The aim of this thesis is to survey the discussions around the position of sound art within the broader arts, and to explore strategies and research areas within fine art and my own practice, so as to identify new areas of enquiry and develop my work within this field. I investigate the phenomenology of vision and hearing and contrast the different ways these two senses operate as primary sources of perception. I analyse the privileging of sight and the dominance of the visual in art institutions. Ideas of the literal and model subject within installation art are explored and the convergence of these subjectivities is overlaid with this phenomenological research, in order to develop a direction within installation art. The lack of authoritative sources in this field, beyond the few relevant texts, has meant that my research has employed respected new media and the Internet as a second tier of sources. I also analyse my own practice as an example of how sound art activates extramusical ideas. My research concludes that sound art has much to reveal to the broader arts community about perception and the creation of meaning, and also that there are many prospective avenues of enquiry within fine arts for the inclusion and analysis of audio based work. Keywords: sound art; phenomenology; hearing; privileging of sight; subjectivities; extramusical; perception.

This PhD thesis concerns language and racism. The aim is to explore how racism is reproduced in interaction in public debates on immigration, integration and refugee policy. From a constructivist pragmatic perspective, language is considered as a practice that composes and makes sense of our social world and all the phenomena and individuals that we perceive in it. Racist discourses discriminate against and privilege people by categorising them according to notions of cultural, ethnical, racial, religious and national differences. The thesis has two main themes: 1) the linguistic reproduction of, and response to, racist discrimination and privileging in interaction, and 2) the role of language in various public arenas, and the norms and conditions for participation in these arenas. The thesis comprises five studies. Study I examines racist discourses and conditions for participation in an online newspaper comments section. Study II examines how the phrase “politically correct” is used and negotiated in the same comments section, and how its usage leads to the reproduction and normalisation of racism. Another comments section is the focus of Study III, in which discriminating and privileging categorisations of Muslims, Islam, Swedes and Sweden are analysed. Study IV examines an anti-racist forum on the social networking site Instagram. In the study, the reproduction of norms of whiteness is analysed, as well as power relations that are evoked, sustained and transformed in interaction. Finally, Study V is an analysis of linguistic, visual and material reproductions of political positions and racist discourses in a debate among party leaders on Swedish television. The thesis demonstrates how normalisation of racism is accomplished in interaction, and how reproduction of hierarchically structured difference and bigoted stereotypes are performed, and challenged, through language. The medium, combined with the user’s speech acts, set up the norms and conditions for participation, and for the discursive processes that reproduce the relations and structures of power.

Searle’s theory of Biological Naturalism has been largely ignored in the philosophical literature and Searle’s commentators are confused by his seemingly contradictory views. In this dissertation I attempt to make sense of Biological Naturalism. In chapter 2 I will ascertain which concerns prevent Searle’s readers from understanding his position. The remaining chapters aim to dissolve the tensions and dispel any confusion. Chapter 3 considers Searle’s notion of first-person ontology, finding that it expresses a belief that experiences are essentially subjective and qualitative. In chapter 4 I consider the notions of levels of description, causal reduction and what Searle means by causation and realisation. Chapter 5 turns to the question of how to categorise Searle’s position. Many of his critics charge him with being a property dualist. By highlighting the difference between the meaning of irreducibility intended by the property dualist and Searle I show that there is sufficient difference in their use of the term so as to reject an interpretation of Biological Naturalism as a form of property dualism. Chapter 6 is where I turn to the other end of the physicalism/dualism spectrum and assess whether Searle should be seen as holding a form of identity theory. I first argue for a neutral form of identity that I call real identity, which does not include the inherent reductive privileging of standard identity. I then argue that Searle should be seen as advocating a form of real identity theory; a form of token identity theory which does not privilege the physical over the mental. In chapter 7 I return to the main barriers to making sense of Biological Naturalism which I identified in chapter 2 and lay out my response to each. I conclude with a coherent interpretation of Searle’s position.

Computer Algebra Systems (CAS), a powerful mathematical software currently available on hand held calculators, is becoming increasingly available to assist secondary students learn school mathematics. This study investigates how two teachers taught introductory differential calculus to their Year 11 classes using multiple representations in a CAS-supported curriculum. This thesis aims to explore the impact of the teaching on students’ understanding of the concept of derivative. / Understanding of the concept of derivative was gauged using an innovative Differentiation Competency Framework that was developed to describe understanding of the concept of derivative. It consists of eighteen competencies for formulation and interpretation of derivatives with, and without, translation between different representations. It clarified the objectives of the curriculum, purpose for using particular CAS activities, and also guided the construction of individual test items on the Differentiation Competency Test that enabled individual and class learning about the concept of derivative to be identified. / The Framework also helped identify each teacher’s privileging characteristics and facilitated analysis of the learning in relation to the teaching. / This study found that using multiple representations was important in developing understanding of the concept of derivative but that the graphical and the symbolic representations were the most useful and important to emphasize and link. / Analysis of the teaching actions showed that the teachers used CAS in ways that were consistent with their teaching approach and preferred use of representations and that a conceptual teaching method and student-centred style supported understanding of the concept of derivative. / Teaching is directly linked to learning and each class developed a different understanding of the concept of derivative that related to the combined effect of their teacher’s privileging characteristics: calculus content, teaching approach, and use of CAS. This study also shows that if a CAS-supported curriculum is to be successfully implemented, it needs to acquire institutional status including a corresponding change in assessment to legitimize new teaching practices.