The aim of this essay is to study how cultures are presented in English textbooks for A-level students in Sweden. The aim is divided into three research questions, what does culture in English teaching mean, how is the English-speaking world presented in the textbooks and is the image that is presented stereotyped or does it try to challenge it? The study comprises of four textbooks from 1998-2008. The theoretical frame used in the essay is Edward Said?s Orientalism.

The earlier studies of how gender is visually constructed in lifestyle magazines have mainly been done on photographs. But, photographs are only one part of the entire magazine Therefor3, we saw the importance in examining one of the other big parts, typography.We have been studying if gender can be constructed in lifestyle magazines through the shape and color of typography and the color context. It is important to point out that we have not been studying the written word but only the shape and color of the typography.The study has been conducted through a qualitative content analysis with a comparative process of the selected magazines. The analysis began with a semiotic analysis of selected parts of the magazines. The result was then analyzed with a feminist theoretical approach.The result of the study shows that gender can be constructed through typography in a number of different ways.

The aim of this essay is to study how the University Church is represented in student newspapers. By conducting an inductive thematic analysis on sixteen articles chosen from newspapers distributed by the student union at three Swedish universities, the main purpose of the study is to further understand the role and function of the University Church in a contemporary Swedish context. Three themes emerging from the initial step of the thematic analysis were chosen for further analysis: (1) a secularized church?, (2) provocation and (3) reasons to seek out the University Church. The themes were then highlighted by two theoretical perspectives: Mark Chaves? theory of internal secularization and a theoretical framework developed by Anders Bäckström with the aim to explain the role of the church as a welfare agent in Sweden.The study shows that the University Church is portrayed as both an ambiguous and complex organization.

Denna uppsats handlar om hur artisterna Håkan Hellström och Ken Ring konstruerar diskurser kring maskuliniteten i sina musiktexter. Utifrån poststrukturalistiskt influerad teori kring feminism och maskulinitet görs en komparativ närläsning som bildar en tematiskt uppbyggd studie. Utifrån det för artisterna gemensamma temat utanförskap visar studien att utanförskapet hos Ken Ring är relaterat till en känsla av maktlöshet. Denna kompenserar Ken genom att konstruera maskulina diskurser med ett överdrivet anspråk på det som den europeiska kulturen förknippar med maskulinitet och genus. Detta kan kontrasteras mot Håkan Hellström som i sitt utanförskap konstruerar maskulina diskurser där ?omanlighet? och ett kärleks- och sexualitetsbegrepp där ?jaget? blir könsmässigt tvetydligt, står i fokus.

Den här uppsatsen syftar till att undersöka huruvida feministisk porr i serieformat yttrar sig i den seriepornografiska novellen Maran tecknad och skriven av Lina Neidestam, samt vad som händer när det pornografiska är i form av tecknad bild. Uppsatsen undersöker alltså vilka kroppar som (o)synliggörs i Maran, hur subjekt/objekt görs samt hur Maran är feministisk. Med teoretisk utgångspunkt i Butlers heterosexualla matris, intersektionalitetsbegrepp, makt, åskådarskap samt performativitet görs en bildanalys av utvalda uppslag i Maran. Detta görs genom att undersöka hur Neidestam berättar fram det som sker i Maran, hur detta tolkas och vad det har för betydelse för den tänkta mottagaren. Resultatet visar att utifrån min positionerg anser jag Maran vara feministisk och bidrar till ett nytt sätt att se och tänka kring pornografi.

The purpose of this study is to examine how the concept multiculture has been defined and used in selected articles, which were published during the year 2006 and the following month. The study is based on five Swedish newspapers, from which 57 single articles were chosen and divided into total seven categories and dimensions which were partly developed from the theoretical base and partly from the chosen material itself. By using a qualitative analysis I have found following: In most articles the concept multiculture is used in an anthropological sense, meaning that the presence of several anthropological cultures is claimed before the concept multiculture can be real. An anthropological culture is of varying size and contents, in the majority of the articles an anthropological culture consists of a non-western and foreign country but can also represent a region or a continent. Aesthetic culture is, for the most part, used primary as an aid to define the current anthropological culture and not to stand for its own belonging to a specific genre..

This study is based on qualitative and hermeneutic methods. The investigation summarises how four textbooks present Buddhism in (school) subject Religion, such as texts and images. Two of them are used in Religious studies A, the rest is used in Religious studies 1. The study rests on the theories of orientalism and christocentrism, where both can be related to the concept of making secondary. In the research background there are descriptions of how the western world looks upon Buddhism in a historical perspective, but also how Buddhism in a modern age is represented.

Our thesis focus on how retirees perceive Tv4s news casts of economy news where we focused on five different aspects: What is the relationship between the news cast and the viewer and how does the viewer express their understanding of the news cast and the way it is constructed? What are the viewers attitude towards the news content and how do they find the news cast useful for them personally?We choosed retirees as our target group due to their vulnerable economic position in today?s society and TV as an important medium for them due to the digital divide. The study was performed with twelve qualitative interviews and one group interview where six retirees took part.We discovered a big interest for economic news in the target group. The majority had a sympathetic view of the news cast they saw but they also expressed skepticism toward the economy segment and/or news castings. The majority expressed a lack of trust for the journalists and the experts brought in to share observations and make announcements, and the financial business overall.

The purpose of this essay is to highlight the conceptions that exist in school towards homosexuality. My overall essay questions are: What rules does the school have to apply concerning homosexuality? What approach do the professors have towards young lesbian women and kind of support is offered to the group? In order to answer these questions I interviewed a professor and a young lesbian female. One of the surveys that has been made, as a normative order, about heterosexuality in the last decade is known as queer theory.One of the theories that in surveys investigates homosexuality as a normative order is known as ?queer theory? and it is the one I decided to use in this essay.Inspired by feminist research, gay and lesbian studies and the poststructuralist theory, the queertheory focuses on some peoples way of organizing sexuality is privileged, sanctioned and is perceived as normal, while others are seen as deviant, abnormal and therefore unwelcome.

Syftet med min uppsats är att undersöka de konservativa krafter som verkar i Europeiska Unionen. För att göra det har jag valt att studera hur de argumenterar mot abort. Mina frågeställningar berör de teman jag funnit vara utmärkande i argumentationen: synen på kön, framförallt kvinnan; synen på sexualitet; vad man egentligen menar med rätten till liv, vems rätt man menar; maktförhållandet mellan individ och samhälle samt den mellan religion och vetenskap, vad vår lagstiftning ska grundas på enligt dessa. Materialet består av citat från beslutsfattare och andra som kretsar runt dessa i EU-parlamentet. Jag har använt mig av diskursanalys, en socialkonstruktionistisk metod där fokus ligger på hur vi konstruerar vår verklighet genom hur vi kategoriserar och pratar om den.

Title: Det nya Ryssland - En inblick over Rysslands utrikespolitik under 2000-taletAuthor: Tim Balder and Jens KindhLinnaeus UniversityDepartment of Political ScienceAutumn term 2011The purpose of this thesis is to gain a better understanding of how the Russian foreign policy is, how it is conducted and how it may develop in the future. To do that, we are going to try to answer the following questions:What characterizes Russia's official foreign policy?What theories are there for the Russian foreign policy?How can the various theories explain the Russian foreign policy actions at the international level?Our theory is to try explaining how the Russian foreign policy is continuing its development during the 21st century through three theories known as the Western liberalism, Pragmatic nationalism and Fundamental nationalism. Furthermore, to explain Russia's foreign policy and their behaviour, we are going to use the two foreign policy doctrines from 2000 and 2008. In addition, books and articles will also be used to explain how Russia's foreign policy is conducted and developed..

Uppsatsen syfte är att undersöka och analysera det jämställdhetspolitiska fält som Moderaterna och Socialdemokraterna presenterar på deras respektive hemsidor. Genom att ta hjälp av metoden idé och ideologianalys samt partiernas ideologi ämnar arbetet generera en klargörande bild av partiernas jämställdhetspolitik samt klargöra möjliga intentioner bakom deras politiska ställningstaganden i frågan. Varför jag valt att analysera informationen som finns på respektive partis hemsidor är eftersom just den informationskällan när ut och används av många osäkra väljare. Jag har sett det intressant att se hur partierna visar upp sin bild av vad jämställdhet är och hur man ska jobba för den.Genom min analys har jag delat in och skapat följande rubriker: Individen i centrum, Samhället i centrum, Feminism, Jämställdhet ? start och mål, Vi är bäst i världen, Hemmet och privatlivet, Arbete och Näringslivet, Politiken, Samstämmighet och skiljelinjer bland partierna och till sist Kritik mot varandra..

By describing and analyzing a self made composition for the Swedish folk music instrument ?nyckelharpa? with emphasis on playing techique, dissonance treatment and interpretation questions are reflected upon regarding how dissonances and andvanced harmonical progressions are treated on a limited instrument such as ?nyckelharpa?. By emphasizing the traditional norm connected to the interpretation and instrumentation of traditional Swedish folk music (a traditon in which the nyckelharpa is included) and comparing the te- chniques connected to it with the recent composed material in a western classical context the possibilities and limitations in composition and interpretation are further investigated. Thus the musical experience and the documentation of the process of composing a concert for nyckelharpa provides a knowledge base for reflective analysis upon questions regarding interpretation, composition and dissonance treatment. This thesis also provides a brief summary of traditional playing and bowing technique as well as a short historical description of the Swedish traditional instrument ?nyckelharpa?..

Sharia or western equality?womenin Egyptian legislationThe Islamic law (Sharia) in most of the countries in Middle East and North Africa has been the basis for modern laws which regulate issues such as marriage, divorce and inheritance. These laws (personal status law or family law) have been debated frequently in the last decades.There are those who consider personal status law (PSL) as unjust, male-biased and discriminating against women especially in the issue of divorce. On the other hand there are voices who call to go back to the Sharia, because muslims has to follow the islamic law and its values, they are universal as they claim. In this essay I try to enlighten these two points of view which can be found in the debate in Egypt.

This is a study of the way power relationships change when women start to play candombe in Montevideo, Uruguay. Candombe is a type of music, which is traditionally played by men within the black minority in the country. This study has been done with an intersectional point of view, taking the social categories gender, class and ethnicity in account. The method used was participatory observation in a field study made in Montevideo between November 2008 and February 2009.This study?s main conclusions are that the power relationships change with the participation of women in candombe in several important ways: The women legitimize an alternative way to be a woman when they take the men?s role as a drum player.