During the last years the number of Swedish detective stories which take place in the province outside the big cities has increased enormously. In this study I have analysed the novels by the three authors Viveca Sten, Åsa Larsson and Johan Theorin to investigate the connection between the milieu and the story and in what way it is involved in the crime riddle. They all keep to the formula of the classical detective story but represent different variations within this formula. In spite of the differences in their stories the basic pattern is the same. As their protagonists the authors are emotionally connected to the place in the novels. This connection it strengthen by the authors themselves as well as the publishing companies when introducing them on the market. The protagonists have lived elsewhere and are getting back into the place. They return to houses where an older generation has lived, take over the furniture and the tools. The history of the place and the living there in old days are referred to in separate parts or by an elderly person who has lived in the place all the time and know everything about it. How people lived long ago is also often told in backlashes which in the end are connected to the murder in which the protagonist is engaged. The motives of the crimes are timeless in these novels. The three authors describe a nostalgic longing back to the place as it once was. It is a sort of new romanticism in a timeless world.

Slöjdens kursplaner i grundskolan fastställer att det ska användas andra material förutom textil, trä- och metall, men förhållandevis få lärare väljer sten som ett alternativt material. Därför är studiens frågeställning: Vilka stenarter, verktyg och hantverkstekniker är lämpliga att arbeta med i relation till skolslöjden? Vilka uppfattningar finns det om sten som slöjdmaterial i skolslöjden? Denna empiriska studie består av två delar: intervjuer och undersökning av olika stenarter, lämpliga verktyg och hantverkstekniker att använda med respektive sten. Stenarternas egenskaper har jämförts med varandra i en komparativ analys, stenarnas egenskaper har testats empiriskt och presenteras i Stentabellen. I en materialnära undersökning av stenars egenskaper och lämpliga hantverkstekniker har ett aktionsforskande arbetssätt tillämpats. Resultaten visar bland annat att marmor, täljsten och alabaster är stenarter som lämpar sig bäst för skolslöjden, givet deras egenskaper och de hantverkstekniker som därmed följer. De visar även vilka arter som är direkt olämpliga och varför. Respondenternas olika erfarenheter och uppfattningar om stenarbete, verktyg och hantverkstekniker inkluderar deras huvudsakliga sysselsättningar, erfarenhet och bakgrund inom stenarbete, föredragna stenarter, egenskaper hos olika stenarter, arbete med svarvning och olika metoder, stenarbete i skolslöjden, riskfaktorer och säkerhetsaspekter, orsaker till bristande användning av sten, miljöaspekter och hållbarhetsfördelar med sten som material. En biprodukt av studien är ett Startkit för arbete med sten i skolslöjden.

By exploring how people read, one can also discover how to promote reading. This master’s thesis explores the different reasons and ways in which audiobook readers and traditional readers read. The purpose is to see how the reading experience differs between traditional readers and audiobook readers, with the intention of support-ing reading promotion efforts. Interviews have been conducted with seven audiobook readers and five traditional readers. Regardless of the format, readers have varied reasons for reading and obtain various aspects from their reading experience. The interviewed participants read for entertainment, knowledge, personal insights, and anxi-ety relief regardless of the format. It was also not unusual for the participants themselves to have different goals for their reading depending on things like their mood and wellbeing. The audiobook readers chose the audiobook format for practical reasons, rather than aesthetic preferences. Some claimed to still prefer traditional reading, while some didn’t specify their preferred format. The traditional readers saw practical advantages with the audiobook format, but chose to continue reading in the traditional format due to aesthetic preferences or an inability to concentrate on the audiobook. Several readers from both groups also claimed that they didn’t like the performing narrator interpreting the book for them. With this in mind it is possible that the two formats would fit different kinds of reading experiences better. Interviewed participants from both groups multitasked while reading, though the traditional readers multi-tasking was more stationary than mobile. Both groups highlighted that the performing narrator has a crucial role in whether the audiobook was enjoyable. The traditional readers also considered aspects such as the font and the cover image important for their traditional reading. From this it is possible to draw the conclusion that the format does affect the reading experience.

Föreliggande studie är en genusanalys av karaktärerna Harry Potter och Hermione Granger i Harry Potter och de vises sten. Harry Potter-serien har haft ett stort genomslag på bokmarknaden och är en av de tre största fantasyserierna i modern tid (Alkestrand, 2016:28). Detta gör det relevant att kritiskt granska boken för att sedan använda den i klassrummet, både på högstadie- och gymnasienivå. Syftet med studien är således att granska boken utifrån ett genusperspektiv och problematisera eventuella stereotyper. Centralt i studien är en jämförelse mellan hur Harry och Hermione skildras och hur skildringarna reproducerar eller ifrågasätter normer kring genus. Studien utgår från ett didaktiskt perspektiv och en av frågeställningarna utgår därför ifrån vad litteratur kan ha för påverkan på våra förutfattade meningar och hur detta kan uppmärksammas i en klassrumssituation. Studien visar således att karaktärerna i Harry Potter och de vises sten uppfyller många stereotyper om vad som anses vara manligt och kvinnligt. Harry tillskrivs rollen som den modiga, aktiva pojken och Hermione som den passiva, duktiga flickan som utsätts för negativa konsekvenser när hon bryter mot normerna.

This essay explores the economical and social paradigms surrounding one of the most influential Nordic border dynastic noble families in the second half of the fifteenth century - the Axelsson Totts. How mercantile possibilities and opportunities offered to them, reflected on their political actions and social bands. The Axelsson brothers of the Tott Dynasty would become of one of the most powerful noble families within the Nordic Union between 1444 och 1487. Axel Pedersen (Tott) would through well chosen marriage alliances into the noble families of both Denmark and Sweden, and with political prowess lay the foundation for one of the most dynamic family empires of the fifteenth century. In the year 1442, the Axelsson brothers swore loyalty to each other; to protect and defend their mercantile and economical interests in Denmark and Sweden. They would eventually control the trading routes in the border areas of the Union, and by exploiting the political chaos within the Union they would gain access and influence to the land trading routes for export and import within the Union and the shipping export routes in the Baltic Sea allowing them access to the Russian market through Finland and Estonia. The island of Gotland, with its tactical and important geographical position in the Baltic Sea became the key to the Nordic Union. Olof Axelsson (Tott) sailing under the Danish flag took possession of Gotland in 1449. Although technically a part of the Danish kingdom, in practice the island would remain independent and under the control of the Axelsson brothers until 1487 when the last surviving brother, Sir Ivar relinquished his rights to Gotland in favor of the Danish monarch, King Hans. The Axelsson brothers (Tott) would hold the key to The Nordic Union for almost four decades. Thus controlling the future of the union within the family by marriage, by political associations within and outside of the Union and most importantly by creating an economical empire based on personal family politics and border gentry aspirations.

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Människan har alltid velat utforska, utmana och bebygga otillgängliga platser. Jag fascineras av denna strävan, varför beger vi oss ut i naturen och kämpar mot vädrets krafter? I mitt examensarbete utfroskade jag möjligheten att skapa en byggnad i en extrem miljö. Projektet är en vandringstuga i Kittelfjäll som ligger i södra Lappland i Wilhelmina kommun. Orten är känd som Sveriges minimecka för offpistskidåkare. Naturen är storslagen med raviner, älvar och stenrösen som korsar terrängen.Tidigt i processen undersökte jag basala och enkla strukturer som lappkåtan och iglon. Jag influerades av upplevelsen att komma in i en lappkåta med dess mystiska form och atmosfär, som bildas genom endast ett enda ljusinsläpp från rökluckan i taket. Även traditionen att samlas runt en central eldstad och den geometriska formen av lappkåtan kom att påverka projektet. Det som jag fann intressant med exjobbet var att man fick tid att undersöka saker man annars sällan gör. Jag jobbade mycket I modell och mitt fokus kom att handla om när två motsägelser möter varandra så skapas något nytt. Som när en tillsynes enkelt tak möter en komplex geometri, när två material möter varandra, vilket atmofär som skapas genom olika ljusförhållanden

The purpose of this master’s thesis is to examine reading groups participants’ motivations for and expectations on participating in reading groups. The focus is on why the respondents read and take part in reading groups in a time of decreased reading. The theoretic framework in the thesis is Furhammar’s analysis model of why one is reading. Semistructured interviews have been held with four respondents from free-standing reading groups and four respondents from library reading groups, to see how and if their view on literature and motivations differ, and also if this differs between the two different kind of reading groups. The empirical data have been analysed through qualitative content analysis. The empirical data shows that there are some differences between how the two different types of reading groups work and therefore also in the participants view of reading and motivations, which is based on the participants’ personal lives.

Many commentators experience difficulties describing and analyzing Morton Feldman's String Quartet no. 2 (1983), implying that the quartet eludes stable ascriptions of meaning. Feldman's own philosophy frames these difficulties as symptoms of an antagonism between direct experience and post-hoc understanding of music, a dichotomy tacitly supported in much related discourse. I critique this proposed rift between understanding and experience by analyzing how String Quartet no. 2 prompts listeners to repeatedly reconsider their own experiences. Obfuscated instrumentation, transformations of repeated phrases, and disorienting formal returns challenge one's perception, pattern recognition, and musical memory, leading audiences to return to linguistic interpretation in an effort to comprehend what they hear. Drawing on writing by Lawrence Kramer, I show that the compulsion to voice these uncertainties is not a result of a separation of understanding and experience, but of the blurring of these categories. Vacillation between close listening and interpretation also typifies experiences of the music of Helge Sten, produced under the pseudonym Deathprod. For the album Imaginary Songs from Tristan da Cunha (1996), Sten transfers recorded violin improvisations to wax phonograph cylinders, clouding attributions of the music's manner of production. Incorporating Brian Kane's theory of acousmatic sound, I demonstrate that the resultant spacing of sound and source provokes listeners to oscillate between attending to the music's material properties and struggling to identify its meaning and cause. Work by Jonathan Sterne indicates that historical techniques of hearing associated with the antiquated medium of the phonograph cylinder prolong and complicate this mode of listening. As with Feldman's quartet, auditors of Imaginary Songs endlessly fluctuate between attempting to understand and striving to listen closely to the music. / Graduate

This thesis is a study of the norms and values of political culture during the 15th century.  The political culture gives the struggle for power in the Kalmar Union in the 15th century its characteristics.  The aim of this study is to identify the political culture and how it contributed to the political polarisation and disagreement within the Kalmar Union during the reign of King Karl Knutsson (Bonde) 1448-1470 and Regent Sten Sture 1470-1503. The theoretic approach is based partly on Eva Österberg’s definition of political culture, but mainly the theory is based on Harald Gustafsson’s thoughts and identified eight arguments for legitimising power used in political correspondence during the 16th century. These arguments are examples of how someone could express themselves to legitimise their power. The method used in this study identifies what non-vocal structures and values that are expressed in the official material of legal documents including treaties and open letters to or from the common people. Firstly, the context of the document is identified and information like who wrote it, when and why, secondly the study analyses how the operators’ addresses and use titles to one another. Thirdly the study identifies words and phrases that express positive values for legitimation. The values that has been found have been analysed in comparison to the law in order to identify if the values could be found in the laws as well. To conclude the study found that there are differences in how the operators expresses themselves and the emotional connection to the situation, although non-vocal structures like norms enforce the operators to apply a certain amount of respect. The political culture and the diplomatic mission creates the standards used in addressing their opponent. Therefore the choices of words are important and the study identifies five larger values that comes to light, they are law and justice, unity, assurances, commitments and duties and good characteristics. All of these can be identified during the entire research period and supported by the values expressed in the law.