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Description
Geography, and the social sciences more broadly, have long operated within what is arguably a paradigm of the visual. Expanding the reach of geographical consideration into the realm of the aural, though in no way leaving behind the visual, opens the discipline to new areas of human and cultural geography

Geography, and the social sciences more broadly, have long operated within what is arguably a paradigm of the visual. Expanding the reach of geographical consideration into the realm of the aural, though in no way leaving behind the visual, opens the discipline to new areas of human and cultural geography invisible in ocular-centric approaches. At its broadest level, my argument in this dissertation is that music can no longer be simply an object of geographical research. Re-conceptualized and re-theorized in a geographical context to take into account its very real, active, and more-than-representational presence in social life, music provides actual routes to geographic knowledge of the world. I start by constructing a theoretical framework and methodological approach for studying music beyond representation. Based on these theoretical and methodological arguments, I present four narratives that unfold at the intersections of race and music in the northeast Brazilian city of Salvador. From the favelas of Rio de Janeiro to the troubled neighborhood of the Pelourinho, from the manic tempos of samba to the laid back grooves of samba-reggae, and in the year-round competition between the oppressive forces of ordinary time and the fleeting possibility of carnival, music emerges as a creative societal force with affects and effects far beyond the realm of representation. Together, these narratives exemplify the importance of expanding geographical considerations beyond a strictly visual framework. These narratives contribute to the musicalization of the discipline of geography.
ContributorsFinn, John C (Author) / McHugh, Kevin (Thesis advisor) / Lukinbeal, Christopher (Committee member) / Bolin, Bob (Committee member) / Price, Patricia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
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Description
Residential historic preservation occurs through inhabitation. Through day-to-day domesticities a suite of bodily comportments and aesthetic practices are perpetually at work tearing and stitching the historic fabric anew. Such paradoxical practice materializes seemingly incompatible relations between past and present, people and things. Through a playful posture of experience/experiment, this dissertation

Residential historic preservation occurs through inhabitation. Through day-to-day domesticities a suite of bodily comportments and aesthetic practices are perpetually at work tearing and stitching the historic fabric anew. Such paradoxical practice materializes seemingly incompatible relations between past and present, people and things. Through a playful posture of experience/experiment, this dissertation attends to the materiality of historic habitation vis-à-vis practices and performances in the Coronado historic neighborhood (1907-1942) in Phoenix, Arizona. Characterized by diversity in the built and social environs, Coronado defies preservation's exclusionary tendencies. First, I propose a theoretical frame to account for the amorphous expression of nostalgia, the way it seeps, tugs, and lures `historic' people and things together. I push the argument that everyday nostalgic practice and performance in Coronado gives rise to an aesthetic of pastness that draws attention to what is near, a sensual attunement of care rather than strict adherence to preservation guidelines. Drawing on the institutional legacy of Neighborhood Housing Services, I then rethink residential historic preservation in Coronado as urban bricolage, the aesthetic ordering of urban space through practices of inclusivity, temporal juxtaposition, and the art of everyday living. Finally, I explore the historic practice of home touring in Coronado as demonstrative of urban hospitality, an opening of self and neighborhood toward other bodies, critical in the making of viable, ethical urban communities. These three moments contribute to the body of literature rethinking urbanism as sensual, enchanted, and hospitable.
ContributorsKitson, Jennifer (Author) / McHugh, Kevin (Thesis advisor) / Lukinbeal, Christopher (Committee member) / Bolin, Bob (Committee member) / Klett, Mark (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
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Description
The Holocaust and the effects it has had upon witnesses has been a topic of study for nearly six decades; however, few angles of research have been conducted relating to the long-term effects of the Holocaust upon the children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors--the After Generations. The After Generations are

The Holocaust and the effects it has had upon witnesses has been a topic of study for nearly six decades; however, few angles of research have been conducted relating to the long-term effects of the Holocaust upon the children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors--the After Generations. The After Generations are considered the proof--the living legacies--that their parents and grandparents survived. Growing up with intimate knowledge of the atrocities that occurred during the Holocaust, members of the After Generations not only carry with them their family's story, but also their own vicarious experience(s) of trauma. From this legacy comes a burden of responsibility to those who perished, their survivor parents/grandparents, the stories that were shared, as well as to future generations. Using grounded theory method, this study not only explores the long-term effects of the Holocaust upon members of the After Generations, but what it means to responsibly remember the stories from the Holocaust, as well as how individuals might ethically represent such stories/memories. Findings that developed out of an axial analysis of interview transcripts and journal writing, as well as the later development of a performance script, are embodied in a manner that allows the actual language and experiences of the participants to be collectively witnessed both symbolically and visually. Through their desire to remember, members of the After Generations demonstrate how they plan to carry on traditions, live lives that honor those that came before them, and maintain hope for the future. In so doing, the stories shared reveal the centrality of the Holocaust in the lives of members of the After Generations through their everyday choices to responsibly and actively remember through their art, writings, life-work, as well as from within their work in their local communities. Such acts of remembrance are important to the education of others as well as to the construction and maintenance of the After Generations' identities. The representation of these voices acts as a reminder of how hatred and its all-consuming characteristics can affect not only the person targeted, but multiple generations, as well.
ContributorsRath, Sandra (Author) / de la Garza, Sarah Amira (Thesis advisor) / Underiner, Tamara (Committee member) / Corey, Frederick C. (Committee member) / Eisenberg, Judith (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
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Description
“(Dis)Locating the Sensual: Black Queer Placemaking in Brooklyn, New York” investigates the impact that gentrification has on Black queer subject formations and Black queer public culture. My research explores the interplay between social oppressions, the Black quotidian queer body, and lived sensations within two Black queer bars located in the

“(Dis)Locating the Sensual: Black Queer Placemaking in Brooklyn, New York” investigates the impact that gentrification has on Black queer subject formations and Black queer public culture. My research explores the interplay between social oppressions, the Black quotidian queer body, and lived sensations within two Black queer bars located in the epicenter of white middle class gentrification in Brooklyn, New York: Langston’s Brooklyn and Happiness Lounge. In doing so, my project expands Western conceptions of space while charging feminist and queer theories to explore interpersonal and personal dimensions of lived experiences that are conditioned by modes of normalization set by white supremacy. I use archival research and ethnographic methods to explore the way that Black queer people utilize space and the spatial dimensions that happen in and across the spaces they regularly occupy. I also collect and examine building information, such as the owners’ respective rental agreements, building permits, documented building violation(s), and incurred fees by the owners to understand who owns the land, who manages the properties, and the role of the state in regulating space. Additionally, “(Dis)Locating the Sensual” analyzes three analytic memos from my ethnographic fieldnotes including desire, spatial performance, and sensations to apprehend the implications of performance on a Black queer sense of place. Taken together, this data renders a complex picture of Black queer place-making that both resists and exceeds the structural constraints of racial capitalist expansion. My work both dialogues with and contributes to fields that are rarely drawn into conversation: Urban geography and Black queer studies. By analyzing sensations, nostalgia, and atmosphere within Langston’s and Happiness Lounge, I chart the ways in which gentrification continues to displace physical Black queer social spaces and impact the atmospheres and sensations that are unique to their vanishing social spaces. I introduce Black queer spatiality as a method that is informed by tracing Black LGBT spatial sensations and atmospheres; this analytic enables the linking of physical spatio-historical processes of extraction to the sensual geographic experiences that are emplaced in Black queer social spaces.
ContributorsMillhouse, Ricardo (Author) / Bailey, Marlon M (Thesis advisor) / Shabazz, Gregg R (Committee member) / Fonow, Mary M (Committee member) / McHugh, Kevin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
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My dissertation topic engages in the trajectory of Roma/Gitano culture and flamenco and its implications for Chicanx culture in New Mexico. New Mexicans have the reputation amongst US Chicanx as referring to themselves as Hispanic and aligning culturally with a Spanish sensibility. Historically in the larger US Chicanx community this

My dissertation topic engages in the trajectory of Roma/Gitano culture and flamenco and its implications for Chicanx culture in New Mexico. New Mexicans have the reputation amongst US Chicanx as referring to themselves as Hispanic and aligning culturally with a Spanish sensibility. Historically in the larger US Chicanx community this type of popularity for flamenco would be described as typical of New Mexico’s wavering Chicanidad that yearns to be connected to a Spanish colonial past more than to its indigenous Mexican roots. However, I believe the reality is a bit different. What makes New Mexican Chicanx different from the larger US Chicanx community is that they utilize flamenco and its Gitano roots as a cultural example of their Chicanidad. There is scant research on how Chicanidad as a historical movement has been influenced by the flamenco culture that exists in New Mexico. This dissertation will begin a conversation that places flamenco and the precarious identity of Chicanx, Gitanos and Nuevomejicanos in dialogue through the body, the art form, and the cultural stylings of flamenco rooted in the Flamenco Festival Internacional de Albuquerque (FFI).
ContributorsAcevedo-Ontiveros, Erica (Author) / Underiner, Tamara (Thesis advisor) / Bowditch, Rachel (Committee member) / Hayes, Michelle H (Committee member) / Lopez, Tiffany A (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
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With organizations’ rising interest in creativity as one of the most sought out skill sets for graduates, it has become crucial to infuse creativity training in academic programs. This study evaluated freshmen business students’ perceptions about their personal, everyday creativity and examined the influence of infusing creativity training in their

With organizations’ rising interest in creativity as one of the most sought out skill sets for graduates, it has become crucial to infuse creativity training in academic programs. This study evaluated freshmen business students’ perceptions about their personal, everyday creativity and examined the influence of infusing creativity training in their freshmen seminar course.

This action research study drew upon the intersection of three creative self-belief theories from management and education psychology literature: Jaussi, et al (2007) Creative Identity Theory; Karwowski (2014) Creative Mindset Theory; and Tierney & Farmer (2002) Creative Self-efficacy Theory. These theories arguably stemmed from Burke (1991) Identity Theory; Dweck (2006) Mindset Theory; and Bandura (1977, 1997) Self-efficacy Theory, respectively. This approach was used to understand what factors influenced students’ perceptions about their personal, everyday creativity.

Freshmen business students participated in the study. A concurrent mixed methods approach was used to gather data from the students. Quantitative data came from a post- and retrospective pre-intervention survey that assessed four constructs: creative identity, creative self-efficacy, growth mindset, and fixed mindset. The data also came from the quantitative section of a post-workshop feedback survey asking to rate the effectiveness of each workshop. Qualitative data were gathered in several ways. Student interviews focused on asking how they defined creativity, shared reasons that motivated or inhibited them to practice creativity, and explained to what extent the workshops influenced them. Additional qualitative data came from student reflection essays and the qualitative section of a post-workshop feedback survey.

Research results suggested students gained an increased understanding in the importance of adopting a growth mindset, designating ‘creative’ as a critical identity and building confidence in their creative endeavors. The students’ interview and reflection essay data were consistent with the survey data. Finally, research results from the study highlighted the benefit of creativity training as a crucial, complementary, and iterative form of study in an academic setting allowing students to know themselves better and to prioritize their creative performances as part of their program learning outcomes.
ContributorsHomayoun, Sogol (Author) / Buss, Ray (Thesis advisor) / Henriksen, Danah (Committee member) / Underiner, Tamara (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
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This dissertation employs an ethnographic methodological approach. It explores young people's performance of a New Afrikan subjectivity, their negotiation of a multiple consciousness (American, African-American, New Afrikan and Pan-Afrikan) and the social and cultural implications for rearing children of African descent in the US within a New Afrikan ideology. Young

This dissertation employs an ethnographic methodological approach. It explores young people's performance of a New Afrikan subjectivity, their negotiation of a multiple consciousness (American, African-American, New Afrikan and Pan-Afrikan) and the social and cultural implications for rearing children of African descent in the US within a New Afrikan ideology. Young people who are members of the New Afrikan Scouts, attendees of Camp Pumziko and/or students enrolled at Kilombo Academic and Cultural Institute were observed and interviewed. Through interviews young people shared their perceptions and experiences of New Afrikan childhood. The findings of this study discuss the ways in which agency, conformity and the spaces in between are enacted and experienced by New Afrikan children. The findings particularly reveal that in one sense New Afrikan adults aid young people in examining their racial and cultural subjectivity in US America. In another sense New Afrikan adults manipulate young people into performing prescribed roles that are seemingly uncritical of the implications of these performances beyond an adult agenda.
ContributorsSunni-Ali, Asantewa (Author) / Etheridge Woodson, Stephani (Thesis advisor) / Davis, Olga (Committee member) / Saldana, Johnny (Committee member) / Underiner, Tamara (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
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Description
This dissertation presents a new tool for analysis of the way difficult experiences

or phenomena influence the process for constructing self-identity in the performance of everyday life. This concept, refraction, emerged as part of a grounded theory methods analysis of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Itacaré, Bahia, Brazil from January to July

This dissertation presents a new tool for analysis of the way difficult experiences

or phenomena influence the process for constructing self-identity in the performance of everyday life. This concept, refraction, emerged as part of a grounded theory methods analysis of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Itacaré, Bahia, Brazil from January to July 2014. The work here contributes to the field of performance studies as a possibility for examining how affective responses to difficult experiences contribute to a shift in perspective and subsequently shifts in the performance of self in everyday life. This research was conducted with critical and reflexive autoethnographic methods in order to hold the research accountable for the ways subject position influences the research. In this case the most salient theme that emerged from these autoethnographic methods was an unpacking of unacknowledged tourist privilege in this setting. The resulting work-in-progress

performance will offer ways for spectators to question their own assumptions

regarding tourist privilege in Brazil, and in so-called developing countries in similar

tropical climates. An additional contribution to the field of performance-based research that resulted from this dissertation is the articulation of a dynamic locus of creativity wherein rigorous established qualitative research methods complement creative practices in conjunction with a spectrum of tacit knowledge and theoretical sensitivities. This juncture becomes the theoretical space where creativity in research can be articulated in ways that are legible to both artists and researchers.
ContributorsPorter, Laurelann (Author) / de la Garza, Sarah Amira (Thesis advisor) / Underiner, Tamara (Thesis advisor) / Mcelroy, Isis (Committee member) / Gomez, Alan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
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In 2001, a refugee group of unaccompanied minors known as the Lost Boys of Sudan began arriving in the United States. Their early years were met with extensive media coverage and scores of well-meaning volunteers in scattered resettlement locations across the country. Their story was told in television news reports,

In 2001, a refugee group of unaccompanied minors known as the Lost Boys of Sudan began arriving in the United States. Their early years were met with extensive media coverage and scores of well-meaning volunteers in scattered resettlement locations across the country. Their story was told in television news reports, documentary films, and published memoirs. Updates regularly appeared in newsprint media. Scholars have criticized public depictions of refugees as frequently de-politicized, devoid of historical context, and often depicting voiceless masses of humanity rather than individuals with skills and histories (Malkki 1996, Harrell-Bond and Voutira 2007). These representations matter because they are both shaped by and shape what is possible in public discourse and everyday relations. This dissertation research creates an intersection where public representation and everyday practices meet. Through participant observation as a volunteer at a refugee community center in Phoenix, Arizona, this research explores the emotions, social roles and relations that underpin community formation, and investigates the narratives, representations, and performances that local Lost Boys and their publics engage in. I take the assertion that "refugee issues are one privileged site for the study of humanitarian interventions through which 'the international community' constitutes itself " (Malkki 1996: 378) and consider formation of local 'communities of feeling' (Riches and Dawson 1996) in order to offer a critique of humanitarianism as mobilized and enacted around the Lost Boys.
ContributorsAlexander, Melinda (Author) / McHugh, Kevin (Thesis advisor) / Catlaw, Thomas (Committee member) / Lukinbeal, Christopher (Committee member) / Menjivar, Cecilia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
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Description
ABSTRACT

Famine is the result of a complex set of environmental and social factors. Climate conditions are established as environmental factors contributing to famine occurrence, often through teleconnective patterns. This dissertation is designed to investigate the combined influence on world famine patterns of teleconnections, specifically the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), Southern

ABSTRACT

Famine is the result of a complex set of environmental and social factors. Climate conditions are established as environmental factors contributing to famine occurrence, often through teleconnective patterns. This dissertation is designed to investigate the combined influence on world famine patterns of teleconnections, specifically the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), Southern Oscillation (SO), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), or regional climate variations such as the South Asian Summer Monsoon (SASM). The investigation is three regional case studies of famine patterns specifically, Egypt, the British Isles, and India.

The first study (published in Holocene) employs the results of a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) yielding a SO-NAO eigenvector to predict major Egyptian famines between AD 1049-1921. The SO-NAO eigenvector (1) successfully discriminates between the 5-10 years preceding a famine and the other years, (2) predicts eight of ten major famines, and (3) correctly identifies fifty out of eighty events (63%) of food availability decline leading up to major famines.

The second study investigates the impact of the NAO, PDO, SO, and AMO on 63 British Isle famines between AD 1049 and 1914 attributed to climate causes in historical texts. Stepwise Regression Analysis demonstrates that the 5-year lagged NAO is the primary teleconnective influence on famine patterns; it successfully discriminates 73.8% of weather-related famines in the British Isles from 1049 to 1914.

The final study identifies the aggregated influence of the NAO, SO, PDO, and SASM on 70 Indian famines from AD 1049 to 1955. PCA results in a NAO-SOI vector and SASM vector that predicts famine conditions with a positive NAO and negative SO, distinct from the secondary SASM influence. The NAO-famine relationship is consistently the strongest; 181 of 220 (82%) of all famines occurred during positive NAO years.

Ultimately, the causes of famine are complex and involve many factors including societal and climatic. This dissertation demonstrates that climate teleconnections impact famine patterns and often the aggregates of multiple climate variables hold the most significant climatic impact. These results will increase the understanding of famine patterns and will help to better allocate resources to alleviate future famines.
ContributorsSantoro, Michael Melton (Author) / Cerveny, Randall S. (Thesis advisor) / McHugh, Kevin (Committee member) / Brazel, Anthony (Committee member) / Balling Jr., Robert C. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017