Based on a series of attempts to capture, focus and preserve memories and what has been lost, A Body of Ghosts evokes what moves in the destructive, towards oblivion or forgetfulness. Before I forget, I want to tell you about the loss of a close friend and about a time that changed us fundamentally. I want you to see the struggles that take place on the periphery of society. I want to talk about the transition, both physical and invisible, from boy to woman. This work is a construction containing our stories, Meril’s and mine, wherein memories and collected objects meet and reconfigure, the everyday and the suggestive intertwine. I find myself in the gap between dream and reality, a process that has led me to an obscure place where a distortion occurs; a place where time uncovers fragments from then and now. Emotions, situations and events have been loaded into these objects: an H&M jacket I wore when I got dumped at the age of 24, and after which I never felt the same kind of youthful, burning love. Casts of a vaginal dilator, at 5, 6, 7, 8, inches, to be used after gender reassignment surgery and forever more.  Thus objects undergo transitions into sculptures. Sculptures become symbols of crucial memories, repetitions and imitations of the original. Time has been left in the material, something non-physical placed in the physical.  My life mirrors Meril, but something remains out of reach. Screens of latex and metal shield my ambivalence towards this revelation of self. The camera inhibiting the act of remembering, keeping me from a long-lost friend. Photosensitive, only to be kept in the dark. Here, the works are partially concealed; the visitor must enter behind architectural partitions or into a hidden room in order to receive the whole story. The visitor is a voyeur outside the work but once inside it, becomes the observed. Behind each layer is a new fragment of the whole and thus the story unfolds. A Body of Ghosts in the void.

Through a case-study of the project Kingorama by Hamid Rachmanian, this essay examines how the Iranian epic Shahnameh by Abol Qasem Ferdowsi is manifested outside Iran today and how it can be viewed as a cultural memory in motion. Questions concerning Iranian identity and the transcultural movement of memory are explored through a theoretical framework consisting of Astrid Erll’s “travelling memory” and of history as something which can be ‘used’ or ‘constructed’ through remediation and performativity. The essay also applies a methodological framework within which Iranian identity is understood through five historical dimensions, from pre-islamic Iran to modern Iran. The results of the study show that the Kingorama-project embraces a multilayered understanding of Iranian identity and that it mediates a shift where Shahnameh is not seen foremost as a national epic, but as being of universal importance.

Den här uppsatsen hanterar ämnet om ett nukleärt arv och minne genom en fallstudie bunden till fyra identifierade aktörer. Alla fyra arbetar med etablerandet av ett slutförvar för högaktivt och långlivat radioaktivt avfall vilket förväntas vara fortsatt farligt under 100,000-tals år. På grund av det enorma tidsspann det gäller lyfter uppsatsen även koncept så som djup tid och den antropocena tidsåldern som bakgrund till sitt ämnesmaterial. Uppsatsen håller även ett fokus på ansvarsfrågan, då det visade sig att det inte fanns något tydligt svar på frågan om vem som höll det primära ansvaret i frågan av informationsbevaring hos aktörerna, om det ens skulle falla fullkomligen till någon av dem, i deras egna ögon. Uppsatsen är centrerad kring arbetet i Sverige, och inte på en explicit internationell nivå. Genom att använda värdebaserade teorier tillsammans med Pierre Noras teori om platser av minne närmar sig uppsatsen frågan om hur aktörer arbetar med informationsbevaring och kunskapshantering, samt hur minnesinstitutioner så som arkiv kan bidra i deras arbete. Generellt visade det sig att aktörernas arbete med informationsbevaring låg på en primärt teoretisk nivå med lite försök till konkretisering av planer. Olika ideer som är menade att underlätta i processen för långtidsinformationsbevaring presenteras, så som markörer, markeringssystem, och immateriella och materiella minnesplatser. Minnesinstitutioner skulle kunna spela en viktig roll inom informationsbevaring för aktörerna som är ansvariga för slutförvaret, två primära sätt presenteras i uppsatsen, (1) arkivhandlingar, och (2) involverandet av Riksantikvarieämbetet. Detta är en två-årig masteruppsats inom musei- och kulturarvsvetenskap. / This thesis handles the subject of nuclear heritage and memory through a case study surrounding the work with information preservation of 4 identified main actors. The information preservation is in turn centred around the potential establishing of a future final repository for highly active and long-lived radioactive waste, which is expected to still be dangerous within 100,000’s of years. Because of these immense time frames the thesis also takes concepts such as deep time and the Anthropocene into account as background to its subject matter. The thesis holds a focus on the responsibility question, as there turned out to be no unambiguous answer to the question of who were to hold responsibility, if any of them were to hold responsibility, in the eyes of the actors.  The case study is centred around the work in Sweden, and not on an explicitly international scale. By using value-based theories as well as Pierre Nora’s theory of sites of memory the thesis approaches the issue of how actors work with information preservation as well as how memory institutions such as archives can contribute to their efforts.   In general, it is found that the actors’ work with information preservation is primarily theoretical with little attempt at concrete executions of solid plans. Different ideas that are meant to facilitate long-term information preservation are presented, such as markers and marking systems, as well as tangible and intangible sites of memory. Memory institutions could play an important role in information preservation for the actors in charge of the repository, two primary ways this could be the case is presented in this thesis, (1) archival records, and (2) involvement of the Swedish National Heritage Board. This is a two-year master’s thesis in Museum and Cultural Heritage Studies.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur studenters minnesprestation påverkas av missvisande information, om polisstudenters minnesprestation skiljer sig signifikant från psykologstudenters samt om säkerheten är högre på de betydande objekten, det vill säga de frågor som blivit manipulerade med missvisande information, än övriga frågor. Ett experiment genomfördes där urvalet bestod av polisstudenter (n = 45) och psykologstudenter (n = 19) på Umeå universitet. Samtliga 64 deltagare, med en medelålder på 24.4 år, fick se en video där ett fiktivt brott begicks för att sedan läsa ett narrativ av videon, som antingen innehöll missvisande eller korrekt information, och slutligen fylla i en enkät med flervalsfrågor relaterat till videon. En variansanalys (ANOVA) användes för att analysera deltagarnas svar som visade på att det förelåg en missinformationseffekt, det vill säga att deltagarna som fått missvisande information blev påverkade av det, samt att deltagarna som blivit tilldelade det missvisande narrativet rapporterade lägre säkerhet i sina svar än de som blivit tilldelade det korrekta narrativet, båda dessa oberoende av deltagarnas utbildning. Slutsatsen som kan dras utifrån detta är att minnesprestation och säkerhet påverkas av missvisande information, däremot verkar utbildning inte vara en prediktor för detta. Framtida forskning bör genomföra liknande studier med större urval då detta ansågs vara en brist i denna studie. / The purpose of this study was to investigate how students' memory performance is affected by misleading information, if police students' memory performance differs significantly from psychology students and if confidence is higher on the critical items, meaning the questions which have been manipulated with misinformation, than other questions. An experiment was conducted where the sample consisted of police students (n = 45) and psychology students (n = 19) at Umeå University. All 64 participants, with a mean age of 24.4 years, watched a video of a fictional crime, then read a narrative of the video, which contained either misleading or accurate information, and finally completed a multiple-choice survey related to the video. Ananalysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze participants' responses which showed that there was a misinformation effect, meaning that the participants who received misleading information were affected by it, and that participants assigned to the misleading narrative reported lower confidence in their responses than those assigned to the correct narrative, both of these independent of the participants' education. The conclusion that can be drawn from this is that memory performance and confidence are affected by misleading information, however, education does not seem to be a predictor of this. Future research should conduct similar studies with a bigger sample as this was considered a shortcoming in this study.

In this MA thesis I want to examine if it is possible to be writing a historical narrative with other tools than words. Rufina Bazlova is a Belarusian textile artist, currently based in Prague, who is telling us her narrative about the falsified elections in Belarus held in August 2020. She does it using embroidery, strongly connected with traditional Belarusian symbols used in the crafts that has been an important source of belief in everyday life for women in Belarus since the early 11th century. What kind of narrative is the artist telling us? In what way can her embroidery be seen as cultural memories? I am using the methods formal analysis by Heinrich Wölfflin and iconography and iconology by Erwin Panofsky to explore the hidden meanings in five of Bazlovas embroidery pieces, Female solidarity, Parliament House, Streets of Belarus, Solidarity with Soligorsk and Run from a gun. They are all a part of the work of art named Belarusian Vyzyvanka. I am placing Bazlovas embroidery in the context of cultural memories by looking at them with the eyes of different researchers in the field of cultural memory studies. The thesis has a range from descripting the meaning of traditional textile symbols to implementing the methods of art history. I am continuing with placing the embroidery into the field of cultural memory studies and asking questions about freedom of speach and the political situation in Belarus today. I am looking back in the Belarusian history to find some of my answers and I am adding a transnational perspective to my examination.

Mitt examensarbete är till lika delar ett sorgearbete liksom ett minnesarbete och ett handens arbete. Det tar avstamp i det tomrum som en förlust lämnar efter sig. I minnet av någon, minnet av en lukt, minnet av en känsla. De suddas ut, bleks och omformas. Via dessa fragment undersöker jag dialogen mellan det analoga och digitala, då och nu. Mitt arbete handlar om omsorg och att föra vidare ett arv. Jag tar upp tråden där min mormor lämnade den.

This essay examines the final part of the life of former volunteer foreign legionary Sven Blom, and is part of a project which started in 2017 with my first essay: Red Trousers and Watery Mud. : Sven Blom’s Experience of the First World War: a Case-study, which explores the Swedish volunteer Sven Bloms’ experience of the First World War in the French foreign legion. My second essay: Dear Mr. Blom: Swedish Voices from the Western Front (2019), widens the scope to the other Swedish volunteers which served in the French foreign legion through their letters sent to Sven.In this final essay, I examine Sven Bloms life after the war through the source material in his archive. The overarching question posed to the material is: How does Sven Bloms thoughts, literary texts, letters and life compare and connect with the mentality and discourses present in France and Paris after Sven’s involvement in the First World War? Based on the use of Microhistorical theory, several parts of Sven’s life are examined in order to answer the large question through the small life that was Sven’s: How did he lead his life to his death in 1931, and what part did he play in the social circles which he took part in? How did he remember his fallen comrades and the war which claimed their lives? And how does his own writings, letters and diaries reflect on his view on life, and the war? Through the obituaries of Sven Blom, how is he remembered by his friends? And how does previously unexplored source material about Sven Bloms early life and demobilization help explain his agency?Through Sven Bloms eyes we are given a window into a postwar France and Paris torn by war and filled with a desire for life, having experienced want and death. Sven lived through these “Les années folles”, “the roaring twenties” of French society. Through Sven we are given access to the French process of healing, and through his experiences and thoughts, shared by many, he gives an account of a nation, a city and a people moving forward.

This master thesis is an ethnological study focusing members of a young, urban Jewishdiaspora in Sweden. The study's aim is to problematize and describe the relation between theJewish minority that is regarded as religious, and the secular normative majority societyregarded as non-religious. The study explores questions regarding social positioning,belonging and memory and how Jewish traditions are practiced in contemporary Sweden. Themethodological approaches are interviews and participation observations with a specific focuson food; its symbolic value and how food can materialize identities and communicatememories. The empirical data comprises 24 interviews in total, of which 11 interviews havebeen chosen and thus constitute the material on which the study's analysis is made upon. Theanalysis is mainly based upon the theoretical perspective of phenomenology focusinganalytical concepts as materiality, positionality, (conditional) belonging, minority/majorityand diasporic processes. By being regarded as "well integrated" and at the same time beingdesignated as one of Sweden's national minorities, the Jewish group is given contradictorypositionalities, which is examined in this study. The study also shows that memory and aconnection to the past (both personal and general Jewish history) are of great importance tothese informants when expressing their identities, and that this connection often materializesthrough food. By highlighting the informants' experiences of keeping kosher, it becamevisible that Jewish way of life challenges the normative (imagined) secularity in Sweden.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka självbiografiska positiva och negativa platsminnen relaterat till platsidentitet och de tio fenomenologiska dimensionerna. Autobiografiska minnen är minnen som refererar till viktiga livsperioder och utgör en del av vår identitet. Total 81 kvinnor och 28 män i åldern 39 – 76 år deltog i studien. Designen för analyserna av kvantitativa data var en mellanpersonsdesign, med en oberoende variabel Plats (positiv/negativ) och två beroende variabler platsidentitet (emotionell/kognitiv komponent) samt de tio fenomenologiska dimensioner i det självbiografiska minnet. Mätinstrumentet bestod av en enkät i tre delar som innehöll frågor baserat på tidigare forskning. Resultatet visade en effekt av Typ av Platsminne. Effekten var associerad med både den emotionella och kognitiva komponenten i platsidentiteten. Resultatet visade också en effekt av Typ av Plats på de tio fenomenologiska dimensionerna. Effekten var associerad med sex av dessa. Det kvalitativa resultatet visade att positiva platsminnen innehåller minnen från rurala miljöer medan negativa minnen i huvudsak var urbana miljöer. Resultatet visade även att en övervägande del av minnena i huvudsak innehöll barndomsminnen oavsett positiva eller negativa platsminnen. / The aim was to investigate positive and negative place-related autobiographical memories related to place-identity and phenomenological dimensions of the autobiographical memory. Autobiographical memories are memories that refer to important life periods, grounding our identity. 81 women and 28 men. Between-subject-design was used for quantitative data, with an independent variable of Place (positive / negative) and two dependent variables of Place-identity (emotional / cognitive component) as well as the ten phenomenological dimensions of the autobiographical memory. The measuring instrument consisted of a three-part questionnaire that contained questions based on previous research. Results showed an effect of Type of Place associated with both emotional and cognitive components of place identity. We also reported an effect of Type of Place on six of ten phenomenological dimensions. The qualitative results showed that positive memories contain memories from rural environments, while negative memories contain mainly urban environments. The results also showed that a majority of the memories contained mainly childhood associated memories, regardless of positive or negative place memories.

I uppsatsen analyseras Per Olov Enquists roman Magnetisörens femte vinter (2009 [1964]).Syftet med den tvådelade analysen är att utröna hur verket är konstruerat berättartekniskt –men även att undersöka hur de viktigaste karaktärerna gestaltas samt att se hur deras olikaegenskaper bidrar till verket som helhet. Syftet är också att visa hur man kan planera ochgenomföra en lektionsserie, gällande berättarteknik och karaktärer, på gymnasiet. I uppsatsenanvänds en begreppsapparat som främst utgår från Mieke Bals teori om narrativ text.Analysen, angående berättarteknik, bekräftar tidigare forskning genom att visa att detförekommer flera typer av berättare i romanen, samt att framställningen i verket användertekniker som skapar en osäkerhet gällande vad som är fakta och vad som är ovidkommandeinformation. Angående karaktärerna visar analysen att de alla är betydelsefulla för helheten,men det är enbart karaktären Selinger som uppvisar en karaktärs-effekt. Genom att utgå frånJudith A. Langers fjärde fas, gällande byggandet av föreställningsvärldar, ges förslag på hurman kan ge gymnasieelever olika verktyg så att de kan utveckla förståelse för berättarteknikoch karaktärer.