Digital Commons Network^™

Psychopathic Personality Traits As A Moderator Of The Relationship Between Social Intelligence And Relational Aggression, Savannah Merold

Master's Theses

Social intelligence has been identified as one of many predictors of relational aggression. It is likely that a certain level of social intelligence may be necessary for relationally aggressive behaviors to be effective (e.g., some ability to understand human behavior is necessary to effectively harm others through the manipulation of status, social relationships, or sense of belonging). And yet, social intelligence is unlikely to be sufficient to produce relationally aggressive behavior. Merely because someone has the requisite levels of social intelligence to use relational aggression does not mean that he or she will be motivated to do so. There is …

The Boys Next Door: Progressing Disability Awareness And Representation Through Inclusive Production Practices, Shelby Lewis

Master's Theses

The Boys Next Door was a progressive and popular piece of theatre when first produced in 1986 and remains a ripe tool for spreading disability consciousness if mounted with research and respect. Playwright, Tom Griffin, chronicles a series of amusing and meaningful events in the lives of four men with varying levels of cognitive impairments told through the lens of Jack Palmer, their able-bodied supervisor. The goal of this thesis production was to illuminate the opportunities, challenges, and considerations required to produce this play with a message that is progressive to the goals of the disability community rather than detrimental. …

Prophecy For Sale: On American Rails, Erik Bryan White

Master's Theses

Prophecy for Sale: On American Rails follows the poetic tradition of Walt Whitman and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. This collection contains five numbered sections which show a progression of the human consciousness. Drawing on the works of Sylvia Plath, Weldon Kees, Jack Spicer, and others, the works in this collection exhibit a strong poetic American voice. Section “I: How Much Longer?” addresses class separation, racism, and inequality. Form mirrors content, confronting a world which seems bent on its own destruction. Section “II: The New Garden,” explores the human impact on nature in more detail and sets up solutions to the problems of …

"For All Such, A Country Is Provided": Choctaw Removal, Slave Trading, And Law In Southwestern Mississippi, 1800–1841, Anthony Albey Soliman

Master's Theses

At the beginning of the nineteenth century there were few white settlers in the Mississippi Territory. Over the course of two decades, the United States used treaties to force the indigenous inhabitants, the Choctaw, out of this area by the United States to lands west of the Mississippi River. The United States’ goal in the region was to create a plantation economy in the Mississippi Valley based on the production of short-staple cotton sustained by enslaved African American labor. Focusing on the removal of the Choctaw and the subsequent installation of a plantation regime in the Mississippi Valley, this thesis …

From Dago To White: The Story Of Sicilian Ethnic Evolution In New Orleans Amidst The Yellow Fever Epidemic Of 1905, H. Denise Lopresto Saucier

Master's Theses

The story of the Sicilian immigrants’ experiences in Louisiana is a tale of racial and ethnic evolution in the face of physical threats. With the end of the Civil War, many emancipated slaves migrated to other parts of the country, which left Louisiana planters in need of laborers. Planters turned to European labor to fill that need, bringing thousands of Sicilian peasants to work on their plantations. Extreme poverty and oppression made the opportunity to emigrate highly attractive, but Sicilians found problems in Louisiana as well. In addition to low wages, crowded living conditions, discrimination, and violence, the immigrants faced …

An Exploratory Study Of Factors Influencing The Success Of Refugee Youth In College And University, Lea Tienou-Gustafson

Master's Theses

The educational needs, challenges and outcomes of refugee youth in the United States have been studied a great deal, particularly in regard to primary and secondary education. There is a dearth of research, however, on the refugee experience in higher education in the United States.

This study seeks to add to the body of literature on refugee education by exploring shared features of the refugee experience in higher education. Through an in-depth study of refugee youth in Chicago, the study seeks to understand their experiences before, while entering and during college and university, particularly how these experiences are tied to …