Modern production technologies have fostered mass production and standardization of affordable goods. Luxury and culturally meaningful symbols have become common place and largely devoided of their significance. How is our cultural identity affected by this phenomenon? Yet it survives and transforms itself. Voyage Voyage is a coffee set associated with different cultural identities. The set highlights the dialogue that exists between different cultures. The containers are inspired by blue and white porcelain; a material and technique created in China, imported into Europe, and then reinterpreted and appropriated. The set explores how traditional patterns and decoration lends meaning and social value to objects. It acts as an incentive to start discussion and reflection around globalization and the standardization of our environment. It is an invitation to discover different cultures, their similarities and differences, as well as acknowledge them and reflect on our traditions and their iconic symbols.

The Development of Tibetan Cultural and Religious Identity among Tibetans Living outside of Historical Tibet The topic of my thesis was to find out changes in Tibetan society inside Tibet and in Tibetan exile in last 50. years and how do changes help to progress social capital. Inside Tibet is problem with high percent of nonliterary and high percent of incoming Han people, which cause that Tibetan people are getting on the edge of society, because they didn't have developed their human potential. The main problem is that Tibetan people don't know Chinese language well and this language is becoming more useful for daily life in Tibetan autonomous region. Tibetans, who are very religious, don't have opportunity to practice Tibetan Buddhism under communistic rule of Chine. Tibetans have to renounce His Holiness dalajlama and deny part of their Tibetan identity. Those reasons influence them to escape into exile. The second part of my thesis is concerned to describe push and pull factors of migration. As I found in materials, the main reasons to escape into exile were political, religion, education, economical problems and renounce dalajlama. In my research, Tibetan didn't divide those reasons to those categories, because they think of those problems in holistic way. The last part of thesis in...

Minority groups are at a disadvantage when seeking psychological treatment. Interventions are often less effective for minority populations when treatment outcomes are compared to Anglo populations. Studies indicate that the stigma associated with mental health disorders and seeking psychological intervention within these minority subgroups may be at fault for this disparity. In this study, we explored this idea by examining what methods of intervention Hispanic-identified individuals are more likely to seek out. Participants were given the option to enlist in a biofeedback approach to intervention as well as a supportive talk psychotherapy. Participants were drawn from the community population in Utah County via Mountainlands Community Health Center. Before taking part in the study, they were asked to indicate their cultural identity based on a series of criteria as well as their perceived stigma associated with mental health interventions. Lastly, participants completed exit interviews to quantitatively explore their reasoning for choosing the treatment approach they did, what they liked about their approach, and why they did not choose the other approach. The data collected was analyzed using a modified approach to consensual qualitative research methods.

This thesis examines the role of religion for Ukrainian immigrants in Sweden and its connection to their subjective well-being. The aim of the study is to explore the experience of Ukrainian immigrants by collecting their stories. The data of the study is based on eight semi-structured interviews with Ukrainian immigrants who belong to the Eastern Orthodox Church. This qualitativestudy is guided by the grounded theory approach drawing upon cultural identity theory and theory of third place. The theories are applied in order to understand the meaning of religion, faith, and church-attending in the Ukrainian immigrants’ lives in Sweden. Guided by the grounded theory methodology, the results of the study reveal that for those Ukrainian immigrants, who consider themselves religious, religion and faith play a significant role in life, affecting their choices, decisions, shaping their world-view. It is found that religious beliefs and rituals, and attending church affect their subjective well-being positively. However, for those participants, who do not consider themselves as religious, some religious rituals still take place, serving them as a connectionwith their cultural background, which is also positively impacting their subjective well-being. Furthermore, this study analyses the role and functions of cultural identity and its connection with immigrants’ subjective well-being and provides recommendations for future researchers.

This study focuses on the connection between cultural identity and Japanese popular music. It contains conducted interviews and semantic analyses on musicians who use Japanese traditional instruments and Western instruments in their repertoire. It uses performativity theory as theoretical framework. The analyses are divided in to the three levels of Sauter’s phenomenological path: the symbolic level, the sensory level and the artistic level.  It concludes how musicians in Japan perceive their own musical identity, and gives insights on the role of cultural identity in Japanese music. The potential significance is to contribute to identity studies using a performativity perspective as explained above, and thereby elucidating both musicological and historical aspects.

This paper presents the initiative to research on Food Television and the processes ofglobalization. The research gap in the selected subject area is identified after an in-depthliterature review and watching the culinary documentary ‘Ugly Delicious’. According toscholars globalization processes are influenced by the use of Media, as different channelsare transmitting values shared by globalization. Over the years, globalization has developedsub-process such as cultural globalization, a term which refers to the merge of cultures andthe formation of a global one. The identified research gap is to translate how globalizationhas been communicated in a culinary documentary. The title of the research is, therefore“Food Television and the processes of globalization: How does ‘Ugly Delicious’ userepresentations to portray cultural globalization?”, as it addresses the most pertinentresearch gap. Using visual data, such as video, requires a qualitative approach in which thecontent can be coded and later linked to theoretical knowledge. The role of the researcheris to find examples or patterns that represent cultural globalization within the frame of thetwo seasons of the documentary. The method which shapes this qualitative research is theGrounded Theory approach. A coding sheet will be generated to present the process andthe logic of generating codes.

Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology)) --University of Limpopo,2019 / Sociocultural pressures, including the thin-ideal internalization, and other aspects of self-objectification, are associated with body dissatisfaction. However, there is limited research regarding the association between self-objectification and engagement in health related behaviours among African females. A quantitative study was conducted with a sample of 411 female African university students from the University of Limpopo, South Africa to investigate the relationship between internalisation of sociocultural beauty standards and body dissatisfaction and engagement in health related behaviours. The study further explored whether cultural identity would moderate the relationship between internalisation of socio-cultural beauty standards and both body dissatisfaction and engagement in health related behaviours. Structural equation modelling (SEM) suggested that internalization of socio-cultural beauty standards significantly predicted students’ body satisfaction. No statistically significant relationship was found between internalization of socio-cultural beauty standards and engagement in health related behaviours. Also, cultural identity did not moderate the relationship between self-objectification and both body dissatisfaction and engagement in health related behaviours. This being a single study, further research is required to determine the relationship between the variables.

El objetivo de esta investigación es el de analizar el proceso de apropiación y resignificación de los elementos gráficos de la cultura popular por parte de espacios de consumo masivo. En base a ello, se plantearía como hipótesis los efectos en la percepción de los usuarios en base a la resignificación de los elementos iconoplásticos de la gráfica popular utilizada por parte de espacios de consumo masivo y las alteraciones gráficas a las que es sometida. La investigación que se efectuó es descriptiva y se utilizó el método mixto. Para el desarrollo de este trabajo, se realizó entrevistas con diferentes especialistas, así como la realización de trabajo de campo, análisis de piezas gráficas y encuestas al público objeto de estudio dentro del análisis. Los resultados hallados muestran que la mayor cantidad de personas encuestadas relacionan los murales utilizados por parte del centro comercial como representaciones de gráfica popular peruana, de igual manera son estas mismas gráficas lo que más llama la atención del espacio visitado. Finalmente, como conclusiones se obtuvo que la apropiación y resignificación de la gráfica popular utilizada por parte de espacios de consumo masivo ha tenido un impacto positivo en su aplicación, pues en primera instancia, logró obtener la atención del público objetivo deseado y de esta manera mejorar el flujo de consumidores en esta área del centro comercial, de igual manera logra el objetivo de representar la cultura popular del país. / The objective of this research is to analyze the process of appropriation and resignification of the graphic elements of popular culture by mass consumption spaces. Based on this, the effects on the perception of users based on the resignification of the iconoplastic elements of popular graphics used by mass consumption spaces and the graphic alterations to which it is subjected would be hypothesized. The research that was carried out is descriptive and the mixed method was used. For the development of this work, interviews were conducted with different specialists, as well as the realization of field work, analysis of graphic pieces and surveys of the public under study within the analysis. The results found show that the largest number of people surveyed relate the murals used by the shopping center as representations of Peruvian popular graphics, in the same way it is these same graphics that most attract the attention of the space visited. Finally, as conclusions, it was obtained that the appropriation and resignification of the popular graphics used by mass consumption spaces has had a positive impact on its application, since in the first instance, it managed to obtain the attention of the desired target audience and thus improve the flow of consumers in this area of ​​the shopping center, likewise achieves the objective of representing the popular culture of the country. / Trabajo de investigación

Beauty defined by nonvisual means is an area of exploration long overdue. The question on what or whom is considered beautiful or attractive is often left up to each individual, and dependent on the culture in which said beauty is visually seen. This research identified the physical characteristics of Western standards of beauty among women who are visually impaired. The main objective was to explore how women who are visually impaired or blind defined both physical and non-physical beauty, in addition to how they navigated ocularcentric standards of beauty. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 women who are visually impaired or blind that live within the United States. Their interviews were transcribed and analyzed to critique the components of beauty within the cultural lens of women who are visually impaired or blind. What was taken from the data was then used to consider ways in which women can empower themselves without using visual means to define and describe who they are.

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