The aim of this study is, from a norm-critical approach, to find, investigate and analyse human representation in the visual culture of one preschool in order to understand if the children enrolled are represented or not. The research questions are: In what ways is there imagery of human representations in images and materials designed for play? What skin-colors and origins are dominant in the data collected? We carried out a qualitative study in the form of visual ethnography. This method allowed us to use a combination of different data collection tools such as photography and ethnographic field notes to collect our data. The photographs we took of images and material used for play, was then analysed through semiotic picture analysis. The focus was to see which skin-color and origin that was dominant in the photographs of human representations. The result of the study, show that human representation is found in many variations such as, books, board games, puzzles and materials for educational use. The study also show that the vast majority of representations, displayed people of white skin and Swedish origin. In discussing these results we argued that the selected preschool is imbued by the norm of whiteness that is also dominant in the Swedish society. From a postcolonial perspective, we find that this norm and its underlying assumption of racial differences forms part of a historically rooted structural system of values that has evolved in Sweden during hundreds of years. The impact these results have in a preschool context is that children don’t have the same opportunity to identification through the visual culture at the preschool. We conclude that this can, in the long run, create problems since representation or lack of representation is linked to marginalization of whole social groups due to not having the same requisites to take on for example positions of power. We have a strong believe that if the topic of human representation can be enlightened in preschools and schools, teachers can work towards offering all children the same potential for positive identification in preschool.

Studien syftar till att få en förståelse för danslärares förhållningssätt till begreppen kropp, genus och etnicitet inom ramen för kursen Dansteori i gymnasieskolan. Det undersöks huvudsakligen med hjälp av det intersektionella perspektivet samt den normkritiska pedagogiken som teoretiskt ramverk. Detta i kombination med olika perspektiv på begreppen kropp, genus och etnicitet utifrån olika teorier. Studien är kvalitativ och innefattar skriftliga och muntliga webbaserade intervjuer med danslärare. Analysen utgår från en hermeneutisk tolkning. Studien visar att danslärarna förhåller sig likartat till begreppens funktion i undervisningen. De kan användas som verktyg för att förankra dansen i samhället eller för att synliggöra respektive vidga normer. Resultaten pekar också på att alla danslärare i undersökningen ser begreppen som sociala konstruktioner inom sin undervisning. Vilken plats de får i undervisningen ser olika ut. Några behandlar dem som icke återkommande moment och som ett redskap för eleverna medan andra låter dem vägleda utformningen av den egna undervisningen. Det senare ger upphov till en mer normkritisk pedagogik som utmynnar i ett vidgande av normer. / The study seeks to get an understanding of how dance teachers at secondary schools approach the concepts of body, gender, and ethnicity within the course ‘Dance theory’. This is examined through the norm critical approach and intersectionality as the main theoretical framework. Moreover, theoretical perspectives on body, gender and ethnicity are presented. This qualitative study involves oral or written digital interviews for collecting data and uses the hermeneutical perspective as the method for analysis. The results show that dance teachers regard the concepts as socially constructed and approach them in a similar way. It is also made visible that the concepts of body, gender and ethnicity are used as a tool for connecting dance to society in general, or to either highlight or transform social norms. Furthermore, differences also appear since the concepts seem to have various positions in their teaching and for whom the concepts are considered as an instrument. Some dance teachers deal with the concepts as non-recurring elements while others allow them to influence the whole teaching practice. The latter seems to lead to more norm- breaking activities.