Digital Commons Network^™

Book Review: Folk Furniture Of Canada's Doukhobors, Hutterites, Mennonites And Ukrainians, Ervin Beck

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Folk Furniture makes a fine coffee-table book, with its oversize format and more than one hundred gorgeous color photographs by James A. Chambers. Leafing through it is a visual feast, with otherwise humble pieces of furniture dignified by dramatic lighting that discloses the texture, line, and form of historic everyday household items. But the book is an important contribution to material cultural studies, since it not only places furniture in its cultural context but also "reads" furniture like a "text" to discover how it expresses the history, psychology, and ideology of the people who made and used it.

Review Of Native North American Armor, Shields, And Fortifications By David E. Jones, Robert Fields

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

David Jones's purpose is to fill the curious gap in studies of the armor used in raids and warfare by the Native peoples of North America. Lacking iron and steel technology, Native Americans constructed their armor of "wood and bone (hard armor), leather (soft armor), and combinations of hard and soft materials."

The need for armor, Jones states in his introduction, preceded European contact, since "warfare was endemic among the North American Indians." He goes on to maintain that the superiority of European technology made Indian defeat inevitable, despite whatever improvements in armor production Indians might have made. "If Native …

Neotrusteeship In Afghanistan, Melanie Kawano

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Afghanistan is currently under the tentative rule of an international administration, or neotrusteeship, thereby restricting its national sovereignty. However, self-determination and nonintervention have never been persistent features of Afghanistan. Foreign interventions, invasions and great power showdowns on its territory have made a truly autonomous Afghan state a shortlived phenomenon. The outcome at each stage of Afghan history has been an unstable state that seems to invite even more external involvement.

Colombia, Travis Ning

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The events of September 11 continued of the pattern of redefinition in the conflict in Colombia. The complex war of today actually began decades ago as a small political struggle, which has gradually developed into a large-scale civil war. The continuation and growth of civil strife in Colombia witnessed the emergence of several organized anti-government guerrilla movements. Some of these groups have since been defeated or have integrated themselves into the recognized political system. Others have continued to violently challenge Colombian government authority. Currently, the two most significant anti-government insurgency groups are the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) and …

Stereotypes And Prejudice: Intergroup Contact Between Americans And Japanese, Masami Ota

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The goals of this research were twofold. First, this research investigated the current stereotype content between American and Japanese people. Second, the relationship among orientation (individualism or collectivisim), intergroup friendly contact, and stereotype and prejudice variability was assessed. Results showed that both Americans and Japanese have positive stereotypes of each other, with Americans selecting the trait "intelligent" as the most common descriptor of Japanese people, and Japanese selecting the trait "pleasure-loving" the most common descriptor of Americans. Although orientation was not related to the frequency of intergroup contact, friendly intergroup contact was positively related to steretype variability and negatively related …

Defining (Multiple) Selves: Stories From The Field, Chang Yau Hoon

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The ‘Self’ in late-modernity is never singular but multiplies across different discourses, practices and positions. It is constructed through difference. It is only through a relation to the ‘Other’ that the ‘Self’ can be defined. This paper endeavours to map the endless negotiations of my ‘Self’ as male Australian academic of Chinese descent, a Malaysian citizen, a Bruneian resident, and an Indonesian specialist, over a period of fieldwork in Jakarta in 2004. It discusses how I defined my multiple ‘Selves’ to different individuals and communities, how they in turn defined me, and how these constructions were always shifting. Depending on …

Strengths And Challenges In Chinese Immigrant Families, Xiaolin Xie, Yan Xia, Zhi Zhou

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

This qualitative study involved interviewing 40 Chinese Americans residing in Lincoln and Omaha, NE, and Naperville, IL, on their perceptions of family strengths and acculturative stress. Themes related to family strengths include family support leading to achieving a renewed sense of family, contextual support from friends and community, communication among family members, spiritual well-being, and balancing host and heritage cultures. Themes pertaining to acculturative stress are language barriers, loneliness, and loss of social status and identity at the early stage of immigration. New dimensions are being added to the current family strengths model. Implications for health professionals are provided.

Mexico As Seen Through American Eyes: The Evolution Of U.S. News Media Coverage, Jorge Capetillo-Ponce

Sociology Faculty Publication Series

The traditional Mexican view of the U.S. news media's treatment of Mexico and Mexicans is that those media have been mired in prejudice, owing to what Octavia Paz has called "the twin sisters ignorance and arrogance." Mexicans of all social levels have held to this view for many decades, denouncing the obsession of American journalists with drug trafficking, illegal migration, and governmental corruption, and for forming or reinforcing in generations of Americans a vague, exotic, touristy, sometimes downright surreal vision of Mexico.

This view, however, began to shift very markedly during the administration of Carlos Salinas de Gortari (1988-1994). Especially …

Islam And Democracy: An Empirical Examiniation Of Muslims' Political Culture, Moataz Bellah Mohamed Abdel Fattah

Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the following empirical puzzle: do the attitudes of ordinary educated Muslims stand as an obstacle toward the adoption of democracy? This research question calls for empirical/behavioral methodological tools that bring into focus contemporary Muslims' attitudes rather than ancient jurists' contributions. In other words, the dissertation shifts attention from ancient Islamic texts to contemporary Muslims' mindsets through written and web-bases surveys in 32 Muslim societies.

At the aggregate level, Muslim societies perplex with two types of sub-cultures: the culture of "dictator, but..." and the culture of "democracy-as-a-must." The former is the sub-couture of two groups of Muslims: …

A Cross-Cultural Study Of Children’S Development As Reflected In Their Artwork: An Investigation Of Children’S Drawings From The African Country Of Benin, Elizabeth Anna Smead

EVMS School of Health Professions Theses & Dissertations

This research adds to the body of knowledge related to the human figure drawing as a useful tool in assessment and to art therapists’ understanding of children who depict the human figure in cross-cultural settings. This researcher obtained a sample collection of 148 human figure drawings from African children in rural Benin, West Africa to study in comparison to a set of human figure drawings collected under similar conditions in Hampton Roads, Virginia.

In this quantitative study, five of the Formal Elements Art Therapy Scales (FEATS) were modified and used to tally the formal elements of each of the 148 …

Review Of Native Voices: American Indian Identity And Resistance Edited By Richard A. Grounds, George E. Tinker, And David E. Wilkins, Beth R. Ritter

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

From our current vantage point, the true legacy of Vine Deloria Jr.'s scholarship and activism can neither be fully measured nor overstated. We know with certainty, however, that the landscape of Native American scholarship has been permanently altered-for the best. Native Voices honors Deloria's contributions through the presentation of original Native scholarship inspired by his model. As its editors observe, "Deloria has influenced a whole generation of younger Indian scholars to be self-consciously indigenous thinkers-to reclaim an American Indian intellectual tradition, along with a political activism rooted in the oral traditions of our peoples and the wisdom of our elders …

Book Review: Unsettling The Literary West: Authenticity And Authorship, J. David Stevens

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Its promise to revolutionize western studies aside, Nathaniel Lewis's Unsettling the Literary West offers several smart readings of western texts along with a unique analytical approach to the field. Lewis's central claim is that as early as the 1830s writers of western literature felt an undue obligation to capture the "true West," to produce books that stressed accurate renditions of landscape, and, however exaggerated, to claim real-world credentials to substantiate their observations. Though most of these writers understood absolute realism to be impossible, they were performing for eastern audiences whose interest lay not in artistic perception but in the "genuine" …

Theology And Religious Studies In Post-Communist Ukraine: Historical Sources, Modern Status, And Perspectives Of Cooperation, Lyudmyla Filipovych, Anatoly M. Kolodny

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

From Challenge To Absorption: The Changing Face Of Latino Studies, Pedro Caban

Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies Faculty Scholarship

Over the last three decades Latino studies scholarship has gained increased academic acceptance. However, many administrators continue to doubt the wisdom of sustaining autonomous Latino studies departments, and are devising alternative approaches for incorporating Latino-based knowledge into the university’s mission. This article discusses the academy’s response to the emergence of Latino studies and explores a range of consequences for the field of two institutional arrangements that universities appear to privilege: the horizontal fusion with Latin American Studies, and a vertical absorption into centers for the study of race and ethnic or absorption into American studies.

En Attendant Le Plan Marshall : Consommation Endogène De La Littérature Camerounaise, Pierre Fandio

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

Despite the numerous forms of "aid" it has always received, Africa remains the only continent on the fringe of the tremendous development that the rest of the world has been experiencing in the last two centuries. The sectorial analysis of the literary works in this paper illustrates how the implementation of the various "Marshall Plan" is meant to bring about the development of a whole continent and a country like Cameroon. This could be done by involving actors of the cultural domain in the analysis of data and formulation of solution. Such development could give a boost to profitable endogenous …

Leadership: The Missing Variable In The Economic Development Of Sub-Saharan Africa, Osei K. Bonsu

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Contemporary economic theories, modernization and dependency, have overlooked the fact that the development process depends on the interaction of social factors. Specifically, the theories have ignored the role of leadership in analyzing economic development. This dissertation seeks to incorporate the importance of leadership into the analysis of development. It argues that sub-Saharan African countries have not developed economically because leaders in the region have been less than successful in establishing a culture conducive to industrialization. African leaders have failed to establish the high moral and scientific cultures necessary to promote economic progress. In place of those cultural attributes, the leaders …

No. 09: Transnationalism And African Immigration To South Africa, Jonathan Crush, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

The demise of formal apartheid has created new and as yet only partially understood opportunities for migration to South Africa. Legal migration from other Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, for example, has increased almost ten-fold since 1990 to over four million visitors per year. South Africa’s (re)insertion into the global economy has brought new streams of legal and undocumented migrants from outside the SADC region and new ethnic constellations within. The easing of legal and unauthorized entry to South Africa has made the country a new destination for African asylum-seekers, long-distance traders, entrepreneurs, students and professionals (Bouillon 1996; Saasa …

Representing Bosnia: Human Rights Claims And Global Media Culture, James Castonguay

Communication, Media & The Arts Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Review Of Dr. Holmberg's Work, Gary Hoppenstand

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[Editor's Introduction]

Dr. Carl Holmberg, a beloved member of Bowling Green State University's department of Popular Culture and father of two daughters, Lily and Erin, passed away September 29, 2002 at his home in Bowling Green, Ohio. In addition to what you will find highlighted below, Dr. Holmberg was in the process of extensive research into Japanese popular culture and was loved by the students he taught at the graduate and undergraduate level. Below, we have decided to publish a review of Carl's work by friend and colleague Dr. Gary Hoppenstand, so that the members of our community might realize …

Modern Arabic Film : A Study Of Selected Works Of New Arab Expressionist Filmmakers, Mohamed Masoud Elmasmari

Student Works (2000-2009)

Film reached the major cities of the Arab world within a matter of months of the first film showing in Paris, London, and New York, so the history of film exhibition and to some extent film production in virtually as long in the Arab world as in the West. The experience of the last thirty years has shown situation to be of enormous creative potential for an artist. In this study, attention is paid to the achievements of just a handful of notable filmmakers of the New Arab Cinema, even this choice is limited but not random, for all the …

Reading Hong Kong Chinese Culture: Hybridity Or Eclecticism, A Matter Of Contemporary Configuration, K. C. Staples

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis investigates the Cultural Studies paradigm 'hybridity' through an analysis of Hong Kong culture. In Cultural Studies, 'hybridity' is usually applied to cultures that have been influenced by another culture, resulting in a loss of identity, leading to a cultural mixture. As a former Colony comprising predominantly of a southern Chinese population, Hong Kong has been influenced by British culture. However, the question is whether Hong Kong culture has been 'hybridises', or, the Hong Kong people, in mastering two cultures, have become bicultural, and use their biculturalism bilaterally, as particular situations require. The study also researches the condition of …

Looking At African Value System Through Cultural Dimensions: How Do African Countries Culturally Differ Among Themselves And From The United States?, Habte G. Woldu

International Conference on African Development Archives

The study through a variety of cultural dimensions, measures the cultural differences and similarities of four different African countries: Cameroon, Ethiopia, Nigeria and South Africa. The national cultures of the four African countries are analyzed through a methodology for systematically assessing cultural differences. The African countries are compared with that of the United States of America. The output of the study clearly shows that there are cultural differences among the African countries as well as between the African countries and the United States. African respondents demonstrated significantly higher cultural traits in collective & hieratical relations, being/feeling & risk avoidance related …

The Role Of The Internet In Chinese Foreign And Domestic Affairs, Jean Bowman Leedy

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Problem: Rapid dissemination of Internet technology and the free access to information it affords poses a threat to non-democratic states that rely on control of information to maintain power and stability. This is of substantial concern to the Communist regime in The People's Republic of China due to the fact that its repressed population constitutes the fastest growing body of Internet users in the world.

Methods: This paper examines the potential impact of the Internet on Chinese foreign and domestic policy through interpretation of existing literature as it applies to the Internet, interviews with experts studying the emergence of China's …

Bolshevism And The Avant-Garde: Marxist Ideology And The Aesthetics Of Soviet Film, 1923-28, Garrett H. Booker

History Theses & Dissertations

When Eisenstein's Strike burst onto the cultural scene in 1925, Soviet cinema began a creative odyssey that left to posterity a brilliant collection of films that redefined the manner in which audiences viewed them. Not only was the form of these films dynamic and innovative, but their content captured the heroic actions of a new historical subject, the revolutionary proletariat. As the Soviet State assumed control over the production of films, politics imprinted its indelible mark on the content of these films, especially as Stalin tightened his grip over all aspects of artistic life. The author of this project will …

Review Of Theorizing The Americanist Tradition Edited By Lisa Philips Valentine And Regna Darnell, Thomas C. Patterson

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

The twenty-five essays in this volume enhance our understanding and appreciation of the Americanist tradition of anthropological theory and practice. The Americanist tradition, as several authors point out, has been concerned historically with Native-language texts and the knowledge they encode about the culture of Native communities and the individuals who compose them. The Americanists' concern with texts was manifested in the efforts of Albert Gatschet, George Dorsey, James Dorsey, Franz Boas, Edward Sapir, and others in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to document and preserve the oral knowledge of cultures that were being rapidly transformed or erased altogether. …

China And The Globalization Of Ir Theory: Discussion Of 'Building International Relations Theory With Chinese Characteristics', William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This essay examines current developments in International Relations theory in China. First it comments on Song Xinning's essay, agreeing that IR theory in China is limited by ideology, the dominance of policy-oriented research, and the state. But rather than seeing culture ('IR theory with Chinese characteristics') as a problem that can be solved by a more scientific approach to IR theory, the essay argues that the scientism of realism and IPE has similar problems. Thus the essay switches from the universals of science to the contingency of interpretation to understand global politics, drawing on recent books which combine IPE with …

Singapore Management University Report To Stakeholders 2001 - 2002, Singapore Management University

Report to Stakeholders

If the first year of incorporation was the paving of the foundation for SMU, the second year was one of laying the first building blocks. For the university, this was a year for surging ahead – of exploration and adventure. With a sizeable student population, a faculty of international repute and two schools going on three, SMU is growing from strength to strength at an unbelievable rate. But beyond sheer numbers, I sense and see a spirit of fervour and adventure in the work of students, faculty and staff in every corner of this institution that we have founded. Our …

Challenging The Gendered Hegemony Of Space: Acknowledging ‘Difference’ In Development Planning, Laura Hebert

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of Gender, Planning and Human Rights, edited by Tovi Fenster. New York: Routledge, 1999 (International Studies of Women and Place Series). 240pp.

Traditionally, feminist efforts to promote and protect women’s rights as human rights have focused on legalistic strategies, such as advocating for the inclusion of gender-specific concerns in international human rights conventions, the implementation of national legislation, the revision of laws that are discriminatory to women, and the strengthening of police and judicial procedures. In recent years, however, feminist activists and academics have recognized that advancing the status and empowerment of women requires recognition of the multiple …

Redefining The U.S. Hispanic Market: Generation N And American Society, Cindy L. Pino

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Confucian Ethics And The Critique Of Ideology, Alan Kam Leung Chan

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

The debate between Hans-Georg Gadamer and Jürgen Habermas provides a fresh perspective from which Confucian philosophy may be approached. In this paper, focusing on the Lunyu (Analects), I argue that the sayings of Confucius reflect an essentially 'conservative' orientation, finding in tradition a reservoir of insight and truth. There is a critical dimension to it in that ethical reflection and self-cultivation would enable the individual to challenge particular claims of tradition. However, can self-cultivation transcend tradition as a whole and enable the individual to effect radical change? Following the strategy of Habermas' critique of Gadamer, what happens if tradition is …