In geography, maps are a tool of placement which locate both the cartographer and the territory made cartographic. In order to place objects in space, the cartographer inserts his own judgment into the scheme of his design. During the Early Modern period, maps were no longer suspicious icons as they were in the Middle Ages and not yet products of science, but subjects of discourse and works of art. The image of a cartographer’s territory depended on his vision—both the nature and placement of his gaze—and the product reflected that author’s judgment. This is not a study of maps as such but of Early Modern literature, cartographic by nature—the observations of the author were the motif of its design. However, rather than concretize observational judgment through art, the Early Modern literature discussed asserts a reverse relation—the generation of the material which may be observed, the reality, by the views of authors. Spatiality is now an emerging philosophical field of study, taking root in the philosophy of Deleuze & Guattari. Using the notion prevalent in both Postmodern and Early Modern spatiality, which makes of perception a collective delusion with its roots in the critique of Kant, this thesis draws a through-line across time, as texts such as Robert Burton’s An Anatomy of Melancholy, Thomas More’s Utopia, and selections from William Shakespeare display a tendency to remove value from the standard of representation, to replace meaning with cognition and prioritize a view of views over an observable world. Only John Milton approaches perception as possibly referential to objective reality, by re-inserting his ability to observe and exist in that reality, in a corpus which becomes less generative simulations of material than concrete signposts to his judgment in the world.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how media has followed the Parken Zoo incident and analyse how media convey the issue about the Parken Zoo incident. The different results have been compared. To answer the purpose of the study three issues has been formulated:  how do the different media relate to the ideal of objectivity? Who come across and get to speak in the different media? What differences and similarities are in the media?    The theories that have been used in this study are mainly McCombs theory of agenda setting, Strömbäck’s theory of framing and theory of media logic, Kovach & Rosenstiel theories of journalism and Manning’s theory of objectivity. The methods that have been used are a combination of a quantitative content analysis and a qualitative semiotic analysis. The material that has been observed in this study is newspaper articles, television news reports and television programs.   The results of the quantitative analysis showed that articles of Eskiltuna Kuriren, news reports of SVT1 and the program Debatt had most objectivity in there reporting. The news reports of TV4 and program Kalla Fakta had most biased reporting of the incident. The qualitative analysis showed that SVT1 news broadcast was more objective and TV4 news broadcast was more biased. The mainly sources in the media that has been used was the other media, the president to Parken Zoo and veterinaries. The newspapers used sources from other media, like the program Kalla Fakta, then also former employees from Parken Zoo and veterinaries. SVT1 and program Debatt used more other sources, more sources from Parken Zoo. In the qualitative analysis the result showed that the news broadcast from TV4 had the focus on how the Parken Zoo takes care of the animals, that they have put to death pumas and that Helena Olsson had lied to TV4. The broadcast from SVT1 focused on the mistakes Parken Zoo had done but also how they are going to fix the problems that they have. The news broadcasts gave different kind of framing effects to the viewers.

Text in Afrikaans / It has become clear that the continued existence of the Afrikaner in the 21st century will demand a recontextualisation of the identity and values attached to being an Afrikaans-speaking South African in a post-apartheid South Africa. Various institutions and intellectuals are already busy with this process. The study used the social phenomenology of Alfred Schutz to describe and analyse the first steps taken in the recontextualisation of Afrikaner identity from the perspective of letter writers to the Afrikaans daily newspaper, Beeld. Phenomenology accepts that the world of everyday life is man's fundamental and pervasive reality. Schutz uses concepts like the social stock of knowledge, typifications and intersubjectivity to explain how people interpret their everyday reality so that it becomes meaningful to themselves and others in communication. The task of the phenomenologist would be to question the taken-for-grantedness of this life world and identify its underlying principles (or essences). The study found that, while the letter writers did adjust their typification of the Self, no fundamental review of their typification of the Other (black South Africans) took place. Letter writers managed to free themselves of the baggage of apartheid after De Klerk gave up power in 1990 and declared white South Africa ready for negotiations for a new democratic South Africa. Together with giving up power, letter writers also freed themselves from the aspect of Christian-nationalism which was one of the fundamental building blocks of Afrikanerskap. The Afrikaner of 2004 seems to be a white minority, proud of their language and culture, and fighting for their right to speak and hear Afrikaans. However, no major revision of the Other has taken place. The study will show that letter writers have adjusted their perception of blacks in so far as it became practically relevant to do so for survival in the new South Africa. Very few, if any, fundamental changes took place in terms of the perception of racial or cultural superiority. / Communication Science / M.A. (Communication)

Text in Afrikaans / It has become clear that the continued existence of the Afrikaner in the 21st century will demand a recontextualisation of the identity and values attached to being an Afrikaans-speaking South African in a post-apartheid South Africa. Various institutions and intellectuals are already busy with this process. The study used the social phenomenology of Alfred Schutz to describe and analyse the first steps taken in the recontextualisation of Afrikaner identity from the perspective of letter writers to the Afrikaans daily newspaper, Beeld. Phenomenology accepts that the world of everyday life is man's fundamental and pervasive reality. Schutz uses concepts like the social stock of knowledge, typifications and intersubjectivity to explain how people interpret their everyday reality so that it becomes meaningful to themselves and others in communication. The task of the phenomenologist would be to question the taken-for-grantedness of this life world and identify its underlying principles (or essences). The study found that, while the letter writers did adjust their typification of the Self, no fundamental review of their typification of the Other (black South Africans) took place. Letter writers managed to free themselves of the baggage of apartheid after De Klerk gave up power in 1990 and declared white South Africa ready for negotiations for a new democratic South Africa. Together with giving up power, letter writers also freed themselves from the aspect of Christian-nationalism which was one of the fundamental building blocks of Afrikanerskap. The Afrikaner of 2004 seems to be a white minority, proud of their language and culture, and fighting for their right to speak and hear Afrikaans. However, no major revision of the Other has taken place. The study will show that letter writers have adjusted their perception of blacks in so far as it became practically relevant to do so for survival in the new South Africa. Very few, if any, fundamental changes took place in terms of the perception of racial or cultural superiority. / Communication Science / M.A. (Communication)

In Sweden, Bachelard is mostly known for his works about poetry and literature, but he was also very productive in philosophy of science. Having studied engineering and taught physical sciences, his main writings in this field concern contemporary physics. He developed the idea of “epistemological rupture”, closely linked to the concept of “epistemological obstacle”. Those notions show science in its historicity and are linked to the idea of progress: a progress that strives not only towards a better approximation of reality, but that can also be seen as a progress of the scientific mind itself. Epistemological ruptures take place when epistemological obstacles are defeated. It is when an epistemological obstacle is met that the ways of thinking that prevents progress become visible; it needs to become an obstacle before we can get rid of it, which causes not only a more precise knowledge, but also a restructuration of the scientific mind. This way, epistemological rupture do not only refer to a historical process, but also to a psychological one. In The formation of the scientific mind, Bachelard shows, through examples taken from history of science, the path that each “scientific mind” has to travel. He analyses science with the aim of finding in its history a history of thought and of its progress: therefore, in The formation of the scientific mind, he gives the same status to the errors of the high school students, as to the ways of thinking that have impeded or slowed down sciences’ developments. By stressing the importance of history, Bachelard insists on the psychological aspects of the constitution of science: as much as it is absurd to try to understand an answer without knowing the question it replies to, it is not possible to cut knowledge from its context of emergence, or to understand an object of study without referring to the subject that constituted it. Thus, Bachelard emphasises the importance of the subject in science, but without making of science something subjective, or without falling into psychologism. The reference to the scientists’ subjectivity is not, for Bachelard, a way of questioning the validity of the scientific discourse; on the contrary, it is by describing science in terms of the scientist’s mind and psychology that Bachelard will find the grounds for science’s objectivity and its success. Bachelard shows science as a practice, as a training of the mind, as an effort involving a lot more than mere rationality, thereby destroying the myth of a universal reason as an underlying principle in the construction of science. / En Suède, Bachelard est surtout connu pour ses travaux sur la poésie et la littérature, mais il a été tout aussi productif en épistémologie. Ayant étudié et enseigné les sciences physiques, ses principaux écrits dans ce domaine concernent la physique contemporaine. Il a développé le concept de « rupture épistémologique », lié à celui d’ « obstacle épistémologique ». La notion d’obstacle épistémologique montre la science dans son historicité ; elle est liée à l’idée de progrès : un progrès qui recherche non seulement une meilleure approximation de la réalité, mais qui peut aussi être compris comme un progrès de l’esprit scientifique lui-même. Ce progrès est accompli lors de ruptures épistémologiques, c’est-à-dire lorsqu’un obstacle épistémologique est vaincu : c’est à ce moment que ce qui empêche la pensée d’avancer devient visible, ce qui cause non seulement une connaissance plus précise, mais aussi une restructuration de l’esprit scientifique.       De cette manière, le concept de rupture épistémologique ne réfère pas seulement à un processus historique, mais aussi à un processus psychologique. Dans La formation de l’esprit scientifique, Bachelard donne des exemples pris de l’histoire des sciences et montre, à travers elles, le cheminement que chaque « esprit scientifique » doit accomplir. Il analyse la science avec le but  de trouver dans son histoire, une histoire de la pensée et de ses progrès : c’est pour cela que Bachelard, dans son livre La formation de l’esprit scientifique, compare le développement des sciences au niveau historique avec l’apprentissage des sciences au niveau individuel, et fait souvent référence aux erreurs des lycéens autant qu’aux bévues historiques. Ainsi, Bachelard met en lumière l’aspect construit des sciences : pour autant qu’il soit absurde d’essayer de comprendre une réponse sans connaître la question à laquelle celle-ci répond, il est impossible de couper la connaissance de son contexte d’émergence, ou d’essayer de comprendre un objet d’étude sans référer au sujet qui l’a constitué. Il ne s’agit pas pour autant faire de la science quelque chose de subjectif ou de tomber dans le psychologisme. La référence à l’esprit du savant ou à l’intersubjectivité scientifique n’est pas, pour Bachelard, un moyen de questionner la validité du discours scientifique ; au contraire, c’est en décrivant la science grâce à la psychologie du savant que Bachelard montre la science comme une pratique, comme un entrainement de l’esprit, comme un effort impliquant bien plus que la simple rationalité, détruisant de ce fait le mythe d’une raison universelle comme principe sous-jacent de la construction des sciences.

Donna J. Haraway ist eine US-amerikanische Biologin, Wissenschaftsphilosophin und Literaturwissenschaftlerin, die an den Departments History of Consciousness und Feminist Studies der University of California lehrte. In dieser Position hatte sie die erste explizit der Feministischen Theorie gewidmete Professur in den USA inne. Haraways Arbeiten bewegen sich in einem thematischen Schnittfeld von feministischer Erkenntniskritik, Cultural Studies, politischer Theorie und Biowissenschaften.

Les pratiques religieuses dans les pays de l’Atlantique Nord se transforment et on observe pour une partie de leur population le passage d’un « croire institutionnalisé » à une spiritualité influencée par diverses traditions, dont certaines ont fait leur apparition sur ce territoire au milieu du 20e siècle. Le présent mémoire vise à mettre en lumière une des facettes de la diversité religieuse contemporaine; suite aux questionnements qui ont surgi au long du travail, il aborde aussi certains enjeux sous-jacents à l’analyse d’un groupe religieux en anthropologie, notamment comment aborder le terrain et comment considérer un tel groupe. J’ai choisi pour ce faire de décrire un groupe religieux québécois qui est lié à un culte afro-brésilien – l’umbanda– et qui est membre d’un réseau transnational de temples. J’examinerai d’abord comment l’umbanda s’est développée au Brésil, car cela fournira des indications pertinentes sur, entre autres choses, l’éventuelle perméabilité de cette tradition, une fois le groupe implanté dans un pays de l’Atlantique Nord. J’examinerai ensuite le type de transnationalisation qui a présidé à la naissance du temple à Montréal, car cette analyse offre des indices permettant de déterminer comment un tel groupe s’insère dans le paysage religieux de divers pays. Enfin, en me penchant sur les pratiques religieuses des membres du groupe, je tenterai de dégager certaines particularités locales. / Religious practices in North Atlantic countries are evolving, and there are particular cases where one can observe a changeover from institutional beliefs towards forms of spirituality issuing from a variety of traditions, many of which appeared on the scene towards the middle of the 20th century. The present thesis aims to shed some light on one facet of contemporary religious diversity; following up on questions which arose in the course of this exploration, it also addresses issues underlying the anthropological analysis of religious groups, for instance how to approach fieldwork, and how to consider such a group. To this end I have chosen to describe a religious group in Quebec which is linked to an Afro-Brazilian cult named Umbanda, and which is part of a transnational network of Umbanda temples. I shall begin by setting out how Umbanda developed in Brazil, since this informs us as to, for instance, the likelihood of permeability of such a tradition once it is “planted” in Northern soil. I will then analyse the type of transnationalisation that was at work when the Montreal group was set up, since this provides relevant indicators allowing us to determine how the group settles into the religious landscape of different countries. Finally, by examining the religious practices of members of the group, I shall attempt to elucidate a number of distinctive local features.

The screen, as recent studies in a number of fields indicate, is a cultural object due for critical reappraisal. Work on the theoretical status of screen objects tends to focus upon the materialisation of surface; in other words, it attempts to rethink the relationship between the supposedly 'superficial' facade and the 'functional' object itself. I suggest that this work, while usefully chipping away at the dichotomy between the 'superficial' and the 'functional', can lead us to a more radical conclusion when read in the context of subjectivity. By rethinking the relationship between the surface and the obverse face of the screen as the terms of a dialectic, we can ‘read’ the screen as the vital component in a process which constitutes the Subject. In order to demonstrate this, I analyse productions of subjectivity in literary texts of the twenty-first century — in doing so, I assume the novel as nonpareil arena of the dramatisation of subjectivity — and I propose a reading of the work of Jacques Lacan as hitherto unacknowledged theorist par excellence of the form and function of the screen. Lacan describes, with the function of desire and the formation of the screen of fantasy, the primary position this ‘screen-form' inhabits in the constitution of the Subject. Lacan’s work forms a critical juncture through which we must proceed if we are to properly read and understand the chosen texts: The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber; The Tain by China Miéville; Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood; and Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald. In each text, I analyse the particular materialisations of the screen and interrogate the constitution of the subject and the locus of desire. By analysing the vicissitudes of subjectivity in these texts, I make a claim for the study of the screen as constituting a central question in the field of contemporary literature.

This historical work focuses on the theory of photography. It is divided into three autonomous episodes chronologically correspond to three historical stages. These parts are connected with one genealogies of one possible reading of the photography. The first part deals with the historical circumstances and causes of the birth of photography. The second phase describes the later period of history of the Weimar Republic and photographic movement of Neue Sachlichkeit. The last part concentrates on Düsseldorf School of Photography and its current followers. These historical eras combines the aesthetic issues of cult and conceptual values, which is demonstrated on the way how read the photographic medium as a specific aesthetic phenomenon.

Ce travail est une étude du processus de production de connaissances réalisée avec le Programme international pour le suivi des acquis des élèves (PISA) tel que l'effectue la Direction de l'Éducation de l'OCDE. On trouve, au centre de ce travail, les mécanismes et stratégies de l'objectivation de l'enquête PISA et de la légitimation de l'OCDE dans le rôle de coordinateur et producteur de connaissances mais aussi, les pratiques et stratégies de traitement, analyse, interprétation et communication des données de la Direction de l'Éducation. Acteur autonome, la Direction de l'Éducation de l'OCDE qui dirige, interprète et diffuse les résultats PISA de manière spécifique n'a guerre fait l'objet de recherches scientifiques. Cependant, de par sa portée globale, le taux élevé de produits PISA et leur usage répandu dans les sciences, la politique et les médias, l'OCDE est un acteur important qui influence l'interprétation et l'usage des données et des résultats PISA. Par l'examen de l'action et de l'argumentation de la Direction de l'Éducation avec PISA, ce travail veut contribuer à expliquer l'influence globale de l'OCDE sur les politiques en éducation internationales. Ce travail se fonde sur une approche ethnographique. Il se base sur les connaissances et expériences que la chercheuse a obtenu par une participation observante dans la Direction de l'Éducation de l'OCDE ainsi que sur les connaissances obtenues avec des entretiens d'experts du personnel de la Direction de l'Éducation. En outre, avec l'analyse de documents des publications PISA, les spécificités du processus de production de connaissances de l'OCDE sont étudiées. Les résultats de ce travail montrent une production de connaissances croissante, à partir des données PISA, au Secrétariat de l'OCDE entre 2001 et 2014, qui s'accompagne d'un nombre croissant de publications et de matériaux, des nouvelles formes d'analyse de données ainsi qu'une communication des résultats en direction d'un public croissant, afin d'augmenter l'influence politique, pratique et sociale de l'enquête et de ses résultats. L'exigence de la Direction de l'Éducation d'augmenter son attractivité auprès des politiques, des pratiques éducatives et de la société au sens large, est en partie en contradiction avec l'exigence d'une rigueur scientifique des résultats et conclusions de l'enquête PISA. En resumé, les résultats de ce travail plaident pour une politisation croissante de la production des connaissances avec PISA dans la Direction de l'Éducation depuis la première publication des résultats en 2001. / This study examines the process of knowledge production through the OECD Directorate for Education's Programme of International Student Assessment. The focus is on the mechanisms and strategies of objectivisation of the study and legitimatisation of the OECD as co-ordinator and knowledge producer with PISA, as well as the practices and strategies of data treatment, analysis, interpretation and communication in the OECD Directorate for Education. The OECD Directorate for Education, as an independent actor with a specific thematic orientation, interpretation and diffusion of PISA results has hardly been the focus of scholarly research. Yet, due to its global outreach, its high output rate of PISA products and the widespread use of its products in science, politics and media, the OECD is an important actor in shaping the interpretation and use of PISA data and results. By studying the acting and reasoning of the OECD Directorate for Education with PISA, this study intends to make a contribution to the understanding of the global influence of the OECD in international education policies. This study uses an ethnographic approach. It draws on knowledge and experiences which the researcher has gained through “observing participation” (Soulé, 2007) in the OECD Directorate for Education as well as on knowledge obtained from expert interviews with OECD staff members. Features of the knowledge production of the OECD were also studied by doing document analysis of PISA publications. The findings of this study show an increasing knowledge production with PISA data in the OECD Secretariat between 2001 and 2014, visible in the growing number of publications and materials, but also in new forms of data analysis as well as in public oriented data communication with the aim of raising the relevance of the study and its results in politics, educational practice and society. The pretension of the OECD Directorate for Education to achieve the highest possible attention from society, media and politics is partly in contradiction with the claim for scientific rigour of the results and inferences. Overall, the findings of this thesis suggest a growing politicisation of the knowledge production with PISA in the OECD's Directorate for Education since the publication of first PISA results in 2001. / Die Forschungsarbeit untersucht den Prozess der Erkenntnisproduktion mit dem Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA), der sich innerhalb des OECD-Bildungsdirektorat vollzieht. Im Zentrum stehen Mechanismen und Strategien zur Objektivierung der Studie und zur Legitimierung der OECD als Koordinator von und Wissensproduzent mit PISA, sowie Praktiken und Strategien der Datenaufbereitung, -analyse, -interpretation und -kommunikation im OECD-Bildungsdirektorat. Das OECD-Bildungsdirektorat als eigenständig handelnder Akteur mit einer spezifischen inhaltlichen Ausrichtung, Interpretation und Verbreitung von PISA-Ergebnissen stand bisher kaum im Fokus der Forschung. Dabei ist die OECD aufgrund ihrer globalen Reichweite, ihrer hohen Output Rate an PISA Produkten und der weit verbreiteten Nutzung ihrer Produkte in Wissenschaft, Politik und Medien ein bedeutender Akteur, der die Öffentlichkeit hinsichtlich der Deutung und Nutzung von PISA-Daten und Erkenntnissen prägt. Durch die Untersuchung des Handelns und Räsonierens des OECD-Bildungsdirektorat mit PISA möchte diese Arbeit einen Beitrag dazu leisten, den weltweiten Einfluss der OECD auf die internationale Bildungspolitik zu erklären. Der Arbeit liegt ein ethnographischer Ansatz zu Grunde. Sie stützt sich auf Kenntnisse und Erfahrungen, die von der Forscherin im Rahmen einer beobachtenden Teilnahme im OECD-Bildungsdirektorat erworben wurden sowie auf Wissen, das mittels Experteninterviews mit Angestellten des OECD-Bildungsdirektorats gewonnen wurde. Zudem wurden mittels Dokumentenanalyse anhand von PISA-Publikationen Besonderheiten in der Erkenntnisproduktion der OECD untersucht. Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit zeigen eine wachsende Erkenntnisproduktion mit PISA-Daten im OECD Sekretariat im Zeitraum von 2001 bis 2014, sichtbar in einer zunehmenden Anzahl an Publikationen und Materialien, neuer Arten von Datenanalyse sowie einer zunehmend öffentlichkeitswirksamen Datenkommunikation um den politischen, bildungspraktischen und gesellschaftlichen Einfluss der Studie und ihrer Ergebnisse auszubauen. Der Anspruch des OECD-Bildungsdirektorats mit PISA möglichst hohe gesellschaftliche, mediale und politische Aufmerksamkeit auf sich zu ziehen steht zum Teil im Widerspruch mit dem Anspruch an die wissenschaftliche Güte der Ergebnisse und ihren Schlussfolgerungen. Insgesamt sprechen die Ergebnisse für eine zunehmende Politisierung der Erkenntnisproduktion mit PISA im OECD-Bildungsdirektorat seit Veröffentlichung der ersten Ergebnisse im Jahr 2001.