O objetivo desta tese é estudar as autobiografias de três escritoras aborígenes canadenses: Beverly Hungry Wolf, Lee Maracle e Maria Cambpell, à luz de teorias sobre temporalidades das narrativas. Entende-se aqui a narrativa como um espaço temporal no qual as escritoras incorporam e presentificam a figura das avós (grandmothers), o que torna a literatura produzida por elas uma ponte entre o individual e o coletivo, o estético e o social, o pessoal e político. Essas autobiografias apresentam três temporalidades: o presente do passado, em que a memória é o elemento principal na constituição da identidade; o presente do presente, em que a visão da experiência do sujeito motiva uma ação; e o presente do futuro, que aponta para uma expectativa no discernimento das responsabilidades frente à comunidade e ao poder político estabelecido. Para tal, lançaremos mão das teorias de Ricoeur sobre temporalidades em diálogo com a teórica indígena Kim Anderson e outros teóricos que conformam a fortuna crítica das autoras e da literatura indígena canadense e norte-americana. / The aim of this thesis is to study the autobiographical novels written by three Canadian aboriginal female writers: Beverly Hungry Wolf, Lee Maracle and Maria Campbell under the light of theories about temporalities on narratives. We take narratives as temporal spaces on which the writers incorporate and presentify the figure of their grandmothers, a device through which their literature becomes a bridge between the individual and the collective, the aesthetical and the social, and the personal and the political. These autobiographies present three temporalities: the present of the past, on which memory is the main element in the identity constitution; the present of the present, on which the vision of experience motivates action; and the present of the future, which points to an expectation on discernment of responsibilities towards the subjects community and the established political power. The theoretical background is based on Ricoeurs theories on temporalities in dialogue with Indigenous theoretician Kim Anderson and others who build up the critical reception of these authors and of Native Canadian and Native American literatures.

This performance text examines complexities of personal and maternal identity in family life. Speaking in first, second, and third person voices, the author offers autoethnographic accounts of the tensions between separateness and connectedness, normative and subjective motherhood, and novice and seasoned perspectives. The piece functions as a text of resistance that pushes against normative expectations about maternal emotion and child-centered maternal dialogue and gives voice to evolutions in mother wit and lifeworlds. (Contains 1 note.)

Domestic violence is regarded as a complex social issue since it does not only exist in some abnormal groups of people, or abused by a certain type of men, nor exposed by a particular type of women. Hence, the problem can occur in all-ages, social classes and occupational groups throughout the society. Domestic violence therefore reflects the unequal distribution of power in different aspects between men and women that still remains and is maintained in different ways in today’s society. On this basis, the aim of this study is to examine women’s narrative life stories about their experiences of domestic violence in their autobiographies. This study also aims to analyze how women construct domestic violence in autobiographies from beginning to end. With the use of autobiographies as empirical material I chose to take the qualitative narrative analysis as a method, and on the basis of a social constructivists perspective. I have chosen four autobiographies all written by women who have been subjected to domestic violence in Sweden. Results analysis is divided into different parts which follow how an abusive relationship begins, how it develops and how it ends. The results show that most women described domestic violence which begins as a romantic relationship that gradually transforms into a relationship of violence, and that ends with women managing to break up from men with help of the environment in order to survive. Through autobiographies can this domestic violence also be explained as a normalization process of violence which caused by men’s violence and women’s adaptation to it.

This is a study of continuity and change in middle-class conceptions of ideal manhood. My theoretical cues are the notions of the male as an unproblematised and genderless norm, masculinity as homosocial, and George L. Mosse’s use of countertypes. Notions of passions, youth, and character were important throughout the century. If young men could learn to master the dangerous passions especially in the precarious period of youth, they would develop character. If men instead gave in to the passions, they would fall and become countertypes. Meanwhile, young men lived according to another notion, that young men should have their fling. The meaning of manhood also changed over time. In the decades around 1800, manhood meant to lead a life which would be beneficial to society as a whole. Another ideal, that of the man of the world, was founded on urbane manners as a tactic to further one’s career. By mid-century, the ideal of the self-made man came to the fore. The homosocial world of business was now seen as a good way to mould manly characters. In the last decades of the century, moralists criticized the sexual double standard and male sexuality. To remain chaste until marriage became a central mark of manhood. Autobiographers, however, reveal that to many men, Don Juan was a hero rather than a villain. The notion that men were genderless and that masculinity was not a subject of discussion cannot be sustained. Masculinity was indeed the subject of intense discussions. Meanwhile, neither moralists nor autobiographers shed critical light on married, adult men. The problem was how young men should best be guided into an adult position of legitimate power; that position of power in itself was not problematised. While most masculinities were homosocial, this was not exclusively so. Countertypes were more complex than what Mosse allows for. Men who had taken ideal manhood too far could be countertypes, and at times men endorsed ideals which meant unmanliness to moralists.

Neste trabalho, são analisadas obras literárias autorreferenciadas que lidam com a figura do professor nas diversas identidades que ele possa assumir e representar no ensino em diferentes instituições escolares, tendo por fontes: Blackboard jungle, de Evan Hunter; Sale Prof!, de Nicolas Revol; Entre les murs, de François Bégadeau; Teacher man, de Frank McCourt; e os filmes: Entre les murs (Entre os muros da escola); e Blackboard jungle (Sementes da violência). Escritas e protagonizadas por professores, e representando situações escolares que se passam desde a segunda metade do século XX e o início do século XXI, tais obras são examinadas como textos culturais, com sentidos e representações culturais e sociais sobre a docência, atendendo aos seguintes objetivos: (1) examinar a constituição do ser professor e as representações sobre a docência nestas obras e a partir delas; (2) entrever multíplices discursos e representações socialmente circulantes sobre a docência; (3) discutir questões alusivas às obras literárias e cinematográficas a partir de elementos comuns ao universo escolar, concernentes ao ser professor e ao exercício da docência. Pela universalidade da profissão docente, mesmo em sistemas de ensino distintos, analisam-se as representações docentes em relação a: (1) alunos e famílias das camadas populares, socialmente excluídos, para os quais a escolaridade nem sempre faz sentido ou assume outras perspectivas; (2) crescentes demandas institucionais, sociais e pessoais sobre a atuação docente; (3) fracasso escolar e limites de atuação docente; (4) constituição da autoridade docente, expectativas de atuação e sentidos do trabalho docente para o próprio professor; (5) estabelecimento de um pacto de convivência satisfatório e possibilitador de múltiplas aprendizagens. O estudo dessas fontes permitiu observar que, na atividade performática da docência, a formação inicial e a obtenção de conhecimentos acadêmicos e pedagógicos consistem apenas numa parte do encaminhamento eficiente para a maioria das ocorrências em sala de aula. Cabe ao professor dar conta física e emocionalmente de conflitos, frustrações, êxitos e alegrias inerentes à atuação profissional. Uma inter-relação satisfatória deve ser fundamentada num contrato de convívio baseado em hierarquia, limites, regras e respeito mútuo. / An analysis of self-referential literature dealing with the teacher figure in the several identities it may take and represent in different teaching institutions, based on the following sources: Blackboard jungle, by Evan Hunter; Sale Prof!, by Nicolas Revol; Entre les murs, by François Bégadeau; Teacher man, by Frank McCourt; and the following films: Entre les murs and Blackboard jungle. Those works were written by teachers and have teachers as their main characters. They picture school situations encountered between the second half of the 20th century and the early 21th century. They are examined as cultural texts with cultural and social meanings and representations concerning teaching, with the purpose of: (1) examining the elements of being a teacher and how teaching is represented in those works and based on them; (2) taking a glimpse of the multiple socially circulating discourses and representations about teaching; (3) discussing issues related to literature and films based on elements common to the school universe, concerning being a teacher and the exercise of teaching. The universality of the teaching profession, even if under different teaching systems permits an analysis of the representations of teaching in relation to: (1) students and families belonging to lower income, socially excluded groups, for whom schooling does not always make sense or is seen from different standpoints; (2) the growing institutional, social and personal demands on the action of the teacher; (3) school failure and limits to the teacher actions (4) creation of the teaching authority, expected performance, expected action and meaning of teaching work to teachers themselves; (5) forming a satisfactory pact of survival that will permit multiple learnings. The study of those sources permitted noting that, in the performance of teaching activities, the initial background and the acquisition of academic and pedagogical knowledge are just a part of what is needed to efficiently deal with what happens in the classroom. It is the duty of the teacher to deal with conflicts, frustrations, successes and joys inherent to the teaching profession both from the physical and emotional standpoint. A satisfactory interrelation must be founded in a pact of conviviality based on hierarchy, limits, rules and mutual respect.

This qualitative study highlights the fact that sexual abuse is considered a social problem. However, few are disclosing their experiences of sexual abuse during childhood, and although children tell, it is difficult to regard them as credible victims. Our aim with this study is to gain an understanding through adults stories about the sexual abuse they were exposed to during their childhood. In order to achieve this purpose, we have analyzed autobiographies written by adults, who during their childhood have become sexually exposed. The study resulted in the problem of considering children as victims, before the abuse's disclosure but also after. The children were seen, in the cases studied, not as credible due to the perpetrator's identity. This study also found that the children did not report their experiences of sexual abuse due to factors such as shame and normalization. The study thus found that sexual abuse against children is complex and so is the view of the children as victims and their silence.

The aim of this study is to investigate individual experience of physiological abuse during their childhood. Our method was to read three autobiographies and one biography to interpret the impact of the psychological abuse in these four individuals. The empirical material in this qualitative study aims to determine how the writer's experienced psychological abuse within their childhood. and how it´s affected their lives in adulthood. It´s specifically aimed at coping strategies and their impact on life after the abuse, also authorities support or absence around their upbringing in malpractice. This study wraps up by using coping theory together with shame and guilt in order to analyze our results from all four life stories in the biographies. The main findings of this study are that all abused children had fear and silence as a recurring theme throughout their stories. Another finding is that each individual uses different forms of coping strategies and some even used more than one.

The purpose of this study was to research what negative and positive effects upward social class mobility can give a person with focus on the inner emotional world. Through a literature analysis of autobiographies has authors who have undergone social class mobility from working class to middle class been selected. The qualitative research study shows that people can be affected in several ways by experiencing upward social class mobility. Our study finds that people can be negatively affected by their upward mobility and that most of the negative aspects are similar for all the people in our study. We have used a hermeneutic method when interpreting and identifying the negative aspects of social class mobility in our empirical data. We have thematized and analyzed the data with inspiration from Pierre Bourdieu's class theories. In the empirical data, we have identified several common themes of negative aspects that can be experienced with upward social class mobility. Some of the themes are feelings like guilt, shame, feeling like you live between two worlds and not feeling at home. Their relationships with their parents and current family can also be negatively affected. In the empirical data, we can see that all the people included in the study are affected by their previous class affiliation. The changes, new social codes and habitus, that the new class brings influences people from a psychological and social perspective which creates difficulties for them to feel belonging in the new class. / Studiens syfte var att undersöka vilka negativa och positiva effekter en uppåtgående klassresa kan ge en människa med fokus på den inre känslomässiga världen för en klassresenär. Genom en litteraturanalys av självbiografier har urvalet varit målstyrt till författare som genomgått en klassresa från arbetarklass till medelklass. Studien visar att människor kan påverkas på flera sätt även negativt av sin klassresa och vi kan också se att dessa sätt är liknande för alla personer i vår empiri. De negativa aspekterna vi identifierat i studien är tolkade med hjälp av metoden hermeneutik. Tematisering och analyseringen av materialet har skett med inspiration från Pierre Bourdieus klassteorier. Vi har i empirin identifierat flera gemensamma teman av negativa aspekter som personerna upplevt av sina klassresor. Känslor som skuld, skam, att känna att man lever mellan två världar och att inte känna sig hemma. Relationen till sina föräldrar och nuvarande familj kan också bli negativt påverkade. I empirin ser vi att alla personerna i studien präglas av sin tidigare klasstillhörighet. De förändringar, nya sociala koder och habitus som den nya klassen har, påverkar personerna utifrån ett psykologiskt- och socialt perspektiv som skapar svårigheter för dem att känna tillhörighet i den nya klassen.

Le XVIIe siècle français connaît un engouement pour la mystique, qui se pense alors comme une « Science des Saints » et développe ses pratiques, ses discours et son propre champ disciplinaire. Cette science mystique prône une approche anti-intellectuelle de la connaissance, une abnégation de la pensée et une indéfinition du savoir, dont le sens, difficilement accessible, doit demeurer caché. Les mystiques, et particulièrement les femmes, présentent ainsi un rapport paradoxal à la connaissance. Parce qu’elles sont reconnues pour entretenir un lien direct avec Dieu et pour leur cheminement religieux marqué par l’extraordinaire, les femmes de ce courant spirituel apparaissent favorisées. Leur ignorance, caractère déjà rattaché à la spiritualité mystique, mais plus accentué chez elles en raison de la nature de leur sexe, les élève au rang de sujet spirituel privilégié. François de Sales a notamment pensé ce renversement de valeurs, en insistant sur la « savante ignorance » de ces saintes. À partir de ce paradoxe, ce mémoire s’attache à dégager une figure de la savante ignorante dans deux autobiographies spirituelles du XVIIe siècle, la Relation de 1654 de Marie Guyart, dite de l’Incarnation et la Vie par elle-même de Jeanne-Marie Bouvier de La Motte, dite Madame Guyon. Il propose d’étudier la façon dont ces deux autrices font leur et transforment, chacune à sa façon, cette figure. Bien plus qu’une simple désignation, le double caractère « savant » et « ignorant » de la femme mystique pose une tension entre des manières d’être, des approches du monde, des attitudes et des compétences opposées. Le paradoxe établi par François de Sales mérite en ce sens d’être déplié et approfondi. Nous nous y appliquerons, en suggérant qu’il traverse tout le sujet, influençant sa construction et sa représentation et qu’il implique l’ensemble de l’œuvre : la figure de la savante ignorante se trouve à même les formes de discours, les procédés d’énonciation et les tours stylistiques, elle s’incarne dans la narration et la structure du récit et appelle à différentes stratégies de légitimation. / The French 17th century nourishes a keen interest for mysticism, conceived as a “Science of the Saints”, with its own disciplinary field, practices and discourses. This mystic science advocates an anti-intellectual approach to knowledge, a denial of thought as theory and differentiation, a process difficult to fathom and better kept hidden. The mystics, and women in particular, have a paradoxical relation to knowledge. Believed to have a direct connection do God and a religious path marked by the extraordinary, the women of this spiritual movement appear privileged. Their ignorance, a trait already attached to the mystic way, but more accentuated in their case due to the nature of their gender, raises them to the rank of a privileged subject. François de Sales reflected this value reversal by insisting on the “savante ignorance” when speaking of these holy women. On the basis of this paradox, this thesis seeks to present the figure of a “savante ignorante” in two spiritual autobiographies of the 17th century: the Relation of 1654 by Marie Guyart, also known as Marie de l’Incarnation, and Life by herself by Jeanne-Marie Bouvier de La Motte, also known as Madame Guyon. It proposes to study the way these two authors address this figure and transform it in their own way. More than a simple designation, the double nature of the mystic woman as “savante” and “ignorante” creates a tension between opposite ways of being and of approaching the world, and within attitudes and skills. In this sense, the paradox established by François de Sales deserves to be developed and deepened. We will apply ourselves to do so by proposing that this paradox cuts through every aspects of the subject, influencing the construct and the representation of the self, and ultimately influencing the entire work of the author: the figure of the “savante ignorante” can be found throughout the forms of the discourse, the processes of enunciation and the stylistic choices; it is embedded in the narrative structure and calls for different strategies of legitimation.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur kvinnor som utsatts för våld i nära relationer beskriver våldet i sina egna självbiografier samt vilka copingstrategier som kan identifieras i deras berättelser. Med hjälp av fyra självbiografier skrivna av kvinnor som under många år levt med en våldsutövande man ska deras beskrivning av våldet belysas. Empirin kommer med hjälp av teorier så som normaliseringsprocessen och teorier om copingstrategier att analyseras. Våldet som belyses är fysiskt, psykiskt, sexuellt och ekonomiskt. Resultaten visar att kvinnorna beskriver liknande tillvägagångssätt och händelser kring alla de olika våldsformerna. Männens kontroll och isolering dominerar kvinnornas liv och leder till en känsla av förlorad verklighetsuppfattning. Copingstrategierna som identifierades delades upp i emotionell och problemfokuserad coping. Emotionellt fokuserad coping identifierades som bland annat att ventilera, hitta stöd, religion samt förnekelse av sin situation. Den problemfokuserade copingstrategier identifierades som informationssamlande, anpassade beteende och sökandet efter sin nya roll. / The purpose of this study is to examine how women who have been subjected to intimate partner violence describe the violence in their own autobiographies, as well as which coping strategies can be identified in their stories. With the help of four autobiographies written by women who lived with a violent man for many years, their description of the violence will be highlighted. The experience will be analyzed with the help of theories such as the normalization process and theories of coping strategies. The coping strategies are divided into emotional and problem-focused coping. The violence highlighted is physical, psychological, sexual and financial violence. The results show that the women describe similar approaches and events around all  different forms of violence. Men's control and isolation dominate women's lives and lead to a sense of lost perception of reality.The coping strategies identified were divided into emotional and problem-focused. Emotionally focused coping was identified as, among other things, ventilating, turning to one's religion for support and denial of one's situation. The problem-focused coping strategies are identified as information gathering, adapted behavior and the search for one's new role.