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Musical Play Across Ethnic Boundaries In Western Jamaica, Ronald Eric Dickerson

LSU Master's Theses

An ethnography of music, ritual, and festival in western Jamaica, this thesis reports on fieldwork performed in St. Elizabeth and St. James Parishes between June 2002 and January 2003. Featured field sites include rural dancehall events, Kumina performances, Accompong Town's Maroon Heritage Festival, and a Rastafarian music and nutrition festival called "The Supper of Rastafari." Building an account of these and other sites of cultural performance, this study focuses on social connections between groups of participants, traced through poetic, historical, and personal relationships among performers, especially across boundaries of ethnic, stylistic, or religious difference within Jamaica's national cultural identity.

Developing Organizational Development: Alienation And Organizing In The Age Of Information, Robert D. Kreisher

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Modernism is characterized by alienation from one's self and the processes by which one's self gets constructed. Organizational development (OD) is an activity that attempts to address the experience of work and to transform the historical alienation.

OD practitioners are often optimistic that this transformation is possible and even is happening in the day-to-day work of OD. A group of critics, mostly academics, are skeptical about whether any real transformation is possible, arguing that OD practices are misguided extensions of modernism. In one thread of the OD literature, authors build an argument for the centrality of issues of identity in …

Recontextualization And Identity Assessment Of Unprovenienced Mummified Human Remains, Gwyn Dee Madden

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

While museums and other facilities housing human remains will obviously vary in the organization and documentation of remains, most realized in the 1990's much could be done to improve conditions. Due to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 and the inventories required therein, UNLV human remains collections were examined or re-examined and some were found with little or no accompanying information. Some of these remains were skeletonized and others mummified, as the study of mummified remains is a specialty within physical anthropology incorporating a multi-disciplinary focus, few if any have likely been fully examined; Therefore, this …

Dance As Identity, Resistance And Power : Danza IndiìGena De La Huasteca, MeìXico, Janet Rachel Johns

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This research imposes a point of view that contradicts a history of conquest and the eradication of culture. Throughout the centuries the voices of marginalized groups have been silenced. Through this research the voices of the indigenous dance communities of the Huasteca are heard and their messages of identity, resistance and power communicated through their dance. Many of the ancient indigenous dance traditions of the Huasteca are in danger of being erased due to political, economic, religious and social pressures. This study is an attempt to rescue and preserve these traditions in order for them to be passed down to …

Reticent Romans: Silence And Writing In La Vie De Saint Alexis, Le Conte Du Graal, And Le Roman De Silence, Evan J. Bibbee

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Apart from discourse and yet somehow part of it, silence is a powerfully ambiguous linguistic phenomenon that blurs the lines between presence and absence. Eluding the material aspects of oral and written language, it is only perceptible as the gaps or spaces between words. Nonetheless, it plays a role in all linguistic productions: although silence itself cannot be directly communicated, it can influence communication. In a literary text, silence may takes on many different guises, including rhythmic hesitations, rhetorical omissions, and poetic oppositions that mimic the audible gaps of spoken language. The visual, aural, and fictional interaction of all these …

Feathers And Tuxedos: An Analysis Of Political Cartoons About Indian Gaming, Michael Stephan Nasirov

LSU Master's Theses

Feathers and Tuxedos: An Analysis of Political Cartoons About Indian Gaming is an exploration into the changing stereotypes of Indians in illustrated media. Beginning with general issues such as poverty and media coverage, this thesis continues to cover chronologically the origins of modern Indian gaming and the resulting expenditure of profits into social welfare of the tribes and the continuous three-way battle between state, federal, and Indian sovereign rights. Normative U.S. societal reactions to Indian gaming are contrasted with their Indian counterpoints. Cartoons allow for a visual representation of contested relationships, including recent imagery of well-to-do entrepreneurs profiting at the …

C.C. Pat Fleming: Houston, Texas, Landscape Architect, Paige Allred Phillips

LSU Master's Theses

C. C. Pat Fleming practiced landscape architecture in Houston and the surrounding South from the 1920s through the 1990s. He came to be considered one of Houston’s preeminent landscape architects, and his role in the profession cannot be overlooked. This thesis traces the evolution of Fleming’s design style over the course of his career, analyzing a selected cross section of his works against three design movements that occurred during his lifetime: the Beaux-Arts tradition, the Colonial Revival movement, and the Modernist movement. For investigating the work of Pat Fleming, the method of historical research is used. A historical context study …

The Roma Of Eastern Europe In Transition: Historical Marginalization, Misrepresentation, And Political Ethnogenesis, Michael Bobick

Honors Papers

This thesis primarily deals with how the ongoing political transformations in Central and Eastern Europe have affected one particular group, the Roma or Gypsies. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, many initially greeted the radical reconfiguration of hegemonic governmental structures with nationalist zeal, and the democratization of socialist regimes was universally hailed as a victory for all. But for the Roma, a historically persecuted pariah group continually surrounded by misconceptions and Orientalist stereotypes, the radical transformation to "Western" capitalism and democracy must not be viewed in such a positive light. As an ethnic group the Roma exhibit a wide-ranging …

La Poetique Du Paysage Dans L'Oeuvre D'Edouard Glissant, De Kateb Yacine Et De William Faulkner, Nabil Boudraa

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the different ways in which Edouard Glissant, Kateb Yacine and William Faulkner combine landscape, history and identity in their work. The depiction of landscape in literature is not new, but the French Romantics in the 19th century, for instance, tended to describe the beauty of landscape without conceiving any rapport between landscape and humankind, and thus created a gap between the two. For Kateb and Glissant, landscape is also a witness of History. The (hi)story of their respective communities has been confiscated and shattered by the respective colonizers, hence the necessity to recreate it through the poetics …

These Things Add Up, Sara C. Hopp

LSU Master's Theses

These Things Add Up explores thoughts about time, accumulation and evidence. As time passes, there is a constant accumulation of tangible and non-tangible information which must be processed. Moments, conversations, thoughts, observations and sensations all contribute to this saturation of information and the creation of a layered space and time. Information which is consciously or unconsciously selected for notice becomes evidence of identity and personal history. In this same process, memory and the anticipation of the future are incorporated into the present.

"A Plea For Color:" The Construction Of A Feminine Identity In African American Women's Novels., Kirsten A. Moffler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Writers of slave narratives i n the nineteenth-century manipulated the western sentimental literary tradition to appeal t o a white, predominantly female readership during a time of national ideological division. These writers had their own agendas which often m e t (or were forced to meet ) those of white-run abolitionist movements t o achieve the ultimate goal of abolishing slavery. Northern white-run abolitionist movements were kept warm by the moral fires of mid-nineteenth-century Protestant Christianity; Christian ideals flooded their meetings and publications. Therefore, it is no wonder that the writers of slave narratives are so overt i n discussing …

A Field Study Of A Dual Diagnosis Program For Adults With Psychological Disabilities And Chemical Dependencies : Facilitating Positive Identity Formation For The Transitional Age Client In Residential Treatment, Luis Felipe Restrepo

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to enhance therapeutic and educational curriculum of the transitional age client (normally described as, between the ages of 18-24 years old) within a Dual Diagnosis residential program for adults with psychological disabilities and chemical dependency, by investigating how current curriculum is facilitating healthy identity development. The terms dual diagnosis and transitional age client are defined, along with an in-depth look at how healthy identity development may manifest itself for an individual with an addiction and coexisting psychiatric disorder. Individuals referred into the residential program are all clients of the County and Department of Behavioral …

Identity, Conflict And Cooperation In International River Basins, Jack V. Kalpakian

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation tests the hypothesis that water disputes cause serious conflict within and between states. It uses a structured case study approach to see whether there is a link between the independent and dependent variables. It also considers the effect of other variables on serious conflict. Specifically it addresses the effects of national identity and the othering process on conflict. The three case studies are built around rivers in the drier parts of the world. This biases the dissertation towards affirming the established mainstream hypothesis which states that water disputes cause serious conflict. In all three cases, historical animosities and …

A Dyke's Life: Sexual Identity And Gender Performance In Radclyffe Hall's The Well Of Loneliness, Erica L. Ellsworth

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This thesis studies sexual and gender identity and gender performance in The Well of Loneliness by utilizing postmodern theory. The protagonist in the novel, Stephen Gordon, is not only one example of the many identities of lesbianism, but she is also an example of a multiplicitous identity. This thesis also questions whether we can find the exact moment or reason why an identity is formed. An exploration of not only The Well of Loneliness but also of a character study of Stephen Gordon is important to this dialogue because both studies validate the contradictory and complimentary relationship between sex and …

Psychological Sense Of Community In Jewish Adolescents Of Perth, Western Australia, Darren M. Stein

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This paper explores Psychological Sense of Community (PSC) in the Jewish adolescent population of Perth. The main aim was to investigate the differences between student attending the private Jewish School (Carmel) or another school within the metropolitan area. Participants were recruited from Carmel School, W A Maccabi (Jewish sport club) and by using a snowball sampling technique. The total sample included 167 students (60 males and 107 females) in years 10, II and 12. Participants' PSC was assessed by the modified Sense of Community Index (SCI). Results showed significantly higher PSC in Carmel students (ᵽ< .05), males (ᵽ< .01) and Somewhat observant individuals (ᵽ< .0 I). No relationship was found between PSC and whether one lived in the central Jewish suburbs. The relationship between PSC and length of time lived in the community was not a positive, linear one as expected. Results that were contrary to those in the literature may be effected by the community's traditional gender stereotypes and high numbers of migrants. Limitations of the study and implications for future research are discussed.

Becoming Mormon Men: Male Rites Of Passage And The Rise Of Mormonism In Nineteenth-Century America, Bruce R. Lott

Theses and Dissertations

The evidence presented in this thesis supports a view of the first Mormon men as coming from the agrarian majority of early nineteenth-century American farmers and artisans who embraced a set of manly ideals that differed significantly, in many ways, from those embraced by their middle-class contemporaries. These men's life writings attest to boyhood experiences of working alongside their fathers as soon as they were physically able, and subsequently of acting as substitute farmers and breadwinners as well as being put out to work outside the direct supervision of their fathers. Such experiences enabled them to frequently follow in the …

Congruency Of Identity Style In Married Couples, Jerry L. Cook

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study assessed the importance that similar identity style plays in the relationships within recently married couples. To assess the congruency of similar and dissimilar identity style, three postulates were analyzed. These postulates included: (a) Is there a gender difference in reports of marital intimacy? (b) Is similarity of identity style related to marital intimacy? (c) Is there an interaction effect between gender and similarity of identity style in relation to reports of marital intimacy? A sample consisting of 84 couples completed a survey containing questions relevant to identity and marital intimacy. Demographic information was also requested in the survey. …

Claiming Identity: The Effect Of The American Myth On Human Relationships In David Mamet's "American Buffalo", "Glengarry Glenn Ross", And "Speed-The-Plow", Lyn Sattazahn

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

David Mamet's American Buffalo, Glengarry Glen Ross, and Speed-the-Plow explore the damage American business has done to the human spirit. The frontier myth has evolved into exploitative capitalism where competition becomes an obstacle for community and friendship. The characters in these plays try to establish and define their identities by their particular status within the business hierarchy. Unfortunately the nature of competition creates an environment in which the characters use each other's needs and vulnerabilities for their own gain. To openly express the need for love and community in this climate is to expose weakness. Fear of revealing such vulnerability …

Using Porn: Discourse And Identity Construction In Male Consumers, Andrew Fletcher Harper

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

A number of cultural perspectives address the question of male consumers of heterosexually oriented pornography. Porn and the consumer have been characterized from feminist, conservative, and scientific positions. Despite the presence of these perspectives, little work informed from the consumer perspective exists. This research allows consumers to speak about their own experience. This research analyzes the impact of framing discourses on the identity construction of consumers. Using concepts from Foucault and cultural studies, these questions are explored: How do discourses about consumers affect their identity construction? Which are important? How do men construct their consuming experiences? How does consumption context …

Confrontation And Identity In The Fiction Of J.M. Coetzee, Dawn Grieve

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis is an examination of the fictional works of J.M. Coetzee to date. By focusing my gaze upon either the lack of encounter or the encounters between the 'Self' and the 'Other', I explore the relationship between confrontation and the fluid formation and erosion of identity. This exploration takes place against a dual background: the history of the apartheid government in South Africa, the legacy of oppression and the post-apartheid opportunities and challenges; and Coetzee's own acknowledgement of complicity with the past and commitment to a reconciled future. This study not only examines a broad range of criticism on …

Factors Contributing To Deaf And Gay Identity In Male College Students, James R. Brune

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

The Deaf Gay community is unique in that individuals who affiliate themselves with members of this community maintain dual identities – Deaf identity and Gay identity. Since there is a lack of formal research on this phenomenon, this pilot study was formulated as a way to take a preliminary look at the relationship between Deaf identity and Gay identity, and the factors contributing to the development of each. A sample of 21 subjects completed a survey which asked questions about the individual’s Deaf identity development, “coming out” process, Gay identity development, and affiliation with the Deaf Gay community. Non-parametric statistical …

Mother Ireland: Women, The State And The Abortion Referendum In The Republic Of Ireland, Jennifer K. Dewan

Honors Papers

In this paper, I examine the relationship between women and the Irish state, particularly how the nationalist state has defined and controlled women through their reproductive capabilities. I outline the factors that have contributed to the construction of women's identity and how women have resisted the limitations of this construction in a variety of ways. The issue of abortion is an excellent point on which to base the discussion of women in Ireland because of it extraordinary impact on Irish society. To outline the methodology of this examination, this thesis is theoretically grounded in feminist anthropology, in which the category …

Mexican Identity In Clark County, Nevada: A Visual Ethnohistory, 1829-1960, Corinne Escobar

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Mexicans were present in southern Nevada since 1829 but their history is not well documented. Often their cultural identity was misrepresented in several Nevada histories. This thesis establishes a written and photographic documentation of the Mexican identity population in southern Nevada between 1829 and 1960; A four-fold typology that expands the definition of ethnicity to include the nature of interethnic relations between two or more ethnic groups is applied to identify the relationships experienced between those of Mexican identity and Euro-Americans. This model, known as the four types of ethnicity, describes interactive behavior as being complementary, competitive, confrontational, or colonial …

From Herds Of Goats To Herds Of Tourists: Negotiating Bedouin Identity Under Petra's Romantic Gaze, Cynthia Allison Wooten

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Crossed Wires, Noisy Signals: Language, Identity, And Resistance In Caribbean Literature, Barry Eidlin

Honors Papers

I ask the question: is it possible to posit a Return that is historically informed by the disjunctive, fractured narratives of the Caribbean, one which both challenges and negotiates what Spivak has termed the neo-colonial "structures of violence?" Likewise, can the Caribbean subject articulate a space for communal identity, self-representation, and historical agency, in opposition to the disempowering dissection of the (neo-)colonizing gaze? I would argue that such a discursive project is possible, indeed necessary, in order to continue developing the insurgent narrative of resistance to colonialism that traces its roots back to the arrival of the first white colonizers …

Creating A Panethnic Identity: The Asian American Movement's Vision Of Racial And Political Solidarity, Rosette Ho Wirtz

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

The Asian American movement occurred in the late 1960s when America was being criticized as a land of inequality where racial discrimination degraded all people of color. Asian American activists participated in the effort to achieve social, political, and economical equality with the larger White dominated society. Answers will be sought for three questions one should ask when confronted with the problem of analyzing a minority movement. The questions are: (1) What are the goals of the movement?; (2) What forces initiate and propel the movement into existence?; and (3) How does the movement attain its goals? Lastly, this thesis …

The Relationship Between Marcia's Ego Identity Status Paradigm And Erikson's Psychosocial Theory, Lawrence Anderson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

While Erikson's psychosocial theory continues to dominate theoretical explanations of adolescent identity development. Marcia's ego identity status paradigm has become the primary basis to empirically measure such notions. Though Marcia's paradigm has its roots in psychosocial theory. questions have surfaced regarding the communality of Marcia's and Erikson's notions on identity. Issues of scope. connectedness. definition. terminology. and measurement have marked a potential divergence among the two approaches-views which until recently seemed almost unified. This study addressed the relationship between Erikson's psychosocial theory and Marcia's ego identity status paradigm. By administering identity and psychosocial stage-specific measures to a sample of college-age …

A Participatory Study Of The Self-Identity Of Kibei Nisei Men: A Sub Group Of Second Generation Japanese American Men, William T. Masuda

Doctoral Dissertations

At one time, the Kibei were perceived as "a minority within a minority" (Me Williams, 1944: 322) who were "distrusted in both America and Japan" (1944:321). But today, the Kibei are hardly distinguishable from the Nisei as they both enter the evening of their lives. Raised in both America and Japan, but strongly influenced in their formative years by Japanese cultural values and beliefs, they were often perceived differently by their own family, by the Japanese American community, and by the American community at large. The apparent marginality of this group, living on the fringes of or in the space …

To Assimilate The Children: The Boarding School At Chemawa, Oregon 1880-1930, James Alan Smith

All Master's Theses

Separating Native American children from their people to train them for entering white society was seen by proponents as an alternative to extinction. Reformers implemented this goal by establishing off-reservation boarding schools like that at Chemawa, Oregon. Though their methods changed, the objective of assimilation remained constant. This case study argues that this emphasis was well-intentioned but flawed. Examination of a fifty year period reveals the unrealistic assumption that Native children would forsake their identity for another.

Developing Thinking Competencies And Self-Esteem Through Selected Literature And Higher-Level Questioning Strategies, Carolyn B. Cropper

Graduate Theses

This project developed curriculum focusing upon the importance of using literature and higher-level questioning strategies as a tool to increase a student's self-esteem. The major emphasis of the study was on developing higher-level questioning strategies to promote thinking on the part of the student in order to improve self-esteem. Common conflict situations threatening the improvement of self-esteem were selected. After reviewing the literature, a curriculum containing an annotated, categorized bibliography of relevant books accompanied with specific questioning strategies was compiled to aid the classroom teacher to develop higher-level questioning skills in children.