This essay explores how anti-normativity is achieved in Veronica Roth's novel Carve the Mark and uses Lois Lowry's The Giver and Ursula K Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness as points of comparison. It examines if Roth, Lowry, and Le Guin follow through with creating characters that are more than superficially queer by destabilizing gender and traditional attitudes towards identity markers. Using queer theory and gender performativity theory, this essay examines if the queerness of the characters and their relationships hold up when juxtaposed to normativity. When exploring the novels, it can be seen that these authors fail to create characters and relationships that are anything but superficially queer.

The aim of the dissertation is to analyse works of a Moscow conceptualist Dmitrij Prigov. Prigov approached his medially diversified legacy (that was characterized by media diversity and quantitative hypertrophy) as a life-long project Dmitrij Aleksandrovič Prigov. (project DAP). One of the goals of the project was to remain unidentified, which means to suspend the straight-forward relation between an individual media product and the intention of the authorial subject. However, the connection between the media products and the authorial subject preserved. It is the modality of the connection that changed. The dissertation focuses on the analysis of the modality of the connection. The research begins with an analysis of the media products and proceeds toward the issue of authorial subjetʼs identity construction. Nevertheless, it is the media products that the identity of the authorial subject is constructed by. Authorial subject, however, plays the role of the (co-)agent in the production process of the media products together with other non-human agents like iterable patterns, instruments, techniques and semiotic systems. Methodologically, the dissertation emerges from the intersection of media theories, social theories and the theoretical reflection of the phenomena gathered under the umbrella...

Ce texte s’intéresse aux déclarations politiques médiatiques et plus précisément à la performativité des langages à partir des questionnements suivants : peut-on faire avec des mots ? Peut-on, comme l’entend le philosophe John Austin, réellement faire un acte grâce au langage ? En abordant différentes situations de déclarations politiques, la thèse interroge, sous l’angle de la pragmatique (des langages) et de la sémiologie, des discours politiques et médiatiques ainsi que les images qui les accompagnent. L’analyse porte tout d’abord sur des déclarations issues de notre quotidien (déclaration de pauvreté dans le métro, proposition artistique, etc.) puis s’attache plus particulièrement aux déclarations politiques sous la Vème République en France. On constate qu’une déclaration politique, afin de faire, ne peut être isolée mais doit s’entendre selon le contexte qui l’entoure. Elle dépend de langages, de rituels, de références culturelles et des médias. Ces derniers sont ceux qui l’hébergent et qui lui permettent une visibilité importante. Seule, une déclaration politique est vide et son langage ne peut agir. Elle est donc un objet qui existe par ramifications. / This text considers media-covered political declarations in the light of speech act theory and performativity by using the following questions as a starting point: Is it possible to do things with words? Can we, in the sense of John Austin, perform an action thanks to language? The thesis addresses different situations of political declarations in order to inquire into political statements, as well as the images the media associate to them, from the perspective of the pragmatics of languages and semiology. The work first focuses on declarations from everyday life (declaration of poverty, artistic endeavours) before moving on to a thorough analysis of political declarations during the French Fifth Republic. It is thus revealed that, in order to do, a political declaration cannot be considered as isolated but should be heard and understood in accordance with the context that surrounds its utterance. It depends on languages, rituals, cultural references and on the media. Indeed, the latter both host and allow the declaration broad reception by the public. By itself, a political declaration is empty and its language cannot perform. It is therefore an object which exists as part of a web of connections.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman has several characters who in many ways break gender norms. The main protagonist of the novel, Coraline, acts more in accordance with masculine gender norms, and the mother figures are mothers who do not fully conform to the traditional mother role. The purpose of this study is to look at how Coraline and the mother figures perform their gender, and in which ways this breaks with or aligns with traditional gender norms. The analytical approach is based on Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity, and on masculine and feminine gender schemas defined by John Stephens. For the analysis of motherhood, gender performativity has also been used, and works by Adrienne Rich and Einat Natalie Palkovich. This study shows that the protagonists challenge traditional gender role norms of masculinity and femininity, whereof motherhood is part. The study also shows that there is a lack of female role models for the young protagonist, and that acting according to masculine gender norms is desirable and necessary in the novel. But for the mothers, breaking gender norms is undesirable, dangerous, and even punished. A conclusion of the study is that even though Coraline appears to be a feminist novel, the underlying message is not entirely so.

My thesis is focused on critical analysis of political thought of American philosopher Judith Butler. Butler is concerned with the relationship between individual identity and collective subjectivity, and her works - which caused many critical reactions - represent one of the most interesting discussion in the field of feminist political philosophy. Butler is mainly concerned with the question, how various political strategies (eg. feminism) could be based on common interests of various agents, and not on their supposedly stable identity (eg. sex and gender). Her criticism of unproblematized "natural" identities is important not only to the constitution of any individual identity, but also for the notion of the political dimension of a collective subject. The introductory chapters of my thesis are concerned with early thought of Butler, mainly with her critical relationship to the "second wave" feminism, and with her notion of the performative constitution of gender identity. Next chapters explore the shift in her thinking from analysis of gender and sex towards more general themes of political thought: nation, race, class, universalism, state censorship, possibility of resistance or emergence of a collective subject without stable unifying principle. I also try to analyze selected critical...

The aim of this diploma thesis is to explore the way how the gender performativity is portrayed in Xavier Dolan's films. The theoretical part of the thesis first deals with the definition and theoretical grounding of gender performativity from the perspective of several authors, mainly Judith Butler. This part of the thesis will detailly introduce the concepts of gender performativity, which will be necessary for the analysis of the studied films. The theoretical part also presents the queer theory and the related chapter devoted to queer film, which would also include Dolan's work. Lastly, this part also includes a chapter devoted to the concept of mise-en-scène. The methodological part introduces the method of semiotic analysis and introduces the synopsis of the studied films. The analytical part of the work presents its own semiotic analysis of the examined films. The aim of the analytical part is to find out how Dolan works with gender performativity in his films and how it is visually portrayed.

Orientador: João Batista Toledo Prado / Resumo: O presente trabalho consiste em um estudo da arte gramatical intitulada Terentiani Mauri de litteris, de syllabis, de metris, do autor latino Terenciano Mauro (TM), que se ocupa da descrição e técnica de uso dos versos da lírica latina. Composto pelos livros De litteris, De syllabis e De metris, o tratado técnico perpassa os mais variados tópicos: desde o estudo das letras latinas e da formação de sílabas, até o emprego de diferentes metros na composição dos versos de renomados poetas latinos. O estudo volta-se à investigação das principais características do Prefácio e do livro De Metris de TM, a fim de evidenciar as diferentes camadas que constituem o texto, uma vez que é possível identificar, em algumas passagens, a emergência de uma função poética, ainda que em segundo plano. Nesse sentido, observou-se que TM demonstra certo cuidado na elaboração do plano de expressão de sua obra, na medida em que compõe o texto empregando metros do acervo da poesia clássica latina. Verificou-se também que o metricista constrói o ritmo de seu texto mantendo um movimento constante dos versos, além de explorá-lo por meio de um arranjo regular dos elementos na oração. Trata-se, portanto, de uma arte métrica com aspectos metapoéticos. Assim, pretendeu-se comprovar que esse aspecto indica certa performatividade do texto, uma vez que ele demonstra a matéria por meio do arranjo dos versos que compõem o arranjo do plano de expressão. À luz de estudos antigos e recentes, dispôs-se não apenas a apr... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The present work consists of a study of the ars grammatica named Terentiani Mauri de litteri, de syllabis, de metris, written by the Latin author Terentianus Maurus (TM) and which focuses on the description and technique used in the verses of the Latin lyric. It is composed of the books: De litteris, De syllabis and De metris, covering varied topics - from the study of the Latin letters and the formation of the syllables to the usage of different metric in the composition of renowned Latin poets. This study aims to investigate the main characteristics of the Preface and the book De Metris, by TM, highlighting the different parts that constitute the text, since it is possible to identify in some excerpts the presence of a poetic function. It is observed that the grammarian was quite careful in the elaboration of the plan of expression of his work as far as he uses meters of the classic Latin poetry catalogue while he writes his text. Furthermore, it is noticed he develops the rhythm of his text maintaining a constant movement of his verses besides exploring it through a regular arrangement of the elements in the sentence. It is, thus, a metrical treatise with metapoetic features. Therefore, it was intended to prove that this aspect suggests some performativity of the text as it shows the subject through the arrangement of the verses which form the arrangement of the plan of the expression. In the light of past and present studies, not only was it desired to submit an overview ... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

There is a scholar consensus that girls have been marginalized in childhood studies. Taking into account the gender effect in constructing different childhoods for boys and girls this thesis explores the frontiers of girlhood. Girlhood as being abandoned and not perceived in the here and now is constructed only in the future, namely in the frames of femininity and womanhood. This initiates pathology in the lives of girls. This thesis through film representation explored new constructions of girlhood. Two films Barbie as Rapunzel and Tangled based in the fairy tale of Rapunzel were explored through Foucauldian Discourse Analysis. The discursive constructions, the “preppy” girl and the “alternative” girl emerged accordingly as the versions of the “authentic” girl that is searching for her identity and leading to the “self-regulated” girl discourse as a way to reconstruct girlhood.These discursive constructions can be used in the reorientation of girlhood as they unravel the necessities that exist in girl studies.

Scholars studying memory, literary tourism, and Byron all note the cooperation between author and audience at work in memorials--be it in terms of speech and response, hospitality and reception, or memory and forgetting. None, however, address the environment at Newstead as an agentic being involved with Byron's memorial legacy. Byron acknowledged multispecies beings as important actors in his eventual legacy. Through some of his early poems, we see the land under and around Newstead Abbey, as well as its nonhuman life, exercising agency and affecting Byron's memory. I limit my analysis to Byron's early poetry partly to trace how a younger, more earnest Byron relied on Romantic memory-building culture and partly to focus on the effects that Newstead had on Byron's legacy. My primary objects of study are the following poems: "On Leaving Newstead Abbey" (composed 1803), "To an Oak in the Garden of Newstead Abbey" (1807), "Elegy on Newstead Abbey" (1807), and "Inscription on the Monument of a Newfoundland Dog" (1808). Each of these addresses the Byrons' ancestral estate as an ecology which Byron imbued with poetic purpose, and the core location of his youthful legacy-building project. I address the poems in chronological order to show how Byron recruits and unites different voices to support his legacy. Focusing on Newstead in this sense sheds light on any number of related phenomena pertaining to Byronism, especially monuments, Byron's home, and other aspects of material culture that honored Byron's posthumous legacy. Given that, within years of writing these four poems, Byron would become known worldwide as the quintessential Romantic poet, his ancestral home, like other things and spaces that came to stand in for him, offers a highly useful and arguably paradigmatic case study. That it is not just a monument, but a composite being acting in and made up of literal and memorial ecosystems, suggests a kind of memorial agency or voice emerging from Newstead. This influence supports what Byron poetically speaks about and into Newstead and expands our notion of what effective memorials entail, effectively advocating for more and better study of environmental actors within reception studies.

Sedan flera år tillbaka har kvinnor inte haft samma förutsättningar inom polisbranschen som män, däremot har polisyrket på senare år blivit mer jämställt. Allt fler kvinnor kommer in i branschen och arbetar i yttre tjänst. Av denna anledning har samhällets förväntningar på polisyrket förändrats och utvecklats - men än idag finns särskilda förväntningar på poliskvinnor. Syftet med denna studie är att belysa hur kvinnliga poliser i yttre tjänst skapar och formar en yrkesroll och professionell identitet i förhållande till polismyndighetens traditionellt sett maskulina arbetsplatsnormer. Denna kvalitativa studie har genomfört 10 semistrukturerade intervjuer av kvinnliga poliser som arbetar i yttre tjänst i Sverige. Med ett socialpsykologiskt perspektiv har detta arbete en utgångspunkt i teorier som berör normativt beteende, rolltagande, traditionella könsroller och identitetsskapande. Studien resulterade i att poliskvinnor formar en professionell identitet i förhållande till arbetsplatsen och dess arbetsplatsnormer, och även i förhållande till samhällets förväntningar på yrkesrollen. Kvinnliga poliser har en yrkesroll som utstrålar trygghet och medför lugn, vilket återspeglar ett emotionellt arbete. Detta bidrar till att poliskvinnor har ett stort socialt ansvar när de arbetar och förväntas vara omhändertagande / For several years, women have not had the same conditions in the police force as men, but in recent years the police profession has become more equal. More and more women are entering the industry and working in external service. For this reason, society's expectations of the police profession have changed and developed - but even today there are special expectations of police women. The aim of this study is to analyze how female police officers in external service create and shape a professional role and professional identity in relation to the police force’s traditionally masculine workplace norms. This qualitative study has conducted 10 semi-structured interviews of female police officers working in external service in Sweden. From a social psychological perspective, this work is based on theories that concern normative behavior, role-playing, traditional gender roles and identity creation. The study resulted in police women forming a professional identity in relation to the workplace and its workplace norms, and also in relation to society's expectations of the professional role. Female police officers have a professional role that radiates security and brings calm, which reflects an emotional work. This contributes to police women having a great social responsibility when they work and that they are expected to be caring.