There now exists an abundant collection of conjectures and results, of various complexities, regarding the diophantine properties of Shimura varieties. Two central such statements are the Andre-Oort and Zilber-Pink Conjectures, the first of which is known in many cases, while the second is known in very few cases indeed. The motivating result for much of this document is the modular case of the Andre-Oort Conjecture, which is a theorem of Pila. It is most commonly viewed as a statement about the simplest kind of Shimura varieties, namely modular curves. Here, we tend instead to view it as a statement about the properties of the classical modular j-function. It states, given a complex algebraic variety V, that V contains only finitely many maximal special subvarieties, where a special variety is one which arises from the arithmetic behaviour of the j-function in a certain natural way. The central question of this thesis is the following: what happens if in such statements we replace the j-function with some other kind of modular function; one which is less well-behaved in one way or another? Such modular functions are naturally called nonclassical modular functions. This question, as we shall see, can be studied using techniques of o-minimality and point-counting, but some interesting new features arise and must be dealt with. After laying out some of the classical theory, we go on to describe two particular types of nonclassical modular function: almost holomorphic modular functions and quasimodular functions (which arise naturally from the derivatives of the j-function). We go on to prove some results about the diophantine properties of these functions, including several natural Andre-Oort-type theorems, then conclude by discussing some bigger-picture questions (such as the potential for nonclassical variants of, say, Zilber-Pink) and some directions for future research in this area.

This study examines how racism and police brutality are illustrated in The hate U give and Dear Martin, which are two bestselling novels that emphasize the importance of resistance, and willingness to fight back against abuse of power and the oppression of African Americans in the US. Through the use of critical discourse analysis, power structures and race relations in the US are analyzed by means of postcolonial and power theory as well as by means of narrative theory. Moreover, the textual elements that are of importance to the analysis are the study of characters, motives and themes, specifically how the characters are affected by harmful stereotypes and forced into silence by the legal system in an attempt to justify police brutality. The analysis presented here indicates a colonial discourse, where the power structures in America are designed to work against African Americans. The characters’ actions and reactions to police brutality and oppression are therefore of importance in my study to depict how the novels creates a meaning for resistance and for finding a way for “the other” to be heard. My conclusion is that the characters’ voices are their weapons against police brutality, abuse of power, and oppression. To fight with one’s voice is to prove the stereotype, “thug”, wrong about African Americans, a stereotype that is often used by the police and the media to justify police brutality.

The purpose of this paper was to examine how ”the other” is portrayed in Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of darkness from a postcolonial perspective. Thru this analysis determine if and in what way the novel may be beneficial to education surrounding postcolonial perspectives in the subject Swedish at upper secondary school. Thru close reading of the text focusing on the novels portrayal of “the other”, the analysis concludes that the novel gives a stereotypical and dichotomous picture rooted in the novels contemporary science and culture of the western world. The way “the other” is portrayed in Joseph Conrad´s Heart of darkness does not consist with the fundamental values of the Swedish upper secondary school. The analysis has concluded that the novels potential as an educational tool in the education surrounding postcolonial perspectives is limited due to it´s lack of non-European perspectives.

Denna essä avser att reflektera det mellanmänskliga mötet som förutsättning för att skapa ett rum för lärande i ett organisatoriskt sammanhang. Essän utgår från ett dilemma där jag låter mötet mellan mig som pedagogisk processledare och deltagare bilda utgångspunkt för en reflektion om betingelser som avgör hur ett läranderum blir till. Jag ser min essä som ett komplement till andra studier om lärande i organisationer, studier som har sin hemhörighet i pedagogisk, psykologisk, sociologisk och i viss mån ekonomisk teoribildning. Metoden för denna essä är fenomenologisk i det att jag låter dilemmat som berättelse få träda fram på sina egna premisser. Jag låter dilemmat möta ett antal teorier om praktisk kunskap med hjälp av i första hand Aristoteles, om mötet mellan ett Jag och ett Du med hjälp av Martin Buber, mötet med den andres annanhet som en förpliktelse med hjälp av Emanuel Lévinas samt som avslutning hur frågan om mötet med den andre relaterar till kunnande-i-handling, reflektion-i-handling och att ha en skicklighet att bemästra en situation. Essän avser inte att förklara med pedagogiska eller didaktiska termer utan rör sig i ett existentiellt och filosofiskt landskap. Jag avslutar med några egna prövande slutsatser om vad som är premisser för att ett läranderum ska uppstå. Det handlar om ett genuint möte mellan ett Jag och ett Du och med varandras annanheter, vilket innebär att den praktiska kunskap som utövas inte kan ses som bara individbaserad. Den praktiska kunskapen formas i det gemensamma skeendet genom de möten som äger rum.

This essay examines through a postcolonial analysis of the intermedial aspects of comicbooks how stereotypes and depictions of the Other and the alien are formed in Tintin au Congo and Tintin en Amérique. The aim has been to call attention to the importance of the relationship between text and image to create meaning, as well as to gain a deeper insight into how different stereotypes are created and their function. Hergé illustrated the Tintin-books according to something that would come to be known as ”The Clear Line”, a way of drawing that focused on the readbility of the images. In this essay I argue that the simplicity of these readable images were used in his work as comic relief but also to create an awareness of deeper social issues in the world. There is a notable difference between Tintin au Congo and Tintin en Amérique where in the first album Hergé seems to be governed by these stereotypes, fully embracing them without questioning. In the second one however he is consciously and playfully using these images to make the reader aware of the problems with Othering, simultaneously using recognizable symbols that everyone can understand but with a critical gaze that not only reveals these problems but also condemns them. The use of these symbols and stereotypes highlights the importance of the relationship between text and image, as signification and meaning can differ depending on translation and the words used.

This historic study is expanded with a contemporary view. It has interdisciplinary connections to fashion--‐, gender--‐ and postcolonial studies. The analysis is based on interwievs with Swedish skinheads with a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. One of the questions answered is which factors creates inclusion versus alienation in relation to the skinhead culture. The sources tell stories about a romanticisation of the workingclass, a homosocial expectation based on gender and a distinct heteronormativity. They also show how some non--‐normative functionalities pass, while others are seen as deviant which creates an alienation from the community. Are there any connections between skinhead culture, violence, nationalism and Nazism and if so, how does this show? The image of the skinhead in mass media is heavily coded with Nazism though many of the sources have experienced their subculture as highly diverse. The skinhead get’s to play the role of The Other  in the  Swedish debate on nationalism  and nazism.  To depict skinheads as the ”true” nazis becomes an effective way to make both everyday racism as well as dressy Nazism invisible. Also institutionalized violence, racial profiling and white violence  is made  invisible by this making of The Other. How come typical skinhead features have become popular in mainstream culture right now and what does this popularisation do to the subculture? The present political situation creates an aesthetic discussion which  does not limit itself to the subcultural domains.  At a time when skinhead features become mainstream it might take a more extreme expression to continue as sub--‐culture. The heavily charged aesthetics can be used as a subversive tool for shifting power perspectives, this is especially flagrant within the gayskin culture which uses the aesthetics as a camp play with stereotypes.

This study explores how presidential candidates during the 2020 American election were tied to external others, taking the shape of China and Russia. The study argues that an identity perspective becomes fruitful for addressing the research problem, as it becomes a matter of who "we" as a nation are. In general, identity studies tend to focus on the external other, while this study aims to contribute with an understanding of how the internal and external other can be interconnected.  American exceptionalism - the notion that the US has a unique role to play on the world stage - is a prominent part of American political identity. Nonetheless, the concept of exceptionalism also implies that being an American is an act of choice and not exclusively a birthright, thus individuals and values can be labeled as "un-American". Drawing on and combining the theoretical insights from Michel Foucault, Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe, and Ty Solomon, politics in itself becomes a narrative war to fill nodal points with a hegemonic substance based on a wish for identity-fulfillment. The study finds that the other candidate is separated from the idea of what constitutes the US by reference to foreign and threatening powers. The other candidate is framed as unfit to be president, and since he does not correspond with the identity of the nation itself, he can not lead and personify the US. Thus, the other candidate is narratively constructed as unable to grant the wish for national identity fulfillment. The substance of the nodal points also does not exhibit a value in themselves but has to be contrasted against something or someone - in this case, an Other.

Studien undersöker hur personer med en synlig fysisk funktionsnedsättning upplever sig själva i relation till andra människor som inte sticker ut från mängden. Fyra personer har fått svara på frågor kring vilka svårigheter han eller hon möter som funktionsnedsatt, samt hur han eller hon upplever sig i samhället som funktionsnedsatt. De har lite olika inställningar och synsätt på omvärlden, men något de har gemensamt är styrka och envishet. Denna kvalitativa studie har genomförts med hjälp av en abduktiv ansats. Informanterna – som har blivit intervjuade – berättar vad de har upplevt i möten med vänners bekanta och med potentiella arbetsgivare. De berättar även om att folk har fördomar och antaganden kring personer med en fysisk funktionsnedsättning, men även om andra människors åsikter kring huruvida arbete är lämpligt för den funktionsnedsatte.

Den här uppsatsen undersöker de olika sätt på vilka romarna beskrivs behandla sina fiender under den tidiga Romerska republiken (509–290 f.Kr). Med avstamp i Edward Saids post-koloniala teori om framställningen av den Andre, och Erich Gruens arbete om representation under antiken, analyseras beskrivningar av de öden Roms många fiender led som står att återfinnas i Livius, Diodorus Siculus, och Dionysios från Halikarnassos historiska verk om den unga Romerska republiken. I enlighet med uppsatsens hermeneutiska metod är analysen uppdelad i två delar, vilka behandlar uppror och krig mot utländska stater, respektive. De exempel som går att återfinna i källmaterialet förstås också som delar i en helhet, och de undersöks dels i sin egna kontext och jämförs med andra exempel i det stora sammanhanget. De romerska segrarna analyseras för att se hur källorna beskriver de erövrades öden, både materiellt och rent kroppsligt, och uppsatsen undersöker hur dessa framställs, och om källmaterialet representerar olika etniska gruppers behandling på olika sätt.Undersökningen visar att källorna, varken för sig själva eller sedda som en helhet, inte framställer det som att romarna hade tydliga och konsekventa riktlinjer för hur besegrade folk behandlades, men att vissa mönster ändå kan urskönjas, särskilt när det kommer till hur folkgrupper som gjorde uppror mot om behandlades. Olika folkslags etniska härkomst framställs inte som avgörande för hur de behandlades av Rom, trots källornas stundtals nedsättande kommenterar om sådana folkslag. Undersökningen visar att latinare, efter större uppror, kunde visas viss barmhärtighet, men källorna beskriver även hur latinska städer vid tillfällen utplånades tillsammans med deras befolkning av romarna, och även hur andra folkslag kunde skonas, och det blir tydligt att källmaterialets representation inte framställer någon etnicitet, vare sig besläktad med romarna själva eller helt avlägsen, som en garant mot romersk brutalitet.

Denna studie har undersökt om och hur den ökade uppmaningen till att vaccinera sig från den svenska regeringen påverkat det sociala livet, både i privatlivet och på arbetsplatsen. Studien har utgått från följande frågeställningar; Hur påverkar det ökade vaccinationskravet det sociala livet? Finns det någon skillnad på vaccinationskravets påverkan mellan det privata sociala livet och på arbetsplatsen?  Syftet är att lyfta upp kunskap kring ett ganska nytt fenomen, ett ämne som det inte finns någon tidigare forskning om, och belysa hur samhället påverkas av situationer vi tidigare inte befunnit oss i. Metoden som använts till studien är den kvalitativa med semistrukturerade intervjuer där åtta personer deltagit. En hermeneutisk ansats har även använts till den här studien. Studien har använt sig av tre begrepp som legat till grund av analysen; Ulrich Beck - risksamhället, George Hermed Mead - Jaget och den generaliserade andre och Erving Goffman - Stigma. Resultaten visade på en ökad stigmatisering kring de som inte tagit vaccinet och en känsla av en förminskad samhörighet hos dessa individer. Resultaten visar även skillnader i vaccinationskravets påverkan på det sociala livet, privat och på arbetsplatsen. / This study has examined whether and how the Swedish covid-19 vaccine requirement has affected social life both privately and in the workplace. The study was based on the following questions; How does the increased vaccine requirement affected social life? And is there any difference in the impact of the vaccine requirement on private social life and the workplace?  The purpose is to raise knowledge about a fairly new phenomenon and shed light on how society is affected by situations we have not been in before and area topic that has not previously been researched. The study used a hermeneutic approach and a qualitative method with semi-structured interviews in which 8 people participated. The study has used 3 concepts as basis for the analysis: Ulrich Beck - the risk society, George Hermed Mead - The self and the generalized other and Erving Goffman - Stigma. The results showed an increased stigma around those who did not take the vaccine and the feeling of diminished belonging in these persons. The results also show the difference between social life in the private and the workplace domains.