This thesis is a study of Tibetan Buddhism as practiced by adult converts in Utah. Semiotic ideology is a thread throughout the paper that functions as an explanatory mechanism for describing the ontological variations between beginning and seasoned practitioners. I show examples of clashing semiotic ideologies that demonstrate differing assumptions in understanding of how the world operates. In Chapter 2, I explore the concept of interiority and the taken for granted assumptions of religiosity in the West. The tensions introduced in Chapter 2 are addressed in Chapter 3, which explores how practitioners resolve concerns about authenticity through reliance on their religious lineage. While most practitioners openly recognize that there is a lack of sameness between practicing Tibetan Buddhism in the US and Tibet, seasoned practitioners are more able to recognize how deeply rooted differences, which I have identified as semiotic ideologies of the West and Christianity, specifically those concerning the self and personhood, are perseverant even after conversion.

This study offers insight into the process and frst-hand experience of quitting circus. The focus lies in the defning of acts of stopping as a consciouschoice. Stopping is generally seen as negative and unproductive as it caneasily be associated with giving up or failing, and therefore seems to be anunlikely and unworthy subject to be researched. But in the artist’s opinion thedecision to stop carries a consciousness and a creative potential, which qualifes Quitting as a research subject. A substantial part of the research was devoted to defning and redefning the subject’s borders, as well as its heart. Within these explorations, concepts of phenomenology, psychology, storytelling,deconstruction, vibrant materiality and memoir-writing were discovered andrevealed. As a circus performer in transition, the artist was guided throughher research journey by sharing her own story of starting and stopping circus,sharing insights gained through reflective writing and self-observation. These were further enhanced by participating in physical and performance exercises and movement improvisations.Quitting’s potentiality is anticipated inspaces of resistance, moments of inertia, in the motivation for stopping, andin the felds between the old and the ‚not yet‘. This inspired the investigationof symptoms like training, repetition, pressure, perfection and identifcation. The initial defnition of Quitting as an ‚Intended Un-becoming‘ in a cleansingact of creating a new, unspoilt and authentic starting point was confrontedwith the realization that consequent Quitting would result in death. This challenged the project’s realizability and led to a confrontation with questionsabout achievement and performance. The abandoning of an impossible concept while continuing to pursue the project, presented Quitting as a paradoxand indicated possible new approaches. Recognizing the act of letting go as an individual event, and practices of realigning and re-synchronization as a generating of the potential that was searched for in Quitting, established the telling of Quitting Stories as a Making ofSpace. Storytelling and interviews with Quitters, practitioners and therapistsare therefore the main practice and expression of this research. Understanding Quitting’s paradoxical nature enabled its potential as an artistic practice, by presenting subjects in an unexpected way and allowing themto be seen in a new way. Quitting as an artistic practice is an intended futurecontinuation of the research.

Att använda människor som varumärken är ett växande marknadsföringsfenomen som har fått benämningen human brand. I dag går det bland annat att hitta detta fenomen i musikbranschen där artister ses som varumärken för sin musik. Tidigare forskning visar att användning av human brand som marknadsföringsstrategi kan stärka relationen mellan konsumenter och kändisar. Att använda människor som varumärken är inte ett nytt koncept inom marknadsföring. Däremot menar forskning att begreppet human brand är relativt nytt och att det saknas kompletta ramverk och teorier inom området. Syftet med denna studie är att få en större förståelse för hur processen av varumärkesbyggande för ett human brand går till inom musikbranschen. Syftet är även att få förståelse för vilka komponenter som är viktiga, vilka aktörer som är delaktiga i processen samt vilka för- och nackdelar det finns med att använda human brand som marknadsföringsstrategi.  De valda teorierna för studien är stakeholder theory, attachment theory, brand authenticity, celebrity brand authenticity samt self-determinations theory. Studien utgår från en kvalitativ metod där semistrukturerade intervjuer med artister, marknadsförare och managers samt en fokusgrupp med konsumenter genomfördes. Resultatet visar att en av de största faktorerna till att artister lyckas med personal branding processen är genom tydliga mål och visioner av vad de vill åstadkomma. Utan detta är det svårt för marknadsförare och managers att utföra sitt jobb då det inte finns något att sträva mot. Planeringsfasen är även det en viktig faktor i processen att utveckla ett human brand. I denna fas ingår profilering och paketering, kontinuitet samt att skapa och upprätthålla en röd tråd i artisten karriär, detta för att uppfattas som äkta hos allmänheten. Studien visar att det är viktigt, både för artisten men även för konsumenter och fans att artisten är sann mot sig själv.  Resultatet visar att flera aktörer är viktiga för artisten och processen att bli ett human brand. Studien visar även på att det saknas en aktör som ser till artisten fysiska och psykiska hälsa, samt att det finns både för- och nackdelar med att använda human brand som marknadsföringsstrategi. / Using humans as brands is a growing marketing phenomena called human brand, that can be seen in the music industry where musicians have become their own brand for their music. Studies have shown that using human brands can result in a stronger relationship between the celebrity and consumers. Although using humans as brands is not a new concept in marketing, studies regarding human brands is a relatively new phenomenon that is still lacking a complete framework and theories. This study seeks to find a deeper understanding of how a musician becomes a human brand, which stakeholders are vital and what are the pros and cons of using the marketing tool human brand.  The chosen theories for the study are stakeholder theory, attachment theory, brand authenticity, celebrity brand authenticity and self-determinations theory. The selected method for the study is a qualitative research method with semi-structured interviews with musicians, marketers and managers and one focus grupp with consumers and fans. The result of the study shows that one of the biggest factors for succeeding as a musician is to have clear goals and visions of what they want to achieve. Without it, it is nearly impossible for marketers and managers to do their work. What is also found to be of great importance is the planning phase which involves profiling and packaging, continuity and maintaining a red thread through the musicians career and authenticity. The study shows that being true to oneself is an important aspect for the musician as well as to the consumers and fans.  Results show that there are numerous stakeholders that are vital for the process of becoming a human brand as a musician. The study also found a non existing stakeholder that the respondents would like to see in the future, that is an individual who only sees to the physical and psychological well-being of the musician. Furthermore the study showed that there are both pros and cons regarding using human brands as a marketing tool.

Despite the rapid development in technology that enables metal music producers today to create “perfect” sound mixes, many bands, artists and producers choose to make their creations sound old or “retro”. A song is created for this study and mixed in two different ways, one with a more“retro” direction and the other with a more “modern” direction. Five respondents were then made to listen to both mixes and were interviewed on what they thought of each respective mix and why they think retro culture is so prevalent today. The data gathered from the interviews show that the respondents describe retro mixes as dirty, saturated and raw while they described modern mixes as clean, hi-fi and overly compressed. The respondents associate old sounding mixes to authenticity, genuinity and honesty but don’t describe modern mixes as fake or dishonest. The respondents comment that the streamlined nature of music production today leads to very uniform sounding mixes and the abundance of similar sounding mixes creates a demand for more honest, authentic and genuine music. The respondents claim that retro culture would not be possible without the aid of modern technology.

Cultural heritage confronts the notion of change, both in the development process and in the tourism context. In the tourism context, as being used as a unique selling point, it is unavoidable that cultural heritage facing commercialisation and commodification, or even vulgarisation due to being forced to change to meet the market demand and tourists’ expectations. Hence, the question is, if changing is inevitable, what are the potential risks that cultural heritage might face in the tourism context, and how to maintain its significance, which are attractions for tourists in the first place? The overall aim of the study was to use the notion of change as a lens to investigate the concept of authenticity as well as the relation between sustainability and resilience in culture. The study's objectives approached based on a qualitative method, with semi-structured interviews focusing on the perspective of the cultural heritage community – a group of people who work closely with cultural heritage - local community, practitioners, researchers, authorised agency, and tourism stakeholders. Concerning cultural heritage's interpretation based on its existing definition, the intertwined and interdependent relationship between the tangible and intangible aspects of cultural heritage was investigated. An authentication process was introduced. Resilience thinking in culture was given as proposals. In this study, a case study in Hue, Vietnam with two examples – Nhã nhạc (the court music) and áo dài (long dress or tunic) were examined regarding the notion of change in relation to the concept of authenticity, sustainability and resilience.

Our dissertation thesis Psychotherapy as education for authenticity - Life-world as a psychotherapeutic problem deals with ontological foundations of psychotherapy. We present the change of understanding of a man and the world from antiquity to now. Psychotherapy as a new discipline is based on subject - object understanding and tries to understand human being from this perspective which changes into internal conflict. We consider that psychotherapy and psychology aren't aware of their ontological foundations. The core of this work is based on principles of Husserl's phenomenology and Heidegger's fundamental ontology as conditions of natural psychotherapy. They both bring appropriate understanding of human being. Therefore we consider basic principles of natural psychotherapy. Keywords: Life - World, psychotherapy, authenticity, ontology, education, time

The thesis points to the negative phenomenon of Holocaust denial, objective viewpoint of testimony, authenticity of photograph and background of historical consciousness in the context of postmodern situation. If we wanted to use objective testimony of photograph as a valid argument against Holocaust denial, we would have to declare the authenticity of photograph is invalid. The options of its manipulation, both content and meaning, are examined through semiotics of Peirce, mainly through trichotomy icon, index and symbol. In today's pluralistic time, the historical consciousness is proposed as a possible starting point of examination of historical sources, including photograph. Key words Photograph, authenticity, manipulation, Peirce, historical consciousness, Holocaust.

In this essay I study the link between the epistolary relationship between Ernestina de Champourcin and Carmen Conde and their simultaneous poetic production. In the light of the concept of a room of one's own as a essential and necessary space for creative writing elaborated by Virginia Woolf's eponymous book, I argue that, the epistolary discourse functions as a room of one's own where both poets try to attain an aesthetic authenticity that was limited by patriarchal society at the beginning of the 20th century in Spain. The presence of the interlocutor, the doubling of the poetic voice, and the metapoetic poems converge in our responsibility as critics to place the poets epistolary at the forefront, since this is used as a workshop and a free space for the development of the poets' aesthetics.

Currently, too many pupils complete meaningless one-way writing tasks, which only their teachers receive, which makes increasing authenticity in the language contexts crucial for learners. The purpose of this study is to investigate: the experiences and opinions of two ESL 7-9 teachers in two schools in southern Sweden regarding their practices of authenticity in learning task instructions, the views of their pupils towards these writing tasks, and the benefits and challenges of integrating an authentic writing task. The Swedish steering documents emphasize that pupils should confidently adapt their languages to various purposes and learn how English is used across cultures and settings; however, authenticity does not feature heavily in the steering documents. This study used a Passion Project that incorporated explicit instructions, a recursive writing process, and a genre-based process for writing to an authentic audience. Against that background, this study seeks to answer the research questions by analyzing two teachers’ experiences and opinions, the pupils’ views toward authenticity in writing tasks, and the possible benefits and challenges. In order to collect empirical data, a mixed methodology method was applied, which included questionnaires and interviews with teachers and pupils. The results indicate that although the authentic audience is a new concept to the L2 learners, introducing it explicitly and providing examples help to reduce pupils’ nervousness. Furthermore, introducing the pupils to a new concept piques their interests and teaches them new ways to write. Therefore, writing strategies that incorporate an authentic audience are important. Despite the change from traditional to modern instructions, the pupils’ attitudes were highly favorable. Last but not least, the benefits are that pupils can relate what they are learning in the classroom to the outside world. However, there are challenges as not all pupils feel comfortable sharing something they write with others, and teachers do not always have the time to plan, organize, and execute tasks that include authentic audiences.

Dans un marché globalisé où 40% du vin consommé est importé, le contrôle de la traçabilité est un enjeu majeur de la filière viti-vinicole. L'authentification du vin est le processus pouvant faire appel à différentes méthodes analytiques devant pouvoir contrôler trois paramètres fondamentaux : l’origine géographique, le cépage et le millésime. La spectroscopie RMN 1H quantitative (RMNq) est aujourd'hui considérée comme un outil très prometteur pour l'étude de l'authenticité des vins. Lors de cette thèse, une technique de dosage de 40 composés majoritaires des vins par RMN 1H a été développée. Elle permet l’acquisition d’une information riche et complexe en une seule analyse non-spécifique. La capacité de cette technique à authentifier un vin a été démontrée suite à une collaboration avec le Château Mouton-Rothschild, par comparaisons avec des analyses officielles réalisées par la DGDDI et DGCCRF de Pessac (SCL). La détermination d’un seuil de conformité a été établie en prenant en compte l’évolution naturelle des vins en bouteille. Une étude de caractérisation des vins rouges de Bordeaux a été menée. La singularité de ces vins a été observée par comparaison avec d’autres vins français, mettant en évidence des métabolites caractéristiques des vins de Bordeaux. Les résultats fournissent une description globale du potentiel de la RMN 1H pour l’authentification des vins. / In a globalized market where 40% of the wine consumed is imported, traceability control is a major challenge for the wine industry. Wine authentication is the process that can use different analytical methods able to control three fundamental parameters: geographical origin, grape variety and vintage. Quantitative 1H NMR spectroscopy (qNMR) is now considered as a very promising tool for studying wine authenticity. During this thesis, a technique was developed for the determination of 40 major wine compounds by 1H NMR. It allows the acquisition of rich and complex information in a single non-specific analysis. The ability of this technique to authenticate a wine has been demonstrated following a collaboration with Château Mouton-Rothschild, by comparison with official analyses carried out by the DGDDI and DGCCRF of Pessac (SCL).The determination of a compliance threshold has been established by taking into account the natural evolution of bottled wines. A characterization study of Bordeaux red wines was carried out. The singularity of these wines was observed in comparison with other French wines, highlighting the characteristic metabolites of Bordeaux wines. The results provide a global description of the potential of 1H NMR for wine authentication.