MA, Kent State University, 0, College of the Arts / School of Art

This thesis explores various methods of visual representation used to portray non-white Others by white European artists throughout the Age of Discovery and the dawn of colonialism. There are three major phases of visual representation of Others in European Renaissance and Baroque art. These will be examined and compared to suggest a visual manifestation of the shifting ideas of race throughout these centuries. The representation of black Africans in Europe and the New World, the court commissioned paintings of Albert Eckhout in Dutch Brazil, and lastly, the development of the casta genre in New Spain will be investigated in connection with a changing perception of race. When explored as a group, these representations of Others offer insight into the contemporary racial mindset and expand upon the understanding of the development of established races based on physical appearance in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. By following the introduction of the black African into the works of Renaissance painters, over the bridge of Albert Eckhout's titillating Baroque works recording supposed ethnographic realities in Dutch Brazil, and ending in colonial Mexico with casta paintings, one can see European racial concepts forming, morphing, and leading to an almost explicitly visual understanding of race.

Committee: Gustav Medicus Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; African History; African Studies; American Studies; Art History; Caribbean Studies; Comparative; Cultural Anthropology; Ethnic Studies; European History; Hispanic American Studies; Hispanic Americans; History; Latin American History; Latin American Studies; Modern History; Native American Studies; Native Americans; Native Studies; World History

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2022, Arts and Sciences: Romance Languages and Literatures

This dissertation examines the poetic work of Claribel Alegria from a thematic perspective, namely, subjectivity, the treatment of the self and nature. In this thematic evolution, her work demonstrates the relationship with the patriarchal and social justice discourse of the 20th century, which has favored a monolithic discourse, a soliloquy within the same paradigms. Alegria's poetry goes beyond committed Central American poetry dominated mainly by the patriarchal canon. She starts from a traditional poetic legacy, makes an appropriation of this established canon, and then rewrites poetry from a mature and compassionate point of view. My study proposes a revaluation of the poetic work of Alegria in the light of feminist, ecofeminist and philosophical concepts such as otherness, through a careful study of her poems. For the feminist and ecofeminist theoretical construction of this study, I have based my ideas on the thoughts of Simone de Beauvior, Luce Irigaray, Francoise D'Eaubone, and Ynestra King. Both feminism and ecofeminism propose an integrating and transforming vision of the human being in society and its relationship with the environment that includes everyone. This study emphasizes the concept proposed by Emmanuel Levinas about the Other. This thinker proposes a philosophy of responsibility through the face of the Other, which is a revelation or epiphany that transcends the very self. Levinas' ethics of the face allows an approach to the committed poetry of Alegria that elucidates a subjectivity open to commitment to the other. It is a subjectivity that moves outwards, that recognizes the alterity of the other. In taking charge of the other, memory is fundamental. Thus, Alegria becomes the memory of the murdered, the disappeared and the vulnerable in society. Through my analysis of Alegria's poetry, I decipher her poetic discourse and its rhetorical figures such as metaphors, synesthesias, anaphoras, metonyms, synecdoches, among others. Along with her rhe (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Nicasio Urbina Ph.D. (Committee Member); Carlos Gutiérrez Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jorge Espinoza Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Latin American Literature

Master of Fine Arts (MFA), Bowling Green State University, 2017, Creative Writing/Poetry

The speaker in this collection is a continually evolving entity which is both aware of, connected to, and separate from the previous versions of themselves. In the first section, the speaker still needs to explore and spends a great deal of time wondering about what they are. The speaker eventually realizes that they are not the same as the members of their family, or possibly not even humanity as a whole. By the second section, the speaker has become aware of themselves, but still feels the need to explain or describe themselves to the reader, and sometimes even to the previous versions of themselves referred to as “she” and “you,” with “she” being the oldest or original version of the speaker. The speaker does not have much compassion for the lack of enlightenment in their previous counterparts in this section, but that begins to change by the third and final section. In the last section, the speaker has become fully aware of themselves and has developed a more mature and confident voice. Their wondering has disappeared, as has any lingering bitterness toward their previous selves. Instead, the speaker, while still viewing themselves as separate from the “she” and the “you,” speaks more directly to them in a more tender and understanding tone, as the speaker knows what it is they will have or have gone through to become the “I.” The collection as a whole deals with themes of birth, metamorphosis, the self, and what it means to be entirely other, however one might interpret the idea of otherness.

Committee: Larissa Szporluk (Advisor); Sharona Muir (Committee Member); Abigail Cloud (Committee Member) Subjects: Literature

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2016, Spanish and Portuguese

While indigenista films have been overwhelmingly understood as those that have an explicitly political message (tied to the Mexican revolution) about the plight of indigenous peoples, this dissertation contributes to the discussion of the representation of natives in Mexican cinema by adopting a broader definition of term indigenismo. Through an understanding of the term as the way in which the native has been imagined as Other for the purpose of reifying the nonnative national subject, this study analyzes a broader corpus of native-themed films from the 1910's through the 1960's, and considers the multiple discourses through which they have been presented on screen. Through social, historical and cultural contextualization, as well as detailed film analysis informed by film theory, the study proposes the saliency of the ethnographic discourse, the ubiquity of “whiteness,” and the centrality of spiritual Otherness in the representation of natives in Mexican cinema throughout the first half of the 20th century. By pointing to the variety of portrayals of indigeneity in the span of time that is associated with the postrevolutionary cultural and political climate, the study disrupts the idea that the representation of natives in cinema is clearly derivative of postrevolutionary indigensimo. Instead, the study points to the presence of contention and residual elements such as the veneration of “whiteness” and the championing of Catholicism, which suggest a presence of contradictory portrayals, and a lack of cultural consensus about the place of the native in the nation and the parameters of nonnative national identity. The study therefore has implications for histories of Mexican cinema, but in particular for Anglo-American film studies, which has tended to discuss race and cinema according to U.S. racial constructs and understandings.

Committee: Laura Podalsky (Advisor); Ignacio Corona (Committee Member); LaTorre Guisela (Committee Member); Martinez-Cruz Paloma (Committee Member) Subjects: Film Studies; Latin American Studies; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Modern Language; Modern Literature

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2014, Educational Leadership

Using Critical Race Theory as a conceptual foundation, this study examined the struggle and unique tensions encountered by African American males participating in Division I basketball in the United States. Particularly, it examines those tensions associated with the inequities these athletes experience as a result of eligibility requirements, their experience of otherness, and the lack of agency. This is a qualitative analysis that uses a template analysis. The primary research question is: How do Division I African American male intercollegiate basketball players narrate their university experience and what do those narratives reveal about their understanding of the material conditions of their labor? This question aims at understanding how the players understand their experiences at their university both on and off the basketball court, but it ended up being primarily interested in their experiences with their academic life. This dissertation also provides a brief history of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and covers the rules and regulations that apply to the student-athlete. The literature addressing black masculinity, "otherness," and persistence is also presented. Some of the main findings of this study were the African American male student athletes maintain complex and contradictory perceptions of self in the academic side of their experiences, reveal a fairly consistent agreement on the right for student athletes to receive some financial remuneration for all of the revenue they create, experienced both positive and negative moments related to being Black at a Predominantly White Institution including the complexity of interracial dating, but the central finding of the study is that while these young Black men have mostly positive memories of their college experiences, they found themselves having to subsume their academic ambitions to their basketball responsibilities.

Committee: Richard Quantz (Committee Chair) Subjects: African Americans; Educational Leadership; Sports Management

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2014, Film (Fine Arts)

This thesis explores surveillance cinema though a body of films that thematize the increasing presence of surveillance images in social life. Suggesting a shift from two dominant representational modes, dystopic and conspiratorial cinema, recent surveillance films normalize the practice, diffuse the technology's paranoiac connotation, and transcend the rhetoric that surveillance scenarios only target white men formerly a part of the surveillance apparatus. I argue that with new forms of the image, through cinema's figuration of the surveillance image, “othered” subjects appear as “to-be-surveilled”—targeted bodies due to the determinants of their gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, or class status. The films I discuss thus raise an important question relevant to contemporary surveillance theory: does cinema normalize forms of control or does it challenge these structures through a critique of the power relations found within them? As surveillance cinema integrates images of surveillance into its texts, it critiques the power disparities that exist between hegemonic disembodied surveillors and controlled bodies.

Committee: Ofer Eliaz (Committee Chair); Louis-Georges Schwartz (Committee Member); Thomas Vander Ven (Committee Member) Subjects: Film Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2013, English

The rhetoric of cultural identity generally goes in two potential directions: One a universal line that insists on an overall pattern of integration and harmony among all peoples regardless of their differences, and the other a line which suggests that various cultures are so specific and different that they will eventually enter into clash, violence and war. Drawing upon Derrida's concept of differance, I will point out that such rhetoric as examples of current political discourses fail to open the concept of cultural identity through redefining its relationship with otherness. This will be accompanied by poetry of Rumi and Whitman to suggest that their literary language through its non-dialectic characteristics is familiar with the problematic of identity and has the ability to form a cross-cultural dialogue. Sufism And Transcendentalism: A Poststructuralist Dialogue envisages the possibility of dialogue against the background of political conflict. It is a comparative study of Rumi and Whitman in which the parallelism of poetic style and content goes further to find common ground in challenging the conventional definitions of self and other.

Committee: Keith Tuma Dr. (Committee Chair) Subjects: American Literature; Comparative Literature; Ethics; International Relations; Islamic Studies; Literature; Middle Eastern Literature; Middle Eastern Studies; Near Eastern Studies; Peace Studies; Philosophy; Religion

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2001, Arts and Sciences : French

In my dissertation, I examine how marginality and identity differences are represented in five Francophone novels: La mere du printemps (1982) by Driss Chraibi, Laventure ambigue (1962) by Cheikh Hamidou Kane, Les soleils des independances (1970) by Ahmadou Kourouma, La repudiation (1969) by Rachid Boudjedra and L'homme rompu (1994) by Tahar Ben Jelloun. In these novels, the problematics of identity and marginalization are treated in ways that call for reformulation of the concept of culture as a homogenous entity. I analyze identity in these literary works by going beyond the homogenous cultural perspectives adopted by Claude Levi-Strauss in Tristes tropiques (1955), Tzvetan Todorov in Nous et les autres (1989) et Jemie Chinweizu in Toward the Decolonization of African Literature (1983). Using the hypothesis that internal conflicts and dialectical interrelationships are necessary factors of cultural transformation, I show how marginality is produced in the precolonial, colonial and postcolonial spaces. The ability or inability to overcome constraints of cultural purity will constitute the basis of my socio-historical analysis and I situate each novel within the problematics of going beyond the borders of one's cultural space. It is this transgression of limits that Homi Bhabha in The Location of Culture (1994) considers as a cultural performance founded on mutual contestations and a constantly changing identity. By basing my arguments on this innovative but conflictual idea of culture, I show how cultural dynamism is revealed by the capacity of the marginalized to overcome otherness by a principle of openness. But while Bhabha's The Location of Culture shows the plurality of cultural spaces, this plurality is problematized all the more in the novels I analyze in this dissertation. In La mere du printemps, L'aventure ambigue, Les soleils des independances, La repudiation, and L'homme rompu, my textual analysis reveal varying degrees of inability on the part of the m (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Michele Vialet (Advisor) Subjects:

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2005, Arts and Sciences : Spanish

This dissertation examines how otherness and marginality are articulated in three literary works: Reinaldo Arenas' Antes que anochezca (1992), Fernando Vallejo#8217;s La virgen de los sicarios (1994) and Paulo Lins' Cidade de Deus (1997). Furthermore, this study investigates whether the representation of subjects historically viewed as peripheral, both inside and outside the borders of the nation, perpetuates or undermines the conceptualization of the Latin American continental identity as “Other” in relation to dominant Eurocentric and North American perspectives. The choice of the texts of Arenas, Vallejo and Lins as paradigms of representation in the Latin American context is not fortuitous. Antes, La virgen and Cidade de Deus are works that underscore renewed perspectives on the significance of the nation inasmuch as they challenge the conventionality of historical discourses through the articulation of marginal subjectivities as prevailing accounts of reality. Arenas' autobiography constitutes a narrative in which the exilic Self subverts the hegemony of the Cuban socialist state by contesting history and its truth through the account of a homosexual and political dissident who witnesses and personally contributes to one of the most defining moments of the nation's past; Vallejo's representation of the formerly exiled intellectual in La virgen, in complicity with the sicariato class with which he associates himself, inscribes the marginal elements of Colombian society onto the present narrative of the nation; and Lins' re-imagination of the favelado space in Cidade de Deus dismantles the conventional perception of Brazil as a racial paradise by denouncing the poverty found in the slums of Rio de Janeiro as a social condition intrinsically tied to the country's racial “invisibility.”

Committee: Luciano Picanço (Advisor) Subjects: Literature, Latin American

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, 2011, Art History

This paper was written to accompany an art exhibition by the same title which was up in Trisolini Gallery from May 3rd to May 7th at Ohio University Baker Center. It details my reflections on the show itself, as well as my influences in its creation including a brief summation of the Steampunk movement. It also examines the ideas of collection, reclaiming Wonder as an approach to scientific pursuits, Otherness, nerd culture, and morbidity, as well as fairy tales and the idea of storytelling. It also includes numerous pictures of the exhibition itself and of some of my inspirations.

Committee: Julie Dummermuth (Advisor) Subjects: Fine Arts

Master of Fine Arts, The Ohio State University, 2010, Art

This work assesses and then expands on the notion of “embodiment” and its implication when working within robotic art, artificial life artworks, interactive and kinetic installations and performance. The result is a hybrid artistic practice where the viewer occupies a central role. More specifically, this paper explores on the notion of “Artificial Corporeality” as an artistic attempt to question the arguments for disembodiment throughout the cybernetic tradition. But also, this work explores and promotes a bodily and corporeal “inter-species” encounter, an attempt to avoid practical, rational, utilitarian, and calculated ways of interactivity. Yet, this paper presents a series of writings, statements, and descriptions of a series of works developed during the past two years while developing the MFA at The Ohio State University. A body of work that was born as a political proclamation for the encounter not just between a viewer and an artwork, but the encounter between the contemporary human being and “significant others.”

Committee: Ken Rinaldo (Advisor); Ann Hamilton (Committee Member); Alison Crocetta (Committee Member) Subjects: Fine Arts

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2008, Curriculum and Instruction Cultural Studies (Education)

While research literature on faculty of color in predominantly White U.S. academe is growing, very little exists on international faculty from sub-Saharan Africa. The research literature on faculty of color teaching in predominantly White U.S. academe is generally limited to the narratives and experiences of ethnic minorities of the U.S. The quest to qualitatively document the experiences and perspectives of faculty of color in predominantly White U.S. universities cannot be complete without capturing the experiences of sub-Saharan African professors whose presence in predominantly White U.S. universities is growing due to socioeconomic and political challenges in Africa. This study is a phenomenological inquiry into the experiences of sub-Saharan African professors teaching in a predominantly White university in the Midwest of the U.S. The rationale for the study is to gain understanding of the experiences and challenges of sub-Saharan African professors through their narratives. The study investigated the reasons for migrating to the U.S., classroom teaching experiences, experiences with students, other faculty members, and administrators; experiences with tenure, promotion and professional development; experiences with race and racism; experiences with the university academic culture, and coping mechanisms used to deal with challenges. The study revealed that factors such as political instability, better career opportunities, and personal reasons underpinned their reasons to migrate to the U.S. It also revealed that sub-Saharan African faculty had to put extra time and effort into their preparation towards teaching in order to prove themselves competent. The study also shows that sub-Saharan African faculty experienced occasional racist comments from students and complaints about their accent. The study found that while sub-Saharan African professors had congenial and friendly working and social relations with their White peers, they were unsuccessful in forging (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Francis E. Godwyll PhD (Committee Chair); Debra Henderson PhD (Committee Member); Dauda Abubakar PhD (Committee Member); Rosalie Romano PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Higher Education; Teaching

Doctor of Education, Miami University, 2011, Educational Leadership

This study discusses the history of education in Nigeria with emphasis on the need for a comprehensive special education program that will provide basic education for all individuals with disabilities in Nigeria. In Nigeria, as in many other underdeveloped countries, individuals that are defined as disabled are generally deprived of equal access to basic public education and other fundamental services that are guaranteed to their “non-disabled” counterpart. Due to cultural beliefs and social attitudes, an individual that is defined as “disabled” is treated as a social taboo associated with evil omens or bad luck. Consequently, individuals that are defined as disabled are excluded from upwardly mobile social and economic opportunities including access to educational pursuits with the consequence that, they face an uncertain future, a life of absolute poverty, deprivation and abuse. Cultural beliefs pertaining to individuals that are defined as disabled are further compounded by British colonial policy that failed to consider the education of individuals that are defined as disabled as a policy priority in the education of native people in Nigeria. Therefore, this study will apply Foucault's genealogical approach to history, and critical disability theory in education to analyze the impact of Nigerian cultural practices, the influence of Christianity and Islamic religion, and also British colonial policy on educational policy priorities in post-independence Nigeria. This study will show that the Nigerian educational system does not provide equal educational opportunity for individuals that are defined as “disabled”, resulting from the outcome of cultural practices, colonial and post-colonial policies that define individuals on the basis of whether they are “disabled” (unable) or “non-disabled” (able). In conclusion, this study will make recommendations about the way forward for Nigerian policy makers in order to encourage the need for the establishment of a non-discri (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dennis Carlson Ph.D. (Committee Chair) Subjects:

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2010, Mass Communication

This study examined the relationship dynamics in the films Twilight and New Moon. The study was founded on the principles of ideological analysis, which postulates that all cultural artifacts are reflections of society's ideals, norms and anxieties. To that effect, the study focused on the romantic relationship dynamics between the key characters in the films and how these relational dynamics relate to the anxieties and norms and values of the dominant culture. Additionally, the study examined the role of “Otherness” and non-normative relationships within the films. The study also looked at the point of view, or Gaze, in Twilight and New Moon. The study found that messages contained within these films expressed a desire to revert to traditional male-female relationships. The presence of a Female Gaze in the films was also supported. Finally, the study found that the films reflect society's generalized fear of the “Other.”

Committee: David Sholle PhD (Advisor); Ron Scott PhD (Committee Member); Kathleen Johnson PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2012, Popular Culture

In times of distress, the American man is provoked to act upon a narrative that is as old as the land on which he walks. It is a narrative that encompasses three essential elements: the hyper-masculinized hero, the helpless damsel in distress and the villain in the person of a Racial Other and that encourages man to act according to deeply rooted values, of honor, bravery and strength, against the threat. This myth however, supposes the removal of feminine agency which would threaten it, the rejection of all feminized aspects of society and the adoption of a misogynistic and nationalistic worldview. After the 9-11 attacks, this myth was called upon by a nation paralyzed with shock and fear. It rapidly caused a shift in public rhetoric and encouraged men to undertake heroic roles, while reconstructing the traditional femininity characterized by dependence and fragility. It identified a racial “other” which threatened femininity, the country, the American way of life itself and allowed men to act against them. Invisible, universal and timeless, the American myth continues to affect the everyday life and to influence the manner in which people think and act.

Committee: Kristen Rudisill PhD (Advisor); Marilyn Motz PhD (Committee Member); Jeff Brown PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: American Studies

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2009, Leadership Studies

This dissertation explored the relationships among three variables: meaning, moral reasoning, and diversity competencies. The relationships were examined to attempt explaining two central themes: professional citizenship and otherness leadership. A sampling of graduate students from business and education colleges at a Midwestern public institution was surveyed online with the Otherness Development Survey. The survey instrument had 104 items in four parts. Part one addressed meaning in life (as in spirituality) with ten items; part two had six managerial-based scenarios with several subsections to measure moral reasoning; and part three had 15 items measuring universal diversity competencies. The last part was a demographic survey.The results from the survey showed a low response rate, which imposed some limitations on the subsequent data analyses. The study limitations, including instrumentation and administration, are worth noting. However, the descriptive statistics and a limited inferential statistics yielded interesting results. Overall, the relationships among the main variables showed no statistical significance. But there were interesting relationships among the various subsections that were discussed. Practical applications of the present study focused on the discussions on such concepts as spirituality, morality, and diversity in both business and education. Importantly, the interrelationships of meaning, moral reasoning, and diversity competencies were discussed for pedagogical development in higher education. The interplay of these concepts was recommended for the creation of purpose, moral responsibilities, and altruism and constructive appreciation of otherness in a cultural heterogeneity among college graduates. Finally, further recommendations were discussed for adulthood literature, pedagogical studies, and scholarship on professionalism and otherness leadership. In particular, it is recommended that curricula in business and education should be hol (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Patrick Pauken (Advisor); Steve Cady (Committee Member); Roger Colcord (Committee Member); Mary Ellen Edwards (Committee Member); Judith Zimmerman (Committee Member) Subjects: Adult Education; Education; Higher Education; Management; Multicultural Education; School Administration; Teacher Education

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2012, Leadership and Change

This dissertation explores the various ways in which the multiple leaders portrayed in the science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica (2003-2009) navigate extreme conditions of continual change. In addition, the dissertation contains a discussion of the larger narrative themes of love, forgiveness, redemption, and embracing the Other as principles effective leaders must cultivate. Through an interpretation of this specific popular media text, a deeper emotional sensitivity to and understanding of leadership, positive and negative, during extreme crises is gained. Furthermore, the series serves as a vehicle through which viewers can reflect on and engage in their own self-awareness about issues surrounding leadership and reconsider personal paradigms based on the depiction presented in the narrative. The choice for using an interpretive hermeneutic method for this dissertation comes from the specific desire to understand the visual text of Battlestar Galactica in relation to leadership studies. The goal is neither to predict behaviors nor to examine an individual case against theory. My intent is to develop our further and deeper understanding of leadership in extremis, while questioning how the visual text may influence our perceptions of leadership theory and practice. The electronic version of this dissertation is at OhioLink ETD Center, www.ohiolink.edu/etd

Committee: Carolyn Kenny PhD (Committee Chair); Lize Booysen DBL (Committee Member); Holly Baumgartner PhD (Committee Member); Kristin Bezio PhD (Other) Subjects: Management; Mass Media; Motion Pictures; Organization Theory; Organizational Behavior; Personal Relationships; Religion; Social Structure; Spirituality