Thesis (Ph.D.)--Bowling Green State University, 2006. / Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 186 p. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis deals with the development of the political environment and society in the Union of South Africa between 1939 and 1948. This period is characterized not only by close cooperation with Great Britain during World War II, the temporary suppression of nationalist opposition and the dominance of the United Party led by Jan Smuts in the South African political scene, but also social tensions and escalating conflict between the mainly Afrikaner "white" populations in the Union and non- European ethnic groups. Regardless of the fact that the Union was in World War II on the side of the victors and the sacrifice that had to bring in comparison with many other belligerent countries was relatively small, Smuts and his United Party suffered a fatal defeat in the first post-war elections in 1948. These elections not only meant the actual end of Smuts' political career and departure of United Party to permanent opposition, but also the beginning of the rule of Afrikaner nationalists for more than forty years. This paper aims to analyse the changes in society and the political climate in the Union during World War II and in the first three years after the war and the reasons that led to long-term dominance of nationalists in South Africa. Key Words Union of South Africa, Second World War, Union...

This thesis is a work that focuses on how significant the press was to the success and failure of President Lyndon Baines Johnson. In the thesis, three aspects of the Johnson years are analyzed. The first chapter discusses the media's portrayal of Lyndon Johnson during the presidential campaign of 1964. The second chapter is an analysis of how the press reported on President Johnson concerning the issue of civil rights. The third chapter dissects the media's perception of Lyndon Johnson during the Vietnam conflict. The primary research used in the thesis is a culmination of polls, editorials, personal letters, and memos from the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library. Through use of these sources and a number of secondary materials, one is able to witness the period in which the popularity of the Johnson Administration began to experience a downturn.

This dissertation examines theatre and film in Ireland between 1988 and 2005, focusing on the plays of Sebastian Barry and Marina Carr, as well as a select group of films from this period. Employing a method of analysis that couples close-readings with attention to socio-cultural context, aesthetic form, and issues of representation, the dissertation demonstrates how theatre and film work to complicate conventional Irish historical narratives and thereby encourages a reassessment of contemporary constructs of Irish identity. The introduction provides a contextual framework for significant contemporaneous social, cultural and economic changes in Ireland, and includes a case study of ‘The Spire,’ a monument unveiled on Dublin’s central boulevard in 2003, which I argue is the architectural metonym for the transitional nature of Celtic Tiger Ireland. The case study explores the aesthetics of the monument, as well as the politicised public debate that ensued, and thereby provides a snapshot of issues relevant to the readings pursued in dissertation’s remaining chapters. The discussion of Sebastian Barry’s ‘family plays’ reveals the playwright’s effort to refuse traditional binary conceptions of identity and to proffer, instead, a dramatic landscape that similarly refuses to allow conflict to dominate. Barry’s use of a non-conflictual dramatic form supports his narrative interest in compassion and peaceful resolution, and provides a model for living with otherness that could prove useful in an increasingly diverse and globalised Ireland. Marina Carr’s plays share Barry’s desire to represent aspects of Irish character anew, but they also dramatise how cultural transitions are difficult and never linear, and how the conventional pull of memory and the past has a residual presence in the ‘new’ Ireland. Taken together, these chapters reveal Barry’s hopefulness as an antidote to Carr’s tragic endings. The final chapter provides close readings of several ‘Celtic Tiger’ films, arguing that the representation of landscape is the key lens through which Irish film communicates shifting images of Irish identity. A cycle of films from the first years of the new millennium ekes out a space for new modes of representation through a critical dialogue with major tropes in Irish film history.

This dissertation examines theatre and film in Ireland between 1988 and 2005, focusing on the plays of Sebastian Barry and Marina Carr, as well as a select group of films from this period. Employing a method of analysis that couples close-readings with attention to socio-cultural context, aesthetic form, and issues of representation, the dissertation demonstrates how theatre and film work to complicate conventional Irish historical narratives and thereby encourages a reassessment of contemporary constructs of Irish identity. The introduction provides a contextual framework for significant contemporaneous social, cultural and economic changes in Ireland, and includes a case study of ‘The Spire,’ a monument unveiled on Dublin’s central boulevard in 2003, which I argue is the architectural metonym for the transitional nature of Celtic Tiger Ireland. The case study explores the aesthetics of the monument, as well as the politicised public debate that ensued, and thereby provides a snapshot of issues relevant to the readings pursued in dissertation’s remaining chapters. The discussion of Sebastian Barry’s ‘family plays’ reveals the playwright’s effort to refuse traditional binary conceptions of identity and to proffer, instead, a dramatic landscape that similarly refuses to allow conflict to dominate. Barry’s use of a non-conflictual dramatic form supports his narrative interest in compassion and peaceful resolution, and provides a model for living with otherness that could prove useful in an increasingly diverse and globalised Ireland. Marina Carr’s plays share Barry’s desire to represent aspects of Irish character anew, but they also dramatise how cultural transitions are difficult and never linear, and how the conventional pull of memory and the past has a residual presence in the ‘new’ Ireland. Taken together, these chapters reveal Barry’s hopefulness as an antidote to Carr’s tragic endings. The final chapter provides close readings of several ‘Celtic Tiger’ films, arguing that the representation of landscape is the key lens through which Irish film communicates shifting images of Irish identity. A cycle of films from the first years of the new millennium ekes out a space for new modes of representation through a critical dialogue with major tropes in Irish film history.

L’examen des conceptions exposées par certains représentants politiques et institutionnels conservateurs influents dans le Colorado suite aux élections de mi-mandat en 2006 révèle l’existence d’une rhétorique fondée sur la juxtaposition de deux thèmes fondateurs : les vertus de l’économie de marché et les enseignements de la tradition, auxquels s’ajoute l’adhésion à une politique de défense vigoureuse. En réalité, cette triple thématique constitue l’essence même du discours façonné par William F. Buckley Jr. et Frank S. Meyer dans le magazine National Review à partir de 1955. Buckley et Meyer procédèrent, en effet, au renouvellement de la philosophie conservatrice par la fusion du libéralisme classique et du traditionalisme tels que ces deux courants de pensée apparurent isolément aux Etats-Unis à la fin de la Deuxième Guerre mondiale en réaction au communisme et au New Deal.L’existence d’un discours fusionniste dans le Colorado soulève des interrogations sur la validité de deux théories connexes qui animent méthodologiquement l’interprétation de l’évolution du conservatisme américain. La première théorie voit dans le message conservateur fusionniste des incohérences philosophiques et programmatiques qui annoncent l’atomisation des composantes théoriques de ce message et, consécutivement, aussi bien la disparition du conservatisme sous sa forme actuelle que la recomposition, à terme, des appartenances partisanes aux Etats-Unis. La deuxième théorie soutient que ces incompatibilités et ces risques de fracture se manifestent géographiquement à travers une opposition politico-culturelle entre le conservatisme de l’Ouest non-côtier, auquel l’analyse prête des caractéristiques individualistes, et celui du Sud, décrit comme fidèle à des valeurs traditionnelles et religieuses perçues comme une entrave aux aspirations individualistes.L’objectif de cette étude est de vérifier l’hypothèse de cette dichotomie philosophique et régionale et porte sur l’Arizona et le Colorado, les deux Etats les plus représentatifs de l’Ouest non-côtier. / Comments made by some of Colorado’s most influential conservative leaders in the wake of the 2006 mid-term elections reveal the extent to which the type of conservatism that they advocate rests on three basic principles: free enterprise, tradition, and strong national defense. It turns out that this brand of conservatism coincides with the political philosophy which William F. Buckley Jr. and Frank S. Meyer sought to formulate in National Review starting in 1955 when the magazine was first published. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Buckley and Meyer actually set out to modernize intellectual conservatism by fusing together into a coherent doctrine the principles of classical liberalism and traditionalism that separately emerged in the United States at the end of World War Two in reaction to international communism and the New Deal. The manifestation of “fusionist” conservatism in Colorado in 2006 raises serious questions about the validity of two interrelated theories which methodologically steer studies of modern conservatism in the United States. The first theory holds that American conservatism in its current expression is philosophically incoherent and will ultimately disintegrate paving the way for a major partisan realignment. The second theory contends that such internal tensions are reflected in sectional cultural and political discrepancies between the Interior West, typically described as libertarian, and the South, generally seen as solidly clinging to traditional and religious values which are purportedly at odds with more individualistic aspirations. The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis of philosophical and sectional strains within American conservatism and focuses on Arizona and Colorado, two of the fastest-growing states in the Interior West since the end of World War Two.

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La pétroarchéologie du silex s’attache à définir les origines des silex retrouvés dans les sites archéologiques. Auvu des avancées méthodologiques récentes (définition toujours plus précise des faciès, vision dynamique duparcours du silex dans son environnement - chaîne évolutive -, mise en place d’une cartographie précise desdomaines minéraux siliceux) il est aujourd’hui possible de préciser non seulement le lieu de formation du silex(gîte primaire) mais également son lieu de collecte (gîte primaire ou secondaire).L’étude exhaustive des silex de collections archéologiques du sud du Massif central à plusieurs moments-clés duPaléolithique supérieur (Gravettien récent et final : Le Blot et Le Rond-de-Saint-Arcons ; Badegoulien : Le Ronddu-Barry et La Roche-à-Tavernat ; et Magdalénien supérieur : Sainte-Anne II) a permis la mise en évidence d’unediversité insoupçonnée de matériaux représentatifs d’un vaste litho-espace (espace géographique comprenantl’ensemble des matériaux considérés). Nous proposons donc un modèle de représentation de l’origine et del’acquisition des matières premières retrouvées sur un site archéologique, non plus sous une forme sito-centrée(en étoile), mais sous la forme d’un réseau de lieux, plus en accord avec les données issues des observationsethnographiques et géographiques. La représentation des différents types de matériaux au sein des industrieslithiques, ainsi que leurs modes d’introduction sur le site, permettent de distinguer les choix opérés par leshommes et les contraintes naturelles subies, autorisant dès lors l’inscription sémantique du litho-espace dans unessai de reconstruction du paléo-espace social. / The petroarchaeology of flint tries to define the origin of flints found in archaeological sites. In view of the recentmethodological advances (definition of the facies always more precise, dynamic vision of the route of the flint inher environment - “evolutionary chain” concept -, precise mapping of the siliceous mineral domains) it isnowadays possible to distinguish not only the formation place of the flint (primary outcrop) but also its retrievalplace (primary or secondary outrcrop).The exhaustive study of archaeological flint collections from the South of the Massif Central of France at varioustimes of the Upper Palaeolithic (recent and final Gravettian: Le Blot and Le Rond-de-Saint-Arcons; Badegoulian:Le Rond-du-Barry and La Roche-à-Tavernat; and Upper Magdalenian: Sainte-Anne II) have permitted thehighlighting of an unexpected diversity of material representative of a huge litho-espace (geographical spaceincluding all the regarded materials). In this respect, we developed a new figuration model of the origin of the rawmaterial discovered in the archaeological site, either in a sito-centred form (like a star), but like a network ofplaces, more in agreement with the ethnographic and geographic data. The presence of different types of flint inthe lithic industries correlated to their introducing pattern on site, allow to distinguish the choices made by theancient men versus the natural constraints they undergone, authorizing consequently the semantic inscription ofthe litho-espace in an attempt of reconstruction of the palaeo-social-space.

Le contexte artistique californien de la fin des années 60 et du début des années 70 constitue un terrain favorable aux investigations d'une nouvelle génération d'artistes, même s'il ne bénéficie pas de réels soutiens logistiques marchands ou institutionnels. L'art conceptuel promu à la même époque par Seth Siegelaub à New York prépare une alternative à l'art minimal. Ce phénomène a déjà son équivalent en Europe. La dématérialisation de l'oeuvre d'art aura des conséquences décisives en Californie, où elle donnera naissance à un art conceptuel dénué de tout dogmatisme marqué par l'influence de fortes personnalités comme Edward Ruscha et John Baldessari. Des artistes originaires de la côté est comme Douglas Huebler, William Wegman, Robert Cumming, du Midwest comme Ruppersberg trouveront de l'autre côté des États-Unis des conditions de travail plus stimulantes. Des Européens comme Bas Jan Ader ou son complice Ger van Elk suivront le même chemin. Leurs oeuvres ne trouveront pas immédiatement sur place une grande visibilité. Mais après une éclipse d'une quinzaine d'années, voici qu'une nouvelle génération d'artistes européens (citons des artistes comme Claude Closky, en France, ou Jonathan Monk, en Angleterre) se penche sur ces grand frères et les place au premier rang de leurs références. À partir d'exemples sélectionnés d'artistes et d'un corpus de textes constitué depuis le début des années 90, que j'ai écrits pour différents catalogues d'expositions, revues, éditeurs, l'objet de cette thèse est de présenter ce dialogue entre les générations et de mettre en évidence certaines convergences malgré la dissemblance des contextes institutionnels et sociétaux.