Following a series of terrorist attacks, online communities for men built around misogyny and resistance to feminist values – commonly known as the manosphere – have recently become subject of scholarly attention. In research, the manosphere is usually explored as a phenomenon in the Western world, often described as a backlash movement in countries where gender equality is most progressive. This thesis seeks to widen the geographical borders of manosphere research by exploring discursive articulations of tropes related to the international manosphere on an open-access Bulgarian online Q&A platform. By choosing this platform as a case study, this project aims to fill a knowledge gap by exploring whether discourses fundamental to international, largely English-language communities of the manosphere are found relevant on a mainstream online space in an Eastern European, Balkan country like Bulgaria, and what (if any) additional locally specific tropes emerge in this context. Drawing on a discourse-historical approach to critical discourse analysis informed by social identity theory, the study seeks to unpack how these tropes serve the practice of online social identity construction, with a focus on whether the social identities that emerge could be classified as potentially extremist. The research problem is approached both by analyzing discursive elements in a purposeful sample of user comments, and by keeping a focus on the affordances of the online platform as a space where these discourses are co-produced and disseminated.

This thesis looks to explore Urinetown: The Musical through a critical and theoretical framework, analyzing the show's presentation and deconstruction of theatrical character tropes through musical satire. Using the theories of theatre theorists such as Bertolt Brecht, Peter Brook, and Augusto Boal, this thesis discusses the use of theatre as a device for political and social commentary. Additionally, this thesis focuses more specifically on the show's character of Penelope Pennywise as a new kind of character in the theatre: an "ingénue gone awry," within the context of approaching a performance of the character in a performance of the musical.

Cette thèse suit les trajectoires de quelques images choisies, d'abord réalisées sur et puis par des hommes et des femmes somalis de la Corne de l'Afrique depuis la fin du 19ème siècle à nos jours.Supports et vecteurs de la production et diffusion de savoirs anthropologiques auXIXème siècle, notamment dans le cadre d'exhibitions ethnographiques somalies en Europe - dont l'étude propose une reconstruction chronologique à partir de 1890 - ou au cours de missions d'explorations à caractère politico-commercial, ce travail entreprend d’étudier modalités et contextes de production, appréciation et filiation des « images somalies » produites en France dans les milieux savants et populaires.L’étude des circulations et réappropriations de quelques-unes de ces images historiques sur Internet, pour servir des enjeux contemporains, a conduit ensuite à analyser comment, à l’ère numérique, une jeune génération issue de la diaspora somalienne prend aujourd'hui la parole (et questionne ainsi qui peut parler et comment) à travers des projets de blogs/sites et tente ainsi de constituer (réparer ?) une « autre » archive photographique somalie. Ce faisant, elle interroge à la fois l’image du pays dans le médias internationaux (image associée, en grande partie, à la famine, au terrorisme islamique, à la piraterie et/ou à l’« État en faillite ») et les modalités de transmission d’autres mémoires, enfouies, de ce pays, dans un contexte de « destruction de l’histoire ».Enfin, la troisième et dernière partie de l’étude s'intéresse brièvement aux pratiques photographiques observées à Djibouti de 2010 à 2012, ici aussi avec une attention particulière à la manière dont les images produites ont été (ou sont aujourd’hui) conservées.Ce travail fait le pari d’une écriture de l’histoire (en cours) qui assume les manques et les vides – point que partagent ici chercheuse et sujets de la recherche - et s’élabore à partir de fragments (matériels tout autant que numériques) en mouvement, en s’efforçant de mettre en relief comment leurs circulations affectent à chaque fois leur compréhension et significations. / This thesis traces the trajectories of some selected images, first taken of and then by Somali men and women from the Horn of Africa since the late 19th century to the present.Taken during ethnographic exhibitions of Somalis in Europe (of which this workproposes a detailed timeline since 1890) or commercial and political exploration missions to East Africa, these photographs have been both the medium and vector through which a certain knowledge has been produced and circulated concerning these people. This study undertakes, therefore, to examine the modes and contexts ofproduction, consumption and filiation of these "Somali images" in learned societies and popular newspapers in France.The study of the circulation and reappropriation of these historical images today on the Internet to serve contemporary purposes then leads to an analysis of how, in the digital era, a young, Internet-savvy generation from the Somali diaspora is now reclaiming its voice (raising questions about who can speak and how) through new website and blog projects, which attempt to establish (or mend?) an alternative Somali photographic archive. Thus, these projects both question the image of Somalia in the international media (an image associated, to a great extent, with famine, Islamic terrorism, piracy and "failed states") and offer new ways of preserving and transmitting other, often buried, memories of this country and its past before the civil war in the context of a certain "destruction of history".Finally, the third and last part of this study briefly revolves around photographicpractices observed in Djibouti during fieldwork from 2010 to 2012, here again with aparticular attention to the ways in which images are produced and conserved.This thesis raises the challenge of writing an on-going history that embraces itslacunae and voids – a feature that the researcher and the "subjects" of the research share – based on evolving material and digital fragments, in an attempt to highlight how their circulations profoundly affect their meanings and they ways in which we understand and make sense of them.

Em seu poema autobiográfico O Prelúdio William Wordsworth relata o modo como os principais eventos de sua vida levaram ao seu desenvolvimento espiritual a fim de tornar-se um poeta. Na chamada poesia de Natureza isso pressupõe a influência da experiência direta e viva com os objetos e elementos do mundo natural. Meu intento nesta tese consiste em investigar a qual ponto a formação individual representada na narrativa é resultado da experiência vivida – estética, moral e intelectual – do sujeito em relação às formas belas e sublimes do mundo exterior em paralelo com a constituição imaginativa de sua consciência; ou da elaboração retórica e associativa de imagens, analogias, metáforas, símbolos, conceitos e concepções tomados de um conjunto de saberes literários, filosóficos, religiosos, psicológicos e científicos da tradição ocidental em voga na época de Wordsworth. Além disso, busquei examinar de que modo a experiência da Natureza se associa ao papel da educação formal e da observação impactante da estrutura social e política advinda das transformações da modernidade, vindo a formar a visão de mundo do poeta e a crença no papel fundamental da poesia como depositária laico-sagrada da sabedoria essencial da humanidade. Os argumentos que dão sustentação à minha interpretação do poema baseiam-se na análise de uma estrutura narrativa de história individual de nascimento em meio ao mundo natural, de criação de laços de pertencimento a este meio, de afastamento da Natureza e de retorno a ela. A região natal de Wordsworth no Disrito dos Lagos Ingleses, no Norte da Inglaterra, é vista como equivalente primeiro da Natureza. Portanto é represetada analogicamente como um parâmetro físico e sensível que fundamenta aquilo que o herói deverá entender como Natureza: primeiro enquanto mundo visível, e a partir deste corolário em suas dimensões sensoriais e sentimentais, intelectuais e emocionais, morais e espirituais. Destarte, esta pesquisa organiza-se em três partes. Na primeira parte, procurei reconstruir as experiências do herói ao longo dos principais eventos de seu percurso autobiográfico, com vistas a reconstituir o seu sentido para a construção (Bildung) da sensibilidade do sujeito, emocional, intelectual e espiritualmente, de acordo como estas experiências tenham sido vividas ou recordadas. Na segunda, tratei separadamente dos tipos de contato empírico do herói com as formas naturais em momentos de observação, contemplação e meditação, dando ênfase à percepção sensorial, especialmente em suas funções visual e auditiva; aos impulsos sentimentais e emocionais ligados à sensibilidade corporal; e finalmente à intuição transcendente e à visão metafísica que acompanha as relações espirituais sentidas na responsividade anímica e espiritual do sujeito – em comunhão tranquila ou êxtase elevado – com a essência mais profunda manifestada na vida das coisas que o rodeiam. Por fim, na terceira parte, voltei-me para a análise dos recursos empregados para a construção estética e reelaboração retórica dos conteúdos da experiência humana representados na narrativa a partir da associação de conteúdos imaginários, metafóricos, simbólicos, conceituais e alusivos que indicam a apropriação de um conjunto de saberes e conhecimentos tomados de empréstimo a uma tradição intelectual e letrada. Enquanto resultado, sustento a tese de que Wordsworth combina dois elementos fundamentais na construção poética de O Prelúdio. De um lado há a expressão emocional dos efeitos interiores causados pela impressão das formas naturais, com base no que se pode conceber enquanto representação realista, ou seja, fiel às formas empíricas da percepção humana e relativa à atenção do sujeito ao ambiente circundante e à cor local. De outro, constatei a reelaboração de imagens, motivos e topói, bem como noções conceituais e alusões que remetem à afirmação de uma visão de mundo cara ao espírito Romântico, assim como a crítica cortante, apesar de velada, a um conjunto de práticas institucionais, sociais e políticas que ameaçam a integridade de um mundo orgânico que o eu-lírico julga ideal para o aperfeiçoamento do espírito humano em condições de harmonia com o universo onde vive – a Natureza. / In his autobiographical poem The Prelude William Wordsworth relates how the main events of his life led to his spiritual development in order to become a poet. In the so-called Poetry of Nature this presupposes the influence of the direct and living experience of the objects and elements of the natural world. My intent in this dissertation consists of investigating to what extent the individual formation represented in the narrative results from the subject’s lived through experience – aesthetic, moral and intellectual – in relation to the beautiful and sublime forms of the outward world paralleled to the imaginative constitution of his consciousness; or from the rhetorical and associative elaboration of images, analogies, metaphors, symbols, concepts and conceptions taken from a body of literary, philosophical, religious, psychological and scientific knowledges of the western tradition in voge during Wordsworth’s age. Furthermore, I sought to examine how the experience of Nature associates to the role of formal education and striking observation of the social and political structure derived from the transformations of modernity, thus forming the poet’s worldview and belief in the fundamental role of poetry as the laic-sacred depositary of humankind’s essential wisdom. The arguments which sustain my interpretation of the poem are based on the analysis of a narrative structure of individual history of birth amid the natural world, of creation of pertainment bonds to this environment, of distancing from Nature and return to her. Wordsworth’s native region in the Lake District in the North of England is seen as the primary equivalent of Nature. Therefore it is represented analogically as a physical and sensual parameter that founds that which the hero must come to understand as Nature: firstly, as the visible world, and up from this corollary in her sensorial and sentimental, intellectual and emotional, moral and spiritual dimensions. Thus, this research is organized into three parts. In the first, I attempted at reconstructing the hero’s experiences along the main events of his autobiographical course, aiming at reconstituting their meaning for the building (Bildung) of the subject’s sensibility, emotional, intellectual and spiritually, according to the way these experiences have been lived or recollected. In the second part, I dealt separatedly with the hero’s types of empirical contact with the natural forms in moments of observation, contemplation and meditation, emphasyzing the sensorial perception, especially its visual and auditory functions; the sentimental and emotional drives linked to the sensibility of the body; and finally to the transcendent intuition and metaphysical vision wich accompany the spiritual relations felt in the subject’s animical and spiritual responsivity – in quiet communion or lofty transport – with the deepest essence manifested in the life of the things surrounding him. Finally, in the third part, I turned my efforts to analyzing the resources employed for the aesthetical construction and rhetorical re-elaboration of the contents of human experience depicted in the narrative out of the association of imaginary, metaphorical, symbolical, conceptual and allusive contents that indicate the appropriation of a set of wisdom and knowledge drawn from an intellectual and literate tradition. As a result, I sustain the thesis that Wordsworth combines two fundamental elements in the poetic textualization of The Prelude. On one hand, there is the emotional expression of the inner effects aroused by the impression of the natural forms based on what might be conceived as a realistic representation, i.e. faithful to the empirical forms of human perception and regarding the subject’s attention to the surrounding environment and the local colour. On the other hand, I testified the re-elaboration of images, motifs and topoi, as well as conceptual notions and allusions which remount to the assertion of a worldview dear to the Romantic spirit, so as a sharp (although veiled) criticism against a number of institutional, social and political practices that menace the integrity of an organical world that the lyrical speaker considers ideal for the perfectioning of the human spirit in conditions of harmony with the universe where man abides – I mean Nature.

Dans les modèles à objets distinguant la notion de classe (ensemble d'individus) de celle d'instance (individu particulier), la classe peut jouer deux rôles fondamentalement différents. Les modèles qui mettent en œuvre des mécanismes de classification d'instances, présentent la classe comme une unité d'identification caractérisant les propriétés que doivent posséder toutes ses instances. Ces propriétés sont alors utilisées pour établir l'appartenance d'une instance à une classe. D'autres modèles utilisent la classe comme unité de construction, ou de gestion, d'instances. Ils laissent alors toutes libertés dans la description de la classe pour introduire des informations procédurales qui sont utilisées pour modifier ou compléter une instance qui lui a été explicitement rattachée. Notre travail consiste à mettre en place un mécanisme capable de trouver les différentes solutions que peut proposer une hiérarchie de classes à un problème de construction d'instance. Schématiquement, un tel problème se caractérise par la donnée d'une instance pour laquelle subsistent des possibilités de raffinement dans la hiérarchie de classes et dont la valeur de certains attributs reste inconnue. La solution proposée prend place dans un modèle à objets, appelé TROPES, défini pour accueillir un raisonnement classificatoire. La mise en place du mécanisme de construction d'instance par exploration d'une hiérarchie est assurée par un système, dit d'assistance hypothétique, couplé au système TROPES. Ce système d'assistance est chargé de produire et de gérer les hypothèses permettant de prolonger l'exploration d'une hiérarchie de classes au delà des limites atteintes par la classification d'instances. Les différentes combinaisons d'hypothèses pouvant ainsi être formées sont validées par TROPES sur des versions différentes de l'instance. Lorsque le mécanisme est appliqué à un objet composite, le partage de valeurs d'attributs entre composants et composite permet la propagation du processus de construction du composite vers les composants

<p>The subject of this thesis is <i>formal axiology</i>, i.e., the discipline that deals with structural and conceptual questions about value. The main focus is on <i>intrinsic</i> or <i>final</i> value. The thesis consists of an introduction and six free-standing essays. The purpose of the introduction is to give a general background to the discussions in the essays. The introduction is divided into five sections. Section 1 outlines the subject matter and sketches the methodological framework. Section 2 discusses the supervenience of value, and how my use of that notion squares with the broader methodological framework. Section 3 defends the concept of intrinsic or final value. Section 4 discusses issues in value typology; particularly how intrinsic value relates to final value. Section 5 summarises the essays and provides some specific backgrounds to their respective themes.</p><p>The six essays are thematically divided into four categories: The first two deal with specific issues concerning analyses of value. Essay 1 is a comparative discussion of competing approaches in this area. Essay 2 discusses, and proposes a solution to, a significant problem for the so called ‘buck-passing’ analysis of value. Essay 3 discusses the ontological nature of the bearers of final value, and defends the view that they are particularised properties, or <i>tropes</i>. Essay 4 defends <i>conditionalism</i> about final value, i.e., the idea that final value may vary according to context. The last two essays focus on some implications of the formal axiological discussion for normative theory: Essay 5 discusses the charge that the buck-passing analysis prematurely resolves the debate between consequentialism and deontology; essay 6 suggests that conditionalism makes possible a reconciliation between consequentialism and moral particularism. </p>

The subject of this thesis is formal axiology, i.e., the discipline that deals with structural and conceptual questions about value. The main focus is on intrinsic or final value. The thesis consists of an introduction and six free-standing essays. The purpose of the introduction is to give a general background to the discussions in the essays. The introduction is divided into five sections. Section 1 outlines the subject matter and sketches the methodological framework. Section 2 discusses the supervenience of value, and how my use of that notion squares with the broader methodological framework. Section 3 defends the concept of intrinsic or final value. Section 4 discusses issues in value typology; particularly how intrinsic value relates to final value. Section 5 summarises the essays and provides some specific backgrounds to their respective themes. The six essays are thematically divided into four categories: The first two deal with specific issues concerning analyses of value. Essay 1 is a comparative discussion of competing approaches in this area. Essay 2 discusses, and proposes a solution to, a significant problem for the so called ‘buck-passing’ analysis of value. Essay 3 discusses the ontological nature of the bearers of final value, and defends the view that they are particularised properties, or tropes. Essay 4 defends conditionalism about final value, i.e., the idea that final value may vary according to context. The last two essays focus on some implications of the formal axiological discussion for normative theory: Essay 5 discusses the charge that the buck-passing analysis prematurely resolves the debate between consequentialism and deontology; essay 6 suggests that conditionalism makes possible a reconciliation between consequentialism and moral particularism.

Em seu poema autobiográfico O Prelúdio William Wordsworth relata o modo como os principais eventos de sua vida levaram ao seu desenvolvimento espiritual a fim de tornar-se um poeta. Na chamada poesia de Natureza isso pressupõe a influência da experiência direta e viva com os objetos e elementos do mundo natural. Meu intento nesta tese consiste em investigar a qual ponto a formação individual representada na narrativa é resultado da experiência vivida – estética, moral e intelectual – do sujeito em relação às formas belas e sublimes do mundo exterior em paralelo com a constituição imaginativa de sua consciência; ou da elaboração retórica e associativa de imagens, analogias, metáforas, símbolos, conceitos e concepções tomados de um conjunto de saberes literários, filosóficos, religiosos, psicológicos e científicos da tradição ocidental em voga na época de Wordsworth. Além disso, busquei examinar de que modo a experiência da Natureza se associa ao papel da educação formal e da observação impactante da estrutura social e política advinda das transformações da modernidade, vindo a formar a visão de mundo do poeta e a crença no papel fundamental da poesia como depositária laico-sagrada da sabedoria essencial da humanidade. Os argumentos que dão sustentação à minha interpretação do poema baseiam-se na análise de uma estrutura narrativa de história individual de nascimento em meio ao mundo natural, de criação de laços de pertencimento a este meio, de afastamento da Natureza e de retorno a ela. A região natal de Wordsworth no Disrito dos Lagos Ingleses, no Norte da Inglaterra, é vista como equivalente primeiro da Natureza. Portanto é represetada analogicamente como um parâmetro físico e sensível que fundamenta aquilo que o herói deverá entender como Natureza: primeiro enquanto mundo visível, e a partir deste corolário em suas dimensões sensoriais e sentimentais, intelectuais e emocionais, morais e espirituais. Destarte, esta pesquisa organiza-se em três partes. Na primeira parte, procurei reconstruir as experiências do herói ao longo dos principais eventos de seu percurso autobiográfico, com vistas a reconstituir o seu sentido para a construção (Bildung) da sensibilidade do sujeito, emocional, intelectual e espiritualmente, de acordo como estas experiências tenham sido vividas ou recordadas. Na segunda, tratei separadamente dos tipos de contato empírico do herói com as formas naturais em momentos de observação, contemplação e meditação, dando ênfase à percepção sensorial, especialmente em suas funções visual e auditiva; aos impulsos sentimentais e emocionais ligados à sensibilidade corporal; e finalmente à intuição transcendente e à visão metafísica que acompanha as relações espirituais sentidas na responsividade anímica e espiritual do sujeito – em comunhão tranquila ou êxtase elevado – com a essência mais profunda manifestada na vida das coisas que o rodeiam. Por fim, na terceira parte, voltei-me para a análise dos recursos empregados para a construção estética e reelaboração retórica dos conteúdos da experiência humana representados na narrativa a partir da associação de conteúdos imaginários, metafóricos, simbólicos, conceituais e alusivos que indicam a apropriação de um conjunto de saberes e conhecimentos tomados de empréstimo a uma tradição intelectual e letrada. Enquanto resultado, sustento a tese de que Wordsworth combina dois elementos fundamentais na construção poética de O Prelúdio. De um lado há a expressão emocional dos efeitos interiores causados pela impressão das formas naturais, com base no que se pode conceber enquanto representação realista, ou seja, fiel às formas empíricas da percepção humana e relativa à atenção do sujeito ao ambiente circundante e à cor local. De outro, constatei a reelaboração de imagens, motivos e topói, bem como noções conceituais e alusões que remetem à afirmação de uma visão de mundo cara ao espírito Romântico, assim como a crítica cortante, apesar de velada, a um conjunto de práticas institucionais, sociais e políticas que ameaçam a integridade de um mundo orgânico que o eu-lírico julga ideal para o aperfeiçoamento do espírito humano em condições de harmonia com o universo onde vive – a Natureza. / In his autobiographical poem The Prelude William Wordsworth relates how the main events of his life led to his spiritual development in order to become a poet. In the so-called Poetry of Nature this presupposes the influence of the direct and living experience of the objects and elements of the natural world. My intent in this dissertation consists of investigating to what extent the individual formation represented in the narrative results from the subject’s lived through experience – aesthetic, moral and intellectual – in relation to the beautiful and sublime forms of the outward world paralleled to the imaginative constitution of his consciousness; or from the rhetorical and associative elaboration of images, analogies, metaphors, symbols, concepts and conceptions taken from a body of literary, philosophical, religious, psychological and scientific knowledges of the western tradition in voge during Wordsworth’s age. Furthermore, I sought to examine how the experience of Nature associates to the role of formal education and striking observation of the social and political structure derived from the transformations of modernity, thus forming the poet’s worldview and belief in the fundamental role of poetry as the laic-sacred depositary of humankind’s essential wisdom. The arguments which sustain my interpretation of the poem are based on the analysis of a narrative structure of individual history of birth amid the natural world, of creation of pertainment bonds to this environment, of distancing from Nature and return to her. Wordsworth’s native region in the Lake District in the North of England is seen as the primary equivalent of Nature. Therefore it is represented analogically as a physical and sensual parameter that founds that which the hero must come to understand as Nature: firstly, as the visible world, and up from this corollary in her sensorial and sentimental, intellectual and emotional, moral and spiritual dimensions. Thus, this research is organized into three parts. In the first, I attempted at reconstructing the hero’s experiences along the main events of his autobiographical course, aiming at reconstituting their meaning for the building (Bildung) of the subject’s sensibility, emotional, intellectual and spiritually, according to the way these experiences have been lived or recollected. In the second part, I dealt separatedly with the hero’s types of empirical contact with the natural forms in moments of observation, contemplation and meditation, emphasyzing the sensorial perception, especially its visual and auditory functions; the sentimental and emotional drives linked to the sensibility of the body; and finally to the transcendent intuition and metaphysical vision wich accompany the spiritual relations felt in the subject’s animical and spiritual responsivity – in quiet communion or lofty transport – with the deepest essence manifested in the life of the things surrounding him. Finally, in the third part, I turned my efforts to analyzing the resources employed for the aesthetical construction and rhetorical re-elaboration of the contents of human experience depicted in the narrative out of the association of imaginary, metaphorical, symbolical, conceptual and allusive contents that indicate the appropriation of a set of wisdom and knowledge drawn from an intellectual and literate tradition. As a result, I sustain the thesis that Wordsworth combines two fundamental elements in the poetic textualization of The Prelude. On one hand, there is the emotional expression of the inner effects aroused by the impression of the natural forms based on what might be conceived as a realistic representation, i.e. faithful to the empirical forms of human perception and regarding the subject’s attention to the surrounding environment and the local colour. On the other hand, I testified the re-elaboration of images, motifs and topoi, as well as conceptual notions and allusions which remount to the assertion of a worldview dear to the Romantic spirit, so as a sharp (although veiled) criticism against a number of institutional, social and political practices that menace the integrity of an organical world that the lyrical speaker considers ideal for the perfectioning of the human spirit in conditions of harmony with the universe where man abides – I mean Nature.

Em seu poema autobiográfico O Prelúdio William Wordsworth relata o modo como os principais eventos de sua vida levaram ao seu desenvolvimento espiritual a fim de tornar-se um poeta. Na chamada poesia de Natureza isso pressupõe a influência da experiência direta e viva com os objetos e elementos do mundo natural. Meu intento nesta tese consiste em investigar a qual ponto a formação individual representada na narrativa é resultado da experiência vivida – estética, moral e intelectual – do sujeito em relação às formas belas e sublimes do mundo exterior em paralelo com a constituição imaginativa de sua consciência; ou da elaboração retórica e associativa de imagens, analogias, metáforas, símbolos, conceitos e concepções tomados de um conjunto de saberes literários, filosóficos, religiosos, psicológicos e científicos da tradição ocidental em voga na época de Wordsworth. Além disso, busquei examinar de que modo a experiência da Natureza se associa ao papel da educação formal e da observação impactante da estrutura social e política advinda das transformações da modernidade, vindo a formar a visão de mundo do poeta e a crença no papel fundamental da poesia como depositária laico-sagrada da sabedoria essencial da humanidade. Os argumentos que dão sustentação à minha interpretação do poema baseiam-se na análise de uma estrutura narrativa de história individual de nascimento em meio ao mundo natural, de criação de laços de pertencimento a este meio, de afastamento da Natureza e de retorno a ela. A região natal de Wordsworth no Disrito dos Lagos Ingleses, no Norte da Inglaterra, é vista como equivalente primeiro da Natureza. Portanto é represetada analogicamente como um parâmetro físico e sensível que fundamenta aquilo que o herói deverá entender como Natureza: primeiro enquanto mundo visível, e a partir deste corolário em suas dimensões sensoriais e sentimentais, intelectuais e emocionais, morais e espirituais. Destarte, esta pesquisa organiza-se em três partes. Na primeira parte, procurei reconstruir as experiências do herói ao longo dos principais eventos de seu percurso autobiográfico, com vistas a reconstituir o seu sentido para a construção (Bildung) da sensibilidade do sujeito, emocional, intelectual e espiritualmente, de acordo como estas experiências tenham sido vividas ou recordadas. Na segunda, tratei separadamente dos tipos de contato empírico do herói com as formas naturais em momentos de observação, contemplação e meditação, dando ênfase à percepção sensorial, especialmente em suas funções visual e auditiva; aos impulsos sentimentais e emocionais ligados à sensibilidade corporal; e finalmente à intuição transcendente e à visão metafísica que acompanha as relações espirituais sentidas na responsividade anímica e espiritual do sujeito – em comunhão tranquila ou êxtase elevado – com a essência mais profunda manifestada na vida das coisas que o rodeiam. Por fim, na terceira parte, voltei-me para a análise dos recursos empregados para a construção estética e reelaboração retórica dos conteúdos da experiência humana representados na narrativa a partir da associação de conteúdos imaginários, metafóricos, simbólicos, conceituais e alusivos que indicam a apropriação de um conjunto de saberes e conhecimentos tomados de empréstimo a uma tradição intelectual e letrada. Enquanto resultado, sustento a tese de que Wordsworth combina dois elementos fundamentais na construção poética de O Prelúdio. De um lado há a expressão emocional dos efeitos interiores causados pela impressão das formas naturais, com base no que se pode conceber enquanto representação realista, ou seja, fiel às formas empíricas da percepção humana e relativa à atenção do sujeito ao ambiente circundante e à cor local. De outro, constatei a reelaboração de imagens, motivos e topói, bem como noções conceituais e alusões que remetem à afirmação de uma visão de mundo cara ao espírito Romântico, assim como a crítica cortante, apesar de velada, a um conjunto de práticas institucionais, sociais e políticas que ameaçam a integridade de um mundo orgânico que o eu-lírico julga ideal para o aperfeiçoamento do espírito humano em condições de harmonia com o universo onde vive – a Natureza. / In his autobiographical poem The Prelude William Wordsworth relates how the main events of his life led to his spiritual development in order to become a poet. In the so-called Poetry of Nature this presupposes the influence of the direct and living experience of the objects and elements of the natural world. My intent in this dissertation consists of investigating to what extent the individual formation represented in the narrative results from the subject’s lived through experience – aesthetic, moral and intellectual – in relation to the beautiful and sublime forms of the outward world paralleled to the imaginative constitution of his consciousness; or from the rhetorical and associative elaboration of images, analogies, metaphors, symbols, concepts and conceptions taken from a body of literary, philosophical, religious, psychological and scientific knowledges of the western tradition in voge during Wordsworth’s age. Furthermore, I sought to examine how the experience of Nature associates to the role of formal education and striking observation of the social and political structure derived from the transformations of modernity, thus forming the poet’s worldview and belief in the fundamental role of poetry as the laic-sacred depositary of humankind’s essential wisdom. The arguments which sustain my interpretation of the poem are based on the analysis of a narrative structure of individual history of birth amid the natural world, of creation of pertainment bonds to this environment, of distancing from Nature and return to her. Wordsworth’s native region in the Lake District in the North of England is seen as the primary equivalent of Nature. Therefore it is represented analogically as a physical and sensual parameter that founds that which the hero must come to understand as Nature: firstly, as the visible world, and up from this corollary in her sensorial and sentimental, intellectual and emotional, moral and spiritual dimensions. Thus, this research is organized into three parts. In the first, I attempted at reconstructing the hero’s experiences along the main events of his autobiographical course, aiming at reconstituting their meaning for the building (Bildung) of the subject’s sensibility, emotional, intellectual and spiritually, according to the way these experiences have been lived or recollected. In the second part, I dealt separatedly with the hero’s types of empirical contact with the natural forms in moments of observation, contemplation and meditation, emphasyzing the sensorial perception, especially its visual and auditory functions; the sentimental and emotional drives linked to the sensibility of the body; and finally to the transcendent intuition and metaphysical vision wich accompany the spiritual relations felt in the subject’s animical and spiritual responsivity – in quiet communion or lofty transport – with the deepest essence manifested in the life of the things surrounding him. Finally, in the third part, I turned my efforts to analyzing the resources employed for the aesthetical construction and rhetorical re-elaboration of the contents of human experience depicted in the narrative out of the association of imaginary, metaphorical, symbolical, conceptual and allusive contents that indicate the appropriation of a set of wisdom and knowledge drawn from an intellectual and literate tradition. As a result, I sustain the thesis that Wordsworth combines two fundamental elements in the poetic textualization of The Prelude. On one hand, there is the emotional expression of the inner effects aroused by the impression of the natural forms based on what might be conceived as a realistic representation, i.e. faithful to the empirical forms of human perception and regarding the subject’s attention to the surrounding environment and the local colour. On the other hand, I testified the re-elaboration of images, motifs and topoi, as well as conceptual notions and allusions which remount to the assertion of a worldview dear to the Romantic spirit, so as a sharp (although veiled) criticism against a number of institutional, social and political practices that menace the integrity of an organical world that the lyrical speaker considers ideal for the perfectioning of the human spirit in conditions of harmony with the universe where man abides – I mean Nature.

This thesis offers a reading of GQ South Africa 2000, the first glossy men’s magazine to be launched in South Africa (in 2000). It traces the possible iconographical genealogy of glossy men’s magazines to canonical erotic artworks and examines the aesthetic conventions used by GQ to elevate its contents through an implied association with art. This thesis, furthermore, investigates the commonalities between GQ, a ‘mainstream’ publication, and ‘pornography’ (as defined by the United States Civil Rights Ordinance 1985). In this way, the fluid impermanence of ‘art’, ‘pornography’ and ‘popular culture’ as typologies is highlighted. The new taxonomy of ‘gentlemen’s pornography’ is introduced in order to counter the notion that material that has the gloss of ‘high culture’ and is deemed socially acceptable, cannot be pornographic. This thesis submits that a critical reading of glossy men’s magazines from an interdisciplinary perspective is imperative in order to reveal their ideological assumptions. The ideological position that informs this study is the radical feminist belief that pornography objectifies and subordinates women and is, therefore, harmful. The thesis is simultaneously grounded in the theoretical methodologies of visual culture and art history, and as such assumes the intonation of these disciplines. From a Postmodern point-of-view, popular visual culture not only wields power in terms of generalising (capitalist and sexist) western paradigms, but is also skilful at masking its significant influence in doing so. For this reason, this dissertation endeavours to raise a critical dialogue concerning the ideological ‘message’ of glossy men’s magazines. The sometimes antithetical nature of discourse critically centered on gender representation in visual culture may be attributed to the pervasiveness of familiar (and therefore seemingly harmless) female objectification in the popular media. This thesis examines the iconography of gendered stereotypes against the erotic/pornographic, high culture/low culture object/subject binaries, and, furthermore, situates these types in the wider dialectic of ‘obscene’ (off-scene) versus ‘acceptable’ culture. The glossy men’s magazines that form the interest of this study are a trade situated in the alliance of social elitism and representational control over the female body, and, thus, this thesis marks the point of intersection between consumer culture and the politics of display. / Dissertation (MA (Visual Arts))--University of Pretoria, 2003. / Visual Arts / unrestricted