I denna uppsats presenteras hur en möjlig queer läsning av Michail Bulgakovs roman Mästaren och Margarita kan se ut. Jag presenterar här en möjlig queer läsning av Jesjua och Pontius Pilatus, samt mästaren och Margaritas förhållanden utifrån en undersökning av två teman som förekommer i boken, samt av bokens narrativ. De två teman som undersöks är förbud, däribland förbjuden kunskap och censur, samt spegling, förekomsten av paralleller mellan karaktärer och bokens två handlingar, och då också hur dessa handlingar samverkar. Detta görs med hjälp av en innehållsanalys i form av en queer, mer specifikt lesbisk läsning. Uppsatsens teoretiska ramverk är hämtat från queerteori kopplad till litteratur, bland annat Sedgwicks Epistemology of the Closet och Kevin Moss undersökning av Sedgwicks teorier i förhållande till sovjetisk litteratur. De frågor som besvaras i denna uppsats är hur Mästaren och Margarita och de två ovan nämnda förhållandena kan läsas som queera, samt huruvida bokens politiska allegori kan läsas som en allegori över det queera, det vill säga om behandlingen av politisk avvikelse och dissidenter kan liknas vid behandlingen av homosexualitet. Uppsatsen påvisar även hur mästaren och Margaritas förhållande genom en queer läsning kan ses som allegori över ett lesbiskt förhållande. Uppsatsens syfte är att aktualisera Mästaren och Margarita och öppna boken för en ny publik. Detta särskilt genom att aktualisera den politiska allegorin och påvisa bokens homosexuella undertoner.

The representation of homosexuality in the Brazilian cinema of the 1960s and 1970s is generally dismissed as homophobic on the grounds that it confirms stereotypical and oppressive views of homosexual men. While it is true that many films produced during the era repeat conventional notions of sexual identity, this dismissal arguably overlooks a variety of subtle and subversive representations of homosexuality. To contest the prevailing view, eleven films have been selected from important movements of Brazilian cinema of the period; these include examples of avant-garde and popular filmmaking. An analytical approach informed by queer theory – a critical account of homosexuality and sexual identity – is used to make a series of close readings of narrative form and content. It is suggested that the apparent heterosexism of many of the films is shown to be tacitly or accidentally subverted via the implication that sexual identity is unstable and contested. A number of films are shown to illustrate ways in which oppressive hierarchies might be disabled through a reconfiguring of homosexual identity. It is argued that film form – the films’ self-referential or reflexive aspects, as well as the way in which the films construct spectating positions – is the central factor in subverting conventional views of homosexuality. Such form facilitates multiple readings of the content, therefore enabling a queer interpretation to be posited. Ultimately, it is argued that the value of these films lies in the sometimes contradictory fashion in which they present oppressive notions of homosexuality on-screen while at the same time gesturing towards ways in which such oppression could be challenged.

Wine & Beer tells the story of childhood friends Brian and Vic who, after spending some time apart, deal with the tensions of sexual orientation after they attempt to renew their friendship. At the beginning it seems that Vic's sexuality will not be a problem, but after the two friends hang out in a local bar, Brian realizes his hometown is not as tolerant as he is. The couple is faced with family and social concerns, which goes from the argumentative to the violent. As the main characters try to mingle with the conservative town, they soon find themselves looked upon by a small town resistant to change. This 35-minute film explores homophobia and violence in small town USA.

GHOST TREE SOCIAL tells a coming out story of sorts. In terms of style, many of the poems are short, imagistic lyrics, though some are extended catalogues. Specific natural images—lakes, rivers, and snow—are often contrasted with cultural markers. The imagistic poems are thinking through the work of Sylvia Plath. The catalogue poems shift between diaristic, narrative, and critical modes, responding to the poetry of Elizabeth Bishop and the essays of Edouard Glissant. Voice-driven fragments disrupt the more traditional lyric poems. The fragments fall between formal lyrics like confetti from a gay club’s rafters; or the fragments hold the lyric poems in bondage. The lyric poem then re-signifies as form through resonances with the other discursive and poetic form of the fragment. Following critical writers such as Adrienne Rich and Audre Lorde, the re-signification of lyric form reflects the need for new signs for self and community organized queerly as opposed to more typical binary categories—man or woman, living or dead, rich or poor, white or black—where the first term is privileged and the second term often denigrated.

My thesis proposes a feminist-queer reading of Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene in response to Julian Wolfreys’ “The ‘Endlesse Worke’ of Transgression”. I examine the challenges to male authority that the low-born poet, Spenser, faced when he presented his manual for the formation of new English subjects to his sovereign queen, Elizabeth I. The Prefatory Letter to Raleigh and passages from the 1590 version of the epic provide evidence to support the view that traditional hierarchical male/female binaries may have been destabilized by the presence of an unmarried queen. My thesis also supplements Wolfreys’ essay with historical information regarding Mary Tudor and Mary Stuart in order to underscore the ethnocentric aspect of the process of “othering” that takes place in The Faerie Queene.

This dissertation engages the question of what a queer aesthetics might look like in the context of contemporary music composition. Starting with a discussion of the problematics of “defining” queer (aesthetic) practices, I look at Pauline Oliveros’ 𝘚𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘤 𝘔𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, Julius Eastman’s 𝘎𝘢𝘺 𝘎𝘶𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢 and Neo Hülcker’s 𝘈 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘺. 𝘍𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 to uncover particular resistant and subversive strategies present in their works. In addition to a close examination of the original score materials, I look into queer theories and writings from fields other than music, such as dance/performance and the visual arts, in order to identify and apply some of the traits that could be called queer aesthetics (or practices/methodologies) to the field of contemporary music composition. Among the topics discussed will be considerations on time/timing, utopia/futurity, professionalism/failure, queer subject matter and form/format. Avoiding the trap of closing in on a canonization of queer music practices, it is the stated goal of this dissertation to expand the framework and contribute to a new understanding of what queer composition within the context of Western classical music might look like.

Many prospective teachers make assumptions about their students before they actually begin teaching. Many of these assumptions can be rooted specifically in students’ races, cultures, classes, religions, genders, and sexual orientations. In order for prospective mathematics teachers to challenge these biases, some mathematics teacher educators have provided tasks to support these prospective teachers in becoming aware of their own biases. I chose to analyze a group of five prospective mathematics teachers discussing topics of teaching for social justice to examine more closely the kinds of biases they carry, and more specifically, how those biases came about in their conversations. My analysis also involved looking specifically at whether or not these prospective mathematics teachers were challenging their own as well as others’ biases that came out during the discussions. The results of this study display the ways in which these biases were illuminated during the group discussions as well as the lack of prospective teachers challenging the biases that came out.

This study analyses how Kim Kardashian West’s and Fredrik Eklund’s depiction of family and career and the relationship there between are constructed as successful in their Reality TV shows Keeping Up With the Kardashians (2007-) and Million Dollar Listing New York (2011-). It is examined in a postfeminist media climate with the theoretical frameworks of Chrononormativity (Freeman 2010) and Queer Kinship Theory (Butler 2002), considering the intersections of gender, sexuality and class, via a critical discourse analysis. The study shows a chrononormative ideal where a successful career and big biological family, through free choices, are vital to become respectable adults. Their careers are built upon their private lives and their heteronormative families. Childcaring is constructed as feminine and can for masculine subjects be outsourced to servants. It is constructed as relatively unproblematic to outsource childbearing to a surrogate mother.

Monogamy is recognized as a singularly accepted relationship construct within the United States. As a result, little is understood about alternative relationship constructs and those who choose them. Even less is understood regarding these practices among members of marginalized communities. Despite this lack of knowledge, there is evidence to suggest that approximately 4-5% of the United States population is engaged in some form of consensually nonmonogamous relationship pairing (a percentage comparable to the LGBTQAI community), and an estimated 25% of the population will engage in some form of consensual nonmonogamy over the course of their lifespan. This study looked to understand the lived experiences of African American men and women in married or cohabitating relationships who have participated in consensually nonmonogamous relationships with secondary partners. This qualitative study was conducted with 3 African American heteronormative married couples, using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) and a combined theoretical framework which includes symbolic interactionism and queer theory. Study findings concluded that consensually nonmonogamous couples viewed consensual nonmonogamy as an orientation as opposed to a lived experience in which their primary relationship remained their priority. Emerging themes included rules related to consensual nonmonogamy, emotional regulation, stigma, and the intersectionality between race and sexuality. Implications for social change include reduced stigma related to nontraditional families, a more informed understanding of practices and experiences involving consensual nonmonogamy and the development of sociopolitical interventions, policy and advocacy, and positive and negative consequences of consensually nonmonogamous experiences.

Democracies are argued to be imperative for the advancement of LGBTQ human rights. In the last two decades, however, the picture regarding LGBTQ rights has been extremely contradictory with countries adopting ‘LGBTQ friendly’ policies such as same-sex marriage or adoption while other democratic nation-states have constrained or not developed the rights of sexual minorities. Flaws in the democratic political system and the international human right regime are believed to be responsible for that. The aim of this paper is to investigate the significance of democracy in relation to sexual and gender minority human rights. This is done by (a) framing the study through previous studies related to the topic, the use of Queer IR and democratic theory, and (b) conducting a small-N comparison with content analysis where Brazil, Bulgaria and Namibia are analysed to answer the research question. Democracy is demonstrated to be a necessary factor in the process of LGBTQ right advancement, but not essential. Other factors are believed to influence the process, especially social movements and their effect in norm internalisation processes.