Puerto Rican culture often includes music as a method of expressing cultural identity. For instance, music has been considered a symbol of resistance, identity, and performative culture for many Puerto Ricans. This thesis will heavily rely on the involvement of Afro-Latin music in literature to determine ways that Puertorriqueñidad can be defined. To do this, I will examine how Puerto Rican writers present their identity in their works to define what it means to be Puerto Rican. These writers include the poet Sandra María Esteves and author Judith Ortiz Cofer. Throughout their literary works, they express several connections to their Puerto Rican identity, and through close examination, I was able to compile these connections to music, feminist ideologies, and themes of resistance and oppression. Using the scholarship of Puerto Rican scholar Juan Flores' From Bomba to Hip-Hop: Puerto Rican Culture and Latino Identity and Chicana feminist theorist Chela Sandoval's Methodology of the Oppressed, this thesis will contribute to the examination of music in literature as defying systems of oppression in Puerto Rican culture and explore the relationship between music and Puerto Rican identity.

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På senare tid har de uppmärksammade härjningarna och våldsamma metoderna som används av Islamiska Staten i Irak och Syrien (ISIS) bidragit till en ökad oro och diskussion om vad som får muslimska ungdomar ifrån väst att ansluta sig till sådana hänsynslösa organisationer. Mot bakgrund av detta ville jag undersöka vilka tankar och antaganden som konstruerar en muslimsk ungdoms världsbild avseende identitet och tillhörighet. Denna studie syftar därför till att uppnå ökad förståelse för hur fenomenet radikalisering kan relateras till identitetsskapande hos muslimska ungdomar och vilka processer i identitetsskapandet som kan utgöra en risk för vägen mot radikalisering. För att lyckas med detta har jag utfört semistrukturerade utforskande djupintervjuer med muslimska ungdomar i Malmö. Min avsikt med denna studie har inte varit att utgå från att alla muslimska ungdomar är, eller har potential för att bli radikaliserade. Min avsikt har snarare varit att utforska hur identitet och tillhörighet kan säga något om vägar (pathways) till radikalisering oavsett av religiös tillhörighet. För att analysera informanternas berättelser har begrepp och ramverk från Social identitetsteori använts. Studien påvisar en stabil grund för bi-kulturell identifiering med en svensk och en muslimsk kontext bland ungdomarna som ingått i denna studie. Samtidigt går det att spåra en kluvenhet i att på grund av sin religiösa identitet inte alltid accepteras fullt ut i alla sammanhang och en känsla av medialt utpekande av muslimer som grupp. Informanternas berättelser synliggör också en upplevd intern konflikt bland muslimska samfund då terrorism som utförs i islams namn tvingar medlemmar i gruppen att både internt och externt markera ställningstagande i frågan om religiöst motiverat våld och terrorism. Denna konflikt i kombination med ett upplevt utanförskap som svensk muslim kan i sig vara grunden för att vissa ungdomar vänder sig in i andra delar av den muslimska gruppen för att söka acceptans och bekräftelse. I denna process finner en del av dessa ungdomar radikala och extrema rörelser. Dessa rörelser är isolerade från omvärldens intryck vilket möjliggör för extremism att gro. När medlemmar inom en sådan grupp vill öka sin status kan beteende och handlingar eskalera vilket kan leda till våld och terrorism. Ett sätt att förhindra denna väg mot radikalisering av unga muslimer skulle således kunna vara att skapa förutsättningar för muslimska ungdomar att kunna känna tillhörighet i sina olika sociala identiteter som både svensk och muslim. / As the brutality and violent means of the Islamic state in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has become evident a general concern and public discussion has emerged about what makes young Muslims from the Western world to join such devious organizations. In light of this I wanted to examine the thoughts and assumptions that constructs the feelings of identity and belonging of young Muslims in the city of Malmo. This study thus aims to create a wider understanding of how the phenomenon of radicalization can be related to identities of Muslim youth and how the processes of forming identity can compose a risk for the individual to find pathways to radicalization. To accomplish this explorative semi-structured interviews with young Muslims in Malmo was conducted. My intention with this study has not been to assume that all Muslim youth is, or has the potential to become radicalized. My intention rather has been to explore how identity and belonging can tell something about routes (pathways) to radicalization regardless of religious affiliation. To analyze the stories of the young Muslims who participated in this study concepts and frameworks from Social Identity Theory has been applied. This study shows that among the young Muslims participating in this study there is a stable basis for a bi-cultural identification with both a Swedish and a Muslim context. It is though possible to trace some ambivalence in the bi-cultural identity of these individuals as their experience as being Muslims e.g. their religious identity are not always compatible or fully accepted in all contexts. Additionally the participants also perceive that Muslims as a group is being publicly singled out and criticized by media. The stories also reveals a perceived internal conflict among Muslim communities as terrorism conducted in the name of Islam compels members of the Muslim group to both internally and externally mark position concerning religiously motived violence and terrorism. This conflict joint with the experience of exclusion among Swedish Muslim can potentially become the reason for some young Muslims to turn into the wide range of Muslim communities in search for acceptance and affirmation. In this process some individuals will find radical and extremist movements. The isolation these movements/groups experience from outside impressions then enables extremism to flourish inside the group. When members of such a group strives to improve individual status the behavior and actions of the group can escalate which in turn can result in violence and terrorism. Thus to avoid this pathway to radicalization the solution lies in creating conditions that allows for young Muslims to feel belonging and inclusion in their bi-cultural identities as being both Swedish and Muslims.

The phenomenon of interracial couples who are also parents is on the increase in South Africa, since one in every four marriages is interracial. An empirical study was undertaken to conduct applied, exploratory, descriptive, evidence-based research to describe the perspectives of interracial parents as related to Gestalt Theory, parenting challenges and strategies towards a sense of self and cultural identity of their children. A qualitative approach utilizing an open ended questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with six interracial parent couples was transcribed and analysed. The study concluded that interracial parent couples’, in respect of dealing with societal-non-acceptance of themselves and their “mixed” children, utilize several strategies including avoidance and focusing on the positive; that certain aspects play a vital role in the formation of their children’s sense of self and cultural identity such as religion or faith and both parental identities.The implication of this research is that despite the challenges there are no marked effects on their children’s identity and that interracial parenting strategies must be sound. / Social Work / M.A. Diac. (Play Therapy)

This dissertation aims to contribute to the burgeoning field of Arab-American feminist critique through an exploration of the work of four contemporary Arab-American women poets: Etel Adnan (1925-), a poet and a visual artist and a writer, Naomi Shihab Nye (1952-), poet, a song writer, and a novelist, Mohja Kahf (1967-), a poet, an Islamic feminist critic and author, and Suheir Hammad (1973-), a hip-hop poet and political activist. The study traverses the intersections of stereotypical racial and Orientalist discourses with which these women contend, and which have been further complicated by being shaped against the backdrop of the “War on Terror” and hostility against Arabs, Muslims and Arab-Americans in the post-September 11 era. Hence, the study attempts to examine their poetry as a tool for resistance, and as a space for conciliating the complexities of their hyphenated identities. The last two decades of the twentieth-century saw the rise of a rich body of Arab-American women writing which has elicited increasing academic and critical interest. However, extensive scholarly and critical attention was mainly drawn to novels and non-fiction prose produced by Arab-American women writers as reflected in the huge array of anthologies, journal articles, book reviews and academic studies. Although such efforts aim to research and examine the racial politics that have impacted the community and how it relates to feminist discourses in the United States, they have rarely addressed or researched how the ramifications of these racialised politics and discourses are articulated in Arab-American women’s poetry per se. Informed by a wide range of postcolonial and United States ethnic theory and criticism, feminist discourses of women of colour such Gloria Anzaldúa's borderland theory, and Lisa Lowe's discussions of ethnic cultural formations in addition to transnational feminism, this study seeks to lay the groundwork for a complex analysis of Arab-American feminist poetics, based on both national and transnational literary approaches. The dissertation addresses the following questions: how does the genre of poetry negotiate identity politics and affiliations of belonging in the current polarized and historical moment? How do these women poets challenge the troubling oppressed/exoticised representations of Arab/Muslim women prevalent in the United States mainstream culture? How does each of these poets express their vision of social and political transformation? Emphasising the varying ethnic, religious, national, political, and cultural backgrounds and affiliations of these four poets, this dissertation attempts to defy any notion of the monolithic experience of Arab-American women, and argues for a nuanced understanding of specificity and diversity of Arab-American feminist experiences and articulations. To achieve its aim, the study depicts the historical evolution of Arab women’s poetry in the United States throughout four generations in order to examine the deriving issues and formative elements that contributed to the development of this genre, and also to pinpoint the defining characteristics marking Arab-American women poetry as a cultural production of American women of Arab descent. Through close readings and critical analyses of texts, the dissertation offers an investigation of some of the major themes and issues handled by these Arab-American women to highlight the most persistent tropes that mark this developing literary genre. Eventually, this study shows how literature, and specifically poetry becomes a conduit to investigate Arab-American cultural and sociopolitical conditions. It also offers productive explorations of identities and representations that transcend the rigid essential totalising categorisation of identity, while attempting to forge a new space for cultural translation and social transformation.

The phenomenon of interracial couples who are also parents is on the increase in South Africa, since one in every four marriages is interracial. An empirical study was undertaken to conduct applied, exploratory, descriptive, evidence-based research to describe the perspectives of interracial parents as related to Gestalt Theory, parenting challenges and strategies towards a sense of self and cultural identity of their children. A qualitative approach utilizing an open ended questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with six interracial parent couples was transcribed and analysed. The study concluded that interracial parent couples’, in respect of dealing with societal-non-acceptance of themselves and their “mixed” children, utilize several strategies including avoidance and focusing on the positive; that certain aspects play a vital role in the formation of their children’s sense of self and cultural identity such as religion or faith and both parental identities.The implication of this research is that despite the challenges there are no marked effects on their children’s identity and that interracial parenting strategies must be sound. / Social Work / M.A. Diac. (Play Therapy)

Les fichiers qui accompagnent mon document ont été réalisés avec les logiciels : STATA, SPSS et EXCEL. / Ce mémoire de maitrise porte sur l’étude de la relation entre les croyances religieuses, le développement économique et l’identité socioculturelle des libanais. Ce sujet est suscité par deux approches : une approche conceptuelle relatant le lien entre la religion et le développement économique, et une approche révélant le rapport entre les trois éléments du sujet et imposant une observation rigoureuse des libanais du Liban et des libanais de Montréal. Deux types d’études empiriques sont envisageables afin d’expliquer le rapprochement entre les trois éléments du sujet : des études visant à tester le lien entre la religion et le développement au Liban et à Montréal et des études traitant la problématique identitaire. Les analyses historiques, sociologiques et empiriques invoquées dans notre projet démontrent qu’en général il existe une corrélation entre la religion et le développement. Nos enquêtes soulignent que cette corrélation est tout de même vérifié chez les libanais. Les points de vue culturel et religieux attestent que la religion et la famille constituent deux éléments indissociables de l’identité socioculturelle des libanais. La religion est une valeur qui peut influencer le choix du consommateur libanais. En effet, une relation de réciprocité est établie entre ces deux éléments. Les études, menées au Liban et à Montréal, soulignent aussi que le degré de religiosité peut déterminer certains comportements sociaux; ceci crée un enchainement entre le comportement social d’un libanais, ses appartenances religieuses qui reflètent son identité, et le développement économique. Ainsi, Les croyances religieuses endoctrinent le développement économique au plan macroéconomique et au plan microéconomique. Une relation s’installe entre le spirituel et la science économique. / This thesis focuses on the study of the relationship between religious beliefs, economic development and socio-cultural identity of Lebanon. This topic is generated by two approaches: a conceptual approach to describing the relationship between religion and economic development, and an approach to revealing the relationship between the three elements of the subject and requiring strict adherence to the Lebanese in Lebanon and the Lebanese in Montreal. Two types of empirical studies are possible to explain the relation between the three elements of the subject: studies to test the link between religion and development in Lebanon and Montreal and studies dealing with the issue of identity. Historical, sociological and empirical analyses show that there is in general a correlation between religion and development. Our investigations point out that this correlation is still checked in Lebanon. The cultural and religious views show that religion and family are two inseparable elements of the socio-cultural identity of Lebanese. Religion is a value that can influence consumer choice Lebanese. Indeed, a reciprocal relationship is established between the two. Studies conducted in Lebanon and Montreal also highlight that the degree of religiosity may determine some social behaviors; this creates a chain between the social behavior of a Lebanese, his religious affiliations that reflect his identity, and economic development. Thus, religious beliefs indoctrinate economic development at the macroeconomic and microeconomic levels.

This diploma thesis deals with the genre of intercultural children's literature and the literature for young adults on the example of the analysis of current German works. The used method is a combination of structural analysis of compositional, language and thematic component of the works, content analysis and the theory of reader-response criticism. Based on the analysis of four works, the genre of intercultural literature is defined in the relation with the themes of home, homeland and cultural identity. Home is defined not only as a physical space to live but also in the spiritual sense of the word represented by the family relationships, which mean safety and security to the figures. Homeland is perceived as an extended paralell to home. It is a space which is close to the figures and they can easily understand the relations here. Home and homeland both influence the concept of identity, environment being the most important aspect of it. The figures are in conflict of their roles being assigned to them by their environment and the way they define themselves. If the figures have to choose between their home and homeland, they choose their home in the spiritual sense - their family. If the family fails to fulfil its role, they search for the comfort in their homeland.

in English The papers contain a finding of the national literature in between novels in the Central Europe at the age of modernism in 20s and 30s o 20th century. The idea definition of national novel in the literatures of Central Europe is difficult and complicated process. This papers work with literal texts as a part of national literature with polish novel Przedwiośnie by Stefan Zeromsky, hungarian novel Édes Anna by Deszo Kosztolanyi, slovakian novel Cesta životom by Ladislav Nádasi-Jégé, czech novel Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka by Jaroslav Hašek and austrian novel Mann ohne Eingeschafen by Robert Musil. The finding is divided into two parts - first is finding of national novel - second is about national character. Both situations are actualized with new terms - novel of the nation and character of the nation. Both literary terms correspond to objects that are not directly denouncing the life of the nation, but produces its main ideas and identification. The slovakian and the hungarian novel focus on the struggle of individual characters with society and their new status. In the contrary to the austrian and the czech novel reveal the principle of applying national characteristics in literary philosophical swirl. The polish novel is stranded somewhere in between these two types of novel. Key...