Sexual violence in armed conflict is not a new phenomenon. Although it has a long history, it's only in recent years from 1990 that is has been given more attention in science and media. I will in my thesis look at the conflicts of former Yugoslavia and Congo (DRC) and I will use two theories to investigate how the use of conflict-related sexual violence best can be explained. The two theoretical frameworks I have chosen are Feminist theory and Rational Choice theory. The conflicts will be at the center of analysis.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to investigate if the reading habits of teacher students are influenced by merit and descent. The empiric material consists of six questionnaires answered by students at the teacher training with Swedish at the upper secondary school as their first topic. The questionnaire comprised questions about reading habits in the childhood and today and information concerning merits and descent.Pierre Bourdieu?s sociological ideas about cultural capital transmitted from parent to child and the concept of habitus are used as a theoretical framework regarding descent.

Martina Haag?s method of self-mockery used in her chronicles is characterized by her wish to live up to various ideals. This essay brings out the subversive power of self-deprecatory hu-mor expressed in her book Hemma hos Martina. The author?s strategies and kinds of humor are being studied, leading up to what this humor accomplishes.

Clearcutting systems have been the dominating silvicultural approach during the last decades in the Nordic countries. While economically rational, it is also leading to a trivialisation of the flora and fauna, and may result in negative reactions of people in urban settings. As a consequence of this, and a more diversified view on which goods and services forests should deliver, there is an increasing interest in broadening the range of silvicultural methods that are used. The term continuous cover forestry (CCF) represents a suite of methods that have gained increasing interest in the Nordic countries. In CCF a considerable amount of the trees are left after harvest to favour values that require a continuity of tree-covered areas. There are thus hopes that this method will meet the needs for maintaining biodiversity and satisfy social and cultural values.

The aim of this study is to compare how three local librarieshandle their collections, and to compare this with handlingcollections at national level. I have investigated librarian?sopinions of their collections and how they take care andpreserve them for the future. It has also been studied if thelibraries collections of old material contains more than justold book rarities.In this study I had compared my respondents answer withSvante Beckman and Magdalena Hillström`s theory ofmuseum`s four idealtypes. Their view of a museum is in theforms of a treasury, archive, school and a theatre.

India is home to every sixth person in the world, some 30 million dogs and a quarter of the total world cattle population. A vast majority of Indians are Hindus, and even though the Hindu religion proclaims love, nurturing and worshipping of animals, sometimes the same religion constitutes an obstacle for animal welfare in practice. This paper investigates the significance of historic and religious symbols to the way animals are perceived in modern Indian society, as well as the different social factors which underlie attitudes to animals. The concept of karma, as well as that of good versus bad deaths, is probably the foundation of the general Hindu reluctance to euthanasia in any form. Although in theory all species are generally regarded as equal in Hinduism, in practice there seems to be a differentiation; for cultural, religious, medical and financial reasons.

The purpose of this Master?s thesis is to study how the comics have been evaluated and debated in the Swedish library press from 1960 to 1999. Have they been seen as something good or something bad? What arguments have been put forward against them or in their defense? What kinds of development can be seen over time? The point of doing this, is of course that evaluation always plays a crucial part in library work. By studying how a "new" medium or art form has been evaluated in the past, we can hopefully gain a greater understanding of how today?s newcomers should best be treated.

The aim of this essay is to examine how people living in the Swedish countryside looked upon changes in the interiors through modernization in 1850-90. For the first time, there was an abundance of objects available in stores in the countryside that the majority of the population had money buy. Many novelties were introduced in the interior decoration of ordinary peoples´ homes. This study focuses on the introduction and use of wallpaper and is based on a questionnaire about wallpaper sent from the Nordiska museet, National museum of Culture history in Sweden, to people all over Sweden in 1948. 148 people responded to the questions about use and attitudes toward wallpaper during the second half of the 19th century.My theoretical perspective is cultural diffusion, the spread of cultural items, more specific the diffusion of innovations from larger to smaller places, often influenced by social elites, hierarchical diffusion, and between individuals, contagious diffusion.The analytical perspective used for the analysis is based on the concepts of basic and variable modernity, initiated by the historian Sven-Eric Liedman.

The works of crime fiction writer Edogawa Rampo are largely unknown in the West, but have had a considerable impact upon literature and popular culture in his home country of Japan. Rampo?s works are threading on the line between between distinctively Western and distinctively Japanese writing styles and thematic realms, embodying a cultural fusion which acts as a mirror of the societal and cultural changes that occured in the author?s contemporary Taish? era Japan. This thesis is an attempt to explore Rampo?s literary mindset, and more specifically to attempt to picture and describe Rampo?s self-image as an author of crime fiction active during this time period.

In 2010 there will be a political resolution to ensure that the Swedish society is accessible to all citizens including people with disabilities. For this purpose a national action plan for disability policy "From patient to citizen" (Govt. Bill 1999/2000:79) has been set out with the aim of ensuring that the disability perspective will permeate every sector of society and that the approach and response to people with disabilities will be improved. The Swedish National Council for Cultural Affairs is responsible for implementing the disability policy in the cultural sector.Since public libraries in Sweden are a part of the public cultural sector, they will also be affected by the political resolution regarding accessibility. The concept underpinning library services for disabled people must be that of equality of access.

Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att redogöra för hur fyra svensksomalier ser på svenskhet och undersöka eventuella hinder de identifierar för att bli betraktade som svenska. Jag har tittat närmare på hur de ser på sin identitet och vilket samband det har med vad de betraktar som sitt hem respektive hemland. Jag visar att mina informanter förhåller sig på ett delvis varierande sätt till svenskhet och att det bland dem också finns flera gemensamma sätt att resonera på. Att bli helt svensk är något de både väljer bort och något de inte anser sig ha möjlighet att bli. Hur de betraktar sig själva är i högsta grad beroende inte bara av andras bemötande utan även vad de antar att andra har för uppfattning om dem.

My master?s thesis is a study of acquisition of photographies during 1958-2008. The questions I proceed from is what patterns lies behind the Royal library's acquisition of photography and how the process of acquisition looks like. The theoretical base which I lean on consists partly of a problematization of the process of cultural heritage and partly of organizational theory. The problematization of the process of cultural heritage is my foundation of this essay.

Today?s globalisation has opened up borders between countries as can especially be seen with the opening of the European Union. This has increased possibilities of communication and transportation, which has provided companies with greater expansion opportunities throughout the world. However, difficulties may occur when companies choose to establish abroad, for instance when French companies establish in Sweden through subsidiaries, the lack of knowledge and understanding, when it comes to the business culture, customs, and values within the host country, as well as the culture and the structure within the company, may contribute to misunderstandings and inability to work in an amalgamated manner. These barriers are a cause of unsuccessful penetration within foreign markets.

Problem The culture sector is characterized by qualitative goals which raise questions such as how do you measure culture and what is ?good? culture? Both the goals and the measurements tend to result in subjective judgments, which according to the theory make result control inefficient. Yet, result control is frequently used in the culture sector; which leads up to our research question: What characterizes the problems of result control in the culture sector?Purpose The aim of this study is to make a survey of how the Gothenburg Opera works with result control and follow-up. By defining how it tackles the different problems, which could arise with result control in a non-profit organisation, we aim to map how the problems regarding result control are characterized in the Gothenburg Opera.

The purpose of this Masters thesis is to investigate the reasons for public libraries to have story-time today and also the reasons for story-time at the public library historically in Sweden. Why is the phenomenon of story-time still existing at public libraries today? The study is based on a questionnaire that was sent to childrens librarians in the Västra Götaland region. The material collected in this questionnaire was put together and resulted in six different categories showing the libraries purposes and thoughts of their story-time activities. The categories were: cultural heritage/tradition, joy of reading, language and imagination, library visits, storytelling and mutual experience.