Queer Transgressions: The choreographing of a male homosexual presence with reference to selected choreographers explores queer identity and in particular representations of a male homosexual presence in dance. Within the methodological framework of dance studies and queer theory I explore the ―self fashioning‖ of my male homosexual presence in dance. This is achieved by critically deconstructing my choreographic process when making choreography. Therefore this thesis is informed by both academic research and my self-reflexive experience of choreography and dance performance. The deconstruction of my autobiography and choreographic process is discussed with reference to both international and South African queer choreographers. This means that by accounting for my own experiences and approaches toward representing a male homosexual presence in dance, I explore the history and engagements of other queer choreographers also creating such representations. I therefore examine the works of selected choreographers and chart the development of the representation of a male homosexual presence in dance. By exploring the choreographic process of other queer choreographers I identify choreographic tactics that queer choreographers are using when making work. From this point of departure I shift the focus away from international queer choreographers and provide insight into the choreographic processes of South African queer choreographers. By accounting for the works and choreographic processes of South African choreographers, I provide a context in which my choreographic explorations on the subject matter can take place. This choreographic exploration manifests itself through a self-reflexive/autobiographic account on the research and practice of my choreographic process. During my choreographic exploration I set the challenge to both engage with and explore further, established ―queering tactics. This is done with the intention to reveal and create representations of a male homosexual presence in dance.

The past few decades have seen a surge in awareness of issues related to both gender and sexual identity, which has shaped our understanding and use of these terms. However, there is a lag between awareness and practical changes, which can also be seen within education; teaching materials and practices change slowly, and the social and linguistic changes that are currently taking place are only partially visible in education. In the present study, gender and sexuality are approached from two perspectives: by analysing two EFL textbooks for upper secondary school and examining inclusive language use and representation of non-heteronormative identities, as well as by identifying attitudes and ideas expressed in interviews with three EFL teachers. The results show that LGBTQ+ representation is still scarce in these two textbooks; even though heterosexuality is not overtly reinforced in lexical choices, non-heteronormative relationships are not included. In addition, gender is still mostly portrayed as a binary, and gender issues are largely linked to male-female equality. In terms of the interviews, a general finding is that the participants are all aware of the importance of including and giving a voice to different gender and sexual identities when planning their teaching. However, deeply rooted traditions and the gender binary still play a role in how LGBTQ+ topics are perceived and addressed. Overall, it appears that teachers display more awareness and active inclusion of non-binary and non-heteronormative identities than what can be found in the textbooks.

League of Legends is one of the most popular video games in the world, and yet it is also infamously known as being filled with harassment and failure. Why do I continue to play? In this project, a critical autoethnography is used to illustrate what it is like to play in this male-dominated space as a woman. Using feminist and queer game studies as my theoretical framework, this project investigates three distinct, but interconnected concepts: hegemonic masculinity, weaponized failure, and subversive play. In chapter one, I use Raewyn Connell’s theory of hegemonic masculinity to analyze League of Legends. I argue that gameplay elements such as champion selection, communication, and role-play make it difficult to challenge hegemonic masculinity in League of Legends. However, I do acknowledge that it is possible to challenge through playing the role of support properly – by concentrating on teamwork and sacrifice. In chapter two, I use queer video game studies, including key texts by Bonnie Ruberg and Jesper Juul, to consider failure in League of Legends. While queer failure can be fun in single-player video games, I argue that failure in League of Legends can be used as a weapon to intentionally hurt your teammates. Finally, in chapter three I consider my own subversive playstyle. While some academics have argued that woman who play masculine video games using male-coded skills cannot challenge the patriarchy, I argue that embracing my femininity in League of Legends allows me to persevere and push against the patriarchy. I argue that my feminine visibility in the form of my gamertag, SJW Queen, my communication style that emphasizes positivity and mediation, and how I play League of Legends are all examples of subversive gameplay. I bring my femininity into League of Legends uncompromised and I embrace it, rather than try to escape from it.

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Friedrich Nietzsche fait appel à un nouveau langage au service de la philosophie de l’avenir dans Par-delà le bien et le mal (1886). Son écriture s’en fait l’ostentation là même où elle se refuse à des descriptions explicites jugées trop conceptuellement fixes. Fidèle à une perspective résolument pluridisciplinaire, ce mémoire propose de souligner comment Nietzsche se tient à dessein sur la frontière mouvante entre philosophie et littérature pour mettre en œuvre ces nouveautés. Puisque la complexité du monde s’avère irréductible aux concepts philosophiques traditionnels, il s’agit plutôt d’illustrer ses vérités perspectivistes en ayant recours à la stylisation poétique et joueuse du texte. Ainsi s’expriment et s’élaborent maintes interprétations artistiquement créatrices du réel. La métaphore de la femme filée dans les œuvres de Nietzsche, qui personnifie tour à tour la vérité, la vie et la sagesse, s’avère centrale à cette pensée pleinement affirmative de la réalité. Elle met en scène des personnages féminins d’apparence voilée et pudique, entités qui se dérobent à la saisie conceptuelle tentée par la philosophie. Obéissant au principe de dévoilement de l’alètheia, la visée de celle-ci se compare à l’indécence juvénile du prétendant qui ne saurait s’y prendre pour conquérir l’objet de son amour et par là lui ferait violence. Nous proposons une exposition chronologico-thématique des diverses occurrences de la métaphore de la femme, enrichie de nombreux parallèles avec les écrits et commentaires de Jacques Derrida, de Sarah Kofman et d’Hélène Cixous. La caractérisation de figures mythologiques féminines (Sphinx, Baubô, Méduse) s’entrelaçant dans les passages étudiés indiquera que les textes de Nietzsche opèrent subrepticement des subversions de genres. La théorie queer de Judith Butler sera mobilisée afin de saisir les subtilités du bouleversement des figures canoniques de la vérité/vie/sagesse-femme et de la philosophie-homme. Il apparaîtra que ces subversions de l’identité de genre sont intimement liées à des subversions du genre textuel. L’interprétation du motif du voile, qui rattache tangiblement la métaphore de la femme à l’acception nietzschéenne du poète-philosophe de l’avenir, montrera que la valorisation des apparences par l’écriture poétique, habituellement perçues comme trompeuses, défie les formes consacrées de l’écriture philosophique et, par conséquent, l’appréhension du réel. / In Beyond Good and Evil (1886), Friedrich Nietzsche proclaims the necessity of a new language serving the philosophy of the future he envisions. While his writing refuses to advocate for explicit descriptions deemed too conceptually fixed, it becomes the ostentation of this new language. Faithful to a resolutely multidisciplinary perspective, this dissertation proposes to underline how Nietzsche’s work purposefully blurs the border between philosophy and literature. Since the complexity of the world is irreducible to traditional philosophical concepts, it is rather a matter of illustrating perspectivist truths through poetic and playful textual stylization. Many artistically creative interpretations of reality are thus expressed and elaborated through writing. Specifically, the metaphor of the woman spun in Nietzsche’s works personifies in turn truth, life and wisdom, and is central to his affirmative philosophy of reality. It depicts veiled, modest female characters, such entities evading philosophy’s attempted conceptual grasp. Obeying aletheia’s (truth’s) principle of unveiling, its aim is comparable to the juvenile indecency of the suitor who knows not how to conquer the object of his love, hence committing acts of violence toward it. I propose to exhibit chronologically and thematically the various occurrences of the metaphor of the woman, which will then be read in parallel to the works or commentaries by Jacques Derrida, Sarah Kofman and Hélène Cixous. A characterization of certain female mythological figures intertwined in the examined passages (namely the Sphinx, Baubo and Medusa) will indicate that Nietzsche’s texts surreptitiously operate gender subversions. I will call upon Judith Butler’s Queer Theory to grasp in detail the upheaval of that canonical figures represented by truth/life/wisdom-woman and philosophy-man. As a result, these gender identity subversions will appear intimately tied to subversions of the textual genre. An interpretation of the veil motif, by tangibly linking the metaphor of the woman to the Nietzschean meaning of the future poet-philosopher, will show that the valorization of appearances by poetic writing, usually perceived as deceptive, defies the consecrated forms of philosophical writing. Consequently, it has a significant incidence on human beings’ apprehension of reality or realities.

<p>Performing autoethnographic explorations as curriculum development strategies, and using autoethnographic modes (e.g., storytelling) as curriculum, may provide queer multicultural social justice education curriculum workers, and explorers, with opportunities to explore their own multicultural identities (e.g., race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, exceptionality, religion, sexual orientation, and gender), how their identities may intersect with curriculum development, and their stories alongside those of others. In Part One, I tell three (hi)stories highlighting how multicultural education, queer theory, and autoethnography support the practice of identity awareness (of self and others). In Part Two, I share nine explorations developed for this project, along with my performances and reflections of each exploration, which include how <i>performing </i>the explorations impacted their development. Finally, in Part Three, I apply these ideas to my practice of becoming a queer educator. I reflect on some of the tensions I wrestled with, on being aware of myself as a teacher and a student <i>simultaneously</i>, and on my use of language and curriculum development practices. In sum, I advocate for queering autoethnography and using it for curriculum development—thus, simultaneously queering the act of curriculum development—for the purposes of developing identity awareness (of self and others) and of honing queer multicultural social justice education curriculum development practices. During your engagement with this text, I invite the reader to reflect on these practices, perform the explorations, and ponder how these explorations may impact your curriculum development practices. <i>I also encourage you to share your stories.</i> </p>

Considering the massive role that media plays in our lives, it can be interesting to wonder how different movements have adapted and become one with this new reality. A reality where most information we receive seems filtered through some form of media input, be it popular culture, social media or the news. Focusing on one of the most relevant movements of our time, the LGBT movement. This study attempts to explore the movements relationship with the Swedish news-media through a reading of Frame Theory, picking out certain Swedish news-articles published in 2019, and asking the research question: Do the selected articles tend to prioritize certain perspectives on LGBT activism, through their framing? With the perspectives analyzed and understood through queer theory, this study found that the selected articles tended to prioritize certain perspectives over others, perspectives that came with several heteronormative and other problematic tendencies.

Aim. This study examines the attitudes of social work students towards LGBT-persons, and whether the students perceive that the content of the social work program provides competence on LGBT related questions. The theoretical frame of reference is based upon queer theory. Method. A quantitative method was adopted to address the aims and objectives of this study. The study is limited to comprise of social work students from 3-7 semesters, from a Swedish university. A survey based upon earlier surveys and containing 41 statements was translated from English to Swedish. The survey was emailed to 245 social work students through the university’s email system.  Results. Findings suggest that the majority of the social work students demonstrate tolerant attitudes towards LGBT-persons while a minority show negative attitudes. Further results suggest that most students do not believe that the educational content of the social work program sufficiently addresses LGBT related questions. The majority of the social work students estimates their competence in LGBT-questions as neutral or neither. The results further show a significant negative correlation between attitudes towards LGBT-persons and educational content, as well as between content and competence. Significant differences between semesters and perceived educational content was found. Conclusion. The study concludes a low level of heterosexism among social work students, a lack of competence of LGBT-related questions and an insufficient course content. The results partially confirm the study's hypotheses but also indicate other correlations. Course content offering more in-depth insights into LGBT-issues is seen as an area of improvement within the social work program. To conclude, this study is the first to investigate the subject at national level and therefore further research within this field is both suggested and recommended. / Syfte. Denna studie undersöker socionomstudenters attityder gentemot LHBT-personer och huruvida de anser att utbildningsinnehållet på socionomprogrammet ger kompetens om LHBT-frågor. Studiens teoretiska referensram är baserad på queerteori. Metod. Studien använder kvantitativ metod för att besvara studiens syfte. Studien är avgränsad till att innefatta socionomstudenter mellan termin 3–7 på ett lärosäte i Sverige. Enkäten innehåller 41 påståenden vilka är baserade på tidigare studier. Påståendena är översatta från engelska till svenska och har mailats till 245 socionomstudenter via lärosätets mailsystem. Resultat. Enkätstudiens svar fann att de flesta socionomstudenter uppvisar toleranta attityder gentemot LHBT-personer, men att det också finns studenter som uppvisar negativa attityder. Vidare framkommer att de flesta studenter upplever att utbildningsinnehållet på socionomprogrammet berör LHBT-frågor i låg utsträckning. Majoriteten av socionomstudenterna skattar sin kompetens om LHBT-frågor som varken eller. Resultaten visar att det finns ett signifikant negativt samband mellan attityder och utbildningsinnehåll samt mellan utbildningsinnehåll och upplevd kompetens. Signifikanta skillnader går att finna mellan terminer och upplevt utbildningsinnehåll. Slutsats. Sammanfattningsvis fann studien en låg grad av heterosexism bland socionomstudenter, en avsaknad av kompetens kring LHBT-frågor samt bristande utbildningsinnehåll. Resultaten bekräftar delvis studiens hypoteser men påvisar också andra samband. Kursinnehåll som mer specifikt behandlar LHBT-frågor ses som ett förbättringsområde på socionomprogrammet. Den aktuella studien är den första att undersöka ämnet på nationell nivå och vidare forskning inom ämnet föreslås och rekommenderas.

This study uses Queer Theory to explore the inconsistencies in South Africa's approach to the international protection of people of non-normative sexual orientations and gender identities (SOGI). It seeks to understand why South Africa's support for SOGI rights in the international system has been inconsistent, by answering the following question: How can we understand South Africa's inconsistent approach to sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) rights in the United Nations using Queer Theory? Using queer critical discourse analysis and Weber's queer logics of statecraft (Weber, 2016a; 2016b), SOGI rights discourses were studied at three levels. Firstly, the genesis of SOGI rights adoption within the post-apartheid South African policy and legislative frameworks. Secondly, providing contextual background, across the African continent since 1994. Thirdly, within dedicated SOGI debates at the UN General Assembly and UN Human Rights Council since 2011, focussing on South African and African Group contributions. This analysis determined that SOGI rights have been challenged by claims of cultural, historical and religious traditions, which on the African continent have been framed as un-African and a rejection of neocolonialism from the global North. Despite the fallacy of this un-African claim, it has impacted on South Africa as it sought to re-establish its Africanness and anti-neocolonial credentials whilst also promoting its moral leadership on human rights. It has further been established that the South African approach to SOGI rights was informed by the demands of local rather than international SOGI rights NGOs. This approach has disappointed those who anticipate the Western model of SOGI rights promotion, which South Africa has critiqued for its coercive and counter-productive punitive measures. By using Queer Theory, this study concluded that South Africa's identity can be understood beyond monolithic binaries, that South Africa's support for SOGI rights in the UN has endeavoured to find a balance between the competing aims of SOGI rights and African solidarity by presenting itself as an African and/or un-African state. This study contributes to the emerging Queer Theory literature within International Relations and to literature on queer African sexualities and genders, human rights, and foreign policy.

Syftet med denna uppsats var att genom en innehållsanalys ta reda på hur läroböcker i samhällskunskap framställer HBTQ-personer och könsidentitet. I uppsatsen beskrivs en bakgrund till både genusteori och queerteori för att kunna få en förståelse för de teoretiska begreppen som ligger till grund för uppsatsen. Kodschemat i uppsatsen är konstruerat utifrån olika teoretiska begrepp. Denna uppsats ger en bakgrund till tidigare forskning inom området och materialet som studien genomförs på är totalt sex läroböcker i olika kurser för samhällskunskap på gymnasiet. Resultatet av analysen visar att HBTQ-personer och könsidentitet framställs olika i läroböckerna och genom fyra identifierade teman. Dessa teman är sexualitet och kärlek, lagstiftning och rättigheter, kön och könstillhörighet samt HBTQ som paraplybegrepp.  Resultatet visar att läroböckerna har ett heteronormativt perspektiv samt innehållet få normkritiska reflektioner. Resultatet visar även att i några läroböcker framställs inte HBTQ-personer eller könsidentitet alls. Resultatet visar även att läroböckerna inte definierar begreppen och att det i vissa fall inte stämmer överens med de vetenskapliga teoretiska begreppen. Uppsatsens resultat indikerar på konsekvenser för både lärare och elever. En avsaknad av HBTQ-personer och könsidentitet i läroböcker kan få konsekvenser för elevers utbildning. Slutsatsen är att lärare kan behöva komplettera läroböckerna i sin undervisning och ta ansvar för att ha kunskap om HBTQ-personer och könsidentitet för att inkludera och genomföra normkritiska reflektioner i sin undervisning. Förslag på vidare forskning kan vara att intervjua bokförlag om processen och innehållet i läroböckerna.