Matching Items (28)
Description
This linguistic ethnography follows three journalism students (Petra, Penélope, and María) as they engaged in experiential language learning (EX-LL) via collaboration with community members during their Spanish for Specific Purposes (SSP) internship sites in the fields of journalism and medicine within the local Metro Phoenix community. Data were collected over the course of a 15-week semester via ethnographic methods (field notes, interviews, observations, and participant-reported data) to explore how the interns (i) took advantage of their SSP internship experiences to engage in identity work that exceeded the goals of the program and how they (ii) implemented their strategic knowledge via communicative strategies (CSs) during breakdowns in communication with community members related to their SSP internship sites/the social function of such strategies.
In order to answer the first research question, the data were analyzed via open and focused coding (Dyson & Genishi, 2005), followed by discourse analysis (Gee, 2005) informed by Critical Applied Linguistics (Pennycook, 2001) and Positioning Theory (Davis & Harré, 1990). To answer the second question, all instances in which the interns implemented communicative strategies were analyzed based upon the categorization repertories established by Dörnyei and Scott (1995a, 1995b, 1997), Lafford (2004), and Tarone and Yule (1987). To go beyond understanding what the interns were saying to why were they saying it, discourse analysis was used (Gee, 2005).
The findings show that Petra, Penélope, and María appropriated their SSP internship to engage distinct, yet interrelated language- and ethnic/racial-based identity work. Each intern utilized language (and extra-linguistic elements, such as corporeal expression) to position themselves in different ways within social discourse. Furthermore, this identity work influenced which CSs they utilized, as the social function of many of these strategies was to maintain and/or protect their desired identities.
Drawing on these insights, a variety of implications are offered from four viewpoints: implications for (i) EX-LL-based research: colonized versus humanizing research, (ii) critical community collaboration inside and outside of EX-LL, (iii) CSs and communicative competence, and (iv) EX-LL/Languages for Specific Purposes pedagogy and internship design.
In order to answer the first research question, the data were analyzed via open and focused coding (Dyson & Genishi, 2005), followed by discourse analysis (Gee, 2005) informed by Critical Applied Linguistics (Pennycook, 2001) and Positioning Theory (Davis & Harré, 1990). To answer the second question, all instances in which the interns implemented communicative strategies were analyzed based upon the categorization repertories established by Dörnyei and Scott (1995a, 1995b, 1997), Lafford (2004), and Tarone and Yule (1987). To go beyond understanding what the interns were saying to why were they saying it, discourse analysis was used (Gee, 2005).
The findings show that Petra, Penélope, and María appropriated their SSP internship to engage distinct, yet interrelated language- and ethnic/racial-based identity work. Each intern utilized language (and extra-linguistic elements, such as corporeal expression) to position themselves in different ways within social discourse. Furthermore, this identity work influenced which CSs they utilized, as the social function of many of these strategies was to maintain and/or protect their desired identities.
Drawing on these insights, a variety of implications are offered from four viewpoints: implications for (i) EX-LL-based research: colonized versus humanizing research, (ii) critical community collaboration inside and outside of EX-LL, (iii) CSs and communicative competence, and (iv) EX-LL/Languages for Specific Purposes pedagogy and internship design.
ContributorsVollmer Rivera, Alexis Ann (Author) / Lafford, Barbara (Thesis advisor) / O'Connor, Brendan (Committee member) / Bernstein, Katie (Committee member) / Beaudrie, Sara (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
https://mendotadrought.wordpress.com/
Beginning in 2011, California’s most recent drought has brought four years of some of the warmest and driest seasons on record. Mendota, California in the San Joaquin Valley is a microcosm of the struggles many agriculture communities face when water resources are scarce. Known as the “cantaloupe capital of the world,” agriculture represents over half of Mendota’s economy, making unemployment one of the many challenges they face. However, community members are working to move forward and preserve the place they call home.
Medota has a population of about eleven thousand people with over 96 percent of them being Hispanic. The stories of elected officials, field workers, farmers, police, school leaders and local business owners give testament to a mounting fear for future water allocation. But their voices also give way to a shared belief—the community’s resilience will persevere through California’s drought. Mendota is presented through a multi-media piece that uses photos, videos and descriptive articles to showcase both their hardship and hope.
Beginning in 2011, California’s most recent drought has brought four years of some of the warmest and driest seasons on record. Mendota, California in the San Joaquin Valley is a microcosm of the struggles many agriculture communities face when water resources are scarce. Known as the “cantaloupe capital of the world,” agriculture represents over half of Mendota’s economy, making unemployment one of the many challenges they face. However, community members are working to move forward and preserve the place they call home.
Medota has a population of about eleven thousand people with over 96 percent of them being Hispanic. The stories of elected officials, field workers, farmers, police, school leaders and local business owners give testament to a mounting fear for future water allocation. But their voices also give way to a shared belief—the community’s resilience will persevere through California’s drought. Mendota is presented through a multi-media piece that uses photos, videos and descriptive articles to showcase both their hardship and hope.
ContributorsLang, Erica Lynn (Author) / Rodriguez, Rick (Thesis director) / Fergus, Tom (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / School of Transborder Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
In 2012, President Obama presented an executive order, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which primarily defers the deportation of unauthorized immigrants who are under the age of 31 and who arrived to the US before the age 16, among other things. This study examines the impact DACA has had on the identity formation, interfamilial relationships, and future plans of 15 Mexican-origin adults (18-27 years old, 47% female) who were approved for DACA in Arizona. Participants were recruited using flyers and the snowball sampling method. Interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide by a bilingual, culturally competent interviewer. The interviews were recorded and then a transcript-based pragmatic, thematic analysis of the interviews was conducted. Findings show that participants who arrive to the U.S. at a younger age (under 5) identify as American, while those who arrive at an older age (over 8) do not feel like they can identify as an American because they spent more time in Mexico and are more attached to their home culture. Physical characteristics also played a factor in whether or not participants felt like they could identify as American. Participants describe their financial responsibility in their families increasing since receiving DACA. They also describe how they are now seen as role models to other undocumented youth in their families. Despite the uncertain future of DACA, these participants continued to have ambitious goals such as becoming lawyers and working at robotics companies. Future studies should include larger sample sizes and formally test theories of identity.
ContributorsLopez, Alejandra (Author) / Diaz McConnell, Eileen (Thesis director) / Martinez, Airin (Committee member) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / School of Transborder Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Across the world, nations manage their borders in various ways. Brazil and Uruguay share a non-militarized dry border, which creates a range of unique challenges and assets for that region. Through historical, linguistic, and cultural context as well as ethnography-inspired mixed method research, this paper demonstrates that the border region serves as an area of cultural blending. While elements of national affiliation are still present, at times, semiotic and linguistic elements are neither Brazilian nor Uruguayan, but have taken on their own identity.
ContributorsAraiza, Ulises (Co-author) / Desper, Tate (Co-author) / Escobar, Edward (Thesis director) / O'Connor, Brendan (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / School of Transborder Studies (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The identity of Latinx womxn is multidimensional and widely misrepresented in media. To address this problem, I plan on presenting the multifaceted nature of this intersection by documenting micro perspectives via photography. I articulate my individual perspectives of Latinx womxnhood by using lived experiences, testimonio, through a metanarrative, painting, poetry, and mixed-media art. My micro perspective/metanarrative, as well as the testimonio/art pieces, along with the photography will speak to the macro which is surrounding and engaging us. Testimonio and art are intertwined for me and this project is a proclamation of how these two flow into one another to the point where they are essentially the same. Nosotrxs is a project that focuses on reconciling the stereotypical, media representations of Latinx womxnhood with reality. How I approach this issue varies, I looked both inside and outside of myself to articulate what I see going on in the Latinx community. I photographed Latinx womxn of different nationalities, races, and gender expressions to humanize them to an audience. I painted two canvases, one with the phrase "What justifies a border between you and I?" and one with an impressionist/surrealist focus on Central America. My fourth piece is a sculptural minimalist desert with a video of U.S. border patrol agents destroying water jugs intended for migrants in the Sonoran desert along the U.S.-Mexico border. My fifth piece is a collection of poetry I wrote over the past year that reflect on my identity as a Latina woman based in Phoenix and born in California. All of these pieces together are a small representation of Latinx womxnhood in Phoenix, Arizona.
ContributorsMartinez, Claudia Belen (Author) / Fonseca, Vanessa (Thesis director) / Danielson, Marivel (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / CISA - Interdisciplinary Humanities and Communication (Contributor) / School of Transborder Studies (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) is the most prevalent type of esophageal malignancy in the United States (US) and the rate of occurrence continues to grow rapidly. As the prevalence of risk factors such as obesity and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) rises, the rates of EAC are expected to continue rising as well. Unfortunately, the 5-year survival rate remains low and the lack of targetable, oncogenic drivers presents challenges in developing more effective and less toxic therapeutics. The current standard of care for EAC involves combinations of chemotherapeutics and radiation therapy that can cause severe side effects and often leads to refractory and relapsed disease. According to the cancer stem cell model, a small subset of the tumor cell population is responsible for cancer's ability to replicate, metastasize, and relapse. These cancer stem cells (CSCs) can self-renew and differentiate. Napabucasin, a "stemness" inhibitor, which works by inhibiting STAT3, has shown promising results in pre-clinical and clinical investigations across a variety of solid tumor types. Because a major barrier in treatment of EAC is the likelihood of relapse, targeting the CSC population that results in this phenotype is a therapeutic strategy of great interest. We hypothesize that employment of napabucasin to inhibit stemness through STAT3 represents a viable therapeutic strategy in the EAC setting. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of napabucasin on EAC cells. Napabucasin was shown to reduce phosphorylation of STAT3 as well as levels of MCL1, a cell survival protein downstream of STAT3, and levels of "stemness" markers Nanog, Sox2, and B-catenin via immunoblot analysis. Napabucasin monotherapy showed high efficacy in some EAC settings, with IC50 values in a clinically achievable range. The treatment in combination with cisplatin, a standard of care chemotherapeutic, resulted in reduced cell viability than either treatment alone indicating that a combination strategy could reduce the dosage of each drug needed. The data suggests that STAT3 inhibition in combination with current standard of care treatments could be a viable therapeutic strategy in EAC, and improve the dismal survival for these patients.
ContributorsDarwin, Alicia H. (Author) / Stout, Valerie (Thesis director) / Whitsett, Timothy (Committee member) / Carson, Vashti (Committee member) / School of Transborder Studies (Contributor) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Changes in Latino neighborhoods in Tucson, Arizona that occurred between 1990 and 2010 were studied. The overall Latino population increased substantially within the larger metropolitan area during the target time period. Neighborhoods were selected that had changed to become predominantly Latino during the target time period based on maps measuring ethnic clusters. Research was designed to characterize Latino neighborhoods in Tucson in terms of transformation. Methodology for comparison between changed and unchanged neighborhoods was developed. Observations were made in the three new neighborhoods, as well as in three historically Latino neighborhoods that experienced little change during the same time period. Interviews were conducted with residents from each neighborhood. Exploratory findings were made regarding the transformation of the neighborhoods with increased Latino populations. Findings showed that two areas of transformation increased largely because of the rise of higher density rental housing while one area transformed because two new affordable subdivisions were created within the studied time period. One new neighborhood's physical domain changed from an undeveloped land to a neighborhood with tract style houses. The historical areas have transformed in different ways including a decrease in crime and an increase in the younger population. The historical areas have experienced little change in the physical domain. All neighborhoods studied had evidences of a Spanish speaking population, and have businesses that cater to the surrounding Hispanic population.
ContributorsLeavitt, Isabella Maish (Author) / Lara-Valencia, Francisco (Thesis director) / Velez-Ibanez, Carlos (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Transborder Studies (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
I never feel completely comfortable with someone until I know I can make them laugh. Humor has played an important role in all of my personal relationships, with friends, family and coworkers. For this reason, humor has always fascinated me. One person's sense of humor can differ so greatly from another's, yet the reaction of laughter is the same. Entering college, I saw the field of psychology as the most direct path to studying humor. My thesis was always going to address humor in some way, and I decided that the best way to study humor was through stand-up comedians. These performers spend most of their time trying to make other people laugh, but they don't seem very happy. I decided to watch local shows and interview local comedians, with the goal of better understanding this relationship between humor and sadness. Specifically, I wanted to find out how these comedians use humor to deal with negative experiences in their lives. I conducted interviews with six local stand-up comics, who have experienced varying degrees of success in their stand-up careers. The questions for the interviews were developed to best determine how the comics had decided to work in stand-up comedy, what their career trajectories had looked like, how they develop their material, how humor connects to negative experiences in their lives, and how committed each comic was to performing stand-up. Also, I hoped to gain a better understanding of what role stand-up played in shaping the identity of each comic. Interviews lasted between 40 and 75 minutes. I interviewed the local stand-up comics Iesha Renee, Shapel Lacey, Anwar Newton, Mike Enders and Charles Engle, and Michael Turner.
ContributorsLucas, Peter J. (Author) / Meloy, Lisa (Thesis director) / O'Connor, Brendan (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
This study observes two fanfiction speech communities, Danny Phantom and Detective Conan. The members of these communities write stories based upon the canon within these two animated cartoons and interact with one another through reviews, author's notes, and story summaries. Using the speech community model, this community's unique practices and communicative repertoire will be identified and analyzed. Both of these fandoms show similarities with the overarching general fanfiction speech community, but they also possess key differences that define them as their own separate community. Fan jargon is used frequently in author's notes, reviews, and summaries to indicate fan expertise and membership within the fandom as well as exclude newcomers from understanding the information. This jargon remains largely the same across languages, and using it properly is important to being considered a true fan. Furthermore, many stories share similar elements that are not present within the source material, indicating that the fandoms possess a shared communicative repertoire. Review practices also show strong cultural norms that demand that reviewers offer praise and encouragement to the writers. Most criticism is phrased extremely kindly to avoid breaking cultural norms. Those who do not follow these cultural norms are shunned by the community, and required to apologize to maintain proper fan membership. Fan hierarchy is also examined, including the ways that big name fans and reviewers exert centripetal and centrifugal forces upon the language, simultaneously pushing it towards standardization and variation. Authors also use many face saving techniques to demonstrate their own lack of knowledge within the community, especially if they are new or inexperienced. The members of these communities share a deep cultural connection that is strengthened by their practices and repertoires.
ContributorsDial, Ashtyn Nicole (Author) / Friedrich, Patricia (Thesis director) / O'Connor, Brendan (Committee member) / Computing and Informatics Program (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor, Contributor, Contributor) / School of Music (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
The purpose of this study is to document and analyze three women's English language learning journeys after moving from various parts of Mexico to Phoenix, Arizona. The study explores the effects of English as a Second Language (ESL) education on the social and cultural development of Mexican women students at Friendly House, whose mission is to "Empower Arizona communities through education and human services". The literature review section explores such topics as the complications and history of Mexican immigration to Phoenix and of state-funded ESL education in Phoenix. The consequent research study will entail a pair of interviews with the three beginner ESL students about their lives in Mexico compared to their lives in Phoenix, with a specific focus on aspects of their language acquisition and cultural adjustment to life in Arizona. Photos of and by the consultants add to their stories and lead to a discussion about the implications of their experiences for ESL teachers. By documenting the consultants' experiences, this study finds many gaps in ESL education in Phoenix. Suggestions about how ESL programs and teaching methods can be modified to fit student's needs form the basis for the conclusions.
ContributorsDriscoll, Ashley Marisa (Author) / Horan, Elizabeth (Thesis director) / O'Connor, Brendan (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05