This essay examines how the local Civil Guard in the town of Vaasa, in the Finnish civil war of 1918, were presented based on the notion of masculinity in texts by Axel Iversén. In this study discourse analysis with a qualitative approach has been applied. The study shows that the role of the Civil Guard in the civil war mainly revolves around the discourse on safeguarding the nation's independence and protecting Finland as a nation. Based on Judith Butler's theory of performativity this study shows how masculinity is created from a repetitive practice based on concepts such as freedom, courage, offensive, equality, youth, organization and efficiency. The study confirms previous research which shows that according to the Civil Guards notion masculine ideals were related to nationalism, patriotism and sacrifice for the nation's independence. Furthermore, the study confirms the importance of the homosocial relations for the construction of masculinity within the Civil Guard. The discourse on offensive action regarding the Civil Guard is prominent, regardless if it is in battle or the organization of the Civil Guard.

Uppsatsens syfte har varit att studera uttryck för banal nationalism i svenska dagstidningar under världsmästerskapen i fotboll för herrar i USA 1994. Dels för att vidga begreppet nationalism, dels bidra med exempel på hur den kan synliggöras i vardagliga sammanhang och därigenom riskerar reproducera nationella föreställningar. Uppsatsens teoretiska ramverk har varit Michael Billigs diskursteori banal nationalism med understöd av Marianne Winther Jørgensens och Louise Phillips begreppsmetaforer för nationella diskurser. För att kunna genomföra en fördjupad analys har uppsatsen haft kompletterande forskningsfrågor om hur Sveriges spelare och tränare samt hur Sveriges motståndarspelare och motståndartränare framställs i materialet. Empirin har bestått utav 157 publiceringar inklusive tidningarnas omslag fördelat över 26 utgåvor av Aftonbladet (9), Expressen (9) samt Dagens Nyheter (8). Analysen visar att banal nationalism i hög utsträckning, på ett till synes omedvetet sätt, varit del i utgåvornas publiceringar kring världsmästerskapen. De uttryck för banal nationalism som förekommer kan ses som försök till att skapa engagemang och intresse hos läsare, men dessa språkliga val bidrar likväl till att producera och reproducera en närmast självklar nationell gemenskap. Därtill är skildringar av Sveriges spelare och tränare likartad mellan tidningar och utgåvor, samt står i kontrast till skildringar av motståndare. De förstnämnda ges egenskaper såsom ödmjuka och lojala, kloka och beslutsamma. Motståndare porträtteras inte sällan som irrationella och oberäkneliga. Styrdokument och historiedidaktisk forskning föreskriver att en elevcentrerad undervisning bör bedrivas, vilket ställer krav på historielärare att vara förtrogen med begrepp som nationalism. Uppsatsen visar att nationella föreställningar på ett oreflekterat sätt kan produceras och reproduceras i till synes vardagliga sammanhang. Resultatet kan således anses bidra med ett angeläget perspektiv för blivande historielärare att reflektera över. / The purpose of this essay has been to study expressions of banal nationalism in Swedish media during the World Cup in the United States 1994. It is meant to expand the knowledge of nationalism in day-to-day life, and how nationalistic ideas might be reproduced and reinforced. The theoretic framework of this essay relies on Michael Billigs discourse theory of banal nationalism, supplemented by Marianne Winther Jørgensens and Louise Phillips theories on metaphors in relation to national discourse. The investigated material consists of 157 different kinds of publications including first pages spread over 26 issues of Aftonbladet (9), Expressen (9) and Dagens Nyheter (8). The analysis shows that banal nationalism is prominent in the issue’s printed materials during the World Cup. The portrayals of Swedish’s players and coach are similar between newspapers and issues and stand in stark contrast to portrayals of the opponents. First mentioned are characterized as humble, loyal, wise and determined. Opponents are often characterized as unpredictable and inconstant. These expressions can be seen as attempts to create engagement and involvement, but nevertheless they´re also a part of producing and reproducing an almost self-explanatory national community. Ruling school documents and history didactic research shows that student-centered learning is preferrable, which demands a history teacher who is confidant with terms like nationalism. This essay shows that national conceptions can be produced and reproduced in ordinary life situations, in a seemingly unreflected way. The results can therefore be considered a meaningful perspective for soon-to-be history teachers to reflect upon.

This thesis addresses devil beliefs in Karlstad diocese during the years ca. 1870-1950. The aim of thethesis is to shed light on devil tales that were told during the above-mentioned timeframe with thetheoretical framework of Ulrika Wolf-Knuts’s devil genres. Moreover, the thesis attempts todistinguish a folklore-devil affected by the Christian revival in Sweden during the 19th century. Thethesis thus contributes to a deeper understanding of devil tales in Karlstad diocese, the revival’ssignificance over folklore and comprehension of the Värmlandic and Dalslandic peoples’ culturalhistorical heritage. A hermeneutic as well as comparative methodology was used to navigate the source materialwhich consists of 20th century records of folk belief from The Institute for Language and Folklore(Isof) archives; these consists of stories told by people born during the second half of the 19th century.Furthermore, the records are complimented by a printed work by Carl-Martin Bergstrand,Värmlandssägner, wherein additional stories where analysed. The analysis shows that the source material fits well together with Wolf-Knuts’s devil genres,moreover, four new genres could be identified within Karlstad diocese. These contain mostlyinformative storytelling but are also complementary to Wolf-Knuts’s non-necessary devil genres.Wolf-Knuts’s theoretical framework can thereby receive an update considering these findings.Furthermore, the results determine that the peoples’ understanding of the devil is uniform in itsmultifaceted nature. The thesis puts out a hypothesis; the terminology when referring to the dark lorddiffers in places wherein the Christian revival had a greater hold. There, it was commonplace to usebiblical names for the devil. If the Christian revival is definitively responsible for this occurrence ornot could not be determined.

This thesis investigates the semantic values of the two concepts “smallholding” (Swe. “småbruk”) and “smallholder farmer” (Swe. “småbrukare”), as well their role and function as central concepts in the public debate about the “agricultural rationalisation” (Swe. “jordbrukets rationalisering”) reform initiated by the Swedish government together with industry actors in the late 1940s. Studying articles in the newspapers published by two Swedish farmers’ associations, as well as government documents and political pamphlets, I employ the concept of “temporalisation” developed by Reinhart Koselleck as part of his theory on conceptual history in order to identify implicit and biased expectations on “modernity” ruling against smallholding as a viable form of farming in the future. I also study how rationalisation advocates’ descriptions and opinions are contested in the writings of smallholder activists and practicians. I argue that the meanings and associations attributed to smallholding and its modus operandi in the late 1940s, strongly influenced by the “agricultural rationalisation” debate of the time, disqualified it from any modernising project on grounds that were oftentimes ideological rather than rational or factual. I further argue that a misunderstanding of the modus operandi and purpose of smallholder farming, prompted by the application of industrial concepts and ideals as well as undue comparisons with other trades and professions, exaggerated the poor socio-economic status of smallholder families. This resulted in a temporalisation of the “agricultural rationalisation” debate, depicting large-scale industrial agriculture as a thing of the future and smallholding as a thing of the past.

This dissertation analyses the formation of Swedish cultural policy in the twentieth century and the emergence of a modern concept of cultural policy. The aim is to historicise this concept by opening up the process through which it was established. The dissertation explores different aspects of this process: the use of the word cultural policy (kulturpolitik), the ambitions in the 1960s to establish a form of knowledge production relevant in cultural policy making and the attempts made by various official authorities in the 1960s and early 1970s to identify and manage the field of concerns defined as belonging to cultural policy, thus demarcating culture as a formal area of policy making. I view these as examples of practices where the category of cultural policy was elaborated and established in a form widely recognized today. Accompanying my attempts to historicise the modern concept of cultural policy is an interest in how the history of cultural policy has generally been conceived. In previous research devoted to the history of cultural policy an analytical sense of cultural policy has tended to overrule the understanding(s) of cultural policy found in the historical sources. As a consequence, the histories of cultural policy have left out what historically was identified as cultural policy, thus leaving the historical grounds for the modern concept of cultural policy partly hidden. In the first empirical chapter I examine the uses of the word cultural policy when it was introduced in the Swedish language in the late nineteenth century until the 1950s. From a multitude of usages, I suggest that it was in the mid-twentieth century that a more consistent vocabulary developed, with “cultural policy” referring to political endeavors aiming at a nation’s domestic cultural life. In the second empirical chapter I investigate how scientific conceptualisations and operationalisations rendered culture available for scientific, political and administrative undertakings, and in the third chapter I study how culture was demarcated as a formal area of policy making. The chapters reveal different aspects of the historical process through which the category of cultural policy was established in its present shape.

In Sweden, during the 1920s, the past played a definite part in the folklore research. The folklore scholars argued for collecting the cultural memories (folkminnen) of “the people”, as they were understood to disappear due to a threat from the modern civilization, which was thought to spread across the countryside at an ever-accelerating pace. This study shows that the past is constructed through discourse – not as a predefined object but rather as a dynamic process of temporal constructions. This study analyses the construction of the past in folklore research in Sweden during the 1920s. Two methodological tools have been primarily used to help unfold the process in which the past is constructed. First, by discourses of the past (förflutenhetsdiskurser) which is how, in my case the scholars, relate to the past by various verbal practices. Secondly, by identifying binary characterizations. In this study, the construction of the past, in folklore research, has been shown through three main themes. First, by understanding the importance of collecting the cultural memories of “the people” as an urgent project – due to their inevitable disappearing – but also as a duty towards the people of the past and as a duty towards future generations. Secondly, by identifying three different dichotomies which all functioned as part of the process of the construction of the past. Thirdly, by analyzing “the people” as a category that best is described as a compound of both culture and human.

This study examines Swedish prison priests in the early 20th century, more specifically the years 1900-1909 and 1925-1932. Prison chaplains arose in the early 1800s as a result of reforms to Sweden's penal code in the 1840s. Sweden adopted the so-called Philadelphiasystem which meant that the prisons placed prisoners in complete isolation and only had access to the "morally good" staff, such as the prison chaplains. In theory, the aim was to talk with prisoners and "rehabilitate" them, so they could return to society. The priests' main method of establishing rehabilitation attempts was achieved through constant observation and dialogue with prisoners. Unlike other prison studies, which are often associated with analyzing the typical power dynamics between "superior" and "subordinate", this study will investigate and present, through the prison chaplains' annual reports and books, what they believed and considered to be cause of crime, the right way to rehabilitate prisoner and what problems they could face after their time in prison. The study will focus on comparing their relationships and interpretations of prisoners and how this was linked to similar discussions related to Sweden's social problems and solutions such as alcoholism, prostitution, modern city life, industrial workculture, parenting and neglectful households.

The main purpose of this thesis is to study and analyze how concepts of childhood and adolescence were constructed in scientific medicine during the period 1870 to 1930. The focus in the first part of the thesis is to study the sick girl as a stereotype in 1870–1900. In the late nineteenth-century, the poor health of girls was a popular topic in Swedish medical discourse. It was a well-established opinion that a substantial number of Swedish girls suffered from various diseases and ailments. Mass- and coeducation was under debate and physicians became interested in the impact of schools and schooling on children’s health. It is here shown that children, and in particularly adolescents, were de-fined as gendered creatures. The doctors emphasized the universal nature of adolescence and conceptualized pu-berty as a traumatic and risky stage of life and they also tended to focus on middle-class girls. Pubescent girls were seen as most vulnerable to external stress such as mental strain and physical demands. Physicians claimed that ill health inevitably followed when girls were educated in the same way as boys. However, boys and their health were discussed too. The most common ailments for both girls and boys were overstudy, anemia, headaches and disor-dered digestion. It was also shown in various studies, that poorer children were substantially inferior in weight as well as in height. Chlorosis was a common theme in late nineteenth-century medical discourse. Although it appeared mainly as a girls’ disease in medical books and in most sanitary journals, health studies for example, showed that chlorosis could also be a boys’ disease. However, sick boys were rarely spoken of. Medical opinions on overstudy, chlorosis and dress reform could be interpreted as a concern for unhealthy girls as future mothers of the nation. It is not my intention to advertise doctors as vicious oppressors, as opponents of female emancipation. In fact, the doctors often pointed out social factors and unequal circumstances of childhood and adolescence for girls and boys. In early twentieth-century, the scientific opinion of girls changed. Even though gendered notions of children and youths persisted all through the period studied, more and more some doctors, Karolina Widerström, for example, began to question them. The new girl was not weak and ill, but rather healthy and active. However, a dividing line between those who claimed the weakness of girls and those who emphasized the new, healthy girl became more evident after 1900. In this thesis, this disparity is discussed in terms of popular medical discourse and scientific medi-cal discourse. In the latter, girls were still described as more sensitive and more frail than boys and as unfit for higher education and strenuous schoolwork. Thus, the new girl – vivid, healthy and equal to the boy – was above all a con-struction in popular medicine. The uniform medical discourse on girls from the late nineteenth-century thus dissolved. A number of changes in the medical discourse on sickness and health of girls and boys during in this period occurred. First, concepts of sickness and health were modified over time and fewer schoolchildren were considered sick. Fi-nally, in the beginning of the period studied, girls were sicker than boys were, but in the end, in the 1930s, there was no obvious gender difference. Both sexes seemed equally sick (or healthy).

The media is not only a source of entertainment, it is also a way to better understand ourselves and a means to shape our identities. The purpose of different types of communication are never neutral, there is always a discourse and an underlying meaning at work. By continually portraying women as stereotypical characters, the patriarchal discourse is reproduced and perpetuates an unequal view of women in society. It is possible to reconstruct the hegemonic male domination and representation is key if there is a change to be had in this area. Thus, it is of utter importance to create productions that showcase a vast variety of social and gender roles. The purpose of this essay is to analyse female representation in visual media with a primary focus on women’s history, exemplified by how gender is created by female characters in the miniseries Fröken Frimans krig. The analysis has a basis in multimodal critical discourse analysis as well as critical narrative analysis, and also takes into consideration Mulvey’s theories on the male gaze. The theoretical framework is based on poststructural feminist theory with an aim to deconstruct notions of what constitutes a woman and a man.

I detta arbete undersöks huruvida planering och resultat angående infrastruktur och expansion av bebyggelse kan ha en påverkan på dagens socioekonomiska förhållanden. Arbetet ska genom dokumentstudier av äldre general-, trafik-, översikts- och detaljplaner från 1920- till 1990-talet samt litteraturstudier angående stadsbyggnadsprinciper besvara detta. Dessutom granskas resvaneundersökningar för respektive stad samt dagens utbud, tidtabeller och restider. De valda förorterna är Saltsjöbaden, Vällingby, Skärholmen och Rinkeby i Storstockholm samt Långedrag, Kortedala, Länsmansgården och Rannebergen i Storgöteborg. Alla förorter är etablerade under 1900-talet och ligger geografiskt sett ungefär lika långt från deras respektive stadskärna.  Arbetets frågeställning är vilka stadsbyggnadsprinciper som påverkar infrastrukturen i förorter, i vilken utsträckning planeringen av infrastrukturen skiljer sig jämfört med dagens läge och om det finns ett samband mellan socioekonomiska skillnader och ej genomförda planer. Tidigare forskning visar på många faktorer till varför olika förorter blivit socioekonomiskt utsatta, exempelvis bidrar den monotona och storskaliga arkitekturen till sämre attraktivitet.   Resultatet för detta arbete tyder på att även planer som inte fullständigt genomförts skulle kunna ha en negativ effekt på det socioekonomiska indexet och därmed varför vissa förorter blivit utsatta och mindre attraktiva. Detta eftersom det finns skillnad i planeringen av ABC- och sovstäder då det finns ett större behov av fungerande infrastruktur där det inte finns möjlighet att arbeta där man bor. I Rannebergen fullföljdes aldrig planerna om varken en spårväg, centrum eller arbetsmöjligheter i närområdet och detta område har även ett av de lägre socioekonomiska indexen idag. I både Rannebergen och Rinkeby färdigställdes kollektivtrafiken först flera år efter att de första invånarna flyttade till platserna och liksom Rannebergen har Rinkeby ett lägre socioekonomiskt index idag. Däremot finns inga tydliga mönster vad gäller frekvenser och restider mellan stadsdelarna och deras socioekonomiska situationer. Slutsatsen av detta arbete är att planer angående exempelvis centrum, arbetsplatser och infrastruktur bör fullföljas enligt planerna och färdigställas så snabbt som möjligt för stadsdelar som inte är självförsörjande gällande exempelvis centrum och arbetsplatser. / In this paper it is investigated whether planning and the results regarding infrastructure and expansion of settlements of some suburbs have an impact on today’s socioeconomic situation. This paper will answer this by doing document studies of the older plans, general plans, traffic plans, overview plans, detail plans, between the 1920s and the 1990s, as well as making literature studies regarding principles in urban planning. In addition to this, habit surveys for traveling for each city as well as today’s situation, timetables and travel times are analyzed. The chosen suburbs are Saltsjöbaden, Vällingby, Skärholmen and Rinkeby in Stockholm and Långedrag, Kortedala, Länsmansgården and Rannebergen in Gothenburg. All of the chosen suburbs were established during the 19th century and are located at the same distance from the city center.  The question in this paper is which principle in the urban planning affects the infrastructure in the suburb and to what extent the planning of the infrastructure differs in comparison to today’s situation and lastly if there is a pattern between socioeconomic index and unimplemented plans. Previous research points towards different factors to why various suburbs are socioeconomic vulnerable, for example the monotonous and large-scale architecture contribute to poorer attractiveness.  The result of this paper points towards that plans which not fully are implemented also could have a negative impact on the socioeconomic situation and could be a reason why different suburbs are vulnerable and not as attractive as others. This is because there are differences in the planning of ABC-cities and dormitory suburbs as there is a greater need for functioning infrastructure where it is not possible to work where you live. In Rannebergen the plans were not completed concerning neither the tramway, the city center or work opportunities in the immediate area and this area also has a lower socioeconomic situation today. In both Rannebergen and Rinkeby the public transport were completed several years after the first inhabitants moved to the areas and like Rannebergen, Rinkeby also has a lower socioeconomic situation today. However, there are no clear patterns in terms of frequencies and journey times between the areas and their socioeconomic situations. The conclusion of this paper is that the plans concerning for example city centers, working opportunities and infrastructure should be completed as quickly as possible for districts that are not self-sustaining concerning for example city centers and working opportunities.