Samhällsorienteringskurser erbjuds nyanlända flyktingar för att ge dem grundläggande kunskap om Sverige och det svenska samhället. Syftet med Kim Silow Kallenberg och Erika Sigvardsdotters artikel är att analysera de bilder av Sverige, svenskhet och de Andra som framträder i kursernas undervisningsmaterial. Utifrån en narrativ ansats undersöks både berättelser och tystnader i materialet, där det som inte är uttalat förstås som en aspekt av berättelsen om Sverige och svenskheten. Materialet är både informativt och normerande, det beskriver både vad som är vanligt och vad som är önskvärt. Skrivningar om omständigheter där utrikesfödda kan bli förfördelade saknas i hög grad, samtidigt som sammanhang där utrikesfödda skulle kunna diskriminera eller skada någon annan beskrivs utförligt. Materialet kan därför tolkas som att det i första hand utgår från majoritetsbefolkningens perspektiv och behov, trots att det riktar sig till nyanlända.
This is an ethnographic and an autoethnographic study based on qualitative interviews as well as memories and experiences of the author. It focuses on two men that were childhood friends of the author and who both died prematurely. Marcus died in November 2013 while he was under psychiatric care due to auditory hallucinations and anxiety. Noel died little over a year later, in January 2015, from an overdose of heroin. The aim of the article is to analyse the narratives of women and is concerned with understanding the loss of a son, a brother, or a former boyfriend or friend due to substance abuse or mental health problems. The empirical cases analysed in this text are women’s understandings of the deaths of Marcus and Noel – two young men who were close to them in different ways. Their narratives about the men, their memories, and their rationalisations for what happened to them are analysed. The analysis shows that when the women talk about, and try to explain, the male lives that led up to the death, a limited number of narratives are available. Narratives about absent and/or abusive fathers, narratives about mothers who fail in providing the expected care, and narratives about shortcomings in psychiatric services and community support are dominant in the analysed material. In relation to these available narratives, the story follows the making of a protest masculinity in which elements such as rock star dreams, violence, drug use, and talk of legalising drugs have a place. Together they form an overarching narrative about protest masculinity; i.e. ways to act in reaction to a perceived alienation or subordination by acting out in ways associated with masculinity.
Rural GirlsInternet-Ethnography - Netnography - is a relatively new method, which presents both difficulties and opportunities. The difficulties are primarily associated with the breaking of new ground and not having a well-established research practice to lean on as regards the design and implementation of the studies. The opportunities, on the other hand, include the freedom to think freely and formulate new ideas about ethnographic research practice at a time when the Internet, and not least social media, are central spaces for social relationships, culture, and politics. In this article, we discuss three methodological aspects that we have considered in relation to netnography; more specifically, in relation to Facebook research. Our netnographic study of rural femininity in Glesbygdsgirls (Rural Girls) has particularly highlighted issues of spatiality, timeliness and reflexivity, as well as research positions. We have found that the Glesbygdsgirls’ forum makes it possible for individual positions and experiences to become part of something much larger. The digital spatiality is created together by the members. In conjunction with Massey, we want to point out how the space is something that is created on the basis of social relationships, which can be unfinished processes extending across both time and space (Massey (1994) 2014, 2005). However, the virtual space that is created in the user conversations and actions presupposes that there is a "multiple site of location" beyond the reality of Facebook; including physical sites or places that through their sheer numbers indicate a symbolic densification of the network space. According to Miller's view, it is a consequence of the media itself that at the level of society, rural areas become visible as something quite extensive, and at the individual level that one’s own experience is both confirmed and widened (Miller & Horst 2012; Miller 2011). At the same time, our empirical examples show that glesbygsgirl is not a homogeneous position, but rather that there exists conflict within the group about what constitutes an authentic rural femininity. In the discussion about network time, we have focused mainly on the rapid flow by which the internet is characterized, as well as how the network's simultaneousness can bring benefits, but also make new demands on the researcher's presence in the field in ways that have never previously come to the fore. However, it may be relevant to point out that, in addition to being characterized by simultaneousness and rapid flow, the internet also serves as a kind of archive. Posts that are not actively deleted remain available for a long time and can be searched for and read multiple times, long after they were originally published. Once again, it is fruitful to think of Massey's spatial understanding; the spaces created are extended in time and based on social relationships.How researchers act and present themselves in a Facebook forum is something that needs more discussion and exploration. Social networks like Facebook provide remarkable empirical opportunities and connect us with our fields in a very direct and informative way. In this article, we have presented the course of action we chose based on reflexivity and our research ethics. The somewhat problematic confusion between what is public and private that takes place in social forums is something we chose to use based on our roles as being both researchers and personally involved in the empirical field. To pursue Netnographic research on social forums can, at best, open the researcher up to a more participatory research methodology where research participants can be involved and made to participate more in in the research process. In this way, we can also achieve a much greater impact and – provided we listen and generate a dialogue – conduct really important research at a higher level. The Internet facilitates an interactive approach, an opportunity to work more in collaboration with the society and also at regional levels, and, moreover, be more relevant to people's current search for meaning.
The deaths of Marcus and Noel—childhood friends of the author—is the point of departure for this essay. The author uses the concept of an autopsy—both the actual autopsies performed on her friends after their deaths and an autopsy as a metaphor for dismantling the author’s own memories of her two dead friends. The aim of the essay is to show rather than tell how self-identity and memory become reshaped through the experience of loss. It is empirically based on ethnographic interviews with friends and relatives of Marcus and Noel and on autoethnographic field notes. The idea of autopsy records as being rather poetic has inspired a method of writing in which creativity interacts with empirical descriptions. The knowledge engendered by the experience of loss and grief in this autoethnographic project has altered the previous beliefs and memories of the author and added layers of sorrow, aggression, and misery. The knowledge the author now possesses has changed her perceptions of the past. The essay could be read as if it were an autopsy of the author’s own life, experiences, relationships, and emotions. It contributes to the knowledge on death, grief, and friendship by evoking reflection in its readers about their own lives, experiences, emotions, and relationships. The two dead friends depicted in the essay were people who now live in the memories of the friends and relatives they left behind. This common human experience transcends the individual subjects who were the author’s friends.
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