Working to untangle the multiple interests and “truths” that manifest in decision-making in youth shelters, I draw on the Foucauldian perspective of governmentality as an alternative means of problematizing “youth homelessness” in Canada. Tracing interdiscursivity between levels of authority, I use critical discourse analysis to deconstruct federal and Ontario government, and Toronto youth shelter discourses. Aiming to normalize the problematic, I uncover tensions between crime control and human resource development within each level of authority. Further, usurping attention to employment and housing, mental illness and youth criminality are taking over as dominant discourses. Moreover, the discursive production of “needy” and “helping” subjectivities is serving to depoliticize and individualize institutionally structured relationships, thereby limiting the depth of citizenship permitted poor, racialized and gendered young people. Concealing ongoing neo-liberal restructuring, therapeutic community-based governance is thus justified over action to address the roots of youth homelessness.

Following critical/post-structural perspectives in conducting ethnographic research on the political dimension of language learning, this study examines language learners’ identity and investment in a post-secondary Korean language classroom in Canada. First, this study explores the ways in which Korean-ness is produced through the curriculum, how an instructor’s linguistic and teaching practices in the Korean language classroom function to include some students and exclude others, and how the students on the periphery cope with their marginalization. I argue that peripheral students’ coping strategies are strongly tied to their investment into certain aspects of Korean language and culture, as well as their desire to gain symbolic resources in the Korean language. Second, my study examines the ways in which Korean heritage language learners (re)negotiate their hyphenated Korean Canadian identities by looking at three different discourse sites - Korean home, Korean church, and Canadian schools - and how their hyphenated identities are connected with their investment in maintaining their heritage language. The data for this study includes classroom observations, semi-structured interviews, bi-weekly written journals and focus group interviews. By adopting critical discourse analysis (CDA) as a means of analyzing the data, this study shows that language learners’ race, ethnicity and gender are salient parts of their identities, and thus impact their learning experiences to varying degrees and levels. My research findings also suggest that the ethnic identity capital that the heritage language learners embrace in relation to their perceptions of their native speech community as well as its status, is intertwined with the maintenance of their heritage language. Pedagogical implications from this study enable educators to equally empower students from diverse backgrounds, and help them to be sensitive to the relations between ideologies and power in the language classroom. Central to these pedagogical implications is that it is the role of the teacher to adequately capitalize on the multilingual and multicultural practices that each student brings to the language classroom, and to identify the social and cultural voices present in the class.

Lead is a serious developmental neurotoxin with the capacity to interrupt brain development and impair functioning. Since at least 1930 numerous case studies in American, Canadian and Australian literature have identified lead based paint in the home as a source of poisoning for young children; and since at least 1990 evidence has shown that it is the lead dust from deteriorating paint in older homes and renovating activities that is the primary source of chronic exposure for young children today. Not much is known about the extent of childhood lead poisoning in Canada. Gaps in our understanding include a lack of national survey data on childhood blood lead levels and an absence of reliable data to determine the era of housing that poses the greatest risk. This thesis posits that despite this paucity of research knowledge there is evidence to suggest that populations of vulnerable children continue to be harmed by exposure to historic sources of lead, such as lead-based paint found in older housing stock. This thesis examines the evidence to support this contention by critically analyzing the Canadian public health response to the issue of childhood lead poisoning. Specific attention is paid to discourse corresponding to lead-based paint, the putative major pathway of exposure for children ages 1 to 5 years. Using Foucault’s genealogical/archaeological approach, as elaborated upon by Rawlinson (1987) this thesis discusses the socio-political and economical processes that shaped health care knowledge regarding childhood lead poisoning in Canada and influenced the way knowledge was produced and used by health care providers and policy makers. The analysis is assisted via a comparison of Canadian public health discourse with American discourse, with an emphasis on discourse appearing in the post leaded gasoline era (1990-2008). The strength of a Foucauldian archaeological/genealogical analysis for nursing research and particularly for this analysis is in its focus on discourse, surfaces of emergence, transformations, mutations, contingencies, events, recognition of power/knowledge strategies, descriptions of discipline technologies and consequences, and suggested possibilities of resistance. This thesis proposes that surveillance data constituted both a product and acatalyst of the dominant view on childhood lead poisoning occurring from residential sources and posits that a lack of Canadian context specific surveillance data was the major “policing” factor limiting Canadian public health discourse. Further, privileged access to blood lead survey data maintained the view that childhood lead poisoning was a problem of the past or an American problem. Third, tensions among Canada’s two federal agencies which hold primary responsibility for lead, health and housing resulted in a weakened response whereby, to date, no legislation exists to protect vulnerable populations of Canadian children from exposure to historic sources of lead in residential dwellings.

The news media serve as the Canadian public’s main source of information about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This thesis examines the ways in which the Canadian media portray the conflict, through a lens of Habermas’ (1962) public sphere theory, Foucault’s (1926 – 1984) ideas on discourse, and Rawls’ (1921 – 2002) conceptions of equality and justice. Building on these theories, Noelle-Neumann’s Spiral of Silence theory (1974), Said’s Orientalism (1978), and d’Arcy’s (1913 – 1983) conception of the right to communicate are examined to arrive at a framework for analyzing Canadian news. Looking at ideological representations, power manifestations, issue framing, and social responsibility within the media, this thesis explores whether the Canadian media portray the conflict in such a way that fosters a downward spiral of opinions within the Canadian public. A Critical Discourse Analysis of coverage in two national English Canadian newspapers, The Globe and Mail and the National Post, during three separate timeframes of increased violence in Israel and Palestine between 2000 and 2009 reveals that newspaper representations of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are often entrenched in predefined ways of portraying the Other, fostering an Israeli-Palestinian spiral of silence in Canadian media.

By adopting the Policy for Global Development (PGD) in 2003 the Swedish parliament established gender mainstreaming as a goal in development cooperation policy, thereby emphasizing women’s role as agents of empowerment in development. This has not always been the case. During most of the history of Swedish foreign aid women issues have been handled separately and development policy mainly based on a male perspective. A lot of research has focused on trends in the global debate over how to better integrate women in development process, but much less academic attention has focused on how Swedish development policy has addressed the issue and how women have been referred to in development policy since the origin of Swedish foreign aid. According to the theories of critical discourse analysis (CDA) our written and spoken language influence our view of the reality and how we understand society. Following that logic, how women are referred to in Swedish development policy influence how women are perceived by the actors of development cooperation. Through a critical discourse analysis of official Swedish governmental documents concerning foreign aid, such as government bills and letters of appropriation, this study aims to detect discourses of Swedish development policy regarding women in developing countries. Furthermore it aims to understand how these discourses have related to the global debate about women’s role in development. This study observes six discourses of women in developing countries in the material: Women as passive recipient, agent of empowerment, the savior, motherhood-women as mothers, the other woman, and the man as the norm. The analysis shows Sweden’s development policies following the global discussions fairly coherently during much of the period, with 80s as the only possible exception.

This study examines how Asian Americans articulate their marginalization and identity, as well as other issues related to race, through the use of blogs. Specifically, I look at discourse surrounding the Deadly Viper Character Assassins publication controversy on three different blogs. I draw upon critical discourse analysis (CDA) to compile patterns, themes, and anomalies from the online discussions. This paper highlights key findings, given the scarceness of Asian American voices in public culture, that prompt ongoing discussions about identity and the use of blogs as a platform to speak and conceptualize Asian American identity.

Titel: Klimatförändringarna i nyhetsdiskursen Antal sidor: 47 Författare: Emelie Sahlström & Sofia Öström Handledare: Ulrika Olausson Kurs: Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap C Period: HT 2010 Universitet: Avdelningen för Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap, Institutionen för humaniora, utbildning och samhällsvetenskap, Örebro universitet Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka om och i så fall hur klimatförändringarna i nyhetsdiskursen i New York Times och Dagens Nyheter har likheter, respektive skiljer sig åt. Vi undersöker också om klimatrapporteringarna är uppbyggda genom nationella eller globala identitet, om något ansvar utkrävs samt vilka som tillskrivs detta ansvar och om det finns en vetenskaplig säkerhet eller osäkerhet gentemot klimatförändringarna. Utifrån dessa har vi i slutdiskussionen diskuterat hur resultaten kan kopplas till USA:s och Sveriges klimatpolitik. Teorier: Teorierna är relaterad och presenteras i relation till tidigare forskning. De teorier som används i denna uppsats är, ansvarsutkrävande, vetenskaplig säkerhet och osäkerhet samt identitet.   Metod och material: För att uppfylla syftet använde vi en kritisk diskursanalys samt mikro- och makronivåerna. Vi har analyserat 8 artiklar från New York Times och 9 artiklar från Dagens Nyheter. Resultat: Resultaten visar att DN och NYT, som Europa och USA står mot varandra i klimathanteringen. Analyserna har också visat att klimatförändringarna framställs i de båda tidningarna utifrån nationella identiteter och en ”vi” och ”dem” diskurs återges konsekvent i artiklarna. När det kommer till vetenskaplig säkerhet och osäkerhet ställer sig både DN och NYT säkert till klimatförändringarna och detta görs genom citat från vetenskapsmän och statistik. Säkerheten präglas också av medvetenhet och god inblick i klimatförändringarna. Ansvarsutkrävandet i DN och NYT läggs till stor del på politikerna, dock utkräver NYT ett globalt ansvar och DN utkräver ett ansvar mot USA och Europa som Sverige i denna kontext står utanför. Nyckelord: Critical discourse analysis, climate, accountability, scientific certainty and uncertainty, identity, New York Times, Dagens Nyheter and climate policy

The aim of this study is to examine how ADHD is discussed in the Swedish mass media. We have examined 21 articles from Aftonbladet, Expressen, Dagens Nyheter, Göteborgs-Posten and Svenska Dagbladet. All articles are reviewed from the newspapers online edition. Theories used are Erving Goffman’s theory of Stigma and Michael Foucault´s theory of categorization as well as Göran Palm's, Renée Skogersson's and Anders R. Olsson's theories about mass media. We have also used relevant literature. The main method we used is of Norman Fairclough´s three-dimensional critical discourse analysis where we in most parts have focused on the text analysis and also with the help of text coding system. One of our conclusions is that ADHD is sometimes described with negative words such as "brat" or "problem child". With these words we discovered the existence of underlying messages of the articles that are not expressed clearly. ADHD-medications were often described negative in the articles and also the reasons why a person might actually have ADHD were found to be discussed in the mass media. / Syftet med detta examensarbete är att studera hur ADHD framställs i svensk massmedia. 21 artiklar från Aftonbladet, Expressen, Dagens Nyheter, Göteborgs-Posten och Svenska Dagbladet har analyserats. Vi har hämtat artiklarna från tidningarnas internet- upplaga.  Vi har använt oss av Norman Fairclough’s tredimensionella kritiska diskursanalys och har fokuserat på textanalysen. För att granska artiklarna har vi genomfört en textkodning för att bland annat söka efter olika nyckelord i artiklarna. För att skapa en djupare förståelse har vi använt Erving Goffman’s teori om Stigma och Michael Foucault’s teori om Kategorisering samt Göran Palm's, Renée Skogersson's och Anders R. Olsson's teorier om massmedia. Vi har även använt oss av relevant litteratur i analysen. En av våra iakttagelser är att personer med ADHD ibland beskrivs med ord som till exempel ”satunge” eller ”problembarn”. Genom att vara uppmärksam på dessa ord upptäckte vi att det fanns underliggande budskap i artiklarna som inte uttrycktes explicit. Orsakerna till ADHD, ökningen av diagnoserna och medicinering skrivs det mycket om i de valda artiklarna. Dessa tre ”teman” hänger intimt ihop. Orsakerna påverkar ökningen som i sin tur påverkar medicineringen. ADHD- medicineringen framställs ofta negativt i vårt material, bland annat belyser vissa artiklar att det saknas forskning om långtidseffekterna av medicineringen. Även orsakerna till varför en person egentligen får ADHD visar sig vara omdiskuterat i de valda artiklarna.

While it has explained how power and knowledge directly imply one another, constructivist theories of international relations have shown how knowledge and language are extensively used for legitimizing war, conflict and intervention. It has further been shown how not only news media, but increasingly popular culture is powerful in creating meaning and establishing knowledge about war and conflict. At the same time, media scholars have shown that the development in television production is going towards a blur between information and entertainment, fact and fiction. This blur has been shown to often and effectively de-politicize ideological content. This study is a critical discourse analysis of the TV series Krig för fred (War for peace), broadcast on the Swedish public service television during the spring of 2011. The study has through answering questions in terms of genre and ideology, found that the material is an example of a blur between documentary and reality TV and that the material is exclusively from a Swedish point-of-view, yet presented through a discourse of claiming the real. One of the consequences of the mixed genre seemed to have been that as more space was given to individual characters and exoticising images of the Afghan landscape and people, less space was given to criticism, which made this representation of the war entertaining rather than informative to watch. While the only information given about Afghanistan in the TV series is that it is among the poorest countries in the world, more clues have been given as to how the Swedish military view themselves and have been represented in relation to ‘others’ in the world.

The purpose of this essay is to examine at how to portray characters in the stories and narratives which depicts one of these children's books and if they really have something to ethnicity and its identification to be done. The Research questions is: What are the different identification markers given, to the reading child in the books, which might indicate that the story depicts people of different ethnicities? How are the characters portrayed in the story and which role is assigned to the main character? What story is portrayed and is it relevant to an identifier can occur? The conclusions of the five children's books shows that it is important with identifications markers, to show that there are different ethnicities. For example the analysis revealed the specific features of the illustrations and how the books portrayes someone with a different ethnicity and cultural background as something exotic. In the texts, the analysis showed how it occurred ethnic differences, by explicitly demonstrating differences between the characters. It was found that the characters were produced mostly as good, happy, curious, suspicious and unsympathetic. Common to all the main characters was that they had been placed, in one for them unusual context and that they were trying to assimilate to the new situations. Depictions consisted of realism and fiction. What emerged here was that most of the stories themselves were not carrying identification purposes, most of the stories needed help with the identification markers from the illustrations, so that the reading child could understand the themes it was about. The methods used in the studies are narratology, semiotics and critical discourse analysis. In particular, I looked at the propositions, inferences, icon, index and symbol.