Worldwide, 450 million people are estimated to have a mental health problem. Therefore this study set out with the aim to fill the gap in research on how to raise happiness and subjective well-being amongst adolescents. The sample of the study consisted of 90 students ranging from 16 - 19 years of age. They were randomly assigned to one of two methods; BPS (Best Personal Self) or nostalgia. Each group was then given varying instructions on a task they would perform on a daily basis, with tests taken on the first and last day of the study. The tests consisted of questions from the PANAS (Positive and Negative Affect Scale) and the SWLS (Satisfaction with Life Scale), which would determine the different methods short- and long-term effect on the participants happiness and subjective well-being. A control group was used to compare the results of the test groups. The results indicated nostalgia as being the most effective way to raise short-term well-being amongst adolescents, which raised interesting questions for future studies.

This dissertation contributes to post-war public opinion research by examining the perceptions of migrants – the gastarbeiter, the refugee, the family reunited after war – and the local population in comparative perspective. Existing surveys of post-war populations are typically conducted in a single country affected by war. However, particularly following forced expulsion and campaigns of ethnic cleansing substantial portions of national communities affected by conflict no longer live within the boundaries of the state. Current research may therefore overlook important populations as well as contextual factors that shape post-war attitudes. I help to address this problem by examining three widely held assumptions in the literature: that migrants hold more conflictive attitudes than the local population after war; that assimilation in settlement countries leads migrants to hold more peaceful attitudes; and that traumatic experiences lead migrants to hold more conflictive attitudes. These claims are largely based on theoretical accounts, case studies that suffer from selection bias and quantitative results that have proven unstable. By contrast, I examine new micro-level data: two large-scale surveys conducted simultaneously in post-war Bosnia and Sweden as a settlement country. Sweden’s choice to grant permanent residency in toto to refugees from the Bosnian War in 1993 resulted in the vast majority remaining settled in Sweden. As a result, the population of ex-Yugoslavs in Sweden is arguably more representative than in other comparable settlement country contexts. To explain differences among ex-Yugoslavs in Sweden and between these migrants and the local population in Bosnia, I connect social-psychological processes that help meet individuals’ basic psychological needs. These include: belief formation in the context of war; acculturation strategies in settlement countries; the development of nostalgic memories; and coping with traumatic experiences. The findings shed light on largely misunderstood processes. Under certain conditions, migration may provide an exit from detrimental wartime and post-war settings that produce and sustain conflictive societal beliefs after war. At the same time, the migration context may provide a richer set of socioeconomic and psychological resources for coping, offsetting the need to rely on conflictive beliefs as a way of dealing with the conflict crisis.

This thesis outlines the structure and functionality of a selection of webseries, webshows, and eSports casting examples, in order to add to the discourse on online video. Webtelevision, or Web TV production, distribution, and financing systems will be detailed in the case studies made; and industry actors such as entrepreneurs, independents, corporations and conglomerates will be discussed and identified. Who are the producers, the advertisers, the distribution platforms, the sponsors, the rights holders, and how do they interact? In exploring the structure of some examples of Web TV, I wish to debunk the online-amateur association as an inaccurate or insufficient description which permeates much prior academic study on online video. Webshow content, business strategies, legal and copyright issues, as well as fan culture aspects will also be investigated; and in regards to eSports, the question of televised as opposed to streamcast tournaments will be examined.

當代與飲食相關的媒介文本十分豐富，「古早味」更可說是其中討論不絕之重要主題，然而專論飲食懷舊現象的傳播研究卻不多，相關研究亦常將「懷舊」現象簡化為失真的歷史想像。 　　本研究聚焦於古早味書寫文本，認為對過往飲食經驗的懷舊反思具有正面意義，其乃「當代認同建構的過程」，且該建構論觀點也與敘事理論相互呼應。本文因此認為：觀察近年來盛行的古早味媒介文本，應可描繪當代社會的認同形貌。 　　研究發現，古早味敘事乃透過回憶場景、童年節日時光、直系長輩親人等來營造幸福質樸的懷舊氛圍。而個人身世背景、離散經驗與高度現代化社會下的焦慮皆成為結構性壓力，敘事者得以「親情聯繫」、「飲食意義」為刺點並以繼承尋根方式統合建構認同。 / The media texts of “Taiwanese retro food” increase gradually recently. However, there are few communication researches focus on this important phenomenon. Moreover, those researches also simplify nostalgia as “distortive imagination of history” constantly. 　Therefore, this paper aims to argue that the introspection of the past is the progress of identity construction and is also related to narrative theory. Through analysing contemporary media texts of retro food, we probably may depict the appearance of social identity of the time. 　Accordingly, the research found that nostalgic aura was cultivated by the narrative of the important scenes, good old times, and close family members. And the narrators tended to construct personal identity through pursuing family love and holding value of retro food.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--McGill University, 2008. / Written for the Dept. of German Studies. Includes bibliographical references.

Abstract This thesis attempts to contribute to both intermedial studies and F. Scott Fitzgerald scholarship by studying the text-illustration interplay in two versions of “The Rich Boy”. Intermediality, which pays close attention to media interactions, is a natural method to explore the word-image relations in these texts: the first version, published in Red Book Magazine in 1926, and an illustrated Spanish translation from 2012.             Lars Elleström’s definition of media as a combination of modes and modalities, plays a central role in the analysis, where I study how these interact in each text: For instance, in terms of the material and sensorial modalities, both illustrators try to simulate depth and convey the senses in a flat interface. In terms of the spatiotemporal modality, the anachronies in the time placement of Gruger’s images intensify the nostalgic mood in the text, while Ágreda’s adherence to the text’s time relays a certain autonomy. Both their treatments of space are often symbolic; thus, regarding the semiotic modality, the images are symbolic besides iconic. Each text is colored by the reading of the illustrator, who is also a reader and interpreter.             The theoretical framework also comprises of an approach to nostalgia: While Fitzgerald’s story is nostalgic per se, the illustrators display variations of nostalgia: Gruger’s work mirrors and enhances the nostalgic mood of the text, and while to a certain extent, Ágreda’s also does this, his nostalgia is most manifest in how he attempts to recreate a particular picture of the Jazz Age.

Submitted by Juliana Alvim (juliana.alvim@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-12-06T17:55:32Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Juliana Alvim_dissertação_mestrado profissional_versão final para entrega.pdf: 1419653 bytes, checksum: 54c7e52fa71432021414980f3ebbf70b (MD5) / Rejected by ÁUREA CORRÊA DA FONSECA CORRÊA DA FONSECA (aurea.fonseca@fgv.br), reason: Rejeitada a pedido da aluna. Att.. Áurea SRA on 2016-12-12T19:27:54Z (GMT) / Submitted by Juliana Alvim (juliana.alvim@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-12-12T20:41:29Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Juliana Alvim_dissertação_mestrado profissional_versão final para entrega.pdf: 1419676 bytes, checksum: 093a063ae65986babf6780364b99b701 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Rafael Aguiar (rafael.aguiar@fgv.br) on 2016-12-16T18:23:22Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Juliana Alvim_dissertação_mestrado profissional_versão final para entrega.pdf: 1419676 bytes, checksum: 093a063ae65986babf6780364b99b701 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-22T12:45:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Juliana Alvim_dissertação_mestrado profissional_versão final para entrega.pdf: 1419676 bytes, checksum: 093a063ae65986babf6780364b99b701 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-06-09 / Even after almost 27 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the memory of East Germany is still disputed. Its appropriation today happens mainly through ‘museumization’ and the marketing of symbols from the past, but individual memories are still sufficiently powerful to prevent forgetting through consumerism. In this dissertation, I seek to approach different ways of remembering East Germany through testimonies of people who, in very distinctive ways, lived the socialist regime that ended with the country’s unification with West Germany in 3 October 1990. I also intend to present a foreign outlook into Berlin’s complexities and its commitment to not forgetting its difficult past / Mesmo após quase 27 anos da queda do Muro de Berlim, a memória da Alemanha Oriental ainda é alvo de disputas. Sua apropriação se dá, hoje, principalmente por meio da musealização e da comercialização de símbolos do passado, mas o peso das memórias individuais ainda é suficientemente grande para impedir o esquecimento pela via do consumo. Neste trabalho, procuro abordar diferentes modos de lembrar a Alemanha Oriental por meio de depoimentos de pessoas que vivenciaram, de maneiras muito distintas, o regime socialista que findou definitivamente com a unificação do país com a Alemanha Ocidental, em 3 de outubro de 1990. Pretendo também apresentar um olhar estrangeiro sobre as complexidades de Berlim e seu apego ao não-esquecimento de seu difícil passado.

Comment faire un travail scientifique si le chercheur est déjà trop obsédé par son objet d’étude et si, d’ailleurs, ce dernier n’est pas seulement un objet réifié mais doté d’une certaine réalité de l’âme ? La distance délicate entre le subjectif et l’objectif est ainsi l’enjeu principal de cette thèse, une recherche dont le chercheur est un cinéphage devenu cinéphile, qui est hanté par sa passion pour son objet bien vivant qu’est le cinéma de Wong Kar Wai mais qui a envie de vivre symboliquement cette passion. Il s’agit donc de l’équation personnelle d’après C. G. Jung et de cette distance ironique selon Antoine de Baecque. Vis-à-vis d’une telle difficulté méthodologique qui est en fait une occasion très généreuse, une approche empirique et une attitude religieuse se proposent. D’où le chercheur-cinéphile se lance dans un itinéraire homérique, à la recherche de son mythe du cinéma total qui n’est rien d’autre que son archétype du cinéma dont le symbole vivant se veut exactement Wong Kar Wai. Cette recherche devient, au fur et à mesure, une découverte, vu que la nostalgie n’est pas ailleurs, mais chez soi. Dans une telle circumambulation sous la forme d’une mise en abîme, le rapprochement entre une histoire du cinéma et une Histoire du cinéma n’est qu’inéluctable. Re-contextualisés sont les souvenirs personnels du chercheur du cinéaste hongkongais et plusieurs protagonistes rencontrés dans sa cinéphilie (Bresson, King Hu, Langlois, Bazin, Tarkovski, la bande de Truffaut, Dumont, etc.) sur la route et envisageable est une filiation toujours en devenir entre ce qui arrive avant et ce qui vient après. Que ces pages soient une scène de la création-critique et que la fonction cinéphile se manifeste à travers elle. / How to conduct a scientific work if the researcher is himself already incurably obsessed by his study material? This question fits in quite well for the present case, since the PhD student is an inveterate lover of Wong Kar Wai’s cinema. In other words, the situation is that of a cinephage-turned-cinephile — extremely conditioned by a living work inescapably defined by an amorous aura — who is trying to find a way out, in a relatively rational way, that is to say, symbolically, to deal with this entanglement as mise en abyme. Two methodological as well as deontological perspectives are thus drawn on, “the personal equation” adapted by C. G. Jung and “the ironic distance” coined by Antoine de Baecque. Hopefully, the writing of this dissertation could be regarded as a circumambulation whose goal is nothing more than its very process which is a nostalgic yearning for the cinema archetype, or, in terms of André Bazin’s idea(l): the myth of total cinema.

This thesis explores representations of wild nature in two Arthurian texts – one British and one American – produced in an age characterised by rapid social transformation: Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s Idylls of the King (1859-1885) and Howard Pyle’s Story of King Arthur and His Knights (1903). By investigation of the textual descriptions of wilderness and the portrayals of characters living there, the study aims to investigate what attitudes towards unkempt nature are displayed in the two texts. While both narratives give evidence of a powerful nostalgia for a vanishing paradise, the yearning for Eden is expressed quite differently. Pyle’s text fuses the concepts of wilderness and paradise together by depicting the unkempt landscape as a place of splendour and spiritual enjoyment. Such a celebration of nature might well be seen a reaction against the rapid loss of wild spaces across America (and Britain) during the life-time of the author. In the Idylls, paradise is represented in the domesticated yet green landscape of the faraway fairy island of Avilion. Wilderness, on the other hand, is depicted as a harmful disease progressively spreading across the realm, arguably bringing about a moral degeneration among the human characters. In the end, however, it is not wilderness, but the corruption of the supposedly civilised characters that causes the collapse of Arthur’s empire. On closer inspection, the real danger thus seems to come from culture and material conditions rather than from nature.

abstract: Eat Your Heart Out is a visually rich qualitative ethnic food research that examines consumption, production, and distribution practices transnationally. Through the example of Mumbai’s street foods, the study aims to discover how design participates in fashioning the street food experiences locally and globally. Food is an important cultural artifact in the world. However, past research in design suggests that the discipline has mainly focused on food as a catalyst for creativity and imagination or as a tool to examine materialistic, economical, sensorial, and emotional connections. Studying the user-focused involvement in the creation of food artifacts and focusing on cultural, global, and historical aspects of that participation are important to address the gaps in the knowledge required to solve increasingly “wicked problems” (Buchanan, 1992; Rittel, 1971). To achieve this goal, Eat Your Heart Out implemented a comparative practice-based study of the Indian street foods in Mumbai and Phoenix to examine consumption, production, and distribution practices at both places. The methodological design was highly multi-disciplinary in nature and included rapid ethnographic assessment, interviews, visual research, and a generative method of co-creation. The study revealed that street foods as cultural artifacts were deeply rooted in specific traditional values specific to the context, which significantly influenced personal and communal consumption, production, and distribution practices of Indian street foods in Mumbai and Phoenix. The values of standardization, formality, and higher food regulation practices limited the diversity and radically transformed the central values of Mumbai’s street foods when the foods re-territorialized in Phoenix. This resulted in lowering the consumption. Eat Your Heart Out presents cultural and practical insights into the interactions between contexts, artifacts, practices, and participants. Eat Your Heart Out recommends new frameworks of correlation for various consumption and production practices and suggests how street food artifacts alter when they move across cultures. Such knowledge can be valuable for similar ethnic food culture studies and the development of innovative research tools incorporating transnational and multidisciplinary methods in the future. On a broader scope, Eat Your Heart Out provides a unique opportunity to study a culture that has not been examined by scholars much in the past. It also focuses on gaining knowledge about ethnic culinary practices of Indian immigrants in the United States and encouraging enhanced cross-cultural acceptance. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Design, Environment and the Arts 2018