Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Acquisition Of Advanced Level Chinese Heritage Language (Chl) Learners：A Comparative Analysis Concerning The Aspect Marker “Le了”, Jingjing Ao

Masters Theses

Over the decades, research on heritage language learners has been quite popular, but most studies concern Russian, Spanish and other languages rather than Chinese. The Chinese heritage language learner’s studies focus mainly on K-12 students and their learning motivations, writing characteristics, and identification recognition and those concerned with language acquisition address their vocabulary and verbal Chinese development. There have been very few studies about learning grammar. This study emphasizes on the acquisition of the aspect marker LE among advanced learners.

To investigate the acquisition characteristics of advanced CHL learners, this study adopted the advanced CHL learners as the research group …

Memory Vague: A History Of City Pop, Jeffrey Salazar

Masters Theses

This thesis gives a definition and chronology of city pop and places it within the context of Japanese history. City pop can be traced from the 1960s folk movement in Japan until its demise in the early 1990s, coinciding with the end of the bubble economy. This thesis also examines the mid-2010s resurgence of interest in city pop among English-speaking internet users, beginning with a nostalgic rediscovery and curation of city pop around the turn of the century by DJs in Japan known as “crate diggers.” City pop was then transmitted to the West through sampling in hip-hop and especially …

Benjamin Smith Lyman: Geologist At The Intersection Of Hokkaido, Japan, And The United States, Benjamin Ashby

Masters Theses

Benjamin Smith Lyman was a geologist from Northampton, Massachusetts, who was contracted by the Japanese government in 1872 to carry out coal surveys on the island of Hokkaidō 北海道. What started out as a standard geological survey, quickly evolved into a lifelong interest in Japan for Lyman. The large collection of letters, books, photographs, and other documents housed under the Benjamin Smith Lyman Collection at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, serve as a primary source on both early relations between the Japanese and the West and the beginnings of the large network of academic writings which today can be classified …

Self-Representation In Selected Poems Of Gu Taiqing (1799-1877), Li-Ting Chang

Masters Theses

Gu Taiqing 顧太清 (1799-1877) is one of the most famous and prolific female writers in the late Qing. In this thesis, I focus on her poems and lyrics on three important subjects, self-portrayals, plum blossoms, and Qingfengge 清風閣 (Clear Breeze Pavilion), in her two poetry collections, Tianyou geji 天遊閣集 (Collected Poems of Heavenly Travels Studio) and Donghai yuge 東海漁歌 (Songs of the Fisherman of the Eastern Sea), in order to advance the current scholarship on this female author and Ming-Qing women’s writings and reveal the uniqueness of Gu’s poetry. My study addresses how she represents herself, recounts her life experiences, …

Tblt In Virtual L2 Classroom: Challenges, Actions And Insights, Jianan He

Masters Theses

Task-based language teaching (TBLT) has attracted a great deal of interest since its inception, as reflected in a large body of relevant literature; most of the literature deals with TBLT in in-person (IP) settings and a small number of TBLT applications in online settings. The shift from the traditional IP mode to the virtual classroom caused by COVID-19 has made the effective application of TBLT a concern. However, most of the past studies have been conducted from the researcher’s perspective, which cannot meet the urgent needs of language teachers from a practical standpoint.

This study examined TBLT in virtual Chinese …

On Shattered Ruins: The Cultural Practices And Production Of The Great Tanghsna Earthquake In Post-Mao Literature And Film, Jinhui Chen

Masters Theses

This thesis explores how traumatic memories of the Tangshan earthquake have been constructed in literature, documentary works, and films. Through analyzing the narrative construction of the Tangshan earthquake in the form of film and literature, this thesis studies the relationship between state power and individual agency in the representation of this natural disaster. It argues that the cultural representation of this natural disaster reflects a subtle shift: one from the dominant nationalistic narrative to the narrative centering on individuals’ psychological trauma. It suggests the high degree of state control and politicization is what is similar between a natural disaster such …

Beautiful "Looks" Created By Women: New Aesthetics On Makeup For Overturning The Traditional Japanese Beauty, Yurina Yoshikawa

Masters Theses

ABSTRACT BEAUTY LOOKS CREATED BY WOMEN: TRADITIONAL BEAUTY AND NEW AESTHETICS FOR WOMEN MAY 2021 YURINA YOSHIKAWA B.A., NANZAN UNIVERSITY M.A., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Amanda C. Seaman In this thesis I focus on comparing the styles of beauty or “looks” that women have created for themselves, as well as concepts of traditional beauty. By doing so, this thesis will clarify how women try to change traditional beauty concepts and express themselves. As anyone who has watched TV in Japan has noticed, Japan has stereotyped aesthetic values of women that mass media such as magazines or TV …

Real Fake Fighting: The Aesthetic Of Qualified Realism In Japanese Professional Wrestling, Clara Marino

Masters Theses

Professional wrestling is a performance art in which the line between fact and fiction is often obscured. Much of the existing scholarship on the medium that examines its dynamics regard reality and artifice focuses on the role of the artificial, analyzing pro-wrestling as primarily a form of heightened spectacle akin to passion plays or soap opera. However, professional wrestling in Japan, particularly that found in the country's largest promotion, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, features many elements that resemble real sports much more closely than many American promotions. These elements include fighting styles, wrestler injury, characters that do not fit easily into …