Uppsatsen syftar till att undersöka Spoken Word som modern folkbildningstradition och hur detta upplevs hos poeter med anknytning till territoriellt stigmatiserade bostadsområden. Intervjustudien bearbetar Spoken Word-poeters upplevelser kring meningsskapande och splittrade habitus i förhållande till polariserade poetiska rum. Detta besvaras via två frågeställningar: 1. Anser sig Spoken Word-poeter ha ett folkbildande uppdrag? 2. Upplever poeterna att Spoken word är meningsfullt för samhället? Datan bygger på sex intervjuer med verksamma poeter som uppträder med sin poesi på scen. De teoretiska utgångspunkterna är Pierre Bourdieus teori om habitus, habitus clivé och W.E.B Du Bois teori om det dubbla medvetandet kompletterat med Sara Ahmeds vita hav. Detta för att se hur majoritetssamhället priviligierade position påverkar poeters identitetsskapande som representanter ur minoritetsbefolkningen. De teoretiska perspektiven bidrar till förståelsen för hur strukturer i samhället delar in poeten i olika rum baserat på individens socioekonomiska klassbakgrund. Studiens resultat visar att den individuella upplevelsen av ett splittrat habitus eller dubbelt medvetande är inneboende hos individen och påverkar självbilden när denne befinner sig i de vita haven. Detta leder till att homogena grupper reproducerar polariserade habitus, samtidigt som det kan innebära att habitus splittrar individen som i stället influerar denne att skapa möjligheter till förändring i samhället. Poeterna har en drivkraft i sitt textförfattande med ambition att förmedla en alternativ verklighetsbild som berättar något. På så vis kan Spoken Word utgöra en informell läroplan för samhället. Studiens bidrag till forskningsfältet består av en kultursociologisk intervjustudie som undersöker den icke-vita sidan av det poetiska rummet med röster från olika geografiska förorter i Sverige. Detta kan bidra till förståelsen hur individen på denna sida av rummet behöver arbeta i två parallella sfärer samtidigt. Den ena utgör samhällets syn på icke-vita där du behöver motbevisa negativa stereotyper och den andra grundas i dina personliga normer och värderingar från din kulturella bakgrund.

The protagonist Martha in Doris Lessing’s Martha Quest is born to white British settler parents and grows up in a British colony in southern Africa in the 1930s. Although officially the coloniser rather than the colonised, Martha tries to reject this role mentally, verbally, and physically. This essay aims to show that a postcolonial reading of Martha in relation to the colonial context helps in understanding her double consciousness and, more specifically, her inability to find a real or lasting sense of home. Using Homi Bhabha’s concept of unhomeliness, the essay argues that Martha does not truly feel at home anywhere, because the “unhomely” always disturbs the “homely.” Through close reading of the text, it shows how Martha tries to find a sense of home in four areas of her life: her physical home, nature, her body, and her mind. This essay finds that despite Martha’s efforts in moving from her family home to rented accommodation, from the bush to the city, from girlhood to womanhood, and from her individual thoughts to the solidarity of others, she still does not feel at home anywhere. Whenever she starts to feel comfortable in a place or situation, unhomely moments, such as reminders of her nationality, race, or class, always disturb the homely feelings of belonging. Ultimately, Martha cannot escape her unhomeliness. / Huvudpersonen Martha i Doris Lessings Martha Quest är dotter till vita brittiska bosättare och växer upp i en brittisk koloni i södra Afrika på 1930-talet. Trots att hon formellt sett är kolonisatören snarare än den koloniserade, försöker Martha att avvisa denna roll mentalt, verbalt och fysiskt. Denna uppsats syftar till att visa att en postkolonial tolkning av Martha i förhållande till det koloniala sammanhanget bidrar till en förståelse av hennes dubbla medvetande och mer specifikt hennes oförmåga att hitta en verklig, eller bestående, känsla av hemma. Med hjälp av Homi Bhabhas koncept gällande o-hemlikhet argumenterar uppsatsen för att Martha inte känner sig riktigt hemma någonstans, eftersom det ”o-hemlika” alltid stör det ”hemlika.” Genom en noggrann läsning av texten visar den hur Martha försöker hitta känslan av ett hem inom fyra områden av sitt liv: sitt fysiska hem, naturen, sin kropp och sitt sinne. Denna uppsats konstaterar att trots Marthas ansträngningar att flytta från sitt familjehem till ett hyresrum, från land till stad, från ung flicka till kvinna och från sina individuella tankar till solidaritet med andra, känner hon sig fortfarande inte hemma någonstans. När hon börjar känna sig bekväm på ett ställe eller i ett läge, stör o-hemlika ögonblick i form av påminnelser om hennes nationalitet, ras eller klass alltid hennes hemlika känslor av tillhörighet. I slutändan kan Martha inte undgå sin o-hemlikhet.

Betweenship, or inbetweenness, is a complex state of mind. Numerous stories about it arecurrently being shared and more are piling up by the minute. Inbetweenness exist in all socialclasses all over the world.What is inbetweenness? Inbetweenness is a state of mind closely connected with theexperiences of children of immigrants, mixed races and transracial adoptees. What createdinbetweenness? Many scholars, like for example Tobias Hübinette, believe thatinbetweenness is a result of globalization. What inbetweeners all have in common is that theyidentify themselves as people of subculture, or people between cultures, because theyrepeatedly travel between different cultures and identities. In our research we found that thecommon aspiration and desire among inbetweeners is that their identities must not beexamined or questioned by other people, especially those who do not understandinbetweenness, and also that inbetweenness is the result of different power structures in thesociety.Patrik Bolling Ferell, co-founder of the Swedish foundation The Inbetweenship(Mellanförskapet), has said that “It’s on the airplane between my two home countries I feelhome at most.” These inbetween individuals already struggle with identity issues. Most ofthem don’t even know what (or where) to call “home”. What is interesting about the noun“home” is that it has multiple meanings, such as a shelter that is a person’s residence, and aplace where domestic affections are centered. The meaning is controversial, which is why thequote by Ferell is so fitting.Descendants of foreigners and inbetweeners all over the world claim that they arecurrently not treated with equality nor the respect that they deserve, which is the main reasonwhy we decided to write this bachelor essay about this subject.This essay focuses on collecting and analyzing research data from a number of individualsfrom different chosen cities who also answered a few questions in an inquiry about theinbetweenness situation in Sweden. To analyze this research data we decided to use thecritical discourse analysis theory by Norman Fairclough to study the bond between powerstructures and inbetweenness in Swedish society. We also question why the Swedish schoolsystem, its principals and teachers insist on not incorporating this subject when there clearlyis enough room for it in the curriculum and syllabus, according to our study. At the end of ourstudy, we give advice on how teachers can educate Swedish upper secondary school students about inbetweenness as a part of religious studies.Inbetweenness research indicated that there are great flaws in religious studies in Sweden.Results showed that there are no, or very few educational lessons about inbetweenness,multicultural, alienation and reconciliation education.This study, researched and written with brand new data about the subject, concludes thatthe majority of our survey participants have never even heard the word inbetweenness or anyof its variants, while the majority have experienced or continue to experience it. Results fromthe survey also show us that the participants also feel that the Swedish school system musttake its responsibility to its students and educate them better about this subject, as manyparticipants would have felt better and safer with their identities knowing that they are notalone in the world, and that what they are feeling is completely normal. Participants in thesurvey also answered that they would probably have gotten better grades if teachers andschoolmates understood what they have been going through.

The purpose of this master’s thesis is to examine the relationship between mothers and sons in Mustafa Can’s Tätt intill dagarna: Berättelsen om min mor (Close to the days: The story of my mother) from 2006, Theodor Kallifatides’ Mödrar och söner (Mothers and sons) from 2007 and Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous from 2019. These novels examine themes of migration and motherhood through the perspective of the sons, who all write semi-autobiographically about their mothers.   This thesis uses a broad theoretical framework, with postcolonial theories of hybridity and double consciousness alongside motherhood studies as the primary sources. Works by Frantz Fanon, Homi K. Bhabha, Sara Ahmed, and Marianne Hirsch, are, alongside others, used in purpose of creating a nuanced understanding of the relationships between mother, son and place, as these relations are portrayed in the novels.   The analysis is divided into three chapters, where the novels are represented by one chapter each. The final part of the thesis is a comparative discussion, in which the novels are read alongside each other, in order to draw conclusions on the ways in which these authors represent the relations between mother and place, and how this affects the sons’ feelings of identity. In summary, this thesis shows that the mothers play an important role in their sons’ subject formations, and that the sons’ relationships with their home countries are affected by, or correlated to, their relationships with their mothers. This is done using imagery of nature, portrayals of language barriers, and other descriptions of fragmented identities.