This dissertation investigates the development of W.B. Yeats’s aesthetic philosophy during his earlier career (1883 to 1907), particularly as it is presented in his prose writing and certain dramatic works of the period. Yeats is exposed to the folkloric tradition of Western Ireland from a young age while at the same time receiving a thorough education in the aesthetic philosophies of the Romantics, Pre-Raphaelites and French Symbolists. He finds the ideas regarding the ability of symbols to enlarge the imagination of the artist and his audience which these philosophies expound to be present in the folkloric tradition of Ireland. Yeats becomes involved with the nationalist cause of Ireland as a young man, and finds himself attracted to the prospect of contributing to Ireland’s struggle for independence on a cultural front. He chooses to apply his Romantic principles to art which draws on the shared folkloric tradition of Ireland in an effort to inspire cultural, rather than purely political, rejuvenation amongst his Irish audience. Yeats holds that art which only aims to serve political or moral ends often compromises its aesthetic integrity and he chooses to distance himself from such art, instead promoting an aesthetic ideal which values art for its inherent ability to communicate with an audience through the traditional symbols it encompasses. The artist is placed in the role of the bard and functions as the mediator who exposes the ancient truths that have been embedded in symbols through their traditional use. The poet must be able to create freely and without the pressure of serving a practical cause if he is to be successful in his cultural duty, and this too demands art to be valued autonomously as a force that has the potential to culturally invigorate a disenfranchised colonial Ireland. These ideas are honed during time spent in nationalist, occult, literary and theatre societies where different ideas and principles are unified with his early Romantic ideals to form an aesthetic which has the communicative and enlarging capabilities of art at its centre. The theatre in particular becomes a platform through which Yeats explores and expresses his own aesthetic ideals. This dissertation takes a historical and literary philosophical approach to establish Yeats’s aesthetic development from a traditional Romantic aesthetic to one that is thoroughly progressive and concerned with the autonomous value of Irish art. / MA (English), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

This dissertation investigates the development of W.B. Yeats’s aesthetic philosophy during his earlier career (1883 to 1907), particularly as it is presented in his prose writing and certain dramatic works of the period. Yeats is exposed to the folkloric tradition of Western Ireland from a young age while at the same time receiving a thorough education in the aesthetic philosophies of the Romantics, Pre-Raphaelites and French Symbolists. He finds the ideas regarding the ability of symbols to enlarge the imagination of the artist and his audience which these philosophies expound to be present in the folkloric tradition of Ireland. Yeats becomes involved with the nationalist cause of Ireland as a young man, and finds himself attracted to the prospect of contributing to Ireland’s struggle for independence on a cultural front. He chooses to apply his Romantic principles to art which draws on the shared folkloric tradition of Ireland in an effort to inspire cultural, rather than purely political, rejuvenation amongst his Irish audience. Yeats holds that art which only aims to serve political or moral ends often compromises its aesthetic integrity and he chooses to distance himself from such art, instead promoting an aesthetic ideal which values art for its inherent ability to communicate with an audience through the traditional symbols it encompasses. The artist is placed in the role of the bard and functions as the mediator who exposes the ancient truths that have been embedded in symbols through their traditional use. The poet must be able to create freely and without the pressure of serving a practical cause if he is to be successful in his cultural duty, and this too demands art to be valued autonomously as a force that has the potential to culturally invigorate a disenfranchised colonial Ireland. These ideas are honed during time spent in nationalist, occult, literary and theatre societies where different ideas and principles are unified with his early Romantic ideals to form an aesthetic which has the communicative and enlarging capabilities of art at its centre. The theatre in particular becomes a platform through which Yeats explores and expresses his own aesthetic ideals. This dissertation takes a historical and literary philosophical approach to establish Yeats’s aesthetic development from a traditional Romantic aesthetic to one that is thoroughly progressive and concerned with the autonomous value of Irish art. / MA (English), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Existing scholarship on modern Tibetan writing takes the 1980s as its point of “birth” and presents this period as marking a “rupture” with traditional forms of literature. This study seeks to go beyond such an interpretation by foregrounding the persistence of Tibet’s artistic past and oral traditions in the literary creativity of the present. An appreciation of genres, styles, concepts and techniques derived from Tibet’s rich and diverse oral art forms and textual traditions exposes the inadequacy of a simple “rupture” perspective. Whilst acknowledging the novel features of modern Tibetan literary creations this work draws attention to hitherto neglected aspects of continuities within the new. It reveals the innovative presence of Tibetan kāvya poetics, the mgur genre, biography, the Gesar epic and other types of oral compositions within modern Tibetan poetry and fiction. It also brings to prominence the complex and fertile interplay between orality and the Tibetan literary text. All these aspects are demonstrated by bringing the reader closer to Tibetan literature through the provision of original English translations of various textual and oral sources. Like any other national literature modern Tibetan literary production is also informed by socio-political and historical forces. An examination of unexplored topics ranging from popular music, Tibet’s critical tradition and cultural trauma to radical and erotic poetries shows a variety of issues that fire the imagination of the modern Tibetan writer. Of all these concerns the most overriding is the Tibetan nation, which pervades both fictional and poetic writing. In its investigation into modern Tibetan literature this thesis finds that Tibet as a nation - constituted of history, culture, language, religion, territory, shared myths and rituals, collective memories and a common sense of belonging to an occupied land - is inescapable. Embracing a multidisciplinary approach drawing on theoretical insights in literary theory and criticism, political studies, sociology and anthropology, this research demonstrates that, alongside past literary and oral traditions, the Tibetan nation proves to be an inevitable attribute of modern Tibetan literature.

One of the most interesting approaches on how we perceive nations today is the idea of imagining nations as brands. Nation branding is used by many governments as a tool for the dissemination of a certain nation imagery. From a media approach, this thesis explores the notion of nation branding as ideologically loaded in media discourse, and the official web discourse on Spain serves as a case. Specifically, the thesis reveals the media construction of Spain on the official website marcaespaña.es, exploring its relation to national identities and the underlying ideologies behind the online selfrepresentation. The thesis draws on the concepts of nation, national identities, ideology and discourse, relating them to nation branding from a critical perspective. To do so, the thesis employs Critical Discourse Analysis as method for analyzing national narratives, where nation branding discourse is seen as a social practice that legitimizes certain ideologies and power relations. The study concludes that the Spanish construction, portraying Spain as unique and united, reduces its national identity to an excellence and elite discourse, ignoring the complex reality of the nation. The thesis shows how this way of constructing the nation serves, through a website, to legitimize the current economical and political system, including the current government and the Spanish nationalism.

Immigration and its impact on aggregate welfare state preferences and welfare state reform has been the subject of numerous academic and political debates. Despite prolonged attention to these issues, however, empirical research has yielded mixed results concerning what effect, if any, immigration has the structure and generosity of the welfare state. This issue is further exacerbated by the absence of concerted conceptual cross-germination between the various theoretical literatures that examine immigration's effect on various social, economic, and political outcomes, making it difficult to identify the mechanisms through which immigration may shape the welfare state. To address these issues, I draw on social psychological research, theories of the welfare state, research on radical right-wing parties, and case studies from the United States to argue that changes in both the volume and characteristics of immigrants entering Western Europe might: 1) undermine the cross-class alliances necessary for maintaining the welfare state, 2) reduce public support for welfare programs, and 3) provide politicians on the far-right with a symbolic resource that can be used to justify cutting/restructuring welfare state programs believed to benefit immigrants. Empirical examinations of these arguments using a wide range of data sources indicate that immigration may be directly and indirectly related to welfare state spending. With regard to the former, the data indicate that the influx of migrants from less-developed countries into social and Christian democratic countries has contributed to rising program demand and corresponding increases in expenditures on more reactive welfare state programs (i.e., unemployment benefits). With regard to the indirect impact of immigration on the welfare state, analyses of voting and public opinion data demonstrate that changes in immigration have contributed to the electoral success of predominantly neoliberal, far-right, nationalist parties and contributed to rising levels of anti-immigrant sentiment over time. These factors, in turn, resulted in: 1) declines in popular support for those social and Christian democratic parties that are dedicated to the maintenance and/or expansion of the welfare state, and 2) reductions in average levels of support for welfare state programs designed to address issues of unemployment, making the welfare state more vulnerable to future retrenchment.

In Lycia, Xanthos and its main sanctuary, the Letoon, have throughout centuries kept some very particular features which have survived intense cultural upheavals and influences both Persian and Greeks. The infrastructures and shape of the Letoon indicates that there is more to the sanctuary’s rituals and architecture than normalised Greek divinities and temples. Lycia, following the Persian invasion in the 540s, remained a remote region of the empire and benefited from an autonomous status. Nevertheless the outside contacts and cultural exchanges multiplied and intensified, especially with the Persian ruling class, but also with the Greeks who took an increasing part into the trade and artistic influence of Lycia. The most important city of the region, Xanthos was the focus of the Persian presence in Lycia but also at the spearhead of Hellenic influence in western Lycia. This underlying Greek presence became ever more pregnant under the rule of the last dynasts of Xanthos at the turn of the fourth century and under the rule of the Carian satraps under the power of whom Lycia was put in the 360s. The Hellenistic period only confirm the prior trend. To begin with, we are trying to define how the Persians had an impact on the Lycian culture and conclude that it was a great influential force but stayed somewhat limited to the higher classes of the Xanthian society. The parallel with the Greek influence is contrasting. The arrival of Greek trends was more insidious but also more widespread to the lower classes of society and lasted longer. We will conclude that none of those influences were imposed but rather chosen by the Xanthian society. We will continue by trying to understand how those cultural manifestations affected local religious beliefs. By exposing the successive evolutions of the Letoon and of the divinities residing here, we will see that the syncretic divinities of the Letoon kept a lot of their ancestral attributes and places of worship are keeping track with their sacred past. In this process we are trying to show that religion holds a peculiar place in a nation or a city’s culture. In this attempt we are concluding that religion is the most stable aspect of a local culture and is the recipient for the safeguard of a nation’s identity.

Much like oft-repeated quotes or catchy movie soundtrack tunes, famous illustrations often outweigh and outlast their original contexts and establish themselves as iconic cultural reference points for generations to come. Over the last 100 years in Sweden, John Bauer’s fairy tale illustrations have maintained a strong grip on that nation’s popular imaginary through over thirty reprint editions, museum exhibits, stamp collections, and, of course, stylistic imitations. While their century-old narrative contexts remain relatively unknown and uninteresting to contemporary audiences, his beautifully blonde children, enchantingly ugly trolls, and stark, Swedish landscapes continue to be bought, sold, and validated as embodying a typically Swedish relationship to nature. Why John Bauer’s work has remained so influential over time while the publication they appeared in has faded is a question that many of his biographers have attempted to answer. Harald Schiller, the most thorough of these, claims that “when one sees [his] images in black and white or color, they capture one’s interest to such a degree that there is none left for the text” (152). This essay uses Schiller’s comment as a starting point to pose one answer to this question. By exploring the dynamic potential of the relationship between Bauer’s images and their early twentieth-century contexts, it locates the artist’s appeal over against his narrative guidelines and the historical movements of his time. To this end, its comparative analysis of the textual and visual narratives in the illustrated Swedish fairy tale annual, Bland tomtar och troll (Amongst Gnomes and Trolls) explores how the interplay between the historical pregnancy of its fairy tale stories and the Swedophilic affects of John Bauer’s illustrations contributes to the project of imagining and proliferating a new Swedish national identity at the beginning of the twentieth century. / text

Following the demise of apartheid, legislative, political and social practices were dramatically changed to promote equality and shared access for all South Africans. Newspapers and other mass media texts give insight to the co-construction of ethnic identity post-apartheid and evidence the emergence of a new dominant cultural narrative. In this new dominant cultural narrative, the trope of a colorblind national identity is frequently referenced. Another key component in this narrative construction is the memorialization of past traumatic events. This dissertation examines the news coverage of the 30th anniversary of the Soweto Uprisings, which occurred on June 16, 2006. The Soweto Uprisings will be framed as a "cultural trauma" (Alexander et al., 2004) and methods of critical discourse analysis will be used to examine the public construction of national identity in the post-apartheid era.The following questions guide the analysis of news media discourse: What changes to the South African national identity are evidenced in news stories covering the anniversary of the Soweto Uprisings? Do racially distinctive communities participate equally in the creation of this media discourse? In what ways are South African ethnic minorities "othered" in news features? How did/does the dominant cultural narrative evidenced in the media discourse influence the construction and management of racial identities in the larger context of South African society? The examination of the co-construction of national and racial identities in these news features draws upon an amalgamation of CDA methodologies outlined in Fairclough (1995, 1999), van Dijk (1988, 1991), and Wodak (Wodak & Weiss, Eds., 2003). The creation and re-creation of a shared history from the collective trauma of forcefully imposed, restrictive racialized communities is a dimension of national identity construction saliently evidenced by changes in the public discourse or dominant/counter narratives. Media discourse illustrates the emergence of colorblind national identity as the desirable, or default, national identity in post-apartheid South Africa and highlights the journalistic role in the creation and management of racial and national identities, liberation narratives, and reconciliatory discourses.

This study aims to address the longstanding questions surrounding the consistently low levels of support articulated towards the European Union (EU)by British citizens. Existing studies highlight that political identities are closely related to the levels of support citizens across the EU express for the process of European integration. Citizens who define their identity in exclusively national terms tend also to oppose the process of European integration and their country’s participation in this process. Present studies, however, fail to provide an adequate account of the emergence of exclusively national identities and their prevalence in member-states such as the UK. The citizens of the UK have expressed consistently low levels of support for the process of European integration and for British membership of what is now the EU, since Britain’s accession to the European Economic Community (EEC) over 30 years ago. Similarly, the UK has one of the highest proportions of citizens who define their identity in exclusively national terms of any EU memberstate. The argument presented in this thesis is that the low levels of support for the EU and the prevalence of exclusively national identity constructions amongst UK citizens must be understood in the context of British discourses about the EU. I employ the conception of subjectivity developed by post-structuralist discourse theory in order to examine the emergence of an exclusively national form of British identity within media debates on the EU treaty reform process. Discourse theory offers a set of concepts and logics through which it is possible to investigate the structure of eurosceptic discourses. Furthermore, drawing on the insights from Lacanian psychoanalysis, it is able to account also for the strength and longevity of these constructions of national identity. This thesis identifies a eurosceptic discourse of British national identity characterised by an underlying logic of nationalism, according to which nations are seen as natural political communities and the nation-state the most logical unit of political organisation. This is evident not only in debates about the powers of the EU, but also in the relationship constructed between the UK and other member-states in the EU. In addition, the EU is itself constructed as a quasi-state and functions in these discourses as the ‘other’ against which Britain is defined. The former is seen as a hostile, foreign power bent on assuming ever greater control over the UK. These constructions of Britain and the EU feed into fantasmatic constructions of subjugation and oppression, which help account for the strength and resilience of eurosceptic discourses. The final part of the thesis examines the pro-European voices in the British media. However, it is not possible to discern a coherent pro-European discourse in the same way in which it is possible to identify the eurosceptic discourse. I outline the extent to which these pro-European voices challenge the predominant eurosceptic discourse, and offer alternative constructions of Britain’s relationship with the EU which may form the basis of more inclusive identity constructions.

The use of classical music as a tool of propaganda in Britain during the War can be seen to have been an effective deployment both of the German masters and of a new spirit of England in the furtherance of British values and its point of view. Several distinctions were made between various forms of propaganda and institutions of government played complementary roles during the War. Propaganda took on various guises, including the need to boost morale on the Home Front in live performances. At the outset of the War, orchestras were under threat, with the experience of the London Philharmonic exemplifying the difficulties involved in maintaining a professional standard of performance. The activities of bodies such as the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts played a role in encouraging music, as did the British Council’s Music Advisory Committee, which co-operated with the BBC and the government, activities including the commissioning of new music. The BBC’s policies towards music broadcasting were arrived at in reaction to public demand rather than from an ideological basis and were developed through the increasing monitoring of German broadcasts and a growing understanding of what was required for both home and overseas transmission. Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony became an important part of the Victory campaign and there was even an attempt at reviving the Handel Cult of the Nineteenth Century. German music was also used in feature film but pre-eminent composers such as William Walton and Ralph Vaughan Williams contributed to the War effort by writing film music too. The outstanding example is Vaughan Williams’ music for Powell and Pressburger’s Ministry of Information sponsored 49th Parallel, in which the relationship between music and politics is made in a reference to Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain. Vaughan Williams’ non-film output included the greatest British orchestral work to have come out of the War, his Fifth Symphony; a work that encapsulated all the values that the institutions of public life sought to promote.