Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Uses And Gratifications Of Dance Reality Television Shows, Heather M. Yuille

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Uses and Gratifications of Dance Reality Shows

Competition based dance reality shows are a sub-category under the reality television show genre. One way to add to the growing body of research about reality television shows is to study each sub-category individually in terms of uses and gratifications theory. Therefore this research looked into the reasons why people watch dance reality shows. Since dance is an art form that has deep historic roots, has experienced highs and lows in terms of public perception and has experienced a strong resurgence recently within the realm of reality television, it proves to be …

Unnecessary Evil: An Examination Of Abu Ghraib Torture Photographs As Postcolonial Resistance Rhetoric, Patrick Gerhardt Richey

Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the rhetorical nature of visual artifacts in a postcolonial context. In order to examine the nature of visual artifacts as a form of resistance against static ideologies and prevailing power structures, the author uses both media and cultural artifacts created in response to photographs taken of abused prisoners at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib Correctional Facility. The dissertation adds to scholarly knowledge of communication by addressing the intersections of iconographic visual communication and postcolonial resistance rhetoric. The dissertation provides a scholarly review of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, as well as of literature explicating …

Extending Story Listening As A Practice Of Communal Formation At The Lake Orion Church Of Christ, Eric R. Magnusson

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This doctor of ministry thesis presents the results of a project that explores the potential for extending a practice of story listening as a way of forming community across social circles at the Lake Orion Church of Christ in Lake Orion, Michigan. The intervention involved guiding a group of six participant-researchers, each of whom had previous experience in story listening, through six sessions in the fall of 2011. Each phase of the project was informed by a participatory social Trinitarian theology. The first three sessions were designed to empower participant-researcher pairs to facilitate story listening groups of four to five …

Not You/Like You, With You: Toward A Praxis Of Love, Learning, And Liberation In Teaching Efl Writing — On Zombies, De-Colonial Feminisms, And Freire In Efl Contact Zones, Jessmaya Morales

MA TESOL Collection

This paper explores EFL writing as a critical contact zone in which identity and subjectivity are found, denied, contested, de/constructed and occupied. The author opens with an account of a dream, utilized as a metaphor to examine EFL learning through the analytical lens of Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed. The paper’s first section is a self-reflexive discussion of Freire’s pedagogy and why his unambiguous analyses of power, subjectivity, and the “banking system of education” are vital to the field of ELT. In the second section, the author discusses subjectivity, identity, and intersectionality as rooted in the work of …

Supporting The Micmac Farms Through Ethnographic Communication Research, Anthony Sutton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

“Living in New York City, I experienced being at the top of the food chain, and living in Presque Isle Maine, we are at the bottom of the food chain. The food we get is the bottom of the barrel, low quality, and expensive.” This was a story told to me by a tribal administrator, which represented a problem of food security. The Micmac started a farm in order to address community health issues of high obesity and diabetes. In the summer of 2011, I worked three months on the farm supporting community needs and goals of the farm. My …

"I Had The Craziest Dream Last Night...": A Foucauldian Analysis Of Black Swan, Samantha Rose Prochnow

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.

How Media Frame Roller Derby Around The World In 20 Different Countries, Julie Chartrou

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A content analysis was conducted to analyze how media frame roller derby. The research included an analysis of newspaper articles published all around the world in 20 different nations from January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2011, and different languages were considered. The research did not support previous studies concerning women athletes and the sport. Overall tone toward roller derby was mainly neutral, and the description of roller derby was not defined as sexist or using violent terms. Women journalists who wrote articles were slightly more sexist and used violent terms than men. Exploratory research showed that the previous findings …

A Symbolic Prison: A Prisoner's Story As Masculinity Crisis Narrative In Bronson, James Benjamin Shupe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For this project I analyze the film Bronson, focusing on its connection to the contemporary masculinity crisis discourse or the belief that traditional notions of masculinity are in peril due to changing gender norms and women's social progress. I argue Bronson privileges a narrow, violent conception of masculinity through its presentation of violence and domination over other men. I use Ernest Bormann's Symbolic Convergence Theory to analyze how the film makes sense of the real life events it is based on in a way that appeals to the contemporary masculinity crisis discourse. I argue that Bronson is a notable representation …

The Initiation Of Growth-Focused Relationships Involving Healthy Accountability At The Carbondale Church Of Christ, Stephen Shaffer

Doctor of Ministry Theses

After several years of transition, the Carbondale Church of Christ is in the early stages of becoming a spiritual growth-focused community. However, the emerging growth community appears to reflect the prevailing cultural assumptions that growth is a personal, private, and an individual task. To shape this emergent growth culture, this project initiated a group of congregational opinion leaders, organized in pairs, into the practice of growth-focused relationships involving healthy accountability. The initiation involved a theological orientation followed by a four-week healthy accountability praxis.

The theological framework of the project involved three main aspects. First, the project used the body image …

Theories Of Culture, Identity, And Ethnomusicology: A Synthesis Of Popular Music, Cultural, And Communication Studies, Alyssa Santos

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.

Teach For America Teachers' Blogs On Teaching, Samantha Nicole Holt

Masters Theses

In 1989, Princeton University senior Wendy Kopp conceived the idea of a national teacher corps that would place the brightest young people in the schools that were the most difficult to staff. This idea, which became Teach For America (TFA), took life in 1990, and has since become a powerful force in the public education reform movement. TFA consistently attracts college graduates from the nation’s top universities, and with the funding it receives from private donors as well as the federal government, the organization recruits and trains these individuals who commit to teach in the country’s highest-needs public schools. Critics …

Tripping With Stephen Gaskin: An Exploration Of A Hippy Adult Educator, Gabriel Patrick Morley

Dissertations

For the last 40 years, Stephen Gaskin has been an adult educator on the fringe, working with tens of thousands of adults in the counterculture movement in pursuit of social change regarding marijuana legalization, women’s rights, environmental justice issues and beyond. Gaskin has written 11 books about his experiences teaching and learning with adults outside the mainstream, yet, he is virtually unknown in the field of adult education. He lists his religion as hippy; he is a member of the Counterculture Hall of Fame (inducted 2004), a convicted felon, a United States Marine, a Korean War combat veteran, and a …

Ideological “Smackdown”: A Textual Analysis Of Class, Race And Gender In Wwe Televised Professional Wrestling, Casey Brandon Hart

Dissertations

The focus of this study is an in-depth intertextual examination of how the WWE in 2010 and by extension contemporary professional wrestling in general represents a microcosm of modern cultural ideology. The study examines three major areas in which this occurs. The first of these areas is that of class values. This section focuses on the establishment and extension middle-American values, defined as those values generally shared by the middle-class of the United States. The second section of this study focuses on how the WWE uses racial commodification in the treatment of people of color. Using concepts of Marxist power …

Cultural Impact On Customer Satisfaction And Service Quality Evaluation In Hotels, Yeji Seo

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify how the cultural differences impact customer satisfaction and service quality evaluation in U.S. hotels.

Statement of Objective: The objective of this paper is threefold. The first objective is to define customer satisfaction and what customer satisfaction means to people from different cultural backgrounds. The second objective is to evaluate past research on satisfaction and to develop a taxonomy based on the existing literature to introduce how to measure customers’ satisfaction effectively in accordance with each culture. The third objective is to recommend what should be done by the hotel professionals in …

How Can An Organization Use The Differences In Behavior And Perception Of Its Members To Build Collaborative Relationships? - A Case Study On An Ethiopia-Japan Cross-Cultural Organization For Development -, Akie Nawa

Capstone Collection

This study explores differences in behavior and perception between the Japanese and Ethiopian staff members of a small development Non-Government Organization (NGO) based in Japan. Eight categories of difference are identified: ways to get work done, the value of money, pride, positive attitude and cheerfulness, attitude towards work and learning, openness and informality, sense of ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’, and humaneness. In order to supplement the findings, a previously conducted study on this subject was consulted; this helped to identify additional differences. This study also explores ways to use these differences in behavior and perception effectively to build a more collaborative …

Color And Brand Design For Multicultural Packaging, Kyle Valdillez

Graphic Communication

The purpose of this study is to determine how companies can use the color and brand design of packaging to effectively communicate their products across multiple cultures. Companies are entering new markets overseas where culture is affecting how a product is being perceived. Whether it is positive, negative, or neutral, they must accommodate these influences to potentially increase profits. This study will specifically explore the Spanish and Japanese cultures in comparison to the American culture, concerning the meanings of various colors and their use in brand design. The research methods used were historical research and content analysis. Through thorough examination …

The Storm After The Storm: A Comparative Framing Analysis Of Governmental And News Reporting On Hurricane Katrina, Evan T. Zuverink

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Hurricane Katrina is widely regarded as the greatest natural disaster to ever befall the United States. Following the storm’s devastation of the Gulf Coast region, a media firestorm unleashed, seeking to ascribe responsibility to governmental actors for the “failed” response effort. Through a comparative framing analysis, this study sought to investigate how major news outlets, the White House, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency framed the response efforts that followed Hurricane Katrina.

Containing The Beat: An Analysis Of The Press Coverage Of The Beat Generation During The 1950s, Anna Lou Jessmer

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The early Cold War era was a period marked by a fear of Communist subversion and a distrust of the other. It was during this time that the Beat Generation emerged in literature and society as a minority opinion group—failing to conform to mainstream norms and living outside the margins of acceptable American culture. In response to the Beat Generation and their dissenting viewpoints, the media framed the Beats in a mostly negative manner. This negative framing was fueled by a desire to delegitimize the Beats as well as any other dissenting groups that posed a threat to American ideology. …

Conservative Media And Political Socialization: Immigration, Gay Marriage, And Abortion As Presented By Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, And Cnn, Jeff Mckay

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study addresses the political socialization of politically conservative individuals and how political ideologies seem to coalesce among individuals from various socioeconomic backgrounds. The main issue that this study aims to tackle is the impact of conservative media on the political socialization of conservative individuals and how media as an agent of socialization might influence them to support ideas that are not to their benefit economically. For instance, conservative individuals from various backgrounds wholeheartedly support the same free market principles. However, the negative effect that capitalism has had on the liberty of middle and lower class citizens of the United …

Lessons From Libya: A Situational Approach To The Generic Criticism Of President Obama's March 28, 2011 Address To The Nation On Libya, Amy L. Schumacher

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Many scholars have called the utility of the generic method of rhetorical criticism into question. Adopting a situational approach to generic rhetorical criticism increases the value of the method considerably. By analyzing situational constituents (scene, purpose, agent, act, agency, and audience) surrounding a discourse, a critic gains a holistic understanding of that text. When coupled with generic comparisons - whether the critic proceeds inductively or deductively - he or she can then trace the recurrent rhetorical strategies across time and place and, simultaneously, highlight the elements unique to the particular rhetor and discourse. I demonstrate this approach through an analysis …

Implicating Bitzer's Rhetorical Situation In Comparative And Non-Violent Rhetoric: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Three Ecofeminist Movements From East To West, Shahreen Mat Nayan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the study of social movement rhetoric, scholars often focus on movements based in Western nations, foregoing study of social change in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and other parts of the world. Similarly, the focus on non-violent rhetoric has also been lacking, despite its use by great leaders such as Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King. This dissertation contributes to the study of social change in a globalized world, by taking a comparative approach to non-violent rhetoric in three diverse case studies. As sub-areas, both comparative rhetoric and non-violent rhetoric require further deliberation due to the numerous debates concerning …

Maintaining Or Disrupting Inequality: Diversity Statements In The University, Linda A. Merkl

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of my study was to identify whether university Diversity Statements aid in maintaining or disrupting inequality in the university. Using critical discourse analysis, I analyzed an initial sample of eleven Diversity Statements to develop a list of common themes found within the diversity statements. Using a maximum variation method, I then reduced my sample to four universities to provide breadth of information for the final study (Miles & Huberman, 1994). In my case analysis, I first conducted an individual analysis of each of the four Diversity Statements using the common themes from my critical case analysis, common functions …

When Talking Helps: A Quantitative Study Of Privacy And Resilience After Bereavement, Carrie Lynn West

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Using the theoretical framework of Communication Privacy Management, this study sought to determine how trait resilience, state hopefulness, distress disclosure, use of social networks, and boundary turbulence relate to bereaved spouses' life satisfaction. Bereaved spouses (N=149) completed questionnaires at Camp Widow, a weekend-long conference for bereaved spouses held in San Diego, from August 12-14, 2011. Participants were single, engaged or remarried. The average age of the participants is 46.24 years. The average age at time of bereavement reported was 43.71 years. The amount of time that had passed since the death of their spouse was 2.83 years, and the average …

Mapping The Conceptual Terrain Of Work Calling, K. Arianna Molloy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Communication researchers have much to gain and contribute by paying sustained attention to the implications, contributions, and consequences of the interpretation and (re)production of work as a calling. While work calling has been theoretically and quantitatively conceptualized in a number of disciplines, it remains lacking in evidence of how the lived experiences and sensemaking discourses of participants serve to (re)construct this concept. Thus, the current study is qualitatively guided by asking, how people from different professional domains communicate about their experiences of work as a calling. To begin, I assess the overarching themes related to work calling in the areas …

Korean-American Divided Families: Catalyst For Changing The Course Of The Usa Policy On North Korea, Jungyoung Park

Capstone Collection

The Korea War has left deep scars on the psyches of Koreans in Korea and throughout the world. Among many ordeals that Korean citizens had to suffer during and after the war, the separation of the family was one of the most tragic continuing results of the war. Countless individuals were forcibly severed from their family members in North Korea and most haven’t seen their separated relatives for over six decades. There have been 18 rounds of reunions between North and South Koreans since a historic summit talk in June 2000. However, Korean-American members of divided families cannot participate in …

The Gendered Body In Virtual Space : Sexuality, Performance And Play In Four Second Life Spaces, Judith Elund

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This work is principally an investigation into visual and screen culture, using four specific regions of the three-dimensional virtual world of ‘Second Life’ as case studies. The analysis follows a thematic application of discourse analysis as a basis for critiquing Western screen culture, most importantly the cultural and social conditions that replicate dominant paradigms of power and agency. Of particular pertinence to this study are the framing, representational and spatial practices of gendered and sexual identities within ‘Second Life’ spaces. As is typical of the internet, sexual freedom is a given, yet representational performance (how one appears through their embodied …

Mexican-Americans In Los Angeles: Strengthening Their Ethnic Identity Through Chivas Usa, Stephanie Goldberger

CMC Senior Theses

A large Mexican-American population already exists in Los Angeles and, with each generation, it continues to rise. This Mexican-American community has maintained its connection to its heritage by playing and watching soccer, Mexico’s top watched sport. In this thesis, I analyze how Major League Soccer's Chivas USA serves as an outlet through which many Mexicans in Los Angeles have developed their ethnic identities. Since the early twentieth century, Mexicans in Los Angeles have created separate residential communities and sports organizations to strengthen their connections with one another.

To appeal to Mexican-Americans, Chivas USA has branded itself closely to its sister …

自我保護與 "另類" 實踐 : "雙向運動" 視野下的中國鄉村建設, Jiaen Pan

Theses & Dissertations

本論文希望把中國鄉村建設運動放置在更為複雜與動態的脈絡下，嘗試以一種有別于“成王敗寇”邏輯的敍述與視野，通過參與者獨特的視角，結合起微觀與宏觀層面，將具體實踐扣聯（articulate）到近代中國轉型的“百年激進”、“百年鄉村破壞”、“百年鄉建”這一主線中。以理解鄉村建設的生命力、深層意義與內在困境，並在此基礎上對已有各種“類型化”評價認識、“刻板化”參照座標及背後的“意義系統”進行梳理與反思。

為更好實現以上目的，筆者借助卡爾•波蘭尼“雙向運動”視野，但努力避免因生搬硬套而“削足適履”式的尋找或對應本土及“三農”領域的“雙向運動”，而是更多借鑒其“視野”上的啟示。希望通過該“視野”的幫助，讓筆者可以更好的探討那些被遮蔽與忽略的面向，進而解決困擾筆者的理論思考與現實實踐問題。同時，本論文結合了歷史與當代鄉村建設的各組案例，實踐所蘊含的複雜性與豐富性也希望可以推進筆者對“雙向運動”發生及運作機制所展開的討論。

正如標題所示，本論文希望從“自我保護”和“另類實踐”結合起來的角度重新理解鄉村建設的定位與特點及其與“主流”社會的複雜關係及互動。它們既是鄉村建設的主要意義，同時也決定其將一直面對著各種困境與矛盾張力。

本論文借鑒文化研究的思想資源及其對脈絡與扣聯的強調，希望以此打破“研究者-行動者”、“理論-實踐”的習慣性分割。同時希望能跳出一般分析所隱含“樂觀-悲觀”、“積極-消極”的二元框架，也挑戰將鄉村建設納入“效果論”、“好人好事說”和“效果論”這三種常見的類型化處理。故本文儘量避免事實羅列、簡單代言與一般辯護，而是呼應以個人參與鄉村建設的生命史，反觀其中的興奮、困惑、不甘、無奈等複雜情感與認識，除以此帶出對所存在社會基礎與宏觀環境的討論外，希望再次說明鄉村建設的動力與張力。

“All Girls Are Barbies”: A Feminist Critique Of Nicki Minaj’S Barbie Persona, Camellia Sarmadi

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.