This historic study is expanded with a contemporary view. It has interdisciplinary connections to fashion--‐, gender--‐ and postcolonial studies. The analysis is based on interwievs with Swedish skinheads with a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. One of the questions answered is which factors creates inclusion versus alienation in relation to the skinhead culture. The sources tell stories about a romanticisation of the workingclass, a homosocial expectation based on gender and a distinct heteronormativity. They also show how some non--‐normative functionalities pass, while others are seen as deviant which creates an alienation from the community. Are there any connections between skinhead culture, violence, nationalism and Nazism and if so, how does this show? The image of the skinhead in mass media is heavily coded with Nazism though many of the sources have experienced their subculture as highly diverse. The skinhead get’s to play the role of The Other  in the  Swedish debate on nationalism  and nazism.  To depict skinheads as the ”true” nazis becomes an effective way to make both everyday racism as well as dressy Nazism invisible. Also institutionalized violence, racial profiling and white violence  is made  invisible by this making of The Other. How come typical skinhead features have become popular in mainstream culture right now and what does this popularisation do to the subculture? The present political situation creates an aesthetic discussion which  does not limit itself to the subcultural domains.  At a time when skinhead features become mainstream it might take a more extreme expression to continue as sub--‐culture. The heavily charged aesthetics can be used as a subversive tool for shifting power perspectives, this is especially flagrant within the gayskin culture which uses the aesthetics as a camp play with stereotypes.

I uppsatsen undersöks barns konstruktion av det teologiska språket med avseende på försoning som begrepp. Barnens förståelse av försoning sätts i kritisk relation till Miroslav Volfs förståelse av försoning och omfamning (embrace). Därigenom framträder att barnen utvecklar försoningsbegreppet genom att det överträder vår uppfattning om tid och rum. Barnen konstruerar det teologiska språket utifrån en materialitet som består av egna erfarenheter av kroppslig (o)försoning. / In this essay I study how children construct their theological language in relation to the topic of reconciliation. The children's voices are put in critical dialog with the Croatian theologian Miroslav Volf’s notion of reconciliation in relation to embrace. The children’s perception of reconciliation develop and expand the theological concept of reconciliation. Seemingly, children's theological language describe reconciliation as an act that transcends time and space. Children construct their theological language through a materiality based on their own corporeal experiences of conflict and reconciliation.

I den här texten reflekterar jag kring hur erfarenheter av motstånd kan påverka min musik samt hur motstånd kan användas som verktyg i en skapandeprocess. Skapande är för mig motstånd, samt att göra motstånd. Motstånd kan här betyda tyngd och tryck, men verkar också som kraft och energi. Motstånd i den här texten är rörelser. Motstånd som håller emot, som trycker ned, som ger frustration och tyngd men också det motstånd som ger styrka och en sorts vild, ilsken glädje. Motståndskraft är avbrytande. Motstånd kan vara erfarenheter av förtryck, erfarenheter som sätter sig i kroppen. Motstånd ger kraft, och motstånd är närhet. Mitt konstnärliga examensprojekt har varit att komponera för en stråktrio, där jag undersökt intimiteten och den kroppsliga närheten i instrumentens klangkroppar samt mellan musikerna. Som en ingång till detta ämne skriver jag om motstånd, ett uttryck som finns i min musik och som även är ett perspektiv jag använder mig av i min skapandeprocess. För mig är det ordlösheten i det kroppsliga som fascinerar mig, det som intellektet inte kan formulera. Och i kroppen finns lyssnandet. Det är kroppens kunskap som vill uttrycka sig i musiken. Till grund för denna text ligger stycket ​Vridna, Vågsång​ som uruppfördes av Julija Morgan (violin), Tove Bagge (viola) och Hanna Cronhjort (kontrabas) den 16 april 2016. Under fem hela helger (från oktober 2015 till mars 2016) har vi provat idéer, improviserat, repeterat samt diskuterat motstånd, lyssnande och rum utifrån vad jag i denna text undersöker. / <p><strong>Bilagor:</strong></p><p>Bilaga 1 – Partitur: ​'Vridna, Vågsång' – Lo Kristenson</p><p>Bilaga 2 – Ljudinspelning från '​Martas och Los Examenskonsert'​ i S:t Johannes Kyrka, 16 april 2016. Uruppförande av Julija Morgan, Tove Bagge och Hanna Cronhjort.Durata: 30 minLjudmaterial i CD-format finns bifogad tillsammans text på Kungliga Musikhögskolans Bibliotek. Inspelning går även att lyssna på här:https://soundcloud.com/lo-kristenson</p><p>Bilaga 3 – Programblad från '​Martas och Los Examenskonsert'​ i S:t Johannes Kyrka, 16 april 2016.</p>

The aim of this study is to use an intermedial theory to analyse and contextualize embodiment and violence in the Chinese author Mo Yan’s Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out. I use Jørgen Bruhn’s mediality model, introduced in The Intermediality of Narrative Literature: Medialities Matter (2016), to analyse medial phenomena such as intra- and intermediality in the novel. Bruhn’s model mainly covers relations between several media and within a single medium. The focus of this study lies on the blending of different media within the novel. My hypothesis is that the depiction of embodied violence in the novel is a literary strategy, based on cognitive functions and Chinese oral traditions to communicate historical events, as well as through an intermedial depiction of those events, a way to avoid censorship. Of particular importance to this study are medial phenomena connected to visualization of memories, and intermediality as discipline a voice between media texts, to establish how a literary text through narrative techniques can create an illusion of cinematic blending. I see this as an illustration of the historical hierarchical struggle between art forms. This is a broader perspective on literary depiction in Mo Yan’s novel than generally can be found in interpretations originating in a Western discourse. The result of my study shows that medial phenomena such as inter- and intramediality are woven into a narrative theme of remembrance of historical political events. Such memories are communicated through depictions of embodied violence, as well as the impact of trauma on anonymous bodies reminiscent of cinematic techniques, heightened by the metafictive voice of Mo Yan within the novel. It is a perspective that is also accentuated through auditory and visual elements that recall the ability of audio-visual media techniques to create identification with exposed bodies through close-up depictions of body and violence. Hence, Mo Yan has constructed a grid of medial phenomena in the novel through which he is able to convey historical processes without risking censorship.

This​ ​essay​ ​examines​ ​the​ ​appearance​ ​of​ ​non-normative​ ​bodies​ ​in​ ​three​ ​films​ ​from​ ​the Marvel​ ​Cinematic​ ​Universe;​ ​​The​ ​Avengers​​ ​(2012),​ ​​Thor:​ ​The​ ​Dark​ ​World​​ ​(2013) ​and Avengers:​ ​Age​ ​of​ ​Ultron​​ ​(2015),​ ​in​ ​an​ ​attempt​ ​to​ ​find​ ​qualities​ ​that​ ​might​ ​suggest​ ​queer, non-binary​ ​or​ ​gender​ ​disruptive​ ​attributes,​ ​in​ ​addition​ ​to​ ​looking​ ​at​ ​how​ ​the​ ​movies handle​ ​them.​ ​Using​ ​a​ ​combination​ ​of​ ​feminist​ ​film​ ​theory,​ ​queer​ ​theory​ ​and​ ​discourse analysis,​ ​the​ ​Otherness​ ​of​ ​these​ ​bodies​ ​are​ ​put​ ​into​ ​contrast​ ​with​ ​the​ ​normative​ ​and hegemonic​ ​gender​ ​expressions​ ​employed​ ​by​ ​the​ ​protagonists,​ ​the​ ​heroes​ ​of​ ​the​ ​films. While​ ​the​ ​study​ ​finds​ ​several​ ​indications​ ​of​ ​transgressive​ ​bodies​ ​and​ ​'gender​ ​ambiguity' among​ ​the​ ​creatures​ ​and​ ​beings​ ​who​ ​play​ ​the​ ​part​ ​of​ ​inhuman​ ​threat,​ ​as​ ​well​ ​as​ ​the presence​ ​of​ ​discourses​ ​that​ ​paint​ ​them​ ​as​ ​threatening​ ​partly​ ​​because​​ ​of​ ​these​ ​qualities, they​ ​remain​ ​blurred​ ​and​ ​ill-defined,​ ​their​ ​queerness​ ​inferred​ ​rather​ ​than​ ​overt.​ ​The preferred​ ​reading,​ ​the​ ​analysis​ ​suggests,​ ​offers​ ​little​ ​in​ ​the​ ​way​ ​of​ ​identification,​ ​but​ ​all the​ ​more​ ​with​ ​regard​ ​to​ ​oppression.​ ​The​ ​way​ ​these​ ​bodies​ ​are​ ​treated​ ​in​ ​all​ ​three​ ​films implies​ ​that​ ​the​ ​tolerance​ ​for​ ​bodily​ ​deviance​ ​is​ ​virtually​ ​non-existent,​ ​and​ ​that​ ​a defining​ ​quality​ ​of​ ​masculine​ ​leadership​ ​is​ ​the​ ​ability​ ​to​ ​banish​ ​them​ ​from​ ​existence.

The Fifty Shades-trilogy by E. L. James has become a cultural phenomenon, and is widely debated as such. The main issue of the debate is often concerning the story’s relation to women’s position in society. Common standpoints are that it is either contributing to women’s sexual liberation or that it perpetuates violence against women. The story is also considered to be of poor literary quality. In my thesis, I seek for approaches to understand the story beyond polarisation. I am performing a reparative reading of the first novel of the trilogy, Fifty Shades of Grey, through Michel Foucault’s notions of knowledge, power and pleasure. The purpose is to examine how these work in relation to each other, and how they relate to the presentation of sexuality and subjectivity in the novel. Furthermore, I engage in dialogue with previous research on Fifty Shades in the feminist field. In my analysis, I illustrate how knowledge, power and pleasure are synergetic and under constant negotiation. They are woven together and move between characters, laying the foundation for the subjects and their sexualities. I demonstrate how the power relations operate in multiple directions between Christian, Ana and Ana’s friend Kate, which is something that Ana shows awareness of. Further, I find that a conflict between mind and body occurs. Ana assumes the position of the knowing subject, through which she approaches corporality, and thereby gains new independence. Finally, I reflect on corporality’s intrusion of language in relation to the (de)valuation of the literary quality of the novel. As a question to bring to future studies, I ask whether the reading of Fifty Shades of Grey might be understood as consumption of body rather than consumption of literature, sexism or heteronormativity. / Fifty Shades-trilogin av E. L. James har blivit ett populärkulturellt fenomen som omdebatterats kraftigt. Temat för diskussionerna gäller ofta berättelsens förhållande till kvinnors sociala position i samhället. Vanliga åsikter är att den antingen bidrar till kvinnors sexuella frigörelse eller att den normaliserar våld mot kvinnor. Berättelsen anses även vara litterärt undermålig. I denna uppsats söker jag efter sätt att förstå berättelsen utanför polariseringen.  Jag genomför en reparativ läsning av trilogins första del, Fifty Shades of Grey, genom Michel Foucaults begrepp vetande, makt och njutning. Syftet är att undersöka hur begreppen fungerar i relation till varandra samt hur de förhåller sig till framställningen av sexualitet och subjektivitet i romanen. Jag går även i dialog med tidigare forskning om Fifty Shades i det feministiska fältet.  I min analys belyser jag hur vetande, makt och njutning samverkar med varandra och är under ständig förhandling. De rör sig mellan karaktärerna och vävs ihop till ett nät som lägger grunden för subjekten och sexualiteterna. Jag visar hur maktrelationerna är verksamma åt flera håll mellan Christian, Ana och Anas vän Kate, vilket Ana genom berättelsen också är medveten om. Jag finner även att det uppstår en konflikt mellan sinne och kropp. Ana intar rollen som ett det vetande subjektet. Genom denna roll närmar hon sig kroppsligheten, i vilken hon finner ny självständighet. Avslutningsvis reflekterar jag över kroppslighetens inträngande i språket, i relation till (ned)värderandet av romanens litterära kvalitét. Inför framtida studier ställer jag frågan om läsandet av Fifty Shades of Grey skulle kunna förstås som konsumtion av kropp snarare än som konsumtion av litteratur, sexism eller heteronorm.

The works of Erik Beckman (1935-1995) are quite unique within the Swedish literary scene. His texts convert the experimental language of the concretists of the sixties into a new form of fabulation that undermines our understanding of what literature can be, ranging from novels and poetry to theatre pieces and radio theatre. His literary style has been discussed by critics, but the depths of it are yet to be fully explored. There is a lot to gain from combining contemporary theories of materiality and corporeality with his self-proclaimed materialistic poetics. The novel Inlandsbanan (1967) is a fragmentary account of an inland train going through Sweden, with characters coming and going in a frustrating tempo. The text is filled with word games, narrative constructs and a language that brings forth the material aspects of communication that push the boundaries of literary interpretation. This thesis examines Beckman’s novel through the lens of theoretical concepts of thingliness and corporeality developed by the likes of Judith Butler, Karen Barad, and Andrew Pickering in order to elaborate an analysis that goes beyond the surface of its experimental and materialistic use of literary language. Using bodily themes, I analyze specific passages in the novel in order to find a new understanding of its semantic functions. By doing this through the concept of performativity, not only can I identify a thematized corporeality, but beyond that a literary form and a language that problematizes the very notion of the written text as a body and highlights a material agency in literature. This method enables an interpretation of the novel that can illuminates important aspects at play that previously have not been explored.

<p>This study researches fictional representations of dead bodies in two television series in which representations of dead bodies are prominent features. The study introduces a brief history of the  human body as a societal metaphor. The narrower theme of the study, the dead body as a cultural surface and carrier of meaning and ritual potential, is discussed through specific popular cultural television productions.</p><p>The two television series discussed in this study, <em>CSI: Miami </em>and <em>Six Feet Under</em>, are researched both through film analyses and focus group discussions. The film analyses have aimed<em> </em>to show to what use dead bodies are put in the narratives of the programs. The focus group discussions have sought to shed light on the audiences understanding of the meaning of the dead body, and also how this feature of the programs influence the audience and their experience of the programs.</p><p>The study shows that both series introduce and underline dead bodies as floating in-between subject and object status. A dead person is often introduced as a subject and then stripped of his or her cultural identity and reintroduced as an object or as having an uncertain cultural status which lies somewhere between object and subject. This borderline status of the body serves as a threat in the series, and the subject status of the body is reinstated in every case possible. Order is a central concept for the study and both series strive to reassert and maintain order, either in relationships or on a societal level. The reinstatement of order is reflected on the physical body as a metaphor and narrative device in both series. The reestablishment of the subject status of a dead body is part of this strive for order. The audience research concludes that all focus group members agree that the representations of dead bodies in the programs are important for their experience of the programs. Some find them unpleasant while others think they are interesting. The audience also listed several other themes of the programs which they found important. The representations of dead bodies strike the audience members both as “real” and material, and as metaphors.</p>

This study researches fictional representations of dead bodies in two television series in which representations of dead bodies are prominent features. The study introduces a brief history of the  human body as a societal metaphor. The narrower theme of the study, the dead body as a cultural surface and carrier of meaning and ritual potential, is discussed through specific popular cultural television productions. The two television series discussed in this study, CSI: Miami and Six Feet Under, are researched both through film analyses and focus group discussions. The film analyses have aimed to show to what use dead bodies are put in the narratives of the programs. The focus group discussions have sought to shed light on the audiences understanding of the meaning of the dead body, and also how this feature of the programs influence the audience and their experience of the programs. The study shows that both series introduce and underline dead bodies as floating in-between subject and object status. A dead person is often introduced as a subject and then stripped of his or her cultural identity and reintroduced as an object or as having an uncertain cultural status which lies somewhere between object and subject. This borderline status of the body serves as a threat in the series, and the subject status of the body is reinstated in every case possible. Order is a central concept for the study and both series strive to reassert and maintain order, either in relationships or on a societal level. The reinstatement of order is reflected on the physical body as a metaphor and narrative device in both series. The reestablishment of the subject status of a dead body is part of this strive for order. The audience research concludes that all focus group members agree that the representations of dead bodies in the programs are important for their experience of the programs. Some find them unpleasant while others think they are interesting. The audience also listed several other themes of the programs which they found important. The representations of dead bodies strike the audience members both as “real” and material, and as metaphors.

The present MA thesis analyzes how body and blood functions as historical and narrative elements in Yu Hua's novel Chronicle of a Blood Merchant (1995). In the novel, the story and the plot can not be regarded as disparate items; the two levels of the text are tightly interwoven by what the thesis introduces as a sangvinolent narration. The term conceptualizes the use of blood as a structural element and the thrust of the text, in this case how the ability to sell blood is a prerequisite for the story and the plot. Close readings reveal the structural correlations between the blood-selling main-character Xu Sanguan in the plot on the one hand, and in the story on the other, which can be detected to have, inter alia, an effect on the temporality of the narrative. Themes linked to identity, belonging and survival (performativity, mimicry, reification and alienation) permeate the text. In the novel the body and bodily fluids are sacrificed in order to form and enforce perceptions of identity and societal roles. The rhetorical use of ‘blood and tears’ (Ch. xue yu lei) indicates thematic connections to the Chinese revolutionary literature, and furthermore, the use of flesh and blood can be read in relation to the cannibalistic discourses crucial to Chinese modernity since Lu Xun.