Therapeutic touch : the use of photo-based methodology as a healing practice within the context of healthcare

This thesis describes the relationship between photography and healthcare in order to examine the model of practice generated by the concept of Photo Therapy, an approach developed by the celebrated British artist- photographer Jo Spence (1934-1992) who saw previously unexplored therapeutic dimensions to the act of taking photographic self-portraits (Spence, 1986). Spence sought visual ways of exploring her experiences as she negotiated treatments for her cancer. My aim has been to use this legacy to unders tand how an artist-photographer can be a kind of healer. My research, based on my own practices (which are very different from those of Spence) working as an artist-photographer on projects with the Camphill Village Trust and Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, has attempted to embrace the full range of social activities created by Photo Therapy: from the process of negotiating a shot; to hand printing the resulting photograph, to the discussions created by viewing photographs with patients, relatives and healthcare staff; to the remote reception of Photo Therapy images by exhibition-going audiences and readers of photographic publications. The context of my research project is the emergent character of Photo Therapy in Japan. My ambition has been to transfer the knowledge developed in the UK to my home country which still has some way to go before it can claim to possess a distinct arts and healthcare sector (Seki, Inoue and Miwaki, 2002). To achieve this goal I have adopted the terminology and methods of Transactional Analysis (TA), a form of psychotherapy that treats all social transactions as derivatives of a parent’s physical contact with its child, e.g. the healing ‘stroke’ of a mother’s hand (Berne, 1961). This form of therapy is familiar to many Japanese and, having applied TA concepts such as Ego States and Stroke Exchanges to my own transactions in healthcare contexts in the UK, I then sketch out my plans for using TA to promote Photo Therapy through my role as a founder member of the Japanese Photo -Therapists Network (JPTN), my country’s first group of photographers and doctors interested in practicing Photo Therapy

China\u27s Rise and the Confucius Institutes: Chinese and American Perspectives

The Confucius Institutes are Chinese government-backed nonprofit organizations that promote Chinese language and culture. They are housed on collegiate campuses and designed to complement Chinese language and cultural studies by providing teachers, curriculums, textbooks and other educational materials. Their establishment has been a source of controversy, especially in the United States, due to the institutes’ close ties with and the financial, administrative, and political support they receive from the Chinese government. Critics have had two primary concerns: that the Confucius Institutes provide the Chinese government access to increase soft power by issuing propaganda and that their presence on American collegiate campuses interferes with academic independence. How are the Confucius Institutes being received in the United States? Are they effective in enhancing Chinese soft power? Does Hanban funding unduly influence American college administrators and educators and/or restrict academic independence? This thesis will illustrate that the debates surrounding the Confucius Institutes on American collegiate campuses are driven more by international systemic changes and increasing competition between China and the United States than concerns of preserving academic integrity. Furthermore, it will show that the influence of Hanban and the Confucius Institutes does not significantly threaten academic integrity at those institutions. This thesis will contribute to existing academia by providing a comprehensive overview of the Confucius Institutes and how they operate, surveying the theories that affect various viewpoints in the debates over the Confucius Institutes and analyzing how coverage on the Confucius Institutes is framed in academic literature and mass media

China\u27s Rise and the Confucius Institutes: Chinese and American Perspectives

The Confucius Institutes are Chinese government-backed nonprofit organizations that promote Chinese language and culture. They are housed on collegiate campuses and designed to complement Chinese language and cultural studies by providing teachers, curriculums, textbooks and other educational materials. Their establishment has been a source of controversy, especially in the United States, due to the institutes’ close ties with and the financial, administrative, and political support they receive from the Chinese government. Critics have had two primary concerns: that the Confucius Institutes provide the Chinese government access to increase soft power by issuing propaganda and that their presence on American collegiate campuses interferes with academic independence. How are the Confucius Institutes being received in the United States? Are they effective in enhancing Chinese soft power? Does Hanban funding unduly influence American college administrators and educators and/or restrict academic independence? This thesis will illustrate that the debates surrounding the Confucius Institutes on American collegiate campuses are driven more by international systemic changes and increasing competition between China and the United States than concerns of preserving academic integrity. Furthermore, it will show that the influence of Hanban and the Confucius Institutes does not significantly threaten academic integrity at those institutions. This thesis will contribute to existing academia by providing a comprehensive overview of the Confucius Institutes and how they operate, surveying the theories that affect various viewpoints in the debates over the Confucius Institutes and analyzing how coverage on the Confucius Institutes is framed in academic literature and mass media

Talk up front:The influence of language matters on international military missions with a particular focus on the cooperation between soldiers and interpreters

Public Summary Talk Up Front The Influence of Language Matters on International Military Missions with a Particular Focus on the Cooperation between Soldiers and Interpreters Andrea van Dijk How do language issues affect military operations, and how in particular do soldiers and interpreters cooperate in mission areas to overcome such issues? This explorative study aims to enhance the understanding of the effects of the language barrier on international military cooperation. For that purpose, a predominantly sociological approach is adopted to investigate the dynamics at both the macro/meso-, and the micro-level of this specific form of interaction. The findings extensively demonstrate that language issues influence cooperation between international military personnel as well as collaboration with the local population. With regard to the latter, the linguistic and cultural skills of interpreters are crucial as they enable these agents to act as intermediaries between soldiers and local actors. Since modern military interventions typically encompass the deployment of servicemen among the population in conflict-harassed societies, effective cooperation between soldiers and interpreters is pivotal for the conduct of operations. Therefore, this research particularly focuses on this aspect of language matters in international military missions. Talk Up Front concludes that despite their vital role and position, smooth cooperation between soldiers and interpreters is not a matter of course. Efficient cooperative relationships typically do not emerge as a consequence of the military organization’s standard procedures, but have shown to strongly depend on individual traits. Particularly those soldiers and interpreters who can bridge the language gap and establish a constructive cooperation are instrumental to achieve mission success. These findings are based on, among others, 70 interviews with military personnel, national as well as local interpreters, and field work in Afghanistan. Ultimately, the study recommends that it is time for military organizations to acknowledge the presented insights and start learning for future operations

Politeness orientation in the linguistic expression of gratitude in Jordan and England: a comparative cross-cultural study

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of PhilosophyThe thesis investigates ways of communicating gratitude are perceived and realised in Jordan and England. It focuses on the impact of several variables on the expression of gratitude and examines the differences between the data elicited by pragmatic research instruments (DCT and role-play). Data were collected from native speakers: 46 Jordanian Arabic, 46 English natives using DCTs, role-plays and interviews. Slight similarities and significant cross-cultural differences were revealed in terms of gratitude expressions’ perception, number and strategy type. This cultural contrast reveals differences in the sociolinguistic patterns of conveying gratitude in verbal and nonverbal communication. The most important theoretical finding is that the data, while consistent with many views found in the existing literature, do not support Brown and Levinson’s (1987) claim that communicating gratitude intrinsically threatens the speaker’s negative face. Rather, it is argued that gratitude should be viewed as a means of establishing and sustaining social relationships. The findings suggest that cultural variation in expressing gratitude is due to the high degree of sensitivity to the interplay of several social and contextual variables. The findings provide worthwhile insights into theoretical issues concerning the nature of communicative acts, the relation between types of communicative acts and the general principles of human communication, especially rapport between people in social interaction, as well as the relation between culture-specific and universal features of communicative activity types. Differences were found between pragmatic research instruments. The outcomes indicate that using a mixture of methods is preferable as long as this serves the aim of the study as it merges their advantages by eliciting spontaneous data in controlled settings. The ramifications of this study for future multi-dimensional investigations of the contrasts between Arabic and English speaking cultures are expected to prove particularly significant in virtue of corroborating or refuting existing findings and in this way paving the way for new research

The Rhetorical Dimensions of Radio Propaganda in Nazi Germany, 1933-1945

The intrinsic power and subtle influence of broadcasting is not readily recognized by the average consumer of mass media. This circumstance has an abusive potential for those wishing to use the electronic media for ulterior motives. Such was the case between 1933 and 1945 when the Nazis unleashed their manipulative mass media campaign that helped facilitate totalitarian control over the German people. This dissertation is the study of its radio component. Special emphasis is placed on the origins, construction, and subsequent implementation of Nazi broadcast rhetoric heard on domestic and short wave radio during the twelve-year period of the Third Reich. In refusing the notion that a solitary critical perspective can be used in the creation of political consciousness and culture, I admit to using any theoretical insight or concept that sheds light on rhetorical efforts. In the practice of criticism, I believe this is the function of rhetorical theory. Therefore, the following selected theoretical methods are employed: Crable\u27s theory of rhetoric as organization is shown as an appropriate means of describing the radio divisions within the bureaucratic Propaganda Ministry. Bitzer\u27s work on the significance of the rhetorical situation is applied to the simple act of listening to finely crafted radio programming in Nazi Germany. The speaker\u27s link between rhetoric and ideology is explained with McGee\u27s ideograph theory. The construction of a new language suited to the goals of the Nazis is analyzed by examples of Burke\u27s unifiers and McGuire\u27s close textual work on Mein Kampf. Marcuse divides the language into pragmatic and mythical layers, while the rhetoric and motivations of eight American radio traitors, who served as Nazi broadcasters, are investigated and tied into the overall propaganda scheme. The consequences of this inquiry indicate that the National Socialists, with Dr. Goebbels\u27 masterful propagandistic insights, tapped into the needs of a post-World War I German society and rebuilt a nationalistic spirit that unfortunately led to war and greater devastation than had been seen some three decades earlier. The new medium of radio, as a major source of information or mis-information, played no small part in this tragic outcome

John Williams: An Evaluation of his Impact Upon the Culture of the Classical Guitar

This thesis examines the career of the Australian guitarist John Williams and his impact upon the culture of the classical guitar. Williams has been a celebrated guitarist for more than six decades and has performed and recorded extensively during that period. He has made a remarkably varied contribution to guitar culture, performing in a wide variety of different styles, highlighting the guitar’s unique strength as a versatile and adaptable instrument. Williams’ career is in marked contrast to that of many of his contemporaries, including his mentor Andrés Segovia. Segovia believed the classical guitar must assert its individuality in order to be accepted as a concert instrument. Although Segovia attempted to disassociate the classical guitar from its usage in more popular and folk genres, John Williams’ approach has been more inclusive and his work has forged links between the various musical styles into which the guitar has adapted. His work reflects the diversity of the guitar and has helped to develop new voices within the realm of contemporary guitar repertoire. This study examines reception of Williams’ work, and explores the impact of his career up to the present time. His own reflections on music are studied with the inclusion of an extensive interview, conducted in 2017 in London. The various strands of music drawn together by his career are examined and reviewed as a singular and significant contribution to guitar culture

CULTURAL VARIATION IN GRATITUDE DEMONSTRATIONS AND PERCEPTIONS BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND TAIWAN

Linking two well-developed yet rarely conversing bodies of literature, I propose a general cultural paradigm for testing the functions of emotions. Taking gratitude for example, I predicted that, for gratitude to function, people in Confucius cultures would use self-improvement (cultivating personal skills and living up to social roles) to communicate gratitude, whereas people in individualist cultures would use bodily contact instead. Indeed, although both Taiwanese (Confucius) and American (individualist) participants communicated gratitude by verbal acknowledgment and reciprocating kindness (Study 1 & 2), they spontaneously demonstrated their respective cultural behaviors when being asked to thank someone they chose (Study 1), deliberately listed down such behaviors as their everyday gratitude demonstration strategies more than did the other group (Study 1), and reported applying their cultural behaviors but not those of the other culture similarly to applying non-cultural demonstrations of gratitude (acknowledgment and reciprocity; Study 2). Extending to the perception side of dyadic communication, I further presented participants with manipulated gratitude demonstrations that conveyed the intent of either reciprocity, bodily contact, or self-improvement, and found that Americans perceived gratitude in bodily contact (v. self-improvement) as in reciprocity, whereas the Taiwanese sensed gratitude in self-improvement (v. bodily contact) as in reciprocity (Study 3). Together, this research deconfounds gratitude’s underlying relational function from its ostensible manifestations, bolstering its function over specific behavioral manifestations. The research, therefore, demonstrates the utility of studying culture to further functionalist emotion theories; I also developed and demonstrate a new method for de-biasing cross-cultural comparisons along the way.Doctor of Philosoph

Being a "Soviet Korean" in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan.

This thesis examines what it means to be a "Soviet Korean" in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan. The majority of Koreans in Alma-Ata are the historical result of two displacements, having first migrated to Russia since the nineteenth century and then being deported to Kazakhstan in 1937 by Stalin. The repression was followed by decades of confinement in collective farms. The unlikely Korean presence in Central Asia was to be unveiled to the outside world after glasnost, and a change in the international political climate around the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games resulted in unprecedented encounters between the Soviet Korean diaspora community and other Korean visitors. My fieldwork began shortly afterwards, capturing the historical moment of this hitherto unknown section of the Korean diaspora. Reflecting the minority's history of persecution and isolation, it is not surprising to find high levels of linguistic and cultural "Russification". However, the Soviet Koreans constantly compare themselves with "others" and keep a distinct boundary. Following Bloch (1998), I argue for the importance of exploring socio-cultural reproduction in implicit domains. Thus sharing and transmitting cultural identity and memory is not so dependent on languages, narratives and formal education alone. Rather, aspects of "being Korean" are constantly found and reinforced within the community in aspects such as management of resources, articulation of cultural symbols, ways of communication, and sensorial preferences. I concentrate on their history, community dynamics, parent and child relationship, dietary practice, way of communicating and implicit and emotional aspects of "being Korean". I elucidate both the experiences and representations of the diaspora covering from pre-migration days in Korea to the present in the new state of Kazakhstan. Korean agricultural and Confucian root is favourably contrasted to the nomadic Kazakh traditions, yet it also bears the stigma of marginality in a Soviet context. Thus "Soviet Koreanness" reflects the traditions of the early migrants which are open to constant repositioning through dialogue with other Korean influences and ethnic groups. Food and culinary practice in its production and consumption is one of such areas where categories of ethnicity and gender get expressed and boundaries are maintained. Strong emotional responses are noted as they are triggered by sensory experiences and associations. In the section on family I single out the significance of parent-child relationships and associated ideology and emotions. Parental sacrifice, filial piety and guilt are specific parts of "being" a Korean. Education as ethnic identifier, and symbolic component for Korean personhood is examined in an intergenerational context. Finally, I explore Korean emphasis on non-verbal and implicit ways of communication and examine their relationship with notions of personhood, morality and ethnic identity