This thesis seeks to consider the relationship between 'rock' and 'Irishness' • between transnational pop and the nation-state • challenging the 'orthodox' view that Irish rock embodies uniquely Irish characteristics. It is about Irish popular music and identity and is primarily concerned with the relationship between culture and meaning. It argues that the study of popular music as 'text' is important to the more general study of culture (even though the notion of text in popular music is problematic). The thesis seeks to explore how meaning is made in popular music culture across a shifting and unstable textual matrix. Authenticity is a central concept here and I examine discourses of Irish authenticity and essentialism and their relationship to authenticity in rock. The study of Irish rock is, I argue, important to wider debates about identity and globalisation, especially in debates about the relationship between national music cultures and an increasingly globalised market. I undertake an exploration of the concept of cultural hybridity and assess both its strengths and its limitations to tbe study of popular music and debates about national identity. Hybridity, I argue, is important in that it helps break down the essentialising force of both the main discourses of authenticity outlined, becoming useful in moving beyond discourses of cultural purity. Howeve~ hybridity discourse also has problems and frequently there is a Jack of discrimination between different types of hybrid text which may result ina simple celebration of hybrids and hybridity. Thus, the complex relationship between popular music, the articulation of identity in pop songs (and across pop's mobile textuality) and in discourse about pop is overlooked. In this way, the thesis argues that the study of popular music culture in specific contexts may reveal the limitations of existing cultural studies work on hybridity, textuality and meaning. This is part of a broader project of arguing for more detailed consideration of music, meaning and pleasure in regional and peripheral national contexts.

Información extraída de: <a href="http://perio.unlp.edu.ar/tesis/?q=node/23">http://perio.unlp.edu.ar/tesis/?q=node/23</a>

The purpose of this project is to identify and examine the reasons for which American singer, songwriter, and guitarist Joan Jett has been widely excluded from critical musicological study and discussion. The overall aim is to create a discourse around the problems of canonizing popular music and the subsequent marginalization of artists who do not conform to the standard identity associated with a particular genre. The thesis focuses on three songs from Jett’s career as the foundation for in depth analysis of her musical contributions and career as well as discussions about gender and authenticity in the music industry to establish Jett’s musical credibility and historical relevance in popular music studies.

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Technology in Japan has reached ubiquitous status and its development is one of the main priorities of state policy. which includes a wide range of programs aimed at increasing the involvement of IT in everyday life as an improvement of both society and humanity itself. On the other hand, there seems to be resistance among citizens of western countries to accept refrigerators able to tell you that you are almost out of eggs, or cars that remind you to fasten the safety belt or check your breath for the presence of alcohol before you can drive. There seems to he resistance for us to talk to machines as if they were alive. The question thus emerges: why are the Japanese so conscious about technologies? What is there in Japanese spirituality, tradition, history, or ideology that facilitates the acceptance of Information Technologies and Artificial intelligence as not only an integral part of daily life, but in fact as forms of actual consciousness? This thesis will deal with two aspects of contemporary life of Japanese - technologies and Shinto as a part of daily routine. These two aspects lead us to the concept of posthumanism as well as a religious concept of Shinto as a way of life in Japan. The questions arising from this approach are why and how information technologies are related to Shinto. Why is this relation almost inevitable? To answer these questions, this thesis will analyze the personification of technology in both Japanese animated film and in consumer products. / Graduate

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