?Vi och dem??
En kvalitativ studie av hur etnicitet skildras i åtta samtida svenska bilderböcker
The aim of this Master?s thesis is to investigate how contemporary Swedish picture-books describe ethnicity. The analysis is based upon eight books that were published during the period 1996 to 2006. The thesis is based upon a qualitative content analysis and a model of analysis that has been constructed with inspiration from Maria Nikolajeva and Pil Dahlerup and their conceptions of analyzing literature. The study?s theoretical framework is primarily based on the sociology of literature and the perspective of the society in literature. We also introduce the conception ethnicity and its connection with nationalism, race, culture, norm, ?us and them? and stereotyping. The results show that contemporary Swedish picture-books describe ethnicity stereotyped on the basis of Swedish norms. The picture-books in the study separate the ethnical Swedish from ethical foreign by emphasizing contrasts between the two. These contrasts cause a negative distance between the Swedish and foreign and emphasises the concept of ?us and them?.