The purpose of this thesis is to specifically address the religious dimensions of the Rainbow Gatherings. The fundamental question directing this analysis is: "Are the Rainbow Gatherings religious in character?" This thesis specifically asks whether or not the Rainbow Gatherings satisfy certain identifiable features of religion, and if doing so, do they qualify as a form of religion? I engage this question by analyzing the Rainbow Gatherings in terms of two particular definitions of religion: Clifford Geertz's "functional" definition and Bryan R. Wilson's "substantive" definition. This allows me to analyze the Rainbow Gatherings from the perspective of the two major approaches to defining religion. This thesis also explores the broader differences and implications of these two types of definitions in academia, as well as the significance this has for future studies of this sort. Conclusive results indicate that the Gatherings conform to both definitions in some ways, but not in others. The results also designate which of the two definitions the Gatherings satisfy more inclusively. Thus, this analysis not only examines whether or not these gatherings qualify as a form of religion, but also examines how these definitions of religion illuminate features of the Rainbow Gathering, and how this relates to the scholarly distinction of these two types of definitions.

The purpose of this study is to see a display on how family, gender and sexuality are produced in four same-sex parents’ stories about their children’s pre-school start. The question formulations that have been used were aimed to find out what expectations and concerns parents may have on the pre-school organization, if the parents have any saying regarding the organization, if the pre-school have worked with equality and how they have been treated as a family. The method used is a qualitative study based on interviews. Four lesbian women have been interviewed on their experiences of their children’s pre-school start and after finishing the interviews the content has been analyzed from different viewpoints found in the material. To back this study up theories as heteronormativity and stereotyping in general have been used. Heteronormativity is based on beliefs related to gender and sexuality. Even stereotyping is related to gender and sexuality but explains more an act performed, while heteronormativity is something prevailing. The conclusions reached in this study are that pre-schools are strongly characterized by heteronormativity, there are small ambitions of change of the organisation at the pre-school and the small changes that happen are moving forward slowly. The knowledge of rainbow families is low and the pre-school does not consider these questions before children from rainbow families start at their school. The change should occur before children from rainbow families start at the pre-school since children from other types of families need to meet this kind of questions in the organization. As long as the pre-school does not work with normative questions, children at pre-school will grow into heteronormative notions of family, gender and sexuality. As the pre-school work today, the children from rainbow families will keep on being invisible in the pre-school organization.

This study aims to undertake a queer reading of four Swedish picture books, with the names: Punkpapporna, Kivi och Monsterhund, När mammorna blev kära and Regnbågsbesbisen. Furthermore its purpose is to explore the concept of family, and more specifically the rainbow family. This will be explored in the relations to previous research made in the field of queer kinship, children's literature, representation and silencing. Aditionaly this will be influenced by representational and queer theory. The methodical approach is as mentioned queer reading, but in combination with thematic analysis, where a few themes have been picked out. These themes will help in analyzing the representation of the rainbow family in the chosen books. The research concluded that rainbow families can be portrayed and represented in many different ways and how they are understood is completely dependent on the story in the books but also on the reader.

This analysis concerns four picture books that in different ways address the topic of children in rainbow families. The purpose of the study is to analyse how rainbow families are portrayed in the picture books by the authors and illustrators. In carrying out the analysis, we assess how the texts and pictures are used to depict the families. We also look at how the books are didactically structured to raise the reader’s awareness of rainbow families. Our hope is that this study will inspire teachers to use picture books when teaching to broaden students’ understanding of different family structures. One result of the analysis is that the formation of a family plays a significant part in these books. We have also observed that the books are didactic in different ways to draw attention to and normalise families with homosexual parents. All four picture books have their depiction of the families in common - they all show the families as happy with parents in stable relationships.

The Rainbow Family of Living Light is an intentional society devoted to achieving world peace through spiritual healing. A loose association of spiritual seekers that explicitly rejects all forms of leadership and imposed authority, it represents an interesting example of an anarchist and communal society. Rainbow Family events regularly draw thousands of people. These take place all over the world. While some participants may question the label, it can be described as one of the biggest and most geographically diverse New Age groups on the planet. As such, it is a very important factor in shaping the entire present day New Age movement. I conducted fieldwork with the Rainbow Family between the autumns of 1998 and 2002, traveling with the nomadic group throughout the United States. The Rainbow Family rejects any sort of official membership, accepting anyone who attends its events as an equal participant. Spending extended periods of time in the field, I became immersed in this alternative society. The distinction between ethnographic researcher and informants was highly problematic under such circumstances. This made me acutely aware of the issues surrounding fieldwork and anthropological authority. My own work began to seem quite similar to the spiritual seeking of other participants. As such, I began to consider the commonalities between anthropology and the spirituality encountered within the Rainbow Family. The spiritual discourses produced by Rainbow Family participants are uniquely eclectic and ludic in tone. In a setting explicitly championing individual freedom rather than coercion, there is no sense of spiritual orthodoxy. The ways in which spiritual discourses are treated by the Rainbow Family display interesting attitudes towards truth, authority, and reality. These attitudes are reminiscent of epistemological orientations within postmodernist anthropology. Rainbow Family participants find noteworthy solutions to the apparent ontological dilemmas postmodernism presents. It is my hope that looking at the Rainbow Family of Living Light will suggest a viable way for anthropology to productively deal with its current crisis of identity.

The purpose of this research project was to investigate how the Rainbow Family of Living Light has, for the past thirty years, continued to reproduce itself. In doing so, I provide an explanation for why one cohort of young adults continue to actively participate at Gatherings. The data were collected through on-site observations, participation in informal focus groups and eight in-depth interviews with young adults at the National Gathering in Colorado (July 2006) and the British Columbia Regional Island Gathering (August 2006). I argue that the research data suggests that for the young adults interviewed, active participation at a Gathering provides an opportunity to participate in the construction of a community, as well as validating their individual identity. I further argue that the relationship between the individual's identity and the collective identity of the Family is far more symbiotic than is usually acknowledged within the literature.

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