Krig, kropp och diskurs : En arkeologisk studie av Space Marine i Warhammer 40,000

Sammanfattning

This thesis examines how Warhammer 40,000 and its central figure, the Space Marine, become possible as a cultural object within contemporary visual culture. The study investigates the historical, cultural and discursive conditions that enable its emergence as an object of knowledge and representation. The research question of this thesis asks: What conditions were required for Warhammer 40,000, through the figure of the Space Marine, to become possible as an object in our contemporary world? The study is situated within visual culture studies and adopts a multidisciplinary perspective combining art history, media studies, cultural theory and game studies. The theoretical and methodological framework is primarily based on Michel Foucault’s The Archaeology of Knowledge. Using Foucauldian discourse archaeology, the thesis analyzes the Space Marine as a discourse object produced through relations. The material consists of Games Workshop’s official productions, including miniatures, rulebooks, visual imagery and related media. The archaeological analysis follows four steps: The emergence of the object, the modalities of enunciation, conceptual networks and strategic functions. Historical and cultural contexts include warrior ideals, collecting practices, war games and science fiction traditions. They are examined as a discursive condition forming the archival background of the object. The analysis demonstrates that the Space Marine emerges through intersecting discourses of militarization, technological embodiment, collection, play and visual representation. Rather than being reducible to a singular ideological meaning, such as militarized masculinity, the Space Marine functions as a flexible discursive node capable of circulating across media, practices and cultural contexts while maintaining recognizability. The figure operates simultaneously as game-piece, collectible object, aesthetic icon and technological body. A post-analytical reading engages the concept of violence and Donna Haraway’s theory of the cyborg to explore political and ethical implications beyond the limits of archaeological analysis. This perspective reveals the Space Marine as a stabilizing cyborg in contrast to Haraway’s emancipatory cyborg model. The thesis concludes that Warhammer 40,000 becomes possible not through a single creative origin but through a convergence of discourses that normalize and structure relationships between war, technology, embodiment and cultural consumption. The Space Marine functions as a cultural object that renders war manageable, reproducible and aesthetically legible within contemporary visual culture.