Ce mémoire sur le ministère de présence auprès des adolescents de 11 à 14 ans présente les caractéristiques nécessaires à ce type d'intervention à caractère spirituel. Il décrit le développement intégral de la personne de la naissance jusqu'à l'adolescence. Il dresse le portrait sociologique, culturel et religieux des jeunes québécois. Quelques modes d'intervention enrichissent la réflexion sur les besoins des adolescents aux niveaux psychologique, pédagogique et spirituel. Un modèle chrétien, Don Bosco et les salésiens, apporte une expérience reconnue de cette forme de ministère. Finalement, les différents éléments nécessaires à la pratique d'un ministère de présence sont apportés : le passeur, les jeunes animateurs, les activités, la vie de groupe et les propositions spirituelles dont le rite de passage.

Girl protagonists in rite of passage films regularly come to be burdened with a sobering maturity that sees them acquire a dysphoric subjective position under an oppressive patriarchal paradigm. According to Oedipal logics, both genders, in extricating themselves from the imaginary fullness of the maternal bond, come to be subjects of lack, but culturally entrenched patriarchal fictions concur in fostering masculine narcissism at the expense of the feminine. This practice-based research asks how the Oedipal narrative structure, which has defined twentieth- century mainstream cinema, can be re-appropriated and re- imagined for the purpose of writing a screenplay that highlights the girl's active and constructive engagement in the project of selfhood. My reading of seven films, which are all at the low-budget end of the mainstream (studio-financed as well as independent), details parallel structures and discourses within the proposed genre. Victor Turner's rite of passage model is used as a template for understanding rite of passage plot structure and transformative symbolism, while key concepts in Lacanian psychoanalysis serve to throw light on the adolescent girl's psychosexual development. My reading of Girlfight, which follows Luce Irigaray's critique of phallocentrism and concept of intersubjective dialogue, provides a key insight into how the narrative aspects of film can provide a propitious environment for resolving cultural impasse and catalysing understanding and change. I have written my screenplay Lullaby, which accompanies the thesis as Appendix IV, in accordance with my research goals. It serves as a blueprint for a feature film that will hopefully, one day, go into production.

In my thesis, I aim to show that a focus on liminality in contemporary Scottish fictional texts illustrates underlying developments of relevant social phenomena with regard to class issues, gender and sexual identity. The anthropological concept of liminality looks at a situation of “being between”. The liminar faces a situation of having to renegotiate their values and perceptions in order to proceed. Liminality always involves the existence of limits which have to be transgressed and against which the individual negotiates a personal situation. I further hypothesise that the transgression of limits can be seen as an instrument to create order. I take an anthropological approach to my thesis. Arnold van Gennep’s early studies on rites of passage and Victor Turner’s study of liminality originate in the observation of tribe-internal, social structures of personal development. Van Gennep assumes a tripartite structure among which liminality is the middle stage, the phase in which the initiand has to perform tasks to re-enter and become part of the community. Turner isolates the middle stage and transfers this concept to western societies. This theory is taken up and developed further by several literary critics and anthropologists. While the transgression of limits is often regarded as a violation of those norms which regulate societies, the transgression of limits in a rite of passage and connected with liminality is a vital aspect and socially necessary. Several concepts are related to this theory, which will play a major role in my thesis: Turner’s permanent liminality, Mikhail Bakhtin’s carnivalesque as well as Foucault’s transgression. In the first chapter, I contrast two of Alasdair Gray’s novels, stating that the most powerful message of social and capitalist criticism is not just visible on the surface of the hyperbolic texts, but particularly prominent in liminal passages. The theories of Bakhtin and Turner plays the most important role in this chapter. In the second chapter, A. L. Kennedy’s novels are contrasted. In So I am Glad a difficult psycho-social issue is solved by a liminal trigger-figure, Paradise is an example of the destructive and restrictive effects of permanent liminality. In chapter three, I deal with the issue of passing and an individual redefinition of gender identity. The performativity of masculinity reveals ambiguous definitions of gender and morale. The Wasp Factory portrays a form of masculinity which has destructive effects on the individual and its environment. It is the tension in the liminal situation of a gender myth, a brutally performed masculinity and the character’s biological sex which expresses a harsh criticism of society’s definition of masculinity. In Trumpet, the binary model of gender is questioned. The text suggests a different definition of identity as fluid, passing between the two ‘extremes’, formulating the possibility of a state of being ‘something in-between’. It is the confrontation with this ‘otherness’ which provokes a wave of rejection and protest in the environment of the individual passing as a member of the ‘other sex’. In this case, it is not the obvious liminal individual, but his son who undergoes a process of change and thus a process of renegotiating his strict value system. The final chapter deals with liminal spaces and how these reflect and support the internal development which the protagonists undergo. The choice of Orkney as a mystical place and the fictional setting in a war game show that liminal spaces – both real and fictitious – trigger a personal development and reconnect present day life in Scotland with historical events which have had a shaping role for Scottish and European life.

This thesis frames the transition into motherhood as a rite of passage; proposes a new model for the rite of passage into motherhood based on the four seasons; and highlights the importance of contextual and specific ritual actions or sequences to navigate the transition. Qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with ten western women, from a middle class, Christian background, who had all become mothers through childbirth, are examined under three main headings. Firstly, the women’s experiences of their transition are explored using rites of passage theory as a lens. Although significant differences emerge, particularly from a gender perspective, important themes within the women’s experiences are highlighted, including the nature of relationships; the importance of support; journaling; and the telling of birthing stories. The influences of contemporary cultural aspects such as the medicalization of childbirth and myths about motherhood are also taken into account. Secondly, the field of ritual studies is explored in order to provide a framework in which to situate the women’s ritualizing. Existing rituals associated with motherhood are analysed and gaps are identified in existing Christian liturgical resources for this area, specifically for ritual actions or sequences marking motherhood as a rite of passage, and for the expression of birthing stories. A working definition of ritualizing is also established and the research findings are divided according to time frame, exploring the women’s ritualizing before birth, around birth and after birth. Thirdly, spirituality in relation to childbirth and the transition into motherhood is explored and its place within healthcare and theological literature examined. Nicola Slee’s theory on women’s faith development is used to draw out some of the patterns that emerge from the interviewees’ experiences, and the sacramental nature of birthing is considered. The thesis concludes with a critique of implications and associated suggestions for those within a church or healthcare context with responsibility for the pastoral and spiritual care of women during their transition into motherhood.

Cette étude vise à comprendre de quelle manière Cormac McCarthy caractérise le cow-boy novice dans le contexte contemporain de l'Ouest américain, théâtre de la première tragédie américaine: la fermeture de la frontier. John Grady et Billy, les deux protagonistes de cette Border Trilogy, s'embarquent dans des quêtes initiatiques afin de mieux comprendre leur statut d'héros américain moderne, tiraillé entre l'héritage du mythe et de la frontier, et la modernité d'un monde qui leur échappe. Par leurs méditations, leurs cheminements, les rituels qu'ils tentent de pratiquer à mi-chemin entre mythe et réalité, les jeunes novices définissent une éthique de l'apprentissage qui justifie la violence McCarthienne, un sujet intarissable d'étude critique sur l'auteur. En s'intéressant au problème de l'initiation, cette thèse espère apporter un éclairage nouveau sur ce débat, et propose comme pistes de réflexions les problèmes d'apprentissage et de rites inachevés, la solitude du héros et sa finitude ainsi que la "finitude" narrative d'un livre qui s'achève et la finitude "artistique" du narrateur qui s'interroge sur sa responsabilité sur l'(H)istoire. / This dissertation undertakes the study of Cormac McCarthy's characterization of the cowboy hero,from his early state of innocence in the modern American West to his understanding of the first greatAmerican tragedy, the closing of the frontier. John Grady and Billy, the two main protagonists of thisBorder Trilogy, try to follow in the old pioneers' footsteps, attempting to achieve heroic status throughpublic display of bravery in a modern world that ignores them. Through their meditation, theirinitiatory journeys, and attempts to perform rites they define an ethics of experience making whichhelps justify the violence at the core of McCarthy's novels, a topic very popular in McCarthian studies.This dissertation hopes to shed light on the bond that ties initiation to violence and offers to discussproblems of experimentation and unfulfilled rituals, the hero's solitude and finitude, as well as thenarrative finitude of the book that always ends and the artistic finitude of the storyteller who also seeksanswers on his responsibility in the (hi)story.

J'ai présenté tout d'abord l'examen de l'évolution des dispositions mises en œuvre dans les écoles de formation des maîtres. Puis, l'analyse du contexte social qualifié d' «hypermoderne » (Aubert 2006) m'a permis de confirmer l'affaiblissement d'un soutien institutionnel à la construction identitaire professionnelle. A l'aide de la notion anthropologique de ''rite de passage'', j'ai pu appréhender les fonctions essentielles de la marque physique et le rôle primordial du groupe dans les processus de changement identitaire. Dans la deuxième partie, j'ai analysé le contenu de trois entretiens, menés auprès de débutant-e-s, réalisés selon une démarche clinique à orientation psychanalytique (Blanchard-Laville et al, 2005). Cette méthodologie m'a permis d'approcher les traces de processus inconscients qui viendraient perturber la construction d'un « soi-professionnel » (Abraham 1984). De plus, j'ai envisagé par quelles modalités les discours institutionnels prendraient part dans ces processus.Enfin, j'ai présenté les conditions d'un atelier d'écriture proposé à de futurs enseignant-e-s que j'ai pu mettre en oeuvre dans le cadre de mes missions de formatrice. Cette présentation est complétée par l'analyse d'entretiens cliniques auprès de deux participantes aux ateliers. La tentative d'un regard clinique sur les textes produits et l'analyse du contenu des entretiens ont permis de consolider l'hypothèse selon laquelle un récit de soi, pourrait prendre valeur d'un « étayage psychique » à la construction identitaire professionnelle. / I firstly presented the review of the evolution of the provisions implemented in teacher training schools. Then, the analysis of qualified social context of "hypermodern" (Aubert 2006) allowed me to confirm the weakening of institutional support to professional identity construction. Using anthropological concept of 'rite of passage' 'I was able to grasp the essential functions of the physical mark and the primary role of the group in identity change process. In the second part, I analyzed the content of three interviews conducted with beginner-es, made according to a clinical approach to psychoanalytic orientation (Blanchard-Laville et al). This methodology has allowed me to approach the traces of unconscious processes that would disrupt the construction of a "so-professional" (Abraham Ada date). Moreover, by what I considered institutional discourse modalities take part in these processes. Finally, I presented the terms of a writing workshop offered to future teachers are I could implement within my formative missions. This presentation is supplemented by analysis of clinical interviews with two workshop participants. The attempt of a clinical look at the products and the content analysis of interviews texts have strengthened the hypothesis that a self-narrative, could take value of a "psychic shoring" vocational identity construction.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

The purpose of this research is to analyse how gender is ‘done’, represented and reproduced in a Peruvian baby shower ritual. The study is situated geographically in the urban Andean setting of Cusco, and theoretically, in a feminist framework combining an ethnomethodological ‘doing gender’ perspective, anchored in social interactions, with a linguistic performativity approach, as formulated by Judith Butler. In the latter, gender is understood as performed through discursive practices of iterability. The ethnographic material, collected from two baby showers and additional interviews, demonstrate several ways and sites in which gender is done and performed in the Cusqeanean baby shower. This occurs, for instance, by the means of gendered gifts, decorations and performances of gender-crossing and hyperbolised displays of masculinity, femininity and sexuality.             Furthermore, to help make sense of the notions of prenatal gender, as well as the strictly gendered cultural norms for invitation cards, decoration and gift-making, which made me unknowingly brake conventions when bringing gender-neutral wooden toys to a Peruvian baby shower, I draw on theorisation of fetal personhood. Adapting van Gennep’s (2004[1909]) concept, I propose that the baby shower could be conceptualised as a rite of passage, in which the unborn transcends from the state of fetus to a gendered baby. The acts of naming and attributing gender in the baby shower ritual, I argue, are requisites for incorporating the child into the society, as family members and, ultimately, as human beings. The baby shower can, thus, be regarded a crucial site for the ‘social birth’ of the Cusqueanean baby.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

The purpose of this study is to explore the meaning of womanhood in relation to the Swedish fäbod culture at the turn of the 20th century. The study is based upon a questionnaire from 1928 and the material is collected from the archives at the Nordic Museum in Stockholm and the Institute for Language and Folklore in Uppsala. Drawing upon gender and ritual theories, the study intends to gain an understanding for what it meant to be a woman of the fäbod by examining how fäbod herdswomen were culturally shaped and initiated into women both in relation to their place in the fäbod community of herdswomen, but also in respect to the wider community and society of which they were a part of.  The main conclusion of the study is that the journey into the fäbod woods can be seen as a rite of passage where adolescent girls going to the fäbod for the first time were initiated into the fäbod community of herdswomen. Womanhood is a cultural phenomenon in which women are culturally shaped and initiated into women not only by the codes, conceptions and values of the society at large, but also by the stories, customs and traditions of their local communities. The fäbod herdswomen were born into the gender power structures of a patriarchal society that sought to shape them into promising wives, and they were also women of the fäbod, initiated into the fäbod communitas, a form of female counterculture with its very own musical language, customs and traditions, and with its very own definitions of womanhood.