Digital Commons Network^™

A Lost Land: The Jewish Experience In The Catskills, Briana H. Mark

Honors Theses

By the early twentieth century, the fruitful farmlands of Sullivan and Ulster Counties became home to hundreds of hotels and bungalow colonies that served the Jews of New York City. Yet these hotels were unlike most in America, for they not only represented an escape from the confines of the ghetto of the Lower East Side, but they also retained a distinct religious nature. The Jewish dietary laws were followed in most of the colonies and resorts, and religious services were also a part of daily life. It was within this cultural context that a summer haven was created in …

Self-Monitoring And Advertising: Evaluations Of Image- Versus Quality-Oriented Advertisements For Public/Private And Public Luxury/Necessity Products, Erin M. Schroth

Honors Theses

High self-monitors tend to prefer image-oriented advertisements, whereas low self-monitors favor quality-oriented advertisements. Past research has found that image congruence had a stronger affect on product evaluations of high self-monitors relative to low self-monitors for public products, while this effect did not emerge for private products. Study 1 extended these findings by examining the effect of self-monitoring and public/private products on evaluations of image- versus quality-oriented advertisements. The participants were shown two sunglasses (public product) advertisements and two toilet paper (private product) advertisements; for each product, one advertisement was image-oriented and was quality-focused. The participants completed two questionnaires—one for each …

Farmstead And Household Archaeology At The Barrett Farm, Concord, Massachusetts, Thomas P. Mailhot

Graduate Masters Theses

Changes in the landscape across the Barrett farmstead in Concord, Massachusetts, are examined and related to changes in the household during the 1850s and 1860s. Although the Barrett family had a long and prosperous tradition of farming in Concord, this changed at the end of the 19th-century, as the farm was reduced in size and the operation reduced in scale. The majority of artifacts and data recovered from an excavation in 2007 by UMass Boston dealt with the 19th-century occupation of the farmstead. Changes in the household and across the farmstead in the 19th-century can be seen archaeologically through the …

Electoral Reform In Kosovo (2010-2015) / [Presentation Given In May 2011], Besnik Osmani

Theses

In recent years Kosovo has made efforts to organize elections in accordance with democratic principles. The results from the questionnaire introduced in this project indicate that 60 % of the respondents believe that the electoral process is not credible, citizens do not trust the voting system, and some respondents believe that votes are manipulated. The main objectives of the Capstone Project were to assess the opinion of voters and ascertain some key recommendation for improvement ... The findings and recommendations of this project aim to influence adequate changes in the electoral system in Kosovo and underline the importance to (i) …

Death, Death, I Know Thee Now!' Mourning Jewelry In England And New Orleans In The Nineteenth Century, Joanna Tabony

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Descriptions of mourning adornments in England and New Orleans in the nineteenth century are used to argue that many of the customs of mourning in England -- the designs, themes, and materials -- also were present in New Orleans. This study draws from these observations and sources to suggest that mourning practices involving jewelry and costume became more functional and less formal in both England and New Orleans as the century progressed, while French customs retained and even grew in complexity. The high level of trade between Britain and New Orleans during the nineteenth century, reflected in the jewelry and …

Phases Of A Man Called 'Moon': Mayor Landrieu And Race Relations In New Orleans, 1960-1974, Frank L. Straughan Jr.

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the political career of Maurice Edwin "Moon" Landrieu from his election to the Louisiana legislature in 1960 to the end of his first term as mayor of New Orleans in 1974. Landrieu was a white southern liberal who vigorously supported the agenda of the civil rights movement. He succeeded in building an unprecedented coalition between liberal, middle-class whites and a large segment of the black community. As the 1970s unfolded, however, he found his coalition increasingly threatened not just by disgruntled white conservatives, which might be expected, but also by angry black radicals of the Black Panther …

Life Among The Machines: James Joyce's Ulysses And Early Twentieth-Century Technology, Patrick Casey

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This project investigates the cultural impact of the various technological innovations that appeared around the turn of the twentieth century, and how modernism contends with the increasing presence of technology in everyday life. It focuses on the work of James Joyce, whose attitudes toward technology differ significantly from many of his contemporaries, and on his novel Ulysses, which takes place in metropolitan Dublin and features many of the everyday technologies of the early twentieth century.

The first chapter examines the relationship between technology and the vitalist theories of Henri Bergson and Hans Driesch, arguing that the popularity these theories …

A "Melancholy Experience:" William C. C. Claiborne And The Louisiana Militia, 1811-1815, Michael J. Edwards

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

William C. C. Claiborne found himself a stranger in a strange land. Almost more a colonial governor of a European power rather than an American statesman, Claiborne grappled with maintaining a militia force for the Territory of Orleans, now the present day state of Louisiana. He built upon the volunteer companies he found within the city of New Orleans, but had little success molding the entire militia into an effective, efficient military force. Claiborne, hoping to use the fear generated by the January 1811 slave revolt to spur militia reform, maintained an active correspondence with the state's legislators, the area's …

The Werewolf Pride Movement: A Step Back From Queer Medieval Tradition, Caitlin B. Giacopasi

Theses

No abstract provided.

Translating Postcolonial Pasts: Immigration And Identity In The Fiction Of Bharati Mukherjee, Elizabeth Nunez, And Jhumpa Lahiri, Ann Marie Alfonso-Forero

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation examines how postcoloniality affects identity formation in contemporary women's immigrant literature. In order to do so, it must interrogate the critical fields that are most interested in issues of national and cultural identities, migration, and the appropriation of women by both Western and postcolonial projects. By examining the fiction of Bharati Mukherjee, Elizabeth Nunez, and Jhumpa Lahiri through the triple lens of ethnic American studies, postcolonial theory, and transnational feminism, I will argue that theorizing postcolonial women's writing in the United States involves sustained analysis of how particular socio-political experiences are translated into the context of American identity. …

Tactics, Politics, And Propaganda In The Irish War Of Independence, 1917-1921, Mike Rast

History Theses

This thesis examines the influences on and evolution of the Irish Republican Army‘s guerrilla war strategy between 1917 and 1921. Utilizing newspapers, government documents, and memoirs of participants, this study highlights the role of propaganda and political concerns in waging an insurgency. It argues that while tactical innovation took place in the field, IRA General Headquarters imposed policy and directed the conflict with a concern for the political results of military action. While implementing strategies necessary to effective conflict of the war, this Headquarters staff was unable to reconcile a disjointed and overburdened command structure, leading its disintegration after the …

Toward A Philosophy Of Race In Education, Corey V Kittrell

Doctoral Dissertations

There is a tendency in education theory to place the focus on the consequences of racial hegemony (racism, Eurocentric education, low performance by racial minorities) and ignore that race is antecedent to these consequences. This dissertation explores the treatment of race within critical theory in education. I conduct a metaphysical analysis to examine the race concept as it emerges from the works of various critical theorists in education. This examination shows how some scholars affirm the scientifically discredited race concept by offering racial essentialist approaches for emancipatory education. I argue that one of consequences of these approaches is the further …

Bluegrass Nation: A Historical And Cultural Analysis Of America's Truest Music, Leslie Blake Price

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Leaders Of '98: Murphy And Mccracken A Comparison Of The 1798 Rebellion In Wexford And Antrim, David Carton

Graduate Theses

This study examines the relationship between the Irish nationalist risings in Wexford and Antrim in 1798. The Antrim Rising was a largely ideological movement that was influenced by the beliefs of the United Irishmen; in contrast, the Wexford Rising was a reactionary movement that was influenced by the leadership of Fr. John Murphy of Boolavogue. An analysis of the differences and similarities of these two leaders serves as the primary mode of analysis. McCracken restructured the United Irishmen in Belfast into a secret revolutionary society, as Murphy mobilized rebel forces in Wexford and inspired a military uprising. This thesis seeks …

Mapping England's Trade Through Depictions In English Emblems., Valerie J. Erickson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the growing interaction between England and foreign countries comparing their trade with contemporary later sixteenth century and seventeenth century English emblems. The emblems used are those available over the internet from several different library and university sources. As England expanded its trade throughout the world, English emblems began to show the exchange occurring between England and its various trading partners. Historians have largely overlooked this valuable source of information. By studying emblems historians gain invaluable insight into the economy, society, politics, religion, and other matters with which England was concerned.

Partings—A Short Film, Alicia Atterberry

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Love is a powerful force, but the inability to give love to the fullest extent can be an influential force as well. For my capstone, Partings—a Short Film, I wrote a short film centered on the theme of unreciprocated love. Within the context of the film, unreciprocated love means not being able to return the sincerity or the full extent of the love felt, and my short film shows the consequences of a friendship that lacks mutually-expressed love.

Partings, depicts the end of a friendship between two characters: Frank and Angie. Frank is an independent, young woman; she …

Fueling Ukraine’S Future: Using Microfinance As A Tool For Reducing Energy Dependency And Changing Lives, Justin Cole

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Ukraine is a country heavily dependent on other countries for its natural gas supply, leaving it vulnerable to interruptions in supply. One of its largest suppliers, Russia, has twice taken drastic means of physically closing the pipelines, thereby cutting off this supply and illustrating to Ukraine and the world the leverage that it can exercise. While at the present time the cut-offs have lasted no longer than a few weeks, future cut-offs could become more common and longer in duration. When compounded with the troubled history between the two countries, one can quickly see the precipitous situation that has the …

Iron And The Bloody Shirt: Leadership In The West Virginia Republican Party 1872--1896, Stephen A. Smoot

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The electoral upheavals of 1894 and 1896 resulting in Republican Party dominance within West Virginia and around the nation were not just a sudden occurrence. They resulted, in part, because voters in key border states shifted their votes from the Democratic to the Republican Party. West Virginia's Republican Party had the greatest success in maintaining its long term influence after 1896 despite the fact that since 1872 it enjoyed little success. To build up to triumph in 1896 took a quarter century of painstaking work that started after electoral disaster in 1870. That election, the first since West Virginia removed …

The Politics Of Self-Provisioning In North-Central West Virginia, Autumn Long

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Provisioning one's own food appears to be the next step in the politicization of food production and consumption choices. In contrast to more convenient forms of "ethical consumption" such as buying organic or local, household-level food production requires a great deal of labor-time, knowledge, and social support. But does food self-provisioning elicit or engender a particular political consciousness? Based on six months of fieldwork conducted during the spring and summer of 2010, this research employs qualitative methodologies, including surveys, semistructured interviews, and ethnography, to examine the political, economic, and cultural dynamics of household-level food provisioning amongst a sample of food …

The American Dream And Other Fiction, Raquel Hollingsworth

Theses and Dissertations

The American Dream and Other Fiction is a collection of four magical realism short stories focusing on the idea of revealing the human condition through the ridiculous. Although the four stories are written independently of each other, they all carry the similar motif of entrapment. This collection also remarks on the growing absurdity of American capitalism and political correctness. The critical introduction analyzes techniques of verisimilitude in magical realism by traditional authors as well as the techniques of more contemporary magical realists. The collection focuses specifically on the techniques of frontloading and authoritative voice.

Shallow Roots: An Analysis Of Filipino Immigrant Labor In Seattle From 1920-1940, Krista Baylon Sorenson

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

This research looks to understand the disparity between Filipinos and their Asian American counterparts in cultural presence within the United States, especially given the Filipinos large numbers as immigrants to the United States. According to the 2000 United States Census, there were a little over 10 million who self identify solely as Asians. Of these 10 million, about 1,850,000 were Filipinos. This is the second largest Asian immigrant group. Their numbers are only exceeded by the Chinese. Filipinos themselves exceed other Asian groups such as Japanese, Koreans and Asian Indians.3 Historically, while the large majority of Filipinos immigrants settled in …

The Long Road Home, Kim Mailes

Theses

The Long Road Home is the first half of a novel consisting of 113 pages of narrative prose divided into nine chapters. Fiction-writing techniques utilized include exposition, character development, and action. These techniques are designed to produce conflict within the protagonist. The rising action of the narrative reaches climax at the close of this document. This climax serves as the turning point for the continued development of the novel.

Mothers And Mothers, Courtney Miller Santo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This novel closely examines the relationship between mothers and daughters through the prism of the Keller women, their olive grove, and their Northern California town. The youngest, Erin, arrives home carrying the child of her married lover. Her only objective is getting her mother, Deborah, paroled before the birth of the child. Deborah, in prison for killing her husband, has not spoken to her own mother, Calliope, in the twenty years she’s been incarcerated. Calliope, who lost her faith in a plane accident and gained an addiction to painkillers, struggles to overcome her disconnect and embrace an unlikely love, despite …

What’S The Emergency Here? An Examination Of Emergency Room Perspectives On Muslim Immigrant Patients In Berlin, Janet Ma

Pomona Senior Theses

My thesis, then, proposes to examine an often-overlooked field in which tensions relating to immigration also occurs: health care. It aims to better understand how Germany’s health care system, particularly its emergency facilities, have responded to the increasing ethnic and cultural diversity of patients as a result of these demographic shifts, and what still must be done to provide equal and satisfactory health care for all patients.

Encompassing The Intolerable: Laughter, Memory, And Inscription In The Fiction Of John Mcgahern, John Keegan Malloy

Dissertations (1934 -)

Encompassing the Intolerable examines John McGahern's depiction of individual consciousness struggling with postcolonial Ireland's three dominant and interconnected institutions: nation, family, and the Catholic Church. While McGahern's work, especially the early fiction, is often considered unremittingly bleak, this study argues that his exposure of abuse, repression, and disillusionment within these institutions does not finally entail a pessimistic vision. Instead, through close readings emphasizing character and epiphany, I contend that his texts use the motifs of laughter, memory, and inscription to demonstrate how consciousness can accommodate intolerable realities such as violence and loss rather than becoming defined or controlled by them. …

Effect Of A Mindfulness Intervention On Community College Students' Writing Apprehension And Writing Performance, Megan E. Britt

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

This experimental study used a quantitative data collection strategy to examine whether a mindfulness intervention, a three-minute breathing exercise marked by focused attention on the sensations of breath, would affect writing anxiety and writing performance measures. The researcher compared Daly-Miller Writing Apprehension surveys and narrative writing samples from 277 students enrolled in a freshman composition course at a southeastern community college, half of whom practiced the mindful-breathing technique at class onset.

Quantitative results revealed students in the mindful-breathing group experienced a statistically significant decrease in writing apprehension and mechanical error scores from pre- to post-measures when compared to controls. No …

Full, Conscious, And Active Participation: The Laity As Ecclesial Subjects In An Ecclesiology Informed By Bernard Lonergan, Mary Utzerath

Dissertations (1934 -)

Unresolved problems and tensions regarding the status and role of the laity persist nearly a half-century following Vatican II. While the magisterium focuses on issues related to the appropriateness or ability of lay persons to carry out roles in the Church that have traditionally belonged to the ordained, sociological surveys indicate that the experience of lay members of the Church in the United States and in much of the Western world includes inadequate formation, confused Catholic identity, marginalization, low levels of commitment in young Catholics, and the steady exodus of Catholics. These problems of the laity are symptomatic of problems …

Fraternities: The Gangs Of The United States' Elite, Daniel A. Tennant

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Losing The Colonies: How Differing Interpretations Of The British Constitution Caused The American Revolution, Brian M. Flint

Master's Theses

Faced with an economic crisis following the French and Indian War, the British Parliament, along with a young and inexperienced King George III changed its longstanding policy towards the North American colonies. Prior to 1763, Parliament allowed the colonies to generally govern themselves. After 1763, Parliament began to pass legislation aimed at increasing revenue received from the colonies. As the colonies protested these new taxes on constitutional grounds Parliament began a process of implementing and repealing different attempts at controlling the economic system in the colonies. Due to differing interpretations of the British Constitution regarding Parliament's authority over the colonies, …

Social Movement Theory And Far Right Organizations, Frank Tridico

Wayne State University Dissertations

This research examines the organized far right movement and interviews members of four right wing organizations to understand their goals and operations. This study compares the utility of two social movement theories, Resource Mobilization Theory (RMT) and New Social Movement Theory (NSMT) to explain the functioning of the four organizations. Resource Mobilization Theory contends that change is done politically in the sphere of institutional power, while New Social Movement Theory argues that change occurs in civil society.

The study was qualitative in nature and involved in-depth interviews with 97 members of four far right organizations across two Midwest states. The …