This study aims to research the implications of Afro-Swedish women's relationship with their hair and how it pertains to their view of femininity and beauty. Four one-on-one semi-structured interviews with Afro-Swedish women were conducted to collect relevant material. During these interviews, the women shared their relationship with their hair, experiences relating to their hair in Sweden, and how and if it has affected their perception of their beauty and level of femininity.

The findings of this study demonstrate that Afro-Swedish women relate femininity to hair that is associated with whiteness, which means hair that is smoother and straighter but also longer than the afro-textured hair associated with black people. The results showed how representations of black women in relation to beauty and femininity were seen as limited by the informants, as those were rarely there to begin with and/or only inclusive of lighter-skinned black women with wigs, weaves, straightened or relaxed hair. All the informants shared experiences of their hair being touched, with or without consent. Through comparison to earlier research, it was found that the experiences and opinions of these Afro-Swedishwomen were more similar than different to black women from the USA for example.

To conclude, this study disproves the notion of Swedish exceptionalism in relation to the racialization and discrimination of afro-textured hair, as well as the not so colorblind representations of beauty and femininity. These results also show that there is a vast amount of information concerning the lived experiences of Afro-Swedish women, relating to hair and other themes, to be uncovered by researchers in gender studies.

This doctoral thesis investigates popular romance, a mass-cultural genre with a large female audience. Popular romance is often considered ”lowbrow” and is referred to by terms such as ”porn” and ”garbage”. The female reader of this so called “sentimental trash” is often portrayed as naïve and unworldly. The thesis makes this derogatory view of the genre its point of departure, to investigate what cultural understandings of gender and sexuality the critique against popular romance entails. The thesis further investigates how these conceptions of gender and sexuality deviate from and challenge a culturally promoted and normative sexuality.

The thesis consists of six chapters. The first chapter describes the selection of the empirical material and the theoretical and methodological framework. The empirical material consists of the three novels in the popular series Fifty Shades of Grey and the four novels and five films in the popular series Twilight. The thesis places itself within the field of feminist cultural studies and queer theory. It makes use of the concept of masturbation (both literal and figurative) as an analytical entry point and as a method focusing on the “here and now” of romance reading.

The second chapter contextualizes the study by defining the term “popular romance” and by providing a brief historical overview of the genre. Previous research on popular romance is presented and discussed in relation to the derogatory view of the genre.

The third chapter studies the Swedish media commentaries on Fifty Shades of Grey and Twilight to define how the rejected romance reader is conceptualized, and how this romance reader is presumed to be reading. This “romance reader” is thereafter discussed in relation to the Western historical discourse on masturbation, “female illness” and (women’s) private reading. The chapter closes with a discussion on the form of reading that the romance reader is associated with. This self-immersed, excessive and over-invested reading form is defined as “masturbatory”.

The fourth chapter explores the act of romance reading when defined as a sexual activity. The romance community is compared to the “second wave” feminism of the 1970s in order to demonstrate how the genre establishes a separatist female community where relations, positions, and identifications are in motion, revealing both homoerotic and autoerotic elements to this homosocial context.

In the fifth chapter, a close reading of the material is performed with a focus on the “here and now” of the reading situation. The dichotomy of desiring subject and desired object is problematized in relation to looks and gaze. The thesis argues that the romance text uses detailed and intimate descriptions to instill a sexual charge and to freeze the flow of the storyline in order to make room for constant erotic contemplation. These “frozen moments” and the repetitiveness of the genre are discussed in relation to theories of queer temporality. The romance text constructs a room “outside of time” that privileges the overwhelming pleasures of the “here and now”. This liminal room is not only available for the heroine and hero of the story, but for the romance reader as well.

The sixth and final chapter ties together the main arguments of the thesis in an overarching discussion on how conceiving romance reading as a form of masturbation challenges previous research on popular romance and the gendering of and contempt for mass culture.

The article examines how popular feminist discourses on confidence are expressed in contemporary Swedish popular romance literature through a close reading of Simona Ahrnstedt’s novel Allt eller inget from 2017. It is argued that the novel relies heavily on an individualized and commercialized popular feminist message, but that it also nuances, questions and presents alternatives to it.

During the 2010s, popular romance has emerged as a popular genre in Sweden. Popular romance is often criticized on account of its perceived gender conservatism. In Sweden – a country that prides itself on being at the forefront of progressive gender politics – the genre has however become promoted as feminist, and Sweden is represented as an especially beneficial context for the emergence of a (more) feminist popular romance. For this article I analyze a selection of Swedish contemporary romance novels, released between 2014-2019. Taking the feminist critique into account, I analyze how these novels negotiate genre conventions in an effort to produce (more) feminist love stories, and how these local variants of a global genre relate to the feminism of the Swedish context and the Swedish self-image. The novels, I argue, are permeated by a Swedish gender equality discourse; one that focuses on heterosexual couples who fulfill themselves equally in relation to both family and work life. The novels both challenge and uphold gendered inequalities and criticized romance tropes. They further produce different representations of Sweden, sometimes representing Sweden as only superficially equal and other times as a country where equality is already almost in place.

The aim of this study is to expose and analyze the ways Yennefer of Vengerberg in the series The Witcher is prescribed a monstrous female identity. This has been done by applying three theories to the selected material, Crip Theory by Robert McRuer, The monstrous feminine by Barbara Creed and Colleen Donnellys analysis of the visual impact. The three theories have been used to identify how Yennefer is defined as a female monster and how this is done based on her physical appearance and personal characteristics as well as her performative actions. The conclusions of the study highlight the importance of beauty and a normative body in relations to what can be seen as the monstrous feminine. The findings can be applied to a wider set of society context, to better understand our view and perception of the female identify, and to help us expose underlying cultural patterns that in many ways place barriers for women.

This study explores the ways a Swedish state agency works with equality during the making oftheir AI-chatbots. The study explores an AI-team’s work in dealing with questions of equality,with equality through own experiences and values, the study has also placed its central themesaround equality work and language. The study does this with help of what Sara Ahmed callsinstitutionalized work. The study concludes that what Edmund Husserl calls the natural attitudeto working with equality constitutes a risk of leaving out perspectives and experiences. Workingwith Swedish as the state language, the study discusses how the use of language might representwhiteness and what effects this use of language may have on the interaction with their chatbot.The study has based its material around interviews made with six members of the state agenciesAI-team as well as programmed words and sentences in the chatbot. 

The discussion of ritual killing and sacrifice of humans in Old Norse religion has a long tradition. In the more text oriented discipline of history of religions, the opinion has sometimes been very critical to the theories that human sacrifices were performed, while the discipline of archaeology has been more inclined to interpret some finds as the traces of sacrifice, although sometimes due to a too wide definition of the word ‘sacrifice’. Since the two disciplines use different sources, the research needs an analysis of the religious phenomenon with a consideration of the archaeological material, and with respect to how the two disciplines may contribute to the analysis. The written sources mention and describe human sacrifices, but the question of their authenticity is problematic. Some new archaeological surveys have revealed finds that has raised the question of human sacrifices during Late Iron Age in the northern countries anew. The new archaeological material may provide an altered interpretation of the written texts. But then we need to discuss the definition of ‘human sacrifice’ from the perspectives of both disciplines.

This thesis has two aims. One is a discussion of the history of the study of Old Norse religion and related aspects, centered on how general tendencies within the area of research have affected the interpretations of the god *Tīwaz/Tyr. Thereby, it treats a selection of influential trends of interpretation, and a selection of prominent scholars of the field. The second aim is an empirical and comparative analysis of the Old Norse source material and, to some degree, the continental Germanic, the Baltic, and the other Indo-European material. Tyr has been interpreted according to trends of research in the field; the mythological character has been used as a projection screen of the theories. Already from the beginning, Tyr was interpreted as a sky god; connected to this was the conception of an original high god. The interpretations of Tyr as a sun god, sky god, and/or law god are close related to this high god conception. These interpretations of the god Tyr has built their arguments upon the etymological connection to Indo-European words for ‘heaven, celestial’ and ‘god’, but they have not taken enough consideration of the Old Norse sources. Georges Dumézil interpreted Tyr, according to his système tripartite, as a law god. This understanding of the god has been widely adopted, but cannot be confirmed; the Old Norse material only speaks of Tyr as a war god. The comparative Indo-European etymological material indicates that his function as sky god is archaic, while the martial traits shared with the continental Germanic and Celtic counterparts prove that this characteristic must have evolved early. Tyr (or rather his predecessor *Tīwaz) lost his celestial traits and became an unmitigated war god, and as such we perceive him in the Old Norse religion. 

The dissertation identifies the ideal renouncer and the path to liberation on the basis of nearly 3500 “independent verses”, i.e. one-strophe stanzas (gāthās, ślokas), in early Brahmanic, Buddhist, and Jaina literature, including Mahābhārata, Suttanipāta, Dhammapada, Saṃyuttanikāya, Uttarajjhayaṇa, Sūyagaḍa, Isibhāsiyāiṃ, and other texts. It is argued that this genre of poetry is important for our knowledge about the ascetic milieu in Northern India around the 5th century BCE.

Verses from the three traditions are compared with one another, the verse-material is compared with selected texts belonging to other genres, and the literature is placed in its historical context. Attention is given to vocabulary, formulas, similes, and recurrent themes. Hypotheses about the early history of the renouncer-traditions are tested against the verse-material.

Part 1 discusses aim, theory, method, terminology, previous studies, earliness and authenticity of the verses, origins and characteristics of the genre, and relevant texts. Part 2 treats the debated origins of emancipatory askesis, brāhmaṇa and śramaṇa, authority and founder-figures, and female ascetics. Part 3 proceeds along an ideal path to liberation: from reasons for giving up mundane pursuits, to going forth into homelessness, practise of austerity, itinerancy, solitude, seclusion, mendicancy, purification, non-harm, restraint, heroic overcoming of obstacles, and meditation, to attainment of gnosis and awakening, and finally liberation from saṃsāra. Part 4 is the conclusion. The Appendices contain the entire verse-material, as well as defining sentences in final pādas, shared whole verses, and key-terms.

It is concluded that in the three verse-corpora one can identify a shared outlook, which is world-rejecting, autocentric, and telos-oriented, and a shared renouncer-ideal, which is male, heroic, and austere. The same outlook and ideal are found in narrative accounts about Śākyamuni, Mahāvīra, and others who attain the highest goal. Differences between the three traditions concern mainly the use of certain terms, formulas, and similes, less so doctrine, but the differences are not reducible to a divide between Brahmanic and Buddhist/Jaina.

Generally speaking, each tradition has composed its own verses that promote a renouncer-ideal and a path to liberation, rather than having borrowed verses from another tradition or from a common source. The many similarities between the three traditions are primarily due to their common origin in the ascetic milieu, in which the one-strophe gāthā was an established literary medium for making authoritative statements.

It is argued that the shared outlook and ideal were established before the introduction of two-step ordination, nuns’ order, fourfold community, devotion to an exalted founder-figure, and the building of monasteries. The verse-content points to a rural environment and a stratified society rooted in late Vedic culture. The renunciant movement of the 5th century BCE can be seen as the culmination of a centuries-old ascetic tradition in ancient India.

This article looks at the motif of "the river of battle" - the battlefield as a river/stream/sea, which the warrior attempts to cross - in the ancient Indian Mahābhārata and Old Norse texts. It is argued that this motif should be seen in context of three shared ideas, which we also find in ancient Hellenic texts: 1) Poetic similes of battle/army as river/sea or waves. 2) Mythical-cosmological conceptions of rivers as boundary-markers between the worlds of the living and the dead. 3) Glorification of heroism and granting of special status to warriors in the afterlife. Indian texts typically use terms derived from the verbal root √TṜ (Proto-Indo-European √*terh₂), which has the double meaning of 'to cross over' and 'to overcome'. Indian ascetic texts apply similar heroic imagery and terminology to the renouncer who crosses over the saṃsāric river/sea. In absence of lexical cognates, similarities in ancient Indian and Old Norse text-passages can be explained by a shared warrior-ideology.

This thesis analyses the late-Vedic goddess Śrī and her non-personified precedent śrī ‘splendour, glory, excellence, fortune’. Śrī has not before been studied in the light of the Avestan royal splendour, xᵛarənah, and is often interpreted one-sidedly as a pre-Aryan goddess of prosperity. In contrast, this thesis locates the genealogy of Śrī’s characteristics in the Vedic goddess of dawn. The meaning of light in Vedic poetic and sacrificial terminology is highlighted, especially in the relation between royal patron and priest-poet. Śrī’s relation to terms like varcas and tejas, the “shining fame” of the hero, and epic descriptions of blazing warriors, are discussed. The nimbus in early Indian iconography is compared to descriptions of royal splendour in the texts. A subsistent theme in epics, myths and Vedic rituals is identified: the splendour won, lost and recovered by the king. This paradigm is showed to be dependent on the truthfulness, sacrificial status and asceticism of the king. A new understanding of central events in the royal consecration ritual, in the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata are thereby offered. It is argued that a continuous and richly varied concept of royal splendour can be identified, from the Ṛgveda to the great epics, and that it is of considerable importance in the ancient Indian rulership ideology.

Key words:  Royal splendour, śrī, goddess Śrī, Avestan xᵛarənah, tejas, varcas, svayaṃvara, ascetic, legitimation of power, fire, sun, dawn, Indra, Viṣṇu, rājasūya, king and priest-poet, Vedic ritual, Vedas, Mahābhārata, Rāmāyaṇa, Indo-European.

The ”vrātya problem” has been discussed for more than a century. It is not clear who the vrātya is, as some Vedic passages describe him in a cryptic manner. That the vrātya continues to engage scholars is demonstrated by two recent publications, both with T. Pontillo as one of the editors: The Volatile World of Sovereignty: The Vrātya Problem and Kingship in South Asia (2015), and Vrātya Culture in Vedic Sources (2016). In this review article I look at the two volumes in context of previous reseach and discuss a handful of the contributions. I also refer to a number of vrātya-related articles published elsewhere.

Ritual is often seen as a safe and certain of success. That the question of risk and failure is important for our understanding of ritual has, however, been argued by an increasing number of scholars. This article analyses two Vedic śrauta rituals - the horse-sacrifice and the royal consecration - from this perspective. According to brahmanic theory, sacrifice implies a dangerous break-up of cosmic structure; once started, a ritual must be successfully brought to an end, or the performer will come out lesser than before. Royal ritual also involves political dangers: being a claim to overlordship, rivals might oppose and defeat the sacrificer. Śrauta ritual appears not as a microcosm devoid of danger and unknown outcome. Rather, risk increases a ritual’s value and is an essential part of Vedic royal ritual, wherefore the most awesome sacrifice has the highest risk factor. Danger and conflict in śrauta ritual reflect the aristocratic-agonistic culture in which it evolved.

The article explores, from an Indo-Iranian comparative perspective, the concept of 'royal splendour' and its role in myth, ritual and political discourse, in ancient Indian and Iranian texts. It argues that there are similarities both on the level of details (terminology, imagery, motifs) and on a broader level (ruler ideology), some of which likely go back to Proto-Indo-Iranian culture. The article relates the Avestan xvarenahto the Vedic sri- and varcas-, as well as their Avestan counterparts sri- and varecah-. It looks at how the Vedic/Avestan epithet apam. napat-/apam napat- is connected to the motif of aquatic and royal splendour. The Avestan concept of royal splendour, it is argued, also shares key characteristics with the late Vedic and early epic goddess Sri. As the fickle and mobile consort of successive kings, whom she approaches or abandons depending on their virtues, the epic Sri is reminiscent of xvarenah-.

This study reviews the arguments of previous publications, and adds new ones, for establishing connections between the Vedic pravargya-complex (the rituals, stanzas, and mythology of the pravargya), the vrātya, and the deity Rudra. These connections include Rudra as Mahāvīra (the epithet given to a deity and a vessel in the pravargya), the sattra setting of the pravargya's paradigm-myth, the motif of the unstrung bow, the theme of exclusion, and the divinisation of man as a goal of the ritual. It is argued that the superhuman status attributed to Mahāvīra is comparable with that of characters celebrated in the Ṛgveda and Atharvaveda, such as the ekavrātya, brahmacārin, and keśin. The affinity between these figures may be derived from a common ideology, with the roots of some of them to be sought in the Indo-European warrior-society and male rites de passage. 

The ancient Indian gāthā - a proverbial, succinct type of single-stanza poetry, often collected in thematic sets - became a favoured form of expression among groups of ascetics from the middle to the end of the first millennium BCE. This poetry - contrasting with the magico-ritual chant or mantra of the priest and the artistic poem of the aesthete - functions as (self-)instruction for the ascetic/renouncer. Examples include gāthās that exhort him to be as untiring as the Sun in its daily course, or to "wander alone like the rhinoceros". This chapter delineates the figure of the solitary, wandering renouncer in a selection of Brahmanic, Jaina, and Buddhist ascetic gāthā-verses from that period. Particular attention is given to the use of solar and heroic imagery for describing the ideal renouncer, and how this relates to the real-life conditions of wandering renouncers.

The churning of the ocean for nectar (amṛtamanthana) is one of the most well-known Hindu myths. This article analyses the role of the devī Śrī-Lakṣmī, symbolic of royal splendor and fortune, in Purāṇic versions of the myth. It is shown that the notion that Śrī-Lakṣmī was born from the churned ocean, and that she was united with Viṣṇu immediately after, developed gradually over time. Particular attention is given to versions of the myth in which Śrī-Lakṣmī is presented as the bride in a svayaṃvara (kṣatriya maiden’s self-choice of husband), at which she chooses Viṣṇu. It is argued that this should be seen in the context of ancient Indian religious ruler ideology, according to which Śrī-Lakṣmī attaches herself to the most worthy male. In most versions of the myth Indra and Viṣṇu represent contrasting types of sovereignty: Viṣṇu the constant and detached ruler; Indra the temporary ruler, who loses his śrī due to bad behavior and then regains it through the process and consequences of amṛtamanthana. The inferiority of Indra is seen in his dependence on Viṣṇu’s assistance and in the unanimous notion that it is Viṣṇu who unites with Śrī-Lakṣmī.

The aim of this PhD-dissertation is – on the one hand – to present in a critical and comprehensive manner an update of recent findings among Western scholars regarding the Barabudur monument and its illustrations of various Buddhist traditions, and – on the other hand – to throw some light on some of the outstanding issues regarding this monument. Focus has been laid on the religious aspects with a view of ascertaining which forms of Buddhism are most prominently represented on the monument.

The Barabudur is the largest Buddhist monument in the world – being built on Central Java during the late eighth century CE. The Barabudur is constructed in four successively higher galleries with an area on top with three round terraces. The terraces encompass 72 latticed stupas, each containing Buddha Vairocana in dharmacakramudra large stupa is in the center. Each side of the squarely built monument is at the ground level around 123 meters. The height of the monument is believed to originally have been 41.81 meters. The walls and the balustrades of the galleries encompass 1,460 bas-reliefs representing various sutras, such as the Mahakarmavibhanga Sutra, the Lalitavistara, the Gandavyuha Sutra, the Dasabhumika Sutra and the Bhadracari. In addition, the Barabudur seems also to have been influenced by ideas from the ensuing Indonesian esoteric text the Sang Hyang Kamahayanikan, as well as by the esoteric Buddhist texts of the Mahavairocana Sutra, the Tattvasamgraha and the Prajnaparamita in 150 verses. The Barabudur thus presents aspects from the main three Buddhist traditions – the Sravakayana, the Mahayana and an early esoteric form of the Vajrayana.

The main problem in studying the Barabudur is the lack of historical information. No dedicatory inscription has yet been found. The Barabudur was built during the Sailendra interregnum on Java. Their contacts with the Abhayagirivihara on Sri Lanka and with the Pala dynasty in Bengal, indicate that some early form of Vajrayana Buddhism existed on Java during the eighth century CE. In addition, some concepts from the esoteric Buddhism developed by the Three Monks in China during this period could well also have been introduced on Java.

The Barabudur, together with the Candi Mendut, are supposed to represent the Twin-mandala – thus representing the “non-duality” between “Truth” and “Wisdom”. Dharmakaya Mahavairocana is in the center of both these Twin-mandalas symbolizing the amalavijnana.

In conclusion, the Barabudur may be regarded as a holy monument, where the Buddha is present, and where the devotee may be taught directly by the Buddha.

Traditionally, investigators and theorists have supposed that mate choice is directional and fixed within a species as well as static within individuals over time. Lately, accumulating evidence shows that mate choice is often flexible, so that individuals change their behavior, depending on the social or ecological situation they experience or their condition. Recent theory proposes that animals should change their mate choice adaptively moment by moment in response to changes in environmental, internal, and social factors. Mate choice plasticity should be explored more in empirical studies as well as its implications for mate choice evolution and sexual selection.

This book traces the history of how evolutionary biology transformed its understanding of females from being coy, reserved and sexually passive, to having active sexual strategies and often mating with multiple males. Why did it take so long to discover female active sexual strategies? What prevented some researchers from engaging in sexually active females, and what prompted others to develop this new knowledge?

The Female Turn provides a global overview of shifting perceptions about females in sexual selection research on a wide range of animals, from invertebrates to primates. Evolutionary biologist and feminist science scholar Malin Ah-King explores this history from a unique interdisciplinary vantage point. Based on extensive knowledge of the scientific literature on sexual selection and in-depth interviews with leading researchers, pioneers and feminist scientists in the field, her analysis engages with key theoretical approaches in gender studies of science. Analyzing the researchers’ scientific interests, theoretical frameworks, specific study animals, technological innovations, methodologies and sometimes feminist insights, reveals how these have shaped conclusions drawn about sex. Thereby, The Female Turn shows how certain researchers gained knowledge about active females whereas others missed, ignored or delayed it – that is, how ignorance was produced.

While it is widely acknowledged that Darwin’s descriptions of females were gender-biased, gender bias in current sexual selection research is less recognized. An examination of the history of sexual selection research shows prevalent male precedence—that research starts with male-centered investigations or explanations and thereafter includes female-centered equivalents. In comparison, the incidence of female precedence is low. Furthermore, a comparison between the volume of publications focusing on sexual selection in males versus in females shows that the former far outnumber the latter. This bias is not only a historical pattern; sexual selection theory and research are still male-centered—due to conspicuous traits, practical obstacles, and continued gender bias. Even the way sexual selection is commonly defined contributes to this bias. This history provides an illustrative example by which we can learn to recognize biases and identify gaps in knowledge. I conclude with a call for the scientific community to interrogate its own biases and suggest strategies for alleviating biases in this field and beyond.

Mate choice hypotheses usually focus on trait variation of chosen individuals. Recently, mate choice studies have increasingly attended to the environmental circumstances affecting variation in choosers' behavior and choosers' traits. We reviewed the literature on phenotypic plasticity in mate choice with the goal of exploring whether phenotypic plasticity can be interpreted as individual flexibility in the context of the switch point theorem, SPT (Gowaty and Hubbell ). We found >3000 studies; 198 were empirical studies of within-sex phenotypic plasticity, and sixteen showed no evidence of mate choice plasticity. Most studies reported changes from choosy to indiscriminate behavior of subjects. Investigators attributed changes to one or more causes including operational sex ratio, adult sex ratio, potential reproductive rate, predation risk, disease risk, chooser's mating experience, chooser's age, chooser's condition, or chooser's resources. The studies together indicate that choosiness of potential mates is environmentally and socially labile, that is, induced - not fixed - in the choosy sex with results consistent with choosers' intrinsic characteristics or their ecological circumstances mattering more to mate choice than the traits of potential mates. We show that plasticity-associated variables factor into the simpler SPT variables. We propose that it is time to complete the move from questions about within-sex plasticity in the choosy sex to between- and within-individual flexibility in reproductive decision-making of both sexes simultaneously. Currently, unanswered empirical questions are about the force of alternative constraints and opportunities as inducers of individual flexibility in reproductive decision-making, and the ecological, social, and developmental sources of similarities and differences between individuals. To make progress, we need studies (1) of simultaneous and symmetric attention to individual mate preferences and subsequent behavior in both sexes, (2) controlled for within-individual variation in choice behavior as demography changes, and which (3) report effects on fitness from movement of individual's switch points.

What cultural nerves are triggered by the mutations of sexed biologies associated with artificially produced hormones? Evolutionary biologist and gender studies scholar Malin Ah-King and gender studies scholar Eva Hayward question the essentialist and heteronormative assumptions that frame contemporary discourses on the toxicity of endocrine disruptors.

Denna uppsats handlar om hur tangodansen som praktik bli till genom intra-aktiva utbyten mellan mänskliga och materiella kroppar, samt vad som krävs för att uppnå ett tillstång av flow. De icke-mänskliga aktörer som undersökts i denna studie är musiken, skorna, kläderna och golvet, där även rummet har inkluderats. Vidare kan dessa kroppar genom detta inta-aktiva utbyte också smälta samman och skapa något som inte kan existera utan de olika aktörernas samarbete. I denna sammansmältning går det att uppnå ett tillstånd av flow som bara kan infinna sig då ingen av aktörerna skaver mot varandra och skapar distraktioner från den kroppsliga närvaron i dansen.

Denna uppsats handlar om hur tangodansen som praktik blir till genom intra-aktiva utbyten mellan mänskliga och materiella kroppar, samt vad som krävs för att uppnå ett tillstånd av flow. De icke-mänskliga aktörer som undersökts i denna studie är musiken, skorna, kläderna och golvet, där även rummet har inkluderats. Vidare kan dessa kroppar genom detta intra-aktiva utbyte också smälta samman med varandra och skapa något som inte kan existera utan de olika aktörernas samarbete. I denna sammansmältning går det att uppnå ett tillstånd av flow som bara kan infinna sig då ingen av aktörerna skaver mot varandra och skapar distraktioner från den kroppsliga närvaron i dansen.

The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) recognized a need for external help to implement a gender perspective in their project on improving air quality in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) extending from 2018-2022, which this thesis is a contribution to. To collect empirical material for the analysis, a cluster interview was conducted on site in Sarajevo with female representatives from ten CSOs working with gender equality nationally, in addition to a household survey targeted at six different cities in BiH through social media with the help of SEPA’s partnering ad agency network. The empirical findings of this study hence consist of local representations of problems regarding gender equality and its links to environmental issues, which were subsequently used to put the goals and problem representations present in the Swedish Foreign Service action plan for feminist foreign policy 2019-2022 and the Strategy for Sweden’s reform cooperation in the Western Balkans and Turkey 2021-2027 in context. This was specifically done with the help of Carol Bacchi’s policy analysis approach “What’s the Problem (Represented to be). Throughout the analysis, it became evident that there was a gap between the discourse of gender equality problems on site in BiH versus how gender equality problems were represented in the analysed Swedish policies steering the project. It also became evident that there was a gap between the horizontal goals of gender equality in these policies, and the resources available at SEPA for the actual implementation. 

The conclusion of the analysis implicates the occurrence of shortcomings in Swedish reform cooperation when mainstreaming gender into environmental policies, and that this could potentially lead to efforts reproducing and entrenching gendered and socio-economic inequity. 

By exemplifying the relevance of implementing a context-based gender perspective in this specific case, this thesis is hoped to encourage improving the prerequisites for mainstreaming gender into all international reform cooperation projects and applying the Swedish Feminist Foreign Policy accurately. 

Theatre has been a school subject in the Swedish upper secondary school's national arts program since 1992 and has its own syllabus and grading criteria. The National Curriculum in theatre emphasises the development of performative capability, which is the focus of this dissertation. This study aims to contribute to the improvement of teachers’ subject-specific language, and concerns certain aspects of student ways of knowing.

Theatre encompasses tacit knowledge (Lagerström 2003) and as an art form belongs to a tradition of practical knowledge. Knowledge in theatre has traditionally been acquired within a master-apprentice tradition (Johansson 2012, Järleby 2003). When theatre as an art form becomes a school subject the conditions of the art form change through a didactic transposition (Chevallard 2005). The previous two curriculum reforms in Sweden have developed competency-based syllabuses. To meet the school's requirements for planning teaching activities with colleagues as well as assessing and giving feedback to students, theatre knowledge needs to be articulated. Research is therefore needed to develop a professional language among teachers within the subject of theatre.

I have chosen to work with Learning study, which is a collaborative and iterative research approach which enables the articulation of teachers and students knowing. Data is analysed using foremost phenomenographic analyses. The results generated in this study could be useful for teachers in the process of planning lessons, giving feedback to students, for assessments and grades, for discussing the content of lessons with other teachers, and ultimately for us to begin to recognize different levels of knowing.

I artikeln lyfts resultat från ett pågående arbete fram, där en ny metod prövas. Syftet är att visa hur studier av lärarens didaktiska val kan bidra med kunskap om hur ett kroppsligt kunnande inom skolämnet teater på gymnasienivå utvecklas. Metoden om används är ett exempel på hur man kan studera lärarens didaktiska val och därigenom utveckla kunskap om innehållsliga aspekter av ämnet. Resultatet från studien, där interaktionsanalys har använts, pekar på hur lärares professionella omdöme delvis är inbegripet som del av en praxis. De slutsatser som dras avser att visa hur kunskap i ett estetiskt ämne kan visualiseras och artikuleras. Artikeln syftar till att problematisera och diskutera hur man kan prata om och i undervisningen hantera utvecklandet av ämnesspecifika förmågor.

This study critically examines the role of media channels, namely Fadak and Safa channels, in perpetuating the Sunni-Shiite conflict in the Middle East. Utilizing qualitative content analysis and theoretical frameworks, including Social Identity Theory and Othering Theory, the research investigates how these channels construct and disseminate narratives that reinforce sectarian divisions and hinder prospects for dialogue and reconciliation. By analyzing programs' content and documentaries, the study uncovers deliberate themes and narratives employed by Fadak and Safa channels to promote sectarian identities, amplify intergroup tensions, and undermine efforts toward peaceful coexistence. The implications of these findings extend to conflict studies and policymaking, highlighting the need for media literacy initiatives and regulatory measures to counteract polarizing narratives and promote constructive dialogue. Through a nuanced understanding of media dynamics within the Sunni-Shiite conflict, this research contributes to broader discussions on identity politics, conflict resolution, and social cohesion in the region.

This entry presents a brief history of the emergence of feminism, gender, and queer in North American archaeology, which, along with the United Kingdom and Scandinavia to a lesser degree, represents the geographic origin and center of such work. The key concepts as used by archaeologists are defined; the relationship among them is explored and shown to be both problematic and productive. The place of feminism, gender, and queer within North American archaeology today is characterized and, finally, likely avenues of future research are suggested. The greatest impact of feminist, gender, and queer archaeologies has been on the authority of positivist approaches, the objectivity of interpretation, equity issues within the profession, collaborative knowledge making, and the understanding of key archaeological interpretive concepts.

The aim of this essay is to examine if, and in that case how, feminism is being used as a marketing strategy. I have over the years noticed that feminism and messages aimed at being empowering toward’s women has become somewhat of a cool trend in marketing. I therefore wanted to examine this phenomena using the Swedish new razor brand Estrid’s marketing as my empiric material, and see what kind of messages Estrid uses, what the public’s response to the brand is, and what positive and negative consequences this kind of branding could possibly have on feminism as a political movement. Using theories about femvertising, commodity feminism, consumptions part in shaping the identity, and neoliberalism’s effect on feminism, I analyze Estrid’s website, one of their commercials and the comments posted on some of their pictures on their Instagram account. The aim of my tri-partite analysis is to demonstrate how today’s neoliberal society often appropriates political and cultural movements in order to fulfill a commercial and capitalistic purpose. My first conclusion is that the feminist statements being used are influenced by neoliberal ideology with messages such as free will and individual responsibility instead of focusing on criticizing structural inequalities. This type of femvertising has a harmful impact on feminism as a political movement because it depoliticizes it and turns it into a commodified version of feminism. Secondly, I conclude that although this appropriation has negative consequences, Estrid can’t only be seen as harming the movement. In terms of for example representation, Estrid (compared to many other razor brands) is showcasing body hair and casting influencers with ranging body types - therefore they are somewhat challenging society’s beauty standards.

Current medical discourse and endless media debates on obesity and health have rendered the fat body highly visible. However, the lived experiences of fat have to a large extent remained absent in these discourses. This thesis, therefore, expands and reconceptualizes notions of fatness and fat embodiments. Using semi-structured, in-depth interviewing with individuals of marginalized genders living in Sweden who identify as being fat, the thesis explores (1) the individuals’ perception of fat; how it is seen, felt, and known, (2) how their fat, gendered embodiments shape their identity and their ”being-in-the-world”, and (3) the coping strategies and/or opportunities for resistance available to deal with and/or challenge negative and stigmatizing experiences. Merging phenomenology, affect theory, and temporality theories, findings suggest that fat individuals experience struggles and hatred while navigating a thin world that excludes their fat flesh, resulting in feelings of hyperawareness, shame, and being out of place. Through everyday experiences in this intersubjective world, they are also constructed as being out of time, affecting their access to the present. Navigating conflicting demands of visibility/invisibility, embodying the innocent/guilty fatty, and embracing the body/disembodying from it, the author reflects on the implication of these findings for understandings of fat embodiments as multiple, ambiguous, shifting, and at times contradictory. The thesis offers thickened understandings of the significance of fat embodiments for challenging the ways in which power operates on bodies, for (re)conceptualizing normative notions of fatness, and for fat people themselves.

Med syfte att undersöka hur diskursen som kulturellt meningsskapande resulterar i kollektiva uppmaningar till disciplinering, i detta fall av kvinna som föreställd moder, klarlägger studien hur de meningsproducerande sociala maktprocesserna möjliggörs och vidmakthålls. Förenad med den politiska diskursteorins förståelse för hur de rådande normerna och värderingarna påverkar individers handlingsutrymme, utreder uppsatsen den juridiska apparatens och den offentliga styrningens diskursiva upprepning av folkhemmets reproduceringspolitik. Med intervjumaterial visar studien hur erfarenheten av hemabort resulterar i en internaliseras självdisciplinering av kroppen hos kvinnan. Den offentliga styrningens verbala praktiker klargör abortdiskursens sociala kulturprocess och dess maktstruktur.

Yvonne Hirdman introducerade genusbegreppet i svensk feministisk forskning och blev Sveriges första professor i genushistoria. I självbiografin Medan jag var ung skriver hon om hur vägen fram till raketkarriären inom akademin varit allt annat än rak. Hirdmans så kallade ”egohistoria” är fascinerande och underhållande läsning om hur 70-talets kvinnorörelse intog universitetsvärlden, men beskrivningarna av dagens feministiska forskning är lättvindig och raljant.