Siv Fahlgren

Thai‐Swedish Couples in the Swedish Daily Press—Discursive Constitutions of “the Other”

This study examines discursive representations of Thai‐Swedish couples in the Swedish daily press. The sample studied includes 17 articles. The study shows that the couples are constituted as inherently “different” through interweaving discourses such as a romantic love discourse, a sex tourism discourse, and a normalizing discourse, and through intersecting power relations such as those of gender, “race”/ethnicity, class, and sexuality. The normalized position representing “Swedishness” is not usually made explicit but is nevertheless constantly reproduced, and hierarchies are formed within as well as between the “normal” couple and “the Other”.

The Paradox of a Gender-Balanced Workforce The Discursive Construction of Gender Among Swedish Social Workers

Through a study of the narratives and practices in a gender-balanced social worksite, this article identifies institutionalized gender normalization processes. In the tales, the social workers told of their work, they reiterated the value of a gender-balanced workforce, together with the ideal of a gender-neutral profession. This view made it hard for the workers to see the ways in which the gender order they were involved in reproduces a gendered hierarchy in which male social workers are accorded greater value and an increased space of action, while female social workers and femininity are characterized by shortcomings when compared to men.

The power of positioning : On the normalisation of gender, race/ethnicity, nation and class positions in a Swedish social work textbook

This article presents a feminist reading of a Swedish social work academic textbook as a case study. We use a discourse analytic approach and positioning theory, focusing on author positions through different story lines. The aim is to make visible how differences are created and positions of the author/reader normalised in terms of gender, race/ethnicity and class. The analysis illustrates how the organisation of the book privileges a particular story line by presenting gender research in a special section of the book and as a perspective. A neutral, unmarked author position is assumed, presented as a common ‘we’ by identifying ‘women researchers’ and ‘feminist’ points of departure as different. If the unmarked author/reader ‘we’ position appears desirable and morally superior, the clients’ gender, ethnicity and class are often openly discussed in relation to social problems, positioning them as ‘the other’. Finally there is also a story line of more critical and ambivalent knowledge positions.

Inspiration and frustration : Unexpected Consequences of Interdisciplinary Exchanges in a Large Research Project

Inspiration and frustration : Unexpected Consequences of Interdisciplinary Exchanges in a Large Research Project

Having Your Cake and Eating It? The “Painful Cake” Incident of 2012 Examined

On the 15th of April, 2012, The Modern Museum (Modernamuseet) in Stockholm celebrated the World Art Day by having a reception with the Swedish cultural minister present, at which an artwork in the form of a cake made in the likeness of the body of a caricatured black woman was served, cut up and eaten, while the artist, masked as the cakes head, screamed. This conceptual, relational, and contextualizing artwork, which leads to a much heated debate in Sweden and which was also internationally picked up on, was made by the explicitly anti-racist artist Makode Linde. In this article, we explore the problem of this event in terms of its sociocultural significance. How did we react upon the drama that we were following from a distance? What did it make us see? What questions did the incident raise about the Swedish society of today? These are examples of the questions we as gender researchers working in Sweden will discuss in the form of a triptych. We use the triptych metaphor as a tool for opening dialogue. By opening its panels it becomes possible to decommodify the single image of the artwork and make relations between agents traceable, visible, and readable.

Self-help groups for women with pain : A research review with a gender perspective

It is the aim of this review to provide a survey of research on Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in health care with a special focus on SHGs for women with chronic muscular pain. The aim is not only to describe this field of research, but also to consider how this research relates to gender research as such. A variety of themes are examined: history, external factors that influence SHGs, internal aspects of SHGs, and gender research on SHGs. It was found that the gender perspective was relatively neglected. Our suggestion for further research notes that group members can produce new ways to manage their lives with the help of the interaction/exchange in the SHGs, regarding gender construction, knowledge, legitimacy and adaptation or transformation, and the position of activities in SHGs among societal norms and attitudes.