Digital Commons Network^™

Sookie's Place(S): New Roadways Into The South Of The Southern Vampire Mysteries, Sarah Holder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Charlaine Harris’ bestselling paranormal romance series, the Southern Vampire Mysteries is only beginning to be understood as more than a cultural phenomenon, but rather as a highly politicized and critical work of fiction that shines through genre designations such as romance, mystery, and fantasy. Much of this praise can be attributed to the series’ heroine, Sookie Stackhouse, who gracefully traverses boundaries that divide what are arguably racial and ethnic groups ever at odds with one another as they share political and social space. Her adventures therefore pose significant questions concerning diversity, equality, and nationalism, but more obviously they ask what …

If There Wasn’T Farming, Somebody Wouldn’T Eat: Small Scale Agriculture, Community Autonomy, And Food Sovereignty In Mississippi, Irene Van Riper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the historical context of small scale farming and grassroots social movements in Mississippi’s history, and investigates the ways small farmers and community advocates are drawing upon their land-based heritage and local knowledge systems to create community-controlled food systems in dialogue with broader national and global conversations about sustainable agriculture and food sovereignty. Employing a multi-scalar method of analysis, the research studies issues from the perspective of individuals, communities, institutions, as well as national and transnational systems. The work draws from previous scholarship in environmental studies, agroecology, critical race studies, rural sociology, critical historiography, agrifood studies, and regional …

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual And Transgender Culture In Contemporary China, Guojuan Li

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For a long time, topics on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender(LGBT) are regarded as taboo in China. On June 26, 2015, the United States passed the same-sex marriage law promoted an intense discussion in Chinese society. Lots of LGBT people started to fight for their rights and many netizens also expressed a desire for the legalization of same-sex marriage in China. However, is China really ready for legalizing the law? This paper gives an answer to this question from an historical view.

Representation Of The American South In Marvel Comics, 1963-2016, Katherine Gill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My work tracks the role of the American South and Southern characters in Marvel Comics, from 1963 to 2016. This thesis spring from a simple question: how stereotypical does this Northern industry portray the American South? To achieve this goal, I read a lot of comics, applying literary theory (such as Patricia Yeager and Tara McPherson) as well as American cultural studies (1980s televangelism and the history of human trafficking in America) to my findings. After reading multiple comic books from multiple sources, I settled on four different texts, each with a unique approach to portraying the South: the portrayal …

Thrill Of A Billion Eyes: The Prancing J-Settes, Mary Paige Blessey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The “Prancing J-Settes” is the official name of the dance line for the Sonic Boom of the South marching band at Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi. The popular form of dance termed “J-Setting” sources its name from the Prancing J-Settes. The Sonic Boom of the South and the Prancing J-Settes have a loyal fan following and have had a lasting and widespread influence on popular culture. This is an oral history interview project focusing on the current Prancing J-Settes themselves to hear their thoughts and definitions of the form of dance they perform and its significance. The primary interviews …

Attitudes And Practices Among College Students Relative To Personal Listening Device Usage And Hearing Conservation, Molly Grace Williams

Honors Theses

As technology has advanced, the popularity of personal listening devices (PLD) has become widespread among the millennial generation. It is normal in today's culture to see members of the millennial generation using their PLDs in most any setting. Due to this growth in popularity and usage of PLDs, there is an increased and relatively undocumented opportunity for noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) among the people in the millennial generation. In order to research the effects of this shift in culture relative to PLD usage, college-aged members of the millennial generation were asked to participate in a study via word of …

The Radical South: Grassroots Activism, Ethnicity, And Literary Form, 1960-1980, Elizabeth Fielder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

“The Radical South” examines the art and writings of Civil-Rights-era social movements and locates U.S. based political structures in a hemispheric and global network. I reveal that the Civil Rights Movement, ethnic nationalism, and second-wave feminism were not separate entities; rather, the cultural work of activists was an intersectional effort that defied national strategies, such as non-violent protest and race-based separatism, that were often determined by their urban counterparts. Thus, I argue that new political aesthetics emerged from grassroots activism and set in motion ethnic and racial cultural expressions that embraced multiple, even conflicting, identities. As much as this art …

Practical Faith: How Southern Black Women And White Women Used Their Faith In Pursuit Of Equality, Holly Baer

Honors Theses

This thesis explores how Southern black and white women used their Christian faith in the pursuit of racial and gender equality, showing how feminist theory and religious doctrine function in reality and everyday practice. The first chapter looks at upper and middle class white women's experiences from the Antebellum period through the early twentieth century, and shows how they used their faith to gain autonomy by manipulating common religious beliefs of the time. The second chapter examines black women's experiences, primarily during the Civil Rights Era, and shows that black women had to approach equality as vocal activists, rather than …

Grad Student Guest Post: Recap With The Second Years, Admin

Blog Posts

Last year I introduced my cohort to the Southern Studies community in an article written for the Southern Register. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, we had no idea what a tempestuous journey we were in for. Acclimatizing to the sleep deprivation and never-ending workload endemic to graduate school was an experience we won't easily forget, but, engaging classes, supportive faculty and an ever-compelling South to study made the challenge entirely worthwhile. I caught up with my cohort, now seasoned graduate students, to hear about their individual Southern Studies experiences and to find out how their interests have changed since entering the program …

Studying The Blues At The University Of Mississippi, Admin

Blog Posts

Blues at the Center Article by Rebecca Lauck Cleary, originally published in the Winter 2015 Southern Register A Southern Studies program class description from Fall 1984 encouraged students to "Study the Land That Gave Birth to the Blues." Since then, the Center for the Study of Southern Culture and the University of Mississippi have continued to be the foremost institution for blues scholarship. With the Blues Archive, Living Blues magazine, Highway 61 Radio, undergraduate and graduate courses taught on the subject, new blues-topics films being created, and annual conferences and symposia on blues and blues culture, the Center is a …

Southern Register. 2015.2 (Spring 2015), University Of Mississippi. Center For The Study Of Southern Culture

Southern Register

No abstract provided.

February 2, 2015, The Daily Mississippian

Daily Mississippian (all digitized issues)

No abstract provided.

Michael Eric Dyson To Deliver Keynote For Um Black History Month Event, Edwin Smith

University of Mississippi News

No abstract provided.

Meet Our Second Year Ma Students, Admin

Blog Posts

As we kick off the spring semester, our second year MA students are hard at work on theses, internships, and documentary projects. Below, a brief profile of each student.

Pocket Monsters And Pirate Treasure: Fantasy And Social Platforms In The 21st Century, Jacob Waalk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

POCKET MONSTERS AND PIRATE TREASURE: FANTASY AND SOCIAL PLATFORMS IN THE 21ST CENTURY is an anthropology project examining media, fantasy, ideology, and social groups in order to build a better foundation for the ways in which economic and social changes influence social networking, popular media, and values by using the anime-manga subculture as an example. The thesis draws from three major theorists: Thomas LaMarre, Anne Allison, and Ian Condry as well as major anthropological theorists such as Pierre Bourdieu. As an ethnography, the project was split into two sections: one consisting of interviews with eight anime-manga subculture participants drawn primarily …

An Evaluation Of Geophysical Methods In The Detection Of Toddler-Sized Burials During The First Six Months Of Burials, Paul Sullivan Martin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Geophysical survey has become a major tool in the search for clandestine graves associated with missing person cases. However, relatively little research has been done to evaluate the efficacy of different instruments. Ground-penetrating Radar (GPR), magnetometry, resistivity, conductivity, and susceptibility survey data were collected over the first six months of interment at approximately 30-day intervals for two research plots: an open grassy area and a wooded area. Each area contained five pig burials representing toddler-size (less than 50 pounds) remains and two areas of disturbance or false burials to serve as control graves. The resultant imagery was evaluated in terms …

African American Vernacular English (Aave) In The Classroom: The Attitudes And Ideologies Of Urban Educators Toward Aave, Melanie Hines Knapp

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study of embracing African American Vernacular English (AAVE) in the classroom is often misunderstood. AAVE is an informal dialect spoken by many African Americans in the United States. Considering this dialect is spoken by many African American students, teachers have struggled with the appropriateness and legitimacy of its usage in the classroom for years. In order for teachers to help students maintain the richness and character of AAVE, yet allow students to learn and incorporate Standrd English conventions, they must embrace culturally relevant instruction.

Culturally relevant instruction (CRI) is an instructional approach that involves using students’ cultural and linguistic …

X-Dimer Mutations And Their Effects On The Folding Stability And Assembly Of Ecad12 At The K14-D138 Interface, Martha Kaitlyn Coghlan

Honors Theses

Classical cadherins were first identified by their function in mediating calcium-dependent cellular adhesion and constitute a large family of cellular adhesion receptor proteins whose differential binding is central to the development and maintenance of tissue architecture. The interface underlying the binding interaction reveals that all classical cadherins share a common adhesive interface in which the portion of the β-A strand closest to the N-terminus is swapped between EC1 domains of the adhesive partner protomers. A second dimeric configuration, known as the 'X-dimer', is the face-to-face association of two protomers in which their orientation is dictated by three symmetrical noncovalent interactions …

A Global Perspective On Ethical Consumerism: A Study Of Advertisements From Social Enterprises To Identify The Ethical Consumer, Murray Miller

Honors Theses

This paper explores ethical consumerism in the United States and Latin America. I examined ethical consumerism in these two settings by identifying social enterprises from different countries in each setting to identify the ideal ethical consumer. After comparing and contrasting the ethical consumer in each context, I determined that ethical consumerism does exist in Latin America. According to scholarship, a country must be postmaterialist in order for ethical consumerism to exist. Through my research, I concluded that Latin America is postmaterialist, therefore ethical consumerism does exist.

Being Nice Is Lethal: Disciplining And Subverting Southern Femininity In Contemporary Southern Popular Culture, Kaitlyn Vogt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on the performance of southern femininity in contemporary southern popular culture, specifically prescriptive literature and reality television. Both texts provide valuable insight into how southern femininity is disciplined and subverted by individual women and the public. Humorous prescriptive literature in the first chapter provides the data necessary to delineate key markers of “ideal” southern femininity and how primarily elite white women perform it. The second chapter focuses on the show Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and how June Shannon opened up a liminal space for thinking about alternative southern femininities before ultimately closing it with her scandal …

Opera Education In The Upper Elementary Music Classroom, Carmen Louise Taylor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Adults are increasingly becoming uninvolved with the arts and it is therefore important to cultivate a new audience, beginning with a well-rounded musical education for elementary-age children. Opera can easily be implemented as a part of a well-rounded musical education and can be taught in conjunction with multiple subjects. Anecdotal evidence suggests that children are exposed to negative stereotypes about opera without receiving proper education on the subject and are thus more likely to not be interested in opera as they grow older. A short survey was sent to fourth and fifth grade music teachers around the state of Mississippi …

'What Will This Do For My Career?' Teaching Cultural Diversity To Design Students In A For-Profit Institution, Suellen R. Regonini

Southern Anthropologist

For-profit educational institutions are a growing force on the higher education landscape today. In order to improve the rigor of their four-year degrees, general education and other non-career-specific courses are being added to their curricula. The pedagogy at these schools generally privileges four-hour class blocks, the use of visual materials rather than standard texts, and hands-on practical application of skills, all of which can make teaching a traditional lecture-based class in the career school environment quite challenging. This article analyzes efforts by the author to combine personal experience teaching with web videos and visual blogging in courses at both traditional …

Pop Culture Pedagogy: Television And Film As Simulated Ethnographic Data, Elizabeth Elliott Cooper

Southern Anthropologist

Anthropological theory often appears as the capstone course for undergraduate anthropology majors – the final barrier to the degree or perhaps even ‘becoming an anthropologist’. Despite its importance, however, this class is often underappreciated and its full potential left unrealized due to a lack of student engagement. The abstract language of original texts can be intimidating and difficult to apply to the complex realities of daily life. In addition, simply learning about theory does not prepare students to function as critical thinkers, much less future practitioners. This paper profiles a successful compromise: the use of popular television and film as …

Audiovisual Media As A Pedagogical Tool: A Brief Annotated Bibliography, Elizabeth Elliott Cooper, Max Stein

Southern Anthropologist

Media-based, pedagogical innovations are understudied and largely undocumented within anthropology and the social sciences more generally. While most instructors share the experience of showing films or employing YouTube clips as quick, contemporary examples, we rarely reflect critically on these techniques—much less publish our impressions. This bibliography mirrors the still tentative state of the literature and is neither exhaustive nor authoritative but intended instead as a starting point, profiling (1) examples of media-based pedagogy from the 1970s to the present, (2) critical assessments of the efficacy and impact of classroom media, (3) practical references outlining potential source material and relevant copyright …

Uneven Ground: Figurations Of The Rural Modern In The U.S. South, 1890-1945, Benjamin S. Child

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

New modernist studies has opened wide the discussion about what modernism means, when it begins, and, compellingly for the purposes of this project, where it occurs. Exploring intersections between modernization, modernism, labor, and segregation in the agricultural South, this dissertation demonstrates how the effects of nascent industrialization, emergent technologies, and "modern" thought are animated by figures and spaces associated with--or performing--versions of rurality. The project is divided into three major sections. In the first, I suggest that the contradictions of African American life in the post-Reconstruction world are parsed in the period's literature through the presence of a veiled georgic …

Effects Of Multicultural Group Projects On Domestic Students' Intercultural Competence, Summer L. Deprow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Use Of Occitan Dialects In Languedoc-Roussillon, France, Virginia Jane Geddie

Honors Theses

Since the medieval period, the Occitan dialects of southern France have been a significant part of the culture of the Midi region of France. In the past, it was the language of the state and literature. However, Occitan dialects have been in a slow decline, beginning with the Ordinance of Villers-Coterêts in 1539 which banned the use of Occitan in state affairs. While this did little to affect the daily life and usage of Occitan, it established a precedent that is still referred to in modern arguments about the use of regional languages (Costa, 2). In the beginning of the …

Fixin' To Tell: Cultural Preservation, Multiculturalism, And A Delicate Double Commitment In Appalshop's "Insider" Activism, Kathleen S. Hudson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

From global non-profits to local community centers, many groups working with and from within mis- and under-represented populations have embraced documentary media in activist work as a tool for undermining stereotypes and engendering positive identity formation. Despite steady increases in community-based documentary work, such programs remain relatively underscrutinized, with the majority of scholarship praising the liberatory potentials of documentary self-representation. Further, of the many programs implementing community-based documentary work as a tool for social change, I found very few based in rural regions of the Southern U.S. Likewise, in scholarly discourse associated with such programs, the South, in general, remains …

Explaining The Decline In Fertility Rates In Post-War Italy, Susanna Rychlak

Honors Theses

The aim of this thesis is to examine the decline in fertility rate in post-war Italy and identify its causes. Fertility rate in Italy dropped dramatically across 1970-2010 in a stark departure from the nation's previous reproductive patterns. This has led to an increasingly aging population, and holds important implications for Italy's future. This study demonstrates that there has been a meaningful shift in cultural values that has led to fertility decline in Italy since 1970. In order to provide historical context for the importance of this cultural shift, the thesis first presents the Italian culture and familial structure of …

Perceptions Of Disaster Risk And Vulnerability In Rural Texas, Andrew J. Prelog, Lee M. Miller

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Rural areas are uniquely vulnerable to a variety of hazards given their social and economic composition. Economic reliance on agriculture and natural resource extraction increases vulnerability to certain types of natural hazards such as drought, wildfires, and floods. Moreover, rural communities often lack adequate resources to prepare for and respond to disasters. Using data from the Texas Rural Survey, the U.S. Census, and the Spatial Hazards Events and Losses Database for the United States; this research explores questions related to risk perception, vulnerability to disaster, and perceptions of community efficacy in a rural context. Results indicate that rural Texans show …