This study examines the return of Japanese Americans to Portland, Oregon, following their mass incarceration by the United States Federal government between 1942 and 1945. This essay examines the motivations of both returning Japanese Americans and various groups within the white community with equal focus in the hopes of writing a history that provides agency to both groups. The return of Japanese Americans to Portland was an event with broader implications than a mere chapter in the history of Japanese Americans. The rise of the Japanese Exclusion League and other groups interested in preventing the return of Japanese Americans to Oregon had their roots partly in the Oregon progressive coalition of the 1930s known as the Oregon Commonwealth Federation (OCF). Unified behind the cause of public ownership of electricity distribution, racially exclusive progressives such as Oregon Governor Walter M. Pierce and civil rights progressives such as American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Gus J. Solomon sought to protect Oregon's producer class of farmers and workers from exploitation by Portland business interests. After the dissolution of the OCF in 1940 and the attack on Pearl Harbor, the two progressive factions took opposite sides on the issues of the rights of Japanese Americans. In 1945, anti-Japanese organizers across the state, including Pierce, American Legion officials, and Portland politicians called for the permanent exclusion of Japanese Americans. The racist rhetoric of these organizers drew the ire of the Portland Council of Churches, civic leaders, and War Relocation Authority officials, who formed the Portland Citizens Committee to Aid Relocation, the main white group to help returners find housing and employment. Their arguments for tolerance depended heavily on the story of Japanese American military service during World War II. Responding to the shape of debates within the white community, returning Japanese Americans community leaders, especially Toshi Kuge and George Azumano of the Portland Japanese American Citizen's League (JACL), used the rhetoric of military service to demonstrate their Americanness after World War II. The rhetoric of valorous military service provided the ideological center of both remerging Japanese American leadership organizations and connections between the Nikkei community and white civic leaders. After the reestablishment of Japanese American community organizations in Portland, Issei leaders lead a successful fundraising campaign to support a legal challenge to overturn the Oregon Alien Land Law and fund the Portland JACL. Subsequently, between 1946 and 1948, the Portland JACL served as liaisons between the Japanese American community and the white Portlanders interested in overturning laws that challenged Issei social and economic rights. Despite their efforts, Japanese Americans in the early postwar period, along with other Portland minority groups,faced significant discrimination in housing options, employment, and even blood supply. Their experience demonstrates both the power and limitations of arguments for racial tolerance in the early postwar period.

Revision of the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers--The State University. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 233-240) and index.

In this investigation I will go to the bottom of the idea of progressivism by using one of the symbols of its consequences: The Titanic disaster. The purpose is to analyze the claims of Walter Lord, comparing his story with the historical development of the 1900’s and Thomas S. Kuhns theory of paradigm shifts. According to Lord the Titanic disaster changed humans’ view on the world and their place in it, leading to a paradigm shift. By using the method of hermeneutics and critical discourse analysis I will show that Lords claims, depending on the perspective, are somewhat exaggerated. Instead Titanic would become a powerful symbol for the critics of the current paradigm, which is that of progressivism. Even if the Titanic disaster led to some changes, the idea of progressivism has been able to modify and adapt itself, reproducing the current societal paradigm of progressivism.

In America, the advent of industrial capitalism promised an era of prosperity and progress. For some, however, it had marked a period of hazardous life at home and at work, and social dislocation. Dissenters to this economic arrangement found themselves in opposition to an array of forcessocial, political, economic and intellectual-which buttressed the industrial capitalist order. Their responses in words and in action would substantiate and characterize American social politics. The rise of social politics is a trans-Atlantic phenomenon: a product of the vibrant intellectual exchange of progressive thought during the Progressive era. It sought to restructure the prevailing arrangements of the American political framework to account for social concerns associated with industrial capitalism. During the early twentieth century, a choice was made by many progressives to translate social politics into an explicitly partisan vehicle. The Progressive Party, which emerged in 1912, would be organized and employed by progressives to give a partisan home and a national platform to social politics. The party's role and impact in the progressive movement can be better understood by analyzing and examining how the Progressives acted on the principles of social politics.

Ce mémoire revient sur la première tutelle de la Ville de Montréal, imposée par le gouvernement provincial de 1918 à 1921. Pour l’occasion, le Lieutenant-gouverneur du Québec nomme cinq administrateurs afin de gérer les affaires courantes de la municipalité. Peu connu des historiens et du public, cet événement suscite des changements profonds dans les structures politiques et administratives de la Ville qui laissent des empreintes dans la vie quotidienne actuelle des Montréalais. Puisqu’ils ne sont pas redevables devant la population, les commissaires mettent en œuvre plusieurs réformes souvent impopulaires qui permettent de rétablir l’équilibre budgétaire de la Ville. Au passage, ils tentent de moderniser l’administration municipale dont le fonctionnement est jusque-là incompatible avec les réalités d’une population grandissante et d’un espace urbain accru par les nombreuses annexions. Notre étude souligne les réformes implantées par la Commission administrative au niveau de la fiscalité, de l’organisation des services municipaux et des politiques d'urbanisme. Elles s’inspirent de réformes mises en œuvre dans plusieurs villes nord-américaines de grande taille. Durant leur mandat, les nouveaux administrateurs cherchent à imposer un modèle d’administration s’inspirant de grandes entreprises privées et réussissent à réduire de manière substantielle le déficit de la Ville. Enfin, une attention particulière est accordée à la fin du mandat de la Commission administrative et au régime administratif qui lui fait suite. / This thesis is related to the first supervision of the City of Montreal enforced by the Provincial government from 1918 to 1921. The City was put under the strict control of five overseers appointed by the Quebec Lieutenant Governor. Few historians analyzed the Administrative Commission and it is largely unknown by the public even if it brought up profound changes in the political and administrative structures of the City. Since the overseers were not accountable to the people, they implemented unpopular reforms in order to balance city budget. At the same time, they took advantage of their power to modernize the administration since it was becoming incompatible with the needs of a growing population that requires all kinds of public services. Four chapters highlight the improvements raised by the Administrative Commission from three perspectives: taxation, organization of municipal services and public by-laws. The City of Montreal is stimulated by administrative reforms carried out in American cities at the same time. In order to reduce the deficit they tried to dictate a management model based on large private companies. Particular attention is given to the transition between the Administrative Commission and the new regime of the Executive Committee that followed.

Thesis (M.A.)--Indiana University, 2010. / Title from screen (viewed on July 29, 2010). Department of History, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Advisor(s): Anita Morgan, Robert G. Barrows, Daniella J. Kostroun. Includes vitae. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-113).

La période comprise entre 1917 et 1937 marque le début de la littérature chinoise moderne. La littérature française a participé à la construction de cette nouvelle littérature, dont la modernité réside dans la négation des valeurs littéraires et sociales chinoises classiques, dans l’ouverture aux littératures étrangères et dans l’appel au respect de l’individualité. Des écrivains chinois novateurs contestent la nécessité de la société et mettent en avant la vie intérieure dans la littérature. Ils trouvent une signification à la vie dans l’amour et dans la beauté, chacun interprétant ces notions à sa manière. Cette époque est aussi celle, en Chine, de débats littéraires. Aux écrivains individualistes s’opposent des écrivains passéistes et des écrivains engagés à gauche. La confrontation entre différentes conceptions littéraires se reflète dans la réception de la littérature française. Dans les revues littéraires chinoises, des idées opposées sont formulées à propos de Ronsard, de Montaigne et de Malherbe. Des controverses agitent les milieux littéraires autour de Molière, de Rousseau ou de Baudelaire. Les divergences sur la compréhension de la littérature française résultent du fait que les critiques et les traducteurs chinois perçoivent de manière différente la relation entre l’homme et le temps, et la relation entre l’homme et la société. L’interprétation de la littérature française par les écrivains chinois s’appuie sur des réflexions sur l’homme et sur sa situation existentielle. / The period between 1917 and 1937 marks the beginning of modern Chinese literature. French literature has contributed to the construction of Chinese new literature, the modernity of which resides in the denial of traditional Chinese literary and social values, in the opening to foreign literatures, and in the call for respect of the individuality. Chinese writers with pioneering spirit contest the necessity of the society and highlight the internal life in literature. They all consider the pursuit of love and beauty as the signification of the life. However, they interpret those notions of love and beauty in different ways. This period in China is full of literary debates. Individualistic writers are opposed to backward-looking writers and left-wing writers. The confrontation between different literary conceptions is reflected in the reception of French literature in China. In Chinese literary magazines, opposed ideas are formulated on Ronsard, on Montaigne and on Malherbe. Debates concerning Molière, Rousseau and Baudelaire arose in literary circles. The difference of opinions on French literature results from the fact that Chinese critics and translators understand in different ways the relationship between mankind, the time and the society. The interpretation of French literature by Chinese writers is based on reflection on human beings and on their existential situation.

À travers la biographie intellectuelle d’un réformateur et rédacteur en chef de Boston, Benjamin O. Flower (1858-1918), de la création de son magazine, The Arena, en 1889 à sa mort, cette thèse explore les ambiguïtés du progressisme et ses « étranges combinaisons théoriques », selon l’expression de l’historien Robert Wiebe. Flower considérait la corruption, la pauvreté et la faillite morale de la société américaine comme des maladies physiques et spirituelles : les idées hétérodoxes de son temps (populisme, socialisme, expérimentations sociales dans le reste du monde mais aussi médecines et spiritualités alternatives) illustraient l’esprit américain de liberté et se révélaient autant de remèdes pour régénérer l’homme et la société. Flower entendait faire de ses magazines une « arène » où débattre librement pour provoquer un nouveau « Grand Réveil » et assurer le progrès de l’humanité. La fin de sa vie voit Flower aux prises avec les ambivalences de sa lutte pour la liberté. Pendant les années 1910, lors de sa croisade pour la « liberté médicale », il lutte contre la volonté de l’American Medical Association de contrôler les médecines alternatives et contre le projet du gouvernement fédéral d’établir un ministère de la Santé. Sa défense de la liberté de la presse face à la censure de la poste le mène ensuite à travailler pendant la Grande Guerre pour un journal anticatholique, The Menace. Ces controverses sur le sens du progrès et de la liberté permettent de comprendre les fractures culturelles qui divisent le réformisme et, à la faveur de l’érection d’un seul et vrai récit de la modernisation, la relégation de son progressisme antimonopolistique dans les marges de l’histoire. / By using as a case study the intellectual biography of Boston reformer and editor Benjamin O. Flower (1858-1918) from the founding of his magazine, The Arena, in 1889 to his death, this dissertation explores the ambiguities of progressivism and revisits its “strange theoretical combinations,” to use historian Robert Wiebe’s phrase. Flower considered the corruption, the poverty and the moral bankruptcy that plagued turn-of-the-century America as physical and spiritual diseases – the nonconformist ideas of his time (populism, socialism, social experiments in the rest of the world, but also alternative medicine and spiritualities) illustrated the American spirit of freedom and could cure and regenerate individuals and society. Flower wanted his magazines, notably the aptly named Arena, to function as an open forum where ideas could be debated freely, thus bringing about a new « Great Awakening » and ensuring progress. At the end of his life, Flower grappled with the ambivalences of freedom. In the 1910s, he fought for “medical freedom,” struggling against the American Medical Association’s move to control alternative medicine and against the creation of a federal Department of Health. He also defended freedom of the press against postal censorship, which led him to work for an anti-Catholic newspaper during the Great War, The Menace. These controversies over the meaning of progress and freedom shed light on the cultural gaps which divided reformism and led to the advent of the modernization narrative and, as a result, to the relegation of antimonopoly progressivism to the margins of history.

Selon la théorie cellulaire, issue des travaux de M. J. Schleiden, T. Schwann et R. Virchow au 19e siècle, le plus petit niveau d’organisation comprenant toutes les caractéristiques nécessaires et essentielles au vivant serait la cellule. Cette affirmation est aujourd’hui remise en question par les scientifiques et philosophes, d’une part à la suite de l’analyse d’entités biologiques ambiguës aux frontières (inférieures et supérieures) de la « cellule vivante », et d’autre part de l’avènement des récents enjeux en lien avec la création et la recherche de nouvelles entités vivantes. Un pluralisme épistémologique du concept de « vivant » a ainsi émergé, duquel aucune définition claire et unanime n’est encore acceptée. L’objectif général de cette thèse est de trouver des pistes de solution au problème du pluralisme épistémologique du concept de « vivant » ainsi qu’aux enjeux pratiques reliés à ce concept en biologie. Pour ce faire, je propose l’idée que les enjeux pratiques peuvent contribuer à résoudre le pluralisme conceptuel du « vivant », en particulier que la biologie synthétique est à même de nous offrir une définition du vivant permettant de dépasser l’actuel pluralisme de ce concept. Plus spécifiquement, en ce qui a trait à la question du pluralisme, j’expose dans cette thèse un pluralisme « biologique » et « philosophique ». Du côté « biologique », je démontre la flexibilité d’application ainsi que le pluralisme du concept de « vivant » grâce à l’exposition de cas ambigus d’entités biologiques issues de divers niveaux hiérarchiques de complexité du vivant. Ce faisant, je défends une position symbiotique et holistique d’organisation du vivant (permettant d’inclure et d’articuler ces divers niveaux hiérarchiques). Du côté « philosophique », je démontre le pluralisme du concept de « vivant » à la suite d’une analyse que je qualifierai de disciplinaire, ontologique, linguistique et épistémologique. Ce faisant, je défends une position gradualiste et opérationnelle du concept de « vivant ». En ce qui concerne les enjeux pratiques, j’explore principalement la discipline de la biologie synthétique, qui s’est donné l’objectif de construire de nouvelles entités biologiques vivantes et ainsi le fort potentiel de contribuer au développement de nouvelles connaissances sur le vivant. Ce faisant, je prends ainsi la position que la biologie synthétique peut apporter des pistes de solution pragmatiques (par la construction d’entités vivantes fonctionnelles) au pluralisme épistémologique du concept de « vivant ». Finalement, après une analyse de théories de la connaissance associées à ces enjeux, de définitions stipulatives, ainsi que de concepts du vivant issus de la biologie synthétique, je développe mon propre modèle du « vivant» (que je qualifie de biosynthétique), qui se veut « pragmatique » (en accord avec la pratique des biologistes synthétiques), « progressiste » (s’adaptant à de futures découvertes dans le domaine), « holistique » (s’appliquant à l’ensemble des niveaux d’organisation du vivant) ainsi que « minimaliste et universelle» (correspondant aux caractéristiques essentielles de base retrouvées au sein de toutes les entités vivantes). Cette thèse présentera ainsi « pourquoi » et « comment » la biologie synthétique peut répondre à la question de la définition du vivant. / According to the cell theory, resulting from the works of M. J. Schleiden, T. Schwann and R. Virchow in the 19th century, the smallest level of organization including all the necessary and essential characteristics to the living would be the cell. This assertion is now challenged by scientists and philosophers, on the one hand following the analysis of ambiguous biological entities at the boundaries (lower and upper) of the "living cell", and on the other hand the advent of recent issues related to the creation and search for new living entities. An epistemological pluralism of the "living" concept has thus emerged, from which no clear and unanimous definition is yet accepted. The general objective of this thesis is to find possible solutions to the problem of epistemological pluralism of the "living" concept and to the practical issues related to this concept in biology. To do this, I propose the idea that practical issues can contribute to solving the conceptual pluralism of the concept "living", in particular that synthetic biology is able to offer us a definition of the living allowing to overcome the current pluralism of this concept. More specifically, regarding the question of pluralism, I expose in this thesis a "biological" and "philosophical" pluralism. On the "biological" side, I demonstrate the flexibility of application as well as the pluralism of the concept "living" following the description of ambiguous cases of biological entities coming from various hierarchical levels of complexity of life. In doing so, I defend a symbiotic and holistic view of organization of the living (allowing to include and articulate these various hierarchical levels). On the "philosophical" side, I demonstrate the pluralism of the "living" concept following an analysis that I will describe as disciplinary, ontological, linguistic and epistemological. In doing so, I defend a gradualist and operational position of the concept "living". Regarding practical issues, I am mainly exploring the discipline of synthetic biology, which has set itself the goal of building new living biological entities and thus the potential to contribute to the development of new knowledge about life. In doing so, I take the position that synthetic biology can provide pragmatic solutions (through the construction of functional living entities) to the pluralism of the concept "living". Finally, after an analysis of the relevant theories of knowledge associated with these issues, of stipulative definitions, as well as of living concepts stemming from synthetic biology, I develop my own model of the "living" (that I call biosynthetic), which is "pragmatic" (in agreement with the practice of synthetic biologists), "progressive" (adapting to future discoveries in the field), "holistic" (applying to all levels of organization of the living) as well as "minimalist and universal" (corresponding essential characteristics found within all living entities). This thesis will present “why” and “how” synthetic biology can provide an answer to the question “what is life ?”.

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