Digital Commons Network^™

Le Gout Qui Reste: Cultural Identity And Belonging In Ook Chung's Kimchi, Taurean James Weber-Laurencio

Dissertations and Theses

The emphasis placed on the questioning of identity in Québécois society since the Quiet Revolution of the mid-twentieth century continues to this day. Whereas this search for a specifically Québécois identity was originally cast in terms of an Anglophone/Francophone divide, the influx of migrants from around the world to the province since the 1970s has rendered such a simplistic, binary discourse impossible. The population of Québéc in general and of Montréal in particular is now multicultural; visible minorities now constitute twenty-six percent of the Montréal populace. While most migrants in Québéc are able to find a niche in Montréal in …

Using Intrinsically-Typed Definitional Interpreters To Verify Compiler Optimizations In A Monadic Intermediate Language, Dani Barrack

Dissertations and Theses

Compiler optimizations are critical to the efficiency of modern functional programs. At the same time, optimizations that unintentionally change the semantics of programs can systematically introduce errors into programs that pass through them. The question of how to best verify that optimizations and other program transformations preserve semantics is an important one, given the potential for error introduction. Dependent types allow us to prove that properties about our programs are correct, as well as to design data types and interpreters in such a way that they are correct-by-construction. In this thesis, we explore the use of dependent types and intrinsically-typed …

Measuring Morality In The 2020 Us Presidential Election, Scott Edward Atkins

Dissertations and Theses

This study explores the moral content evident in speeches by 2020 US Presidential Candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Drawing on Moral Foundations Theory (Haidt, 2013), I test the hypotheses that each candidate's moral content, as measured by the use of certain morally salient keywords, will fall along patterns based on their political affiliation. In testing these hypotheses, I also present a comparison of keyword analysis methods. The first uses a simple word count procedure alongside the Moral Foundations Dictionary 2.0, developed by Frimer et al. (2017), which scores a document based on the presence of words from each of …

User Experience In The Visual Notifications On Smart Devices, Young Ae Kim

Dissertations and Theses

Notifications on smart devices have a crucial role for the end-users to help decide their action to the information. Despite the flexible customization of notifications for the intuitive user experience, users feel overwhelmed by the number of notifications they receive daily. The nature of notifications is short-lived, but they are extremely intrusive and disengaging. While user experience and user interface are advanced, notifications have remained broken despite their complexity. In fact, the notifications have the poorest usability that users may struggle to customize notifications in their smart devices and choose to ignore them. Irrelevant notifications not only get ignored, but …

Initial Implementation Of Culturally Responsive Social-Emotional Systems Of Support For Anishinaabe Kindergarteners: Student Outcomes And Teacher Perceptions, Dustin Everett Hinckley

Dissertations and Theses

This study examined the academic and social-emotional outcomes and teacher perceptions of the initial implementation of a culturally responsive social-emotional learning Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) within a culturally homogenous rural Kindergarten Center. For this study, academic and behavioral student outcomes and teacher perceptions of both the implementation process and the outcomes of the implementation were explored. A quantitative ex post facto study based on students’ academic achievement scores and behavioral data, along with survey research to determine teacher perceptions, compared a cohort of students who participated in the culturally responsive social-emotional learning MTSS with a cohort that didn’t. Overall, …

Experiences Of Cultural Disconnectedness Among Bosnian American Diaspora: A Phenomenological Perspective, Azra Osmancevic

Dissertations and Theses

ABSTRACT Diaspora, including immigrants and refugees, undergo various experiences in their new host countries related to cultural identity formation. One of the factors related to cultural identity development within the United States is feeling caught in between two identities, resulting in never truly feeling “here or there” (Suárez-Orozco & Suárez-Orozco, 2001). Experiences of cultural disconnectedness have been highlighted among the Bosnian American diaspora in numerous studies over the last two decades. Previous studies briefly described the challenges associated with diaspora balancing their native Bosnian cultures and host American cultures. The current study focused on the gap in the literature by …

Representations Of Native Americans In Contemporary Media: Dances With Wolves, Diane Sawyer, And Reservation Dogs, Jacqueline Hendry

Dissertations and Theses

Thirty years after Dances with Wolves won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and ten years after the 20/20 special “Hidden America: Children of the Plains” recycled ‘90’s Hollywood tropes to report on poverty on the Pine Ridge Reservation, the 2021 comedy series Reservation Dogs marks a watershed moment in Native representation. Led by an Indigenous cast and Indigenous creative team, it features contemporary aspects of Native life through a particular niche humor that doesn’t explain itself to audiences not in the know. The as-yet unique series has been well-received by Native and non-Native audiences, but in order to appreciate …

Teachers' Perceptions Of Positive Behavior Intervention Supports And Student Safety Perceptions, Renee Elizabeth Anderson

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between how thoroughly School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SW-PBIS) is implemented in elementary classrooms, junior kindergarten through fifth grade, and students’ and teachers’ perceptions of safety. An additional purpose was to investigate whether child knowledge of conflict resolution has a relationship with the perceptions of feeling safe. The following questions were explored: (1) To what extent does the fidelity of implementation of PBIS predict teachers’ perceptions of safety? (2) To what extent does the fidelity of implementation of PBIS predict elementary students’ school safety perceptions, junior kindergarten through fifth …

Initial Implementation Of Culturally Responsive Social-Emotional Systems Of Support For Anishinaabe Kindergarteners: Student Outcomes And Teacher Perceptions, Dustin Everett Hinckley

Dissertations and Theses

This study examined the academic and social-emotional outcomes and teacher perceptions of the initial implementation of a culturally responsive social-emotional learning Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) within a culturally homogenous rural Kindergarten Center. For this study, academic and behavioral student outcomes and teacher perceptions of both the implementation process and the outcomes of the implementation were explored. A quantitative ex post facto study based on students’ academic achievement scores and behavioral data, along with survey research to determine teacher perceptions, compared a cohort of students who participated in the culturally responsive social-emotional learning MTSS with a cohort that didn’t. Overall, …

Self-Reclamation Through Death: Attaining Creoleness In Jamaica Kincaid’S The Autobiography Of My Mother And In Praise Of Creoleness By Jean Bernabé, Patrick Chamoiseau And Raphaël Confiant, Phillip J. Jordan

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis makes the claim that Xuela, the protagonist of the novel The Autobiography of My Mother mirrors the principles of the essay In Praise of Creoleness by Jean Bernabé, Patrick Chamoiseau, and Raphael Confiant. These works, published nearly a decade apart address a process of identity formation in which specifically Caribbean identity features blend together in a fluid and complex way, the process of creolization. The essay, In Praise of Creoleness, can be seen as the manifesto of creolization, while Kincaid’s Xuela in The Autobiography of My Mother is the manifestation. Kincaid’s work presents an account of an individual’s …

World Of Water: Betsy Damon’S Ties To Ecofeminism, Colleen Sullivan

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis establishes a critical examination of the evolution of Betsy Damon’s artistic practice as overtime she engages with ecofeminist thought. As a whole, this work extends contemporary scholarship on ecofeminist engaged art to include Damon’s artistic production while amplifying social and critical ecofeminism as necessary ideologies to explore when analyzing art through an ecofeminist lens. Beginning with her first environmentally focused work in the United States the organization of the following chapters reveals Damon’s deepened understanding and exploration of ecofeminist principles and their application to her artistic practice. It goes on to further explore Damon’s pursuit of environmentally sustainable …

Looking At The Donor Character Through A Formalist Lens, Elena Rodriguez

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

African American English As A Predictor Of Ethnic And Ethnolinguistic Identity In Adolescence, Giahna L. Glasco

Dissertations and Theses

This study’s purposes were to provide support for the Social identity theory of African American English (Vietze & Glasco, 2022) and the meanings African American English (AAE) speakers assign to their dialect. The study was primarily based on Tajfel’s (1979) social identity theory that proposes individuals derive a sense of self from group membership. The qualitative analyses examined ethnic and language group memberships. Ethnic identity development (Phinney, 1992), and ethnolinguistic identity theories (Giles and Johnson, 1987) guided narrative and content analyses of Kiese Laymon’s memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir (Laymon, 2018). The sample included 21 African American English conversations …

Therapeutic Considerations For The Polycule: A Qualitative Exploration Of Consensual Non-Monogamy In Couples Treatment, Tema Watstein

Dissertations and Theses

Despite the growing visibility of consensual non-monogamy culturally and in the academic domain, treatment of CNM relationships has been understudied from the clinical perspective. This study utilized a sample of 11 clinicians, who discussed their experiences of treating non-monogamous couples through a semi-structured interview. Qualitative thematic analysis led to the emergence of robust themes, which were synthesized into three broader categories: 1. Therapeutic Process, 2. Issues in Treatment, and 3. The Meaning of Non-Monogamy. Therapists discussed their own clinical processes, with emphasis on countertransference, frame, self-disclosure, and considerations for training. Themes also emerged surrounding common issues in treatment, ranging from …

Joint Laughter Between Patient And Therapist: Exploring The Function Of These Moments And Their Relationship To The Working Alliance In Short-Term Psychotherapy, Molly Rappaport

Dissertations and Theses

Laughter emerges in infancy and reflects mutually aroused and regulated positive affect within the caregiver-infant relationship and repeated cycles of shared, co-regulated positive arousal have been shown to play a critical role in fueling secure attachment bond formation and laying the groundwork for the infant’s capacity for affect regulation (Schore, 2003). Throughout life, laughter continues to function as an attachment behavior with the possibility of promoting interpersonal closeness or creating distance. Attitudes toward the role of laughter in psychotherapy vary among psychodynamically-oriented clinicians and research has mostly focused on the kinds of humor and interventions that provoke laughter rather than …

Holistic Treatment: A Qualitative Study Of The Integration Of Chinese Medicine With Psychoanalysis In China, I. Wang

Dissertations and Theses

With its fundamental principle of body-mind unity, Chinese medicine has long been regarded as one of the most influential bedrocks of holistic treatment. Given its prevalence in China, Chinese medicine (CM) is a culturally appropriate way for therapists in China to integrate with psychoanalysis. This qualitative study investigates how Chinese psychotherapists in China with Western psychanalytic backgrounds synthesize the principles and methods of CM into their practice. Further, the barriers and facilitators to the integration are also examined. With a sample of twelve Chinese psychotherapists in China primarily trained at The China American Psychoanalytic Alliance, through semi-structured interviews, therapists' integration …

The Relationship Of L2 Proficiency And L1 Reading Academic Performance Prior To Formal L1 Literacy Instruction In Foreign Language Immersion Settings, Andrew David Mckay Jr

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study is to explore the statistical nature of the linguistic interdependence hypothesis (Cummins, 1976, 2017) in the spring of 2nd grade of students in foreign language immersion programs. Specifically, the interdependent relationship between L2 language proficiency levels and L1 reading academic performance in an environment where L1 is the majority language and L2 is the target language for instruction with students who have yet to receive formal reading instruction in the L1. The Continua Model of Biliteracy was used to frame the existing research on language acquisition. An experimental ex post facto design using archival data …

Investigating Values In Discourse: Ideals And Social Plans, Luke Edward Hanst

Dissertations and Theses

Social scientists argue that values enable group coordination. I explore two theories of values before turning to evidence provided by Amanda Gorman's inaugural poem, "The Hill We Climb." First, the paradigm of Shalom Schwartz describes values as transsituational goals which enable groups to coordinate action and evaluate the world. I argue the Schwartz paradigm zooms out from values into categories while I need a means to zoom in to understand values in discourse. I turn to the Pragmatic Prospection paradigm to elaborate the cognitive ontology of goals and to understand the function of language. I argue that values are shared …

Japanese-English Code-Switching By Postwar Speakers In Contemporary America, Andre John Shepherd

Dissertations and Theses

In her examination of Japanese-English bilingualism in Toronto, Nishimura (1995b) demonstrated that second-generation Japanese-Canadians varied their speech dependent on the audience they were addressing. According to her, the Japanese-Canadians spoke primarily in English to fellow second-generation speakers, while maintaining conversations in Japanese with those who had spent their formative years in Japan. However, when addressing audiences composed of both groups, they switched back and forth evenly between the two languages.

Following research done by Woolard (1989) on the effects of societal influences on language, the state of the Japanese-Canadians can be related to the breakup of the ethnic enclaves in …

The Discourse/Pragmatic Functions Of Japanese Okkē, Peter Fodor

Dissertations and Theses

Okay is one of the most commonly used words in the English language. It is also one of the most commonly borrowed English-origin loanwords across all of the world's languages. Although there is a wealth of research on the communicative functions of English okay, there is comparatively little research on the many borrowings of the word in various other languages. In order to address this gap in the literature, this study explores the differences in discourse/pragmatic function between the English word okay, and the Japanese borrowing of the word, okkē.

Extensive research in discourse analysis, pragmatics, and …

What Does It Mean To Be Deaf? Changing Meanings Of Deafness, Communication Technology, And Beliefs About Normality In The Us, Kathryn Elizabeth Burrows

Dissertations and Theses

How deafness is perceived as a problem by society dictates what types of technologies are leveraged to address the problem, and, conversely, available technologies shape how deafness is perceived. In this dissertation, I draw on multiple methods to explore the meanings of deafness in the US since the early 18^th century to the present, examine how the meanings of deafness in those eras shaped deaf technology, and assess how available technologies shaped how deafness was understood. Using primary and secondary historical sources, I identify that every era identifies a different "problem of being deaf" and it is that problem …

A Multiplicity Of Journeys: Stem Education Ecosystems As Sources Of Cultural Sustenance, Christopher Louis Beauprey Cardiel

Dissertations and Theses

In this document, I outline the context and significance of a research problem faced by both formal and informal science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) educators in the Portland metro area--specifically, the need for greater understanding of the individual and cultural motivations, needs, and agentic behavior of learners, as well as the ways in which these factors intersect with learners' experiences of cultural sustenance within their holistic STEM education ecosystems. I base the significance of this problem on the racial and gender inequities evident in the STEM fields and the social and cultural dynamics that discourage members of these groups …

"Like I Was An Actual Researcher": Participation And Identity Trajectories Of Underrepresented Minority And First-Generation Stem Students In Research Training Communities Of Practice, Jennifer Lynn Lindwall

Dissertations and Theses

Although calls for a more diverse workforce in biomedical fields have been widespread, racial and ethnic gaps in biomedical degree attainment remain. Contextualist perspectives seek to understand persistent STEM inequities by examining person-in-context experiences and how systemic factors filter into students' proximal contexts shaping their participation and science identity trajectories. Research training communities of practice aim to offer underrepresented minority and first-generation students support, guidance, and opportunities to learn the practices of science and construct their science identity. However, many students still choose to leave these programs. There is limited research on these students' science identity construction process and their …

Battle Rock: Anatomy Of A Massacre, Adam R. Fitzhugh

Dissertations and Theses

On June 9, 1851, nine men under the direction of a steamboat captain and land speculator named William Tichenor landed on the southern coast of the Oregon Territory at present-day Port Orford with the intention of establishing a permanent settlement. Tichenor's plan was to establish a commercial port that would supply gold mining endeavors in the interior. The landing party's instructions were to survey the townsite while Tichenor traveled to San Francisco to gather more men and supplies. Before departing, he promised the group he would return in exactly two weeks. He also assured them that the local Quatomah Indians, …

Women's Work: A Feminist Standpoint Theory Study Of Scholarship, Voice, And Resistance In The Academic Generation Of Knowledge, Linnea Angelica Spitzer

Dissertations and Theses

More women than ever are earning doctoral degrees and are taking research or teaching positions at universities. However, the number of tenured women in full professorships have not yet achieved parity with the number of men in similar positions. Of the many reasons proposed for the disproportionate representation of women in the higher ranks of academia, one of the most commonly cited is the lower rates of publication by women in scholarly journals, an important criterion for promotion and tenure. However, women faculty are not unproductive. As scholars, they produce research and publish their findings in mainstream academic journals. In …

Politeness Strategies Used In Invitations In Japanese, Natsuko Llewellyn

Dissertations and Theses

This study explored how Japanese as Foreign Language (JFL) utilize politeness strategies compared to native speakers of Japanese (J1) in invitation discourses within the framework of Interlanguage Pragmatics (ILP). Invitation is one of the speech acts that requires careful consideration when conveying speakers' intentions through speech. It is assumed that JFL will struggle with appropriately inviting friends in different cultures while utilizing the politeness strategies in their invitation discourse in Japanese. Szatrowski (1993) revealed that there are thoughtful utterances to each other, the discernment utterance by the inviter and considerate utterance by the invitee, in the Japanese invitation discourse. Native …

The Perspectives Of Head Start Employed Community College Students Who Earned An Associate Degree In Early Childhood Education Programs: A Phenomenological Study Exploring Challenges And Successes, Robyne E. Taylor

Dissertations and Theses

The U.S. federally funded Head Start programs serve more than one million low-income children and their families each year in education and health programs. Historically there have been few requirements for formal education for Head Start teachers. In response to research linking teacher education and outcomes for children, increased educational requirements were included in the program funding reauthorizations in recent decades. For a variety of reasons, community college early childhood education programs are a logical place for those already employed by Head Start to improve their qualifications. At the same time, these institutions tend to have low graduation rates, and …

Developing An Archaeologically Literate Citizenry Through Public Archaeology: Assessing Archaeology Websites, Lisa Marie Catto

Dissertations and Theses

Assessment has been a growing focus of public archaeology in recent years, however, most assessment has focused on in-person activities with little on digital public archaeology. With the pervasive popularity of digital media, such as websites, among global public audiences and the popularity of websites as a communication tool for archaeologists, it is critical that archaeologists focus on evaluating websites to make this public-facing communications tool as effective as possible. My thesis addressed this gap in assessment by using Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA) to assess the messaging on the most popular archaeology websites, defined based on Google ranking. My specific …

Ethnic Conflict In Côte D’Ivoire, Ayouba Doumbia

Dissertations and Theses

Since the early days of independence, the African continent has been the theatre of many ethnic conflicts. While people, in general, assume these conflicts to be political and blame the conflicts on authoritarian regimes, they dismissed the fact that conflict between ethnicities is a phenomenon that has occurred for hundreds of years and in all corners of the Earth. Entire countries have been devastated by years of ethnic strife. Once ethnic conflict breaks out, it is difficult to stop. Conflicts in the Balkans, Rwanda, Chechnya, Iraq, and Darfur are among the deadliest examples from the late 20^th and early …

Son Of Esther, Shah Of The Persian Empire: The Judeo-Islamic-Persian Tapestry Of Ardashirnameh’S Miniature Paintings, Gilad Bendavid

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.