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Ua52/1 Out Of The Box, Wku Archives

WKU Administration Documents

Newsletter created by and about WKU Archives and the records management program.

External Funding Bulletin, July - Decemeber 2022, Uno Office Of Research And Creative Activity, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Sponsored Programs Bulletins

No abstract provided.

Religious Hegemony And "Muslim" Horror Movies, Shaheed N. Mohammed

Journal of Religion & Film

The present paper examines horror films originating in Muslim contexts and available on U.S. streaming services. Using Gramsci's concept of hegemony, the paper examines how such films negotiate and articulate with the dominant Hollywood mainstream horror genre with particular attention to the hegemonic power of the mainstream with its Christian iconography and assumptions.

Water In Native American Spirituality: Liquid Life—Blood Of The Earth And Life Of The Community, June-Ann Greeley

Green Humanities: A Journal of Ecological Thought in Literature, Philosophy & the Arts

[First paragraph] Water: The life force of all creation, the generative dynamism of existence. Long before scientific experimentation and quantifiable instrumentation verified the facts, human beings have perceived and understood water to be the essence of all life, both material and spiritual. From the beginnings of recorded history and even before, across the expanse of human settlement and migration, indigenous as well as extraneous religions and spiritual traditions have celebrated water as the primordial source: water was sacred before it was material and water took on for multitudes of generations until even today an expansive inclusivity that scanned the literal …

Vagabond: The Trans-Species Ecologies Of Plant/Human Encounters, Hubert Alain

Green Humanities: A Journal of Ecological Thought in Literature, Philosophy & the Arts

[First paragraph] The opening scene of the acclaimed documentary King Corn (2007) shows Ian Cheney and Curtis Ellis, main protagonists, learning that corn constitutes one of the main carbon molecules of their hair. Segue to introduce the crop’s omnipresence in North American processed foods, principally used as sweetener, starch and animal feeds, the almost banal scientific fact presented in this scene is mesmerizing, providing a somewhat embodied support to the popular environmentalist saying “you are what you eat,” or to Donna Haraway’s poetic understanding of bodies and species as “full of their own others, full of messmates, of companions” (Haraway …

Eco-Digital Pedagogies: Why And How Teaching The Green Humanities Can Shape Change, Laura Barbasrhoden

Green Humanities: A Journal of Ecological Thought in Literature, Philosophy & the Arts

[First paragraph] In Now You See It, interdisciplinary scholar and education leader Cathy Davidson points out a stunningly obvious truth about human perception: “Whatever you see means there is something you do not see” (290). Practitioners of the environmental humanities have long taken on tasks of seeing and saying what is not seen, what is not heard, from the vantage point of dominant ideologies, from consumerist economic models to the instrumentalist, anthropocentric rationalities that undergird them. Meantime, over the last few decades, we green humanities scholars have broadened our range of vision: studied more diverse texts, deepened analyses, and …

Recognizing The Dualism To Overcome It: The Hybridization Of Reality, Fabio Valenti Possamai

Green Humanities: A Journal of Ecological Thought in Literature, Philosophy & the Arts

[First paragraph] Bruno Latour’s project attempts to overcome the dualism between nature and culture that still persists in our world. My focus will reside on three of Latour’s books, namely, We Have Never Been Modern, Reassembling the Social, and An Inquiry into Modes of Existence. Since the way we live our lives greatly influences the way we think and, consequently, our philosophical positions, it is important to say something about Bruno Latour’s biography. His life was extremely inter and transdisciplinary, a strong reason for his work to be so non-orthodox (Blok and Jensen 8).

Is Trash Hybrid?, Todd Levasseur

Green Humanities: A Journal of Ecological Thought in Literature, Philosophy & the Arts

[From first paragraph] The scholarship focusing on globalization over the last thirty years has achieved impressive gains in nuance and understanding. Some of the more prominent approaches to study globalization that have developed in this period include network, feminist, gender, economic, political, media, religious, diaspora, and migratory lenses. All of these lenses are adroitly utilized by scholars to help us better understand globalization and their use helps to shape the field of global studies. This article argues that environmental humanities scholars must build upon insights from these disciplines, while bringing scholarly tools from the environmental sciences into their research projects, …

Spartan Daily, August 24, 2022, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2022

Volume 159, Issue 2

Effects Of Strategic Communications Of Middle-Level Managers On Strategic Thinking And Organizational Performance: A Quantitative Study, Anthony Uwem Wilson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study explored the relationship between Middle-Level Managers' (MLM) strategic communications, strategic thinking, and organizational performance. Pieces of evidence about strategic communications processes and strategic thinking supporting increased organizational performance are critical to an organization. According to researchers, when strategic communications and strategic thinking are not in the manager’s thought processes, any plans based upon such methods might fail to achieve the desired outcomes concerning organizational performance. While strategic communications and strategic thinking are essential to corporate performance, researchers have not fully substantiated their impact on the performance outcomes of an organization. Identifying to the highest Degree how a relationship …

International Students’ Perception Of Intercultural Communication From Official University Sources, Liseth Hubbard

Communication Theses

Research on intercultural communication has centered on the difficulties that international students experience during their adjusting journey in their new residence away from home. However, there are relatively few in-depth studies that report on international students’ perceptions of communicative practices from university officials. Following a social phenomenological approach, this study focuses on understanding the impressions and experiences of 12 international students. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews centered on three sensitizing concepts: intercultural sensitivity (IS), intercultural communication competence (ICC), and intercultural learning (IL). Data were analyzed using an iterative phonetic approach as described by Sarah Tracy (2019). The findings were …

Weathering The Storm: Navigating Urban Ecologies Of Communication In Times Of Crisis, Austin Hestdalen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project explores cities as urban ecologies of communication in which crises emerge and are given significance within the dialogic relations cultivated among public actors attempting to make a living, together, within the shared historical-cultural contexts of everyday life. To describe cities as urban ecologies of communication is to describe them in terms of urban communication and its interdisciplinary foundations in the study of rhetoric, philosophy, planning, policy, architecture, sociology, geography, and media. The first chapter introduces the challenges of urban risk and crisis management within the complex ecologies of communication constituted by cities and reviews how ‘risk’ and ‘crisis’ …

Scratching The Surface: An Autoethnography To Begin To Understand And Address Illness Experience In Lice Infestation, Jennifer B. Gray

The Qualitative Report

Though pediculosis, more commonly known as lice, is extremely common and has nothing to do with hygiene, misconceptions persist. Lice, constructed as a highly contagious illness, is more of a nuisance, with most contagion resulting from head-to-head contact, and 3% resulting from environmental causes; still, the condition tends to be associated with negative behavior like uncleanliness and neglect. There is very little study of it in the U.S. save for some “no nit policy” studies and almost none on the psychological or communicative impact on those affected. Through the analysis of pediculosis in my children, I detail an autoethnography of …

Multivocality As Practice Of Critical Inquiry For Social Justice, Cesar Cisneros

The Qualitative Report

Multivocality has been clearly and in detail present in social science reflection since the impact of the so-called linguistic turn and nowadays it has also presence in the qualitative inquiry current discussion. To explore how multivocality can be a practice of qualitative inquiry for social justice is the goal of this contribution. It is a global picture of epistemic violence that has subjugated knowledge and practices along with executing genocides and exterminations of otherness to build societies without social, epistemic, and cognitive justice that my goal is to unveil the horizon of modern social sciences to get a better understanding …

Media Ideologies And The Politics Of Digital Literacy: Discourses On Technology And Media In A Small School District In The U.S. Heartland, Chris Borntrager

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation uses a discourse studies approach to investigate key communicative processes by which digital technology is given situated meanings within the institution of public education, including at the level of official discourse, administrative texts, and the spoken discourse of professional educators. The discursive processes under analysis, referred to here as “institutional media ideologies,” arguably function as discursive frameworks which, akin to tactics of management in organizations, constrain the further production of discourse in a particular professional domain, including through the codification of contextualization practices, participant roles, and the social meanings of practices implicating the use of digital technology. Furthermore, …

Applying The Dialogic Method In An Eighth Grade English Curriculum, Maggie Repko

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

In this thesis, I provide an analysis of Paulo Freire’s (1973) dialogic method for language education. I then synthesize his theories with the work of sociocultural and linguistic researchers who have determined the strongest activities to bring about student language development. Finally, I apply these theories to my appendices of created works that might be utilized in an eighth-grade creative writing course. This thesis demonstrates the similarities between Freire’s students and our students in the USA today and the ways that a critical dialogic pedagogy will meet their language learning needs while also inspiring their creative, critical conscientização. Paulo Freire …

A Beacon Of Hope In A Troubled Context: Sketches Of The Life Of Mons. Paride Taban, Shepherd And Bridge-Builder, Alberto Eisman Torres

The Journal of Social Encounters

Monsignor Paride Taban, Bishop emeritus of the Diocese of Torit in Southern Sudan, is a multifaceted figure. Apart from his role as pastor and religious leader, he is an outstanding peace builder and the co-founder of the New Sudan Council of Churches, one of the most significant civil society institutions during the second civil war (1983 – 2005). This institution spearheaded numerous ecumenical initiatives including development work, humanitarian relief, training of grass-roots leaders and last but not least peace mediation. He is a relentless fighter for peaceful coexistence and tolerance in an environment marked by violence, oppression and impunity and …

Sources Of Information On National Issues Among Border Communities In Yobe State, Nigeria, Mohammed Khalid Idris, Aondover Eric Msughter

ASEAN Journal of Community Engagement

Information has been termed as power in the 21st century. Every century has its uniqueness, and the uniqueness of the 21st century is the availability, ease of access, proliferation, and strength of information. This study examines the sources of information among border communities in Yobe State. The study attempts to find out how people in border communities in Yobe State access information and the specific sources of information they have access to, including non-mass mediated channels and platforms.It also strives to ascertain if people in border communities in Yobe State get information on national issues and, if so, how frequently …

A Discourse Analysis Of Online Readers’ Comments On Political Discourse In Nigeria, Abubakar Jibril, Sabiu Idris, Adamu Mohammed

Journal of Strategic and Global Studies

The internet has liberalized political discussion in Nigeria, and enhanced public debates on trending social, economic, religious, and political issues on the various platforms it harbours, such as the social media, online news sites and blogs among others. Online comments sections of news sites enable readers for instance, to discuss issues raised in the news from their individual points of view. This development facilitates interaction among news producers and consumers, and serves as effective feedback mechanism. However, previous researches have established disturbing trends on the platforms, bordering on a seaming inclination of discourse to ethnic, religious and regional schmaltziness. This …

Myth, Fiction And Politics In The Age Of Antiheroes: A Case Study Of Donald Trump, Igor Prusa, Matthew Brummer

Heroism Science

In this article, we demonstrate that the antihero archetype informs our understanding of Trump in important ways, including his rise to and fall from power. We introduce an analytical framework for analyzing Trump’s antiheroic traits based on his social positioning, individual motivation, and personal charisma. We argue that Trump is fascinating because he is powerful, amoral, and charismatic, and suggest that the American public was primed for Trumpism through a zeitgeist hospitable to antihero worship. That is, Trump’s dogged popularity with nearly half of the American public was foretold by decades of pop-cultural obsession with, and adulation for, the antihero.

Celebrating Hmong: A Minute Ethnography Of Hmong Americans In Minneapolis, Madison Baczuk

Ursidae: The Undergraduate Research Journal at the University of Northern Colorado

The Hmong people are a culture that originated in Southern China. However, many Hmong people fled to the U.S (among other nations) with the conclusion of the Vietnam war. Like other Asian cultures, the Hmong people are collectivist and give priority to family members of greater age and of the male gender. The Hmong celebrate birth, marriage, and death through sacred rituals and traditions that honor their ancestors. The Hmong language is in danger of extinction due to globalization. Yet, globalization also brings the general public greater knowledge and exposure to the wonderful culture of the Hmong people.

External Funding Bulletin, January - June 2022, Uno Office Of Research And Creative Activity

Sponsored Programs Bulletins

No abstract provided.

Misinformation And Disinformation: Detecting Fakes With The Eye And Ai, Victoria Rubin

Data and Test Instruments

How do we detect, deter, and prevent the spread of mis- and disinformationwith the human eye and AI? How does theory inform the practice, and how do theevidence-based research and best practices in lie-catching and truth-seekingprofessions—inform AI? The book looks into well-established human practicessuch as the routines and processes used in detective work, journalism, and scientificinquiry, and how they contribute toward innovative AI solutions. The book explainsthe principles, inner workings, and recent evolution of five types of state-of-the-artAI technologies suitable for curtailing the spread of mis- and disinformation:automated deception detectors, clickbait detectors, satirical fake detectors, rumordebunkers, and computational fact-checking tools.

Navigating The Cairene Table: Food And Family Between What Is Ideal And What Is Real, Iman Afify

Theses and Dissertations

Our daily encounters with food, especially during our childhood, play a crucial role in shaping and informing our identity and our habitus. In this research, by using multimodal and auto ethnography, I argue that due to the guiding path that our senses carve for us, we make sense and contextualise our surroundings through our senses, and not only the five senses of vision, smell, taste, hearing, and touch, but also through our inner senses of time and temporality, and how time and memory play an important role in the registration of our surroundings through our bodies and senses. I am …

Why, New York City? Gauging The Quality Of Life Through The Thoughts Of Tweeters, Sheryl Williams

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As a resource for social data, Twitter’s platform has been used to measure the quality of life through sentiment analysis. This capstone project explores another methodological technique—querying Twitter data around specific keyword terms to determine dominant topics, word patterns, and sentiment leanings in a geographical area. Focusing on New York City and Los Angeles for comparative analysis, the keyword term “why” will be used to build a Python analysis around topic modeling and sentiment analysis. Using this approach, the analysis reveals social and cultural differences, the overall sentiment of tweets, and subjects of interest to tweeters.

GitHub Repository for all …

Take Flight Music Festival Branding, Maxwell Bo Chen, Jake Oxenham

Graphic Communication

We created a branding and design campaign for the Take Flight music festival on campus. The project covered many aspects of event creation and marketing such as name, logo, content creation, social media, printed media, vendor outreach, and administration outreach. All these pieces had to work together to create a strong and cohesive brand image for this event which would help ensure a successful turnout and event overall.

Look At All Those Big Knobs! Online Audio Technology Discourse And Sexy Gear Fetishes, Eliot Bates, Samantha Bennett

Publications and Research

Despite a predominantly digital, 21st century music production landscape, analogue hardware professional audio technologies persist. In the discoursal throes of the leading online audio technology message forum Gearslutz, such technologies are routinely objectified, sexualized, fetishized and socialized into gear. Situated in a contemporary critical, interdisciplinary framework of fetish, masculinity and sexuality studies, this research interrogates how audio technologies manufactured and intended for music production contexts become sexy. Applying a mixed-mode methodology, including an intensive discourse, image and material-semiotic analysis of an ‘epic’ sexy gear thread, we collated extensive data about technological fetishization. Sexy gear discourse articulates themes of voyeurism, acquisition, …

Entities: A Field Of Imaginary Games, Thrasyvoulos Ioannis Kalaitzidis

LSU Master's Theses

With this body of work, I am looking for visual symbols that help communicate unuttered meanings through storytelling and stimulate an affectual response to the viewer. This exploration is presented in two different forms: a surreal sculptural installation and a board game. The installation consists of large-scale sculptures made from light and soft materials (polyurethane foam, plastic waste, paper) that are available to move inside the gallery, while the board game is presented as a set of 3D prints with instructions on how the participants can play it. The materials used in the installation suggest a way to transform waste …

The Current Place Of Corporate Identity Due To Changing Demographics And Corporate Communication Structures, Jordan Exline

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Our business environment is in a period of significant change. We have a new generation beginning to enter the workforce that requires different levels of communication and the phase-out and incorporation of remote/hybrid work resulting from the pandemic. Corporate identity could be at stake as a result, and how will that affect employees at a company? This study analyzes how corporate identity applies to the business of the future, what makes an impact on its connectivity, and the links between identity and work environment and communication. The goal is to understand what can be adjusted to increase the relevance of …

Examining The Cross-Cultural Competence Of United States Christian Missionaries Engaged In Developing Indigenous Leaders: A Mixed Methods Study, Craig W. Goodman

Dissertations

For the past two millennia, missionaries have crossed from one culture to another to bring the Christian message to all cultures of the world. Questions about the effectiveness of these mission efforts have been asked and researched by many; however, one key question remains unanswered: what personal attributes help a person to be more competent at crossing cultures as they interact with people from other cultures? Although cross-cultural competence has been studied in a variety of fields over the past 50 years, the models and assessments used have never been applied to Christian missionaries.

To address this deficiency, this parallel …