Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2003. / Supervisor: Andrew Dell'Antonio. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--North Carolina State University, 2004. / Includes vita. Originally issued in electronic format. UMI number: 3137112. Includes bibliographical references (p. 151-159). Also available via the World Wide Web.

The purpose of this study is to examine how the regular practice of Christmas music in the American public schools came to be. If we understand the historical evolution of this practice, we can better understand our conditions of possibility for the future. Christmas in America is both a religious and cultural holiday. The sacred/secular binary, often used as a lens for analysis, is problematic due to the multitude of religious and cultural meanings that constitute the American Christmas. I utilize genealogical methods to trace the relationships between elements that have conditioned and constrained the practice of Christmas music in the public schools. These elements include the lack of established Christmas traditions and music at the beginning of the eighteenth century, the development of a regular canon of Christmas music in the churches, Sabbath school Christmas exhibitions, and public examinations as a technology of eighteenth century education. I contextualize these elements amongst the cultural history of the American Christmas, which includes a focus on the family, children, gift giving, goodwill, and community. This cultural history is set against a backdrop of nostalgia and ritual that frames Christmas practices. From this perspective, I trace varied examples of Christmas music in the public schools, starting with the nineteenth century end-of-term exercises. Into the twentieth century, I describe different practices, including Christmas music as worship service, variations on the sacred/secular binary, and public school music in the community. Based on this inquiry, I suggest reflexive questions for music teachers when considering Christmas music in the public schools. I also recommend suggestions in place of the current NAfME position statement. I propose that Christmas music be considered a postsecular genre in America. Applying a postsecular lens allows for acknowledgement of the persistence of the sacred/secular divide, in relation to the wide array of other elements that results in a blurriness of the dichotomy. Through application of this lens, the practice of Christmas music in the American public schools becomes both more difficult and more thoughtful.

No description available.

Thesis (M.S.)--Michigan State University. Dept. of Forestry, 2008. / "Major professor, Dr. Pascal Nzokou"--Acknowledgements. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on July 30, 2009) Includes bibliographical references. Also issued in print.

Over the past seventy-five years, television and, of all holidays, Christmas have functioned as staples of civilization in the United States. Despite vast social changes, neither has lost cultural staying power. In the 21st century, the two discursive systems continue to organize and regulate time and experience. The linkages between Christmas and television are central to understanding how and why America’s media landscape changes, yet never quite transforms into something new.My dissertation emerges from the observation that television viewers of the 21st century more frequently access content via streaming services, and that on these platforms, there has been a considerable decrease in the number of new episodes of serialized television that focus on Christmas. And yet, Christmas persists, particularly in the way streaming services re-play and re-use the literary, cinematic, and televisual legacy that constructed what I term the “calendrical experience” of American social life. Both Christmas and television rely heavily on this calendrical experience through collective narratives consumed together as a nation, whether that be together in the same place at the same time, or individually and yet still simultaneously. Using textual, economic, and industrial analytic tools, I explore the evolution of television’s depiction of Christmas via close readings of how media companies released, and people in the United States viewed, specific episodes. Christmas serves as my interpretive lens through which to understand television’s ever transforming, yet persistent and central role in the United States over the past seventy-five years.

Unlike Sweden, Denmark is a major industry when it comes to christmas tree cultivation. More than ten million christmas trees are processed in Denmark annually. The primary purpose of this report is to investigate the technology, treatment and maintenance of christmas trees in Sweden and Denmark, and to find differences in the management between Swedish and Danish christmas tree cultivators. Since an opinion poll has been made, the investigation method mainly used for this report is quantitative. But a qualitative investigation method has also been used to some extent as a few unstructured interviews has occurred while visiting a couple of the cultivators.   63 % of the christmas tree cultivators consider themselves knowledgeable about christmas tree cultivation and 68 % wants to learn more. There is both similarities and differences along those cultivators that has been visited. Obvious similarities has mostly been found when visiting farms engaged in developing christmas trees to a bigger extent. Denmark conducts their maintenance methods with the aim to produce a large amount of high quality Christmas trees. This tendency does also occur in Sweden at, for example, Gunnars Granar located in Degeberga. Gunnar manages his cultivation almost identically to Denmark's management methods. However, the big christmas tree cultivators are still mainly located in Denmark.

This dissertation is looking into the Czech and Moravian Christmas traditions in detail. The theoretical part provides a complete picture and characteristic of the Christmas period. The focus then turns to topics discussing the historical background, timelines, Christmas symbolic, sayings and mainly the Christmas traditions. The theory mostly draws on resources from expert literature, which is supplemented with information from other resources on the given topic. In the practical part, the author then analyzes the different ways of spending Christmas times in the Central Czech and South Moravian regions in depth. The course of the Christmas time was mapped by interviews with chosen respondents from contemporary Czech households. The adherence to or diversion from traditions, new trends and tendencies and the influence of commercialization on the Christmas holidays were given a higher importance. The closing chapter is dedicated to a comparison, whose main goal was to explain the eventual differences in adherence to Christmas traditions among sociocultural characteristics, mainly by the location.

The development of relevant and engaging advertising message appeals is a critical element of retail marketing strategy. Achieving advertising resonance with female consumers is beneficial to brand building, and eliciting positive feelings and emotions lies at the heart of effective advertising development. This is particularly important at Christmas when retailers need to attract attention, engage consumers and encourage women to buy. This thesis addresses the increasingly prevalent phenomenon of retailer Christmas TV advertising in the UK. It seeks to understand women’s perceptions of the Christmas advertisements of four retailers over a three year period 2011-2013 in order to examine the way in which advertising message appeal engages consumers and reflects the retailer. It therefore illuminates the relationship between female consumers, the advert and retailer. Research in the area of advertising relies heavily on quantitative studies that reflect the often normative approach to advertising planning and development. This thesis, through its social constructionist theoretical standpoint, informs the methodological nature of the study. Such an approach offers insight and meaning in connection with the advertising message appeals used by retailers as it seeks to interpret the Christmas advertisement phenomenon from a consumer perspective. The Christmas TV advertisements of four retailers (John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, Matalan, and TK Maxx) are selected as an empirical focus and the study offers a longitudinal approach in its design. Dialogues are subsequently maintained with the primary consumer targets of the retailers’ advertisements over a three year period. The study evidences the most effective advertising appeals and the power of emotional advertising that reflects both consumer and brand. The findings demonstrate the ways in which consumers use Christmas advertising in their festive preparations, how women consume Christmas advertising and its associated images of family and feelings of love and illustrate the relationship between the advert and perceptions of the retailer. This thesis makes contributions in a number of ways. First it is an original qualitative study that examines women’s constructions of retailer Christmas TV advertising message appeals and their effects. Second it extends insight into the field of retailer brand research through its social constructionist approach. Finally the consumer narratives illuminate the ways in which advertising is received by consumers and in doing so addresses a lack of qualitative research in the field. The constructionist approach to investigating this phenomenon has further applications in the field of advertising research which provides a wealth of opportunity in terms of its breadth. In particular the approach has value in the area of retailer advertising.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Delaware, 2006. / Principal faculty advisor: Kevin Kerrane, Dept. of English. Includes bibliographical references.