Digital Commons Network^™

Traces Of The (Un)Familiar : Family, Identity, And The Return Of The Repressed In The Photographs Of Ralph Eugene Meatyard., Hunter Martin Kissel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the ways in which photographs by Ralph Eugene Meatyard provoke the uncanny—or Das unheimlich as Freud originally wrote in 1919—by breaking from conventions of mid-twentieth century family photography often utilized to establish and maintain genealogical unity. Meatyard’s photographs of his family and friends are accentuated by blurring techniques, prolonged exposures, and the incorporation of dime-store masks, and as a result depict moments when reality is disrupted by the return of repressed material from childhood. For a multitude of reasons, Meatyard’s photographs elicit comparisons to Surrealist photography as well as certain American modernists who also explored the notion …

An Investigation Of The Relationship Between Child, Family, And Community Factors And Early Childhood Oral Health And The Utilization Of Dental Health Services, Nicole Holt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background / Objective: Children under the age of 5 years bear a disproportionate burden of oral disease. The aim of this study is to investigate how child, family, and community determinants impact dental care utilization, and parental report of child’s oral health. Methods: Data for this study came from the 2011/2012 National Survey of Children’s Health for children aged 1 to 5 years old. Dependent variables evaluated were if the child had an oral health problem, been to a dentist in the past year, and parents description of the child’s teeth. Independent variables were selected from child, family, and community …

Homesick Hallelujahs, Koltin Scott Thompson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Homesick Hallelujahs explores the complexities of southern life. What begins as a bildungsroman of a young, lower-class Tennessean soon evolves into an exploration of southern culture and values, a journey across what is real and what is hoped-for in the lives of Appalachian southerners, and an exploding of themes that show up along the way. Racial tensions, religion and the lack thereof, the escape from the mundane that literature provides, identity politics, America's deep and divisive history--all of these things come to the forefront as the work progresses beyond "local color" into a realm that is universal and unabashedly American. …

Resurrection Fern, Amanda Larkin Muir

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Resurrection Fern is a collection of essays that explores the liminal space of becoming a woman; specifically, an independent woman with different ideas and values from what is considered the norm for the speaker's family. The speaker uses vignette-style essays to tell stories of her childhood, trauma, mental illness, and the threshold of adulthood. Themes of overcoming fear and mental illness to find a voice within the spectrum of feminism dominate the essays. The essays are broken into chapters to divulge the speaker's personal stories in relative chronological order.

The Role Of Sibling Configuration In Identity And Career Development, Alyssa Sullinger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This synthetic literature review examines the characteristics of sibling configurations— which refer to the ordinal position of siblings, age spacing, and sex composition—in a traditional family setting. A general review of the literature on sibling configurations and relationships is presented, and their potential roles in the development of personality traits, self-concept and identity, and career choices are explored. This synthesis describes how sibling birth rank is affiliated with generalized personality traits and likelihood of siblings with these traits identifying with corresponding career interest-types associated with Holland’s vocational theory. Suggestions for future research include empirical studies investigating these connections, such the …

Parents Of Children Who Had Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy: A Mixed-Methods, Exploratory Study, Natalene Kramer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: There is scant literature addressing the parents of children who had hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). therefore only inferences may be made as to issues of that experience affecting parents.

Purpose: The purposes of this study was to uncover the lived experiences of parents of children who had HIE, evaluate issues of stress, depression, coping, and impact of neurologic disability in order to better care for them and thus their families

Methods: A parallel, convergent mixed-methods design was used to explore experiences and perceptions of these parents regarding their experiences and life changes. The quantitative strand addressed four research questions which …

Navigating The (Im)Perfect Performances Of Queer Iranian-American Identity, Shadee Abdi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Within the social sciences and humanities, failure to adequately account for the intersectional ways people of color navigate their multiple identities within contesting cultural systems, creates an unfinished portrait of queer identity. For queer people of color, negotiating queer identity is always in relation to their nationality, race-ethnicity, class, gender, religion, and family. While many queer of color stories share similar obligatory cultural norms, the legal ramifications that impact the lives of queer Iranians and their families, both within Iran and abroad, challenge many queer of color expectations. Due to stringent cultural and legal influences, Iranian social discourse heavily impacts …

Tears Of A Clown: Reexamination Of Disabled Narrators In William Faulkner's The Sound And The Fury And As I Lay Dying, Alexandra Rose Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis argues that Darl Bundren of Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, and Benjy Compson of The Sound and the Fury exhibit certain similarities, suggesting that, in relation to Donald M. Kartiganer's model from the introduction of The Fragile Thread: The Meaning of Form in Faulkner's Novels, they would be paired together better than his initial couplings. This argument proposes to discuss why Darl Bundren is the reincarnated version of Benjy Compson in terms of their internal discourses, narratorial skills, and disability within each novel. As both characters could easily be labeled "disabled," this endeavor will also speculate …