Digital Commons Network^™

The Ground They Walk On: Photography And Narrative Inquiry, Diane Ketelle

The Qualitative Report

In this project, the author explores a novel variation on an established social science research method, photo-elicitation. The author photographed eight school principals during a two-year period and asked the principals to respond to the photographs by writing narratives below each. The author uses photography, reflections, and her own memories to construct descriptive narrative snapshots of the eight principals. Further, the author argues that this approach underscores how photographs are both technically and socially constructed and through the use of photo-elicitation new ways of understanding self and others in relation can be explored.

A Hockey Night In Canada: An Imagined Conversation Between Theorists, Curtis Fogel

The Qualitative Report

In this paper, various methodological issues surrounding the sociological study of sport are explored. Through an imagined dialogue between two graduate students at a hockey game, this work brings together three divergent approaches to social enquiry: Positivist Grounded Theory, Constructivist Grounded Theory, and Actor-Network Theory. This paper challenges conventional writing on method in two ways: (a) assembling three divergent approaches within a single work, and (b) employing a scripted narrative as a means of exploring methodological issues. Through this innovative approach, many of the overlaps and tensions between these theories/methods are captured. In so doing, numerous methodological questions about the …

The Evolution Of Revolution: The Dilemma Of Censorship And Fifth Generation Filmmakers, Elizabeth C. Urban

Honors College Theses

China’s Fifth Generation Filmmakers brought forth a burst of transformative cinema, but it could not be done without the strong historical antecedents of cultural turmoil and official censorship steered by the singular political course of the Chinese Communist Party. This group of filmmakers, particularly Chen Kaige (b. 1952), Tian Zhuangzhuang (b. 1952), and Zhang Yimou (b. 1951), produced a national cinema that was defined by censorship. It became their dilemma to define a course within the confines of censorship that not only absorbed the duality of censorship, which serves to both condemn and to promote, but also defied and altered …

Attitudes Toward Hazaragi, Abedin Jamal

Theses

This study examined the attitudes of young educated Hazaras towards Hazaragi, a politically low-prestigious language spoken in Afghanistan. The instrument included a questionnaire made of Attitude questions and Descriptive questions. The respondents expressed their beliefs about the linguistic entity of Hazaragi, desire to maintain Hazaragi, value of Hazaragi, and domains of use of Hazaragi. The results showed that half of the Hazaras who participated in the study considered Hazaragi to be a language whereas the other half did not. The majority of the participants demonstrated a commitment to maintain Hazaragi and to speak Hazaragi. With regards to domains of use, …

Cinderella Tales And Their Significance, Kristen Friedman

Anthropology

Variations of Cinderella tales make use of the device of changes in standing and status to suit different purposes ranging from criticism, teaching, preservation of culture, and many other aims. Cinderella tales are cyclical tales in which heroines are introduced as living in a middle to upper class with a loving father proper to their character, birth, and other traits but which they leave or are forced out of. The heroines must prove themselves and engage in work or adventure to find their way back into the class and environment in which they belong. These tales generally reward the good, …

The Hellenization Of Cyprus In The Late Cypriot Iii And Beyond: Detecting Migrations In The Archaeological Record, Robert Jennings

Anthropology

No abstract provided.

Gamete Donation Understanding Prospective Donors’ Motivations, Alexa Grafmuller

Anthropology

The technological imperative that exists within the framework of society in the United States has facilitated the unprecedented emergence of new reproductive technologies, including the use of donated gametes. The 2002 National Survey of Family Growth informs us that 7.4% of married women aged 15-44 are unable to get pregnant for at least 12 consecutive months, labeled infertility, and that 11.8% of women aged 15-44 have an impaired ability to have children, labeled impaired fecundity (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2005). This, paired with the social conventions of child rearing, is one prime indication that gamete donation is an …

Wrestling Windmills, Christopher Girman

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This manuscript explores the teaching process by following the protagonist‟s four year journey at a middle school in Edinburg, Texas. The narrator passes through four distinct phases: first-year angst, pedagogic subversion, converting the natives, and, ultimately, personal and professional acceptance. Daily interaction disrupts the narrator‟s worldview, complicating his relationships with peers, colleagues, family, and the local community. In a series of moves designed to make himself more accessible to students, the narrator encounters sexual, racial, and gender bias—much of it his own. Finally, after a serious accident in Central Mexico during Spring Break, the protagonist relies on his students to …

Creating Sustainable Identities: The Significance Of The Financially Affluent Self, V Hurth

Plymouth Business School

This paper uses identity theory and postmodern identity perspectives to analyse why high-income groups often have values, attitudes and intentions to consume sustainably, yet tend to have the highest energy consumption of any group. Two key arguments are presented. The first is that the affluent identity is opposed to the environmentalist identity and is more salient, desirable and likely to result in more social support and self-esteem rewards. Therefore, where both identities are held the affluent identity is likely to be more dominant and invoked in more circumstances. Second, the invocation of the affluent identity is liable to result in …

Impacts On Maternal Diet In A Transitional Community In Rural Costa Rica: Potential Implications For The Developmental Origins Of Obesity-Related Disorders, Allison Cantor

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis examines maternal diet in a rural, transitional community in Costa Rica. Using cross-cultural categories recognized in the ethnographic literature (i.e. dietary taboos, dietary prescriptions, food cravings and the acknowledgment of a special post-partum period diet), maternal dietary practices were identified in the local community through surveys (n=45) and participant-observation (n=5), and to reflect the actual consumption patterns of pregnant and nursing women in the area, 24-hour diet recalls were administered to 5 pregnant or nursing women. In light of the recent changes that increased tourism has brought to the Monteverde Zone, focus groups were employed to determine impacts …

Empirical Testing Of The Neuman Systems Nursing Education Model: Exploring The Created Environment Of Registered Nursing Students In Nevada’S Colleges And Universities, Diane H. Elmore

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purposes of this paper are to: (a) present the strategies and rationale for creation of a middle range nursing theory that is specific to nursing education, (b) to determine if propositions of the model are valid and appropriate to support further research based on the student-centered education model, and (c) to conduct initial research on the created environment of nursing students, which is one of two the primary constructs of the nursing education model. Use of the Neumans Systems Nursing Education Model (NSNEM), a student centered educational model, which is consistent with the Neumans System Model (NSM) provided the …

The Effects Of Cellular Theta Breathing Meditation On Cell Mediated Immune Response: A Controlled, Randomized Investigation Of Altered Consciousness And Health, Marjorie D. Hardgrave

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Medical anthropology is well positioned to make contributions to consciousness research based on biocultural approaches that integrate methodologies from the biological, behavioral and social sciences to explore aspects of human health. The ubiquity and perseverance of health related activities involving altered states of consciousness (ASC) across cultures past and present suggest that these potentials are deeply rooted in human sociocultural evolution. Analyzing the relationship between immune function and meditative ASC represents an effort to empirically investigate the adaptive value of these human potentials.

A controlled, randomized investigation of two meditation practices was conducted at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas …

Trade And Exchange In The Neolithic Near East: Implications Of Obsidian Remains From Ais Yiorkis, Cyprus, Megan M. Melson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Lithic material has proven to be the most prevalent artifact to come out of the Ais Yiorkis strata, but there is also a plentitude of other artifacts, such as fauna, seeds, and the more elusive obsidian bladelets. There are currently about 42 obsidian artifacts (both fragmented and complete) in the Ais Yiorkis collection, and curiously enough, they are all in bladelet form, suggesting these artifacts were traded in from elsewhere due to the lack of obsidian debitage at the site. This obsidian has been sourced to the Chiftlik region in Anatolia (Turkey), which suggests some degree of trade within the …

United In Righteousness: Slogans And Actions In The Boxer Movement, Aimin Guo

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The Boxer movement in 1900 came into world history as an armed conflict between China and Western Powers. However, there was no unanimity in attitudes and actions of Chinese social groups in the conflict. Although all these major groups took saving China from foreign aggression as their"righteous mission" and used the traditional Chinese concept of patriotism--"righteousness" (yi). to legitimize their action in the movement, they interpreted"righteousness" differently to fit their own interests. These different interpretations prominently embodied in the slogans of these social groups. An analysis of the underlying meanings of their political slogans contributes to the exploration of their …

The Ethics And Politics Of Habitual Bodies: Original Sin, Authenticity, And The Problem Of Moral Responsibility, Brady Thomas Heiner

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Who is the subject of habitual activity, and who, if anyone, is morally responsible for such actions? Following Saint Paul, Saint Augustine taught that it is ‘not I’ who am responsible for my habitual acts, but ‘sin, which inhabits me,’ sin derived from Adam's ‘original’ sin. Centuries later, Martin Heidegger argues that the ‘who’ of our everyday habitual existence is not the ‘authentic self,’ but the ‘they-self,’ the inauthentic self entangled in and guided by the anonymous forces of social normativity. This dissertation analyzes the early Christian account of ‘original sin’ and its hitherto unappreciated iteration in Heidegger's existential account …

Economic Individualism And Cross-National Differences In Redistribution, Gizem Arikan

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Redistributive policies and public support for redistribution vary greatly across countries. Although a large literature on the factors that influence the cross-national variation in redistribution has accumulated, behavioral factors such as cultural influences have received limited attention. In this dissertation, I address the effect of the political culture of economic individualism and shared subjective beliefs regarding the role of government on cross-national differences in the size of government, relative generosity of welfare policies, and support for redistribution. I show that a political culture that emphasizes the values of individual autonomy, self-reliance, pursuit of self-interest and achievement generates stronger support for …

Collaborative Memory And Part-Set Cuing Impairments: The Role Of Executive Control, Sarah Jane Barber

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Providing memory cues can sometimes hurt memory performance rather than enhance it. More specifically, when people are exposed to a subset of previously studied list items they will recall fewer of the remaining items compared to a condition where none of the studied items are provided during recall. This occurs both when the subset of list items is provided by the experimenter (as in the part-set cuing deficit) and when the subset of list items is provided during the course of a collaborative discussion by other individuals (as in the collaborative inhibition effect). Previous research has identified retrieval disruption as …

Authority And Force: Investigating Authority In The Works Of Thomas Hobbes And In J.M. Coetzee's Diary Of A Bad Year, Ciahnan Quinn Darrell

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

`Authority' is said to govern force; it is a word one is born into, a word that shapes what one knows, and even what he is able to see, but it is also a word that conceals its precise meaning and which refuses to divulge its origins. The relationship between force and authority is dynamic, intimate, and infinitely complex; authority and force are often conflated, or differentiated only by the thinnest and most porous of tissue. As force and authority commingle, articulating the difference between the two becomes increasingly problematic, and the most profound consequence of this inability to distinguish …

Stand Up Next To A Mountain: The Art Of Barkley L. Hendricks, 1964-1977, Lori Louise Salmon

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

This thesis explores the creative accomplishments of American artist Barkley L.Hendricks and argues that the 1960s and 1970s represented a pivotal moment forfigurative painting in American Art because of its relationship between nationality andrace. In 1967, Stokely Carmichael and Charles V. Hamilton's revolutionary work"BlackPower" exposed the depths of systemic racism in the United States and provided a radicalpolitical framework for reform. I examine Hendricks' artistic efforts and achievementsduring this sociopolitical Movement. In particular, this thesis will investigate thefollowing: the idiosyncrasies in Hendricks' art that demonstrate how the artist'srepresentations of American life, in fact, construct African-American identity within alarger debate about …

Tactical Response: Art In An Age Of Terror, Kathleen Macqueen

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

This dissertation takes as its point of departure the crisis of perception that photojournalism cannot adequately take into account the problems of representing atrocity without repeating the violence and considers the position of art in expressing the ineffable. I present the work of three artists: Hans Haacke, Krzysztof Wodiczko, and Alfredo Jaar; each has struggled for decades to resolve the issues of confrontation and presentation, offering a vantage point from which viewers can critically address the causes, consequences, and representation of suffering. What purpose does the aesthetic serve in rendering atrocity visible? Can we visualize suffering without perpetuating abuse? What …

Communism With Its Clothes Off: Eastern European Film Comedy And The Grotesque, Lilla Toke

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The dissertation examines the legacies of grotesque comedy in the cinemas of Eastern Europe. The absolute non-seriousness that characterized grotesque realism became a successful and relatively safe way to talk about the absurdities and the failures of the communist system. This modality, however, was not exclusive to the communist era but stretched back to the Austro-Hungarian era and forward into the Postcommunist times. The analysis explores how film comedy provided a second, carnivalesque world that mirrored official culture in a grotesque way and ridiculed it, and as such these comedies indicated the failure of the Grand Narrative of Communism. The …

The Role Of Religious Leaders In Suicide Prevention: A Comparative Analysis Of American Christian And Japanese Buddhist Clergy, Tatsushi Hirono

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The purpose of this study is to examine American and Japanese clergy's perception of their role in the prevention of suicide. The aim of this study is to try to clarify what kinds of resources or training clergy need to help them prevent suicide. The research questions are: (1) How do clergy perceive suicide in the USA and Japan?; (2) Do they see suicide differently?; and (3) How do clergy perceive the role of suicide prevention in the USA and Japan? The hypotheses are: (A) Christian clergy think that suicide is a"sin" and not acceptable?; (B) Buddhist clergy are more …

Collaborative Memory And Part-Set Cuing Impairments: The Role Of Executive Control, Sarah Jane Barber

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Providing memory cues can sometimes hurt memory performance rather than enhance it. More specifically, when people are exposed to a subset of previously studied list items they will recall fewer of the remaining items compared to a condition where none of the studied items are provided during recall. This occurs both when the subset of list items is provided by the experimenter (as in the part-set cuing deficit) and when the subset of list items is provided during the course of a collaborative discussion by other individuals (as in the collaborative inhibition effect). Previous research has identified retrieval disruption as …

Illinois State Alumni Magazine, May 2010, Illinois State University, University Marketing And Communications

State: The Magazine of Illinois State University (1999-present)

Illinois State University alumni magazine

Disappointing Shades, Ann Shivers Mcnair

Master's Theses

Disappointing Shades is a collection of poems written at The University of Southern Mississippi. It is accompanied by a critical preface.

Three Essays On Customer Chemistry, Michael Breazeale

Theses and Dissertations

The focus of much marketing research for the past two decades has been on the role of consumption in consumers’ lives. Relationships with products, brands, and favorite possessions have captured the interest of researchers and practitioners. More recently the concept of brand love has emerged to describe the lengths to which some consumers will go to maintain relationships with certain consumed objects. But is consumer love contained only to favorite brands or might there be different types of love as in interpersonal relationships? This dissertation presents a case for the development of one type of consumer love – customer chemistry, …

We Are Clay People: The Struggle Against Choctaw Communal Dissolution, 1801-1861, Gary Coleman Cheek

Theses and Dissertations

Acculturation has become an integral part of scholarship about Native Americans in the Southeast. Recent studies have focused on trade the eighteenth century and Choctaw entry into the American market economy during the beginning of the nineteenth century. This study analyzes acculturation from 1801 to 1861, carrying the story about cultural change and persistence through the Removal era and to the American Civil War. It argues that while Choctaws acculturated to survive, prosper, and protect autonomy in a changing world, they continuously battled communal dissolution, which threatened to destroy their nation. Some individuals attempted to promote new methods of subsistence, …

Atomic Governance: Militarism, Secrecy, And Science In Post-War America, 1945-1958, Mary D. Wammack

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This history of America's post-World War II atomic program examines the institutional impulses that drove its evolution from 1945 through the 1958 moratorium on atmospheric weapons testing. Based on archival research and methodologies borrowed from sociologists and legal theorists, it focuses on the motivations of and decisions made by military officers, program managers and affiliates in the private sector, their relationships, and the alliances they formed with congressmen. This analysis identifies a two-stage process of self-interested decision-making through which the armed forces, seeking to mitigate postwar loss of funding and influence, gained de facto control of the atomic program that …

The More The Merrier: Collective Sanctions And The Modification Of States' Behavior, Lauren J. Waldron

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Sanctions in South Africa and Libya were successful episodes because there was a definite change in the behavior on the part of the target. These sanctions episodes were successful because they were collectively imposed by a collection of States, achieved a change in behavior, as well as containing the instability experienced within the target. Sanctions in India and Pakistan were unsuccessful episodes because they were unilaterally imposed by the United States. There was no change in behavior in India and Pakistan because the sanctions were not collectively imposed by multiple States. The instability in the region was not contained because …

Home On The Plains: An Examination Of Place At Agate Fossil Beds National Monument Through Chipped Stone Tool Analysis, Cynthia J. Wiley

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Recent archaeological research in High Plains archaeology focuses on aspects of landscape and identifying areas that likely registered as “places” in the minds of past peoples. Agate Fossil Beds National Monument in Sioux County, Nebraska is located in an area wealthy in multi-component sites and a rich research history. Yet so many of the features common at neighboring sites are missing from this area. Based on what Agate Fossil Beds National Monument lacks, researchers refer to this area as transitional, merely a crossroads between places.

However, Agate Fossil Beds National Monument contains multiple desirable resources such as a perennial water …