Recent years have produced an influx of popular documentaries of Indian gurus who founded transnational spiritual communities and became embroiled in various forms of controversy. One example of this is Wild Wild Country, a 2018 Netflix documentary that depicts the rise and fall of a spiritual community, started by an Indian guru named Osho (1931-1990) in a failed attempt to build a utopian commune in Oregon. American representations of Asian religious figures have historically been a complex, and often prejudiced, affair. This thesis will attempt to assert the best fit theoretical framework with which to interpret Wild Wild Country, between Edward Said's Orientalism and J. J. Clarke's Affirmative Orientalism. Alongside these frameworks, the thesis will incorporate the theoretical framework of Virtual Orientalism by Jane Iwamura, and scholarly analyses of Osho from Marion Goldman and Hugh Urban. My thesis will explore the documentary's representations of Hinduism, race, sexuality, capitalism, and culture. The original contribution of the project will be an analysis of Osho in the primary source material Wild Wild Country. Utilizing the postcolonial scholarship produced by scholars such as Edward Said, Richard King, and Jane Iwamura, as well as the alternative framework of Affirmative Orientalism used by J.J. Clarke, the project will attempt to dissect the American media representation of the "mystic East" broadly, and of the Hindu religious leader Osho, specifically.

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The aim of this study is to examine the collection One Thousand and One Nights (also: The Arabian Nights) from a european perspective, by comparing different european translations. The study focuses on three translations into Swedish from different periods of time and how the tales have changed in the translation process - depending on the prevailing line of approach and Western perceptions of Eastern standards. The thesis of the study is that Eastern culture, from a Western perspective, has been seen as exotic and different but not as a high literary culture and that this view has affected the translations into european languages. The study shows, among other things, that Western culture is many times considered normative in the translations and that the translators often give their own voices a prominent role, also that common Western notions of the East affects the translations. The word ”orientalism” is used frequently in the study and it refers primarily to the image of the Orient as it is described in Edward Saids' book Orientalism: as a Western construction whose main purpose is to strengthen its own conception of the Orient and thereby strengthen the Western identity as better than the Orient. The study shows, with basis in Saids' Orientalism, that the translation of One Thousand and One Nights often serves as a filter for Western beliefs and a fulfillment of expectations that already exist.

This thesis aims to shed light on the collection of Oriental manuscripts at the Uppsala University Library Carolina Rediviva and how the collection is a part of the collective memory. The main question which is central for this thesis is: have orientalism and structures of power influenced the acquisition, arrangement and methods of accessability regarding the Oriental manuscripts? If yes, in what way and why? If no, how has this been avoided? The theoretical framework consists of four approaches: phenomenology, sociology of knowledge, orientalism and power which are applied to the archival concept of collective memory. The main source of material consists of three parts: the historical texts which gives an informational framework regarding the time and place in which the manuscripts were collected, the catalogues in which the manuscripts are described and the transcripted interviews alongside correspondence. Methodologically the thesis is based upon a qualitative method which also partly makes up the foundation for the main material. The methods used are interviews and text studies of manuscript catalogues, historical texts and exhibition catalogues. The usage of manuscript catalogues was, due to the limited time, restricted to one which is written in English, as for the informants they are limited to three. The result of this study shows that the historical foundation on which the Oriental manuscript collection came into existance rests on a basis consisting of orientalism and power structures. This foundation is somewhat reproduced in time and in some ways current regarding the arrangement and methods of accessability both in historical and contemporary approaches.

This thesis analyses the works of Sir John Malcolm (1769-1833) as key texts in the intellectual history of the formation of British India. It is concerned less with Malcolm's widely acknowledged role as a leading East India Company administrator and more with the unparalleled range of influential books that he wrote on imperial and Asian topics between 1810 and his death in 1833. Through the publication of nine major works, numerous pamphlets and articles and a few volumes of poetry, Malcolm established his reputation as an authority in three major areas. Firstly, the Sketch of the Political History of India (1811) and the posthumously published Life of Robert Lord Clive (1836) remained major sources on the history of the founding of the British empire in India for much of the nineteenth century. Through these histories, he wove the anxieties of the Company's solider-diplomats of the early nineteenth into the narrative of the Company's rise as an imperial power. With the History of the Sikhs (1810) and, to a far greater extent, the History of Persia (1815), Malcolm sealed his reputation as a path-finding orientalist making an early contribution to European knowledge of India's north-west frontier. Lastly, Malcolm's Memoir of Central India (1823), which analysed the history of the region from the rise of the Marathas to the British conquest in 1818, is one of the most sophisticated and politically significant examples of British efforts to construct an Indian past that accounted for British imperial control in the present. This study's detailed examination of his works provides an invaluable insight into how British imperial mentalities in the period before 1857 were shaped by the interplay between trends and events in India and Britain on the one hand and the competing historiographical and political traditions current among British imperial administrators on the other. It demonstrates that British thinking on India was far from unified and was often characterised less by a desire to formulate an ideology for rule – even if this was its eventual effect – and more by bitter divisions between imperial administrators. Malcolm's need to counter the arguments of his opponents among the Court of Directors in the decade after Governor General Wellesley's departure in 1806 and his resistance to more radical commentators on India like James Mill in the 1820s, shaped his writing. Malcolm's influence and the range of topics he wrote about make him an ideologue of empire and a pioneer of British orientalism and the historiography of British India. Malcolm's body of works is the most comprehensive and prominent example of how the British responded intellectually to their empire in India in the generation after the Trial of Warren Hastings and before the first Anglo-Afghan war.

Den här undersökningen gjordes för att ta reda på om svensk flyktingrapportering ändrades efter det att Sverige införde gränskontroller den 12 november 2015. Syftet var att se om rapporteringen ändrades när det politiska läget och opinionen ändrades, men även att generellt se hur flyktingrapporteringen ser ut. Både kvantitativ och kvalitativ undersökning gjordes. I den kvantitativa undersökningen jämfördes 50 artiklar från september 2015 med 50 artiklar från januari 2015. Variablerna togs fram bland annat med hjälp av gestaltningsteorin och orientalism, som båda är delar av undersökningens teoretiska ramverk. Sedan undersöktes artiklarna kvalitativt genom en kombinerad diskurs- och framinganalys för att på ett djupare plan ta reda på hur flyktingfrågan och flyktingar beskrivs. Resultaten ger en indikation på att det skett en förändring mellan september 2015 och januari 2016. Flyktingarna beskrevs bland annat mer frekvent som passiva, och mer sällan som individer. Mer generellt visar resultaten att flyktingarna oftast beskrevs som en grupp utan någon identitet. Adjektiv som kan väcka identifikation användes sällan för att beskriva flyktingarna. De beskrevs istället med adjektiv som ensamkommande och asylsökande. Den mest förekommande benämningen på flyktingar var just ordet flyktingar, följt av flyktingbarn och asylsökande. Flyktingarna beskrivs ofta som passiva i artiklarna, och de citeras sällan. De som citeras mest i artiklarna är myndighetspersoner och politiker. Dessa resultat pekar på att svenska journalister, omedvetet eller medvetet, skapar en bild av verkligheten där orientalismens mönster av världen finns kvar. Det skapas en gräns mellan ”vi svenskar” och ”de där flyktingarna”. Denna gräns förstärktes efter gränskontrollernas införande. / The aim of this study was to find out whether Swedish news reports on refugees changed after border controls were enforced on the 12th of November 2015, and thereby investigate if the changed political policies had any effect in the news reporting. Another aim was to study the general patterns in the news. Both qualitative and quantitative researches were made. Regarding the quantitative research, 50 articles from September 2015 were compared with 50 articles from January 2016. The variables were designed by means of framing theory and orientalism, both being parts of the theory framework of this study. Then the articles were analyzed qualitatively with a combined discourse and framing analysis to find out on a deeper level how refugees and the refugee situation in Sweden were described. The results indicate that there has been a change in the reporting between September 2015 and January 2016. The refugees were more frequently described as passive, and more seldom as individuals. More general, the results illustrated that, in most cases, refugees are described as a group without an identity. Identity-generating adjectives were sporadically used to describe them. Instead, they were associated to adjectives like ensamkommande (unaccompanied) and asylsökande (~asylum seeker). The most common word to describe refugees was flyktingar (refugees), followed by flyktingbarn (refugee children) and asylsökande (asylum seekers). Most frequently quoted people in the articles were government officials as well as politicians. These results indicate that Swedish journalists, consciously or not, are creating a picture of the world were the lines of orientalism still persist. A demarcation line between “us swedes” and “those refugees” is created. This line became more distinct after border controls were enforced.

Den här studiens syfte är att undersöka hur Ryssland framställs diskursivt i Aftonbladet i samband med den svenska återmilitariseringen av Gotland och om en orientalistisk diskurs kan skönjas i Aftonbladets nyhetsförmedling. Detta i sin tur bidrar till teoretisering kring rådande världshegemoni och om den kan påverka hur journalister genomför sitt arbete. För att kunna utläsa Aftonbladets konstruktioner används kritisk diskursanalys (CDA) som teori och metod. Det teoretiska ramverket utgår ifrån kritisk diskursanalys som teori och Edward Saids postkoloniala teori orientalism. Studiens frågeställningar är ställda för att ta reda på hur Ryssland konstrueras diskursivt i Aftonbladet, hur olika språkliga resurser används i konstrueringen av Ryssland och inom vilka diskursiva teman Ryssland framställs ur ett orientalistiskt perspektiv. Studiens metod grundar sig i analysbegrepp hämtade från CDA som gör det möjligt att analysera det empiriska materialet utifrån Aftonbladets språkanvändning. De analyserade språkliga resurserna i materialet delas in i fyra olika diskursiva teman. Det första temat är Ryssland som militärt överlägsna, det andra temat är Ryssland som provokativa, det tredje temat är Ryssland som oberäkneliga och det fjärde och mest prominenta temat är Ryssland som motpol till Väst. Studiens resultat antyder att en orientalistisk diskurs kan skönjas genom dessa fyra teman. / This study aims to examine how Russia is constructed discursively in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet in connection to the re-militarization of the Swedish island Gotland, and if an Orientalistic discourse can be discerned in the coverage. This in turn contributes to theorizing about how the current global hegemony may affect the journalistic profession. To find semiotic patterns in Aftonbladet we used critical discourse analysis (CDA) as the theory and method. The theoretical framework is based on critical discourse analysis theory and Edward Said's postcolonial theory of Orientalism. The questions in this study are asked to find out how Russia is constructed discursively in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, how different linguistic resources are used in constructing Russia and in what discursive themes Russia is fabricated from an oriental perspective. The study's methodology is based on analysis concepts drawn from CDA that makes it possible to analyze the empirical material based upon Aftonbladet’s use of language. The analysed linguistic resources in the material fall into four different discursive themes. The first theme is Russia as militarily superior, the second theme is Russia as provocative, the third theme is Russia as erratic and the fourth and most prominent theme is Russia as the antithesis of the West. The study's results suggest that an oriental discourse may be discerned through these four themes.

The essay aims to study how Islam is presented in the teaching and how these representations are interpreted based on Edward Said's theory of Orientalism and Mattias Gardell's theory of Islamophobia. Said's theory is based on a "we" and "them" perspective where Said believes that ideas have been created that represent the Orient or the Middle East, the Arab and Islam in a way where the West becomes its counterpart. Islamophobia is about perceptions that Islam would be a repressive, aggressive, and combative religion. The study has a qualitative approach that is based on five interviews with teachers who teach religious knowledge. Three teachers teach at the upper secondary school and two teachers teach at the high school. These teachers are not representative of all teachers throughout Sweden. In addition to interviews, observations have also been carried out in a class on two occasions at a high school. The pupils in the class are studying their third year at the upper secondary school, where all the students are over 18 years old and read a vocational preparation program. The result shows that there are many prejudices among students about Islam and that the teachers feel that Islam is the most difficult subject to teach about in the religious education. The reason why it is a complicated subject to talk about in the religious education is because Islam is a controversial subject today that is being raised in the media. The result shows that teachers' teaching on Islam is based on the representations that appear in the media. The teachers claim that the media depicts Islam and Muslims in a negative way, which results in many people perceiving Islam as a woman oppressive, male-dominated, aggressive, and combative religion. / Uppsatsen syftar till att studera hur islam framställs i undervisningen samt hur dessa framställningar tolkas utifrån Edward Saids teori om Orientalism och Mattias Gardells teori Islamofobi. Saids teori grundar sig i ett ”vi” och ”dem” perspektiv där Said menar att det har skapats föreställningar som framställer Orienten eller Mellanöstern, araben samt islam på ett sätt där västerlandet blir dess motbild. Islamofobi handlar om uppfattningar om att islam skulle vara en förtryckande, aggressiv och stridslysten religion. Studien har en kvalitativ ansats som bygger på fem intervjuer med lärare som undervisar i religionskunskap. Tre lärare undervisar på högstadiet och två lärare undervisar på gymnasiet. Dessa lärare är inte representativa för alla lärare i hela Sverige. Utöver intervjuer har det även genomförts observationer i en klass vid två tillfällen på en gymnasieskola. Eleverna i klassen går tredje året på gymnasiet där samtliga elever är över 18 år gamla och läser ett yrkesförberedande program. Resultatet visar att det förekommer många fördomar bland elever om islam och att lärarna upplever att islam är det svåraste ämnet att undervisa om i religionskunskapen. Anledningen till att det är ett komplicerat ämne att tala om i undervisningen är för att islam är ett kontroversiellt ämne idag som aktualiseras i media. Resultatet visar att lärarnas undervisning om islam har sin utgångspunkt i de framställningar som framkommer i media. Lärarna hävdar att media gestaltar islam och muslimer på ett negativt sätt, vilket leder till att många människor uppfattar islam som en kvinnoförtryckande, mansdominerad, aggressiv och stridslysten religion.

The purpose of writing this essay has been to find out what shape yoga has been given in Stockholm, as social processes have left their mark. With a mixed method we've performed a qualitative research to figure out how people reason regarding the subject and how the discourse forms by the active community. We have interviewed people who either teach yoga or performs yoga on a daily basis. We have also analyzed webpages belonging to yoga studios which are active in Stockholm. The central theories have been Durkheim’s theory about the holy and profane, also his theory about the ritual which has been reworked by Collins who added the theory about the symbol. McLeod’s theory about postcolonialism and Said’s theories about orientalism, exotification and the positioned superiority, has together with Askegaard and Eckhardt’s theory about the shapes of yoga also been important in this thesis. We have discovered that yoga has been shaped into two forms; a holiness which the yoga performers finds within themselves and the second form: a product of consumption which modifies to fit the market. / Syftet med att skriva denna uppsats är att ta reda på vad yoga har fått för form i Stockholm allteftersom sociala processer satt sin prägel. Vi har med blandad kvalitativ metod utfört en undersökning för att ta reda på hur centrala aktörer själva resonerar samt hur diskursen formas av aktörer. Vi har utfört intervjuer med personer som är aktiva som yogalärare alternativt utövar yoga på daglig basis. Vi har även utfört analyser av hemsidor tillhörande yogastudios som är verksamma i Stockholm. De teorier som varit centrala i arbetet är Durkheims teori om det heliga och det profana, samt hans teori om ritualen vilken utarbetats av Collins som även adderat teorin om symboler. Ytterligare teorier som varit centrala är McLeods beskrivning av den postkoloniala värld vi lever i, tillsammans med Saids teori om orientalism, exotifiering och den västerländska positionerade överlägsenheten. Slutligen har vi använt Askegaard och Eckhardts teorier om yogans skepnader. Vår studie resulterade i att vi identifierat två former yoga fått i Stockholm, ena formen är yoga som helighet utövare upplever inom sig och den andra formen är yoga som konsumtionsprodukt med exotiska inslag vilken anpassar sig efter marknaden.

Denna studie utfördes med syfte att studera hur andra generationens invandrare i Sverige upplever representationen i västerländska TV-serier och huruvida deras verklighetsbild kring landet överstämde med det fiktiva. Studien analyseras utifrån ett postkolonialt perspektiv med teorier som inkluderar Orientalism, representation och stereotyper. Frågeställningen grundade sig i huruvida dessa intervjupersoner kände sig representerade och om bilden av kulturen och landet var rättvist gestaltad samt hur de upplevde serierna kontra verkligheten. Metoden som användes för att besvara frågeställningen var kvalitativa intervjuer där resultatet visade att intervjupersonernas verklighet upplevelser inte stämde överens med vad som visats i serierna då mycket utav det som framställt var enligt deras tolkningar konstruerade stereotyper. / This study was conducted with the purpose of studying how the second generation of immigrants in Sweden experience the representation in western television series and how their reality image of the country overlooked the fictive. The study is analyzed based on postcolonial perspectives and theories that include representation, orientalism and stereotypes. The aim was based on whether or not these interviewees felt represented and if the image of the culture and the country were fairly visualized and how they experienced the series vs reality. The method used to answer the question was qualitative interviews where the results showed that the actual experiences of the interviewees did not match with what was shown in the series. Based on their interpretations a big part of the series was constructed by stereotypes.