Based on a long-term ethnography inside a block of flats in Piatra-Neamt, Romania, this thesis explores how individuals, through everyday creative engagements with their apartments, try to come to terms with the uncertainties of a rapidly changing society - one caught between the vulnerabilities of both socialism and capitalism. It examines the inhabitants' capacity for self-organization, with a focus on the daily life of a block administrator overseeing the maintenance and repair of his ageing building. By paying close attention to a range of infrastructural elements often taken for granted - from water taps and boilers, to balconies and windows - my research offers new insights into how people negotiate complex relationships of trust and suspicion in the light of degrading infrastructure. Within the context of increasingly decentralized resources, I also demonstrate various difficulties involved in sustaining day-to-day practices of energy-saving, and discuss the block inhabitants' multifaceted understanding of the 'common good'. Finally, I emphasize how apartment renovations are fuelled by motivations that are at once aesthetic and functional, and thus problematize the distinction between these two categories that has dominated anthropological studies of the built environment to this day. My thesis contrasts the well-established literature about the home - that pays attention to aesthetics and identity at the micro-scale of the domestic space - with recent studies about infrastructure that typically examine macro-scale, functional reasons for urban transformations. Overall, I argue for a more prominent role for the study of home infrastructures in anthropology, while also contributing to debates about housing and energy policies.

Aged by popular culture is a research project designed to investigate how our perceptions of age and aging are shaped by two specific aspects of North American culture – Western media and popular culture – which have advanced and reinforced ageism though their celebration of the ‘cult of youth‘ and negative depictions of aging and old age that form the foundation of the anti-aging industry. This combination of factors has pushed older adults out into the margins of society where they have largely become invisible, resulting in an ageism that has become normalized and largely internalized by the general population. Sixteen participants (5 between the ages of 20-35 years of age, and 11 between the ages of 65-80-years of age) contributed to this research in 2017-2018. Each participant created photographs or collage images based on specific interview questions that focused on media and popular culture’s depiction of aging and older age in contemporary society, which were then discussed during a recorded qualitative interview. Participant photos, images and audio clips are included in the dissertation which is in a website format that was specifically designed as a teaching tool to be used in K-12 schools, post-secondary institutions, and other organizations and senior’s centres. This website dissertation has the objective of promoting critical thinking that may generate a positive change in attitudes towards aging, build more positive intergenerational connections, and help to reduce the harmful effects of ageism in contemporary society. Seven theme topics were created based on an analysis of the participant images and interviews which can be accessed through ‘Themes’ on the Website Menu. I suggest using these themes as your navigation tools through the website. Each section contains a discussion and analysis of the topic, plus participant photos, text and audio clips. Links within pages provide access to detailed information on the various statistics, concepts and definitions connected to each theme topic. Additional information on Aged by popular culture and the research process is available through links on the ‘Research’ section of the ‘Website Menu.’ (See ‘Table of Contents’ for the complete list of website menu sections and topics.) The Literature Review and Copyright information are also included in a PDF format, as part of this submission. Please note: The dissertation (‘Aged by popular culture’) was created as a website. The current URL link is: https://agedbypopularcultureoutcalt.uvic.ca .The website dissertation has also been archived as a URL and can be accessed through this link: https://wayback.archive-it.org/17458/20210908235329/https://onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca/outcaltl/ / Graduate

in many daily forms of media we see the nation being represented by or alongside images. These images of the nation inform the way we see both others and ourselves. This thesis attempts to understand the way the nation is visualized, a topic that has been largely overlooked by theorists of nationalism. The visualization of the nation is explored by researching two national tourism campaigns in Croatia. Croatia was chosen as a case study in which to examine the visualization of the nation due to its recent accession into the European Union alongside the country’s economic dependence on tourism and its current attempts at rebranding. In order to achieve the aims of this research I ask two main research questions: 1. How is the nation visualized in Croatia through tourism advertising and by whom?, 2. How is this visualization received by members of the nation? These questions were answered by combining three methodological steps which consisted of a visual analysis of the images of the campaigns, interviewing those involved in creating the campaigns and other members of the design or tourism community, and finally photo elicitation interviews with members of the Croatian public. This research found that Croatia is often peripheral within these tourism campaigns. The nation is represented passively with the main focus of the advertisements being the experience of tourism. Croatia is merely the backdrop that these tourism activities are being advertised through. This passive representation of Croatia is a consequence of an industry that is focused on increasing tourism numbers and that relies heavily on marketing data. The representation of Croatia is not the aim of these tourism campaigns. The passive image of the nation is additionally the consequence of Croatia’s uneasy relationship with presenting something as national. National pride is often equated with violent forms of nationalism and therefore visual representations of the nation are often eliminated from the positive marketing images of the tourism campaigns. Both members of the nation and the industry downplay the importance of tourism advertising arguing that these images are solely for the tourist and therefore they are largely insignificant. However, I use du Gay’s (1997) concept of the ‘circuit of culture’ to argue that tourism advertising is not just influenced by national identity but rather it is also influencing national identity. These tourism campaigns contribute to the construction of national identity. Therefore, this passive image of the nation is not just for tourists, it is part of a circuit of identity construction that reaches far beyond the target audience. Overall, these tourism images are simplistic and reductive imitations of the nation while national identity is complex, inconsistent, and often contradictory. Branding and design often aims to condense identity into easily recognizable and quickly communicated images making any attempt to brand the nation inherently lacking. While this reductive identity is useful when branding a company or product, when applied to the nation ethical questions emerge about who has the right to construct the nation’s image. I argue that this new phenomenon of commercialized branding that is now a responsibility of the nation is evidence of the changing role of the nation from a modern construction to a postmodern brander. This opens up questions about the democratic nature of these tourism images and consequences of nation branding efforts that continue to represent the nation in reductive and passive terms.

Public support for renewable energy projects is important in transitioning towards a more sustainable energy system. However, the literature investigating local energy acceptability has predominantly focused on understanding local opposition to single (wind) energy projects. As a result, it has relatively little to say about the construction of support for such projects, and about the relative acceptability of other local contributions to sustainability. Also, by focusing on oppositional responses to energy projects, the willingness and ability of local communities to contribute constructively to the design of locally-supported energy developments has also been overlooked by many previous studies. In response to these limitations, this research adopted a focus on early stage ‘upstream’ deliberation of multiple local energy alternatives, using the British island of Guernsey as a case study. Informed by social representations theory, three studies investigated how potential future offshore wind, tidal and wave energy projects were represented by Guernsey residents to threaten, enhance or fit place-related values and meanings associated with Guernsey and its coast and sea. Working collaboratively with the Guernsey government’s Renewable Energy Team, a mixed methods approach with a focus on participatory, visual methods was adopted, including auto-photography (Study 1), deliberative focus groups (Study 2) and a questionnaire survey (Study 3). The research found Guernsey and its coast and sea to be meaningful to local residents in many ways and at different scales, including as a unique island in need of more independence, with a coast that is valued for its quietness, wildlife, leisure opportunities, tides, natural beauty and as a space for exploration. Public understandings of tidal and wave energy as a local energy option were highly diverse, and subsequently some but not all local offshore renewable energy options were represented as ‘fitting’ these place-related meanings. In particular, the notion of Guernsey’s local distinctiveness was found to be important; tidal energy projects were represented as enhancing this distinctiveness, while offshore wind energy was instead portrayed as making Guernsey more like everywhere else. Overall, local energy acceptance at such an upstream stage was found to depend to a substantial extent on the technology chosen, the selected site for the project, and on how the project is interpreted relationally within a context of wider energy systems, policies and the perceived availability of (more appealing) local alternatives. This thesis suggests that adopting an upstream, visual, place-based approach could be one way to both achieve a better academic understanding of the acceptability of local energy projects, and to contribute to the development of more acceptable energy development practices in the future.

From family-style portraits to selfies, who is photographer and/or photographed varies as families engage, stage, and interpret the visual. How families participate in photo-making changes how individual family members feel about and relate to not only their photographs, but also each other. In this dissertation, I examine photographs as visual and material objects, and include the communication processes and ritual practices of producing, consuming, curating, viewing, and circulating these photos. By framing family photo-making as ritual, I explore how families do photo-making in everyday life, and identify the patterns of choice embedded in the genre of family photography, which symbolically and socially construct family. My methodological approach moves from analyzing images to the lives of photos and spaces in which photos are represented and shared, observing visible practices and the traces – photographs and photo displays – they produce. I ask questions about communicative acts of performing rituals and negotiating family memory in the public space of the Easter Bunny Photo Hut, the personal and domestic space of a mother’s home, and the digital space of the social media app Snapchat. Each site provides a unique access point to study family photo-making ethnographically. Combining my ethnographic observations with photo elicitation interviews, I study the symbolic value of photographs negotiated by and between family members.

No / Challenges were encountered when attempting to analyse video based data during a project exploring touch screen computer technology with people living with dementia. In order to inform the analytic process, a scoping review of published evidence was undertaken. Results of the scope illustrated the use of various techniques when analysing visual data, the most common of which was the transcription of video into text and analysed using conversation analysis. Three additional issues emerged in the course of the review. First, there is an absence of detail when describing the ethical implications involved when utilising visual methods in research. Second, limited priority is given to providing a clear rationale for utilising visual methods when audio or field notes may have been a viable alternative. Third, only 40% of reviewed articles clearly stated a chosen methodology. The conclusions of the review illustrate a lack of consistency across studies in the overall reporting of research methods and recommend that authors be explicit in their reporting of methodological issues across the research process. / The PhD is funded by the ESRC as part of the White Rose University Consortium

Embedded in debates concerning Britishness and citizenship, this thesis considers the influence of the dualistic tradition on citizenship theory and highlights the exclusionary nature of citizenship as founded in this paradigm. Working within this dualistic paradigm means that the lives and practices of being a citizen are not captured, creating an exclusionary cycle whereby the concept excludes the lives of many citizens, and many individuals are excluded from being a citizen as defined by the concept. This thesis used participatory, visual and online methods to explore belonging and exclusion with young people around England. Informed strongly by the field research, this thesis analyses citizenship as defined through dualistic and embodied paradigms and considers the potential of an embodied concept of citizenship for engaging young people.

O bairro da Liberdade se organiza como polo comercial e turístico desde a década de 1970 por iniciativa de comerciantes locais junto à Prefeitura. Dois marcos importantes dessa iniciativa foram a instituição da Liberdade como Bairro Oriental e a inauguração de uma decoração oriental, que desde então caracteriza o bairro. Essa guinada se refletiu também nos estudos sobre a Liberdade, que se concentram mais nos traços orientais e nos aspectos comerciais e turísticos da vida local. Em busca de novas abordagens sobre o bairro, voltamonos para o cotidiano dos moradores. Estávamos interessados em saber o que os moradores destacariam na paisagem local, já que ela não guarda apenas traços orientais, como também vestígios de movimentos de outras comunidades pelo bairro. Entretanto, durante o processo de pesquisa, um objetivo teórico-metodológico ganhou corpo no trabalho: explorar a possibilidade de conhecer o bairro da Liberdade por meio da caminhada e do vídeo. Convidamos então alguns moradores para que nos acompanhassem em passeios e apresentassem os seus pontos de referência no bairro da Liberdade. Para o registro desses passeios, utilizamos uma câmera de vídeo, ora conduzida pelos moradores, ora pelo pesquisador. Este trabalho se desenvolveu então em duas frentes: a experiência que se deu ao vivo no bairro da Liberdade e a experiência que se deu depois a partir da revisão do vídeo. As duas experiências não deram conta de um bairro vistoso, que agrada a vista. Nos passeios ao vivo, ao invés do ver, os participantes realçaram as esferas do comer e do andar. Nos passeios em vídeo, ao invés de uma revisão confortável, tivemos que lidar com um enquadramento instável, que causava vertigem durante a recepção. Os dois passeios nos conduziram a uma compreensão da paisagem viva de um bairro em constante movimento. Cabe ainda destacar a contribuição teórico-metodológica do trabalho pelo desenvolvimento de um método visual de investigação do espaço social baseado em passeios filmados na companhia dos participantes / Liberdade Neighborhood was set as a center of shopping and tourist activities since the 1970s by joint efforts of local shop owners and city hall. Two major achievements from this cooperation were the creation of the Oriental District and the opening of an oriental décor which ever since distinguishes the neighborhood. This shift has also affected the studies of Liberdade Neighborhood, which focus further on the oriental features and the shopping and tourist aspects of local life. Looking for new approaches, we focus on the daily life of dwellers. We wondered what they would highlight in the local landscape, for it keeps not only oriental features, but also traces of movements from others communities around the neighborhood. Nonetheless, during the research process, a theoretical and methodological aim arose in our work: exploring the possibilities of knowing Liberdade Neighborhood through walking and video. We invited some dwellers to join us in walks and show us their landmarks in Liberdade. These walks were recorded with a camcorder. Some of them were recorded by the dwellers, others by the researcher. This work was then developed on two fronts: the experience which happened live at Liberdade; the experience which happened later while watching the videos. Both experiences did not feature a flashy neighborhood, which pleases our eyes. In our live walks, instead of looking, our participants stood out the domains of eating and of walking. In our video walks, instead of watching comfortably, we had to deal with an unsteady framing, which induced motion sickness during reception. Both walks led us to an understanding of the living landscape of a neighborhood constantly moving. It should also be noted the theoretical and methodological contribution of this work by developing a visual method to study the social space based on video walks alongside the participants

This thesis illustrates the relationship between body and space in the process of identity construction amongst groups of young men of migrant origins between 16 and 21 practicing capoeira and parkour in Turin's public spaces. Urban spaces in contemporary Turin, Italy, are contested sites where competing images of society, politics and citizenship are (re)produced and negotiated. While at a national level, widespread xenophobic discourses define immigrants and their children as alien bodies in Italian cities, Turin leaderships and cultural entrepreneurs aiming to attract visitors and capital investments have based the city's urban renewal on an image of multiculturalism and inclusiveness. The intersection of such discourses shapes the manifold ways through which immigrant bodies, and identities, become valorised, pathologised and essentialised in Turin. Based on fourteen months of ethnographic research conducted with a multi-method qualitative approach, this study explores how participants negotiated identity and processes of inclusion/exclusion in Turin, through engaging with capoeira and parkour. The analysis of participants' embodied and emplaced identity negotiations enacted through capoeira and parkour addressed the shifting articulations of race/body/marginality, and the relationship between physical culture(s), spaces and subjectivity within the rebranding urban landscape of early 21st century Turin. The exploration of participants' contested practices of diasporic cosmopolitanism and (contingent) citizenship provided insightful perspectives to address the changing meanings, and stakes of multiculturalism, citizenship and social justice in contemporary European societies. The critical analysis of capoeira and parkour also interrogated the ambivalent nature of participants' negotiations in a historical global context, marked by ubiquitous bio-political health imperatives and individualizing moralities of self-fashioning. The study findings therefore contribute to a scholarship aiming to recognize and articulate global processes within local sites of inequalities and negotiations, in exploring how contemporary identities are constructed and (re)produced within the spaces of our cities.

Patients’ beliefs about their illness are known to influence their experiences of illness, its psychological impact, their health behaviours, and overall health outcomes. Research into illness beliefs has typically involved written or oral methods, yet recent studies have suggested that patients’ beliefs about their illness may be embodied in visual form, in their mental images of the disease. Beliefs embedded in mental images may not be captured via traditional modes of assessment, and thus far the possible significance of this kind of ‘visual knowledge’, has been largely overlooked. Studies using visual methods to explore patients’ mental images suggest this is a viable and useful approach which may provide additional insights into their illness beliefs. Research of this kind is in its infancy however, and there are several fundamental questions concerning the existence and nature of mental images, how best to access such images, and their relationship to illness beliefs, which are as yet unanswered. This thesis employed qualitative methods to address these issues and explore the significance of mental images within the context of head and neck cancer. It consists of three empirical phases – a methodological pilot study, a qualitative meta-synthesis, and a longitudinal study. The findings indicate that many patients do generate a mental image of their cancer, and this is significant in terms of their understanding of both the disease and its treatments. Images appear to enhance patients’ comprehension of what is going on inside their bodies, and may both reflect and influence illness beliefs. In this thesis these findings are considered with reference to the methodological issues intrinsic to researching mental images, and the implications for future research and clinical practice.