Digital Commons Network^™

Women, Feminism, And Aging In Appalachia, Sherry Kaye Ms.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Aging has become a problem for men and women in Western societies where youth is touted and revered as a standard of success by which individual value is measured and esteemed. Older women in particular find that as they age they face discrimination in the form of ageism and social diminution. The purpose of the study is to remedy a lack of scholarship on aging in Appalachia and to establish a precedent for future studies. A liberal, feminist approach is used to analyze the results of recorded interviews and to interpret transcripts of relevant data. The results of the analysis …

"Wee Women's Work": Women And Peacebuilding In Northern Ireland, Amanda E. Donahoe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

International norms on intrastate conflicts, such as United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, call for women to participate in peace processes in countries emerging from conflict and civil strife, including those divided by identity-based conflict. However, scholars of post-war recovery in international relations and comparative politics have raised questions about the extent and effect of women’s participation in peace processes, and in politics more generally, in divided societies given underlying social, economic, and political barriers that impeded access to decisive or authoritative political decision-making. A critical question in the literature on women’s participation in post-conflict reconciliation-related dialogue and joint action …

Representations Of Women In Casta Paintings Of Colonial Mexico, Lacie Ellen Glover

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Representations of Women in Casta Paintings of Colonial Mexico explores the power relations between men and women represented in casta paintings of the eighteenth century. I provide an overview of the genre of casta painting and its relation to the sistema de castas, the social arrangement based on lineages intended to sustain the power of the Spanish elite. I examine how casta scenes reinforce the authority of the Spanish male. The social construction of gender, separate spheres of men and women, and the notion of "true womanhood" are recurrent themes. I argue that casta scenes reinforced the expected norms of …

The Age Of Sail: Stories And A Novella, Elizabeth Marie Cameron

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The five works of fiction in this collection aim to examine the role of family as a unit of order, and the ways in which this order defines identity, determines and subverts behavior, tempers or inflates expectations, and substitutes domestic politics for socio-cultural realities. These stories feature characters bewildered by the fluid boundaries between the personal and the social, by how the sacrifices and mistakes made in the family alter their experience in the public sphere, and by how the sacrifices and mistakes made in the public sphere upend or destroy the family. The range of ages depicted highlights the …

Dirty Slut : An Exploration Of Margaret In Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing., Lauren Ashlee Street 1987-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Throughout the past eleven years, my process as an actor has been influenced by my education in theatre, personal experiences, and changing views on literary figures and socio-political issues. Through the lens of a minor Shakespearean character, I examine my current process and relationship to the playwright and director and analyze the implications of my onstage representation of sexually active women. My views on gender politics prompt me to scrutinize the script, and I discover a tiny detail that confirms my character is innocent of the betrayal of her mistress and reaffirms my confidence in Shakespeare’s abilities as a writer. …

The Mathematics Self-Efficacy Of Rural Central Appalachian Undergraduate Females., Lisa J. Music

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation study was a two-part investigation with a sample of undergraduate students from three community and technical colleges and one university in the state of Kentucky. The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that contribute to the mathematics self-efficacy of rural Central Appalachian undergraduate females. Two subscales of the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitude Scale, the Confidence in Learning Mathematics and the Effectance Motivation Scale in Mathematics, were used to identify potential interview subjects. The 596 subjects, including 360 females and 236 males, also completed a questionnaire designed to determine their classification as being from rural Central Appalachia, …

A House Not Of Our Choosing, Melisa D. Cadell Ms

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores our existence through the confinement of the human body. The exhibition of “A House Not of Our Choosing,” was presented at the Tipton Gallery, 126 Spring Street Johnson City, Tennessee, from March 1, 2013, to March 8, 2013. It will visually describe Cadell’s thoughts regarding the figure as a fragile vessel. The installation is designed to require the viewer to closely examine the work from multiple perspectives.

The exhibition consists of sculpted paper, etched, painted, manipulated glass slides, and projection. Research discusses the work produced over a three-year period. Exploration and reflection in the areas of religion, …

"Individual Yet As One": Performing Deafness And Performing Community In Mark Medoff's Children Of A Lesser God, Mariah Crilley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I examine the relationship between deafness, women, and performance in Mark Medoff's Children of a Lesser God. The play was a massive popular success, both in its run on Broadway and its movie adaptation. Deafness and deaf people had never been so visible in American hearing culture. More importantly, the play coincided with civil rights movements by people with disabilities, which culminated in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Disabilities, including deafness, were called into being as part of a national identity. These movements posited self-determination but ultimately relied and thrived on a communal and …

Catholic Social Teaching And The Capability Approach To Human Development: A Critical Analysis And Constructive Proposal, Mary E Filice

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This aim of this dissertation is to present the argument that Catholic Social Teaching's focus on integral human flourishing can offer theoretical input to the field of Human Development as well as practical contributions to social and political initiatives currently underway. The most powerful vehicle of communication for reporting the global position on poverty is the Human Development Report produced by the United Nations Development Programme, which adopts the Capability Approach as its evaluative framework for measuring individual well being. I propose that Catholic Social Teaching can protect the Capability Approach from its potential to lean towards individualism through the …

Exploring The Gender-Specific Needs Of Female Refugees During Resettlement And Integration: A Case Study In Pittsburgh, Kristina Sue Kimura

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recently Pittsburgh has experienced a noticeable increase in the number of incoming refugees, which has put added pressure on local service providers to develop more efficient resettlement practices. While female refugee's experiences have been largely ignored, this study attempts to better understand the gender-specific needs of female refugees who resettle and integrate into Pittsburgh. I used Ager and Strang's (2004) Indicators of Integration framework, with a focus on the indicators of "employment," "social bridges," "language and culture," and "rights and citizenship," and adapted it to a gendered perspective to analyze data from two focus group sessions with 11 refugee women …

Women Don't Ask: But Why Aren't They Willing To Learn How? Testing A Four Factor Model, Jared Dudley Simmer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It has long been suspected that the general reluctance of women to negotiate their salaries may be one factor that contributes to the gender wage gap. While there has been significant research on the reasons for this reticence to ask for more money, there has been no prior exploration of the reasons why women might be reluctant to avail themselves of opportunities to learn how.

The intent of this mixed methodology study was to explore male and female graduate students' feelings about negotiation in general, and willingness to study negotiation in particular, and to identify those attitudes and beliefs that …

Living Between Two Worlds: Conflict, Investigation And The Change, Noura Abdulhameed Shuqair

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Beginning with my exploration of art as an aesthetic object, this paper shows the growth of my work and concept. Through my practice, I have been able to understand the contradictions in my traditional society and western modernity. It has helped me grapple with my own beliefs, and begin to confront those I don't agree with.

The Influence Of Gender And Alcohol Use On Depressive Symptoms Among Men And Women, Elizabeth Anne Peters

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the extent to which gender influences self-reported prototypical and masculine-specific symptoms of depression in men and women and whether or not alcohol mediates this relationship. Secondly, this study evaluated the effectiveness of the Denver Comprehensive Depression Inventory (DCDI), in measuring prototypical and masculine-specific depressive symptoms in clinical and non-clinical samples of men and women.

This paper summarizes the literature on gender differences in depression and the assessment of depression and gender, and outlines the current research on masculine-specific depression. It is argued that current assessment instruments identify prototypical symptoms of depression, as outlined in the DSM-IV-TR, but …

Strengths In Mentoring: Creating A Pilot Mentorship Program For Women In Sport And Recreation, Health And Wellness, And Media Literacy, Meghan Roney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Leadership Advancement for Women and Sport (LAWS) pilot mentorship program is intended to increase a sample of undergraduate female Human Kinetics students' exposure to careers or avocations in the fields of sport and recreation, health and wellness, or media literacy. I explored three sub problems: how to effectively create a unique pilot mentorship program to provide occupational exposure and insights for women; what were the mentors' and mentees' perceptions of the pilot mentorship program and what is the recommended design of a mentorship program for LAWS. This study was completed using participant observation, focus groups, and document analysis. Findings …

Perceptions Of Mentoring: Examining The Experiences Of Women Superintendents In Georgia, Scarlett Copeland

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The number of women superintendents working in Georgia public schools exceeds the national average, but unfortunately, when compared to the number of men in the same position, women are not as well represented. This gap between female and male superintendents, and the reasons why this disparity exist, has been the subject of many research studies. One possible explanation for this phenomenon is a lack of mentoring for women superintendents.

This descriptive mixed methods study gathered both quantitative and qualitative data on the mentoring experiences of women superintendents in Georgia. The quantitative participants in this study included 39 women superintendent in …