Film som kommunikation : En studie av gymnasieungdomars filmarbete

The starting point for this work was a discussion between my supervisor and myself during my teaching training. The discussion concerned the appropriateness of allowing students make films with sexual content. Film gives young people the opportunity to express their feelings and broaden their views. If the film then disseminates to unknown people via in-ternet, which it most likely will do, maybe it is no longer so positive. The aim of this study is to shed light on various aspects of identity and ethics that are important to keep in mind when young people in school make films. These aspects are to avoid making young people vulnerable to abuse and improper influence. One aim is also to highlight the advantages of making films in school. The study is inspired by hermeneutic interpretive and based on qualitative interviews. The informants are four students at the age of 18-19 at two different schools in one municipality in Sweden.The results of the study show that it is important for the informants that the films are pro-duced in an aesthetically good way so that it appeals to the audience. Two of the infor-mants have a specific audience and make more conscious choices, so that the audience will understand what is said. The study shows that the more a filmmaker considers the audi-ence, the more consciously he or she uses film as communication. To get positive feedback is important, but it is mostly friends of the filmmakers that actually comment. To get nega-tive comments is regarded as a disadvantage when placing material on the internet. Howev-er, none of the informants in the study have received negative comments on what has been posted. The opinions about what the informants believe is inappropriate to post on inter-net or to make films about regards sexuality and violations. Earlier studies show that mate-rial can, because it is interesting to other people, become widespread. For this reason it is important for teachers to have conversations with students about their preferences and opinions on various issues. Adults need to interfere in the young people's world, while be-ing open to their opinions. Then the young people's value system will be built up and give them a safe tool that helps them to avoid improper influence.

Definitioner av våld i överlevandes berättelser efter kriget i Bosnien

Definitions of violence in stories of survivors from the Bosnian war Previous research on violence during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina presents a one-sided picture of the phenomenon ”war violence.” Researchers have emphasized the importance of narratives but they have not focused on stories about war violence, nor have they analyzed the stories of war violence being a product of interpersonal interaction. This article tries to fill this knowledge gap by analyzing the narratives told by survivors of the war in northwestern Bosnia in the 1990s. The aim is to analyze how the survivors describe violence during the war, and also to analyze those discursive patterns that contribute in constructing the category ”war violence.” The construction of the category ”war violence” is made visible in the empirical material when the interviewees talk about (1) a new social order in the society, (2) human suffering, (3) sexual violence, and (4) human slaughter. All interviewees define war violence as morally reprehensible. In narratives on the phenomena ”war violence” a picture emerges which shows a disruption of the social order existing in the pre-war society. The violence practiced during the war is portrayed as organized and ritualized and this creates a picture that the violence practice became a norm in the society, rather than the exception. Narratives retelling violent situations, perpetrators of violence and subjected to violence do not only exist as a mental construction. The stories live their lives after the war, and thus have real consequences for individuals and society.

Violence and reproductive health preceding flight from war : accounts from Somali born women in Sweden

Background: Political violence and war are push factors for migration and social determinants of health among migrants. Somali migration to Sweden has increased threefold since 2004, and now comprises refugees with more than 20 years of war experiences. Health is influenced by earlier life experiences with adverse sexual and reproductive health, violence, and mental distress being linked. Adverse pregnancy outcomes are reported among Somali born refugees in high-income countries. The aim of this study was to explore experiences and perceptions on war, violence, and reproductive health before migration among Somali born women in Sweden. Method: Qualitative semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with 17 Somali born refugee women of fertile age living in Sweden. Thematic analysis was applied. Results: Before migration, widespread war-related violence in the community had created fear, separation, and interruption in daily life in Somalia, and power based restrictions limited access to reproductive health services. The lack of justice and support for women exposed to non-partner sexual violence or intimate partner violence reinforced the risk of shame, stigmatization, and silence. Social networks, stoicism, and faith constituted survival strategies in the context of war. Conclusions: Several factors reinforced non-disclosure of violence exposure among the Somali born women before migration. Therefore, violence-related illness might be overlooked in the health care system. Survival strategies shaped by war contain resources for resilience and enhancement of well-being and sexual and reproductive health and rights in receiving countries after migration.

Machine Translation and the Disruption of Foreign Language Learning Activities

This study examines the question of how language teachers in a highly technologyfriendly university environment view machine translation and the implications that this has for the personal learning environments of students. It brings an activity-theory perspective to the question, examining the ways that the introduction of new tools can disrupt the relationship between different elements in an activity system. This perspective opens up for an investigation of the ways that new tools have the potential to fundamentally alter traditional learning activities. In questionnaires and group discussions, respondents showed general agreement that although use of machine translation by students could be considered cheating, students are bound to use it anyway, and suggested that teachers focus on the kinds of skills students would need when using machine translation and design assignments and exams to practice and assess these skills. The results of the empirical study are used to reflect upon questions of what the roles of teachers and students are in a context where many of the skills that a person needs to be able to interact in a foreign language increasingly can be outsourced to laptops and smartphones.

Machine translation and the disruption of foreign language learning activities

This study examines the question of how language teachers in a highly technology-friendly university environment view machine translation and the implications that this has for the personal learning environments of students. It brings an activity-theory perspective to the question, examining the ways that the introduction of new tools can disrupt the relationship between different elements in an activity system. This perspective opens up for an investigation of the ways that new tools have the potential to fundamentally alter traditional learning activities. In questionnaires and group discussions, respondents showed general agreement that although use of machine translation by students could be considered cheating, students are bound to use it anyway, and suggested that teachers focus on the kinds of skills students would need when using machine translation and design assignments and exams to practice and assess these skills. The results of the empirical study are used to reflect upon questions of what the roles of teachers and students are in a context where many of the skills that a person needs to be able to interact in a foreign language increasingly can be outsourced to laptops and smartphones.

Knowledge and perceptions regarding sexual and reproductive health among high school students in Kathmandu, Nepal

Background: Nepal recently began teaching sexual education in the school system and has established youth friendly services in order to meet the need of increased sexual and reproductive knowledge among the youth. Objective: To examine the sexual and reproductive knowledge and perceptions among young people attending schools in Kathmandu. Method: A written questionnaire was distributed to 160 students, in a classroom environment, in four schools in Kathmandu. Results: Two thirds of the females and nearly 60% of the males knew that it was possible to get sexually transmitted infection (STI) during one sexual encounter and more than half of the students knew when in the menstrual cycle conception was more likely to occur . One third of the participants did not know that it was possible to become pregnant after having intercourse once. The males demonstrated less knowledge than the females regarding every aspect of sex and reproduction, with the exception of pregnancy prevention. Conclusion and clinical implications: For the youths in this study, it was more important to prevent unwanted pregnancies than to protect oneself from STIs. Establishment of a hotline on the internet, where personalized and confidential counselling can be offered may complement the comprehensive sexual education in schools.

Violence and reproductive health preceding flight from war : accounts from Somali born women in Sweden

Background: Political violence and war are push factors for migration and social determinants of health among migrants. Somali migration to Sweden has increased threefold since 2004, and now comprises refugees with more than 20 years of war experiences. Health is influenced by earlier life experiences with adverse sexual and reproductive health, violence, and mental distress being linked. Adverse pregnancy outcomes are reported among Somali born refugees in high-income countries. The aim of this study was to explore experiences and perceptions on war, violence, and reproductive health before migration among Somali born women in Sweden. Method: Qualitative semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with 17 Somali born refugee women of fertile age living in Sweden. Thematic analysis was applied. Results: Before migration, widespread war-related violence in the community had created fear, separation, and interruption in daily life in Somalia, and power based restrictions limited access to reproductive health services. The lack of justice and support for women exposed to non-partner sexual violence or intimate partner violence reinforced the risk of shame, stigmatization, and silence. Social networks, stoicism, and faith constituted survival strategies in the context of war. Conclusions: Several factors reinforced non-disclosure of violence exposure among the Somali born women before migration. Therefore, violence-related illness might be overlooked in the health care system. Survival strategies shaped by war contain resources for resilience and