Lenga nòstra?: Local Discourses on Occitan in Southwestern France

Use of the Occitan language in southern France has steadily declined over the past eight centuries, as part of a societal shift toward French. This shift has culminated in the current endangerment of Occitan (UNESCO, Ethnologue). Native speakers are aging rapidly, and according to some estimates, the language will disappear by the end of the 21st century (Bernissan 2012, Kranzer 2015). Contemporary efforts to revitalize Occitan have been well received. Whereas the language was once an obstacle to the acquisition of French and denigrated as a patois, it now carries widely recognized cultural cachet (Martel 2013). Previous studies on Occitan have centered on language attitudes (Paulston 1994, Priest 2008, Joubert 2010), on ideological clashes between groups of different speakers (Blanchet 1992, Sumien 2006, Costa 2016, Escudé 2009), and on the presence of Occitan within particular spheres like education (Boyer 2009, Costa 2015) and the media (Alén-Garabato 2011, Hagège 2015). At present, there is a lack of research into the social, historical, and political factors that affect Occitan revitalization efforts on the local level. This study aims to address these factors by analyzing public discourses on Occitan circulating in two small communities in southwestern France, Carmaux and Villefranche-de-Rouergue. These towns are both located in rural areas, where contemporary society is troubled by economic transformation, an aging population, and the pressures of globalization. The study is an in-depth analysis of contemporary texts drawn from three sources of public discourse: the press, government documents, and documents circulated by associations promoting the Occitan language. Such public discourses both reflect and shape social attitudes and practices. Thus, the representations of Occitan that appear in the corpus allow me to analyze the role that it plays in each community. The three research questions that guide the study are as follows:             1. How is Occitan portrayed in public discourse in Carmaux and Villefranche-de- Rouergue? 2. What is Occitan’s role in local society, as evidenced in in public discourse in Carmaux and Villefranche-de-Rouergue? 3. In what domains of language use is Occitan portrayed as being present, according to public discourse in Carmaux and Villefranche-de-Rouergue?In order to address the questions, I use a purpose-built corpus of public discourses, gathered during a fieldwork period at the two research sites. In order to analyze these texts, I employ a methodology adapted from Reisigl and Wodak’s Discourse-historical approach (2009). Analysis related to the first research question indicates that explicit portrayals of Occitan are largely positive. I find that three Discourses predominate such depictions. The first insists on the aesthetic, emotional, and social value of Occitan. The second casts Occitan as a valuable part of the community. The third insists on Occitan’s role as a link with history, culture, and tradition. All three of them combine to create the impression that Occitan is vital to the community. This finding contrasts interestingly with analysis related to the second question, which finds that Occitan is highly restricted to a set of creative cultural practices that serve to reinforce a larger Occitan regional identity, not necessarily the local character of the town. Therefore, it appears that the limited presence of Occitan in the community is at odds with assertions of its vitality and relevance that appear in the corpus. Finally, analysis of the third research question shows that Occitan is represented as being marginally present or completely absent from all major domains of language use, save that of secular society. Most manifestations of Occitan are facilitated by language promotion and other civil society associations, and are related to cultural events. Thus, I conclude that the function of Occitan in Villefranche-de-Rouergue and Carmaux, as represented in the study corpus, is to facilitate community engagement and local identity, with emphasis on expansion of language use as a lower priority.                This study suggests that Occitan is undergoing a process of language revalorization and being refashioned as a marker of community belonging in Villefranche-de-Rouergue and Carmaux (Beier and Michael 2018, Dauenhauer and Dauenhauer 1998). Previous studies have also remarked on the lack of dynamism and language acquisition in Occitan as a consequence of a lack of nationalism (Paulston 1994), being limited to ideology (Costa 2016), and failing to break free of state language ideology (Escude 2009). However, I propose that Occitan revitalization is best viewed as a community revitalization project that privileges traditional cultural and linguistic practices that emphasize conviviality and creativity as a response to modern social pressures

Negative vaccine voices in Swedish social media

Vaccinations are one of the most significant interventions to public health, but vaccine hesitancy creates concerns for a portion of the population in many countries, including Sweden. Since discussions on vaccine hesitancy are often taken on social networking sites, data from Swedish social media are used to study and quantify the sentiment among the discussants on the vaccination-or-not topic during phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. Out of all the posts analyzed a majority showed a stronger negative sentiment, prevailing throughout the whole of the examined period, with some spikes or jumps due to the occurrence of certain vaccine-related events distinguishable in the results. Sentiment analysis can be a valuable tool to track public opinions regarding the use, efficacy, safety, and importance of vaccination

National Languages, Multilingual Education, and the Self-proclaimed "Militants" for Change in Senegal

Education in Senegal has since Independence in 1960 relied on French, the language of the colonizer and a foreign language for most Senegalese learners. In Senegal, national languages refer to African languages, which are not officially enacted as languages of instruction in formal schooling in comparison to French, the former colonial and current official language. However, in 2015, the Ministry of Education adopted a bilingual education policy based on national (Senegalese) languages. This is due in no small part to the advocacy work of Senegalese national language activists or militants (strong advocates in French, drawing on a political connotation). This study looks at these self-proclaimed militants’ lived experiences with national languages and education, the extent of their multi-generational work and network, and their influence in shaping the language-in-education policy landscape at what appears to be a moment of “critical juncture” with the adoption of a bilingual education policy within the Ministry of National Education. A qualitative case study, it draws on in-depth interviews with these militants, historical and policy document analysis, and participant-observations to answer the following question: “How and why have self-proclaimed militants advocated for the use of national languages in the Senegalese educational system since the 1950s, and what are their current contributions at this critical moment in possible language-in-education policy change?” Situated in a sociocultural framework, this study draws on Walter Mignolo’s (1991) decolonial theory of “border thinking” and Senegalese decolonial authors to amplify the voices, innovations, and contributions of Senegalese bi-/multilingual education researchers, practitioners, and advocates. Decolonizing and delinking knowledge is particularly important in the field of bi-/multilingual education and literacy as research and practice are often exported from the Global North to Global South through international development and aid programs, when in fact, contexts of the Global North would gain more in learning from models of the Global South. In the context of Senegal, the militants’ engagement in bilingual education is an act of self-determination and sovereignty, to move away from inherited and internalized patterns of colonial education and at the same time navigate the dynamics of aid and development in education, in particular, international donor agencies agendas and funding mechanisms

#Présidentielle2017 : a critical discourse analysis of the 2017 French presidential campaign on Twitter

In the context of the 2017 French presidential election, this dissertation examines political discourse on Twitter from a socio-semiotic perspective. Specifically, it focuses on campaign tweets as a unique genre of discourse that plays a pivotal role in the dissemination and amplification of political discourse. This study uses an innovative framework which combines two approaches to discourse analysis: Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). CDA and SFL are socially-oriented approaches to discourse which share a dialectical view of text-in-context whereby discourse shapes and is shaped by the social and cultural context in which it occurs (Fairclough, 2003; Hasan, 2014). I draw on Norman Fairclough’s concept of ‘order of discourse’, which refers to a unique configuration of genres, discourses and styles constitutive of a social practice or structure (Fairclough, 1993). I suggest that digital campaigning constitutes a growing social practice with its own order of discourse, and I examine how the 2017 presidential candidates mobilized particular discursive mechanisms to realize a variety of discourses (ideologies) and styles (identities). In addition, I analyze how they exploited the generic affordances and constraints of tweets to their advantage. To this end, I collected a total of 208 tweets from six main actors of the 2017 election: outgoing president François Hollande and candidates Emmanuel Macron, Marine Le Pen, François Fillon, Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Benoît Hamon. All tweets were posted in reaction to three events of significance for the election. This dissertation provides an in-depth, multifunctional analysis that focuses on ideational, interpersonal and textual ways of meaning-making: (1) transitivity and social actor representation, (2) modality and engagement and (3) texture and generic structure. I argue that the 2017 election was above all characterized by an effort of the candidates to distance themselves from the political class. I suggest that this antiestablishment sentiment was realized by two ‘styles of politics’: the populist style and the centrist style. Finally, I argue that the structural constraints of tweets amplify these populist appeals through the combination of decontextualization and semantic condensation.French and Italia

Aesthetic Space:The Visible and the Invisible in Urban Agency

Recent 'turns' in social sciences, namely the visual, qualitative, actorial or spatial turns, all indicate a rising interest in individuals. Since the aesthetic dimension always nourishes and informs individualsâ spatialities and their decision-making processes, my research explores how the subjective realm of the aesthetic has proved itself able to generate conditions that lead to action, and consequently influence other dimensions of society, especially in the ethical, political or legal realms. My systemic approach is grounded in the relational theory of space, the phenomenological study of the imagination, and the theory of urbanity. Hence, I investigated both urbanity and beauty as some of the most intriguing and interesting emergent (and not resultant!) phenomena of the urban system â where urbanity belongs to its objective realm and beauty to its subjective realm. It is essential to recognize that humans, unlike the components that create the natural systems, are capable of a particular sort of action due to their imaginative capacities that allow them to overpass the actual perceived world. The aesthetic dimension directly involves the human imaginative consciousness, which in turn activates the realm of the virtual, i.e., the realm that which exists only in a latent state, and does not appear visibly (fr. ce qui n'est qu'en puissance). While engaged in aesthetic experience, humans exhibit a particular sort of intentionality through which they bring to mind what is not visible through what is present and perceived. By making use of their lived body, individuals are capable to engage in a particular sort of imaginative play through which memories of the past, anticipations of the future and the actualized perceived present are conjured together, informing one another. Since every human intentional experience is spatialized, I investigated a particular spatial structure through which aesthetic experience occurs as such. I called this structure aesthetic space. In the last chapter, I investigate more precisely the influence of the urban environment on the way in which individualsâ aesthetic judgments evolve and mature. By considering the experience of modernity and the city as pivotal in the construction of individualsâ aesthetic sensitivities, I explore the spatial component of aesthetic judgments on some particular cases. I also focus on the importance of the urban public space, the lifestyle change, as well as on the period of childhood, which appear to be critical to the (aesthetic) development of individuals

Individual differences in the prediction of metabolic dysfunction from physiological responses to stress : a target for intervention?

Approximativement un Canadien sur quatre rapporte se sentir extrêmement stressé quotidiennement. Le stress a été associé avec l’incidence et la progression de la maladie cardiovasculaire (MCV), qui est la cause principale de mortalité mondiale parmi les hommes et les femmes. Une explication de la manière dont le stress peut contribuer aux MCV est l’impact du stress sur les facteurs de risque intermédiaires, tel que le syndrome métabolique. Le syndrome métabolique représente une constellation de facteurs de risque pour les MCV, qui ont été regroupés en un construit cliniquement significatif; la présence du syndrome métabolique double le risque de souffrir d’une MCV, indépendamment des composantes présentes. Avant la préparation de cette thèse, peu était connu concernant le lien entre notre façon de répondre au stress psychologique et le risque de développer un syndrome métabolique. Cette thèse a examiné l’impact des réponses physiologiques au stress sur le risque de développer un disfonctionnement métabolique, d’une manière transversale et longitudinal (Articles 1 & 2). Elle a aussi investigué l’effet modérateur du sexe et de l’âge sur ces associations. Les résultats démontrent que les réponses du système nerveux autonome sont associées avec des anomalies métaboliques, bien que ses associations soient modérées par le sexe. Plus précisément, parmi les hommes (Étude 1) et les femmes (Étude 2), des réponses exagérées du système nerveux autonome au stress interpersonnel, ont été associé avec davantage de dysfonction métabolique. Des réponses émoussées du système nerveux autonome (absence de réponse ou retrait vagal minimal pendant le stress) et l'augmentation de l'activité vagale durant le stress ont été aussi liées aux anomalies métaboliques plus importantes chez les femmes. En outre, dans l’étude 2, une fréquence cardiaque élevée au repos, combinée avec une plus grande réactivité au stress et une récupération différée, a aussi été associée avec une probabilité accrue de satisfaire aux critères du syndrome métabolique. Cette thèse a aussi inclut une étude pilote examinant la faisabilité et l’acceptabilité d’un programme de réduction du stress par la pleine conscience (MBSR) chez les personnes âgées atteintes du syndrome métabolique, actuellement ou dans le passé. Les résultats (Chapitre 3) ont été favorables à cet égard; l’étude était modérément faisable et très acceptable selon les participants. Nous avons également étudié si les élévations des paramètres métaboliques pourraient être inversées à travers le MBSR, et si le MBSR pourrait influencer l’ampleur des réponses au stress chez ceux qui démontraient des réponses exagérées ou émoussées au départ. Bien que les résultats soient préliminaires et doivent être répliqués dans une étude à plus grande échelle, les données initiales suggèrent la réversibilité de conséquences physiologiques induites par le stress dans le profil métabolique, soulignant en outre le rôle des réponses au stress dans la pathogenèse de ce syndrome. Le MBSR s'est également révélé prometteur dans la normalisation des réponses du système nerveux autonome au stress. Les implications théoriques et cliniques de ces résultats sont discutées en détail dans la dernière partie de la thèse. Des directions futures ainsi que des stratégies de transfert de connaissances sont également fournies.Nearly one in four Canadians reports feeling significantly stressed on a daily basis. Stress has been associated with the onset and progression of cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of death in men and women worldwide. One pathway by which stress may contribute to CVD is through its impact on intermediary risk factors of CVD, such as the metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome represents a constellation of CVD risk factors that have been grouped into a clinically meaningful construct; its presence doubles risk of CVD, independent of its individual components. Prior to the preparation of this thesis, little was known regarding the relation between our responses to psychological stress and metabolic syndrome risk. This thesis specifically examined the contribution of physiological stress responses to metabolic dysfunction, both concurrently and prospectively (Articles 1 & 2). It also investigated the potential moderating effect of sex and age. Results suggested that non-normative autonomic stress responses are associated with metabolic abnormalities, though these associations are moderated by sex. Specifically, in men (Study 1) and women (Study 2), exaggerated autonomic reactivity to interpersonal stressors was associated with metabolic dysfunction. Non-normative autonomic responses such as a blunted response (lack of or minimal vagal withdrawal during stress) and stress-related increase in vagal activity were linked to greater metabolic abnormalities in women. Additionally, a stress response pattern including high basal HR, greater HR reactivity, and delayed HR recovery, was also associated with increased odds of meeting metabolic syndrome criteria in Study 2. This thesis also included a pilot proof-of concept study examining the feasibility and acceptability of mindfulness-based stress reduction as an adjunct to usual treatment for older adults with current or past metabolic syndrome. Results (summarized in Chapter 3) were favorable in this regard; the study was moderately feasible and largely acceptable to participants. We also investigated whether elevations in metabolic parameters could be reversed through MBSR and tested whether MBSR influenced the magnitude of stress responses in both heightened and blunted responders. Although results need to be replicated in large-scale research before conclusions can be drawn, initial evidence suggests the reversibility of stress-induced changes in metabolic profile, further highlighting the role of stress responses in the pathogenesis of metabolic syndrome. MBSR also showed promise in normalizing autonomic stress responses. The theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed in detail in the final section of this thesis. Future directions as well as strategies for transfer of knowledge are also provided

Republicanism Recast : How the "Veil Affairs" Transformed French Republican Ideology and Public Discourse (2004-2014)

Thesis prepared for a joint degree (cotutelle) between Université de Montréal and École Normale Supérieure de Cachan, Université Paris-Saclay.Depuis la loi interdisant le port de signes religieux "ostensibles" dans les écoles publiques (2004), un changement progressif s'est opéré en France. De l'interdiction du port du foulard intégral dans l'espace public (2010) aux mesures touchant les parents d'élèves (2012) et les employées des crèches privées (2014), les femmes portant le foulard islamique ont graduellement été exclues de différents espaces publics. Ces mesures sont souvent justifiées au nom de la nécessité de défendre la République ou de revitaliser les valeurs qui la sous-tendent. À travers quels processus politiques y compris discursifs l'exclusion des femmes voilées est-elle devenue une composante de la promotion des valeurs républicaines ? Ma recherche se penche sur cette question à l'aide d'une approche conceptuelle et discursive de l'étude des idéologies politiques. Plus précisément, en ancrant mon analyse dans les discours publics entourant quatre "affaires du voile", ma recherche met en lumière la transformation graduelle du républicanisme français – une construction complexe à travers laquelle les concepts politiques acquièrent un sens. Cette analyse de l'idéologie républicaine française dans le contexte des "affaires du voile" révèle et continuité et changement. Continuité, car les anciens principes de liberté, égalité et fraternité y demeurent centraux ; et changement, car de nouveaux idéaux ont modifié la signification de son noyau conceptuel. Dans le chapitre 4, "Le foulard de l'étudiante : Le succès du séxularisme", j'analyse le début de ce processus. En examinant la controverse publique au sujet du port du foulard islamique dans les écoles publiques, je démontre comment les acteurs politiques français ont graduellement construit la question de l'égalité des sexes – qui, historique¬ment, a été plutôt marginale dans la pensée républicaine française – comme une valeur contiguë au principe de la laïcité, ouvrant ainsi la porte à d'autres redéfinitions. Dans le chapitre 5, "La burqa dans l'espace public : L'ordre social républicain", mon analyse démontre comment les hommes politiques et les juristes, en visant à interdire le port du voile intégral, ont revivifié et transformé la notion de l'ordre public à travers la construction d'une nouvelle définition de l'ordre social. Dès lors, le républicanisme français s'oriente vers la protection de "valeurs communes". D'un point de vue théorique, je soutiens que ce glissement implique une transformation naissante au sein même du noyau républicain : la priorisation de fraternité aux dépens de liberté et d'égalité. Le chapitre 6, "Baby-Loup et l'emploi privé : de discrimination à la cohésion sociale", et le chapitre 7, "Mères 'voilées' et sorties scolaires : une extension de la norme sociale républicaine", analysent la consolidation et les conséquences du noyau républicain transformé : la priorisation de l'intérêt public au détriment des droits et libertés individuels. Ces chapitres démontrent comment les acteurs politiques et juridiques ont appliqué ce républicanisme remanié aux nouveaux espaces et aux nouveaux groupes. Ce faisant, ils ont contribué à l'émergence et à l'enracinement d'un nouveau discours de cohésion sociale, imprégné par l'exigence de neutralité religieuse individuelle et conditionné par l'exclusion des femmes "voilées" d'une variété d'espaces publics.Since the law prohibiting the wearing of conspicuous religious symbols in public schools (2004), a gradual development has taken place in France. From the law banning full-face covering in public space (2010) to measures concerning the parents of students (2012) and the employees of private nurseries (2014), women wearing the Islamic headscarf have step-by-step been excluded from different spheres of public life. These measures have been publicly justified by the necessity of defending the French Republic or of reinvigorating its underlying principles. Through which political including discursive processes did the public promotion of republican values come to signify the exclusion of headscarf-wearing Muslim women from public spaces? My research tackles this question by employing a conceptual and discursive approach to the study of political ideology. More specifically, by focusing on the public discourses surrounding four so-called "veil affairs," my research sheds light on the gradual transformation of French republicanism – a complex construct through which political concepts gain meaning. Examining contemporary French republicanism through the context of the "veil affairs" reveals both continuity and change. Continuity, because the age-old principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity still form its cornerstone; and change, because newer ideals have modified the meaning of its conceptual core. In Chapter 4, "The Student's Headscarf: The Success of Sexularism," I analyze the beginning of this process. By examining the public controversy surrounding the wearing of the Islamic headscarf in public schools, I show how French political elites gradually constructed the question of gender equality – which, historically, has been rather marginal in French republican thought – as a value adjacent to the principle of laïcité, thereby opening the door for further redefinitions. In Chapter 5, "The Burqa in Public Space: The Republican Social Order," my empirical analysis demonstrates that, in aiming to ban face-covering veils, French political and legal actors ended up reviving and transforming the notion of public order through the construction of a new definition of republican social order. Thus, French republicanism took an important turn towards the protection of "shared values." From a theoretical point of view, I argue that this shift implies a nascent transformation within the very core of the republican-ideological construct: the prioritization of fraternity over liberty and equality. Chapter 6, "Baby-Loup and Private Employment: From Discrimination to Social Cohesion," and Chapter 7, "'Veiled' Mothers and School Outings: Extending the Republican Social Norm," examine the consolidation and consequences of the transformed republican-ideological core: the prioritizing of the "common good" (intérêt public) over individual rights and freedoms. These chapters shed light on how political and legal actors applied the transformed republican ethos to new spheres and new groups of people. In doing so, they contributed to the emergence and entrenchment of a new discourse on social cohesion – one permeated by the requirement of individual religious neutrality and dependent on the exclusion of headscarf-wearing Muslim women from a variety of public spaces