I föreliggande uppsats har jag studerat bilderna i ett bildläromedel för vuxna illitterata. Läromedlet, som är en bildordbok, används inom sfi-undervisningen i spår 1, kurs A, och heter Tala svenska direkt (Hanssen 2004). Syftet med studien har varit att undersöka i vilken utsträckning bilderna i boken motsvarar kriterierna för en bra bild med högt läsvärde utifrån ett perceptuellt, ett kognitivt, ett sociokulturellt och ett pedagogiskt perspektiv. Min metod har varit kvalitativ analys och bildanalys. Jag har utgått från semiotisk bildteori och inspirerats av såväl ikonografi och semiotisk bildanalys som av tidigare forskning på området. Mitt datamaterial har bestått av 60 sidor ur boken, vilket utgör 53 % av bokens totala sidantal. Datamaterialet är ett representativt urval, då det omfattar teman och arbetsområden som är vanligt förekommande inom sfi, kurs A. Resultatet av undersökningen visar att vissa delar av materialet har bra läsvärde ur perceptuellt och kognitivt perspektiv, medan andra delar har brister i fråga om såväl kontrast, skärpa och storlek på detaljer som om begriplighet och kontext. Ur sociokulturellt perspektiv har materialet stora brister, framförallt på grund av en normerande svenskhet. Ur pedagogiskt perspektiv fungerar vissa delar medan andra behöver kompletteras med annat material.

Jag har valt att skriva en diskursanalys om, och i så fall hur, representativa begrepp i förskolans läroplan Lpfö 98:18 speglar maktförhållandet i majoritetssamhällets normer. Jag har genom att anta ett poststrukturalistiskt perspektiv belyst och analyserat konstruktionen av begreppen demokrati, norm, språk och identitet i förskolans läroplan Lpfö 98:18. Den postkoloniala teorin, vithetsstudier och Foucaults maktteorier har skapat en historisk länk till hur den västerländska konstruktionen av “vithet” och därmed “svenskhet” och den dominerande diskursen “den andre” skapades som en del av kolonialtidens tänkande och som reproduceras idag genom olika maktstrukturer. Resultatet av min analys av ovan angivna begrepp visar att det finns utrymme för att tolka det som att förskolans läroplan reproducerar diskurser om “den andre” och att språkbruket kan kopplas till ett normativt tänkande om “svenskhet”. Pedagogen, är enligt Foucault, en aktör som i sitt arbete implicit kan utöva makt och styra mot den prioriterade “svenskheten”.

The approach of this study is that conversion to Islam leads to stigmatization. Based on that the aim of this study is to examine what reactions and treatment Swedish Muslim converts have experienced from their families regarding their conversion to Islam, how they prepare for revealing their conversion, what strategies they use to handle their families’ reactions and whether this has any significance in their self-perception. The study is qualitative and was made with semi-structured interviews with five Swedish female converts. The theories used are Erving Goffman’s stigma and the concepts of Islamophobia and Swedishness. The results show that the converts prepare the revealing of their conversion by speaking openly and positively about Islam a long time before the revealing. The reactions received indicate reproduced Islamophobic prejudices and aversions and take form of grief, shame, and despair to more far-reaching reactions such as negative violations, distancing, lack of support and exclusion from the family unity and from Swedishness. The women explain that they hide the fact that they pray, and, in some cases, they take off their headscarves when visiting their families. Furthermore, they wear a turban or put on headscarves and clothes with bright colors to look more ‘normal’. Finally, their self-perception is affected by all the negative reactions and treatment, and they clarify that they feel ambiguities about how to perceive themselves: as ‘real’ Swedes or not since their families tell them they areno longer considered as such

In 2021, Sweden was ranked as the European country with the highest number of fatal shootings per million inhabitants. As a result, gang violence is described as a national crisis and has turned in to one of the main debate themes among political parties ahead of the parliamentary election in 2022. In the debates on gang violence, it is often linked to migration politics. Swedish Television (SVT) has broadcasted numerous programs on gang violence, and these programs are the main material used in this study.  Drawing on feminist- and critical whiteness theory I examine how ideas of gender, whiteness and Swedishness interplay in the construction of gang violence as a national crisis. By using a retrotopic, a security politic and an affective theoretical perspective it is possible to analyze who is portrayed as vulnerable or problematic in relation to the gang violence. A further ambition of this study is to investigate the connection between folkhem nostalgia and the construction of gang violence as a national crisis. I argue that the Swedish exceptionalism is being used to establish collective feelings of folkhem nostalgia, which contributes to the understanding of gang violence as a national crisis. Based on a thematic analysis (Braun & Clark 2006) I show how feelings of folkhem nostalgia are used to establish narratives of a threatening and problematic Other; a male non-white threat within the nation. Further, the debates and documentaries broadcasted on SVT can be seen as part of political and national interests, where a (hi)story of folkhemmetas a part of the Swedish exceptionalism is being used to establish certain feelings and perceptions related to gender and race. This enables a placement of gang violence in another place, in another culture and in another body.

The aim of the research project “The menacing immigration and ideal Swedishness: A semiotic analysis of the Sweden Democrats campaign films” was to highlight how ethnicities are portrayed in five different campaign films produced by the Swedish party the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna). The applied theories are stereotypes, binary oppositions as well as the theory of whiteness and blackness. The method used to analyse the campaign films are semiotics, and the tools denotation, connotation, anchoring, relay, metonymy and myths.   The results show that a person’s skin colour is of minor importance. What does matter, is if you are Swedish or not and how Swedish you are. All of the campaign films concern questions about “Swedishness” and immigration. When immigration and non-Swedes are in focus, the films present a dark theme with a sinister undertone. In contrast, when the issue of Swedishness is presented the films portray harmonious and idyllic images of Sweden. Sweden, Swedes and Swedishness is habitually portrayed as being the ideal, the desirable, and the good. It is the norm for being socially acceptable. Immigration, immigrants and non-Swedes on the other hand are consistently portrayed in a negative light. These extraneous groups of people are labelled as the others; they are the bad, and are portrayed as a threat that we Swedes have to defend ourselves against. A third, but less prominent theme that could be deduced from the films is that the Sweden Democrats are portrayed as martyrs. By presenting themselves as being misunderstood and as being the voice of the people, it can be interpreted that they attempt to detract the stamp they acquired as a racist party.   Although the Sweden Democrats seem to have refined the ways in which they express their opinions of Swedishness and immigration, it’s still a significant part of the message in their commercials. They glorify Swedes and reproduce coarse stereotypes of non-Swedes. With the portrayal and contrasting comparison there is an inherent consequence that immigrants are to be seen as less worthy, and that the Swedes in turn are indirectly attributed to a higher value and as such, being Swedish is set as the norm.

This Master thesis investigates the concept of “die dummen Schweden”, and how it is used in the Swedish press during the period 1855–1950. This is done with the aim to, through analysis of the concept, shed light on the rhetorical and contextual use of the phrase “die dummen Schweden”. There is also an aim to explore what the use of the concept reflects in terms of national identity and national self-image, and what that in turn indicates about images of the 'other'. This is done by a combined theoretical framework, containing three parts: Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe's discourse theory, dialogical concepts from Mikhail Bakhtin and an imagological part. The theoretical framework is applied through a textual analysis, where the emphasis lies on viewing the articles as dialogical in the Bakhtinian sense, and the conceptual use as part of an articulatory practice. The analysis of the conceptual use of the phrase ”die dummen Schweden” during the period highlights two overarching themes. From 1855 and onwards, the dominating view of “die dummen Schweden” is that of the expression as signifying a real and existing belief abroad, that the foreigner says and thinks about the Swedes. Primarily it is a belief projected onto Germans, but the conceptual use showcases a modularity regarding who the concept “die dummen Schweden” is ascribed to. In the early 20th-century a different discursive articulation enters the press. This consists of deconstructing the former belief, and questioning its facticity as an expression being used abroad. Rather, “die dummen Schweden” is here explained as a self-image, something constructed by Swedes for Swedes. Although the notion of ”die dummen Schweden” as something constructed and as a self-image indicates a shift in the discursive economy surrounding the concept, both ontological views co-exist throughout the time period. Through the analysis of the concept, images of Swedishness emerge, such as the notion of the Swede as naive and easily duped when in contact with foreigners. These are images that are articulated in relation to images of the 'other'. This study therefore, through the lens of the concept of “die dummen Schweden”, provides insight to how national identity during the period was being formulated in relation to images of the national self, images of others and the space in between, the projected images of what they think of us.

Men's violence against women is a serious social problem and an obstacle to the realisation of women's rights. In Sweden, approximately a fifth of the population, has at some time in their lives, been subjected to domestic violence. It is estimated that about 80 percent of the violence is not reported. The aim of this study is to analyse the discourse representations of domestic violence and violence in the name of honour, in two different Swedish reports. (Eva Lundgren, Captured Queen- Men’s violence against women in “equal” Sweden – a prevalence study and Domestic violence - A public health issue by Carin Götblad, national coordinator on domestic violence). The investigation is based on a discourse analysis with postcolonial feminist theory as the theoretical framework. This study shows that a discursive representation of domestic violence in a Swedish context and violence in the name of honour has resulted in the construction of Swedish and non-Swedish violence. Stereotypical presentations describe the Swedish perpetrator in terms of social problems, addiction, aggression problems, alcoholism or non-Swedish ethnicity. Violence in the name of honour is derived from an honour-based culture while a Swedish perpetrator deviates from a Swedish gender equality culture. The Swedish gender equality discourse and media representations of domestic violence may be causing difficulties for the victims to identify themselves as abused. This study suggests that violence against women should be understood as a side effect of a patriarchal gender system created by ideological, national, ethnic and racial power structures.

Denna studie handlar om hur unga män med utländsk bakgrund bosatta i socioekonomisktutsatta områden upplever massmedia och dess föreställning gentemot området de bor i. Studien är kvalitativ genom fokusgruppsintervjuer och berör frågor om hur dessa unga mänmed utländsk bakgrund beskrivs, hur massmedia talar om socioekonomiskt utsatta områdensamt hur massmedia spelar en roll i rapporteringen av dessa ovanstående faktorer. Vi kom fram till att dessa unga män med utländsk bakgrund bosatta i socioekonomiskt utsattaområden upplever att massmedia målar upp och reproducerar en övervägande negativ bild avde och området de bor i. De talar mycket kring sina egna känslor och hur upplevelsernapåverkar dem samt hur de speglar sig i deras liv.

Swedes and Swedish Culture are controversial political subjects in Sweden. The definitions for Swedish culture are very vague and what is the answer to the question: Who can be called Swedes? It has been debated in Sweden more since Swedish Democrats crossed the four percent threshold necessary for representation in the Swedish parliament. Swedes or Swedish culture on a large internet forum with 2 million visitors per week called Flashback forum is material for this thesis. Flashback forum has currently more than 50 million posts published and has more than 970 000 users. Flashback forum is more and more often mentioned in Swedish media. This is a new study of Swedes or Swedish culture in an internet context based on specific definitions of culture. The specific definitions of culture are based on Professor emeritus Karl-Olov Arnstberg’s book “Svenskheten – den kulturförnekande kulturen”. The specific definitions of culture are used in a classification of the posts on Flashback forum in an ideal type analysis. Which out of four specific definitions of culture are most notable on Flashback forum and what is significant for that particular definition? The most notable definition of culture on Flashback forum is “mentalt kapital”. “Mentalt kapital” is a definition about social values, political values and communicational skills such as the Swedish language.

’Inspection-zones’ are political proposals that the Sweden democrats, Christian democrats and the Moderate parties have put on their agendas for the purpose of combating the gang-related crime in Sweden’s so called ‘vulnerable areas’ since 2017. The proposals entail that the police receive extended powers to, within a geographically defined area, stop and frisk people without being required to provide a reasonable suspicion of individuals committing any crimes, which is something that today works as a protection-mechanism against arbitrary interventions. The purpose of this essay is to analyze, using a critical discourse analysis as a method, how the discourse of ‘inspection-zones’ is constructed by the political parties behind the proposals and which discourses are applied to legitimize the proposals. Furthermore, the purpose is to analyze how racist power-relations are implied within the proposals. The essay is delimited to the aforementioned parties’ latest motions in the Swedish parliament and a party leader debate where the proposals were discussed. The theoretical framework consists of a perspective on how racist discourses can change and still be considered a uniform discourse, and a perspective on how white racism can be reproduced through new discursive means. Conclusions observe that the construction of ‘inspection-zones’ as a discourse is primarily articulated by the parties around gang-related crime. The discourse around gang-related crime is articulated through shootings and organized crime, which legitimizes the proposals, since these are problems that reasonable people would like to prevent. However, the conclusions also shows that a racist ‘Swedishness’-discourse by the parties is implied within the discourse of gang-related crime, making the collective basic characteristics for ‘Swedishness’ an assessment-basis by which gang-related criminality can be expected from people. To direct the focus of ‘inspection-zones’ towards ‘vulnerable areas’ that are already rich in immigrant density, combined with the construction of this racist discourse, also seems to raise the risks of racial profiling and discriminatory practices against non-white ethnic minorities – a result that the Danish people have experienced after a similar legislation was introduced in Denmark.