Digital Commons Network^™

Toward A Rhetoric Of Scholar-Fandom, Tanya R. Cochran

English Dissertations

Individuals who consider themselves both scholars and fans represent not only a subculture of fandom but also a subculture of academia. These liminal figures seem suspicious to many of their colleagues, yet they are particularly positioned not only to be conduits to engaged learning for students but also to transform the academy by chipping away at the stereotypes that support the symbolic walls of the Ivory Tower. Because they are growing in number and gaining influence in academia, the scholar-fans of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Buffy) and other texts by creator Joss Whedon are one focus of …

Flame Or Fizzle? A Comparative Case Study Of The Sparc Experience, Cynthia Bushey

NERA Conference Proceedings 2009

Social Perceiving-Acting Reciprocal Conversations (SPARC) is an emerging approach to large group discussions. SPARC utilizes an iterative approach to group discussions by nesting small fishbowl discussions within a larger whole group discussion. Theoretically, this structure affords reciprocal participant interactions for the negotiation of meaning and increased depth of inquiry. This study takes a detailed look at the experiences of three undergraduates who participated in SPARC during an Educational Psychology course for non-education majors at a large university in the Northeastern United States. Luke, Esmeralda, and Diane participated in SPARC eleven times between January and May.

Kindling Sparc: The Emergence Of Social Perceiving-Acting Reciprocal Conversations, Cynthia Bushey

NERA Conference Proceedings 2009

Based on an ecological theory of knowing (see Barab & Plucker, 2002; Barab & Roth, 2006; Gibson, 1986; Young, 2004), Social Perceiving-Acting Reciprocal Conversations (SPARC) is an emerging discussion approach designed to tune agents’ perceptions to the affordances of discussion interactions and to develop their effectivities to act on these affordances. This paper discusses the creation and subsequent iterations of SPARC that emerged in my undergraduate Educational Psychology class between January and May of 2009. Educational implications and future research directions are discussed.

Facebook: A Technique Of Modern Power, Monica Reyes

Journal of South Texas English Studies

The article focuses on the emergence of social networks in the society, particularly the Facebook that extends a technique of modern power. It mentions that Facebook has attracted millions of users across the globe that has become a productive device on the association between people and society and has the capabilities in producing people who they are and how they use themselves. It highlights the works of philosopher and theorist Michel Foucault such as "Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison" and "The History of Sexuality" that display the social relations among users and examine the interrelated ideas of …

An Autoethnography:A Mathematics Teacher's Journey Of Identity Construction And Change, Anthony B. Stinson

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Dissertations

Despite some gains, improving secondary mathematics instruction remains an area of concern of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). Recitation, also known as lecturing, prevails as the practice of choice of mathematics teachers in the United States. However, the report of the NCTM Research Advisory Committee 2000 indicates that the mathematical proficiency of students increases when the practice of choice includes more than recitation. Therefore, changes in instruction in the mathematics classroom should occur to improve student learning. The purpose of this dissertation is to provide a personalized account of one mathematics teacher’s use of reflective teaching as …

To Keep On Knowing More(?): Seminar Xvill, The Other Side Of Psychoanalysis, John Lowther

English Theses

This is an explication of Lacan’s Seminar XVII. The introduction situates the Seminar in its time and in relation to other theories of discourse. In part one I examine the changes which it brings to a variety of ideas already known in Lacan’s oeuvre such as Jouissance, Master Signifier(s) and Oedipus. Part two looks the four discourses in detail after considering the positions common to each. I provide accounts of each discourse as taking place internally to a subject and between subjects. The coda examines areas where further research is possible, reviews and critiques some scholarship on this seminar and …

Malaysia's Transitional Moment? : Democratic Transition Theory And The Problem Of Malaysian Exceptionalism., Jason P. Abbott

Faculty Scholarship

Many theorists of democratization transition have, either explicitly or implicitly, a teleological concept of political progress, liberalization and reform. For such theorists, countries such as Malaysia are therefore in transition towards substantive 'full' liberal democracy. Taken in this light, the significant advances by opposition political parties in the 2008 federal and state elections in Malaysia represent a major advance towards this end goal. While many have highlighted that Malaysia may in fact be an exception to this rule, this paper contends instead that the Malaysian case study challenges the central tenets of democratic transition more profoundly. Indeed, since independence the …

Assessing Druze Identity And Strategies For Preserving Druze Heritage In North America, Chad Kassem Radwan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research study focuses on promoting historical, religious, and cultural knowledge among transnational Druze. The Druze are a relatively small, tightly knit religious community from the Middle East who practice endogamy and accept no converts. In the diaspora, Druze have often established their own communities based on their collective ancestral and familial ties and through the establishment of groups such as the American Druze Society. This study works to allow individuals to discuss their Druze identity, identify the community's social problems, and recommend possible approaches or solutions. My research experience as an insider doing ethnography among fellow Druze has in …

The People And Me: Michael Moore And The Politics Of Political Documentary, Jon Scott Oberacker

Open Access Dissertations

Perhaps no one has had more influence on the role of political documentary in the contemporary public sphere than filmmaker Michael Moore. His unique melding of committed political arguments with an ironic reflexive style have changed the very look and feel of documentary film, contributing significantly to the form's newfound popularity. Furthermore, his steadfast commitment to progressive politics has given the issue of socioeconomic "class" the kind of attention it rarely receives within the mainstream media. However, Moore's films have also been the recipient of viscous attacks from his political opponents, and subject to some of the most contentious public …

Wisdom Christology In Origen And Elizabeth Johnson: A Supplementary Discourse, Adam Paul Koester

Obsculta

No abstract provided.

Searching For Patterns Of Discourse In A Sea Of Professional Development: Professional Learning And Teacher Discourse, Brian T. Whitney

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Professional development, like a sea of changing tides, ebbs and flows through a myriad of professional trends. Some of these trends have disenfranchised teachers from the core of professional learning while others have empowered teachers to confront change with passion and courage. As collaboration continues to gain popularity as an empowering and effective route to professional learning, scrutinizing the effects of professional development on teacher discourse will ensure desired outcomes are achieved.

While collaboration holds the power to break down some of the isolation that exists in the teaching profession, talk alone, void of inquiry and reflection, will not necessarily …

Multimodal Text Designers: A Case Study Of Literacy Events In A Multicultural Context, Mary-Virginia Feger

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The erasure of Latino/a adolescents' multiliteracies in school settings affects both their views of education and their entry into the community outside of school. Framed by literacy-as-social-practices perspectives and communities of practice theory, this case study explored what happened when a group of 13 Latino/a adolescents and their Latina teacher engaged in a six-week play production in an after-school program and performed the play for parents. It examined the relationship between the participants' discourse practices and their performance, and determined how they validated their performances. Data collected included observations, interviews, students' written reflective responses, a fieldwork journal, and a DVD …

Chapter Xi. Augustine: The Importance Of Meaning And The Unimportance Of The Negative Method, Raoul Mortley

Raoul Mortley

[Chapter Contents]: The experience at Ostia, 192; mysticism, 193; desire for knowledge, 194; semantic desire, 196; discourse as linear, 199; signs and authorial guarantees of meaning, 205; the via negativa, 210; Lossky's view, 21 1; purity of heart stressed, rather than purity of mind, 212; Ambrose's negatives, 212; vision and anthropomorphism, 212; language and the Trinity, 215; the via negativa a preparatory discipline, 215; Augustine at his most agnostic on the value of language, 217.

Chapter Ii. The First Christian Negative Theology: Justin And Clement, Raoul Mortley

Raoul Mortley

[Chapter Contents]: Justin, transcendence and the inefficacy of names, 34; Ps. Justin, Exhortation to the Greeks on names and multiplicity in language, 35; Clement on language and silence, 36; Clement's view of discourse, 38; language as concealment, 39; the Gnostic understands language, perceiving its secret significance, 40; the via negativa, 42; abstraction and the unities of Plato's Parmenides, 43.

Security And Belonging: Reconceptualising Aboriginal Spatial Mobilities In Yamatji Country, Western Australia, Sarah Prout

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Since British colonisation of Australia began, Aboriginal mobility practices have been poorly understood within the Anglo-Australian consciousnesses. This paper examines current discourses and conceptualisations of Aboriginal mobilities in Yamatji country, Western Australia. Finding none of these explanations and interpretations singularly sufficient to encompass the diverse spatial practices of Aboriginal people in the region, the paper proposes an alternative framework for interpreting and understanding these population dynamics. The central tenet of this reconceptualisation is that contemporary Aboriginal spati- alities – including spatial distribution, movements, and immobility – are iteratively shaped by the processes of procuring, contesting, and cultivating security and belonging. …

Elite Framing And Conflict Transformation In Turkey, Neophytos Loizides

Neophytos Loizides

This article examines the effects of elite framing in conflict transformation. It utilizes debates from the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) as the main source of empirical evidence and demonstrates differences in the way Turkish parliamentarians framed national and foreign policy issues in the 1990s. For the most part, elite framing of Kurdish issues was predominantly monolithic and adversarial towards ‘ethnic others’ demonstrating few challenges to dominant nationalist narratives and discourses, while framing of Greek-Turkish disputes was diverse, with moderates cautiously challenging hardliners on the necessity of cooperating with Greece. The article unravels these elite framing strategies and illustrates how …

Virgil Ortiz: American Indian Artist, Representational Trickster, And Identity Shapeshifter, Noell Ross Jackson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study opens the door for a re-thinking of how discourse shapes American Indian representation and identity. As such, contemporary American Indian artist, Virgil Ortiz, his art, and the discourse surrounding both art and artist are examined to reveal the strategies and tactics employed in his constitution of a politics of representation that broaden the spectrum of considerations of American Indian identity. Critical invention is the orientation through which two methodological approaches are intertextually applied. A critical rhetorical approach is employed to analyze both the vernacular discourse produced by Ortiz and the dominant discourse constructed by the dominant culture. Sorrells …

This Little Piggy Went To Press: The American News Media's Construction Of Animals In Agriculture, Carrie Packwood Freeman

Communication Faculty Publications

This textual analysis examines the representations of farmed animals in national print and broadcast news discourse in over 100 stories published from 2000-2003. Findings show these American news media largely support the speciesist status quo by favoring elite viewpoints and failing to provide balance. Although exceptions are provided, news media often objectify nonhuman animals discursively through: 1) commodification, 2) failure to acknowledge their emotional perspectives, and 3) failure to describe them as inherently-valuable individuals.

Bringing "Abnormal" Discourse Into The Classroom, Virginia M. Tucker

English Faculty Publications

Assuming student discourse is prone to error, teachers have long implemented rules that ensure "safe" discourse, particularly in composition instruction. My fifth grade teacher taught me to place a comma in a sentence whenever I take a breath rather than teaching me the language of comma rules. To my dismay, many of my first-year composition students raise their hands in agreement that they too have been taught to place a comma wherever their lungs suggest. These students learn to call independent clauses a complete sentence, and to them an ellipsis is merely “dot, dot, dot.” In an attempt to reach …

Persepolis Gone? Theorigins, Developmentandpraxisofayatollahkhomeini's Islamic-Nationalistnarrative (1979-1989), Jonathan Robert Eeuwes

Digitized Theses

A critical investigation of the question: what were the origins, development and implementation of Ayatollah Khomeini’s Islamic-nationalist narrative? How did he manage to take discursive control of the 1979 Revolution, and allow Khomeini to implement his version of Islamic Government? To answer this question this thesis will look at Khomeini’s use of a Shi’a “battle myth” in order to frame the revolution as an “Islamic act” of rebellion against an unjust power. In addition, Khomeini’s political theory of Veleyat-e Faqih, its origins, structure, development and potential problems will also be studied, in order to analyze how Khomeini influenced the

creation …

Introduction: Unsettling Questions, Disquieting Stories, Mae Kuykendall, David A. Westbrook

Journal Articles

The Business Law and Narrative Symposium, held at Michigan State University on September 10-11, 2009, brought together nationally known legal scholars, and scholars from other disciplines, to discuss whether and how the institution of the corporation was embedded in social narratives, public stories. This introductory essay reviews the responses of these scholars to the thesis of Kuykendall's article, No Imagination: The Marginal Role of Narrative in Corporate Law. The authors conclude with a hope that corporate law might offer a more literary sensibility by which to make our lives in global capitalism more comprehensible.

The Artful Side Of The Terrorism Discourse: A Response To Hulsse & Spencer, Jacob L. Stump

Jacob Stump

No abstract provided.