REPRESENTATIONS ACROSS CULTURES
The following topics have been proposed
for meetings and papers to be published in a volume of the group. All
those interested in these themes are invited to join our group.
STYLES OF MAKING CHOICES AND DECISIONS
2015-2016
1. Thematic discussions starting from an
inspiring series of TED talks on How we make choices (from trivial
to life-or-death choice)
2. The pangs of making
ideological or moral choices. The case of elections
3. Individual/personal vs.
collective decisions
4. The decision-making dilemma:
being a chooser or a picker
5. Multiple choice testing –
strengths and weaknesses
6. Who wants to be a millionaire?
The lure of multiple-choice quiz shows
STYLES THROUGH TIME
2014-2015
1. Carpe diem: styles of practising presentness across
cultures
2. Ways of handling past experiences
a. Psychological
implications of suppressing memories or living in the past
b. Remembering
names, faces and events by creating anchors and using memory pegs
3. Exploring the language of futurity across languages
4. Creating alternatives to reality
a. Counterfactuals
as alternative versions of the past
5. Time travelling between ability and possibility
a.
Implications of time travelling as presented in About
time and Time Traveller’s Wife
STYLES IN PERSONAL LIFE
2013-2014
1. Balancing
styles in student life (“ant
style” vs. “cricket style”) in The perks of being a wallflower
2. Option-making
styles (short-term
vs. lifelong decisions in daily life, education and carer) in Admission
3. Styles
of disclosing feelings
ANIMAL REPRESENTATIONS ACROSS CULTURES
2011-2012
1. Physical representations: biological (animal peculiarities),
biblical (symbolism of lambs, doves, fish, etc.) and mythological
representations (flying horses, satyrs, mermaids etc.)
2. Ecological representations: animal protection, endangered animal
species
3. Verbal figurative representations: idiomatic (animal phrasemes) and
creative representations (animal metaphors, symbols, metonymies etc.)
4. Iconographic representations in educational materials, art,
adverts, political discourse, mass media etc.
5. Cultural representations
a.
Representations in children’s folktales, fairy tales, fables, animal lore
b. Representations in (animated) cartoons and comic books
c.
Stereotypical representations (animal stereotypes) across cultures
d.
Literary representations: animal representations in poems, short stories, novels.
PLANT REPRESENTATIONS ACROSS CULTURES
2012-2013
1. The role of plants in human life – a transdisciplinary approach
2. Ecological representations: plant protection, endangered plant species
3. Physical representations: biological (plant peculiarities), religious (symbolism of plants etc.), medical (healing powers) and mythological representations (legends explaning the appearance, the
usage or the names of plants)
4. Verbal figurative representations: idiomatic (plant phrasemes) and creative
representations (plant
metaphors, symbols etc.)
5. Cross-cultural representations
6. Iconographic representations in educational
materials, art, adverts,
political discourse, mass media etc.
7. Cultural representations
a. Representations in folktales, fairy tales,
fables, plant lore
b. Stereotypical representations (plant
stereotypes) across cultures
c. Heraldic representations (plant symbols for
American states)
d. Literary representations: animal
representations in poems, short stories, novels
REPRESENTING WO/MEN ACROSS
CULTURES
2010-2011
1. Conceptual representations (gender vs. sex; male vs. female
properties, preferences etc.)
2. Linguistic representations (degendering linguistic strategies;
politically correct expressions; sexist language etc.)
3. Social representations (gender sterotypes across
cultures)
4. Representations of cultural icons (wo/man characters)
5. Cultural representations of machos vs. femmes fatales
6. Gendered representations in literary
criticism (feminism/anti-feminism)
7. Metaphorical representations (conceptual metaphors)
Supervisor lect. dr. Mihaela Culea
