The purpose of this study is to examine how the regular practice of Christmas music in the American public schools came to be. If we understand the historical evolution of this practice, we can better understand our conditions of possibility for the future. Christmas in America is both a religious and cultural holiday. The sacred/secular binary, often used as a lens for analysis, is problematic due to the multitude of religious and cultural meanings that constitute the American Christmas. I utilize genealogical methods to trace the relationships between elements that have conditioned and constrained the practice of Christmas music in the public schools. These elements include the lack of established Christmas traditions and music at the beginning of the eighteenth century, the development of a regular canon of Christmas music in the churches, Sabbath school Christmas exhibitions, and public examinations as a technology of eighteenth century education. I contextualize these elements amongst the cultural history of the American Christmas, which includes a focus on the family, children, gift giving, goodwill, and community. This cultural history is set against a backdrop of nostalgia and ritual that frames Christmas practices. From this perspective, I trace varied examples of Christmas music in the public schools, starting with the nineteenth century end-of-term exercises. Into the twentieth century, I describe different practices, including Christmas music as worship service, variations on the sacred/secular binary, and public school music in the community. Based on this inquiry, I suggest reflexive questions for music teachers when considering Christmas music in the public schools. I also recommend suggestions in place of the current NAfME position statement. I propose that Christmas music be considered a postsecular genre in America. Applying a postsecular lens allows for acknowledgement of the persistence of the sacred/secular divide, in relation to the wide array of other elements that results in a blurriness of the dichotomy. Through application of this lens, the practice of Christmas music in the American public schools becomes both more difficult and more thoughtful.

This qualitative study, based on interview answers from 31 participants, examines different aspects on how teenagers choose their upper secondary education. More concretely, this study investigates whether Bordieu’s theories regarding habitus, field and capital may be applicable on the analysis of how Swedish teenagers choose their field of study on the upper secondary level. Other factors that have been investigated in terms of influence on how students choose are sex and social class. The study ends with an analysis of the powers that affect the free choice of field of study based on Michel Foucault’s theory of power. The three research questions are: 1) Is it possible to understand how students reflect on their choice of upper-secondary programs based on Bordieu’s theory regarding field, habitus and capital? 2) Do aspects such as sex and social class influence how students choose their fields of study? 3) How is power visible regarding students’ choice of education based on Foucault's theory of power? The results show that the theory of habitus, field and capital may be applied as a means of understanding. Social class and sex do also influence students’ choice, however there are some differences between the vocational and theoretical programs. The main finding concerning power behind students’ choices is that power comes from different directions which means that one single factor is not as influential as many different aspects combined.

Informe de Seminario para optar al grado de Licenciado en Filosofía / La investigación que se llevó a cabo en esta tesina se enmarca dentro del estudio que realizó Michel Foucault en el campo del cuidado de uno mismo. De esta manera, el presente trabajo describe los distintos períodos que planteo Foucault en “La Hermenéutica del sujeto” (2001), junto a las distintas implicancias y alcances que dieron cabida a las diversas prácticas de sí mismo. Esta investigación, tiene el propósito de relacionar los diversos modelos de la inquietud de sí con el análisis foucaultiano del poder, para desprender desde ahí que las prácticas del cuidado de sí, platónicas y helenísticas-romanas, se pueden considerar como una resistencia frente a la conformación del individuo por parte de las relaciones de poder que se implican en el modelo del cuidado de sí del Cristianismo.

Informe de Seminario para optar al grado de Licenciado en Filosofía

Tesis para optar al grado de Magíster en Filosofía mención Moral y Política

Orientador: Elizabeth Maria Freire de Araújo Lima / Resumo: A presente tese visou produzir uma análise teórico-reflexiva sobre alguns dispositivos sonoro-musicais, sua historicidade e seus desdobramentos no contexto de suas articulações com o poder e a subjetividade. A partir da cartografia das diversas linhas destes dispositivos, buscamos forjar teoricamente uma linha de audibilidade como proposição conceitual necessária para a análise dos aspectos musicais e sonoros envolvidos naqueles. Foram investigados os atravessamentos históricos, científicos e socioculturais da experiência musical e sonora do sujeito em instituições determinadas e em variados locais e períodos. No primeiro ensaio, foi estudado o método e o referencial teórico que orienta esta pesquisa, a saber, a noção de dispositivo em Foucault, Deleuze e Agamben e sua articulação com a arqueogenealogia como inspiração metodológica e com o campo das músicas e sonoridades. O segundo ensaio se propôs a pensar o uso da música nas formas de tratamento medievais e renascentistas da loucura, tal como se apresentam em uma obra foucaultiana. O terceiro ensaio realiza o debate acerca da relação entre dois dispositivos – música e linguagem – como se poderia descrever os jogos de força que se estabelecem entre eles, produzindo enunciados adotados em diversas ciências que se utilizam da música para finalidades sociais, clínicas, políticas. O quarto ensaio discute sobre a audibilidade como recurso especializado das clínicas psicoterapêuticas e musicoterapêuticas, enfatizando alguns concei... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The present thesis aimed to produce a theoretical-reflective analysis on some sound-musical devices, their historicity and their consequences in the context of their articulations with power and subjectivity. From the cartography of the different lines of these devices, we seek to theoretically forge a line of audibility as a necessary conceptual proposition for the analysis of the musical and sound aspects involved in those. The historical, scientific and sociocultural crossings of the subject's musical and sound experience were investigated in specific institutions and in different places and periods. In the first essay, the method and the theoretical framework that guides this research were studied, namely, the notion of device in Foucault, Deleuze and Agamben and its articulation with archeogenealogy as methodological inspiration and with the field of music and sounds. The second essay set out to think about the use of music in the medieval and Renaissance forms of treatment of madness, as they appear in a Foucauldian work. The third essay discusses the relationship between two devices - music and language - how one could describe the power games that are established between them, producing statements adopted in various sciences that use music for social, clinical, political purposes. The fourth essay discusses audibility as a specialized resource of psychotherapeutic and music therapy clinics, emphasizing some crucial concepts that underlie Psychoanalysis and some approa... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

Kink has a long history of being condemned in Western society. Even though kink is prevalent in popular culture (and in many people’s bedrooms) it continues to be considered abnormal and associated with deviance. Through nine in-depth qualitative interviews, this thesis explores the experiences of kinksters with kink, their engagement with the kink community, and their negotiations of stigma in everyday life. These experiences are analyzed using Foucault’s theories on discourse and technologies of the self and Goffman’s conceptualization of stigma. The thesis found that while the social condemnation of kink has resulted in members of the kink community struggling to manage their identity as kinksters, they also find joy and a sense of belonging within the kink community. Moreover, through the kink community, kinksters learn to conceptualize and practice consent in a new way; one that is rooted in being an ethical subject. The thesis concludes with a call to challenge the normative tropes and stigmatic assumptions of deviance that continue to marginalize and oppress kinksters.

Studien utgår från en kvalitativ ansats och fokusgruppssamtal där totalt sex förskollärare har deltagit. Studien har inspirerats av det socialkonstruktionistiska perspektivet. Studiens resultat indikerar att förskollärarna anser att pedagogisk dokumentation mynnar ut i att barn ges möjlighet till delaktighet och inflytande. Däremot råder det en komplexitet kring att tolka de yngre barnen som också leder oss vidare in i maktbegreppet. I resultatet framkommer det att integritet är nära sammankopplat med pedagogisk dokumentation. Vi kan av resultatet dra slutsatsen att förskollärarnas barnsyn och förhållningssätt gentemot pedagogisk dokumentation är betydelsefullt för hur barnen får delaktighet och ges inflytande i den pedagogiska dokumentationen.

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