AbstractThe aim of this study is to examine how individuals, part of a rural Christian parish,express their religiosity and beliefs in a Swedish context. Furthermore this study seeksto understand these religious expressions through different views on social construction,secularization and the privatization perspective, such as lived religion, in particular. Byusing qualitative interviews with 8 individuals analyzed with the theories mentionedabove my results show that secularization has provided many individuals with aChristian identity, however, not necessarily a Christian faith. Instead several of theparticipants show a self-developed religious expression not automatically connectedwith Christian religious practices. One of the participants has, despite a Christiansocialization, developed a non-religious identity.

Technology has grown rapidly in recent years. At present, almost all social interaction are through computers and telephones. It is, however, not everyone who can manage these media. This applies mostly to elderly people who have not kept pace with technological developments. A major contributing reason is that the manuals are usually bulky and too technical for this group.The purpose of this paper is to develop a concept/prototype into a product that will facilitate the use of mobile phones for seniors.

The aim of this study was to examine how individuals who have left a criminal lifestyle may experience their present life. A symbolic interaction approach was the theoretical framework for this research. Qualitative interviews were conducted with seven individuals who have stated having had and left a criminal lifestyle. The results showed that how individuals experience their present life is highly dependent on individuals? own view of themselves as well as on how others view them.

Fyrtio deltagare fick som uppgift att genom ett visuellt avsökningsexperiment, så kallat visual search, avgöra om alla bilder i 3 x 3 matriser kom från samma kategori av djur eller om det fanns med någon bild från en avvikande kategori. Studiens syfte var att studera huruvida deltagarnas reaktionstider inför målbilder av ormar skilde sig från målbilder av stora rovdjur: björnar och vargar. Dessutom undersöktes om bilder i gråskala resulterade i snabbare, långsammare eller lika snabba responser som bilder i färg. Kortare reaktionstider observerades för målbilder av ormar än för björnar och vargar. Ormar skattades dessutom som mer obehagliga.

The purpose of this study was to explore experiences of the process of developing a homosexual identity during childhood. We wanted to examine the experiences, feelings and thoughts that young adults, identifying themselves as homosexuals, had growing up in Sweden.For the study a qualitative method was used and nine interviews were made with young adults in the ages of 18 - 30. They answered our questions about their process of developing a homosexual identity, about their friends, family and school and about the society in general. We analysed the material from the interviews using the theory of the coming-out-process as presented by mainly Månsson and Hilte (1990).The main result from the study was that there were some difficulties for our respondents to become aware of their homosexuality and reveal their homosexuality to others. Most of our respondents experienced anxiety and/or fear as they were becoming aware of their sexuality but did become conscious about their homosexuality and accepted it before turning 21 years old.

In this paper my aim is to understand the trance movement from within as a collective phenomenon. I went to Turkey with my boyfriend David on a trance gathering, a festival called A Total Solar Eclipse Festival. There I did participant observations and interviews.Can Collins theory about interaction ritual be useful to raise the understanding? And is it fruitful to apply the term collective identity?The collective identity is build up by the festival as interaction ritual. It generates solidarity, emotional energy and a sense of belonging.In this paper I discuss different categories and symbols that the collective identity contains of.

In this development essay, we are trying to answer how drama studies in education could develop as a subject. Through participation observations and drama lessons in a development group we investigated how drama could develop within multimodality and how this new thinking could promote the identity among the youth. Two different drama lessons and one test lesson constitute our qualitative method. The methods we mainly used were participation observation and reflection. Through Lalanders and Johanssons, Skolan och den radikala estetikens and Ziehes theories we are trying to answer our questions.

In this thesis I have used post-colonial theory to analyze the Uyghurs, a Muslim minority group located in Xinjiang province in the Northwest of China, and their identity shaping process in relation to the dominating Han Chinese. I have analyzed the possibilities to use the power perspectives in post-colonial theory, especially Edward Said's Orientalism and the creation of the Other in a new context, where the main focus is on the Uyghurs through the eyes of Han Chinese. I have argued that Han Chinese, with colonial tendencies, have created two generalizing pictures of the Uyghurs; one romantic picture to use as an exotic tourist attraction and one threatening picture that portray Uyghurs as Islamic terrorists to win support in international politics. The thesis is a qualitative single case study with the aim of gaining a deeper understanding for the Uyghurs as well as examine possibilities of widening the analyze areas for post-colonialism. My conclusion is that the power perspectives in post-colonial theory are usable implements also for non-western contexts and in this case function as a way to understand the identity shaping process for the Uyghurs and their relation to Han Chinese..

Graphic profiles are a part of companies? brand expressions. The graphical values reflect the brand values the business wants to convey. They consist of different graphic elements such as logo, company sign, colour schemes, templates, rules, fonts, pictograms, formats and references to how different graphic elements should look, for example, business cards, signs and materials for websites. This thesis aims to examine why firms choose to replace their graphic profiles by studying their underlying motivations.

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.

SammanfattningSom den avslutande delen på en Civilingenjörsutbildning på KTH utförs ett Examensarbete.Examensarbetet syftar till att ge erfarenheter och att utveckla förmågan i att lösa entidsbegränsad uppgift under realistiska förhållanden på ett ingenjörsvetenskapligt sätt. Dessaprojekt har i stor utsträckning samarbeten med arbetslivet och i detta fall var uppdragsgivarenVisual Act AB i Värmdö. Uppgiften gick ut på att implementera en regulator som styr motoraxlarpå en PC. I dagsläget nyttjar Visual Act intelligenta drivsteg som själva sköterpositionsregleringen. Exjobbet syftade till att undersöka möjligheterna att användaointelligentare och billigare drivsteg genom att flytta regleringen från drivstegen till en PC somredan är befintlig i Visual Acts system.Två applikationer utvecklades för att lösa detta.

The purpose of this study is to analyze how homosexuality is portrayed in young- adult novels. I use books published in Sweden from 1977- 2003. Three of the books have female main characters and the other three have male main characters. My purpose is therefore to compare the different results between the sexes.I will examine and discuss the homosexuality in the novels with focus on the homosexual identity of the young characters and how it is formed. I relate the results to a queer discussion about identity.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the identity, competences and professional development of corporate librarians. I have done an empirical study based on semi structured interviews with 11 information professionals who were working at Astra Zeneca at the time of the re-organizations of the company in 2009 which ultimately led to the closing of the libraries. I have also examined the views on competences and professional development of librarians in general, both in Sweden and in Denmark. I have used Thomas Brante?s theories on profession types as well as Anders Ørom?s theories on librarian identities as my theoretical framework.

This Master's thesis aims to investigate librarians' identity construction through the study of their narratives about themselves and their lives. We want to understand in what way the education in Library- and Information science contributes to shape the students professional identity and how these identities then continue to be transformed when they enter their professional lives. We assert that this construction of identity takes place through socialisation. We start with the reference work because we think this is a central part of librarians' tasks. Our theoretical starting point is constructionism, we mean that professional identity is a social construction that continuously is formed and transformed.We interviewed six former students at Library- and Information science at Lund University.

??Masada shall never fall again!? A study about Masada as an Israeli national myth during the 20th century? by Sara Tibblin. This essay is about the Israeli national myth of Masada, a cliff in the Negev desert that was the setting of a collective suicide in 73 AD, at the end of the Jewish uprising against the Romans. This story has later been rediscovered and has during the 20th century become a national myth in Israel. This essay will examine how the national myth of Masada has been used in different contexts in Israel during the 20th century and which part it has played when it comes to the national identity of Israel. My findings have afterwards been explained with help of Eriksens theory regarding national myths from the book Historia, myth och identitet (History, myth and identity) (1996).   .