The numerous and varied conspiracy theories which circulate in the contemporary discourse are subject to hyperstition, insofar as they are grouped into wider, more elaborate structures. Some of them become hierarchic to such a degree, that they may, in Michael Barkun's typology, be labeled as "superconspiracy" constructs. No author is more prolific and systematic in the crafting of these constructs than the guru of anglophone conspiracy theory belief, David Icke. The work attempts to keep as its object of study the work of David Icke and his "reptoid hypothesis," as it is effectively one of the most elaborate and baroque conspiracy theories which populate contemporary political discourse. It is Icke's oeuvre which this thesis attempts to recontextualize within the confines of critical social theory and Žižekian psychoanalysis. The existence of a "paranoid style" as professed by Richard J. Hofstadter can be noted throughout the history of western culture, from the Homeric gods, scheming behind the scenes, to its modern incarnations culminating in the superconspiracy constructs of David Icke, Alex Jones, and others. The work focuses not on specific conspiracy theories and their claim to facticity, but rather attempts to trace the structural features of Icke's construct and establish their underlying...

This thesis considers a theoretical tradition which is concerned with how adult literacies education might not always serve to socialise students into existing society, instead encouraging possibilities for desirable alternatives to it. Without this possibility, adult literacies education might only be understood as a socialising machine that slots students into society as it stands and where the role of research is to describe its operation. My research describes a long-standing refusal by educators, researchers and students to accept this possibility and my thesis continues this tradition. Through the analysis and interplay of the work of Pierre Bourdieu, James Paul Gee, Paulo Freire, Jacques Rancière, I distinguish between empowerment and emancipation in the context of literacies education. I set out the assumptions that Bourdieu and Gee make, how they understand power, identity, discourse and oppression, and what this means for the practice of an empowering adult literacies education. I also present assumptions made by Freire and Rancière, how they understand equality and oppression, and how an emancipatory literacies education might be understood and practiced. In particular, I describe how education for ‘empowerment’ encourages practices underpinned by the assumption that ideological processes prevent students from understanding how oppression is manifested. In contrast, I describe how an emancipatory education implies enacting educational relationships that are not reliant on this assumption, whilst exerting a social response to societal oppression. I make three claims. Firstly, that the idea of an emancipatory literacies education has come to be neglected or conflated with the idea that literacies education might empower, which has come to hold great sway. In so doing, I critique Freire’s work whilst reclaiming it as an emancipatory project. Secondly, that the educational practices associated with adult literacies for empowerment can be understood to encourage the socialisation of students into society as it stands. This emphasises the importance of distinguishing between empowerment and emancipation in the context of adult literacies education. Finally, that emancipation is a notion that must continue to be questioned and explored if educators, students and academics are to take responsibility for the practice of adult literacies education and its consequences. An emancipatory literacies education cannot be reliant upon the assumption that discourse is inherently ideological. Instead, it is predicated upon teachers and students assuming that emancipation is possible and acting on that assumption.

L’étude archéologique du bâti de l’abbatiale Sainte-Foy de Conques, essentiellement centrée sur les pierres d’appareil, a pour double objectif de mettre en avant, autant que possible, des indices matériels susceptibles d’éclairer la marche des travaux ainsi que d’appréhender les dimensions technique et économique et, plus généralement, l’organisation de ce grand chantier roman. Le croisement des données archéologiques, telles que les discontinuités des maçonneries et la distribution des matériaux, des techniques de taille, des marques lapidaires et des trous de boulin, permet de proposer un phasage de la construction, qui fournit, par la suite, un cadre chronologique indépendant et efficace pour l’étude de la sculpture de l’abbatiale. Ainsi l’évolution interne de la sculpture est-elle retracée, par l’intermédiaire d’une approche stylistique globale. Les modalités des transferts artistiques entre Conques, Compostelle et l’Auvergne sont également mieux définies, ce qui invite à reconsidérer la chronologie des églises romanes d’Auvergne,d’autant que certains chantiers auvergnats et celui de Conques se situent dans la même géographie technique durant la deuxième moitié du XIe siècle. / This archaeological study of the building of the abbey church of Sainte-Foy in Conques, which is mainly focused on facing stones, has a double objective: on the one hand, to discern, as much as possible, material indications likely to enlighten the progress of construction work; on the other hand, to understand technical and economic dimensions and, more generally, the site organisation of this major Romanesque building project. Archaeological data, such as masonry discontinuities, distribution of different petrographic types, stone-cutting techniques, masons’ marks and putlog holes, make it possible to propose a construction phasing, which offers an independent and efficient framework for study of the sculpture of Sainte-Foy. The sculpture evolution is thus traced, through a global stylistic approach. Artistic transfers between Conques, Santiago de Compostela and Auvergne have also been better defined, which leads to reconsider the chronology of Romanesque churches of Auvergne, especially as Conques and Auvergne were located in the same technical geography during the second half of the eleventh century.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:30:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Vera Maria de Carvalho Pinto Rodrigues.pdf: 663787 bytes, checksum: 0ed00c284e05b5029793ab9a3aa0b98c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-06-01 / This essay intends to analyze the principle of mutualism in light of the eighteenth century contractual theory produced by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, as a form of free association that brings benefits for all of its members, which benefits are to be reached through the gathering of forces of those members aiming the common good. It will be explored the similarities between the contractual theory of Rousseau and the principle of mutualism, since in both cases the members of a collectivity contribute to get benefits from this association. Thus, these members assure protection against occasional misfortunes and related damages arising from its occurrence. Then, we start to view the social pact as a more specific kind of association, as in the insurance agreements, and not as a political organization. We will also study the relation between the risk inherent to the social contract and to the insurance agreement, which has the principle of mutualism as cornerstone. It will be discussed the philosophical fundaments of the principle of mutualism in the insurance agreements, since the insurance agreements are based on the concepts of the common good, presented in Rousseau's contractual theory; allowing that all the members of the insured collectivity benefit from the tranquility of having their personal or material assets protected against future or uncertain misfortunes, or against damages caused at the time of the loss, that could not be borne by them individually. At last, we will analyze the principle of mutualism and the insurance agreements in the Civil Code of 2002, and on recent decision of the Appellate Courts of the State of São Paulo / O presente trabalho tem por proposta a análise do princípio do mutualismo à luz da teoria contratualista do século XVIII elaborada por Jean-Jacques Rousseau, como forma de associação livre que traz benefícios para todos os que dela participam, alcançados pela soma de esforços para o bem comum. Serão exploradas as semelhanças a teoria contratualista de Rousseau entre o princípio do mutualismo, visto que em ambos os casos os membros de determinada coletividade contribuem para se beneficiar dessa associação, garantindo, assim, a proteção contra eventuais infortúnios e danos decorrentes de sua ocorrência. Passa-se, então a considerar o pacto social sob um prisma menor de associação, como nos contratos de seguro, e não sob o ponto de vista de organização política da sociedade; assim como será abordada a relação entre o risco inerente ao contrato social e ao contrato de seguro, cujo pilar de sustentação está no princípio do mutualismo. Serão feitas considerações sobre a fundamentação filosófica do princípio do mutualismo nos contratos de seguro, na medida em que este é fundado nas concepções de bem comum, tais como apresentadas no contratualismo de Rousseau; possibilitando que todos integrantes da massa segurada desfrutem da tranqüilidade de garantir seus bens pessoais ou materiais dos infortúnios futuros e incertos, ou dos danos efetivamente causados quando da ocorrência de sinistros, o que de forma isolada não teriam condições de assumir. Por fim, serão feitas reflexões sobre o princípio do mutualismo e os contratos de seguro no Código Civil de 2002, bem como sobre recentes decisões do E. Tribunal de Justiça do Estado de São Paulo

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T19:31:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Angela de Campos Machado Vessoni Calderazzo.pdf: 2921338 bytes, checksum: 82c420b3f20e988e3b94b4423021ce8b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-11-03 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / By the immanent analysis of the libretti, scores and recordings of the operas La découverte du nouveau monde, Le devin du village, Daphnis et Chloé, Les muses galantes, Pygmalion, romances and motets, composed by Jean-Jacques Roussseau, our work s theme is the history of the Enlightenment society through the composer s critic to what he named tourbillon social. Such critic was built on the hypothesis of a state of nature foreseen to correct a turbulent and corrupt society. Our starting point is the idea that Rousseau s sensitivity, as an artist of the XVIII th. Century, explains a paradoxal world and expresses a contradiction which opposes the natural to the modern . It is an idealization that confronts nature with the corrupt society; that materializes, in music and text, a modern vision of world, which moved away from a state of nature idealized by the composer. A design about the bourgeois world of the XVIII th. Century, and about the way a woman behaved in that social dynamics / Pela análise imanente dos libretos, partituras e gravações das óperas La decouverte du nouveau monde, Le devin du village, Daphnis et Chloé, Les muses galantes, Pygmalion, romanzas e motetos compostos por Jean-Jacques Rousseau, nosso trabalho tematiza a história da sociedade iluminista pela crítica do compositor ao que denominou tourbillon social. Crítica construída com a hipótese de um estado de natureza previsto para corrigir uma sociedade turbulenta e corrupta. Partimos da idéia de que a sensibilidade de Rousseau, como um artista do século XVIII, explica uma paradoxalidade de mundo e expressa uma contradição que opõe o natural ao moderno. Uma idealização que confronta natureza e sociedade corrompida. Que materializa, em música e texto, uma visão de mundo moderna, que se afastou de um estado de natureza idealizado pelo compositor. Um desenho do mundo burguês do século XVIII e da forma como a mulher agia naquela dinâmica social

This essay examines the inherent instability present in Diana Wynne Jones’ 1986 novel Howl’s Moving Castle. I suggest that in relying on the ambiguity of the story and the setting, Jones creates not only a more complex universe, but allows the characters to be multidimensional -- both literally and figuratively -- without having any stable selves. Using deconstruction as a (non-existent) foundation for my analysis, I contend that the strength of the story is in the looseness of it. Thus, by using a Derridean approach with added Cixousian feminist elements and a heap of Kristevian intertextuality, I further argue that Jones invites the reader to embrace the ambiguity of identity by closely analyzing the conflicting behaviours of the two main characters in the novel, Sophie Hatter and Wizard Howl. In conclusion, I argue that Diana Wynne Jones through subverting classic fairy tale tropes in an ingenious way, suggests that there is no such thing as a final finished growing person and that there is comfort to be found in embracing this incompleteness.

國立政治大學研究所碩士論文提要 研究所別： 英國語文研究所 論文名稱： 閱讀溫特森«銘刻在身»的爽 指導教授： 劉建基教授 研究生： 張惠慈 論文提要內容： （共一冊，約 31500 字，分五章） 本研究關於溫特森的《銘刻在身》旨在探究在閱讀此文本過程中，不同程度及不同形式的爽(jouissance)。此研究將著重於三方面：其一，追求愛情的爽；其二，在幻想中永恆的爽；其三，閱讀文本《銘刻於身》的爽。本論文將分五個章節。 我在第一章的前半部簡介溫特森及她的小說，在後半部，描繪拉岡心理學中三個限界（幻真界[the real]，想像界[the imaginary]，及象徵界[the symbolic]），及此三界與爽的交互作用。這三個限界及爽，將是本研究的理論基石。 第二章的討論旨在解釋，為何敘述者著迷於不斷陷入愛情，及為何露伊絲在小說結尾莫名其妙的消失了。乍看之下，敘述者對露伊絲的愛相當矛盾：敘述者對露伊絲宣稱其無窮的愛，卻又刻意地悄悄的遠離了她。然而事實上，敘述者的矛盾行為堪稱合理：因為愛與失去是共生的。在浪漫愛情故事裡，一段介於愛的主體(the loving subject)及被愛客體(the loved object)之間的距離是必要的。表面上，愛的主體（敘述者）的追求過程裡看來痛苦，而實際上他正無意識的，享受著對被愛客體無限的追求時的爽。在這迷戀他者的過程中，主體實際上是自我迷戀(narcissism)，而在這自我迷戀的過程中，主體將其自我理想(an ego-ideal)投射在被愛客體上，並美化被愛客體成為一理想的自我(an ideal ego)。 在第三章，我將對敘述者迷戀愛情的現象做更深入的探討：到底敘述者打算由露伊絲的完美形象中挖掘什麼，以及為何敘述者得與一個理想戀人，住在一個理想愛情的幻象之中？我發掘出其中最主要的原因來自於，主體懼怕被去勢及懼怕象徵界中的無能（例如婚姻、老去、死亡）。主體具有一個原生的欲望：期待完滿及永恆（此欲望是期待回歸幻象界以及獲得爽），然而在現實世界（象徵界）的短缺及壓迫之下，回歸的可能被榨乾。幻象(fantasy)於是成為主體（敘述者）的護欄，它一方面讓主體相信自己是全能，另一方面它掩蔽事實，讓主體忘卻自身的不完整和無能為力。 在第四章，我跳出單單在文本內容中的討論，進而探討文本與讀者之間的關係；本討論的立論基礎為羅蘭巴特的書寫式文本(writerly text)。在文本╱讀者及露伊絲╱敘述者之間，有一類似的有趣現象：文本之於讀者正如同露伊絲之於敘述者。在這兩個情況當中同時都有一被動的客體(the desired or probed object)勾引探索中的主體(the probing subject)，然後再由主體的追求中脫逃而去。閱讀《銘刻於身》，表面上痛苦萬分，而實際上卻令人陶醉：因為閱讀的爽正源自於，作者刻意設計的不確定因素(uncertain elements)。這些不確定因素，一方面玩弄讀者，一方面也在文本上形成一未填滿的空間，其特徵就是不斷的衍生(endless generation)－－讀者可以參與創造各式各類的可能性，而意義的系統將不斷延伸。一個單一的文本，在此不斷延伸的系統下，便成了多重文本，而閱讀此類書寫式文本之樂趣，就在於讀者不得不參與創造意義的過程。 最後我在第五章的結論部份，總結了愛與閱讀的爽具有相同的條件與模式：在追求的主體（讀者與愛的主體）與被追求的客體（文本及被愛客體）之間，空間與距離是不可避免的要素，因為隱藏在人體內的爽本身就是一個矛盾體。 Chapter One Introduction Chapter Two The Jouissance of Pursuing Love Chapter Three The Jouissance of Being Immortal in Fantasy Chapter Four The Bliss of Reading Written on the Body: A Writerly Text with Jouissance Chapter Five Coda / Abstract In this study of Jeanette Winterson’s Written on the Body I would like to explore jouissance in different forms and levels in the process of reading this novel. The emphasis will be laid upon three aspects: first, the jouissance of pursuing love; secondly, the jouissance of being immortal in fantasy; and thirdly, the jouissance of reading this novel. The thesis is divided into five parts. In the first chapter, the beginning section is devoted to a general introduction of Jeanette Winterson and her novels; in the ensuing section, I will picture the interrelationships between the three registers—the real, the imaginary, and the symbolic—and jouissance in Lacanian psychoanalysis, which will be adopted as the interpretative model to account for the theme of jouissance in the whole thesis. In the second chapter, I will stress on the narrator’s exalted love toward Louise and the construction of his/her ego. On the surface, it is odd that the narrator’s sublime love for Louise contradicts his/her decision—to leave Louise; however this paradox is reasonable, because love and loss is in fact symbiosis. A distance between the loving subject and the loved object is necessary in the case of romantic love; though painful, the loving subject enjoys itself in the act of endless pursuit for the loved object, which is actually an ideal ego of the subject’s self. The paradox of love in company with suffering explains the narrator’s addiction in love and the disappearance of Louise. In the third chapter, my interest is getting deeper: what does the narrator want to grub out of the ideal image of Louise, and why does the narrator have to live in the fantasy of ideal love and to be with an ideal lover? The principal cause that I will explore is the fear of being castrated and of the impotency of the symbolic. The subject has an essential desire to be integral and immortal (which is the concept of the real and is allied to jouissance), but there are forces from the reality (or the symbolic) to drain this desire. Therefore, fantasy becomes a protective talisman for the narrator (as well as for every subject) to forget its fragmentation and inability. In the fourth chapter, the interrelation between the text and the reader is the dominant consideration, and Roland Barthes’ theory of writerly text that engenders bliss (jouissance) will be the critical base. There is an interesting formula between the text/the reader and Louise/the narrator. The text for the reader is similar to Louise for the narrator: in both situations, the desired one seduces and slides from the probing other. Reading Written on the Body on the surface is painful and irritating; in a sense, the act of reading is ecstatic. The origin of the bliss of reading is the uncertain elements intentionally created by the author. The unfilled space in the text that entertains readers is characterized by its feature of endless generation—various possibilities are created, and the network of meanings extends. Therefore, to conclude the whole scheme of love and reading in the fifth chapter, I will point out that a space or a distance between the pursuing subject (the reader or the loving subject) and the pursued object (the text of the loved object) is inevitable because jouissance inherent in the human body is in its essence paradoxical.

艾薩卡•丹尼森 (Isak Dinesen) 的回憶錄《遠離非洲》(Out of Africa) 記載了她在英屬非洲殖民地──肯亞停留長達 17 年的心路歷程。在居留肯亞期間，丹尼森經營農場，並嘗試融入當地生活。然而，最後由於大自然災難衝擊，導致農場經營失敗，迫使她離去這個她賴以印證、再造自我的異地天堂。失意之餘，她在 1942 年重返丹麥，將這 17 年的經歷在回憶錄中娓娓道來。 本論文以雅克 • 德希達 (Jacques Derrida)「悅納異己」(hospitality) 的理論探討丹尼森的「虛構自我」(fictional I)──凱倫 • 布莉克森 (Karen Blixen) 在異地與他者相處的細節。她以客人的姿態進入肯亞，卻以農場主人的身份停留 17 年。由於身份的尷尬與模糊，使她自始至終都必須在罪惡感與焦慮中掙扎。這樣的模糊身份也直接影響了她身為農場主人所展現的待客之道。她一方面希望給予當地人「無條件待客之道」(unconditional hospitality)，但另一方面又礙於殖民情境下的種種因素，迫使她不得不實行「有條件待客之道」(conditional hospitality)。布莉克森的模糊身份、處在異地的心境，以及與他者相處的細節都和這兩種待客之道的更迭交替息息相關。 布莉克森的農場是個「交會區」(contact zone)，充滿不同文化的衝突與交融，也隱約存在著殖民情境下的階級氛圍。在此交會區中，布莉克森與農場上的當地人皆努力將其轉化為「安全地帶」(safe house)，以農場的合諧為最終目標，企圖弭平因文化差異而造成的緊張與衝突。在對於流亡白人的接待上，布莉克森又試圖將其轉化為德希達式的「新城市」(New City)，開放接受流亡到肯亞的白人。雖然最後「安全地帶」與「新城市」的理想都因農場經營的失敗告終，布莉克森的努力仍具有其價值；而理解殖民情境下種種理想的不可能性，也成為她旅行後的成長。 / Isak Dinesen’s Out of Africa, written in the beginning of the 20th century, is one of the modernist travel narratives which manifest the white settlers’ experiences in a foreign land. Dinesen spent 17 years of her prime time in Kenya, searching for a life answer only to find its ungraspability in the end. She returned to Denmark in 1942—a defeated homecoming—and rearranged her exotic experiences in the structure of a tragedy, a five-act play, and “telling a play” in front of her readers (Trousdale 171). With Jacques Derrida’s theory of hospitality, this thesis aims to trace how Blixen’s days in Kenya is characterized by her struggles over her own ambiguous identities as both the guest of the country and the host of the farm. As her stay in Kenya and her running of the farm are under the control of the colonial law, she hopes to compensate it with the unconditional hospitality to the Natives. However, under the colonial context, the hospitality she practices is constantly rendered conditional due to the possible problems dwelling in this “contact zone” (Pratt 6). Instead of focusing only on her possible imperial attempts in Kenya, this thesis hopes to explore more aspects of her role by tracing her interactions with the Natives. Although her farm is rifled with diverse cultural conflicts, Blixen strives to turn the contact zone into a “safe house,” a social space where all the members try to ignore the hierarchical system rooted prior to their encounters. She also tries to change it into a Derridian New City to welcome the white wanderers, and practice the two imperatives of hospitality in harmony. This ideal New City is an embodied projection of Blixen’s life pursuit as a colonial Odysseus, yet her struggles prove to be futile in the end. Dinesen’s act of writing—rearranging the memories in an elegiac tone—records her illusion in the beginning and her disillusionment in the end of the travel. Narcissistic as her ideal may seem, her efforts of bridging the cultural gaps and integrating with the native land cannot be ignored.

Dans son texte princeps " Dementia praecox ou groupe des schizophrénies " Paul Eugène Bleuler note que " l'autisme est à peu près la même chose que ce que Freud appelle autoérotisme ". Pourtant, en examinant en détails les autres définitions de l'autisme proposées par Bleuler, tout comme les travaux sur lesquels il a fondé ses élaborations, ainsi que les divers ouvrages de Sigmund Freud, rédigés pour répondre à Paul Eugène Bleuler, on peut constater, que cette remarque concernant la substitution pure et simple de l'auto-érotisme par l'autisme, en essayant éviter ainsi toute référence à la sexualité, est loin d'être exhaustive. La thèse de Bleuler selon laquelle " nous appelons autisme ce détachement de la réalité combiné à la prédominance relative ou absolue de la vie intérieure " ouvre des perspectives fort intéressantes pour la clinique. Ainsi ce n'est pas le narcissisme primaire, mais plutôt le narcissisme secondaire qui correspond à l'autisme bleulérien. Néanmoins cette réponse ne satisfait ni Sigmund Freud, ni Jacques Lacan qui essayent tous les deux d'affiner la conceptualisation psychanalytique des psychoses. Si Jacques Lacan a bien repris à son compte certains concepts freudiens, issus des tentatives de Freud de retravailler le concept bleulérien de l'autisme selon la théorie de la libido (comme le principe de plaisir / le principe de la réalité, la réalité psychique ou la perte de la réalité dans la névrose et dans la psychose), il les remanie à sa façon, souvent d'une manière subversive. C'est en questionnant et en remettant en cause le concept du narcissisme primaire, issu de la discussion à propos de l'autisme bleulérien, que Jacques Lacan en arrive à l'élaboration du stade du miroir et au cheminement qui lui permet la conceptualisation de l'aliénation / séparation, tout comme au questionnement du rapport du sujet et de l'Autre dans l'autisme. C'est ainsi qu'il indique également la perspective qui peut mener à la conception d'une certaine disposition du réel, de l'imaginaire et du symbolique selon la théorie des nœuds borroméens qui, à notre avis, pourrait correspondre à l'état autistique

Les saints matamores sont des saints militaires typiquement hispaniques qui, selon les légendes rapportées dans de nombreuses chroniques et hagiographies, seraient miraculeusement intervenus lors de certaines batailles de la Reconquête pour donner la victoire aux Chrétiens en déroute face aux envahisseurs musulmans. Notre travail de thèse consiste à étudier conjointement ces saints, au nombre de quatre (saint Jacques, apôtre et patron de l'Espagne, saint Emilien de la Cogolla, saint Isidore de Séville et saint Georges) notamment du point de vue de leurs représentations, tant textuelles qu'iconographiques. Il s'agit d'une part d'écrire une histoire de la sainteté militaire espagnole depuis ses origines, pour en dégager les caractéristiques essentielles. D'autre part, le but est de montrer, par le prisme des représentations, que ces saints sont des saints sui generis, ancrés dans un territoire spécifique mais aussi dans une Histoire, et que les espaces et les éléments de contexte historique ont largement influencé le traitement que les auteurs et les artistes leur ont réservé.