Digital Commons Network^™

The Four Key Factors That Drive Successful Decisions, Joseph Yeager, Linda Sommer

The Qualitative Report

The mechanisms of language operate as the vehicles for motivation, thinking and deciding. Language is a replica, a model, a representational map of reality. In the same way that a flawed roadmap will misrepresent reality and mislead a traveler, a flawed linguistic rationale will mislead a decision maker in any situation. In high-stakes situations that occur in globalized organizations, such as the current economic meltdown, the importance and consequences of flawed linguistic rationales are obvious. Simple suggestions for self examination of linguistic rationales are offered.

Lessons From Learning The Craft Of Theory-Driven Research, Michael A. Dover

Social Work Faculty Publications

This paper responds to Richard's Swedberg's call for analysis of the craft of theorizing and to Gabriel Abend's work on the meanings of theory. Their work is applied to a retrospective case study of the theoretical content of the introduction to the author's dissertation. The case study includes lessons drawn from several sections of that chapter: the choice of a research topic; identifying originating, specifying and subsidiary questions; distinguishing between the object and the subject of the research; reviewing the social policy and social science relevance; identifying the relevant research tradition; presenting a general conceptual framework and a specific conceptual …

Discrimination And Health: A Longitudinal Study, Jun Xu

All Theses

This study examines several questions about discrimination using a longitudinal survey from the 2006 and 2008 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Results show that whites are least likely to experience discrimination as we expected. In addition, the data provides support for the hypothesis that people with higher total household assets and higher household total number of members are less likely to experience discrimination. However, contrary to my hypothesis, females have smaller odds of experiencing discrimination compared to males. People with higher education levels are more likely to report major discrimination events compared to those with lower education …

Power: The Supposed Definitions Revisited, Don Crewe

Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Criminology

No abstract provided.

A “Morphological Sphinx”: On The Silence Of The Assassin Leon Czolgosz, Cary Federman

Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Criminology

No abstract provided.

Records Of The Tötösy De Zepetnek Family / A Zepetneki Tötösy Család Adattára, Steven Tötösy De Zepetnek

CLCWeb Library

Records of the Tötösy de Zepetnek Family / A Zepetneki Tötösy család adattára (West Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 2010-. ISSN 1715-152X) contains transcripts of published sources and archival and family documents, and genealogies of the Hungarian Zala and since the 16th century Vas County Tötösy de Zepetnek (Tivtoßÿ de Zepethnek) family. The family descends from the 9th century and in 1256 documented nobilitas prima occupatio Tötösy de Zepethk family of Zala County and receives a Patent of Nobility with coat-of-arms in 1587 and royal donations of landed properties in 1589 and 1597 in Vas County. Records of the Tötösy de …

From Collective Memory To Commemoration, Hiro Saito

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

To have “memory” of an event, humans have to experience it themselves. Learning of an event secondhand, humans acquire knowledge, but not memory. Yet, when sociologists speak of “collective memory,” they routinely include as agents of memory those who do not have firsthand experience of a past event. This inclusion has been taken for granted ever since Maurice Halbwachs (1992) formulated his Durkheimian theory of the relationship between collective memory and commemoration in terms of group solidarity and identity: collective memory emerges when those without firsthand experience of an event identify with those who have such experience, defining …

The Civilizing Process And Its Discontents: Suicide And Crimes Against Persons In France, 1825–1830, Hugh P. Whitt

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

A spatial analysis of data for French départements assembled in the 1830s by André-Michel Guerry and Adolphe d’Angeville examines the impacts of modernization and resistance to governmental “Frenchification” policies on measures of violence and its direction. In the context of Unnithan et al.’s integrated model of suicide and homicide, high suicide rates in the northern core and a predilection for violence against others in the southern periphery may be consistently interpreted in terms of theories of the civilizing process and internal colonialism. Alternative explanations of southern violence in 19th-century France are explored and rejected, and additional theoretical applications are suggested.

Redefining Nairobi's Streets: Study Of Slang, Marginalization, And Identity, Mungai Mutonya

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

This study attempts an analysis of a restructured Swahili variety spoken by Nairobi's street community: Kinoki. Adapting tools of sociolinguistic inquiry and focusing on Kinoki's divergence from the dominant urban slang, Sheng, the study discusses attitudes toward divergent terms referencing the street community, street activities, and law enforcement officials. Results indicate that street children, unlike their school-going peers living in the city's low-income neighborhoods, redefine pejoratives that devalue and stigmatize street people and their lifestyle. Instead, Kinoki empowers the marginalized community to construct a positive identity, to ameliorate representations of street lifestyle, and to redefine neologisms that reference in-group ( …

Diaspora In Global Development: First Generation Immigrants From Kenya, Transnational Ties, And Emerging Alternatives, Maria M. Kioko

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

Transnational ties form an important aspect of immigrants' experiences. Using ethnographic accounts of 38 first generation immigrants from Kenya this study analyzed (a) why and how participants maintain ties, (b) characteristics of the ties, and (c) the degree to which ties influence immigrants' experiences. Findings revealed that participants connected to Kenya through social, economic, and political transnational practices. Ties took on a U-shaped curve with the highest intensity at points of arrival and after extended stay in the United States. While participants had moved spatially, their values and attitudes remained static resulting in "particularistic" development efforts. This demonstrated how ethnicity, …

The Emerging National Culture Of Kenya: Decolonizing Modernity, Olubayi Olubayi

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

Kenya exists as a legitimate nation state that is recognized by the United Nations and by other countries. This paper is an exploration of, and a response to, the following two questions: "Is there a national culture of Kenya?" and "what is the relationship between the national culture of Kenya and the 50 ethnic cultures of Kenya?" The evidence indicates that a distinct national culture of Kenya has emerged and continues to grow stronger as it simultaneously borrows from, reorganizes, and lends to, the 50 ancient ethnic cultures of Kenya. The emerging national culture of Kenya has several strong dimensions …

Barriers And Facilitators To Prenatal Care For Pregnant Latina Women In Cobb County, Georgia, Carol Holtz, Annette Bairan

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

This research study seeks to identify factors that serve as barriers and/or facilitators to prenatal care for Latina women and to provide data to assist health care providers, health care agencies, and policy makers in developing programs that maximize access to prenatal care for Latina women. In addition, other groups may also find this data useful, such as scholars in Latin American studies, immigration, cultural diversity, minority health care, and health care in general. The research questions consist of the following: (1) What do indigent pregnant (or recently delivered) Latina women believe about prenatal care? (2) What are the barriers …

Teacher, Researcher, And Agent For Community Change: A South Texas High School Experience, Francisco Guajardo

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

No abstract provided.

Ethnographic Performance And Global Learning: Lessons From "You Always Go Home", Margaret Baldwin, Karen Robinson

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

Ethnographic performance draws upon fieldwork in a particular social/cultural "lived domain" (Madison, 2005, p. 5) as the text (aural, visual, gestural) for the performance (or representation) of other identities. Through ethnography, we are required to enter into a "deep and abiding dialogue with the Other" (Madison, 2005, p.B). Ethnographic performance is particularly focused on giving representation to individuals and groups whose voices and stories often go unheard.

This essay will focus on the conception, development, and impact of an ethnographic performance entitled You Always Go Home that was produced by the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies at Kennesaw …

Representation In Kenya, Its Diaspora, And Academia: Colonial Legacies In Constructions Of Knowledge About Kenya's Coast, Jesse Benjamin

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

This paper explores the construction of knowledge in Kenya in the context and aftermath of colonialism and underdevelopment. Those communities that were politically and economically marginalized in Coast Province over the past century were also displaced in terms of academic opportunities, resulting in fewer social science scholars from Mijikenda and other non-Swahili communities in both Kenyan and diaspora universities. Underdevelopment studies in Africa and Kenya are briefly reviewed, and the colonial history of asymmetric social relations at coastal Kenya is traced. Finally, key debates over identity and history are examined within this context and shown to be exacerbated by diasporic …

Africa's Contemporary Global Migrations: Patterns, Perils, And Possibilities, Paul Tiyambe Zeleza

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

The literature on international migration is dominated by economic and political perspectives. This paper begins with the culturalist readings to remind ourselves that there is more to international migration than the search for greener pastures or flight from political terror. It is about the movement of human beings, a story that is as old as humanity itself, going back to the great migrations within and out of Africa to populate the planet. But those who advance the culturalist perspectives also need to be reminded that in our contemporary world more often than not people migrate to sell their labor power …

Impressions Of Ebru And Turkishness In The 21st Century, Lisa Dicarlo

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

On June 18th, 2007, Ebru: Reflections of Cultural Diversity in Turkey began its ten-city tour of Turkey with a debut exhibit in Istanbul, and ended on March 31st, 2009 with the closing of the exhibit in Ankara. The mixed media project, a combination of text, music, visual images, essays and panel discussions, is dominated by Attila Durak's large-format documentary ethnographic photographs of 44 ethnic groups he encountered during seven consecutive summers of fieldwork throughout Turkey. Durak, who is from Turkey and studied photography in the US, began this project with the initial intention of learning about the cultural diversity of …

Key Dynamics Of Assimilation Among First-Generation Turkish Immigrants Residing In Romania, Hasan Aydin

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

The purpose of this study was to examine the consequences of integration and assimilation of first-generation young adults (over 18 years old) who are Turkish immigrants in Romania. This is a qualitative study with 31 first-generation Turkish immigrants in two different Romanian cities. The participants were interviewed and were asked open-ended questions relating to their culture, religion, and language. The comparative analyses of the two cities indicate that the processes and intensity of assimilation differ widely. The participants' degree of assimilation or integration was related to various things, such as histories prior to migration, reason for relocation, and particular characteristics …

Disproportionality And Learning Disabilities: Parsing Apart Race, Socioeconomic Status, And Language, Dara Shifrer, Chandra Muller, Rebecca Callahan

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The disproportionate identification of learning disabilities among certain sociodemographic subgroups, typically groups that are already disadvantaged, is perceived as a persistent problem within the education system. The academic and social experiences of students who are misidentified with a learning disability may be severely restricted, whereas students with a learning disability who are never identified are less likely to receive the accommodations and modifications necessary to learn at their maximum potential. The authors use the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 to describe national patterns in learning disability identification. Results indicate that sociodemographic characteristics are predictive of identification with a learning disability. …

The Construction Of Chaos: Cinematic Representations And Politics In Egypt In The 2000s, Fayrouz El Sayed Karawya

Archived Theses and Dissertations

I would like to thank my committee that made writing this thesis a real enjoyment and a fruitful learning process. My committee did not reserve any effort to help me focus on every single detail pertaining to my arguments. They provided me constantly with perspectives and references to deepen my engagement with the subject, suggested new angles and ideas to reinforce the reasoning of my case. They were supportive all the way and extremely passionate about the topic of my thesis and the larger field of my study. I am deeply grateful for Dr. Hanan Sabea, my advisor whom I …

I Do Like Them But I Don’T Watch Them: Preschoolers’ Use Of Age As An Accounting Device In Consumption Evaluations, Olivia Freeman

Conference papers

This paper derives from a broader study of children’s consumer culture, specifically an investigation into how preschoolers employ commercial discourses as the building blocks of social selves and relations. Age-based repertoires are found to colour the various discourses produced. ‘Age’ is conceptualised as something that is made sense of for and by children through their utilisation of toys, media, consumables and other commercial artefacts. The ‘choosing child’ is addressed in empirical terms to reveal the social significance of ‘doing’ consumption related evaluations in the focus group setting. A CA-informed discourse analytic approach is utilised to focus on one aspect of …

Project 3rd Grade Environment: Descriptive Phenomenological Study Of The Physical And Learning Environment In A Transformed 3rd Grade Classroom., Charity Gail Hensley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This is a descriptive phenomenological study of a 3rd grade classroom in East Tennessee that was transformed in late spring 2009 to be consistent with principles incorporated in the 21st Century Model for Teaching and Learning and Educational Change (Evanshen, 2010). The objectives of this study were 1)to document the current physical and learning environment and 2)interview the participant regarding a classroom transformation in relation to teaching and learning. Methods of data collection included: interview questions related to the classroom environment pretransformation and posttransformation, observation field notes, and photographs of the current environment. In addition, archival photographs of the pretransformation …

Primetimes Newsletter, Spring 2010, Office Of Lifespan Studies

PrimeTimes Newsletter

PrimeTimes is the newsletter of the Office of Lifespan Studies in the College of Science at Coastal Carolina University.

The Violences Of Capitalism: Privatization And Land Tenure In Uganda, Minnesota, And Mexico, Nicole S. Kligerman

Latin American Studies Honors Projects

This project analyzes the relationship between land privatization and violence in societies that previously employed non-capitalist land tenure systems. Exploring the cases of the Dakota in Minnesota, the Acholi in Northern Uganda, and indigenous communities in southern Mexico, I examine how the state forcibly incorporated collective land systems into capitalism through a combination of physical, structural, and intra-community violences. This results in the disintegration of previous means of agricultural production and the accompanying community-based cultural systems. Communities resist this process, however, as they battle for natural resource sovereignty and sustainable peace in their homelands.

Sustainable Community Tourism Development: The Case Of Tanzania, Susan Slocum

All Dissertations

This dissertation's objective is to understand the constraints to economic participation by indigenous Tanzanians living in and around current and/or future tourism destinations. Using qualitative methods, this study investigated local perceptions and involvement in tourism economies by comparing independent case studies in three destinations differing in land tenure. Fifteen village-based focus groups were employed in villages around Pangani District (Tanga Region), Amani Nature Reserve (Tanga Region), and Arumeru District (Arusha Region). The purpose of the village-based focus groups was to evaluate local access to physical, financial, human, social, and natural capital as a means to encourage economic participation in the …

Innovative Data Collection Strategies In Qualitative Research, Anthony J. Onwuegbuzie, Nancy L. Leech, Kathleen M.T. Collins

The Qualitative Report

This article provides an innovative meta-framework comprising strategies designed to guide qualitative data collection in the 21st century. We present a meta-framework comprising strategies for collecting data from interviews, focus groups, observations, and documents/material culture. We present a template for collecting nonverbal data during interviews and discuss the concept of debriefing the interviewer. We identify types of data that can be collected in focus groups in addition to the actual statements made by the participants and provide templates for categorizing these data. Also, we outline the role that social networking websites can play in focus group interviews. Further, we provide …

A Qualitative Research On Portfolio Keeping In English As A Foreign Language Writing, Selami Aydin

The Qualitative Report

Little attention has been paid to the problems about portfolio keeping in English as a foreign language (EFL) writing, while the existing literature mostly focuses on the effects of portfolios on writing skills of learners, rather than those of teachers or pre-service teachers. This study aims to investigate the problems encountered and contributions of portfolios to the language skills of EFL pre-service teachers. The sample group consists of 39 pre-service teachers; a background questionnaire, interviews, a survey, and essays were used for data collection. The results indicate that portfolios significantly contribute to the writing skills, and that there exist potential …

Collage Life Story Elicitation Technique: A Representational Technique For Scaffolding Autobiographical Memories, Gertina J. Van Schalkwyk

The Qualitative Report

A basic premise in narrative therapy and inquiry is that life story telling is a mechanism by which experiences are rendered meaningful within some form of structure. However, narrative inquiry has to take cognisance of difficulties ensuing from discursive practices for different populations when eliciting their life stories. In this article I explicate a unique method, the Collage Life story Elicitation Technique (CLET), geared towards scaffolding life story remembering. Based on the theoretical underpinnings of social constructionism (Gergen, 2000), symbolic interactionism (Berg, 2009) and performative strategies in social science research the CLET provides a mode of expression and narrative performance …

Holism And Human History, Martin Zwick

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

This paper uses a systems-theoretic model to structure an account of human history. According to the model, a process, after its beginning and early development, often reaches a critical stage where it encounters some limitation. If the limitation is overcome, development does not face a comparable challenge until a second critical juncture is reached, where obstacles to further advance are more severe. At the first juncture, continued development requires some complexity-managing innovation; at the second, it needs some event of systemic integration in which the old organizing principle of the process is replaced by a new principle. Overcoming the first …

Cultural Identity And Ethnic Newspapers In Las Vegas, Paul J. Traudt, Michele A. Ferm

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

Research suggests cultural identity is a fluid process characterized by individuals’ unique cultural, ethnic, and racial needs. Media are now known to reinforce ethnic group identity, language, beliefs, and customs. What are these relationships for ethnic groups living in Southern Nevada? Do media provide opportunities for cultural pluralism or for cultural assimilation? First phase results, reported last year, found ethnic radio and television in Las Vegas assimilated into larger, Anglo media business models despite programming that reinforced some aspects of ethnic cultures. This year we present second-phase results, assessing the role played by ethnic newspapers in the region. Analysis is …