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No / Universities’ internationalisation rhetoric suggests that students studying on internationally diverse campuses will automatically engage positively with one another and develop intercultural competence. This study examined the extent to which a cohort of first year UK and non-UK students studying on an internationally diverse campus developed intercultural competence. The Intercultural Development Inventory® (IDI®) and a locally designed survey were used to assess students’ intercultural competence and to explore their intercultural experiences over seven months. Students began almost exclusively in lower (ethnocentric) stages of intercultural development and most showed little progress despite reporting relatively high levels of intercultural contact, friends from other cultures and positive experiences. Findings suggest that even positive intercultural experiences do not necessarily lead to the development of intercultural competence and that university policy and practice may need to be enhanced if producing graduates with higher levels of intercultural competence is to become a realised outcome of internationalisation. / This work was supported in part by funding from the Higher Education Academy Psychology Network (now defunct)

Den här studien har för avsikt att belysa och behandla hur en allmänhet kan tänkas uppfatta och förhålla sig till fördomar, rasism och diskriminering. Hur uppfattningar om etnicitet, ras och nationalitet, relaterar till kulturella skillnader och hur andrafiering och stereotyper motiveras och betraktas. Informanterna i studien visar generellt en stor tolerans mot andra men visar också tydliga tendenser till andrafiering och ingruppsbias. I sina tolkningar av ”den kulturellt andre” märks att de baserar sina antaganden och resonemang på individuella och kollektiva gruppstereotyper. De accepterar inte interpersonella uttryck för rasism och diskriminering men är relativt omedvetna om vad som skapar strukturell diskriminering och de är också mer toleranta mot diskriminering motiverat av vinstintresse. / Through this study I will attempt to show how a public might understand and relate to prejudice, racism and discrimination. How perceptions about ethnicity, race and nationality relate to cultural differences and how othering and stereotypes are being motivated by the informants and how they view them. The participating informants generally show significant tolerance towards others, but also show clear tendencies of othering and in-group bias. In their interpretation of “the cultural other”, assumptions and reasoning suggests that they are based on collective and individual group stereotypes. They do not accept interpersonal racism and discrimination but are seemingly unaware of what constitutes and creates structural discrimination and they are more tolerant towards discrimination based on economic interest.

published_or_final_version / Business / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Animated movies have had a big impact in the film business all over the world. A lot of these films are mainly produced for a younger audience, which leads to a greater responsibility to show a legitimate worldview. Children do not have the same ability of critical thinking as an adult, and that is why it is vital in such movies. In this study, we have examined the movies Kung Fu Panda and Mulan to see how the Chinese culture is represented, having in mind that the relation between East and West have been, and in some ways still are strained. We have examined whether there have been any postcolonial elements such as cultural myths, orientalism, ethnocentrism and stereotypes, originated from the field of cultural studies. Based on a three dimensional analysis, we have looked at the films’ structure, the context and the socio-historical context. The study concluded that the Chinese culture is often represented in a somewhat stereotypical way and with symbols associated with Asia and its culture but the movies also includes certain Western elements.

This study's primary aim is to explain Urban Adult Chinese Consumers' preference between foreign and Chinese products. It examines how Country of Origin (COO), Consumer Ethnocentrism (CE) and Consumer Animosity (CA) influence Urban Adult Chinese Consumers' product preference and willingness to buy. The existing knowledge is divided on this issue. By reviewing the relevant literature, it is clear that there are two completely different approaches of investigating the impact of COO on Chinese consumers. The researcher of this current study classified the two opposing methods as 'the simplistic approach' and 'the cautious approach'. Studies follow 'the simplistic approach' firmly believe Chinese consumers overwhelmingly evaluate foreign products positively and they have a strong preference for foreign products. Research follows 'the cautious approach' argues that Chinese consumers' complexity and internal differences cannot be ignored, some of them prefer Chinese products and they cannot be simply considered as in favour of foreign products. Past studies all concluded that Chinese consumers hold low to moderate level of CE beliefs. However, two investigations concluded Chinese consumers harbour strong animosity towards the Japanese. This study follows the philosophical understanding of pragmatism. The research questions are the most important factors that determine the research strategy and quantitative and qualitative methods can complement each other to address the research problem. This study employs a concurrent embedded mixed methods research strategy that consists of a street survey and semi-structured interviews. Due to the distribution pattern of the quantitative data, this study used non-parametric analysis methods including: Chi-Square Test for Independence, Spearman's Rank Order Correlations, Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis Test. The qualitative section of the investigation focuses on four issues: how Urban Adult Chinese Consumers (UACC) determine whether a product is foreign or Chinese, sources and background of animosity, the impact of domestic alternatives and areas for Chinese products to improve. This study discovered that UACC's preference between foreign and Chinese products remain divided. They cannot be simply considered overwhelmingly in favour of foreign products or prefer Chinese products. For those UACC have a preference for foreign products, quality and design are the main two reasons. Desire to support China's domestic industry and patriotism are the main driving forces behind some UACC's preference of Chinese products. UACC holds low to moderate level of CE beliefs, which suggests they are worldminded consumers that capable of evaluate foreign products based on merits, without strong negative bias. UACC have strong animosity towards the Japanese, but antagonistic sentiments towards the Americans and French are relatively low. There are complex sources of animosity and this study identified a wide range of factors that contributed to UACC's strong animosity towards the Japanese. The main area of original contribution of this study concentrates on Consumer Animosity. It discovered a wide range of sources of animosity towards the Japanese and constructed an enhanced animosity model.

The purpose of this study is to investigate some teachers in special school´s perceptions of the meeting of compulsory school and special school. In this study, ethnocentrism is used as a theoretical framework, the theory which is built on the meeting between groups and how they interact. The study has a phenomenographic onset, which is a qualitative method. The gathering of data was made through interviews, one to one. Five interviews were made and analyzed by the use of phenomenographic analysis. Five categories were identified: Inclusion, commitment and interest, knowledge about special school, to be forgotten, and differences in cognitive approach. In the sample space the underlying structures was discussed by ethnocentrism, as well as previous literature and research. Some common points of contact between ethnocentrism and previous research on the meeting could be found. What the study also found was that four out of five respondents felt a sense of belonging in school, while one felt that the Special school was excluded from the regular school. The respondents could all agree on the fact that several factors affected the meeting. These five categories could be seen as areas of improvement in schools that want to work in an inclusive manner. These factors were also lifted in previous research on special school and inclusion.

This thesis deals with collective nicknames denoting the inhabitants of a place (parish, village etc.) in northern Sweden, i.e. names of the type arnästjuvar (denoting the inhabitants of the parish of Arnäs; tjuv 'thief') and tynderötuppar (denoting the inhabitants of the parish of Tynderö; tupp 'cock'). The main aim of the thesis is to explain why various nickname elements were chosen and to describe the general character of the nicknames of northern Sweden. These nicknames have been used collectively about the inhabitants of a certain place in a jocular or derogatory sense. They have been used above all in male-dominated contexts, e.g. in military camps. The nicknames are ethnocentric: they denote individuals in their capacity as members of a group. They are often related to other, similar names, so that they form series which are connected phonetically, semantically or from the point of view of word formation. The discussion of these aspects is based on Hugo Moser's research on "Namenfelder". Sources from about 1600 to the present day have been used as material. The bulk of the material consists of answers to questionnaires from the 20th century. Because of the construction of the questionnaires the material is to some extent imperfect. The nicknames often reflect various aspects of the society of the individuals, but today the explanation for names is quite often secondary and a result of folk-etymology. Some nicknames reflect the trades of the inhabitants, others social conditions, diet or dress, others ethnic conditions. The nickname strömmingar was often given to people living on the coast where fishing was an important source of income. The nickname element finnar reflects local settlement by Finns. Some nicknames probably reflect various linguistic conditions (dialectal pronunciation, characteristic place-names or personal names), pictures in local seals or historical events. Several nickname elements have been chosen through association with the form of the place-name or the name of the inhabitants, or with existing nicknames, referring either to the inhabitants themselves or their neighbours. There is often a similarity in sound between the place-name (or the name of the inhabitants) and nickname elements. We find e.g. alliteration, assonance and rhyme, or formations in which the place-name (or the name of the inhabitants, or part of it) is compounded with a nickname element to make up an appellative which already exists. The latter kind of formation may be illustrated with the nickname bergtroll ('mountain trolls') to denote those who live in S'àvaiberg (in the parish of Sävar). Some nicknames have as their basis an association from the place-name (or the name of the inhabitants) to the nickname element chosen. The associations are frequently difficult to trace. A nickname like orrlidtuppar (denoting those who live in Orrliden in the parish of Skellefteå) was no doubt chosen through association with the appellative orrtupp 'blackcock'. When the nickname smedstaspiken (denoting the inhabitants of Smedsta in the parish of Lit) was coined, the place-name element smed 'smith' was associated with the closely related spik 'nail'. A close analysis of nicknames denoting parish inhabitants in northern Sweden shows that there are often pairs (or series) of nicknames which are related phonetically (through alliteration, assonance or rhyme), semantically or morphologically, just as nicknames denoting neighbours may be connected in a similar way. Frequently, parish inhabitants have different names in relation to different neighbours. How innovations are introduced and spread is shown by the sfw/"/Z?wf-nicknames in the province of Ångermanland. An analysis of the nicknames denoting the inhabitants of parishes in north-eastern Ångermanland shows that the inhabitants of the old parishes have only one nickname each-a name which is known over a large area-while the inhabitants of the newer parishes have several nicknames. The reason why several nicknames are used to denote inhabitants in newer parishes seems to be that there was no old, unequivocal nickname tradition to fall back on. In the final chapter the importance of patterns for the formation of nicknames is stressed, but also the importance of creativity and coinages. A striking coinage has a great chance of becoming generally accepted and also of becoming the centre of new groups of nicknames. / digitalisering@umu

The purpose of this thesis is to deliver an integrated overview on the development of marketing in the Eastern European countries from the communist era to the present time and answer the main research question: How has marketing in the Eastern European countries changed from the communist era to the present time? In addition to this, three propositions are composed and further investigated.   The research philosophy of this thesis is based on a subjectivist ontological view and an interpretivist epistemological approach. The deductive research approach studies the research question, while adopting a qualitative research method. In addition, the practical research adopted for the purpose of this thesis is based on conducting multiple semi structured interviews with respondents, representing a diverse sample of firms. The firms are divided according to their country of origin, providing an inside and an outside view on the development of marketing in the Eastern European countries. At the same time, all the firms interviewed fulfill the criteria of being present on the Eastern European market. The final results are gained by the combination of the primary data, collected during the interviews, and secondary data, gained from a literature review undertaken by the authors.   The theoretical contribution of this thesis is represented by the empirical findings. They provide a complex overview on the most important political, economic, social and cultural changes in the Eastern Europe from the communist era to the present time, while linking them to the development of marketing within this selected geographical area.

Accounting for indigenous forms of sovereignty poses difficult problems for the discipline of International Relations, which is framed by the story of the modern, territorial European state. Most attempts to conceptualize Aboriginal nations in the international system confirm the modern state as the benchmark for sovereignty. In this dissertation I address the problem of how to incorporate Aboriginal peoples into IR without granting the modern European state as the only legitimate form of sovereignty. I proceed through an examination of key moments in the European colonization of the Americas, from first contact through the geographic isolation of indigenous peoples onto reservations. In each case it is demonstrated that the assumption of “formal” sovereignty – based on recognition, and with insufficient regard for historical context – underpinning conventional IR accounts of colonialism is inadequate to theorize colonialism. I argue that colonialism is not a story of political-legal recognition (sovereignty), but of politicaleconomic social relations – specifically the appropriation of land (property). My contribution to the discipline is two-fold. First, I contribute to a richer understanding of sovereignty. Establishing sovereignty over territory in the New World allowed the English (and then American) state to set the legal, political and cultural framework for the private acquisition of land. Second, rather than using indigenous nations only as a foil for modern sovereignty, or as victims in a narrative of colonial domination, I make the case for incorporating the political agency of Indigenous communities into IR's account of colonialism. Far from the passive victims implied by conventional IR, they were central to a dynamic history of resistance and compromise, and their interactions with Europeans shaped modern sovereignty in lasting ways.