| 1. |
- Lindelöf, Karin S., 1976-
(författare)
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Om vi nu ska bli som Europa : Könsskapande och normalitet bland unga kvinnor i transitionens Polen
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this dissertation is to highlight the discourses surrounding the creation of gender in relation to a number of young, well-educated city women in Poland in the early 21st century. It is my intention to show which “ways of being a woman” that are culturally feasible in Poland in a time of transition – politically, economically, and socially. The study is based on interviews and field notes from a half-year field project in Gdansk-Sopot-Gdynia in 2001.The first chapter discusses theoretical and methodological issues and the second introduces the main themes by analysing a number of essays where Polish students are discussing feminism and women’s situation in Poland and Sweden. Chapter three to six analyses the interviews and other fieldwork material. The courtliness and daily door-opening procedures, which several of the participants in the study regard as typically Polish, are discussed in chapter three. In chapter four, connecting courtliness to issues of love and sexuality deepens this discussion. In chapter five gender equality and feminism is in focus, and in chapter six this discussion is connected to the young women’s ideas of future work and family life. The last chapter concludes and continues the analysis by introducing the concepts of variants and variant-making as a promising way of discussing new identities, institutions and structures in post-socialist and similar settings. The creation of identity appears as a highly intersectional activity in the study. Gender, class, generation, sexuality, nationality, place of residence (city/countryside) are important elements in the young women’s creation of themselves as individuals. The different processes of democratisation, adapting to the EU, privatisation etc., as well as current ideas such as new liberalism, Catholicism and femininity are central to what is happening in Poland today. All these aspects interact in the construction of the identities of the young women.
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| 2. |
- Petrov, Kristian
(författare)
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Tillbaka till framtiden : Modernitet, postmodernitet och generationsidentitet i Gorbačevs glasnost´ och perestrojka
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation deals with the concepts glasnost and perestroika during the Gorbachev era 1985–1991. It offers an explanation to the rise and fall of these concepts and casts light on their modern and postmodern implications, as well as their historical and generational preconditions. In light of the Soviet and Russian conceptual history, Gorbachev’s articulation of glasnost and perestroika is contrasted with the reception of these concepts in what at that time came to be called Russian postmodernism. Glasnost and perestroika both confirm and transcend Soviet modernity. They are both future-oriented but at the same time possess retrospective anchorage. The present study reconstructs the experience encapsulated in the concepts, the expectations they unleashed and the tensions they triggered. The Gorbachev era signaled a rupture in the temporal order of modernity. During this time Soviet modernity lost confidence in its self. With glasnost and perestroika a suppressed past opened up which blocked the futurist potential inherent in the present. The concept-theoretical perspective assumed in the dissertation helps explain essential aspects of the dramatic turn of events. Postmodernism’s relationship to the concepts is mainly antagonistic. At the same time glasnost and perestroika were essential to the self-identity creating process of postmodernism and its development of an understanding of a specific late Soviet postmodern situation. Beneath the surface a conflict evolves, constituted in intergenerational terms. The vast differences in deployment of the two key notions appear related to generation specific historical experiences. This is apparent in the glasnost- and perestroika discussions of the 19th and 20th centuries. In several respects the 20th century discourse reflects that of the 19th century. The analysis in the present dissertation demonstrates how Gorbachev, on the basis of his generation-specific experience as a man of the 1960s actively sought to articulate an alternative reconstruction (perestroika) and did so with a distinct ideological accent. The postmodernists, the last Soviet generation, bore the imprint of the stagnation of the Brezhnev era and had no ideal past to resuscitate. Instead of reconstructing social reality they tried to place themselves outside it. This apolitical stance however embodied both anti-political and political implications.
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| 3. |
- Elvhage, Gudrun
(författare)
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Projekt som retorik och praktik : Om utvecklingsarbete på särskilda ungdomshem
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The thesis deals with development work within institutional care for young people. The Swedish National Board of Institutional Care (SiS) grants tens of millions of Swedish crowns to development projects to their institutions. Since the mid-1990s major investments have been made in order to develop the institutions? competence in family-work and networking. The aim of this thesis is to study the government's intentions in backing the development work of specially approved youth care. The thesis consists of two empirical studies, partly a document study that gives a historical perspective over the growth of development work in Sweden with an emphasis on institutional care, and partly a case study of how development work has been carried out within five governmental youth institutions. The document study shows that development work within the social field started to gain importance in the mid-1940s. At this time governmental institutions with responsibility for experimental work and research were established. During the 1970s development work started to become more commonplace within youth care and a number of major development projects were initiated. Development work that builds upon central initiatives is still the prevalent form of development work within youth care. The case study of the five youth homes demonstrates the difficulty of anchoring development projects in the personnel. This difficulty has led to many of the projects failing to reach their objectives. As a part of the development work the youth homes have received contributions for educational efforts. Even if these efforts have contributed to knowledge and methodological development the personnel in some cases have had difficulties in assimilating the training. At some of the youth homes several of the projects have not worked according to plan, which has led to the personnel becoming sceptical and mistrustful of the possibilities of the projects. From an organisational theory perspective, development funding is an informative means of control and functions as an administrative way of governing youth care. For the Swedish National Board of Institutional Care there exist reasons of both legitimacy and function in initiating development projects. For the youth homes it is mainly a question of function, namely obtaining more resources for the operation.
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| 4. |
- af Petersens, Lovisa, 1967-
(författare)
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Formering för offentlighet : Kvinnokonferenser och Svenska Kvinnornas Nationalförbund kring sekelskiftet 1900
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The thesis considers three women conferences arranged by the National Council of Women of Sweden (NCWS) in Stockholm at the turn of the 20th century. NCWS was a branch of the International Council of Women and at its height it was an umbrella-organisation for about forty Swedish women organisations. The focus is on the role of the conferences as arenas for women who wanted to prove their ability and competence in society. The content, the form and the function of the conferences are analysed. The question whether the conferences arranged by the NCWS reflected the ideas, dilemmas and strategies of the bourgeois women’s movement is addressed. A larger historical development is illuminated – the formation of the bourgeois women movements for the public sphere in the process of modernity. The thesis explores different theories and shows how the concepts of class, gender, public sphere, modernity and trans-nationalism were dealt with at the conferences. The women conferences have been treated as manifestations; as a quintessence of the ideas and ambitions of the movement. The thesis asserts that the ideology of the movements was formulated and expressed not only in spoken words, but also in festivities, symbols and sisterhood. The class identity was manifested in the form of which the conferences were conducted. On the one hand, the conference women showed loyalty to the conservative society and the rigid class position. On the other hand, the conference initiators wanted to improve women’s opportunities of becoming citizens and to move the boarders between the public and the private. Ideologies such as Internationalism and Scandinavism became important in creating a collective identity.
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| 5. |
- Axelsson, Erik
(författare)
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Historien i politiken : Historieanvändning i norsk och svensk EU-debatt 1990-1994
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this dissertation the use of history in public debate in Norway and Sweden in relation to membership in the European Union (EU) 1990–1994 is examined. The purpose is to contribute with new knowledge about the relationship between politics and writing history, as well as describe the role of history in national and other identities. The analysis is both quantitative and qualitative. Historical narratives are re-constructed from the history used by the political figures when they argued for or against EU membership. The narratives relate to the political subjects which were in the limelight in connection with the question of EU, as well as preconceptions about Norwegian, Swedish and European identity. The dissertation shows that history is a multifaceted rhetorical tool in the political debate. In Sweden it was the policy of national security which was debated from a historical perspective. In it the debaters also used several examples from European history. In Norway, history entered the debate in connection with issues relating to sovereignty and democracy. In comparison with the Swedish EU debate, European history was drawn on less in Norway. Historical narratives of identity appearing in the EU debate show structural similarities, but at the same time differ in significant aspects. In a comparison the Norwegian national narrative seems unequivocal and well defined. It is retrospective due to its main component being the development of democracy in 19th century Norway. The Swedish national narrative is very clearly based on a notion of progress and continuous development, both as regards economy and democracy, and it is the history of the 20th century which stands in focus. In Sweden the constructions of the past separated according to party political lines, and the content of the national narrative was very much subject to debate.
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| 6. |
- Blomqvist, Håkan
(författare)
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Nation, ras och civilisation i svensk arbetarrörelse före nazismen
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Ideas of nationalism, race and anti-Semitism are usually connected to right wing ideology and politics. This thesis, however, is studying them in the context of the socialist labour movement. That a radical left wing patriotism, inspired by the French revolution, developed intertwined with workers’ internationalism is well known. But this left wing nationalism has, in the Swedish case, been characterised as an “internal” tool for obtaining democratic rights and social reforms and not directed against other peoples and nations. Inspired by postcolonial studies of whiteness the thesis examines the views of development of mankind and of national difference expressed in Swedish socialist publicity since the 1850’s up to the late 1920’s. Empirical studies of magazines, brochures and books show that it is possible to distinguish a trace of socialist whiteness in the production of ideas from the labour movement, influenced by liberal radicalism. Here, by socialist whiteness is not primarily meant identities of skin colour but ideas that the working class was the true and purest part of the nation and that socialism primarily was of concern to the white races on top of the chain of development. How this whiteness could be counter-posed to peoples and races considered different or “lower placed”, such as Slavs and Jews, has been of particular interest. In opposition to import of foreign labour, “usury Jews” and Tsarist Russia, arguments of socialist whiteness could be developed. With the Russian October revolution in 1917 bolshevism could be described as an Asian threat under Jewish leadership, alien to Swedish labour. Eugenic concerns for the Swedish race also found spokespersons in the socialist milieu of the 1910’s and 20’s. When fascism in the 1920’s captured the most radical themes of socialist whiteness ideas of Jewish threat and race purity could no longer be combined with defence of democratic ideals and find a public space in social democracy.
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| 7. |
- Gawell, Malin, 1964-
(författare)
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Activist Entrepreneurship : Attac'ing Norms and Articulating Disclosive Stories
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation aims to extend entrepreneurship theory to also comprise entrepreneurship in non-profit organizations in civil society. Entrepreneurship is claimed to be highly relevant also to this non-profit setting. Since entrepreneurship theory is highly embedded in an economic discourse and a business setting there is, however, a need to elaborate on the two different frameworks. The analysis of this study is grounded in an empirical study of the entrepreneurial process of Attac Sweden. The study has been conducted with a narrative approach. In this dissertation entrepreneurship theory is re-contextualized in the framework of non-profit organizations. The paradox of profit versus non-profit is elaborated on as well as the dilemmas of opportunities, legitimacy and the bounding of the new organization. The analysis of this study shows that the discussion on opportunities in entrepreneurship theory is highly relevant also in the case of Attac Sweden. However, this study suggests to supplement the discussion on opportunities with a discussion of ‘necessities’ to relate to perceived convictions to engage and to act. This study further shows and elaborates on the close connections between the process by which entrepreneurship becomes and other group formations in society. The organization created through the entrepreneurial process becomes an actor in civil society challenging established practices and norms. However, the entrepreneurial process also reaches beyond the creation of an organization. In this dissertation an alternative framework for entrepreneurship, based on a social process of organizing, is developed. This framework connects the entrepreneurial process to group dynamics as well as to social movements and articulation of disclosing stories in society.
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| 8. |
- Gunnarsson Payne, Jenny, 1976-
(författare)
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Systerskapets logiker : en etnologisk studie av feministiska fanzines
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis coheres around the issue of collective political mobilisation within one part of the contemporary feminist movement, or more specifically, within the Swedish feminist zine community. A feminist zine, also commonly referred to as Grrrlzine or femizine, is a small non-commercial and non-professional publication, which is distributed by channels other than that of the mainstream media.The aim of the thesis is to examine what role the 'name' ' sisterhood' has in the constitution of a feminist zine community. Further, it is to explore the ways in which this 'name' is expressed and the precise function this name has within the community itself. That 'sisterhood' is necessary for a feminist politics is, according to the vast majority of the zines studied, obvious. Nevertheless the issue of what sisterhood 'is' or what it ’ought to be’ is constantly under negotiation. In this thesis I study how the name sisterhood works to create a collective feminist identity – even if this very 'name' comes to be articulated in, sometimes radically, different forms.In order to conduct my analysis, I have taken several theoretical decisions. First, I have chosen to frame the zine community in accordance with the term communitas, defined as a collective identity constituted in terms of its opposites, by that which it is not. In this specific case, this Other consists of the commercial media, that is also, conceived as an effect of a wider patriarchal threat.Second, to understand the differences which exist within this community, I have chosen to develop three feminist logics, to capture some quite contradictory articulatory strategies. They are referred to as ’liberal feminist’, ’radical feminist’ and ’post feminist’. The concept of logics allows me to interpret how it is that three different (and sometimes competing) feminist traditions can be found in the zine community, and commonly how in a single zine, or a single text, the three logics can coalsce.As mentioned above, it is the 'name' sisterhood that provides the glue that holds the feminist zine community together. To understand this I have analyzed sisterhood by way of the concept 'empty signifier', that is, a 'name' which is partially emptied of meaning and which serves as a surface of inscription for a variety of feminist demands, demands that in themselves may have very little, or even nothing in common.Finally, the ideas outlined in the thesis call for reflexivity, that is, for an explicit meta-analysis of the conduct of one’s own research process. In this thesis I discuss the problematic arising when the feminist researcher studies a feminist movement, and the inevitable blurring of political partisanship and theoretical analysis that takes place. Here I pay particular attention to the frontiers that a political community is always-already in a process of re-negotiating, and how the researcher is herself part of this very re-negotiation.
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| 9. |
- Holmén, Janne
(författare)
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Den politiska läroboken : Bilden av USA och Sovjetunionen i norska, svenska och finländska läroböcker under Kalla kriget
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- During the Cold War, Norway was a member of NATO, Sweden was neutral but depended on Western support in the event of a crisis, while Finland's foreign policy priority was to win and retain the Soviet Union's confidence. The purpose of the thesis is to study whether the three small states' different foreign policy choices had consequences for the ways in which the Soviet Union and the USA were depicted in school textbooks for history, geography, and social sciences in the period 1930 to 2004. To this end, a theory derived from small states' strategies to maintain their independence was applied to textbook production.The study demonstrates that there was a link between small state foreign policy and textbooks' accounts of the USA and Soviet Union. Swedish and Norwegian textbooks portray international conflicts from a legalistic perspective, taking the part of small states exposed to superpower aggression such as Vietnam and Afghanistan. In Finnish textbooks, however, an interest in defending small state's rights yielded to the need to demonstrate their goodwill towards the Soviet Union, which was described in far less critical terms than in Swedish and Norwegian textbooks. In time, in the name of neutrality, depictions of the USA also became increasingly uncritical.All three Nordic states had government authorities charged with inspecting and approving school textbooks. Foreign policy's chief influence on textbooks was not effected by direct oversight, however; instead, it was established indirectly by means of the social climate, which determined what was considered politically correct in the three countries, and it was to this that the textbooks' authors adapted their work.Textbooks are often said to be conservative and slow to change, but the thesis shows that in parts they were politically sensitive, rapidly adapting to changes in what society held to be politically correct.
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| 10. |
- Kaveh, Shamal, 1964-
(författare)
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Det villkorade tillståndet : Centralförbundet för Socialt Arbete och liberal politisk rationalitet 1901–1921
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This is a dissertation about Swedish liberalism as a political rationality and, more specifically, the conditions that made the transition from an exclusionary society to an inclusive one possible at the beginning of the 20th century. I have made a case study of National Association of Social Work (Centralförbundet för Socialt Arbete, CSA), an association that played a significant role in the institutionalization of social politics in Sweden. The objectives are threefold. Firstly, to analyze CSA as a liberal political rationality. Secondly, to analyze its political ontology. Thirdly, to examine its motives for defending an including society.One of the main arguments in this dissertation is that the political rationality of CSA is characterized by a form of government that works in and through society, as well as through freedom. By using the concept of ”the state of suspension” I try to capture and analyze the ontological ambiguity of the individual in liberal thought; an ambiguity expressed in biopolitical categorizations of the population according to perceived capacities for rational thought. The inclusion of the excluded part, which I describe through the notion of “the social”, was possible due to a new political ontology, which considered the individual as being a product of social circumstances, and as someone possible to shape and govern in and through society. I argue that the political struggle of the excluded not only served to revise the political ontology of CSA, but also provided the rationale for the efforts to create an including society with universal suffrage. CSA did not regard citizenship as a right, but as a political technology and as a solution. Furthermore, I argue that citizenship shouldn’t be seen as a prerequisite for the politization of the excluded. On the contrary, this part of the population was already, at least partially, politicized and they became political subjects through their participation in the struggle for political rights.
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