Travel Report from the first field trip within the SIDA supported project "Mini-grids supplied by renewable energy - improving technical and social feasibility : Including visits to Ihushi Development Center, Tweyambe Secondary School and Mavuno Project in Tanzania. Conducted in April 2011

This report describes the outcome of the first visit to Tanzania, within the project "Mini-grids supplied by renewable energy - improving technical and social feasibility". The trip included visits to three different organizations; Ihushi Development Center (IDC) near Mwanza, TIDESO near Bukoba, and Mavuno Project in Karagwe. At IDC, a brief evaluation of the current power system was done and measuring equipment for long term measurements were installed. At all three locations investigations regarding the current and future electricity demand were conducted and connections to people relevant to the study were established. The report is including as well some technical specifications as some observations regarding organization and management of the technical systems. The trip was including only short visits and therefore only brief introductions to the different organizations, based on observations done by the author. The report is hence describing the author’s understanding of the technical system and social structures after only short visits to each of the organizations, and may differ from observations done at another point in time, over a different time period, or by some other person.This report describes the outcome of the first visit to Tanzania, within the project "Mini-grids supplied by renewable energy - improving technical and social feasibility". The trip included visits to three different organizations; Ihushi Development Center (IDC) near Mwanza, TIDESO near Bukoba, and Mavuno Project in Karagwe. At IDC, a brief evaluation of the current power system was done and measuring equipment for long term measurements were installed. At all three locations investigations regarding the current and future electricity demand were conducted and connections to people relevant to the study were established. The report is including as well some technical specifications as some observations regarding organization and management of the technical systems. The trip was including only short visits and therefore only brief introductions to the different organizations, based on observations done by the author. The report is hence describing the author’s understanding of the technical system and social structures after only short visits to each of the organizations, and may differ from observations done at another point in time, over a different time period, or by some other person.

Aspects of Liminality in Eilis Ni Dhuibhne's The Dancers Dancing

In this essay I refer Eilis Ni Dhuibhne’s narrative construction of the main characters and the theme of the novel The Dancers Dancing, in the context of the anthropologist Victor Turner’s concept of liminality. Thus the summer in the Gaeltacht that five teenage girls experience, can be understood as a depiction of the liminal phase in a rite of passage. Ni Dhuibhne’s differently constructed characters enlighten different aspects of liminality and through the céilí dance their experiences are exposed. Furthermore this essay suggests that Julia Kristeva’s notion of the chora, which can be associated to dance, is also relevant when describing the unbounded and unlimited process that radically can reform social structures. I conclude that the liminal space offers an area of many possibilities. It functions as a free zone where the main characters can freely explore their personal issues that trouble them, or the difficulties of their own society.

Motståndets betydelse : Ett bidrag till aktör-strukturdebatten

The significance of inhibition: a contribution to the agency-structure debate A central problem in social theory today is how to integrate agency and structure. The vital question is how to explain social reality by proceeding from both the notion of people doing things which affect the social relationships in which they are embedded (agency) and the idea of the social context moulding social activity (structure). Sociologists as Pierre Bourdieu, Anthony Giddens and Jürgen Habermas call attention to social practices as the ”missing link” between agency and structure. In accentuating social practices, the aim is to explain how people in their daily encounters actively contribute to the production and reproduction of social structures. This article puts forth the posthumous contribution of George Herbert Mead to the agency-structure debate. I argue that his social pragmatist theory gives us a compound and thorough– but not fully recognized – explanation of the dynamics and the course of events in structurally framed encounters. By especially emphasizing the importance Mead ascribes to the inhibited social act, I examine how his theory deepens the understanding of social practices as a bridge between agency and structure.

Understanding older people’s experiences of home care through the capability approach

The core concepts of CA In the theoretical framework of CA, well-being is constituted by a person’s unique way of functioning and capabilities. This means that a person's well-being is personal and involves freedom of choice which in turn means they have a number of options. Although many people may have the same resources, it is of importance to study how these resources are converted into how they function. Thus, wellbeing is about the person's freedom to achieve in general and the capabilities to function in particular (Sen, 1995). Strength of the capability approach The capability approach is a useful tool for matching objective evaluations with subjective metrics. Furthermore, although one’s individual abilities are in focus, contextual factors, and subjective perceptions and experiences, are taken into consideration. Critiques against the CA The capability approach has been criticized for being too individual-centered and not taking sufficient account to social structures in society. It is difficult to know what a person would choose to do if other options were available. Therefore, to operationalize abilities involves uncertainties.

Den offentliga sektorns komplexa adaptiva system : En kvalitativ studie om medarbetarpolicys i praktiken

Intresset för hur HR och ledning kan påverka medarbetarnas beteendemönster och den sociala strukturen inom organisationer har gett upphov till denna undersökning. Med utgångspunkt i teorier om komplexa adaptiva system som perspektiv har jag försökt fånga medarbetarnas förutsättningar att nå organisationers vision och därmed förverkliga medarbetarpolicyn i praktiken. Tillsammans med kontaktpersoner från den undersökta kommunen har jag gjort en djupdykning i en offentlig organisation i syfte att förklara byråkratins inverkan på beteendemönstret hos medarbetarna och hur de tillsammans skapar en social struktur vilken speglar organisationens vision. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur det adaptiva systemet fungerar i en byråkratisk organisation och vad det betyder för medarbetarnas möjligheter att förverkliga organisationens vision och medarbetarpolicy. Undersökningen har genomförts på en socialförvaltning i en kommun i mellan Sverige och med en kvalitativ metod och semistrukturerade intervjuer har sex respondenter deltagit i undersökningen. Samtliga respondenter har olika befattningar inom organisationen och bidrar därmed med olika perspektiv på samma fenomen. Undersökningens resultat visar att den offentliga verksamhetens byråkratiska organisationsstruktur bidrar till att det bildas olika adaptiva system inom organisationen, där medarbetarnas beteendemönster bildar en social struktur som leder till att visionen och medarbetarpolicyn inte förverkligas. Undersökningen visar även att de adaptiva systemen inom organisationen inte påverkar varandra, då de inte interagerar med varandra inom organisationen. Det som ligger till grund för hur medarbetarnas beteendemönster etableras inom organisationen är kraven från omvärlden, hög arbetsbelastning och avsaknaden av stabilitet i den organisatoriska och sociala arbetsmiljön och inte vad tidigare forskning visat; att det skulle vara hög regelstyrning som ligger till grund för beteendemönstret inom den offentliga sektorn. Slutsatsen är att för att medarbetarna ska kunna förverkliga organisationens vision och medarbetarpolicy kräver det att HR, ledning och medarbetare alla ingår i samma adaptiva system. För att det ska vara möjligt behöver HR upprätta strategier för hur samtliga inom organisationen ska interagera med varandra i det dagliga arbetet. Ledningen och medarbetarna behöver även ha goda möjligheter att kommunicera med varandra regelbundet i en större omfattning än vad de gör idag. Konkreta åtgärder för hur det lämpligen bör genomföras presenteras under diskussionen.