Contemporary scholars seeking to increase Tuber Melanosporum truffle production rely almost exclusively on technological advancements to increase yields, while failing to place the cultivation of truffles, trufficulture, in its historical or local landscape contexts. In this dissertation, I describe how truffle scholars’ conceptualization of trufficulture and landscapes has changed over 150 years in France, while focusing on the French département of Lot. I examine changing relations between humans and nonhumans and how they impact truffle harvests. I analyzed the history of French trufficulture through a close reading of historic truffle manuals, archival research and the classification of remotely sensed images. Shifting from the past to the present, from July 2014-August 2016, I conducted semi-structured survey interviews with working truffle-growers (trufficulteurs) and participant observation at meetings of trufficulteurs, truffle hunts and truffle markets. I utilize actor-network theory (ANT) as both a theory and methodology. Actor-network theory allowed me to follow the impacts made by both humans and nonhumans on trufficulture. I found that truffle harvests in the 1880s dropped by 90%. Highly populated, intensively worked landscapes of viticulture, silvopastoralism and cereal cultivation created conditions suitable to truffles. By the 1870s the phylloxera aphid ravaged grapevines, which made trufficulture an important source of revenue. These advantageous conditions would not last. Post-WWI, yields fell for decades because of an ongoing rural population exodus and consequent agricultural abandonment, which promoted reforestation and closed canopy forests in Lot, France. By the 1960s, French trufficulteurs organized associations to share knowledge and promote local truffle markets to revive production. Trufficulteurs’ utilization of tractors, ‘inoculated’ plants and irrigation systems produced a new form of “modern” trufficulture. State subsidies helped trufficulteurs adopt “modern” practices, in hopes of increasing yields. “Modern” trufficulture has not dramatically increased yields. A few highly-capitalized trufficulteurs dominate production in Lot. Many others practice trufficulture as a hobby. Instead of relying on “modern” technological fixes, my findings suggest that trufficulteurs, farmers and states should reinvigorate extensive polyculture farming practices that maintain open canopy forests, which were beneficial to trufficulture in the past. Actor-network theory allowed me to rethink human and nonhuman relations, and to propose alternatives to “modern” trufficulture.

The return of Māori land to a productive role in the New Economy entails the innovation and diffusion of technologies relevant to the sustainable development of this land. Sustainable development requires substantive changes to current land and resource use to mitigate environmental degradation and contribute to ecological and sociological resilience. Such innovation is emerging in 'New Economic Space' where concerns for cultural resilience have arisen as political-economic strategies of the New Economy converge within a global economic space. New Economic Space comprises policy, technology and institutional innovations that attempt to influence economic activity, thus directly engaging with local 'place-based' expressions of geohistorically unique knowledge and identity. This thesis approaches contemporary Māori development from three perspectives. First, by viewing the changing links between ecosystems and communities as examples of innovation diffusion, the evolution of relevant policies, technologies and institutions can be examined for their impact upon Māori resilience. Second, such innovation diffusion can be described as a form of regional development, acknowledging the integral role of traditional territories in Māori identity and culture as well as the distinct legislative and governance contexts by which this land is developed. Third, by incorporating the geohistorical uniqueness of Māori ideas, values and beliefs, standard concepts of political-economy can be reformulated to show an explicit cultural economy – Māori Traditional Economic Space – in which Māori horticulturalists participate in parallel with the New Economy. Two methods are used in the analysis of the participation by Māori horticulturalists in New Economic Space. Fuzzy set/Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fs/QCA) allows the rigorous investigation of small-N studies of limited diversity for their partial membership in nominated sets. This thesis uses fs/QCA to organise theoretical and substantive knowledge of each case study to score its membership in agri-food networks, Māori institutions and post-production strategies, allowing the identification of causal configurations that lead to greater resilience for Māori growers and their communities. The second method is Actor-Network Theory (ANT) that incorporates elements of nature and society, showing the extensive and dynamic entwinement that exists between the two. ANT describes the enrolment of diverse 'actants' by a range of eco-social institutions and the subsequent translation of the resulting assemblages into resilience strategies. The results of this research first show a 'System of Provision' (SOP) in which Māori development strategies converge with non-Māori attempts to expand research and marketing programmes. These programmes seek to implement added-value strategies in supplying novel horticultural products within New Economic Space; parallel 'cultural logics' ensure food is supplied to traditional Māori institutions according to the cultural logics of Māori. In addition to this finding, results also show that the participation of Māori growers in New Economic Space can paradoxically lead to an expansion of the Traditional Economic Space of Māori. This expansion is not simply contingent upon configurations of policy, technology, and institutional innovations that originate in New Economic Space but is directed by Māori cultural logics, located in Māori territories but seeking innovations from an amorphous universal 'core'. The interface between the global New Economy and the localities of a Māori cultural economy is defined by the 'interrogation' of these innovations, and innovators, through eco-cultural institutions in their diffusion to and from Māori land, Māori resources and Māori people. Within the boundaries of this interrogation border resides a malleable assemblage of actants, enrolled by Māori as components of resilience strategies, which can lead to the endurance of Māori culture.

Throughout the history of archaeology, the Sámi (the indigenous people in northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula in the Russian Federation) have been conceptualized as the “Others” in relation to the national identity and (pre)history of the modern states. It is only in the last decades that a field of Sámi archaeology that studies Sámi (pre)history in its own right has emerged, parallel with an ethnic and cultural revival among Sámi groups. This dissertation investigates the notions of Sámi prehistory and archaeology, partly from a research historical perspective and partly from a more contemporary political perspective. It explores how the Sámi and ideas about the Sámi past have been represented in archaeological narratives from the early 19th century until today, as well as the development of an academic field of Sámi archaeology. The study consists of four main parts: 1) A critical examination of the conceptualization of ethnicity, nationalism and indigeneity in archaeological research. 2) A historical analysis of the representations and debates on Sámi prehistory, primarily in Sweden but also to some extent in Norway and Finland, focusing on four main themes: the origin of the Sámi people, South Sámi prehistory as a contested field of study, the development of reindeer herding, and Sámi pre-Christian religion. 3) An analysis of the study of the Sámi past in Russia, and a discussion on archaeological research and constructions of ethnicity and indigeneity in the Russian Federation and the Soviet Union. 4) An examination of the claims for greater Sámi self-determination concerning cultural heritage management and the debates on repatriation and reburial in the Nordic countries. In the dissertation, it is argued that there is a great need for discussions on the ethics and politics of archaeological research. A relational network approach is suggested as a way of opening up some of the black boxes and bounded, static entities in the representations of people in the past in the North.

This thesis analyses how the Swedish forest industry has (re)acted regarding the energy transition and, in particular, regarding the reconstruction of the electricity and forest resources in Sweden during the 1989–2009 period. The thesis consists of four papers that analyse how the Swedish forest industry by means of energy management practices at individual pulp and/or paper mills, in corporate strategies performed by CEOs and boards of directors, and via its industry association, has dealt with mounting political and public demands for the industry to become ‘greener’. At the heart of the thesis are issues related to the industry’s substantial use and management of electricity and forest resources. This thesis focuses on the patterns of conflict and reconstruction that various forest industry representatives (e.g., CEOs) and entities (e.g., mills and resources) have experienced in relation to opposing and/or adjusting to the energy transition. The Swedish forest industry constitutes an illuminating case in a wider research context of how an industry (re)acts regarding increasing environmental and energy-related demands concerning its strategic resources. By using multidisciplinary theoretical concepts when analysing industrial change, this thesis demonstrates the industry’s wider embeddedness in science, policy, and material resources. / Den här sammanläggningsavhandlingen analyserar hur svensk skogsindustri (re)agerat beträffande energiomställningen och särskilt omvandlingen av elektricitets- och skogsresurserna i Sverige, 1989-2009. Avhandlingen består av fyra artiklar vilka analyserar hur svensk skogsindustri, genom energiledning i massa- och pappersbruk, i företagsledningars koncernstrategier, och genom branschorganisationen, hanterat de ökade miljökrav som politiker och allmänhet riktat mot branschen. I centrum för avhandlingen står särskilt frågor relaterade till branschens omfattande användning och hantering av elektricitet och skogsresurser. Mer specifikt fokuserar avhandlingen på de konflikter och förändringar som skogsindustrin genomgått som ett led i motståndet och/eller anpassningen till energiomställningen. Den svenska skogsindustrin utgör ett belysande fall på hur en energiintensiv bransch (re)agerar på ökade miljömässiga krav riktade mot dess energi- och naturresursanvändning. Avhandlingen kan därmed även bidra med kunskap om hur en bransch hanterar förändringskrav riktade mot dess strategiska nyckelresurser. Genom att analysera industriell förändring med multidisciplinära teoretiska begrepp tydliggörs branschens inbäddning i vetenskap, politik, och materiella resurser.

本研究針對 2014 年 3 月至 4 月期間的太陽花運動三大事件（佔領立法院、衝進行政院、以及凱達格蘭大道集結）作個案研究，採質性研究的深度訪談法和資料蒐集法取得研究資料，援引 Bruno Latour 的「行動者網絡理論」（Actor Network Theory）概念進行分析，探討大眾媒體與另類媒體在當代政治抗議場域裡，如何以現有傳播科技做創新使用與傳播實踐，而科技和人的互動又如何對訊息發布與呈現方式造成影響，勾勒出人人皆可參與的政治抗議情境之下，傳播行動者如何受新舊媒體模式交織影響。 / This paper traces the contemporary hybrid media network in a Taiwanese political protest context, focusing mainly on the 2014 Sunflower Movement (also known as “Occupy Parliament”) in Taiwan. The proliferation of digital media use in this protest, makes it a significant case study in regards to finding the complex media networks of tech-savvy activists and mainstream media at work in recent political protests. To answer the complex nature of this network, this paper employs Actor Network Theory (ANT) as a framework to depict the evolving media network of contemporary political protests in Taiwan through first-hand accounts of alternative media activists and mainstream journalists. This research conducts a set of qualitative interviews with heterogenous actors who participated in the Sunflower Movement. Additional data is collected from online documents of the event. In the end, the research seeks to answer the following questions: How do new and old media form links through technology and digital tools in modern political protest? What is the nature of the associations formed and how do the associations impact the existing news ecology in political protests? Further providing an empirical account of transforming protest media networks in action in a political protest context.

There are approximately 1300 completely or partially preserved medieval churches in Sweden. Many of these have remains of kalkmåleri (mural paintings at least partially created in lime) from the 12th throughout the 17th century. This dissertation discusses the enactments that formed the revival of this kalkmåleri between 1850 and 1980, with a focus on restoration and conservation. The decorative and monumental paintings that were created at the same time are also discussed. The study is divided into two sections: one concentrates on the mural paintings and the networks that made their (re-)enactment possible, and the second is a case study that examines kalkmåleri in four medieval churches; Vendel and Ed north of Stockholm, and Floda and Vadsbro south of Stockholm. To come close to the paintings, an eclectic methodology with analysis of written and depicted sources, interviews, and studies in situ of the paintings through mapping and analysis of taken samples was designed. The objectives were to investigate the formation of kalkmåleri as phenomena, significant concepts, and conservation practices throughout time and space. Theoretical inspiration was taken from Actor-Network-Theory, critical discourse analysis, and speculative realism. Throughout the study the kalkmåleri is thus seen to have agency. The weave of enactments stemming from different professions and thought collectives that formed the paintings was made visible by following the actors. Some of these enactments were analyzed: i.e. the aesthetic shaping of the room, as religious and iconographic images, historical documents, art, style, technical, or hybrid objects. The latter refers to conservation that did not entirely rely on science, humanist scholarship, craftsmanship, or artistic creativity. Thus conservation is seen as a hybrid activity. Three periods of conservation principles were explored: stylistic restoration, original conservation, and precautionary conservation, which were related to what was perceived as the authentic original. Furthermore some Swedish "traditions" are discussed: that no institute for technical studies of art was formed, the use of "Curman’s principles", restricted retouching from the 1960s onward, and the use of gomma pane for cleaning. Finally appendices are included containing terminology, an index of conservators, and a DVD with mapping, chemical analysis, and photographs. / <p>Forskningsfinansiärer: FoU-medel: Riksantikvarieämbetet, Brandförsäkringsverkets stiftelse för bebyggelsehistorisk forskning, Elna Bengtsssons fond och Tyréns stiftelse.</p><p>Ett läsår på Columbia University kunde genomföras med stöd av Fulbright Commission. Erik &amp; Lily Philipsons minnesfond och Axelson Johnsons stiftelse.</p>

Cette thèse étudie la période de transition associée à l'externalisation d'une activité d'une organisation vers une autre et a pour objectif de décrire la manière dont un dispositif de contrôle hybride entre marché et hiérarchie émerge au cours de cette période. Pour ce faire, nous nous sommes appuyé sur une étude in situ de quinze mois d'un projet mondial d'externalisation de l'activité IT d'un client auprès de trois centres de services mutualisés d'un prestataire. La description du terrain s'articule autour de deux voies de passage conceptuelles ancrées dans l'Actor Network Theory. La première propose de partir de la Théorie des Coûts de Transaction pour aller vers une " économie des coûts de traduction ". La seconde avance le concept d'accumulation de petits points de contrôle fondée sur l'étude d'un " contrôle en train de se faire " (Vosselman & Van der Meer-Kooistra, 2006). La description de la phase de transition émet l'idée que les coûts de traduction et l'accumulation de petits points de contrôle forment un " registre en double " permettant de tracer le mouvement de co-construction de la prestation de services et du dispositif de contrôle associé. Au cours de cette période, les faits locaux furent circonscrits par l'équipe projet pour les ramener au sein du centre de services mutualisés. Ce travail permit d'amorcer un cycle d'accumulation des connaissances. Ce mouvement rendit progressivement le projet et la prestation de services plus réels, mais au prix d'un éloignement irrémédiable avec ce qui avait été spécifié dans le contrat. Dorénavant, le coût pour agir à distance était réduit et le centre de services mutualisés pouvait a priori être considéré comme un dispositif " économe ". Cependant, le processus d'externalisation conduisit à une transformation profonde de l'activité externalisée et de l'identité des différents groupes d'acteurs associés. La comparaison entre les deux situations, avant et après l'externalisation, était rendue complexe du fait de l'existence des coûts de traduction inhérents au passage du contrat au dispositif sociotechnique nécessaire à la réalisation de la prestation de services.

&ldquo / Information-Based Economy&rdquo / , which is today&rsquo / s economy that is a proof and indicator of development level for the countries now on, comes on the scene with its new organizing model on the infrastructure of its own, which is called &ldquo / Information Society&rdquo / . The phenomenon of administration introduces to &ldquo / e-Government&rdquo / for reinforcing the roots of &ldquo / Information-Based Economy&rdquo / now. The objective of this study is to research the transformation of state, authoritarian and dominant power, that &ldquo / Information-Based Economy&rdquo / gives direction in the environment of &ldquo / Information Society&rdquo / and to determine the locus and focus of &ldquo / e-government&rdquo / as a new organizing model especially in the dilemma between administration and management, and in the dilemma between politics and administration by using the theories of public administration, keeping the variance of culture in mind. In addition, to have a systematic knowledge of the relation between &ldquo / Information-Based Economy&rdquo / , &ldquo / Information Society&rdquo / and &ldquo / e-Government&rdquo / as a whole composes of the theme of this thesis. For this purpose, questionnaire has been conducted in the Ministry of National Education, which is responsible for forming the society of the future, to understand whether there is a systematic knowledge on the relation between &ldquo / Information-Based Economy&rdquo / , &ldquo / Information Society&rdquo / and &ldquo / e-Government&rdquo / as a whole. Moreover, it has been aimed to discover what the mental formulations of participants are. Questionnaire results reveal that there is no systematic knowledge on the relation between &ldquo / Information-Based Economy&rdquo / , Information Society&rdquo / and &ldquo / e-Government&rdquo / as a whole in the Ministry of National Education, and that the participants are apt to perceive &ldquo / e-Government&rdquo / within the context in which they are in terms of professions, status and backgrounds. Questionnaire results also show that the responses given by the participants concerning &ldquo / e-Government&rdquo / are more or less the same due to the hierarchical organization of knowledge and official knowledge in particular.

Syftet med denna studie är att försöka utreda vilken roll arkitektoniska icke-människor spelar för skapandet av socialt samspel i en ekoby. För att utreda detta utgår studien från ett antal posthumanistiska teoribildningar, främst actor-network theory och begreppet materielldiskursiv. Dessa teoribildningar anser att även icke-människor, så som hus och brevlådor, ska ses som medskapare till världen men att deras agens bestäms av vilka andra aktörer de kopplar ihop sig med i nätverk. Genom observationer och intervjuer med sju boende i en ekoby har material insamlats om det sociala samspelet i ekobyn. Empirin vittnar om att många olika icke-människor spelar en roll för skapandet av det sociala samspelet som uppstår där. Det handlar bland annat om att gemensamhetshus ger plats för gemensamma aktiviteter, att öppna gräsytor möjliggör lek och att brevlådor uppmanar till rörelse. I sig själv skapar dock inte de arkitektoniska icke-människorna socialt samspel. För att de ska få den betydelsen behöver de användas och tolkas av andra aktörer. Svaret på frågeställningen blir följaktligen att de arkitektoniska icke-människorna spelar en roll för att socialt samspel uppstår i ekobyn men vilken roll de spelar är beroende av vilka andra aktörer som de kopplar ihop sig med. / The purpose of this study is to try to investigate the role that architectural non-humans play for the creation of social interaction in an eco-village. In doing this, the study uses a number of post-humanist theories. Mainly actor-network theory and the material-discursive concept. These state that even non-humans, like houses or mailboxes, are to be seen as co-creators of actions, but that their possible roles are decided by which other actors they attach to in a network. Through observations and interviews with seven residents of an eco-village, the information was gathered. The empirical data shows that many different non-humans are taking an active role in the creating of the social interactions that goes on in the eco-village. To mention a few, the community hall gives room for group activities, open lawns create a possibility for child’s play and mailboxes call for physical movement. In themselves, however, the nonhuman actors do not create social interaction. It is only when used by and interpreted by other actors that they gain their active role. The answer to the question would consequently be that the architectural non-humans in the eco-village do play an active role in the creation of social interaction but that the role is dependent on the other actors that they connect to.

La mise en œuvre du processus de Bologne en 1999 fait entrer la France de plain-pied dans le mouvement global de régulation de l’enseignement supérieur par l’évaluation. Pour évaluer les formations supérieures non universitaires de gestion qui jouissaient jusqu’alors d’une relative autonomie, la puissance publique crée une Commission spécifique, la Commission d’Evaluation des Formations et Diplômes de Gestion (CEFDG) notamment chargée de formuler des avis au Ministre de l’Enseignement Supérieur (MSR) relatifs à l’octroi du grade de Master fraîchement créé. Installée par décret en avril 2001, la CEFDG réussit malgré des contraintes initiales importantes à normaliser les formations non-universitaires de gestion et à s’établir comme un organisme national majeur de régulation. Après avoir détaillé la démarche de recherche, le propos s’attache dans un premier temps à mettre à jour les spécificités de la Commission vis-à-vis d’autres organismes d’évaluation et à identifier les conditions qui lui permettent de réaliser légitimement, efficacement et pérennement l’évaluation des formations. Dans un deuxième temps, la recherche déploie une analyse pragmatique des pratiques rhétoriques qui favorisent le développement des dispositifs procéduraux et instrumentaux d’évaluation ainsi que la génération d’une valorisation des formations acceptable par l’ensemble des acteurs. En vue de formuler des recommandations, le troisième volet prend en compte une des caractéristiques majeures du dispositif régulatoire de la Commission que la recherche met en lumière : la possibilité d’existence simultanée de deux régimes de normalisation des formations supérieures non-universitaires de gestion, l’un sécuritaire, l’autre disciplinaire. / This research looks into the regulation of the French Higher Education in Managementsystem by focusing on a major body: the “Committee for evaluation of managementprograms” known as the “Commission d'Evaluation des Formations et Diplômes deGestion” (CEFDG). The CEFDG advises the Minister for higher education on theawarding of quality recognition to non-public higher education institutions. Drawingupon the Actor-Network Theory, ethnomethodology and Foucaldism, the researchintends to identify the specificities of the CEFDG by comparing it with other significantbodies: the AACSB (U.S.), the QAA (U.K.), the EQUIS system (transnational) and the“Commission des Titres d’Ingénieur” (French regulator in charge of engineers’programmes). Based on in-situ participant observation, archives and statistical data,an analysis of the rhetorical practices within CEFDG was carried out to identify keyfactors enabling conditions of success. Results show that two "normalization regimes"coexist and contribute to a better understanding of the French higher educationregulation and its operating conditions.