The project Kera-Plast aims to re-loop humans and nature by questioning the current systems and ethics through materiality. Human hair, currently considered as waste, functions as the base for the material exploration fabricated through thermo-compression molding. The flexible, short and opaque keratin-fibers get glued together with heat, pressure and water, acting as a plasticizer during the compression molding process. The results are stiff and remind on plastic due to shine and translucency. Aesthetics and function of the resulting material are controlled and designed by traditional textile techniques as knitting, weaving and non-woven processes. The material samples display the potential of Kera-Plast in the categories of 3D surface structures, patterns, shapeability and the influence of light. The findings also provide information about the parameters for designing with keratin fibers through the thermo-compression process. It can be concluded that despite all ethical and cultural factors, Kera-Plast and its fabrication method has the potential to add a sustainable, functional and aesthetical value to the design field and our future material consumption.

This thesis looks into the online news representation of the #MeToo movement, started by actress Alyssa Milano in October 2017, in the two biggest German newspapers, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung between October 2017 and January 2017. The purpose of this study is to examine how the online editorial departments of the two biggest German newspapers frame and represent sexual harassment in the light of #MeToo. Additionally, I want to determine how the news coverage developed from when Harvey Weinstein first was accused of sexual misconduct in October 2017, touching upon the occurrence of the now famous hashtag roughly two weeks later and another three months later when German TV director Dieter Wedel faced similar allegations. To do so, I conducted a Critical Discourse Analysis of 19 online newspaper articles. The analysis is divided into three parts: Text level, discursive practice and social practice. Resulting from the analysis, one can see that sexual harassment in Germany still is not recognised as an issue of gender inequality but rather a matter of individual responsibility and systemic structures in certain industries, especially when German stakeholders are involved.

Transsexuella personer hör till de mest utsatta personer i världen. Deras rättigheter regleras och diskrimineras av statlig lagstiftning som strider mot de mänskliga rättigheterna och de utsätts för våld och diskriminering p.g.a. deras avvikande könsidentitet som överskrider existerande genusbarriärer eller för att de utmanar de dominerande uppfattningarna om genus roller. Uppsatsen belyser sambandet mellan transnationell aktivism och kroppspolitik, för att påvisa hur transsexuella rättigheter diskrimineras och hurkroppar ses som en statlig angelägenhet. Jag utgår ifrån ett genusperspektiv inom IR, för att hänvisa till ett genussystem som förklarar de ojämna maktrelationerna och vill därmed betona lagens roll inom beskrivningen av samhälle och i föreläggandet av förändring. Studien påvisar ett samband på individ, statlig och transnationell nivå, för att illustrera den komplexa relationen mellan den politiska och diskursiva möjligheten inom den transnationella aktivismen. Genom en jämförande fallstudie av Chile och Finland, påvisar jag likheter och olikheter som påverkar hur transnationell aktivism tas emot, och ifall den påverkatländernas interna lagstiftning för transsexuella rättigheter. Chile och Finland visade sig vara stater med mycket likheter, varav den oberoende variabel som skiljer dem åt är den religiösa aspekten. Chile påvisar den tydliga relation som finns mellan staten och den katolska kyrkan, medan Finland ses som en sekulär stat. / Transgender people belong to the most vulnerable people in the world. Their rights are regulated and discriminated by state laws that violate human rights, and are subjected to violence and discrimination because of their gender identity, which exceeds existing gender barriers or because they challenge dominant views on gender roles. The paper highlights the connection between transnational activism and body politics, to show how transsexual rights are discriminated and seen as an affair of the state. I assume a gender gender perspective within IR, referring to a gender system that explains the uneven power relations,and thus wish to emphasise the role of the law in description of society and in the description of change. The study provides an insight into a relationship at the individual, state and transnational level. Through a comparative case study of Chile and Finland, both of which are current about the issue of gender reassignment, I demonstrate how transnational activism is used and received, and if the transnational activism has effected the internal laws for transsexual rights. The countries showed to have a lot in common,whereby the independent variable that differs is the religious aspect. Chile shows the strong connection between the state and the catholic church, while Finland is seen as a secular state.

The purpose of the project is to create a model for improved and expanded participation in an activist network, The Ada Songor Salt Women's Association (ASSWA) by enhancing communications. ASSWA is an organization of Brave Women (Yihi katseme) salt winners from the Songor lagoon area in south eastern Ghana. They are committed to ensuring that the lagoon and its harvest is a resource for all. ASSWA has found over time that to defend the lagoon and the livelihood of the 45 communities around it, requires that they articulate the experiences and demands of women and marginalized members of the community. This study exmines communications of the ASSWA network within the context of Communications for Change. describes the dialectic within the network, how members discuss issues and resolve differences, how they define and articulate their programmes and demands. It examines if the mobilisation and activism of poor rural women can challenge the dominant discourses of traditional development and patriarchy. Key to learning is abstraction, the linking of issues and abstracting of the problematic causative mechanisms, the project studies this process within the ASSWA context by looking at how the network and its members link their struggles with broader social movements within Ghana and beyond. The continued agency of the ASSWA is challenged by the poverty of the community within which it operates and by its ability to communicate effectively locally, nationally and internationally. As it stands now, the organisation is active but long-term sustainability may be compromised by the lack of dialogic interactions at all levels of engagement. This paper creates a model (theory) for more active participation in based on their identified priorities, needs and requirements, in such a way as to promote ‘power participation’. The research was conducted using a critical realist ontological framework and qualitative interview research methodologies

In Sweden, the language of norm critique has gained increasing influence over the past ten years in connection with queer theoretical thinking and norm critical pedagogy becoming part of gender equality work and equality work in the (pre)school system. In this essay I examine, through interviews, how people who use norm-critical language view the normativity in the Swedish language with the main purpose of seeing if it works and how it is achieved. The essay also examines how norm-critical language users try to change the language to become more inclusive and how all this can be understood from the perspective of Butler’s performativity theory and ideas about power and normativity. The results of the survey show that norm-critical language works and contributes to the goal; a world where everyone gets a place and recognition in both language and physical space. We can see how children become subjects and are included in norm-critical language and how the binary perception of gender is set in motion, which leads to greater scope for action and inclusion. Furthermore, it is stated that there is a danger in the goal’s new normativity which leads to the conclusion that norm-critical language is and has to be a constant process and under constant reflection. As it is a small study and a large topic, I urge further research on norm-critical language.

Trust law has hindered beneficiaries from exerting their voice in the administration of their funds. Yet, individuals do have opinions on how they want their funds to be invested and wish to direct the investments to align with their values. For a majority of individuals, this influence is mainly through their retirement fund investments. However, trust law means that the ultimate power to decide on the investment process rests in the hands of trustees to act on behalf of all beneficiaries. And trustees also further delegate most investment decisions to the investment managers. The findings of this research, as other researchers have also found, suggests that individuals who have some knowledge of SRI show a greater willingness to invest in sustainable funds. It also suggests that after choosing the type of funds that they wish to invest in, individuals place a lot of trust in their trustees to act in their best interests by investing responsibly. The research explores the various dynamics that are at play that explain individual behaviour and attitudes towards financial planning with regards to their retirement investments. The implications of my findings may have relevance in understanding what drives individuals to become active in the investment arena and may serve as a harbinger to changes in fiduciary relationships as we know them. Further research can be done in this area that will assist policy makers to consider regulation changes that could lead to the greater inclusion of final beneficiaries in the investment management process.

Environmental justice communities in the US are located at a nexus of social justice, political and corporate interest, and public health. This paper explores how resident activists, primarily those who identify as Latinx and female, simultaneously inhabit roles of resident and activist. In doing so, they create a space of equitable knowledge exchange, and support community members in realizing their own agency. Additionally, their efforts include, but are not limited to, collaboration with researchers in a way that promotes emancipatory education and culture-centered research models. The author spent over a year as a staff member of an urban EJ organization in Massachusetts, participating in and observing community meetings, fundraising efforts, municipal and state level environmental impact hearings, and organized protests. These community activists wrestle with the tension of simultaneously depending on and disrupting systems that have historically burdened their community.

Depuis la fondation, en 1989, de l’association italienne Slow Food, le terme slow s’est détaché de la question alimentaire pour être mobilisé dans de nombreux domaines de la vie quotidienne (cosmétique, recherche scientifique, design ou management). La diffusion du slow est l’expression d’une mise en accusation des rythmes de notre modernité et révèle une éthique aujourd’hui largement partagée. Une enquête de terrain menée auprès des promoteurs du slow et une approche pragmatiste des valeurs nous ont permis de construire une définition inductive de cette éthique, attentive aux conflits moraux et aux compromis élaborés par les acteurs. / Since the creation of the Italian association Slow Food in 1989, the term slow has been separated from the food domain and has since been used in many areas of everyday life (cosmetics, scientific research, design or management). The diffusion of the slow expresses an accusation of the rythms of our modern world and reveals an ethics widely shared. A field study amongst people who promote the slow and a pragmatist approach of values has allowed us to construct an inductive definition of this ethics, acknowledging the moral conflicts and compromises from the actors.

Si les partis politiques sont des institutions bien souvent qualifiées aujourd'hui de « traditionnelles » et donc de « dépassées », elles continuent malgré tout à participer au vivre-ensemble et sont, aujourd'hui encore, les principales institutions qui concourent aux élections locales et nationales, leur objectif principal étant la conquête et l'exercice du pouvoir à différents échelons. Malgré la défiance que ces institutions provoquent, notamment chez les adolescents et jeunes adultes, certains d'entre eux continuent à s'engager et à militer, parfois avec intensité, dans les organisations de jeunesse des partis politiques. Notre thèse vise ainsi à mettre en lumière les enjeux psychiques de l'engagement dans un parti politique et du militantisme à l'adolescence et au début de l'âge adulte. Pour tenter de rendre compte de ces enjeux, deux questionnements ont guidé notre investigation. Premièrement : quelles sont les modalités du fonctionnement psychique d'adolescents et de jeunes adultes qui militent aujourd'hui en France dans un parti politique et quelles seraient les éventuelles caractéristiques psychiques communes à cette population ? Deuxièmement : quels serait le rôle et l'effet de l'engagement et du militantisme dans un parti politique vis-à-vis des processus psychiques mobilisés à l'adolescence et au début de l'âge adulte chez ces sujets ? Trente-six jeunes militants, âgés de 18 à 26 ans, ont ainsi accepté sur la période allant de janvier 2015 à juin 2016, de participer à cette étude. Les organisations politiques auxquelles ces jeunes militants ont adhéré représentent l'échiquier politique dans son entier, de l'extrême gauche à l'extrême droite. Pour tenter de répondre aux questions soulevées, une méthodologie composée à la fois d'entretiens individuels semi-directifs et de tests projectifs (Rorschach et TAT) a été mise en place. Alors que les tests projectifs permettent d'appréhender avec finesse les caractéristiques du fonctionnement psychique individuel des jeunes militants, les entretiens individuels apportent des indications précieuses sur leur histoire singulière et leur parcours militant. Les résultats montrent tout d'abord une hétérogénéité des ressources et des fragilités psychiques selon les militants, ce qui nous conduit à penser qu'il n'existe pas de profil(s) psychologique(s) spécifique(s) chez ces sujets. Cependant, nous retrouvons tout de même des caractéristiques communes chez des militants appartenant au Front National, ce qui nous a permis de faire l'hypothèse qu'il existe une résonance entre ces caractéristiques psychiques et les idées et idéaux prônés par ce parti politique. La question reste de savoir pourquoi nous ne retrouvons pas le même phénomène dans les autres partis politiques et chez les militants qui s'y engagent ; une piste de réflexion est proposée dans la thèse à ce propos. De plus, à l'issue de ce travail, nous pouvons dire que le parti politique peut constituer un support plus ou moins efficace pour aménager les conflits psychiques propres à l'adolescence et au devenir adulte. L'efficacité de ce support dépend-elle alors exclusivement des ressources et des fragilités psychiques qui préexistent chez les jeunes militants ? Il semblerait que non. Cette recherche nous a en effet appris que le cadre de l'organisation politique est loin d'être contingent par rapport au fonctionnement psychique individuel des militants. Il est ainsi important de tenir compte à la fois du fonctionnement psychique tel qu'il s'est construit dans l'histoire individuelle des militants et des contraintes organisationnelles auxquelles il se confrontent, pour évaluer dans quelle mesure cet engagement a un effet mutatif ou non, d'un point de vue psychique. / If political parties are often referred as "traditional" and therefore "outdated" institutions, they continue anyhow to participate in "living together" and are still the main institutions that compete in local and national elections. Their main target is the conquest and the exercise of power at all steps. Despite the mistrust in these institutions, especially among adolescents and young adults, some of them are still engaging and militating, sometimes intensely, in the party-political youth organizations of political parties. Our thesis aims to highlight psychic issues of the adolescents and young adults' involvement in political parties. In an attempt to take those stakes into account, two questions guided our research. Firstly, In France today, what are the psychic functioning modalities of adolescents and young adults who militate in a political party, what are their eventual common psychic characteristics? Secondly, regarding the psychic processes mobilized in adolescence and early adulthood for these subjects, what would be the function and effect of the engagement and militancy in a political party? Between January 2015 and June 2016, thirty-six young activists, aged between 18 and 26, agreed to participate in the research. Political organizations in which these young activists committed themselves represent the entire political spectrum, from the extreme left to the far right. In order to address the questions raised a methodology including both individual semi-structured interviews and projective tests (Rorschach and TAT) has been set up. While the projective tests enable us to apprehend shrewdly the characteristics of the young militants individual psychic functioning, individual interviews provide valuable insights of their personal story and their militant journey. First of all, the results show the heterogeneity of the psychic resources and fragilities according each militant, which leads us to believe that there is no specific psychological profile for this population. However, we find common characteristics among National Front activist, which conduct us to make the hypothesis of a resonance between these psychic characteristics and this political party's advocated ideas and ideals. A question remains: why don't we find the same phenomenon amongst the other political parties and related activists; in that regard, a reflection path is proposed in this thesis. Moreover, the findings of this study, allow us to state that a political party can provide a more or less effective support for the management of the psychic conflicts peculiar to the adolescence and to the adulthood. Does the effectiveness of this support exclusively depend the resources and psychic weaknesses preexisting in young activists? It would seem not. This research shows that the framework of political organization is far from contingent to the activists' individual psychic functioning. Thus, it is important to consider both the psychic functioning has been built through the individual history of the militants, and the organizational constraints they confront, in order to evaluate, from a psychic point of view, the extent to which this commitment has a mutative effect.

Building on the logic of issue selling, my dissertation explores the micro-processes of shareholder social activism through which shareholders interact with targeted firms and also addresses which micro-processes could affect the effectiveness and the success of shareholder social activism. To do this, my dissertation develops a theory with respect to the approaches of linguistically framing the contents of and of presenting shareholder social activism. Based on a qualitative (descriptive) analysis on 1,612 shareholder social proposals, my dissertation identifies six packaging strategies that are used by the proponents to linguistically frame the contents of their proposals and two selling strategies used by the proponents to present their proposals. Subsequently, a quantitative analysis demonstrates that the effectiveness of shareholder social proposals would be largely determined by the joint effects of opportunity framing, threat framing, coalition building, and repeated submitting and that other packaging strategies would have little unique contribution to the effectiveness and the success of shareholder social activism. I argue that my dissertation would make contributions to the understanding of shareholder social activism and also offer some theoretical considerations for future studies on issue selling, although my dissertation might not directly contribute to the body of work of issue selling. / Ph. D.