Color (sub)Conscious explores the African American female's experience with colorism. Divided into three distinct sections. The first section is a literary analysis of such works as Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, Gloria Naylor's The Women of Brewster Place, Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Alice Walker's "If the Present Looks Like the Past, What Does the Future Look Like?" an essay from her collection In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens. The second section is a research project based on data gathered from 12 African American females willing to share their own experiences and insights on colorism. The final section is a creative non-fiction piece of the author's own personal pain growing up and living with the lasting effects of colorism.

Since the school subject Swedish as a second language was established in the Swedish school system in the mid-1990s, the organization of the subject has varied widely across schools, and the outcomes have been poor. This thesis investigates these problems linguistically. The main objective is to explore the school subject Swedish as a second language in relation to the language of students taking the subject. Another aim of this thesis is to illuminate the complex relation between the Swedish language and the use and conception of Swedish as a second language. A critique of the concept of ‘language’ and of language attitudes in the school context is a recurring theme in the thesis. The thesis contains four papers addressing different aspects of the school subject Swedish as a second language. Paper I examines texts and oral presentations from a group of students born in Sweden, analyzing their language from a normative, mainly grammatical, perspective. Paper II develops a model for analyzing text as activity. In Paper III, the model from paper II is applied to analyze students’ narrative texts written as responses to an assignment, focusing on texts that received failing grades. Papers I and III include comparisons with Swedish as a language and as a school subject. Paper IV, finally, analyzes views of language in policy documents. One critical result of the thesis is the identification of a need for a raised awareness about language in schools and society. In the current situation it is hard to establish a discrete boundary dividing the language of students in the subject Swedish as a second language from the language of students in the subject Swedish, but differences can be observed, which in some sense resonates well with the definition of the subject given by the policy documents. Swedish as a second language in schools can be vaguely defined as Swedish with non-Swedish or foreign markers. The vague definition of the subject and the many linguistic conditions built into the subject entail that Swedish as a second language does not seem well-suited for anyone. Employing a combination of a traditional and an alternative view of language, as proposed in this thesis, may be a fruitful way to accommodate all students.

The main topic of the master's thesis is the phenomenon of Islamism in the Francophone Maghrebian literature. It focuses on the translation of novels from the region of Maghreb into the Czech language and on the reception of this type of literature in the Czech and French culture and society. The thesis is divided into two parts: theoretical and practical one. The main aim of the theoretical part is to be interdisciplinary; it explains the main concepts of the political science such as the concept of a nation or of immigration policies. Only a good understanding of these policies can lead to the full comprehension of Islamism in Western countries. Moreover, this part presents the main topics of translation studies, i.e. postcolonial studies, after the cultural turn and the main characteristics of the Maghrebian literature. The second part of the thesis deals with the reception of novels about Islamism in France and in the Czech Republic and analyses the Czech translation of a novel written by Boualem Sansal. Key words Arabic culture, Islamism, Francophone literature, Maghreb, translation, reception, Boualem Sansal

Carema Care (numera Vardaga) är ett privat ägt vårdföretag med verksamhet inom äldreomsorgen. Under hösten och vintern 2011 utsattes företaget för en intensiv mediebevakning där de anklagades för besparingar och vanvård. I denna uppsats undersöks Carema Cares externa kriskommunikation under mediedrevet. Kriskommunikationen analyseras utifrån situational crisis communication theory. Teorin beskriver vilka försvarsstrategier som ett företag kan och bör använda för att rädda sitt anseende. Teorin gör gällande att den viktigaste faktorn vid val av försvarsstrategi bör vara typ av kris som uppstått. Studien har utgått ifrån en kvalitativ textanalys med systematiserande frågeställningar och klassificering som tillvägagångssätt. Först analyserades nio nyhetsartiklar för att försöka fastställa vilken typ av kris som ägt rum. Därefter studerades Carema Cares pressmeddelanden för att identifiera vilka försvarsstrategier som Carema Care använt sig av och om dessa överensstämmer med vad som föreskrivs inom situational crisis communication theory. Resultatet visar på att Carema Care inte i något pressmeddelande använt sig av de försvarsstrategier som föreskrivs i situational crisis communication theory. / Carema Care (now by the name Vardaga) is a privately owned company within the field of elder care. During the autumn and winter of 2011, the company was the focal point of an intense media reporting. The company was accused of budget cuts and neglected care. This thesis investigates the external crisis communication from Carema Care during the intense media reporting. The crisis communication is analyzed using situational crisis communication theory. The theory describes which crisis response strategies that a company can and shall use when faced with a crisis in order to restore its image. The theory claims that the most important factor when choosing crisis response strategy is what type of crisis that has occurred. The investigation was carried out using qualitative text analysis, more specifically the method systematic questions and classification was used. In the first step, nine news articles were analyzed in order to determine what type of crisis that had occurred. In the second step, the press releases following each news article were analyzed in order to determine what response strategy that had been used and how it compared to what the theory recommended. The study shows that Carema Care did not use the response strategy recommended from situational crisis communication theory in any of its press releases.

Background: Expertise retrieval is an information retrieval technique that focuses on techniques to identify the most suitable ’expert’ for a task from a list of individuals. Objectives: This master thesis is a collaboration with Volvo Cars to attempt applying this concept and match employees based on information that was extracted from an internal tool of the company. In this tool, the employees describe themselves in free-flowing text. This text is extracted from the tool and analyzed using Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques. Methods: Through the course of this project, various techniques are employed and experimented with to study, analyze and understand the unlabelled textual data using NLP techniques. Through the course of the project, we try to match individuals based on information extracted from these techniques using Unsupervised MachineLearning methods (K-means clustering).Results. The results obtained from applying the various NLP techniques are explained along with the algorithms that are implemented. Inferences deduced about the properties of the data and methodologies are discussed. Conclusions: The results obtained from this project have shown that it is possible to extract patterns among people based on free-text data written about them. The future aim is to incorporate the semantic relationship between the words to be able to identify people who are similar and dissimilar based on the data they share about themselves.

This is a comparative study based on text analysis of South Africa's and Sweden's curriculum. The purpose of the study is to get an understanding and awareness of the meaning and content of the curricula concerning child assessment. Its focus is to find out about similarities and differences of the assessment and evaluation processes. My research questions are: • What do South Africa's and Sweden's curricula for learning outcomes the children are assessed on? • How is South Africa's and Sweden's assessment of children described individually and evaluation in the curriculum? • What similarities and differences are there in South Africa's and Sweden's curriculum on the assessment of children individually and evaluation on the preschool?   The methods I use are qualitative text analysis and comparative analysis. I analyze and compare words and contents. My findings are that the assessment is about a way to see the children's development and learning. By having a conscious way of looking at children's interest and not to assess and judge individually which can lead to harming them. Instead, assess and judge as to benefiting the child to get support and can develop her/himself and her/his learning. Pedagogical documentation is used from the Swedish curriculum to see the children's interest and development. In South Africa notebook is used for documentation. The South African curriculum has more content with tips on development opportunities. If we compare the Swedish curriculum, there are learning outcomes where the goals are not as specified as the South African curriculum. This means that the Swedish curriculum has space for interpretation. In this study, we can gain an understanding of assessment in preschool and gain clarity of the dilemma that exists. / Studien handlar om att jämföra och göra en textanalys på Sydafrikas och Sveriges läroplan. Mitt syfte är att ta reda på vad som står i läroplanerna för att få förståelse och medvetenhet av de olika sätten att bedöma barn på. Detta för att ta reda på likheter och skillnader i processerna för bedömning och utvärdering. De frågeställningar jag har är: • Vad har Sydafrikas och Sveriges läroplaner för lärandemål där barnen blir bedömda på? • Hur beskrivs Sydafrikas och Sveriges bedömning av barn individuellt och utvärdering i läroplanen? • Vilka likheter och skillnader finns det i Sydafrikas och Sveriges läroplan om bedömning av barn individuellt och utvärdering på verksamheten?   De metoder jag använder mig av är kvalitativ textanalys och jämförande analys där jag analyserar och jämför ord och innehåll. Mina resultat var att bedömning handlar om ett sätt att se barnens utveckling och lärande. Genom att ha ett medvetet sätt att se på barns intresse och att inte bedöma barnen där det kan genom att bedöma individuellt leda till men för barnet. I stället bedöma där det gynnar barnet för att få stöd att utveckla sig själv och sitt lärande. Pedagogisk dokumentation använder den svenska läroplanen för att se barns intresse och utveckling. Sydafrika använder sig av att notera i anteckningsbok. Den sydafrikanska läroplanen har mer innehåll med tips på utvecklingsmöjligheter. Om vi jämför den svenska läroplanen finns det lärandemål där målen inte är lika specificerade som den sydafrikanska läroplanen. Detta gör att den svenska läroplanen har tolkningsutrymme. Genom denna studie kan vi få förståelse för bedömning i förskola och få klarhet i dilemmat som finns.

This article is to scrutinize Western media on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa by looking more closely at the largest Swedish newspapers. It is to investigate the otherization of Africa and the African, more specifically, whether there are Orientalist features within the media reporting that can construct an Africanness, the Africanization of Africa, as well as the reinforcement of West's own identity, the de-Africanization of the West, portarying it as non-African, and more importantly whether the Ebola disease has undergone this de-Africanization process. Thus, also investigating whether Orientalism is applicable on Africa. Mainly Edward Saïd's Orientalist theory is used as theoretical framework along with other scholars representing ideas that can support the Orientalist claim. What will be concluded is that there are certain news articles that can be interpreted in a way that reinforces the Orientalist discourse, but that these are well hidden and in some cases only implicitly understood due to the selective reporting on certain incidents.

A partir da teoria do escopo formulada por Katharina Reiß e Hans Vermeer em Grundlegung einer allgemeinen Translationstheorie (1984) e de uma expansão do modelo de análise textual de relevância tradutória apresentado por Christiane Nord em Textanalyse und Übersetzen (1988), a presente tese de doutorado apresenta um novo modelo teórico para a execução da TRADUÇÃO RETROSPECTIVA, definida como a tradução a posteriori de um TP (texto precursor) ainda inédito na cultura-alvo que mantenha uma relação de influência e/ou precedência cronológica com um TS (texto sucessor) já traduzido anteriormente para a cultura-alvo, de maneira que a tradução de TP cause a impressão de ser anterior e/ou de ter influenciado a tradução de TS. A tradução retrospectiva tem por objetivo simular, na culturaalvo, a relação existente entre o original de TP e o original de TS na cultura-fonte através de uma inversão das relações de influência literária segundo os moldes propostos por Jorge Luis Borges no ensaio “Kafka y sus precursores”. Uma vez exposto o modelo teórico, o trabalho apresenta um estudo de caso sobre o volume O grande deus Pã, totalmente concebido em função de uma tradução retrospectiva do TP The Great God Pan, de Arthur Machen, feita com uma visada sobre o TS “The Dunwich Horror”, de Howard Phillips Lovecraft, traduzido anteriormente por mim. / By building on the Skopos theory proposed by Katharina Reiß and Hans Vermeer in Grundlegung einer allgemeinen Translationstheorie (1984) and on an expansion of the model for text analysis in translation presented by Christiane Nord in Textanalyse und Übersetzen (1988), this doctoral dissertation introduces a new theoretical model for RETROSPECTIVE TRANSLATION, defined as an a posteriori translation of a PT (precursor text) still unpublished in the target culture which in turn maintains a relationship of influence and/or chronological precedence with an ST (successor text) previously translated in the target culture, so that the translation of PT may seem to have anticipated and/or influenced the translation of ST. The objective of a retrospective translation is to simulate, in the target culture, the existing relation between the original of PT and the original of ST in the source culture by promoting an inversion of traditional literary influence relations inspired by Jorge Luis Borges's essay “Kafka and his precursors”. Once the theoretical model is laid out, there follows a case study of the volume O grande deus Pã, entirely conceived around a retrospective translation of the PT The Great God Pan, by Arthur Machen, done with a backward glance toward the ST “The Dunwich Horror”, by Howard Phillips Lovecraft, previously translated by me.

Reconhecendo que o discurso é um dos meios pelos quais a política se materializa, essa tese tem o objetivo de responder a seguinte questão: há indícios suficientes para afirmar que a comunicação parlamentar no âmbito da Câmara dos Deputados é governada pela relação governo-oposição, assim como constatado em sua atuação no processo decisório? Para respondê-la, foi feito o uso de técnicas computacionais e modelos estatísticos com a aplicação do expressed agenda model para análise do conteúdo de mais de 127 mil pronunciamentos realizados por mais de 2 mil oradores diferentes ao longo de mais de 15 anos de atividade parlamentar na Câmara dos Deputados. Com a apresentação de evidências robustas sobre a frequência dos discursos proferidos no Pequeno Expediente, a estratégia de concentração temática dos Deputados Federais e a ênfase por eles atribuída às agendas econômica e social, a resposta é que não. Há, na atividade parlamentar, muito mais do que a tarefa de produzir e aprovar leis. As conclusões apresentadas aprimoram o conhecimento a respeito do comportamento parlamentar no âmbito da Câmara dos Deputados e indicam a influência de outras variáveis sobre sua atuação como, por exemplo: a ideologia, o gênero, senioridade e a sua popularidade. / Recognizing that parliamentary speeches are one way in which politics is realized, this thesis aims to answer the following question: is there sufficient evidence to say that the parliamentary communication within the Chamber of Deputies is governed by the government-opposition relation, following conclusions about the decision-making process? To answer this question, I apply the expressed agenda model, computational techniques and statistical models over 127,000 speeches made by more than 2,000 different speakers in more than 15 years of parlamentary activity in the Chamber of Deputies. With robust evidence on the frequency of the speeches, thematic concentration and the expressed priorities between the emphasis attributed to economic and social agendas, the answer is no. The findings presented improve the knowledge about Brazilian parliamentary behavior and indicate the influence of other variables on its activities, for example: ideology, gender, seniority and popularity.

L'objectif de la thèse est de proposer un modèle informatique pour représenter, construire et exploiterdes structures textuelles. Le modèle proposé s'appuie sur une représentation du texte sous la forme d'unplan lexique/occurrences augmenté de systèmes d'annotations lexicales et contextuelles, modèle dontune implantation a été réalisée dans le logiciel SATO dont on présente les fonctionnalités etl'organisation interne. La présentation d'un certain nombre de travaux rendent compte dudéveloppement et de l'utilisation du logiciel dans divers contextes.La prise en charge formelle des structures textuelles et discursives trouve un allié dans le langage debalisage XML et dans les propositions de la Text Encoding Initiative (TEI). Formellement, lesstructures construites sur les segments textuels correspondent à des graphes. Dans le contexte d'uneanalyse textuelle en élaboration, ces graphes sont multiples et partiellement déployés. La résolution deces graphes, au sens du rattachement des noeuds à des segments textuels ou à des noeuds d'autresgraphes, est un processus dynamique qui peut être soutenu par divers mécanismes informatiques. Desexemples tirés de la linguistique textuelle servent à illustrer les principes de l'annotation structurelle.Des considérations prospectives sur une implantation informatique d'un système de gestion del'annotation structurelle sont aussi exposées. / The objective of the thesis is to propose a data-processing model to represent, build and exploit textualstructures. The suggested model relies on a «type/token» form of text representation extended bysystems of lexical and contextual annotations. This model's establishment was carried out in the SATOsoftware -- of which the functionalities and the internal organization are presented. Reference to anumber of works give an account of the development and use of the software in various contexts.The formal assumption of the textual and discursive structures find an ally in the beaconing XMLlanguage and the proposals of the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI). Formally, the structures built on thetextual segments correspond to graphs. In a development driven textual analysis context, these graphsare multiple and partially deployed. Their resolution, within the fastening of the nodes to textualsegments or that of other graphs, is a dynamic process which can be sustained by various dataprocessingmechanisms. Examples drawn from textual linguistics are used to illustrate the principles ofstructural annotation. Prospective considerations for the data-processing establishment of amanagement system of the structural annotation are also exposed.