The thesis explores what is meant by multiculturalism in today's Sweden based on burial grounds and funerals in a minor municipality. This is done through an ethnographic case study of the municipality of Vara. The study aims to investigate how multiculturalism looks and is responded to. The study maps which aspects are placed on multiculturalism in a minor municipality and which adaptations and compromises are highlighted. This is done within the framework of theories concerning multiculturalism and social identity, and the result of the empirical case study is presented by applying the theories to the material. From burial places and funerals, social collective and individual identities are analysed based on the social categories of religion/faith/secularity and place belonging, based on the perspectives of rituals and traditions as well as the location of the grave. The study finds that there are several aspects of multiculture in the burial grounds, as multiculture not only includes cultural influences from immigrants but also the different preferences of the local villages, in combination with the development of society, and Sweden in general.

AbstractThe aim of the research presented in this thesis is to study how interactional strategies are used by children and what these strategies mean or imply in the preschool cultural context. The theoretical point of departure in the study is the socio-cultural perspective (William Corsaro, Roger Säljö, Jim Wertsch). The study is a contribution to the field of research that focuses upon contextual issues and an overall way of seeing the child. This is in opposition to the strong traditional psychological perspective in the development of the child, where a focus upon the individual dominates in special education. This ethnographic study aims to answer the following research questions; What interactional strategies are co-constructed by the children in preschool play? How do the interactional strategies influence the creation of culture in preschool play? The children, 3-5 years olds, and their play situation were in focus.

The aim of this thesis was to examine how role players experiences libraries and if the libraries are or can be an arena for activities that involves role play. A public library exists for everyone, but could nevertheless be viewed as a female sphere where women both borrow more books and visit the libraries program activities to a larger extent, compared to men. I asked the question whether men?s reason for choosing a different venue for information and culture was related to the libraries not being able to satisfy their needs. The theory of the thesis was Dorte Skot-Hansen, Casper Rasmussen Hvenegaard and Henrik Jochumsens model that states that the libraries can have four different functions and act as a venue for meetings, knowledge, inspiration and experiences.

In this paper I will discuss the occurrence of ceramic vessels in the graves of the Pitted ware culture on the island of Gotland, Sweden. I will focus on four sites and compare these sites, with hopes of finding some similarities or interesting differences. The sites are Ajvide in Eksta parish, Visby in Visby parish, Västerbjers in Gothem parish and Fridtorp in Västerhejde parish. The idea is to look at the grave goods, with focus on the ceramic vessels, or at least, the bottoms of the vessels, where one can clearly see that it's been deposited in the grave. I will try to analyze the vessels (shape and in some cases height), look where in the grave they've been placed, how many graves contain vessels, who's been given these vessels and if the vessels have filled a certain purpose once they've been deposited in the graves..

This study is concerned with the region of Öresund and the aspects of work commuting in particular. The purpose is to investigate attitudes and opinions towards the region among work commuters and then apply them to various theories relevant for the questioning, such as globalization, regionalization, ethnicity, nationalism, culture and identity. To investigate the attitudes towards the region we have done a number of interviews with commuters, using qualitative and semi-structured questions. The analysis is divided into three different parts; In Body and in Mind, Us and Them, the Future; and consists of a discussion of our informants? answers related to the theoretical aspects of the earlier mentioned theories.

The world has become a globalized place in constant development and much of which is now taken for granted did not even exist 30-40 years ago, such as smartphones or Internet in common households. As new tourist destinations is continuously being created, it becomes increasingly important with effective place marketing to compete in the global market. Developing a good and interesting profile is thus a way for places to become more attractive for tourists. The main theory in the paper is "post-industrialization and the entrepreneurial city" which describes how cities in the global north have moved away from industry towards becoming post-industrial cities ? very often with a strong focus on tourism.

This is a thesis about design of young stands of trees. A big source of inspiration has been Västerskog and Tor Nitzelius Park in Alnarp which both consists of a structure of squares. I wanted to examine if this type of planting could be valuable from an aesthetic and recreational point of view. One problem today is that many people believe that we have to wait for decades for a planting to grow up so that we can enjoy the ?ready result?.

This research aims to investigate the effects that dredging may have on benthic fauna. The dredging took place in the stream Ireån on northern Gotland during the early summer 2010. My area of research was taking place in a scenic area downstream in Ireån close to the Baltic Sea. I chose this area due to the dredging that started just upstream of this area and continued further upstream. Thus it is not the direct impact of the dredging that is the focus for this paper but the side-effect the dredging may have on the area downstream.

On the first of October 2012 the media reported that the women in the Ikea cataloguehad been airbrushed in the Saudi edition. Initially the blame was put on either theSaudi government the Islamic culture or the Saudi franchise. In the end it wasrevealed that the Swedish company Inter Ikea Systems had the full responsibility forIkeas actions and therefore was the culprit behind the airbrushing. On whoseinitiative or why the airbrushing was done the media never found out. These areanswers only Ikea has, although they remain unresponsive to these questionsthroughout the news portrayal.This study methodology uses a qualitative content analysis as framework to furtherinvestigate the news media with support of theoretical perspectives such as mediatheory, power relations and cultural differences.

Is Försäkringskassan, one of Sweden?s largest organizations, an equal place to work in? Dosex, ethnical background or age matter when being treated by colleagues and managers?In this thesis I try to, through interviews with both the Human Resources-departement andsome administrators at Försäkringskassan, find the answers to how the organization?s internalwork regarding equality functions. To help me with the analysis I use both discourse theoryand gender theory. I find a discrepancy between the Human Resources-department?s and theadministrators? view of how the internal equality work is run.

The interest in the subject of this study was raised during our education when we read about thedifficulties for young people to find a place at the labour-market.The aim of this study was to find out what the view of the possibilities to find a place on the labourmarketis for young people, 16 - 18 years old, who don't follow a national program but follow theindividual program.Both quantitative and qualitative methods have been used through a survey questionnaire and agroup-interview. The results show that young people know that education is important to get a jobbut at the same time the majority says that they would leave school if they got a job-offer. Theyoung people think that they have a relatively good knowledge about the labour-market but at thesame time they can't describe what it imply. This could mean that there is a gap between school andworking life. .

The aim of the study has been to see if there are cultural differences in the perception of health and, if so, analyze if this is something needed to be taken in consideration in Swedish healthcare, schools and so forth.The participants were children aged between nine and nineteen. The study was performed at Islamic center's Islamic free school in Rosengård, Malmö. We have used a phenomenological approach that encourages the participants to talk freely and in their own words about a given subject, in our case, health. To analyze the transcribed interviews we have used software, Minerva, an application of Meaning Constitution Analysis (MCA) developed by Roger Sages, lector at The University of Lund.The results show that all the participants, regardless of culture, feel that eating right and exercising are crucial for their health. Additional to this we have found that the participants have a very strong solidarity whit their family and their origin country.

This thesis is about informal seatings, those which are planned to merge into the city core environment and to supply a flexible public space. The thesis discusses how a diverse range of elements could result in different functions and social meanings. These are illustrated with visual examples and conceptual drawings. The position of the seating in a small public place is important, as well as its location in the city. Furthermore, the detail design of the seating, such as the form and dimensions have to be considered in order to create an informal seating appropriate for the user. This leads to the broad scope of this thesis which deals with the small scale - how the seatings can create a good environment in a small place; and the big scale - how a site can influence the city. This thesis suggests the physical design of some informal seatings and also investigates how these seatings can strengthen the place through their function and how they relate to their surroundings.

We examined why file sharing is such a widespread phenomenon and what drives the persons that using file sharing, and what consequences it has on their consuming and ownership. We reached our goal by interviewing ten people who download files, using a qualitative method. We present the internet community where sharing files, copyright and the IPRED law are important ingredients for how the new generation consumer?s patterns look like. Today you can travel all over the world with a push on a button in just a few seconds.

The intention of this final thesis is to look into the improvement of small and run down railway stations. Many railway stations are today derelict and decaying. The purpose of this essay is to propose alternative strategies of action by discussing the ecology, the history and the social function of the railway station. There is also an overview of projects already completed. In the analysis part of the thesis, the genius loci or the spirit of place is put forward as means of reaching a solution.