This project forms part of a growing engagement with biology by critical psychology and, more broadly, body studies. The specific focus is on the neurological body whose dogmatic exclusion from critical endeavours is challenged by arguing that neuroscience offers a vital resource for emancipatory agendas. Rather than conversely treating biology as a site for the factual supplementation of social theory the aim is to engage (negotiate) with neuroscience more directly and critically. In this process a discursive reductionism and attempted escape from complicity associated with critical psychology are addressed. Similarly a naïve and apolitical empiricism claimed by neuroscience is disrupted. The primary objective is however to demonstrate the utility of neuroscience in developing critical theory. These objectives are pursued through the ‘method’ of deconstruction, (mis)reading several highly regarded neuroscience texts written by prominent neuroscientists, working within the convolutions of these texts so as develop openings for critical conceptualisations of (neural) corporeality. In this manner the various spectres associated with neurology, including essentialism, determinism, individualism, reductionism and dualism, are displaced. This includes, amongst others, the omnipresent mind/body and body/society binaries. The (mis)readings address a number of prominent themes associated with contemporary neuroscience: Attempts at specifying an identity for (part of) the brain are shown to rely on a necessary relationship with the excluded other (such as the body, the socio-cultural, and the environment). Similarly, attempts at articulating a centre, a point from which agency can proceed, which finds existing identity in the functions of the prefrontal cortices, are also undone by the (multiple, affective, and unconscious) other which decentres the centre by being the essential supplement for any such claims. The causal metaphysic must likewise proceed within the play of différance, a logic of difference and deferral that undermines causal routes, innate origins and autocratic centres. Finally, reductionism must advance as a necessary strategy through which to engage with complexity, its ambitions always impossible as the aneconomic is forever in excess of any economy. The emancipatory viability of such (mis)readings is discussed within a context where the open and malleable body has been co-opted by contemporary neo-liberal geoculture. / Psychology / D.Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

Thesis (MEd )--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Employment in capitalist society forms the foundation of social, economic and political order where most individuals between the ages of 18 and 65 are assumed to be in a position to procure gainful employment in their areas of personal interest. Despite the move to democracy, based on the principles implicit in the Human Rights Movement, individuals with disabilities continue to exist as among the most economically disadvantaged groups in society where they are subject to the sustained effects of discriminatory and prejudicial attitudes in the workplace. This is compounded by the pervasive impact of lack of skills development; poor access to education and training; lack of awareness from employers; disabling environments and poor policy development. The purpose of this narrative inquiry was to explore the alternative stories of six individuals with disabilities who are currently employed in the mainstream labour sector as a means to gain insights into individual experiences of obstacles and facilitators to inclusion in the world of work. A narrative inquiry approach, embedded in a critical, emancipatory research paradigm formed the methodology for this study. This thesis was considered through the lens of an integrated theoretical approach, drawing on poststructuralist and social constructionist thought, interspersed with "episodes" of Lacanian psychoanalysis to attend to aspects of internalized oppression. Six individuals with disabilities, employed in the mainstream labour sector, were selected from three sites, using a purposive sampling method. Data were collected by way of two in-depth unstructured narrative interviews, constructed by way of personal experience stories (Squire, 2008; Riessman, 1993) and life stories (Atkinson, 1998) as a means to explore participants‟ unique life experiences and how they have constructed and asserted their professional identities in the world of work. A dual analysis process (first descriptive, then interpretive) was employed to bring structure and interpretation to the collected texts. Descriptive analysis involved the re-telling of participants‟ personal experience and life stories, using Clandinin and Connelly‟s three dimensional narrative inquiry space, whilst interpretive analysis sought to attend to the universal stories of disability using thematic analysis and synthesis. The key messages from the narratives revealed that in spite of the fact that many individuals with disabilities demonstrate immense loyalty, low rates of absenteeism, commitment and a range of skills, talents and abilities, disability continues to be conceptualized as an inferior status which inevitably creates widespread marginalization due to the pervasive effects of stigma, fear and ignorance. Many are not privy to vital education and training options as a precursor to entry into the labour market, and unequal salary structures, environmental barriers and physical accessibility are additional constraints which preclude full and equal participation in the mainstream labour sector. This study identified the efficacy of narrative inquiry etched within an integrated theoretical approach as the promise that disability studies has been waiting for. A crucial step in re-writing the historically disabling scripts related to the “disabled identity”, as a means to lobby for more inclusive strategies in the workplace, involves truly listening to the polyphony of individual voices from an emancipatory perspective. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Gelyke werksgeleenthede en indiensneming vorm die grondslag van die sosiale, ekonomiese en politieke bedeling in 'n kapitalistiese samelewing. Die aanname is dat die meerderheid individue tussen die ouderdomme van 18 en 65 besoldigde betrekkings kan beklee waarin hulle belangstel. Ten spyte van die verskuiwing na 'n demokrasie wat gebaseer is op die beginsels van die Menseregtebeweging, is individue met gestremdhede steeds deel van 'n ekonomies benadeelde groepering as gevolg van diskriminasie en vooroordele in die werksplek. Hierdie situasie word vererger deur die deurlopende impak van 'n tekort aan vaardighede, beperkte toegang tot onderwys en opleiding, werkgewers se beperkte bewustheid van individue met gestremdheid se behoeftes en potensiaal, ontoeganklike werksomgewings en leemtes in beleidsontwikkeling. Die doel van hierdie narratiewe ondersoek was daarom 'n verkenning van alternatiewe verhale van ses individue met fisiese gestremdheid wat werksaam is in die ope arbeidsmark ten einde insig te kry in hul individuele ervarings van hindernisse en ondersteuning in die werksplek. Die metodologie van hierdie studie kan tipeer word as 'n narratiewe ondersoekbenadering wat gevestig is in 'n krities-emansipatoriese navorsingsparadigma. Die lens van die studie was dus 'n geïntegreerde teoretiese benadering van post-strukturalistiese en sosio-konstruksionistiese denke en "episodes" van Lakan se psigoanalise om aspekte van geïnternaliseerde onderdrukking te verstaan. Ses individue met fisiese gestremdheid wat werksaam is in die ope arbeidsmark is doelbewus gekies uit drie werksplekke. Data is gegenereer deur twee ongestruktureerde narratiewe onderhoude in die vorm van vertellings oor persoonlike ervarings (Squire, 2008; Riessman, 1993) en lewensverhale (Atkinson, 1998). Die deelnemers se unieke lewenservarings en hul konstruksie en handhawing van hul professionele identiteit in die werksplek was die fokus van die datagenerering. 'n Tweeledige proses van analise (eers beskrywend, daarna interpreterend) is gevolg om die teks te struktureer en te interpreteer. Beskrywende analise, gebaseer op Clandinin en Connelly se driedimensionele narratiewe ruimte, behels die oorvertel van deelnemers se persoonlike ervaring en lewensverhale. Die interpreterende analise daarenteen gebruik tematiese analise en sintese van die universele stories. Die sentrale tema van die narratiewe is dat gestremdheid steeds gekonseptualiseer word as minderwaardig, ten spyte van hierdie individue se ongekende lojaliteit, min afwesigheid, toegewydheid en omvang van vaardighede, talente en vermoëns. Die stigma, vrese en onkundigheid wat daarmee gepaard gaan lei tot marginalisering. Baie persone met gestremdhede het steeds nie toegang tot onderwys en opleidingsgeleenthede nie en voldoen dus nie aan die vereistes wat gestel word vir toegang tot die arbeidsmark nie. Oneweredige salarisstrukture, hindernisse in die omgewing en fisiese toeganklikheid belemmer volledige en gelyke deelname in die ope arbeidsmark. Hierdie studie bevestig die bruikbaarheid van narratiewe navorsing en 'n geïntegreerde teoretiese benadering in gestremdheidstudies. 'n Belangrike stap is die herskryf van die historiese beskouings van onbekwaamheid en “gestremde identiteit” as 'n poging om te onderhandel vir meer inklusiewe strategieë in die werkplek. Dit behels opregte luister na die individuele stemme vanuit 'n emansipatoriese perspektief.

Postkoloniale Theorie bezeichnet ein breites Spektrum theoretischer Zugänge zu und kritischer Auseinandersetzungen mit historischen und gegenwärtigen Machtverhältnissen, die im Zusammenhang mit dem europäischen Kolonialismus und seinen bis heute währenden Fortschreibungen stehen. Als Gründungsdokument postkolonialer Theorie gilt Edward Saids Studie „Orientalism“ (1978). Postkoloniale feministische Theorie fokussiert auf die Situation von Frauen bzw. auf vergeschlechtlichte Identitäten in (neo-)kolonialen Settings. Neben der Konstruktion von Gender und Geschlechterrollen sind Sexualität und Begehren wichtige Topoi postkolonialer Theorie. Ein weiteres Themenfeld stellt die Dekonstruktion eurozentrischen / westlichen Wissens dar.

This thesis discusses the potential consequences of applying the philosophy of Mark C. Taylor to the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). The first part of the thesis comprises a study focusing on two discursive trends in contemporary HCI, materiality and the self, and how these discourses describe interaction. Through a qualitative, inductive content analysis of 171 HCI research articles, a number of themes are identified in the literature and, it is argued, construct a dominant perspective of materiality, the self, and interaction. Examples that differ from the dominant discourse are also discussed as alternative perspectives for each of the three focal areas. The second part of the thesis comprises an analysis of Mark C. Taylor’s philosophical project which enables a number of philosophical positions on materiality, the self, and interaction to be identified. These positions are suggested to be variations and rereadings of themes found in Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophy. These variations emerge as Taylor approaches Nietzsche through poststructuralism and complexity theory, and it is argued that the apparent heterogeneity of Taylor’s project can be understood as a more coherent position when interpreted in relation to Nietzsche’s philosophy. Based on the findings of the two literature studies, the thesis then discusses the possible consequences for HCI, if Taylor’s philosophy were to be applied as a theoretical framework. The thesis argues that Taylor’s philosophy describes the interaction between humans and computers  as an existential process, which contrasts with the dominant HCI discourse; that this view can be related to and provide a theoretical foundation for the alternative discourses in HCI; and that it can contribute to developing HCI. / Denna avhandling syftar till att diskutera de möjliga konsekvenserna av att applicera Mark C. Taylors filosofi inom fältet Människa-Datorinteraktion (MDI). Den första delen av avhandlingen utgörs av en studie som fokuserar på två diskursiva trender inom MDI, materialitet och självet, och hur dessa diskurser beskriver interaktion. Genom en kvalitativ, induktiv innehållsanalys av 171 forskningsartiklar inom MDI-fältet identifieras ett antal teman som kan sägas utgöra dominerande perspektiv i framställningen av de tre fokusområdena. Studien identifierar också exempel på alternativa perspektiv som kontrasterar mot den vedertagna bilden av materialitet, självet samt interaktion inom MDI. Den andra delen av avhandlingen utgörs av en analys där Mark C. Taylors filosofiska projekt utforskas med syfte att identifiera filosofiska positioner som kan fungera som teoretiska resurser för en fördjupad förståelse av de tre fokusområdena. Genom en jämförelse mellan dessa positioner och filosofiska teman hos Friedrich Nietzsche framträder en bild där Taylors positioner kan sägas utgöra variationer och omläsningar av Nietzsches texter i relation till mer sentida teoretiska ansatser. Analysen syftar till att påvisa att Taylors projekt, som vid första anblicken kan tyckas utgöras av en rad skiftande och ibland motsägelsefulla filosofiska framställningar utan inre sammanhang, i själva verket kan förstås som en mer sammanhängande teoretisk position om den läses i relation till Nietzsches filosofi. Med utgångspunkt i de två litteraturstudierna diskuteras slutligen möjliga konsekvenser av att använda Taylors filosofi som teoretiskt ramverk inom MDI och följande slutsatser presenteras: att Taylors filosofi erbjuder ett perspektiv på interaktionen mellan människor och datorer som betonar interaktion som en identitetsskapande, existentiell process vilket skiljer sig från det dominerande perspektivet inom MDI; att Taylors filosofi kan relateras till och utgöra ett teoretiskt fundament för de alternativa MDI-diskurser som tidigare identifierats, samt att en sådan process kan bidra till en vidareutveckling av teoribildningen inom MDI. / <p>QC 20160831</p>

Resiliency has become common in child welfare parlance in recent decades and producing resilient youth is touted as the panacea to improving notoriously poor outcomes for youth in care, when compared to youth not in the care of the state. The Looking After Children (LAC) system emerged in the U.K out of neoliberal and managerial policies of the 1990s. The LAC system, and its corresponding Assessment and Action Record (AAR), was subsequently imported to Canada and has been heralded to foster resilience in youth in care. The AAR is composed of hundreds of tick box questions posed to young people in care, child welfare workers, and foster parents; these questions are pedagogical and the mined data from the AAR is aggregated to inform child welfare policy. The Looking After Children: A Practitioner’s Guide (Lemay & Ghazal, 2007) instructs workers how to administer the AAR, Second Canadian adaptation (AAR- C2), and it informs workers how to do their job. The notion of resilience in the Practitioner's Guide and the AAR-C2 are based in normative development and day to day experiences (Lemay & Ghazal, 2007). My interest in the LAC system emerges out of my experiences as a child welfare worker and my experience of being a youth in care. I wondered how it was, given the oppressive track record of child welfare in Canada, that the state could initiate a system to produce normal youth. This was a particularly salient question given the massive over- representation of Indigenous youth in foster care. With this critical curiosity as a point of departure I employed a Foucauldian inspired discourse analysis of the Looking After Children: A Practitioner’s Guide (2007, University of Ottawa Press), and three versions of its corresponding Assessment and Action Record, Second Canadian adaptation (AAR- C2) (2006, 2010, 2016, University of Ottawa). My analysis asked the question: How have we come to this ideal of resiliency? What were the contingencies and complex set of practices that enabled this specific notion of resilience to emerge in child welfare? What are the material outcomes of this notion of resilience? My findings suggest that: Youth in care are produced as deviant and outside of normal development, versus the desired resilient youth; youth in care and foster parents are responsibilized to produce resilient outcomes, which can never actually be achieved; the AAR-C2 acts as a surveillance system to enable to production of neoliberal subjects; the LAC system and the AAR-C2 are a method of colonization of Indigenous youth in care. / Graduate

Depuis les années 80, le développement rapide des nouvelles technologies microélectroniques a donné naissance à une nouvelle génération d’oeuvres d’art musicales. Souvent, ces oeuvres profitent d’une approche analytique provenant de la théorie des médias. En même temps, de nouveaux courants dans la philosophie ainsi que dans les études culturelles ont engendré une nouvelle notion de genre (anglais : gender), qui vient s’établir dans la musicologie anglo-américaine et, de manière plus conscrite, dans la musicologie allemande ; jusqu’ici, elle ne s’établit guère dans la musicologie française. Cette thèse entreprend une investigation théorique d’oeuvres d’art électroniques, tout en utilisant la notion de gender : gender + electronic = gendertronics. Pour cette investigation, des notions sont employées dérivant de la lecture féminine : une approche pluridisciplinaire associée à l’écriture féminine d’Hélène Cixous (* 1937), écrivain et théoricienne poststructuraliste. Puisque ni la lecture féminine ni la théorie des médias ne prend en compte des éléments musicaux, cette investigation incorpore également des aspects de l’analyse musicale. Trois artistes sont considérées : Gerhard Stäbler (*1943), Terre Thaemlitz (*1968) et Miss Kittin (*1973). L’investigation trace le développement des notions de « sujet » et de « matériau musical » depuis la théorie poststructuraliste et la musique contemporaine jusqu’à des notions philosophiques émergentes du « corps ». Une considération particulière est le genre musical electronica, repérant ses antécédents dans la musique électronique expérimentale en Europe du vingtième siècle et dans les musiques populaires de danse aux Etats-Unis dans les années 80 et 90. L’investigation cherche à joindre les recherches récentes dans ces domaines. Elle ouvre de nouvelles pistes et propose des nouveaux outils pour explorer plus profondément le domaine émergent des gendertronics / Since the 1980s, rapid development of new micro-electronic technologies has spawned a new generation of musical art works employing electronic means. These artworks are often theoretically approached using media theory. Contemporaneously, new developments in philosophy and in cultural studies have given rise to the new notion of gender, which has since found its way into Anglo-American musicological and, to a more limited degree, into German musicology, though not at all into French. The present work undertakes a gendered theoretical investigation of electronic art works – gender + electronics = ‘gendertronics’. For the investigation, notions stemming from lecture féminine are employed, a pluralistic reading approach associated with écriture féminine of the poststructuralist theorist/writer Hélène Cixous (born 1937). Since neither lecture féminine nor abovementioned media theory takes musical elements into account, this investigation also draws on music analysis. Aspects of the works of three artists are considered: Gerhard Stäbler (born 1943), Terre Thaemlitz (born 1968), and DJ Miss Kittin (born 1973). The investigation traces the development of the topics ‘Subject’ and ‘musical material’ from poststructuralist and New Music theory of the 20th century to emerging new philosophical notions of the body. Particular attention is given to the development of the musical genre ‘electronica’, tracing its antecedents from European experimental electronic music of the 20th century and from American popular dance music of the 80s and 90s; subgenres treated include rave, glitch, clicks-and-cuts, electroclash, techno, electro, ambient, and house. The investigation complements recent research addressing lacunae in these areas and offers new paths and tools for future investigation in the emerging area of gendertronics

This thesis examines the roles of the New Zealand university in a knowledge society. Gaps in the literature of the New Zealand university in a contemporary context mean that the enquiry is informed by European and North American discussions of the educational requirements of a knowledge society. As the notions of the knowledge society and a liberal university education are both problematic and central to this enquiry, they are interrogated, in the second chapter, in some depth. A second review examines the work, recommendations and subsequent legislative outcomes of the Tertiary Education Advisory Commission (TEAC) policy process of 1999 to 2003. The principles of critical theory and critical policy scholarship inform these interpretative textual analyses. The two review chapters, which follow the introductory chapter, comprise the first part of the thesis. A description of the methodological framework employed throughout the project and a report of the findings of a survey of stakeholders follow. The discussion chapter comprises the third and final part of the thesis. The thesis seeks to distinguish the notion of the knowledge society from that of the neo-liberal approach to social and economic management. I argue that the notion of the knowledge society is viable in a range of socio-economic conditions. I suggest that the educational requirements of a knowledge society are better addressed when the scope of a university education is framed by holistic individual, social, and economic determinants, rather than rigid ideological imperatives such as those characteristic of neo-liberalism. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methodologies is employed. Primary data are gathered by way of a postal questionnaire. The perceptions of three cohorts of stakeholders of the New Zealand university are analysed using both statistical and interpretative tools. Data gathered through a review of the literature of the university in relation to the notion of the knowledge society in New Zealand, North America, and various European contexts are analysed using a combination of critical and interpretive approaches. The major finding to emerge from the enquiry is that stakeholders of the New Zealand university associate an effective university education with breadth of learning. The notion of a liberal university education, with its attendant beyond-vocation curriculum assumptions, is not considered anachronistic by the majority of stakeholders surveyed during this project. Public and private sector employers and university students strongly associate a liberal university education with effective preparation for participation in a knowledge-intensive environment. Year 13 secondary students are less certain. A secondary finding is that most stakeholders consider that the research activities of the university academic should continue to inform university teaching, but that the teaching role is of growing importance, and therefore worthy of greater emphasis, in the context of a knowledge society. The project is intended to provoke further discussion around the relationship between the New Zealand university and the knowledge society. To date there has been little academic consideration of this relationship. The contribution of this thesis, relative to this gap, is therefore significant.

Previous research studies have shown that in their address and behaviour towards girls and boys, pre-school staff apply stereotyped gender concepts, thus reinforcing rather than challenging stereotypes. The present thesis therefore focuses on which of children’s positions that are accepted or that face resistance from the staff. In this way, children’s gender-based "identity-formation" can be critically analyzed based on different possible descriptions of how it is to be a girl or a boy, and what unaware assumptions about gender representations that in this way may be made in different ways by both children and adults. The theoretical point of departure is feminist poststructuralism; and the analysis focuses on variations found between the groups of girls and boys, as well as within these groups, and within individuals. The empirical data consists of video-taped sessions from two teams working with children aged 3-5, and focus groups interviews with the adult. Then different "readings" of the empirical material have been conducted based on different assumptions (discourses); i.e. assuming that girls and boys "really" are different or equal, different behaviours will appear as more or less obvious and natural. By showing that several different discourses are present at the same time, gender-based "identity-formation" is described as a very complex process. The analyzed situations show that girls and boys in pre-school are defined and treated in stereotyped ways, however, there is a large hidden variation of how different girls and different boys positions themselves in different contexts. Pre-school teachers thus work actively to distinguish between girls and boys based on how they are being perceived as either girls or boys. Teachers’ expectations then become decisive of how different children are addressed and treated in different situations. To conclude, the pedagogical consequences of this are discussed with regard to gender equality work in which also alternative discourses are formulated. / Studier har visat att förskolans personal bemöter flickor och pojkar utifrån stereotypa föreställningar om kön och snarare förstärker än utmanar dessa. Därför är fokus i denna avhandling att se vilka positioner hos flickor och pojkar som accepteras och vilka som möter motstånd i förskolan. På så sätt analyseras barns könsmässiga "identitetsskapande" kritiskt utifrån på vilka olika sätt det är möjligt att vara flicka och pojke och vilka omedvetna antaganden om kön och genus som görs av barn och vuxna. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten är feministisk poststrukturalism och i analysen är variationen mellan grupperna flickor och pojkar, variationen inom grupperna samt variationen inom individer i fokus. Utifrån empirin, som består av videoinspelade sekvenser från två arbetslag med barn i åldrarna 3-5 år och fokusgruppssamtal med de vuxna, görs olika "läsningar" utifrån olika antaganden (diskurser): Beroende på om antagandet är att flickor och pojkar "egentligen" är olika eller lika, kommer olika bemötanden att framstå som mer eller mindre självklara. Genom att visa att flera olika diskurser är verksamma samtidigt beskrivs det könsmässiga "identitetsskapandet" som mycket komplext. De analyserade situationerna visar att flickor och pojkar i förskolan definieras och bemöts stereotypt men att detta döljer en stor variation av hur olika flickor och olika pojkar positionerar sig i olika sammanhang. Förskollärarna arbetar på detta sätt aktivt med att skilja på flickor och pojkar utifrån att de betraktas som antingen flickor eller pojkar. Förväntningarna blir sedan avgörande för hur olika barn bemöts i olika situationer. En diskussion förs avslutningsvis kring vad detta kan ge för pedagogiska konsekvenser för ett jämställdhetsarbete, där även alternativa diskurser och handlingsmönster skrivs fram.

När den svenska klimatdebatten intensifierades under 2000-talets första decennium tilldelades allmänheten en särskild roll. I den mediala och politiska debatten verkade lösningen på miljöproblemen intimt förknippad med individers livsstilar. I den här avhandlingen betraktas det synsättet som del av en pågående individualisering av miljöansvar. Med en poststrukturalistisk feministisk utgångspunkt hanteras det individualiserade miljöansvaret som en specifik diskurs. Diskursen beskriver individer som de centrala aktörerna som ska motverka miljöproblemen. Hur individer förhåller sig till rimligheten i en sådan ansvarsfördelning eller förstår innebörden av ett sådant ansvar är emellertid oklart. Syftet med avhandlingen är att utforska hur individer begripliggör och förhandlar diskursen om individuellt miljöansvar i gruppsamtal. För att förstå hur individer kan positionera sig i relation till diskursen analyseras tolv fokusgruppsamtal med personer som befinner sig i olika livssituationer och har olika erfarenheter av miljöfrågor och resande. Samtalsdeltagarnas förhandlingar av diskursens innebörd och relevans analyseras. Avhandlingen undersöker vilka andra diskurser som stödjer, konkurrerar med eller utgör motdiskurser till den individualiserade miljödiskursen. Därmed framgår hur individer kan införliva eller göra motstånd mot miljödiskursens verklighetsbeskrivning. I avhandlingen undersöks även vilka subjektspositioner som görs problematiska respektive oproblematiska i relation till ett individualiserat miljöansvar. Det bidrar med insikt om hur diskurser knutna till genus och klass kan positionera individer som i olika grad eller på olika sätt ansvariga för sin miljöpåverkan. Analysen visar hur individuellt miljöansvar förknippas med resursstarka och oberoende individer, individer som kan tänka sig att agera utan stöd från vare sig omgivningen eller stödjande samhällsstrukturer. Samtalsdeltagare i studien beskriver det individualiserade miljöansvaret som alltifrån moraliskt viktigt och positivt till orimligt och orealistiskt. Konkurrens mellan individer följer i diskursens spår. Både personer som tar på sig stort ansvar och de som inte förmår eller vill leva upp till idealet om att förändra sin livsstil pekas ut som problematiska. Samtidigt hamnar andra potentiella ansvarstagare och politiska arenor ofta i skymundan. Därtill riktar vissa samtalsdeltagare misstro mot samhällets förmåga att överhuvudtaget hantera miljöproblem, vilket tolkas som en aspekt av det individualiserade miljöansvarets dominans. / Over the last decade, the behaviors and lifestyles of the Swedish public have been depicted as having important environmental effects by both politicians and the media in Sweden. In this thesis, this is regarded as part of an ongoing tendency to individualize environmental responsibilities. Using a feminist poststructuralist point of departure, this individualized environmental responsibility is understood as a particular discourse that frames individuals as essential actors in handling environmental problems. How individuals position themselves in relation to the reasonableness and meaning of these responsibilities, however, is still an open question. The aim is to explore how individuals make scnse of and negotiate the discourse of individual environmental responsibility in group discussions. Twelve focus group conversations involving people in various life situations and with various expericnces of environmental issues and travelling are analyzed. The analysis investigates how the focus group participants position themselves in relation to the discoursc and, thus, negotiate its meaning and relevance. The analysis seeks to understand what other discourses support, compete with, or challenge the discourse of individual environmental responsibility in order to illuminate how individuals can incorporate or resist this particular discursive description of the world. The thesis also investigates what subject positions are made troubled or untroubled by the focus group participants, which reveals how gender and dass discourses position individuals as in various ways or to various degrees responsible for their individual impact on the environment. The analysis suggests that the discourse of individual environmental responsibility privileges independent, self-governing individuals, that is, people who assume responsibility without demanding either societal or social support. Some focus group participants depict individual environmental responsibility as morally significant and beneficial, while others depict it as unrealistic and unacceptable. The discourse seems to engender competition between individuals. Both people acting as highly environmentally responsible and people acting as unable or unwilling to take environmental responsibility are framed as troubled individuals in the conversations. Concurrently, other potential environmentally responsible actors and political scenes are often neglected. The discourse of individual environmental responsibility dominates; for some focus group participants, this discourse leads toa lack of faith in societal ability to handle environmental problems.

This thesis presents a critique of counterhegemony, arguing that imperatives of unity and coherence in social movement theory and practice tend to limit potentials for transformation. I use the 'new social movement theory' of Alberto Melucci and Alain Touraine in order to foreground the problem of intelligibility. Laclau and Mouffe’s conception of articulation is used to develop the problem of intelligibility, and helps to avoid reification. However, I argue that their concept of counterhegemony presents a blackmail where social movements either represent themselves in universal terms, or are cast as merely fragmented and particular. The Deleuzo-Guattarian concepts molarization and molecularization are used to argue that social movements that appear fragmented or vague may in fact be transformative in unexpected ways. The final chapter focuses on a recent guerilla garden at the University of Victoria, and I argue that it is significant in its capacity to foreground problems and suspend commonsense habits, without presenting a coherent and unified programme.