7,302 research outputs found

    Grasping nothing: a study of minimal ontologies and the sense of music

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    If music were to have a proper sense – one in which it is truly given – one might reasonably place this in sound and aurality. I contend, however, that no such sense exists; rather, the sense of music takes place, and it does so with the impossible. To this end, this thesis – which is a work of philosophy and music – advances an ontology of the impossible (i.e., it thinks the being of what, properly speaking, can have no being) and considers its implications for music, articulating how ontological aporias – of the event, of thinking the absolute, and of sovereignty’s dismemberment – imply senses of music that are anterior to sound. John Cage’s Silent Prayer, a nonwork he never composed, compels a rerethinking of silence on the basis of its contradictory status of existence; Florian Hecker et al.’s Speculative Solution offers a basis for thinking absolute music anew to the precise extent that it is a discourse of meaninglessness; and Manfred Werder’s [yearn] pieces exhibit exemplarily that music’s sense depends on the possibility of its counterfeiting. Inso-much as these accounts produce musical senses that take the place of sound, they are also understood to be performances of these pieces. Here, then, thought is music’s organon and its instrument

    Machine Learning Research Trends in Africa: A 30 Years Overview with Bibliometric Analysis Review

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    In this paper, a critical bibliometric analysis study is conducted, coupled with an extensive literature survey on recent developments and associated applications in machine learning research with a perspective on Africa. The presented bibliometric analysis study consists of 2761 machine learning-related documents, of which 98% were articles with at least 482 citations published in 903 journals during the past 30 years. Furthermore, the collated documents were retrieved from the Science Citation Index EXPANDED, comprising research publications from 54 African countries between 1993 and 2021. The bibliometric study shows the visualization of the current landscape and future trends in machine learning research and its application to facilitate future collaborative research and knowledge exchange among authors from different research institutions scattered across the African continent

    The capacity of Scotland’s community right to buy legislation to contribute to ecological sustainability

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    The principal aim of this thesis is to contribute to sustainability debates. Specifically, this thesis aims to assess the capacity of the statutory community rights to buy – part of Scotland’s wider land reform framework – to contribute to ecological sustainability. ‘Ecological sustainability’, in context of this thesis, is the ultimate goal of humanity successfully living within the ecological limits of the Earth. This thesis outlines that these community rights to buy are defined and affected by both sustainable development and property law. Therefore, it seeks to interrogate the extent to which both of these aspects are influenced by anthropocentrism, rather than ecocentrism, and the impact this has on the capacity of the community rights to buy to contribute to the achievement of ecological sustainability. Three central arguments are important in this regard: the spectrum between anthropocentric and ecocentric understandings of sustainable development; how imbuing responsibilities in ownership can help to bridge the gap between these two understandings; and how the structuring effect of property law resists placing responsibilities on ownership, thus impeding the ability to find a more appropriate point between anthropocentrism and ecocentrism. The cumulative effect of these themes on the capacity of the community rights to buy in Scotland to contribute to ecological sustainability will be the focus of the conclusion of this thesis. Chapter 1 introduces and explores these three central themes. It will be argued that global interpretations of sustainable development have tended to adopt an anthropocentric approach within the spectrum of anthropocentrism/ecocentrism, and that this is mirrored in Scotland’s approach to sustainable development. The nature and culture dualism will then be explored as a potential explanation for the anthropocentric focus of both sustainable development and property law. This chapter will conclude that, whilst responsibilities can bridge the gap between anthropocentrism and ecocentrism, the structural effect of Western property law norms resists this, which is problematic for ecological sustainability. Against this background, Chapter 2 is concerned with situating Scotland within these debates. It will assess the concentrated ownership patterns seen today, arguing that an emphasis on individual ownership rights has facilitated this; an example of property law’s structural effects eschewing responsibilities in ownership. These factors have anthropocentric outcomes. This chapter will argue that an increasing focus on responsibilities within land policy in Scotland shows an implicit recognition of the need to move beyond the existing rights paradigm. However, this is stymied by property law’s structural emphasis on rights. Against this background, the chapter will conclude with a brief outline of what the community rights to buy are, their significance, and their adoption of sustainable development, before engaging in a deeper evaluative exercise in Chapter 3. Chapter 3 will assess what kind of sustainable development is being envisaged in the community right to buy legislation, and whether this is suitable for the achievement of ecological sustainability. It will be argued that, whilst showing signs of ecocentrism, given the structural effects of property law in Scotland and the concomitant focus on individual rights the community rights to buy find themselves at the anthropocentric end of the sustainable development spectrum identified in Chapter 1. However, the backdrop of Scottish land policy signifies a will to incorporate responsibilities, as well as rights, into ownership. In this regard, it is argued that the community rights to buy, in their incorporation of sustainable development, signify a form of incremental change when viewed in tandem with other policy in Scotland, which can better integrate ecocentric approaches and which could incite progress towards ecological sustainability

    Modelling and Solving the Single-Airport Slot Allocation Problem

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    Currently, there are about 200 overly congested airports where airport capacity does not suffice to accommodate airline demand. These airports play a critical role in the global air transport system since they concern 40% of global passenger demand and act as a bottleneck for the entire air transport system. This imbalance between airport capacity and airline demand leads to excessive delays, as well as multi-billion economic, and huge environmental and societal costs. Concurrently, the implementation of airport capacity expansion projects requires time, space and is subject to significant resistance from local communities. As a short to medium-term response, Airport Slot Allocation (ASA) has been used as the main demand management mechanism. The main goal of this thesis is to improve ASA decision-making through the proposition of models and algorithms that provide enhanced ASA decision support. In doing so, this thesis is organised into three distinct chapters that shed light on the following questions (I–V), which remain untapped by the existing literature. In parentheses, we identify the chapters of this thesis that relate to each research question. I. How to improve the modelling of airline demand flexibility and the utility that each airline assigns to each available airport slot? (Chapters 2 and 4) II. How can one model the dynamic and endogenous adaptation of the airport’s landside and airside infrastructure to the characteristics of airline demand? (Chapter 2) III. How to consider operational delays in strategic ASA decision-making? (Chapter 3) IV. How to involve the pertinent stakeholders into the ASA decision-making process to select a commonly agreed schedule; and how can one reduce the inherent decision-complexity without compromising the quality and diversity of the schedules presented to the decision-makers? (Chapter 3) V. Given that the ASA process involves airlines (submitting requests for slots) and coordinators (assigning slots to requests based on a set of rules and priorities), how can one jointly consider the interactions between these two sides to improve ASA decision-making? (Chapter 4) With regards to research questions (I) and (II), the thesis proposes a Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) model that considers airlines’ timing flexibility (research question I) and constraints that enable the dynamic and endogenous allocation of the airport’s resources (research question II). The proposed modelling variant addresses several additional problem characteristics and policy rules, and considers multiple efficiency objectives, while integrating all constraints that may affect airport slot scheduling decisions, including the asynchronous use of the different airport resources (runway, aprons, passenger terminal) and the endogenous consideration of the capabilities of the airport’s infrastructure to adapt to the airline demand’s characteristics and the aircraft/flight type associated with each request. The proposed model is integrated into a two-stage solution approach that considers all primary and several secondary policy rules of ASA. New combinatorial results and valid tightening inequalities that facilitate the solution of the problem are proposed and implemented. An extension of the above MIP model that considers the trade-offs among schedule displacement, maximum displacement, and the number of displaced requests, is integrated into a multi-objective solution framework. The proposed framework holistically considers the preferences of all ASA stakeholder groups (research question IV) concerning multiple performance metrics and models the operational delays associated with each airport schedule (research question III). The delays of each schedule/solution are macroscopically estimated, and a subtractive clustering algorithm and a parameter tuning routine reduce the inherent decision complexity by pruning non-dominated solutions without compromising the representativeness of the alternatives offered to the decision-makers (research question IV). Following the determination of the representative set, the expected delay estimates of each schedule are further refined by considering the whole airfield’s operations, the landside, and the airside infrastructure. The representative schedules are ranked based on the preferences of all ASA stakeholder groups concerning each schedule’s displacement-related and operational-delay performance. Finally, in considering the interactions between airlines’ timing flexibility and utility, and the policy-based priorities assigned by the coordinator to each request (research question V), the thesis models the ASA problem as a two-sided matching game and provides guarantees on the stability of the proposed schedules. A Stable Airport Slot Allocation Model (SASAM) capitalises on the flexibility considerations introduced for addressing research question (I) through the exploitation of data submitted by the airlines during the ASA process and provides functions that proxy each request’s value considering both the airlines’ timing flexibility for each submitted request and the requests’ prioritisation by the coordinators when considering the policy rules defining the ASA process. The thesis argues on the compliance of the proposed functions with the primary regulatory requirements of the ASA process and demonstrates their applicability for different types of slot requests. SASAM guarantees stability through sets of inequalities that prune allocations blocking the formation of stable schedules. A multi-objective Deferred-Acceptance (DA) algorithm guaranteeing the stability of each generated schedule is developed. The algorithm can generate all stable non-dominated points by considering the trade-off between the spilled airline and passenger demand and maximum displacement. The work conducted in this thesis addresses several problem characteristics and sheds light on their implications for ASA decision-making, hence having the potential to improve ASA decision-making. Our findings suggest that the consideration of airlines’ timing flexibility (research question I) results in improved capacity utilisation and scheduling efficiency. The endogenous consideration of the ability of the airport’s infrastructure to adapt to the characteristics of airline demand (research question II) enables a more efficient representation of airport declared capacity that results in the scheduling of additional requests. The concurrent consideration of airlines’ timing flexibility and the endogenous adaptation of airport resources to airline demand achieves an improved alignment between the airport infrastructure and the characteristics of airline demand, ergo proposing schedules of improved efficiency. The modelling and evaluation of the peak operational delays associated with the different airport schedules (research question III) provides allows the study of the implications of strategic ASA decision-making for operations and quantifies the impact of the airport’s declared capacity on each schedule’s operational performance. In considering the preferences of the relevant ASA stakeholders (airlines, coordinators, airport, and air traffic authorities) concerning multiple operational and strategic ASA efficiency metrics (research question IV) the thesis assesses the impact of alternative preference considerations and indicates a commonly preferred schedule that balances the stakeholders’ preferences. The proposition of representative subsets of alternative schedules reduces decision-complexity without significantly compromising the quality of the alternatives offered to the decision-making process (research question IV). The modelling of the ASA as a two-sided matching game (research question V), results in stable schedules consisting of request-to-slot assignments that provide no incentive to airlines and coordinators to reject or alter the proposed timings. Furthermore, the proposition of stable schedules results in more intensive use of airport capacity, while simultaneously improving scheduling efficiency. The models and algorithms developed as part of this thesis are tested using airline requests and airport capacity data from coordinated airports. Computational results that are relevant to the context of the considered airport instances provide evidence on the potential improvements for the current ASA process and facilitate data-driven policy and decision-making. In particular, with regards to the alignment of airline demand with the capabilities of the airport’s infrastructure (questions I and II), computational results report improved slot allocation efficiency and airport capacity utilisation, which for the considered airport instance translate to improvements ranging between 5-24% for various schedule performance metrics. In reducing the difficulty associated with the assessment of multiple ASA solutions by the stakeholders (question IV), instance-specific results suggest reductions to the number of alternative schedules by 87%, while maintaining the quality of the solutions presented to the stakeholders above 70% (expressed in relation to the initially considered set of schedules). Meanwhile, computational results suggest that the concurrent consideration of ASA stakeholders’ preferences (research question IV) with regards to both operational (research question III) and strategic performance metrics leads to alternative airport slot scheduling solutions that inform on the trade-offs between the schedules’ operational and strategic performance and the stakeholders’ preferences. Concerning research question (V), the application of SASAM and the DA algorithm suggest improvements to the number of unaccommodated flights and passengers (13 and 40% improvements) at the expense of requests concerning fewer passengers and days of operations (increasing the number of rejected requests by 1.2% in relation to the total number of submitted requests). The research conducted in this thesis aids in the identification of limitations that should be addressed by future studies to further improve ASA decision-making. First, the thesis focuses on exact solution approaches that consider the landside and airside infrastructure of the airport and generate multiple schedules. The proposition of pre-processing techniques that identify the bottleneck of the airport’s capacity, i.e., landside and/or airside, can be used to reduce the size of the proposed formulations and improve the required computational times. Meanwhile, the development of multi-objective heuristic algorithms that consider several problem characteristics and generate multiple efficient schedules in reasonable computational times, could extend the capabilities of the models propositioned in this thesis and provide decision support for some of the world’s most congested airports. Furthermore, the thesis models and evaluates the operational implications of strategic airport slot scheduling decisions. The explicit consideration of operational delays as an objective in ASA optimisation models and algorithms is an issue that merits investigation since it may further improve the operational performance of the generated schedules. In accordance with current practice, the models proposed in this work have considered deterministic capacity parameters. Perhaps, future research could propose formulations that consider stochastic representations of airport declared capacity and improve strategic ASA decision-making through the anticipation of operational uncertainty and weather-induced capacity reductions. Finally, in modelling airlines’ utility for each submitted request and available time slot the thesis proposes time-dependent functions that utilise available data to approximate airlines’ scheduling preferences. Future studies wishing to improve the accuracy of the proposed functions could utilise commercial data sources that provide route-specific information; or in cases that such data is unavailable, employ data mining and machine learning methodologies to extract airlines’ time-dependent utility and preferences

    Foundations for programming and implementing effect handlers

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    First-class control operators provide programmers with an expressive and efficient means for manipulating control through reification of the current control state as a first-class object, enabling programmers to implement their own computational effects and control idioms as shareable libraries. Effect handlers provide a particularly structured approach to programming with first-class control by naming control reifying operations and separating from their handling. This thesis is composed of three strands of work in which I develop operational foundations for programming and implementing effect handlers as well as exploring the expressive power of effect handlers. The first strand develops a fine-grain call-by-value core calculus of a statically typed programming language with a structural notion of effect types, as opposed to the nominal notion of effect types that dominates the literature. With the structural approach, effects need not be declared before use. The usual safety properties of statically typed programming are retained by making crucial use of row polymorphism to build and track effect signatures. The calculus features three forms of handlers: deep, shallow, and parameterised. They each offer a different approach to manipulate the control state of programs. Traditional deep handlers are defined by folds over computation trees, and are the original con-struct proposed by Plotkin and Pretnar. Shallow handlers are defined by case splits (rather than folds) over computation trees. Parameterised handlers are deep handlers extended with a state value that is threaded through the folds over computation trees. To demonstrate the usefulness of effects and handlers as a practical programming abstraction I implement the essence of a small UNIX-style operating system complete with multi-user environment, time-sharing, and file I/O. The second strand studies continuation passing style (CPS) and abstract machine semantics, which are foundational techniques that admit a unified basis for implementing deep, shallow, and parameterised effect handlers in the same environment. The CPS translation is obtained through a series of refinements of a basic first-order CPS translation for a fine-grain call-by-value language into an untyped language. Each refinement moves toward a more intensional representation of continuations eventually arriving at the notion of generalised continuation, which admit simultaneous support for deep, shallow, and parameterised handlers. The initial refinement adds support for deep handlers by representing stacks of continuations and handlers as a curried sequence of arguments. The image of the resulting translation is not properly tail-recursive, meaning some function application terms do not appear in tail position. To rectify this the CPS translation is refined once more to obtain an uncurried representation of stacks of continuations and handlers. Finally, the translation is made higher-order in order to contract administrative redexes at translation time. The generalised continuation representation is used to construct an abstract machine that provide simultaneous support for deep, shallow, and parameterised effect handlers. kinds of effect handlers. The third strand explores the expressiveness of effect handlers. First, I show that deep, shallow, and parameterised notions of handlers are interdefinable by way of typed macro-expressiveness, which provides a syntactic notion of expressiveness that affirms the existence of encodings between handlers, but it provides no information about the computational content of the encodings. Second, using the semantic notion of expressiveness I show that for a class of programs a programming language with first-class control (e.g. effect handlers) admits asymptotically faster implementations than possible in a language without first-class control

    The Role of English and Welsh INGOs: A Field Theory-Based Exploration of the Sector

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    This thesis takes a field theory-based approach to exploring the role of English and Welsh international non-governmental organisations (INGOs), using the lens of income source form. First, the thesis presents new income source data drawn from 933 Annual Accounts published by 316 INGOs over three years (2015-2018). The research then draws on qualitative data from 90 Leaders' letters include within the Annual Reports published by 39 INGOS, as well as supplementary quantitative and qualitative data, to explore the ways in which INGOs represent their role. Analysis of this income source data demonstrates that government funding is less important to most INGOs than has previously been assumed, while income from individuals is more important than has been recognised in the extant development studies literature. Funding from other organisations within the voluntary sector is the third most important source of income for these INGOs, while income from fees and trading is substantially less important than the other income source forms. Using this income source data in concert with other quantitative data on INGO characteristics as well as qualitative data drawn from the Leaders' letters, I then show that the English and Welsh INGO sector is a heterogenous space, divided into multiple fields. The set of fields identified by this thesis is arranged primarily around income source form, which is also associated with size, religious affiliation, and activities of focus and ways of working. As Bourdieusian field theory suggests, within these fields individual INGOs are engaged in an ongoing struggle for position: competing to demonstrate their maximal possession of the symbolic capitals they perceive to be valued by (potential) donors to that field. Further analysis of these Leaders' letters, alongside additional Annual Reports and Accounts data, also reveals a dissonance in the way in which INGOs describe their relationship with local partners in these different communication types. While these Leaders' letters and narrative reports tell stories of collaborative associations with locally-based partners, this obscures the nature of these relationships as competitive and hierarchical. The thesis draws on the above findings to reflect on the role of INGOs as suggested in the extant literature. This discussion highlights how the various potential INGO fields identified are associated with differing theoretical roles for INGOs. Finally, the thesis considers how INGO role representations continue to contribute to unequal power relations between INGOs and their partners

    A Consideration of Cooperative Learning to Enhance Pre-service Teachers’ Achievement in Tertiary English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Classrooms in Thailand

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    Cooperative learning has become a popular instructional practice around the world. It requires students working together in small groups to help support each other in maximising their own learning as well as that of others to accomplish a shared goal. A cooperative learning method, especially, Student Teams Achievement Divisions (STAD) developed by Slavin (1982) was implemented in the study. The study investigated the effectiveness of cooperative learning to enhance the English achievement of EFL (English as a foreign language) students in tertiary teacher education in Thailand. It also examined participants’ attitudes towards cooperative learning. The study began with a structured review of existing empirical studies to establish whether STAD could be a promising method to use in developing English proficiency in EFL and ESL (English as a second language) contexts. The review also helped identify the challenges and barriers to implementing the method and informed the primary research in terms of achievement tests, instructor training, time allowance for team study and material preparation. The review and synthesis of 28 studies revealed several beneficial suggestions regarding cooperative learning implementation in normal educational settings. However, the credibility of the overall evidence was weak, with most studies involving key methodological flaws. To examine the effectiveness of the method, a cluster randomised controlled trial (RCT) at the university level was used. The participants were 13 instructors and 614 students from 13 universities (forming 13 clusters). A total of eight universities that agreed to participate in the intervention were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups with four universities in each group. Another five universities agreed to complete the pre-test and post-test and are described in this thesis as an additional comparison group. The participating instructors were 13 Thai university instructors of English language from 13 Rajabhat Universities in Thailand. Their students were first-year pre-service teachers who were majoring in English in the Faculty of Education. The trial was carried out in one term consisting of 16 class sessions. The research instruments consisted of two parallel standardised English achievement tests, two attitude questionnaires (teacher and student) and classroom observations with ad hoc interviews. The results showed that the use of cooperative learning in tertiary EFL classrooms in Thailand is feasible. In terms of attitudes, both instructors and students were generally positive towards cooperative learning and supported its activities. Students in the treatment group did slightly better (ES = +0.09) when compared to all comparator groups. However, when considering the randomised experimental and control groups, the control group improved their post-test score (+0.26) while the experimental group declined (-0.20). Overall, cooperative learning showed no clear benefit for students’ English language achievement. The process evaluation revealed the key factors that facilitated the implementation were teacher training and support, preparation and availability of teaching resources and materials, teachers’ positive attitudes and the duration of cooperative learning instruction. Some barriers were also found, including students’ negative attitudes, inappropriate classroom settings and facilities, and instructors’ workload. Unfortunately, since the study was carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic, none of the universities were able to complete the course of 16 classes as planned. The number of classes students could meet in their normal classroom conditions was approximately 8 to 12. Different modes of lesson delivery (face-to-face, online and hybrid) were also reported. A replication of the study is needed for a more accurate assessment of the STAD method. Both the structured review and the cluster RCT suggest no strong evidence that the cooperative learning method, namely STAD, led to improved pre-service teachers’ English language achievement in Thailand. However, this does not necessarily mean the method does not work. The lack of impact might be due to the challenges faced in the delivery of the intervention during the pandemic. This was compounded by the lack of complete randomisation used in the study. It is, therefore, difficult to draw more definite conclusions about the effectiveness of STAD. It might be wise to conduct further robust evaluations involving a large number of educational institutions before any considerable investment can be made to introduce this method in higher education institutions in Thailand. In the meantime, there may be other approaches with a more promising evidence base which may enhance students’ English language achievement

    Management Matters : Organizational Storytelling within the Anthroposophical Society in Sweden

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    The Anthroposophical Society, founded by the Austrian polymath Rudolf Steiner, came to Sweden in 1913, but for the generation of present-day Swedish Anthroposophists whose voices are heard in this study, the great flowering of the movement occurred in the second half of the twentieth century. The movement had by then expanded into a large milieu with many largely independent enterprises and institutions, from the formal organization itself, to various schools, farms, shops, medical facilities, etc., all based on interpretations of Steiner’s legacy. Since then, many members of the movement feel, there has been a decline. A movement of this size and complexity can be seen as a large organization with a corporate-like structure. Taking its point of departure in ideas from the vast field of organization studies, and specifically in the study of storytelling as part of the creation of a corporate culture where many voices and many perspectives co-exist, this study investigates how Anthroposophists in Sweden, both rank and-file members and some who served in leadership positions, tell the story of the putative Golden Age, decline, and projected future of Anthroposophy in Sweden. Twenty-eight interviews were collected, recurrent themes identified, and the plots of the various individual stories analyzed by means of a version of the actantial model developed by the semioticist Algirdas Greimas. The basic storyline, of which the interviewees’ individual stories constitute variations, is that the Golden Age, when charismatic leaders could draw crowds of enthusiastic young people and a vibrant Anthroposophical milieu was built up, came to an end with the demise of those leaders. The present, i.e., the time at which the interviews were conducted, is narratively framed as a period of sharp decline. The vistas for the future come across in most stories as quite bleak. An actantial analysis reveals that the past, an epoch that is on one hand held up as a shining example is on the other hand also described as a time characterized by innumerable problems and conflicts. Disagreement is rampant regarding the reasons for the current decline, and a vast number of problems are identified in the individual narratives. The future is for some interviewees impossible to speculate about, whereas others have specific suggestions for change. These suggestions, when held up against each other, show that there is no unified vision of what the necessary changes might be or who must bring them about. The interviewees agree that Anthroposophy plays a vital role as a spiritual path. When asked how they would describe Anthroposophy and what it more specifically can offer, answers diverge, but substantive descriptions of core concepts or practices are rarely alluded to. Rather, their explanations of what Anthroposophy is are in almost all cases metaphorical or negative, i.e., they represent Anthroposophy as elusive or undefinable. Interviewees can suggest that the lack of a clear Anthroposophical “brand” is a major reason for its current perceived crisis. An analysis of the ways in which Rudolf Steiner is portrayed in the interview material shows that there are a variety of descriptions of him rather than a unified representation of a charismatic leader that members can rally around. This, the study suggests, is because four different forms of charisma can be distinguished on theoretical grounds, and the particular form that permeates the narratives collected for this study does not readily support the dissemination of a centralized, dominant narrative.Antroposofiska SĂ€llskapet, grundat av österrikaren Rudolf Steiner, kom till Sverige redan i 1913, men för den generation av nutida svenska antroposofer vars röster hörs i denna studie intrĂ€ffade rörelsens stora blomstringstid först under nittonhundratalets andra hĂ€lft. Vid det laget hade rörelsen expanderat och blivit till en omfattande miljö med mĂ„nga stort sett oberoende institutioner och verksamheter, frĂ„n sjĂ€lva det Antroposofiska SĂ€llskapet i strikt mening till olika skolor, lantbruk, butiker, kliniker, osv., som alla byggde pĂ„ tolkningar av arvet efter Steiner. MĂ„nga medlemmar i rörelsen menar att det sedan dess har skett en nedgĂ„ng. En rörelse med den storlek och komplexitet som det rör sig om i det aktuella fallet kan betraktas som en organisation med en företagsliknande struktur. Denna studie tar dĂ€rför sin utgĂ„ngspunkt i ett organisationsteoretiskt perspektiv, i synnerhet i den gren av organisationsteorin som studerar berĂ€ttande som ett led i hur en organisationskultur med mĂ„nga samexisterande röster skapas. I det aktuella fallet handlar det om berĂ€ttelser som antroposofer i Sverige, bĂ„de vanliga medlemmar och personer i ledarstĂ€llning, framför om den blomstringstid de menar rörelsen en gĂ„ng hade, den nedgĂ„ng de sĂ€ger sig uppleva och den framtid de förestĂ€ller sig att antroposofin i Sverige kommer att möta. TjugoĂ„tta intervjuer genomfördes och de berĂ€ttelser som förmedlas i dessa intervjuer analyserades med hjĂ€lp av en variant av den aktantmodell som utvecklats av semiotikern Algirdas Greimas. Den grundlĂ€ggande handling man Ă„terfinner i intervjupersonernas olika berĂ€ttelser Ă€r att blomstringstiden var en guldĂ„lder dĂ„ karismatiska ledare kunde samla stora grupper av entusiastiska ungdomar och en levande antroposofisk miljö byggdes upp, men att denna guldĂ„lder upphörde nĂ€r ledarna gick ur tiden. Nuet, alltsĂ„ den tid dĂ„ intervjuerna genomfördes, beskrivs i berĂ€ttelserna som en tid av förfall. Framtidsutsikterna som mĂ„las upp i de flesta berĂ€ttelser Ă€r dystra. Aktantanalysen visar att berĂ€ttelserna om det förflutna bĂ„de beskriver denna tid i mycket positiva termer och nĂ€mner otaliga problem och konflikter. Nuets pĂ„stĂ„dda förfall Ă„terkommer i de flesta berĂ€ttelser, men Ă„sikterna gĂ„r vitt isĂ€r nĂ€r det gĂ€ller vad nutidens problem Ă€r och vad som orsakat dem. Framtiden beskrivs av vissa intervjupersoner som omöjlig att spekulera nĂ€rmare om, medan andra har specifika förslag till förĂ€ndringar. Sammantaget visar analysen att det saknas en enhetlig förestĂ€llning om vad som behöver göras för att lösa rörelsens problem och vem som ska ta ansvar för dessa förĂ€ndringar. Intervjupersonerna Ă€r eniga om att antroposofin spelar en viktig roll. FrĂ„gan hur de skulle beskriva antroposofin och vad den har att erbjuda besvaras pĂ„ olika sĂ€tt, men sĂ€llan i termer av konkreta beskrivningar av för antroposofin centrala förestĂ€llningar eller praktiker. Tendensen Ă€r snarare att svara i metaforiska eller negativa termer, alltsĂ„ genom att berĂ€tta att de menar att antroposofin inte gĂ„r att definiera. Samtidigt kan intervjupersonerna förklara att bristen pĂ„ en tydlig antroposofisk identitet Ă€r ett huvudskĂ€l till vad de ser som rörelsens nuvarande kris. En analys av de sĂ€tt pĂ„ vilka Rudolf Steiner beskrivs i intervjumaterialet visar att det ocksĂ„ finns en rad divergerande uppfattningar av honom snarare Ă€n en sammanhĂ„llen beskrivning av en karismatisk ledare som medlemmarna kan samlas kring. Studien konkluderar att karisma pĂ„ teoretiska grunder kan delas in i fyra olika typer, och att den specifika form av karisma som intervjuerna Ă„terspeglar inte harmonierar sĂ€rskilt vĂ€l med spridandet av en centralt utformad dominerande berĂ€ttelse
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