Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Culture relations'

Depuis 1982, annee du demarrage des grands projets de developpement rural, le benin connait a la fois une hausse spectaculaire de la production cotonniere et une nette augmentation de laproduction vivriere. Le resultat positif enregistre sur le plan vivier est l'oeuvre des regions cotonnieres qui ont permis au pays d'avoir un bilan cerealier satisfaisant. L'equilibre entre le coton et le vivrier est obtenu grace a la strategie des paysans qui, face aux deux cultures, cherchent a satisfaire leur autosuffisance alimentaire en priorite et a s'assurer un revenu monetaire. Le coton n'est pas un concurrent des cultures vivrieres, mais au contraire il induit leur amelioration
Since 1982, year in which major rural development projects took off, benin simultaneously has experienced a spectacular rise in cotton production and a net increase in food crops. The positive result recorded on the food production is the work of the cotton producing regions which have enabled the country to reach a satisfactory cereal balance. The balance between cotton and food production is obtained thanks to the strategy of the farmers who face to the two cultivations, seek first and foremost to satisfy their selfsufficiency in food production and simultaneously to ensure money. The cotton cultivation does not compete with food cultivations but, on the contrary, it induces their improvement

Les études réalisées sur la politique culturelle extérieure de la France, le soft power, appréhendent, pour l'essentiel, le sujet dans une perspective "d'en haut", en se concentrant sur la politique de l'Etat. L'analyse de la gouvernance de la politique culturelle extérieure de la France par le prisme du terrain, objet de cette recherche, montre que son centre de gravité est constitué par ses acteurs (le "réseau" à l'étranger ainsi que les hommes qui y exercent) plus que par l'administration centrale du ministère des Affaires étrangères. La politique culturelle extérieure est une politique publique dont il convient d'apprécier la substance à partir des initiatives locales au moins autant qu'au travers des discours et normes : elle peut être ainsi considérée comme la mise en scène de l'action culturelle conçue et menée par les agents du réseau culturel à l'étranger. Cette recherche s'est appuyée sur une analyse documentaire maniant à la fois la littérature grise (rapports internes, parlementaires, etc.), la presse écrite, la réalisation d'une enquête originale auprès des postes diplomatiques, ainsi que sur le bilan d'une expérience personnelle
Studies on French foreign cultural policy, the so-called "soft power", almost always treat the issue from a "top-down" viewpoint focusing on the State policy. The analysis of the governance of French foreign cultural policy through the prism of the field ("bottom-up analysis"), which is the purpose of this research, shows that its center is based on its actors (the "network" abroad and the men who work within it) rather than being formulated by the central Department of the Foreign Office. Foreign cultural policy is a public policy which substance should therefore be valued from local initiatives as well as from speeches and rules: it may then be seen as the setting of cultural activities designed and conducted by the agents of the cultural network abroad. This research is based on a documentary analysis which includes the “grey literature” (internal and parliamentary reports, etc), the press, a specific survey within diplomatic posts and the results of a personal experience

Cultural differences between countries are widely acknowledged, and these differences manifest in HQ-subsidiary relations of MNCs. Central to the strategies that MNCs implement outside their home countries is the understanding of the dynamic nature of culture. While studies exist on the HQ-subsidiary relations these studies fall short in understanding the impact on individuals employed by MNCs. Thus, understanding if common differences between MNCs from different countries exist and how these manifest at the individual level may provide valuable insight into the nature of culture. 404 responses from 12 MNCs representing 5 countries was collected and analysed. Analysis included principle component analysis, ANOVA, correlation co-efficients and the cultural distance index. Results indicate that individual and organisational cultures are weakly correlated to home and host country national cultures; and individual culture is correlated to organisational culture. Common differences exist between MNCs with HQ in different countries. MNCs from South Korea are the most accommodating to the subsidiary organisational culture, while the Netherlands the least accommodating. Unintentionally results indicated that the perception of cultural distance is different to what is predicted. Culture is elastic and evidence exists for individuals holding an in-culture and out-culture. MNCs should understand the impact of culture at the individual level rather than only at the national level.
Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012.
Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)
unrestricted

In the postmodern era, as authoritative discourses are being undermined, there is an increased vulnerability of thoughts to the influence of the deliberate promotion of viewpoints. In this environment, public relations is becoming increasingly important. In this thesis I use the term �public relations� both in the sense of an extensive, specific industry, as well as in the sense of the general processes increasingly being used by all sorts of groups and organisations to get their voices heard, their effects felt, their interests defended and their aims achieved. Concomitant with this growth in public relations activity, public relations has emerged as a rapidly growing field of study within universities. This thesis critically assesses the state of this emerging university �discipline�. A claim of this thesis is that the mainstream public relations industry is dominated by a corporatist ideology stemming from a particular US business tradition. This ideology produces a problem for university teachers, researchers and ethicists of public relations because it pervades and dominates the textbooks, teaching, research and academic-industry liaison committees. I suggest that this permeation has helped to shape the conceptual tools which public relations people use to examine their own activities. The thesis warns that this interference in academic freedom results in a situation where a genuine �professional� status for graduates with degrees in public relations is rarely achieved. I suggest than many of these graduates may not have the intellectual equipage necessary for the level of detached understanding of their field which would be necessary for them to be true �professionals�. This thesis attempts to explain these inadequacies. It points to the presumption of political pluralism and an unproblematic consensual society which is implicit in the approaches of the orthodox exponents of public relations since the second world war. A contrast with the candidness of public relations theory in the more elitist and authoritarian period of the 1920s and 30s helps to make this point. In order to improve public relations theory, the more recent work of �New Rhetoric� theorists is employed. These theorists point to the inevitability and in fact the necessity of the persuasive activities which construct reality in all human cultural spheres. I opposed the negative critiques of some critical theorists for whom public relations is an abomination. Instead I argue that everyone now needs to be provided with an understanding of, and access to, their own means of generating public relations-like activity. I suggest that we all need to have some sort of control over the public relations which affects us because this activity is becoming the currency used in the maintenance of all of our postmodern identities. But in grasping the nettle of participating in public relations activity, I suggest that it is also necessary to foreground the oppositional aspects of society and draw on neo-Marxist critical and cultural theories. I employ Habermas and Beck in particular in order to expose the mainstream public relations industry�s historically rooted cultural mission to maintain the pretense that we live in a consensual capitalist culture based on conservatism and corporate American values. A reformulation of public relation theory along critical theory lines is necessary in order to provide the reflexive knowledge required by teachers and students of public relations if public relations is to justify itself as a university discipline.

Depuis les années quatre-vingt, le traitement des biens et services culturels dans les accords commerciaux internationaux suscite bien des débats lors des négociaions commerciales internationales. Ces négociations ont conduit jusqu'à présent à réserver un statut juridique ambivalent à ces derniers. S'il en est ainsi, c' est parce que les biens et services culturels ne sont pas perçus de la même façon : envisagés comme des produits purement commerciaux, ils doivent être compris dans le champ d' application des accords commerciaux; envisagés comme des vecteurs de valeurs culturelles, ils doivent être exclus de la portée de ces derniers. Ces deux conceptions toutefois nient la double nature des biens et services culturels en ne reflétant pas leur dimension commerciale et leur dimension culturelle, mais seulement l' une ou l' autre. Afin d' assurer un plus juste traitement des biens et services culturels dans les accords commerciaux internationaux, il est donc primordial de reconnaître leur double nature
As of the beginning of the 80s, the way to consider cultural goods and services in international commercial agreements has been widely and harshly negociated and debated. Until now, international commercial agreements have bestowed two different status to cultural goods and services. These are either considered as commercial products- and therefore covered by commercial agreements- or seen as carrier of cultural values and then excluded of the scope of those agreements. Those visions both deny the real nature of cultural goods and services as they express at a time only one of two essential aspects of cultural goods and services, the commercial or the cultural one. To deal fairly and clearly with cultural goods and services in international commercial agreements, the two-face nature of those products must be recognised

This thesis proposes to remedy some of the theoretical lacunae surrounding the topic of strategic culture by reconceptualising it in a way that is compatible with existing expected utility models of executive choice. Current theorising regarding strategic culture has been paralysed by an ongoing debate between the first and third generations of strategic culture theorists and by the persistent inability of scholars to provide a predictive framework based on the concept - meaning that it is unable to operate as anything other than a residual variable. The hypothesis of this thesis is that conceptualising strategic culture using Thomas Schelling's concept of a focal point permits us to sidestep some of the theoretical debates that have divided rationalists and theorists of strategic culture by allowing culture to be grafted on to a rational actor model of executive choice in a way that is progressive rather than degenerative. In order to test this theory, the thesis develops and subsequently tests the idea of a liberal strategic culture, utilising both the congruence method and within case process tracing to demonstrate the external validity of the theory being developed. The cases chosen span American administrations from the Cold War to the contemporary era and demonstrate the utility of a re conceptualised model of strategic culture across a range of geopolitical and domestic contexts.

The purpose of this thesis is to research the relation between spatial structures and social relations including the cultural ones. This study specifically researches the relation between the construction and the representation of urban space and urban culture in Sakarya Caddesi as an instance of society-space interaction. This research focuses on Sakarya Caddesi where various urban cultural practices such as entertainment, has intensified. It deals with the constitution and representation of this entertainment space and researches how a particular place is constructed materially and imaginarily, how different social actors perceive, interpret and constitute a particular place in different ways. Accordingly, the contestation over the representation and use of place is discussed in this study. In order to comprehend a local place and culture, the issues should be thought in a wider context. Therefore, Sakarya Caddesi which is a part of urban space and the urban practices which occur in this area, are evaluated in global context. This study, discusses the influences of global changes on urban space, urban cultural practices and lifestyles. Discussing Sakarya Caddesi and its culture through discourses, this thesis relates spatial categories with some concepts of cultural politics such as identity.

This study examines how LGBT activists and LGBT youth make meaning of a strategic advocacy campaign. By examining activist and advocacy efforts aimed at youth, this research brings to light how LGBT organizations use campaigns to articulate identity and, conversely, how LGBT youth articulate notions of identity. Through the lens of the It Gets Better Project, a nonprofit activist organization, this dissertation uses in-depth interviews with organizational members and chat-based interviews with LGBT youth to study the meanings participants brought to the campaign. Strategic communication has been instrumental in construction of LGBT as a cohesive collective identity and has played a vital role in the early stages of the gay rights movement. This research demonstrates how contemporary LGBT advocacy, through strategic communication, works to shape understandings of LGBT youth. Instead of focusing on the Internet as a democratic space that equalizes power differentials between an organization and its publics, this study shows that the construction of identity is the result of a dynamic process between producers and consumers in which power is localized and does not simply belong to an organization or its public. This research challenges the Internet as a democratic space and demonstrates that identity is a discursive struggle over meaning that is bound up in the intimate dance between producers and consumers of a campaign. In contrast to functionalist understandings of public relations that privileges the organization, this dissertation contends that a cultural-economic approach focuses on the processes of communication. A cultural-economic approach gives voice to the diverse audiences of a communication campaign and addresses the role communication plays as a discursive force that influences the construction of identities.

Les adipocytes constituent l'element cellulaire majoritaire du microenvironnement de la moelle osseuse chez l'adulte. Leur role dans l'hematopoiese est soupconne, sur la base d'observations histologiques et de techniques de cultures a long terme. Cependant, ils n'ont ete que relativement peu etudies, parfois avec des resultats contradictoires. Nous avons developpe un systeme de culture primaire de cellules stromales medullaires chez l'homme qui permet, en presence de dexamethasone, une differenciation efficace en cellules contenant des gouttelettes lipidiques. La caracterisation de ces cellules revele qu'il s'agit bien d'adipocytes, avec activite de lipogenese et lipolyse, mais qu'elles possedent des proprietes specifiques les distinguant des adipocytes blancs ou bruns. Ces adipocytes sythetisent et secretent des quantites importantes de leptine, hormone dont le role possible dans l'hematopoiese est soupconne depuis peu. Cette expression de leptine est controlee par des cytokines impliquees dans l'hematopoiese et l'inflammation. Dans un systeme de culture clonale utilisant des cellules souches cd34+ medullaires humaines, la leptine recombinante stimule la differenciation de progeniteurs granulo-monocytaires. Les quantites relativement importante de leptine necessaires a ces effets pourraient etre obtenues dans l'environnement immediat des adipocytes medullaires ou sont localisees de nombreuses cellules souches cd34+, comme le revele l'etude immuno-histochimique. Cet effet paracrine pourrait etre complete d'un effet endocrine, du a la leptine circulante produite par les tissus non medullaires. En effet, les taux de leptine plasmatique et medullaire chez un meme individu sont fortement correles. Dans les situations de forte leptinemie, comme l'obesite, un effet sur l'hematopoiese pourrait donc intervenir. Nous etablissons chez les sujets obeses l'existence d'une relation entre concentration en leptine et nombre de leucocytes, une telle relation n'etant pas observee chez les sujets temoins. L'ensemble de nos constatations renforce l'hypothese que les adipocytes, particulierement par leur secretion de leptine, contribuent a la regulation de l'hematopoiese.

International relations can be reviewed from different perspectives. One of them is through culture. In general, a lecture and an analysis of it from this specific point of view has been neglected, attracting much less attention comparing to other issues, like the political science, the international law, or the economics. The cultural perspective offers a mirror of the reality and can contribute to a better understanding of the external relations and on what is happening at other levels, usually considered as more relevant in the foreign policies and the traditional diplomacy, like politics, trade and commerce, or military issues. At the same time, this cultural perspective needs a transversal focus to offer a real insight and overview of the actual scope, due to the multifaceted feature of culture considered in its broad approach. The international presence and the role of culture within the bilateral relations is conditioned by the definition of the external cultural policies and the priorities and strategies in its bilateral relations with third countries. Sometimes the external cultural policies can have a close link with the internal cultural policies as well, being a projection of the internal priorities in the international context. The institutional structure and the competences of the different institutions can also influence in the role of culture in the bilateral relations of a specific country. Aside of that, there are other relevant factors that can be determinant in the bilateral relations, like the historical background or the bilateral political and commercial relations, among others. Culture in the context of the international relations and cooperation between Europe and Egypt includes from the institutional level, the bilateral and multilateral relations of the European Union, and its 28 Member States at an individual level as well. Otherwise, some of these European countries have had a long presence during the colonialist period, maintain historical ties, or have economic interests in Egypt. Within this framework, the different cultural policies are embedded in the external actions of the bilateral cultural relations and cooperation, where the cultural projection is a component of the public diplomacy as a form of soft power. The present research has as primary objective to get a deep inside of the bilateral relations, and the identification of some quantitative indicators and qualitative aspects of the European bilateral relations from the public sector, and makes a detailed analysis of which is the present situation of culture in the context of the international relations with a strategic country of the Arab world like Egypt. Getting an insight into the different facts, parameters and indicators allows to identify the different exogenous and endogenous factors which can have a determinant role, jointly with the explicit and implicit objectives, and other elements to consider, including priorities, strategies, instruments and activities. Actions taken into consideration are those from the European Union, and some of its Member States, which are reviewed and compared in a systematic way. This research takes as case study five of the European countries, the most populated of the European Union, and several specific fields. It starts checking the way how each individual country is presenting its external cultural policy in the official web, and followed by the cultural bilateral relations with Egypt. Then it is verified the role of the national cultural institutes, the archaeological cooperation, the higher education, the research and scientific cooperation, the presence of culture in the cooperation to development and the media. Finally it is revised the European Union's cultural presence through actions and initiatives in Egypt, and checked how the individual cultural bilateral relations of the selected countries fit together with them. The result offers a broad and comprehensive perspective of the presence of culture in international relations and cooperation in the particular case of Egypt. The analysis carried out allows concluding an insufficiently structured place of culture in the European external relations and cooperation with Egypt, the missed coordination among the different actors involved, the individual interests, and some incoherencies as well.
Les relacions internacionals poden ser examinades des de diferents perspectives. Una d'elles es des de la cultura. En general, una lectura i un anàlisi d'aquest punt de vista específic ha estat oblidat, i ha atret molta menys atenció comparat amb altres temes com són els temes polítics, el dret internacional o els econòmics. La perspectiva cultural ofereix un mirall on es reflexa la realitat, que pot contribuir a un millor enteniment de les relacions exteriors i sobre el que succeeix a altres nivells, normalment considerats com a més rellevants dins de la política exterior i la diplomàcia tradicional, com són els temes polítics, comercials o militars. Al mateix temps, aquesta perspectiva cultural necessita una mirada transversal per poder oferir una mirada profunda i al mateix temps global de la actual abast del tema, ja que abraça diferents àmbits de la cultura, que en aquest cas és considerada en la seva aproximació més amplia. La presència internacional i el rol de la cultura a les relacions bilaterals està condicionada per la definició de les polítiques culturals exteriors i de les prioritats i estratègies en les seves relacions bilaterals amb països tercers. De vegades les polítiques culturals externes poden tenir un vincle estret amb les polítiques culturals internes, sent una projecció de les prioritats internes en el context internacional. L'estructura institucional i les competències de les diferents institucions poden també tenir una influència en el rol de la cultura en les relacions bilaterals d'un país concret. A part d'això, hi ha altres factors rellevants que poden ser determinants de les relacions bilaterals, com són els antecedents històrics o les relacions bilaterals polítiques i comercials, entre d'altres. La cultura en el context de les relacions internacionals i la cooperació entre Europa i Egipte inclou des del punt institucional les relacions bilaterals i multilaterals de la Unió Europea, així com les dels seus 28 estats membres a nivell individual. Per altre banda, alguns d'aquests països europeus han tingut una llarga presència durant el període colonial, mantenen vincles històrics, o tenen interessos econòmics a Egipte. En aquest marc, les diferents polítiques culturals estan encaixades en les accions exteriors de les relacions culturals bilaterals i de la cooperació, on la projecció cultural és un component de la diplomàcia pública com a forma de soft power. La recerca té com a principal objectiu aprofundir sobre les relacions bilaterals, i la identificació d'alguns dels indicadors quantitatius i aspectes qualitatius de les relacions bilaterals des del sector públic, i fer un anàlisis detallat sobre quina és la situació present de la cultura en el context de les relacions internacional amb un país estratègic del món àrab com és Egipte. Aquest aprofundiment en els diferents factors, paràmetres i indicadors permet identificar els diferents factors exògens i endògens que poden ser determinants, juntament amb els objectius explícits i implícits, i altres aspectes que s'han de considerar, com les prioritats, estratègies, instruments, i activitats. Les accions que es prenen en consideració són les de la Unió Europea, i d'alguns dels seus estats membres, que són revisades i comparades d'una manera sistemàtica. Aquest treball agafa com a estudi de cas a Egipte, i també analitza a cinc països europeus, els cinc més poblats de la Unió Europea, i alguns dels camps culturals específics. Com a marc general es comença per veure la manera com cada un d'aquests països individuals presenta la seva política cultural exterior a les pàgines webs oficials, i es continua amb les relacions culturals bilaterals amb Egipte. Després es verifica el rol dels instituts nacionals de cultura, la cooperació arqueològica, l'educació universitària, la investigació i la cooperació científica, la presencia de la cultura a la cooperació al desenvolupament, i els media. Finalment es revisa la presencia cultural de la Unió Europea mitjançant les accions i les iniciatives a Egipte, i com les relacions culturals bilaterals individuals dels països seleccionats hi encaixen. El resultat ofereix una perspectiva àmplia i comprensiva de la presencia de la cultura a les relacions internacionals i la cooperació en aquest cas particular d'Egipte. L'anàlisi que s'ha portat a terme permet concloure que la cultura té un lloc insuficientment estructurat a les relacions exteriors europees amb Egipte, l'absència de coordinació entre els diferents actors involucrats, els interessos individuals, així com algunes incoherències.
Las relaciones internacionales pueden ser examinadas desde diferentes perspectivas, una de ellas es desde la cultura. En general una lectura y un análisis desde este específico punto de vista ha sido dejado de lado, atrayendo mucha menos atención en comparación con otros temas, como las ciencias políticas, el derecho internacional, o la economía. La perspectiva cultural ofrece un espejo donde se refleja la realidad, y que puede contribuir a una mejor compresión de las relaciones exteriores y sobre lo que sucede a otros niveles normalmente considerados como más relevantes en las relaciones exteriores y la diplomacia tradicional, como son los temas políticos, de comercio internacional o los temas militares. Al mismo tiempo esta perspectiva cultural necesita un enfoque transversal para ofrecer una visión detallada y al mismo tiempo global para conocer su alcance real, debido al carácter multidisciplinar de la cultura, considerada en su amplia aproximación. La presencia internacional y el rol de la cultura en las relaciones bilaterales están condicionados por la definición de las políticas culturales exteriores, además de las prioridades y estrategias en las relaciones bilaterales con países terceros. Por otro lado, frecuentemente las políticas culturales exteriores pueden tener vínculos estrechos con las políticas culturales a nivel nacional, siendo una proyección de las prioridades internas en el contexto internacional. La estructura institucional y las competencias de las diferentes instituciones públicas también pueden influenciar en el rol de la cultura en las relaciones bilaterales de un determinado país. Además de ello, también hay otros factores relevantes que pueden determinar las relaciones bilaterales, como los antecedentes históricos o las relaciones bilaterales políticas y comerciales, entre otras. La cultura en el contexto de las relaciones internacionales y la cooperación entre Europa y Egipto incluye, a nivel institucional, las relaciones bilaterales y multilaterales de la Unión Europea, así como sus 28 estados miembros a nivel individual. Además de ello, algunos de estos países europeos han tenido un larga presencia durante el periodo colonial, mantienen lazos históricos, o tienen intereses económicos en Egipto. Dentro de este marco las diferentes políticas culturales se encuentran incluidas en las acciones exteriores de las relaciones culturales bilaterales y la cooperación, donde la proyección cultural es uno de los componentes de la diplomacia pública como una forma de soft power. La presente investigación tiene como principal objetivo profundizar en las relaciones bilaterales y la identificación de indicadores centrados en diversos aspectos cuantitativos y cualitativos de las relaciones bilaterales europeas desde el sector público, y analiza en detalle sobre cuál es la situación presente de la cultural en el contexto de las relaciones internacionales con un país estratégico del mundo árabe como es Egipto. Esta profundización de los diferentes factores, parámetros y indicadores permite identificar los diferentes factores exógenos y endógenos que tienen un rol determinante, juntamente con los objetivos explícito se implícitos, y otros elementos que se deben considerar como son las prioridades, las estrategias, instrumentos y actividades culturales. Las acciones consideradas son las de la Unión Europea y las de algunos de sus estados miembros, la cuales son revisadas y comparadas de forma sistemática. Esta investigación se centra en el estudio de case de cinco países europeos, los cinco estados miembros de la Unión Europea más poblados, y en diferentes campos específicos. Se inicia supervisando la forma como cada país individualmente presenta su política cultural exterior en sus páginas web oficiales, seguido por una revisión de las relaciones culturales bilaterales con Egipto. Luego en diferentes capítulos se verifica el rol de los centros culturales nacionales, la cooperación arqueológica, la educación universitaria, la investigación y la cooperación científica, la presencia de la cultura en la cooperación al desarrollo, y los media. Finalmente se analiza la presencia cultural de la Unión Europea en Egipto a través de diferentes acciones e iniciativas, y como las relaciones culturales bilaterales de los países europeos seleccionados encajan con ellas. El resultado obtenido ofrece una amplia y comprensiva perspectiva sobre cuál es la presencia de la cultura en las relaciones internacionales y la cooperación en el caso particular de Egipto. El análisis llevado a cabo permite concluir un lugar insuficientemente estructurado de la cultura en las relaciones exteriores europeas con Egipto, la falta de coordinación entre los diferentes actores involucrados, los intereses individuales, así como algunas incoherencias.

This dissertation places the œuvre of Benedikte Naubert within the context of late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century Anglo-German literary relations. It thereby sheds light on two neglected areas of research in this field, namely the two-way traffic in popular literature an the participation of women writers in cross-cultural interchange. it seeks to determine whether Naubert may actually have been part of a cross-cultural female literary tradition. First, it examines her numerous anonymous translations of English popular novels.  It clarifies many bibliographical details for the first time, revealing that all the originals were probably by women and that Naubert was contributing to the spread of a distinctly feminine brand of literature in Germany. Secondly, it considers the ways in which English literature influenced her own concept of fiction. In common with other women writers, Naubert probably followed the precedent set by Samuel Richardson. Moreover, the format of her pioneering historical novels is strikingly reminiscent of Sophia Lee’s The Recess; or A Tale of Other Times (1783-85), which Naubert most probably translated. The links between Lee and Naubert point to the forgotten female genealogy of the historical novel in Europe. Thirdly, the dissertation looks specifically at the novels and stories which are set in Britain or have British protagonists. It shows how Naubert appropriated feminine genres such as the (historical) romance and the fairy tale to engage with the political discourses of the Enlightenment. Finally, it explores the reception of her works in Britain. It describes how translators and writers approached the texts and how they frequently ignored the subtleties of her prose. Naubert was principally perceived to be a Gothic writer, and her productions went out of fashion as popular tastes changed. All in all, this case-study of Benedikte Naubert indicates that English literature was important to women writers in Germany and to the development of their work, but that German literature did not have the same impact on women writers in Britain who already had a much more established literary tradition of their own.

Dans cette these l'auteur formalise le concept de vulture et valide partiellement trois hypotheses: h1: le niveau relatif de performance d'une entreprise est un facteur determinant des caracteristiques de sa culture d'entreprise h 2: les etablissements d'un meme secteur d'activite presentent des caracteristiques microculturelles communes h 3: les entreprises d'une meme communaute nationale presentent des caracteristiques microculturelles communes. Cette these comprend deux etudes complementaires. La premiere, qualitative, est destinee a construire un modele et un questionnaire de 60 items permettant de mesurer des composantes et des valeurs culturelles. Il s'agit d'une etude exploratoire de terrain aupres de responsables des ressources humaines de 18 entreprises (bmw, bayer, du pont, exxon, ford. . . ). La seconde etude est destinee a valider les hypotheses de recherche sur un echantillon de 124 etablissements francais, appartenant a plus de 80 entreprises et concentres sur 4 secteurs d'activite essentiellement. Les cultures d'entreprise sont analysees a travers plusieurs variables : le degre de maturite et les representations mentales de ce concept, le poids et l'influence de l'histoire, le poids et la nature des heros, les rites et les pratiques rituelles de gestion des ressources humaines. La performance de chaque entreprise est evaluee a partir de 11 ratios ponderes par ceux de la famille professionnelle (code ape). Les quatres secteurs d'activite sont l'automobile, l'aeronautique, la fabrication de materiels electriques et la fabrication de materiel electroniques
In this thesis, the author formalize the corporate culture concept and he partially validate three assumptions: h 1: the relative performance level of an entreprise is a determining factor ofcorporate culture's caracteristics h 2: the establishments in a same industrial sector have same microcultural caracteristics, h 3: the entreprises in a same national community have same microcultural caracteristics. This thesis include two complementary studies. Thefirst one, qualitative, intend to build a model and a questionnaire of 60 items which permitted to mesure cultural components and cultural values. It is an exploratory research on the field close to directors of human resources of 18 enterprises (b m w, bayer, du pont, exxon, ford. . . ). The second study intend to validate the research assumptions with a sample of 124 establishments belonging to more than 80 entreprises and to essentially four industrial sectors. The coporate cultures are analysed from some variables as maturity degree and mental representations of this concept, weight and influence of history, weight and nature of heroes, rites and human resources management rituals practices. Performance of each enterprise is estimated by eleven indexes weighted by those of the industrial family (ape code). The four industrial sectors are automobile industry, aeronautics, electric materials manufacture and electronic materials manufacture

Les rapports des formateurs africains a la culture francaise sont conditionnes par l'histoire de rencontres de l'afrique et de l'occident on pourrait aujourd'hui penser que les faits relatifs aux periodes de l'esclavage et de de la colonisation, a partir desquels ont ete posees les bases des relationsentre africains et occidentaux n'intervenaient plus dans les rapports que les africains et occidentaux pouvaient avoir entre eux. Mais notre etude qualitativefaite aupres des formateurs africains, montre bien a travers quatre types de dynamique de positionnement dynamique de positionnement assimilation, dynamique de positionnement cohabitation ghettoisation, dynamique de positionnement cohabitation partage de l'espace social et culturel, enfin, dynamique de positionnement rejet avec repli sursoi, qu'il y a persistance. Et ces phenomenes font leurs apparitions des qu'il y a des situations favorables notamment, quand il y a mise en concurrence, conflits, etc. Des lors, la memoire relative a ces periodes refait surface et les evaluations sont faites en reference. Etant donne l'evolution de l'humanite qui semble etre la voie de la cohabitation, il y a lieu de prendre en compte ces donneesafin d'etablir des bases nouvelles
The reports of the african trainers to the french culture are determined by the history of meetings from africa and occident. One could think today that facts relating to the periods of slavery and colonization, from which were posed the bases of the relations between african and western did not intervene any more in the reports that the africans and westerners could have between them. Butour qualitative study made to the trainers african, shows well through four types of dynamics of positioning: dynamics of positioning assimilation, dynamics of positioning cohabitation "ghettoisation", dynamics of positioning cohabitation shares space social and cultural, finally, dynamics of positioning rejection with return to oneself, that there is persistence. And these phenomena make their appearances as soon as there are favorable situations in particular when it put there in competition, conflicts, etc. Consequently, the memory relating to these periods remakes surface and the evaluations are made in reference. Being given the evolution of the humanity which seems to be the way of the cohabitation, it is necessary to take into account these data in order to establish new bases

Thesis (M.A.)--George Mason University, 2008.
Vita: p. 72. Thesis director: Tim Gibson. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Communication. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed July 18, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-71). Also issued in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2004.
Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 191 p. Includes abstract and vita. Advisor: Michael J. Hogan, Dept. of History. Includes bibliographical references (p. 182-191).

PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO
No contexto atual, muitos autores insistem em que a promoção da cultura seja desenvolvida por uma rede de instâncias culturais. Os museus vêm ocupando lugar de destaque nesta rede. Os objetivos deste estudo estão relacionados à investigação dos efeitos de algumas características associadas aos jovens e a seu entorno, tanto familiar como escolar, nas chances de acesso a museus ou instituições culturais afins. Mais especificamente a intenção é explorar o potencial explicativo dos capitais econômico, social e cultural no aumento ou diminuição destas chances. Para a realização do estudo, um questionário contextual auto-administrado foi submetido a 2.298 alunos de 8ª série do ensino fundamental, em uma amostra probabilística de 48 escolas, municipais e particulares, situadas no município do Rio de Janeiro. O instrumento buscou investigar, de modo geral, características sociodemográficas e, de forma detalhada, o padrão de acesso a museus. Foram privilegiados aspectos que pudessem dar conta, principalmente de práticas familiares de mobilização de recursos materiais e simbólicos junto aos jovens. Como o acesso a museus está associado a ações de professores e escolas, foi elaborado um questionário contextual auto-administrado para os profissionais diretamente envolvidos com a organização de visita. A análise dos dados coletados foi baseada na aplicação de um modelo de regressão. No contexto familiar, os resultados indicam que as diferentes formas do capital cultural, combinado com o capital social entrelaçado nas relações familiares, têm particular relevância no aumento das chances de acesso a museus. No contexto escolar, o acesso às instituições museológicas possui particularidades relacionadas à rede de ensino.
At present, many authors insist that cultural promotion is to be developed by a net of institutions. Museums occupy an important place in this net. The aims of this work are related to the research of the effects of some aspects of young people and their family and school backgrounds, regarding the access to museums or similar institutions. The further aim is to explore the potential of economic, social and cultural capitals in increasing or reducing these chances. For this study, a self-administered questionnaire was submitted to 2.298 students of the 8th grade of elementary schools, comprising 48 public and private schools within the City of Rio de Janeiro. The questionnaire sought to evaluate, in general, sociodemographic characteristics and, in detail, standard access to museums. The study examines family action on using material and symbolical resources together with the students. Since access to museums involves teachers` and schools` actions, a self- administered questionnaire was made up for the staff directly responsible for the visits. Data analysis was based upon the application of a regression model. In family background, results indicate that different forms of cultural capital, together with social capital in family relations, have special importance in increasing chances of access to museums. In school background, the access to such institutions is closely related to the different school systems.

This thesis, based on extensive interviews and fieldwork observation, bridges the three sides of framework, namely 1) the policy-making centre of China's different governmental actors' Sino-Cambodian relations; 2) the implementor of Chinese entrepreneurial and educational actors (Chinese SOEs and private sectors, Confucius Institutes and Chinese language schools); and 3) the responder of three groups of overseas Chinese (Chinese sojourners, Chinese-Cambodians and Chinese new immigrants) and Cambodian government and society. The conflicts between these three sides are thoroughly discussed and this thesis concludes that most of the superficial conflicts can be understood as misperception and misbehaviour, but the fundamental conflicts of structure, mentality and histories hide deeply under the coverage of misperception and misbehaviour. The superficial and fundamental conflicts, through the thesis' investigations, usually creates a vicious circle and shatter Sino-Cambodian relations significantly. Hence, in order to jump out this vicious circle, the superficial conflicts have to be addressed cautiously as the fundamental conflicts are very unlikely to be solved thoroughly. As this thesis presents an analytical and theoretical framework and explicit descriptive account to advance our understandings of Sino-Cambodian relations. The improvement of Sino-ASEAN relations is then provided with a potential model to avoid unnecessary conflicts in other Southeast Asian countries.

The mainstream theories of international relations (IR) can be categorized under two approaches: Cultural and Systems. Although the two approaches appear to be at the opposite ends of the spectrum, this paper aims to evaluate both approaches, and to provide a systemic approach to foreign policy: The systems thinking and culture (STC). STC attempts to incorporate domestic culture, a unit-level force, in analyzing states’ behavior in the international system, while still preserving the structure, as emphasized in systemic theories like neorealism. The STC model shows how the domestic culture as a unit-level force, and the structure as a systems-level force, can shape a state’s behavior and policies in the international political system.

This study traces the development of narratives on the role of culture within the EU’s external relations and aims to identify culture’s contribution to contemporary construction and self-imagination of the Union’s international actorness. The focus lies not on how individuals and publics perceive these narratives or if they are successful in construction and shaping the perceptions of their audiences. Instead, the EU institutions’ and officials’ intentions and aspirations behind sending those messages are the focus point of the analysis, as well as the critical identification of the tools and methods through which the Union strives to do so. Thus, the overarching research question to answer is: how the EU uses narratives on the role of culture and international cultural relations to construct itself as a relevant international actor. And, why and how the internal EU discussion developed and changed over time. Based on a critical discourse analytical approach to the selected, official EU documents, speeches, international declarations and communications, it shows that currently two different understandings and roles of culture and international cultural relations coexist within the EU’s internal discourse: one, advocating the deployment of international cultural relations not for simply showcasing one’s own, national culture but for a greater, ambitious goal of global responsibility and sustainable development. The focus of this approach lies in the development of a new and solidary global environment which respects and celebrates (cultural) diversity, through mutual exchanges, reciprocity and the sharing of knowledge and expertise. While the other narrative focuses on constructing the EU as a “global power” and emphasises the importance of a more traditional European “cultural diplomacy”.

This thesis investigates struggles for meanings and social understandings of Europe taking place through cultural institutions, festival sites, and art projects. I claim that culture is a social field where meanings of Europe are made. I argue that meanings of Europe that emerge in these cultural sites are not prior or given, but are a result of struggles between the actors involved. They These meanings are to different degrees particular and autonomous, depending on the proximity of a given cultural site to the political structures of the state and the EU. This research identifies that actors who construct Europe’s meaning do so according to common patterns. Europe’s meanings evoke notions of unity – it is a symbol of coming together. At the same time, what different actors mean by Europe is an articulation of their particular ideals circumstances and aspirations, rooted in their direct contexts. In other words, in culture, there is but one Europe. There is not one Europe. This is confirmed by how Europe is understood by the immediate audiences of these cultural sites. It is perceived as relevant only when translated through familiar contexts – specific, local or national – and only then it is embraced. The background of the analysis is the significance of aesthetic culture in modernity, its role in making the nation, and its social imagining. This thesis examines the ways in which culture today demonstrates a similar capacity in regard to Europe, albeit in a micro scale. The methods employed are discourse and audience reception analysis, as well as participant observation. The empirical investigation comprises of a microanalysis of sites of cultural production. The case studies selected for this analysis, drawing on studies of cultural nationalism, include an online cultural outlet, an independent film festival and a transnational cultural festival, as well as a series of state commissioned contemporary artworks, all of which claim to be European in one way or another.

This study examines the effectiveness of civic organizations focusing on leadership and the role of culture in politics. The study is based on a quasi-experimental research design and relies primarily on qualitative data. The study focuses on Miami's Cuban community in order to examine the role of public initiative in grassroots civic and community organizations. The Miami Cuban community is a large, institutionally complex and cohesive ethnic community with dense networks of community organizations. The political and economic success of the community makes it an opportune setting for a study of civic organizing. The sheer number of civic organizations to be found in Miami's Cuban community suggests that the community's civic organizations have something to do with the considerable vibrancy and civic capacity of the community. How have the organizations managed to be so successful over so many years and what can be learned about successful civic organizing from their experience? Civic organizations in Miami's Cuban community are overwhelmingly ethnic-based organizations. The organizations recreate collective symbols that come from community members' memories of and attachments to the place of origin they hold dear as ethnic Cubans. They recreate a collective Cuban past that community members remember and that is the very basis of the community to which they belong. Cuban Miami's ethnically based civic organizations have generally performed better than the literature on civic organizations says they should. They gained greater access to community ties and social capital, and they exhibited greater organizational longevity. The fit between the political culture of civic organizations and that of the broader political community helps to explain this success. Yet they do not perform in the same way or in support of the same social purposes. Some stress individual agency rather than community agency, and some pursue an externally-oriented social purpose, whereas others focus on building an internal community.

Thesis (M.A. in Security Studies (Defense-Making and Planning))--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2004.
Thesis advisor(s): Donald Abenheim, Anne L. Clunan. Includes bibliographical references (p. 77-81). Also available online.

Since introduced in 1985, the European Capital of Culture often figures as the most ‘successful’ European Union cultural policies. It is also regularly evoked as representative of contemporary strategies of culturally-inflected urban development. That is, where city leaderships look to ‘culture’ as a means to make their cities more competitive, and to manage urban populations. This dissertation uses this European cultural policy as an entry point through which to compare how culturally-inflected urban development has shaped understandings, representations and experiences of culture and social relations in two European cities: Liverpool, European Capital of Culture in 2008, and Marseilles, titleholder in 2013. The central question addressed here is whether it is possible to observe similar opportunities and barriers for urban dwellers of diverse backgrounds living in impoverished urban areas to participate in city and cultural-making processes. The two cities have comparative value because of similarities they share within multi-scalar hierarchies of power. Historically, both were significant global ports of empire; both have frequently been associated with large working class populations that are often racialised or criminalised; both are regularly depicted as ‘cities of crisis’ or ‘uncultured places’. The two urban localities are situated relatively low down on political and economic inter-urban league tables. Since the 1980s, they have become the sites of major market-led urban restructuring processes, exacerbated in the context of recent austerity policies. There are also significant variations; in national and local frameworks of urban governance, differing relations with ‘Europe’ and distinctive histories of race and class. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork with a range of urban actors (urban dwellers in impoverished neighbourhoods, cultural policy workers and urban decision-makers) between 2004 and 2014, I explore how understandings and experiences of culture and social relations were differentially reconfigured in relation to this European cultural policy initiative. My findings point to similarities in the ways in which cultural policy materialised in these two places historically understood as lacking ‘cultural distinction.’ Dominant understandings of culture value were defined in relation to hierarchies of value constructed in social networks that extending beyond the city (the nation state, Europe, the world). In both, cultural policy-making was closely linked to economic growth policies. As elsewhere in the world, these trends resulted in growing professionalisation of the arts, gentrification of the city centre and increasing marginalisation of local cultural workers and urban dwellers living in impoverished areas, in processes inflected by gender, race and class. The study also draws out some of the complexities and unexpected outcomes of culturally-inflected urban policies. Nuancing studies on cultural diversity and gentrification, it offers an ethnographically sensitive yet critical reading of how such culturally-inflected urban development materialises in particular locations, contributing to broader understandings about the production of social difference and competing understandings of cultural value in cities, in unequal relations of power.

Thesis (M.S. in Modeling, Virtual Environments, and Simulation (MOVES))--Naval Postgraduate School, September 2008.
Thesis Advisor(s): Gibbons, Deborah ; Blais, Curtis. "September 2008." Description based on title screen as viewed on November 4, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 39-42). Also available in print.

This dissertation investigates pragmatic strategies and power relations related to disagreement in Mandarin Chinese using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, in which both statistic analyses of data from DCT and discourse analyses of data from ethnographic approach were conducted. The data were collected in the People's Republic of China at six universities in the north and the south of the nation as well as at a big conference. The total subjects for the DCT were 360, and the natural data were obtained from (1) surveys and interviews with a total of 45 participants, (2) 49 odd hours of recordings, and 86 valid oral discourses, both long and short. This study explores and answers three general questions. The first question is whether power relations in Chinese university settings influence pragmatic strategies in disagreement. A null hypothesis is rejected with statistic evidence. Further exploration of the ways in which the strategies are significantly different shows that the students use lower power-level strategies when disagreeing with the professors and administrators than vice versa. The students are addressed with highest level of all. However, the professors and administrators use more polite strategies to the students than the students to them. The statistic data also show no significant effect on the strategies by the two variables: gender and area. The second question asks what the pragmatic strategies in disagreement reflect regarding Chinese cultural dynamics in the higher education of contemporary China. The findings support the author's presumption that Confucianism may not still be the "guiding principle" of the norms and values in the university settings of modern China. A new cultural orientation of Chinese people is characterized with new features. The third probe of the question how the concept of relevance in Grice's CP dominates the analysis of communicative interactions involving power obtains an outcome in consistent with Kitis' "Global Relevance" as a Supermaxim of CP. Through Chinese discourse analyses, this study proves that the Maxim of Relevance of CP explicates conversational cooperation with the connection of the frame of discourse type and the social structure involving power, and the intention and comprehension of the implicature in conversations.

This thesis investigates wonder in contemporary art and visual culture, which interrogates human-animal relations and aims to raise awareness about various plights facing wildlife. Recognising the ethical and political potential ascribed to wonder by various theorists, it examines the role wonder plays in promoting respect and responsible behaviour towards wildlife through artistic practice at this time of ecological fragility. Various species of wonder are identified that have human-animal relations at their heart. These are explored through three case studies, drawing on theoretical work from the fields of art history, visual culture studies, human-animal studies, anthropology and philosophy. Chapter one examines how wonder arises and what forms it takes in relation to Art Orienté Objet’s exhibition at the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature. Here, wonder’s potential to contribute to the cultivation of an ethical sensibility and elicit compassion towards wildlife is discussed. Next, the limits and possibilities of wonder in this regard are addressed through Isabella Rossellini’s Green Porno films, which focus on the problems facing marine wildlife. Finally, the work Marcus Coates and Tania Kovats made during the Gulbenkian Galápagos Artists’ Residency Programme is discussed in terms of what wonder might do and where it might lead in the context of the fragile ecologies on these Enchanted Isles as well as closer to home. These artists are argued to be working in ways commensurate with their awareness of the plights facing wildlife today and their desire to treat nonhuman animals with respect. Accordingly, their representations of wildlife often avoid the use of live animals or animal derived materials. Instead, wildlife is fabricated from surrogate or more ethical materials, and even performed by the artists themselves. Such playful and poignant artistic strategies are shown to be ripe for wonder, responding to the call of Donna Haraway’s Chthulucene.

La thèse se propose d'appréhender l'enjeu linguistique dans les relations internationales, c'est-à-dire la façon dont les langues sont mobilisées comme objets de relations entre acteurs internationaux. L'objectif principal de cette thèse est de comprendre comment la politisation de la langue est entretenue par ces acteurs. Pour ce faire, l'auteur s'attache à souligner l'interaction entre les langues et les collectivités humaines, leur relation commune à l'espace et la façon dont la langue participe aussi à la construction du territoire. Cette représentation se forge dans un monde divers, désormais visible qui implique moins le développement d'unités closes que de personnalités politico-linguistiques qui s'élaborent dans la relation à l'autre. Le système des Etats-nations a offert une première formule en affirmant le principe de coexistence ou de communauté. Face à l'assaut des contestations et à la révolution des communications, le discours globalisateur propose, à l'inverse, de soumettre cette multiplicité linguistique à un principe d'unicité. L'enjeu linguistique est renouvelé, mondialisé mais demeure l'objet d'un jeu politique.

Avec d’une part les bouleversements de l’ordre mondial après la chute du système bipolaire, avec d’autre part et de manière corrélative l’extension considérable des échanges internationaux, le développement sans précédent des moyens de communications et la mondialisation économique (touchant évidemment aussi le domaine culturel), la fin du XXe siècle a inauguré une nouvelle donne dans les relations culturelles internationales qui revêtent désormais une signification capitale et, jusque-là, inédite. Dans le nouveau contexte mondial les relations culturelles internationales se sont attribué de nouveaux enjeux : elles ont pour objet non seulement la diffusion de la culture nationale en direction de la communauté internationale, mais aussi une impérative, voire vitale résistance aux dangereuses conséquences de la mondialisation, grâce au développement du dialogue interculturel et à l'affirmation des différentes cultures. Sous l'influence de ces nouveaux enjeux, les États du monde ont été obligés de réviser leur conception de la politique culturelle internationale et de perfectionner leur diplomatie culturelle nationale.Cette thèse de doctorat a pour objet la politique culturelle internationale de la France et de la Russie, que l’auteur étudie à travers le prisme des relations culturelles intergouvernementales franco-russes de 1991 à 2004. L’étude du renouveau du système des relations culturelles bilatérales après l’effondrement de l’Union soviétique tend à répondre à trois séries de questions, sur le plan national, mais aussi sur le plan des relations bilatérales et multilatérales (russo-européennes) :• quelle place la politique culturelle internationale a-t-elle prise dans la nouvelle conception nationale de la politique étrangère en France et en Russie ? quels sont les objectifs et les priorités de la France et la Russie concernant les relations culturelles internationales ? et quels sont les instruments dont la France et la Russie se sont dotées pour leur réalisation dans le contexte actuel de la mondialisation ?• quelle place les relations culturelles bilatérales ont-t-elles prise respectivement dans la conception de la politique culturelle internationale des deux pays ? quels sont les objectifs et les moyens de coopération culturelle bilatérale ? quels sont les résultats du renouveau des relations culturelles bilatérales ? et, finalement, comment peut-on caractériser les relations culturelles contemporaines franco-russes ?• quels sont les enjeux des relations culturelles franco-russes en vue de l’évolution de la relation Russie/Union européenne élargie ? et quelles sont les éventuelles perspectives de leur développement ?
On the one hand, together with the global disruptions following the end of the bi-polar political system and on the other hand and in close correlation with the considerable extension of the international exchanges, the unprecedented development of the means of communication and the economic globalization (obviously with regard to the cultural field), the end of the 20th century has launched a new deal in international cultural relations which now take on a major meaning which has remained unprecedented. In this new global context, the international cultural relations have set themselves new goals: they now not only aim at the circulation of the national culture towards the international community but also appear as an urgent even vital resistance to the dangerous impact of globalization, thanks to the development of intercultural dialogue and the affirmation of the different cultures.Under the influence of these new objectives, the world states have been forced to review their conception of international cultural policies and improve their national cultural diplomacy.This thesis mainly deals with the international cultural policies of France and Russia and its author focuses on Franco-Russian intergovernmental cultural relations from 1991 until 2004. The study of the renewal of the bilateral cultural relations after the collapse of the Soviet Union aims at answering three sets of questions, from a national perspective but also on bilateral and multilateral relations (Russo-European that is)• What place have the international cultural policies of France and Russia held in the new national conception of foreign affairs in France and Russia? What are the objectives and priorities of France and Russia as regards to international cultural relations? And what are the instruments used by France and Russia for their achievement in the current global context?• What place have cultural bilateral relations taken respectively in the conception of the international cultural policies of both countries? What are the goals and means used in the cultural bilateral cooperation? What are the results of the renewal of bilateral cultural relations? And finally, how can we characterize the contemporary Franco-Russian cultural relations?• What is at stake in the Franco-Russian cultural relations with a view to the evolution of the relation between Russia and the extended European Union? And what are the potential perspectives in their development?

In 2012 library and museum professionals from 24 different countries met in Salzburg, Austria for the Salzburg Global Seminar. The seminar was entitled Libraries and Museums in an Era of Participatory Culture. Shortly summarised their views of participatory culture includes low barriers for engagement, strong support for creating, sharing and feeling a social connection with each other. During the seminar it was mentioned that participatory culture usually exists online and that their challenge was in creating experiences that work both online and offline and allow for meaningful participation.Contemporary examples of museums working with participatory culture to engage their visitors is presented. Inspired by these examples and working with research through design as main method technology experiments and prototypes are conducted to develop a concept. Findings from this iterative process leads to a final concept that has the potential to engage museum visitors both online and offline. In one part of this concept museum visitors explores a narrative in a physical interactive exhibition. Visitors proxemic relations to objects and other people is used to trigger media and unfold the full story in a room. In the end of the prototype visitors are asked to write a physical postcard that is also published on a web page.The final concept presented can be scaled and customised to suit many different scenarios and context. When structuring the narratives clear instructions guiding visitors through the experience should be included. The people who were invited to try this prototype all created content and were curios to know what other people had written.

This study examines the role of culture, investigating to how China policy-research experts socially construct ‘American-ness’ through ‘China’ as the Other. I posit the following overarching research question: “How and why are social and cultural boundaries of ‘American-ness’ dialectically drawn by China policy-research experts within U.S. think tanks through their social construction of narratives on ‘China’ as the Other?” The empirical foundation is comprised of 40 face-to-face, in-depth interviews with China policy-research experts across 26 internationally leading think tanks in Washington, DC, and New York, USA, as well as four interviews with relevant experts (i.e. State Department and academia). Additional methods encompass participant observation, contextuality, triangulation, informal conversation, descriptive statistics/database, and collection of written material. The multimethod, ethnographic research strategy is coupled with a social constructionist epistemologically driven study, and deploys Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice and the embedded conceptual “thinking tools” as the theoretical framework (including cross-tabulation and ethnographic/interpretivist contents analysis). The engagement with Bourdieu is also dialectic in its own right, herein allowing obtained field-data and ‘native categories’ of the research subjects to unveil new lines of inquiries as well as to expand and nuance Bourdieu’s conceptual “thinking tools” themselves in a “bottom-up” fashion. This study contributes to the Bourdieusian sociological ‘turn’ in International Relations (IR) research (in particularly, making the non-state, individual level the focal point of the inquiry, in addition to contesting the assumptions concerning immateriality/construction innately preceding materiality/physicality – within the IR constructivism research programme), and to the specific think tank literature by propagating a third ‘school of analysis’, i.e. conceptualising the thinking of policy-researchers. More broadly, this study provides an important perspective on a key bilateral relationship (U.S.–Sino relations) in U.S. Foreign Policy (and for the world) as well as a prominent category of key players in U.S. Politics.

Revised Thesis (doctoral)--University of Oxford, 2004.
Foreign cultural models at the English royal court -- International events and musical exchanges -- Building a foreign musical establishment at the early Tudor court -- Anglo-continental relations in music manuscripts -- English music theory and the international traditions. Includes bibliographical references (p. [297]-315) and index.

The focus is on: a) differences and similarities between fifteen-year-old male and female groups which occupy differently specialised positions within the field of popular youth culture; b) the relationship between such positions and forms of involvement in schooling and education. The research is further concerned to explore the relationships between social class, sexuality and patriarchy in the practices within and between the various groups. To place the study in context, I discuss the role of qualitative research on youth, and examine five major traditions, ranging from the Chicago School, the Functionalists, British research on deviance in the 1950s and 1960s, Sociology of Education, through to the work of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies. Criticism of these approaches forms the starting point of the theory and method of the research. The sample consists of over 120 girls and boys in a secondary school in the South of England. Five major groups are identified: Mod Boys, New Wave Girls, Boffin Boys, Boffin Girls and Criminal Boys. All the young people were studying for a number of GCE examinations (except the Criminal group). From this point of view the sample is unusual in British research, as it offers the possibility of studying forms of resistance and conformity among those whom the school considers as the pedagogic elite. The method used was ethnographic and entailed sharing the experiences of the various groups both inside the school (classroom and leisure spaces) and outside the school (leisure and family spaces), for a period of two years. In addition, I have interviewed the headteachers, all heads of subject departments, and younger members of staff. Tape recorded discussions took place in and out of school (street and other locations), with groups and individuals. The research provides the basis for a theory of youth cultural forms, which integrates structural, communicative and semiotic practices. The theory has arisen out of, and in part controlled the collection of the ethnographic data.

La culture joue un rôle fondamental dans les politiques nationales en ce sens qu'elle définit les relations internationales. Avec la chute du système international bipolaire, la culture a pris une place plus importante à une époque où les efforts pour expliquer des termes comme "conflit de civilisations" et "liens culturels et historiques" dans le cadre de la politique extérieure gagnent en intensité. La Turquie et l'Azerbaïdjan constituent un exemple intéressant. Les Turcs de Turquie et d'Azerbaïdjan, "enfants du même peuple", ont dû fonder des États distincts. Ces deux pays se sont toujours considérés comme très proches, mais des moments de tension ont entaché les relations. La tentative de maintenir les relations d'abord uniquement sur une base idéologique, puis uniquement sur les relations interpersonnelles a engendré des tensions qui perdurent. Ainsi, pouvons-nous affirmer que les relations entre ces deux pays dépassent les dimensions purement idéologiques ou personnelles
Culture plays a fundamental role in national policies as it defines international relations. With the collapse of the bipolar international system, culture took a more prominent place at a time when efforts to explain terms such as "conflict of civilizations" and "cultural and historical links" in the context of foreign policy are gaining momentum. Turkey and Azerbaijan are an interesting case in that regard. The Turks of Turkey and Azerbaijan, "children of the same people", had to found separate states. These two countries have always considered each other very close, but moments of tension have tainted relations. The attempt to maintain relationships initially only on an ideological basis, and then only on interpersonal relation ships has created persistent tensions.Thus, can we say that relations between these two countries go beyond purely ideological orpersonal dimensions?