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.

Uppsatsen utforskar gränser mellan konstnärlig gestaltning utifrån radikal intervention och samverkan i det offentliga rummet. Uppsatsen är indelad i fyra delar med bland annat en del som analyserar det egna Konstprojektet – Bodies of Excess [Överflödiga kroppar]. Konstprojektet utprövar radikal konst som metod för demokratisk intervention i det offentliga rummet. Uppsatsens analys består av dels konstprojektets materialitet, dels av en undersökning om konst, politik och vetenskap – konst i det offentliga rummet, aktivism och radikal demokrati. I uppsatsen utreds platsernas ideologiska symbolik och dess socioekonomiska villkor, vilket illustreras genom att markera de rum i Stockholm som konstprojektet Bodies of Excess undersöker. Med utgångspunkt ur konstprojektet undersöks platsens betydelse och det platsspecifika samt konstnärlig forskning, konstens plats i samhället och gestaltning – offentlig konst.  Genom att dra paralleller och se samband mellan rum och kropp, konst och vetenskap, institution och aktivism undersöks idén om konst som radikal konst och som nyttoaspekt i samhället samt hur konsekvenser skulle resultera för de båda formerna, aktivistisk konst och konstnärlig forskning. / Konstnärligt gestaltningsarbete vid Linköpings universitet 30hp (Utställningen som medium, kultur och mediegestaltning [KUM], avancerad nivå). Institutionen för kultur och samhälle (IKOS) Avdelningen för kultur, samhälle, form och medier (KSFM). Handledare: Anna Berglind

Against a backdrop of feminist and social scientific research on sex, female embodiment, and normality this thesis aims to discern how young women, who in adolescence have learned that their bodies are developing in ways considered ‘atypical’ for the female sex, make sense of their bodies and their situation. In focus are the ways in which the women make sense of and negotiate female embodiment; how they, particularly in stories about their interactions with others, position their embodied selves; and how norms and beliefs about sexed embodiment, heterosexual practice, and in/fertility are strengthened and challenged in the interviewees’ sense-making. The data comprise 23 in-depth interviews with women who in adolescence have learned that they do not have a uterus and a vagina, or who have learned that they do not have two X chromosomes and have no, or non-functioning, ovaries. Through narrative and thematic analysis the thesis shows how the women’s sense-making can be obstructed by norms about female embodiment, heterosexual practice, and in/fertility, expressed through medical terminology and practice and in interaction with family, friends, and peers, as described by the interviewees. Concomitantly, as the thesis demonstrates, medical terminology can be experienced and function as a resource in the women’s sense-making. Diagnostic categories enable them to put the specificities of sex development into words and raise awareness about bodily variation. Furthermore, in their stories about others’ reactions to their bodies and about their experience and management of certain medical treatments, the women question norms about female embodiment, heterosexual practice, and in/fertility that were previously taken for granted. The complexity of the women’s sense-making is demonstrated through the ways in which the interviewees, on the one hand, align with norms about female embodiment, heterosexual practice, and in/fertility, and in which they, on the other hand, succeed in challenging the same. In this ‘juggling’ of reinforcement and resistance, the thesis argues, the women are found to expand rather than dismiss beliefs about female embodiment.  Thus, the thesis contributes with deepened knowledge about what it can be like to live with these specific conditions and with problematizations of how norms about female embodiment can be enacted and questioned. / Mot bakgrund av feministisk och samhällsvetenskaplig forskning kring kön, kvinnlig kroppslighet och normalitet syftar avhandlingen till att undersöka hur unga kvinnor, som i tonåren fått reda på att deras kropp utvecklas på ett sätt som anses ”otypiskt” för det kvinnliga könet söker förstå och skapa mening kring sin kropp och situation. Framförallt undersöks dessa kvinnors meningsskapande, hur de i sina berättelser positionerar sig i relation till andra, och hur normer och föreställningar om kvinnlig kroppslighet, heterosexuell praktik och in/fertilitet förstås, förhandlas, stärks och ifrågasätts i berättelserna. Materialet som undersöks utgörs av 23 djupintervjuer med kvinnor som i tonåren fått reda på att de antingen inte har någon livmoder och vagina eller att de inte har två X kromosomer och inga eller  icke-fungerade äggstockar. Genom narrativa och tematiska analyser visar avhandlingen hur kvinnornas meningskapande formas av normer kring kvinnlig kroppslighet, heterosexuell praktik och in/fertilitet, då de uttrycks i kvinnornas berättelser om sin situation i möten med andra och i relation till medicinsk praktik. Samtidigt, visar avhandlingen, kan medicinsk terminologi, specifikt diagnoser, och praktik utgöra resurser i kvinnornas meningsskapande som möjliggör för dem att sätta ord på och sprida kunskap om kroppslig variation. I kvinnornas berättelser om andras reaktioner på deras kroppar och om deras erfarenhet och hantering av specifika medicinska behandlingar utmanas vidare normer som kvinnorna tidigare har tagit för givet. Genom analysen framträder således komplexiteten i kvinnornas meningskapande då de å ena sidan anammar förgivettagna normer om kvinnlig kroppslighet, heterosexuell praktik och infertilitet och å andra sidan utmanar de samma. I detta ”jonglerande” av anpassning till normer och motstånd mot desammasyns kvinnorna expandera snarare än avfärda föreställningar om kvinnlig kroppslighet. Avhandlingen fördjupar därmed kunskapen om hur det kan vara att leva med dess specifika tillstånd och till att problematisera hur normer om kvinnlig kroppslighet kan ta sig uttryck och ifrågasättas.