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Talk Abstracts
Christopher Auld, The University of Manchester, Arts, Histories and Cultures
The Uncanny in the films of Val Lewton
Freud identifies the uncanny as being engendered through the return of repressed fears and surmounted beliefs. Subjectivity and the 'real' become problematised as the familiar harbours the unfamiliar, and this commingling of apparent opposites questions the 'known'. Hesitancies and doubt associated with the uncanny indicate enigma and uncertainty. This paper focuses on the low budget horror films produced for R.K.O by Val Lewton. Aesthetic conventions will be considered in relation to the uncanny and how, through their oblique treatment of horror using darkness, shadows and absences, the potential subversion of the 'real' through the films is foregrounded. Analysis of film aesthetics and the uncanny will be situated within production contexts. The extent to which Cat People (Tourneur, 1942) and I Walked With A Zombie (Tourneur, 1943) can be considered part of a unique film cycle will be assessed, against generic conventions, studio politics and creative working practices.
Naomi Breen, The University of Manchester, Arts, Histories and Cultures
Working-class educational failure - an imposed culture?
After the 1944 education act, the creation of a stratified secondary education system was instituted nationally. This characterised and subjectivised the adolescent into a success/failure category at the age of 11. The formation of the secondary modern school as a cite of failure soon became and accepted educational motif. In looking at the construction of this failure narrative, I wish to assert that the creation of the secondary modern school, the legislation and educational assumptions of new experts between 1944 and 1974, branded working class boys in particular as failures and has left a legacy which, though entirely socially constructed, continues in educational circles to the present.
Jane Brunning, UCLan, Humanities
George Eliot's "Middlemarch" and the Question of Salvation
In George Eliot's ""Middlemarch"", Dorothea Brook desires 'some illimitable satisfaction, some object which would never justify weariness, which would reconcile self-despair with the rapturous consciousness of life beyond self' (""MM"" 7). This paper will examine the implications of this delineation of salvation in relation to Dorothea's journey through the novel, particularly how her relationships illustrate the elements necessary to attain salvation. The paper will also examine how Dorothea ends the novel, and ask whether she attains the salvation she desires, and, crucially, whether the final part of her story can be seen in optimistic or pessimistic terms. The role of optimistic and pessimistic philosophy, as delineated by Ludwig Feuerbach and Arthur Schopenhauer respectively, will also be examined in relation to these issues.
Sue Capel, Northumbria University, School of Computing, Engineering and Information Sciences
Rigidity versus Flexibility in a PhD Research Project
This paper will focus on my experience of being a mature PhD student undertaking qualitative research using a variety of methods with older people in a small rural market town in Cumbria. I will talk about the problems of a rigid NHS ethical approach to research of this kind in this context, the flexibility and reflectiveness required for data collection in the field, and how I have endeavoured to respond to these issues. My paper will address what I see as the advantages of using the qualitative approach, particularly participant observation, in existing groups in the field, and how this has impacted on enabling access to participants for interviews and participant diaries.
Andrea Cerevkova, UCLan, Lancashire Law School
Article 1, Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights and its Implications for Property Rights in Slovakia
The purpose of this paper is to provide a synopsis of my thesis, which aims to critically analyse the property rights provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and assess the effect and implications of Article 1, Protocol 1 (A1, P1) for constitutional and law reforms to the property regimes in Slovakia. The paper focuses on predominantly two areas. Firstly, I analyse the meaning and scope of A1, P1, including an examination of Sporrong case, which identified the three rules in the interpretation of the Article. The second part provides a summary of historical development of property rights in Slovakia. This includes a comparison of the pre-1989 property rights with the post-Communist developments, including a discussion of the implication of the Constitutional incorporation of the ECHR into the country's legal order. Finally, I provide current examples of 'injustices' caused by the adoption of Slovak Government's recent policy reforms.
Claire Chatterton, The University of Salford, Institute for Health and Social Care Research
Recruitment into Mental Health Nursing
Recruitment into nursing and concern over shortages is a prominent issue today. However an examination of the history of mental health nursing reveals that this has been an ongoing issue throughout the profession's history. In this paper the attempts to recruit men and women into mental health nursing will be examined from an historical perspective. Recruitment brochures and archival sources containing discussions about strategies to underpin recruitment into nursing in England will be examined. The methods used will be discussed, as will the way that mental health nursing was portrayed. Intrinsic to recruitment is the way in which the image of nursing is utilised. Ideologies of nursing - as a profession, as a vocation or as a trade - have also shaped the ways in which recruitment has been conducted, both at a national and local level. The underpinning ideological influences on recruitment literature and campaigns will be discussed and critiqued. Ultimately all these initiatives to improve recruitment into mental health nursing have proved only partially successful or unsuccessful. As mental health nursing continues to experience shortages of staff it is perhaps pertinent to examine if any lessons can be learnt from past attempts to improve recruitment.
Martin Clarke, Durham University, Music
The Relationship of Music and Theology in Early Methodism
This paper examines the influence of Moravian theology and music on John Wesley and early Methodism, specifically through the music of Wesley's first collection of hymn tunes and his translations of German hymns. The influence of the Moravians on Wesley in the late 1730s has been widely documented, and may be observed in the organisation and worship of early Methodism. The paper explores the relationship between theology and hymnody, examining the theological influences of Moravianism on Methodism generally and investigating whether Wesley's translation of German hymns and his inclusion of many German hymn tunes, learned from the Moravians, can be interpreted as an extension of this theological and doctrinal influence.
Louise Crowther, The University of Manchester, French / German
The Works of Lessing and Diderot
It is now increasingly recognised that the Enlightenment, at least on the Continent, was largely an attempt to come to terms with the challenge posed by Spinoza's philosophy. While the study of his impact has been brilliantly investigated on a pan-European scale by Jonathan Israel, there is still a place for examining in more detail how his ideas affected individual writers. To this end, the present study looks at the impact of Spinozism on two major authors, one French (Diderot), and one German (Lessing). This investigation is not an attempt to yoke them together in what would probably be an unsustainably artificial way, but rather an exploration of how two contemporary Enlightenment figures dealt with the impact of Spinozist thought and its consequences. For the purpose of this study, we shall begin by returning to Spinoza's texts, and we shall concentrate on his view that man was determined by external causes, as a necessary consequence of his theory of cause and effect. In analysing Lessing and Diderot, it will be my main aim to show to what extent they are exemplars of Spinoza's thinking in portraying freedom and necessity as existing simultaneously, and their attempts to reconcile these two beliefs.
Clive Goodhead, The University of Manchester, School of Arts, Histories and Cultures
York's Citizens' Theatre: a test for Bourdieu
How has its self -proclaimed as a "citizens' theatre" since 1934 influenced the direction of York's Theatre Royal since the end of WW2, if at all? Trying to answer this apparently simple question raises fundamental issues about the availability and reliability of primary and secondary historical sources, about theatre historiographers' methods, including the use of oral history and the control and democratisation of history itself; and about the usefulness or otherwise of some of the notions of a range of "big players" in the fields of cultural and critical theory, such as Bourdieu. My research aims to demonstrate the value of intensive case studies in tackling such matters. Other issues relate to the role of local elites and non-elites, exemplified in their levels of involvement in both the "citizens' theatre" and a range of York's other parallel cultural enterprises. My research also broaches questions about values and aesthetics, in order to explain who supported the theatre, how and why. The answers here lead to the examination of notions about the localisation of values, about the symbolisation of place and self, and about the relationship between ideas of "a theatre" and those of "a city".
Johann Hasler, Newcastle University, Music
Speculative Music: The Occult in Music Theory
In his book Music and the Occult, French Musical Philosophies 1750-1950 (New York: University of Rochester Press, 1995) Joscelyn Godwin defines speculative music as "the part of music theory that has nothing to do with practice, but is concerned with identifying the principles of music. It is the esoteric part of music theory, and as such readily absorbs ideas from theosophy, Hermeticism, and the occult sciences" (op. Cit., p. 4). This other, 'underground' musicological focus has co-existed since ancient times in parallel with more mainstream aspects of music theory (normative or analytical) and musicology (cultural or historical). Far from becoming extinct after the scientific revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries, speculative music has not only survived modernity- albeit within a certain academic and artistic underground often frowned upon and dismissed as eccentric and pseudo-scientific by more mainstream currents- but recurrently raises back its head in times of cultural crises, repeatedly offering hopes of a spiritual and humanistic renewal through the return to more 'natural' forms of music, which stick closer to the physical and acoustical bases of sound, as well as to the theories and worldviews of occult and magical traditions, as an alternative to the more elaborate and 'artificial' (read 'cultural') intellectual constructs of the type developed during 'high modernity'. This article seeks to give a general overview of this lesser known aspect of musicology and musical theory, in its conceptual, historical, and current aspects.
Andy Higgins, Lancaster University, Politics and International Relations
Music, Politics and International Relations
Poetry, literature and increasingly visual art are deployed as tools to leverage some insight into the pretty opaque and rigid world of international affairs. Music however has seemingly slipped through the gaps. Besides the lyrical content of certain songs music appears to offer few direct political messages. As what is often taken for granted or just 'goes without saying' belies the most important political messages of all, perhaps it is this apparent political void within music that offers much political potential. Exploring the full register of human intelligence rather than the privileging of the visual is possible. Unlike visual experiences, music, noise and interventions of a purely sonic nature can be perceived simultaneously from all directions. How these broadcasts are received, internalised and what affect they can have on the individual merit attention. What happens after these broadcasts have stopped? Can they ever cease, and can they continue silently?
Yu-Fang Ho, Lancaster University, Linguistics
A qualitative and quantitative stylistic comparison of the two editions of John Fowles's The Magus
John Fowles published The Magus in 1965. He then revised and republished it in 1977. As he said in the foreword of the second edition, he decided to make a 'stylistic revision' (1977:5), to make its meaning more accessible. Clearly, Fowles thinks that the second edition is better than the first one. Many critics also make the same judgment. However, in their article 'Evaluation and Stylistic Analysis' (forthcoming), Short and Semino, who compare two equivalent small scale extracts with roughly equivalent functions from the two editions and look at textual detail in relation to these functions, say that they prefer the extract in the first edition. This disparity of opinions (albeit on the novel in general and a specific passage in particular) raises some issues: (1) What exactly are the changes/differences between the two editions of The Magus? (2) What does 'stylistic revision' mean? (3) How can the changes Fowles made in the revision be described in stylistic and narratological terms? (4) Does the 'meaning' of The Magus, as some of the critics state, become 'more accessible' in the second edition, and if so, how? (5) Is there any differences of overall interpretation and effect between the two editions? I will combine corpus techniques on the novel and consider how stylistic analysis and corpus techniques can be usefully combined. This combination is an important part of my comparative research on the two editions of The Magus in the PhD thesis I am currently working on.
Nghia Van Hoang, Manchester Metropolitan University, Law
Universality and Relativity of Human Rights: the case of the United Kingdom after July 7th
Recently, realities of human rights in all over the world are contradictory and human rights have been widely violated, universal human rights standards set forth in intentional instruments are being denied or weaken. There have been many controversial debates over the universality of human rights. Especially, since the emergence of the so-called 'Asian values' and the aftermaths of September 11th 2004, in the US, and July 7th 2005, in the UK, the universality of human rights has been challenged by their relativity since the US and United Kingdom restricts individuals' civil liberty. The questions whether human rights are universal or relative, whether human rights are both universal and relative, and whether human rights belong to individual persons or as so and lager groups lead to various practices of human rights. This paper is to answer these questions by looking at the practice of human rights protection in the United Kingdom since the aftermath of July 7th and propose an alternative understanding of the concept of human rights in the context of emerging globalisation, terrorism, fundamentalist religious trends.
Christine Hogg, Manchester Metropolitan University, Health
How lay is lay: Talking with people about mental health and illness
This presentation will focus on the stories and narratives lay people have used when asked to share their opinions about mental health and illness. There is a tacit almost overarching 'given' amongst professionals in the field that lay people either do not understand or do not empathise with mental health issues and hold negative and/or poorly informed views.
However my findings to date have refuted this notion and indeed some of the people I have interviewed are providing mental health support for people - albeit vicariously - as part of their day to day work. This includes a bar worker, a priest and a beauty therapist. This presentation will use verbatim narratives to tell some of their stories and describe some of their experiences, thus refuting the notion of ordinary or lay theories in relation to mental health and illness
Adnan Iqbal, The University of Manchester, Institute for the development of policy management
The Impact of Leadership Styles on organisational climate and employees' commitment: A study on Pakistani Industrial sector
In the past five years, research on leadership and management has evolved as a key area of interest among HRD scholars. Within this area, two strands of scholarships can be discerned, the development of leaders and managers and their behaviours, attitudes and attributes. The former has received much interest from UK scholars, with notable recent UK publications on Management education in the post communist European states, on strategy and practice of management development, and on management development through cultural diversity. The behavioral studies and its aspects of management and leadership are regularly found in HRD research Journal, issues of managers acting as facilitators of organisational learning leadership styles, behavioural aspects and managers' ability to create organisational visions. The demonstration of an empirical link between leader style and the organisational climate remains an elusive target.
Mirjam Jooss, The University of Liverpool, School of Music
The conflict between reality and fiction in E.T.A Hoffman's church music
The conflict between fiction and reality is one of the key themes in the literary writings of the Romantic writer, composer, artist and lawyer E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776-1822) - exploited in such famous stories as 'Der Sandmann', 'Der goldene Topf', 'Die Elixiere des Teufels' and 'Lebens-Ansichten des Katers Murr'. However, as shall be explored in this paper, this dualism was also part of Hoffmann's artistic life - especially in view of his career as composer.
By using one of Hoffmann's own compositions for church, the 'Ave maris stella' (the first of six 'Canzoni per 4 Voci alla Capella' which predate Hoffmann's career as a writer) and comparing it to an excerpt mentioning a composition of the same title, which is briefly discussed in 'Lebens-Ansichten des Kater Murr', the paper tries to explore the dualism experienced between Hoffmann's real and imagined compositions. This then also leads into a brief discussion of the reception of the real and fictitious composition as well as the relationship between the real composer Hoffmann and his invented alter-ego Kreisler.
Brian Kett, University of Bolton, Education
Where should the learner sit?
The core purpose of further education colleges is the successful promotion of learning through a range of education and training programmes. Post-16 education differs from mainstream education in two distinct ways. The first being, as Hyland (2005) points out the majority of courses are vocational and secondly, because it is not compulsory, but a 'choice', and the choice also includes following a chosen pathway. However, the choice for many disabled learners, particularly those labelled as having a 'learning difficulty' is complicated since who makes the final decision on the course or college may rest not with the individual but with a multi-agency approach (O'Brien, 1987, Gates,2004). One problem for people with learning difficulties is their experience of not being involved in the decision making process as acknowledged by the White Paper Valuing People(DoH, 2001) which itself is based upon the principles of rights, independence, choice and inclusion. Who makes the decisions on behalf of a person with learning disability can contribute to the disabling experience, by increasing feelings of exclusion and alienation at the personal level, while the decision making process highlights the social construction of disability at a symbolic level. The research investigates can the SENDA (2001) make a difference to people traditionally excluded. For example do disabled students with learning difficulties perceive the SENDA is enabling them to break down the social and attitudinal barriers constructed. Or does the SENDA only confirm the status quo and re-confirm the unequal power relationships which exist?
Sarah Lipscombe, UCLan, Education and Social Sciences
Contesting human rights and privacy: using the National DNA database to support victims of sexed violence
The introduction of The National Police DNA database has created much controversy over the issue of privacy and consent, human rights and ethics, criminal prevention and crime control. Taking these themes as guides, I will develop a critical discussion on the issue of sexed violence to exemplify how the law may have failed to provide sanction for victims of this crime due to hegemonic masculinity and further suggest that the implementation and operation of the database could provide the necessary tool for an improved evolution. I will problematise the modern understanding of privacy as masculinist using examples from Human Rights organisations, before asking whether the National DNA database is only a small infringement on the rights of citizens for the insurance of improved protection, crime reduction and justice within today's society.
Tara Martin, The University of Manchester, Sociology
Picturing Chaos: Media Image and the History of the Winter of Discontent
During the winter of 1978-1979, trade unionists overwhelmed Britain with strikes, while the media overwhelmed the British public with images of this crisis. In a series of strikes greater in magnitude than the General Strike of 1926, 4,583,000 workers, from dustmen to lorry drivers to hospital porters, defied the Labour government's attempt at control wage increases. Meanwhile, television reports were awash in images of toppling piles of rubbish, lines of people to buy bread, and signs reading "Sorry No Petrol." Newspaper headlines screamed "Shutdown Britain," "Britain Under Siege," " Food Stocks Will Run Out." These series of events and the consequent media coverage fuse together to form what is infamously known as the "Winter of Discontent." In my presentation, I intend to show how the Winter of Discontent has come to represent more than a point of political change; it represents an unprecedented moment in British history, in which mass media proved crucial in the outcome of the events. Based upon research conducted so far, I will reveal how media images of the strikes shaped not only public opinion at the time, but how it continues to shape the historical memory of the Winter of Discontent itself.
Mathilde Matthijsse, Durham University, Anthropology
Powerful women, dependent women? An enquiry into the social strategies of Inuit career women
The 'modern', southern Canadian way of life has increasingly influenced Nunavut during the last decades. This has seriously disrupted the receiving culture. The loss of traditional ways of life and conduct has led to alcohol and drug abuse, violence and criminality.
The migration of culture has also led to an increased female participation in the labour market. This has in fact been ""one of the most significant trends in Nunavut's labour force in recent years [.]. Between 1994 and 1999, employment of Inuit females increased to a greater degree than did employment of Inuit males (Nunavut Community Labour Force Survey, 1999).
While my research mainly focuses on the effects of women's entry into the labour market on intra-household relations, its wider concern is to establish to what extent traditional forms of social relationships survive or are reproduced in the ever-changing world of Inuit women in Nunavut.
I will focus on how households and their members adapt to the new situation at hand, possible changes in the division of labour within the household and encouragement or discouragement from members of family, kin and society. The perspectives offered by Inuit career women on their way of life, their problems and their solutions give insight in the consequences of these changes in life-style in the Canadian North.
Joel Nwalozie, The University of Manchester, Law
Armed Robbery Culture and the Youth Sub-culture
Armed robbery is a violent crime, and indeed, one of the high profile crimes that evokes serious public concern in many parts of the world. This follows from the view that robbers use arms to threaten, injure or kill their victims and forcibly take away their belongings. Presumably the perpetrators are youths who are members of the social environment whose actions are both socially and culturally constructed.
This paper therefore, aims to examine armed robbery as a culture that is arguably perpetrated by the youth subculture. The study will be a cross-national and cross-cultural comparison of Nigeria and Britain.
Okoye Okwudili, Ambrose Alli University, Philosophy
Ethnicity in Nigeria: A conceptual analysis of present ethnic conflicts in an inevitably ethnically diverse nation
A nation with diverse ethnic groups and thus cultural diversity would indubitably face difficulties in formulating, articulating and implementing strategies that would be acceptable to its vast constituency. This paper is intended as a contribution to the management of interethnic/intercultural conflicts in Nigeria in relation to making educational policies, with a focus on new ways of handling the basic socio-cultural institutions shaping ethnic consciousness. Furthermore, this paper highlights the basic social cultural institutions in the country, addresses their contribution to the present educational ethnic conflicts and suggests ways of harnessing their potential to stimulate tolerance in an inevitably ethnically diverse nation.
Sharadai Rambarran, The University of Salford, Music
99 Problems but Danger Mouse Ain't One - An insight into the conflicting issues surrounding 'The Grey Album'
Record producer Brian Burton (aka Danger Mouse), ingeniously genre-blended The Beatles' White Album (1968) and Jay-Z's Black Album (2003) together and made The Grey Album (2004). Intended for personal use only, it appeared on the Internet and was extensively downloaded by the public. The music business did not appreciate the creativity of this art project however, and presented Burton with a cease and desist order. This paper will argue that the Grey Album should not be seen as an easy attempt to make music by mixing well-known works and claim, instead, that it should be considered as art. This will be supported by the use of thinkers such as Derrida and Foucault. In addition to discussing technological production and innovation, analytical reference will be made to one of the tracks from the Grey Album, and issues of authorship and authenticity will be raised.
Alvaro Ruiz-Navajas, The University of Manchester, School of Social Sciences
Defining Political Instability
In the economic literature, the term "political instability" has been loosely used to mean anything from single indicators, such as revolutions or coups d'etat, to indices encompassing several, often overlapping political measures, without any other justification than the researcher's instincts as to what political instability may mean. Thus, despite of the prominence that political indicators gained in the study of growth determinants in the last decade, ""political instability"" is still an abstract notion in economics. In this paper, I analyse the most widely used political indicators used in the literature and propose some parameters to distinguish between plain political phenomena and indicators that can effectively proxy for political instability. Finally, I test all variables that satisfy these parameters, both individually and aggregated in indices, in a simple growth regression.
Nicos Souleles, Lancaster University, Educational Research
Conceptions and practices of teaching staff in undergraduate studio based disciplines
This research investigates teaching staff conceptions and practices of e-learning in undergraduate studio-based degrees. The focus is on disciplines that reflect the teaching and learning culture characteristic of the art and design studio-based sector and are under-represented in e-learning research, such as Fine Arts, Graphic Design, Textiles, Photography, Ceramics and Fashion Design. The paper compares the relationship between expectations on the one hand, and application and practice on the other. How do these compare and contrast with the associated rhetoric and literature of e-learning and 'innovative' practices? The research comprises a survey of specialist Art and Design Higher Education Institutes on the United Kingdom. The phenomenographic analysis of semi-structured, open-ended interviews reveals a limited umber of qualitatively different perceptions. The outcomes identify trends, themes, examples of best practice, and suggest a misalignment between the rhetoric of innovation and the practice of e-learning in studio-based disciplines.
Kelly Staples, The University of Manchester, Government and International Politics
The stateless: roots of exclusion
Despite a low-end estimate that there are 11 million stateless persons in 2005 (the majority of which reside in nation-states) (Lynch 2005,1), International Relations and normative political theory have eschewed thorough treatment of statelessness, leaving these people unaccounted for in theory as well as in practice. I will argue in this paper that this is an inevitable result of the nature of the associated discourse. In support of my claims, I will look in some detail at the precise steps by which international law and conventions continue to treat stateless persons as exceptions maintaining their status outside of the citizen/alien dichotomy. The stateless person is intrinsically excluded, and bears no relation to the ostensibly universal right-holder depicted in international law and rights declarations. I will contend that statelessness has by its treatment at the hands of international law been constructed as an irresolvable problematic and thus perpetual possibility. By way of response, I suggest in conclusion that statelessness is a political problem that calls for innovative treatment in theory and in practice, and outline some preliminary steps toward a form of ethical thinking less dependent on a nexus between community and universality.
Joseph Sterrett, Lancaster University, English and Creative Writing
'If We Shadows Have Offended': Sacramental Prayer in A Midsummer Night's Dream
This paper begins at the end of A Midsummer Night's Dream with a simple question: what has occurred to warrant need of an apology? It is an easily overlooked but oddly surprising moment at the very end of the play, more than mere self-deprecation. I argue that this is a deliberate positioning of the play within a pre-existing discourse on witchcraft and fairy lore, a discourse which is in reality another face of the ontological warfare of Reformation England. The language of magic, already ring-fenced as an area of the inauthentic, had been expanded to include the practices and beliefs of Catholic piety, a specific strategy for reinforcing the authority of certain ideas and erasing the efficacy of others. Shakespeare's source material, Reginald Scot's Discovery of Witchcraft (1586), was an important text in such a strategy located within a broader discourse of Protestant polemic including Calvin, Beacon (1563), Cotta (1616) and Webster (1677). Shakespeare takes up these same words, images and gestures not as evacuated ritual as Greenblatt has asserted (1988) but going in an entirely different direction (Wilson 2004), breathing life into them, only just, and only for a moment, before awaking the audience as if from a dream.
Marilena Tzoanou, UCLan, Information and Finance
Business Ethics: Greek Managers' Perceptions
The subject of the proposed study is business ethics within a European context. The aim of the research is to investigate Greek managers' ethical perceptions and practices in relation to established personal and corporate values. The empirical literature suggests that Europe has emerged as a distinct region with a differentiated set of ethical issues to deal with at work. (Crane and Matten, 2004: 27). Although research into European professional ethics is growing, in Greece it remains very limited.(Peppas and Peppas, 2000:369) The study will explore issues of individual ethics and their application to corporate life, in accordance with the Aristotelian theory of virtue ethics. The work of Aristotle in the Nicomachean Ethics will be utilised as it explains and links individual ethical responsibility with social responsibility of collective institutions (the state, business). The influences of culture and religion in the shaping of ethics will be further explored and related to prevalent ethical norms within Greek society. The interrelationship of philosophy, culture and religion has had an important role in influencing Greek political and economic life, as it strengthens the society's structure, while creating a sense of identity and purpose through shared values and norms (Crane and Matten, 2004, Tsoukas, 2004, Lindridge, 2005).
Laura Watt, The University of Manchester, Cathie Marsh Centre for Census Survey Research
An investigation of the attitudes towards relationships within the 18-30 age group
Working in conjunction with the charity Relate I am carrying out research into young people's attitudes towards relationships. Various theoretical models concerning what young people want from their relationships, and therefore how they assess them, are being investigated. Such models include Anthony Gidden's model of the 'pure relationship', an investment model based upon exchange theory, a romantic model, and accounts offered from the schools of individualism and feminism. Through the critical discussion of these models the issue of how attitudes towards relationships may differ between groups is also raised with gender being a central theme here. The way in which these models may specifically relate to emerging patterns of young people's attitudes towards relationships within the UK is also discussed, based upon some analysis of the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (1990 and 2000).
Mary Welch, The University of Manchester, Business School
Strategic internal communication
Internal communication has been termed a core process by business writers. If it is such a core process, it is critical to organisational success and requires further reflection. However, internal communication is generally considered 'a single entity' in contrast to 'multi-dimensional' external communication. Consideration of the core process of internal communication as a homogenous entity needs to be challenged. Writers have noted a lack of definition and discussion of the term internal communication. This paper will consider previous work on internal communication within the context of an integrated corporate communication management system and discuss the concept from a multi-dimensional rather than single entity perspective. To do this, the paper will review previous work on the nature and theory of internal communication from the perspective of different disciplines. A number of dimensions of internal communication will be distinguished in the process. Identifying these dimensions challenges previous treatment of internal communication as a homogenous entity. Instead, internal communication is represented as a series of inter-related heterogeneous elements.
Joanne Westwood, UCLan, Social Work
Children on the move: defining and responding to trafficking in children
Trafficking is a highly politicised aspect of child migration, usually located within the research into trafficking in women and commercial sex industry. The implicit association between trafficking and commercial sex has limited the exploration of child migration within a discourse which is gender biased, and focused on illegality/morality. The international migration of children is not a new phenomenon; the historical record shows that child migration accompanied capital and imperial expansion from the sixteenth century onwards with outward migration from the UK reaching a peak during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century with regulation specifically focused on the "white slave trade". This paper will explore how definitions of and policy responses to child trafficking have emerged within a protective, regulatory framework. I will argue that current explanations are inadequate, denying both agency and legitimacy to children. As we move into the twenty first century increased travel and communication facilitated through technology impact on children and their livelihood strategies, hopes and aspirations. Children throughout the world are clearly on the move, and our understanding and response to this should be influenced by rigorous review research and academic debate, alongside a dialogue with children rather than about them.
Deborah Woodman, UCLan, Humanities
Drink, the Public House, and Peterloo - The Massacre Revisited
16 August 1819 was an important day in Manchester's history. It was then that radical political tensions in the city surfaced at a large open air meeting at St Peter's Field, and which resulted in death and injury to a large number when the crowd conflicted with the authorities. The Peterloo Massacre has been examined by historians over the years in an attempt to synthesise differing accounts as to what happened, and to theorise the politics surrounding the event. This paper intends to re-open the Peterloo debate from a different perspective by focusing on the role drink, the public house, and publican played in the event. By re-examining trial transcripts, the local press, diaries, and witness accounts, the paper will enhance past historical debates on the Peterloo Massacre, and demonstrate how the manipulation of drinking habits were at the forefront of political debates surrounding the event.
PRASH POSTERS ABSTRACTS
Maryam Alami, MMU, School of Law
The Unseen Discourse: Democratising Expertise
In a recent speech to the Royal Society, the Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said that government investment in Science and Innovation would increase to five billion pounds by 2008. He was keen to stress that: "The UK now has the highest share of foreign direct investment in business research and development among the G7. Britain's universities are enthusiastic and successful research partners for business...the value of spin-off companies floated on the stock market last year alone was greater than the government's entire investment in knowledge transfer - a sign of the economic pay-off which our investment in science helps to deliver." No mention was made of the importance of examining the public's attitudes towards science in the future. However, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has a keen interest in stressing Britain's leading role in global science. On the one hand there is stress on creating an elaborate science and innovation network. However, on the other, there is a lack of consistency in directing this focus between government departments. This poster explores the hidden discourse that diplomacy hides. Why is it important to democratise expertise?
Louis Bailey, The University of Manchester, Sociology / Art History
'Boyish Aesthetics, Or, The Boys Who Won't Grow Up'
JM Barrie's Peter Pan has come to represent the dominant symbol of an idealised, romanticised and nostalgic boyhood in the Western cultural imagination. And yet, betwixt and between boyhood and the realm of the fairies, Peter resides on the interface between boys and girls. It is particularly significant then that, when translated to the stage, the part of Peter has traditionally been played by women. Yet, what happens when the performance of boy is removed from the sanctity of the stage and is enacted by 'women' in the every day? What happens when boy is embraced within the female realm not in the context of the staged performance of theatrical transvestitism but as performed and embodied as a sexuality and gendered identity in its own right? I explore the possibility of a boyish aesthetics in the work of contemporary transgendered artists and activists as well as a network of potentially gender transgressive artists working during the interwar period. Emphasis will be placed on the intersection of identity politics (transgendered identity) and visual culture and, in particular, how an investment in a gendered spectrum relies on, is conveyed by, and extends beyond the visual.
Patrick Jemmer, Northumbria University, Computing, Engineering and Information Sciences
Linguistic Subcreation: A Developmental Approach
Various authors such as Adams, Delaney and Tolkien, have created worlds, populated them, and "subcreated" languages for their denizens. We might well ask how can we "get inside the mind" of these authors and investigate and describe their process of linguistic "discovery", particularly when the authors claim that the generative processes work "unconsciously." In order to expose the underlying processes to conscious awareness, I have adopted a "developmental" approach, which has now evolved into aleolinguistics (1). We note first, that language messages are ambiguous; they are part of a creative, changeable code. Secondly, language messages are self-focusing. Thus any changes in content relate functionally to changes in basic modes of expression. We might say that "The underlying purpose of this investigation is to show how changes in the conceptual model of the world, and changes in modes of expression, express mutual influence. In this way, tautologies, may lead to contradictions in one context, which are extrapolated along different connotative chains" (1). Any modal language transformations thus arise internally, due to the special nature of the subcreational system. The aim of aleolinguistics is to show how usable combinations of basic concepts arise, and are employed, as the subcreated language grows organically, and these ideas are explored creatively here. (1) Jemmer, P. (2005) Aleolinguistics: A Salient Cuisine for Subcreative Cartography? The Hypnotherapy Journal. Winter 2005, Issue 3, Volume 5, pp7-13.
Robin Lindop, University of Salford, Adelphi Research Institute
UK Psychedelic Dance Music and Culture
The UK psychedelic dance (or psy-trance) scene is arguably a unique sub-genre of electronic dance music. It is notable for its unusual origins, which lie not in the warehouse parties of Chicago, but the beaches of Goa, India and the 1980s UK free festival scene. Many aspects of the scene - the backgrounds of the artists/producers; its hippy-ish mystical/spiritual rhetoric; the approach to the clubbing experience - can be traced back to these locations and, essentially, to the '60s counterculture that these locations themselves are linked. It could be suggested that this 'rejection' of dance music conventions are the reason why the scene is largely ignored by even the specialist dance media. But to what extent are the scene's origins significant for its clubbers/followers of today? Is the spiritual aspect simply a metaphor for hedonism? All in all, is the scene really that different from other forms of dance music?
Dean Rowell, Durham University, History
The contribution of Anthony Asquith to the Representation of Propaganda in the British War Film
This thesis will address open questions such as: just exactly what images of propaganda in a selection of films directed by Anthony Asquith were actually represented?
This will involve reconstructing popular opinion and commercial reaction to films such as "The Way to the Stars" and "We Dive at Dawn" using primary sources such as Monthly Film Bulletin and Sight and Sound.
My methodology will be to present an argument that Asquith created a set of images that centralised themes of propaganda. I shall then test that argument referring to primary sources and placing my research in the context of modern historical perspectives.
Overall conclusions will be drawn to determine Asquith's propoganda aims and ideology for his films- placing that in the context of wartime cinema.
Gill Thomson, UCLan, Health
A hermeneutic phenomenological study into traumatic and positive childbirth experiences on mother's sense of self
Childbirth is signified as an emotional as well as physical experience, which has the potential for permanent or long-term positive or negative consequences. To date there are limited qualitative insights into the process and impact of negative and positive childbirth experiences and the need to consult with women who have endured traumatic and non-traumatic labours, has been highlighted within the literature. A hermeneutic phenomenological study will therefore explore birth stories of approximately 16 women who have experienced a self-defined traumatic as well as positive childbirth experience. The aims of the research are to explore through in-depth interviews, the constituent nature of negative and fulfilling births as well as longer-term sequelea of women's sense of self and post-natal adjustment. The findings interpreted through the methodological framework of van Manen (1990) will provide important insights for intra-partum as well as post-natal care.
Neus Torres-Tubau, The University of Sheffield, Sociological Studies
Older people and their image: a social construction
The life cycle and its divisions, mainly the ones based on age, are currently under revision. Thus, the social construction of the ageing process as well as the social construction of older people's image and identity, become a very suggesting and important field of research, specially for those researchers interested in the implications (political, social.) of such constructions.
But, what do older people think about it? Which are the discourses that they use when they talk about themselves, other older people, and about the process of growing old? How do they cope with the implications of this negative image? Can we identify the current discourses that construct older people's image? Can we recognize different models of ageing and older people?
Paul Walton, Manchester Metropolitan University, English
Panopticism, Globalisation and Consumerism: What do you buy?
From the cars we drive to the clothes we wear, everything we consume and display speaks volumes, not just about 'who we are', but more importantly 'who we want to be'. Addresses by theorists such as Anna Yeatman and Judith Williamson, the act of consumption has become so established as the social arena for identity formation that we are what we buy and what we wear. I shop therefore I am. Utilising the theories of Susan Sontag, Anne Cronin, and Michel Foucault, media representations and personal performativities of the contemporary body are to be analysed and considered alongside a discussion of their implications. Drawing on Cronin's notion of 'the space-off' - that cognitive abyss which 'invisible' bodies are confined to when absent from media representations - contemporary society's 'blancocentrism' will also form a substantial element of this presentation. Ultimately, what degree of agency and identity mobilisation is available for the non-white 'other'?
Stephanie Quinton, UCLan, Education
Retention of full-time single honours 1st year undergraduate Psychology students
The prevalence and factors associated with thoughts about 'dropout' in full-time 1st year undergraduate Psychology students were investigated. Questionnaires yielded both qualitative and quantitative data at two discrete times over the academic year. Over time thoughts about leaving decreased and feelings of integration within the University increased. Although there were methodological weaknesses, findings broadly supported 'retention' literature with both a lack of integration and specific individual reasons being associated with thoughts about 'dropout'. This has implications for intervention programmes, although also suggests 'dropout' may always occur. Strategies for increasing 'retention' in Psychology and wider undergraduate populations are discussed.
Daniel Huerta Conde, The University of Liverpool, Management School
A comparative research of the Electoral Systems that exist
Mexico is a rich country that has been living as poor and as a developing country because of the ineffective governance. Mexico has faced different periods of imposition and authoritarianism since 1520 starting with the Spaniards, then in 1810 after the war of Independence with the conservatives, then after the Mexican Revolution of 1910 a political party "PRI" took over the country from 1920 until the year 2000 when another political party "PAN" won the election. All of this background had a strong influence on the Mexican Electoral system, because it was designed when a single ruling political party was in charge for more than 70 years, many of the electoral bills are designed to maintain a gap between the ruling party and the other parties. The purpose of this comparative research is to find the reforms that the Mexican Electoral System needs to live a true democracy in Mexico.
Ionna Zorba, Manchester Metropolitan University, Information and Communications
Working on the same topic as part-time PhD student and as employed
In a handbook (1) for PhD students as regards the part-time ones, there is the suggestion to choose a research problem that is related to their work - if it is applicable, in order to avoid the constants switching that is can met to people running two different tasks. The extra and special features that can be flowed from this case of practice can operate on research procedure and its products quality in various ways depending on how effectively they are encountered by these students. Some of the raised issues are the restricted time with increased concentration problems and the distance from the academic environment, which impacts on the one hand upon communication with institutional supporting staff and on the other hand upon sense of comprehension by close social environment.
However, the key issue can be located on management of roles (researcher and employed), which this case of PhD students has to handle, taking into account in the same time the factor of motivation for research undertaking. The discussion of the above aspect of the postgraduate practice based on questions originated from author/speaker's experience tends to impel its further treatment.
(1) Phillips, E. M. and Pugh, D. S. (1994). How to get a PhD: a handbook for students and their supervisors. 2nd ed., Buckingham: Open University Press.
Abdul Aziz Majid, The University of Reading, Business School
FDI Motivations in Power Industry: A Case Study of NEL's Investment in Pakistan
Intensified competition in power generation sector and tightened domestic market rules have forced power players to rethink of strategies to enhance growth and profitability beyond their home market boundary. While augmentation of the existing resources remains as their top priority, the foreign market selection is also influenced by the market features. Using an explanatory case study method, data were gathered through conducting 27 in-depth interviews of senior executives from relevant organisations and reviewing supplementary documented evidence. This paper attempts to present some motivations influencing a Malaysian power company, NEL, to engage in FDI in the power generation sector in Pakistan.
Zilia Iskoujina, Durham University, Business School
The role of virtual organisations in enhancing entrepreneurship and innovation
The Internet has got very rapid development. According to Internet World Stats, global online population is increased up to 958 million in 2005 (165% from 2000 to 2005). The Internet based innovations have become the phenomenon and of the main part of today's business where e-business has gained very important role.
Companies need to use them to be able to gain competitive advantage in the medium where all competitors are only one click away. SMEs have additional peculiarity as well as advantages in the new medium where everybody has equal rights. Globally approximately 80% of economic growth comes from the SME sector. Therefore, they need to develop an innovative culture to achieve increased competitiveness.
On the other hand, there are still a lot of barriers SMEs face in today's business which is possible to solve by collaboration with each other in special medium called virtual organisations. Additionally, it is clear that complexity and increasing of innovations in the business environment makes ""normal"" business ineffective.
Globalisation increases necessity of communication and coordination worldwide. Change has become the norm, an unpredictable basic reality. To be able to survive in this environment SMEs need to implement ICT innovations as much as possible and collaborate through virtual organisations to have more success in business environment.
Virtual networks are not defined by concrete walls or physical space. Virtual organisations are environment that have characteristics of globalisation and high rates of organisational and technological change. According to existed researches, virtual organisations will grow into more dynamic ones, sharing of knowledge between all parties involved will become an increasingly important aspect of the collaboration.
Tammam Alkadi, Durham University, Modern Languages and Cultures
Translating Dialects from English into Arabic
The majority, if not all, of films which are translated from English into Arabic, be in dubbing or subtitling, use Standard Arabic. This seems to a little bit odd. English has got many dialects; and these dialects reflect a kind of social and educational background. However, in translating into Arabic, the problems of gender, region and education are lost in translating into Arabic. This might push translators to look for an alternative to compensate what is lost.
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