Digital Commons Network^™

Comparative Analysis Of Advertising Value Appeals Reflected In U.S. And Chinese Women's Fashion Print Advertisements., Yi Lin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Analyzing 549 advertisements in Chinese and U.S. women's fashion magazines, this research studies the role of western culture in reshaping Chinese cultural values in terms of modernity, tradition, individualism, and collectivism as well as in the use of western fashion models and language. Results indicate that there is no statistical difference in individualistic and modernity values between U.S. and Chinese print ads in women's fashion magazines. In 1 of the product characteristics, shared products, collectivism values in Chinese ads are not found more than those in U.S. ads as it is assumed. In addition, almost half of the Chinese ads …

Black Female Journalists : Experiences Of Racism, Sexism And Classism In The Newsroom., Amber Genile Duke 1981-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the experiences and challenges Black female journalists encounter in the newsroom. Using oral history interviews and writings from Black female journalists about their experiences, the researcher identifies a unique set of barriers these women faced in assignments and career advancement. Black Feminist theoretical perspectives aide in understanding how the interlocking oppressions of racism, sexism and classism impacted Black female journalists on three distinct levels: personal level, group or community level and institutional level. The findings reveal Black Female journalists' personal experiences with discrimination propelled them into careers in the media. While on the job, many of them …

Speech Perception And The Mcgurk Effect : A Cross Cultural Study Using Event-Related Potentials., Jia Wu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has indicated the important role of visual information in the speech perception process. These studies have elucidated the areas of the brain involved in the processing of audiovisual stimuli. The McGurk effect, an audiovisual illusion, has been demonstrated to be a useful tool in the study of audiovisual integration. Brain imaging research suggests that the McGurk effect is modulated by brain structures in the Superior Temporal Gyrus, Supplemental Temporal Cortex and Broadman area 41. Electrophysiological studies suggest that the McGurk effect generates a different brainwave than the standard audiovisual congruent condition in frontal, central and parietal regions among …

Media Literacy Education, Elizabeth Etherington Wood

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study offers an analysis of media literacy practices and techniques used at local public middle and high schools in Colorado. Media literacy is an emerging field in education that blends literacy skills such as critical analysis and evaluation with an inquiry-based questioning process that encourages students to process information using cognitive, moral, aesthetic and emotional dimensions. This inquiry-based process is not a new educational approach; it has been used to critically evaluate literature for centuries. However, media literacy scholars argue that applying inquiry-based approaches can enhance learning across all grades and content levels by applying new methodologies.

The literature …

Communicating Queer Identities Through Personal Narrative And Intersectional Reflexivity, Richard G. Jones, Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There is currently a lack of intersubjective research involving human participants and conceptual frameworks that include queer theory. Queer theory's poststructuralist epistemology tends toward desubjectification, problematizing research that relies on participants' self-reports of lived experience. The author proposes that the interdisciplinary nature of Communication Studies, which is situated within the humanities and social sciences, leaves communication scholars well poised to contribute to ongoing metatheoretical and metamethodological conversations regarding queer theory and intersubjective research, particularly in relation to cultures and identities. To contribute to this scholarly conversation, the author utilizes the deconstructionist lens of queer theory to contextualize communication, employs personal …

Toward A Dialogic Interpretation Of Psychological Belief In Spirits Among Gamei Of Ghana, Ebenezer Narh Yebuah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines central aspects of the ancestral tradition of the Gamei of Ghana which have not previously been investigated systematically from a psychological perspective. It is argued that Carl Gustav Jung and his intellectual descendants are the only Western psychological thinkers who have come close to formulating a conceptual framework that is helpful in this context, because Africa featured prominently in Jung's formulations of his influential psychological theories during his archetypal journey to Africa. Accordingly, core features of Jungian theory are examined in order to determine the extent to which a psychological investigation of Gamei cosmological perspectives, particularly perspectives …

The Child Protection Juvenile Court Process From A Communication Perspective: A Glimpse Behind The Veil Of Objectivity Reveals That Race Matters, Debra Ann Mixon Mitchell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Reports indicate that in the United States disproportionate numbers of African American children are represented in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Studies also indicate disparities in the provision of services to African American young people. Some researchers claim that poverty is the cause. Others blame the high incidence of single-parent families. Others contend that individuals' biases and our racist systems are to blame. While it is almost certain that each of the aforementioned causes and many other factors contribute to disparate outcomes and the overrepresentation of African Americans in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems, this project …

Representational Subversions And The Limits Of Postcoloniality: Shahzia Sikander's Strategic Contemporaneity, Linda Eilene Sanchez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Transnational artist Shahzia Sikander challenges the limitations of Edward Said's postcolonial emphasis on secular humanism by deploying the heterogeneous traditions of South Asian miniature painting while strategically drawing on tradition to critique contemporaneity. Through a palimpsest process of composition, Sikander reincorporates the unknown and silenced histories implicit in the tradition of miniature painting to create social imaginaries with motifs that draw on the diverse traditions of South Asian religions and aesthetics to create a subversive politics of remembering wherein alternative images of cosmopolitanism emerge. Through a sustained analysis, this dissertation demonstrates how these alternative traditions interrogate and critique the limitations …

Role Expectations And State Socialization: Germany's Rediscovery Of The Use Of Force 1990–1995, Thorsten Spehn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation engages the question of why German political elites accepted the use of force during the 1990s and started to commit the country's armed forces to multilateral peacekeeping missions. Previous governments of the Federal Republic had opposed foreign deployment of the military and Germany was characterized by a unique strategic culture in which the efficacy of military force was widely regarded as negative. The rediscovery of the use of force constituted a significant reorientation of German security policy with potentially profound implications for international relations.

I use social role theory to explain Germany's security policy reorientation. I argue that …

Water And The Mountains: Maya Water Mangement At Caracol, Belize, James Crandall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Water management techniques in the Southern Maya Lowlands are both regionally diverse and site specific. This thesis examines the water management strategies of the Classic Period Maya at the site of Caracol, Belize. While it is likely that elites at Caracol controlled the redistribution of resources, i.e. craft and agricultural products, it is probable that the production of agricultural resources and the maintenance of water resource acquisition took place on a more local level. In order to test this hypothesis, a sample of five reservoirs were examined through original research -- and situated in conjunction with past settlement studies -- …

No Child Left Behind?: The Relationship Between Education Policy And Student Success, Brittany Resmann

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated how education policy influences student success, and if there are linkages between K-12 education policy and higher education. Historically, education has primarily been a function of state and local governments. The role of the federal government drastically changed with the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001. This thesis focused on the influence of No Child Behind on several indicators of student success in K-12 and postsecondary education. All fifty states were examined in this study. This approach is rather unusual since it is typical to focus on one state or a small group …

Ekphrastic Medieval Visions: A New Discussion In Ekphrasis And Interarts Theory, Claire Barbetti

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

"Ekphrastic Medieval Visions: A New Discussion in Ekphrasis and Interarts Theory" argues that the dream-vision and mystical-vision texts of the high and late Middle Ages are ekphrastic works. With their inclusion within the purview of criticism and theories of ekphrasis, new formal qualities of the ekphrastic mode come to the surface such as its dynamism and polytemporality, its reliance on the processes of memory, and diffuseness of narrative consciousness, rather than Murray Krieger's "still moment" model that presupposes a sovereign subjectivity, an attempt to have the sign signify itself, or the paragone model espoused by W. J. T. Mitchell and …

Mental Health Care At The Margins: A Critical Ethnography Of Psychological Practice In An Inner City Mental Health Setting, Katy Sampson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Within the past several decades, the field of psychology has attempted to improve psychological services for a greater diversity of people. However, despite these attempts, research continues to document a "gap" when it comes to mental health care services for marginalized populations. Various studies have addressed the issue of this "gap" in mental health care; however, most adhere to positivist assumptions regarding sociocultural aspects of experience, understanding culture and identity as immutable qualities existing within individuals, rather than as an interpersonal phenomenon that is negotiated between and among people and institutions. As a result of these assumptions, many past studies …

From 'Black-Eyed Girls' To The Mmu (Mujeres Methotistas Unidas): Race, Religion And Gender In The U.S.-Mexico Borderlands, Adriana Pilar Nieto

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study places the stories of Mexican American Methodist women in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands within the context of the organizational history of the United Methodist Women of the Rio Grande Conference of the United Methodist Church: Mujeres Metodistas Unidas, or the MMU. It focuses on the experiences and memories of women who came into contact with the ideals imported by Anglo Methodist missionaries to the U.S. southwest immediately following the conquest of the northern half of Mexico in 1848.

In order to understand the experiences of Mexican American women in relation to the history of Methodism in the southwest, this …

Looking Over That Country Again : The Country And The City In Southern Modernism And Postmodernism, Benjamin S. Child

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Je Parle Avec La Bouche Des Morts : Tracing Neruda In The Poetry Of Malek Haddad, Jacob Newberry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Moshing And Thrashing And Headbanging (Oh My!) : Gender, Genre, And Authenticity In The Extreme Metal Subculture, Ben Hutcherson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Role And Function Of Literacy In Two Homeschooling Families, Kevin Rua

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Homeschooling is an increasingly popular practice, and this raises questions about how it is carried out. One important area for investigation is the literacy practices of homeschooling. Literacy is often seen as a necessary component of formal schooling. This project investigated the role and function of literacy in two homeschooling families. Specifically the research was designed to answer the following questions:

*How is homeschooling both similar to and different from formal schooling?

*What are the literacy practices of homeschooling? What tools are used in these practices? What knowledge and skills are used in these practices? What are the goals of …

Examining The General Quality Of Early Childhood Education And Structural Variables In Support Of Early Childhood Inclusion In Beijing, China, Bi Ying Hu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to (a) explore the global quality of early childhood programs within the Chinese socio-cultural context, and (b) examine the effects of teachers' years of experience, degree, major, and class size on teachers' perceptions of developmentally appropriate practices, inclusion, and training needs in order to provide services for children with disabilities in regular classrooms. The researcher completed observations in 40 early childhood classrooms using the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale- Revised (ECERS-R). Results from classroom observations revealed that the global quality of the early childhood learning environment was between minimum and good. Areas that …

A Reason For Lynching : The Media's Portrayal 1880-1940, Carroll Gunn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Pubs, Punters, And Pints: Anthropological Reflections On Pub Life In Ireland, Jason Cucchiara

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ireland is a country with a rich and unique cultural heritage. It is difficult to imagine that certain facets of Irish culture (e.g. Saint Patrick's Day, the Blarney Stone, or the Ring of Kerry) can ever be taken for granted since they are so widely recognized internationally. One common feature of Irish life that possibly warrants more scholarly attention is the public house or pub. Much has been written about pubs as quaint institutions in popular literature and fiction. Curiously, they remain largely overlooked as vital aspects of Irish culture by anthropologists and others in the social sciences. In many …

Until The Meat Falls Off The Bone, Holly Kapherr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Though this work started as a formal academic cultural study, it stretched and squirmed and became not only an examination of the cultures themselves, but how I came to fit within those cultures. By combining my experiences travelling as a child and young adult as well as learning the craft of professional cooking, the essays in this work are highly centered around food and what food means both to me and to cultures throughout the world. The structure and tone of these essays varies greatly from one to the other, all at once casual, almost conversational in one, and pedantic …

Exploring The Relationship Between Marital Expectations And Marital Satisfaction Between Married African Immigrant Couples And U, Evadne Ngazimbi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Marriage is still considered a universal institution in many countries worldwide. Marriage provides benefits for wives, husbands, children, families, and communities. Why Marriage Matters (Wilcox et al., 2005), outlined the benefits of marriage, including improved physical and mental health, biological and social benefits for husbands, wives, children and families in America. In sub-Saharan Africa benefits emanating from marriage included increased survival rates for young children (Omariba & Boyle, 2007); reduced maternal morbidity and mortality rates for women due to reduced risks from self-inflicted abortions (Garenne, Tollman, Kahn, Collins, & Ngwenya, 2001); and improved economic management in homes due to exchanging …

Man Up Or Punk Out: The Role Of Masculinity In Prison Rape, Melanie Carlson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Using the dataset, "Ethno-Methodological Study of the Subculture of Prison Inmate Sexuality in the United States, 2004-2005," this study investigated the relationship between masculinities and prison rape. These data was collected in 23 men's correctional institutions in 10 states. Between April 2004 and September 2005, 409 males were interviewed (Fleisher & Krienert, 2006). Findings showed that masculinity plays a complex and crucial role in the phenomenon of prison rape. Recommendations were made for inmate-oriented education and training which should include a discussion of masculinity as a possible preventative measure.

High School Boys' Basketball And The Social Structure Of Suburban, Rural, And Urban High School Communities : A Comparative Case Study., Jason K. Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the relationship between high school boys' basketball and the social structure of a suburban, rural, and urban high school in the lower Midwest. These schools surround a metropolitan area of approximately one million people. The researcher used interviews, observations, and mining of documents to collect data. The study answered four research questions. The first question addressed the social structure of the three schools. Each school contained a group associated with sport participation called "jock" or "athlete." The second research question examined how boys' basketball participation affected social group membership and the associated positive and negative aspects. At …

Leadership In The Niger Delta Region Of Nigeria: A Study Of The Perceptions Of Its Impact On The Acquired Leadership Skills Of Expatriate Nigerian Postgraduates., Gerald Anietie Ignatius Akata

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The primary trouble befalling Nigeria and its Niger Delta has been described as a failure of leadership. At various periods during the late 20^th and early 21^st centuries, Nigeria endured a bloody civil war and years of repressive military rule. Violence in the Niger Delta region, widespread brain drain, and frequent strikes that disrupted academic calendars at universities had serious ramifications for the region's educational system.

This study explores former students' perceptions of perceived leadership qualities seen in educational leaders at universities in the Niger Delta and how those qualities impact the acquired leadership skills of expatriate Nigerian …

Are U.S. And French Cultural Differences Reflected In Advertising Appeals?, Ciprian S. Begu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Using 2 of Hofstede's cultural dimensions (power distance and uncertainty avoidance) associated by the research of Albers-Millers and Gelb with some of Pollay's value appeals used in advertising, this study successfully replicated 3 of 8 dependant relationships when analyzing the content of print magazines in U.S. and France. Going beyond the scope of a highly educated audience in which Hofstede's cultural dimensions were developed and retested, we indirectly found that these 2 dimensions of culture are partially salient in non-business, less elitist environments in the form of value appeals such as "dear", "untamed", "magic", and "youth" reinforcing the idea that …

Academic Libraries As Feminine And Feminist Models Of Organization., Marie F. Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Because academic libraries are primarily staffed by women and are relatively autonomous entities in colleges and universities, they offer a unique model of workplace gendering and feminism. This qualitative, ethnographic study examined 3 small college libraries in 3 regions of the United States and explored issues of bureaucracy and gendering in these libraries. Feminist challenges to bureaucracy emerged in the areas of hierarchy, division of labor, competition and collaboration, decision-making, and communication. Feminine practice in the libraries reflected private sphere attitudes toward work (values of community, emotionality, and caring) and an affirmation of feminine roles in the workplace. The organizational …

Chemical Signals As A Means Of Determining Health Status And Selecting Mates In Humans., Amy M. Cavanaugh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objective of my dissertation research was to determine the role of chemical signals in conveying information regarding an individual's health status and suitability as a mate in humans and to examine the role that commensal microflora play in this system. Chemical signals in humans have been theorized to play a role in disassortative mating relative to the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and in selection of mates based on fluctuating asymmetry. In addition, chemical signals have been shown to communicate health status in rodents. Commensal microflora are a necessary component of such chemical signaling systems since it is the microflora …

Organizational Culture, Workplace Incivility, And Turnover : The Impact Of Human Resources Practices., Dana Cosby Simmons 1969-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the relationship between two communication-related dimensions of organizational culture, workplace incivility, and turnover. In particular, it investigates the impact that four human resources practices have on the relationship between incivility and turnover. These practices are (a) training, (b) formal policies, (c) grievance procedures, and (d) vertical hierarchy. Employing data from the National Organizations Survey (2002), the study provides a conceptual model suggesting that "soft" measures such as organizational culture and human resources practices impact the bottom line of an organization. The dissertation is divided into five chapters. Chapter One provides an introduction to the research problem and …