Masteruppsatser / Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://gupea-staging.ub.gu.se/handle/2077/21436

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ATT BILDA I MOTVIND. Vad som står på spel för studieförbunden i Göteborg på grund av nedskärningarna
(2025-09-23) Ljungberg, Linnea; University of Gothenburg/Department of Cultural Sciences; Göteborgs universitet/Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper
This thesis explores what is at stake for the study associations, popular adult education, and ultimately democracy, due to funding cuts, according to the study associations’ branches in Gothenburg. The thesis investigates this by analyzing their reactions to the changes brought about by the cuts in government funding between 2024 and 2026. The study is guided by three research questions, which were answered through eight interviews with nine informants from the study associations’ branches in Gothenburg. The interview material was analyzed using a qualitative content analysis grounded in three theoretical entry points: popular adult education as a counter-hegemonic practice, spatial aspects of democracy, and shaping hope rather than wishful thinking. The results of the analysis are that the study associations’ work for social change is more indirect than direct, and to some extent they form a counter-hegemonic practice against the funding cuts. They see themselves as part of the public space in Gothenburg and argue that the funding cuts make it difficult for the study associations to be visible and take up space in the city. They primarily respond to the funding cuts with an active hope and they strive to adopt a constructive hope that blends optimism and pessimism, which also allows them some time for dealing with emotions. In the concluding discussion, the thesis argues that the study associations, popular adult education and, in the long run, democracy, are gradually being diminished due to the funding cuts undermining the work of the study associations. It also concludes that the relationship between the study associations and the state has become more unstable, and that the significance of popular adult education is being debated and renegotiated in light of the consequences of these funding cuts.
Närvaro genom frånvaro: kroppens spår i Ishiuchi Miyakos serie ひろしま / hiroshima (2007–)
(2025-09-03) Botin, Emma; University of Gothenburg/Department of Cultural Sciences; Göteborgs universitet/Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper
This study examines Ishiuchi Miyako’s series ひろしま/hiroshima (2007–), portraying clothing worn by victims of the 1945 atomic bombing. It explores how images of material traces of trauma evoke a sense of presence of the absent bodies. By engaging with the images on a sensory and affective level, the study shows how formal elements and physical traces, such as graininess, burn marks, and bloodstains, activate the viewer’s senses and memory. Thus, absence emerges as a form of presence, making the absent body perceptible. This bodily and affective interaction enables an ethical and reflective encounter with trauma, requiring both proximity and distance. It proposes an empathetic mode of seeing that acknowledges the uniqueness of the other’s experience thus avoiding appropriation of the other’s trauma.
DEN REPARATIVA SLÖJDEN. Ungdomar om motstånd, kulturarv, krishantering, prepping och framtiden
(2025-08-18) van Viegen, Mary; University of Gothenburg/Department of Cultural Sciences; Göteborgs universitet/Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper
This master thesis is an attempt to fill in a gap in research that I found when I was investigating craft traditions in Sweden. Sweden is a country that has a rich cultural heritage when it comes to craft and we have obligatory craft as a subject in school. There is plenty of research about pedagogy, craft and children in school. I also found that there is a lot of research with grownups in fields like my own, the cultural studies and similar fields. Since I could not find any research, I started wondering if young people do crafts. So I conducted my own research, with my favorite method; etnography. I interwieved eight young persons in the ages of 18-22 about their crafts, their relations to ofter crafters and craft as a subject in school. I asked them about crisis, cultural heritage, prepping, the present and the future. My theoretical framwork is of Donna Haraway on making kin and taking care of this broken world. But also of Zygmunt Baumans thinkings about nostagia and fear. I followed Les Backs listening and his thoughts about what makes a life livable. I have dug into Wendy Browns thinkings about neoliberalism and homo oeconomicus. And I have dabbled with Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick and her reparative practices. And more. In this essay we follow eight young people and learn their crafts, why they do what they do and how they are making a better world for themselves by using less screen time, and more creative time. These are their stories.
MELLANFÖRSKAPSSAMER – Om identitet, återtagande och (s)vårt kulturarv
(2025-06-30) Hultman, Adam; University of Gothenburg/Department of Cultural Sciences; Göteborgs universitet/Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper
This paper examines difficulties that heirs to swedified sami persons experience when learning about how colonialism forced a lot of people to hide or dim their sami identity. The purpose is to examine what genealogy can mean for these people and how it differs from the “regular” genealogy; what makes these heirs willing or not willing to call themselves sami and how the cultural traumas and family wounds can be understood as dark cultural heritage and how these can be resolved. With cultural heritage and history usage theories, Hall’s theories of hybrid identities, and Aarelaid-Tart’s trauma model, I have analysed material from six interviewees and some of my autoetnography to conclude that sami genealogy is an important factor in shaping a more complete and decolonized view of history and one’s identity, that descendants of samis won’t call themselves sami because of a lack of sami “capital” but want to as a way of not letting colonialism win, and that cultural traumas and family wounds heal through talking about them – not hiding from them. The dark heritage is a necessary part of the sami identity build. I have also concluded that sami identity have always been nuanced, there isn’t one correct way to be sami.
Thinking images: Filmic thought and the viewer’s perception in the films of Apicahtpong Weerasethakul
(2025-06-27) Broder, Stina; University of Gothenburg/Department of Cultural Sciences; Göteborgs universitet/Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper
This thesis explores the concept of the ‘filmind’, film as a thinking entity, through Daniel Frampton’s book Filmosophy and the film phenomenological work of Vivian Sobchack. Highlighting the embodied viewer in the film experience of Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s films the aim asks: In what way can Apichatpong Weerasethakul's films be understood as independent ‘thinking’ entities, and how does this affect the viewer experience? A dialogue emerges by bringing Frampton’s notion of the filmic thought and Sobchak’s theory of the film into conversation. The combination of these two theories allows us to push the traditional phenomenology further by addressing the film’s thinking and the viewer as the receiving subject. The analysis focuses on Weerasethakul’s films: Tropical Malady, Hotel Mekong, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives and Cemetery of Splendour, in a phenomenological close reading to explore filmic action and viewer immersion. The analysis finds that Weerasethakul’s films demonstrate a form of thinking in the non-linear temporality and uncertainty of the film’s own ‘being’. The filmind and the viewer meet in the mood of the film, which mediates a suspension where the filmind and viewer both participate in the same shared space of being unknowing. The viewer is drawn to the film in a search for meaning, rather than the actions of the narrative.
Navigating between gendering and being gendered A qualitative study of non-binary gender unintelligibility and intersectional power relations around gendered embodiment in the Japanese context
(2025-06-27) Namatsu, Chisato; University of Gothenburg/Department of Cultural Sciences; Göteborgs universitet/Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper
This thesis explores the lived experiences of ten non-binary individuals in Japan, focusing on how they navigate the interplay between gendering themselves and being gendered by others within a cisnormative society. Drawing on qualitative interviews and analysed through reflexive thematic analysis, the study engages with theoretical frameworks of norms and intelligibility, queer phenomenology, and intersectionality. The unintelligibility of non-binary gender contributes to low expectations of being recognised as non-binary in interactions, which motivates them to various practices. Whether blending in or resisting cisnormativity and the gender binary, their practices are influenced by these normative orientations and tend to be directed toward increasing comfort and mitigating discomfort within specific contexts. The study also highlights how intersectional factors such as neurodivergence, age, generational position, whiteness as foreignness, marital status and body shape, stratify access to less normative gendered embodiments. Some intersections complicate the livability of nonbinary gender in ways that cannot be simply reduced to privilege or disadvantage. Participants’ practices emerge not only as expressions of identity but as situated negotiations within broader power relations. In the absence of adequate discursive resources for non-binary people, participants necessarily rework language, space, and temporality to create inhabitable spaces for a livable life.
Not A Love Message: Gender and Intimacy as Spatial Practices in Online Tarot Reading
(2025-06-27) Qiao, Qiao; University of Gothenburg/Department of Cultural Sciences; Göteborgs universitet/Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper
This thesis explores how space functions as a central organizing logic in online Tarot readings on China’s video-sharing platform Bilibili, shaping experiences of gender, intimacy, and collective meaning-making. Using a poststructuralist theoretical framework consisting of Michel Foucault’s heterotopia, Michel de Certeau’s spatial practices, and Lauren Berlant’s intimate public, the study analyzes four videos by a popular Tarot reader and hundreds of viewer-participants’ comments through digital ethnography and thematic analysis. Four key findings emerge. First, gender in online Tarot reading is reimagined as a heterotopic space, where the use of Chinese cosmological Yin-Yang principles softens rigid binary roles. Second, viewer-participants move between Tarot videos and comment sections like walkers, creating flexible spaces for confession, reflection, and shared meaning. Third, online Tarot generates a relational public in which personal stories, collaborative interpretations, and peer validation blur the line between private emotion and shared experience. Fourth, online Tarot spaces are constantly enacted through rhetorical movements yet often usurped by dominant romantic scripts that overwrite inclusive relational possibilities. This study positions online Tarot as a spatialized practice where people move, dwell, and connect. By foregrounding space, it highlights how gender and intimacy are not only represented but actively shaped through the emotional and architectural contours of digital life.
Invisible Wounds and Benevolent Harm The Cultural Blind Spot Rearticulating Obstetric Violence as Gendered Structural Violence
(2025-06-27) Marques Zamberlan, Gianna; University of Gothenburg/Department of Cultural Sciences; Göteborgs universitet/Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper
This thesis critically investigates the invisibility of obstetric violence, focusing on how coercive and harmful practices during childbirth are normalized, dismissed, or justified within institutional and cultural frameworks. The study draws on feminist theory and critical perspectives on power, discourse, and autonomy to explore how medical interventions that violate consent are often rendered socially acceptable through dominant narratives. Rather than attempting to define obstetric violence in fixed terms, the research analyses the mechanisms that obscure its recognition, particularly through what is described as cultural “blind spots” in healthcare and public discourse. The aim of the study is to understand how women narrate their childbirth experiences and how these narratives function as potential forms of resistance. Methodologically, the thesis employs narrative analysis and critical discourse analysis (CDA) to examine both public cases and anonymous survey responses from women who gave birth in Brazil, Sweden, and Ireland. These personal stories reveal how structural power, gender norms, and institutional authority shape the way obstetric violence is experienced, interpreted, and often silenced. The study concludes that storytelling can transform personal suffering into political critique, opening space for greater recognition of obstetric violence and contributing to broader efforts toward reproductive justice.
Marginaler i rörelse: Materialitet och agens i skärningspunkten mellan transnationell feminism, globalisering och kulturell hybriditet
(2025-06-27) Bäckbro, Sara; University of Gothenburg/Department of Cultural Sciences; Göteborgs universitet/Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper
This thesis explores how three contemporary Mexican women artists, Teresa Margolles, Julieta Aranda, and Minerva Cuevas navigate and critically engage with the global art world through a postcolonial and transnational feminist lenses. The study investigates how their artistic practices address issues of gender, identity, power and violence by examining six artworks by their aesthetic and material strategies, revealing how these artists challenge dominant Western narratives. Drawing on theoretical frameworks by Marsha Meskimmon, Ania Loomba, and Homi K. Bhabha, among others. The thesis discusses concepts of cultural hybridity, the “third space” and gender to analyze the complex intersections between the local and the global spaces in contemporary art. The study highlights both convergences and divergences in the artists’ approaches, emphasizing how their work resists essentialist representations and instead creates nuanced critiques of postcolonial and neoliberal structures. The research contributes to the discourse on decolonizing art history by examining how contemporary artists from the Global South articulate alternative epistemologies that challenge dominant art historical frameworks.
Skärselden i bilder, Makten över själarna
(2025-06-26) Jan, Skansholm; University of Gothenburg/Department of Cultural Sciences; Göteborgs universitet/Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper
This essay examines how art could be used to bring forth and clarify the Catholic doctrines of purgatory. The research questions are: • How are the Catholic Church’s doctrines of purgatory illustrated in art? • How can the paintings affect the viewer and his/her notion on how to shorten the time in purgatory? How can art itself be used as a tool to achieve that goal? The timeframe of the chosen paintings is mainly 14th to 16th century but an overview of how the purgatory has been illustrated after that time until the present is also given. In order to answer the first research question, a painting from the 14th century has been analysed, using a method inspired by Patterns of Intention - a theoretical framework formulated by Michel Baxandall. A reception theoretic perspective according to Kemp, is used on a painting from the 15th century to answer the second research question. The results show that purgatory is illustrated as fire and the souls are depicted as living people, despite that a spiritual condition is visualized. The viewers at that time found the descriptions frightening, but the paintings also revealed ways of being granted indulgences, that is shorten-ing the time in purgatory. These ways were praying, making pilgrimages and giving alms. The results also show that certain artistic motives in paintings and sculptures were used for wor-shipping since praying in front of them also granted indulgence.
“You have to be healthy to cope with being sick” A qualitative interview study on the power relation between the Swedish healthcare system and endometriosis patients
(2025-01-14) Lidung, Lovisa; University of Gothenburg/Department of Cultural Sciences; Göteborgs universitet/Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper
Endometriosis is an inflammatory disease where cells similar to the uterine lining develop outside the uterus. It is estimated that every tenth person with a uterus has endometriosis. However, it is an unprioritised, unfunded and unresearched diagnosis since it only affects individuals assigned female at birth (As-Sanie et al., 2019). Women with chronic pain are generally perceived by healthcare personnel as hysterical, emotional, and complaining, and compared to men, receive less effective pain relief, less pain medication with opioids, more antidepressants, and more mental health referrals (Samulowitz et al., 2018). With this in mind, this study aims to analyse the power relations between the interviewed endometriosis patients and the Swedish healthcare system through 20 qualitative interviews with participants aged 17-52. Two research questions were chosen to enable the analysis: How do the participants experience the Swedish healthcare personnel’s reception of them as endometriosis patients? and What power do the participants have over the treatment of their endometriosis? The chosen theories are agency and an intersectional perspective on Foucault's theory on power relations, power/knowledge and pastoral power. The results of this study showcase a psychologically draining situation where endometriosis patients are exposed to resistance, derision, prejudices and lack of knowledge within the Swedish healthcare system. To receive treatment and quality of life, the participants gained strategies and knowledge on their own to navigate the perplexing situation.
NÖDVÄNDIGT, OMÖJLIGT OCH MENINGSFULLT. Om att arbeta med kulturtidskrifter
(2024-12-04) Britschgi, Julia; University of Gothenburg/Department of Cultural Sciences; Göteborgs universitet/Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper
This master thesis deals with the working conditions and work motivators for editors of cultural journals in Sweden. Through the qualitative method of semi-structured interviews with editors of cultural journals this thesis will explore how the job is experienced through the conditions of running a cultural company. The demanding task of providing economic stability can make the pay low and the workload heavy. In connection to this, the thesis will explore why the editors still find it rewarding and what motivates them to work with culturaljournals. The motivations are partly related to self-realisation, such as being creative, working with one’s passion and having autonomy. At the same time, many editors also consider contributing to cultural life and society as a motivator. These motivations will be discussed in relation to the context cultural journals exists in, using theories by Gramsci, Laclau and Mouffe. This will also be seen in opposition, or resistance to, the rational, utility maximising homo economicus. Through using Bourdieu’s framework, the field specifics of being an actor in the cultural field will be discussed. His framework will also be used to examine how the workers are experiencing having limited economic capital but at the same time are having cultural capital. The differences between cultural and profit seeking companies will be further discussed, in relation to marketing, value creation and how employment relationships work. Regarding the economic conditions, it differs because it is partly governed by state funding. This makes the cultural journals vulnerable to political shifts. Because of this, cultural policy and politics will be discussed in relationship to cultural journals.
Queer lives - Chronic futures. Negotiating neoliberalism, solidarities and futures among queer people with chronic illness in the context of Sweden
(2024-11-14) Petersen, Kaja; University of Gothenburg/Department of Cultural Sciences; Göteborgs universitet/Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper
The purpose of the thesis is to investigate how queer people with chronic illness negotiate and respond to systems of ableism, neoliberalism and heteronormativity in the context of Sweden. The research material consists of nine qualitative interviews with queer people with chronic illnesses. The material is analyzed through frameworks of biopolitics, precarity, crip theory, queer and crip temporalities and solidarities. The analysis highlights a strong awareness of normativity among trans and queer people with chronic illness. This is analyzed as a queer gaze on normativity that helps negotiate the pressures of ableism. The thesis also employs a methodology of dreams, where attending to queer-crip futurities is analyzed both as a critique of the present and a vision of a different society. Furthermore, participants negotiate solidarity practices that emerge from the double precarity of heteronormativity and austerity. The study also identifies ambiguities and limits to these responses. This concerns embodied experiences to living with chronic illness. It is argued that inadequate welfare support plays a significant role in this regard. As such, the thesis addresses how embodied experiences of chronic illness are contingent upon a climate of austerity.
Konstförstörelse/Förstörelsekonster: En undersökning av konstruktiv ikonoklasm som konstnärlig process
(2024-10-28) Glaser, Sabina; University of Gothenburg/Department of Cultural Sciences; Göteborgs universitet/Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper
Building on the concept of constructive iconoclasm as a creational force of iconicity, this thesis examines how the contemporary iconoclastic discourse is related to artistic process. Studies have shown that the performative act of destroying art that is an historical phenomenon is highly present within the contemporary art discourse today. Due to the many dimensions of contemporary art, the ways in which iconoclastic deeds appear may differ from the historical narrative. While iconoclasm and iconicity are being reciprocal processes that can only exist in relation to each other and their context, there are signs that the destructive act itself is being recontextualized by contemporary artists. Guided by the framework of Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis, the thesis examines the processes of conceptual and constructive art destruction by analyzing the discourses of two case studies situated in the contemporary art market. With W.J.T. Mitchells image theory that recognizes the power of visual representation and the creation of meaning in art, the thesis explores the transgressive deeds that pushes images beyond their limits in creating iconic art. Results show that constructive iconoclasm have been instrumentalized within contemporary artistic processes as a way to create iconicity.
DIGITALA RUM OCH RUMSLIGA DIGITALISERINGAR - hur hemmet tar plats på Instagram
(2024-10-21) Kvist, Sandra; University of Gothenburg/Department of Cultural Sciences; Göteborgs universitet/Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper
In a world obsessed with the visual our homes have gone viral. Through the frame of Instagram family members seems switched to furnitures and the so-called smartphone surely opened the door to new, digital places. Social media has become part of the life of many and, as an effect, also of the way we do our homes. In the era of digitalization, the concept of sharing has gotten some new dimensions where the borders of private and public, here and there, becomes blurred. Why do people post pictures of their homes on Instagram? How is it performed and what boundaries are pushed in the process? These have been some of the main topics guiding this thesis. Through written questionnaires and interview conversations I have dug into the digital side of society to investigate the relation between social media, home and beyond. With a perspective that reality is made seamless, where spheres are tangled in one another rather than divided, Instagram is thought of as a digital room. How home is expressed and how it's experienced has proven to be connected through the community of the platform. What is shown is not that separate entities matter but instead the spaces in between them. Home is not made up of single objects or things, not even of household members on their own. Home is a stretch out construction realized through relationships. According to this study’s informants Instagram is an integrated part of the home, playing just as an important role as any other room. By utilizing the digital environment different levels of the homes are created and Instagram is used as a stage for performance. Furthermore, in a floating reality a sort of filtering function has become a strategy to structure meaning and sort the social. Also, what has been thought of as personal content has come forth as highly co-created and the sense of self is rather to be called the common sense. Actors, human as well as material ones, come together in clusters to shape the way we view and do our homes through the digital window of Instagram.
SPIRITUALITET OCH INTUITIVA VIBES Tjejers strävan efter respektabilitet i ett digitalt rum
(2024-10-07) Röding, Magdalena; University of Gothenburg/Department of Cultural Sciences; Göteborgs universitet/Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper
On social media, girls create digital spaces where a distinctive spiritual culture emerges. This spiritual culture is therapeutic in nature, consisting of therapeutic compositions and happiness-generating templates that contribute to the girls' respectability by allowing them to take responsibility through their intuitive knowledge. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the pursuit of respectability is manifested in these digital spaces by examining spiritual expressions and exploring how participation in therapeutic culture online serves the attainment of respectability. The study employs a participatory netnographic method, focusing on observations of LIVE broadcasts on TikTok. In these broadcasts, girls engage in various spiritual practices within a shared digital sphere. The observations are analyzed through the theoretical frameworks of Beverley Skeggs' concept of respectability and theories related to therapeutic culture, including happiness culture and therapeutic assemblage. The findings reveal that both the girls hosting the LIVE broadcasts and those participating by commenting collaboratively create a digital culture through the exchange of advice. The study also demonstrates how girls invest in specific forms of cultural capital based on the accessibility of knowledge and the potential benefits it offers. These investments in capital and the pursuit of respectability in the digital realm serve as a substitute for the lack of agency experienced in their physical lives.
MED PUBLIKEN I CENTRUM. En studie om publikutveckling, representation, makt och demokrati på Kulturkvarteret i Örebro
(2024-09-18) Lennartsson, Louise; University of Gothenburg/Department of Cultural Sciences; Göteborgs universitet/Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper
Since the decision to build a cultural center, the relatively newly started Kulturkvarteret in Örebro has had to endure both criticism and praise. While Kulturkvarteret is establishing itself as one of the city's central cultural scenes, the challenge of being relevant to all Örebro residents remains. Against this background, the study aims to investigate how Kulturkvarteret takes on the goal of being a place for everyone via audience development, what discourse about the organization’s audience and non-visitors exists, and how the work affects the organization and society from a democratic point of view. These questions are answered based on a critical approach and with the help of relevant theories about discourse and power, performativity and public spheres. The material that forms the foundation of the essay has been collected through ethnographic methods where both participative observations and interviews with staff integrate to cover different perspectives from the organization. The essay's result shows that audience development as a concept and working method is multi-faceted with several starting points. At Kulturkvarteret, a goal has been set to reach an average of Örebro's demographics. Through audience development, representation among visitors is expected to increase, which in turn entails the cultural policy goal that Kulturkvarteret should be a place for democratic meetings. While the interviews show that the challenge of reaching groups that do not visit Kulturkvarteret is extensive, that is not always the focus of the work itself. During the observations, the work is instead more about developing the relationship with the visitor groups that have lower thresholds to visit the organizations. At Kulturkvarteret, there is also a significant discourse about who is a part of the audience and who is not. A lack of representation among both staff and visitors divides the demographics of Örebro between an “us” and a “them”. The conclusion is therefore that while Kulturkvarteret works towards its goal of being an inclusive place for everyone, active and long-term strategic work is required to continue to be relevant to as many of the population as possible.
Det har inte kommit till vår kommun ännu - En analys av svensk kulturpolitik
(2024-09-11) Törnqvist, Samuel; University of Gothenburg/Department of Cultural Sciences; Göteborgs universitet/Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper
This thesis investigates recent changes in Swedish cultural policy, focusing on the perspectives of municipal civil servants. The study identifies two primary areas of concern: economic instability and political instability. Interviews with civil servants reveal thateconomic changes are more straightforward to address, often involving budget adjustments and prioritization of resources. However, political interference in cultural matters, characterized by increased detailed oversight and control, present more complex challenges. Previously, a broad consensus had depoliticized Swedish cultural policy, which has led to the rise of right-wing extremists and nationalist voices which has shifted the discourse. The political instability has led to conflicts between democratic values and bureaucratic efficiency. The findings highlight the tension between maintaining professional integrity and adhering to political directives, illustrating the multifaceted role of civil servants in navigating these dual pressures.
In the Eyes of Media: Discourses on the Idea of Children in News Reporting on Youth Prisons in Sweden
(2024-07-18) Lindblom Reitz, Nicole; University of Gothenburg/Department of Cultural Sciences; Göteborgs universitet/Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper
This thesis aims to dissect how the idea of children is discursively constructed in the news reporting on youth prisons in Sweden, and to demonstrate how seemingly objective discourses on children are constructed and ideological. The study is conducted by doing a discourse analysis on 28 news articles on youth prisons from five of the most read newspapers in Sweden. A theoretical framework consisting of discourse theory, intersectionality and two liberal citizenship models are applied to the analysis. The study finds that the idea of children is assigned meaning in contradicting ways, although mainly as criminals or soon-to-be criminals through the voices of adults. Children are on the one hand constructed as children and victims to criminality in need of protection. On the other hand, children are constructed as a threat to society and equalized to adults, requiring urgent legal measures focusing on punishing Children in the form of youth prisons and other repressive measures.
Mode, Media, Makt och Materialitet. En studie i AI och bilder av mode genererade i Stable Diffusion och Midjourney
(2024-06-28) Carlén, Linda; University of Gothenburg/Department of Cultural Sciences; Göteborgs universitet/Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper
The world today is experiencing an AI summer, urging us to engage with its technologies on a daily basis. Recently, researchers have begun to voice concerns about the potential risks if we do not address the inherent biases in these systems. After all, AI is merely code based on mathematics produced by humans. This essay focuses on Stable Diffusion and Midjourney to examine biases in fashion representation and how fashion is visualized and reproduced concerning race, social class, and culture. A series of prompts were intentionally written in simple terms such as “rich,” “poor,” and “race.” The results revealed troubling biases, as these programs consistently depicted poor individuals as people of color and portrayed wealthy, elegantly dressed individuals as exclusively white.

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