University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. / My grandfather was in a fix. He wasn’t black, like his father, but he wasn’t quite white either, like his mother. He was marrying a woman who also wasn’t-black-but-wasn’t­quite-white. The problem was that his mother was worried that her future daughter-in-law’s father was a bit too ‘dark, Oriental looking’, whilst her mother was worried because his father was half-black ‘negro’. It really was a case of pot calling kettle black. And she was already three months pregnant, so everyone was worried about whether ‘the throwback thing’ would mean that they would have a black, ‘negro’ baby. My grandparents had managed to modify their ‘brown’ bodies so they could ‘pass’ as ‘white’, but could they also somehow also modify their potentially ‘non-white’ offspring? What might the materially affective mechanisms be, that have the power to ‘fix’ bodies, so as that a brown body can become white? Franken-rat, in a different time and place, was a rat in a laboratory who had a human ear growing on its back. Its body was hideous, a monstrous blend of ratty-human flesh. Franken-rat lived and died in a laboratory, in the service of science and humanity. But how does its body, and the discourses surrounding it, materialise certain understandings about our bodies and their relationships to ‘others’ and to the world? How might our bodies understand that relationship? If my understanding of my relationship to ‘others’ is based upon a liberal humanist construct that separates ‘self’ from ‘other’ and such fleshy intertwinings as monstrous, then can I ‘become posthuman’ and affectively create that relationship as a generous and welcoming of ‘otherness’? Can posthumanism ‘overcome’ the abjection and horror of liberal humanist ideas of monstrosity? This thesis is a fictocritical exploration of bodies and their dynamic discursive and material relations with the world. If the world is a site continually in flux, how might bodies modify or be modified in order to continually belong to it? And how might we sift through the facts, the stories and the affects of family narratives, institutional spaces, historical documents, philosophical ideas, and cultural texts, discourses and practices, in order to find spaces of integrity in connection and becoming, and affective, corporeal knowledges to take into the future?

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.

Le but principal de cette thèse est d'explorer le sentiment d'amour passionnel dans les relations romantiques. L'amour passionnel est définit comme « un état de désir intense à d'union avec un autre ». Ce construit est généralement considéré comme une expérience universelle fortement associée à l'attraction sexuelle et possédant un impact considérable sur les dimensions émotionnelles, cognitives et comportementales. Le but principal de cette thèse était d'apporter de nouveaux éléments montrant que les expériences subjectives de l'amour passionnel sont culturellement et contextuellement déterminées et qu'il existe néanmoins une certaine universalité des cognitions et comportements lorsque les personnes déclarent être amoureuses. De plus, nous avons étudié l'effet de l'amour passionnel sur les processus cognitifs. Au total, 1000 étudiants ont participé à 4 études différentes. Des sujets français et brésiliens ont répondu à l’Échelle d'Amour Passionnel (PLS) dans le but d'étudier leurs sentiments d'amour passionnel sur la base des composantes cognitive, émotionnelle et comportementale. Les représentations sociales de l'amour passionnel de ces mêmes groupes ont été explorées à partir d'analyses structurelles d'associations de mots. Les processus cognitifs de l'amour passionnel ont été testés dans une étude sur la relation entre l'amour passionnel et les expériences sensorielles et une étude sur l'effet de l'amour passionnel sur les productions créatives. Les résultats obtenus avec la PLS ont montré les mêmes propriétés psychométriques en France et au Brésil. Dans les deux cas, l'analyse factorielle a révélé une composante principale avec des consistances internes élevées. Les sujets qui ont déclaré être amoureux ont semblé aimer avec le même niveau de passion dans les deux cultures mais des différences de genre ont été retrouvées au Brésil. L'analyse des associations de mots a indiqué des différences contextuelles, culturelles et de genre. En ce qui concerne les processus cognitifs, l'amour passionnel a un effet positif sur l'attraction physique et l'expérience sensorielle mais nous n'avons pas trouvé de relation entre l'amour passionnel et la créativité (pensées divergentes et convergentes). Les résultats de ces différentes études sont présentés et discutés en s'appuyant sur les perspectives interculturelle, neuropsychologique et évolutionniste de l'amour romantique. L'amour passionnel peut être vécu de plusieurs façons mais ses manifestations sont universelles. Nous concluons que l'amour passionnel est principalement un phénomène biologique qui peut être influencé par la culture, assurant des reproductions réussies de notre espèce. / The main goal of this thesis is to explore the romantic feelings of passionate love widely defined as a state of longing with another. This construct is generally considered to be a universal experience strongly associated with sexual arousal and capable of having a strong effect in emotional, cognitive and behavioral dimensions. The main goal of this project is to provide further evidence about the contention that although subjective experiences of passionate love are culturally and contextually determinate, people all over the world present the same symptoms of passionate love with the same intensity when they consider being in love. Plus, the influences of passionate love on cognitive processes were tested in other studies. A total of 1000 college students participated in 4 different studies. The Passionate Love Scale (PLS) was administrated on Brazilian and French subjects in order to explore their evaluation of passionate love through cognitive, emotional and behavioral components. The social representations of these same groups about passionate love were explored with a structural analysis of word associations. Cognitive processes were tested through one study about the relationship between passionate love and sensory experience and another one about the effect of passionate love in creative productions. The results found with the PLS indicated the same psychometric properties in France and in Brazil. In both cases, the factorial analysis indicated one stronger dimension with high internal consistencies. Subjects in love seemed to love with equal passion in both cultures but gender differences were found in Brazil. The analysis of the word association revealed contextual, cultural and gender differences. Passionate love had a positive effect in low cognitive processes (physical attraction and sensory experience) but no effect in high cognitive tasks (divergent and convergent thinking). The results of these different studies are presented and discussed in the light of cross-cultural, neuropsychological and evolutionary perspectives on romantic love. Passionate love might be experienced in a number of ways but its manifestation is universally the same. It is concluded that passionate love might be mainly a biological phenomenon with minor cultural variations directed to insure reproductive success in our species.

The project explores the design development of housing within the scenario of Post Disaster Rehabilitation of populations displaced by natural disasters. By looking at the house as a system that combines two distinct phases of rehabilitative housing, namely Transitional Housing and Durable Housing, the design seeks to reduce the complications of relocation every time there is a need to move on to the next phase of shelter aid. To truly make the house construction an owner driven experience, the system aims to be designed such that it can manipulated by the owner/user to suit their long term needs and personal tastes. By doing so, the house strives to imbibe a sense of belonging, making it less likely for the shelter to be rejected by the owner. For this purpose, the aesthetic of the shelter would need to be carefully designed and organic patterns of settlement growth studied to realize the need of the types of public, semi public and private spaces.

This is a study based on a qualitative method about how medical doctors perceives themselves compared to cancerpatients. The study shows how gender and power can be understood in the analysis based on the doctors narratives and understandings of cultural beliefs. By using habitus, cultural and symbolic capital can make social practices visible through use of language, knowledge and social position the doctors have towards patients. Therefore it is possible to illustrate gender and power structures in society and healthcare.

Strategic information systems security initiatives have seldom been successful. The increasing complexity of the business environment in which organizational security must be operationalized presents challenges. There has also been a problem with understanding the patterns of interactions among stakeholders that lead to instituting such an initiative. The overall aim of this research is to enhance understanding of the issues and concerns in shaping strategic information systems security initiative. To be successful, a proper undertaking of the content, context and process of the formulation and institutionalization of a security initiative is essential. It is also important to align the interconnections between these three key components. In conducting the argument, this dissertation analyzes information systems security initiatives in two large government organizations – Information Technology Agency and Department of Transportation. The research methodology adopts an interpretive approach of inquiry. Findings from the case studies show that the strategic security initiative should be harmonious with the cultural continuity of an organization rather than significantly changing the existing opportunity and constraint structures. The development of security cultural resources like security policy may be used as a tool for propagating a secure view of the social world. For secure organizational transformation, one must consider the organizational security structure, knowledgeability of agents in perceiving secure organizational posture, and global security catalysts (such as establishing trust relations and security related institutional reflexivity). The inquiry indicates that strategic security change would be successful in an organization if developed and implemented in a brief yet quantum leap adopting an emergent security strategy in congruence with organizational security values.

Submitted by Maicon Juliano Schmidt (maicons) on 2015-06-11T14:26:31Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Lia Beatriz Mesquita Costa_.pdf: 14953176 bytes, checksum: 8f6d7ce7d684fba2bf48916721992d62 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-06-11T14:26:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lia Beatriz Mesquita Costa_.pdf: 14953176 bytes, checksum: 8f6d7ce7d684fba2bf48916721992d62 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-08-21 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Esta dissertação se inscreve no campo dos Estudos Culturais pós-estruturalistas, para investigar os significados atribuídos aos saberes da Psicologia para o currículo e para a formação docente no âmbito do curso de Pedagogia da UFPI, campus de Teresina. O conjunto de dados foi examinado sob a perspectiva da análise cultural, por meio da análise documental das duas últimas matrizes curriculares do curso e dos planos das cinco disciplinas obrigatórias de Psicologia vigentes, e tendo realizado entrevistas semiestruturadas com dez egressos na fase inicial da carreira docente e cinco professoras do curso de Pedagogia. Com o aporte teórico de Stuart Hall (1997), Tomaz Tadeu da Silva (1999a, 1999b, 2007b), Alfredo Veiga-Neto (2002), Marisa Costa, Rosa Silveira e Luis Henrique Sommer (2003) e Maria Lúcia Wortmann (2007) – que analisam os conceitos de currículo e cultura – e Diana Carvalho (2002), Nathália Carneiro (2010), Ana Sganderla e Diana Carvalho (2010), Priscila Larocca (1999, 2002a) e Lígia Vercelli (2008) – que discutem as relações entre Pedagogia e Psicologia, especialmente na formação docente – foi possível analisar de que formas a Psicologia contribuiu para a constituição da formação inicial em Pedagogia, como uma das ciências que baliza essa formação, criando condições para a sustentação do processo de “psicologização da Pedagogia”. A pesquisa analisou, ainda, a dissociação entre teoria e prática, estruturante do processo de formação, em que a formação teórica em Psicologia parece estar dissociada de conhecimentos adquiridos pela experiência profissional em Pedagogia, não respondendo às necessidades de formação profissional que a contemporaneidade coloca aos professores. / This dissertation is inserted in the Post-Structuralist Cultural Studies field, in order to investigate the meanings attributed to the knowledge of Psychology to the curriculum and teacher education in the Pedagogy course of UFPI, at Teresina campus. The data set was examined from the perspective of cultural analysis, through documental analysis of the last two curricular frameworks of the course, and plans of five compulsory classes of Psychology, having performed semi-structured interviews with ten graduates in early teaching career and with five professors from Pedagogy course. With the theoretical support of Stuart Hall (1997), Tomaz Tadeu da Silva (1999a, 1999b, 2007b), Alfredo Veiga-Neto (2002), Marisa Costa, Rosa Silveira & Luis Henrique Sommer (2003) and Maria Lúcia Wortmann (2007) – analyzing the concepts of curriculum and culture – and Diana Carvalho (2002), Nathália Carneiro (2010), Ana Sganderla & Diana Carvalho (2010), Priscila Larocca (1999, 2002a) and Lígia Vercelli (2008) – discussing relations between Pedagogy and Psychology, especially in teacher education – it was possible to analyze the ways Psychology contributed to set up the initial training in Pedagogy, as on of the sciences that guide this Graduation, creating conditions for sustaining the process of “psychologizing Pedagogy”. The research also analyzed the dissociation between theory and practice, structuring the training process, in a way that the theoretical formation in Psychology seems to be dissociated from the knowledge acquired by professional experience in Pedagogy, not responding to the needs of professional training that contemporaneity places to teachers.

<p>This essay tries to show how The Swedish Museum of Architecture, Stockholm, with the exibition Architecture in Sweden - Function, Design and Aesthetic through the Ages, presents and represents architecture. It is stated that this is done in a multi-perspectival, multimedial fashion, with the aid of, for example, photography, models and mixed material surrounding the wide concept of ’architecture’. One chapter discusses the relationships between the exhibition on site, the exhibition catalog and the museum´s website. Another chapter argues that there can be no essential or perfect representation of architecture, although this utopian wish most certainly exists even today. A general idea is that the problems regarding architectural representation has something to do with its double position within art history as well as its multi-dimensional characteristics. In addition to this, our daily encounters with architecture is also said to contribute. Furthermore, it is argued that exhibitions understood as site-specific and temporal events, need further research.</p>

Diss. Umeå : Univ., 2003.

The purpose of this study is to explore high school students’ understandings of achievement and opportunity through their lived experiences which are constructed under a high-stakes testing environment in Korea. This study undertakes a critical analysis of high-stakes testing and its intersectional effects in terms of structure and culture, attending to students’ everyday experiences in testing practices as these are embedded in certain discourses. Recent scholarship reveals that high-stakes testing reinforces a correspondence between socioeconomic status and educational attainment under the neoliberal educational policies of school choice, privatization, and high-stakes testing. In the analysis of educational policies such as the accountability movement, some studies contend that the political and economic discourses underpinning high-stakes testing are effectively hidden behind educational practices ostensibly aimed at raising standards. To date, however, there has been little attention to how students internalize the logic of neoliberal competition and how they experience educational achievement and opportunity structure within a high-stakes testing environment. Drawing on in-depth interviews of high school students from varying economic and academic backgrounds, this study found that students’ experiences of the high-stakes testing environment are influenced by their social class and achievement levels. High-stakes testing does not contribute to reducing achievement gaps between classes but rather reinforces educational alienation as well as opportunity gaps. Furthermore, high-stakes testing, as a cultural practice which affects students’ daily lives and their experience of curriculum and instruction, contributes to the ideological construction of students’ understandings of achievement and opportunity structure. While students experience structural constraints in achievement, they believe in testing as being a fair and equal opportunity. Concealing students’ struggles within structural barriers as well as their contradictory experiences in relation to ideologies of achievement and success, high-stakes testing becomes the medium through which students’ social desires are reproduced. An intersectional analysis in terms of culture and structure of students’ experiences in relation to high-stakes testing can help us to understand how the achievement ideology responds to students’ aspirations and also how those aspirations help this ideology persist. This study urges educational policies to focus on opportunity gaps and to look at contradictions and struggles that students experience in high-stakes testing. / text