Matching Items (673)
Description
This dissertation explores the discursive construction of work and family identities in the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) regulatory rulemaking process. It uses dramatism and public sphere theory along with the critical legal rhetoric perspective to analyze official FMLA legal texts as well as over 4,600 public comments submitted in response to the United States Department of Labor's 2008 notice of proposed rulemaking that ultimately amended the existing FMLA administrative regulations. The analysis in this dissertation concludes that when official and vernacular discourses intersect in a rulemaking process facilitated by the state, the facilitated public that emerges in that discourse is bounded by official discourses and appropriated language. But individuals in the process are able to convey and contest a range of work and family identities that include characteristics of public, private, abuse, accountability, sacrifice, and struggle. It further demonstrates that different circumferences for crafting work and family identities exist in the regulatory rulemaking process, including national, international, and time-bounded circumferences. Because the law is a discourse that has far-reaching rhetorical implications and the intersect between vernacular discourses and legal discourses is an underexplored area in both communication and legal studies, this dissertation offers a contribution to the ongoing work of scholars thinking about work and family identities, the material consequences of the intersect of work and family, and the rhetorical implications of legal discourse.
ContributorsDavis, Kirsten (Author) / Carlson, Adina (Thesis advisor) / Brouwer, Daniel (Committee member) / Sigler, Mary (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
The People's Republic of China's inexorable ascendancy has become an epochal event in international landscape, accentuated by its triple national ceremonies of global significance: 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, 2009 Beijing Military Parade, and 2010 Shanghai World Expo. At a momentous juncture when the PRC endeavored to project a new national identity to the outside world, these ceremonial occasions constitute a high-stake communicative opportunity for the Chinese government and a fruitful set of discursive artifacts for symbolic deconstruction and rhetorical interpretation. To unravel these ceremonial spectacles, a public memory approach, with its versatile potencies indexical of a nation's interpretive system of social meaning, its normative framework of ideological model, and its past-present-future interrelationships, is contextually, conceptually, and analytically diagnostic of a rising China's sociopolitical constellations. Thus employing public memory as a conceptual-methodological matrix, my dissertation focuses on the prominent texts in these ceremonies, excavates their historico-memorial invocation and sociocultural persuasion, and plumbs their discursive agenda, rhetorical operation, and sociopolitical implication. I argue that the Chinese government deliberately and forcefully strove for three interrelated communicative objectives at these three ceremonies--re-imaging, re-asserting, and re-anchoring its national identity as an ancient, emergent superpower. Yet in contemporary Chinese context, its discursive (con)quest to recast its leadership as a historically continuous, culturally orthodox, and ideologically legitimate regime has always been compromised by its mythologized historical representation and hegemonic rhetorical reconfiguration, countervailed by its political and ideological fragility, and contested by domestic and global publics. Besides its contributions to the current conversation on the PRC's ceremonial phenomena, discursive formations, and communicative dynamics, this dissertation further offers its diagnosis and prognostication of this projected leading country in the 21st century.
ContributorsGong, Jie (Author) / Brouwer, Daniel (Thesis advisor) / Broome, Benjamin (Committee member) / Wu, Xu (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
This dissertation theorizes Bad Faith Rhetorics, or, rhetorical gestures that work to derail, block, or otherwise stymy knowledge-building efforts. This work explores the ways that interventions against existing social hierarchies (i.e., feminist and antiracist interventions) build knowledge (that is, are epistemologically active), and the ways that bad faith rhetorics derail such interventions. This dissertation demonstrates how bad faith rhetorics function to defend the status quo, with its social stratification by race, gender, class, and other intersectional axes of identity. Bad faith argumentative maneuvers are abundant in online environments. Consequently, this dissertation offers two case studies of the comment sections of two TED Talks: Mellody Hobson’s “Color Blind or Color Brave?” and Juno Mac’s “The Laws that Sex Workers Really Want.” The central analyses deploy online ethnographic field methods and close reading to characterize bad faith rhetorical responses and to identify 1.) trends in such responses, 2.) the net effects on other conversational participants, and 3.) bad faith rhetoric mitigation strategies. This work engages Sartre’s work on Bad Faith, rhetoric scholarship on the knowledge-building affordances of argument, public sphere theory, critical race studies, and feminist scholarship. This dissertation’s theorization and case studies illustrate the pitfalls of specific counterproductive argumentative tactics that block progress toward more equitable ways of being (bad faith rhetorics), and makes several preliminary recommendations for mitigating such moves.
ContributorsFulton-Babicke, Holly Lynn (Author) / Goggin, Maureen (Thesis advisor) / Miller, Keith (Committee member) / Brouwer, Daniel (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
This project uses Kenneth Burke’s theory of dramatism and the pentad to analyze popular narrative films about human sex trafficking. It seeks to understand the relationship between a film’s dominant philosophy (as highlighted by utilizing Burke’s pentad), its inherently suggested solutions to trafficking, and the effect that the film has on viewers’ perception of trafficking. 20 narrative feature films about sex trafficking such as the 2008 film Taken were analyzed for this study. Three out of five of Burke’s philosophies were uncovered after analysis: idealism, mysticism, and materialism. Films that aligned with idealism were found to implicitly blame women for their own trafficking. Films that aligned with mysticism were found to rally audiences around violence and racism as opposed to women’s freedom. Films that aligned with materialism were found to be the most empathetic towards trafficked women. The conclusion of this paper is that films about sex trafficking have a high potential to be harmful to women who have exited trafficking. This paper asserts that the most valuable films about trafficking are those that are not simply based on a true story but are created by trafficking survivors themselves, such as the 2016 film Apartment 407.
ContributorsHamby, Hannah Mary (Co-author) / Raum, Brionna (Co-author) / Edson, Belle (Thesis director) / Zanin, Alaina (Committee member) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (Contributor) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
This document is a proposal for a research project, submitted as an Honors Thesis to Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University. The proposal summarizes previous findings and literature about women survivors of domestic violence who are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder as well as outlining the design and measures of the study. At this time, the study has not been completed. However, it may be completed at a future time.
ContributorsKunst, Jessica (Author) / Hernandez Ruiz, Eugenia (Thesis director) / Belgrave, Melita (Committee member) / School of Music (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
While there are many characteristics that make up a woman, femininity is one that is difficult to define because it is a communication and expression practice defined by culture. This research explores historical accounts of femininity in the 1950s as seen through the exemplar of the white, middle-class "happy homemaker" or "happy housewife." The 1950s is important to study in light of changing gender and social dynamics due to the transition from World War II to a period of prosperity. By using primary sources from the 1950s and secondary historical analyses, this research takes the form of a sociological accounting of 1950s' femininity and the lessons that can be applied today. Four cultural forces led to homemakers having an unspoken identity crisis because they defined themselves in terms of relationship with others and struggled to uphold a certain level of femininity. The forces are: the feminine mystique, patriotism, cultural normalcy, and unnecessary choices. These forces caused women to have unhealthy home relationships in their marriages and motherhood while persistently doing acts to prove their self-worth, such as housework and consuming. It is important to not look back at the 1950s as an idyllic time without also considering the social and cultural practices that fostered a feminine conformity in women. Today, changes can be made to allow women to express femininity in modern ways by adapting to reality instead of to outdated values. For example, changes in maternity leave policies allow women to be mothers and still be in the workforce. Additionally, women should find fulfillment in themselves by establishing a strong personal identity and confidence in their womanhood before identifying through other people or through society.
ContributorsHeinauer, Richelle Diane (Author) / Brouwer, Daniel (Thesis director) / Haskin, Jennifer (Committee member) / Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (Contributor) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States announced that there has been roughly a 50% increase in the prevalence of food allergies among people between the years of 1997 - 2011. A food allergy can be described as a medical condition where being exposed to a certain food triggers a harmful immune response in the body, known as an allergic reaction. These reactions can range from mild to fatal, and they are caused mainly by the top 8 major food allergens: dairy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, soy, fish, and shellfish. Food allergies mainly plague children under the age of 3, as some of them will grow out of their allergy sensitivity over time, and most people develop their allergies at a young age, and not when they are older. The rise in prevalence is becoming a frightening problem around the world, and there are emerging theories that are attempting to ascribe a cause. There are three well-known hypotheses that will be discussed: the Hygiene Hypothesis, the Dual-Allergen Exposure Hypothesis, and the Vitamin-D Deficiency Hypothesis. Beyond that, this report proposes that a new hypothesis be studied, the Food Systems Hypothesis. This hypothesis theorizes that the cause of the rise of food allergies is actually caused by changes in the food itself and particularly the pesticides that are used to cultivate it.
ContributorsCromer, Kelly (Author) / Lee, Rebecca (Thesis director) / MacFadyen, Joshua (Committee member) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
Fashion is individual in its expression. It is also universal. Fashion is a cumulation of different influences and different interpretations. We currently live in a climate divided by race, culture, gender, and so much more. It is so difficult to find common ground on a global platform. Something that stands alone is fashion. Fashion is influenced by so many aspects. Of these, aspects that I am interested in are culture and sustainability. When combined with culture, fashion can anchor and have a root to the generations that came before us. When combined with sustainability, we have an anchor to the planet that we share with everyone. The result of fashion is always the same, beautiful art. I want people to see the beauty not only in the art itself, but the differences and similarities that such art provides. We all come from the same world but have different ways of expressing that world. My goal is to show people that they need to acknowledge the differences but can choose to see the similarities of each culture. Additionally, I redesign garments that capture an emotion and a story. Making each piece individual yet serving a greater purpose sustainability wise. I envision the principle of sustainable fashion to be the basis of each piece of clothing. Therefore, for my creative project I am constructing five art pieces representing five cultures that has had a significant influence on my life and personal style. These cultures are those of UAE, Germany, Nepal, Mexico, and Spain. Each of these garments are made from recycled fabric and clothing donated by family and friends. My objective is to display sustainable fashion that has deep cultural influence. Every piece has a story and an emotion attached as well to create a connection with the clothing itself.
ContributorsKreiser, Samantha Miren (Author) / Chhetri, Nalini (Thesis director) / Ellis, Naomi (Committee member) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor, Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Everyone has a story to tell. Marketing nowadays is less about what is being made and more about how it is being told. Integrate an exciting or interesting story with sports and that is the ultimate storytelling experience. Social media has completely changed the game for professional teams when it comes to how teams are telling their digital stories and engaging with fans. Entire social media teams exist in these organizations, which is something that did not exist not too long ago. The rise in fans experiencing and viewing social media platforms is altering how teams engage, connect, and communicate with fans.
When it comes to my story, I wanted to make sure I told one that was interesting, relevant and worthwhile. I felt lost for quite some time in regards to what direction I wanted to take with my thesis. After meeting with Dan Moriarty and Kevin Brilliant of the Chicago Bulls during an outreach trip with the Sports Business Association, I knew I wanted to gain more insight into how teams are telling their digital stories and connecting with their fans. I wanted to learn more about how teams across the country are playing the game of social media and what strategies they put into place to be impactful and successful. I wanted to learn the value teams found in social media and how social media impacts the organizations as a whole, specifically in revenue generation. Most importantly, I wanted to learn how teams are engaging with fans and how social media has changed the world of sports. This research includes insights from various individuals in the industry as well as survey data from W. P. Carey students. The accumulation of this thesis has resulted in a closer look into social media in the sports industry and how teams are measuring success in the digital space.
When it comes to my story, I wanted to make sure I told one that was interesting, relevant and worthwhile. I felt lost for quite some time in regards to what direction I wanted to take with my thesis. After meeting with Dan Moriarty and Kevin Brilliant of the Chicago Bulls during an outreach trip with the Sports Business Association, I knew I wanted to gain more insight into how teams are telling their digital stories and connecting with their fans. I wanted to learn more about how teams across the country are playing the game of social media and what strategies they put into place to be impactful and successful. I wanted to learn the value teams found in social media and how social media impacts the organizations as a whole, specifically in revenue generation. Most importantly, I wanted to learn how teams are engaging with fans and how social media has changed the world of sports. This research includes insights from various individuals in the industry as well as survey data from W. P. Carey students. The accumulation of this thesis has resulted in a closer look into social media in the sports industry and how teams are measuring success in the digital space.
ContributorsMaguire, Allison Marie (Author) / Eaton, John (Thesis director) / Mokwa, Michael (Committee member) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
This paper seeks to emphasize how the presence of uncertainty, speculation and leverage work in concert within the stock market to exacerbate crashes in a cyclical market. It analyzes three major stock market events: the crash of Oct. 19, 1987, “Black Monday;” the dotcom bust, from 1999 to 2002; and the subprime mortgage crisis, from 2007 to 2010. Within each event period I define determinants or measurements of uncertainty, speculation. Analysis of how these three concepts functioned during boom and bust will highlight how their presence can amplify the magnitude of a crash. This paper postulates that the amount of leverage during a crash determines how long-term its effects will be. This theory is fortified by extensive research and interviews with experts in the stock market who had a front row view of the discussed crises.
ContributorsGraff, Veronica Camille (Author) / Leckey, Andrew (Thesis director) / Cohen, Sarah (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Comm (Contributor, Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05