Current debates on space reveal a dichotomy between two apparently conflicting understandings of space: on the one hand, space is understood as a physical, tangible entity that has an impact on how we perceive, feel and emotionally inhabit the world, and on the other hand, space is conceived as an abstract entity, suggesting that space has no active role (a productivity) within everyday life, being solely a conceptual product of intellectual reasoning. As a result, the commonly used word: ‘space’, will be discussed as an ontologically paradoxical, ambiguous and elusive concept; a concept that cannot be captured within a single definition. This thesis consequently researches the ontology of space by informing a framework that embraces the complexity of space as an ambiguous and unrepresentable entity. It aims to reconcile the multiple understandings of space, liberating it from the binary thinking that opposes the abstract to the physical, disclosing its potential productivity. This thesis thus proposes a methodology departing from a transdisciplinary approach that addresses the variability, multiplicity, paradoxicality and ambiguity of space through a ‘bastard’ epistemology that defies binary logic by considering what falls out of order and norm. To research an ontology through a bastard epistemology is to work outside of (but in combination with) the intelligible and sensible realms, through a framework that is non-representational, but instead enactive and performative, driven by experience, affect and aesthetics; thus allowing access to an entity that is both ambiguous and also unrepresentable. In doing so, this thesis argues that space is diversely implicated in the constitution of research methodologies through its interactions with order and structures, as well as agential in the constitution of understandings of human interactions with the world; and therefore, it will be argued, space has methodological purchase. The consequence of this methodological purchase is that space can reveal itself if a research strategy is implemented that works through the multiple dimensions of space. Within this context the diagram will be introduced as a productive path because enables a bastard epistemology to work through the multiplicity of space, since the diagram, is a performed, materialised outcome of multiple experiences of the making of order through the interaction between physical and conceptual dimensions. In synthesis, the diagram is used to recursively research an ontology of space, showing the main contribution of this thesis: of how without negating its complexity and multiplicity, space can be useful, constructive and productive within contemporary contexts of research methodologies.

This study provides an abstract look at the movement of Greek religion into Magna Graecia with the arrival of Achaean settlers in Southern Italy. Through an investigation into the proliferation of sanctuary construction in the nonurban territory of the colonies, it is evident that the sanctuaries were not only used for religious purposes, and served as symbols of the authority of the city. Metaponto, Croton, Sybaris, and Poseidonia are the colonies in question, whose systematic development relied on the construction of these sacred compounds. This study takes a twofold approach; by investigating the physical placement of sanctuaries in various areas around the chora, their functions will be extrapolated. In the Achaean colonies in Southern Italy, sanctuaries in the nonurban territory did have a sacred significance, but more importantly they demonstrated ownership over the areas they presided over, and thus aided in the delineation of the chora. Nonurban sanctuaries also held the responsibility of sustaining order amongst the outlying populations, bringing together Greeks and indigenous and serving as a mediator amongst them. Furthermore, the sanctuaries positioned at the frontiers of the territory strongly demonstrated the identity of the Greeks, reinforcing their claim to the land. Thus, dissimilar to their counterparts on mainland Greece, the sanctuaries constructed in the nonurban territory of the Achaean colonies were part of a clearly defined development plan, and serviced the political necessities of the Greeks above all. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

This thesis examines the water resource management in two Greek colonies in Magna Graecia, Akragas and Metaponto, and the relationship between resource management and political regimes. It asks how similar ancient urban theory was to the practical reality, and if different forms of government made different provisions for water management. Chapter 1 outlines urban and health theories found in the works of ancient theorists. It debunks the idea that Hippodamos was the inventor of grid planning, while introducing the concept of ‘total’ city planning. The focus of Classical scholarship on Athens necessitates discussions of several Athenian water systems and how resource management changed (or continued) through different governments in Athens as a point of comparison for Akragas and Metaponto. This chapter focuses on literary analysis and introduces the controversial Southeast Fountain House, with an in-depth consideration of the fountain’s naming and dating problems. Chapter 2 contains the case studies of Akragas and Metaponto and an exploration of the hydrogeology at the two sites, with an introduction to the hydrological phenomenon of karst activity. A discussion of their unique water features—the kolymbethra at Akragas and the canals in the chora of Metaponto—connects the deliberate planning that occurred in both cities to Hippodamos and the urban theorists. Chapter 3 more fully explores the role of tyrants and democracies in water management. Regardless of authorship, water resource management and water systems are necessary for any city, and so most tyrannical water infrastructure continued to be used and expanded and improved upon even under different governments. Even under tyranny water management is a provision of the state and is engaged with and managed by the citizens of the city. Water management is an essential part of siting and establishing a city, so that it is inseparable from urban planning. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Uppsatsens problemställning rör frågan om det är möjligt att utröna hur tystnaden framställs i Nelly Sachs sena lyrik och vad den säger, och huruvida det är möjligt att relatera denna tystnad till en medveten kontra omedveten uttrycksform. Min avsikt är alltså att undersöka de strukturer eller mönster – medvetna som omedvetna – som står att finna i Sachs lyrik som kan kopplas samman med denna tystnad, inte för att fastställa en dikts betydelse utan för att undersöka hur tystnadens närvaro tar sig uttryck och låter sig urskiljas i hennes dikter. Jag gör detta dels genom att i uppsatsens del ett redogöra för hur tystnaden som tema och problem uppfattas i den tidigare forskningen. I del två försöker jag fördjupa dessa rön genom en vidare koppling till Sachs modernistiska formspråk, och med hjälp av bland annat psykoanalytisk teori görs ett antal närläsningar av hennes senare dikter. Den teoretiska ramen för diskussionen hämtar jag alltså främst från psykoanalysen som på olika vis uppmärksammar lakuner, trauman och omedvetna dimensioner i språket, vilket jag menar kan öka förståelsen för tystnadens problematik hos Sachs. Undersökningen genomförs närmare bestämt i linje med Julia Kristevas teoribildning. Kristeva är psykoanalytiker och även professor i lingvistik och har formulerat teorier om det poetiska språket som visat sig fruktbara i min läsning av det ”ordlösa språket” hos Sachs. Kathrin M. Bower refererar träffande till Kristevas arbete som ”Kristeva’s distinctive brand of psychoanalytic semiotics”.