This thesis focuses on the comparison of two different primary school classes, one third grade and one fifth grade, in the area of self-expression through drawing. The theoretical part considers children of younger school age at different stages, followed by further general information about artistic expression and developmental stages of drawing human figures. The practical part of the thesis shows the results of drawing figures, a comparison of human figures, and the standard of drawing such figures in third and fifth grade classes. The results are assessed on the basis of criteria that are laid down in the thesis

Depuis 2001, date de la création du premier blog iranien et pendant les premières années qui l’ont suivi, la blogosphère a connu un enthousiasme remarquable chez les Iraniens, et ceci, dans une société où l’expression de soi est limitée pour diverses raisons, et que peu de valeur est accordée à l’expression individuelle. L’enquête du terrain (l’analyse de contenu de six mois de billets publiés sur trente blogs et leurs commentaires, ainsi que des entretiens semi-directifs avec leurs auteurs) permet d’explorer deux principales raisons du blogging mais aussi celle de son abandon. Dans la première partie, nous aborderons la question de la construction de soi. Nous montrerons qu’avec la reconnaissance et l’estime des lecteurs, les blogueurs prennent conscience de leurs différentes capacités. L’écriture du blog leur donne également la possibilité d’être comme il le souhaite et non pas comme la société, la famille ou l’État leur impose. En cela, l’usage du blog participe à la construction d’un soi plus épanoui, plus authentique et plus individualisé. La deuxième partie est consacrée à l’étude de l’établissement et de la conservation des liens créés sur les blogs. L’étude du terrain montre que la blogosphère iranienne est constituée de multitudes cercles sociaux et que chaque blogueur se situe à l’intérieur d’un ou plusieurs cercles. Nous analyserons comment ces cercles sont construits et quels rôles ils jouent dans la construction et la conservation des liens. Mais ces liens sont construits et conservés selon certaines règles dont nous étudierons les principales formes. La dernière partie se prête à étudier la question de l’abandon du blog en situant les pratiques des blogueurs dans le contexte actuel de la société iranienne / Since 2001, when the first Iranian blog was created, blogging has been received with remarkable enthusiasm among Iranians, and this has taken place in a society where self expression is limited for various reasons and little value is accorded to individual expression. The empirical field investigation (content analysis of six month of the post published on thirty blogs and their comments, as semi-structured interviews with their authors) allowed us to explore two main reasons for blogging, but also for their abandonment. In the first part, we tackle the question of self construction. We show that recognition and esteem of readers, make the bloggers aware of their different capacities. Blogging gives them the possibility of being as they wish and not what the society, the family or the state imposes. In this respect, blogging participates in construction of a self more fulfilled, more authentic and more individualized. The second part is devoted to the study of the establishment and conservation of the relationship created on blogs. Field study shows that Iranian blogosphere is constituted by multiple social circles. Every blogger is within one or several circle. We analyze how these circles are constructed and what role they play in forming and conserving of the relationships. These relationships are shaped according to certain rules of which the main is examined. Finally, the last part studies the question of blog abandonment, placing the blogger’s practice in current context of Iranian society.

As a little boy, Dmitriĭ Dmitrievich Shostakovich pressed his ear against the wall to hear his neighbors play chamber music. He matured into one of the most prominent Soviet era composers. While the majority of academic interest Shostakovich centers on his symphonic works, his string quartets provide a window into a more intimate facet of Shostakovich’s life. This thesis explores first, why Shostakovich turned to the string quartet after some of the most fearful years of his life: his demise and rise after the scathing Pravda letter that all but threatened his life. Second, this thesis analyzes three of Shostakovich’s String Quartets: No. 1, No. 8, and No. 15. String Quartet No. 1, despite its simplicity, illuminates tender expressivity. Following years of intense artistic and personal scrutiny, Shostakovich sought an escape into an aural world of innocence. However, the quartet proves more complex than its surface suggests. Obscured harmonic complexities, intimate dialogue between instruments, and subtle recollection of prior movements lend the quartet a deeper meaning than its aural simplicity suggests. Decades later, amidst personal crisis, Shostakovich turned to the quartet, again. Composed in 1960, the year of his invocation into the communist party, String Quartet No. 8 demonstrates how Shostakovich utilized the string quartet as an avenue for personal self-expression. The intertwining of his musical signature with constant self-quotations and allusions confirms the deep, personal reflection the quartet provided Shostakovich. This study recounts the quotations previously uncovered by David Fanning, but goes beyond identification and relates the content of the quotations to Shostakovich’s emotional turmoil at the time of his party invocation. Finally, enduring anguishing physical pain and facing death, Shostakovich turned to the string quartet at the end of his life. String Quartet No. 15 provided Shostakovich an external outlet for his internal dialogue on death. Sentiments of meditation, fury, resistance, anguish, and resignation musically intertwine during Shostakovich’s longest and most painful string quartet. This study demonstrates how Shostakovich used the string quartet as a medium for deeper self-expression.

The goal of this thesis is to conduct qualitative research aimed at psychological aspects of tattoos in the form of ethnographic study. The research follows a relationship between an individual and his tattoos with the main topics being a motivation for getting a tattoo, meaning of the tattoo for the owner, and the relationship between the artist and his client. Data were gathered using unstructured interviews with an emphasis on building trust between the researcher and the interviewee. The study concludes the motivation can be distinguished into internal and external. The internal motivation represents the benefits tattoos can bring to his owner while the external motivation shows the ways an individual can use the tattoo to send a message to others. As for the owner-tattoo relationship, results show variations in how can one perceive his tattoos and what tattoo could mean for the owner. Some of the respondents viewed their tattoos as just a body decoration, others used them as symbols of their own deeper thoughts and lifestyle. When exploring the artist-client relationship, it has been found out trust and mutual sympathies as well as setting up proper boundaries to keep the relationship on the professional level all seem to play an important role. KEYWORDS tattoo, self-expression, identity,...

This study examined the relationship between participation in a culturally-based arts program and the self-efficacy, self-expression, and achievement motivation in at-risk youth attending Atlanta public schools. The theoretical base used to examine this relationship was grounded in the social cognitive. Interviews conducted with students and parents provided demographic information as well as data on the participation in a culturally-based arts program and the resulting effect on self-efficacy, self-expression, and achievement motivation. Participants included a sample of 108 students between 10 and 14 years of age (M = 11.6, SD = .90). The results of the ANOVA data analysis revealed significant mean differences in self-efficacy and self-expression between the culturally-based arts program participation intervention group and the control group. The analysis indicated no significant mean differences in achievement motivation. There were no significant mean differences in self-efficacy from the pretest and posttest between ages. However, there were significant mean differences in self-expression and achievement motivation scores from the pretests and posttests between ages. Social implications of the research revealed the impact of program involvement on the acceptance of diversity within adolescent development. Social change can happen as a result of this acceptance of diversity. With this knowledge, curricula developers and program implementers may better identify the negative views associated with free expression that have the potential to drive students toward a rejection of academic success or performance-avoidance in the educational environment.

This thesis aims to analyze the affect of internalized misogyny on female self-expression. Guided by the research question “How is female self-expression affected by internalized misogyny?” a phenomenological framework of affect based on work by Sara Ahmed is applied. Through an action-oriented focus group discussion, four female-identifying individuals share their embodied experiences of internalized misogyny. This research is positioned within a Western context and includes me as an additional involved participant. Results conclude that internalized misogyny may affect female self-expression through five common themes. These include an internalized female beauty standard resulting in self-objectification, a limited range of acceptable female expression resulting in a passive acceptance of gender roles, competition and comparison among women resulting in a devaluation of ourselves and other women, self-doubt and self-censorship resulting in a distrust of ourselves and other women as well as perfectionism and fear of failure resulting in valuing men over women. These results correlate both with the previous studies presented as well as my own previous first-year master thesis. This research adds to the academic conversation by including a reflection on the internalized attitudes towards ourselves beyond those directed towards other women.

Previous research into personal game making has found that few creators have any desire to join the game industry or monetize their works. Instead, they view their making as a form of playful self-expression where they can explore the boundaries of games. However, the status quo of game pedagogy is to provide workers to the male-dominated and technologically focused games industry. This paper proposes a new, alternative game design model that is more aligned with and supportive of personal game making. Using participatory and co-operative inquiry methods, the DREaM model (Dream, Roleplay, Experience, and Make) was developed in collaboration with individuals interested in or experienced with personal game making. The findings of the study indicate that the DREaM model provided several benefits when used as a tool to generate personal game concepts. Further research is needed to evaluate the model's impact on game development that goes beyond the conceptual stage. / <p>Det finns övrigt digitalt material (t.ex. film-, bild- eller ljudfiler) eller modeller/artefakter tillhörande examensarbetet som ska skickas till arkivet.</p><p>There are other digital material (eg film, image or audio files) or models/artifacts that belongs to the thesis and need to be archived.</p>

The purposes of the study are to find ways of improving children's written self-expression and to consider the economy of a more effective use of the transitional stage of learning when words recognized are becoming words used in self-expression.

Axios é a seqüência de xilogravuras produzidas em suporte de mdf com uma única goiva em V que pretende ampliar a reflexão a respeito do corpo humano como temática expressiva, incluindo imagens gravadas e a reflexão teórica a respeito desse processo e a criação do sentido, reconstruindo parte daquilo que o artista precisa dizer a si mesmo para iniciar a aventura de manifestações poéticas por intermédio do diálogo entre a gravura e o observante. / Axios is a sequence of xylographs produced on mdf support with only one V-form gouge; through which we mean to expand the reflection about the human body as an expressive theme, and which includes engraved images and theoretical reflection concerning this process as well as the creation of meaning process; reconstructing, through the dialogue between the engraving and the observer, part of that which the artist needs to say to himself to begin the adventure of poetic manifestation.

Axios é a seqüência de xilogravuras produzidas em suporte de mdf com uma única goiva em V que pretende ampliar a reflexão a respeito do corpo humano como temática expressiva, incluindo imagens gravadas e a reflexão teórica a respeito desse processo e a criação do sentido, reconstruindo parte daquilo que o artista precisa dizer a si mesmo para iniciar a aventura de manifestações poéticas por intermédio do diálogo entre a gravura e o observante. / Axios is a sequence of xylographs produced on mdf support with only one V-form gouge; through which we mean to expand the reflection about the human body as an expressive theme, and which includes engraved images and theoretical reflection concerning this process as well as the creation of meaning process; reconstructing, through the dialogue between the engraving and the observer, part of that which the artist needs to say to himself to begin the adventure of poetic manifestation.