Digital Commons Network^™

Crossing Boundaries: Building A Model To Effectively Address Difference In Community Practice, Jason Sawyer

Theses and Dissertations

Community organizing has a rich tradition within the field of social work. Prevailing community practice models, approaches, and frameworks remain primarily based on practice wisdom, experience, and intuition. Difference, pervasive in various contemporary contexts of practice, largely mediates interactions at the community level. Although difference is addressed at various levels of the practice continuum and within the IFSW and NASW codes of ethics, few methodologically driven tools exist within the literature to guide practitioners. This grounded theory study initiates early development of a community practice model based on forging alliances across boundaries of difference. The Critical Difference Engagement model is …

Hybrid Gulf — Excavating Future Identities, Robert Canak

Theses and Dissertations

This Project examines the coexistence of two cultures?–?in this case the host Gulf, and the imported Western?–?and addresses certain problems that still need attention. This Project celebrates the creation of the third, hybrid, culture as a result of their intermingling. In this Research, Postcolonial Theory? and Transitional Object Theory? are used as conceptual frameworks, and are combined with Archaeology and Design as a practice. On a personal level, the Project evolved out of my cross-cultural origin and experiences. On an academic level, the Project serves as an experiment, trying to fill the gaps in the Gulf region’s search for identity. …

Untitled, Adriane Connerton

Theses and Dissertations

This text is an exploration of the ideas and work that I made in 2014.

The Devil Can’T Find You If You Hum: Post-Environmental Conductivity, Thomas Burkett

Theses and Dissertations

What would a repositioned concept of environmentalism look like, one that is specifically determined by the geography and the human rights at stake within the environmental politics of a place? I am interested in determining how performative engagements act as an art form that counters dispossessing industrial, political and environmental regimes. Within this discussion of environmental dispossession I will discuss ways I have used drawing as a conceptual space to explore resistance, redefine cultural capital and challenge archeological structures of knowledge, through my presence and protest.

Untitled, Michael Hunter

Theses and Dissertations

The following is an exploration of ideas and themes related to my studio work, past and present, concrete and aspirational. I approach painting as an experience of pleasure and as a mode of resistance and critique. I will discuss how my work is aligned with many of the themes found in the Pattern and Decoration movement of the 1970s. I will also identify alliances that my work has with DIY, networks, and the contemporary art scene as discussed in Lane Relyea’s "Your Everyday Art World". I describe my mode of working in the context of "workable resistance," which Jan Verwoert …

Comparing Tooth Enamel Disturbances In A Pediatric Population That Had Received Prior Chemotherapy Treatment To Age-Matched Controls From The Virginia Commonwealth University Pediatric Dentistry Clinic., Marcela Mujica

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to test whether children who have undergone cancer chemotherapy have a higher prevalence of enamel abnormalities of the second mandibular premolars than age matched controls. Methods: This study was a case-control design where the case group involved 26 subjects that had received chemotherapy treatment between the ages of 2 to 6 and at the time of the study were between the ages of 9 to 18. The control group consisted of 26 subjects matched for age and sex to the case group that had not received chemotherapy. The second mandibular premolars were assessed …

The Construction Of Female Identity In Mughal Painting: Portraits Of Women From The Shah Jahan Period (Ca. 1628-1658), Leila Prasertwaitaya

Theses and Dissertations

Paintings of women as individual subjects were a popular theme in the Mughal court during the mid-seventeenth century, or the Shah Jahan period (ca. 1628-1658). These portraits depict idealized archetypes with subtle differences in facial and bodily features. The same portrait conventions were used for both historical and imaginary women. This thesis has three aims: (1) identify and explain the significance of three elements that visually represent an ideal Mughal woman using a case study from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts called Page from the Nasir al-Din Shah Album: Portrait of a Mughal Woman (ca. 1630-45), (2) combine visual …

Liaising Between Visible And Invisible Realities: A Ritual Gourd In The African Collection Of The Virginia Museum Of Fine Arts, Ashley Holdsworth

Theses and Dissertations

In 2010, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts accessioned a ritual gourd from Mambila peoples of Nigeria and Cameroon into their collection. Although ritual containers with similar configurations abound in different parts of the Cameroon Grasslands in Central Africa, the VMFA gourd presents particular difficulties due to the nature of its accumulation and the lack of scholarship on the Mambila peoples. Therefore, in this thesis, all the aspects of its accumulation have been considered in relation to the culture and belief system of the Mambila and their neighbors. Special attention has been paid to the interconnectedness of form, function, and …

"Modern Primitive: Parody, Ambivalence, And Paradox In Paul Colin's Le Tumulte Noir", Julia Boyette Monroe

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes Paul Colin’s 1927 portfolio of lithographs entitled Le Tumulte Noir as an expression of the simultaneously progressive, celebratory, racist, and colonialist ideas about jazz music, dance, and blackness in Paris during the 1920s. Because the portfolio often demonstrates conflicting tropes for representing people of African American descent, for example minstrelsy vs. New Negro imagery, this thesis uses several methods for investigating the ambivalence of the artwork and the culture in which it was produced. The double-coding of meaning presented by parody, calligrams, and self-division are central to this analysis of Colin’s representations of the “Charlestonesque epidemic” in …

Senses In Synthesis: Imaginative Sensing In The 19th Century, Jesse Hernandez

Theses and Dissertations

During the late 19th century, arts and literature had a surge of sensory awareness, made manifest through sensory analogy, intersensory metaphor, and synaesthesia. This dissertation explores this phenomenon through a study of five poets and artists: Charles Baudelaire, Arthur Rimbaud, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Barlas, and Julia Margaret Cameron. Using imaginative sensing, these artists transformed the relationship between artist and observer, assigning greater responsibility to their audience while simultaneously asserting artistic control of their work. Their fascination with sensory mixing and multisensory awareness demonstrates unique ideas about perception and embodiment, ideas that have sparked both controversy and imitation. I begin …

Printing The Past To Engage The Public, Vivian Hite

UROP Posters

Public involvement and engagement is a key aspect of George Washington’s Boyhood Home at Ferry Farm near Fredericksburg, Virginia. Ferry Farm is a public archaeology site that allows volunteers and the public to participate in the actual field research. Three dimensional printed artifacts provided through a partnership with the Virtual Curation Lab at VCU help non-archaeologists understand the kind of artifacts found previously at the site. The ability for physical models to be used in the field allows the public to connect with the past inhabitants of the landscape. Creating this connection and involving the public in the history of …

Redefining The Past: Women In Classical Mayan Culture, Lucia Aguilar

UROP Posters

It is important to acknowledge that a majority of research done in archaeology and anthropology or most sciences has had a strong androcentric bias. In my own personal experiences I noticed growing up taking history classes that always taught women in the past were primarily responsible for their household and children or other typical roles women were constantly simplified to. There were always the occasional exceptional women in society that we hear about who “pushed boundaries” or “broke barriers” stepping into male roles, but what about taking a second look at the past without a Western androcentric bias. In some …

The Death And Burial Practices Of The Berawan, Dorothy O'Boyle

UROP Posters

This research paper is about the small tribe of Berawan people, a subgroup of Kenyah, of Borneo, Indonesia. The Berawans live in an egalitarian and agricultural society in the rainforest very similar to the tribes they are derived from. These people have a distinct way of treating their dead that generations of people around the world have been intrigued by. Their treatment of the dead consists of "secondary treatment" or secondary burial of the body where the body is first placed in a clay jar on the corner of their slash-and-burn gardens to decompose into the earth; the second part …

Cultural Rights And Political Authority In Maya Guatemala, Dylan Dewitt

UROP Posters

Following a civil war that engulfed the nation for thirty-six years, the Guatemalan state has taken steps to integrate previously remote territories into its broader political and economic system. This has led to the increased political inclusion and economic integration of Mayan communities that had remained on the outskirts of Ladino society. Unfortunately, not much attention has been given to understanding the effects of this process on indigenous political institutions. After traveling to the Western Highlands region in December 2013 and surveying research from political science, anthropology, and environmental science, I have concluded that the 1996 Peace Accords have not …

The Origins Of Mesoamerican Civilization, Oliver Aurand

UROP Posters

This research project will attempt to unravel the various threads of cultural influence that existed in Archaic Mesoamerica. Of particular interest will be to test the validity of the theory that there is a “mother culture,” usually posited as the Olmec, which was responsible for the innovations that led to the social complexities of later cultures such as the Mayans and Aztecs. Alternately, it is possible that innovations developed by several different cultures were shared through diffusion due to strong trade networks and other methods. This research question is important because it deals with the evolutionary development of advanced social …

Making A Point!, Sarah Perdue

UROP Posters

There are a great number of chipped stone artifacts in the archaeological record and the Virtual Curation Laboratory (VCL) at Virginia Commonwealth University is one place that stores and categorizes them through digital means. As an Intern with the VCL, I help add to the existing data collection of chipped stone artifacts along with the virtual curation of these artifacts. The VCL uses the NextEngine Desktop 3D scanner for digitally archiving each of the chipped stone artifacts. Besides providing a digital archive, the VCL also prints out plastic replicas of the artifacts by using a Makerbot Replicator. This digital way …

A Look At Tuberculosis And Multi-Drug Resistant Tb In The United States & China, Megan K. Healy

UROP Posters

There are many things plaguing the world today, one of them is Mycobacterium tuberculosis otherwise known as Tuberculosis (TB). Since it’s origin TB has become more virulent against antibiotics and became multi-drug resistant (MDR-TB). Two countries come to mind for comparison, China and the United States. China is having severe problems with the disease while the United States is managing it a bit better. Each country has unique circumstances and the statistics show that both may be doing better with just TB but MDR-TB is sticking around and gradually becoming more and more of an issue.

Commonwealth Times 2014-04-07

Commonwealth Times, 1969-

No abstract provided.

Susurrations Of The Ccc, John Bush

UROP Posters

The purpose of my research is to explore the use of anecdotal evidence and primary sources to locate and explain deviations from official records. For this study, I chose to look for a boxing ring constructed at the behest of the Commanding Officer of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 2386 at Camp SP-24V in Chester, Virginia.

Have I Made My Point?, John Bush, John Bush

UROP Posters

The purpose of my research is to use Experimental Archaeology to explore how individuals relate to, and behave in, their environment. For this study, I chose to use materials and techniques that would have been available to pre-contact populations in what is now the Commonwealth of Virginia, to manufacture lithic tools, or projectile points and knives (PP/Ks).

Virtually Scanning Jamestown 1607-1610, Lauren Volkers

UROP Posters

The Virtual Curation Laboratory, located at Virginia Commonwealth University, has been 3D scanning artifacts in collaboration with Jamestown Rediscovery from a very narrow period of time,1607 to 1610. This short time period includes the founding of the Jamestown colony and the Starving Time, where colonists consumed dogs, their seven horses, and at least one young woman. The intersection of Native Americans and Europeans can also be seen with native-made artifacts found in European contexts or altered by European contact. This poster will feature a butchered dog mandible and a butchered horse tibia from the Starving Time, native-made and European-made pipes …

Ink (2014-04)

Ink, 2008-

The student-run features magazine covering the fashion, art, music and culture worlds at VCU and in Richmond. Published annually in print and updated regularly online.

Ruling Theory Applied At The Beaufort Inlet Shipwreck, Carson Collier

UROP Posters

Ruling theory is when a hypothesis is so attractive that researches may consciously or unconsciously record data in favor of the hypothesis. “Ruling Theory can be applied in many fields, including archaeology” (Railsback, 1990). An example of an archaeological site applying the Ruling Theory is the Beaufort Inlet Shipwreck. On November 21, 1996 a team of investigators from Intersal Inc. discovered an 18th century shipwreck about a mile and a half off of the coast of Beaufort Inlet. Shortly after discovering this ship the question of this ship being the Queen Anne’s Revenge, Blackbeard’s flagship, started to arise. Today many …

Old World, New Media: Cross-Cultural Explorations With Camera And Analytic Text In Cusco, Peru, Scott Dupre Mills

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract OLD WORLD, NEW MEDIA: CROSS-CULTURAL EXPLORATIONS WITH CAMERA AND ANALYTIC TEXT IN CUSCO, PERU By Scott DuPre Mills, PhD. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2014 Major Director: Dr. Nicholas A Sharp, Assistant Professor, Department of English This dissertation draws on my field research in Cusco, Peru, documenting Old World methods of making Andean musical instruments. The cross-cultural interactions I engaged in are concretized and documented in the ethnographic film I shot at the time and in my experimentation with original music …

The Use Of Geographic Information Systems By Law Enforcement Agencies And Its Impact On Police Performance, Kun Ulvi

Theses and Dissertations

Do we know whether the use of geographic information systems (GIS) in law enforcement agencies increases police performance? This study examines the impact of GIS use to police performance outcomes in cities and counties of the U.S. between 2000 and 2007. Current research uses computerized mapping conceptualization to operationalize its measurement. Second, the police performance methodological context is used to measure the organizational impact of GIS. Finally, a new theoretical framework, information technology capacity that combines organizational, environmental and managerial factors to explain IT applications, is used to encompass most relevant dimensions of the subject matter. Findings indicate that the …

Virginia Commonwealth University Undergraduate Bulletin Courses [2014], Virginia Commonwealth University

VCU Bulletins

Listing of undergraduate courses for 2014-2015.

Menorah Review (No. 81, Summer/Fall, 2014)

Menorah Review

Books in Brief: New and Notable -- candelabra gold -- Education: Yeshivah style -- Moreshet: From the Sources -- Mysteries of the Books of Job: From Elihu to Elie Wiesel -- Two Nations Are In Your Womb (Gen 25:23) -- When Rhetoric Dominates The Message -- Zachor

Virginia Commonwealth University Undergraduate Bulletin [2014], Virginia Commonwealth University

VCU Bulletins

Undergraduate bulletin for Virginia Commonwealth University for the academic year 2014-2015. It includes information on academic regulations, degree requirements, course offerings, faculty, academic calendar, and tuition and expenses for undergraduate programs.

The Lifelong Learning Institute In Chesterfield: Ten Years Of Growing, Edward F. Ansello, Monica Hughes

Case Studies from Age in Action

Educational Objectives

1. To review changes in patterns of continuing learning and non-traditional education.

2. To profile membership and their interests in lifelong learning.

3. To highlight the development of the Lifelong Learning Institute of Chesterfield as a possible model for replication.

Virginia Commonwealth University Fall Commencement Program [2014], Virginia Commonwealth University

VCU Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.