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The thesis delves into the concept of digital afterlife and its potential impact on the relationship between the deceased and the bereaved. Here the study explores the notion of being digitally immortal to stay in touch with the people left behind. It uses speculative design to envision future technologies that could enable digital resurrection, allowing individuals to interact with virtual representations of their loved ones. A participatory design workshop using speculation as a thought experiment was organized to create artefacts using a generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) program. These ideas and digital artefacts were set in the preferred future using the “what if” narrative to discard the aspect of feasibility and help participants visualize contexts and scenarios as well as open critical discussions. The study reveals various forms of digital afterlife, from realistic avatars in VR environments to abstract representations, and the importance of presence and immersion in creating a sense of connection with the deceased. Additionally, it discusses the tension between control and autonomy, as bereaved individuals seek to maintain power over the digital presence of loved ones, while also empathizing with the rights and autonomy of the deceased within the virtual realm. The speculative design approach facilitates critical discussions on the potential societal impact of digital afterlife technologies, highlighting the importance of responsible design and regulation. Finally, in accordance with the posthumanism lens, the complexity observed by the entanglement of the digital and the virtual realm has been demonstrated.

Riverine avulsion is a radical divergence of a riverbed. In this dissertation, I take this movement as a paradigm for understanding the features of radical change. I develop a model for understanding the essential features of radical change. I argue that the main features involved in avulsion are tension, abandonment, and material freedom. In my analysis, tension provides the catalyst for change, such that it pressurizes complex systems of organization to the point of collapse. I use Catherine Malabou's work on denegation to understand the collapse of a system as an accident; the rupture of a system entails that it is no longer affirmed nor negated, it is abandoned by the process of becoming. Utilizing the work of Deleuze, I present the moment of rupture itself as the moment where materiality breaks free from the restrictions of an organizing system to becoming consolidated into countless new forms of organization. In my analysis of the ontology of avulsion, I employ a new materialist process of becoming to capture the complex networks of relations involved in the moment of creation. I challenge these Deleuzean and new materialist fields of philosophy over their affinity for affirmation by integrating accidental abandonment. Finally, I propose a potentiality for the freedom of materiality as a transcendental property of all systems of organization, thereby revealing their precarious continuity and inevitable abandonment.

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In reading The story of Edgar Sawtelle, this essay applies posthuman studies with animal studies and disability studies to analyse how the communication between species occur and how boundaries are expanded. Non-verbal language is closely examined and argued to be just as viable as verbal language in the making of relationships and subjects in literature. By applying posthumanism, biological research and a non-anthropocentric way of thinking one can evolve from the notion that humans are the only subjects which matter, something that has been verified because non-human animals never have been given a voice or an acknowledgment of a language. What happens in a novel when the main protagonist is lacking the ability to speak verbally, when verbal language is what has constructed human exceptionalism over all the other species? / Denna uppsats tillämpar posthumanistiska studier med djurstudier och funktionshinder-studier för att analysera hur kommunikationen mellan arter äger rum och expanderar gränser i David Wroblewskis roman The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. Icke-verbalt språk undersöks och argumenteras vara lika betydande som verbalt språk vid skapandet av relationer och subjekt i litteratur. Genom att applicera posthumanism, biologisk forskning och ett icke-antropocentriskt sätt att tänka kan man avveckla tanken om att människan är det enda subjekt som räknas, detta är något som enbart verifierats eftersom icke-mänskliga djur aldrig fått någon agens eller bekräftande att de har rätten till en röst. Vad händer i en roman när protagonisten saknar förmågan till verbalt språk, när det verbala språket är central som verkning i mänsklig exceptionalism?

Introduction: This is a two years master's thesis in Museum and Cultural Heritage Studies. The purpose of this thesis was to critically examine discourses of sustainable cultural tourism, and how different sustainability dimensions and ideals can coexist and be applied in practice. The starting point was a case study of the World Heritage Site “The Hanseatic town of Visby”, where the relationship between the conservation and the availability of the world heritage site was investigated. The research questions that were formulated were which actors and agendas that cooperate in the production of sustainable heritage tourism, how global and national guidelines for sustainable cultural tourism correspond to the local development work of the Visby world heritage city, which are the prominent discourses in the documents on sustainable heritage tourism in the world heritage city of Visby and how they are described as well as whether there is opposition between the conservation and the availability of cultural heritage, and what potential solutions to such opposition can look like. Theory: Prior to the study, previous research on sustainability, sustainable heritage tourism and the world heritage site Visby has been studied and used as a springboard for the thesis research questions. The theoretical perspectives that were used in the analysis consisted of theories regarding sustainable tourism, posthumanism, system theory and authorized heritage discourse, AHD. Method: The method chosen for the study was Laclau & Mouffes discourse analysis. This enabled a closer examination of the development plans and documents on sustainable heritage tourism produced by local, national and global actors. This was complemented with short interviews with thirteen stakeholders. Results and analysis: The result and analysis showed that several different actors and agendas are involved in the production of sustainable heritage tourism. However, there are difficulties in letting all actors get their voices heard and being part of the decision-making process, such as the local population, which are often disregarded. In addition, interaction between different actors could get better with more clearly defined areas of responsibility. The result also showed that, in particular, the concepts of sustainability and sustainable develop-ment were used in the documents about the development of the world heritage city of Visby, but the concept of sustainable heritage tourism was rarely used. The Swedish National Heritage Board and the region of Gotland are currently working on developing sustainable tourism strategies. At present, however, there is unclear correspondence between global guidelines and local application, where it is up to the municipalities to interpret and apply Unesco’s guidelines themselves, which may be difficult since the guidelines are quite general and vague. The study also showed that there are three clear discourses in the documents about sustainable heritage tourism. Under the overall discourse of sustainable tourism in Visby there is an ecological discourse, an economic discourse and a social discourse. In all documents, sustainable tourism is described as consisting of three discourses, but there is great freedom of interpretation in the use of the term. The discourses are also prioritized and described differently in different documents. Conclusion: The study's conclusion is that there are both oppositions and solutions. Both documents and interviews show that there are oppositions between ecological, economic and social interests in a place like the world heritage site in Visby. At the same time, there are also various suggestions for how the different dimensions can coexist and the actors were generally optimistic. Basically, it is about finding a balance between conservation and accessibility, taking into account both contemporary and future interests. Suggested solutions are to work further with information and knowledge, improve interaction between different actors, work with conservation-based development, productize heritage, better interaction with the local society, develop creative industries in historical buildings, and include visitors in the conservation work. However, most voices agree that the issue is difficult and complex and requires more knowledge and research.

Syftet med denna studie är att försöka utreda vilken roll arkitektoniska icke-människor spelar för skapandet av socialt samspel i en ekoby. För att utreda detta utgår studien från ett antal posthumanistiska teoribildningar, främst actor-network theory och begreppet materielldiskursiv. Dessa teoribildningar anser att även icke-människor, så som hus och brevlådor, ska ses som medskapare till världen men att deras agens bestäms av vilka andra aktörer de kopplar ihop sig med i nätverk. Genom observationer och intervjuer med sju boende i en ekoby har material insamlats om det sociala samspelet i ekobyn. Empirin vittnar om att många olika icke-människor spelar en roll för skapandet av det sociala samspelet som uppstår där. Det handlar bland annat om att gemensamhetshus ger plats för gemensamma aktiviteter, att öppna gräsytor möjliggör lek och att brevlådor uppmanar till rörelse. I sig själv skapar dock inte de arkitektoniska icke-människorna socialt samspel. För att de ska få den betydelsen behöver de användas och tolkas av andra aktörer. Svaret på frågeställningen blir följaktligen att de arkitektoniska icke-människorna spelar en roll för att socialt samspel uppstår i ekobyn men vilken roll de spelar är beroende av vilka andra aktörer som de kopplar ihop sig med. / The purpose of this study is to try to investigate the role that architectural non-humans play for the creation of social interaction in an eco-village. In doing this, the study uses a number of post-humanist theories. Mainly actor-network theory and the material-discursive concept. These state that even non-humans, like houses or mailboxes, are to be seen as co-creators of actions, but that their possible roles are decided by which other actors they attach to in a network. Through observations and interviews with seven residents of an eco-village, the information was gathered. The empirical data shows that many different non-humans are taking an active role in the creating of the social interactions that goes on in the eco-village. To mention a few, the community hall gives room for group activities, open lawns create a possibility for child’s play and mailboxes call for physical movement. In themselves, however, the nonhuman actors do not create social interaction. It is only when used by and interpreted by other actors that they gain their active role. The answer to the question would consequently be that the architectural non-humans in the eco-village do play an active role in the creation of social interaction but that the role is dependent on the other actors that they connect to.

Den här studien har sin utgångspunkt i ett posthumanistiskt perspektiv – ett perspektiv som försöker få syn på materialiteten och dess roll i pedagogiska praktiker. Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur whiteboardtavlan används i förskolan och vilka relationer den tycks producera. Som insamlingsmetod användes deltagande videoobservation, som analysmetod - Aktör-nätverksteori (ANT). Observationerna gjordes på en storbarnsavdelning på en kommunal förskola i nordvästra Stockholm. Utifrån Aktör-nätverksteorin kunde tavlan förstås som en materiell-diskursiv aktör som ihop med andra aktörer ingår i olika nätverk i ett ständigt flöde av kopplingar och översättningar. Men den kan också förstås som en ”effektskapare” bortom de effekterna som den var tänkt att bidra med – och där många överraskande effekter träder fram i den fria leken. Om whiteboardtavlan på samlingen begränsar barnens möjligheter att agera fritt och bidrar till att en maktrelation förskolläraren-barn skapas och upprätthålls, så är det helt andra roller som gäller i den fria leken: tavlan skapar möjligheter till lärande och kreativitet, inbjuder till lek och samarbete och blir en mötesplats för olika barnkonstellationer. Den framgångsrika relationen barn-tavlan skulle dock inte varit möjlig utan andra aktörer i nätverk: pennor, suddborsteen, pennfacket och barnens fingrar/händer. Även kamrat- och mediakulturer i form av Angry Birds träder fram i den fria leken och kan ses som en diskursiv aktör som får allt mer inflytande i förskolans praktiker. Tavlan agens i den fria leken kan förstås som en viktig ”effekt” som inte är särskilt uppmärksammad av pedagogerna. Med whiteboardtavlan som aktör i rummet blir både barn och pedagoger något annorlunda.

The aim of this thesis is to gain knowledge of how automated decision-making in Swedish public authorities affects the ability to comply with the Swedish principle of public access to official records. This is done through a Posthumanist analysis of seven qualitative interviews. With the help of the actor-network theory concept of the nonhuman actor the underlying computer programs of automated decision-making is understood as an actor who, in interaction with human actors, affects the public sector´s ability to provide the public with valuable information about how they run their organizations. The interviews were conducted with employees at two Swedish public organizations: The Swedish Board of Student Finance and Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions. The respondents were asked what kind of insight in the underlying computer programs for automated decision-making that they themselves and the public thought was needed. The interviews were recorded and transcribed, and provided the material for the analysis. The study shows that the employees share the opinion that insight in the automated decision-making systems are not necessary for the public. As a consequence of this, the system developers are left with exclusive knowledge of how the public sector is making decisions and the decision-making becomes invisible for a majority of the public. This is not in line with the aim of the principle of public access to official records. This is a two years master’s thesis in Archival Science.