This study examines how regional variation is given significance in the construction of a shared national identity in L?sebok f?r folkskolan. The study focuses on how Swedish provinces and their inhabitants are portrayed in the first, ninth and tenth editions of L?sebok f?r folkskolan between the years 1868 and 1912. The study's aim is to deepen the understanding of how the educational system during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries contributed to nation building by integrating regional diversity into the idea of Sweden as a nation.

This thesis examines representations of animals in three editions of L?sebok f?r folkskolan, the state-distributed Swedish elementary school reader first published in 1868. The aim is to deepen the understanding of the educative and formative function of animal representations in normative teaching materials during the early development of the Swedish elementary school in the late 19th century. The study analyses the 1868, 1878 and 1899 editions, asking how animals are portrayed, to which recurring themes they are linked, and which constants and changes can be discerned across the editions.The study is conducted as a qualitative comparative text analysis, framed by John Berger?s notion of the animal as both kin and other to the human.