archives@tulane.edu / 1 / Nicole Horne

No description available.

No description available.

In the French Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, the father is stigmatized because he is often absent from the family structure. The possible reasons for his absence can be found in the Code Noir [Black Code] promulgated in 1685 in the French Caribbean colonies and in 1724 in Mauritius and Reunion. The Black Code is intended to regulate the lives of slaves in the colonies by monitoring their lifestyles, their religion (imposed Catholicism) and their status as commodities. More important, the legal document positions women at the head of the household by defining the legal status of children according to that of their mother, and subsequently denying the black man a role in the family except as procreator. Article XII of the Code stipulates that [c]hildren born in marriages between slaves will belong to the masters of the female slaves and not to those of the husband". As for article XIII, it claims that "[i]f the husband married a free woman, their children, boys and girls, will be free like her no matter the status of their father but if the father is free and the mother is a slave, the children will be slaves like their mother". Thus, it is because she is deprived of a spouse who is her equal that the black woman must occupy the two functions of both mother and father in the family. After the abolition of slavery, French colonial authorities called for cheap and abundant labor, coming mainly from India, to replace the former slave population on the plantations. The arrival of Indian indentured servants (called Coolies), initially hired for five years, transformed the existing social, cultural and economic structure of the islands because Indians replaced the former African slaves at the bottom of the social ladder. Consequently, like the former slaves of African descent, Indian laborers experienced a new language, a new land, new standards and more importantly, they were subjected to the laws of the Black Code that were not originally applicable to them, but still prevailed even after the abolition. Therefore, what I call a Black Code mentality, articulated in the passage from African slavery to Indian indentureship, is what determines the relationships between men and women, of both African and Indian origins. The mentality extends to the post-slavery, colonial and postcolonial situations of these societies of the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean, until today. The purpose of my dissertation is to examine the persistence of a widespread monoparental pattern in these regions as a logical consequence of the application of the 1685/1724 Code Noir. My thesis underscores the rearticulation and renegotiation of the role of the father, of African and Indian descent, in both his family structure and his community of origin, as a function that was codified, legitimized and predetermined by the Black Code. Besides, I contend that the ethnic, social and cultural components of these societies are, in many respects, relayed by social laws and decrees that have had a significant impact on family structures in the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean. Through the critical analysis of contemporary literatures and films from Guadeloupe, Martinique, Reunion and Mauritius, my thesis compares two different geographical areas that are legally connected by the Black Code during slavery and evolve, after the abolition, towards a different political status: Guadeloupe, Martinique and Reunion became French Overseas Departments in 1946 whereas Mauritius became independent in 1968. This comparison allows me to question four major critical concepts pertaining to postcolonial theory: Creolization, Creoleness, Indianness and Coolitude, as they relate to the identity politics of two populations present in the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean: the African diaspora and the Indian diaspora.

Le thème de l’immigration a inspiré une floraison d’œuvres littéraires francophones. Celles-ci prennent appui sur les grandes mobilités humaines et technologiques inhérentes au XXIesiècle et figurent les défis propres à la société de globalisation, principalement les problèmes de cohabitation interculturelle. La réception de ce corpus, dans le cas du roman africain subsaharien, parle de l’émergence d’une "nouvelle génération" de romanciers africains; thèse par ailleurs accréditée par la démarche institutionnelle des écrivains migrants eux-mêmes, comme en témoigne l’affiliation de certains au mouvement de la "littérature-monde" en français. La thèse se propose d’interroger cette problématique à travers une approche inspirée de l’analyse du discours littéraire. Elle se fonde sur le rappel de l’historiographie du roman africain de voyage. Il s’agit d’abord de questionner la périodisation des œuvres qui mettent en scène le parcours d’un personnage africain en Occident, dont certaines, bien que fondatrices, sont rarement prises en compte par le discours critique. Ensuite l’analyse porte sur la comparaison des œuvres de la "négritude" et celles de la "migritude",d’une part à l’aune des catégories comme le personnage, l’espace et l’imaginaire; d’autre part à travers les phénomènes d’intertextualité entre ces romans. Enfin, à la lumière des théories postcoloniales et de la sociologie du fait littéraire, la thèse présente cette littérature émergente comme la réécriture d’une archive; l’interrogation relative à l’accessibilité de l’Afrique et de sa diaspora à la culture du monde global. En cela la "migritude" se pose comme un mot-valise qui intègre aussi le discours de la "négritude". / The topic of immigration has inspired an explosion of novels in Francophone Literature. They usually lean on the twenty-first century’s mobility of people and technologies in order to fictionalize issues related to cosmopolitanism. In the specific context of sub-Saharan African Literature, literary criticism assimilates this corpus to the ‘’Migritude’’, a phenomenon presented as the raising of a new generation of African writers in contemporary France. The writer’s institutional approach also comes to strengthen this perception. Indeed, a mess of them have signed the manifesto of the World Literature in French. Our thesis needs to examine these problems through the Literature Discourse Analysis approach. The primary step is about the reminder of historiography related to postcolonial African travel fictions. Afterwards the reflection seeks to compare those African novels, between the founding and the recent, on the basis of categories such as characters, space and imaginary. With regard to postcolonial theories as well as the narrative phenomenon of intertextuality, this thesis finally consider the emerging of post-colonial African Travel Literature as the rewriting of an archive running across Francophone African travel-writings since the early twenty century. They all question the accessibility of Africa and its diaspora to the Global Culture.

Texte remanié de: Thèse de doctorat--Histoire--Paris 3, 2003. / Bibliogr. p. 523-535. Index.

Thèse de doctorat : Lettres : Paris Est : 2008. Thèse de doctorat : Lettres : Université de Bâle, Suisse : 2008. / Titre provenant de l'écran-titre.

Thèses (M.A.)--Université de Sherbrooke (Canada), 1999. / Titre de l'écran-titre (visionné le 20 juin 2006). Publié aussi en version papier.

Ce travail a pour objectif d’analyser la production narrative et poétique de l’écrivain tunisien Abdelwahab Meddeb, en comparaison avec les ouvrages du Moyen Age arabe et persan. L’auteur reprend en effet, par le biais de pratiques intertextuelles, les ouvrages des philosophes et des écrivains orientaux qui plus ont marqué le monde musulman, en arrivant à en faire une synthèse originale. Cette perspective multiculturelle ouvre la voie à une instance narrative polyphonique, où les textes se confondent et se mélangent. En un premier moment, l’étude porte sur les théories intertextuelles et leur application chez Meddeb ; dans la deuxième partie, l’analyse se concentre sur les correspondances internes à l’œuvre meddebienne, pour laisser la place, dans la dernière partie, aux aspects intertextuels que le texte francophone entretient avec les autres auteurs. / This dissertation focuses upon francophone Tunisian literature, with particular attention to Abdelwahab Meddeb’s novels and poems. The author constantly quotes Arabic and Persian medieval works which enrich his text. Meddeb’s works are based on this intertextuality and have for this reason a polyphonic style. The research seeks to show the relation between the authors and to analyse them. This work is structured in 3 sections: the first one maps out intertextual theories and applies them to Meddeb’s works; the second focuses on correspondences inside Meddeb’s works, and the third considers intertextual aspects with Arab and Persian medieval authors.

Cette thèse analyse le fonctionnement des tropismes sarrautiens dans <em>Enfance</em> de Nathalie Sarraute. D'abord, nous contextualisons l'écriture de Sarraute dans le paysage « nouveau-romanesque» pour montrer comment son écriture est singulière. Ensuite, nous expliquons le concept du <em>tropisme</em> pour pouvoir étudier l'influence de la double narration dans <em>Enfance</em> sur son fonctionnement. Nous trouvons que le dialogue crée un espace particulièrement propice à la réalisation des <em>tropismes</em>. Nous concluons la thèse par une réflexion sur le statut d'<em>Enfance</em> comme texte à caractère autobiographique. / Master of Arts (MA)