This dissertation examines dog and idiot tropes—and, specifically, the conflation thereof—in William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury (1929), John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men (1937), and Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian, Or The Evening Redness in the West (1985). In addition to illustrating the key roles the idiot/dog figure plays in canonical works of twentieth-century U.S. fiction, it argues that this conflation is too often presumed to signify denigration (i.e. a social, political, and ethical exclusion) and degeneration (i.e. a biological threat). Around the turn of the century, the idiot/dog emerges as an aesthetic figure in conjunction with contemporaneous practices of dog breeding and eugenics, as well as co-extensive discourses of national progress and racial purity. In this context, literary idiot/dogs can be read as enciphering a violent historical subtext. Yet, rather than simply condemn this figure as a dehumanizing stereotype, this dissertation challenges such a reductive approach on the grounds that it risks reproducing a hermeneutic that is both ableist and speciesist. A new approach is proposed: reading for the tropological confusion of idiocy and caninity and the destabilizing affective and epistemological effects this poses for liberal subjectivity. Reading for tropological confusion in the fictions of Faulkner, Steinbeck, and McCarthy not only develops new interpretations of three canonical works; it unlocks the idiot/dog figure as a site of textual excess. In so doing, this dissertation makes original contributions to twentieth-century U.S. fiction scholarship, Disability Studies, Animal Studies, and biopolitical theory. The idiot/dog figure’s in/determination—a paradoxical embodiment of humanized canine animality and animalized human mental disability—catalyzes hermeneutic and affective uncertainties. Ultimately, both impinge upon questions of readers’ own abilities to: (i) fully parse the fictions idiot/dogs appear in, and (ii) self-reflexively understand themselves as autonomous, human(e) subjects. Each chapter carefully elaborates this figure’s centrality to the textual operations of, respectively, The Sound and the Fury, Of Mice and Men, and Blood Meridian in terms of their narrative and meta-narrative dimensions; this reveals under-examined continuities. By arguing for idiot/dogs’ disruptive potentials (i.e. affective, epistemological, and ethical), this dissertation bridges and extends previous Disability Studies and Animal Studies interventions that link literary representations to social and material contexts. Also, it further intervenes in these subfields by elaborating the biopolitical reasons for and ramifications of the idiot/dog figure’s emergence in twentieth-century Anglo-American fiction. Each chapter outlines how and why idiot/dog figures constitute a means for harmonizing readers’ experiences, thoughts, desires, and feelings with the normative U.S. social and symbolic order—a national order that hinges on recognitions and denials of human subjectivity, as well as on the production of subjectivity in which fiction is implicated. Ultimately, by closely analyzing literary idiot/dog figures, this dissertation contributes a biopolitical critique of the ontological production and governability of readerly subjects themselves. / Graduate / 2021-09-05

À partir des réflexions du phénoménologue tchèque Jan Patočka et des études du philosophe français Michel Foucault, on interroge le thème du souci – de soi, de l’âme, des autres, du monde – en tant que forme de relation éthique. Dans l'éclipse des systèmes de valeurs traditionnelles, les recherches sur la notion du souci peuvent ouvrir une perspective éthique à même de reformuler les termes de la responsabilité collective.Le point de départ c’est un passage du dernier cours de Foucault au Collège de France (Le courage de la vérité), où le philosophe renvoie à la pensée de Patočka. Foucault reconnaît à l'auteur tchèque d'avoir été le seul philosophe contemporain à avoir approfondi le principe ancien de l'epimeleia. Cependant, selon Foucault, sa propre recherche – construite autour de la notion de epimeleia heautou, c'est-à-dire le souci comme mise à l'épreuve, problématisation et stylisation du soi – différerait de celle de Patočka, qui vise plus l'étude de l'epimeleia tes psychés, à savoir l’âme sous le profil ontologique et gnoséologique.Tout d’abord, la thèse de Foucault encourage une analyse de la signification du terme « âme » dans le contexte de la phénoménologie asubjective élaborée par Patočka. En second lieu, elle invite à étudier la notion de « soi » à l’oeuvre dans les derniers textes de Foucault. En interrogeant les rapports entre les processus singulières de subjectivation et le bios en tant que « mode de vie » ou « style d’existence », on arrive à poser le problème de la vie en tant qu’horizon ontologique de l'être en commun. On s’interroge sur la possibilité d’un « souci dubios » qui soit à la fois « lien de vie » et « forme de vie » : souci du bios comme ontologie critique des conditions rendant possible la reconnaissance de la vie en tant que dimension de la co-appartenance, et, en même temps, attitude éthique à se faire charge de sa vulnérabilité. / Starting from the research of the Czech phenomenologist Jan Patočka and the studies of the French philosopher Michel Foucault, this thesis investigates the question of the care – of the self, for the soul, of the others, of the world – as a form of ethical relationship. In the twilight of the traditional value systems, the ethical perspective in researches on the notion of care enables a redefinition of collective responsibility.The starting point is a paragraph of the Foucault’s last course at the Collège de France (Courage Of Truth), where the philosopher refers to Patočka’s work. Foucault marks a separation between his work, focused on the theme of the bios, as opposed to that of Patočka, centred on the issue of the psyche. According to Foucault, his own research on epimeleia heautou as problematization and stylization of the self is different from that of Patočka, who is interested in the ontological and epistemological facets of the concept of soul .First, Foucault’s thesis encourages an analysis of the meaning of the word “soul” in the context of the asubjective phenomenology developed by Patočka. Second, it suggests to focus on the notion of “self” in last texts of Foucault.Questioning the relationship between the processes of subjectivation and the bios as a “style of existence”, we start considering life as ontological horizon of being in common. This thinking allows for the possibility of “care for the bios” as both “bond of life” and “way of life”: as critical ontology of the conditions that govern the recognition of life as ontological dimension of being in common, on the one hand; and as ethical attitude to protect the bios’s vulnerability on the other. / A partire dalle riflessioni del fenomenologo cèco Jan Patočka e dagli studi del filosofo francese Michel Foucault, questa ricerca intende esplorare il tema della cura – di sé, dell’anima, degli altri, del mondo – in quanto forma di relazione etica. Nell’eclissi dei sistemi valoriali tradizionali, le ricerche sulla nozione di cura possono offrire una prospettiva etica capace di riformulare i termini della responsabilità collettiva. Il punto di partenza è un passaggio dell’ultimo corso di Foucault al Collège de France (Il coraggio della verità), dove il filosofo fa riferimento al pensiero di Patočka. Foucault riconosce all’autore ceco di essere stato il solo autore contemporaneo ad aver approfondito il principio antico dell’epimeleia. Tuttavia, secondo Foucault, la propria personale ricerca – articolata attorno alla nozione di epimeleia heautou, cioè di cura come messa alla prova, problematizzazione e stilizzazione di sé – differirebbe da quella di Patočka, più interessata allo studio dell’epimeleia tes psyches, ossia all’anima sotto il profilo ontologico e gnoseologico.Innanzitutto, la tesi di Foucault incoraggia un’analisi del significato del termine “anima” nel contesto della fenomenologia asoggettiva elaborata da Patočka. In secondo luogo, invita a studiare la nozione di “sé” presente negli ultimi testi di Foucault. Indagando i rapporti tra i processi singolari di soggettivazione e il bios in quanto “modo di vita” o “stile di esistenza”, si arriva a porre il problema della vita in quanto orizzonte ontologico dell’essere in comune. Ci si interroga così sulla possibilità di una cura del bios che sia insieme “legame di vita” e “modo di vita”: cura del bios come ontologia critica delle condizioni che rendono possibile il riconoscimento della vita, intesa come dimensione della coappartenenza, e allo stesso tempo attitudine etica a farsi carico della sua vulnerabilità.

Compulsory vaccination is one of the fundamental pillars of public health protection that has helped eradicate many previously lethal and widespread diseases from our geographical area. Although the vaccination rates remain high in the Czech Republic, the number of parents who refuse to vaccinate their children is growing. Reasons for this restraint are various. This thesis looks at the issue from the perspective of social constructivism. By implementing in-depth interviews, it tries to contribute to understanding how parents perceive the influence of the media on their decisions on the issue of compulsory vaccination. Other theoretical starting points are the media construction of reality, the theory of representation or biopower, and biopolitics in Michel Foucault's conception. A significant part of the theory also describes the current period, which is characterized by terms such as post-truth or post-factual era, and addresses which role plays new media such as social networks and the internet in the growing mistrust in expert knowledge and institutions. The analytical part is devoted to the analysis of collected data in the grounded theory approach. The identified categories then describe how parents evaluate the role of the media in the debate on compulsory vaccination, how they evaluate...

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While the (re)conquest of Arabia as manifest in 2003 Iraq, and 2006 Lebanon, were respectively Act I and II accenting sovereign figures exercising necropower by adjudicating (il)legal doctrines (i.e., pre-emptive defense strategy) legalizing extrajudicial techniques of violence founded on discursive technologies of racism, I argue that the “Islamist Winter” – temporarily dubbed the “Arab Spring” in 2011 – is Act III reifying similar legal doctrines (i.e., Bethlehem Legal Principles) and a (secular) linear temporal perception of time seeking to implement a New Middle East (NME) that is no longer “resistant to Latin-European modernity” but amenable to such inclusive exclusion historicist telos. The importance of “creative anarchy” as a positivist legal technique in producing chaotic developments such as carnage and a “crisis” or “emergency” of displacement – with sovereign members of jus gentium authorizing agents of terror (i.e., death squads/war-machines) – is that it reveals the deadly technologies of racism and relations of enmity inherent in sovereignty as a positivist juridical concept endowing sovereign figures with the power to formulate legal doctrines that ultimately subjugate Arab life to the power of death (necropower). Therefore, one of the main questions orbiting the writing of this dissertation is interested in deconstructing and critiquing jus gentium – by adopting a Third World Approach to International Law (TWAIL) in tandem with necropolitics and biopolitics as paradigms of analysis – to disclose that it is because jus gentium valorizes positivist jurisprudent scholastics postulating an unbridgeable cultural gap between an Athenian mode of Being as a universal sovereign subject, and a Madīnian mode of Being as the particular object denied sovereignty, that leads ratiocinative sovereign figures to legally exercise necropower on the Arab body. Therefore, the following chapters seek to go beyond the limited (post-colonial) idea asserting that the problem with international law is that it is primarily “Eurocentric” since the simple solution to such a claim would be to include the non-European body in International Law. Rather, the primary question constellating this monograph is: what are the experienced consequences of being temporally included and what are the experienced consequences of being temporally excluded from a legal regime (i.e., jus gentium) reifying a Latin-European philosophical theology universalizing a particular set of liberal-secular cultural mores as a “cultural benchmark” (i.e., purity-metric) in order to be-come imagined as temporally “inside” jus gentium? / Thesis / Doctor of Social Science

(résumé en français)<p><p>Le diagnostic de Rem Koolhaas sur les métropoles actuelles montre une ville générique, sans fin, sans identité, sans passé, sans rues, la seule activité qui reste est le shopping et la condition « in-transit » devient universelle. À cette analyse manque une partie très importante, la condition biopolitique de la métropole, qui expliquerait plusieurs des caractéristiques de ce Junkspace, comme le fait qu’il contient la possibilité de résistance face au générique.<p>À la lumière de ce constat et suivant les directions de pensée que Gilles Deleuze et Félix Guattari ouvrent dans Mille Plateaux, cette thèse propose d’identifier les intervalles témoignant de la dimension biopolitique du Junkspace au travers d’une mobilisation de la théorie des agencements comme hypothèse pour la théorie architecturale et urbaine. Le postulat général est que ces intervalles seraient des territoires entre-deux qui fonctionneraient comme des laboratoires d’agencements témoignant d’une pratique architecturale politique redéfinissant le rôle même de l’architecte. <p>Trois axes de recherche sont déployés. Le premier interroge la pertinence d’une pensée architecturale en termes d’agencements dans le contexte des transformations actuelles des territoires. À la suite d’un croisement avec la pensée de Deleuze et Guattari l’architecture se comprend dans son processus d’agencement et réagencement. Le second axe interroge la dimension biopolitique du Junkspace identifiant les points critiques de ses agencements et évaluant le paradoxe de l’entre-deux. Le troisième axe met à l’épreuve le potentiel des territoires entre-deux de créer des opportunités pour de nouvelles configurations spatiales.<p><p><p>(english abstract)<p><p>Rem Koolhaas’s diagnostic of the modern metropolis shows a generic city with no end, no identity, no past, no streets where the only activity remaining is shopping and the « in-transit » condition is becoming universal. An important part is missing from this analysis: the biopolitical condition of the metropolis, that could explain a number of Junkspace’s characteristics, like the fact that it contains the possibility to resist the generic condition. <p>In the light of this review and in accordance with the philosophical directions that Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari draw in A Thousand Plateaus, this research intends to identify the intervals witnessing the biopolitical dimension of Junkspace by rallying the assemblage theory as hypothesis for the architectural and urban theory. The general postulate is that these intervals are in-between territories functioning as laboratories of assemblages that show a political and resistant architectural practice redefining the very part of the architect. <p>Three lines of research are deployed. The first one questions the relevance of an architectural assemblage thinking in the context of the current territorial transformations. Operating a crossing with Deleuze and Guattari’s thought, architecture is understood as a process of assembling and re-assembling. The second line of research is questioning the biopolitical dimension of Junkspace identifying the critical points of its assemblages and evaluating the in-between paradox. The third research line is testing the in-between territories potential to create opportunities for new spatial configurations. <p> / Doctorat en Art de bâtir et urbanisme / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Die lateinamerikanischen Sexualwissenschaften und deren Theorien, Handlungsfelder, politischen Bezüge und Forschungsergebnisse sind in Deutschland wenig bekannt und werden in sexualwissenschaftlichen Kontexten kaum rezipiert. Sie liefern jedoch profunde Erkenntnisse zur Frage, wie sich die Politisierung des Sexuellen und die Sexualisierung des Politischen theoretisch erfassen lassen. Dieser Band bietet aus intersektionaler und postkolonialer Perspektive einen ersten Zugang zu den breit gefächerten Theoriedebatten und geht, diskurtheoretisch orientiert, der Frage nach, wie sich die kolonialen Logiken der Differenz in Debatten um Multi- und Plurikulturalität eingelagert haben, wie Differenz hergestellt, reproduziert und regiert wird und wie dies das Verständnis von Sexualitäten und die Zugänge zu sexuellen und reproduktiven Rechten reguliert.

In den gender studies verweist der Begriff Biopolitik zumeist auf die Arbeiten von Michel Foucault, in denen er untersucht, wie in der Moderne die Organisation von und die Sorge um Leben sowie der menschliche Individualkörper ins Zentrum der Politik rücken. Ergänzend bestimmt er Biomacht als im Gegensatz zu früherer, repressiver Macht, produktiv und auf Lebenssteigerung ausgelegt. Entsprechend impliziert Biopolitik eine ambivalente, ebenso fürsorgliche wie kontrollierende Form der Machtausübung.

Ma thèse propose une analyse attentive de la ré-écriture de l'histoire articulée dans trois romans du collectif d'écrivains italiens publiant sous le pseudonyme Wu Ming: "Q", "54" et "Manituana". Partant du pamphlet publié par les Wu Ming en 2008 sur leur conception du roman historique et de l’écriture romanesque en général, the New Italian Epic (NIE), je propose deux angles d’approche pour mettre en évidence la relecture de l’histoire se dessinant dans les romans cités ci-dessus: la notion du regard oblique (qui est mentionnée dans le NIE); et le concept de multitude. La technique du regard oblique implique une réflexivité de la narration, une mise en abîme du processus narratif qui est effectuéé par le biais d’un point de vue insolite. Ce dernier peut provenir d'un animal, d’un objet animé, ou même d’un objet mystérieux comme le flux immatériel. Cette technique a déjà des précédents littéraires dans l’oeuvre d’écrivains tels que Italo Calvino ou Thomas Pynchon, mais dans la nouvelle forme qu’elle acquiert dans les textes des Wu Ming, elle permet l’articulation d’une relecture transversale de l’histoire. Cette relecture transversale émergeant dans les romans des Wu Ming est analysée dans la première partie de la thèse. La conceptualisation du regard oblique que je développe dans cette partie se base sur la théorie de l'anamorphose de Jacques Lacan, ainsi que sur le concept de la "troisième personne" proposé récemment par le philosophe Roberto Esposito. La seconde partie de la thèse aborde la problématique de la confrontation de l'écriture des Wu Ming à la situation socio-politique internationale contemporaine, soit comment leur ré-écriture de l'histoire s'insère dans la situation biopolitique globale. Dans les romans des Wu Ming on voit surgir une interprétation de cette situation globale qui dépasse les notions classiques de l'État et du citoyen. Le concept du biopolitique se prête à diverses interprétations: dans ses écrits des années 1970, Michel Foucault, qui est un des théoriciens majeurs du biopouvoir et de la biopolitique, ne parvient pas à proposer une interprétation unique et précise de ce dernier concept. Plusieurs philosophes italiens ont repris ce discours en le développant chacun à sa manière. Certains, comme Paolo Virno et, un peu plus tard Toni Negri, voient dans la notion de la Multitude une possibilité pour équilibrer le rapport pouvoir/personne et par conséquent pour développer de nouvelles possibilités révolutionnaires pour la déconstruction du biopouvoir. Les Wu Ming semblent suivre la voie positive de la multitude, qui selon leur conception correspond plus à une interprétation néo-marxiste de l’histoire. / My thesis presents an attentive analysis of the rewriting of history, articulated in three novels of the group of Italian authors publishing under the pseudonym Wu Ming: "Q", "54" and "Manituana". Starting from the pamphlet published by the Wu Ming in 2008, on their conception of the historical novel and the romantic writing in general, the New Italian Epic (NIE), I propose two ways to put in evidence the review of History that emerges from the novels mentioned above: the notion of the oblique gaze (mentioned in the NIE); and the concept of the multitude. The technique of the oblique gaze implies a reflexion on the narration, a "mise en abyme" of the narrative process which is made by the way of an unusual point of view. This technique already has some litterary precedents in the works of writers such as Italo Calvino or Thomas Pynchon,*but in the new form that it aquires in the texts of the Wu MIng, it allows the articulation of a transversal review of history. This transversal review emerging from the novels of the Wu Ming is analysed in the first part of the thesis. The conceptualization of the oblique gaze that I develop in this section is based on the theory of the Anamorphosis of Jacques Lacan, in addition to the concept of the "Third person" suggested recently by the philosopher Roberto Esposito. The second part of the thesis focuses on Wu Ming’s analysis and interpretation of the contemporary socio-political situation, namely how their re-writing of history is inserted in the global biopolitical situation. In the novels of the Wu Ming we observe the emergence of an interpretation of this global situation which subverts the classical notions of the State and the citizen. The concept of biopolitics lends itself to different interpretations: in his writings of the 1970's, Michel Foucault, who is one of the major theorists of biopower and biopolitics, does not succeed in suggesting a unique and precise interpretation of this concept. Many Italian philosophers have worked on this notion, each one of them developping it in her own way. Some, such as Paolo Virno and, some time later Toni Negri, see in the concept of the multitude a possibility to balance the rapport power/people and therefore to develop new revolutionary possibilities for the deconstruction of the biopower. The Wu MIng seem to follow the positive reading of the multitude, which according to their conception, corresponds more to a neo-marxist interpretation of History. / Nella mia tesi esamino l’emergenza di una riscrittura della Storia proposta dai tre romanzi: Q, 54 e Manituana, del collettivo di scrittori italiani che pubblicano sotto lo pseudonimo Wu Ming, i quali, attraverso una nuova proposta di romanzo storico e lo sguardo della Moltitudine, rimettono in questione la struttura del biopotere. Da un’attenta analisi dei testi sopracitati fuoriescono le peculiarità di un nuovo modo di concepire il romanzo storico in cui, fra le varie caratteristiche emerge quella dello “sguardo obliquo”, tecnica basata nell’esporre al lettore la narrazione facendola provenire da un punto di vista che non è quello che solitamente ci si attende, ma piuttosto un punto di vista insolito che può provenire da animali, oggetti animati, o addirittura da oggetti misteriosi come flussi immateriali. Questa tecnica ha già visto alcuni illustri precedenti letterari nelle sperimentazioni di scrittori quali Italo Calvino o Thomas Pynchon, ma nella nuova forma che fuoriesce dalla scrittura dei Wu Ming acquista la particolare capacità di leggere la storia in un contesto che si accosta in modo accentuato alle problematiche del contemporaneo. L’analisi di questa lettura trasversale, che copre la prima parte della tesi, è stata effettuata con l’aiuto di alcune teorie come quelle dell’Anamorfosi di Jacques Lacan, ma è attraverso il concetto della “terza persona”, riproposto recentemente da Roberto Esposito, che ho inquadrato lo sguardo obliquo come essenza estranea al rapporto dialogico io/tu. Nella seconda parte della tesi affronto la problematica dell’allineamento della scrittura dei Wu Ming alla situazione socio-politica internazionale contemporanea; detta in altre parole cerco di far emergere come la loro riscrittura della storia si inserisca nella situazione biopolitica globale. Nei romanzi dei Wu Ming, infatti, si scorge un’interpretazione del contemporaneo che sorpassa le categorie classiche di Stato e cittadino in favore di un’idea di egemonia universale esercitante un bio-potere globale. Il concetto di biopolitica si apre a varie interpretazioni. Già dalle prime iniziative negli anni Settanta Michel Foucault si era trovato in una situazione di ambigua difficoltà nel poter dare un’interpretazione unica e precisa dei concetti da lui stesso proposti. Vari filosofi italiani hanno ripreso questo discorso incompiuto sviluppandogli intorno una parte importante del proprio pensiero, ognuno però scegliendo una propria strada. Alcuni di loro come Paolo Virno e, successivamente, Toni Negri vedono nella categoria della “Moltitudine” una possibile via per equilibrare il rapporto Potere/persona e quindi ottenere nuove possibilità rivoluzionarie per poter decostruire il biopotere. I Wu Ming sembrano seguire la strada positivista della moltitudine, la quale si allinea alla loro natura marxiana.