This essay aims at understanding the experience of the use of ayahuasca, and similarities and differences between interview protocols and socio-cultural identities. The work is based on field studies conducted in the Peruvian Andes, in the village of Pisac September to November 2009. What has emerged is that the experience does not seem to be dependent on cultural manifestations as much as it is dependent on general human cognition. Theories have been applied on an empirical phenomenological descriptive study. Various brain activities, along with mental mechanisms contribute to a deeper understanding of the findings in the descriptive analysis.It seems that the cultural differences, which I have classed as typological in the phenomenological study, mostly are expressions of meaning for the informants.

The thesis has investigated the use of templates in timber framing, a field where there has previously been a lack of comprehensive and clear information. The main goal was to map and describe the various types of templates, their appearance, usage, and function, in order to make this traditional craft more accessible to both professional craftsmen and DIY enthusiasts. The project also aims to contribute to the preservation of traditional building crafts, in alignment with UNESCO's Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The methodology used in this study was a literature review, where relevant templates were gathered and analyzed. The templates were then categorized using a system developed by the author, which helped simplify the understanding of the templates functions and uses.

Denna kvalitativa studie bygger på intervjuer med sex svensklärare vid tre olika gymnasieskolor. Genom att göra parintervjuer med lärarna har jag undersökt hur de tolkar skrivningarna om kulturarv och kulturell mångfald i läroplanen, Lpf94. Jag har även frågat hur de anser att deras undervisning påverkas av dessa ord i läroplanen.Orden kulturarv och kulturell mångfald är inte definierade i Lpf94. Lärarnas svar visar på hur denna brist på konkretisering av innehållet skapar viss osäkerhet men också speglar den bredd av tolkningar som det kan ge upphov till. Denna svårighet att definiera och ge utrymmer för en bredd i tolkningen är något som tidigare forskning också har påtalat.Resultatet visar att dessa sex lärare är väl medvetna om det dubbla uppdraget, att förmedla kulturarvet och att ha en kulturell mångfald i undervisningen.

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar los contenidos culturales de algunos libros de enseñanza del español, como lengua extranjera, publicados en Suecia.Estos libros de textos fueron analizados basándose en la información cultural y centrándose en los aspectos interculturales que estos pudieran presentar. Para analizar la información cultural los datos han sido divididos en datos concernientes a España y América Latina, respectivamente. Para abordar la interculturalidad se ha tenido como base principal la contrastividad cultural.Este trabajo llega a la conclusión que dos de los libros estudiados presentan de una buena forma la contrastividad cultural, sin embargo, su falta de variedad en la temática cultural y su falta de acercamiento a una discusión sobre los estereotipos, hacen que los libros, finalmente, nos entreguen una visión incompleta de la perspectiva intercultural.Palabras claves: enseñanza del español, cultura, la perspectiva intercultural, contrastividad cultural..

The aim of this paper is to research and discuss the role the cultural politics play for the Swedish employment office (Arbetsförmedlingen) and the meaning culture politics have within the labour market policy. A research has shown that Arbetsförmedlingen evaluates unemployed cultural workers differently than regular registered jobseekers. From an instrumental perspective on political implementation this can be considered as an anomali. Arbetsförmedlingen?s mandate derives from the government and its authority is a tool for carrying out state policy.

The aim of this thesis is to use the bibliometric method author cocitation analysis (ACA) and investigate the cognitive structure in a research field, which is called the intellectual base. The research field in this investigation is social psychology. The main question is: what is the nature of the cognitive structure, which contains of the intellectual base. This question is divided in two sub questions: ? Which are the most prominent authors in the research field? ? Which sub areas, based on groups of the most cocited authors in the research field, can be identified?An investigation with ACA is used to describe the general experience of consensus of later authors in a research field.

AbstractWhen immigrants move to Sweden from their native country it is not unusual that they experience some kind of identity crises. Their own experience of their cultural identity can be very problematic and they often lose a part of what they previously saw as their own identity. To handle such crises the immigrants can use different strategies. They can for example accept their disparity, deny it or emphasize it. The aim of this study is to examine how immigrants in Sweden experience that their cultural identity has changed since they moved here from a country that has a culture that is different from the Swedish culture.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the tendencies among pupils concerning their attitudes towards History and some of the stated goals in the present and in the proposed course plan of History, since there is, probably, a change coming in 2011. The study is built on questionnaires answered by one hundred pupils at a Swedish upper-secondary-school. The results point to the fact that most of these pupils like history, but still they do not wish to make it an obligatory subject, which is a government proposal at the moment. Furthermore, the answers about sources, democracy, the use of History and the consciousness about History, have a clear tendency; there have been too little education about these areas during the pupils former nine years in school, still the pupils think that these are important areas to work with. Moreover, this study shows a disheartening picture when it comes to pupils knowledge of their cultural heritage. Only half of the pupils know which century Gustav Vasa lived in and just a third know what year universal suffrage was introduced in Sweden, two facts that ought to be set in most Swedes? mind..

This study focuses the development on the protection of landscapes with old industries and how it nowadays is appreciated by the inhabitants. The overall aim of this study is to increase the knowledge about how the so called industrial landscape in Norrköping became a cultural heritage that the citizens want to protect. The study also aims to investigate the citizens´ knowledge about the industrial landscape in Norrköping, and what value they think that the place possesses. Data was collected by an information research and six qualitative interviews. The interviews where analysed by qualitative methods techniques.

The role of cultural policy within the general political planning of a community can vary both historically and regionally. The aim of this study has been to explore the cultural policy plans, during the 1990's, in the recently formed geographical region of "Västra Götaland". This is a qualitative study, carried out during 1999, and based upon structured interviews with five representatives of the cultural-policy sector in the "Västra Götaland" region. In order to identify connections and tendencies in a more general social context the aims of the five representatives regarding cultural policy have been explored from the perspective of three cultural policy paradigms, namely Dorte Skot-Hansen, Olav R. Spilling and Göran Nylöf.

The purpose of this Master?s thesis is to study howuniversity librarians in a South African context relate to theconcept of information literacy. We investigated differencesand similarities in approaches to user education andinformation literacy. We have based our study on thefollowing research questions: What are the prerequisites foruser education at the University of the Western Cape? Howdo these prerequisites influence librarians' approaches toinformation literacy and user education at the University ofthe Western Cape? We have used a sociocultural theoreticalperspective and Hofstede's cultural dimensions in orderto pay particular attention to the cultural and social contextof user education.

The purpose of this paper is to view Karlstad Municipality and their financial support to non-profit organizations within equestrian sports. Despite the varying representatives of various equestrian sports in Karlstad, there seems to be a single beneficiary within the sport when it comes to financial support from the municipality. The policies and plans concerning cultural development are directly compared to the Karlstad Municipality and its contribution to these organizations within equestrian sports. Through interviews and reports I have studied the process of financial support from the Karlstad municipality using an intersectionality theory based on Nina Lykkes guide on gender studies and feminist theory. Pierre Bourdieu?s theories on field, habitus and capital are also used as a method to enhance the understanding of equestrian sports and its role in modern Swedish society. The conclusion is that the Karlstad Municipality is, for a several of reasons, promoting non-profit organizations within equestrian sports, which are operating as riding schools.

The current field of research concerning the impact of railroads in Sweden beside from the State main-line network is relatively narrow. Including cultural impact to the area narrows the results even further. The purpose of this study is to open the field even more into the local societies and to what extent the impact of the introduction of railroad might have had on smaller county villages. Sweden holds a unique position concerning ?station towns? or ?railways towns? in terms of railway policy and the industrial development in towns that were affected by the railway, as the affected towns continued development were based on a hybrid between direct democracy and adaptations of city-law policies.This study takes place in Kisa, a small town in southern Östergötland that during the beginning of the 20th century turned into a municipal community due to the building of Östra centralbanan (roughly translated Eastern central-line).

The aim of this Masters thesis is to examine the view of literature within Swedish governmental cultural policy. The main issue is to discover changes in attitude towards democracy, literature and library by comparing the attitudes in the governmental policy documents from the 1970s with the governmental policy documents from the 1990s. The theoretical starting point is Danish cultural policy researcher Dorte Skot-Hansens theories of the development of cultural policy in the Nordic countries. My method of analysis is a textual one, analysis of ideas and ideology, focusing on the aspect of signification of a text. The study has an effort of analysing the governmental policy in terms of idea and ideology.

This thesis takes its starting point in the humanistic cultural-geographical concept of place, with the aim of achieving a greater understanding of what constitutes the place Mon today. Mon is located in the northwestern part of Dalsland. Until 1879, the area was described as outlying land, but with the extension of the railway between V?nern and the Norwegian border, Mon's station community emerged. In the mid-20th century, all activities in Mon were phased out, and since then, the place has been inhabited by only about 10 year-round residents.