American Studies Commons^™

An Exploratory Study On The Impact Of Mobile Wireless Technologies In A Teacher Education Classroom, Anupama Ghattu

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mobile technology is revolutionizing the American higher education system. Integrating mobile technology into college classrooms is changing the teaching and learning process. Today’s millennial generation students are tech savvy and using their mobile devices to learn and explore in many possible ways. Mobile technology devices can be used as effective tools to enhance teaching and learning. The ubiquitous nature of these mobile devices with wireless capabilities makes learning possible instantly anywhere and everywhere with easy access to information for everyone. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of integrating mobile wireless technologies (MWT) on preservice teachers’ attitudes …

Intersectionality In Jane Eyre And Its Adaptations, Laurel Loh

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

During the almost 170 years since Jane Eyre was published, there have been numerous adaptations in many different mediums and genres, such as plays, films, musicals, graphic novels, spin-off novels, and parodies. The novel has been read in many different critical traditions: liberal humanist, historicist, feminist, and postcolonial approaches dealing with topics such as the problem of female authorship and consciousness. In addition, it has been read in terms of an ideological struggle based on race, class, and gender; xenophobia and imperialism; female labor politics; and genre issues, to just name a few. As literary critics have explored numerous themes …

The Movie Mogul, Moses And Muslims: Islamic Elements In Cecil B. Demille’S The Ten Commandments (1956), Michael D. Calabria Ofm

Journal of Religion & Film

Cecil B. DeMille’s 1956 film, The Ten Commandments, has come to define the genre of the biblical epic. It has earned a permanent place in American culture due to its annual airing on television during the Easter and Passover holidays. Most viewers are unaware, however, that DeMille had sought to make a film that would appeal to Jews, Christians and Muslims at a time when their common Abrahamic ancestry had yet to be articulated, and interreligious dialogue was all but unheard of. To this end, Henry Noerdlinger, DeMille’s researcher for the film, consulted the Qur’an, and screenwriters incorporated Islamic …

The Binding Of Abraham: Inverting The Akedah In Fail-Safe And Wargames, Hunter B. Dukes

Journal of Religion & Film

This article draws upon Søren Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling and Jacques Derrida's The Gift of Death to trace how two exemplars of atomic bomb cinema reinterpret the Binding of Isaac (Akedah). Released during the twin peaks of Cold War tension, Fail-Safe (1964) and WarGames (1983) invert the Akedah of Genesis 22. In both films, an act of sacrificial patricide accompanies or replaces the sacrifice of an Isaac-like son. When viewed in the context of Cold War cultural politics—events such as Norman Morrison’s Abrahamic self-immolation and Kent State’s rejection of George Segal’s sacrificial memorial— the inverted Akedah emerges as …

"Era(C)Ing The South: Modern Popular Culture Depictions Of Southern History", Bryan Jack

SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

There has been significant research on various interpretations of the American South, and the relationship between Southern and American identity. However, there has been little investigation into how modern popular culture depicts and constructs the Southern past and how this shapes Southern identity. This article interrogates the relationship between modern films, race, and Southern history to ask, has the challenge to codified Jim Crow segregation changed filmic portrayals of Southern history? How do these portrayals affect both Southern and American identity? Using race as a lens, the article argues that the end of the Civil Rights Movement has created a …

Introduction To The Study Of Chinese Literature In The Anglophone World, Shunqing Cao

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

The Reception Of Mao's 'Talks At The Yan'an Forum On Literature And Art' In English-Language Scholarship, Qilin Fu

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "The Reception of Mao's 'Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art' in English-language Scholarship" Qilin Fu examines the three waves of the reception of Mao Zedong's 1942 text. Fu elaborates on the understandings of Mao's ideas about literature and art and discusses the changes depending on historical and political contexts. Fu argues that the changes are explicit or implicit representations of cultural politics ranging from an anti-communist criticism based on Cold War ideology to the concerns of literary theory and the cultural critique of discourse in the context of globalization.

About English-Language Scholarship On Humor In Ancient Chinese Literature, Peina Zhuang, Lei Cheng

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In their article "About English-language Scholarship on Humor in Ancient Chinese Literature" Peina Zhuang and Lei Cheng present an overview of scholarship by English-language Sinologists on humor. Zhuang and Cheng argue that while English-language scholars have played a path-breaking role in making prominent an important aspect of ancient Chinese literature, their studies also display weaknesses including questionable choices of source material, decontextualized analysis, or even mistranslation. They posit that the study of humor in ancient Chinese literature ought to be performed in a contextual perspective including linguistics, literary history, society, politics, etc.

Bibliography For The Study Of Chinese Literature In The Anglophone World, He Lin

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

Mapping Chinese Literature As World Literature, Yingjin Zhang

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "Mapping Chinese Literature as World Literature" Yingjin Zhang revisits the challenge of mapping Chinese literature as world literature in three steps: 1) he delineates of positions of view as proposed by Western scholars who engaged in rethinking world literature(s) in the age of globalization, 2) evaluates consequences of such a new mapping for Chinese literature and tests a different set of "technologies of recognition" (Shih) in the context of Chinese versus Sinophone studies, and 3) returns to the notion of world literature(s) by considering issues of language and translation and entertains a new vision of mobility via …

About Chinese-Western Comparative Poetics: A Review Article On Liu's, Miner's, Owen's, And Yip's Work, Yina Cao

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

About The Chinese School Of Comparative Literature, He Lin, Danqing Huang

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In their article "About the Chinese School of Comparative Literature" He Lin and Danqing Huang discuss the development of the Chinese school of comparative literature since the 1980s. Lin and Huang describe how based on traditions in Chinese literary history, comparatists constructed a system of theoretical frameworks and methods. They argue that the Chinese School should not be criticized as "Chinacentric" just for the fact that its practitioners perform Chinese-Western comparative studies within its own historical and cultural context. Further, they defend the Chinese School by examining the achievements it has made in comparative poetics and the study of reception …

Designations Of Poetry In Translations Of Liu Xie's (劉勰) Work On Literary Genres, Ying Liu

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Designations of Poetry in Translations of Liu Xie's (劉勰) Work on Literary Genres" Ying Liu discusses how Liu Xie (劉勰 465-521 AD) in his文心雕龍 (Wenxin diaolong) followed the tradition of The Book of Songs (詩經) and synthesized the original concept of sung (genre of classical poetry) in the Book of Songs with some later variations and thus constructed and shaped the notion of the genre sung. Liu analyses translations by selected scholars and explores the subtle nuances between sung and its English counterparts historically including "ode," "panegyric," "eulogy," and "hymn" in …

More Than Just An Image: Pop Culture Representations Of Latinxs And The Immigration Debate, Vanessa Reyes

Eddie Mabry Diversity Award

No abstract provided.

Emerging Feminist Voices On Media And Representation, Diana Depasquale, Cassie Tenorio, Alyssa Wells, Savannah Fulmer

Ray Browne Conference on Cultural and Critical Studies (2015-2021)

The work featured in this panel is from students in WS2000, Introduction to Women's Studies. I created an assignment called "Choose Your Own Adventure." These projects include: an examination gender in film, and a revised version of the Bechdel Test, sexism and misogyny in gaming culture expressed through a series of comics, a painting on canvas using a variety of materials and techniques representing the control of women's reproductive rights and the damage done to female bodies by patriarchal language and rhetoric, and an analysis of womanism, scripture and Alice Walker's The Color Purple.

Each student engaged with issues related …

Neglecting The Subjects Of The Drag Performance In White Chicks, Hannah Sylvester

The Downtown Review: An Interdisciplinary Journal Written and Peer-Reviewed by Mandel Honors College Students at Cleveland State University

As a temporary transvestite film, White Chicks tackles racial issues as well as gender issues and performance. While the statements made on behalf of racial issues are strong, the statements concerning gender are much weaker. The paper will give a summary of the film followed by a description of it as a temporary transvestite film alongside other films within the genre. Issues concerning gender roles--specifically the concept of femininity--are addressed within the film, but are never challenged or changed. Indeed, society's heterosexual hegemony are upheld within this film as they are in similar films in the genre. Homosexual instances in …

Rodcon, Program, 2015, University Of Northern Iowa

RodCon Documents

Saturday, March 28, 2015 - 11:00am to 4:00pm

Program distributed at the event.

Welcome to the 2nd Annual Rod Library Mini Comic Con. The event is free and open to the public. Our goal is to provide an open forum for discussion about the theme of a networked society focused on popular culture, comics, and gaming. Our panel presentations are also focused on providing a forum for discussion about the complex issues of race, gender, class and social justice in popular entertainment. To see your entry, use the hashtag #RodCon15

Rodcon, Flier, 2015, University Of Northern Iowa

RodCon Documents

Saturday, March 28, 2015 - 11:00am to 4:00pm

Flier used in promotion of the event.

Scribblescholar Was Here: Confessional Notes Of A Vandal Academic, Clay Shields

Theses and Dissertations--English

As a (former) vandal-punk in the academy, I often fear succumbing to Ivory Tower Stockholm syndrome. The identities I perform, vandal-punk and scholar, ideologically clash to the point that they often feel irreconcilable. By codemeshing the high-low discourses associated with these adopted cultures, I attempt to disrupt any hierarchal privileging of either, instead searching for a way to live with and harness both.

Moving Foward?: Problematic Ideologies In Twenty-First Century Fairy Tale Films, Alyson Kilmer

All Master's Theses

Fairy tales, as a reflection of our values and belief systems, are crucial in shaping and maintaining cultural ideologies. In the twenty-first century, cinematic fairy tales have the unique position of representing such values in an expansive and expeditious manner. Audiences must therefore be critically conscious of the messages promoted by these tales. An analysis of the five most popular contemporary fairy tale films, Disney’s Princess and the Frog (2009), Tangled (2010), Universal’s Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), and Disney’s Frozen (2013) and Maleficent (2014), revealed minimal attempts to propitiate critical audiences in regard to changing cultural values, but …

Queer Content In Science Fiction Allegory And Analogue: Is It In Disguise?, Anna C. Marburger

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis performs a textual analysis of two for-profit science fiction texts in which the authors implanted queer content: Bryan Singer's X-Men films and James Robert's Transformers comic series, "More Than Meets the Eye". The argument incorporates queer (referring to attraction and gender variance) media representation and western identity politics lenses into its critique.

By interrogating reality through the masquerade of an impossible universe, science fiction affects how subversive a text can be. When authors designate the natural and the unnatural in a strange universe, they designate what and who belongs in our society. Whatever they imagine has an effect …

Cumulative Index Of Clcweb: Comparative Literature And Culture (1999-), Steven Tötösy De Zepetnek

CLCWeb Library

No abstract provided.

Long Live The Evil Queen: Once Upon A Time's Evolved Villain, Frank S. Lombari

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

Mirror on the wall, who's the fairest Queen of all? In today's pop culture, many traditional villains are beginning to be turned into antiheroes. ABC's television show Once Upon a Time has taken a number of fairy tale villains and provided them both a background and character growth. Specifically, the adaptation of the Evil Queen has shifted from primary antagonist to redeemed hero over the first three seasons. The show also displays her in the real-world rather than just a fairy tale universe. The author claims that this radical development occurs due three essential aspects: the Evil Queen and Snow …

Representations Of Gatsby: Ninety Years Of Retrospective, Christine Anne Auger

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Jay Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s most famous character, has starred in a variety of stage and screen adaptations in the ninety years since he was first introduced in The Great Gatsby (1925). This dissertation explores the Gatsby character as depicted in six important adaptations of the novel, including two Broadway productions, Owen Davis’ 1926 drama and John Collins’ 2010s play, Gatz, and four major motion pictures: Herbert Brenon’s 1926 lost silent film (starring Warner Baxter); Elliott Nugent’s 1949 black and white film (starring Alan Ladd); Jack Clayton’s 1974 color film (starring Robert Redford); and Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 3-D film (starring …

Bibliography For The Study Of Literature, East Asia, And Globalization, Zhaomei Zheng

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

Canon Formation In The Study Of The Environment In China And Taiwan, Peter I-Min Huang

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "Canon Formation in the Study of the Environment in China and Taiwan" Peter I-min Huang discusses how the canon of ecocriticism taught in English studies in China and Taiwan is becoming increasingly of a local perspective by scholars who publish in Mandarin, address environmental issues specific to Mainland China and Taiwan, and thus engage with ecocriticism based on local perspectives rather than Western ones. The study and teaching of English-language literature in China and Taiwan inevitably encounters charges of neocolonialism or other argumentation that it is being used in ways that betray the legacy of past colonialist …

Introduction To New Work On Electronic Literature And Cyberculture, Maya Zalbidea, Mark C. Marino, Asunción López-Varela

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

Gender Identity Construction Through Talk About Video Games, Sara M. Cole

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Gender Identity Construction through Talk about Video Games" Sara Cole discusses the construction of gender identity in terms of experiences of digital media and interactive play. Digital literacy expresses, shares, and reaffirms gendered self-identification through experiences of video game play with narratives that either confirm or deny stereotypical biases. In-depth interviews were used to explore the effects of play practices on conceptions of masculinity and personal identity in males who grew up in the 1980s by focusing on a linguistic analysis of the pragmatics of their shared thoughts on play, fantasy, use of digital media, and violence. …

The Racial Formation Of Chatbots, Mark C. Marino

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "The Racial Formation of Chatbots" Mark C. Marino introduces electronic literature known as chatbot or conversation agent. These programs are all around us from automated help centers to smartphones (e.g., Siri). These conversation agents are often represented as text or disembodied voices. However, when programmers give them a body or the representation of a body (partial or full), other aspects of their identity become more apparent—particularly their racial or ethnic identity. Marino explores the ways racial identity is constructed through the embodied performance of chatbots and what that indicates for human identity construction on the internet.

Introduction To Western Canons In A Changing East Asia, Simon C. Estok

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.