Digital Commons Network^™

Spiritual Media Experiences, Trait Transcendence, And Enjoyment Of Popular Films, Sophie Janicke, Srividya Ramasubramanian

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Recent scholarship on media psychology acknowledges that media entertainment offers not only purely hedonistic enjoyment but also meaningful experiences. This study expands our understanding of media enjoyment by exploring the role of media entertainment in evoking spiritual emotions and beliefs, such as those related to connectedness, blessedness, and transcendence. Results from an online survey (N=220) indicate that media entertainment elicits meaningful as well as spiritual emotions and increases the saliency of spiritual beliefs as related to self-actualization and spiritual experiences in everyday life. Furthermore, trait transcendence and eudaimonic media motivations add to the explanation of audiences’ mediated spiritual experiences. Open-ended …

Youtube Kids: The App Economy And Mobile Parenting, Benjamin E. Burroughs

Hank Greenspun School of Journalism and Media Studies Faculty Research

This research investigates the growing relationship between media industries and the everyday viewing patterns and lives of young children. Specifically, this research focuses on the development of the YouTube Kids app, with well over 10 million downloads, which seeks to capture and monetize youth attention. These channels have taken advantage of emerging mobile and tablet technologies to target very young children and infants (aged 0–5 years). The technologies are also a part of larger parenting practices through the watching of televisual content by children on mobile phones and tablets. The rise of mobile parenting is allied with a confluence of …

Ten-Der-Ness, Brittany Jasin

Graduate School of Art Theses

Ten-der-ness. The title of this document defines the word, because one can easily forget all the meanings of a word. To be tender is to be compassionate and kind but also can mean to be in pain. “The quality of being easy to cut or chew” is my favorite definition; because to me that says that to be tender makes you vulnerable to being swallowed by reality. It’s a common saying that without suffering we would never know compassion but, within tenderness, compassion and suffering exist simultaneously in a ten letter word. Within my thesis I am exploring tenderness through …

To Laugh Or Cry: Examining Intergroup Attitudes Through Humor, Katlin Bentley

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Can A Green University Serve Underrepresented Students?: Reconciling Sustainability And Diversity At Hsu, Sarah Jaquette Ray

Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

No abstract provided.

The Mirror Up To Nature: Identity Exploration Through Drama For English Language Learners, Grace Hudkins

Master's Projects and Capstones

It is widely accepted that language acquisition through content, arts integration, and identity development in concert with foreign or second language development are all important and valid approaches to ESOL education. However, there is a lack of literature addressing these three elements in concert. This project attempts to bridge this gap through the creation of an International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (IB MYP) unit that addresses language acquisition, drama integration, and personal and cultural identity development. The unit also promotes intercultural understanding, as students share their personal and cultural identity backgrounds with one another throughout the course of the unit …

Traditional Ecological Knowledge Of Stem Concepts In Informal And Place-Based Western Educational Systems: Lessons From The North Slope, Alaska, Linda Nicholas-Figueroa

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Upon regaining the right to direct education at the local level, the North Slope Borough (NSB) of Alaska incorporated Iñupiat educational philosophies into the educational system. The NSB in partnership with the University of Alaska Fairbanks established Iḷisaġvik College, the only tribal college in Alaska. Iḷisaġvik College seeks to broaden science, technology, engineering, and mathematical education on the North Slope. Incorporation of place-based and informal lessons with traditional ecological knowledge engages students in education. Iḷisaġvik hosted a 2-week climate change program from 2012 -- 2015 for high school and middle school students that examined climate science and the effects of …

Do You Know Title Ix: A Sexual Assault Navigation Tool For College Students, Jamie Napolski

Indigenous Studies

This paper presents a Master's Project in Cross-Cultural Studies at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) that sought to understand Alaska Native and first-year (freshman) students beliefs and behaviors about the Title IX process at UAF. Title IX is a federal law which states that no individual in the United States shall be discriminated or excluded from participation, denied the benefits or subject to discrimination, based on their sex, within any educational program or activity that receives Federal financial assistance. This project undertook a mixed-method study utilizing a survey and focus groups to identify what information students are being provided …

Studies On Health, Place, And Education, Kelly Mcclelland Harris

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Good health is positively associated with education outcomes, and likewise higher education-related achievement is positively associated with good health. Similarly, social disadvantage follows a cyclical pattern. It is cumulative; both accruing over the life course and across generations. Moreover, this relationship disproportionately impacts our most vulnerable populations, including both minorities and children living in or near poverty. For example, since the 1990s asthma, the most common chronic illness among youth, has seen the greatest increases in urban environments, and among racial and ethnic minorities in or near poverty. Still, consideration of the interdependence between health, place, and education remains underdeveloped …

The Rpl13a Snorna U33 Forms Novel Snornps During Lipotoxicity, Miquia Sherree Henderson

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Lipid overload contributes to the pathogenesis of diabetic complications, causing tissue damage and cell death in a number of organ systems. This process is termed lipotoxicity. Animal and cell culture studies have demonstrated that oxidative stress and endoplasmic reticulum stress are major pathways engaged in the lipotoxic response. However, the molecular mechanisms of lipotoxicity are not well understood. A genetic screen revealed that small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) encoded in the introns of the Rpl13a locus are critical for cell death in response to lipotoxicity. Initial studies have suggested that the Rpl13a snoRNAs function in this pathway through non-canonical modes of …

Seeds As Artifacts Of Communities Of Practice: The Domestication Of Erect Knotweed In Eastern North America, Natalie Graham Mueller

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Humans are the ultimate ecosystem engineers, and in transforming ecosystems we also change the selective environment for the plants and animals that live among us. The bodies and behaviors of domesticated plants and animals are thus rich artifacts of traditional ecological knowledge and practice. I study the morphology and behavior of domesticated plants as a proxy for ancient agricultural communities of practice. The transition from food procurement to food production is one of the most significant shifts in human history. I consider this process as the evolution and spread of a knowledge system. Domestication studies are usually focused on differentiating …

The Gospel Of Mark, Nancy Mccabe

School of Theology and Seminary Graduate Papers/Theses

No abstract provided.

Literacy And Labor: Archives, Networks, And Histories In Working-Class Communities, Jessica Michelle Pauszek

Dissertations - ALL

Literacy and Labor: Archives, Networks, and Histories in Working-Class Communities explores the significance of The Federation of Worker Writers and Community Publishers (FWWCP), a network of writing groups that existed between 1976-2007 and self-published thousands of texts focused on working-class life, immigrant experience, and educational development. The FWWCP emerged in London and eventually spread throughout the United Kingdom and, then, transnationally. Circulating close to one million chapbooks, this network represents years of social history, testimony, and cultural conditions described through the voices of working-class people. I begin by unpacking the historical and social conditions of the FWWCP’s tenure and explain …

Ua45/6 Commencement Program, Wku Registrar

WKU Administration Documents

Commencement program listing graduates and a tribute to WKU president Gary Ransdell.

2017 Commencement Program, Columbia College Chicago

Commencement Programs

The commencement program of the 2017 Columbia College Chicago graduation services.

After The Shoe Fits: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Four Versions Of The Cinderella Narrative, Faith L. Boren

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fairy tales hold the power to influence societies and to challenge societal injustices, and the story of Cinderella exemplifies both of these roles. In this study, I conduct a rhetorical analysis of four different versions of the Cinderella narrative: Charles Perrault’s “Cendrillon,” the Brothers Grimm’s “Ascenputtel,” Anne Sexton’s "Cinderella,” and Disney’s Cinderella (2015). I examine Perrault’s “Cendrillon” and the Grimms’ “Aschenputtel” using constitutive rhetoric. This theory operates around the basic premise that rhetoric holds the power to aid in the shaping of societies. While analyzing “Cendrillon” and “Aschenputtel,” I specifically look for themes of classism and nationalism, respectively. I then …

Precipitation Patterns And Fungal Community Succession In A Seasonally Dry Secondary Tropical Savanna, Sara R. López-Rodríguez

Biology ETDs

In the northwestern part of South America, seasonally dry forests have undergone extensive conversion to savannas to support ranching and agriculture. The combination of fire and vegetation removal employed for clearing, together with extensive agricultural practices, often lead to loss of soil fertility. This results in land that is no longer useful for agriculture and on which historical forests are unable to regenerate. This study examined the effects of common agricultural practices on soil fungal communities by simulating the effects of fire followed by plant removal. The goal was to determine whether common practices have rapid effects on soil communities, …

Bio Buzz Newsletter, Issue 13, May 2017, Department Of Biology

Biology Buzz Newsletter

Denison University, Department of Biology newsletter for Spring 2017.

2017 Commencement Program, Whittier College

Commencement Programs

Whittier College's One Hundred Fourteenth Commencement, May 12, 2017

Commencement Address: Solomon D. Trujillo, Global Telecommunications, Media, and Cable Industry Executive

Cameras As Weapons Of Resistance: Refugees Disrupting The Colonial Narrative Through Photography, Shannon Elder

Cultural Studies Capstone Papers

This project analyzes the photography project “#RefugeeCameras”, where German photojournalist Kevin McElvaney gave disposable cameras to refugees to document their own experiences. The project includes close examination of the photography collection and considers the photographic depiction of landless people by other landless people in juxtaposition to the concept of the refugee as a ‘terrorist’. The examination of these images will reveal how photographs become a tool that can disrupt ideological stances that harm innocent people such as Islamophobia and fear mongering towards refugees that are deemed a threat by the Trump administration’s Executive Order, “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist …

Bodies As Living, Twirling Sacrifices: Performing Black Girlhood, Liturgical Dance, And The Black Church Tradition, Brianna Heath

Cultural Studies Capstone Papers

The purpose of this study is to investigate liturgical dance in the black church tradition as a gendered space. I argue that black girls perform their sexuality as ascribed to hetero-patriarchal ideology—as preached within the black church—through liturgical dance. This ideology akin to politics of respectability separates the sacred from the secular which causes a tension. This tension shows up in the hyper-ness of liturgical dancing. This study discusses this by contextualizing liturgical dance within a history of black concert dance and embodied practices of resistance. This study frames liturgical dance within the black dance tradition, black feminist studies, and …

Who Benefits From Blackness? The White Compulsion For Capital, Akira Milligan

Cultural Studies Capstone Papers

This project will examine the change in representations of blackness and black character in commercially successful hip hop music through music videos directed by Hype Williams from 1995 to 2005. This research will use a womanist approach to address the significant historical influence of storytelling in the black narrative and how the emerging concepts of hypermasculinity and the degradation of the black body have seemingly become the new normal. These concepts largely contribute to the negative stereotypical perceptions of black identity that keeps black bodies marginalized because there is little diversity in the public representations of blackness while there exists …

Where The Ladies At? Examining The Visibility Of Black Women In Hip Hop An How It Reflects A Larger Understanding Of Black Womanhood, Danielle Wallace

Cultural Studies Capstone Papers

No abstract provided.

2017 Manifest Program, Columbia College Chicago

Manifest Urban Arts Festival Programs

A program for the Manifest Urban-Arts Festival held by Columbia College Chicago on May 12, 2017.

Bringing The State Home: Neoliberalism In Global Models Of Public Housing, Nicholas Alfino

Cultural Studies Capstone Papers

Global public housing authorities in state versus market capitalism take different approaches to provide housing for multicultural demographics. This capstone project looks at that of New York City and Singapore as case studies of ideologies of welfare, multicultural national identity and public policies representative of their political economies. With special attention paid the spatial relations of ethnic enclaves in both urban environments, focus is placed on a social, lived experience shaped by both 'productivist' versus 'cynical' ideology and privatization versus state authoritarianism. Each political economic system of welfare reaches from larger concepts of national and global economy to the local …

Yellow Tokens: From Racist Depictions To Token Minorities, Debra Kates

Cultural Studies Capstone Papers

The project argues that the misrepresentation of Asians in film is a direct result of white supremacy. It researches the presentation of East Asian Americans in films as a result of the hegemonic ideology of whiteness, focusing on the standard of movie star perfection as a form of white supremacy, and includes films that have white men and women cast in lead roles, even when the story is uniquely Asian. Using the theoretical lens of whiteness studies the project analyzes examples from the American film industry from the past fifteen years.

Segregaytion: The Exclusion Of Black Bodies In Gay (Cyber) Spaces, Kelvin James Stallings

Cultural Studies Capstone Papers

Gay spaces such as bars, clubs, and cruising locations are intended for the socialization of gay men, providing a historical role in shaping LGBTQ communities. These spaces are thought to be protective against various kinds of discrimination from the outside world, however the maintaining racial segregation revealed. My project first contextualizes these historically gay spaces through historical accounts, and some personal narratives, by addressing issues of both racial segregation and sexuality of black homosexuals. The project moves from the historical gay space to contemporary spaces focusing on the social networking app, Grindr, which similarly maintains the white normative presence in …

Humanature Relations In Oman: Connections, Disconnections And Globalization, Maryam A. Alhinai

Communication ETDs

In this dissertation, I explore agricultural practices as a window into ecocultural communication. Using agricultural practices of villagers in Village G, Oman, as a case study, I explore the ways in which villagers and government officials conceptualize humanature relations and the forces that enhance and/or impede these relations. My specific goals for this study were: (1) to build an interpretive understanding of ecocultural orientations of villagers and officials in Oman and how they conceptualize their humanature relations; (2) to critically examine ideologies and uncover structural forces that enable/constrain humanature relations; and (3) to co-create community engagement work that honors the …

“What Is Meant To Be, Will Be”: Hip-Hop And The Continuum Of Gender Politics, Ryan Harris

Tapestries: Interwoven voices of local and global identities

The mainstream Hip-hop narrative positions itself as hypermasculine, violent, greed obsessed and overtly misogynistic. Even in spite of this, those at the margins (historically women), have arisen to appear a cut above the stereotypical rap discourse. This piece takes on the journey of expanding the dominant narratives surrounding Hip-hop. We must both back at the past and towards to future to truly the expansive landscape that Hip-hop culture has to offer the world. This piece mainly examines the function of gender identity politics through a Hip-hop lens. Analyzing both the work of renowned artist Lauryn Hill, but also the queer …

Book Review: Power, Voice And Subjectivity In Literature For Young Readers. Maria Nikolajeva. New York: Routledge, 2010. 204 Pages., Stacy Loyd

Journal of Educational Research and Innovation

Power, Voice, and Subjectivity in Literature for Young Readers. Maria Nikolajeva (2010).