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Doing it for Denmark : A Multimodal Discourse Analysis about how Danish Public Fertility Campaigns Produce and Reproduce Gendered Identities and Shape National Identity

This thesis explores the Danish public discourse about biological reproduction by focusing on how three fertility campaigns, issued by public agencies, produce and reproduce gendered identities and contribute to shape a national identity. The theoretical framework is built on insights from feminist research in international relations, sociology and gender studies and highlights how ideas about femininity and masculinity are central regarding both biological reproduction and national identity. The method used in this thesis is a Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis. The results show that traditional gendered identities in many ways are reproduced in these campaigns. However, the results also show that the campaigns give masculinity and men more space in the discourse of biological reproduction and the campaigns somewhat challenge traditional notions of masculinity. In the campaigns it is acknowledged that it takes both eggs and sperm to create a baby, but the results show that women still are ascribed the main responsibility for biological reproduction. The results also show that the construction of Denmark as a nation can be connected to the myth of “common origin” which creates a homogenous and exclusionary vision of the nation. Further, since these campaigns in many ways reproduce traditional gendered identities, Denmark is argued to be constructed as a traditional and conventional nation.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:su-193897
Date January 2021
CreatorsDahlskog, Tilda
PublisherStockholms universitet, Institutionen för ekonomisk historia och internationella relationer
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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