Empire, Tourism, Nostalgia: Joseph Brodsky and Travel Writing

Joseph Brodsky, one of the most influential Russian intellectuals of the late Soviet period, was born in Leningrad in 1940, emigrated to the United States in 1972, received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1987, and died in New York City in 1996. Brodsky was one of the leading public figures of Soviet emigration in the Cold War period, and his role as a model for the constructing of Russian cultural identities in the last years of the Soviet Union was, and still is, extremely important. One of Joseph Brodsky’s great contributions to Russian culture of the latter half of the twentieth century is the wide geographical scope of his poetic and prose works. Brodsky was not a travel writer, but he was a traveling writer who wrote a considerable number of poems and essays which relate to his trips and travels in the Soviet empire and outside it. Travel writing offered for Brodsky a discursive space for negotiating his own transculturation, while it also offered him a discursive space for making powerful statements about displacement, culture, history and geography, time and space—all major themes of his poetry. In this study of Joseph Brodsky’s travel writing I focus on his travel texts in poetry and prose, which relate to his post-1972 trips to Mexico, Brazil, Turkey, and Venice. Questions of empire, tourism, and nostalgia are foregrounded in one way or another in Brodsky’s travel writing performed in emigration. I explore these concepts through the study of tropes, strategies of identity construction, and the politics of representation. The theoretical premises of my work draw on the literary and cultural criticism which has evolved around the study of travel and travel writing in recent years. These approaches have gained much from the scholarly experience provided by postcolonial critique. Shifting the focus away from the concept of exile, the traditional framework for scholarly discussions of Brodsky’s works, I propose to review Brodsky’s travel poetry and prose as a response not only to his exilic condition but to the postmodern and postcolonial landscape, which initially shaped the writing of these texts. Discussing Brodsky’s travel writing in this context offers previously unexplored perspectives for analyzing the geopolitical, philosophical, and linguistic premises of his poetic imagination. By situating Brodsky’s travel writing in the geopolitical landscape of postcolonial postmodernity, I attempt to show how Brodsky’s engagement with his contemporary cultural practices in the West was incorporated into his Russian-language travel poetry and prose and how this engagement thus contributed to these texts’ status as exceptional and unique literary events within late Soviet Russian cultural practices.

Varities of National Metonymy in Media Accounts of International Mergers and Acquisitions

International mergers and acquisitions (M&As) often invoke national identification and national cultural differences. We argue that metonymy is a central linguistic resource through which national cultural identities and differences are reproduced in media accounts of international M&As. In this paper, we focus on two revealing cases: the acquisition of American IBM Personal Computer Division (PCD) by the Chinese company Lenovo and the acquisition of American Anheuser-Busch (A-B) by the Belgian-Brazilian company InBev. First, we identify the forms, functions and frequencies of national metonymy in media accounts of these cases. We present a typology that classifies varieties of national metonymy in international M&As. Second, we demonstrate how these metonyms combine with metaphor to generate evocative imagery, engaging wit, and subversive irony. Our findings show that national metonymy contributes to the construction of emotive frames, stereotypes, ideological differences, and threats. Combinations of national metonymy with metaphor also provide powerful means to construct cultural differences. However, combinations of metonymy with wit and irony enable the play on meanings that overturns and resists national and cultural stereotypes. This is the first study to unpack the deployment of metonymy in accounts of international M&As. In doing so, it also opens up new avenues for research into international management and the analysis of tropes in management and organization.

A Shared European History? Perceptions of Imperialism and Islam in Matriculation Examination Essays and History Textbooks

The European Union (EU) is faced with a continuous decrease in public support. There is a tension between the growing Euroscepticism and the concurrent academic discourse of a shared European identity. Informed and inspired by the current debates, this Master’s Thesis investigates the potential of a shared past to create shared identity. It also addresses the logic of cultural exclusion that is often connected to collective cultural identities. The source material is a combination of exam essays, written as answers to the history tests in the Finnish matriculation examinations of 2005-2008, and upper secondary school history textbooks. From the sources, current perceptions of Islam (as Europe’s Other) and the age of imperialism (as a debated period from Europe’s past) among the youth are studied. Through the analysis the thesis aims to indicate the level of consensus within the pupils’ identification with the past and with Europe. This objective is pursued through examining the pupils’ perceptions of Europe’s past and its relationship to non-European cultures and countries as they are manifested in the essays, and reflecting upon the level of influence that history textbooks as representatives of national hegemonic historical narratives might have on the contents, framings and emphases with and through which the pupils approach, imagine, and reproduce Europe’s past. The approach is based on previous research on the presence of history and the field of textbook research. The theoretical categories with which the sources are analyzed are derived primarily from literature on identity, European integration, history and memory, postcolonial criticism, and theorizations of European identity. Results of the research project suggest that the rhetoric of European superiority, despite its apparent demise, still resonates in contemporary understandings of Europeanness. Dominant perceptions of imperialism comprise of European agency and colonial submission, dominant perceptions of the Islamic world of fundamental difference. Identification with European history among the Finnish youth is rather shallow when examined through perceptions of imperialism; the Islamic world is perceived as Other and its representations are dominated by recent and contemporary international relations.

Profligate Descent : The Cultural Transformations of Evolutionary Narrative

This dissertation traces a set of historical transformations the Darwinian evolutionary narrative has undergone toward the end of the twentieth century, especially as reflected in Anglo-American popular science books and novels. The study has three objectives. First, it seeks to understand the organizing logic of evolutionary narratives and the role that assumptions about gender and sexuality play in that logic. Second, it asks what kinds of cultural anxieties evolutionary theory raises and how evolutionary narratives negotiate them. Third, it examines the possibilities and limits of narrative transformation both as a historical phenomenon and as a theoretical question. This interdisciplinary dissertation is situated at the intersection of science studies, cultural studies, literary studies, and gender studies. Its understanding of science as a cultural practice that both emerges from and contributes to cultural expectations and institutional structures follows the tradition of science studies. Its focus on the question of popular appeal and the mechanisms of cultural change arises from cultural studies. Its view of narrative as a structural phenomenon is grounded in literary studies in general and feminist narrative theory in particular. Its understanding of gender and sexuality as implicated in discourses of epistemic authority builds on the view of gender and sexuality as contingent cultural categories central to gender studies. The primary material consists of over 25 British and American popular science books and novels, published roughly between 1990 and 2005. In order to highlight historical transformations, these texts are read in the context of Darwin s The Origin of Species and The Descent of Man, on the one hand, and such sociobiological classics as E. O. Wilson s On Human Nature and Richard Dawkins s The Selfish Gene, on the other. The research method combines feminist narrative analysis with cultural and historical contextualization, emphasizing discursive abruptions, recurrent narrative patterns, and underlying continuities. The dissertation demonstrates that the relationship between Darwin s evolutionary narrative and late twentieth-century evolutionary narratives is characterized by reemphasis, omissions, and continuous rewriting. In particular, contemporary evolutionary discourse extends the role assigned to reproduction both sexual and narrative in Darwin s writing, generating a narrative logic that imagines the desire to reproduce as the driving force of evolution and posits the reproductive sex act as the endlessly repeated narrative event that keeps the story going. The study argues that the popular appeal of evolutionary accounts of gender, sexuality, and human nature may arise, to an extent, from this reproductive narrative dynamic. This narrative dynamic, however, is not logically invulnerable. Since the continuation of the evolutionary narrative relies on successful reproduction, the possibility of reproductive failure poses a constant risk to narrative futurity, arousing cultural anxieties that evolutionary narratives need to address. The study argues that evolutionary narratives appease such anxieties by evoking a range of cultural narratives, especially romantic, religious, and national narratives. Furthermore, the study shows that the event-based logic of evolutionary narratives privileges observable acts over emotions, pleasures, identities, and desires, thus engendering a set of conceptual exclusions that limits the imaginative scope of evolution as a cultural narrative.

Consumption in Rural Bangladesh : Households, Lifestyles, and Identities

Bangladesh, often better known to the outside world as a country of natural calamities, is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Despite rapid urbanization, more than 75% of the people still live in rural areas. The density of the rural population is also one of the highest in the world. Being a poor and low-income country, its main challenge is to eradicate poverty through increasing equitable income. Since its independence in 1971, Bangladesh has experienced many ups and downs, but over the past three decades, its gross domestic product (GDP) has grown at an impressive rate. Consequently, the country s economy is developing and the country has outperformed many low-income countries in terms of several social indicators. Bangladesh has achieved the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary school enrollment. A sharp decline in child and infant mortality rates, increased per capita income, and improved food security have placed Bangladesh on the track to achieving in the near future the status of a middle-income country. All these developments have influenced the consumption pattern of the country. This study explores the consumption scenario of rural Bangladesh, its changing consumption patterns, the relationship between technology and consumption in rural Bangladesh, cultural consumption in rural Bangladesh, and the myriad reasons why consumers nevertheless feel compelled to consume chemically treated foods. Data were collected in two phases in the summers of 2006 and 2008. In 2006, the empirical data were collected from the following three sources: interviews with consumers, producers/sellers, and doctors and pharmacists; observations of sellers/producers; and reviews of articles published in the national English and Bengali (the national language of Bangladesh) daily newspapers. A total of 110 consumers, 25 sellers/producers, 7 doctors, and 7 pharmacists were interviewed and observed. In 2008, data were collected through semi-structured in-depth qualitative interviews, ethnography, and unstructured conversations substantiated by secondary sources and photographs; the total number of persons interviewed was 22. -- Data were also collected on the consumption of food, clothing, housing, education, medical facilities, marriage and dowry, the division of labor, household decision making, different festivals such as Eid (for Muslims), the Bengali New Year, and Durga puja (for Hindus), and leisure. Qualitative methods were applied to the data analysis and were supported by secondary quantitative data. The findings of this study suggest that the consumption patterns of rural Bangladeshis are changing over time along with economic and social development, and that technology has rendered aspects of daily life more convenient. This study identified the perceptions and experiences of rural people regarding technologies in use and explored how culture is associated with consumption. This study identified the reasons behind the use of hazardous chemicals (e.g. calcium carbide, sodium cyclamate, cyanide and formalin, etc.) in foods as well as the extent to which food producers/sellers used such chemicals. In addition, this study assessed consumer perceptions of and attitudes toward these contaminated food items and explored how adulterated foods and food stuffs affect consumer health. This study also showed that consumers were aware that various foods and food stuffs contained hazardous chemicals, and that these adulterated foods and food stuffs were harmful to their health.

Shooting from the Wild Zone : A Study of the Chicana Art Photographers Laura Aguilar, Celia Álvarez Muñoz, Delilah Montoya, and Kathy Vargas

The dissertation analyzes and elaborates upon the changing map of U.S. ethno-racial formation from the vantage point of North American Studies, multi-disciplinary cultural studies, and the criticism of visual culture. The focus is on four contemporary Mexican American (Chicana) women photographers, whose art production is discussed, on the one hand, in the context of the Euro-American history of photographic genres and, on the other hand, in the context of so-called decolonizing cultural and academic discourses produced by Mexican Americans themselves. The manuscript consists of two parts. Part I outlines the theoretical and methodological domain of the study, positioning it in the interstices of American studies, European postmodern criticism, postcolonial feminist theory, and the theories of visual culture, particularly of art photography. In addition, the main issues and paradigms of Chicano Studies (Mexican American ethnic studies) are introduced. Part II consists of seven essays, each of which discusses rather independently a particular photographic work or a series of photographs, formulating and defending arguments about their meaning, position in the history of photographic genres, and their cultural and socio-political significance. The study closes with a discussion about ethno-racial identity formation and the role of Chicana photography therein - in embodying and reproducing new subjectivities, alternative categories of knowledge, and open ended historical narratives. It is argued that, symbolically, the "Wild Zone" of gendered and race-specific knowledge becomes associated with the body of the mother, a recurrent image in Chicana art works under discussion. Embedded in this image, the construction of an alternative notion of a family thus articulates the parameters of a matrifocal ethno-racial community unified by the proliferation of differences rather than by conformities typical of nationalistic ideologies. While focusing on art photography, the study as a whole simultaneously constructs, from a European vantage point, a "thick" description of Mexican American history, identities, communities, cultural practices, and self-representations about which very little is known in Finland.

Rhetoric and Representation : Exploring the Cultural Meaning of the Natural Sciences in Contemporary Popular Science Writing and Literature

Kirjallisuuden- ja kulttuurintutkimus on viimeisten kolmen vuosikymmenen aikana tullut yhä enenevässä määrin tietoiseksi tieteen ja taiteen suhteen monimutkaisesta luonteesta. Nykyään näiden kahden kulttuurin tutkimus muodostaa oman kenttänsä, jolla niiden suhdetta tarkastellaan ennen kaikkea dynaamisena vuorovaikutuksena, joka heijastaa kulttuurimme kieltä, arvoja ja ideologisia sisältöjä. Toisin kuin aiemmat näkemykset, jotka pitävät tiedettä ja taidetta toisilleen enemmän tai vähemmän vastakkaisina pyrkimyksinä, nykytutkimus lähtee oletuksesta, jonka mukaan ne ovat kulttuurillisesti rakentuneita diskursseja, jotka kohtaavat usein samankaltaisia todellisuuden mallintamiseen liittyviä ongelmia, vaikka niiden käyttämät metodit eroavatkin toisistaan. Väitöskirjani keskittyy yllä mainitun suhteen osa-alueista popularisoidun tietokirjallisuuden (muun muassa Paul Davies, James Gleick ja Richard Dawkins) käyttämän kielen ja luonnontieteistä ideoita ammentavan kaunokirjallisuuden (muun muassa Jeanette Winterson, Tom Stoppard ja Richard Powers) hyödyntämien keinojen tarkasteluun nojautuen yli 30 teoksen kattavaa aineistoa koskevaan tyylin ja teemojen tekstianalyysiin. Populaarin tietokirjallisuuden osalta tarkoituksenani on osoittaa, että sen käyttämä kieli rakentuu huomattavassa määrin sellaisille rakenteille, jotka tarjoavat mahdollisuuden esittää todellisuutta koskevia argumentteja mahdollisimman vakuuttavalla tavalla. Tässä tehtävässä monilla klassisen retoriikan määrittelemillä kuvioilla on tärkeä rooli, koska ne auttavat liittämään sanotun sisällön ja muodon tiukasti toisiinsa: retoristen kuvioiden käyttö ei näin ollen edusta pelkkää tyylikeinoa, vaan se myös usein kiteyttää argumenttien taustalla olevat tieteenfilosofiset olettamukset ja auttaa vakiinnuttamaan argumentoinnin logiikan. Koska monet aikaisemmin ilmestyneistä tutkimuksista ovat keskittyneet pelkästään metaforan rooliin tieteellisissä argumenteissa, tämä väitöskirja pyrkii laajentamaan tutkimuskenttää analysoimalla myös toisenlaisten kuvioiden käyttöä. Osoitan myös, että retoristen kuvioiden käyttö muodostaa yhtymäkohdan tieteellisiä ideoita hyödyntävään kaunokirjallisuuteen. Siinä missä popularisoitu tiede käyttää retoriikkaa vahvistaakseen sekä argumentatiivisia että kaunokirjallisia ominaisuuksiaan, kuvaa tällainen sanataide tiedettä tavoilla, jotka usein heijastelevat tietokirjallisuuden kielellisiä rakenteita. Toisaalta on myös mahdollista nähdä, miten kaunokirjallisuuden keinot heijastuvat popularisoidun tieteen kerrontatapoihin ja kieleen todistaen kahden kulttuurin dynaamisesta vuorovaikutuksesta. Nykyaikaisen populaaritieteen retoristen elementtien ja kaunokirjallisuuden keinojen vertailu näyttää lisäksi, kuinka tiede ja taide osallistuvat keskusteluun kulttuurimme tiettyjen peruskäsitteiden kuten identiteetin, tiedon ja ajan merkityksestä. Tällä tavoin on mahdollista nähdä, että molemmat ovat perustavanlaatuisia osia merkityksenantoprosessissa, jonka kautta niin tieteelliset ideat kuin ihmiselämän suuret kysymyksetkin saavat kulttuurillisesti rakentuneen merkityksensä.

Cultural Discourses in CEF: How Do They Relate to ELF?

Tutkielmassa selvitetään englanti lingua francana (ELF) -näkökulman ilmenemistä kulttuurin ja sen opettamisen periaatteissa. Tarkastelun kohteina ovat viimeaikaiset kielenopetuksen ohjenuoria käsittelevät ohjelmat Euroopassa ja Suomessa: Euroopan neuvoston julkaisema Eurooppalainen viitekehys ja Suomen perus- ja lukio-opetuksen uusimmat vieraiden kielten opetussuunnitelmat. Tutkielmassa sovelletaan kriittisen diskurssianalyysin kolmiportaista analyysikehystä, jonka kuvausosiossa Viitekehyksestä analysoidaan esiin kulttuurisia diskursseja, tulkintaosiossa aineistoa tarkastellaan Euroopan neuvoston kielipolitiikan osana, ja selitysosiossa sitä verrataan opetussuunnitelmista hahmotettuihin diskursseihin. Viitekehyksestä nousi esiin neljä keskeistä diskurssia: 1) kohdekulttuuri-, 2) kulttuurien monimuotoisuus-, 3) monikulttuurisuus- ja 4) oppilaskeskeisyysdiskurssit. Näistä kahdessa viimeisessä oli piirteitä, joiden voi katsoa tukevan ELF-näkökulmaa. Tällaisia olivat mm. usean kulttuurin välillä liikkuminen ja oppilaiden tarpeiden korostaminen. Sen sijaan opetussuunnitelmissa keskitytään ELF:n kannalta liian kapea-alaisesti vain äidinkielisten ja ei-äidinkielisten väliseen viestintään. ELF-lähestymistavan kannalta olisikin tärkeää ymmärtää, että kansainvälisessä viestinnässä englannin kieltä ei voi yhdistää tiettyyn kohdekulttuuriin ja että monikielitaitoisuuden ja lingua francan ei tarvitse olla ristiriidassa keskenään.

Crime stories from the country of huopatossu and juhannusruusut : Translation strategies for Finnish cultural realia in the English translations of two of Matti Yrjänä Joensuu’s crime novels

Pro gradu –tutkielman aiheena on kulttuurin ominaispiirteiden kääntäminen. Teksteissä kulttuurin jälki voi näkyä monin eri tavoin. Tutkielman kohteena ovat erityisesti käännösstrategiat, joita kääntäjät käyttävät kohdatessaan kulttuurisidonnaisia viittauksia. Tutkielma nostaa esiin myös niitä tekijöitä, jotka vaikuttavat siihen, minkälaisia käännösstrategioita kääntäjät valitsevat. Näistä tekijöistä tutkielma keskittyy kääntämisen normeihin. Tutkielma pureutuu kulttuurisidonnaisten viitteiden kääntämiseen tarkastelemalla kahta suomalaista kaunokirjallista teosta ja niiden käännöksiä. Tutkielman aineistona ovat Matti Yrjänä Joensuun kaksi rikosromaania ja näiden käännökset. Teoksista toinen on vuonna 1983 suomeksi julkaistu Harjunpää ja poliisin poika, jonka englanninkielinen käännös Harjunpaa the stone murders julkaistiin vuonna 1986. Toinen teos on vuonna 2003 julkaistu Harjunpää ja pahan pappi ja sen käännös The Priest of Evil vuodelta 2006. Tutkielman tavoitteena on selvittää, minkälaisia kulttuurisidonnaisia viittauksia romaanit sisälsivät, minkälaisia käännösstrategioita kääntäjät käyttivät kääntäessään näitä viittauksia ja mikä voisi selittää heidän strategisia valintojaan. Tutkielma pyrkii vastaamaan kysymykseen siitä, voisiko jonkin kääntämistä koskevan normin olemassa olo selittää kääntäjien strategisia valintoja. Tutkielman tavoitteena on myös selvittää, suositaanko kääntämisessä englannin kieleen niin kutsuttuja kotouttavia käännösstrategioita ja ovatko käännösstrategiat ja kääntämistä koskevat normit muuttuneet kahdenkymmenen vuoden aikana. Näihin kysymyksiin vastaamiseksi suomenkielisistä teksteistä on etsitty kaikki kulttuurisidonnaisia viittauksia sisältävät tekstinkohdat. Näitä vastaavat kohdat on sitten etsitty käännöksistä ja suomen- ja englanninkielisiä kohtia on vertailtu keskenään. Molemmat suomenkieliset romaanit sisältävät runsaasti kulttuurisidonnaisia viittauksia. Suurimman kulttuurisidonnaisten viittausten ryhmän muodostivat molemissa romaaneissa henkilöiden nimet. Romaanin sisälsivät myös runsaasti viittauksia maantieteeseen, erityisesti kulttuurimaantieteeseen, ja yhteiskuntaan. Sitä vastoin viittaukset suomalaiseen kulttuuriin ja historiaan olivat vähäisempiä. Tutkielma osoittaa, että kääntäessään suomesta englannin kielelle suomalaisen rikoskirjallisuuden kääntäjät saattavat käyttää enemmän vieraannuttavia strategioita kuin kotouttavia strategioita ja että he suosivat vieraannuttavia strategioita kasvavassa määrin. Harjunpään ja pahan papin kääntäjä käytti enemmän vieraannuttavia strategioita kuin Harjunpään ja poliisin pojan kääntäjä kaksikymmentä vuotta aikaisemmin. Tutkielman tulokset eivät tue väitettä siitä, että käännettäessä englannin kielelle suosittaisiin kotouttavia strategioita. Näyttää siltä, että vieraannuttavia strategioita on käytetty enemmän ja käytetään yhä enenevässä määrin. Lisääntyvän vieraannuttamisen taustalla voi olla useita syitä, kuten suomalaisen kulttuurin lisääntynyt tunnettuus maailmalla, rikosromaanin genren vaatimukset tai muutokset kääntäjäyhteisön arvoissa. Tutkielman tulosten perusteella näyttää siltä, että ainakin muutoksia normeissa ja arvoissa on tapahtunut. Lisätutkimuksen avulla voitaisiin selvittää, pätevätkö tutkielman tulokset muihin romaaneihin ja niiden käännöksiin tai muihin genreihin käännettäessä suomesta englantiin. Lisätutkimus voisi nojautua laajempaan ja erilaisia tekstejä kattavaan aineistoon. Jatkotutkimus voisi myös sisältää kääntäjien haastatteluita tai kyselyitä kääntäjille. Näiden avulla voitaisiin saada lisäselvyyttä syistä heidän strategisille valinnoilleen. Asiasanat: Käännöskirjallisuus – kaunokirjallisuus Kääntäminen – suomen kieli – englannin kieli Kääntäminen – strategia Kääntäminen - normi

La música orquestal peruana de 1945 a 2005 : Identidades en la diversidad

Peruvian orchestral music 1945–2005. Identities in diversity Peruvian music for orchestra has not been studied as a whole before, and is hardly known by Peruvian musicians and public. The aim of the thesis is to give a panoramic view of Peruvian orchestral music after 1945, study the particular historical context in which these works were created and how they reflect the search for a musical identity of its own, be it individual, local, national or Latin American. Identity is a construction that changes permanently, and individuals can share many identities at the same time. This is a central issue in multicultural societies as the Peruvian, and music is an important mean for constructing cultural identity. The hypothesis of this research is that orchestral work is a medium for Peruvian composers to express their relationship with traditional and popular musics of the country in different ways, from quotation of melodies to a more abstract appropiation of concepts or suggestive title references. Representative works by selected composers, of different techniques, styles or special reception are chosen and analyzed. Research methodology includes analysis of works with various methods according to their stylistic and technical features, in order to find the particular ways in which composers have approached or expressed diverse identities. The investigation shows that Peruvian orchestral music includes works in the main stylistic trends and using the main compositional techniques of the modernist and postmodern periods. It also shows that the construction and expression of particular identities through the study and use of other Peruvian musical traditions is a constant interest shared by composers of different age and esthetic. In a multicultural society as the Peruvian, characterized by its diversity, different forms of transcultural composition are an important mean of dealing with identity issues in music. This thesis also includes for the first time a list of all orchestral works composed in the country or by Peruvian composers in the period, their composers and genres. KEYWORDS: Peruvian music, contemporary music for orchestra, identity

Community, Power, and Colonialism: The U.S. Army in Southern Arizona and New Mexico, 1866-1886

Empire is central to U.S. history. When we see the U.S. projecting its influence on a global scale in today s world it is important to understand that U.S. empire has a long history. This dissertation offers a case study of colonialism and U.S. empire by discussing the social worlds, labor regimes, and culture of the U.S. Army during the conquest of southern Arizona and New Mexico (1866-1886). It highlights some of the defining principles, mentalities, and characteristics of U.S. imperialism and shows how U.S. forces have in years past constructed their power and represented themselves, their missions, and the places and peoples that faced U.S. imperialism/colonialism. Using insights from postcolonial studies and whiteness studies, this work balances its attention between discursive representations (army stories) and social experience (army actions), pays attention to silences in the process of historical production, and focuses on collective group mentalities and identities. In the end the army experience reveals an empire in denial constructed on the rule of difference and marked by frustration. White officers, their wives, and the white enlisted men not only wanted the monopoly of violence for the U.S. regime but also colonial (mental/cultural) authority and power, and constructed their identity, authority, and power in discourse and in the social contexts of the everyday through difference. Engaged in warfare against the Apaches, they did not recognize their actions as harmful or acknowledge the U.S. invasion as the bloody colonial conquest it was. White army personnel painted themselves and the army as liberators, represented colonial peoples as racial inferiors, approached colonial terrain in terms of struggle, and claimed that the region was a terrible periphery with little value before the arrival of white civilization. Officers and wives also wanted to place themselves at the top of colonial hierarchies as the refined and respectable class who led the regeneration of the colony by example: they tried to turn army villages into islands of civilization and made journeys, leisure, and domestic life to showcase their class sensibilities and level of sophistication. Often, however, their efforts failed, resulting in frustration and bitterness. Many blamed the colony and its peoples for their failures. The army itself was divided by race and class. All soldiers were treated as laborers unfit for self-government. White enlisted men, frustrated by their failures in colonial warfare and by constant manual labor, constructed worlds of resistance, whereas indigenous soldiers sought to negotiate the effects of colonialism by working in the army. As colonized labor their position was defined by tension between integration and exclusion and between freedom and colonial control.

The regional differences between countries in traffic safety: A cross-cultural study and Turkish Case

Road traffic accidents are a large problem everywhere in the world. However, regional differences in traffic safety between countries are considerable. For example, traffic safety records are much worse in Southern Europe and the Middle East than in Northern and Western Europe. Despite the large regional differences in traffic safety, factors contributing to different accident risk figures in different countries and regions have remained largely unstudied. The general aim of this study was to investigate regional differences in traffic safety between Southern European/Middle Eastern (i.e., Greece, Iran, Turkey) and Northern/Western European (i.e., Finland, Great Britain, The Netherlands) countries and to identify factors related to these differences. We conducted seven sub-studies in which I applied a traffic culture framework, including a multi-level approach, to traffic safety. We used aggregated level data (national statistics), surveys among drivers, and data on traffic accidents and fatalities in the analyses. In the first study, we investigated the influence of macro level factors (i.e., economic, societal, and cultural) on traffic safety across countries. The results showed that a high GNP per capita and conservatism correlated with a low number of traffic fatalities, whereas a high degree of uncertainty avoidance, neuroticism, and egalitarianism correlated with a high number of traffic fatalities. In the second, third, and fourth studies, we examined whether the conceptualisation of road user characteristics (i.e., driver behaviour and performance) varied across traffic cultures and how these factors determined overall safety, and the differences between countries in traffic safety. The results showed that the factorial agreement for driver behaviour (i.e., aggressive driving) and performance (i.e., safety skills) was unsatisfactory in Greece, Iran, and Turkey, where the lack of social tolerance and interpersonal aggressive violations seem to be important characteristics of driving. In addition, we found that driver behaviour (i.e., aggressive violations and errors) mediated the relationship between culture/country and accidents. Besides, drivers from "dangerous" Southern European countries and Iran scored higher on aggressive violations and errors than did drivers from "safe" Northern European countries. However, "speeding" appeared to be a "pan-cultural" problem in traffic. Similarly, aggressive driving seems largely depend on road users' interactions and drivers' interpretation (i.e., cognitive biases) of the behaviour of others in every country involved in the study. Moreover, in all countries, a risky general driving style was mostly related to being young and male. The results of the fifth and sixth studies showed that among young Turkish drivers, gender stereotypes (i.e., masculinity and femininity) greatly influence driver behaviour and performance. Feminine drivers were safety-oriented whereas masculine drivers were skill-oriented and risky drivers. Since everyday driving tasks involve not only erroneous (i.e., risky or dangerous driving) or correct performance (i.e., normal habitual driving), but also "positive" driver behaviours, we developed a reliable scale for measuring "positive" driver behaviours among Turkish drivers in the seventh study. Consequently, I revised Reason's model [Reason, J. T., 1990. Human error. Cambridge University Press: New York] of aberrant driver behaviour to represent a general driving style, including all possible intentional behaviours in traffic while evaluating the differences between countries in traffic safety. The results emphasise the importance of economic, societal and cultural factors, general driving style and skills, which are related to exposure, cognitive biases as well as age, sex, and gender, in differences between countries in traffic safety.

Keitä huonokuuloiset oikein ovat? : Lähtökohtia huonokuuloisten sosiaalisten identiteettien tutkimukselle

To be hard-of-hearing (HOH) isn t only a hearing-related phenomenon. Some HOH people identify themselves with the majority population, where as others identify themselves with culturally Deaf or with other HOH people. This results in three different kinds of groups. The original aim of this study was to interview HOH people in order to discover the social identities of these three groups. It turned out, however, that there are only few studies exploring this subject. It was therefore first necessary to develop sustainable and suitable starting points for the examination of the information produced by the interviews. In other words, the construction of the theoretical and conceptual frame of reference became the objective of this study. It is, on one hand, the personal experiences of the researcher s mingling with different kinds of HOH people and with culturally Deaf and, on the other, the literature concerning identities that lie in the background of this study. The analysis concentrated on the studies of identities in general and on the previous works dealing with the identities of the HOH people as well as on other studies with reference to HOH people. The choice between mainstream education and special education is one of the main factors affecting the development of the identity. Yet, it became apparent that identifying with the relevant reference group (majority population, culturally Deaf or other HOH people) had an even greater influence than the school. The hard of hearing define themselves differently and take different views on being HOH, depending on their social relations, their values and on their communicative and cultural features. The conclusion is that HOH people should be examined as different groups, not as one group, since they differ clearly from each other.

Näppärien mummojen muistelukirjonta - yhteisöllistä ja voimauttavaa käsityöilmaisua

The aim of the study was to get acquainted with the activity of Näppärät Mummot, a Lahti-based crafts society, and its importance to the wellness of the members of the group. The selected aim, i.e., analyzing the wellness, largely affected the whole research process and its results. According to earlier studies in the field, different forms of craft and expressional activity promote one's wellness as well as support the work for one's identity. Based on my theoretical knowledge, my research was set out to: 1) form a general view of crafts culture within Näppärät Mummot and 2) find out how recollective craft that promotes wellness is perceived through communality, experiential activity, work for one's identity, and divided as well as undivided craft. Qualitative field work was governed by ethnographic research strategy, according to which I set out to get thoroughly familiar with the society I was studying. The methods I used to collect data were participant observation and thematic interview. I used a field diary for writing down all data I acquired through the observation. The interviewee group was formed by seven members of Näppärät Mummot. An mp3 recorder was used to record the interviews, which I transcribed later. The method for data analysis was qualitative content analysis, for which I used Weft QDA, a qualitative analysis software application. I formed themes that shed light on research tasks from the data using coding and theory-driven analysis. I kept literature and data I collected in cooperation through the whole analysis process. Lastly, drawing from the classes of meaning of therapeutic craft that I sketched by means of summarizing and classifying, I presented the central concepts that describe the main results of the study. The main results were six concepts that describe Näppärät Mummot's crafts culture and recollective craft with its wellness-beneficial effect: 1) autobiographical craft, 2) shared work for one's identity, 3) shared intention for craft, 4) craft as a partner, 5) individual manner of craft, and 6) shared improvement. Craft promoted wellness in many ways. It was used to promote inner life management in difficult times and it also provided sensations of empowerment through pleasure from craft. Expressional, shared craft also served as means of reinforcing one's identity in various ways. Expressional work for one's identity through autobiographical themes of craft represented rearranging one's life through holistic craft. A personal way of doing things also served as expressional action and work for one's identity even with divided craft. Shared work for identities meant reinforcing the identities of the members through discources of craft and interaction with their close ones. What proves the interconnection between communality and craft as well as their shared meaning is that communality motivated the members to work on their craft projects, while craft served as the means of communication between the members: communication through craft was easier than lingual communication. The results can not be generalized to apply to other groups: they are used to describe the versatile means of recollective craft to promote the well-being among the crafts society Näppärät Mummot. However, the results do introduce a new perspective to the social discussion on how cultural activities promote well-being.