I vår undersökning ville vi belysa unga förtagenerations-invandrarkvinnors identitets förändring. Dessa unga kvinnor lever under inflytande av två kulturer där deras identitetstillhörighet till sitt ursprung oftast bestäms av ett essentialistiskt synsätt, vilket innebär att den definieras av ett gemensamt ursprung och en speciell kulturtillhörighet. Men kvinnorna i vår studie visar att deras identitet egentligen bygger mer på ett konstruktivistiskt synsätt där den kulturella identiteten inte bestäms av en gemensam tillhörighet utan att identiteten förändras och omskapas hela tiden beroende på den situation man befinner sig i. Vi har gjort ett urval där vi har valt aktiva och kvinnor som har ansträngt sig för att integreras i det svenska samhället och inte valt ”den traditionella hemmafrun”. Syftet med vår studie är att få kunskap och att undersöka hur dessa kvinnor uppfattar sig själva och hur samhället uppfattar deras identitet samt i vilket sammanhang deras identitet förändras. Vi har valt att utgå utifrån olika teoretiska utgångspunkter så som integration, identitet, kulturell identitet, dubbla identiteter, fördomar och tillhörighet och utanförskap som kommer att användas i vår analys av intervjuresultatet. Med en kvalitativ metod ville vi besvara forskningsfrågorna: Hur uppfattar kvinnorna själva sin egen identitet? Hur tror de att andra i omgivningen uppfattar deras identitet? Hur förändras identiteten i olika sammanhang? Känner kvinnorna sig integrerade i det svenska samhället eller exkluderade? Vilka fördelar, respektive nackdelar finns det med att ha dubbla identiteter eller en identitet? / Abstract "Welcome home again" – a study of immigrant women’s identity changes in the Swedish society. In our research, we intend to highlight the identity formations and changes of young immigrant women. These young women live under the influence of two cultures where their belonging to their “origin” is often determined by an essentialist approach, which indicates that it is defined by a common origin and a specific cultural belonging. Yet, the women in our study suggest that their identity is shaped according to a constructionist approach, where the cultural identity is not determined by a common belonging; instead, their identity tend to change as it is constantly reconstructed in accordance with their (social) condition. We have made a selection, where we have chosen active women that have worked hard to integrate in the Swedish society, rather than the "traditional housewife". The purpose of our study is to explore, and thus understand, how these women perceive themselves, how the society perceives their identity, and how their identity changes. We have decided to proceed from different theoretical starting-points, such as integration, identity, cultural identity, dual identities, prejudices, inclusion and exclusion, that will be applied in our analysis of the interviews. By applying a qualitative method, our intention is to answer the following research questions: How do these women perceive their own identity? How do people in their surroundings perceive their identity, according to the women themselves? How does the identity change in different contexts? Do the women feel integrated in the Swedish society or do they feel excluded? What are the advantages and disadvantages of having dual identities and a single identity? Key words: first-generation immigrants, integration, identity, cultural identity, dual identities, prejudices, inclusion and exclusion.

Jag har med hjälp av Norman Faircloughs modell för kritisk diskursanalys bearbetat 60 mediatexter som på något sätt berör fotbollsspelaren Zlatan Ibrahimovic och två särskilda händelser under hösten 2003. Jag har redovisat teorier som diskuterar samband mellan nationalism, rasism, identitet, idrott och media, samt några klassiska sociologiska teorier om identitet och maktstrukturer. Syftet har varit att söka svar på hur den mediala bilden av Zlatan Ibrahimovic tecknas och vilka egenskaper han framställs som bärare av, på om det förekommer några nationalistiska och/eller rasistiska diskurser i materialet, samt på om Zlatan Ibrahimovic representeras som svensk eller som invandrare, en Annan, och vilka orsakerna skulle kunna vara till den representation materialet ger. Jag fann att texterna om Zlatan Ibrahimovic i stort konstruerar en medial bild av honom som en Annan, och att det sätt Zlatan Ibrahimovic omtalas kan jämföras med hur invandraren generellt omtalas i svenska medier. Jag har även funnit att det sportjournalistiska textmaterialet är starkt präglat av nationalistiska diskurser, och även av diskurser som flera av de refererade teoretikerna i detta arbete placerar under en övergripande rubrik av rasism. Jag gör därtill antagandet att Zlatan Ibrahimovic placeras i en invandrarkategori i stor utsträckning på grund av sitt namn och på grund av den svenska dialekt han talar, eftersom både språk och den språkliga aspekten namn, utgör viktiga identitetsbestämmande markörer i den starkt nationalistiska kontext som sport och sportjournalistik kan anses utgöra. Jag finner även att de diskurser som dominerar i textmaterialet stämmer överens med och snarare stärker än försvagar rådande diskursordning kring svenskhet och kring den i den nuvarande diskursiva och samhälleliga praktiken utbredda dikotomin svensk-invandrare, såsom den diskursordningen beskrivs av flera av de i detta arbete refererade teoretikerna.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how language difficulties in elderly care can affect the identity and quality of life of older Iranians. Intention is to increase knowledge about the importance of the native language for people in elderly care. Language barriers were previously researched mostly in nursing homes in the context of dementia, primaly relying on observations or text analysis and shows the importance of mother tongue use in late life. Previous research was realized with methods that do not include the elderly perspective. Therefore, we chose a qualitative interview as appropriate to investigate the problem from the perspective of the elderly. The results show a strong connection between identity, quality of life and language. The quality of life is directly affected by language, and the language influence on identity is indirect and dependable on other internal and external factors. In other words, it is not possible to examine the individual's language's impact on quality of life without the inclusion of the individual's identity as the most important factor. The findings also point to the need for further research about identity and quality of life of older people in relation to absence of Swedish language.

The aim of the research project “The menacing immigration and ideal Swedishness: A semiotic analysis of the Sweden Democrats campaign films” was to highlight how ethnicities are portrayed in five different campaign films produced by the Swedish party the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna). The applied theories are stereotypes, binary oppositions as well as the theory of whiteness and blackness. The method used to analyse the campaign films are semiotics, and the tools denotation, connotation, anchoring, relay, metonymy and myths.   The results show that a person’s skin colour is of minor importance. What does matter, is if you are Swedish or not and how Swedish you are. All of the campaign films concern questions about “Swedishness” and immigration. When immigration and non-Swedes are in focus, the films present a dark theme with a sinister undertone. In contrast, when the issue of Swedishness is presented the films portray harmonious and idyllic images of Sweden. Sweden, Swedes and Swedishness is habitually portrayed as being the ideal, the desirable, and the good. It is the norm for being socially acceptable. Immigration, immigrants and non-Swedes on the other hand are consistently portrayed in a negative light. These extraneous groups of people are labelled as the others; they are the bad, and are portrayed as a threat that we Swedes have to defend ourselves against. A third, but less prominent theme that could be deduced from the films is that the Sweden Democrats are portrayed as martyrs. By presenting themselves as being misunderstood and as being the voice of the people, it can be interpreted that they attempt to detract the stamp they acquired as a racist party.   Although the Sweden Democrats seem to have refined the ways in which they express their opinions of Swedishness and immigration, it’s still a significant part of the message in their commercials. They glorify Swedes and reproduce coarse stereotypes of non-Swedes. With the portrayal and contrasting comparison there is an inherent consequence that immigrants are to be seen as less worthy, and that the Swedes in turn are indirectly attributed to a higher value and as such, being Swedish is set as the norm.

This thesis explores the literacy practices in literacy history, in everyday life and in Swedish tuition for immigrants (sfi) of five Kurdish adults. The study analyses connections and dividing lines between literacy practices of the sociotextual domains of everyday life and literacy practices of the sociotextual domain of sfi. It also explores the interaction between literacy history and present literacy practices. Further, there is a focus on the connections between identification, learning and literacy practices. The methodological approach is inspired by ethnography, employing individual semi-structured interviews and classroom observation. Video documentation, audio recordings and field notes are used for documentation. Theoretically the study is influenced by the research field New Literacy Studies where literacies are conceived of assets of socially and culturally grounded practices. The interviews are analysed from two perspectives: focusing on content and on linguistic discursive practices. In the analysis of interviews and observations, a number of interacting aspects of literacy events and literacy practices are also researched, such as purpose, time, place, participants, verbal language and artefacts. A lack of connection between the participants’ notions of who they are and the identities offered to them in sfi impairs the conditions of their active participation in the literacy practices, and consequently also impairs their learning. Identities connected to literacy history are of importance in this process. To exemplify this, the professional career they had in Kurdistan is still of central importance for two of the participants of the study. This complicates their identification as sfi-students and their engaging in the literacy practices of the sfi-education. If sfi teachers know which identities from everyday life are important to their sfi students and try to find connections between the sfi teaching and these identities, the chances improve of the students accepting the identities which they are offered in the literacy events. Then it will also be more probable that the students’ participation in the literacy events in sfi will lead to deep learning. In the sfi classrooms, the participants take part in literacy events of everyday life. There are three types of overlap between the literacy practices of sfi and of everyday life. (1) Literacy events from other sociotextual domains take place in the sfi-classrooms, but without recontextualization into sfi. (2) Literacy events based in sociotextual domains of everyday life are recontextualized into sfi. (3) Literacy events belong to more than one sociotextual domain. In spite of these three types of overlap there are complications when it comes to students starting out from literacy practices of everyday life when they take part in the literacy practices of sfi. It is not possible to transmit literacy practices in their totality, from one sociotextual domain to another. The literacy practices are situated in a specific sociotextual domain and will undergo a transformation as they are based in a different sociotextual domain. On the other hand, it is possible for sfi students to make use of everyday micro practices (e.g. cooperation and non-linear reading) when they take part in the literacy practices of sfi.

The aim of this study is to examine, with a gender theoretical and conversational analytical framework, how teachers in Swedish for immigrants (SFI) distribute positive and negative assessments towards men and women in the classroom and what causes them. The purpose is further to examine how the assessments construct and actualize gender patterns in the education.   The thesis is divided into two major issues: How are positive and negative assessments ​​distributed between men and women in a class at Swedish for immigrants (SFI) and what causes these? How can the assessments ​​be related to constructing and actualizing gender? In order to achieve the research questions, four teachers have been observed in three different classrooms.   The result shows how assessments ​​in classrooms are caused by fostering the students into a gender-normative behavior and also into a desirable classroom behavior. Furthermore, the assessments ​​are caused by evaluating students work efforts in school work. The result also show how women are given more positive assessments ​​and men more negative, even though there are no major differences between how assessments are distributed between male and female students. In total, women are given more assessments than men in the classroom. With the hidden curriculum as an analytic tool, the results show how hidden teaching agendas and the teachers’ assessments to foster the students into these exists within an educational context for adult students. The study has also made visible how gender is both actualized and constructed in the assessments ​​the teachers express in conversation with the students.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate and gain an understanding of the second-generation immigrant's ethnic identity. To carry out our survey, we used the qualitative approach, more specifically interrogations. In total, 6 people were interviewed between the ages of 18–29 years. All participants were born and raised in Sweden with one or both of the parents born abroad. The theoretical basis of the essay is socialbehaviorism and social constructivism. Previous research, also our results show that the mother tongue, parents, residential area and social circle are recurring aspects that are important for the design of the ethnic identity. Our result, unlike previous research, shows that the appearance is also an important factor for the design of the ethnic identity. Our conclusion is that there is an ambivalence and rootlessness among the respondents, which is due to the lack of being part of a larger whole. / Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att undersöka och få en förståelse för andra generationens invandrares etniska identitet. För att genomföra vår undersökning använde vi oss av den kvalitativa ansatsen, närmare bestämt interjuver. Sammanlagd intervjuades 6 personer i åldrarna 18–29 år. Samtliga deltagare var födda och uppväxta i Sverige med en eller både föräldrarna födda utomlands. Uppsatsens teoretiska utgångspunkter är socialbehaviorismen och socialkonstruktionivsmen. Tidigare forskning och även vårt resultat visar att modersmålet, föräldrarna, bostadsområde och umgängeskrets är återkommande aspekter som har betydelse för konstruerandet av den etniska identiteten. Vårt resultat till skillnad från tidigare forskning visar att även utseendet är en viktig faktor för skapandet av den etniska identiteten. Vår slutsats är att det finns en ambivalens och rotlöshet hos respondenterna som beror på avsaknaden av att vara en del av en större helhet.

<p>The aim of this study was to examine how the social services could investigate and support children of irregular immigrants within the boundaries of the law. More specifically it aimed to examine the legal possibilities and obstacles for the social services to support irregular immigrants, how the officials at the social services act considering the legal aspects, and how they reason morally and ethically when dealing with irregular immigrants. To answer the aim of the study the theory of positive law was used combined with qualitative interviews with two officials at the social services. Moreover a small quantitative telephone study with officials in the social services and with voluntary organizations was made. The study has used theories of sociology of law, law and ethics, and professional (civil) disobedience. The conclusions were that children of irregular immigrants are included by the Swedish law for social services, but are hindered from getting support by the legal obligation to inform the police authorities when the social services are dealing with foreigners who did not apply for a residence permit. There is a need for the officials to be extra committed in such cases and they break the obligation to inform to be able to support the children.</p>

<p>The purpose of this study was to increase knowledge about what the lives of the unemployed youth of immigrant background looks like, and what the views of the unemployed young people are about work and employment. The study is a qualitative study where the empirical material is based on interviews with seven unemployed immigrant youth between the ages of 19 and 25 years. A study where the central questions was to explore how the informants' living conditions and identity are affected by being unemployed. The other issues aimed at how informants background affected their ability to enter the labour market, and the job expectations the informants had about the future and the Swedish labour market. Empirin have been analyzed with regard to methodology tool based theory, as well as theoretical starting points, such as social capital, formal and informal channels, ethnicity and stigma theory. The result is shown in five different disciplines on the basis of informants experiences of the situation they are in. These topics are <em>The unemployment and welfare</em>, <em>The social network's importance</em>, <em>The foreign name the obstacles</em>, <em>The road to the labour market</em> and finally, <em>The social environment</em>. The results show that informants welfare was affected in a destructive way when informants experienced a lack of employment. Informants perceived that the social network's importance was very prominent in the labour market, which proved, however, that informants social networks were very limited and without a resource for them. The result also shows that the majority of informants had been discriminated against by employers. A crucial factor for this form of discrimination were informants background and the foreign name. Road to the labour market was perceived stressful when the economic situation in the country was unstable and in decline. The results suggest that the informants had to lower their job expectations when they could not change the situation. Moreover, it appeared to indicate that ambient performances that immigrant segregated areas are perceived as socially vulnerable, both as a social problem for society. Informants self-image was negatively affected by the social environment perceptions of immigrants segregated neighbourhoods, which were seen by informants as a contributing factor that made their job opportunities more difficult.</p>

<p>This study examines the nature and possible causes of the changes in the art and artistry of Abdul Rahim Ghafori, an Afghan artist who has migrated to Sweden. The premise of this paper is that over time a person who migrates to another culture will undergo change. In an artist this change should manifest itself in his art and artistry. The study examines this process of change and how it is manifested in the artistry and art of Abdul Rahim Ghafori. The study intends to increase knowledge and understanding of the changes a person undergoes when experiencing a culture change.</p> / <p>Studien är en detaljerad fallstudie vilken ingående belyser ett konstnärskap och utförligt diskuterar ett antal av konstnärens verk. Studien undersöker vilka förändringar i konst och konstnärskapberoende på kulturbyte som kan skönjas hos den afghanske men till Sverige invandrade konstnären Abdul Rahim Ghafori. Att det över tid sker en förändring hos en person som invandrat till en annan kultur är ett utgångsantagande för studien. Hos en konstnär bör denna förändring visa sig i konst och konstnärskap. I studien undersöks vad som händer och hur detta visar sig i Ghaforis konstnärskap och konst samt vilka möjliga orsaker dessa förändringar har. Studien avser att utöka kunskapen om och förståelsen för de förändringar en människa går igenom när han eller hon byter kultur. </p>