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Commencement Convocation Program, Tampa Campus, May 1, 2009, University Of South Florida

USF Graduation and Convocation Programs

Honorary Doctor of Human Letters - Robert Butterworth; Outstanding Senior - Rose Rezaei; King O'Neal Scholars - Autumn Nicole Barthelemy, Sonya Brar, Linh Phuong Thi Dinh, David Michael Donohue, Sandy Ranae Heflin, Tegan Marie Lesperance, Elona Rrapo, Chirstopher Charles Swanson, and Glenna Shemida Brewster

Communicating Spirituality, Dying And A “Good Death” At The End-Of-Life: The Role Of Hospice Interdisciplinary Team Members, Jillian A. Tullis Owen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Hospices use interdisciplinary teams to aid patients and families as they cope with the imminence of death while helping them achieve a death free of physical and spiritual pain, also known as a good death. This study investigated the communication between hospice team members and their patients regarding spirituality, dying, death and a good death. Through 300 hours of participant observation and interviews with hospice staff at one large not-for-profit hospice in the Southeastern United States this project shows that team members understand patient's spirituality through a religious frame potentially compromising spiritual care. Talk between patients and their care …

Associate In Science (As) To Bachelor Of Science In Applied Science (Bsas) Transfer Students: An Analysis Of Student Characteristics, Engagement, And Success, Jerry C. Collins

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study sought to examine and comprehensively describe transfer students who have earned a two-year technical or occupational Associate in Science (AS) degree at the community college and entered the university to pursue the Bachelor of Science in Applied Science (BSAS).

The BSAS degree is a specialized baccalaureate degree program created to allow AS degree holders an opportunity to efficiently transfer into the university affording them full recognition of their two-year degree. This statewide articulated program at the University of South Florida is the first of its kind in the state of Florida. The program only began admitting its first …

The Weekly Challenger, April 16, 2009, The Weekly Challenger, Et Al

Weekly Challenger Newspaper Collection

The April 16, 2009, issue of The Weekly Challenger.

“According To Wikipedia…”: A Comparative Analysis Of The Establishment And Display Of Authority In A Social Problems Textbook And Wikipedia, Alexander A. Hernandez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this study, I aim to examine (1) how authority is established and (2) how it is displayed. Through the use of content analysis, I investigate how the topics of "gender" and "race" within a contemporary social problems textbook compares and contrasts to corresponding Wikipedia articles. Through my research I wish to shed light on the social construction of knowledge within our modern society while also shedding light on the role that authority plays within knowledge. In order to examine how authority is established I examined the number of citations found in each topic, the publishing date of each reference …

Penn State: Symbol And Myth, Gary G. Desantis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will focus on the popular culture iconography of the Pennsylvania State University: the Nittany Lion-as a symbol and apolitical mascot; Happy Valley, the geographic area in which the university is located, as a kind of sacred place and utopia in the Keystone State; football-its hallowed shrines, legendary coaches, and heroic players; regional foods and delicacies-from the unique offerings of the area's diners to the University Creamery (where patrons yearly consume more than 750,000 ice cream cones); and Lion Shrine and the adjacent Nittany Lion Inn-where the faithful have made pilgrimages since the early-twentieth century. The sum of these …

Digging It: A Participatory Ethnography Of The Experiences At A School Garden, Branimir Cvetkovic

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This case study of a school garden focuses on concepts of community that are fostered and embodied at this setting. By utilizing participatory ethnographic methodologies, this research explored gemeinschaft and gesellschaft concepts of community. Data reveals that students are able to learn mastery, belonging, generosity and independence while participating in the garden work. Teachers manage students who attempt to challenge the boundaries of this community by utilizing and ethic of care which allows teachers to de-emphasize authority and to first consider the networks of relationships and how to mend and improve them. Students are able to experience governmentality and an …

Identities Of Alternative Medicine Practitioners, Mychel Estevez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to collect and analyze information from massage therapists on how they construct their identities. It is meant to be a starting point in giving voice to a group of alternative health practitioners who have been marginalized and misunderstood. It also helps us to understand what it means (to them) to be massage therapists and practitioners of "alternative medicine." This study was conducted through semi-structured interviews with five licensed massage therapists in two metropolitan areas in Florida. Massage therapists work at the micro level to boost the image of themselves and their form of "alternative" …

A Rational Choice Approach To Professional Crime Using A Meta-Synthesis Of The Qualitative Literature, Douglas J. Wholl

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since the early 18th century, rational choice models have been applied extensively to criminological research, theory, and policy in an effort to understand crime and criminality. Over the past few decades, the rational choice perspective has attempted to integrate theoretical concepts, operational measures, and research findings from contemporary studies within the psychology, sociology and criminology disciplines, which have attempted to re-operationalize what was already conceptualized in the expected utility model (i.e., individuals choose to engage in criminal activity if the expected utility of crime exceeds that of all other behavioral options) by incorporating additional factors (e.g., a broader range of …

Fantasies Of Metal And Wires: Battling Corporate Hegemony And The Achievement Of Posthuman Masculinity In Recent Superhero Cinema, Joseph J. Cook

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

During the summer of 2008 many movies were released with superhero protagonists. Combining textual readings and theoretical accounts to provide a phenomenological analysis of the representation of the counter-hegemonic struggle against corporate control and the achievement of posthuman masculinity in these recent superhero films, this thesis compares and contrasts specific visual and thematic elements that consistently appear in four of these films: The Dark Knight, Wanted, Iron Man, and Speed Racer. Providing intertextual exploration of the cultural status of specific cinematic superheroes, this project explores possible relationships between culture, society, and cinema, treating popular superhero cinema …

“The Best We Can With What We Got”: Mediating Social And Cultural Capital In A Title I School, Jarin Rachel Eisenberg

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined teachers' perceptions and attitudes of Title I students at an urban elementary school in which over 90% of the student population receives free or reduced-priced lunch. Using participant observation and in-depth interviews, this research analyzed three avenues for Title I students to acquire cultural and social capital at school: material and non-material resources, language acquisition, and the building of positive teacher-student relationships. In order to analyze these avenues, this study explored the following questions: How do teachers talk about and perceive Title I students? Do their attitudes and the images constructed from these perceptions impact students' ability …

Sacred Selves: An Ethnographic Study Of Narratives And Community Practices At A Spiritual Center, Sean E. Currie

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many scholars have examined the religious phenomenon known as the New Age Movement, resulting in a large body of literature on the subject. Despite this abundance of prior research, only a small number of studies conducted in the United States investigate what it means to be a "New Ager" from the perspective of the members. In order to contribute to the academic understanding of New Age identities and communities, I conducted an ethnographic study of an alternative spiritual center in the Tampa Bay area, here called the Spirit Grove. My research includes over fifty hours of participant observations, ten in-depth …

The Weekly Challenger, April 2, 2009, The Weekly Challenger, Et Al

Weekly Challenger Newspaper Collection

The April 2, 2009, issue of The Weekly Challenger.

Theology, Spirituality, And The Academic Study Of Religion In Public Universities, Don Saunders

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines whether the secular institutions of American higher education should address students questions of meaning, purpose, wisdom, and human destiny. That is, it investigates the place of the normative analysis of religious experience and behavior within the public university. I use the work of Ninian Smart, Russell T. McCutcheon and Ivan Strenski to illustrate the case against the inclusion of theology and spirituality in the academic study of religion. In their view, theology is at best an artifact, like ritual or religious art and not an academic discipline. Conversely, I use the work of Paul Tillich, John Dunne, …

The Sustainability Of The Roman Forum, David Gargiulo

Grace Allen Scholars Theses

If walls could talk, what would the crumbling walls of the Curia Hostilia, the Temple of Venus and Roma, or any other structure in the Roman Forum tell us? Surely, tales of the glory of the Roman Empire that erected them would be told in their deserved splendor. However, the Forum Romanum tells the tales of thousands of others as well, the saga of the people who lived around those walls for more than 2000 years. For instance, the Forum’s loss of many of its marble and other stone taken by those in desperate need of building materials in the …

Walking The Walk: An Examination Of Āl Murrah Bedouin's Motives For Continued Nomadism, Benjamin Mehanni

Grace Allen Scholars Theses

The Āl Murrah, a Bedouin tribe in Saudi Arabia, practice nomadic pastoralism to this day. They continue to resist the pressures to settle exerted by government sponsored settlement programs, as well as the rise of a modern capitalist economy, whose growth increases the cost of living. The Āl Murrah’s motives for resisting sedentarization are based on a collectivist value system that defines a high quality of life based on accessing the desert and camels’ milk, having the freedom to decide when and where to herd their camels, and gaining the respect of their family and community. These factors are contingent …

James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, And The Confines Of Autonomous Language, David M. Vassalotti

Grace Allen Scholars Theses

The act of communication is one contingent upon successful translation. Drawings, gestures, and speech are all approximations used in order to convey ideas and information. For the most part, these methods of communication serve their purpose, but there are certain ‘things’ (for lack of a better word) which cannot be communicated through any conceivable language. Each person has their own unique set of experiences and memories. Each individual mind is unique in how it interprets a word, an action, a color, a smell, etc. If a hundred people hear the word ‘dog,’ each one will envision a different image in …

Hiding In Full View: The “Forgotten” Bushman Genocides Of Namibia, Robert J. Gordon

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This article examines the Bushman genocide of 1912–1915 which, despite overwhelming evidence of its having occurred, has been largely ignored by both scholars and the local population. It invokes the Durkheimian distinction between necessary and sufficient conditions. Necessary conditions are akin to Marxian notions of ‘‘primitive accumulation’’ or Weberian ‘‘booty capitalism,’’ but in addition, the author emphasizes the demographics of the settlers, largely (aspiring) middle-class single men, and suggests that notions of the Rechtsstaat—code-based rather than case-based rule of law—represented an important, if not distinctive, sufficient condition in facilitating genocide, especially in tandem with the legitimation activities of turn-of-the-century scholars. …

Biological Absorption And Genocide: A Comparison Of Indigenous Assimilation Policies In The United States And Australia, Katherine Elinghaus

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This article examines biological absorption (the imagined process by which indigenous identity would disappear through interracial sexual liaisons) and its relationship to the assimilation policies of the United States and Australia. In the debates about whether or not indigenous assimilation policies constituted genocide, biological absorption has often been pointed to as a particularly salient example of genocidal thinking. US and Australian historians, however, have mostly seen biological absorption as only a minor aspect of assimilation. This article argues that biological absorption should be recognized as a pervasive construct underlying many aspects of Australia’s and the United States’ dealings with Aborigines …

Ontological Destruction: Genocide And Canadian Aboriginal Peoples, Andrew Woolford

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

The impact of colonialism on Aboriginal groups in Canada is often described as ‘‘cultural genocide’’ or ‘‘ethnocide.’’ In contrast, this article offers a re-reading of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948) that is sensitive to Aboriginal understandings and experiences of group life and group destruction. Through this re-reading, it is argued that genocide must be understood in a culturally contextualized manner so as to avoid modernist and Eurocentric biases. Only by opening up the conception of genocide will we be able to contend adequately with Canadian Aboriginal experiences of colonialism.

Author Biographies

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Broadening The Spectrum: The Religious Dimensions Of The Rainbow Gatherings, Seth M. Walker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to specifically address the religious dimensions of the Rainbow Gatherings. The fundamental question directing this analysis is: "Are the Rainbow Gatherings religious in character?" This thesis specifically asks whether or not the Rainbow Gatherings satisfy certain identifiable features of religion, and if doing so, do they qualify as a form of religion? I engage this question by analyzing the Rainbow Gatherings in terms of two particular definitions of religion: Clifford Geertz's "functional" definition and Bryan R. Wilson's "substantive" definition. This allows me to analyze the Rainbow Gatherings from the perspective of the two major …

Realness And Hoodness: Authenticity In Hip Hop As Discussed By Adolescent Fans, Ginger L. Jacobson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Various forms of media penetrate our lives daily. Hip hop music has gained universal appeal and widespread success that permeates barriers of race, class, gender, age, and nationality. It is important for social service workers, parents, educators and other adults who interact with youth to understand the roles hip hop music and culture can play in the identities of those who are listening. In this study I conducted 12 open-ended interviews with adolescent hip hop fans about their music. The research presented in this thesis suggests that adolescent hip hop fans are making interpretations from the media and applying them …

Constructions Of Narrative Identities Of Women Political Candidates, Amy E. Daniels

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

I evaluate the ways in which newspaper articles constructed the gendered cultural and personal narratives of a woman Presidential and a woman Vice-Presidential candidate during the 2008 Presidential Election season. Drawing upon West and Zimmerman's "Doing Gender" (1987) that explains gender is performed constantly throughout life, I assess the stories told about each candidate and the way she performed gender. There are two different types of stories created. The first is a personal narrative which tells the story of each individual candidate, Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin. The second is a cultural narrative which tells the story of a dis-embodied …

Warren Jolly Oral History Interview, Warren Jolly

Otis R. Anthony African Americans in Florida Oral History Project

Warren Jolly describes playing football at Middleton High School in the 1960s. He also provides commentary on local politics, discussing some of the African Americans running for office in Tampa or Hillsborough County.

Florida Sentinel Bulletin, March 20, 2009, Gwen Hayes

Florida Sentinel Bulletin Collection

The March 20, 2009, issue of the Florida Sentinel Bulletin.

Risk Communication: An Analysis Of Message Source And Function In Hurricane Mitigation/Preparedness Communication, Andrew M. Gallo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In September 2008, the National Weather Service (NWS) predicted that Hurricane Ike would make landfall on Galveston Island as a strong category three storm. This led the NWS to release a statement of 'certain death' if people did not adhere to the emergency evacuation messages. Millions of people fled the Texas coast. Using Hazleton and Long's (1993) taxonomy of public relations strategies, experimental methods were conducted with various evacuation messages to test emergency communication. Grunig's (1997) situational theory of publics was used to determine strategy influence. Problem recognition, constraint recognition, and level of involvement were tested. In addition, tests were …

Beyond Academic Reputation: Factors That Influence The College Of First Choice For High Achieving Students, Holly J. Schoenherr

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Studies that have investigated college choice factors for high-achieving students repeatedly cite academic reputation as one of the top indicators of choice but have not indicated why some high-achieving students choose to attend universities with a less prestigious reputation than the more highly prestigious options available to them. The purpose of this study was to examine whether differences exist between traditional-aged high achieving students who choose to attend higher-tiered universities and their peers who choose to attend lower-tiered universities.

Independent variables were selected based upon Hossler and Gallagher's (1987) three-stage model and previous research findings in the literature and grouped …

Gender Trouble In Northern Ireland: An Examination Of Gender And Bodies Within The 1970s And 1980s Provisional Irish Republican Army In Northern Ireland, Jennifer Earles

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With this thesis, I will utilize both feminist and queer theory to highlight the gendered and bodily tactics used by the women of the 1970s/1980s Provisional Irish Republican Army. I will explore how women can both manipulate gender and use their bodies as a response to gender, ethnic, class, and colonial power relations and conflict discourses, the limitations of these approaches, and how these actions can work to reconfigure political movements, local cultures, and create a space for social change and a future beyond conflict which includes women. My methods will include a feminist content analysis of interviews, written records, …

Sfra Review, Spring 2009, Science Fiction Research Association

SFRA Newsletter (Science Fiction Research Association)

The Spring 2009 issue of the SFRA Review.