The aim of this Masters thesis is to investigate how the image of the Public library is described in the Swedish national library politics, and compare it with the image given of the public library in the Danish national library politics. The method used for this analysis is a comparative discourse analysis of the homepages produced by the Swedish central government Regeringen and Kulturrådet and its Danish counterpart Kulturministeriet and Biblioteksstyrelsen. Theories on postmodernity have been used to analyze how the Swedish and the Danish central governments image of the Public library corresponds with a changing society and the changing behaviour of the public library users. Our analysis concludes that the traditional view of the Public library as an institution mainly concerned with literature and reading still is of great significance in the discourse of the Swedish central government. In contrast, the Danish central government presents a more postmodern view of the public library as an institution that is part of the Information- and the Knowledge society.

The purpose of the thesis is to investigate and analyze how three different actors linked to the urban transformation in the city of Kiruna, in this case LKAB, the Municipality of Kiruna and the County Administrative Board of Norrbotten, believe that the identity of a historical monument that is marked cultural heritage is affected by future relocation. The second part of the study is to investigate the impact the building might have on the city in the future. This study is based on the relocation of Hjalmar Lundbohmsgården.The study is based on a qualitative approach in which five informants from the three actors were interviewed. The interviews have been analyzed through thematic analysis, where a combination of theoretical thematic analysis and empirical thematic analysis was used. The result shows that the new location of Hjalmar Lundbohmsgården is preferred to be in a suitable context close to other cultural buildings. All informants agree that accessibility is a fundamental element in, which a synergistic effect is an increase in visitor numbers.

The aim of this thesis is to seek understanding to how a national identity is constructed. Five women and five men at the age of 21-37 years old have been interviewed during November 2005 and January 2006. All of them lived Oslo at the time. The informants have been divided into two groups, `Swedish immigrants` and `Norwegian immigrants`, none of the people interviewed is ethnic `Swedish` or `Norwegian`. The empirical material has been analysed with the help of Billig´s theory about banal nationalism and Laclau and Mouffe´s discourse analysis.

This essay discusses the problem of literary history in the Swedish school system. The aim of the essay is to discuss whether the textbook, Den Levande litteraturen, in literary history for Swedish high school students measures up to the demands of the curriculum in terms of obtaining knowledge about international literature and the historical and cultural framework that surrounds it. The essay establishes a theoretical framework that is used to distinguish the discourse that permeates the textbook and how it affects the means of sustaining the curriculum and the problems it may create.The textbook is broken down chronologically and analyzed showing quotes that points towards national and orientalistic discourses which in turn are discussed put in relation to the curriculum and the effects that these discourses might have on education in Swedish and literary history.This is in turn problematized with the current theories regarding comparative literary history..

Reading and analyzing literature has a long tradition of being an essential part of the teaching of English in Sweden. As the offers of entertainment have increased in popular culture with the introduction of computer games, internet and other media, interest in reading novels has decreased. Literature is still a compulsory part of English teaching and the question is how teachers of today use literature and what kind of literary instruction they use.The aim of this study is to explore and discuss the literary instruction discourse in pedagogical texts, lessons, created by and for English teachers of Swedish Upper Secondary Schools. The lessons have been collected from the site lektion.se, where teachers are able to share knowledge and lessons. The study uses an analytical method based on Norman Fairclough´s Critical Discourse Analysis in order to analyze the lessons.

This MA thesis analyzes how the protagonists and the narrative structure relates to ?the Child? as a linguistic/cultural construction in Mare Kandre?s early authorship (1984-1991). A thematic of children portraits defines this period of Kandre?s writing, which consits of the following works: In a Different Country (1984), The Annunciation (1986), Bübin?s Kid (1987), The Burning Tree (1988) and Aliide, Aliide (1991).Linguistic components, such as the word ?child?, the name ?Kid? and a reconstruction of the concept of childhood, holds an actuate position in these narratives when they first appear in direct relation to the protagonists. This suggests how generally accepted categories and concepts consciously are at work in Kandre?s writings.

The purpose of the study is to expose how the US newspaper New York Times and the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter mediate the war in Afghanistan. Furthermore a comparison is done to map out possible differences and similarities. To fulfill the purpose of the study a critical discourse analysis has been used. The results have shown both differences and similarities between the newspapers. The main conclusions are tendencies of correspondence with previous research and theoretical base, such as the furtherance of elite sources, the promotion of the national political agenda and the national identity and an obvious construction of us and them..

The purpose of this paper is to explore the female experience as it is spoken of in the novel Sindhia written by Rut Hillarp (1954) and how the main character in the book violates the experience from a queer perspective. My aim is to through a close reading highlight a number of discourses that underpin the book's imminent theme of love and submission.According to Norman Faircloughs critical-discourse analysis, the text one reads produces a certain amount of discourses that one consumes. This way there is a dialectical interaction that can be set into a practical analysis together with a suitable academic perspective. This is the method I use in this thesis.The academic perspective I add isJudith Butler's queer theoriessupported by Michel Foucaults social genealogyin order to understand/analyze the woman?s position in relation to a social empirical history.I came to the conclusion that Sindhia produces the woman's discourse from an ancient biblical/ mythological time up to modern time.

The aim of this bachelor thesis is to study how Catalans´ identifications, with respect to their city (Barcelona), their region (Catalonia), their country (Spain) and Europe, are related to each other. Furthermore it deals with whether they use cultural or civic notations when they speak of their identification with the different territorial levels.The thesis is based on a qualitative method with interviews with ten Catalans living in Barcelona, aged from 18 to 58. The result showed that Catalans´ identifications with different territorial levels vary in how they relate to each other. This variation can be classified using three models, namely; ?The Russian doll model? which implies that the identities are ranked hierarchically, ?cross-cutting? that is people can identify themselves with the different levels depending on various situations, and also ?The marble cake model? which means that the different identities are so intertwined that they cannot be separated.

This thesis is a critical discourse analysis of the vision of Malmös contemporary urban development. By analysing official documents produced by Malmö municipality our aim is to make discursive and sociolcultural practices in the constitution and construction of the city visible and problematicize them. To do so we use critical discourse analysis and theories on Urban Studies. Malmö is a city historically labeld as a ?labour- city?, with heavy industry as its main labourmarket.

This Master's thesis concerns the professional knowledge of the librarian. The image of this knowledge is regarded as constructed in a social context, which is why the discourse analytic approach is selected as method. The empirical material consists of two texts concerning the education of librarians. A theory of knowledge, emanating from Aristotle, is applied to the results to find examples of the forms of knowledge that are excluded from the discourse. A number of themes, or ways, in which it is possible to discuss the phenomenon of the librarian's knowledge, are identified in the texts.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how work and individuals is portrayed in today?s labor market policies and workrelated coaching. To do this I am using discourse analysis. My theoretical points are social constructivism, governmentality, coaching and theories regarding activity. The results portray a picture of work as the foundation of society and the main way to break isolation.

This essay focuses on how trafficking is defined and dealt with in recent European policies,and particularly how prostitution take part of these discursive developments. Treaties andagreements on trafficking in human beings and for sexual exploitation have been made bythe European Union and United Nations amongst others, which have been signed andratified by the EU countries in Action Plans. In this essay, five national Actions Plans, fromAustria, Great Britain, Poland, Spain and Sweden between 2007 and 2009, have beencompared in order to see similarities and differences in how the phenomenon of traffickingis done through language. Based on Discourse theory and focus on discursive struggles, theresult show a hegemony around trafficking as a social issue in the Action Plans studied,exploiting humans, mainly children and women, sexually, but also how trafficking is framedas a problem of the nation state and the domestic labour market. It is also illustrated howdifferent meanings of prostitution make the trafficking discourse antagonistic and contested.Finally, the essay discusses the trafficking discourse in relation to EU strivings towardsharmonisation and power imbalances of migration and economy in Europe..

The values of the Swedish school system is said to be rooted in the ethics of Christianity and western humanism. Critics say that this expression can be seen as a sign of an obscured eurocentrism when world-wide accepted values is said to be cared for by Christianity and the west. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the politicians argue on this issue, why the values of the Swedish school system should be said to be cared for by the ethics of Christianity and the western humanism. I also want to examine if these arguments in fact corresponds with the worldview of eurocentrism. The examination consists of a discourse analysis review of, for example, journals of the Swedish parliament, which is later compared with the theories of eurocentrism.I believe the argumentation can be categorized in three main categories: first a conservative ideological perspective where they are driven by the notion that the Swedish culture could be defined by establishing and defending its foundations; a philosophical/religious perspective where they want to justify the indisputable values they believe should be maintained in the schools; a eurocentric/psychological perspective where they tend to express the Swedish identity by defining what is typically characteristic of ?us? and typically characteristic of ?the others?.

The empirical material of this study consisted of tweets by four leading politicians in Sweden: Carl Bildt of Nya Moderaterna, Annie Lo?o?f of Centerpartiet, A?sa Romson of Miljo?partiet and Jonas Sjo?stedt of Va?nsterpartiet. The aim of the study was to examine how they use Twitter as a political tool and what that says of the mediatization of politics. What content did they publish, how did the content differentiate between them and what political messages and other subjects occurred in their tweets? Does the political debate become fragmented because they?re only allowed to use 140 characters on Twitter? The theoretical framework and method applied for the research was based upon critical discourse analysis (CDA), with special interest in ideology and mediatized discourse.The result of the study showed that the content they published consisted mostly of criticism towards political opponents, rather than of independent political opinions.