ABSTRACT

In this study I have analyzed, throughout a gender perspective, two textbooks Den levande

litteraturen and Upplev litteraturen which are purposed to be used as teaching materials in

Swedish schools in the subject of Swedish when teaching the history of literature. The intent

of this study was to provide a gender analysis of two textbooks and the focus was on the

presentations of female and male writers, because they have not been studied earlier. In this

study, a qualitative text analytic method was used to achieve the best results as possible.

Theories used in this study were Yvonne Hirdman’s and Raewyn Connell’s theories. Hirdman

claims that there are differences between men and women at different levels in the society

while Connell believes that this is a myth because, according to her, men and women are

psychologically alike. The results corresponded, mostly, with the theories cited in this essay’s

literature review on how men and women in teaching books are narrated and how equal they

are presented. For instance, all characters go against the norm of what is considered typically

male of female and no one possesses only masculine or feminine characteristics, this means

that Connell’s theory can be applied on this result. However, one may also find that women

are presented as passive and males are presented as active, in other words female writers are

objects while male writers are subjects. Previous research states that men are the ones that

dominate in teaching books which also this study has found.

Keywords: gender, Connell, Hirdman, hierarchy