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Currently there is a critical shortage of transplantable organs in the UK. The existing evidence base highlights that cultural and religious norms can hinder familial consent and uptake of registration as an organ donor, particularly within ethnic minority groups. There is a dearth of information relating to the Polish community in the UK. Since the expansion of the European Union and the potential and consequent economic migration of Poles to the UK, this community presents a potential significant contribution to the active transplant waiting list, NHS Organ Donor Register and requests made for organs for donation on behalf of a relative. The aim of the study was to examine in depth, the perceptions of the relationship between deceased organ donation, gift exchange and religion. Due to the exploratory nature of the study, grounded theory methodology was used and one to one interviews were carried out with 31 participants who were recruited using a purposive convenience sampling strategy. This approach allowed for the collection of rich and deep data in a hitherto under-researched issue with the Polish community in the UK. To contextualise the key findings of the relationship, an in-depth analysis of settlement patterns, helping behaviour and experiences of and attitudes toward religion was conducted. The relationship between religion and gift-exchange was perceived to interact in different ways with deceased organ donation depending on the context. For the individual making an end-of-life choice, gift exchange impacted on the perception of the organ as a gift and whether reciprocity was expected, religion shaped views of the need for the body after death and social and cultural norms influenced the view of the 'typical' donor and family discussion of donation. For the relatives, social, religious and cultural norms impacted on death rituals and the conceptualisation of the dead body and experiences of a relative's death. This study contributes to an understanding of the social, cultural and religious norms toward deceased organ donation from a Polish perspective and the implications for policy, health promotion and clinical practice.

This dissertation draws on studies of gift exchange by cultural anthropologists and social theorists to examine representations of gifts and gift giving in nineteenth-century British novels. While most studies of the economic imagination of nineteenth-century literature rely on and respond to a framework formulated by classical political economy and consequently overlook nonmarket forms of social exchange, I draw on gift theory in order to make visible the alternate, everyday exchanges shaping social relations and identity within the English novel. By analyzing formal and thematic representations of gifting over the course of the nineteenth century, in novels by Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and George Eliot, I consider the way that gift exchange relates and responds to the emergence of capitalism and consumer culture. I trace two distinct developments in nineteenth-century gift culture: the first, the emergence of an idealized view of the gift as purely disinterested, spontaneous, and free, and the second, the emergence of a view of charity as demoralizing to the poor. These developments, I contend, were distinct ideological formations of liberal economic society and reveal a desire to make the gift conform to individualism. However, I suggest further that these transformations of the gift proceeded unevenly, for in their attention to the logic and practice of giving, nineteenth-century writers both give voice to and subvert these cultural formations. Alongside the figure of the benevolent philanthropist, the demoralized pauper, and the quintessential image of altruism, the selflessly giving domestic woman, nineteenth-century novels present another view of gift exchange, one that sees the gift as a mix of interest and disinterest, freedom and obligation, and persons and things. Ultimately, by reading the gift relations animating nineteenth-century novels, I draw attention to the competing conceptions of selfhood underlying gift and market forms of exchange in order to offer a broader history of exchange and personhood. In its recognition of expansive conceptions of the self and obligatory gifts, this dissertation recovers a history of the gift that calls into question the ascendency of the autonomous individual and the view of exchange as an anonymous, self-interested transaction.

Since 1992, the number of short-term mission (STM) travelers has exponentially increased for more than a decade. The purpose of STMs is to spread religious messages to local residents. In order to spread the word of God, STM travelers attempt to interact with local residents. They want to communicate with local residents in the host community and build a relationship with them. Therefore, for STM travelers their relationship with local residnets really matters. Many tourism scholars have argued that hosts-tourists interaction heavily influences both tourists and hosts. In spite of the increased popularity and the importance of host-tourist interaction in the context of STMs, STMs have received relatively little attention from the tourism research field. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to understand short-term mission travelers' interaction with local residents within four existing theories: the theory of leisure and tourist motivation, the theory of cultural hegemony, the gift-exchange theory, and the integrative theory of cross-cultural adaptation. To reach this research aim, this study used a qualitative research design rooted in the constructivist paradigm. A total of 43 STM travelers participated in the interview of this study. Considering the concept of the cultural distance between the participant's home culture and the host culture, American and Korean STM travelers who visited Cambodia or Thailand were recruited. Also, to understand the process of participant's relationship-building and cross-cultural adaptation, both pre- and post-interviews with 26 participants were conducted. The results showed that STM travelers sought personal and interpersonal rewards from the trip, which supports the theory of leisure motivation. Also, this type of travel had similarities with alternative, mass, and volunteer tourism in terms of tourist motivation. Regarding the theory of cultural hegemony, hegemonic power was exercised through STM travelers' work. STM travelers took advantage of an opportunity to provide what locals wanted as an opportunity to spread their religious message. Furthermore, identified conflicts between Christianity and the local culture support the existence of cultural hegemony. Concerning the relationship-building process of STM travelers, the results suggested that STM travelers built their relationship with local people and God by providing a gift to them and positively evaluating receivers' responses. In terms of the theory of cross-cultural adaptation, this study found support for this theory as successful intercultural adaptation led to a personal transformation in travelers. Finally, cultural distance was considered as a dimension of the intercultural adaptation theory. Regarding the perceived cultural distance, American mission travelers reported cultural distance with the host culture whereas Korean mission travelers expressed a cultural similarity to the host cultures rather than cultural difference.

This thesis explores the prestige associated in late medieval Scotland with Flemish luxury products, using a material culture-based approach founded on the premise that objects can reveal the beliefs and attitudes of those who used them. Adding to existing scholarship which concentrates on the economic, political, and diplomatic connections between Scotland and Flanders, this research offers a new artefactual dimension to this relationship. It challenges the perception of Scotland as culturally and materially unsophisticated while simultaneously considering how objects were used in the expression of elite power and status. What drives this work is that late medieval Scottish elites were fully immersed in the most highly regarded and fashionable material trends of western Europe and that their consumption patterns fit into a wider mentality which saw Flemish craftsmanship as an ideal. A new model is thus presented, moving away from the traditional concentration on fluctuating wool exports and taking into account the cultural agency of noble, ecclesiastic, and burghal elites. It entails the initial examination of Scottish consumer demand and its impact on the Flemish luxury market. Following this are chapters on gift exchange and the presentation of magnificence, centred around the perception of the Flemish aesthetic as representative of elite status. Finally, this approach is applied to the burghal and clerical spheres, arguing that Flemish church furniture played a role in the formation and maintenance of elite urban identities. The comprehensive examination of artefactual sources, combined with the commercial, ritual, and ceremonial evidence found in written sources, enables the building up of a clearer impression of Scoto-Flemish material culture than has previously been realised. It is demonstrated that the material environment of late medieval Scottish elites was comparable to those of other European polities, constituting a common cultural sphere furnished by the luxury products of Flanders and the southern Low Countries.

The present diploma thesis deals with the phenomenon of Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS). Using the method of ethnographic research, the author sought a holistic description during her six-month participation in a LETS group in Toulouse. Drawing upon theoretical literature, she discusses the local forms of exchange, debt, the relationship to money and to the virtual currency. The findings show that such a system can change the perception of debt and the relation to money. The most common reasons for involvement are the need to establish social contacts, while the most pressing problem appears to be the lack of interest of young people in this phenomenon. Keywords LETS, ethnographic research, exchange, gift, debt, individualization, Toulouse

The purpose of this essay is to examine the scientific relations between Sweden and America, later USA, through the letter correspondence between Nils Collin and his fellow “scientists” in Sweden and America between 1770–1830. By examining the letters though three different theoretical lenses: Scientific persona, gift exchange and the geography of knowledge with the concepts of centers and peripheries, the inquiry shows us how the scientific relations between the two countries developed and changed during the investigated time period, thus adapting themselves to the political developments that created an international scientific arena instead of the earlier nation neutrality. The letter correspondence reflects the increase in communication between Swedish scientists and American scientists as well as between Swedish institutions such as The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and The American Philosophical Society with Nils Collin as their main go-between. The letters indicate that Nils Collin’s role within the communication network changed with time and that he became an enabler of knowledge circulation between Sweden and the US though his position and many contacts. Lastly, by examining the letters, we can see how the increased communication as well as Nils Collin’s changing role plays part in the American scientific and national development that ultimately changed the earlier ideas of centers and peripheries of knowledge.

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L’objectif de cette thèse est de comprendre le processus d’articulation entre la GRH et l’innovation en PME. Nous faisons le choix de rompre avec l’approche traditionnelle qui consiste à souligner les enjeux de l’alignement stratégique entre ces deux éléments. A partir des enseignements tirés de la pré-étude exploratoire menée auprès de quatre PME innovantes, nousnous inscrivons dans une perspective relationnelle au travers du don. L’analyse se fonde donc sur la théorie du don/contre-don, couplée à une grille de lecture sur la GRH en PME.Une étude de cas multiples, s’appuyant sur 52 entretiens semi-directifs, des observations ainsi que des analyses documentaires, a été conduite auprès de trois PME innovantes. Nous aboutissons à une structuration des données et à une modélisation processuelle selon la méthode dite « à la Gioia ». Les résultats de la recherche montrent que l’articulation entre la GRH et l’innovation en PME, au travers des relations de don/contre-don entre acteurs, repose sur un processus composé de trois étapes : libérer les dons, mobiliser les dons et repenser les dons. Enfin, nous sensibilisons les dirigeants et les relais RH aux trois éléments suivants : l’évolution du contexte organisationnel, le rôle des liens sociaux intenses et les pratiques de GRHmobilisées. / This thesis aims to understand the process of articulation between HRM and innovation in SMEs. We choose to break with the traditional approach of highlighting the issues of strategic alignment between these two elements. Based on the lessons learned from the exploratory prestudy carried out in four innovative SMEs, we opt for a relational perspective through gift. The analysis is therefore based on the theory of gift exchange, combined with an interpretative framework on HRM in SMEs.A multi-case study, based on 52 semi-structured interviews, observations and documentary analysis, was conducted on three innovative SMEs. We lead to a data structuring and a processual modeling according to the ‘Gioia’ method. The results show that the articulation between HRM and innovation in SMEs, through gift exchange relationships between actors, is based on a process consisting of three stages: unleashing gifts, mobilizing gifts and rethinking gifts. Finally, we raise the awareness of owner-managers and HR relays to the following three elements: the evolution of the organizational context, the role of the intense social ties and the mobilized HRM practices.

The theme of gift has in recent years been subject to considerable commentary in diverse disciplines including philosophy, anthropology, sociology, religious studies and literary criticism. The vast majority of these studies focus on how or whether gift can be differentiated from exchange. In this dissertation I maintain that gift is a form of giving and receiving that is distinct from exchange or commerce, and that it need not create an obligation to return or reciprocate. This gift is given unilaterally to the need of the other and results in relatedness rather than indebtedness. This essay considers the characteristics of exchange and of gift, then reviews the thought of five writers on giving/receiving and reciprocation. This is followed by an overview of the gift theme in African Traditional Religion and the Judaic and Christian traditions, and a concluding chapter summarising thoughts on gift and self-interest, sharing, need, and gratitude. / Religious Studies & Arabic / M.A.(Religious Studies)