The essay examines and compares three different textbooks used in gymnasieskolans A- course from a postcolonial perspective. The method used in the essay is a qualitative analysis. Edward Said?s postcolonial theories are used as a tool to facilitate the analysis of the textbooks. The purpose of the essay is to examine how the textbooks depicts different parts of the world, are they depicting a multicultural world view, or are the textbooks assuming a western perspective in their description of the world.

Title: Learning to read music notation on the guitar ? an analysis of various guitar schools on the market with added own examples. Purpose: To analyse currently available teaching materials on the subject of guitar notation on the market. A comparative analysis is made of five chosen books on the topic. Four criteria for the analysis of these five books are stated: 1) Structure and progression of the study of reading music on the guitar.

The purpose of this paper has been to examine the heavy metal band Sabatons use of history and to relate it to societal trends in today?s Sweden. I have examined Sabatons music, album covers and music videos in order to define a certain use of history. To do this I have used a use of history theory and a heavy metal theory. My results showed that some of Sabatons use of history could be defined as commercial and that the societal trends in today`s Sweden have in some cases affected the selection and presentation of events and characters that`s been portrayed by Sabaton.

This thesis sets out to examine how feminist struggle can be negotiated, defined and motivated. By using Oral history as a theoretical and methodological framework, three persons narrative are being constructed, explored and discussed throughout the thesis. All the interviewees define themselves as women and feminists and have all practised music in different separatist rock and pop-groups from 1970 to present. Themes as music as political action, and separatism for persons who define themselves as women are discussed. The tree informants agree about some feministic goals such as equality and the right to be able to play and perform music regardless of gender identity, although the means to reach these goals are formulated differently. .

This master thesis summarizes contemporary theories on secularization processes in the Western world, and compares these with the example of Sweden, which by many scholars is considered to be the most secularized country in the Western world.I do this by dividing the most influential theorists in five different groups. In each group I explain how the theorists formulate and motivate their positions. These groups are:1) The secularization paradigm, where secularization always accompanies modernization. (Therorists: Steve Bruce and Peter Berger (in the 1960s)2) The paradigm basically accepted, but revised to depend on existential security, rather than modernisation as such. (Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart)3) Religion returned in the public sphere.

The aim of this Masters thesis is to deepen the understanding of how society affects literary criticism by studying the reception of two Swedish dystopian novels and their contemporary anchorage. The questions that we answer here are concerned with how critics have drawn parallels between the novels and events occurring in the contemporary society, and how the critics outlook on the future are connected to ideas about the future in the novels. The first novel, Kallocain 1940 by Karin Boye has been interpreted as a critical statement directed towards totalitarian ideologies. The second novel, After the Flood 1982 by P C Jersild, has been seen as a warning against nuclear warfare. This qualitative study is based on 41 reviews from Swedish daily press.

Title: The future is looking bright - Studies of burnout among musicians and music teachers. Since late 1970's, the burn-out-syndrome has been researched in several ways, especially among people working in care-oriented employments. The object with this study is to find out the biggest issues about why musicians and music teachers burn themselves out. This is based on musicians and music teachers own stories when they got burned out. The method I have used is qualitative interviews and in the result chapter I will present summaries of the interviews.

Drug related messages in antidrug campaigns and music related media -A qualitative study about young people?s perceptions Youth are exposed to both promotional and critical drug and alcohol messages in their daily media consumption. The purpose of this study is to examine how youth perceive anti-drug campaigns and drug-promoting messages in music-related media. The empirical material consists of qualitative data, including a focus group and two individual interviews, consisting of youth between the ages of 18 and19. One main finding is that young people perceive anti-drug messages differently, yet they are virtually unanimous about what makes such messages effective.

This thesis examines and attempts to develop the theory of yakuwarigo as introduced by Kinsui (2003) by integrating both the visual and linguistic aspects of characters found in manga. We seek answers to what extent Japanese native speakers are capable of matching linguistic and visual characteristics of characters in manga. As well as whether they are consciously aware of how yakuwarigo affects their choices. Furthermore, it aims to present a framework capable of classifying, and categorizing different types of characters by their language use. This is accomplished by analyzing the motivation behind choices, by natives, whom were asked in a survey to match lines and artwork of characters in manga to form pairs.

New tools for the assessment of aphasia are important for bothclinical work and research. To see how they relate to already existing testscan increase their usefulness. Western Aphasia Battery ? Revised was translatedto Swedish and compared with the Swedish aphasia test A-ning, partlyto compare content and partly to see how sixteen people aged between 22and 92 with aphasia performed on the tests. The subtests did not correspondcompletely and the type of items included varied a lot.

In this thesis my purpose is to study the mechanisms and discourses that are the foundations for identification processes, in a contemporary society characterised by increased mobility. By means of a fictitious life history, I relate to this problem constantly through the work. At the beginning of the essay I discuss the traditional, western, philosophical view of the self and its surroundings, which eventually leads me to focus on the theories of the sociology of knowledge. From this perspective I choose to examine globalisation processes and mobility, to create an understanding of how these two, changes the circumstances for the individual identification. In my concluding argument I stress that all research or all studies concerning identification processes must take into account that these identifications always take place with regard to time/place which also means, that it takes place both in real space and in imaginary space.

Western scholars have long sought to grasp the essence of and explain Buddhism. Western representation of Buddhism has been in a manner that reflects their concerns and interests. In addition to this it is also known that Buddhism in Sweden is seen in a favorable way. This study tries to locate where this positive attitude toward Buddhism stems from and if it is represented in this manner in Swedish textbooks. Therefore three textbooks of upper secondary class of religion are to be examined, not only to see if there is a positive attitude towards it, but to see in what manner Buddhism is depicted in Swedish schools on the whole.

This is a study of Prehistoric musical instruments from Scandinavia and the different meanings they could have had in the Prehistoric society. I have described the different types of possible music instruments and the different categories that they belong to. I have also written about their different functions that could have been for example ritual artefacts, shamanic tools or useful instruments in hunting. Two case studies are also presented in the essay, the Falköpingsflute and the Balkåkradrum..

This work represents a first attempt to articulate my practice as a composer. Through a phenomenological perspective and with the support of the philosophical concept 'Weak Thought', I approach the idea of music as meaning in itself, beyond language. My exploration of these ideas is developed through three perspectives: partly through analysis of my own work, partly through a brief presentation of the concept of 'Weak Thought', and lastly through a series of subject-specific reflections..

The kimono is a simply cut costume with a very advanced tradition of the wearer, which Ihope to communicate through this essay. The long historical bakground of the kimono cangive a better understanding of its construction and its contexts as well as its individualconditions, all is to be taken in consideration before exhibiting the kimono. Relevantstudies in litterature has been applyed within these subjects, which are accounted forprimarily in the second and third chapter of this essay. The essay contains a study of thekimono with a strict delimitation towards four symbolic wearers, the subject is thenfurther discussed in relation to the different kind of installations at exhibits. In the fourthpart of the essay two educational study visits will function as a supplementary study forthe litterature studies meantioned earlier.