Research on migration often focuses on non-citizens such as migrants being excluded from the framework of citizenship. This study suggests a novel approach by focusing on non-citizens and citizens alike, while exploring the strategies of othering in relation to how citizenship is constructed. It discusses and comparatively analyses the ways in which migrants, as non-citizens, and LGBT+ individuals, as a particular category of citizens, are framed as not conforming to the norms proposed by nationalist and populist ideologies in SouthEastern European (SEE) countries. Even if they are citizens, they are excluded from “national belonging” by populist political leaders in their communications. The study compares the category of LGBT+ persons to that of migrants and explores how both are framed in political communications using populist strategies of othering. It also shows that these two categories are placed at the outside of the nation state and of the notion of citizenship. Moreover, it highlights the multiple tropes that are employed in the process of othering and that refer to how nations are defined through their “traditional values”, “morality”, “religious views” and a strong opposition to what is considered to belong to the Western progressive values. The body of material comprises statements mostly made by highly positioned politicians such as Presidents, Ministers, Prime Ministers, etc. from Romania and the Republic of Moldova.These politicians shape the internal and foreign policies of the two countries and their communications have a great impact in different areas of the society. The analysis shows that the social dimension of citizenship is important in how a certain category of citizens is framed as not belonging to the nation state. The results based on the analysis of this less researched material are consistent with the trend of anti-gender movements and the increasing anti immigration stances in other Eastern European countries such as Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The work presented aims to analyse the dynamics of power and inequality within the Swedish academic space, and to do so considers the growing diversity of the Swedish academic composition, in the light of increasing internationalisation and a more recent commodification of higher education (HE). Through a critical discourse analysis of official documents published by the five largest Swedish universities, concerning internationalisation-oriented strategies, documents promoting equal opportunities and guidelines governing discrimination, I reflect on the spaces reserved for concepts such as diversity, interculturality and equal opportunities. To do so, I align myself with a decolonial approach, which questions places of epistemic enunciation, revealing inherent power dynamics represented by coloniality. I intend to argue that a decolonial perspective provides me with the lenses through which to analyse the power structures that still foster a colonial attitude in Swedish academia. The increasing internationalisation of Swedish universities and the way in which this internationalisation it is presented are, in my opinion, in tension with current policies that encourage and monitor equal opportunities. While on the one hand there is a tendency to build an increasingly international, global, and diverse university, on the other hand there is a lack of attention to diversity itself, to inequalities, equal opportunities, and potential discriminations. This tension helps to produce and reproduce power dynamics within the academic context, where the potentially global university does not invest enough resources in recognising and critically naming the differences that, even when unnamed, exist between all those who occupy the physical academic space. This tendency, I intend to argue here, is to be understood in the light of Swedish twofold tendency: on the one hand, a type of hegemonic feminism based on whiteness, heteronormativity and marginalisation of the other is produced and reproduced; on the other hand, such feminism, which proposes itself as the bearer of universal equal opportunities, contributes to the exclusion of other pluriversal subjectivities, excluded because they are racialised and do not belong to the nation-state in the strict sense - to which such feminism is in its nature closely linked.

Experiences of parenting in migration contexts undergo particular changes that develop various challenges. This qualitative study aims at exploring challenges and concerns of Arabic-speaking immigrant parents in Sweden regarding parenting while integrating into a migration context that differs from their own upbringing. Moreover, the study sheds light on how those challenges are negotiated. In order to answer my research questions, six parents, representing four families, were qualitatively interviewed and the collected data was thematically analysed. The results of this study show that Arabic-speaking immigrant parents face the following main challenges: ´acquisition of new knowledge about the host society´s language and culture´, ´balancing parents´ responsibilities inside and outside their houses´ and finally the ´lack of social network´. The results also emphasise that parenting challenges in migration contexts need intensified and productive cooperation between immigrant families and different parties in host societies to achieve the best interests of immigrant children and parents. Participants, in general, reflect an eagerness to implement their traditional parenting practices in ways that do not contradict to the standard parenting practices in the Swedish context. Finally, this study implies immigrant parents´ need to be recognised in host societies through respecting them and their children and considering their qualifications and the circumstances they have experienced before, during and after migration.

Maters thesis People with undetermined citizenship the case of Estonia , describes the situation of the group of people who has no citizenship. The status of those people is described by chronological analysis of Estonian law and analysis of their socioeconomic position. They came to Estonia after the Second World War from different republics of USSR. When Estonian independence was renewed they had to adapt at new living conditions. Some of them are not successful. They did not get the automatic right to get Estonian citizenship. In Estonian law the main principal is the principal of state continuity. It means that immigrants have to naturalize. They have to pass the exam of the state language and fulfill the requirements concerning the permanent residence permit. Estonian law gives people with undetermined citizenship almost the same rights as to Estonian citizens the exceptions are active and passive right to vote to Parliament and the right to be elected to local councils. From 2006 there is even the advantage for them because they can travel to Russia without visa. They are not discriminated economically the problem is mostly in the indirect impact of division of Soviet time society. People with undetermined citizenship usually cannot speak well Estonian. It makes it difficult to find a good...

Forging Their Legacy: Cooperation and Accommodation in the Lower Rio Grande Valley is an examination of the relationships created during the mid-nineteenth century between Anglo and Tejano elites in the five counties that make up the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Conducted through a quantitative lens, the five-chapter study seeks to demonstrate that, although the period between 1848 and 1870 was fraught with conflict and violence, the Anglo and Tejano elite of the Lower Rio Grande Valley came together in cooperation in order not only to survive these troubling times but to prosper. The thesis begins by identifying and analyzing the economic and political elite in the Lower Rio Grande Valley during the 1850s. A new crop of Anglo immigrants arrived with the Mexican-American War, but only a small number willing to assimilate to local Tejano culture were able to leave their mark on the Lower Valley. Chapter 4 relates the effect of the Civil War on the elite of the Lower Valley. It explores the profitable cotton trade during the war and the struggle that both Anglo and Tejano elites faced during Reconstruction. The thesis concludes with a macro-analysis of the twenty-two-year period from 1848-1870. It summarizes overall trends found in both the Anglo and Tejano elite communities and challenges the often-repeated argument of rapid dispossession by Anglos.

While early relocation is not makeable, disaster risk reduction seems to be the most effective tool to decrease the impact of a disaster. This case study focuses on three UNDRR frameworks as they appear to be the greatest instance of international documents referring to disaster risk reduction (DRR). Especially, this research examines the representation of women within these frameworks and how their portrayal in DRR has changed over the last two decades. To do so, a critical discourse analysis of the three UNDRR frameworks is conducted. This study benefits from a social vulnerability approach and further engages with the Feminist Political Ecology theory. The analysis finds that even though women are increasingly represented in the frameworks, their roles as active participants remain negligible. Their knowledge and interest are still not recognised as valuable in DRR. Rather, women seem to be employed as tools to include more gender-sensitive programmes. This study recommends a greater and more complex emphasis on women in future DRR policies.

Denna studie undersöker förståelsen för behovet av vård av psykisk ohälsa bland nyanlända flyktingar och asylsökande i Sverige under 1990–2021. Studien tillämpar ett krisnarrativ perspektiv för att kontextualisera varför och hur förändringar i lagstiftningen sker och förståelsen av den. Vidare undersöker studien hur detta beskrivs och förstås i lagtexter, propositioner, offentliga utredningar och rapporter från 1990–2021 med en analytisk ram av krisnarrativ. Denna krisberättelse är konstruerad genom vittnesmål från socialsekreterare, migrationstjänstemän, journalister och professorer kopplade till migration. Detta kommer att förstås utifrån de teoretiska perspektiven om vem som har rätt till rättigheter (Arendt, 2017) och vem som är sörjbar (grievable) (Butler, 2016), samt ett holistiskt perspektiv på hälsa med hjälp av begreppen health-lifestyle (Cockerham, 2005), empowerment och KASAM- känsla av sammanhang.  Genom följande frågeställningar: (1) Hur beskrevs behovet av vård och rättigheter för flyktingar och asylsökande i officiella dokument? (2) Hur har förskjutningen av rättigheter till hälsa och synen på behovet av vård bland flyktingar och asylsökande sett ut? och (3) Vilken inverkan kan rätten att ha rättigheter och att vara sörjbar ha över hälsofrågor hos flyktingar och asylsökande? En kvalitativ tematisk dokumentanalys antogs med en explorativ design baserad på ett induktivt förhållningssätt till det empiriska materialet. En hermeneutisk tolkning har tillämpats som innebar att skapa en djupare tolkning än den intellektuellt begripliga kunskapen. Resultatet visar att lagtexterna, propositionerna, offentliga utredningarna och rapporterna, har skiftat mot en mer decentraliserad struktur och med ett mer holistiskt perspektiv på hälsa. Tillsammans med vittnesseminarierna vittnar detta om att det paradoxalt nog har lett till en mer individualiserad syn på flyktingar, att de i större utsträckning tar ansvar för sin egen hälsa där en osäkerhet till följd av tillfälliga uppehållstillstånd är kopplad till en otrygg och prekär tillvaro. / This study investigates the understanding of the need for care for mental illness among newly arrived refugees and asylum seekers in Sweden during 1990-2021. The study applies a crisis narrative perspective to contextualise why and how changes in legislation occur and the understanding of it. Furthermore, the article investigates how this is described and understood in legal texts, propositions, public investigations, and reports from 1990–2021 with an analytical frame of a crisis narrative. This crisis narrative is constructed through testimonies by social secretaries, migration officers, journalists, and professors linked to migration. This will be understood from the theoretical perspectives of who has the right to have rights (Arendt, 2017) and who is grievable (Butler, 2016), as well as a holistic perspective on health using the concepts of health-lifestyle (Cockerham, 2005), empowerment and SOC- sense of coherence. This study asks: (1) How was the description of the need for care and rights for refugees and asylum seekers described in official documents? (2) How has the displacement shift in rights to health and the view of the need for care among refugees and asylum seekers looked like? and (3) What impact can the right to have rights and to be grievable have on the health issues of refugees and asylum seekers? A qualitative thematic document analysis was adopted with an exploratory design based on an inductive approach to the empirical material. A hermeneutic interpretation has been applied which means creating a deeper interpretation than the intellectually comprehensible knowledge. The result shows that the legal texts, propositions, public investigations, and reports have shifted towards a more decentralised structure with a more holistic perspective on health. Together with the witness seminars, this testifies that, paradoxically, it has led to a more individualised view of refugees, that they take responsibility for their health to a greater extent, where uncertainty because of temporary residence permits is linked to an insecure and precarious existence.

The beauty industry has been booming in the last few years, generating immense profits as it now translates into an Internet global beauty culture in its own right that finally made room for women of color. As research barely mentions African women and their diasporas, this study aims to critically analyze the dynamic of this North American-dominated Internet beauty culture celebrating non-white women, looking at how it impacts African women and their diasporas and participates in affirming a global woman of color through commodity capitalism.  Based on discourse analysis of multiple actors in the industry using popular culture sources, I then conducted a critical feminist autoethnography of my beauty journey, put in perspective with the results of decolonial interviews with African and African diaspora women recruited online. I asked about their relationship with the beauty industry and their opinions on some arguments I made. Self and collective analysis demonstrated the emergence of an African diasporic hybrid beauty culture, empowering women to feel like actors of change.

Sverige anses vara ett av Europeiska unionens mest jämställda länder där kvinnor och män ska ha lika möjligheter i arbetslivet. Jämställdhetslagen och diskrimineringslagen har stiftats i syfte att bland annat främja kvinnor och mäns lika rättigheter samt förhindra och motverka könsbaserade skillnader på arbetsmarknaden. Trots lagstiftning finns det tydliga skillnader i karriärutveckling mellan kvinnor och män. Syftet med studien är att studera hur kvinnor på olika arbetsplatser med en jämn intern könsfördelning upplever sina möjligheter till avancemang, kvinnornas antaganden av strategier för att hantera upplevd ojämlikhet samt hur kvinnornas självbild har kommit att påverkas till en följd av dessa upplevelser. Det empiriska materialet baseras på sju kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer som analyserats genom Chodorows teori om mödrars roll i reproduktionen av könsnormer och Bergmans beskrivning av vertikal och intern segregering. Flera mekanismer samverkar och resulterar iatt kvinnorna upplever barriärer för avancemang och karriärutveckling på sina arbetsplatser på grund av deras könstillhörighet vilket vidare bidragit till antagandet av strategier för att få legitimitet. Dessa upplevelser har bidragit till ifrågasättandet av kvinnornas kompetens som vidare haft en negativ påverkan på deras självbild. / Sweden is considered as one of the European Union's most equal countries where women and men should have equal opportunities at the labor market. The Gender Equality Act and the Discrimination Act have been enacted to promote equal rights for women and men and to prevent gender segregation at the labor market and in workplaces. Despite these laws, there are still differences in career development between women and men. The purpose of this study is to illustrate how women at different workplaces experience their opportunities for advancement, women's assumptions of strategies for dealing with inequality and how women's self-image has been affected as a result of their experiences. The empirical material is based on seven semi-structured interviews analyzed through Chodorow's theory the reproduction of mothering to analyze the reproduction of gender norms and Bergman's description of vertical and internal segregation. The results of the study show that women experience barriers to advancement and career development at their workplaces based on their gender, which has further contributed to the adoption of strategies to gain legitimacy. These experiences have contributed to a negative impact on women's self-image which has manifested in constant questioning of women's competence and capability at work based on traditional norms.

In January 2023, the newly elected right-wing government led by Giorgio Meloni approved Decree-Law No. 1/2023 which restricts the work of civil Search and Rescue (SAR) organizations, with the aim to reduce the flow of people reaching the country's shores. Simultaneously, SAR organizations claimed that the Italian government started to deploy a policy of allocating distant ports to the NGO ships for the disembarkation of survivors. This thesis aims to analyse this new twofold approach towards civil sea rescue activities in the Central Mediterranean to answer the question of how it impacts the work of civil SAR organizations. For this purpose, a mixed-methods approach that joins quantitative and qualitative methods is deployed. The quantitative analysis of this thesis draws upon rescue data provided by SAR NGOs, as well as on press reports to understand the impact of the new approach on the disembarkation of survivors and movements of ships. To gain a deeper understanding of the impact on the rescue dynamics in the Mediterranean Sea, the qualitative analysis draws upon the results of semi-structured interviews conducted with staff of civil SAR organizations. In the course of this thesis, I argue that the new Italian approach falls into a larger trend of obstructing the work of SAR NGOs, deployed by the Italian government since the start of the de-governmentalisation of SAR activities in the Central Mediterranean in 2014. While the distant port policy leads to obstruction of SAR activities by delaying the disembarkation of survivors, Decree-Law No. 1/2023 falls into a wider strategy of criminalisation of civil SAR activities. I furthermore argue, that it is the interplay of the two newly introduced policies mentioned above that leads to severe obstruction of civil SAR activities. Finally, I engage theories about humanitarian space to describe the obstruction of civil SAR activities as the shrinking of the humanitarian space in the Mediterranean Sea.