ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes most of the ASU Theses and Dissertations from 2011 to present. ASU Theses and Dissertations are available in downloadable PDF format; however, a small percentage of items are under embargo. Information about the dissertations/theses includes degree information, committee members, an abstract, supporting data or media.
In addition to the electronic theses found in the ASU Digital Repository, ASU Theses and Dissertations can be found in the ASU Library Catalog.
Dissertations and Theses granted by Arizona State University are archived and made available through a joint effort of the ASU Graduate College and the ASU Libraries. For more information or questions about this collection contact or visit the Digital Repository ETD Library Guide or contact the ASU Graduate College at gradformat@asu.edu.
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Description
This thesis argues that celebrities and celebrity studies should be taken more seriously in writing studies as productive sites for writing instruction in the composition classroom. Historically, celebrity culture has been overlooked for ostensibly lacking in substance or relevance to critical thought. However, academic disciplines, such as cultural studies and celebrity studies, are paving the way for celebrities having a more significant rhetorical relevance as figures in the public. This thesis explores celebrities as cultural figures who are advantageously positioned in the public realm as rhetorical agents. Their increased visibility and the increase in observation of celebrity culture in the public sphere are contributing to how people form opinions and make judgments about the world around them. Yet, despite some of the connections between the public, writing, and celebrity rhetoric, there has been little work in the field aligning celebrity rhetoric as a site for public writing instruction within academia. This thesis seeks to address this gap by aligning celebrity rhetoric with scholarship on public writing pedagogy in composition studies. To model how students might approach analyzing and writing about celebrity rhetoric in the composition classroom, this thesis offers a critical look at the celebrity rhetoric of Taylor Swift. The case study rhetorically analyzes sites of public writing that work intertextuality across various mediums to construct her celebrity as a representation of modern feminism. This thesis concludes with a discussion about the pedagogical implication of implementing celebrity rhetoric in the composition classroom. It concludes that celebrity rhetoric is useful for students in composition classrooms for making personal connections with their work, negotiating an understanding about culture and public issues, and influencing the production of rhetoric, writing and their own identity as scholars.
ContributorsHorton, Kathryn (Author) / Daly Goggin, Maureen (Thesis advisor) / Long, Elenore (Committee member) / Hannah, Mark (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
The southwestern United States is an ecologically, climatologically, and topographically diverse geographical region. As a result, it has been difficult to develop accurate assessments and instructional pedagogy for defining and demonstrating climate sensitivity and change at a more local level. To address this problem, this dissertation is divided into two distinct sections involving climate data collection/analysis and geography education using interactive geovisualization video games (iGEOs). The first two papers analyze new climate observations in Joshua Tree National Park. The first paper examines the variability in accuracy of climate reanalysis and interpolation methods compared to field observations in Joshua Tree National Park and the Tucson Metropolitan Area. This study found that other than PRISM interpolation data, reanalysis techniques performed better in a region with a more extensive climate network. The second paper developed a climate regionalization zone separating the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts within Joshua Tree National Park using principal component analysis. This study used monthly temperature and precipitation observations, as well as seasonal climate trends. The final two papers describe and analyze the implementation of virtual interactive geovisualization video games (iGEOs) used to instruct geographical concepts in an introductory physical geography course at Arizona State University. The first paper examines the preliminary implementation of an iGEO in the San Francisco Peaks of northern Arizona, identifying student support for the games, but with caveats related to the technical shortcomings of the game design, and noticeable differences based on academic major. The second paper examines the changing experiences and challenges encountered by both students and instructors in an iGEO centered introductory geography course during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study found that, while students were impacted by the pandemic, all student groups had sufficient extensive and intensive learning materials to ensure a positive and successful lab experience. Overall, the significance of these four papers demonstrates that new applications of climate observations and geography pedagogy can effectively describe local climate sensitivity and instruct geographic concepts in the mountainous Southwest.
ContributorsHeintzman, Ryan Joseph (Author) / Cerveny, Randall S (Thesis advisor) / Dorn, Ronald I (Thesis advisor) / Balling Jr, Robert C (Committee member) / Selover, Nancy (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
Much of the anthropological and Islamic studies focus in recent years has addressed the shifting forms of Islamic piety across Muslim majority societies. The analysis of this shift in Islamic practice and belief has enveloped the changing sensibilities around technologies, social strata, democracy, law, and everyday life. In light of these transformations, after the fall of the Indonesian New Order in 1998, the performances of Islamic devotional songs (salawat) by Habib Syech bin Abdul Qadir Assegaf (Habib Syech) began bringing millions of people together across Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. Although salawat has typically been performed in remembrance of the birth of Prophet Muhammad (mawlid) in localized celebrations. The performances of salawat by Habib Syech, on the other hand, occur fifteen or more times a month with crowds swelling to tens of thousands across multiple nation-states. Habib Syech’s salawat performances furthermore appeal to and bring together diverse Muslim populations that have historically been more divided. Habib Syech’s gatherings reveal how popular forms of piety are shifting in conjunction with profound societal changes in Indonesia and other Muslim communities. In untangling the popularity of Habib Syech’s gatherings, it was not until I became entangled in the rhythm of salawat that baraka, often translated as blessings, emerged as a slippery, elusive, and living helping propel the popularity of this phenomena. The guttural cries of my interlocutors (baraka, baraka, baraka) resonate and summon a methodology that takes the visible and invisible together in understanding the concept and life of baraka. I, like my interlocutors, began hunting baraka as an alternative, living concept that challenges understandings of Islam in Indonesia driven by Islamic civil organizations, prescriptive vs everyday Islamic piety, and Western interpretations of the world as disenchanted. This dissertation is an exploration of new opportunities for understanding religion in the modern world that emerge from the ethnographic field through the life of baraka.
ContributorsEdmonds, James Michael (Author) / Talebi, Shahla (Thesis advisor) / Bennett, Gaymon (Committee member) / Haines, Charles (Committee member) / Rush, James (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
In 2005 the Navajo Nation Tribal Council passed the Navajo Sovereignty in Education Act (NSEA). The NSEA has been herald as a decisive new direction in Diné education with implications for Diné language and cultural revitalization. However, research has assumed the NSEA will lead to decolonizing efforts such as language revitalization and has yet to critically analyze how the NSEA is decolonizing or maintains settler colonial educational structures. In order to critically investigate the NSEA this thesis develops a framework of educational elimination through a literature review on the history of United States settler colonial elimination of Indigeneity through schooling and a framework of decolonizing education through a review of literature on promising practices in Indigenous education and culturally responsive schooling. The NSEA is analyzed through the decolonizing education framework and educational elimination framework. I argue the NSEA provides potential leverage for both decolonizing educational practices and the continuation of educational elimination.
ContributorsPreston, Waquin (Author) / Vicenti Carpio, Myla (Thesis advisor) / Sumida Huaman, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Tippeconnic III, John (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Despite its rich history in the English classroom, popular culture still does not have a strong foothold in first-year composition (FYC). Some stakeholders view popular culture as a “low-brow” topic of study (Bradbury, 2011), while others believe popular culture distracts students from learning about composition (Adler-Kassner, 2012). However, many instructors argue that popular culture can cultivate student interest in writing and be used to teach core concepts in composition (Alexander, 2009; Friedman, 2013; Williams, 2014). This dissertation focuses on students’ perceptions of valuable writing—particularly with regards to popular culture—and contributes to conversations about what constitutes “valuable” course content. The dissertation study, which was conducted in two sections of an FYC course during the Spring 2016 semester, uses three genre domains as a foundation: academic genres, workplace genres, and pop-culture genres. The first part of the study gauges students’ prior genre knowledge and their beliefs about the value of academic, workplace, and pop-culture genres through pre- and post-surveys. The second part of the study includes analysis of students’ remix projects to determine if and how students can meet FYC learning outcomes by working within each domain.
Through this study, as well as through frameworks in culturally sustaining pedagogy, writing studies, and genre studies, this dissertation aims to assist in the reconciliation of opposing views surrounding the content of FYC while filling in research gaps on the knowledge, interests, and perceptions of value students bring into the writing classroom. Ultimately, this dissertation explores how pop-culture composition can facilitate student learning just as well as academic and workplace composition, thereby challenging course content that has traditionally been privileged in FYC.
Through this study, as well as through frameworks in culturally sustaining pedagogy, writing studies, and genre studies, this dissertation aims to assist in the reconciliation of opposing views surrounding the content of FYC while filling in research gaps on the knowledge, interests, and perceptions of value students bring into the writing classroom. Ultimately, this dissertation explores how pop-culture composition can facilitate student learning just as well as academic and workplace composition, thereby challenging course content that has traditionally been privileged in FYC.
ContributorsKushkaki, Mariam (Author) / Boyd, Patricia (Thesis advisor) / Roen, Duane (Committee member) / Saidy-Hannah, Christina (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
The 21st century will be the site of numerous changes in education systems in response to a rapidly evolving technological environment where existing skill sets and career structures may cease to exist or, at the very least, change dramatically. Likewise, the nature of work will also change to become more automated and more technologically intensive across all sectors, from food service to scientific research. Simply having technical expertise or the ability to process and retain facts will in no way guarantee success in higher education or a satisfying career. Instead, the future will value those educated in a way that encourages collaboration with technology, critical thinking, creativity, clear communication skills, and strong lifelong learning strategies. These changes pose a challenge for higher education’s promise of employability and success post-graduation. Addressing how to prepare students for a technologically uncertain future is challenging. One possible model for education to prepare students for the future of work can be found within the Maker Movement. However, it is not fully understood what parts of this movement are most meaningful to implement in education more broadly, and higher education in particular. Through the qualitative analysis of nearly 160 interviews of adult makers, young makers and young makers’ parents, this dissertation unpacks how makers are learning, what they are learning, and how these qualities are applicable to education goals and the future of work in the 21st century. This research demonstrates that makers are learning valuable skills to prepare them for the future of work in the 21st century. Makers are learning communication skills, technical skills in fabrication and design, and developing lifelong learning strategies that will help prepare them for life in an increasingly technologically integrated future. This work discusses what aspects of the Maker Movement are most important for integration into higher education.
ContributorsWigner, Aubrey (Author) / Lande, Micah (Thesis advisor) / Allenby, Braden (Committee member) / Bennett, Ira (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
This dissertation presents reflective teaching practices that draw from an object-oriented rhetorical framework. In it, practices are offered that prompt teachers and students to account for the interdependent relationships between objects and writers. These practices aid in re-envisioning writing as materially situated and leads to more thoughtful collaborations between writers and objects.
Through these practices, students gain a more sophisticated understanding of their own writing processes, teachers gain a more nuanced understanding of the outcomes of their pedagogical choices, and administrators gain a clearer vision of how the classroom itself affects curriculum design and implementation. This argument is pursued in several chapters, each presenting a different method for inciting reflection through the consideration of human/object interaction.
The first chapter reviews the literature of object oriented rhetorical theory and reflective teaching practice. The second chapter adapts a methodology from the field of Organizational Science called Narrative Network Analysis (NNA) and leads students through a process of identifying and describing human/object interaction within narratives and asks students to represent these relationships visually. As students undertake this task they can more objectively examine their own writing processes. In the third chapter, video ethnographic methodologies are used to observe object oriented rhetoric theory in practice through the interactions of humans and objects in the writing classroom. Through three video essays, clips of footage taken of a writing classroom and its writing objects are selected and juxtaposed to highlight the agency and influence of objects. In chapter four, a tool developed using freely available cloud-based web applications is presented which is termed the “Fitness Tracker for Teaching.” This tool is used to regularly collect, store, and analyze data that students self-report through a daily class survey about their work efforts, their work environment, and their feelings of confidence, productivity, and self-efficacy. The data gathered through this tool provides a more complete understanding of student effort and affect than could be provided by the teacher’s and students’ own memories or perceptions. Together these chapters provide a set of reflective practices that reinforce teaching writing as a process that is affective and embodied and acknowledges and accounts for the rhetorical agency of objects.
Through these practices, students gain a more sophisticated understanding of their own writing processes, teachers gain a more nuanced understanding of the outcomes of their pedagogical choices, and administrators gain a clearer vision of how the classroom itself affects curriculum design and implementation. This argument is pursued in several chapters, each presenting a different method for inciting reflection through the consideration of human/object interaction.
The first chapter reviews the literature of object oriented rhetorical theory and reflective teaching practice. The second chapter adapts a methodology from the field of Organizational Science called Narrative Network Analysis (NNA) and leads students through a process of identifying and describing human/object interaction within narratives and asks students to represent these relationships visually. As students undertake this task they can more objectively examine their own writing processes. In the third chapter, video ethnographic methodologies are used to observe object oriented rhetoric theory in practice through the interactions of humans and objects in the writing classroom. Through three video essays, clips of footage taken of a writing classroom and its writing objects are selected and juxtaposed to highlight the agency and influence of objects. In chapter four, a tool developed using freely available cloud-based web applications is presented which is termed the “Fitness Tracker for Teaching.” This tool is used to regularly collect, store, and analyze data that students self-report through a daily class survey about their work efforts, their work environment, and their feelings of confidence, productivity, and self-efficacy. The data gathered through this tool provides a more complete understanding of student effort and affect than could be provided by the teacher’s and students’ own memories or perceptions. Together these chapters provide a set of reflective practices that reinforce teaching writing as a process that is affective and embodied and acknowledges and accounts for the rhetorical agency of objects.
ContributorsHopkins, Steven Wayne (Author) / Rose, Shirley K. (Thesis advisor) / Goggin, Maureen (Committee member) / Boyd, Patricia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
The modern day tubist has an expanded collection of solo tuba repertoire that continues to grow in quantity and in difficulty, making it necessary to utilize all the tools available to improve musicianship and performance ability. In this capacity, the use of transcribed material serves as a vital method of cross training in order to develop skills which assist the performance of modern tuba literature. Rather than focusing on transcriptions solely to engage with musical eras that the tuba would not otherwise have access to, the tubist can use transcribed material as supplementary or even prerequisite repertoire.
This project examines a cross training style of studying transcriptions for the advancing tubist. Similar to how athletes cross train in two or more sports to improve their abilities, the tubist may cross train with transcriptions in order to improve the technical and musical skills required in modern tuba literature. Transcribed materials will be used to develop facility in the areas of technique, phrasing, and stylistic interpretation using three unique pieces of standard solo tuba repertoire; Krzysztof Penderecki’s Capriccio, the John Williams Tuba Concerto, and Anthony Plog’s Three Miniatures.
This project examines a cross training style of studying transcriptions for the advancing tubist. Similar to how athletes cross train in two or more sports to improve their abilities, the tubist may cross train with transcriptions in order to improve the technical and musical skills required in modern tuba literature. Transcribed materials will be used to develop facility in the areas of technique, phrasing, and stylistic interpretation using three unique pieces of standard solo tuba repertoire; Krzysztof Penderecki’s Capriccio, the John Williams Tuba Concerto, and Anthony Plog’s Three Miniatures.
ContributorsNetzer, Travis (Author) / Swoboda, Deanna (Thesis advisor) / Ericson, John (Committee member) / Rockmaker, Jody (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Paseo is a postmodern dance performance that reveals the migrational passage of bodies through space and time. Paseo included five dance participants, and the choreographer/pedagogue. Paseo members participated in rehearsal and performance events that completed the investigational study. The creative process focused on integrating somatic and improvisational movement practices to design an environment where dancers could build body-mind awareness and sensitivity to their surroundings, participate democratically, and build agency in their performative decision-making. Paseo investigated the performance as an informal site for learning and understanding of migration, identity, and community. Another objective of Paseo was to explore the performance as an informal site of learning and its transformative effects on lived experiences that occur from the act of doing, the act of becoming, and experiential sensations.
Paseo was part of the Arizona State University’s (ASU) School of Film, Dance, and Theatre Emerging Artists I series, one of two performances that shared the stage with fellow graduate cohort member, Grace Gallagher. Paseo took place at ASU’s Margaret Gisolo Theatre, located at the Physical Education Building East. Performance dates were the following; fix punctuation Friday, November 6th, Saturday, November 7th, and Sunday, November 8th. Paseo had a fourth presentation on Saturday, December 5th, 2015, at Margaret Gisolo Theatre as part of the post-conference performance and dialogue event, “By The People.” The conference was hosted by the Participatory Government Initiative on the ASU Campus from December 3rd-5th, 2015.
Paseo was part of the Arizona State University’s (ASU) School of Film, Dance, and Theatre Emerging Artists I series, one of two performances that shared the stage with fellow graduate cohort member, Grace Gallagher. Paseo took place at ASU’s Margaret Gisolo Theatre, located at the Physical Education Building East. Performance dates were the following; fix punctuation Friday, November 6th, Saturday, November 7th, and Sunday, November 8th. Paseo had a fourth presentation on Saturday, December 5th, 2015, at Margaret Gisolo Theatre as part of the post-conference performance and dialogue event, “By The People.” The conference was hosted by the Participatory Government Initiative on the ASU Campus from December 3rd-5th, 2015.
ContributorsOlarte, David (Author) / Vissicaro, Pegge (Thesis advisor) / Fonow, Mary (Committee member) / Landborn, Adair (Committee member) / Britt, Melissa (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
The life of Jean-Michel Basquiat is often misinterpreted in artistic discourse. From a social justice perspective, Basquiat's work is not merely art. Despite the symbolism and subject matter open for analysis, Basquiat articulated the self in relation to nuances of race, socio-economy, and historical scripts based upon real relations and conditions. Of the genre of Neo-Expressionism without a disciplined schooling in art, Jean-Michel is categorized as 'primitive' in style and form, labeled the "first black artist." Beyond the art world's possessive confines and according to post-colonial aesthetics, Jean-Michel articulates the existence of a learning self. With a pedagogical lens, a process of becoming an "artist" deepened Basquiat's expressions of self in relation to a “white” art world, which typically restricted the artist to specific categories and definitional parameters.
While recognition of the "artist" highlights the limitations of 'public' and 'self' in pedagogy, learning of the self through Neo-Expressionism is contingent upon articulating a situated existence among particular "publics," with regard to time and place. Variable dimensions of recognition create a fragmented self with transitional 'stages' and a series of acute shifts re-establish the definitional boundaries of art, definers, and ultimately the self and “Other”. These shifts continuously create new margins of the avant-garde and the self is redefined by art and discourse to sustain capital inflow, thereby replicating the colonial nature of capitalism with regard to communication, material and discovery, and “Other”. The process eschews a realized finality while expression as a relational communication of the situated persona redefines one's identity and demarcates a value of the self.
While recognition of the "artist" highlights the limitations of 'public' and 'self' in pedagogy, learning of the self through Neo-Expressionism is contingent upon articulating a situated existence among particular "publics," with regard to time and place. Variable dimensions of recognition create a fragmented self with transitional 'stages' and a series of acute shifts re-establish the definitional boundaries of art, definers, and ultimately the self and “Other”. These shifts continuously create new margins of the avant-garde and the self is redefined by art and discourse to sustain capital inflow, thereby replicating the colonial nature of capitalism with regard to communication, material and discovery, and “Other”. The process eschews a realized finality while expression as a relational communication of the situated persona redefines one's identity and demarcates a value of the self.
ContributorsDiffie, Dillon (Author) / Lauderdale, Pat (Thesis advisor) / Vicenti Carpio, Myla (Committee member) / Swadener, Beth Blue (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017