Research Korner: Thesis Research Proposal Samples

Thesis proposal in " Omani SME internationalization challenges and opportunities

Small and medium-sized companies are used to operate in their local market. They know their customers’ habits and needs and they try to bring products and services that suit them. But SMEs need to grow and develop their activity in order to remain competitive and to increase their market share. For that purpose, a SME can expand its activity to a regional or a national area, but very often competitors are already well settled and it is not so easy to conquest their market shares. The SMEs take a very huge part of the world economy: 60 to 70 percent of the employment in the world is in SMEs. About 25 percent of manufacturing SMEs in the OECD countries are now internationally competitive, and SME contribute between 25 percent and 35 percent of world manufactured exports. Most of the SMEs are in the service sector, but their activities differ depending on whether they are located in a developed country or in a developing state. In developed economies, SMEs specialize in niche markets or become supply partners for large companies, whereas in developing economies, SMEs tend to compete with large companies in the same market, but many of them fail.             The economic world changes very quickly in the last decades. The creation of common or open markets, the increasing foreign investment, the increasing mobility of capital, technology and management have created great opportunities for SMEs to internationalize and, by the way, to extend their activity and their value chain across borders. But a SME has many challenges to face in order to become a global SME. Before going international, the SME has to prepare itself by making the right decision, analyzing its internal situation and the new market that the company wants to reach. These are the first challenges before thinking about the way the company will become global. After the manager decided to internationalize his business, he has to choose a first foreign market. The analysis of the foreign markets must take account of 4 essential factors: the sales forecast, the production for the market and its generated costs, the receptivity of the market, and its stability. From the elements highlighted in the analysis, the enterprise will work out a strategic plan to establish its products in the foreign markets. The SME will also choose the foreign market according to the importance of its communication networks, and the perceived risks of international trade in the foreign country. After having taken the decision of investing foreign markets, the enterprise has to make an audit of this new country and this new market and then, an internal audit to examine what the SME will have to do to get ready for internationalization.   Research Methodology             The researcher will employ both quantitative and qualitative approaches to data gathering. The researcher will make use of a survey and a focus group. A survey gathers data at a particular point in time with the intention of describing the nature of existing conditions can be compared, or determining the relationship that exist between specific events. Survey research according to Hutchinson (2004) can be defined most simply as a means of gathering information, usually through self-report using questionnaires or interviews (p. 285). The attraction of a survey lie in its appeal to generazability or universality within given parameters, its ability to make statements which are supported by large data banks and its ability to establish the degree of confidence which can be placed in a set of findings (Cohen et al., 2000, p. 171). The popularity of survey research is due in large to its utility on countless research situations. Surveys are used for such diverse purposes as needs assessment, program evaluation, attitude measurement, political opinion polling, and policy analysis, as well as for simple descriptions of behaviors, activities, and population characteristics. The scope of surveys can range from large-scale national surveys to smaller surveys confined to a single neighborhood, classroom, or organization. Another strength is its applicability on situations where direct manipulations of variables is either unfeasible to unethical (Hutchinson, 2004, p. 286). Surveys are best suited for descriptive research. Companies undertake surveys to learn about people’s knowledge, beliefs, preferences, and satisfaction, and to measure these magnitudes in the general population (Kotler 2000).

Thesis proposal in " Omani SME internationalization challenges and opportunities

Small and medium-sized companies are used to operate in their local market. They know their customers’ habits and needs and t...

MSC (Public Health)Thesis Proposal: The negative health effects of flooding in urban wetlands and the contraction of waterborne diseases.

The negative health effects of flooding in urban wetlands and the contraction of waterborne diseases. Flooding is brought about by a flood which is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land.  Flooding may result from the volume of water within a body of water, such as a river or lake which overflows or breaks levees, with the result that some of the water escapes its usual boundaries.  The word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods can also occur in rivers, when flow exceeds the capacity of the river channel, particularly at bends or meanders.  (Flood.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood, retrieved 13 April, 2011.) Floods have primary , secondary  and tertiary effects.  The primary effects are physical damages.  Secondary effects include contamination of the water supply, water-borne diseases, shortages in the food crops, trees dying from suffocation.  The tertiary effects is related to the economics- usually a negative impact as there is a decline in tourism, shortages and rebuilding costs. The characteristics on health impacts caused by floods according to a study by Mike Ahern et al. from the Public and Environmental Health Research Unit of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine is summarized below: “Mortality:  Flood-related mortality has been studied in both high- (7–17) and low-income (18–21) countries. The most readily identified flood deaths are those that occur acutely from drowning or trauma, such as being hit by objects in fast-flowing waters. The number of such deaths is determined by the characteristics of the flood, including its speed of onset (flash floods are more hazardous than slow-onset ones), depth, and extent (3). Many drownings occur when vehicles are swept away by floodwaters (12, 14, 15, 17). Evidence relating to flash floods in high-income countries suggests that most deaths are due to drowning and, particularly in the United States, are vehicle related (9, 22). Information on risk factors for flood-related death remains limited, but men appear more at risk than women (22). Those drowning in their own homes are largely the elderly. Inconclusive evidence for diarrheal deaths has been reported from several studies of floods in low-income countries. Surveillance data showed an apparent increase of mortality from diarrhea following the 1988 floods in Khartoum, Sudan, but a similar rise was also apparent in the same period (May–July) of the preceding year (20). Routine surveillance data and hospital admissions records similarly showed diarrhea to be the most frequent (27 percent) cause of death following the severe 1988 Bangladesh floods, but again the effect of the flood was not separately quantified from seasonal influences (19). Kunii et al. (21) conducted a cross-sectional survey after the 1998 floods in Bangladesh, and of 3,109 people within flood-affected households, seven (0.23 percent) died during (but not necessarily a consequence of) the flood, two from diarrhea, two from suspected heart attacks, and three from undetermined/unrecorded causes. Injuries:   Flood-related injuries may occur as individuals attempt to remove themselves, their family, or valued possessions from danger. There is also potential for injuries when people return to their homes and businesses and begin the clean-up operation (e.g., from unstable buildings and electrical power cables).  Surprisingly little information is available on the frequency of nonfatal flood injuries, as they are mostly not routinely reported or identified as flood related. Although the international EM-DAT database (http://www.em-dat.net/) records such injuries, these data are much less robust than are reports of deaths (D. Guha-Sapir, Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, Université Catholique de Louvain, personal communication, 2004). Fecal-oral disease:  In flood conditions, there is potential for increased fecal-oral transmission of disease, especially in areas where the population does not have access to clean water and sanitation. Published studies (case-control studies, cross-sectional surveys, outbreak investigations, analyses of routine data) have reported post flood increases in cholera (25, 26), cryptosporidiosis (27), nonspecific diarrhea (18–21, 28–31), poliomyelitis (32), rotavirus (33), and typhoid and paratyphoid (34) (table 1). Some of the reported relative risks associated with flooding are substantial. In Indonesia, for example, Vollaard et al. (34) found flooding of the home to increase paratyphoid fever, with an odds ratio of 4.52 (95 percent confidence interval (CI): 1.90, 10.73), and Katsumata et al. (27) found it to increase the risk of cryptosporidiosis, with an odds ratio of 3.08 (95 percent CI: 1.9, 4.9). Vector-borne disease:  The relation between flooding and vector-borne disease is complex. Many important infections are transmitted by mosquitoes, which breed in, or close to, stagnant or slow-moving water (puddles, ponds). Floodwaters can wash away breeding sites and, hence, lower mosquito-borne transmission (41). On the other hand, the collection of stagnant water due to the blocking of drains, especially in urban settings, can also be associated with increases in transmission, and there have been numerous such reports from Africa (20, 30, 42, 43), Asia (44, 45), and Latin America (46–50). The 1982 El Niño event, for example, caused extensive flooding in several countries in Latin America and apparently sharp increases in malaria (46,47). The Mozambique floods of 2000 also appeared to have increased the number of malaria cases by a factor of 1.5–2 by comparison with 1999 and 2001 (30), although the statistics are difficult to interpret in light of the major population displacement that the flood caused. The reports of flood-related outbreaks in India (44, 45) do not provide particularly strong epidemiologic evidence. There have also been reported increases in lymphatic filariasis (51) and arbovirus disease in Africa (43), Australia (52, 53), Europe (54–56), and the United States (57–59), although few provide epidemiologic data. Having had a flooded basement has been reported to be a risk factor for West Nile virus among apartment dwellers in Romania (54). Rodent-borne disease:  Diseases transmitted by rodents may also increase during heavy rainfall and flooding because of altered patterns of contact. Examples include Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (60) and leptospirosis. There have been reports of flood-associated outbreaks of leptospirosis from a wide range of countries, including Argentina (61), Brazil (62–65), Cuba (66), India (67–70), Korea (71), Mexico (72), Nicaragua (73–75), Portugal (76), and Puerto Rico (77). In Salvador, Brazil, risk factors for leptospirosis included flooding of open sewers and streets during the rainy season (65). After a series of tropical storms in 1995, two health centers in western Nicaragua reported cases of a fever-like illness and some deaths from hemorrhagic manifestations and shock (73). Dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever were initially suspected (74), but after a case-control study, Trevejo et al. (73) concluded that the most likely explanation was increased exposure to floodwaters contaminated by urine from animals infected with Leptospira species. Although several articles (73–75) implicate contact with floodwaters, specific analyses have not been presented. Mental health:  The World Health Organization recognizes that the mental health consequences of floods “have not been fully addressed by those in the field of disaster preparedness or service delivery,” although it is generally accepted that natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes, “take a heavy toll on the mental health of the people involved, most of whom live in developing countries, where [the] capacity to take care of these problems is extremely limited”  Other health outcomes:  In addition to the health outcomes detailed above, our review identified reports of other flood-related health impacts, including Acanthamoeba keratitis (104), epilepsy (105), leukemia, lymphoma, spontaneous abortion (106), melioidosis (107), effects of chemical contamination (108, 109), infection from soil helminths (110), and schistosomiasis (111–113). Most were isolated reports or provided only weak evidence of a possible flood link.  (Global Health Impacts of Floods: Epidimiologic Evidence.  http://epirev.oxfordjournals.org/content/27/1/36.full, retrieved 13 April, 2011.)”

MSC (Public Health)Thesis Proposal: The negative health effects of flooding in urban wetlands and the contraction of waterborne diseases.

The negative health effects of flooding in urban wetlands and the contraction of waterborne diseases. Flooding is brought about by a ...

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF PUBLIC ART IN JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA?

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF PUBLIC ART IN JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA?   Introduction             According to  (2005), artists hold the power to influence social change through their works. To explain this point, the authors pointed out the example of Kathe Kollwitz, an artist commissioned by the family of the assassinated German leader  in 1919 to make an artistic work memorializing the leader and his advocacy for social reform. Kollwitz made a series of woodcuts and lithographs that expressed the plight of Germany during that time such as poverty, starvation, labour strikes, and unemployment. These works of art were publicly made to call for the people to participate in social change. Kollowitz sought to bring about social reforms by utilizing her artworks to inform the people about the plight of Germany, criticize the existing political system, and unite the people towards change.             In this sense, art becomes a tool for propaganda or advocacy. Propaganda connotes engagement in radical political activities but in a technical sense, this word means the proliferation of information about a particular cause. A cause could be anything that is of interest to the public. ( 2005) This means that art could influence various forms of social change depending on the manner that the intended audience or viewers process and react to the message expressed by a particular work of art, the medium of artistic expression, the reputation of the artist, and the context of art presentation to the public. The stronger impact that art has on people, the greater would be the change in perspective or behaviour that concurrently occurs.                    Social change is a broad term with various definitions depending upon its areas of coverage. In terms of the scale of change, social change is a widespread change that occurs with the collective direction of individuals towards change. This means that social change happens as a large-scale phenomenon brought about by the influence of a particular stimulus that draws common perceptions translated into behavior from many people. Stimulus could be anything from the rise or death of an influential person, an economic tragedy, or even persuasive and meaningful works of art. ( 2000) Change on a larger scale finds influence catalyzed by a stimulus when this is accessible to the public, such as public art.             With regard to the parties involved in the change, the government, advocate groups within the private sector, or a partnership of both, could introduce the stimulus to social change. Normally, the government acts as a catalyst for social change by creating and enforcing rules and regulations covering all members of the community. However, the government could also cause change by non-regulatory means through the commissioning of visual stimulants for public viewing intended to provide a pleasing and peaceful environment for its citizens. The private sector usually cause change through advocacies to government agencies by raising their concerns to the public in paper or through protest rallies. However, the private sector could also stimulate change through the public exhibition of various forms of art intended to inform the public of various issues. Public-private partnership in creating social change through public art could happen with the government allowing local and foreign artists to strategically place their work in public places to serve specific purposes.             Public art also constitutes a broad term that involves various perspectives. On one hand, public art may be perceived as the generic term referring to all forms of artistic expression accessible to the public that involves works located in museums or libraries open to the public or works displayed outdoors in buildings or parks. On the other hand, public art could also be viewed in the legal sense as the art works constituting public domain by virtue of government ownership so that public art refer only to works commissioned by the government (2002). For purposes of this research paper, public art could be defined as all artistic expressions strategically located in public places and serving the purposes for which the government has provided permission for public viewing or access.               Public art constitutes a valuable non-restrictive tool for influencing action or behavior by drawing cognitive processes in people resulting to changes in their action or behavior. This means that when people view public art, the experience draws opinions and emotions that in turn motivate their behavior. An opinion or emotion leaning towards the appreciation of the value of a public art could lead to the action of supporting a cause for the preservation of that piece of art. Other opinions or emotions over that piece of art could also draw various behaviors such as cultural tolerance or decreased propensity to commit crimes. Since art is a universal tool, this means that countries can benefit from the nature and extent of social change brought about by public art. However, not all countries freely allow the proliferation of public art. In Saudi Arabia, public art is highly regulated due to the religious tradition of the country with the exception of Jeddah that hosts many art works in various public places.             Jeddah is a city in Saudi Arabia with various forms of public art located in strategic public place across the metropolis. Contrary to the rest of the Saudi Arabia, public censure for publicly viewed art is relaxed in this port city. Due to the unique characteristics of Jeddah as the meeting point between the Islamic tradition and foreign religious and cultural traditions, studying the role of public art to social change becomes an interesting exercise.   Objectives             The research will discuss the unique topology of public art in Jeddah by investigating how this became a tool in beautifying the city space, what are the political, aesthetic and accidental processes that drove its incorporation into the urban architecture, and how public art has influenced the people of Jeddah. The study will approach this exercise by commencing with the general conceptualization and linking of the variables involved in the study and then locating the concepts and variable relationships in the specific context of public art in Jeddah. Nature and extent of change will be studied based on five aspects of social change, which are economic, political, environmental, socio-cultural and religious.             To provide in-depth answers to the research topic, this research proceeds through the guidance of the following questions: <ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" type="square"> <li class="MsoNormal"> What are the major aesthetic discourses on public art in Jeddah?</li> <li class="MsoNormal"> How have these discourses been influenced by society, politics and religion?</li> <li class="MsoNormal"> Importantly, how are the social and political discourses (hidden or apparent) of Saudi Arabia reflected in the Saudi consumption of modern works of public art?</li> <li class="MsoNormal"> How or why did Jeddah overcome traditional Sunni / Wahhabi restraints on artistic expression and present a new form of art developed from within an Islamic consciousness?</li> <li class="MsoNormal"> What socio-cultural and socio-political topographies may be developing in Saudi Arabia in 2007?</li> <li class="MsoNormal"> What is the nature of the relationship between traditional Islamic art ( 1975) and modern public art? Are they consumed very differently? Are there tensions or elisions between the two?</li> <li class="MsoNormal"> How do people in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia perceive public art in terms of the effect on their personal Islamic faith and lifestyle? </li> </ul>   Significance             Conducting this research offers both academic and social value. Since the proliferation of public art in Jeddah constitutes a unique situation in Saudi Arabia but the underlying reasons for this unique situation studied sparsely by social theorists, the research seeks to contribute to this information gap by conducting a study on the reasons for the proliferation of public art in Jeddah amidst the strict regulation of public art in the rest of Saudi Arabia as well as determine the effect that public art has in influencing various forms of social change in Jeddah. The results of the study could confirm theories on the relationship between public art and social change, challenge how this relationship has been theorized, or contribute to the contextual consideration of this relational theorizing.              The research also offers value to individuals living in Jeddah since there is limited information on public art, the purposes that various public art play in society, and the role that the government, groups and individuals hold in achieving these purposes. Greater appreciation of public art increases the probability of achieving the goal of installing these works in particular public places. Results of the study constitutes an informative advocacy for people in Jeddah to develop greater consciousness of public art to become active participants in enhancing and criticizing public art in Jeddah in order to achieve positive social change. Literature Review             Available literature closely linked to the research topic includes theoretical discussion on the link between public art and social change, background on public art in Jeddah, and results of studies on public art in Jeddah. Public Art and Social Change             Public art has a direct and close relationship with social change because of the ability of art works, publicly displayed, to elicit cognitive processes expressed in actions, reactions and behaviours. However, the nature of actions, reactions and behaviours that public art is able to draw depends upon the characteristics of particular art works and the specific context in which the public views these works of art. This means that a similar artwork could draw different reactions, when seen by different cultures and displayed in varying circumstances. Nude sculptures could constitute a common sight in Italy but these works are taboo in different parts of the worlds such as in Arab countries. In this sense, social change also varies. In Italy, nude sculptures showing the male and female reproductive organs represent freedom of expression in this romantic country so that these sights receive high appreciation and considered as representative of the values of society. These artistic expressions positively change the people in Italy. In Arab countries, these types of art works would be perceived negatively due to their divergence from the Islamic tradition. This means that these works influence negative change through adverse reactions and behaviour of the people from protesting these publicly displayed nude art works to destroying these works. Thus, the contextual reading of the role of public art in influencing social change is important to sound research. “Public art makes public buildings and services friendlier and, as a result, promotes social inclusion. It also creates local individuality and fosters people’s attachments to places, providing aesthetic enjoyment and improving our culture […] Public art promotes more visitors and tourists and makes an important contribution to the lives of the people who work or live in a town and to the lives of those who visit, reducing the motivation for crime and other anti-social behaviour.” ( 2007)               This definition indicates that public art has an influence on social change and provides the means through which social change finds influence from public art.  Public art leads to social change by enhancing the social behavior of individuals that in turn improves society.    (2007) provides that public art influence social change on a personal and group level. On a personal level, public art influences individuals by providing a stimulus for enhanced accrual of higher value to culture objectified by public art. In the case of building facades and architecture, these types of public art creates a friendly atmosphere for employees working in these buildings or people passing by and entering the building. Due to the creation of a friendly atmosphere, social change occurs in the form of social inclusion with individuals perceiving the building as inviting or welcoming. In addition, public art also holds the ability to support individuality and create personal attachments to places and environments. Due to the personal impact of public art, individuals accrue a higher value for culture objectified by public art. On a group level, public art constitutes an invitation to tourists and visitors to visit the country. This in turn creates businesses and employment. With this economic, contribution, more people gain livelihood or source of income that in turn reduces anti-social behavior or crimes.               “It is the future that drives us back into the past.” (2003) This statement provides a different perception of the relationship between public art and social change. Public art usually constitutes pieces of historical artifacts. This means that public art objectifies the history of a particular group so that viewing public art creates in individuals a feeling of appreciation, patriotism or loyalty to the group. To people not belonging to the group, public art develops an appreciation of the group. Public art promotes social change in the form of greater social cohesiveness such as patriotism or loyalty to social structures and norms established by group and expressed in public art. Background of Public Art in Jeddah             Art in general, and public art in particular, are among ideologically restrained practices in Saudi Arabia due to the dominance of the misinterpretations of Islam by the Saudi religious leaders (Mutawa/Sheikh) in both the public and domestic realms. Restraints on media – there are no cinemas in the Kingdom – have tended either to prevent complex aesthetic expression or to privatise it. Restraints place severe limitations on the themes of that public art which is displayed – mostly localised in the coastal city of Jeddah. There displays of public art started in the late seventies and have passed through various stages partly because of religious and political factors. The artistic debates common elsewhere are, mostly, irrelevant in this context.             The teachings of the Prophet Mohammed suggest that there are certain unacceptable areas of artistic expression, such as reproductions of human beings or other living souls (animals) when this has an iconic religious meaning. However, the exact interpretation of the relevant Koranic verses may vary from one tradition to another. In Saudi Arabia, where Wahhabite interpretation of a Sunni theology is dominant statues, paintings or illustrations may be prone to censure. This means that in Saudi Arabia, public art undergoes government and religious regulation.             (2007) provides that fine art constitutes a taboo practice based on Islamic censure implemented by religious leaders and police on people practicing arts. This censure is supported by the justification that “artistic practice is frivolous and allows freedoms of expression that, in their view, could lead to social changes against Islamic tradition and beyond its control”. In practice, these groups stick to the traditional lifestyle and shuns away from anything new to what they previously know or experience.             However, even if this is the case in Saudi Arabia, Jeddah constitutes an exception because of the relaxed regulation of public art in the city. This is due to the unique historical development of the city as a repository of various Islamic and cultural traditions.             Jeddah dates back 3000 years and was founded by group of fishermen that resided there after their fishing journeys. A tribe called Qudha settled there 2500 years ago and it is believed that it was named after a leader called Jeddah, a ninth great-grandfather of the Prophet Mohamed. After the emergence of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula the history of Jeddah was strongly connected with the development of Islamic History because it was the gate to Makkah from the sea. The importance of Jeddah has increased substantially over the past fifty years and now it is the most important Saudi port, an urban community, which is uniquely and to some point free of Saudi political and religious restraints. In the past two decades, Jeddah has grown tremendously: economic projects, public and private building, and links with international markets mean that, currently, Jeddah is a major regional commercial centre.             The climate in Jeddah is hot and extremely humid in summer, with an average annual temperature of 39º Celsius – a variable, which directly affects the wellbeing of public art installations. The population approximately three million, around 14% of the total Saudi population; of these more than a third will be expatriate workers.             Apart from the development of Jeddah as a major trading city in the region and its climate conducive to the preservation of outdoor art works, there are also other considerations such as the availability of public funds and influence of the city’s elite. Available financial resources – and the local political will from within the elite – as well as a perceived need to embellish and dignify public spaces, as well as to designate certain spaces as “public”, means Jeddah has received a large number of sculpted, cast or assembled works of public art (see Appendix).                    Public art in Jeddah is typically situated close to roads, in parks, on traffic roundabouts. In fact, abstract figures are notably located on roundabouts, and give the roundabout of specific names: Astronomy Roundabout, the Roundabout of Bicycles, the Roundabout of the Earth, the Roundabout of History, the Roundabout of Engineering, and the Roundabout of Seagulls. Art, in this sense, adds locational power and may make Jeddah one of the largest global open-air art galleries. Sculptures include works by; they also depict symbolic elements of traditional Saudi culture, including coffee pots, incense burners, and palm trees; finally, there are significant works of Islamic art, including cast bronze Koranic verses and abstracts such as “The Direction of Prayer” (see Appendix page x)             Despite the proliferation of public art in Jeddah, this has also been subject to regulation, particularly the prohibition of the depiction of reproductive organs or reproduction of any living thing in consonance with the Wahhabi Sunni tradition. This restriction then developed various modes of artistic expression. This ranges from the tasteful to the bizarre. There is little sense of aesthetic order in sculptures that include a mounted defunct propeller plane, a giant geometry set, a giant bicycle, and a huge block of marble with several real cars protruding out of it at uncomfortable angles. Among the most famous abstractions are King Fahd’s “Fountain”, which dominates the Jeddah skyline today. This fountain, built between 1980 and 1983, is very much in the style of the freshwater fountain in Lake Geneva, the Jet d'Eau, which reaches 140 meters and lofts about seven tons of water into the air at any one moment at a nozzle speed of around 200 kph to a height of 312 meters. Both this and another giant fountain exist within the official Salam Palace perimeter. (Those by Saudi artists will be included in Appendix A, those by non-Saudis in Appendix B.) In spite of the Islamic restraints on artistic themes, Jeddah’s urban aesthetic diverges significantly from dominant Saudi attitudes – attitudes visible in the other major Saudi cities where art of any kind is glaringly absent. Studies on Public Art and Social Change             Public art can promote a sense of civic pride, it can generate a sense of fun, and it can make a place more memorable, motivate public thought and support environmental regeneration. Inclusion of public art can bring substantial supplementary remuneration to a place; artists can offer new imaginative perspectives, which can contribute to the use of materials and themes and linking local communities in the design or creation stages can promote a sense of ownership. ( 2007)             Art is one expression of and comment upon human experience uniquely culturally contextualized. This expression comes from within a struggle over a social environment and may suggest or even expose an artist’s relationship with their society, and that society’s relationship with itself. Art – and the culture that contains its expression, or restrains it – may be considered “a footing on ground that extends in breadth and depth beyond the status quo; that is, beyond the existent social reality with which s/he must contend” 2003). Art, like culture, is an element in the struggle for identity and power ( 1980) between the reality of the individual and the powerful abstractions which exist outside and beyond them. However, in Jeddah much are exists in a no-man’s land, it is extrinsic to the local culture yet still works in situ – though its popularity (or even deep visibility) is difficult to judge. In this unique location – or dislocation – art may             There may be a dynamic relationship between some public art and some citizens, but it is easy to overstate the case.  “The relationship between art and society can not be ignored, for art is in itself a social phenomenon first because the artist … is a social being; second, because his work … is always a bridge … between the artist and other members of society; third, because a work of art affects other people – it contributes to the reaffirmation or devaluation of their ideas, goals or values – and is a social force which, with its emotional or ideological weight, shakes or moves people. Nobody remains the same after having been deeply moved by a true art work” ( 1973)               However, public art may not quite fit this description. There is some reason to believe in the garnish description of public art (1992). The lay person “moved by a true work of art” ( 1973) – whatever that may means in terms of art and emotional responses – has frequently chosen to view such work in a particular, specialized, cut off and often highly personalized environment. None of these environmental conditions holds for public art. Instead, in the context of civic architecture – buildings, walls, factories, roads, docks, advertising billboards, shops, and parks – the public art is almost effaced. In the context of a grand boulevard the public art must be monumental to be visible and, more importantly perhaps, to be ideologically relevant. This may be particularly the case in Jeddah where the civitas is dominated not by shared spaces or a sense of a public in shared space but by a massive road network. Roundabouts replace piazzas. This is a common feature of Gulf conurbations, in many ways not dissimilar to those in the US such as New Jersey or Los Angeles. Public art, in such circumstances, occupies a rather unusual position in the public consciousness, somewhere between advertising hoarding and road sign.             When sociologists talk about the interaction between art and society, they mean the influence of art on society. Its society that activates and moves the mechanism of art to take its changing shapes and ideological forms (1993). These can be dramatic, comic, critical, celebratory, imaginary, didactic or realistic. In the case of public art in Jeddah all these attributes are visible. Art does not crystallise from emptiness but rather from among existing social events. A conservative society to a great extent produces conservative art that expresses its values and tradition. There are, however, under and counter-currents, even in autocratic societies. The variety of public artistic discourse in Jeddah available as an alternative reading of art is crucial to the work of this thesis.             The first step of the research process is a literature review. Texts concerning the relationship between art and society in the Western context are many. I shall concentrate on a few that may have something specific to say about the Oriental, the Saudi and specifically Jeddah’s experience. Frascina (1993) gave an insight into the way art and social movements interact, while  (1977) offered a more intimate account of the decoding of art. This will be put into a wider cultural and aesthetic context ( 1985; 2003), and into the context of the mechanics of the social work of culture ( 1992; 2003) as well as focusing on the relationship between public art and society (2000; 1992). The function of ordering and power relationships in society ( 1991; 2001) may also be useful in the analysis of the host society.             The Arab and specifically Gulf context will be important to both the analysis of the public art in situ in Jeddah, and the use of the four interviews.  (1999) and (2002) will help contextualise and prevent a western orientation – or even an Occidentalization – of the subject matter (2003). The history of Islam art ( 1975) will deepen an understanding of the aesthetics of Islam, while a wider understanding of the political environment (1991; 1996) may offer a background to the use of public art in Jeddah.     Methodology Research Design To meet the research goal of gathering and analyzing data, the descriptive research will be applied. (2002) and (2003), provides that descriptive research is a type of study seeks the investigation of the causes of certain phenomenon, presentation of facts covering the descriptions and characteristics of a situation as these occurs during the commencement of the study, and portrayal of accurate profile of people, situations or factors involved in the process.  (1997) adds that utilizing the descriptive method serves the purpose of capturing a description of a situation, as it unfolds during the data gathering process and explores cause/s of a specific phenomenon. Descriptive research applies to the study because this is quick and flexible resulting to these three advantages: 1) whenever new issues or questions arise throughout the course of the study the descriptive approach allows the researcher to proceed with further investigation; 2) whenever unproductive areas emerge from the original plan of the investigation as the research process continue, the researcher can drop these areas and concentrate on key areas of study; and 3) application of the descriptive research contributes to the cost and time saving considerations of the researcher (1994). The research will utilize the descriptive approach instead of other types of research because the goal of the study is to describe the various facets of public art in Jeddah and determine the impact that these have on social culture. This requires accounts of the development of public art, observations of public art, and the perceptions of the people directly involved in the installation of public art. Other types of research may not be able to support the data requirement of the research.  Descriptive research utilizes observations and interviews. For this reason, the researcher will utilized this approach because of the intention to gather first hand primary data from three people with expertise in deriving an understanding or installation of public art in key public places in Jeddah. The interview will allow the researcher the opportunity to clarify the issues involved in investigating the impact of public art on social change. With the help of the descriptive approach, a clear picture of the situation may be elicited (2003). This research approach also serves as forerunner or extension to an exploratory research, which is a valuable research method, used in discovering what is happening; seeking new insights; asking questions; and/or evaluating an issue or situation in a new light (2002). Observation of public art will also constitute the other data gathering tool of the research to be conducted by the researcher using predefined criteria.  Data Requirement Data requirement of the investigation will include primary and secondary information. Secondary data refer to definitions, concepts, statistics, and research results reported as raw data or in published summaries. This serves as the context and foundation of the research. Secondary data may be classified under three main categories: document data, interview data, and data from different sources. Document data are collected through primary data collection methods with results presented in papers while interview data are derived from questionnaire results that have already been analyzed in line with their original research purpose. Primary data will be derived from the results of the interview with three key informants on public art and personal observations of selected public art in Jeddah. Secondary data will constitute the foundational support of the investigation while primary data will work to confirm the soundness and legitimacy of applicable theory, invalidate existing theories covering the subject matter, and confirm certain aspects but invalidate separable parts of theories through the researchers personal experiences of public art in Jeddah together with the responses of key respondents on Jeddah’s public art as basis for the determination of the impact of public art on social change. The combination of these two types of data will contribute to the validity of the research results because secondary data serves as the basis upon which the investigation proceeds while primary data constitutes information derived in the context of the specific issue or issues being investigated by the study. Relying only on one type of data or the other would not be able to support the requirements of the study. Data Gathering Methods             The research will utilize a combination of two methods of data collection: (1) observation and analysis of specific works of public art which are found in the Appendix and (2) in-depth interviews with key Jeddans—two artists and an architect with first hand information on public art in Jeddah— and the analysis of the answers given in the interview. The synthesis of observation and interview data should be able to support conclusions on the impact of public art in bringing about social change and describe the nature and extent of change brought about by the proliferation of public art in Jeddah. (1) Visual analysis             This will aim to follow, broadly,  (1995) prescription of analysing images to gain “information about society”. I will be examining public works of art in three categories: the traditional Islamic, the abstract modern, the amalgam of modern structures with some abstract and some representative elements. These works are by Saudi, Arab and non-Arab artists. Consideration will be given according to how these works will be mentioned in the interviews (see below), their fame among Jeddahn’s, their physical positioning (central or not), their originality and controversiality. (2) In-depth interviews             In-depth interviews of two architects from Jeddah will explore their views on the reasons for the use of public art when planning the expansion of the city. An artist will also be interviewed to examine their opinion of the use of public art in this unique context. The former governor of the city will hopefully offer a wider sweep of political and aesthetic ideas. The interviews will use open questions to gain a maximum input. They will be carried out in Arabic, transcribed, translated and then those areas of the interviews with significant commentary on public art and its Jeddahn / Saudi context will be used.             The use of in-depth interviews is crucial for this paper because of the lack of available documentation in general and on public art specifically in Saudi Arabia. Media coverage talks about incorrect maintenance methods but little else. General lack of awareness may be attributed to the conservative and autocratic nature of Saudi society Data Presentation & Analyses             Chapter one will be an overview and a general introduction of the history of Saudi Arabia and, specifically, of Jeddah – which is as different to other Saudi cities as London may be to other British cities. It will discuss dominant aesthetics, discourses secular and religious, and how these are negotiated in the unique context of Jeddah in the early twenty-first century. It will provide a history of Islamic art as well as specifically Saudi practice. The characteristics of Saudi society and how this affected art in all its forms will be examined. What do the constraints of Saudi Islamic practice mean for art as a practice and as a concept? Since Saudi religious leaders look at secular modernism as a threat primarily to their status art, in general, continues to be criticised in preaching and discourse.             Chapter two will define the concept of public art, making definitions work specifically within the context of Saudi urban practice. The chapter will review the literature that discusses public art, focusing on explaining dominant modes of public aesthetic expression.             Chapter three will set out the research methodology. It will discuss the process of data gathering, use of images, analysis of images, the process of in-depth interviews with key figures and the effect of combining all this in a synthesis of writing up.             Chapter four will concentrate on an analytic description of the works of the public art in Jeddah. Images will be provided in an appendix. This chapter will contextualize these in terms of other images and symbols available for public reading. It will suggest those characteristics that make for specifically Saudi or Jeddah’s public space. Five traditional and five modern public artworks will be analysed in depth.             Chapter five will present a critical account of interviews conducted with key Jeddah-based architects and artists as well as its former governor, Mohammed Saeed Al-Farsi. Al-Farsi introduced public art to Jeddah and has written an account of this process. The interviews will be conducted in Arabic, then translated and transcribed.             Chapter six will draw together the analysis of public art in chapter four with the critical account of the four interviews in chapter five. It will consider whether there are trends, discursive developments or political changes making themselves felt. It will ask whether Jeddah is a glimpse into the Saudi future or merely a cultural bubble, liable to burst. More widely it will attempt to examine the social impact of public art on Saudi society asking what such art represents for ordinary people.             Chapter seven will conclude with a synthesis, and a more general suggestion of the role of public art in the cityscape. There will be appendices including all the major quoted artworks, the contextualizing urban architecture and other incidental visual moments from Jeddah such as advertisement hoardings and road signs. Maps of Saudi Arabia and the Jeddah agglomeration will be contained in chapter one. Conclusion             This thesis will be written up in both English and – later – Arabic. The reason behind an Arabic version is so that it may add to the wider aesthetic debate and be of benefit in the relatively closed Saudi culture. It is hoped it may help Saudis better appreciate their artistic environment and its urban context. This research will be shared with the Al Mansouria Foundation in Jeddah, support creativity in Saudi Arabia and help build bridges between artists and the public at large. The creative expression of all those artists whose works are visible in Jeddah needs exploration. There is also a need to establish the richness of a shared aesthetic experience, and to counter reductionism both Western (1996) and Arab. Timetable Task April May June July August September Literature review / planning / research proposal             Literature review extended and deepened             Locating and collating primary visual records of artefacts in Jeddah             Interviews, field work and further visual analysis (conclusion)             Production of the first draft             Production of final draft

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF PUBLIC ART IN JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA?

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF PUBLIC ART IN JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA? Introduction According to (2005), artists hold the power t...