The purpose of this essay is to examine Marjane Satrapi?s comic novel Persepolis from a gender and postcolonial perspective. To reach this I have used several theories from mainly three different fields of theory: gender studies, postcolonial theories and theoretical texts which focus on the form of comics.My analysis has shown that idols, heroes and other cultural symbols are important for the creation of the main character Marji?s identity, but that she at the same time has many Marxistic influences. These casts of mind do not stand in opposition, but become an expression for her hybridity.

 Euro barometer surveys show quite an astonishing change in Turkish opinion towards European Union. In 2004, 73 % of the population considered EU as a good thing. In 2008, only 49 % were of the same opinion. At the same time, skepticism towards European integration is explained differently in earlier research. Some scholars claim that partisanship may explain attitudes of citizens better than ?cost and benefit? approaches.

Lately an increasing portion of the public debate in Sweden has been devoted to how societies may facilitate entrepreneurship, yet a negligible portion of this debate has discussed the impact of the community spirit on entrepreneurial activity. Further, this connection is a relatively uncharted field in terms of research as well. The aim of this study is accordingly to advance the study surrounding the impact of community spirit on the propensity for entrepreneurial activity and add new empirical data and insights to the existing body of theory. A four-month ethnographic study of the Provo-Orem region in Utah, USA, comprising of in-depth interviews and participant observations, was therefore undertaken with the aim of understanding the community spirit in the studied region and its influence on entrepreneurship. The thesis finds that numerous values such as self-reliance, family focus and security together with a strong religious culture make up the essence of the community spirit in Provo-Orem.

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine and question the use of mindfulness in the workplace. Mindfulness in the workplace can be understood as an organization recipe and is now a so called trend. We believe that there may be an issue of how mindfulness at work is advertised when it is described in such a way that it could be the solution to many organizational problems, such as reducing stress, increasing efficiency, creativity and productivity. To get a better understanding of what mindfulness is and what it can bring to a stressful work, we conducted semi-structured interviews with four mindfulness instructors. We analyzed the interviews from a theoretical analytical framework consisting of both a constructivist perspective and a power perspective.

Bishop Alois Hudal is a man who is often mentioned when the relationship between the Vatican and the national socialistic Germany of 1933-1945 is discussed. In these cases he is usually presented as a Nazi and sometimes even called ?the brown Bishop?. One of the contributing factors for this infamous title, perhaps the most contributing, is the Bishops book Die Grundlagen des Nationalsozialismus. National Socialism is a Weltanschauung with a certain set of doctrines that is hard, or rather impossible, to combine with any other Weltanschauung, whether it is a philosophical or a religious one.

Elever i den svenska grundskolan ska enligt 1994 års läroplan inhämta ?kunskaper om de nationella minoriteternas kultur, språk, religion och historia?. För att skolorna ska kunna fullfölja detta uppdrag krävs det att läroböckerna tar upp frågor om den samiska kulturen och samernas levnadsförhållanden på ett korrekt och mångsidigt sätt. En granskning gjord av Statens Institut för Läromedel (SIL) 1990 beträffande hur de samiska förhållandena behandlas i läromedel i de samhällsorienterande ämnena visade på stora brister ? samerna var i stort sätt osynliga i dessa läroböcker.

Denna examensuppsats är skriven på Lärarutbildningen på Malmö Högskola inom ämnet för Religionsvetenskap och lärande och visar på elevers attityder till ämnet Religionskunskap. I min undersökning ingår 78 enkäter som delats ut till elever i år 8 och 9 och tre intervjuer med elever i år 8 och 9. Frågeställningarna som besvaras är: Vilka tankar har grundskoleelever kring religionskunskapsämnet idag? Anser grundskolelever att religionskunskapsämnet är relevant idag? Hur har religionskunskapsämnet förändrats i den svenska skolan under de senaste seklen och hur har debatten kring ämnets existens sett ut? Undersökningen visar på att eleverna tycker det är viktigt med kunskaper i Religionskunskap samtidigt som de anser att ämnet inte intresserar dem så mycket. Min slutsats är att bristen på intresse för ämnet har samband med att det eleverna anser är viktigt och som är i linje med kursplanen inte stämmer överens med det eleverna upplever att religionsundervisningen fokuserar på.

The study aims to describe and analyze the image of Mary Magdalene as expressed in the French artwork from 1400 and 1600s that this study deals with. The study also examines the historical context in order to find explanations for why the images of Mary Magdalene have changed. In the study Erwin Panofsky?s iconographic method is used to analyze the artworks and finding their underlying meaning. Delimitations are made that only works of art made by French artists from the 1400 and 1600s are analyzed and delimitations are also made that Mary Magdalene will act on her own in the works of art.

Suicide research has a long tradition within sociology. Parallel to the Durkheimian tradition, seeking the causes of suicide in societal factors, a more cultural understanding of suicide has been emphasized. Attitudes to suicide have been stressed as important for the understanding of suicide mortality levels in different societies. For Russia, where suicide mortality levels are among the highest in the world, an understanding of this kind might be of particular importance.Based on a survey study from Moscow 2004, attitudes to suicide were studied in relation to social, economic and demographic factors as well as to attitudes to other morally disputable behaviors. Suicide attitudes in different age and sex groups in the sample were further compared to suicide mortality levels in the corresponding groups in the population.

The purpose of this thesis is to present a number of examples of how the debate concerning same-sex marriages in Sweden was conducted in religious media between the year of 2005 and May 1st 2009. I intend to examine if and how these debate articles can be descibes as examples of religion taking part in the public sphere according to José Casanovas theory of deprivitization and public religion (1994) and Jürgen Habermas theory of religion in the public sphere (1964, 1989, 2006, 2008). I will apply the theories to the material by using four criteria for public religion, based on Casanovas and Habermas two theories, designed by Marta Axner. I also intend to compare the arguments used in the material to the arguments found in Marta Axners dissertation Public Religions in Swedish Media (2013). To identify these arguments a textanalysis containing seven argumentschemes, designed by Gunnar Björnsson (1994), is applied.

Misogyny in gaming culture ? a qualitative discourse analysis of the reproduction of patriarchal dominance in the gaming culture is based on Teun A. van Dijk's belief that a dominant group continuously produces and reproduces its social dominance over a subordinate group by using the language. The members of this group do not simply do this by being. A person does not want to risk damaging its reputation which makes the dominant group forced to use various strategies to reproduce its dominance.

This essay is written in order to expose the construction of collective identity in textbooks for Swedish as a second language. To help visualize the process that shapes and categorize sub-jects based on a relational identity formation I assume mostly from Ernesto Laclau and Chan-tal Mouffe's discourse analysis theory frame. The paper called it as discourse theory. There are two textbooks in Swedish as a second language to be studied. Based on the textual materi-al found in the textbooks I perform a discourse analysis involving mainly focus on relational identity construction.

This study concerns ways in which Muslims in Sweden construct their identities. The theoretical approach of the study is based on the assumption that people construct their identities through narratives. Circumstances such as time, place, and relationships affect how narratives are told and therefore how we perceive ourselves and the world around us.In the wake of 11th of September 2001, the old colonial narrative of ?the West vs. the East? has become powerful, and makes many question the possibility of successfully integrating Muslims immigrants in Western countries.

The purpose of this degree project is to clarify how five Kenyan Life Skills teachers discuss about hiv and aids education. Furthermore, to reveal whether the validity claims in their verbal communication refers to facts, morality or personal experiences. This, I will study by examine the teachers knowledge of, and attitudes towards, the disease. The teaching methods they are using and the basis of their validity claims. I have chosen to use semi-structured interviews as method and the theoretical framework is based on Jürgen Habermas theory of universal pragmatics.My result shows that there is a dilemma about whether the respondents knowledge is sufficient or insufficient.

Detta är en kvalitativ studie som baseras på innehållsanalys av två etnografiska dokumentärfilmer. Den första är den världskända ?Nanook of the North?, här får man följa inuiterna under ett år (1922). Den andra filmen är ?Ett år med Samer och Renar?, här får man följa samerna under ett år (1993).