Digital Commons Network^™

Migrating Birds, Dwelling Friends: On The Radical Possibilities Of Friendship, Soha Mohsen

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I would like to explore the notion of friendship in contemporary Egypt, as a contingent relationship born and maintained among various conditions of political, economic and urban precarity and uncertainty. Particularly, I'm interested in looking at the affective and creative modes of attachment, relating and belonging that people constantly invent and experiment with, when life is too messy for categories to hold. By following, tracing and accompanying friends and networks of friendship emerging in and across the biggest two cities of Egypt; Cairo and Alexandria, my goal is to co-construct an ethnography about the contemporary meanings, forms …

Fair Chase: A Cinematic Essay On Hunting In The Northeast U.S., Rahul Chadha

Theses and Dissertations

FAIR CHASE is an experimental ethnographic film examining hunting in the Northeast United States. It documents various aspects of hunting—the ritualistic preparation that precedes the hunt, the actual hunt itself, and the post-kill butchering of animals—using an observational style influenced by the direct cinema movement.

The Market, Claudia Zamora Valencia

Theses and Dissertations

The Market is a short science fiction essay film that explores ideas and values attached to the “local food” movement, and how they manifest themselves in the act of consumption at a farmers’ market in a gentrified neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York.

The Pond & The Sauna, Kaija Siirala

Theses and Dissertations

Combining interviews, observational footage, animation, archival images, video and film, The Pond & the Sauna examines the construction of home and family through an intergenerational collection of memories. Drawing on oral history traditions, the project traces the foundational threads that run through the lives of an extended family from past into the present. How do the values we learned as children manifest in our lives now? How do we negotiate our place within a wider social context? How are we moving through the cycles of life and what do home and family mean to us now?

More Than Just A Job: A Social Enterprise's Response To Homelessness, Molly Cook

Theses and Dissertations

For the first time since 2010, the number of individuals experiencing homelessness increased in the United States in 2017 (HUD 2017). A lack of affiliations with family and friends has been suggested as a cause of homelessness (Burt 1992; Jencks 1995; Lippert and Lee 2015). This study employs affiliation theory, thematic coding, and 21st century coding methods to examine social enterprise employment as a solution to ending homelessness and increasing the number and types of affiliations individuals gain while working at a social enterprise. Seven interviews were conducted at one case study social enterprise with the goal of employing the …

Do Osteon Morphotypes Identified In The Mid-Diaphysis Of Human Femurs Indicate The Same Torsional Load History As Chimpanzees?, Bailey A G Colohan

Theses and Dissertations

Skedros’s (2009) osteon morphotype scoring (MTS) scheme is employed to identify if humans have the same torsional load-bearing history as chimpanzees at the femoral mid-diaphysis. Humans show to have no significant difference between quadrants of this area’s MTS, congruent with what is expected in a torsional load-bearing area of bone.

Still Acting Up? Voices From Actup's Oral History Project On The Current State Of The Lgbtq Community, Michael D. Mahana

Theses and Dissertations

Examination of the ACTUP Oral History Project using assimilation and activist identity theories reveals activists’ questionable presumptions about LGBTQ marriage, conflations of LGBTQ and activist identities, and nostalgia. Findings suggest a transformation from counterculture to assimilated subculture via segmented assimilation in which advantaged cohorts assimilate while others do not.

American Kathaks: Embodying Memory And Tradition In New Contexts, Anisha Muni

Theses and Dissertations

Kathak, a classical Indian dance, is practiced in the US by hundreds of practitioners. Through ethnographic research, this study asks how nostalgia, authenticity, tradition, and gender meet in the collective Kathak memory, examining what the study and performance of the dance symbolizes within American contexts.

The Economics Of Skin Tone In Nineteenth-Century Maryland, Yuree Kim

Theses and Dissertations

I analyze the effect of subtle differences in skin complexion on heights of free blacks in Maryland during the nineteenth century. I propose that lighter-skinned blacks were taller (indicating better nutrition) than their darker counterparts. I find the hypothesis holds - 15.9% taller for males and 16.5% taller for females.

The Things They Do Here: Work And Greek Orthodox Death In New York City, Paul Melas

Theses and Dissertations

Based on six months of ethnographic research at a Greek catering hall in Brooklyn, this paper explores how death mediates and negotiates the relationship between the catering hall (and those who are employed by it), and the Greek patrons who come to mourn and celebrate their dead.

A New Estimate For Neanderthal Energy Expenditure, Stephen J. Venner

Theses and Dissertations

This study presents a new estimate for Neanderthal total energy expenditure through the use of a constrained energy model. The new estimates for Neanderthal are considered within the context of some recent analyses investigating Neanderthal life history traits, genetics, and the archaeological record.

Climate Change And Threatened Heritage: Archaeology's Burden, Barry R. Gordon

Theses and Dissertations

Climate change and archaeology are currently intertwined, as more and more archaeologists around the world must deal with the effects it causes on the sites they work on. Threatened cultural resource sites are being swept away at alarming rates, and excavation projects are becoming more and more like salvage digs.

An Investigation Of The Phylogenetic Affinities Of Sivaladapidae Within Adapoidea, Kathleen Rust

Theses and Dissertations

This study presents a phylogenetic analysis incorporating 82 dental characters to clarify the evolutionary relationships of Sivaladapidae within the broader context of Adapoidea. Results suggest that sivaladapids share a close evolutionary relationship with European adapoids.

An Assessment Of The American Civil War (1861-1865) Period Archaeological Deposits At The Buchanan House Site In Bells Bend, Nashville, Tennessee, Kathryn F. Phillips

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the historic and architectural significance of the Buchanan House in Bells Bend, Nashville, Tennessee, in hopes that it will be protected and conserved. Artifacts from the University of Tennessee surveys conducted by David Anderson and Derek Anderson in 2009 and 2010 were used to establish whether or not there were any intact American Civil War period deposits. Spatial analysis was used to identify locations of activity areas. Historic documents were used to establish the occupants of the Buchanan House. This thesis concluded that while there were no definitive Civil War period deposits, the Buchanan House still provides …

Spatial Distribution Of Artifacts And Site Formation At The Lower Town Of Mycenae, Ryan Patrick Shears

Theses and Dissertations

The “Lower Town” archaeological site in Mycenae, Argolis, Greece has been excavated since 2007 and multiple periods of occupation and abandonment are represented in the stratigraphy uncovered. Sedimentary deposits were grouped into two general categories during excavation and these categories shaped fieldwork decisions: yellow-orange sediment with denser artifact concentrations representing potential occupation and red sediment with sparser artifacts representing abandonment. The distributions of point locations of artifacts within these bodies of sediment are analyzed statistically for spatial homogeneity using Ripley’s K in a GIS environment to test these site formation assumptions. Statistically significant spatial clustering in artifacts is assumed for …

The Positive Developments And Applications Of Geospatial Technologies In Archaeology On Fort Benning, Georgia, Jane Mader

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the advantages of using geospatial technologies in the field of archaeology. The purpose of this study, conducted on Site 9CE16 on Fort Benning, Georgia, was to examine the ways in which Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can be used to more accurately depict artifacts and features present on archaeological sites. With the research I gathered, I constructed an updated site map which can be viewed in Figures 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3. The map produced includes more features than were initially mapped at Site 9CE16 and help paint a clearer picture of the structures which existed at the original …

International Migration In Santa María Huatulco, Oaxaca [Migración Internacional En Santa María Huatulco, Oaxaca], Yasmin Angelie Cordero

Theses and Dissertations

Migration into rural areas has been of increasing interest in the last decades of research. Mexico has implemented development initiatives to reduce emigration and strengthen locally depressed communities resulting in immigration to the target areas. Santa María Huatulco is one of the areas of focus where the Mexican government created tourism development projects subsequently attracting internationals to migrate. This study focuses on international migrants who have chosen to relocate to the area of Huatulco, currently under development by the Mexican government. This was one of Mexico’s poorer regions and has seen the slowest amount of growth since the development projects …

Knowledge And Attitudes Toward Persons With Schizophrenia Among Hispanic University Students Enrolled In Mental Health And Non-Mental Health Disciplines, Manisha Sharma

Theses and Dissertations

The present study was designed to examine university students’ knowledge regarding schizophrenia and factors that can influence university students’ attitudes toward persons with schizophrenia. An attribution questionnaire ([AQ-27], Corrigan, Markowitz, Watson, Rowan, & Kubiak, 2003), the Error Choice Test ([ECT], Michaels & Corrigan, 2013), and the Social Desirability Scale ([SDS-13], Reynolds, 1982) were utilized to collect data from undergraduate students attending The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), the largest U.S. Hispanic serving university located on the Texas-Mexico border. Descriptive and inferential statistics were utilized to analyze the survey data. Results indicated a non-significant relationship between students’ knowledge regarding …

An Autoethnographic Exploration Of The Professional And The Person: A Life's Journey Of A Hispanic Superintendent In South Texas, Gonzalo Salazar

Theses and Dissertations

Leadership effectiveness is often defined in terms of, a leader’s ability to motivate followers towards a collective goal, mission or vision (Knippenberg, Knippenberg, Cremer & Hogg, 2004). However, a leaders’ understanding of their own identity; how education, culture, upbringing, values and morals helped shape the self (Leary, & Tangney, 2002; Anzaldua, 2015; and Guajardo & Guajardo, 2017) and how the leader functions as a contributing member of the organization (Knippenberg & Hogg, 2003) is critically important.

Demographers have long held that by the year 2050, our nation will be increasingly more diverse and that there will be no racial or …

An Investigation Of The Usefulness And Predictive Ability Of The College Student Inventory At A Small, Private, Technological Institution In The Southeast, Jessica Paula Ha

Theses and Dissertations

Over the past several decades, retention research has focused on influential factors related to student persistence, specifically first-year persistence. Past research has identified the importance of prior academic achievement and demographic factors and, more recently, non-cognitive, psychosocial factors. In practice, first-year programs and the use of early intervention tools such as the College Student Inventory (CSI) have increased. However, practices still seem to lag behind theory and research, as first-year retention and six-year graduation rates remain stable at 74% and 59%, respectively (Kena et al., 2015; NCHEMS, 2016). We also know that the causes and characteristics of retention tend to …

Pit Features: A View From Grand Island, Michigan, Emily R. Bartz

Theses and Dissertations

Serving a multitude of functions from subterrestrial cavities of storage, basins for cooking, to vessels that securely hold pounds of rice allowing the grains to be danced upon to thresh, pit features are one of North Americas most common archaeological feature. These constructions are dug to fit a diversity of needs based on the people who manufacture them. By understanding the distinct function(s) a pit or group of pit features played at a site-level, the needs of the people who inhabited that landscape are better understood. The nature of a pit feature is to store something or process a food …

Research On Communicative Practices In An Alternative Classroom, Maria Alice Bonilha

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis studies communications in an alternative classroom in the United States. Using an ethnographic approach and drawing from conversation analysis, the study describes the school’s model of education and analyzes students’ classroom initiations, particularly those in which students responded to the teacher’s question with a question.

The Roscoe Perry House Site: A Long-Term Prehistoric Occupation In The Hudson Valley, Dylan C. Lewis

Theses and Dissertations

This report analyzes the stored collection of artifacts excavated from a historic house overlooking the Rondout Creek and the Hudson River. This is a multicomponent site. It contains fifteen archaeological phases ranging from the Early Archaic to the Contact Period.

Preservice Teachers’ Creation Of And Beliefs About Culturally Responsive And Critical Mathematics Tasks, And Their Beliefs About The Students For Whom Their Tasks Were Intended, Tisa Trask

Theses and Dissertations

In this study, case study methodology was used to explore secondary mathematics preservice teachers (PSTs) attempts to construct tasks for lower income, predominantly African American students at a cultural immersion site who PSTs encountered frequently and interviewed. PST beliefs about their tasks and their students were also investigated. The first research aim of this study was to investigate PSTs’ attempts to create culturally responsive mathematics tasks for themselves and for the students. PSTs incorporated students’ personal and cultural details in tasks for the students. However, they had greater difficulty integrating cultural backdrops into the primary mathematics activities of tasks they …

Time Does Not Heal All Wounds: Temporal Differences In Spinal Pathology Among Pre-Columbian Sites In West-Central Illinois, Abigail Peeples

Theses and Dissertations

This research sought to examine a co-occurrence of three spinal pathologies, Schmorl’s nodes, osteophytosis, and osteoarthritis, within three temporally contiguous pre-Columbian sites in west-central Illinois. Albany Mounds (200 BCE – CE 400), Kuhlman Mounds (CE 600 - 900), and Dickson Mounds (CE 900 - ~1300), acted as proxies for their respective time periods in order to determine if there were any patterns among the three spinal pathologies present. Individuals with vertebrae present were examined and joints were scored based on criteria listed for each pathology. Overall, highest frequency of individuals affected by Schmorl’s nodes, osteophytosis, and osteoarthritis were located in …

You Have Seventy-Two Hours: How The City Complaint System Enables Criminalization Of The Unsheltered Population, Lindsey Grace Earl

Theses and Dissertations

The unsheltered population has been denigrated since the formation of the United States. This is true in a city I call Marinville, Illinois where the privatization paradigm, social stratification, and anti-homeless ordinances have contributed to the shutdown of at least five homeless encampments. Multiple times per week, law enforcement officials interact with the chronically unsheltered population and incarcerate individuals for petty ordinance violations. In our current regulatory system, city officials, police officers, and homeless service organizations (HSOs) all influence the unsheltered population’s lives, including options for social and spatial mobility. This thesis is based on multi-method research from 2016-2017: engaging …

Mortuary Patterns In West-Central Tennessee: Contextualizing Historic Field Data From Nine Mississippian Period Sites, Brooke Adele Wamsley

Theses and Dissertations

Middle Mississippian is a both a cultural and temporal (1200 CE – 1400 CE) archaeological context of Midwestern North America. This cultural tradition is associated with mound building, specific art motifs, arguably stratified societies, intensive agriculture, and specific ritual/mortuary practices. Burial sites can be very valuable to archaeologists because of the purposeful interaction between the living and the deceased and reconstruct cultural elements such as social identity and group membership. While American archaeology continues to be fieldwork-focused, there are a considerable amount of cultural resources housed in museum collections that could provide data for research into pre-Columbian lifeways in North …

Working Women: Agricultural Intensification, Osteoarthritis In Females, And Subadult Health In Illinois Woodland And Mississippian Mortuary Contexts, Paige M. Dobbins

Theses and Dissertations

Temporal variation was examined in female labor associated with subsistence modifications in pre-Columbian human osteological samples from the Mississippi River valley of west-central Illinois related to weaning patterns, diet, and overall health status of subadults. This study was performed on a sample of 173 burials constituting 98 subadults and 75 adult females from temporally sequential Illinois mortuary contexts (Albany [11WT1], Kuhlman [11A163], Schroeder [11HE177], and Dickson [11F10] Mounds) that represent the transition from Middle Woodland hunter gatherers to Mississippian maize agriculturalists. This was accomplished by (1) scoring pattern and degree of dental attrition and dental caries in subadults, (2) identification …

The Role Of Dogs In Prehistoric Illinois: A Study Of Dog Paleopathology At The Range Site In The American Bottom, Allison L. Huber

Theses and Dissertations

Archaeological investigations at the Range site (11S47) in the American Bottom region of Illinois resulted in the recovery of over 3,300 domestic dog (Canis familiaris) remains. Fifty-two dog burials associated with the Late Woodland Patrick phase (A.D. 650-900) and Terminal Late Woodland Period (A.D. 900-1050) were identified in the assemblage. The well-preserved nature of these remains allowed for the examination and interpretation of pathology and trauma, providing insight into the role and treatment of dogs at the site. The data obtained from the Range assemblage indicate the most common pathologies present are antemortem tooth absence, periodontal disease, cranial trauma, rib …

The Effects Of Instructors Discussing Alcohol In The Classroom On Student Perceptions Of Their Instructor, Nathaniel Swiech Brophy

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is comprised of two studies. Study I is a qualitative exploratory analysis which attempts to uncover students’ experiences with instructors discussing alcohol in the university classroom and how the appropriateness of this behavior is determined. How this mention of alcohol affects the students’ perception of the instructor, as well as the relationship between perceived appropriateness of the behavior and change in perception, are also investigated. Study I found that students have experienced their instructors mentioning alcohol in the classroom as normative student behavior, part of the formal curriculum, and their instructor disclosing personal alcohol use. Participants determined appropriateness …