Ce mémoire porte sur la modification de notre perception de la ville par l’intermédiaire de pratiques artistiques. À travers l’analyse de la performance Cellule R-134 du collectif montréalais Péristyle Nomade et de la photographie Untitled (Astroturf) de la photographe étasunienne-canadienne Lynne Cohen, nous examinons le rôle que peuvent jouer certaines pratiques sur notre façon de percevoir autrement la ville – sans changer la ville elle-même. Ce changement de perception peut mener à une réappropriation de l’espace urbain par la révélation de son potentiel. La définition de certaines notions clefs, comme celles d’espace public, de lieux et de non-lieux, permet d’interroger le caractère paradoxal des lieux publics qui, malgré leur fonction « publique », n’encouragent pas la présence humaine. Ce sont les espaces publics, ou semi-publics, que nous sommes porté.e.s à fréquenter régulièrement en milieu urbain qui sont abordés ici. En effet, bien que la ville occupe une place déterminante dans la vie des personnes qui y vivent, elle n’est pas réellement conçue pour leur bien-être mais plutôt, pour servir des intérêts politiques et économiques. La ville contribue dès lors à générer un sentiment d’aliénation. Cette aliénation est alimentée, entre autres, par les dispositifs de sécurité déployés dans l’espace public. Ces mesures dissimulent bien souvent des motifs de contrôle et d’assujettissement tout en servant à justifier, et à maintenir, l’exclusion de certains groupes marginalisés. Les problèmes de circulation locale en milieu urbain ainsi que l’aspect peu accueillant, voire hostile, de nombreux lieux publics, attestent eux aussi du fait que le bien-être de la population n’est que très rarement une priorité. Les œuvres Cellule R-134 et Untitled (Astroturf), en se réappropriant et détournant les codes des stratégies de surveillance et de contrôle employés dans l’espace public, ou encore, en soulignant les manques d’infrastructures ou d’attention portée dans celui-ci, en révèlent leur absurdité et leur violence. Ces constats confirment la nécessité de percevoir la ville autrement et de se la réapproprier. Ce changement de perception est abordé à travers l’exploration des possibilités qu’offrent deux types d’expériences urbaines : collective, axée sur les échanges et les rencontres, et individuelle, faisant plutôt appel aux sens et aux émotions de façon intime. L’art favorise ces expériences et permet ainsi d’humaniser ces (non-)lieux fréquentés au quotidien. Les œuvres Cellule R-134 et Untitled (Astroturf) proposent ainsi des outils réalistes pour se réapproprier la ville plutôt que de la subir passivement. Elles encouragent l’agentivité dans un contexte où celle-ci est justement limitée et démontrent le pouvoir que nous avons sur notre capacité à faire sens. / This dissertation focuses on artistic practices as means of changing our perspective on the city. Through the analysis of the performance Cellule R-134 by the Montreal collective Péristyle Nomade and the photograph Untitled (Astroturf) by American Canadian photographer Lynne Cohen, we examine the role that certain practices can play on perceiving the city differently – without changing the city itself. This change of perspective can lead to a reappropriation of urban space by revealing its potential. The definition of certain key notions, such as public space, places and non-places, allows us to question the paradoxical character of public places which, despite their “public” function, do not encourage human presence. It is the public, or semi-public, spaces that we tend to frequent daily in an urban environment that are discussed here. Indeed, although the city plays a determining role in the lives of its inhabitants, it is not designed for their well-being but rather, to serve political and economic interests. The city therefore participates in generating a sense of alienation. This alienation is fueled, among other things, by the security measures implemented in public spaces. These measures, often concealing motives of control and subjugation, also serve to justify, and maintain, the exclusion of marginalized groups. Local traffic problems in urban areas as well as the unwelcoming, even hostile, appearance of many public places also attest to the fact that the well-being of the population is rarely a priority. The works Cellule R-134 and Untitled (Astroturf), by reappropriating and hijacking the codes of surveillance and control strategies used in public space, or by highlighting the lack of infrastructure or attention paid to them, reveal their inherent violence and absurdity. These observations confirm the need to perceive the city differently. This change of perspective is approached by exploring the possibilities offered by two types of urban experiences: collective, centered on exchanges and encounters, and individual, engaging the senses and emotions in an intimate way. Art encourages these experiences, humanizing the (non-)places we frequent daily. The works Cellule R-134 and Untitled (Astroturf) offer realistic tools for reappropriating the city rather than passively enduring it. They promote agency in a context where it is precisely limited and demonstrate the power we have over our ability to make sense.

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The thesis deals with the phenomenon of right-wing extremism in the Czech Republic during 2007-2010 which is viewed from the socio-constructivist perspective of the sociological concept of moral panic. The theoretical part focuses on definition of the terms right-wing extremism and moral panic with regard to their evolution and various approaches in social theory and also briefly describes the situation and significant subjects of the Czech extremist right-wing scene in the analyzed period. The analytic part presents media content of four selected aspects and cases of right-wing extremism as published in nationally released newspaper Mladá fronta DNES which is examined in depth using qualitative content analysis. The task of the analysis was to determine to what extent and by which specific ways the representation of these cases in given newspaper fulfills the aspects and processes of an ideal type of moral panic, represented by Klocke and Muschert's hybrid model of moral panics, and how the cases are put in the general framework of constructing the right-wing extremism as a prominent social problem and a moral panic.

This thesis examines the early work of poets Leonard Cohen and Seamus Heaney in light of their treatment of mythology, ritual, and mythologization, moving either from personal to political awareness (Heaney), or from political to personal awareness (Cohen). Heaney, writing in the midst of the Irish Troubles throughout the late 1960s and 1970s, slowly works up to political awareness as the situation from which he is writing becomes more dire. By contrast, Cohen writes during the beginnings of the Quiet Revolution in Quebec, from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s, moving progressively farther away from the highly political and mythologized work of his first book. This thesis analyzes both poets first four books of poetry and how each poet addresses the politics of his historical time and place as a minority figure: an Irish Catholic in Northern Ireland, and an Anglophone Jew in Montreal, respectively. Ultimately, each poet chooses to mythologize and use traditional mythologies as a means of addressing contemporary horrors before being poetically (and politically) exhausted by the spiritual and mental exertion involved in the "poetry of disfigurement."

This thesis examines the early work of poets Leonard Cohen and Seamus Heaney in light of their treatment of mythology, ritual, and mythologization, moving either from personal to political awareness (Heaney), or from political to personal awareness (Cohen). Heaney, writing in the midst of the Irish Troubles throughout the late 1960s and 1970s, slowly works up to political awareness as the situation from which he is writing becomes more dire. By contrast, Cohen writes during the beginnings of the Quiet Revolution in Quebec, from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s, moving progressively farther away from the highly political and mythologized work of his first book. This thesis analyzes both poets first four books of poetry and how each poet addresses the politics of his historical time and place as a minority figure: an Irish Catholic in Northern Ireland, and an Anglophone Jew in Montreal, respectively. Ultimately, each poet chooses to mythologize and use traditional mythologies as a means of addressing contemporary horrors before being poetically (and politically) exhausted by the spiritual and mental exertion involved in the "poetry of disfigurement."