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(Re)Positioning Black: Negotiating Racial Subjectivities In White Discursively Constructed Spaces, Elisa Davidson May 2016

(Re)Positioning Black: Negotiating Racial Subjectivities In White Discursively Constructed Spaces, Elisa Davidson

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

This thesis is both a personal and social inquiry of the experience of Black students at a predominantly white university. Within this inquiry, I extend Nakayama and Krizek's (1995) concept of whiteness as having "no true essence" to conceptualizations of blackness to assert that blackness is “a pattern of negotiation that takes place in conditions generated by specific discursive formations and social relations” (McLaren, 1999, pg. 40) rather than a fixed, essential category. Viewing blackness as encounter means that it is emergent through specific social and discursive conditions that are constantly constructed and negotiated through interactions with whiteness. I approach …


Examining Humor As A Rheotrical Tool: A Case Study On The Read, Edrees Nawabi May 2016

Examining Humor As A Rheotrical Tool: A Case Study On The Read, Edrees Nawabi

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

As race relations reach their worst state since the early 1990s, the Black American community has resorted to new and savvy rhetorical moves to communicate their point of view. This thesis takes on the podcast, The Read, in order to examine how humor is used as a rhetorical tool within the Black American community. Using a case study method, this research takes on a close examination of the five most popular episodes of The Read that aired between August 2015 and December 2015. The three philosophical theories of humor, superiority, relief, and incongruity, are coded within eleven controversial topics …


Multicultural To Intercultural Art Education, Kathryn A. Gong May 2015

Multicultural To Intercultural Art Education, Kathryn A. Gong

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The purpose of this study is to examine multicultural and intercultural art education in the commonwealth of Virginia. Multicultural and intercultural education are similar terms that share many characteristics but result in different outcomes. Multiculturalism promotes the understanding of diverse cultures, and interculturalism promotes positive communication between diverse cultures. The literature review analyzed similarities and differences between the two pedagogies, and inspired the development of questions for an electronic survey. The survey was disseminated to 926 members of the Virginia Art Education Association to examine the perceptions and uses of multiculturalism in Virginia art classrooms. The survey was also used …


Ang Buhay Sa Nayon-Life In The Valley: An Oral History Project With The Shenandoah Living Archive, Hannah Moses May 2015

Ang Buhay Sa Nayon-Life In The Valley: An Oral History Project With The Shenandoah Living Archive, Hannah Moses

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Ang Buhay sa Nayon/Life in the Valley, is an oral history project consisting of twenty-three interviews with seventeen Filipino Americans from the Shenandoah Valley. These video oral histories, including transcripts and donated photographs, are now part of the Shenandoah Living Archive at James Madison University. This oral history collection is also showcased in a digital exhibit: http://sites.jmu.edu/lifeinthevalley/. The website touches on a myriad of aspects of Filipino American life, but strives overall to put the interviewees’ experiences in historical context and to understand how Filipinos have formed a community in rural Virginia.


Demon Rum In The City Of Churches: A Spirited Fight For Alcohol Reform In Danville, Virginia, 1883-1933, Evelyn Dawn Riley May 2014

Demon Rum In The City Of Churches: A Spirited Fight For Alcohol Reform In Danville, Virginia, 1883-1933, Evelyn Dawn Riley

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Utilizing previous research of American alcohol reform movements, and specifically studies of alcohol in Virginia during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this thesis explores the multi-faceted story of Danville, Virginia and its alcohol reform from 1883-1933. Contained within these dates are critical events and stories chronicling the complex history of conflict, and occasional cooperation, regarding alcohol in a southern town. The goal of the thesis, comprised of two parts--a context paper and an accompanying digital exhibit--was to explore how Danville’s community structure and public discourse affected the way alcohol reform was experienced and discussed in the city. Findings indicated that …


Hemingway's Cante Jondo: The Old Man And The Sea, Michael J. Tucker Jan 1999

Hemingway's Cante Jondo: The Old Man And The Sea, Michael J. Tucker

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The Old Man and The Sea leads to a reading of The Epistle of James through Ernest Hemingway's deep understanding of Spanish Catholicism and Cuban culture; Hemingway's greatest work, it is his cante jondo, his "deep song" in homage to the suffering of his generation. Cante jondo, like The Old Man and The Sea, moves at a ballad tempo, speaks to life and death struggles, and embraces sorrow and joy in equal measure. Cante jondo, similarly, casts a mournful tone in its flamenco rhythms not unlike that Hemingway reveals in The Old Man and The Sea. What Flamenco …