Browsing by Subject "Culture"

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Automation of Stem Cell Protocols
(2019-12) Johnson, Blake
Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) have become a vital resource for researchers and industry due to their differentiation capacity, as well as providing access to the cell phenotypes and genotypes from any individual donor. Despite improvements in stem cell technology, maintaining iPS cell lines still requires a significant amount of time and technical skill from cell culture technicians. Such steps include consistent media changes, cell counting and confluence analyses, cell passaging, cryopreservation, and subsequent thawing and plating of those cells. For this research, these processes have been transitioned onto an automated cell culturing platform. It is shown here that the automated cell culturing platform is able to properly execute DMSO-free cryopreservation, thawing, plating, and cell maintenance. This demonstrated ability to perform these functions completely automated without a technician is a technical advancement in pluripotent stem cell culturing and may provide financial benefits within a cell culture laboratory.
Baltimore's urban fix: sounds of excess and exclusion in Station north
(2013-03) Kotting, Jennifer
This research seeks to tell a different kind of story about urban development, attentive to the details of everyday life that are often ignored by both supporters and critics of such projects. The case study of Station north is an immediately relevant project meant to improve the city as a whole by attracting capital investment. However, the social and political contradictions involved show the devastating consequences of a spatial fix for an urban neighborhood. Mapping neighborhood change is common, but using sound and digital mapping to evoke under-explored parts of everyday life is less typical in the field of urban studies.
Beyond Orange Slices: The Contested Cultural Terrain of Youth Soccer in the United States
(2019-06) MANNING , CHARLES (ALEX)
This dissertation builds on my four-year ethnographic immersion into the world of youth soccer in the Twin Cities and dozens of interviews with players, parents, and coaches. My dissertation, titled “Beyond Orange Slices: The Contested Cultural Terrain of Youth Soccer in the United States”, demonstrates how various spaces of youth soccer in a metropolitan city are social environments where social inequalities, identities, and discourses of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, and community are constructed, challenged, and reproduced. In my dissertation I examine how the field of youth soccer raced, classed, and gendered; how larger social systems of inequality appear and shape taken for granted, but prevalent cultural spaces, such as sport; and how practices of youth soccer serve as a contested cultural site of meaning with regards to parenting culture, families, sporting discourse, youth development, community, identity, and social difference. The first section of my dissertation focuses on how youth soccer is a social field with seven different sites of youth soccer. Within these different locations of soccer’s social field, clubs create, maintain, and define a group identity that is centered on how they “do” youth soccer. Different communities “do” the sport in a manner that is informed by various parenting styles, ideals about community, and visions for proper youth development. The second section of my dissertation is about gender and how different forms of playing and coaching the game are shaped by cultural ideas of masculinity and femininity during youth. Throughout the field of soccer, players, coaches, and parents often intentionally strive to challenge gender norms about who can play and succeed in the game. Yet, many participants often still reproduce gender hierarchy and normativity through soft essentialism. In the final section I argue that soccer, and youth sport, is a useful and particular sociological window into how the dynamics of race and racism operate in the United States, particularly within diverse (racial and ethnic) social spaces. In this section, I show that in many cases youth soccer is a “cosmopolitan canopy” where social difference is supported and co-exists seemingly with ease and normality. Participants in these diverse social canopies of soccer frequently view such diversity as a positive feature of the sport and reproduce happy diversity talk. However, within these diverse soccer spaces, biological notions of race, racist microaggressions, and other forms of racial marginalization and exclusion appear frequently, simultaneously, and often with no formal challenges or reconciliation. These racist ruptures reveal the tenuous characteristics of diverse social spaces and sport, and highlights the limited inclusive potential of diversity discourse
Crossborder management education alliances:case study of the Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration in Bangkok, Thailand.
(2011-06) Pembleton, Deborah Jackson
The Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok has celebrated a twenty-five year partnership with the graduate schools of business at Northwestern University (Kellogg) and the University of Pennsylvania (The Wharton School) in the United States. The research question for this study is: "What factors have contributed to the success and sustainability of the crossborder management education alliance at the Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration?" The objective of this study is to understand and describe the intercultural working relationships between U.S. and Thai faculty and staff who work within the alliance. By incorporating the U.S. perspective as well as the Thai perspective, this research demonstrates how the national cultures of Thailand and the U.S. influence organizational effectiveness within the crossborder education alliances among these universities. Methods for data collection have involved major triangulation, including participant observation, in-depth semi-structured interviews, and document analysis. Several months of fieldwork were undertaken in Bangkok interviewing key Thai faculty and staff as well as the U.S. visiting faculty and staff. There are three major implications of this study. First, the case demonstrates that organizations rooted in quite different cultures can collaborate effectively and successfully create a long-term sustainable relationship. A key factor related to this success is the cross-culturally sensitive leadership demonstrated by all parties and their abilities to negotiate significant cultural differences. Second, given the escalating costs of higher education associated with the Baumol Disease, alliances among universities can provide a cost-effective approach to providing high-quality and innovative education. Third, the alliance described in this study is an example of the effective internationalization of higher education in a multicultural transnational context. Abstract – Thai Version: available on-line
Cultural meaning of color in healthcare environments: a symbolic interaction approach.
(2010-05) Kwon, Jain
Color planning in today's healthcare environments is a challenge for interior designers due to the diverse occupants who may establish different meanings of environmental colors based on their backgrounds and life experiences. Researchers have shown the close relationship between color perception and patients' mental and/or emotional attitudes. Moreover, studies have shown that certain colors can affect some people as stressors while the same colors can be positive distractions to others. This exploratory qualitative study investigates the significance of culture in the ways people interpret and establish color meaning in healthcare environments. The theoretical framework of this study is based on Blumer's (1969; 2004) discussion on symbolic interaction between humans and environments. Specifically, the relationship between a role of `the self' and cultural influences was analyzed to investigate people's interpretation and establishment of color meaning in healthcare environments. A semi-structured interview questionnaire and a color palette instrument were developed and used to collect data from a sample of 13 female and 12 male Koreans living in Twin Cities, MN and ranging in age from 25 to 39. A research model based on the theoretical constructs of symbolic interaction--the self, objects, social interaction, and joint action--was used to formulate interview questions. Five color palettes were based on the five primary interior color combinations in the Korean tradition and used to assess the subjects' meaning assigned to color in the cultural context. The interview data were analyzed to determine the role of the constructs of symbolic interaction--the self, object, self-interaction, and social interaction--in Koreans' meaning establishment of color in healthcare environments. Findings include: 1) Color as an abstract object appeared to be related to self-interaction, and color as a physical object and a social object was related to social interaction; 2) the subjects' concepts of healthcare color were based on their personal experiences and cultural backgrounds. Care/warmness, stability, and vitality seemed to be established in the subjects' self-interaction, and hygiene status, comfort from familiarity, professionalism, and users' characteristics were established through the subjects' social interaction. The subjects did not seem to consider `healing' as a concept of healthcare color.
Cultural themes across generations: exploring changes in lived experiences of six deaf individuals.
(2010-12) Diener, Nancy McFarlin
Historically, hearing people have held positions of power and influence in many areas of society affecting Deaf people, yet they often know little about the life experiences of Deaf people, or how Deaf people feel about decisions made on their behalf. Understanding the lived experiences of Deaf or hard of hearing people is important for developing effective educational models for teaching Deaf children and creating a more inclusive society. This qualitative study collected and examined life story narratives from six Deaf people, ages 18-77. The life story narratives provided examples of Deaf community values that have remained consistent, even as the day-to-day lives of Deaf people have changed dramatically over the last 60 years. Significant themes emerged, including education for Deaf children, American Sign Language, cultural awareness and acceptance, and the importance of listening to Deaf people. Recommendations for educational administrators, based on the research findings, are listed.
Culture in the English Language Curriculum in Mexico: How English language teaching and learning is conceptualized and exercised by educators in relation to ideas of culture at UVM México
(2022-05) Butler, Lenise
In this dissertation, I explore teachers' voices around the integration of culture learning into the English as a foreign language curriculum in a large private university in Mexico. Drawing on interviews and a focus group, as well as reference to the actual curriculum at play, this study offers an exploration of teachers’ perspectives and the realities in action of culture learning in the classroom environment. The study highlights the concerns of a large institution, the aspirations of program leaders, and the voices of teachers charged with making the desired outcomes a reality. It examines the realities behind best intentions in the educational environments of higher education in Mexico, specifically in the EFL sphere. This dissertation contributes to the international literature and knowledge base around culture in English language teaching in two ways. First, by sharing the realities of a contextualized program in Mexico and how the desired skills and competencies are integrated into the program. Second, by exemplifying teachers’ interaction with curriculum design and implementation, and giving voice to their perspective in ways which have never been recorded at UVM before. At the same time, this dissertation provides reference to how action research can make a difference in formal educational settings in Mexico and specifically, how it can and should be used in the element of curriculum design. As such, this research reinforces the need to continually recognize, train and include teachers in program design and curriculum reform. It draws on the realities of in-class teaching and learning to highlight the importance of the teacher in the process of learning culture and language, and shows teachers’ perspectives of the importance of culture as learning objectives for students.
Developing (Inter)cultural Competence through Foreign Language Learning: Turning Promises into Practices
(2018-06) Baden, Elizabeth
I intend to explore the link between language and culture and how that transfers to developing (inter)cultural competence in the foreign language classroom with special attention to French at various learner levels but particularly within higher education in the United States. (Inter)cultural competence provides an overarching and balanced perspective for interacting appropriately in culturally diverse settings; however, research on its relationship with second language acquisition has been minimal to date despite its acceptance within the U.S. foreign language teaching curriculum. As international mobility (i.e. travel, study abroad, immigration etc.) is becoming progressively accessible, (inter)cultural competence is essential to building peaceful relationships among diverse groups of people locally, nationally, and internationally. While this skill set is essential in today’s global context, the wide-ranging claim that learning a second language provides a framework towards developing (inter)cultural competence in the classroom is problematic without further research to comprehensively integrate and assess it as a foreign language learner goal
Diabetes In Somali Children In Minneapolis and St.Paul, Minnesota
(2015-09) Sunni, Muna
Minnesota is home to the largest population of Somalis in the United States (US). The 2011 United States Census Bureau estimates that there are more than 32,000 individuals of Somali origin [1, 2], and many believe there is a significant underestimation of this number. Somalis originate from a distinct geographic region in East Africa, and have obvious similarities in physical features suggesting relative genetic homogeneity. In contrast, most African Americans descend from various areas in Africa, and have experienced significant intermingling amongst themselves and with other populations rendering this population less homogeneous. Thus, not surprisingly, diabetes may differ between Somalis and other African Americans. Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease of heterogeneous etiology [3-5]. Carrying specific human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles determines an individual’s genetic risk for developing T1D. It has been established that these alleles may differ between populations [3, 6]. This dissertation describes some of the clinical characteristics, diabetes autoantibody and HLA allele profiles, and explores cultural beliefs related to diabetes in Somali children with T1D who live in the Twin Cities, Minnesota. These studies have led to two papers, which have been submitted for peer-reviewed publication. My primary project, describes the immune and genetic basis of T1D in a group of Somali children in the Twin Cities, Minnesota by determining human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles and diabetes autoantibodies. Twenty-seven Somali children ≤19 years treated for T1D at the University of Minnesota and Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota from January 1st, 2012 to January 31st, 2014, participated. Venous blood samples for HLA alleles, and diabetes autoantibodies (GAD65, islet antibodies, insulin antibodies and ZnT8) were obtained. In these 27 children, the most common HLA phenotype was DR3. Strikingly, 92% of subjects carried this phenotype (allele frequency 63%). Another common genotype was DR13 (27%, allele frequency 14%). There was a relatively low frequency of DR4 (15%, allele frequency 8%). This genetic pattern is very different from that of Caucasians or African Americans. All 27 participants had positive elevation of at least one diabetes autoantibody confirming that this is autoimmune diabetes. GAD65 antibodies were found in 56% of subjects, IA-2 in 33%, and ZnT8 in 22%. HASH(0x7f87dd84a058) My second project was a cross-sectional study that describes cultural beliefs related to diabetes in Minnesota Somali children with T1D, and compares their diabetes control to that of non-Somali children with T1D. Demographic and clinical data were collected by history and from medical records of Somali children ≤19 years with T1D followed at the University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital and Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota. A survey was administered to parents of all participants and to children aged ≥12 years. Twenty-five Somali children participated, with 24 parent-child pairs (2 siblings). In general, diabetes was well accepted. Seventy-one percent of parents indicated the child was “the same as before” other than having to do diabetes cares. Families were coping well, and the child was not treated differently than siblings. Performance of routine medical cares was described as the hardest part about having diabetes, but this was not related to conflicts with traditional culture or religion. One notable exception was difficulty performing carbohydrate counting on Somali foods. Our education materials were not helpful when it came to the traditional Somali diet. Respondents were appreciative of the education provided by the diabetes team. Less than 10% used herbal supplements in addition to insulin. Mean HbA1c in Somali children was higher than the overall pediatric clinic average, 9.5±1.6% vs 8.8±1.6 (p =0.01). The difference was largely due to adolescent patients. These two studies suggest that autoantibody and HLA profiles of Somali children with diabetes are consistent with autoimmune T1D, and that their HLA profile is unique compared to African Americans with T1D. The data also highlight that the majority of Somali families cope well with diabetes, and that glycemic control in adolescents is worse than that of non-Somali peers. Findings from this study beg the question of whether differences in diabetes between Somali children and their non-Somali peers is merely a result of these differences in HLA alleles, or whether other factors influence glycemic control in this population. Data from this study will be used to target diabetes education and to provide culture-specific educational resources to improve the experience of living with this chronic condition.
Documenting perceptions about pesticides and other environmental exposures with photovoice : mothers' concerns for their children
(2008-11) Stedman-Smith, Margaret M.
Women of childbearing age and children living in rural agricultural regions are at-risk for pesticide exposure from a variety of pathways including occupational track-in, drift from farming activities, residential usage, and dietary intake. The purpose of this dissertation research is to answer the questions: "What do mothers perceive as pesticide exposure pathways for themselves and their children? How do these perceptions differ between cultural groups?" The study involves a secondary analysis of data collected during the summer of 2007 in the Red River Basin of the North from the University of Minnesota's Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships and the Division of Environmental Health Sciences. Sixteen women from three diverse groups participated: Caucasians enrolled in the Women Infant and Children federally subsidized nutrition program, new American immigrants, and Native Americans. Due to culture, economics, and geography, these groups may experience increased health risks from pesticide exposure. Photovoice was used as a qualitative methodology to document mothers' concerns about pesticide exposure and other health issues for their children, since it enables participants, including those who lack verbal acumen in the language of the dominant culture, to use photographs to address questions like, "Why does this situation exist? Do we want to change it, and, if so, how?" Caucasian and Native American mothers voiced concern about pesticide exposure from drift due to agricultural spraying on the ground and by plane. All participants wanted advanced notice to take precautionary measures before fogging or spraying. Perceptions of pesticide exposure differed according to the cultural lens of each group: Caucasian women saw the necessity of industrial agriculture and pesticide usage as a trade-off; Native American women voiced concerns about pesticide contamination to traditional foods; and new American immigrants expressed a need to learn how to read labels and use pesticides safely. Participants suggested culturally congruent strategies for the delivery of educational information. Consumption of locally grown organic foods was identified as one strategy to reduce pesticide exposure. This research assists public health professionals, extension educators, and primary care providers with the aim of reducing pesticide exposure to children living in rural agricultural regions.
An exploration of aging lesbians on the North Shore of Lake Superior
(2013-04) Nichols, Angela Christine
This ethnographic study explored the lived experiences of aging lesbians on the North Shore of Lake Superior uniting the demographics of age, rural residence, and sexual orientation. Research methods included semi-structured interviews, grand tour, participant observation, field notes, photography, and group discussion. The analytical framework was biography and used participants' life stories to understand their lived experiences. The results reveal how participants learned to adapt to climate, culture, and community in a unique, isolated place. The study also uncovered emergent themes that reveal how aging lesbians feel supported and unsupported by their community. This study reveals the importance of class status in studies about aging lesbians in rural areas and their own perceptions of acceptance and assimilation. Participants' rural location, social environment, and migration are discussed, along with the uniqueness of place, culture and class status.
Exploring Undergraduate Students' Experiences of the Culture of Scientific Research in a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience
(2021-09) Dewey, Jessica
Scientific research has its own culture that can be difficult to enter. Students often learn about and interact with the scientific research culture for the first time as undergraduates when they participate in research experiences such as Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CURE). However, the lack of a single framework that describes the culture of scientific research has resulted in little work specifically exploring students’ experiences and perceptions of this culture, especially in the context of CUREs. This three-paper dissertation fills this gap in the literature by establishing the Culture of Scientific Research (CSR) Framework and using the framework to explore undergraduate students’ experiences and perceptions of the culture of scientific research in the context of a CURE. In the first study, a systematic literature review was performed to identify cultural aspects of scientific research described in prior work. Specifically, the Practices, Norms/Expectations, and Values/Beliefs of scientific research were identified and organized into the CSR Framework. This framework was also validated for biology with practicing biological researchers. The second study presents the first application of the CSR Framework in the context of a biology CURE. Students were interviewed about their feelings of participating in the CURE. The cultural aspects of scientific research that students mentioned in these interviews, as well as their perceptions of those aspects, were investigated. Students’ responses were also compared across the type of project students performed (bench-based vs. computational). Students mentioned nearly all of the aspects in the CSR Framework, but a small number of aspects were the most salient to students. Additionally, bench-based and computational students found different Practices to be salient and held different perceptions of the same cultural aspects. The third study compared the experiences and perceptions of women and men participating in the same CURE course that was the context for the second study. The results found that women and men mentioned many of the same cultural aspects of scientific research and perceived them in similar ways. However, there were subtle differences in how women and men talked about certain aspects. Altogether, these studies provide insight into undergraduates’ experiences and perceptions of the culture of scientific research. More specifically, this work broadens the current understanding of students’ experiences in CUREs and provides a model for how subtle but important differences between students’ experiences can be identified. Understanding students’ experiences of the scientific research culture will allow for future work that drives changes to the culture of scientific research to enable equitable access for all students.
From tragedy to opportunity: long-term development in post-disaster intentional communities in Honduras.
(2012-06) Alaniz, Ryan Chelese
With 2010 witnessing the second highest number of global disasters in history, climate change has spurred interest concerning how non-governmental organizations (NGOs) should respond with long-term development strategies in post-disaster communities, especially those in fragile states. This comparative case study examines how two intentional Honduran communities built for survivors (comprised of traumatized and displaced poor people) of Hurricane Mitch (1998), Divina Providencia and Ciudad España, developed since the disaster. Although initially similar based on demographics, the communities are dramatically different today in social health (defined as low crime, social capital, social cohesion, vision, sustainability, and community participation). My doctoral research combines household surveys (N=1,918), 74 interviews, nine months of ethnography, and archival research in an analysis of what mechanisms shaped the social health trajectory of each community. I found that both communities have had varying degrees of success and conflict due in large part to the Honduran context and decisions and practices implemented by sponsoring non-governmental organization including: time horizons/long-term commitment, organizational resources, spatial design, community size, and coercive mechanisms by the organizations. Although both communities faced similar constraints, such as trauma and broken social networks, Divina overcame many hurdles with the help of a strong NGO presence, organizational resources, a long-term commitment, and coercive means. It was able to foster cultural structures that created a healthier community than resident pre-Mitch neighborhoods in Tegucigalpa. Certain emergent norms of community life prevented the Divina community from falling back upon old structures and norms (which were inequitable and socially unhealthy). However, its top-down paternalist approach led to protests by community residents, the creation of dependency on the NGO, and issues of possible long-term sustainability without organizational support. While Ciudad España did have better social health than the former communities in Tegucigalpa, its partnership approach failed to establish emergent norms that would have promoted stronger social health indicators. There was less NGO influence, fewer organizational resources over time, shorter time commitment, and almost no coercive means. Although España has lower social health than Divina, the community has had less conflict and is more independent.
The Human Rights Performative: The Belarus Free Theater on the Global Stage
(2017-05) Kompelmakher, Margarita
This dissertation investigates the staging of human rights in the theatrical work of the Belarus Free Theater (BFT), a social justice theater company from Minsk, Belarus that has become one of the most prominent human rights theater companies in the world since 2007. Drawing on bilingual fieldwork and archival research conducted over a five-year period in Belarus and the UK, this project reveals how liberal values--such as freedom of speech and individuality--are translated across post-Soviet Europe and the European Union. The chapters in this dissertation trace a historical shift in human rights cultural politics from identity-based aesthetics to ethical aesthetics grounded in the principles of survival, testimony and sensation. These principles have increasingly become the gold standard for cross-cultural exchanges since the Helsinki Accords in the 1970s. I demonstrate how these principles are not ‘objective’ aesthetic judgments but, in fact, part of a colonial and racially charged mode of liberal human rights governance. Ultimately, this dissertation highlights how artist-activists from Belarus make claims to alternative worldviews to mainstay liberal democracy. It argues that cultural institutions must engage with cultural translation in order to avoid falling prey to a form of human rights governance that implicitly positions certain groups as artistically inferior and backwards on a spectrum of political freedoms.
The influence of moral emotions in young adults' moral decision making: a cross-cultural examination
(2009-05) Kim, Jae-Eun
Consumers in their everyday decision making concerning purchase of goods have opportunities to demonstrate their moral views. They can make consumption decisions that benefit other members of society or threaten sound business practices. This research was designed to extend prior work on both moral decision making and moral emotions by investigating how cultural orientation (individualism, collectivism) influences moral emotions (e.g., ego-focused, other-focused) and subsequently, moral decision making in two different consumption situations (e.g., purchase of a counterfeit purchase, purchase of socially responsible products). In addition, I investigated whether an individual's self-construal explains any differences tied to cultural orientation and its influence on moral emotions and moral decision making. An experiment was designed to test the hypotheses. A 2 (cultural orientation: individualistic culture versus collectivistic culture) × 2 (self-construal: independent versus interdependent) × 2 (moral consumption situations: counterfeit consumption scenario versus socially responsible products consumption scenario) between-subject design and scenario method was used. Data was collected from a convenience sample of undergraduate students enrolled at a university in the U.S. (n = 379) and a sample of students enrolled at seven universities in Korea (n = 399). As predicted, this study provided empirical evidence of cultural differences in consumer's moral emotions associated with their consumption act for counterfeits and socially responsible products. In addition, moral emotions influenced both moral judgments and purchase intentions. Moral emotions interacted with cultural orientation to influence moral judgments. Moral judgment influenced purchase intention. Furthermore, these results were replicated with self-construal suggesting that participant's self-construal was the factor underlying cultural differences. This research contributed to both moral decision making and moral emotion theories by investigating the role of cultural orientation and self-construal. The findings of this study also provided important and relevant implications to retailers and policy makers in developing customer relationship programs, marketing strategies, and persuasive messages.
Intersections of Culture and Well-being in the Workplace Environment
(2015-06) Scott, Angelita
This study is an investigation of how culture affects employee well-being in the workplace environment. It is also an attempt at constructing an instrument that measures the relationship between culture and well-being in such settings. Correlation and logistic regression tests were conducted to understand the relationships of the independent variables culture (operationalized by ethnicity), physical environment, social characteristics, and visual characteristics and their effect on well-being. Hofstede's (1984) cultural dimensions and Travis' (2010) 10 principles of Black cultural design were used as theoretical frameworks to ground the concepts. Hypotheses statements were developed for this study and include: culture influences employees' well-being in the workplace; the overall physical environment influences well-being in the workplace; social characteristics influence well-being in the workplace; and visual characteristics influence well-being in the workplace. Findings resulted in no significance for the hypotheses tested nor the logistic regression model. However, it is suggested that further testing of the model is conducted due to the small sample size and skewed variables. It is also highly recommended that more qualitative studies are conducted around the concepts of culture and well-being to have a better understanding of the complex aspects of culture and well-being in the workplace. Culture is important in the workplace environment, therefore studies such as this one are important. Designing spaces that increase connectivity and relationships is not only beneficial to employee well-being, but it also has the advantage of increasing an organization's bottom line.
Korean immigrants and their aesthetic perspectives on appearance
(2013-12) Park, Saet Byul
In the United States, as the population of immigrants is constantly increasing, the adaptation of immigrants to the host society emerges as an important issue. Cultural differences between the culture of origin of immigrants and the host culture and dynamics of these two cultures shape their migratory process in the United States. The sense of belonging into the host culture as well as their culture of origin are simultaneous and often conflict with the formation of social identity. The needs for inclusion and differentiation in their dual or sometimes multiple cultural contexts make an impact on immigrants' attitudes and behaviors concerning appearance. Therefore, this study focuses on the influence of migratory experience and social identity of Korean immigrants both in their new culture and culture of origin towards their aesthetic perspectives on appearance. Conversations with thirty first generation Korean immigrant women show that immigrants negotiate and plan their strategic practices related to their appearance. This helps them balance the needs for inclusion and differentiation in dual cultural contexts. In this way they resolve the conflicts coming from different cultural values, ideals, thoughts, and standards of the host culture and heritage culture and relationships with peers in Korean society, other immigrants in Korean immigrant community, and mainstream Americans. These practices are shown in two appearance forms in choosing to wear the same ensemble for both contexts or two ensembles for each context.
M. Cathleen Kaveny’s New Book and Walter J. Ong’s Thought
(2016-03-17) Farrell, Thomas J.
Modeling Evaluation Learning in Africa: The Case of Kenya Public Universities
(2022-09) Maikuri, Antony
Kenya strives to achieve education for all to contribute to its development needs. Like other countries globally, Kenya's national education goals aim to educate its citizens to play important roles in the economy. To measure this trajectory on its citizens, evaluation has become a critical tool used by decision-makers to seek evidence and assist in making choices. Evaluation theory and practice should be realistic, credible, and accurate in providing evidence to stakeholders. It also must be efficient, effective, and reliable to all development systems and structures. However, with evaluation rooted in western paradigms and approaches, international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Kenya dominate its demand and supply. The supply for evaluation in Kenya is fostered by Kenyan universities that facilitate training and learning of evaluation studies. At the same time, Kenya's education system (eight years of primary education, four years of secondary education, and four years of higher education) that is mainly government-funded has relied on summative evaluation as the standard measure of performance, grades and achievements. On the other hand, NGOs in Kenya practice both summative and formative evaluation; Kenyan evaluators often use evaluation practices and theories that are borrowed from outside Kenya. With the understanding that the NGO market is the major influence over the types of evaluations practiced in Kenya, this research aims to understand how Kenyan university-based evaluation study programs are conceptualized, developed, and implemented in Kenya. The year-long study focused on professors from six different Kenyan public universities on their understanding of how they conceptualize evaluation as an area of study in Kenya. The second research question focuses on the conditions that influence the development and implementation of evaluation studies, and the third question seeks what strategies and approaches are necessary to develop evaluative capacity in Kenya. The study entailed a qualitative research design utilizing a social constructivist grounded theory and semi-structured interviews with faculty informants. The primary findings of this study are as follows: (1) Participants viewed that evaluation studies programs varied across universities. For example, a number of universities had evaluation courses only at the undergraduate level, whereas some had courses at the graduate level. (2) There is a lack of support from the Kenyan government both in funding evaluation development and absorption of evaluation structures in government ministries and agencies. (3) When looking at conditions influencing evaluation growth in Kenya, participants shared that the SDGs are shaping evaluation education among Kenyans due to the need for accountability and development growth. (4) Study participants shared that to grow the field of evaluation in the Kenyan education system and development, there is a need to contextualize the field to better understand the benefits of evaluation. In other words, building evaluative capacity includes Kenya's cultural traditions and values. This study reveals the relational nature of Kenya's educational system, the influence of international development, and the needs of Kenyan citizens. Professors who teach evaluation in Kenya have an influence on all three relational aspects in shaping understanding, perspectives, and strategies to use evaluation for the greater development good. Subsequently, the findings of this research illustrate the limitations and promises of higher education as an avenue to shape development and grow the field of evaluation. This study concludes that there is a need for capacity building within the Kenyan government, institutions, universities, educators, and practitioners to use Kenyan knowledge and context to build and expand upon evaluation theories and practices. The emerging evaluative field of study requires collaboration and participation of all stakeholders when shaping knowledge and theories that are responsive to Kenyan needs.
The moral field of computing.
(2011-12) Smajda, Jon
This dissertation examines the culture of open source software development and debates around ``openness'' in computing through the lens of sociology. Drawing on contemporary theory and research in cultural, economic, and political sociology, I develop a framework---the moral field of computing---for making sense of the role that group boundaries and moral beliefs play in the day-to-day work of software development. I first show how this field emerged over time during the mid- to late-20th century, and then I show its structure animates the contentious debates and decisions within computing today by analyzing data collected as a participant-observer in several open source communities. For researchers studying computing, this dissertation places the unique culture of software development into a larger context of modern liberalism and sociological research and theory on the relationship between work, democracy, and the market. For sociologists, this dissertation represents a theoretical attempt to understand the relationship between group boundaries, community identities, and moral worldviews through examining an empirical case that has been understudied and undertheorized within the context of cultural sociology and sociological theory.

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