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By far, most of the research into processes of discrimination and ethnification in Sweden considers urban settings. This article focuses on how the regional press in a rural area of south east Sweden represents immigrants in a residential area in the outskirts of the Kalmar township. It points at the urgent need for researchers and decision makers to take into account both subtle and palpable stigmatizing processes that meet immigrants who reside the countryside. An analysis of two local newspapers shows a continuous construction of 'otherness' through pictures and texts, in which the identities of minority ethnic groups are stereotyped and subverted. One of the most persistent themes in this work of representation is the brutalization of the masculinity of 'others', stressed even further by a 'traditionalization' and feminization of a weak, caring female other. Both these gendered images serve a higher purpose, that of maintaining a positive image of a taken for granted Swedishness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the gendered construction of adventure. It argues that adventurous women often find themselves "caught" in discursive confusion. One discourse allows them sanctioned access to arenas previously considered masculine territory. Yet, another discourse, equating adventure with masculinity, is still present in (adventure) travel texts and stories, forcing women to negotiate their way through the adventure. These negotiations appear as creative attempts to construct self-identities, in which compliance to norms, but also emancipative statements and irony, are important. The article also touches upon matters of epistemological concern. Acknowledging that women have to relate to discourses originating from and within masculine hegemonic conditions, gender studies into arenas considered masculine, such as independent traveling, must also account for the presence of feminine discourses. Only by granting women the capacity to carry their own stories can their presence in historic development be acknowledged. More research focusing entirely on women's tales of traveling will probably foster a perspective in which women deserve credit, as well as responsibility for the good and the bad within tourism practice. The arguments emanate from reading travel media, interviews, and fieldwork within a qualitative ethnographically inspired project focusing mainly on women solo travelers from Northern Europe to various backpacker destinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]