Olgas Amerikabrev - En svensk invandrares sociala nätverk, dess funktion, betydelse och förändring

Sammanfattning: This bachelor thesis aims to apply an actor oriented social networking theory to analyse a letter collection written by Olga Johnsson, a young Swedish female immigrant to the USA between 1895 and 1900. Its main question is what her social network looked like, what was exchanged within it, and the content and meaning of her social relationships. This approach to "letters from America" has not been tried before and is therefore probing a previously untested theoretical and methodological approach in this area. The results of the study confirm some key features of earlier research into Swedish female emigrant experiences, but more importantly also demonstrate how a case study describing history from the inside can reveal new insights both to the understanding of the individual and the societies on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean at the time. The resources traded within the social network explains one individual's deliberations, reasoning and decision making and also provide a new perspective of the societies, such as Farstorp in Sweden, Quebec, Boston, Chicago and the smaller town of Kenosha, Wisconsin, at the turn of the century 1900.