Digital Commons Network^™

Speculative Accumulation: Property-Making In The Brazilian Amazon, Jeremy M. Campbell

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

This article explores how nonindigenous settlers in the Brazilian Amazon pursue vernacular territorial strategies as they attempt to make property legible and legitimate in an emerging order of state-led governance reforms. In Amazonia, official figurations for the development of the region have layered upon one another over the past 50 years, depositing a range of contradictory procedures for claiming, holding, and disposing of property. Ethnography shows how residents draw on the ambiguous history of property-making and their deep familiarity with surrounding landscapes to influence new environmental governance paradigms. With the goal of appearing in line with state-led tenure reform, colonists …

Jamaica: A Famous, Strong But Damaged Brand, Hume N. Johnson

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

Image, brand and reputation are the new capital for nations in the twenty-first century. In this era of the global marketplace, nations, regions and cities are forced to compete with each other for tourists, investment, aid, students, for buyers of their products and services, and for talent. Scholars now agree that nations themselves have become brands, and are now obliged to manage their images in order to influence people’s decision in terms of purchasing, investing and traveling. Nations with unknown or poor reputations, including those enduring prolonged crises are thus likely to suffer marginalization and will not easily witness economic …

A Heart-Based Sufi Mindfulness Spiritual Practice Employing Self-Journeying, Faruk Arslan

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Spiritual Psychology is the study and practice of the art and science of the human evolution of consciousness. The heart occupies an important place in Sufism and is considered to contain the divine spark that leads to spiritual realization. Fethullah Gülen’s action-oriented Sufi methods described in his book series “The Emerald Hills of the Heart” provides the basis for a heart-based therapeutic intervention through self-journeying, which is the objective of this thesis. These self-purification and mindfulness-related transpersonal methods generate a form of treatment that is culturally sensitive. Through my reflections in this research, I transformed my personal experiences into …

“And It Came To Pass . . .”: The Sociopolitical Events In The Book Of Mormon Leading To The Eighteenth Year Of The Reign Of The Judges, Dan Belnap, Daniel L. Belnap, Daniel Belnap, Dan Belnap

Faculty Publications

The period from the end of the seventeenth year of the reign of the judges to the beginning of the nineteenth year was a particularly unstable time in the history of the Nephite people. The amount of text Mormon devotes to it reveals the importance of this time period in their history. The crises that emerged during this time affected every Nephite, but they did not arise out of a vacuum. Instead, a number of prior social forces were at work and created an environment from which the tensions could find full form. This paper focuses on three primary forces: …

To Transform A Culture: The Rise And Fall Of The U.S. Army Organizational Effectiveness Program, 1970–1985, James Michael Young

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

In the early 1970s, following a decade of social upheaval in the US and a traumatizing military defeat in Vietnam, a group of progressive army officers, armed with recent graduate degrees in the social and behavioral sciences, created a grass roots movement that soon led to the implementation of the largest organizational development program ever conducted. Wartime atrocities and chronic careerism in the Army officer corps, along with President Richard Nixon’s promise to create an All-Volunteer Force (AVF), opened up a window of opportunity for these progressives to promote transformational leadership theories grounded in humanistic psychology. In institutionalizing OD across …

Hidden From Memory: Remembrance And Commemoration Of The Sherwood Foresters’ Involvement In Easter, 1916, Amanda S. Kinchen

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the level at which the Sherwood Foresters are commemorated for their service during the Easter Rising of 1916. The Sherwood Foresters, known officially as the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment, were created in 1881 in England after combining the 45^th (Nottinghamshire) and 95^th (Derbyshire) Regiments of Foot and had previously served as part of the guard to the royal family. Four battalions were sent to Dublin to quell the rebellion, yet their efforts go largely unnoticed in the annals of the history of World War I. These men are not considered …

The Council Of The Indies And Religion In The Spanish New World, Ashley D. Ellington

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The Council of the Indies was responsible for the governing of the Spanish Empire, including issues of religion. During the reign of Philip II, the Council gained independence from the Council of Castile and was able to take more control of the Spanish territories. In response to outside factors, the Council codified its laws regarding the spread of the Catholic faith, which became the basis for Council control of religion under the authority of the king. A review of the Council during this time led to many changes in an effort to make the Council less corrupt and more efficient. …

Artist As Citizen: Transnational Cultural Work In The National Democratic Movement Of The Philippines, Ryan Anthony Leano

Doctoral Dissertations

The inspiration for this topic comes from my own experiences as a Filipino transnational cultural worker in this movement. There has been research done on Filipinos in the arts and social movements, however there is a paucity of information concerning Filipino cultural work. Cultural work and cultural workers are intentional in creating culture as an act of resistance to imperialism, as of the stories they tell though their creative work are not revealed much in mainstream media. Cultural workers also seek to debunk the myth of artists working in isolation from the community. As shared by the participants in this …

Thesis, Walter Kelly

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Asia Pacific Perspectives Vol. 12 No. 2, Spring/Summer 2014, University Of San Francisco

Asia Pacific Perspectives

Contents:

What's in a Game? Transmedia Storytelling and the Web-Game Genre of Online Chinese Popular Fiction by Heather Inwood

This paper uses a genre of online Chinese popular fiction known as Web-Game fiction as an entry point for exploring the influence of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) on linear narrative fiction. By offering a thick description of MMORPG gameplay and of gamers’ movements between online and offline worlds, Web-Game fiction narrates and “deinteractivates” the subjective experiences of players as they progress through the levels of online role-playing games. This essay proposes that the genre offers an alternative perspective …

The Success Of Character Education In Relation To Religion In A Public School District, Joseph Johnson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The history of the United States demonstrates a complicated relationship between civil or national religion and the formation of the common schools. This dissertation uses purposive sampling, survey methodology and description research of a local, public school district with noted high scores on character education. The research uses a Likert scale to document educators' perception of success or failure of character education in relation to religion. In the school district, four schools were chosen for their high scores in character education implementation. A purposive sample of 100 participants was provided an email link to a secure, anonymous, online survey. The …

Overcoming The Five Primary Negative Thoughts: A Twenty- One Day Mind Renewal Plan For Men, Paul Chipman

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The Bible commands Christians to be transformed by renewing their minds with the Word of God. This project proposes a biblical mind transformation plan targeting men specifically, as well as the broader body of Christ. The plan equips Christians with the skills to learn how to identify, control, and eliminate the five primary negative thoughts. Once identified, these unhealthy thoughts will be replaced with a plethora of healthy self empowering thoughts resulting in a renewed Christ centered mindset. The research for this plan will be based on the Holy Scriptures, neuroscience (brain research), and cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). Pre and …

Veblen On National Economic Development, Rebekkah Brainerd

Anthós

This inquiry seeks to establish that Thorstein Veblen introduces key ideas concerning national economic development in his book Imperial Germany and the Industrial Revolution. Using works by prominent scholars Alexander Gerschenkron and Gary Becker, this inquiry addresses the role of the state, human capital theory, and late industrialization theory. While specific ideas about the development of societies can be gleaned, ultimately it is about the individual factors of each society in how and why it develops as it does.

The Birth Of A Drone Nation: American Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Since 1917, Garrett Dale Mckinnon

LSU Master's Theses

Drones have entered American consciousness and society. Little attention, however, has been paid to how America got here, how it became a drone nation. This thesis seeks to counter the “New Drone” misconception, the general ignorance of drone history present in the historiography, and popular perception of the subject. Chapter one, “The “New Drone” Misconception: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in the World Wars,” examines America’s first experiments with military drones. Charles Kettering, “Hap” Arnold, and Reginald Denny were among the first to recognize UAV potential and garner American support. The main motivation for drone use--removing American soldiers from danger--was first recognized …

Danger Shelter Opportunity: The Coastal Fortifications Of Nineteenth Century Louisiana, James F. Osborne, Iv

LSU Master's Theses

This document seeks to establish a contemporary record of the nineteenth-century masonry fortifications of the Third System whose continued existence in Southeastern Louisiana is in peril. Designed and implemented in the years following the invasion of Washington, D.C. during the War of 1812 by Napoleon Bonaparte’s chief engineer, Louisiana’s coastal forts represent the pinnacle of European, pre-modern-warfare military architecture. With their obsolescence secured by advances in technology in the mid to late nineteenth century, each was abandoned or decommissioned following the American Civil War. These historic constructed spaces that are each uniquely adapted to the land they occupy have never …

Transformative Pedagogy For Social Justice Education: Teaching Technical Communication Students To Bridge Anzalduan Theories Of Social Change, Carlos Munoz

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

This thesis discusses the growing challenge facing teachers of technical communication in preparing educators with the knowledge, skills, and perspectives to effectively work with an increasing diverse student population, especially with those students whose cultural, racial, language, professional, and ethnic backgrounds are different from the educator’s background. Therefore, Anzaldúan theory offers another productive way of bringing together theory and practice to address the challenge of seeing and practicing technical communication’s critical and civic aspects within diverse communities. This essay provides insight into how Anzaldúa theories for social change might fulfill civic objectives.

Baptizing Nazism: An Analysis Of The Religious Roots Of American Neo-Nazism, Alon Milwicki

Journal of Hate Studies

The years following the Second World War saw American religious leaders making fervent attempts to bridge the denominational gap and encourage peaceful cooperation among America’s three leading faiths: Protestantism, Catholicism, and Judaism. While the religious revival movement was largely successful, it was not as complete as historians have previously suggested. Scholars of the postwar religious awakening have neglected the darker, conflictual, and even violent strains of religious revival which developed alongside the optimistic, cooperative, and harmonious efforts that have taken center stage. Simply put, the development and propagation of Christian Identity, as propelled by Dr. Wesley Albert Swift, provided a …

Addressing Racial And Hate-Based Discrimination As Experienced By African Immigrants And Refugees In Waterloo Region, Canada, Alicja K. Muszynski, Sadia Gassim

Journal of Hate Studies

Since the early 1990s, the demographics of Waterloo Region (Ontario, Canada) have changed dramatically. Early settlement patterns reflected “chain migrations” of Mennonite farm families moving to the region from Pennsylvania. Subsequent establishment of three urban clusters with German and British roots resulted in a predominantly White regional and Canadian population. A relaxation of Canadian immigration legislation, together with political unrest in many African countries, led to African immigrants and refugees choosing to settle in the Tri-Cities of Waterloo, Kitchener, and Cambridge. Canada has an international reputation as a welcoming country that celebrates diversity. However, the public view that multiculturalism is …

Seeking To Glorify God: An Armed Forces Member's Handbook For Discipleship, Charles Blankenship

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this thesis is to equip military Christians in glorifying God through obedience to the Great Commission. Jesus' command to make disciples applies universally to all Christians, yet those in the armed forces often retreat or experience little success in discipleship within their native environment where they feel restricted by institutional policy, ungodly leadership, and isolation from the body of Christ. This project proposes a practical method of discipleship that seeks to equip Christians in uniform to make passionate followers of Christ who willingly embrace the same mission. The research for this thesis will be primarily conducted by …

Tactical Church: Achieving Missional Effectiveness Through Biblical Application Of Ancient Military Principles, Jason Bland

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

In reviewing the current literature available on the missional church movement, there is much written from a strategic perspective; however, there are few military parallels offered regarding missional tactics. Through the process of analyzing current literature and research on the missional church movement this project will seek to offer a new application of missional church tactics. Through the case study method this project will seek to offer a tactical translation to the local church of the methodology found in Sun Tzu's Art of War, by utilizing data gathered from related texts, and field experience to determine how today's American churches …

The Romano-Parthian Cold War: Julio-Claudian Foreign Policy In The First Century Ce And Tacitus' Annales, John J. Poirot

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Many ancient and modern authors view the first century CE as an unprecedented era of peace and security for the Roman Empire. These writers often identify the Roman emperor Augustus’ diplomatic settlement with Parthia (ca. 20 BCE) as an important cornerstone of the Pax Romana. But while the two ancient superpowers may have averted large-scale conflicts, Romano-Parthian relations under Augustus and the Julio-Claudians were never entirely uneventful or especially peaceful. Whether the Parthian Empire posed a real threat to Rome’s internal security or not, Julio-Claudian emperors developed elaborate “cold war”-style strategies to keep Rome’s eastern rival in check. Augustus and …

Contextual Theological Education In Africa As A Model For Missional Formation, Susan Murithi

The Asbury Journal

This paper argues that teaching of contextual theological education in Africa can aid in missional formation of students, teachers, and their communities. Further, common African struggles are explored as a way of discovering how theological education can be used to address Africa’s unique situation. The paper further asserts that the only kind of education with the power to form humanity is the one that relates to them and addresses their unique situations, and answers their questions. To form missional Christians in Africa, we need contextual education in our training institutions.

A Strategy To Plant A Missional, Multiplying Church In Pulaski County, Kentucky, Daniel Basile

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

There is a desperate need for church planters to focus efforts on rural, established communities to reverse trends of declining church attendance and influence. Pulaski County, Kentucky is one such community that sees the unchurched population continue to climb despite hundreds of church buildings. The goal of this thesis project is to reach the numerous unchurched inhabitants of Pulaski County by creating a comprehensive, holistic strategy to design and launch a missional church near Somerset, Kentucky, that will intentionally reproduce itself. Through interviews and surveys of at least 100 local residents, a careful analysis of area demographics and psychographics will …

Adversity Influencing Regard For Education In Northern Uganda: A Phenomenological Study Of Langi Mothers' Value Of Learning, Pamela Pryfogle

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study explored the Northern Ugandan Langi mothers' regard for education in the aftermath of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) conflict and occupation and in the on-going experience of adversity. As both targets and victims of LRA savagery, the Langi and Acholi people have endured over 22 years of war, displacement, and devastation. This phenomenological study specifically identified 9 Langi mothers who were survivors of LRA perpetrated atrocities and live today in adverse village environments. The study used guided interviews and art with storytelling/narrative to elicit a rich, thick, essence of lived experience and to answer the question: How have …

World Literatures In Temporal Perspective, David Damrosch

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "World Literatures in Temporal Perspective" David Damrosch discusses the vexed problem of how to shape a literary history into definable and meaningful periods without simply projecting old Western patterns onto new ages and distant areas of the world. This problem becomes acute when one seeks to create a genuinely global literary history. Damrosch surveys some early periodizations according to patterns of infancy, growth, maturity, and decline, and discusses the often unrealized persistence of biblical and classical models in modern accounts of the literary histories of Egypt, Mesoamerica, and India.

"We Thought We Were Playing": Children’S Participation In The Syrian Revolution, Layla Saleh

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article explores the participation of children in the Syrian uprising against Bashar al-Assad. The involvement of children in democratic social movements and regime transitions has not been addressed in the literature, although some works describe the role children can play in making public policy or in the humanitarian domain. I argue that just as the role of women and of university-aged youth was gradually incorporated in the body of research on the social movements and regime transitions, so should the role of children be studied. I then characterize the role of children in the Syrian uprising as a three-stage …

Missing Persons, Ho-Kyung Whang

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

‘The People’S Own Mp’: How The 1981 Hunger Strike Changed The Republican Movement In Ireland, Ryan Fink

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

The 20th century was a period of turmoil for the people of Ireland. After fighting for independence in the first quarter of the century, Ireland was partitioned into two separate entities, the Irish-controlled Republic of Ireland in the South and the British-controlled Northern Ireland in the Northeast. The middle half of the century saw bloody violence and sectarian fighting between the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the various Unionist paramilitary forces in Northern Ireland. This paper looks at the period from 1970 to 2000, and evaluates how and why the bloody sectarian conflict shifted into a partially more peaceful political …

Dead Virginians: The Corpse And Its Uses In Early Virginia, David Roettger

Theses and Dissertations

The thesis traces the history of colonial Virginia in an attempt to uncover the origins of several peculiarities in Virginia death-ways. Elite Virginians buried at home more often than not (where they could protect the dead from animal desecration), while avoided death’s heads, reapers, and bone based tomb and mourning jewelry iconography even though such was popular throughout the British Atlantic. Research done for this thesis reveals a fear on the part of elite Virginias regarding questions of both corpse desecration and natural putrefaction. The cause of this cultural obsession lie in two facts: The blackening of the early colony’s …

Direct Responsibility: Caspar Weinberger And The Reagan Defense Buildup, Robert Howard Wieland

Dissertations

This dissertation explores the life of Caspar Weinberger and explains why President Reagan chose him for Secretary of Defense. Weinberger, not a defense technocrat, managed a massive defense buildup of 1.5 trillion dollars over a four year period. A biographical approach to Weinberger illuminates Reagan’s selection, for in many ways Weinberger harkens back to an earlier type of defense manager more akin to Elihu Root than Robert McNamara; more a man of letters than technocrat. And yet Weinberger, the amateur historian, worked with budgets his entire public career. Essentially, Pentagon governance is the formation of a military budget that proscribes …