The purpose of this study is to examine how women’s reading of the Harry Potter books can be understood on the basis of gender theory and reader-response criticism. The empirical data is gathered through qualitative interviews with six female Harry Potter readers between the age of 21 and 35, and is analyzed through several theories regarding gender and reading. The results show that the readers are critical towards many aspects of the books, especially when it comes to the stereotyped depiction of women and men. The books are said to reproduce the gender dichotomy, the gender hierarchy and the heteronormativity in society. At the same time, the readers deeply appreciate many aspects of the books. Not only are these positive opinions more than the negative ones, they also deal with the same things to a great extent. For example, the books are said to also challenge gender dichotomy, gender hierarchy and heteronormativity in many respects. The results further show that the readers oppose the books’ negative aspects, including the gender stereotypes, by their interpretations, ideas of heroes and identification during the reading. Finally, the study shows that the books serve several important functions for the readers, for example resistance to and compensation for the gender order. The study’s conclusions are that women’s reading of the Harry Potter books can be seen as an active transaction between reader, text and society, where the negative aspects are compensated by the positive parts of the reading experience. This means that the gender order affects, but does not determine, the women’s reading of these books.

Confucius is often considered a great teacher and the sage of Chinese philosophy for thousands of years. His teachings laid the foundation for an education system that prevailed for almost 2000 years before being outlawed by the revolution in 1905. Confucius himself was adamant about the need for education in the society at large, where he saw the need for the people to return to the golden ages of past kings where the kings ruled with benevolence and with righteousness.    But what did Confucius teachings say? What did the students read and study, and what ideals were presented to the students? What were the teacher’s roles and how did the Chinese society look upon them? What was considered valuable knowledge, and how was this argued in the actual works that were studied?    These are some of the questions that this essay examines and tries to answer.

Between 1810 and 1819, the Church of Sweden adopted three new books: the new handbook from 1811, archbishop Lindblom’s new explication of Martin Luther’s Small Catechism and Wallins new hymn book from 1819.  A few years earlier, a Lutheran revival movement had arisen in upper Norrland. The members of the revival movement, generally named “new readers”, reacted strongly to the influence of Enlightenment inspired theology (neology) in the new books. In 1848, the opposition of the most radical new readers led them to separate from the Church.  This master thesis examines the opposition to the new Swedish hymn book from 1819 in the area which since 1904 has been the diocese of Luleå. The study is limited to the period between 1819 and 1903. It is based on a qualitative problem-oriented source study through a close reading of the visitation documents for the parishes in the area. Opposition can be expressed in many ways and there can be many different indicators of it. The study’s inductive approach means that these indicators are not determined in advance, but rather are discovered through the close reading of the visitation documents.  The main questions discussed in the thesis are: • How long did it take before the parishes in upper Norrland introduced the hymn book of 1819? • What signs of opposition to the new hymn book are found in the visitation documents, and for how long? • How did the opponents motivate their resistance to the hymn book of 1819? • How was the new Sami hymn book from 1849 which was partly a translation from parts of the Wallinian hymn book received?  The study shows that it took a while before the new hymnal was introduced in most upper Norrland's Swedish-speaking parishes. More than half of those parishes had not introduced the new hymnal in 1829. This changed in many parishes during Bishop Franzén's visits in 1835. Opposition to the hymn book was largely expressed in parishes where the radical reading- movement had an influence. People expressed opposition to the hymn book in different ways during different phases. The opposition was usually explained in the visitation documents based on doctrinal reasons. The Sami hymnal, which was published in 1849 and which was partly based on the Wallinan hymnal, met with criticism from both the clergy in northern Lapland and the Sami. The priests criticized the translation, that it was difficult to understand for those who spoke the northern dialects. What the Sami were critical of is unknown.  The study shows that the new hymn book seemed to have been used in all Swedish-speaking parishes before 1903, but in parallel with the hymn book from 1695 in at least two parishes. This parallel use lasted for a very long time, perhaps during the entire investigation period. The old hymn book continued to be important to many people in upper Norrland.

In this essay, Enid Blyton’s book Five Fall into Adventure is analyzed with a focus on behavior patterns, stereotypes and power division. Intersectionality is used as an approach and a close reading of passages is used as a method. I argue that the novel could work as a good starting point for raising important questions in the classroom, despite the criticism which has been directed towards Blyton’s works. Although the way in which Blyton portrays gender stereotypes is often more acknowledged by critics, this book could be an especially useful tool when touching upon the questions of class and ethnicity. The essay also demonstrates that the criticized aspects of the books, such as them being considered sexist, should be further analyzed, emphasized and discussed, rather than suppressed, because they could serve as a good starting point for dealing with questions which are important to touch upon in teaching situations. Inequality, sexism and xenophobia are examples of such questions. / I denna uppsats analyseras Enid Blytons bok Fem går i fällan med fokus på beteendemönster, stereotyper och maktskillnader. Analysen utförs utifrån ett intersektionellt perspektiv och närläsning av avsnitt används som metod. Jag framhåller att boken skulle kunna fungera som en bra utgångspunkt för att beröra viktiga frågor i klassrummet, trots att kritik har riktats mot Blytons verk. Det är ofta Blytons sätt att skildra genusstereotyper som uppmärksammas mest av kritiker, men jag belyser att boken skulle kunna vara ett särskilt användbart verktyg för att beröra frågor rörande klass och etnicitet. Uppsatsen visar även att de kritiserade aspekterna av böckerna, exempelvis att de kan anses vara sexistiska, borde vidare analyseras, betonas och diskuteras, istället för att undvikas. Anledningen till det är att de kan användas som en väldigt bra utgångspunkt för att ta upp frågor som är viktiga att vidröra i undervisningen. Ojämlikhet, sexism och främlingsfientlighet är exempel på sådana frågor.