This dissertation examines a range of popular contemporary texts in a post-Saidian context. It begins with an analysis of Orientalism, as that text influences almost any discussion of representations of Easmest relations. Now, almost twenty years after Orientalism was first published in 1978 it is still a crucial text, and it still needs to be understood and argued with. The other texts looked at in this dissertation include novels, drama, films, opera, a musical, and the print and electronic mass media. They are texts that either represent or comment on EastIWest relations. The main texts I examine fall roughly into two categories: ones that are clearly orientalist and ones that are postorientalist. Those that are orientalist repeat the same myths of Orient Said describes in Orientalism. Those that are postorientalist challenge those myths by repeating and elaborating them, reversing and displacing the orientalist gaze. The methodological approach is an eclectic blend of cultural studies and literary criticism. Such an approach enables analysis of a variety of texts, fiom classical nineteenth century books and myths through to contemporary postmodern representations, that deal with identity politics. My thesis is that contemporary postcolonial representations that deal with East and West and that use and displace the very terms such categories rest upon, can be called "postoriental".

Sweden is a country with a lot of tourism that is dependent on nature as a touristic resource. Nature itself is a complex concept with different interpretations. In this thesis, the social construction of the Swedish nature as a touristic attraction is scrutinized. A total of 671 visual images with belonging descriptive texts has been collected from an online image bank where information about Sweden is available for foreign marketers. The material was analysed in order to answer questions about how the Swedish nature and the touristic approach to it are presented, how nature features are assigned to it and how the relationship between nature and humans is presented. The composition and portraiture of the images and prominent themes and patterns in the textual descriptions have been identified as well. The theoretical framework is based on discourse theory, while the methodological framework is based on inspiration from both discourse analysis and content analysis. The result revealed that Swedish nature is presented as part of the rural Sweden with mountains, forests and littoral areas as the main elements. Swedish nature is foremost portrayed as wild and authentic, but also as sublime and pristine to a lesser extent. It is also portrayed as a place for touristic activities with a focus on the outdoors and physical activity. The relation between nature and humans differ, but the Swedish people are portrayed as more connected to nature than tourists

EN The subject of this thesis is The Great synagogue in Pilsen. The main task of this work is to collect all information about the synagogue in the context of historic events from the time prior to its construction till the present days. The aim of this thesis was to connect this information in most possible complex way to provide a comprehensive description of not only the history and use of the synagogue as the building itself, but also the fate of the Jewish community and its relationship with Pilsen residents at the time of dramatic historical events, which this building and the Jews were forced to survive during these days.