Syftet med denna studie var att göra en diskursanalys av bilderböcker som utspelar sig i Norrland från två olika tidsperioder, från 1980-2000 och från 2010 och framåt. Jag har undersökt hur miljöer och karaktärer skildras, vilka diskurser som framträder och vilka konsekvenser detta kan få för de personer som läser böckerna. Studien kom fram till att det har funnits en tydlig natur- och glesbygdsdiskurs där norrländska miljöer har likställts med naturområden och glesbygder, men att nyare litteratur utmanar dessa och ger läsaren alternativa norrländska världar att läsa om.

Denna C-uppsats analyserar den narrativt skildrade hemvändaren i tre olika tv-serier som sänts på Sveriges Television och ställer frågan: På vilka sätt kan hemvändaren så som den skildras i dessa tre tv-serier identifieras? Serierna som undersökts är Hem till Byn, Skärgårdsdoktorn och Möbelhandlarens Dotter. Alla tre är fiktiva. Syftet med denna uppsats är alltså sammanfattat att undersöka hur hemvändarrollen skildras i dessa Public Service-serier och se hur samhällets bild av landsbygden påverkat detta. Detta har uppnåtts via kvalitativa metoder, med inslag av kultur- och samhällshistoriska perspektiv. Begreppet hemvändare har definierats som en karaktär som återkommer till hembygden den har bakgrund i efter en lång antingen resa eller flytt därifrån. Analysen har åstadkommits genom att undersöka de konnotativa betydelserna i bilderna hemvändaren blir skildrad genom, examinera hur mediekanalerna de kommuniceras genom påverkar, undersöka hur den hegemoniska bilden av maskulinitet har ett inflytande på karaktären, analysera vad karaktärerna egentligen vänder hem till, och tillslut även fråga vad denna narrativa trend säger om hur samhället känner för det rurala ursprunget. Det som framkommit i resultatet är att hemvändaren ses som avvikande enligt de karaktärerna som stannat kvar i det rurala samhället den lämnat. Platsen hemvändaren återvänder till är i dessa fall alltid ett ruralt landsbygdssamhälle med olika högt ansedd kulturell status. Målet karaktären i slutändan strävar efter är att inte längre klassas som just en hemvändare. / This paper analyzes the narratively depicted character called “hemvändare” in Swedish and asks the question: in what way can the “hemvändare” as it is depicted in the Swedish television channels Sveriges Television be identified? The analysis is based on three television shows produced for the Swedish Public Service. The shows are Hem till Byn, Skärgårdsdoktorn and Möbelhandlarens Dotter, all three are based on fiction. The examination of this character through the lens of the Public Service and how society’s view of Sweden’s rural areas has affected it is the summation of the papers meaning. This is achieved through qualitative methods, as well with elements of cultural and social historical perspectives. The term “hemvändare” in this text will be defined as a character who returns to the rural area in which the character grew up in, or had a previously strong connection to, after a move or a long trip away from there. The analysis is accomplished through examining the connotative meanings in the pictures through which they are depicted, inspecting how the media channels they are communicated through affect the end result, studying how the hegemonic ideal of masculinity has an influence on the character, examining what the “hemvändare” actually returns to, and finally ask what this narrative trend says about how Swedish society really feels about is rural origins. The result achieved tells that the “hemvändare” is seen as someone deviant by those who stayed in the rural area. The community the character returns to is in all of the examined series always a rural one with differently respected cultural statuses. In the end however the goal of the analyzed character is to no longer be a “hemvändare”.

The image of Northern Sweden has long been subjected to stereotyping, and the stereo­typed image of the Northerner is widely spread in various media contexts within Sweden. Historically, Norrland has been regarded as a wide wilderness, and the Norr­landic literature in turn has typically been studied in terms of the pastoral genre, the romanti­cism of the wilderness, or from an eco-critical perspective. The study of masculin­ity within modern Norrlandic literature, however, is largely overlooked, de­spite the undeniable stereotyping of Norrlandic males within other forms of media. This the­sis aims to solve this anomaly by providing insights into the creation processes of masculinity in three contemporary Norrlandic novels. In the novels Smekmånader [Honeymoons, 2017] by Mikael Berglund, Solidärer [Solidarians, 2017] by Anna Jörgensdotter, and Silvervägen [The Silver Road, 2018] by Stina Jackson, the construct of Norrlandic masculinity is examined through close-reading. The questions of how Norrlandic masculinity is constructed is examined through a theoretical framework combining the hegemonic masculinity of R. W. Connell, the gender performativity and queer studies of Judith Butler, the frontstage and backstage perspective of Erving Goffman, and the creation of emotions of Sara Ahmed, in the reading of three contemporary novels following male protagonists—each seeing their identity challenged while on a journey far away from home. Viktor of Honeymoons is constructed as a brave cry-baby or a highly sensitive person whose self is disintegrated in the absence of his wife Maija. He is furthermore constructed as a person offering emotional comfort, despite being deeply void of such comfort himself. Ingemar of Solidarians is constructed as a mummy’s boy or a dreamer who ends up as a martyr, who always requires the presence of a woman—his mother Eivor, Klara whom he is wooing, or Conxa whom he meets in the war in Spain—in order to advance from a mere lust to an actual event of action. His emotions are slightly supressed. Lelle of The Silver Road is constructed as an emotionally blunted vigilant or a nervous wreck, who readily succumbs to aggression and violence towards other men, in his lack of emotional cathexis to a physical person. He is struggling with his perceived failure in his role as a father, and is furthermore driven to action by his need of reconciling with his past. Nonetheless, none of the male protagonists exhibits a lasting hegemonic masculinity. The study concludes that the analysed novels contribute to a new form of Norrlandic literature which challenges the traditional and stereotypical ideas of rural masculinity.