Digital Commons Network^™

Evolving Expressions Of Trauma In James Joyce, Jean Rhys, And Caryl Phillips, Sean M. Mccray

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Evolving Expressions of Trauma articulates ways that dynamic, changing theories of trauma can provide a language and conceptual space to examine innovative modes and means of expression in Modernist novels and in later, post-colonial and experimental novels. This dissertation asserts that as trauma theory has expanded to encompass and describe different types of traumata, including the mundane, the insidious, and empathetic, it has provided a scaffolding for studying difficult, even impenetrable works from the Modernist period and beyond. The works examined here are strategically selected to demonstrate scope and particularity in the growth of trauma theories and their potential applications …

Racial/Ethnic Disparities In Mental Health Diagnosis Of Maltreated Youth, Shadie Burke

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Racial/ethnic marginalized youth are more likely to receive a misdiagnosis of a mental health disorder than their White peers. Misdiagnosis contributes to existing disparities for racial/ethnic marginalized groups by leading to longer durations of untreated and worsening mental health symptoms. For maltreated youth, receiving a misdiagnosis can lead to a failure to connect with appropriate mental health services, medication regimens, therapeutic foster homes, and academic and developmental resources. To date, very few empirical studies have identified disparities in mental health diagnosis among racial/ethnic marginalized maltreated youth. The present study examined two key research questions: (1) what racial/ethnic disparities in diagnoses …

Monumentalizing A Political Candidacy: Robert Lowell And Eugene Mccarthy’S History, Jeremy Freeman

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

History (1973) remains Robert Lowell’s most criticized collection of poetry. This was largely because of the critical consensus that Lowell, the most well-known confessional poet, had moved too far away from the elements of the genre in his later works. This reception, coupled with his public mental health episodes, highly publicized divorce from Elizabeth Hardwick in 1972, and personal politics, had a negative impact on the legacy of the author. In revisiting this work, I argue that Lowell’s History is just as confessional as his earlier collections but presents the confessional mode in a different way. In doing so, Lowell …

Living On The Move: The Digital Nomad Mobile Phenomenon Identity And Practice, Virginia Rachele Smercina

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The following exploratory project used a qualitative mixed method approach by means of a preliminary blog analysis of thirty-seven blogs and twenty-five semi-structured interviews for data collection on individuals known as digital nomads. The theoretical foundations of this study are centered on practice theory, structuration theory, as well as discussions surrounding cultural identity. The project’s aim is to increase our understanding of the digital nomad phenomenon by asking four research questions: Who are the digital nomads? How is digital nomadism practiced? Why choose to live on the move? Is digital nomadism sustainable? The discussion includes how the digital nomad identity …

Development And Psychometric Evaluation Of The Unfinished Business In Bereavement Scale, Kara Klingspon

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Bereavement is one of life's greatest challenges, but most grievers recover within approximately six months after the loss. Prolonged Grief Disorder or Complicated Grief describes the 10-20% who continue to struggle with chronic and severe symptoms such as yearning and/or longing for the deceased. Those with prolonged grief are at elevated risk for a number of detrimental physical and mental health outcomes. Unfinished business, which refers to a subjective perception that something was left undone, unsaid, or unresolved with the deceased, is one marker indicating greater risk for such symptomology. Although a common target for intervention, no empirically validated tool …

It’S Not About Brooklyn, Elee Maybelle Oak

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

My work at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in the Master of Fine Arts Creative Writing program has culminated into a collage form hybrid comprised of vignettes, poetry, and other creative works. The writing engages central themes, through the Queer gaze of the character Sissy. She became suspect at an early age because of her odd aptitudes along with a physical appearance that never fit. She dodged and at times embraced an identification as a sort of side show curiosity, and an intoxicated freak of gender, race, and talent. She survived physical and mental attacks. Then she blindly stepped …

Beyond Density & Diversity: Understanding The Socio-Cultural Geography Of Contemporary Presidential Elections, David F. Damore, Robert E. Lang

Brookings Mountain West Publications

In the aftermath of the 2012 presidential election, a good deal of commentary held that President Obama’s reelection resulted from the country’s changing demography and his overwhelming support among nonwhite voters residing in the country’s urban spaces. Less discussed was the fact that Republican Mitt Romney also carried many urbanized states with ethnically and racially diverse populations and that President Obama would not have been reelected without securing the Electoral Votes of a number of rural states with large white populations. In this paper, we argue that the combination of educated populations and a socio-cultural construct we call northernness allow …

Erving Goffman’S Las Vegas: From Jungle To Boardroom, David G. Schwartz

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

Sociologist Erving Goffman’s presence in Las Vegas never yielded a definitive publication. Though it informed his work about action and interaction, his time in Las Vegas—both as a blackjack dealer and a player—remains one of the great what-ifs of gambling academia. This is regrettable, not only because the field would have benefited immeasurably from the analysis of a figure of Goffman’s talent and repute, but because Goffman was in Las Vegas exactly as the city’s casino business was undergoing its most significant shift, from small-scale, syndicate-owned ventures with links to former and current illegal enterprises elsewhere to massive, publicly-traded, mainstream-financed …

Family, Housing, And The Political Geography Of Gay Liberation In Los Angeles County, 1960-1986, Ian M. Baldwin

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study examines the gay liberation movement in Los Angeles County through the lens of housing rights. It illustrates how sexual justice activism evolved in tandem with the fates of the welfare state and urban politics. Like racial minorities, queers have been stymied by economic barriers. Beginning in the 1930s, federal housing agencies established “family” requirements to housing subsidies, which the state defined through biology or marriage. In L.A. County, activists worked to overcome this heteronormative barrier at the grassroots and within the political establishment. Binding gay liberation to economic and family justice, queers opened housing shelters and social service …

Mouthy Bones, Shaun Leonard

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

As a collection of poetry, this work interrogates the well trodden ground of the Beloved, hopefully with a modicum of originality, though the text itself wonders if, and how (and how!). Can “us” be? Amorous capability is extolled and explored, and people worry. Love happens, and everything is all right. Love happens, and nothing is alright. And then it is. The poems play with the act of writing and how that affects the reader, the subject/s, and the memories being used as fodder. The time and space of emotion and selfhood are melded and molded, through unexpected line breaks, poetic …

Tearing Up The Tallgrass, Brett Salsbury

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This creative thesis project is a culmination of the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing degree at UNLV. The thesis—currently titled Tearing up the Tallgrass—was composed entirely during my graduate semesters at UNLV. As a book of poetry, it explores the dynamics of humans in nature, white privilege, objectivity, fact- and myth-making, and artistic practice. Written under the supervision of Claudia Keelan (committee chair) and Donald Revell (committee member), my committee further includes P. Jane Hafen (English) and Pierre Lienard (Anthropology). Their disparate subject and genre interests are meant to diversify the feedback received during this project’s composition. Some …

The Neuroendocrine And Performance Correlates Of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder In Males And Females, Meghan E. Pierce

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Distinct gender differences exist in the incidence of posttraumatic stress disorder in the United States population. Currently, the direct biological mechanisms involved in the development of PTSD have not been elucidated. However, many studies indicate a dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA-axis) as a contributing factor in the development of PTSD. This study investigated performance and endocrine correlates of PTSD in 38 females without PTSD, 14 females with PTSD, 32 males without PTSD and 5 males with PTSD. We examined the differences between basal cortisol concentrations, as well as cortisol reactivity to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). In addition, …

A Qualitative Study Of The Perceived Health Care Needs Of Undocumented Latino Day Laborers Living In Las Vegas, Nevada, Siboney Zelaya

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Undocumented (unauthorized, illegal) immigrants seek employment on the street corners near home improvement stores offering their services and selling their labor to the employers who arrive in their cars or trucks to pick them up for a few hours of hard work. The number of undocumented immigrants in the United States continues to increase. By percentage of overall population, Nevada has one of the largest shares of undocumented immigrants in the United States, and the bulk of that percentage is Latino.

The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative research study is to gain knowledge about undocumented Latino day laborers' perceived health …

Keeping House On The Comstock: Irish Immigrant Women In Nevada, 1850-1880, Christina M. Thompson

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

The lives of Irish immigrant women in Nevada during the mid-nineteenth century have not been studied at great length to date. This project attempts to explore the relationship that these women had with their communities, their families, and themselves while comparing their experiences to the lives of Irish immigrant women living in the larger Irish communities located on the east coast of the United States.

African American Teachers And State Licensing Examinations In Metropolitan Atlanta: A Case Study, Michael Leroy Taylor

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The 2001 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act legislation has had a profound effect on teacher rolls, especially African-American teachers. More than any other racial or ethnic group, African-American teachers disproportionately fail state teacher licensure examinations. This results in removing them from the classroom, while simultaneously preventing new teachers from entering it. The problem shows no signs of relenting under the current mandates, so as the diversity of the nation's study body continues to increase, the diversity of the teaching staff continues to shrink. This combined, multi-case study addressed the unexplained reduction in the numbers of African-American teachers due to …

You Should Know Jack: A Qualitative Study Of The Jack Lalanne Show (1951-~1965), Robert Cochrane

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Jack LaLanne hosted the first and longest running fitness program in United States broadcast history from 1951 through 1985. Since LaLanne's rise as a broadcasting celebrity, the health and fitness industry has grown from a small, somewhat-maligned field into a multi-billion dollar per year economy of its own. As LaLanne reached iconic status through his show, his name became synonymous with good health and nutrition, but the messages of his show went far beyond simple exercises. He used religious, patriotic, and biomedical messages to get his points across. In addition, he was a showman who sang to his audience, used …

From Martyrs To Mothers To Chick In Choos: The Medieval Female Body And American Women's Popular Literature, Gina M. Sully

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Placing the generic conventions of medieval hagiography, Nina Baym's insights about nineteenth-century American sentimental fiction's overplot, and contemporary American women's popular literature into tension illuminates some important commonalities. First, biographers of the medieval virgin saints and authors of contemporary American women's popular literature deploy the same overplot that Baym identifies as characteristic of American women's nineteenth-century popular fiction. Second, in order to define feminine virtue and establish the virtue of their protagonists, nineteenth-century and post-millennial American women writers rework the contrastive tropes by which hagiographers establish their heroines' virtue. Third, struggles for ascendance in the domestic realm gesture toward its …

Death Education: An Internationally Relevant Approach To Grief Counseling, Elizabeth A. Horn, Wendy J. Hoskins

Journal for International Counselor Education

In the 21^st century, counselors are faced with the challenge of assessing age old issues through a modern lens. In particular, today’s counselors provide grief related services to a growing number of global citizens each with their own “individual culture.” The purpose of this article is to overview the use of an international perspective in training counselors to work with issues of grief and to highlight the importance of integrating death education into the counseling curriculum. A brief overview of adaptive grieving styles and an internationally relevant approach for bereavement counseling is presented.

Moving Through Fear: A Conversation With Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Jennifer L. Fabbi, Amy L. Johnson

Library Faculty Publications

Prior to its release in August 2010, Susan Campbell Bartoletti's newest book, They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group (2010), received an incredibly positive response in the form of starred reviews from School Library Journal, Booklist, Publisher's Weekly, Horn Book, and Kirkus Reviews. Through her impeccable research and ability to weave a compelling story out of the place "where darkness and light smack up against each other" (Bartoletti & Zusak, 2008), she has made it possible for children and young adults to access and understand the horror of the Third Reich …

He Was A Heck Of A Nice Guy, Kind Of Shy, And The Kids Liked Him, Robert Habenstein

Bios Sociologicus: The Erving Goffman Archives

This interview with Robert Habenstein, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Missouri, was recorded over the phone on December 23 and December 29, 2008. Dmitri Shalin transcribed the interview, after which Dr. Habenstein and Dr. Patricia Morrow Habenstein approved posting the present version on the web. Breaks in the conversation flow are indicated by ellipses. Supplementary information and additional materials inserted during the editing process appear in square brackets. Undecipherable words and unclear passages are identified in the text as “[?]”. The interviewer’s questions are shortened in several places.

Erving Goffman Was A Brilliantly Imaginative, Original Sociologist And A Pathmaking Ethnographer, Who Had A Deep And Lasting Influence On The Students Who He Mentored In His Distinctively Challenging Way, And On The Discipline Of Sociology To Whose Development He Was Fervently Committed, Renee C. Fox

Bios Sociologicus: The Erving Goffman Archives

This interview with Renée Fox, Annenberg Professor Emerita of the Social Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania, was recorded over the phone on November 28, 2008. After Dmitri Shalin transcribed the interview, Dr. Fox edited the transcript and approved posting the present version on the web. Breaks in the conversation flow are indicated by ellipses. Supplementary information and additional materials inserted during the editing process appear in square brackets. Undecipherable words and unclear passages are identified in the text as “[?]”. The interviewer’s questions are shortened in several places.

The Chamber Chorale, David B. Weiller, Jessica Kim

Chamber Music

List of programs to come. Program listing performers and works performed.

Inside Unlv, Diane Russell, Shane Bevell, Jennifer Vaughan

Inside UNLV

No abstract provided.

The Male Homoerotics Of Shakespearean Drama: A Study Of "The Merchant Of Venice," "Twelfth Night," And "Othello", Anthony Guy Patricia

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

This study seeks to both challenge and complicate the assumed heteronormativity of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, and Othello. Reading and analyzing these texts in such a manner provides the only means to access and interpret the homoerotics embedded deeply within them in a meaningful way that, in turn, enhances traditional understanding of Renaissance England.

Public Advocacy By The Roman Catholic Church And The United States Conference Of Catholic Bishops In The Twenty-First Century, Michele L Cannella

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

The Roman Catholic Church has engaged in moral criticism throughout history and continues to do so today through movie reviews published by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). The history of the Roman Catholic Church's censorship of moral content includes controlling the amount and type of media available. This rhetorical analysis of both the USCCB and New York Times movie reviews for the top ten grossing movies of 2006 discusses rhetoric as an expression of meaning that emerges through a texts' historical and cultural situation. Both sets of reviews are found on the Internet and this analysis argues …

Opihi Tales, Melissa L Llanes Brownlee

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Opihi Tales began as a geographical and psychological discovery of the Big Island of Hawaii, and has evolved into an internal exploration of the conflicts between my Hawaiian heritage and American culture, including the hypnotic sway of the "American Dream" and the heavy hand of Mormonism. Also, permeating my collection are the influences of Plantation culture. Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, and Portuguese words and ideas are woven into Opihi Tales as the people themselves have been woven into the lives of the natives they lived and worked beside in the fields. Language is an essential element of Opihi Tales. In order …

The Treatment Of Minorities And Women By Southwestern Courts And Prisons, Donna Crail-Rugotzke

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this work is to examine the role of race, ethnicity, and gender in the treatment of Native American, women, and Latino defendants and inmates by Southwestern courts and prisons from 1890 to 1930. This dissertation addresses issues such as the types of trials Native Americans, women and Latinos received from Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico courts and what types of sentences they received. This study explores whether late nineteenth and early twentieth-century attitudes about gender, race, and ethnicity influenced the sentencing of prisoners; It also describes the conditions at the Nevada State Prison, New Mexico Territorial Penitentiary, …

Unlv Magazine, Grace Russell, Gian Galassi, Shane Bevell, Karyn S. Hollingsworth, Jennifer Lawson, Lori Bachand, Cate Weeks, Erin O'Donnell, Peter Starkweather

UNLV Magazine

No abstract provided.

"Perpetual Movement, And A Border Of Mystery": The Transatlantic Imagined Community And Henry James' "The Golden Bowl", Nancy Cunard And "Negro: An Anthology", And Jean Rhys' "Wide Sargasso Sea", Oliver Quimby Melton

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Many modernist writers attempted to transcend nationality but are ultimately unable to do so because of an unyielding fact of post-eighteenth century existence; namely, that a person possesses a nationality is an unavoidable, requisite donnee of modern life. This dissertation argues that this paradox was effectively resolved in the Atlantic world, an especially active locus of modernist meta-nationality, where a dialogic, unfinalizable transatlantic "nation" or, using Benedict Anderson's term, "imagined community" formed. This study examines three particular writers and works that frame and contribute to the development of this imagined community. First, I argue that the ideal "Anglo-Saxon total" Henry …

The Evolution Of The Gaelic Mythos Through Twentieth-Century Drama, Kristina Ann Mcgraw

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

In this thesis I will explore the Gaelic mythos as it evolved in Irish drama throughout the twentieth century. I will begin by surveying postcolonial theories of imperialism's effect on culture, drawing comparisons to Ireland's reaction to colonialism. I will then discuss the Celtic Revival movement, as propagated by W. B. Yeats, Lady Augusta Gregory and John Millington Synge at the turn of the twentieth century. I will discuss this movement's use of Gaelic folklore and mythology through its drama; Next, I will consider this mythology's reception by later dramatists, represented by Sean O'Casey and Brian Friel. I will examine …