The purpose of this dissertation is to better theorize the relationship between cultural production, popular music and cultural identity. While broadly examining popular music, the primary focus of this study is on black popular music making and hip hop cultures in Canada and Greece. My dissertation focuses upon three distinct case studies in Toronto, Canada; Athens, Greece; and Vancouver, Canada. Each of the three case studies in my dissertation contributes, and offers revisions, to Bourdieusian studies of cultural production. Whether it is DJs in Toronto trying to assert authorship and legitimate their roles as musicians, an MC in Vancouver trying to conceptualize a new mode of diasporic belonging for Greeks of the diaspora, or male hip hop practitioners in Athens utilizing their historical knowledge of the Greek field of popular music to authenticate their pursuits in rap music, each case study provides a different lens through which to understand how popular music makers use music in their quests for cultural legitimacy, diasporic belonging and/or authentication. Through an emphasis on location, cultural identity and collective history, each case study advances Bourdieu's field theory in new directions. Drawing on, and refining Bourdieu, I demonstrate how an analysis of popular music has much to offer sociological studies of cultural production. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Abstract Since 1995, the Ministry of Education has been campaigning for the establishment of a teaching resources center of local culture in every county and city across Taiwan, and the center in Penghu, founded by Dongwei Elementary School under a Dec. 1998 command by Penghu county government, started to run on the first day of August in 1999. However, due to the failure of the local authority of educational administration to pose a reasonable and durable mechanism of management, in recent years the operation of the center has almost come to a complete stop. From an eco-philosophical point of view, the center focuses on the realization of the relationships built up amongst people, their local environment, and the nature. Located in a community rich in humanity and culture as well as natural resources, Penghu Teaching Resources Center of Local Culture should bring the school and the community tightly together, leading the teaching of local culture right into the community, the land where everything the center itself is about comes from. On the other hand, as museology evolves into its new form, ecomuseological theories and their successful applications have gradually taken the place of traditional, stereotypical operations of exhibitions. In this study, considering the nature of local culture teaching, the researcher has explored every possibility of bringing Penghu Teaching Resources Center of Local Culture back to prosperity again by introducing the element of ecomuseology. Digging deep into the literature concerning local culture teaching as well as ecomuseology and analyzing pools of data gathered from depth interviews, the researcher has come to the following conclusions: 1. The center should be ecologically combined with its community resources so that local culture teaching can always stay alive and up to date. 2. Following the 21st century museological trend, the center should offer its full services to cover areas of not only displaying but also education and recreation, turning static exhibitions into live experiences. 3. From an ecomuseological point of view, the center can be constructed as a whole exhibition network with a variety of routes extended out from the community. 4. Under the threats of other exhibition places that serve similar purposes, the center should secure its uniqueness by focusing on its specialty in education, turning competition into cooperation and creating a win-win situation. 5. The localism center should have full financial and human resources support from the authorities with its rank and power properly promoted. 6. Participation of local residents should be encouraged with volunteers recruited from the community to work as tour guides and commentators. This way, the center gets to live on with tours going deep from superficial sightseeing into the marrow of the local culture.

This study is caused by the fact in the Information Management field that webs of enterprise database are hot, and the contribution of building webs concerning local culture cannot catch the spotlight. The author pursuits the master degree in the Department of Information Management in the National Sun Yat-Sen University for two years, and is handling the project of ¡¨Taiwan Caogong Web¡¨ which is a sub-project of Council for Cultural Affairs (CCA) about ¡¨ national digital reservation of national culture database ¡¨ in 2007, at the same time. It is the background of writing the paper of ¡¥Local Culture Web on Preservation and Reuse for Native Cultural Property - Case study by ¡§Taiwan Caogong Canal Web¡¨¡¦ . The author can foresee the grand influence potential for local culture caused by the Local Culture Web, and is adopting the academic theories to the real world. The author try to provide a new studying category for the scholars who emphasize the enterprise database web rather than culture properties area, and hope the people working in the Information Management area can find the blue sea by the local culture webs. The characteristic of ¡¨ Taiwan Caogong Web¡¨, not only Caogong Canal is the well-known of irrigate canal in Taiwan since Qing Dynasty¡Abut also Caogong Canal grows cultural properties in Kaohsiung Plains and make a greater contribution to the local development¡Ait's far-reaching influence does not have the other business to be possible to compared¡C This web present the drainage basin of Caogong Canal include five irrigation system¡]the Old Caogong Canal, the New Caogong Canal, the Fengshan Canal, the Daliao Canal, and the linyuan Canal.¡^where cultural properties is at¡CMake use of this paper approach a subject from different angles¡Ato find out the contribution of local culture web on preservation and reuse for native cultural property¡Ait's positive value is deserve commendation¡C

This diploma thesis deals with characteristic and development of mikroregion Blaník that is situated on area of ten municipalities in district of Vlašim. Thesis focuses on definition of mikroregion and its legislative enshrinement. Then it summarizes the status of local culture and cultural heritage, and also describes options how to obtain subsidies. This part is followed by practical part which is based on specific information obtained from the annual reports and the management of mikroregion. Thesis is supplemented by interviews with mayors.

Dissertation thesis Leading Figures and Local Culture in Czech Regions presents a comparative analysis of two original Czech regions, Chodsko and the Bohemian Forest, and their spiritual leaders, Jindřich Šimon Baar and Karel Klostermann. Main part of the thesis consists of analysis of life, work and contribution of these local icons in context of the geographical, historical and cultural aspects of regions concerned. Emphasis is placed on the specifics of local folk literature, folklore and material culture. The theoretical part is complemented by deep research in both regions, in the form of a questionnaire completed by hundred students, which answers questions regarding their involvement in folk life and experience of their regional identity. Keywords: local culture, Chodsko, Bohemian Forest, Baar, Klostermann

El presente trabajo identifica los factores principales de la variable tourism experience en un contexto local y se mide en relación a la satisfacción por parte de turistas que hayan usado algún alojamiento compartido en un viaje de ocio. / This work identifies the main factors of the variable tourism experience in a local context and is measured in relation to the satisfaction of tourists who have used some shared accommodation on a leisure trip. / Trabajo de investigación

This essay focuses on the concepts of relationship to local culture, identity and third space writing found in migrant literature and explores their relevance to James Joyce’s Dubliners in order to support a migrant reading of the collection. James Joyce has already been read as a migrant writer; however, Dubliners has not been considered as being an important contribution to this mode of writing. In this essay, the postcolonial theories of identity, third space writing and relationship to local culture are used in an in-depth reading of seven of the stories in the collection which I argue are written in the migrant mode of writing. With an introduction given on migrant writing and the concepts used, the platform is thus laid out for a thorough reading of the stories. What these stories depict is that of Ireland’s perpetual state of underdevelopment, due to its colonial past under British rule. In reading the stories in theoretical terms of migrant writing, one uncovers the way they construct Ireland as a colonized space, reiterating Joyce’s version of home and its decaying, cultural potential. What one finds is not only the ironic voice of Joyce’s narrative describing the repetitive outplaying of British stereotypes of Irishness but also of a quieter tone tinged with hope and longing for a true, cultural change. This essay shifts the interpretative focus to specific issues that would otherwise not be visible if one were to read it as merely being modernist. It establishes the migrant quality of the collection and solidifies the standing of Joyce as a migrant writer.

iv It is widely known that Turkey has a great amount of data of traditions and cultures on its broad land. By the effects of different dynamics in the 20th century, many craftsmanship and mastery as parts of traditional culture have been transforming day by day. Throughout that transformation period, some traditional craft products could find alternative methods to survive although some others did not. Craft products have been searched by social anthropology since they are members of material culture of humankind for a long time. It can be said that most contemporary objects are transformed versions of older ones in the history. However, all the products today are continuously transforming by the effects of different factors. There still are craft objects and craftsmanship in the market. Traditional craft products, in Turkey, have been transforming by the effects of technology, change in social conditions and marketing issues and designer&rsquo / s initiative as well. Industrialization directly has effected craft production to weaken but some alternative methods are found to provide revival of these professions and objects. This study examined transformation in craft objects focusing on the existing scene of traditional products in Turkish market. Data about craft culture is collected through observations and interviews with craftsmen considering existing craft products in the market. Examples of craft objects and objects designed by getting inspired from craft culture are classified in the chart constituting a schema for the methods for transformation of craft objects. Dynamic factors affecting the transformation process of craft objects are discussed. The need for the revival of traditional culture via design and reasons to do so are explained. In the thesis, it is claimed that one of the agents of traditional product&rsquo / s transformation is the designer&rsquo / s attitude. Designer can determine the method for the transformation of traditional products. So, for the revival of craft culture in the next generations, the essence of traditional culture behind the traditional products can be re-used in industrial design. While searching for the convenient methods of transformation of traditional products, designers&rsquo / opinions about craft culture and reusing information of culture and tradition in design are searched through a questionnaire. Possible methods for the revival of craft culture through design are examined.

Satellite channels were introduced in Saudi Arabia in the 1980s by limited elite wealthy Saudis. The new communication technologies during the 1990s made it possible for a large number of Saudis to switch to different kinds of direct broadcasting satellite channels using low cost equipment to receive hundreds of uncensored television programmes. Before the spread of satellite dishes throughout the country, Saudis were only able to view two government controlled TV channels offering limited types of programmes compared to what is offered on satellite. Satellite channels and programmes contain cultural messages and images from the originating countries that, it may be argued, are incompatible with Saudi Arabia's Islamic cultural values. No qualitative study, to-date, has investigated the satellite channel viewing habits of the Saudi community in general, in spite of the existence of strong concerns about the influence of such habits on Saudi culture. The present research then, is a study of the relationship between audiences and satellite in Saudi Arabia and an analysis of the implications of this relationship for local culture. The research is placed within the context of current scholarship on satellite audiences and of debates about global media and culture, and media and cultural imperialism. It uses quantitative and qualitative data to answer questions about young Saudi adults' use of satellite TV and their beliefs about its influences, and the effect of viewing satellite television on the usage of other media, particularly the two Saudi local TV channels. The researcher draws upon aspects of the uses and gratifications approach which focuses on the audience as the primary element in understanding the mass communication process. This approach also focuses on how people utilise media content. Whilst there have been a number of studies of TV and satellite audiences, these have neither systematically examined the qualitative dimensions of satellite usage in relation to quantitative data, nor have they discussed their findings in relation to wider debates about the cultural impact of satellite communications in Saudi Arabia. The present study is therefore useful for providing the basis for further cross-cultural comparisons between the media in Western and Arab worlds. Two key primary data collecting techniques, a quantitative survey of 438 male and female university students, and a series of eight in-depth focus group sessions involving 51 individuals, were used to obtain information about young adults' uses of the media in general, and satellite TV in particular, in Saudi Arabia . This combination of these quantitative and qualitative methods was relatively new in the field context. Survey and focus group questions were piloted between mid December 2000 and mid February 2001 at King Abdul-Aziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. After slight amendments and modifications, the main fieldwork was undertaken from March 2001 to July 2001. The study found young Saudi adults watched satellite channels quite extensively, and the most preferred channels they chose to view were Arab channels, whose programmes depend on entertainment that is presented in a Western manner. Research findings indicated that the image of the Saudi media working within the country's borders was low. The extent of the study sample's exposure to satellite channels was greater than their exposure to local Saudi television. Most of the findings support the 'glocalisation' thesis where the global is heavily mediated through Arab versions of the global or Western culture. The study also highlighted possible influences of conflicting cultural messages from external media on the local culture.

The growing number of global crises has increased the complexity of decisionmaking, as decisions are made under uncertainty in crises, especially whencrises involve different cultures where people’s values, beliefs, and traditionsare threatened. In crisis situations, people move from one place to another,mixing cultures in the environment where they arrive. Besides, those affectedby crises usually receive help from non-profit organizations, as well as frominternational organizations. In this regard, the research aims to explore howlocal culture affects decision-making of leaders and decision makers inmanaging crises. The research relates to how leaders and decision makersregulate their decisions during crises with respect to local cultural values andcontext. To understand this phenomenon, the authors chose a qualitativemethod and conducted a series of in-depth interviews with leaders and decisionmakers of non-profit organizations to gather empirical data on how decisionsare made in these organizations during crises in different cultural settings. Theresults of the research show that local culture has an undeniable impact on thedecision-making process in crisis situations. The research found that decisionmakers must consider the local culture in every step of crisis response andensure that their decisions are applicable within it. Participants argued that itis necessary for them to incorporate local cultural codes into their decisions inorder to achieve their objectives