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An Elusive Escape: "Feminine" Genres In Latin American Women's Fiction, Mary Catherine Bartsh

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes Latin American contemporary female authors’ fictional use of normatively “feminine genres” (i.e., letters and diaries) in the structure of the novel. I illustrate that certain authors re-strategize these forms in order to execute their own interpretation of the novel. Examples of this reconstituting of feminine genres are an artist’s novel, a crônica manifesto, a complex parody of the romance novel and a creative prose journal. The intention is not to relegate these modes of writing to a minor status, but expose their multidimensional literary function and feminist strategies in Latin American women’s fiction. My theoretical intervention posits …

A Posture Of Removal: Mary Rowlandson’S Location, Position, And Displacement, Aaron Cloyd

disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory

Drawing on work from autobiographical studies that distinguishes between but correlates position and location, this paper examines Mary Rowlandson’s situatedness in The Sovereignty and Goodness of God and argues that she is a figure of removal and displacement. Although Rowlandson seeks to position herself through voice, actions, and text, such expressions of agency occur within the locating structures of culture, expectation, and memory. The resultant tension between self- positioning and other-locating leaves Rowlandson perpetually removed as she is unable to fully reposition herself within any significant site.

Kundiman: A Musical And Socio-Cultural Exploration On The Development Of The Philippine Art Song, Michelle Cacho Nicolasora

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This paper is a historical research on the development of the Philippine art song, the kundiman. Originating as an oral tradition in a form of a love song, the kundiman became strongly associated with the Philippine revolution, and with nationalism thereafter. This paper puts the kundiman in a center of an exploration--on the social milieu, and on its dual roles as a converging point of foreign influences and as a conduit of nationalism. The period of the kundiman, generally placed from 1800-1930, is divided into three periods demarcated by significant historical events, as the kundiman seems to develop alongside Philippine …

Modeling Language Characteristics Of Leaders In Authoritarian Regimes Over Decades, Nia Marcia Maria Dowell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The present research investigated the linguistic patterns in the discourse of three prominent autocratic political leaders whose reigns lasted for multiple decades. The texts of Fidel Castro, Zedong Mao, and Hosni Mubarak were analyzed using computational linguistic methodologies and nonlinear modeling techniques to explore the temporal trajectory of formality over time. Specifically, this metric of formality increases with abstractness of words, syntactic complexity, cohesion (referential and deep), and the informational genre (as opposed to narrative). At the other end of the continuum, informal discourse tends to have concrete words, simple syntax, low cohesion and high narrativity. The findings are aligned …

Five Macalester Graduating Seniors Receive Fulbrights, Macalester College

College Press Releases

No abstract provided.

Skepticism, Foundationalism, And The Epistemic Regress Problem: Can Basic Beliefs Help To Answer The Epistemic Problem, Matthew Hale

Honors Capstone Projects and Theses

No abstract provided.

April 24, 2014: Shakespeare's Jewish Women, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

Toward An Ethical Response: Reader Complicity In Toni Morrison's Beloved And Paradise, Michael A. Hampton

Theses & Honors Papers

This thesis argues that the relationship that exists among author, text and reader, compels the reader toward complicity. While a market share of new narrative theory aspires to relieve the writer of his duties once the text is complete, other theories attest that the writer retains his mastery over meaning, spawned by an authorial consciousness that leaves the reader somewhat passive, if not impotent, to reality. Thus, the reader is manipulated by a traditional consciousness of reader as merely interpreter of events that relinquishes any responsibility on the reader's part of what lies within the text. Yet, a more contemporary …

Measuring The Efficacy And Quality Of A Professional Development Training On Prejudice Reduction And Reflective Practice: Transforming The Delivery Of Change Through Collective Insight And Informed Action, Berdine Gordon-Littrean

Theses and Dissertations

The overall objective of school improvement planning is an enhanced level of student achievement through an enhanced leadership framework and successfully implemented program. The improvement plan process requires focus on specific priorities to effect real change. The purpose of this action research study was to provide professional training as part of a continuum change initiative. The study analyzed the salient factors or areas of critical concern, impacting prejudice and controversial issues settings. These variables included levels of leadership, and significance of the following: diversity of identity and experiences, stereotyping, internalized oppression, building pride and capacity, becoming allies, making commitments to …

The Montclarion, April 24, 2014, The Montclarion

The Montclarion

Student Newspaper of Montclair State University

Academically Gifted University Students With Learning Differences: A Qualitative Exploration Of The Experiences And Perceptions Of Twice Exceptional University Students, Stephanie L. D'Souza

Doctoral Dissertations

Twice exceptional learners are typically defined as learners who fit the description of gifted while also meeting the parameters for a learning difference, such as learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorders, emotional disturbances, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, etc. These students have special social/emotional needs and special needs in education, and are at particular risk of underachievement and not meeting their full academic potential. The bulk of the previous research has focused primarily on gifted students with learning disabilities, and also has been conducted principally in primary and secondary education settings. This study examined four gifted post-secondary students with a variety of …

Uh, Um, And Autism: Filler Disfluencies In Children With Optimal Outcomes From Autism Spectrum Disorder, Christina Anne Irvine

Master's Theses

Spontaneous speech is marked by the presence of frequent disfluencies, including fillers like um and uh, which are thought to serve distinct social-communicative functions (Clark & Fox Tree, 2002). People with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) struggle with social communication. The current study examines a) the production of fillers in spontaneous speech among children and adolescents with ASD as well as individuals who have achieved “optimal outcomes” (OO) from ASD, and b) the association between filler rate and autism symptom severity versus general cognitive factors, in order to illuminate the processes implicated in filler production. Speech samples from 64 individuals …

The Temporal Dependency Hypothesis: Previous Look Durations Predict Next Look Durations, Whitney I. Mattson

Open Access Dissertations

Studies of cognitive, perceptual, and socio-emotional development in infancy have made extensive use of looking time as an outcome measure. These procedures typically rely on assessing infant looking; investigators have primarily focused on mean looking times for groups of infants. This practice, however, obscures information about the individual looks of individual infants. This project addressed this gap by testing the temporal dependency hypothesis: The duration of an infant’s successive looks at a target are positively predicted by the duration of the infant’s previous looks at that target. Temporal dependency was found in the Face-to-Face/Still-Face procedure at 6 months (n = …

Community-Based Philosophy And Service-Learning: A Case Study At Barry University, Christian A. Schlaerth

Open Access Dissertations

Service-learning, as a pedagogical technique, presents unique learning opportunities for students, where they get to use their skills and knowledge from courses to help improve communities that have particular needs. Barry University has recently begun to expand it program across the school, reaching into disciplines that are not often associated with service-learning. Barry is also a school that presents itself as aware of inequality, with the goal of helping to diminish it. However, there is a clear lack of philosophical direction behind the application of service-learning. This research seeks to ascertain the extent to which community-based philosophy is being employed …

Purpose-Relativity And Ontology, Nurbay Irmak

Open Access Dissertations

Serious ontology is the view that metaphysical debates about existence are deep, theoretical, quasi-scientific debates about the nature and constituents of reality. Serious ontology has been the dominant metaontology for the last few decades, but recently it has come under attack. Eli Hirsch’s Quantifier Variantism is one of the most compelling criticisms of serious ontology. According to Hirsch many ontological debates are merely verbal because the alleged rivals in these debates can each agree that the other side is saying something true given the meanings of the existential quantifier in their own language, and none of those quantifier meanings is …

2014 April 23 -- Agenda And Attachments

Agendas and Minutes

No abstract provided.

Fs Agenda Packet 2014-04-23, Northern Illinois University

Faculty Senate Archives

No abstract provided.

Termediator-Ii: Identification Of Interdisciplinary Term Ambiguity Through Hierarchical Cluster Analysis, Owen G. Riley

Theses and Dissertations

Technical disciplines are evolving rapidly leading to changes in their associated vocabularies. Confusion in interdisciplinary communication occurs due to this evolving terminology. Two causes of confusion are multiple definitions (overloaded terms) and synonymous terms. The formal names for these two problems are polysemy and synonymy. Termediator-I, a web application built on top of a collection of glossaries, uses definition count as a measure of term confusion. This tool was an attempt to identify confusing cross-disciplinary terms. As more glossaries were added to the collection, this measure became ineffective. This thesis provides a measure of term polysemy. Term polysemy is effectively …

Art And Aphasia: A Literary Review And Exhibition, Jessica Parrish

Honors Theses

My honors thesis explores aphasia, my primary topic of interest, through procedures spanning both of my degrees. Communication makes interaction possible for exchanging ideas, feelings, concepts, and events. Aphasia, an acquired disorder, impacts language areas that are responsible for expression, comprehension, literacy, and symbolic understanding. Aphasia interrupts the mental process responsible for converting thought to language. Literature involving both traditional speech and art therapy is discussed. Once the aphasia disorder type is assessed, a speech language pathologist designs a therapy plan. Art, which has been used in therapy and research for rehabilitation, shares a connection with language and symbolic thought. …

Recasting The Darwinian Dilemma, Abram L. Brummett

Theses

It is uncontroversial to say that evolution has contributed little to the content of our factual judgments about the world. It is also uncontroversial to say that evolution has had a lot to contribute to the content of our non-factual judgments. What has been controversial is the extent to which evolution has influenced the content of our moral beliefs, and whether such influence has any metaethical implications. Sharon Street has received a lot of attention for her attempt to “debunk morality” in her paper, “A Darwinian Dilemma for Realist Theories of Value.” She argues that not only have evolutionary influences …

Liaising Between Visible And Invisible Realities: A Ritual Gourd In The African Collection Of The Virginia Museum Of Fine Arts, Ashley Holdsworth

Theses and Dissertations

In 2010, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts accessioned a ritual gourd from Mambila peoples of Nigeria and Cameroon into their collection. Although ritual containers with similar configurations abound in different parts of the Cameroon Grasslands in Central Africa, the VMFA gourd presents particular difficulties due to the nature of its accumulation and the lack of scholarship on the Mambila peoples. Therefore, in this thesis, all the aspects of its accumulation have been considered in relation to the culture and belief system of the Mambila and their neighbors. Special attention has been paid to the interconnectedness of form, function, and …

Post-Development Theory And Food Security: A Case Study In Swaziland, Lauren Karplus

Capstone Projects – Politics and Government

Post-development theory argues that development theory and the practice of Post-World War II development projects have failed because the entire concept of development is a Western, non-universal measure of progress. Indeed, examples of failed development interventions abound from around the world. While development experts argue amongst themselves about how best to deliver development interventions in order to minimize the failures of development, post-development theorists believe that no amount of tweaking will make the development agenda a success. They argue that the problem with development is not about how it is implemented, but rather that development itself is a flawed concept …

Tracing Development In College Students' Writing In Oman: A Contrastive Corpus Analysis, Houda Said Al-Habsi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

My dissertation focuses on ESL writing development of Omani students' writing at college level. More specifically, I am interested in tracing the students' development in college writing across three levels. My research questions are: are 4th year students' essays more complex than 2nd year students' essays? Are 2nd year students' essays more complex than foundation students' essays? If so, what features of language are driving these differences? My main hypothesis is that 4th year essays will show more linguistic features than 2nd year and foundation year essays and 2nd year essays will show more linguistic features than foundation year. This …

Technology For Effective Japanese Learning: Positive Influence Of Using Technology For American College Students, Junko Tokuda Simpson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The purpose of this study was to examine how college students can be supported in learning Japanese and to be exposed to culture by utilizing technological tools (computers, smartphones, and tablets). This study employed an online survey which was developed to elicit findings of five research focuses: college students' comfort levels and their perceptions about using technological devices as learning tools in terms of invested times and changes in their orientation in learning language and culture; kinds of devices, purposes, places, and reasons for their use of technology to learn Japanese; the support obtained through the use of technology to …

Acoustic And Respiratory Characteristics Of Infant Vocalization, Maki Doiuchi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The purpose of this dissertation was to explore vibratory regime of infant phonation. The first study examined 1) differences in overall levels of acoustic and respiratory variables between different regimes and 2) differences in relationships between the acoustic and respiratory variables among regimes. The second study examined 3) the acoustic and respiratory ranges of modal phonation with respect to other regimes and 4) the range of modal phonation among infants of different ages. Two datasets were used in the study. Dataset I was acquired from eight infants of ages 8-18 months, and Dataset II from one infant of ages 4-6 …

Migration Experiences, Employment Status And Psychological Distress Among Somali Immigrants: A Mixed-Method International Study, Nasir Warfa, Sarah Curtis, Charles Watters, Ken Carswell, David Ingleby, Kamaldeep Bhui

Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies

No abstract provided.

A Comparative Analysis Of The Religious Non-Fiction Collections Of A Public Library And A Christian Church Library, Tanya C. Bolton

SLIS Connecting

The purpose of this study is to compare the religious non-fiction collection of a public library (Natchitoches Parish Library) with the religious non-fiction collection of a Christian church library (First Baptist Church, Natchitoches) focusing on those books classified in the 200s of the Dewey Decimal Classification system. The two libraries that are the focus of this study are located directly across the street from each other. By uncovering strengths and weaknesses of each collection and pinpointing areas of overlap, the staff of the two libraries may be able to use the findings to identify ways in which they may be …

Implications Of Autosegmental Analysis In The Exploration Of Prosodic Phonology In Mandarin Chinese, Kristen Frazier

Senior Honors Theses

Autosegmental Phonology (Goldsmith, 1979) is a theoretical framework for understanding the phonological effects of suprasegmentals such as tone, stress, etc. Using data taken from an experiment in which Mandarin Chinese tone sandhi (the acknowledged rules governing specific tone shifts across segments) is explored, a number of phonologists, specifically Kenstowicz (2003), have shown that the relationship between the segment and the tone is autonomous. In the experiment, non-sense words with a potential tone sandhi rule are presented to the Mandarin speakers. The speakers automatically apply the tone sandhi rule which is then analyzed using an autosegmental framework. The speakers consciously separate …

Suicide Among Young Alaska Native Men: Community Risk Factors And Alcohol Control, Matthew Berman

ISER Articles

Indigenous residents of Alaska (Alaska Natives) die by suicide at a rate nearly 4 times the US average and the average for all American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs).1---3 An astonishing 7% of Alaska respondents to a 2003 international household survey of Arctic Indigenous people indicated that they had seriously contemplated suicide within the past year.4 Studies have shown that alcohol is directly or indirectly involved in most of these deaths.5---9 Although Alaska Natives have encountered alcohol for well over a century, the high suicide risk is an entrenched but comparatively recent phenomenon affecting only the past 2 generations.9,10 Figure …

Is Self-Sufficiency Really Sufficient? A Critical Analysis Of Federal Refugee Resettlement Policy And Local Attendant English Language Training In Portland, Oregon, Domminick Mcparland

Dissertations and Theses

Since the 1951 United Nations Convention, nations have dealt with refugee issues in various ways. In the United States, since the Vietnam War, there has been great debate and a significant amount of research on issues of refugee resettlement, with these discourses inherently involving issues of power and ideology. English language training and the promotion of economic self-sufficiency have been interventions used to integrate and assimilate refugees into American culture and society. These two interventions were the subject of the current investigation.

The purpose of this study was to look into the way federal refugee resettlement policy mandated by the …