Digital Commons Network^™

Depictions Of Women In Stalinist Sovet Film, 1934-1953, Andrew Weeks

HIM 1990-2015

Popular films in the Soviet Union were the products of the implementation of propagandistic messages into storylines that were both ideologically and aesthetically consistent with of the interests of the State and Party apparatuses. Beginning in the 1930s, following declaration of the doctrine on socialist realism as the official form of cultural production, Soviet authorities and filmmakers tailored films to the circumstances in the USSR at that given moment in order to influence and shape popular opinion; however, this often resulted in inconsistent and outright contradictory messages. Given the transformation that gender relations were undergoing in the early stages of …

Cnsjf 2012 Report: Exceeding Expectations, Manuel A. Rivera, Robertico R. Croes

Dick Pope Sr. Institute Publications

The Curacao North Sea Jazz Festival (CNSJF) attracted during the past three annual festivals 12,542 tourists, generated nearly US$22 million in direct spending due to the festival and had a total contribution of nearly US$40 million to the Curacao economy. These unprecedented results are even more significant considering the unique funding source of this festival, which is backed by a private investment source. Private investments in festival production are a financial funding source that is not common in the event industry, especially when considering the significant economic benefits the CNSJF has generated for Curacao. This festival has functioned as a …

Ucf Cocoa & Palm Bay Newsletter Fall 2012, Megan M. Haught

UCF Cocoa & Palm Bay Newsletter

This is the Fall 2012 edition of the UCF Cocoa & Palm Bay Newsletter which celebrates the accomplishments and community activity of the faculty, staff, and students from the University of Central Florida Cocoa and Palm Bay campuses.

• Nancy Brasel, Education, attended the 92^nd Street Y’s Wonderplay Conference and visited The Bloomingdale Family Program in Harlem
• Two Brown Bag Luncheon lectures were held in Cocoa and broadcast to the Palm Bay campus
• The 2012 holiday charities were the Central Brevard Sharing Center and The Children’s Hunger Project

Social Media And Its Effect On Privacy, Brittney Adams

HIM 1990-2015

While research has been conducted on social media, few comparisons have been made in regards to the privacy issues that exist within the most common social media networks, such as Facebook, Google Plus, and Twitter. Most research has concentrated on technical issues with the networks and on the effects of social media in fields such as medicine, law, and science. Although the effects on these fields are beneficial to the people related to them, few studies have shown how everyday users are affected by the use of social media. Social media networks affect the privacy of users because the networks …

Title Ix, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

This weekend marks the fortieth anniversary of the passage of the Educational Amendments Act of 1972 whose section, Title IX, transformed sport in America. After forty years the achievements of Title IX are impressive, while some controversy persists and some misinformation continues to persist. In the past decade the conservative political attack has subsided and Title IX seems to have been removed from those still fighting the culture wars particularly on the issue of feminism.

Civilizing The Metropole The Role Of Colonial Exhibitions In Universal And Colonial Expositions In Creating Greater France, 1889-1922, Michael Brooks

HIM 1990-2015

During the era of New Imperialism, the French state had the daunting task of convincing the French public of the need to support and to sustain an overseas empire. Stemming from its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and hoping to regain its erstwhile global position, the French state set out to demonstrate the importance of maintaining an empire. Since the vast majority of the French people were apathetic towards colonial ventures, the French state used the 1889 Parisian Universal Exposition and the 1906 and 1922 Colonial Expositions in Marseille not only to educate the French about the economic benefits of …

Story Lines Moving Through The Multiple Imagined Communities Of An Asian-/American-/Feminist Body, Athia Choudhury

HIM 1990-2015

We all have stories to share, to build, to pass around, to inherit, and to create. This story - the one I piece together now - is about a Thai-/Bengali-/Muslim-/American-/Feminist looking for home, looking to manage the tension and conflict of wanting to belong to her family and to her feminist community. This thesis focuses on the seemingly conflicting obligations to kinship on the one hand and to feminist practice on the other, a conflict where being a good scholar or activist is directly in opposition to being a good Asian daughter. In order to understand how and why these …

The Farm A Hippie Commune As A Countercultural Diaspora, Kevin Mercer

HIM 1990-2015

Counterculture history is often divided, with a focus on either the turbulent 1960s or the "back to the land" exodus of the 1970s. A study of Stephen Gaskin and his followers' founding of The Farm, a rural commune near Summertown, Tennessee, provides a unique insight into the commonalities and connections of these two periods. It will be the aim of this thesis to weave the separate narratives of this demographic into one complete idea. The idea that the hippies constituted a counterculture suggests that once that culture went into exile, onto numerous communes, they existed as a diaspora. The Farm's …

The Effect Of Music On Physiological Responses And Self-Perceived Mood, Robert-Christian Sanchez

HIM 1990-2015

Music is often studied in terms of its artistic value and expressiveness. While these are important characteristics, there are other observations we can make of scientific value, such as the effects of music on the human anatomy. At present, however, there is a general lack of scientific studies focusing on the effect music makes on specific physiological responses in the body. A limited range of these studies has included examinations of music preferences and correlating personality characteristics of participants, while some others have investigated the effects of music lessons on intelligence. While the previously mentioned research has contributed to some …

Resurrecting Inanna: Lament, Gender, Transgression, Kimberly Torres

HIM 1990-2015

This essay, which is at once a literary critical examination and a theological exploration of the Hebraic scriptural book of Lamentations in relation to ancient Sumerian lament, employs a mixed critical approach (e.g., form, feminist, postmodern, reader response), to address various lyrical, contextual, and thematic elements common to both the biblical Lamentations and the older Sumerian compositions. Specific focus is given to issues of gender and gender-malleability, as well as the notion of "transgression" and the various meanings that may be attached to this word in various contexts, theological or otherwise. Also addressed is the means by which the lament …

Summitt, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

From across the nation, from the world of basketball and the world of sport, the reaction to Pat Summitt relinquishing her position as head basketball coach at the University of Tennessee has been overwhelming in praise, admiration, and volume. Those who played for Summitt talked of the tremendous impact that she had on their lives, praising her as a coach and human being, often referring to her as a mother-figure. Those who knew her in other capacities talked about her strength in the face of adversity. This quality distinguished Pat Summitt throughout her career and not just in the past …

Ucf Cocoa & Palm Bay Newsletter Spring 2012, Megan M. Haught

UCF Cocoa & Palm Bay Newsletter

This is the Spring 2012 edition of the UCF Cocoa & Palm Bay Newsletter which celebrates the accomplishments and community activity of the faculty, staff, and students from the University of Central Florida Cocoa and Palm Bay campuses.

• Palm Bay Psychology students placed at the UCF Showcase of Undergraduate Research
• Brevard Community College was presented with the University of Central Florida Partnership Award for their joint effort with WUCF, region’s primary public broadcasting channel
• Al Davis, Business Services Office Manager, was recognized as the UCF April Employee of the Month
• 21 faculty and staff members attended the Diversity Certificate Series …

White And Black Womanhoods And Their Representations In 1920s American Advertising, Lindsey L. Turnbull

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The 1920s represented a time of tension in America. Throughout the decade, marginalized groups created competing versions of a proper citizen. African-Americans sought to be included in the national fabric. Racism encouraged solidarity, but black Americans did not agree upon one method for coping with, and hopefully ending, antiblack racism. White women enjoyed new privileges and took on more roles in the public sphere. Reactionary groups like the Ku Klux Klan found these new voices unsettling and worrisome and celebrated a white, nativeborn, Protestant and male vision of the American citizen. Simultaneously, technological innovations allowed for advertising to flourish and …

Genetic Engineering As Literary Praxis: A Study In Contemporary Literature, Taylor Evans

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis considers the understudied issue of genetic engineering as it has been deployed in the literature of the late 20th century. With reference to the concept of the enlightened gender hybridity of Cyborg theory and an eye to ecocritical implications, I read four texts: Joan Slonczewski's 1986 science fiction novel A Door Into Ocean, Octavia Butler's science fiction trilogy Lilith's Brood – originally released between 1987 and 1989 as Xenogenesis – Simon Mawer's 1997 literary novel Mendel's Dwarf, and the first two books in Margaret Atwood's speculative fiction MaddAddam series: 2003's Oryx and Crake and 2009's The Year Of …

Soviet And Eastern European Reactions To American Exhibitions: Cultural Exchange And The Cold War, 1961-1976, Jennie Edith Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

After the signing of the Cultural Exchange Agreement in 1958, exhibitions of culture and technology were exchanged between the Soviet Union and the United States. These exhibitions continued to be exchanged well into the 1980s. This paper focuses on comment books from seven of these cultural exchange exhibitions, five in the Soviet Union and two in Eastern Europe, in the years between 1961 and 1976. The public nature of the comment books and the way they were treated by visitors made them a space for expressions of popular opinions over the issues of public policy and ideology. As such, they …

The Immaculate Condemnation, Corey Robertson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My work is a continuously evolving self portrait formulated by a combination of past experiences and influences. The Immaculate Condemnation body of work is a cathartic reaction that confronts Catholic Sin and rebels against gender conformity. As both a confirmed Catholic and transgender woman, I speak from an authentic voice that seeks open conversation regarding these topics. I also hope to demystify the transsexual body for the non-transgendered viewer. Additionally, I use allegoric imagery to communicate my interpretation of beauty, power, horror, and sex. I combine performance, photography, sculpture, video, audio, and graphic design to execute my installations. I intentionally …

The Machine, The Victim, And The Third Thing: Navigating The Gender Spectrum In Margaret Atwood's Oryx And Crake And The Year Of The Flood, Lindsay Mccoy Anderson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores Atwood's depiction of gender in Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood. In an interview from 1972, Margaret Atwood spoke on survival: "People see two alternatives. You can be part of the machine or you can be something that gets run over by it. And I think there has to be a third thing." I assert that Atwood depicts this "third thing" through her characters who navigate between the binaries of "masculine" and "feminine" in a third realm of gender. As the female characters—regardless of their passive or aggressive behavior—engage in a quest for agency, …

The Extension Of Imperial Authority Under Diocletian And The Tetrarchy, 285-305ce, Joshua Petitt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite a vast amount of research on Late Antiquity, little attention has been paid to certain figures that prove to be influential during this time. The focus of historians on Constantine I, the first Roman Emperor to allegedly convert to Christianity, has often come at the cost of ignoring Constantine's predecessor, Diocletian, sometimes known as the "Second Father of the Roman Empire". The success of Constantine's empire has often been attributed to the work and reforms of Diocletian, but there have been very few studies of the man beyond simple biography. This work will attempt to view three of Diocletian's …

Between Words: Popular Culture And The Rise Of Print In Seventeenth Century England, Christie Schneck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Seventeenth century England was forced to come to terms with events such as the Civil War and the regicide of King Charles I, in the midst of contending with the cultural changes brought upon by print culture, the effects of which appeared throughout all aspects of English society. These changes helped form a relationship between print and oral culture, one of negotiation among the producers and regulators of work and the society consuming the works. The discussion of this negotiation has led to varying conclusions concerning the true impact of printed materials on English society and culture, all of which …

“Don't Call Me A Student-Athlete”: The Effect Of Identity Priming On Stereotype Threat For Academically Engaged African American College Athletes, Keith Harrison

Dr. C. Keith Harrison

Academically engaged African American college athletes are most susceptible to stereotype threat in the classroom when the context links their unique status as both scholar and athlete. After completing a measure of academic engagement, African American and White college athletes completed a test of verbal reasoning. To vary stereotype threat, they first indicated their status as a scholar-athlete, an athlete, or as a research participant on the cover page. Compared to the other groups, academically engaged African American college athletes performed poorly on the difficult test items when primed for their athletic identity, but they performed worse on both the …

Gender Bias In The Technical Disciplines, Jessica Lynn Campbell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates how women are affected by gender bias in the workplace. Despite the increasing numbers of women in the workforce, women are still under-represented and under-valued in workplaces, which, in part, is due to their gender stereotype. This study demonstrates how gender bias in the workplace has been proven to limit women in their careers and potential in their occupational roles. The media’s negative depiction of women in their gender stereotype reinforces and perpetuates this image as a cultural norm in society. Women both conform and are judged and evaluated according to their weak and submissive gender stereotype. …

Simulations For Financial Literacy, Angela Hamilton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Financially literate consumers are empowered with the knowledge and skills necessary to make sound financial decisions that ensure their long-term economic well-being. Within the context of the range of cognitive, psychological, and social factors that influence consumer behavior, simulations enhance financial literacy by developing consumers’ mental models for decision-making. Technical communicators leverage plain language and visual language techniques to communicate complex financial concepts in ways that consumers can relate to and understand. Simulations for financial education and decision support illustrate abstract financial concepts, provide a means of safe experimentation, and allow consumers to make informed choices based on a longitudinal …

Examining Gender In Pharmaceutical Rhetoric Through A Cultural Studies Lens: A Case Study On The Gardasil Vaccine, Jennifer Fickley-Baker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

On June 8, 2006, Merck announced the debut of Gardasil, the world's first vaccine found successful in preventing human papillomavirus (HPV) infections, a sexually transmitted infection that is one of the main causes of certain cancers in men and women, including cervical, vulvar, penile and anal cancers. To promote the vaccine's release, Merck launched Gardasil's "One Less" advertising campaign that included television commercials, print ads and a consumerfocused website (www.Gardasil.com), each promoting the message that "you" could now be "one less woman" affected by cervical cancer ("One Less" campaign). The vaccine, tested and approved only for females age 9-26, was …

The Comradeship Of The Open Road: The Identity And Influence Of The Tin Can Tourists Of The World On Automobility, Florida, And National Tourism, David Michael Burel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The identity of the Tin Can Tourists of the World, the first recreation automobile organization, has been poorly defined in the historical discourse, the factors contributing to the 1919 formation of the organization in Tampa, Florida represents a landmark shift in tourism in America towards the automobile. The group’s subsequent solidification of a distinct identity gives insight beyond their organization. The thesis defines their identity as well as looks at their impact on American automobility and tourism. The thesis therefore focuses on the previously undefined concept of recreational automobility giving it definition and showing how the group helped to define …

Harvesting The Seeds Of Early American Human And Nonhuman Animal Relationships In William Bartram's Travels, The Travel Diary Of Elizabeth House Trist, And Sarah Trimmer's Fabulous Histories, Leslie Blake Vives

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uses ecofeminist and human-animal studies lenses to explore human animal and nonhuman animal relations in early America. Most ecocritical studies of American literature begin with nineteenth-century writers. This project, however, suggests that drawing on ecofeminist theories with a human-animal studies approach sheds light on eighteenth-century texts as well. Early American naturalist travel writing offers a site replete with human and nonhuman encounters. Specifically, naturalist William Bartram's travel journal features interactions with animals in the southern colonial American frontier. Amateur naturalist Elizabeth House Trist's travel diary includes interactions with frontier and domestic animals. Sarah Trimmer's Fabulous Histories, a conduct …

The Gender Gap In Technical Communication: How Women Challenge The Predominant Objectivist Paradigm, Nathan Bower

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Women are currently underrepresented in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. The purpose of this thesis is to explore how this underrepresentation translates to a gender gap in the field of technical communication and how this gap causes women to challenge the predominant objectivist paradigm in the field. Through an investigation of peer-reviewed journal articles, periodicals, critical theory, and articles published in online magazines such as Slate, I identify the gendered nature of modern technology and discuss to what extent a shift in the predominant paradigm has occurred in the professional arena. In looking at several theoretical approaches …

The Boys' Republic, Jonas Mueller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The young men in The Boys’ Republic live in a world that is continually falling apart. Their houses collapse into sinkholes, forest fires carve out chunks of their towns, plague spreads through their communes, the money runs out on the construction project where they work. This decay mirrors their own collapsing identities, as they are forced to question their mastery of nature, their nostalgia for their youth, their relationships with others, and the value of masculinity itself. Drawing on the work of writers like Dennis Cooper, Flannery O’Connor, and Benjamin Percy, The Boys’ Republic depicts men in the midst of …

Escape Artist, Alejandro Mujica

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My thesis, Escape Artist, is a composite novel written as a fictitious memoir, similar in style to Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, that describes my experiences between the years 2001 and 2011. During that time I went through Marine Corps Boot Camp, became a military police officer, patrolled Yuma, AZ, was sent to Iraq for a sevenmonth tour as a security detail just before the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and made it back home four years later. The novel also looks into my struggles with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms, how they affected the people around me, and what …

The Many Pedagogies Of Memoir: A Study Of The Promise Of Teaching Memoir In College Composition, Melissa Lee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the promise and problems of memoir in the pedagogy and practices of teaching memoir in college composition. I interviewed three University of Central Florida instructors who value memoir in composition, and who at the time of this study, were mandated to teach memoir in their composition courses. The interviews focus on three main points of interest: (1) the instructors’ motivations behind their teaching of memoir, (2) how these instructors see memoir functioning in their classes, and (3) what these instructors hope their students will gain in the process of writing the memoir essay. By analyzing these interviews, …

That's A Wrap! The Organizational Culture And Characteristics Of Successful Film Crews, Lisa C. Cook

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study seeks to determine through survey research what characteristics film production crews possess that makes them so successful as an organization. The factors of age, gender, years of professional experience and education level were tested for their significance on how the respondents view their culture. Hofstede's six dimensions of organizational culture survey questions were rewritten to be applicable to the freelance film crew sample. The presentation of findings focuses on the resultant organizational profile of a film production crew, the workplace values of this group and the influence that the education level of the participants had on responses. The …