This study focuses on Finnish transmen and their life stories. It goes through the practical reality of the gender re-assignment process, but focuses on the personal experiences of two individual men. The study is based on in-depth interviews with informants, material which has been analyzed with the help of Judith Butler’s theory on gender. / Den här uppsatsen handlar om två finska transmän och deras livshistorier. Studien går igenom den praktiska realiteten av könskorrigeringsprocessen, men fokuserar på de personliga erfarenheterna av dessa två individuella män. Den är baserad på djupintervjuer med informanter, material som har analyserats med hjälp av Judith Butlers teori om genus.

Cette thèse propose de mettre en rapport les enjeux soulevés par la thèse de la philosophe Judith Butler concernant la « mélancolie du genre » et l’œuvre autobiographique d’Hélène Cixous, travaillée depuis ses commencements par la question du deuil et de la différence sexuelle/genre. Dans ce travail, nous souhaitons montrer en effet que la démarche philosophique théorique de Judith Butler, qui relit les thèses freudiennes sur le deuil, la mélancolie et la formation du moi en montrant l’importance de la perte au cœur de l’identité sexuelle, trouve des résonances dans le travail d’écriture et de réécriture « autobiographique » d’Hélène Cixous. L’écrivain reconfigure de fait la notion classique d’autobiographie, tout son œuvre vie étant marqué par un mouvement fondamental qui consiste à reconnaître les deuils et les séparations ayant donné naissance à l’écriture, un mouvement qui consiste, autrement dit, à créer une archive de l’autre. La thèse comporte deux parties : la première partie théorique explique les enjeux qui sous-tendent la « mélancolie du genre » pensée par Judith Butler et les effets de cette mélancolie sur le corps et la sexualité ; les notions de travestissement et de performativité sont revisitées à partir des notions psychanalytiques d’identification et d’incorporation. Puisque la mélancolie du genre est le résultat de la non-reconnaissance des premiers attachements homosexuels, la nécessité de repenser le rapport au maternel, du point de vue féminin plus particulièrement, est posée ; les notions de sémiotique (Julia Kristeva) et de chôra (Jacques Derrida/ Julia Kristeva) ouvrent ici la voie et nous invitent à penser la mère du côté du mouvement et de l’altération, de la plasticité (Catherine Malabou). La seconde partie propose une traversée de l’œuvre d’Hélène Cixous, depuis Dedans (1968) jusqu’aux toutes récentes fictions analysées à partir de la question du deuil et de la notion freudienne de la substituabilité des objets. Sont examinées les formes de substitutions des pertes inaugurales que sont pour l’écrivaine le deuil du père et le deuil de l’Algérie, substitutions qui passent d’abord et avant tout par le travail signifiant. La question de l’humain est abordée par la figure de l’enfant mongolien, dont la naissance quarante ans avant son entrée dans l’œuvre est venue faire vaciller toutes les divisions caractérisant habituellement le sujet (féminin/masculin, humain/animal, vivant/mort), y compris celle, capitale, entre né et non-né. La notion d’incorporation mélancolique est également mobilisée pour explorer les métamorphoses et nombreuses transfigures animales de l’écrivaine, qui mettent en avant la plasticité du vivant mais non moins sa fragilité. Incontournable, la question de la mère et du maternel chez Cixous est analysée dans son rapport à l’écriture et à la langue : lieu de mouvement, support de transformation et de transsubstantiation mais aussi contenance, la langue chez Cixous fait mère. / This thesis proposes to make a link between the issues raised by Judith Butler regarding « gender melancholy » and Hélène Cixous’ autobiographical work, which has dealt from the start with the question of grief and sexual difference/gender. Our wish is to show how Judith Butler, in revisiting Freud’s theories on grief, melancholy and the formation of the ego, points out the importance of loss at the heart of sexual identity and finds resonance in Hélène Cixous’s « autobiographical » writings and rewritings. The writer, in fact, reconfigures the classical notion of what an autobiography is; her/his life-work is under the influence of a fundamental impulse seeking to identify the losses and separations which gave birth to the writing;an impulse which consists, in other words, in creating an archive of the other. The thesis is made up of two parts: the first part explains the issues underlying Judith Butler’s « gender melancholy »and the effects of this melancholy on body and sexuality; the concepts of transvestism and performative utterance are revisited based on notions of psychoanalytical identification and incorporation. The necessity to rethink the maternal relationship, especially from a feminine perspective, is posited. Notions of semiotics (Julia Kristeva) and of chôra (JacquesDerrida/Julia Kristeva) open the way and invite us to consider the mother from the angle of movement and modulation, of plasticity (Catherine Malabou). The second part offers a cross-section of Hélène Cixous’ work, starting from Dedans (1968) right up until her latest fiction, analyzed from the point of view of grief and the Freudian notion of the substitutability ofobjects. The initial losses, which for the writer mean mourning for a father and for Algeria, take on the form of substitutions which are found above all in the work of the signifiers. The human question is broached by the figure of the Down syndrome child whose birth forty years prior to appearing in the literary work, has come and put off balance the divisions which normally characterize the subject (feminine/masculine, human/animal, living/dead), including the crucial division between born and unborn. The notion of melancholic incorporation is also used to explore the metamorphoses and many animal transfigures of the writer, which highlight the plasticity of the living as well as its fragility. The unavoidable question of the mother and the maternal in Cixous is analyzed in its relation to writing and language: a place of movement, material for transformation and for transubstantiation, not to mention countenance. Language for Cixous enacts the mother.

[pt] A pesquisa tem por objetivo refletir acerca da violência exercida em nome da ética a partir de uma perspectiva crítica baseada no pensamento de Michel Foucault e Judith Butler. De início, pontua-se os enquadramentos normativosociais que definem quais vidas importam e quais vidas sequer são passíveis de luto. Em seguida, recuperando as problematizações éticas dos autores de referência, defende-se que os processos de subjetivação são um meio de abertura para a alteridade. O conceito grego de ascese –práticas de si – investigado por Foucault é o conceito chave através do qual se procura pensar formas de resistência aos poderes subjetivantes e uma maneira de encontrar o outro no exercício de si mesmo, de reconhecê-lo na sua proximidade e na sua absoluta estranheza. A teoria de Butler é fundamental nesse ponto, uma vez que propõe explicitamente a pergunta pelo tu no diálogo com diversos pensadores, dentre os quais, o trabalho põe em relevo as questões da filosofia de Emmanuel Lévinas. Por fim, a proposta de uma ética de não violência é sustentada na concepção foucaultiana de ética da amizade e no ponto de vista da responsabilidade em Butler. Ambos podem funcionar na rubrica de um programa vazio, no sentido de não prescreverem regras de conduta. Sem abrir mão completamente da normatividade, indicam possibilidades éticas que não se baseiam em juízos. / [en] This paper aims to conduct to reflect on the violence perpetrated in the name of ethics from a critical perspective based on the thinking of Michel Foucault and Judith Butler. At first, it is pointed out the normative-social frameworks that define which lives matter and which lives are not even mournable. Then, recovering the ethical problematizations of the authors in reference, it is argued that the processes of subjectivation are a mean of opening to alterity. The Greek concept of ascesis - self-practices - investigated by Foucault is the key concept through which one tries to think of forms of resistance to subjectivating powers and a way of finding the other in the exercise of oneself, of recognizing it in its proximity and in their absolute strangeness. Butler s theory is fundamental at this point, since it explicitly proposes the question of you in the dialogue with several thinkers, among which, this paper highlights the issues of Emmanuel Lévinas philosophy. Finally, the proposal for an ethics of non-violence is based on Foucault s conception of the ethics of friendship and in Butler s point of view about responsibility. Both can work under the heading of an empty program, in the sense of not prescribing rules of conduct. Without giving up normativity completely, they indicate ethical possibilities that are not based on judgments.

Vergleich von Bettine von Arnims "Dies Buch gehört dem König" (1843) mit Sophie von La Roches "Erscheinungen am See Oneida" (1798) und Henriette Frölichs "Virginia oder Die Kolonie von Kentucky" (1820). Die Texte werden ausgehend von der Annahme untersucht, dass Macht ein asymmetrisches Verhältnis ist, das durch Konsens entsteht (Laclau und Mouffe), und auch Geschlechterverhältnisse als Machtverhältnisse verständlich werden, da Geschlecht keine natürliche Gegebenheit, sondern ein gesellschaftliches Konstrukt ist (Butler). Dementsprechend werden die Texte in einem Spannungsfeld von Anpassung und Subversion verstanden.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the female experience as it is spoken of in the novel Sindhia written by Rut Hillarp (1954) and how the main character in the book violates the experience from a queer perspective. My aim is to through a close reading highlight a number of discourses that underpin the book's imminent theme of love and submission. According to Norman Faircloughs critical-discourse analysis, the text one reads produces a certain amount of discourses that one consumes. This way there is a dialectical interaction that can be set into a practical analysis together with a suitable academic perspective. This is the method I use in this thesis.The academic perspective I add isJudith Butler's queer theoriessupported by Michel Foucaults social genealogyin order to understand/analyze the woman’s position in relation to a social empirical history. I came to the conclusion that Sindhia produces the woman's discourse from an ancient biblical/ mythological time up to modern time. It brings forth untold perspectives that disclose the social hierarchies and women's rebellion against them, a rebellion that has been silenced. The text simply transcends the myths and highlights what has been made invisible, it brings new perspectives to the discourse about women. This shows that the ancient stories that have submissioned the position of women also carry subversive possibilities.

My aim with this study has been to examine how the fashion is a leading component in the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. I have studied the role fashion plays in the novel and in which way it can be seen as a way of letting the reader know the important role of fashion in 19tcentury England and the morals of Oscar Wilde. To prove my thesis I have used literature that shows how Oscar Wilde uses influences from his own life in his writing of The Picture of Dorian Gray. I have also used Judith Butler's theory of performativity in analyzing the characters in ordet to display their way of staging themselves and their lifestyles and their dependence of that performativity in their interactions. Even though the theory of performativity often is used to hold the importance of the sexes, I have concluded that it has an important role in the novel when Dorian Gray interacts with the character Sibyl Vane who is an actress. My results have shown that fashion in the novel is often a way of letting the reader know important elements of a character in the way that certain fabrics and items are mentioned when Wilde writes about his characters. I have also found that fashion is an important factor when the characters judge each when they speak about the way they dress. The way fashion is presented in the novel is important to my thesis and has shown me how fashion can be used in literature as symbolic elements guiding the narrative. Keywords: Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Fashion in literature, Performativity. Judith Butler

The purpose of this study is to analyze whether heteronormativity conditions human rights for LGBT persons in Burma, and how “normalization processes” affect and control whose lives, according to Judith Butlers theories, possesses human value. This is done through interpreting the framework of theories by Butler with methods of idea analysis and empirical interviews and research from Burma. Specially highlighted is how the compelling heteronormative social structure affects LGBT persons in Burma, and how the system, according to Butler, is based on the notion that bodies that are “abnormal” are not recognized, and therefore seen as less human and less worthy of human rights. The thesis critically reflects on how Butlers more theoretical reasoning is challenged by the research material. The three research questions are interrelated, in such a way that they all explore how we can understand the human rights situation in Burma for persons that identify as LGBT, based on Butler and queer theory ́s criticism of heteronormativity. The conclusion shows that widespread homo- and transphobia, laws about illegality, the police as frequent perpetrators of violence, (especially against transgender women and gay men) and lack of judicial authority to turn to, makes LGBT people into "anti-citizens" that are reduced to a body without "the right to have rights". Butler's theories have considerable relevance for the context, in her analyzes of who are recognized as human and what the consequences are for human dignity to be outside the heteronormative system. However, they are lacking both legal perspective and problematization of the patriarchal power system, perspectives which has a decisive impact on LGBT persons in Burma. / Syftet med studien är att analysera huruvida heteronormativitet villkorar hbtq-personers mänskliga rättigheter i Burma, samt hur ”normaliseringsprocesser” påverkar och styr vems liv som, enligt Butlers teorier, har mänskligt värde. Studien genomförs genom att med innehållslig idéanalys tolka ett teoretiskt ramverk av Judith Butler texter, samt med empiriska intervjuer och forskning från Burma. Speciellt framhävs hur den tvingande sociala strukturen påverkar situationen för hbtq- personer i Burma, och hur det heteronormativa systemet, enligt Butler, bygger på att kroppar som är "onormala" och obegripliga inte erkänns och därmed ses som mindre mänskliga och mindre värdiga mänskliga rättigheter. Studien reflekterar kritiskt över hur Butlers mer teoretiska resonemang utman- as av resultatet från undersökningsmaterialet. De tre forskarfrågorna kan förstås som inbördes bero- ende av varandra på så sätt att de tillsammans utforskar hur vi kan förstå Butler och qeerteorins kritik av heteronormativet, utifrån situationen för hbtq-personer i Burma. Resultatet visar att en utbredd homo- och transfobi, lagar om illegalitet, polisen som frekventa förövare särskilt mot trangender- kvinnor och gay-män, och utan rättsinstans att vända sig till, gör hbtq-personer till “anti-medborgare” som kan reduceras till en kropp utan “rätten att ha rättigheter”. Butlers teorier har god bäring i analyserna om vem som erkänns som mänsklig, och vilka konsekvenser det får för människovärdet att vara utanför systemet, men saknar däremot rättsperspektivet och problematiserandet av det patriarkala maktsystemet, vilka har avgörande inverkan på livssituationen för hbtq-personer i Burma.

On prend pour point de départ le constat d'une résistance dans la réception marxiste française de la thèse féministe de Judith Butler portant sur la construction discursive du «sexe» par le «genre». L'antagonisme apparent du matérialisme et du constructivisme, révélé par la réception française de Trouble dans le genre, invite à chercher, en amont, une solution matérialiste au problème épistémologique de la construction conceptuelle du donné. En remontant à la source de Marx, on peut montrer que sa pensée a nourri, chez Althusser et Foucault, une approche matérialiste du discours qu'on peut qualifier de constructiviste. Au prisme de l'épistémologie historique de Canguilhem, se dessinent des parentés entre Althusser et Foucault qui donnent une postérité inédite à Marx: l'exploration de deux figures du «matérialisme discursif» dans l'archéologie foucaldienne et l'épistémologie althussérienne, permet de rendre caduques les objections empiristes à l'idée d'une construction discursive du« sexe». L'objectif est de proposer une articulation entre le matérialisme marxiste et la pensée queer, en mettant au jour une tradition de pensée qui croise les apports de l'épistémologie historique et du matérialisme, et prend au sérieux la production de la nature et du corps par le discours. Il s'agit de donner à la thèse de Butler les conditions de son audibilité matérialiste et de déterminer en retour la fécondité de sa mise en question du donné pour le marxisme. / This analysis starts by pointing out a reluctance in the French Marxist reception of Judith Butler's feminist theories, mainly those regarding the discursive construction of « sex » by «gender». This apparent conflict between materialism and constructivism encourages us to look upstream for a materialistic solution to the epistemological issue of the conceptual construction of «facts». By getting back at the root of Marx, one can indeed show that his thought has provided input into Althusser's and Foucault's reflections for the development of a materialistic approach of discourse, which may be qualified as contructivist. In the light of Canguilhem's historical epistemology, some philosophical kinship between Althusser and Foucault takes shape, which provides a previously unseen posterity to Marx : the examination of two features of «discursive materialism» in Foucault's archeology and in Althusser's epistemology enables to make null and void the empiricist objections at the idea of a discursive construction of «sex». The goal is to pro vide a philosophical junction between Marxist materialism and queer theory, by highlighting a tradition of thought which combines the contributions of historical epistemology and materialism, and which takes seriously into consideration the production of nature and body by discourse. The goal is to provide Butler's theory with the means to be heard as a materialistic account, and in return to specify for marxism what it might gain when this theory challenges the given facts.

Companies in the fashion industry are constantly facing new challenges. Recently, a debate has been raised about how fashion companies communicate gender. A debate that critically reviews how companies maintain a certain gender stereotype about how women and men should appear and perform. The gender stereotypes in these cases are primarily portrayed through communication in the form of advertising, through employees and in stores. Businesses in the fashion market tend to segment their products and their range towards gender, rather than to the consumer as an individual. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate how consumers and a fashion company relate to gender, performativeness and clothing, in order to locate how fashion industry players can contribute or counteract the creation of gender stereotypes through their actions in fashion. To investigate this, potential consumers and a representative from the company Hope have been interviewed. Hope is a Swedish company that offers high quality Scandinavian fashion. The company has a critical view of the fashion industry's binary assortment and applies innovative business strategies to boost equality in the fashion industry. The potential consumers who have participated in the study through focus-groups have been given the opportunity to discuss how a gender-neutral assortment would be perceived, and to assess it in different contexts. The results from the interviews were synthesized in theoretical models which were inspired by Judith Butler's theories about gender and performativity. Butler's research lack guidance regarding application through practical means and therefore theoretical models were created. These theoretical models can be applied to other studies regarding gender and performance theory. The results of the study points to a non-binary fashion industry, where the conventional binary assortments have not been reduced, but has been modified to fit and satisfy more consumers on an individual level. There are also indications that a non-binary selection, which Hope has produced, can come to be a competitive business plan as it is not a costly change of direction. The non-binary selection can result in changed views regarding normative gender classification and contribute to a new standard in stereotypical constructions. / Företag som befinner sig i modebranschen står ständigt inför nya utmaningar. På senare tid har en debatt lyfts kring hur modeföretag kommunicerar genus. En debatt som ser kritiskt på hur företag upprätthåller en viss genusstereotyp kring hur kvinnor och män bör se ut och vara. Genusstereotypen i dessa fall porträtteras främst genom kommunikation i form av reklam, genom anställda samt i butik. Företag på modemarknaden tenderar att segmentera sina produkter och sitt sortiment mot kön, snarare än mot konsumenten som individ. Därför är syftet med denna studie att undersöka hur konsumenter och ett modeföretag förhåller sig till genus, performativitet och kläder, för att kunna lokalisera hur aktörer i modebranschen kan bidra eller motverka till skapandet av genusstereotyper genom sitt handlande kring mode. För att undersöka detta har potentiella konsumenter samt en representant från företaget Hope intervjuats. Hope är ett svenskt företag som erbjuder skandinaviskt mode i hög kvalité. Företaget ser kritiskt till modebranschens könsindelning och arbetar med innovativa affärsstrategier för att öka jämställdheten i modebranschen. De potentiella konsumenter som deltagit i studien har i fokusgrupper fått diskutera hur ett könsöverskridande sortiment hade upplevts samt hur det kan värderas på olika nivåer.Resultatet från intervjuerna syntetiserades sedan i teoretiska modeller som har inspirerats av Judith Butlers teorier om kön och performativitet. Eftersom Butlers modeller saknar vägledning om hur de ska tillämpas praktiskt fick teoretiska modeller formuleras, vilka kan komma att tillämpas vid andra studier där man praktiskt vill tillämpa Butlers teorier. Studiens resultat visar för en framtida könsneutral modebransch, där den konventionella könsindelningen inte reducerats men modifierats för att passa och tillfredsställa fler konsumenter på en individuell nivå. Undersökningen påvisar även indikationer på att ett könsöverskridande sortiment, likt det Hope tagit fram, kan komma att bli konkurrenskraftigt då det för företaget inte heller är en kostsam innovation. Det könsöverskridande sortimentet kan resultera i en förändrad syn på normer om vad som är kvinnligt och manligt och kan därför ge effekten av reducering av stereotypa föreställningar.

Using a method of reflexive ethnography, this thesis deals with a question of masculinity performace in the Czech extreme metal milieu (to be specific I am concerned with the brutal death metal and related sub-genres). Participants of the brutal death metal subculture either in the position of performers or audience are with a very few exceptions men. Brutality, harshness, extremeness and other values are the main aesthetic criteria, which - as we can observe while doing the research - the participants connect with a coherent collection of ideas about a certain ideal of dominant manhood. To achieve these values to the greatest extent possible the musicians use particular musical features and topics of the compositions; and so does both the musicians and the audience via their visual image, with using specific kind of behaviour and having fixed movements and dancing during the music production. On the basis of an analysis of these values and means of their manifestation I am concerned with the question of what specific characteristics the masculine identity, which is performed in the given subculture, has. My research data show that these are: 1) mutual affinity with the other participants, 2) power as an ability of an aggressive attack as well as one's own endurance, and 3) coarseness, lack of...