Att möta sorg i arbetet : En kvantitativ enkätundersökning över begravningsrådgivare anslutna till SBF (Sveriges Begravningsbyråers Förbund).

This quantitative survey aims to highlight the impact of the meeting with the grief for customer advisers and representatives of funeral homes connected to the SBF (Sveriges Begravningsbyråers förbund). It also aims to demonstrate any differences between the sexes on this subject. Issues include: How does the person experience expectations and requirements in relation to their professional role? Does the person experience a personal impact due to the encounter with grief and death in their profession, in what way and to what extent? What consequences does the expectations, reactions and the possible impact result in for that person? What conditions does the person have to help cope with the professional role? Is there a gender difference in this experience? The theory base, which consists of theories taken from The Managed Heart: The commercialization of Human Feeling by Arlie Hochschild (2003) and descriptions taken from Yrke: begravningsentreprenör. Om utanförskap, döda kroppar, riter och professionalisering by Anna Davidsson Bremborg (2002), has been fundamental in both the preparatory work and the analysis. The population consists of those with client contact at funeral homes connected to the SBF. The questionnaire was answered through an internet page and the contact with the particiants were made via e-mail. The questionnaire consisted of 44 claims which were answered by how well the respondents agreed with them. The responses were then coded and calculations were made of mean and significance of these figures. Comparisons were made on several levels between the different variables in order to find patterns and indications. The results showed trends that the respondents to some extent experienced high demands in their profession, stress connected with the customer interactions and that this to some extent resulted in negative consequences. The results suggests that respondents were expected to and strove to go the "extra mile" to please the customers. The results also showed trends that the respondents enjoyed their work, experienced relatively good conditions in their profession and that the benefits outweighed the sacrifices. The results also showed an interesting pattern of that women, more than men, experience pressures and stress due to the encouter with grief at work, and that the higher education the respondents had the greater the impact. This study resulted in some interesting indications that can be used in further research.

Post tenebras spero lucem : Alquimia y ritos en el Quijote y otras obras cervantinas

This study focuses on two areas: alchemy (Part I) and rituals of initiation (Part II) in the works of Miguel de Cervantes, focusing on Don Quijote de la Mancha as my main case study. The first part analyses the function of alchemy and how it can be interpreted throughout the works and various literary genres of Cervantes. It will demonstrate that the texts of Cervantes contain both explicit and implicit allusions to, as well as different aspects of alchemy, such as operative and spiritual alchemy and how these are ultimately used by Cervantes as a means of expression. The author draws from this rich source and modifies these means of expression in order to achieve various results: sometimes with wit or in relation to fraud; at other times it focuses on inner alchemy relating to chivalry in what I have called spiritual chivalry, which has the aim of self-improvement and ultimately, gnosis. Regarding the chivalric rituals of initiation, according to this investigation chivalry serves as both satire and representation of the alchemical process in the case of Don Quijote, which finds its key moments during the rituals. In this sense alchemy and chivalry are studied as two sides of the same coin, in which the search for something higher, an object (the philosopher stone, the beloved), subjects the protagonist to continuous transmutations and puts him in contact with the transitory, that is, liminal states, people and spaces. From this perspective Don Quixote de la Mancha is built upon liminal poetics. My approach, which follows the tenets of analogical hermeneutics, is included within the framework of the Western Esotericism Studies. The 16th and 17th centuries were a fertile age for alchemy throughout Europe. In Spain, alchemy and other esoteric disciplines co-existed with the Spanish Inquisition and its body for the control of ideas and texts: censorship. By being ambiguous and putting into dialogue different ideas of alchemy, Cervantes not only allowed readers to reach their own conclusions, he also protected his work from censorship.