In the pilot study for a biography, some of the methodological and/or theoretical problems facing the anthropologist and biographer are discussed.The empirical section is based on a number of interviews I made with my grandmother over the period 1995-2001. I have come across inconsistencies in the material when rendering a historical event. Furthermore, the material makes me reflect on how the biographer or anthropologist is able to handle or interpret that she and the subject/informant has a different attitude to metaphors and how the metaphors can change over time, space and interpretation.The essay begins with a summary review of some of the central social and behavioural scientific theories that can be related to the individual and the biography.There then follows an in-depth discussion based on Paul Ricoeur's philosophy that says that your identity is created in relation to how you look at your history and future at the present time. Identities are created in an interaction between the field we are currently in, the cultural capital that includes gestures, mannerisms, symbols, our language and the area of interpretation the field allows in the culture. Consequently, the biography is also a representation that is created in time and space and between the subject and the person rendering the subject.The biography or ethnography is transient and is of necessity a historiography.Ricoeur talks about the living metaphor.

This thesis investigates the underlying factors behind sexual risk-taking and non-risk-taking behavior with regard to Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) among adolescents in Lusaka, Zambia. The Qualitative Approach was used for data collection and analysis and using the theory of Social Construction, the author explains how different contexts and aspects in the Zambian Society, that is Traditional, Socio-economic, Political, etc., influence the sexuality or sexual behavior of young people in Zambia. Hermeneutics was used to interpret the meanings in the texts/transcripts acquired through data collection and from the author?s knowledge and understanding of the Zambian historical and cultural contexts within which the participants of the research were constructed. Max Weber?s Ideal Type concept was also used to explain that each young individual?s sexual behavior is uniquely constructed by societal aspects.

Populism has been an integral part of the Finnish political system since the late 1950's. At that time the Agrarian Populist Party, better known as The Rural Party, emerged and thrived for decades until the party financially broke down in the 1990's. Reemerging on the political scene as the True Finns, the party is more radical and more influential than ever, gaining enough support to be the third largest party of the 2011 parliamentary election. Sweden, Finland?s neighbor, in contrast has a history with very little populist presence or radical right populist parties (RRP-parties).

The purpose of this study was to find out how young children are allowed to influence and affect their daily lives in preschools, as well as teachers? views on the latter. My interest in this topic is born out of my experience of working with both younger and older preschool children. My view is that democratic work with older children is largely based on direct verbal communication while with toddlers it is based on an adult?s interpretation of a child?s often non-verbal expressions.

The aim of this study was to describe and analyse the constructions andinterplay of gender, ethnicity and sexuality between female and male careworkersand residents in a nursing home. To explore this from a qualitativeeveryday life?s approach, material was collected through participating observations,interviews, and informal conversation with careworkers and residents.The result points out that historical patterns of gender and caring relatedto this context still matter and affect both careworkers and residents. Forexample, female careworkers talked about the concept of caring as a genuinefemale experience, while male careworkers, who were in a minority, insteadtalked about caring in more gender-neutral words. The result also indicatesthat a larger number of male careworkers not necessarily leads to a highergrade of gender equality.

SAMMANDRAGLerums kommun har en vision om att bli Sveriges ledande miljökommun till år 2025 eller tidigare. En stor del av arbetet, som kännetecknas av hållbarhet, kreativitet och inflytande, sker i Gråbo. Det är idag en ort som känns bortglömd och är lätt att passera utan vetskap om dess placering. Samhället har såväl synliga baksidor som är i behov av förbättring och förnyelse, som outnyttjade tillgångar som bör lyftas fram.Syftet med föreliggande arbete är att ta fram förslag på hur Gråbo kan förbättras både med avseende på hållbar samhällsutveckling samt estetiska och funktionsmässiga förbättringar av samhället.Arbetet påbörjades med en faktainsamling, som sedan låg till grund för en inventering på plats i Gråbo. Detta sammanställdes till en analys där tillgångar och problem presenterades med hjälp av Adobe Illustrator till flera kartor.

The purpose of this thesis is to study how swedishness is constructed and narrated in two Swedish documentary series that picture the Swedish participation in the international ISAF mission in Afghanistan. The main focus lies on how the Swedish soldier as such is portrayed, on which values, characteristics and qualities that they are said to embody and how these are linked to notions of swedishness, particularly the strong historical narrative, formed during the second half of the twentieth century, that defines Sweden as a peaceful, neutral and humanitarian state, with peaceful, enlightened and democratically minded citizens. Theoretically it draws on the concept of metanarrative to explain how ideas of shared national origin translates in to a broad organizing discourse, that defines, interprets and communicates notions of what it means to be a Swede and what is needed to make claims on swedishness. Another concept, that of national bodyscape, is also used to further define and explain how ideas of nationality are embodied and take the form of specific characteristics and  personal qualities. The meaning-making in these two series makes use of the above mentioned definition of swedishness as defined by humanitarian concerns, democratic ideals and moral superiority to construct an image of the Swedish soldiers as on the one hand soft, humanitarians, who are needed in Afghanistan because of their especially strong sense of justice and moral, and, on the other, as tough soldiers, who are able to participate in every aspect of the war as fighters.

The purpose of this thesis is to study how swedishness is constructed and narrated in two Swedish documentary series that picture the Swedish participation in the international ISAF mission in Afghanistan. The main focus lies on how the Swedish soldier as such is portrayed, on which values, characteristics and qualities that they are said to embody and how these are linked to notions of swedishness, particularly the strong historical narrative, formed during the second half of the twentieth century, that defines Sweden as a peaceful, neutral and humanitarian state, with peaceful, enlightened and democratically minded citizens. Theoretically it draws on the concept of metanarrative to explain how ideas of shared national origin translates in to a broad organizing discourse, that defines, interprets and communicates notions of what it means to be a Swede and what is needed to make claims on swedishness. Another concept, that of national bodyscape, is also used to further define and explain how ideas of nationality are embodied and take the form of specific characteristics and  personal qualities. The meaning-making in these two series makes use of the above mentioned definition of swedishness as defined by humanitarian concerns, democratic ideals and moral superiority to construct an image of the Swedish soldiers as on the one hand soft, humanitarians, who are needed in Afghanistan because of their especially strong sense of justice and moral, and, on the other, as tough soldiers, who are able to participate in every aspect of the war as fighters.

This report considers how the design and planning of the city can influence and promote a sustainable development focused on the social dimension. My prior intention was to look in to how a landscape architect can work with social matters of sustainability such as integration, equality, safety and so on. Which are our most successful tools and capabilities? I started to work with the historical background in September 2008 and soon discovered the multitude of theories and definitions of sustainable development, international, national and local. In Sweden the local political level has been given a lot of responsibilities to achieve a more sustainable society.

The purpose of our master?s thesis is to study the diversity discourse, used in Sweden, particularly the so-called ethnic diversity at the work place discourse.Our aims are to map and analyze the conceptualization of difference used in the diversity rhetoric. We intend to pursue our aim by studying the rhetoric of diversity, used for diversity promotion in the private and public sectors. Also, we will investigate into what conceptualizations of difference are used in the organizations in the name of ?diversity?.

The Purpose of this essay is to seek an answer to whether or not a conflict exists between priests of the Assyrian Church, the Syrian Orthodox Church and the Coptic Church in contemporary Swedish society, as well as to examine the environment between the three. The theological dissimilarities will be studied (from a historical standpoint), along with the interviewed participants views on the division in Christianity which will be presented also. I choose to interview six priests/chorbishops who live and work in Sweden, and the result was analyzed according to the senior professor of peace- and conflict, Peter Wallensteen?s theories on conflict and conflict resolution, where important issues are laid out to identify the core problem, and theological differences are discussed and compared from a union perspective.The result of the interviews illustrate a clear response that the participants experience a lack of functioning collaborations (from the Assyrians Church view, a collaboration is absent from the Syrian Orthodox Church and the Coptic Church, and vice versa) and most of the participants experience negative consequences from the divide in churches, as they strive for unity in Christianity as a whole. The theological differences between the churches proves not to be as significant as expected, the actual predicament lies partly in language-and phrase division along with a general rejection of each other?s interpretations.

We live in a time where the influence of citizens is taking a larger role in the spatial planning. The Swedish laws, such as PBL, deals with matters of citizen participation which advocates that the youth should be included in the consultation circuit, but there is no directive given.  The report's purpose is to demonstrate methods for how to get the young people's influence included in the spatial planning, with a main focus on the ages between 13 and 21. On the base of literature and two case studies, the goal is to illustrate how to integrate young people through a meeting place in Jonkoping, Sweden. The report is structured along with an analysis based on the literature, two case studies from previous projects and discussions/interviews with young people from four selected areas in Jonkoping.  The case studies from Malmo and Gothenburg show how the cooperation between different participants can be organized during the planning and how to give the users a greater involvement. Based on literature and case studies, we carried out a field analysis of the four most segregated areas of Jonkoping; Osterangen, Oxnehaga, Ekhagen and Raslatt.

Aspen (Populus tremula L.) and goat willow (Salix caprea L.) are two important tree species in the aspect of nature conservation. Due to the elimination of forest fires, a former negative attitude towards deciduous trees in forestry and a strong herbivore pressure, these tree species have been negatively affected during the last fifty years. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the occurrence of aspen and goat willow could be related to either human impact or to site properties, such as ground moisture and vegetation type. A side study included an inventory of a number of cyanobacterial tree lichens on aspen and goat willow in order to try to relate the occurrence of these lichens species to stand history and stand properties. The study was performed in Hamra State Forest in northern Dalarna. Nature reserves were compared with stands in managed areas.

The aim of this paper is to expand the debate on globalization and its consequences from a theoretical perspective emphasizing social processes of exclusion and inclusion. I explore these social processes in dialogue with the Spanish social movement for the rights of irregular immigrants. The paper also aims to explore new forms of resistance in the context of globalization."The declinist thesis" argues that globalization has lead to a declining importance of the nation-state and the national citizenship as guarantees of rights. "The anti-declinist thesis" oppose to this picture arguing that rights still depend on national policies. I also discuss the functions of exclusion and inclusion inherited in the concepts of citizenship and nation-state.I outline the historical and political context of the movement and explore the ideas and organizational dimensions of the movement's "knowledge praxis".I conclude that national citizenship - in a broader sense as a description of the relationship between the individual and the state - seems to play a crucial role in the life situation and the possibilities of irregular migrants to organize and protest.

The aim of this thesis is to assess the strategic importance of Central Asia as a whole and interests of great powers in the region in particular within the theoretical framework chosen. The work shows Central Asia as an area of the New Great Game, analogue of the original Great Game which was played out between the British Empire and Tsarist Russia in XIX century. The parallels between the original Great Game and the New Great Game are drawn in order to understand the scope and the true intentions of the players of the latter one. Also, the security issues in the contemporary Central Asia are explored and analyzed to provide with the background for future predictions. Furthermore, the indirect purpose of the thesis is to examine whether the international system has changed from that of two centuries ago by comparing the structure of the international systems at the time of two Games.