In recent years, revelations about illegal international adoptions have made headlines around the world, and one notable country where many illegal adoptions have been facilitated is Chile. To find out that one's adoption wasn?t facilitated legally is a shock for the individual that raises many new questions about themselves and their origins. This study intends to examine how the identity of stolen adoptees has changed in their adulthood after they have found out that they were stolen, as well as to investigate how they experience alienation in Sweden from their position as both stolen and non-white adoptees. Qualitative methods have been employed in this study: participant observation, semi-structured in-depth interviews, and informal interviews.

This thesis is an attempt to understand how the traditional female gender identity is constructed and what kind of structures that are maintaining it. I also study how this identity is reflected in young women's conception of themselves and in their views upon whether they should sign in to the military service or not.The theoretical framework that I use mainly consists of theories about gender construction, male dominance and the woman's role in the nation-state.The purpose of using this theoretical approach is to illustrate that the traditional female gender identity consists of characteristics that are in opposition to the male ones. The woman should be weaker, less aggressive and more caretaking than men- in sum she is defined as the Other. The structures that constructs this identity is the male dominance, also known as the gender system and the patriarchy.This traditional female gender identity and citizenship role that historically has been allotted to women in the nation-state is still today very vivant in Sweden and is reflected in the fact that the military service is optional for women. Certain parts of this identity is also reflected in the young women that I interview, in their sense of probably not fitting in to the military service, because of their sex and the characteristics discussed above, that are associated with it..

AbstractThe aim of this essay is to bring understanding to one of the problems theinternationally adopted in Sweden might face, the identity dilemma. In order to do so, a theory of identity construction, Constructionism, is used. This theory says that the construction of identities is a constantly continuing process, influenced, not only by our own perception of ourselves, but also by how we are viewed and treated by otherpeople.Given this theoretic starting point, an examination of the adoptees? everydayencounters in the Swedish society is made, using an autobiography, a biography, a collection of interviews, and newspaper articles. The result shows that the internationally adopted, although they are Swedish both by mind and by law, experience that they have been, and sometimes still are, confronted with strong attitudes such as racism, prejudice and stereotypes.Furthermore, those who experience the identity dilemma often refer to how they are perceived by ?the others?, or to what the encounters with ? the real? Swedes have been like.

In this study I try to answer the question what to consider when teaching about identity andreligious identity in Religious Studies at Upper Secondary Schools in Sweden. This inquiry isbased on the fact that the latest Program manuals for upper secondary school, GY11, instructsthe teachers to talk about identity and religion, while in the Curriculum for upper secondaryscool, Lpf 94, as well as the latest curriculum, SKOLFS 2011, the idea of identity seemslinked with ethnicity.With this in mind I want to clarify what might be meant with the concept of identity. Byreferring to several different identity theories I propose to illustrate the complexity of theconcept. I study gender, queer and postcolonial theory as well as different aspects of classstructure and commodification of identity, all through the perspective of intersectionality.Intersectionality is not a theory as such but a method of studying various perspectives of anissue. It is an analytical praxis of using several angles of investigation and explanationtogether, all phrased with the background of the question of power.

This thesis examines how techniques from place marketing, developed to market places, can be used in the process of designing a visual identity for an institution. The thesis is a case study of the development of a new visual identity for the public art institution Malmö konsthall. The essay presents Malmö Konsthall, defines the term visual identity and describes the main principles in place branding. I then define target audiences and key values, discuss the application of place marketing principle and go through the design process of the new visual identity. The process showed that theories about flagship buildings, signature design and signature districts have the biggest influence on the design.

Self-destructive behaviour is a more and more occurring phenomenon in today?s society and there are mostly young girls who are affected by this behaviour. There are different explanations to why the phenomenon appears. The purpose of this research essay is to give a literature overview of the phenomenon of self-harming behaviour of young girls. Two research questions have been used to study this phenomenon; How can groups of friends contribute to reinforce an identity with the self-destructive behaviour among young girls? How can Internet contributes to reinforce an identity with the self- estructive behaviour among young girls? For the analysis this research essay uses the social constructive theoretical perspective.

Abstract The aim of this paper is to investigate whether Vara municipality has a continuous picture of their identity, profile and image. Globalization has contributed to the increasingly growing of place marketing. Therefore, the study goes on to using the concepts of identity, profile and image to find out if Vara Municipality communicates similar throughout the whole organization and find out their all through core values. Globalisation will be an interpretive framework for the work that describes why the place marketing is becoming more pressing. The sense of place will be a central part of this study as it is the feelings and images of different places that will be described by the municipality together with the identity, profile and image.

On December 20, 2001, the Swedish citizen Mehdi Ghezali was captured on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Ghezali spent the following 930 days in U.S. captivity, without being charged with any crime. My aim in this essay is to analyze how Ghezali was portrayed in three Swedish newspapers under and after his captivity, two nationwide and one local newspaper based in Ghezali's hometown. My purpose is to see whether Ghezali's identity is constructed differently in the three newspapers, as regards The Other, Stereotypization, etc.

The aim of this master thesis is to examine the identity of librarians. We have done this by conducting a text analysis where we have analysed texts produced by DIK, the major union of librarians, and by Library and Information Science departments in Sweden. The material we have analysed is texts produced in the aim of introducing and marketing the librarian occupation and education. The aim of this study is to find out how the identity of the librarian is expressed in this material. We have conducted the text analysis by adopting the critical discourse analyst Norman Fairclough´s theories.

The main purpose of this thesis is to examine how the European Union through the Directorate- General (DG) of Education and Culture, are calling forth a constructed sense of European identity amongst the citizens of the Union.It is a discourse analysis, which can be described in twofold. Firstly, it is a mapping of the European discourse; i.e. how the European Union defines the identity it seeks to mobilise. Secondly, it examines whether or not there are similarities in the European discourse of identity and the traditional nation-building discourse of national identity.According to this thesis a European identity is articulated in cultural terms, whereby its members are said to share the same values and a common cultural heritage.To bring the people of Europe closer together and to deepen awareness of their "common" history, the European Union encourages all manner of meetings and exchange schemes between Europeans. Although its goal is to develop a feeling of belonging to a shared culture, the EU is also keen to preserve the specific aspects of Europe's many cultures.

AbstractAim: The purpose of this thesis is to research how women think about fashion in relation to their self and to others. Can clothes be an expression of who we are who we want to be and how we look at others? What are the main characteristics in this type of communication and what kind of information can be distributed using this tool?Method/Material: InterviewsMain results: Clothes can work as a tool to show who we are and what we are, mainly on short term. We use clothes for different purposes, sometimes we what to be seen and really show who we are and what we stand for and sometimes we just what to go with the flow and not be seen at all. We will always have a physical need for clothes but it is also a natural and important part of our individual expression and our identity.Keywords: Fashion, Clothes, Identity, Lifestyle.

In this study I try to answer the question what to consider when teaching about identity andreligious identity in Religious Studies at Upper Secondary Schools in Sweden. This inquiry isbased on the fact that the latest Program manuals for upper secondary school, GY11, instructsthe teachers to talk about identity and religion, while in the Curriculum for upper secondaryscool, Lpf 94, as well as the latest curriculum, SKOLFS 2011, the idea of identity seemslinked with ethnicity.With this in mind I want to clarify what might be meant with the concept of identity. Byreferring to several different identity theories I propose to illustrate the complexity of theconcept. I study gender, queer and postcolonial theory as well as different aspects of classstructure and commodification of identity, all through the perspective of intersectionality.Intersectionality is not a theory as such but a method of studying various perspectives of anissue. It is an analytical praxis of using several angles of investigation and explanationtogether, all phrased with the background of the question of power.

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.

Ever since the nation-state has existed identity has been a big deal, it is told that identity is a tool needed to be able to receive consensus from the people concerned on a certain matter. As the European Union is continuously shaped and reshaped due to changing geographical borders, as a consequence of new member-states the aim to integrate the Union equally across its surface has not been an easy task to solve. A lack of trust from the inhabitants in the European Union is a fact, and therefore the main duty of the Union has become to rebuild the trust from beginning to end, creating a Union which easily can be identified with. Since the process of national identity relies upon an excluding-including process and the use of the Other, the identification process on an European level has indeed had fierce effects on the inhabitants within and outside the Union.One of many things that this essay aims at showing is how mythmaking has become a way used by the elite in the Union to integrate a European identity, the myths refer back to a Golden Age when Europe was prosperous and in bloom. Among other tools used to integrate and create a European identity we find such as; unity in diversity, a cultural inheritance based on common denominators such as Christianity and Latin traditions, symbols and a European citizenship.

This paper describes what some 9th grade students think of their sex education in school, especially when it comes to gender, sexual identity, norms and deviation. I have been using group interviews in two different schools, two groups per school. The result of the students' answers have been analysed on the basis of queer theory focusing on gender and sexual identity. The result of the study shows that the students consider their sexual education to be lacking, especially when it comes to gender, sexual identity, norms and deviation. Another conclusion of the analysis is that a sex education grounded in queer theory would be more inclusive..