Muslims and islam are unquestionably a part of European social life. In recent times, however, different events, such as the enlargement of the EU and the fact that muslims to a higher extent demand their rights, have brought a number of questions to the fore concerning muslims and islam in Europe. Moreover, we can see an increasing level of islamophobia in contemporary Europe, but also that the EU has launched several programs to increase both the diversity and the unity throughout the Union and to combat islamophobia. However, most of these programs focus on islam as religion and muslims in general, and such a narrow viewpoint runs the risk of missing important issues. In this new context it would be interesting to widen the scope and ask what place not only the muslim community and islam, but also sharia (an important element in islam), may have in future Europe – especially when it comes to muslim identity? My main objects are to see how the concept of sharia is constructed in the debates in the European Parliament, how that discourse relates to a social practice – the increasing islamophobic ideas in Europe – and what effect this may have on muslim identity in a European context. The results shows that the Parliament constructs sharia as, for example, something archaic, threatening, inhuman and misogynistic. In that sense, the discourse fits in with the predominant order of discourse regarding islam and muslims (in Europe) – and strengthen it. Though my results are neither absolute nor uniform, they show, persuasively enough, that sharia (as it is seen by the Parliament) is not consistent with and can not be included in or accepted by “European norms and values”. However, this must be said with one reservation: sharia is not always excluded as a whole. Still, it is not difficult to maintain that it is sharia as such that activates the (negative and) excluding connotations. Thus, an “approved” European muslim identity, as it seems, can not have too close connections with sharia, if (any) at all. Moreover, there is a risk that muslims themselves take on a restricting practice concerning their identity. In all, this will to a large extent circumscribe the possible muslim identities in Europe. To form a substantial and really pluralistic diversity in Europe, the EU, and others, must liberate itself from the logic of these discourses. But this is not an easy thing to do. One way that might be profitable, is to challenge the prevailing discourse with new narratives – narratives and voices that for the most part must come from the muslims themselves. Despite the fact that these voices do exist, as has been shown, the question is how and under what circumstances they can be seen – or rather heard. Unfortunately the answer is not to be found in this thesis; the need of further research is obvious.

This thesis investigates the counter-hegemonic formation of Danish-based transnational feminist curatorial collective Kuratorisk Aktion in a single-case study. It serves as a unique example, presenting how the collective engages to overcome the existing gap between curatorial aims and the implementation through curating. Their work and approach is shaped highly by their political mindset, aiming to resist tendencies of depoliticisation, right-wing populism or neoliberalism with the means of curating. Chantal Mouffe’s theory of radical democracy and her deliberations and notions concerning agonisms, citizenship, feminism, counter-hegemonic interventions and activism through art are used in order to contextualise and discuss the possibilities and limitations of the political work by Kuratorisk Aktion. An interview with the collective conducted by scholar Angela Dimitrakaki in 2010 as well as their realised curatorial projects enhanced the argumentation. The analysis exemplified, that over the years Kuratorisk Aktion has developed their personal and exceptional curatorial paradigm, which is able to counteract hegemonic structures. This reveals their radical democratic potential and aspiration through curating and the curatorial.

Submitted by Simone Maisonave (simonemaisonave@hotmail.com) on 2016-12-01T11:36:52Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Kamila Lima do Nascimento_Dissertacao.pdf: 2896826 bytes, checksum: aa987a070abf0effa7e783c8b26bc43a (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-01T11:36:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Kamila Lima do Nascimento_Dissertacao.pdf: 2896826 bytes, checksum: aa987a070abf0effa7e783c8b26bc43a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-11-09 / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul - FAPERGS / O problema da democracia é um dos mais antigos da política e continua a ser central nos dias atuais. Nosso trabalho intenta ser uma contribuição para esta discussão através da análise do desenvolvimento da noção de democracia radical e plural na obra do filósofo argentino Ernesto Laclau, em sua fase pós-estruturalista, que compreende o intervalo entre 1985 e 2014, ano da sua morte. A abordagem teórica do autor vem ganhando destaque no campo das discussões teóricas sobre a democracia e motivado a construção de diversos outros conceitos que tomam por base a radicalidade e a pluralidade propostas em seu projeto. Entretanto, em geral os autores partem da noção construída por Laclau 30 anos atrás como se esta fosse uma fotografia final e desconsideram o seu movimento durante todos esses anos. Nosso trabalho intenta justamente esclarecer os sentidos da noção de democracia radical e plural e mostrar seu desenvolvimento na obra do autor, pois acreditamos que sua compreensão adequada é central para sua utilização no campo de pesquisa. / The problem of democracy is one of the oldest problems in politics and continues to be central today. Our work tries to give a contribution to this discussion by examining the development of the concept of radical and plural democracy in the work of the Argentine philosopher Ernesto Laclau, in his post-structuralist moment, covering the range from 1985 to 2014, the year of his death. The theoretical approach of the author is gaining prominence in the field of theoretical discussions on democracy and motivates the construction of several other concepts based on the radical and the plurality proposals in your project. However, in general, the authors begin with the notion constructed by Laclau 30 years ago as if it were the last photograph, disregarding its movement over the years. Our work tries to clarify precisely the meanings of the notion of radical democracy and to show its development in his works, as we believe its proper understanding as central to its use in the search field.

Syftet med föreliggande studie har varit att kartlägga och söka kunskap om vilka föreställningar om lärare som finns representerade inom intresse- och arbetsgivarorganisationen SKL så som de kommer till uttryck i deras utgivna texter, samt att försöka förstå dessa ur ett diskursanalytiskt maktperspektiv. Genom att genomföra en diskursanalys utifrån såväl Faircloughs som Laclau och Mouffes teorier kunde nodalpunkten utveckling identifieras, vilken sedan studerades utifrån vilken innebörd den gavs i förhållande till ett antal olika aktörskategorier kopplat till skolan. Diskursanalysen av det empiriska materialet visade ett bristperspektiv i förhållande till lärarna, framförallt kopplat till deras kompetens och att detta i sin tur leder till att lärarna fungerar som hinder för övriga skolaktörers utveckling i en positiv riktning. I förhållande till kommunerna identifierades snarare en position som möjliggörare. Genom att använda diskursiva genrer, representationer och stilar på olika sätt framstår SKL själva som en myndighet, med legitimitet och mandat att uttala sig om lärare och deras yrkesutövande. Studien avslutas med en diskussion rörande vad SKL och kommunerna kan ha att vinna på en diskurs som innebär att lärare är en hindrande kraft i behov av kompetensutveckling, medan kommunerna framstår som kompetenta möjliggörare och SKL som en myndighet med mandat att styra lärarna i en särskild riktning.

This study explores how presidential candidates during the 2020 American election were tied to external others, taking the shape of China and Russia. The study argues that an identity perspective becomes fruitful for addressing the research problem, as it becomes a matter of who "we" as a nation are. In general, identity studies tend to focus on the external other, while this study aims to contribute with an understanding of how the internal and external other can be interconnected.  American exceptionalism - the notion that the US has a unique role to play on the world stage - is a prominent part of American political identity. Nonetheless, the concept of exceptionalism also implies that being an American is an act of choice and not exclusively a birthright, thus individuals and values can be labeled as "un-American". Drawing on and combining the theoretical insights from Michel Foucault, Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe, and Ty Solomon, politics in itself becomes a narrative war to fill nodal points with a hegemonic substance based on a wish for identity-fulfillment. The study finds that the other candidate is separated from the idea of what constitutes the US by reference to foreign and threatening powers. The other candidate is framed as unfit to be president, and since he does not correspond with the identity of the nation itself, he can not lead and personify the US. Thus, the other candidate is narratively constructed as unable to grant the wish for national identity fulfillment. The substance of the nodal points also does not exhibit a value in themselves but has to be contrasted against something or someone - in this case, an Other.

Before the regulation of opium as a “narcotic” in Sweden in 1923, opium was not regulated for its intoxicating properties and was freely available. But not in any kind of shop. Opium was legally available only through the pharmacies. This thesis explores how this free availability of a narcotic was understood by its traders, the pharmacists. The title of this thesis – The Value of Poison – indicates how opium could be conceptualized both as a safe, everyday remedy essential to keep freely available and as a drug of intoxication. As a poison it could be articulated as a matter of primarily pharmacological, not moral or medical, concern. This also gave the pharmacists, with their special knowledge of pharmaka (drugs, poisons), an autonomous space of knowledge free from the ever more intruding “medical gaze”. But, in order to articulate this kind of understanding of opium, another kind of knowledge was needed to be acknowledged: that of the user. In this articulation a “sensus communis” was tied in with a broader cultural knowledge of drugs. Problems with opium were focused on the danger of acute poisoning, not recreational intoxication. Concepts that could have problematized this kind of use were rearticulated as problems either of illegitimate trade, unregulated markets and advertising or of draconian regulation by greedy or sloppy doctors. These rather opposite elements were made equivalent through the articulation of ignorance in both cases, thus further emphasizing the special knowledge of the pharmacist. The thesis locates a process of contradiction that contributes to the eventual diminishing of the discourse of poison towards the end of the period. The pharmaceutical knowledge that guaranteed the discourse was based on a “pharmaceutical gaze” on pharmaka. It pierced through the drug to identify its constituent parts. In this process it was promised that the different effects of opium would be separated. “Narcotic” could be a by-product, to be discarded or controlled, without dispensing of other therapeutic effects. With this ever deeper knowledge of opium, knowledge in the pharmacies was made insufficient for the full understanding or opium, and so too was that of the traditional user. The era of opium as a poison was over. / Före den första särlagstiftningen om narkotika i Sverige 1923 reglerades inte opiumets rusgivande egenskaper. Drogen var fritt tillgänglig i handeln. Men inte i vilken butik som helst. Opium kunde bara köpas lagligt på landets apotek. Den här avhandlingen undersöker hur denna fria tillgänglighet av narkotika förstods av droghandlarna själva, apotekarna. Titeln pekar på hur opium på en och samma gång kunde tänkas som en säker husmedicin vars tillgänglighet var avgörande för folkhälsan och som en rusgivande drog. Som ”gift” artikulerades det som en i första hand farmakologisk angelägenhet, inte en moralisk eller medicinsk. När de talade på detta sätt upprättade apotekarna, genom sin särskilda kunskap om farmaka, ett eget rum för sitt vetande, fritt från läkarnas allt mer genomträngande ”kliniska blick”. Men för att kunna artikulera denna förståelse av opium krävdes också att en annan typ av kunskap vidkändes: brukarens. Genom denna artikulation knöts brukarnas ”sensus communis” samman med en bredare kulturell kunskap om droger. De av opiumets problem som lyftes fram handlade om akut förgiftning, inte rekreationellt rusbruk. De begrepp som hade varit möjliga att användas för att problematisera denna senare form av bruk reartikulerades: antingen förpassades de till den olagliga handeln, de oreglerade marknaderna och reklamen, eller också till de drakoniska regleringarna som giriga och slarviga läkare stod bakom. Apotekarna artikulerade dessa båda helt motstående element som ekvivalenta genom en brist på kunskap, vilket i sin tur ytterligare stärkte deras egen kunskapsmakt. Avhandlingen lokaliserar även en processande motsägelse som sker när giftets diskurs tynar bort vid slutet av den undersökta perioden. Den farmaceutiska kunskap som underbyggde diskursen vilade på en ”farmaceutisk blick” på farmaka. Denna genomborrade drogämnet för att avslöja dess beståndsdelar. Genom denna process utlovades att opiumets olika effekter skulle kunna skiljas från varandra. ”Narkotikan” kunde ses som en bieffekt, som kunde kastas åt sidan eller kontrolleras separat, utan att opiumets kvarvarande terapeutiska effekter minskade. Denna allt djupare kunskap medförde att de enskilda apotekarnas eget vetande på apoteken inte räckte till för att fullt ut förstå opium, och därmed bröts även samartikulationen med brukarnas kunskap. Tidseran när opium var ett gift tog därmed slut under mellankrigsperioden.

The objective of this dissertation is to develop a theoretical and analytical framework for understanding the political in education from a social and global perspective. With this objective in mind, it employs an empirical engagement and theoretical reflection on how this political can be seen to emerge in policy making on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Policy making on ESD is interpreted as engaging in the constitution of the social and globalisation, where the non-determination of this practice is seen to require political acts of identification with particular perspectives on what education, society and, as a result, ESD should be. Book I constitutes a theoretical and analytical framework that outlines central concepts, such as antagonism, temporality, space and rhizomic globalisation, in order to conceive of how the political in education can be understood and analysed in concrete articulations, such as policy making on ESD. The findings of the empirical analysis underlying this dissertation and that address the political in policy making on ESD are presented in the papers that are incorporated into this dissertation as part of Book II. Paper I discusses how we can conceive of the relation between ESD and globalisation and makes an argument that this relation should be seen to be political and characterised by conflicting perspectives on what ESD is. Paper II presents the findings from a comparative study of policy making on ESD that engages with concrete policy on ESD in order to reflect on how globalisation can be seen to emerge in these instances of policy making. Paper III presents the findings of a comprehensive discourse analysis of Vietnamese policy making and shows how the concepts of ESD and Sustainable Development are contested among different perspectives of how Vietnamese society should be constituted. The dissertation as a whole makes an argument for the inescapable political condition for education and how this condition necessitates the articulation of concepts such as ESD that name an inaccessible state beyond conflict and social antagonisms that is to be achieved through education.

In this essay I try to find out how the local political climate in the Swedish Municipal Örebro looks like through the eyes of Michel Foucault. I’ve been focusing on the concept power, knowledge and politic. I’ve been applying the discourse theory on the study and the founder of that theory is Chantal Mouffe and Ernesto Laclau, the discoursetheory is a refinement of Foucaults thoughts about discourse. The object of study is the Mayor of Örebro, Staffan Werme and the position connected to that post. I’ve used the method “shadowing”, and I’ve been following the Mayor in every physical room that he appears in for nearly two weeks. The aim is too see which subject-position that the Mayor ascribes to in those different rooms, and also how the concept of power is used.

I denna uppsats genomförs en diskursanalys av materialet Orten bortom våldet med hjälp av Ernesto Laclau och Chantal Mouffes hegemonikritiska diskursteori. Materialet Orten bortom våldet är centralt för Eskilstuna kommuns sociala förebyggande arbete mot våld och kriminalitet. Med hjälp av Laclau och Mouffes diskursanalys dekonstrueras i denna studie resonemangen bakom Orten bortom våldet. Syftet är att synliggöra dess hegemoniska och ideologiska antaganden rörande individ, samhälle och sociala fenomen. Analysen använder centrala begrepp utifrån Laclau och Mouffes diskursteori för att synliggöra och identifiera hegemoniska och dominanta diskursiva ställningstaganden. Studien visar hur analysmaterialet vilar på en dikotomisk och dogmatisk social differentieringsdiskurs och en individcentrerad liberalistisk determinism rörande det förebyggande sociala arbetet och dess interventioner och problematiserar dessa aspekter utifrån ett vi och de-kritiskt perspektiv samt ett ideologikritiskt perspektiv. / In this essay, a discourse analysis of the material Orten bortom våldet is carried out with the help of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe's hegemonic-critical discourse theory. The material Orten bortom våldet is central to Eskilstuna municipality's social prevention work against violence and crime. With the help of Laclau and Mouffe's discourse analysis, this study deconstructs the reasoning behind Orten bortom våldet. The aim is to make visible its hegemonic and ideological assumptions concerning the individual, society and social phenomena. The analysis uses central concepts based on Laclau and Mouffe's discourse theory to make visible and identify hegemonic and dominant discursive positions. The study shows that the analysis material rests on a dichotomous and dogmatic social differentiation discourse and an individual-centered liberal determinism regarding preventive social work and its interventions and problematizes these aspects from a we and them-critical perspective as well as an ideology-critical perspective.

[pt] Esta dissertação propõe uma leitura da especificidade do laço social na atualidade, assim como propõe uma maneira como, a partir deste laço, poderia ser decantada uma política contemporânea. Para esta costura, uma leitura do sociólogo Zygmunt Bauman fornece balizas para delimitarmos o estado atual do laço social. Em seguida, algumas das perspectivas de Sigmund Freud, com relação ao social e aos modos de organização grupal, especialmente quanto ao lugar que estes dão ao líder, são contrapostas à descrição de Bauman. Jorge Alemán e Ernesto Laclau trazem, então, elementos para a aplicação de conceitos desenvolvidos por Jacques Lacan, a partir de Freud, ao momento político atual, especialmente no que concerne às concepções de solidão comum, significante vazio e ato instituinte. Por fim, os conceitos lacanianos de nó borromeano e sinthome são examinados para localizar em que se apoiam os conceitos de Alemán e Laclau, com referência ao ensino de Lacan. Amarra-se, assim, nossa dissertação, propondo alguma orientação dentro do campo demarcado. / [en] This dissertation proposes a reading of the specificity of the social tie in the present time, as well as proposes a way where, from this tie, a contemporary politics could be decanted. For this seam, a reading by sociologist Zygmunt Bauman provides reading beacons for delimiting the current state of the social tie. Next, some of Freud s perspectives on the social and modes of group organization, especially as to the place they give to the leader, are opposed to Bauman s description. Jorge Alemán and Ernesto Laclau bring elements for the application of concepts developed by Jacques Lacan from Freud s work to the present political moment, especially in what concerns his conceptions of common solitude, empty signifier and institute act. Finally, the Lacanian concepts of the Borromean node and sinthome are examined with the objective of locating in which the concepts of Alemán and Laclau are supported in the teaching of Lacan. Thus, our dissertation is tied, proposing some orientation within the demarcated field.