Att skapa eller icke skapa : En uppgörelse med den konstnärliga blockeringens filosofi och psykologi utifrån Julia Camerons teori om konstutövning

Syftet med detta arbete är att gestalta och analysera författaren Julia Camerons teori om konstutövning, som den uttrycks i två av böckerna i hennes Artist's Way-trilogi. I synnerhet strävar jag efter att uppnå en förståelse av det vanliga fenomenet att människors konstnärliga handlingar stöter på hinder eller blockeringar i form av deras egna tanke- och beteendemönster. Ett annat viktigt syfte är att undersöka vad individen själv kan göra för att bryta sina blockerande mönster och frigöra sin konstnärliga potential. I denna forskning använder jag en hermeneutisk forskningsansats. Min studie visar att grundorsaken till konstnärliga blockeringar är kollektiva, felaktiga föreställningar om vad konst är och vem som är konstnär. Våra kulturella myter om konsten och konstnären ger upphov till en uppdelning av människor i konstnärer och ickekonstnärer, och den resulterande konstnärliga ojämlikheten får negativa konsekvenser för båda grupperna. Jag beskriver Camerons egna teser om konstens verkliga väsen och syfte samt konstnärens verkliga identitet, och utreder och analyserar den konstnärliga blockeringens olika former, uppkomst och mekanismer. Slutligen identifierar jag sex huvudsakliga strategier som varje individ kan använda för att överkomma sina blockeringar och frigöra sin fulla konstnärliga potential.The aim of this thesis is to investigate and analyze author Julia Cameron's theory on creativity, as expressed in two of her books in the Artist's Way trilogy. In particular, I strive to gain an understanding of the common phenomenon that a person's creative actions are obstructed or blocked by their own patterns of thought and behavior. Another important purpose is to investigate what actions the individual person can take to break their blocking patterns and free their creative potential. My research is conducted using a hermeneutic approach. According to my study, the primary cause of creative blocks are collective, faulty ideas about the essence of art and the identity of the artist. Our cultural mythology about art and artists causes a dichotomy between artists and non-artists, and the resulting artistic inequality becomes the cause of negative consequences for both groups. I describe Cameron's own philosophy on the actual purpose of art and the artist's actual identity, and explore and analyze the forms, causes and mechanisms of creative blockage. Ultimately, I identify six major strategies which can be adopted by any individual concerned with overcoming their artist's block and freeing their full creative potential

The early days of SMIA in perspective

Peer reviewe

On Brain Oedema

Traumatic brain injury and bacterial meningitis may at a glance appear as two different disease entities. The host reaction, however, to both trauma and infection involves a strong inflammatory response, with the classical symptomology of rubor, tumor, calor, dolor et functio laesa. Tumor, swelling, will increase the volume within the closed cranial vault, and may thereby raise the intracranial pressure to critical levels, affecting cerebral blood flow and oxygenation. In this thesis, brain oedema and its origins are investigated in experimental models of brain trauma and bacterial meningitis, and in patients suffering severe head injury. The studies are focused on fluid therapy, blood-brain barrier permeability changes, and their effects on oedema formation. In study I and II, it was shown that plasma volume expansion with crystalloid compared to colloid fluids resulted in increased cortical brain oedema after brain trauma in rats, and increased intracranial pressure in experimental meningitis in cats. Evidence is given that increased permeability of the blood-brain barrier is a key determinant of tissue water content after the insults. In study III, it was shown that post treatment with prostacyclin in experimental meningitis reduces systemic plasma volume loss, and may diminish the rise in intracranial pressure. In study IV, the effect of statin treatment after brain trauma in rats was investigated. No effect on brain oedema, cortical blood flow, or the transfer constant for a small molecule was detected, but capillary patency was better preserved in the statin group. Statin treatment was associated with increased plasma levels of nitric oxide, and decreased levels of prostacyclin. In study V, post-traumatic permeability changes of the blood-brain barrier in 17 brain trauma patients were quantified using contrast enhanced computerized tomography with multiple scanning during 25 minutes. It was shown that blood to brain transfer for iohexol was increased up to 20-fold in traumatized tissue. The relevance of these results regarding our understanding of the pathophysiology of post-traumatic brain oedema, and the implications for the clinical management of brain trauma patients are discussed

Solar and Atlantic Ocean Influence on Climate of Fennoscandia

Peer reviewe

Dating of mortar and bricks from the Castle of Kastelholm

In connection with the excavation and restauration works at Kastelholm radiocarbon dating of mortar from the walls of the castle has been attempted. Except for a date clearly affected by old carbonate and a few samples of modern age, the calibrated samples date back to the 14th century. Four bricks from different parts of the tower of the castle dated by the thermoluminescence method gave ages between 1490 and 1600 AD. The TL measurements are made on feldspar inclusions extracted from the bricks. The dating results are in agreement with those from the archaeological investigations