The purpose of this thesis is to examine how genealogists create identity through their own research, and how they live with their ancestors in the everyday life. The questions at issue are: How do genealogists deal with concepts like ?native home district?, ?heritage? and ?family?. Does it exist a problem in creating identity and how genealogists regard other people with a different background, for instance immigrants. This thesis consists of three parts: in the first I present my aim, questions at issue, my method with qualitative interviews, and my theoretical frame from sociology and anthropology.

The aim of this study is to analyse the Swedish state´s ambition in achieving equality among its citizens. By studying the new urban policy introduced by the government in 1998 from a theoretical perspective the purpose of this essay is to understand the ideational dimensions in this policy project, in regard to established understandings about equality.The theoretical framework on which this study is based consists of two different parts. The first presents dominating models on welfare states, mainly focusing on the socialdemocratic welfare state. The second introduces influential theoretical views on equality, primarily discussing universalism and a differentiated equality view. It also presents theoretical views on how to understand the relationship between the state an its citizens.

The following study is a discourse analysis of the concept of critical thinking within pre-school teacher education. It considers the following questions: how does the concept of critical thinking appear in policy documents, central to the pre-school teacher education, and which possible conceptions of critical thinking are conveyed by students and teachers active within the education. Additionally, the study seeks to discuss, as well as suggest a possible relation, between the findings of those two questions. In reviewing the material (consisting of five semi-structured interviews with students and teachers, and of a selection of policy documents central to the education), I argue the existence of a sort of project within the education, which presents critical thinking as a higher value. At the same time, I argue that the concept is not defined or concretized. This project, however, as I suggest while drawing upon Foucault?s ideas of discourse and government, involves a rather high degree of control.

Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate how context-specific and generic scaffolding affect upper secondary school students' conversations during laboratory work in chemistry and find out if meaningful exploratory conversations taking place that increase the students' understanding. Theory: Previous studies show that there are difficulties for students to both handle practical material in laboratory work and create meaningful conceptual understanding. It needs to be more minds on than hands on. This study has a socio-cultural basis where language is an important basis for thinking. Previous studies show that the exploratory conversation is important for creating understanding.

The aim of this thesis is to study what conceptions of literature that are present in the teacher magazine Svenskläraren between the years 1985 and 2012. In other words: what is the underlying view on literature's value as a teaching aid and why should we study it in school? I relate my analysis to previous research about the use of fiction in education. A critical methodology has been used to study the material. In my results I distinguish three conceptions of literature that are present in Svenskläraren.

The aim of this paper is to analyse how the term attractiveness is interpreted in Swedish contemporary urban planning. The focus is to analyse how the term is discursively constructed and by this highlight the conceptions that exist around what makes a city attractive. We want to emphasize the importance of a deeper understanding of how attractiveness is used in urban planning and how the term is a part of the development of our cities. Given the use of attractiveness as a part of visionary goals for Malmö´s and other Swedish cities future development, our intention, therefore, is to enhance the understanding of what the use of attractiveness means in respect of the creation and construction of power relations in time and place. The framework of our analysis is based on the discourse theory approach and used as a way of understanding how urban ideals is discursively constructed.

The aim of this Master thesis was to examine news journalism covering expressions of mourning related to violent or unexpected deaths. What rituals for mourning are brought out in media and do media present guidance to how mourners should behave? The questions examined were: What characterised news events that leaded to texts on expressions of mourning? How was grief framed? Which narrative patterns were there in the texts? How was the deceased represented? How were the mourners represented? 165 texts, from Swedish daily newspapers, covering 93 different news events were analysed. The methods were mainly discourse analysis with focus on identities and relations, but also semiotic analysis with focus on staging and symbols and narrative analysis with focus on patterns for storytelling. The result showed that a news story about ordinary people expressing their feelings of grief has elements of melodrama. The news story is based on the myth of the victim, and formed as a typical story where equilibrium is disturbed when the inconceivable happens and the mourners can by their actions restore equilibrium.

The purpose of the essay has been to examine representations of immigrants in contemporary library and information science research in a Scandinavian context. By analyzing nine articles from the past decade we examine the perceptions that exist in the concepts of multiculturalism, culture, race, ethnicity, religion, gender and whiteness and what role and importance the library as a place is assigned in relation to immigrants as a user group. Our study consists of a qualitative text analysis, a critical oriented close reading method based on critical race and whiteness studies and intersectional theory. We have, with the help of Sara Ahmed´s theories of hegemonic whiteness, demonstrated how multiculturalism is partly presented as something desirable and good, partly as something potentially threatening.The discourse of multiculturalism can be said to express the notions of the other, which in the source material manifests itself by ascribing otherness to immigrants. We have, for example, examined how ethnical and cultural differences are highlighted by a separation of East and West, the library?s educational and assisting role in relation to immigrants as a user group as well as representations of whiteness, gender and clothes.

Semi-natural grasslands are threatened biotopes in the landscape and without conservation measures high values of nature will be lost. Meanwhile, the biological values associated with cultural values of the traditional agricultural landscape in Sweden. Studies of land use history may help to understand how today biological diversity has evolved and how it can be preserved. Färsna farm in Norrtälje has left some of the old heritage of biological diversity in the form of nature - forest and grassland, which hosts an unusual herb-rich flora. Through the study of historic maps and från1673/1767/1801/1901 1952 and orthophoto of the area has a picture of how land use has changed over time emerged.

Uppsatsen handlar om tre informanter som intervjuats angående sin syn på alternativa behandlingar och alternativa diskurser i kontrast till dominerande diskurser inom medicin och samhälle. Viktiga avsnitt rör till exempel sådant som vad är healing, hur kan en behandling gå till, grundläggande synsätt i alternativa diskurser och hur man ser på sjukdom..

I have with this thesis sought to understand how chick lit could be useful in the classroom in the teaching of Swedish B-course in high school. Based on the model of critical literacy I am arguing that this genre would help to meet the objectives of the policy documents which, among other things, are to critically examine and analyze various types of texts.I have found that some of these texts could be used for analyzing and critically examine the ideological dimensions of texts and cultural heritage by the model of critical literacy, and also as a counterweight to the more traditional teaching of the canonical literature as a literary historical stuff that students should learn. I have also wanted to create a basis for discussions about literature in the classroom based on the chick lit genre. To do this I have, based on three themes and questions from the model of critical literacy, tried to focus on issues that might emerge from the ideological analysis and critical review. The model aims to deconstruct norms of society, and in the work of chick lit, I wanted to show how you could deconstruct norms around gender..

The project objective was to make parts of our cultural heritage available as a resource for learning, by developing the pedagogical activities on a medieval castle, that today functions as a museum. I also wanted to explore the role of a designer in a process that aims to develop the interaction between schools and cultural institutions.By a selection of objects and locations in the castle, illustrations with accompanying texts were made, which through the children?s imaginative ability may bring them to a historical scenario. This resulted in a working material that supports the children?s activities and reflections during their visit to the castle.

Denna studie syftar till att studera hur genuspedagogik framställs i den svenska dags- och kvällspressen under åren 2012-2013.  Jag har använt mig av kvalitativ textanalytisk metod och har utifrån en diskursanalytisk ansats analyserat tio artiklar som på olika sätt förhåller sig till genuspedagogik i förskolan. Artiklarna är publicerade av de fyra upplagemässigt största dags-och kväll tidningarna i Sverige dvs. Aftonbladet, Expressen, Svenska Dagbladet och Dagens Nyheter. I resultatet framträder två distinkta diskurser om genuspedagogik i förskolorna: I artiklarna skrivs det om genuspedagogik som att pedagogiken ?går emot? biologi/natur men även att genuspedagogiken är en demokratisk rättighet. De hinder som lyfts fram om genuspedagogik är att pedagogiken är en könsneutralisering av barnet, att genuspedagogiken endast är uppbyggd av en ?ideologi? och att det är ett experimenterande med barnet i förskolan som vissa genuspedagoger ägnar sig åt.

The aim of this thesis is to use Gabriel Tardes theories concerning imitation, repetition and the public opinion as a way of understanding how transmedial communication develops over time. This involves a study of social media, traditional press and public organizations in relation to each other. The campaign, What are you doing? (Vad håller du på med?, 2013), launched by the Swedish military as a way of drafting more soldiers, is used as an example of how the theories can be applied to help us understand connections, patterns and social behavior in the rapid mutation and viral spreading of information. By discussing the campaign and its effects, the ambition is to give an understanding of how a campaign of this scale could be planned for and structured.

In the autumn of 2012 the fictional character ?Lilla Hjärtat? created by the Swedish authorand illustrator Stina Wirsén, became a much-discussed topic in Swedish media. Thisfollowing the premiere of the children?s film ?Liten Skär och alla små brokiga?.Stina Wirsén is an established and well-acclaimed name in children?s literature. ?LillaHjärtat?, a jet-black doll, had become one of many popular characters in her books.