Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Binge-Reviews? The Shifting Temporalities Of Contemporary Tv Criticism, Myles Mcnutt

Communication & Theatre Arts Faculty Publications

The article explores the object of the film theory and the practice of Third Cinema whose contributions are seen as a theoretical inquiry into the subject of Film Studies. Topics include the unfortunate dead-end at which the theory of third cinema has arrived, the orientation of third cinema towards openness and action in a political project, and the continued evaluation of third cinema while its status in the academy remains unchanged.

My Friendship Story: Tanzanians’ Tales Of Friendship Analyzed Through Knapp’S Relational Model, Dorcus Nakalembe

Masters Theses

From both theoretical and practical considerations, there is a critical need to study friendship development processes within different sociocultural worlds, because today’s world has become a crossroads for a diversity of cultures. To date, research in friendship development mainly addresses cognitive and psychological implications to the process and rarely gives attention to the stages/ processes individuals of different sociocultural backgrounds experience as they build friendship. The present study aimed at comparing friendship development in a non-Westernized group to the stages of relational development suggested by a Western psychological theoretical framework. Tanzanian friendship experiences were analyzed through Knapp’s Relational Model to …

The Pragmatics Of Economics Experts’ Engagement With Non-Specialists, Brendan O'Rourke, Jens Maesse

Other

A Call for Papers for Panel on Economics and Language Use: The pragmatics of economics experts’ engagement with non-specialists, 15th International Pragmatics Conference (IPrA2017) to be held in Belfast, Northern Ireland, 16-21 July 2017.

The Future Of Arabic Music: No Sound Without Silence, Nesma Magdy Khodier Vcuq

Theses and Dissertations

For centuries, Arabic music has been intrinsically linked to Arab culture and by extension bonded to the environmental landscape of the region, reflecting their emotions, moods, and behaviors. Numerous technological advancements in the latter half of the twentieth century, have greatly affected the rich legacy of Arabic music, significantly impacting the natural progression of traditional Arabic musical genres, scales, and instrumentation.

This thesis serves as an introduction to generative methods of music production, specifically music generated through gestures. Through generative music, and its unique ability to map gestures to different musical parameters, music can be produced using computer algorithms.

The …

Do Black Lives Matter In American Mainstream News Media? Two Case Studies Of Police-Involved Shootings Of Black Men Explaining A Racist Media Environment, Alfred J. Cotton Iii

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

This dissertation examines two cases of fatal police-involved shootings of Black men in order to expose the power structures perpetuated through racist media narratives assuming the officers’ behavior was justified and the unarmed men the officers killed somehow were complicit in their death. In reporting on police-involved shootings, mainstream media practices that privilege elites and officials as primary sources of information may produce a dominant media narrative that masks the marginalization and mistreatment of minorities at the hands of these officials and their institutions. The two cases under consideration here examine the “floating signifier” of race in media coverage of …

Informational Efficiency And The Reaction To Terrorism: A Financial Perspective, Nicholas Roland

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The purpose of this study is to measure the message terror organizations hope to convey using the financial markets as a proxy of measurement to determine patterns within the marketplace and the effects on the terrorists’ ability to deliver a desired message due to the increased use of digital devices and access to instantaneous news, seen over the past decade. Using death count, geographic location, and event type, this study identified 109 attacks between 1985 and 2015 to be analyzed against 5 market indices and 5 securities. Measuring the effects within a 10-day sample window from the time of the …

Greed, Grief, A Gift. War-Traumatized Women And Contextualizing Expressive Arts Therapy, Sjoukje Marloes Van Houten

Lingnan Theses

This dissertation explores the universality of trauma-storing in the body and the need for contextualization when it comes to treatment. Of the two central themes addressed, the first is war-related trauma and the intersection of expressive arts therapy and South (East) Asia (Nepal and Hong Kong in particular) with its specific imagery, art, and culture, and to see how both feed into each another and can transform as a result. The question is how to locally sensitize expressive arts therapy, which has its roots in Europe and the United States, to the Hong Kong setting; more specifically, to working with …

Linguistic Construction Of Migrant Identity In U.S. Crime Reports, Theresa Catalano

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This article explores the representation of Latino migrants in U.S. crime reports. Through multidisciplinary linguistic analysis incorporating critical discourse analysis and cognitive linguistics, the author demonstrates how migrant identity is constructed linguistically in media discourse using various linguistic strategies to reveal an underlying xeno-racist discourse that serves the dominant group’s purpose of staying in power. The contribution of this paper lies in its systematic illustration of the covert nature in which this discourse is (re)produced in crime reports and the connections it can have to immigration policies and public attitudes. In addition, the aim of the paper is to serve …

Culture For Sale: The Appropriation Of Japanese Style Tattoos Through Transculturation, Evan Lohmann

Masters Theses

Japanese style tattoos onto the bodies of celebrities in the United States articulate a lack of awareness towards this ancient art form through their appropriation of historically inaccurate images. The prominence of these celebrities in magazines circulated within the United States act as powerful mediums which may lead to the commodification of certain Japanese symbols in capitalistic societies like the United States. I use post-colonialism, Orientalism, transnationalism and hyper identification as the theoretical framework and semiotics as the methodology in order to examine fourteen magazine covers that showcase celebrities in the United States sporting noticeable Japanese style tattoos. The overall …

Knowledge And Resistance: Feminine Style And Signifyin[G] In Michelle Obama’S Public Address, Tracy Valgento

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis examines the public discourse of the first African American first lady of the United States, Michelle Obama. I argue that Michelle Obama uses the double-voiced discourses of feminine style and African American Signifyin[g] to negate post-race and post-gender mythologies that suggest that American society is “beyond identity”. Looking at three of Obama’s speeches: Michelle Obama's 2008 Democratic National Convention Speech, The Remarks by the First Lady at Memorial Service for Dr. Maya Angelou, and Remarks by the First Lady at Tuskegee University Commencement Address this thesis argues that Michelle Obama performativity interrogates and questions gender and race relations …

¡Tigre Blanco, Héroe Del Barrio!: Living And Dying Latina/O In A Superhero World, Luis Saenz De Viguera Erkiaga

World Languages and Cultural Studies Faculty Publications

In a world where the superheroic characters from Marvel Comics and DC Comics, the two major comic book publishers in the United States, are taking over mainstream media via film, TV shows, and video-games, it seems more relevant than ever to look at the way in which these comic book fantasies deal with diversity and the representation of minorities.

You Will Be Punished: Media Depictions Of Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women, Caitlin Elliott

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The following thesis focuses on media depictions of Canada’s missing and murdered Indigenous women, a list that carries upwards of 1,200 names. The news coverage of these stories is reminiscent of television crime dramas in their depictions of minority victims of crime, specifically in regard to victim blaming. In order to examine this relationship, the present study compares coverage of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canadian news articles to depictions of victims, particularly minority female victims, within crime procedural television shows. An ethnographic content analysis (ECA) was conducted in order to parse out common themes between news articles featuring …

No More Mind Games: Content Analysis Of In-Game Commentary Of The National Football League’S Concussion Problem, Jeffrey Parker

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

American (gridiron) football played at the professional level in the National Football League (NFL) is an inherently physical spectator sport, in which players frequently engage in significant contact to the head and upper body. Until recently, the long-term health consequences associated with on the field head trauma were not fully disclosed to players or the public, potentially misrepresenting the dangers involved in gameplay. Crucial to the dissemination of this information to the public are in-game televised commentators of NFL games, regarded as the primary conduits for mediating in-game narratives to the viewing audience. Using a social constructionist theoretical lens, this …

Algo-Ritmo: More-Than-Human Performative Acts And The Racializing Assemblages Of Algorithmic Architectures, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román

Ezekiel J Dixon-Román

Diffractive Possibilities: Cultural Studies And Quantification, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román

Ezekiel J Dixon-Román

Alternative Ontologies Of Number: Rethinking The Quantitative In Computational Culture, Elizabeth De Freitas, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román, Patti Lather

Ezekiel J Dixon-Román

Diffracting Enfolding Futures: Critical Inquiry In Quantitative Educational Research, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román

Ezekiel J Dixon-Román

The Digital Dionysus: Nietzsche & The Network-Centric Condition

Dan Mellamphy

No abstract provided.

The War At Home, Joseph A. Altobelli Mr.

Capstones

This site was made to show how the cuts to and politics behind the Veterans Affairs Hospital in New York affects the veterans it is set up to care for.

Wacana Kemadjoean Di Kelompok Etnis Sunda Awal Abad 20, Holy Rafika Dhona

Informasi

Abstract
Kemadjoean (progress) was a key term for all social movement in the early 20th century Dutch East Indies. This article argued that the discourse of progress has no single meaning throughout the Dutch East Indies, but instead, it was practiced differently by people from different cultural communities. This article focuses on how the discourse of progress was negotiated by the Sundanese ethnic group. Using Foucauldian discourse analysis on the texts of Papaes Nonoman Newspaper (1914-1917), this studi found that, besides being interpreted as "an attempt to become Dutch", the notion of progress was understood by the Sundanese specifically as …

Transformasi Selebriti Menjadi Politisi: Urgensi Personal Front Dalam Ranah Sosial, Manzilatun Ni'mah

Informasi

Abstract
This article aims to analyze the recent phenomenon of celebrities' transformation entering political arena using Bourdieu's habitus, field, and social capital theoritical framework and the role of mass media to shine celebrities as stars in the entertainment field which they use impression management to preserve their position. The subjects are Desy Ratnasari and Angel Lelga, the two phenomenal artists who recently transform to political field. This article is using qualitative approach with descriptive case study. Using Bourdieu's habitus theoritical framework, this article will begin with the explanation of habitus change from Desy Ratnasari and Angel Lelga before entering entertainment …

Translating Transformative Human Rights Education Through Visual Languages & Informal Spaces, Jazzmin Chizu Gota

Master's Projects and Capstones

This project examines methods, theories, and practices of translating human rights education through multiple vernaculars. Developed as a workshop in sociocultural syntax deconstruction and an educational human rights education website focused on the domestic population of the US, the project focuses on localizing human rights concepts to the public vernacular of the country. Human rights education (HRE) and media and information literacy (MIL) are expanded and redefined as social literacy, or the ability to navigate and decode the present, complex realities that both HRE and MIL were developed to address. Reframing media and visual arts as an archive of past …

Trash, A Curatorial : An Ethnographic And Visual Study Of Waste In Urban Hong Kong, Anneke Coppoolse

Lingnan Theses

This is an ethnography of waste in the streets of urban Hong Kong and a curatorial inquiry into the significance of its visuality. Presented in the form of a triptych, the dissertation probes and portrays fragments of urban life in Hong Kong, consequently opening up a new vista for intellectual and social engagement at the juncture of aesthetics, lived experiences, and power. While urban density provides for its equivalent in trash, much of Hong Kong’s refuse first lands in the streets. It is thereupon regulated to be rendered invisible through government organisation which corresponds with what Gay Hawkins (2007) calls …

Analyzing Interpersonal Metafunction Through Mood And Modality In Kaine Agary’S Yellow-Yellow From Critical Discourse And Womanist Perspective, Léonard A. Koussouhon, Ashani M. Dossoumou

Bahram Kazemian

The aim of this paper is to analyze mood, epistemic and deontic modality patterns in an extract culled from Yellow-Yellow (2006) by one of the Nigerian new millennium female writer, Kaine Agary. The findings data revealed by the interpersonal meaning analysis are discussed against the backdrop of critical discourse analysis and womanist theory. The discussion contended that, despite the blend of monologic and dialogic organization of the novel, Kaine Agary has tried to portray the sociological schisms making up the daily life of young girls in the oil-resourced region of Nigeria. More importantly, the authoress has shown women’s determination and …

“Get Rich Or Die Buying:” The Travails Of The Working-Class Auction Bidder, Mark A. Rademacher

Mark A. Rademacher

A critique of the popular reality television show, Storage Wars.

“I’M Here To Do Business. I’M Not Here To Play Games.” Work, Consumption, And Masculinity In Storage Wars, Mark A. Rademacher, Casey R. Kelly

Mark A. Rademacher

This essay examines the first season of Storage Wars and suggests the program helps mediate the putative crisis in American masculinity by suggesting that traditional male skills are still essential where knowledge supplants manual labor. We read representations of “men at work” in traditionally “feminine” consumer markets, as a form of masculine recuperation situated within the culture of White male injury. Specifically, Storage Wars appropriates omnivorous consumption, thrift, and collaboration to fit within the masculine repertoire of self-reliance, individualism, and competition. Thus, the program adapts hegemonic masculinity by showcasing male auction bidders adeptly performing feminine consumer practices. Whether the feminine …

Preferential Methods Used By Celcis Students To Enhance Conversational Skills., Karina Mariadas

Honors Theses

Conversational skills are something that can be improved over time. For new language learners, conversing in English can be difficult. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine the preferential methods to enhance conversational skills used by students from the Center for English Language and Culture for International Students (CELCIS) at Western Michigan University. The study was conducted using a survey questionnaire consisting of 7 parts. The conversation improvement methods that were addressed in the survey included: print, audio-visual, electronic devices/technology, face-to-face conversations and games. 112 students, 35 females, 75 males and 2 unknowns, participated in the survey during …

Introduction: Foreign Films And Higher Education, Heba A.N. El Attar Ph.D.

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

No abstract provided.

Teaching About The Muxes In The United States: Cultural Construct Gender Identity, And Transgression In The 21st Century, Nohora V. Cardona Núñez Ph.D.

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

This study focuses on the manner in which gender identities challenge heteronormativity and are understood as a way to interpret the sexed body through culture in the documentary Muxes: auténticas, intrépidas, buscadoras del peligro (2005), directed by Mexican filmmaker Alejandra Islas Caro. In the context of a Gender Issues in Latin America course taught in a North American university, we explored how certain theories by thinkers such as Simone de Beauvoir, Pierre Bourdieu, and Judith Butler, among others, contend that sexual preference, gender orientation, and sexuality, can be built as a cultural constructs, contrary to popular beliefs on the subject. …

Approaches To Teaching Latin American Culture Through Film: Children’S Plight In Poverty- And Violence-Ridden Countries, Delia V. Galvan Ph.D.

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

Students at the beginning levels of foreign language study have many borders to cross and many challenges to negotiate. This paper reports the results of a preliminary study involving the use of full-length films to engender intercultural sensitivity and understanding among two groups of first-year students of Spanish. Both films depict hardships of children in Spanish-speaking countries—as a result of conscription or as a result of child labor. The paper discusses the contextualization of the films for the students, the students’ responses to questionnaires, portions of classroom discussion that indicate growth in the areas of focus, and implications of the …