Ring Out Your Dead : Distribution, form, and function of iron amulets in the late Iron Age grave fields of Lovö

The purpose of this study is to analyze the distribution, forms, and function(s) of iron amulets deposited in the late Iron Age gravefields of Lovö, with the goal of ascertaining how (and so far as possible why) these objects were utilized in rituals carried out during and after burials. Particular emphasis is given to re-interpreting the largest group of iron amulets, the iron amulet rings, in a more relational and practice-focused way than has heretofore been attempted. By framing burial analyses, questions of typology, and evidence of ritualized actions in comparison with what is known of other cult sites in Mälardalen specifically– and theorized about the cognitive landscape(s) of late Iron Age Scandinavia generally– a picture of iron amulets as inscribed objects made to act as catalytic, protective, and mediating agents is brought to light.

Barriers of sentiment : Identity -formation, -regulation and subjectification in preschools

This thesis studies preschool socialization in terms of identity -formation, -regulation, and subjectification. Both the methodology and theoretical backdrop draws on Critical Management Studies, and the contribution to research comes from studying a subject otherwise non-prioritized. I have performed a qualitative study entailing interviews of pedagogues and preschool chiefs working within the same company in the Stockholm region. The study indicate that preschool discourse emphasize the importance of social competences and rituals, and moreover that the institution also accentuates its role in setting the proper ‘preconditions’. Furthermore, the study demonstrates how pedagogues – using mechanisms such as individual discourses, the children’s agency, and the milieu – try to form individuals who are: social, independent, self-reliant, have a strong ‘self’, joyful towards learning, and ‘can do it themselves’. I make a liaison between the aforementioned ideals and certain trends discussed by managerial literature, like for instance currents towards: self-management, neo-normative control, self-entrepreneurial attitudes, ambidextrousness, and the ‘principle of potential’ (Costea et al., 2012; Fleming & Study, 2009; Holmqvist & Spicer, 2013; Maravelias, 2011; Pongratz & Voß, 2003). Finally the thesis concludes by firstly underscoring that the Discourse of for example ‘joyful learning’ and ‘independency’ in preschools tend to demolish physical modes of control in place of psychological ones; and secondly, by discussing historical practices, the thesis brings attention to a shift from safekeeping children to preparing them for industrial, urbanistic, and capitalistic social existence.