Mythes, symboles, magie et croyances autour du pouvoir : un regard classique dans les romans d’Ahmadou Kourouma, En attendant le vote des bêtes sauvages et Pepetela, Lueji: o nascimento de um império

Tese de doutoramento, Estudos Clássicos (Cultura Clássica), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras, 2015Le mythe, la magie, les croyances, la sorcellerie, le fétichisme sont des pratiques inhérentes de la culture africaine. Toute activité humaine en Afrique est source d’une pratique occulte depuis la préhistoire jusqu’à nos jours. La rencontre de la culture occidentale européenne et africaine a eu beaucoup d’impact non seulement en Europe mais aussi et surtout en Afrique. L’oeuvre de l’ivoirien Ahmadou Kourouma En attendant le votes des bêtes sauvages et celle de l’angolais Pepetela, Lueji : O Nascimento de Um Império montrent non seulement l’effet des pratiques occultes sur l’obtention et l’exercice du pouvoir mais aussi mettent en évidence les valeurs culturelles et traditionnelles africaines qui favorisent quelques fois le disfonctionnement des jeunes Etats africains indépendants il y a de cela plus de 50 ans dans la grande majorité. Si En attendant le vote des bêtes sauvages met en relief les pratiques occultes des nouveaux chefs d’Etats africains dont la croyance aux marabouts et aux féticheurs ainsi qu’à la sorcellerie empêchent toute rationalisation de la gestion du pouvoir, dressant ainsi des régimes dictatoriaux contre leurs peuples, Lueji : O Nascimento de Um Império quant à elle présente les pratiques rituelles traditionnelles qui rendent possible l’accession et le maintien du pouvoir dans les sociétés traditionnelles africaines très anciennes. Les différents chefs d’Etats africains brandissent aux yeux de l’opinion internationale leur attachement à la démocratie et à la religion chrétienne ou musulmane par la réalisation de grandes oeuvres monumentales à l’image de l’occident ou de l’Asie alors qu’en dessous, ils sont profondément animistes liés aux pratiques occultes et grands dictateurs, le tout favorisé en partie par l’avènement de la guerre froide. Mais l’Afrique ne présente pas seulement de mauvais clichés. Les richesses culturelles africaines méritent d’être sélectionnées dans le but de les conjuguer avec celles des pays occidentaux et asiatiques en vue de former une Afrique prospère pour les générations futures. De même que les africains, les dieux ont pendant longtemps jugulé la vie sociale, culturelle et économique de la société de la Grèce antique. La croyance aux oracles a maintenu emprisonnée toute expression de liberté et de rationalisation de l’esprit scientifique. L’objectif de notre travail est d’établir à partir des oeuvres africaines que nous choisies, une comparaison de la culture africaine avec celle de l’Europe Occidentale dans le but de montrer l’universalité des valeurs de l’être humain quelque soit l’époque ou l’endroit.O mito, magia, crenças, bruxaria, fetichismo são práticas inerentes à cultura africana. Toda atividade humana em África baseia-se sobre a prática oculta desde os tempos pré-históricos até hoje. O encontro da cultura Europeia e a da África tem tido um grande impacto não só na Europa mas principalmente na África. As obras do marfinense Ahmadou Kourouma En attendant le vote des bêtes sauvages e do angolano Pepetela, Lueji : O Nascimento de Um Império mostram não só o efeito de práticas ocultas sobre como obter e exercer o poder mas também destacam os valores culturais e tradicionais africanos que favorecem, por vezes, o mau funcionamento dos estados africanos independentes nos anos 50. Se a obra En attendant le vote des bêtes sauvages põe em de relevo as práticas ocultas dos novos líderes africanos cuja crença nos feiticeiros assim como na bruxaria impede toda a racionalização do poder, erguendo assim os regimes ditatoriais contra os seus povos, a obra Lueji: O Nascimento de Um Império apresenta as práticas rituais tradicionais que tornam possível a obtenção e a conservação do poder nas sociedades tradicionais africanas antigas. Vários líderes africanos fingem mostrar, face à opinião pública internacional, o seu compromisso com a democracia e a fé cristã ou muçulmana pela implementação de grandes obras à imagem do Ocidente ou da Ásia enquanto na realidade estão profundamente ligados às práticas animistas ocultas e agem como grandes ditadores, todos apoiados em parte pelo advento da Guerra Fria. Mas África não tem apenas más imagens. As riquezas culturais merecem serem selecionadas e combiná-las com as dos países ocidentais e asiáticos a fim de formar uma África próspera para as futuras gerações. Assim como entre os africanos, os deuses durante muito tempo afetaram a vida social e a cultura económica da sociedade da Grécia antiga. A crença nos oráculos tinha mantido presa qualquer expressão da liberdade e da racionalização do espírito científico. O objetivo de nosso trabalho é estabelecer a partir das obras africanas que escolhamos uma comparação da cultura africana com a da Europa Ocidental a fim de mostrar a universalidade dos valores dos seres humanos seja qual for o tempo ou o espaço

Beta-endorphins during coronary angioplasty in patients with silent or symptomatic myocardial ischemia

AbstractObjectives. The aims of this study were to correlate betaendorphin plasma levels and anginal pin in patients with ischemia induced by percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty and to detect eventual endorphin variations during balloon occlusion.Background. The opioid system appears involved in the absence of pain occurring in silent myocardial ischemia.Methods. Beta-endorphin plasma levels were measured 24 h before, just before, during and after coronary angioplasty (performed on the left anterior descending artery) in 53 men with documented coronary artery disease and exercise-induced myocardial ischemia.Results. Group 1 (33 patients) reported symptoms; group 2 (20 patients) was asymptomatic during angioplasty. In these patients, the prevalence of exercise-induced silent ischemia was 57%. The occurrence of angina during exercise or angioplasty was related to the frequency of angina during daily life when patients were subgrouped. The severity and distribution of coronary artery disease did not differ between the two groups. During angioplasty, the number of balloon inflations and the Inflation time and pressure were similar in symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. In each group, no short-term variability of baseline betaendorphin plasma levels was observed during 2 consecutive days. Corresponding beta-endorphin plasma levels (at baseline and during and after angioplasty) were significantly in Group 2. During balloon occlusion, the levels decreased significantly in the symptomatic group at the onset of angina but remained stable in the asymptomatic group.Conclusions. Methodologic variables and the severity of coronary artery disease did not influence the presence of symptoms during angioplasty-induced ischemia. Beta-endorphin plasma levels were higher and more stable in patients with silent ischemia during angioplasty, suggesting that opiate levels and their variation during ischemia are associated with individual attitude toward anginal pain

Dynamic General Equilibrium Taxation Model and Business Cycle Accounting

The purpose of the paper is to evaluate the degree to which Dynamic General Equilibrium Taxation (DGET) models account for Japanese macroeconomic variable using Business Cycle Accounting (BCA). BCA can produce from endogenous variables (observations) four exogenous variables (wedges) in a dual way. The empirical analysis demonstrates that our DGET model can succeed in producing labor wedges of BCA, but not investment ones. That is, it can explain intratemporal allocations between consumption and leisure to some degree, but not intertemporal allocations in capital markets. この論文の目的は，動学的一般均衡租税（Dynamic General Equilibrium Taxation, DGET）モデルが，日本経済のマクロ変数をどれだけ説明しているかを，景気循環会計（Business Cycle Accounting, BCA）を用いて評価することである。BCAによって，内生変数である観測値から，ウェッジと呼ばれる4つの外生変数が双対的に作り出される。得られた結論は，DGETモデルは BCAの労働ウェッジを作り出すことに成功しているが，投資ウェッジを作り出せていない，ということである。つまり，同時点内での消費と余暇の配分についてある程度説明しているが，資本市場での異時点間の配分については説明力が乏しいことが明らかになった

The emotionally intelligent use of attention and affective arousal under creative frustration and creative success

Why are some individuals able to generate outstanding creative products despite repeated frustrating failures? This question has persisted across the centuries and deals with the nature of creativity itself. We hypothesize that the attitude characterizing how people experience and regulate their emotions (i.e., trait emotional intelligence; trait EI) can explain the differences emerging in creative performance under frustration or success. We explored this hypothesis by inducing, through artificial evaluations during a creative task, either creative frustration or creative success, and by measuring changes in attentional and affective processing through eye-tracking. We expected that trait EI, through a moderation of the attentional and affective components defining the creative process, could predict creative performance. Results supported our expectation, showing that through the reg- ulation of the affect experienced during the creative process, trait EI allows the best use of the attentive and affective resources beneficial to creative thinking