This thesis is concerned with the cultural shifts that have occurred in Lihir, Papua New Guinea, as Lihirians were drawn into greater engagement with the capitalist system, initially through the colonial labour trade and more recently through large-scale resource extraction. This research draws upon 15 months of fieldwork in the Lihir Islands from 2003 to 2004. This thesis is intended as a critical dialogue with world system theorists.World systems arguments are constructive for understanding how Lihirians have remained economically marginal.However, I reject the assertion commonly propounded in these approaches that the world capitalist system inevitably destroys ‘traditional’ cultures and remakes them to its own specifications. Working from Sahlins’ (1985, 1992) premise that there is always continuity in change, I have sought to illustrate those enduring structures and received cultural values that have shaped Lihirian engagement with the capitalist system. My concern iswith articulation rather than penetration; to capture the dialectic of global structural inequalities and Lihirian selective appropriation. This approach allows me to emphasise the heterogeneity of Lihirian culture, notonly prior to sustained European contact, or even mining activities, but specifically at the height of their engagement with the capitalist system. (For complete abstract open document)

Z. Dudová Using the Effects of Public Cultural Services in the Development Strategies of Cities Abstract This dissertation focuses on analysing the utilization of the effects of public cultural services in the development strategies of selected towns (Český Krumlov, Velké Meziříčí and Blatná) for the development of these localities. The theoretical part of the dissertation is dedicated to the research of existing approaches to the solution of the issue, the definition of key concepts and the framework of the concept of public cultural services in the context of the specific situation of strategic management and planning culture of the administrative units in the Czech Republic. It has identified a wide range of potential non-economic benefits of public cultural services, from individual benefits to social impact for the wider community. The analytical part is focused on the position and the importance of culture, cultural services, and its possible benefits in key policy and strategic documents of the selected cities. For a broader understanding of the context regarding the situation of strategic planning culture in selected Czech cities, conceptual and strategic materials related to the regional and national cultural policy, and also some of the most important Czech cultural organisations (National Museum,...

This work is comprised of an Introduction and two Parts. Part One treats, by way of historical review and evaluation, the disestablishment of the Christian worldview in a postmodern age. Part Two proposes the means by whichthe Christian worldview might be reestablished. The reestablishment includes the use of some of the benefits of postmodernism by Christians as well as a return to the responsible reading of texts, especially the biblical text. Part One, The Disestablishment of the Christian Worldview, is composed ofthree chapters. Chapter 1chronicles the change that has occurred in Western culture because of the ascendency of postmodernism. It isbest described as a change in authorityfrom the logocentric metanarrative which has characterized Christianity to the deconstructionist rejection of worldviews by postmodern literary critics. Chapter 2 reviews the paradigm shifts that have occurred in belief systemsthat have occurred in the West as a result of this change,and Chapter 3 shows the effects of all this in the culture's principal institutions. Part Two, The Reestablishment of the Christian Worldview, is also composed of three chapters. Chapter 4 shows the impact that postmodernity has had on the efforts now being made on behalf of reestablishing the Christian worldview as a viable intellectual position in Western culture. Chapter 5 is occupied with the negative and positive responses of certain Christian scholars to the challenge of postmodernism, and Chapter 6 closes the study with an extended treatment of the factors that must be in play for a reestablishment of the Christian worldview to occur in Western civilization. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D. Th. (Theology)

Cette thèse propose une analyse approfondie de la dynamique des changements observés au sein d’une communauté de chasseurs-cueilleurs, les Baka du Gabon. Ce groupe se compose de moins de 1000 individus et parle une langue oubanguienne dans un environnement bantuphone. Une comparaison avec les autres langues du même sous-groupe linguistique met en évidence les spécificités du baka et met au jour des affinités entre cette langue et le monzombo. Ces deux groupes ethnolinguistiques semblent avoir entretenu des relations qui s’inscrivent dans une dynamique d’échange de compétences (chasse-cueillette vs pêche-maîtrise du fer). Ce type de complémentarité se retrouve dans les relations entre les Baka et leurs voisins bantu actuels, dont en particulier les Fang, pour ce qui concerne le Gabon.Le mode de vie des Baka demeure, encore aujourd’hui, largement marqué par la mobilité et la forêt. Toutefois, la sédentarisation imposée par voie gouvernementale, la contigüité avec les Fang de même que l’influence croissante de la mondialisation entraînent des transformations par rapport auxquelles les Baka cherchent à se positionner. Ces dernières touchent la langue (système et utilisation) de même que bon nombre de pratiques socioculturelles (habitat, mobilité, alimentation, subsistance, religion, etc.).La thèse s’efforce d’identifier ces transformations, de les décrire et d’en évaluer l’impact en tenant compte de la diversité des situations. Elle comporte, par ailleurs, une réflexion critique des principes de catégorisation fondée sur l’étude de plusieurs domaines lexicaux (faune, flore, maladie). Certains changements peuvent apparaître en surface sans pour autant remettre en cause, de manière fondamentale, leur attachement à la forêt et à certaines valeurs ancestrales. Toutefois, les différentes pressions exogènes (i.a. sédentarisation, mondialisation) et endogènes (i.a. attitude des individus, transmission) qui déterminent alors le degré d’avancement des différentes transformations, ne doivent pas être sous évaluées en tant qu’elles sont une menace pesant sur la langue, la connaissance de la flore et de la faune et certaines pratiques socioculturelles. / This thesis proposes a detailed analysis on the dynamic of change observed among the Baka from Gabon, a hunter-gatherer community. This group is composed of less than 1000 individuals speaking an Ubangian language inside a Bantu environment. By comparing their language with others from the same linguistic sub-group, some singularities from Baka and some resemblance with the Monzombo sub-group can be seen. These two ethnolinguistic groups, Baka and Monzombo groups, seem to have kept close contact based on skill exchanges (hunting/gathering and fishing/iron skills). This interaction is witnessed in the exchanges the Baka population preserves with their current Bantu neighbors, especially with Fang in Gabon.Nowadays, the Baka way of life is still characterized by their mobility and the forest. Nevertheless, due to a non-migratory lifestyle imposed by the State, the proximity with the Fang group and the growing globalization, dramatic changes are inflicted to the Baka community. Changes at which they are trying to adapt. These constraints do not affect only their language (system and use) but also many sociocultural habits such as settlement, mobility, food and means of support or religion.The aim of this thesis is to identify these ongoing transformations, to describe and to evaluate their impact bearing in mind the singularity of many contexts. An argumentative reflection on categorization principles is also proposed on lexical domains such as fauna, flora and diseases. Certain changes could arise without necessarily questioning their bonds to the forest and ancestral values. Nonetheless, both exogenous (globalization and a sedentary life) and endogenous pressures (individual behavior and culture transmission) determining the progress of different transformations should not be under evaluated as being a threat to the language, to the knowledge of the flora and fauna and to certain sociocultural practices.

This study was about death rituals among the Karanga of Nyajena, Masvingo, Zimbabwe, who are a sub-group of the Shona people. This inquiry’s primary purpose was tripartite in outlook. First, it described the Karanga causes of sickness and death, and Karanga death rituals. Second, it explored the significance of these rituals to the Karanga people. Third, the study traced and identified the changes in the practice and significance of some of the rituals. The overall goal of this inquiry was to compose a brief manual for the performance of some of the Karanga death rituals. The inquiry divided the Karanga death rituals into three major categories, namely, pre-burial rituals, burial rituals, and post-burial rituals. The investigation employed qualitative research traditions, particularly ethnography, in the collection and interpretation of the relevant research data, in pursuit of the goals mentioned above. Postcolonial theory was used to give a theoretical framework to this study. This study was necessitated by the need of a written manual on the performance of Karanga death rituals. The study compiled the participants’ narratives concerning the praxis, meaning, and changes in the Karanga death rituals in an attempt to analyze and write them down for posterity. The inquiry found out that although the praxis of the rituals was still rememberd by many Karanga people, some of them were no longer performed, and their significance had been lost. Although the study acknowledged the inevitable dynamism of culture, it held that every ethnicity should have some cultural or religious constants so that its identity is not lost. Hence, the Karanga of Nyajena should retrace their footsteps back to their death rituals in order to rediscover and reaffirm their battered cultural identity and integrity. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D. Phil. (Religious Studies)

The main purpose of this thesis is to analyze how Global Organizations work with Gender Equality, what type of challenges they experience and how they can be addressed. Secondarily, it addresses how Global Organizations can create an international Gender Equality strategy and how Gender Equality work differs among four countries. Earlier research has focused on gender equality as a stand-alone topic, and few models exist to incorporate such work in global organizations that efficiently manages to address the complexity of gender equality across varying cultures and business units. By surveying current research in gender equality, change management, and cultural management, this thesis proposes a framework for change that more adequately manages the inherently subjective nature of gender, together with the cross-cultural complexities of global organizations. The results, analysis, and discussion are based on a literature review enumerating the components of the synthesized framework and on interviews with two Swedish multinational companies, one construction company, and a mining company. Countries of interest are Czech Republic, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States. Analyzed through this framework, the results indicate an increasing gap between different business units across the organizations, despite an overall increase of Gender Equality in total. The framework suggests that informal systems need to be addressed more explicitly and that centralized initiatives need to better account for geopolitical contexts to stay relevant when educating, informing and dictating change initiatives. The nature of the problem suggests it be managed by a shaping type of strategy with an emphasis on international networks dedicated to the issue. The similarities between Gender equality-specific models, selected change-models and cultural descriptive models indicate that there is possible to amalgamate insights from different academic fields more coherently. Utilizing the definition of gender and confirming the subjective nature of Gender Equalityissues leads to strategy models and cultural descriptions that - independent of Gender Equality work - confirm and strengthens the key takeaways from each model. The research shows that there are overlapping interests and areas of interest between academia and the industry, which is something that can be further developed. / Huvudsyftet med denna masteruppsats är att analysera hur globala organisationer arbetar med jämställdhet, vilken typ av utmaningar de upplever och hur de kan hanteras. Den behandlar även hur globala organisationer kan skapa en internationell jämställdhetsstrategi och hur jämställdhetsarbetet skiljer sig mellan fyra länder. Tidigare forskning har fokuserat på jämställdhet som ett fristående ämne och det finns få modeller som adresserar jämställdhetsarbete i globala organisationer och som effektivt hanterar jämställdhetens komplexitet över olika kulturer och affärsenheter. Genom att kartlägga aktuell forskning inom jämställdhet, förändringsledning och kulturhantering, föreslår denna uppsats ett ramverk för förändring som hanterar könens inherent subjektiva karaktär tillsammans med de globala organisationernas tvärkulturella komplexitet. Resultaten, analysen och diskussionen baseras på en litteraturöversikt som sammanfattar komponenterna i ramverket och intervjuer med två svenska multinationella företag, ett byggföretag och ett gruvbolag. De länder som analyseras är: Tjeckien, Sverige, Storbritannien och USA. Genom en analys utifrån ramverket indikerar resultaten ett ökande gap mellan olika affärsenheter i hela organisationen, trots en total ökning av jämställdheten inom organisationerna. Ramverket tyder på att informella system måste adresseras tydligare och att centraliserade initiativ behöver anpassas bättre utifrån geopolitiska sammanhang för att kunna förändringen ska vara relevant för de olika enheterna. Problemets karaktär tyder på att det hanteras av en formgivande typ av strategi med tonvikt på internationella nätverk som är avsedda för frågan. Likheterna mellan jämställdhetsspecifika modeller, utvalda förändringsmodeller och kulturella beskrivande modeller visar att det är möjligt att sammanfoga insikter från olika akademiska områden till att bli mer sammanhängande. Att utnyttja definitionen av kön och bekräfta den subjektiva karaktären av jämställdhet leder till strategimodeller och kulturella beskrivningar som - oberoende av jämställdhetsarbete - bekräftar och stärker de viktigaste delarna från varje modell. Forskningen visar att det finns överlappande intressen och intresseområden mellan akademin och industrin, vilket är något som kan vidareutvecklas.

No description available.

Text in Afrikaans / Psychology / D.Litt. et Phil (Psychology)

Text in Afrikaans / Psychology / D.Litt. et Phil (Psychology)