Search

Search Results

• 1. [Article] The Eighteenth-Century Georgic as Didactic Epic

  This dissertation examines the eighteenth-century English georgic in the broader context of the didactic epic. Reading "georgics" through the schema of didactic epic, I provide an alternative trajectory ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: The Eighteenth-Century Georgic as Didactic Epic Author: Rosenblatt, Kelly Jane Year: 2015 This dissertation examines the eighteenth-century English georgic in the broader context of the didactic epic. Reading "georgics" through the schema of didactic epic, I provide an alternative trajectory for understanding developments in and experiments with genre during the long eighteenth century. More than swapping parallel terminology my use of didactic epic imports the scholarship of Classical and neo-Latin scholars to reinvigorate a genre hampered by defining the "georgic" as poems about farming, derived exclusively from Virgil's Georgics. Within the framework of didactic epic, I reinterpret peripheral works such as John Gay's Trivia, Eliza Haywood's Anti-Pamela, and James Grainger's The Sugar Cane claiming these queer, fascinating texts represent critical experimentation with literary form in the eighteenth century. I contend that the incorporation of didactic epic elements into these texts demonstrates the plasticity and persistence of the genre thereby making the study of these foundational English texts and their Classical and neo-Latin sources an integral part of English literary studies. I argue the essays, poems, and novels of Joseph Addison, John Philips, John Gay, Eliza Haywood, and James Grainger dialogue with Classical and neo-Latin poems in addition to Virgil's Georgics such as Manilius's Astronomica, Fracastoro's Syphilis, and more-canonical Classical didactic epics from the Ars Poetica of Horace to Lucretius's De Rerum Natura. Because the separation of didactic and narrative epic derived from reliance on "georgic" has promoted a too-easy separation between the natural world (georgic) and the human world (epic), scholarship has approached English didactic epics as poems that have little bearing on humans and culture. However, analyzing the formal modulations I describe how eighteenth-century texts showcase radical experimentation with narrative persona and polyphonic registers thereby magnifying the presence of human beings in the natural world as organizers and consumers of the landscape and useable land. In the experimentations evident in eighteenth-century English texts, I locate innovations and modulations of the didactic epic that demonstrate the authors variously dissecting and critiquing ideologies of labor and imperialism and offering new paradigms of gender and labor that anticipate modern approaches to literary forms and modern concerns with the interrelation of humans and nature. Title: The Eighteenth-Century Georgic as Didactic Epic Author: Rosenblatt, Kelly Jane Year: 2015 This dissertation examines the eighteenth-century English georgic in the broader context of the didactic epic. Reading "georgics" through the schema of didactic epic, I provide an alternative trajectory for understanding developments in and experiments with genre during the long eighteenth century. More than swapping parallel terminology my use of didactic epic imports the scholarship of Classical and neo-Latin scholars to reinvigorate a genre hampered by defining the "georgic" as poems about farming, derived exclusively from Virgil's Georgics. Within the framework of didactic epic, I reinterpret peripheral works such as John Gay's Trivia, Eliza Haywood's Anti-Pamela, and James Grainger's The Sugar Cane claiming these queer, fascinating texts represent critical experimentation with literary form in the eighteenth century. I contend that the incorporation of didactic epic elements into these texts demonstrates the plasticity and persistence of the genre thereby making the study of these foundational English texts and their Classical and neo-Latin sources an integral part of English literary studies. I argue the essays, poems, and novels of Joseph Addison, John Philips, John Gay, Eliza Haywood, and James Grainger dialogue with Classical and neo-Latin poems in addition to Virgil's Georgics such as Manilius's Astronomica, Fracastoro's Syphilis, and more-canonical Classical didactic epics from the Ars Poetica of Horace to Lucretius's De Rerum Natura. Because the separation of didactic and narrative epic derived from reliance on "georgic" has promoted a too-easy separation between the natural world (georgic) and the human world (epic), scholarship has approached English didactic epics as poems that have little bearing on humans and culture. However, analyzing the formal modulations I describe how eighteenth-century texts showcase radical experimentation with narrative persona and polyphonic registers thereby magnifying the presence of human beings in the natural world as organizers and consumers of the landscape and useable land. In the experimentations evident in eighteenth-century English texts, I locate innovations and modulations of the didactic epic that demonstrate the authors variously dissecting and critiquing ideologies of labor and imperialism and offering new paradigms of gender and labor that anticipate modern approaches to literary forms and modern concerns with the interrelation of humans and nature. Close

• 2. [Article] Latino Immigrant Students: Exploring the Relationship between Migration Experience and Education Outcomes

  The purpose of this study was to contribute to the literature on the educational outcomes and protective factors (i.e., support systems) in the lives of Latino immigrant youth, with a special emphasis ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Latino Immigrant Students: Exploring the Relationship between Migration Experience and Education Outcomes Author: Ramos, Karina Year: 2015 The purpose of this study was to contribute to the literature on the educational outcomes and protective factors (i.e., support systems) in the lives of Latino immigrant youth, with a special emphasis on how these experiences relate to and are impacted by their migration experiences. Using the cultural-ecological theoretical framework and the Stages of Migration framework, this study utilized an existing data set to explore the relationships between migration stress, psychological distress, experiences of discrimination, and awareness of discrimination in relation to educational outcomes in a sample of 281 Latino immigrant youth. These relationships were then examined to see if they differed as a function of perceived support, gender, and school type (i.e., middle school versus high school). Structural equation modeling was utilized to test the hypothesized model that included migration stress, psychological distress, and education outcomes. The structural model showed very good fit. Results suggest that migration stress has a significant direct effect on psychological distress and on educational outcomes among Latino immigrant youth. Participants reporting high migration stress reported greater psychological distress and had poorer educational outcomes with respect to academic grades, educational aspirations, and educational expectations. Moderation testing indicated the structural model did not vary as a function of perceived support, gender, or school. Implications for research and practice are discussed. Title: Latino Immigrant Students: Exploring the Relationship between Migration Experience and Education Outcomes Author: Ramos, Karina Year: 2015 The purpose of this study was to contribute to the literature on the educational outcomes and protective factors (i.e., support systems) in the lives of Latino immigrant youth, with a special emphasis on how these experiences relate to and are impacted by their migration experiences. Using the cultural-ecological theoretical framework and the Stages of Migration framework, this study utilized an existing data set to explore the relationships between migration stress, psychological distress, experiences of discrimination, and awareness of discrimination in relation to educational outcomes in a sample of 281 Latino immigrant youth. These relationships were then examined to see if they differed as a function of perceived support, gender, and school type (i.e., middle school versus high school). Structural equation modeling was utilized to test the hypothesized model that included migration stress, psychological distress, and education outcomes. The structural model showed very good fit. Results suggest that migration stress has a significant direct effect on psychological distress and on educational outcomes among Latino immigrant youth. Participants reporting high migration stress reported greater psychological distress and had poorer educational outcomes with respect to academic grades, educational aspirations, and educational expectations. Moderation testing indicated the structural model did not vary as a function of perceived support, gender, or school. Implications for research and practice are discussed. Close

• 3. [Article] Kindergarten Assessment: Analysis of the Child Behavioral Rating Scale (CBRS)

  Oregon’s Kindergarten Assessment (KA) is mandatory for all incoming Oregon kindergarteners starting in the 2013-14 school year. One component of Oregon’s KA is the Child Behavioral Rating Scale (CBRS), ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Kindergarten Assessment: Analysis of the Child Behavioral Rating Scale (CBRS) Author: Rowley, Brock Year: 2015 Oregon’s Kindergarten Assessment (KA) is mandatory for all incoming Oregon kindergarteners starting in the 2013-14 school year. One component of Oregon’s KA is the Child Behavioral Rating Scale (CBRS), which Oregon has adapted into the Approaches to Learning Assessment. Teachers complete the CBRS during the first four to six weeks of school. This study uses a convenience sample of 731 kindergarten students (across two years) from one district in Oregon to analyze behavioral readiness (self-regulation and social-emotional behaviors) as well as easyCBM indicators of academic readiness. The CBRS is compared with the Child Behavioral Checklist and the Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Social Emotional as criterion measures. Parent and teacher responses to the CBRS are analyzed for comparability, and a Receiver Operating Characteristic curve analysis of the data is used to determine optimal cut points (maximizing sensitivity and specificity) for predicting whether students are at risk compared to the criterion measure cut scores. Demographic variables of gender, English Language Learner status, and Socioeconomic Status, are analyzed as control variables. Pre-post behavior change on the CBRS is document over the kindergarten year, and kindergarten academic benchmark measures is used as a dependent measure. This study explores whether: (a) parent responses differ significantly from teacher responses (internal consistency), (b) a cut score on the CBRS successfully sorts students into categories of "typically developing" or "in need of further assessment," (c) teacher predictions align to the proposed CBRS cut score, (d) academic risk is correlated to the established CBRS cut score, and (e) change in behavior over the course of kindergarten is measured (pre-post) by the CBRS. Results from this research could support identification of students for interventions in both kindergarten and early childhood programs. Title: Kindergarten Assessment: Analysis of the Child Behavioral Rating Scale (CBRS) Author: Rowley, Brock Year: 2015 Oregon’s Kindergarten Assessment (KA) is mandatory for all incoming Oregon kindergarteners starting in the 2013-14 school year. One component of Oregon’s KA is the Child Behavioral Rating Scale (CBRS), which Oregon has adapted into the Approaches to Learning Assessment. Teachers complete the CBRS during the first four to six weeks of school. This study uses a convenience sample of 731 kindergarten students (across two years) from one district in Oregon to analyze behavioral readiness (self-regulation and social-emotional behaviors) as well as easyCBM indicators of academic readiness. The CBRS is compared with the Child Behavioral Checklist and the Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Social Emotional as criterion measures. Parent and teacher responses to the CBRS are analyzed for comparability, and a Receiver Operating Characteristic curve analysis of the data is used to determine optimal cut points (maximizing sensitivity and specificity) for predicting whether students are at risk compared to the criterion measure cut scores. Demographic variables of gender, English Language Learner status, and Socioeconomic Status, are analyzed as control variables. Pre-post behavior change on the CBRS is document over the kindergarten year, and kindergarten academic benchmark measures is used as a dependent measure. This study explores whether: (a) parent responses differ significantly from teacher responses (internal consistency), (b) a cut score on the CBRS successfully sorts students into categories of "typically developing" or "in need of further assessment," (c) teacher predictions align to the proposed CBRS cut score, (d) academic risk is correlated to the established CBRS cut score, and (e) change in behavior over the course of kindergarten is measured (pre-post) by the CBRS. Results from this research could support identification of students for interventions in both kindergarten and early childhood programs. Close

• 4. [Article] Beyond the Feminine in Pushkin's Tatiana

  Pushkin's Tatiana tends to be pigeonholed by criticism that acknowledges her dynamism and openness to creative possibilities but restricts her intertextual significance to the heroines of the European ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Beyond the Feminine in Pushkin's Tatiana Author: Spreat, Eric Year: 2015 Pushkin's Tatiana tends to be pigeonholed by criticism that acknowledges her dynamism and openness to creative possibilities but restricts her intertextual significance to the heroines of the European novelists she herself reads. I argue that only by viewing her as the construction of a narrator who relies heavily on the stylistics of Karamzin and Zhukovsky can Tatiana be pulled out of such narrow confines. By tracing the thread of these Russian texts in the novel in verse, I will show that they often beg comparison not with their predecessors' heroines but with their male counterparts. Tatiana’s ambiguous characterization when read in conjunction with "Domik v Kolomne" (1830) shows the explicit gender parodies that Onegin only hints at. Using this text, I will ultimately consider Tatiana as an example of the ambivalence of Pushkin's heroine-muse in relation to his own participation in the ‘ballad question’ of the early 19th century. Title: Beyond the Feminine in Pushkin's Tatiana Author: Spreat, Eric Year: 2015 Pushkin's Tatiana tends to be pigeonholed by criticism that acknowledges her dynamism and openness to creative possibilities but restricts her intertextual significance to the heroines of the European novelists she herself reads. I argue that only by viewing her as the construction of a narrator who relies heavily on the stylistics of Karamzin and Zhukovsky can Tatiana be pulled out of such narrow confines. By tracing the thread of these Russian texts in the novel in verse, I will show that they often beg comparison not with their predecessors' heroines but with their male counterparts. Tatiana’s ambiguous characterization when read in conjunction with "Domik v Kolomne" (1830) shows the explicit gender parodies that Onegin only hints at. Using this text, I will ultimately consider Tatiana as an example of the ambivalence of Pushkin's heroine-muse in relation to his own participation in the ‘ballad question’ of the early 19th century. Close

• 5. [Article] Gameplay Mechanics, Ideology, and Identity in Mobile and Online Girl Games

  This thesis analyzes the ideological functions of gameplay mechanics in five mobile and online girl games. The subjects of close reading in this study are Tampon Run, Wonder City, Barbie Fashionistas, ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Gameplay Mechanics, Ideology, and Identity in Mobile and Online Girl Games Author: Cummings, Kelsey Year: 2015 This thesis analyzes the ideological functions of gameplay mechanics in five mobile and online girl games. The subjects of close reading in this study are Tampon Run, Wonder City, Barbie Fashionistas, Style Studio, and Central Park Wedding Prep. First, a review of the literature is presented. Video game studies and ludology, identity in game studies, and performativity and game studies are examined as the central areas of literature from which the thesis draws. The thesis then explores the historical context of the problem, investigating politics and ideology in gaming spaces and considering the activist and educational games Tampon Run and Wonder City. Finally, the thesis analyzes three traditional girl games: Barbie Fashionistas, Style Studio, and Central Park Wedding Prep. This study argues that activist games rely on limiting mechanics to convey feminist ideologies, while traditional games rely on the perceived mechanics-based empowerment of their players to convey patriarchal ideologies. Title: Gameplay Mechanics, Ideology, and Identity in Mobile and Online Girl Games Author: Cummings, Kelsey Year: 2015 This thesis analyzes the ideological functions of gameplay mechanics in five mobile and online girl games. The subjects of close reading in this study are Tampon Run, Wonder City, Barbie Fashionistas, Style Studio, and Central Park Wedding Prep. First, a review of the literature is presented. Video game studies and ludology, identity in game studies, and performativity and game studies are examined as the central areas of literature from which the thesis draws. The thesis then explores the historical context of the problem, investigating politics and ideology in gaming spaces and considering the activist and educational games Tampon Run and Wonder City. Finally, the thesis analyzes three traditional girl games: Barbie Fashionistas, Style Studio, and Central Park Wedding Prep. This study argues that activist games rely on limiting mechanics to convey feminist ideologies, while traditional games rely on the perceived mechanics-based empowerment of their players to convey patriarchal ideologies. Close

• 6. [Article] Speculative Fictions, Bisexual Lives: Changing Frameworks of Sexual Desire

  While studies of lesbian, gay, and transgender communities and cultural production have dramatically increased, research on bisexuality remains highly undervalued in humanities and social science disciplines. ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Speculative Fictions, Bisexual Lives: Changing Frameworks of Sexual Desire Author: Wilde, Jenee Year: 2015 While studies of lesbian, gay, and transgender communities and cultural production have dramatically increased, research on bisexuality remains highly undervalued in humanities and social science disciplines. To challenge this lack of scholarship, this doctoral dissertation applies both textual and ethnographic methods to examine bisexual representation in non-realistic or “speculative” narratives and to explore the insider perspectives of bisexual people who are also science fiction fans. The overall trajectory of chapters follows a progression from grounded research and analysis to theory and application. First, I explore bisexual worldviews through ethnographic research in overlapping sexual and fan communities and through textual analysis of a 1980s bisexual fanzine. Next, I establish theoretical and methodological foundations for a new sexual paradigm, called dimensional sexuality, and work to intervene in interpretive methods that may restrict readings of sexuality in cinematic narratives. And finally, I test dimensional sexuality as an interpretive mode by offering dimensional readings of science fiction television and novels. From one direction, the project seeks to understand bisexuality as a position from which to theorize sexual knowledge. A major claim is that bisexual epistemology offers an alternative to dominant monosexual frameworks. Specifically, the multivalent logic of bisexuality refutes the “either-or” structure of heterosexuality and homosexuality. By embracing the logic of “both-and,” bisexuality as a category of knowledge enables the reorganization of sexuality within a non-binary, non-gender based multidimensional framework. From another direction, the project demonstrates the productive textual and social spaces offered by speculative narratives for questioning what we “know” about gender, sex, sexuality, and other intersections of social identities. Science fiction bears a deep structural affinity with the dialectical thinking found in critical theory. By asking “what if” questions that challenge our assumptions about “what is,” non-realistic narratives estrange us from the “known” world, interrogate our assumptions about the world, and make visible ideas and experiences outside of the norms we use to interpret what is “real” in a particular social and historical moment. As such, speculative narratives enable us to imagine sexual and gender possibilities beyond the episteme of the moment. Title: Speculative Fictions, Bisexual Lives: Changing Frameworks of Sexual Desire Author: Wilde, Jenee Year: 2015 While studies of lesbian, gay, and transgender communities and cultural production have dramatically increased, research on bisexuality remains highly undervalued in humanities and social science disciplines. To challenge this lack of scholarship, this doctoral dissertation applies both textual and ethnographic methods to examine bisexual representation in non-realistic or “speculative” narratives and to explore the insider perspectives of bisexual people who are also science fiction fans. The overall trajectory of chapters follows a progression from grounded research and analysis to theory and application. First, I explore bisexual worldviews through ethnographic research in overlapping sexual and fan communities and through textual analysis of a 1980s bisexual fanzine. Next, I establish theoretical and methodological foundations for a new sexual paradigm, called dimensional sexuality, and work to intervene in interpretive methods that may restrict readings of sexuality in cinematic narratives. And finally, I test dimensional sexuality as an interpretive mode by offering dimensional readings of science fiction television and novels. From one direction, the project seeks to understand bisexuality as a position from which to theorize sexual knowledge. A major claim is that bisexual epistemology offers an alternative to dominant monosexual frameworks. Specifically, the multivalent logic of bisexuality refutes the “either-or” structure of heterosexuality and homosexuality. By embracing the logic of “both-and,” bisexuality as a category of knowledge enables the reorganization of sexuality within a non-binary, non-gender based multidimensional framework. From another direction, the project demonstrates the productive textual and social spaces offered by speculative narratives for questioning what we “know” about gender, sex, sexuality, and other intersections of social identities. Science fiction bears a deep structural affinity with the dialectical thinking found in critical theory. By asking “what if” questions that challenge our assumptions about “what is,” non-realistic narratives estrange us from the “known” world, interrogate our assumptions about the world, and make visible ideas and experiences outside of the norms we use to interpret what is “real” in a particular social and historical moment. As such, speculative narratives enable us to imagine sexual and gender possibilities beyond the episteme of the moment. Close

• 7. [Article] Origin Stories: Narrative, Identity, and the Comics Form

  My dissertation argues that comics’ unique formal properties are particularly suited toward exploring and representing the complex nature of identity. Just as the comics form is broadly defined by a peculiar ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Origin Stories: Narrative, Identity, and the Comics Form Author: Gilroy, Andrea Year: 2015 My dissertation argues that comics’ unique formal properties are particularly suited toward exploring and representing the complex nature of identity. Just as the comics form is broadly defined by a peculiar tension between word and image, so identity can be conceived as a constant negotiation between abstract (“unrepresentable”) concepts that define identity and an individual’s attempts to represent that identity. Due to its formal negotiation of word and image, the comics form is thus uniquely suited to address the problems of identity and its representation. I begin this project by examining the relationship between word and image in comics. Some comics scholars have argued verbal and visual signification are hybridized, while others go so far as to claim the distinction between word and image is unsustainable. Still others reject these claims, arguing comics’ hybridity necessitates a strict separation of word from image. I argue that words and images in comics function on a spectrum in which the line between word and image must be able to be hybridized and distinct at the same time. This definition of the word/image relationship can describe the most straightforward, illustrative comics as well as the most experimental comics texts; it also provides the methodological framework for my project. In this dissertation, I examine the representation of gendered identity in Gilbert Hernandez's Love and Rockets stories and Junot Díaz's novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, arguing both authors’ injunction that the reader look at the mothers in their works is evidence of their demand that we understand the women as whole, ambivalent subjects. I explore the way the Gene Yang and Sonny Liew’s graphic novel The Shadow Hero addresses the repressive and racist history of superhero comics. In doing so, Yang and Liew’s text reveals the ways superhero texts constantly negotiate the genre’s conservative instinct to protect the status quo and its revolutionary vision for a better world. Finally, I contend Greg Rucka and J. H. Williams III's Batwoman: Elegy reveals at least one intrinsically progressive theme in superhero genre: its performative and inherently queer conception of identity. Title: Origin Stories: Narrative, Identity, and the Comics Form Author: Gilroy, Andrea Year: 2015 My dissertation argues that comics’ unique formal properties are particularly suited toward exploring and representing the complex nature of identity. Just as the comics form is broadly defined by a peculiar tension between word and image, so identity can be conceived as a constant negotiation between abstract (“unrepresentable”) concepts that define identity and an individual’s attempts to represent that identity. Due to its formal negotiation of word and image, the comics form is thus uniquely suited to address the problems of identity and its representation. I begin this project by examining the relationship between word and image in comics. Some comics scholars have argued verbal and visual signification are hybridized, while others go so far as to claim the distinction between word and image is unsustainable. Still others reject these claims, arguing comics’ hybridity necessitates a strict separation of word from image. I argue that words and images in comics function on a spectrum in which the line between word and image must be able to be hybridized and distinct at the same time. This definition of the word/image relationship can describe the most straightforward, illustrative comics as well as the most experimental comics texts; it also provides the methodological framework for my project. In this dissertation, I examine the representation of gendered identity in Gilbert Hernandez's Love and Rockets stories and Junot Díaz's novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, arguing both authors’ injunction that the reader look at the mothers in their works is evidence of their demand that we understand the women as whole, ambivalent subjects. I explore the way the Gene Yang and Sonny Liew’s graphic novel The Shadow Hero addresses the repressive and racist history of superhero comics. In doing so, Yang and Liew’s text reveals the ways superhero texts constantly negotiate the genre’s conservative instinct to protect the status quo and its revolutionary vision for a better world. Finally, I contend Greg Rucka and J. H. Williams III's Batwoman: Elegy reveals at least one intrinsically progressive theme in superhero genre: its performative and inherently queer conception of identity. Close

• 8. [Article] A Multilevel Analysis of Student, Family, and School Factors Associated with Latino/a Parental Involvement in the Middle School Learning Environment

  Research suggests parental home and school involvement improves multiple outcomes for middle school students, including academic achievement, school engagement, motivation, self-efficacy, and prosocial ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: A Multilevel Analysis of Student, Family, and School Factors Associated with Latino/a Parental Involvement in the Middle School Learning Environment Author: Chain, Jennifer Year: 2016 Research suggests parental home and school involvement improves multiple outcomes for middle school students, including academic achievement, school engagement, motivation, self-efficacy, and prosocial behaviors. Little is known, however, about multilevel factors associated with Latino/a parental involvement in the middle school learning environment. In the current study, multilevel analysis was used to explore student, family, and school factors associated with Latino/a parental involvement. Results from the hierarchical linear modeling analyses found (a) Latino/a parental home and school involvement varied within schools and between schools, (b) student gender, prosocial behavior, and academic achievement were positively associated with parental home involvement, and (c) student gender, problem behavior, prosocial behavior, academic achievement, and family socioeconomic status were positively associated with parental school involvement. Percentages of Latino/a students and low-income students in schools did not significantly moderate the average parental home or school involvement across students and across schools. The results of this study have implications for educators and policy makers to promote Latino/a parent-teacher collaboration in the middle school learning environment. Title: A Multilevel Analysis of Student, Family, and School Factors Associated with Latino/a Parental Involvement in the Middle School Learning Environment Author: Chain, Jennifer Year: 2016 Research suggests parental home and school involvement improves multiple outcomes for middle school students, including academic achievement, school engagement, motivation, self-efficacy, and prosocial behaviors. Little is known, however, about multilevel factors associated with Latino/a parental involvement in the middle school learning environment. In the current study, multilevel analysis was used to explore student, family, and school factors associated with Latino/a parental involvement. Results from the hierarchical linear modeling analyses found (a) Latino/a parental home and school involvement varied within schools and between schools, (b) student gender, prosocial behavior, and academic achievement were positively associated with parental home involvement, and (c) student gender, problem behavior, prosocial behavior, academic achievement, and family socioeconomic status were positively associated with parental school involvement. Percentages of Latino/a students and low-income students in schools did not significantly moderate the average parental home or school involvement across students and across schools. The results of this study have implications for educators and policy makers to promote Latino/a parent-teacher collaboration in the middle school learning environment. Close

• 9. [Article] Video Games and International Development: A Case Study of the Half the Sky Movement

  Digital games have been used in the international development industry for over a decade, yet they have received little scholarly attention. This dissertation uses the Half the Sky Movement’s (HTSM) digital ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Video Games and International Development: A Case Study of the Half the Sky Movement Author: Fisher, Irma Year: 2016 Digital games have been used in the international development industry for over a decade, yet they have received little scholarly attention. This dissertation uses the Half the Sky Movement’s (HTSM) digital games as a case study to understand the production and use of games for development purposes. In doing so, it analyzes the games both as texts that extend the discourse of development, and as material objects with important political economic implications. Specifically, it looks at how the narratives embedded in these games disrupt or reinforce dominant narratives already at play in the development industry, and it considers how the private/public relationships created through the production of the games shape game content and impact both the gaming and development industries. The study uses critical qualitative methods, including textual analysis and in-depth interviews, and a political economic approach to complete this work. Title: Video Games and International Development: A Case Study of the Half the Sky Movement Author: Fisher, Irma Year: 2016 Digital games have been used in the international development industry for over a decade, yet they have received little scholarly attention. This dissertation uses the Half the Sky Movement’s (HTSM) digital games as a case study to understand the production and use of games for development purposes. In doing so, it analyzes the games both as texts that extend the discourse of development, and as material objects with important political economic implications. Specifically, it looks at how the narratives embedded in these games disrupt or reinforce dominant narratives already at play in the development industry, and it considers how the private/public relationships created through the production of the games shape game content and impact both the gaming and development industries. The study uses critical qualitative methods, including textual analysis and in-depth interviews, and a political economic approach to complete this work. Close

• 10. [Article] Grafted Identities: Shrews and the New Woman Narrative in China (1910s-1960s)

  My dissertation examines the unacknowledged role of negative female models from traditional literature in constructing the modern woman in China. It draws upon literary and historical sources to examine ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Grafted Identities: Shrews and the New Woman Narrative in China (1910s-1960s) Author: Yang, Shu Year: 2016 My dissertation examines the unacknowledged role of negative female models from traditional literature in constructing the modern woman in China. It draws upon literary and historical sources to examine how modern cultural figures resuscitated and even redeemed qualities associated with traditional shrews in their perceptions and constructions of the new woman across the first half of the twentieth century. By linking the literary trope of the shrew, associated with imperial China, with the twentieth-century figure of the new woman, my work bridges the transition from the late-imperial to the modern era and foregrounds the late-imperial roots of Chinese modernization. The scope of my dissertation includes depictions of shrews/new women in literary texts, the press, theater, and public discourses from the Republican to the Socialist period. Although there exists a rich body of work on both traditional shrew literature and the new woman narrative, no one has addressed the confluence of the two in Chinese modernity. Scholars of late imperial Chinese literature have claimed that shrew literature disappeared when China entered the modern age. Studies on the new woman focus on specific social and cultural contexts during the different periods of modernizing China; few scholars have traced the effects that previous female types had on the new woman. My research reveals the importance of the traditional shrew in contributing to the construction and reception of the new woman, despite the radically changing ideologies of the twentieth century. As I argue, the feisty, rebellious modern women in her many guises as suffragette, sexual independent, and gender radical are female types grafted onto the violent, sexualized, and transgressive typologies of the traditional shrew. My research contributes to the studies of Chinese modernity and the representations of Chinese women. First, it bridges the artificial divide between modern and traditional studies of China and expands the debates about the nature of Chinese modernity. Second, it brings to light the underexamined constructions of the new woman as an empowered social actor through her genealogical connections to the traditional shrew. Third, it provides a methodology for rethinking the contested depiction of women in Chinese modernity. Title: Grafted Identities: Shrews and the New Woman Narrative in China (1910s-1960s) Author: Yang, Shu Year: 2016 My dissertation examines the unacknowledged role of negative female models from traditional literature in constructing the modern woman in China. It draws upon literary and historical sources to examine how modern cultural figures resuscitated and even redeemed qualities associated with traditional shrews in their perceptions and constructions of the new woman across the first half of the twentieth century. By linking the literary trope of the shrew, associated with imperial China, with the twentieth-century figure of the new woman, my work bridges the transition from the late-imperial to the modern era and foregrounds the late-imperial roots of Chinese modernization. The scope of my dissertation includes depictions of shrews/new women in literary texts, the press, theater, and public discourses from the Republican to the Socialist period. Although there exists a rich body of work on both traditional shrew literature and the new woman narrative, no one has addressed the confluence of the two in Chinese modernity. Scholars of late imperial Chinese literature have claimed that shrew literature disappeared when China entered the modern age. Studies on the new woman focus on specific social and cultural contexts during the different periods of modernizing China; few scholars have traced the effects that previous female types had on the new woman. My research reveals the importance of the traditional shrew in contributing to the construction and reception of the new woman, despite the radically changing ideologies of the twentieth century. As I argue, the feisty, rebellious modern women in her many guises as suffragette, sexual independent, and gender radical are female types grafted onto the violent, sexualized, and transgressive typologies of the traditional shrew. My research contributes to the studies of Chinese modernity and the representations of Chinese women. First, it bridges the artificial divide between modern and traditional studies of China and expands the debates about the nature of Chinese modernity. Second, it brings to light the underexamined constructions of the new woman as an empowered social actor through her genealogical connections to the traditional shrew. Third, it provides a methodology for rethinking the contested depiction of women in Chinese modernity. Close