Sociology of Culture Commons^™

Lady Gaga, Racist Jokes, And Other Pet Peeves, Center For Public Service

SURGE

When I was a kid, my sister would whistle whenever I entered a room because she knew that it bothered me. I picked up on this trick, and I use it even now that I’m older. I have a friend who gets Lady Gaga songs stuck in her head really easily, so of course I sing Lady Gaga songs at the top of my lungs so they get stuck in her head. I do this to annoy her. It’s what friends do. We poke fun at each other, and, knowing which buttons to push, we push them because it’s funny. …

Ukhamba: The Implications Of Amateur Domestic Genealogical Research For African Socio-Historical Analysis, Nikitah O. Imani

Black Studies Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

Presented at the 37^th annual conference of the National Council of Black Studies Indianapolis, Indiana March 14, 2013

Style Watch: Blackface Edition, Rashida Aluko-Roberts

SURGE

The above quote is from a statement/apology offered by Sebastian Kim, a photographer, whose recent editorial, “African Queen,” which featured a 16-year-old white female made to appear black, was marred with controversy. According to the photographer, dousing a young white female in deep bronze, accessorizing her in elaborate head wraps and heavy jewels (symbols that are often associated with Africa), was in no way an attempt to depict what an “African queen” looks like. Rather, his spread was attempting to showcase “the beauty aesthetic of his shoot” by using a “tanned or golden skin” model. [excerpt]

Singapore Food Seriously On My Mind, Margaret Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Triad Movies And Young People's Perception Of Triads In Hong Kong, Alexandre Cerda

Lingnan Theses

Triads are Chinese organized crime groups based in Hong Kong. Their origin remains uncertain despite the many different versions given. As they are secret and illegal, many facts remain unknown about them. Even though they have been associated with values such as honor and loyalty in the past, they are nowadays involved mainly in vice related activities such as gambling and prostitution. Their goal which is supposed to have been nationalistic also seems to have changed to only be profit making. Despite the fact that the scope of their activities have decreased since the 1970`s they are still active nowadays. …

Culturally Responsive Methodologies At Work In Education Settings, Mere Berryman, Suzanne Soohoo, Ann Nevin, Te Arani Barrett, Therese Ford, Debora Joy Nodelman, Norma Valenzuela, Anna Wilson

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe culturally responsive methodology as a way to develop researchers. The aim is to illuminate the dimensions of culturally responsive methodology such as cultural and epistemological pluralism, deconstruction of Western colonial traditions of research, and primacy of relationships within culturally responsive dialogic encounters. An overarching question is: “How can we maintain the original integrity of both participants and researchers and their respective cultures and co-construct at the same time something new?”

Design/methodology/approach – Five case study narratives are described in order for readers to understand the range and types of studies …

Ua41 University College Connection, Dennis K. George, Dean, Wendi Kelley, University College, Western Kentucky University

UC Publications

No abstract provided.

Cultural Inheritance And Fertility Outcomes: An Analysis From Evolutionary And Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Li Zhang, Dudley L. Poston Jr., Michael S. Alvard, Christopher Cherry

L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs Publications

Taking evolutionary and interdisciplinary perspectives, this study views the reproductive result as an evolutionary outcome that may be affected by parental characteristics through cultural inheritance. We hypothesize that inheriting more cultural traits from parents leads to a greater resemblance between fertility outcomes of the offspring and their parents. In societies that experience a demographic transition, a greater resemblance can be indicated by a higher level of fertility of the offspring and a sooner transition from union formation to childbearing. We operationalize inheriting cultural traits from parents as reporting a religious affiliation the same as those of their parents. Through analyzing …

Gastrophilanthropy: Utopian Aspiration And Aspirational Consumption As Political Retreat, Patricia Mooney Nickel, Angela M. Eikenberry

Public Administration Faculty Publications

In this paper we inquire into the practice of gastrophilanthropy—the individualized consumption of food products under the aegis of philanthropic action. In particular, we examine the case of the philanthropic cupcake. By positioning gastrophilanthropy within the complex of consumption and social relations of power we attempt to shed light on why it has become so well accepted in society today and how the impulse to consume and the impulse to be philanthropic relate to each other and to the contemporary political moment. We question the transformative impact of gastrophilanthropy on those who practice it and on those for whom it …

Living In Peace: Insights From Buddhism, Ronald S. Green, Chanju Mun

Philosophy and Religious Studies

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Colorism On Historically Black Fraternities And Sororities, Patience Denece Bryant

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation study was conducted in order to examine and gain an insight on two topics that are considered to be highly under researched: American historically black fraternities and sororities and colorism within the back American community. The purpose of the study was to examine the impact that colorism has had on black American collegiate Greek letter organizations. Using the qualitative phenomenological approach, 18 graduate or alumni members, two from each of the nine historically black Greek letter organizations that make up the National Pan-Hellanic Council were interviewed using open ended questions to see what impact (if any) colorism has …

Introduction To The Naked Communist: Cold War Modernism And The Politics Of Popular Culture, Roland K. Végső

Department of English: Faculty Publications

The first half of The Naked Communist is devoted to the theoretical and historical foundations of my reading of anti-Communist fictions. After the theoretical introduction, I examine anti-Communist aesthetic ideology by first analyzing its political and then its aesthetic components.

In the second half, I examine the way the culture of anti-Communism defined the “world” as the ultimate horizon of political imagination. Included is a brief overview of some of the most popular texts of the given genre.

Finally, I conclude these chapters with a reading of particular authors.

Power Girls Before Girl Power: 1980s Toy-Based Girl Cartoons, Katia Perea

Publications and Research

The socio/cultural history and partnership of toy advertisement and children’s television is rich and well documented (Schneider 1989, Kunkel 1988, Seiter 1993). In this article I discuss the influence of policy in girl’s cartoon programming as well as the relationship between commercialization and financial motivation in creating a girl cartoon media product. I then discuss the formulaic, gender normative parameters this new genre set in place to identify girl cartoons as well as girl media consumption and how within those parameters girl cartoon characters were able to represent an empowered girl popular culture product a decade before the nomenclature Girl …

Transhumanism And Society: The Social Debate Over Human Enhancement, Stephen J. Lilley

Sociology Faculty Publications

This book provides an introductory overview to the social debate over enhancement technologies with an overview of the transhumanists' call to bypass human nature and conservationists' argument in defense of it. The author present this controversy as it unfolds in the contest between transhumanists proponents and conservationists, who push back with an argument to conserve human nature and to ban enhancement technologies.

Readers are informed about the discussion over humanism, the tension between science and religion, and the interpretation of socio-technological revolutions; and are invited to make up their own mind about one of the most challenging topics concerning the …

Assessment Of The Availability And Use Of Maternal Health Supplies In The Primary Health Care System In Amhara Region, Ethiopia, Sarah Raifman, Sisay Mellese, Kelemua Hailemariam, Ian Askew, Annabel Erulkar

Reproductive Health

Maternal mortality in Ethiopia remains among the highest in the world. A UN Commission Report in 2012 identified 13 life-saving commodities—defined as medicines, medical devices, and health supplies—that effectively address avoidable causes of death during pregnancy and childbirth that, if more widely accessed and properly used, could significantly reduce preventable deaths among women. This assessment, conducted by the Population Council, evaluates the availability of these life-saving commodities that are essential for basic emergency obstetric and neonatal care, and safe and clean delivery services within primary health care in Ethiopia. The report concludes that Ethiopia’s pharmaceutical procurement and supply system is …

Theories Of Public Opinion, Patricia Moy, Brandon Bosch

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

While the issue of citizen competency has vexed scholars throughout history, the modern concepts of a mass public and mass media are relatively new. Beginning with the seminal works of Lippmann and Dewey, we chart the evolving theories of public opinion, from the "hypodermic needle" model of the early twentieth century to the more psychologically oriented approach to media effects of today. We argue that in addition to understanding how audiences process media content, theories of public opinion must account for how media content is constructed and disseminated, which is complicated by the ever-changing nature of our media landscape.

Untangling Neoliberalism’S Gordian Knot: Cancer Prevention And Control Services For Rural Appalachian Populations, George F. Bills

Theses and Dissertations--Sociology

In eastern Kentucky, as in much of central Appalachia, current local storylines narrate the frictions and contradictions involved in the structural transition from a post-WWII Fordist industrial economy and a Keynesian welfare state to a Post-Fordist service economy and Neoliberal hollow state, starving for energy to sustain consumer indulgence (Jessop, 1993; Harvey, 2003; 2005). Neoliberalism is the ideological force redefining the “societal infrastructure of language” that legitimates this transition, in part by redefining the key terms of democracy and citizenship, as well as valorizing the market, the individual, and technocratic innovation (Chouliaraki & Fairclough, 1999; Harvey, 2005). This project develops …

Identifying Cultural Framework For Assessing Cultural Components In Client Systems And Recommendations For Agency And Practitioner Level Culturally Responsive Practice, Imad Mohamed

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

A lack of cultural appropriate practice introduces barriers to case assessment, diagnostics assessment, intervention, and evaluation (Kirmayer, Groleau, Guzder, Blake, & Jarvis, 2003; Tyson & Flaskerud, 2009; Zayas, Torres, & Cabassa, 2009). Addressing these barriers starts with identifying a framework that provides holistic approach in promoting culturally responsive practice.

"The Worst Female Character": Criminal Underclass Women In Perth And Fremantle, 1900-1939, Leigh S. Straw

Research outputs 2013

Women charged with offences against good order in Perth and Fremantle from 1900 to 1939 faced institutionalised sexism through the courts, police, and legislation. While men were also criminalised for good order offences, women suffered a double punishment. Charged with drunkenness, being idle and disorderly, and vagrancy, female offenders were further outcast by a public discourse stereotyping them as "bad" women. The extent to which they were able to negotiate and contest this stereotyping was limited, but a subtle negotiation of female identities was possible. This article suggests that female criminal lives offer alternative ways in which to understand women …

Soldiers Of Science--Agents Of Culture: American Archaeologists In The Office Of Strategic Services (Oss), Despina Lalaki

Publications and Research

"Scientificity" and appeals to political independence are invaluable tools when institutions such as the American School of Classical Studies at Athens attempt to maintain professional autonomy. Nonetheless, the cooperation of scientists and scholars with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), among them archaeologists affiliated with the American School, suggests a constitutive affinity between political and cultural leadership. This relationship is here mapped in historical terms, while, at the same time, sociological categorizations of knowledge and its employment are used in order to situate archaeologists in their broader social and political context and to evaluate their work not merely as agents …

[Introduction To] Leadership And Elizabethan Culture, Peter Iver Kaufman

Bookshelf

Bringing together contributions from political, cultural, and literary historians, Leadership and Elizabethan Culture identifies distinctive problems confronting early modern English government during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

This diverse group of contributors examines local elites and church leadership, explores the queen, her councillors, as well as her struggles with Mary Stuart and Robert Devereux, earl of Essex, raises questions about Elizabeth's leadership, and the advice she received as well as the advice she rejected.

Selected, influential works by Shakespeare, Marlowe, Jonson, Sidney, and Bacon are put in their Elizabethan and contemporary critical contexts, rounding off the study of Elizabethan …

Exploring The Third Culture Building Approach For Effective Cross-Cultural Interaction For Black American Professionals In Predominantly White Institutions, Tessa R. Sutton

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Professional interactions that are both functional and mutually beneficial are rare. The purpose of this study is to explore an application of a Third Culture Building (TCB) approach, a mutually constructed interpersonal process between two individuals, for Black American professionals (with advanced knowledge acquired from institutions of higher learning), to generate a new space in Predominantly White Institutions (PWis). These institutions include settings where the racial composition is becoming consistently more diverse (through past desegregation efforts). Although the U.S. has moved beyond integration and the monumental Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, racism and intercultural barriers that prevent functional cross-cultural …

The Gamer Subculture In Lacy, Wa, Kate Washington

Anthós

Where there is culture, there is the opportunity for subculture, groups of people who create a separate identity within and often in contrast to the dominant culture of a society. In a large society, such as America, there are many cultures and subcultures. One such is the gamer subculture, people who can be identified by their affiliation to online, tabletop, collectible card and role play games. Gamers are predominantly male, but include a wide variety of ages. If there is a large enough gamer population in an area, there is often a store to support their interests. One such store …

Tarrying With The "Private Parts", Robert F. Reid-Pharr

Publications and Research

Two-thirds of the way through Object Lessons (2012), Robyn Wiegman's provocative study of the institutional and ideological development of what she names identity-based modes of inquiry in US colleges and universities, the author recounts a 2003 trip she took to Leiden to attend the inaugural meeting of the International American Studies Association. There, she was regularly met with the claim that American studies, at least as it is practiced by citizens and long-term residents of the United States, was deeply provincial and too caught up with rehearsals of the humdrum difficulties of American social and cultural life, particularly our always …

Vowel Harmony In Kuria, Mary Zacharia Charwi

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

This paper describes vowel harmony in Kuria, an Eastern Bantu Language spoken in Tanzania and Kenya. It is indicated that Kuria has seven vowels which are contrastive in length, and which are not freely distributed. Two types of vowel harmony are explained, namely ‘the stem controlled vowel harmony’ and ‘the dominant vowel harmony’, each of which could be progressive or regressive. The paper also shows the distribution of Kuria vowels in nominal prefixes and pre-prefixes. Essentially long vowels can occur in any position but not in initial and final positions. The phonological processes that affect Kuria vowels are also accounted …

Re-Evaluating Peacebuilding In The Democratic Republic Of Congo: A Case Study In Dongo, Wilita Sanguma

Master's Theses

Re-evaluating Peacebuilding in the Democratic Republic of Congo: A case study in Dongo

The Democratic Republic of Congo (Congo) is a country rich with natural resources centered in the heart of Africa. Since the colonial era, the country has seen more bloodshed than peace and development. From 1996 to 2003, Congo experienced the worst conflict since World War II, with over six million people dead. Despite having the largest United Nations peacekeeping troops present; Congo continues to be plagued by violence. This research thesis argues that the international community failed to promote a lasting peace in Congo because the international …

The Globalization Of Cosmetic Surgery: Examining Bric And Beyond, Lauren E. Riggs

Master's Theses

What is driving the globalization of cosmetic surgery? Using BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries as a model, this master's thesis systematically identifies and analyzes (1) the origins of cosmetic surgery in historical, regional, and country-specific terms, and (2) examples of how cosmetic surgery has become normalized. As a result, clear patterns emerge in regards to: embedded power structures related to racism and war; the results of Western interests rapidly opening countries’ markets to high media and corporate influence—especially in the wake of political oppression and austerity; the exacerbation of pre-existing class, color, race, and gender prejudice by hyper-consumerism; the …

Educating For A Common Collective : Pedagogies Of Sharing And Caring, Anita Rampal

South South Forum 南南論壇

Declaring an ‘educational arms race’ with India and China, President Obama warned his country against ‘unilateral disarmament’ with budget cuts, because ‘countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow.’ Militaristic jingoism leads to new terms such as ‘out-think’ and ‘out-educate’, reflecting a crassly competitive commodification of knowledge. This is contrary to the spirit of transformative education, which looks at education to reduce inequalities, to ensure sustainable development and to address social justice for all through collective action. Despite the Jomtien World Declaration on ‘Education For All’ with an ‘expanded vision’ - for the empowerment of children, youth and adults …

未来的维度 = The Dimension Of The Future, Jinhua Dai

South South Forum 南南論壇

在本论文中，笔者集中讨论21世纪语境中的“未来”作为一个议题及其参数。对于笔者说来，未来议题，不关乎时间，不是乌托邦的别称。“未来”之为议题的提出，针对着没有未来，即“末日”。笔者的问题是：资本主义的末日是否人类的末日？或者，如何避免资本主义的末日成为人类的末日？未来议题同时是关于革命及共产主义的再思考。

The focus of this paper is on “the future” as a subject of concern, and the parameters within which it is broached in the context of the 21^st century. For the writer, the question of “the future” is not really a temporal one, neither is it another name for utopia. Rather, it is moved by apprehensions of the disappearance of time altogether, that is, the looming of doom. My question is: is the end of capitalism the end of humanity? Or rather, how to avoid the fall of capitalism to bring about the fall of humanity, a question …

Political Process And Land Reform In Nepal = 尼泊尔的土地改革与政治过程, Arjun Kumar Karki

South South Forum 南南論壇

Landlessness and political struggles in Nepal are deeply inter-related. Landlessness in Nepal is rooted in a long history of feudal land governance, political inertia and nepotism. Furthermore, the skewed landownership patterns practiced were deepened by a deeply discriminatory and strictly hierarchical society that excluded women, ethnic minorities and tribal groups, especially, those of lower castes and classes. Due to this prevailing exclusion and discrimination, the call for land reform as a rallying cry has long been used by politicians as a tool for political mobilization and for garnering support in Nepal. However, despite several political developments and repeated political commitments, …