This essay considers the new prison in Kalmar, which was built 1852 and replaced the former prison in the castle of Kalmar. In the forts the conditions were awful and the interms lived together in large rooms. With the new reform that took place in Sweden, with the so-called Philadelphiasystem, the concept was to isolate the prisoner one by one in smaller rooms. The idea was to give them a religious ground so they could get themselves a self-reflection and a conscience. It was a new system for the personnel to control the internals and the order in prison..

The aim of this thesis has been to analyze and interpret several different discourses in Japan and from the findings see how the Ainu people and their existence in Japan have been defined in today's Japan and in who's interest it is to keep it this way. My findings was that the Japanese nation in all channels of society are reinforcing and perpetuating the belief that it constitutes an ethnically homogenous nation and that there exists no ethnic problems in the country. I found that schoolbooks don?t give adequate information about the Ainu people and its history, and the Japanese press is reinforcing the status quo by their selective silence and limited coverage on issues concerning the Ainu. The government has defined and legitimized the problem of Ainu within the framework of culture and tradition.

The ancient site of Skårby, situated about twenty kilometres south of Stockholm, includes one very large cairn enclosured by a stone wall with a small cairn attached to it. Cairns are originally thought of as graves, but resent research shows that they are more likely to have been religious objects. The constructions are seated on a small hill with a view over the lake Bornsjön which used to be a bay of the lake Mälaren. This place has been the object of worship throughout the whole Bronze Age. Over the years the manifestation of the worship changed, but the place for it stayed the same..

The purpose of this essay is to examine the approach of the EU towards the reform efforts of Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the countries ambitions for EU memberships. The question formulation of the essay is whether there is differences in Turkey?s and Bosnia and Herzegovina?s qualifications for an EU-membership from an EU perspective. In order to better answer the question, we use two part questions. One is about the criterias and qualifications that need to be met in order to get a membership.

This essay intends to examine the atheists Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and Michel Onfray's arguments against religion, based on the themes of religion, atheism and the perception.of their present worldview. In addition, the research aims to find out whether it is suitable to talk about a new atheism. And, if so, whether such newatheism correspond with the definition represented by the Christian critics. The essay intends to contribute to a very limited research on the so-called new atheism without applying pro-religious arguments.Previous research and theory highlight the problem of defining the terms atheism, religion and secularism a concern that is reflected by the five critics troughout their arguments. What really united the critics were the idea about religion taking too much place in society, and the opinion that atheistic morality is at least as good as religious morality.

The aim of this essay is to investigate how national and international guidelines relate to library services to prisoners in Sweden and to further illuminate this through a comparison with some examples from a few European countries. The essay examines what rights to library services Swedish prisoners are given in law, what national and international guidelines say, what demands are placed on the librarian in the form of education and suitability, what economical resources exist to realise library services to prisoners, what measures are taken to provide for language minorities, and how the security aspect is handled when it comes to computers and information technologies. The information has been obtained through interviews as well as through studies of books, articles and conference proceedings. The essay includes a small case study of how library services are provided for prisoners in Haparanda. Findings point to a gap between the goals that are presented in national and international guidelines and how the library services to prisoners function in reality..

Coping theory asks what the cognitive and behavioral patterns of individuals dealing with stress are. This essay includes, besides the perspective of the psychology of religion, theories of culture and ritual in exploring two Swedes coping with the natural disaster in Thailand year 2004. The vacation paradise was struck by an enormous flood wave, called a tsunami, causing vast destruction and the death of over 200.000 people. Among these 543 were Swedes on vacation. When a disaster of such measures happens, what kind of stress does it cause? How do you cope? Are religion and ritual important? What is the function of the culture in the copingprocess? Using hermeneutical analysis this essay interprets the material from two books by Swedes, who not only experienced the disaster, but lost two children and husband and wife in the flood wave.

The aim of this study was to describe how retired nurses, educated in Uppsala, and students at Uppsala University's nursing program experience the importance of vocation in education and career choice. None of the participants had experienced vocation as a reason for choosing nursing as a career. The main reason was instead a desire to work with people. They also expressed that it was a profession like any other. The retired nurses said that the education was something of an up-bringing with religious elements.

The Church of Sweden has in recent years offered activities such as Christian deep medita-tion, mindfulness and health days. This may be a way for the Church of Sweden to reach the modern man who would not otherwise have come to the church, but there are critics who argue that new spirituality has made its entry in the Church of Sweden. The phenomenon of Christian deep meditation has become increasingly common in the Church of Sweden. In order to satisfy my curiosity about what a Christian deep meditation is, I decided to write an essay about this. My question is as follows: How important is Christian deep meditation as a religious practice in the Church of Sweden? This essay is a qualitative study and I have cho-sen to perform eight pieces of interviews, two of them are recorded.

There is a clear difference between types of regions and forms of regionalization. This theoretical division can point out other division lines on different areas and levels, like the one of discourses. In this article is urged that regional political discourses may be divided in West and East European ones. To argue for West and East differences in regional discourse the article shows division lines both in the history of regionalization but also in ideologies. The regional policy of the EU is one example for today's regionalization as a West discourse and the Transylvanian in Rumania as an example for the East discourse.

In this essay I investigate how the Roman colonization (around 50 BC to 400 AD) affected the Celtic religion. I inquire which operators that were behind these changes and under what circumstances they happened. I take a closer look on three places in Gaul and one place and one area in Britain. In my study of these places I see that it was the elite of the Celtic societies who together and under pressure from Rome made these changes. The religion and gods did not change; instead the ritual ceremonies changed to fit into something that Rome thought was right.

The aim of this essay is to study how the University Church is represented in student newspapers. By conducting an inductive thematic analysis on sixteen articles chosen from newspapers distributed by the student union at three Swedish universities, the main purpose of the study is to further understand the role and function of the University Church in a contemporary Swedish context. Three themes emerging from the initial step of the thematic analysis were chosen for further analysis: (1) a secularized church?, (2) provocation and (3) reasons to seek out the University Church. The themes were then highlighted by two theoretical perspectives: Mark Chaves? theory of internal secularization and a theoretical framework developed by Anders Bäckström with the aim to explain the role of the church as a welfare agent in Sweden.The study shows that the University Church is portrayed as both an ambiguous and complex organization.

This paper deals with a taphonomic study of contexts with osteological material of dog (C. familiaris L.) from the Mesolithic and Neolithic of Sweden and Zealand, Denmark. The general aim is to develop and test a method to try to understand the activity behind and define specific archaeological structures. My questions also regards to wether a taphonomic analysis of the material could be used to identify treatments as wrapping and contraction of the dogs, but also dismembering and other preparations of the body. The study focuses on the relation between the space of decomposition, disarti-culation of the joints, evidence of wall effect, cutmarks, weathering and signs of postdepositional arrangements.The analysis is based on contexts from the materials Hornborgasjön, Vedbæk, Skateholm I and II, Sjöholmen, Ertebølle, Bökeberg, Bredasten, Löddesborg, Bergsvägen and Röekillorna, dating from early Maglemose culture to Neolithic Battle axe culture.The analysis shows that a closer study of taphonomic processes can be used to identify different structures as graves, offerings, religious and non religious contexts or parts of animals, probably put into the ground as waste.

Religious theater or erotic sculpture? A study of how the sculpture group Ecstasy of Saint Teresaand the Cornaro chapel have been described and used in literature of art history.This study aims to investigate how the sculpture group Ecstasy of Saint Teresa and the Cornarochapel has been written about and presented in literature about art history. The method has been tostudy literature, to visit the Cornaro chapel, and to make comparisons between pictures, texts andown experiences.The questions set out to be answered was; How has the Cornaro chapel and the Ecstasy of SaintTeresa been described and interpreted in literature of art history? What kind of pictures are beingused to illustrate the chapel? What is in focus and what is withheld in the presentation of the chapel,in text and in pictures? Is it possible to see a change, in how art historians write about the Cornarochapel, over time?Reading and comparing the texts and pictures that illustrates the literature, makes visible how thebaroque period, Gianlorenzo Bernini, Teresa av Avila and the Cornaro chapel has been presented inthe chosen literature, and answered the questions.The similarities between the Cornaro chapel and a theater stage, Bernini's interest in the theaterand his devout Catholicism, as well as the Counter-reformation's use of art to reach their goal ofmaking people more devout to Catholicism, is in focus. The erotic overtones in the sculpture groupare being withheld as well as Bernini's personality.

In this essay I have chosen to do a cursory study of the spread of the figural gold foils. Emanating from foremost the Vendel time (550 ? 800 e Kr) in the Scandinavian countries Norway, Sweden and Denmark. I will also discuss their relationship to so called central places. Three central locations are in focus in this essay: Borg in Lofoten, Slöinge in Halland and Uppåkra in Skåne. I will also discuss when and why the religious cult changed during the Vendel period to Viking age..