Syftet med denna kvalitativa dokumentstudie var att undersöka mediala konstruktioner i nyhetsartiklar av kvinnor inom narkotikarelaterad kriminalitet under åren 1990, 2000, 2010 samt 2020. För att besvara syftet har 112 artiklar från tre av Sveriges största nyhetstidningar analyserats och bearbetats med avseende på konstruktioner, drivkrafter och femininitet samt aktörskap. För att samla in nyhetsartiklar har olika sökord relaterade till syfte och frågeställningar använts för att sedan analyseras utifrån tematisk analys. Uppsatsen antar en socialkonstruktionistisk ansats samt utgår från genusteori, teorin om det ideala offret samt använder begreppen göra kön och normativ femininitet. Vår studie visar att det finns en viss skillnad i hur kvinnor konstrueras i media under de olika tidsperioderna. Resultatet visar att kvinnor konstrueras ha olika roller med olika mycket inflytande inom narkotikarelaterad kriminalitet. En del av kvinnorna konstrueras komma in i narkotikarelaterad kriminalitet via män, medan andra kvinnor skildras som ledare för stora organisationer. Ett annat resultat var att media lägger stor vikt vid kvinnors utseende, snarare än på deras roller inom den narkotikarelaterade kriminaliteten. Vidare fann vi att flertal artiklar framställer att kvinnorna befinner sig i olika former av utsatthet. Resultatet visade även att media gör kön, då kvinnor som är involverade i narkotikarelaterad kriminalitet skildras som något annorlunda än männen som är det samt att media fokuserar på att kvinnorna är mammor. De mediala konstruktionerna är i linje med samhälleliga föreställningar om kön och kan också tänkas ha inverkan på hur samhället ser på och behandlar dessa kvinnor, därav är det viktigt att belysa vilken inverkan mediala konstruktioner kan ha.

On January 1, 2007, the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources in the Department of Marine Resources of the Bahamas promulgated significant revisions to their sports-fishing regulations. While the new laws were designed to benefit the Bahamian fisheries, they caused a vociferous uproar among non-resident anglers who frequent the islands of the Bahamas to sports-fish. Of particular concern are the new regulations that limit the maximum weight and number of fish which non-resident anglers may keep on their boat. My research examines the claims-making activities made by American anglers on four different sports-fishermen/cruising forums. The analysis focuses on the motifs, rhetorical idioms, counterrhetorical strategies, and styles among sports-fishermen who fish the Bahamas.

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Minimal scientific research has been conducted regarding female sexual offenders within the South African context, despite its prevalence. This study explores behavioural and contextual characteristics of female sexual offenders to gain an understanding of the phenomenon. This qualitative study in the form of a systematic review, focuses on the findings of ten original international research articles published from 2002 to 2012 regarding the behavioural and contextual characteristics of female sexual offenders. The epistemological foundation of this study was postmodernism and social constructionism. Three main themes and various subthemes emerged from the data by applying the thematic content analysis. The aim of this study was to explore the similarities and differences between the findings of the research articles. Lacunas in the existing literature were explored in an attempt to extend scientific knowledge on female sexual offenders. Finally, recommendations for future scientific studies on female sexual offenders were discussed. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Have South African women's lives become happier since the transition to democracy? If they are, could this be linked to gender equality? This is the central question of this study. This study explored a group of women’s subjective experiences of gender equality, by which I mean equality on the basis of gender; and happiness, which refers to women’s life satisfaction and their affective state. It further explores whether gender equality and happiness are linked. The study assumed that everything being equal, endeavours to liberate women from patriarchy and towards gender equality enhance women’s happiness. 1994 ushered in a democratic South Africa and numerous legislative and policy changes were introduced that affect women. Considerable gains have been made at the constitutional and political levels for women’s equality and gender justice. This is reflected in the rankings of South Africa on many different indices. Yet, we see numerous challenges facing women including poverty and gender-based violence. This study examined whether the presence of a range of policies as well as affirmative and protective measures for women have impacted on how they experience their lives. In particular, do they feel that they are happy and do they see happiness as linked to gender equality efforts? Given the research question, this study was grounded within a feminist framework. A mixed methods approach utilising both qualitative and quantitative methods was employed.

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The purpose of this study is to contribute to the understanding of how asylum-seeking refugees manage their lives in the situation they are in, a situation in which they are dependent and have to wait for decisions on whether or not they will get to stay in the country in which they have made their application for asylum.  The elaboration upon these questions and the purpose of the study is approached through a field study of asylum-seeking refugees from Afghanistan in Sweden. The thesis presents a background of international migration, refugee migration, refugee migration from Afghanistan and the reception of asylum seekers and refugees in the EU and Sweden, which tells us both that asylum seekers and refugees are not welcome in the countries of the ‘North’, where policies of containment and repatriation are the most common features of treating the refugee ‘problem’ and that the long period of waiting and uncertainty creates a situation of passivity and ill-health among the asylum seekers. Employing grounded theory methodology in different forms based in data from fieldwork, including participant observations and informal conversations, the study applies a constructionist grounded theory approach in the analyses of the situation and the management thereof. Steered by this constructionist grounded theory approach, strengthened by a situational analysis, the thesis presents a situational frame pointing to the situation for the asylum-seeking refugees as temporal and dependent on Swedish national discourse, racism and paternalism. With this background and frame and generated by data from the field study, the thesis goes on to present the situation as disempowering. The disempowering processes are illustrated through looking at dependence and inhospitality, and are characterised by the asylum-seeking refugees’ oscillation between feelings of hope and despair. It becomes, however, also evident that the asylum-seeking refugees take action and that they are supported by latent empowering processes. The actions taken are categorised as actions of empowering in opposition to the processes presented as disempowering. The actions of empowering are connected to keeping oneself occupied, searching for and maintaining social contacts and in the asylum-seeking refugees’ representations of themselves. From the presentation of the situation as disempowering and the actions taken by the asylum-seeking refugees in response to this situation as actions of empowering, a process characterised as seeking empowerment is presented. In this process empowerment is discussed as the establishment of power to resist. During the discussion of the concept of seeking empowerment it is shown how the asylum-seeking refugees in this study, through their actions of empowering, try to resist the disempowering situation. By seeking to establish power to resist, they are seeking empowerment.

Acts of commemoration construct narratives of collective memory and identity, shaped by organisers' agendas. Existing literature presumes that organisers primarily use commemoration for national political, social and cultural outcomes. Contemporary commemoration, however, takes place in times of a contested role of the nation for collective memory and identity, while events are commonly used for economic outcomes in addition to political, social and cultural ones. There is hence not enough research that explores the roles and uses of contemporary commemorative events. Drawing primarily on literature from the nascent fields of memory studies and event studies, this qualitative constructionist research explores how narratives of collective memory and identity emerge at commemorative events of the fall of the Berlin Wall in the major anniversary years of 2009 and 2014. These events are an interesting and suitable context for the research as they were the first events of this kind and commemoration of the Wall poses various challenges due to the Wall's shifting meanings. Findings from a semiotic analysis of the events suggest that these events construct narratives beyond the national dimension. By interpreting the historical events to be rooted in Berlin and of international significance, strong local and international identity narratives are constructed. Findings from a thematic analysis of documents and interviews with organisers illustrate that organisers use the events for branding and event tourism development. This research argues that such emerging uses of commemoration play a significant role for the commemorative narrative. The findings further illustrate the permeable nature of the state-sponsored narrative in Berlin and the now consolidated role of Wall-related memory for local identity construction. The research contributes to the theoretical understanding of commemorative events in general and Berlin Wall commemoration in particular, as well as of contemporary German national identity. It further makes a methodological contribution on the use of semiotics in this context. An applied contribution on implications for the management of commemorative events is also made.

Minimal scientific research has been conducted regarding female sexual offenders within the South African context, despite its prevalence. This study explores behavioural and contextual characteristics of female sexual offenders to gain an understanding of the phenomenon. This qualitative study in the form of a systematic review, focuses on the findings of ten original international research articles published from 2002 to 2012 regarding the behavioural and contextual characteristics of female sexual offenders. The epistemological foundation of this study was postmodernism and social constructionism. Three main themes and various subthemes emerged from the data by applying the thematic content analysis. The aim of this study was to explore the similarities and differences between the findings of the research articles. Lacunas in the existing literature were explored in an attempt to extend scientific knowledge on female sexual offenders. Finally, recommendations for future scientific studies on female sexual offenders were discussed. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)