Sociology of Culture Commons^™

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.

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 …

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 …

[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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

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 …

"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 …

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, …

Agrarian Reform And Rural Reconstruction In The Philippines = 菲律宾土地改革与农村重建, Isagani R. Serrano

South South Forum 南南論壇

Agrarian reform is at the heart of rural reconstruction and both are essential to achieving sustainable development. It includes not only land redistribution but also empowerment of peasants as key actors in building the rural economy. Land is not only an asset to be owned and accessed but also as a natural resource with multiple uses for both economic development and protection of ecosystems. Land ownership has hitherto been a centerpiece question in Philippine development, indeed, in nation building. Land monopoly on one side and landlessness on the other have defined to a large extent the history and political economy …

梁漱溟乡村建设中心的当代实践 = Introduction Of Liang Shuming Rural Reconstruction Center, Lanying Zhang

South South Forum 南南論壇

梁漱溟乡村建设的核心思想是人的建设和社会的重建。在过去的20年里，一批年轻人在梁漱溟等先人思想的感召下，面对全球化带来的一些列社会问题的挑战，全身心地投入到乡村重建的工作中，从90年支持农民的维权行动，发展到2000年开展综合的新农村建设，坚持不懈地直到今天的生态文明建设的工作。梁漱溟乡村建设中心一直积极地参与到这些工作中，尤其是在组织大学生支农调研维权，到支持农民合作组织来建设农村的自治组织，通过社区支持农业来建构城市和农村互相支持的平台等方面发挥了重要的作用。

在多年的实践中，梁漱溟乡村建设中心意识到要实现乡村建设的目标是需要一个长期的努力过程，尤其是在培养人才，进而形成内生的自我解决社会问题的力量。在这个过程中，如何协助参与这个过程的人群的学习，不仅是我们自己，还有我们的合作伙伴-农民，作为主体能够意识到自身所处的小乡村的命运与大社会变革的关系，进而转化为主动型维护自身阶层利益的能力，是非常重要的，也是我们目前所面对的巨大挑战。

Liang Shuming’s core philosophy for rural reconstruction is human reconstruction and social reconstruction. In the past 20 years, a group of people, who believe the philosophy of rural reconstruction, have taken the challenges of globalization through supporting farmers’ legal appeal to protect their rights in the 1990s, supporting government’ new socialist rural reconstruction program in 2000s, and further to build ecological civilization in the society in 2010s. Liang Shuming Rural Reconstruction Center has actively participated in these three phases and has played key roles in the process of college students’ re-education by organizing rural research for farmers’ right …

当代乡村建设的实践与反思, Jiaen Pan, Xiaohui Yan

South South Forum 南南論壇

跳出生态看生态——以中国当代乡村建设实践为例 (潘家恩)

日益“时尚化”的生态议题绝不是少数人制造出来的末日预言，它是真实发生在我们身边的普遍现实，同时也是当代乡村建设的重要工作内容与面向，更是乡村建设结合其它工作进行深入思考的独特角度。所以，乡村建设必须直接回应生态与可持续议题，但需要结合以更广阔的整体视野。本文结合笔者所参与的三组当代乡村建设实际案例展开分析，希望将其放回具体和历史的脉络中，结合以经济、文化、政治等多种面向，尝试指出：生态有问题，不只是生态问题！乡村生态的改善之道自然不可就事论事。

As opposed to being an apocalyptic prophecy advocated by a small group of people, the increasingly “fashionable” ecological issues are not only popular realities happening in our daily life, but also important tasks and aspects of Contemporary Rural Reconstruction and a unique perspective for reflection in amalgamating discussions in Rural Reconstruction with other related tasks and disciplines. Therefore Rural Reconstruction must respond directly to the issues of Ecology and Sustainability but in doing so, requires the incorporation of a broader and more integrative and holistic vision. This paper analyses three of the case studies of Contemporary Rural …