Des Considérations inactuelles au coeur de l'Occupation: Le Cogito à rebours d'Hélène Berr

Written in Paris during the darkest moments of the German Occupation, but only published in 2008, Hélène Berr's Journal was immediately hailed for its dramatic testimony and striking insights. With precision and lucidity, the young Jewish student at the Sorbonne records the human tragedies unfolding all around her in the wake of the Holocaust, while at the same time reviewing her own manner of experiencing these traumatic events through her personal reflections and emotions. The present article analyses her astute and poignant observations in the light of Emmanuel Lévinas's notion of the ethically grounded subject. Beyond its documentary value, Hélène Berr's Journal thus takes on significant philosophical dimensions. At the same time, Lévinas's concept of the Other's incursion into the realm of the self proves to be firmly anchored in the firsthand experience of the twentieth century's greatest historical catastrophe.

Écrit aux jours les plus sombres de l'Occupation de Paris, mais publié en 2008 seulement, le Journal d'Hélène Berr s'est tout de suite présenté comme un insigne témoignage. De manière aussi précise que perspicace, Hélène note les drames qui se déroulent tout autour d'elle tout en revenant sur tout ce qu'elle parvient à vivre et à penser au jour le jour. Nous nous proposons de lire ce Journal à la lumière d'Emmanuel Lévinas et de découvrir ainsi la profondeur non seulement humaine mais aussi philosophique de ce carnet intime tout en confirmant l'ancrage de la pensée de l'Autre dans le vécu historique de la plus grande catastrophe du XXième siècle.     

Le déplacement des pôles du théâtre francophone: Malcolm de Chazal et l’arrière-scène tibétaine

Acclaimed by the Parisian Surrealist circles in 1948, Malcolm de Chazal, the French-speaking Mauritian writer and painter, opted for unchartered literary territories in his subsequent works. In the 1950s, he wrote a collection of dramas that tended to decentre his writing practice towards Asian perspectives. References to Indo-Mauritian culture assuredly provided him with a major source of inspiration to deliver a culturally hybrid theatre. Yet Tibet may seem at first a rather unlikely referent in his work. One can nevertheless demonstrate by comparing the author’s numerous references to Tibet that it is not only meaningful in his entire work but also that it is a central and neglected aspect of his geo-literary agenda.     

Rehabilitating feminist politics and political theatre: Hélène Cixous's La Ville parjure ou le réveil des Erinyes at the Théâtre du Soleil

Hélène Cixous's 1994 play La Ville parjure ou le réveil des Erinyes , first produced at Ariane Mnouchkine's Théâtre du Soleil , insists on both theatre and feminism as valuable political practices in the face of the AIDS pandemic. Disguised in the trappings of Greek tragedy, the play reframes the scandal over the French government's complicity in the distribution of blood contaminated with HIV. As the mother of two young plague victims openly exhorts the audience to take part in righting social wrong, the Furies wreak havoc on the on-stage regime that ignores its citizens suffering. Ultimately the emphasis is not on peaceful resolution but on the critical need for action on social issues. The maternal heroine and strong women figures in this elaborate production insist on the impossibility of divorcing aesthetic considerations of theatre from its responsibility to create public awareness.     

Médecine et Discours sur L’Homme dans la Première Modernité

In the 16^th and 17^th centuries, medical knowledge was anthropological in so much as it produced a discourse on man whose ambition and legitimacy needed no justification. Underwritten by the belief that the body was an object of science, the epistemic horizons of a doctrina de homine emerged from the interaction of medical practice, particularly anatomy, with philosophy and theology in a specific framework - the reorganization of knowledge in Europe over the “long 16^th century”.     

Prêcher sur le prêche. La réflexion de Maurice de Sully sur l’importance et la nature de la prédication

The paper presents an analysis of the work of Maurice de Sully, bishop of Paris (1160–96) and the author of one of the earliest complete collections of sermons for lay people. The focus of the analysis is the idea of the preaching as it was understood by the preachers themselves. The importance and the nature of this pastoral activity are quite often presented in the sermons. They also seem to be alluded to through the structure of the sermons and vocabulary used by the preacher.     

La concession familiale Bamiléké: un exemple d'architecture endogène au Cameroun

This paper addresses the issue of vernacular or endogenous architecture and design in Cameroonian cities. More precisely, we study the traditional Bamiléké family estate as a specific type of housing and property structure within the community of Pète-Bandjoun. According to our research, these estates usually involve the following spatial units: green spaces, a delineating structure, a courtyard, the family landfill, the magico-religious place, the family cemetery, the dwelling itself, and the dwelling's main functional units (kitchen, toilets, attic, etc.). We suggest the idea that the Bamiléké family estate is in itself an important source of endogenous knowledge related to architecture and planning. Moreover, it is a tangible and intangible cultural heritage which should be preserved in Cameroon despite widespread urbanization.     

Promoting Women's Rights,Hiding the Empire: Marie-Hélène Lefaucheux,an Imperialist Woman at the United Nations

This contribution examines the role of Marie-Hélène Lefaucheux, the French representative in the UN Commission on the Status of Women between 1948 and 1953. By focusing on Lefaucheux's activism and connection with the French government, this article intends to analyse how French post-imperial policy carried out by reformist women's organisations pursued the expansion of women's and human rights whilst supporting the empire. Using a range of archival sources and the Commission's reports, this work argues that the role of reformist imperial women and organisations was crucial in influencing the Commission which was both a place of contestation and protection of the gendered and colonial order.     

Plus difficile d'être élu dans une petite municipalité? Perceptions de la fonction élective par certains élus municipaux québécois

In Quebec, 75% of the province's elected municipal officials hold office in municipalities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants. While we know that the demographic size of a municipality is likely to influence the career path and profile of elected officials and, more generally, the professional nature of elective office, to the best of our knowledge, little has been written about this relationship in Quebec municipalities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants. This is surprising given the institutional, political, and financial context can vary greatly depending on the size of the municipality and is thus likely to influence the nature of the day-to-day elective office. Using a methodology based on semi-structured interviews with roughly 30 elected officials, our study highlights two specific characteristics. Some believe the nature of their elective office to be the same as that held by their counterparts in large municipalities, so they feel that they are not equipped with the same tools to meet the needs of their office. Some perceive the conditions under which they exercise their office are different, so they note the scope of their task is heavy, impacting their daily lives. These findings point to the need for further studies on the management of these smaller municipalities.     

Les jésuites et l’utopie du «comédien honnête» aux XVIe et XVIIe siècles

The author focuses her approach on the quite unknown actor’s figure, central in the theatrical activity of the jesuit colleges, at the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth century. The author attempts to decipher the portrait of the christian actor, an antiactor invested by all the strenght of truth whose image is feigned by the comedian. But, more generally, the paper places the actor of Jesuit religious dramas, which were often written by the professors of the colleges, in the framework of those colleges, which constitutes the ultimate guarantee, since the actor is a student, and in no way a future actor, of the specificity of this theatre.     

Berkeley polémiste: des Sermons sur l’obéissance assive (1712) aux Maximes sur le patriotisme (1750)

Cet article vise?à?présenter une dimension peu connue de la pensée de Berkeley?à?travers une étude minutieuse des polémiques entretenues par ce dernier tout au long de la première moitié du XVIIIe siècle. Ces polémiques, dont le contenu est généralement politique, moral ou économique, reposent sur trois thèses récurrentes et complémentaires, rarement pensées de concert: une philosophie cyclique de l’histoire; une distinction ontologique entre activité et passivité appliquée?à?d’autres domaines que celui de la métaphysique; une analogie entre monde physique et monde moral qui fonctionne au niveau du rapport entre macrocosme et microcosme. La mise en valeur de ces trois thèses permet d’envisager la philosophie berkeleyenne sous un autre angle, notamment en donnant?à?son immatérialisme une saveur plus stratégique qu’on ne le fait habituellement.