Digital Commons Network^™

Teacher Perceptions Of Indigenous Representations In History: A Phenomenological Study, Joshua C. Tipton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study addresses teacher perceptions of indigenous peoples representation in United States history. This phenomenological study was conducted within a school district in East Tennessee. For the purpose of this study, teacher perceptions of indigenous representations in history were defined as teacher beliefs towards the inclusion and representation of indigenous peoples in United States history. To gather data, both one-on-one and focus group interviews were conducted from a purposeful sample of United States history teachers from the high schools in the school district. Through an analysis of data derived from interviews and qualitative documents the researcher was able to …

An Exploration Of Teacher, School And District Leaders' Perspectives Regarding The Integration Of Instructional Technology In An Alternative Middle School: A Descriptive Case Study, Lauren Marie Kohl

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The promise of using instructional technology to enhance student learning has been a dream and a goal for more than 30 years. During these past few decades, the reasoning has shifted from providing word processing, to supporting information access, to preparing students to become global citizens in our continually evolving technological world. While many educators are successful in these endeavors, there is still a disparity across the spectrum of consistent, intentional technology integration for learning. This varies not only from school district to school district, but between schools within districts, as well as from classroom to classroom. There has been …

Selfhood, Historical Consciousness, And The State In International Relations Theory, Edinson Oquendo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work seeks to examine the role of the state in international relations. While international relations treat states as institutions endowed with agency, they lack any means of explaining how the state can gain agency, autonomy, and rationality.

My dissertation seeks to reorient the theoretical assumptions of international relations in two ways. I develop a theory of the of the state that seeks to explain the mechanisms by which individuals are able to form collective social institutions and to endow them with authority and agency. I examine the relationship of the individuals to collective bodies such as states that can …

Beyond Isolation: The Mississippi Delta In A Global World, Stella D. Lindsey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the paradoxes and complexities of the Mississippi Delta through an international lens. The fundamental premise guiding the research is that goods, people, ideas, technology, and capital cross national borders; therefore, local transformations can only be fully understood within a global context. The study concentrates on the evolution of the reciprocal, complex relationship between the region and the international community, along with the local and global consequences of a series of transnational exchanges. With a primary focus on agribusinesses, the research challenges traditional visions of the Delta as an isolated and provincial region immune to modernization. Instead the …

The Creation Of Choctaw Central High School And Its Transition To A Bureau Of Indian Affairs Contract School: An Oral History, Fredrick L. Hickmon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The members of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians are the invisible heroes of Mississippi. Because of the limited attention placed on the Tribe in Mississippi high school social studies curriculum, and no course of study in any post-secondary institutions in the State, citizens who do not live in close proximity are oblivious to the Choctaws’ existence. Absent is any thought on Mississippi Choctaws deep, rich, background, as the original defenders of the State, or their feelings and contributions toward education. As such this work explored the history of the Mississippi Choctaw with emphasis on education using data collected from …

Race, Retreat, And Refuge: Black Voices, American Nature Writing, And Ecocritical Exile, Bryon Patrick Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While existing scholarship has begun to recognize the extensive environmental experience of African Americans during the nineteenth century, black-authored environmental writing from the era is conspicuously scant in studies and anthologies into the present, even in volumes devoted to ecocritically-inflected texts by authors of color. My dissertation argues that contemporary, racially-aligned divides and gaps in environmental discourse have roots in the 1840s and 50s, when the nature writing genre coalesced into its most enduring form in the works of Henry David Thoreau, literary artist turned cultural icon. This key era—during which black Americans were frequently subject to systematic deprivation of …

Phylogeny, Psychology, And The Vicissitudes Of Human Development: The Anxiety Of Atavism, Frank Pittenger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This cross-disciplinary dissertation provides a missing intellectual history of an ostensibly dead idea. Once widely held and no less elegant for its obsolescence, the principle of biogenetic recapitulation is best remembered by its defining mantra, “ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny.” Among psychologists and sociologists as well as embryologists, the notion that the development of any individual organism repeats in compressed, miniaturized form the entire history of its species enjoyed broad (if not uncontested) acceptance through the early twentieth century. The author reexamines the origins of this theory in the work of Charles Darwin and Ernst Haeckel, and traces its influence in psychology …

Virginia-Gene Rittenhouse: The History And Organization Of The New England Youth Ensemble, Valencia Collins Thevenin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study focuses on Virginia-Gene Rittenhouse and the history and organization of the New England Youth Ensemble (NEYE). Born in Lacombe, Canada in 1922, Virginia-Gene Rittenhouse was a violinist, pianist, composer, and notable music educator in the Seventh-day Adventist Church who established the New England Youth Ensemble in 1969. The ensemble has toured internationally since the early 1970s and it is the resident orchestra at Washington Adventist University in Takoma Park, Maryland. The youth orchestra has played numerous times under the baton of John Rutter and has performed frequently in Carnegie Hall under the auspices of MidAmerica Productions. The author …

Cost Of Care For Hospitalized Patients With Pulmonary Mycobacterial Diseases In The United States., Mary Beth Wells Allen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: Pulmonary mycobacterial diseases describe both tuberculosis (TB) and nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). Few data are available measuring the cost burden of mycobacterial diseases on the national level. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the cost burden and measure emerging trends in hospitalization of pulmonary TB and NTM in the US from 2001 through 2012. Methods: This study was a retrospective community based cost analysis of hospitalized patients with a principal diagnosis of pulmonary mycobacterial diseases from 2001 through 2012. Data for pulmonary TB and NTM were retrieved from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), US Department of …

An Exploratory Study Of Campus Ministries Affiliated With Churches Of Christ In Ghana, Frank Obeng Essien

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Churches of Christ in Ghana commemorated 50 years of the Restoration Movement in Ghana in 2012. As part of the historical development of this community in Ghana, the number of individuals who have accessed higher education through the various institutions of higher learning in the country have increased significantly. This development also led to the emergence of campus churches to meet the spiritual needs of members of this faith-tradition as they pursue academic interests on the various university campuses. This development notwithstanding, almost no literature exists which provides a record of the historical evolution of these campus churches and …

How The City Of Indianapolis Came To Have African American Policemen And Firemen 80 Years Before The Modern Civil Rights Movement., Leon E. Bates

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explores a series of events that occurred in the spring of 1876. The relationship between the Indianapolis city government, the Marion County Courts, the Indianapolis Police Department, and the African American community came together to usher in changes never before envisioned. The Indianapolis Police Department (IPD) was formed in 1855, then disbanded 12 months later in a political dispute. From 1857-to-1876, the IPD was all white. These changes took place as the Reconstruction era was coming to a close. The first Ku Klux Klan was at its apex, terrorizing black communities, and Jim Crow was coming into its …

Race, Rebellion, And Arab Muslim Slavery : The Zanj Rebellion In Iraq, 869 - 883 C.E., Nicholas C. Mcleod

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the ninth century, enslaved Africans from the east coast of Africa, called the Zanj, revolted for nearly fifteen years in southern Iraq against their Arab slave masters and challenged the social order of the Abbasid Empire. This thesis is a socio-historical investigation on the role that race played in starting the Zanj Rebellion of 869 C.E. It examines the Arab Islamic slave trade and the racial stratification experienced by blacks in the early centuries of Islamic history in conjunction with the Zanj Rebellion. The thesis applies a structural framework for analyzing race, to demonstrate the racialization process, prevalent racial …

Reel Racism, Real Consequences : A Multiple Case Analysis Of Savior Films As Racial Projects., Eric A. Jordan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes how four blockbuster movies released in the years 2000-2014 represent racial projects. Racial projects encompass anything that helps people understand race. Films are racial projects because of their racist portrayal of characters. Films can be used to train audiences to view race in various ways that may contribute to problematic colorblindness. Specifically, the “White Savior” and “Magical Negro” tropes are ways through which films tell the viewers what to expect from White characters and characters of color. Viewers walk away from these films having constructed a racialized schema about White and Black characters, which further supports the …

Angels With Leather Wings: An Ethnography Of The Christian Motorcyclists Association, Richard Vincent O'Connell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For two years I rode with a group of bikers. For those two years we rode together, ate together, and prayed together. The bikers with which I rode were members of the Christian Motorcyclists Association and they believe that they have a mission to evangelize the world of American bikers.

The resulting ethnography is a study of a little known, little understood and little studied segment of the American evangelical Christian movement. Recent academic study posits that Americans in larger numbers are experiencing religion, spirituality, and faith differentially than in the past, as reflected in gradually decreasing numbers of Americans …

René Girard, Sacrifice, And The Eucharist, Michael Joseph Darcy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation I examine the Sacrament of the Eucharist in light of the theory of sacrifice proposed by René Girard. Specifically, I consider the Eucharist within the context of the sacrificial nature of Christianity, a matter of some controversy as regards both the early thought of Girard and those who have taken up and developed his thought. In his early work Girard rejects the notion of a Christian sacrifice. In later works, the realization that Christian and archaic sacrifice are analogous realities that have a typological relation helps him come to accept the notion of a Christian sacrifice, but …

Music Education At The Troy Female Seminary: 1817-1904, Jennifer Elizabeth Peck Campbell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

When examining the historical origins of music education in the United States there exists a gap in the research concerning female music educators. There have been many calls to action by researchers with the aim of focusing research on the contribution of women to music education. This project sought to document details about musical studies and female music educators at one institution of higher learning. The Troy Female Seminary was founded by Emma Hart Willard in 1817 and exists today as an independent secondary school for females (renamed the Emma Willard School in 1895). Relevant books, journal articles, master’s theses, …

Decolonizing Revelation: A Spatial Reading Of The Blues, Rufus Burnett Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Decolonizing Revelation: A Spatial Reading of the Blues demonstrates that the cultural phenomenon of the blues is an indigenous way of knowing that offsets the hidden logic of racialized dominance within modern Christian understandings of revelation. In distinction from the Christian, Religious, and racialized understandings of the blues, this dissertation focuses on the space in which the blues emerges, the Delta Region of the United States. By attending to space, this dissertation shows how critical consideration of geography and region can reveal nuances that are often veiled behind racialized and theologized ways of understanding the people of the Delta Region. …

The Role Of Rhetoric: Ong’S Ramus Research As A Hermeneutic Opening For Mediated Communication, Melinda Farrington

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project examines Walter Ong’s scholarship and further situates Ong in the field of media ecology. Ong’s conceptions of mediated communication begin to take form in his early-career graduate research on Peter Ramus. While Ong’s scholarship on secondary orality, and orality and literacy generally has an optimistic tone, this project seeks to further understand how Ong frames his optimistic perspective on mediated communication by looking at his scholarship across his career.

Beginning with Ong’s dissertation project, Ramus, Method and the Decay of Dialogue and his related research we see thematic ideas that appear in his work throughout his career. Something …

The Effects Of A Loving-Kindness Meditation On Positive Emotions, Social Connectedness, And Problem Behaviors In Second And Third Grade Students., Doreen Collins-Mchugh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Concerns about K-12 students' mental health and social, emotional, and ethical development have prompted some schools to implement programs designed to promote student well-being and healthy social and emotional functioning. Most of these programs are distinguished as social and emotional learning (SEL) programs and/or character education programs. Although there is growing empirical support for the potential of school-based mindfulness interventions to positively influence students' well-being, the number of school-based mindfulness studies is limited, and the majority of the investigations have focused on students' cognitive rather than affective capacities. Loving-Kindness Meditation (LKM), a mindfulness- and compassion-based practice, is garnering recent attention …

At The Intersection Of Feminism And Fast Capitalism: A Study Of Women's Literacies During A Time Of Change, Melanie Gauss

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research in socio-historical studies of literacy have focused on the social and historical aspects of literacy. While these prior studies have illuminated how we think about the social and historical context surrounding literacy, we have not studied women's literacies in relation to the economy as much. In response, this study focuses particularly on women's literacies during a specific time period, that of the 1960s to the 1990s, which ushered in second wave feminism's fight for equality in the workplace and the change from traditional capitalism to "fast" or "new" capitalism. To develop this inquiry, and find out about women's literacies …

Elizabeth Tudor: Her Youth, Education, And The Development Of The Legend Of The Virgin Queen, Katrina Santi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Elizabeth Tudor, the Virgin Queen, has received extensive attention from historians, especially since the advent of gender studies in the last forty years or so. Historical studies, movies, and television shows present Queen Elizabeth I as a remarkable character with legendary skills as a ruler despite her gender and the era in which she ruled. None of these studies delve into Elizabeth's childhood in an attempt to address how her experiences as a child and her education allowed her to establish her power early on in her reign. By looking at her childhood and education, this study shows that her …

The Estimation Of Germ Line De Novo Mutation Rates Of Extended Sets Of Y-Str Haplotypes To Aid In The Differentiation Of Male Biological Relatives In Criminal Investigations, Nicole Masker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An important forensic application for Y-chromosome short tandem repeats (Y-STRs) is the identification of male DNA. Since the Y-chromosome is non-recombining and most Y-STRs have slippage mutation rates on the order of 1x10-3 or lower, Y-STR commercial multiplex systems do not yet allow personal individualization. This is problematic in criminal investigations where the persons of interest include males of the same paternal line. In order to obtain discrimination among paternal male relatives, it would be necessary to use a larger number of Y-STRs or a selection of Y-loci with higher slippage mutations with the hope of encountering a germline meiotic …

Assessing The Physical Security Of Idfs With Psatool: A Case Study, Sulabh Bista

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

PSATool is a checklist-based, web-based application for assessing the physical security of Intermediate Distribution Frameworks. IDFs, or wiring closets, are an integral if often neglected component of information security. Earlier work by Timbs (2013) identified 52 IDF-related security requirements based on federal and international standards for physical security. PSATool refines Timbs’ prototype application for IDF assessment, extending it with support for mobile-device-based data entry.

PSATool was used to assess 25 IDFs at a regional university, a college and a manufacturing corporation, with an average of 9 minutes per assessment. Network managers and assessors involved in the assessments characterized PSATool as …

Metabolomics Of Transformed Mda-Mb-231 Cell Lines Expressing Different Levels Of Human Arylamine N-Acetyltransferase 1 (Nat1)., Samantha Marie Carlisle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Human arylamine N-acetyltransferase 1 (NAT1) is a phase II xenobiotic metabolizing enzyme that is found in almost all tissues of the body. Expression of NAT1 is commonly elevated in several cancers including breast cancer. However, the exact mechanism by which NAT1 expression affects cancer risk and progression remains unclear. Three MDA-MB-231 breast adenocarcinoma cell lines that stably express wild-type, increased, and decreased levels of human NAT1 have been constructed and characterized for NAT1 mRNA, NAT1 acetylation activity, cell doubling rates, and endogenous acetyl-CoA levels. Differences in polar metabolic profile between these three cell lines were investigated using a comprehensive GC×GC−TOF …

Under The Shadow Of The Awful Gallows-Tree: The Murder Trials Of Thomas Dula And Ann Melton As A Case Study In Gender And Power In Reconstruction Era Western North Carolina, Heather L. Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This is a micro-history that explores everyday life on a small scale by tracing the common, if elusive lives of Thomas Dula, Ann Melton, and Laura Foster, and the communities they lived in, to explore the culture in which they lived—and died. Reactions to the murder unleashed an outpouring of discourse embedded in broader, national debates concerning gender roles. The dominant cultural theme that emerged from the murder trials as reflected in middle-class newspapers maintained that true women did not kill and real men acted as gentlemen and defenders of women’s honor. The project mines a wealth of primary source …

Dewey Meets Bluegrass: Progressive Educational Theory In The Establishment Of Traditional Music Programs In Higher Education, John C. Goad

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study focuses on connections between the Progressive era educational theories of John Dewey and present-day bluegrass and traditional music programs in higher education in order to explore a pedagogical basis for such programs. The research specifically examines Dewey’s beliefs in experiential learning, individualization, and vocational education and their current applications in traditional music education. The study included two major components: historical research into Dewey’s writings and primary and secondary sources regarding traditional music education in the United States, and interviews of faculty members in college and university bluegrass and traditional music programs. The thesis of this study is that …

Increasing The Number Of African American Students In Undergraduate Level Classes Of Chinese: A Call To Action, Huiwen Li

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Chinese language is the only ideographic language remaining in the world (Osaka, 1976). It conveys affluent Chinese culture and has great influences on the East Asian countries (Miyake, 2013). In the economic globalization of the world, China's economy and international influence are expanding. For these reasons and many more the Chinese language is widely accepted as one of the major world languages. It makes sense then Chinese language classes are experiencing popularity and growth with United States undergraduates. Despite this growth, however, the enrollment of African American students is constantly low in college Chinese language classrooms (Li, Wen, & Xie, …

Sin And The Story Of Salvation: The Theology Of Atonement In Light Of Biblical Narrative Theology, Mark Ortwein

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Contemporary atonement theology offers three general conceptions of the cross: objective, subjective, and dramatic, which corresponds to Gustaf Aulén's classic tripartite typology. Although these different views are important since they contribute to a rich soteriology, when addressing the topic of atonement, or reconciliation proper, the objective type, promoted in satisfaction and penal substitution theories, are by comparison more compatible with Scripture when considering its larger narrative structure. This compatibility is attributable to the seriousness with which they construe the problem of sin that alienates humanity from God and places them in a predicament from which they are unable to extricate …

Please Don't Forget About Me: African American Women, Mississippi, And The History Of Crime And Punishment In Parchman Prison, 1890-1980, Telisha Dionne Bailey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite the vast amount of research covering incarcerated men in the southern prison system from the beginning of the nineteenth century to present, the incarceration of women has gone almost unexamined. As the forgotten offender, historians, criminologist, and others interested in Mississippi carceral studies have failed to include a historical study that focuses on the incarceration of African American women in Mississippi. To date, there are two major historical works that explore Mississippi penology and its notorious Parchman Penitentiary. David Oshinsky’s, Worse Than Slavery and William Banks Taylor’s, Down on Parchman Farm, are the two pivotal historical works that examine …

An Historical Study Of The Contributions Of Jane Frazee To Music Education In The United States, Erica Kupinski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract: this study documents Jane Frazee's career as a teacher, an administrator, and an author. The aim is to survey her contributions to music education and Orff Schulwerk in the United States from 1960 to 2015. The methodology includes email correspondences with Frazee, as well as interviews and email correspondences with her former students and colleagues. Relevant books, journal articles, master's theses, and dissertations were also reviewed. Jane Frazee is an American Orff teacher, author, and a pioneer member and past-president of the American Orff Schulwerk Association (AOSA). She has taught music to both children and adults using the Orff …