Browsing by Subject "Agency"

Tiedekunta/Osasto – Fakultet/Sektion – Faculty Faculty of Arts and Humanities Tekijä – Författare – Author Jake Tippett Työn nimi – Arbetets titel – Title Beyond the Doxa: Accounting for Paradox in Niccolò Machiavelli Oppiaine – Läroämne – Subject General History Työn laji – Arbetets art – Level MA Aika – Datum – Month and year August 2020 Sivumäärä– Sidoantal – Number of pages 63 Tiivistelmä – Referat – Abstract This thesis examines paradox in a small, yet diverse, selection of Niccolò Machiavelli’s writings — his letters, poems, and his major political/literary writings — and sets out to address the gap that exists in the critical appreciation of paradox in his work. Contextualising his writings in relation to the Italian Renaissance culture of paradox, I have examined paradox here in connection to questions of human agency. I discuss the way paradox can be seen to function as a literary site of cultural conflict and construction and argue that Machiavelli utilised the paradoxical form as a creative tool to enable his own innovative artistic acts of agency. Lastly, I argue that paradox informed his own theoretical mediations on effective human action. In doing so, I draw on upon Saussure’s language theories to reconceptualize the way paradox works to challenge orthodoxy and cultural convention and to consider how it may be seen to function as a tool of human agency in Machiavelli’s work. I argue that the power of paradox derives from its presentation of something being what it is considered not to be. This expression of “difference” in relation to doxa works to challenge any objective or fixed status held by the particular formulation that it confronts. I also argue that, in marking a difference, paradox points back, at the same time, towards its own possibility of difference and its own paradoxicality, and that this alterity and indeterminate character of paradox can be located in Machiavelli’s own theories surrounding effective human action. I conclude, by suggesting that paradox can be considered a central form and concept in Machiavelli’s writings. And that his work may be read intertextually in relation to the Italian Renaissance culture of paradox. Furthermore, the reconceptualization of paradox offered here has highlighted its potential as powerful tool of human agency. Avainsanat – Nyckelord – Keywords Machiavelli, Paradox, Agency Säilytyspaikka – Förvaringställe – Where deposited Muita tietoja – Övriga uppgifter – Additional information

This research focused on studying how government constructs the phenomenon of social entrepreneurship in the context of Hong Kong. Social psychological perspectives were applied to develop the theoretical and methodological framework of the research. Seven pieces of government papers and one piece of government speech, in total 28 pages of content, ranging from the year 2007 to the year 2017, were selected as research materials. These official materials were chosen because they explained the government’s social enterprise policy in government’s own language. The main research question “how social entrepreneurship is constructed in Hong Kong?” was divided into three subquestions, respectively, concerning on what repertoires were used by the government to construct roles and positions; on how agency was constructed by the government; and on the effects and consequences that might be brought by the government’s construction of social entrepreneurship. The major findings of the empirical study include: eight subject categories were identified from the government’s construction, and eight repertoires were found being used by the government to construct roles and positions for the subject categories. The study revealed that the goals government constructed for social enterprises were twofold: to become competitive to achieve financial sustainability in the long run, and to provide more low-skilled job opportunities for the socially disadvantaged people. Besides, the study found that the government was positioning itself as the principal of the social enterprise sector, and using the ideology of “helping the socially disadvantaged people to become self-reliant” to justify its policy preference for the Work Integration Social Enterprise. The study further revealed that the success of the social enterprise sector was being attributed to the government’s support and effort, rather than to the effort of the social enterprise operators and the social entrepreneurs. Based on the research findings, two major conclusions were drawn: first, in the context of Hong Kong, the government is using the social enterprise sector as a vehicle to tackle its welfare-reform problems, so the social enterprise sector is treated as a subsystem subjugated to the state’s welfare system; second, the phenomenon of social entrepreneurship in Hong Kong has been constructed by the government as a narrow pursuit, and this construction of social entrepreneurship is being too narrow in scope to accommodate the diversified values of social entrepreneurship.

This thesis focuses on examining American culture in the early twenty-first century via its popular culture depiction of German culture in the 1940s. Film is used as a means to represent, recreate, and reaffirm cultural values; it provides evidence of deeply rooted beliefs and preferences. Representations on screen reflect present realities, rather than historical fact. By showing history in a certain light, we are actually showing ourselves in a certain light. In this thesis I use the categories of witness, accomplice, and perpetrator to examine three Hollywood films from 2008 and 2009 depicting German women during the Holocaust: The Reader, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, and Inglourious Basterds. I identify these archetypes as they are displayed in the films and analyze the way that history is used to reflect contemporary values, focusing on the gendered aspect of war guilt. The way that female characters are depicted in these three films says something about the prevailing expectations for women in early twenty-first century American culture, namely that they lack the agency that being responsible or guilty requires. Guilt implies full agency. If a person does not have agency, they are not guilty but instead either complicit or another victim of the real guilty party. By denying women agency, we excuse them from guilt. Prevailing beliefs about the eternal masculine and feminine are maintained when we choose to ignore the nuances of history, opting instead to reiterate simplistic binaries that satisfy audience demands.

Youth climate activism has accelerated on an unprecedented scale since 2018 and of the rising popularity of international activist movements Fridays For Future and Extinction Rebellion. Gender and age affect all social positions, but the meaning of girlhood is scarcely studied in the context of youth climate activism. This thesis aims to address this gap and offer valuable perspectives on girls’ experiences of agency and girlhood in climate activism, which is a powerful way to practice active citizenship. This thesis delves into girls’ gendered and age-specific positions in the youth climate movement and explores the boundaries activist girls experience due to their girlhood. The material consists of interviews with 13 girls from Finland, Sweden, and Denmark who are active on climate matters. For the purpose of the analysis, the participants are categorised as climate activists and climate agents, depending on their self-perceived position and forms of action. I study the positions of power and their connection to different cultural positionings by using an intersectional approach in the analysis. I present the ways climate activism is practiced by the participants, both in the public and private spheres. The participants are in different parts of their activist journey and have different experiences of age-related boundaries. Being a girl also produces boundaries for agency both in social and public arenas. The boundaries are often set by adults, but the participants experience their parents being a great support, even when the boundaries for activists are negotiated. Critical voices towards activism usually come from adults outside the movement or in a school environment. School climate/environment groups are also important arenas for young people to get engaged in climate activism. The strong involvement of girls is normalised in the movement, which the participants reflect on resulting from girls’ socialisation to care about other people and the environment. Regardless of the emphasised inclusiveness of the movement, some gendered boundaries and obstacles, such as the cultural notions of girls as individual heroes and experiences of not being safe, remain and need to be overcome to act.

Peacebuilding today is increasingly guided by the inclusivity norm, which has resulted in a call for participation of a diversity of actors. While religious actors’ and women’s efforts are sought in peacebuilding, the bridging group of actors – women active in peacebuilding on religious basis – has largely remained invisible. The aim of this thesis is to explore if and how women and religion are recognized and described in recent research on the role of religion in peacebuilding and the role of women in peacebuilding respectively. A second aim is to try to understand why women active in peacebuilding on religious basis remain invisible, especially with the recognized need for diversity in the peacebuilding field. In this thesis, quantitative and qualitative analyses are carried out on two sets of literature sources regarding the role of religion in peacebuilding and the role of women in peacebuilding respectively. The literature sets included primary sources such as official United Nations documents and secondary sources with a broad, global research focus. The quantitative analysis indicates that the literature on religious peacebuilding more frequently delved into topics related to women and gender than the literature on women’s peacebuilding does on matters of faith and religion. The qualitative analysis reveals several, at times contradictory perspectives on women and religion. In literature on women’s peacebuilding, religion is portrayed as a hindrance to women’s rights, as a resource for peacebuilding, as extremism and as a reason for conflict. The literature on religious peacebuilding portrays women as suppressed by religion, as empowered by religion, as victims of violence, as religious peacebuilders and as equal to men. The qualitative analysis reveals that identity and agency are important questions when looking at intersections of women, religion and peacebuilding. Both literature sets tend to juxtapose religious identity and gender identity in attempting to determine which one is or should be of greater importance. Both fields could benefit from carrying out an intersectional analysis, creating new possibilities for action in different contexts. Regarding agency, especially the field of women’s peacebuilding could benefit from a broadened view of agency, where it would not only be equated with women resisting religious traditions and leadership. The field of religious peacebuilding, on the other hand, could benefit from broadening the view of women to include the role of agents and not just passive victims. Future research should address the different forms of agency exhibited by religious women engaged in peacebuilding and how religious and/or gender identity can enhance or hinder peacebuilding.