In this essay, J.K. Rowling’s series about Harry Potter is analyzed by the use of feminist theories and gender studies. The main aim of the essay is to examine how Hermione Granger is portrayed. The analysis is based on three of the novels, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’sstone, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. This essay argues that Hermione, in the first novel, is depicted as a stereotyped female character, but that she develops and grows over the course of time, which leads her character to deviate from the traditional gender stereotypes. The results are supported by different examples from the novels, which relate to the used theories and previous research. / I denna uppsats analyseras J.K. Rowlings serie om Harry Potter med hjälp av feministiska teorier och genusstudier. Huvudsyftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur Hermione Granger är porträtterad. Analysen är baserad på tre av romanerna Harry Potter and the Philosopher’sstone, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban och Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Uppsatsen argumenterar att Hermione, i första romanen, är skildrad som en stereotypisk kvinnlig karaktär, men att hon under tidens gång utvecklas och växer vilket leder till att hennes karaktär senare avviker från de traditionella könsstereotyperna. Resultaten stöds av olika exempel från texterna som relaterar till de använda teorierna och tidigare forskning.

Cette thèse s’intéresse à un changement de paradigme dans l’imaginaire de la filiation tel qu’il est donné dans la littérature des femmes et les écrits du féminisme. L’hypothèse de travail est la suivante : à l’imaginaire d’une filiation déployée uniquement dans la latéralité des liens sororaux, se substitue au tournant des années 1990 un imaginaire mélancolique de la filiation, corollaire de la posture d’héritière désormais occupées par les auteures et penseures contemporaines. Parallèlement au développement d’une troisième vague du féminisme contemporain, la France et le Québec des années 1990 ont en effet vu naître ce qui est qualifié depuis peu de « nouvelle génération d’écrivaines ». « Premières », à l’échelle de l’histoire de la littérature des femmes, « à bénéficier d’un riche héritage littéraire féminin » (Rye et Worton, 2002 : 5), les auteures appartenant à ces « nouvelles voix » s’avèrent en effet doublement héritières, à la fois d’une tradition littéraire au féminin et de la pensée féministe contemporaine. Alors que la génération des années 1970 et du début des années 1980, se réclamant en un sens des discours d’émancipation des Lumières (liberté, égalité, fraternité), refusait l’héritage des générations antérieures, imaginant une communauté construite dans la sororité et fondée sur le meurtre des figures parentales, la génération actuelle n’est plus, quant à elle, dans la rupture. Située dans l’appropriation du passé et de l’histoire, elle réinvestit l’axe vertical de la généalogie. Or, c’est dans un récit familial mortifère ou encore lacunaire, morcelé, troué par le secret, ruiné par le passage du temps, toujours en partie perdu, qu’avancent les auteures, tout en questionnant le généalogique. Celui-ci ne s’entend pas ici en tant que vecteur d’ordre ou principe d’ordonnancement hiérarchique, mais se pose plutôt comme un mouvement de dislocation critique, « dérouteur des légitimités lorsqu’il retrace l’histoire des refoulements, des exclusions et des taxinomies » (Noudelmann, 2004 : 14) sur lesquels s’est construite l’histoire familiale. En d’autres termes, l’interrogation filiale à l’œuvre chez cette génération héritière participe d’une recherche de l’altérité, voire de l’étrangement, également présente dans les écrits théoriques et critiques du féminisme de la troisième vague. Cette thèse, en s’étayant sur l’analyse des récits de femmes et des écrits féministes publiés depuis les années 1970 – moment qui coïncide avec l’émergence de ce qu’il est désormais convenu d’appeler le féminisme de la deuxième vague –, a ainsi pour objectif de cerner les modifications que connaît l’imaginaire de la filiation à travers ce changement de paradigme. À l’aune de cette analyse menée dans la première partie, « De la sororité aux liens f(am)iliaux. Imaginaires de la filiation et représentations du corps », il s’agit, dans les deux parties suivantes intitulées « Des fantômes et des anges. La filiation en régime spectrale » et « Filles et mères, filles (a)mères. La filiation en régime de deuil » et consacrées plus précisément à l’étude des récits sélectionnés, de dégager les modalités filiales explorées par les auteures depuis le tournant des années 1990. / This thesis studies a change of paradigm in the way women’s literature and feminist writings imagine filiation. The analysis is based on the hypothesis that at the turn of the 1990s, the imagination of a lateral filiation, which takes the form of a sorority, is replaced by a melancholic filiation, corollary to the heiress’ posture of contemporary writers and thinkers. Parallel to the development of the Third Wave feminism, France and Quebec of the 1990s observe the emergence of a new generation of women’s writers. « [F]irst », in regards to the history of women’s literature, « to benefit from a visibly rich female literary heritage » (Rye and Worton, 2002: 5), the authors belonging to these “new voices” are doubly heiresses: of this female literary tradition and of the contemporary feminist thought. While the generation of the 1970s and early 1980s, in a sense reclaiming the discourse of the Enlightenment (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity), refused all the legacy from the former generation and imagined itself as a sorority founded upon the murder of the parental figures, the “new” generation is not breaking with the past anymore. On the contrary, it seeks to appropriate this past as well as history. Therefore these authors identified with this new generation investigate the vertical axe of genealogy. However, the family plot they explore through a genealogical gesture is whether baleful, whether partial, parceled out by secrets or by the passing of time and always appears, in any case, to be already lost. Yet, genealogy is not to be understood here as a mere vector of order or hierarchy but is rather related to a critical movement of dislocation that aims to “divert legitimacies by retracing the repressions, exclusions and taxonomies” (Noudelmann, 2004: 14) upon which any familial history is constructed. In other words, this generation of heiresses explores inheritance and filiations as a way to encounter otherness, not to say the uncanny. A similar search is also at stake in the critical and theoretical writings of the Third Wave feminism. Based on the analysis of women’s writings and feminist thinking published since the decade of 1970s – that sees the Second Wave feminism growing bigger and more influent – this thesis’ main objective is to circumscribe how the imagination of filiations is modified throughout the change of paradigm. By the light of this analysis lead is the first part of the thesis entitled “De la sororité aux liens f(am)iliaux”, it becomes possible in the two others parts, “Des fantômes et des anges. La filiation en régime spectral” and “Filles et mères, filles (a)mères. La filiation en régime de deuil”, both dedicated to the reading of the selected writings, to identify new forms of kinship explored by women’s writers since the 1990s.

This dissertation examines the discursive, political, and legal context of the European Union’s (EU) Working Time Directive, beginning with the history of its adoption and ending with its unsuccessful revision attempt in 2009. It also analyzes the Directive’s influence on the working-time regime in Poland, and considers whether or not it advances gender equality. A feminist, socio-legal perspective that is attentive to multiple levels of governance is used to analyze the Directive, the Polish Labour Code provisions, and their interaction. The dissertation illustrates how standard working-time norms both assumed and institutionalized an unequal allocation of paid and unpaid work between men and women, which either constrained women’s employment opportunities or, in Poland’s case, penalized women with a double burden of paid and unpaid work. It shows how a contextual analysis of the EU and Polish working-time instruments allows us to evaluate whether the norms they set embody and reproduce, or challenge and move beyond, these gendered assumptions. The focus is on changes in the political, economic, and social milieu, developments in policy discourses and institutional architecture, and the role of actors influencing the evolution of these instruments. Emphasis is given to Poland’s post-1989 transition and EU accession processes, the expansion of the EU competences, and the influence of broader transnational trends. The study reveals that the current regulatory approaches to standard work-time promoted in the EU and Poland are unlikely to facilitate equal re-distribution of work time between men and women because equality and work-family reconciliation have been either absent as potential regulatory rationales or subordinated to the dominant pursuit of labour market flexibility and efficiency. In the EU, this subordination stemmed from institutional, legal, and political constraints existing at the time of the Directive’s adoption and subsequent review. In Poland, domestic and external pressures also privileged economic discourses and the adoption of EU norms enabled progressive flexibilization of the Polish working-time regime, while preserving opportunities for long work-hours. Although recent policy emphasis on equality and the promotion of work-family reconciliation for all workers is promising, curbing long hours and better incorporation of care work are required for socially sustainable and equal working-time regimes. / Graduate

This thesis focuses on the structural and behavioural factors that placed South Asian immigrant women living with HIV/AIDS in the Greater Toronto Area at risk. Informed by Connell's social theory of gender (1987), this study examined the role of hegemonic masculinity in legitimizing male power and contributing to the HIV risk of these women. By conducting one-on-one interviews with 12 HIV-positive immigrant women, meaningful constructions of the women's narratives and accounts of their experiences relative to HIV were created. This study examined the intersection of power ideologies such as gender, race and class in specific contexts as they generated particular experiences that affected women's risk for HIV. Following a community-based research approach, a collaborative relationship was established with the Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention where qualitative methods of analysis and an inductive approach with an iterative process were followed. Factors such as isolation, economic dependence on their husbands, discrimination, racism, investment in psychologically and emotionally abusive relationships, combined with the absence of support from their family of origin exacerbated the women's risk of HIV infection. The strong ties exhibited by most of the women to their religious/ethnic communities helped sustain a gender-based social hierarchy. To facilitate dialogue and social change for South Asian women, gender and culture need to be situated in social and historical contexts. As such, programs should be understood within a larger critical understanding of the social power relations and history of Canadian immigration patterns. Using anti-racist frameworks, initiatives should address violence against women, while tackling interrelated issues (i.e., housing, poverty, etc.). This work draws attention to oppressions through the experiences of a community of women who are rarely given a voice within the context of research on HIV/AIDS. It will be also helpful for Ontario’s HIV prevention strategy and the field of women's sexual health.

This thesis focuses on the structural and behavioural factors that placed South Asian immigrant women living with HIV/AIDS in the Greater Toronto Area at risk. Informed by Connell's social theory of gender (1987), this study examined the role of hegemonic masculinity in legitimizing male power and contributing to the HIV risk of these women. By conducting one-on-one interviews with 12 HIV-positive immigrant women, meaningful constructions of the women's narratives and accounts of their experiences relative to HIV were created. This study examined the intersection of power ideologies such as gender, race and class in specific contexts as they generated particular experiences that affected women's risk for HIV. Following a community-based research approach, a collaborative relationship was established with the Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention where qualitative methods of analysis and an inductive approach with an iterative process were followed. Factors such as isolation, economic dependence on their husbands, discrimination, racism, investment in psychologically and emotionally abusive relationships, combined with the absence of support from their family of origin exacerbated the women's risk of HIV infection. The strong ties exhibited by most of the women to their religious/ethnic communities helped sustain a gender-based social hierarchy. To facilitate dialogue and social change for South Asian women, gender and culture need to be situated in social and historical contexts. As such, programs should be understood within a larger critical understanding of the social power relations and history of Canadian immigration patterns. Using anti-racist frameworks, initiatives should address violence against women, while tackling interrelated issues (i.e., housing, poverty, etc.). This work draws attention to oppressions through the experiences of a community of women who are rarely given a voice within the context of research on HIV/AIDS. It will be also helpful for Ontario’s HIV prevention strategy and the field of women's sexual health.

Essa dissertação tem como objetivo analisar três livros de Lee Maracle, autora canadense de origem indígena, com base nas teorias autobiográficas, pós-coloniais e feministas, visitando brevemente a história canadense, para contextualizar a produção literária desta autora. A primeira publicação de Maracle ocorreu em 1975, com o lançamento de sua autobiografia Bobbi Lee Indian Rebel. Esta dissertação, entretanto, visa discutir a segunda edição desse livro, ampliada em 1990. A narrativa autobiográfica permite-nos conhecer as lutas, dificuldades e corrente situação dos povos indígenas canadenses, para que, no próximo momento possamos analisar a evolução da escrita de Maracle, na publicação de seus romances. Sundogs (1992) foi o primeiro romance da autora. Por meio de sua narradora em primeira pessoa, Marianne, Sundogs desdobra a trilha da jovem protagonista na busca de sua identidade indígena. O mais recente romance de Maracle, Daughters are Forever (2002), apresenta uma introdução mitológica da formação de Turtle Island, a América, baseada nas tradições orais indígenas. O romance narra a trajetória de Marilyn, uma assistente social, por volta de seus quarenta e cinco anos, que sofre pelo seu distanciamento de suas filhas, causado por sua própria maternidade inadequada. O nítido aperfeiçoamento das técnicas literárias ao longo dos anos, transforma Lee Maracle em uma das vozes de uma minoria oprimida que quebra o silêncio através da literatura indígena, denunciando a realidade de seu povo marginalizado há séculos / This dissertations objective is analyzing three books by Lee Maracle, First Nations Canadian author, based on postcolonial and feminist theories, briefly visiting the Canadian history, in order to contextualize Maracles literary production. Maracles first publication took place in 1975, with the release of her autobiography Bobbi Lee Indian Rebel. This dissertation, however, intends to discuss the second edition of this book, enlarged in 1990. The autobiographical narrative allows us to become familiar with the struggles, difficulties and actual situation of Canadian Indigenous peoples, which permits our subsequent analysis of the evolution of Maracles writing at the publication of her novels. Sundogs (1992) was the authors first novel. By the first-person narrator, Marianne, Sundogs unfolds the young protagonists search for her Indigenous identity. The latest novel by Maracle, Daughters are Forever (2002), presents a mythological introduction to the formation of Turtle Island, America, based on Native oral traditions. The novel narrates Marilyns trajectory, a mid-fifties social worker that suffers from her daughters distancing, due to her poor motherhood. The clear improvement of literary techniques along the years transforms Lee Maracle in one of the oppressed voices that breaks the silence through Indigenous literature, denouncing the reality of her, for centuries, marginalized people

Essa dissertação tem como objetivo analisar três livros de Lee Maracle, autora canadense de origem indígena, com base nas teorias autobiográficas, pós-coloniais e feministas, visitando brevemente a história canadense, para contextualizar a produção literária desta autora. A primeira publicação de Maracle ocorreu em 1975, com o lançamento de sua autobiografia Bobbi Lee Indian Rebel. Esta dissertação, entretanto, visa discutir a segunda edição desse livro, ampliada em 1990. A narrativa autobiográfica permite-nos conhecer as lutas, dificuldades e corrente situação dos povos indígenas canadenses, para que, no próximo momento possamos analisar a evolução da escrita de Maracle, na publicação de seus romances. Sundogs (1992) foi o primeiro romance da autora. Por meio de sua narradora em primeira pessoa, Marianne, Sundogs desdobra a trilha da jovem protagonista na busca de sua identidade indígena. O mais recente romance de Maracle, Daughters are Forever (2002), apresenta uma introdução mitológica da formação de Turtle Island, a América, baseada nas tradições orais indígenas. O romance narra a trajetória de Marilyn, uma assistente social, por volta de seus quarenta e cinco anos, que sofre pelo seu distanciamento de suas filhas, causado por sua própria maternidade inadequada. O nítido aperfeiçoamento das técnicas literárias ao longo dos anos, transforma Lee Maracle em uma das vozes de uma minoria oprimida que quebra o silêncio através da literatura indígena, denunciando a realidade de seu povo marginalizado há séculos / This dissertations objective is analyzing three books by Lee Maracle, First Nations Canadian author, based on postcolonial and feminist theories, briefly visiting the Canadian history, in order to contextualize Maracles literary production. Maracles first publication took place in 1975, with the release of her autobiography Bobbi Lee Indian Rebel. This dissertation, however, intends to discuss the second edition of this book, enlarged in 1990. The autobiographical narrative allows us to become familiar with the struggles, difficulties and actual situation of Canadian Indigenous peoples, which permits our subsequent analysis of the evolution of Maracles writing at the publication of her novels. Sundogs (1992) was the authors first novel. By the first-person narrator, Marianne, Sundogs unfolds the young protagonists search for her Indigenous identity. The latest novel by Maracle, Daughters are Forever (2002), presents a mythological introduction to the formation of Turtle Island, America, based on Native oral traditions. The novel narrates Marilyns trajectory, a mid-fifties social worker that suffers from her daughters distancing, due to her poor motherhood. The clear improvement of literary techniques along the years transforms Lee Maracle in one of the oppressed voices that breaks the silence through Indigenous literature, denouncing the reality of her, for centuries, marginalized people

The purpose of the study was to identify the gender-related themes from a cultural discourse in order to determine how gender is constructed in African society. The study specifically examines the Maragoli Folktale. The Maragoli people mainly inhabit the western part of Kenya and are a sub-tribe of the larger Luhyia community. The Luhyia community is the second largest community in Kenya. The study attempts to uncover how gender is constructed through the examination of dominant themes, characterization, images, symbols, formulaic patterns and formalities of composition and performance in the Maragoli folktales at the time of performance. Based on an eclectic conceptual framework, the study takes into consideration gender theories, feminist literary perspectives, psychoanalysis and discourse analysis paradigms to critically examine the tales as a semiotic system of signification grounded within an African social cultural milieu. The folktales are analysed as a symbolic and ideological discourse of signs encoded by the performer and decoded by the audience at the time of performance. The study therefore situates the tale firmly at the time of performance, taking into consideration the interaction between the performer and the audience in the dissemination and internalization of gender ideology. While establishing that patriarchal structures and values are transmitted through the tales, the study also reveals the methods and interventions that the mainly female performers advance as active agents in their struggle for space within the culture. Women are, therefore, perceived as active agents of change and the folktale as a site from which gender ideology is discussed, contested and subverted. The study is based on a corpus of twenty (20) folktales collected from the Maragoli country in Western Province of Kenya (See maps, Appendix B.) The English versions of the tales appear in appendix A. / English Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (English)

The aim of this thesis was to examine the conditions for democratic bildung-oriented education for students in the school science discourse. This is something that the Swedish curriculum is based on and thereby the education should develop students' capacity for social, political and cultural awareness. The theoretical framework used is grounded in critical didactics and feminist theories which assume that students should feel involved and get their voices heard. The Swedish national test in chemistry (2009-2012) and student answers (198n) from one of the items in the 2009 test have been analyzed using discourse analysis. The first study explored the norms and values present in the national tests in chemistry, in relation to people, society and nature. The second study focused on student’s evaluative language in their free-text answers to one of the items. Thereby attitudes in student answers were projected in relation to the norms and values found in the first study. Finally, the student answers were used once more in a third study, where students’ positioning in relation to the scientific discourse in the chemistry test (2009) was explored, as well as which feminist figurations these subject positions express. The results show that the national tests harbor an elitist image and anandrocentric bias.The normative message is that students should adopt an objective, rational, non-judgmental and non-emotional role. Topics connected to young people’s everyday life, that might interest students, are rare. Contrary to the normative messages mediated by the tests, students use evaluative and embodied language to a high extent in their answers. They choose to write about topics that are close to their everyday life and they show that they are emotionally engaged. Through feminist figurations theories used in the third study one can see how the student-subject positions offer resistance in different ways. This is shown in their criticism of science and technology, human society and nature. The students' responses have embraced an embodied chemistry that can be interpreted as teaching based on bildung and deliberative discussions.

The purpose of the study was to identify the gender-related themes from a cultural discourse in order to determine how gender is constructed in African society. The study specifically examines the Maragoli Folktale. The Maragoli people mainly inhabit the western part of Kenya and are a sub-tribe of the larger Luhyia community. The Luhyia community is the second largest community in Kenya. The study attempts to uncover how gender is constructed through the examination of dominant themes, characterization, images, symbols, formulaic patterns and formalities of composition and performance in the Maragoli folktales at the time of performance. Based on an eclectic conceptual framework, the study takes into consideration gender theories, feminist literary perspectives, psychoanalysis and discourse analysis paradigms to critically examine the tales as a semiotic system of signification grounded within an African social cultural milieu. The folktales are analysed as a symbolic and ideological discourse of signs encoded by the performer and decoded by the audience at the time of performance. The study therefore situates the tale firmly at the time of performance, taking into consideration the interaction between the performer and the audience in the dissemination and internalization of gender ideology. While establishing that patriarchal structures and values are transmitted through the tales, the study also reveals the methods and interventions that the mainly female performers advance as active agents in their struggle for space within the culture. Women are, therefore, perceived as active agents of change and the folktale as a site from which gender ideology is discussed, contested and subverted. The study is based on a corpus of twenty (20) folktales collected from the Maragoli country in Western Province of Kenya (See maps, Appendix B.) The English versions of the tales appear in appendix A. / English Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (English)