In the 1920's, the grouping of Galician intellectuals known as the Xeración Nós began, through their wide-ranging literary output and more specifically political activities, to articulate and reinterpret essential notions of Galician cultural identity after several centuries of cultural repression and centralisation. This thesis examines both the nexus of inherited positions informing this cultural recovery, and its original reformulation, through the works of the most prominent intellectual of the Xeración Nós, Ramón Otero Pedrayo (1888 1976). Otero was an important figure in Galician intellectual and cultural life over the larger part of the twentieth century, especially when expression of Galician distinctiveness, whether political or cultural, was severely limited and largely discouraged by the Franco regime. He is particularly deserving of an in-depth study, especially since this theme so intrinsically associated with him has not yet been written upon from a perspective of cultural history. In order to provide as accurate an analysis as possible of Otero's conception of Galician reality and the developmental nature of his ideas, I have consulted a large number of texts, ranging from brief journalistic sketches to dense biographical tomes. In particular, I focus on the large body of essays written by Otero such as the Ensaio histórico sobre a cultura galega (1932) and the more imaginative configuration of Galician identity contained in the trilogy of novels Os camiños da vida (1928), Arredor de si (1930) and Devalar (1935). This allows for an analysis of the writer's perspective on the essential bases of Galician culture via the recuperation through literature (most notably the influence of the broad cultural revival initiated in the 1860's, or Rexurdimento, and the influence of historical and cultural co-ordinates ultimately derived from Romantic thought). Crucial in shaping Otero's definitive vision is an eclectic array of references from cultural history both ancient and modern, ideological import through the Celtic ideal, and contemporary social issues (such as the political climate of the Second Republic). To be seen firmly within the parameters of an intellectual history, this thesis has as its objective an explanation how these intrinsic and extrinsic sources of influence condition Otero's evaluation of Galician distinctiveness, and what that quality actually embodies, within the context of the cultural activity prevalent in Galicia from 1918 to 1936 and beyond.

This thesis considers the subject of resorts in nineteenth-century Russia, focussing, in particular, on the three resorts of Lipetsk, Kavkazskie Mineral'nye Vody and Yalta. It considers their historical development and the role that they played in Russian culture as a whole. It shows how resorts were, at once, important phenomena in themselves and also provoked contemporaries to contemplate broader social, political and philosophical issues. It considers how the image of the resort was constructed and disseminated in contemporary texts, including guidebooks, travelogues, newspaper articles, novels and poems. It examines how the state maintained an interest in the empire's resorts from an early date, and how, for the population as a whole, resorts were an important barometer of national success and failure. It explores, in detail, resorts' role as centres for medical treatment and palliative care, as well as their role as leisure towns, and shows how these two functions interacted and conflicted. It scrutinizes the various forms that resort leisure took in the nineteenth century, trying to understand how moral pressures and recreational desires interrelated. The thesis also investigates, in detail, the social and class background of visitors to Russian resorts. It shows how resorts' clientele changed over time, and particularly in the period after the Great Reforms, and suggests that, by the end of the nineteenth century, many visitors can be described as middle-class. Throughout, this thesis insists on a European context for Russian resorts, showing how, not only in their genesis, but also in their continuing development and in the meanings that were attributed to them, Russian resorts had much in common with their European counterparts.

Formal and cultural analyses of The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939) indicate that Dorothy's passage from Kansas, through Oz and back to Kansas symbolically recapitulates paradigmatic stories of both America (the nation's passage from utopian origin, through history, to utopian destiny) and Christianity (the cosmic passage from paradisian origin, through history, to paradisian destiny). In order to "go home" (the explicit theme), Dorothy must "grow up" (the implicit theme); this link is also paralleled symbolically at both national and cosmic levels. Resonating profoundly with the collective ethos, this movie has come to function in a modern (ostensibly secular) society the way myths function in traditional (overtly religious) societies. I conclude that popular movies may be effective replacements for the mythic aspect of traditional religion and that modern societies may appear to be more secular (hostile or indifferent to religion) than they actually are.

Since the 1990s, Turkey has started to develop an extensive interest in its Ottoman past. The view of the Ottomans as "backward" and "pre-modern" that once held sway has given way to a view that grasps the Ottoman past as "open," "tolerant," and "cosmopolitan." Food is one of the areas in which Turkey's Ottoman past is negotiated. This dissertation attempts to trace the revival of Ottoman cuisine through experiences of production, representation, and commodification in Istanbul. It seeks to understand multiple discourses involved in the relationship between the past and the present, within a context where history implicates both continuity and novelty. Ottoman cuisine has developed not only as the foundation of traditional Turkish cuisine, but also as its "other." This dissertation examines the revival of Ottoman cuisine through an analysis of diverse sources, such as cookbooks, media, culinary institutes, cultural and social organizations, the cultural policies of the state, and mainstream restaurant and festival venues. Finally, it asserts that the revival of Ottoman cuisine in particular seems to feed multiple discourses of cosmopolitanism. The turn back to the Ottoman period is both nationalistic and cosmopolitan, such that cosmopolitanism is turned into a national image and a national cultural asset. As a result, the past becomes a utopian project for the future, and cosmopolitanism of the past haunts Turkey and Istanbul as a progressive image for the contemporary world.

Thesis (MA)--University of South Australia, 1997

Thesis (MA)--University of South Australia, 1997

[Truncated abstract] Education is defined as the conscious direction of evolution. Consciousness is a function more marked in highly developed organisms, which are less subject in consequence to the influence of their material environment. Such a conception of education omits a mechanist interpretation of the cosmos. It proceeds from the assumption that the universe has purpose, and that this purpose may be progressively revealed as life achieves more integrated organisation. In the affairs of men the specialised function is undertaken by certain thinkers who develop the capacity to give direction to human activities. These men are educators. A general theory of education will draw its material from a study of the developmental trends of a whole civilization; that of Western Europe, being the most influential in the affairs of the modern world, is considered as providing the best illustrative material for the formulation of such theory. While major emphasis is placed upon the innovating effect of education, it should be remembered that much of its effort is directed to the preservation of the organism. But the most effective conservative activities must be those that cater for, and permit of growth and development. ... The eighteenth and nineteenth century period of consolidation permitted a relaxation of personal guidance and control. The crises of the twentieth century necessitated the resumption of direction in the economic and political affairs of men. Western European Civilization is passing from the era of the entrepreneur to that of the managers and specialists. Specialists need the guidance and direction of an integrated body of moral and political theory that will relate their efforts to the needs of a world community. The function of the modern educator is to evolve and expound theories that render human activity intelligible. The educator will be informed through his study of the inter-relationship between epistemology, science, economics and politics. He must aspire to the comprehension of the wholeness of things. If 'mind' is to be the controlling factor in an indeterminate universe, and if 'mind' emerges out of the integration and organisation of matter, then the purpose of human activity is to achieve harmony and integration in the material universe. Life aims at the emergence of 'mind' through the self-directed organisation of matter. The function of the educator, corresponding in human affairs to that of 'mind' in the material universe, is of paramount importance in the modern world which interprets cosmic events in accordance with a principle of indeterminacy.

Thesis (M.A.)--Columbia Biblical Seminary and Graduate School of Missions, Columbia, S.C., 1988. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 54-57).

Thesis (doctoral)--Jāmiʻah al-Lubnānīyah, Beirut, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 286-300) and indexes.

"A thesis on the quality of illusion in the continuity of the individual life in the higher Metazoa, with particular reference to the species homo sapiens ... accepted by the University of London for the doctorate of science": p. 169-196. / "First edition published March 1944."