The aim of this work is to give an example of how archaeoacoustics can broaden our understanding of archaeological remains and to further contribute to the almost non-existing research of ringing stones. With a theoretical discussion about sound from three different perspectives and by means of using different kinds of analysis, this essay will show that there are unknown relations between the three known ölandic ringing stones and the cultural landscape of Öland. Possible patterns in the placement of the stones and the possibility of the sound in this soundscape will be investigated. The essay will also suggest a resonant stone typology and discuss the necessity of one. Finally, the intention is also to shed new light upon the discussion on what the uses of the ringing stones might have been..

The rise of the Swedish Democrats, as a political party in Sweden, has been surroundedby controversy both within and outside of the media. As such a polarizingtopic, the party has been the focus of negative and positive attention. On onehand it has been considered a racist and xenophobic party due to its policies onimmigrants. On the other, it has also been seen as a solution to what has been consideredby some to be a constant problem in Sweden, for those same policies.These policies are motivated by what the party perceives as a threat to Swedishsociety. That is to say, immigrants are a threat to Sweden because of thechanges they impose on the Swedish identity.

Snow White through Grimm and Disney - A Comparative StudyThis essay attempts to discern the differences regarding six Swedish versions of the fairy-tale Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs over a period of 150 years. Focus is placed on structural transformations through time and media according to the analytical theories of Vladimir Propp. Attention is also given to former research done on the impact of the fairy-tale on the child from a psychological and social point of view. Of interest is the historical background of the tale, commencing with oral tradition, and how this was dealt with by the Grimm brothers. Three of the versions used for this comparative study are variants of the Grimm tale, and three belong to Walt Disney productions, i.e.

AbstractIn the literature on multiculturalism and group rights there is a strong tradition that sees diversity as something directly paradoxal to unity. In this tradition, scholars put forward a view of multiculturalism as a divisive and exclusionary process which breaks down the cohesion and unity of society. Related to this notion is that of a neutral and universally valid frame of reference in which political dilemmas can be solved; for example a neutral civil sphere where the ?true essence? of society lies. In this essay I attempt to criticise these two notions.

Global Software Development (GSD) is based on a geographical distance where teams are spread throughout the world. The related research have for a long time addressed the challenges presented by geographical distances. GSD is basically a necessity for many businesses to use in order to reduce development costs, reduce production time and to maintain high quality. The study aims to investigate the relationship between the reality of a specific maintenance project. Thus, our research question: How do distributed maintenance teams experience temporal, geographical and socio-cultural distances? To achieve the purpose of the study, we chose to perform a case study of a global consulting company which recently started a new system maintenance project.

Sara Lidman?s second novel Hjortronlandet (1955) unfolds in the north of Sweden in the early 20th century. It describes the progress of modernity and the conflicting interests of an old local culture and a new more ?civilised? one. The two cultures are constituted by different value systems and in the novel they are represented by two neighbour communities.

This Bachelor?s thesis examines and describes the governmental cultural policy in Sweden. The relation between the state and the market in society is in focus. Earlier research is used to describe the development of cultural policy in Sweden after the world war two until today. Two governmental bills are examined and described, one from 1974 and one from 2009.

Turkey has often been described as a cultural and geographical bridge between West and East. When the Islamic AKP came to power in Turkey 2002 many critics feared that the country was going to abandon its former Western allies and strengthen their relations with the Arab world instead. The criticism was intensified when the AKP increased Turkey?s bilateral relations with the Middle East and moved closer to former foe?s like Iran and Syria, at the same time as their long-time friendship with Israel experienced serious crisis. The aim and purpose of this thesis is to describe and explain the change in AKP?s foreign policy towards Israel.The research method is a combination of a qualitative text analysis of Turkey?s speeches in the UN General debate and Jakob Gustavsson?s model for explaining foreign policy change.The results show that the Turkish-Israeli relations have deteriorated after the Israeli attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in 2010, particularly regarding diplomatic relations and military agreements.

Empress Livia ? Murderer or wrongfully accused?An overview of the ancient sources on the empress Livia and what that suggests that shemurdered her husband Emperor Augustus and his adoptive children to make way for herown son Tiberius as the emperor of Rome.This work will analyze the ancient roman sources by the great historians from that time;Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio, and their works discussing the murder conspiracy of theempress of Rome; Livia.Here I examine what these ancient sources tell about the possible involvement of Livia, on thedeath of Augustus himself and his adoptive sons. Each author to these ancient sources will beexamined and contextualized according to their contemporary time, but also their political andideological views of women in high position and Ceasarism itself. Their characteristics andstyles of their written account will also be examined.The following issues will be dealt with in this work:? What does the ancient sources of; Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio say about theconspiracy theory in which empress Livia is central.? What is known about the authors of these ancient sources and to what extant mighttheir political and ideological view affect their written account?? Can the allegations directed at Livia be the result of the fact that she was a highlyinfluential woman at her time, something which the ancient authors by romanstandards saw as unfit for a woman, and therefore is mistreated in the written sources?? If so, were all women with power under the same time and circumstances criticized inthe same way in which Livia is portrayed?? Are there any other aspects that have not been treated equally in the past by authorsand researchers, in which new questionable guidelines can be made?As is very important to point out, this work and essentially all others alike will not evenassume to solve the final question if empress Livias was guilty or not of murdering herhusband, Emperor Augustus and/or his adoptive sons.

How can we use modern X-ray technology to raise awareness of the information that is hidden in historic upholstery? The materials and techniques add information to the history object in question and  about a profession that is sparsely documented in our country. The knowledge we have today has largely been obtained by studying damaged upholstery, or by removing the show cover and upholstery, a technique which involves high risk of damaging the upholstery. X-ray technology offers  a non- intrusive way to examine historical upholstery.Through case studies, I examined four artefacts. The artefacts went trough an inititial visual exam before being transported to The National Heritage Board in Visby where they underwent a thorough X-ray exam.

In 2006 the government assigned the Council of Cultural Affairs the task of making an update, consisting of 50 literary titles, to be added to the existing list called Alla tiders klassiker ? en klassikerserie för skolan (All-time classics suited for school).      The idea of ??a literary canon can be considered to be a tool for transferring socially, historically and culturally constructed norms and values ??from one generation to the next in order to create and maintain a common frame of reference. The common frame of reference affect the individual's thoughts and actions as well as their sexual desires and their own perception of self as a sexual being.

In early January 2010 the authors participated in a meeting with the chief engineer for a company in which a central part is manufacturing of printed circuit boards (PCB). At this meeting it emerged that the machinery and production methods have changed substantially since the early 1990's. The spreadsheet for preliminary production time calculations by the company is today based on conditions from almost 20 years ago. The company has over the years been trying to adjust the spreadsheet template. The result of these adjustments has filled it with historical residue, something which makes the template difficult and time consuming when the primary user tries to handle it.The purpose of this study was to help the company increase its accuracy in the representation of the production times for the different PCB-based products by developing a new costing model based on an already existing but inadequate spreadsheet template. The company also expressed the wish that the new costing model would be less time consuming to work with.The methods used to achieve the goal are interviewing, participatory observations and meetings with relevant persons. The data obtained were analyzed using the theory on PCB production and visualization of data.

The purpose with this work is to describe the language that is built around the chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) in Sweden. Our questions are: What does the professional field look like; who writes, about what and for which kind of readers? How do they describe the expressions and the upcoming of CFS? For which reasons can CFS be considered as a medical diagnosis/illness? How can CFS be understood from a social perspective? Our theoretical starting point is a social constructive theory and also Karin Johannisson's theory about medicalization and Foucault?s theory about power. We have from a literature-exposition of Swedish articles from 1989 to 2006, done a social constructive discourse analysis with help from Laclau & Mouffe's discourse theory, and Fairclough's model of social practices. In our textual analysis we found three dominating discourses: A medical discourse, a social/cultural discourse and a general/popular discourse.

The purpose of this master thesis is to examine how the relationship between humans and nature is expressed in the imaginative literature. My aim is to identify ideological reproductions in the analyzed works. Therefore I have chosen one work from late 19th century and one from late 20th century. This makes it possible to examine the contextual anchorage of the found ideological expressions. The study?s theoretical framework is primarily based on ecocriticism, and especially on Greg Garrard?s and Kate Soper?s thoughts.

This essay presents a picture of swedish reggae listeners and how their love of music give meaning to their lives and unite them in a sub-culture. Based on interviews with six young men about their involvement in reggae, it also investigates the relationship between music and identity, or more clearly; how identity is expressed through music. Furthermore, I discuss the notion of taste according to Bourdieu, and argue against his statement that taste in music affirms the class and social background of an individual. Results from my empirical data have indicated that reggae music is difficult to associate to a distinct lifestyle, which inclines me to argue that it has managed to transcend phenomena such as ethnicity, class and cultural affiliation..