Digital Commons Network^™

Korean American Students' Language And Literacy Practices At A Korean Language School, Mihye Han

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This study explores how Korean American young adolescent students engage in and construct meaning in Korean and English language and literacy practices at a Korean Language School (KLS) in the United States. From a sociocultural perspective, it focuses on the KLS, a social context where the students are exposed to and engage in Korean language and literacy practices. This study investigates what kinds of language and literacy practices in Korean and/or English are embedded in the KLS in the particular Korean community in which this study was conducted, how the Korean American students respond to those language and literacy practices …

The British Women’S Land Army: Gender, Identity, And Landscapes, Hilary M.K. Anderson

Masters Theses

The land girls who comprised the Women’s Land Army in Great Britain during the Second World War challenged cultural assumptions regarding gender and femininity. Through their work in agriculture, social anxieties were provoked regarding proper notions of femininity and separate spheres, which left these women in conflicting positions as they carved a spot for themselves in a war torn society. In order to carry out their work in the Women’s Land Army, land girls operated at the convergence of private and public spheres in a conjoined space. Living and operating in this conjoined space enabled them to blur the ideological …

Ceramics As An Ethnic Identifier: Libyans In The Nile Delta During The Third Intermediate Period, Rachel Jana Mittelman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This dissertation investigates whether or not ceramics can be used to determine ethnicity, demographics, and settlement patterns of Libyans living in Lower Egypt during the Third Intermediate Period (Dynasties 21-24, ca. 1100-713 BCE). As few Libyan ceramics have been found and collated, the ceramic corpora from Mendes, Tanis, and Sais - attested Egyptian centers of Libyan habitation - were compared to the assemblages from Memphis, a city which housed both Libyans and Egyptians, and Tell El-Retaba, a city with no known Libyan settlement. This study first aimed to define a distinct Libyan identity based on textual evidence from Egyptian and …

The Politics Of Memory, Nicole Maurantonio

Rhetoric and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

This chapter considers the definitional and disciplinary politics surrounding the study of memory, exploring the various sites of memory study that have emerged within the field of communication. Specifically, this chapter reviews sites of memory and commemoration, ranging from places such as museums, monuments, and memorials, to textual forms, including journalism and consumer culture. Within each context, this chapter examines the ways in which these sites have interpreted and reinterpreted traumatic pasts bearing great consequence for national identity. It concludes with a discussion of the challenges set forth by new media for scholars engaging in studies of the politics of …

Identity Performance And Space In The Albuquerque Poetry Slam Scene, Edward Hakim Bellamy

Communication ETDs

Public spaces where culture is co-constructed and performed by a community of people are rich sites for research on identity formation. This thesis explores the poetry slam as a space where poets and audiences co-construct and perform individual and group identities. From a social constructionist approach to identity formation and through the theories and methods of performance studies, the research design combines participant observation, interviews, and focus groups to elucidate the values and performative acts that define the distinct identity of the local slam community in Albuquerque, NM. The analysis of data identifies five major themes (authenticity, affecting change, building …

Immigrants, Roma And Sinti Unveil The “National” In Italian Identity, Francesco Melfi

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

This essay picks up a few threads in the ongoing debate on national identity in Italy. Immigration and the intertwining of cultures locally have stretched the contours of the nation state to a breaking point. As a result, the social self has become a sharply contested terrain between those who want to install a symbolic electronic fence around an imagined fatherland and those who want a more inclusive nation at home in a global world. After discussing the views of Amin Maalouf (2000), Alessandro Dal Lago (2009), Abdelmalek Sayad (1999) and Patrick Manning (2005) on national identity and migration in …

Reconsidering Childfreedom: A Feminist Exploration Of Discursive Identity Construction In Childfree Livejournal Communities, Julia Moore

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

This article employs participant definitional analysis, sensitized with feminist poststructuralism and critical ethnography, to understand three identity construction processes that members of childfree LiveJournal communities participate in: (a) naming childfreedom, (b) negotiating childfreedom, and (c) enacting childfreedom. I argue that childfree identities are contested and sometimes activist. Ultimately, I call for scholars to reconsider the definition of childfree to account for the complex and nuanced identities constructed by individuals who identify as such.

Know Your Role: Black College Students, Racial Identity, And Performance, Dafina-Lazarus Stewart

Higher Education and Student Affairs Faculty Publications

This article is a report of a critical constructivist study of racial identity and performance among 13 Black, traditional-age students enrolled at three different colleges, two historically Black and one predominantly White. The study’s approach understood identity to be socially constructed and reliant upon community affirmation and validation. The findings highlight (1) the role of internal community pressure, (2) the ways in which racial performance dominated the students’ discussions of their racial identities, and (3) the intersection of internalized racism and sexism. The overarching conclusion points to the need for promoting acceptance of racial heterogeneity within communities of Black young …

Spectrum Of The Spirit: Interpreting The Material Connotations Of Ecclesiastical Stained Glass In Charleston, South Carolina, Valerie J. Mccluskey

All Theses

The City of Charleston is known colloquially as 'The Holy City,' and many of its holy structures display stained glass windows. Long admired for their aesthetic qualities, these stained glass windows are under-examined examples of the city's material culture. A careful reading of these windows has uncovered information about the artifacts themselves and the cultural, religious, and geographic identities of the societies who created and commissioned these windows. This thesis examines how ethnography, religion, and geography influenced the artistic styles and iconography of the stained glass windows of Charleston's ecclesiastical structures and mausoleums. The stained glass windows of Peninsular Charleston …

Concealment And Construction Of Knightly Identity In Chretien's Romances And Malory's Le Morte Darthur., Taylor Lee Gathof

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

Reel Queer: Emergent Discourses And Contexts Of Queer Youth Identity Constructions And Experiences In Digital Video Projects, Sarah Lindsey Beck

Communication ETDs

My thesis examines the discourses present in digital video projects created by queer youth, ages 13-20, who participated in The Reel Queer Youth video mentorship program between 2009 and 2012. I used textual analysis, specifically discourse and critical technocultural discourse analysis to explore constructions of identity in youth and experiences present in digital video projects and the contexts these discourses were produced within. I identified three overarching discursive themes: (a) call for more complex understandings of queer youth identities and experiences; (b) concern regarding gender binaries; and (c) change and self-responsibility. In addition to the discursive themes, I identified and …

Gettin' Weird Together: The Performance Of Identity And Community Through Cultural Artifacts Of Electronic Dance Music Culture, Andrew Matthew Wagner

Theses and Dissertations

The growing popularity of Electronic Dance Music (EDM) on nearly every continent has given rise to the transition of EDM music from underground raves to large scale, multiple-day music festivals. Attendance at EDM events, whether at concerts or festivals, is primarily dominated by today's youth generation. The number of youth attending these events continues to grow as elements of EDM are being mixed into other mainstream music genres. This increase in the popularity of EDM has been an area of research interest in the past decades for a variety of disciplines, such as psychology, sociology, marketing, and tourism. The present …

Recreational Segregation: The Role Of Place In Shaping Communities, Iyshia Michelle Lowman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Institutionalized racial segregation in the United States has had a significant impact on many aspects of American culture. Segregation was practiced in every aspect of public life, even in areas of recreation. For those labeled as "nonwhite," even going to the beach was legally restricted. The events between the 1950s and 1960s at Homestead Bayfront Beach in Homestead, Florida are evidence that social stratification based on the social categorization of race has a significant effect even today. This research examines how legalized segregation in the past impacted society and contributed to the development of a place and identity at Homestead …

Student Identity Considerations And Implications Associated With Socioscientific Issues Instruction, Mitchel James Ruzek

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this investigation was to explore how aspects of identity, perceived levels of controversy, and the strength of a student's attachment to their controversial identity relate to conceptual understanding and knowledge acquisition during socioscientific issues (SSI) based instruction in a biology classroom. The knowledge gained from this study will have the capacity to enhance our understanding of the role that attachment to identity plays during SSI negotiation. Additionally, insight was gained into the role played by aspects of identity in conceptual understanding of scientifically controversial topics during SSI based instruction.

This study contributed to the existing knowledge base …

Modern Japanese Literature And Visual Culture: Constructions Of Religious And Historical Identity, Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

This course is a survey of modern Japanese literature and visual culture since the Meiji Restoration (1868). It focuses on constructions of identities within historical contexts. Our objective is to analyze ways in which writers and artists have positioned their subjects and re-imagined culture to create particular portrayals. The class examines a selection of shōsetsu (the Japanese novel) of Natsume Soseki, Kawabata Yasunari, Mishima Yukio, Murakami Haruki, and Ogawa Yōko, films of Miyazaki Hayao, and important anime. The course promotes critical methodologies and interdisciplinary or comparative studies, combining, for example, literature with film, visual culture, gender studies, cultural history, Buddhist …

Science Youth Action Research: Promoting Critical Science Literacy Through Relevance And Agency, Elizabeth Coleman

Dissertations

This three-article dissertation presents complementary perspectives on Science Youth Action Research (Sci-YAR), a K-12 curriculum designed to emphasize relevance and agency to promote youth's science learning. In Sci-YAR, youth conduct action research projects to better understand science-related issues in their lives, schools, or communities, while they simultaneously document, analyze, and reflect upon their own practices as researchers. The first article defines Sci-YAR and argues for its potential to enhance youth's participation as citizens in a democratic society. The second article details findings from a case study of youth engaged in Sci-YAR, describing how the curriculum enabled and constrained youth's identity …

Experiences Of Immigration Among Women From Taiwan, Robert Johnston

Master's Theses

This thesis explores the transformative effects of immigration from the 1960s through the 2010s among women from Taiwan living in the County of Santa Clara. The study focused on three substantive areas: (1) early life experiences and factors leading to immigration; (2) shifts in social identities after leaving Taiwan (e.g., political, national, and ethnic self-concepts in various contexts); and (3) practices of child-rearing. Several methodological tools were employed during the data collection phase of the research process, including interviews, surveys, and participant observations. The findings of this study suggested a dynamic process of change in which informants adapted to, were …

Pinning Motherhood: The Construction Of Mothering Identities On Pinterest, Kate Griffin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the new social media site, Pinterest, to uncover the processes through which mothers construct self- and public-identities. Despite being valued at over $3.8 billion dollars (Perez 2013), having an impressive user retention rate (Moore 2014), and having a highly gendered user base (Tekobbe 2013), Pinterest has been the site of limited sociological inquiry. Seventeen semi-structured qualitative interviews on mothering and Pinterest use were conducted with central Florida mothers who have a Pinterest account and at least one child between 6 months and 10 years old. Through analysis based in a grounded theory approach, three central themes emerged …

“Creative Writing As Freedom, Education As Exploration”: Creative Writing As Literary And Visual Arts Pedagogy In The First Year Teacher-Education Experience, Nicole Anae

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The themed presentation at the Sydney Writers’ Festival on May 25, 2013 entitled “Creative Writing as Freedom, Education as Exploration” brought together three key players in a discussion about imaginative freedom, and the evidence suggesting that the impact of creativity and creative writing on young minds held long lasting, ongoing implications. This is a particularly crucial conversation given the factors stifling creative writing pedagogies in contemporary classrooms. In contributing to the ongoing dialogue about literary creativity, this theorized classroom-based discussion explores the integration of creative writing as literary and visual arts pedagogy among first year preservice-teachers developing an …

Uncovering Identities Through Performance Poetry, Angela Vanhook

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Research in the area of performance poetry is still relatively new to the field of communication. Using Hecht’s Communication Theory of Identity, this study explores performance poetry as a communicative tool for identity management. By observing the performances of five poets from six seasons of HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, a thematic analysis of the communication practices that occurred during the performances was used to code the processes of identity management. Additionally, this study explores how validation of enacted identity occurs between the poets and their audiences. Findings suggest that performance poetry could effectively be utilized as a tool in identity …

From Services To Civilian: The Geographies Of Veterans' Post-Military Lives, Agatha Herman, Richard Yarwood

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

No abstract provided.

It's Common (But We Don't Talk About It) : How Straight Male Use Of Gay Male Porn Influences Acts, Identities, And Desire, Solomon Z. Traurig

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This exploratory study was conducted to determine what potential pornography might hold as a productive space for exploring desire and identity, in addition to influencing sexual behaviors or preferences outside of pornography use. Specifically, this research set out to understand how and why individuals may watch pornography that represents identities or acts that are not considered to be in alignment with their stated or felt sexual orientation. In-person semistructured interviews were conducted in the San Francisco Bay Area, with 11 straight- or formerly straight-identified men. From there, interview data was organized and coded with thematic analysis. Although the findings were …

The Argentine Tango As A Discursive Instrument And Agent Of Social Empowerment: Buenos Aires, 1880-1955, Lorena Elizabeth Tabares

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

As an indisputable central element of Argentine popular culture, the tango constitutes much more than an artistic expression or a recreational activity. It is the manifestation of a collective ideology and idiosyncrasy. The development of the tango as a song of the people and social history between the 1880's and the first half of the 20th century, was not merely the result of a matter of identification but more importantly, the fact that it, in its `tridimensionality' comprised of music, dance and lyrics, offered the milieu to the existence of the people that identified with it. In other words, the …

Deciphering Babel: Dis/Locations Of The Professional Self And The Second Language Curriculum, Sandra R. Barros

The Qualitative Report

In the following (auto) ethnographic study, I draw from Burdick’s (2012) analogy of qualitative research as “auto - archeology” and from parrhesia (Foucault, 1988) as a rhetorical device of self - definition and preservation to explore the interplay of power and identity within the context of second language education discourses. Specifically, I focus on the ways in which, through the creation of particular performative strategies, two educators working within the context of Liberal Arts institutions negotiate, construct and resist the everyday pressures and implied prejudices often associated with the curriculum and instruction of second languages in the United States. I …

Is First, They Killed My Father A Cambodian Testimonio?, John Maddox

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "Is First, They Killed My Father a Cambodian testimonio" John T. Maddox discusses aspects of the testimonial. Dialoguing with leading Latin Americanists, Maddox argues that Cambodian writer Loung Ung's First, They Killed My Father (2000) challenges this uniqueness and opens studies on the testimonio to new possibilities for intellectual reflection and political activism. In Maddox's view, the continued use of the term testimonio would serve as a reference to this long-standing tradition of writing and thinking about political violence in Latin America. After a discussion of the debate of the definition and function of testimonio and …

Fesyen Dan Identitas: Simbolisasi Budaya Dan Agama Dalam Busana Pengantin Jawa Muslim Di Surabaya, Dewi Meyrasyawati

Makara Human Behavior Studies in Asia

This study is conducted to investigate a popular practice of modifying Javanese bridal costumes based on religious considerations. Transformation from purely traditional Javanese bridal costumes to those with some application of Islamic clothing style is gaining rapid acceptance and begins to be considered as a popular fashion style by a great number of Indonesians, especially in urban areas like Surabaya. The purpose of this study is to discover cultural (Java) and religious (Islam) symbolisms implied in the modification and to examine the signification involved in the process. By applying the fashion system theory, this paper seeks to unravel the symbolisms …

Not A Hearing Loss, A Deaf Gain: Power, Self-Naming, And The Deaf Community, David J. Thomas

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Self-naming has long stood as the primary assertion of power for disenfranchised communities in the western world. While person first language (e.g. person who is deaf) has been the preferred language of disability and disability services for the last 20 years, members of the Deaf community have asserted their cultural capital, and indeed, their Deafhood, or defining the experience of being ‘deaf in the world’, through the power of self-naming. This research examines attitudes toward language, self-naming, and disability in the Deaf community and seeks to move toward a more attentive, sensitive, and responsive language policy in the academy.

Historically, …

Entre Expatriation Et Apatridie : Les Romans De Gaston-Paul Effa Et Henri Lopes, Yves Abel Feze

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

The stories of exile and return from exile of novelists Gaston-Paul Effa and Henri Lopes give themselves to read on how to register a double “desappartenance” and focuses in the heart of their narratives the figure of a now be stateless, alien to itself and to the Other. We propose, therefore, to study the reconstruction of identity as it is the result of emigration and return on the homeland. This leads thus to the conclusion that the stateless defies the nation in order to situate itself and his stories in a transnational space.

Exploring Professional Identity, Scott G. Banghart

College of Communication Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the ways in which organizational members define what it means to communicate professionally, the extent to which enacting professional identity reflects organizational identification and individual identity, and the specific contexts in which professionalism is most encouraged. Data collected from participant interviews highlighted three intersectional components related to the enactment professional identity and perceptions of [un]professionalism—technical, behavioral, and social. Further, the results of this study suggest that professionalism as a communicative construct manifests itself in the midst of ongoing tension between individual agency and organizational constraint, conflating individual identities with norms, values, and expectations set forth by the …

Chicana Aesthetics: A View Of Unconcealed Alterities And Affirmations Of Chicana Identity Through Laura Aguilar’S Photographic Images, Daniel Perez

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

In this paper I will argue that Chicana feminist artist Laura Aguilar, Alma Lopez, Laura Molina, and Yreina D. Cervantez established a continuing counter-narrative of cultural hegemony and Western essentialized hegemonic identification. Through artistic expression they have developed an oppositional discourse that challenges racial stereotypes, discrimination, socio-economic inequalities, political representation, sexuality, femininity, and hegemonic discourse. I will present a complex critique of both art and culture through an inquiry of the production and evaluation of the Chicana feminist artist, their role as the artist, and their contributions to unfixing the traditional and marginalized feminine. I argue that third wave Chicana …