Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

“I, Too, Am An Occupied Territory”: Border Crossings And Personal Sovereignty In Three Novels By Dominican American Women, Leia M. Lynn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Border crossing(s) and personal sovereignty are intimately and complexly connected in novels by and about Dominican American women. Through readings of In the Name of Salomé by Julia Alvarez, Dominicana by Angie Cruz, and The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo, I argue that patriarchal forms of authority remove female autonomy by trespassing on personal boundaries, and that the renegotiation of that power is achieved through formations of community, especially with other women, through nonheteronormative relationships that are present inside and extend outside the text. The interplay of patriarchal authority, violence, and alienation on the four protagonists is examined at length, …

Lebanese Colonial Hang-Ups: Anti-Blackness And The Kafala System In Lebanon, Sarah Gonzalez Noveiri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lebanon’s colonial legacy has not only influenced the legal and political systems which operate in the country today. As I hope to demonstrate in this dissertation, the strength and cementation of these systems can be seen as a consequence of negotiations of identity, citizenship and nation state that took place during the Ottoman Empire and French colonial rule. The Kafala is one of such systems that developed through the Ottoman Empire and against the backdrop of European colonization. Discourses of race, citizenship, gender and sexuality that were being negotiated by colonial citizens and colonial powers, served to cement the racialized …

The Eu Ets: A Critical Analysis, Marceline Grey Swan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Carbon markets, established via cap & trade programs, are the dominant means by which climate stabilization is currently being pursued worldwide, with many centered around the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme. As such, a critical analysis of the EU ETS & its effectiveness is crucial to assess whether the EU carbon market is an effective mechanism to achieve climate stabilization. The effectiveness of the overall program was evaluated via a determination of whether the EU ETS, & to a greater extent the EU carbon market, has allowed for emissions reductions in line with the goal for climate stabilization set by …

The Effects Of Fundamentals, Speculation, Government Policies, And International Capital Flows On China's Stock Market, Yanshen Qi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper, based on the relationship between the economy, policy and the financial market seeks to explore the leading force in China's stock market and identify how the government policies affect the stock market, through an analysis of the performance of the Shanghai Stock Exchange Index over the past 10 years. Comparing the stocks' intrinsic value to their market price can present an aerial view of China's stock market. When the market prices deviated from fundamentals, we can find what government did to respond to the market and lead market opinions.

Through our estimation, comparing the sample fundamental prices with …

The Political Economy Of The Automobile Industry Development In China, Muyuan Niu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper analyses the political economy of developing the modern Chinese automobile industry. By using qualitative research method, especially case study, and developmental rent management analysis framework, the author analyzed the development in three different time periods since the Chinese economic reform in 1978. Case studies of learning period, developing period and new Chinese owned enterprises after joining WTO presented different policies and rent management strategies arranged by the state to industrialize and develop the modern Chinese automobile industry. Although there are failures involved in the arrangement, China finally industrialized and developed its modern automobile industry and became the world's …

Doing Development In Extraordinary Environments: Exploring The Impact Of Development Ngos In Zimbabwe, Gladys Antonio

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this study I provide accounts of the phenomenology of development within a state of exception in Zimbabwe. My main goal was to understand how the notion of development is conceived by development NGOs and beneficiaries of their services. To achieve this objective, I raised several ontological questions about the capabilities ordinary citizens have to develop within an extraordinary context of political, economic and social uncertainty. Moreover, I explored the creative strategies and tactics adopted by development NGOs to make their operations possible in a context of severely curtailed freedoms. A significant part of that investigation was to find the …

Reclaiming The Body: Understanding Arab–American Hybrid Experience Through Affective Attunement, Salma Tariq Shukri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Critical intercultural communication (CIC) scholarship on hybridity emphasizes the necessity of examining hybrid performances within their cultural, political, and interpersonal contexts. Though telling, it overlooks a significant piece of the puzzle in understanding hybrid lived experience: how one feels in relation to an interaction, societal structure, or circulating discourse. This dissertation seeks to build an interdisciplinary bridge between CIC and affect theory with the purpose of emphasizing the importance of embodiment in the exploration and interpretation of hybrid performance. To do this, I will draw upon what Manning (2013) terms affective attunement, which accentuates how each lived moment is particular …

Lifting The Veil On Hindi Film Song Sequences: An Approach To Analysis, Maria A. Souliotis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis seeks to augment previous scholarly research on Hindi film song through the presentation of a multivalent approach to thoroughly understanding and interpreting Hindi film song sequences. In a case study of the song sequence “Pardā Haı̃ Pardā” ("There Is a Veil,"? from Manmohan Desai's 1977 film Amar Akbar Anthony), the three essential elements of these sequences (on-screen visuals, text, and music) are connected to the context of South Asian history and culture to demonstrate how scholarly approaches to music, film, and cultural studies can be united to create a more interdisciplinary approach to analysis. The approach also …

Beyond Donors And Dollars: An Ethnographic Case Study Of International Aid And Its Agents In Mozambique, Carly Amanda Santoro

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In Mozambique, international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) work mainly in Mozambique's rural areas, with programs dedicated to the prevention of infectious diseases, education, access to food and clean water, gender equity, and many other concerns. Yet despite these efforts, Mozambican populations are critical of NGOs' missions and practices, and Mozambique remains one of the poorest countries in the world. To explore these issues concerning contradictions in aid in Mozambique, I employ the concept of cultural capital, which refers to cultural practices, perspectives, and beliefs in relation to one's ability to access symbolic and material goods. My thesis examines the degree to …

An Analysis Of The Appreciation Of The Chinese Currency And Influences On China's Economy, Lina Ma

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, China's economy development has had more and more impact on the global economy. The Chinese currency continued to appreciate since 2005, which has had both positive and negative results on Chinese's economy. The Chinese government uses the monetary policy to control the inflation pressure, which could work counter to Chinese exchange rate policy. RMB appreciation also has some effects on the Chinese banking system. Through the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP), a global computable general equilibrium model, we analyze how, when there is RMB appreciation, the Chinese exports and imports, and Chinese employment and income inequality react. …

The Vernacular Discourse Of The "Arab Spring": An Analysis Of The Visual, The Embodied, And The Textual Rhetorics Of The Karama Revolution, Fatima Zahrae Chrifi Alaoui

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Vernacular Discourse of the "Arab Spring" is a project that bridges the divide between the East and the West by offering new readings to Arab subjectivities. Through an analysis of the "Arab Spring" through the lens of vernacular discourse, it challenges the Euro-Americo-centric legacies of Orientalism in Western academia and the new wave of extremism in the Arab world by offering alternative representations of Arab bodies and subjectivities. To offer this new reading of the "Arab Spring," it explores the foundations of critical rhetoric as a theory and a practice and argues for a turn towards a critical vernacular …

The Performance Of Intercultural Communication: China's "New Face" And The 2008 Beijing Olympics, Patrick Shaou-Whea Dodge

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores Chinese communication practices. I focus on the performance of intercultural communication and how the "New Face" of China was performed to the world and in day-to-day intercultural communication encounters during the 2008 Olympics. I analyze the Olympic Volunteer Training Manual as performative text as well as interviewed Beijing Olympic volunteers about their encounters with international visitors. Specifically, I discuss why the Olympics were a crucial moment for China to unveil its "New Face" to the world, what the "New Face" of China entails, and the reasons why China is in need of a new image on the …

Using The Theory Of Reasoned Action And Planned Behavior To Create A Point-Of-Use Water Treatment Behavior-Change Campaign Within The Safe Water System, Kelly Fenson-Hood

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

During the summer of 2010, formative field research was collected in Kibera, Africa’s largest urban informal settlement, located in Nairobi, Kenya. Research explored how a Western-developed behavior-change theoretical model could be applied in a developing country. Data was collected through focus groups, a case study and direct observations. Recommendations were made for an intervention to reduce the incidence of childhood diarrhea. A campaign was proposed that promoted consistent and sustainable use of the Safe Water System, that is, point-of-use drinking water treatment and safe drinking water storage. Results revealed that it was indeed feasible to apply the Western model, Theory …

Caring Work: Opening A Space Of Possibility For Exploring Transnational Feminist Solidarity Between Privileged And Marginalized Women, Beverly Romero Natividad

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Neoliberalism, through its emphasis on personal responsibility and individual freedom in accelerating economic development globally, has only pushed women further into the margin of society. Structural adjustment programs (SAPs), which impose state budget cuts on healthcare and welfare programs, particularly have kept poor women and women of color in poverty and generally, have exploited women's labor. However, in this age of neoliberalism, women's solidarity becomes more significant. Because neoliberalism is founded on individualism, its downfall rests on alliance-building. Against this backdrop, I explore the possibility of fostering transnational feminist solidarity between privileged and marginalized women engaged in formal caring work. …

The Development Drive Of North-South Versus South-South Ptas, Jose Luis Ramirez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The importance of PTAs in today's global economic order is unmistakable, especially during the last fifteen years when their proliferation has dramatically accelerated and their scope and structure have radically changed. However, the available theoretical framework (international trade theories) from which their developmental impact is assessed seems to be largely lagging behind. Hence, there is a crucial need for more realistic assessments of their embedded developmental features because an increasing number of developing countries are perceiving these agreements as one of the key instruments to propel their long delayed economic development. In this thesis, I strive to construct an alternative …