| 1. |
- Johansson, Anna, 1980-, et al.
(författare)
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Iconography of suffering in social media : images of sitting girls
- 2015. - 1
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Ingår i: World suffering and quality of life. - Dordrecht : Springer. - 9789401796699 - 9789401796705 ; , s. 341-355
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper examines the online iconography of mental suffering by using the visual trope of a hunched-over sitting girl as a case in point. By analyzing images of sitting girls found in YouTube video montages on self-harm, and also tracking their further online existence through image search engines, we suggest that the popularity of this trope stems from its generic character, where the girl can be read as simultaneously docile and as actively refusing to engage with the world around her. While not new in itself, the trope is circulated and put to use in new ways through social media with emphasis on remix and visual communication. We argue that media-specific features, together with gender and mental health discourses, enable particular representations and aesthetic styles that may both reinforce and alleviate suffering.
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| 2. |
- Sternudd, Hans T., 1955-
(författare)
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‘I like to see blood’ : visuality and self-cutting
- 2014
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Ingår i: Visual Studies. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1472-586X .- 1472-5878. ; 29:1, s. 14-29
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The sight of blood and wounds is described as crucial by individuals who self-injure, especially those who practise self-cutting. An understanding of the visual mode is therefore important to get a deeper understanding of why people choose to cut themselves. In this article, visual aspects of first-hand experiences of self-cutting are investigated. Cutting is understood as having a purpose and a function for people who injure themselves; it releases overwhelming feelings or communicates inner states to the individuals themselves and to others. Material was taken from autobiographical accounts describing cutting episodes and from photographs documenting the act. The analysis was carried out using content and discourse analytic methods. The results were interpreted using a discourse theoretical perspective. A semiotic model is proposed to understand the communicative meaning of the acts. An important finding is the role of conceptual metaphors such as ‘the-body-is-a-container’ and ‘feelings are fluid’, which make self-cutting a logical coping strategy. The role of blood as a central sign in the act was manifest in the written and visual accounts of the self-cutting experience. Blood was related to a wide range of meanings, such as realness and true self, and to feelings such as anger and sadness. Through the drawing of blood, feelings were expressed and understood. Blood was also often aestheticised and rearticulated by self-cutters who acknowledged their deviancy as a group in relation to a hegemonic culture. Concurrent themes were the verbal and visual articulations of cutting in a control discourse as a means to regain control or, sometimes, to give oneself up to an experience of chaos.
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| 3. |
- Sternudd, Hans T., 1955-
(författare)
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Learning from Transmediation
- 2016
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Ingår i: Transmediations! Communication across Media Borders. - : Linnaeus University. ; , s. 121-121
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The point of departure of this paper is the notion of affect, an intensive and chaotic experience that need to be terminated. For the individual it is necessary to transform the intense experience to feelings or emotions, both social communicable qualities. Transformations are made possible through semiotic systems, like language. It is tempting to understand transformation as transmediation but, as affect is “something” chaotic and thus, by definition impossible to frame in a semiotic system, no mediation is at hand in the first place (which is required for a transmediation). When individuals are mediating affective experiences through transformations they gain knowledge, as mediation according Säljö is a process of learning. These mediations can either connect to already established articulations or be renegotiations of these. Focus in this paper will be on the transformations of the mediated affects. Mediations of mental distress (understood here as affect) will be used as a case in point, mediations that can take shape of bodily configurations, for instance self-injury. Representations of these mediations transmediated as, for instance photos, drawings or poems are often published on internet by those experiencing mental distress. Arguably they can trough these transmediations and publications obtain additional knowledge of their experience. The purpose with this paper is to discuss how different modes, media and mediums, with their particular capacities, can make various kind of knowledge possible for individuals experiencing mental distress. It will suggest a theoretical framework for the articulatory process from affect to transmediation, passing the mediating stage.
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| 4. |
- Sternudd, Hans T., 1955-
(författare)
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Photographs of self-injury : Production and reception in a group of self-injurers
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of Youth Studies. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1367-6261 .- 1469-9680. ; 15:4, s. 421-436
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Photographs of self-injury (SI) on the Internet, according to the literature and the wider media, spread and encourage self-destructive behaviour, although very little is known about these effects. A group of self-injurers was questioned about the reasons for producing and looking at photos of SI, and were asked about their reaction to exposure of them. The informants confirmed that the effects were alleviating rather than the opposite, and the production of the images was often related to notions about memory and proof. To publish them was apprehended as a way of sharing experiences with others and to give and/or receive help. Photographs of self-injuries were described as one resource of a SI community culture. Informants often emphasised that the outcome of watching these photos varies due to individual and situational differences. The results of the study are inconsistent with unfounded presumptions about photographs of SI, which are replaced with a nuanced and contradictory picture.
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| 5. |
- Sternudd, Hans T., 1955-
(författare)
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Ellie’s first time : constructing self-cutting in a teen drama
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of Gender Studies. - : Routledge. - 0958-9236 .- 1465-3869. ; 27:5, s. 574-588
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Self-cutting attracted a growing interest in society during the 1990s and the early 2000s, and this was reflected in a similar increase in media during this period. In this article, the example of Ellie Nash’s self-cutting in the teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation is used to investigate articulations of the phenomenon during this period. The starting point is that self-cutting, a behaviour that previously had mostly been connected to masculinity, had to be rearticulated to fit into already established constitutions of femininity. If this was not possible, self-cutting could only be understood as a radical and aggressive behaviour easily connected to movements such as Riot Grrrls that emerged during the same period. With the help of formal and narrative methods, and discourse theory, the scene that includes Ellie’s first cut is analysed. The results of the analysis show that themes such as success, control, family and alternative culture framed self-cutting as being executed by girls who are fragile and vulnerable but also sensible. Even if the things that led up to Ellie’s self-cutting were presented as structural problems, the solution for her was individual conversational therapy, which fitted with the hegemonic neoliberal values that dominated this period.
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| 6. |
- Sternudd, Hans T., 1955-
(författare)
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I’m fine : Gender and modest displays of mental distress
- 2017
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Ingår i: HumaNetten. - Växjö : Linnaeus University. - 1403-2279. ; :38, s. 167-179
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this article I will provide examples of intermedial representations of emotions and feelings that consists ofimages and texts appearing in the same visual field in a meme, that has here has been called the I'm-fine meme. I will argue that this meme can be understood as a sign in a discourse that articulates mental distress in a way that limits the possible ways in which girls and young women can express their experiences of bad feelings.The purpose of this study is to examine examples of gendered articulations of mental distress in a special meme, that I name the ‘I'm-fine meme’. It is a meme spread through different internet platforms that combines the text ‘I'm fine’ with an image or images and sometimes also additional texts. It is usually published in an image format (in this case often as jpg/jpeg or png). The I’m-fine meme is characterised by juxtaposing the positive message with contradictive representations of mental distress in textual or image forms. As all internet memes it is characterised by evolving and transforming through mutations or remixes during as it spreads over the internet (Knobel & Lankshear 2005:13–14). In focus are intermedial memes that combine text content with image content. The questions I am asking are as follows: What kinds of articulations of mental distress are found in the I’m-fine meme? Do these articulations follow a genderedbinarism? If so, which attributes of mental distress are connected to gendered coded bodies?
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Sternudd, Hans T., 1955-, et al.
(författare)
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The girl in the corner : aesthetics of suffering in a digitalized space
- 2015
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Ingår i: Narratives of suffering. - Oxford : Inter-Disciplinary Press. - 9781848883611 - 9789004374492 ; , s. 105-115
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The Internet may provide the means for otherwise marginalized groups – such as young people with mental health problems – to make their voices heard in public, and online representations are therefore an important source for studying how emotions are conceptualized and communicated in these groups. In an on-going study of YouTube video montages on the subject of self-injury, we have found one emblematic and frequently occurring character: a girl sitting alone in a corner, on the floor, with drawn up knees and head bent down. Images of this character are widespread, not only on YouTube but also on blogs, discussion forums and websites. Together with her likewise sitting 'sisters' – the girl on the swing, the girl on the pier and on the railway track – she is taken to represent young people's unhappiness, pain and misery. Our chapter sets out to explore in greater detail how this character emerges as a signifier of gendered suffering in online contexts. We argue that it contributes to an aestheticization of suffering that often seems to emanate from the rejection of conventional ideals and hegemonic definitions of normality; the embracing of suffering might, thus, be used as a strategy for achieving social distinction. Also, we suggest in our chapter that the girl in the corner and similar representations may be seen as facilitating certain emotional identifications, especially as regards gender.
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