Digital Commons Network^™

"We Have Never Known What Death Was Before"--A Just War Doctrine Critique Of U.S. History Textbooks, Mark Pearcy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Textbooks are a significant element of the social studies curriculum and teacher pedagogical choice (Apple, 2004; Apple & Christian-Smith, 1991). Students' views of American history are dramatically affected by the textbook narratives to which they are exposed, and teachers often tilt their curricular choices based on the textbooks available to them (Luke, 2006; Schug, Western & Enochs, 1997). The history of our nation's armed conflicts is often presented, through our textbooks and our pedagogy, as a history of reluctant violence, which promotes a particular moral agenda that exerts control over our students' future beliefs and decisions. This is particularly important …

Captivating The Captors: Re-Defining Masculinity, Identity And Post-Colonialism In Plutarch's Parallel Lives, Andrea Lea Pittard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates 1st-2nd century CE biographer and philosopher, Plutarch's, manipulation and construction of gender ideals in three sets of his Parallel Lives, Coriolanus and Alcibiades, Pelopidas and Marcellus, and Phocion and Cato the Younger in which he presented his particular version of the ideal man and route to manhood. Plutarch discouraged traditional paths to gaining masculine status and simultaneously promoted a type of masculinity that benefited other aspects of his identity, particularly promoting his social and economic position and ethnicity. He asserted throughout that martial men were not in control of their emotions and therefore were incomplete men. …

The Noble Savage And Ecological Indian: Cultural Dissonance And Representations Of Native Americans In Literature, Brooke D. Mcnaughton

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This thesis provides a unique approach to understanding the historical origins and contemporary social ramifications of the use of the concepts of the Noble Savage and the Ecological Indian within literature. I first examine the history of the Noble Savage concept in literature by examining relevant social movements, and then its eventual transition into its modern counterpart, the Ecological Indian. Authors who employ the use of these concepts typically portray Natives in a way which provides an idealized alternative for white cultural woes. Consequently, this idealization creates problems with modern Native identity. In the second half of this project I …

Must Pay Now, David C. Perkins

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

These poems attempt to stand amidst the towering shadows of Enlightenment. One of these pillars involves the newfound land from a collective western European vantage and these lands are called the Americas. This space is where these poems are located. They suckle at the monolithic breasts of Enlightened Romance as did Romulus and Remus to the She-Wolf. The poems in their own originality engage with writers such as Jonathan Edwards, Alice Notley, Susan Howe, Frank O’Hara, William Carlos Williams, Walt Whitman, Christina Rossetti, William Blake, and John Cage. If there ever was such a thread in tradition, these people might …

An Assessment Of Microevolutionary Change Among Prehistoric Florida Populations Through The Analysis Of Craniometric Data, Samantha M. Seasons

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The analysis of craniometric data collected from skeletal remains, combined with

archaeological data, can provide very valuable information pertaining to biological

distance and gene flow among prehistoric populations through space and time. The goal

of this study was to examine microevolutionary change among prehistoric populations in

south Florida based on the degree of cranial variation among populations at seven

prehistoric sites. It was expected that as time progressed, microevolutionary forces

caused significant changes in the crania of the various populations based on the relative

geographic proximity of the sites and the temporal distance between sites.

A Microscribe 3-DX digitizer was …

Contextualizing Obesity Among Latino Farmworkers: A Critical Analysis Of Structural And Cultural Processes Affecting Farmworker Health And Nutrition In Central Florida, Melissa H. Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Migrant and seasonal farmworkers play a critical role in the U.S. economy, producing food for the American public, while their suffering is often rendered invisible by their existence on the margins of society. The low wages associated with farm labor combined with the largely undocumented status of this population severely limits access to food, housing, and health care, resulting in poor health outcomes. Through the use of a critical anthropological approach, this research examines the social, cultural, political, and economic context of obesity among Latino migrant and seasonal farmworkers in Central Florida. Ethnographic research methods were used to explore perceptions …

The Design And Synthesis Of Functionalized Porphyrins And Their Applications In Group Transfer Reactions, Medicine, And Materials, Kimberly Bliss Fields

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Porphyrins and their analogs are a class of chemically and biologically important compounds that have found a variety of applications in different fields such as catalysis, medicine, and materials. The physical, chemical, and biological dependence of the peripheral substituents of porphyrins on their properties has prompted great effort towards the synthesis of new porphyrins with different electronic, steric, and conformational environments. To this end, porphyrins have been prepared using a modular approach from bromo- and triflate synthons. These synthons underwent palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling with chiral amines, amides, alcohols, and boronic esters to create products that were tested for biological activity.

Metalloporphyrins …

News Media Representations Of Women In The U.S. Military Post September 11, 2001, Colleen Krepstekies

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines newspaper portrayals produced by the

Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times of women in the military from Sept. 11, 2001, to Sept. 11, 2009. The purpose was to identify how the three nationally recognized U.S. newspapers depict women’s expanding combat roles on contemporary battlefields that lack definitive front lines. Because the news media are the primary vehicle to update the general public on military matters, how the news media portray military women can play a role in shaping audience perceptions of military women. In turn, this relationship can influence the …

To Prevent The Breakup Of The Indian Family: The Development Of The Indian Child Welfare Act Of 1978., Evelyn Lance Blanchard

American Studies ETDs

This dissertation is the story of the destruction of Indian families as told to Congress in hearings held by the Sub-Committee on Indian Affairs in 1974 and the Select Committee on Indian Affairs in 1977 through the testimony of children, parents, Indian leadership, the Association on American Indian Affairs, psychological witnesses, and other advocates who opposed destructive child welfare practices. Their testimony described the illegal removal of Indian children, the exploitation of families through violation of their due process rights, the tragedy of children who were abused and neglected in placement, the psychological damage suffered by the children and their …

Visionary Of Control: The Efficiency, Expertise, And Exclusion Of Alexander James Inglis, Heidi Tilney Kramer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Alexander James Inglis was the key contributor to changes enacted in education during the Progressive era. He instituted an administrative and curricular hierarchy in order to create social organization during a chaotic time in American history, thus advancing professionalism in teaching and systematizing a future workforce - teaching previously had no standards, and throngs of immigrants overwhelmed the school system. While necessary at the time, this system of centralization, homogenization, and sorting continues to result in exclusion in secondary education and middle schools. Categorization is Inglis' hallmark in his work in education, following Frederick W. Taylor's managerial practices, and he …

Triptych Cultural Critique: Fray Angelico Chavez And Southwestern Critical Regionalism, 1939-2004, Melina Vizcaíno-Alemán

American Studies ETDs

Fray Angelico Chavez was a Franciscan priest and man of letters whose published writings span most of the twentieth century. The dissertation is a critical biography of Fray Angelico's writing, and it uses religion as a critical lens for understanding his work in relation to a host of other Southwestern regional writers, both Anglo and Mexican American. I argue Fray Angelico's Franciscanism fosters a mode of Southwestern critical regionalism in his writing. The main objective of this dissertation is to build and apply a comparative methodology that I call triptych cultural critique to understand better the different modes of regional …

The Christian Zionist Lobby And U.S.-Israel Policy, Mark G. Grzegorzewski

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research explores the role of the Christian Zionist Lobby in shaping U.S. policy towards Israel. It is posited that the Christian Zionist Lobby, due to their eschatological goals, diverge from the interests of the larger Israel Lobby described by Mearsheimer and Walt. To test this hypothesis an exploratory case study is implemented to explain why the U.S. shifted its policy from supporting the Road Map to backing Israeli unilateralism. As the results of this study show, the Christian Zionists did actively oppose the Road Map and may have influenced American policy making. However, it would be a mistake to …

Functional Nanomaterials With An Electrochemistry-Based Approach To Sensing And Energy Applications, Jessica Eileen Weber

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the past decade, the use of nanotechnology as a tool to develop and fabricate new structures and devices for biological sensing and energy applications has become increasingly widespread. In this work, a systematic study has been performed on one-dimensional nanomaterials, with a focus on the development of miniaturized devices with a "bottom up" approach. First, members of the nano - carbon family are utilized for biosensing applications; in particular, carbon nanotubes as well as nitrogen - doped and boron - doped nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) films. These carbon - based materials possess several unique electrochemical properties over other conductive materials …

Life In The Florida Everglades: Bioarchaeology Of The Miami One Site, Cristina Echazabal

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The bioarchaeology of prehistoric south Florida has been an area of archaeological interest for the last century because of the interplay between ancient populations and the unique environment of the Everglades. The purpose of this study is to analyze the pathology, demography and mortuary practice of the ancient Southeast Florida aboriginal population at Miami One to assess the similarity of Miami One to other south Florida populations during the prehistoric period. The Miami One site (8DA11) is one of many related sites located along the shore of the Miami River. It was continuously occupied from the Late Archaic (ca.1000 B.C.) …

Bringing The War Home The Patriotic Imagination In Saskatoon, 1939-1942, Brendan Kelly

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

In The American West Transformed: The Impact of the Second World War, noted historian Gerald D. Nash argued that the war, more than any other event in the West's history, completely altered that region.1 There is as yet no equivalent of Nash's fine study for the Great Plains north of the forty-ninth parallel, or what Canadians call the "prairies."² This gap notwithstanding, historians of western Canada have begun to explore at least one key aspect of Nash's research: the war's impact on cities. Since 1995 there have been three histories of urban centers in wartime: Red Deer (Alberta), Lethbridge …

Lithic Technology And Obsidian Exchange Networks In Bronze Age Sardinia, Italy (Ca. 1600-850 B.C.), Kyle P. Freund

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Sardinian Bronze Age (Nuragic period) and the factors which created and maintained an island-wide identity as seen through the presence of its distinctive nuraghi have received considerable attention; however the amount of research directly related to the stone tools of the era has been relatively limited despite the wealth of knowledge it is capable of yielding. This thesis hopes to contribute to Sardinian archaeology through the study of ancient technology, specifically obsidian lithic technology, by combining typological information with source data gleaned from the use of X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF). These data are integrated with statistical analyses breaking down …

The Powerful Mythology Surrounding Bugsy Siegel, Larry Gragg Ph.D.

Occasional Papers

Journalists, authors, filmmakers, and historians have been interested in Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel for over six decades. Collectively, they have crafted a cohesive mythological narrative of Siegel’s life one focused upon “rags to riches” success and his contributions to the development of Las Vegas, Nevada. Most attribute to Siegel the inspiration for not only the Flamingo Hotel‐Casino, but also for the glamorous, classy, flashy resort city Las Vegas became after World War II. This paper describes the development of the myth since Siegel’s murder in 1947 as well as how it has been sustained.

"Only You Can Prevent A Forest": Agent Orange, Ecocide, And Environmental Justice, Charles Waugh

English Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Autobiography As Self-Defense In The Works Of Agnes Newton-Keith And Michelle Kennedy, Robin Heim

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis examines the captivity narrative, Three Came Home, written in 1947 by Agnes Newton-Keith, and the poverty narrative, Without a Net: Middle Class and Homeless (with Kids) in America: My Story, written in 2005 by Michelle Kennedy. When examined together through the lens of Trauma Theory, these narratives provide evidence of how similar the survival skills and strategies are between the American female POW's and the American females experiencing downward mobility. This thesis will also show how language uncovers and decodes the presence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder not often associated with women in poverty.

Unifying America: The Use Of American Propaganda During World War I, Maxwell Riley Woodcock

Communication Studies

This project offers a historical look at the Committee on Public Information (CPI), its leader George Creel, and the uses of propaganda in America during the First World War. The paper discusses Creel's role in creating a propaganda machine that influenced the beliefs of millions of Americans. The last section analyzes what critics thought of the American government after they propagandized the American people.

Tattoos: A Marked History, Audrey Porcella

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Creek/Seminole Archaeology In The Apalachicola River Valley, Northwest Florida, April J. Buffington

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Seminole Indians were Creek Indians from Georgia and Alabama who migrated to Florida for several reasons, including much conflict from not only other native groups but European pursuits. This thesis documents the early Creeks coming into northwest Florida, and thereby contributes to the larger research question of Seminole ethnogenesis. By compiling not only the confusing and often unclear historical documentation, but also the archaeological record, this thesis examines Creek/Seminole archaeological sites along the Apalachicola River and lower Chattahoochee River and matches them up with known historical towns to see where and when the Creek Indians were coming into Florida …

Rhetorics Of Fear, Deployment Of Identity, And Metal Music Cultures, Gregory Vance Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to analyze the rhetorics of fear operating in public discourses surrounding metal music. This analysis focuses on how the public rhetorics deploy identity on listener populations through both the mediation and legislation of identities. Specifically, this mediation takes place using both symbols of fear and arguments constructed on potential threats. Texts for analysis in this study include film and television documentaries, newspaper articles, book-length critiques of and scholarship on heavy metal, and transcripts from the U.S. Senate Hearings on Record Labeling.

"Heavy metal" and "metal music" are labels that categorize diverse styles of music. …

From China To Cuba: Guerilla Warfare As A Mechanism For Mobilizing Resources, Jorge Barrera

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Guerilla Warfare is a weapon of the weak; it is decisive only where the actor in power fails to commit adequate resources to the conflict. The Chinese and Cuban revolutions are examples of guerilla warfare success, albeit under different conditions and employment techniques; while Mao Tse-tung utilized decentralized guerilla warfare to indoctrinate and mobilize the masses of peasants for revolutionary struggle against a stronger enemy; Fidel Castro employed a more centralized approach to create the conditions necessary for popular support of the revolution. However, in both cases guerilla warfare was simply part of a pragmatic grand strategy to build nationalism …

Development Of Three Dimensional Fluid-Structure Interaction Models For The Design Of Surface Acoustic Wave Devices: Application To Biosensing And Microfluidic Actuation, Reetu Singh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices find uses in a plethora of applications including

but not limited to chemical, biological sensing, and microfluidic actuation. The primary aim of

this dissertation is to develop a SAW biosensor, capable of simultaneous detection of target

biomarkers in fluid media at concentrations of picogram/ml to nanogram/ml levels and removal

of non-specific proteins from sensor surface using the process of acoustic streaming, for potential

chemical sensing, medical, and clinical diagnostic applications. The focus is on the development

of three dimensional finite element structural and fluid-structure interaction models to study wave

propagation and acoustic actuation of fluids …

Neoliberalism And Dependence: A Case Study Of The Orphan Care Crisis In Sub-Saharan Africa, Christine Concetta Gibson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Scholars have examined the impacts of neoliberal policies on women, children, small farmers and more, but little attention has been paid to the impact of these policies on orphans. The issue of orphan care is crucial now, and will become increasingly more urgent in the future. Even as HIV/AIDS rates are on the decline, more and more children are being orphaned by the disease. This paper examines the policies, positions and language of the World Bank and I.M.F. regarding orphans in order to understand the biases and assumptions within neoliberalism about orphans, and who is responsible for providing care for …

Density Functional Theory Studies Of Energetic Materials, Michael W. Conroy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

First-principles calculations employing density functional theory (DFT) were

performed on the energetic materials PETN, HMX, RDX, nitromethane, and a recently

discovered material, nitrate ester 1 (NEST-1). The aims of the study were to accurately

predict the isothermal equation of state for each material, improve the description of these

molecular crystals in DFT by introducing a correction for dispersion interactions, and

perform uniaxial compressions to investigate physical properties that might contribute to

anisotropic sensitivity.

For each system, hydrostatic-compression simulations were performed. Important

properties calculated from the simulations such as the equilibrium structure, isothermal

equation of state, and bulk moduli were compared …

Integrating Rural Cambodian Villagers’ Perspectives Into Monitoring And Evaluation Protocols For An Ngo’S Water And Sanitation Program, Elizabeth Churchill

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Bridges Across Borders (BAB), a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Cambodia, directs diverse and complementary projects to improve the lives of Cambodians living in poverty. The Hand In Hand project (HIH) is one of these projects, implemented in the rural community of Chamcar Bei. This project started in 2006 and is designed to be completely sustained by the villagers after 5 years. One of the four components of HIH is a health component, whose goal is to improve the health of the community. In 2007 and 2008, through these health initiatives, BAB provided the community with 280 ceramic water filters, 20 …

Making And Keeping The Peace: An Analysis Of African Union Efficacy, Nicholas Temple

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The African Union (AU) has pledged to create a continent of peace and solidarity. However, dozens of socio-ethnic conflicts occur across the continent despite the AU's best efforts to prevent them. In this thesis, case studies of Darfur and Western Sahara were used to assess the efficacy of the AU in the realm of peacemaking and peacekeeping. Within each of these studies, AU impediments to peacemaking and peacekeeping on financial, political, and socio-cultural fronts were analyzed. The findings suggest that while socio-cultural conflict continues to proliferate, the AU has neither the financial resources nor the political clout to meet peacemaking …

The Sweet Script: A Critical Analysis Of American Sportswriting, Jonathan Schreiber

Honors Scholar Theses

This thesis analyzes the sportswriting genre as a form of personal essay. It explores the art over time through writers Red Smith, A.J. Liebling, Roger Angell, George Plimpton, Bart Giamatti, Frank Deford, and Rick Reilly, as well as anthologized writers from 2008 and blogs.