This thesis explores how ontological security shapes Ukrainian memory politics in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Russian invasion's effect on ontological security. Despite their interdependence, ontological security and memory politics are seldomly studied together. Ukrainian memory politics, particularly in the post-Soviet era and after the implementation of the 2015 decommunization laws, have attracted European scholarly attention, as the Russo-Ukrainian (Memory) war has impacted Self and Identity on multiple levels. Furthermore, the thesis highlights the role of memory political measures in creating securitized unitary narratives, emphasizing the significance of memory for stability of Self. While unpopular at first, the decommunization laws emerged from the conflict and enhanced ontological security by solidifying a common Identity.

Dans cette thèse, j'étudie les pratiques de sorcellerie et de guérison chez les Khasi, une communauté tribale du nord-est de l'Inde. Ceux-ci forment la majorité de la population de l'état du Meghalaya. À la suite de la colonisation britannique, ils se sont principalement convertis au Christianisme. Cependant, malgré leur adoption d’un mode de vie ancrée dans la modernité et les changements socioculturels subséquents, les discours sur la sorcellerie prévalent encore aujourd'hui. Selon les Khasi, les pratiques de sorcellerie sont encore très répandues et plusieurs malédictions continuent d'affecter la population. Afin de lutter contre ce fléau, la guérison traditionnelle est fréquemment recherchée. Pour les Khasi, la preuve de l’existence de la sorcellerie se trouve dans les symptômes physiques ressentis par les victimes et par les morts mystérieuses qui se succèdent. Afin de mieux comprendre la réalité de la sorcellerie chez les Khasi, j'utilise l'approche théorique et méthodologique du tournant ontologique en anthropologie. Elle permet de jeter une lumière nouvelle sur l’étude de la sorcellerie. En effet, tout au long de l'histoire de l’anthropologie, les chercheurs ont voulu donner un sens à l'ensemble complexe de croyances et de pratiques qu'est la sorcellerie. Ils l'ont surtout expliqué comme faisant partie de la rationalité des peuples «primitifs», ou en réaction à des bouleversements sociaux. Le tournant ontologique apporte une nouvelle manière de comprendre la sorcellerie et sa réalité. Dans cette thèse, je m’appuie sur les travaux de Strathern, Descola et Viveiros De Castro, entre autres, pour montrer comment la sorcellerie peut être construite comme une réalité pour les anthropologues et les personnes qu'ils étudient. Je cherche à répondre à plusieurs questions : qu’est-ce que la sorcellerie pour les habitants du Meghalaya ? Comment la conceptualisent-ils ? Et quelle devrait être ma position d’anthropologue en matière de sorcellerie ? J'explore d'abord l'histoire sociopolitique des Khasi. Je présente un survol des événements marquants de l'histoire régionale récente, avant de souligner les particularités culturelles du groupe. Je démontre ensuite comment le paysage de guérison de Meghalaya est varié : on y retrouve des guérisseurs de religion tribale, hindoue, chrétienne et musulmane. Je donne un aperçu de leur approche respective de la sorcellerie. Je me concentre ensuite sur l'écosystème du mal à Meghalaya, expliquant et détaillant les principales malédictions affectant les Khasi et leurs voisins. Je présente la quête thérapeutique d’une famille qui a souffert de nombreuses pertes et tragédies et qui a cherché de l’aide auprès de guérisseurs de diverses confessions et ethnicités. À la suite de cette analyse, je définis la sorcellerie et la guérison selon le monde ontologique Khasi. Ces définitions émergent de la construction de la personne chez les Khasi et de la relation qu'ils entretiennent avec des entités non humaines. Dans leur monde ontologique, il est possible d'être maudit par des entités maléfiques et de guérir grâce aux dieux et déesses. Cette réalité est construite et validée à la fois par les guérisseurs et leurs patients. Ils partagent pour la plupart une compréhension commune du monde et du réel. / In this thesis, I study the practices of witchcraft among the Khasi, a tribal people of northeast India. The Khasi form most of the population of the state of Meghalaya. Following British colonization, they mainly converted to Christianity. However, despite adopting a modern lifestyle and the major socio-cultural changes it has brought, discourse on witchcraft still prevails today. According to the Khasi, witchcraft practices are widespread, and several curses continue to affect the population. In order to fight this scourge, traditional healing is frequently sought by the Khasi. From their point of view, proof of the existence of witchcraft can be found in the physical symptoms experienced by the victims and the mysterious deaths of many people. To better understand reality of witchcraft for the Khasi, I use the theoretical and methodological approach of the ontological shift in anthropology, because it sheds new light on the study of witchcraft. Indeed, throughout the history of anthropology, researchers have sought to make sense of the complex set of practices that is witchcraft. They have explained it as part of the rationality of "primitive" peoples, or as a reaction to social woes. The ontological turn offers a new way of understanding witchcraft and its reality. In this thesis, I draw upon the work of Strathern, Descola, and Viveiros De Castro, among others, to show how witchcraft can be constructed as a reality for both anthropologists and the people they study. I seek to answer several questions: what is witchcraft for the inhabitants of Meghalaya? How do they conceptualize it? How is this conception of witchcraft defined and redefined in a contemporary world? And finally, what should be my position as an anthropologist in regard to witchcraft? To answer these questions, I first explore the socio-political history of the Khasi, presenting a survey of the significant events in recent regional history, before highlighting the cultural particularities of the group. I then demonstrate how the healing landscape of Meghalaya is varied. I divide these practices according to the religion of the healers: tribal, Hindu, Christian and Muslim, and give an overview of their respective approach to witchcraft. I then focus on the ecosystem of evil in Meghalaya, explaining and detailing the major curses affecting the Khasi and their neighbours. I present the therapeutic quest of a family that had suffered many losses and sought out healers of different faiths and ethnicities. Considering this analysis, I define witchcraft and healing as it appears in the Khasi ontological world and show how they emerge from the construction of personhood among the Khasi, and from the relationship they have with non-human entities. The Khasi build an ontological world where it is possible to be cursed by evil entities and to be healed by gods and goddesses. This reality is constructed and validated by both healers and their patients. For the most part, they share a common understanding of the world and of what is real.

[pt] Este trabalho se constitui como um exercício tradutório especulativo que se realiza entre os universos conceituais do povo Araweté (povo Tupi-Guarani) e da cosmologia contemporânea, tal como apresentados pelo antropólogo Eduardo Viveiros de Castro e pelo cosmólogo Mario Novello, respectivamente. Parte-se, de um lado, da reivindicação fundamental que a cosmologia contemporânea faz de pensar a si própria através da recuperação da distinção entre as propriedades locais e globais do cosmos, levando à necessidade de um agenciamento da relação entre elas; e, de outro, da maneira como a antropologia contemporânea se pensa como um procedimento de tradução entre universos de pensamento que se dá pela explicitação das diferenças existentes entre eles, tal como proposto por Viveiros de Castro. Assim orientada, a pesquisa busca identificar na interpretação feita por Viveiros de Castro dos Araweté aquilo que poderia ser reconhecido como local e global, para então responder à seguinte questão: que efeitos seriam produzidos no conceito de cosmologia, tal como pensado desde o ponto de vista crítico de Novello, quando concebido desde o ponto de vista Araweté, produzido por tal interpretação? Com intenção de fazer jus àquilo que a antropologia hoje coloca como ação fundamental para si enquanto prática, levar a sério o pensamento do outro, este trabalho propõe como resultado principal uma imagem de cosmologia que, ao invés de se pensar através da necessidade de encontrar a solidariedade máxima entre diferentes aspectos de um mesmo mundo (uma forma de produzir coerência entre aspectos locais e globais), seria aquilo que só se constitui quando se relacionam universos ontológicos distintos a partir de um modelo de relação que, para garantir a diferença existente entre esses mundos, precisa ser de transformação. Pensada dessa maneira, a cosmologia, ao invés de oferecer uma imagem de mundo como sendo aquilo que se constitui a partir do que há de comum entre os diferentes pontos de vista que o compõem, propõe, de outra maneira, um mundo que só existe quando universos distintos podem se relacionar, de forma tal que a diferença existente entre eles seja total. / [en] This work is constituted as a speculative translational exercise conducted between the conceptual universe of the (Tupi-Guarani) Araweté people and contemporary cosmology, as presented by the anthropologist Eduardo Viveiros de Castro and the cosmologist Mario Novello, respectively. The starting point for this work lies, first, in the fundamental claims made by contemporary cosmology as it recovers a distinction between local and global cosmological properties, leading to an assemblage of the relation between them. Second, it also begins withcontemporary anthropology s understanding of itself as a procedure for translating between conceptual worlds by making the differences between them explicit, as proposed by Viveiros de Castro. In this way, and through Viveiros de Castro s interpretation of Araweté cosmology, this research seeks to identify what could be taken as their views on the local and the global, in order to respond to the following question: what effects are produced on the concept of cosmology,critically defined by Novello, when conceived through the Araweté point of view, as interpreted by Viveiros de Castro? With the aim of doing justice to the practice that contemporary anthropology identifies as fundamental for itself, taking seriously other ways of thinking, this dissertation proposes that a primary result is an image of cosmology that – rather than seeking maximum solidarity between the different aspects of a single world (which is one way of producing coherence between local and global aspects) – could only be constituted when different ontological universes are placed in relation to each other. This requires a relational model that needs to be transformational to guarantee the differences between those worlds. Thought about in this way, instead of offering an image of one world as constituted through what is common between different points of view, cosmologycould propose, in another way, a world that only exists when distinct universes engage each other through total difference.

Theories in International Relations, often refered to as traditional, has an increasing difficulty in understanding conflict developments that – from their perspective – are considered irrational. The following study problematizes this issue by applying an ontological security perspective on the russian legitimatization of the full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which arguable constitutes such an empirical example. This is done concretely by providing two guiding research questions. These are: What main narratives, that legitimazes Russias warfare in Ukraine, could be identified in the 2022 mobilization- and annexation speeches by Putin? As well as: How can this narrative legitimization be understood based on ontological security theory? The process of answering these questions is designed through Brymans thematic content analysis, which is being applied on the speeches concerned. Three russian narratives could, as a conclusion, be identified and considered as main themes. These are the narrative of Russia as a rightous actor, the narrative about a Russia influenced Ukraine and the narrative about a hostile West, respectively. Further, conceptual definitions of ontological security are turned into more explicit sub questions in order to stimulate a wider discussion in the analytical chapter. The conclusion thereafter shows that the mentioned narrative legitimization can be understood as an expression of russian identity security seeking, and thus a view of security as ”being” rather than ”survival”.

Levels of loneliness are high in young adults, meanwhile they are the most connected generations ever through social media. Potential links between loneliness and the increased use of social media is of sociological interest to study. Potential gender differences are also of interest as previous research has mixed views on whether there are differences or not. The purpose of this study is to explore whether age is a factor in loneliness for young adults (18-35 year olds), and whether there are gender differences. Furthermore, the connection between perceived negative experience of social media usage and loneliness levels is studied. Potential gender differences in this connection are also studied as a variable. The theoretical frames used are Giddens (1996) ontological security and Connell and Pearse (2015) gender socialization framework. The approach used is a quantitative method. The data was collected through a digital survey spread through personal networks, workplaces, and the Facebook group “Dom kallar oss studenter”. The data was then analyzed through multivariate regressions. The results show that the majority of observations did not show a prominent level of loneliness, and that gender does not have an impact. However, these results were not significant. There seems to be a link between perceived negative impact of social media usage and levels of loneliness. Gender does however not seem to have an impact on this connection. / Ensamheten är hög bland unga, trots att de, via sociala medier, är den mest uppkopplade generationen någonsin. Därmed är det potentiella sambandet mellan ensamhet och sociala medier av sociologiskt intresse att undersöka. Potentiella könsskillnader är även av intresse att inkludera eftersom tidigare forskning har lett till delade uppfattningar om skillnader i upplevd ensamhet på grund av kön. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om huruvida ålder är en determinant för unga vuxna i åldern 18-35 år. Genom att särskilt fokusera på genusskillnader och utforska möjliga samband mellan ensamhet och sociala medier ämnar studien att bidra till en djupare förståelse av de faktorer som kan påverka graden av ensamhet i denna åldersgrupp. Den teoretiska referensramen som har använts för studien är Giddens (1996) begrepp ontologisk trygghet och Connell och Pearse (2015) genus- och kön socialiseringsteori. Studien genomfördes genom kvantitativ metod och datainsamling genom en digital enkät. Datainsamlingen skedde genom personliga nätverk, arbetsplatser, och Facebook Gruppen “Dom kallar oss studenter”. Datan analyserades genom multivariate regressionsanalyse. Studiens resultat visar att majoriteten av observationerna inte upplevde en hög nivå av ensamhet, och att det inte fanns några betydande könsskillnader. Dessa resultat var dock inte signifikant. Däremot verkar det finnas ett samband mellan den negativa upplevelsen av användningen av sociala medier och ensamhet nivå. Kön verkar inte ha någon påverkan på detta samband.

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Uppsatsens syfte är att studera hur USA (re)producerar eller säkrar en specifik version av sin identitet genom att lämna det internationella kärnenergiavtalet med Iran eller JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action). Studien går bortom de traditionella perspektiven inom säkerhetsstudier och inkluderar identitet som något som kan bli hotat och skyddat. Enligt poststrukturalisten David Campbell säkrar den amerikanska staten sin identitet genom representationer av fara eller genom porträtteringen av den Andra som ett hot i diskurser. Dessa identitetsrepresentationer analyseras i Donald Trumps JCPOA-tal med hjälp av Laclau och Mouffes diskursiva metod. Studien visar att Iran bidrar till att ge USA en bild av sig själv som en fredsfrämjande stat, som en ansvarsfull världsledare som tar ansvar över den nationella, regionala och internationella freden och säkerheten. / The aim of the study is to investigate how the U.S. (re)produces or secures a particular version of its political identity through its foreign policy towards Iran. More specifically through its withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal or JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action). The study goes beyond conventional security studies and includes identity as something that can be threatened and secured. Accordning to the Poststructuralist David Campbell the American state secures its identity through representations of danger or through the depiction of the Other as a threat in discourse. These identity representations are analyzed in Donald Trumps JCPOA statements with the help of Laclau and Mouffes discourse analytical method. The study shows that Iran provides the U.S. with a sense of it self as a peace promoting state, a responsible world leader that takes responsibility over national, regional and international peace and security.

[pt] A presente tese visa analisar como questões relacionadas ao meio ambiente - em especial, às mudanças climáticas - interagem com os entendimentos locais acerca da segurança, em comunidades que se mostram profundamente afetadas por esses problemas e que, ao mesmo tempo, encontram-se profundamente excluídas dos debates teóricos de segurança. Em meio aos Estudos de Segurança Internacional (ESI), a crise climática persiste em ser analisada a partir de uma dinâmica estadocêntrica, militarizada e de nós x outros. Quando não é esse o caso, os desafios ambientais são enquadrados a partir de uma lógica de segurança humana, animada por um entendimento moderno e liberal acerca do que a segurança deveria ser e, portanto, desconsiderando entendimentos e necessidades locais. (Shani, 2017). Ao focar em narrativas não-científicas sobre segurança, esta tese visa expor as contingências dos discursos hegemônicos verificados em meios aos ESI que, longe de se mostrarem racionais e fundamentados em uma descrição autêntica da realidade, contribuem para agravar os desafios enfrentados por alguns indivíduos, como os Marshalleses. Animados pelos discursos racionais promovidos por pensadores realistas e dos estudos estratégicos, durante a Guerra Fria, as Ilhas Marshall se tornaram palco de testes de 67 armas termonucleares. Tais armas – consideradas pelos teóricos e pelos policy-makers como fonte de poder e como meio legítimo de se obter segurança – vaporizaram ilhas, forçaram a evacuação permanente de comunidades, romperam com a organização social matriarcal e baseada na posse de terras característica das Ilhas Marshall e com os laços ancestrais entre indivíduos e seus atóis. Mais recentemente, o arquipélago e seus habitantes se mostram novamente em risco, dessa vez, não pelas práticas de segurança das superpotências, mas por uma ameaça não intencional e despersonalizada. As mudanças climáticas se caracterizam como a mais recente forma de intervenção, sendo precedidas por uma longa lista de práticas coloniais e violentas direcionadas ao arquipélago. Como uma nação constituída por atóis, é muito provável que, como resultado dos efeitos climáticos, as Ilhas Marshall se tornem inabitáveis ainda ao longo deste século. Para os Marshalleses, tal cenário significaria uma perda incomensurável em termos territoriais, espirituais e culturais. Ao analisar casos como o das Ilhas Marshall, a tese busca explorar quais novos significados e racionalidades de segurança podem emergir, ou se tornar mais proeminentes, face aos desafios trazidos pela mudança do clima. Desta forma, a teoria da segurança ontológica é apresentada como um marco teórico fértil para analisar casos em que o que parece em risco não é apenas a segurança física de estados nacionais, indivíduos e ecossistemas, mas também a preservação de espaços sociais e materiais e de um senso de continuidade biográfica. (Giddens, 1990) A partir deste movimento crítico, busca-se enfatizar outros modos de se refletir e de se vivenciar a (in)segurança, de modo a lançar luzes sobre como o significado deste conceito mostra-se indissociável dos contextos políticos, culturais e emocionais em meio aos quais os discursos de segurança emergem. / [en] This thesis seeks to analyze the ways through which issues related to the environment, especially climate change, interact with local conceptualizations of security in communities which are severely threatened by these problems and, at the same time, profoundly excluded from security studies debates. Within International Security Studies (ISS), the climate crisis persists in being analyzed through state-centered, militarized and us x others dynamics. When this is not the case, environmental challenges are placed within a human security logics, animated by a modern and liberal understanding of what is supposed to be secure and thus, disregarding the role of local understandings and needs. (Shani, 2017) By focusing on non-scientific security narratives, I expect to unveil the contingencies of the hegemonic discourses within ISS that, rather than being rational and based on an authentic description of reality, contribute to aggravating the security challenges faced by some individuals, such as the Marshallese. Animated by rational security discourses promoted by realist and strategist thinkers, during the Cold War, the Marshall Islands was turned into a testing ground for 67 thermonuclear weapons. The bombs - considered by security theorists and policy-makers both as a source of power and as a legitimate way to obtain security – vaporized islands, forced the permanent evacuation of entire communities, disrupted the Marshallese land-based matrilineal organization and their ancestral ties to their atolls. Nowadays, the Marshallese archipelago and its inhabitants are once again being challenged: not by the military security goals of superpowers, but by an unintended and depersonalized threat. Climate change is the latest form of intervention, being preceded by a long list of other colonial and violent practices. As a low-lying atoll nation, it is very likely that the Marshall Islands will become inhospitable until the middle of the century as a result of the deteriorating climate effects. For the islanders, it will represent an immeasurable loss of territorial, spiritual and cultural references. In relying on cases such as the Marshallese, I aim to explore what new meanings and rationalities of security can emerge, or become more prominent, in the face of the challenges brought on by climate change. With this aim, the ontological security theory is presented as an insightful framework for the analysis of these cases where, what seams at risk is not only a physical survival of states, individuals and ecosystems, but also the preservation of a stable social and material environment of action and a sense of biographical continuity. (Giddens, 1990) With this critical move, I seek to emphasize other ways of thinking and experiencing (in)security; thus, enlightening how the meaning of this concept is undissociated from the political, cultural and emotional contexts from which security discourses emerge.

Addiction is one of the most significant problems facing contemporary society. Consequently many scholars, institutions and clinicians have sought to understand this complex phenomenon, as is evident in the abundance of etiological models of addiction in existence today. A literature review pointed that there is little consensus regarding the nature and etiopathogenesis of addiction, and integrative models have not yet been able to provide the sought-after integration. In addressing this problem, this study offers a theoretical analysis of the paradigmatic and meta-paradigmatic suitability of Integral Theory in the design of an integrated metatheory of addiction. The data consisted of the most prominent etiological theories and models of addiction. The study focused on several essential features constituting the architectonic of any metatheory that attempts to provide conceptual scaffolding for the construction of a comprehensive metatheory of addiction. The criteria for the construction of a metatheory were conceptual integration, ontological span, ontological depth, empirical validity and internal consistency. Integral Theory was critically assessed in terms of each of the abovementioned criteria. The study suggests that Integral Theory is eminently suitable as a philosophical foundation for the development of an integrated metatheory of addiction. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

Addiction is one of the most significant problems facing contemporary society. Consequently many scholars, institutions and clinicians have sought to understand this complex phenomenon, as is evident in the abundance of etiological models of addiction in existence today. A literature review pointed that there is little consensus regarding the nature and etiopathogenesis of addiction, and integrative models have not yet been able to provide the sought-after integration. In addressing this problem, this study offers a theoretical analysis of the paradigmatic and meta-paradigmatic suitability of Integral Theory in the design of an integrated metatheory of addiction. The data consisted of the most prominent etiological theories and models of addiction. The study focused on several essential features constituting the architectonic of any metatheory that attempts to provide conceptual scaffolding for the construction of a comprehensive metatheory of addiction. The criteria for the construction of a metatheory were conceptual integration, ontological span, ontological depth, empirical validity and internal consistency. Integral Theory was critically assessed in terms of each of the abovementioned criteria. The study suggests that Integral Theory is eminently suitable as a philosophical foundation for the development of an integrated metatheory of addiction. / Psychology / M. A. (Psychology)