https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/104236 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 04:43:33 GMT 2026-04-08T04:43:33Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/133774 Title: On dancing in the rain : an ethnographic study of the deinstitutionalization of mental health care and agency in Malta Abstract: The following work will take an ethnographic approach to the deinstitutionalization of mental health in Malta. Based on ethnographic fieldwork within a hostel for men recovering from mental illnesses, the text will discuss the relationship between the hostel and the state run mental hospital, the shifting understandings of health, illness and cure. Using ethnographic insights, the text elaborates on the operation and conceptual limitations of the hostel. Most prominently, concerning the hostel’s approach to care. The notion of the resident as 'client' originates in the understanding of mental illness as a circumstantial event, requiring service-oriented self-alteration. On the other hand, 'character' is a moral project requiring alteration of the self. This and other conundrums sheds light on current directions of deinstitutionalization in Malta. Description: M.A.(Melit.) Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/133774 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/104266 Title: Awkward heritage : the case of the ex-dockyard workers : a study on the limits of oral history and collective memory Abstract: Recent research on heritage and the archaeology of the recent past has called for an ethnographic approach which focuses on the meaning of the past and its traces in the present. This has opened an interesting new space for discussion and debate concerning memory and identity in archaeological, historical, and heritage contexts. My dissertation seeks to contribute to this area by investigating how official authorities and institutions transform living memory into history, and hence legitimising legacy in the Maltese context of the Dockyard. Central to this dissertation is the thesis that memory is an ‘active process of sense-making through time’ (Olick and Levy, 1997). This position, I argue, contrasts with the principles employed in the methods of historical documentation by heritage institutions wherein memory is seen as a static phenomenon that may be collected and preserved as an archaeological artefact. Building upon the works of previous anthropologists, this work seeks to comparatively explore and critique a variety of forms of memory practice and see what insights may emerge from each, as well as which limitations may be present. The end goal of this process is to illustrate how these practices are not merely a neutral activity of collection, preservation and exhibition, but rather a creative force that gives rise to new meanings, understandings and interpretations. Using insights drawn from my interviews, I survey existing literature and use the historical record in order to locate the blind spots of memory and to provide an analysis of the Dockyard and the place of its memory within Malta today. Description: B.A. (Hons)(Melit.) Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/104266 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/104265 Title: Second Life : the boundary between the virtual and the real Abstract: The fieldwork was conducted in the virtual world of Second Life. The purpose was to analyze the relationship between the real and virtual social contexts through the technology of Second Life. The findings imply that Second Life can be a type of mediation which separates the real and virtual social contexts. At the same time, there can also be continuation between the real and virtual world, and the users of Second Life are actively involved in this debate among themselves. This happens because of the ideological boundary between real life and Second Life, as well as what one can do with the type of technology being used. Some types of technologies lead to different amounts of carry-over of real life factors in the virtual world, and vice versa. The findings suggest that how this happens depends on certain factors more than others, such as real life morality, and that some values have more weight than others in determining this. Real life morality can be separated from the virtual, but there is a limit to how far decided by the users and there are ultimate taboos like pedophilia. Description: B.A. (Hons)(Melit.) Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/104265 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/104248 Title: Centres of influence, centres of contestation : an ethnographic study of othering at prehistoric sites in Malta Abstract: This dissertation engages two archaeological sites on the Maltese islands and their contested meaning. Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra archaeological park located in Malta and Ġgantija megalithic park located in Gozo. This work seeks to recognise the role and function of these monuments as well as highlight the ways these sites and their spaces are seen and experienced by diverse stakeholders and in doing so it will show how narratives of the “other” are reproduced in diverse ways within these sites. The fieldwork also brought to light how space, place and identity, are a product of human-environmental relationships as well as social and political processes such as colonialism, the accumulation of capital, environmental disputes concerning the conservation and use of the sites as well as other factors of the surrounding environment, including animal protection, hunting, agriculture and tourism. Description: B.A. (Hons)(Melit.) Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/104248 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z