| 1. |
- Danielsson, Jonas, 1973-
(författare)
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Skräckskönt : en etnologisk studie
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of the present study is to explore how horror movie fans use the films to gain access to certain emotions, and the discussions to which the movies give rise. Through this, I hope to attain a deeper understanding of how the horror movie fan chooses to view the genre. While horror movie fans experience a raft of emotions as they watch, this is not the whole story; they also reflect upon these emotions and question certain responses, eg. why laugh at one form of violence but not the next, or how can one killer elicit empathy in the viewer while others do not. In order to understand this popular genre I have based my thesis mainly on interviews with the actual horror film fan, here represented by 9 women and 11 men. Special emphasis in the theoretical body is placed on Bakhtin’s notion of the grotesque, a ”world turned upside-down”, and dialogical truth. The horror movie fan might be described in the same fashion – as someone who through the films he watches sees and acknowledges an alternative cultural system which is otherwise suppressed. They can experiment with ideas of other kinds of rules, norms and hierarchies than those already in place in society. The horror movie fans talk about special themes as more important than others, and these “key symbols” have helped in constructing the thesis. I have for that reason formed the analysis in the region of emotions like fear, disgust and desires, but also more intellectual discussions on film violence and evil. It is clear that a controlled sense of fear is one of the main forces sparking the initial interest the informants felt for horror and urging them forward in their quest for more. It is also clear that feelings of disgust the horror movies evoke are a part of the fans’ discussions about the world and the evil therein. The horror movie fans speak about evil as something inherent in everyone, and something which must be acknowledged in order to live a “full” life. Despite of all this I consider pure enjoyment and entertainment to be the very foundation of their shared interest, and that the horror movie fans try to make strong distinctions between “fact” and “fiction”. These conscious distinctions could also be one of the reasons that the fans find these types of movies entertaining. Those who are incapable to make these clear distinctions are therefore, more or less, unable to see the purpose of the fascination with horror narratives.
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| 2. |
- 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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| 3. |
- Kuoljok, Kajsa, 1967-
(författare)
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Digital information and traditional knowledge : the implementation of GPS collars as a tool in reindeer husbandry
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation presents the use of global positioning systems (GPS) navigation devices to monitorthe reindeer within husbandry. The use of the GPS collar in the study area has expanded over theyears. This dissertation has sought to obtain a deeper understanding of how the two knowledgesystems, traditional Sámi knowledge and a technology-based knowledge, operate in husbandrytoday. Furthermore, social and ethical dimensions of change that may accompany digital technologyare examined. The prerequisite for reindeer husbandry vary from season to season, from year to year. The reindeer’s grazing and movement patterns are governed by changes in the weather conditions. Other factors that affect the reindeer husbandry work include different intrusions in the form of treefelling, hydropower, turbines for wind power and the activities of the mining industry. The four articles in this dissertation follow the research’s empirical foundation, with the GPS collar’s role inhusbandry examined from different angles. The ethnographic material consists mainly of interviews, observations and extant-literature studies conducted mostly between 2015 and 2019. I have made interviews with men and women of different ages that all have a lifelong relationship with the reindeer. The informants are reindeer herders who participate in daily herding activities and reindeer owners who do not participate so actively. They belong to different Sámi communities and are connected to and living in different areas around Jokkmokk. I have taken inspiration from actor network theory in highlighting the relationship between the reindeer, the landscape, the reindeer herder, the GPS technology, and authorities and other stakeholders. One starting point in actor-network theory (ANT) is to follow the relationships that are constructed and reconstructed through the collaboration of an heterogeneity of actors that together form what is called a network within ANT (Latour 1998). In article I, I discuss how the use of digital technology is a process in which new technology becomes familiarised, and the nature of the technology gradually changes to natural elements of everyday life. Reflecting on digitally transmitted data, herders expressed how there are things you cannot replacewith technology. One conclusion of the research was that new technology cannot replace reindeer herders’ presence in the reindeer forest; it only complements reindeer herders’ active presence. In article II I highlight how technologically transferred knowledge is becoming a tool to strengthen the Sámi community’s voice in discussions about land-use rights, providing ‘hard facts’. Article III outlines how reindeer movements are materialised and how herders experience these movements through a spectrum of emotions ´read´ through herders’ embodied, traditional knowledge. There are two conflicting scenarios at the centre of this article: feeling in control and feeling a loss of control due to the same information. Article IV draws attention to processes of creation of meaning and thoughts about value concerning digital technology. Further in the article, I addressed questions that refer to cultural and ethical values connected to the use of GPS collars.
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| 4. |
- Nordström, Marika, 1969-
(författare)
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Rocken spelar roll : En etnologisk studie av kvinnliga rockmusiker
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This doctoral thesis is about female rock musicians who are involved in two Swedish non-profit feminist music associations; Rockrebeller, which is situated in Uppsala and She´s Got the Beat in Umeå. The aim of the study is to analyze how the informants describe their lives as rock musicians and as active participants in these feminist music associations. The main issues are musicianship, identity, feminism and gender. The empirical material consists of in-depth interviews with ten informants – five from Umeå and five from Uppsala – and these interviews are complemented by a number of participatory observations. The focus of thesis is on the informants’ self-presentations: their stories and experiences. One central theme is the ways that the informants’ different identities are interlaced and closely knit together in different ways: as feminists, as musicians and as active participants in the associations. Two major themes in my thesis are music and politics and they can be regarded as two sides of the same coin; in order to make it easier for women to play rock music they have become involved in the associations, and this relationship is regarded as a form of political work. The informants have been influenced by punk and Riot Grrrls Movement – a feminist movement that is associated with punk bands and fanzines is sometimes seen as representative of a "third wave feminism". All the informants are members of rock bands, but many are also engaged in other projects, for instance in the role of a singer-songwriter, and these different identities as musicians are often seen as complementary to each other. Rock bands are generally considered to be fascinating but insecure experiences because bands tend to split up with time. Those who are also active musicians outside of the band (most often guitarists) usually regard their own individual identity as musicians as the most important thing; a safe harbor that is always there. Their ideological beliefs are for instance visible in a common vision of the ideal rock band as democratic, anti-hierarchic and where an equality of opportunity exists. Rock music is in some ways used as an expression for an alternative way of life, of rebellion, and is seen as politically subversive. One of the ambivalences of the source material is the kind of identity politics that the associations represent and whose purpose is to improve the gender equality in the field. There is a well-known dilemma involved in this practice; how is it possible to navigate from a marginalized, subordinated position, without using the method of categorizing that may increase the probability of reproducing their own marginalization? Their life as rock musicians is described as enjoyable rewarding, and as a means of expressing their cultural belonging and ideological beliefs, such as feminism. However, the overall picture highlights the pleasures of creating and making music, which serves as an explanation why they strive to make rock music more accessible for women. The descriptions of being in a band and performing on stage are varied and on the whole complex. The group dynamics of the band are portrayed as very meaningful but also trying at times, and playing in front of an audience is described as everything between ecstasy and a nerve-wrecking experience. However, there is an overall adaptation to the norms surrounding rock music; a sense that one has to adjust oneself in order to function as a rock musician. The informants´ statements generally emphasize gender, but from time to time they identify themselves with other male amateur rock musicians.
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| 5. |
- Sehlin MacNeil, Kristina, 1975-
(författare)
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Extractive Violence on Indigenous Country : sami and Aboriginal Views on Conflicts and Power Relations with Extractive Industries
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Asymmetrical conflicts and power relations between extractive industries and Indigenous groups often have devastating consequences for Indigenous peoples. Many Indigenous groups are struggling to maintain their lands as Indigenous perspectives on connection to Country are frequently undervalued or dismissed in favour of extractivist ideologies. While this conflicted interface has been researched in various parts of the world, studies exploring conflicts and power relations with extractive industries from Indigenous perspectives are few.This thesis is an international comparison aiming to illuminate situations of conflict and asymmetrical power relations caused by extractivism on Indigenous lands from new viewpoints. By drawing on two single case studies, the situations for Laevas reindeer herding Sami community in northern Sweden and Adnyamathanha Traditional Owners in South Australia are compared and contrasted. Yarning (a form of interviewing) is used as a method for data collection and in order to stay as true as possible to the research participants’ own words a number of direct quotes are used. The analysis employs peace researcher Johan Galtung’s concepts of cultural and structural violence as analytical tools to further explore the participants’ experiences of interactions with extractive industries and industrial proponents, including governments. In addition, the thesis introduces the concept of extractive violence as a complement to Galtung’s model. Extractive violence is defined as a form of direct violence against people and/or animals and nature caused by extractivism, which predominantly impacts peoples closely connected to land. The concepts of structural and cultural violence are understood as unjust societal structures and racist and discriminating attitudes respectively.A number of main themes could be identified in the research participants’ narratives. However, the most prominent on both continents was connections to Country and the threat that extractive violence posed to these connections.The results show that although the expressions of cultural, structural and extractive violence experienced by the two Indigenous communities varied, the impacts were strikingly similar. Both communities identified extractive violence, supported by structural and cultural violence, as threats to the continuation of their societies and entire cultures. Furthermore, the results suggest that in order to address violence against Indigenous peoples and achieve conflict transformation, Indigenous and decolonising perspectives should be heard and taken into account.
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| 6. |
- Stenius, Magnus, 1974-
(författare)
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The body in pain and pleasure : an ethnography of mixed martial arts
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is a sport on the rise within the field of martial arts in which competitors fight in a cage and utilize full-contact movements using their fists, elbows, and knees as well as kicks, other strikes, and submission techniques to defeat their opponents. MMA has become a modern social movement in combat sports that has become globalized in a short time and is the fastest growing sport in the world.MMA encompasses disciplines from various martial arts and Olympic sports such as boxing, kickboxing, karate, kempo, jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai, tae kwon do, wrestling, sambo, judo, etc. The rounds are five minutes in length and there are typically three rounds in a contest, unless it is a championship fight in which case the contest lasts five rounds.The aim of this study is to analyze the bodily constructions and productions within the MMA culture and especially the constructed human violence associated with the sport. Based on autoethnographic participation in three Swedish MMA clubs, as well as shorter fieldwork case studies conducted in Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, Brazil, and the US, this thesis investigates the interrelationship between MMA, excitement, sensationalism, and the spectacular physical violence that stains the participants’ bodies.Concepts taken from performance ethnography are applied to an analysis of what is reconstructed bodily. This is followed by an analysis that attempts to outline what body-violence means and how this understanding of the informants’ bodies, as well as of the researcher’s body-knowledge, reconstructs the definitions of MMA.A phenomenological approach to the concept of fighting is also included in relation to the MMA landscape. Thus, I present how the body learns the cultural enactments in fighting and how these forces shape the fighters’ gender, habitus, and way of resisting the discourse of critical opinions on MMA practice.Moreover, in trying to grasp the inner sense of MMA, I argue that the physical phenomenon of MMA is dependent on an intersubjective engagement and on the control of one’s inner coordination, which teaches a fighter how to deal with power, pain, suffering, aggression, and adrenaline flows. Keywords: abject, adrenaline, anthropology, athletes, autoethnography, body, combat arts, culture, desire, embodied, enculturation, ethnology, fieldwork, field-making, flow, fighting, full-contact, gender, harm, homosociality, intercultural, interobject, intersubjectivity, martial arts, materiality, masculinity, MMA, method, pain, personal, performance, performativity, phenomenology, pleasure, posthuman, postmodern, power, ritual, risk-taking, rush, self-reflexive, sportive, sport, stained, struggle, suffering, thrill, UFC, violence.
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