Digital Commons Network^™

The Downfall Of Daniel Fitzpatrick: A Creative Short Story, Renee Horsley

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Daniel grew up with humble beginnings in Starlight, Nebraska. His loving parents provided him and his four other siblings with as much as they could. Victoria grew up wealthy in a small town in Georgia but by fifth grade, Victoria would move to Starlight due to her father’s business proposition. Soon Daniel and Victoria’s worlds collided setting the way for the most epic and yet tragic love story to ever hit Starlight Nebraska. A creative short story that intertwines the disciplines of criminal justice, intergroup dialogue, psychology, and the law.

Racial Sympathy And Support For Capital Punishment: A Case Study In Concept Transfer, Kellie R. Hannan, Francis T. Cullen, Leah C. Butler, Amanda Graham, Alexander L. Burton, Velmer S. Burton Jr.

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Beliefs about race, especially racial resentment, are key predictors of public support for capital punishment and punitiveness generally. Drawing on a conceptual innovation by political scientist Jennifer Chudy, we explore the utility of transferring into criminology her construct of racial sympathy – or Whites’ concern about Blacks’ suffering. First, across three data sets, we replicate Chudy’s finding that racial sympathy and resentment are empirically distinct constructs. Second, based on a national-level 2019 YouGov survey (n = 760 White respondents) and consistent with Chudy’s thesis, racial sympathy is then shown to be significantly related to the race-specific view that capital punishment …

Alligator, Kevin Clouther

Writer’s Workshop Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

For A Left Populism, Emma Murphy

International Dialogue

Chantal Mouffe’s brief work For a Left Populism sets out to tackle the issue of how left politics should respond to the global trend towards populism. While elections in recent years have ushered in populist leaders in states ranging from the Philippines to the United States, Mouffe focuses her analysis on Western European populism specifically. Her argument centres on the importance of recovering democracy in an increasingly “post-democratic” world; to successfully radicalise democracy, Mouffe argues, leftists must first reform existing political institutions. While Mouffe makes an original argument for a reclamation of the term ‘populism’ by a leftist audience, the …

Exploring Gendered Environments In Policing: Workplace Incivilities And Fit Perceptions In Men And Women Officers, Rachael Rief, Samantha S. Clinkinbeard

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Research indicates that women are still underrepresented in policing and that police culture is not fully accepting of its sisters in blue. As police organizations strive toward building an inclusive workforce, we must understand how women, already in the field, view their place and experiences within their jobs, organizations, and workgroups. Thus, in the current research, we use a comparative sample (n¼832) of male and female officers to examine perceptions of fit in the job, organization, and workgroup, and how these perceptions relate to reports of workplace incivilities. Findings indicate that women "fit in" with the job and the broader …

“They Need To Say Sorry:” Anti-Racism In First Graders’ Racial Learning, Anna Falkner

Journal of Curriculum, Teaching, Learning and Leadership in Education

Young children of color in the United States are experiencing the material effects of racism on a daily basis. There have been arguments for anti-bias and anti-racist education across the field of education, yet most recommendations are based on older students or studies in laboratory settings. In this critical ethnography, the author examined the wide variety of strategies one class of first graders used to learn about race and of the socio-political and racial climate in which they live. In this paper, the author argues that children carefully consider racial conditions in society and imagine anti-racist praxis as part of …

Communo Magazine, Spring 2019, School Of Communication

CommUNO Magazine

CommUNO magazine is produced by Capstone Communication and published annually by the UNO School of Communication: 6001 Dodge Street, ASH 140, Omaha, NE 68182: Phone: 402.554.2600. Fax: 402.554.3836. For more information, follow us on Twitter@ CommUNO, join the “UNO School of Communication” page on Facebook or visit communication.unomaha.edu.

"Fake It Until You Make It:" A Reflection On Film, Hypocrisy, And Christian Ethics, William Bartley

Journal of Religion & Film

I will argue that a representative group of films including Mr. Lucky (with Cary Grant), Rossellini’s Il Generale della Rovere, and Galaxy Quest affirm an assumption that is as well known as it is offensively false to many: i.e., we acquire a virtue or quality of character by pretending that we already possess it—the ethic colloquially and popularly known as “fake it until you make it.” The importance and power of this ethic, as thoroughly secular as it seems to be, is best understood in the context of its Roman Catholic and ancient philosophical provenance, which for the most part …

Indigenous Helpers And Renegade Invaders: Ambivalent Characters In Biblical And Cinematic Conquest Narratives, L. Daniel Hawk

Journal of Religion & Film

This article compares the role of ambiguous character types in the national narratives of biblical Israel and modern America, two nations that ground their identities in myths of conquest. The types embody the tensions and ambivalence conquest myths generate by combining the invader/indigenous binary in complementary ways. The Indigenous Helper assists the invaders and signifies the land’s acquiescence to conquest. The Renegade Invader identifies with the indigenous peoples and manifests anxiety about the threat of indigenous difference. A discussion of these types in the book of Joshua, through the stories of Rahab and Achan, establishes a point of reference by …

Six Ways Of Looking At Anomalisa, David L. Smith

Journal of Religion & Film

Anomalisa is a parable about the nature of human fulfilment that explores the tension between other-worldly desire (the conviction that real life must be “elsewhere”) and the kind of fulfilment that comes from a more transparent relationship to things as they are. The film explores this religious theme not only through its story, but through the way the story comments on its own embodiment as a puppet show—a work of stop-motion animation. In this paper, I try to tease out the film’s complex reflections on the real and the artificial (in particular, on the ways that a desire for “the …

Rejecting The Ethnic Community In Little Caesar, The Public Enemy, And Scarface, Bryan Mead

Journal of Religion & Film

Film scholars commonly suggest that the 1930s American movie gangster represented marginalized Italian and Irish-American film-goers, and that these gangsters provided a visual and aural outlet for ethnic audience frustrations with American societal mores. However, while movie gangsters clearly struggle with WASP society, the ethnic gangster’s struggle against his own community deserves further exploration. The main characters in gangster films of the early 1930s repeatedly forge an individualistic identity and, in consequence, separate themselves from their ethnic peers and their family, two major symbols of their communal culture. This rejection of community is also a rejection of the distinctly Italian …

Seeing The Light, Hearing The Call: Women Religious As Spectators And Subjects Of Popular Nun Films, Maureen A. Sabine Professor

Journal of Religion & Film

Though popular films like The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945), Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957), The Nun’s Story (1959), and The Sound of Music (1965) have routinely been criticized for circulating polarized stereotypes about nuns, convent memoirs indicate that some women felt the stirrings of a religious vocation from watching these movies. This article arose out of interest in whether other women heard God’s call through nun films, and is based on a survey of 86 sisters from 28 different communities who had entered the convent between 1947 and 2007, and were prepared to discuss what they saw in these …

Examining The Critical Role American Popular Film Continues To Play In Maintaining The Muslim Terrorist Image, Post 9/11, Rubina Ramji

Journal of Religion & Film

This article was delivered as a paper at the 2015 International Conference on Religion and Film in Istanbul, Turkey.

Majority Rule: A Dysfunctional Polity Consensus: An Inclusive Democracy, Peter Emerson

International Dialogue

Numerous electoral systems have been devised over the years but, in decision-making, many forums still rely on the same procedure that was used in ancient Greece: majority voting. Hence, majority rule. In many plural multi-ethnic and/or multi-religious societies, the effects have often been negative. This article considers voting procedures in three inter-related contexts: decision-making, elections, and governance. With regard to conflicts in Northern Ireland, the Balkans, and Ukraine, it shows, both in decision-making and in elections, how simplistic win-or-lose ballots have exacerbated tensions. And it then suggests a more inclusive polity in which win-win voting systems might help to alleviate …

Deliberative Democracy: Issues And Cases, Clodagh Harris

International Dialogue

Deliberative democracy, a theory of political legitimacy, argues citizens should be given a more central role in political processes, contending that collective decisions are legitimate to the extent that those subject to them have the right, opportunity and capacity to contribute to deliberations on them. It has been at the forefront of political theory in recent decades and has evolved theoretically, empirically and in praxis overtime.

Transitional Violence In King Of New York, Soren G. Palmer

Journal of Religion & Film

Abel Ferrara’s violent and controversial film, King Of New York, follows the escalating violence and resulting trail of corpses between mobster Frank White (a psychotic sort of Robin Hood) and a group of detectives attempting to arrest him. The goal of this paper is to utilize Elizabeth Swanson Goldberg’s grammar of transition as a structural device to identify negative connections that highlight and foreshadow sources of violence in King of New York. However, simply noting the process of these transitions is insufficient to the paper’s broader purpose; if one is to investigate the causal elements of violence through …

“Love, What Have You Done To Me?” Eros And Agape In Alfred Hitchcock's I Confess, Catherine M. O'Brien

Journal of Religion & Film

Despite its pre-Vatican II setting, Alfred Hitchcock’s I Confess (1953) has retained a notable relevance in the twenty-first century. Although the titular act of confession is unsurprisingly significant, the diegesis actually foregrounds Matrimony and Holy Orders – two sacraments that remain under the spotlight during a tumultuous era for the Catholic Church. Alongside the traditional Hitchcockian theme of “an innocent man wrongly accused,” the plot really hinges on love – a subject that is intelligible to people of all religions and none. While examining the mise-en-scène of the director’s most Catholic film, this article offers an exploration of I Confess …

The Sins Of Leo Mccarey, Richard A. Blake S.J.

Journal of Religion & Film

Leo McCarey has received little attention from film scholars. His sentimentalizing his Catholic background and his preoccupation with anti-Communism obscured the lasting value of much of his work. His concern with sin and forgiveness form a major motif of his works, from the early comedies to his later serious dramas.

The Magdalene Sisters: How To Solve The Problem Of ‘Bad’ Girls, Irena S. M. Makarushka Ph.D.

Journal of Religion & Film

This article focuses on Peter Mullan’s The Magdalene Sisters which explores the scope and complex nature of the punishment experienced by the women incarcerated in the Magdalene Asylum near Dublin. The analysis reflects my long-standing interest in religion, film and feminist values as well as my revulsion at the sexual abuse and predatory practices of countless Catholic priests and nuns. It is the same revulsion that drove Mullan to bring the horrors of the Magdalene Asylums out from beneath the culturally sanctioned shadows into plain sight. My analysis focuses not only on women as victims of abuse, but also on …

Hval I Djeva [The Praised And The Virgin]: Tom I: Vječnost U Vjesničkim Otkrivanjima [Vol. I: Eternity In Prophetic Revelation], 333pp.; Tom Ii: O Trajanju I Prekidu [Vol. Ii: On Continuity And Discontinuity], 251pp.; Tom Iii: Sabiranje Rasutog [Vol. Iii: Reuniting The Scattered], 420pp., Desmond Maurer

International Dialogue

A book by Rusmir Mahmutćehajić is always an event. His books are normally relatively short and always make a clear argument, albeit an argument many are unwilling to hear. For those with eyes to see and ears to hear, he goes straight to the heart of the matter—and his theme is always the same—how to live a good life and how to be a good person, under the troubling conditions of modernity. His answer is also consistent—it is by the embrace of plurality and difference in the service of this one goal, the ethically good life, an embrace that is …

Linguistics And The Study Of Comics , Frank Bramlett

Faculty Books and Monographs

Editor: Frank Bramlett, UNO faculty member.

Chapter 8: Linguistic Codes and Character Identity in Afro Samurai, authored by Frank Bramlett.

Do Irish superheroes actually sound Irish? Why are Gary Larson's Far Side cartoons funny? How do political cartoonists in India, Turkey, and the US get their point across? What is the impact of English on comics written in other languages? These questions and many more are answered in this volume, which brings together the two fields of comics research and linguistics to produce groundbreaking scholarship. With an international cast of contributors, the book offers novel insights into the role …

Library Education And Development Newsletter, Volume 4, Issue 3, Uno Library Science Education

Library Education and Development (L.E.A.D.)

This issue of the Library Education and Development Newsletter features Advice from the Frontlines from Wendy Grojean, a Student Spotlight of Lisa Schwartz, Announcements, Conferences and Professional Development, Things to Consider: "Stop Having A Frustrating Career" article, and School Librarian's Day registration form.

Riding The Wheel: Selling American Women Mobility And Geographic Knowledge, Christina E. Dando

Geography and Geology Faculty Publications

The bicycle's “prime” was a mere decade, 1890-1900, but in this brief window, it had a profound impact on American women’s lives. This paper will examine the role of the media in transforming women's relationship to their world, altering how, where and why they moved through the landscape, drawing from work on cartographic culture, actor-network theory and consumption and mass culture. Through popular magazine articles, stories, advertisements, and maps, American women (as well as men) were “informed” of the possibilities the bicycle had to offer, modeling geographic mobility, greater spatial awareness, and the practice of both cartography and landscape. Women …

Then The Burning Began: Omaha, Riots, And The Growth Of Black Radicalism, 1966-1969, Ashley M. Howard

Student Work

Throughout the 1960s, America witnessed one metropolis after another suffer from major civil disturbances. The first of these incidents occurred in Selma, Alabama, but it was not until Watts, California exploded that the nation began to take notice. As America was throttling towards a major race war, nobody anticipated the Midwestern town of 'Omaha, Nebraska to experience the same disturbances larger cities had. Although the life of average Omaha blacks was better than that of many of their urban counterparts, black Omahans still faced frequent job discrimination, lack of adequate educational facilities, and general disenchantment with Northern ghetto life. Between …

Does French Matter? France And Francophonie In The Age Of Globalization, Jody L. Neathery-Castro, Mark O. Rousseau

Political Science Faculty Publications

THE ORGANISATION INTERNATIONALE DE LA FRANCOPHONIE (OIF) increasingly acts as a powerful French-speaking voice in defense of both French culture and language and in advancing French-speaking nations' multiple global, political and economic interests. While the OIF includes developed as well as developing¹ nations, its policies and financial resources come from its wealthier and more economically powerful members, fueling charges that it exists to represent those members' interests. The OIF is unique among international organizations in propounding economic policies based on assumptions different from those espoused by the World Trade Organization (WTO). These differences become most apparent in OIF's strong …

Report From Sundance 2003: Religion In Independent Film, Elysée Nouvet

Journal of Religion & Film

This is the report from the Sundance Film Festival 2003.

To Be Almost Like White: The Case Of Soon Ja Du, Augustina Jhi-Ho Chae

Student Work

This is a case study of Korean Americans’ prejudiced attitudes toward African Americans. To discuss this attitudes, I chose to examine the case of People of the State of California v. Soon Ja Du. On the morning of March 16, 1991, Latasha Harlins, a fifteen-year-old African American high school girl was shot in the back of the head by Soon Ja Du, a fifty-one-year-old Korean liquor and grocery store owner after a fight. This fight started by Soon Ja falsely accusing Latasha of shoplifting. In many ways, Soon Ja Du’s negative attitudes represent a typical Korean American’s prejudice.

Service-Learning, 1902, Julia Garbus

Service Learning, General

"We are all segregated in the prison of class," mused turn-of-the-century literature professor Vida Dutton Scudder. "More than we recognize, our inner life is shaped by the traditions of the group to which we happen to belong; and until we escape from such prison, at least through imagination, or better far through personal contacts, our culture is bound to remain tragically cramped and incomplete" (On Journey 67-68). In innovative literature courses, Scudder offered college students escapes from their class prisons through "imagination." She facilitated "personal contacts" by encouraging students to work with people of other classes and races in inner-city …

Minority As A Majority: Does It Make A Difference?, Terrance J. Taylor

Student Work

The relationship between race and crime has long been a primary concern of criminal justice researchers. Numerous studies have examined this relationship through the use of official statistics, self-reports, and victimization surveys. The results of these studies present multiple and often conflicting results. Studies examining official statistics and victimization data have generally found a significant difference in delinquency between White and minority juveniles, with minority juveniles responsible for more delinquency than White youth in terms of both incidence and seriousness. Self-report studies, on the other hand, have often found no differences between minority and White youth, or smaller differences than …

Minority As A Majority: Does It Make A Difference?, Terrance J. Taylor

Student Work

The relationship between race and crime has long been a primary concern of criminal justice researchers. Numerous studies have examined this relationship through the use of official statistics, self-reports, and victimization surveys. The results of these studies present multiple and often conflicting results. Studies examining official statistics and victimization data have generally found a significant difference in delinquency between White and minority juveniles, with minority juveniles responsible for more delinquency than White youth in terms of both incidence and seriousness. Self-report studies, on the other hand, have often found no differences between minority and White youth, or smaller differences than …