Digital Commons Network^™

Eulalee Anderson: Pioneer In International Student Programs At Eastern Illinois University, Bria Phillips

Masters Theses

Eulalee Anderson, a higher education scholar and leader in the office of international students and scholars spent her days tending to the development and support of international students attending college in the United States, specifically at Eastern Illinois University. Born in Port Alegre, Brazil in 1919, she earned a bachelor's degree at the University of Oklahoma and three masters degrees at Eastern Illinois University. The majority of her professional career was at Eastern Illinois University where she first worked in Booth Library at the circulation desk and later joined what was then called the International Programs office as the international …

Perceptions Of Body Image: A Study Of College Women In Sororities And Not In Sororities, Amy L. Piekarski

Masters Theses

College students, especially women, experience several extreme changes during their undergraduate years. These changes occur in areas of physical development, mental capacity, personality expression, and interpersonal relationship development. With these women leaving home and trying to find their place and fit in at their new institution, they seek out various groups of people and organizations to join. One group or organization that many college women engage in is sorority membership. To date, minimal research has been conducted to investigate whether membership in a sorority has a negative or positive effect on their self images. The purpose of the present study …

Evaluation Of College Counseling Websites Regarding Suicide Prevention/Depression Referral Services, Heather L. Zike

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to (1) determine if the 12 public colleges and universities within the state of Illinois contained information on their counseling websites in regards to topics of depression and suicide (2) examine if the websites contained self-evaluations for depression (3) determine if the website contains external links that are highly regarded informative links for depression and suicide among college students, (4) information for faculty/ staff to make referrals, and (5) information for family and loved ones to make referrals.

Communication In Intercultural Marriages: Managing Cultural Differences And Conflict For Marital Satisfaction, Tiffany G. Renalds

Masters Theses

This qualitative study investigated the phenomenon of intercultural marriages, particularly the unique internal and external elements that impact communication and conflict within intercultural marriages of varying lengths and the intercultural communication competencies utilized by spouses in intercultural marriages. The research focused on three questions: (1) Which internal and external factors impact the effectiveness of communication between spouses in intercultural marriages the most? (2) Which communication competencies do spouses in intercultural marriages develop in order to address cross-cultural differences? (3) How do spouses in intercultural marriages experience and deal with conflict within their intercultural marriages? Data was obtained employing semi-structured interviews. …

Groping For Intimacy: Modern Man's "Pressure" And The Onanistic Inversion Of Christianity, Marriage, And The Nuclear Family In Three American Novels, Nicholas Scott Olson

Masters Theses

Several critics have suggested that modernity's most fundamental theme is autonomy. Yet, few critics have considered Søren Kierkegaard's thought in relation to autonomous notions of freedom, and even fewer literary critics have considered Kierkegaard's vast influence - particularly on twentieth-century American authors - through this thematic lens. Michelle Kosch has argued that Kierkegaard's notion of despair essentially involves the self's misunderstanding of the nature of his freedom, while Samuel Loncar has argued that Kierkegaard's thought in this regard can be traced back through the German Enlightenment to Immanuel Kant's notion of autonomy. Yet, while Kierkegaard offers a fine critique of …

Assessing Intercultural Experience: Differences In Biculturalism, Intercultural Sensitivity, And Cognitive Flexibility Among Latino Immigrants, Christine Christmas

Masters Theses

This study examined first generation immigrants, defined as those who were born in a Latin American country and moved to the U.S. after the age of 12, and second generation immigrants, defined as those who were born in the U.S. or moved here before the age of 12. Literature in the field of cross-cultural adaptation suggests that intercultural communication competence tends to be further developed as a result of intercultural adaptation. The intent of this research was to test this assertion. Data was collected by way of survey administration on a sample of 216 Latino immigrants representing both first and …

Cognitive Collision: Chinese Students' Experience Of Cognitive Dissonance Regarding Christianity In The United States, Ying Li

Masters Theses

This study explored if Chinese students experienced cognitive dissonance when they were exposed to Christianity at a large southeast Christian university in the United States, and what were their responses regarding the reduction, increase or change of the cognitive dissonance after they were exposed to Christianity in the United States. Utilizing a qualitative study, the researcher interviewed twelve undergraduate students who were studying at a large southeast Christian university in the United States with eight primary questions and five sub-questions. The ages of the interviewees in this study were from 18 to 22 years old. The results of the current …

The Doppelgänger Tale And The Masquerade Of Race: The Enduring Influence Of Dumas` Iron Mask And Twain`S Switched Heroes, Virginia Payne Dow

Masters Theses

Although separated by the Atlantic Ocean, nineteenth-century authors Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) and then Mark Twain (1835-1910) separately created narratives involving the doppelganger motif which both challenged the accepted social ideals and spawned a plethora of imitations. These tales of switched identities served to critique social stratification and racial discrimination.

Given the current influx of interest in the doppelganger paradigm within the media, and particularly in light of rising cultural studies involving race, class, and social stratification, the main novels of this study--Dumas' The Man in the Iron Mask and Georges, and Twain's Pudd'nhead Wilson--warrant ever-increasing interest due to their discourse …

"Who Will Remain Whole? Who?": The Pursuit Of Power And Place In "The Displaced Person", Katy L. Leedy

Masters Theses

In Flannery O ’Connor’s “The Displaced Person,” each character works to forcefully displace others from their positions in a way that can be likened to colonization. Farm owner Mrs. McIntyre thinks she can act as a colonizer, but instead she has merely a position of power. Because she believes in her authority, she works to defend it; since she has nothing to defend, her efforts are fruitless. With the death of Guizac, the question of power is resolved: she has none. Instead, she had the illusion of power since she had workers beneath her. With them gone, there is no …

De Anima, Dna: A Modified Stump/Aquinas Hylomorphic Model, The Soul And The Identity Of Human Persons, Resurrected, Matthew Grant Mcdaniel

Masters Theses

In contemporary metaphysics, there are two popular options for personal numerical identity (NID) over time: substance dualism and materialism. According to recent arguments by some Christian philosophers, both options conflict with the Christian doctrine of the bodily resurrection. Substance dualism trivializes the physical body for NID (when it has some kind of role in the bodily resurrection), and also is seen to conflict with modern neuroscience. But NID and mind cannot be continued solely by the material body, as versions of the Replacement Argument (from Richard Swinburne and Alvin Plantinga) show. There are good aspects to both options, especially with …

Blueprints Of Friendship: The Influence Of Personality On Perceived Intimacy And Comfort Level Of Disclosure In Friendship, Elizabeth Ann Briggs

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to establish whether a connection exists between Myers-Briggs personality type and friendship. Participants completed the Jung Typology Test to identify personality type as well as a survey regarding their friendship. Social penetration theory and Myers-Briggs personality theory were used as a framework for this study. All participants were from a private east coast university with ages ranging from 18-28 years. Completed surveys resulted in 32 pairs of self-identified close friends. The author analyzed the results to identify any patterns that emerged between personality and perceived intimacy and comfort level of self-disclosure within friendship. Results …

Man Thinking The World: Contemporary American Authors And The Nobel Prize In Literature, Christopher Ryan Knight

Masters Theses

After the Swedish Academy announced that Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio was the 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate, former permanent secretary Horace Engdahl sparked controversy with his comment that the "US is too isolated, too insular. They don't translate enough and don't really participate in the big dialogue of literature . . . That ignorance is restraining." This thesis evaluates the legitimacy of Engdahl's criticism by considering three American authors: John Updike, Edward Albee, and Charles Simic. Each author is evaluated as a contributor to international literary dialogue. The author, drawing from Walter Benjamin's "Theses on the Philosophy of History," …

The "Mother Tongue" In A World Of Sons: Language And Power In The Earthsea Cycle, Daniel Newell

Masters Theses

Between the years 1968 and 1972, professed feminist Ursula Le Guin penned the first three novels of The Earthsea Cycle, a fantasy series, which, at the time, appeared to be a trilogy. However, in 1990 Le Guin added a fourth book, Tehanu, to The Cycle, claiming that it was a necessary "revisioning" of the male-dominated world of Earthsea. While the original three Earthsea novels do not subvert the patriarchal society of Le Guin's fictitious world, they do reflect her feminist values. Contrary to the charges by detractors that her novels betray feminist dicta, these first three books consistently demonstrate the …

"Alfred Hitchcock Presents; `Propaganda'": A Rhetorical Study Of Alfred Hitchcock's World War Ii Propaganda Films, Jennifer Renee Brown

Masters Theses

Alfred Hitchcock is a well known filmmaker whose work has been often studied by English, communication, and film scholars. However, those examining Hitchcock seem to have pet favorites of films they deem worthy of study. This thesis examines the lesser-known propaganda films of Alfred Hitchcock made for the British Ministry of Information in 1944. Bon Voyage and Aventure Malgache each tell a story of intrigue and adventure in French territory during the German occupation and Vichy government of World War II. However, after the MOI waited almost the entire war to have propaganda made by Alfred Hitchcock, the films were …

Power Play In The African-American Home: Female Authority And Male Neglect In The Private Spheres Of Ernest Gaines's A Lesson Before Dying, Of Love And Dust, And In My Father's House, Lauren Joy Roth

Masters Theses

Ernest J. Gaines's spaces serve as sites for power negotiation, in particular within his ethnic community. Drawing from the memories of his life in the South, Gaines writes layers of significance into the spaces of the fictitious towns he creates in his novels. Rather than reducing the environment to mere background material, Gaines's private and public spaces both communicate to and inform his audience of power struggles. In his novels, A Lesson Before Dying, Of Love and Dust, and In My Father's House, the locales, the very spaces themselves, inform. The boundary markers of the private and public world both …

Bridging The Gap: Intercultural Friendship Between Chinese And Americans, Zhuo Feng Li

Masters Theses

This research aims to explore Chinese and American students' intercultural friendship experiences on a U.S. campus. Twenty-five Chinese international students and twenty-five U.S. nationals participated in the study. Q-methodology was adopted in this research. Three of Hosftede's cultural dimensions (low/high power distance, individualism/collective, and masculinity/femininity) and Hall's concept of low/high context culture were used as a theoretical framework for this study. First, qualities that Chinese and Americans consider important in their friendships in each of their own culture were identified. Then this study found out that long-established expectations and understanding of friendship of both Chinese and Americans were challenged while …

A World With Two Moons: An Analysis Of Reader Identification, Paul Joseph Watson

Masters Theses

Utilizing Kenneth Burke's theory of Identitification, this study seeks to understand if readers of a literary work of fiction were or were not able to identify with it according to the way Burke describes identification. The study uses Paul J. Watson's Protect: A World's Fight Against Evil as the literary work upon which qualitative surveys were conducted. Five general respondents and two expert readers took the survey, which asked questions regarding the novel. Through analysis and the comparing and contrasting of these respondents' answers, conclusions were reached in regards to whether or not identification occurred between the readers and the …

Hues, Tresses, And Dresses: Examining The Relation Of Body Image, Hair, And Clothes To Female Identity In Their Eyes Were Watching God And I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Alisha Priolo Castaneda

Masters Theses

Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God and Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings convey powerful relations between body image, hair, and clothes. Because a proper understanding of the theory of womanism provides a basis for comprehending the African American female's relation to herself and the world around her, a working definition and description of the term and its general significance to African American critical theory is provided in chapter two. The third chapter focuses on the general topic of body image in relation to black female identity and includes a more specific analysis of the …

Breaking Down The Walls: Divorce And The Effects It Had On A Child's Communication In Relationships Outside Of The Family, Jennifer Maddox

Masters Theses

There is no question that divorce is prevalent in our society today. This paper discussed a study about the effects divorce has on an adolescent girl's communication with adults outside of her family. The hypothesis was that divorce negatively effects a child's communication with adults outside of their family. The two methodologies used to conduct this study were Narrative Analysis and Q-sort. The ten participants for the Narrative Analysis method were asked whether they thought their parents divorce effected their communication with adults outside of their family, and whether the effect was negative or positive. They were also asked to …

An Analysis Of The Impact Of Intellectual Property Rights On Chinese Students, Bing Yang

Masters Theses

This study examined foreign Chinese students' adaptation to American intellectual property rights (IPR) in the perspective of Cognitive Dissonance Theory (CDT). Previous studies focused on historical, legal and cultural difference between China and the U.S., while Chinese students' cognition remained to be explored. Ten Chinese students from both undergraduate and graduate programs with different lengths of staying in the U.S. were interviewed individually, and interview questions were created according to the three stages of CDT. Results showed that Chinese students had eliminated their cognitive dissonances in the U.S., and some demographic and cultural factors that influenced Chinese students' cognition regarding …

Who Maketh The Clouds His Chariot: The Comparative Method And The Mythopoetical Motif Of Cloud-Riding In Psalm 104 And The Epic Of Baal, Jordan Wesley Jones

Masters Theses

Alleging parallels between Scripture and other ancient Near Eastern texts has always been a matter of controversy. The controversy has resulted from criticism of the comparative method by those who accuse its users of being overly simplistic or reckless when applying their particular approaches to the texts. This recklessness has resulted in alleged connections that are now considered very loose, unjustified, and harmful to the context of Scripture. In order to avoid the dreaded "parallelomania" that has resulted from hasty conclusions in comparative studies, it is necessary to approach alleged comparative units in a more concrete fashion, synthesizing the best …

An Interdisciplinary Theoretical Interpretive Synthesis Examining The Barriers To Implementing Restorative Justice As The Standard Paradigm Of Adult Criminal Justice Within The Context Of The United States, Matthew J. Van Maastricht

Masters Theses

A systemic paradigm shift of any sort is complex and multifaceted. A systemic paradigm shift of justice is no different. The purpose of this study is to identify the barriers that exist in a systemic paradigm shift from retributive justice to restorative justice. The methodology for this study is an interpretive synthesis of literature on restorative justice and consists of primarily theoretical literature. The literature for this study came from a variety of disciplines (e.g. psychology, criminal justice, sociology, and social work) in order to obtain a holistic perspective. A tripartite analysis was conducted using three perspectives: criminal justice, social …

An Interdisciplinary Theoretical Interpretive Synthesis Examining The Barriers To Implementing Restorative Justice As The Standard Paradigm Of Adult Criminal Justice Within The Context Of The United States, Matthew J. Van Maastricht

Masters Theses

A systemic paradigm shift of any sort is complex and multifaceted. A systemic paradigm shift of justice is no different. The purpose of this study is to identify the barriers that exist in a systemic paradigm shift from retributive justice to restorative justice. The methodology for this study is an interpretive synthesis of literature on restorative justice and consists of primarily theoretical literature. The literature for this study came from a variety of disciplines (e.g. psychology, criminal justice, sociology, and social work) in order to obtain a holistic perspective. A tripartite analysis was conducted using three perspectives: criminal justice, social …

Spatial Rape: Globalization And The Tourist-Vagabond Relationship In Mark Z. Danielewski's House Of Leaves, Tracy Stephens

Masters Theses

At the center of Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves is the narrative of The Navidson Record, the story of Will Navidson’s struggle to understand and conquer the mystery of his labyrinthine house - a mystery that is profoundly connected to Navidson’s guilt over Delial, a dead Sudanese girl whose photo made Navidson famous. Navidson’s preoccupation with Delial shapes the house, lending it the characteristics of globalized space as it would have been experienced by Delial and others in her socioeconomic circumstances (whom Zygmunt Bauman has named vagabonds), in contrast to the experience of tourists such as Navidson. The …

It's Not Catharsis, It's Cognition: A New Approach To Emotion In Composition, Caronia (Nia) Klein

Masters Theses

Therapeutic writing, or writing as a method of emotional healing, seeks to facilitate psychological healing through self-discovery as a result of analyzing, interpreting, and making conclusions about challenging life experiences. Likewise, in composition theory, expressivist, feminist, and collaborative pedagogies advocate the empowerment of students through discovery and articulation of voice as a way to make meaning and develop as persons and students. Both approaches to writing foreground the use of personal experience as a way to process the external world through the emotional landscape of the writer, yet critics ofemotionally expressive writing decry its usefulness to composition pedagogy because of …

An Economic Model Of Literary Studies, Devin Charles Black

Masters Theses

While much scholarly discussion exists on the future of literary studies and its value to society at large, much of this discussion revolves around economic terminology, such as value, without discussing the issues and concerns of literary studies in a larger economic framework. In this project, I look at the advent ofliterary theory as the catalyst that transformed literary studies into a capitalist economic system. This project aims to look at the complexity of value systems operating within the discipline without championing one theory over another or, indeed, championing or arguing against theory itself. Instead, an economic model allows us …

Genre Awareness In The Writing Center, Ashok Bhusal

Masters Theses

This thesis explores how genre theory is represented in writing center scholarship and practice by analyzing tutor training textbooks and also doing a case study of the EIU Writing Center to examine how genre awareness is perceived by writing consultants. This study concludes that increased awareness of genre features should influence the practice of writing consultants and writing centers. Based on the two surveys from my case study, the EIU Writing Center consultants did not appear to have a strong understanding of genre theory since their practicum course (English 5500) and tutor training textbooks have not explicitly provided them with …

In The Cold, Quiet Dark, Chris Ludwig

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

War And The Sentimental Past: Memory And Emotion In The Aftermath Of The Franco-Prussian War, Chad R. Cussen

Masters Theses

This thesis argues that the Franco-Prussian War provoked strong emotional responses that were encoded in the memory of the war. The management of this emotional response represented an important aspect for the establishment of the Third Republic's legitimacy. By uniting French citizens through a public memory of the warby means of commemorations, funerals, and narratives among others-the Third Republic fostered an intense national consciousness that emerged as a feature of French identity. In contrast to Eugen Weber's influential work Peasants Into Frenchmen, which emphasizes the development of "Frenchness" through interactions in social institutions such as the military and the educational …

Separate But Equal?: The Experiences Of African American Female Graduate Students In A College Student Affairs Program, Leah Reeves

Masters Theses

Little research has been done exploring the experiences of African American women in graduate studies. Because of this, the purpose of the study was to examine the experiences of African American, female, graduate students in a College Student Affairs program. The participants were two African American, graduate students currently enrolled in a College Student Affairs program at a liberal arts, comprehensive institution in the Midwest. Data collection techniques included an in-depth interview in which participants responded to questions about their experiences in the program with regards to their interactions with classmates, professors, and other professionals in the field. The researcher …