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Kontinuitet och förändring: En narrativ diskursanalys av samtida svenska judars berättelser om antisemitism

Bellhem, Wilma LU (2025) RHBM54 20251
Centre for Theology and Religious Studies
Abstract
This thesis explores how contemporary Swedish Jews narrate their experiences of antisemitism. A central aim is to examine if and how the narrative norm of the cultural Holocaust memory – as formulated by Zoe Waxman – is reflected in present-day narratives of antisemitism. To make possible, the study employs a narrative discourse analysis. The findings suggest that the narrative norm of cultural Holocaust memory to some extent is present in the material through some of its language patterns. Its presence encompasses how the contemporary Jews 1) Spatializes their experiences of antisemitism in a way that anchors its worsts present-day expressions in specific geographic locations, 2) Portray Jews favourably, 3) The use of an objective... (More)
This thesis explores how contemporary Swedish Jews narrate their experiences of antisemitism. A central aim is to examine if and how the narrative norm of the cultural Holocaust memory – as formulated by Zoe Waxman – is reflected in present-day narratives of antisemitism. To make possible, the study employs a narrative discourse analysis. The findings suggest that the narrative norm of cultural Holocaust memory to some extent is present in the material through some of its language patterns. Its presence encompasses how the contemporary Jews 1) Spatializes their experiences of antisemitism in a way that anchors its worsts present-day expressions in specific geographic locations, 2) Portray Jews favourably, 3) The use of an objective language. The thesis has not been able determinate whether their presence are due to influence from the cultural Holocaust memory. Furthermore, the thesis has determined that there are aspects where the material does not mirror the narrative norm of the cultural
Holocaust memory. This is evident in 1) The structure of the narratives, 2) The gender of the narrators, and what they highlight, 3) The metaphors used. Finally, the thesis has established that there are narratives that partially or fully meet Stone-Mediatore’s criteria for ”good stories” and therefore theoretically has the potential to stimulate reflections which can deepen our understanding of experiences of contemporary Swedish antisemitism. However, whether they have the practical ability to do so has been concluded to be dependent on the recipient, something which the study has not examined. (Less)
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author
Bellhem, Wilma LU
supervisor
organization
course
RHBM54 20251
year
type
H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
subject
keywords
Holocaust, Narrative, cultural memory, narrative matrixes, Sweden, Jews, antisemitism
language
Swedish
id
9221444
date added to LUP
2026-01-30 12:10:01
date last changed
2026-01-30 12:10:01
@misc{9221444,
  abstract     = {{This thesis explores how contemporary Swedish Jews narrate their experiences of antisemitism. A central aim is to examine if and how the narrative norm of the cultural Holocaust memory – as formulated by Zoe Waxman – is reflected in present-day narratives of antisemitism. To make possible, the study employs a narrative discourse analysis. The findings suggest that the narrative norm of cultural Holocaust memory to some extent is present in the material through some of its language patterns. Its presence encompasses how the contemporary Jews 1) Spatializes their experiences of antisemitism in a way that anchors its worsts present-day expressions in specific geographic locations, 2) Portray Jews favourably, 3) The use of an objective language. The thesis has not been able determinate whether their presence are due to influence from the cultural Holocaust memory. Furthermore, the thesis has determined that there are aspects where the material does not mirror the narrative norm of the cultural 
Holocaust memory. This is evident in 1) The structure of the narratives, 2) The gender of the narrators, and what they highlight, 3) The metaphors used. Finally, the thesis has established that there are narratives that partially or fully meet Stone-Mediatore’s criteria for ”good stories” and therefore theoretically has the potential to stimulate reflections which can deepen our understanding of experiences of contemporary Swedish antisemitism. However, whether they have the practical ability to do so has been concluded to be dependent on the recipient, something which the study has not examined.}},
  author       = {{Bellhem, Wilma}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Kontinuitet och förändring: En narrativ diskursanalys av samtida svenska judars berättelser om antisemitism}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}