A manuscript containing poems that examine the known world and the individual's place within the context of personal and collective history, including but not limited to: domicile, partnership, familial similarity and incongruity, social determinates and structure, personal development and disassembly, anxiety, and the varied ways in which the mind navigates and responds to these particular realms. The poems explore placement and displacement. The speaker is straddled between what he perceives to be disparate landscapes and the difficulty of reconciling his thoughts and actions in both, an effort to define (or approach definition) of what it fundamentally means to be: accounted for, loved, wanted - terrified, ecstatic, confused. The poems investigate an internal determination to engage with and navigate the self with regard to where the speaker has come from and those familial attributes and relational structures that influence and haunt him.

The imposed I. Inherited I. The pressured, defended I. The chosen and hidden I. The I that changes as its circumstances change. I that seems cousin or sister to other iterations of I. The I in its recognizable continuity, the I in its puzzling discontinuity. Is there an intrinsic I? That would have been in any circumstance, any moment in history, any culture? The poems in this thesis consider the I(s) that is(are) now and those curious moments when an I recognizes another--a might have been, or was but is no more, or a may be one day--I.

Cette recherche est axée sur la langue et la littérature orale des Punu du sud du Gabon. Elle explore le champ littéraire punu et plus particulièrement la devise qui n’a que très rarement été étudiée. Définie comme une formule de louange que l’individu déclame pour s’identifier, elle lui permet de se distinguer et d’exprimer sa vision du monde. Cette thèse se divise en cinq chapitres et dresse un essai théorique sur ce genre dans la société. En prenant la notion de performance comme critère définitoire, elle met en évidence les propriétés discursives ainsi que les fonctions de la devise. A cela s’ajoute un corpus inédit de devises claniques et individuelles, transcrit, traduit et commenté. / This research study focuses on language and oral literature of the Punu people in the south of Gabon. The study explores the punu styles of literature in particular praise-poetry (devise), which has been, up to now, very rarely studied. Considered to be a form of praise by which an individual declaims his identity, praise-poetry allows an individual to stand out and express his vision of the world.This thesis is divided into five chapters which together provide a theoretical attempt of this literary genre in the society. Taking the notion of permanence as a defining criterion, the study highlights the discursive properties of praise-poetry and its functions. Added to this is a unique corpus of clan and individual praise poems, transcribed, translated and commented.

Cette recherche est axée sur la langue et la littérature orale des Punu du sud du Gabon. Elle explore le champ littéraire punu et plus particulièrement la devise qui n’a que très rarement été étudiée. Définie comme une formule de louange que l’individu déclame pour s’identifier, elle lui permet de se distinguer et d’exprimer sa vision du monde. Cette thèse se divise en cinq chapitres et dresse un essai théorique sur ce genre dans la société. En prenant la notion de performance comme critère définitoire, elle met en évidence les propriétés discursives ainsi que les fonctions de la devise. A cela s’ajoute un corpus inédit de devises claniques et individuelles, transcrit, traduit et commenté. / This research study focuses on language and oral literature of the Punu people in the south of Gabon. The study explores the punu styles of literature in particular praise-poetry (devise), which has been, up to now, very rarely studied. Considered to be a form of praise by which an individual declaims his identity, praise-poetry allows an individual to stand out and express his vision of the world.This thesis is divided into five chapters which together provide a theoretical attempt of this literary genre in the society. Taking the notion of permanence as a defining criterion, the study highlights the discursive properties of praise-poetry and its functions. Added to this is a unique corpus of clan and individual praise poems, transcribed, translated and commented.

Cette recherche est axée sur la langue et la littérature orale des Punu du sud du Gabon. Elle explore le champ littéraire punu et plus particulièrement la devise qui n’a que très rarement été étudiée. Définie comme une formule de louange que l’individu déclame pour s’identifier, elle lui permet de se distinguer et d’exprimer sa vision du monde. Cette thèse se divise en cinq chapitres et dresse un essai théorique sur ce genre dans la société. En prenant la notion de performance comme critère définitoire, elle met en évidence les propriétés discursives ainsi que les fonctions de la devise. A cela s’ajoute un corpus inédit de devises claniques et individuelles, transcrit, traduit et commenté. / This research study focuses on language and oral literature of the Punu people in the south of Gabon. The study explores the punu styles of literature in particular praise-poetry (devise), which has been, up to now, very rarely studied. Considered to be a form of praise by which an individual declaims his identity, praise-poetry allows an individual to stand out and express his vision of the world.This thesis is divided into five chapters which together provide a theoretical attempt of this literary genre in the society. Taking the notion of permanence as a defining criterion, the study highlights the discursive properties of praise-poetry and its functions. Added to this is a unique corpus of clan and individual praise poems, transcribed, translated and commented.