NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
Interreligious Curriculum for Peace Education in Nigeria : A Praxeological Intervention for the Advanced Training of Religious Leaders

Since the end of the Cold War, we have witnessed the increasing role religion plays in shaping worldviews as well as global fragmentation, part of which through being directly involved in violent conflicts. This situation is no better reflected than in the ethno-religious politics of Nigeria. Since the transition from a military to a civilian regime in 1999, violent conflicts between Christians and Muslims continue to erupt and constitute one of the gravest dangers facing Nigeria. In the last few years, interreligious riots have even become routine events in Nigeria. What have Nigerians done about this situation, especially in educational circles? Although since the early 1980s the field of Peace Education has developed a new educational reform movement aimed at addressing directly problems of violence, this reform has hardly reached Nigerian higher education (both religious and non-religious institutions of higher learning). It has left the educated elites with little formal educational training to understand the causes of this violence and especially how to provide alternatives for more peaceful relations within Nigeria. Using a praxeological theory and method, this dissertation addresses this doubly bleak situation by presenting the context for and the details of an interreligious curriculum for peace education for religious leaders in Nigeria. Understanding the role religious discourse plays in fostering much of the current violence, this thesis focuses in particular on the needs to educate better religious leaders through the eventual dissemination of an interreligious curriculum for peace education adapted to the Nigerian multi-religious reality and long history of interreligious conflicts in particular. This one-year curriculum builds upon religious Yoruba, Islamic and Christian conceptions of peace, with the goal of creating a safe, caring, spiritual, peaceful and successful interfaith relationship between all Nigerian religious communities. It is contextualized for use as an example in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Ibadan.  This thesis argues that the development of an interreligious curriculum for peace education for religious leaders in Nigeria will, in the long term, reduce the growing religious violence in Nigeria, by addressing the tensions between Traditional, Christian and Muslim populations and by enabling religious peacemakers to create interreligious islands of peace as well as to actively participate in finding ways to reduce the on-going violence.

Keyphrases: Advance training, Curriculum, Christianity, Interreligious curriculum, Islam, Peace education, Nigeria, Religious leaders, Yoruba religious, Religion yoruba
Corps du Christ en croissance : u
n modèle d’édification ecclésiale à la lumière d’une analyse rhétorique de 1 Corinthiens 12–14 et d’Éphésiens 4,1-16

The Church is also referred to as “body of Christ”, especially in Pauline epistles. It is almost analogous to a living organism. Therefore, its growth should naturally result from its health. But the Church in the West is facing a numerical stagnation and even a demographic decrease. What is fundamentally at issue is the ecclesial vitality and the ability to keep followers, but also to attract new members. The question of ecclesial ministry, which was very popular in the domains of exegesis and history of the Christianity in the 1970s and 1980s, was abandoned for 20 years. This question deserves to be retaken for reasons that are not only cyclical, but theological and ecclesiological. Nowadays the widely present ministerial plurality in the early Church is reduced to a pastoral monolithic. This thesis intends to put the question of ecclesial ministry foreground with a new perspective inspired from the hermeneutic approach and the method of rhetorical analysis. In order to provide avenues for the identification and development of mechanisms for the integral growth of the Church, we spotted in the light of a rhetorical analysis of two major texts of the Pauline corpus (1 Cor 12-14 and Ep 4:1-16), the vital functional needs of the ecclesial body and the fundamental principles that are embodied in the edification of the New Testament churches and that the apostles endorsed themselves. The general conclusions from this study are: (1) the Church has an organic structure and its growth is due to the effective and efficient implementation of various spiritual gifts; (2) the Church has a functional edification mechanism by which the ministers of the Word equippe all believers to make them able to accomplish ecclesial ministry and to edify the entire ecclesial community; (3) the edification of the Church is doing by continuously professing the evangelical truth in love, endeavoring to keep the unity and doing all things for the edification of the community and for the sole glory of Christ the Lord; (4) the edification of the Church goes through four growth targets: the unity of the faith, the unity of the knowledge of the Son of God, the accomplished statesman, the measure of the fullness of Christ. We build, from the intuitions spotted, a Pauline model for Church edification.

Keyphrases: Body of Christ, Church, ministry, growth, edification, ecclesiology, theology of ministries, maturity, Pauline model
Le roman sans projet : représentations du travail et de la débâcle industrielle dans la littérature française contemporaine

From its beginnings in the nineteenth century to the 1950s, the French social novel ("roman social") gave a prominent place to labour. After World War II, the topic is relegated to the background, but current texts show a significant revival, whilst the empirical referents of "work" have changed considerably. Though notably different in their form from the previous ones, contemporary representations of labour are structured according to the same basic themes. Death is one of them; however, it now affects the working individual as well as work itself. This dissertation acts upon such a disruptive continuity. Its reading of contemporary texts is aware of the role these texts play in both social and literary history as well as in the elaboration of new representations. Following the methods of sociocriticism ("sociocritique"), it seeks to describe the way work is thematised in interaction with a social imaginary ("imaginaire social"). In this perspective, the dissertation borrows various critical and theoretical tools from literary studies, to analyse the texts’ internal organisation, and engages a dialogue with the sociology of work and modern philosophy, in order to interpret them. Its goal is to understand what those texts say about work and about society, but also to show how "representing work" affects the act of "representing".  The concepts used to assess the narrative trajectory of work are derived from the analysis of naturalistic and realistic codes (in Émile Zola’s _Germinal_, 1885, and Claire Etcherelli’s _Élise ou la vraie vie_, 1967). These concepts are death, "ensauvagement" and non-work. The study then focuses on how these concepts are rearranged in recent texts. A comparison between the modes of literary treatment they apply to work allows to define the features of current representations as well as to identify the specificity of variants. "Literature of research", embodied by the writings of François Bon, is examined in its relationship to testimony (_L’établi_ by Robert Linhart, 1978) and to the roman noir (_Lorraine Connection_ by Dominique Manotti, 2006). A discussion around the notion of "business novel" (_Nous étions des êtres vivants_ by Nathalie Kuperman, 2010) introduces a thematic distinction within the mainly industrial corpus. Through various subtractions and parallels, the dissertation reveals the outlines of a larger aesthetic category: the "novel without a project" of contemporary work. As much as it expresses an idea of widespread loss, this novel is shaped by that very loss, which culminates in the growing precariousness – of work and of the human experience it generates – described in _Composants_ by Thierry Beinstingel (2002).

Keyphrases: Émile Zola, Claire Etcherelli, François Bon, Robert Linhart, Nathalie Kuperman, Dominique Manotti, Thierry Beinstingel, Sociocritique, Contemporary French literature, Representations of work, Sociocriticism
Romarcord : flânerie dans la cine-città

The purpose of this doctoral thesis is to examine the role that the Federico Fellini’s cinematic poetics plays in the constitution of the cinematic Rome. My strategy is to identify and to question the main components of this poetics, in order to be able to discuss its effect in contemporary film and literature. The first part of the thesis is dedicated to the analysis of the components identified – the flânerie, the spectacle and the memory- in the Fellini’s Roman films, divided for thematic and conceptual reasons in three moments: the constellation of attractions (Luci del varietà, Le notti di Cabiria, La dolce vita), the constellation of survivals (Block-notes di un regista, Satyricon,Roma) and the constellation of  simulacra  (Ginger e Fred, Intervista). Intimately connected and complementary, those three components are used to prove that the qualities of Fellini’s Rome are equivalent to those of the real city. Crossing the Fellini’s Roman films, the central figure of his poetics is the flâneur, which ensures the connection between its components and also between the heterotopias of Rome – the ancient city, the Vatican and Cinecittà -. Complex and protean, capable of assuming various roles and of assimilating other urban figures, the flâneur proves the ideal guide to Fellini’s Rome. The second part of the thesis serves to determine and to analyse how these three components of Fellini’s cinematic poetics are questioned and reinvented by other artists in their works on the city of Rome.  In the new constellation, constituted by films  The Belly of the Architect (1987) by Peter Greenaway and  Gente   di  Roma  (2003) by Ettore Scola, the episode «InVespa» of the film Caro diario (1993) by Nanni Moretti and the novel I fannulloni (1991) by Marco Lodoli, I explore the effect provoked by Fellini’s Rome and also examine the encounter between these various artistic visions of the city. The results obtained are used to support my hypothesis that Fellini is the Poet by excellence of Rome in cinema and that the encounter between the Poet, the City and the Cinema contributed in a decisive way to make Rome the cinematic capital of the 20th century.

Keyphrases: Rome, Federico Fellini, flâneur, flânerie, spectacle, Cinecittà, memory
La consumation comme métaphore de la pensée littéraire : lectures de Bachmann, Plath et Duras

This thesis offers a theoretical analysis of literary thinking. In analyzing the modalities of the fire metaphor in the works of three contemporary women writers, I aim to define the process leading to modes of knowledge that do not readily adhere to the rational order. Thinking is an act that remains distinct from what is produced and preserved in canonic knowledge. Thinking cannot be thoroughly and objectively conceptualized, for it designates the very movement of conceptualization, a process from which no consciousness can escape. Yet it can be metaphorically expressed, translated into a constellation of literary images that condition and guide thoughts. The metaphor of « consuming » – specifically, « smoldering » or transformation via fire – has gone hand in hand with thinking since the emergence of western culture. Running through history, this metaphor creates an opening onto a historical understanding that reveals how the sacrificial impulse of mystical knowledge is transformed and continues to exist in modern secular society. In underscoring the unbridled nature of thought, the « consuming » metaphor attests to the way in which the quest for knowledge is marked by affect and sensation. Literature inscribes this flammable side of thought concealed by scientific discourse. This thesis aims to undo this concealment in demonstrating the pertinence of literary thinking that goes against the criteria of profitability at the heart of current economies of knowledge. In the first part, I identify the poetic and historical conjectures that led thinkers to discredit metaphorical expressions. I then consider the main philosophical issues stemming from the polemical relationship between truth and metaphor. Metaphor is defined as an operation of language that produces a spectrum of binaries such as life and death, improper and proper, sensible and intelligible, feminine and masculine. The second part of the argument is dedicated to readings of contemporary literary figures of « consuming » or being consumed by fire : the Ich of Bachmann's novel Malina, Plath's Lady Lazarus, then the beggar woman and « the written » as imagined by Duras. I elaborate a conception of writing as a thinking act that derives from a process of exhaustion, resurrection, then corrosion of meaning. Theorizing and performing this « consuming » metaphorics in my own discourse allows for highlighting the excessive nature of thinking, as well as the crucial role of literature in its transmission.

Keyphrases: Literary thinking, Fire, Metaphor, Women's writing, Bachmann, Ingeborg, Plath, Sylvia
La evaluación interaccional en la clase de ELE

This research, focused on the Interactional Assessment Model, answers three essential questions about the assessment of oral interactions observed in Spanish courses (A1-B2) at the college and university level in metropolitan Montreal. The questions are: Why evaluate? What should be evaluated? And how should we evaluate? The Interactional Assessment Model is based on a series of tools that evaluate the students’ conversational skills in Spanish as a foreign language. The close relationship between teaching, learning, and assessment processes occupies a central place in the definition of the Interactional Assessment Model and points to the interactional content that should be taught and evaluated in Spanish as a foreign language classes. The research specifies the conversational skills that allow for meaningful oral interaction to take place. It also focuses on the discourse markers that are essential for the creation of collaborative dialogue. The idea of cooperation is one of the thesis’ guidelines; it implies that students share in the responsibility of producing a fluid, balanced discussion. Reproducing during an exam the same conditions as those which characterize everyday face-to-face conversations, with their informality, is one of the challenges that the Interactional Assessment Model manages to overcome. A repertoire of the most useful discourse markers for fostering interactional competence in Spanish as a foreign language has been created and represents another central element of the thesis. It has enabled the realization of three goals: 1) identifying the characteristics of Spanish oral interaction present in most of the manuals used in Montreal; 2) reviewing 20 existing evaluation tools; and 3) presenting the results obtained on the basis of more than 100 recorded conversations oriented according to the Interactional Assessment Model. Regarding measuring instruments, the model relies on an oral portfolio that brings two types of oral examinations, quizzes and sequenced exams, together with oral interaction correction criteria and effective correction techniques in order to ensure a systematic evaluation process. The most conclusive findings of the research confirmed the essential relationship between the presence of interactional discourse markers and the successful construction of collaborative conversations. Moreover, the most significant contribution of this research for teaching Spanish as a foreign language is the creation of flexible and user-friendly tools that clearly demonstrate what needs to be taught so that students may successfully interact with one another in Spanish as well as provides means for evaluating their conversational competences. Finally, the Interactional Assessment Model proposes innovative, up-to-date assessment techniques that are based on the use of technologies and provide a quality feedback so the student is fully aware of his or her progress as well as of the steps necessary to improve.

Keyphrases: conversation collaborative, spanish as a foreign language, oral interaction, collaborative conversation, assessment, discourse markers
La figure de l'En-Quête : l'inscription du savoir dans les romans policiers

This dissertation examines the importance of figuration in crime fiction, under the sign of the In-Quest, the central figure of this study which is developed into two parts, each one divided in three chapters. The first part looks into the notion of “detective novel” understood as a genre and analyses the relevance, and even the necessity of thinking outside of this category in order to grasp the full significance of this kind of fiction. The second part revisits these observations, this time diving into the texts and stories and into their literary components. The division in chapters enables us to get a glimpse of the key elements of this thought-in-process and to set the conceptual groundwork needed for deploying the argument.  Focusing my reflection on the In-Quest figure, which I invent and create progressively through the course of the essay, I address crime fiction as texts that stage a quest for knowledge in their recourse to words and figures of thought. I begin by analysing classic detective tales and continue with more modern texts in order to observe how the In-Quest figure places itself as a potential of creation within those narratives, working through the literary device it is creating as a sort of author in the text reflecting upon the object from which it arises, namely the literary as a way of knowing.  This conceptual drive allows us to see the richness of these texts frequently ignored by the institution and the importance of the reflections they embody in the form of characters and mises-en-scène; these elements give access to a diversity of language that creates renewed forms of writing showcasing the power of the literary, in and through figuration. Thus, the In-Quest as a figure of figuration, of knowledge that is inseparable from rhetoric, enables us to see what unifies the texts known as “detective novels” by changing the focus and insisting not on the themes, but on the construction of knowledge within their literary form, through figures of speech and their particular mises-en-scène.

Keyphrases: figures, parole, narration, lecture, dialogue, detective novel/narrative, In-Quest, prosopopoeia, speech, reading, knowledges
Le temps des formes : l'œuvre de la cécité chez Marcel Proust et W. G. Sebald

Writing is an act which runs against the grain of natural life, outside the “common sense” of human vision. In order to extricate oneself from the human laws of time, from the chronology that sets perception on the rails of habit leading towards the event, the “goal of the action,” the writing must be guided by a certain blindness. But can this blindness be conceived otherwise than as an aesthetic clairvoyance in virtue of which the writer becomes a visionary? The writer stumbles, gives a start at the sound of a familiar chime, and, from one shock to another, the work arrives at its revelation: the revelation of a new Law of Time, but also the revelation of aesthetic laws, and lastly the revelation of the “true Life” – the life of literature which will absorb the life of the author within itself. However, Proust’s Recherche has already been written: should not his work also be read against the grain? If writing is a certain departure from human forms and laws, a “dying to the world” allowing the writer to regain his foreign homeland, is the time of the work not situated before it attains its truth, or rather beneath the time of the redemptive event? Indeed, the text, particularly the literary narrative, remains within the linear sequence of language, where meaning takes form in view of the end (both the end of the sentence and the end of the book) – the very teleological time from which it seeks to escape. In the revelation of truth, it is necessary to “look awry” in order to perceive the moment of stumbling, the jolt when the forms of the world appear entirely differently, before the intellect has had time to re-establish its habitual contours – a time of blindness, within vision itself. The thesis is divided into two phases of reading. The first part examines a blindness belonging to form in Marcel Proust. This reading is made possible by the second part, which consists in a reading of the deformations of writing in W. G. Sebald. Corresponding to the theory of the gaze that I elaborate in this study, I develop a textual approach which, rather than framing the relationship between the two oeuvres in terms of “intertextuality,” attempts to show how Sebald’s writing teaches us to see the deformations of the Proustian text. The goal is to retrace the work of blindness in the text as it occurs within the very process of forming. This way of reading must therefore be sensitive to the moments when the writing trembles, to the formal movements which elude the graphic inscription of language. Such a conception incites us to read the reverse of the literary tradition, not as the inscription of the mind in eternity, but rather as the organic incorporation of language into the body of what is called “literature” – a body which is also called upon to deform itself and to decompose.

Keyphrases: Marcel Proust, W. G. Sebald, time, vision, blindness, literary thought, twentieth-century literature