Globalisation has emphasised two forces in cross-cultural research – heterogenisation and homogenisation, which contribute to the increased power of diasporas and the emergence of a global consumer culture. Reverse acculturation is a recent phenomenon, describing the change in direction of the acculturation process, back towards the culture of origin. Within a global context, reverse acculturation is investigated to determine which globalisation force drives fully acculturated individuals to return to their roots. An exploratory qualitative study was conducted with five South African Chinese and five Anglo-Saxon individuals. The findings identified the need for an evolved acculturation process that recognises integration between homeland and hostland as non-temporary. The findings acknowledged the significance of diaspora research and the growing influence of China on global culture. This confirmed the need for a dynamic definition of acculturation with the factors of life events, life stages and family as significant to the process. The existence of a heterogeneous global culture was supported over a homogenous culture, requiring a cosmopolitan definition to update the current definition based on outdated Western logic. The main findings were applied to evolve the traditional framework towards a dynamic acculturation process driven by individual agency and influenced by a multi-layered construct of variables. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / zkgibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

This study seeks to investigate the impact of globalisation on the architectural behaviour in the United Arab Emirates, to clarify the benefits and risks of globalised architecture in architectural behaviour. Although there are several supporters of globalisation who see the phenomenon as a means of progress and development, many experts have indicated that this phenomenon has been demolishing local culture and regional considerations, and ignoring residents’ requirements. As a result, this study presents all the views about this phenomenon from many aspects, such as political, social, economic and environmental, whereby it investigates the changes in architecture and urban planning due to global standards, methods of construction, and building materials. The literature review was the first part of the study and the theoretical studies were divided into three pivots in this thesis: The globalisation impacts and features, the relationship between globalisation and architecture and the last pivot concentrates on the human needs in architecture. The study also concentrates on the impact of globalisation on architecture through the terminology of “globalised architecture”, and focuses on some global phenomena in the architectural domain, such as skyscrapers, multi-storey buildings and iconic landmarks. The empirical study examines this argument about globalisation through questionnaires and interviews. A comparison is drawn between two groups: globalised houses is the first group, which reflects globalisation’s impacts on architecture, where this provides easier ways to specify features, elements and specifications for the era. In contrast, the non-globalised sample is the opposite of the first group, because it reflects the features of houses without the impacts of globalisation. Ultimately, the findings indicated that there are differences between the two groups. Both samples occurred in the same place and time, but the form of architecture and urban design has affected human behaviour. Thus, this study suggests a paradigm that could provide more humanitarian elements in architecture and urban design. It also suggests some general recommendations supporting human needs, and local considerations such as standards and codes.

As media and entertainment products flood across porous national borders around Southeast Asia, wary local elites have been able to sustain their legitimacy, despite rumblings to the contrary. Global industry trends like conglomeration, commodification and celebrification, mean few real challenges to the existing political and economic status quo. Whilst modernization theory assumes that the globalizing communication media would spread liberal, open societies, as this thesis will show, this is not the case in Southeast Asia. Despite the fact that the Asian Financial Crisis undermined the developmental state championed by many of the Region’s illiberal governments, it did not give rise to a liberal alternative, but to something more hybrid and complex which this thesis will reveal. The development of the communication media has had important implications for the nature of politics and political process in the region. However, rather than inspiring democratic ideals in an informed and educated public, it is commercial concerns which have come to dominate its agenda since the Asian Financial Crisis. This results in a churn of generic, even pasteurized media offerings, as media owners seek to woo concerned governments, and further their own business interests. The local media is not immune to these general trends, and tends to be locked in its own battle of competing interests, only very occasionally reflecting the political aspirations of its audience and their somewhat muted call for political change, rarely laying the seed. As a result, although there are interesting local responses to the growth of the media and entertainment industry and the changes being wrought by the Internet and other new technologies, the mass media has developed an ambiguous relationship with the political process. More significantly, local elites have proved resilient in the face of the challenge of the globalized media and, acting against the background of the “war on terror”, have been able to accelerate illiberal media options, maintaining their control strategies albeit, at times, around newly formed coalitions of support. In fact, this thesis demonstrates that the traditional elites have regrouped since the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, and are restoring their control over the media, where possible by ownership or legal means or, alternatively, where that has proved difficult, they have increasingly taken the sophisticated approach of using the techniques espoused by the perception industries and by public relations consultants to ensure they communicate effectively in an increasingly complex media environment.

The purpose of this study is to determine how stand-up comedians outside the U.S. have succeeded to adapt the art of stand-up comedy to their own regional contexts and to define the extent of the influence of American comedians on comedians from other countries, discussing the concept of Americanisation and globalised media. Two stand-up comedy presentations, one by American comedian Bill Hicks, Revelations; and one by Swedish comedian Magnus Betnér, Inget är heligt, were analysed using comparative content analysis in order to determine similarities and differences in the subjects addressed during the presentations along with similarities and differences in the style of performance. In-depth interviews were conducted as part of this research with professional comedians from Costa Rica: actor and stand-up comedian Hernán Jiménez, and members of the comedy group “La Media Docena” Édgar Murillo and Erik Hernández.

Le transport de marchandises par mer constitue de nos jours un pilier du commerce international et l’un des principaux moteurs de la mondialisation. De ce fait, le droit du transport maritime de marchandises, en tant qu’élément déclencheur du droit maritime, reste toujours la discipline essentielle dans ce domaine. En raison du développement de la technologie de construction des navires et des modifications des modalités de l’exploitation maritime, les normes en vigueur, relatives au transport maritime, se trouvent confrontées aux changements évolutifs dans la pratique. Tout spécifiquement, en raison de l’absence d’une tradition à ce propos, le droit chinois s’est inspiré inévitablement des normes internationales, quant à son développement. À l’heure actuelle, la question qui se pose ici est de savoir s’il convient d’introduire de nouveaux instruments, et en particulier les Règles de Rotterdam, dans le processus de modernisation du droit positif chinois ? L’étude menée vise à présenter quelques avis de recommandation, proposés pour la réforme du droit chinois du transport maritime de marchandises, vis-à-vis les Règles de Rotterdam. Dans le cadre d’une économie mondialisée, la modernisation du droit positif chinois, et surtout en matière maritime, devrait se développer dans les directions suivantes : d’une part la participation et l’intégration au système international, et de l’autre la reconnaissance de sa particularité au sein de la législation / The carriage of goods by sea constitutes at present time a pillar of international trade and one of the principal engines for the globalization. For this reason, the law of the carriage of goods by sea, being as the primary trigger for the maritime law, remains always its essential position in this domain. Due to the technological progress in the construction of the vessels and to the changes of the operational mode of maritime exploitation, the relevant laws in force are confronted with progressive transformation in practice. Particularly in relation to the Chinese maritime law, because of absence of the tradition in this regard, it has been inspired inevitably by the international norms, with respect to its development. At the current time, the question here is whether to introduce some new instruments, and in particular the Rotterdam Rules, in the process of modernization of Chinese positive law ? The present research is intended to provide some recommendation notices, proposed for the reform of the Chinese law of carriage of goods by sea, vis-à-vis the Rotterdam Rules. In the context of a worldwide economy, the modernization of the Chinese positive law, and especially in terms of maritime law, should be deployed with the following sprits: the participation and the integration to the international system on the one hand, and the recognition of its particularities in the course of the legislation on the other hand

The study sought to uncover the constitution of migrant women's agency as they rebuild their lives in Australia, and to explore how contact with any publicly funded services might influence the capacity to be self determining subjects. The thesis used a framework of lifeworld theories (Bourdieu, Schutz, Giddens), materialist, trans-national feminist and post colonial writings, and a methodological approach based on critical hermeneutics (Ricoeur), feminist standpoint and decolonising theories. Thirty in depth interviews were carried out with 6 women migrating from each of 5 regions: Vietnam, Lebanon, the Horn of Africa, the former Soviet Union and the Philippines. Australian based immigration literature constituted the third corner of triangulation. The interviews were carried out through an exploration of themes format, eliciting data about the different ontological and epistemological assumptions of the cultures of origin. The findings revealed not only the women's remarkable tenacity and resilience as creative agents, but also the indispensability of Australia's publicly funded infrastructure or welfare state. The women were mostly privileged in terms of class, education and affirming relationships with males. Nevertheless, their self determination depended on contact with universal public policies, programs and with local community services. The welfare state seems to be modernity's means for re-establishing human connectedness that is the crux of the human condition. Connecting with fellow Australians in friendships and neighbourliness was also important in resettlement. Conclusions include a policy discussion in agreement with Australian and international scholars proposing that there is no alternative but for governments to invest in a welfare state for the civil societies and knowledge based economies of the 21st Century.