This research addresses the issues of identity and culture in Latvia in the context of the upcoming European Union enlargement in 2004. Political self- determination of Latvia was historically indebted to culture. The phenomenon of cultural identity, so important 12 years ago when Latvian independence was regained, is largely ignored by politicians in the upcoming enlargement process. This is especially worth attention since the 8-th parliamentary elections took place in October 2002. The obvious lack of interest in cultural issues on the part of politicians is compensated by the apprehensions in the society (reflected in mass media) to loose Latvian specific culture and identity when joining the big European family.

In the west part of Trelleborg, on previous farmland a new society is under construction. It is situated right next to the ocean and close to the European freeway. Eight types of villages, all with different kind of architecture will be built in the area, one of them is Torns Village built by Skanska and Ikea. A concept called BoKlok. This specific village consists of twelve houses and five apartment buildings. They are all somewhat classical in their appearance with wooden panel, but at the same time they have a modern touch.

The aim of this essay is to illustrate a modern phenomenon, the Olympic Games, by applying the ideas of Mircea Eliade concerning space, time and myth. This literature study is mainly divided in two parts, one descriptive and one analytic. In the first part Eliade?s ideas and some criticism, which has been pointed against his theoretical approaches as well as his character, are presented. In the second part an analysis is carried out, based on the previously presented ideas and elements essential for the Olympics; the idea of the Olympics, the place, the ceremonies, the competition and the concept of individual idolism.I have discussed what seems like gnostic tendencies in Eliade?s ideas, in the sense that both Eliade?s ideas and the concept of Gnosticism argue that knowledge is a necessary condition for salvation, as well as the fact that Eliade and his ideas have not always a pro-Christian approach.

Syftet med vår uppsats har varit att undersöka och belysa hur pedagoger definierar inlärningsstil och vilka olika undervisningsstilar de använder för att möta elevers olika behov. Vår undersökning är kvalitativ och grundar sig på 5 observationer i olika åldersgrupper samt 5 intervjuer med respektive pedagog i en lärstilsinriktad skola. Studien visar att de lärare som grundar sin pedagogik på forskning och känner trygghet i sin pedagogroll individanpassar undervisningen mer. De varierar sig och tar mer hänsyn till elevers taktila och kinestetiska preferenser samt de miljömässiga och sociologiska elementen än de pedagoger som utgår från mer traditionell undervisningsstil och visuella och auditiva preferenser. Lärstilspedagogiken underlättar att hitta metoder till varje elev, vilket ökar motivation, arbetsglädje och självkänsla.

Examensarbetet handlar om att undersöka och jämföra några skolor om teknikanvändning under NO-undervisningen i årskurs 4. Studien ger en bild av hur skolan och lärarna ser på användning av tekniska hjälpmedel i undervisningen samt elevernas förväntningar på teknisk redskap i skolan. Arbetet bygger på en kvalitativ inriktad studie med hjälp av intervjuer och en enkätundersökning. Studien visade att tekniska redskap i skolan används på olika sätt beroende på läraren och skolans resurser.  .

The purpose of this essay is to investigate modern influence in the painting Strömkarlen, by Ernst Josephson. Strömkarlen was painted 1884 in Norway. First the essay performed an investigation of earlier researchers statements to establish a ?common truth? that puts the painting in a realistic/naturalistic-romantic context. With the help of Yve-Alain Bois? model, where he sees art from the painters point of wiew, it was possible to use two articles, written by Ernst Josephson in the fall of 1884, where he debates the conditions for art and artists in Sweden.

The aim of this study is to analyze how individuals experience their eating disorder, the focus being if anorexia may be perceived as a secure safe zone in the new modern world. The aim is to examine if individuals affected with anorexia nervosa understand the disorder as a solution to the modern worlds changes and the new individual freedom that it entails. This will be analyzed with the help of terms in Erich Fromms theories about escape mechanisms and Catarina Kinnvalls theories about the modern worlds ontological insecurity.The study is based on data collected from four informants of different ages and gender. The interviews were conducted through email and informants were chosen based on a strategic selection and snowball sampling. For the analysis of the empirical material Fromms escape mechanisms (authoritarianism, destructiveness and automaton conformity) and Kinnvalls theories of identity in the modern world have been used.The results of the analysis show that the eating disorder has a great significance for the individual construction and maintenance of identity and that the eating disorder becomes a safe zone to retreat to in a world of performance anxiety.

Studien undersöker huruvida Marx och Engels, i det Kommunistiska manifestet, beskriver en folkrörelse utifrån moderna samhällsvetenskapliga kriterier. Vidare undersöks om samma manifest ser idrotten - en del av folkrörelsen - som en ingrediens för att förverkliga Marx och Engels idé om det kommunistiska samhället. Resultatet visar på att det som skrivs av författarna är lika med en modern folkrörelse, men också att idrotten inte ses som viktig för att förverkliga idéerna..

Konstpedagogik har funnits sedan 1800-talet och förändrats med tiden, nya perspektiv har tillkommit och gett nya arbetssätt. På 2000-talet slog queerteorin igenom ordentligt som teori och började användas i olika sammanhang, ett sådant var som grund för konstpedagogiken. Med nya perspektiv kommer nya frågeställningar och nya grundvallar. Queerteorin vänder upp och ner på många invanda föreställningar om hur världen är eller ska vara. Konstpedagogiken grundar sig i många fall på konventioner om konst.

AbstractTitle:?It?s time to break the rules?, Female writing in a post revolutionary Egypt Year: 2013Author: Teresa Egfors GergesKeywords: the modern Arabic short story, Egyptian female writers, the Egyptian revolution, romanticism, realism, modernism, Modern Standard Arabic, Cairo Arabic.The purpose of this essay is to analyze four stories, written by Egyptian women and published after the Egyptian revolution, namely; A?wal mimm? yanbagh? and Qi??a shatwiyya by Hanan Elbadawi and Bint r?gil and Sam?ra ?-?ar?b?sh? by Shaimaa Elmaria. The stories of the essay are analyzed by the questions:? What are the themes? ? What kind of language and style is it? ? What are the messages?The essay is based on a comparing analyze, the stories are especially analyzed by Sabry Hafez? theories about the modern Arabic short story. Interviews with the two writers have been made.

The aim of this essay is to study five teachers' perceptions and experiences of a multicultural class. I want to find out how they relate to intercultural education and how they experience that they may apply it.Sweden is a multicultural society. This fact is even reflected in the school and this imposes on teachers finding new ways to educate and prepare their students for the multicultural society.I chose to carry out a qualitative survey and interviewed five teachers having contact with a multicultural class. The study also offers suggestions to future teachers who can benefit from it in terms of adopting convenient attitudes in multicultural classes with better understanding.The outcome reached shows that the interviewed teachers try to make use of intercultural pedagogy by addressing differences between students, adapting teaching to supply for the needs of students, and also by having good contact with parents. But teachers also experience difficulties.

he purpose of this master thesis is to learn more about the ancient Alexandrian Library. The method used in this thesis is methodology of history, especially a critical attitude when it comes to evaluating the ancient texts. I put forward three questions to which I desire to find answers. First: What do the sources from Antiquity tell about the Alexandrian library? Second: How do modern writers of books on the subject use these sources? Thirdly: I look into the possible historical and cultural reasons that the first of the Ptolemaic kings could have had for establishing the Mouseion and the Library of Alexandria.

Detta arbete behandlar metodmaterial för normkritisk undervisning och värdegrundsarbete. Frågeställningen är huruvida värdegrund och normkritik tenderar att bli negativt normerande när de görs till en specifik undervisningsmetodik. En argumentationsanalys av två metodmaterial visade att sådana tendenser finns, båda materialen uppvisade exempel på förmedlande av problematiska normer trots att deras syfte är att minska problematiskt normbildning inom skolan. Studien diskuterar problematiken med att dessa material till viss del motsäger sitt syfte. Den diskuterar även svårigheten i att tillhandahålla specifika metoder när det kommer till normkritik.

Syftet med studien är att bidra med kunskap om thailändska barns erfarenheter av mötet med den svenska skolan. Empiriska data i studien är intervjuer om äldre thailändska barns upplevelser i svensk skola. Barn som endast gått i svensk skola mellan 6 till 12 månader har observerats i skolan. Referensramen är en jämförelse av Thailands och Sveriges kulturer riktat mot delar av samhällsförhållanden och skolsystem. Den teoretiska ansatsen är interkulturell teori och datainsamlingen har genomförts i form av kvalitativa retrospektiva intervjuer.

The purpose of the present study is to investigate mindfulness as a New Age phenomenon in the modern western society. Since a religious phenomenon does not exist in a vacuum, but is dependent on its historical and cultural context, my aim is to give a broad depiction of mindfulness and New Age in its wider context, the historical background and the societal implications of common values, themes and concepts that are frequent in the literature, how mindfulness is presented by the authors of popular literature and also how it is presented in science. In order to bring forward a deeper understanding of New Age and mindfulness? role in the modern western society, my intention is to see how the authors of mindfulness claim validity of their doctrines in the discourse. Mindfulness attracts a wide range of perpetrators and is used in many areas in the society today.