Throughout the course of this thesis, I argue that the prose of David Foster Wallace, specifically his posthumously published novel The Pale King, inhabits a middle ground between universal sincerity and the particularized authenticity of postmodern irony. I examine Lionel Trilling's definitions of sincerity and authenticity before moving toward an examination of the diverging critical response to Wallace's work, which, I argue, suggests that because so many critics have read his work as either inherently sincere or inherently authentic, his work inhabits a communal middle ground somewhere in between. To explain, I analyze Wallace's so-called manifesto of sincerity, "E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction," as well as other instances in interviews and conversations to develop a clearer understanding of what this middle ground consists of. Further, I analyze two passages in The Pale King in which characters seek to communicate moments of profound revelation. Though these characters finally fail to truly communicate these revelations, I argue that it is the communication itself that allows both communicator and listener, and thus both reader and writer, to experience a moment of, as Wallace puts it in The Pale King, "value for both sides, both people in the relation" (227). / Graduation date: 2012

Denna uppsats tittar närmare på fyra verk av Jenny Holzer. Hennes konstnärskap jämförs även med Guerilla Girls. Huvudmetoden utgörs av bildanalyser och jag presenterar också tolkningsmöjligheter utifrån ett genusperspektiv. Utöver detta har jag med en konsthistoriografisk undersökning fått fram hur den generella bilden av Holzer ser ut.

What is an economic crime? Who is an economic criminal? How do we speak of the phenomenon and what does they way we speak mean? The immediate result of the study is that there is a stereotype image of the economic criminal that is produced within peoples speech. This image contains characteristics that bring the subject, the economic criminal, far away from the traditional crime subject, and brings it closer to a non-criminal subject. This motion render possible that economic criminals can talk of themselves as “not bad people”, “normal” and “like everyone else”. The analysis has made clear that economic crime and economic criminals are conceptualizations that are under negotiation, there is no determined definition of these ideas. A transformed society has also an impact on economic criminals and economic crime. Perhaps the debate about the definition of the economic criminal and economic crime is symptomatic for the postmodern society we share?

Wangechi Mutu is an internationally recognized Kenyan-born artist who lives and works in Brooklyn. She creates collaged female figures composed of human, animal, object, and machine parts. Mutu’s constructions of the female body provide a transcultural critique on the female persona in Western culture. This paper contextualizes Mutu’s work and artistic strategies within feminist, postmodern, and postcolonial narratives on collage, while exploring whether collage strategies are particularly useful for feminist artists. In their fusion of machine and organism, Mutu’s characters are visual metaphors for feminist cyborgs, particularly those outlined by Donna Haraway. In this paper, I examine parallels between collage as an aesthetic strategy and the figure of the cyborg to suggest meaningful ways of approaching differences between women and how they experience life in contemporary Western culture.

My thesis is a critical essay thematically focused on the fate of the body in the postmodern condition. In this thesis a fundamental question is posed: What happens to the (postmodern) body under the double pressure of postmodern technology and culture? Is the postmodern body altered under the pressure of postmodern technology and culture? How contemporary thought and architecture impact the body will also be examined. This thesis discusses the above questions through several key concepts such as exilic conditions, heterotopias and ‘trans’ states of being. After elaborating on these issues, this thesis attempts to design an architectural project “Hamam Complex” on a unique natural island in the Bosporus strait that separates the Western and Eastern worlds.

My thesis is a critical essay thematically focused on the fate of the body in the postmodern condition. In this thesis a fundamental question is posed: What happens to the (postmodern) body under the double pressure of postmodern technology and culture? Is the postmodern body altered under the pressure of postmodern technology and culture? How contemporary thought and architecture impact the body will also be examined. This thesis discusses the above questions through several key concepts such as exilic conditions, heterotopias and ‘trans’ states of being. After elaborating on these issues, this thesis attempts to design an architectural project “Hamam Complex” on a unique natural island in the Bosporus strait that separates the Western and Eastern worlds.

<p>The democratic conditions in national states have change radically at the same time as the society has changed. Because of social and economic globalization processes, the states and government has lost power for the benefit of transnational and global institutions. That affects the democracy since the nation state earlier defined the domain of citizenship. At the same time, citizens’ confidence towards political parties and politicians has gone down. These trends have lead to a situation that is spoken about as the crisis of democracy. The globalization has however also created new possibilities for political arenas and way to be politically organized.</p><p>This thesis is about democracy; about being able to influence one’s own situation and the society one live in. It’s also about the protracted struggle between different groups to be able to do this. This field is very wide and the possible ways to examine it are endless, but the part that will be in focus here is the municipality of Norrköping. It will be about how the municipality, trough the Committee of Democracy, which is appointed by the municipal council, works with democracy, but also about how young people in Norrköping feels that they can influence and effect. The study is based on analysis of reports and interviews with representatives from the Committee of Democracy and on interviews with young people who are politically involved in social movements. The study is written from a discourse analysis approach and the theoretical frame of reference revolves around discourse, power, governmentality and theories about the postmodern society.</p>

自1970年代開始，「女性生殖（身體）自主權」的呼聲－爭取的主要是所謂的墮胎權－即伴隨著婦女運動的萌芽與發展，而始終具有一定的能見度，甚至成為婦女運動的主要訴求之一；與之相對（或者是對立）的，則是捍衛胎兒（胚胎）生命權的另一方。時至今日，與生殖自主權相關的墮胎爭議方興未艾，仍舊為法律爭議的焦點以及核心議題；另一方面，由於當代的醫療以及科學在技術上的進步與突破，雖一方面賦與了生殖更多的可能性，同時，也帶來了許多亟待解決的問題。無論是已紛擾半個世紀之久的墮胎權爭議，或者是被歸類為新興議題的生殖科技相關議題，概括觀之，這兩項爭議的論辯主軸，皆能夠廣義的包含在「生殖自由」－主張與生殖相關的私密行為，應交由個人自由決定，故必須盡可能地減少任何形式的干涉，以及「對於人類生命（human life）的保護」－主張應賦予任何形式的人類生命最低限度的生命權保障，或者至少為某種生命倫理的概念所約束，因而不應全然地任由個人恣意決定，這兩個彼此相互衝突的上位概念之下。 　　在《生命領域》（Life’s Dominion）一書的前半部，德沃金（Ronald Dworkin）由墮胎爭議出發，提出超越選擇權（pro-choice）與生命權（pro-life）的折衷觀點，主張無論是懷孕女性或者是胎兒（胚胎），其生命的神聖性與生命的內在價值，皆應納入考量並同時予以尊重，試圖為當代已陷入對立僵局的墮胎爭議，尋求某種和解之道。而康奈爾（Drucilla Cornell）所抱持的後現代女性主義立場則格外強調，墮胎爭議的論辯與解決，必須有女性觀點與意見的加入、甚至必須全盤採納，期能以更設身處地的方式，探討女性在社會以及性別結構中的處境，並聚焦於女性面臨墮胎決定時的兩難困境，為原本中性（neutral）、超然的墮胎爭議，帶入不可忽視的經驗性面向的討論。 　　德沃金與康奈爾皆分別針對墮胎爭議，提出其各自的看法與意見，而兩者所採取的立場以及所支持的見解，則各有其獨到之處；此外，德沃金與康奈爾在具體的墮胎爭議中所顯現的態度與提出的主張，也反映了德沃金與康奈爾其各自理論在立論基礎上的類似點以及相異之處。比較兩者理論的異同，對於我們以有別於以往的視野，觀照墮胎爭議的論辯－尤其在自主個人與社群關係的連結、針對正義理論所進行的反省，以及對於法律體系的架構與本質所採取的觀點等面向上，格外有所裨益；大致上來說，德沃金乃以自由主義脈絡及其整全性理論為基調，探討上述幾個理論發展的軸線，康奈爾則是以女性主義與後現代的角度，對這些議題進行處理。在針對墮胎爭議而提出的具體主張中，德沃金與康奈爾的相關論述所各自蘊含的深厚理論基礎，不僅開拓了墮胎議題討論的深度與廣度；另一方面，在墮胎爭議的論辯中，德沃金與康奈爾所採取的觀點以及立論基礎，亦提供了我們在處理當代生殖科技發展所帶來的新爭議時，一些重要的思考切入點與紛爭解決的大方向。 / Since the 1970's, the right of women’s reproductive self-determination has been put forward as one of the principal claim along with the developments of women’s liberation movements. Against this stream, those who defend right to life of fetus (embryo) called “pro-life” camp are in opposite position. Up to now, the controversy over "pro-choice" and “pro-life” is still clamoring. Besides, “abortion” as an important subject of debate is also what legal disputes focus on. On the other hand, the progress of the contemporary science, technology, and medical treatments even make reproduction techniques advance, thus create more possibilities on reproduction. Accompanied with such developments, lots of issues about new reproductive technologies are brought about and call for immediate solutions. Arguments on abortion which have assailed for a half century as well as reproductive technologies developing in recent decades and approximately esteemed as newly arisen subjects; in general, whether abortion disputes or new issues of reproductive technologies are both involved in the following superordinate but conflict concepts: First, “reproductive self-determination”, which asserts that all decisions on reproduction should ensue from personal choice and reduce any form of control as possible. Second, "protection of human life",　which advocates that human life of any form owns the right to life to a certain extent, thus should be guaranteed. 　In Ronald Dworkin’s Life’s Dominion, Dworkin offers a compromised standpoint on the controversy of abortion, claiming that whether the expectant mother or the fetus (embryo) should both be given the respect of "the sanctity of life". Dworkin attempts to attain certain agreement on abortion issues rather than variance. Different from Dworkin’s devoting himself to eliminating the antagonism between “pro-choice” and “pro-life”, as a postmodern feminist, Drucilla Cornell emphasizes on the female perspective, concerning about female’s predicament in the gender structure in particular. While applying her abstract notions to concrete abortion issues, Cornell focuses on the dilemma which nearly every female should confront while making the abortion decision. This insight of Cornell brings the "neutral" abortion controversy into more profound discussions. Dworkin and Cornell state their opinions on abortion controversy respectively, and each of their statement is original and simultaneously reflects different foundations on which their theories are based behind concrete abortion issues. Discussions on similarities and dissimilarities of theories between Dworkin and Cornell not only help to regard abortion issues in a different and brand new way, but also expand the widths and depths of the discussions on abortion disputes: Particularly, the relation between the individual and the community, the gender consciousness which Cornell stresses on, theories of judgments and legal structures, and so on. Broadly speaking, Dworkin proceeds his statements from liberalism and his theory of integrity; on the contrary, Cornell sets out from points of view of feminism and postmodernism. Finally, put issues from abortion towards the developments of the contemporary reproductive technologies, the main foundations and argumentations which Dworkin and Cornell provide for abortion debates may also guide us to deal with issues of developments of the contemporary reproductive technologies.

The Tea Party’s influence in the recent 2010 elections suggests that the group is making an impact within American politics. This project seeks to identify the cultural forces at work and ground them within Antonio Gramsci’s framework of hegemony. Taking a cue from Michael Bérubé’s recent book The Left at War, I perform a close analysis of the Tea Party’s project for hegemony. I focus on the media discourses of the Tea Party movement, performing a close reading of two key Tea Party websites and unpacking two important televised moments relating to the Tea Party’s rise as a grassroots movement. I argue that the Tea Party uses the practice of articulation to persuade the American public that Tea Party members are the rightful heirs to the project of “America” that the Founding Fathers began centuries ago by using the theories of Bérubé, Stuart Hall, Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe as reference points. Finally, I use my analysis of the Tea Party’s articulatory practices to begin exploring a way forward for the American Left, building on the groundbreaking cultural work of Bérubé, Hall, and Laclau and Mouffe. / text

The 21st century imposes totally new challenges on businesses, different from anything they have experienced before, due to a very high degree of complexity and uncertainty. These transformations, in eco-political as well as in social spheres, imply a new conceptualization of leadership. We provide an understanding of leadership based on art, since we regard art as a medium incorporating unaccountable aspects of human life. This unaccountable dimension moreover, is of crucial importance in organizations nowadays, in order to provide the working atmosphere people need in order to excel at work. Thus, leaders have to become aware of the quality of relationship they create based on social interaction with the people they lead. What might be crucial elements composing the art of leadership in this relationship is well researched by a number of qualitative dialogues with experts in the domain of leadership, grounded in specific deepening literature study and thoroughly depicted in this thesis.