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.

Germany has historically been a country where peoples from various countries have worked and settled, and diverse cultures have existed. Yet, German schools still adhere to what could be described as assimilative and deficit-oriented practices (Gogolin & Krüger-Potratz, 2006; Schanz, 2006). In addition, the German education system has a high degree of social selection (Auernheimer, 2006a) that creates severe educational inequities between German and immigrant students. After four years of primary school, students are streamed into one of the three major secondary school types Gymnasium, Realschule, and Hauptschule, based on achievement. Since these schools provide education of varying quality, students are denied equal opportunities. The purpose of this study is to explore and critically analyze possible ways to alleviate the existing inequities in the German school system, which are reflected in the achievement gap between immigrant and German mainstream students (Hormel & Scherr, 2004; Schofield, 2006). Using a case study approach, I analyze the educational work of the award-winning German primary school “Kleine Kielstraße” located in Dortmund with a culturally and linguistically diverse student population, situated in a socially disadvantaged district. My purpose was to gain insight into the school’s practices and strategies for recognizing diverse students and for striving to provide equitable education for all students. Despite the strategic steps taken by this school based on the competence and the enthusiasm of the principal and staff, it is quite evident that structural changes in the highly selective, three-tiered German secondary school system are required before educators can effectively challenge the built-in inequities. Though the German school system is designed and programmed to discriminate and deny equal opportunity, the participating school demonstrates a pedagogical approach that provides more equitable education for all students regardless of their cultural background and ethnicity. This thesis explores these strategies of the school to create an understanding that a progressive “Intercultural Pedagogy” can go a long way in providing a better education despite structural inequities. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2008-07-03 15:00:06.839

This thesis explores how musical recordings circulate within various sites of metacultural analysis, such as print music publications, music blogs, community-based campus radio music programmes and music podcasts. Drawing on theories about cultural production, the circulation of cultural objects, and metaculture (circulation of ideas about cultural objects, rather than the objects themselves), the author traces how an independent record label discursively positions musical recordings for movement towards and within these meaning-making spheres. Print music publications and music blogs facilitate recognition and consecration of recordings in different capacities, particularly in relation to music publicity. Community-based campus (c/c) radio and music podcasts situate recordings within new cultural objects--radio texts--that engage with listeners in different ways. In this manner, all sites are stakeholders in shaping the meaning of a musical recording and propel its actual and metacultural circulation along various trajectories. / Cette thèse explore comment les enregistrements musicaux circulent à travers différents lieuxd'analyse métaculturelle, comme les publications imprimées traitant de musique, les bloguesmusicaux, les émissions de musique des radios communautaires et universitaires ainsi que lesbaladodiffusions musicales. Basé sur les théories de la création de la culture, de latransmission des objets culturels et métaculturel (la circulation d'idées à propos d'objetsculturels plutôt qu'à propos des objets eux-mêmes), l'auteur démontre les méthodesdiscursivement employées par une étiquette indépendante afin d'encourager le mouvement deses enregistrements musicaux au sein de ces sphères créatrices de sens. Les publicationsimprimées et les blogues musicaux facilitent la reconnaissance et la consécration desenregistrements musicaux, notamment à travers la promotion de la musique. Les radioscommunautaires et universitaires ainsi que les baladodiffusions musicales placent cesenregistrements à l'intérieur d'un nouvel objet culturel- le contenu radiophonique -lesquelsattirent l'attention de l'auditoire de différentes façons. Ainsi, tous ces environnementscontribuent à donner un sens à l'enregistrement musical et à le propulser, au sens propre et ausens métaculturel, vers ses trajectoires variées.

The purpose of the study was to develop an effective method of facilitating intercultural communication and understanding for school personnel (administrators, counselors, teachers) and to design a training tool which would assist in this task.Based on the body of literature in theory, research, and training of intercultural communication, the study synthesized the findings to determine the most effective methodology to accomplish this purpose.The following research questions were studied:1. What are the barriers to effective intercultural communication?2. What is the most effective intercultural training model (in terms of learner achievement of competencies)?3. How does one become an independent, effective intercultural communicator (what are the competencies, attributes, specific knowledge, and behaviors)?4.How does one evaluate one's competency and effectiveness in intercultural communication?1. Barriers to effective intercultural communicationwere identified as: language and non-verbal communication problems, preconceived ideas and stereotypes, ethnocentrism, differences in learning and approach to problem solving, differences in values and beliefs, lack of knowledge about oneself and others, perceptual distortions, role prescriptions, differences in individuals, past experiences, and technology.2. Several intercultural training models were analyzed: intellectual, area training, self-awareness, cultural awareness, multidimensional, developmental experiential, intercultural sensitizer, culture-general assimilator, and independent effectiveness. The author developed the SSSSS (SixStep Sequential Self-Structured) Model which integrated intellectual and experiential learning.A training tool was also developed, a videotape, which presented incidents of intercultural interaction. The video, entitled Creating Empathy Through Film, is to be used in conjunction with the SSSSS Model as a means of training school personnel in effective intercultural communication.3.Competencies of independent, effective interculturalcommunicators were identified as: understanding one's own cultural background and the backgrounds of those who areculturally different, openness, tolerance of differences, empathy, flexibility, global awareness, ability to cope in stressful situations, and the capability to function effectively in multicultural environments.4. The self-evaluation method developed for trainees uses three concentric circles within which gummed tabs are placed. This evaluative method will enable trainees to measure their own effectiveness in intercultural communication in terms of attitudes, behaviors, and knowledge. / Department of Secondary, Higher, and Foundations of Education

Negotiating a synergized solution is challenging under optimal circumstances. Add in the challenge of cross-cultural differences, cultural collision occurs leading to worse negotiation outcomes in intercultural negotiation than intracultural ones (e.g., Adair et al., 2001; Adair et al., 2007). Given that intercultural negotiations are both challenging and prevalent, this study investigates how to improve intercultural negotiation effectiveness, and demonstrates when intercultural negotiators can in fact achieve significantly better outcomes than intracultural negotiators (i.e. cultural synergy). Drawing insights from research on cultural essentialism and its influence on intergroup relations and conflicts, I examine the interaction between essentialist beliefs and the cultural context in negotiation. Using an actor-partner interdependence model, I reveal that whether cultures collide or synergize in intercultural negotiation depends on negotiators’ endorsement of cultural essentialist beliefs. Intercultural negotiators who believed that cultural characteristics are malleable (i.e. non-essentialist beliefs) achieved higher individual gains and joint gains, compared to not only intercultural negotiators who endorsed stronger essentialist beliefs, but also intracultural negotiators. Beyond identifying why cultures collide in negotiation, these findings pave the way for future research to examine factors that help negotiators harvest cultural synergy for favorable negotiation outcomes.

Because of its ambiguous function and usage, silence is a major source of intercultural miscommunication, which frequently leads to negative judgments, and breeds stereotypes. Grounded in a cross-cultural and interactive framework, I conducted a five-month descriptive qualitative study, which explored silence perceptions among Chinese, Korean, Russian, Colombian and Iranian ESL speakers, and Canadian native-speakers of English (NS). Multiple perspectives were investigated using stimulated recall, in a context of intercultural mentoring sessions and interviews. Eight ESL 'silence producer' participants were asked to explain their silence use, and their interpretations were compared with the functions attributed to these silences by other participants, one from the same cultural background as the 'silence producer', and a NS. Participants' silence perceptions were described, and most negatively-interpreted silences were identified. Analysis revealed intra-cultural acrimony, that high language proficiency perceptions increase negative silence attributions, cross-cultural differences in attitudes towards fillers, and the systematic silencing of ESL speakers.

According to the national curriculum guidelines for elementary school, preschool and after-school 2011, (i.e. Lgr11), the Swedish school is based on a democratic foundation. Schools should prepare students to develop an understanding and acceptance of cultural diversity not only in the society as a whole but also how this should be reflected in the morals and ethics between us. The purpose of this study was to describe how teachers in multicultural schools perceptions and experiences on teaching pupils with diverse immigrant origin, and how they apply these cultural expression in practice. In particular, I focus on four teachers in multicultural schools and how they reason about applying cultural expressions that are transmitted at these schools and by them. Explicitly, I review how from policy documents and their own personal pedagogic are reflected in the actual teaching. Hence, my questions at issue are: How do these teachers reason about integrating and applying their pupils languages and traditions in the actual teaching? How do these teachers do to make their students' cultural diversity visible in the classroom? The result showed that teachers integrate different cultural content in school activities, but they also make their pupils cultural diversity visible and various forms of knowledge constructions and perspective in education. All teachers emphasized the importance of having a democratic approach and to give students the opportunity to learn their native language. The teachers argued that having a solid education in their native language affects the students' general academic performance in a positive sense.

The conceptual space formed by the experience of being in-between cultures is a fluid one. The boundaries of this space resist being fixed or defined, as experiences of cultural dislocation vary from person to person and alter over time. It is in this space that my project is located, and that my research seeks to explore. / Thesis (MVisualArts)--University of South Australia, 2001.

As a result of globalisation there are many international business activities that span the world. Organisations realise that a good global project management approach can run highly complex projects with quick response and flexibility. / Research and studies into successful international projects have found the top four challenges for international project managers are communication skills, culture, technology and project management leadership. Communication skills has ranked the highest of the all challenges and critical to the success of international projects. / Therefore international project managers need the necessary skill to have 'soft' management skills to break down the cultural barriers and coordinate projects simultaneously across multiple countries. In these circumstances relying on 'hard' management skills alone is insufficient; therefore communication is a vital skill for international project managers. / This thesis used interviews as the primary research tool to collect data from project managers, who have participated in projects where either they need to be based overseas or have global teams based around the world. / Project managers are aware that communication breakdowns in international projects allude to differences in culture, leadership styles, technology and close mindedness; however, the lesson learnt only occurs after the incident has happened. The awareness of these problems has motivated project managers into increasing their skills by enrolling in courses or finding confidantes to gain more knowledge of local business cultures, laws and customs. / It is recommended that international project managers remember that they communicate with people that are different to them and by keeping an open mind, respecting cultures and customs and taking the time to embrace a culture will reap rewards. Communication also depends on the amount of feedback that one can receive. Face-to-face provides the best feedback, but being aware of the limitations of technology for communication will also nurture good communication skills for successful international projects. / Thesis (MProjectManagement)--University of South Australia, 2005.

Good medical care depends on effective communication between patient and health professional. Misunderstandings can occur in any medical setting but can be further compounded by language and cultural factors in those interactions which occur in a cross-cultural context. The medical consultation is an institutional interaction and as such can involve additional, taken-for-granted evaluative and interpretive criteria which are applied by interactants automatically, without conscious reflection. Non-native speakers who may have a good functional control of the language and have few problems at the level of propositional content may experience significant difficulties at the necessary interpretative level. / Questions act to allow the questioner a degree of interactional control and when patients ask questions they not only increase their access to information but also indicate to the doctor that they wish to play a more active role in the consultation. This thesis examines the discourse of doctor-patient interactions and in particular the ways in which questions are framed and presented by patients and, because the patients in this case are children, their parents. Fifty three medical consultations were observed from both public and private pediatric clinics with patients and their parents comprising 33 native and 20 non-native speakers of English. Data for the study comprise 28 of those consultations. The data include post-consultation interviews with patients and their parents, and interviews with the treating doctors. / The analysis indicates that there are considerable differences in the patterns of questioning behaviour of native speakers and non-native speakers, and that the questioning behaviour of patients and parents seems to be influenced by the communication style of the doctor. / These findings indicate that the questioning behaviour of non-native speaking parents in medical consultations has the potential to lead to less access to information, fewer explanations about their child's condition and a less active role overall in the medical consultation. This in turn can lead to different outcomes for those parents such as lower levels of satisfaction and, potentially, lower levels of compliance with medical advice and directives. These findings also indicate that the needs of non-native speakers in such circumstances are more successfully addressed by a doctor-centred approach. / Finally, this study argues that the observed differences in the patterns of questioning behaviour between native speakers and non-native speakers is more than simple lack of linguistic resources but rather is a result of the clash between the often subtle differences in communicative competence of non-native speakers and the specialised inferential frameworks inherent in institutional discourse.