This thesis looks at the construction of China as a security threat in the United Kingdom, through the theoretical lens of techno-Orientalism. The main argument is that techno-Orientalist ideas influence the Western perception of China as a security threat, which leads to the creation of certain fears regarding China which affects the identity creation of both the United Kingdom and China. Techno-Orientalism shows how the West perceives itself as losing its grip on modernity, and thus the future; the East is being perceived as the producers of technology which lead to the opposite of the desired Western liberal humanism. Thus, the East is on its way to take over modernity and turn it into a technological oppressive future. These ideas influence how the United Kingdom perceives China as a security threat, and this is shown through a Foucauldian-inspired discourse analysis of debates in the British Parliament.

What does the media discourse of the refugee look like and what impact does it have on people's views of refugees? By interviewing five informants from a small village in Ångermanland, I have investigated how they view the media discourse about the refugee and how this media image affects their own contact and view of refugees. During the years 2013-now, the village's population increased by about 55% and they have all interacted a lot with the refugees. How does, the often negative media image affect them and their interaction with the refugees, and what does the media image do to our view of refugees? And, in the end, what my informants think weighs most, what we get conveyed through the media or the real meetings in the village.

I denna fallstudie har vi undersökt hur en krigsfilm kan använda sig av olika gestaltningar och representationer av “vi och dem” och därför riskerar att sprida propaganda och därigenom även potentiellt påverka dagordningen genom att påverka den rådande diskursen. Vi valde filmen American Sniper som empiriskt material då den är baserad på verkliga händelser och att vi därför kan se huruvida detta påverkar möjligheten att använda spelfilm för att potentiellt påverka diskursen. Genom användandet av en multimodal kritisk diskursanalys har vi tittat närmare på innehållet och maktrelationerna i filmen, för att slutligen kunna besvara följande frågeställningar:  Hur representeras och gestaltas “vi och dem” genom orientalism, nationalism och patriotism i innehållet?  Hur fungerar dessa fenomen tillsammans för att skapa ett innehåll som kan upplevas som propagerande?  Hur fungerar dessa fenomen tillsammans för att skapa en diskurs som potentiellt kan påverka dagordningen?  Analysen lutar sig mot ett teoretiskt ramverk bestående av representationsteori, gestaltningsteori, “vi och dem”, orientalism, patriotism, nationalism, propaganda och dagordningsteori. Studien analyserar scener från filmen valda utefter den anglosaxiska dramaturgiska kurvan. Genom att använda oss av analyskategorierna lexikala val, visuella val, narrativa strukturer och sociala aktörer tittar vi närmare på gestaltning och representation för att upptäcka olika framställningar av “vi och dem” i form av orientalism, nationalism och patriotism för att kunna besvara den första frågeställningen. I diskussionen redogör vi för hur dessa fenomen potentiellt skulle kunna ha inflytande över dagordning och att det med hjälp av olika strategier även kan sprida mjuk propaganda, vilket besvarar den andra och tredje frågeställningen. Resultatet i studien sammanfattas med att “vi och dem” gestaltas genom ofördelaktiga gestaltningar och en brist på individualitet vilket visar på orientalistiska diskurser i filmen. Detta, ihop med enbart positiva skildringar av de egna i filmen, visar upp nationalistiska drag. Genom hela filmen finns en känsla av patriotism genom huvudpersonens brinnande kärlek för sitt land och sin vilja att dö för att skydda det. Genom dessa gestaltningar blir innehållet i filmen vinklat på ett fördelaktigt sätt för USA och tack vare att filmen blev en biosuccé och fick stort erkännande i filmkretsar så kan innehållet komma att påverka diskursen och eventuellt även dagordningen. Därigenom tillåts det propagandistiska och vinklade innehållet att spridas till amerikanska invånare såväl som resterande delar av världen. / In this case study we have examined how a war movie can use different types of framings and representations of “us and them” and therefore run the risk of spreading propaganda and thereby potentially influence the agenda. We chose the movie American Sniper as our empirical material because it is based upon true events and real persons and we can therefore expect to see how this potentially affects the ability to influence the public opinion. Through the use of a multimodal critical discourse analysis we have looked closer on the movie’s content and the power relations within the movie to be able to answer our question at issue:   How does the movie represent and frame “us and them” through the use of orientalism, nationalism and patriotism?  How do this phenomenon work together to create  a content that could be seen as  propagandistic?  How do these phenomena work together to create a discourse that could potentially influence the agenda?   The theoretical framework used in the analysis consists of representation theory, framing theory, orientalism, “us and them”, patriotism, nationalism, propaganda and agenda setting theory. The study analyzes scenes from the movie chosen from the building stones of the classical dramaturgy. By applying the analaysis categories of lexical choices visual choices, narrative structure and social actors can we take a closer look at the framing and representation to discover different fabrications of  “us and them” in the form of orientalsim, nationalism and patriotism to be able to answer the first question at issue.  In the discussion we have given an account of these phenomena’s influence over the agenda setting and how they, with the help of different strategies, could spread “soft propaganda”, which answers the second question at issue. The result of the study can be summarized with the facts that “us and them” appears through the use of disadvantageous portrayals and the lack of individuality which shows the orientalistic discourses in the movie. This, combined with only positivistic depiction of “us” in the movie, shows nationalistic features. Throughout the movie a feeling of patriotism is mediated through the main character’s love for his country and the fact that he is willing to die to protect it. Through these representations the content is framed in a way that is beneficial for the US. And because American Sniper became a blockbuster and got recognized in the film industry with several awards and nominations, the movie’s content can influence the discourse and furthermore perhaps the agenda. Through this the propagandistic content is distributed to American citizens as well as the rest of the world.

Med utgångspunkt i det förnyade politiska intresse för historieundervisningens innehåll, som följde på regeringens informationssatsning ”Levande historia”, undersöks bilden av 1900-talets folkmord i ett antal läroböcker i historia för gymnasiet från 1990-talet och början av 2000-talet, med särskild tonvikt på vilket urval författarna gör samt vilka förklaringar som presenteras till att de kunde äga rum. Även principerna för urvalet av det kunskapsstoff som förmedlas samt möjliga konsekvenser av detta diskuteras. Den kvalitativa textanalysen utgår från teoretiska begrepp som historiemedvetande och historiebruk, med vissa referenser till orientalismperspektiv som diskuterats i tidigare forskning. Undersökningen visar att styrdokumentens inflytande över läromedlens framställning har ökat sedan 1994 och att förändringen också tagit sig uttryck i en renodling av det europeiska perspektivet i urvalet samt i ett ökat intresse för i första hand Förintelsen, både före och efter 1997 då ”Levande historia” initierades. / With the renewed political interest in the content of history teaching in Sweden as a point of departure, this study deals with how the genocides of the 20th century are represented in Swedish history textbooks, aimed at pupils aged 16-19 years, from the 1990ies and the beginning of the 21st century. The analysis revolves around such theoretical concepts as history-awareness and uses of history, with certain references made to the concept of orientalism, that has been discussed in previous research. The study concludes that the influence of policy makers over the contents of the history textbooks has increased since 1994, which has resulted in a larger emphasis on the European perspective and the Holocaust.

This study examines the portrayal and representation of Islam in Swedish textbooks for religious education in grades 4–6. Through both a quantitative and qualitative image analysis, the aim is to investigate how five textbooks in religious education at an elementary school level present Islam. A qualitative analysis is conducted on the first image in each chapter of every textbook, which is supplemented by a quantitative survey of the remaining images. The research questions addressed in this study are: How are the different aspects of gender, clothing, and environment of Islam portrayed and represented in Swedish educational materials? Are there any similarities and differences in how Islam is portrayed in the various educational textbooks? Are there any specific Images or stereotypes about Islam that educational materials can contribute to reinforcing through Orientalist perspectives?  The results have shown that more men are portrayed than women in the analyzed textbooks. Additionally, women are consistently portrayed in oriental clothing which are completely covering, as well as wearing veils, and hijabs. The men tend to wear a more balanced style between Western clothing and occasionally, but less frequently, oriental clothing. Furthermore, the results indicate that the Eastern world is the dominant environment portrayed in all textbooks, with the Western world appearing significantly less. All five textbooks were vastly similar in this regard, with only a few differences, such as one textbook portraying men in oriental clothing to a greater extent than Western clothing. Apart from this instance, there were mostly similarities between the textbooks. This indicates that these textbooks may contribute to the reinforcing of stereotypes about Islam through the representations they provide of gender, clothing, and the environment of Islam. In this study, I will mainly base my analysis on Edward W Said’s theory of Orientalism.

The first volume of Histoire de la Turquie published in 1854 by the French writer Alphonse de Lamartine, is entirely dedicated to the life of Prophet Muhammed. This book raises issues which deserve to be examined in the light of Orientalism (1978) by Edward Said, who criticized the persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arabo-Islamic peoples and their culture. That is the main purpose of this study. Based on the premise that the character of Muhammed is portrayed posi-tively by Lamartine, we hypothesized that Histoire de la Turquie is a coun-terexample to the thesis of Said. In other words, rather than participating in the discourse of orientalism (the dominant discourse of West), this book marks a break from it by subverting the traditional image of the prophet of Islam. In order to test the hypothesis, we have adopted a comparative ap-proach, allowing the comparison between Lamartine’s discourse and orien-talist discourse. The concept of "subversion" which this study is based on has been bor-rowed from Richard Terdiman’s definition in his book Discourse/Counter-Discourse (1985): it means challenging the dominant discourse or the estab-lished values. To a lesser extent, this study relies on François Dosse’s Le pari biographique (2005) who considers that "writing a biography" is never neutral. Biographers always find pretexts for rehabilitation or demystifica-tion. Also behind every biography hides a project that needs to be clarified. On the basis of the results of this study, it can be concluded that Histoire de la Turquie is not a simple chronology of Muhammed’s life, but a commit-ted text against the dominant Western view of Islam and its founder. It marks a clear break from orientalist discourse by subverting it systematical-ly. This subversive rupture is expressed in the text by the challenging of preconceived ideas, by acts of derision, negation and rejection, and, most frequently, by inversion of values. This appears to be an attempt by Lamar-tine to restore the predominantly negative portrayal of Muhammed. Histoire de la Turquie is thus a counterexample to Said’s theory, which denies the West’s ability to overcome the prejudices against Islam. / Den första volymen av den franske författaren Alphonse de Lamartines Histoire de la Turquie som publicerades 1854 är helt ägnad åt profeten Mu-hammed liv. Denna bok ger upphov till frågor som förtjänar att granskas i ljuset av Orientalism (1978) av Edward Said, som kritiserade de ihållande eurocentriska fördomarna mot arabiska muslimer och deras kultur. Denna granskning är det huvudsakliga syftet med denna studie. Med utgångspunkt i att Muhammed porträtteras positivt av Lamartine är vår hypotes att Histoire de la Turquie utgör ett motexempel till Saids teori. I stället för att ligga i linje med orientalismens diskurs (den dominerande väs-terländska diskursen) intar hans bok ett helt annat förhållningssätt till den traditionella bilden av islams profet. För att testa hypotesen har vi valt en komparativ metod, vilket möjliggör jämförelsen mellan Lamartine diskurs och orientalistisk diskurs. Begreppet "subversion", som denna studie bygger på, har lånats av Ri-chard Terdiman. Hans definition i boken Discourse/Counter-discours (1985) innebär att det subversiva utmanar den dominerande diskursen eller de fast-slagna värderingarna. I mindre utsträckning baseras vår undersökning på Le pari biographique av François Dosse (2005), som anser att "att skriva en biografi" aldrig är någonting neutralt. Levnadstecknaren hittar alltid före-vändningar för rehabilitering eller avmystifiering. Således döljs bakom varje biografi ett projekt som måste klargöras. Resultatet av vår studie ger vid handen att Histoire de la Turquie inte är någon enkel kronologi över Muhammeds liv, utan en engagerad text som polemiserar mot den dominerande västerländska synen på islam och dess grundare. Lamartine bryter helt och hållet med orientalismens diskurs genom att systematiskt motsäga densamma. Denna subversiva ståndpunkt kommer till uttryck i texten antingen genom ett ifrågasättande av förutfattade me-ningar, eller genom ett förlöjligande, ett förnekande och ett tillbakavisande, men oftast genom en omkastning av värderingar. Detta förefaller vara ett försök av Lamartine att korrigera den övervägande negativa bilden av Mu-hammed. Histoire de la Turquie är alltså ett motexempel till Saids teori, som förnekar västvärldens förmåga att övervinna fördomarna mot islam.

This thesis is a critical examination of the „new vision‟ strategies that the Libyan government undertook in order to promote the deeper integration of the Libyan economy into the global economy of the Modern Orientalist World-System (MOWS). This process has been taking place since the lifting of the trade embargo on Libya by President Bush in April 2004. A crucial part of this new vision strategy was the promotion of human capital development amongst the Libyan population and with a particular emphasis upon English Language Acquisition (ELA). The argument, derived from neo-liberal thought, is that for Libya to transform itself it must embrace neo-liberal ideas that will see the government adopt the role of the enabling state, preparing Libyans for employment in a newly established private sector. ELA, the learning of what is called „global English‟, is the central part of the new vision human capital development goals. The assumption here is that by developing the English language skills of Libyans it will enhance their job prospects with foreign firms arriving in Libya. This strategy is being pursued in the aftermath of a state directed ban on the learning of English that was first decreed in 1986 and the consequences of which placed a significant obstacle in the way of the immediate employment prospects of a generation of young Libyan graduates. If the state developmental strategy now embraced by the Libyan government is to be successful then it must promote the rapid improvement in the second language skills of its young people (specifically „global English‟) if they are to take advantage of the opportunities offered by a newly opened economy. However, this strategy is fraught with dangers for the government as liberalising the Libyan economy weakens the control of the state over society. Thus the thesis addresses a number of key questions regarding the relationship between human capital (language skills) and the sociology of development; of human capital as a concept in the „modern Orientalist world-system‟; and the changing nature of state-society relations in Libya as the government attempts to integrate it more firmly into the MOWS. To what extent can the Libyan government transform its economy and society in a way that enhances its position in the MOWS rather than simply rendering it more dependent upon the power of the core?

Western scholars have since the colonial times been gathering knowledge about religious expressions outside the Western context. Representation of the “orient” have been widely influenced by the Western world’s interests and perceptions. Research today shows that Swedes tends to have fragmented attitudes towards various religions. While Buddhism is often met with widely positive attitudes, Islam is often met with negative attitudes. This study intends to examine if it's possible to identify differences in how Swedish textbooks portrays Islam and Buddhism. To achieve this, I’ve examined three textbooks with a qualitative content analysis, combined with a comparative perspective. The analysis shows that Islam is more frequently portrayed in conflicts than Buddhism and that Muslims are more often described as the driving force in conflicts compared to Buddhists. The analysis also shows that Islam is more frequently described in relation to issues concerning gender roles and sexuality compared to Buddhism. The majority of textbooks also tend to more often point to other factors than religion when portraying Buddhism and gender roles, such as social- and cultural factors.

Uppsatsen presenterar attityder och förhållningssätt gentemot tillfälliga äktenskap inom shiitisk islam hos sex svensk-iranska kvinnor. Empirin i uppsatsen bygger i huvudsak på fem djupintervjuer som genomfördes under hösten 2015. Med hjälp av begreppen orientalism, genus och agens som teoretiska och analytiska verktyg försöker jag i uppsatsen begripliggöra kvinnornas berättelser om tillfälliga äktenskap.

published_or_final_version / Humanities / Master / Master of Philosophy