Sociology of Culture Commons^™

Defying Dementia: An Exploration Of Recovery, Deb Miller, Corey W. Johnson

The Qualitative Report

Exploring the human side of dementia helps put a face on this fast-growing affliction. This study reflects one elderly woman’s story of recovery from dementia that arose following a stroke. Painting a portrait of life with dementia can help us conceptualize the experience, how people live and how they would like to live. The woman is Marcia, my mom, and this is a qualitative inquiry with a collaborative narrative design to explore her experiences and to document my own. This study may help dementia patients and their support teams better understand the process of living with dementia and can perhaps …

The Meaning Of Javanese Adolescents' Involvement In Youth Gangs During The Discoveries Of Youth Identity: A Phenomenological Study, Enung Hasanah, Supardi Supardi

The Qualitative Report

Yogyakarta is a part of Javanese society. Javanese culture, which always enforces moral values, has a practical implication toward adolescents' views about their self-identity. Yogyakarta adolescents are well known to have positive self-identity, good behavior, and tend to become successful persons in their youth. In the past years, a phenomenon of youth gangs that often conduct irresponsible acts such as brawls, stabbing terror, and even murder has emerged. The question of the research is how adolescent members of a youth gang give meaning to their involvement in a youth gang. To answer the question, we used a phenomenological research method. …

The Connection Of Personality & Love: The Enneagram & Chapman’S (1992) Five Love Language Model, Olivia M. Kliner

Selected Honors Theses

While love and personality can be complex ideas of human intrigue, many have attempted to more easily understand these concepts through typologies. This study explains popular typologies the Enneagram and Chapman’s (1992) Five Love Language model in detail, including discussion of its efficacy in self-discovery. The present study seeks to answer the following: To what extent are participants’ love language and Enneagram type associated? Though several associations were flagged for moderate significance, the overall association between love language and Enneagram type was statistically insignificant ( p<.05 ; x2=36.978 ; p=.25). However, the most significant association found was between love language and college major. Recommendations for further research are provided.

Sports In Africa, Past And Present, Todd Cleveland, Tarminder Kaur, Gerard Akindes

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

These groundbreaking essays demonstrate how Africans past and present have utilized sports to forge complex identities and shape Africa’s dynamic place in the world.

Since the late nineteenth century, modern sports in Africa have both reflected and shaped cultural, social, political, economic, generational, and gender relations on the continent. Although colonial powers originally introduced European sports as a means of “civilizing” indigenous populations and upholding then current notions of racial hierarchies and “muscular Christianity,” Africans quickly appropriated these sporting practices to fulfill their own varied interests. This collection encompasses a wide range of topics, including women footballers in Nigeria, Kenya’s …

Clashing Cyphers, Contagious Content: The Digital Geopolitics Of Grime, Orlando Woods

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper seeks to expand popular geopolitics in line with the digital worlds in which many of us now live. By interpreting geopolitics as a method of cultural (re)production, it becomes a creative tool that can be used to shape and elevate the affective appeal of content. Digital technologies are centrally implicated in the production of such content. By decoupling space and time from their physical anchors in the real world, digital technologies imbue them with a creative latency that can be deployed in both agentic and affective ways. Specifically, decoupling creates spatio‐temporal openings that offer new opportunities for content …

A New Twist On The “Un-African” Script: Representing Gay And Lesbian African Weddings In Democratic South Africa, Michael W. Yarbrough

Publications and Research

This essay examines the media coverage surrounding two African weddings of lesbian and gay couples in South Africa, as a lens onto the evolving cultural politics of black queerness in that country. Two decades after South Africa launched a world-leading legal framework for LGBTI protections, I argue that these media representations depict the growing inclusion of black LGBTIQ people as a process of bridging the supposed “gap” between homosexuality and African culture. This new “bridging the gap” script seemingly rejects the older, dominant script portraying homosexuality as intrinsically “un-African.” But I argue that it instead reproduces the “un-African” script in …

A Study Of Social And Cultural Capital In Graduation For African American Students In Four-Year Colleges, Andrew Oni

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The prevalence of the persistent low graduation rate among African American students in four-year colleges gave rise to the examination of the role of social and cultural capital in improving graduation for African American students. This study examines the role played by the relationship between social and cultural capital and other factors for African American students’ graduation. Guided by social and cultural capital as the theoretical framework which presents social and cultural capital as acquired by parents’ and students' social networks and cultural endowment and tenets. These two levels of social and cultural capital are available for students to utilize …

The Representation Of Masculinity In A Malaysian Televised Show, Uma Rani A Rethina Velu

Student Works (2020-2029)

This study examines the representation of masculinity in a Malaysian televised show, Oh My English! using a multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis from four perspectives. Firstly, this study analyses the verbal processes significant in the reflection of the Other among five main male social actors and with other character roles. Secondly, the non-verbal processes are simultaneously analysed via visual interpretation. Thirdly, these two processes overlap with the analysis of social actions in the performance of masculinity. Finally, how ideological assumptions reflect on masculinity are analysed via the two processes and social actions among the five main social actors along with the …

Re-Assessing The Genocide Of Kurdish Alevis In Dersim, 1937-38, Dilşa Deniz

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This article discusses a century-long denial of historic genocide targeting Kurdish Alevis in Turkey. Firstly, I argue that the state-sponsored killings and forced displacements that occurred in Dersim in 1937-38 constitute genocide. Secondly, I use census numbers and other available documentation to suggest a possible figure for the causalities, while pointing out the methods by which the state has tried to cover up these numbers, indicating state planning and preparation. Finally, I show that as a part of the continued denial of such genocide, Turkish leftist organizations have been manipulated by the state, and thus have ended up supporting much …

Young In University-Work Transition: The Views Of Undergraduates In Southern Italy, Cristiano Felaco Phd, Anna Parola

The Qualitative Report

In the last few years, economic and social changes have made the path from university to work long and twisted, in particular in Southern Italy, an area with the highest rate of unemployment. This contribution aims to exploring the experiences of university-work transition of undergraduates. Using an open-ended interview, the authors obtained narrative data from 150 undergraduates from Southern Italy. Textual Analysis and Text Network Analysis were carried out to identify the thematic clusters and obtain the network pattern of lemmas in order to understand process of meaning construction of students. The analysis shows four clusters: “Awareness of one’s own …

Book Review: Reconnecting To The Source By Ervin Laszlo, Elizabeth W. Szatmari Krasnoff

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Quantum philosopher Ervin Laszlo has taken one step further outside of the contemporary mainstream scientific view, which believes in a reductive “scientific” method primarily of highly controlled experiments to determine truth. In this visionary work, Laszlo proposes that the true laws of nature can also be accessed and felt experientially. Here he argues that the new quantum science can support this view, and even assist us as we heal the rift between mind and spirit and reconnect to our source. Laszlo proposes a new paradigm, a holotropic worldview with love as the core attracting force of wholeness. Indeed, as the …

Book Review: The Intelligence Of The Cosmos: Why Are We Here? By Ervin Laszlo, Elizabeth W. Szatmari Krasnoff

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Ervin Laszlo breaks down his theory of everything into a credo of 8 statements. This review looks in some detail at Laszlo’s theories and also touches on the other writers who have been invited to participate. It is noteworthy that Laszlo breaks with the current scientific belief that we are without purpose, and that evolution has no purpose. He believes that compassion, love, and expansion are our purposes for being here.

The Law Of Black Mirror - Syllabus, Yafit Lev-Aretz, Nizan Packin

Open Educational Resources

Using episodes from the show Black Mirror as a study tool - a show that features tales that explore techno-paranoia - the course analyzes legal and policy considerations of futuristic or hypothetical case studies. The case studies tap into the collective unease about the modern world and bring up a variety of fascinating key philosophical, legal, and economic-based questions.

“This Trip Is Very Meaningful To Me, So I Want To Remember It Forever”: Pilgrim Tattoos In Santiago De Compostela, Christian Kurrat, Patrick Heiser

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Pilgrim tattoos have come into fashion: in Santiago de Compostela, the destination of all Ways of St. James, tattoo studios are springing up and in social networks, corresponding photographs can be found more and more often. In this paper we present the results of a survey of pilgrims who have been tattooed after their pilgrimage (N=256). It turns out that certain symbols and body parts are particularly popular among pilgrim tattoos. The tattooing practice of pilgrims also depends strongly on age, nationality and previous tattoos. The central features of the pilgrimage itself, on the other hand, have only a weak …

Health Implications Of Incarceration And Reentry On Returning Citizens: A Qualitative Examination Of Black Men’S Experiences In A Northeastern City, Jason M. Williams, Sean K. Wilson, Carrie Bergeson

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

While a great deal of research captures the lived experiences of Black men as they navigate through the criminal legal system and onto reentry, very little research is grounded in how those processes are directly connected to their health. Although some research argues that mass incarceration is a determinant of poor health, there is a lack of qualitative analyses from the perspective of Black men. Black men face distinct pathways that lead them into the criminal legal system, and these same pathways await them upon reentry. This study aims to examine the health implications associated with incarceration and reentry of …

Clusters Of Individuals Experiences Form A Continuum Of Persistent Non-Symbolic Experiences In Adults, Jeffery A. Martin

CONSCIOUSNESS: Ideas and Research for the Twenty-First Century

Persistent forms of nondual awareness, enlightenment, mystical experience, and so forth (Persistent Non-Symbolic Experience) have been reported since antiquity. Though sporadic research has been performed on these experiences, the scientific literature has yet to report a large-scale cognitive psychology study of this population. Method: Assessment of the subjective experience of 319 adult participants reporting persistent non-symbolic experience was undertaken using 6-12 hour semi-structured interviews and evaluated using grounded theory and thematic analysis. Results: Five core, consistent categories of change were uncovered: sense-of-self, cognition, affect, perception, and memory. Participants’ reports formed phenomenological groups in which the types of change …

Getting Up: An Ethnography Of Hip Hop Graffiti Writers, Their Art, And Perceptions Of Society's Reactions., Theodore Malone

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This ethnographic analysis of the modern hip hop graffiti writing subculture connects the separate but complementary theoretical constructs of serious leisure (Stebbins 1982), dark leisure (Smith and Raymen 2016), recreational specialization theory (Bryan 1977), and edgework (Lyng 1990) and situates the writer “standpoint” (Smith 1987) in terms of interrelations of policy and written discourse. Past research found that writers were motivated by fame and status, to express artistic skills, and to control and destroy space (Brewer and Miller 1990). Others found that writers sought to express contestant notions of style and resist economic and political authority (Ferrell 1996; 2006), and …

Talk This Way: A Look At The Historical Conversation Between Hip-Hop And Christianity, Joshua Swanson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Christianity and Hip-Hop culture are often said to be at odds with one another. One is said to promote a lifestyle of righteousness and love, while the other is said to promote drugs, violence, and pride. As a result, the public has portrayed these two institutions as conflicting with no willingness to resolve their perceived differences. This paper will argue that there has always been a healthy conversation between Hip-Hop and Christianity since Hip-Hop’s inception. Using sources like Hip-Hop lyrics, theologians, historians, autobiographies, sermons, and articles that range from Ma$e to Tipper Gore, this paper will look at the conversation …

"At The Very Beginning, There's This Dream." The Role Of Utopia In The Workings Of Local And Cryptocurrencies, Diane-Laure Arjalies

Business Publications

Since the 2008 financial crisis, the number of alternative currencies aiming at transforming global financial institutions, such as local and complementary currencies (LCC) and cryptocurrencies, has exploded. Yet the motivations and workings of such monies are relatively unknown. This chapter aims to fill this gap by providing a framework that uncovers the ideals pursued by alternative currencies, and the effects of those ideals on the production of money. To do so, I present a comparative analysis of the valuation infrastructure – the processes through which value(s) is produced – of one LCC, Sol Violette, and three cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, Ğ1 …

The Culture Of Violent Talk: An Interpretive Approach, Peter Simi, Steven Windisch

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

One of the defining characteristics of extremist movements is the adherence to an ideology highly antagonistic to the status quo and one that permits or explicitly promotes the use of violence to achieve stated goals and to address grievances. For members of extremist groups, talk is one of the most concrete manifestations of how adherents communicate their ideas to each other and the general public. These discussions, however, do not necessarily involve a direct correspondence between words and future behavior. To better understand the culture of violent talk, we investigate how white supremacist extremists use these discussions as a rhetorical …

Overview And Acknowledgments, Marc Roscoe Loustau

Journal of Global Catholicism

No abstract provided.

Self-Centeredness As A Response To Narratives With Few Self-Transcendent Elicitors, Sophie Janicke-Bowles

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Recently scholars argued to broaden the concept of eudaimonic entertainment experiences and introduced two conceptualizations: 1. self-focused experiences, including mixed affect, contemplation and need satisfaction, and 2. other-focused experiences, including self-transcendent emotions and prosociality. The goal of the study was to investigate how the two dimensions of meaningful media experiences (self-focused vs. other-focused) are elicited from inspiring films that contain self-transcendent elicitors and explore the connection and differentiation between the two. Results of a Qualtrics experiment (N = 328) revealed that films with a large amount of transcendent portrayals lead to greater experiences of mixed affect and less self-centeredness than …

New Flesh Cinema: Japanese Cyberpunk-Body Horror And Cinema As Catharsis In The Age Of Technology, Sarah Henry

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis provides a critical analysis of a specific group of films that combine the subgenres of cyberpunk and body horror which I call New Flesh Cinema. Films of this subgenre counter fears and anxieties of technological advancements by re-imagining the rise of technology and its societal effects as a transitional process through the illustration of literal and visceral depictions of the necessary alterations people will have to undergo in order to transition successfully into the new world. To contradict apocalyptic fears of advancing technology, these films offer a vision of a “New Flesh.” I argue the films share three …

Doing Latinidad While Black: Afro-Latino Identity And Belonging, Vianny Jasmin Nolasco

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study centers on the experiences of Afro-Latinos and how the racialization of Latino as a distinctly ‘brown’ identity—thereby excluding Blackness—shapes their identity and sense of belonging within Latino communities and spaces. Through in-depth interviews with eight Afro-Latinos, and using West and Fenstermaker’s (1995) work, ‘Doing Difference’, I find that the invisibility of Blackness, being categorized as Black, and therefore not Latino, and the negative meanings attached to Blackness may make it difficult for Afro-Latinos to come into their racial and ethnic identity and feel like they belong in Latino spaces. However, these experiences are also an important step to …

Cultural Homelessness, Self-Esteem, And Skin Color Satisfaction Among Latinxs, Josephine M. Almanzar

Dissertations

This study explored feelings of cultural homelessness, self-esteem, and skin color satisfaction among Latinxs. A close interest was placed in examining responses of participants who identified as racially Black or Afro-Latinx. Through an electronic survey, the study aimed to answer the four research questions: (1) Is there a correlation between cultural homelessness, self-esteem, and skin color satisfaction; (2) Do participants of different self-perceived skin colors differ in self-esteem, cultural homelessness, and skin color satisfaction; (3) Does age moderate the relationship between self-perceived skin color and self-esteem; and (4) Does age moderate the relationship between self-perceived skin color and cultural homelessness. …

Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A Review Of Laws And Policies In Kenya And Nigeria, Samuel Kimani, Otibho Obianwu

Reproductive Health

Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is a cultural practice that has health and human rights impacts on girls and women. The health sector has responsibility for prevention and response to provision of care services to women/girls with FGM/C-related complications. The mandate for the health sector response to FGM/C is anchored in nationwide or sector-specific legal/policy instruments. Kenya and Nigeria have ratified global legal/policy instruments and adopted WHO guidelines/tools for the prevention and management of FGM/C. The extent to which existing legal/policy documents in these two countries address prevention and response to management of FGM/C has been unclear. A desk review was …

Appendices—Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A Review Of Laws And Policies In Kenya And Nigeria, Samuel Kimani, Otibho Obianwu

Reproductive Health

This document contains Appendices to “Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A Review of Laws and Policies in Kenya and Nigeria.” Appendix 1 contains two tables: “Components of Kenyan Laws Related to FGM/C Prevention and Management,” and “Components of Nigerian Laws Related to FGM/C Prevention and Management.” Appendix 2 contains seven tables: “Components Relevant to Health Sector Response to Prevention and Management of FGM/C in Kenyan Policies,” “Components Relevant to Health Sector Response to Prevention and Management of FGM/C in Nigerian Policies,” “Components Relevant to Health Sector Response to Prevention and Management of FGM/C in the Kenyan Plans of Action,” “Components Relevant to …

Place-Making/Management: The Policy And Practice Of Arts-Centred Spatial Interventions In Singapore, Su Fern Hoe

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Singapore has won numerous accolades and garnered global attention for its physical infrastructure and iconic architecture. Despite these achievements, its government has recognized that certain parts of the city still lack a certain human vitality and buzz. Additionally, like other post-industrial cities, the production of a positive urban experience has been identified as that critical competitive advantage that would differentiate Singapore from other cities. Consequently, the Singapore government adopted a strategy called ‘place management’ in 2008 to inject ‘heart and soul’ into the city, and deliver a liveable, globally competitive and amenity-rich urban environment for its increasingly educated and upper …

The Evolution Of Love: The Meaning Of Romantic Love In Contemporary Society, Jessica Salas

Senior Theses

Romantic love has long acted as a significantly influential social institution. This thesis examines how ideology and practices surrounding romantic love and partnership differ across gender, race and ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. In order to carry out this investigation, a survey was administered to 141 participants between the ages of 18 to 84. Of these participants, approximately 62% were female, 36% were male, and 3% identified as Other. The majority of respondents were White, followed by Latino/Hispanic and Asian/Asian American. Overall, findings indicate that, when not accounting for race or income, men tend to demonstrate increased idealism in their romantic …

A Changing Tea Culture, A Changing China: Variations In Conceptions Of Gift Tea Among Tea Sellers, Tiana Wang

Student Work

A 2019-2020 Williams Prize for best essay in East Asian Studies was awarded to Tiana Wang (Ezra Stiles College '20) for her essay submitted to the Department of Sociology, "A Changing Tea Culture, A Changing China: Variations in Conceptions of Gift Tea Among Tea Sellers” (Jeffrey Alexander, Lillian Chavenson Saden Professor of Sociology, advisor).

Tiana Wang’s essay, “A Changing Tea Culture, A Changing China: Variations in Conceptions of Gift Tea among Tea Sellers” makes substantial use of original interviews and observations with twenty tea sellers across Jinan, Shanghai, and Beijing to show that tea culture is changing with new …