Abstract Within the globalization of business, international and cross-cultural management has acquired a greater meaning also among management and organization scholars. Consequently, the debate about the conceptualization and meaning of cultural differences has arisen. This thesis sees culture and cultural identity as inductive and discursive. This means that the traditional understanding of cultures and related identities as being rather fixed is questioned. Cultural identity, culture and otherness are in this thesis looked through the lens offered by post-colonial theory. As the thesis investigates a Finnish organization operating in Estonia, the adaptation of post-colonial theory is believed to offer interesting insights to the identity construction inside the organization in question. Even though colonialization has never been actual, the relationship between the two countries displays the features of a colonial relationship. During its history, Finland has been taken a role as the “big brother” of Estonia and it has been argued that Estonia has been going through cultural “Finlandisation”. Today, however, the situation may have changed and therefore it is interesting to take a look at whether the post-colonial relations have had an effect on the identity construction and perception building between Estonians and Finns in an organizational context. As the findings indicate, cultural identity of the Estonian employees is constructed in three discourses and in the same way the Finnish managers are constructing their ideas of the Estonians in various discourses. By treating cultural identity as fixed and objective, it would not be possible to reveal its diversity. In addition, when investigating Estonian identity construction and the construction of otherness by Finnish managers, utilization of post-colonial theory reveals that Estonians do not construct their identities based on the post-colonial array, whereas for Finnish managers it has a greater role. Furthermore, the power construction in the organization is also not a fixed, one-way process, but rather a mutual process affected by multiple identity constructions.

Since the 1940s, many works of Catalan literature have taken place in Cuba. While anthologies mention the genre, there has been as of yet no thorough examination of the importance of this trend. Starting with the long history of the relationship between Catalonia and Cuba, this dissertation employs a transatlantic approach to understanding the significance of the island to Catalan literature and identity. The Catalan protagonists, through their contact with Cuba, undergo change that is accompanied by a redefinition of both personal and national identity. The thesis is structured by various journeys from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean. In Por el cielo y mandamp;aacute;s allandamp;aacute; (2000), Carme Riera tells the story of a voyage which takes place in the late colonial period and in the early days of the Cuban fight for independence. Chapters from Gent del meu exili: inoblidables (1975) by Teresa Pamies and Records vells, histandamp;ograve;ries noves (1941) by Josep Maria Poblet personify the voices of Catalan Republican exile in Cuba. Habanera (1999) by Angeles Dalmau focuses on the overseas experience of a modern-day tourist. The methodology of this dissertation draws on literary geography, the study and interpretation of writers representations of physical space, and focuses particularly on the role that Cuba plays in redefining the protagonists of the works examined. Theories of historical memory and feminism, as well as concepts related to postcolonialism and cultural geography also contribute to the conclusion that the physical and cultural space of Cuba reshapes the identity of the fictional Catalans who encounter it.

Volunteer tourism is a popular way for young Westerners to discover the world and at the same take on the role as an international aid worker. For a short time they get an opportunity to improve the life conditions of people in development countries and get to know a new culture. The discourse of “making a difference” is dominating the marketing and promotion of the volunteer trips, yet little research is to be found about what the volunteers contribute with and what “help”, provided by them consist of. The main purpose of this study was to explore eventual post-colonial legacies or structures in the practice of volunteer tourism by exploring how help, in the actual context is described and defined by the volunteer tourists themselves. The thesis is based on a field study, conducted during two months in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Data was collected through 14 semi-structured interviews with volunteer tourists and observations at the volunteer sites. The data was further analysed by using terms and perspectives from post-colonial theory. The analysis show that the help from the volunteer tourists principally were supposed to compensate for deficiencies in the host community and that it was directed towards individual advancement for the kids that the volunteers encountered in the projects. Tendencies that the help-actions sometimes were based on assumptions, rather than facts about the conditions in the host community were also identified. Furthermore that the actions taken on by the volunteers sometimes implied simplified notions on ways to achieve development.

The aim of this bachelor thesis was to examine how Saudi Arabia is portrayed in Swedish press. This includes the largest newspapers from the major cities of Sweden as well as the larger newspapers from the less populated areas. Since a significant amount of news in these newspapers, especially those from the less populated areas, are provided from news agencies these were included in the study as well.  The questions examined were: which portrayals of Saudi Arabia is used in the Swedish press and how frequently are they recurring? Does the historic relationship between Europe and Islam effect contemporary portrayals of Saudi Arabia in Swedish press and, in that case, how? Do differences in portrayals occur depending on the relationship between Sweden and Saudi Arabia in the news context? To approach this we conducted a quantitative framing analysis. Three frames were first identified in a qualitative study. How frequently these frames were used was then analyzed with a quantitative approach. The news articles examined were published during two news events. In 2012 information regarding the military cooperation between Sweden and Saudi Arabia surfaced causing criticism towards the Swedish regime. In 2015 the Swedish regime decided to cancel said military cooperation. The study showed that the historic relationship between Europe and Islam does indeed effect the portrayal of Saudi Arabia in Swedish press today. Attributes commonly associated with post colonialism and orientalism such as Muslims as barbaric and highly conservative was found. The study also found portrayals of Saudi Arabia as increasingly powerful and that this, due to the aforementioned attributes, was highly problematic. The “power frame”, as we chose to call it, was the most commonly used frame in both news events. The “barbaric frame” and the “conservative frame” was more commonly used in a news context were Sweden and Saudi Arabia stood in a diplomatic conflict.

This thesis postulates the annihilation of the poor as the authorised end of development. This circumstance, I contend, is an effect of the entanglement – that is, the mutual affectability (Barad 2007) – of the human and capital as descriptors of ethical and economic value, respectively. Accordingly, I suggest that the annihilation of the poor by capital under the sign of development is authorised as the preservation of value. I designate this as the postcolonial capitalist condition. The argument unfolds through encounters with three sites that have become metonymic with destruction wrought by development: the state response to peasant revolt against land expropriation in Nandigram, the Bhopal gas leak, and the recently emergent surrogacy market. I offer these as different instantiations of the annihilation of the poor, each of which gives lie to the recuperative myth of development. Here, annihilation proceeds by leaving a material trace upon the body. I follow this trace to argue the indispensability of the body in performing the ideological work of development – that is, to preserve an idealised appearance as human through the eradication of the poor that appear as subaltern – even as it establishes itself as an emancipatory truth. Thus, in this thesis I offer an analysis of the violence of capital not as socio-materially imposed (per Karl Marx) but rather as an onto-materially authorised (following Georges Bataille). As such, I seek to explicate the differential mattering of bodies – as both, appearance and significance – under development.

Master of Letters (with Merit) / The objective of this paper is to examine the self-portrait paintings of Frida Kahlo and to explore the way in which they articulate a ‘self’ and ‘identity’ through creating an innovative feminine vocabulary. The aim of this creative research is to explore the way in which Frida Kahlo represented her sexual subjectivity in the body of self-portraits she produced in her short life time. The self-portraits, some of which were produced in a state of severe physical disability and chronic illness, were also created in the shadow of her famous partner- socialist Mexican muralist/ revolutionary Diego Rivera. An examination of the significant body of self-portrait paintings produced by Frida Kahlo, informed by her personal letters, poems, and photographs, broadens the conventional definitions of subjective self beyond the generic patterns of autobiographical narrative, characteristic of an inherently masculine Western ‘self’. In Kahlo’s self-portraits the representation of the urban Mexican proletarian woman-child draws stylistically from the domain of European self-portraiture, early studio photographic portraiture, and the biographical Mexican Catholic retablo art, with its indebtedness to the ancient Aztec Indian symbology of self.

Free Media is an essential part of democracy, a goal Sveriges Radio’s Development Program is aiming for. Existing since 1996 based on tax-financing, it offers its long experiences of public broadcasting and its ideal of serving democracy to other countries. The partaking Sveriges Radio journalists provide the countries with assistance for training in management, journalism and technical issues in both broadcasting, print and online media. The present research investigates based on the interviewees’ perceptions to what extent Swedish democracy and Swedish journalistic identity is transmitted during their media (radio) development projects, using post-colonial theory as a guiding theoretical approach. The study is based on interviews with Swedish and foreign journalists who have been involved in radio development projects. The study shows that despite common understandings of democracy and professional aims, differences occur based on the perception of the participants. These cannot be separated from the context and progress outcome of the projects. The study furthermore shows that there exists an ambivalence between the post- colonial awareness among participants.

In this study the researcher explored what participation was like for Kenyan women involved in an international curriculum development project, considering important aspects of international curriculum development projects that have been neglected in the research literature. The main research purpose was to understand the womens experiences in a Canadian-sponsored post-secondary education curriculum development project titled "Supporting Environmental Education in Kenya". In addition the research investigated the conflicts, tensions, and contradictions the women experienced between their previous ways of learning and their workshop experiences. Finally, the researcher addresses what could be done to mitigate contradictions generated by the project implementation.<p> The study documented power relationships, issues of control and issues of role functionality; the researcher also identified the ways in which, in a patriarchal country women, especially married women, are closely monitored by their husbands or other significant males. In fact the women needed permission from their husbands to participate, to educate, to visit, and to consort with others such as the researcher. The study shares the womens stories about the experiences that they had during and after the workshop situations, and how they interpreted these experiences.<p> Additionally, the study identified differences in the teaching methods and learning styles experienced by the women. All the participants had experienced the Kenyan education system; the Kenyan curriculum was based on the English, post-colonial system that treated the learner as an empty vessel into which knowledge was poured; within classroom sessions this system did not encourage learner engagement that might be evidenced through questioning the teacher or discussing the topic at hand. Indeed, it was observed that all of the women participating in the project required encouragement to voice their thoughts.<p> By honouring the experiences of the women and including their voices, the researcher generated information for proposal writers and project leaders to make appropriate decisions for programming that includes cultural and indigenous ways of knowing, learning and dissemination of knowledge.

This comparative study offers a close reading of Palestinian author Sahar Khalifeh’s Wild Thorns and The End of Spring. The paper focuses on the discussion that the novels explore with regards to the varying methods of resistance to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. I argue that the novels mainly portray two differing modes of resistance: steadfastness, or nonviolent resistance and armed resistance. Additionally, I analyze the critique that Khalifeh provides in her novels of the Palestinian Authority government in the West Bank and discuss the mental and emotional repercussions of the occupation on the daily lives of civilians.

Indigeneity plays a central role in planning for diversity and creating inclusive cities in Canada. In the public domain, racism remains prominent in cities and presents challenges to the realization by urban Aboriginal peoples and Newcomers of their aspirations in urban society. In Winnipeg, an Aboriginal-led organisation has initiated partnerships with Newcomer settlement organisations to bring both groups together to build intercultural relationships. A case study of the United Against Racism/Aboriginal Youth Circle component of Ka Ni Kanichihk (KNK) provides the opportunity to examine the effects of its partnerships on the following matters: promoting cross-cultural understanding and friendships, changing negative perceptions and building confidence among Aboriginal peoples and Newcomers vis-a-vis each other, and help indirectly to facilitate Newcomer integration into neighbourhoods predominantly occupied by Aboriginal peoples in Winnipeg. An analysis of the data gathered on the partnership programs revealed that prior to participating in these programs there were negative preconceptions about one another based on false impressions. The programming has facilitated the sharing of cultures and ideas. This has also helped members of both groups to value their cultural differences and similar history of colonialism where they exist, develop a shared understanding of the racism that confronts Aboriginal peoples and racialized Newcomers, break down stereotypes, and build friendships. This thesis reveals that in the short term, the programs and partnerships of KNK are contributing to better cross-cultural understanding and relations within a multiculturalism framework, and that in the long term they have the potential to contribute to better cross-cultural understanding and relations within an intercultural framework. The cross-cultural networks being developed bode well for the potential of developing instrumental policy and advocacy partnerships in addressing common issues faced by Aboriginals and Newcomers through progressive urban policy in Canadian cities.