The aim of this study was to try to identify what young women see as typically female and how this affects them as individuals, focusing on the female body. How free or limited do they consider themselves to respond to prevailing ideals of beauty, to men and other women. Our questions are how young women construct femininity through the body and why? We do this by using a holistic gender perspective and with the help of key theoretical concepts; gender, normative femininity, heteronormativity, performance, freedom/power and the female body,. We have had a qualitative approach and we have done interviews with six girls in secondary school age.

Studiens syfte är att undersöka representation och kommunikation runt och i tre utvärderingar. De övergripande syftet är att undersöka olika visuella tekniker för representation av empiri i dramarelaterad forskning. Utvärderingarna är gjorda på en estetisk linje med inriktning teater på en gymnasieskola i Halmstad. De som har utvärderat är samtliga elever i utbildningens tre årskurser.Undersökningen har en hermeneutisk ansats med inspiration från performance-, kritisk- och visuell etnografi. De etnografiska teorierna och tillvägagångssätten har använts för en rad överväganden gällande representation och hur olika former av estetisk gestaltning kan användas i forskningssammanhang.

The aim with this essay is to compare strong girls in classic and modern literature and see how the differences in expectations on these girls are reflected in literature. This study is done with the aid of historical, feminist and new criticism..

Uppsatsen är en diskursanalytisk undersökning av representation av nationell kultur och identitet i två läroböcker i italienska som används på gymnasienivå. Uppsatsens syfte är att analysera hur nationell kultur och identitet representeras, mot bakgrund av ett intresse att synliggöra diskursiva och samhälleliga strukturer som avspeglas i representationen. I analysen läggs särskild vikt vid att visa hur sociala maktrelationer mellan och inom nationella kulturer återspeglas i läroböckerna. Uppsatsens teoretiska utgångspunkter är inspirerade av den brittiske sociolingvisten Norman Faircloughs kritiska diskursanalys och av socialkonstruktionistisk kulturteori som till stor del utgår från kulturforskaren Stuart Halls resonemang. I uppsatsen används Faircloughs tredimensionella modell för kritisk diskursanalys som metodologisk utgångspunkt. I analysen klarläggs att läroböckerna avspeglar och reproducerar diskurser som speglar ojämlika maktförhållanden inom nationella kulturer och i viss mån även mellan nationella kulturer. I läroböckernas representation av italiensk, nationell identitet förekommer stereotyper om syditaliensk identitet som återger en ojämn maktbalans inom det italienska samhället mellan norra och södra Italien. Läroböckernas representation av italiensk kultur utgår stundtals från ett etnocentriskt svenskt perspektiv där diskurser som kan förbindas med turistpropaganda accentueras. I avslutningen diskuteras även tänkbara konsekvenser av resultaten och exempel ges på vidare forskning inom området..

The purpose of this study was to increase the knowledge and understanding of what impact support-groups, such as represented by Qvinnoqulan, can have on women with drug-addiction. The questions at issue for the essay was: How does a selection of women who participate in Qvinnoqulan describe their thoughts, experiences and reflections of the group? What sense has Qvinnoqulan made for the women on a personal level and for contributing to live a life without drugs? To answer the questions a qualitative method was used and five interviews were made with women who participated in the activities of Qvinnoqulan. To analyze the data a social constructionist perspective and an empowerment perspective was used. The result of the study showed that the women were in the process of rebuilding a new life without drugs and reconstructing a new identity.

The aim of this study is to analyse how female neopagan practitioners form their identitiesindividually as well as collectively. Using Ernesto Laclau?s and Chantal Mouffe?s discourse theory and Anthony Giddens? descriptions of late modernity and self-identity, I intend toinvestigate my informants? construction and upholding of a meaningful identity and sense ofself. I will also look at how the neopagan movement can be viewed as a phenomenon closely interwoven with the overriding tendencies in our contemporary society. Neopaganism is an umbrella term that is used to describe a number of modern nature religions that take their inspiration from pre-Christian traditions.

AbstractTitle: A gaze says more than a 1000 words ? a study of the portrayal of female celebrities in the photographic material on the online portals of Aftonbladet and Expressen En blick säger mer än 1000 ord - en studie av porträtteringen av kvinnliga kändisar i Aftonbladetsoch Expressens bildmaterial på InternetNumber of pages: 58 (59 including enclosures)Author: Sofie BackmanTutor: Amelie HössjerCourse: Media and Communication Studies DPeriod: Spring 2008University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University, SwedenAim: The aim of this essay is to study in what ways female celebrities are portrayed in the photographic material of the Swedish tabloid press. In which situations does she appear? What function does she seem to behold in the pictures? Further the thesis explores whetherthe portrayal of the female celebrity shows signs of stereotyping.Method/Material: The study combines a quantitative and a qualitative method. A picture analysis of photographic material from the online versions of the Swedish tabloids Aftonbladet and Expressen has been conducted.

The purpose of this study is to determine if and how male or female everyday languagesdiffer. The study is based on ten interviews with five men and five women living inHalmstad, who are between the ages of 22-29. The interview results were analyzed andcompared with previous research on the subject. The result shows that there is adifference between the male and female informants use of language. Women laughing,using italics, hedges, the word så ?so? and response signals to a greater degree than men.The reason may be that men and women basically use different conversation styleswhen they communicate, that men prefer a public speech, intended to provideinformation and knowledge.

Flera politiska teorier har under 1900-talet talat om hur moderna demokratiska partier riskerar bli mer lika varandra. Denna undersöknings syfte är att undersöka om detta förefaller vara fallet i Sverige mellan åren 1994 och 2014. De teoretiska utgångspunkterna består av två sätt att betrakta demokratisk politisk representation, samt de tre ideologierna liberalism, konservatism och socialism som används för att kategorisera partierna. Program, valmanifest och hemsidor från partierna har studerats med metoden etnografisk innehållsanalys. Resultaten tyder på att partierna var relativt ideologiskt utspridda år 1994 men har 2014 kommit att bli övervägande liberala.

AbstractMany pupils struggleto read. Teachers must therefore know how to motivate these pupils. In this qualitative study the aim is to investigate what some teachers do to motivate pupils to read. Data were collected through interviews with four teachers from two schools. The teachers said that the choice of book was extremely important for making pupils interested in reading, and that reading aloud and cooperation with parents and libraries are of great importance.

The movie industry in Sweden is seen as a tight holding cluster where the different entities are being highly dependent on each other. There are also many different barriers to get a movie fully financed, and with the people in charged using arguments such as ?quality?, which is not objective but in fact subjective. The aim of this essay is to investigate how the leadership of five female film producers is being constituted in the film industry, an industry which is both close to the pool art and the pool commerce at the same time at it is male dominant. We have found that female film producers tend to use the strategy to adapt to the surroundings ?shouts? and ?demands?, at the same time as they adapt to their environment by becoming/not becoming entrepreneurs..

The aim of this thesis is to study librarians attitudes towards fiction and reading. I have examined librarians fiction reading habits and how they handle the expectations that users may have regarding their knowledge in fiction literature. There have been many studies concerning the librarians information literacy. This work explores librarians competence in fiction literature. The primary question posted in this thesis is: What kind of fiction are librarians reading and how do they feel that they can correspond to the users expectations? The data collection is based on literature on the subject and qualitative interviews with eight librarians from different kinds of libraries.

AbstractReading books to children is often an integral part in preschool activities. The purpose of thisstudy is to investigate how educators think about the educational function of literature inpreschool activities. I have in my study used qualitative interviews with active educators andobservations to answer my questions about why the educator reads to the children, how theeducator thinks about the choice of literature and if the literature can contribute to thechildrens development and if so, how. The knowledge- and research background presentsliterature and previous research done on the subject. The results of my study shows that theeducators have many thoughts about the importance of literature in preschool.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to examine attitudes and standpoints amongst librarians at the Swedish public library towards literary awards and awarded literature. The questions posed in the study are: What attitudes are expressed amongst these librarians towards the Nobel Prize in literature, the August Prize and literary awards and awarded literature in general? What significance do the Nobel Prize in literature, the August Prize and other literary awards have concerning purchase and display at these public libraries? How is awarded literature perceived and how do they talk about it concerning quality and are questions of quality significant? Qualitative interviews with seven librarians at four different public libraries have been done. Theories regarding J?rgen Habermas the bourgeois public sphere and Pierre Bourdieu?s terms habitus, field and capital have been used as to explain the library as a public sphere.

The aim of this master thesis is to examine how female identity is formed in two novels and two short stories from the 1880?s. As a framework we rely on the method outlined by Pierre Bourdieu when he approaches the cultural and social worlds through the concept of fields. To understand the female position during that time we use Michel Foucault?s work about the history of sex, Thomas Laqueur?s theories about the rise of sexes and Karin Johannisson?s study about the exploration of the dark continent (i.e.