The main aim of this thesis is to examine urban movements in Istanbul, Turkey. More specifically, the research has two principal objectives: first, to expand the existing conceptual framework of urban movement studies by critically examining the present literature on urban movements and considering people’s experiences in the cities of global South; and second, to make an empirical contribution to the literature on urban movements in general and the developing literature on urban movements in Turkey, in particular by analysing political mobilisation surrounding contested urban regeneration projects in Istanbul, Turkey. The thesis argues that the research framework of current urban movements’ literature is too static and limited to be able to develop a dynamic, relational and comparative approach to the analysis of mobilisation in urban space in different geographies. The case materials presented demonstrate that the political and social relations established between actors of urban politics are enmeshed in a dynamic political process, and that the motivations that inform the development of urban movements can change over time. In addition, the issues causing conflicts and political mobilisation are perceived and experienced differently under different conditions, which results in a diversification of the ways in which mobilisation is pursued. As such, a-priori assumptions about the emergence and goals of political mobilisation in urban space – for example, assumptions that urban movements necessarily are progressive and a part of a wider political agenda – is shown to be inadequate for examining the dynamics of mobilisation in different settings. In developing these theoretical arguments, the research constructs a dynamic relational framework to the analysis of political mobilisation in urban space, contributing in turn to the existing conceptual framework of urban movement and political mobilisation studies. Empirically, these issues were explored through case studies of two urban renewal areas in the historical neighbourhoods of Istanbul, Turkey, using a qualitative Critical Realist methodology. Like many other megacities, Istanbul has experienced an immense process of socio-economic and spatial restructuring in which the state has played a fundamental role. Moreover, in these new urbanisation dynamics, urban renewal projects have become conspicuously contested, leading to mobilisation at a variety of spatial and governmental scales. This thesis focuses on the different responses of local people in two urban renewal areas in order to examine the factors that enable and inhibit mobilisation. Specifically, the research is framed around two contrasting cases: the Fener-Balat-Ayvansaray renewal area, which is taken as a case of political action, and the Suleymaniye renewal area, which is taken as the case of inaction. The research findings show that the intervention of the state is not the only factor causing mobilisation in the localities. Other factors include: the condition of the built environment and the formation of spatial relations in the localities; the condition of the property market and how property owners value their assets in terms of its exchange and use values; the political relations between the state and the residents; social relations within the localities; and the implementation process of the urban renewal projects. These factors are derived from the empirical findings of the research and combined into a dynamic conceptual framework that contributes to reconfiguring existing analyses of urban movements. As such, by its critical relationship to existing urban social movement theory and through its novel methodology, the thesis aims to make significant contributions both to the conceptualisation and empirical analysis of contentious politics in urban space.

This research is an exploration of ethnic narratives of the Circassian community in Jordan, in addition to the nationalist narratives promoted by the state of Jordan, and their reconstruction by the research participants. This research aims to understand how the research participants, as non-Arabs, understand and makes sense of the Pan-Arab ethnonational narratives promoted by the state through the ‘Jordan First’ nationalist campaign and textbooks of national and civic education. It also seeks to understand the ethnic narratives of the Circassian community. It highlights the fact that ethnic narratives are often contextualised, and come to light always in comparison to the other. It also shows how ethnic narratives are gendered, can include or exclude women, and gender relations are ethnicised, or in other words used as markers for group boundaries. The main aim of this research is to unpack the research participants’ conceptualisations of Jordan and the Pan-Arabism, and to understand the strategies they use to include themselves within these narratives. It intends to evaluate whether research participants see themselves as integrated into the Jordanian society or not. Whereas the community itself is often portrayed as integrated into the society, because many of them are in high governmental positions, and the ceremonial guards of the Royal Family are the Circassians, it is also important to examine whether they believe that they are, and how. This thesis contributes to the literature on ethnicity and nationalism based on a minority with unique profile, and also contributes to the overall body of literature on state nationalism in the Middle East. The research has been approached through the use of both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods. It is based on the analysis of textbooks of national and civic education, and the ‘Jordan First’ campaign, in addition to 13 interviews and 62 questionnaires.

This thesis describes the social organisation of Kurdish refugee communities and is a contribution to the theoretical discussion of the concept of diaspora. Field research methods were used in this comparative sociological study among Kurdish refugees from Turkey, Iraq and Iran, who live in exile in Finland and England. The writer uses rich ethnographic material to describe the social organisation of the Kurdish refugee communities. The thesis introduces new arguments about, and suggests a rethinking of, the process of integration among refugees. In many different ways refugees living in exile have a continuous relation to their societies of origin. The thesis describes various transnational social relations and networks among the Kurdish refugees. It is argued that the Kurds in exile can be regarded as a diaspora. The concept of diaspora highlights the refugees' continuous relation to their countries of origin. However, the transnational social networks and associations can also be important resources for the refugees in their new country of settlement. There is also reason to remember the importance of social structures and exclusionary policies in the country of settlement. The comparison of the two different countries of settlement shows that these structures and policies have a great impact on how the refugees will be integrated into the receiving society. It is argued that a study of refugee communities needs to take into account refugees' relations to both the society of origin and the society of settlement. The writer emphasises that a diaspora can be understood as a transnational social organisation relating both to the country of origin and the country of settlement. Thus, it is argued that the concept of diaspora is a useful analytical tool for an understanding of the transnational social reality in which refugees live.

This thesis examines and re-evaluates what interculturality means and how it manifests itself in contemporary Asian Shakespeare performances. The thesis is organised into four chapters. The first three chapters focus on the distinctive theatre cultures of South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore respectively. Each of these three chapters includes brief historical surveys that trace the development of Shakespeare production, and contextualises the diverse approaches to, and concepts of, intercultural Shakespearean performativity in these countries. These chapters also contain performance case studies that are representative of twenty-first century Asian Shakespeare productions from South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore. The close analysis of these selected Shakespeare performances explores the larger topics of authenticity, translation and identity. These performances also demonstrate how theatrical interculturalism impacts and complicate the ways in which we understand these common subjects in Shakespeare performance studies. Through these historical reviews and in-depth performance analysis, the thesis reassesses the value and validity of existing intercultural theory, and attempts to expand this field of study by suggesting alterative ways of thinking about intercultural Shakespeare performance. Chapter Four puts forward a proposed model of theatrical interculturalism that can be used to consider and discuss different types of (inter)cultural exchanges that materialise in Shakespeare performance.

This thesis is a comparative investigation of how federal institutions accommodated linguistic and religious identities in India and Pakistan. There are three explanatory variables. The first is the history of self-rule for the principalities within South Asia; tracing continuities in territorial autonomy from the Mughals up to independence. The second is the distribution of linguistic and religious identities within the states of India and Pakistan, both at the provincial and national levels. The third is the articulation of a national identity in India and Pakistan. These explanatory variables are not independent of one another; their interaction accounts for the different strategies adopted by India and Pakistan in the formation and stabilisation of their federations. The differences in federal design are calculated according to a scoring system that measures the degree of consociationalism within the federal plans proposed before independence, and the constitutions created after independence. The state-sponsored national identities are distinguished according to their recognition of identities in the public and private spheres. They are further categorised according to the costs for a non-dominant group of being managed by this strategy. The three explanatory variables explain why linguistically homogeneous states were created in India but not in Pakistan. It is argued that this variable explains the stabilisation or otherwise of their federations. It therefore confirms Wilkinson's rebuttal of Lijphart's claim that India under Nehru was consociational. Unlike Wilkinson, it argues that the degrees of consociationalism that emerged since the formation of the constitution have enhanced federal stabilisation within India. It defines federal stabilisation according to continuity in state borders, the number and type of secessionist movements, but more importantly by correlating the effective number of linguistic groups at state level with the effective number of parties in national elections. It concludes that federal accommodation of linguistic groups in homogeneous provinces has enabled the party system to fractionalise in India and Pakistan; an indication of the security of these groups. Where secessionist movements have existed in India and Pakistan, their emergence is explained by the lack of security for a group - defined on either linguistic or alternative criteria.

The greater visibility of Chinese films brought by the wider global access and circulation has not satisfied the culturally specific understanding of Chinese cinema. The subject/object power relations stemming from the legacy of colonial and postcolonial discourse hinders the arrival of a better-balanced cross-cultural reading. The visibility of cinema provides a visual spectacle, it also challenges the audience with a communication of the epistemic side of visibility which feeds the images meaning and imagination and facilitates a more balanced culturally specific understanding. However, the epistemic side of visibility remains invisible under power-engaged cross-cultural reading. This study suggests that the sentimental provides a possibility for a better-balanced cross-cultural understanding through its provision of empathic connection with the culture, history and the psyche. Home-longing/homecoming is claimed to the basis that the Chinese culture is built upon. Defined as the sentimental, this affective mode has been manifested across Chinese cinema abundantly through visual representation. The various articulations of the sentimental in face of the global and transnational homogeneous force further prove the deep-rootedness of the sentimental. The sentimental fashions as an affective link that establishes an empathic engagement in cross-cultural analysis. Through reading eight Chinese films made since the 1990, this study illustrates the relationship between the visual spectacle and the sentimental in Chinese cinema. Although the eight films are all from mainland Chinese directors, this study is carried out with the awareness of the sharing of Chinese culture within the Chinese language cinema where this study locates.

This thesis considers the reputedly constitutive effects of violence and (intergenerational) loss on youth political subjectivities and agencies, with specific regard for young Tibetans of the refugee-diaspora of Northern India. While the effects of violence on socialisation and agency are currently a significant concern, prevailing clinical, cultural, and even radical psychoanalytical explanations tend – in universalising the traumatic event – to advance underdetermined accounts of experience, subjectivity and agency, leading to depoliticisation of the young or overstatement of their agency. In contrast, this study draws on the Foucauldian concept of political subjectification to reflect on the displaced wider overdeterminative material-discursive field through which young subjects, their subjectivities, and agencies are constituted. Through an ethnographically-informed genealogical method I attempt to trace the signification and affective-internalisation of a specific masternarrative of (national) loss, and the displacements the advent of this account has caused –with specific regard for the displacement of classed, gendered and generational experiences of loss. Finally, drawing on Foucault’s parrhesia as a heuristic for decentred agency, I consider how far young people in exile are able to resist patrifilial hegemony through indexing alternative forms of loss.