Sociology Commons^™

Songs From The Willow Tree: Staging Collective Inspiration For Creative Songwriting, Aubrey W. Carpenter

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The songwriting process, inspiration to song, can take many forms. This project explores a highly structured approach, using themes derived from reported individual experience to direct the creation of musical ends addressing common experience.

All In The Family: Economies Of Scale In Retail And Institutional Investment Management, Darwin Choi, Xi Li, Tong Yao, Zhe Zhang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper examines the (dis)economies of scale related to the joint management of retail mutual funds and institutional funds (i.e., investment portfolios catering to institutional clients). Similar to well-known observations for mutual funds, the performance of institutional funds is negatively related to fund size but positively related to fund family size, suggesting diseconomies of scale at individual fund level and economies of scale at fund family level. More importantly, there is spillover of the family size effect -- the performance of mutual funds (institutional funds) is positively related to the total institutional assets (mutual fund assets) managed by the same …

French Women In Art: Reclaiming The Body Through Creation/Les Femmes Artistes Françaises : La Réclamation Du Corps À Travers La Création, Liatris Hethcoat

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The research I have conducted for my French Major Senior Thesis is a culmination of my passion for and studies of both French language and culture and the history and practice of Visual Arts. I have examined, across the history of art, the representation of women, and concluded that until the 20^th century, these representations have been tools employed by the makers of history and those at the top of the patriarchal system, used to control women’s images and thus women themselves. I survey these representations, which are largely created by men—until the 20^th century. I discuss pre-historical …

A Performance Analysis Of Dorothy Rudd Moore's Sonnets On Love, Rosebuds, And Death, Cordelia Elizabeth Anderson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this document is to evaluate Dorothy Rudd Moore’s Sonnets on Love, Rosebuds, and Death through a performance analysis, and to discuss the significance of the Harlem Renaissance in relation to the song cycle. Moore used seven reputable poets from the Harlem Renaissance to compile this song cycle. The poets are Alice Dunbar Nelson, Clarissa Scott Delany, Gwendolyn Bennett, Langston Hughes, Arna Bontemps, Countee Cullen, and Helene Johnson. A few of them were a part of the core group that spurred this powerful movement. The Harlem Renaissance was a flourishing time in American history when African Americans felt …

Schoolgirls: Embodiment Practices Among Current And Former Sex Workers In Academia, Jennifer Heineman

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation looks at how marginalized people experience embodiment in intellectual spaces. By looking at the experiences of twenty current and former sex workers in academia, I find that individual actors practice two kinds of embodiment, what I label 1) fragmented (consciously separating erotic and intellectual work) and 2) confluent embodiment (making erotic and intellectual work more confluent). I find that embodiment practices change depending on the social context in which they occur. My findings expand the literature on embodiment and sociologies of the body for a more robust and fluid definition of the ways individual actors practice and reflect …

Globalization And The Rise Of Militant Islamic Social Movement Organizations: The Case Of Uamsho (Awakening) Group In Zanzibar., Deogratius Mshigeni

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation set out to explore how specific aspects of globalization affect the growth and development of particular militant neo-fundamentalist social movements and in what ways globalization affect the resources and collective identity of these movements. To examine this, I conducted ethnographic and archival research and in-depth interviews with 40 activists in the UAMSHO (AWAKENING) group in Zanzibar, which is associated with the rise of violent activities since the first multiparty elections, held in 1995. Most of these activities have been associated with the UAMSHO (AWAKENING) group, that adheres to strict neo-fundamentalist views of Islam, and which calls for Zanzibar …

The Intergenerational Effects Of Parental Divorce On Young Adult Relationships, Skyler William Roper

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Due to the current high rates of divorce, many young adults have experienced the effects of parental divorce. Although a variety of research has investigated both the positive and negative implications of divorce for individuals, relatively little research has looked at the relationship effects of parental divorce. Yet divorce likely influences both parent-child relationships (especially with a non-custodial parent) and young adult romantic relationships. The purpose of this study was to explore more fully how parental divorce affects young adult relationships by investigating the relationship between divorce and parent-child relationship quality, perceived comfort within close relationships (i.e., attachment), romantic relationship …

Image, Narrative, & Concept Of Time In Valerie Capers's Song Cycle Song Of The Seasons, Lillian Channelle Roberts

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Once I was a classical pianist, then I was a jazz pianist, but now I’m a pianist – No label. And in my writing, I’m not concerned with any particular style. I’ve found that if you have musical groundwork and some idea of the emotional impact the music should have, the musical style will hang together.

—Valerie Capers

Primarily known as a renowned jazz pianist, Valerie Capers is a blind, African-American woman composer who defied all odds by becoming the first blind graduate of The Juilliard School. Dr. Capers also became valedictorian of the New York Institute for the Education …

Bursting The Backpacker Bubble: Exploring Backpacking Ideology, Practices, And Contradictions, Mark J. Salvaggio

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In this dissertation, I discuss the growing development of international backpacking in Central America. I focus on backpackers because they are a significant, yet understudied and undertheorized, part of the newly mobile world. Drawing from more than 12 months of ethnographic data collected in Central America, I explore backpacking as a youth subculture. I used a subcultural framework to explain backpacking ideology, practices, and contradictions. Understanding backpacking as a youth subculture tells us a lot about the myths and realities of 21st century adventure in the context of global mobility, globalization, and economic changes in international tourism that shape what …

The History Problem: The Politics Of War Commemoration In East Asia, Hiro Saito

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Seventy years have passed since the end of the Asia-Pacific War, yet Japan remains embroiled in controversy with its neighbors over the war’s commemoration. Among the many points of contention between Japan, China, and South Korea are interpretations of the Tokyo War Crimes Trial, apologies and compensation for foreign victims of Japanese aggression, prime ministerial visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, and the war’s portrayal in textbooks. Collectively, these controversies have come to be called the “history problem.” But why has the problem become so intractable? Can it ever be resolved, and if so, how? To answer these questions, the author …

The Cultural Pragmatics Of Political Apology, Hiro Saito

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In recent decades, research on ‘political apology’, wherein the state apologizes to victims of its past wrongs, has multiplied, as redress movements based on human rights have proliferated around the world. Since most of this research has been conducted by political philosophers, however, analyses of political apologies tend to adopt formal and normative perspectives. To propose an alternative, empirically-grounded approach, in this paper, I develop the ‘cultural pragmatics’ of political apology. To this end, I first conceptualize political apology as a social performance aimed to ‘re-fuse’ an impaired relationship between the perpetrator state and the victim individual. This conceptual move …

Violation Of Long-Term Mate Preferences, M. L. W. Long, Norman P. Li

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Violations of short-term mate preferences refer to instances in which a person in a short-term, casual sexual relationship has mate preferences that were in place when the relationship commenced but subsequently are not being met.

Differential Parental Investment, Jose C. Yong, Norman P. Li

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Differences in minimum obligatory parental investment contributed by men and women lead the sexes to diverge in their sexual strategies and affective experiences, although under certain conditions, men’s mating preferences converge with women’s. This chapter first describes necessary or obligatory parental investment, examines the origins of sex differences in obligatory parental investment, describes examples of such differences across a range of species, and highlights the consequences of these differences in terms of human sexual strategies, conflicts, and affective experiences.

A Theoretical Analysis Of Isis Indoctrination And Recruitment, Trevor Hawkins

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This paper is an attempt to use various theories in the social sciences as a tool to understand the mechanisms employed in ISIS indoctrination and recruitment tactics. There is a discussion of theories that have been developed in the field of influence psychology, rationalizing the context of indoctrination within this area of study. There is a discussion of proposedly relevant materials in philosophy, specifically simulacrum and linguistic deconstruction. These components are extrapolated to interpret a first person account of ISIS indoctrination, the first-ever ISIS recruitment film, and a Radical-Islamist periodical Inspire Magazine. Using a form of propaganda film analysis, and …

Being A Scholar In The Digital Era: Transforming Scholarly Practice For The Public Good, Polly Thistlethwaite, Jessie Daniels

Publications and Research

What opportunities do digital technologies present scholars? How do developments in digital media support scholarship and teaching, and how can academics apply them to further social justice activism? The authors, a sociologist and a librarian, examine scholarly practice in the digital era to explore how academics, journalists, and activists can combine efforts to support social justice issues. With scholarly communication undergoing rapid change, and with digital innovation applied in higher education for many reasons, authors outline what scholars can do to channel their work to benefit the public good.

Reasonableness And Clarity Of Tenure Expectations: Gender And Race Differences In Faculty Perceptions, Rodica Lisnic

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation studies how higher education policies and practices can affect faculty retention and proposes changes that higher education institutions need to make to retain their faculty. Faculty assessment of reasonableness of tenure expectations is explored in the first manuscript and faculty perceptions of clarity of tenure expectations are explored in the second and third manuscripts. Job satisfaction data from a sample of 2438 tenure-track assistant professors at research universities is used.

The first manuscript investigates the reasonableness of tenure expectations as it relates to work-life balance. The focus is on whether women’s and men’s appraisal of departmental and institutional …

Fitting Eyewitness Identification And Confidence To A Diffusion Model Of Processing, Brittany Nicole Race

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It is necessary to better serve justice to understand the mechanisms behind eyewitness identification and reports of confidence. The material contained within attempt to fit eyewitness identification to a diffusion model of processing, RTCON (Ratcliff & Starns, 2009). Participants saw eight mock crime videos and were then tasked with using eight showups or eight lineups to identify the suspects within the video. Half of the presentations were target present and half were target absent. Additionally, participants were either presented with biased or unbiased instructions. Strangely, unbiased lineups led to higher hit rates which is contrary to most findings in the …

Eveleth, Minnesota: A Portrait Of My Home Town, Judith I. Luna

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This 30-minute documentary film provides snapshots of the small northeastern iron mining town of Eveleth, Minnesota, on the Mesabi Iron Range. It uses a two-pronged approach: 1) a first-person return to the town by the filmmaker almost 50 years after graduating from high school to see how the town may have changed, 2) a look at some historical and cultural factors which made the town what it was when the filmmaker was growing up and what continues to animate the town in the face of iron mining’s decline and rebirth. The latter include the immigrant experience and influence as the …

Exploding The Nuclear Family, Howard Schaap

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

No abstract provided.

Introduction To New Work On Immigration And Identity In Contemporary France, Québec, And Ireland, Dervila Cooke

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided for the introduction.

Competing Visions And Current Debates In Interculturalism In Québec, Marie Mcandrew

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Competing Visions and Current Debates in Interculturalism in Québec" Marie McAndrew posits that interculturalism is the quest for a middle path between Canadian multiculturalism (criticized for essentializing and isolating cultures) and French Jacobinism (which relegates diversity to the private sphere). The theoretical underpinnings of the three approaches are first compared using major works in political philosophy, sociology of ethnic relations, and social psychology. The polysemic nature of actual policies is then explored through the example of Québec's immigration society where two versions of interculturalism developed since the late 1970s and are still competing. McAndrew analyzes four recent …

Thematic Bibliography To New Work On Immigration And Identity In Contemporary France, Québec, And Ireland, Dervila Cooke

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

Educational Journeys Of Successful Hispanic Science Professionals, Gizelle Ann Luevano

All Theses And Dissertations

This qualitative case study examined the science identity and educational experiences, including discrimination, perseverance, and mentorship, of Hispanics in science. The participants were asked to reflect on their 1) educational journeys including obstacles they encountered during their education, 2) support systems while in college, 3) science identities, and 4) their advice for future Hispanic science majors. To capture the stories of successful Hispanic science professionals in detail, transcripts were utilized as data sources. Once member check was conducted, transcripts were analyzed by utilizing qualitative computer software. Grounded science identity model and social capital theory were utilized as the conceptual frameworks. …

Social And Cultural Integration Process Among Syrian Refugees In The United States, Sheren Iskandar Shihadeh

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the cultural and social integration process among Syrian refugees in the United States, and to what extent the direct and indirect challenges have played a role in the process of their social and cultural integration. The challenges include, but are not limited to, cultural conflicts, religious values, stereotypes, and English language proficiency. In order to investigate my research questions, interviews as a research methodology were used as a theoretical framework for this project to collect and analyze data. I conducted semi-structured interviews with ten Syrian refugees who currently live in the United …

Gender Roles And Gender Stereotypes In Four Newbery Award-Winning Books, Alex P. Brower

Honors Theses

This research project examined the presentation of traditional gender roles and representation in four books that were awarded the Newbery Medal. The four books that were examined are the award recipients from 1922, 1923, 2014 and 2015. It was predicted that as gender equality has become a more prominent issue, and men and women have become more equal, one would expect this change to be reflected in children’s literature. A close reading was performed of these works, and special attention was paid to how the authors present the genders of the main characters in terms of personal interests, the roles …

‘How Yoga Are You?’: Exploring The Contemporary Practice Of Yoga In The United States, Olivia Mclaughlin

Masters Theses

In 2015, to the United States, 21 million Americans claimed to be regular practitioners of yoga. Yoga has long been studied by psychologists, therapists, and medical scientists for its ability to affect positive change in people’s lives, particularly in regards to mental and emotional health and well-being. Within the field of sociology, yoga has gained an increasing amount of attention for its ability to help treat chronic eating disorders among women, becoming extremely popular within the subfields of sociology of the body and gender. Additionally, the cultural impact of the transmission of yoga has fascinated social scientists interested in studying …

Examining The Sociocultural Experiences Of Cherokee Nation Citizens In Athletic Competition And Sport, Michael Dewayne Merrie

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the sociocultural experiences of Cherokee adults in athletic competition and sport. Specifically, following a qualitative design, fifteen participants were interviewed about their personal experiences in athletic competition and sport while growing up in rural Oklahoma. Interviews were open-ended and followed a semi-structured script of questions with additional probes. Once completed, the recorded interviews were transcribed and data were analyzed. The data revealed six axial codes and three selective codes. Cherokee culture, psychoSocial identity, and athletic competition were the three major selective codes discovered in this study. Qualitative analyses revealed that participants have …

Sexual Misconduct Discourses Within A Gendered Campus Environment, Kathryn A. E. Enke

Academic Affairs Publications

Using data from focus groups, class papers and institutional documents, this project for the HLC Quality Initiative examined discourses around sexual misconduct at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University and considered how these discourses reflect a gendered campus environment. The research aimed to inform the national conversation on sexual misconduct on college campuses and to suggest specific recommendations for implementation at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University.

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 92, No. 25, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news. This issue contains articles:

• Dick, Jacob. Sigma Alpha Epsilon Suspended One Year for Alcohol Violations
• Sandefur, Alex. Strive for Success – Geo International High School, Refugees
• Collins, Emma. WKU Files Suit Against State Retirement System
• Kast, Monica. Greek Affairs Adviser Removed After Twitter Post – Alexandria Kennedy
• Alvey, Rebekah. List of Campus Safe Spaces Available Online
• King, Jennifer. Editorial Cartoon re: End of Semester
• Dimeo, Chris. Smokey Bones Is Back At It Again
• Beauchamp, Kijana. Educate Yourself Following Election
• Huff, Taylor. Taking a Look Back a the Barak Obama …

From Combat Zones To The Classroom: Transitional Adjustment In Oef/Oif Student Veterans, Lorrie Kato, Jeremy D. Jinkerson, Sarah C. Holland, Henry V. Soper

The Qualitative Report

With 600,000 veterans of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom enrolled in higher education with the Post-9/11 GI Bill, recognizing and responding to their predictable adjustment issues is imperative. Existing qualitative research has identified some transitional issues encountered by small groups of veterans. Because of qualitative research’s limited generalizability, however, themes may be viewed as more generalizable when corroborated by student veterans in different regions. In order to provide an in-depth description of the themes related to the post-deployment adjustment process, the first author conducted semi-structured interviews with 19 student veterans from a Southwestern community college who were returning to …