The aim of this paper is to deepen the understanding of the school debate in Sweden by focusing on one of the key topics of the debate, namely the allegedly threatened equality and equity of the education system. This debate circles around two aspects: (1) The quality of the education is to be the same at all schools, independent of geographical location or provider. (2) A fair grading process of the pupil’s achievements that follows the rule of law.The source material for the study consists of the web-based magazine Skolvärlden which is run by the teacher union Lärarnas Riksförbund. The magazine was chosen as the teacher union has developed a political program to tackle the equality and equity problems in the Swedish school. The research questions for the empirical examination are the following: (1) How is the debate about equality and equity in education described and constructed during 2018 in Skolvärlden? (2) What needs are to be fulfilled and what solutions are proposed by Skolvärlden to ensure an increase of the equity and equality in the Swedish school?The questions are inspired by framing theory which is used as a theoretical framework to explain the correlation between the answers to each question. To achieve this, the study uses a content analysis combined with a narrative analysis. Based on the analysis, the study answers a third question: (3) In which manners can the debate about equity and equality in Skolvärlden be an expression of ideas about justice, the governing of the school system and the school’s role in society? To reveal ideas about justice, John Rawls’ A theory of justice is applied to the public debate about equity and equality in education and the Swedish curriculum to create a theoretical framework.The study shows that the debate is constructed and described in a way that the political program proposed by Lärarnas Riksförbund appears as a perfect solution. The shaped narrative consists of decisionmakers who remain passive while teachers decry conditions for teaching and demand better terms to provide every pupil with quality education. While arguments about the situation for teachers appear, the emphasis lays on the consequences for the pupils. It is them, the articles claim, who are affected by the dreadful working conditions and lousy leadership. The proposed solution is a reformed school system which is governed and financed by the state instead of the current decentralized model.

With this essay, I’m reviewing with a narrative analysis, describing in what way the standards of feminism, bisexuality and non-monogomy is being represented in the movie Puccini for beginners. I’m reviewing this in support of a queer and straight time. As a complement for queer and straight time, I’m presenting different theoretical concepts, which are useful for the analyze of feminism, bisexuality and non-monogamy. The analyze is based on the categories of Labov. In which way the narritve is constructed, as well as in what way feminism, bisexuality and non-monogamy are being represented. Finally I’m summing-up how I answered my questions regarding straight and queer time in perspective of feminism, bisexuality and non-monogamy.

Abstrakt  Bakgrund: Sexuell ohälsa och våldsutsatthet är vanligt bland ungdomar och kan få allvarliga hälso-och beteendemässiga konsekvenser för unga kvinnor och män. Ungdomsmottagningarnas centrala mål är att främja sexuell och reproduktiv hälsa. Barnmorskors roll innebär bland annat att upptäcka ungdomar med sexuellt riskbeteende och våldsutsatthet. Motiv: Utmaningen i barnmorskors dialog med ungdomar är att få dem att dela med sig av negativa erfarenheter vilket sällan sker spontant. Därav utvecklades bedömningsverktyget SEXIT för att underlätta kommunikationen mellan barnmorskor och ungdomar. Studier i norra Sverige saknas angående barnmorskors upplevelse av bedömningsverktyget SEXIT. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att narrativt undersöka hur barnmorskor på ungdomsmottagning upptäcker och bemöter risk- eller våldsutsatta ungdomar innan, under och efter implementering av bedömningsverktyget SEXIT. Metod: En kvalitativ intervjustudie genomfördes med sex barnmorskor. Intervjuerna analyserades enligt Riessman’s sätt att bilda en narrativ metaberättelse där intervjuerna kodades och tematiserades. Genusperspektiv användes som inspiration.  Resultat: Analysprocessen resulterade i fem narrativa teman som presenterades i en bestämd tidsordning. Första temat, Förtroendeingivande barnmorskor med ambition att fånga upp våldsutsatthet där frågor om våld tappas bort, handlade om hur de fångade upp våld och risktagande innan SEXIT. Tema två, SEXIT en ögonöppnare i teorin men svårare att implementera i praktiken, avser hur barnmorskorna upplevde kursen, resterande tre teman, SEXIT - innebär både motstånd och möjligheter, Tiden - en grundläggande förutsättning för att upptäcka våldsutsatthet och risktagande bland ungdomar, att rutinmässigt utfråga unga kan avslöja sexuell ohälsa, innehöll narrativ som handlade om motstånd, möjligheter, utmaningar som kunde bidra till att upptäcka ungdomar med sexuell ohälsa. Konklusion: Innan SEXIT intog barnmorskorna delvis en undvikande roll gällande riskbeteenden och erfarenhet av våld. Efter SEXIT intog barnmorskorna en mer aktiv roll med direkta frågor baserat på det ifyllda SEXIT-underlaget. SEXIT kan vara ett användbart verktyg, men narrativen tyder på ett visst motstånd mot användning vid dropp-in. / Abstract  Background: Sexual risk taking and violence are common among adolescents and can have serious health and behavioral consequences for them. The youth clinics' central goal is to promote sexual and reproductive health. The role of midwives includes, among other things, detecting adolescence with sexual risk behavior and exposure to violence. Motive: The challenge in midwives' dialogue with adolescence to make them share negative experiences, which rarely happens spontaneously. From this, the SEXIT assessment tool was developed to facilitate communication between midwives and adolescents. Studies in northern Sweden are lacking regarding experience of the assessment tool SEXIT. Aim: The aim was to narratively investigate how midwives at youth clinics discover and meet with at-risk or violent adolescence before, during and after implementation of the SEXIT assessment tool.   Methods: A qualitative interview study was conducted with six midwives. The interviews were analysed according to Riessman's method of forming a narrative meta-narrative where the interviews were coded and thematized. Gender perspective was used as inspiration. Result: The analysis identified five narrative themes presented chronologically. The first theme, "Confidence-inspiring Midwives," focused on midwives detecting violence issues before SEXIT. Theme two, "SEXIT: Theory verses Practice," explored the challenges of implementing SEXIT in real-life situations. The remaining three themes, "SEXIT: Resisting and Embracing," "Time: Essential for Detecting Violence among Adolescence," and "Routine Questioning Reveals Sexual Health Issues in Adolescence," discussed narratives on resistance, opportunities, and challenges in uncovering sexual health concerns in adolescents. Conclusion: Before SEXIT, the midwives partly assumed an avoidant role regarding risk behaviours and experience of violence. After SEXIT, the midwives took a more active role with direct questions based on the SEXIT assessment tool. It can be a useful tool, but the narrative signifies resistance to use SEXIT during drop-in.

This study aims to examine how the generation of young adults who grew up in a digital society relate to algorithms that control them on Spotify, how they experience the personification on the platform and how the algorithms affect their flows. The purpose is also to investigate how young people experience and relate to the effects of Spotify's algorithms.  The survey is based on six in-depth qualitative interviews conducted with young adults aged 20-30, that have been transcribed, discussed and analyzed using a thematic narrative analysis. The purpose of the study has been formulated according to the interview guide and the thematic narrative analysis. Results and analysis have been merged and there the respondents' intersubjective opinions and values are connected with the theoretical framework.  The results show that users believe that algorithms mainly have had a positive impact on their music consumption. The majority of the respondents described that they prefer the custom-made playlists on Spotify (created by algorithms), and that they like to be presented with personalized content. However, few respondents stated that they notice or are aware that the algorithms control them, which means they are being guided towards certain music preferences without being aware of it. This will further be analyzed with the help of previous research and the theoretical framework. / Denna studie ämnar undersöka hur den generation unga vuxna som vuxit upp i ett digitaliserat samhälle förhåller sig till de algoritmer som styr dem på Spotify, hur de upplever personifieringen på plattformen och hur algoritmerna påverkar deras flöden. Syftet är att undersöka och belysa hur unga vuxna upplever och förhåller sig till effekterna av Spotifys algoritmer i kontext till deras musikkonsumtion.  Undersökningen baseras på sex stycken utförda kvalitativa djupintervjuer med unga vuxna i åldrarna 20-30 år som studerar vid Uppsala Universitet. Djupintervjuerna har transkriberats, kodats och därefter analyserats med hjälp av tematisk narrativ analys. Kapitlet för resultat och analys är hopslagna och där sammankopplas respondenternas narrativ beståendes av deras upplevelser och värderingar ihop med det teoretiska ramverket. Uppsatsen avslutas med ett avsnitt innehållandes slutdiskussion där även tidigare forskning vävs in.  Resultatet visar att användare anser att algoritmer i huvudsak haft en positiv påverkan på deras musikkonsumtion. Majoriteten av respondenterna i denna studie beskriver att de föredrar Spotifys färdiggjorda spellistor (som skapats av algoritmer), och att de gärna tar del av ett personifierat innehåll. Problematiken är dock att få av respondenter utger sig för att vara fullt medvetna om algoritmerna och hur de styr dem, vilket innebär en risk att de lotsas mot vissa musikpreferenser utan att vara medvetna om det. Detta analyseras därför vidare med hjälp av tidigare forskning samt studiens teoretiska ramverk och nyckelbegrepp.

Syfte och frågeställningar: Det övergripande syftet handlar om att undersöka hur villkoren för killars och mäns deltagande i ridsportverksamheter gestaltas i berättelser om ridsport. Annorlunda uttryckt är jag intresserad av hur kön konstrueras, eller ”görs”, i killars och mäns ridsportberättelser. Centrala frågeställningar är: Hur hanteras killarnas och männens könsgränsöverskridande i berättelserna? Vilka normer och föreställningar kring kön och sexualitet blir synliga i berättelserna? Hur positionerar sig killarna och männen i förhållande till rådande köns- och sexualitetsnormer? Metodologi: Studien bygger på kvalitativa intervjuer med 19 killar och män, 13 till 55 år gamla, aktiva på såväl bredd som tävlingsnivå i verksamheter knutna till Svenska Ridsportförbundet. I ett första analyssteg genomfördes en narrativ analys, där fem berättelser – eller narrativ – konstruerades. Dessa illustrerar på olika sätt centrala teman, erfarenheter och problematiker i intervjupersonernas berättelser. I ett andra analyssteg gjordes en feministisk poststrukturell läsning av de fem narrativen. Resultat och diskussion: Sammanfattningsvis verkar det som att deltagandet i en kvinnligt kodad idrott som ridsporten kan öppna upp för andra, och mindre stereotypa, sätt att vara kille än traditionellt manligt kodade idrotter. Eftersom den vardagliga verksamheten innehåller både sådant som (i vår kultur) brukar definieras som kvinnligt, exempelvis omsorg, kommunikation och lyhördhet, och sådant som brukar definieras som manligt, exempelvis handlingskraft, styrka och mod, får man som kille (och tjej) möjlighet att inta såväl feminint som maskulint kodade positioner. På detta sätt utmanas dominerande diskurser om hur tjejer och killar, män och kvinnor ”är”. Samtidigt måste man som kille inom ridsporten förhålla sig till det omgivande samhällets syn på ridning som en ”tjejsport” liksom till en heteronormativ särartsdiskurs enligt vilken killar inom ridsporten är tävlings-, prestations- och målinriktade, inte gillar att pyssla med hästarna och tycker att det bästa med ridsporten är tjejerna. Det verkar göra att det kan bli extra viktigt att betona maskulinitet – och framförallt heterosexualitet – för att visa att man trots allt är en ”normal” kille. Bögen blir här en form av ”gränsvakt”, en stereotyp som både möjliggör och begränsar, men som framförallt synliggör en heteronormativ ordning. / Aim: The overall aim is to investigate how conditions of boys and men’s participation in equestrian sports activities are framed in stories about equestrian sports. In other words I´m interested in the construction of gender, or the ‘doing of gender’, in boys and men´s stories about equestrian sports. Research questions are: How is the gender bending of the boys and men treated in the stories– both inside and outside equestrian sports? Which norms and representations about gender and sexuality are visible in the stories? How do the boys and men position themselves in relation to prevailing gender- and sexuality norms? Methodology: 19 boys and men, between the ages of 13 and 55, active on different levels in the Swedish Equestrian Sports Federation, were interviewed in the study. In a first step, a narrative analysis was conducted. Five narratives, illustrating central themes and experiences in the informants´ stories were constructed. In a second step a feminist post-structuralist reading of the five narratives was carried out. Results and discussion: The results indicate that participation in female-coded sports, like equestrian sports, can open up to other and less stereotypical ways of being a boy or man than participation in sports traditionally seen as masculine. Since the everyday activities contains both elements that we usually (in our culture) define as female, for example care, communication and sensitivity and elements we usually define as male, for example initiative, strength and courage, boys get the opportunity to practice assumed feminine as well as assumed masculine positions. In this way dominant discourses about boys and girls and men and women – how they “are” and what they like – are challenged. At the same time the stories make visible that boys and men in equestrian sports have to relate to the surrounding society’s view of horse riding as a “girl sport” and to heteronormative gender discourses in which men in equestrian sports are competitive and goal oriented, don’t like to cuddle with horses and think that the best thing with horse riding is the girls. It seems as if one strategy for handling this is to emphasize masculinity – and especially heterosexuality – to show that you in spite of everything are a “normal” guy. In this way the “fag” becomes a sort of “border agent” – a stereotype that both allows and restricts, but above all makes visible a heteronormative order. / <p>Uppsatsen tilldelades stipendiemedel ur Överste och Fru Adolf Johnssons fond för VT 2014.</p>

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.