Sivistyksestä sivilisaatioon. Kulttuurikäsitys J. V. Snellmanin historiallisessa ajattelussa

From Bildung to Civilisation. Conception of Culture in J. V. Snellman’s Historical Thinking The research explores Johan Vilhelm Snellman’s (1806–1881) conception of culture in the context of his historical thinking. Snellman was a Finnish, Swedish-speaking journalist, teacher and thinker, who held a central position in the Finnish national discourse during the nineteenth century. He has been considered as one of the leading theorists of a Finnish nation, writing widely about the themes such as the advancement of the national education, Finnish language and culture. Snellman is already a widely studied person in Finnish intellectual history, often characterised as a follower of G. W. F. Hegel’s philosophical system. My own research introduces a new kind of approach on Snellman’s texts, emphasising the conceptual level of his thought. With this approach, my aim is to broaden the Finnish research tradition on conceptual history. I consider my study as a cultural history of concepts, belonging also to the field of intellectual history. My focus is on one hand on the close reading of Snellman’s texts and on the other hand on contextualising his texts to the European intellectual tradition of the time. A key concept of Snellman’s theoretical thinking is his concept of bildning, which can be considered as a Swedish counterpart of the German concept of Bildung. The Swedish word incorporated all the main elements of the German concept. It could mean education or the so-called high culture, but most fundamentally it was about the self-formation of the individual. This is also the context in which Snellman’s concept of bildning has often been interpreted. In the study, I use the concept of bildning as a starting point of my research but I broaden my focus on the cognate concepts such as culture (kultur), spirit (anda) and civilisation. The purpose of my study is thus to illustrate how Snellman used and modified these concepts and from these observations to draw a conclusion about the nature of his conception of culture. Snellman was an early Finnish philosopher of history but also interested in the practice of the writing of history. He did not write any historical presentations himself but followed the publications in the field of history and introduced European historical writing to the Finnish, Swedish-speaking reading audience in his newspapers. The primary source material consists of different types of Snellman’s texts, including philosophical writings, lecture material, newspaper articles and private letters. I’m reading Snellman’s texts in the context of other texts produced both by his Finnish predecessors and contemporaries and by Swedish, German and French writers. Snellman’s principal philosophical works, Versuch einer spekulativen Entwicklung der Idee der Persönlichkeit (1841) and Läran om staten (1842), were both written abroad. Both of the works were contributions to contemporary debates on the international level, especially in Germany and Sweden. During the 1840s and 1850s Snellman had two newspapers of his own, Saima and Litteraturblad, which were directed towards the Swedish-speaking educated class. Both of the newspapers were very popular and their circulations were among the largest of their day in Finland. The topics of his articles and reviews covered literature, poetry, philosophy and education as well as issues concerning the economic, industrial and technical development in Finland. In his newspapers Snellman not only brought forth his own ideas but also spread the knowledge of European events and ideas to his readers. He followed very carefully the cultural and political situation in Western Europe. He also followed European magazines and newspapers and was well acquainted with German, French and also English literature – and of course Swedish literature to with which he had the closest ties. In his newspapers Snellman wrote countless number of literary reviews and critics, introducing his readers to European literature. The study consists of three main chapters in which I explore my research question in three different, yet overlapping contexts. In the first of these chapters, I analyse Snellman’n theoretical thinking and his concepts of bildning, kultur, anda and civilisation in the context of earlier cultural discourse in Finland as well as the tradition of German idealistic philosophy and neo-humanism. With the Finnish cultural discourse I refer to the early cultural discussion in Finland, which emerged after the year 1809, when Finland became an autonomous entity of its own as a Grand Duchy of Russia. Scholars of the Academy of Turku opened a discussion on the themes such as the state of national consciousness, the need for national education and the development of the Finnish language as a national language of Finland. Many of these academics were also Snellman’s teachers in the early years of his academic career and Snellman clearly formulated his own ideas in the footsteps of these Finnish predecessors. In his theoretical thinking Snellman was a collectivist; according to him an individual should always be understood in connection with the society, its values and manners, as well as to the traditions of a culture where an individual belongs to. In his philosophy of the human spirit Snellman was in many ways a Hegelian but his notion of education or ‘bildning’ includes also elements that connect him with the wider tradition of German intellectual history, namely the neo-humanist tradition and, at least to some extent, to the terminology of J. G. Herder or J. G. Fichte, for example. In this chapter, I also explore Snellman’s theory of history. In his historical thinking Snellman was an idealist, believing in the historical development of the human spirit (Geist in German language). One can characterise his theory of history by stating that it is a mixture of a Hegelian triumph of the spirit and Herderian emphasis on humanity (Humanität) and the relative nature of ‘Bildung’. For Snellman, the process of ‘bildning’ or ‘Bildung’ is being realised in historical development through the actions of human beings. Snellman believed in the historical development of the human civilization. Still Snellman himself considered that he had abandoned Hegel’s idea about the process of world history. Snellman – rightly or wrongly – criticised Hegel of emphasising the universal end of history (the realisation of the freedom of spirit) at the expense of the historical plurality and the freedom of each historical era. Snellman accused Hegel of neglecting the value and independency of different historical cultures and periods by imposing the abstract norm, the fulfilment of the freedom of spirit, as the ultimate goal of history. The historicist in Snellman believed in the individuality of each historical period; each historical era or culture had values, traditions and modes of thought of its own. This historicist in Snellman could not accept the talk about one measure or the end of history. On the other hand Snellman was also a universalist. He believed that mankind had a common task and that task was the development of ‘Bildung’, freedom or humanity. The second main chapter consists of two parts. In the first part, I explore the Finnish nationalistic discourse from the cultural point of view by analysing the notions such as a nation, national spirit or national language and showing how Snellman formulated his own ideas in a dialogic situation, participating in the Finnish discourse but also reacting to international discussions on the themes of the nation and nationality. For Snellman nationality was to a great extent the collective knowledge and customs or practices of the nation. Snellman stated that nationality is to be considered as a form of ‘bildning’. This could be seen not simply as affection for the fatherland but also for the mental identity of the nation, its ways of thinking, its practices, national language, customs and laws, the history of the nation. The simplest definition of nationality that Snellman gives is that nationality is the social life of the people. In the second part of the chapter I exam Snellman’s historical thinking and his understanding about historical development, interaction between different nations and cultures in the course of history, as well as the question of historical change; how do cultures or civilisations develop and who are the creators of culture? Snellman did not believe in one dominating culture but understood the course of history as a dialogue between different cultures. On the other hand, his views are very Eurocentric – here he follows the ideas of Hegel or for example the French historian François Guizot – for Snellman Europe represented the virtue of pluralism; in Europe one could see the diversity of cultures which, on the other hand, were fundamentally based on a common Christian tradition. In the third main chapter, my focus is on the writing of history, more precisely on Snellman’s ideas on the nature of history as a science and on the proper way of writing historical presentations. Snellman wrote critics on the works of history and introduced his readers to the writing of history especially in France, Sweden and German-speaking area – in some extend also in Britain. Snellman’s collectivistic view becomes evident also in his reviews on historical writing. For Snellman history was not about the actions of the states and their heads, nor about the records of ruling families and battles fought. He repeatedly stressed that history is a discipline that seeks to provide a total view of a phenomenon. A historian should not only collect information on historical events, since this information touches only the surface of a certain epoch or civilisation; he has to understand an epoch as totality. This required an understanding about the major contours in history, connections between civilisations and an awareness of significant turning points in historical development. In addition, it required a holistic understanding about a certain culture or historical era, including also the so-called inner life of a specific nation, a common people and their ways of life. Snellman wrote explicitly about ‘cultural history’ in his texts, referring to this kind of broad understanding of a society. In historical writing Snellman found this kind of broader view from the works of the French historians such as François Guizot and Jules Michelet. In all of these chapters, I elaborate the conceptual dimension of Snellman’s historical thinking. In my study I argue that Snellman not only adopted the German concepts of Bildung or Kultur in his own thinking but also developed the Swedish concepts in a way that include personal and innovative aspects. Snellman’s concept of bildning is not only a translation from ‘Bildung’ but he uses the Swedish concept in a versatile way that includes both the moral aspect of human development and social dimension of a human life. Along with ‘bildning’ Snellman used also the terms ‘kultur’ and ‘civilisation’ when referring to the totality of a certain nation or historical era, including both the so-called high culture (arts, science, religion) and the modes of thought as well as ways of life of the people as a whole. Unlike many of his Finnish contemporaries, Snellman did not use civilisation as a negative concept, lacking the moral essence of German term ‘Bildung’ or ‘Kultur’. Instead, for Snellman civilisation was a neutral term and here he comes close to the French tradition of using the term. In the study I argue that Snellman’s conception of culture in fact includes a synthesis of the German tradition of ‘Bildung’ and the French tradition of ‘civilisation’.

Point Of No Return: Dope Sick Love and Reindeerspotting as Documentaries of Addiction

In this postgraduate thesis the focus is on two documentary films, Renaud Brothers's Dope Sick Love (2005) and Joonas Neuvonen's Reindeerspotting (2010). In both of these films, addicts are on limelight. The directors of both films follow addicts and their everyday lives on streets with handheld cameras. This thesis will analyze and compare the narratives of these addicts. Do these documentaries affirm to the existing conventions, according to which representations of addicts and addiction are always either miraculous survival stories or stories, which always end up in utter decadence. The main questions this thesis proposes, are how addicts and their narratives are being handled in the two case study films, and how the drug cultures depicted in the films differ from each other. What changes between New York City and Rovaniemi, Northern Finland, and what remains the same. The academic and theoretical framework of this thesis consists of Susanna Helke's doctoral thesis Nanookin jälki, where the history of documentary films' methods and approaches are discussed. Additionally, the thinking is heavily informed by such poststructuralist writers as Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, Louis Althusser, Stuart Hall and Chris Weedon.

Feminismin tila ja tulevaisuus

Kirjallisuusarvostelu

Johdon mittariston kehittäminen

Tämän diplomityön tarkoituksena on tarjota yritykselle ratkaisu talouden seu-rantaan reaaliaikaisesti. Nykyaikaisessa maailmassa yrityksen on kehitettävä toimintaansa jatkuvasti toimintaansa pysyäkseen kilpailussa mukana. Yrityksen toiminnan kehittämisen taustalla ovat myös muuttuneet omistussuhteet ja yri-tyksen uuden pääomistajan kiinnostus seurata taloutta reaaliaikaisemmin. Diplomityössä yritykselle tarjottavat ratkaisut tuotetaan teorian ja yritykseltä saadun tiedon yhdistämisellä. Teoriaosuudessa käydään erilaiset ratkaisumallit perusteluineen läpi. Empiirisessä osassa sovelletaan teoriaosa käytäntöön. Lop-putuloksena yrityksen johdolle tarjotaan valmiita työkaluja talouden seurantaan. Työn tulosten luotettavuus perustuu kirjoittajan laajaan yrityksen tuntemukseen, sekä avoimiin keskusteluihin yrityksen ylimmän johdon kanssa. Yritysjohto an-toi työssä käyttöön kaiken mahdollisen, hyvin salaisenkin materiaalin käyttöön, työn mahdollisimman hyvän lopputuloksen saamiseksi. Pääasiallisen lopputuloksena luotiin sähköinen tuntiseurantalomake, jota nimetyt henkilöt pystyvät seuraamaan reaaliaikaisesti internetin avulla. Yritykselle mää-ritettiin olennaisimmat taloudenmittarit, joita yrityksen tulee seurata ja päivittää määritellyin aikavälein, lisäksi määrättiin vastuu alueet, kenelle asioiden päivitys kuuluu. Lisäksi luotiin avainlukujen seurantatyökalupohja, jonne on kerätty kaikki yrityksen toiminnan kannalta tärkeimmät tiedot. Työkalut ovat valmiina käyttöönotettavaksi. Lopullinen luodun ohjelman hyödyntäminen ja käyttöönot-to tapahtuu myöhemmin.

Edistyneen oppijan suomen konstruktiopiirteitä korpusvetoisesti: avainrakenneanalyysi

Ensikielen jälkeen opittavan kielen tutkimusta ja suomi toisena kielenä alaa sen osana ovat koko niiden olemassaolon ajan hallinneet samat peruskysymykset: millaista oppiminen on eri vaiheissa ja eri ympäristöissä, sekä mikä oppimisessa on yleistä ja toisaalta mikä riippuu opittavasta kielestä ja oppijoiden kielitaustasta. Sähköisten oppijankielen tutkimusaineistojen eli korpusten lisääntymisen myötä tutkijat voivat aiempaa helpommin tutkia näitä ilmiöitä määrällisesti ja tarkastella oppijankielen sisäistä vaihtelua ja sen suhdetta tyypilliseen ensikieliseen kielenkäyttöön kielen eri osa-alueilla käyttöpohjaisesti eli todelliseen kielenkäyttöön pohjautuen. Tekninen kehitys on tuonut mukanaan aineisto- eli korpusvetoisuuden kaltaisia uusia tapoja lähestyä tutkimusaineistoa, jolloin tyypillisiä tutkimuskysymyksiä ”Miksi?” ja ”Miten?” edeltää kysymys: ”Mikä?”. Tässä väitöskirjassa tarkastellaan edistyneiden suomenoppijoiden kirjoitettua akateemista kieltä ja suhteutetaan suomen oppimiselle ominaisia seikkoja käyttöpohjaisen mallin perusolettamuksiin. Aineisto on suomea toisena kielenä käyttävien opiskelijoiden tenttivastauksia, ja se on osa Edistyneiden suomenoppijoiden korpusta. Tutkimus on osin metodologinen, sillä väitöskirjassa esitellään ja siinä sovelletaan uutta korpusvetoista avainrakenneanalyysi-menetelmää, jonka avulla aineistoa lähestytään ilman hypoteeseja siitä, mitkä kielen ilmiöt ovat ominaisia edistyneelle oppijansuomelle. Tutkimus kuuluu kieliopin tutkimuksen piiriin, ja se nojaa kognitiivisen konstruktiokieliopin ajatukseen abstraktiudeltaan vaihtelevista konstruktioista kielijärjestelmän perusyksiköinä. Tulokset puoltavat menetelmän sovellettavuutta kielen oppimisen tutkimukseen, sillä sen avulla kyettiin tunnistamaan konstruktioita, jotka erottavat edistyneitä oppijoita ensikielisistä kirjoittajista (esim. modaaliset verbiketjut), eri ensikieliä puhuvia suomenoppijoita (esim. konjunktiot) sekä konstruktioita, joiden käyttö muuttuu ajan kuluessa (esim. preteriti ja preesens). Monet havaitut erot ovat akateemisen kirjoittamisen erityispiirteitä, mikä tukee ajatusta kielen käyttö- ja kontekstikohtaisesta oppimisesta. Tuloksia voidaan yhtäältä soveltaa akateemisen kielitaidon opetuksessa. Toisaalta menetelmää voidaan käyttää kielenoppimisen tutkimuksen ohella uusien näkökulmien kartoittamiseksi erilaisten tai eri-ikäisten tekstien tyypillisten ominaisuuksien ja erojen tutkimuksessa.

"Rakkaat poikaiset!". Simon ja Wilhelmina Janssonin perhekirjeet egodokumentteina (1858-1887)

Kustavilainen talonpoikaislaivuri Simon Jansson ja hänen vaimonsa Wilhelmina o.s. Widbom kävivät kolmenkymmenen vuoden ajan kirjeenvaihtoa kouluun ja yliopistoon lähetettyjen poikiensa Waldemar, Evald ja Emil Jahnssonin kanssa. Lähes 150 suomen- ja ruotsinkielistä kirjettä on säilynyt Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran kirjallisuusarkistossa ja Turun maakunta-arkistossa. Lähiluvun kautta kirjeistä muodostuu yksityiskohtainen lähde saaristolaisperheen elämäntapaan, arkeen ja työhön sekä saaristoyhteisön sosiaalisen kanssakäymisen muotoihin. Ne kertovat myös ensimmäisen polven oppisivistyneistön synnystä ja niistä resursseista, joita hyödyntäen koulua käymättömät vanhemmat saattoivat kouluttaa lapsensa. Tutkimus liittyy suomalaisten 1800-luvun itseoppineiden kirjoittajien tekstien ja maaseudun kirjallistumisen tutkimukseen. Keskeinen käsite on egodokumentti, jolla tarkoitetaan kirjeitä ja muita tekstejä, joissa kirjoittaja kertoo itse omasta elämästään. Hollantilainen ja ranskalainen egodokumenttien tutkimus on pyrkinyt haastamaan uudenlaisten lähdeaineistojen kautta käsityksiä menneisyydestä sekä nostamaan esiin muun muassa yksilöllisen kokemuksen, kirjoittamisen kulttuurin ja dokumenttien materiaalisuuden. Janssonin perheen kirjeet poikkeavat monin tavoin 1800-luvun säätyläisten kirjeistä. Niiden funktio oli hyvin käytännöllinen ja arkinen, mutta ne olivat myös vanhempien keino tukea perheen yhteistä sosiaalisen nousun projektia. Kustavia koskevan tiheän uutisoinnin kautta ne pyrkivät pitämään kaupunkilaistuvat pojat osana vanhaa yhteisöään. Perheen isä vastasi suurelta osin kirjeenvaihdosta ja siihen liittyvästä huolenpidosta, mikä kertoo sukupuolittuneen työnjaon joustavuudesta saaristossa. Tutkimus osoittaa, ettei isän ammattiin perustuva yliopisto-opiskelijoiden tutkimus ole tavoittanut sitä naisten kautta välittyvää sosiaalista ja kulttuurista pääomaa, joka saattoi olla ratkaiseva perheiden kouluttaessa lapsiaan. Kirjeiden analyysi tarkentaa kuvaa perinteisen talonpoikaispurjehduksen sopeutumisesta vuosisadan loppupuolen uudistuksiin.

Intelligence acquisition methods in cyber domain : examining the circumstantial applicability of cyber intelligence acquisition methods using a hierarchical model

Phenomena in cyber domain, especially threats to security and privacy, have proven an increasingly heated topic addressed by different writers and scholars at an increasing pace – both nationally and internationally. However little public research has been done on the subject of cyber intelligence. The main research question of the thesis was: To what extent is the applicability of cyber intelligence acquisition methods circumstantial? The study was conducted in sequential a manner, starting with defining the concept of intelligence in cyber domain and identifying its key attributes, followed by identifying the range of intelligence methods in cyber domain, criteria influencing their applicability, and types of operatives utilizing cyber intelligence. The methods and criteria were refined into a hierarchical model. The existing conceptions of cyber intelligence were mapped through an extensive literature study on a wide variety of sources. The established understanding was further developed through 15 semi-structured interviews with experts of different backgrounds, whose wide range of points of view proved to substantially enhance the perspective on the subject. Four of the interviewed experts participated in a relatively extensive survey based on the constructed hierarchical model on cyber intelligence that was formulated in to an AHP hierarchy and executed in the Expert Choice Comparion online application. It was concluded that Intelligence in cyber domain is an endorsing, cross-cutting intelligence discipline that adds value to all aspects of conventional intelligence and furthermore that it bears a substantial amount of characteristic traits – both advantageous and disadvantageous – and furthermore that the applicability of cyber intelligence methods is partly circumstantially limited.

Feminismejä, feministejä ja ruotsalaista tyttöelokuvaa 1990-2000-luvuilla

Lectio praecursoria kulttuurihistorian väitöskirjaan New feminisms, gender equality and neoliberalism in Swedish girl films, 1995-2006 Turun yliopistossa 24.1.2015.

Time frames. Negotiating Cultural History

Time Frames brings together a group of cultural historians studying several different periods and locations in the history of Western culture, to discuss the temporal structures which historical studies live by. How do we construct chronologies and temporal sequences? How should we approach the discontinuity and particularity of the past, and its periodization? Deploying ideas and frames from three contemporary conceptual debates - spatial organisation, constructions of experience, and the cultural embeddedness of individual agency - the writers of this book propose methods of historicizing and explore what cultural history is about today.

Exchange rate pass-through inflation and wage differentials in late-industrializing economies: the Mexican case

This paper investigates exchange rate pass-through inflation, and the wage bargaining process, in a developing economy in which firms' market power is largely dependent on technical progress embodied in imported intermediates and capital goods. It develops a heterodox model of income distribution, based on theoretical contributions from Latin American structuralists, labor market segmentationists and post-Keynesian writers, and it presents supportive empirical evidence from the Mexican economy.

Alkoholin verkkokauppamarkkinat Suomessa

Opinnäytetyö alkoholin verkkokauppamarkkinoista Suomessa on katsaus markkinoihin, jotka ovat olleet esillä mediassa viime aikoina hyvinkin paljon. Opinnäytetyössä analysoidaan Michael Porterin viiden kilpailuvoiman mallin avulla toimialaa. Porterin viisi kilpailuvoimaa ovat toimialan nykyinen kilpailu, tavarantoimittajien neuvotteluvoima, kuluttajien neuvotteluvoima, uusien kilpailijoiden uhka sekä korvaavien tuotteiden tai palveuluiden uhka. Tämän lisäksi työssä tarkastellaan lainsäädäntöä kuudentena kilpailuvoimana, sillä se asettaa merkittävät kilpailulliset reunaehdot. Toimiala-analyysin jälkeen siirrytään varsinaiseen tutkimusongelmaan, jossa pohditaan, kannattaako Alkon perustaa verkkokauppa? Tähän liittyen apututkimuskysymyksissä pohditaan mitä lisäarvoa alkoholin verkkokauppa luo ylipäätään kuluttajille sekä tavarantoimittajille/maahantuojille. Opinnäytetyöhön on liitetty ajatuksia, joita on kerätty haastattelemalla kolmea eri henkilöä, joilta löytyy merkittävästi tietoa alkoholimarkkinoista. Alko Oy ei ole osallisena, vaan opinnäytetyö on kirjoitettu täysin objektiivisesti, vaikka siinä onkin paljon kirjoittan omaa empiriaa. Haastattelut ovat tarkoituksella jätetty keskustelunomaisiksi, ja ovat siten melko subjektiivisia näkemyksiä eri ihmisten silmin. Monopolit herättävät keskustelua ja Alkon asema yhteiskunnallisena monopolina onkin asetettu kriittiseen tarkasteluun tutkimuksessa. Teoriassa käsiteltiin myös Alkon palvelualttiutta 4C –mallin avulla sekä Alkoa yrityksenä analysoitiin SWOT –analyysilla. Näiden teorioiden, toimiala-analyysin, haastatteluiden, kirjoittajan oman näkemyksen sekä eri lähteistä löydetyn informaation myötä voidaan todeta, että Alkon verkkokaupalle on tarve, joka on ollut olemassa jo pitkään. Monopoliaseman oletetaan olleen syy tälle hitaalle kehitykselle. Kuluttajien lisäarvoa olisi ehdottomasti kotiinkuljetus, mutta sitä Alko ei tarjoa. Toisaalta verkkokaupan myötä laajeneva tuotevalikoima on selkeä lisäarvo. Tavarantoimittajien/maahantuojien lisäarvoa ei vielä pystytty selvittämään, koska siihen suhtauduttiin ristiriitaisesti.

Quest/ion of Identities in African American Feminist Postmodern Drama: A Study of Selected Plays by Suzan-Lori Parks

Innovative and unconventional, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks belongs to the continuum of African American playwrights who have contributed to the quest/ion – the quest for and question – of identities for African Americans. Her plays are sites in which the quest/ion of identities for African Americans is pursued, raised and enacted. She makes use of both page and stage to emphasize the exigency of reshaping African Americans’ identities through questioning the dominant ideologies and metanarratives, delegitimizing some of the prevailing stereotypes imposed on them, drawing out the complicity of the media in perpetuating racism, evoking slavery, lynching and their aftereffects, rehistoricizing African American history, catalyzing reflections on the various intersections of sex, race, class and gender orientations, and proffering alternative perspectives to help readers think more critically about issues facing African Americans. In my dissertation, I approach three plays by Parks – The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World (1990), Venus (1996) and Fucking A (2000) – from the standpoints of postmodern drama and African American feminism with a focus on the terrains that reflect the quest/ion of identities for African Americans, especially African American women. I argue that postmodern drama and African American feminism provide the ground for Parks to promote the development of a political agenda in order to call into question a number of dominant ideologies and metanarratives with regard to African Americans and draw upon the roles of those metanarratives as a powerful apparatus of racial and sexual oppressions. I also explore how Parks engages with postmodern drama and African American feminism to incorporate her own mininarratives in the dominant discourses. I argue that Parks in these plays uses postmodern drama and African American feminism to encourage reflections on intersectionality in order to reveal the concerns of African Americans, particularly African American women. Her plays challenge the dominant order of hierarchy and patriarchy, while in some cases urging unity and solidarity between African American men and women by showing how unity and solidarity can help them confront race, class and gender oppressions. Furthermore, I discuss how the utilization of postmodern techniques and devices helps Parks to transform the conventional features of playwriting, to create incredulity toward the dominant systems of oppression and to incorporate her mininarratives within the context of dominant discourses.

Righteous sounds and reproductive justice : the influence of Ani DiFranco's music for reproductive rights activists

In this thesis, I explore how the folk-rock music of Ani DiFranco has influenced the activist commitments, sensibilities, and activities of reproductive rights activists. My interest in the relation of popular music to social movements is informed by the work of Simon Frith (1987, 1996a, 1996b), Rob Rosenthal (2001), and Ann Savage (2003). Frith argues that popular music is an important contributor to personal identity and the ways that listeners see the world. Savage (2003) writes that fans develop a unique relationship with feminist/political music, and Rosenthal (2001) argues that popular music can be an important factor in building social movements. I use these arguments to ask what the influence of Ani DiFranco's music has been for reproductive rights activists who are her fans. I conducted in-depth interviews with ten reproductive rights activists who are fans of Ani DiFranco's music. All ten are women in their twenties and thirties living in Ontario or New York. Each has been listening to DiFranco's music for between two and fifteen years, and has considered herself a reproductive rights activist for between eighteen months and twenty years. I examine these women's narratives of their relationships with Ani DiFranco's music and their activist experience through the interconnected lenses of identity, consciousness, and practice. Listening to Ani DiFranco's music affects the fluid ways these women understand their identities as women, as feminists, and in solidarity with others. I draw on Freire's (1970) understanding of conscientization to consider the role that Ani's music has played in heightening women's awareness about reproductive rights issues. The feeling of solidarity with other (both real and perceived) activist fans gives them more confidence that they can make a difference in overcoming social injustice. They believe that Ani's music encourages productive anger, which in turn fuels their passion to take action to make change. Women use Ani's music deliberately for energy and encouragement in their continued activism, and find that it continues to resonate with their evolving identities as women, feminists, and activists. My study builds on those of Rosenthal (2001) and Savage (2003) by focusing on one artist and activists in one social movement. The characteristics of Ani DiFranco, her fan base, and the reproductive rights movement allow new understanding of the ways that female fans who are members of a female-dominated feminist movement interact with the music of a popular independent female artist.