Diss. Uppsala : Univ., 2001. / Härtill 6 uppsatser.

Diss. Uppsala : Univ., 2004.

The aim of this study is to see how religion is reflected upon in the curriculum of the compulsory school, years 1–10, in Iceland with special emphasize on how religious diversity can be seen in it. From a religious didactics perspective, the question of whether the curriculum on religion reflects on learning about- or learning from religions will be examined through a concept first used by Michael Grimmitt and Garth Read (1975). Furthermore, Beckford’s (2003) concept of religious diversity is analyzed in relation to the religious affiliation in the Icelandic society and his concept on religious pluralism is discussed with regards to the analyzed curriculum. Iceland, seen from a religious point of view, has changed profoundly the last decades in regards to a decline of members in the National Church. In 1976 the first instructions for learning about other religions than Christianity were introduced to the curriculum. The study analyzes the curriculum of the subject called Social studies, which includes several subjects including religion and also the religious affiliation map. Firstly, the words religion and religions were used in order to detect the references to religion in the curriculum. A qualitative content analysis was used on the data in describing the subject content of these references. Beckford’s concept on religious diversity was then analyzed in relation to the statistics on religious affiliation in Iceland. In a third step, religious diversity was used as a search word to find how it is reflected in the curriculum. Beckford’s concept of religious plurality was applied on the result in order to discover how it is reflected on. The results show that, if using Beckford’s definitions on religious diversity, the Icelandic religious affiliation does not mirror a societal situation characterized by religious diversity. The study also shows that the curriculum includes religious diversity, but does not necessarily include religious plurality when Beckford’s concept is applied. The focus in the curriculum is on Christianity, and it is based on the concept of learning about religion with a very little amount of learning from religion. Previous research shows that there is a need for more student centered education and more discussion about the diversity of religions. This study shows that the society and curriculum is attuned with Christianity as the superior religious tradition, but it also shows that the Icelandic society, through the curriculum, teaches about religious diversity, although not necessarily with a religious pluralistic point of view.

Diss. Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2004.

Diss. Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2006.

Denna undersökning behandlar den småländska predikosjukan, vilken uppkom och spreds bland den småländska allmogen år 1841-1843. Av de uppskattningsvis flera hundra fall som behandlades av läkarkåren bestod den övervägande majoriteten av kvinnor. Undersökningen är medicinhistorisk och syftar till att undersöka hur den religiösa epidemin beskrevs, förstods och 2 tolkades som en sjukdom under 1840-talet. Således utgörs undersökningens källmaterial av läkarkårens utsagor, genom bl.a. provinsialläkarrapporter och skrifter. Undersökningen har utförts med ett socialkonstruktivistiskt perspektiv i enlighet med medicinhistorikern Roy Porters teorier, och består av en kontextnära och tematiskt orienterad närläsning. Inom den tidigare forskningen har predikosjukan främst undersökts som en av 1800-talets väckelserörelser, där allmogens agerande förstås som en upprorshandling mot en ”överhet” bestående av myndigheter, prästerskap och läkarkår såväl som det borgerliga skiktet. Benämningen av fenomenet som en sjukdom, förstås i tidigare forskning endast som ett bildligt uttryck och som en del av en medveten strategi för att slå ned väckelserörelsen. Undersökningen visar att läkarkåren förstod predikosjukan just som en sjukdom och behandlade den därefter. Sjukdomsdefinition och behandlingsmetoder gjordes i enlighet med rådande medicinvetenskapliga grundantaganden. Diskursen om den småländska predikosjukan aktualiserade en rad olika för tidsperioden rådande föreställningar om kropp, själ, sjuklighet, kön och religion. Inom den medicinska förståelsen av predikosjukan inbegrep dessa föreställningar ständigt i varandra, och innebar en komplicerad sjukdomsbild vilken i hög utsträckning var både kulturellt och tidsligt betingad. / This study centers around ‘the preaching disease’ (predikosjuka), an illness which arose and spread among the peasantry in the Swedish province Småland between 1841-1843. Out of the estimated hundreds of cases treated by the medical profession, the vast majority consisted of women. The disease was quickly described as epidemic, and had strong religious connotations. The purpose of the study is to examine how this religious epidemic was described, understood and interpreted as a disease in the 1840’s. Thus, the source material consists of the accounts of the medical professionals, mainly through provincial medical reports and medical publications. The study has been carried out with a social constructivist perspective in accordance with the theories of medical historian Roy Porter, and consists of a contextual and thematically oriented close reading. In previous research, ‘predikosjukan’ has mainly been examined as one of the 19th century Christian revival movements. Here, the activities of the peasantry are understood as a rebellious act against a vaguely defined ‘power’ consisting of authorities, clergy and doctors as well as the bourgeois class. Previous research has understood the phenomenon as only a sickness by the name, as a figurative expression and as part of a conscious strategy to suppress the revival movement. This study shows that the doctors who was confronted with ‘predikosjuka’ during the 1840’s understood the phenomenon as a disease, and chose to treat it accordingly. The doctors’ definitions and medical methods were made in accordance with prevailing and fundamental medical notions of the time. The discourse about ‘predikosjuka’ encapsulated a number of different notions about body, soul, morbidity, gender and religion, all deeply entrenched in the 1840’s. Within the medical understanding of the disease, these notions constantly intertwined, which made for a complicated clinical picture, which to a large extent was both culturally and temporally conditioned.

Syftet med denna studie har varit att kartlägga om alla tre världsreligionerna ges samma utrymme i undervisningen samt vilka berättelser som lärare använder sig utav i sin undervisning inom religionskunskap, varför de valt dessa specifika berättelser samt vilket läromedel de använder sig utav.  Med hjälp av undersökningsmetoden enkäten, undersöktes vilket stoffurval som SO- läraren väljer att inkludera i undervisningen samt eventuella orsaker till de valda stoffen. Det saknas dock tidigare forskning om stoffurval på lågstadiet, därför har en närliggande forskningsstudie valts som är riktad till den senare delen av grundskolan samt gymnasieskola. Andra studier och teori som inkluderas i arbetet är Osbecks studier, Falkevalls och Emanuelssons teori om stoffet samt Blikstad-Balas teorin om läromedel i undervisningen. Vidare används styrdokument och läroplanen i arbetet.  Det resultat som framkom i samband med undersökningen visar hur 102 lärare uppfattar läroplanens formulering, vilka utav berättelserna från de abrahamitiska religionerna som valts samt vad deras val av stoffet bygger på och till slut vilka läromedel stoftet hämtas ifrån. Resultatet av undersökningen överensstämmer med tidigare forskning, tidigare teorier kring lärarnas användande av läroboken samt andra läromedel. Det framkommer även att lärarna tolkar och uppfattar läroplanen på ett likartat sätt och därmed möter eleverna nästan samma berättelser från de abrahamitiska religionerna. / The purpose and intention of the study has been to map which stories are told by the SO teacher to be used in the teachings of religious studies. Based on the curriculum's formulation that students in primary school should learn about "some stories from Christianity, Islam and Judaism" (Skolverket, 2011a, p. 217).  Using the survey method of the survey, it was investigated which subject selection that the SO teacher chooses to include in the teaching and any reasons for the particular choice of subject. As there is a lack of research on substance selection in primary school, a nearby research study has been chosen that is aimed at upper secondary school. Other studies that are included in the work are Osbeck's studies, Falkevall's and Emanuelsson's theory of material selection and Blikstad-Balas's theory of teaching materials in teaching. Furthermore, governing documents and the curriculum are used in the work.  The results that emerge in connection with the survey show how 102 teachers perceive the formulation of the curriculum, which of the stories are chosen to be included in religious studies teaching and what their choice of material is based on but also where the material is taken from. What appears in the results and is consistent with previous research and previous studies is the teachers' use of the textbook and other teaching materials. But also, that the teachers interpret and regard the curriculum in a more similar way and thus the students encounter almost similar stories from the Abrahamic religions. / nej