Arts and Humanities Commons^™

From Object To Other: Models Of Sociality After Idealism In Gadamer, Levinas, Rosenzweig, And Bonhoeffer, Christopher J. King

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation offers an account of the different ways in which putatively idealist and transcendental models of sociality, which grounded the subject’s relation to other human beings in the subject’s own cognition, were rejected and replaced. Scrapping this account led to a variety of models of sociality which departed from the subject as the ground of sociality, positing grounds outside of the subject. Hans-Georg Gadamer, Emmanuel Levinas, Franz Rosenzweig, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer represent alternative positions along a spectrum of models of sociality which reject the idealist concept of sociality.

The central argument of this dissertation claims that the responses to …

Investigating Alternative Subsistence Strategies Among The Homeless Near Tampa, Florida, Matthew Peter Rooney

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Modern homelessness is one of the most pressing social and political problems of our time. Several hundred thousand people experience homelessness in the United States each year, and the U.S. Department of Housing, which attempts to count those people, has admitted that their statistics are conservative estimates at best. A recent archaeological study (Zimmerman et al 2010) examining material culture associated with homeless communities in Indianapolis has suggested that those who are considered chronically homeless have generally abandoned wage labor and are instead pursuing urban foraging as a subsistence strategy. In order to better understand the structures of homeless communities, …

"People...Do Not Come With Standardized Circumstances": Toward A Model For An Anthropology Of E-Government, Marc K. Hebert

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many Americans appreciate the availability and ease of using government websites to conduct their business with the state. What then of the most vulnerable in society? How do they access and use a standardized application process for government assistance, considering their potential resource, educational and physical constraints? Many go to public libraries and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which shifts the responsibility to help applicants from the government agency administering the program to local actors whose primary duties lie elsewhere.

The aim of this research is to document the experiences of three groups of people, primarily located in a central Florida, urban …

Towards Understanding Water Conservation Behavior In Southwest Florida: The Role Of Cultural Models, Bernard T. (Terry) Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This applied anthropology dissertation aims to enhance public policy and best practices for conserving potable water resources, using the Tampa Bay region of southwest Florida as a case study. It addresses not how humans conserve, but why they may or may not choose to do so. To date, a limited anthropological focus on water conservation behavior in western, urban settings has created a gap in the role culture plays in understanding why people conserve. The research problem is to identify how water conservation behavior in Tampa, Florida can be enhanced through a better understanding of beliefs and values reflected in …

Aretē And Physics: The Lesson Of Plato's Timaeus, John R. Wolfe

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Plato's Timaeus is traditionally read as a work dedicated to the sole purpose of describing the origin and nature of the cosmos, as a straightforward attempt by Plato to produce a peri phuseos treatise. In accord with this reading, the body of Timaeus' monologue is then seen as nothing more than an attempt by Plato to convey his own cosmological doctrines.

I propose an alternative to the view that the Timaeus is nothing more than a textbook of Platonic physics. The Timaeus is rather squarely focused on the human being, in her moral and political dimensions, and on her relation …

Agriculture And Tampa Bay News: How Do Local News Media Frame Agribusiness?, Alex R. Ritzheimer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose for this thesis was to explore a dynamic between the news media, their subjects, and their audience. I investigate whether everyday news media frame the information they deliver in such a way as to potentially direct the audience on how to respond to news stories. The setting for this research question is in the Tampa Bay area of Florida and the subject matter deals specifically with agriculture, its practitioners, how they do business, and how the local news media report about it. The issue will be explored from an applied anthropological perspective, basing conclusions on field research and …

Gis Spatial Analysis Of Multiple Scenes In Criminal Homicides, Casey C. Anderson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Anthropological studies of community structures and human relationships of today's societies are becoming increasingly important for crime analysis. Law enforcement agencies are often challenged with the task of connecting multiple locations to persons involved in crimes to solve cases. Using the structures of the target communities and the social relationship between the victim and offender, spatial distributions of crimes can be reconstructed.

Data used in this analysis were collected from Hillsborough County, Florida (n=420) and Lancaster County, Nebraska (n=48) law enforcement agencies within the years 1997-2007. The hypothesis of this paper is: if the social relationship between the victim and …

Mental Health Policy And Services In Tampa, Florida, Shelly Yankovskyy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

During the summer of 2004 I interned with the Mental Health Association of Greater Tampa Bay (MHA), a local affiliate of the National Mental Health Association. My time spent with the MHA became a gateway into the world of mental health. In the course of fulfilling my duties, I developed a particular interest in understanding the services that are available to persons, especially adults seeking treatment/services for mental illness. Through the MHA I was introduced to a wide range of people who have some link to mental health services, including psychiatrists, therapists, policy makers, and lawyers. This thesis utilizes an …

The Articulate Remedies Of Dolores Lolita Rodriguez, Hyatt Kellim Brown

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For eighty-six-year-old Tampa, Florida, native Dolores Lolita Rodriguez, yard decorating was more than just decoration; it was a form of therapy. Her yard was a massive assemblage of found objects arranged into a personalized visual vocabulary that involved honoring the deceased, her Spanish identity, and local spiritual practices. The yard also upheld a unique conception of beauty. Her creations were an articulation of, and remedy for, a life of tremendous loss. They were also the cause of her stroke and confinement to rehabilitation in November 2002.

Dolores property was visually cognate with a mode of yard decoration, called the African-American …

Globalization, Ecotourism, And Development In The Monte Verde Zone, Costa Rica, Edgar Allan Amador

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Ecotourism has been promoted globally as a model for sustainable development because it simultaneously benefits the environment and the residents of the given destination. However, many conservationists have questioned the long term sustainability of ecotourism as it is difficult to mitigate the impact of even low levels of tourism on a particular ecosystem. Further, social scientists including anthropologists have similarly questioned whether most residents of a particular destination actually benefit significantly from the alternative tourism economy.

The Globalization Research Center in cooperation with the Monteverde Institue in the Monte Verde Zone, Costa Rica, is undertaking a longitudinal study -- dubbed …

Community Participation And Consensus In Hiv/Aids Prevention: An Exploration Of The Suzgo, The Issues Of Aids In Malawi, Jon Aaron Poehlman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

After more than twenty years of increasing understanding of the human immunodeficiency virus known as HIV, the virus continues to spread throughout the world, manifesting itself lethally in the form of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). With no cure or affordable treatment presently available for the majority of the people of sub-Saharan Africa and the African nation of Malawi, work aimed at preventing the spread of the virus continues to be the best strategy for lessening its impact, both at a personal level and across populations.

Most people and communities in this part of the world demonstrate some understanding …