The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine the development and promotion of local brands in Kuwait, to understand the cultural practices used to create their branding, and how they compete with global brands within the competitive marketplace. Specifically, the study looks into the brands of Kuwait and the need to be self-reliant and self-sufficient to generate incomes within the country and achieve national competency. The Western brands influence the local brands and sometimes squashing them by transitioning from global to local brands. The Covid-19 has also sparked the need for supporting local brands and the national economy, as evident in the way countries are gradually transitioning their business practices. Therefore, the author provides an understanding of how locals use the cultural identity theory for their owned brands and shift the perception of consumers to try, use, and support local brands. Furthermore, the author analyzes the digital marketing strategies applied by local and global brands in achieving effective communications by promoting their brand image to Kuwait and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.

This scientific essay is about communication and collaboration between the preschool and a home with Swedish as a second language and has its foundation based on two dilemmas. The first dilemma describes a parent-teacher conference that I have with a guardian who has Swedish as their second language. In the conversation, I feel that the communication is failing, even though I get help from an interpreter. The second dilemma is also about a conversation with a guardian who has Swedish as their second language, but this conversation takes place more spontaneously. The second conversation also leads to misunderstanding as communication between us fails. My aim with this essay is to investigate how communication affects the collaboration between the preschool and home. As well as whether the language has any significance for communication and how it affects the children's right to influence and participation in the preschool. The method I use in the degree project is essay writing as I reflect on my role as a teacher and try to understand my thoughts from the guardians' perspectives. I reflect on my issues that have emerged from my designs with the help of the socio-cultural and intercultural perspective and other relevant literature. This essay has made me reflect on my cultural identity, both in my professional role and as an individual, and how I use my experiences in social contexts. My hope for this essay is to increase my understanding of others' perspectives more than I have experienced before.

Minority groups are at a disadvantage when seeking psychological treatment. Interventions are often less effective for minority populations when treatment outcomes are compared to Anglo populations. Studies indicate that the stigma associated with mental health disorders and seeking psychological intervention within these minority subgroups may be at fault for this disparity. In this study, we explored this idea by examining what methods of intervention Hispanic-identified individuals are more likely to seek out. Participants were given the option to enlist in a biofeedback approach to intervention as well as a supportive talk psychotherapy. Participants were drawn from the community population in Utah County via Mountainlands Community Health Center. Before taking part in the study, they were asked to indicate their cultural identity based on a series of criteria as well as their perceived stigma associated with mental health interventions. Lastly, participants completed exit interviews to quantitatively explore their reasoning for choosing the treatment approach they did, what they liked about their approach, and why they did not choose the other approach. The data collected was analyzed using a modified approach to consensual qualitative research methods.

This study analyzes the reactions of interracial relationships within the South Asian Diaspora via film and literature focused on the United States and England. The films examined are Mississippi Masala (1992) and Bend It Like Beckham (2002), and the literature-utilized focuses on cultural identity, interracial dating, the importance of marriage, the Indian community, and gender roles focused on women within the diaspora. The films used encourage the idea of interracial relationships as acceptable and give South Asian women the confidence to be more independent. The intention of this research is to analyze the importance of cultural blending, independence, heritage, and traditional values. The focus behind this research is to understand the battle of traditional versus modern roles for women in the South Asian diaspora, and how independence can be viewed as a form of dishonoring and humiliating their families when they step outside of the cultural box. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Modern production technologies have fostered mass production and standardization of affordable goods. Luxury and culturally meaningful symbols have become common place and largely devoided of their significance. How is our cultural identity affected by this phenomenon? Yet it survives and transforms itself. Voyage Voyage is a coffee set associated with different cultural identities. The set highlights the dialogue that exists between different cultures. The containers are inspired by blue and white porcelain; a material and technique created in China, imported into Europe, and then reinterpreted and appropriated. The set explores how traditional patterns and decoration lends meaning and social value to objects. It acts as an incentive to start discussion and reflection around globalization and the standardization of our environment. It is an invitation to discover different cultures, their similarities and differences, as well as acknowledge them and reflect on our traditions and their iconic symbols.

The Development of Tibetan Cultural and Religious Identity among Tibetans Living outside of Historical Tibet The topic of my thesis was to find out changes in Tibetan society inside Tibet and in Tibetan exile in last 50. years and how do changes help to progress social capital. Inside Tibet is problem with high percent of nonliterary and high percent of incoming Han people, which cause that Tibetan people are getting on the edge of society, because they didn't have developed their human potential. The main problem is that Tibetan people don't know Chinese language well and this language is becoming more useful for daily life in Tibetan autonomous region. Tibetans, who are very religious, don't have opportunity to practice Tibetan Buddhism under communistic rule of Chine. Tibetans have to renounce His Holiness dalajlama and deny part of their Tibetan identity. Those reasons influence them to escape into exile. The second part of my thesis is concerned to describe push and pull factors of migration. As I found in materials, the main reasons to escape into exile were political, religion, education, economical problems and renounce dalajlama. In my research, Tibetan didn't divide those reasons to those categories, because they think of those problems in holistic way. The last part of thesis in...

Minority groups are at a disadvantage when seeking psychological treatment. Interventions are often less effective for minority populations when treatment outcomes are compared to Anglo populations. Studies indicate that the stigma associated with mental health disorders and seeking psychological intervention within these minority subgroups may be at fault for this disparity. In this study, we explored this idea by examining what methods of intervention Hispanic-identified individuals are more likely to seek out. Participants were given the option to enlist in a biofeedback approach to intervention as well as a supportive talk psychotherapy. Participants were drawn from the community population in Utah County via Mountainlands Community Health Center. Before taking part in the study, they were asked to indicate their cultural identity based on a series of criteria as well as their perceived stigma associated with mental health interventions. Lastly, participants completed exit interviews to quantitatively explore their reasoning for choosing the treatment approach they did, what they liked about their approach, and why they did not choose the other approach. The data collected was analyzed using a modified approach to consensual qualitative research methods.

This thesis examines the role of religion for Ukrainian immigrants in Sweden and its connection to their subjective well-being. The aim of the study is to explore the experience of Ukrainian immigrants by collecting their stories. The data of the study is based on eight semi-structured interviews with Ukrainian immigrants who belong to the Eastern Orthodox Church. This qualitativestudy is guided by the grounded theory approach drawing upon cultural identity theory and theory of third place. The theories are applied in order to understand the meaning of religion, faith, and church-attending in the Ukrainian immigrants’ lives in Sweden. Guided by the grounded theory methodology, the results of the study reveal that for those Ukrainian immigrants, who consider themselves religious, religion and faith play a significant role in life, affecting their choices, decisions, shaping their world-view. It is found that religious beliefs and rituals, and attending church affect their subjective well-being positively. However, for those participants, who do not consider themselves as religious, some religious rituals still take place, serving them as a connectionwith their cultural background, which is also positively impacting their subjective well-being. Furthermore, this study analyses the role and functions of cultural identity and its connection with immigrants’ subjective well-being and provides recommendations for future researchers.

This study focuses on the connection between cultural identity and Japanese popular music. It contains conducted interviews and semantic analyses on musicians who use Japanese traditional instruments and Western instruments in their repertoire. It uses performativity theory as theoretical framework. The analyses are divided in to the three levels of Sauter’s phenomenological path: the symbolic level, the sensory level and the artistic level.  It concludes how musicians in Japan perceive their own musical identity, and gives insights on the role of cultural identity in Japanese music. The potential significance is to contribute to identity studies using a performativity perspective as explained above, and thereby elucidating both musicological and historical aspects.

This paper presents the initiative to research on Food Television and the processes ofglobalization. The research gap in the selected subject area is identified after an in-depthliterature review and watching the culinary documentary ‘Ugly Delicious’. According toscholars globalization processes are influenced by the use of Media, as different channelsare transmitting values shared by globalization. Over the years, globalization has developedsub-process such as cultural globalization, a term which refers to the merge of cultures andthe formation of a global one. The identified research gap is to translate how globalizationhas been communicated in a culinary documentary. The title of the research is, therefore“Food Television and the processes of globalization: How does ‘Ugly Delicious’ userepresentations to portray cultural globalization?”, as it addresses the most pertinentresearch gap. Using visual data, such as video, requires a qualitative approach in which thecontent can be coded and later linked to theoretical knowledge. The role of the researcheris to find examples or patterns that represent cultural globalization within the frame of thetwo seasons of the documentary. The method which shapes this qualitative research is theGrounded Theory approach. A coding sheet will be generated to present the process andthe logic of generating codes.