The main interest of this thesis lies in the analysis of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), as it is represented in movies. The times before and after the Cold War period in Germany have often been discussed in both literature as well as movies. However, most academic essays which focus on how this time is remembered by current societies are analyzing literature rather than movies. Most analyses of film neglect the exploration of cultural memory, even though there are a variety of different film genres that deal with this topic. This paper will fill this gap in film research by showing that movies set in the GDR can help to convey a cultural memory just as much as literature. The diversity of movies set in the GDR is great: many movies tell sad and serious stories about families under government surveillance, or of people who were killed by trying to escape to West-Germany. This thesis however, focuses on films with humorous aspects. Although most film reviewers criticise comedies about the GDR as being purely nostalgic, this thesis shows that the humour used in specific movies is able to collect a memory and therefore, can be seen as a vehicle of cultural memory. The movies Sonnenallee directed by Leander Haußmann and Good Bye Lenin! directed by Wolfgang Becker are analyzed in this paper because they are comparable insofar that they both show the GDR from a youthful point of view from different time periods. Sonnenallee takes place in the 70ies and therefore, 20 years before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Good Bye Lenin?, in contrast, covers both the time before and after the fall of the wall. Another reason for selecting these movies is the fact that they are criticized for only portraying the clichés and stereotypes of East-German-figures, which should be reproved. The first part of the thesis explains the theory and main arguments of Aleida and Jan Assmann’s concept of cultural memory. In order to reconstruct their train of thought, it is necessary to summarize the work of their predecessors Maurice Halbwachs, Aby Warburg, and Pierre Nora. The second part moves on to discuss the term ‘Erinnerungs-film’, coined by Astrid Erll, whose main research interest lies in understanding the dif-ferent kinds of memories occurring in movies. The following chapter focuses on the use of comedy in the selected films, as it is important to understand how humorous scenes are created in those movies. The main part of the thesis is the analysis of Sonnenallee and Good Bye Lenin! found in chapter five. Two different types of approaches are chosen: first, a comparison between Haußmann’s movie Sonnenallee and Thomas Brussig’s book Am kürzeren Ende der Sonnenallee, and then a picture-sound-analysis of selected scenes from Becker’s movie Good bye Lenin!. The comparison shows the advantages that the movie has over the book in terms of displaying humour as a means to convey cultural memory. The inter-pretation part of the thesis shows how funny scenes can be critically interpreted and found to be useful in creating cultural memory rather than putting them down as purely nostalgic.

We often encounter mental illness in our daily lives. People who are diagnosed with a mental disorder are marked as different and thereby stigmatized and confined to spacial isolation. This thesis analyzes the function of mental illness by examining the protagonist of Irena Vrkljan's Buch über Dora. I argue that in Buch über Dora stigmatization and isolation of otherness becomes visible in how the book's protagonist is excluded from certain spaces. My main question is which role is ascribed to Dora by society. Othering – and therefore excluding – mentally ill persons such as Dora is necessary to establish the order of society. Another important issue are the similarities between Dora and other female characters in the novel.The symptoms of the pressure to succumb to societal norms are shared by the first person narrator, among others. It is my aim to show that and how all woman can easily be pushed into Dora's role. This leads to the central question or my thesis: Are we not all a bit like Dora? To date, Irena Vrkljan's works have been largely neglected by the germanic academic community. Germanistik has not yet found a way to accommodate her bilingual and bicultural oeuvre. The first part of my thesis addresses this issue. The second part develops a constructivist theoretical framework for my analysis of space. First, I draw on the work of Michel Foucault "Of Other Spaces", "Discipline And Punish", and "Madness And Cilvilization", in which he describes space as a construct that reproduces societal norms. Second, Sigmund Freud's "Fragments of an Analysis of a Case of Hysteria" helps to grasp how mental illness is pathologized. While Foucault focuses on the function of norms, Freud analyses the consequences of aberrant behaviour for women. The third part focuses on the fragmentary structure of the novel and continues with an detailed analysis of heterotopias such as the cemetery, Dora's room, the market and the untended park. By identifying with Dora, Buch über Dora questions the norms and shows her otherness as something that we all share. She may be stigmatized as mentally ill but she is by no means fundamentally different to other women.

Esta tesis pretende aproximarse a la compleja situación en la que se encuentra la mediación intercultural en el ámbito de la salud con un planteamiento transdisciplinar, que incorpora aportaciones, de la sociología, la psicología, el management o la antropología.Tras la introducción, se muestra el planteamiento metodológico, el contexto y los problemas de investigación, objetivos e hipótesis del estudio que constituye el diseño del estudio empírico. El marco teórico y conceptual recorre la mediación desde sus orígenes históricos y culturales y la mediación intercultural como concepto hasta llegar a la mediación intercultural en salud realizando una revisión de las experiencias llevadas a cabo en EEUU y Europa para, finalmente, analizar el Sistema de Salud de Cataluña, en diálogo con el sistema de salud nacional y el resto de experiencias en España.La etnografía analiza el estudio realizado y los resultados obtenidos. Las conclusiones enlazan con un último apartado donde se presenta una crítica de la mediación actual ofreciendo nuevas orientaciones y tendencias de futuro.El estudio se plantea desde una perspectiva cualitativa aunque la investigación se complementa con la obtención y análisis de datos estadísticos propios de la metodología cuantitativa siendo el Hospital del Mar la unidad de análisis para el estudio de caso. / This thesis aims to approach the complex situation of intercultural mediation in the area of healthcare. It follows an transdisciplinary approach, which incorporates contributions from sociology, psychology, management and anthropology.After the introduction, the thesis presents the methodological approach, the context and the research problems, objectives and hypotheses, which determine the empirical design. The theoretical and conceptual framework covers mediation from its historical and cultural origins, and intercultural mediation as a concept to achieve intercultural mediation in healthcare. To this end, the thesis reviews the experiences carried out in the U.S. and Europe, and finishes with an analisis of the health system in Catalonia, in dialogue with the national health system and the rest of experiences in Spain.Ethnography methodology analizes the study and the results obtained. The findings link with a final section that presents a critique of the current mediation offering new directions and future trends. The study is approached from a qualitative perspective although the research is complemented by the acquisition and analysis of statistical data, as used by the quantitative methodology. Hospital del Mar is used as the unit of analysis for the case study.

En el plan de estudios de las lenguas modernas del año 2000 hay peticiones de una educa-ción intercultural donde se hace consciente a la propia cultura del alumno para percibir mejor y entender las diferencias y las semejanzas que hay entre las culturas que hoy existen en nuestra sociedad pluricultural. Los libros de enseñaza son recursos decisivos para el profesor en su trabajo y aportan conocimientos esenciales sobre el mundo. Gracias a su función central en la enseñanza, el libro de texto tiene que dar a los alumnos las herramien-tas necesarias para obtener una actitud abierta y crítica ante la sociedad. Por eso, en nuestra tesina, hemos analizado el contenido cultural de dos series de materiales didácticos de es-pañol para el bachillerato, Buena Idea y Caminando, del nivel uno y dos, con el propósito de investigar si el contenido cultural da a los alumnos las herramientas necesarias para des-arrollar una competencia intercultural y una imagen matizada de las diferentes culturas que forman parte del mundo hispanohablante.Llegamos a la conclusión de que el contenido cultural, en la mayoría de los textos es-tudiados, sobre todo en la serie Buena Idea, trata de fenómenos de la sociedad española. Sin embargo, podemos observar que los textos de la serie Caminando en gran parte facili-tan una obtención de una competencia intercultural de las diferentes culturas que existen en América Latina y en España en comparación con el contenido cultural de los textos de la serie Buena Idea, los cuales generalmente no cumplen la misma función. Por ello podemos afirmar que el contenido cultural de la serie Caminando se corresponde relativamente bien, tanto con las expectativas que se puede tener de un material didáctico bien elaborado como con los objetivos establecidos en los planes de estudios de las lenguas modernas, mientras que el contenido cultural de la serie Buena Idea no es del mismo modo satisfactorio.

As we continue to work toward a better understanding of global issues and intercultural sensitivity, educators must identify areas where we can facilitate positive change in ourselves and in our students. This descriptive study incorporates the Intercultural Development Inventory to measure orientations toward cultural differences of three aspiring student groups, the Corps of Cadet Leaders, the Peer Diversity Leaders and the Tsunami Fulbright Leaders, as described in the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS). The DMIS assumes that construing cultural difference can become an active part of one’s worldview, resulting in an expanded understanding of one’s own and other cultures, and an increased competence and sensitivity in intercultural relations. The quantitative portion of this study was reported using appropriate quantitative techniques. The data collected was processed and initially scored using the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI). Data was then further analyzed using a statistical software program (SPSS) and statistical correlations, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVAs) were computed. This study is unique in that it breaks new ground in the measurement of the levels of intercultural sensitivity of three groups of students from various organizations at the university level. The Intercultural Development Inventory, distributed to 38 students, revealed that students in this small study are all in a stage of denial, defense or minimization. The study points to recommendations for change, from a developmental training perspective, to encourage students to become effective in their intercultural relationships. Use of the IDI and interventions to assist in finding ways to increase cultural sensitivity will assist aspiring student leaders in all walks of life.

Thesis (D. Ed. Min.)--Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 118-122).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2003. / Supervisors: Robert Marion and Gwendolyn Webb-Johnson. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available from UMI.

Thesis (D. Miss.)--Trinity International University, 2000. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 225-236).

Thesis (M.A.)--Eastern Illinois University. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 53-58).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia State University, 2009. / Title from file title page. Kenneth B. Matheny, committee chair; Frances McCarty, Y. Barry Chung, Jeff Ashby, committee members. Description based on contents viewed Feb. 16, 2010. Includes bibliographical references.