NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
De la déportation à l’expression : 
la femme et le témoignage dans les dessins de 
Violette Rougier-Lecoq et Jeannette L’Herminier

My analysis of the drawings of the French Resistance fighters Violette Rougier-Lecoq and Jeanette L’Herminier, who were interned at the concentration camp of Ravensbrück between 1943 and 1945, endeavours to move beyond traditional modes of thinking about visual works produced in Nazi detention facilities. I situate these images at the heart of the historic, artistic and testimonial dynamics whence they emerged, enabling me to better understand the formal and stylistic processes by which their makers became artist-witnesses who were capable of interpreting their concentrationary experiences through the works. I analyse both the creation and reception of the drawings. Using a comparative analysis of graphic art linked to the internment of women prisoners, I explore gender issues relating to their captivity. By challenging the iconographic conventions that usually frame interpretations of my corpus, I offer nuanced readings of the sketches that are better able to convey the ways in which these representations of women are significant. Focussing on their narrative dimensions, I suggest the drawings emerge at the intersection of the space of the camp and pictorial space and of the community of imprisoned women and the individual personality of each artist-witness. These themes have so far seldom been discussed in the existing literature. In order to grasp the network of meanings that traverse representations of the women and also to explore the representational constraints they simultaneously embody, I attend to the human and social consequences of captivity upon the inmates. I then consider the roles of perception and of the gestures of the artist in the production of these concentrationary works and the formal qualities that derive from these. Finally, by bringing extratextual knowledge to bear upon them, I provide new readings of the drawings as narrative testimonies.

Keyphrases: Ravensbrück, French Resistance, Art of the Holocaust, Drawings, Gendered spaces, Materiality
Imaginaires basques et cinéma : trois explorations filmiques

This research-creation project explores Basque imaginary and its expression in cinema. For this purpose, three films will be studied in order to uncover the various facets of this imaginary and its evolutions. The first chapter will focus on a television mini-series directed by Orson Welles, Around the World with Orson Welles (1955), more specifically the first two episodes, shot in the Basque Country. We will observe how Welles utilizes his persona and his knowledge of ‘mise en scène’ in order to mythologize the Basque people and share their culture across the world at a time when said culture is strongly censored in Spain by Franco’s regime. The second chapter proposes a study of Ama Lur (1968) directed by Nestor Basterretxea and Fernando Larruquert, a film whose style represents an attempt to transcribe the Basque language in visual form and was the first Basque feature film produced under the dictatorship. Finally, the last chapter will analyze Julio Medem’s Vacas (1992). It will focus on how Medem employs recurring elements of the Basque imaginary and hijacks them so as to deconstruct them critically.  To conclude, we’ll take a succinct look at the film Euskara ez dut mintzatzen, the creative endeavor accompanying this thesis. We’ll briefly discuss the creative process behind this documentary essay as well as the influence the written, theoretical portion ultimately had on the making of the movie.

Keyphrases: basque, mythe, histoire, culture, cinema, Basque, imaginary, myth, history, culture, nationalism, identity
Genre, mémoire et histoire dans le monastère San Salvatore/Santa Giulia à Brescia, VIIIe-IXe siècles

Although the field of memory studies is well-developed in medieval history, the role of gender in the construction of memory is only just beginning to be integrated. This M.A. thesis considers the relationships among gender, memory and history at the monastery of San Salvatore/Santa Giulia in Brescia (ca. 8th and 9th centuries). These three concepts help to expand our understanding of the place memory occupied in the monastery and its historical context, a function reinforced by the primacy of monasteries in the management of memory and the crafting of history within the Carolingian Empire.  The Liber memorialis is the primary source for this study. The document, written from 856, contains lists of names of persons belonging to the prayer community and liturgical texts. It transmits ritual practices related to intercession for the dead as well as the names of people who are part of the abbey’s prayer community. We also seek to understand how the Liber memorialis served as a means to craft representation and the perpetuation of different levels and logics of real and ideal communities: the local and imperial aristocracy, the imperium, and the ecclesia. In this study, we will place the Liber memorialis of Brescia within the wider ideological context of time.

Keyphrases: Gender, Memory, History, Northern Italy, Carolingian Empire, Early Middle Ages, Monasticism, Prayer of intercession, Communities
L’amour de soi dans le contexte de la nouvelle créature. 
Une lecture synchronique d’inspiration narrative de Ga 5,1-17 
(et, en partie, de Ga 2,19-21; 5,18-6,10 et 6,15)

What is « Biblical » self-love? Is it an absolute or a utopia, or is it narcissism, even a sin of selfishness ...? Is it a concept that evolved during the « progression » of the people of God, from alliance (s) to alliance? Can one speak of self-love when we analyze, in its context, the following statement: « [...] love your neighbor as yourself (Lv 19,18) »? This statement is often repeated at the center of several New Testament writings, particularly in the Synoptic Gospels (Mt 19,19 and 22,39; Mk 12,31; Lk 10,27), Paul's letters (Rom 13,9 and Ga 5,14) and the letter of James (2,8). This research is essentially limited to a synchronic reading of verses 5, 1–6, 10 of Galatians. This reading is inspired by a modified Culpepper model, on communication in a narrative, that excludes the real author and the real reader. This reading begins with the conclusion at the end of Galatians: «For what is important, is neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, it is a new creature» (Gal 6,15). The key to interpreting this reading is this            « new creature», a fundamental concept within the whole of the « narrato-preaching ». Paul, an implicit author and a « narrato-preacher », presents many stories (Paul, Jesus, Galatians, Israel ...), often in disorder, to the implicit readers and the « narrato-preached ». The main story exposed is that of the Galatians who, in the initial situation of the quinary plan, seem to be diverted from the one good gospel (1,6) and the truth (5,7) and who, in the final situation, are lead to become a new creature filled with a love of the neighbor and of oneself, thus seeking the good of both (ἀλλήλων: 5,13.15.26 and 6,2). This final situation is characterized by a love in action that the narrato-preacher compares metaphorically to a walk (5,16.25) in the freedom of the Spirit of Jesus Christ and, ideally, to a race without relent (2,2 and 5,7.9). For this final situation to be feasible, a prior denouement must take place. Indeed, the Galatian must, a priori, choose individually what is good for him and, consequently, take advantage of Christ (5,2) by standing up (5,1). Thus, by persuasion (5,8), faith (5,6) and grace (5,4), the former « self » of Galatians must die (2:20) and (re) become a « living » new creature (2.19-20, 5.6.25) filled with the love of Christ, a self-giving love. The denouement and the final situation in Galatians, using concentrism and / or chiasm, presents an obedience to the good gospel in the form of a race in love (in a collectivity, of ourselves and others) preceded by a walk (6,1-10) which is possible after the choice to become a new living « self » (standing-self-giving love), obedient (5, 7) to the truth and diverted from circumcision, law, flesh ...

Keyphrases: Culpepper, New creature, Self-love, Synchronic reading, Predication, Stand, Life, Walk, Race, Interdependence, Concentrism, Chiasm, Leviticus 19,18
Le pantin dans le miroir ; suivi de, Le masque comme figure du double et comme expérience de l'écriture dans le roman Les masques de Gilbert La Rocque

Le pantin dans le miroir is the story of a young student, Ophélie, who tries to elucidate the disappearance of an actress, who is from her native village. Interwoven with her own story is the story of Juliette Clermont, the actress herself, who left the theatre in the middle of a play because of a panic attack. Having taken refuge at her sister's house, she tries to come to terms with her past, her father's abandonment of the family and her mother's suicide. Eventually, Ophélie and Juliette will both find a sense of purpose in writing.  Le masque comme figure du double et comme expérience de l'écriture dans le roman Les masques de Gilbert La Rocque is an analysis of the double narration in Gilbert La Rocque's novel Les masques and explores how double narration serves as a mask to represent what is at work within the act of writing.

Keyphrases: Les masques de Gilbert La Rocque, Masque, Double narration, Écriture, Mask, Writing, Identity, Les masques, Gilbert La Rocque
Moïse Moïse ; suivi de Au nom de nous qui ne sommes pas

The narrator of the novel Moïse Moïse, Nathan Mausus, grows up in a torn and superstitious Quebec family where only one figure stands out: Moïse, his older brother. A role model for the narrator and a scholar who contrasts with the rest of the Mausus family, Moïse shines through his absence. At first appearing as the sanest person in the child’s world, Moïse ends up suffering psychotic episodes. After a stay in hospital, he leaves Quebec to study in New York, before embarking on a journey across the globe. After a fifteen-year exile, he returns to Quebec, transformed and radicalized. Moïse Moïse is a novel of personal formation as well as a family portrait but it intends to divert the codes associated with these. It questions family mythology; initiatory rites, poverty associated to the territory, and evaluates porosity between madness and radicalization. Au nom de nous qui ne sommes pas aims to determine the role of identity within the characters radicalization process in the novel L'orangeraie (2013) by Larry Tremblay. To do so, this essay bases itself upon discourse analysis and the appropriation of sociological and philosophical concepts borrowed from Benedict Anderson, René Girard and Paul Ricœur. The first part examines two communities, one real and the other imagined, while the second considers an individual’s value in a society dominated by the collective. The gap between the two communities appears as an essential break-point, from which emerges a legitimization of sacrifice. From this idea, it is possible to understand how family mythology, the process of transmission, the religion instituted in the narrative, individuality and twinship are part of radicalization in Larry Tremblay's novel.

Keyphrases: Larry Tremblay, family mythology, Bildungsroman, Larry Tremblay, radicalization, Quebec literature
Le charme kabbalistique d'Aurélia de Nerval

In the XIXth century, during the romantic period, a vivid curiosity for Kabbalah re appears in the French society. Through his readings as well as through his companions, Gérard  de Nerval is affected by this mystical renewal of interest. We will ask ourself how he and  Aurélia’s narrator were specifically influenced by this tendency. In accordance with his own  sensitivity and preocupations, Nerval brings a very singular perspective on the Kabbalah. For  him, this old literary and esoteric tradition is a way to treat his fears, ambitions and dreams.  Indeed, kabbalistic images and representations are everywhere in Aurélia’s story. All in all, as  we have no intention to draw Nerval into a tradition he does not belong to, we will wonder what  dreaming of Kabbalah can mean. Since language is the main bond between Kabbalah and  Aurélia, our work will be focused on questions of poetics.

Keyphrases: Kabbalah, Poetry, Representations, Mysticism
Les marques de modernité dans Les Fridolinades de Gratien Gélinas

This memoir focuses on the signs of Modernity at the end of year reviews Les Fridolinades, presented between 1938 and 1946, as well as in 1956, by Gratien Gélinas. A great number of characteristics of these shows lead us to believe that the theatrical Modernity was present on the Montreal stages as soon as the end of the 1930s. Although the end of year review has not preoccupied very many university researchers, Jean Cleo Godin, Jean-Marc Larrue and Germain Lacasse took interest in the Modernity of such a practice. Their hypothesis’ will first be explored. It is also because of the themes treated by Gélinas in his shows that it is possible to see modern ideas. Indeed, the reviews treat women’s rights, the Catholic church’s discourse, and they parody the popular outdated discourse of the time, all the while staging technology. Gratien Gélinas’s character, Fridolin allows the transformation of the mimesis concept. Instead of the traditional illusion, the playwright creates the participatory illusion. In other words, he lets the audience believe that it influences the creation of the show by interacting with it. Finally, as heteromorphs, Gélinas’ shows are reminders of certain forefront preoccupations. The reviews Fridolinons, are a hybrid show that intertwines singing, dancing, dialogue, monologue, mime, cinema, radio and written press.

Keyphrases: Gratien Gélinas, Les Fridolinades, Quebec literature, Quebec Theatre, Passing shows
La re-escritura de la historia en Déjame que te cuente de Juanita Gallardo (1997): entre el producto cultural y el discurso identitario

This dissertation proposes an examination of the new historical novel Déjame que te cuente (Juanita Gallardo, 1997) and the relevance of its narrative and discursive strategies. This novel deals, though not exclusively, with the love life of Rosario Puga y Vidaurre with Bernardo O'Higgins, the hero of Chile's Independence. The text describes events which take place between the years 1810-1825 and mixes historiographical facts from the period with fictions. This work treats the location of the corpus in the context of Latin American postmodernity, emphasizing its rearticulation in democratized Chile and the impact that this context had on women's narrative in the Chilean Post-Boom. It then examines the re-writing of history as resource in the construction of a national identity discourse and new national identity constructions. Finally, it studies the representation of femininity in Déjame que te cuente as a significant example of narrative productions by Latin American women of that period, as contrasted with gender representations after 2005. Our working hypothesis at the outset was that Déjame que te cuente is a representative text of Latin American postmodernism because it is presented from a double inscription as consumer good and symbolic good. The conclusions of this investigation permitted confirmation of the initial hypothesis. However, it should also be noted that, on the one hand, the new historical novel as discourse of national identity is not relevant in Chile after 2005. National identities have been replaced by imaginary constructions in which the individual memory predominates. On the other hand, representations about femininity have also evolved: the notion of the extension of sexed and gender categories has left its mark on new imaginary associated with gender representations.

Keyphrases: Postmodernity, Cultural industry, Latin American Post-Boom, Women's literature, Historical re-writing, Identity discourses, Representation
L'humour littéraire : le fond tragique dans Zazie dans le métro, Midnight's Children et Crèvematin : étude du mouvement humoristique et de son rapport au tragique dans la littérature

For a long time, humor as a literary device has been neglected in both the academic and critical spheres. However, it is to be found in some major works from beginning to end, and sometimes it even dictates the path of the entire story. But laughter in literary works was first considered a frivolous action, before being relegated to its social functions. Indeed, in literature, humor can convey the most serious aspects of life and shows itself to be a formidable writing tool. It is precisely what I want to explore here, in describing the tragic undertone of three novels of different times and/or cultures. Through those novels, we will see the various types of tragedy that literary humor can mobilize, before coming to articulate what they have in common, the theme underlying them all. A certain schema guides this process in the three works under consideration: a movement which consists in masking humor’s dramatic aspects before exposing them, whether directly or indirectly. In that sense, the most traditional mechanisms of literature are made use of and subverted. In order to establish the study’s analytic framework, it will thus be a question of determining the characteristics of literature’s humoristic action. In attempting to understand the emergence of a chaotic structure necessary for producing the movement that characterizes humor, we will examine its specific temporality in relation to the time allowed in the act of writing. In tracking the will to destroy as a desire to create, we will see how humor undermines the literary illusion as well as how it inhabits language to exploit its possibilities and means of expression that go beyond mimesis. After examining the workings of humor, I will turn to the role of the tragic itself and its interaction with the humor that characterizes these novels. Following this reflection to its conclusion leads to the question of whether tragic humor ultimately cancels itself out. As it unfolds, then, this study comes to examine the intimate relationship between humor and the tragic, how they work together and which of these two poles assumes a greater importance. In this context, this study shows how the comic alters the dramatic that, without disappearing completely, appears in unexpected ways.

Keyphrases: comparative literature, humor, tragic, dark humor, language, movement
Police et manifestantes : une étude qualitative sur l'expérience des femmes en action de protestation

Studies on policing protest have identified key variables relative to strategies employed on groups, namely political ideology and identity of protesters. However, empirical data on gender is scarce even if this variable distinguishes women's experiences in other forms of police intervention. The purpose of this study is therefore to understand the experiences of women activists in their interaction with the police in the context of collective actions. In order to assess whether gender influences their relations with the police, nineteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with women activists who experienced numerous conflictual exchanges with the police. The analysis of the interviews has demonstrated that gender is important in the construction of their experience. Gendered interactions took place both at an individual level as well as when police intervened on protest groups. Sexist, paternalistic, machismo and sexualized comments and attitudes shape rapports between individuals, and shed light on the presence of the discretionary power of police officers during crowd management interventions. When trying to understand what motivates the choice of a particular intervention directed towards a militant group, it is difficult to consider gender as a predictive factor. However, it caracterizes part of women’s interactions when gathering around feminist or non-mixt issues. These interactions allow us to argue that the police controls social disorders, but also protects the gendered social order. This brings us to reflect on women's recourse of violence as a form of civil disobedience. Finally, the conflicting interactions have had considerable effects on the mobilization of these activists, leading to the crystallization of certain ideologies and perceptions about the police institution. This study follows a feminist perspective that pursues a broader goal of understanding the gender relations that build women's lives.

Keyphrases: Police, Manifestation, Protest policing, Gender, Women, Social movements, Demonstration, Feminism, Police discretion, Women's violence, Qualitative methodology
Détection et caractérisation de nanoparticules d’oxyde de zinc par spectrométrie de masse à plasma inductif en mode particule unique (single-particle ICPMS)

The increased production, use and release of engineered nanomaterials (NM) is concerning considering their possible persistence in the environment and their potential toxic issues. Unfortunately, actual knowledge about their presence in natural media is limited, mainly because of their very low concentrations (ng L-1) and the complex matrices in which they are suspected to be found. Therefore, there is a great need to develop analytical techniques that are sensitive, selective and adapted to those natural matrices. To do so, single-particle inductively coupled plasma (SP-ICPMS) is a very promising analytical technique. Allowing the one by one detection of metallic particles, SP-ICPMS has already been used for the characterization of NM in complex media. However, size detection limits (SDL) are higher for some metallic NM, which are, like the Zn base NM, rapidly dissolved or that have a natural high concentration of the ionic form in the sample. As a result, the use of SP-ICPMS for the detection and characterization of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NP), which is one of the most used in the industry, is a big challenge. To overcome it, an ion-exchange technique was used to remove the Zn2+ and its weakly bonded forms present in solution before their analysis. This technique has successfully been adapted to a highly sensitive ICPMS in order to lower the SDL of ZnO NP, going from 32 to 8.2 nm. To test the setup for a natural media, ZnO NP were spiked and analyzed in river water. After 24 h, particles were found to be more stable in the river water, most probably because of its higher pH. Also, the developed method allowed the analysis of natural zinc and copper containing colloids in river and in rainwaters. Stability of these particles in the rainwater was followed during one month during which the metal mass of the particles on average slightly decreased.

Keyphrases: Single-particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, Nanoparticles, Zinc oxide, Natural waters