This thesis argues for the deep implication of William Wordsworth’s writings over the period 1794 to 1814 in contemporary discourses of the Gothic. My investigation pivots upon the analogy offered in the preface to The Excursion (1814) between the incomplete epic poem The Recluse and a ‘gothic Church’, and aims, through a reconstruction of its literary and historical contexts, to establish the interpretative value of this figure in reading Wordsworth. I begin with a survey of previous critical approaches to, and a new close reading of, Wordsworth’s Gothic figure for his œuvre. I then trace the history of Gothic as a term in British public discourse since the English Revolution, showing how its contested status in the Revolution controversy of the 1790s inflects such texts as the preface to Lyrical Ballads (1800), the ‘Liberty’ sonnets of Poems, in Two Volumes (1807), and the Preamble to The Prelude. I then move to a series of detailed historical readings of Wordsworth’s key Gothic texts, starting with Salisbury Plain (1794). Recovering the network of associations that made Salisbury Plain legible to Wordsworth in 1793-4 as a map of British history, I show how the poem first subverts and then restores the English Gothic narrative of ‘Celtic night’ giving way to ‘present grandeur’. I then turn to Wordsworth’s Burkean prose tract on the Napoleonic Wars in Spain, The Convention of Cintra (1809), reading it in the context of the Gothic imagery of the conflict, and then arguing on this basis that it forms a vital part of the ‘gothic Church’ of The Recluse. Building upon this reading, I then argue that The Excursion’s advocacy of Andrew Bell’s ‘Madras’ system of ‘tuition by the scholars themselves’ shows Wordsworth’s progressive Gothic politics in action. In concluding, I turn to reconsider, in the light of the preceding chapters, in what sense Wordsworth can be called a Gothic poet.

This study examines the oral histories of midwives who practiced in Ontario without legal status in the two decades prior to the enactment of midwifery legislation on December 31, 1993. The following questions are answered: Who were Ontario’s pre-legislation midwives? What inspired and motivated them to take up practice on the margins of official health care? Current scholarship on late twentieth century Ontario midwifery focuses on a social scientific analysis of midwifery’s transition from a grassroots movement to a regulated profession. Pre-legislation midwives are commonly portrayed as a homogenous group of white, educated, middle class women practicing a “pure” midwifery unmediated by medicine and the law. Analysis of the oral history narratives of twenty-one “alegal” Ontario midwives reveals more complex and nuanced understandings of midwives and why they practiced during this period. The midwives’ oral histories make an important contribution to the growing historiography on modern Canadian midwifery.

This study examines the oral histories of midwives who practiced in Ontario without legal status in the two decades prior to the enactment of midwifery legislation on December 31, 1993. The following questions are answered: Who were Ontario’s pre-legislation midwives? What inspired and motivated them to take up practice on the margins of official health care? Current scholarship on late twentieth century Ontario midwifery focuses on a social scientific analysis of midwifery’s transition from a grassroots movement to a regulated profession. Pre-legislation midwives are commonly portrayed as a homogenous group of white, educated, middle class women practicing a “pure” midwifery unmediated by medicine and the law. Analysis of the oral history narratives of twenty-one “alegal” Ontario midwives reveals more complex and nuanced understandings of midwives and why they practiced during this period. The midwives’ oral histories make an important contribution to the growing historiography on modern Canadian midwifery.

This thesis explores the contributive role of architecture to the prosperity of a place. The research addresses the challenges and opportunities that rural regions face today by analyzing the general factors of marginalized rural communities through the lens of a specific community in mainland Portugal. A new approach for maintaining an authentic character, and a “sense of place” is presented which defends rural space as a genuinely experiential realm. The thesis proposes the design of a modern day treatment and research centre in the rural town of Manteigas, situated on one of the largest glacier valleys in Europe in the heart of the Serra da Estrela mountain range. Once alive with all the quaint characteristics that typify an idyllic rural identity, this town now faces a steep population decrease. Situated in the centre of the Zêzere glacial valley overlooking the town, the design accepts and interprets the natural geology of the site, harnessing the therapeutic thermal waters that continue to flow from the glacier line of the valley. The new centre represents not just a place for leisure and relaxation, but also an investigative laboratory for modern day natural healing therapies. The town of Manteigas is situated within three very distinct landscapes: a fertile landscape, a socio-cultural landscape, and a landscape of health and wellness. The design intervention responds to all these conditions and is dependent on each in its operation. This thesis is a proposal for a sustainable cycle of local and regional rejuvenation that will not be easily broken. The design proposal aims to build an infrastructure that will revive the identity of the community as a place of study and implementation of natural healing. The proposed design will also act as a catalyst to fuel future development and stimulate the local and regional economies.

Concept éminemment polysémique, le sens commun a été déprécié par un vaste pan de la philosophie occidentale, qui y a vu au mieux l’expression de croyances infondées, au pire la manifestation de croyances erronées et naïves. Là où bon nombre de commentateurs ont repéré dans les pensées mêmes d’Henri Bergson, Stanley Cavell et Gilles Deleuze, trois grandes figures de la philosophie du cinéma, des critiques adressées au sens commun, nous nous efforçons ici de tirer au clair la conception positive qu’ils développent de cette notion, en dépit des soupçons occasionnels qu’ils font peser sur elle. Plus précisément, nous tâchons d’expliquer jusqu’à quel point certaines acceptions du sens commun permettent de satisfaire l’ambition de connaître le réel lui-même. En premier lieu, nous passons en revue l’argumentation élaborée par certains réalistes spéculatifs (en particulier Quentin Meillassoux et Graham Harman) afin de clarifier d’une part des réflexions qui feront l’objet de discussions et de répliques dans les chapitres subséquents et, d’autre part, de montrer que la dépréciation philosophique du sens commun se prolonge jusque dans les débats les plus actuels sur l’objectivité. Nous faisons ressortir par la suite les angles sous lesquels le sens commun est susceptible de nous rapprocher du réel d’après Bergson, Cavell et Deleuze. En second lieu, nous entrons de plain-pied dans le domaine du cinéma et examinons en quoi différentes œuvres du renouveau du cinéma québécois (Denis Côté, Stéphane Lafleur, Sébastien Pilote, Rafaël Ouellet, Xavier Dolan, Anne Émond, Rodrigue Jean, le collectif Épopée, Mathieu Denis et Simon Lavoie) viennent à leur manière compléter, radicaliser ou critiquer les réflexions développées dans la première partie autour du sens commun et du réel. À l’encontre de ceux qui qualifient ces œuvres de « mimétiques », « peu songées » et « esthétisantes », nous mettons donc en évidence la façon dont ces films, attentifs à la profondeur de l’expérience ordinaire et à l’exigence de trouver un certain équilibre entre le devenir incessant et la stabilité constante, parviennent à nuancer et à raffiner la philosophie. / The eminently polysemic concept of common sense was depreciated by a vast segment of Western philosophy, which saw at best in it the expression of unwarranted beliefs, at worst the manifestation of erroneous and naïve beliefs. Where many commentators have pinpointed critiques of common sense in the thoughts of Henri Bergson, Stanley Cavell and Gilles Deleuze, three prominent figures of the philosophy of cinema, we strive here to bring out the positive conception they develop of that concept, notwithstanding the occasional suspicion they may cast on it. To put it in more precise terms, we seek to explain to what extent certain meanings of common sense are apt to satisfy the ambition of knowing reality itself. In the first place, we review the argument elaborated by certain speculative realists (specifically Quentin Meillassoux and Graham Harman) in order to clarify, on the one hand, reflections which will be the object of discussions and replies in the subsequent chapters, and, on the other hand, to show that the philosophical depreciation of common sense goes on even in the most contemporary debates on objectivity. We then bring out the angles under which, according to Bergson, Cavell and Deleuze, common sense is apt to bring us closer to reality itself. In the second place, we enter fully into the field of cinema and examine in what way different works associated with the revival of Quebec cinema (Denis Côté, Stéphane Lafleur, Sébastien Pilote, Rafaël Ouellet, Xavier Dolan, Anne Émond, Rodrigue Jean, the collective Épopée, Mathieu Denis and Simon Lavoie) end up completing, radicalizing or criticizing in their way the reflections developed in the first part around common sense and the real. In opposition to those who characterize those works as « mimetic », « thoughtless » and « aestheticizing », we thus bring to the fore the way in which those films, paying attention to the depth of ordinary experience and to the requirement of finding a certain balance between incessant becoming and constant stability, do succeed in nuancing and refining philosophy.

Submitted diploma thesis describes the life of priest František Pravda, born Vojtěch Hlinka. He was well-known writer and founder of short stories with rural theme. The thesis introduces Hlinka as a writer, but primarily as a man of many other professions and interests. The way of life brought him to Hrádek u Sušice to work for an aristocratic family of Sturmfeders. Attention is concerned with mutual relations between the Czech patriot and four generations of German baronial family. Hlinka worked as an educator of feeble-minded Ottokar Sturmfeder in Hrádek´s castle. His extraordinary psychopaedics talent is compared with usual provincial and European contemporary standards. There is also depicted Hlinka´s political, writing and religion career and his other interests. The thesis doesn´t overlook Hlinka´s contacts with important representatives of artistic and political life, which helps to complete the picture of Hlinka´s personality.

This thesis is an in-depth study of Shona fiction about the liberation war in Zimbabwe. It looks at the way Zimbabwe’s liberation war is portrayed in Shona fiction and focuses on the factors that shaped writers’ perspectives on that war. It is argued that Shona war fiction writers romanticised the war and in the process simplified and distorted history. The researcher postulates that writers’ perspectives on this liberation war were shaped by factors that include the mood of celebration and euphoria, the dominant ideology of the time, the situations of independence and freedom, and literary competitions. The thesis further raises and illustrates the point that writers produced romances of adventure because they were writing on the theme of war, and if one writes on the theme of war one ends up writing an adventure story. However, it is also acknowledged that because authors were writing on a historical event they could not ignore history completely. Some aspects of history are incorporated into the fiction, thereby retaining a semblance of historical realism. The post-independence period is also seen as a time of cultural revival and this is considered as the reason behind the authors’ tendency to celebrate Shona traditional institutions and culture. The celebration of Shona traditional religion and culture introduced into the fiction the element of the supernatural that strengthened the romance aspect of the novels. Shona war fiction writers also perpetuate female stereotyping. Female characters are depicted as everything except guerrilla fighters. It is argued that there are no female characters that play roles of guerrilla fighters because during the actual war women were not visible at the war front, fighting. The thesis argues that men, who were pioneers of the guerrilla war and writers of the war stories, excluded women from liberation war discourse and ultimately from literary discourse as well. A few writers who comment on the quality of Zimbabwe’s independence and freedom show the disillusionment and despair of the peasants and ex-combatants as they struggled to settle down and recover from the war. / African Languages / D.Litt. et Phil.

This dissertation examines the dynamics of the oral communication which takes place in the Easter Vigil at St. Augustine's Anglican Church, Thaba 'Nchu. The study uses an analytical framework drawn from Orality Theory and Speech Act Theory, to analyse oral communication in the preaching and singing of the Vigil. Through an approach of Participant Observation, details were obtained of the Easter Vigils of 1994, 1995 and 1996. The historical and cultural background of this All-Night Vigil is traced in European Church History and African Traditional Religion. The roles of the Mothers' Union, the St. Agnes Guild and the Guild of Bernard Mizeki are also highlighted. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M.Th (Missiology)

En 1857, Joseph d'Ortigue constatait que les maîtrises des cathédrales en France, en activité au cours de la première moitié du XIXe siècle, ne pourraient jamais prétendre au rôle qu'elles avaient rempli pendant des siècles avant leur fermeture en 1791. Malgré le soutien dans un premier temps des pouvoirs publics, la tentative de refondation souhaitée pour chaque cathédrale, s'est en effet soldée par un échec : l'Église catholique n'a pas réussi à redonner au culte l'éclat musical et cantoral qu'il revêtait avant la Révolution. À travers l'étude de la maîtrise du Mans de 1801 à 1860, « une des premières rétablies et une des plus florissantes », cette thèse analyse les principales causes de cet échec inévitable : l'incertitude des ressources financières, l'évolution des mentalités en matière de religion, la formation incomplète des nouvelles générations de musiciens d'Église, le changement des goûts musicaux. Dans les années 1830-40, la liturgie et sa musique sont l'objet de vives polémiques où s’affrontent les partisans d'une musique expressive et les militants d'une restauration du plain-chant. Le renouveau musical dans les cathédrales, et notamment au Mans, ne trouve finalement son accomplissement qu'après une réforme de la liturgie qui définit la musique la plus appropriée au culte. Avec le retour de la liturgie romaine et du chant grégorien, plus de cinquante ans d’efforts auront été nécessaires pour que les cérémonies religieuses gagnent en cohérence ce qu’elles ont perdu en éclat. / In 1857, Joseph d’Ortigue saw that the music schools attached to French cathedrals in the first half of the 19th century could never play the part they had had for centuries, until they were closed in 1791. Though they were at first officially aided, all the cathedrals failed when they tried to revive their musical activity : the catholic church did not succeed in giving back to their celebrations the brilliance of music and song that had been theirs before the Revolution. Studying the Le Mans music school from 1801 to 1860 – it was « one of the first to be re-estblished and one of the most flourishing » –, this thesis analyses the main causes of this inevitable failure: the uncertainty of financial resources, the evolution of habits of thought as regarded religion, the incomplete training of the new generation of church musicians, as well as the changes in musical tastes. In the years 1830-1840, the liturgy and its music are hotly argued about by those in favour of an expressive music and those advocating a restoration of plain chant. The musical revival in cathedrals – notably in Le Mans – was eventually achieved only after a reform of the liturgy defining which music is most suitable for divine worship. With the return of the Roman liturgy and Gregorian chant, over fifty years were necessary for religious ceremonies to gain in coherency what they had lost in brilliance.

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