https://www.mdu.se/

mdu.sePublications
Change search
Refine search result
12 1 - 50 of 79
CiteExportLink to result list
Permanent link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Rows per page
  • 5
  • 10
  • 20
  • 50
  • 100
  • 250
Sort
  • Standard (Relevance)
  • Author A-Ö
  • Author Ö-A
  • Title A-Ö
  • Title Ö-A
  • Publication type A-Ö
  • Publication type Ö-A
  • Issued (Oldest first)
  • Issued (Newest first)
  • Created (Oldest first)
  • Created (Newest first)
  • Last updated (Oldest first)
  • Last updated (Newest first)
  • Disputation date (earliest first)
  • Disputation date (latest first)
  • Standard (Relevance)
  • Author A-Ö
  • Author Ö-A
  • Title A-Ö
  • Title Ö-A
  • Publication type A-Ö
  • Publication type Ö-A
  • Issued (Oldest first)
  • Issued (Newest first)
  • Created (Oldest first)
  • Created (Newest first)
  • Last updated (Oldest first)
  • Last updated (Newest first)
  • Disputation date (earliest first)
  • Disputation date (latest first)
Select
The maximal number of hits you can export is 250. When you want to export more records please use the Create feeds function.
  • 1.
    Iversen, Clara
    Uppsala universitet, Centrum för socialt arbete, Sweden.
    Flinkfeldt, Marie
    Uppsala universitet, Centrum för socialt arbete, Sweden.
    Persson, Marcus
    Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för beteendevetenskap och lärande, Pedagogik och sociologi.
    Social närhet i en tid av fysisk distans2020In: Äldre i centrum, ISSN 1653-3585, Vol. 34, no 4, p. 86-89Article in journal (Other (popular science, discussion, etc.))
    Abstract [sv]

    Äldre personer har ett behov av att reflektera över sociala relationer som inte längre kan tas för givna med anledning av covid-19-krisen. Stödlinjen Äldrelinjen blir ett forum för diskussioner om hur det går att hitta gemenskap i isoleringen 

  • 2.
    Iversen, Clara
    et al.
    Uppsala universitet, Sociologiska institutionen.
    Redmalm, David
    Örebro universitet, Sweden.
    Barack Obamas dilemma2008In: n()n()a()g()e()n()t(): om kunskap, kärlek och ingenting särskiljt / [ed] Sverre Wide, Fredrik Palm & Vessela Misheva, Uppsala: Uppsala universitet , 2008, p. 210-224Chapter in book (Other academic)
  • 3.
    Iversen, Clara
    et al.
    Uppsala University, Sweden.
    Redmalm, David
    Mälardalen University, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Health and Welfare.
    Flinkfeldt, Marie
    Uppsala Univ, Socialt Arbete, Sweden.
    Persson, Marcus
    Linkopings Univ, Sociol, Sweden.
    A person among others?: Older people's understandings of their everyday life during the Covid-19 crisis2021In: Sociologisk forskning, ISSN 0038-0342, E-ISSN 2002-066X, Vol. 58, no 1-2, p. 53-76Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    This article examines how older people make sense of their situation in calls to a helpline a few months into the Covid-19 pandemic.By drawing on the sociology of everyday life to analyse callers' various understandings of the crisis, the article nuances current knowledge about older people's situation.The thematic analysis shows that the callers make sense of the crisis linked to social relations on a personal, anonymous, and abstract level. The callers' responses to challenges to their everyday routines - adjustment or critical evaluation - are connected to different approaches to trust: basic trust in a shared social reality with someone or regulating trust in a set of norms independent from that other. Whereas the calls demonstrate very few positive adjustments in personal relations, they show that anonymous and abstract relations serve as important resources for both maintaining and re-evaluating everyday life during a crisis.Although older people's lack of secure personal relations during the pandemic points to vulnerability, their resourcefulness is apparent in their active engagement in important anonymous and abstract relations.

  • 4.
    Persson, M.
    et al.
    Department of Behavioral Sciences and Learning, Linköping University, Sweden.
    Ferm, L.
    Department of Behavioral Sciences and Learning, Linköping University, Sweden.
    Redmalm, David
    Mälardalen University, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Health and Welfare.
    Iversen, C.
    Department of Social Work, Uppsala University, Sweden.
    Working with Robotic Animals in Dementia Care: The Significance of Caregivers’ Competences2023In: Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies, E-ISSN 2245-0157, Vol. 13, no 3, p. 49-69Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Robotic animals are increasingly discussed as a solution to challenges connected to the aging population and limited resources in care. While previous research focuses on the robots’ effect on the patients’ well-being, there is a general lack of knowledge regarding the hands-on experience of caregivers’ use of robots. Therefore, the aim of the study is to explore the competences that caregivers draw upon when facilitating interaction between residents and robots. The study was conducted through ethnographic observations and interviews with caregivers at dementia care homes in Sweden. The notion of ‘competence’ is understood as knowledge about the ways of working and social norms that are valued within a community of practice, which members develop through engagement in the community. The findings show that caregivers’ use of robotic animals as caregiving tools rests on embodied, social, and ethical competences.

  • 5.
    Persson, Marcus
    Linköping University, Sweden.
    Redmalm, David
    Mälardalen University, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Health and Welfare.
    Robotkatter och vita lögner i demensvården2021In: Äldre i centrum, ISSN 1653-3585, no 3, p. 108-110Article in journal (Other academic)
    Abstract [sv]

    Inom demensvården blir så kallade sociala robotar allt vanligare som hjälpmedel för att dämpa oro och stimulera till samtal. De är designade att efterlikna katter, hundar och andra djur. Kritiska röster anser att användandet av robotar innebär ett bedrägeri, men det finns tydliga gränsdragningsproblem.

  • 6.
    Persson, Marcus
    et al.
    Linkoping Univ, Dept Behav Sci & Learning, Div Educ & Sociol, Linkoping, Sweden..
    Redmalm, David
    Mälardalen University, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Health and Welfare.
    Iversen, Clara
    Uppsala Univ, Ctr Social Work, Dept Sociol, Uppsala, Sweden..
    Caregivers' use of robots and their effect on work environment - a scoping review2021In: Journal of technology in human services, ISSN 1522-8835, E-ISSN 1522-8991Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Despite the lively discussion on the pros and cons of using robots in health care, little is still known about how caregivers are affected when robots are introduced in their work environment. The present scoping review fills this research gap by mapping previous studies about the relation between robots in care and caregivers' working life. The paper is based on searches in four databases for peer-reviewed articles about robots in care settings, published 2000 to 2020. The 27 included papers were examined with the questions of 1) how robots are used by caregivers, and 2) how robots affect caregivers' work environment. The analysis shows that the use of robots can affect both the physical and the psychosocial work environment, in positive as well as in negative ways. Robots are used in care settings to reduce physical and mental demands of the caregivers, but they can, in fact, increase caregivers' workload. Thus, the review indicates that robots can improve the quality of work, but that they seldom work as a shortcut to increased efficiency or time effectiveness.

  • 7.
    Persson, Marcus
    et al.
    Linköping University, Sweden.
    Redmalm, David
    Mälardalen University, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Health and Welfare.
    Iversen, Clara
    CESAR, Uppsala Universitet.
    Robotisering och arbetslivets omorganisering2021In: Arbetsmarknad & Arbetsliv, ISSN 1400-9692, E-ISSN 2002-343X, Vol. 27, no 3, p. 72-78Article, book review (Other academic)
    Abstract [sv]

    Litteraturen inom området robotar och AI (artificiell intelligens) har formligen exploderat under de senaste åren, vilket har att göra med att robotar har börjat användas på bred front inom allt fler sektorer. Industrisektorn har redan många decenniers erfarenheter av att ersätta mänskliga arbetsmoment med (semi-)automatiserade maskiner. Idag introduceras robotar även i andra sektorer som skola, vård och omsorg. Denna recensionsessä behandlar tre nyutkomna böcker på ämnet, varav två är antologier. Syftet är att diskutera en fråga som genomsyrar dem alla, nämligen robotiseringens betydelse för människors sätt att organisera sitt arbete. 

  • 8.
    Redmalm, David
    Mälardalen University, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Health and Welfare. Uppsala universitet, Sweden.
    A bifocal perspective on the riding school: On Lévinas and equine faces2019In: Equine Cultures in Transition: Ethical Questions / [ed] Jonna Bornemark, Petra Andersson, Ulla Ekström von Essen, London: Routledge , 2019, p. 193-206Chapter in book (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Redmalm’s chapter, “A Bifocal Perspective on the Riding School: On Lévinas and Equine Faces” draws on Emmanuel Lévinas’ ethics to study the ambiguous relationship between horses and leisure riders in riding schools. For Lévinas, ethics begins in the face-to-face relationship. Being bifocal, horses do not “face” humans in an anthropomorphic sense; however, deeply meaningful relationships emerge from the embodied horse-human reciprocity. The encounters at the riding school opens up the possibility of recognizing a Lévinasian “face” in horses in a wide sense of the term, but the prevalent instrumental approach towards horses as learning tools obscures horses’ status as possible ethical others. The riding school thus creates a bifocal view of horses as both partners in embodied emphatic entanglement, and instruments that riders must learn to handle and control. The riding school as such works as an environment where these two opposing versions of the horse are accommodated so that the potential tension between the two perspectives is alleviated. Nevertheless, it is possible to imagine alternative human-horse relationships by focusing on the situations at riding schools where equine faces are allowed to emerge.

  • 9.
    Redmalm, David
    Mälardalen University, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Health and Welfare. Örebro universitet, Sweden.
    An animal without an animal within: investigating the identities of pet keeping2013Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
    Abstract [en]

    If the human is an animal without an animal within—a creature that has transcended the animal condition—what is a pet? This creature balancing on the border between nature and culture, simultaneously included in and excluded from a human “we”, is the focus of this thesis. The thesis analyzes the discourses and normative frameworks structuring the meaning of pets in people’s lives. By extension, it analyzes how the boundary between “human” and “animal” is produced, negotiated, and challenged in the relationship between pet and owner.

    Each of this thesis’ four constituent studies focuses on an aspect of personal relationships between humans and pets: pets as figures for philosophical thinking, the dual role of pets as commodities and companions, the grief for lost pets, and the power issues at play in the everyday life of pet and owner. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s genealogical approach, crossbred with Donna Haraway’s material-semiotic perspective, the analysis exposes the powers allowing pets to occupy these various positions.

    The thesis demonstrates that pets occupy a special position as boundary creatures in the lives of humans, allowing humans to play with and thus reproduce dichotomies inherent to the contemporary Western worldview, such as human/animal, person/nonperson, subject/object, and friend/commodity. However, pets’ conceptual transgressions may also challenge this worldview. On the one hand, pets are bought and sold as commodities, but on the other, they are widely included in the human sphere as friends or family members. This paradoxical position is accentuated in the construction of a more-than-human home, and it is also visible when pets pass away. This thesis argues that pets, these anomalous creatures, may help humans understand that there are no humans or animals within, only relations between them. Based on this argument, this thesis develops a sociological approach for analyzing the production of humanity and animality in relations between humans and other animals.

  • 10.
    Redmalm, David
    Uppsala universitet, Sweden.
    Biopolitik och husdjurssorg2017In: Fronesis, ISSN 1404-2614, no 56-57, p. 147-159Article in journal (Other academic)
  • 11.
    Redmalm, David
    Örebro universitet, Sweden.
    Christian Abrahamsson, Fredrik Palm, Sverre Wide (red.): Sociologik: tio essäer om socialitet och tänkande2011In: Sociologisk forskning, ISSN 0038-0342, E-ISSN 2002-066X, Vol. 48, no 4, p. 75-78Article, book review (Other academic)
  • 12.
    Redmalm, David
    Örebro universitet, Sweden.
    Det binäras magi: om den binära kategoriseringens principer och om husdjuret som det antibinäras tankefigur2009In: Det binäras magi: Om den binära kategoriseringens principer och om husdjuret som det antibinäras tankefigur / [ed] Andreas Nyblom, Linköping: Linköping University Electronic Press , 2009, p. 33-37Conference paper (Other academic)
    Abstract [sv]

    Presentationen utforskar binära kategoriseringars logik och möjligheterna till dekonstruktionistiska förhållningssätt till det binära. För att studera detta abstrakta begrepp analyserar jag binariteterna svensk/invandrare, man/kvinna och människa/djur med utgångspunkt i texter av Michael Azar, Judith Butler och Donna Haraway. Genom en jämförelse av dessa tre analyser visar jag att binär kategorisering blir möjlig, trots att de binära begreppen saknar egentligt innehåll, genom ett antal principer – det binäras magi. Utifrån en diskussion om Gadamers syn på satir, baserad på Hegels verkehrt Welt, visar jag avslutningsvis att ett satiriskt soci-alpsykologiskt förhållningssätt genomsyrar Azars, Butlers och Haraways dekonstruktioner av respektive binaritet. Jag framhäver husdjuret som det antibinäras tankefigur och argumenterar för att varje kritik av binära kategoriseringar måste sluta i frågan om vad det mänskliga är.

    Download full text (pdf)
    FULLTEXT01
  • 13.
    Redmalm, David
    Uppsala universitet, Sweden.
    Discipline and Puppies: Control, Discipline and Biopower in More-than-Human Homes2016Conference paper (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    This study draws on interviews with eighteen pet owners to conceptualize how they organize their lives in relation to their pets. I use Foucault’s notion of the bipolar technology of disciplinary power and regulatory biopower in combination with Haraway’s material-semiotics to explore the normative frameworks that structure the relationship between pet and owner and make it meaningful. The analysis shows that the boundaries of the home, the play of power between bodies, and exchanges of love and care are central to producing the pet relationship as inherently meaningful and as an indispensible part of the lives of both pet keepers and pets. While control is present in the owners’ management of the home, the operation of more subtle forms of power can be exposed in the owners’ accounts. A balance between discipline and freedom enables the construction of both human and other identities: pet owners produce their pets’ subjectivity by speaking of them as autonomous persons, while and pets presence in the home also enable their owners’ subjectivity. Pets do not only leave traces in the accounts of their owners, but are co-constituents of their owner’s accounts; in a sense using their owners as linguistic prostheses. I end the article by comparing pet keeping to Foucault’s idea of a lived critique to underline that the power dynamics of pet keeping problematize the often taken-for-granted status of one of sociology’s main objects of study: “the human.”

  • 14.
    Redmalm, David
    Örebro universitet, Sweden.
    Discipline and puppies: the powers of pet keepingManuscript (preprint) (Other academic)
    Abstract [en]

    This article analyzes eighteen interviews with pet owners to conceptualize how they organize their lives in relation to their pets. I use Foucault’s concepts of the bipolar technology of disciplinary power and regulatory biopower in combination with Haraway’s material-semiotics to explore the normative frameworks that structure the relationship between pet and owner and make it meaningful. The analysis shows that the boundaries of the home, the play of power between bodies, and exchanges of love and care are central to producing the pet relationship as inherently meaningful and as an indispensible part of the lives of both pet keepers and pets. While pet owners produce their pets’ subjectivity by speaking of them as autonomous persons, pets also enable their owners’ subjectivity. I end the article by comparing pet keeping to Foucault’s notion of a lived critique to underline that the power dynamics of pet keeping problematize the often taken-for-granted status of one of sociology’s main objects of study: “the human".

  • 15.
    Redmalm, David
    Mälardalen University, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare.
    Discipline and Puppies: The Powers of Pet Keeping2020In: International journal of sociology and social policy, ISSN 0144-333X, E-ISSN 1758-6720, Vol. 41, no 3-4, p. 440-454Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Purpose – This article adopts Foucault’s notion of a bipolar technology of disciplinary power and regulatory biopower to address the tension between discipline and freedom in domestic relationships between human and nonhuman animals commonly referred to as “pets.” In doing so, the article examines the promises and pitfalls of thinking through pet keeping as a form of lived, posthumanist critique.

    Design/methodology/approach – The argument relies on an interview study with 20 pet owners—most of the interviews conducted in their homes together with their pets—to conceptualize how they organize their lives in relation to their pets.

    Findings – The analysis shows that the boundaries of the home, the play of power between bodies, and the “conditions of an unconditional love” are central to producing the pet relationship as inherently meaningful and as an indispensable part of the lives of both pet keepers and pets. A balance between discipline and freedom enables the construction of both human and other identities: pet owners produce their pets’ subjectivity by speaking of them as autonomous persons, while pets’ presence in the home also enables their owners’ subjectivity.

    Social implications – The article critically examines interspecies relationships, which by extension can benefit nonhuman animals. It argues that pet keeping can challenge anthropocentrism and unsustainable consumption lifestyles, but it may also reinforce prevailing biopolitical logics, if it remains maintained within a secluded domestic or cultural sphere.

    Originality/value – The article draws on original data. While Foucauldian theory has been used to discuss pet keeping, empirical studies of pet keeping that rely on this theoretical framework are scarce.

  • 16.
    Redmalm, David
    Uppsala universitet, Sweden.
    Djur i bur även i hyllade djurparker2012In: Djurens Rätt, ISSN 0345-2409, no 1, p. 36-37Article in journal (Other (popular science, discussion, etc.))
  • 17.
    Redmalm, David
    Mälardalen University, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Health and Welfare.
    Därför kan icke-våld vara väldigt effektivt: Kritiken bottnar i bristande förståelse av socialpsykologi2024In: VLT, ISSN 1104-0181, p. 14-14Article in journal (Other (popular science, discussion, etc.))
    Abstract [sv]

    Sedan Rysslands invasion av Ukraina har opinionen i Sverige svängt snabbt – från enträgen alliansfrihet till ohämmad NATO-längtan. Och även om antalet ansökningar om medlemskap till Svenska Freds ökat har dess (nu före detta) ordförande Agnes Hellström mottagit hot och hat för att ha tagit tydlig ställning emot Sveriges Nato-ansökan, mitt under brinnande krig i Europa.

    Svenska freds arbetar förebyggande mot krig och vill att konflikter ska lösas utan våld. Den vanliga kritiken mot ickevåldsmetoder är att de är ineffektiva, och att de som tror på dem är naiva. Men så behöver det inte vara: den här typen av kritik bottnar i en bristande socialpsykologisk förståelse för hur grupper fungerar. Med kunskap om styrkan i sociala band kan ickevåld vara ytterst effektivt, och därför har också sociala påtryckningar använts av många aktörer, alltifrån Gandhis ahimsa-rörelse till CIA.

  • 18.
    Redmalm, David
    Örebro universitet, Sweden.
    Ett svar som kräver en fråga: om Johan Asplunds socialpsykologi2011In: Det socialpsykologiska perspektivet / [ed] Jonas Lindblom,Jonas Stier, Lund: Studentlitteratur , 2011Chapter in book (Other academic)
    Abstract [sv]

    Den sociologiska socialpsykologin har vuxit fram som en reaktion på psykologisk socialpsykologi men också på traditionell, strukturorienterad, sociologi. I denna bok presenteras för första gången på svenska en extensiv och samlad redogörelse för den sociologiska socialpsykologins portalfigurer - deras biografier, idévärldar och begreppsbildningar. Efter att ha positionerat den sociologiska socialpsykologin behandlas i tur och ordning George Herbert Mead, Johan Asplund, Erich Fromm, Erik Homburger Erikson, Erving Goffman, Harold Garfinkel, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jonathan Potter och Judith Butler. Därefter summeras de enskilda bidragen med avsikten att fördjupa förståelsen av ett socialpsykologiskt perspektiv på människan.

  • 19.
    Redmalm, David
    Uppsala universitet, Sweden.
    Forskaren i gränslandet mellan nyhets- och nöjesmedia2016In: Samproduktionens retorik och praktik: - inom området hälsa och välfärd / [ed] Inger K Holmström, Jonas Stier, Per Tillgren och Gunnel Östlund, Lund: Studentlitteratur AB , 2016, 1, p. 209-220Chapter in book (Refereed)
    Abstract [sv]

    I det här kapitlet kommer läsaren få ta del av ett forskningsresultats väg ut i etern och lära känna forskaren som gränsvarelse i spänningsfältet mellan nyhets- och nöjesmedia. När en forskare vill sprida ett forskningsresultat i massmedia sätter en samproduktionsprocess igång där slutprodukten, alltså nyhetsartikeln, förhandlas fram mellan forskare och journalist, och där de båda parterna värderar produkten på olika sätt. Ett forskningsresultat må vara en nyhet för forskaren, men det är inte alltid ett forskningsresultat har ett nyhetsvärde i journalistens ögon. Forskaren vill se sitt resultat spritt till en bredare publik med så lite förvanskning som möjligt. Journalisten fokuserar på läsbarhet och attraktionskraft. Det innebär att det journalistiska arbetet delvis handlar om nyhetens paketering, vilket i sin tur kan leda till att forskaren plötsligt befinner sig i en situation som hen inte har förutsett – till exempel med en chihuahua i famnen. 

  • 20.
    Redmalm, David
    Mälardalen University, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Health and Welfare. Sociologiska institutionen, Uppsala universitet.
    Gränsdjur: Om konsten att balansera på gränsen mellan natur och kultur med människor, hundar, hästar och andra djur2019Conference paper (Other academic)
    Abstract [sv]

    Introduktionstext till Korpo filosofidagar 2019, tema "En gemensam värld: Djur och kultur" 

    Människan och djur är en tematik som genomsyrar filosofin, där idéer om det mänskliga ofta uttrycks i kontrast till natur eller djur. Under Korpo filosofidagar undersöks människans relationer till djur som en öppen fråga: vilka olika innebörder kan djur få i våra liv? Djur finns på olika platser: i våra hem, på laboratorier, i lantbruket, i naturen och på djurparker. Vilka samhälleliga, etiska, politiska och filosofiska frågeställningar väcks i dessa sammanhang?

    Samtida diskussioner om djuren i kulturen sitter ofta fast i bilder av djur som tidlösa naturvarelser medan människan ses som dynamisk, kulturell och föränderlig. Denna bild har i allt högre grad ifrågasatts i diskussioner om ”det antropocena” och ”det posthumana”, som strävar att ifrågasätta vanemässiga tankesätt och uppdelningar mellan ”djur och människa”, och granskar hur människor och djur skapar praktiker och gemenskaper tillsammans. Under Korpo filosofidagar diskuterade vi denna tematik ur olika synvinklar, med en strävan till att få en klarare bild av djuren i kulturen.

  • 21.
    Redmalm, David
    Sociologiska institutionen, Uppsala universitet.
    Holy Bonsai Wolves: Chihuahuas and the Paris Hilton Syndrome2019In: On Dogs: An Anthology, Kendal, Cumbria: Notting Hill Editions , 2019, 1, p. 147-152Chapter in book (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    This article examines the reasons for the Chihuahua breed’s popularity in contemporary western society by looking at two sets of data: Chihuahua handbooks and The Simple Life show, starring Paris Hilton and her Chihuahua Tinkerbell. The article argues that the Chihuahua is a holy anomaly: a creature which can be used in myths and rituals to temporarily alleviate the tension-filled binary oppositions and stereotypes inherent in a particular culture, in order to celebrate and reinforce that culture’s categories and social order. The Chihuahua – or the bonsai wolf – transcends two binary oppositions fundamental to contemporary westerners: subject/object and nature/culture. Although the Chihuahua challenges a number of related binary oppositions, it is generally dismissed as a matter for humor, low-brow entertainment or expressions of sentimentality, rendering ritual encounters with Chihuahuas harmless. The article concludes by asking: what would happen if humans actually started listening to what the Chihuahua is telling them?

  • 22.
    Redmalm, David
    Örebro University, Sweden.
    Holy bonsai wolves: chihuahuas and the Paris Hilton syndrome2014In: International journal of cultural studies, ISSN 1367-8779, E-ISSN 1460-356X, Vol. 17, no 1, p. 93-109Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

     This article examines the reasons for the Chihuahua breed’s popularity in contemporary westernsociety by looking at two sets of data: Chihuahua handbooks and The Simple Life show, starringParis Hilton and her Chihuahua Tinkerbell. The article argues that the Chihuahua is a holy anomaly:a creature which can be used in myths and rituals to temporarily alleviate the tension-filled binaryoppositions and stereotypes inherent in a particular culture, in order to celebrate and reinforcethat culture’s categories and social order. The Chihuahua – or the bonsai wolf – transcendstwo binary oppositions fundamental to contemporary westerners: subject/object and nature/culture. Although the Chihuahua challenges a number of related binary oppositions, it is generallydismissed as a matter for humor, low-brow entertainment or expressions of sentimentality,rendering ritual encounters with Chihuahuas harmless. The article concludes by asking: whatwould happen if humans actually started listening to what the Chihuahua is telling them?

  • 23.
    Redmalm, David
    Mälardalen University, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Health and Welfare.
    Hundar och människor: Två förbundna arter2021In: Nio - Fem, ISSN 2001-9688, no 2, p. 20-27Article in journal (Other (popular science, discussion, etc.))
  • 24.
    Redmalm, David
    Örebro universitet, Sweden.
    Husdjurets genealogi2009Conference paper (Other academic)
    Abstract [sv]

    Hur kan man undersöka relationen mellan människa och djur? Detta är huvudfrågan för presentationen. I relationen mellan människa och djur utmanas dikotomierna kultur/natur, språklig/stum, och samhälls/naturvetenskap, och författaren vill därför, i enighet med samtida forskningsresultat på animal studies-fältet, plädera för en sociologisk problematisering av icke-mänskliga djur. I centrum för diskussionen står språket som genom historien ofta fungerat som en filosofisk vattendelare mellan människa och djur – människor har språk i en särskild bemärkelse, medan djur är utan. Samtidigt tar icke-mänskliga djur plats i ett språkligt samhälle och formar tillsammans med människor detta samhälle. Därför ställer icke-mänskliga djur både poststrukturalistiska och klassiska sociologiska frågor på sin spets. Författaren argumenterar för en dekonstruktionistisk sociologisk studie av husdjursfenomenet som en utmaning av sociologins antropocentrism och en utveckling av det poststrukturalistsiska språkbegreppet. Denna studie är ett planerat fyraårigt avhandlingsprojekt.

  • 25.
    Redmalm, David
    Örebro universitet, Sweden.
    In-your-face-ethics: phenomenology of the face and social psychological animal studies2011In: Undisciplined animals: invitations to animal studies / [ed] Pär Segerdahl, Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing , 2011, 1, p. 73-104Chapter in book (Other academic)
    Abstract [en]

    In this essay, I show how nonhuman animals can challenge anthropocentric theoretical reflection by their mere gaze. According to the central social psychological thought figure, humans become the individual beings they are in the eyes of others. What happens when those others are nonhuman animals? Instead I show that many social philosophers focusing on the encounter face-to-face have a peculiar fascination for nonhuman animals; it is as if nonhuman animals quietly call attention to themselves as soon as philosophers begin their meditations. In the essay, I especially focus on Emmanuel Lévinas phenomenology of the face. For Lévninas, the meeting face to face is prior to all other forms of sociality. When another being respond to your existence, you become someone in the very invitation to speak. The invitation to speak entails a responsibility to respond and confirm the existence of the other, and therefore, ethics is intimately intertwined with the process of perceiving a notion of self and the meeting face-to-face. While Lévinas argues that we never can decide in advance who has a face and who has not, and that human beings may be bereaved of their faces, Lévinas is not ready to grant a face to a nonhuman animal. This has raised a discussion whether Lévinas is indeed consistent with his own thinking. I show that Lévinas position in relation to nonhuman animals does not follow from his discussion of the phenomenology of the face, but from the things he associate with the word ‘animal’, and from how he uses it to define the human subject.  I suggest that studies of social life cannot define in advance what an ‘other’ is, since the moment where we discover a new face and challenge our notion of ourselves is an integral part of social existence. Since an important aspect of Lévinas face is that it is always prior to the I, then we can never dismiss a possible face in advance. This becomes crucial in relation to nonhuman animals, since they regularly are bereaved of their faces with reference to their animality, even though many people interact face-to-face with nonhuman animals. Consequently, in order not to risk neglecting meaningful interaction, social scientists need an open stance toward possible faces, and they should start by letting nonhuman animals into social science studies in general, and social psychological studies in particular.

  • 26.
    Redmalm, David
    Mälardalen University, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Health and Welfare.
    Kan robotar ljuga för människor?2023In: VLT, ISSN 1104-0181, Vol. 2023-10-22Article in journal (Other (popular science, discussion, etc.))
    Abstract [sv]

    Under det senaste året har användningen av chattrobotar diskuterats flitigt – datorprogram som genererar läsbar, korrekt formulerad text med hjälp av artificiell intelligens. Men den här texten handlar inte om supersmarta AI-robotar som lurar oss att de är människor. Den handlar om små lurviga djurrobotar, styrda av nästan löjligt enkla algoritmer. Inom äldreomsorgen, framför allt inom demensvården, har dessa batteridrivna robotdjur blivit allt vanligare under de senaste åren. Robotarna, som rör sig enligt repetitiva mönster, skäller, jamar och spinner, används för att ge lugn och avkoppling till användaren, och studier har visat att de kan minska blodtryck och stress. De fungerar också som ett hjälpmedel som vårdgivare kan använda för att samtala med användare. Men robotarna har debatterats flitigt – skulle den mänskliga kontakten med omsorgspersonal nu delvis ersättas av robotar?  

  • 27.
    Redmalm, David
    Mälardalen University, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Health and Welfare. Sociologiska institutionen, Uppsala universitet.
    Kommunjägare är medlare mellan människor och vilda djur2023In: VLT, ISSN 1104-0181, Vol. 2023-08-03, p. 1Article in journal (Other (popular science, discussion, etc.))
    Abstract [sv]

    Visste du att jägare är ute på jakt mitt i stan medan du sover? Kommunjägare skjuter regelbundet djur i tätbebyggda områden, vanligtvis kråkfåglar, duvor, gäss och kaniner, för att minska nedskräpning och störande ljud, stoppa spridningen av parasiter och sjukdomar, och förhindra viltolyckor och skador på egendom. Kommunjägare kan också avliva skadade djur och ”problemdjur” – älgar som förirrat sig ut på motorvägar eller in på skolgårdar, eller rådjur som förstör växter i botaniska trädgårdar.

  • 28.
    Redmalm, David
    Mälardalen University, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Health and Welfare. Sociologiska institutionen, Uppsala universitet.
    Liminanimals: Celebrity Chihuahuas, Presidential Pets and Riding School Horses2019Conference paper (Other academic)
    Abstract [en]

    n this lecture sociologist David Redmalm will talk about companion animals and their liminal status in human society. He will show how thinking with companion animals can challenge ingrained stereotypical ideas about the distinction between nature and culture, and how this distinction shapes interspecies relationality. To show how "liminanimals" can enable a more nuanced understanding of what we think of as nature and culture, David Redmalm will draw on a number of examples from his own research: Chihuahuas and their symbolic and material role in Western society, the media narrative of Obama family’s dog Bo Obama, and the disciplining of human and equine bodies in riding schools.

  • 29.
    Redmalm, David
    Mälardalen University, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Health and Welfare. Uppsala universitet, Sweden.
    Liminanimals: Chihuahuas, Bo the dog and the Scaly Ant-Eater2019Conference paper (Other academic)
    Abstract [en]

    In this lecture sociologist David Redmalm will talk about pets and their liminal status in human society. He will show how thinking with pets can challenge ingrained stereotypical ideas about the distinction between nature and culture, and how this distinction shapes human and nonhuman lives. To show how pets can enable a more nuanced understanding of what we think of as nature and culture, David Redmalm will draw on a number of examples from his own research: Chihuahuas and their symbolic and material role in Western society, the media narrative of Obama family’s dog Bo Obama, pet cultural expressions of grief for lost pets, and the curious habits of the scaly anteater.

     

  • 30.
    Redmalm, David
    Örebro universitet, Sweden.
    Meet a can of meat: on Lévinasian ethics and non-human faces2009Conference paper (Other academic)
    Abstract [en]

    In this paper, I show how nonhuman animals can challenge anthropocentric theoretical reflection only by their gaze. According to the central social psychological thought figure, humans become the individual beings they are in the eyes of others. What happens when those others are nonhuman animals? Instead I show that many social philosophers focusing on the encounter face-to-face have a peculiar fascination for nonhuman animals; it is as if nonhuman animals quietly call attention to themselves as soon as philosophers begin their meditations. In the paper, I especially focus on Emmanuel Lévinas phenomenology of the face. For Lévninas, the meeting face to face is prior to all other forms of sociality. When another being respond to your existence, you become someone in the very invitation to speak. The invitation to speak entails a responsibility to respond and confirm the existence of the other, and therefore, ethics is intimately intertwined with the process of perceiving a notion of self and the meeting face-to-face. While Lévinas argues that we never can decide in advance who has a face and who has not, and that human beings may be bereaved of their faces, Lévinas is not ready to grant a face to a nonhuman animal. This has raised a discussion whether Lévinas is indeed consistent with his own thinking. I show that Lévinas position in relation to nonhuman animals does not follow from his discussion of the phenomenology of the face, but from the things he associate with the word ‘animal’, and from how he uses it to define the human subject.  I suggest that studies of social life cannot define in advance what an ‘other’ is, since the moment where we discover a new face and challenge our notion of ourselves is an integral part of social existence. Since an important aspect of Lévinas face is that it is always prior to the I, then we can never dismiss a possible face in advance. This becomes crucial in relation to nonhuman animals, since they regularly are bereaved of their faces with reference to their animality, even though many people interact face-to-face with nonhuman animals. Consequently, in order not to risk neglecting meaningful interaction, social scientists need an open stance toward possible faces, and they should start by letting nonhuman animals into social science studies in general, and social psychological studies in particular.

  • 31.
    Redmalm, David
    Uppsala universitet, Sweden.
    Outdoor cats and indoor rats: Three proposed post doc projects on the theme of liminality2014Conference paper (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    During my presentation I will map out my planned post doc projects which means that I will attempt to navigate between urban birds, bird feeders, pest controllers, Judith Butler,de-domesticated rabbits, wildlife managers, bear cubs, sewer rats, Michel Foucault, condolence cards for bereaved pet owners, graffiti painters, Giorgio Agamben, dumpster divers and neutered outdoor cats.

  • 32.
    Redmalm, David
    Mälardalen University, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Health and Welfare.
    Pet grief: When is non-human life grievable?2015In: Sociological Review, ISSN 0038-0261, E-ISSN 1467-954X, Vol. 63, no 1, p. 19-35Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    This study explores how pet owners grieve their pets and view their pets' transience. Drawing on Butler's notion of the differential allocation of grievability, I have analysed interviews with eighteen pet owners. Butler argues that grievability is made possible by a normative framework which allows for some human or human-like lives to be grieved, while other lives are rendered 'lose-able'. All the interviewed pet owners say that they are capable of grieving a non-human animal, but analysis suggests that they make their pets grievable and ungrievable by turns. I argue that by maintaining this ambivalence, the interviewees negotiate pets' inclusion in a human moral community while simultaneously defending human exceptionalism. The article concludes with a discussion of pet grief as a potentially destabilizing emotion. I suggest that grieving beings on the border between grievable human and lose-able animal - 'werewolves' according to Giorgio Agamben - may be a powerful way of challenging normative frameworks which arbitrarily render some human and non-human lives lose-able.

  • 33.
    Redmalm, David
    Örebro universitet, Sweden.
    Pet grief: when is nonhuman life grievable?Manuscript (preprint) (Other academic)
    Abstract [en]

    This study explores how pet owners grieve their pets and view their pets’ transience. Drawing on Butler’s notion of the differential allocation of grievability, I have analyzed eighteen interviews with pet owners. Butler argues that grievability is made possible by a normative framework which allows for some human or human-like lives to be grieved, while other lives are rendered ‘lose-able’. All the interviewed pet owners say that they are capable of grieving a nonhuman animal, but analysis suggests that they make their pets grievable and ungrievable by turns. I argue that by maintaining this ambivalence, the interviewees negotiate pets’ inclusion in a human society while simultaneously defending human exceptionalism. The article concludes with a discussion of pet grief as a potentially destabilizing emotion. I suggest that grieving beings on the border between grievable human and lose-able animal—‘werewolves’ according to Giorgio Agamben—may be a powerful way of challenging normative frameworks which arbitrarily render some human and nonhuman lives lose-able.

  • 34.
    Redmalm, David
    Mälardalen University, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Health and Welfare.
    Pets as Holy Anomalies2021In: Animals and Society: An Introduction to Human-Animal Studies / [ed] Margo DeMello, New York: Columbia University Press, 2021, 2, p. 201-203Chapter in book (Other academic)
    Abstract [en]

    Pet owners commonly speak of their pets as friends or family members, and pets of middle-class and upper-class owners often enjoy greater privileges than many humans, at least with respect to the amount of money spent on veterinary bills, insurances, grooming, and accessories. But pets are also members of the wide category of “animals,” and as such they are bred, bought, and sold as commodities and lack individual rights. This essay explores the ambiguity surrounding pets—these liminal creatures who lead a life on the threshold between nature and culture.

  • 35.
    Redmalm, David
    Uppsala universitet, Sweden.
    Posthuman Postmortem Postcards: Othering and Identification in Condolence Cards for Bereaved Pet Keepers2016Conference paper (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Drawing on the work of Giorgio Agamben, this paper analyzes the text and imagery of condolence cards for humans who have lost a nonhuman animal companion. Although previous research has suggested that there is a taboo on grieving lost pets, there is a growing global market for cards designed for people who mourn a companion animal. The grammar and aesthetics of these cards show what is possible and acceptable when it comes to the display of grief across species borders, and what is not. Most of the cards available recognize the loss of a pet as the loss of a person rather than a belonging, or the loss of grievable bios (political life) rather than expendable zoē (bare life). The analysis shows that while the cards recognize the privileged status of some nonhuman animals in the life of humans, they are concurrently dependent on using the kind of familiar anthropocentric language and imagery that also fuel human exceptionalism. On the one hand, the cards’ rhetoric thus opens up for representations of the loss of companion animals which risk belittling or rejecting the grief for a lost companion animal. On the other, some cards also challenge the hierarchical human/animal distinction, emphasizing non-human animals’ status as kin, in spite of the difference in kind. This balancing between othering and trans-species identification provides the cards with a posthuman quality: in accumulation the cards shed light not only on the othering operations categorizing nonhuman animals as bare life, but also on the volatile notion of a human ‘we’. These posthuman postmortem postcards thus challenge what Agamben calls the anthropological machine; that is, they unsettle discursive othering mechanisms producing the distinction between bios and zoē, and the idea of humans as exceptional animals.

  • 36.
    Redmalm, David
    Uppsala universitet, Sweden.
    Review of Humans, Animals and Biopolitics: The More-than-Human Condition, Edited by Kristin Asdal, Tone Druglitrö and Steve Hinchliffe2017In: Nordic Journal of Science and Technology Studies, ISSN 1894-4647, Vol. 5, no 1, p. 38-39Article, book review (Other academic)
    Abstract [en]

    Michel Foucault’s concept of biopolitics captures the way a decentralized form of governing measures and mobilizes life itself through a number of technologies, such as demographics, surveillance and health initiatives, with the aim to prolong and enhance the lives of a population. According to Foucault, this biopolitical form of governing characteristic of modernity implies a detached and technical stance towards individual lives. In short, biopolitics turns individual lives into life as a mass noun. Interestingly, when human life is treated as a resource, human’s self-proclaimed position as the crown of creation is unsettled and humans find themselves part of the same biopolitical nexus as many other animals. The technologies and consequences of the biopolitization of humans and other animals is the subject of the volume Humans, Animals and Biopolitics, edited by Kristin Asdal, Tone Druglitrö and Steve Hinchliffe. It is a book that should be required reading for Foucauldian theorists and human-animal studies scholars alike.

  • 37.
    Redmalm, David
    HumAnimal Group, Cultural Matters Group.
    Sharing the condition of abandonment: The beastly topology of condolence cards for bereaved pet owners2017In: Animal Places: Lively Cartographies of Human-Animal Relations / [ed] Jacob Bull, Tora Holmberg and Cecilia Åsberg, London and New York: Routledge , 2017, 1, p. 89-114Chapter in book (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    This chapter focuses on spatiality in representations of the loss of and grief for companion animals. Giorgio Agamben’s theorization of the distinction between political and bare life is used to analyse around 350 condolence cards for bereaved pet owners. It is shown that the visual emplacement of pets in different contexts in the collection of cards underlines that pets are worth grieving, while at the same time a distance is maintained between humans and other animals. In spite of this distancing, it is argued that the cards have the potential to challenge the normative boundary between grievable and ungrievable life. 

  • 38.
    Redmalm, David
    Mälardalen University, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Health and Welfare.
    Små gulliga parasiter: Människa, djur och natur i Sara Granérs satir2022In: En mänsklig natur: Risker, reglering och representationer / [ed] Rolf Lidskog; Erik Löfmarck, Örebro: Örebro universitet, sociologiämnet , 2022, 1, p. 169-186Chapter in book (Other academic)
    Abstract [sv]

    I kapitel 11 tar sig David Redmalm an den tecknade satiren som redskap för att belysa och problematisera människans förhållande till naturen. Han utgår här från Sara Granérs samhällssatiriska serieteckningar i en essä som med hjälp av filosofer och miljösociologer undersöker spänningsfältet mellan natur och människa. Kapitlet innehåller även en intervju med Sara Granér.  

    Download full text (pdf)
    Redmalm - Små gulliga parasiter
  • 39.
    Redmalm, David
    Uppsala universitet, Sweden.
    ‘So sorry for the loss of your little friend’: A study of condolence cards for bereaved pet keepers2015Conference paper (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    There is a place where the rainbow always shines, where kittens and puppies fly around with angel wings, and where pet rats feast on endless quantities of cheese: it is the world depicted on condolence cards for bereaved pet keepers. What do these cards tell us about humans’ view of other animals—and of themselves? Drawing on Judith Butler’s writing on grief and bereavement, this paper analyzes condolence cards for humans who have lost a non-human companion. Butler argues that grief has specific characteristics and that norms restrict the allocation of grief by impeding the ascription of one or more of these characteristics. This normative framework thus allows for some human or human-like lives to be grieved, while other lives are rendered ‘lose-able’. To send a condolence card is thus not only to recognize someone’s pain, but to recognize this pain in a specific way, contributing to such a shared normative framework, and to a differential allocation of grievability. In consequence, pet condolence cards show what is possible and acceptable when it comes to the display of grief across species borders, and what is not.

    While many themes in condolence cards for companion animals resemble ‘human’ condolence cards, these cards also challenge non-human animals’ status as grievable: companion animals are recurrently represented as replaceable, the loss is sometimes framed as predictable or in other ways manageable, and the many objectifying depictions of non-human bodies in the cards suggest a lack of embodied empathy with non-human animals.  One the one hand, the cards’ double-sided rhetoric opens up for problematic representations of the loss of companion animals which risk belittling or rejecting the grief for a lost companion animal. On the other, some cards also challenge the hierarchical human/animal distinction, emphasizing non-human animals’ status as kin, in spite of the difference in kind. Thus, the fantasy place constructed by the cards’ imagery corresponds to a utopian space, however tension-filled and indefinitely articulated, in which the differential allocation of grievability is disrupted and ‘the human’ and ‘the animal’ is re-imagined. This is a space of heedless sentimentality and anthropocentric fantasies, but also a space where two taboos are challenged: the taboos around death and around the grief for lost pets.

    The paper concludes by suggesting that condolence cards for bereaved pet owners tend to give non-human animals the status of ‘werewolves’, using Giorgio Agamben’s term for beings existing in the liminal space between grievable and lose-able. Because the cards represent companion animals as being simultaneously grievable and ungrievable—as human and non-human—they accentuate the werewolf status of these beings and the problematic distinction between human and animal. The cards that succeed in recognizing the grief for a ‘werewolf’, the paper argues, pose a serious challenge to the differential allocation of grievability and the anthropocentric politics of kin and kind.

  • 40.
    Redmalm, David
    Uppsala universitet, Sweden.
    "So Sorry for the Loss of Your Little Friend": Pets’ Grievability in Condolence Cards for Humans Mourning Animals2016In: Mourning Animals: Rituals and Practices Surrounding Animal Death / [ed] Margo DeMello, East Lansing: Michigan State University Press , 2016, 1, p. 101-108Chapter in book (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    To send a condolence card is not only to recognize someone’s pain, but to recognize this pain in a specific way, contributing to a shared social understanding what the loss in question might mean to the bereaved person and the people around him or her. While many themes in condolence cards for companion animals resemble ‘human’ condolence cards, these cards also challenge non-human animals’ status as grievable: companion animals are recurrently represented as replaceable to some extent, the loss is sometimes framed as predictable or in other ways manageable, and the many objectifying depictions of non-human bodies in the cards suggest a lack of embodied empathy with non-human animals. Redmalm thus argues that this risks belittling or rejecting the grief for a lost companion animal. On the other, this genre of condolence cards also makes possible ways to represent loss and death in quite explicit ways, challenging the Western taboo around death. Some cards also challenge the hierarchical human/animal distinction, emphasizing non-human animals’ status as kin, in spite of the difference in kind. The chapter concludes by suggesting that condolence cards for bereaved pet owners tend to give non-human animals the status of ‘werewolves’, using Giorgio Agamben’s term for beings existing in the liminal space between grievable and lose-able. Because the cards represent companion animals as being simultaneously grievable and ungrievable—as human and non-human—they accentuate the werewolf status of these beings and the problematic distinction between human and animal. The cards that succeed in recognizing the grief for a ‘werewolf’, the chapter argues, pose a serious challenge to the differential allocation of grievability and the anthropocentric politics of kin and kind.

  • 41.
    Redmalm, David
    Mälardalen University, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Health and Welfare.
    The Biopolitical Bunny: Animal liminality as threat, potentiality, and resistance2023Conference paper (Refereed)
  • 42.
    Redmalm, David
    Mälardalen University, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Health and Welfare.
    The Centaur Turned Upside Down: Animal riders and minded horses in the riding school2022Conference paper (Other academic)
    Abstract [en]

    It is somewhat a cliché to say that we do not understand ourselves as humans until we have mirrored ourselves in the eyes of an animal. But as Giorgio Agamben has pointed out, this mirroring is never a perfect reflection, but a play with mirrors through which different kinds of humanity are conjured up depending on the positioning of the mirrors. In this talk I will discuss this mirroring act through the example of interspecies relationships in riding schools. The figure of the centaur is often used to describe riding: the upper half of the centaur is a rational and reflexive human, leading the lower, equine half of pure muscle. However, pupils’ accounts and observations of riding lessons turn the figure of the centaur upside down—the riders come to understand horses as human-like, minded beings, while they simultaneously recognize animal aspects of their own being. In the lecture I will show how this mirroring act comes about and discuss its implications for human-animal studies. To fully understand this trick with mirrors, we need to look not only at what humans do, but also at how nonhuman animals manipulate the hall of mirrors with their actions, their resistance, and sometimes by their mere presence. 

  • 43.
    Redmalm, David
    Örebro universitet, Sweden.
    The construction of a celebrity and her pet: a case study of Paris Hilton and Tinkerbell2010Conference paper (Other academic)
    Abstract [en]

    Paris Hilton, heiress of the Hilton hotel chain fortune, is well-known from several reality-TV shows, a music career, and frequent appearances in tabloids all over the world. Often by her side, the Chihuahua Tinkerbell has become one of the world’s most famous now living pets, and she is the author of her biography, written in first person singular. The relation between Hilton and Tinkerbell seems almost archetypical – it appears to be the perfect incarnation of the bourgeois pet-owner, moving her dog around in an expensive handbag as an accessory without any regard to the real pet behind the Gucci collar. Nevertheless, there is a peculiar focus on Tinkerbell in different forms of celebrity media; people seem to be especially moved by this dog and her destiny.In a discourse analysis of books, tabloid articles, reality show episodes, interviews and images from celebrity magazines, it is shown that imagery and text cooperate to produce Tinkerbell as a person. This is done through a number of different discursive techniques and among them is the linguistic prosthesis. This concept refers to the way people speak for animals, i.e. ascribe them a voice in first person singular, and it is often done in order to make sense of the animal’s behavior. By giving an animal a voice, the animal is made intoan active, social subject, but in the case of Tinkerbell, the voice of the produced canine subject is often heavily normative. It is used to criticize her mistress’ sometimes unreliable behavior, to question the mistreatment of pets, and to express a general critique against life in the lap of luxury. In the interplay between text and pet a certain form of common sense is produced and disseminated.The discussion is divided in two sections. First, it is argued that popular media’s fixation with Tinkerbell stems from the way the pet as a social phenomenon trifle with common dichotomies such as nature/culture, authenticity/simulation, wilderness/civilization, speech/speechlessness, child/adult and poor/rich. Second, the relation between representations of animals in media, such as wildlife films and TV-shows on dog-training and veterinary clinics, is discussed in relation to the epistemology of the reality show genre.

  • 44.
    Redmalm, David
    Mälardalen University, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Health and Welfare.
    The horse, in his present condition of slavery: Alienation and Self-Realization in the Riding School2018Conference paper (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    What do riding school pupils talk about? Like most of us, they complain about their jobs. This Swedish riding school ethnography shows how pupils turn the riding school into a sphere of intimacy separated from everyday life. The riding lessons can serve as a break from a stressful job, a demanding family situation, or a personal crisis. And although teachers continuously judge the pupils’ performance, riders say that they gladly subject themselves to critique. Everything is focused on reaching the few, fleeting and euphoric moments when riders feel that they are one with the horse. Because of these moments, some even talk about riding as a path to self-realization.

     

    The discussion of the ethnographic material is guided by the comparison between the situation of women and horses Charlotte Perkins Gilman makes in her classic Women and Economics from 1898: horses and women are in the same “condition of slavery” as they are economically dependent on men. Transposed to the present empirical setting—my informants are either woman or horse—the analogy sheds light on the inequality between humans and horses. The riding school can help humans transcend the capitalist condition of “slavery” for a moment, but many informants realize that to do so, they contribute to subjugating the horses to the elaborate disciplinary and administrative apparatus. The paper thus argues that the riding school can only provide riders with a sort of melancholic escapism that can never fundamentally challenge the present condition of slavery.

  • 45.
    Redmalm, David
    Uppsala universitet, Sweden.
    The Topsy-Turvy Centaur: The Production of Human Bodies and Equine Minds in Riding Schools2016Conference paper (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    This presentation is based on preliminary findings from an ethnographic study of adult pupils at riding schools. The study is part of the research project Intimate Sociality: Practice and Identity in Collective Housing, Human-Animal Relations and Couple Dancing, based at The Institute for Future Studies (project leader: Maria Törnqvist). The study explores the kind of intimacy that pupils strive for and often find at riding schools in relation to human and equine animals. Intimate sociality at riding schools is brief and momentary: during and in connection to riding classes the participants share experiences of a wide range of events and emotions, but the discussions and social relations at the schools are generally left behind when the pupils return home. Nevertheless, riding school interactions between humans and horses have a deeper resonance in the lives of the pupils. As part of their education, the pupils learn to control their bodies. This control means that the pupils start to pay attention to their own physical being, rather than their thoughts, in contrast to the usual emphasis on the cerebral in their everyday lives. In this way, the riders let their bodies take control of their minds, rather than the other way around. Further, to attune their bodies to the horses they ride, it becomes crucial to ascribe a mind and personhood to the horses. This turns the widespread idea of the horse and rider as a centaur with a horse’s body and a human mind literally upside down. In the empirical material—both during observations and in interviews—the rider is emphasized as body, while the horse is emphasized as a minded being. I discuss this peculiar creature—the topsy-turvy centaur—in relation to Michel Foucualt’s conceptualization of power and Charlotte Perkin Gilman’s use of the figure of the horse in her theorization of inequality, and suggest that this figure challenges not only ideals related to contemporary capitalist society, but also ideals associated with being human. However, while leisure riding opens up for certain subversive possibilities for the riding human, it is not necessarily the same for the horses involved. This is also recognized by the pupils in the study: they continuously orient to the inequality between humans and horses in the way they talk about themselves, other humans, and the horses they ride.

  • 46.
    Redmalm, David
    Mälardalen University, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Health and Welfare. Uppsala universitet, Sweden.
    To make pets live, and to let them die: The biopolitics of pet keeping2019In: Death Matters: Cultural Sociology of Mortal Life / [ed] Tora Holmberg, Annika Jonsson, Fredrik Palm, London: Palgrave Macmillan , 2019, 1, p. 241-263Chapter in book (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Pets are often considered to be friends or part of the nuclear family, and many pets are grieved when they die. But pets are also routinely bred in abundance, bought, sold, and euthanized when they are unwanted. The aim of this chapter is to suggest a way of understanding pet keeping in the light of pets’ paradoxical status between “grievable” and “killable.” It argues that the ambiguous conceptualization of the pet as an irreplaceable individual and as a consumable resource corresponds to a biopolitical rationale for breeding, buying, selling and killing pets. The chapter suggests that pet keeping can be regarded as a demarcated zone where biopolitical norms surrounding life and death can be played with, managed and reproduced.

    Download full text (pdf)
    fulltext
  • 47.
    Redmalm, David
    Mälardalen University, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Health and Welfare.
    Toilet paper and pangolins: Magical thinking during the Covid-19 pandemic2021In: The European Sociologist, ISSN 2415-6426, no 46Article in journal (Other (popular science, discussion, etc.))
    Abstract [en]

    Pangolins are boundary creatures; they exist on the boundary between human and animal, village and wilderness, the human world and the spirit world, and mundane life and ritual purity. It is because of their ambiguity that they have gained a special status in Lele society – and in other societies as well. Pangolins are hunted in several regions in Asia for their scales, sought after for their use in traditional medicine. The extensive exploitation of pangolins is believed to be a key to understanding the Covid-19 crisis. According to one theory, humans contracted the virus from pangolins, who were in turn infected by bats. Douglas underlines in a foreword to the 1975 edition of Implicit Meanings that ”it is an anachronism to believe that our world is more securely founded in knowledge than one that is driven by pangolin power” – “our world” meaning a globalised modern culture. In times of crisis, according to Douglas’ observations, the Lele would put their trust in the senior pangolin man of the village and in the Pangolin initiation and feast. Toilet paper, in contrast, is the pangolin of the moderns. The members of the modern global culture thus put their trust in advertised sanitary products and engage in ritual hoarding of toilet paper rolls, hoping that the paper rolls will magically purify the impure. Some feast on toilet paper pastries, filled with cream and covered in toilet paper patterned marzipan, which became popular in Sweden during the toilet paper shortage.

  • 48.
    Redmalm, David
    Mälardalen University, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Health and Welfare.
    Vem granskar forskarna?2023In: VLT, ISSN 1104-0181, Vol. 2023-06-08, p. 1Article in journal (Other (popular science, discussion, etc.))
    Abstract [sv]

    Under Nürnbergrättegångarna efter andra världskrigets slut ställdes nazistiska krigsförbrytare till svars. Bland dem fanns forskare som hade använt människor, främst judar och andra personer tillhörande minoriteter och utsatta grupper, i plågsamma och ofta dödliga experiment i vetenskapens namn. Här hade forskare, som ska arbeta i mänsklighetens tjänst, använt människor på ett hänsynslöst sätt för att generera forskningsresultat. Rättegångarna väckte frågan: Vilka åtgärder skulle kunna garantera att detta aldrig skulle ske igen?

  • 49.
    Redmalm, David
    Mälardalen University, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Health and Welfare.
    Vi behöver fler regnbågsflaggor – inte färre2023In: VLT, ISSN 1104-0181, Vol. 2023-06-29, p. 1Article in journal (Other (popular science, discussion, etc.))
    Abstract [sv]

    Sommar betyder Pridesäsong, och varje år vid den här tiden tänker jag på Budapest Pride, som jag besökte 2017 för att spela in en dokumentär till ett forskningsprojekt. Victor Orbán, Ungerns premiärminister, sätter den traditionella ungerska kärnfamiljen i centrum för sin nationalkonservativa retorik. Enligt Orbán är västerländsk liberalism, invandring och hbtqi-personer de största hoten mot den nationella gemenskapen.

  • 50.
    Redmalm, David
    Örebro universitet, Sweden.
    When species meet2009In: Sociologisk forskning, ISSN 0038-0342, E-ISSN 2002-066X, no 4, p. 71-73Article, book review (Other academic)
12 1 - 50 of 79
CiteExportLink to result list
Permanent link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf