Informe de Seminario para optar al grado de Licenciado en Lengua y Literatura Hispánica mención Lingüística / El objetivo de este trabajo de investigación fue describir las principales ideologías lingüísticas presentes, a modo de currículum oculto, en los instrumentos curriculares que emanan desde el Ministerio de Educación para el área de Lenguaje y Comunicación en enseñanza media. Para ello, se analizaron con un enfoque metodológico cualitativo las bases curriculares y programas de estudio vigentes para los distintos niveles de la enseñanza media relativos al área investigada y una entrevista realizada a la Coordinadora del área de Lenguaje y Comunicación de la Unidad de Currículum y Evaluación del Ministerio de Educación. Los contenidos analizados se enmarcaron a partir del desarrollo teórico sobre ideologías lingüísticas, pudiendo constatar la presencia de valoraciones positivas hacia la lengua estándar y valoraciones negativas hacia las variantes no estandarizadas, las cuales enmarcamos dentro de la ideología de la lengua estándar.

Very little academic work has focused upon the British monarchy/Royal Family and its significance for the people of Britain. However, of the more recent pieces of work on the subject, several have emphasized the ideological impact of the institution (Coward, 1984; Williamson, 1986; Billig, 1990). This is an emphasis which similarly characterizes the present study. Indeed a substantial part of this thesis is taken up with a theoretical discussion about the nature of ideology itself. Following Barthes (1982), I argue that the relationship between a culture/ideology and its practitioners is paradoxical. Each is simultaneously the master and slave of the other. There are four empirical chapters contained within this volume, the first of which is a quantitative account of popular press representations of monarchy. The other three empirical chapters are, in part, an investigation and illustration of the paradoxical nature of culture/ideology. Drawing predominantly from a three-month sample of Royal-related newspaper items (29th Nov. 1987–29th Feb. 1988) the first shows how various cultural/ideological themes or discourses determine or give form to the texts. In the second I examine the ways in which similar themes are used constructively in the production of accounts which accomplish a variety of rhetorical, political and ideological 'moves'. These themes are also present within the fourth empirical chapter in which I examine some of the ideological work done via the representation of the Royals as ordinary, extraordinary and 'superordinary' beings. Chapters 6 and 7 also serve to reveal something of the nature of two subject matter categories as defined in Chapter 4. In the final chapter I take issue with certain aspects of the present study's own theoretical and methodological bases.

This thesis is an examination of six films adapted between 1993 and 2000 from novels by Henry James and Edith Wharton: James's The Wings of the Dove, The Golden Bowl, The Portrait of a Lady and Wharton's The Age of Innocence, The House of Mirth and The Buccaneers. All six films have been claimed as part of the costume drama/literary adaptation/heritage genre. The analysis of this cycle of adaptations focuses on the visual expression of four key themes: wealth, desire, decorum and social mobility. Dress and art are deployed within the visual fabric of these adaptations as symbolic objects that make up what Wharton termed the "hieroglyphic world" of society. In this cycle of films, the use of art and dress constitutes a new way of viewing costume and art as elements of the adaptation process. Barthes's aspect of the third meaning, "the passage from language to significance" is conveyed through dress and art as sites of visual meaning, a concept that is also deployed by James and Wharton in their fiction. The mise-en-scene of these six adaptations draws inspiration from a variety of artistic influences, ranging from the paintings of John Singer Sargent and James Tissot to the influence of early cinema and photography. Clothing plays an intrinsic role in both the novels and the film adaptations, in terms of displaying consumption, social class and character, and it also makes up the iconic images created by stars who take on key roles, such as Helen Bonham Carter's portrayal of Kate Croy as a "heritage noir" (cf. Church Gibson, 2000) femme fatale in the film of The Wings of the Dove. James and Wharton's narratives represent an expression of the 'transcultural aesthetic' making their fiction particularly apt for cinematic adaptation in an era of increased global mobility. This concept of the transcultural aesthetic is vital in attempting to widen the debate on 'heritage' cinema. While these films and novels share textual themes rooted in settings ranging from the late 1870s through to the early 1900s, the narratives are adapted in ways that make James and Wharton relevant to contemporary cinema audiences, while also reminding us of the timelessness of James and Wharton's narratives.

The research presented in this thesis is an investigation of the views of commercial home owners within Scotland. The thesis is designed to deepen understanding of the commercial home sector, and more specifically, the relationship the host has with the commercial home. The host’s relationship with their commercial home contributes to the provision of commercial hospitality within a home setting. The review of the literature points to a number of conceptual gaps in our understanding, notably that there has been no study directly focusing upon the host perspective of the commercial home and how this relationship with the home might potentially impinge upon the guest experience. The specific aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between the host and their commercial home and its influences on product construction. As the hospitality product is more of a total sensory experience than has perhaps been acknowledged to date, it is appropriate to seek to understand the host perspective. Prior studies have very largely focused on readily accessible ‘objective’ issues, rather than below the surface issues accessing the inner self, the intangible dimensions of self, which may determine aspects of the hospitality product. The field research involved the researcher taking photographs of the commercial home properties and then using the photographs as prompts to interview the hosts and explore intangible elements such as memories, emotions and senses. A conceptual framework was developed from the data, identifying the main components of the host home relationship, and was revised as each commercial home was analysed. The framework is divided into three sections; Home, Host, and Business. In relation to the Home section themes that emerged include, Meanings of Home, Décor, and Artefacts. In relation to the Host section, themes include Family and Lifestyle. With regards to the Business section, themes include Feelings, Space, Guests, Performance, Target Market, Tourist Board and Competitors.

This thesis is a study of emerging learning cultures. Its focus is on students and teachers who are engaged in using internet technologies for learning in higher education in the United Kingdom. The thesis provides an exploration of theoretical approaches to the cultural impact of new technologies, drawing on cultural, cybercultural and educational theory. It applies these theoretical insights to interview texts generated through discussions with learners and teachers. Its contribution lies in the originality of its empirical material and of the insights applied to their analysis, and in its application of cultural and cybercultural theory to the area of online learning and teaching.

The Ladies's Edinburgh Debating Society met on the first Saturday of each month between 1865-1936 to discuss the books they were reading and to debate prearranged issues. For the first fifteen years its members produced a magazine which carried fictive and general interest articles. This thesis will study the archive of the Society and the magazine that it produced to arrive at an understanding of the women's reading practices, their intellectual lives and their attitudes to the society in which they lived and how these experiences impacted upon them. At a time when women's societal role was limited and access to education was based on wealth or the philanthropy of others, these women were able (through their privileged place in the middle and upper classes) to construct their own canon of improving reading and to set guidelines for the education of others. Working against the hegemonic discourse of the time, yet seeking to exert some controlling influence over others, the women's attempts at self culture throw into rellief the context of their cultural experiences and the correlation between self improvement and women's emancipation. This thesis argues that prevailing ideas about Victorian women's existence in 'separate spheres' needs to be revised. It argues that the members of The Ladies' Edinburgh Debating Society make a move from the private to the public sphere through their utilisation of culture. Moreover, they are able to blend this notion of spheres to make society their concern through collective and individual action; improving themselves and the community in which they lived.

This study examines the relations between the media personalities and their audiences. Its broad interest is with the implications for contemporary social experience of the fact that modern communication and culture involve mediated interaction. Its focus is on broadcasting's use of personality presenters to interact with viewers and listeners and on audiences' experiences of this. This thesis explains that broadcasting has developed a personality system to relate to audiences and discusses the characteristics of this system. It considers the importance of genre in determining the type of presenter used and the significance of their personality. It is argued that an awareness of the construction of personae has undermined broadcasting's traditional personality system where sincerity is crucial. The fact that nowadays professional personalities operate as commodities in a competitive marketplace is highlighted and the role played by management companies in their careers is explored. This research project provides a case study of the media personality Phillip Schofield. His role as a presenter and his place within popular culture are elaborated. His persona is examined in detail and shown to be consistent with the discourses of broadcasting's personality system. This study proceeds to investigate the consumption of the personality system. It reviews the existing literature on para-social interaction and the mediated relationships of intimacy at a distance that develop between persenters and their audiences. It contributes to this knowledge by presenting the findings from qualitative research into viewers' relationships with a media personality. This empirical study involved conducting in-depth interviews with four of Phillip Schofield's fans and spending time with the fan community these interviewees belong to. The formation of this group is outlined and the fact that sociability is an important aspect of fandom is stressed. Concentrating on the subjects' responses to Schofield, this research demonstrates that one form of fandom is rooted in the intensive cultivation of a para-social relationship.

Since its inception in 1989, the World Wide Web has grown as a medium for publishing first text, then images, audio, and finally, moving images including short films. While most new media forms, in particular, hypertext, have received scholarly attention, research into moving image on the Internet had been limited. The thesis therefore set out to investigate webfilms, a form of short film on the WWW and the Internet, over a period of 9 years (1997-2005). The thesis was theoretically embedded in questions regarding new media as new field of research, since the increasing visibility of new media had resulted in the emergence of the discipline of ‘new media studies’. This context raised issues regarding the configuration of new media studies within the existing academic disciplines of media and cultural studies, which were explored in depth in the literature review. The case studies of the thesis explored and analysed webfilms from a vantage point of actor-network theory, since this was arguably the most appropriate methodology to a research object considerably influenced by technological factors. The focus was on the conditions of webfilm production, distribution, and exhibition, and the evolution of webfilm discourse and culture. The aim was to seek answers to the question ‘How didwebfilm arise as (new) form of film?’ In the process of research, a number of issues were raised including the changing definition and changing forms of webfilms, the convergence of media, and the complex interdependency of humans and their computers. The research re-evaluates the relationship between human and non-human factors in media production and presents a fresh approach by focusing on the network as unit of analysis. The thesis as a whole not only provides new information on the evolution of webfilm as a form of film, but also illustrates how the network interaction of humans and nonhumans lies at the heart of contemporary new media and convergence culture.

This thesis examines gender in the popular cinema of post-revolutionary Iran. It argues that a distinctly feminine discourse gradually emerged in post-revolutionary Iranian cinema and became very visible in the reformist period (1997-2005). This research covers the period between the establishment of the Islamic Republic and the end of the reformist period (1979-2005). Drawing on Stuart Hall (1981), this thesis considers popular culture, and popular cinema by extension, as a site of cultural struggle and focuses on gender representation as a major locus of post-revolutionary socio-political negotiation. Reading Iranian cinema in terms of an art/popular spectrum, the thesis examines four case studies from films that have been commercially successful, and have mobilised generic or formal conventions through their controversial gender representations. Three of these case studies, The Bride (1992), Red (1999) and Hemlock (2000) examine femininity in post-revolutionary popular cinema, while The Snowman (1995) has been included for its transgressive representation of masculinity.

This study explores specific thematic pre-occupations in the works of selected eight women writers from two different geographical and cultural milieus (West Africa and Scotland) with a specific focus on similarities in which these writers use language as a means of exploring women’s positions within their respective societies. The second layer of the study’s enquiry lives within the realm of exploration of womanist discourse, as originally developed by Alice Walker, and a possibility of applying this discourse beyond African American and African shores, as a transracial and transcultural model for creating new readings of dramatic discourse by women writers who come from different generational, racial, cultural and geographical environments. In total, sixteen plays ranging from 1970 to 2008 have been examined by means of close reading and comparative analysis, and against the backdrop of Alice Walker’s womanist theory. The study’s focus has been on the ways in which language is employed in these plays to develop womanish characters, to use Walker’s term, capable of overcoming limitations of their position in societies that confine and silence them within domestic realms. This study shows that while womanist theory per se may be seen as confined to African American discourse, some of its elements such as audaciousness, community, spirituality and capability may find successful application in such two different cultural models as West Africa and Scottish shores.