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The aim of this thesis is to explore how the Oktoberfest impacts on regional identity in Bavaria, with particular focus on its capital, Munich. Over the last decade, a conscious revival of Bavarian traditions at the event has become noticeable. This thesis investigates why there has been a revival of Bavarian characteristics at the Oktoberfest and seeks also to explain why this revival is occurring at this particular point in time. My investigation of the revival of regional Bavarian identity was conducted with a qualitative approach and placed in the wider context of Germany and Europe. Using theories around 'imagined communities' (Anderson, 1991), 'communities' boundaries' (Cohen, 1985) and 'invented traditions' (Hobsbawm, 1983), I show that, alongside the historical and political background of Bavaria, wider trends and developments in the course of Europeanisation and globalisation have played a significant role in the increasing interest in and emphasis on Bavarian identity in Munich. The research showed that the Oktoberfest offers the most prominent occasion for the Munich locals to display Bavarian traditions. Moreover, it serves as a 'celebratory stage' for the locals to reassert their identity, which is stressed as being distinct from the German nation. Also, the celebration of Bavarian tradition can be interpreted as people's 'return' to their regional roots in their search for stability in a rapidly globalising world.

The purpose of this essay is to examine descriptions of nature, both in terms of physical setting and as an abstract entity, and their relation to the concepts of place and regional identity in Daniel Woodrell’s Winter’s Bone (2006) and The Outlaw Album (2011). The main thesis is that when it comes to the characters’ relation to nature there is acceptance instead of resistance, and unification instead of separation. The essay also puts forth the argument that acceptance of nature can be seen as one of the key elements in both Winter’s Bone and The Outlaw Album. Moreover, the essay contains the idea that nature is a crucial part of the characters’ sense of regional identity in Winter’s Bone and The Outlaw Album. The theoretical background consists of ecocriticism along with theorizations of regional identity. When it comes to ecocriticism, a wide and multilayered theoretical field, the essay focuses on the works of three different scholars who all address the relationship between man, nature and place, namely Lawrence Buell, Fred Waage and Leonard Lutwack. The analysis consists of two parts. The first part addresses Winter’s Bone and mainly deals with the concept of family, the aspect of rurality and unification with nature within the novel. The second part looks at similar aspects in The Outlaw Album, but here, the emphasis is rather on the concept of outsider–insider, i.e. the difference between native Ozarkers and people who originate from outside the region.

This thesis discusses hand-painted decoration on British ceramics in the period 1870 to 1920 in the context of changing economic and social climates and gendered employment and occupation. The original impetus for this research came from analysis of ware produced at the South Wales Pottery in Llanelli sometime in the period 1877 to 1920. As the research expanded and links with other potteries were established, it became evident that varied innovations in hand-painted ceramic decoration were influenced by national, local and gendered responses to a period of transition in Britain.

This thesis tries to find out the causes of the permanent residence location choice and decision-making within the potentially different peripheral area of the Czech Republic, respectively Moravia, with the continuous demographic development. In this case, it is focused on the young families which could explain the current issue of the permanent residence location choice with regard to the significant likelihood recently finalised or proceeding residential mobility. For the purposes of the master thesis, it has been carried out the questionnaire survey within the designated peripheries of the Midwestern Moravia and the Eastern Moravian Slovakia in 2012 and it has been carried out the analytical operations using the statistic programme on the basis of the data obtained. At first, this thesis analyses the variability of the decision-making factors preferences, examines common and differentiating latent features of the decision-making process on the basis of the factors explored and observes the modality level of decision-making process according to the the residential mobility theoretical concept developed by Ero (2002). The second part is focused on the potential causalities of the decision-making factors and socio-cultural features of the areas observed, respectively is about the causalities of the...

This dissertation studies examples of social and cultural memory and identity manifested in the art of the southwest, present-day Sichuan province, during the Eastern Han dynasty. Through the study of the southwest's material culture, considered special for its distinct artistic style and content by scholars in the field of Chinese art, combined with analysis of early textual sources, it highlights a number of important findings associated with the region's social make-up, economic activities, burial practices, education and governance, all of which contributed to the formation of a distinct regional identity. The southwest's geographical isolation and its great distance from the Central Plains; the difficulties and dangers of road and river transport from all directions; its multi-ethnic make-up and the engrained cultural prejudice from the north, especially from the capital's governing elite and literati, were all factors that contributed to a sense of regional separation that manifested itself in a distinct material culture and is hinted at in early textual sources. The main sources of material culture examined in the dissertation are pictorial brick tiles and stone reliefs discovered in stone and brick chamber tombs; decorated stone sarcophagi placed in the region's cliff tombs; and commemorative and ancestral stelae erected for the governors of Shu and Ba commanderies. In its methodology, the dissertation employs Western theories on social and cultural memory and identity. It also bridges two fields of study, cultural and art history, which are often pursued separately due to their distinct specialisations. The dissertation's findings aim to contribute to our knowledge of the southwest and to the study of regional identity in early imperial China.

Migration is at the centre of human history (Benmayor & Skotnes, 1994, p.5) and it has become easier to migrate inside Europe since the Schengen Area has been implemented in 1995. However, European immigration in France is invisibe and very little researched (Lillo, 2014, p.85). The migration to Brittany is a phenomenom developed recently (Morillon & Etiemble, 2008, p.125) and even if it is gaining momentum, this French region has still the lowest rate of immigrants in France (Economic and Social Council of Brittany, 2007, p.87, INSEE & DRJSCS, 2005, p.5-6). Brittany's regional identity is well known in France (Quand les sondages sont unanimes, 2019, p.44) and this region is defined as one with a strong identity (Kernalegenn, 2011). The aim of this master thesis is to elaborate hypothesis about whether or not European immigrants are aware of Brittany's regional identity before settling in the region, the perception they have of Brittany's regional identity once they live there and finally whether or not their integration in this French region with a strong identity is difficult. This qualitative research is based on four semi-structured interviews with European immigrants and one with a French person born in England, all now living in Brittany.

The intention of this paper has been to look at how pan-African ideas about a common identity hav e been expressed and developed on the African continent since the period of decolonisation in the 1960s. By using social constructivist identity-theory I have looked at how identity can be constructed by the use of myths, stories, symbols and ‘othering’. Thereafter I used these ideas when analysing different official documents from pan-African movements such as the creation of the AU and its constitutive act to identify what tools that were used to construct a common African identity. Thereby I was also to see if there had been any change in how pan-African ideas have expressed African identity over time.

This study examines the issues of Transnistrian conflict, Transnistrian identity and Transnistrian statehood through the fields of historiography, economic development, language and educational politics, religion, Soviet ideology and the place of memory in two parts of the Republic of Moldova, Bessarabia and Transnistria. The results of this study reveal the influence of the above-listed spheres on identity in both regions, the significant role of the leadership of Transnistria and the Republic of Moldova in shaping peoples' opinion and strengthening the idea of Transnistrian statehood, and the existence of regional identity in Transnistria during a phase of transition.

Depopulation is a well-known phenomenon in peripheral rural regions. The most identified problems are based on structural weaknesses in terms of decreasing business activities and a lack of public infrastructure. In such regions population is mainly older causing major changes in social infrastructure. For instance many schools and kindergartens close down for lack of demand, which hinders young families to migrate to such regions. The result is typically a negative cumulative process of loss of population, loss of jobs, loss of infrastructure, further outmigration. It is an enormous challenge for such regions to overcome this vicious circle. Regional identity can be seen as an important factor to overcome such structural weaknesses. The paper will discuss the concept of regional identity in order to define the term and how it is embedded in regional development theory. The empirical analysis is presenting results focusing on regional identity coming out of a qualitative data analysis and a postal survey. We designed a regional identity index, which measures the intensity of personal and social relationships of both in-migrants and out-migrants.