Digital Commons Network^™

John Laurens: An Artist Rediscovered In The Ethelind Pope Brown Collection, Nicole Alexandra Gerth

Theses and Dissertations

The Ethelind Pope Brown collection at the Irvin Department of Rare Books & Special Collections at the University of South Carolina contains thirty-two gouache paintings of south-eastern North American flora and fauna from the eighteenth century. Colonel John Laurens, a native South Carolinian from the eighteenth century, is the decided artist for the collection after appraisers and scholars confirmed that the works were painted by a local amateur artist. Historians respect Laurens for his abolitionist ideologies and his status as an officer under George Washington’s service, but his accomplishment as an amateur naturalist artist is not as well documented. From …

Investigating The Role Of Denial In Interpersonal Formulations Of Binge Eating Among Black And White College Women: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study, Lindsay Marie Howard

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Binge eating is a prominent concern with 2.8 million Americans meeting criteria for binge eating disorder and an additional 10-15% reporting loss of control and overeating behaviors that fail to meet diagnostic criteria. Despite the risk associated with binge eating in emerging adulthood, studies exploring differences in binge eating between Black and White college women have been limited. Black women may be more likely than White women to deny disordered eating behaviors, such as binge eating, due to pressure to reflect historical body positive ideals and heightened stigma regarding mental health issues in Black communities. Denial is worthy of attention …

A Multi-Case Study Examining The Practices Of Fourth-And Fifth-Grade Teachers In Title 1 Schools Who Use Specific Reading Strategies To Teach The Comprehension Of Informational Text, Candice Maureen Smith

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this multi-case study was to examine the practices of fourth- and fifth-grade teachers in Title 1 schools who use specific reading strategies to teach the comprehension of informational text. One theory that guided this study was Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory focusing on the zone of proximal development as it applies to what a learner can do with and without help, and his concept of learning and development, whereby a child does not develop independently of his or her environment. In addition, Bandura’s social cognitive theory served as a guiding theory for this study. The design was a multiple …

Witches As Queer(Ed) Comrades: How Patriarchy, Sexism And Religious Fanaticism Fueled The Early Modern European Witch Hunts, Iris S. De Lis

University Honors Theses

Patriarchy, sexism, and religious fanaticism each played a complementary and compounding role in creating the conditions for the brutal campaign of violent terror, torture, and mass murder that we now refer to as the early modern European witch hunts. In this paper I explore, by way of a cross-discipline literature review through a feminist and queer theoretical lens, the ways in which those who were accused of being witches in early modern Europe were rendered queer subjects by dominant organized religion, the state and society--regardless of whether they ever actually identified as witches or practiced witchcraft. The term queer subject …

Understanding The Taboo Of Incest In The American South Through Analysis Of Southern Gothic Literature, Grace Young

University Honors Theses

In this paper, I am exploring the topic of incest through the lens of the Southern Gothic literature genre. I am interested in why the American South has the stereotype of having more prevalence of individuals who engage in incest in mountain communities versus other parts of the communities in America. I explore the intersectionality of race, geographic isolation, religion, and the taboo of incest in a small community. I use the texts of William Faulkner, Cormac McCarthy, and Breece D'J Pancake to do in-depth analysis of Southern Gothic themes such as taboo, family secrets, Christianity, and the grotesque. By …

The Ideology Of The Carceral State: Examining The Prison Through Film, Ryan Phillips

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Mass incarceration began almost fifty years ago and has proliferated to the point that the United States is the world leader in incarceration. Much work has been done that examines the history and nature of mass incarceration and the carceral state. However, an area that has received far less attention is how people think about prisons. To address this gap, I ground my analysis in the works of Louis Althusser, Slavoj Zizek, and Mark Fisher to formulate “Carceral Realism”, which I argue is the ideology of mass incarceration. To better understand the nature of this ideology, I employ a content …

Not So Dystopian: A Historical Reading Of Eugenics In Science Fiction, Riley Sanders

The Forum: Journal of History

Broadly, this paper is an effort in complicating traditional readings of eugenic themes in science fiction. Two landmark novels, Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896) and Huxley’s Brave New World (1932), are highlighted as representative of the early and late stages of eugenics. By focusing on the troubling historical context surrounding these authors, I denounce the simple reading of these works as merely “dystopian”. Scholars like Francis Fukuyama advance these simplistic readings by instinctively assuming that Wells and Huxley were against eugenics. This paper continues the tradition that David Bradshaw popularized in his book The Hidden Huxley, which argues …

Telepathic Visions: On Alvin Yapan’S An Kubo Sa Kawayanan (2015), Christian Jil R. Benitez

Filipino Faculty Publications

This article considers the practice of encouraged gazing in Alvin Yapan's An Kubo sa Kawayanan (“The Hut in the Bamboo Grove”) (2015) as a possible exercise on revering things. As such, it is wagered to be instructive towards a reunderstanding of vision as a form of material encounter with things beyond their mere objectification. Sense of sight is argued to be a human telepathic ability, that is, a distance (tele) feeling (pathein) with and for thigns, despite and because of their indeterminate materialities. Through looking closely at the rhetorical engagements of Yapan's Kubo with its various …

Redefining The Object Of Semiotic Studies, Yiqiang Jin

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

Semiotics has long suffered a severe identity crisis, displaying confusions on four relationships. The crisis stems partly from our failure to distinguish three pairs of relata and partly from our poor understanding of the nature of an academic discipline. Semiotics is, first of all, a discipline. Like other academic fields, it should have a sound object of study and aim at an adequate theory. An excursion into psychology and the philosophy of science can reveal to us the necessary constituents of a proper object of study and of a good theory. Looking back, the history of semiotics has brought up …

A Study On Creation Myths Of The Yi Nationality, Pan Lei, Kanokporn Numtong

Journal of Letters

This study compares the similarities and differences between the Yi nationality’s creation myths recorded in the four epics, and analyzes the causes for these similarities and differences in order to understand the Yi mythological view of cosmology, nature, and human beings. Results show that: 1) The main gods in Yi mythology created heaven, earth, and natural things through magic or things in nature, which reflected the lifestyle and natural environment of the Yi at that time; 2) There are both male and female god in Yi mythology, so we can infer that the creation myths were produced in both matriarchal …

Pandemic, Human Precarity And Post-Pandemic Metaverses, Tracy Harwood

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

With the global COVID-19 pandemic and its continuing impacts, we have reached a nexus which places new emphasis on our understanding of ourselves and our relationship with others – other nations, other species, other worlds. A critical question is: Does this mean that our transition into the posthuman is complete? It is therefore with some interest that this Dialogue contribution approaches the review of Francesca Ferrando’s book (2019) titled Philosophical Posthumanism. Prior to and after the detailed review of the book, this Dialogue essay reflects on the precarity induced by the pandemic and possible socio-technological ways out of the current …

Non-Destructive Trace Element Analysis Of Burials From Moho Cay, Belize, April Alyce Walton

LSU Master's Theses

The study of skeletal material macroscopically and microscopically can yield a plethora of information about interments’ lives. Studying bones at an elemental level can provide further details regarding dietary habits, residency, and migration patterns, which are important areas of research for Maya archaeology. Currently, research on bone composition is conducted through destructive methods, especially for archaeological bone. The use of non-destructive methods for testing bone composition such as with a portable x-ray fluorescence machine can also be suitable for the study of archaeological bone. This study has two main goals: to understand the interments' lives through strontium trace element and …

Making Culture Relevant In Technical Translation With Dynamic Equivalence: The Case Of Bilingual Instructions, Massimo Verzella

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

One of the central tenets of technical communication research and pedagogy is user-analysis (Redish, 2010; Barnum & Redish, 2011). Technical documents conceived to be used by individuals from different backgrounds should be the product of cycles of negotiations between authors and audiences. Similarly, the idea of participatory design (Ehn, 1993; Courage & Baxter, 2005; Simonsen & Robertson, 2012) revolves around a rhetoric of collaboration and shared-authoring that involves users at all stages of product or content development. User-centered and user-participatory approaches emphasize the importance of user feedback to identify not only problems, but also possibilities that writers and designers might …

What Can Asian Eyelids Teach Us About User Experience Design? A Culturally Reflexive Framework For Ux/I Design, Jennifer Sano-Franchini

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

The proliferation of web applications in recent years has brought about conversations among technology designers about user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design’s role in propagating and reaffirming cultural bias, and in facilitating race-based discrimination. At times, such conversations have demonstrated how taking stock of racialized and cultural bias during the design process can challenge widely held design assumptions. For example, in 2015, Nextdoor, a neighborhood-based social network, was reported to have facilitated racial profiling when users began posting to the application’s Crime and Safety section reports of “suspicious” persons on the basis of racialized appearance, as opposed to …

Beyond Biography: Using Technical And Professional Documentation To Historically Contextualize Women’S Agency, Emily January Petersen

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

1908, Harriet Barraclough—Relief Society president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS; a.k.a. “Mormon”) Halifax Ward, Leeds, England—taught the women in her religious community to be “lifters and not leaners” (Halifax Ward, Folder 1, p. 58). This communication, documented in a handwritten minute book, falls within various definitions of technical and professional communication (TPC), as the practice of TPC “creates both knowledge and value [which]...comprehends the good of the community in which the practice has a history” (Miller, 1989, p. 69). TPC occurs within communities, and “forges connections between new and existing knowledge” (Durack, 1998, p. 181). …

Teaching Professional Communication In A Global Context: Using A Three-Phase Approach Of Theory Exploration, Self-Assessment, And Virtual Simulation, Kelly A. Grant, Timo Lainema, Elizabeth A. Tuleja, Jeffrey Younger

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

In today's globally diverse society, standard theoretical instruction is not able to expose our students to the realities of international communication, multicultural collaboration, and dispersed global work. Abstract text-based cases are limited in delivering a realistic view of the challenges of working virtually and globally within international teams. In addition to cases, we believe that hands-on experiential, collaborative exercises – combined with the metacognitive exercise of reflective practice – offer greater learning potential. While international collaboration and exercises may take extra time, effort, and cost, the benefits to students can be substantial.

Empirical Analysis On Knowledge, Attitudes And Practices (Kap): Puberty And Menstrual Hygiene, Jisha V. G., R. Rupashree, T. Somasundaram

Journal of International Women's Studies

Puberty and menstruation bring major physical and mental changes in a girl’s life; they mark the beginning of procreation. In many countries lackof knowledge and poor hygienic practices during menstruation lead to serious illness ranging from genital tract infections and urinary tract infections to bad odor. This study on Knowledge Attitude and Practice (KAP) aims to understand the awareness level of menstrual health and hygiene among adolescent girls, and the study also focuses on identifying the average age of attaining menarche among early adolescent girls and the problems associated with menstruation. To meet the above objective, a sample of 187 …

Brain Fog Among Perimenopausal Women: A Comparative Study, S. Shrividya, Molly Joy

Journal of International Women's Studies

Menarche is the beginning of a girl's ability to ovulate and reproduce. Visible menopause symptoms are absent with little hormonal changes during pre-menopause. Perimenopause is the transitional period which is a slow process from normal to no menstrual periods at all, which often takes up to 10 years. In menopause, ovarian development of estrogen decreases significantly, and this results in painful effects such as hot flashes, nausea, exhaustion, etc. Another common symptom is brain fog: a mostly temporary state of diminished mental capacity marked by an inability to concentrate or to think or reason. The study intends to analyze brain …

Reading Ability, Study Habits And Students’ Academic Performance In Social Studies, Juliana Uloma Iheakanwa, Sunday Obro, Williams Pius Akpochafo

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study investigated reading ability, study habits and students’ academic performance in Social Studies. The study was an expos-facto study. The researcher employed a stratified and multi-sampling technique to sample 1103 students. The questionnaire was the instrument utilised to gather data. The Cronbach Alpha was utilised for the determination of the instrument reliability, and a reliability value coefficient value of 0.78 for Reading Fluency, 0.90 for Passage Recall and 0.92 for question Answering and 0.76 for Study habit was obtained. Data generated were evaluated employing correlation co-efficient of determination for the research questions, while the multiple regression and linear regression …

James Jones And His Short Stories On Life Challenges Faced By Americans In The Xx Century, Elmira Muratova

Philology Matters

The article, dealing with the centenary anniversary of James Jones, presents her own subdivision of his creative work into periods, given that the author of the article was the first researcher in the former USSR and the USA defending her monographic work in 1981 on “Problems of War and Peace in James Jones’s creative work”. The aim of her article is to highlight the role of a short story genre in evolution of American writers, including James Jones, choosing their themes and further confirming the manner and peculiarities of their writing style in their novels. The main part of the …

Multilingual Writers In The Mexican Sociocultural Context: Towards Improved Pedagogical Practices In The U.S., Virginia Locastro

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

Currently, the education of Latina/o students in the United States for higher education and future careers comprises multiple moving parts. As the U.S. educational system, in particular the Pre-K-12 years of schooling, struggles despite efforts to address the needs of all students, both native English speakers as well as English language learners (ELLs), to better prepare them to enter institutions of tertiary education and succeed in careers, various organizations and consortiums articulate more rigorous educational standards (WIDA and the Common Core Standards as two examples). These recent proposals focus on academic literacy skills, in particular on reading and writing skills …

Metadiscourse In Book Reviews In English And Brazilian Portuguese: A Corpus-Based Analysis, Luciana Junqueiria, Viviana Cortes

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

Book reviews play different roles in academia. They are used in the selection of what books to read and purchase (Carvalho, 2001) and as a vehicle for publication and visibility, especially for graduate students and novice scholars (Hyland, 2000; Motta-Roth, 2001). Scholars and graduate students must do a great amount of reading in order to stay up to date in any given field, as scientific knowledge has become more and more widespread. This task is undeniably challenging given the amount of time and resources needed for such updating (Carvalho, 2002; Suárez & Moreno, 2008). Academics need to be selective about …

Comparison As A Mode Of Inquiry: Rearticulating The Contexts Of Intercultural Communication, Lance Cummings

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

Comparative inquiry has a long history in the scientific, sociological, and linguistic traditions that embody much of the work being done in English studies, including technical, professional, and intercultural communication. Generally speaking, comparative methods are often used to explain variation in human behavior, often with the assumption that there is a common source from which this variation springs, whether it be historical change, cognitive structures like universal grammar, social entities, or just “human nature.” As we move into what Wendy Hesford (2006) called the “global turn” in English studies, the phenomena of globalization and shifting classroom, cultural, and communicative ecologies …

Digital Ethnography For Intercultural Professional Communication: Some Best Practice Principles, Michael Madson

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

With global compressions of time and space, intercultural contact is heightening. Digital networks are converging. Perhaps more than ever before, professional communicators require cultural and technical savvy, allowing them to navigate, in a principled manner, digitally-mediated contexts (Spilka, 2010). Since no mediation is value neutral, digital technologies can spark intercultural friction (Thatcher, 2004; Warshauer, 2003, p. 6), blur ethical codes (Capurro, 2008; Himma, 2008), and perpetuate colonial relations (Ess & Sudweeks, 2012, p. xvi). How to operate in such complex, power-laden environments is a central concern in intercultural professional communication (IPC) and merits additional inquiry.

Review Of The Megarhetorics Of Global Development. Eds. Rebecca Dingo And J. Blake Scott. Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh University Press, 2012, 266 Pp., Massimo Verzella

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

“Development” is an insidious word in that it often provides moral justification for aggressive neoliberal policies. When imposed from above and orchestrated by financial and corporate elites with no understanding of the real needs of ‘undeveloped’ communities, development sanctions a covert form of imperialism that relies on the world accepting the credo of free trade in primis, but also American forms of democracy, law, and governance. With the aim of questioning neoliberal orthodoxies and challenging colonial arguments (accepted as commonsense) about saving the “natives” from their backwardness, a group of scholars have joined forces in the anthology reviewed here to …

Global Intellectual Property Law, Human Rights, And Technical Communication, Tyanna Herrington

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

International trade in intellectual products has increased in recent years, leading to a dramatic rise in the U.S. International Trade Commission's (USITC) caseload (USITC 2012, pp. 20-25). As individuals interact globally through travel and internet access, they also more frequently use and create intellectual products that are accessible on a global scale; thus, nation states' treaty negotiations on intellectual products have an important impact on their own citizenries as well as those of others. When technical communicators author intellectual products they may enter into a process of communicative interaction that leads to self-actualization , the state of having achieved personal …

Ua3/10/4 Naming & Symbols Task Force Report & Recommendations, Wku President's Office - Caboni

WKU Administration Documents

Report of the Naming & Symbols Task Force concerning four major areas:

• Solicit input and perspectives from a broad range of constituencies and stakeholders that will guide us as we examine the origins of the names and symbols used on campus.
• Audit the names used on buildings and other campus symbols to determine which may be connected to exclusion, segregation, racism or slavery.
• Create a set of guiding principles and a range of options for how we should address any issues raised.
• Provide to University leadership a set of recommendations.

Ua1b3 Report & Recommendations, Wku Naming & Symbols Task Force

WKU Administration Documents

Report of the WKU Naming & Symbols Task Force.

Review Of Intercultural Rhetoric In The Writing Classroom. Ulla Connor. Ann Arbor, Mi: The University Of Michigan Press, 2011., Dobson Kate

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

For the better part of its life span, intercultural rhetoric research has been dominated by Ulla Connor. This book is a follow-up to her 1996 book Contrastive Rhetoric: Cross-Cultural Aspects of Second-Language Writing, in which she described the developing research methods for the field at the time. Upon the book’s release, some critics warned that the act of comparing the writing style of one person from a particular national culture to that of someone from another national culture may result in stereotypes. This book is the response to these criticisms by way of redefining the field.

State Of The Field: Human Sociality And Our Expanding Circle, Matthew Mccool

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

The first part of this essay provides a brief summary of this journal’s first editorial, which examined eight needed developments and eight critical contexts for global inquiry. The second part addresses our expanding circle of ethics, which starts with kin but has gradually increased to include tribes, states, nations, and even the world. It is our expanding circle of ethics that has led to a heightened awareness of equality, the product of a noble goal with origins in recent social justice movements. The aim of this essay is to assert that the field has a promising future by including both …