In this thesis the making and experiencing of the exhibition “Sundi Mongo – A village in Congo” is examined through ethnographical interviews with former and present employees at the Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm. The interviews, together with archive material concerning the exhibition, are analyzed with discourse theory in order to examine how discourses of defining Africa construct application and interpretation of the exhibition pieces. A significant element is dislocation, where the exhibition has been standing since 1983 and the meaning of the exhibition is now expressed as changed. This change of meaning is connected to the change of exhibition ideals and changes in the perception of the exhibition model; a real village called Sundi Mongo, located in southwestern Congo. Change and continuity also concerns interpretations of the museum’s cooperation with the Swedish Missionary Association and affective practices surrounding the exhibition pieces and objects in the museum’s collections. The construction of interpretations of the exhibition pieces and objects are also analyzed with the concept of fantasy.

With the increasing use of the Internet several problems have arisen regarding the processing of electronic documents. These include content filtering, content retrieval/search. Moreover, document security has taken a centre stage including copyright protection, broadcast monitoring etc. There is an acute need of an effective tool which can find the identity, location and the time when the document was created so that it can be determined whether or not the contents of the document were tampered with after creation. Owing the sensitivity of the large amounts of data which is processed on a daily basis, verifying the authenticity and integrity of a document is more important now than it ever was. Unsurprisingly document authenticity verification has become the centre of attention in the world of research. Consequently, this research is concerned with creating a tool which deals with the above problem. This research proposes the use of a Quick Response Code as a message carrier for Text Key-print. The Text Key-print is a novel method which employs the basic element of the language (i.e. Characters of the alphabet) in order to achieve authenticity of electronic documents through the transformation of its physical structure into a logical structured relationship. The resultant dimensional matrix is then converted into a binary stream and encapsulated with a serial number or URL inside a Quick response Code (QR code) to form a digital fingerprint mark. For hiding a QR code, two image steganography techniques were developed based upon the spatial and the transform domains. In the spatial domain, three methods were proposed and implemented based on the least significant bit insertion technique and the use of pseudorandom number generator to scatter the message into a set of arbitrary pixels. These methods utilise the three colour channels in the images based on the RGB model based in order to embed one, two or three bits per the eight bit channel which results in three different hiding capacities. The second technique is an adaptive approach in transforming domain where a threshold value is calculated under a predefined location for embedding in order to identify the embedding strength of the embedding technique. The quality of the generated stego images was evaluated using both objective (PSNR) and Subjective (DSCQS) methods to ensure the reliability of our proposed methods. The experimental results revealed that PSNR is not a strong indicator of the perceived stego image quality, but not a bad interpreter also of the actual quality of stego images. Since the visual difference between the cover and the stego image must be absolutely imperceptible to the human visual system, it was logically convenient to ask human observers with different qualifications and experience in the field of image processing to evaluate the perceived quality of the cover and the stego image. Thus, the subjective responses were analysed using statistical measurements to describe the distribution of the scores given by the assessors. Thus, the proposed scheme presents an alternative approach to protect digital documents rather than the traditional techniques of digital signature and watermarking.

Abstrakt   Den snabba tekniska utvecklingen har lett till ökad produktion av digitala handlingar/records och transaktioner. Inom e-arkivens domäner, har detta medfört ett ökat tryck på det tekniska området för att kunna garantera autenticitet av bevarad information över tid.          Tidsstämplingstekniker är ett sätt att säkerställa digital information för en särskild tidpunkt och kan användas för att garantera autenticitet av digital information över tid. Denna magisteruppsats undersöker funktionen tidsstämpling inom e-arkivens domäner genom en kvalitativ metod med fem semistrukturerade intervjuer av fem svenska organisationer. I undersökningen ingår också en fallstudie av det svenska innovationsföretaget Enigio Time AB för att ge en förståelse av tidsstämplingstekniker och av deras tjänst time:stamp. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten i denna magisteruppsats är records continuum model med dels dess syn på kontinuitet i handlingar/records och dels dess belysande av skapelseögonblicket av handlingar/records. Den internationella standarden OAIS (Open Archival Information System) används för att hantera digital information och är, i denna uppsats, använd för att analysera hanteringen i dokumenthanteringssystem inom de fem organisationerna.                       Resultaten visar att denna snabba tekniska utveckling har komplicerat dels hanteringen i att säkerställa att digitala handlingar/records inte kan bli manipulerade eller ändrade och dels för att fortsatt kunna garantera autenticitet i ett långtidsperspektiv.                       Undersökningen visar även att organisationerna kan garantera att det bevarade materialet inte kommer att ändras när det väl är inne i arkivet men dess autenticitet, innan de kommer innanför arkivens trösklar, kan aldrig bekräftas. I och med att den moderna tiden producerar och bevarar enorma mängder data så bör detta starta med skapelsen av ett digitalt record tillsammans med bättre strukturerad metadatascheman som är säkrade i tid. / Abstract   The rapid ongoing technical development has led to increased production of digital records and transactions. In the domain of electronic archives, this has put pressure on the technical area in order to guarantee authenticity of preserved information over time. Time stamping techniques are one way to secure digital information at a certain point in time and can be employed to guarantee authenticity of digital information over time. This study examines the function of time stamping within the domain of electronic archives and is conducted with a qualitative method using semi-structured interviews on five Swedish organisations. The study is complemented with a case-study of the Swedish innovation company Enigio Time AB in order to gain understanding in time stamping techniques and their service time:stamp.                       The theoretical framework in this study is the records continuum model with the view of the continuity in records and its illumination of the point of creation. The international standard OAIS (Open Archival Information System) is used by several electronic models to manage digital information and is, in this study, used to analyse the management in record keeping within the five organisations.                       The conclusion is that this rapid technological development has complicated the management of secure digital records from manipulation and guaranteeing the authenticity in a long term perspective.                       The study further shows that organisations may guarantee that records will not change once they are received into the archive but the authenticity of them, before they were delivered, can never be confirmed. Since the modern information era produces and preserves enormous amounts of data, this has to start with the creation of the digital record where better structured metadata schemes are secured in time.

Retro art and technology have been on the rise in recent years, the phenomenon is fuelled by the nostalgia of a sense of authenticity that the offline world can no longer satisfy. The integration of technology into human’s social conduct has made it an extension of their beings. Faced with technological progress, people also yearn to regress to the age-old days of their childhood. Nostalgia often comes with romanticization of the past, but it also offers a sense of security and realness that is seemingly lost amid the constant exchange of data in the present time. This lays ground for the rise of faux-vintage photos on social application Instagram. Bracing itself as a modern digital media, Instagram capitalizes on nostalgia for the analog and fetishization of the retro aesthetics of old media. While researchers have noted the link between Instagram and digital nostalgia, these works remained within the theoretical realm. Using a combination of interface criticism and interview, the paper focuses on human and computer interaction to study digital nostalgia and mediated authenticity on Instagram. The findings point out the complexity of Instagram as a social network and a creative tool in the emerging age of pervasive computing, in which the technology increasingly integrates and fades into the background of our everyday lives. The paper’s intention is to develop further understanding of retromodern technology, particularly Instagram, in reconstructing our knowledge of society and everyday social conduct. A better comprehension of our digital culture is crucial to the development of the self and society.

L’enjeu d’un patrimoine est sa transmission : celle-ci entre dans la définition même du mot patrimoine. La conservation n’est qu’un moyen au service de la transmission. Or il peut arriver que conservation et transmission entrent en conflit, en particulier pour ce qu’on appelle les patrimoines vivants – non seulement au sens biologique du terme, mais tout ce qui est défini dans le temps : paysage, ville, patrimoine immatériel, et, d’une manière ou d’une autre, presque tous les patrimoines. Le vivant est changeant et même mortel. On peut essayer de conserver un patrimoine en le rendant le plus solide possible sans qu’il y ait besoin de personne pour le gérer : on le conserve, mais on ne le transmet pas à de nouveaux gestionnaires. À l’inverse, la transmission implique le plus souvent une transformation. A partir d’exemples de patrimoine paysagers (vignobles, fleuve, routes, rivière urbaine), cette recherche examine quelles transformations conservent ce que l’on veut transmettre d’un patrimoine vivant / The stake of heritage is its transmission (inheritance from one generation to another). Conservation is a mere tool for transmission. But it may happen that conservation and transmission are in conflict, especially for the so-called living heritage – not only in the biological sense of the word, but all that is defined within time : landscape, city, intangible heritage, and, more or less, any property of heritage value. Living material is changing and even mortal. One can try and conserve a property by making it as strong as possible, without needing anybody to manage it : it is conserved, but not transmitted to new managers. Conversely, transmission often implies a transformation. From examples of heritage landscapes (vineyards, large river, roads, urban river), this research examines which transformations conserve what is intended to be transmitted of a living heritage

In 2011, following several years of in-country research, I published a book on Lithuanian folk pottery. I enrolled in the Folk Studies master’s program at Western Kentucky University (WKU) in 2014, well after my research and book had been completed. In the present study, I use my newly acquired knowledge of folklore In my previous work to revisit Lithuanian folk pottery. In my previous work, I had sought to create a picture of “authentic” Lithuanian folk pottery that was confined to the narrow temporal borders of 1861-1918. Here I deconstruct conventional ideas about authenticity, as well as culture and heritage, in order to expand my study to three additional periods: the interwar period of independence (1918-1940), the Soviet period (1940-1990), and the post-Soviet period (1990-present). Examining additional epochs of folk pottery production, I search for the commonalities and continuities binding together both objects and makers through seemingly disparate eras marked by dramatic political, social, and economic ruptures. To do this I examine the interconnected roles of political ideology, revised historical narratives, cultural policy, socio-economics, and concepts of cultural identity. Sifting through these various facets of national identity, I ultimately find that it is in the consistent nature of the adaptations that folk potters and artists make to the dramatically changing circumstances where consistent patterns are found. It is in these circumstances that people must survive, as individuals, a culture, and a nation. This study relies upon three central components: My previous research, texts related to folklore and cultural theory, and a wealth of new interviews conducted in Lithuania between September and November of 2015. Utilizing these tools, I move beyond my previous aim of reconstructing a period of history to engaging with art and culture as living, dynamic phenomena that are ever-changing and present but which possess roots in history and tradition.

Ce petit échantillon d’une étude ethnographique, fait à partir de la méthode d’observation participante, interroge la nature de la tendance de la mode auprès de jeunes citadins au coeur d'un centre urbain francophone du Canada. Les participants identifient un « look » comme étant emblématique du Plateau, un arrondissement de Montréal qui est démographiquement divers et contenant beaucoup de commerces dynamiques. Le Plateau a été promu par les organisations de la ville de Montréal comme le point central de la mode, arts et culture. Locaux ou simples touristes voient le Plateau comme un environnement aidant à la transformation personnelle et à l’autoréalisation, particulièrement chez les locaux de 18-30 ans. Plus particulièrement, les membres appartenant à cette tranche d’âge conçoivent leurs propres interprétations de la mode et participent à un certains nombres de projets créatifs en vue de réaliser d’authentiques et véritables expressions de soi. Cependant, à cause de la commercialisation de la mode présentée pour les consommateurs du Plateau, la jeune population perçoit le courant dominant du « hipster » comme n’étant plus l’authentique représentation à leur course à l’authenticité individuelle dans un monde en perpétuel globalisation. La chercheuse a découvert l’existence d’une idéologie de l’individu restreint à ce quartier. Vu l’animosité présente parmi la population locale du Plateau pour le courant principal hipster, l’ensemble de ces données montrent qu’il y a un besoin d’une meilleure compréhension de la relation entre la commercialisation de la mode occidentale et de ces acheteurs au niveau de l’individu et au niveau local dans les espaces urbaine en perpétuel globalisation. Le contexte de la mode dans cet environnement est contraint par l’hypothèse de la valeur qu'être différent est imaginé et digne d’intérêt dans cette communauté si et seulement si quelqu’un est confiant au point de se tenir debout avec ses idéaux au milieu des autres. / This small-scale ethnographic study conducted through methods of participant-observation investigates the nature of fashionable trends among a selected urban youth populace found in a large urban center in French-speaking Canada. Participants identify one “look” as emblematic of the Plateau, a demographically diverse and commercially dynamic borough. The Plateau is promoted by its municipal organizations as a hub of Montreal’s fashion, arts and culture. Locals and tourists treat the Plateau as an environment which facilitates the performance of self-realization and transformation, particularly among locals aged 18 to 30. Members of this age set appropriate fashionable dress and participate in many creative pursuits in order to make real authentic expressions of their embodied selves. However, as commercial fashions are introduced to local consumers, the youth perceives the mainstream “hipster” look to be an inauthentic representation of their quest to be authentically individual. The researcher discovers the existence of an ideology of individuality restricted to the boundaries of the borough. Given the animosity present among the Plateau’s local population for the mainstream hipster look, collectively these findings suggest there is a need to better understand the relationship negotiated between commercial Western fashion and its consumers at the level of the individual and in the local in ever globalizing urban spaces. The context of fashion in this environment is branded by the assumption that the value of being different is imagined and worthwhile in this community only if one has the confidence to stand alone within its disunion.

This thesis examines contemporary street art and its exhibition in galleries and museums in connection with Walter Benjamin's concepts of aura and authenticity in the postmodern period. Street art is posited as a marginal art evolving out of the tradition of 1970's New York graffiti that can be made to function as a type of anti-spectacle within the spectacle of the mainstream. Situationist theory and concepts within the agenda of Unitary Urbanism (psychogeography, the dérive, and détournement) are used to evaluate contemporary street art as anti-spectacle. Photography, as a primary method of documenting street art, is considered as a mechanically reproduced medium bringing into play discourses of repetition and originality, which are in turn related back to Benjamin's concepts of aura and authenticity. Andy Warhol, his Pop Art iconography, and practice of seriality are also considered as an influence on contemporary street art's imagery and underlying practice. Warhol's promotion of an "art star" persona is also related to such contemporary street art "stars" as Banksy and Mr. Brainwash.

ABSTRACT Casa Samba is a cultural organization and samba school that has been operating in New Orleans’ performance scene since 1986. The group has been run by an American couple, Curtis and Carol Pierre, since its inception. Their son, Bomani Pierre, has been raised in the Afro-Brazilian drumming and dance practices that Casa Samba teaches and performs. Life histories of the group’s founding family are the basis of this qualitative case study. Using the details of individual lives and the context that these details provide, this dissertation seeks answers to two key questions: How and why does an American couple run a samba school? How does Casa Samba’s presence in New Orleans shape its practices? As Carol and Curtis described their early lives and young adulthoods, it became apparent that each of them was seeking a way to remake their identities. The terrain for analyzing this search became personal authenticity, and I examine how each of the adult Pierres is on a quest for personal authenticity that begins early in their lives and continues through their creation and maintenance of Casa Samba. But the sense of personal authenticity that underwrites the Pierres’ construction of Casa Samba comes into contact with another form of authenticity, one that is external, evaluative, and also the root of New Orleans’ tourism economy. Thus, further questions arose regarding Casa Samba’s location in New Orleans and its cultural landscape. How does the tourist industry shape what is “authentic”? How is Casa Samba an “authentic” New Orleans cultural organization? In what ways is it an “authentic” representative of Brazilian carnival? In the end, authenticity may be too narrow a concept from which to understand the totality of who the Pierre family is and what Casa Samba is. For this reason, this research examines Casa Samba as a utopian project, a site of cultural belonging, and an Afrocentric venture. I propose that Curtis and Carol Pierre have drawn on their knowledge of what is valuable, meaningful, and important—that is, authentic—to produce a cultural organization that reflects their sensibilities to the fullest extent possible.

This thesis discusses the recent construction and anthropological collaboration of the Paris museum: Musée du quai Branly (MQB), an art museum dedicated to showcasing art collections specific to aboriginal and indigenous cultures in the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania. The opening of MQB in June 2006 raised a plethora of controversial questions concerning the museum’s methods of curatorial display of the art it has made its primary focus. One of the major issues discussed examines the Quai Branly’s authentic, or inauthentic, representation of certain artworks displayed throughout the museum. Thus, the essay raises the questions: does a non-Western object remain authentic once it is exhibited in a Western society’s art museum? To answer this question, the essay explores the various explanations of art and authenticity in order to reach an understandable conclusion of what constitutes an authentic display of non-Western objects in a Western art museum.