AbstractsPhilosophy & Theology

Using a discourse analytical method with the discourse theoretical framework of Laclau and Mouffe, this thesis aims to study the changing discourse of religion and violence in the Swedish media, and how this is presented in the Swedish daily press’s reporting of the Ayodhya dispute in India during the period 1986-2002; the dispute is often cited as a typical example of the religious violence between Hindus and Muslims in India, which has plagued the country for centuries. This study would argue, in relation to the trends observed in the studied material, that the discourse of religious violence seems to become an established part of the Swedish daily press’s discourse sometime during the latter part of the 1990’s, and that the discourse itself is characterized by a tendency to portray religion and religiosity in a dichotomy with the secular, where the secular state is depicted as being in an antagonistic relationship with fanatical and violent religiosity, which is constantly threatening to tear it apart.