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The starting point of this study is the common assumption that the Italian society is based on a patriarchal ideological system in which racism is often normalized. The binary distinction between women and men in Italian society has evolved into discussions and awareness raising on genderbased violence or violence against women. As intersectionality has become a central point in Italian contemporary feminism, this study uses the analysis of topics related to the historical creation of the idea of Italian-ness, migration and the influence of right-wing politics in current gender related issues as the basis of a feminist Critical Discourse Analysis. With this in mind, using intersectional theory, postcolonial feminism, and studies of whiteness, the study aims at exploring as to which extent the discourses of three white Italian women, who identify as feminist activists, influence the presence of racialized Italian women in their work. This study should create academic data and contribute to a research that is extremely limited on these topics.

Color vision deficiency (CVD) is the inability or limited ability to recognize colors and discriminate between them. A person with this condition perceives a narrower range of colors compared to a person with a normal color vision. A growing number of researchers are striving to improve the quality of life for CVD patients. Finding cure, making rectification equipment, providing simulation tools and applying color transformation methods are among the efforts being made by researchers in this field. In this study we concentrate on recoloring digital images in such a way that users with CVD, especially dichromats, perceive more details from the recolored images compared to the original image. The main focus is to give the CVD user a chance to find information within the picture which they could not perceive before. However, this transformed image might look strange or unnatural to users with normal color vision. During this color transformation process, the goal is to keep the overall contrast of the image constant while adjusting the colors that might cause confusion for the CVD user. First, each pixel in the RGB-image is converted to HSV color space in order to be able to control hue, saturation and intensity for each pixel and then safe and problematic hue ranges need to be found. The method for recognizing these ranges was inspired by a condition called “unilateral dichromacy” in which the patient has normal color vision in one eye and dichromacy in another. A special grid-like color card is designed, having constant saturation and intensity over the entire image, while the hue smoothly changes from one block to another to cover the entire hue range. The next step is to simulate the way this color card is perceived by a dichromatic user and finally to find the colors that are perceived identically from two images and the ones that differ too much. This part makes our method highly customizable and we can apply it to other types of CVD, even personalize it for the color vision of a specific observer. The resulting problematic colors need to be dealt with by shifting the hue or saturation based on some pre-defined rules. The results for the method have been evaluated both objectively and subjectively. First, we simulated a set of images as they would be perceived by a dichromat and compared them with simulated view of our transformed images. The results clearly show that our recolored images can eliminate a lot of confusion from user and convey more details. Moreover, an online questionnaire was created and 39 users with CVD confirmed that the transformed images allow them to perceive more information compared to the original images.

Using the frames of analysis and language of political whiteness and anti-migrant hegemony, this paper examines the narrative of liberal immigration reformers transforming California’s political landscape within the period of 1994 to 2017. Taken as case studies the following articles of legislation are analyzed: Proposition 187 in 1994, the California Dream Act in 2010, the Trust Act in 2014, up to the present Senate Bill 54 in 2017. The paper finds that while California has experienced a recognizable shift in racial liberalism in rhetoric and legislation, its overall policy continues to work within the framework of anti-migrant hegemony that functions through criminalization and detention. The paper ends with the conclusion, informed by Gonzales’ writing in Reform without Justice, that the shift California has experienced is indicative of anti-migrant hegemony reconfiguring itself in changing social and political norms.

This dissertation focuses on the geographical area of Malmö, the third largest city in Sweden, and examines the majority society’s opinions and attitudes toward interracial dating, marriage and childbearing. The dissertation is driven by two theoretical frames: the theory of race as ideas constructed through the perception of visible differences and the theory of prejudice and stereotypes. Mixed methods have been chosen as a means of exploring people’s attitudes toward interracial relationships. Quantitative data was collected by means of an attitude survey and the qualitative data was collected by means of follow-up interviews with some of the respondents who participated in the survey. The study shows that although their attitudes vary depending on the different groups in question, the majority of the respondents and interviewees could imagine getting involved in interrelationships and would not react negatively if a family member got involved in such a relationship. The quantitative results address the importance of intimate contacts, in other words having friends of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds in having more positive attitudes toward interracial dating, marriage and childbearing. Age, gender, education and the place of upbringing also affects people’s attitudes. The qualitative inquiry probes the reasoning behind the survey results and points to the complicated relations between individual attitudes and the sense of group position. The interviewees’ words depict color-blind ways of talking about attitudes toward interracial marriage and different groups. Ideas of race emerge in this color-blind reasoning and the role of visible difference is highlighted both through the quantitative and qualitative inquiries. / Denna avhandling granskar majoritetssamhällets åsikter och attityder till “interracial marriage and relationships” (blandäktenskap och annan blandrelation). Populationen för denna granskning är ett representativt urval av befolkningen i Malmö, Sveriges tredje största stad. Studien drivs främst av två teoretiska inriktningar. Den ena är teorin om “race” (ras) som innebär att race är tankar och idéer som väcks utifrån fysiska och synliga skillnader hos olika grupper. Den andra är teorin om fördomar och stereotyper. Metoden som använts för att undersöka befolkningsmajoritetens attityder är “mixed methods”. Den kvantitativa enkätstudien följs upp med kvalitativa intervjuer till en del av de svarande. Studien visar att även om det finns variationer i val av preferenser beroende på vilken grupp det handlar om, kan majoriteten av respondenterna i enkäten och intervjupersonerna tänka sig att leva i blandäktenskap eller i annan blandrelation. Majoriteten svarar också att de inte skulle reagera negativt om någon i familjen väljer att leva i ett sådant förhållande. Resultaten från den kvantitativa undersökningen tyder på ett starkt samband mellan att ha vänner med olika etnisk bakgrund och i att vara mer positiv till blandäktenskap och blandrelation. Ålder, kön, utbildningsnivå och var man är uppväxt påverkar också attityderna. Den kvalitativa undersökningen utforskar resonemangen bakom resultaten från enkäten och avslöjar en komplicerad relation mellan individers attityder och känslan av grupposition. Intervjupersonernas ordval och uttryckssätt reflekterar ett “färgblint” sätt att tala om attityder till blandäktenskap och olika grupper. I resonemangen bakom färgblindhet framkommer i både enkäten och intervjuerna tankar och idéer om “race” (ras) och betydelsen av fysiska och synliga skillnader hos olika grupper.

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