Den polariserade debatten om hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck i Sverige har karaktäriserats av å ena sidan en feministisk förklaringsmodell, å andra sidan en kulturspecifik förståelse av problemet. Debatten har sipprat ner till det sociala arbetet och orsakat osäkerhet hos socialarbetare i arbetet med hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck. Socialstyrelsen, som utgör den primära kunskapskällan för socialtjänstensarbete, bidrar inte med tillräckligt stöd för professionella i denna fråga. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur problemrepresentationer av hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck produceras genom diskurser i ett urval av Socialstyrelsens kunskapsstöd. Med hjälp av en postkolonial feministisk ansats och diskursanalytisk metod med utgångspunkt i Bacchis angreppssätt ”What’s the problem represented to be?” identifierades och analyserades tre olika diskurser. Vi fann att hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck och patriarkalt förtryck framställdes som ett ”osvenskt” problem, liksom motsägelser mellan problemframställningar och föreslagna insatser. Begreppet ”hederskontext” är centralt i Socialstyrelsens inramning av problemet, men begreppet definieras aldrig utan används snarare för att dölja Andrefiering av våldsutsatta. / The debate on honor-related violence and abuse in Sweden has been characterized by two polarized understandings of the issue, one being feminist and the other a culture-based understanding. This has affected social workers who work with these issues to a point of uncertainty. The National Board of Health and Welfare (NBHW), the Swedish authority responsible for producing guidelines for social workers, has not contributed with enough support in this matter. The aim of this study is to analyze how problem representations of honor-related violence and abuse are produced through discourses in a selection of guidelines published by NBHW. The study takes a postcolonial feminist approach and uses Bacchi’s “What’s the problem represented to be?” approach for analyzing policy. The discourses found seem to be contradicting one another and after reviewing the material, we found that NBHW uses the concept of "honor context" to frame the problem. However, this concept is never properly defined or explained, but is rather used to disguise an Othering of victims of honor-related violence and abuse.

Föreliggande studie avser att skapa en förståelse för begreppet kvinnors empowerment samt dess praktik i Kilimanjaro regionen i Tanzania. Studien syftar till att undersöka hur icke-statliga organisationer i regionen arbetar med kvinnors empowerment samt hur arbetet bidrar till en social hållbar utveckling. Det empiriska materialet har samlats in genom sex semistrukturerade intervjuer med personal inom tre olika organisationer som arbetar med socialt arbete. Empirin har sedan analyserats, med hjälp av en tematisk analys, utifrån begreppen kvinnors empowerment, social hållbarhet, postkolonial feminism, västerländsk dominans och white saviourism. Studiens resultat påvisar att förståelsen av kvinnors empowerment grundar sig i att kvinnor ska återta egenmakten, att ojämlika maktförhållanden ska jämnas ut samt att stärkandet av kvinnor även leder till att samhället förändras och utvecklas. Vidare visar resultatet att kvinnors empowerment bidrar till en social hållbarhet eftersom arbetet grundar sig i kollektivismen inom lokalsamhällen. Ytterligare påvisar studiens resultat behovet av inhemska och lokala arbetsmetoder inom arbetet med kvinnors empowerment samt vikten av att frångå västerländska perspektiv inom det sociala arbetet i det globala syd. Genom att förlita sig på de inhemska och lokala arbetsmetoderna kan samtliga kvinnor inkluderas, eftersom dessa innefattar den etniska mångfalden. / The present study intends to create an understanding of the concept of women's empowerment and its practice in the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania. This study aims to investigate how non-governmental organizations in the region work with women's empowerment and how the work contributes to social sustainability. The empirical material has been collected through six semi-structured interviews with staff from three different organizations within the social work field. The empirical work has then been analysed, using a thematic analysis, based on the concepts of women's empowerment, social sustainability, post-colonial feminism, Western dominance and white saviourism. The study's results demonstrate that the understanding of women's empowerment is based on women regaining their power, that unequal power relations must be equalized, and that women empowerment results in a changing and evolving society. Furthermore, given that the work is built on collectivism within local communities, the findings demonstrate that women's empowerment contributes to social sustainability. Additionally, the result demonstrates the need for indigenous and local methods within women's empowerment as well as the importance of breaking from Western perspectives. By relying on the indigenous and local methods, it may result in the inclusion of all women, since it takes ethnic diversity into account.

Men's violence against women is a serious social problem and an obstacle to the realisation of women's rights. In Sweden, approximately a fifth of the population, has at some time in their lives, been subjected to domestic violence. It is estimated that about 80 percent of the violence is not reported. The aim of this study is to analyse the discourse representations of domestic violence and violence in the name of honour, in two different Swedish reports. (Eva Lundgren, Captured Queen- Men’s violence against women in “equal” Sweden – a prevalence study and Domestic violence - A public health issue by Carin Götblad, national coordinator on domestic violence). The investigation is based on a discourse analysis with postcolonial feminist theory as the theoretical framework. This study shows that a discursive representation of domestic violence in a Swedish context and violence in the name of honour has resulted in the construction of Swedish and non-Swedish violence. Stereotypical presentations describe the Swedish perpetrator in terms of social problems, addiction, aggression problems, alcoholism or non-Swedish ethnicity. Violence in the name of honour is derived from an honour-based culture while a Swedish perpetrator deviates from a Swedish gender equality culture. The Swedish gender equality discourse and media representations of domestic violence may be causing difficulties for the victims to identify themselves as abused. This study suggests that violence against women should be understood as a side effect of a patriarchal gender system created by ideological, national, ethnic and racial power structures.

The purpose of this study is to look in to how microfinance through the VSLAmodel has affected life circumstances of women in rural parts of Uganda. The study also examines whether participation in VSLA-groups leads to empowerment. The results have been derived from qualitative fieldwork, based on semi-structured interviews. Women from the Ugandan districts of Kayunga and Masaka have been interviewed about their experiences of participating in VSLA-groups. The theoretical framework consists of a liberal as well as a postcolonial feminist theorization. The study subject is analyzed by using Martha Nussbaum’s Capabilities Approach and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s thoughts on the subaltern. The Uganda National Farmers Federation (UNFFE) started working with financial inclusion in 2010 and in 2014 they implemented the Human Rights Based Approach (HRBA) in their work. It is found in this study that the VSLA-groups who operates guided by the Human Rights Based Approach, have had a positive effect on the life conditions of the interviewed women. The socioeconomic effects have been positive, the women have greater control over their life circumstances and the VSLA-groups have proved empowering. / I denna studies granskas en typ av mikrofinansmodell, Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA) och dess påverkan på kvinnor på Ugandas landsbygds livsomständigheter. Den undersöker också om deltagande i VSLA-verksamhet leder till empowerment. Studiens resultat bygger på fältarbete bestående av kvalitativa undersökningar. Kvinnor från de ugandiska distrikten Kayunga och Masaka har deltagit i semistrukturerade intervjuer där de berättat om sina upplevelser av att vara med i en VSLA-grupp. Det teoretiska ramverket har en liberal såväl som postkolonial feministisk utgångspunkt. Uppsatsens frågeställningar analyseras genom Martha Nussbaums Capabilities Approach och Gayatri Chakravorty Spivaks tankar om den subalterna. Uganda National Farmers Federation (UNFFE) började arbeta med finansiell inkludering 2010 och 2014 implementerade de Human Rights Based Approach (HRBA) i sitt arbete. Denna studie finner att VSLA-grupper, vilka arbetar med hjälp av HRBA har en positiv effekt på de intervjuade kvinnornas livsomständigheter. De socioekonomiska effekterna har varit positiva, kvinnorna har fått större kontroll över sina förhållanden och VSLA-grupperna har haft en empowering effekt.

The aim of this thesis was to find the seeds of Czech interest in the topic of female genital mutilation using a spectrum of approaches, as well as the experience of experts on this topic. The research consists of two main parts. The first part is devoted to the mapping of the institutional network; the second one to personal stories. Interviews with narrators have been analyzed using the method of triple coding. Themes that reveal the narrators' opinions about and attitudes towards female genital mutilation have been explored in the analysis in particular. In terms of theoretical approaches, the thesis explores whether it is possible to frame the debate on female genital mutilation in the Czech context using the various theses of global feminism and whether there is a general interest in this issue and its solutions. Key words: female genital mutilation, global and multicultural feminism, postcolonial feminism, institutional network, gender order, global North, global South

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It is recognized that international relations are reinforcing a patriarchal and western status quo. The study examines how the UN resolutions on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) have contributed to changing the gendered security discourse. Previous literature argues that the gendered discourse creates dichotomies dividing the genders, creating binary divisions stating women as peace/victims and men as war/agents. The study aims to investigate how the ”WPS” pillars of protection and par- ticipation are formulated in the UN resolutions. Grounded in a feminist theoretical framework con- stituted by prominent perspectives of Radical- and Postcolonial feminism, ideal types are con- structed. The study examines what indicators of radical- and postcolonial feminism are identified in the problem formulation of “WPS” in the strategically selected resolutions 1820, 1889 and 2467, and what in the formulation remains unproblematized. The methodology is based on Bacchi’s “What’s the Problem Represented to be?” (WPR) tool, suited for “postmodern” discourse analysis of policy documents. International relations have become more “reflexive” moving the security dis- course towards “Human security”. Similarly, contemporary feminism has become more intersec- tional when creating the women-subject. The analysis finds Radical feminist indicators, however implicit, throughout the material. Sexual violence is, in correspondence with human security, for- mulated as a structural/political issue. The women-subject is however created homogeneously, an absence of intersectionality is shaping formulations. Postcolonial feminism is merely found in solu- tion formulations of the most recent resolution 2467. The formulations in 2467 changed to include a more intersectional approach and a heterogeneous women-subject. Enabling some contextual fac- tors. Finally, the dominating subject construction identified in all resolutions is characterized as “women need protection”. The construction entails women’s deviance from the male norm. The formulation ultimately indicates that women still are separated from agency.

Studien har som ambition att studera hur tjejer skapar femininitet och således tar plats på en ungdomsgård belägen i en multietnisk stadsdel i Stockholm. Studiens metod består av deltagande observation av en grupp på åtta tjejer som besökte ungdomsgården dagligen. Resultatet indelas i tre teman, Systerskap, Ungdomsgården är hemma och Femininitetskapande som beskriver tjejernas relationer till varandra, andra ungdomar på- och utanför ungdomsgården samt bostadsområdet, men även förhållandet till svenskhet. Resultatet analyserades med teorier rörande genus, etnicitet, postkolonial feminism och praktikgemenskap. Det framkom att tjejerna formade en gemenskap som de upprätthöll med outtalade regler rörande femininitet, etnicitet och sexualitet. Studiens slutsatser är att ungdomsgården framställdes som en betydelsefull plats då den utgjorde en fristad för tjejerna, där de försökte undkomma de olika regler som omfattade dem och deras liv.

Often pointed to as the region’s model secular state, Turkey provides an instructive case study in how nationalism, in the name of conjuring ‘unity’, often produces the opposite effect. Indeed, the production of nationalism can create fractures amongst, as well as politicize, certain segments of a population, such as minority groups and women. This dissertation examines the long-term and present-day impacts on nationalist unity of a largely understudied event, the annexation of the border-city of Antakya from Syria in 1939, and its implications on the Arab Alawite population. In doing so, it deconstructs the dominant Turkish narrative on the annexation, rewrites the narrative drawing on oral history from the ground, and it shows how nation-building is a masculinist project that relies on powerfully gendered language through studying the national archives. The heart of the project, however, remains the investigation of the political, social, and religious subjectivity of Arab Alawite women, with an emphasis on resistance to the structures and practices sustained by the state and patriarchy. The Arab Alawites, once numerically dominant in the Antakya region, are now an ethno-religious minority group within the Turkish/Sunni-dominated state structure. Although Antakya was the last territory to join Turkey in 1939, ever since that time many of its Alawites have resisted assimilation through covert, yet peaceful, methods. Through this research, I show that a multiplicity of forces have increased the politicization of the Antiochian Alawite community and broadened their demands upon the Turkish state. My research highlights Alawite women’s leadership as a key driver of this process, thanks to the large-scale out migration of Alawite men, the increased socio-economic independence of Alawite women, and the perception of more progressive gender ideals being held by the members of this Muslim sect, when compared to those of nearby Sunni Turkish women. This dissertation relies on a postcolonial and feminist geopolitical analysis of the Turkish nationalist project to examine how the Turkish state has historically viewed Antakya and the Arab Alawites and how, in return, the experience and collective social and political memory of Alawites was formed. By utilizing innovative methodologies, this research shows how Alawite women are resisting/rewriting/reconfiguring political and social structures through everyday actions that shift the discourse on minorities and women on local and national scales.

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