This study aimed to contest political and cultural stereotypes depicted through the verbal and audio-visual languages used to represent the Rwandan genocide in the films, A Good Man In Hell(2002), Hotel Rwanda(2004), Sometimes In April(2005) and Keepers of Memory(2004). A Good Man in Hell criticised the racism that influenced the international community not to help Rwandans stop the genocide. In Hotel Rwanda, mostly the Tutsis died during the genocide of 1994. Sometimes in April revealed that the Hutu middle class engineered the genocide. Keepers of Memory depicted the gendered nature of the language of genocide and showed that women were silenced at various levels. The films partially succeeded in depicting the Rwandan genocide because the films did not sufficiently foreground the socio-economic factors that created the conditions for genocide to happen. The study suggested that future research on film representations could compare and contrast cases of genocide in Africa. / English Studies / Thesis ( MA (African Languages))

This thesis investigates representations of exile in Hollywood cinema in the period between 1930 and 1956 through the films of Peter Lorre, Béla Lugosi and Conrad Veidt. It aims to dispel the remarkably durable assumption prevalent in critical approaches to Hollywood cinema that by virtue of its hegemonic, reactionary and exclusionary modes of representation, especially in what is considered its ‘Golden Age,’ otherness is excluded from, or only obliquely alluded to in Hollywood cinema. This thesis contends that Hollywood uses European émigré actors to speak of the experience of exile, exilic attempts at integration into the host nation, and the sometimes grand, often pitiful failures of these attempts. Dictated largely by its contention that a consistent and fairly constant discourse surrounding exile can be apprehended in Hollywood cinema, this thesis focuses primarily on the film texts that form its corpus. The close reading of key texts is underpinned by a productive clash with existing critical writings on exile, shifting the focus back to the films, themselves, from analyses of the system, historical accounts of migration and exile, or critical evaluations of archival material and the impact of marketing and political strategy on production. The thorough engagement with the films is further supported by an interdisciplinary critical framework. Theories of the nation and national cinema (Hayward, 2000), body theory (Butler, 1993), and critical works on identity, stereotyping and pathology (Gilman, 1985; 1991; 1995) are combined with critical accounts of immigration in the US (Behdad, 2005) and analyses of the significance and symbolism of blood in US concepts of nationhood (Chinn, 2000) to explore the complex system of representation that dictates the onscreen lives and deaths of exilic stars. Critical works on the language of death and bereavement (Seale, 1998; Hallam et al, 1999), the concept of the posthuman (Halberstam et al, 1995), Lefebvre’s theory of space (1991) and Baudrillard’s analysis of interior design are used to elaborate my argument further.

Jenny Lind was an opera singer in the years 1838–49. During this time she was given the status f an icon mainly due to her image. She was almost sanctified by the press. Her “private personality” was assigned a saintly purity, and she became a stereotype symbol of femininity. This dissertation investigates what factors interacted that made this possible, and highlight the importance of Lind’s voice for her image. Jenny Lind’s voice was a high soprano, but not very powerful. By positioning herself in a singing tradition that corresponded to her voice’s advantages, she managed to develop an equilibrium, which she used well. Lind’s voice was often perceived as unusual; she had a particular voice timbre. She also had a vocal defect. Her tones from f’–a’ are described as “husky”, and sometimes hoarse. This means that her voice let through more air than her vocal cords could use. My argument is that it was the voice damage that created unique timbre that the contemporary critics perceived as particularly “feminine”. Lind’s weak and damaged voice corresponds to the nineteenth century’s female ideal: fragile and weak. Moreover, Lind needed to adept her roles to her damage voice and the consequence was that also her interpretations were perceived “feminine”. In other words, Lind exerted a gender performative voice processing. All of Jenny Lind’s roles became representatives of femininity, regardless of whether it was the role’s purpose or not. Lind adapted all her interpretations to her weak voce, it's strength being high notes, pianissimo dynamics and equilibrism, and gave all her roles a genderstereotyped voice.

Given the increasing number of younger immigrants from China, we have noticed diversified performances of Chinese-American teenagers based on the age they come to the U.S. This thesis thus examines three specific aspects—assimilation, social network site (SNS) use, and reaction to Asian stereotype—of Chinese-American teenagers living in Austin, regarding intraethnic differences between and among different clusters of this cohort as the second generation immigrant. By employing semi-structured interviews conducted with teenagers who have respective immigrant history and family background, a wide array of patterns about assimilation, SNS use, and reaction to Asian stereotype are traced and analyzed alongside demonstrating outlines and traits in terms of different generation clusters (1.25ers, 1.5ers, 1.75ers and 2.0ers). A total of ten Chinese-American teenagers, aged from 15 to 18, are recruited and interviewed through snowball approach, allowing for the surface of intraethnic variations on the aforementioned aspects. Preliminary discussions are made to tease out how these three aspects are intertwined. / text

Animated movies have had a big impact in the film business all over the world. A lot of these films are mainly produced for a younger audience, which leads to a greater responsibility to show a legitimate worldview. Children do not have the same ability of critical thinking as an adult, and that is why it is vital in such movies. In this study, we have examined the movies Kung Fu Panda and Mulan to see how the Chinese culture is represented, having in mind that the relation between East and West have been, and in some ways still are strained. We have examined whether there have been any postcolonial elements such as cultural myths, orientalism, ethnocentrism and stereotypes, originated from the field of cultural studies. Based on a three dimensional analysis, we have looked at the films’ structure, the context and the socio-historical context. The study concluded that the Chinese culture is often represented in a somewhat stereotypical way and with symbols associated with Asia and its culture but the movies also includes certain Western elements.

While evidence suggests stereotype threat effects invade conscious levels of processing, less is known about the role that implicit processes play in stereotype threat. Results from four studies indicate that implicit attitudes and stereotypes play a unique role in motivation and performance in stereotype threatening contexts. Women trained to have positive implicit math attitudes exhibited increased math motivation in general (Study 1). This effect was magnified among stereotype threatened women when negative stereotypes had either been primed subtly (Study 2) or implicitly reinforced (Study 3). Implicit attitudes had no effect on working memory capacity or performance however. Conversely, after retraining women to associate their gender with being good at math, they exhibited increased working memory capacity (Studies 3 and 4) and increased math performance (Study 4) in stereotype threatening situations. The enhanced performance that resulted from the positive stereotype reinforcement was mediated by the increased working memory capacity. Thus while implicit attitudes appear important for motivating stigmatized individuals to engage with stigmatized domains, stereotypes play a key role in undermining cognitive capacity that is critical for success in the domain.

Lyčių vaidmenys yra svarbiausi kiekvieno žmogaus per gyvenimą atliekami vaidmenys. Jų yra mokomasi socializacijos proceso metu, kai veikiamas įvairių veiksnių individas suvokia, kas yra vyriška, o kas moteriška. Tai suvokdamas, individas suformuoja savo savivoką, kuri plečiant savo jau turimų žinių ribas keičiasi. Savivoką gali keisti daugelis veiksnių, tarp jų ir televizija. Darbo tikslas – išanalizuoti televizijos serialuose pateikiamų lyčių vaidmenų poveikį auditorijos lyčių savivokai. Siekiant įgyvendinti užsibrėžtą darbo tikslą, išsikeliami šie pagrindiniai uždaviniai: apibrėžti žmogaus savivokos sąvoką; atlikti procesų ir veiksnių, kurie formuoja lyčių vaidmenis analizę; išanalizuoti televizijos serialų paskirtį bei jų poveikį auditorijai; išanalizuoti televizijos serialuose pateikiamus lyčių vaidmenis; ištirti televizijos serialuose pateikiamų lyčių vaidmenų poveikį auditorijos savivokai. Naudojama literatūra, kuri skiriama į šias grupes: medžiaga, kurioje analizuojamas socializacijos procesas bei individo tapatybės formavimasis; lyčių vaidmenų analizei skirtos publikacijos bei tyrimai ir literatūra, kurioje analizuojamas televizijos serialų atsiradimas ir jų tolimesnis plitimas bei populiarumo priežastys. Išanalizavus literatūrą, atlikus televizijos serialų turinio analizę bei apklausą, prieita prie šių pagrindinių išvadų. Pirma: savivoka yra žmogaus savęs suvokimas ir turimos žinios apie save. Savivoka gali kisti priklausomai nuo to, kiek naujų žinių individas įgaus... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Gender roles are the most important roles in life of every human. They are learned in the socialization process under the influence of various factors which determine perception of what is masculine and what is feminine. In this way each individual forms his own self-perception, which is changing according boundaries of the knowledge. Self-percection can be alternated by a number of factors, including the television. Objective of this thesis- to analyze the impact of gender roles portrayed in television serials on gender perception of the audience. In order to achieve the stated objective, the following main tasks were set: to define the concept of human self-perception, to analyse the factors which influence gender roles, investigate television serials and their impact on the intended audience, explore gender role models portrayed in television serials and analyse their impact on gender perception of the audience. The literature used can be divided in the following categories: literature analyzing the process of socialization and formation of identity of the individual; research publications and literature analysing the occurrence and further spread of television serials and the reasons for their popularity. The analysis of literature, investigation of the television series and content analysis of the survey led to these conclusions. First: self-perception is self understanding of the humans and knowledge about themselves. Self-perception may alternate depending on the new... [to full text]

The purpose of this essay is to show how femininity is construed in a visual hipster discourse. The material used mainly consists of four adverts from the fashion company American Apparel and four blogs with the word hipster in the title. The method used is inspired by semiotics and discourse analysis and the theory is based on feminist visual culture. Focus is placed on both a deep analysis of the images and texts individually, and a review of the discourse and context in which they interact, in order to discover how femininity is construed among hipsters. Throughout the course of the analysis, gender and sexuality is a consistent focus and leads to other aspects related to power not being prioritised. The analysis section is divided into two main areas of focus where American Apparel is the first part and the hipster blogs the other. Each section begins with an analysis of images and text and is concluded with a summary. In the concluding discussion, it becomes clear that sexist images are used to represent women primarily by American Apparel, but this stereotype is also apparent in the blogs. It is also clear from the analysis of the material that unique and alternative fashion is promoted. Rather than re-contextualising femininity, the traditional objectification of women is hidden behind the hipster ideal. The essay concludes with several brief thoughts and discussion on whether it is possible to apply this ideal of women on a larger part of society than just hipsters.

Granskning av makt och makthavare är ett av mediernas viktigaste uppdrag och i en jämställd politisk miljö bör uttalanden och ageranden bedömas utifrån lika villkor. Det för ingenting gott med sig om medierna gör en orättvis skillnad på kvinnor och män i deras rapportering om politiska skandaler. Det finns många påståenden om en genusdimension i mediernas rapportering, men relativt få vetenskapliga belägg för detta. Syftet med avhandlingen är att undersöka i vilken utsträckning det förekommer likheter och skillnader i hur nyhetsmedier rapporterar om kvinnor och män i svenska politiska skandaler samt bidra med en förståelse för förekomsten av dessa eventuella likheter och skillnader. I en kvantitativ innehållsanalys analyseras 4345 tidningsartiklar fördelade på 92 svenska skandaler med förtroendevalda politiker på den nationella och den europeiska nivån mellan åren 1997 och 2010. Utifrån teoretiska antaganden om mediernas dagordningsmakt, gestaltningsmakt och medielogik undersöks nyhetsmedierna Aftonbladet, Dagens Nyheter, Expressen och Svenska Dagbladet. Studiens resultat visar på flera stora könsskillnader som är till kvinnornas nackdel, men i datamaterialet framträder också många likheter. Som grupp betraktat missgynnas dock kvinnor i flera avseenden gentemot män vilket kan innebära att kvinnor kan få sämre möjligheter till att hantera och överleva politiska skandaler än män. En slutsats är att huvudpersonens kön är en viktig aspekt i strävan efter förståelse för hur politiska skandaler tar sin början, utvecklas och kommer till avslut.

La réflexion proposée concerne les grandes lignes des politiques linguistiques et éducatives dans le contexte tatarstanais. Après un parcours des différents aspects de la configuration sociolinguistique ( les médias, l’enseignement, l’édition et la production littéraire) dans une perspective transdisciplinaire incluant les approches historiques et sociolinguistiques, on aborde un sujet particulier de l’aménagement linguistique – la sélection d’un système graphique. La deuxième partie s’attache à l’analyse de discours épilinguistiques médiatiques et ordinaires : en prenant appui sur un corpus d’entretiens et de questionnaires on explore le fonctionnement des représentations et des stéréotypes sociolinguistiques dans le contexte du bilinguisme officiel. / This work goes along the principal lines of language and educational policy in the context of Tatarstan. After a survey of various aspects of the given sociolinguistic situation ( including the media, educational system, literary activities) we’ll analyse a specific area of language planning – that of writing system options – from an interdisciplinary perspective associating historical and sociolinguistic approaches. The second part is dedicated to discourse analysis based on the body of interviews and questionnaires; it explores the sociolinguistic representations and stereotypes functioning in the officially bilingual context.