Digital Commons Network^™

Ladies' Library Associations Of Michigan: Women, Reform, And Use Of Public Space, Sharon Carlson

Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the ladies' library associations in Southwestern Michigan from the middle nineteenth century through the early twentieth century to explore the impact of these organizations as agents of reform and in shaping public space. Ladies' library association records provide a major component of this study. Association records, consisting of constitutions, bylaws, minutes, treasurer records, book catalogs, yearbooks, and published reports yield valuable information to analyze and interpret the activities of ladies' library associations. Plat maps, panoramic maps, photographs, architectural drawings, and tax records offer evidence about the built environment and material culture of ladies' library associations. The actual …

Nationalism As A Contingent Event: Som Ereflections On The Ethio-Eriterean Experience, Mesfin Araya

International Conference on African Development Archives

What is politically significant and what really attracts scholarly research in any nationalism is the awakening of the masses - i.e. the effective transition from elite-based to mass-based nationalism; this study is concerned with that transition in the Eritrean experience in the modern political history of Ethiopia.

From Marxism-Leninism To Ethnicity: The Sideslips Of Ethiopian Elitism, Messay Kebede

International Conference on African Development Archives

For many scholars, colonialism and neocolonial policies remain the root causes of Africa’s numerous impediments, ranging from the persistence of poverty to the ravages of ethnic conflicts. However, the number of scholars who prefer to ascribe these impediments essentially to the persistence of traditional views and methods and to the lack of reforms radical enough to trigger a sustained process of modernization is not negligible. My position contests this either-or debate and identifies the culprit as the rise of African elitism--a phenomenon implicating the specific effect of colonialism in conjunction with internal African contributions. I take the case of Ethiopia …

This Is The Price We Pay: A Study Of Divorce In The U.A.E. From Divorced Women's Perspectives, Wadha Al Nuaimi

Masters Theses

This study aims to answer these questions: What is the process of divorce in the U.A.E? When do women in the U.A.E reach the point where they can't stay with their husbands? Why does a close intimate relationship break up? What are the connections between social, economic, and cultural environment in the U.A.E and the divorced women who live within them?

Qualitative methods based on interviews of 20 divorced women citizens who initiated the divorce process in the city of Al Ain have been used. The study showed that there are six stages in the divorce process: disillusionment, expressing concern, …

New Teachers’ Perceptions Of Discipline-Related School Problems And Teacher Satisfaction, Amy L. Kavanaugh

Dissertations

Satisfaction The public is concerned with school safety because of recent school shootings resulting in multiple deaths. Educators are concerned that perceptions of school safety may affect new teacher attrition.

Three questions were examined in this study: (1) What is the trend of new teachers’ perceptions of discipline-related school problems? (2) Do new teachers’ perceptions of school problems vary by teacher gender, school level, size, location, and percentage of minority students?, and (3) Are new teachers’ perceptions of school problems related to their professional satisfaction?

National data gathered by the National Center for Education Statistics through the Schools and Staffing …

Ben Jonson And The Mirror: Folly Knows No Gender, Sherry Broadwell Niewoonder

Dissertations

Ben Jonson, Renaissance poet and playwright, has been the subject of renewed evaluation in recent scholarship, particularly new historicism and cultural materialism. The consensus among some current scholars is that Jonson overtly practices and advocates misogyny in his dramas. Such theorists suggest that Jonson both embodies and promulgates the antiwoman rhetoric of his time, basing their position on contemporary cultural material, religious tracts, and the writings of King James I. However, the external evidence cited by late twentieth-century writers as to the nature of women's position in seventeenth-century England is contradictory and speculative. A more productive method of determining misogyny …

36th International Congress On Medieval Studies, Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University

International Congress on Medieval Studies Archive

The printed program of the 36th International Congress on Medieval Studies (May 3-6, 2001).

"The Ever-Growing Army Of Serious Girl Students": The Legacy Of Hope Emily Allen, Marea Mitchell

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

In Defense Of Realism: It Really Is Commonsense, William W. Cobern, Cathleen C. Loving

Scientific Literacy and Cultural Studies Project

“What is truth?” Pilot asked Jesus of Nazareth. For many in academe today this question seems quaintly passé. Rejection of “truth” goes hand-in-hand with the rejection of epistemological realism. Educational thought over the last decade has instead been dominated by anti-realist, instrumentalist ideas of two types: first by psychological constructivism and later by social constructivism. Social constructivism subsequently has been pressed to its logical conclusion in the form of relativistic multiculturalism. Proponents of both psychological constructivism and social constructivism value knowledge for its utility and eschew as irrelevant speculation any notion that knowledge is actually about reality. The arguments are …

Environment, Cultures, And Social Change On The Great Plains: A History Of Crow Creek Tribal School, Robert W. Galler Jr.

Dissertations

This study explores the socio-cultural history of a school for Native American students on the Crow Creek Sioux Reservation in central South Dakota. The case study places the school's history (1886-present) within the context of the historic interaction between environment, cultures, and social change on the Great Plains.

This work focuses on a Catholic school and the multi-dimensional students and staff who constitute its story. These individuals acted neither as perpetually passive students nor simplistically sinister administrators. Instead, this dissertation broadly explores the challenging nature of intercultural relations that led to the founding of the school and how tribal/Catholic interactions …

The Effects Of Colonization On The Career Development And Occupational Choices Of African Students Studying In The United States, Augustine E. Bessong

Dissertations

A quantitative research design was utilized to understand the perceptions of the effects of colonization on career choices and occupational development of Africans in the United States. In face-to-face, 60-90 minute interviews using a semistructured interview guide developed by the researcher, participants were asked open-ended questions about the effects of colonization on their career choices and occupational development. Using purposeful sampling, 12 African male and female students, 7 enrolled at one Southeastern university and S from a large metropolitan city in the Southeastern United States, were interviewed for data collection.

Interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed. Transcripts were analyzed using the …

Toward A Provident Working Class: French And English Social Reform Rhetoric, 1880-1914, James R. Gavan

Masters Theses

This research examines the rhetoric of belle epoque English and French middle class social observers. Addressing the "social question," they engaged in a debate on how best to appease an impoverished, alienated, and increasingly militant working class. Historians cite this discourse, and the meager legislation it fostered, as a transition from the unbridled nineteenth century laissez-faire to the welfare democracy characteristic of the twentieth century.

Central to the "social question" was the issue of improving social relations without altering existing class hierarchies (which favored the middle classes). Many social commentators shunned the passage of legislative safety nets in favor of …

35th International Congress On Medieval Studies, Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University

International Congress on Medieval Studies Archive

The printed program of the 35th International Congress on Medieval Studies (May 4-7, 2000).

Kathleen Biddick, The Shock Of Medievalism. Duke University Press, 1998 , Ruth Mazo Karras

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

The Place Of Historical Research In Social Work, Robert Fisher, Phillip Dybicz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study addresses the incidence, persistence, decline, and marginalization of historical research in social work by examining one indicator of that research, social work dissertations. This study reveals that despite the dominance of other research methods, historical research was a legitimate method for doctoral research in social work, but its use has declined over time. Before World War II historical dissertations were common. Through the 1950s almost 13% of all social work dissertations were historical. In the 1960s and 1970s interest in history as a research method declined, but social welfare history was still a legitimate option for doctoral research. …

Saugatuck's Shining Shore: The Transition Of A Michigan Community Into A Resort Town, 1870-1930, Kyran V. Kelley

Masters Theses

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries many communities adapted themselves to the leisure industry with the growth of a middle class that had time for leisure activities within the United States. One impetus for this change suggested for the period is a lack of manufacturing and extractive activities (Brown 1995).

This thesis tests this scenario on one community of the period, Saugatuck, Michigan, by examining the employment and business structures of the town while also examining land use. This was accomplished through the use of both primary and secondary documents.

Data gathered and placed within its historical context …

34th International Congress On Medieval Studies, Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University

International Congress on Medieval Studies Archive

The printed program of the 34th International Congress on Medieval Studies (May 6-9, 1999).

Visual Images Of Late Anglo-Saxon Kings And Kingship, Kevin L. Glick

Masters Theses

The role of ideology in the creation of tenth- and eleventh-century Anglo-Saxon visual representations of Anglo-Saxon kings is the focus of this study. This study assesses Anglo-Saxon images in manuscripts and on coins, seals, and textiles produced during the tenth and eleventh centuries. Each image included depicts Anglo-Saxon kings who ruled during the tenth and eleventh centuries. The thesis begins with a discussion of the term ideology and a historical introduction to the political developments in rulership and monasticism that influenced images of kings. The thesis covers each art form separately, examining what evidence exists, what problems exist in dealing …

33rd International Congress On Medieval Studies, Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University

International Congress on Medieval Studies Archive

The printed program of the 33rd International Congress on Medieval Studies (May 7-10, 1998).

Spatial And Ethnic Patterns Of Real Estate Control Affecting Upward Mobility Of Immigrants In A Nineteenth Century Industrial Community, Debra S. Alfonso

Masters Theses

The subject of immigrant success has previously been analyzed in the context of ethnic characteristics, individual heroism, worker solidarity, and advancement of industrialization. Most immigrants start at the bottom of the social-economic ladder. The mechanisms of advancement vary depending on both ethnic values and the constraints of the socioeconomic system. The key variable is normally thought to be advancing occupational status.

The problem addressed is how did recent immigrants to a 19th century steel-town obtain home ownership and advancement in spite of declining industrial wages. Using a GIS system to link and analyze geographic and historical records I was able …

Clientilism And Clientification: Impediments To Strengths Based Social Work Practice, Charles D. Cowger

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A strengths-based practice perspective is, at best, weak and, perhaps, irrelevant in social service structures that are powered by social control values, driven by the market economy, and protected by professional self interests. This paper proposes that the relationship between the patron and the client, as expressed by the metaphor "clientelism" in the development literature, and "clientification", as described by Habermas, are informative as significant obstacles to the implementation of strengthsbased social work practice and social service delivery. The paper argues that for strengths-based practice to be viable, it and its advocates must confront more fundamental change by becoming more …

Women In Courtly Culture: Teaching From A Cross-Cultural Perspective, Nancy A. Jones

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

The Social Unit Plan (1916-1920): An Experiment In Democracy And Human Services Fails, Robert Blundo

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Participatory democracy and community development are explored by looking back to the bold experiment undertaken in Cincinnati, Ohio, from 1916 to 1920, called the Social Unit Plan. It is a glimpse into the economic, political, cultural and social consciousness of those who participated in the experiment during that period in American history. The paper suggests that by understanding the cultural and social lives of participants, our awareness of the range of options or possible efforts at addressing human social welfare needs in the past and the present are enhanced.

Flying Universities: Educational Movements In Poland 1882-1905 And 1977-1981, A Socio-Historical Analysis, Gregory A. Lukasik

Masters Theses

In Poland in 1977, a group of intellectuals formed an independent educational enterprise under the name "Flying University." Interestingly, the original "Flying University" was organized by a group of radical professors nearly a century earlier, at a time when the Polish state disappeared from the political map of Europe. I was interested in seeing whether the two were the same, as their common name would suggest, or if they differed in any respect. I attempted to answer this question by focusing on the so-called universities' memberships, ideologies, and objectives.

I have followed the method of interpretive historical sociology (Skocpol, 1979) …

32nd International Congress On Medieval Studies, Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University

International Congress on Medieval Studies Archive

The printed program of the 32nd International Congress on Medieval Studies (May 8-11, 1997).

Securing Employer-Based Pensions: An International Perspective. Zvi Bodie, Olivia S. Mitchell And John A. Turner.

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Zvi Bodie, Olivia S. Mitchell and John A. Turner. Securing Employer- based Pensions: An International Perspective. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996. $44.95 hardcover.

Approaches To The Welfare State. Pranab Chatterjee.

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Pranab Chatterjee, Approaches to the Welfare State. Washington DC: NASW Press, 1996. $34.95 papercover.

The Economic Impact Of The Welfare State And Social Wage: The British Experience. Rafat Fazeli.

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Rafat Fazeli, The Economic Impact of the Welfare State and Social Wage: The British Experience. Brookfield, VT: Avebury, 1996. $55.95 hardcover.

The Commercialization Of The Medieval Ideal: The Spanish Forger And Handbooks Of Illumination, Amy E. Dawson

Masters Theses

This study analyzes the commercialization of popular medievalism that occurred in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. By examining the works of a forger of medieval manuscripts this research identifies a market created for works that expressed a particularly "Romantic" vision of medieval society. Moreover, this study offers a discussion of late nineteenth century handbooks that teach techniques of illumination. These works are examined to gain an understanding of the audience for which "medieval" works were created. Publication information reveals the popularity of these handbooks. The. prefatory material examined here pinpoints the idealization of the "medieval" that made handbooks …

Muslims And Jews In Thirteenth-Century Valencian Law, Scott M. Gyenes

Masters Theses

When the Muslim kingdom of Valencia was conquered between 1233-1245 during the Reconguista, by James I, a new era was ushered in for the resident Muslims and Jews, because they would now be ruled by a minority Christian government. King James, in an attempt to control the newly settled Christians, issued the law code the Furs of Valencia. Additionally the Furs also established Christian legal superiority over the Muslims and Jewish populations, too.

The Furs of Valencia are highly valuable in the study of law, because of the influence of Roman, canon, and Islamic law. These influences helped slow …