 de la Convention européenne de sauvegarde des droits de l’homme et des libertés fondamentales du citoyen, et donc de l’atteinte à ces libertés. Nous le verrons, les prérogatives exorbitantes dont bénéficient l’État, l’administration ou certains tiers, par l’exercice d’un droit de communication et d’échange d’information, constituent une véritable atteinte au principe sacré de la vie privée et du droit à la confidentialité. Cette pénétration de l’État ou de l’administration au coeur des relations privilégiées entre la banque et son client trouve certainement une justification irréfutable lorsque la protection est celle de l’intérêt public, de la recherche d’une solution juridique et judiciaire. Mais cela crée inévitablement des pressions internes et des polémiques constantes,indépendamment de l’abus de droit que l’on peut malheureusement constater dans l’usage et l’exercice de certaines prérogatives. / Among the indicators of globalization, banking secrecy is currently at the centre of a historic and heated debate over the globalization of the economy, growing security requirements, the urgency of the fight against the laundering of funds from criminal activities and the expansive globalization of banking networks. The trend toward strengthening international cooperation calls into question the firm safeguarding of banking secrecy in several countries. The telling question is quite clear: it essentially involves knowing how far secrecy in its most restricted and inflexible form nevertheless becomes a decisive instrument in bypassing common rules, making for unfair competition in the markets and ensuring real crimes: terrorism, for instance . In the development of situations considered problematic, the parallel approach of the three organizations, the Basel Committee, OECD and FATF, is all the more significant for having been inspired by the concerns expressed within the G7 about the dangers to the international economy presented by certain financial activities performed on and from these territories. Public order also justifies the implementation of dedicated measures to curb the laundering, of funds from drug trafficking. Depending on the country, more or less ingenious systems attempt to reconcile the necessary informing of the public authorities and the right to banking secrecy, an advanced element in the protection of private life, the upshot of which are, among others, Articles 7 and 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Article 8 of the European Convention for the Safeguarding of Citizens’ Human Rights and Fundamental Liberties, and the corresponding breach of these liberties. As we shall see, the exorbitant prerogatives the State, the administration or certain third parties enjoy by exercising a right to public performance and information exchange constitute a veritable breach of the hallowed principle of private life and the right to confidentiality. This penetration by the State or the administration into the heart of privileged relations between banks and their customers certainly finds irrefutable justification when protection involves the public interest – the search for a juridical and judicial solution. But this inevitably creates internal pressures and constant controversy, regardless of the abuse of law that can unfortunately be seen in the use and exercise of certain prerogatives.