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Ce mémoire mobilise les notions et le vocabulaire propres aux éthiques du care pour tenter de mesurer la place qu’occupe l’attention aux vulnérabilités d’autrui dans Le Pur et l’impur (1932) de Colette, autant dans l’ordre de ses représentations que sur le plan du geste d’écriture envisagé comme une prise de parole collective de la part d’une communauté de la mélancolie. Après une brève contextualisation théorique, nous mettons les notions d’attention et de vulnérabilité à l’épreuve du texte en analysant les rapports entre la narratrice et certains de ses personnages – notamment de Charlotte, dont les confidences viennent créer, dès l’abord du texte, une dynamique de la voix et du silence qui rappelle le modèle de l’épistémologie du care. L’analyse des aspects éthiques du geste d’écriture révèle quant à elle un art à la fois éthique et politique de l’attention, fondé sur une écriture dont les aspects interventionnistes permettent de mettre en lumière l’expérience de personnages marginaux ou subalternes. / This thesis mobilizes both the notions and vocabulary associated with the ethics of care to uncover the roles played by attention to the others’ vulnerabilities in Colette’s Le Pur et l’impur (1932), and the way it manifests as both a representation within the text as well as a component of the act of writing itself, which takes the form of a community of melancholy’s collective act of “speaking out”. After a brief theoretical contextualization, the notions of “attention” and “vulnerability” are analyzed within the context of the narrator’s relationship with her own characters, and most notably with Charlotte, whose confidences come to create, from the outset of the text, a dynamic of voice and silence that is also characteristic of the epistemology of care. In the end, through analysis of the ethical aspects of the act of writing, we come to find that attention itself is both an ethical and a political act within a narrative that seeks to shed light on marginalized and subaltern communities.

Mémoire en recherche-création / Ce projet de recherche-création porte sur la possibilité d’un prendre soin endossé par les espaces au sein du littéraire, posant les jalons d’une réflexion tournée vers les notions d’accueil et d’hospitalité, que ce soit hors ou au sein du cadre institutionnel. De fait, le travail de création prend la forme d’un récit autofictionnel autour de la maison de la grand-mère comme espace de soin, d’appartenance, mais aussi comme ancrage des traumas familiaux et d’une étrangeté à soi, de par les origines françaises et québécoises de la narratrice. À cette première narration s’ajoute le récit d’un voyage au sein duquel la narratrice sera amenée à cheminer dans son processus de deuil et à questionner ses liens d’appartenance. Sur le plan formel, la prise de parole varie au niveau spatial et temporel afin de multiplier les perspectives et d’explorer les conditions mêmes de l’expression et les difficultés inhérentes à celle-ci. Les récits s’apparentent à des fragments, prenant place à diverses époques et lieux afin de créer un effet de « chambre d’échos », les uns se répondant aux autres. La section essayistique du présent mémoire porte, quant à elle, sur les enjeux qu’implique l’absence d’une participation étatique dans l’octroi du soin afin de voir comment des espaces privés prennent le relais d’un care usuellement endossé institutionnellement et pensé comme mieux-être. Notre analyse portera donc sur la manière dont certaines voix littéraires rejouent et/ ou se distancient des normes et des paramètres de « santé » impliqués par le soin et ce, au travers d’espaces privés. Pour ce faire, nous aborderons L’événement d’Annie Ernaux et Dans ma chambre de Guillaume Dustan, deux récits qui mettent en scène un rapport criminel à la loi et ce faisant, convoquent des espaces offrant un care ambivalent, du côté de la mise en péril de soi et de la mort. En outre, la relation de care endossée par certains lieux témoigne d’un lien spécifique, parce que subjectif, à ces espaces et en ce sens, ils permettent l’émergence de subjectivités et de récits de soi qui en rendent compte. Ainsi, nous nous proposons d’analyser l’écriture de soi comme espace d’accueil à la jonction du social et du poétique. / This research-creation project focuses on the possibility of care endorsed by spaces within the literary, laying the groundwork for a reflection on the notions of welcome and hospitality, whether outside or within the institutional framework. The creative work takes the form of an autofictional narrative around the grandmother's house as a space of care and belonging, but also as an anchor for family traumas and a strangeness to oneself, due to the narrator's French and Quebecois origins. To this first narrative is added the story of a journey in which the narrator will be led to progress in her mourning process and to question her ties of belonging. In terms of form, the spoken word will vary in space and time in order to multiply the perspectives and explore the conditions of expression and the difficulties inherent to it. The narratives will be in the form of fragments, taking place in various times and places in order to create an « echo chamber » effect, with one responding to the other. The essayistic section of this dissertation focuses on the issues involved in the absence of State participation in the provision of care, in order to see how private spaces take over the care that is usually institutionally endorsed and thought of as well-being. Our analysis will therefore focus on how certain literary voices replay and/or distance themselves from the norms and parameters of « health » implied by care through private spaces. To do so, we will look at Annie Ernaux's L'événement and Guillaume Dustan's Dans ma chambre, two stories that stage a criminal relationship to the law and, in so doing, summon spaces that offer an ambivalent care, on the side of the endangerment of self and death. Moreover, the relation of care endorsed by certain places testifies to a specific link, because subjective, to these spaces and in this sense, they allow the emergence of subjectivities and narratives of the self which account for it. Thus, we propose to analyze the writing of the self as a space of reception at the junction of the social and the poetic.

[pt] Esta pesquisa mostra uma visão, de forma clara e linear, do perfil do presbítero católico na atualidade, sua real Identidade Presbiteral a partir das luzes lançadas pelo Concílio Vaticano II, em especial sob a análise do Decreto Presbyterorum Ordinis. O desenvolvimento e o claro panorama deste tema começam a tomar forma a partir do momento em que se entende o ministério presbiteral como um esvaziar-se daquilo que realmente o mundo oferece e nada acrescenta, para se deixar preencher, se construir com os verdadeiros valores que estão de acordo com o Múnus Sacerdotal do próprio Cristo. Isto, com os diversos documentos e obras posteriores, que discutem o assunto, ajuda a entender o tema. O Concílio trouxe luzes, mas não resolve a problemática que na atualidade é vista de diversas formas pela análise da conduta, da forma como os presbíteros conduzem suas vidas. Os problemas cotidianos são gerados, em especial, pelo não entendimento daquilo que, na realidade, é a verdadeira Caridade Pastoral. Os problemas gerados com esta falta de compreensão estão na ordem do Ativismo Presbiteral, bem como aqueles que envolvem os Conselhos Evangélicos (Obediência, Castidade e a Pobreza). Com isto gera afastamento, isolamento pessoal, desrespeito pelos superiores hierárquicos; problemas na ordem da sexualidade que, mal trabalhada e orientada, não ajuda na maturidade presbiteral; e, por fim, o apego às coisas materiais de forma exagerada e egoísta e muitas vezes avarenta, indo no sentido contrário ao que propõe o próprio Cristo. Mas, mesmo diante dessas dificuldades e problemas, a Caridade Pastoral se torna fruto de uma formação aberta, consciente, permanente do presbítero, podendo se realizar a qualquer tempo e de forma permanente. O testemunho se dá na construção de um caráter presbiteral, fruto de uma vivência evangélica real, da comunhão e aceitação. Assim o presbítero se constrói de forma íntegra, munido de uma fidelidade que será colocada em prática, com responsabilidade na vida pastoral, junto à Igreja, Povo de Deus. Cuidando de si, cuida das coisas de Deus, da Igreja e da criação como um todo, onde o homem presbítero se revela, se doa, se coloca a serviço com amor, no amor e por amor ao próprio Deus. / [en] This research shows a clear and linear view of the profile of the Catholic priest today, his real Priestly Identity from the light cast by the Second Vatican Council, especially under the analysis of the Decree Presbyterorum Ordinis.The development and clear panorama of this theme begins to take shape from the moment that priestly ministry is understood as an emptying of what the world really offers and nothing adds, to let itself be filled and built with the true values that meet the Priestly Munus of Christ himself. This, with the various documents and later works that discuss the subject, helps us to understand the subject. The Council brought light; however, it did not solve the problem that is currently seen in different ways by analyzing the behavior and the way in which priests conduct their lives. Daily problems are generated, in particular, by not understanding what true Pastoral Charity really is. The problems generated by the lack of understanding are in the order of Priestly Activism, as well as those involving the Evangelical Counsels (Obedience, Chastity, and Poverty). Consequently, it generates distance, self isolation, disrespect for hierarchical superiors; problems in the order of sexuality that, poorly worked and guided, do not help in priestly maturity; and, finally, the attachment to material things in an exaggerated and selfish way and often greedy going in the opposite direction to what Christ himself proposes. But, even in the face of these difficulties and problems, Pastoral Charity becomes the result of an open, conscious and ongoing formation of the priest and this can be done at any time and permanently. The testimony takes place in the construction of a priestly character result of a real evangelical experience, communion, and acceptance. Thus, the priest develops himself in an integral way and is provided with a fidelity that will be put into practice with responsibility, in his pastoral life together with the Church, People of God. Taking care of himself, he takes care of the things of God, the Church and creation as a whole, where the priestly man reveals himself, gives himself and puts himself at service with love, in love, and for the love of God himself.

No description available.

This thesis focuses on the interspecies relationships of care in the Hambach Forest, Germany. It covers the caring relations between the human activists protecting the Forest by occupying it and the trees growing there. The text covers the affectionate dimension of the activists’ caring relation towards the trees as well as how the caring manifested in their attentiveness and actions. Apart from the traditional ethnographic methods, the research is rooted in multispecies methodology, particularly plant ethnography. As primary theoretical frameworks, the concepts of more-than human sociality and world-making by Anna Tsing were used, as well as the understanding of the interspecies ethics of care by Puig de la Bellacasa. The analysis shows that the caring relationship of the activists was often rooted in the situated relationality that emerges from particular relations with particular trees or other nonhumans. As a navigating tool, activists sometimes used also the nature-culture dichotomy, and sometimes they, on the contrary, contested it. I show that relationships of care were mutual and occurred in the direction from activists to the trees but also that the trees and Forest took care of many activists’ needs. I also demonstrate how the trees and other nonhumans actively participated in the processes of co-creating the more-than-human sociality in the Forest. The analysis shows that the activists’ behaviour was not always coherent or determined by the same values but was often ambivalent and changing depending on the situation.

La pandémie de COVID-19 a porté à notre attention de nombreux problèmes dans notre système de santé, dont les mauvaises conditions de travail des infirmières. Ce problème persiste pourtant depuis des dizaines d’années. Le but de ce travail est d'examiner la nature et la persistance des mauvaises conditions de travail du personnel infirmier à travers une analyse éthique critique de la violence. Il met en lumière la violence structurelle qui chapeaute les mauvaises conditions de travail du personnel infirmier et les redéfinit comme le produit d’injustices sociales plus profondes. Le concept de violence structurelle et l’éthique du care nous amènent à adopter différentes perspectives pour expliquer l’origine des injustices et proposer des pistes de solutions durables à ce problème qui persiste. Ces perspectives soulèvent des enjeux éthiques d’inégalités sociales, de responsabilité et de justice qui affectent le quotidien des infirmières dans un contexte organisationnel particulier. Notre analyse sur la violence structurelle révèle de nombreuses injustices construites sur l’histoire des infirmières. Nous retraçons trois événements majeurs qui ont transformé les pratiques soignantes et contribué à réduire les infirmières à de multiples hiérarchies sociales et inégalités. Les rôles de l’institutionnalisation des soins par l’Église, de la médicalisation et de l’étatisation sont soulevés. Les injustices liées au genre féminin, au travail du soin et à l’instrumentalisation des soignantes sont d’abord abordées. Également, dans notre analyse de la violence organisationnelle dans les institutions de soin actuelles, ce sont des injustices liées aux nouvelles normes de soins et pratiques de gestion qui émergent pour expliquer les contraintes et la déshumanisation des soins chez le personnel infirmier. Tout au long du travail, les enjeux d’inégalités de pouvoir et de responsabilité sont soulignés. Ainsi, nous proposons que les organisations de santé actuelles entament une transition vers un système de santé apprenant axé sur la responsabilité partagée et la justice sociale. Nous proposons cinq recommandations inspirées du cadre éthique pour un système de santé apprenant qui permettraient de transformer des milieux de soin violents en milieux davantage sains et justes. Nous concluons ce travail avec une discussion ouverte sur la responsabilité partagée à l’égard d’autres enjeux en santé. / The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to our attention many problems in our healthcare system including nurse’s poor working conditions. Perhaps, this problem has persisted for decades. The purpose of this work is to investigate the nature and persistence of nurse’s poor working conditions through a critical ethical analysis of violence. It highlights the structural violence that underlies nurse’s poor working conditions and redefines them as the product of deeper social injustices. The concept of structural violence and the ethics of care lead us to adopt different perspectives to explain the origin of injustices and to propose sustainable solutions to this persistent problem. These perspectives raise ethical issues of social inequities, accountability and justice that affect the daily lives of nurses in a particular organizational context. Our analysis of structural violence reveals many injustices built on nurse’s history. We trace three major events that transformed nursing practices and contributed to the reduction of nurses to multiple social hierarchies and inequalities. The roles of the institutionalization of care by the Church, medicalization and the power of the state are raised. The injustices related to female gender, care work and the instrumentalization of caregivers are first discussed. Also, in our analysis of organizational violence in today's health care institutions, injustices related to new standards of care and management practices are highlighted to explain the constraints and dehumanization of care in nurse’s practice. Throughout the analysis, issues of power and responsibility inequalities are highlighted. Thus, we propose that current healthcare organizations initiate a transition toward a learning healthcare system focused on shared responsibility and social justice. We propose five recommendations inspired by the ethical framework for a learning health system that would transform violent health care environments into more healthy and just ones. We conclude this work with an open discussion of shared responsibility for other health issues.

Submitted by Ana Lúcia Torres (bfmhuap@gmail.com) on 2017-09-19T13:10:03Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) TESE_MARCELO.MAYERNYIK_VERSÃO.FINAL.pdf: 2684171 bytes, checksum: 0f58c64a11267f042717eaad623a6249 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Lúcia Torres (bfmhuap@gmail.com) on 2017-09-19T14:12:11Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) TESE_MARCELO.MAYERNYIK_VERSÃO.FINAL.pdf: 2684171 bytes, checksum: 0f58c64a11267f042717eaad623a6249 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-19T14:12:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) TESE_MARCELO.MAYERNYIK_VERSÃO.FINAL.pdf: 2684171 bytes, checksum: 0f58c64a11267f042717eaad623a6249 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017 / Universidade Federal Fluminense. Instituto de Saúde Coletiva / A judicialização da política de medicamentos oncológicos de alto custo, fruto da complexidade da vida e das relações humanas, suscita questões de ordem econômica, social e política, que efluem de uma cadeia de eventos que envolvem o cidadão, o sistema de saúde e o sistema de justiça, no contexto da microjustiça de medicamentos oncológicos de alto custo, que, por sua vez, perpassa todas as etapas sucessórias de um contencioso, ou seja, desde o início do conflito, o manejo, até o seu desfecho, mobilizando diversos protagonistas que agem e deliberam, em uma dinâmica consecutiva de decisões que impactam diretamente e determinam o cuidado produzido com o cidadão-vulnerado. Neste sentido, tornou-se relevante a operacionalização de uma pesquisa que procurasse desvelar, compreender e contrastar as distintas percepções, sentidos, argumentos e modos de agir, dos diversos protagonistas envolvidos nesses litígios, bem como as suas intencionalidades e contribuições para a defesa da vida e para a promoção de um cuidado resolutivo em saúde. O objetivo geral deste estudo foi investigar a ideia de cuidado estabelecido com o cidadão-vulnerado, na perspectiva dos representantes do Judiciário e do Executivo, à luz da biopolítica, para compreender a dinâmica entre a política da vida e a política sobre a vida, e, entre a biopotência e o biopoder, que se expressam na microjustiça de medicamentos. Os participantes dessa pesquisa são profissionais, do sistema de justiça ou do sistema de saúde, envolvidos, direta ou indiretamente, nos cinco processos-casos selecionados entre os anos 2012 e 2014, julgados em segunda instância pelo Tribunal de Justiça do Rio de Janeiro, cujo pleito era medicamentos oncológicos de alto custo. A operacionalização desta investigação contou com três etapas distintas e sucessivas: a exploração inicial dos argumentos processuais, categorizando as partes de acordo com a afinidade argumentativa, através da dialética, para a elaboração e personalização do roteiro de entrevista; o trabalho de campo, com a aplicação do roteiro para entrevista semiestruturada junto aos participantes; e, a apresentação dos resultados, análise e discussão, que integra, metodologicamente, a dialética, a análise da retórica, o fluxograma descritor e a abordagem qualitativa em profundidade. De acordo com os resultados, observa-se a adoção de distintos parâmetros éticos, contrários ou complementares, tais como os parâmetros de uma ética biomédica, centrada na medicalização; uma ética de mercado, centrada na mercantilização da doença ou da vida; uma ética utilitarista, centrada na maximização do bem-estar comum; ou, propriamente, uma ética de cuidado, centrada na defesa da vida e do direito à saúde; os quais fundamentam a argumentação e orientam o agir deliberativo dos protagonistas envolvidos, podendo promover a potência da vida pelo exercício de uma política em defesa da vida, quando o cuidado produzido é reconhecidamente resolutivo, expressando um compromisso ético com a vida qualificada; ou, podendo promover a potência de morte pelo exercício de uma política sobre a vida, quando, em defesa de interesses avessos a um cuidado singular, os atos resultam em uma assistência insatisfatória e ineficiente ou, na pior das hipóteses, resultam em desassistência, acelerando ou contribuindo para a finitude da vida. Deste modo, conclui-se que todo cuidado é ético, pois toda a ação dos envolvidos, comprometidos com o cuidado, é orientada por parâmetros éticos, mas nem todo cuidado é reconhecido como ético, pois pode resultar na satisfação de interesses divergentes aos propostos nos pactos de cuidados estabelecidos entre os profissionais e o cidadão. / The judicialization of politics of high cost oncological drugs, result of the complexity of life and human relations, raises issues of an economic, social and political order, which emanate from a chain of events involving the citizen, the health system and the justice system, in the context of the microjustice of high cost oncological drugs, which, in turn, runs through all successive stages of a litigation, that is, from the beginning of the conflict, handling, until its denouement, mobilizing several protagonists who act and deliberate, in a consecutive dynamics of decisions that directly impact and determine the care produced with the vulnerable citizen. In this sense, it became relevant to operationalize a research that seeks to unveil, understand and contrast the different perceptions, meanings, arguments and ways of acting, the various protagonists involved in these health litigations, as well as their intentions and contributions for the defense of life and for the promotion of resolutive health care. The general objective of this study was to investigate the idea of care established with the vulnerable citizen, from the perspective of the representatives of the Judiciary and the Executive, in the light of biopolitics, to understand the dynamics between politics of life and politics about life, and, between biopotency and biopower, which are expressed in the microjustice of drugs (medicines). The participants in this research are professionals, the justice system or the health system, involved, directly or indirectly, in the five lawsuits-cases selected between the years 2012 and 2014, judged in the second instance by the Court of Justice of Rio de Janeiro, whose demand was high cost oncology drugs. The operation of this investigation had three distinct and successive stages: the initial exploration of arguments of lawsuits, categorizing the parts according to argumentative affinity, through the dialectic, for the elaboration and personalization of the interview script; the fieldwork, with the application of the script for semi-structured interview with the participants; and, the presentation of results, analysis and discussion, which integrates, methodologically, the dialectic, rhetorical analysis, descriptive flowchart and qualitative approach in depth. According to the results, it is observed the adoption of different ethical parameters, contraries or complementary, such as the parameters of a biomedical ethics, centered in the medicalization; an ethics of market, centered on the commodification of disease or life; a utilitarian ethics, centered on the maximization of the common welfare; or, properly, an ethics of care, centered on the defense of life and the right to health; which ground the argument and guide the deliberative action of the protagonists involved, being able to promote the power of life by the exercise of a policy in defense of life, when the care produced is recognized as resolutive, expressing an ethical commitment to a qualified life; or, by promoting the power of death through the exercise of a politics about life, when, in defense of interests that are averse to singular care, the acts result in unsatisfactory and inefficient care or, at worst, result in lack of assistance, accelerating or contributing to the finitude of life. That way, it is concluded that all care is ethical, since all the action of those involved, committed to care, is guided by ethical parameters, but not all care is recognized as ethical, as it can result in the satisfaction of interests divergent from those proposed in the pacts of care established between professionals and the citizen.

Cette thèse met en relief comment la primauté de la relationalité est représentée dans sept romans nord-américains contemporains écrits par des femmes. Pour y arriver, je montre, d’un point de vue critique, comment les notions de « géographies du care » et de « care posthumain » favorisent l’identification de pratiques et d’attitudes d’un « prendre soin » qui facilitent, non sans obstacle, l’appropriation de structures sociales et intimes par le développement d’espaces et de relations de solidarité. Cette étude fait ainsi interagir les pratiques du care et les pratiques discursives afin de mieux cerner « les inégalités structurelles et les enjeux de la domination qui touchent les sujets marginalisés » (Bourgault & Perreault 11). Le premier chapitre déploie le tissage conceptuel de la thèse à l’intersection de la géographie émotionnelle (Davidson, Bondi & Smith; Anderson & Smith), de théories féministes sur l’espace (Shands, Miranne & Young, Massey), des éthiques du care (Laugier, Tronto) et du discours sur le posthumain (Braidotti, Hayles). Situant d’abord les ancrages entre l’espace vécu et le care, je propose un déplacement de la notion de « chez soi » vers celle de « géographies du care » afin de mieux circonscrire les expériences relationnelles imaginées dans les romans. Puis j’introduis le concept du « care posthumain » comme outil critique afin de mieux identifier les nouvelles subjectivités représentées et d’approfondir les apports du care lorsque les relations intersubjectives mettent en scène des figures non humaines et non vivantes. Le deuxième chapitre explore les pratiques soucieuses et spatiales de préservation et de protection dans les romans Housekeeping et Room en portant attention à comment chacun des textes montre les difficultés de recevoir et de donner différentes formes de care en contextes d’oppression patriarcale, de marginalisation sociale et de tensions familiales. Je pose aussi certaines balises théoriques et méthodologiques quant à la lecture et à la configuration, en tant que lectrice privilégiée, des représentations de subjectivités fragiles et de lieux de dominations dans les textes. Le troisième chapitre pose un regard critique sur deux romans qui imaginent un espace domestique marqué par l’exclusion, les dynamiques de pouvoir et le contrôle des corps : The Birth House et Sous béton. Les géographies du care dans ces deux romans montrent les liens complexes entre les notions de proximité relationnelle, d’appartenance et d’autonomie alors que le quotidien des personnages est inscrit dans une dynamique oppressive articulée par des conventions morales, sociales et scientifiques qui tendent à déshumaniser ceux et celles qui ne se conforment pas. Le quatrième chapitre analyse comment le fardeau du trauma et les figures fantomatiques affectent l’expérience relationnelle des personnages ainsi que leur rapport à l’hospitalité et au processus de guérison. Les romans Home et Le ciel de Bay City montrent comment ces figures fantomatiques symbolisent les liens entre mémoire, trauma, et responsabilité, des liens entre passé et présent que le care illumine. Finalement, le cinquième chapitre aborde la notion de « care posthumain » directement, par un retour à Sous béton et à Room, dans lesquels les protagonistes évoluent au fil de relations avec des éléments non humains. J’analyse aussi le roman post-apocalyptique The Year of the Flood, dans lequel les protagonistes usent de stratégies de résistance qui favorisent la solidarité, la guérison et l’adaptation à des débordements technoscientifiques. / This dissertation explores how seven contemporary North-American novels written by women illustrate the primacy of relationality. To achieve this goal, I use the notions of “geographies of care” and “posthuman care” critically to uncover, in the texts, gestures, and attitudes of care that facilitate, despite obstacles, the appropriation of social and intimate structures through the development of spaces and relationships of solidarity. This study places caring and discursive practices into dialogue to circumscribe “les inégalités structurelles et les enjeux de domination qui touchent les sujets marginalisés” (Bourgault & Perreault 11). The first chapter consists of a theoretical discussion at the intersection of emotional geography (Davidson, Bondi & Smith, Anderson & Smith), feminist space theory (Shands, Miranne & Young, Massey), care ethics (Laugier, Tronto, DeFalco), and critical posthumanism (Braidotti, Hayle). I expose the interconnections between care and relational space before showing the relevance of geographies of care over the notion of home. Finally, I introduce the idea of posthuman care as a critical tool for reading new subjectivities and for complicating the input of care when intersubjective relations involve the nonhuman. Chapter two explores caring and spatial preservation and protection practices in the novels Housekeeping and Room, by looking at how each text illustrates difficulties of caregiving and care receiving in contexts of patriarchal oppression, social marginalization, and familial tensions. It also sets certain theoretical and methodological beacons regarding the reading and the configuring, as a privileged reader, of representations of fragile subjectivities and spaces of domination in the texts. The third chapter investigates two novels that dramatize domestic spaces marked by exclusion, power dynamics, and control of the body: The Birth House and Sous béton. In both novels the geographies of care expose complex links between notions of relational proximity, belonging and autonomy as the characters’ everyday struggle is characterized by constraining social, moral and scientific conventions that tend to dehumanize those who do not fit. Chapter four analyzes how the burden of trauma and ghostly figures affect the relational experiences of characters, their sense of hospitality and ability to heal. The novels Home and Le ciel de Bay City illustrate how these ghostly figures symbolize and testify to the interconnections between memory, trauma, and responsibility and uncover links between past and present that care illuminates. And finally, Chapter five addresses the notion of “posthuman care” directly by returning to Sous béton and Room, in which the characters evolve through interactions with the nonhuman. I also address the post-apocalyptic novel The Year of the Flood, in which the protagonists make use of strategies of resistance that foster solidarity, healing, and easier adaptation to techno-scientific excesses.

The overall aim of this thesis is to look at some philosophical issues surrounding autonomous systems in society and war. These issues can be divided into three main categories. The first, discussed in papers I and II, concerns ethical issues surrounding the use of autonomous systems – where the focus in this thesis is on military robots. The second issue, discussed in paper III, concerns how to make sure that advanced robots behave ethically adequate. The third issue, discussed in papers IV and V, has to do with agency and responsibility. Another issue, somewhat aside from the philosophical, has to do with coping with future technologies, and developing methods for dealing with potentially disruptive technologies. This is discussed in papers VI and VII. Paper I systemizes some ethical issues surrounding the use of UAVs in war, with the laws of war as a backdrop. It is suggested that the laws of war are too wide and might be interpreted differently depending on which normative moral theory is used. Paper II is about future, more advanced autonomous robots, and whether the use of such robots can undermine the justification for killing in war. The suggestion is that this justification is substantially undermined if robots are used to replace humans to a high extent. Papers I and II both suggest revisions or additions to the laws or war. Paper III provides a discussion on one normative moral theory – ethics of care – connected to care robots. The aim is twofold: first, to provide a plausible and ethically relevant interpretation of the key term care in ethics of care, and second, to discuss whether ethics of care may be a suitable theory to implement in care robots. Paper IV discusses robots connected to agency and responsibility, with a focus on consciousness. The paper has a functionalistic approach, and it is suggested that robots should be considered agents if they can behave as if they are, in a moral Turing test. Paper V is also about robots and agency, but with a focus on free will. The main question is whether robots can have free will in the same sense as we consider humans to have free will when holding them responsible for their actions in a court of law. It is argued that autonomy with respect to norms is crucial for the agency of robots. Paper VI investigates the assessment of socially disruptive technological change. The coevolution of society and potentially disruptive technolgies makes decision-guidance on such technologies difficult. Four basic principles are proposed for such decision guidance, involving interdisciplinary and participatory elements. Paper VII applies the results from paper VI – and a workshop – to autonomous systems, a potentially disruptive technology. A method for dealing with potentially disruptive technolgies is developed in the paper. / <p>QC 20130911</p>