Digital Commons Network^™

The Emergence Of The Bird In Andean Paracas Art. C. 900 Bce - 200 Ce, Mary B. Brown

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the first millennium BCE, an enigmatic cultural group now known as Paracas inhabited the remote desert coast of southern Peru. Following its disappearance, Paracas culture did not emerge in the historical record until 1927, when three burial centers were scientifically excavated on the arid Paracas peninsula that gave the culture its name. The burials contained over 400 mummy bundles that preserved the only physical remnants of this culture and its unique art forms. When unwrapped, mummy bundles of elite males revealed multiple layers of finely woven and elaborately embroidered textiles and painted ceramics, along with gold objects, feathers, and …

Seeking Holiness: The Contribution Of Nine Vernacular Narrative Texts From The Twelfth To The Fourteenth Centuries, Stephanie Grace Petinos

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Spirituality has been increasingly studied to determine the laity’s role within Church history in the Middle Ages. However, secular literature is often overlooked as a source of understanding lay spirituality, even though it is a crucial aspect of cultural and social history. I fill this gap by analyzing nine important vernacular texts to uncover several distinctive definitions of holiness, all of which blend the religious and the secular. Close reading of these texts reveals various paths to holiness, which undermine the Church’s attempts at sole control over spirituality. This study demonstrates that secular authors were concerned with exploring spiritual matters; …

Masculinidades En Crisis Y Prácticas De Resistencia Feminista En La Literatura Y El Cine Españoles De Autoría Femenina, Carmen Sanchis-Sinisterra

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the representation of masculinity in crisis in films and novels by contemporary female authors of Spain. The films are El último viaje de Robert Rylands by Gracia Querejeta, Te doy mis ojos by Iciar Bollaín and La vida sin mí by Isabel Coixet. The novels are Amado amo by Rosa Montero, Los aires difíciles by Almudena Grandes and La conquista del aire by Belén Gopegui. The question this dissertation asks is if by introducing male characters that lack power, control and success the works promote practices of feminist resistance. The answer is that they do but, as …

Negotiating And Navigating Invisible Food Deserts: An Exploratory Study On Foodways Of Adults On The Autism Spectrum, Jungja Park Cardoso

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

I explored foodways of adults on the autism spectrum in order to understand how they negotiate and navigate their food environments. Foodways are beliefs and practices involved in food production, preparation, distribution and consumption (Counihan 2008). In an effort to hear marginalized voices in autism discourse, I conducted an online survey and interviews in modes chosen by participants to accommodate the communication needs of a wide range of autistic adults. The primary participants were highly educated adults with a formal autism diagnosis (n = 23) and self-diagnosed adults (n = 6). Out of the 29 autistic participants who …

Sacred Freedom: Sustaining Afrocentric Spiritual Jazz In 21st Century Chicago, Adam Zanolini

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation explores the historical and ideological headwaters of a certain form of Great Black Music that I call Afrocentric spiritual jazz in Chicago. However, that label is quickly expended as the work begins by examining the resistance of these Black musicians to any label. I theorize that this resistance is due to the experiences of Black history, throughout which labels have been used to enslave, exploit, and control people. I begin by discussing early musical labels, several important n-words, and then the innovation of African diasporic subjecthood and its labels. Then Black is examined, along with several corollary social …

Can Concepts Associated With Physical Environments Be Applied To Social Media Sites? An Empirical Study Using Theories From Place Attachment, Social Behavior, And Social Integration, Brian Boyle

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My study analyzed the extent to which physical environments and social media sites may be used by people in similar ways. The following research question was asked: “Can concepts associated with physical environments be applied to social media sites?” Three additional research questions developed throughout my study: (i) Do students become attached to social media sites in ways similar to physical environments? (ii) How do students communicate and portray themselves across social media sites? (iii) How do students shape their social groups differently across social media sites? My methods included a two phase approach. The first phase was two months …

Power And Proximity: The Politics Of State Secession, Elizabeth A. Nelson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

State secession is a rare occurrence in the international system. While a number of movements seek secession, the majority fail to achieve statehood. Of the exceptional successes, many have not had the strongest claims to statehood; some of these new states look far less like states than some that have failed. So what accounts for these secessions? I argue that the politics of regional actors drive the process. If a secessionist movement does not have the support of actors in the region, it will not achieve statehood. There are three mechanisms through which regional actors can determine outcomes: (1) they …

Declining City, Born-Again Citadel: Faith-Based Organizations And The Reconstitution Of Inequality In Postindustrial America, Michael J. Boyle

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the context of the hegemonic neoliberalism of recent decades, faith-based organizations (FBOs) have flourished as mechanisms for addressing poverty and other varieties of social need. For all of the contributions of contemporary anthropological research to the study of FBOs, however, most analyses have stressed the potency of FBOs and elided the agency of recipients. The present dissertation aims, through a multisited study of Evangelical FBOs in the postindustrial American city of Plainfield, to focus on the latter theme. Owing to the traditional behaviorism of American culture and also its Evangelical reproduction in FBO settings, the pursuit of charity thrusts …

Left Of Maidan: Self-Organization And The Ukrainian State On The Edge Of Europe, Emily S. Channell-Justice

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the intersection of processes of Europeanization and decommunization in Ukraine during a time of war and upheaval. Through the lens of leftist and feminist activists, it explores how political action was renegotiated during and after the mass mobilizations of 2013-2014, known as Euromaidan or Maidan. I use the concept of “self-organization” to consider ways these activists have engaged with a dominant national ideology, which draws from specific political ideas about Europe and communism. I trace how self-organization has roots within socialist-era political forms, how it was enacted during the Maidan mobilizations, and its path since the end …

Where Is The "Korean" In The Korean War Memorial: Kissena Park's Korean War Memorial, Alice Lam

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Korean War is branded as the "Forgotten War," but forgetting is an unconscious act and the Korean War is not so much forgotten as it is ignored. This paper looks at how the Korean War memory has been resurrected through Korean War memorials at first on a national level and then on a local level. Through the Korean War Veterans Association website, I looked at all the Korean War memorials throughout the U.S. and demonstrate how they create a distinct war narrative of sorrow and sacrifice that does not necessarily focus on the war itself. Then I delve into …

Penggunaan Model Problem Based Learning Dengan Media Powerpoint Untuk Meningkatkan Minat Belajar Siswa, Wahyu Purwanto, Ery Tri Djatmika Rudijanto Wahyu Wardhana, Hariyono Hariyono

Jurnal Pendidikan: Teori, Penelitian, dan Pengembangan

Problem-based learning is often contrasted with conventional learning. Since it used to reform learning routine educators in the past ten years (See: Cifti, 2015; Nurjanah, 2014; Ananth & Rusiyanto, 2012; Folashade & Akinbobola, 2009; Mergendoller, et al., 2006). Research by Cifti (2015) and Mergendoller (2006) stated that the Problem Based Learning is proven able to increase the attention and interest of students. However, Problem Based Learning becomes ineffective if students were not interested in the problems to be solved. Therefore, it takes the role of instructional media to stimulate student interest. Media which could be integrated in learning are media, …

The Anxious Shadow Of A Coldwar: Affect, Biopower & Resistance In Fiction & Culture In The Period Of Intra-Anxiety 1989-2001, Kate Adler

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Don DeLillo’s 1997 novel Underworld stands as the framing text for this study of fiction, cultural affect, and resistance in the later part of the 1980’s – the exhausted, waning years of the Cold War – and the 1990’s, the period immediately following its collapse. DeLillo’s book is situated in the 1990’s, a period of what I term “intra-anxiety” following the Cold War and prior to the attacks of September 11^th and the ensuing “War on Terror.” The Cold War had provided an organizing myth for America and American culture, absorbing and structuring anxieties and governing affect. “The Cold …

Transnational Indigenous Migration: Racialized Geographies And Power In Southern Highland Ecuador, Victoria Stone-Cadena

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study examines the shifting landscape of social and economic inequalities in the remittance-dominated region of southern highland Ecuador, focusing on the transformations brought about by increased international migration since the early 2000s. The broader question is whether or not transnational migration has facilitated political and social upward mobility among indigenous communities. More specifically I ask: in what ways does indigenous identity figure in contemporary international migration practices, how does transnational indigenous migration complicate bounded notions of rural indigenous life, and how might the strategies employed by indigenous migrants transform social and economic inequalities in two small towns in the …

Wet Data: The Ocean And Its Negative Archive, Kendra M. Sullivan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper and the poetry cycle (Wet Data) it describes are in dialogue with a wide array of social and cultural histories of the sea; the production of the sea as a social, economic, and militarized space; maritime ethnographies; as well as artistic and literary projects stemming out of what are now being termed offshore art and forensic literature. The ocean is a contested territory that plays a profound and often under-examined role in defining geopolitics and nationalism under globalism. In eco-critical and creative art contexts, the sea is often represented as a metaphor for loss, the outside, …

Full Issue 25(3/4)

International Journal of Speleology

No abstract provided.

Full Issue 23(1/2)

International Journal of Speleology

No abstract provided.

Full Issue 21(1/4)

International Journal of Speleology

No abstract provided.

The Utah Statesman, September 29, 2016, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan.

Cartographic Potential Of New Technologies: Hu:Care, William B. Moore

September 29, 2016: Adaptive Structures and Innovative Solutions

No abstract provided.

Cartographic Potential Of New Technologies: Aerial Data Collection, Todd Broward

September 29, 2016: Adaptive Structures and Innovative Solutions

No abstract provided.

Gwu Student Uses Research Project To Explore Topic, Office Of University Communications

Gardner-Webb NewsCenter Archive

Few topics in contemporary American culture offer as much opportunity for commentary as issues of racial bias—and many individuals wonder to what degree the media intensifies—or reduces—such concerns. Gardner-Webb University senior sociology major Jeff Day (Lancaster, Pa.) took advantage of an opportunity to do an in-depth study on the matter as part of the University’s Undergraduate Research Scholars program. “Originally, I wanted to investigate how mainstream media affects racial discussions in America—if it exacerbates the problem at all,” Day explained.

WGWG: GWU Undergraduate Research Scholar Jeff Day

An Iterative Approach To Ground Penetrating Radar At The Maya Site Of Pacbitun, Belize, Sheldon Skaggs, Terry G. Powis, Clara R. Rucker, George Micheletti

Publications and Research

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) surveys provide distinct advantages for archaeological prospection in ancient, complex, urban Maya sites, particularly where dense foliage or modern debris may preclude other remote sensing or geophysical techniques. Unidirectional GPR surveys using a 500 MHz shielded antenna were performed at the Middle Preclassic Maya site of Pacbitun, Belize. The survey in 2012 identified numerous linear and circular anomalies between 1 m and 2 m deep. Based on these anomalies, one 1 m × 4 m unit and three smaller units were excavated in 2013. These test units revealed a curved plaster surface not previously found at …

The Discourse Of Ruination : Interrogating Urban Renewal In Hong Kong, Eun Soo Lee

Lingnan Theses

As stated in the Urban Renewal Strategy (2011), “the problem of urban decay” has been identified as the major task of urban renewal in Hong Kong. Rows of densely packed, “dilapidated” tenement buildings constitute the imaginary of a declining urban landscape that, much like the squatter areas of the 1950s, are seen to pose threats to public health and to the “prestige” of Hong Kong. I propose the concept of the discourse of ruination as a way to interrogate and at the same time, de-naturalise the pervasive assumption of the problem of decay, which serves to rationalise and perpetuate the …

Running: An Inclusive Approach To Understanding The Notion Of Pilgrimages, Sonika Jain

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

This paper is anchored in the personal narrative of the author whose childhood interest in running was rekindled in adulthood. She prepared herself to run her first half marathon after practicing for a few years, despite a history of serious injuries. The paper offers observations and reflections of the author, as an amateur runner. In addition, insights and analysis are drawn from autobiographical accounts of elite runners like Indian ultra-distance runner Amit Sheth (2011) and North American ultramarathon distance runner Scott Jurek (2012). The paper examines the reasons for different runners to commence and continue to run in their adulthood. …

Pilgrimage, Politics And Surveillance: The Temple Of Jagannath And The Colonial State In Early 19th Century Orissa, Ujaan Ghosh

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

The temple of Jagannath became central to colonial politics as early as the first year of British rule in Puri. Throughout the 19th century, the temple was an essential concern for British administrators, both in the colony as well as in the metropolis. In this paper, I demonstrate how pilgrimage became a pivotal anchor surrounding which a convoluted narrative of colonial politics played out. I have looked closely at the concept of ‘itinerancy’ associated with pilgrimage, and have tried to explain how itinerancy in the early 19th century became a governmental hazard for the colonial overlords. The constant fear of …

Pilgrimage As Imagined Site: A Study Of Prayag Tirtha, Ankur Goswami

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

The notion of a holy place as an idea - consciously and deliberately constructed - is the topic of this paper. This notion of place is not inherent within the idea but is imagined and ascribed by people’s agency. Here, I will explore the construction of the sacred image associated with the major pilgrimage centre of Prayag (modern day Allahabad). I examine how the organisation of this particular space and the use of knowledge about it has had an impact on the pilgrimage to which it is linked. A preliminary study shows that often the notion of sacred space and …

Kashi And Cosmos: Spatial Manifestation And The Five Pilgrimage Journeys Of Banaras, Rana P.B. Singh, Pravin S. Rana

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Historically, Hindu rituals, sacred journeys, festivities, deities and their symmetrical links, have come together to form sacred spatial systems that are still observed by both pilgrims and devotees. These pilgrimage traditions are deeply rooted in local space / place, as well as in the cultural inheritance and mentality of their adherents. This structure is reflected symbolically in the spatial frame of Hinduism in which both complexity and temporal stability meet, mediating between people and the cosmos, i.e., in a mesocosm. In Varanasi (Banaras/Kashi) this spatial frame is clearly expressed in a series of sacred territorial boundaries defined by pilgrimage routes. …

Author Biographies Vol. 4(Vi)

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

No abstract provided.

Christy Mahon Comes To Athens, Tennessee: The Playboy Of The Western World In Appalachia, C. Austin Hill

Irish Studies South (Archived)

No abstract provided.

North And South: Photographic Mediation In The Work Of Seamus Heaney And Natasha Trethewey, Amanda Sperry, Jill Goad

Irish Studies South (Archived)

No abstract provided.