<p> In the years since unification, the phenomenon of xenophobia (<i> Ausl&auml;nderfeindlichkeit</i>) in Germany has been largely understood as an "east German problem." The recent discovery of a series of murders by an underground cell of eastern German neo-Nazis &ndash; who killed eight Turkish immigrants and one Greek immigrant between 2000 and 2006 &ndash; has again directed Germany's attention to the problem of <i>Ausl&auml;nderfeindlichkeit </i> and right-wing extremism in eastern Germany. Scholars, politicians, and members of the media base their treatment of the subject on the assumption that eastern Germans are more xenophobic than western Germans, despite the fact that very few foreigners actually live in eastern Germany. This thesis employs historical analysis, population data, and public opinion survey data to determine whether or not this assumption holds true.</p><p> <i>Ausl&auml;nderfeindlichkeit,</i> meaning "hostility toward foreigners," is a type of prejudice in which native Germans view non-German immigrants to be inferior based on characteristics such as culture, religion, and ethnicity. In both East and West Germany, as well as in united Germany, <i> Ausl&auml;nderfeindlichkeit</i> has led to social and institutional discrimination and even violence against foreigners. Since the terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001, and the subsequent revelation that part of the attacks were planned by immigrants in the northern German city of Hamburg, the primary target of <i>Ausl&auml;nderfeindlichkeit</i> in Germany has been the country's Muslim population, which is comprised primarily of Turkish immigrants and their German-born offspring. Though many countries around the world experience prejudice within their societies, this problem is of particular importance and interest in the German case because of the country's Nazi past.</p><p> German population data shows that only about 5% of the 7.4 million foreigners in Germany live in the eastern part of the country. Foreigners comprise less than 3% of the total population in eastern Germany. Turkish immigrants in particular are highly concentrated in the west and only 1% of the Turkish population lives in eastern Germany. Despite the smaller number of foreigners living in eastern Germany in comparison to western Germany, a majority of the public opinion surveys consulted show that eastern Germans have more negative attitudes towards foreigners than western Germans. Other survey data, on the other hand, finds no statistically significant difference between eastern and western German attitudes towards foreigners, making it unclear if eastern Germans really are more <i>Ausl&auml;nderfeindlich.</i> The public opinion survey studies consulted also found that <i>Ausl&auml;nderfeindlich </i> attitudes vary within the eastern and western regions themselves and that in several western German states, anti-foreigner sentiment is just as high as in the east, facts which are obscured when <i>Ausl&auml;nderfeindlichkeit </i> is only looked at in terms of east and west. Survey data makes it clear that significant portions of both eastern and western German society hold negative attitudes towards foreigners.</p><p> In light of these findings, this thesis advocates a shift away from this east-west paradigm in the study of <i>Ausl&auml;nderfeindlichkeit </i> in Germany. Instead, the issue must be dealt with on the national level, with the recognition that the potentially higher levels of xenophobia in the east do not absolve western Germans of a need to deal with prejudice in their own region.</p>

<p> There are currently ten available works by Antonino Pasculli (1842-1924) for solo oboe or English horn and accompaniment inspired by themes from nineteenth-century operas by Bellini, Donizetti, Meyerbeer, and Verdi. These pieces are so virtuosic that Pasculli has been dubbed the &ldquo;Paganini of the Oboe.&rdquo; The technical demands can be so high that performers can neglect to approach artistic and scholarly interpretation of his lyrical passages. Some editions of his music list the referenced act and scene number from the original source. No existing editions include complete text from the original vocal excerpts or the context from the plots of each respective opera. This volume contains the complete text of the vocal excerpts Pasculli uses, insights from the dramatic plot context, and advice to performers on how to apply such information to an instrumental performance.</p>

<p> Using Michel Foucault's knowledge/power dynamic I demonstrate the ways in which Jane Austen examines the socially constructed nature of truth in her last three novels. In <i>Persuasion</i> competing ideas of power are represented by Captain Wentworth and Sir Walter Elliot, positing the idea that a society based on hierarchy is antiquated as economic, political and social configurations within England change. The detrimental effects of the marriage myth are revealed in <i>Mansfield Park</i>, as the social and sexual limitations of women are seen through the parallel stories of the Ward sisters and Fanny, Julia and Maria. <i>Emma</i> highlights the way in which Mrs. Elton uses Jane Fairfax to build her social identity, while it also promotes writing as a method for counteracting prescribed identity formation. Refocusing the analysis of Austen's work based on Foucault's work illuminates contentious characters and passages while revealing the ways in which people respond to social pressure.</p>

<p> This thesis explores the distinct two-part polyphonic patterning in Lithuanian Sutartines to reveal how singers shape and/or experience their songs as musical weaves. The findings are based on original fieldwork as well as old ethnographic sources, which are (re)examined and interpreted through the lens of metaphor as a methodology.</p>

<p> This dissertation explores a discourse of democratic modernity in EU-member Bulgaria, which revolves around a hybrid popular music called chalga. I argue that chalga does not function as the name of a defined music genre. Rather, Bulgarians use it as a self-reflexive voice of ambivalence regarding the recontextualziation in liberal democracy of the socialist language ideology of evolutionary modernization: <i> navaksvane</i>&mdash;catching up&mdash;with Europe. On one hand, chalga indexes musical images that resonate with the current <i>zeitgeist</i> of modern European culture: aesthetical and social heterogeneity as well as commercial mass media. On the other hand, Bulgarians take this Ottoman-derived word as a non-referential index that invokes anxieties of Balkanism&mdash;a discursive trope of European modernity that has invented the Balkans as its liminal incomplete Self. As the ethnographic chapters of the dissertation show, Bulgarians deal with their ambivalence to chalga by seeking paternalist figures capable of imposing the language regimes of <i>navaksvane</i> when performers and audiences digress too much into coded zones of Balkan liminality. Regimenting modern popular music with top-down control points also to the political communication implicit in chalga. Cognizant of their inferior location vis-&agrave;-vis "real modern societies", ordinary Bulgarians seek paternalist leaders who can address them on an intimate level but are powerful enough to impose norms and practices circulating to Bulgaria from loci that represent the Occident. The expectation to have such leaders is not exclusive to democracy. It defined the political culture during socialism and even before. What is special to the contemporary era is the discursive formulation of such leadership, which I define as paternalistic populism. Bulgarians regard democracy as working in their country when it is guided from above by an authoritarian boss <i>(shef),</i> who knows how to anticipate the popular will, how to ally with bigger and external forces in order to overcome the society's marginality, and most importantly, how to act with "barbarous" Balkan aggression so as to put the nation in modern European order.</p>

<p> An academic dialog concerning the intersectionality of national origin, economic class and gender, as mutually constitutive elements of migration, set the context for my inquiry into the experiences of wives who are barred from paid labor by their restricted visa status. Guided by grounded theory, I conducted seventeen semi-structured qualitative interviews to examine ways in which a move to Silicon Valley under a restricted visa class changes the self-image of women, and how they evaluate this change. I found that the ambiguous agency construct of women socialized in the Soviet and post-Soviet eras facilitated their choice to migrate despite the visa restrictions. After emigrating, the women tended to embrace values of individualism and self-reliance, which reinforced their professional ambitions. However, the absence of professional options created a split between the women&rsquo;s lived experiences and their self-representation. In addition, I found that a visa that prohibits employment creates a homogenizing effect on women&rsquo;s self-images, putting them on similar personal and professional tracks and making their legal and economic status less predictable. These findings suggest that structural strategies might be adopted to help these women reclaim their self-images and exert more control over the selection and pursuit of their goals.</p><p>

<p> This dissertation addresses questions related to craft production, social identity, and interaction through a multifaceted analysis of ceramic production and use during the Majiayao (3200-2000BC) and Qijia (2300-1500BC) periods in the Tao River Valley of northwestern China's Gansu Province. Situated between the Gobi Desert to the north and the foothills of the Tibetan Plateau to the south, for millennia this area acted as a key conduit for interaction between groups in central China and the Eurasian steppe. Majiayao and Qijia communities played a vital role in adopting, adapting, and retransmitting new domesticates, technologies, and ideas in both directions, helping shape the course of both Chinese and steppe civilization.</p><p> Despite these contributions to the development and spread of Chinese civilization, however, this region of northwest China is often pigeonholed into the trope of cultural devolution, with climatic shifts forcing a change from sophisticated Majiayao farmers to the small-scale, possibly pastoral societies of the Qijia. This conclusion is based almost entirely on shifts in pottery form and decoration, with the large, elaborately painted urns of the Majiayao period being replaced by the smaller, mostly undecorated pottery that defines the Qijia period. This dissertation challenges these conclusions by investigating the relationship between craft production, consumer and producer identity, and social interaction in order to provide a more nuanced understanding of the continuities and changes occurring between the two periods.</p><p> Taking a communities of practice based approach to ceramic production, this research focuses first on identifying potential groups of producers through assessment of paste recipes and forming techniques. In order to identify these groups, sherds from four Majiayao and Qijia habitation and mortuary contexts were sampled and analyzed using petrographic analysis. This technique provides information not only on the mineralogical makeup of a vessel, but also can provide insight into specific paste recipes and production techniques. This study revealed striking differences between vessels from mortuary and habitation contexts during the Majiayao period, pointing to the potential use of mortuary rituals for the negotiation and construction of relationships with other communities. It also demonstrated surprising continuity in production knowledge and techniques between the two periods, showing that changes in pottery form and decoration are not necessarily accurate reflections of underlying shifts in social identity. </p><p> In addition to petrographic analysis, whole vessels from mortuary contexts were also examined in order to assess how they were produced and used. Use-wear analysis was employed in order to understand the use histories of individual vessels, revealing that the majority of pots placed in graves during both periods were well used before interment. Standardization analysis was also carried out in order to explore potential production differences between various vessel types. It was demonstrated that while production does appear to vary between vessel types, there is impressive continuity in degree of vessel uniformity between the Majiayao and Qijia periods.</p><p> Combining the results of these three techniques, this research is able to address not only the communities of practice who were making these vessels, but also the potential roles they played in building and mediating relationships between groups. Specifically, for the northern Tao River Valley, it appears that despite significant shifts in pottery form, mortuary rituals, and the relationships that were mediated by these items and events, underlying communities of practice persisted over the course of more than 600 years.</p><p>

<p> The United Kingdom is entering a period of great uncertainty, with the future of Scotland&rsquo;s membership still in question. Following personal work experience in the Scottish Parliament, it became apparent to me that the Scottish National Party currently finds itself in a unique position. By utilizing constituency maps, this study will trace the evolution of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and explore how its changing nature allowed it to grow from a minute populist group seeking independence to a social justice party hoping to appeal to a more diverse group of voters by increasing credibility at the local level and then into a fully-fledged third party capable of entering into coalition with the political establishment at Westminster and holding a membership referendum. Focus will be placed on the changing political landscape of the United Kingdom and the SNP&rsquo;s role within that scope. The paper will conclude with predictions of the possibilities for the SNP&rsquo;s role in Scotland, within the UK and the European Union. </p><p> The development of the SNP was aided and impacted by a number of variables. Firstly, devolution from Westminster following the creation of a Scottish parliament, Holyrood, in the 1990s gave the SNP a second arena in which to demonstrate their governing ability. Secondly, the role of certain personalities must be noted, with important figures having an impact in both Westminster and Holyrood. The most well-known of these figures is Alex Salmond, the first SNP First Minister, who was able to guide the SNP from obscurity to a governing party, capable of holding referendums. In addition, Nicola Sturgeon, the current First Minister and Salmond&rsquo;s deputy First Minister, has been vital to continuing the party&rsquo;s momentum in the wake of Brexit. Down in Westminster, other personalities will also be important, such as Margaret Thatcher, David Cameron and Theresa May. Thirdly, the British media&rsquo;s coverage of the SNP had a dramatic impact on the viability of the party to the electorate.</p><p>

<p> There are long-standing debates regarding the history and identity of Ottoman communities that settled in Southeast Europe during the Ottoman period. As with any political expansion, individuals from Anatolia, the capital region of the empire, were likely to have migrated to newly acquired areas as soldiers, administrators, and political leaders. A mass migration of people is, however, not the only process that may have defined the Ottoman communities in Southeast Europe, as historic documents also record the conversion of Europeans to Islam for a variety of reasons. A consensus on whether migration or conversion practices more significantly impacted the biological makeup of Ottoman Europe has not been reached. </p><p> Thus far, the nature and impact of the Ottoman past in Europe have been predominately studied from the evidence and viewpoint of written history. Anthropological methods and theory have the potential to shed light on the population dynamics of this key period however. This dissertation employed advancements from both archaeology and biological anthropology to conduct a regional bioarchaeological analysis of the European Ottoman period, seeking a better understanding of identity in this historic context. </p><p> Two forms of analyses allowed for in-depth inquiry into biological aspects of identity in Ottoman Europe. First, the assessment of biological affinities from four European Ottoman period groups was done using biological distance analyses of craniometric and cranial non-metric morphological variation. These communities, today located in Hungary, Romania, and Croatia, were compared not only to each other, but also to other European and Anatolian populations. The European and Anatolian comparative populations were represented by four skeletal series from Hungary, Austria, Croatia, and Anatolia. The second method, utilized for one of the Ottoman period populations (from Romania), analyzed strontium isotopes from human and faunal dental enamel. Together, these methods provided a dynamic approach for highlighting markers of biological identity and affinity from human skeletal remains. </p><p> The use of biological distance and strontium isotope analyses highlighted a number of interesting patterns in the European Ottoman communities. The Ottoman populations appear diverse in terms of constituting a mix of peoples from different biological backgrounds. This is evident both within a single Ottoman community, as well as between communities located in different parts of the Ottoman territory. Evidence of this diversity was clear between males and females in different Ottoman period populations. Larger than expected between-sex biological differences within the Ottoman communities suggest distinct population histories for males and females. </p><p> The diversity found within and between the four Ottoman period populations analyzed in this research can be used to better understand different social and political processes influencing the demography of Ottoman Europe. With migration and conversion frequently cited as the two main processes contributing to population change in the region, this analysis allowed for the consideration of how unique trajectories of both impacted different individuals and different groups of people in these societies. The biological data highlighted in this study disagree with many simplistic historical conclusions that cite either migration or conversion as the singular process behind the creation of Ottoman communities and the European Ottoman identity. </p><p> Despite historic evidence that immigration from Anatolia and the conversion of Europeans to Islam impacted the demography of European Ottomans, these communities are at times treated as biologically homogeneous ethnic groups. The Ottoman-established Muslim populations in Southeast Europe are not only treated as a distinct group historically, the division between Muslims or &lsquo;Turks&rsquo; and Europeans has been maintained in some modern communities as well. With Islamic relations in some regions of contemporary Europe continuing to deteriorate, long-held notions that European Muslims are the &lsquo;other&rsquo;, trespassers on Christian lands, are unlikely to be assuaged. The creation of the European Muslim identity descending from the Ottoman period includes a complex history that is still not fully understood. Many modern identities are created from a complex amalgamation of biological and cultural processes, both historical and modern in origin, committing diverse peoples into uniform categories. The bioarchaeology of this dynamic period provided new data on groups of people that influenced both the past and present in Southeast Europe. </p><p>

It is the key assertion of this thesis that Kazakhstan is determined to keep its Soviet-era nuclear capacity and become the world's third largest nuclear power should circumstances move in that direction. The Republic of Kazakhstan reneged on its original commitment to repatriate this material to Russia for final disposition. My tenure at the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration, as well as the use of newly available declassified data on the Kazakhstan nuclear issue, and open government sources, supports the major arguments of my thesis. For primary sources in Kazakh and Russian languages, I utilized the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS). Both the external factors, including the competitive post-Soviet security environment in Eurasia, and complex and challenging domestic factors such as trans-regional social movements, clan ties, ethno-political cleavages, authoritarianism and government corruption, cast serious doubt on the future of Kazakhstan as a nuclear weapon free state.