Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / On 15December 2011, the now ousted South African President Jacob Zuma officiated the opening of the Gallows Memorial Museum at the Pretoria Central Correctional Facility, a project undertaken by the Department of Correctional Services. This Project saw the gallows at what was previously Pretoria Central Maximum (C-Max) Prison, which had been dismantled in 1996 following the abolition of the death penalty in South Africa, restored and reopened as a museum. At the top of the notorious 52 steps that condemned prisoners climbed to reach the execution room, the then president unveiled a dedicated wall with individualised plaques for each of the political prisoners who had died there between 1960 and 1989. “Today” the president announced, “all 134 names are officially being enshrined for eternity so that future generations will know what this country went through, so that we never go through a similar horror ever again. The Museum is meant to act as an anti-death penalty monument, to honour the anti-apartheid activists who were hanged by the apartheid state and to encourage “healing.” This was to be “a place where the political prisoners who were hanged there can be honoured and the past can be buried. Reflecting the African National Congress (hereafter ANC)- centered dominant narrative of resistance in South Africa, Zuma emphasised the executions of ANC cadres. He failed to note that the Pan Africanist Congress was the organisation that had lost the greatest number of its members to judicial executions.

<p>This paper concerns the treatment of people at execution places and it is focusing on Gotland and the execution place called Galgberget. The material in the paper comes from Galgberget and a gallow in Denmark called Slots Bjergby. Together with this the laws of Gotland during the medieval and later periods are discussed and also how the archaeological material (especially the buttons) found on the excavation site can help to understand the people buried on the gallow site. The result of the analysis shows that the laws and the material found on the excavation site often tells different things. The punishments are often softer then what the law says. The material is also suggesting that it was possible to gain a better place on the execution site and that the many execution places in Visby were used for different kinds of punishments.</p>

The aim of this thesis is to investigate which criteria that can be used to locate execution sites on the island of Gotland, Sweden. The execution sites, which are used to test the criteria against, range in date from early medieval period to 1876 when the last public execution in Sweden took place. Why these criteria can be used will be discussed along with attempts to explain why they have been used frequently or not so frequent. The results show that the execution sites are most commonly located in clear view, near roads, on heights and on unfertile soil. Other criteria that appears less frequent, but that still can be used in the process of locating execution sites, are graves, crossroads and boarders.

This paper concerns the treatment of people at execution places and it is focusing on Gotland and the execution place called Galgberget. The material in the paper comes from Galgberget and a gallow in Denmark called Slots Bjergby. Together with this the laws of Gotland during the medieval and later periods are discussed and also how the archaeological material (especially the buttons) found on the excavation site can help to understand the people buried on the gallow site. The result of the analysis shows that the laws and the material found on the excavation site often tells different things. The punishments are often softer then what the law says. The material is also suggesting that it was possible to gain a better place on the execution site and that the many execution places in Visby were used for different kinds of punishments.

Death, dying, and the actual loss of life are some of the broadest sweeping concepts that typically evoke a wide array of emotions from sadness and anger to fear and despondence. It is unlikely that the first words associated with death are comedy, humor, or laughter. However, that is precisely what creators and comedians of dark, death, and gallows humor seek to achieve. For my senior capstone project, I have created a short fictional narrative film encompassing the traits of a dark comedy. However, noticing that few dark comedies delve into topics surrounding suicide, I wondered if it was possible to achieve the same comedic and filmic effects with suicide as dark comedies do with death. Is it possible to generate humor from suicide and desiring death? What is implied if humor is derived from the inability to reach death on one’s own volition?

abstract: "The Wicked Man's Portion" uses crime writing as a means to measure modernity in early America. Crime writing does things all too familiarly "modern"; it imagines audiences in need of moral instruction, citizens questioning the decisions of those in power, and men and women seeking reassurance that their community was safe, just, and moral. Crime writing pries open the dialectic between the expectations of authority and individuals' experiences. What emerges is the concept of a moral citizen, a self-reliant individual sharing responsibility for a well-ordered community. The first chapter examines typological interpretations of scripture in execution sermons revealing the interrelation between religion and law. Chapters two and three focus on the interaction between criminal law and beliefs in the supernatural; chapter two looks at supernatural crimes and forensic methods, such as those surrounding witch trials, and chapter three examines arguments for capital punishment that hinged upon divine involvement in human affairs. The fourth chapter discusses gallows publications' functions in the public sphere and contributions to inchoate democracy. The final chapter asks how equity defined punishment in economic terms. This chapter pays particular attention variations of punishment determined by race, class, and gender. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. English 2013

This master thesis is a result of historical analyses of past interpretation of Julius Fučík. Attention is focused on how the cult of Julius Fučík was built, how was his image changing and how this contributed to maintain communist ideology. For better understanding of the whole issue, this thesis describes Fučík's work, especially his most famous artwork Notes from the Gallows, which is important for understanding manipulations with Julius Fučík's legacy. It also examines how changing political situation transformed his role from hero to traitor and collaborator. As a counterbalance, complex expert studies dealing with Fučík's case are introduced. The end of the thesis is focused on the 70th anniversary of Fučík's death in the year 2013 in a perspective of contemporary media. This documents today's social debate which no longer deals with the question of guilt but is rather targeted on Fučík's literary output.

In humour studies research, there have been few attempts to elucidate why black humour was such a prevalent, powerful force in late twentieth century culture and why it continues to make a profound impression in the new millennium. As Dana Polan (1991) laments: ???Rarely have there been attempts to offer material, historically specific explanations of particular manifestations of the comic???.1 This thesis offers an interdisciplinary analysis of black humour in the late twentieth century. I contend that the experience of black humour emerges from the intricacies of human beliefs and behaviours surrounding death and through the diverse rituals that shape experiences of loss. I suggest that black humour is an attempt to articulate the tension between the haunting absence and disturbing presence of death in contemporary society. Chapter 1 of this thesis offers an historical and etymological perspective on black humour. In Chapter 2, I argue that the increasing privatisation and medicalisation of death, along with the overt mediatisation of death, creates a problematic juxtaposition. I contend that these unique social conditions created, and continue to foster, an ideal environment for the creation and proliferation of black humour. In Chapters 3 and 4, I examine the structures and functions of black humour through three key theories of humour: incongruity, catharsis and superiority. Chapter 5 looks at ways in which the experience of black humour creates resolutions and forces dissonances for people entwined with loss. In this final chapter, I also consider how black humour may help people make meaning from issues surrounding death. Throughout this theoretical discussion, I interweave the analysis of a range of scenes from contemporary black comic texts (i.e. plays, screenplays and television scripts). On the whole, this thesis works towards a more complex, specific understanding of the phenomenon of black humour within a social context.

In humour studies research, there have been few attempts to elucidate why black humour was such a prevalent, powerful force in late twentieth century culture and why it continues to make a profound impression in the new millennium. As Dana Polan (1991) laments: ???Rarely have there been attempts to offer material, historically specific explanations of particular manifestations of the comic???.1 This thesis offers an interdisciplinary analysis of black humour in the late twentieth century. I contend that the experience of black humour emerges from the intricacies of human beliefs and behaviours surrounding death and through the diverse rituals that shape experiences of loss. I suggest that black humour is an attempt to articulate the tension between the haunting absence and disturbing presence of death in contemporary society. Chapter 1 of this thesis offers an historical and etymological perspective on black humour. In Chapter 2, I argue that the increasing privatisation and medicalisation of death, along with the overt mediatisation of death, creates a problematic juxtaposition. I contend that these unique social conditions created, and continue to foster, an ideal environment for the creation and proliferation of black humour. In Chapters 3 and 4, I examine the structures and functions of black humour through three key theories of humour: incongruity, catharsis and superiority. Chapter 5 looks at ways in which the experience of black humour creates resolutions and forces dissonances for people entwined with loss. In this final chapter, I also consider how black humour may help people make meaning from issues surrounding death. Throughout this theoretical discussion, I interweave the analysis of a range of scenes from contemporary black comic texts (i.e. plays, screenplays and television scripts). On the whole, this thesis works towards a more complex, specific understanding of the phenomenon of black humour within a social context.

The dissertation describes the names related to justice and places in the landscape where justice was administered, applying an interdisciplinary perspective with place names as the chief source material. One aim is to collect and describe place names in Skåne designating or indirectly associated with meeting places and districts of the court, and to study the named places. The study covers many different periods, but especially the Middle Ages and the transition from the Late Iron Age to the Middle Ages. The analysis raises questions such as: Was there continuity in judicial sites between prehistoric and historic times? How old are the hundreds (härader)? Is there a spatial link between judicial sites and other central functions such as cult, markets, or rulers’ estates? The work is permeated by material-based onomastic research in combination with current perspectives in text research, historical geography, and archaeology. Nine case studies are conducted to describe the interaction between place, linguistic expression, and meaning. The study demonstrates the existence of a large corpus of names reflecting the early administration of justice. Most of the many field names which contain ting ‘court’ and galge ‘gallows’ can be related to the actual administration of justice. The medieval sites where courts assembled and people were executed stand out in particular, but in many cases these have prehistoric roots. Both unbroken continuity and the reuse of earlier places of assembly may be assumed. Close to sites with names indicating the administration of justice there are also landscape features with names that grant epic and mythical status to the locale. The special quality of these places was handed down, incorporated in larger narratives, based on changing ideas and circumstances in different periods. The landscape of the hundred courts (häradsting) is archaic, magnificent and mythical, and shared, qualities that contributed to the maintenance and legitimation of judicial practice. A division into a general, public judicial sphere and a more limited and exclusive sphere can be seen. In the medieval exercise of justice this division is manifested in two different judicial districts – härad and birk – but the phenomenon can be traced back to the Late Iron Age. The study also problematizes a traditional image of the names of the hundreds.