Ce travail développe une analyse critique des « éthiques de l’authenticité », c'est-à-dire des éthiques nous invitant à nous affranchir du conformisme pour renouer le contact avec un mystérieux « moi véritable ». Cette analyse est motivée par le statut paradoxal que ces éthiques ont aujourd’hui : sur le plan intellectuel, elles sont l’objet d’un scepticisme ou d’un rejet ; mais sur le plan pratique, chacun de nous continue d’accorder de l’importance aux notions d’« épanouissement personnel », de « développement personnel » ou de « naturel » qui en sont issues. Une tentative de mise au clair semblait donc s’imposer.Plutôt que de repartir des analyses classiques de Heidegger ou de Sartre, j’ai choisi d’étudier la manière dont deux philosophes plus récents, Charles Taylor et Charles Larmore, tentent de réhabiliter la notion d’authenticité dans un contexte plus difficile : depuis les années 1970 cet idéal a simultanément été accusé d’être philosophiquement naïf et socialement néfaste.Je propose dans les deux premières parties de mon étude une présentation systématique de ces tentatives de réhabilitation : Taylor dénonce la superficialité de la plupart des critiques, en faisant ressortir la profondeur historique de cet idéal ; puis il étudie ses implications pratiques. Larmore développe une analyse plus conceptuelle, remettant d’abord en cause la cohérence même de cette notion, pour ensuite en proposer deux nouvelles définitions. Je confronte dans une troisième partie ces deux approches, pour finalement défendre une conception expressive de l’identité personnelle – conception se distinguant à la fois de la psychologie réflexive classique, et de ce que Larmore appelle la « réflexion pratique ». / This work develops a critical analysis of the “ethics of authenticity”, that is, the ethics that commits us to free ourselves from conformism in order to restore contact with a mysterious “true self”. This analysis is motivated by the paradoxical status these ethics have today: on an intellectual level they have become an object of scepticism, or have even been completely rejected; however on a practical level, everyone of us continues to be concerned with notions like “self-fulfilment”, “self-development”, or “naturalness” which arise from these ethics. This situation invites clarification.Instead of returning to the classical analyses of Heidegger or Sartre, this work will rather study the way in which two more recent philosophers, Charles Taylor and Charles Larmore, try to rehabilitate the ideal of authenticity in a more difficult context: since the 1970s this ideal was both accused of being philosophically naive and socially harmful.I first propound a systematic presentation of these attempts at retrieval: Taylor denounces the superficiality of most of the critics by showing the historical depth of the ideal of authenticity; he then studies its practical implications. Larmore develops a more conceptual analysis, by first questioning the very coherence of the ideal, and then by propounding two new definitions of it. This work finally confronts these two approaches with each other, and develops an expressive conception of personal identity – distinct from both classical reflexive psychology and from what Larmore calls “practical reflexion”.

As the Internet has become increasingly integrated into people’s everyday lives, it has become increasingly important to consider the opportunities it provides for social interaction, self-presentation and self expression. Online spaces have often been considered to be quintessentially postmodern in potentials, allowing for play and experimentation detached from local geographic contexts and disconnected from visual markers of difference such as gender and ethnicity. Debates about affordances and potentials of online interaction have been reframed by several emergent trends in Internet usage encapsulated in the term ‘Web 2.0 networked social media’- including social networking and media sharing sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. These sites represent a renewed focus on the production of an ‘authentic’, often visually represented self online, strongly grounded in both offline and online networks of experiences, locations, relationships and contacts. These occupy a differing, interesting set of positions with respect to theories of contemporary identity and sociality, emphasising authenticity and permanence and embedding the individual in local contexts rather than emphasising anonymity and fluidity. This PhD investigates the impact of these trends, broadly examining gender, self-presentation, identity and interaction in the context of contemporary online spaces. Examining self-presentational and interactional practices and the display of taste online, this thesis will argue that the concept of ‘authenticity’ is a crucial structuring factor across all aspects of contemporary online interaction. The thesis will explore and examine the implications of this discourse of authenticity which delineates the boundaries of acceptable online self-presentation and interaction, and yet lies in tension with the complexities of impression management across the complex merged audiences brought together on social networking sites. The uncertainties and ambiguities of the merged audience here provoke a reflexivity which leads to a reaffirmation of an essentially unreflexive, pre-social self as ‘authentic’. Taking into account the need to account for agency and reflexivity the thesis will work towards an understanding of online self-presentation, gender and identity which incorporates the multiple narrative, performative and aesthetic aspects of identity.

Muhammad Ali Khan Abstract August 31, 2012 Machine integration into human life: Mankind & Cyborgization Embracing technology and its utilization has always been a certain goal for human beings so it would provide benefits in long run through different ways. However access to such knowledge not only helps mankind to prosper but also reveals its dark side in form of a dilemma. My paper explores the same subject of scientific knowledge as a dilemma to human life while providing its advantages at the same time. In order to explain my claim in detail, my paper is actually based on a comparison between the novel Cyborg by Martin Caidin and the film Gamer by Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor. This comparison is divided in two parts where the first part enlightens extension of human body with help of science and its physical & psychological effects, in reference to the novel. The second part focuses more on the rising issues due to adaptation of technology into human life by following the movie. The explanation in both parts contains events from the novel and film and connects them with each claim. Extending the claim, my digital artifact is a visual demonstration and performance at the same time. Providing a fictional example, the artifact demonstrates an advance from of virtual identity of mine and my dependence on it which explores the rising issue of lost human identity in cyberspace. Key terms: Ideology, identity, Cyborgization, Authenticity, Science fiction. / In order to explain my claim in detail, my paper is actually based on a comparison between the novel Cyborg by Martin Caidin and the film Gamer by Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor. This comparison is divided in two parts where the first part enlightens extension of human body with help of science and its physical & psychological effects, in reference to the novel. The second part focuses more on the rising issues due to adaptation of technology into human life by following the movie. / These are 2 phone numbers where for sure i am available: 1) +46765525431 2) +4915775974431 NOTE: Please contact me on one of the following numbers first and then i will tell on what address i need my detailed documents to be posted.

D’une problématique dont l’inscription s’oriente sur le processus lié à l’appréhension d’une puissance formative, cette recherche, menée sur les formateurs du Français Langue Étrangère, d’intégration et d’insertion, est à l’épreuve de sa contribution à une formation à la disponibilité, en écho aux enjeux de l’accueil de l’altérité que le projet démocratique ceint. Nous supputons que la donation de sens, à décrypter à travers l’expérience de la narration de soi, comme expérience dialogique de la pratique professionnelle, concourt à l’élucidation de cette puissance d’agir, dont le motif est l’autonomie formante. Le montage théorique invite à circonscrire le contexte de ces formateurs. La vocation y est heurtée par un mal de reconnaissance que les injonctions d’autonomie des cordées managériales accentuent. De cela, une ouverture à une théorisation de l’agent, approchée par l’agentivité, permet, à travers la trilogie qu’est l’épreuve, le déséquilibre et la transgression, de se rapprocher de cette autonomie formante recelée dans la puissance d’agir, notamment, ici pour nous, dans les taches d’accompagnement. Puis de la piste d’une formation en mode « Auto » et « Transe », comme voie transitique et sacrale en faveur d’une disponibilité que l’autorité mystérieuse insuffle, l’autonomie formante s’adjoint à une puissance de l’intérieur (in-puissance).Le cadre épistémologique de la recherche, empruntant le chemin de la complexité et du paradoxe, s’affilie à celui de la phénoménologique. Comme il s’agit d’éclairer des portées de l’expérience, l’approche méthodologique axe sa démarche sur la personne. Ainsi le corpus du terrain est constitué de quatre entretiens non-directifs. Ils sont formateurs dans une structure agréée pour la formation/accompagnement d’émigrés/immigrés dans l’apprentissage de la langue. Deux d’entre eux sont bénévoles, et les deux autres des professionnels. A travers les volets de surface, médian et de profondeur des analyses, les résultats de recherche mettent en exergue les articulations individu/collectif et celles de la singularité/Pluralité dans l’approche du processus de la puissance d’agir issue de la donation de sens et de l’expérience de la narration de l’expérience. Enfin, par le concept d’institution et les imbrications tirées des inter-trans-co-relationnelles, la tentative de totémisation proposée esquisse l’archétype de la singularité et parle de l’Art de se former. Dans la continuité, la modélisation de « L’Ailleurs » avancée suit le mouvement de l’agentivité au nom d’une double disponibilité, la disponibilité à soi et celle à l’autre. / Of a set of issues directed towards the process linked to the grasp of an instructing power, this research, conducted on the instructors of French as a Foreign Language for integration, is put to a test by its contribution to a training to disponibilty, matching this way the stakes of greeting otherness such as it is defined by the democratic policy.We reckon that giving a meaning, which is to be found out through the experience of the narration of oneself, as a dialogue experience of the professional practice, contributes to clarifying this power of acting, the motive of which is instructing autonomy.The theoritical montage invites us to define the limits of the context of these instructors. Vocation faces a difficulty of ackowledgment increased by the injonctions of autonomy of the managerial roped teams. Of that, getting open to a theorisation of the agent together with agency, enables, through the trilogy made up of trial, unbalance and infringement, to get close to this instructing autonomy lying in the power of acting, especially, here for us, in the accompanying tasks. Then to the path of a training on « Auto » and « Trance » mode, as a transitory and sacred way in favour of a disponibility inspired by the mysterious authority, the instructing autonomy is added to a power which comes from the inside ( in – power ).The epistemological setting of the research, borrowing the path of complexity and paradox, becomes affiliated to the phenomenological setting. As it is our purpose to enlighten the scopes of the experience, the methodological approach is based on the person. Thus the corpus of practical experience on the ground is made up of four non – directive interviews. They are instructors in a stucture registered for instructing and accompanying emigrated / immigrated people in learning the language. Two of them are professionals and the other two are volunteers.Through the superficial, median and profound angles of the analysis, the results of research highlight the individual / collective links and also the uniqueness / plurality ones in the approach of the process of the power of acting coming from the giving of meaning and from the experience of the narration of the experience.Finally, by the notion of institution and the interlinks drawn from inter – trans – co – relations, the attempt to practise totemism which is put forward outlines the archetype of uniqueness and speaks of the Art to get trained. In the continuity, the modelling of the « Elsewhere » put forward follows the movement of agency on behalf of a double disponibility, the disponibility to oneself and the disponibility to the other.

This research sought to analyze, based on the principles of Contemporary Diplomatic, elements and characters that allow to guarantee the authenticity and the organicity in the photographic collections of documentary heritage. For a long time the photographs were treated as documents belonging to special files, as needed to be stored in different places than where the text documents were kept considering its specific support, and received differentiated technical treatment from the other documents. Due to this physical separation, the photographs did not receive a proper archival treatment, becoming mere document accumulated masses, affecting their organic relations and authenticity. Currently, with the facilities provided by the use of digital technologies, the situation of photographic collections can be even more compromised. The photos are produced and disseminated quickly in digital media, and can easily lose its identity, its origin, its organicity and all the information that should remain linked to it, hurting its authenticity this way. The research was conducted under two Federal Institute of Superior Education (UFAM and UFSM), where interviews were conducted with the producers of photos and sent questionnaires to the central archives of the institutions, using e-sic, to understand how to give the archival processing of photographs. This research is characterized as exploratory, from the objective point of view and has qualitative and applied nature approach. The organicity and authenticity nature of the photographs belonging to the archival document heritage are closely linked to the treatment to be given to them throughout their life cycle. Therefore, the analysis and discussion of the results was based on three axes considered fundamental to ensure the authenticity and organicity of the photographic collections of cultural heritage: the maintenance of chain of custody of digital photographs with the use of reliable systems to provide management and the archival management of digital photos; the understanding of the specificity and complexity of digital archival documents, aiming to propose performing procedures to properly handle photographs as digital archival documents; the inclusion of photographs in the document management programs of institutions according to Resolution 41, recently published by CONARQ. It was stated that the control of the production of photographs, the correct storage, preservation of the characteristics of archival documents, the adequacy of the classification plans to contemplate the photos, assigning codes to photos while in production, carrying out elimination procedures based on the evaluation of documents and the execution of all these procedures using archival management information systems that follow the requirements of e-ARQ Brazil avoid the appearance of accumulated document mass and the break-up of sets of documents, ensuring that photographs keep their organic relations, and remain whole and authentic. The achievement of the objective of this research, made possible the formulation of recommendations to ensure the authenticity and the organic in the collections of documentary heritage, focused to photograph production sectors of the institutions and central archives that define policies for these sectors. Please note that this research, a pioneer in its context, must be expanded in order to include all issues related to the chain of custody and management of digital archival documents associated to photography. / Esta pesquisa procurou analisar, com base nos princípios da Diplomática Contemporânea, elementos e caracteres que viabilizem garantir a autenticidade e a organicidade nos acervos fotográficos do patrimônio documental. Por muito tempo as fotografias foram tratadas como documentos pertencentes aos arquivos especiais, já que necessitavam ser armazenadas em ambientes diferenciados dos locais onde eram guardados os documentos textuais, considerando suas especificidades de suporte, e recebiam tratamento técnico diferenciado dos demais documentos. Em decorrência dessa separação física, as fotografias não recebiam tratamento arquivístico adequado, tornando-se meras massas documentais acumuladas, afetando suas relações orgânicas e autenticidade. Atualmente, com as facilidades proporcionadas pelo uso das tecnologias digitais, a situação dos acervos fotográficos pode ficar ainda mais comprometida. As fotografias são produzidas e difundidas rapidamente em meio digital, podendo perder facilmente sua identidade, sua proveniência, sua organicidade e todas as informações que deveriam se manter vinculadas a ela, ferindo sua autenticidade. A pesquisa foi realizada no âmbito de duas Universidades Federais de Ensino Superior IFES (UFAM e UFSM), onde foram feitas entrevistas com os produtores das fotografias e enviados questionários aos arquivos centrais das instituições, via e-sic, visando compreender como se dá o tratamento arquivístico das fotografias. Esta pesquisa caracteriza-se como exploratória, do ponto de vista dos objetivos, possui abordagem qualitativa e natureza aplicada. A organicidade e a autenticidade das fotografias pertencentes ao patrimônio documental arquivístico estão intimamente ligadas ao tratamento que será dado a elas durante toda seu ciclo vital. Diante disso, a análise e discussão dos resultados foi pautada em três eixos considerados basilares para garantir a autenticidade e a organicidade dos acervos fotográficos do patrimônio cultural: a manutenção da cadeia de custódia das fotografias digitais com a utilização de sistemas confiáveis para proceder o gerenciamento e a gestão arquivística das fotografias digitais; a compreensão acerca das especificidade e complexidades dos documentos arquivísticos digitais, visando propor a realização de procedimentos para tratar adequadamente as fotografias como documentos arquivísticos digitais; a inserção das fotografias nos programas de gestão documental das instituições, de acordo com o que preconiza a Resolução 41, publicada recentemente pelo CONARQ. Concluiu-se que o controle da produção das fotografias, o correto armazenamento, a preservação das características dos documentos arquivísticos, a adequação dos planos de classificação visando contemplar as fotografias, a atribuição de códigos à fotografias já na sua produção, a realização de procedimentos de eliminação baseados na avaliação de documentos e a execução de todos esses procedimentos via Sistemas Informatizados de Gestão Arquivística que sigam os requisitos do e-ARQ Brasil evitam o surgimento de massas documentais acumuladas e o desmembramento dos conjuntos documentais, garantindo que as fotografias mantenham suas relações orgânicas, além de se manterem integras e autênticas. O atingimento do objetivo geral desta pesquisa, viabilizou a elaboração das recomendações para garantir a autenticidade e a organicidade nos acervos do patrimônio documental, voltada aos setores produtores de fotografias das instituições e arquivos centrais que emanam políticas para esses setores. Salienta-se que esta pesquisa, pioneira em seu contexto, deverá ser ampliada no sentido de contemplar todos os assuntos referentes à cadeia de custódia e gestão de documentos arquivísticos digitais no que tange a fotografia.

François Cheng est devenu une figure symbolique incontournable aussi bien pour la France que pour la Chine. C’est un écrivain dont la culture et la conscience sont doubles, car sa vie est étroitement liée à la Chine et à l’Occident. Sa grande intériorité énigmatique s’explique par son âme chinoise et son amour de l’Occident. Toute sa vie, il a poursuivi la réconciliation et le dialogue entre les deux cultures. Son écriture est aussi fortement marquée par une expérience personnelle de l’exil liée à un profond sentiment d’authenticité. D’un côté il nous fait redécouvrir une Chine traditionnelle et artistique, de l’autre il nous dépeint un vieux pays hanté par les destinées tragiques d’innocents, nous offrant ainsi l’image d’une Chine très riche et diversifiée. La constante comparaison entre les deux cultures nous révèle ses racines chinoises et son esprit français, marqué par un humanisme épris de liberté. C’est dans cette symbiose que se révèle la pensée de François Cheng, nourrie de multiples spiritualités et habitée par les concepts dualistes de la beauté et du mal. Cette recherche nous permet de mieux connaître cet écrivain : un quêteur de beauté, un homme en marche, un écrivain indéfinissable – le plus chinois des écrivains français ou bien le plus français des écrivains chinois –. / François Cheng is a major and symbolic figure in France and in China as well. He is a dual-culture writer who draws upon two streams of consciousness. His destiny is closely associated with China and the West. His enigmatic introspection can be explained by his Chinese soul and his love for the West. Throughout his life, he constantly pursued reconciliation in the dialogue between Eastern and Western cultures. His writing is strongly coloured by his unique experience of exile and a deep sense of authenticity. On the one hand, he enables us to rediscover a traditional and artistic China, while on the other hand, he describes an old country where innocent people suffered tragically. Thus the image of China that François Cheng draws, proves to be very rich and diverse. The continuous and coherent comparison between both cultures – French and Chinese ‒ reveals the French side of his reflection, his humanist trend and sense of freedom. It is within this symbiosis that we discover François Cheng’s thinking, nurtured by multi-spirituality and inhabited by the dualistic concepts of beauty and evil. This research intends to improve the knowledge we have of Francois Cheng : in search of beauty and dedicated to a constant reflection, he appears a double and indefinable writer : the most Chinese of French writers, and the most French of Chinese writers.

Foodways, which in short refers to eating and drinking practices, are constitutive of personal and group identity. In this thesis, I explore the symbolic values of food and drink in group identification processes evolving across North America. Through the cases of poutine, mezcal, and hard cider, I investigate cultural identity formation, negotiation, and transformation; from everyday practices to global interactions. What I develop in this thesis is a rationale that can be actively used by members of a group, as well as by community development practitioners, governments, and industry stakeholders to bolster community capitals and agency through making, supporting or rejecting food and drink ownership claims. In the first article, titled Poutine Dynamics, I explore both the culinary and social status of poutine. First, I identify poutine as a new(er) and distinct way to consume food that is increasingly adopted and adapted, and I propose a working definition of poutine as a new dish classification label in its own. Then, by coupling poutine’s sociohistorical stigma and its growing Canadization (that is, the presentation, not the consumption per say, of poutine as a Canadian dish), I expose two related situations: the ongoing culinary appropriation of poutine and the threat of Quebecois cultural absorption by Canadians. In Poutine Dynamics, I problematize the notion of a “national cuisine” in the context of multinational and settler states. Although the focus is about cuisine, Poutine Dynamics provides elements of analysis regarding how the Canadian nationalist project is constructed and articulated today, in current celebrations of the 150th anniversary of Confederation in Canada. The second article of this thesis, titled Strategic Authenticity: The Case of Mezcal, draws upon the recent major update to the mezcal denomination of origin certification (DO) that was long-awaited and requested by “traditional mezcaleros.” This tour de force in the modification of the mezcal DO leads me to identify the notion of authenticity in food as a powerful rhetorical strategy in social negotiation between groups. Through the case of mezcal, I assert that the tasting experience is the most legitimate group identification path and authentication boundary (as opposed to political, ethnical or religious boundaries) in terms of foodways. The third article, titled The Identity Crisis of Hard Cider, looks at the ongoing cultural affirmation of hard cider from its European counterparts. So far, the research on hard cider in Vermont has looked at the low-level of cider-specific apple production in that state as a supply issue. Instead, I approach this problematic from a demand angle, specifically from the low demand for hard ciders made with cider-specific apples. In this study, I survey the Vermont hard cider industry stakeholders as to possible mechanisms in order to differentiate between hard cider styles, as well as strategies to boost the demand for hard ciders made with cider-specific apples. The implementation of a geographical indication (GI) label was of high interests among participating cider makers. In this study, I also suggest that the hard cider foodways found in Vermont are part of a broader emerging hard cider identity that is taste-based and which crosses political borders within the American Northeast.

The focus of this study is the underground music scene in Belgrade, Serbia. This work requires the exploration of varied cultural and market factors that have shaped the scene, resulting in its present form. The explored phenomenon is complex and achieving the necessary depth of analysis will involve the use of a wide set of theoretical sources and research methods. The fieldwork includes in-depth interviews, reflective accounts of longitudinal participant observation, data collected through email correspondence, and a large amount of documentary data. Data analysis will be articulated into a single methodology (examined in depth in Chapter 3).

L’industrie du tourisme a beaucoup évolué et continue de se transformer sous l’effet du numérique, mais aussi sous l’effet des changements sociaux et économiques. L’information destinée aux voyageurs, auparavant produite par les seuls professionnels du métier – les journalistes de voyage – s’est diversifiée. De nouveaux acteurs, comme les blogueurs et les commentateurs des sites de recommandation, sont devenus des sources d’information importantes pour les voyageurs. Nos travaux de recherche se proposent d’explorer les pratiques des auteurs en ligne ainsi que la réception et l’interprétation de leurs écrits par les voyageurs. Des entretiens qualitatifs menés auprès de journalistes, blogueurs et commentateurs producteurs d’informations autour de Paris, éclairent leurs méthodes et pratiques et leur niveau d’adoption ou de rejet des codes traditionnels du journalisme. Dans un second temps, une autre série d’entretiens avec des voyageurs nous ont permis de mettre en évidence les jugements émis par ces « consommateurs » sur les contenus trouvés en ligne. En considérant les motivations de ces internautes, surtout l’aspiration à vivre des expériences « authentiques », les chercheurs peuvent mieux comprendre ce que les voyageurs apprécient. Les résultats suggèrent que les productions des journalistes de voyage, blogueurs et contributeurs participent chacune à leur manière à alimenter l’internaute en information lorsqu’il organise son voyage. Quant aux « consommateurs » de ces articles ou commentaires sur une destination, ils apprécient trouver une variété d’informations. Ces travaux permettent de formuler une conclusion générale au sujet du journaliste de voyage professionnel, dont les écrits ne sont qu’un fragment parmi toute la production d’informations touristiques, à laquelle contribuent également des non-professionnels. Le journalisme de voyage s’avère être un processus riche, au sein duquel différents types d’acteurs évoluent, pour répondre aux besoins des voyageurs-internautes. / The travel industry has evolved over the past decades, including social and technological changes that allow more people than ever to cross the globe. Travel journalists working for established media are no longer the sole gatekeepers of information relating to a destination. New authors, including bloggers and commentators on recommendation sites, have become major sources of information for travelers. This project seeks to explore both the practices of these online authors as well as the reception and interpretations of their work by travelers. Qualitative interviews with a sample of journalists, bloggers, and forum contributors in Paris help shed light on how these individuals adhere to notions considered “journalistic” as defined by traditional manuals. The goal is to explore and elaborate a definition of the travel journalist as opposed to non-professional authors. Secondly, through interviews with travelers who plan their trips online, the research aims to understand how consumers prioritize and value the content they find on the internet, especially looking at motivations linked to the idea of discovering authentic experiences abroad. Findings suggest that travel journalists, bloggers, and forum contributors all participate uniquely to the travel planning process, providing different elements. On the reception end, travelers consume many sources during their travel planning, and actively seek various websites and publications for different reasons. The overall conclusion is that travel journalists are just one important yet specific part of the larger process of travel journalism that acts interdependently with non-professional sources to respond to the online traveler’s needs.

Magister Artium - MA / This study focuses on young people and how they etch a sense of belonging in the cosmopolitan city of Cape Town, in multicultural, post-apartheid South Africa. The study mainly focuses on a group of performers known as Black Ink Arts Movement (Black Ink), who are based in Du Noon township, near Cape Town, South Africa. The study looks at how young people who are involved in community performance projects; it also engages with their varied audiences. Lastly, the thesis shows the performers’ day to day lives when they are not on stage to see what it means to be young and black in Du Noon as a member of Black Ink