Gustav Westberg
Biographic Data
| ID | 4257653 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Gustav Westberg |
| GIVEN NAMES | Gustav |
| FAMILY NAME | Westberg |
| SIGNATURE | WESTBERG G |
| AFFILIATIONS | Örebro University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1731-1940 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 25 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 13 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Antisemitism as designed discourse
This paper explores how Jewish youth in Sweden interpret antisemitic discourse encountered in their everyday lives. Drawing on traditions of social semiotics, discourse ethnography, and child and youth studies, the study design enables an emic perspective and highlights how participants draw on their knowledge of multimodal design and production when making sense of the semiotic manifestations they encounter. The data consist of the participating…
Family Politics in Contemporary Fascist Propaganda
This article delves into a recurring dilemma facing contemporary fascist movements: how to communicate ideological purity to its hardcore base and at the same time appeal to imagined new voters and recruits? By analyzing how the most prominent fascist movement in Sweden, the Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM), publicly communicates its ideas about family issues and the role of women, we shed light on the semiotic work done by the far right to merge…
The generic uniqueness of AI imagery
This article addresses a major change emerging in visual communication worldwide: The advent of generative AI imagery. Rooted in Multimodal Critical Discourse Studies and Semiotic Technology Studies, the article scrutinizes how AI-generated images exert power with regards to the meaning-making choices that are afforded by Open AI’s software for generating visuals: Dall-E3. Using prompts to generate images of teenagers as a case in point, the resu…
Åtråvärda samer
Sedan massturismens födelse har åtrån efter autentiska upplevelser projicerats på samisk kultur. Med ett fokus på hur den tidiga ursprungs-turismens sakprosagenrer etablerar det samiska som något åtråvärt att uppleva för turister, blottlägger denna artikel hur turister positioneras känslomässigt i reseberättelser från Sápmi, publicerade i Svenska Turistföreningens årsskrift 1886–1914. Artikeln ramas in som en affektiv diskursanalys och undersöker…
Affect as a multimodal practice
This paper sets out a framework for analyzing affect as a multimodal practice. The overall objective is to contribute to the theoretical development of how affect can be approached as an object of semiotic enquiry. The framework is based on the assumption that affect is semiotically materialized through discourse, and with the ambition of taking multimodality seriously, subject formation, strategic perspectivation and affordance are proposed as c…
Desiring the indigenous
This paper argues that the multimodal enactment of affect plays a key role in the commodification of indigenous cultures. Departing from an understanding of affect as integral to discourse, the paper investigates how indigenous cultures are construed as an object of consumerist desire by employing subject formation, strategic perspectivation and affordance as conceptual starting points. As a case in point, affective meaning-making is studied as i…
Establishing authenticity and commodifying difference
This article investigates a semiotic phenomenon within the global fashion industry: the branding of designer jeans as ‘authentic’ and ‘genuinely local’, focusing on the Swedish brand Sarva. Drawing on a social semiotics approach, the authors see authenticity as a discursive construct and look at the ways in which Sarva authenticate their jeans as Sámi in multimodal texts. The aim is: (1) to reveal how places and narratives are commodified in text…
Feeling safe while being surveilled
Departing from Lefebvre’s work on the social production of space, this paper explores the intersection between perceived and lived space from the perspective of spatial discourse analysis. Empirically, the paper studies how the spatiality of international airports performs affective discursive work and establishes prerequisites for air travelers’ feelings of being “in control” and “excited” vs. feelings of being “controlled” and “surveilled”. The…
Affective rebirth
This paper engages with the growth of contemporary fascism by arguing that affect plays a key role in its discourse. Departing from an understanding of affect as integral to discourse, the paper explores how the myth of palingenesis is employed by the most prominent Swedish Nazi movement to recruit new members. A methodological combination of affective – discursive theory, detailed representational analysis, and a critical reading that buys into …
Klädsam autenticitet
This article revolves around the commodification of indigenous groups and investigates the branding of designer jeans as 'authentic' and 'Smi'. The overall objective is to unpack 'authenticity' as discursive practice and to discuss how the prefix sak-(German: sach) in "sakprosa" (factual prose) offers a methodological way to encompass nonfictional prose and other semiotic material in the analysis of authentication. Theoretically, the article depa…
Den multimodala sakprosan
Alla sakprosatexter är multimodala, och denna artikel diskuterar relationen mellan sakprosaforskning och multimodalitetsforskning. Artikeln adresserar två frågor: Hur kan forskning om multimodalitet och sakprosa stimulera varandra? och Hur förhåller sig nordisk sakprosaforskning till en vidare multimodal forsknings-tradition? För att besvara dessa frågor tecknar artikeln multimodalitetstraditionens utveckling samt härleder sakprosabegreppets ursp…
Common sense as extremism
This paper explores how national socialist aesthetics and semiotics are regimented within the Swedish Nazi milieu today. In order to treat fascism as contemporary ideology, the article applies intertextuality and provenance as analytical concepts in the analysis of how Nazism is re-emerging discursively. The analysis contributes unique insights, as the dataset consists of extremist discourse aimed at providing members of the most prominent Swedis…
Det legitima moderskapets genealogi
Sammendrag Denna artikel syftar till att visa hur en diskurs om modern som primär förälder transformeras till en legitim och förgivettagen tankefigur under perioden 1870–2010. Med en sociosemiotisk och multimodal legitimeringsanalys (van Leeuwen, 2008) undersöks hur frågorna ”varför moderskap?” och ”varför moderskap på detta sätt?” besvaras i svenska och välspridda sakprosatexter publicerade under 1870, 1940- och 2010-talet. Inspirerad av Mackay …
The generic uniqueness of AI imagery
This article addresses a major change emerging in visual communication worldwide: The advent of generative AI imagery. Rooted in Multimodal Critical Discourse Studies and Semiotic Technology Studies, the article scrutinizes how AI-generated images exert power with regards to the meaning-making choices that are afforded by Open AI’s software for generating visuals: Dall-E3. Using prompts to generate images of teenagers as a case in point, the resu…
Affective rebirth
This paper engages with the growth of contemporary fascism by arguing that affect plays a key role in its discourse. Departing from an understanding of affect as integral to discourse, the paper explores how the myth of palingenesis is employed by the most prominent Swedish Nazi movement to recruit new members. A methodological combination of affective – discursive theory, detailed representational analysis, and a critical reading that buys into …
Desiring the indigenous
This paper argues that the multimodal enactment of affect plays a key role in the commodification of indigenous cultures. Departing from an understanding of affect as integral to discourse, the paper investigates how indigenous cultures are construed as an object of consumerist desire by employing subject formation, strategic perspectivation and affordance as conceptual starting points. As a case in point, affective meaning-making is studied as i…
Feeling safe while being surveilled
Departing from Lefebvre’s work on the social production of space, this paper explores the intersection between perceived and lived space from the perspective of spatial discourse analysis. Empirically, the paper studies how the spatiality of international airports performs affective discursive work and establishes prerequisites for air travelers’ feelings of being “in control” and “excited” vs. feelings of being “controlled” and “surveilled”. The…
Common sense as extremism
This paper explores how national socialist aesthetics and semiotics are regimented within the Swedish Nazi milieu today. In order to treat fascism as contemporary ideology, the article applies intertextuality and provenance as analytical concepts in the analysis of how Nazism is re-emerging discursively. The analysis contributes unique insights, as the dataset consists of extremist discourse aimed at providing members of the most prominent Swedis…
Det legitima moderskapets genealogi
Sammendrag Denna artikel syftar till att visa hur en diskurs om modern som primär förälder transformeras till en legitim och förgivettagen tankefigur under perioden 1870–2010. Med en sociosemiotisk och multimodal legitimeringsanalys (van Leeuwen, 2008) undersöks hur frågorna ”varför moderskap?” och ”varför moderskap på detta sätt?” besvaras i svenska och välspridda sakprosatexter publicerade under 1870, 1940- och 2010-talet. Inspirerad av Mackay …
Klädsam autenticitet
This article revolves around the commodification of indigenous groups and investigates the branding of designer jeans as 'authentic' and 'Smi'. The overall objective is to unpack 'authenticity' as discursive practice and to discuss how the prefix sak-(German: sach) in "sakprosa" (factual prose) offers a methodological way to encompass nonfictional prose and other semiotic material in the analysis of authentication. Theoretically, the article depa…
Den multimodala sakprosan
Alla sakprosatexter är multimodala, och denna artikel diskuterar relationen mellan sakprosaforskning och multimodalitetsforskning. Artikeln adresserar två frågor: Hur kan forskning om multimodalitet och sakprosa stimulera varandra? och Hur förhåller sig nordisk sakprosaforskning till en vidare multimodal forsknings-tradition? För att besvara dessa frågor tecknar artikeln multimodalitetstraditionens utveckling samt härleder sakprosabegreppets ursp…
Common sense as extremism
This paper explores how national socialist aesthetics and semiotics are regimented within the Swedish Nazi milieu today. In order to treat fascism as contemporary ideology, the article applies intertextuality and provenance as analytical concepts in the analysis of how Nazism is re-emerging discursively. The analysis contributes unique insights, as the dataset consists of extremist discourse aimed at providing members of the most prominent Swedis…
Establishing authenticity and commodifying difference
This article investigates a semiotic phenomenon within the global fashion industry: the branding of designer jeans as ‘authentic’ and ‘genuinely local’, focusing on the Swedish brand Sarva. Drawing on a social semiotics approach, the authors see authenticity as a discursive construct and look at the ways in which Sarva authenticate their jeans as Sámi in multimodal texts. The aim is: (1) to reveal how places and narratives are commodified in text…
Feeling safe while being surveilled
Departing from Lefebvre’s work on the social production of space, this paper explores the intersection between perceived and lived space from the perspective of spatial discourse analysis. Empirically, the paper studies how the spatiality of international airports performs affective discursive work and establishes prerequisites for air travelers’ feelings of being “in control” and “excited” vs. feelings of being “controlled” and “surveilled”. The…
Affective rebirth
This paper engages with the growth of contemporary fascism by arguing that affect plays a key role in its discourse. Departing from an understanding of affect as integral to discourse, the paper explores how the myth of palingenesis is employed by the most prominent Swedish Nazi movement to recruit new members. A methodological combination of affective – discursive theory, detailed representational analysis, and a critical reading that buys into …
Affect as a multimodal practice
This paper sets out a framework for analyzing affect as a multimodal practice. The overall objective is to contribute to the theoretical development of how affect can be approached as an object of semiotic enquiry. The framework is based on the assumption that affect is semiotically materialized through discourse, and with the ambition of taking multimodality seriously, subject formation, strategic perspectivation and affordance are proposed as c…
Desiring the indigenous
This paper argues that the multimodal enactment of affect plays a key role in the commodification of indigenous cultures. Departing from an understanding of affect as integral to discourse, the paper investigates how indigenous cultures are construed as an object of consumerist desire by employing subject formation, strategic perspectivation and affordance as conceptual starting points. As a case in point, affective meaning-making is studied as i…
Åtråvärda samer
Sedan massturismens födelse har åtrån efter autentiska upplevelser projicerats på samisk kultur. Med ett fokus på hur den tidiga ursprungs-turismens sakprosagenrer etablerar det samiska som något åtråvärt att uppleva för turister, blottlägger denna artikel hur turister positioneras känslomässigt i reseberättelser från Sápmi, publicerade i Svenska Turistföreningens årsskrift 1886–1914. Artikeln ramas in som en affektiv diskursanalys och undersöker…
The generic uniqueness of AI imagery
This article addresses a major change emerging in visual communication worldwide: The advent of generative AI imagery. Rooted in Multimodal Critical Discourse Studies and Semiotic Technology Studies, the article scrutinizes how AI-generated images exert power with regards to the meaning-making choices that are afforded by Open AI’s software for generating visuals: Dall-E3. Using prompts to generate images of teenagers as a case in point, the resu…
Family Politics in Contemporary Fascist Propaganda
This article delves into a recurring dilemma facing contemporary fascist movements: how to communicate ideological purity to its hardcore base and at the same time appeal to imagined new voters and recruits? By analyzing how the most prominent fascist movement in Sweden, the Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM), publicly communicates its ideas about family issues and the role of women, we shed light on the semiotic work done by the far right to merge…
Antisemitism as designed discourse
This paper explores how Jewish youth in Sweden interpret antisemitic discourse encountered in their everyday lives. Drawing on traditions of social semiotics, discourse ethnography, and child and youth studies, the study design enables an emic perspective and highlights how participants draw on their knowledge of multimodal design and production when making sense of the semiotic manifestations they encounter. The data consist of the participating…
Philosophy (9 works) · Epistemology (8 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Political science (7 works) · Semiotics (7 works) · Aesthetics (6 works) · Linguistics (5 works) · Politics (5 works) · Art (4 works) · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies (4 works)