Money can be understood as a disembedding mechanism, detaching social relations from a spatiotemporal context. However, different infrastructural instantiations of money make visible–and invisible–different qualities of money. Through a two-month ethnographic study of El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin as a complimentary legal tender, I show how Bitcoin in El Salvador functions as a technology of the imagination that brings future-making and deterritorialization into the forefront of money infrastructure(s).  The thesis is divided into three main parts. First, I briefly introduce how people leverage Bitcoin as a tool for shaping subjective attitudes towards time, and consequently–to inspire hope.  Then, I show how foreigners travelling to El Salvador to use Bitcoin are not doing this out of economic considerations. Rather, this transnational group of Bitcoiners can be characterised as a recursive public that utilises Bitcoin to escape the formation of the nation-state and form a deterritorialized community around shared speculative visions of the future. Bitcoin also allows them to make general infrastructural features of money visible and to contest these. The prime example being money’s disciplinary effects on subjective attitudes towards time. In the last part, I show how deterritorialization and speculative futures also come to the forefront of Salvadoran imaginaries of Bitcoin. We can understand attitudes of fear and attitudes of hope as responses to this imaginary. The thesis concludes by arguing that Bitcoin’s materiality affords imaginaries of disembedded social landscapes, thus rendering visible preexisting infrastructural features of money. However, in the specific context of El Salvador Bitcoin also works as a tool for re-embedding, but only for the Bitcoiners.

The thesis aims to explore future mobility system alternatives in the context of “winter cities” to achieve a more sustainable society. This is done by interviewing a broad range of mobility experts - encompassing those focused on cities in the northern regions and those with global expertise. The result highlights what (social and technological) innovations are believed to transform winter city mobility and what factors can play a key role in successful transformations. The relevance of the findings is illustrated with examples of their contextualization for the case of Skellefteå municipality, located in Sweden. / Studien syftar till att utforska framtida mobilitetssystemalternativ i sammanhanget "vinterstäder" för att uppnå ett mer hållbart samhälle. Detta görs genom att intervjua en rad olika mobilitetsexperter – som besitter erfarenhet och kunskap från städer lokaliserade i de norra regionerna samt de med global expertis. Resultatet belyser vilka (sociala och tekniska) innovationer som tros förändra vinterstadens mobilitet och vilka faktorer som kan spela en nyckelroll i en framgångsrik transformation. Studiens relevans påvisas genom att resultat illustreras med exempel på dess kontextualisering i caset Skellefteå kommun.

During my eight years of work in the communication department of an NGO based in Kampala I have undetaken several workshops organized by istitutional donors, such as USAID, on how to write what the aid sector calls stories of change.  Puzzled by the information and skills obtained in such context and the stories I have encounter and wrote during my job from one side, and on the other side acknowledging how novels helped me to navigate my feeling of disorientation while living and experiencing the Ugandan context; I have decided to embark in this research to better understand where the stories produced by INGOs and the contemporary literature differentiate.  This research involves shedding light on the differences, both in narrative construction and their impact on readers, between modern and significant literary works, like novels and stories originating from the aid industry (INGOs). To this end, the investigation embraces three distinct sources: the novels “We Need New Names” and “Americanah,” along with a concise web-based tale released by USAID. The ultimate goal of the research is to explore the power of storytelling in shaping collective imaginaries.  To unravel the interconnection between narrative potency and collective immaginaries, this study centers on the portrayal of Black Women. It draws upon the insights of Postcolonialism and Black Feminism, while exploring pivotal concepts such as Representation, Voice, and Stereotype. The study employs content analysis and reflect on complexity of character depiction. The findings reveal that well-crafted characters in literature can challenge stereotypes associated with African women. Characters like Darling (We Need New Names) and Ifemule (Aamericanah) are portrayed with depth and complexity, offering a comprehensive and multifaceted representation that defies monolithic stereotypes. In contrast, the character Aberu (USAID webstory) lacks such depth, perpetuating limited views of African women.  Furthermore, the research also highlights the potential of round characters to engage readers on multiple levels, prompting changes in perspective. Ultimately, the study concludes that storytelling has immense power to shape perceptions and calls for crafting narratives that promote inclusive and authentic portrayals of African women. The research enabled me to identify the differences between storytelling on Black women of the ‘development industry’ and storytelling on Black women in the literary field, opening a reflection on the importance to engage with narratives and media.  Differences highlighted the need for INGOs to reassess their storytelling methods. Drawing inspiration from contemporary African literature may provide valuable insights and strategies to foster more authentic, complex, and nuanced representations of Black women.

No description available.

The examination of the role of the state in the broader context of socio-technical entanglement within data governance has received less attention due to the emergence of other powerful corporate actors (e.g. Big Tech). This thesis utilizes quantitative content analysis to investigate and compare how state agencies (the White House, FTC, Congress) and CNN framed data governance in 2022, focusing on the role of the state amid growing data privacy concerns following the Roe v. Wade overruling. The ultimate aim is to pinpoint the sociotechnical imaginaries that gain traction, having a constitutive effect on the US data governance order. Empirical results indicate that framings between the two units rather align than differ, particularly in the wake of the overruling. The evidence points to the active and multiple roles of the state and the coexistence of multiple sociotechnical imaginaries within asymmetric power dynamics, with the vision of ensuring consumer trust rising as prominent at the expense of viewing data privacy as a sovereign right of citizens. Despite the emerging perspective of viewing data privacy as a right, CNN, as a significant place of mediation, has amplified rather than challenged the market-based approach. Lastly, evidence indicates that media is not only a significant place for elevating certain sociotechnical imaginaries but could be considered one of the crucial places of initially discursively negotiated policymaking.

Global initiatives regarding environmental change have increasingly become part of political agendas and of our collective imagination. In order to form sustainable societies, education is considered crucial by organizations such as the United Nations and the European Union. But how is the notion of sustainability imagined and formed in educational practices? What does sustainability make possible, and whom does it involve? These critical questions are not often asked in educational research on sustainability. This study suggests that the absence of critical questions in sustainability education is part of a contemporary post-political framing of environmental issues. In order to re-politicize sustainability in education, this study critically explores how education—as an institution and a practice that is supposed to foster humans—responds to environmental change. The aim is to explore how sustainability is formed in education, and to discuss how these formations relate to ideas of what education is, and whom it is for. This interdisciplinary study uses theories and concepts from cultural studies, feminist theory, political theory, and philosophy of education to study imaginaries of the unknown, nonhuman world in the context of education. The focus of the empirical investigation is on teacher education in Sweden, and more precisely on those responsible for teaching the future generations of teachers – the teacher instructors. With help from empirical findings from focus groups, the study asks questions about the ontological, political, and ethical potential and risk of bringing the unknown Other into education. / Utbildning har globalt fått en central roll i strävanden efter att skapa hållbar utveckling. Initiativ tagna av såväl Förenta Nationerna som Europeiska Unionen, där utbildning och hållbarhet kopplas samman, vittnar om att frågor som rör miljöförändringar har blivit allt viktigare både på de politiska agendorna och i våra kollektiva, kulturella föreställningsvärldar. Men hur formas begreppet hållbar utveckling när det ska göras undervisningsbart? Vilka framtider möjliggör hållbar utveckling i utbildningssammanhang och vem inkluderas i begreppet? Frågor av kritisk karaktär är ofta frånvarande i tidigare utbildningsforskning som rör hållbar utveckling. Denna avhandling tar sin utgångspunkt i att frånvaron av kritiska frågor kan ses som del i en samtida postpolitisk inramning av miljöfrågor i såväl utbildningssammanhang som i samhället i stort. Studien undersöker hur utbildningsväsendet, som är en central institution i fostrandet av framtidens medborgare, tar sig an frågor som rör miljöförändringar. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur hållbar utveckling formas genom utbildning samt att diskutera hur dessa formationer relateras till idéer om vad utbildning är och vem som ska utbildas. På så vis söker studien också efter sätt att re-politisera hållbar utveckling i utbildningssammanhang. Avhandlingen är tvärvetenskaplig och använder teorier och begrepp från kulturstudier, feministisk teori, politisk teori och utbildningsfilosofi för att studera vad utbildning som relaterar till natur- och miljöfrågor möjliggör. Empiriskt undersöks svenska lärarutbildare, som ansvarar för att utbilda framtidens lärare. Studien ställer frågor om ontologiska, politiska och etiska aspekter av att öppna upp utbildningen för det som ligger bortom mänsklig kontroll och kunskap. / Sustainable development as an area of knowledge

Cette thèse examine la formation des citoyens à l'Âge de l'information en comparant les visions et les pratiques d’alphabétisation et d’enseignement de la culture informatique aux enfants et au grand public aux États-Unis, en France, et en Union soviétique. Les programmes d'alphabétisation et d'acculturation informatique ont été lancés dans ces trois pays dans les années 1970 avec pour objectif l'adaptation des individus à la vie dans la société informatisée telle qu'elle était envisagée par les savants, penseurs et praticiens dans chaque contexte culturel et sociopolitique. La thèse porte sur les idées et influences de trois personnes qui ont joué des rôles importants dans la promotion des initiatives d'éducation en informatique dans chacun des pays étudiés : Seymour Papert aux États-Unis, Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber en France, et Andrei Ershov en Union Soviétique. Selon ces pionniers, devenir alphabétisé ou cultivé en informatique signifiait plus qu’acquérir des compétences vis-à-vis de l’ordinateur ou bien apprendre à être un utilisateur passif du micro-ordinateur. Chaque pionnier envisageait une façon distincte d’incorporer la machine dans la manière de penser et d'être des individus -- comme une augmentation cognitive aux États-Unis, comme une culture en France, ou bien comme un partenaire dans l'Union Soviétique. Les hybrides hommes ordinateurs en résultant exigeaient tous une relation ludique à l'ordinateur personnel conçu comme un espace libre, non structuré et propice à l’exploration créatrice. Dans cette étude, je trace la réalisation de ces hybrides hommes-ordinateurs à partir de leurs origines dans les visions des quelques pionniers, de leur incorporation dans le matériel, les logiciels, et les programmes éducatifs, de leur développement dans les expériences locales avec les enfants et les communautés, et, enfin dans leur mise en œuvre à l'échelle de la nation. Dans ce processus d'extension, les visions des pionniers se heurtent à de puissants imaginaires sociotechniques (sociotechnical imaginaries) de l’État. Je montre alors pour chaque cas, comment, suite à la confrontation avec ces imaginaires, les visions des pionniers ne sont pas pleinement réalisées. En conclusion, je propose une lecture de la manière dont les imaginaires du Vingtième siècle de citoyens alphabétisés ou cultivés en informatique s’étendent au-delà de leurs points d'origine et se connectent à des aspects contemporains de la constitution des humains dans un monde informatisé. / In this dissertation I trace the formation of citizens of the information age by comparing visions and practices to make children and the general public computer literate or cultured in the United States, France, and the Soviet Union. Computer literacy and computer culture programs in these three countries began in the early 1970s as efforts to adapt people to life in the information society as it was envisioned by scholars, thinkers, and practitioners in each cultural and sociopolitical context. The dissertation focuses on the ideas and influence of three individuals who played formative roles in propelling computer education initiatives in each country: Seymour Papert in the United States, Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber in France, and Andrei Ershov in the Soviet Union. According to these pioneers, to become computer literate or computer cultured meant more than developing computer skills or learning how to passively use the personal computer. Each envisioned a distinctive way of incorporating the machine into the individual human’s ways of thinking and being—as a cognitive enhancement in the United States, as a culture in France, and as a partner in the Soviet Union. The resulting human-computer hybrids all demanded what I call a playful relationship to the personal computer, that is, a domain of free and unstructured, exploratory creativity. I trace the realization of these human-computer hybrids from their origins in the visions of a few pioneers to their embedding in particular hardware, software, and educational curricula, through to their development in localized experiments with children and communities, and finally to their implementation at the scale of the nation. In that process of extension, pioneering visions bumped up against powerful sociotechnical imaginaries of the nation state in each country, and I show how, as a result of that clash, in each national case the visions of the pioneers failed to be fully realized. In conclusion, I suggest ways in which the twentieth-century imaginaries of the computer literate citizen extend beyond their points of origin and connect to aspects of the contemporary constitutions of humans in the computerized world.

Dans le contexte mondial actuel où les échanges sont internationaux et interculturels, il est intéressant de s'interroger sur les conséquences de l'interculturalité dans une perspective ethnologique. Le monde du tourisme est un formidable indicateur du regard qu'une culture porte sur une autre, indicateur aussi de ce que cette interculturalité modifie pour les uns et les autres. Dans ce travail de thèse, l'interculturalité observée se situe à Ittoqqortoormiit, petite ville de la côte nord-est du Groenland. Cette petite communauté inuit connaît des difficultés économiques et le tourisme paraît être une solution pour lui permettre d'améliorer son quotidien. La problématique tourne alors autour de la mise en tourisme de la culture inuit d'Ittoqqortoormiit et des échanges qui s'imposent entre les chasseurs devenus guides et les touristes pour la plupart venus d'Europe ou d'Amérique du Nord. Pour les Groenlandais d'Ittoqqortoormiit, la chasse participe activement à la construction et au maintien de leur identité inuit. La pratique de la chasse est codifiée et répond à des valeurs sociales et culturelles largement partagées par l'ensemble de la population mais en situation interculturelle, la chasse revêt d'autres aspects et ne correspond pas toujours à l'imaginaire touristique polaire que les visiteurs viennent vivre et ressentir. Ainsi, l'identité et la culture inuit sont en renouvellement constant devant l'Autre, tandis que l'interculturalité et la mondialisation jouent sur l'avenir de la pratique de la chasse comme emblème identitaire. / In a global context where nowadays exchanges are international and intercultural, it is interesting to wonder about the consequences of interculturality from an ethnological perspective. The touristic world is a wonderful indicator of one culture's outlook on another and the changes brought by crossculturality. In this thesis, interculturality is examined in a small town named Ittoqqortoormiit in the north-east coast of Greenland. This small Inuit community faces economic difficulties and tourism seems to be a solution to improve day-to-day life. The research question is then naturally oriented towards the integration of tourism in the Ittoqqortoormiit Inuit culture and towards consequent exchanges between hunters turned into guides and tourists mainly from Europe and North America. The Ittoqqortoormiit Greenlanders see hunting as a way to actively build and maintain their Inuit identity. The practice of hunting is normalized and follows social and cultural values shared by all the population. However in a intercultural context, hunting is viewed from other perspectives and the experience by tourists does not always match the touristic polar imagination that visitors expect to others, and at the same time interculturality and globalization influence the future of the hunting practice as an identity symbol.

L’entrepreneur politique tend à dominer un espace sociopolitique par le jeu stratégique d’une matrice de ressources politiques. Ainsi, le leadership du notable Gaston Flosse, dans la collectivité d’outre-mer de Polynésie française, présente les facettes d’un pouvoir personnel en République. Ce type de domination de l’espace polynésien est mis en évidence par la plasticité d’un leadership politique autoritaire, fondé sur de multiples ressources matérielles et symboliques. L’étude de ce leadership politique interroge l’exercice de la démocratie représentative à Tahiti et dans la Vème République. / The strategic mobilization of multidimensional political resources allows the political leader to take power in a political space. Then, the leader uses a combination of political capacities to keep the power and extend his domination. Thus, the political leadership of the Boss Gaston Flosse, in the overseas collectivity of French Polynesia, has become a personal rule inside the French Republic. The domination of the Polynesian sociopolitical space is illustrated by the plasticity of an authoritarian leadership, which questions the expressions of democracy in Tahiti, and in the French political regime.

Cette thèse porte sur le renouvellement du réalisme dans la production narrative espagnole des années 2000, à partir d’un corpus de quatre romans, et se demande : en quoi consiste l’esthétique réaliste actuelle, quelle est son épistémologie et quel lien entretient-elle avec d’autres discours de savoir ? Quel rôle jouent les récits réalistes dans la configuration des imaginaires sociaux, alors que sont remis en question l’héritage de la transition démocratique et le récit de la modernisation espagnole ? Sont d’abord examinées les conditions de possibilité historiques, socio-économiques et culturelles d’un renouveau du réalisme – cartographié dans le champ littéraire des vingt dernières années. Hypothèse centrale : le réalisme ressurgit du fait que les débats de mémoire historique depuis 2000 et la crise économique, sociale et politique depuis 2008 engagent une révision du mythe de la Transition et du projet de la modernité qui structurait les imaginaires sociaux espagnols depuis les années 1960. Trois parties proposent des études de poétiques réalistes, en diachronie et en synchronie, pour mettre en valeur l’évolution des modes de référentialité réalistes entre le début des années 2000 et le début des années 2010, avec la crise de 2008 et ses prémices pour point d’inflexion. La première partie porte sur deux romans (Antonio Muñoz Molina, Sefarad, 2001 et Ignacio Martínez de Pisón, Enterrar a los muertos, 2005) qui dialoguent avec la fabrication sociale de documents et l’historiographie pour réinterpréter la guerre de 1936, de la dictature et de la transition. Les deuxième et troisième parties (Rafael Chirbes, Crematorio, 2007, et Isaac Rosa, La mano invisible, 2011) analysent l’élaboration d’un récit collectif de l’Espagne développementaliste, à l’aube de la crise, par des romans qui dialoguent avec la théorie économique et la sociologie historique. Au carrefour du littéraire, des discours sociaux, de l’histoire et de la sociologie contemporaine de l’Espagne, cette thèse soutient que la réappropriation du réalisme dans les années 2000 participe à la remise en question d’une identité nationale démocratique et moderne, au resurgissement d’une réalité problématique et d’imaginaires sociaux paramodernes après l’écroulement du métarécit d’une transition modèle. Si les romans cherchent tous à prendre en charge le réel social selon ses représentations, ils se différencient par leur traitement de la question politique de ce que « réel » veut dire, par le choix du chemin selon lequel le décrire, et par l’évaluation de la nature des causes historiques et matérielles de la réalité qu’habitent les écrivains. / This thesis studies new forms of realism in Spanish prose in the 2000s, from a corpus of four novels. It contemplates what makes the contemporary reality aesthetic, what its epistemology is, and what links it bears to other forms of knowledge. What roles do realist narrations play in the configuration of social imaginaries, when the heritage of the democratic transition and the narration of Spanish modernisation are called into question? We first examine the conditions of historical, socio-economic and cultural possibilities of a renewal of realism, which is mapped throughout the literary field of the last twenty years. The central hypothesis is that realism springs back up from the fact that debates around historical memory in the 2000s, and since 2008, the economic, social and political crisis prompt the revision of the transition myth and the project of modernity which had been structuring Spain’s social imaginaries since the 1960s. Three parts offer different studies of realist poetics, diachronically and synchronically, to highlight the evolution of the modes of realist referentiality between the start of the 2000s and the beginning of the 2010s, the crisis of 2008 and its beginning as an inflexion point. The first part tackles two novels (Antonio Muñoz Molina, Sefarad, 2001 and Ignacio Martínez de Pisón, Enterrar a los muertos, 2005), which discuss the social fabrication of documents and historiography to reinterpret the 1936 war, the dictatorship and the transition. The second and third parts (Rafael Chirbes, Crematorio, 2007, and Isaac Rosa, La mano invisible, 2011) analyse the elaboration of a collective narrative of developmental Spain, at the dawn of the crisis, through novels which interact with the economic theory of liberalism and historic sociology. At the crossroads of literary studies, social discourse, history and the contemporary sociology of Spain, this thesis argues that the appropriation of realism in the 2000s questions a national identity that is democratic, modern, and takes part in the reappearance of a problematic reality after the meta narration of a model transition collapsed. If the novels all try to tackle the social reality according to its representations, they differ through what « reality » means to them, through the nature of its historic and material causes, and through the ways they describe it.