Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Cross-Cultural Differences In Written Discourse Patterns : A Study Of Acceptability Of Japanese Expository Compositions In American Universities, Hiroko Kitano

Dissertations and Theses

Since Kaplan started the study of contrastive rhetoric, researchers have investigated Japanese and English compositions and have found some differences between them. However, few studies have investigated how these differences are perceived by native English readers when the different rhetorical patterns are transferred to English writing.

Drawing from Hinds' study, this research focuses on the following: how the Japanese style of writing is evaluated by Japanese and American readers, especially in academic situations, how Japanese rhetorical patterns are perceived by American readers, and how a change of organization affects the evaluation by American readers.

An Exploratory Study Of Female Networking In A Mormon Fundamentalist Polygynous Society, Janet Bennion Cannon

Dissertations and Theses

The present study is comprised of two parts: 1) an exploratory ethnography of a contemporary polygynous community governed by a strong patriarchal ideology in Pinesdale Montana with emphasis on social relationships, and 2) an analysis of the factors which have allowed women's groups to develop in Mormon fundamentalism. The ethnographic account of the community contextualizes the occurrence of female groups in Pinesdale. A model of the formation of female groups designed by Nancy Leis (1974) in her study of the West African Ijaw is used to provide a better understanding of how female groups are formed, and is applied to …

The Orchestration Of Nature's Writing Surfaces, Laurie M. O'Reilly

Anthós Journal (1990-1996)

This articles stretches Derrida’s notion of writing by positing that writing itself might be thought of as "that which can be read or interpreted." This breaks the absolute bond between writing and human handicraft and suggests new ways of understanding the way we interpret natural phenomena. This paper traces this concept through numerous natural phenomena and suggests that perhaps the limits of meaning might have more to do with the interpreter’s range of understanding when it comes to natural gestures and "writings." In the end writing comes to be understood as durative, or has having duration. In this interpretation comes …

John Rawls, The Conception Of A Liberal Self, And The Communitarian Critique, Johnathan Edward Mansfield

Dissertations and Theses

John Rawls' A Theory of Justice stands as the single most important work in the Anglo-American liberal tradition after World War II. In A Theory of Justice, Rawls revives the social contract doctrine in order to determine principles of justice that would be chosen by persons who are free and equal moral individuals. Since Rawls believes that no single conception of the good can establish justice in a pluralistic society, he posits a set of principles of right which are prior to any particular good. Thus his theory, which he calls "justice as fairness," is deontological. Since its publication in …