The purpose of this study is to explore the concept of the immigrant-writer. By studying the literary criticism on four debutants, all of whom have been categorised as immigrant-writers, I have come to the conclusion that the critics tend to focus on the authors' Otherness. By using postcolonial theory I've analysed the role as representatives of a supposed other reality that is imposed on these four authors by the literary critics. The theories of Pierre Bourdieu, especially his concepts of symbolic capital, literary field and position, have been used to contextualise these conclusions. Although the Otherness that the critics accentuate seems to work as a negative symbolic capital in a bigger societal perspective, in the author's position within the literary field it grows their positive symbolic capital.

In this essay I point out that the presence of  ?Otherness? plays a key role in the novel The Beach by Alex Garland, and that the text relates to a colonial literary tradition. I?ve mainly used the distinction of Otherness and cultural representation presented by the postcolonial theorist Edward W. Said to guide me.

The aim of this theoretical study is to explain how the notion of the Other and Otherness affect individuals possibilities to form multiple, personal identities. This is done by the use of the theory of the Other and the construction of identities. In my analysis I will be using the power perspective presented by Lukes. The purpose of my study is also to investigate whether a focus on similarity over difference between groups can change the situation for individualsMy study shows that Otherness affect individuals identity constructions through stereotyping and categorising. This is made possible by the use of power from outside and inside different groupings.

The essay, based on interviews with eight people, deals with name changes from a foreign-sounding name to Swedish-sounding name. The aim is to investigate the reasons behind the name change and whether experiences of ethnic discrimination were among these reasons. Furthermore, I explore the consequences of the name change, and whether the name change was an effective strategy to avoid ethnic discrimination. The study employs qualitative method; I carry out eight interviews with four women and four men, and analyze the empirical material by means of post-colonial theory in which categorizing, Otherness and passing are significant terms. The results show that the name change takes place primarily to reduce a sense of Otherness, and the discursively locked positions a foreign-sounding name creates.

Syftet med denna uppsats är framförallt att försöka visa, samt diskutera, vad en postkolonial läsning kan vara, och vad den kan ge. Jonas Hassen Khemiris "Ett Öga Rött" är ämnet för min läsning, alltså mitt primärmaterial. Genom olika närläsningar av denna roman undersöks relationerna mellan språk, makt och identitet. Huvudsakligen försöker jag, med hjälp av postkolonial teoribildning, att utröna hur romanens huvudkaraktär och berättare, Halim, förhåller sig till sig själv, och sin verklighet. Min teoretiska grund ligger hos de postkoloniala teoretikerna Edward Said och Homi Bhabha.

Participation is central to the concept of democracy. The role of the civic participation varies with different types of democracy, but a fundamental requirement is that the participation is free and equal. In spite of this, there are significant differences between possibilities to democratic participation in Sweden today.This essay seeks to understand how disability, historically and still today, is constructed as a social deviation from normality, and is constructed to Otherness.One way to regard freedom and equality is to examine the personal autonomy, the legth to wich a person decides her/his roles and activities in abcence of external limitations. Personal autonomy is theoretically central in deliberative and strong democracy, but should reasonobly be a demand for the fundamental definition of democracy.The explanation to why the lack of personal autonomy is accepted, is that the construction of Otherness results in that the persons are categorized and are given simplified characteristics, and are thereby not accepted as equivalent people.In the inteviews conducted, seven politicians contribute both whiteness, pathological discourses regarding disability and ideas of normality through discussing democracy, participation and disability. Simultaniously, they express interest and an awareness on the majority's power and symbolic violence on the minority..

The aim of this study is to examine ways of writing experiences of the strange and different, experiences of the other in his or her Otherness and experiences of suffering. The study focuses possibilities and limits for the writing of these experiences and aims at finding a tangible way of writing literature. Part of the aim of this study is to elaborate a proposal for a way of writing experiences of the strange and different, experiences of the other in his or her Otherness and experiences of suffering.    The material for the study consists of three different approaches to literature, in which theories on literature or analyses of literary works are presented. This material is initially analysed in separate analyses in which conceptions, strategies and methods for writing experiences of the strange and different, the other and suffering are identified. Secondly, the material is analysed in a comparative analysis, aimed at finding similarities and differences between the approaches but above all to let the approaches supplement and challenge each other.

This essay deals with non-normative gender expressions during childhood. I?m using narrative theory and methods to analyze autobiographical narratives. My questions are:What strategies does the non-normative person use to deal with his Otherness?Using the methodological analysis tool ?turning point?, where are the turning points in the narratives? Are their any common turning points in the various narratives?Where is the responsibility placed in the narratives for that someone does not fit in by the adults/ staff at the school/kindergarten- on the non-normative person or at the surroundings?The experiences are interpreted through theories and concepts from queer theory and gender theory.

Today Europe is faced with an identity crisis concerning its borders. Turkey stands at the threshold for an EU-membership while the EU-Commission is trying to formulate what constitutes a European identity. This identity seeking process will determine the future not only for Turkey, but also for immigrants now living in Europe.In this thesis a discourse analysis, underpinned by socialconstructionist theory, is conducted to explore how the European identity has been constructed throughout history up until today. A starting point is that identity always is defined through a dialectical relationship to "Otherness". Therefore the analysis is focused not only on what a European identity consists of but also what and who it excludes.

Education systems face a number of challenges regarding social justice, diversity, difference, and inclusion and membership for all students in the groups that schools create. This invokes questions of how well these challenges are met in curricula and teaching materials. Through discourse analysis of eight Swedish geographical textbooks, this essay aims to seek out the perspectives surrounding difference within the subject of geography. It concludes that the idea of fixed homogenous cultures as meaningfull in differentiating among people dominates throughout the latter half of the 20th century and during the last decade. In addition, it concludes that the discourse surrounding diversity in Swedish geographical teaching materials mainly has a binary liberal view of plurality focused around tolerance.

Education systems face a number of challenges regarding social justice, diversity, difference, and inclusion and membership for all students in the groups that schools create. This invokes questions of how well these challenges are met in curricula and teaching materials. Through discourse analysis of eight Swedish geographical textbooks, this essay aims to seek out the perspectives surrounding difference within the subject of geography. It concludes that the idea of fixed homogenous cultures as meaningfull in differentiating among people dominates throughout the latter half of the 20th century and during the last decade. In addition, it concludes that the discourse surrounding diversity in Swedish geographical teaching materials mainly has a binary liberal view of plurality focused around tolerance.

I denna studie analyseras den ryska officiella diskursen om Tjetjenienkonflikten under perioden efter Beslandådet 2004. Det ena syftet med studien är att undersöka hur de tjetjenska separatisterna framställs i diskursen. Det andra syftet är att analysera vilken roll framställningen av separatisterna samt begreppet "kriget mot terrorismen" spelar i den ryska politiken och i agerandet i Tjetjenienfrågan efter Beslandådet. I analysen används Laclaus och Mouffes diskursteori samt teorin om den Andra. Resultaten visar att de tjetjenska separatisterna framställs som "internationella terrorister" i diskursen och konstrueras som de Andra i förhållande till det ryska folket.

The aim of this paper is to describe the position of the Swedish welfare state within the shaping of a Swedish national identity. This is done through the study of Mångkulturåret 2006, and its rhetorical context. The point of departure is that history is formed continuously in current speech and a text analytical method has been used. Mångkulturåret was issued by the Department of Culture as an extended perspective of Cultural politics. The rhetoric used in the official document Agenda för Mångkultur is analyzed through a comparison with earlier official documents on the field of multiculturalism and integration.

This paper investigates the representations of Africans in the Swedish comic press around the time 1880-1920, with the purpose of establishing how Africans were depicted and how these representations can be explained. The sources consist of four comic magazines: Kasper, Söndags-Nisse, Strix and Naggen.Results show that images of Africans in the late 19th and early 20th century Swedish comic press highly conform to international representations. Traditional stereotypes and overall caricatures are widely applied, mediating racial difference and black subordination. The comic strips and jokes can be divided into categories, defined by their main theme: 1) Exotic animals and nature 2) Skin colour 3) The unintelligent or uncivilised savage 4) Cannibalism 5) The civilised African 6) Imperialistic overtones. The use of international stereotypes indicates that some comic strips might have been directly copied from foreign publications, and incorporated into Swedish contexts.Several theories, likely interacting, can be considered in explaining the imagery.

The present essay concerns Walter Benjamin?s thought regarding history and temporality as he articulated it in his last work that was only published posthumously: ?U?ber den Begriff der Geschichte?. The purpose is to analyze Benjamin?s construction of historical materialism and to suggest a reading of it as directed towards an opening of history. For Walter Benjamin, every moment presents itself as a possibility of radical Otherness: a possibility for things to be different.