This thesis utilises the context of European Holocaust memory to test differences within the existing literature of the theory of ‘ontological security’. The differences centre on questions of identity preservation in the face of threats to a states ‘sense of self’. The paper builds a connection between theories within the field of collective memory and ontological security (a sub-field known as ‘mnemonic security’) and applies these to two case studies within the European context: the UK and Poland. These cases were chosen based on disparity of experience of the Holocaust within the European context in order to determine if these disparities may explain any potential variation in mnemonic security strategies. This is achieved with use of discourse analysis of state leader and representatives speeches (and other relevant discourse) given at Holocaust remembrance events in order to classify strategies in reference to the theoretical differences within the ontological security framework. It finds that differences in forms of memory exist, but their theoretical explanations within the framework are similar despite their disparities of experience. The thesis attempts to fill a gap of empirical evidence in regards to these arguments and in regards to discourse analysis of leader’s speeches and statements at said Holocaust remembrance events.

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I Alabamaskogen vaknar en mindre individ, han är ensam men det verkar inte bekomma honom. I samma skog bor också större karaktärer, hungriga jättar som äter vad som helst. En hemsk historia avslöjas och en oväntad vänskap hittas i mörka tider.

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No description available.

The theory of using bonecoal to create steel during the scandinavian iron- and viking-age also came with theories of ancestor worship - through use of ancestor´s bones, fertility - by liking iron-work to childbirth, and the ritual role of iron-smiths - in making that happen. This text endeavors to compare these theories with others and conclude that ancestor worship was a possible motive for grave-robbing or chosing particular animal bones to create steel, but no conclusive evidence for it has been found, nor, indeed for ancestor worship itself. The childbirth metaphor for iron-work have no regard for the gender dynamics of the two situations, which were presumably very different, nor have it regard for the technicalities of childbirth, which, before modern medicine, can be assumed happened on the woman´s knees and utilized the power of gravity for help. The transformation and liminal role of smiths and smithing is on the other hand, almost universally agreed upon.

The top decoration of the Uppsala Augsburg Art Cabinet has been investigated from a material perspective. Starting out from identifying the constituting materials, then analyzing their positions and correlations with each other and to further consider the contextual environment in terms of the materials accessibility and symbolic meaning in 16th and 17th Century Europe, representational manifestations have been observed. The obvious manifestations are: power, status and wealth all embodied in a symbiosis of natural and artificial, raw and crafted materials from the marine world and earth. The top decoration contrast to the corpus by its seemingly raw materials and asymmetric assemblage. On the other hand, the top decoration correlates to the corpus with: the natural materials, the fulfillment of the categories outlined by Quiccheberg of what a scholarly art cabinet ought to contain, and in the love narratives at display. The top decoration’s symbolic representation is the Birth of Venus myth. In elevating these natural materials into an art installation, their aesthetics and essence invited to a reflection of them as symbols and possible keys to a deeper knowledge of the universe in its contemporary princely European courts; constituting a microcosmos.

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No description available.

Med inspiration från barndomens sakletande i naturen vill jag undersöka hur formgivning kan lyfta frågor kring minne, plats och identitet. Platsen jag valt som utgångspunkt för mitt examensarbete är Öland. En plats jag själv haft en stark personlig koppling till. Jag tillbringade majoriteten av mina barndomssomrar där och har utvecklat en särskild relation till dess landskap och karaktäristiska natur. Syftet med mitt examensarbete är dels att utforska Ölands materiella identitet. Dels undersöka hur man kan gestalta en plats karaktär och identitet uttryckt i objekt. Genom att definiera, samla och transformera naturmaterial från Öland, använder jag dessa ”souvenirer” som utsmyckning i möbler.