Vikings and pirates have been studied through the years in both the archaeological and historical disciplines. Both have been compared with each other, especially if Vikings can be classified as pirates or if they practiced piracy. The stereotypical descriptions and definitions of both terms may have contributed to the above-mentioned comparisons between Vikings and pirates in search after similarities and/or differences. Vikings have and are still portrayed as savages ravaging along European coasts, robbing cities, burning churches, and violating innocents, whose actions left behind devastation and chaos. Pirates have also been classified as violent individuals, especially sea bandits or sailors who attacked both friend and foe, seizing property and/or people through violence at sea. This thesis will problematise, question, analyse and discuss if studies about pirates and pirate societies can contribute to today’s understanding of Vikings, namely to study and examine them through the perspective of pirate studies. Separate geographical areas with Viking and pirate presence have been selected in England, Ireland, the Baltic Sea region, and the Bahamas. The overwintering camps of Torksey and Repton in England, together with Dublin in Ireland concerns Viking activity. Meanwhile, Visby and Vivesholm in the Baltic Sea with piracy carried out by the Victual Brothers, together with Nassau in the Bahamas represents pirates and piracy. In addition, the above will also be analysed and discussed through an application of three selected theoretical frameworks: agency theory, actor-network theory, and the concept of utopias. The problematisation will also be examined through a determination of the terms Viking and pirate, an application of hydrarchy, and how the colonization of areas and establishment of smaller communities functioned for each actor.

В работе представлен комплексный обзор состояния разработки компьютерных моделей в области литературной имитации. На основе документов, написанных искусственным интеллектом, обсуждаются ограничения в системе мышления и выражения искусственного интеллекта. В статье также изложены перспективы в области ИИ-письма как самостоятельного субъекта в творческой сети. / The paper presents a comprehensive overview of the development status of computer models in the field of literary writing imitation. On the basis of documents written by artificial intelligence, limitations in the thinking and expression system of artificial intelligence are discussed. The paper also outlines the prospects in the field of AI-writing as an autonomous entity in the creative network.

Des recherches ont montré comment les mouvements sociaux tirent parti des capacités techniques offertes par les plateformes numériques pour attirer l'attention sur leurs causes et mobiliser des partisans. Pendant la pandémie de COVID-19, le même phénomène a été observé chez certains softleaders s’opposant aux mesures sanitaires qui ont utilisé ces mêmes plateformes pour promouvoir leurs points de vue et leurs croyances. Cependant, elles ne sont pas neutres et tiennent un rôle dans l’aboutissement de tels objectifs. C’est ce que ce mémoire s’efforce de mettre en lumière. Dans le cadre de cette recherche, l’échange de propriétés entre des actants humains, et non-humains, soit les micro-célébrités activistes politiques et les capacités techniques de la plateforme Twitter, sont considérées comme une voie stratégique vers la mise en visibilité d’une idéologie politique. Dans une perspective sociotechnique, nous visons à comprendre la construction de récits et la fabrique du discours, en analysant les thèmes qui émergent des publications sur Twitter et le rôle des entités du collectif composé des actants humains et non-humains dans la production et la diffusion de ces messages. Nous remarquons que le résultat d’un tel assemblage, à travers des stratégies et les possibilités offertes par les affordances, permet de se saisir de l’attention médiatique de l’auditoire à des fins politiques : la promotion de valeurs issues de convictions anti-mesures sanitaires basées sur de la désinformation, des théories du complot et de la méfiance envers différentes institutions démocratiques. Ainsi, nous suggérons que des recherches futures doivent continuer de se pencher sur les effets de composition de cet assemblage sur la production et la diffusion du discours et que ces considérations doivent être prises en compte dans la recherche de solutions au problème de la désinformation. / Research has shown how social movements leverage the technical capabilities offered by social media platforms to draw attention to their causes and mobilize supporters. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the same phenomenon has been observed among some softleaders opposing health measures who have taken to Twitter to promote their views and beliefs. However, the platforms are not neutral and play a role in the achievement of such objectives. This is what this dissertation attempts to understand. In the context of this research, the exchange of properties between human and non-human actors, micro-celebrity political activists and the technical capacities of the Twitter platform, called affordances, are considered as a strategic path towards the visibility of a political ideology. From a sociotechnical perspective, we aim to understand the construction of their stories, the making of discourse, by analyzing the themes that emerge from their tweets and the role of the collective entities in the production and dissemination of these messages. We see that the result of the collective, through strategies and the capabilities offered by affordances, makes it possible for these softleaders to seize the attention of the audience for political ends: the promotion of values stemming from opposition health measures during the crisis based on misinformation, conspiracy theories and distrust of various democratic institutions. Thus, we suggest that future research should continue to address the composition effects of the network (humans/dispositive) on the production and dissemination of discourse and that these considerations should be considered in the search for solutions to the problem of misinformation.

This study examines the ideological shift towards right-wing conservatism within specific segments of the Polish contemporary art scene following the Law and Justice Party (PiS) rise in 2015. The party's cultural policies, aligned with nationalist and right-wing ideologies, brought significant changes to institutions like Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art (CSW), reflecting a broader trend seen in Poland for many years. Through the exhibition Sztuka Polityczna (2021) at Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, this study investigates the conservative discourse shaping Polish art. The study employs Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to map the actors, networks, and power dynamics influencing the exhibition's discourse. Utilizing political scientist Andrew Heywood's pillars of conservatism, the study analyzes the interplay between conservatism and contemporary art, focusing on CSW's director Piotr Bernatowicz’s trajectory toward a conservative outlook on contemporary art. The analysis of Sztuka Polityczna reveals the influence of "avant-garde conservatism," a theory formulated by philosopher Paweł Rojek, that merges populism, culture war rhetoric, conservatism, and national identity to redefine conservatism in modern Poland. Bernatowicz's role in promoting issues like cancel culture underscores the exhibition's unconventional discourse. While the study acknowledges the limitations of a single exhibition's scope, the systemic influence of conservative tendencies on Polish contemporary art suggests a broader trend with potential future ramifications for the European art scene. The findings underscore the possible instrumentalization of contemporary art to conform to political ideologies.

The aim for this essay is, along with the four included case studies, is to examine the social media platform, Instagram's strict guidelines when it comes to showing nudity.  On the platform there is a certain double standard, artists as well as art institutions are censored, that is, they get pictures removed or their accounts blocked when they try to show works that have nudity depicted, but at the same time nudity exists on the platform, this essay wants to highlight the double standard by setting the example that images from accounts of celebrities, which show as much nudity as a work of art, if not more, are allowed to be available on the social platform. This essay then also wants to emphasize that why it is this way is because fundamentally it is a social problem, it is the structures and norms that exist around us that are the contributing factors. How we see the ideal body and beauty and how the male gaze is the gaze that is precisely the dominant gaze. Another factor that this essay will analyse is the difference between art and pornography, and how it affects censorship among a number of artists. With the support of interviews and the theoretical frameworks, this essay will examine Instagram as a modern place to display art, while the platform is mostly double standards and bias. In addition, this essay will highlight that in the game of nudity celebrities have different and easier rules of the game, compared to artists, they are instead dealt with the strict rules of the game. / Målet med denna uppsats är tillsammans med de fyra inkluderade fall studierna, undersöka den sociala media plattformen, Instagrams strikta riktlinjer när det kommer till att visa nakenhet. På plattformen förekommer det en viss dubbelmoral, konstnärer samt konstinstitutioner blir censurerade, det vill säga, de får bilder borttagna eller deras konton blockerade när de försöker visa verk som har nakenhet avbildat, men samtidigt existerar det nakenhet på plattformen, denna uppsats vill framhäva den dubbelmoral genom att ge exempel på att bilder från kända personers konton, som visar lika mycket nakenhet som ett konstverk, om inte mer, får vara tillgängligt på den sociala plattformen. Denna uppsats vill då även framhäva att varför det är på detta sätt är för i grunden är det ett samhällsproblem, det är strukturer och normer som existerar runt omkring oss som är de bidragande faktorerna. Hur vi ser den ideala kroppen samt skönhet och hur den manliga blicken är den blicken som är just den dominanta blicken. En annan faktor som denna uppsats kommer analysera är skillnaden på konst och pornografi, och hur det påverkar censuren bland ett antal konstnärer.  Med stöd av intervjuer och de teoretiska ramverken kommer denna uppsats undersöka Instagram som en modern plats för att visa konst, samtidigt som plattformen är till mesta del dubbelmoralisk och bias. Dessutom kommer denna uppsats att framhäva att i spelet om nakenhet har kända personer andra och enklare spelregler, jämfört med konstnärer, de blir i stället utdelade de stränga spelreglerna.

At my thesis’s core is the transformation of the agricultural industry based on the framework of food regimes established by Philip McMichael and Harriet Friedmann. The framework of food regimes will guide the analysis of recent agricultural developments towards sustainability. Due to the local nature of the food production system, I focused my thesis on one county in the South of Germany, Schwäbisch Hall, which allows me to look at local developments and how they affect our broader global food system. I will begin the thesis by analysing the effects of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) on agricultural actors in Schwäbisch Hall. After that, I will thoroughly examine the term “sustainable agriculture” within the context of sustainability and how the term is perceived by agricultural actors in Schwäbisch Hall. I will then explore three crucial global sustainability issues in the agricultural sector and how these global issues are influencing and transforming the agricultural industry on a local level. The sustainability issues include Food Security, Environmental Issues and Climate Change, and Consumption Issues. The analysis will explore how these issues, along with the recent CAP reform, can shape and advance the agricultural industry in the future. To analyse the CAP and sustainable agriculture, the study will employ the Actor-Network Theory (ANT), which will provide insights into the operational dynamics and interplay of networks within the industry as they mutually influence each other. I also use interviews with agricultural actors and news articles to get a more profound knowledge of opinions on the developments within the agricultural sector. After analysing current sustainability issues and the most recent CAP reform, I will discuss the agricultural sector's future in Germany and how the agricultural industry could develop further in the upcoming years. I will also look more into the possibilities of organic farming and its importance in establishing a more sustainable agricultural sector. At the end of my thesis, I will examine if, with the recent developments in the agricultural industry, there is a chance that a new fourth food regime can be established soon in the broader prospect of our global food system.

This thesis investigates events prior to, during and after the founding of the Swedish Museum of Architecture, in November 1962. Through the application of concepts derived from Bruno Latour’s Actor-Network-Theory, traces of the actors involved in the processes are followed, such as the activities of the museum’s first head archivist and superintendent, Birgitta Wallgren. The Museum of Modern Art’s traveling exhibition Visionary Architecture is studied as an example of how, in Latour’s sense, actors transform ”the elements that they are supposed to carry”. The thesis is thus looking for activity, the ”doing” of the museum. The institution’s earliest years is a previously rather unstudied topic. Thus, the thesis aims to contribute to the growing research field that focuses on how architectural history has been written in Sweden.

No description available.

No description available.

Denna studies syfte är att belysa hur schemat utformas för att tillgängliggöra utbildning och undervisning för elever inom anpassad grundskola och i elever i grundskolan i behov av särskilt stöd. Detta görs genom att undersöka vilka avvägningar, prioriteringar och hinder som uppstår i schemaläggningsprocessen. Tidigare forskning som presenteras i studien utgörs av faktorer som direkt eller indirekt kan ha betydelse i schemautformningen såsom dygnsrytm, tidspreferenser för lärande, undervisningstidens utformning, elevers behov, exkluderingsfaktorer och elevdelaktighet. Studien är en kvalitativ intervjustudie där fem rektorer och en biträdande rektor intervjuats. För studien har verksamhetsteorin använts vid utformandet av intervjuguide, i bearbetning av transkribering samt i resultatgenomgången. Därtill har aktör-nätverksteorin kopplats in i resultatets avslutande del. Resultatet påvisar att schemat tillgängliggör utbildning och undervisning genom att vara ett verktyg som garanterar undervisningstiden formellt, men som utformas utifrån skolans kontext. Där utgör främst lokaler, personal, ekonomi och skolskjutsar aktörer som både möjliggör utbildning och undervisning, men även exkluderar elever i behov av särskilt stöd eller inom anpassad grundskola schemamässigt. Studien slutsats är att det finns potential i schemat som aktör och verktyg. Avsaknaden av lärarnas och elevernas röst likväl som specialpedagogiken i schemaläggningsprocessen utgör grund för förslag till ytterligare studier. Detta då de behöver beaktas och utforskas vidare i relation till schemats potential specialpedagogiskt och skolutvecklingsmässigt för tillgängliggörandet av utbildning och undervisning. / The purpose of this study is to highlight how the schedule is designed to make education and teaching accessible for students in adapted elementary schools and for students in need of special support in regular schools. This is achieved by examining the trade-offs, priorities, and obstacles that arise in the scheduling process. The previous research presented in the study consist of factors that can directly or indirectly influence schedule design, such as circadian rhythms, time preferences for learning, the structure of instructional time, students’ needs, exclusion factors, and student participation. The study is a qualitative interview study in which five principals and one assistant principal were interviewed. For the study, activity theory has been used in the design of the interview guide, in the processing of transcription, and in the review of results. In addition, actor-network theory has been linked to the concluding part of the results. The results show that the schedule makes education and teaching available by being a tool that formally guarantees teaching time, but which is designed based on the school’s context. Here, primarily facilities, staff, finances, and school transport are actors that both enable education and teaching, but also exclude students in need of special support or within adapted primary education in terms of scheduling. The study concludes that there is potential in the schedule as an actor and tool. The absence of teachers and students’ voices as well as special education in the scheduling process forms the basis for suggestions for further studies, as they need to be considered and further explored in relation to the schedule’s potential in special education and school development for making education and teaching accessible.