False heroes. Removal of communist monuments in Prague after year 1989 This thesis will examine monuments, established to promote communist ideology, that were removed after the Velvet Revolution and in the next few years of the 1990s in an attempt to symbolically abolish former regime. Firstly it will outline the historical context. Based on contemporary periodicals and public politicians speeches it will show social discourse regarding relation towards communism and notions what the new regime should be like. After it will deal with the concept of historical memory, places of memory and their change and rewriting. It will also compare this momument removal with iconoclasm that accompanied other revolutions. In its main part the thesis will follow several cases of monument displacements of statues of heroes and leaders, constituting events and artifacts - symbols. It will attempt to demonstrate how the monuments disappeared from the public space and how these events and the removal itself helped construction of historical memory besides the creation of monuments that are supposed to commemorate communist totalitarianism. It will also mention existing monuments that were put up during years 1948 - 1989, that stir up discussion to this day and it will touch how other countries of the Eastern Bloc...

Globalization is a concept that manages to attract both academic and mainstream attention and it became an important reference point of many contemporary conversations. However, there is a surprisingly little genealogical research on globalization. This thesis seeks to contribute in this area by analyzing part of the overall academic debate about this concept from the year 1990 to 2012 and by reconstructing the debates and arguments through which the concept was shaped. It breaks the chosen time frame in two periods (1990-2000 and 2001-2012) and conducts a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the debate in four leading academic journals, each of them grounded in different discipline. The thesis finds that key reference points of the debates about globalization in both periods of the time were the terms market and state and the relationship between them. Globalization as a phenomenon that was said to alter the nature of this relationship posed a particular challenge to social science paradigms that operated with state-centered frameworks. The key dimension in which globalization was discussed the most was in both periods the economic one; however, we also saw a rise of social dimension in the second period indicating a shift in attention beyond the economics. Furthermore, this work finds that...

Material artefacts to be used during sex is today commonly known as “sex toys”. This thesis has aimed to understand the discursive practices preceding this late-modern conceptualization, and what the previous historical conceptualizations testified to in terms of sexual morality and constructions of sexuality. The focus has been on a Swedish expert-led discursive context, spanning from the late seventies to the mid-nineties. Despite a general idea of Swedish sexual progressiveness, the results show that the discourse around these objects were all but welcoming. The Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU) considered the selling of “sexual technical aids” as a difficult topic. Good sexuality was to share an emotional loving connection. Thus, it should not overemphasize sex and the body, which sex aids did by being used for sexual functioning or corporeal sensations. I have shown how a discussion of sex aid-use by men with certain physical disabilities dealt with this problem, by providing a context of enabling sexual activity within a romantic union between the men and their partners. Thus, erective aids were especially in focus. I argue that this shows a somatification of male sexuality, which has previously been discussed as taking place in Sweden after the introduction of pharmaceutical erective pills in the late 1990s. Parallel to this, I show a development of heralding female use of “sex toys” in the early 1990s media. Whereas male masturbation with sexual objects were still ridden with an idea of social inadequacy, women were increasingly championed to consume to masturbate. I argue that the developments of how to conceptualize sex aids in Sweden indicate a larger discursive change regarding sexuality. Not only were men and women increasingly considered as beings with separate sexualities, and thus given separate sex aid-markets to court this – but acceptable sexual expression overall broadened. Good sexuality in the Swedish 1990s had begun to embrace the bodily sensations felt during sex, as well as accept sex itself as an independent aim, and in consequence sex aids – or “sex toys” – as a more acceptable means to this end.

This dissertation studies the critical reception of Hilma af Klint trough three exhibitions: Spiritual in Art – Abstract Painting 1890-1985 (Los Angeles, 1986), Secret Pictures by Hilma af Klint, (Helsinki, 1988) and Hilma af Klint – A Pioneer of Abstraction (Stockholm, 2013), addressing the crucial prominent figures and voices in the discursive field around af Klint. The aim is carried out through the Critical Discourse Analysis by Norman Fairclough, coupled with Pierre Bourdieu's concept of the cultural field and habitus. Judith Butler's theory of gender performance completes the theoretical framework by addressing issues of gender in both af Klint's practice as well as in the analysed critical reviews. The thesis examines how the discourses about af Klint changed during different periods of time in the 1980s and the 2010s. The central hypothesis is that this case study can be used as an example to see how the art field presents women artists as a marginal phenomenon instead of including them in the general art historical canon. But the reception of af Klint cannot be fully understood through the lens of gender; thus, e.g. the closeness to the occult is considered both as a leading mechanism in the artistic practice, creating interest towards af Klint, and as an identity which pushes her to the marginal. The results of this study lead to a better understanding of critical articles' role in the cultural phenomena's narrative creation.

The purpose of the thesis is to investigate how movie posters from 1999 portray the film's main characters. I will also investigate the design of the works and find out how effective the poster was for the audience at the cinema. The analysis describes and analyzes movie posters from American films. Four questions were asked to help the essay in reaching its purpose. How are the posters designed? How is the protagonist identified through visual elements in the posters? Is there a recurring theme in how the key art is presented? How effective is the poster for the audience at the cinema? By answering these questions, I intend to gain a greater understanding of the art of film and to contribute to the science of film and marketing.

No description available.

Although a relatively new research field, many quantitative studies have over the past decade been undertaken examining rebel governance as an insurgent practice in intrastate conflicts around the globe. Nevertheless, gaps persist in the understanding of how common aspects of rebel governance, such as inclusive service provision, affect competing non-state actors in multi-rebel group conflict landscapes. Hitherto, this is the research puzzle of interest. This study asks the question: how is rebel group violence against civilians affected by a rival rebel group practising inclusive service provision? The hypothesis is that the level of violence against civilians practised by a rebel group decreases if a rival rebel group engages in inclusive service provision. The applied research method is a qualitative structured focused comparison between ELN in Colombia and GIA in Algeria from 1994 to 1999. The study does not find support for the hypothesised causal relationship, although forms of attempted emulation and outbidding of rival actors seem present in both studied cases. Further research is needed to fully dismiss the possibility of rival rebel group inclusive service provision sharing a negative variable relationship with rebel group violence against civilians.

No description available.

I den här avhandlingen är intresset riktat mot svensk utbildningspolitik och medborgarskap. I tider av globalisering, och med ett etablerat svenskt medlemskap i Europeiska unionen, har det nationella policyskapandet kring utbildningens medborgardanande funktion hamnat under ökat tryck. I studien undersöks hur detta hanteras i svensk utbildningspolitik under 1990-talet, en tid som utmärker sig genom betydande förändringar på utbildningsområdet i Sverige. Frågan är, mera precist, vilken riktning för skolans, enligt lag befästa, uppdrag att fostra demokratiska medborgare som utstakas i svensk utbildningspolitik vid denna tid. Genom att fästa vikt vid mål, visioner och motiv som formuleras i utbildningspolitiska 1990-talstexter klarläggs förståelser av medborgarskap som karaktäriserar svensk utbildningspolitik under denna tid. Även en bredare historisk analys görs, ur vilken historiska målsättningar med skolans medborgarfostran som föregår 1990-talets framträder. Studiens syfte är kritiskt. Förståelserna granskas utifrån vad de innesluter och vad de utesluter, vilka möjliga konsekvenser de kan tänkas få för olika individer och grupper i samhället, och om det finns öppningar för tänkbara alternativ. Studien visar på två historiska skiften vad gäller medborgarskapets innehåll och mening i det inhemska policyskapandet. Det första skiftet äger rum under 1990-talets tidiga del. Då bryts en etablerad samhällsbyggande medborgarroll upp, till förmån för andra mera marknadsorienterade medborgarroller. Under 1990-talets senare del, då marknadsorienteringen förstärks i neoliberal riktning, sker ett andra skifte; en historiskt vedertagen gemenskapstanke – nationen – bryts upp som grund för medborgerlig gemenskap. Denna tanke ersätts av en annan som är globaliseringsinriktad, vilken visar sig ha andra inne- och uteslutande mekanismer för olika individer och samhällsgrupper. Utifrån dessa forskningsrön tecknas avslutningsvis några konturer till ett alternativt sätt att tänka kring medborgarskap och gemenskap. Detta alternativ tar form i ambitionen att, i högre grad än vad som blir synligt i svensk utbildningspolitik, resonera kring möjligheter för ett medborgarskap bortom förhandstecknade indelningsgrunder för ett “vi”. Språk som politisk och samhällelig förändringskraft ges en central betydelse i avhandlingen. I analysen av texternas tal om skolans medborgarfostrande roll undersöks pågående politiska motsättningar när det gäller att vinna tal- och tolkningsföreträde till skolans fostransmål. Utgångarna av dessa motsättningar belyses genom tre områden för medborgarfostran som urskilts som centrala; ett politiskt, ett kulturellt samt ett ekonomi- och arbetslivsriktat. Genom dessa har rådande medborgarskapsdiskurser tagit form, ur vilka de utbildningspolitiska förståelserna av medborgarskap gestaltas och diskuteras. / In this thesis attention is drawn to Swedish education policy and citizenship. In times of globalization, and with Swedish membership of the European Union, national policymaking concerning the commissioned role of citizen upbringing has come under increased pressure. In this study, light is shed on how this issue is given shape in Swedish education policy in the 1990s, a period marked by significant changes in the field of education in Sweden. The core question is, more precisely, what direction is being marked out for the Swedish schools´ commission, laid down by law, to foster democratic citizens during this period. By taking an interest in how objectives, visions and motives are formulated in education policy texts from the 1990s, understandings of citizenship are mapped that characterize Swedish education policy during this period. In addition, a more extensive analysis is carried out, by means of which historical goals of the schools’ fostering of citizens prior to those of the 1990s are presented. The aim of the study is critical. The understandings are reviewed in order to revise what they include and exclude, as well as what possible consequences they may have for different individuals and groups, and whether there are conceivable alternatives. It is emphasised that two historical changes take place during the 1990s concerning the subject of the content and meaning of citizenship in Swedish education policymaking. Firstly, during the first part of the 1990s, a historically established citizen role is changed and replaced by other, more market-oriented roles. During the latter part of the 1990s, when the market orientation is reinforced in neo liberal courses, a second change emerges, the historically accepted basic idea of inclusion – the nation – as the “we”-creating reference for civic spirit is shattered. It is replaced by another – globalization – with other qualities that include and exclude different individuals and groups. Finally, on the basis of these findings, some conditions for a possible alternative are sketched. This alternative is given shape with the ambition of, to a greater extent than is made visible in Swedish Education policy, reasoning about possibilities beyond presupposed dividing properties for a “we”. The power of language for political and societal change has an important role in this dissertation. Political clashes concerning achieving preferential access to talk and interpretation about upbringing objectives are examined by analyzing the texts’ talk about the schools’ commission to foster citizens. Light is shed on the outcomes of these clashes by examining three vital areas for citizen upbringing, found to be crucial in this context: a political one, a cultural one and an economical and working-life oriented one. These citizenship discourses are elucidated and understandings of citizenship in Swedish education policy are given form and alternatives are discussed.

九○年代大陸女性作家的家族書寫在八○年代末的新寫實小說思潮、新歷史小說思潮以及西方女性主義文學思潮的相互激盪之下，延續新時期文學對「革命現實主義」的反叛姿態，在「追求自我」、「認識自我」的性別覺醒意識中重新審視女性的歷史，從而在「父子相繼」的傳統家族譜系之外，想像並打造「母女相連」的女性主體譜系，揭露「政治權力結構」和「性別權力結構」所暗含的偏斜與不公。對「政治權力結構」的批判是指文化大革命的「國家集體話語」對「個人自由」的限制與傷害，這部分藉由作者的敘事聲音、小說人物際遇以及承載特殊歷史意涵的意象來表現，對「性別權力結構」的反省主要在突顯父權秩序對女性的強制收編，因此塑造有別於血緣母親的代理母親、刻畫女性身體的各種造型，以及利用象徵性符號進而凝聚、團結女性們的精神力量。 本文所界定的女性家族書寫是指女性作家站在女性立場所書寫以女性為核心的家族故事，不僅積極嘗試改變、顛覆女性在父權歷史建構中的地位，並且能夠將「女性意識」、「家族敘事」和「歷史建構」融為一體，呈現女性歷史的發展過程和女性文化的演進形態，依此定義，本文選擇《玫瑰門》、《櫟樹的囚徒》和《羽蛇》作為研究分析對象，並且建立分析架構，分析架構包括「敘事面向的敘事時間、空間、視角、聲音分析」、「身體面向的女性人物主體性分析」、「文學面向的特殊意象分析」以及「史觀面向的陰性書寫策略分析」。《玫瑰門》展示的「演出型敘事模式」，用演員的登臺亮相、家具意象所潛藏的歷史象徵意義，以及「氣味」、「圖象」的感官陰性史觀，隱喻歷史的表演性質；《櫟樹的囚徒》呈現的「接力式敘事模式」，將歷史的詮釋權分配給不同世代的女性，隱喻歷史的傳承過程充滿著多元言說主體以及敘述的裂痕，因此「樹木」、「河流」、「眼睛」意象的源遠流長特質以及女性生死循環的陰性史觀，成為組織家族歷史最強而有力的書寫方式；《羽蛇》營造的「夢遊體敘事模式」，透過「羽蛇」這個實體人物和象徵符號在現實、夢境、幻境和家族歷史的自由轉換過程，「巨蚌」、「水晶燈」、「無字碑」等意象中無所不在的女性身體，以及「鮮血」和「白雪」相互抗衡的陰性史觀，投射出穿越時空的女性集體精神壓迫。 本文的研究侷限是對小說文本中的「男性人物」缺乏深刻關注，以及對小說文本的選取集中在五○年代出生作家群。研究展望是希望未來能進行「比較性研究」，交叉比較家族書寫作者和敘述內容所呈現的不同性別立場，展現更為多元的女性主體性，多向度比較家族書寫作者的社會身份以及文本中構成女性身份的各種因素，為社會學層面和心理學層面的女性研究提出貢獻，並且比較大陸和臺灣的女性作家家族書寫在不同的政治、社會環境下，開展出何種相異與相似的書寫面貌，讓女性作家的家族書寫版圖更加遼闊。