Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Post-Velvet Jazz Baby, Jack Elkin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Throughout the past fifty years, two principle agents have inhibited experimentation in Prague's jazz scene, totalitarian states and the conditions that followed after the fervor of the Velvet Revolution died out. What has resulted is an environment that has embraced variation but not typically new or contemporary ideas, which is only just beginning to change.

Bofes E Sapinhas: Lesbian Life In Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, Ronny R. Kraft

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

For three weeks I studied lesbian women in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil through formal interview, informal interview and observation. I wanted to find out how lesbians interact with a machismo society that treats homosexuality as taboo and women as lesser. I discovered that lesbian women, in Salvador, mainly fall into two categories. The first category describes women that are masculine in nature and therefore are obviously homosexual to the public. The second category of lesbians is less distinguishable by their outward appearance and thus blends in with mainstream society. Through observation and interview I discovered that there is a higher amount …

Feministica: Creating Feminist Consciousness In The Former Yugoslavia, Meghan Boone

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

No abstract provided.

What Do You See? Visualizations Of Sexuality Among Young Women In Rijeka, Croatia, Annika Shore

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

No abstract provided.

Circles And Letters: I Do; I Understand, Thomas Kitchen

MA TESOL Collection

How do we writing teachers respond to our students’ writing? How does our response affect both us and the students? Is it irresponsible to mark only a few recurring errors? Or is irresponsible to mark every error? Do students learn better when the errors are labeled or not? What about positive feedback?

This thesis explains an action research project I conducted with my reading/writing students. In the project, I explored many methods of responding to student writing, and I documented how one of those techniques affected me and my students. That technique called the reduced grammar technique focuses on recurring …

Integrating Writing Within The Foreign Language Classroom: Shifting Dynamics, Not The Task, Patricia Ann Evans

MA TESOL Collection

This classroom based research project considers the following questions: Why should my foreign language students write? From Pedagogy to Purpose; what happens when students use technology with their writing; what transitions take place with regard to the role as teacher when integrating writing into the Spanish language classroom? This project follows the shift from writing , disconnected activities to writing. How a student-centered writing process and technology support the shift away from the perception that good writing is voiceless and mechanical. It traces the shift from learning to write to writing to learn. The project studies the shift that occurs …

Politicizing Sexuality: An Investigation Of Lgbt Rights And The Ngo Sector In Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rachel Kathryn Mercer

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research was done as a part of the independent study component of a study abroad program in the Balkans through the School for International Training. During the program, I visited several cities throughout the region, but I chose to be based in Sarajevo for the last month and the time frame of this project. Initially, my independent study project proposal focused on the issue of gender and how people in Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) understand it both politically and socially. I wanted to study the relationship between women’s non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the new NGO that is working on behalf of …

A Changing Church: Radical Perspectives Of Catholicism From The Margins Of Society In Dublin, Caitlin Connelly

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In this study, I have explored Irish Catholicism in Dublin, and the relationship and tension between the margins and the center. In particular, I have examined the ways that people on the margins of the Church and on the margins of society in Dublin are responding to the changes in the Church. By incorporating their experiences and views into our understanding of Catholicism, we can gain a more accurate and multifaceted understanding of “what’s going on” with the Catholic Church in this city, and where its future lies.

Los Santos Católicos Y Su Repercusión En La Sociedad = Catholic Saints And The Repercussion On Society, Virginia Dyson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

My study of the saints of the Catholic Church and their affect on society in Granada was spurred first and foremost by my own personal faith and interest in the topic. Spain is a country filled with religious iconography, and I became interested in the idea of popular devotion when I noticed that there were religious symbols everywhere. In addition, religious themes are celebrated in a very public, state supported manner. The mixture of society, religion, and government is incredible for a nation that claims to be non-confessional. Simultaneously, I discovered through various conversations that the level of devotion to …

Canto Al Huaso, Canto Al Pueblo: La Música Y El Discurso Político De La Identidad Chilena Durante Los Años Sesenta Y La Unidad Popular, Greg Walz-Chojnacki

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

La fuerte polarización de la política chilena durante los años sesenta y la Unidad Popular tiene un reflejo en las representaciones de la identidad nacional a través de la música. Usando la letra de canciones y entrevistas con músicologos y músicos, este ensayo examina el discurso politico presente en la música de este período. Primero, se describe la representación de una identidad nacional tradicional a través de la música de Los Huasos Quincheros. Luego, se analiza la formación de una identidad alternative en dos etapas: el desarrollo de una vision del país que reacciona a la imagen patronal y exclusive …

Living With The Truth: The Films Of Věra Chytilová, Ethan White

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Despite a career spanning five decades and numerous different sociopolitical atmospheres, Věra Chytilová’s films present a remarkably consistent outlook on contemporary life. This paper traces the defining characteristics of Chytilová’s work: her strong moralistic criticisms of contemporary society, her motif of paradise, which establishes a potent symbolic basis for said moral criticisms, and her relentless pursuit of new forms and desire to experiment with film language. This final point is also inextricably linked to her moral stance, as the bulk of her work was produced under the authority of a Communist regime that frowned severely upon work of an avant-garde …

Art And Democracy In Environmental Decision Making, Audrey Stewart

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Global doctrines on sustainable development emphasize public participation as a tenet of environmentally responsible development. Given the Czech government’s tepid stance towards implementing sustainability measures, much impetus for realizing them will have to come from other facets of Czech society, including the public. In spite of the nearly populist feel of a mounting environmental movement in the late 1980s, after the Velvet Revolution the Czech public remained relatively disengaged from environmental involvement. Traditional decision-making venues within the Czech Republic now actively exclude the public from participating, while other pressures stemming from history and present also diminish the public impetus for …

The Depoliticization Of Czech Female Art, Roya Amirsoleymani

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Contemporary Czech art is heavily influenced by a history of Communism, the 1989 transition to capitalism, and the impact had on visual culture by the political and economic changes after the Velvet Revolution. Czech female art, defined as art made by women that is informed by themes of female identity, image, the body, sexuality, feminism, sexual identity, and gender theory, responds to how female identity has been affected by these social changes. This essay argues that Czech female art is depoliticized by its artists, through either neglect or resistance to political connotations and ramifications, but that it is simultaneously engaged …

Spirituality In Limbo: An Observation And Analysis Of Mongolia’S Modern Religious Climate, Dustin Saldarriaga

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper is essentially a history of religion in Mongolia with the purpose of illuminating the present state of religion at a socially, culturally, and politically unique point in Mongolia’s history. It has only been fourteen years since Mongolia experienced a political transition from totalitarianism to democracy, and the country now finds itself in a kind of “Limbo” with respect to not only the political state of the nation, but also the spiritual state of its individuals. The result is a religious climate filled with uncertainty and speculation, but also with passion and love. I attempt to explore this current …

The Maidens Of The Maiden City, Lauren Herman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

No abstract provided.

La Génie D’Oc: La Stratégie Castanienne = The Genius Of Oc: Tha Castanian Strategy, Jason Moreau

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

No abstract provided.

Pidgin! Make We Hear Your Speak, Make We Know Why Chaw Students Dey Luv You, Desiree Pipkins

African Diaspora ISPs

Historical evidence contends that as a country, Ghana (formally the Gold Coast) had not need for a pidgin. Additionally, the colonial administration made deliberate attempts to acknowledge and teach Standard English, exclusively, in school, as a result of these factors, there is a minimal need to speak Pidgin in Ghana, as compared to Standard English; further, it is not socially considered an attractive option for interpersonal communication as it is in other West African countries, particularly, Nigeria. Nevertheless, a new phenomenon of non-standard English has developed among students n senior secondary schools in Ghana. This rapidly progressing variety of English …

De Dónde Eres? Reflexión Teatral De Una Mujer Americana En España Sobre El Nacionalismo Y La Identidad = Where Are You Ffom? A Theatrical Reflection Of Nationalism And Identity, Madeline Kathleen Baugh

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

I did not choose this play, it chose me. My focus for the Independent Study period of my SIT study abroad semester during the spring of 2004 in Granada, Spain, was, from the very beginning, one of theater. As a theater major at Occidental College in Los Angeles, California, the choice to extend this passion to Spain was a logical one. I had planned, initially, to study the role of women in Spanish theater, particularly women in contemporary Granadino Theater, perhaps working with a director, actors, and even a theatrical company, to view and participate in the production and realization …

In Search Of The Truth: Modern Church-State Relations In Yunnan Province, Kathryn Rosenbaum

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The relationship between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Protestant church is a complicated relationship that varies greatly with time period and location. This paper explores the interactions from various viewpoints, the history of the relationship, the legislation pertaining to the relationship, and a brief study of the interactions in two very different locations in Yunnan Province—Kunming and the Nujiang valley.

Semana Santa En Blanco Y Negro = Semana Santa In Black And White, Renata Strychaz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Semana Santa is an amazing social and religious phenomenon that takes place in Spain during the week before Easter. Various church based groups leave in procession every day to make their pilgrimage around the city. The processions consist of penitentes and nazarenos who wear the familiar pointed hat and hard linen robes tied around the waist by rope. Next comes the mantillas, women dressed up in all black with the traditional hair piece, carrying rosaries and candles as they accompany Jesus and the Virgen who are the stars of the procession. Normally each group has two platforms carried on the …

Education For Liberation: Ghana's Move From Western To Appropriate Education System, Ama Mansa Awotwi

African Diaspora ISPs

A western based education system that is used throughout Ghana's school system. Education is defined then the study looks at the education system and evaluates whether or not it is successfully educating students based on this definition. Observations are made, interviews carried out and surveys filled in order to gain an understanding of what Ghanaians know about their culture and themselves. People are in need of more knowledge about the society and the education system is one place where that information can be imparted. Suggestions are made for new teaching methods that can be used inside and outside of the …

Dilemmas Of Politics And Spontaneity In The Contemporary Teaching Of Languages “La Sal De La Vida”, Patricia Pedroza

MA TESOL Collection

This document describes my philosophy of teaching. My primary interests are in Pedagogical Psychodrama and Feminist Pedagogy. This document is a compilation of my experiences, insights, and dilemmas in my practice of teaching Spanish as a second language and also in teaching feminist classes.

The Effects Of Acculturation On The L2 Learner, Raya C. Longto

MA TESOL Collection

This paper deals with the deconstruction of a novel (A Sprig of Lemon Blossom) written on the subject of Acculturation. Since the latter half of the twentieth century the world has traveled at an incredible speed towards globalization. Given this reality the number of people who constantly travel abroad for a variety of career and work related purposes is growing by the hour. Under the circumstances the theme of acculturation has become crucial as without an adequate form of this phenomenon people cannot function to the best of their abilities. The deconstruction of this novel addresses the three-fold process of …

The Historical Exodus Of The Musama Disco Christo Church, Amy Cox

African Diaspora ISPs

The Musama Disco Christo Church (MDCC) is a Christian church founded in 1922 under the direction of the Holy Spirit in the Gold Coast, or what is today known as Ghana. In its early history the members of the church were confronted with skeptics, ridicule, and hardships. The initially small group that grew into a healthy congregation was forced to relocate four times before they finally found peace at their current home, Mozano via Gomoa Eshiem. This history of the Musama Disco Christor Church focuses on their exodus, starting with the founder's first prophecy and continuing on their journey of …

The Moorish Influence On Spanish Language, Civilization, And Culture, Tommy Genoris Erwin

MA TESOL Collection

This project examines the vast contributions made by Moors to the Spanish language, civilization and culture. The project will also try to clarify as to whom the Moors were, where they came from, and the specific contributions that they made during lengthy rule of Spain. This project is divided into five major sections. The introduction explains why this topic was chosen and the audience for whom the information is intended. The second section explores the background, achievements and contributions that were made by the Moors during their 800 (eight hundred) year domination of Spain. The third section addresses more specifically, …

Simplification And Personalization Of French Grammar, Regina Dee

MA TESOL Collection

The materials included in this project have been developed as a result of my emerging understanding of French grammar since I began studying it in 1976. I began teaching a French Activities class in 1986 to eighth graders at St. Andrews and third and fourth graders at an elementary school in Baltimore as a student at Morgan State University. While I was completing my student teaching at Baltimore City College Preparatory School, I found that my students had difficulties understanding textbook explanations. I therefore began to create my own explanations during sessions when students came for after school help. I …

Comings And Goings: Considerations And Reflections On The English Program In Korea (Epik), Kiama Robinson

MA TESOL Collection

This paper examines both practical considerations for sojourners who are planning to work overseas in South Korea’s English Program in Korea (EPIK) and reflections on the author’s experiences with this program. The first section of the paper presents pre-departure, arrival and descriptions of what the school and housing might consist of, followed by reflections on the author’s direct experiences through three paradigms: world view, intercultural adjustment, and culture shock. While the main focus of this paper is on native English speakers participating in EPIK, the practical considerations and discussion may also be generally helpful for hosting organization as well as …

Rising Off The Plateau In Learning Arabic, Daniel Scott Linquist

MA TESOL Collection

Experiencing plateaus in second language learning is a common experience, especially for language student studying Arabic or one of the other languages considered more difficult. Some of the causes for the plateau experience in Arabic are its complex grammar, its vast amount of vocabulary, and the different roles of Modern Standard Arabic and the spoken dialects of Arabic.

Rising off the Plateau in Studying Arabic is a thesis project, which analyzes this second language learner’s attempt to make significant progress in studying Modern Standard Arabic. The project was based on a self-directed, semi-intensive Arabic language program, which prioritized the reading …

Adapting The Current Chinese Textbooks To Meet The Requirements Of The National Standards, Gloria Feung

MA TESOL Collection

The ever-increasing diversity of the language classroom has become a trend in this pluralistic American society. The presence of large groups of students who have home backgrounds in Chinese has outnumbered the non-native speakers in my class at Enloe High School in recent years. Since Chinese is still a small program, the school cannot offer a separate track for non-native students. Furthermore, due to the limited number of classes, students officially registered in different levels cannot be placed in different classrooms. How to provide a feasible, sequenced, and integrated curriculum to a mixture of native-speakers and non-native speakers as well …

African Film: A Dynamic Medium For A High School French Class Cultural Curriculum, Denise Elizabeth Dunn Barstow-Girel

MA TESOL Collection

Culture can be an integral part of the French foreign language class when students learn French language and Francophone culture through a content-based approach using the medium of African films. Founded on the pedagogical value of a thematic study of issues aimed at raising linguistic, cultural, and global awareness in adolescent, fourth or fifth year high school French students, I developed this cultural curriculum focused on Francophone African culture. While learning the French language, students will gain knowledge of West African cultures including historical aspects, and the role of the French language in this region.