To answer the question posed by the title of this thesis, which is "In what ways is China's rising influence in the Lebanese economy and society altering the identity formation of the militant...Show moreTo answer the question posed by the title of this thesis, which is "In what ways is China's rising influence in the Lebanese economy and society altering the identity formation of the militant group Hezbollah?," this thesis employs a social-constructivist method. Accordingly, it concentrates on the overlap and interaction between domestic society and foreign policy, which is defined in the overall aims of this seminar. In recent years, China has established commercial links with a number of the nations in the region, and the One Belt, One Road program is intended to foster further collaboration in the future(Gresh, 2016). OBOR is focused on securing a stable energy supply for China's rapid economic development and comprises a wide range of investment projects that might be advantageous to the region (Horesh, 2016). China participates in the politics of neighboring countries on a very seldom basis and has no intention of unseating the United States. Despite the fact that the emergence of an increasing Chinese influence is easily recognised, the implications of this influence on identity and culture are rarely mentioned in constructivist literature on the Middle East and Lebanon. That is because the body of constructivist analytic literature is still relatively limited when compared to the neoliberal approach, which is the predominant school of thought in the field of international relations. It was discovered that this is the case in each and every one of the domains that were examined, including constructivism and IR theory, constructivism in the Middle East, and China and the Middle East. Constructivist research in the subject of International Relations theories has garnered the attention of an ever-expanding corpus of published work since the 1990s. This thesis will build on the work accomplished by Raymond Hinnebusch, David Campbell, and Alexander Wendt adopting constructivism as perspective, and therefore will primarily involve Joseph Alagha and Pol Bassedas in the research on the identity formation of Hezbollah. There is still a great deal of ambiguity regarding the connection between international politics and the role that the influence of China plays in the process of identity creation inside Hezbollah. With the use of Hezbollah as a case study, the purpose of this study will be to make a contribution to the existing body of knowledge in an effort to address a knowledge gap relating to expanding Chinese participation and identity creation in the Middle East.Show less
Due to the neglect of linguistics proper to address the social component in linguistics, and sociolinguistics extensive focus on language variation and change during the 1970s, Critical Discourse...Show moreDue to the neglect of linguistics proper to address the social component in linguistics, and sociolinguistics extensive focus on language variation and change during the 1970s, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) emerged as an approach focusing on the relations between discourse and society, and how these are reproduced through text and music. As language is a powerful tool for identity construction, and its nature of being redefined within specific contexts, allows for CDA to observe how identities are constructed within discourses. Hence, by using Critical Discourse Analysis as an approach to analyzing music excerpts, this research will argue that the album Sobrevivendo no Inferno, by the Brazilian rap group Racionais MCs, uses specific structural and stylistic religious features as a semantic tool for Afro-Brazilian identity reconstruction. After presenting the Brazilian context of inequality and marginalization of peripheries, this research will apply the three stage model of analysis presented by Fairclough (1984): description, interpretation, and explanation of text. Although the primary focus of CDA has been on analyses of texts containing discourses produced by controlling groups, this research will apply the CDA approach to analyze discourse of resistance against dominating groups.Show less
At the moment of its unification, in 1861, Italy was one of the most linguistically, culturally, and economically fragmented country in the European stage. As a consequence, more than any other...Show moreAt the moment of its unification, in 1861, Italy was one of the most linguistically, culturally, and economically fragmented country in the European stage. As a consequence, more than any other Nation it necessitated to be subjected to a process of national identity building driven by the ruling cultural élite. This BA thesis, through the lenses of constructivist theories on identity introduced by Anderson, Hobsbawm, et alia, surveys the top down approach with which (Italian) national identity has been constructed, promoted and enforced. In the majority of identity-building discourses, a cultural-linguistic element is usually taken as a term of reference and linchpin for such a construction. In this research, Italian Renaissance figurative arts are the cultural artefact will be analysed: it will indeed be surveyed how the intelligentsia of the time employed Renaissance arts in three retrospective exhibitions to promote a sense of national identity and belonging: the “Exhibition on the Italian Portrait” (Florence, 1911), the “ Exhibition on Italian Art 1200-1900” (London, 1930), and the expo “L’Art Italien de Cimabue à Tiepolo” (Paris, 1935). Finally, a discussion on the usage of Renaissance images on Italian cash money will follow. This study will show that Italy is a very diverse and fragmented country, whose unity and identity have been in truth strategically and artificially constructed and enforced. Nonetheless, it will also emerge that Renaissance figurative arts sincerely and surely are a ‘second language’ for Italians.Show less
