This literature analysis aims to explore the colonial heritage of textbooks meant for teaching music in Swedish grade schools. The books analysed were released between 1969 and 2018 and range from pure songbooks, pure textbooks to teacher guides. With the tools from critical discourse analyses combined with the postcolonial theory this study explores how the textbooks group and portray individuals with a special focus on the supposed reader as opposed to “the others”. The results show that “we” in the Swedish music textbook is a western white person who has prior knowledge of western religious and cultural expressions. This study also shows that pictures and text combined attribute negative traits to the “other” individuals portrayed. Western music theory is often portrayed as general and serve to define the “we” group with its necessary prior knowledge. This study also shows that texts that are neutral or positive in tone still use language that place individuals in the “we” and “them” groups.

Det övergripande syftet med denna undersökning är att se hur mycket heteronormativa inslag som förekommer i två valda läroböcker som riktar sig till elever som läser svenska som andraspråk, årskurs 1 på gymnasiet. Syftet med studien är att visa hur stort utrymme olikkönade relationer får i jämförelse med samkönade relationer. Dessutom är syftet att visa i vilken kontext de olika relationstyperna förekommer, för att försöka belysa eventuella underliggande värderingar. Undersökningen är genomförd med en textanalytisk metod inspirerad av diskursanalys. Resultatet visar att ena boken helt uteslutit att nämna några samkönade relationer, medan den andra boken har valt att nämna samkönade relationer vid tre tillfällen i en artikel. Dessutom visar resultatet att ena boken lämnar mest utrymme åt könsneutrala relationer, medan den andra boken lämnar mest utrymme åt olikkönade relationer. Vidare visar resultatet att det i vissa fall reproduceras ett stereotypt synsätt om hur kvinnor och män bör vara.

Critical studies of upper secondary text books in religion is a popular essay topic for soon to be teachers in Swedish universities. In particular the study of the portrayal of Islam in said textbooks, using Edward Saids well discussed oriental studies as a foundation. Thus, there are a lot of earlier essays and works showing similar results: that Islam and muslims tend to be ”othered” by being portrayed as a homogenous tradition and a homogenous group of people. This study also uses Saids oriental studies as at theoretical standpoint, but also the concept of religious literacy. By using qualitative content analysis this study has come up with similar results as many other essays. The main difference is the way the study shows how muslims are being ”othered”. By focusing on the textbooks usage of the word ”Allah” - the arabic word for ”God” - and how muslims are portrayed, the results show that muslims tend to be portrayed not only as a homogenous group, but as one with a specific God, different from the Judeo-Christian one. The results also show that certain phenomena that the different religions have in common tend to be left out when describing one or the other. All these tendencies combined might give the students a religious literacy constituted of facts and representations of islam characterized by the discourse Edward Said called orientalism.

Syftet med studien var att bidra med kunskap kring matematikläroböcker utifrån ett genusperspektiv. Detta genom att undersöka i vilken grad flickor, kvinnor, pojkar och män representeras i läroböckerna samt hur de framställs genom att se till de benämningar och aktiviteter de tillskrivs. Innehållsanalys har utförts på sammanlagt 629 sidor fördelat på 18 kapitel ur läromedelsserierna Alfa Beta Gamma Matematik, Matte Direkt Borgen samt Eldorado Matte. Samtliga serier används i grundskolans årskurs 4, 5 och 6.  Tidigare forskning visar att män är överrepresenterade i läroböcker. Denna studie visar på signifikanta skillnader (p<0.05) i fördelningen mellan karaktärer av manligt och kvinnligt kön i både läroböckernas bild- samt textinnehåll, där manligt kön utgör majoritet. De mest förekommande karaktärerna i läroböckernas texter och bilder var pojkar, den minst förekommande var kvinnor. Studien visar även att män oftare än kvinnor tillskrivs yrkesroller samt att karaktärer av manligt kön oftare utförde en sportaktivitet än karaktärer av kvinnligt kön. Manligt kön tillskrivs också fler yrkesroller, samt fler sportaktiviteter än kvinnligt kön. / The purpose of this study was to contribute with knowledge about mathematics textbooks from a gender perspective. This was done by looking at the degree to which girls, women, boys and men are represented in the textbooks and how they were presented by looking at the names and activities they were attributed. Content analysis has been performed on a total of 629 pages divided into 18 chapters from the teaching aid series Alfa Beta Gamma Matematik, Matte Direkt Borgen and Eldorado Matte. All series are used in compulsory school grades 4, 5 and 6.  Previous research shows that men are overrepresented in textbooks. This study shows significant differences (p<0.05) in the distribution between male and female characters in both the textbooks' image- and text content, to the advantage of male gender. The most common character in the textbooks' texts and pictures were boys, the least common were women. This study also shows that men more often than women are assigned professional roles and that characters of the male sex more often performed sports activities than characters of the female sex. Male gender is also attributed more professional roles, as well as more sports activities than female gender.