This thesis examines the legend of the Italian virgin martyr, Saint Maria Goretti (1890-1902). Her legend states that she died at the age of eleven protecting her virginity from her assailant Alessandro Serenelli who stabbed her numerous times, and that she granted him forgiveness before she died. Hence, she has been promoted as an example of purity and mercy. The continued relevance of Saint Maria Goretti is demonstrated by the fact that her figure was used to promote the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy proclaimed by Pope Francis and first announced in March 2015. The aim of the current study is to examine how Maria Goretti has been portrayed in the Catholic tradition. This is done by analysing Maria Goretti’s official representation found in the papal discourse about her (which consists of homilies, discourses, Angelus, messages and a letter), as well as by analysing the devotional discourse which in this study is comprised of two books that belong to the genre of hagiography. The chosen books: St. Maria Goretti, by Marie Cecilia Buehrle (1950), and St. Maria Goretti: In garments all red, by Fr. Godfrey Poage, C.P. (1950) can be included among the classics written about Saint Maria Goretti in English. I deploy a thematic narrative analysis as method in which I’m concerned with content in terms of themes, and with the ways in which characters are represented. Uncovering the themes that are discussed in the papal discourse and the devotional discourse about Saint Maria Goretti contributes to a better understanding of her representation and, in some measure, to a reconsideration of what she represents. A part of this thesis focuses on the aspects of Maria Goretti’s representation that can be considered problematic because of the claim that it is preferable to choose to be killed rather than to be raped. Therefore, it becomes necessary to include the discourse that treats Goretti’s story from a critical point of view which in this study embraces ethical, psychological, and feminist perspectives. The legend of Maria Goretti has been the object of arguably many studies. This thesis, nonetheless, contributes with a more detailed analysis of the discourse about Maria Goretti at the official level as well as the devotional level. I also seek to give insight into the genre of hagiography and to elucidate that the edeavour of portraying a wholly virtuous individual does not come without it’s complications in terms of the interpretations that can be made of the images that are conveyed. The analysis shows, among other things, that the representation of Maria Goretti misses aspects of reality and the complexity and multifariousness of the subject of sexual violence. I argue that a wholesome and more comprehensive representation of Saint Maria Goretti should include expert knowledge of sexual violence, especially that which can be found within the field of psychology.

The Sound and the Fury is William Faulkner’s story of the Compson family’s downfall in the American South during the early 20th century. The novel illustrates the impact on the cultural identity of the South of strictly defined social roles and the tension they created in the aftermath of slavery and defeat in the Civil War. In my analysis, I have chosen to focus on gender issues, especially in their Southern manifestation. The Compsons’ daughter, Caddy, figures prominently in the sons’ narratives, but is only portrayed through their perceptions and memories. My aim is to determine Caddy’s significance in the novel by exploring her relationships with her brothers, as seen through their eyes, and how she is characterized by them. In Benjy’s narrative, I examine her actions as a little girl in light of the Eve myth and the icon of the virgin mother. Quentin’s obsession with Caddy's sexuality as a teenager reveals the implications of associating female sexuality with death, the role of language in reproducing and combating established gender power structures, and the impact of traditional gender roles on women and men. Jason’s binary categorization of women as virgins or whores turns the few glimpses of Caddy as a mother into that of a woman treated as a commodity of exchange. In each of their narratives, Caddy is a dynamic character whose words, body, and actions expose prevailing social and gender power struggles. By conjuring her presence through her absence, her brothers reveal the depth and destructiveness of the social imperatives that underlie their attempts to control her. I suggest that Caddy’s role in the novel is to disrupt the brothers’ narratives and challenge the underlying Southern social and gender constructs that imbue them.

Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka Miles Aldridges fotografi Immaculée#5 som gestaltar en Jungfru Maria som innehar ett uttryck av extas. Med hjälp av Panofskys ikonografiska metod och feministisk och psykoanalytisk teori analyseras verket för att utforska hur det religiösa verket kan tolkas i en samtida kontext. Slutsatsen innehåller en konklusion om att en förhistorisk kontext om Jungfru Maria och genomförda kritiska analyser visar att Immaculée#5 kan representera ett visuellt kvinnoförtryck baserat på bland annat sexuell voyeurism. / The purpose of the essay is to examine Miles Aldridge's photograph Immaculée#5, which depicts a Virgin Mary holding an expression of ecstasy. Using Panofsky's iconographic method and feminist and psychoanalytic theory, the work is analyzed to explore how the religious work can be interpreted in a contemporary context. The conclusion is that a prehistoric context about the Virgin Mary and critical analyses show that Immaculée#5 can represent a visual oppression of women based on sexual voyeurism, among other things.

1./1 Courtly Love in the context of ludic elements of courtly culture (Cantigas de Santa Maria and the troubadour chansonnier R) Matouš Jaluška Abstract Dissertation Courtly Love in the context of ludic elements of courtly culture (Cantigas de Santa Maria and the troubadour chansonnier R) strives to refine on the common notion that the me- dieval courtly poetry is a kind of game. It is based in the tradition of thinking about playing, which is based on the essay Homo ludens of Johan Huizinga and continues through works of Roger Cailloise, Jacques Henriot and Eugen Fink to the current trend of Game Studies. Close reading of the authorities in the introductory chapter shows that each of them assigns an im- portant role to the notion of discontinuity or rupture that enables them to establish the game as a non-binding and safe world. The concept of troubadour poetic creation as a safe activity is explored in the second chapter based on the works of the two founding figures of the trouba- dour tradition, Guilhem de Peitieu ("the Count of Poitiers") and Marcabru. The comparison shows that the safety of troubadour poetry is closely connected with the idea of binding or non-binding language. Binding speech is strongly linked to the image of female power and the ability of women to breed offspring and thus to keep...

This Comparison of legislative and executive branches in the U.S. unincorporated territories thesis deals with political systems in unincorporated American territories - Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa. Today these territories stand as an integral part of the USA, but they do not hold federal state status. This study focuses on political systems of the individual territories, specifically on their legislative and executive bodies. It also explores relationships these territories have with the continental U.S., their status within American political system and it outlines genesis of autonomous government institutions of these territories. Concurrently, this thesis also elaborates on problem areas stemming from for example dual citizenship and citizens of these territories not being able to participate in presidential elections. This work comprises of five case studies that focus on political institutions of the individual territories. The main contribution of this study lies in the comparison work. In comparative analysis of the executive bodies and analysis of the extent of governors' authority within individual territories, and in the comparison with federal states. It also provides comparative analysis of legislative bodies of...

The National Gallery in Prague conserves an important masterpiece of the Fle- mish mannerist Jan Gossaert. The panel painting Saint Luke painting the Virgin was originally determined for the cathedral of Saint Roumboult in Mechelen in Belgium. The artwork represents one of the first applications of Renaissance style behind the Alps. Gossaert was educated in this new style during a visit to Italy several years earlier and combined it with traditional Flemish art. The artist worked for the court of Margaret of Austria in Mechelen around the year 1513, the year the painting originates. His traditional style became influenced by the techniques used in Mechelen by foreign artists. The theme is painted the tradi- tional manner of work on an oak panel. Renaissance and Gothic architecture is decorated by " en grisaille" sculptures. A seemingly simple theme is given deeper meaning thanks to these objects containing hidden meanings. There are also some prints from the time the panel was in the Saint Vitus Cathedral in Prague due to which we can contemplate the progress in presentation of the painting during centuries. 1

En el presente trabajo de investigación, se desarrolla el origen, significado y evolución de las máscaras de la diablada puneña, mediante la recopilación de diversas fuentes de información, en donde se rescata el testimonio de artesanos, bailarines y pobladores puneños. La investigación plantea el siguiente objetivo: Diseñar una colección de moda street wear femenina a partir del análisis teórico y visual de las máscaras de la diablada puneña. Respecto al desarrollo de antecedentes, solo se encontraron antecedentes nacionales. Esto se debe porque las máscaras de la diablada puneña, es un tema netamente local. De esta manera, el presente trabajado de investigación se desarrolla en base a artistas peruanos. En el estado del arte, se ha entrevistado a expertos en el tema de investigación propuesto, como mascareros y diseñadores para consolidar la información recogida, la cual ha aportado al desarrollo de definiciones y datos relevantes en el presente trabajo de investigación. Asimismo, en base a la teorización de las máscaras de la diablada puneña, se ha desarrollado un proceso visual con moodboards, prototipos de estructuras y volúmenes. En complemento, se realizo un perfil del usuario, lo que permitió realizar bocetos con la descripción analizada. El resultado final, evidencia una relación entre los elementos de las máscaras de la diablada puneña en el proceso creativo, plasmado en cada indumento propuesto. / In this research work, the origin, meaning and evolution of the masks of the diablada puneña are developed, through the compilation of various sources of information, where the testimony of artisans, dancers and residents of Puno is rescued. The research raises the following general objective: Design a collection of women's street wear fashion based on the theoretical and visual analysis of the masks of the devil from Puno. Regarding the development of antecedents, only national antecedents were found. This is because the masks of the diablada puneña, is a purely local theme. In this way, the present research work is developed based on Peruvian artists. In the state of the art, experts in the proposed research topic, such as mask makers and designers, have been interviewed to consolidate the information collected, which has contributed to the development of definitions and relevant data in this research work. Likewise, based on the theorization of the masks of the diablada puneña, a visual process has been developed with moodboards, prototypes of structures and volumes. In addition, a user profile was made, which allowed making sketches with the analyzed description. The final result shows a relationship between the elements of the masks of the diablada puneña in the creative process, embodied in each proposed outfit. / Trabajo de investigación

Images of the Mater dolorosa, the weeping Mother of God mourning over her dead son, are plentiful art of Northern Europe during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and often foreground the shedding of effluvia—blood, sweat, and tears—in their depictions of the holy pair. This paper explores the visual themes of tears, blood, eyes, and wounds as vital actors in images that require close, meditative, and affective looking and engagement. Such image formats include small-scale pairings of the Man of Sorrows and Mater dolorosa as well as books of hours. In these contexts, the holy fluids and their bodily sources expand the images' narratives and allow for greater exegesis of their devotional prompts. This phenomenon of expansion via effluvia occurs throughout Flemish devotional culture of this period; this paper uses Albrecht Bouts's diptych panels of the Mater dolorosa and Man of Sorrows, produced between 1490 and 1525, as the chief case study to encapsulate and ground those ideas while still acknowledging that they also apply beyond this image. Considering the widespread commonalities between blood and tears in visual and textual representations of the early modern Flemish devotional culture and the visual similarities between weeping eyes and bleeding wounds, this paper argues that Mary's eyes act as the external manifestations of her internal wounds and become locus of her Compassion for Christ. Furthermore, pictorial blood and tears function as metonymic devices that, like the Man of Sorrows type, invoke the entirety of the Passion and Compassion. The multivalent functions of the blood and tears in Bouts's diptych expand it beyond just a representation of Mary and her son and allow it to become a window and mirror into which viewers could look to engage in penance and communion with Mary and Christ.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Between 1675 and 1698 more than 60 published works, ranging from ephemera – pamphlets, scurrilous libelli, dialogues, letters and articles – to multi-part volumes in-folio, were printed by the participants in a dispute over the antiquity of the origins of the Carmelite order. Though the broad contours of the quarrel between the Carmelites and Antwerp Jesuits who were their main adversaries is well known, it has yet to be analyzed in any significant detail. The following study undertakes such an analysis, first reconstructing the origins of the quarrel in the religious houses and print shops of Antwerp, next looking at the Carmelite perspective and the "argument from tradition" which buttressed the Carmelites' claims to antiquity, and lastly tracing the history of the "erudition" which allowed the Bollandists -- the Jesuit scholars responsible for that monument of hagio-historiography known as the Acta Sanctorum -- to mount their critique. An appendix presents a critical edition and translation of one of the better-known anti-Bollandist pamphlets, Novus Ismael.

Syftet med uppsatsen ”Medmänsklighet och Gudomligt Beskydd – en receptionsestetisk studie av Maria (Återkomsten) och Skyddsmantelmadonnan” är att ur ett receptionsestetiskt perspektiv närma sig skulpturerna Maria (Återkomsten) av Anders Widoff och Skyddsmantelmadonnan av Lena Lervik. Skulpturerna finns i och i anslutning till Uppsala respektive Lunds domkyrka. Genom receptionsestetikens metod där man tittar på ett konstverks interna faktorer som rör verkets inre organisation samt externa faktorer såsom platsen där konstverken är placerade, andra konstverk som relaterar till verket, en myt eller berättelse som är viktig för förståelsen av konstverken etcetera, rör sig uppsatsen fram mot en diskussion kring vem som är verkens implicite betraktare, dvs. ideala betraktare. Uppsatsen ämnar även diskutera hur jungfru Maria gestaltas i de berörda skulpturerna: vilken bild konstverken ger av Maria. Metoden för att diskutera vem som är verkens implicite betraktare och hur betraktaren aktiverar konstverken i relation till platserna är besök på de platser där konstverken finns för att i denna miljö möta verken och läsning av relevant litteratur. Slutsatsen är att skulpturerna är medvetet placerade i anslutning till kyrkorum och att platserna utgör en viktig dialog med konstverken. Skulpturerna ger väldigt olika bilder av jungfru Maria: Maria (Återkomsten) gestaltar Marias mänskliga sida och Skyddsmantelmadonnan är mer av en gudinnegestalt, en Moder Jord och urmoder som beskyddar mänskligheten. Verkens implicite betraktare är någon som vistas på platsen och möter verken med en öppenhet; verken har båda en öppenhet i framförallt ansiktsuttryck som öppnar för olika tolkningar. Den implicite betraktaren – i meningen den ideala betraktaren – är en människa med en öppenhet för en andlig dimension men är inte nödvändigtvis troende. Betraktaren behöver inte ha kunskap om vem jungfru Maria är, verkens tillkomsthistoria, verk som kan tänkas relatera till skulpturerna etcetera men det kan fördjupa upplevelsen. / The purpose of the essay "Humanity and Heavenly Protection – a Study of Mary (The Return) and the Protective Cloak Madonna Based on the Theory and Method of Reception Aesthetics" is to approach the sculptures Mary (The Return) by the artist Anders Widoff, and The Protective Cloak Madonna by the artist Lena Lervik. The sculptures are placed inside Uppsala Cathedral and outside Lund Cathedral respectively, and the study is based on the theory and method of reception aesthetics, where one looks at an artwork's internal factors that relate to the work's internal organization, as well as external factors, such as the situation of the work, relating works, or myths or stories that are important to understanding the work. Through this theory, a discussion about the implicit (ideal) beholder of the works takes place. Furthermore, the essay aspires to discuss the representation of Virgin Mary in the sculptures: what images of her the artworks present. The discussion of the implicit beholder, as well as the question of how locations affect the viewer’s activation of the works, was based on visits to the sites, as well as the study of literature on the artworks and the theory used.  The conclusion is that the sculptures are intentionally placed in the vicinity of cathedrals, and that the sites constitute an important dialogue with the artworks. The sculptures present very different images of the Virgin Mary: Mary (The Return) embodies Mary's human side, while the Protective Cloak Madonna is more of a Goddess figure, a Mother Earth and ancestor who protects humanity. The implicit beholder of the works is someone who visits the sites and encounters the works with an open mind; the sculptures have openness to them, especially in the facial expressions that invite different interpretations. The implicit (ideal) beholder is a person with an open mind to a spiritual dimension, but is not necessarily a Christian. The viewer does not need to know who Virgin Mary is, nor the history of the artworks or relating works, even though such knowledge might deepen the experience.