Digital Commons Network^™

Science Fictional Transcendentalism In The Work Of Robert Smithson, Eric Saxon

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

In studies of American artist Robert Smithson (1938-1973), scholars often set the artist’s early abstract expressionist and Christian iconographical paintings apart from the rest of his body of work, characterizing this early phase as a youthful encounter with the enduring legacy of abstract expressionism in the late 1950s to early 1960s as well as a temporary preoccupation with ritualized Catholic imagery. This thesis argues for the inclusion of this early phase into Smithson’s career as a foundational period in which he established the set of problems that artistically engaged him throughout his life: issues of temporality, materiality, and universal entropy. …

Toward An Interactive Directory For Norfolk, Nebraska: 1899-1900, Robert B. Allen

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Presentations

We describe steps toward an interactive directory for the town of Norfolk, Nebraska for the years 1899 and 1900. This directory would extend the traditional city directory by including a wider range of entities being described, much richer information about the entities mentioned and linkages to mentions of the entities in material such as digitized historical newspapers. Such a directory would be useful to readers who browse the historical newspapers by providing structured summaries of the entities mentioned. We describe the occurrence of entities in two years of the Norfolk Weekly News, focusing on several individuals to better understand the …

An Historical Archaeological Investigation Of The Indianola Prisoner Of War Camp In Southwestern Nebraska, Allison Marie Young

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Second World War military operations resulted in the capture of thousands of prisoners of war. This led to the creation of internment facilities by both the Axis and the Allies. Archaeologists have begun to examine these facilities. The United States government established a POW program with numerous camps all over the country. This study provides the results of historical archaeological research at the Indianola prisoner of war camp in southwestern Nebraska. A goal of this research is to determine if the archaeological record reflects adherence to the Geneva Convention of 1929. The investigation included archival research and archaeological fieldwork with …

Military Strategy: Theory And Concepts, Randall G. Bowdish

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Military strategy was long described as atheoretical—an art that could only be fully comprehended by military genius. This contention is no longer held, as military staffs, comprised of experts and specialists, are able to formulate strategy aided by mini-theories of strategy and a process that takes advantage of collective wisdom rather than singular genius. But the mini-theories of strategy remain underdeveloped and an overarching theory of military strategy does not yet exist. In this dissertation I build a grand theory of military strategy, consisting of a simple two-pole, physical and psychologically oriented framework, mini-theories of military strategy, and additionally, concepts …

Pedagogía De Hablantes De Herencia: Implicaciones Para El Entrenamiento De Instructores Al Nivel Universitario, Lina M. Reznicek-Parrado

Department of Modern Languages and Literatures: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study researches the differences in pedagogical needs between learners of Spanish as a Foreign Language (FL learners) and learners of Spanish as a Heritage Language (HL learners) at the university level. By using the UNL Modern Languages and Literatures Department as an illustrative case and based on an analysis of the Heritage Language student profile in the context of the United States, this study seeks to explore arguments in favor of providing training for university-level instructors of Spanish that responds to the specific pedagogical needs of Heritage Language Learners.

The relevancy of this study is not only based on …

The Roma And Wall Street/Ceos: Linguistic Construction Of Identity In U.S. And Canadian Crime Reports, Theresa Catalano

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Discriminatory practices against Roma (also known as Romanies) occur on a daily basis in many countries around the world through media discourse. This paper investigates the representation of Romanies in U.S. and Canadian online newspaper crime reports and compares this representation to Wall Street/CEOs in crime reports demonstrating how identity of both groups is constructed through a variety of linguistic and non-linguistic strategies. Drawing on Mayr and Machin’s (2012) critical linguistic analysis of the language of crime, this multimodal study incorporates a variety of tools such as Critical Discourse Analysis and Cognitive Linguistics in order to dig below the surface …

Between Worlds: Students' Lived Experiences And Perspectives On Math, Science, And Technology Education Between Mexico And The United States, Estefania Larsen

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

As the world becomes increasingly globalized, education systems are striving to meet the needs of students. With globalization comes high amounts of migration, and some students may experience education in two or more countries. Early exposure and success in science, math, engineering, and technology (STEM) education are thought to be vehicles for entering high-status careers. Through interviews with U.S.-Mexico transnational students, this study uses a qualitative, text-analysis approach to understand students’ lived experiences and perceptions on STEM education between the U.S. and Mexico. Although these transnational students have the opportunity to foster bilingual and bicultural skills, results show students may …

Many Worlds Converge Here: Vision And Identity In American Indian Photography, Alicia L. Harris

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

Photographs of Native Americans taken by Frank A. Rinehart at the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in 1898 were then and continue to be part of the construction of indigenous identities, both by Anglo-Americans and Natives. This thesis analyzes the ramifications of Rinehart’s portraits and those of his peers as well as Native American artists in the 20^th and 21^st centuries who have sought to re-appropriate these images to make them empowering icons of individual or tribal identity rather than erasure of culture.

This thesis comprises two sections. In the first section, the analysis is focused on the historical …

Transparency: The Unspoken Design Element -- How Levels Of Visibility Affect Adult Learning And Sharing, Erica M. Bartels

Architecture Masters of Science Program: Theses

Adult learning and sharing environments, specifically high school, college, and workplace facilities, maintain a similar purpose in terms of meeting the needs of the institution and its users. For each of these three project types, the design team develops a plan for users that are capable of social, cognitive maturity while engaging in the creation of new knowledge or ideas. With abundant discussion available on the design variations of these spaces, such as open vs. closed delineations; individual and group work; online or unplugged, it is necessary to dig deeper into the environmental psychology at play amidst the built environment …

Adapting To A Changing World: An Environmental History Of The Eastern Shoshone, 1000–1868, Adam R. Hodge

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Using the Eastern Shoshone Tribe as a case study, this dissertation argues that the physical environment must be considered integral to processes of ethnogenesis. It traces the environmental history of the people who became known as the Eastern Shoshone over the course of several centuries, exploring how those Natives migrated throughout and adapted to a significant portion of the North American West – the Great Basin, Rocky Mountains, Columbia Plateau, and Great Plains – prior to the reservation era. In examining that history, this project treats Shoshones, other Natives, and Euro-Americans not as people who simply used the environment, but …

Causal Explanation Of Human Behavior In The Social Sciences, Maria R. Zavada

Department of Philosophy: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The social sciences have something to offer our understanding of human behavior. However, the social sciences have been subjected to a great deal of criticism, both internally and externally. Cultural anthropology provides a microcosm of the problems within the social sciences and serves as an apt case study. There are many problems with the social sciences, some as fundamental as whether or not the social sciences are indeed sciences, and others that address specific issues with goals, methods, and data collection.

Using anthropology as a case study, I articulate the connection between the methodological problems in anthropology and the philosophical …

An Examination Of Chipped Stone From Two Middle Holocene Archaeological Sites In The East Central Great Plains, Christine A. Nycz

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

This study examines aspects of movement and mobility of hunter-gatherer groups in the east central Great Plains during the Middle Holocene, between 8500 cal and 5000 cal B.P. Few published reports detail archaeological assemblages or address features of prehistoric mobility in this subregion of the Great Plains. Current research on the Great Plains emphasizes bison procurement and low regional bison mobility. This thesis presents interpretations of hunter-gatherer mobility based on examination of chipped stone assemblages from two Middle Holocene archaeological deposits (the Hill and Simonsen sites) in western Iowa. The resulting analysis demonstrates restricted hunter-gatherer mobility within this subregion, with …

Stealth Librarianship: Creating Meaningful Connections Through User Experience, Outreach & Liaising, Kiyomi D. Deards, Bohyun Kim, Erin Dorney

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Presentations

Description: Relationships are at the heart of providing a satisfactory user experience and delivering library services and programs that match with what our users want and need. Many libraries have traditionally spoken with users only when necessary or when a problem has occurred. Looking at user experience, outreach, and liaison librarianship from the perspective of relationship-building between librarians and faculty, staff, or students allows librarians to provide more targeted and desired services while increasing positive perceptions of libraries. This live webcast investigates the benefits of relationship-building in a holistic manner. Instead of focusing on one aspect of librarianship, public, technical, …

Community, Power, And Memory In Díaz Ordaz's Mexico: The 1968 Lynching In San Miguel Canoa, Puebla, Kevin M. Chrisman

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

On September 14th, 1968, approximately 1,000 enraged inhabitants wielding assorted makeshift weapons formed a lynch mob that brutally murdered four people and injured three others in San Miguel Canoa, Mexico. According to the generally accepted account, Canoa’s inhabitants feared that recently-arrived Universidad Autónoma de Puebla employees, in town on a weekend mountain-climbing expedition, were in actuality communist agitators threatening the town’s social order. The lynching in Canoa received limited press coverage and was subsequently overshadowed by the much larger government orchestrated Tlatelolco massacre that occurred in Mexico City, on October 2, 1968. While Tlatelolco remains an important historic event from …

Exploring The Nature Of Space For Human Behavior In Ordinary Structured Environments, Molly Boeka Cannon

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

What is the nature of the built environment? Built environments are the settings within which people carry out activities and emerge from the specific combining of spatial conditions with specific social content for the setting. The social content and the spatial conditions form a core-defining relationship that serves to distinguish one structured setting from another. A core-defining relationship such as this refers to the essence of the built environment. What are the implications for human behavior that emerge from conceptualizing built environments in this manner? I argue that space, through its essential relationship with the contexts of daily living (i.e. …

Exploring The Construct Of Social Integration In A Community College Environment, Scott Mertes

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Among current retention models, Tinto’s Interactionalist Model has reached near paradigmatic status. When his model has been applied to two-year college settings, the social integration results have been inconsistent. This has led Maxwell (2000) and Deil-Amen (2011) to suggest that a different construct of social integration exists in community colleges, and that this construct may not be related to the traditional construct of social integration in four-year university settings. The current study sought to ascertain whether these two constructs of social integration were related. A random sample of two-year college students were asked to complete a survey consisting of questions …

The Gods Are Broken!, Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin

University of Nebraska Press: Sample Books and Chapters

The story of Abraham smashing his father’s idols might be the most important Jewish story ever told and the key to how Jews define themselves. In a work at once deeply erudite and wonderfully accessible, Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin conducts readers through the life and legacy of this powerful story and explains how it has shaped Jewish consciousness.

Offering a radical view of Jewish existence, The Gods Are Broken! views the story of the young Abraham as the “primal trauma” of Jewish history, one critical to the development of a certain Jewish comfort with rebelliousness and one that, happening in …

Cultural Negotiations, David L. Browman

University of Nebraska Press: Sample Books and Chapters

This meticulously researched reference work documents the role of women who contributed to the development of Americanist archaeology from 1865 to 1940. Between the Civil War and World War II, many women went into anthropology and archaeology, fields that, at the beginning of this period, welcomed and made room for amateurs of both genders. But over time, the increasingly professional structure of these fields diminished or even obscured the contributions of women due to their lack of access to prestigious academic employment and publishing opportunities. As a result, a woman archaeologist during this period often published her research under her …

Call For Change, Donald L. Fixico

University of Nebraska Press: Sample Books and Chapters

For too many years, the academic discipline of history has ignored American Indians or lacked the kind of open-minded thinking necessary to truly understand them. Most historians remain oriented toward the American experience at the expense of the Native experience. As a result, both the status and the quality of Native American history have suffered and remain marginalized within the discipline. In this impassioned work, noted historian Donald L. Fixico challenges academic historians—and everyone else—to change this way of thinking. Fixico argues that the current discipline and practice of American Indian history are insensitive to and inconsistent with Native people’s …

Stories And Minds, Lars Bernaerts, Dirk De Geest, Luc Herman, Bart Vervaeck

University of Nebraska Press: Sample Books and Chapters

How do narratives draw on our memory capacity? How is our attention guided when we are reading a literary narrative? What kind of empathy is triggered by intercultural novels? A cast of international scholars explores these and other questions from an interdisciplinary perspective in Stories and Minds, a collection of essays that discusses cutting-edge research in the field of cognitive narrative studies. Recent findings in the philosophy of mind and cognitive psychology, among other disciplines, are integrated in fresh theoretical perspectives and illustrated with accompanying analyses of literary fiction.

Pursuing such topics as narrative gaps, mental simulation in reading, …

The Blind Man And The Loon, Craig Mishler

University of Nebraska Press: Sample Books and Chapters

The story of the Blind Man and the Loon is a living Native folktale about a blind man who is betrayed by his mother or wife but whose vision is magically restored by a kind loon. Variations of this tale are told by Native storytellers all across Alaska, arctic Canada, Greenland, the Northwest Coast, and even into the Great Basin and the Great Plains. As the story has traveled through cultures and ecosystems over many centuries, individual storytellers have added cultural and local ecological details to the tale, creating countless variations.

In The Blind Man and the Loon: The Story …

Becoming Melungeon, Melissa Schrift

University of Nebraska Press: Sample Books and Chapters

Appalachian legend describes a mysterious, multiethnic population of exotic, dark-skinned rogues called Melungeons who rejected the outside world and lived in the remote, rugged mountains in the farthest corner of northeast Tennessee. The allegedly unknown origins of these Melungeons are part of what drove this legend and generated myriad exotic origin theories. Though nobody self-identified as Melungeon before the 1960s, by the 1990s “Melungeonness” had become a full-fledged cultural phenomenon, resulting in a zealous online community and annual meetings where self-identified Melungeons gathered to discuss shared genealogy and history. Although today Melungeons are commonly identified as the descendants of underclass …

Tears Of Repentance, Julius H. Rubin

University of Nebraska Press: Sample Books and Chapters

Tears of Repentance revisits and reexamines the familiar stories of intercultural encounters between Protestant missionaries and Native peoples in southern New England from the seventeenth to the early nineteenth centuries. Focusing on Protestant missionaries’ accounts of their ideals, purposes, and goals among the Native communities they served and of the religion as lived, experienced, and practiced among Christianized Indians, Julius H. Rubin offers a new way of understanding the motives and motivations of those who lived in New England’s early Christianized Indian village communities.

Rubin explores how Christian Indians recast Protestant theology into an Indianized quest for salvation from their …

The Lakota Ghost Dance Of 1890, Rani-Henrik Andersson

University of Nebraska Press: Sample Books and Chapters

A broad range of perspectives from Natives and non-Natives makes this book the most complete account and analysis of the Lakota ghost dance ever published. A revitalization movement that swept across Native communities of the West in the late 1880s, the ghost dance took firm hold among the Lakotas, perplexed and alarmed government agents, sparked the intervention of the U.S. Army, and culminated in the massacre of hundreds of Lakota men, women, and children at Wounded Knee in December 1890. Although the Lakota ghost dance has been the subject of much previous historical study, the views of Lakota participants have …

Racial Science In Hitler's New Europe, 1938-1945, Anton Weiss-Wendt, Rory Yeomans

University of Nebraska Press: Sample Books and Chapters

In Racial Science in Hitler’s New Europe, 1938–1945, international scholars examine the theories of race that informed the legal, political, and social policies aimed against ethnic minorities in Nazi-dominated Europe. The essays explicate how racial science, preexisting racist sentiments, and pseudoscientific theories of race that were preeminent in interwar Europe ultimately facilitated Nazi racial designs for a “New Europe.”

The volume examines racial theories in a number of European nation-states in order to understand racial thinking at large, the origins of the Holocaust, and the history of ethnic discrimination in each of those countries. The essays, by uncovering neglected …

Homo Imperii, Marina Mogilner

University of Nebraska Press: Sample Books and Chapters

It is widely assumed that the “nonclassical” nature of the Russian empire and its equally “nonclassical” modernity made Russian intellectuals immune to the racial obsessions of Western Europe and the United States. Homo Imperiicorrects this perception by offering the first scholarly history of racial science in prerevolutionary Russia and the early Soviet Union. Marina Mogilner places this story in the context of imperial self-modernization, political and cultural debates of the epoch, different reformist and revolutionary trends, and the growing challenge of modern nationalism. By focusing on the competing centers of race science in different cities and regions of the …

From Fort Marion To Fort Sill, Alicia Delgadillo, Miriam A. Perrett

University of Nebraska Press: Sample Books and Chapters

From 1886 to 1913, hundreds of Chiricahua Apache men, women, and children lived and died as prisoners of war in Florida, Alabama, and Oklahoma. Their names, faces, and lives have long been forgotten by history, and for nearly one hundred years these individuals have been nothing more than statistics in the history of the United States’ tumultuous war against the Chiricahua Apache.

Based on extensive archival research, From Fort Marion to Fort Sill offers long-overdue documentation of the lives and fate of many of these people. This outstanding reference work provides individual biographies for hundreds of the Chiricahua Apache prisoners …

American Anthropology And Company, Stephen O. Murray

University of Nebraska Press: Sample Books and Chapters

In American Anthropology and Company, linguist and sociologist Stephen O. Murray explores the connections between anthropology, linguistics, sociology, psychology, and history, in broad-ranging essays on the history of anthropology and allied disciplines. On subjects ranging from Native American linguistics to the pitfalls of American, Latin American, and East Asian fieldwork, among other topics, American Anthropology and Company presents the views of a historian of anthropology interested in the theoretical and institutional connections between disciplines that have always been in conversation with anthropology. Recurring characters include Edward Sapir, Alfred Kroeber, Robert Redfield, W. I. and Dorothy Thomas, and William …

A Reference Grammar Of Kotiria (Wanano), Kristine Stenzel

University of Nebraska Press: Sample Books and Chapters

Published through the Recovering Languages and Literacies of the Americas initiative, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

This is the first descriptive grammar of Kotiria (Wanano), a member of the Tukanoan language family spoken in the Vaupes River basin of Colombia and Brazil in the northwest Amazon rain forest. The Kotirias have lived in this remote region for more than seven hundred years and participate in the complex Vaupes social system characterized by longstanding linguistic and cultural interaction. The Kotirias remained relatively isolated from the dominant societies until the early part of the twentieth century, when the region began …

Mysteries Of The Jaguar Shamans Of The Northwest Amazon, Robin M. Wright

University of Nebraska Press: Sample Books and Chapters

Mysteries of the Jaguar Shamans of the Northwest Amazon tells the life story of Mandu da Silva, the last living jaguar shaman among the Baniwa people in the northwest Amazon. In this original and engaging work, Robin M. Wright, who has known and worked with da Silva for more than thirty years, weaves the story of da Silva’s life together with the Baniwas’ society, history, mythology, cosmology, and jaguar shaman traditions. The jaguar shamans are key players in what Wright calls “a nexus of religious power and knowledge” in which healers, sorcerers, priestly chanters, and dance-leaders exercise complementary functions that …