Votre recherche

This master’s thesis aims to shed light on why many episodes of violent collective behavior occurred in the contiones during the last century of the Roman Republic (133-44 BC). To get there, we have drawn on an analytical framework specialized in the understanding of intergroup conflict and recently used by historians: social psychology. We mainly used the Social Identity Theory because it is considered the most comprehensive in explaining intergroup behavior at both the societal and crowd levels. It turns out that the appearance of violence in the contiones can be explained both by reasons related to the political, social and economic context of Roman society in the first two centuries BC and by factors specific to this type of assembly. Drawing on recent studies, our analysis began by showing that the political and economic context of Rome caused divisions between the groups that constituted it. By considering this fragmentation, we were able to recognize the presence of factors that encouraged intergroup conflicts on a macro scale. We then looked separately at the two distinctive features of contiones (an audience assembled and a speaker discoursed) to determine how they contributed to violent outbursts. Our analysis suggested that contiones were one of the few contexts in which assembled individuals categorized their peers according to their political group membership and where a speaker could influence the dynamics that developed between these groups. Given the troubled state of Roman society, the contiones provided a fertile environment for intergroup conflict.

Since the 1960s, the history of slavery and that of the Atlantic Revolutions have carved out a significant place in the historiography. These developments have had a beneficial effect on the representation of populations of African origin in the historical literature, contributing in particular to putting the Haitian Revolution back on the map in the 1990s and 2000s. The purpose of this thesis is to examine a few works on the various revolutions of the Americas, namely the American, the Haitian and the South American, in order to study the changing importance that historians attribute to the agency of black people, and principally to slaves. The first chapter follows the evolution of this historiography by submitting to serial analysis the bibliography assembled by Aline Helg in Slaves No More!, before examining the pioneering works of Anna Julia Cooper and C.L.R. James and a sort of prehistory of the notion of the Atlantic revolution. The second chapter focuses on a selection of work individually targeting the different revolutions of the Americas, in order to observe the treatment of slaves’ roles. The last deals with the treatment of the agency of slaves in four surveys published between 1988 and 2016 covering summarily or in detail the various American revolutions.

This paper examines the document “Ponte para o futuro” (“Bridge to the future”), a neoliberal political platform implemented in Brazil after President Dilma Rousseff was deposed in 2016. The work shows that these policies have resulted in the systematic dismantling of public institutions and social policies, leading to a deterioration and decline in the population’s quality of life, referred to in this essay as “demodernization”. The primary motivation for conducting this study is the realization that the process that led to demodernization in Brazil has similarities with events observed in other countries, revealing an intentionality in the process. Aside from the differences specific to each country, demodernization follows a predetermined path. In Brazil’s case, the roadmap that establishes the steps to be followed to achieve a change in the political and economic regime is explained in detail in the “Bridge to the Future” plan. The aim of this study is to gain a better understanding of the notion of demodernization, and to verify whether the “Bridge to the Future” plan can be considered an inflection point that marks the change of course towards a neoliberal state. This work also seeks to fill certain gaps to enable a better understanding of the country’s recent history between 2013 and 2018, and to offer a contribution to studies on Latin America and Brazil in the light of the notion of demodernization

This thesis explores the territorial dispossession of the Ojibway people by the Canadian government in all its dimensions – be it economical, political but especially cultural. The analysis, greatly indebted to cultural geography, aspect too often poorly considered in the traditional narratives of settler colonialism, is the principal theme of this work. The type case is the Ojibway of the Garden River First Nation, between 1815 and 1860. By the figure of Shingwaukonse, this community held a very active diplomatic activity with the British crown, by the contact with representatives of its Canadian colonies. The trail it left allows us to see the total dispossession that necessitates settler colonialism. To successfully tackle this project, it is imperative to reframe the narrative of the Sault-Sainte-Marie region in all of it cross-border character, to address the multiple colonial dynamics felt by regional Anishinaabeg. This narrative starts on a vast geographical scale associated with the British Empire, before stopping on the specific ways this group lived their identities when faced with these new dispossessions.

Privateering was at its all-time high in the eighteenth century, specifically during the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1713). The increase in this activity had particular consequences in the colonies and, in fact, precipitated the foundation of the first admiralty in French North America, at Plaisance. Colonial admiralties were to follow the instructions of the Ordonnance de la Marine of 1681, just like their French counterparts. While there are a few studies of the judgement of prizes in metropolitan admiralties, there are no studies that examine in detail how this procedure unfolded in colonial admiralties. This thesis asks, therefore, the following question: how did the colonial admiralties judge prizes in the eighteenth century, specifically from 1690 to 1760, in the ports of Plaisance, Québec and Louisbourg? To answer this question, the responses of the Admiral of France in the subseries G5 were used to make a preliminary statistical portrait to illuminate the main characteristics of captured prizes and their adjudication in the colonies (chapter 1). Then, records of proceedings of the Admiralty of Plaisance from the subseries G5 were used to reconstitute the judgement of prizes in detail and to identify the similarities and differences between colonial and metropolitan adjudication. Finally, in order to better understand the place of privateering in the admiralty’s overall activity, we examined how the volume of these cases compared to that of other types before the same institution. To do so, we consulted the fonds de l’amirauté de Québec and the fonds de l’amirauté de Louisbourg, with the notarized records of Plaisance. This analysis allowed us to see the particular role played by the admiralty in each port, a role shaped by the latter’s socioeconomic and geographic character (chapter 3). Main findings of the study include the similarity in procedures in metropolitan and colonial admiralties as well as the specific adaptations that were made to the colonial context.

This thesis analyses the situation of the catholic church of Canada at the turn of the 19th century using a Gramscian theoretical framework. Through the historical paths of three bishops, we demonstrate that the episcopacy maintained its position as an essential link between the Canadian population and the colonial state. We observe a threefold movement from within the catholic institution. The bishops intended to strengthen the structure of the episcopacy through social control and by increasing the numerical basis of the clergy. Republican ideas being promoted through the Atlantic revolutions, the colonial government and the episcopacy tightened their relationship in order to defend a monarchist conception of the world; the state and the church came to form what Antonio Gramsci calls an “ideological bloc”. The relationship between the two institutions was, however, not without conflict. A tug of war began over the judicial situation of the Catholic church. Some members of the British elite hoped to reinforce state control over the episcopacy which they considered as too independent. The issue at stake in the debates that arose at the start of the 19th century was to ascertain who would control the ideological apparatus in a colony where the majority of the population was Catholic

This thesis studies how culture propagated by the Nazi regime during the Second World War influenced young Germans and contributed to their acceptance of National Socialist values. It asks: How did youth culture act as a vehicle of propaganda under the Third Reich and what impact did it have on German youth? By focusing on the hitherto under researched areas of children’s literature, toys and games, my research helps us to better understand the nature of Nazi propaganda, in particular the importance of informal education. Through play and reading young Germans were indoctrinated in Nazi ideology about the quest for a so-called pure race, conquest and expansion in East and West Europe, and anti-Semitism. These cultural activities led to an immersive emotional experience for young Germans which aroused their enthusiasm for contributing to and benefiting from a world ruled by Nazism. The entertaining nature of this cultural propaganda turned the violence and exclusion intrinsic to the National Socialist vision of the world into euphemisms, by trivializing their seriousness. This phenomenon helps us to understand why, even after the war, Germans persisted in seeing their youth under the Nazi regime as a relatively positive experience. The cultural aspect of the indoctrination of German youth is an underexplored dynamic of German history that I explore in this thesis.

Project North (PN) est une coalition œcuménique active de 1975 à 1987. À son apogée, elle est composée de 12 Églises chrétiennes. Formée dans la lignée d’un renouveau théologique et œcuménique, PN est un acteur central dans le Canada des années 1970 et 1980. Jamais explorée extensivement dans l’historiographie, PN s’inscrit à la jonction de quatre champs d’études : l’histoire du Nord, l’histoire autochtone, l’histoire religieuse et l’histoire des ressources naturelles. Au fil de son histoire, PN collabore avec plus d’une vingtaine d’organisations autochtones locales, régionales et nationales sur une multitude d’enjeux marquants de l’époque. En entretenant des liens de confiance avec celles-ci, PN contribue à la transmission et à la diffusion de leurs revendications à un large auditoire. Son rôle dans l’évolution d’enjeux nordiques a été essentiel et ne peut pas être mis en veilleuse, tout particulièrement dans le cadre de la Convention de la Baie-James et du Nord québécois, de la Commission Berger et de la Northern Native Rights Campaign. L’étude détaillée de son histoire administrative montre toutefois que PN agit selon une optique de nordicité religieuse, c’est-à-dire une vision chrétienne du Nord influencée par une théologie structurée et complexe. Le Nord de PN est un Nord chrétien, vierge de péchés sociaux et de vastes projets de développement de ressources naturelles. Ceci l’amène à entretenir des relations indifférentes, voire hostiles, avec certaines organisations autochtones dont les finalités souhaitées divergent de celles de la coalition.

This thesis explores the impacts of Egyptian colonialism on the Sudanese agrarian society following the 1821 conquest of the Funj Sultanate until the beginning of the Mahdist Revolution in 1881. This research goes against the Western conventional historiographical consensus affirming that the agricultural sector in Sudan suffered a long and painful decline during the whole Egyptian colonial occupation. In fact, it is the complete opposite: after the 1844 Egyptian failure to impose their plantation system, the local Sudanese elites composed of former Funj aristocrats, traders and nomadic lords, are going to reappropriate this agrarian structure for their own ends. We are, in fact, witnessing the resurgence of Sudanese agriculture under a new hybrid system. This agrarian revival is going to have major consequences on the regions of Gezira and oriental Sudan and also on all the strata of the population. It will lead to an exponential rise in the use of agricultural slavery, the collapse of the free peasant and nomad, the building of a new network of cities and the decline of the environment. During that period, the Egyptian colonial government, confined to its garrison-cities, will limit its interaction with the rural world by inefficiently trying to extract the maximum of riches with the use of violence.

Authorized on December 31, 1914, the 41st Battalion (French-Canadian) of the Canadian Expeditionary Force was destined to follow in the footsteps of the renowned 22nd Battalion and fight on the western front. However, only seven months after its formation, this multiethnic unit made up of French-Canadian and foreign volunteers was disbanded due to a wave of insubordination that included a record number of infractions, desertions by the hundreds, several corruption scandals, widespread drunkenness and the cold- blooded murder of two Canadian servicemen. Long forgotten, the case of the 41st Battalion was examined for the first time in 1974 by historian Desmond Morton, who attributed the unit’s failure to the shortcomings of its officers. We find this interpretation acceptable, albeit limited. While Morton convincingly demonstrated the incompetence of the Battalion’s officers, his traditional approach to military history fails to unveil the mechanisms by which indiscipline was allowed to spread among the rank and file. This thesis, grounded in the micro-historical approach, shifts the analysis from a top-down to a bottom-up perspective, emphasizing the social, cultural and circumstantial factors which played into the unit’s collapse. Drawing from unpublished sources including court-martial reports and personnel record files of the 41st Battalion, this study reveals a widespread lack of cohesion within the unit. In the strange case of the 41st Battalion, discipline thus depends not only on the individual qualities of the officers, but also on the quality of interpersonal relationships among the rank and file.

This study delves into the history of the Rogation feast, examining its origin, evolution and role in the creation of community identity in 5th and 6th century Gaul. Adopting a cross-approach between history and anthropology highlights the importance of this ritual for the communities of the period and the narrative surrounding it, as orchestrated by the bishops of Gaul and by various actors. By examining the corpus of sources relating to the first Rogations at this period, we discover how this feast served as an apotropaic ritual and collective penance to cope with various difficulties, such as epidemics and droughts, first in the Rhone valley and then throughout Gaul. Thus, the narrative surrounding this festival and how it fostered community adhesion are at the heart of this study. Broader questions, such as the development of collective practices including fasts, prayers and processions, and the way in which the Rogation narrative connected with biblical origins and became rooted in the episcopal sphere, are also put forward. These observations lead us to conclude that this festive ritual, as a testing ground for all social classes, served as a vehicle for creating stronger, more enduring communities. Indeed, it forged a sense of belonging through shared practices and experiences, resulting in the creation of a conventus and an ecclesiological consensus. Nevertheless, this vision is primarily that of the bishops, and as this study is also concerned with individual and community experiences, therefore we also analyze the feast as a space for negotiation and conflict. In short, this research sheds light on how this ritual went beyond its initial role to become an essential element of Gaul’s cultic landscape. It offers a fascinating insight into how Rogations shaped community identity and served as a catalyst for social cohesion in a crucial period of Christian history in Gaul.

This masters’ thesis analyses the connections between the first allied military trials held in postwar Germany and German public opinion toward the British and American occupation forces. Focused on the Belsen trial, held in the British occupation zone from September to November 1945, and the Dachau trial, held by the American military government in the U.S. occupation zone between November and December 1945, this study seeks to highlight the importance both trials held for the British and the Americans in establishing positive relations with the Germans. Using Belsen and Dachau as case studies, it argues that, while they were essential to British and American denazification and re-education programs, they also had to be conducted in a manner that ensured the best possible relationship the German public and the occupation forces in both the American and British occupation zones. I demonstrate that, from the initial steps implemented to set up the trials through their conclusion, both powers took German concerns and reactions to the judiciary procedures into account: first by anchoring the charges and the trials themselves in international law preceding the Second World War; then by providing the right to a defense to the accused. Both factors, the Allies believed, allowed them to claim a moral authority over their occupation zone. The memoir’s examination of the trials and their purpose is complimented by an analysis of the press coverage of the trials and public opinion surveys taken after the trials. This study states that the press coverage was oftentimes one the first instances in which Germans were confronted to the atrocities committed in the concentration camps. Finally, this study argues that, as a part of larger programs, the trials had a limited success as a tool to implement positive relations between the British and American occupation forces and the German population.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.