Using interviews conducted within the municipality of Nam Dich, Vietnam, this qualitative study explores how ethnic minority parents and children navigate around the state's supervision in order to preserve their traditional practices of child marriages. Moreover, the research explores the roles and expectations between individuals within an ethnic minority family as a collective unit. Using governmentality supported by the concept of state evasion, culture bearers and empowerment, I argue that understanding child marriage as a phenomenon requires analysis of cultural context. The paper starts with an introduction of the ongoing relation between the Vietnamese state and ethnic minority traditions related to child marriage. While the Vietnamese state ?s modernization projects aim to empower individuals by creating more freedom within the process of marriage and increasing the opportunity for education and work, certain ethnic minority groups want to uphold their cultural ways of marriage when parental arrangement occurs from an early age.

With this essay we would like to examine to what extent the ancient Icelandic literature could count as a part of Sweden?s literal cultural heritage in schools today, if it through seeking information is possible to say whether this literature have any connections to Sweden. Our questions of issue are:1. What kind of connection is there between ancient Icelandic literature and Swedish literary cultural heritage and what are the ancient Icelandic literature premises? in the Swedish upper secondary school?2.

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.

National and international studies, such as PISA and TIMSS, which are part of the national evaluation system, are carried out continuosly. Skolverket, in collaboration with researchers, are responsible for the implementation, evaluation, and analysis of the studies. National results show an increasing percentage of pupils who do not reach the goals in mathematics. The last completed international studies PISA 2009 and TIMSS 2007 show an impaired trend of knowledge, in international comparison. Moreover, studies also show that the differences between schools and also within the same school in Sweden have increased.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the perception of Christianity in nine textbooks andidentify changes in-between them and over time. The content of the textbooks will also bediscussed in relation to the steering documents connected to each book.I have chosen to focus on three curriculums, Lgy 70, Lpf 94 and Gy 11. My researchquestions are: how Christianity is treated in textbooks in religious studies in relation to theperception of Jesus, God and man? What are the differences/similarities across time andlearning materials? In what way does the textbooks change with the syllabuses?Text consumption and discursive practices is analyzed with the help of a set of tools thatare based on the critical discourse analysis and Fairclough's three-dimensional model. Theimage of Jesus, if described by a textbook, is also analysed.Three textbooks were chosen from each curricula.

The Swedish integration policy acts upon that all citizen should have equal rights and possibilities no matter ethnic and cultural background. In today's Sweden it is more or less a self-evident that immigrants ought to prepare the possibility to preserve their original cultural distinctive character according to the Governments Proposition 1997/98:16. Simultaneously the term integration and its actual meaning and its political significance are not always clear.Immigrants as a categorization are often overloaded with negative overtone and risk to seem discriminated. The category reinforces also a ?we? and ?them? thinking.

In this essay I have described ecocriticism as a theory with several different subfields that are inspired by a cross-disciplinary approach, such as green culture studies, ecofeminism, and postcolonial ecocriticism. After a short summary of the background of ecocritical studies I analyze the various subfields, take a closer look at their contents and present various examples of ecocritical thinking. A presentation of the commonly used concepts within the discipline and some reflections on these is followed by my final discussion, where I state that even though ecocriticism is a relatively new theory and the concept doesn?t have a clear definition as yet, it is in my view a useful tool for analysis and can with time make valuable contributions to literary studies, not least by introducing a number of new perspectives..

The aim of the present study is to describe and analyse how an inter-cultural perspective presents itself in the didactic considerations and in the practice of preschool teachers on a multiethnic preschool.The theoretical perspective upon which the study is founded is social constructivism, but in addition to this Ingegerd Municio?s idea of two existing discourses present within the institutions in the Swedish educational system, as well as René León?s concept of a diversified normality, has been used as theoretical tools and points of departure.The empirical investigation consists of a qualitative field study at a multi-ethnic preschool, where participating observation and group interviews have been used to collect data. In these teachers from the preschool have participated.The results and the analysis of the data show that an inter-cultural perspective surfaces in the didactic considerations and in the practice of the preschool teachers in their construction of a diversified normality. The diversified normality thus constructed is constituted through different social processes. I have here identified the following ones: the preschool teachers emphasize differences among the children in general, they allow that the children behave differently and they allow them to be different; they recognize ?cultural? differences, differences in origin, and frames of reference, and they recognize that the children at the preschool are bilingual..

This study aims to give an account of five teachers? views and understandings of second language (L2) learners? previous knowledge, as well as, their linguistic and cultural backgrounds. This is carried out by the means of qualitative interviews, where the sampling consists of five primary school teachers at various schools. The findings are presented and analyzed using a thematic analysis. Furthermore, the study indicates that teachers in general have a positive attitude to learning more about their L2 learners? prior knowledge and backgrounds, both for the pupils, as well as, their own sake.

Adapting the concept of the ?popular cultural memory? and its necessary ?context knowledge? established by Karin Kukkonen, this bachelor thesis seeks to examine how this memory is ?at work? and expresses itself in contemporary fiction, by doing an intertextual reading of the swedish author Amanda Svensson's debut Hey Dolly. Within the intertextual structures of Hey Dolly the reader encounters allusions and references that address almost everything from contemporary popular culture to established authors in the swedish canon, mainly as means for the characters to help them express their emotions and thoughts, by ?choosing? from already available content of popular culture to use and modify. The intertextuality alluding to the popular cultural memory does at the same time address the concept of the ideal reader throughout the novel.

This Masters thesis is a study in library and information science, that examines literature as a tool for young people in their identity creation. Both scientists and teachers have found that teenagers like to identify themselves, when reading literature. The purpose of this Masters thesis is to examine how youths construct their identity through reading in relation to the purpose that libraries and cultural politics have in youth novels. The starting point of this study is the sociologist Thomas Ziehe and his idea about identity try-out identitetsutprovning and Erving Goffmans dramaturgy perspective. The main question is: what is the relation between young peoples identity creation in youth novels and in their reality in proportion to the young peoples reading of youth literature and the science about their reading? The question is answered in three parts.

This paper studies three Swedish textbooks for the A-course in religious studies, in the Swedish equivalency of high school, to see if the image of Islam and Muslims presented is diverse or homogeneous and exotic. The purpose of the study is to see whether or not the religious studies can contribute to the forming of islamophobic beliefs in pupils. Studies have shown that islamophobia is widespread in Sweden, therefore it could be interesting to see if the schools play any part in the forming or spreading of islamophobic views. The conclusion reached is that this cannot be excluded as a possibility. There are still some textbooks that present Muslims in a homogeneous and exotic manner to some degree.

The European identity plays an important role for the EU and especially within its will to further integrate its citizens, hence it is a way for individuals to not only identify with its nation, yet also with Europe. Previous research has already established that an individual can possess two territorial identities, such as a national and a European identity, above all it has established how the identities can equally interplay. Further it has been explained how territorial identities are composed of two aspects: civic and cultural. While the previous research has stated how the European identity possesses both aspects, though to varying degrees, little attention has been put to examine how individuals who possesses multiple territorial identification, defines its European identity. This study therefore aims to study which aspects, civic or cultural, individuals with a citizenship who possess multiple territorial identification, assign their European identity.

AbstractAuthors: Åsa Höjer, Karl WijkmarkTitle: The intercultural communicator. A study of cultures? influence on communication.Level: BA Thesis in Media and Communication StudiesLocation: University on KalmarLanguage: SwedishNumber of pages: 67Date of seminar: 2009-01-15Advisor: Jens CavallinKey words: Intercultural communication, culture, Hofstede´s cultural dimensions, anxiety and uncertainty, self-confidence, high and low context, verbal and nonverbal communication, Telenor, Pakistan, Scandinavia.Case company: TelenorPurpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate what cultural differences, regarding communication, that are present between Scandinavia and Pakistan. Furthermore the purpose is to illustrate which factors that are important for personnel working for Telenor, that are about to work in a foreign culture, in order to create effective intercultural communication.Methodology: The following study is a case study that has used a qualitative methodology with interviews conducted via e-mail. To be able to interpret and understand human experiences and situations a hermeneutical approach has been taken.

This paper will answer which factors are important for the business relation between a small Swedish import company and a Chinese contractor. The problem is based partly in theories that points to cultural and organizational differences between Sweden and China, and partly in current examples from Swedish companies. The relevant data has been collected by interviews with three small Swedish companies that are currently using Chinese contractors.The result is that the differences between the countries and organizations exist, but that they do not interfere with the inter-company relations. The conclusion is that our result contradictsthe established theories in the field, and that a more comprehensive investigation is warranted..