This thesis explores the symbolic place occupied by a racialized neighbourhood within the Uruguayan national imaginary. I study the conventillos (tenement buildings) of two traditionally Afro-Uruguayan neighbourhoods in Montevideo, Barrio Sur and Palermo. These neighbourhoods are considered the cradle of Afro-Uruguayan culture and identity. The conventillos have been immortalized in paintings, souvenirs, songs, and books. Over the years most of the residents were evicted due to demolitions, which peaked during Uruguay’s military dictatorship (1973-1984). I address the paradox of how a community can be materially marginalized, yet symbolically celebrated, a process that is evident in other American nations (Brazil, Colombia, etc.). I show how race, class, and gender are entangled in folkloric depictions of the conventillo to constitute a limited notion of blackness that naturalizes the relationship between Afro-Uruguayans, music, sexuality, and domestic work. The folklorization of the space and it residents is shown to be a “fetishization” which enhances the whiteness of the national identity, while confining the parameters of black citizenship and belonging. Utilizing a methodology that draws on cultural geography, critical race, postcolonial, and feminist theory, my dissertation analyzes the various ways that the Barrio Sur/Palermo conventillo has been imagined, represented, and experienced. Specifically, I examine 1) autobiographical, literary and popular (media, songs) narratives about these neighbourhoods; 2) the depiction of the conventillo by a prominent artist (Carlos Páez Vilaró); 3) spatial practices; 4) the performance of a dancer who emerged from the conventillo to become a national icon (the Carnival vedette Rosa Luna); and 5) interviews with nine key informants. My analysis focuses on how bodies, subjects, and national belonging are constituted through relations to particular spaces. By foregrounding the “geographies of identity” (Radcliffe and Westwood, 1996, p. 27), I show that the symbolic celebration of black space goes hand in hand with material disavowal. This study thus connects the imagining of a local, racialized space to how national belonging is constituted and experienced.

FundaÃÃo Cearense de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Cientifico e TecnolÃgico / O objetivo desta dissertaÃÃo à desferir uma crÃtica radical ao trabalho abstrato-concreto enquanto princÃpio fetichista constitutivo da moderna sociedade produtora de mercadorias, a partir da teoria do valor de Karl Marx. Em primeiro lugar, perscrutar-se-à a estrutura da mercadoria enquanto unidade social concreta portadora intrinsecamente de uma dupla determinaÃÃo, isto Ã, sendo ao mesmo tempo um valor de uso e um valor. A dualidade da mercadoria se deriva da dualidade do trabalho, enquanto ao mesmo tempo abstrato e concreto. Hà uma relaÃÃo antagÃnica tanto no interior da mercadoria quanto no do trabalho, visto que, por um lado, o valor se impÃe destrutivamente sobre o valor de uso e, por outro, o trabalho abstrato se impÃe destrutivamente sobre o seu outro, a saber, o trabalho concreto. Esta relaÃÃo antagÃnica à marcada, pois, por uma lÃgica negativa, cuja tendÃncia à gerar contradiÃÃes cada vez mais insustentÃveis. O cerne dessas contradiÃÃes consiste no fato de toda a realidade social produtora de mercadorias da modernidade està fundada em uma abstraÃÃo social real: o ser-valor. Este ser à constituÃdo originariamente pelo trabalho abstrato enquanto substÃncia social. Em segundo lugar, determinar-se-à que a lÃgica negativa que perpassa a estrutura da mercadoria possui um carÃter fetichista. Este carÃter torna os objetos produzidos socialmente pelo trabalho abstrato-concreto em coisas ao mesmo tempo sensÃveis e suprassensÃveis. O cunho fetichista das mercadorias se deriva da prÃpria natureza dual do trabalho que as produz. O fetichismo da mercadoria consiste em um mecanismo social absurdo de engendrar a realidade da sociedade como se fosse dominada por coisas autÃnomas, as quais possuem poderes anÃnimos frente aos prÃprios indivÃduos que as produziram. O mecanismo de fetichizaÃÃo social da realidade se configura e se objetiva de tal forma pelo hÃbito das relaÃÃes sociais de produÃÃo que a mercadoria parece possuir a propriedade do ser-valor como sendo algo natural e nÃo socialmente constituÃdo pelo trabalho. A consolidaÃÃo fÃrrea desse mecanismo se dà porque ele à caracterizado por uma tripla dimensÃo: uma objetiva (realidade), uma subjetiva (pensamento) e uma intersubjetiva (linguagem). A unidade destas trÃs dimensÃes constitui a moderna sociedade produtora de mercadorias como uma totalidade negativa, determinada por uma matrix a priori que condiciona fetichistamente o agir, o pensar, o falar, o sentir etc. de todos os seus integrantes atravÃs de um poder impessoal. Em um terceiro momento, investigar-se-à qual o horizonte histÃrico e lÃgico no qual o trabalho abstrato-concreto està circunscrito, a saber, tÃo-somente ao moderno sistema produtor de mercadorias. Tal limitaÃÃo do horizonte histÃrico e lÃgico do trabalho serà complementada com a teoria da crise final do sistema capitalista. Essa teoria acaba por caracterizar o trabalho como uma categoria historicamente determinada e pertencente tÃo-sà ao moderno sistema produtor de mercadorias, nÃo sendo, pois, um princÃpio ontolÃgico determinador da essÃncia do homem enquanto ser social fundado no e pelo trabalho, nem um princÃpio transhistÃrico pertencente a todas as formas de sociabilidade. Por fim, concluir-se-Ã, a partir dos aspectos do conteÃdo, forma e matÃria que constituem a sociedade moderna produtora de mercadorias, com a determinaÃÃo do conceito de histÃria como histÃria das relaÃÃes fetichistas e nÃo como histÃria das lutas de classe. / The aim of this dissertation is to strike a radical critique at abstract-concrete labor as a fetishist principle that constitutes the modern commodity-producing society. All this from the point of view of Karl Marxâs theory of value. Firstly, it scrutinizes the structure of commodity as a concrete social unit that carries inherently a double determination, which means it is both a use-value and a value. The twofold nature of commodity is derived from the twofold nature of labor, while at same time abstract and concrete. There is an antagonistic relation both within the commodity and the labor, however, the value is imposed on the use-value of destructive form. On the other hand, the abstract-labor is imposed also on its destructively way, which is named the concrete-labor. This antagonism is characterized by a negative logic, which tends to generate increasing unsustainable contradictions. The core of these contradictions lies the fact that the whole commodity-producing social reality of modernity is based on a real social abstraction: the value-being. This being is originally constituted by the abstract-labor as social substance. Secondly, it determines that the negative logic which permeates the structure of commodity has a fetish-like character. This character becomes the socially produced objects by abstract-concrete labor in things at same time sensible and supersensible. The fetish-like character of commodities is derived from the twofold nature of labor that produced them. The fetishism is an absurd social mechanism that engenders the reality of society as if it was dominated by autonomous things, which have anonymous powers against individuals themselves who produced them. The social mechanism of fetishization of reality is formed by habit of social relations of production. This habit makes the commodities to appear having a property of value-being as something natural. But this property is merely socially constituted by labor. The strongly consolidation of this mechanism occurs because it is characterized by three dimensions: an objective (reality), a subjective (thoughts) and an intersubjective dimension. The unity of these three dimensions constitutes the commodity-producing modern society as a negative totality, since it is determined by a priori matrix that characterizes fetishistically to the act, speaks and fells of all its members through an impersonal power. Thirdly, it investigates the historical and logical horizon in which the abstract-concrete labor is limited: merely the commodity-producing modern system. This limitation will be complemented with the Marxâs theory of final crisis of capitalism. This theory turns out to characterize the labor as a historically determined category and so it belongs only to commodity-producing modern system. It is not therefore an ontological principle that determines the manâs essence as a social being founded by and through labor, nor a transhistorical principle belonging to all forms of sociability. Finally, it concludes according to contend, form and matter of the commodity-producing modern society that history is the history of fetishists relations and not the history of class struggles.

MyVice speaks about the guilt I feel regarding the amount of beauty products I own. About these Things I collect and I just cannot control how many I buy... About my addiction to the rituals connected to these Things. About the obsession with beauty products within our homes. About the daily beauty rituals of a woman which are meant to produce the final result of appearance that she really was Born Like This... About the advertising connected with beauty industry. About beauty product testing on the internet. About being superficial and the senselessness of it. The final result is made of a video projection connected to art installation and book publication.

Le début du 21e siècle a connu la prolifération d’un genre pornographique hétérosexuel dans lequel des femmes portant des voiles islamiques s’adonnent à des rapports sexuels. Les vidéos appartenant à ce pornotype disposent de millions de visionnements et s’illustrent parmi les contenus mainstream accessibles sur les plateformes pornographiques en ligne telles que Pornhub, YouPorn, Xvideos et autres de ce genre. Prenant part au contexte plus large d’islamophobie croissante à la suite des événements du 11 septembre 2001, aux États-Unis, ces films sont riches de sens quant à la représentation des voiles islamiques ainsi que des femmes qui les portent à titre de signifiants de l’Islam et de l’« Orient ». Située au sein des Cultural Studies et des Porn Studies, et empruntant des notions aux études postcoloniales et intersectionnelles, cette recherche permet de mettre en évidence différents éléments sémiotiques, géographiques et sociaux, ainsi qu’historiques et culturels propres aux régimes de représentations et discours articulés dans ces images.Cette étude critique prend la forme d’une analyse de contenu qualitative réalisée avec un échantillonnage déterminé selon des critères de popularité, qui est composé de quinze vidéos pornographiques états-uniennes produites entre 2001 et 2020 provenant des six plateformes pornographiques les plus populaires aux États-Unis au moment de la sélection. Ce travail d’analyse témoigne notamment de la mobilisation des voiles à des fins de différenciation; des tentatives d’aplanissement et d’homogénéisation des différentes cultures associées à l’« Orient »; du statut de subordonnées et de victimes imputé aux femmes voilées; ainsi que de l’objectification, de la fétichisation et des pratiques de désaveu à l’égard de ces femmes dans ce contexte pornographique. Qui plus est, poussant ces réflexions davantage en mobilisant par ailleurs un regard psychanalytique, ce mémoire met en lumière la nostalgie qui se dégage de ces images à l’égard de la grandeur américaine outragée par les événements du 11 septembre 2001, de la transformation du marché du travail plus égalitaire entre hommes et femmes, ainsi que la supposée « crise de la masculinité ». / The beginning of the twenty-first century is marked by the proliferation of a genre of online heterosexual pornography involving women wearing Islamic veils engaging in sexual acts. These videos have been watched millions of times and are part of the mainstream content available on online pornographic platforms including Pornhub, YouPorn, Xvideos. This mémoire situates these videos within a broader context of the rise of Islamophobia following the events of 9/11 in the United States, and they are especially meaningful for their representations of Islamic veils and the women wearing them, both operating as symbols of Islam and what is commonly understood in Western contexts as the « Orient » (Saïd, 1979). This research is academically situated amongst Cultural and Porn Studies, but also mobilises concepts from postcolonial, psychoanalytic and intersectional theories and approaches. In addition, this study emphasizes semiotic, geographic and social, as well as historical and cultural elements specific to the regimes of representation and discourses articulated in these images. This qualitative research deploys a visual content analysis method, mobilizing a purposeful sample based on popularity composed of 15 American pornographic videos made between the year 2001 and 2020 found on the six most popular pornographic platforms in the United States of America at the moment of the selection. This study brings to light: the purposeful use of Islamic veils as a means of differentiation; the attempts to flatten and homogenize the different cultures and nations associated with the « Orient »; the status of subordinates and victims attributed to veiled women; along with practices of objectification, fetishization and disavowal concerning veiled women in this pornographic context. Finally, this study reveals a certain nostalgia in these videos for an American global geopolitical domination destabilized by the events of 9/11, the transformation of the labor market as some women achieve increased equality in the workplace, as well as the discourse of a “crisis of masculinity.”

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Fetischister är en sexuell minoritet vars sexualitet karaktäriseras av en inriktning mot någon sak, något annat än kön. Svensk lagstiftning kommunicerar en normerande bild av att endast sexualiteter riktade mot kön kan vara grundläggande och utgöra en persons sexuella läggning, övriga tillskrivs att vara sexuella beteenden med svaga konstitutiva kopplingar. I detta projekt undersöks något som inte undersökts kvantitativt tidigare; huruvida fetischisters egna upplevelser stämmer med lagstiftningens antaganden om gruppen. Eftersom lagstiftning är värderings- och tankenormerande och ytterst reglerar hur vi organiserar samhället är det högst angeläget att ta reda på hur det förhåller sig. Fetischisters upplevelser har fångats i en kvantitativ undersökning med 2028 respondenter. Resultaten av undersökningen har jämförts med fyra antaganden om fetischister som lagstiftningens förarbeten utgår från. Analysen pekar mot att: Fetischism kan vara såväl sexuellt som ickesexuellt och något som kan röra tankar, känslor och beteenden på ett konsistent sätt över tid. Att som lagstiftningen porträttera fetischism som ett strikt sexuellt beteende som ställs i kontrast till något personlighetsanstruket framstår därmed som otillräckligt. Denna undersökning synliggör att det finns en fetischistisk orientering, en fetischistisk sexuell preferens. Förarbetenas utgångspunkt att enbart könsinriktade sexualiteter har att göra med sexuell preferens är därmed en förenkling som framstår som felaktig. Undersökningen har visat att fetischism kan vara något grundläggande, stabilt, ej frivilligt valt och uppkommet i tidig ålder. Därmed stämmer inte förarbetenas antagande att dessa egenskaper är unika för sexualiteter riktade mot kön. Fetischistisk sexualitet har potential att vara en individs sexuella läggning då sexualiteten kan genomsyra sexuell praktik, identitet och preferens på ovan nämnda sätt. Därmed stämmer inte lagstiftningens bild av att enbart sexualiteter riktade mot kön kan vara sexuella läggningar. Den sammantagna analysen visar att fetischisters upplevelser inte stämmer med de antaganden om gruppen som lagstiftningen baseras på. Fetischism kan ligga till grund för flera olika situationer; både något som för en person kan utgöra ett svagare sexuellt intresse likväl som något som för en annan person kan vara grundläggande, såsom dennes sexuella läggning. Lagstiftningen återspeglar inte detta. / Fetishism refers to sexuality focused on a specific thing; an object, a body part or, in some cases, a more abstract phenomenon. Swedish law states that only sexualities focused on sex/gender can be considered fundamental to a person – in Sweden referred to as a person’s ”sexual disposition” or ”läggning”; roughly equivalent to ”primary sexual orientation”. Sexualities focused on anything other than sex/gender are considered sexual behaviours with weak constitutive connections. This research project examines quantitatively how the self-percieved experiences of fetishists compares to the assumptions about the group made in Swedish law texts. Data focused on the experiences of 2028 fetishists has been collected through an Internet survey 2019 – 2020, specifically targeting persons with a fetishistic sexuality in a sexological sense. The respondents identified as 74.7% men, 19.3% women and 6.0% other gender, with an average age of 41.4 years. The results from the survey indicates: Fetishism can have sexual as well as non-sexual aspects. Fetishism can influence thoughts, emotions and behaviours in an individual consistently over a very long period of time. The law’s depiction of fetishism as a strictly sexual behaviour that is discursively portrayed in contrast to personality appears to be inadequate. The results highlights a fetishistic sexual preference. The law’s assumption that only sex/gender focused sexualities can be relevant for a persons sexual preference or orientation consequently appears to be misleading. The results shows that fetishism can be constitutive to a persons sexuality: It can be a profound and enduring sexual pattern, not voluntarily chosen and emerging in early age. Consequently, the law’s assumptions that those properties are unique for sex/gender focused sexualities appears to be inaccurate. Fetishism has the potential to be an individual’s sexual disposition (primary sexual orientation), as it can characterize an individual’s sexual practice, identity and preference in a constitutive way. Consequently, the law’s definition of sexual disposition (primary sexual orientation) as only being relevant to sexualities focused on sex/gender appears to be false. The research indicates that the Swedish law’s assumption about fetishism does not correspond with the self-perception of fetishists themselves. The result suggests that fetishism is a heterogenous sexuality, which for some fetishists can consist of a less constitutive sexual interest, while it in others can be a more fundamental sexual disposition (primary sexual orientation).

This study aims to discern and assess Theodor Adorno’s theories on music as an ‘art’ and how it impacts both the political and social landscape of society; more broadly, the purposes of this paper is to identify, and determine the significance of, the relationship between music and politics – that is, whether or not, and how, music can emancipate society from capitalist enslavement. In juxtaposing Adorno’s theories, the opinions of Herbert Marcuse will be discussed as well. As both theorists are considered integral to the creation and development of critical theory of the Frankfurt School, it is only logical to examine their theories and ideologies in detail to determine the role of music as an ‘art’ in the overarching scheme of political scaffolding within which society resides. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Syftet med detta projekt är att granska nutida sexualitetsnormer. För att genomföra detta undersöks hur rådande föreställningar om sexualitet framstår i skenet av en referenspunkt utanför dagens hegemoni. Som sådan perspektivgivare tas sexualiteten fetischism, betraktad utifrån ickepatologiserande kunskapsideal.  Budskap från statsmakt och upplysande aktörer granskas diskursanalytiskt och genealogiskt. Analysen indikerar att dagens situation är ett resultat av en politiserad kamp om begrepp och tolkningsföreträden som ägt rum under de senaste decennierna; i förarbeten som ligger till grund för lagstiftning i ämnet verkar selektiva och partiska metoder ha använts. Dagens läge kan sägas kännetecknas av en kulturdominans där statsmaktens föreställning om sexualitet kväser alternativ; en sanningsregim. Analysen pekar på en nutida könsorienteringsnorm: I dagens hegemoni konstrueras könsorientering som den allmänmänskliga grunden för varandet – hur en person är sexuellt lagd antas endast kunna ha att göra med hur hen relaterar sexuellt till kön. Sexualiteter som kännetecknas av annat än könsbegär andrafieras och konstrueras som labila och icke-konstitutiva praktiker; personer som är lagda på sätt som kännetecknas av annat än könsbegär orimliggörs. Med en avtagande föreställning om att alla förväntas vara strikt heterosexuella kan könsorienteringsnormen ses som en nutida ersättande norm. Den kan förstås som en fundamental del av heteronormen och dess idealiserade starka kopplingar mellan sexualitet och kropp/kön. Det förefaller relevant att tala om en hittills förbisedd intrasektionell makt- och marginaliseringsdimension som kännetecknas av könsorienteringsnormativiteten. / The aim of this project is to critically examine contemporary sexuality norms. This is conducted by examining how current assumptions about sexuality holds up when put into perspective given by a point of reference outside of the current hegemony: fetishism. Definitions and information from Swedish legislators, educational actors, sexual health clinics and minority rights organisations are subjected to a genealogical and critical discourse analysis. The results indicate the presence of a contemporary sex orientation norm: In the present hegemony, sex orientation in general is constructed as part of the natural and universal way to be human while other sexualities are otherized and constructed as non-constitutive practices. With a waning expectation of all-encompassing heterosexuality, the sex orientation norm appears to be a present-day effectual norm. It can be understood as an integral part of heteronormativity. The analysis also points to a previously overlooked intrasectional dimension of analysis, corresponding to the sex orientation norm.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-03T12:20:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese - Mario Rene Schweriner.pdf: 1860815 bytes, checksum: 975dc1b7d47c23bb610c6facf206fd44 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-03-03 / This thesis has the purpose to prove that, in the consumer society, consumerist individuals transcend their functional relation toward merchandises, trying to obtain, through prestige brands, a spiritual dimension that replaces or complement the traditional religious experiences, and that is fetished. Consumerism is a superlative of purchases, belongings and use, a dependence of non essential goods (superfluous) to satisfy endless desires. It is impossible to satisfy endless desires: therefore the expression transcendental goal of consumption, beyond the capacity to be achieved. The transcendental dimension of consumption, through the symbolism of merchandises potencialized by the prestige brands, give enchantment and sense to the individual, and fulfills the territory that belonged to the family, Church and community. The subject tries to obtain, with the brand-fetished merchandise, a satisfaction of his mimetic desire, and/or compensate absent or fragile values, which is strengthened by advertising. The ultimate meaning of life of materialistic individuals produces immediate effects which are positive for them as well for the economy, but in the future potentially negative for the planet, for the society, as well as for the individuals. / Esta tese objetiva comprovar que, na sociedade de consumo, indivíduos consumistas transcendem sua relação funcional com as mercadorias, buscando nas marcas de prestígio uma dimensão espiritual, que substitui ou complementa as experiências religiosas tradicionais, e que se revela fetichizada. O consumismo é superlativo de compras, posses e uso, uma dependência de bens não essenciais (supérfluos) para atender aos desejos sem fim. É impossível satisfazer a desejos sem fim: daí a expressão meta transcendental do consumo, posicionada além do alcance e da capacidade de atingi-la. A dimensão transcendente do consumo, por meio do simbolismo das mercadorias potencializado pelas marcas de prestígio, propicia encantamento e sentido ao indivíduo, e se presta a preencher o espaço outrora ocupado pela família, Igreja e comunidade. O sujeito busca, na mercadoria fetichizada pela marca, satisfazer seu desejo mimético, e/ou compensar valores frágeis ou ausentes, o que é reforçado pela propaganda. O sentido último da vida dos indivíduos materialistas produz efeitos imediatos que são positivos para eles e para a economia, mas potencialmente negativos mais à frente para o planeta, para sociedade e para os indivíduos.

Pin-up images have played an important role in American culture, in both their illustrated and photographic configurations. The pin-up is viewed as a significant representational cultural artifact of idealistic and aspirational femininity and of consumerism and material wealth, especially reflective of the mid-twentieth century period in America spanning the 1930s to the 1960s. These images not only reflect great shifts in social mores and women’s social status, but also affected changes in both areas in turn. Furthermore, pin-up images internationally circulated in magazines, advertising and promotional material, contributed to the manner in which America was idealized in Europe and beyond. Crucially, they influenced how an eroticized and glamorous, yet unrealistic, example of femininity came to be generalized as a desirous model of femininity. In recent years there has been vital, though limited, scholarly research into the cultural and social impact of pin-up imagery, to which this thesis adds to. This thesis takes a genealogical approach, charting the development of popular female-centric “pin-up” imagery in America since the 1860s and up to the 1960s, and its resurgence since the 1980s onwards. In doing so this thesis aims to provide a social, political and cultural context to the emergence of a specific archetypal sexualized femininity, with the aim of challenging the tendency to dismiss sexualized imagery as “anti-feminist” or as trivial. Toward that end, I examine the complexity of intentions behind the production of “pin-up” images. In taking this revisionist approach I am better able to conclusively analyze the reasons for the resurgence and reappropriation of pin-up imagery in late-twentieth- and early-twenty-first-century popular culture, and consider what the gendered cultural implications may be.