https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/10360 2026-04-05T07:58:47Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/141172 Title: Playing for unity : football, community and national identity in two Mediterranean nation-states Abstract: This thesis explores the vital role of football in shaping community identities and national belonging, with a particular focus on Malta and Italy as key case studies within the Mediterranean context. Employing a multidisciplinary approach, it integrates community theory, particularly Benedict Anderson’s concept of imagined communities, to examine how football functions as a cultural force that goes beyond spatial limits and fosters emotional bonds across different groups of people. The study reveals that football is more than just a sport; it is a powerful catalyst for national identity formation and community cohesion. It addresses fundamental questions about how football contributes to the creation of communities, the significance of symbols in strengthening fan identity, and the historical allegiances that have shaped Maltese supporters’ affinities with England and Italy. Additionally, it explores how local rivalries and regional identities in football reflect broader societal divisions. Methodologically, the dissertation adopts a case study approach supplemented by desk research, drawing on existing literature, academic articles, and qualitative data from various sources. This investigation highlights the intricate relationship between football, culture, history, and politics, emphasizing its crucial role in the nation-building processes of Malta and Italy. More broadly, the findings offer valuable insights into how football shapes community dynamics in an increasingly globalized world. Description: M.A.(Melit.) 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/141171 Title: Mediterranean dots and Isiac knots : interrogating the idea of the Mediterranean through the maritime cult of Isis Abstract: The dissertation critically examines the frameworks of Hellenisation and Romanisation, interrogating their essentialist underpinnings, while reflexively applying and challenging the globalisation and Mediterraneanisation frameworks as interpretative models. Using the maritime cult of Isis as a case study, the research explores how individuals, communities, and societies interpreted, adapted, and integrated the goddess within their specific contexts from the third century BCE to the fourth century CE. By analysing textual artefacts and portable material culture, the study reveals that the expansion of Isis’s divine roles and inconography was a dynamic process of cross-cultural exchange, shaped by political, religious, and social influences across the Mediterranean. The findings highlight the limitations of the static ethno-cultural labels such as ‘Egyptian’, ‘Greek’, and ‘Roman’, emphasising instead the fluidity of cultural interactions and the agency of both humans and objects in shaping identity and experience. The research critiques the globalisation-Mediterraneanisation frameworks, warning against their potential to become overly broad and lose heuristic value. However, it also demonstrates their capacity to offer nuanced insights into interconnected systems of influence, adaptation, and localisation. This study contributes to Mediterranean studies, Isiac cults, and archaeology by advocating for more reflexive, interdisciplinary methodologies and urging greater precision in the use of theoretical frameworks. Ultimately, it underscores the importance of embracing complexity, rejecting reductive narratives, and continuously refining our approaches to understanding the ancient and contemporary Mediterranean space. Description: M.A.(Melit.) 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/133783 Title: The Maltese Labour Movement within an anti-colonial Mediterranean context : 1945-1980s Abstract: This thesis aims to explore the influences from the Mediterranean on the Maltese labour movement through a comparison with other anti-colonial Mediterranean states. This thesis also compares the influences coming into Malta from Italy as Malta’s transition into a democracy in the post-independence period is likely to have created a situation wherein Italian ideas could be applied. Various studies have been conducted on the Maltese Labour Movement from authors such as Godfrey Baldacchino, John Chircop and Dominic Fenech. This thesis aims to build upon this historiographical trend by not only including the Maltese working class as an agent of historical change establishes it as part of a wider Mediterranean history. This study demonstrates a pragmatic Maltese Labour movement which was able to be influenced by ideas and event from the Mediterranean while managing to adapt these ideas to home soil through an adaptation to the local realities. Description: M.A.(Melit.) 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/123263 Title: The biological geography of the freshwater systems of Maltese widien Abstract: Aim: This thesis addresses the plant biogeography of Maltese widien. Widien are valley and gorge-like landforms in the Maltese Islands. Previous biogeographical studies on widien are limited in extent and have mostly approached the characterisation of widien-associated habitats based strictly on phytosociology(that is, based on the identity of the plant species present) but the relationship of the vegetation to the abiotic environment was generally not considered systematically. In this study, characterization of habitats was based on character sets of ecological significance, which included both species and key environmental factors that control the spatial distribution of plant assemblages in the Maltese Islands, and has adopted an objective statistical approach. Location: This work provides a quantitative analysis of vegetation-environment relationships of the widien-associated habitats of the Maltese Islands (Central Mediterranean). Methods: Twenty-six widien were selected as type representatives from the range of landforms in the Maltese Islands that channel water flow, or have the potential to do so, even if some are now more or less permanently dry. For each of these widien, sectors were selected such that each sector had fairly constant bio- geographical 'conditions' on the landscape scale and each sector occupied moderately large sections of the wied. From one to four sectors were chosen within each wied, depending on its environmental heterogeneity at the landscape level. In each sector, a 1 Orn-wide belt transect (running from one crest to the crest of the opposite side) was used for data collection; in all, 41 transects of various lengths were utilised. Within each transect, a stratified random sampling strategy was used to obtain data for eight environmental variables within randomly placed quadrats in pre-selected wied units ('strata') as follows: channel bed, channel banks, wied floor, wied slope, wied crest and abandoned fields. The eight variables measured for each quadrat were: rock type, inclination, aspect, substrate type, substrate depth, exposure (to sun and wind), canopy cover and cover of each plant species. A total of 5843 quadrats were sampled from all widien studied. The following data for the whole wied section were also recorded: the height, angle and material of the side slopes; type, size, land-use and vegetation of the pseudo-floor; dimensions and sediment type for the channel bed; dimensions, material composition and vegetation for the channel banks. Quadrats were clustered on the basis of the species present and their percentage cover using Ward's Method, which is based on a hierarchical, error sum of squares algorithm, as implemented by the SAS software package. Four cluster analyses were performed with output set at 10-, 20-, 40- and 1 GO-clusters. The 40-cluster run was adopted as the basis for data interpretation as it offered a sufficient resolution without being too massive to analyse. The 40-cluster output was cross-matched with the physico-geographical data for the quadrats to produce one matrix containing all data in clustered form. Individual clusters were extracted and analysed in conjunction with data from the whole wied sections of origin [...] Description: PH.D. 2003-01-01T00:00:00Z