This thesis will try to contribute to the understanding of racism among individuals in Sweden by analyzing how debaters in Swedish newspaper understand the racism in Pippi Longstockings’ literature. With the help of framing theory and two common understandings of racism- individual and structural- the thesis will analyze (1) how is racism framed? (2) how is the cause of racism framed? And (3) how is the solution to racism framed? Using a single case study with a qualitative approach will help the thesis to analyze the latent meaning of the debaters’ argument and find out as much as possible about the case. Framing theory and the two concepts of racism will make it easier to deconstruct the debaters’ argument and systemize the arguments under either the structural or individual understanding of racism.

The finding materials showed that the debaters highlighted both the structural and individual problems of racism. How they viewed the problem of racism, its causes and solutions differed from each other, which of course made it easier to identify what perspective they had on racism. Those with a structural perspective saw the problem of racism in the Pippi books as injustice differences between ‘white’ and ‘non-white’ people in society, which is caused by categorization of people that excludes minority groups. Debaters with an individual perspective argued that racism is prejudices and discrimination toward everything that is foreign, which is caused by individuals who lack knowledge and awareness of other peoples’ culture and identity. While the debaters with a structural perspective thought the solution for racism would be to wipe out racial content as a first step toward ending racism, those with an individual perspective believed it would be more efficient to cure racism through dialog and communication.