Ludvig Sunnemark | University of Oslo (original) (raw)
Papers by Ludvig Sunnemark
Globalizations, 2023
This article examines the dynamics of the climate movement's (CM) engagement within global civil ... more This article examines the dynamics of the climate movement's (CM) engagement within global civil society (GCS), focusing on how this relates to its evolving commitment to anti-colonial climate politics and the wider, ongoing tensions between actors from the Global North and South within the movement. Here, this article contributes with a theorization on how counter-hegemonic and anti-colonial social movement alliances can be forged in GCS, building from neo-Gramscian, post-and decolonial concepts. This theorization builds on a study of the COP26 Coalition's efforts in Glasgow in November 2021, exploring how the coalition strategically utilized post-apocalyptic environmentalism to amplify Southern and anti-colonial perspectives within the broader CM and to carve out a space for such perspectives within GCS. However, this study also highlights how GCS spaces are shaped by a neo-colonial global hegemony which fosters structures of Northern epistemic dominance which often function to de-legitimize, exclude, or co-opt non-Western knowledges and movements within GCS.
Theoria
Inspired by contemporary criticism(s) levelled against evolutionist conceptions of history presen... more Inspired by contemporary criticism(s) levelled against evolutionist conceptions of history present within much classical social theory, this article seeks to discuss alternative conceptions of historical time, modernity, and coloniality within the works of Marxist-inspired thinkers who have sought to tackle the problematic aspects of evolutionism and ‘historical progress’ head on – namely, Antonio Gramsci, Walter Benjamin, and Frantz Fanon. After discussing orthodox Marxism’s ambivalent relation to notions of historical necessity and human agency, the article turns to discussing Gramsci’s anti-economistic conception of hegemony and Benjamin’s and Fanon’s respective conceptions of the ‘dialectics of rupture’ in order to present alternative conceptions of historical time which partly or fully depart from orthodox Marxism’s tendencies towards evolutionism, albeit whilst retaining a focus on dialectics, power struggle, and revolutionary transformation.
Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political Theory, 2022
Inspired by contemporary criticism(s) levelled against evolutionist conceptions of history presen... more Inspired by contemporary criticism(s) levelled against evolutionist conceptions of history present within much classical social theory, this article seeks to discuss alternative conceptions of historical time, modernity, and coloniality within the works of Marxist-inspired thinkers who have sought to tackle the problematic aspects of evolutionism and 'historical progress' head on-namely, Antonio Gramsci, Walter Benjamin, and Frantz Fanon. After discussing orthodox Marxism's ambivalent relation to notions of historical necessity and human agency, the article turns to discussing Gramsci's anti-economistic conception of hegemony and Benjamin's and Fanon's respective conceptions of the 'dialectics of rupture' in order to present alternative conceptions of historical time which partly or fully depart from orthodox Marxism's tendencies towards evolutionism, albeit whilst retaining a focus on dialectics, power struggle, and revolutionary transformation.
Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 2022
Considering globalization as part of a post-colonial conjuncture, the examination of the politics... more Considering globalization as part of a post-colonial conjuncture,
the examination of the politics of decolonization is
essential to understand key conflicts in global civil society.
Recently, a global movement for the decolonization of higher
education has played a key role in this context, with the
#RhodesMustFall movement being particularly important.
Starting at the University of Cape Town and spreading to
Oxford University, the movement initially protested against
the presence of statues of Cecil Rhodes at both sites. We
argue that the #RhodesMustFall movement is part of what we
call a global field of decolonial politics. We also demonstrate
how movement discourse is necessarily rearticulated when
shifting context: the primary characteristic of the UCT discourse
is its constitution of “black” subjectivity, while the
Oxford discourse is largely shaped by the diasporic situation
of formerly colonized peoples within an ex-metropolis, constructing
multiple plural subjectivities and recovering issues of
race and coloniality from political margins.
Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies
Considering globalization as intimately tied to a post-colonial conjuncture, the examination of a... more Considering globalization as intimately tied to a post-colonial conjuncture, the examination of actual and concrete initiatives of re-, de- or post-colonization becomes essential for the understanding of globalization as such. Recently, a global movement for the decolonization of higher education has played a great role for such initiatives. Here, the #RhodesMustFall-movement can be seen as particularly important. Starting at the University of Cape Town and eventually spreading to Oxford University, the movement initially protested statues of Cecil Rhodes present at both sites, eventually expanding to a larger politics of decolonization. Given the global spread of the movement, a comparative study on the two movement formations enables an examination of the partially similar, partially differing, conditions and characteristics of decolonial politics in contemporary post-colonial globality. Departing from collective identity theory and discourse theory, social movements are understood here as articulatory interventions into tensions and oppositions appearing throughout modernity. Methodologically, this entails a focus on movement texts (500 pages of posts, articles, essays and manifestoes) submitted to discourse analysis and contextualized in relation to intertwined local, national and global settings. Here I argue that the #RhodesMustFall-movements become stakeholders in the constitution of a global Fanonian field of decolonial politics in which coloniality is attacked as a foundational structure unreachable through reformism. However, movement discourse is necessarily transformed in relation to specific contextual situations, thus rendering the global Fanonian field of decolonial politics partially differentiated: the primary characteristic of the UCT-formation’s discourse is its construction of a black majority populus, constitutive of a broad hegemonic discourse of decolonization; in contrast to this, the Oxford formation’s discourse is largely shaped by the diasporic situation of formerly colonized peoples within ex-metropolis, thus putting the focus of movement discourse on constructing multiple plural subjectivities and recovering issues of race and coloniality from political margins.
Rapport i korthet, 2021
Trollhättan är en av Sveriges mest segregerade kommuner. Det har bekräftats och diskuterats gång ... more Trollhättan är en av Sveriges mest segregerade kommuner. Det har bekräftats och diskuterats gång på gång, såväl i studier som i media och i offentlig och politisk debatt. Rapporter om våld, kriminalitet och ekonomisk ojämlikhet, liksom skillnader i tillgången till service, utbildning och resurser, har presenterats upprepade gånger. Som en konsekvens har Trollhättans stad tilldelats medel av DELMOS (Delegationen mot segregation, en statlig myndighet med uppdrag att undersöka och minska segregation) för att i samarbete med Högskolan Väst undersöka segregationen i två forskningsprojekt. Den här rapporten presenterar det första av dessa projekt.
Segregationen i Trollhättan ger upphov till en svår utmaning i stadens strävan mot social hållbarhet, så som det definieras inom ramen för Agenda 2030. Förutom att segregation skapar ekonomiska klyftor försvårar det jämlik distribution av välfärd och service. För att arbeta mot detta mönster, och för uppfyllelse av de globala målen, i Trollhättans stad krävs förståelse för hur segregationen ser ut just här – vilka områden är mest utsatta respektive mest privilegierade? – något som uppdateras i takt med att nytt material och nya perspektiv görs tillgängliga.
I syfte att vara kort och lättfattlig fokuserar rapporten på de variabler som är att betrakta som allra mest centrala för förståelsen av segregation. För det första handlar det om ekonomisk standard, presenterad utifrån hur varje områdes befolkning fördelas över de riksövergripande inkomstkvartilerna. Detta ger en övergripande bild av de boendes ekonomiska ställning och klasstillhörighet. För det andra handlar det om etnisk bakgrund, presenterad utifrån hur stor del av befolkningen i varje område som har ”svensk bakgrund” respektive ”utländsk bakgrund”, där utländsk bakgrund innebär att man själv och/eller båda ens föräldrar är födda utanför Sverige. För det tredje handlar det om boendeform, presenterad utifrån hur olika upplåtelseformer – äganderätt, bostadsrätt eller hyresrätt – är representerade i olika områden.
Rapport i korthet, 2020
Under 2000- och 2010-talen har begreppet arbetsintegrerat lärande (AIL) blivit vanligt förekomman... more Under 2000- och 2010-talen har begreppet arbetsintegrerat lärande (AIL) blivit vanligt förekommande inom utbildningspolitiska och utbildningsteoretiska diskussioner. Genom att se på AIL som ett mångfaldigt, och stundtals ganska abstrakt, fält för kunskapsteoretiska, pedagogiska och utbildningspolitiska diskussioner, vilka enas i en ambition att överbrygga den historiskt viktiga dikotomin mellan episteme och techne, önskar denna rapport kartlägga vad som sker med AIL-teorins övergripande principer när de tolkas och implementeras in i konkreta utbildningar. Ett sådant fokus tillåter a) en teoretisk fokuserad diskussion som möjliggör synen på pedagogiska och utbildningspolitiska principer som mångtydiga och flexibla samt b) en förtydligande redovisning av vad AIL kan tänkas innebära i faktisk utbildningspraktik. Med Högskolans Västs programbeskrivningar som material redovisar rapporten hur begreppen episteme och techne tolkas inom ramarna för AIL-relaterad utbildningsverksamhet, och kartlägger därmed en del av den kunskapsteoretiska grunden för AIL i praktisk implementering. Framför allt syftar den dock till att belysa det faktum att AIL som mötesplats mellan akademi och AIL-teori, alternativt mellan akademi och arbetsplatser, alltid måste förstås som ett möte mellan olika kunskaper, intressen och traditioner, vilket kan föranleda såväl förhandlingar som konflikter. Därmed måste varje given utbildnings ”ursprungliga” ämnesidentitet förstås som synnerligen viktig för hur AIL slutligen kommer att utformas på konkret nivå: för professionsinriktade utbildningar utgör AIL framför allt en marknadsföringsmässig eller retorisk strategi för att accentuera utbildningens koppling till en given profession eller givna arbetsplatser; för utbildningar som utgår ifrån en akademisk disciplinär identitet utgör AIL istället en medveten omartikulationsstrategi, där ämnesdisciplinens abstrakta, teoretiska eller vetenskapliga kunskap (episteme) uppmanas kommuniceras eller omvandlas till praktiskt gångbar kunskap (techne) relevant för en uppsättning arbetsplatser eller yrken. På grund av den påverkan som ämnesidentiteten tycks utöva på de resulterande formerna för AIL är det viktigt att i framtida samverkansprojekt inte försöka ”anpassa bort” ämnesspecificiteter utan istället se dem som nödvändiga komponenter i konstruktionen av begripliga AIL-projekt och därmed vara uppmärksam på eventuella maktstrukturer eller intressekonflikter som kan uppstå inom diverse samverkansytor.
Considering globalization as intimately tied to a post-colonial conjuncture, the examination of a... more Considering globalization as intimately tied to a post-colonial conjuncture, the examination of actual and concrete initiatives of re-, de- or post-colonization becomes essential for the understanding of globalization as such. Recently, a global movement for the decolonization of higher education has played a great role for such initiatives. Here, the #RhodesMustFall-movement can be seen as particularly important. Starting at the University of Cape Town and eventually spreading to Oxford University, the movement initially protested statues of Cecil Rhodes present at both sites, eventually expanding to a larger politics of decolonization. Given the global spread of the movement, a comparative study on the two movement formations enables an examination of the partially similar, partially differing, conditions and characteristics of decolonial politics in contemporary post-colonial globality.
Departing from collective identity theory and discourse theory, social movements are understood here as articulatory interventions into tensions and oppositions appearing throughout modernity. Methodologically, this entails a focus on movement texts (500 pages of posts, articles, essays and manifestoes) submitted to discourse analysis and contextualized in relation to intertwined local, national and global settings.
Here I argue that the #RhodesMustFall-movements become stakeholders in the constitution of a global Fanonian field of decolonial politics in which coloniality is attacked as a foundational structure unreachable through reformism. However, movement discourse is necessarily transformed in relation to specific contextual situations, thus rendering the global Fanonian field of decolonial politics partially differentiated: the primary characteristic of the UCT-formation’s discourse is its construction of a black majority populus, constitutive of a broad hegemonic discourse of decolonization; in contrast to this, the Oxford formation’s discourse is largely shaped by the diasporic situation of formerly colonized peoples within ex-metropolis, thus putting the focus of movement discourse on constructing multiple plural subjectivities and recovering issues of race and coloniality from political margins.
The general aim of this paper is to analyze and discuss the inner ambivalences of multiculturalis... more The general aim of this paper is to analyze and discuss the inner ambivalences of multiculturalism from a postcolonial perspective through an examination of the articulations of the concept of gratitude within a particular debate concerning migration policy. Twenty-one, articles published in Swedish newspapers and periodicals, encompassing the entirety of the debate, were analyzed using an approach inspired by Laclau and Mouffe's variety of discourse analysis. The concept of gratitude was mainly articulated in two different ways in the debate. First, a set of articles – together forming what I call a discourse of gifts – articulate asylum and citizenship as gifts being handed out by a dominant, supposedly benevolent, Swedish cultural sphere. The articles forming this discourse either presuppose or demand a reaction of gratitude coming from the receiver of asylum or citizenship. Second, a set of interventions – together forming what I call a discourse of rights – articulate asylum and citizenship as unconditional rights. The articles forming this discourse articulate the concept of gratitude as a spontaneously occuring emotion, and thus as a concept that should not occupy a position within discourses on migration policy.
[originally published as a bachelor's thesis in Sociology at University of Gothenburg, spring term 2016]
The aim of this thesis is to analyze and compare the different political-ontological approaches o... more The aim of this thesis is to analyze and compare the different political-ontological approaches of Hegemony and Socialist Strategy by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe and Empire by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri. Using a methodology inspired by Hans-Georg Gadamer's hermeneutical approach, I conclude that a considerable line of difference can be drawn between Laclau and Mouffe's "ontology of lack", in which the political is only ever partially structured by incomplete and contingent articulations, and Hardt and Negri's "ontology of desire", in which society is continually produced by the desiring movements of multitude. The ontology of lack causes Laclau and Mouffe to conceptualize political resistance as something that is always already represented and articulated, while Hardt and Negri see the political resistance of the multitude as something direct, unmediated and immanent. In the final part of the thesis I evaluate the two political-ontological approaches in light of the recent European right-wing trend, and conclude that Hardt and Negri's unmediated and immanent conceptualizations of political resistance lack the theoretical tools to theorize and counteract such reactionary popular movements.
[originally published as a bachelor's thesis in History of Ideas at University of Gothenburg, autumn term 2016]
Globalizations, 2023
This article examines the dynamics of the climate movement's (CM) engagement within global civil ... more This article examines the dynamics of the climate movement's (CM) engagement within global civil society (GCS), focusing on how this relates to its evolving commitment to anti-colonial climate politics and the wider, ongoing tensions between actors from the Global North and South within the movement. Here, this article contributes with a theorization on how counter-hegemonic and anti-colonial social movement alliances can be forged in GCS, building from neo-Gramscian, post-and decolonial concepts. This theorization builds on a study of the COP26 Coalition's efforts in Glasgow in November 2021, exploring how the coalition strategically utilized post-apocalyptic environmentalism to amplify Southern and anti-colonial perspectives within the broader CM and to carve out a space for such perspectives within GCS. However, this study also highlights how GCS spaces are shaped by a neo-colonial global hegemony which fosters structures of Northern epistemic dominance which often function to de-legitimize, exclude, or co-opt non-Western knowledges and movements within GCS.
Theoria
Inspired by contemporary criticism(s) levelled against evolutionist conceptions of history presen... more Inspired by contemporary criticism(s) levelled against evolutionist conceptions of history present within much classical social theory, this article seeks to discuss alternative conceptions of historical time, modernity, and coloniality within the works of Marxist-inspired thinkers who have sought to tackle the problematic aspects of evolutionism and ‘historical progress’ head on – namely, Antonio Gramsci, Walter Benjamin, and Frantz Fanon. After discussing orthodox Marxism’s ambivalent relation to notions of historical necessity and human agency, the article turns to discussing Gramsci’s anti-economistic conception of hegemony and Benjamin’s and Fanon’s respective conceptions of the ‘dialectics of rupture’ in order to present alternative conceptions of historical time which partly or fully depart from orthodox Marxism’s tendencies towards evolutionism, albeit whilst retaining a focus on dialectics, power struggle, and revolutionary transformation.
Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political Theory, 2022
Inspired by contemporary criticism(s) levelled against evolutionist conceptions of history presen... more Inspired by contemporary criticism(s) levelled against evolutionist conceptions of history present within much classical social theory, this article seeks to discuss alternative conceptions of historical time, modernity, and coloniality within the works of Marxist-inspired thinkers who have sought to tackle the problematic aspects of evolutionism and 'historical progress' head on-namely, Antonio Gramsci, Walter Benjamin, and Frantz Fanon. After discussing orthodox Marxism's ambivalent relation to notions of historical necessity and human agency, the article turns to discussing Gramsci's anti-economistic conception of hegemony and Benjamin's and Fanon's respective conceptions of the 'dialectics of rupture' in order to present alternative conceptions of historical time which partly or fully depart from orthodox Marxism's tendencies towards evolutionism, albeit whilst retaining a focus on dialectics, power struggle, and revolutionary transformation.
Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 2022
Considering globalization as part of a post-colonial conjuncture, the examination of the politics... more Considering globalization as part of a post-colonial conjuncture,
the examination of the politics of decolonization is
essential to understand key conflicts in global civil society.
Recently, a global movement for the decolonization of higher
education has played a key role in this context, with the
#RhodesMustFall movement being particularly important.
Starting at the University of Cape Town and spreading to
Oxford University, the movement initially protested against
the presence of statues of Cecil Rhodes at both sites. We
argue that the #RhodesMustFall movement is part of what we
call a global field of decolonial politics. We also demonstrate
how movement discourse is necessarily rearticulated when
shifting context: the primary characteristic of the UCT discourse
is its constitution of “black” subjectivity, while the
Oxford discourse is largely shaped by the diasporic situation
of formerly colonized peoples within an ex-metropolis, constructing
multiple plural subjectivities and recovering issues of
race and coloniality from political margins.
Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies
Considering globalization as intimately tied to a post-colonial conjuncture, the examination of a... more Considering globalization as intimately tied to a post-colonial conjuncture, the examination of actual and concrete initiatives of re-, de- or post-colonization becomes essential for the understanding of globalization as such. Recently, a global movement for the decolonization of higher education has played a great role for such initiatives. Here, the #RhodesMustFall-movement can be seen as particularly important. Starting at the University of Cape Town and eventually spreading to Oxford University, the movement initially protested statues of Cecil Rhodes present at both sites, eventually expanding to a larger politics of decolonization. Given the global spread of the movement, a comparative study on the two movement formations enables an examination of the partially similar, partially differing, conditions and characteristics of decolonial politics in contemporary post-colonial globality. Departing from collective identity theory and discourse theory, social movements are understood here as articulatory interventions into tensions and oppositions appearing throughout modernity. Methodologically, this entails a focus on movement texts (500 pages of posts, articles, essays and manifestoes) submitted to discourse analysis and contextualized in relation to intertwined local, national and global settings. Here I argue that the #RhodesMustFall-movements become stakeholders in the constitution of a global Fanonian field of decolonial politics in which coloniality is attacked as a foundational structure unreachable through reformism. However, movement discourse is necessarily transformed in relation to specific contextual situations, thus rendering the global Fanonian field of decolonial politics partially differentiated: the primary characteristic of the UCT-formation’s discourse is its construction of a black majority populus, constitutive of a broad hegemonic discourse of decolonization; in contrast to this, the Oxford formation’s discourse is largely shaped by the diasporic situation of formerly colonized peoples within ex-metropolis, thus putting the focus of movement discourse on constructing multiple plural subjectivities and recovering issues of race and coloniality from political margins.
Rapport i korthet, 2021
Trollhättan är en av Sveriges mest segregerade kommuner. Det har bekräftats och diskuterats gång ... more Trollhättan är en av Sveriges mest segregerade kommuner. Det har bekräftats och diskuterats gång på gång, såväl i studier som i media och i offentlig och politisk debatt. Rapporter om våld, kriminalitet och ekonomisk ojämlikhet, liksom skillnader i tillgången till service, utbildning och resurser, har presenterats upprepade gånger. Som en konsekvens har Trollhättans stad tilldelats medel av DELMOS (Delegationen mot segregation, en statlig myndighet med uppdrag att undersöka och minska segregation) för att i samarbete med Högskolan Väst undersöka segregationen i två forskningsprojekt. Den här rapporten presenterar det första av dessa projekt.
Segregationen i Trollhättan ger upphov till en svår utmaning i stadens strävan mot social hållbarhet, så som det definieras inom ramen för Agenda 2030. Förutom att segregation skapar ekonomiska klyftor försvårar det jämlik distribution av välfärd och service. För att arbeta mot detta mönster, och för uppfyllelse av de globala målen, i Trollhättans stad krävs förståelse för hur segregationen ser ut just här – vilka områden är mest utsatta respektive mest privilegierade? – något som uppdateras i takt med att nytt material och nya perspektiv görs tillgängliga.
I syfte att vara kort och lättfattlig fokuserar rapporten på de variabler som är att betrakta som allra mest centrala för förståelsen av segregation. För det första handlar det om ekonomisk standard, presenterad utifrån hur varje områdes befolkning fördelas över de riksövergripande inkomstkvartilerna. Detta ger en övergripande bild av de boendes ekonomiska ställning och klasstillhörighet. För det andra handlar det om etnisk bakgrund, presenterad utifrån hur stor del av befolkningen i varje område som har ”svensk bakgrund” respektive ”utländsk bakgrund”, där utländsk bakgrund innebär att man själv och/eller båda ens föräldrar är födda utanför Sverige. För det tredje handlar det om boendeform, presenterad utifrån hur olika upplåtelseformer – äganderätt, bostadsrätt eller hyresrätt – är representerade i olika områden.
Rapport i korthet, 2020
Under 2000- och 2010-talen har begreppet arbetsintegrerat lärande (AIL) blivit vanligt förekomman... more Under 2000- och 2010-talen har begreppet arbetsintegrerat lärande (AIL) blivit vanligt förekommande inom utbildningspolitiska och utbildningsteoretiska diskussioner. Genom att se på AIL som ett mångfaldigt, och stundtals ganska abstrakt, fält för kunskapsteoretiska, pedagogiska och utbildningspolitiska diskussioner, vilka enas i en ambition att överbrygga den historiskt viktiga dikotomin mellan episteme och techne, önskar denna rapport kartlägga vad som sker med AIL-teorins övergripande principer när de tolkas och implementeras in i konkreta utbildningar. Ett sådant fokus tillåter a) en teoretisk fokuserad diskussion som möjliggör synen på pedagogiska och utbildningspolitiska principer som mångtydiga och flexibla samt b) en förtydligande redovisning av vad AIL kan tänkas innebära i faktisk utbildningspraktik. Med Högskolans Västs programbeskrivningar som material redovisar rapporten hur begreppen episteme och techne tolkas inom ramarna för AIL-relaterad utbildningsverksamhet, och kartlägger därmed en del av den kunskapsteoretiska grunden för AIL i praktisk implementering. Framför allt syftar den dock till att belysa det faktum att AIL som mötesplats mellan akademi och AIL-teori, alternativt mellan akademi och arbetsplatser, alltid måste förstås som ett möte mellan olika kunskaper, intressen och traditioner, vilket kan föranleda såväl förhandlingar som konflikter. Därmed måste varje given utbildnings ”ursprungliga” ämnesidentitet förstås som synnerligen viktig för hur AIL slutligen kommer att utformas på konkret nivå: för professionsinriktade utbildningar utgör AIL framför allt en marknadsföringsmässig eller retorisk strategi för att accentuera utbildningens koppling till en given profession eller givna arbetsplatser; för utbildningar som utgår ifrån en akademisk disciplinär identitet utgör AIL istället en medveten omartikulationsstrategi, där ämnesdisciplinens abstrakta, teoretiska eller vetenskapliga kunskap (episteme) uppmanas kommuniceras eller omvandlas till praktiskt gångbar kunskap (techne) relevant för en uppsättning arbetsplatser eller yrken. På grund av den påverkan som ämnesidentiteten tycks utöva på de resulterande formerna för AIL är det viktigt att i framtida samverkansprojekt inte försöka ”anpassa bort” ämnesspecificiteter utan istället se dem som nödvändiga komponenter i konstruktionen av begripliga AIL-projekt och därmed vara uppmärksam på eventuella maktstrukturer eller intressekonflikter som kan uppstå inom diverse samverkansytor.
Considering globalization as intimately tied to a post-colonial conjuncture, the examination of a... more Considering globalization as intimately tied to a post-colonial conjuncture, the examination of actual and concrete initiatives of re-, de- or post-colonization becomes essential for the understanding of globalization as such. Recently, a global movement for the decolonization of higher education has played a great role for such initiatives. Here, the #RhodesMustFall-movement can be seen as particularly important. Starting at the University of Cape Town and eventually spreading to Oxford University, the movement initially protested statues of Cecil Rhodes present at both sites, eventually expanding to a larger politics of decolonization. Given the global spread of the movement, a comparative study on the two movement formations enables an examination of the partially similar, partially differing, conditions and characteristics of decolonial politics in contemporary post-colonial globality.
Departing from collective identity theory and discourse theory, social movements are understood here as articulatory interventions into tensions and oppositions appearing throughout modernity. Methodologically, this entails a focus on movement texts (500 pages of posts, articles, essays and manifestoes) submitted to discourse analysis and contextualized in relation to intertwined local, national and global settings.
Here I argue that the #RhodesMustFall-movements become stakeholders in the constitution of a global Fanonian field of decolonial politics in which coloniality is attacked as a foundational structure unreachable through reformism. However, movement discourse is necessarily transformed in relation to specific contextual situations, thus rendering the global Fanonian field of decolonial politics partially differentiated: the primary characteristic of the UCT-formation’s discourse is its construction of a black majority populus, constitutive of a broad hegemonic discourse of decolonization; in contrast to this, the Oxford formation’s discourse is largely shaped by the diasporic situation of formerly colonized peoples within ex-metropolis, thus putting the focus of movement discourse on constructing multiple plural subjectivities and recovering issues of race and coloniality from political margins.
The general aim of this paper is to analyze and discuss the inner ambivalences of multiculturalis... more The general aim of this paper is to analyze and discuss the inner ambivalences of multiculturalism from a postcolonial perspective through an examination of the articulations of the concept of gratitude within a particular debate concerning migration policy. Twenty-one, articles published in Swedish newspapers and periodicals, encompassing the entirety of the debate, were analyzed using an approach inspired by Laclau and Mouffe's variety of discourse analysis. The concept of gratitude was mainly articulated in two different ways in the debate. First, a set of articles – together forming what I call a discourse of gifts – articulate asylum and citizenship as gifts being handed out by a dominant, supposedly benevolent, Swedish cultural sphere. The articles forming this discourse either presuppose or demand a reaction of gratitude coming from the receiver of asylum or citizenship. Second, a set of interventions – together forming what I call a discourse of rights – articulate asylum and citizenship as unconditional rights. The articles forming this discourse articulate the concept of gratitude as a spontaneously occuring emotion, and thus as a concept that should not occupy a position within discourses on migration policy.
[originally published as a bachelor's thesis in Sociology at University of Gothenburg, spring term 2016]
The aim of this thesis is to analyze and compare the different political-ontological approaches o... more The aim of this thesis is to analyze and compare the different political-ontological approaches of Hegemony and Socialist Strategy by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe and Empire by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri. Using a methodology inspired by Hans-Georg Gadamer's hermeneutical approach, I conclude that a considerable line of difference can be drawn between Laclau and Mouffe's "ontology of lack", in which the political is only ever partially structured by incomplete and contingent articulations, and Hardt and Negri's "ontology of desire", in which society is continually produced by the desiring movements of multitude. The ontology of lack causes Laclau and Mouffe to conceptualize political resistance as something that is always already represented and articulated, while Hardt and Negri see the political resistance of the multitude as something direct, unmediated and immanent. In the final part of the thesis I evaluate the two political-ontological approaches in light of the recent European right-wing trend, and conclude that Hardt and Negri's unmediated and immanent conceptualizations of political resistance lack the theoretical tools to theorize and counteract such reactionary popular movements.
[originally published as a bachelor's thesis in History of Ideas at University of Gothenburg, autumn term 2016]