Digital Commons Network^™

The Bamboo Ceiling: A Study Of Barriers To Asian American Advancement, Emily Cheng

UROP Posters

The idea of cultural diversity in the workplace is a popular one, generating much discussion about the inclusion of and affirmative action toward minorities. However, these conversations rarely involve Asian Americans, who despite above-average levels of educational achievement, household income, and employment, find themselves underrepresented in and shut-out of upper-level management positions. In this project, I investigated the stereotype of East-Asian Americans as a model minority (created by non-Asians) to find out why East-Asian Americans are underrepresented in upper-level management in corporate workplaces, a phenomenon known as the “bamboo ceiling.” I explored a variety of scholarly sources that analyzed the …

A Study Of Media Portrayal Of Schizophrenics To Understand How Stigma Associated With Schizophrenia May Be Reversed, Rainielle M. Cua

UROP Posters

The news media are one of the most influential sources of information regarding mental illness. Media coverage on schizophrenia, one of the most stigmatized mental illnesses, tends to be negative, focusing on high risks of violence, failure, and unpredictability. Such perceptions may cause a detrimental impact on the mentally ill and cause them to internalize a stigmatizing stereotype and hinder the public’s understanding of mental illness. I studied how media portrayal in newspaper coverage of schizophrenics has evolved to discover how nonfiction media representation has affected people’s perceptions and attitudes towards schizophrenics and to propose an implementable solution to reduce …

Patterns Of Enslavement And Economic Oppression Of Central Virginia, Hannah Bedwell

UROP Posters

I address how anthropologists can identify the patterns and development of slavery and economic oppression through archaeology and the visualization of Virginia enslavement. I focus on the enslaved people of James Madison's Montpelier. I use 3D modeling as a foundation for integrating enhanced visuals with the goal of presenting a tangible understanding of the enslaved individuals in relation to the artifacts and history of the archaeological sites. I intend to show a common theme in economic oppression by comparing modern themes in slavery and examining Fraser D. Neiman's synthesis of the evolutionary perspective of slavery, and how little has changed …

The Evolution Of Global Legal Pluralism, Paul Schiff Berman

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Global Legal Pluralism is now recognized as an entrenched reality of the international and transnational legal order. Indeed, wherever one looks, there is conflict among multiple legal regimes. Some of these regimes are state-based, some are built and maintained by non-state actors, some fall within the purview of local authorities and jurisdictional entities, and some involve international courts, tribunals, arbitral bodies, and regulatory organizations.

It has been approximately 20 years since scholars first began pushing the insights of legal pluralism into the transnational and international arena. During those two decades, a rich body of work has established pluralism as a …

Pottery Is King: Bevel Rim Bowls And Power In Early Urban Societies Of The Ancient Near East, Arianna M. Stimpfl

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

This thesis is about how material objects, specifically ceramics, are used to create and perpetuate political power of the ruling class. My research will demonstrate how bevel rim bowls were a form of structural violence in the Uruk/Protoliterate period Mesopotamia by forcing the people to create the very vessels they needed to obtain their rations. These vessels were widely used throughout the region, and as of yet their exact function is unknown. The Uruk period in Mesopotamia was a time of great change. Large urban centers were being formed and people were coming together in a new way to live …

Community Engagement Strategies For Civic Participation In Youth Development: The University Of Mississippi's Fight Against Poverty, Henry Lang-Vanderlaan

Honors Theses

This thesis examined civic participation and community engagement strategies by the University of Mississippi to fight poverty through education in Mississippi. In 2014 the McLean Institute for Public Service and Community Engagement started an innovative approach to fight poverty through education in Mississippi. The center began a Catalyzing Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (CEED) program to establish community-university partnerships for university students to engage in communities beyond campus. I served in the program as a CEED scholar from 2015-2017. In this thesis I explored the state of an afterschool program to determine its success, and to evaluate the community engagement strategy …

Heritage, Not Hate: The Mississippi State Flag As A Conduit Of Colorblind Racism, Jenna Bailey

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to examine the ways in which students at the University of Mississippi employ colorblind racism in their justifications for keeping Mississippi state flag. Arguments have been made that the state flag is about history and heritage, not hate. It is this history that has led to two different meanings being associated with the flag: one about heritage and one about hate. Through an online, self-administered survey, the goal is to assess students' levels of colorblind racism and observe the arguments used in an open-ended question about their attitudes on the flag. This qualitative data …

Effects Of Second Language Learning On Mental Representations Of Time, Conner S. Clark

Honors Theses

The following thesis is a domain-centered study that examines the effects of second language (L2) learning on mental representations of time in native English learners of L2 Mandarin Chinese. The design of this study attempts to observe the effects of the existence and use of spatiotemporal metaphors in Mandarin Chinese on L2 learners of the language. The methodology used for data collection includes a three-dimensional pointing paradigm—a partially language-independent task—which attempts to isolate cognitive behavior. The task requires participants to answer questions (by pointing) regarding space and time on imaginary axes in front of their person using their own fist …

On The 路(Lu) To The Loo: A Case Study Of Public Restrooms In China Since The Chinese Communist Revolution, Elizabeth S. Newsom

Honors Theses

This thesis is a case study of China's changing perceptions on privacy, hygiene and sanitation, as well as gender through public restrooms across the three different time periods of the 1950s, the early 2000s, and the 2010s. I analyze the situations, laws, civil codes, and perceptions that lead to different toilet styles. As toilets and defecation are taboo subjects, I use online anonymous resources like Zhihu to discover the modern perceptions of people on today's toilets as well as architecture and statistics. I in part find that I can analyze China's income disparity through toilets as the Coastal region of …

Dynamic Cultural Specificities: Mediation Of Culture And Emergent Gay Identity In China, Lynam Brandon

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Argentina's Contemporary Multiculturalism And Its Implications For Chinese Identity In Buenos Aires, Madeleine Achgill

Honors Theses

How has Chinese immigration to Buenos Aires challenged contemporary Argentine multiculturalism? This thesis examines the arrival and integration of Chinese immigrants through a qualitative discourse analysis of Chinese and Spanish-language sources relating to immigration to Argentina, Argentine perceptions of Chinese immigrants, and the Chinese community's self-representation in Argentine spaces. I answer three questions: 1) What is Argentina's new multiculturalism and how does it impact Chinese immigrants? 2) How has the Argentine public responded to new Chinese immigration? And 3) How has the Chinese community responded, establishing their own Sino-Argentine identity? I find that Chinese immigration to Argentina has placed the …

Photographic Representations Of The South: Eudora Welty And Doris Ulmann, Molly Maher

Honors Theses

Eudora Welty and Doris Ulmann both photographed African Americans living in the South during the 1930s. Ulmann photographed the unique Gullah community in South Carolina, documenting their agricultural work, religious traditions, and lifestyle. Welty photographed the African American community within her home state of Mississippi. Despite a parallel interest in subject matter, Welty stated that she did not like Ulmann's photography. This thesis examines the differences between Welty and Ulmann's techniques and their relationships to the South, their subjects, and literary texts in order to identify why Welty explicitly expressed a dislike for Ulmann's photographs.

Catalyzing Entrepreneurship And Economic Development Program: An Analysis Of The Educational Opportunities In Mississippi's Tourism Industry, Holly Ruth Pitts

Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to provide an analysis of the educational opportunities provided by the tourism industry in Mississippi, and to highlight the University of Mississippi's efforts to institutionalize community engagement. I undertook this study as a result of my role as a Catalyzing Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (CEED) innovation scholar at the McLean Institute for Public Service and Community Engagement. The McLean Institute was expanded as part of UM's 2020 strategic action plan, and its mission statement involves advancing transformative service and fighting poverty through education. I began my research as a participant observer serving as an …

Sans Fin: Language Of Loss, Lane Jennings Proctor

Honors Theses

This is a hybrid collection of creative pieces that I have written in order to try to capture the feelings associated with loss and oppression. These pieces are only loosely related thematically and are not one single narrative. I especially wanted to focus on female characters who become disillusioned with their lives, find they have no real agency, or that they cannot truly write their own narratives. Through research on the Middle East, mostly focusing on Syria, and a close friendship with a Syrian refugee while I was studying abroad in Paris, I found the inspiration and ideas for many …

The Sociological And Economic Factors Impacting A Workforce Development Program In An Impoverished Community, Elena Bauer

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to inform about the best practices of workforce development, and to consider the sociological and economic factors in impoverished areas that are to be considered for successful traditional business principles to work. Through an in-depth study of eight African American male respondents who were participants in a job training program in Clarksdale, Mississippi, this study explores the impact of the vestiges of past discrimination embedded in the institutions and culture to make a Mississippi community particularly challenging for providing equitable opportunities for low income residents (Cobb, 1992; Duncan & Blackwell, 2014; Myers Asch, 2011). …

Thai Massage And Commercial Sex Work: A Phenomenological Study, Elizabeth Monk-Turner, Charlie G. Turner

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Many researchers have suggested that commercial sex work in Thailand has gone into massage establishments. This paper explores how the experience of receiving massage in Thailand differs by four types of establishment (street front, massage schools, spas, and high-end resorts) and whether or not unsolicited sexual services are offered. The current study aims to expand our understanding of both massage and prostitution in Thailand and the relationship between these activities. In order to explore this research question, we utilize a phenomenological approach and aim to relate the essence of the massage experience and whether or not unsolicited sexual services were …

"Witness" And "Bearing Witness" In The Legal Settings Of The Pentateuch And The Gospel Of John: An Intertextual Study, Franklin A. Marti

Dissertations

This dissertation studies the words “witness” and “to bear witness” in the Pentateuch and in the Gospel of John, and at the same time presents an intertextual connection between these books.

The study begins with an introduction in which I present the background and statement of the problem, the purpose of the study, the delimitations and the methodology.

Following the introduction chapter 1 deals with the review of the literature from ANE documents to ancient Jewish interpretation. I conclude that even though the Code of Hammurabi and the Hittite treaties are documents with different purposes, they reflect a similar feature: …

A Study Of The Pokot Cultural Worldview: Missiological Implications For Seventh-Day Adventist Witness Among The Pastoral Nomads Of Kenya, Haron Matwetwe

Dissertations

Seventh-day Adventist witness among the nomadic peoples of the East Africa region is faced with a number of challenges. Although the Church enjoys relative success in reaching most communities, its growth and development appears restricted to locations occupied by the settled communities. Unfamiliarity with nomads’ cultural structures and values is partial explanation for why missionaries have failed to effectively connect with the nomads thereby hampering the establishment of a more vibrant mission work in pastoral nomadic regions.

This qualitative research sought to describe the Pokot cultural worldview as a step toward understanding their socio-cultural context and identify barriers to effective …

The Rule Of The Octave In First-Year Undergraduate Theory: Teaching In The Twenty-First Century With Eighteenth-Century Strategies, Olga Sánchez-Kisielewska

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

From the Neapolitan conservatories to Mozart’s Vienna, eighteenth-century musicians commenced the study of harmony by learning a rule of thumb for the harmonization of scalar basses known as the Rule of the Octave. This article presents a series of strategies to incorporate the Rule into the core music theory curriculum, including activities for analysis, keyboard skills, and singing improvisations. I suggest a parallelism between the Rule of the Octave and linguistic collocations (groups of words that typically go together), and turn to recent research on second-language acquisition to defend the importance of memorizing the Rule of the Octave. This initial, …

Tsetse Fly (Glossina Pallidipes) Midgut Responses To Trypanosoma Brucei Challenge, Rosemary Bateta, Jingwen Wang, Yineng Wu, Brian L. Weiss, Wesley C. Warren, Grace A. Murilla, Serap Aksoy, Paul O. Mireji

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Seroprevalence Of Zika Virus In Wild African Green Monkeys And Baboons, Connor R. Buechler, Adam L. Bailey, Andrea M. Weiler, Gabrielle L. Barry, Meghan E. Breitbach, Laurel M. Stewart, Anna J. Jasinska, Nelson B. Freimer, Cristian Apetrei, Jane E. Phillips-Conroy, Clifford J. Jolly, Jeffrey Rogers, Thomas C. Friedrich, David H. O'Connor

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Bangladesh Environmental Enteric Dysfunction (Beed) Study: Protocol For A Community-Based Intervention Study To Validate Non-Invasive Biomarkers Of Environmental Enteric Dysfunction, Michael J. Barratt, Jeffrey I. Gordon, Et Al

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Genome-Wide Physical Activity Interactions In Adiposity ― A Meta-Analysis Of 200,452 Adults, Mary F. Feitosa, Llilda Barata, Ingrid B. Borecki, Et Al.

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Alu Insertion Polymorphisms As Evidence For Population Structure In Baboons, Cody J. Steely, Jane Phillips-Conroy, Et Al

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Discriminating Gender: Legal, Medical, And Social Presumptions About Transgender And Intersex People, Janet L. Dolgin

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

"Discriminating Gender: Legal, Medical, and Social Presumptions About Intersex and Transgender People” analyzes the significance of the binary-gender presumption in legal responses to intersex people and to transgender people. Both intersex and transgender status challenge familiar understandings of gender, sex, bodies, and personhood. Intersexuality challenges the cultural belief that that everyone can be, and should be, categorized as female or as male. And transgender status challenges the belief that gender and sex are always coincident and that they are established at a person’s birth. More fundamentally, differences in social and legal responses to both transgender people and to intersex people …

African American Child And Adolescent Obesity: The Parents Perspective, Alice Marie Austin

All ETDs from UAB

Nearly 36% of African American children ages 2 to 19 are overweight or obese. Childhood obesity results in children with social and psychological disorders, chronic disease, and an increase in morbidity and mortality. Solutions have been offered but none have made a significant impact on African American children living in the Southern United States. Studies that implement life style change produce short-term reductions in African American children but few show life-long change. Parents are responsible for making lifestyle choices for children, it is imperative to understand parental perceptions of child and adolescent obesity and its relationship to lifestyle change. The …

Israelite Ritual Law Concerning The Menstruant In Context: Embodiment And Meaning In Ancient Mesopotamia And Ancient Israel, Laura Morrow

Papers

No abstract provided.

Ritualization Of Ethno-Nationalism: A Textual Analysis Of A Hungarian Corpus Christi Procession, Lisa Pope Fischer

Publications and Research

Observing a Corpus Christi procession in post-socialist Hungary, this article uses a textual analysis to explore how the ritual mirrors post-socialist trends that affirm Hungarian identity. This article serves to both document an interesting ritual procession but also view it in light of growing ethno-nationalism that both unites a community yet also shows exclusion of others. It is like a mirror at a microcosmic level that reflects a kind of ritualization of ethno-nationalism.

Racial I(Nter)Dentification: The Racialization Of Maternal Health Through The Oportunidades Program And In Government Clinics In México, Rosalynn A. Vega

Anthropology Faculty Publications

Using an ethnographic approach, this article examines the role of racialization in health-disease-care processes specifically within the realm of maternal health. It considers the experiences of health care administrators and providers, indigenous midwives and mothers, and recipients of conditional cash transfers through the Oportunidades program in Mexico. By detailing the delivery of trainings of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) [Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social ] for indigenous midwives and Oportunidades workshops to indigenous stipend recipients, the article critiques the deployment of “interculturality” in ways that inadvertently re-inscribe inequality. The concept of racial i(nter)dentification is offered as a way of …

The Effects Of Female Genital Mutilation On Women Of Sierra Leone, Nenneh Kalokoh Kalokoh

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C), a common practice among Sierra Leonean women, carries significant psychological and physical risks. Prior to this study, a substantial need existed for inquiry of the experiences and belief systems within this cultural group to better understand the effects of FGM/C on women and girls. Guided by feminist theory and the theory of cultural relativism, the goal of this phenomenological study was to review the cultural perspectives and experiences of Sierra Leonean women who underwent FGM/C to investigate their concerns about safety and their perceptions of the practices. In addition, this study explored concerns among …