The tourism industry is both large and growing, with private and public actors investing heavily in the commodification of places to travel to, supporting individuals with the wealth to do so, to be in different places for short time periods. Correspondingly, popular discourses and research within tourism studies have arisen, looking at attitudes and social and environmental impacts drawn along delineations of the tourist and the host and spatially enclosed tourist places or ‘destinations’.  In this thesis, I seek instead to focus on how we might be different in places. Using Deleuze and Guattari’s idea of assemblage and a focus on embodiment, I offer a reflexive account of an onto-epistemological inquiry into becoming with a range of other beings and things that are co-constitutive of the harbour wall or ‘the rocks’ at the Visby marina. Over a 6 month period of participant observation, I seek to be responsive to the emergent properties and knowledge of the fluctuating actors amidst the place assemblage of the rocks. The essay I offer within this thesis is part of what is resulting from these relationships and becomings. Within the essay, one of many themes I take up is a problematic view of place as being filled with objects of matter as opposed to an entangled, relational web of beings and things. Tourism easily commodifies places when they are seen as containers for bodies and objects, and this creates a distinct view of ‘tourist places’. I follow with a call to disrupt the imagined difference between tourist places and places in which we lead our daily lives in the hope of living outside of the shadow of human exceptionalism.  Accordingly, this thesis calls us to re-think tourism as but one part of our lives, as entanglements of bodies and things in and as place.

This thesis is concerned with acknowledging farm animals and their co-presence in the more-than-human space of the livestock farm, and with accounting for them responsibly in sustainability debates. The enrolment of farm animals as actors in political agendas for environmental sustainability, and farm animal welfare suggests that there are new ways of seeing and being with farm animals that permit their relational presence and recognise their subjectivity. Indeed geographers have in recent years acknowledged animals and their relations with humans, and they have begun to recognise the nature of animal subjectivies. However, within the fundamental rethinking of animals that has been provoked by these discussions, I suggest that farm animals have remained relatively invisible. Occupying ethically confusing terrain, farm animals have nonetheless been visible in a set of philosophical positions regarding their moral status, yet these debates present a rather confusing picture in which the farm animal as an individual is conspicuous by its absence. In seeking to redress the invisibility of farm animals within these debates, and recast them in relation to humans and the broader farm ecology, this thesis attempts to set out an epistemological and methodological framework through which farm animals might become visible as individual fleshy beings. Drawing on the concept of agricultural stewardship and new agendas in farm animal welfare science, it makes use of new methodological tools that have emerged in the social sciences to conduct a relational study of the livestock farm; a study in which farm animals themselves participate. It also considers how the divisions that have been constructed between humans, farm animals and the environment can be reconfigured as a more unified political science of the livestock farm.

<p>To say that Gypsy and/or Traveller and/or Romany life stories have existed on the periphery of literary studies can be considered an understatement. In this study of the relational self, <i>Narrating Gypsies, Telling Travellers</i>, examines the discursive and structural complexities involved in the practices of writing and speaking in the production process and narrative trajectories of the life stories of Gordon Sylvester Boswell (1970), Nan Joyce (1985), Jimmy Stockins (2000), and Jess Smith (2002 and 2003).</p><p>The study emphasizes relational aspects of self-construction, which includes links to the national (hi)stories of Scotland, Ireland and England. Beginning with an eighteenth-century scaffold confession and moving through colonial, post-colonial, national and internal colonial narratives, the study follows a discursive path that re-emerges and reverberates in the spoken and/or written words of the story narrators. The study problemetizes the effectiveness of resistance as the historical depth and relationally produced dual-nature of domination is analysed. Above all the study positions modes of domination and self-domination within processes of forgetting forged through consensual, subtle and coercive practices related to points of view and the taken-for-granted.</p>

To say that Gypsy and/or Traveller and/or Romany life stories have existed on the periphery of literary studies can be considered an understatement. In this study of the relational self, Narrating Gypsies, Telling Travellers, examines the discursive and structural complexities involved in the practices of writing and speaking in the production process and narrative trajectories of the life stories of Gordon Sylvester Boswell (1970), Nan Joyce (1985), Jimmy Stockins (2000), and Jess Smith (2002 and 2003). The study emphasizes relational aspects of self-construction, which includes links to the national (hi)stories of Scotland, Ireland and England. Beginning with an eighteenth-century scaffold confession and moving through colonial, post-colonial, national and internal colonial narratives, the study follows a discursive path that re-emerges and reverberates in the spoken and/or written words of the story narrators. The study problemetizes the effectiveness of resistance as the historical depth and relationally produced dual-nature of domination is analysed. Above all the study positions modes of domination and self-domination within processes of forgetting forged through consensual, subtle and coercive practices related to points of view and the taken-for-granted.

Ma thèse porte sur les logiques relationnelles qui émergent de l’analyse de trois danses pratiquées sur l’Île de Luanda, un cordon littoral situé face à la ville du même nom, autrefois habité uniquement par des pêcheurs, aujourd’hui largement urbanisé. Dans le contexte local, le mot « danse » (« dança » en portugais ou « kizomba » en kimbundu) ne désigne pas une pratique propre au corps singulier, mais plutôt une configuration sociale. « Danse » signifie « groupe ». Cet usage local m’a conduite à appréhender la danse sur deux plans : celui de la représentation et celui de la participation. Deux des trois danses analysées sont des danses récréatives : la danse carnavalesque et la danse en cercle – rebita – à partir duquel des couples se forment. La troisième est une danse rituelle pratiquée lors des offrandes à la sirène, laquelle exprime son mécontentement par de violentes marées qui, au fil du temps, ont drastiquement réduit la surface émergée de l’île. L’analyse de ces trois danses révèle la prééminence axiologique du domaine de l’affinité, de la conjugalité et du couple. Ce domaine relationnel associé à la territorialité s’oppose à la généalogie – champ dont la transmission de maladies spirituelles vient traduire son caractère problématique.Le fait que ces trois groupes se chevauchent (les gens, et notamment les femmes, circulent entre l’un et l’autre) m’a amenée à aborder la contribution des pratiques dansées à la saturation relationnelle de l’île. Cette densité relationnelle implémentée, entre autres, par les pratiques dansées apporte alors une nouvelle perspective à la vexata quaestio de l’identité de la population de l’île et de sa spécificité dans le contexte luandais. / My thesis focuses on the relational fabric that emerges from three dances practiced on the Island of Luanda –a now urbanised coastal strip off the city shore, formerly inhabited by fishermen. In the local Portuguese dialect, the term “dance” (“dança”) not only refers to an action undertaken by individuals, but also designates a social grouping. The term “dance” means first and foremost “group”. This linguistic particularity led me to view dance from two perspectives: representation and participation. Two of the three dances analysed are recreational: the carnival dance, and the circle dance (rebita) –typically during which couples are formed. The third dance is a ritual dance practiced during the offering to the mermaid (kyanda), who manifests her dissatisfaction through sea storms. The analysis of these three dances shows the axiological pre-eminence of the relational domain of affinity, conjugality and partnership. This contrasts with the genealogic domain, which is troubled by the transmission of spiritual afflictions (ilundu spirits).It is common for these three groups to overlap; individuals –especially women– tend to flow from group to group. This led me to consider the role of dance practices in the densification of the Island’s relational fabric. Implemented by dances, this relational density brings a new perspective to the difficult task of understanding the cultural specificity of the Island’s population within Luanda’s broader context. / Esta tese foca as logicas relacionais que emergem da analise de três danças praticadas na Ilha de Luanda, uma restinga que, da margem norte do rio Kwanza, vai até em frente ao porto da cidade de Luanda. A Ilha, um tempo maioritariamente habitada por uma população de pescadores, se encontra hoje englobada pela cidade. No contexto local, o termo dança não se refere à prática de um corpo singular, mas antes a um grupo. Este uso linguístico local leva a considerar a dança segundo uma dupla perspetiva: a da representação e a da participação. Duas das três danças tem uma finalidade recreativa: a dança carnavalesca e a dança em roda de combinação de casais chamada rebita. A terceira é uma dança ritual praticada em ocasião das oferendas para a sereia, cuja insatisfação se traduz em marés violentas chamadas kalembas que ao longo do tempo reduziram a superfície da Ilha. Da analise das três danças emerge la preeminência axiológica do campo da afinidade, da conjugalidade e do casal. Este campo relacional associado à territorialidade se contrapõe ao campo genealógico, dominado pela transmissão de doenças espirituais.A sobreposição sociológica dos três grupos de dança (isto é, o fato que um pequeno grupo de mulheres circulam pertencem simultaneamente aos três) levou a considerar o papel das praticas dançadas na densificação do campo relacional da Ilha. Essa densidade implementada, entre outras coisas, pela dança traz uma nova perspetiva para abordar a vexata quaestio da identidade da população da Ilha e da sua especificidade no contexto luandense

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The sociological tools of Margaret Somers are employed to dissect Indonesian high school history teachers' narratives about teaching controversial history of post-independence Indonesian communism. Twelve semi-structured interviews form a qualitative foundation to generate analysis on history teachers' stories about what enables the entanglement of alternative narratives of Indonesian communism in their teachings. This current study explores how various stories influence the teachers' standpoints on it. Moreover, the study highlights the socio-historical context of how their standpoints were formed. Empirical findings in this study suggest that the teachers draw on different narratives that navigate them to teach alternative versions, in order to counterbalance the mainstream story of Indonesian communism in school textbooks and the history curriculum. However, for some teachers, it is more challenging to teach a subject on Indonesian communism in line with their standpoints. The ease and challenges in teaching controversial history vary since each teacher is embedded in different relationships. Therefore, the social context of their teachings is also discussed.

The main purpose of the present essay is, based on Emmanuel Levinas’s ethics of responsibility,to gain new knowledge about the teaching relationship and the relationship between the selfand the Other in that relation. The overarching question in this essay is what characterizes theteaching relationship in the Epistle to the Philemon from a Levinasian perspective. The purposeis also to develop theoretical tools and models from this perspective to interpret the teachingrelationship in the Epistle to the Philemon and which can also be applied to the teachingsituations in different churches. The questions to which I sought answers included: Whatconditions or prerequisites are present in the teaching relationship? What conditions createopportunities for the recipient to learn something from the Other? How does the ethicalrelationship in the language of the letter to Philemon manifest itself? What theoretical conceptsand models of practice can be developed from a Levinasian perspective for interpreting theteaching relationship that can be applied to teaching in a church context?According to Levinas, ethics is understood as a relation of the infinitive responsibility to theOther person. The underlying assumption in my thesis is that teaching is, above all else, anethical relationship. In this essay I have used a Levinasian approach about the Subject (or Ego)to come into being in its encounter with the other person. In other words, the relationship isfoundational to the existence of the Subject. The key concepts in this essay are intentionality,Saying (in relation to the Said), the Other, the Face, Levinas’s ethical subject, asymmetricalrelationship, and substitution. In their encounter with the data in the letters to Philemon, theconcepts have been freighted with educational significance.An important conclusion based on the material is that the didactic relationship is constituted asan asymmetrical relationship where the persons are related to each other in a double asymmetry.This two-way asymmetry requires a double trust in the didactic relationship, which isindispensable for all pedagogical practice, not least in church contexts. Throughout the study,a relational ethical perspective has been developed as an alternative interpretative tool foranalyzing and reflecting upon the didactic relationship.

Conventional realist expectations on great power behaviour in a perceived threatening security environment calls on these nations to balance against the threats in the form of military alliances with other states. China is perceiving security policies by USA and its allies to constitute threats to its national sovereignty, yet has chosen to adhere to a policy of nonalignment, making it an outlier among other great powers and calling into question positivist inspired inferences on Chinese security cooperation. This posture calls for an attempt at reaching a contextual understanding of China’s negative view of alliances, rather than assuming pregiven intentions of state behaviour. Against this background and within an epistemological and ontological framework of constructivism, I have applied an intertextual discourse analysis between the works of Chinese international relations theorist Qin Yaqing, and official policy discourse on alliances from the Chinese political leadership. By this method and theoretical framework, I have explored the possibility of Chinese cultural and philosophical ideas, as interpreted by Qin, correlating with and influencing the official policy discourse, which in turn reflects the view of alliances. The results show that there is a meaning-making within the official Chinese discourse that is drawing on concepts and ideas derived from Qin Yaqing’s presented concept of Confucian relationality. Together they serve to construct an ideational structure and corresponding Chinese identity that precludes military alliances as an option for Chinese security policy making. This in turn reveals the need to move away from realist and positivist assumptions of inherent state reasoning, and instead pay greater attention to contextual and ideational factors when analysing the Chinese nonalignment policy, with implications for how we understand China and Chinese security policy making in general.

This dissertation asserts that women’s anonymity in seventeenth-century devotional texts functions as a performance to be understood rather than a mystery to be solved. Anonymity has long been framed as merely a protean form of authorship or a barrier to the recovery of a lost literary history. The archive frequently renders anonymity invisible or reveals anonymity at the moment of its undoing; however, this study of women’s anonymity contends that, although women applied anonymity to avoid the stigma of print, their anonymity functions less as a blind than as a frame to emphasize those traits they wished most to expose. In my first and second chapters, I demonstrate how the anonymous Eliza’s Babes (1652) and the nearly anonymous An Collins’s Divine Songs and Meditacion (1653) use the anonymous text to replace the signification of sick, infertile, and therefore volatile female bodies with an imitative production of devotion that constitutes the text as a divinely-restored, alternatively-productive body through which they relate to God and reader. Readers’ positive reception of this devotional re-signification of the body’s productivity countermands stereotypes readers hold against women writing, affirms the woman writer as faithful, and reincorporates both reader and writer in a corporate body of believers through their mutual participation in devotional practices. My third chapter affirms the perceived authority of anonymity’s corporate voice through the exploration of George Hickes’s retroactive attribution of several late seventeenth-century anonymous devotional texts to Susanna Hopton. I argue that the derivative nature of the anonymous devotional collections invests them with a corporate voice Hickes finds to be a valuable asset in his defense of Hopton’s devotional acumen. Drawing together scholarship on seventeenth-century relationality and intersubjectivity, readership, devotion, and women’s health, this study reconsiders the signification of women’s anonymity and their unoriginality as a tool that facilitates agentive reading and rehabilitates women’s claim to corporate belonging. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)