This project formulates an original psycho-cultural approach by studying the cultural and therapeutic value of Gok Wan’s makeover series How To Look Good Naked. Through an in-depth application of Donald Woods Winnicott’s object relations psychoanalysis to the textual narratives of the makeover show, and by developing a viewing method that derives from psychoanalytic training on observation, this thesis offers an account of the affective impact of Gok Wan’s popular makeover phenomenon. This thesis addresses key themes and elements that signal the evolution of British makeover television and identifies how Gok Wan’s format and strategies chime with what has widely been hailed as a particularly ‘therapeutic’ moment in popular culture. The emblematic features of Gok Wan’s rendition of the makeover format highlights its potential positive outcomes by examining the articulation of current embodied feminine subjective experiences, in order to interrogate the complex relationship between postfeminism and therapeutic discourse. This thesis recognises that the therapeutic opportunity of Gok Wan’s method lies in the transformational process by creating emotionally constructive spaces where the articulation of experiences leads to inner self-discovery. Playful mechanisms of creativity are central to Gok Wan’s empathetic approach to working with participants to enable transformation, reflecting a number of key themes in object relations psychoanalysis and its understanding of self-experience. The opportunities afforded to participants for self-interpretation create a useful platform to reflect on Gok Wan’s role, who has been candid about the parallels between his own emotional experience and that of his participants. Psychoanalytic models of transference and countertransference indicate how this dynamic challenges dominant notions of the makeover expert as omnipotent. This project demonstrates the value of object relations psychoanalysis for critical interventions in the field of media, cultural and feminist studies in order to provide a deeper understanding of the affective impact of makeover television in shaping notions of subjective experience.

This paper represents the root causes of Hazaras persecution in Afghanistan through ethno-religious and psycho-cultural approaches, using Protracted Social Conflicts (PSC) and Relative Deprivation (RD) frameworks. The Hazara community has been subject to persecution in variety of ways including assassinations, physical torture, enslavement, forced displacement, kidnapping, and target attacks by both state and non-state actors. This study explored multifrontal causes consisting international connection, structural inequalities, communal cleavages, access to economy and power, and interpersonal and ingroup values contributed to Hazaras persecution in Afghanistan. This study argues that the excessive persecution and discrimination against Hazara community was founded, particularly by Abdul Rahman in 1890s which shaped the ethno-religious and psycho-cultural approaches of Hazaras afterward. The ethno-religious and psycho-cultural approaches led the common thinking against Hazaras in the form of wrong identification, wrong myths, false consciousness, and ill-definition of Hazaras as monolithic Shi’as who have consistently been labelled as “Kafirs,” unbeliever, and decedents of Genghis Khan. The persecution of Hazaras can be studied through the lens of PSC, manifests the longstanding inter-state and intra-state conflicts, and RD depicts comparison of disadvantagedness of an individual or a group with other individuals and groups.