Background: In South Africa (SA), women with breast cancer (BC) present to the health care system at advanced stages of the disease, resulting in poor prognosis. Limited awareness of the disease, large distances to health care centers, and lack of affordable transportation have all been implicated as factors delaying presentation. In addition, women in SA have limited social and financial independence, which may make it difficult for them to resolve their own health care needs. Despite this, little is known about what South African male partners know about breast cancer and what role they play in their partner’s access to health care. Methods: This interpretive qualitative case study, guided by the theoretical framework of hegemonic masculinity(ies), used semi-structured interviews to investigate perceptions and knowledge of BC and gender norms in regards to health care access in a group of black South African males (n=20) in long-term heterosexual relationships living in a resource-poor setting. Interview data was analyzed using thematic analysis and compared to observational data collected through opportunities with local BC organizations. Results: Participants demonstrated very little knowledge of breast cancer and cancer in general. Some specific misconceptions about cancer are reported, including confusion between cancer and HIV. Participants were positive about receiving health care for cancer but are burdened by barriers to reaching care and a lack of access to information about the disease. The men describe themselves as playing an active, mostly positive role in their partner’s access to health care. They demonstrate perspectives about gender relations that defy hegemonic forms of masculinity. Conclusions: Major public health efforts are required to increase awareness of BC in order to encourage earlier presentation to the healthcare system. These efforts should recognize the importance of the male partner in women’s health issues. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / In South Africa, women with breast cancer often do not reach the conventional healthcare system until the disease has progressed significantly and chances of survival are poor. This occurs because of a lack of knowledge about the disease and large distances to health care centers. Furthermore, in the male-dominated society of South Africa, women have limited independence. Therefore, this study sought to determine what men in South African know about breast cancer and how they are involved in their partner’s access to health care. Interviews were conducted with 20 men living in a resource-poor setting. The men portrayed little knowledge and specific misconceptions about breast cancer and cancer in general. They appear to be playing an active and mostly positive role in their partner’s access to health care. Public health efforts should increase awareness of the disease and recognize the significant role of the male partner in women’s health issues.

Over the past 10 years individual capitalists have become increasingly involved in philanthropy, setting up charitable foundations targeted at helping to reduce social problems such as poverty, disease and food security. This form of neoliberal capitalist philanthropy is both politically and ideologically committed to market-based social investment through partnerships, to make the market work or work better for capital. The new structures of philanthropy have received much praise in the media for imbuing capitalist business principles into the non-profit sector and for their potential for social transformation. While philanthropic activities may be considered worthy in themselves, this article examines the relationship between giving and business interest and the agency associated with neoliberal capitalist philanthropy. It questions partnerships between philanthropists and private corporations and their motivations for engaging in poverty-related philanthropy. The discussion focuses on capitalist philanthropic foundations' involvement in the process of agricultural commodification in sub-Saharan Africa through the New Green Revolution and genetically modified (gm) technologies.

This thesis examines the politicization of juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice in Sweden since 1989, and explores problem representations of prevalence within the recently proposed penal reforms to reduce the minimum age of criminal responsibility, implement stricter regulations for young offenders, and establish youth prisons. Specifically, this thesis aimed to investigate whether efforts to address the issue of juvenile delinquency are an effect of crisis-based politicization, and if the recently proposed penal reforms reflect the identified global trend of defending old and retaliatory principles of juvenile justice.  The research was conducted by applying a comprehensive theoretical framework, including politicization theory and the perspectives of humane neoclassicism, hegemonic neoliberalism and cultures of control, combined with a single case study design, including process tracing and the WPR approach to policy analysis.  The research reveals that juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice is currently being politicized in terms of crisis and that such politicization has been historically present, although it did not lead to drastic changes of the penal system. Additionally, it reveals that the problem representations are heavily influenced by the ideology of hegemonic neoliberalism and cultures of control. Altogether, the findings attest to a departure from previous traditions and a shift towards a culture of control.

Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) is a Tabletop Roleplaying Game (TRPG) which offers playersthe chance to create and inhabit a fantastical hero in an equally fantastical world, creating ashared experience with their other players and the Game Master (GM) who facilitates play.Much research has examined D&D as an artifact, highlighting its problematic aspects and thepotential of the worlds and rules it presents as reinforcing real world hegemony orshortcoming such as male domination and racism. While building upon these ideas, thisresearch explores how players’ experiences in D&D interact with notions of heroism, how thegame presents what it means to be a hero and how it truly is experienced within my longtimeD&D playgroup. It does this through semi-structured interviews, to examine how the playersexperience the game, including my own reflections and input as GM for this group for anextended period of time. It utilizes the concepts of coloniality and hegemonic masculinity asframes for understanding the mechanics and narratives of D&D and how they interact withconceptualisations of heroism. Through thematic analysis of the interview data, it highlightswhere the players' experiences line up with conceptualisations of coloniality and hegemonicmasculinity, yet also highlights where players' experiences break with or undermine theseconcepts, highlighting alternatives that move away from colonial and masculine heroism.Ultimately determining that while these players understand heroism in D&D in ways whichreinforce or echo coloniality and hegemonic masculinity such as imperial violence, theiractual experiences with heroism are often removed from this, focusing more on collaborationand problem solving devoid of violence.

The dissertation presents and explores a mode of literary studies, which bypasses the question of literary value, and instead aims to assess how and where creative writing challenges hegemonic norms (that is, its political value). In so doing, it reflects on the practice of literary studies per se, and the mechanism(s) by which discourse can impact on subjecthood. The exploration entails the application of certain theoretical tools (concepts) in a reading of a literary work. The primary concepts employed are: performativity, subjectivity and gender. The dissertation seeks to read Muriel at Metropolitan (Tlali 1994) as a performative act, that is, a discursive event which re-enacts the practice of fictional writing and thereby extends (and possibly changes} the convention of crealive writing. If it is true that creative writing is performative, that it partake in the making of the individual, then it is important to study such writing in order to discover the consequences for the subject / English Studies / M.A. (English)

Existing research shows that increasing numbers of young men are dissatisfied with the appearance of their bodies. Research has found that men will use sport and health-related sports acts to conceal these concerns from others. Accordingly, men s body dissatisfactions are documented less frequently because the practices drawn upon to conceal them are perceived as routine forms of masculine behaviour. Rugby union is one of the most popular sports played by young men in England. Historically, the male rugby player is culturally perceived as strong, tough and unemotionally articulate. Existing research draws attention to health issues, such as performance stress and injury that arise through participation in this sport. Research also shows that rugby union players are likely to experience concerns about gaining weight, yet these are disguised within the requirements of training for the sport. Although, there are studies that examine the constitution of masculinities, the experience of pain and injury and career transitions among rugby union players there are no studies, as yet, that examine how rugby union men experience body concerns and manage these experiences through their sport. The research discussed in this thesis examines how a group of rugby union men (25) aged 18-25, of varied racial identity, ethnic and social backgrounds, participating in an elite university rugby union 1st XV team, experience concerns about the appearance and performance of their bodies and the ways in which such concerns develop. It also examines if and how these men used the sport and health-related sports acts, to overcome their concerns and conceal them from others. A theoretical framework, which draws on the concepts of the three theorists: Connell (1995, 2008) Goffman (1959; 1961; 1979) and Bourdieu (1978; 1979; 1984), is developed. As part of this, a new concept has been created from Goffman s dramaturgical approach: that of the intimate dimension. In this dimension intimate relationships occur. It is located away from the front region, (the public), and the back region (semi-public spaces) where less formal relationships occur. It includes the research interview, with a woman researcher, and some other women such as girlfriends, sisters or female friends and also one or two other rugby men with whom the rugby men demonstrated a close bond. Within this dimension the rugby men are more forthcoming about the personal elements of their rugby lives. The theoretical framework is used to examine these men s concerns, how they are developed, experienced and managed. Recognising that cultural assumptions of a tough and less expressive masculinity assigned to this sport can potentially make it difficult for men to express these concerns, a combination of visual research methods and ethnography are used to examine these men s body concerns and their management. This includes collaborative collection of photography and photo-elicitation interviews. The research shows that embodied experiences of discomfort, associated with pain, injury, concerns about height, being overweight or out of shape, and social experiences of exclusion led to the development of the rugby men s body concerns. For these rugby men, their rugby masculinities are influential to the management and concealment of their body concerns. They suppress and conceal their body concerns in the front and back regions of the sport and reveal them in more intimate dimensions. The rugby men s relationships with each other, in the back regions of the sport, were the most influential to this identity, but more importantly, to the management and reinforcement of these concerns. This thesis contributes to filling the gap in existing academic research by examining body concerns and its management amongst rugby union men. It also extends existing research that has found men conceal their body concerns in sport, because it looks at how these men manage these concerns differently in different regions of their sport. Furthermore, a theoretical framework that combines interactionism and phenomenology is used to study sociologically men s body concerns in these different contexts. The combination of visual methods and ethnography goes beyond some of the existing methods used in clinical and sociological research that have examined men's body concerns. They can be used to enhance understanding of clinical forms of body concern and other emotional concerns rugby union men and other sportsmen, of all ages, have about performance, pain and injury. The incorporation of visual methods is potentially widely applicable because they have increasing precedence in sportsmen s lives to analyse performance and to represent them.

This thesis examines the relationships between different nations and cultures in Ivanhoe, The Talisman, Quentin Durward, Anne of Geierstein and Count Robert of Paris using Post-colonial theory. An analysis of Scott’s conception of society in general shows that 18th century Scottish historiography is fundamental to his vision of the world because it forms the basis of his systematization of history, social development and interaction between communities. It also profoundly influences his imagery and descriptions, as well as providing him with a range of stereotypes that he manipulates so skilfully that his great dependence upon them is occulted. Contemporary ideas and his own attitude to the Union of Scotland and England lead him to conceive of nation formation in terms of descent and hybridity. In part, he sees the nation as a community of blood. Yet, his acceptance of the Union means that he also considers it to be a body of different ethnic elements that live together. His use of the 18th century metaphor of family to figure the nation allows him to incorporate heredity and miscegenation into his analysis of national development through father-daughter couples. The father represents traditional culture, and the daughter, the nation’s present and future; her marriage to a foreigner signifying that people of differing descent can cross the nation’s porous borders. Religion is the final frontier: Christian nations cannot absorb non-Christians. Scott sees dominance and subordination as a complex part of human relationships. Apparently-subordinate subjects possess occulted power because their support of the hegemonic is often essential if the latter is to maintain its superiority. While his conception of society in patriarchal terms means that his female characters cannot offer violence to men, he shows that passive resistance is very effective. Through mimicry, the subordinate threatens the power and identity of the dominant. Power is not only conceived of in political terms. In Ivanhoe, Scott reveals the importance of moral stature which allows Rebecca to dominate the work although she is at the bottom of the political and racial hierarchy that structures English society. Scott’s conception of time is fundamental to the manner in which he conceives of the nation. Historical cultural forms are physicalised through chronotopes. Politically subordinate cultures base their actions in the present on pedagogic time, while the dominant ignore their past and live only in the present and the future. He also expresses dominant-subordinate relationships through speed, with time moving quickly for the powerful and slowly for the weak. Time, whether in the form of history, the characters’ perception of it or speed amalgamates all the various elements of Scott’s conception of nationhood into a seamless whole. Cette thèse analyse par le biais la théorie post-coloniale les relations internationales dans Ivanhoe, Quentin Durward, Anne of Geierstein et Count Robert of Paris. Les théories historiques élaborées en Écosse au XVIIIème siècle sont fondamentales dans la vision scottienne parce qu’elles forment la base de la systematisation de l’histoire, du développement sociale et, par conséquent, des relations entre les différentes communités. Ces théories influencent profondement les images qu’il utilise et la façon dont il décrit les caractères et les scènes. De plus, elles lui fournissent une gamme de stéréotypes qu’il manipule très adroitement. Sa conception de la manière dont se forment les nations vient des idées contemporaines et de sa propre expérience de l’union politique de l’Angleterre et de l’Écosse. Il considère la nation comme une communauté fondée sur l’ascendance par le sang mais aussi comme un groupe d’ethnies différentes qui vivent ensemble. Sa description de la nation emprunte à la métaphore de la famille courante au XVIIIième. Celle-ci lui permet d’inclure dans son analyse l’héridité et la mixité au moyen des couples formés par un père et sa fille. Le père représente la culture traditionelle, et la fille, le présent et le futur national. Son marriage avec un étranger signifie que les gens d’ascendance différente peuvent traverser les frontières perméables d’une nation. La religion est la frontière ultime: les nations chrétiennes ne peuvent absorber de non-chrétiens. Scott considère que la domination et la sujetion forment une partie complexe des relations humaines. Les sujets qui paraissent subordonnés possèdent en fait un pouvoir occulte, le dominant ayant besoin de leur soutien pour maintenir sa position. Bien que sa conception patriarcale de la société fasse que les caractères feminins ne manifestent pas d’agression envers les hommes, il montre que la résistance passive est très efficace. En imitant le sujet dominant, le sujet subordonné menace le pouvoir et l’identité de ce dernier. Le pouvoir ne s’exprime pas seulement dans la politique. Rebecca dans Ivanhoe revèle l’importance que revêtent le caractère et la moralité. Bien qu’elle soit au bas de la hiérarchie structurante de la société anglaise, elle domine le roman. La conception que Scott se fait du temps est fondamentale à celle de la nation et de la culture. Au moyen du chronotope, les cultures historiques prennent des formes physiques. Les cultures qui sont subordonnées politiquement basent leur action au présent sur le “temps pédagogique”. Au contraire, le dominant rejette son passé et ne vit qu’au présent et au futur. Les relations entre le pouvoir dominant et le subordonné s’expriment aussi par la vitesse: le temps passe vite pour les puissants, mais lentement pour les faibles. En définitive, tous les éléments de la conception scottienne de la nation sont liés au temps, qu’il s’agisse de l’histoire, de perception par les caractères, ou de la vitesse.

本論文旨在探討二十一世紀，美國面臨中國在東亞的經營，如何維持其在東亞的霸權所作的努力。冷戰結束後，美國在國際社會成為碩果僅存的霸權。藉此優勢，美國得以遂其意志，有些甚至非其能力所及。雖然美國可確定是當今唯一的霸權，但中國挾其經濟快速起飛之利，不但在全球各地揮舞其影響力，更試圖擴大外交上的戰果。此外，中國軍事成長之快速，從軍事現代化到太空競賽，足以顯示中國將改變東亞的政治環境及地區安全。因此，中國的崛起對美國霸權，尤其在東亞，被視為一潛在的威脅。美國要如何鞏固其在東亞的霸權領導地位，自然為當前極為迫切的議題。由研究發現，美國所作的努力倍極艱辛、複雜但結果是成功的。 / After the end of the Cold War in 1991, the United States poses a unique position in the international system. As hegemony, the U.S. has the greatest stake in the existing order. Yet it also takes advantage of its position as the most powerful nation in the world to bend that order to its will and even act outside the limits of the system. It seems to confirm American hegemony, with the U.S. left as the only superpower. With its soaring rise, however, China is looming as a potential challenger to the U.S. hegemony in East Asia. China not only wields radically increasing commercial clout in all regions of the globe, but also tries to achieve diplomatic advantage with respect to the United States. Further, Beijing’s rapid, deep, and wide-ranging modernization in military capabilities ranging from diesel submarines to micro-satellites and the launching of ballistic missile destroying one of its own orbiting weather satellites will enable China to increasingly dominate the East Asian littoral. Therefore, how to maintain American hegemony especially in East Asia has become a pressing issue for the United States. The thesis uses in-depth studies of critical literature and case study to analyze the wrestle between U.S. and China in East Asian Area. From the research one can find that the effort the U.S. has made to maintain its hegemonic leadership in East Asia is hard but successful.

After sixteen intensive months, I quit my employed position as a security guard at a local hospital. By drawing on my autoethnographic experiences in the form of “ethnographic fiction writing”, as well as eight interviews with my former male colleagues, I explore how the guards’ constructions of masculinity intersect with their security assessment and subsequent application of force, chemical incarceration, and other coercive security tactics on involuntarily-committed mental health patients. The narratives are framed by the available literature on gender and masculinity within the security, police, prison and military institutions, as well as the theoretical notions of gendered institutions (Acker), hegemonic masculinity (Connell & Messerschmidt), doing gender (West & Zimmerman), and Dave Holmes’s application of Foucauldian biopolitical power to forensic healthcare settings. These concepts are used in tandem with a creative methodological tool to reveal the “messy”, “bloody” and “gendered” ways in which hospital life unfolds between the guard, the nurse, and the patient prisoner. By escaping more traditional forms of academic writing, I am able to weave raw, sensitive and reflexive thoughts and emotions into the research design and analysis. The analysis is divided into two narratives: “Us” and “Them”. “Us” emphasizes the gendered ways in which the hospital guard learns, reproduces, resists, lives up, or fails to live up to the masculine codes of the profession. Here, the guard must confront cultural demands to demonstrate physical prowess, authority and heroism during a patient battle. “Them” explores how hegemonic masculinity shapes the hierarchical and coercive relations between the guard, the nurse, and the patient, and reinforces psychiatrized discourses that promote punishment, pain, bureaucracy and control. Overall, these findings call for the abolition of physical restraint, chemical incarceration and other coercive security measures within our healthcare institutions, and encourage future research to give voice to the lived experiences of women guards and security management teams.

This thesis aimed to analyze how men and masculinity were portrayed in The Hunger Games. I intended to investigate the most salient masculine characters. I also wanted to analyse the one-on-one interactions between men as well as their group interactions. I sought to investigate if one could see any power relations between the male characters and if they were traditionally masculine or not in this interaction, and also if this book could be used for discussions in the work with the core values of the Swedish national curriculum. The questions used in the thesis were: ”How are the men portrayed, and how do they act, compared against a traditional masculinity norm?”, ”What happens in the homosocial interaction between the men?”, and ”How do the men treat Katniss, seen from a masculinity perspective?” The theories used in the analysis were found within the field of masculinity studies. Hegemonic masculinity theory was the first one, and the second theory was the theoretical framework of traditional masculinity ideologies by Mahalik et al., specifically the measurement tool of CMNI – Conformity to Masculinity Norm Inventory. The method used to collect the data for the analysis was Close Reading. In the analysis I compared the men to a set of masculinity norms. The measurement tool was the norm inventory of CMNI. The results of the analysis found that at all the men in the study lived in accordance with at least some of the traditional masculinity norms. Out of the four men analysed, three of them had a gender equal relationship with the female lead character. Some men in the book were shown to act based on a patriarchal power structure. It was found that the men who acted in accordance with this structure were conforming more to the traditional masculity norms in their interaction with other men than in their interaction with women.