"Det som är norm i vardagen är inte norm här" : Svenska konvent som sekulära ritualer

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this thesis is to establish whether Swedish fan conventions organised around East-Asian popular culture such as anime and manga can be identified as a form of secular ritual. The methods used to determine this include participant observation, interviews and ethnographic data. Defining secular ritual as a performance event that establishes an alternative context that transforms the everyday without being connected to a religious or supernatural worldview or origin, we find that Swedish conventions of this kind may be called a form of ritual that engages people united by a common, broad field of interests and a notion of being outside of society’s norms in different ways, most notably in regards to sexuality and gender. This opens a discussion about Swedish fan conventions and how they may inform us about the use and function of rituals in a secularised society.