Digital Commons Network^™

Shaping This Space Between Us: Using A Reflexive Journaling Process To Explore The Complex And Malleable Space In Which Identity Exists, Lina Mahusain

Theses and Dissertations

While some parts of identity remain constant throughout one’s life, many aspects of a person’s identity are subject to rapid and constant change and negotiation. Using theories regarding the role possessions play in the construction, reinforcement, and manifestation of a person’s identity, this thesis project explores the potential to facilitate meaningful insights and awareness into one’s own identity. This will be achieved by designing a reflexive journaling process. A qualitative evaluation of this prototype journal process used by a pilot group of young creative individuals will generate an assessment of the proposed process

Documenting Tensions In Communities: Three Films By Eduardo Coutinho, Ryan James Norris

Theses and Dissertations

This project analyzes three documentaries that explore the inherent tensions and difficulties in building a sense of community in three different settings in Rio de Janeiro. The documentaries Boca de Lixo (1993), Santo forte (1999), and Edifí­cio Master (2002) by Eduardo Coutinho present an in-depth look at the tensions inherent in developing communal identity based on vocation in Boca de Lixo, religion in Santo forte, and location in Edifício Master. Through these documentaries, Eduardo Coutinho presents the difficulties faced by different groups of people in Brazil as they explore the development of a sense of community. Boca de Lixo endeavors …

Discursive Tactical Negotiations Within And Across Literacy Coaching Interactions, Carolyn S. Hunt

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, the researcher employed de Certeau's theoretical insights into cultural production in everyday life to examine how literacy coaches and teachers discursively negotiated issues of identity, power, and positioning during coaching interactions. The study also explored how literacy coaches and teachers enacted emotions within these discursive negotiations of identity, power, and positioning; and how physical, social, and ideological spaces were shaped by and reflected in coaching interactions. Data were generated during a yearlong qualitative study of literacy coaches and teachers interacting within a mid-size, suburban district in the U.S. Midwest. The researcher used a microethnographic approach to discourse …

Minimization Of Noise And Vibration Related To Driveline Imbalance Using Robust Design Processes, Omar Al-Shubailat

Theses and Dissertations

Variation in vehicle noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) response can be caused by variability in design (e.g. tolerance), material, manufacturing, or other sources of variation. Such variation in the vehicle response causes a higher percentage of produced vehicles to have higher levels (out of specifications) of NVH leading to higher number of warranty claims and loss of customer satisfaction, which are proven costly. Measures must be taken to ensure less warranty claims and higher levels of customer satisfactions. As a result, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have implemented design for variation in the design process to secure an acceptable (or within …

Maasai Identity In The 21st Century, Allison Marie Kotowicz

Theses and Dissertations

The Maasai people of East Africa have managed to retain much of their culture and traditions in the face of colonialism and increasing internal and external pressures. The Maasai have been viewed by many as the iconic, traditional representation of Africa. This representation affects perceptions and ideas about what it means to be Maasai. However, a person or group's identity is not a static, singular phenomenon, but composed of multiple identities and layers which are constantly changing.

In today's world, the Maasai are faced with changes and challenges from processes such as globalization and modernity. As the world becomes more …

Disturbance Of Self In Borderline Personality Disorder: An Integrative Approach, Ross Michael Lafleur

Theses and Dissertations

Disturbance of self has long been recognized as an important aspect of Borderline Personality Disorder. While it has received much attention from theorists, relatively little empirical study has examined the issue. One reason is the difficulty in conceptualizing and operationalizing the associated phenomena. This thesis reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on the self and its disturbance in BPD. It takes an integrative approach, drawing from cognitive, behavioral, psychodynamic, and neurobiological viewpoints. Within this context it presents a model of self disturbance in BPD, organizing processes by time scale as well as types of phenomenological self.

European Emerging Adults In The Context Of Free Time And Leisure, Eric K. Layland

Theses and Dissertations

Research on emerging adulthood has increased over the past decade, including further investigation of the five features of emerging adulthood: (a) exploring identity, (b) instability, (c) focus on self, (d) feeling in-between, and (e) possibilities (Arnett, 2004). Despite an increased focus on this age period (i.e., 18 -- 29 year olds), research has not addressed the context of free time and leisure. Trends among European emerging adults include increased delay of marriage, decreased childbirth, and general postponement of adult markers. Both the high cultural valuation of leisure and the apparent change in patterns of external markers (i.e., sustained low fertility …

Heirlooms, Candace Gayle Wiley

Theses and Dissertations

This creative thesis is a collection of poems and an essay that explores the concept of defining the self through the influence of personal and cultural heirlooms. It is particularly concerned with the inheritances that children receive, whether they are a pair of stockings or a political atmosphere. This collection consists of five sections, submitted in partial fulfillment of University of South Carolina's Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing.

“Just Let Us Teach!”: Living Literacy Policy In And Around Maplewood Elementary School, Cindy Anne Morton-Rose

Theses and Dissertations

Through a sociocultural lens this study explored how four teachers, a reading teacher, and their principal lived literacy policy in practice in and around Maplewood Elementary School. This work grew out of three questions: (a) How do six policy stakeholders at one elementary school--four teachers, one administrator, and one reading teacher--make meaning of literacy policies? (b) How do these stakeholders' understandings shape the appropriation of these policies in their day-to-day literacy practices? and (c) How does the meaning-making of other stakeholders--district, state, and federal policy-makers--intersect with and inform the appropriation of policy by the six focal stakeholders? In asking these …