Arts and Humanities Commons^™

A Digital Dud? New Media, Participation, And Voting In The 2004 And 2008 United States Presidential Elections, Jeremy D. Hickman

Theses and Dissertations--Sociology

This dissertation analyzes the linkages between new media and the possible emergence of the youngest members of the voting population (the “digital native” generation, who have grown up concurrently with the rise of the internet as a means of communication). The main question is whether this digital native generation will have more civic and political participation due to their use of online news sources and social media communication on news media websites and elsewhere on the internet. Regression analyses are used to explain civic and political participation, using American National Election Studies (ANES) from the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections. …

Enhancing Workplace Productivity And Competitiveness In Trinidad And Tobago Through Ict Adoption, Kennedy Jerome Swaratsingh

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The productivity of Trinidad and Tobago's public sector workplaces is related to their absorptive capacity for technological adoption. Guided by the technology acceptance model, which suggests that individuals' and institutions' use of technology increases in relation to perceived ease of use and apparent value, this case study explored how Trinidad and Tobago used information and communications technology from 2001 - 2010 to improve public sector workplace productivity. Study data were collected from 22 individual interviews with senior executives from the government of Trinidad and Tobago, members of the e-business roundtable, and local industry experts, and from reviewing the archives of …

Defining The Revolution: A Study Of Contemporary China's Sexual Transformation, Zackary L. Whitehead

Honors Theses

The use of the word revolution typifies much of the research and media coverage of contemporary shifts in Chinese sexual attitudes and behaviors. I argue that this language, while useful in intimating the extent of social transformation, remains clumsy due to the historical backdrop of Western sexual liberation and China's own cultural history. While the PRC government continues to disapprove and outlaw the proliferation of pornography, rising rates of premarital and extramarital sex and the spread of HIV/AIDS and other developments demonstrate ongoing shifts in Chinese society. Yet, the government's domination of politics and the Chinese people's desire for continued …

Teaching Technical Theater: Learning, Not Just Doing, Christian J. Hershey

Theses and Dissertations

I have seen a trend in the teaching of technical theatre towards a more practical and less theoretical education. This has brought about a change in viewpoint by professional technicians, as well as students, in regards to an academic degree. Due to this change and the rise of student debt, the impulse has been to encourage going directly into the field and learning the craft there instead of spending four years in an academic institution.

There has also been increased pressure on theatre departments to produce larger and more involved shows; both to draw in new students and to justify …

An Exploration Of Costume Design For David Emerson Toney's "Frankenstein: Dawn Of A Monster", Emily Atkins

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis details the Costume Design process for David Emerson Toney’s Frankenstein: Dawn of a Monster at Virginia Commonwealth University. Toney’s original adaptation interprets Mary Shelley’s genre-defying novel as biography, directly influenced by the tragic events of her young life. Costumes differentiate the two narratives, with Mary Shelly in gray scale, regency-inspired modern dress and the novel in period and color. This follows the design process from concept to production to execution.

Trying To Exit Here, Leigh C. Suggs

Theses and Dissertations

There is an in-between space during the act of seeing. The in-between space lies on the spectrum of the reality in front of us and what our brain tells us. It is within this suspended moment an individual can experience an unaltered and unaffected vision. While this moment is fleeting, it defines the highest peak of personal experience. It is my belief no two people will ever experience the same vision during this suspended time. And after it passes, the sigh/vision can never be the same. We are constantly bearing witness to the inexpressive, and this fleeting moment is something …

"Dollars Damn Me": Editorial Politics And Herman Melville's Periodical Fiction, Timothy R. Morris

Theses and Dissertations

To illustrate Melville’s navigation of editorial politics in the periodical marketplace, this study analyzes two stories Melville published in Putnam’s in order to reconstruct the particular historical, editorial, social, and political contexts of these writings. The first text examined in this study is “Bartleby,” published in Putnam’s in November and December of 1853. This reading recovers overtures of sociability and indexes formal appropriations of established popular genres in order to develop an interpretive framework. Throughout this analysis, an examination of the narrator’s ideological bearings in relation to the unsystematic implementation of these ideologies in American public life sets forth a …

Constructing Development: A Caribbean-Centered Approach For Security And Growth, Paula Lynne Lockhart

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

For a long time, the Caribbean has experienced underdevelopment even as there have been improvements in living standards. A region is directly linked to the wider global system with historical significances spanning much of the globe, it is important to address this “mis-development” phenomenon in order to advance development that can sustain human security and peace. The case study method employed in this dissertation allowed the opportunity to assess the progress of the issue of peace and development as it occurs across the region. This study tests the development outcome of a number of cases in light of the Millennium …

Skills Women Bring To The Position Of Chief Of Police, Jo-Ann Helen Savoie

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Organizational leaders are unaware of the gender-specific leadership skillsets women possess to increase organizational effectiveness and how to address potential barriers for assuring these skillsets are recognized as effective. Of the estimated 69,000 police officers serving in Canada, approximately 14,000 are women. Of those 14,000, only 10% hold a senior rank, and less than 3% hold the position of Chief of Police. Technology speed, globalized crime, and shrinking budgets have created a need for a new style of leader in policing, and increasing the representation of women may address this need. This multiple case study used the concept of doing …

Jewish Resistance To ‘Romanianization’, 1940-44, Stefan Cristian Ionescu

History Faculty Books and Book Chapters

In this chapter, Jewish legal resistance to the Antonescu regime is investigated, focusing on the use of the law to bypass the Romanianization of businesses and urban real estate. Despite multiple attempts, Antonescu’s government failed to completely expropriate Jewish urban buildings in favor of the state and subsequently distribute those properties to ethnic Romanians. The Romanianization of businesses yielded similar results.

Review Of Tu Casa Es Mi Casa, By Nylsa Martínez Morón, Traci Roberts-Camps

College of the Pacific Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Indigenous Urbanization In Amazonia: Interpretive Challenges And Opportunities, Jeremy M. Campbell

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Land Question In Amazonia: Cadastral Knowledge And Ignorance In Brazil’S Tenure Regularization Program, Jeremy M. Campbell

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

In the Brazilian Amazon, a quest˜ao fundi´aria (the land question) has been asked and answered in a variety of ways since the region was opened up tolarge-scale migration and development projects in the 1960s. The question of who is entitled to land and under what conditions is at the heart ofmost debates concerning the region’s future, but recent attempts to reform and simplify rural land tenure in Amazonia confront a history of contradictory land-use policies and a legacy of impunity. In response to economic and demographic pressures, the Brazilian state aims to combat the illicit occupation, sale, and transformation of …

An Examination Of The Individual And Contextual Characteristics Associated With Active Shooter Events, Kyle Gamache, Judith Platania, Matt Zaitchik

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

In recent years, the US has experienced a substantial number of mass shooting incidents. This type of shooting incident has been termed “active shooter event” and encompasses shootings that occur in school settings as well as public settings and workplace venues. Much of the recent published literature addressing active shooter events appears to focus on tactical issues, such as training for and responding to this type of incident. Very little research, however, has examined the individual and contextual characteristics associated with active shooter events. In the current study we examine a number of factors related to 88 active shooting events …

The Search For Meaning And Morality In The Works Of Cormac Mccarthy, Shane Phoenix Moon

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the work of Cormac McCarthy, in which I will argue against assertions that McCarthy's work is nihilistic in that he presents a world in which life is meaningless. I will analyze three of McCarthy's novels, one from each of the common categorizations of his work: Child of God (Appalachian period), Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West, and The Road (Western period), and The Road. Through this analysis, I will conclude that McCarthy's novels are not nihilistic; instead, McCarthy's novels contain strong allusions to the existential philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre, Friedrich Nietzsche and Soren Kierkegaard. …

Duck And Cover: How Print Media, The U.S. Government, And Entertainment Culture Formed America's Understanding Of The Atom Bomb, Daniel P. Wright

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

This research project will explore an overview of the different subsections of American post-war society that contributed to the American "atomic reality" in hopes of revealing how and why the American understanding of atomic weapons did not slowly evolve over the course of a generation, but instead materialize rapidly in the years following the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. By analyzing government sources and programs, print media sources such as newspapers and magazines, and the American entertainment culture of the 1940s and 1950s, this research project will answer exactly why and how the American public arrived at its understanding of …

Cavalry In Xenophon, Katie M. Luckenbill

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Recent scholarship concerning Xenophon's works has focused on his ideas of leadership. A very few, if any, scholars have examined his portrayal of the cavalry and the cavalry commander. With so many of Xenophon's writings involving cavalry, it is possible to draw a comparison between Xenophon's idealized portrayals of cavalry operations in the Cyropaedia and Cavalry Commander, and his historical accounts of the cavalry, especially with regards to its training and effectiveness in battle. In comparing these works, their similarities and differences, a cohesive portrait of Xenophon's ideal cavalry and its commander emerges.

The Inconsistencies Of The Replaceability Argument, Caitlin M. Bauer

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

In this paper, I will argue against Peter Singer's replaceability argument. I start by showing how Singer's ethical theory of preference-utilitarianism leads to his assertion that everyone should be vegetarian, and later his conclusion that some animals are replaceable. To refute Singer, I argue that death deprives sentient beings of pleasure, and any other good they are capable of experiencing, so death is harmful to animals. Next, I discuss one last claim central to Singer's replaceability argument, that merely sentient animals are not the same individual between periods of consciousness because they have no memory or psychological connections. I refute …

Art 102 Research Paper Guide, Rachelle Street, Robert Rubyan, J S. Held

Open Educational Resources

This art analysis form will help guide your students through looking at artwork with the aim to writing a research paper on a work they observe in-person.

The Intermediate Sphere In North Indian Music Culture: Between And Beyond ‘Folk’ And ‘Classical’, Peter L. Manuel

Publications and Research

If in discourse about traditional music in North India, the notions of “folk” and “classical” continue to be widely used, in this essay I posit the existence of an “intermediate sphere,” comprising a heterogeneous set of traditional music genres that, in different ways, shares features with both folk and classical realms. I suggest five categories in this socio-musical stratum and provide brief glimpses of some of their constituents and distinguishing features, including the distinctive sorts of theory they embody and elite patronage that sustains them. I conclude with observations about historical changes in the status of this sphere in general.

Interdisciplinary Connections Between Science & Theatre, Jessica N. Dotson

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

INTERDISCIPLINARY CONNECTIONS BETWEEN SCIENCE & THEATRE

Jessica Nicole Dotson

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Virginia Commonwealth University, 2015.

Major Director: Dr. Noreen C. Barnes, Director of Graduate Studies, Associate Professor of Theatre

In the 1990s, astronomer Peter Usher was searching for new ways to teach his introductory astronomy class at Pennsylvania State University. He began to engage his students by searching for astronomical connections from other disciplines. His focus was turned to the arts, especially the works of William Shakespeare. Usher found, while …

An Exploration On The Michael Chekhov Technique In Rehearsal, Performance And The Classroom, James P. Stover

Theses and Dissertations

• The Michael Chekhov Technique is a unique approach to acting that has been successfully used by professional actors for many years. This thesis explores finding a strong understanding of the technique as well as discovering ways to incorporate it into an undergraduate actor training program. The examination aims to further my aesthetic both as theatre teacher and practitioner. It includes training with master teachers in the technique, incorporating Chekhov exercises into undergraduate acting and movement classes and use of the technique on a production of Pride & Prejudice.

Voices Of The Exhibition:The Rise Of Ekphrasis During The 20th Century Through Imagism And Visual Art Museums, Zachary Stephen Moore

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to identify main causes for the expansion of ekphrastic poetry during the 20th century and how it became a more widely used genre. The goal is to show how ekphrasis contributed to the growth of the interdisciplinary partnership between museums and poets. By evaluating two factors that led to a growing interest in the genre and increased accessibility to poetry and the visual arts. This is done by looking at ekphrastic work by Imagist poets like Ezra Pound, Richard Aldington and H.D. as well as the growth of 20th century museum accessibility and educational …

From Sisters To Ceo's: Defining Organizational Rhetoric In A Case Study Of Social Sorority Bylaws, Paige Rood

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Organizational Rhetoric is typically used in the fields of Communication and Mass Communication to examine the communicative strategies that animate businesses and corporate organizations. This study aims to give a more rhetorically focused definition of organizational rhetoric by emphasizing how communicative acts structure action and shape the construction of identity in settings beyond formal workplaces. Based on an analysis of the social sorority bylaws of Kappa Alpha Theta and the rhetorical situations those bylaws address, this study suggests that social sororities employ organizational rhetoric as an effective means of persuading their members to be active participants within the organization. Ultimately, …

The Writing On The Wall: Examining The Literacy Practices Of Home Renovation Work, Jennifer Gaskill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Home renovation workers have historically belonged to the blue-collar workforce. Their jobs are often stereotyped as less cognitively complex than those belonging to their white-collar counterparts. While prior research has revealed the cognitive complexity of such work, there is still a gap in research investigating the literacy practices of “blue-collar” workplaces. Through the lenses of New Literacy Studies and activity theory, this case study examines the texts used in a room remodel, the literacy practices surrounding the texts, and the sociocultural implications of these practices. Through document-based and retrospective interviews, the primary participant is given a voice in identifying and …

An Analysis Of Undergraduate Creative Writing Students'writing Processes: Gauging The Workshop Models' Effectiveness Through The Lens Of Genre Theories, John Chrisman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Current approaches to teaching creative writers the ways to success in creative writing courses consist largely of workshop style classes. While workshops often vary from class to class in style, generally a workshop will consist of a group of writers, led by a mentor/instructor, who exchange drafts and provide reader and writer focused feedback to the author. Yet because the workshop approach has not been the subject of close empirical study, it is unclear whether it is an effective pedagogy. This thesis serves two purposes. First, it presents an argument for new research into creative writing pedagogy and creative writers' …

Understanding The Role Of Resources In Writing Center Tutoring Sessions, Megan Lambert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the use of writing resources in tutoring sessions, which is considered one of the valued tutoring practices at the University Writing Center (UWC) at the University of Central Florida (UCF). This research explains the methodology and presents the findings of a study that serves as a partial answer to the call for more evidence-based research in the field of writing center studies. There is scholarship that explains the importance of using resources to facilitate learning, but there is a lack of empirical research that explores the patterns and variations in the resources that writing tutors use, the …

Examination Of A Midi Wind Controller For Use In Wind Performance Research, Laura Stambaugh

School of Music: Faculty Publications

MIDI wind controllers (MWCs) have existed for over 20 years, but their use as a tool in wind instrument research has received little attention. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the validity and practicality of using an MWC in wind performance research. Validity was examined by determining the consistency between performances on an MWC and on a clarinet or saxophone. Practicality was assessed by determining the duration of practice time by single reed players on an MWC. Following a pilot study involving four clarinettists and two saxophonists, nine participants practised and performed warm‐ups, scales, and a melodic excerpt …

Ex Post Modernism: How The First Amendment Framed Nonrepresentational Art, Sonya G. Bonneau

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Nonrepresentational art repeatedly surfaces in legal discourse as an example of highly valued First Amendment speech. It is also systematically described in constitutionally valueless terms: nonlinguistic, noncognitive, and apolitical. Why does law talk about nonrepresentational art at all, much less treat it as a constitutional precept? What are the implications for conceptualizing artistic expression as free speech?

This article contends that the source of nonrepresentational art’s presumptive First Amendment value is the same source of its utter lack thereof: modernism. Specifically, a symbolic alliance between abstraction and freedom of expression was forged in the mid-twentieth century, informed by social and …

Lenses Of Industry: The Rise Of Industrial Photography In The United States And The Lake Superior Mining District, 1880-1933, Robert Anthony

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This thesis, Lenses of Industry, examines how industrial companies and engineers adapted photography to their needs in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Innovations in camera and plate technologies marketed to a broad range of people contributed to a steep rise in the number of photographers in the United States. Recognizing the potential that photography held for industrial companies and engineers, a handful of experts advocated the idea that photography had the potential to make many aspects of business faster, and easier, as well as to make visual records more truthful and accurate. Likewise, innovations in halftone printing technology …