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The book presents interpretations of culture, health, politics, and religion in Sweden today, Sweden transforms from the well-functioning but existentially bland economic wonder to a more fragmented and gloomy society. Contributors include scholars from film studies, literary studies, political science, religious studies and theology

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Table of Contents Introduction; Marie Demker, Yvonne Leffler and Ola Sigurdson 1. Hygiene as Metaphor: On Metaphorization, Racial Hygiene, and the Swedish Ideals of Modernity; Ola Sigurdson 2. From Shared Resources to Shared Values; Marie Demker 3. ´It´s not about religion, but about manipulation´: Polemical Discourse Against Sects and Cults in Sweden; Henrik Bogdan 4. Something Happened, But What? On Roy Andersson´s Cinematic Critique of the Development of the Welfare State; Daniel Brodén 5. Sex and Sin in a Multicultural Sweden; Andreas Johansson Heinö 6. Chick-lit as Healing and Self-Help Manual?; Yvonne Leffler

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"This fascinating and unusual book presents to the English-language reader a complex image of Sweden as a country in the process of change. Employing a highly interdisciplinary approach in film, popular literature politics, and religion, the writers, all from the University of Gothenburg, challenge stereotypes and idealizing images, crawling under the skin of contemporary Sweden and its place in the world." - David Jasper, Professor, University of Glasgow, UK and Renmin University of China, China

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Henrik Bogdan, University of Gothenburg, Sweden Daniel Brodén, University of Gothenburg, Sweden Andreas Johansson Heinö, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

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