This report is conceptualized as a research proposal that aims to investigate culturally differentiated consumers' motivations to engage in electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) communication through one of the newest and most popular social networking sites: micro-blogging service in the U.S and China. Instead of actually collecting data, the report uses a social cognitive approach and tries to explain eWOM motives in outcome expectations by applying Bandura’s six outcome expectations and three additional dimensions to eWOM communication, some of which will be influenced by apparent cultural differences that exist between U.S and China. / text

This report examines the linguistic, physical, and social construction of the goblet-shaped drum in recent Turkish history. Following recent trends in organological scholarship towards a more socially situated analysis of musical instruments, I examine the role of the goblet-shaped drum as a mediator within large complex webs of interaction and social significance. Drawing on theoretical frameworks for understanding the production of difference set forth by Ruth Solie, my analysis explores the modalities of language, visual and aural representation and positionality. In order to examine the specific process of “othering” that undergird these processes, I supplement this theoretical framework with the concept of “articulation” developed by Laclau and Hall. My analysis begins with a review of the popular and musicological literature on the drum and a discussion of the way in which different names such as darbuka and dümbelek are used to construct social groups defined by notions of gender, urbanity, and professionalism. I follow this with an examination of the workflows and techniques involved in the production of two types of goblet-shaped drums revealing how these processes shape the identity of the artisans and entrepreneurs involved in the production process. Finally, I discuss the representation of the instrument in Turkish television documentaries and the Internet revealing the role of the drum in the production of a Turkish modernist narrative. I argue that while these processes may appear isolated when viewed independently, an organological approach reveals important connections between these different mechanisms for the production of difference and issues such as the masculinization of the darbuka playing profession may be more effectively engaged through an understanding of these connections. / text

published_or_final_version / Mathematics / Master / Master of Philosophy

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vi, 169 leaves ; 27 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Pure Mathematics, 1974

This thesis aims to explore how some young Australian children construct their racialised ideas of difference and social relations. It adopts a qualitative method of inquiry and is based on face-to face, semi-structured interviews with a small sample of twelve Western Australian children aged three, five and seven years. The study adopts a relatively recent perspective on children, within which they are viewed as having an active role in their own learning process and as possessing a certain level of competence (Lloyd-Smith & Tarr, 2000; James & James, 2004) that allows them to “comprehend, process and articulate their needs and experiences” (Connolly, 1996, p.172). The study also adopts a perspective of the multiplicity of the forms of racism (Hall, 1986; Miles, 1989, 1993) and their dynamic, contingent nature, specific to different political and social contexts. Within this understanding children are viewed not just as passive recipients of racist discourses, but as active agents who, in order to make sense of their social world, strive to deal with the often contradictory nature of information received in relation to the racial Other (Rizvi, 1993a; Connolly, 1996). Bronfenbrenner’s ecological perspective on human development adopted by this study, allows us to position the development of children’s racialised thinking within the specific contexts of immediate environments (Microsystem), where children experience and create reality (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). At the same time, however, it helps us to see how the experiences within the child’s environments are influenced, if not determined, by the broader social processes and institutions (Exosystem), which in many aspects reflect the ideologies (Macrosystem) of racism within Australian society (Jayasuriya, 1999). The study argues that young Australian children’s racialised construction of difference needs to be addressed, possibly through the development of curricula and programs with an anti-racist rather than multicultural focus. Such curricula have a potential to provide children with opportunities to look critically at the dangers of racisms and to challenge everyday racist assumptions. Further qualitative research is needed to unearth the complexities of young Australian children’s racialised thought.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Psychology, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 179-215).