Deadly Desire : A Psychoanalytical Reading of Desire and Death in the Poetry of Dylan Thomas

Dylan Thomas' work is often explored in light of the poet himself, and he has been referred to as modernism's l'enfant terrible or even described as a late romanticist. The aim in this essay is to explore the poetry without regard to his personal life as well as highlight previously ignored oedipal elements in said poetry. The main goal is to assert Thomas' place amongst the modernist literati, of which most were heavily influenced by Freud, as well as to be an acknowledgement of his work without considering his biography.

Ausencia, prohibición y carencia : Estudio de los personajes y el deseo frustrado en tres obras de García Lorca

In this thesis, the main male characters in three of the plays written by Federico García Lorca are analysed with the aim of seeingthe role they play in the frustration of desire. After two chapters dedicated to a review of published critical studies on Lorca and tocertain theoretical considerations, Chapter Three examines desire drawing on Ubersfeld's actancial model and observes that thesemale characters can be divided into two groups: those who are desired and those who are undesired.In Chapter Four this classification is linked to an analysis of absence, prohibition and lack. Absence is here defined not asrelated to their non-appearance on stage but rather to their non-presence in the lives of the desiring female protagonists. It isobserved that a number of male characters are absent in the plays mainly due to death or a journey. As far as prohibition isconcerned, in two of the works, there is a moral code associated with concepts such as "honour" and "decency", which blocks thefemale characters' access to the males they desire. Chapter Four also shows how several characters can be considered as lacking inthe sense that they do not possess the ideal male qualities contained in the plays. This chapter reaches the conclusion that desiredmale characters are either absent or forbidden in the world of the desiring female, whereas undesired male characters are lacking inthe sense that they fail to live up to the ideal highlighted in the plays.Chapter Five analyses the female characters' perception of the male figures, making use of René Girard's notion of"transfiguration", which alludes to a process of idealisation of the object of desire. Our analysis reveals a connection betweendesire, denied access to the object of desire and transfiguration in the main subjects of desire. The phenomenon of "transfiguration"has several functions in the play: firstly, the creation of hyperbolical male characters; secondly, that of transmitting the intensity ofthe desire experienced and, finally, the highlighting of the lack of certain qualities in several male characters.We thus observe that, in these three plays written by García Lorca, Girard's pessimistic view of desire is confirmed, since desireneeds a series of obstacles, such as absence or prohibition, to survive. However, this is not the only explanation for the frustrationof desire: other factors, like the actions of certain male characters or destiny, also play a decisive role.

Bland äckliga fittor och kunskapsluckor : En kritisk analys av tonårstjejers sexuella agens och dess frigörande och diciplinerande potential, baserat på berättelser av barnmorskor och kuratorer

Ett använt begrepp när det gäller tonårstjejer och sexualitet är sexuell agens, att handla efter egna beslut. Avsikten med denna studie är att nå en ökad förståelse av vad som påverkar utvecklingen av sexuell agens hos tonårstjejer, utifrån berättelser av två professioner vid ungdomsmottagningar. Syftet är också att göra en kritisk analys och en sociologisk teoretisering av upplevelsen av sexuell agens samt utifrån ett maktperspektiv utreda dess disciplinerande och frigörande potential. Tidigare forskning visar främst att det finns en avsaknad av lust och kunskap hos tonårstjejer samt att deras förmåga att ta självständiga beslut i relation till sexualitet är avhängt deras agens. I denna studie genomfördes kvalitativa intervjuer med barnmorskor och kuratorer vid ungdomsmottagningar. Tematisk analysmetod användes vid tolkningsförfarandet. Det empiriska materialet visade bland annat att tonårstjejers agens är influerat av yttre påverkan, gränssättning, skam, självförtroende och kunskap. För att nå en sociologisk förståelse av det empiriska materialet har sociologiska perspektiv på sexualitet, makt samt Foucaults teori om kroppens disciplinering använts. Baserat på professionerna vid ungdomsmottagningarna visade analysen att utvecklingen av sexuell agens gynnas av kunskap och självförtroende, hämmas av påverkan och skam samt både gynnas och hämmas av gränssättning. Den fördjupade analysen visade att sexuell agens kan skapa autonoma beslut, vilket minskar sårbarheten för maktens disciplin och därmed verkar frigörande inom disciplinens egendefinierade gränser. En avslutande slutsats var att upplevelsen av sexuell agens bör förstås som främst disciplinerande.  

"Ungerska för rötternas skull" : Språkval och identitet bland andragenerationens ungrare i Sverige och Finland

This thesis is a comparative sociolinguistic study which describes and compares language choice among people with Hungarian background in Sweden and Finland and studies their views on the importance of the Hungarian language and Hungarian cultural heritage for identity. The future prospects of language maintenance and language shift and differences between the Swedish-Hungarians and the Finnish-Hungarians are discussed. A survey was completed among 50 Swedish-Hungarian informants and 38 Finnish-Hungarian informants during 2006. The survey was supplemented by in-depth interviews with 15 informants during 2007. The majority language, either Swedish or Finnish, is much more active in the second-generation Hungarians’ lives than Hungarian is. Hungarian is mostly used in the domain of family relations. The language choices made today are dependent on the informant’s situation during childhood, particularly the parents’ usage of the language and the ability to learn and use Hungarian, chiefly gained through contact with the parents’ mother country and other Hungarian speakers. For some informants, having Hungarian roots forms the sole foundation for belonging, while for others it is this heritage combined with the culture, the ability to use the language or specific character traits. The Hungarian background is most often seen as a treasure offering diversity in life. Finnish-Hungarians are generally more positive about their Hungarian background, have better competence in the language and a greater awareness of the culture than Swedish-Hungarians. The Hungarian language plays a central though often symbolic role. The most important conditions for minority language preservation are language competence together with the desire and opportunity to use it; whereof the largest deficit among second-generation Hungarians is knowledge of the Hungarian language. Only one-fourth of the informants have all of the conditions necessary to be able to maintain the language, which means that Hungarian is an endangered minority language in Sweden and Finland.

Communication in Smoking Cessation and Self-management : a study at Nurse-led COPD-clinics in Primary Health Care

ABSTRACTThe general aim of this thesis was to investigate behavioral change communication at nurse-led chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) clinics in primary health care, focusing on communication in self-management and smoking cessation for patients with COPD.Designs: Observational, prospective observational and experimental designs were used.Methods: To explore and describe the structure and content of self-management education and smoking cessation communication, consultations between patients (n=30) and nurses (n=7) were videotaped and analyzed with three instruments: Consulting Map (CM), the Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity (MITI) scale and the Client Language Assessment in Motivational Interviewing (CLAMI). To examine the effects of structured self-management education, patients with COPD (n=52) were randomized in an intervention and a control group. Patients’ quality of life (QoL), knowledge about COPD and smoking cessation were examined with a questionnaire on knowledge about COPD and smoking habits and with St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire, addressing QoL. Results: The findings from the videotaped consultations showed that communication about the reasons for consultation mainly concerned medical and physical problems and (to a certain extent) patients´ perceptions. Two consultations ended with shared understanding, but none of the patients received an individual treatment-plan. In the smoking cessation communication the nurses did only to a small extent evoke patients’ reasons for change, fostered collaboration and supported patients’ autonomy. The nurses provided a lot of information (42%), asked closed (21%) rather than open questions (3%), made simpler (14%) rather than complex (2%) reflections and used MI non-adherent (16%) rather than MI-adherent (5%) behavior. Most of the patients’ utterances in the communication were neutral either toward or away from smoking cessation (59%), utterances about reason (desire, ability and need) were 40%, taking steps 1% and commitment to stop smoking 0%. The number of patients who stopped smoking, and patients’ knowledge about the disease and their QoL, was increased by structured self-management education and smoking cessation in collaboration between the patient, nurse and physician and, when necessary, a physiotherapist, a dietician, an occupational therapist and/or a medical social worker.Conclusion The communication at nurse-led COPD clinics rarely involved the patients in shared understanding and responsibility and concerned patients’ fears, worries and problems only to a limited extent. The results also showed that nurses had difficulties in attaining proficiency in behavioral change communication. Structured self-management education showed positive effects on patients’ perceived QoL, on the number of patients who quit smoking and on patients’ knowledge about COPD.

Medical students’ knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions on contraceptive use and counselling : a cross-sectional survey in Maharashtra, India

Objectives. This study aimed to investigate the knowledge, attitudes and perceptionstowards contraceptive use and counselling among medical students in Maharashtra, India. Setting. Considerable global maternal mortality and morbidity could be avoided through theuse of effective contraception. In India, contraception services are frequently unavailable or there are obstacles to obtaining modern, reversible contraceptives. Participants. A cross-sectional descriptive study using a self-administered questionnaire was conducted among 1996 medical students in their fifth year of study at 27 medical colleges in the state of Maharashtra, India. Descriptive and analytical statistics interpreted the survey instrument and significant results were presented with 95% CI. Results. Respondents expressed a desire to provide contraceptive services. A few studentshad experienced training in abortion care. There were misconceptions about moderncontraceptive methods and the impact of sex education. Attitudes towards contraceptionwere mainly positive, premarital counselling was supported and the influence of traditional values and negative provider attitudes on services was recognised. Gender, area of upbringing and type of medical college did not change the results. Conclusions. Despite mostly positive attitudes towards modern contraceptives, sex education and family planning counselling, medical students in Maharashtra have misconceptions about modern methods of contraception. Preservice and in-service training in contraceptive counselling should be implemented in order to increase women's access to evidence-based maternal healthcare services.

Students' views on the learning of kanji : A study the views and experiences of students at the Swedish universities concerning the teaching and learning of Chinese characters as used in Japanese

Kanji, the Chinese characters adopted to write the Japanese language, is often mentioned as one of the most difficult aspects of mastering said language. This is especially said about people from outside the Sinosphere i.e. PRC, Taiwan, North and South Korea, Japan and Vietnam. In the following thesis 12 students studying the Japanese language at Swedish universities were interviewed about their experiences when it comes to learning and being taught about kanji. A chapter summarizing some of the research that is relevant to this thesis is also included. Topics touched upon in this and the result chapter include the desire for more structured approach to kanji learning based on breaking down the characters into elemental components, spaced repetition (SRS), mnemonics.