The purpose of this masters thesis is to examine the fanzine, a form of amateur publication, in Sweden, both in the traditional paper form and the more recent electronic form. It deals with what is distinctive about the fanzine as a publication and also as a social and cultural product. It also looks upon how the fanzine uses the Internet and the new possibilities it brings. The people behind 18 fanzines, 10 electronic and 8 in paper, have answered a questionnaire about how they produce, publish, distribute and promote their fanzines, what they think about the fanzine as a mode of expression, and how they use the Internet. The masters thesis uses theories within cultural studies as a theoretical approach to the fanzine.

The purpose with this final thesis has been to study the aesthetics and design of roundabouts and to ascertain important factors that influence the experience of them. The investigation was carried out through literature-, field studies and interviews with persons that in different ways have participated in the formation of roundabouts. Furthermore, six roundabouts have been explored in more depth so that the survey would get a more practical link. These six roundabouts all occur in the rim of a city and do thereby have an important role as a gateway. The environments in such contexts are often complex which adds additional difficulty in achieving a visually appealing design, especially when taking into account the usually high traffic intensity.

The aim of this essay is to explore the lived citizenship and its ideal. First, the form and expression of citizenship practice and ideal is explored through a qualitative interwiev study of ten citizens in the southern suburbs of Stockholm. The perception and expectations of the nature of citizenship, presented by the informants, is then compared to their citizen ideal, as well as to the ideal presented and promoted by the Swedish government. The point of departure is theory of democracy. The essay calls attention to an observed lack of empirical studies in the field of deliberative theory of democracy as well as studies that more broadly bring the theory down to empirical earth.

The object of this essay is to discuss the relationship between the definition of the concept of gender equality and attitudes towards gender equality and their consequences for gender equality measures. The point of departure is feminist political theory and interviews about attitudes towards gender equality at a department at the University of Linköping. The conclusions of this study is that there are a wide range of definitions and attitudes, and these conceptions are not necessarily the same as those being pointed out in the official gender equality policy at the University of Linköping. In this study the opinions of measures for gender equality among the interviewed are widely spread. Some finding Swedish men and women already being equal and therefore there is no need for measures, since this would result in discrimination of men since women would gain advantages from being women.

The aim of this study is to examine new interpretations of homosexuality in Islam based on Scott Kugle?s book ?Homosexuality in Islam? and the documentary ?A Jihad for love? by Parvez Sharma. Through a theological perspective, a critical analysis is performed in order to find new interpretations and compare them with each other and with the Islamic legal tradition. Argumentative analysis is also used for both the book and the documentary for this essay.     Both Kugle and Sharma use new interpretations and arguments about love to find space for homosexuality in Islam. They use a Muslim language to have relevance with their discussions to Muslim readers and viewers.

The aim of this study is to examine new interpretations of homosexuality in Islam based on Scott Kugle?s book ?Homosexuality in Islam? and the documentary ?A Jihad for love? by Parvez Sharma. Through a theological perspective, a critical analysis is performed in order to find new interpretations and compare them with each other and with the Islamic legal tradition. Argumentative analysis is also used for both the book and the documentary for this essay.     Both Kugle and Sharma use new interpretations and arguments about love to find space for homosexuality in Islam. They use a Muslim language to have relevance with their discussions to Muslim readers and viewers.

What impact does the Swedish society have on the practice of Islam? That is the main topic of this thesis.As a result of migration, the distinction between a specific region and a culture or religion has been mixed. Islam is not just part of the Middle East but is more and more institutionalized in the Western, and the Swedish society. Sweden, which is one on the most secular countries in the world, has developed into a country where the view on religion have been privatized. Religion can be practiced, but not in public.

Background: Asthma is an illness that many adolescents have today. The symtom can prevent them to live like contemporaries and the development phase they experience makes asthma difficult to get control of. Aim: The aim of this study was to describe adolescent?s experience of living with asthma. Method: The literature review was performed by reviewing nine scientific articles.

This essay reflects on the thoughts and experiences of social workers in child protection agencies when it comes to talking about sexuality with teenagers, age 13-20, who is being subjected to inquiry. The research is qualitative and based on five semi-structured interviews. It has a phenomenological position and has been analyzed hermeneutically through cognitive and gender theory. Previous research shows that youths who get in contact with child protection often have issues about their sexuality. This study show that social workers in the agencies lack knowledge about this issue and that they seldom talks about it with the teenagers or their own colleagues.

The aim of this thesis is to expand the understanding of 16th century Flemish art by approaching paintings by artists Pieter Aertsen (1508-1575), Joachim Beuckelaer (1533-1574) and Pieter Bruegel (c. 1525-1569) from a different perspective. This is done by extending the discourse of art history, into a discourse of literary history and primarily 16th century novels by authors such as François Rabelais and Miguel de Cervantes. The paintings are studied in relation to these 16th century novels, by comparison and as a testament of this specific time period. A widening contextualization is also constructed in which a connection to the expression of the carnivals ambivalent form, as well as the notion of lower classes is explored.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze Martti Ahtisaari?s comprehensive reportfor Kosovo, CPS, based on theories about democracy, democratization andmulticulturalism. The essay is a way to make a contribution to research on howthe international community can contribute to democratization processes ingeneral, as the CPS gives the expression and democratization of contextscharacterized by multicultural problems in particular. In this paper, we implementa qualitative text analysis of our main material CPS. The qualitative text analysiscan be applied in studies as ours when sought contents of the text are hidden underthe surface.

Menstruationscykelns inverkan på kvinnors preferenser för mäns ansiktenSammanfattningDetta är en systematisk replikation av Penton-Voaks och Perrets studie (1999) då en preferens hos kvinnor för maskuliniserade ansiktsdrag under hög befruktningsrisk i menstruationscykeln hittades. Dessa drag tros vara en ärlig signal för goda gener och immunokompetens hos män. Oklarhet råder huruvida detta gäller för olika populationer. 36 svenska universitetsstuderande kvinnor fick därför välja ut de mest fysiskt attraktiva ansiktena, utifrån maskuliniserade och feminiserade bildserier, vid hög respektive låg befruktningsrisk. Ingen signifikant skillnad hittades mellan de olika faserna.

This thesis is a case study that analyses the seaside resort Ystad Sandskog and its private architecture between 1850 and 1940. The multitude is evident in the area's architecture. The architectural development is analysed with the use of a social historical perspective, including class and hegemony. Regional as well as national affective factors are used in the analysis. Aside from the social aspects, architectural ideological developments, general development of the seaside resort and the area's committee with its prescriptions are all factors considered.By dividing the development in four different chronological phases, which all represents a certain architectural expression exemplified by a selection of buildings and the social class that it accompanies, a culmination in the architectural structural development of Sandskogen is shown.

From an Evolutionary psychology point of view focusing on Attachment theory will this essay describe how adopted adults think about their roots. To find an answer to this purpose a several miner questions has been asked: Are their any earlier research according to Evolutionary psychology about internationally adopted? Is it possible to understand the creation of the identity in relation to the Attachment theory? In what way do the adoptees think that their youth has effected their situation of life? And finally, is there any specific time when the adoptees have had even more thoughts about their roots?We have tried to find the answer on these questions through a qualitative study. Questions have been asked to eight internationally adopted adults, in age between 24-33 years.The result from the study makes it even that adopted individuals thoughts about their roots get incensed in some specific periods in life. One period is adolescence, another is parenthood.

Background: When a parent loses its child life will change drastically and assume other conditions. The loss of a child affects the whole human existence, the grief can be very intense as well as in-depth and find expression both on an emotional, physical, mental and spiritual level. Aim: The aim is to describe parents? experiences of losing a child to illness. Method: Graneheim and Lundmans manifest content analysis method was used to the method based on qualitative raw material in forms of three Swedish autobiographies.