This is a thesis about The Eight Circuit Model, a modern mind map developed for the purpose of illumination and enlighenment by Dr. Timothy Leary in the 1970s. Later, authors such as Robert Anton Wilson and Antero Alli elaborated upon the idea to make it more wholesome and compatible with other ideas expressing the same basic principle. In short, it is an intellectual abstraction of the evolution of consciousness through a series of eight stages, which Leary called Circuits. By looking at the brain as an evolving bio-computer, with thoughts working as software, upgrading itself through neurological imprints, Learys created a Hero's Journey for the modern age.The thesis tries to analyze this idea, as it is presented in Robert Anton Wilsons Prometheus Rising, through the lens of the discourse category ?Western Esoterism.? A hard-to-define subject but described as ?the dialectic of the hidden and the revealed in the field of religion.?.

The purpose of the master thesis was to reflect and analyze music library activities and policies in the public libraries in the area around the city of Borås, in the south-western part of Sweden. With this thesis I also wanted to look at the interaction between the public libraries, the music school and the music associations in the same area. To investigate these matters, qualitative method was used in the form of interviews with seven librarians from seven different libraries and five representatives of different local music organizations. Other methods used were observations and source studies. The literature used discusses the role of the music department of public libraries as well as that of a music librarian working in a public library.

The swedish law against female genital mutilation (FGM) prohibits procedures that removes parts of the female genitalia and thereby makes permanent changes in the body. The problem with the wording of the law is that it may also apply to the western phenomenon cosmetic genital surgery. This paper therefore examines if cosmetic genital surgery should be covered by the swedish law against FGM, by making a critical comparing analysis. The paper begins with comparing FGM with cosmetic genital surgery to prove that there are more similarities than differences between the procedures. By using the theoretical perspectives universalism and postcolonialism, the paper then examines why, particularly in the West, there is a different approach to FGM than to cosmetic genital surgery, regardless of the similarities of the procedures.

The purpose of this thesis is to study how homosexuals and homosexuality were represented in the press during the trials against the Pentecostal pastor Åke Green, and to what kind of social representations and narratives these representations can be related.Using critical discourse analysis and theories about the differentiation between in- and outgroups I try to unveil implicit meanings and attitudes towards gay people mainly at the local text level. The material consists of articles in Ölandsbladet and Dagens Nyheter that were produced before, during and after the trials.The analysis suggests that homosexuals are construed as a deviant outgroup and that the majority, the ingroup, is presented as an essentially heterosexual, tolerant community. Homosexuality is wrong and heterosexuality is the right way of living. Homosexuals, in terms of group lobbyism, are construed as an enemy, a threat, against Western ideals such as family values and freedom of speech. They indirectly become a threat to Swedish democracy.

Travel literature and especially the ?adventure story? has excited young British boys for over two centuries. However, it has also been a vehicle for the assertion of male dominance and European supremacy. The story of a British man who goes to the colonies, performs some test which is essentially a test of his manliness, and whose compulsory victory marks the end of the book, has been a central myth in colonial masculinity.Through looking at three Anglo-Saxon male travel writers from the 20th century, this essay aims to study the different ways in which Western male identity is shaped against an Indian background. The novels analysed are Topee and Turban or Here and There in India by H.A.

The communication and mediation of information and news has, under the latest decades, increased into an incalculable amount. In the newsflow that has come up it has become more and more urgent to sort and select the relevant and correct news. Simultaneously as the information has become one of the most important goods for the western world, the criticism against media has become more loudvoiced and especially the criticism aims at the fact that publicness has become less public and the public conversation is nowadays filtrated through media. The American Joey Skaggs can be reckoned among with the group of media critics, but his course of action and methods to reach out with his critical view, stand out strikingly from the traditional media critics. Instead of, as most, aiming the criticism against media, from an outside perspective, Skaggs chooses to attack the media from the inside.

In this study I analysed how burning affects sprouting ability and survival of oak (Quercus robur) during the first season after a burn in southern Sweden. The study consisted of two separate field tests; in the first, two 300 m2- plots in western oak dominated forest were burned to analyze the fire behavior and the immediate mortality of oak and beech seedlings defined as individuals (> 20cm of height). At the end of the season almost 50% of the oak seedlings had resprouted while the beech seedlings had 100% mortality. An attempt to investigate the effect of the burn of artificially sown acorns was totally ruined by wild boar grouting before any conclusive results could be seen. In the second test the resprouting ability of oaks of varying diameters (average BHD 7-9 cm, range 2-42 cm) was examined one season after a prescribed burn in southeastern Sweden.

This thesis raises the problem with acid mine drainage around the closed mine Finngruvan.The purpose of the investigation was to compare metal content in surface water in the areaand its catchments between year 2010 and 2003, also to make calculation of specific runoffand metal load, furthermore determine the recipients in the area. Surface water samplingwhere preformed at the same place as 2003 and also at a few other places of interest. Adigital elevation file were used in GIS to calculate the area of the watersheds in the region,observations in the field where also made. The collected data were used to make comparisons,calculations and conclusions. The result showed that the surface water 2010 had somewhatlower metal concentrations.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to examine seven public librarians? attitudes towards manga as a new kind of literature in public libraries. Manga is an art form, originally from Japan, but in recent years manga has become very popular in the Western societies. The main issue of this thesis is how the librarians? look at manga and what they think about manga.

This study examines how managers in the public sector experience and manage their digital maturity in the context of digital transformation. The study is based on qualitative interviews with twelve managers and three developers in a municipality in western Sweden and is analyzed based on a theoretical framework that combines individuals digital maturity (DIMI model) with organizational conditions. The results show that managers' digital maturity is influenced by both individual and organizational factors. At the individual level, the importance of digital competence, self-efficacy, and willingness to participate in and lead change are emphasized. At the same time, organizational conditions such as coordination, resources, technical support and clear governance are required.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how three Swedish news publications writes about integration and immigrants. The news articles were analyzed with a rhetorical analysis. The method was supplemented with theories of media and ethnicity, agenda setting theory and gatekeeping theory. This study resulted in the conclusion that racist discourses are found in the three news publications, regardless of political color, writer or article genre. Many of the articles makes a clear division of "us and them", where "them" is defined by the text's "us", who are often Swedes.

Abstract in EnglishSeventeen students in Creative Writing at the Växjö University who terminated in January 2005 published chosen texts in an anthology by the name Förflyttningar (Movements). The aim of my study is to analyse how they explore and describe our time in the western world. The question is; what is being written now and here?I have chosen as theoretical background the Italian philosopher, Umberto Galimberti, who has made a study of the West from moral and ethical perspective. His conclusion is that we live in a world with seven new sins.

A positive aspect of globalization, from a western viewpoint, is the growing demand of advanced products in China and other developing countries. The construction industry is thriving in China and Swedish companies have taken part in various projects. However the situation have been difficult for some of the companies. The aim of this study is therefore to investigate how strategic and cultural factors affect the potential for Swedish companies to operate on the Chinese construction market. The theoretical framework of the study consists of Porter?s and Kotler?s theories about strategy, and Hofstede?s, Bjerke?s, and Daun?s research about different cultures.

The purpose of this master's thesis is to examine how a Swedish public library's collection of books on African history looks like, who the writers are and how Africa and its history areportrayed. The focus of the analysis is on the front and back covers and in some cases on theinformation texts inside the books. The chosen library is the city library of Umeå. The 15books examined were found on the shelf classified as Kp ? the classification for African history according to the Swedish SAB-classification system.

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.