A look into song identity and the building blocks of music through a process of analysing five different punk songs and then repackaging them into a modern pop production. After completing these new versions, I compared them to their original recordings and discovered that there are more similarities between the two genres than one might initially think, and that each song’s identity was preserved on slightly different levels and in different forms. I discuss my analyses and process in terms of both music theory and non-musical descriptions, leading to generally positive results. Each song was recognizable, but I discovered that some identities were stronger than others because of factors such as original arrangement, era of release or differences in experience from person to person.

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The art series A Sexual Series is based on posthumanist theory and asexual experience. Shapes of performative alter egos materialized from a queer cyborg position of technologically enhanced crip experiences (the strong symbolical constructing process of straightening scoliosis surgery). From the position of a glitch reflecting a postindividualist future, the AI sexbot is a metaphoric, elevated cyborg drag version of the artist to embody asexuality and queer Otherness. Based on multitudes of contradictions to encourage self-reflection, the series explores the complexities of ob/scene and on/scene performances; the position of a sex positive asexual as well as questions of belonging as a naturally artificial rebel. This essay touches upon rituals as well as performative methods of disidentification as a tool to reimagine shame, to ghost the own body and to stop being a pleaser.

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This dissertation uses in depth interviews and participant observation in order to understand an important contemporary subculture: anarcho-punks. The research was done in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania between the years of 2006 and 2012. The overarching theme that connects the different chapters of the dissertation together is a focus on the ways in which the identification narratives of participants are ethical in nature, meaning that the narrators are working to maintain an ethical sense of self in their narration. In addition, I show the identitarian consequences of the ways in which the hyphenation of the anarcho-punk identification works to both separate and join the two different identifications "anarchist" and "punk." I also show the ways in which identifications are narratively structured. This is done throughout the ten chapters of the dissertation. Each of the substantive chapters focuses on the different narratives used by the participants to understand a particular theme that is important to developing an understanding of the subculture overall. / Sociology

This paper examines activists in the United States that supported the socialist Nicaraguan government of the Sandinista National Liberation Front and opposed efforts by the Reagan Administration to militarily undermine Nicaragua’s new government during the 1980s. Such scholarship examines the rise of a leftist political coalition organized around supporting Nicaragua’s government and this solidarity movement’s eventual demise after the Sandinistas lost their country’s 1990 Presidential election. The work ultimately asks how did U.S. leftists and progressives of the late 1970s and 1980s perceive Nicaragua’s new government and how did these perceptions affect the ways in which these activists rallied to support the Sandinistas in the face of the Contra War? In answering this question, this paper consults a variety of primary sources including articles from socialist newspapers, the meeting minutes and notes of solidarity organizations, and oral histories with former activists. “I Have My Mind!” also consults cultural sources such as the protest and art benefit flyers and the lyrics to punk rock songs of the period to make its claims. This Masters Thesis argues that U.S. Americans’ solidarity with the Sandinistas relied upon a romanticization of Nicaraguan revolutionary reforms representative of movement participants’ own political aspirations. / History

The diploma thesis aims to capture and explain the changes in the milieu of nonconformist rock music in relation to the policy of Perestroika in Czechoslovakia during the years 1986- 89. The primary methodological framework is created by an interpretive trichotomy where each perspective includes various historiographical approaches (sociology of Ivo Možný, postmodern deconstruction of authoritarian discourse, so-called totality from below, etc.). The chapter dealing with the repression of rock music analyses the working methods of secret police (StB) in the 1980s while revealing the background of several typical cases (Pražský výběr, Visací zámek, Michael's Uncle). Next chapter explains the differing approaches of nonconformist rockers towards the cultural relief represented by the official festival "Rockfest". The last analytical chapter deals with perception of contemporary authorities. In conclusion it turns out that the relationship to the authoritarian horizons underwent the most fundamental transformation. The disintegration of those authoritarian horizons led to transformations inside the social field and contributed to the decline of the regime of state socialism.

This thesis examines the evolution of feminist praxis within the riot grrrl movement, focusing on two specific riot grrrl demographics - founding riot grrrls in the early 1990s and currently active riot grrrls in southern California. This thesis argues that riot grrrl activism is still thriving but in diverse, strategically modified ways. Using José Muñoz’s concept of “disidentification,” it analyzes how contemporary riot grrrls have appropriated and adapted the original movement’s tenets to allow for greater accessibility and diversity.

There is a consistent thread throughout Russian history of governmental management of culture. Tsars and Communist bureaucrats alike have sought to variously promote, censor, or exploit writers, filmmakers, and musicians to control and define the country's cultural content. Often, these measures were intended not necessarily to cultivate Russia's aesthetic spirit, but to accomplish specific policy goals. The promotion of a State ideology and other efforts to stave of social unrest were chief among them. With the fall of Soviet power and the loss of an official ideology promoted by the state, the concept of cultural politics fell to the wayside. It has remained largely ignored ever since. Despite numerous high-profile incidents of persecution of the creative class, analysts have not linked them together as part of an overarching cultural policy. However, the Russian government under Vladimir Putin has faced consistent policy challenges since the beginning of the 2000s that could be mitigated through the implementation of such a policy. In some ways, the breadth and character of State involvement in the cultural sphere follows the pattern of the country’s autocratic past. In others, it demonstrates that it has adapted these policies to function in the hybrid regime that Putin has created, as opposed to the totalitarian ones that preceded it. A recent case that exemplifies this new breed of cultural policy is the persecution of the radical feminist punk band Pussy Riot. While largely unknown to many Russian citizens, the group’s overt opposition to the patriarchal model of rule established by Putin with the help of the Russian Orthodox Church was met by the most comprehensive crackdown within the cultural sphere since perestroika. Examining this case in detail can reveal the extent to which the Russian government is concerned about its ability to maintain popular legitimacy. The fact that it has continued to try to manage the cultural sphere may indicate the level of democracy that has or has not been established in Russia so far today. / text