Which Woman? An Intersectional Discourse Analysis of the Subject Heading List in the Database KVINNSAM

The aim of this thesis is to critically analyse the subject heading list in the database KVINNSAM at Kvinnohistoriska samlingarna. This list is intended for the retrieval of gender specific information and the subject heading women is implied. The main question is: which woman is represented in the list? The thesis analyses specifically the representation of disability, ethnicity and other sexualities than heterosexuality. Kvinnohistoriska samlingarna, the concept of gender studies and KVINNSAM is presented. Previous research concerning critical approaches to classification, which shows that classification systems and subject heading lists are products of their cultural and social contexts, is reviewed. The concept of intersectionality is used as a theoretical background. This is a perspective that theorizes how gender and other sociocultural power differentials such as ethnicity, race, sexual preference and ability/disability interact in the construction of subjectivity and material conditions of subjects. The thesis has its main focus on the Swedish research and discusses in what way the list is imposed by what the Swedish researchers Paulina de los Reyes and Diana Mulinari names a hegemonic feminism, a feminism that ignores differences among women and focuses on the Swedish, middle class, working woman. The method used is Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis. The results of this study shows that the subject heading list in the database KVINNSAM mainly represents a Swedish, working, heterosexual, able-bodied mother and that the lists’ possibilities to adequately represent other subjectivities is limited.Uppsatsnivå: