It is not surprising that the massive Syrian and Afghanistan immigration three years ago, has changed their view towards Islam rules in their new identity creating. But what has been changed? That was my first question in this essay and the answers I got was rules concerned alcohol, prayer, mosque visits and food rules. All this rules requires someone to influence them to take a stand, which lead us to the next question, about how hegemony was exhibited as a factor in how my respondents answered the first question. The theory of hegemony was the analysis instrument of this study and gave me a hypothesis that hegemony probably had something to do with the change of rules, and it had. All these things that I mentioned as changed rules in their new land demands a personal asset and to be legitimized by someone who represents the hegemony.  In order for the hegemony to continue it has to be anonymous and lead for example friends or teachers. It is visible how my respondents talked about matters that had to do with how the changes where in their common sense, where probably hegemony has the strongest attachment, but also how they thought that they made own choices, was also the choice that the hegemony had done before them. Although I took into account the need to be a part of a group, here it showed how the Muslims was included in a group that only had premises from hegemony standard points. The answers for my result was given to me by six secondary school students by semi structured interviews.

This article discusses the difference between identifying and classifying attributes and analyzes the problematic implications if we confuse the two. The empirical material consists of Gallic stone reliefs depicting goddesses with a wheel as attribute. Male deities depicted with wheels have mainly been identified as a Celtic Jupiter or a male sky god sometimes called Taranis. The Gallic goddesses show that the wheel attribute was not an identifying attribute exclusive to this god, but that it rather served as a marker for an activity shared by several deities, both male and female. The articles argument that we need to distinguish between identifying and classifying attributes in order to make a source critical and methodological correct iconographical interpretation, especially when we interpret iconographical representation without the aid of any written sources.

Named weapons of different origin and purpose occur in the Old Norse mythology, and some of them are better known than others: Thor's hammer Mjolnir and Odin's spear Gungnir, just to name a few. But named weapons are also present in the more mundane Icelandic sagas, and it suggests that the practice of giving individual names to objects was something that occurred among real people in the Viking society. The named swords, spears and axes, which we can read about in the Icelandic sagas, are not portrayed as especially supernatural. They are, however, sometimes talked about in a special way and considered to be extraordinary in one way or another.What kind of name did people give to weapons, and what might have been the purposes for doing so? It is possible that some weapons told a story through their names and that they because of that also brought fame and glory to their owners. It is also conceivable, considered how some of the swords and spears are described in the Icelandic sagas, that named weapons were seen as almost life-like. This paper discusses some thoughts regarding named weapons in the sagas, the purposes for giving names, and if this practise might tell us something about how people in the Viking age viewed these named, possibly presumed life-like, objects.

The study examines the occurrence of children born out of wedlock in four parishes belonging to the current Karlskrona municipality during the period 1875–1925. The parishes surveyed are Fridlevstad, Rödeby, Tving and Karlskrona city-parish. The period is divided into two parts where the first includes the years 1875–1890 and the second part includes the years 1910–1925. The proportion of children with unknown/known fathers, the mothers' occupations, the fathers' occupations, and the mothers' age are also used as survey variables.

The proportion of known fathers increases significantly between the study periods, which could be explained by a reduced internal social control, while the study shows that the introduction of a child welfare officer in 1918 resulted in an increased proportion of known fathers.

The mothers' occupational designations change between the periods, for example, the proportion of maids decreases while other occupations are added. In the city-parish, professions such as washerwoman and waitress are added during the second period. The proportion of women working in the industry also increases between the survey periods. The increased proportion of professions, especially in the city-parish, could be linked to the demographic transition. As more people settle in a city, new needs emerge and thus also new occupational categories. The age of the mothers decreases between the study periods.

When it comes to class affiliation, it can be noted that most of the fathers and mothers belonged to the working class. However, the proportion of fathers belonging to the middle class was higher than the proportion of mothers belonging to the middle class.

The aim of this bachelor thesis is to examine the collaboration between school librarians and teachers in primary school, in order to illustrate how the two professions can work together, how they see their own roles and how they look at the other professionals´ roles. We also discuss earlier studies in LIS concerning collaboration between teachers and librarians. The method of investigation is qualitative interviews with practicing school librarians and teachers, we interviewed three school librarians and three teachers from three different schools in the same county.  As a basis of the discussion and analysis Andrew Abbott's theory of professions is used. The thesis shows that collaboration differs between the schools. The difference in itself depends on the schools principal views of the school library. The professions need to develop their understanding for each other´s roles and competences in order to develop the best possible collaboration. 

The purpose of this article is to investigate high school students' information practices, their views on source criticism and source trust, and whether it is possible to implement altmetric indicators as tools during the source criticism-analysis of new information related to school assignments and theses. The empirical data is collected through surveys and semi-structured interviews with students and teachers in high school. Since all students in this study spend several hours each day on social media, it seemed natural that altmetrics would be the choice of metric, as this data is gathered from social media, scientific blogs, and reference tools. These are services and platforms where students spend their leisure time, and are therefore more relevant than informetrics based on, for example, scientific journals and databases, which are sources not widely used in high school.

This bachelor thesis’ purpose is to investigate how purchase librarians work with foreign language collection management. Since about 15% of the citizens of Sweden are born abroad or have a foreign background, the subject of investigation becomes relevant because it touches a wide user group of the public library.

Interviews were conducted with four librarians responsible for purchasing of foreign literature. The purpose of these interviews was to investigate which underlying strategies and thoughts are used as a basis for purchasing.

Since the library act does not include guidelines regarding the content of the foreign literature collection, how is the literature chosen and to what purpose?

As a theoretical framework a self-developed model was used to categorize the foreign literature into its different functions. The foreign literature was divided into two main categories; entertainment reading and literature with an informative purpose.

To display the librarians room for interpretation factor in the purchasing of literature a theory from sociology studies was applied, the theory of room for maneuver.

The findings in this paper have revealed that literature with the purpose to entertain was prioritized in the purchasing. Even though the libraries included multicultural activities in their organization, by prioritizing the entertainment literature the library tended to deprioritize the potential integration purpose of the literature.

The paper also revealed that the individual responsible for the purchasing was left with a large room for interpretation, which meant that one individual had the responsibility to ensure that the literature was relevant and versatile enough for the user group.

The amount of carbon dioxide, CO2, in the atmosphere is continuously rising due to human emissions caused by combustion of fossil fuels and changing of land use. In a very short time several measures need to be taken in order to reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere and thereby slowing down climate change as much as possible.

The land use has changed considerably the last century with the biggest change in recent decades. This has led to that arable land all over the world has been depleted of nutrients with up to 75% in some regions. With a growing population worldwide and increased climate changes that threatens the arable land, something needs to be done to make sure we use the arable land in the most effective way.

Biochar is one of the solutions to both these problems. By producing char out of biomass in high temperatures with minimized access to oxygen in a pyrolysis process you get biochar. This process releases less CO2 than a normal combustion process and the biochar becomes a carbon sink when it is put in the soil. 

With its porous structure biochar has a great ability to keep water and nutrients in the soil for a very long time and it also makes the soil porous with a great amount of oxygen, which the roots prefer.

The purpose of this essay is to find out what the use of biochar looks like in Sweden and how the use could increase within the agriculture, the municipalities and within horticulture.

With qualitative interviews and a quantitaive and qualitative survey this essay has come to the conclusion that four things are needed to increase the use of biochar in Sweden. First of all, more scientific research is needed on biochar and how this can be used in the best way since it is a new product and there are still much to learn.

Secondly, an increased production in Sweden is needed since today´s demand is bigger than the supply.

Thirdly, it is needed to be able to certify ones carbon sink in order to be able to sell carbon-sink-ceritficates to companies who would like to reduce their climate impact. 

Finally, more information on biochar is needed, in all stages. Producers need information to be able to start producing biochar and consumers need information in order to increase the demand and the interest of biochar.

The public libraries were quick to adapt to the changes that the Internet brought on, and today library websites are an important part of the public library. To meet the needs of teens today, the library website could offer a range of contents to make it an attractive place on many levels; both the academic needs as well as social and recreational needs should be addressed.

The aim of this thesis is to evaluate public library websites for teenagers in Sweden, and to examine how well the websites address the developmental tasks and needs that teenagers have. The method used is website evaluation, one quantitative and one qualitative. A total of 60 public library sites for teenagers were evaluated, using 11 criteria based on Havighursts developmental tasks. The quantitative evaluation measured how many functions each website had per criteria, and showed that the majority of the sites had one or two functions for most of the criteria. The qualitative evaluation showed that the websites with the highest score often offered more interactive solutions, had more dynamic content and therefore met the needs of teenagers better than the websites with a lower ranking. Overall, the public library websites for teenagers could gain from developing their content and services further, taking into consideration the needs and developmental tasks that teenagers have that separates them from other user groups.

Samernas livssituation som statslös nation inom staten Sverige uppmärksammas av FN på grund av att deras rättigheter kränks. Hur kommer det sig att välfärdsstaten och föregångslandet Sverige inte behandlar Europas enda urfolk på ett korrekt sätt?

Denna uppsats undersöker hur samernas tillgång till marken förändrats under de senaste århundradena i förhållande till vem som haft makten över marken, samt vilka lagar och regler som skapats för att ge urfolk världen över ökade rättigheter till den mark som de levt av sedan urminnes tider.

För att få svar på hur samerna och andra urfolk har behandlats i förhållande till deras markrättigheter och användning av de ytor och platser som är och har varit viktiga för dem, genomfördes en kvalitativ intervju. Intervjun gjordes med professor Gunlög Fur en mycket ämneskunnig person från Linnéuniversitetet. Som ett komplement har en litteraturstudie och en mindre jämförande studie genomförts.

I resultatet av litteraturstudien påvisas att staten enligt tidigare forskning har väldigt svårt att ge samerna självbestämmande över marken som de kallar Sápmi, då de överstatliga regler och lagar för hur detta ska gå till, ofta hamnar i konflikt med markägare och staten egna lagar.

Uppsatsens jämförande studie där samernas situation i Sápmi jämförs med två andra urfolk, nämligen kurderna i Kurdistan och mapuchena i Wallmapu, visar att det finns både likheter och skillnader mellan urfolkens rättigheter till marken och i vilken utsträckning de under historien har haft olika förutsättningar för markanvändande beroende på vem som haft makten över marken.

En analys av resultatet av studien visar att urfolkens värdering av markens betydelse sällan handlar om ekonomiska värden utan om historiska, geografiska eller kulturella kopplingar.

Slutsatsen av denna studie blir att urfolks rättigheter till mark ser ungefär lika ut oavsett vilken stat de lever inom. Deras rätt till självbestämmande är väldigt begränsad och deras markintressen hamnar i stort sätt alltid i skymundan för de ekonomiska intressen som styr staters agerande.  

Introduction. Due to the increased academisation of earlier vocational educations, higher education faces a dilemma when professional skills are theorised. Therefore, many students experience a gap between academic education and working life. In this study, students' information activities during professional training is explored as well as how they can support students' transition to working life. The aim of this study is to provide more knowledge about how students' information activities contribute to their transition into social communities at the workplace. Method. The empirical material was produced through 22 group interviews and 9 individual interviews with students on higher education programs aimed towards a particular occupation including professional training. Analysis. The analysis was conducted as an interaction between the empirical material, previous research and a practice theoretical approach. Four major themes were identified in the empirical material. Results. During their course of study, students seek, share and use information in different ways. In relation to professional training, their information activities change and develop as they socialise into workplace communities. Conclusions. Students' transition to working life is an ongoing process during academic educations, shown by students' changing information practices connected to professional training. During professional training students consolidate their understanding of workplace practices.

Debatt: Äntligen kom den: regeringens lagrådsremiss som ska stärka elevers rätt till skolbibliotek. Vi som utbildar blivande bibliotekarier gläds över remissen som i linje med forskning visar skolbibliotekets och skolbibliotekariers betydelse för elevers lärande. Samtidigt konstaterar vi att en lagändring också måste följas av riktade satsningar på landets bibliotekarieutbildningar för att förverkligas, skriver 16 biblioteksforskare.

In times of health crises, we rely upon the knowledge and skills of our highly specialized modern healthcare. But what are the tools and principles that healthcare relies on to make informed decisions about courses of treatments? In this paper, we will attend to documentary practices of hospital librarians in Health Technology Assessment (HTA), an example of how the evidence-based movement is enacted in modern healthcare.

Since resources for health care are limited, there is widespread political support for making rational choices based on evidence. Use of evidence is today a key element in health care at policy, administrative, and clinical levels (Banta & Jonsson, 2009). The evidence-based movement originates from the notion of evidence-based medicine (EBM) but can also be related to the broader movement evidence-based healthcare (Chaturvedi, 2017). The most reliable evidence is generally considered to be systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials, minimizing the risk of bias and allowing for causal explanations of interventions. In this way, EBM is grounded in a natural science-oriented epistemology directed towards quantitative and predictive studies (cf. Sundin, Limberg & Lundh, 2008). Arguably, (medical) librarianship and EBM share a common goal: the application of the best scientific research in the process of providing efficient and safe medical care to patients (Eldredge, 2000). In line with the development of the EBM paradigm, systematicreviews are also ascribed a high level of evidence within the field of LIS (Eldredge, 2000). Notably, systematic reviews connect to a core skill of librarians and related professions: literature searching. Overall, systematic reviews are designed to reduce bias and to synthesize scientific evidence to answer specific research questions (Higgins & Green, 2011).

HTA, a practice centered on synthesizing evidence through systematic reviews, originates from the US Office of Technology Assessment that produced a first report on the matter in the late 1970’s. In the late 1980’s, HTA spread to Sweden and then to other European, Latin American and Asian countries (Banta & Jonsson, 2009). Several international actors such as The World Bank, WHO, and the EU have been active in the field of HTA, providing funding, coordination and making HTA more visible (Banta & Jonsson, 2009). In Sweden, the independent national authority Swedish Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Assessment of Social Services (SBU) is tasked by the government to provide assessments of healthcare and social services covering both medical, economical, ethical and social aspects. SBU, one of the oldest HTA-organisations in the world, produces systematic reviews and has developed a review method outlined in the SBU Handbook (SBU, 2020). The local HTA-units studied in this paper follow the procedures and methods described in the SBU Handbook.

Major work tasks for hospital librarians include supporting healthcare staff in their information seeking and providing healthcare staff with relevant information (Lewis et al, 2011). Increasingly, such work is done in collaboration between clinicians, researchers and librarians (Hallam et al, 2010), and HTA-teams with medical doctors, librarians and other specialists can be seen as examples of this trend. In this paper we focus on hospital librarians – a profession often overlooked, but still crucial for many of the documentary practices associated with EBM in general, and HTA in particular. As part of an ongoing research project focusing on information work of hospital librarians in different professional practices, this paper is guided by the research question: how are documentary practices associated with HTA-reports shaped by, and shaping, the work of hospital librarians?

In this study we apply the concept of documentary practices, understood as activities surrounding various types of documents (Pilerot & Maurin Söderholm, 2019). Our research interest is based on the role and function of documents in practices, and how documents create and construct social practices (Brown & Duguid, 1996). The way we view documentary practices departs both from practice theory (see for example Nicolini, 2013; Reckwitz, 2002), as well as from critical document theory (Lund, 2009). From a practice theoretical approach all human action is regarded as practices which comprise a set of routinized social activities, norms and artefacts as well as a common idea on how the world is constituted (Reckwitz, 2002; Talja & McKenzie, 2007). Lund (2009) with the support of Smith (2005) suggests a critical view on documents and how they provide a pattern for upholding structures of power, where a focus on the content of the documents has transformed into a focus on documents as underpinning social life. According to Brown & Duguid (1996), documents structure practices and also contribute to bring together social activities, relations and interactions within practices, in the same way as social practices may influence documents. Documents are resources for negotiating the meaning of practices: the role of documents in practices is captured through the notion of "the social life of documents" (Brown & Duguid, 1996).

The empirical material of the ongoing research project includes nine in-depth interviews with hospital librarians and five observations of hospital librarians indifferent work situations, including search instructions and HTA-meetings, at three different hospital libraries in Sweden during January - February 2020. In this paper, we focus on the HTA-process and how documents like the HTA-report and the SBU Handbook interact with documentary practices. To provide additional empirical depth, supplementary interviews and observations from a fourth hospital library are planned.

Preliminary findings show how the HTA-process at two HTA-units entails five main categories of documentary practices: 1) initial searching when a clinicalquestion is submitted; 2) negotiating a literature search strategy in the HTA-team; 3) conducting the main literature searches; 4) making a selection; and 5) documenting the search process. The SBU Handbook contains several resources for negotiating the nature and meaning of these practices. One specific device that structures documentary practices in the HTA-process is the PICO-format (Population, Intervention, Control, Outcome), a tool widely used in EBM to negotiate and formulate literature search strategies. Other structuring devices include guidelines for making a selection and for rating the quality of evidence. Ouranalysis illustrates how hospital librarians enact and negotiate documentary practices located between the instructions provided by the authoritative SBU Handbook and the material outcome of the documentary practices: the HTA-report. In this way, the institutional structures of these documents are highlighted and point to both past and future activities (cf. Østerlund, Snyder, Sawyer, Sharma, & Willis, 2015), providing a deeper understanding of how EBM is enacted in healthcare as documentary practices of hospital librarians in HTA are unfolded.

Demands for an evidence-based healthcare increase and today all medical decisions are to be based on scientific results. The evidence-based healthcare means that hospital librarians have a stronger role as mediators of scientific information. The evidence-based movement implies a positivistic epistemological view that influences the information literacy practices. This study focuses how the information literacy practices of hospital librarians in Sweden are constructed and enacted in relation to different epistemological perspectives in healthcare. The analysis is structured around three identified practices of hospital librarians where information work is performed: the clinical practices, the information seeking practices and the health technology assessment (HTA)-practice. In these practices, different epistemological perspectives are present, which affects the information literacy practices of hospital librarians. There is a movement from the holistic knowledge connected to the clinical practices, via specialized knowledge and generic instructions in the information seeking practices, to the most specialized knowledge and positivistic perspective in the HTA-practice.

Purpose. The challenges to healthcare caused by the COVID-19 pandemic forced hospital librarians to develop their abilities to cope with change and crises, both on a social level and an organisational level. The aim of this study is to contribute to knowledge about how hospital librarians developed library services during the pandemic and how these changes contributed to building information resilience in the healthcare organisation. This paper also seeks to explore how resilience theory, and specifically the concept information resilience, can be used within library and information science (in LIS) to investigate resilience in the library sector.

Design/methodology/approach. Nine semi-structured interviews with librarians were conducted at four different hospital libraries in four different regions in Sweden between March and May 2022. The empirical material was analysed through an interaction between the tzheoretical perspective and the empirical material through a thematic analysis. In each theme, specific resilience resources are identified and analysed as components of the information resilience developed by hospital librarians.

Findings. The results show that hospital librarians contribute to several different information resilience resources, which support information resilience in the healthcare organisation. Three aspects characterize the qualities of resilience resources: access, flexibility, and collaboration. The findings suggest that the framework for analysing information resilience used in this study is well suited for studying the resilience of libraries from both organisational and informational aspects.

Originality/value. The analysis of information resilience on an organisational level presents a novel way to study resilience in the library sector.

Biblioteksgeografin är ett översiktsverk som på ett kartläggande vis introducerar de vanligaste bibliotekstyperna i Sverige samt sätter in dem i relevanta begreppsliga, juridiska och historiska sammanhang. I antologin presenteras och analyseras ett stort antal bibliotekskategorier såsom folk-, national-, skol-, företags- och sjukhusbibliotek.

Boken visar på bredden och komplexiteten som ryms inom det samlade biblioteksväsendet och på den mångfald av perspektiv som kännetecknar forskningen inom fältet. Författarnas skiftande bakgrund och kompetenser skapar en ändamålsenlig blandning av teoretiska och praktiska infallsvinklar på biblioteksverksamheten, med ingångar av såväl humanvetenskapligt som samhällsveten­skapligt slag.

Biblioteksgeografin vänder sig i första hand till studenter på grund­­­­l­äggande och avancerad nivå i biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap samt till företrädare för bibliotekarieprofessionen.

Today, one of the foremost tools used by the library staff is the library catalogue search tools. It has come to our understanding that some library staff are dissatisfied with how the search tools works. The aim of this study is to illuminate the library staff's negative experiences of the search tools, and to present a basis for future discussion and development. To our help we have used a quantitative survey which were sent to library staff that used one of the two largest integrated library systems in Sweden, BOOK-IT and Mikromarc. The questions regarded the library staff's perception of a number of features in the search tools. The results showed that in general, the overall impression of the catalogue search tools were positive, even though dissatisfaction with specific features could be observed, e.g. the system's way of handling misspellings and the ability to search the catalogue when the system is offline. This study can be seen as a small step on the way to better search tools in the library catalogue, giving the library staff better and more effective ways of providing service to the library users. 

This article discusses Marvel Comics’ 2011 crossover ‘event’ ‘Fear Itself’. It suggests that the event argues for national unity in a time of crisis by mobilizing America’s self-definition as a multicultural nation as well as civil religion. The article discusses ‘Fear Itself’s’ attempted construction of national myth through looking at the way it represents the media, US multiculturalism (in a generalized form that nominally includes non-white groups while frequently failing to account for them) and ‘sacralized’ civil religious aspects of US history. Especially salient in this connection is the event’s engagement with the Roosevelt years. In doing so, it is argued, ‘Fear Itself’ presents an Americanness that relies on an idealized and nostalgic notion of the so-called ‘Greatest Generation’, a tightly knit, self-sacrificing civil society that supposedly came into being during that period.

Forming an identity or a national identity is a long process every country in the world has gone through. The purpose of this research paper is to investigate how the Finnish identity has been portrayed in media between the years 1836-1893. The aim is to uncover how the Finnish epic, the Kalevala has influenced the creation of a Finnish national identity, which will be done through discourse analysis of five newspaper articles published over a timespan of about 60 years. The results showed that there were some changes over time in how the Finnish are portrayed in relation to the Kalevala. However, this difference was not applicable to all the studied categories. In conclusion, identity is something individual and through the individuality a common identity could be formed in Finland in the 1800s.

The purpose of this study was to create a deeper understanding of the identity and self-image of female Swedish emigrants of the 1880s-1920s with the help of preserved personal objects by answering the following questions with a microhistory approach: What significance did material objects have for the identity formulation of female Swedish emigrants in healthcare in America? And, What do the material objects tell us about the identity, self-image and experience of these unmarried female Swedish-American emigrants? To answer the questions material sources have been examined with the use of Wilhelm Dilthey's hermeneutic method of interpretation. A method where historical understanding is viewed as essential for our ability to interpret historical meaning. And with the use of material culture theory, grounded in the theoretical concepts of objectification, consumption and performativity resulted in the following conclusions:

The material objects had meaning in the identity formulation in such a way that they helped the women in this study to create and interpret their identities in relation to their material surroundings, the ideals of the time, their professional status and professional role. With clothes, personal items and documents, they created their identities according to the ideals of the time in relation to their professional status and professional role. The material objects have a lot to tell about the identities, self-images and experiences of the female Swedish American emigrants and about how they created a sense of belonging and a place for themselves in their new life. Through the material objects they use to portray their identity, they demonstrate their disposable income and legitimize and confirm their social, personal and professional success and status. Above all, the source material tells about the importance of their professional identity in shaping their identity and self-image, something that is reinforced in their expression over the years. Based on how they stage and create the image of themselves as successful, independent and with high professional status, we can also understand that this was a large part of their self-image.

The aim of the study is to investigate the presentation of Christianity in relation to the other world religions in curricula and teaching materials from 1969 and 2011, as well as to investigate what influenced the development of these from previous researches. From a comparative method and self-formulated analytical categories, the results have been analyzed. As far as the curricula are concerned, it emerged that Christianity has had and still have a special position towards other world religions. As far as the teaching materials are concerned, a clear difference emerged as to which perspective it is based on. In the teaching material from year 1969, the non-Christian religions are highlighted as something strange and odd at the same time as in the teaching medium from 2011 they are highlighted neutral. Christianity is still a starting point in both curricula and teaching materials. The reason why curricula and teaching materials look like they do can, according to the study, be a result of the increased migration in the country but also a result of the religious freedom law. The school faces a dilemma where the school on the one hand will be based on Christian traditions and on the other hand be factual and impartial. The question we ask after our analysis is what really is the most important - to ensure the best of the country and the cultural heritage or to take into consideration the different cultural heritage of the students. Conclusions from our study are that other religions have gained more space in today's curriculum and teaching materials than before. It is also more neutrally formulated, however, it is a long way to go to a non-confessional education in religious knowledge. We stand with one foot in tradition and one foot in the renewal and are about to take a step over to the last one.

Racial capitalism has received much attention within the social sciences over the past few decades, including fields such as urban geography and infrastructural studies. This state of the field identifies key contributions, highlights the latest developments, draws attention to limitations, and points to future directions. Given the concept's multiple iterations and lineages beyond Cedric Robinson's framework, there is a risk racial capitalism might become an empty signifier if more work is not done by scholars to define their points of departure, clarify the concept's theoretical reach, and expand empirical contributions beyond the U.S. heartland. To advance the racial capitalism body of work, current scholarship suggests theoretical conversations with postcolonial theory, decolonial thought, Indigenous studies, and feminist approaches. There is also a need to engage not only with other variants of racial capitalism, but also with earlier scholarship that investigates the interplay between race/racialization and space.

This G-3 essay aimed to study how people on three American left leaning social medias appoint queer identities to historical people and the discourse around this appointment. This was studied through the theoretical lenses of queer theory and the use of history. The source material consisted of posts from Tumblr, Twitter and Reddit and it was studied both quantitatively and qualitatively through the method of conceptual history. The historical people examined were Queen Christina of Sweden and King James VI and I of Scotland and England.

This essay discovered that a wide variety of queer identities were appointed to the royals. However, all queer identities appointed were identities that matched the discoveries scientists have made about the royals’ lives. Furthermore, between one third and half of all posts used sources to justify the appointment of queer identities. The use of history in all posts were found to be either existential in nature – showing a desire to find connections with other queer people through history – or moral – using history to argue against current injustice against queer people. 

This bachelor thesis examines at how libraries can function as meeting places in areas with inhabitants from sevral different countries. It is done in the form of a case study, with interviews and observations, of a minilibrary in a part of Växjö. The results are analysed with the help of Ragnar Audunsons theory about high and low intensity meeting places. According to the theory a high intensity meeting place is where a person meets people who share their intrests, whereas a low intensity meeting place is where the person are exposed to diffrent views. This study finds that the minilibrary in question funtions as both a high and a low intensity meeting place, depending on the context. When the children and youth living in the area use it as a place to meet after school, the library functions as a high intensity meeting place, and when the library hosts language cafés it becomes a low intensity meeting place.

The subject of corpses from mass violence is surprisingly unexplored, even though the materiality of the corpse carries strong symbolic capital in conflicts. The aim of my PhD research is to create new knowledge about the implications of unburied corpses that stem from intergroup conflicts, and subsequently to add knowledge concerning how intergroup violence is organised to achieve desired social agendas.

In the licentiate thesis presented here, I research the conditions for postmortem agency and how treatment of corpses can be studied in prehistory, specifically through the material remains of unburied corpses from the Sandby borg massacre. The Sandby borg case study is explored through a bioarchaeological perspective. Inside the Iron Age ringfort, the remains of at least 26 individuals have been recovered hitherto. Several of the dead display traces of lethal intergroup violence. By integrating osteology, archaeology, taphonomy and social theories, I show how bioarchaeological research can contribute to the understanding of past postmortem agency in relation to intergroup violence as a social process. The thesis is comprised of four articles.

Archaeological theories and methods are developed to reconstruct past human behavior from fragmentary material remains. The interrelated discipline of physical anthropology addresses questions related to skeletal remains while acknowledging taphonomic parameters. The benefit of integrating these disciplines in forensic investigations has gained increasing acknowledgement over the last decades, but the use of forensic archaeology and anthropology (FAA) remains limited in Sweden. The aim of this study is to analyze the field of FAA in Sweden in relation to outdoor and fire crime scenes where human remains are encountered. Based on qualitative interviews, the state and potential developments of FAA within the Swedish police and the National Board of Forensic Medicine are discussed. The results show that for ensic investigations and analysis of human fragmentary remains are not standardized in Sweden. A great responsibility is placed on the individual crime scene investigator who elects how to investigate these sites and who to contract for the analysis of osteological remains. This can endanger evidence collection and interpretation. This study shows that investigations of buried or fragmentary human remains in Sweden could be aided by a development of FAA. Key steps to further development of FAA within Swedish police involve 1) quantifying cases that could benefit from FAA, 2) establish FAA as an independent subject, 3) develop a national infrastructure, 4) offer professional education in the subject(s), and 4) develop best practice to advance evidence collection and legal security in investigations involving fragmentary human remains. An ongoing ISO accreditation of outdoor crime scene investigations within the Swedish police will hopefully benefit FAA development and collaborations with external partners.

A massacre took place inside the Sandby borg ringfort, southeast Sweden, at the end of the fifth century. The victims were not buried, but left where they died. In order to understand why the corpses were left unburied, and how they were perceived following the violent event, a theoretical framework is developed and integrated with the results of osteological analysis. I discuss the contemporary normative treatment of the dead, social response to death and postmortem agency with emphasis on intergroup conflict and ‘bad death’. The treatment of the dead in Sandby borg deviates from known contemporary practices. I am proposing that leaving the bodies unburied might be viewed as an aggressive social action. The corpses exerted postmortem agency to the benefit of the perpetrators, at the expense of the victims and their sympathizers. The gain for the perpetrators was likely political power through redrawing the victim's biographies, spatial memory and the social and territorial landscape. The denial of a proper death likely led to shame, hindering of regeneration and an eternal state of limbo.

The aim of this work is to advance the knowledge of peri- and postmortem corporeal circumstances in relation to human remains contexts, as well as to demonstrate the value of that knowledge in forensic and archaeological practice and research. This article-based dissertation encompasses papers in bioarchaeology and forensic anthropology, with an emphasis on taphonomy. The studies include analyses of human osseous material and human decomposition in relation to spatial and social contexts, from both theoretical and methodological perspectives.

Taphonomic knowledge is vital to interpretations of the circumstances of peri- and postmortem deposition, with a concern for whether features were created by human hand or the result of decomposition processes and other factors. For example, taphonomic knowledge can aid interpretations of the peri- and postmortem sequence of events, of the agents that have affected human remains, as well as for estimations of time since death. When integrated with social theories, taphonomic information can be used to interpret past events. 

In this dissertation, a combination of bioarchaeological and forensic taphonomic methods are used to address the question of what processes have shaped mortuary contexts. Specifically, these questions are raised in relation to the peri- and postmortem circumstances of the dead in the Iron Age ringfort of Sandby borg, and about the rate and progress of human decomposition in a Swedish outdoor environment and in a coffin. Additionally, the question is raised of how taphonomic knowledge can inform interpretations of mortuary contexts, and of the current state and potential developments of forensic anthropology and archaeology in Sweden. 

The result provides us with information of depositional history in terms of events that created and modified deposits of human remains. Furthermore, this research highlights some limitations in taphonomic reconstructions. The research presented here is helpful for interpretations of what has occurred in the distant as well as recent pasts, to understand potentially confounding factors, and how forensic anthropology can benefit Swedish crime scene investigations. In so doing, the knowledge of peri- and postmortem corporeal circumstances and how it can be used has been advanced in relation to both the archaeological and forensic fields.

In the ringfort Sandby borg (A.D. 400–550) on Öland, Sweden, remains of 26 unburied humans were excavated between 2010 and 2016. Several of the skeletons display traces of lethal interpersonal violence. This study presents taphonomic analyses of unburied bodies, a situation seldom encountered archaeologically. The depositional context allows us to investigate human taphonomy in interaction with natural agents both “indoors” and “outdoors.” A set of various techniques, including documentation of preservation via zoning, weathering stages, fracture analysis, and archaeothanatology, were applied to understand the perimortem and postmortem fate of the human remains. The results of the taphonomic analysis showed no indications of manipulation postmortem. Expected differences in preservation between in-and outdoor skeletons were not observed. Perimortem fire alterations were interpreted as the result of burning hearths and smoldering roofs. The analysis indicates that the bodies have decomposed in voids. New observations for “unconfined void” taphonomy are presented. The abduction of limbs could be the result of bloating and, hence, indicate a primary deposit of bodies. Atypical lack of splaying of bones might be caused by decomposition in unconfined voids, possibly allowing quicker drainage of putrefaction liquids than in confined voids such as coffins. These observations suggest that processes behind decomposition in voids are not completely understood archaeologically, and might challenge interpretations of mortuary treatment from human remains.

During excavations of the Iron Age ringfort of Sandby borg (ad 400-550), the remains of twenty-six unburied bodies were encountered inside and outside the buildings. The skeletons and the archaeological record indicate that after the individuals had died the ringfort was deserted. An osteological investigation and trauma analysis were conducted according to standard anthropological protocols. The osteological analysis identified only men, but individuals of all ages were represented. Eight individuals (31 per cent) showed evidence of perimortem trauma that was sharp, blunt, and penetrating, consistent with interpersonal violence. The location of the bodies and the trauma pattern appear to indicate a massacre rather than a battle. The 'efficient trauma' distribution (i.e. minimal but effective violence), the fact that the bodies were not manipulated, combined with the archaeological context, suggest that the perpetrators were numerous and that the assault was carried out effectively. The contemporary sociopolitical situation was seemingly turbulent and the suggested motive behind the massacre was to gain power and control.

This paper presents a quantitative retrospective study of gross human decomposition in central and southeastern Sweden. The applicability of methods developed abroad for postmortem interval (PMI) estimation from decomposition morphology and temperature are is evaluated. Ninety‐four cases were analyzed (43 terrestrial and 51 aquatic) with a median PMI of 48 days. The results revealed differences in decomposition patterns between aquatic, surface, hanging, and buried remains. While partial saponification and desiccation occurred in cases of surface remains, complete skeletonization was observed in all cases with a PMI over two years. Aquatic skeletonization was slower due to extensive saponification in cases with PMI higher than one year. Formulae for assessing accumulated degree‐days (ADD) from the original methods did not fit the study material. However, a regression analysis demonstrated that 80% of decomposition variance in surface remains could be explained by ADD, suggesting that a geographically adapted equation holds promise for assessing PMI. In contrast, the model fit was poor for aquatic cases (43%). While this may be explained by problems in obtaining reliant aquatic temperature data or an insufficient scoring system, aquatic decomposition may be highly dependent on factors other than ADD alone. This study evaluates the applicability of current PMI methods on an outdoor sample from a previously unpublished region, and represents the first scientific publication of human outdoor decomposition patterns in Sweden. Suggestions for future research are provided, including that scoring methods should incorporate saponification to fit forensic taphonomy in Swedish environments.

Fiction is a challenging genre for automatic theme identification. Unlike other types of documents, such as physics academic papers, fiction does not always name the concepts it addresses, but rather implies them through subtle clues. Fiction also uses metaphors intentionally to convey deeper meanings. To make Swedish LGBTQ+ fiction more accessible, the Queerlit database (https://queerlit.dh.gu.se/) provides subject indexing by information professionals. They use the QLIT thesaurus (based on Homosaurus) for LGBTQ+ themes and Swedish Subject Headings (SAO – Svenska Ämnesord) for non-LGBTQ+ themes. The indexing is comprehensive and retrospective, assigning terms to previously published Swedish fiction.

This work aims to determine to what degree and under which conditions is it possible to automatically assign subject index terms from QLIT, in order to estimate the usefulness of automatic tools to support subject indexing conducted by information professionals. This process may require a large number of training documents which are not available (the entire Queerlit database has about 2000 works indexed and QLIT has about 800 terms, while SAO is much bigger). Therefore, another approach will be explored – whether automatically extracted terms from the texts provide the potential to complement existing, professionally assigned terms from QLIT and SAO. We experiment with zero-shot classification transformers and topic modeling.

The proposed paper will present the intermediate results of different methods applied to available texts from the QLIT database. It is important to note that the project is currently in an exploratory phase and that the presentation is intended to showcase how different approaches have both failed and succeeded. We also intend to highlight areas of possible applicability specifically from the perspective afforded by the QLIT thesaurus, i.e., the appropriateness of the methods for Swedish LGBTQ+ fiction. We will also discuss the challenges and limitations of automatic theme identification for fiction, especially for LGBTQ+ themes that are often implicit or nuanced.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how Joseph Stephens, who was the owner of the Huseby Estate between the years 1867 - 1934, saw the foreign trade as an opportunity to build up the economy of Huseby bruk when he came back to Sweden from India during the summer 1869. The manor, which is located in the south of Sweden, was in a poor condition when he returned but from that summer, he could for the first time work fulltime with the manor he had bought. The source material of this study is from the Huseby archives in the Linnaeus University, which in my investigation consists of correspondents to his father George Stephens and business contacts who were located abroad. The source material is also consisting of accounts from the bookkeeping of the company. The correspondents show how Joseph Stephens is patient with abroad market and sees the potential in it, even if the market in Sweden is easier to make profits in at the moment and has cheaper transport expenses. It also shows that he is making up plans for selling his products to the international market, even if there are complications that makes the market hard to get profit from. According to the accounts of Huseby bruk, most of the trade abroad went to Copenhagen. Another important city on the market was London. However, it seems like the company did not export any products to India between the years 1869 - 1875. The products which dominated the export were iron and wood products.

The objective of this qualitative study is to examine the use of talking books in school libraries in Sweden, and to identify the key factors for using the Legimus app successfully. There are several laws, regulations and policy documents concerning the educational function of school libraries which specifically mention pupils’ right to learn taking into account their own specific circumstances. The situation, however, varies greatly around the country. The way in which school librarians work with Legimus is crucial for students with reading difficulties, and for their development and reading ability. Three points will be addressed: How do school librarians work with Legimus? Which factors of success can be found? What challenges do the school librarians encounter when working with Legimus? To investigate these issues, seven semi-structured interviews were conducted with school librarians in three different regions of Sweden during the fall of 2019. The material has been analysed from a sociocultural perspective, through the application of the concepts social practice, mediating tools and appropriation of cultural tools. The study shows that the work of the school librarians takes place inside, and is formed by, a social practice where action patterns, routines and work processes are shaped in relation to the specific context. The study further shows that teamwork plays a key part in working with Legimus, and that the school librarian cooperates with other professions, such as educational specialists, teachers, school computer technicians, head masters, and also with guardians. Well-developed joint effort, resources such as school librarians and other school staff, availability of technical equipment and the normalisation of listening as a method of reading, can all be identified as factors of success. The challenges identified were lack of continuity, insufficient competence of the school librarian and problems with the technical equipment.

The purpose with this study is to examine whether the library mission can be performed on the library’s website. Since in Sweden only a million people above the age of twelve lack a daily use of the internet, it is highly relevant to see what kind of services the physical library’s digital counterpart is carrying out. The method used is a case study where the functions of Stockholm’s city library’s website was examined. These functions were then organized after an adaption of a model created by Mierzeck and Suminas, made with the goal of analysing library websites. The purpose of this was to see what types of functions the website offers. The library mission was in turn formed into an analytical tool. This was done so that a comparison could be made between the offerings of the library website and with what the library mission entails. The theory The four spaces was included for its insights and analytical capacity. The results of the study shows that a library website is capable to perform the library mission, but with some difficulties. The services are more informational than interactive, which effects the user’s capacity to participate and in turn the library’s ability to assess the user’s needs. It is the recommendation of this paper to make the library websites more interactive and equal in terms of service with the physical library. By changing our views and seeing the digital and physical library with the same status, where activities and services are provided equally, the digital library can become a richer and stronger place for the users’ gain.

The aim of this study has been to examine six books about Oscar Wilde’s homosexuality during the years 1906 – 2003. I have been analyzing their descriptions about his sexual orientation and compared them to each other to see the changes through time. In order to see some clear changes the main focus was to choose time differences between the books. It was clear that the earlier writers had negative opinions and thoughts about his sexual deviation the way they described it. The writers from the older books focus on Oscar Wilde’s achievements more than his sexual orientation. The analysis was made through two theories, Michel Foucault’s theories about sexuality, power and knowledge, and the second Raewyn Connell’s theory about hegemonic masculinity. The theories have been fundamental for this study on the basis of the changes through time and how societies viewed masculinity and sexual orientations. They have also been important for the descriptions of Oscar Wilde’s feminine attitude and his addiction to his looks. My method for the essay has been a conceptual analysis. The choice of this method was not hard because it has been important to the comparison and the analysis for the writers’ usage of word descriptions of Oscar Wilde’s homosexuality. The results showed a large amount of resemblances and differences between the books, which can be seen against the background of the society and its view on homosexuality. 

Abstract

This study is about the female presence in the male institution of the academic world.Women got the formell right to study at universities in Sweden in 1873, but no further jobopportunities were available for them in the academic area. Elsa Eschelsson was one ofthe few who challenged this order. With a gender perspective, and the theoretical conceptof genders role, power relationships and control of the gender contract I have exposedhow media was used as a tool, from 1898-1906 (with an exception for an article from1995), to create a negative image of Elsa Eschelsson and thereby influence her fate. This study has shown that when Elsa Eschelsson got her doctor´s degree inlaw 1898 all was good, maybe because nobody thought that she would reach for aposition as professor at the university. But when she actually got the question to take overTrygger´s professorship, the resistance got way worse than anyone could have imagined.One of those who fought the most against Eschelsson was Winroth, who had the positionas professor in procedural law at Uppsala university. He turned to the press andthreatened to resign if she got the professorship. 

With a rich, well-dated Early Upper Palaeolithic layer, the Mughr el-Hamamah cave site is key for understanding the Middle-Upper Palaeolithic transition in the Levant. The archaeological deposit consists of two units. Layer A resulted from pastoral activities during the 20th century and Layer B dated between 44.5 and 40.0 ky BP. During Layer A’s formation, shepherds disturbed Layer B, redepositing Early Upper Palaeolithic sediments and lithic artefacts in Layer A matrix. Activity from Layer A’s formation also resulted in spatially patchy percolation and bioturbation, leaving microarchaeological traces such as dung spherulites in some areas in Layer B. In contrast, contemporaneous chemical diagenetic processes from Layer B’s primary formation caused spatially uneven post-depositional dissolution of animal bone. In this article we present a multi-proxy microarchaeological approach to investigate the post-depositional processes in Layer B, focussing on possible impacts on the plant archaeological record. The identification of intrusive spherulites from shepherds’ activities define the limits of disturbance in Layer B. Micromorphological analyses have identified four intact micro-facies in Layer B, representing an interplay of natural and anthropogenic factors. Micromorphological details in bedded combustion features favour the interpretation that associated phytoliths represent fuel traces. Dicot fruit phytoliths occur in the western area of the cave, where well-preserved charred wood and seeds were also found. Grass-diagnostic phytoliths correspond to C3 and C4 taxa, indicating an overall humid environment with dry spells. Microarchaeological analysis identifies traces of both bedded and dispersed hearth materials, mixed with variable plant resources for food, fuel, and possibly other uses. This strengthens the interpretation of Mughr el-Hamamah Layer B as a dense, complicated palimpsest of recurring activities, formed over many millennia.

This is a study on the emigration from Blekinge County with a focus on Medelstads härad to Denmark and Germany, during the period 1870-1925. By measuring statistics on how many people emigrated from Medelstads judicial district 13 parishes to Denmark and Germany respectively the aim is. To get a new perspective on the less known emigration. From this the study can continue to examine female and male emigration from the parishes of Backaryd, Edestad, Listerby and Ronneby. Furthermore, the study will examine the professional titles and other titles that the emigrants had when they chose to emigrate. Based on the results of the first questions, it is possible to see which similarities and differences are found between the emigration to Denmark and Germany. The results indicates the a greater number of emigrants went to Denmark than to Germnay. The results between the male and female emigration indicates that the female emigration was moe extensive than the male emigration both to Denmark and to Germany. Regarding the occupational titles, it can be determined that it was occupations that belonged to the working class that most emigrants had when they emigrated from Medelstads härad. From these results, it is possible to find similarities and differences betwwen the migration to Denmark and Germany.