Recensionernas retorik : Om könsroller i kulturjournalistiken

At the centre of this study lies the question if normative gender thinking affects the way poetry gets reviewed and how the reviews are written, this in relation to both the gender of the reviewer and the poet. The study crosses three academic fields; gender studies, poetry and journalism, and is based on the cultural studies theory of media affecting and even creating the world around it. The study is based on two types of analysis. One quantitative analysis based on the thematic criticism theory about detail studies that shows bigger patterns, this analysis focuses on how the poet and his/hers work are being treated in the reviews in areas such as how much space they´re given in the newspapers, how they are named by the reviewer and the tendency to quote the reviewed work.  And one qualitative analysis based on the new criticism method of close reading, that focuses on the reviewers way of writing and how that may be connected with theories of gender differences, this both connected to the gender of the reviewers and the poets. The material chosen for this study are all the reviews that were published in the same newspapers and that reviewed two specific poetry works by two specific poets chosen with great sensibility to age and career so that their difference in gender would be the most significant difference between them. The works were chosen based on year of publishing, they were supposed to be published as newly as possible and as close to each other in time as possible. The works I ended up with were Dimman av allt (2001) and Svart som silver (2008) by Bruno K. Öijer and Silverskåp (2000) and Nu försvinner vi eller ingår (2007) by Birgitta Lillpers. The results of this study show several differences in how poetry is being judged and how poetry reviews are being written are connected with the gender of the poets and the reviewer. Lillpers got 35% less space in the newspapers and Öijers poetry got quoted a lot more which confirms that female poetry often is considered as less important than the male poetry, and that men in general tends to be judged as more professional than woman. The male reviewers tended to express themselves with greater certainty than the female reviewers who held a more professional tone in their reviews and focused more on the technical aspects of the poetry. This confirms the theory of the male words are being looked upon as the truth but contradicts the theory of women writing more based on personal experience and of women being less skilled in language techniques. In conclusion, there are differences in how poetry gets reviewed and how the reviews are written that are connected to the genders of the poet and the reviewer but these differences are complex and does not show a clear normative way of thinking about gender

Att leva och sälja sin dröm : Livsstilsföretagaren mellan familjeliv, marknadoch politisk retorik

Living and selling a dream: Lifestyle entrepreneurship in the intersection between family, market and political rhetoric The article focuses on lifestyle entrepreneurship, characterised by a balancing work between personal lifestyle motives and economic motives. It builds on a qualitative study of business owners who have realized a life dream of starting a countryside business in the tourism and hospitality industry in Sweden. Through the notion of ”balancing work”, the analysis focuses on the tension between a personal life sphere and a market. In particular, the analysis highlights how the notion of ”the life dream” emerges as a narrative practice of self-realization, simultaneously as it is offered as an experience product. The analysis demonstrates how the entrepreneurs balance between personal stories of togetherness and marketing practices, between images of right and wrong commodification, and between constraining working conditions and a popular image of the successful entrepreneur, reinforced by a political discourse on rural entrepreneurship. It is concluded that balancing work between personal identities and economic practices is a practice of valuation, offering new insights into working conditions and markets situated in the intersection between markets and personal life spheres.

Gustaf III inför sina undersåtar : Konsten att härska och politikens kulturhistoria

The dissertation analyses the political culture of Sweden during the reign of King Gustav III (1771-1792). This period commonly referred to as the Gustavian era followed the so-called Age of Liberty ending half a century of strong parliamentary rule in Sweden. The question at the heart of this study engages with the practice of monarchical rule under Gustav III, its ideological origins and power-political objectives as well as its symbolic expression. The study thereby addresses the very nature of kingship. In concrete terms, why did Gustav III, his court, and his civil service vigorously pursue projects that contemporaneous political opponents and, in particular, subsequent historiography have variously pictured as irrelevant, superficial, or as products of pure vanity? The answer, the study argues, is to be found in patterns of political practice as developed and exercised by Gustav III and his administration, which formed a significant part of the political culture of Gustavian Sweden. The dissertation is divided into three parts. The first traces the use and development of royal graces chivalric orders, medals, titles, privileges, and other gifts issued by the king. The practice of royal reward is illustrated through two case studies: the 1772 coup d état that established Gustav III s rule, and the birth and baptism of the crown prince, Gustav Adolf, in 1778. The second part deals with the establishment of the Court of Appeal in Vasa in 1776. The formation of the Appeals Court was accompanied by a host of ceremonial, rhetorical, emblematic, and architectural features solidifying its importance as one of Gustav III s most symbolic administrative reform projects and hence portraying the king as an enlightened monarch par excellence. The third and final part of the thesis engages with war as a cultural phenomenon and focuses on the Russo-Swedish War of 1788-1790. In this study, the war against Russia is primarily seen as an arena for the king and other players to stage, create and re-create as well as articulate themselves through scenes and roles adhering to a particular cultural idiom. Its codes and symbolic forms, then, were communicated by means of theatre, literature, art, history, and classical mythology. The dissertation makes use of a host of sources: protocols, speeches, letters, diaries, newspapers, poetry, art, medals, architecture, inscriptions and registers. Traditional political source material and literary and art sources are studied as totalities, not as separate entities. Also it is argued that political and non-fictional sources cannot be understood properly without acknowledging the context of genre, literary conventions, and artistic modes. The study critically views the futile, but nonetheless almost habitual juxtaposition of the reality of images, ideas, and metaphors, and the reality of supposedly factual historical events. Significantly, the thesis presumes the symbolic dimension to be a constitutive element of reality, not its cooked up misrepresentation. This presumption is reflected in a discussion of the concept of role , which should not be anachronistically understood as roles in which the king cast himself at different times and in different situations. Neither Gustav III nor other European sovereigns of this period played the roles as rulers or majesties. Rather, they were monarchs both in their own eyes and in the eyes of their contemporaries as well as in all relations and contexts. Key words: Eighteenth-Century, Gustav III, Cultural History, Monarchs, Royal Graces, the Vasa Court of Appeal, the Russo-Swedish War 1788–1790.

Medieberättelser om den politiska retoriken om invandring - Hur konstrueras vår bild av invandring genom nyhetsrapportering?

I min pro gradu-avhandling undersöker jag hur media bidrar till att konstruera bilden av invandring till Finland. Mitt material består av tre nationella tidningar, varav Helsingin Sanomat och Huvudstadsbladet representerar dagstidningar och Iltalehti kvällspressen. Bakgrunden för undersökningen är en tre månaders period under vintern 2008-2009, då invandring låg högt på den politiska agendan. Under denna period skärptes den politiska retoriken mot invandring. Detta tillskrivs främst sannfinländarnas valframgång i kommunalvalet hösten 2008. Materialet består av s.k. hårda nyheter om invandring från tidningarnas inrikessidor samt åsiktsjournalistik i form av ledare och kolumner. Tidigare forskning i medierapportering om invandring och den finländska politiska debatten om invandring utgör den teoretiska bakgrunden för avhandlingen. Långvariga kartläggningsprojekt av medierapporteringen om invandring har utförts av Centret för forskning om etniska relationer och nationalism, gällande finlandssvenska tidningar (se Haavisto 2007) och av Journalismin tutkimuskeskus, gällande finskspråkiga tidningar (se Raittila & Vehmas 2005). Dessa utgör bakgrundskunskap som jag bygger vidare på. Andra viktiga källor är Kaarina Horstis (2005) avhandling, som handlar om medierapporteringen om asylsökande och mångkulturalism och Outi Lepolas (2008) avhandling gällande riksdagsdebatter om invandring och mångkulturalism på 1990-talet. I analysen använder jag kritisk diskursanalys, men tar inslag ur ramanalys och retorikanalys. Ett centralt begrepp i min avhandling är nyhetsgenre och jag undersöker hur nyhetens konventioner påverkar sättet på vilket frågor om invandring presenteras. Media bygger upp olika tolkningar av den sociala verkligheten genom att beskriva berättelser. Jag analyserar rapporteringen av den politiska debatten ur detta perspektiv och ser på vilka talarpositioner ges åt de olika politiska aktörerna i debatten. I rapporteringen om invandrargruppers ankomst till Finland var en krisinramning dominerande. Genom negativa metaforer konstrueras invandring som ett hot mot det finska samhället. Frågan om asylsökande, framom andra invandrargrupper, får mycket utrymme i tidningarna och bidrar till att rama in diskussionen om invandring i stort. I rapporteringen om den politiska debatten från perioden förekommer tillspetsad retorik mot invandring också från politiker ur de stora partierna. Genom denna retorik konstruerar man invandring som ett hot. Denna retorik tillhör den invandrarkritiska diskursen. Andra diskurser genom vilka man behandlar invandring i materialet är den arbetsrelaterade diskursen och den mångkulturella diskursen. Argument som stödjer sig mot dessa diskurser är dock mycket färre och hamnar i skymundan av den invandrarkritiska diskursen.

En retorisk analys av Fahrenheit 9/11 ur ett dokumentärhistoriskt perspektiv

The history of rhetorics in documentary film is a long one. The French brothers Louise and Auguste Lumiére were among the first persons who produced a documentary and their work has had a big impression in the history of documentary during the 1900 century. John Grierson has been called “the father” of documentary film. He produced films in the English speaking part of the world and he is the founder of the concept “documentary film”. Propaganda filming has a big part in the history of documentary film. Most frequently it appeard in Germany before and during the secound WW II, but propaganda films has been produced in Great Britain and USA as well as in other parts of the world. Rhetorics are of current interest today. It effects the news, papers, magazines, books and movies. The purpose with this essay is to investigate the rhetorics in Michael Moores controversial documentary of September 11th, Fahrenheit 9/11. The main question is: what rhetorical tools does Michael Moore use in order to communicate his politcal message in Fahrenheit 9/11? The rhetorical analysis includes exordium, narratio, propsitio, argumentatio and conclusio as well as ethos, logos and pathos. In order to conduct the analysis I have used Kurt Johannesson’s book Retorik eller konsten att övertyga, Maria Karlberg and Brigitte Mral’s book Heder och påverkan. Att analysera modern retorik. And at last a chapter by Brigitte Mral named Retorikanalys in the book Metoder i kommunikationeverenskap, by Mats Ekström and Larsåke Larsson. For the background about the history of documentary film I have used Barsam M. Richard, Nonfiction Film A Critical History and Bjørn Sørenssen’s book Å fange virkeligheten –Dokumentarfilmens århundre.The analysis shows that Moore uses different rhetorical tools in order to point out that George W Bush is the wrong man for the role as the president of United States of America. Some of the most effective tools that Moores uses are his own voice, pictures who awakes emotions, recordings and sharp arguments. His way of using ethos, logos and pathos is very clear. The disposal can also be distinct discern, however there are some exceptions towards the classical rhetoric. One example is that Moore doesn´t describe the arrangement of the movie in exordium.

Persuading the Public : A Linguistic Analysis of Barack Obama’s Speech on “Super Tuesday” 2008

This essay examines the persuasive side of language in a speech given by Senator Barack Obama on Super Tuesday in February 2008. It studies how Senator Obama utilizes language to convince and persuade his audience. This is done from an Aristotelian point of view, meaning that the study focuses foremost on how the senator’s word choices relate to Aristotle’s three means of persuasion, ethos, pathos and logos. Those basic guiding principles are relevant to use since Aristotle’s work on the subject of rhetoric is still today one of the most relevant works in that field. The analysis is basically performed through personal observations guided by previous studies, within the frame of Aristotelian rhetoric. The results show how Senator Obama enforces the three means of persuasion through language and how it can be considered persuasive. The study might add to rhetoric studies from a linguistic perspective since it reaches a better understanding of language used in the field of politics, where rhetoric is a prominent component.

Supervision as control system : the design of supervision as a regulatory instrument in the social services sector in Sweden

In this article, the prevailing official view of supervision as a regulatory instrument is examined as it applies to the social services sector in Sweden. The study is based on a comparison of the views expressed on the design of supervision as a regulatory instrument by two government commissions, the Supervision Commission and the Commission on Supervision within the Social Services (UTIS), and on the positions taken by the Government regarding the definitions of the concept of supervision proposed by these commissions. The view of supervision as a regulatory instrument expressed in these policy documents is analysed with the help of a theoretical framework describing the components, their functions and the governance characteristics of control systems. In the framework separate interrelated characteristics of the components are identified and summarized into two models of control systems. The analysis shows that supervision in the Swedish social services sector can be described in terms of both a disciplinary and non-disciplinary system. By its system theoretical basis and the identification of interrelated characteristics the study contributes to a broadened understanding of the construction and functions of supervision as a regulatory instrument and of how supervision within the Swedish social sector is meant to be designed.

Det röda spöket : en analys av valfilmer och valmanifest inför det svenska riksdagsvalet 1948

Undersökningen syftar till att granska Högerns, Socialdemokraternas, Bondeförbundets och Folkpartiets strategier gentemot kommunisterna inför riksdagsvalet 1948. Detta görs genom en retorisk analys av negativt kampanjande i partiernas valfilmer, men också genom att granska negativ retorik i deras valmanifest. År 1948 valdes eftersom det var en uttalad unik valrörelse, mycket på grund av att det fanns djupa konfliktlinjer i den nationella såväl som den internationella politiken. Det var också det första valet efter andra världskriget. En av studiens slutsatser är att samtliga partier framställde kommunisterna som ett hot i det under-sökta källmaterialet, men Socialdemokraterna kritiserades vid flest tillfällen. Resultatet visar också att den negativa retoriken i valmanifesten inte alltid överensstämmer med valfilmernas innehåll. Studien visar även att Socialdemokraternas valfilm var den enda som inte innehöll tydlig kritik riktat mot kommunisterna, vilket kan tyda på ett ambivalent förhållningssätt. Par-tierna använde framför allt logos och pathos för att övertyga väljarna, varav den sistnämnda ges utrymme att användas i film. Två av partierna, Högern och Bondeförbundet, kan ha haft en medveten strategi att försöka övertala unga människor att inte rösta på kommunisterna. Till sist, kommunisterna var enkla att kritisera eftersom de var en del av en större rörelse och kunde därför förknippas med Sovjetunionens handlingar.

”Slutligen kommer skogens ogräs till heders” : - En ekokritisk analys av Vilhelm Mobergs Din stund på jorden

Den har uppsatsen ar en ekokritisk analys av Din stund på jorden med inriktning på att åskådliggöra retoriska grepp. Syftet ar att undersöka hur manniskan förhåller sig till naturen i boken samt ringa in uttryck, bilder och metaforer som skulle kunna inspirera lasaren till ett stallningstagande för miljömedvetenhet och hållbar utveckling. Med narlasning och kvalitativ textanalys som metod tolkas texten och de bilder som målas upp ur ett ekokritiskt perspektiv vars retoriska grepp sedan analyseras och diskuteras. Analysen visar att romanen innehåller ekokritiskt intressanta troper och teman samt att naturen och naturens krafter spelar en vasentlig roll i karaktarernas liv. Relationen mellan manniska, djur och natur återfinns i metaforer och uttryck som leder lasaren i en riktning mot ett ansvarstagande och respektfullt förhållande till naturen.

Tillit genom hållbarhet : En kvalitativ studie av hur Axfood skapar tillit genom kommunikationen av deras hållbarhetsarbete under 2015.

SYFTE: Uppsatsens syfte är att kartlägga på vilket sätt Axfood kommunicerar sitt hållbarhetsarbete, i avseende att se hur Axfood upprätthåller tillit genom sin kommunikation. Tillit är en viktig komponent i företagsverksamheten och därför vill jag belysa hur olika stilistiska kompositioner både kan främja och hämma tilliten till ett företag. Studien fokuseras till Axfoods avsändarperspektiv med avsikt att strukturera upp och beskriva hur företaget kommunicerar sitt arbete med hållbarhet. TEORETISK RAM: Den teoretiska ramen bygger på hur tillit skapas genom kommunikation och utgår ifrån teorier om Corporate Social Responsibility, samt det retoriska begreppet ethos. METOD: Övergripande tematisering av materialet, samt en djupgående stilistisk analys av de delar i materialet som kommunicerar Axfoods hållbarhetsarbete. SLUTSATSER: Av Axfoods kommunikation är det hållbarhetsarbetet angående miljö som ges störst utrymme. Vidare går det att utläsa vissa stilistiska skillnader beroende på i vilken kommunikationskanal materialet återfinns, samt vilket hållbarhetsarbete som kommuniceras. Det här påverkar de olika tillvägagångssätten att skapa tillit.

Grannprotester : En studie av protester mot asylboenden

Aldrig tidigare har så många människor sökt asyl i Sverige som de senaste åren. Det har medfört ett ökat behov av asylboenden runtom i landet. Etableringar av sociala verksamheter brukar förorsaka grannprotester. Retoriken i sådana grannprotester brukar beskrivas med hjälp av två akronymer: NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) och NIABY (Not In Anyone’s Yard). I NIMBY-retoriken kritiseras inte den etablerade verksamheten som sådan, endast lokaliseringen. I NIABY-retoriken däremot riktas kritiken mot verksamhetens art, det vill säga kritiken är principiell. I denna studie undersöks hur retoriken ser ut bland grannskap där etableringar av asylboenden har varit aktuella i och med den rådande flyktingsituationen. Metodiskt bygger studien på en innehållsanalys av massmediarapporter kring protester mot asylboenden. Studien visar att NIMBY-retorik är betydligt vanligare förekommande än NIABY-retorik. Samtidigt uppmärksammas att gränsen mellan NIMBY och NIABY ofta är flytande. En viktig teoretisk slutsats är att begreppen NIMBY och NIABY är nödvändiga, men inte tillräckliga, för att förstå grannprotester mot etableringar av sociala verksamheter.