The Right Reverend William Henry Marmion was consecrated as bishop of the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia on May 13, 1954, days prior to the Brown v. Board of Education decision and just over a decade after the Episcopal Church's General Convention formally opposed racial discrimination. A diocesan conference center in Hungry Mother State Park, purchased soon after his consecration, sparked a controversy that was to smolder and flame for the first decade of Marmion's 25 years as bishop. Marmion led the move to desegregate the diocesan conference center, Hemlock Haven, in 1958 and subsequently effected integration by closing three of the four black churches in the diocese and inviting members to choose a neighboring church to join. The initial integration of the diocese was a turbulent process that centered around Hemlock Haven. The diocese moved with some difficulty towards racial integration in a microcosm of what was happening in the wider Church and in the United States. Historical documents, secondary sources, interviews, and theoretical understanding of minority responses to oppression help me to describe this time of racial desegregation of the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia and its implications. Critical theory gleaned from W. E. B. Du Bois and from Homi Bhabha informs my understanding of some of the implications as well as many of the actions and outcomes. Du Bois's notion of double consciousness and Bhbaba's similar term hybridity, both of which acknowledge a dual locus of identity and of power, are relevant to understanding some of the interactions revealed by primary source correspondence. I will focus on Hemlock Haven as the entry point into desegregation and on the black churches in the diocese, both before and after that critical point, adding the witness of black voices to the white narrative of this history. A historical look at the trajectory of race and race relations in the Episcopal Church informs the moment of the caesura--an interruption--the desegregation of Hemlock Haven, and the fate of the four black churches in the diocese. From the point of the rupture comes identification, the emergence of a new space, a cultural reboot. / Ph. D.

This thesis examines representations of the French educational system in Senegal as presented in L'aventure ambiguë and L'appel des arènes. Each unfolding respectively within a colonial and postcolonial Senegalese context, the novels problematize the French school system by incorporating representations of its failures. As this thesis will argue, analyzing each author's educational discourse will unmask a Senegalese perspective on a French institution, showcase various ways that Senegalese students internalized their educational experience and provide representations of the ways in which French education could be, and was, utilized by its pupils. Using two African novels in French to interpret historical experience will facilitate understanding of the French educational system from a Senegalese perspective. The first chapters create a foundation for analysis: Chapter two explains French goals and objectives when implementing a formal educational system in West Africa, while chapter three explores the form and function of the African novel in order to present it as a useful historical tool. Having defined the African novel in French as a viable means to interpret historical experience, chapter four focuses analysis on revealing how a system that was meant to procure French dominance, was ultimately transformed into a tool for Senegalese advantage. / Master of Arts

Ce mémoire en recherche-création débute par un récit intitulé Les dents de sagesse du bestiaire inquiétant, qui est formé de dix contes où prennent place dans un monde fantastique les aventures d’un bestiaire. Ce texte qui met en scène l’histoire d’animaux hybrides cherche également l’expérimentation textuelle par l’écriture automatique des surréalistes. Il pratique l’hybridité des genres comme la lettre, l’essai, le poème et la chanson. Ainsi, la nature hybride des créatures des contes s’appuient sur l’esthétique formelle de l’œuvre. La deuxième partie intitulée Le détournement du mythe « femme-enfant » dans les contes fantastiques de Gisele Prassinos, propose une réflexion sur les contes fantastiques de l’auteure surréaliste Gisèle Prassinos, choisie par les surréalistes comme symbole du mythe de la « femme-enfant » quand elle avait quatorze ans. Pourtant, l’auteure rejette ce mythe dans ses écrits (Les mots endormis et Trouver sans chercher) tout en gardant la pratique de l’écriture automatique des surréalistes et le ludisme textuel. Cet essai étudie le détournement de la « femme-enfant » dans les contes de Prassinos grâce à une lecture plus profonde de ceux-ci. / This M.A. Thesis combines both research and creative writing. It starts with a narrative story entitled Les dents de sagesse du bestiaire inquiétant which contains ten tales. These tales take place in a fantasy world of bestiary adventures. This text about hybrid beasts is also an experimental text of the automatic writing process used by surrealists. It merges genres, such as letter, essay, poem and song. Thus, the hybrid nature of creatures in these tales justifies the formal aesthetic of this literary work. The second part entitled Le détournement du mythe « femme-enfant » dans les contes fantastiques de Gisele Prassinos proposes a critical reading of the fantasy tales of surrealist author Gisèle Prassinos, who was chosen by surrealists as a symbol of the "femme-enfant" myth, when she was only 14 years old. However, the author firmly rejects this myth in her own writings (Les mots endormis and Trouver sans chercher), even though she engages in the surrealistic automatic writing process and ludic texts. Through a detailed reading, this essay analyses the deconstruction of the "femme-enfant" myth in Prassinos’ tales.

Cette thèse étudie le thème du mariage interculturel et des identités hybrides de personnages dans The Pickup (2001) de Nadine Gordimer, The Translator (1999) de Leila Aboulela et A Mighty Collision of Two Worlds (2002) de Safi Abdi. L’étude cherche à explorer comment les identités culturelles des protagonistes changent lorsqu’ils se marient avec une personne d’une culture différente des leurs et qu’ils rencontrent de nouvelles traditions et de nouvelles croyances. La théorie de l’hybridité développée par Homi Bhabha et par d’autres théoriciens de l’hybridité peut être un outil pertinent pour analyser l’identité des personnages. Bhabha soutient que ceux qui traversent les cultures vivent dans un “in-between space” ou un “third space,” fluctuant entre leur culture d’origine et leur culture d’accueil. Cependant, les conclusions de l’étude montrent que ces personnages de fiction présentent des cas qui n’ont pas été explorés par les théoriciens de l’hybridité. On s’aperçoit d’autre part, que plusieurs facteurs de nature culturelle, religieuse, personnelle ou sociale influencent les protagonistes dans les romans : soit ils leur identité hybride s’affirme, soit ils conservent la façon de vivre de leur pays d’origine. On remarque aussi que les mariages interculturels et l’identité hybride sont liés entre eux. Le mariage interculturel peut être à la fois la manifestation de l’hybridité, et dans ce cas il est perçu comme une affirmation du vécu hybride servant du même coup de moyen d’aller vers l’hybridité. Contrairement à ce à quoi on pourrait s’attendre, on observe que parfois les relations interculturelles entraînent une réaction anti-hybride / This dissertation studies the subject of cross-cultural marriage and hybrid identities of characters in Nadine Gordimer’s The Pickup (2001), Leila Aboulela’s The Translator (1999), and Safi Abdi’s A Mighty Collision of two Worlds (2002). The study seeks to find out how the cultural identities of the protagonists in the novels change when they marry across cultures and face new traditions and beliefs. Hybridity theory, which is developed by Homi Bhabha and other hybridity theorists, can be a relevant tool for analysis of the characters’ identities. Bhabha contends that those who cross cultures live in an “in-between space” or “third space” in which they oscillate between their native culture and the host culture. However, results show that fictional characters present cases which have not been explored by hybridity theorists. In addition, it is stressed that various factors of a cultural, religious, personal, and social nature affect the protagonists in the novels to either develop a hybrid identity or maintain their native way of life. It is also found that cross-cultural marriage and hybridity are correlated. The former can be both a manifestation of hybridity, where the protagonists’ cross-cultural marriage is seen as an assertion of their hybrid experience, and as a means to hybridity. Contrary to expectations, it is observed that cross-cultural relationships lead to an anti-hybrid reaction

Abstract OLD WORLD, NEW MEDIA: CROSS-CULTURAL EXPLORATIONS WITH CAMERA AND ANALYTIC TEXT IN CUSCO, PERU By Scott DuPre Mills, PhD. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2014 Major Director: Dr. Nicholas A Sharp, Assistant Professor, Department of English This dissertation draws on my field research in Cusco, Peru, documenting Old World methods of making Andean musical instruments. The cross-cultural interactions I engaged in are concretized and documented in the ethnographic film I shot at the time and in my experimentation with original music recorded with these handmade instruments. I have revisited the family that produces these instruments each summer from 2003-2013 and built a relationship that has provided me with an in-depth perspective on the centuries-old tradition of making musical instruments. These instruments afford an exceptionally high quality sound and are created specifically for local professional musicians. My search for an authentic Andean charango occasioned complex association with local artisans, enabling me to perform various roles as a participant in this cross-cultural interaction, from musician and documentary filmmaker to teacher in the summer study program in Peru. Both the fact that VCU students and faculty expressed interest in buying these instruments, and our group expenditures in Peru, enhanced the instrument-making family economically, providing them with the means to expand their production of instruments. Each year after my return back to the United States, I studied closely the documentary footage I had recorded and found that the camera can function as a writing device. In order to explore further and understand conceptually my intuitions, I researched newer theories about camera consciousness and developed my own concepts that are articulated in this dissertation. In the process, I have drawn interdisciplinary connections between Ethnography, Media theory and Anthropological concepts as they relate to human activities in the area of media, art, text. A central theoretical argument in my dissertation underscores the fact that the new media have altered the definition of literacy. In exploring the elements of (traditional and digital) photography, moving image, audio and written text as they define the new intermediatic context, it became apparent that New Media requires an ability to “read” beyond the medium of the written word. This is relevant also for my study of traditional instrument-making in Peru. Because many of the “Old world” methods of creating instruments and music existed outside of a literary (verbal) account or explanation, these methods often became lost or forgotten as new modes of mass production took over. The type of multimedia approach that I am illustrating in this dissertation, mixing traditional with New Media methodologies, has the potential to reconnect us to “Old World” forms via the visual and audio elements that are not directly present in verbal texts. A significant portion of my dissertation explores the introduction and development of the New Media and the devices that connect human beings to the digital domain. My examination foregrounds both the positive and negative implications of the New Media. The inclusion of an anthropological perspective in this discussion provides a broader view of human behavior in relation to the development of communication technology and multimedia.

The thesis titled Putting Chopin and the Rez Together: Multicultural Features in Tomson Highway's Work focuses on the work of renowned Native Canadian playwright, novelist, and musician Tomson Highway. The paper analyses those features of his writing and music that express the idea of multiculturalism and hybridity. It discusses the nature of the characters in his work and the image of the central character of Native mythology, the trickster. The analysis of dramatic techniques and music shows the way Highway combines his Euro-Canadian education and Native sensibility. Highway supports and promotes the notion of multiculturalism by his work. It has helped him to find personal as well as creative independence.

Urban spaces have appeared in literature for a long time and they seem to fascinate a lot of contemporary writers. The constructions of cities become exceptionally complex in postcolonial British fiction that portrays urban landscape from the perspective of first and second generation immigrants from Britain's former colonies. All of the novels discussed in this work are set in London and the characters are immigrants of the South Asian and Caribbean diasporas in Britain: the thesis focuses namely on Brick Lane (Monica Ali), White Teeth (Zadie Smith) and Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee (Meera Syal). However, the work also makes short digressions to a number of older works which deal with the immigrant experience in London: The Lonely Londoners (Sam Selvon), The Satanic Verses (Salman Rushdie) and The Buddha of Suburbia (Hanif Kureishi). The entire thesis consists of five parts and begins with an introduction to several theoretical terms that are necessary for analyses of immigrant identities and urban spaces. All of the theory that is discussed in the first chapter is then applied to the chosen novels by Ali, Smith and Syal. Overall, the thesis focuses on the ways in which the ex-colonial subjects in the books perceive London according to their gender and the particular generation of immigrants that...

Situées dans le contexte pluriculturel et interculturel de l'île de La Réunion, l'éducation et la transmission familiale de l'identité culturelle réunionnaise sont complexes et menacées. Le « refus » ou l'« appropriation » s'illustrent par de multiples facteurs. Le « refus » est généralement motivé par la pression moderniste et assimilatrice républicaine et mondiale représentant un tremplin vers la promotion sociale ; ce qui entraine l’abandon de valeurs considérées comme anciennes, et les plus souvent dévalorisées. La motivation du refus se réalise de même par des influences des origines ethniques de cette communauté créole réunionnaise, à plus ou moins faible capital symbolique, et peu sensibilisée à ses « racines », c'est-à-dire à une « cohérence symbolique ». L'« appropriation » de l'identité culturelle réunionnaise se trouve, quant à elle, motivée parfois par un certain militantisme des tendances socio-politico-économiques exclusivement centrées sur La Réunion, mais aussi la prise de conscience de la richesse culturelle réunionnaise, soit naturellement, soit face aux pertes dues à la mondialisation, soit après l'expérience du manque ou encore pour sentir son appartenance à un groupe, etc. Ces deux courants se dessinent en fonction des choix d'éducation et de transmission, inscrites au sein des familles. Une troisième voie, entre « refus » et « appropriation » semble s'imposer peu à peu : une voie vers un « tissage d'un nouveau métissage » ; un travail sur une appropriation consciente et intentionnelle d'une nouvelle fibre culturelle et identitaire, où seraient conciliées la richesse de l'identité culturelle créole réunionnaise et celle de l'identité française, du modernisme et de la mondialisation. / Located in the multicultural and intercultural context of island of La Réunion, education and transmission of family about cultural identity reunion are complex and threatened. The "refusal" or "ownership" is illustrated by multiple factors. The "refusal" is usually motivated by the pressure modernist republican assimilation and global representing a springboard to social advancement which leads to an abandonment of values considered old, and most often devalued. The reasons for the refusal is realized, in the same way, by ethnic and creole reunion community influences, more or less low symbolic capital, and little aware about its "roots", that is to say a "symbolic coherence ". The "ownership" of reunion cultural identity is on it, sometimes motivated by a militant of socio-politico-economic focus exclusively on La Réunion, but also awareness of the cultural wealth of Reunion, either naturally or face losses due to globalization, after the lack of experience or to feel they belong to a group, etc. These two trends are emerging based on the choices of education and transmission, registered within families. A third way between "refusal" and "ownership" seems to gradually impose : a path to a "weaving a new mixing" work on a conscious and intentional appropriation of a new cultural fiber and identity, where be reconciled the wealth of the cultural and the réunion creole identity, french identity, modernism and globalization.

In post-apartheid South Africa, Coloured communities are engaged in reconstructing identities and social histories. This study examines the representation of community, identity, culture and historic memory in two films about Westbury, Johannesburg, South Africa. The films are Westbury, Plek van Hoop, a documentary, and Waiting for Valdez, a short fiction piece. The ambiguous nature of Coloured identity, coupled with the absence of recorded histories and unambiguous identification with collective cultural codes, results in the representation of identity becoming contested and marginal. Through constructing narratives of lived experience, hybrid communities can challenge dominant stereotypes and subvert discourses of otherness and difference. Analysis of the films reveals that the Coloured community have reverted to stereotypical documentary forms in representing their communal history. Although the documentary genre lays claim to the representation of reality and authentic experience, documentary is not always an effective vehicle for the representation of lived experience and remembered history. Fiction can reinterpret memory by accessing the emotional textures of past experiences in a more direct way.

Cette étude comparative des œuvres d’Edouard Glissant et de Derek Walcott examine le devenir de la littérature antillaise ainsi que l’évolution des littératures dites postcoloniales.A partir des notions critiques d’esthétique, de politique, de culture et de stratégie discursive, nous avons examiné les œuvres de Glissant et celles de Walcott selon une perspective historique. En effet, la question de la place de l’Histoire étroitement liée à l’expérience personnelle des auteurs est au cœur des textes. Ils mettent en avant l’odyssée d’une Histoire antillaise marginale et fantasmée qui cherche à se frayer un chemin et concurrencer une Histoire traditionnelle.De cette tension, se dégage un jeu de dualité où continuités et ruptures, résistance et appropriation du discours de l’Occident constituent au fil de l’étude un trait distinctif de l’approche des textes. Mais ce qui en montre l’intérêt et l’originalité, c’est leur capacité à s’ériger comme un exposé représentatif du monde contemporain. La question de l’Histoire va au-delà du parcours colonial du monde occidental et le discours qui s’en rattache est loin d’une dénonciation ou l’expression d’une culpabilité et encore moins celle des bienfaits de la colonisation. Les auteurs appellent en revanche à l’expression d’une vision fragmentée de l’Histoire dont l’approche se situe dans la reconnaissance de la diversité des représentations historiques, littéraires et culturelles. Qu’il s’agisse d’épopées, de récits de vie, de chroniques historiques ou politiques, de simples anecdotes ou de réflexions philosophiques qui ponctuent le vaste champ de leur production, Walcott et Glissant apportent un souffle nouveau à la pensée postcoloniale et prolongent son avenir. Ensemble, ils communiquent, échangent et s’opposent parfois pour faire apparaître des procédés conceptuels et méthodologiques qui permettent d’appréhender autrement la littérature, les sciences humaines et sociales. / This comparative study of the works of Edouard Glissant and Derek Walcott examines the development of postcolonial literatures especially west indies literature.Based on the critical notions of aesthetic, political, cultural and discursive strategy, we assessed the works of authors through a historical perspective. Indeed, the question of the place of history and personal experience is at the heart of the texts. The authors highlight the fantasised odyssey of a marginal Caribbean History which is trying to make its way and to be in competition with a traditional History.From this tension, emerges a set of duality where continuities and ruptures, resistance and appropriation of the discourse of the West are honoured hallmark of this works. However, what shows interest and originality, is their ability to establish themselves as a functional presentation of the contemporary world. The question of history goes beyond the colonial path of the Western world, hence the discourse that is coming from it isn’t relegated to complaint or quest of guilt and even less of the benefits of colonization. On the contrary, the authors call the expression of a fragmented view of History. Whether epics of life story, historical or political columns, simple stories or philosophical reflections that punctuate the vast field of production, Walcott and Glissant give new impetus to the postcolonial thinking and extend its future. Together, they communicate, interact and sometimes clash to reveal the conceptual and methodological processes that allow us to understand literature in antoher way, humanities and social sciences.