Sweaty Mother Slow Groove is an engagement in magical thinking that proposes a displacement of swamp methodologies into the virtual realm, existing during the fourth wave. In doing so the cyborg and goddess are united in a re-routing of essentialism and the neo-liberal domination of technology. The metaphorical swamp is the possibility of a mushy danger zone that harnesses the absorption of an unwanted space: a disintegration of the binary and the soft-coded awareness of the body as a process, not a site.

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This thesis examines the embodiment and disembodiment of Middle Eastern women in Suheir Hammad’s Breaking Poems (2008) and Solmaz Sharif’s Look (2016) to better understand how war, diasporicity, violence, and intimacy affect the socio-political subjection of Middle Eastern women in the United States. Through analyzing poetry, this thesis posits that Middle Eastern women’s subjection to racism and sexism as diasporic subjects in the United States leads to their disembodiment, resulting in feelings of displacement, loss, and uncertainty regarding their identities, which parallels the disembodiment they experience in the Middle East as a result of war. The Introduction Chapter answers why this thesis focuses on diasporic Middle Eastern women and the poetry of Suheir Hammad and Solmaz Sharif. Chapter One provides a theoretical framework of the major themes discussed throughout the thesis, such as embodiment, disembodiment, precarity, and double consciousness. Chapter Two discusses Suheir Hammad’s Breaking Poems with an emphasis on a hyper-individualized account of disembodiment. Chapter Three addresses Solmaz Sharif’s Look, focusing on poetry’s movement between different geographical spaces and time frames to present a wide range of disembodiment(s) experienced by not only Solmaz Sharif, but also by other Middle Eastern subjects. The Conclusion Chapter demonstrates that the theme of embodiment and disembodiment supports Hammad and Sharif’s efforts to give voice to the silenced experiences of diasporic Middle Eastern women. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Sexual difference has emerged in the last three decades as an enduring question for feminism. Drawing attention to the embodied nature of subjectivity, it enables feminists to counter the more insidious presumptions of universality and the phallocentric economy of knowledge production, and makes possible feminine expressions of subjectivity. At the same time, engaging the nature of difference has opened the way to a more detailed interrogation of identity, specifically the identity of ' woman' and 'the feminine' as categories of feminist analysis. However, tensions have emerged within this field over the concept of community, and how to motivate for political change on the basis of a common identity when the identity of woman is itself contested. In tracing these arguments, this thesis raises a number of considerations about the way difference is understood. It finds that a conceptual commitment to the specificity of the body as properly constitutive of the political can run the risk of sidelining, denigrating and presuming to excise what appears as universal, masculine, or phallocentric. In doing so, it potentially leaves aside a full political engagement with the generative and implicated nature of these terms in the formation of all identity. Consequently, questions around thought, universality, virtuality, and disembodiment may not be given full consideration, with the outcome that feminism may be foreclosing its political domain from important formative concerns. The primary aim of this thesis is to open these categories of analysis to question, to understand how they have been constructed in debates around difference, and to bring to light some of the assumptions which remain axiological to what properly constitutes feminist politics. Engaging Luce Irigaray's reading of divinity for community and identity, this thesis argues that if the implicated nature of identity is taken seriously then the organising categories fundamental to notions of political action and community become a general field of difference which exceeds the reach of feminist politics as it currently stands.

<p>Med internet som verktyg kan vi kommunicera med människor trots stora avstånd och trots att vi inte möts ansikte mot ansikte. Många nätanvändare väljer att vara anonyma gentemot varandra på nätet, på grund av försiktighet. Andra väljer att efter hand avslöja sin identitet för nätvännerna och så småningom ta med sig nätrelationen in i vardagslivet utanför internet. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka och förklara hur nätanvändare upplever anonymitet och att inte synas för varandra.</p><p>För nätanvändare kan anonymiteten innebära en möjlighet att befria sig från det sociala livets krav och visa mer av sitt rätta jag inför nätvännerna, eftersom det på nätet är möjligt att hitta likasinnade och andra som accepterar mig som jag är, oavsett vem jag är. Anonymiteten kan också innebära att nätanvändaren av försiktighet avstår från djupare relationer på nätet. Om detta vittnar ett flertal av respondenterna i denna studie, som bygger på en enkät på internet hösten 2005. 208 svarade på enkäten och drygt en fjärdedel av dessa har på något sätt reflekterat över fenomenet anonymitet och att inte synas för varandra i sociala relationer på nätet. Metoden är kvalitativ då resultatet utgår från enkätens öppna frågor, med möjlighet till berättande svar.</p><p>I reflektionerna ingår tankar kring den kroppslöshet, eller befrielse från tid och rum, som internet medger. Här kan kommunikation ske på distans oberoende av både tid och plats, liksom också i realtid men utan att ses. Då spelar det ingen roll hur jag ser ut, vilka kläder jag har eller andra yttre faktorer som kan påverka motpartens syn på mig. Ålder, kön, socioekonomiska eller sociokulturella faktorer spelar heller ingen roll.</p><p>Mina slutsatser i denna studie är att den bokstavliga och bildliga anonymiteten på nätet kan vara antingen befriande eller begränsande för nätanvändaren; befriande för den som använder nätet för självförverkligande och reflexivt identitetsbyggande; begränsande för den som av försiktighet inte tillåter sig att utveckla nära och djupa sociala relationer på nätet på grund av anonymiteten.</p> / <p>Using the net for relational purposes is becoming a growing trend; net surfers make friends online. This study, by Eva Johansson, shows that the net users who use the net for relational purpose can form meaningful and sustainable social relations with other net users whom they have never met in real life (IRL), and may never meet face to face.</p><p>The purpose of this study is to find out how the possible anonymity and the lack of meeting face to face effect relations on the net. 208 net users have answered a survey about social relations on the net. The answers in this mainly qualitative study gives a hint that anonymity can be both limiting and liberating for the user. Limiting for those who are cautious and therefore do not form deep emotional relationships on the net; and liberating for those who, through anonymity, can express their true selves to strangers on the net. The disembodiment of the net is also a liberating factor.</p><p>A majority of the respondents are women and many of them are middle aged. They have a considerable skill and experience as net users, and do use the net for their own purposes.</p>

Med internet som verktyg kan vi kommunicera med människor trots stora avstånd och trots att vi inte möts ansikte mot ansikte. Många nätanvändare väljer att vara anonyma gentemot varandra på nätet, på grund av försiktighet. Andra väljer att efter hand avslöja sin identitet för nätvännerna och så småningom ta med sig nätrelationen in i vardagslivet utanför internet. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka och förklara hur nätanvändare upplever anonymitet och att inte synas för varandra. För nätanvändare kan anonymiteten innebära en möjlighet att befria sig från det sociala livets krav och visa mer av sitt rätta jag inför nätvännerna, eftersom det på nätet är möjligt att hitta likasinnade och andra som accepterar mig som jag är, oavsett vem jag är. Anonymiteten kan också innebära att nätanvändaren av försiktighet avstår från djupare relationer på nätet. Om detta vittnar ett flertal av respondenterna i denna studie, som bygger på en enkät på internet hösten 2005. 208 svarade på enkäten och drygt en fjärdedel av dessa har på något sätt reflekterat över fenomenet anonymitet och att inte synas för varandra i sociala relationer på nätet. Metoden är kvalitativ då resultatet utgår från enkätens öppna frågor, med möjlighet till berättande svar. I reflektionerna ingår tankar kring den kroppslöshet, eller befrielse från tid och rum, som internet medger. Här kan kommunikation ske på distans oberoende av både tid och plats, liksom också i realtid men utan att ses. Då spelar det ingen roll hur jag ser ut, vilka kläder jag har eller andra yttre faktorer som kan påverka motpartens syn på mig. Ålder, kön, socioekonomiska eller sociokulturella faktorer spelar heller ingen roll. Mina slutsatser i denna studie är att den bokstavliga och bildliga anonymiteten på nätet kan vara antingen befriande eller begränsande för nätanvändaren; befriande för den som använder nätet för självförverkligande och reflexivt identitetsbyggande; begränsande för den som av försiktighet inte tillåter sig att utveckla nära och djupa sociala relationer på nätet på grund av anonymiteten. / Using the net for relational purposes is becoming a growing trend; net surfers make friends online. This study, by Eva Johansson, shows that the net users who use the net for relational purpose can form meaningful and sustainable social relations with other net users whom they have never met in real life (IRL), and may never meet face to face. The purpose of this study is to find out how the possible anonymity and the lack of meeting face to face effect relations on the net. 208 net users have answered a survey about social relations on the net. The answers in this mainly qualitative study gives a hint that anonymity can be both limiting and liberating for the user. Limiting for those who are cautious and therefore do not form deep emotional relationships on the net; and liberating for those who, through anonymity, can express their true selves to strangers on the net. The disembodiment of the net is also a liberating factor. A majority of the respondents are women and many of them are middle aged. They have a considerable skill and experience as net users, and do use the net for their own purposes.

Sexual difference has emerged in the last three decades as an enduring question for feminism. Drawing attention to the embodied nature of subjectivity, it enables feminists to counter the more insidious presumptions of universality and the phallocentric economy of knowledge production, and makes possible feminine expressions of subjectivity. At the same time, engaging the nature of difference has opened the way to a more detailed interrogation of identity, specifically the identity of ' woman' and 'the feminine' as categories of feminist analysis. However, tensions have emerged within this field over the concept of community, and how to motivate for political change on the basis of a common identity when the identity of woman is itself contested. In tracing these arguments, this thesis raises a number of considerations about the way difference is understood. It finds that a conceptual commitment to the specificity of the body as properly constitutive of the political can run the risk of sidelining, denigrating and presuming to excise what appears as universal, masculine, or phallocentric. In doing so, it potentially leaves aside a full political engagement with the generative and implicated nature of these terms in the formation of all identity. Consequently, questions around thought, universality, virtuality, and disembodiment may not be given full consideration, with the outcome that feminism may be foreclosing its political domain from important formative concerns. The primary aim of this thesis is to open these categories of analysis to question, to understand how they have been constructed in debates around difference, and to bring to light some of the assumptions which remain axiological to what properly constitutes feminist politics. Engaging Luce Irigaray's reading of divinity for community and identity, this thesis argues that if the implicated nature of identity is taken seriously then the organising categories fundamental to notions of political action and community become a general field of difference which exceeds the reach of feminist politics as it currently stands.

As an artist, my work reflects my own life experiences, allowing me to reinterpret and process difficult events in a new light. Creating art is a therapeutic process for me, enabling me to explore and understand my past and my own Self. In line with James Baldwin's views, I believe that the duty of an artist is to provide their audience with an opportunity to rediscover themselves; to help them explore their inner selves. In my experience, to achieve that goal, the first and most important hurdle the artist needs to cross is exploring themselves. In the process of answering questions about their own selves, they can touch many other souls. In Fragmented Self, I employ composited 3D animations of my own body parts juxtaposed over still and moving images. Each body part and piece in Fragmented Self is a metaphorical representation of a specific experience I have lived through. The resulting pieces are meditative, surreal, and abstracted spaces that speak to the complexities of life experiences. I believe each body holds messages from the past, and in Fragmented Self, I disembody and fragment my own body to study and explore my own Self. Drawing inspiration from Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass in which he proclaims, "I contain multitudes", I see my Self as a composite of various selves shaped by different life experiences coming together to form one Self. I believe that I am a constantly evolving individual, influencing my everyday encounters and choices. As in the Japanese tradition of Kintsugi, in Fragmented Self, I trace the gold lined cracks that unite my multitudinous selves into one in hopes of answering the question "What makes me who I am today?" / Master of Fine Arts / Fragmented Self is a body of artwork created in an effort to learn about my own Self. The work explores how I see my Self as containing multiple selves. The project utilizes video and 3D rendering to create digital composites with semi-realistic aesthetics. The finished work includes 3 pieces focusing on ideas of time, perception, and fragmentation.

Background: Fat people are subjected to oppression including medical “obesity” rhetoric and fat discrimination which may affect their ability to experience an embodied relationship with their bodies. Aims: The aim of this study was to discover how self-identified fat female-bodied people understand their relationship with their bodies. Methods: Six participants were recruited for semi-structured interviews which were then analyzed in a constant comparative method. Findings: Five themes emerged from the data: dehumanization, acceptance of (the fat) body, empowerment, resistance, and dis<-->embodiment. Relationship with (the fat) body was identified by the participants as fraught with tension in a context that involves considering the positionality of “non-normative’ bodies, the value and importance of community, and a high degree of effort. / Thesis / Master of Social Work (MSW)

While online video communication has become a part of many people's lives, it still lacks an important aspect of human interaction – eye contact. Conventional technology does not provide the ability to share eye contact online. The NUNA machine is a unique communication unit that enables this shared virtual eye contact (VEC). The aim of this study was to explore how people experience VEC in a virtual therapeutic setting, specifically in a Motivational Interview (MI). This experience was specifically juxtapositioned to an in-person setting as it provides eye contact as a natural part of the conversation. Research questions included how participants would experience eye contact in a MI setting in 1) a video conference with shared eye contact and 2) an in-person conversation, how participants would make sense of the perceived differences between the settings, and which value participants saw in VEC. In the MI, participants first spoke to each other using the NUNAs and then seamlessly continued their conversation in-person. After this exposure, they took part in qualitative interviews sharing their experience and how they made sense of it. These qualitative interviews were then analyzed by conducting qualitative content analysis. In total, 10 university students, approximately in their 20s, were interviewed. The results suggest that VEC acts as an antagonist to the disembodiment that is inherent to virtual interactions by providing connection and increasing the degree of realness with which the vis-à-vis is perceived. It further revealed that the NUNA setting provided a focused environment in which participants felt like they could work on their emotions and feel validated by and committed to their vis-à-vis. Thus, VEC may strengthen therapeutic alliance and be a promising tool for online psychotherapy by providing a higher degree of realness as would be natural for in-person conversations. / Videokommunikation online har blivit en del av många människors liv, men det saknas fortfarande en viktig aspekt av mänsklig interaktion - ögonkontakt. Konventionell teknik ger inte möjlighet att ha ögonkontakt online. NUNA-maskinen är en unik kommunikationsenhet som möjliggör denna delade virtuella ögonkontakt (VEC). Syftet med den här studien var att undersöka hur människor upplever VEC i en virtuell terapeutisk miljö, särskilt i en motiverande intervju (MI). Den här upplevelsen var särskilt jämförbar med en personlig miljö eftersom ögonkontakt är en naturlig del av samtalet. Forskningsfrågorna omfattade hur deltagarna skulle uppleva ögonkontakt i en MI-miljö i 1) en videokonferens med ögonkontakt och 2) ett personligt samtal, hur deltagarna skulle förstå de upplevda skillnaderna mellan miljöerna och vilket värde deltagarna såg i VEC. I MI-miljön talade deltagarna först med varandra med hjälp av NUNA och fortsatte sedan sömlöst sitt samtal i en personlig konversation. Efter denna exponering deltog de i kvalitativa intervjuer där de delade med sig av sina erfarenheter och hur de tolkade dem. Dessa kvalitativa intervjuer analyserades sedan med hjälp av kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Sammanlagt intervjuades 10 universitetsstudenter, ungefär i 20-årsåldern. Resultaten tyder på att VEC fungerar som en antagonist till den kroppslöshet som är inneboende i virtuella interaktioner genom att tillhandahålla anslutning och öka graden av realitet med vilken motparten uppfattas. Vidare framkom att NUNA-miljön skapade en fokuserad miljö där deltagarna kände att de kunde bearbeta sina känslor och känna sig bekräftade av och engagerade i sin samtalspartner. VEC kan således stärka den terapeutiska alliansen och vara ett lovande verktyg för psykoterapi på nätet genom att ge en högre grad av realitet, vilket vore naturligt vid personliga samtal.