AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF Gabor Hardy, for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Speech Communication, presented on 8 March, 2012, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale TITLE: A RITUAL IN PERSPECTIVE: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF A LAKOTA SUNDANCE AT HOOSIER NATIONAL FOREST MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Jonathan Gray Using ethnographic methods, interviews, observations, and participation of and in indigenous rituals, I discuss the ways in which Western and American Indian notions of spirit, human beings and their place in the world, and the practice of spirituality differ in action, thought, and word. Since the time of the Renaissance the supremacy of "rational" or "reasonable" modes of thinking has influenced the modern world. Many American Indian writers, shamans, and Sundance chiefs believe that an understanding of their approach to the Divine may never be apprehended without some sort of actual experience. This indigenous perspective differs in substantial ways from hegemonic, Christian and Western linear modes of thinking. I draw on my attendance at numerous Sundance rituals, readings by American Indian spiritual leaders, and ethnographic work done at the Salt Creek Sundance ritual to articulate and streamline major differences and similarities that exist in both approaches. Through participation and dialogue, a distinct indigenous spiritual approach emerges that is difficult to reconcile with traditional Christian and Eurocentric world views. As I hope to demonstrate, the appearance and performance of American Indian ritual serve to not only challenge Western colonial perspectives, but also to empower indigenous approaches to spirit. In order to cultivate a more tolerant approach to the diversity and various modes of spiritual expression, a change in consciousness is needed, not necessarily for the American Indian worldview, but from the current ethnocentric worldview of the US Government which holds this form of government as the highest accomplishment of any nation thus far. This dissertation offers an approach that probes the relationship between an earth based religion and a monotheistic religion. Finally, I present a vision that allows for an understanding and/or appreciation of a spiritual approach which remains alien to Western approaches and conceptualizations of spirit. Key words: rational mind, symbolic meaning, ritual, myths, sacred, ideology, truth, indigenous worlds, cosmology, spirituality, reason, ethnography, Sundance, performance, and Native American.

Using a qualitative semiotic analysis and a quantitative netnographic approach, this mixed method study seeks to examine the use of nostalgic marketing within the field of luxury fashion advertising. The focal point of the study focused on material from online video content posted by four European luxury fashion brands between the years 2020 and 2022, as well as commentary feedback from their followers on social media platforms Instagram and Youtube. Basing our research on previous literature regarding both nostalgia and luxury fashion marketing individually, along with a theoretical framework including theory of semiotics, theory of representation, mythology and luxury branding, the aim was to establish whether or not the selected brands were successful in inducing nostalgic emotions in their viewers. This study offers insights into marketing perspectives, branding strategies and how to build brand equity through attachment and loyalty towards luxury fashion brands through the use of nostalgia. By analysing four luxury brands, three of which can be considered as heritage brands and the forth being newly-established on the market, and juxtaposing them against each other to compare their cultural, symbolic and nostalgic elements included in their advertising video campaigns and study their individual effectiveness. Throughout our research, it was indicated that the symbolic value within imagery must be enhanced, specifically in regards to luxury fashion brands, for consumers to have positive impressions of the brand and be willing to purchase from the brand. Therefore, luxury fashion brands continuously try to deliver dream-like scenarios in order to fulfil consumers’ desires and luxury experiences.

A partir do entendimento da história do consumo alimentar desde o século XIX, e da identificação das tendências alimentares presentes atualmente no país, a presente pesquisa visa entender como são representadas as inovações alimentares no discurso publicitário Brasileiro. Considerando a mensagem publicitária como campo de inovação discursiva e espelho das dinâmicas sociais contemporâneas, a pesquisa utiliza de uma metodologia baseada no modelo de análise da imagem de Martine Joly, para construir um marco comparativo entre diferentes signos plásticos e desse modo entender as características da representação das tendências tanto na mídia como no espaço público. O resultado da pesquisa evidência as funções mercadológicas de cada um dos tipos de comunicação no universo alimentar e a falta de uma construção sígnica organizada na hora de representar a realidade e o futuro alimentar do país. / From the understanding of the history of food consumption since the nineteenth century, and the identification of food trends currently present in the country, this research aims to understand how innovations are represented in the advertising discourse. Considering advertising as a discursive field of innovation and a contemporary mirror of the social dynamics, the research uses a methodology based on the analysis of the image by Martine Joly, in order to build a comparison frame between different plastic signs and thereby understand the characteristics of the representation of food trends both in the media and in the public space. The results highlighted the marketing functions of each of the types of communication present in the food universe and the lack of an organized semiotic construction to represent the reality and the future of the country alimentation system.

No description available.

Most of previous works focused on the relationship between organizational attractiveness as an employer and instrumental attributes of employer image. Potential job seekers were viewed as rational and alone decision makers. However, in addition to objective facts, potential job seekers consider other facts when they make a job decision such as emotional facts and perceived harmony with organization. Furthermore, potential job seekers hold a vague impression on a potential employer. Others¡¦ opinions of potential employers must be their crucial information sources and they may change decision because of others¡¦ opinion. The study add symbolic meaning construct to employer image and research the relationship between it and organizational attractiveness as an employer and found it is significant related to organizational attractiveness as an employer. The mediated effect of the similarity between potential job seekers¡¦ personality and organizations¡¦ personality and others¡¦ opinions are considered here. Both of them don¡¦t significant mediated the relationship between employer image and organizational attractiveness as an employer.

A partir do entendimento da história do consumo alimentar desde o século XIX, e da identificação das tendências alimentares presentes atualmente no país, a presente pesquisa visa entender como são representadas as inovações alimentares no discurso publicitário Brasileiro. Considerando a mensagem publicitária como campo de inovação discursiva e espelho das dinâmicas sociais contemporâneas, a pesquisa utiliza de uma metodologia baseada no modelo de análise da imagem de Martine Joly, para construir um marco comparativo entre diferentes signos plásticos e desse modo entender as características da representação das tendências tanto na mídia como no espaço público. O resultado da pesquisa evidência as funções mercadológicas de cada um dos tipos de comunicação no universo alimentar e a falta de uma construção sígnica organizada na hora de representar a realidade e o futuro alimentar do país. / From the understanding of the history of food consumption since the nineteenth century, and the identification of food trends currently present in the country, this research aims to understand how innovations are represented in the advertising discourse. Considering advertising as a discursive field of innovation and a contemporary mirror of the social dynamics, the research uses a methodology based on the analysis of the image by Martine Joly, in order to build a comparison frame between different plastic signs and thereby understand the characteristics of the representation of food trends both in the media and in the public space. The results highlighted the marketing functions of each of the types of communication present in the food universe and the lack of an organized semiotic construction to represent the reality and the future of the country alimentation system.

No description available.

This research project, Return of the Polynesian Phantom, investigates self-portraiture through the mediums of moving image, digital modeling, object making, and installation. It seeks to consider in these media an ambiguous threshold between lightness and darkness, the real and the fabricated. The proposition that it explores is that it is at such ambiguous thresholds that notions of identity are negotiated, and where the perception and interpretation of symbolic meaning renders identity phantom.

This explorative qualitative research investigates whether there is a difference in the symbolic meanings between the bulimic’s behaviour of purposefully expelling food versus the anorexic’s deprivation of food by administering the Thematic Apperceptive Test, as well as, conducting in-depth, semi-structured individual interviews with two bulimic women, two anorexic women of the restrictive sub-type and one anorexic woman of the binge-eating/ purging sub-type, whose ages ranged from twenty-one to thirty-five years of age. Both the conscious and unconscious themes that emerge from their stated relationship with food and their TAT responses are explored, with particular interest being focused on whether the symbolic meaning of food is in essence a “symbolic equation” for an object, specifically the mother and parental couple. The concept of “symbolic equation” is explored analytically from a Kleinian perspective to ascertain whether it is not food, per se that the anorexic is depriving herself of or that the bulimic suddenly and uncontrollably ingests, but then rapidly and violently expels. On the contrary, it appears that the refusal to introject or the ambivalent battle between introjection and expulsion of food is used as a disguise for the underlying conflictual object relation/s. The modified version of the Bellak Scoring System (1986) was used to analyse their TAT responses in order to elicit the themes that represent their internal worlds and object relations. Individual thematic content analysis was conducted on each interview transcript separately, and then a comparative analysis performed to explore commonalities and differences across the transcripts and TAT responses amongst the three anorexic women as a group and the bulimic women as a separate group. After which, the two different eating disorder groups were compared to explore both their differences and similarities. The findings suggest that a variety of conscious and unconscious motives might best be understood within the historical context of each participant’s early development and family dynamics. It appears that the anorexic is unconsciously motivated, at least partly, by her desire to repudiate any experience of dependency, separateness, loss, frustration, envy, fear, guilt and helplessness. Conversely, the bulimic appears to be motivated, at least partly, by the repetitive magical quest to restore a ‘good’ self-object bond and to stifle her destructiveness. Nonetheless, underlying both the anorexic’s and the bulimic’s illness is an ambivalent struggle with internalising a gainful and durable link to an object, which can in some way be permitted to be ‘good’. This appears to have its origin in the mother-daughter relationship, father-daughter relationship, parental couple, as well as, the triangular space between the mother-daughter-father link. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Psychology / unrestricted