The purpose of this study was to investigate if preferences for high- and low context communication differed significantly between individuals from individualistic and collectivistic cultures, living in a multicultural environment. A quantitative survey was used as method and the survey was answered by 150 students at Jönköping University and Uppsala University. Two self-assessment scales, obtained from previous studies were used to measure the degree of the two cultural dimensions and communication styles. Two multiple regression analyzes were performed to investigate the connection between collectivist cultures preference for high context communication and individualistic cultures preference for low context communication, that has been found in previous studies. Two ANOVAs were also performed to investigate differences in communication style depending on sex and length of stay in Sweden.

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.

The aim of this thesis is to create an understanding about how and to what extent a Swedish expatriate manager needs to adapt his/her leadership in accordance with the culture of the host country. Thus shall different managers? perceptions of experienced management overseas be studied. To accomplish our aim, three different problems have been designed. These are as follows: In what way does the manager?s earlier experiences and knowledge about expatriation affect her or his leadership in a new cross-cultural context? How does the culture of the host country affect the expatriate manager?s leadership? How does the expatriate manager handle contradictory demands: that is differences in expectations from subordinates and the higher management? We have chosen to use an abductive approach in order to do a qualitative study and we have therefore conducted eight case studies to create a foundation for distinguishing patterns.The case studies are based on eight Swedish managers with experience from expatriation. The theoretical framework is structured upon three main themes including; knowledge and skills a global leader needs to possess, the relation between the leader and subordinates, and contradictory demands.

The aim of this study has been to highlight the situation for young men within the context of honour. The aim has also been to highlight the restrictions of young men within the context of honour, and how they rebel against those demands. The study was based on a qualitative research method and carried out in Sweden. The results have been analyzed using the hermeneutic perspective. The results showed that the situation for young men within the context of honour is often manifested by controlling their sisters and the expectation that the young men support their families in the future by marring a woman who has been approved by the collective.

Girls in honour cultures have been the subject of many studies and are often debated in the media. The purpose with this study was to focus on boys in honour cultures. I wanted to understand the situation of boys in honour cultures with a perspective of the rights of children. My central questions were: How is it to be a boy in honour cultures? Are boys in honour cultures exposed? How are they exposed? My study was a qualitative study in which I interviewed four professionals who meet boys in honour cultures in their work.

This study aims at using discourse analysis to analyze SFI students attitudes to religion and religiosity in an SFI-context. The questions are: How is the discourse constructed and maintained by religion and religiosity of SFI students in an SFI context? How do SFI participants experience that their religion has affected their time at SFI?Using a case study approach, interviews were conducted with a group of SFI students. The results show that the religious discourse in SFI is influenced by the SFI-context and affected based on the current education discourse that exists there. Furthermore, the discourse is designed and maintained by the participants private religious beliefs and the religion of the majority of the group, One canhere speak of a strong social unit forming a plausibility structure The power structure that emerges is that the majority has the power to define the significance of religion and place within the SFI context. In the SFI-context the participants view is that religion is something private that should not be expressed in the school environment.

The aim of this essay is to study how cultures are presented in English textbooks for A-level students in Sweden. The aim is divided into three research questions, what does culture in English teaching mean, how is the English-speaking world presented in the textbooks and is the image that is presented stereotyped or does it try to challenge it? The study comprises of four textbooks from 1998-2008. The theoretical frame used in the essay is Edward Said?s Orientalism.

This study aims at using discourse analysis to analyze SFI students attitudes to religion and religiosity in an SFI-context. The questions are: How is the discourse constructed and maintained by religion and religiosity of SFI students in an SFI context? How do SFI participants experience that their religion has affected their time at SFI?Using a case study approach, interviews were conducted with a group of SFI students. The results show that the religious discourse in SFI is influenced by the SFI-context and affected based on the current education discourse that exists there. Furthermore, the discourse is designed and maintained by the participants private religious beliefs and the religion of the majority of the group, One canhere speak of a strong social unit forming a plausibility structure The power structure that emerges is that the majority has the power to define the significance of religion and place within the SFI context. In the SFI-context the participants view is that religion is something private that should not be expressed in the school environment.

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the implications and challenges of intercultural communication. An in-depth study was performed of the perspectives from people who work within an international organization. How they experience cultural differences and how they handle them, in particular when it comes to communication. Also, their perceptions of communicative competence were explored. The study was carried out at Svalorna India Bangladesh, at the Swedish office in Lund.

As long as envy and the will of harming others for what they possess have existed, the evileye has been a present belief system in many cultures around the world. This study, based onarchaeological evidence and texts by ancient writers that reflect this ancient superstition,explores how the evil eye was being averted and practiced by ancient cultures. What measureswere taken to ward off the evil eye? How have these measures been represented in thematerial culture? What can we learn from the context of the material culture involving the evileye? Discussions and theories of protective measures that have been depicted on the walls ofthe roman city of Pompeii will hopefully give a wider comprehension of the evil eye, and its influence on Roman society..

The research in this thesis attempts to understand what happens when children (3-6 years of age) interact with each other in the context of free play in two pre-school settings when adults are not involved. The aim of the study was to get a closer look at how children create relationships and how they protect and defend their interactional spaces. Data was gathered through ethnographically inspired methodology, using video observation to capture the everyday interactions of the children. Results were analyzed using a phenomenological approach to peer cultures. Previous research suggests that it is very important for children to maintain their interactions with peers and gaining access to play.

This essay is about boundaries between, "us and them", in the Swedish culture and immigrant culture in Sweden. The focus is to examine the political interest of the citizens to understand other ethnic cultures who lives in Sweden. One question concerns how the borderlines between different cultures has been painted partly through blogs but also by the media. Is this a result of ignorance or does it depends because of the influence of certain individuals. To find this out, I will study various electronic sources such as blogs, forums and news articles.

The key purpose of this research has been to study and understand how young people with Syriac ethnicity experience their identity, when living in two different cultures. The Syriac minority is something of a special case when it concerns establishing the identity of an individual, since syriac´s do not have an official country.To be able to do this research an interview has been done with four young students with syriac ethnicity. The four of them is attending their final year at ?gymnasiet? in Sweden which is equivalent to USA?s senior year in high school.The multicultural school is today a fact and many immigrants attending the Swedish schools today feels misplaced when they meet the Swedish culture through fellow students and society. A clash between cultures occurs and most of the students, with non-Swedish ethnicity, live some kind of dual life.

The multicultural society of today where individuals have varied cultures and languages is different to the homogeneous society of the past, and sets new demands upon the school. The school library can play an important role when it comes to the integration and the acceptance of students with a different mother tongue. Provision and access to literature in the student?s mother tongue is seen as a strong indicator of a school that promotes a multicultural environment, and it?s also linked to the student?s feelings of identity and self-confidence. Their knowledge in their mothers tongue is crucial to the acquisition of a second language, and learning in extension.The purpose of this bachelor is to examine how school librarians work with multilingual students in junior high school, and what they consider to be their roles in this context.Confirming previous research, mediation of information and promotion of reading was a central task to the school librarians we interviewed.

The purpose with this study was to find out about the preschool toddler?s peer-cultures. I also wanted to understand how these peer-cultures were shown.My questions are as following:What is it that the children interpretive and reproduce in their play?How do children gain access to play?How do children exclude each other?What position of status can be seen in children´s play?I used observations as the method to find the answer to these questions. These observations where implemented during five occasions at two different preschools.