In “Corpus Intactum,” I explore the possibility for the subversion of dominant orientalist narratives in Théophile Gautier’s short story “Le Pied de momie” and his later novel, “Le Roman de la momie”. I propose that Gautier’s works demonstrate the beginnings of colonialist critique, but that his capacity for subversion is ultimately hampered by the constraints of popular orientalist discourse. I argue, nevertheless, that through a figurative conflation of the feminine mummified body with the text that at once writes her and exists within her own narrative, Gautier is able to subvert the systems of domination within orientalist academic discourse. The body also becomes a site at which binaries are confronted and transcended. Finally, I explore the possibility for the creation of new marginal readings through the displacement of narrative perspective by comparing the effects of first-person narrative in “Le Pied de momie” with the impersonal, omniscient narration of “Le Roman de la momie.”

This dissertation analyzes the strategies that Spanish and Hispano-African authors employ when writing about Africa in the contemporary novel (1990-2010). Focusing on the former Spanish colonial territories of Morocco, Western Sahara, and Equatorial Guinea, I analyze the post-colonial literary discourse about these regions. This study examines the new ways of conceptualizing Africa that depart from an Orientalist framework as advanced by the novelists Lorenzo Silva, Concha López Sarasúa, Ramón Mayrata, María Dueñas, Fernando Gamboa, Montserrat Abumalham, Javier Reverte, Alberto Vázquez-Figueroa, and Donato Ndongo. Their works are representative of a recent trend in Spanish letters that signals a literary focus on Africa and the African Other. I examine these contemporary novels within their historical context, specifically engaging with the theoretical ideas of Edward Said’s Orientalism (1978), to determine to what extent his analysis of Orientalist discourse still holds value for a study of the Spanish novel of thirty years later. In addition, the work of theorists such as Gil Anidjar, Emmanuel Levinas, James C. Scott, Ryszard Kapuściński, Georges Van den Abbeele and Chandra Mohanty contribute to the analyses of specific works. These theorists provide a theoretical framework for my thesis that contemporary Spanish authors are writing Africa in ways that undermine and circumvent the legacy of Orientalist discourse. I seek to highlight the innovative approaches that these authors are taking towards their literary engagement with Africa. The imaginary that pertains to Africa has served an integral role in the history and creation of modern Spain, and it is illuminating to trace the influences that it continues to exert on Spanish writers. In the last thirty years, Spain’s relationship with Africa has dramatically changed through peace treaties, the independence of nations, migratory patterns, tourism, and in other substantial ways. Within this dissertation, I address these changes by focusing on literary representations of political engagement, gender issues, and travel to highlight how Africa is represented in light of these recent developments. As Spanish authors continue to engage with and to write about Africa, this study hopes to show that Orientalism is no longer a prevalent discourse in the contemporary Spanish novel.

<p>När Fadime Sahindal mördades av sin far i Uppsala startades en debatt om ”hedersmord” som i en nästan lavinartad form spred sig över hela landet. Debatten, som fördes i hela det mediala Sverige, fick snabbt uppdelning mellan två inriktningar vilka var en kulturbetonande samt en icke-kulturbetonande. Den kulturbetonande inriktningen menade att kulturella skillnader var det viktiga att fokusera på annars skulle invandrarkvinnors specifika problem osynliggöras, medan den icke-kulturbetonande inriktningen menade att ett universellt patriarkalt förtryck skulle vara i fokus, annars skulle vi spela främlingsfientliga krafter i händerna. Debatten låstes fast i denna polarisering mellan dessa två inriktningar. Syftet med denna uppsats är att, genom att studera debattens första fem månader, söka efter föreställningar som kan härledas till ett orientalistiskt ”vi” och ”dom” –tänkande för att finna inom ramen för vilken inriktning, kulturbetonad/icke-kulturbetonad, dessa föreställningar återfinns. Vidare har uppsatsen till syfte att se vilken relation dessa inriktningar har haft till varandra och vad i denna relation som föranlett en låsning i debatten. Uppsatsen tar sin utgångspunkt i Saids Orientalism och de föreställningar som ryms inom ramen för denna. Samt diskursanalysens metodologiska tillvägagångssätt.</p><p>Föreställningar som kan härledas till traditionella föreställningar inom Orientalism återfanns i båda kategorierna och är inte förbehållna den ena eller andra inriktningen, däremot återfanns majoriteten inom ramen för den kulturbetonande inriktningen. Relationen mellan de två inriktningarna präglades av en polemik där den ena inriktningens anhängare beskyller den andra inriktningens anhängare för att missgynna invandrare och vise versa. Inom denna relation har det uppstått en paradox där de båda inriktningarna lyckats trassla in sig och ej ta sig loss. Och det har varit detta som föranlett debattens låsning i dessa två inriktningar.</p>

This dissertation highlights the influence of the extension of Empire in India on Enlightenment in Scotland. It argues, consistently, that an ever increasing contact with the Eastern parts of Empire over the eighteenth century created productive tensions between the personal, material and intellectual worlds of the Edinburgh literati. Scottish thinkers stood in close contact to one another and congregated in the Select Society and the Poker Club. Beyond the domestic boundaries, they had practical and personal interests in contemporary events in the East Indies. All had relatives or acquaintances in India and were all correspondents of Sir John Macpherson, Governor-General of India (1785-6). The dissertation shows that a revision of civic humanism on the one hand and scientific Whiggism on the other, found their main dilemma in “luxury” and “despotism” respectively. Both of these concepts were intrinsically connected with the perception of India at the beginning of the eighteenth century. One of the outcomes of the literati’s personal and intellectual engagement with India was the different solutions for the regulation of Empire. Ferguson, following the tradition of civic humanism, argued for the importance of civic virtue in order to maintain Empire. His thoughts stood in stark contrast to Smith, Hume and particularly Robertson. Vigour, instead of civic virtue, needed to be developed and strengthened. No monolithic canon of how Empire could be sustained was developed by these men, but all were involved in squaring the circle of improvement through Empire. The constant interplay between domestic, cosmopolitan and imperial spheres suggests that Enlightenment had an imperial nature, which is highlighted in relation to the literati’s particular investigation of “luxury” and “despotism” and their positive perception of Nabobs. Moreover, the dissertation emphasises that Edinburgh associations can not only be viewed as pillars of Enlightenment in Scotland, but also as networks and the gateways to Empire from at least the 1760s. The evidence assembled suggests that men like Ferguson and Robertson were active players in a world which was intellectually and practically shaped by Empire.

The aim of this study was to examine discourses of two terror attacks conducted in Ankara and Paris and how they were represented in Swedish news media. By analysing the identified discourses the study investigated if the discourses constructed subjects as “we” and “otherness”, which means this study’s aim was to uncover ideological representations. The study examines a total of 16 articles. Critical discourse analysis constitutes the study’s methodological framework, combined with Michel Foucault’s perspective on discourse and how they regulate the construction of reality. The results show that the postcolonial discourse is reproduced and constructs “us” as a western society, whereas Turkey is not included and is therefore constructed as “the other”. The representations in Swedish news media regarding the reporting of the attacks in Paris offer identification for the reader, meanwhile Turkey is marginalized and constructed negatively as a country.

The aim of this bachelor thesis was to examine how Saudi Arabia is portrayed in Swedish press. This includes the largest newspapers from the major cities of Sweden as well as the larger newspapers from the less populated areas. Since a significant amount of news in these newspapers, especially those from the less populated areas, are provided from news agencies these were included in the study as well.  The questions examined were: which portrayals of Saudi Arabia is used in the Swedish press and how frequently are they recurring? Does the historic relationship between Europe and Islam effect contemporary portrayals of Saudi Arabia in Swedish press and, in that case, how? Do differences in portrayals occur depending on the relationship between Sweden and Saudi Arabia in the news context? To approach this we conducted a quantitative framing analysis. Three frames were first identified in a qualitative study. How frequently these frames were used was then analyzed with a quantitative approach. The news articles examined were published during two news events. In 2012 information regarding the military cooperation between Sweden and Saudi Arabia surfaced causing criticism towards the Swedish regime. In 2015 the Swedish regime decided to cancel said military cooperation. The study showed that the historic relationship between Europe and Islam does indeed effect the portrayal of Saudi Arabia in Swedish press today. Attributes commonly associated with post colonialism and orientalism such as Muslims as barbaric and highly conservative was found. The study also found portrayals of Saudi Arabia as increasingly powerful and that this, due to the aforementioned attributes, was highly problematic. The “power frame”, as we chose to call it, was the most commonly used frame in both news events. The “barbaric frame” and the “conservative frame” was more commonly used in a news context were Sweden and Saudi Arabia stood in a diplomatic conflict.

This study is a postcolonial literary analysis of Miika Nousiainen’s novel Hallonbåtsflyktingen from 2007. The aim is to analyse how Sweden and Finland, along with the Swedish and Finnish characters, are portrayed in the novel. Through a close norm-critical reading and with postcolonial theory as a basis, the content and characters in the novel have been analysed. The result shows that the Finnish characters are portrayed in stereotyped patterns and described in general forms. A dichotomy of “us” and “the others” is created in the novel. The Finnish characters and Finnish culture are described negatively and constantly contrasted with positive descriptions of Sweden and Swedes. If literature teaching in school gives pupils knowledge and skills in postcolonial reading of literature, they may learn to identify and analyse negative portrayals. This might makes it possible to break down their assumptions and prejudices, and instead they become critical individuals who act in a global context. By comparing how different nationalities and cultures are presented, pupils can potentially begin to reflect on themselves and their picture of the Other.

Byron’s women characters have typically been seen as, in Hazlitt’s early observation, ‘yielding slaves’. My study re-examines that assumption, finding instead, across Byron’s career, an abiding concern with the active individuality of women, and, more especially, with the creation of a specifically female form of heroism. Recent critical attention has discussed women in Byron’s poetry in general, notably Nigel Leask (British Romantic Writers and the East: Anxieties of Empire, 2004) and Susan Wolfson (Borderlines: The Shiftings of Gender in British Romanticism, 2006), but Byronic female heroism has gone unstudied. Caroline Franklin’s sociologically couched work (Byron’s Heroines, 1992) is one of the few to tackle the heroine, but she understands the term merely as ‘female protagonist’: my interest, by contrast, is in the development of a specific, new kind of gendered heroism. Byron’s representation of women takes shape within a number of discrete but inter-related discourses. The thesis examines the manner in which Byron engaged with previous literary and historical representations of proscribed gender roles. I remain alert to the literary heritage of Byron’s representation of female heroism, which extends beyond his own socio-historical context. The thesis is organised within the three major influences: (i) contemporary writings on gender and women, and a consideration of how Byron has ‘resisted’ availability for feminist critique, this being a result of an insufficiently nuanced approach to his poetry; (ii) eighteenth-century writings on the Orient and Oceania, which examines the concepts of Orient and Other as central to the destabilization of fixed perimeters of gender spheres in Byron’s Turkish Tales; (iii) epic, which establishes Byron’s relationship with his literary predecessors as one of reformation and resistance before demonstrating how Byron’s particular form of heroism and epic was one way that he made room for the heroic female. The thesis concludes with a brief coda, which extends the parameters of the governing concerns of the thesis, gender and heroism, arguing that Don Juan becomes a formal realization of the gendered heroics of Byron’s poetic consciousness.

Reflection of travellers' activities at the end of the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century in Enrique Stanko Vráz's work The aim of the offered thesis is to study the issues of exotic lands' presentations given by Czech travellers. Attention is primarily paid to Enrique Stanko Vráz, his work and means of propagation of foreign countries. At the end of nineteenth century and the first half of twentieth century lectures, expositions and books of travels comprised an important part of informing the public about foreign lands. Countries outside of Europe attracted not only the people, who were coming to visit and experience them. But even people, who could not or did not want to leave their homes were longing for discovering those lands. The demand of reports from exotic places of our planet was undertaken by few Czech explorers, who decided to share their experience with the Czech public. The centre of the work will be the ways of the implementation and access of the travellers to the unique information. The main subject of the study will be the archive materials from the Náprstek museum archives and secondary literature from the field of travelling and orientalism.

Denna studie berör hur Fattigvårdsstyrelsens föreställningar om resande tog sig i uttryck i Tattarutredningen. Materialet består av Tattarutredningen och 36 monografier, ett opublicerat underlag till utredningen, som alla är inhämtade från Arkivhuset i Jönköping. Studiens syfte är att undersöka föreställningarna om resande och vilka egenskaper, utseenden och beteenden som tillskrevs dessa människor med utgångspunkt i den så kallade Tattarutredningen. Metoden som använts för att besvara detta är en CDA, kritisk diskursanalys. Studiens teoretiska ramverk är inspirerat av diskursanalysen, forskningen om ”bilden av den andre” och begrepp som etnicitet och ras.   Materialet har analyserats med hjälp av Norman Faircloughs CDA, där studiens teoretiska ramverk har styrt analysen. Dessa analysverktyg har möjliggjort en kvalitativ kritisk studie av språket i materialet. I studien identifierades olika mönster i materialet som har delats in i fem olika teman. ”Tattare” är inte som svenskarna, ”Tattare” är mindre begåvade, ”Tattare” är våldsamma, ”Tattare” är lata och ”Tattare” är orena. Dessa teman går att koppla till de föreställningar som Fattigvårdsstyrelsen hade om resande utifrån studiens metod, teori och den tidigare forskningen. Studiens resultat visar att resande tillskrevs olika egenskaper, utseenden och beteenden som byggde på föreställningar och fördomar. Resultatet visar också att det fanns en önskan om att särskilja resande och svenskar från varandra. / This study views how Fattigvårdsstyrelsen conceptions about Travelers where expressed in Tattarutredningen. The material in this study is based on Tattarutredningen and 36 monographs, all of which have been obtained from Arkivhuset in Jönköping. The purpose of this study is to investigate the conceptions about Travelers and the characteristics, appearances and behaviors that was attributed to these people on the basis of the so-called Tattarutredningen. The method used to answer this is CDA, critical discourse analysis. The theoretical framework is based on the CDA, the image of the other and concepts such as ethnicity and race.   The material has been analyzed with the help of Norman Fairclough’s CDA, where the study’s framework has guided the analysis. These analytics tools have made it possible to do a qualitative critical study of the language of the material. In the study, various patterns have been identified in the material that have been divided into five different themes. “Tattare” are not as Swedes, “Tattare” are less talented, “Tattare” are violent, “Tattare” are lazy and “Tattare” are dirty. The most essential theme is that Travelers are not as Swedes, where Fattigvårdsstyrelsens conceptions about Travelers is exemplified trough out the study. The study’s results shows that the attributes characteristics, appearances and behaviors were based on beliefs and perceptions. The result also shows that there was an underlying desire to distinguish Travelers and Swedes from each other.