Sociology of Culture Commons^™

Through The Eyes Of The Homeless, Aisha M. Soto

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

When reviewing the entire project from start to completion, I can honestly say, Through the Eyes of the Homeless is a play about ten women and their plight. It illustrates their dealings with everyday issues of hurt, disappointment, abuse, love, and hope. I believe the true impact of this play is the undeniable prayer for help and hope within each monologue. Despite the horrors that are unveiled and released through hidden secrets, the undertone of betterment is truly resonating. My own expectation for this play is simply to strike awareness and understanding in the eyes of the people. It is …

Devising: Improving A Perceived Glistening Community!, Katie Laner

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Theatre for social change has long relied on devising methods to create pieces reflecting current cultural and societal issues. Through exercises, games and workshops, theatre for social change devising practices are as distinct and numerous as the many different communities they work with. The leading pioneer, Augusto Boal, created Theatre of the Oppressed, which utilizes many kinds of practices meant to address local issues effecting a group of people who have suffered from repression or whose needs have been invisible from greater society.Since his initial groundbreaking theories and practices, many modern artists and groups have adapted and changed his methods …

Perceptions Of Identity In Post-Famine Irish Return Migrants, Brittany Walsh

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The Irish census records from 1841 and 1851 demonstrated a nearly 20% drop in population over the course of the Great Famine, accounting for both death and emigration during that period. Among this drop was the community of nearly 1.5 million emigrants who left during the decade, a number accounting for half of the citizens leaving Ireland in the nineteenth century. While most of this community were permanent migrants, an estimated 10% of those who emigrated to the United States returned to Ireland during the second half of the century. This research will analyze the construction of Irish emigrant identity …

Learning How To Fly The Intersectionality Of Religion, Culture And Gender Of The Samoan Baha’I Community, Detmer Yens Kremer

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Samoan Baha’i community balances their multiple identities in a society where they are a minority. Their cultural, religious and gender identities are all essential to their expressions as human beings, and this research aims to explore how Samoan Baha’i reconcile their multiplicity of identities. Information was gathered through a wide range of primary and secondary resources consisting of interviews, other forms of personal communications and participatory observation. An expansion of the notion of intersectionality in a Pacific context contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of cultural change, globalization and social justice. As the Baha’i religion does not believe in …

“He Venido A Servir A Mi Gente” El Liceo Guacolda Y La Educación Intercultural En Chile / "I Have Come To Serve My People " The Liceo Guacolda And Intercultural Education In Chile, Jake Highleyman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The concept of intercultural education is present in many countries worldwide: it’s the idea of learning through the lenses of more than one culture, not just the Western or dominant one. In Chile, intercultural education is most commonly associated with the mapuche, the largest indigenous group in Chile. Since 1993, Chile has had a federal Bilingual Intercultural Education program (EIB). However, almost all of the implementation is left up to individual schools. The schools that do apply the program at a high school level only do so in an elective-based manner. That is, only students who elect to take a …

On Getting Dressed, Sharon L. Stephenson

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

I lean against the chalkboard and wait for the young woman to speak. I feel especially put together because I am wearing an outfit; I bought all three pieces at the same time, indicating my financial stability and dedication to appearance.

It is a Friday, and this introductory physics student is casual in her sorority letter jersey, jeans and sneakers. Her hair is long, her skin porcelain; these traits do not distinguish her from her sorority sisters. She is exceptional, however, in her habit of obsessively leaning forward in her front-row desk, as if preparing to dive over the top. …

Multi-­‐Method Assessment Of Isil, Michael Nagata, Ali Abbas, Scott Atran, Bill Braniff, Andrew Bringuel, Muayyad Al-Chalabi, Sarah Canna, Jocelyne Cesari, Jacquelynn Chinn, Jon Cole, Steven Corman, Jonathon Cosgrove, Allison Astorino-Courtois, John Crowe, Richard Davis, Natalie Flora, James Giordano, Craig Giorgis, Mackenzie Harms, Benjamin Jensen, Richard John, Randy Kluver, Larry Kuznar, Gina Ligon, Leif Lundmark, Clark Mccauley, William H. Moon, Sophia Moskalenko, Dan Myers, Ryan Pereira, Stacy Pollard, Philip Potter, Hammad Sheikh, Johannes Siebert, Peter Simi, Lee Slusher, Anne Speckhard, Jason Spitaletta, Laura Steckman, Shalini Venturelli, Jeff Weyers, Lydia Wilson, Detlof Von Winterfeldt

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

"The contents of this paper reflect some of the work that Dr. Cabayan and his colleagues are doing to help us understand and comprehend this “intangible power” across a unique enterprise of academicians, scientists, policy intellectuals, current and former Foreign Service, military, and intelligence professionals. Most importantly, their efforts to improve our comprehension will enable us to adjust our efforts, our operations, our investments, and our risk-­‐calculations to more effectively contest it and the organization that wields it. I am grateful for their tireless work in this regard, and I commend it to the reader."

A Difference Of Appearance, Charlotte H. Moreno

SURGE

Appearance can seem like it’s everything.

My father is from California; his parents are from Mexico and El Salvador. He has tan skin and dark hair and is bilingual in English and Spanish. My mom, though also from California, is a combination of Irish, Cuban, and Hungarian. She passed on her fair skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes to me. [excerpt]

Common Sense Theology: An Analysis Of T. L. Carter's Interpretation Of Romans 13:1-7, Joshua Alley

Senior Honors Theses

Common sense theology has been a part of American theology since the time of the Revolution when Evangelicals incorporated ideals from the Scottish didactic Enlightenment into their thought. This paper deals with the work of one particular author, T. L. Carter, and his interpretation and exegetical work on Romans 13:1-7. It deals with the two major presuppositions of his common sense theology, namely that interpretations of any passage of Scripture will adhere to common sense and will result in a value-based ethic. Following this is an analysis of both the strengths and weaknesses of Carter's methodology.

On The Origin And Future Of Poetry: Notes Towards An Investigation, Carlos Aguasaco

Publications and Research

An exploration on the historical and material conditions that allowed the emergence of metaphors and poetry alongside language. This article analyzes the historical relation between poetry and technology across history. It discusses the so-called ontological crisis of poetry and opens the conversation on its future.

Addams On Cultural Pluralism, European Immigrants, And African Americans, Marilyn Fischer

Philosophy Faculty Publications

In this paper, I will restrict the discussion to Addams’s writings during the twentieth century’s first decade, when she developed most of her thinking on cultural pluralism. By 1910, Dewey had not yet moved to cultural pluralism, Boas’s cultural relativism had not yet penetrated the intellectual world, and Mendelian genetics had not yet replaced Lamarckian assumptions regarding heredity.The Great War was yet to shatter illusions about Western civilization’s strength and rightness.

“All Women Talk”- A Study Of Beauty And Female Identity In Senegalese Culture, Arden Haselmann

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The idea of Beauty is defined cross culturally, and is rooted in surrounding environment and larger values presented in the community. This study explores collective and individual understandings of beauty and its relationship to female identity. My hope with this research was to explore various attitudes that existed around beauty and understanding the motivations behind why Senegalese women are willing to put so much effort in altering their physical appearance in such extreme ways.

Destroying The Ethnosphere? How Tourism Has Impacted The Sherpas Of Nepal, Joshua H. Ginder

Student Publications

Tourism is perhaps the most salient and impactful process of globalization today. As we are increasingly more mobile, traveling with endless comfort and ease, we explore the far reaches of the planet as ambassadors of our own culture and as agents of change. In this process we potentially threaten the cultural diversity of the planet. So how can we reduce the impact of tourism on the cultures of the world? In order to answer this question I examine the implications of cultural and adventure tourism, especially as they relate to the Sherpas of Nepal. Sherpas have been involved with both …

“In Light Of Real Alternatives”: Negotiations Of Fertility And Motherhood In Morocco And Oman, Victoria E. Mohr

Student Publications

Many states in the Arab world have undertaken wide-ranging family planning polices in the last two decades in an effort to curb high fertility rates. Oman and Morocco are two such countries, and their policies have had significantly different results. Morocco experienced a swift drop in fertility rates, whereas Oman’s fertility has declined much more slowly over several decades. Many point to the more conservative religious and cultural context of Oman for their high fertility rates, however economics and the state of biomedical health care often present a more compelling argument for the distinct differences between Omani and Moroccan family …

Response To Comments On 'Addams On Cultural Pluralism, European Immigrants, And African Americans', Marilyn Fischer

Philosophy Faculty Publications

The author thanks Denise James and Charlene Haddock Seigfried for their thoughtful comments on her paper. Although they respond in different ways, they both picked up on questions and uncertainties that arose as she wrote the paper.

For some years, she has been trying to write about essays Addams addressed to African American audiences. For this paper, she decided to deal only with Addams’s writings between 1900 and 1910 in order to compare her essays for African American audiences with what she wrote at the same time for wider audiences. This approach enabled her to sort out when Addams’s writing …

Utopias Misplaced: The Cost Of Outsourcing Dystopian Poetics To North Korea, Seo-Young J. Chu

Publications and Research

This is a slightly revised version of the text of a talk that I (Seo-Young Chu) gave as part of the Fall 2014 Franke Lectures in the Humanities at Yale University. I'm sharing the text here to make the lecture more accessible. Topics include: North Korea/the DPRK, the "uncanny body politic," the uncanny valley, "dystopian poetics," what it means to outsource dystopian poetics, the intersection of aesthetics and politics. Authors/artists mentioned include: Thomas Hobbes, Mary Shelley, David Mitchell, Marjane Satrapi, Song Byeok, Sun Mu, Masahiro Mori, Andy Warhol. The talk also discusses the James Bond film Die Another Day.

Social Capital Of Last Resort: The Role Of Religion, Family, And Trust Among People With Low Socio-Economic Status, Jean Reid Norman

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This qualitative study finds evidence that poverty and homelessness undermine primary social relationships for many low-income people, eroding social capital, and that generalized trust may not be a good proxy for social capital, at least among a largely homeless population. This study also finds a surprising number of references to God, religion and spirituality among largely homeless populations when talking about their social networks, which addresses literature suggesting that church affiliation and religion may be unique in the formation of social capital. Twelve focus groups were conducted with a total 46 participants self-identified as low-income to explore social capital. A …

The Influence Of Religion On Attitudes Toward Alcohol Use In Jewish Adolescents, Toby R. Levin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Historically, the Jewish faith has used alcohol in rituals and religious holidays in which adolescents are permitted to fully participate and this exposure to alcohol may influence attitudes and beliefs about underage drinking among Jewish adolescents. The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a relationship between the Jewish religion and attitudes toward alcohol among Jewish adolescents. The theoretical frameworks, on which this study was based, were the social bond theory and the social development theory. Each of these theories indicates that community is important to the individual. Using a cross sectional study design, 160 adolescents participated …

Adult Third Culture Kids: Does Their Concept Of Home Have An Impact On Their Career Paths?, Kelly B. Wisecarver

Capstone Collection

For decades, social scientists have been conducting studies about Third Culture Kids (TCKs). TCKs are children who have been raised outside of their passport countries as a result of their parents’ professions abroad. One sociologist refers to TCKs as “prototype citizens of the future,” citing their backgrounds a playing a role in today’s increasingly globalized world. How have TCKs’ multicultural backgrounds and experiences shaped them? What types of professions are they prone to? What qualities and characteristics do they commonly share and why are they an important group to study? My capstone aims to address these questions.

The combination of …

Emerging From The Shadows: Civil War, Human Rights, And Peacebuilding Among Peasants And Indigenous Peoples In Colombia And Peru In The Late 20th And Early 21st Centuries, Charles A. Flowerday

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Peacebuilding in Colombia and Peru following their late-20^th and early 21^st century civil wars is a challenging proposition. In this study, it becomes necessary as indigenous peoples and peasants resist domination by extractive industries and governments in their thrall. Whether they protest nonviolently or rebel in arms, they are targeted for human-rights violations, especially murder, disappearance and displacement. The armed actors, state, insurgency, paramilitaries or drug traffickers, destroy civic institutions (local or regional government) and the civil (nonprofit) sector and replace them with their own authoritarian versions. Therefore, peacebuilding has emphasized rebuilding civic institutions, civil society and local …

Intergenerational Conflicts In Iran: Myth Or Reallity?, Mohammad Hossein Panahi

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

One of the important social issues attracting the attention of social thinkers in post WWII era has been the issue of intergenerational conflict. Presented by scholars such as Karl Manheim and Margaret Mead, it was thought that in post WWII era intergenerational conflicts or gap rose to a degree that it made the communication and understanding between pre and post WWII generations very difficult. It was theorized that this unbridgeable gap between the two generations was due to grave and rapid social changes that occurred in that era, so that these two generations experienced and lived in two totally different …

打造香港道德 = The (Re)Making Of The Hong Kong Ethic, Ching Yau

《新自由主義下的新道德》研討會 NEO-MORALISM UNDER NEOLIBERALISM INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

過去關於港人價值觀的論述一般認為華人難民社群有「功利家庭主義」的非政治化取向 (Lau)、殖民政治強化「固有的保守和怯懦心理」(曾31)、「港人(主要是年青一代)普遍都表現了十分內向與退卻心理…… 極端的物慾主義、享樂主義或消極意念」(曾35)。雖然貧富懸殊嚴重，但直至本世紀初以前，「多數居民都相信有能力肯苦幹就有機會出頭」；「法律觀念深入民心」，所以「個人和家庭利益放在集體利益的前面」(李41) ；八十年代後是「利益團體政治」及伴隨而來的「公民權利」及「社區意識」興起，「歸屬感政治」轉變至「權益政治」(黃偉邦 184) ° 戰後出身的一代因為並未經歷中國內戰所以較為「理想主義」(張炳良58) ，大多「出身低下家庭」，「故對社會公義問題特別敏感」(張炳良59)，普遍認同「民主自由、公義平等」原則；不是「福利派」，「要求其本階級利益獲得一定的注重」(張炳良61)，「重視自我奮鬥，強調獨立」(張炳良63) ，要求機會平等而不是均等主義 (Lau and Khan 66; 呂1998b : 203) °「競爭性資本主義」環境提供的「雙軌發展」社會流動機能鼓勵沒受過專上教育的透過「搏殺」來晉升中產階級 (呂1998b : 98) ° 即使看到資本主義「有不平等」，但仍然接受「競爭性的制度」; 九七後的焦慮是害怕失去「一個個人自由得到尊重、個人高度的自由活動空間和依法行事的制度」，導致「自身利益受損」，「毋須因政治理由而委屈、妥協」，面對「強權的、家長式的環境」(呂 1998b : 203-206)。

以上大概描述了上世紀八十年代及以後的港人主流價值觀，經常被統稱為「獅子山下精神」的。過去學者一般傾向把香港本土意識的崛起，「獅子山下精神」(《獅子山下 》為1974-1994年間，香港電台製作的一套電視劇) 的形塑 追塑至七十年代 。六十年代末至七十年代是香港經濟結構急劇轉型期 (如1969-1972年間就有三家證券交易所成立：1969年遠東交易所、1971年金銀證券交易所及1972年九龍證卷交易所)，而五十至六十年代中則通常被指為南來人口無法或企圖適應香港、心懷祖國的過渡期。本文借爬梳五十年代的流行電 影文化來闡述當時社會-我認為同樣是「紮根」香港，以香港作為想像共同體 - 深入民心的價值觀跟「獅子山下精神」的不盡相同甚至矛盾，從而企圖重新想像香港文化中的一些被歷史斷裂化了、地下化了的聲音，如何被有系統地排除在「香港本土」的界定以外。 我追溯這過程作為在香港被「競爭性資本主義」全盤洗禮之前，經歷了的一項去（舊）道德，同時也是去政治化工程。而把「香港本土意識」定性於在七十年代才出現這種說法，是把香港人對殖民資本主義的認同作為香港成為想像共同體的條件，這也是香港最新自由主義化的「本土性」。

Present discourse on Hongkongers' value systems considers this community of Chinese refugees as having an apolitical "utilitarian familism" (Lau); that colonial politics reinforced “an existing psychology of conservatism and timidity” (Tsang 31); that "Hongkongers (mainly its younger generations) express generally a very inward-looking and regressive mentality… an extreme materialism, hedonism and negativity.” (Tsang, 35) Despite a severe gap between the rich and poor, until …

道德漠視與遠端資本主義 : 《蝸居》受眾研究 = Moral Indifference And Capitalism From Afar : An Audience Research On Woju, Iam Chong Ip

《新自由主義下的新道德》研討會 NEO-MORALISM UNDER NEOLIBERALISM INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

本文是一個電視劇《蝸居》的受眾研究，並聚焦在中國大學畢業生的新自由主義主體的構成。《蝸居》於2009年夏天播放，並迅速產生了「蝸居」這個關鍵詞，指中國城市裡中下階級的狹窄的居所環境，媒體亦經常報導受過高等教育的年青人的階級期望與生活及工作條件之間的巨大差距。研究發現，儘管媒體經常把《蝸居》連繫上中國的裙帶資本主義的問題，例如腐敗、道德危機及經濟不平等，但是，我的受訪者在閱讀電視劇角色及故事時，其道德說辭與關注並不顯著，相反，從他們對《蝸居》的閱讀，我們發現他們透過協議一個遠離社會及道德矛盾的主體位置，擁抱一種大都會生活方式。這體現了一種新自由主義主體，往往只看到都市生活的光明面，以及各種實踐自我激發及管理的技術。這種想像的自我是深植於不均衡的國家空間，內裡包括兩個真實－想像世界：「內陸或家鄉」是一個聲望及前途決定於既有的政治權力及財富，而「大城市」的世界則是個人市場競逐決定一切聲望及前途的地方。

This paper is an audience research on the TV drama series of Woju (蝸居), with focus on the making of neoliberal subject of Chinese college graduates. This drama series, which began airing in July 2009, made the term “woju” a public idiom, which now refers to the cramped living environment of middle-lower class in Chinese cities. The huge gap between educated young adult’s aspirations and their living and working conditions is routinely discussed and dramatized in media. However, despite the association frequently made by the media between Woju and the social and cultural problems of Chinese crony capitalism, such …

All That Sprawl, Y’All: An Analysis Of Development On Steinwehr Avenue And York Street In Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, From 1971 To 2014, Elizabeth K. Emmons, Kalley S. Hansel, Daly Simpson

Student Publications

The advent of the automobile transformed the American landscape in the 20th century. In conjunction with the increasing importance of the automobile, numerous post-WW II government programs such as the Interstate Highway System encouraged suburban sprawl. Towns and cities adjacent to tourist attractions, known as gateway communities, face unique problems caused by sprawl. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, is an example of a gateway community as it includes the Gettysburg National Military Park. Two study sites, portions of Steinwehr Avenue and York Street, were studied to analyze the effects of sprawl in Gettysburg. The sites were analyzed using ArcGIS, data compiled from historic …

Faith-Based And Graduate Adult Educator's Negotiation Of Similarities And Differences Among People As An Indicator Of Their Multicultural Effectiveness, Elizabeth Conerly Smith

Dissertations

This study examined the relationship between adult educators‘ multicultural effectiveness scores and their negotiation of similarities and differences scores. The participants were in faith-based institutions, specifically Christian churches and in graduate adult education programs of universities and colleges in the United States. Multicultural effectiveness was measured by the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) that the authors reported measured multicultural effectiveness as the primary, encompassing variable. The MPQ is a five-point Likert scale with 91 items. The MPQ reliability was a Cronbach‘s alpha of .82 (Van der Zee & Van Oudenhoven, 2000). The Miville-Guzman Universality-Diversity Scale (M-GUDS) measured the negotiation of similarities …

Ordering Anarchy, John Thrasher

Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research

Ordered social life requires rules of conduct that help generate and preserve peaceful and cooperative interactions among individuals. The problem is that these social rules impose costs. They prohibit us from doing some things we might see as important and they require us to do other things that we might otherwise not do. The question for the contractarian is whether the costs of these social rules can be rationally justified. I argue that traditional contract theories have tended to underestimate the importance of evaluating the cost of enforcement and compliance in the contract procedure. In addition, the social contract has …

Fearless: Emily Zeller, Emily I. Zeller

SURGE

Finding unique, powerful, and innovative ways to combine her love of music, her passion for social justice, and her Jewish faith on and off campus, Emily Zeller ’14 fearlessly serves members of the community through the passions that most deeply motivate her.

Emily serves as the president of the Hillel group on campus and is excited about the new opportunities that Hillel has had this year, such as bringing in a student rabbi to lead services (this year was the first time that a rabbi had been brought in specifically to hold services for students on campus during the High …

Les Villes Jumelées: Finding Bowling Green A Francophone Sister City, Sarah Kinnicutt

Student Research Conference Select Presentations

No abstract provided.

Spectacles Of Reform: Theater And Activism In Nineteenth-Century America By Amy E. Hughes (Review), Jocelyn Buckner

Theatre Faculty Articles and Research

In Spectacles of Reform Amy Hughes advocates for “spectacle as methodology” (4), a means of interpreting spectacle in nineteenth-century melodrama, as well as a wide variety of other media, that rehearses and reforms concepts of citizenship and identity related to race, class, gender, and morality. Through this lens, Hughes seeks to answer the questions “where and how do activist spectacles appear before and beyond the theatrical encounter?” and “why is spectacle kept alive through reinvention, revision, and repetition long after the drama is over?” (5). Hughes traces her theory of the spectacular instant through three popular sensation themes of the …

"Every Child In Our World Will Know His Name!": Malcolm Gladwell's Theories As An Explanation For The Cultural Phenomenon Of Harry Potter, Alicia Morgan

Masters Theses

When Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone hit stores in the United States in 1998, children and adults alike went wild. Not only had Rowling's first book made huge waves in the UK, but Americans were talking about the struggling, single-parent who had penned a children's classic before the book even reached American stores. American audiences accepted Rowling's first novel with open arms, making it one of the first children's books to reach and occupy The New York Times best-seller list for so long. While certain marketing techniques and the rise of the Internet did contribute to Harry Potter's initial …