Denna uppsats ämnar med hjälp av av teorier från ekokritik och posthumanism besvara frågorna hur Mary Shelley i sin roman skildrar relationen mellan natur och människa, samt hur man med utgångspunkt i Frankensteins monster (i uppsatsen refererad till som Skapelsen) kan diskutera begreppet människa. Med ekokritik menas här att studera det mänskliga jämfört med det ickemänskliga samt att också diskutera detta mänskliga, vilket är en av huvudpoängerna inom posthumanism. Den vetenskapssyn och natursyn som var gällande på Mary Shelleys tid var antropocentrisk, en världsåskådning som alltid utgår ifrån människan, och som oftast ger människan högre status än allt annat. I romanen skildras detta genom Kapten Waltons syn på sitt upptäcktsresande, och Victor Frankensteins önskan att besegra döden, eller naturen, genom att skapa en ny varelse, för vilket han får plikta med sitt liv, då han inte klarar det hårda klimatet vid Nordpolen. Det blir alltså naturen som dödar honom. I detta kan ses Mary Shelleys kritik mot ett oansvarigt utforskande av naturen och dess processer. Vid försök att diskutera konceptet människa kan upptäckas att en definition lätt motarbetas genom att inte alla människor passar in på denna definition, och att det också kan finnas andra varelser som helt eller delvis gör det. Saken kompliceras dessutom av att en maskin, en robot, eller en artificiell intelligens, numera kan fungera mycket likt en hjärna, och att den mänskliga hjärnan beskrivs som en serie elektrokemiska impulser. Vi leds att acceptera Derridas tanke att människa inte är något som går att definiera. Även denna diskussion kan ses som antropocentrisk, vilket är en av svårigheterna; att bortse från sin egen kulturs världsåskådning. / The main focus of this essay is to attempt to answer the questions of how Mary Shelley, in her novel Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus, portrays the relationship between man and nature, and how Frankensteins creature can serve as a starting point in a discussion of the term human. The theories of ecocriticism - here described as the study of the relationship between human and nonhuman - and poshumanism, which contains the premisses for discussing this human, reveal many interesting things about the novel. The scientific approach to the world, and by extension, nature, can in Shelleys novel be considered anthropocentric, which is portrayed as a damaging world-view. Attempts to discuss the concept of human reveals that any definition can be met with resistence and objections. Not all humans meet the criteria of a certain definition, and there may be other creatures that do. The conclusion here may be that the human simply cannot be defined properly.

The intention of this study is to investigate the human/animal-relation as a power relation in Sara Lidman’s novel The Tar Pit (Tjärdalen, 1953). With regard to the contemporary theory of posthumanism and its critique of the centrality of “the human” in the humanities, the aim is to seek and produce more-than-anthropocentric knowledge. Using queer and feministic theoretical concepts concerning dichotomy and hierarchy voiced by Yvonne Hirdman, Val Plumwood, Greta Gaard and Ann-Sofie Lönngren, this study gets to grips with anthropocentrism as a structure of power. In literary scholarship animals are often expected to serve as metaphors, and thus, the possibility of animals signifying “actual” animals tend to be overlooked. This study’s objective is therefore, using a text interpretation modelled by Eve Kosofsky Sedgewick and a method proposed by Ann-Sofie Lönngren, to focus on the surface of the text. In the analysis of The Tar Pit it appears that animals is attributed “low status” in relation to the human and that the humans ascribe animals with instrumental value. The power relation between humans and animals in the novel is based on the split between “the human” and “the animal”, and also the notion that humans constitute the norm and are hierarchically superior. Furthermore the analysis show that transgressive activity between categories “human” and “animal” is illustrated as something wrong and the concept of “the animal” and “animality” is displayed as an imperative function in telling the story of The Tar Pit. Finally the analysis depicts examples of animal acts of resistance against the prevalent order of things.

Detta kandidatarbete undersöker hur man med animering och ljuddesign i en designprocess kan illustrera en jämställd och ansvarsfull teknologisk framtid utifrån posthumanistiska teorier och filosofier. Under arbetets gång har vi undersökt animationsmetoder, deltagande design, ljuddesign och teknik samt den teknologiska utvecklingen. I detta kandidatarbetet presenterar vi processen och de metoder vi använt oss av för att skapa vår gestaltning som är en animerad kortfilm. / This Bachelor Thesis examines how animation and sound design in a design process can illustrate an equal and responsible technological future, based on post-humanist theories and philosophies. During the work we have examined animation methods, participatory design, sound design and technology as well as technological developments. In this thesis, we present the processes and methods we used to create our conformation, which is an animated short film.

Title of work: Electrolyte Artist: Judit Fritz Konstfack, Ädellab   ABSTRACT How much of the ocean have I filtered while in tears? Many times, while growing up on an island have I laid eyes on the enormous surrounding body of water and wondered – is the sorrow still in there? In small portions the human body and the bodies of nature exposes each other as part of their own content. Offering a glimpse into a constant material flow. Diffusing the boundaries between object and subject. A material flow that makes it impossible to tell what anything really is, because it has already evolved. My tears taste like the ocean. So does my sweat. I Find comfort in knowing I constantly take part in something that is beyond my human comprehension. That I don’t need to fully understand why I am here, because it is obvious that I, and everyone else play a part. We just don’t know the whole scene. Though a post humanistic angle I have investigated the close relation between matter, material, the human body and the bodies of nature, to find a connection point which decreases the hierarchy between object and subject. By crystallizing matter derived from human body fluids and building a machinery that portrays the process I invite the perceiver to a closeup of their part in a never-ending system. The agency of this project is to raise questions rather than finding answers, as I believe the human is in need of reevaluating their way of thinking when it comes to material and resources. I have tried to shift focus from the human perspective and self-centeredness into a set where we participate rather than being the perceiver. Alchemy was used as both a method and as an art historical reference, as the alchemical mindset is to learn through the act of making. This has been blended with modern days technology and imagination to build a body of work that balances between science and art. While being heavily based on theory and research, the body of work is a translation in which I allowed myself to freely portray how I imagine the travelling of matter is systemized. I created a working place where studies of the unseen is concentrated and visualized. Where the many sorrows and the hard work of human beings crystallize into solids, becoming nature again. Or was it ever not? And vice versa. Throughout the project, even though separated from everything that I connect to being human, the crystals made from pure matter derived from sweat and tears could not be separated from the knowledge of their origin. Even as objects, I see them as subjects. A conclusion that shed light upon the relativeness between bodies. A conclusion that brings life into what is often seen as dead, simultaneously showing the complex machinery of an emotional being.

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Studien har fokus på barns perspektiv och syftet med studien är att undersöka vad ett levande djur bidrar med i en undervisningssituation för äldre förskolebarn. Metoden som används i studien är observation av en undervisningsaktivitet med en efterföljande semistrukturerad gruppintervju. I aktiviteten och gruppintervjun deltog 4 barn från en förskola i en liten kommun i Mellansverige. I undervisningsaktiviteten deltog också ett levande djur i form av en afrikansk jättelandsnäcka. Vår insamlade data analyserades genom tematisk analys i sex steg och kategoriserades. Resultatet redovisas med hjälp av figurer på de olika kategorierna. Resultatet som har framkommit är att levande djur väcker en större nyfikenhet hos barnen än vad ett leksaksdjur gör. Det levande djuret gör att barnen upplever en lustfylldhet. Nyfikenheten genererar i att intresset väcks hos barnen och ett lärande sker. Data visar också på att barnen förknippar ett leksaksdjur med lek. Till skillnad mot det levande djuret som barnen fick vara väldigt försiktiga med så kunde de kasta och busa med leksaksdjuret. Tillsammans med det levande djuret skapades mer kunskap hos barnen jämfört med leksaksdjuret. Utifrån resultatet rekommenderas att arbeta med levande djur i förskolan där barnens intresse och nyfikenhet ska leda vägen till ett lustfyllt lärande. / The focus for this study is children's perspectives and the purpose of the study is to investigate what a living animal contributes to a teaching situation for older preschool children. The method used in the study is observation of a teaching activity and with a subsequent semi-structured group interview. The activity and the group interview were attended by 4 children from a preschool in a small municipality in Central Sweden. In the teaching activity a living animal also participated in the form of an African giant land snail. Our collected data were analyzed by thematic analysis in six steps and was categorized. The results are reported using figures in the various categories. The result that has emerged is that living animals arouse a greater curiosity in children than the toy animal does. The living animal makes the children experience pleasurability. Curiosity generates in that the interest is aroused in the children and a learning can take place. Data also show that children associate a toy animal with play. Unlike the living animal that the children had to be very careful with, they could throw and tease with the toy animal. Together with the living animal, more knowledge was created in the children compared to the toy animal. Based on the results, it is recommended to work with living animals in preschool where the children's interest and curiosity should lead the way to an enjoyable learning.

Hur fungerar bildämnet i dagens skola? I relation till skolämnenas snarlika strukturer, där ett slutresultat bedöms, särskiljer sig bildämnets metoder och lärande som mer processorienterat. Traditionella, hantverksmässiga arbetssätt kompletteras med nya digitala medier och arbetssätt, som resulterar i urvalsproblem och stoffträngsel. Dessa faktorer bidrar till stora klyftor mellan kunskapsnivå, betygssättning och en likvärdig bildundervisning. Syftet med denna studie är att bidra med kunskap om hur bildämnet påverkar och påverkas av att samexistera i skolan. Genom att analysera formulärsvar från tolv bildlärare dels utifrån våra egna erfarenheter och dels mot bakgrund av en posthumanistisk teoretisk ansats fick vi syn på bildämnets nomadiska funktioner. Bildämnet, liksom bildlärare, fungerar likt en kil i skolans kontext, både förenande och separerande. I bildämnet kan det genom friktion skapas rörelse mot olika typer av tillblivelser som möjliggör för nya arbetssätt. Slutsatsen visar på att en målinriktad undervisningsstruktur och seglivade traditioner i skolan riskerar att kila fast bildämnet i ofördelaktiga normer, där friktion behövs allra mest för att bildämnet ska utvecklas och dess status höjas.

This thesis aims to explore how participants of community gardening understand and give meaning to gardening and everyday practices in the context of sustainability. It uses a theoretical framework of political discourse theory to examine how discourses of sustainability are created, negotiated and spread through everyday and gardening practices. The study concludes that community gardening provides an opportunity for participants to materialize discourses of ecological as well as social and economic sustainability. Ecological sustainability discourse is being materialized in gardening practices, while the community aspect provides opportunities for building local social and economic relationships with the potential to spread ideas of sustainability. While some real and potential problems are accounted for by participants, community gardening is mainly presented as positive and an essential part of a development towards a sustainable future.

Drawing on Butler’s (1990, 1997) concept of performativity and the new materialist work of Barad (2007), Coole and Frost (2010), Pickering (1993), and others as a theoretical framework, this dissertation presents three articles that demonstrate the new ways to envisage the agency of human, nonhuman, and material bodies in the educational environment by examining the discursive, performative, and material practices of six Latina aspiring educational leaders. Guided by Gee’s (2014) critical discourse analysis methodology, the first article examines how my participants were constrained from moving toward their career goals and how they subverted constraints as they moved towards their goals. The second article aims to show how these women use performative, material, and discursive agency to position themselves as viable leaders in their school districts. The third article provides an argument for using posthumanist and new materialist concepts as a new way of understanding women’s leadership ontology by drawing on two examples from my broader study with aspiring Latina educational leaders.

Posthumanist rhetoric is informed by developments in the sciences and the humanities which suggest that mind and body are not distinct from each other and, therefore, claims of humans’ superiority over other animals based on cognitive differences may not be justified. Posthumanist rhetoric, then, seeks to re-imagine the human and its relationship to the world. Though “post-” implies after, like other “post-” terms, posthumanism also coexists with humanism. This dissertation develops a concept of posthumanist rhetoric as questioning humanist assumptions about subjectivity while remaining entangled in them. The destabilization of the human subject means that new identifications between humans and nonhumans are possible, and the ethical implications of the rhetorical strategies used to build them have yet to be worked out. Identification, a key aim of rhetoric in the theory of Kenneth Burke and others, can persuade an audience to value others. However, it can also obscure the realities of who does and does not benefit from particular arguments, particularly when animal suffering is framed as human-like trauma with psychological and cultural as well as physical effects. I argue that a posthumanist practice of rhetoric demonstrates ways of circumventing this problem by persuading readers not only to care about others, but also to understand that our ability to comprehend another’s subjectivity is limited and that acknowledging these limitations is a method of caring. his dissertation locates instances of resistance to and/or deployment of posthumanist critique in recent works of literature; identifies language commonly used in appeals that create identifications between humans and animals; and analyzes the implications of these rhetorical strategies. To that end, I have selected texts about human and animal suffering that engage particular themes of identification that recur in posthumanist rhetoric. The chapters pair texts that develop each theme differently. Most undermine human superiority as a species, but many reify the importance of certain qualities of the liberal humanist subject by granting them to nonhumans. The points of identification created between humans and nonhumans will inform how we re-imagine the human subject to account for our connections, and therefore our responsibilities, to other beings.