Family, Life Course, and Society Commons^™

Chieftaincy-Based Community Dispute Resolution: The Case Of Sierra Leone, Whitney Mcintyre Miller

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Sierra Leone suffered a destructive 11-year civil war that largely left its communities torn apart and in need of vast redevelopment. One of the ways that communities are rebuilding and making efforts to move forward is through the chieftaincy-based community dispute resolution process. Based on historical norms, this process involves the community leader, or chief, helping to resolve disputes within the community. This article reviews this chieftaincy-based community dispute resolution process, discusses the types of disputes settled, and provides broader lessons learned for communities who may be interested in truly community-based dispute resolution.

The Story Of Your Life On A Single Page: Assessing The Narrative Coherence Of Life Storytelling Through Facebook's Timeline Profile Design, Joseph Marcus

Masters Theses

Facebook's transition to the Timeline profile design brought with it a new focus: Life storytelling. Walther Fisher posited the narrative paradigm as a way of understanding all communication in the form of stories. The paradigmatic component of coherence assesses the structural integrity of a narrative, the characters, and the encompassing themes found within. This study applies narrative coherence to the Timeline profile design to assess the coherence of life narratives told through individuals' Facebook Timelines. The researcher observed the Timeline profiles of 15 participants on the basis of three research questions. The researcher's observation yielded data suggesting that life narratives …

"And Do You Take This Stranger To Be Your Lawfully Wedded Wife?": The Usefulness Of Social Penetration Theory Within Premarital Counseling, Katherine Beich-Forkner

Masters Theses

With fifty percent of today's marriages ending in divorce, one begins to wonder if engaged couples should be more prepared when entering into a marriage commitment. This mixed-methods study investigates the function of social penetration theory within premarital counseling programs. The research was designed to address three questions: (1) Do engaged couples believe they know the depth and breadth of their partner adequately enough to be prepared for marriage after receiving premarital counseling? (2) Do counselors indirectly support the basic premise of social penetration theory by actively using strategies to help engaged partners reveal important aspects of the breadth and …

Skype’S The Limit Testing The Value Of Cross-Cultural Relationship-Building In International Development, Charley Allegar

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study aims to explore the value of cross-cultural relationship-building and international friendship in development. By connecting two groups of Americans each with a group of low-income Kenyans over Skype and by presenting the written expression of Kenyans’ hopes and struggles to a third American group, the research analyzes whether face-to-face interaction and personal information sharing affects one’s perception of people’s needs. Though due to small sample sizes the results are generally inconclusive, qualitatively, the data suggest that relationship-building is a useful tool for development, defined as the improvement of a population’s fundamental welfare. Moreover, the study finds that deliberate …

What Really Matters: A Triangular Study Of Gender Roles And Standards Of Beauty In Cameroon Through The Lens Of Television Advertisements, Deborwah Faulk

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Mass media increasingly has become a powerful force around the world. It is impactful and useful in its various forms such as film, books, newspapers, magazines, television and visual and audio music. However even in its informative, educational, communicative, and entertaining character, the media also has the propensity to mirror larger societal practices, perceptions, thoughts, and opinions pertaining to social dynamics encountered within society. Thus social constructs of gender, race, class and other identity characteristics are exemplified and amplified through media forms. Such realities found in the media have the propensity to be socially dangerous in that it can shape …

Upload Complete Syncing The Thunder Dragon: An Analysis Of Bhutanese Media And Its Influences On A Changing Culture, Brian Mcqueen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Almost 14 years ago Bhutan was officially "hooked up" to the outside world. With access to Internet and television increasing rapidly in the Bhutan new thoughts are entering the country, replacing previous views. The effect of media on the lifestyle and culture of the people of Bhutan is significant due to the speed at which the change occurred.

For my research I split my time between the capital city, Thimphu and Sherubtse College, which is located in the rural village of Kanglung. By conducting interviews with people involved in the media scene of Bhutan and consumers of media, I have …

Influencia De Los Programas De Concurso Televisivos En La Construccion De Identidad Cultural En Jóvenes Cusqueños, Tess Renker

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Este informe describe la realización de mi proyecto de investigación sobre las influencias de los programas de concurso peruanos en la construcción de las identidades culturales de los jóvenes cusqueños. En el primer capítulo, describo las motivaciones por esta investigación, la área temática, y las preguntas de investigación, así como el marco teórico y la metodología del estudio. El segundo capítulo incluye la revisión de unas lecturas previas acerca del tema. Estas lecturas se enfocan en la vinculación de la televisión nacional peruana con la globalización y la manera en que estos programas pueden influir las identidades culturales de la …

To Vote Or Not To Vote: Youth Political Agency In Post-Revolutionary Tunisia, Sarah Dickson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In the wake of the Tunisian Revolution, young people in Tunisia have become very interested in politics. For some young people, this excitement has resulted in positive feelings about voting. For others, voting is not seen as an effective way to express political agency. This paper will analyze field research conducted by the author with young Tunisians in order to better understand Tunisian youth attitudes towards voting, and explore various interpretations of political agency. This paper will ask the fundamental questions: why didn’t revolutionary activism translate to voting for more young Tunisians, especially as they continue to express interest in …

Enacting Privacy Rules And Protecting Disclosure Recipients: Parents’ Communication With Children Following The Death Of A Family Member, Paige W. Toller, M. Chad Mcbride

Communication Faculty Publications

Given the probability that the death of a family member will occur before a child has reached adulthood, the purpose of this project was to understand what motivates parents to either talk or not talk about a loved one's death with their children. Using Communication Privacy Management to inductively analyze interviews, we found parents were motivated to talk to their children about death because they wanted their children to be informed. This is reflected in the first primary theme, Recalibrating Family of Origin Privacy Orientation Rules: Motivations for Revealing. Two secondary themes further explained parents' motivations to reveal: death as …

Mothered, Mothering & Motherizing In Illness Narratives: What Women Cancer Survivors In Southern Central Appalachia Reveal About Mothering-Disruption, Kelly A. Dorgan, Kathryn L. Duvall, Sadie P. Hutson, Amber E. Kinser

ETSU Faculty Works

Informed by a mothering-disruption framework, our study examines the illness narratives of women cancer survivors living in Southern Central Appalachia. We collected the stories of twenty-nine women cancer survivors from northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia using a multi-phasic qualitative design. Phase I consisted of women cancer survivors participating in a day-long story circle (n=26). Phase II consisted of women cancer survivors who were unable to attend the story circle ; this sample sub-set participated in in-depth interviews (n=3) designed to capture their illness narratives. Participants' illness narratives revealed the presence of: (1) mothering-disruption whereby cancer adversely impacted the mothering role …

A Women's Talking Circle: A Narrative Study Of Positive Intergenerational Communication, Pamela Ferris-Olson

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Narrative inquiry was used to understand how women’s experiences with their mothers, grandmothers, and daughters and as mothers, grandmothers, and daughters contribute to their meaning making of communication and connectedness with unrelated women. A purposeful sample of nine women aged 31-69 from a small Midwestern city was studied. Six African American and three white women were chosen for their membership in a group that has regularly engaged in positive intergenerational communication for nearly two years. The women’s narratives of personal communicative experiences within their families and with the other women were recorded and interpreted to gain a deeper understanding of …

How Can You Change The World If You're Not Paying Attention?, Alexandra Pittman

UCF Forum

It’s depressing to see many of my fellow University of Central Florida classmates, friends and coworkers so unaware of their own surroundings.

East Versus West: Chinese And American Development Efforts And Perceptions In Cameroon, Grace Perkins

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Every year, donor countries pour billions of dollars of foreign aid into developing recipient countries. Humanitarian and “win-win” rhetoric generally accompanies the grant, hospital, school, or sports stadium. To a realist international relations scholar, it is highly unlikely that powerful nations like the United States and China donate anything without political or economic strategic interests in mind. How do American and Chinese strategic interests affect the quality of development aid? This paper seeks to answer this question in the context of Cameroon, a Central African state rich in resources and young minds but whose growth is hampered by its colonial …

Technology Can Be Blessing, Curse To Students, Alexandra Pittman

UCF Forum

Many college students seem to have forgotten what a university is for because they have become lost within their own technology.

Cyber-Systemic Themes In Mft Literature, Justin M. Smith, Katherine M. Hertlein, Markie L.C. Blumer, Harrison Allen

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

Abstract: In the fifteen years since the explosion of the Internet, using cyber technology for work & social functions has exponentially increased. Yet the questions around how to manage such changes remain elusive in family therapy literature. In this investigation, we conducted a content analysis to determine to what extent marriage & family therapy (MFT) journals have responded to the integration of the Internet in couple & family life. We found 79 of 13,274 articles across seventeen journals focused on the Internet in some capacity supporting the contention that cyber issues are largely ignored within the MFT field.

Sectarianism In Northern Ireland: Youth Work And The Art Of Having The Difficult Conversation, Dan Knishkowy

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This report is the outcome of a month-long exploratory study on youth work in Northern Ireland regarding sectarian issues. It is an investigation of how sectarianism transfers from generation to generation, and how this often results in cycles of violence. The goal of this exploration was to find out what efforts are being made to combat this cycle at a youth level, and gain a more nuanced understanding of how these efforts can be effective. Data was obtained through literature, structured interviews, and participation and observation in a youth workshop. It is concluded that cross-community contact at a youth level …

Korean-American Divided Families: Catalyst For Changing The Course Of The Usa Policy On North Korea, Jungyoung Park

Capstone Collection

The Korea War has left deep scars on the psyches of Koreans in Korea and throughout the world. Among many ordeals that Korean citizens had to suffer during and after the war, the separation of the family was one of the most tragic continuing results of the war. Countless individuals were forcibly severed from their family members in North Korea and most haven’t seen their separated relatives for over six decades. There have been 18 rounds of reunions between North and South Koreans since a historic summit talk in June 2000. However, Korean-American members of divided families cannot participate in …

Holding On By Letting Go: Personal Agency As Maternal Activism, Amber E. Kinser

ETSU Faculty Works

Despite the efforts of maternal advocates and feminists through 150 years or more, a great many mothers today feel dissatisfied, shortchanged, and/or inadequate in their own lives. Even those who have reckoned with the fact that standards for mothering are absurdly out of synch with the real lives that families are living in contemporary times, or have carved out comfortable personal and familial space for themselves just beyond, or far beyond, the margins of mainstream motherhood ideologies, often struggle nevertheless with a needling sense of unrest and lack of personal agency. Further, women who agree that maternal empowerment is an …

Book Review Of Mothers And Daughters: Complicated Connections Across Cultures, Amber E. Kinser

ETSU Faculty Works

Excerpt: As both a daughter to a mother and a mother to a daughter, I have lived, and pushed against, and been formed by, the profound truth about mother-daughter relationships suggested by this book's title: it's complicated.

Hchouma Alik!: A Look At The Evolution Of Hchouma In Contemporary Moroccan Society, Eden Dotan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In this paper, I intend to first explain the Moroccan concept of hchouma, or shame, and explore how it has evolved from past to present generations. I will then examine Moroccan television by looking at how it, too, has evolved, and what its impact is on various people’s ideas of hchouma. I will demonstrate that there has been a devaluation of the word hchouma over the generations, and will discuss the implications of that devaluation. I will conclude by arguing that although hchouma may hold less importance today than it once did, it is not, as some of …

Skype Mothers: Technology, Multi-Directional Care In The Transnational Filipino Family, Valerie Francisco

Faculty Publications, Sociology

This paper explores the redefinition of the roles and operation of the Filipino family for migrant and non-migrant members. Scholars have posited that “transnational motherhood” has reorganized they way that migrant mothers make meaning and participate family life in both of their host and home contexts. This paper posits that through strategies of “multi-directional care,” care work for transnational families go both ways: non-migrant family members actively partake in caring for their migrant family members. The main findings in the paper highlight the use of video computer technology to make meaning of familial roles that usually necessitate physical presence such …

Nomadic Knowledge Of The Yak: A Case Study In The Khangai Mountains, Mongolia, Jesse Geary

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

It is extremely important to probe and preserve the knowledge of nomadic herders of Mongolia. There is no formal piece of literature that dictates how these clever humans survive. Their lifestyle requires a vast skill set spanning from construction knowledge, to navigational skills, to a deep understanding of their animals. One attains this knowledge through years of observation, listening, and attempting to mimic their parents. In this way, knowledge is passed on from one generation to the next. Investigating herder’s knowledge of the yak provides a window into the animal husbandry practices of Mongolian nomads. The herders in the central …

More Than Just Openness: Developing And Validating A Measure Of Targeted Parent-Child Communication About Alcohol, Michelle Miller-Day, Jennifer A. Kam

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Research addressing parent-child communication on the topic of alcohol use relies heavily on assessing frequency of discussions and general assessments of openness in parent-child communication, ignoring the complexity of this communication phenomenon. This study adds to the literature by articulating a conceptualization and developing a measurement of parent-child communication—targeted parent-child communication about alcohol—and comparing the efficacy of targeted parent-child communication about alcohol in predicting positive expectancies of alcohol use and recent alcohol use. The predictive power of general openness in parent-child communication and frequency of communication about alcohol also were assessed. Students in 5th and 6th grade (N = 1407) …

Films And Tv: Viewing Patterns And Influence On Behaviours Of College Students, Akhila Vasan

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This report, the result of a project undertaken as part of the Health and Population Innovation Fellowship administered by the Population Council, presents findings about the influence of films and television, as well as that of friends and the family, on the behaviors of college students in south Karnataka, India. This report adds to the growing body of evidence, particularly in India, of the importance of films and TV in young people’s lives. Apart from indicating media consumption patterns, the study also indicates the possible pathways in which ideas from films are translated or not translated into action. As a …

Grieving Together And Apart: Bereaved Parents’ Contradictions Of Marital Interaction, Paige W. Toller, Dawn O. Braithwaite

Communication Faculty Publications

The researchers adopted relational dialectics theory (Baxter & Montgomery, 1996) to examine the discourse of 37 bereaved parents. Research questions guiding the study were what dialectical contradictions do bereaved parents experience when communicating with their marital partner after their child’s death and how do bereaved parents and their marital partners communicatively negotiate the dialectical contradictions they experience? Our analysis revealed that bereaved parents experienced a dialectical contradiction between trying to grieve their child’s death together as a couple and apart as individuals. Likewise, parents experienced a contradiction between being both open and closed when talking with one another about their …

Using Communication To Cope With Loss, Paige W. Toller

Communication Faculty Publications

The death of a child is a devastating and life changing event. A child's death leaves parents struggling to somehow pick up the pieces of their shattered life and continue living. In the aftermath of their loss, parents are often surprised and disappointed to discover how difficult it is to talk to one another about their child's death. Likewise, parents may be frustrated to learn that they grieve very differently from their spouse. In many cases, one parent wants to talk a great deal about the child's death while the other does not. In addition, one parent may be more …

The Right To Die Debate: The Demonization Of Dr. Kevorkian And The Creation Of A Moral Panic Surrounding Physician-Assisted Suicide In The United States, Dana White

Honors Scholar Theses

The Right to Die Debate is a recent but highly controversial moral matter. In particular, physician-assisted suicide (PAS) is an issue that has been evaded by the medical community for years. As of 1990, most states had never encountered the issue before and therefore did not have any laws in place to prohibit PAS (Strate et. al, 2005). Dr. Jack Kevorkian, a retired pathologist from Royal Oak Michigan was the first to publicly address PAS. He brought the issue into the limelight through a bizarre and crude series of assisted deaths that had a lasting impact on not only the …

Defining Family: Naming, Orientation, And Redemption In The Case Of Terri Schiavo, M. Chad Mcbride, Karen L. Taas, Paige W. Toller

Communication Faculty Publications

This paper undertakes a detailed analysis of the Terri Schiavo case as it was covered in popular media. Drawing on Burkean theory, we argue a critical issue in the case was a struggle between Terri's parents and husband to be seen as the more legitimate family in order to determine the duration and extent of Terri 's medical care. We discuss how the private debate over Terri's health and the decision to remove her feeding tube entered into the public scenes of legal and political action. This shift to the public scene represented problems for the parties directly involved in …

The Link Between The Marital Bond And Future Triadic Family Interactions, Eve-Anne M. Doohan, Sybil Carrère, Chelsea Siler, Cheryl Beardslee

Communication Studies

This study examined how the marital bond, as indexed through the Oral History Interview (OHI), is related to future triadic family interactions. Families (N = 108), with a 7 – 9 year old child, participated in a longitudinal study (the Family Health Project) examining children’s emotional development throughout the transition to adolescence. Parental cohesion and family cohesion, warmth, structure, and problem solving were assessed via behavioral observation during family problem solving discussions and parent-child teaching interactions 18 – 24 months after the OHI. Results indicated that the marital bond was predictive of parental cohesion, family cohesion, warmth, and structure during …

Sibling Relationships During The Young Adult Years: An Analysis Of Closeness, Relational Satisfaction, Everyday Talk, And Turning Points, Jennifer Kellie Corti

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the sibling relationship during the young adult years. Specifically, this study explored how turning points and everyday talk related to closeness and relational satisfaction among college age siblings. One-hundred and ninety-nine young adult participants completed a detailed questionnaire about their relationship with a sibling. Results indicated that (a) geographic distance does not have a significant effect on the closeness among siblings, (b) everyday talk was expressed in terms of three categories: expressions of intimacy, maintenance talk, and relationally risky talk, (c) all three categories of everyday talk related to closeness, while only …