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Vol. 38 No. 1/2 (2015): Pacific Studies Full Issue, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Pacific Studies is published two times a year by The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies, Brigham Young University Hawai‘i #1979, 55–220 Kulanui Street, Lāʻie, Hawai‘i 96762, but responsibility for opinions expressed in the articles rests with the authors alone. Subscription rate is US$40.00 yearly, payable to The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies. The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies (formerly The Pacific Institute) is an organization funded by Brigham Young University Hawai‘i. The Center assists the University in meeting its cultural and educational goals by undertaking a program of teaching, research, and …

From Romance To Reality: An Epilogue, Niko Besnier

Pacific Studies

This epilogue reflects on the political nature of representation, particularly in the context of the Pacific Islands, where images and narratives have long been shaped by colonial encounters and global media. Drawing on historical and contemporary examples—from Enlightenment-era voyages to modern climate change discourse—the essay highlights how Pacific Islanders have both been subjects of external representations and active participants in shaping their own identities.

Vol. 38 No. 1/2 (2015): Pacific Studies Front Matter, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Front Matter for the Vol. 38, No 1/2-Aug 2015 edition of the Pacific Studies Journal.

Reclaiming Paradise: Cinema And Hawaiian Nationhood, Judith Schachter

Pacific Studies

This essay explores the enduring power of the “paradise” trope in cinematic portrayals of Hawai‘i and its evolving role in articulating Native Hawaiian nationhood. While Western media has long romanticized Hawai‘i through idyllic imagery of natural beauty and sensuality, contemporary indigenous filmmakers have begun to reclaim and repurpose these visual conventions. Rather than marking a shift from fantasy to realism, these films strategically reframe romantic imagery to assert cultural autonomy, political sovereignty, and a renewed relationship to the land (‘āina). Through analysis of both outsider and insider productions, the essay reveals how visual narratives critique colonial histories and resist hegemonic …

From Colonial Pomp To Tourism Reality: Commodification And Cannibalization Of The Fijian Firewalking Ceremony, Guido Carlo Pigliasco

Pacific Studies

In 1935 the rite [firewalking] was performed before two members of the British Medical Association. The eminent doctors examined the men carefully before and after the ceremony. . . . The men of Mbengga [sic], not knowing of these learned disputations, unconcernedly carry on the strange custom of their ancestors (Luis Marden, National Geographic, October 1958: 560–61).

The Fijians had another way of disposing of the bodies. They ate them. . . . This was a culture devoted to killing, and when there wasn’t an enemy around to meet their needs, chiefs took to killing the commoners among them …

The Olmecs A Selected Bibliography, Marva Belt, Catherleen T. Washington

Moorland Spingarn Research Center Publications

No abstract provided.

Pedagogical Approaches To Multicultural Education Within Teacher Preparation Programs, Mark Steven Barajas

Dissertations

Despite national standards established in 1979, U.S. teacher preparation programs have struggled to incorporate comprehensive, multicultural teacher education into existing curriculum (Sleeter, 2008). The weakness of multicultural training in most teacher preparation programs is theorized as a major contributor to the persistent achievement gap between students of color and White students (Ferguson, 2003). Furthermore, literature indicates White teachers frequently hold lower expectations for racial and ethnic minority students compared to White students and these lowered expectations often manifest as lower academic achievement (McKown & Weinstein, 2007).

This study provides empirical data regarding multicultural education within teacher preparation programs. Individual course …

Co-Construction Of Personal Narratives In Supporting Identity And Communication In Adults With Aphasia: The ‘My Story’ Project, Katie A. Strong

Dissertations

Stroke and subsequent aphasia can impact a person’s identity negatively, interfering with quality of life. Co-constructing personal narratives about stroke and other aspects of a person’s life is a promising intervention for addressing identity issues. This series of three dissertation studies explored key aspects related to identity, personal narratives, and the perceived impact of telling one’s story.

Study 1 involved a survey examining whether speech-language pathologists view themselves as having a role in supporting the reconstruction of self-identity in adults with aphasia through the use of personal narratives. Results revealed that, whereas the majority of respondents viewed themselves as having …

At-Risk High School Graduates: Succeeding Despite The Odds, Suzette Michele Luster

Dissertations

The high school dropout rate and the low skill set of high school graduates are of significant concern to stakeholders across the country. Based on a report released by the Education Research Center (2011), approximately 7,000 students drop out of school every day and of those students, a large percentage of them have only the basic skill sets that prevent them from accessing competitive vocational opportunities or successful entry into post-secondary education. Understanding the educational journey of students identified at risk could provide stakeholders with critical information with regard to educational reforms based on an early warning system and dropout …

A Phenomenological Investigation Of Teachers' Beliefs, Expectations, And Perceptions Of Classroom Practices, Brian Matthew Nutter

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Lived Experiences Of Belonging To Multiple Nationalities, Annette Susanne Peters

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Inadequate Translations: Spanish/English Discrepancies In The Translated Sonnets Of Garcilaso De La Vega, Jessica V. Palmer

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The intimate relationship one develops with his or her native language is an experience which cannot be replicated through any amount of education. Diction, vocabulary, intonation and the connotations which accompany the many facets of language all develop along with us as we progress through life's experiences. Because of this deeply ingrained personal understanding, each individual's perspective towards a work of art, namely poetry, is completely unique to his or her experiences with the language in which it is written. Therefore, no amount of diligent translation can make a poem inhabit the same sentiment and effect in any language other …

Pentafsiran Makna Hadis Dalam Buku Haji Dan Umrah: Analisis Pragmatik Dan Tematik / Anzaruddin Ahmad, Ahmad Anzaruddin

Student Works (2010-2019)

Penelitian ini menggabungkan kajian lapangan dan kepustakaan. Pengumpulan data dibuat menggunakan metod tinjauan melalui borang soal selidik untuk kajian lapangan, dan metod dokumentasi untuk kajian kepustakaan dengan mengenal pasti Hadis-Hadis yang selafaz, semakna dan / atau setema daripada sejumlah kitab-kitab klasik dan moden. Objektif kajian ialah untuk mengenal pasti kekeliruan dan salah faham dalam kalangan jemaah Malaysia khususnya GPMM (Golongan Profesional Melayu Muslim) yang baru pulang daripada haji bagi tahun 2012 M, serta menghuraikan penyebab kepada berlakunya kekeliruan dan salah faham itu. Kemudian, dengan menggunakan kaedah pragmatik (Teori Relevans oleh Sperber dan Wilson) dan Hadis tematik, kajian ini cuba menilai …

Ostracism And Antisocial Behavior: The Role Of Perceived Justice, Entitlement, And Anger, Christopher Jeffrey Nathanael Lustgraaf

Master's Theses

Recent research has demonstrated that antisocial behavior following a general ostracism experience is mediated by increased feelings of entitlement (Poon, Chen, & DeWall, 2013) and anger (Chow, Tiedens, & Govan, 2008). However, this prior research has failed to determine whether ostracism in general leads to antisocial behavior, or only ostracism that is perceived of as unfair or unjust. The purpose of the current study was to manipulate the perceived fairness of the ostracism experience (fair or unfair) and assess participants’ antisocial behavioral intentions (i.e., dishonest intentions). It was hypothesized that an unfair ostracism experience (compared to a fair ostracism or …

Defining Success: The Perspective Of Emerging Adults With Foster Care Experience, Brianna Lynne Anderson

Master's Theses

Youth with experience in the foster system are often more susceptible to negative outcomes in adulthood due to their high levels of cumulative risk. The present study sought out to re-define the concept of “success” from the perspective of emerging adults with experience in the foster care system and to identify patterns among the characteristics and behaviors of foster families that promote success as these young adults transition out of the foster care system and into adulthood. Participants most frequently defined “success” as achieving personal goals. Additionally, Support and Positive Identity were found to be the most influential Developmental Assets® …

A Garden Locked, A Fountain Sealed: Female Virginity As A Model For Holiness In The Fourth Century, Lindsay Anne Williams

Master's Theses

Despite centuries of Christian theologians and lay Christians alike assigning and/or accepting an entrenched misogyny in the writings of Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine, close examination of their work on its own terms and in its own time reveals that, in fact, they did not hold women in lesser esteem than men. Rather, time and again, in the writings of these Latin Doctors of the Church, women were promoted as exemplars of holiness and sanctity often in excess of their male counterparts and commonly as didactic tools used to lead their fellow Christians down a more righteous path. The following thesis …

Exploring Adult Punjabi-Speaking Immigrants’ Path To English Language Acquisition: A Case Study, Pankaj Sharma

All Theses And Dissertations

Punjabi-speaking immigrants to the United States find many successes and face many challenges as they strive to become full citizens of their new communities. There are success stories and obstacles faced by immigrants as they embark upon a journey from another country. This study examined what major obstacles Punjabi speaking immigrants face when they immigrated from India, including poverty, lack of employment, and stress specifically related to moving from the Punjabi to English language that ultimately affect the acculturation process for the entire family. The study also looked at support received by Punjabi immigrants from others in the community and …

Gibberish, Assistant, Or Master? Using Tweets Linking To News For Extractive Single-Document Summarization, Zhongyu Wei, Wei Gao

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Single-document summarization is a challenging task. In this paper, we explore effective ways using the tweets linking to news for generating extractive summary of each document. We reveal the very basic value of tweets that can be utilized by regarding every tweet as a vote for candidate sentences. Base on such finding, we resort to unsupervised summarization models by leveraging the linking tweets to master the ranking of candidate extracts via random walk on a heterogeneous graph. The advantage is that we can use the linking tweets to opportunistically "supervise" the summarization with no need of reference summaries. Furthermore, we …

The Layers Of Memory At Sachsenhausen: From The Gdr To Contemporary Germany, Barry J. Bookheimer Jr.

Honors Theses

Sachsenhausen is the site of a traumatic and complex history in the twentieth century. Since 1933, Sachsenhausen has taken on many diverse forms: a Nazi concentration camp, a Soviet Special Camp, an East German National Memorial, and after German reunification, a memory site in contemporary Germany. This work examines the contrast between the centralized, nationalist narrative of the GDR, and the current “decentralized” concept at the site in post-communist Germany. Unlike many other memory sites where previous narratives are minimized, obscured, or even destroyed; Sachsenhausen exhibits relics from all eras of its history, conceptualized in this thesis as “layers of …

Who Owns The Scythian Gold? The Legal And Moral Implications Of Ukraine And Crimea's Cultural Dispute, Maria Nudelman

Fordham International Law Journal

This Note analyzes respective legal arguments that Ukraine and the Crimean museums can make to prove ownership of the objects. Part I establishes several elements key to the subsequent discussion, including the political and historical background of this dispute, the relevant laws on a national and international level, and the role of ethics and morality in the field of cultural heritage laws generally. Part II will consider relevant cultural heritage case studies, including treaties that divided cultural property after countries broke apart, the Thailand-Cambodian border dispute and the temple of Preah Vihear, and cases involving Soviet nationalized art. Past case …

Analyzing Domestic Abuse Using Natural Language Processing On Social Media Data, J Nicolas Schrading

Theses

Social media and social networking play a major role in billions of lives. Publicly available posts on websites such as Twitter, Reddit, Tumblr, and Facebook can contain deeply personal accounts of the lives of users – and the crises they face. Health woes, family concerns, accounts of bullying, and any number of other issues that people face every day are detailed on a massive scale online. Utilizing natural language processing and machine learning techniques, these data can be analyzed to understand societal and public health issues. Expensive surveys need not be conducted with automatic understanding of social media data, allowing …

Evaluation Of The Kindergarten Readiness Partnership & Innovation Grants, Beth L. Green, Lindsey Brianna Patterson, Mackenzie Morris, Lindsey Anne Cochran, Callie H. Lambarth

Early Childhood

In July 2014, Oregon’s Early Learning Division provided first-time funding for sixteen communities across the state to implement Kindergarten Readiness Partnership & Innovation (KRPI) projects. The KRPI projects share the common goal of improving children’s school readiness and, ultimately, improving school success and reducing the achievement gap. To achieve these goals, grantees were given considerable local flexibility to implement innovative approaches in one or more of the following areas:

1. Supporting kindergarten readiness skills and smooth transitions to kindergarten;

2. Increasing family engagement in children’s learning and connecting families and schools;

3. Providing professional development to early learning and/or elementary …

The Strict Higher Grothendieck Integral, Scott W. Dyer

Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis generalizes A. Grothendieck’s construction, denoted by an integral, of a fibered category from a contravariant pseudofunctor, to a construction for n- and even ∞-categories. Only strict higher categories are considered, the more difficult theory of weak higher categories being neglected. Using his axioms for a fibered category, Grothendieck produces a contravariant pseudofunctor from which the original fibered category can be reconstituted by integration. In applications, the integral is often most efficient, constructing the fibered category with its structure laid bare. The situation generalizes the external and internal definitions of the semidirect product in group theory: fibration is …

Finding Tuwaqachi, And Other Essays, Cory G. Ferrer

All NMU Master's Theses

This thesis is a collection in four parts, divided by genre with the exception of the titular essay series, Finding Tuwaqachi. Insecurity, affirmation, and our need to connection emerge as the primary themes of this work. The essay series, Finding Tuwaqachi, takes a close look at intentional community and center for alternative therapy located in southern Michigan during the 1970s, by examining several lives caught up in this project. Part two of this collection comprises a series of lyric essays which explore the need to be heard, as well as the ultimate fallibility of our attempts to understand and …

Yardbirds, Joshua A. Brewer

All NMU Master's Theses

Novel-length fictions, when at their best, deeply complicate themes, characters, events or situations using the form’s lengthy narrative arc. Yardbirds aims to employ the long narrative arc to engage a fictional west Arkansas mountain community, Ink, and the contemporary post-mill economy evoked. Yardbirds attempts to disorient the traditional notion of point-of-view to recognize the multifaceted power of the land. This work features a multi-racial, bilingual and multicultural community which confronts the longstanding black-white binary that has dominated literary depictions of the American South. This work aims to disrupt that notion—the South as monolith—by presenting bioregional communities as central to individuals’ …

A Structurational Approach To Organizational Change: Exploring Idaho’S Students Come First Initiative, Matthew Aaron Mccarter

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This study embraces a structuration approach to explore how the staff at the Idaho State Education Agency (SEA) reacted to implementing a unique and sweeping K-12 education reform package commonly known as “Students Come First.” By embracing a communicative perspective to studying change in public education, this study provides insights to how public sector employees at an SEA who work in a field governed by a unique set of features (politically-driven policies from elected officials and outcome expectations from the electorate), and who are driven by a passion to serve children engaged in changes that challenged their everyday understandings of …

Scholarly Program Notes On The Graduate Voice Recital Of Laura Kucharik, Laura L. Kucharik

Research Papers

This document is a discussion of the repertoire performed on my graduate voice recital. The program consists of “Erbarme Dich, mein Gott” from Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion; three French mélodies by Franz Liszt: “S’il est un charmant gazon,” “Comment disaient-ils,” “Oh, quand je dors”; Lee Hoiby’s Three Ages of Woman, a setting of three poems by Elizabeth Bishop; Siete Canciones Populares Españolas by Manuel de Falla; four songs by Richard Strauss: “Zueignung,” “Allerseelen,” “Die Nacht,” “Befreit”; and “Non píu mesta,” the finale of the opera La Cenerentola by Gioacchino Rossini.

My document contains limited biographical information, …

The Effect Of Background Music On The Visual Categorization Of Printed Words In Normal Younger And Older Adults, Sukhada Vaidya Mairal

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Aim: Research has shown that background music, with and without vocal content, has a detrimental effect on cognitive task performance. Research has also shown a decline in processing speed as age increases. The present study seeks to answer the following questions: 1. Will background vocal music have any detrimental effects on performance of a visual semantic word categorization task? 2. Does age have any effect on performance of visual semantic word categorization in the presence of background music?

Participants: Participants consisted of 36 adult native speakers of English with normal speech and language divided in to two groups based on …

A Study On The Efficacy Of Sentiment Analysis In Author Attribution, Michael J. Schneider

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The field of authorship attribution seeks to characterize an author’s writing style well enough to determine whether he or she has written a text of interest. One subfield of authorship attribution, stylometry, seeks to find the necessary literary attributes to quantify an author’s writing style. The research presented here sought to determine the efficacy of sentiment analysis as a new stylometric feature, by comparing its performance in attributing authorship against the performance of traditional stylometric features. Experimentation, with a corpus of sci-fi texts, found sentiment analysis to have a much lower performance in assigning authorship than the traditional stylometric features.

Cultural Diversity In Massive Open Online Courses: The Correlation Between Cultural Indicators And Students' Attrition, Fatma Alabdullaziz

Dissertations

Massive open online courses (MOOC) have become one of the recent innovations in the field of higher education. These courses are distributed via the Internet and free, attracting thousands of students in a course from all over the world. However, there is a serious issue concerning MOOC students’ completion rates. Previous research studies have explored a variety of factors that might lead to low completion rates for MOOCs. However, students involvement from various culture and language backgrounds was a factor not investigated in the literature a factor that could have affected students’ completion rates. This study redesigned an activity theory …