JBC Commons (New College of Florida)
Not a member yet
9773 research outputs found
Sort by
From the Kitchen to the Dining Room: Domestic Labor in the Second-Wave Feminist Installations Womanhouse and A Woman’s Place
No full textWomanhouse(1972) and A Woman’s Place(1974) are examples of collaborative installations that examine feminist issues in settings associated with domesticity. In this thesis, I focus on spaces within these installations that foreground and subvert the cultural and social conceptions of the image and role of the housewife through an emphasis on her laboring body. By including various representations and traces of the body, each of these installations points out the physical nature of performing housework, and relates that to the process of performing the gendered role of the housewife. I first examine the kitchen and dining room from Womanhouse, where the process of performing the role of the housewife is linked to the process of food preparation, and the sense of alienation that comes from the cultural expectations put on the housewife and her body. Next, I examine A Woman’s Place, an installation that was heavily influenced by Womanhouse, but reflects the ideas of the women’s movement in the U.K. Located in the kitchen area of the overall installation, Kate Walker’s Death of a Housewife similarly foregrounds the body to show the physically exhausting and destructive effects of housework, while simultaneously removing any indication that housework is a productive process. In both of these works, housework is not portrayed as something that is intrinsically linked with one’s gender identity, rather, it is a series of acts that are somewhat unnatural: a performance, much like gender. A woman is not born a housewife; it is a role she learns to perform through socialization and gender expectations. Finally, I analyze how these installations fit into a larger narrative of feminist art, the lasting legacy of second-wave feminism, and the issue of domestic labor as it relates to contemporary feminism
CHARACTERISTICS OF WILD FLORIDA MANATEE (TRICHECHUS MANATUS LATIROSTRIS) VOCALIZATIONS IN DIFFERENT SIZED GROUPS
No full textFlorida manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris) are semi-social animals that are most often found in groups. They produce generally tonal, short vocalizations that vary in structure and temporal characteristics based on age, sex, and activity. In this study, the frequency and temporal characteristics of Florida manatee vocalizations found alone or in groups of various sizes were compared. These vocalizations were recorded via digital acoustic tags deployed on wild manatees in Florida. Eleven tagged manatees and nearby manatee conspecifics were recorded in the southwest region of Florida. High-quality vocalizations (n = 225) that were considered ‘clean’ with a minimum signal-to-noise ratio of ≥ 3 dB were characterized. Results showed that duration, fundamental frequency, and maximum frequency (of the fundamental band) were all negatively correlated with group size. There were more nonlinear elements in vocalizations when manatees were in a group than when they were alone. These results suggest that manatees can modify their vocal parameters in different sized groups. These findings expand our understanding of Florida manatee vocal behavior and factors that influence it
“DEFENDING THE ‘SERVANT OF SATAN’: RELIGIO-RACIAL AND GENDERED OTHERS IN WITCH TRIALS FICTION”
No full textThis thesis examines the ways in which religion, race, and gender lead to witchcraft accusations in the Witch Trial fictions of contemporary authors Maryse Condé, Alicia Gaspar de Alba, and Celia Rees. The Puritans of the historic Salem Witch Trials constructed an ideal Puritan as it best fit their rigid social and doctrinal expectations, and this excluded religio-racial and gendered Others, making these individuals more susceptible to witchcraft accusations. The protagonists in Gaspar de Alba’s Calligraphy of the Witch and Condé’s I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem have differing ethnic identities and religious practices from the Puritans in the novels; the Puritans’ misinformation regarding these identities and practices causes them to denounce protagonists Concepción and Tituba as witches. In Rees’s Witch Child and Condé’s I, Tituba, the protagonists challenge Puritan strictures placed on women’s knowledge and actions, which complicates the Puritan gender hierarchy. By crafting fictions that implicitly critique the Othering of marginalized groups, these three authors provide a lens through which to examine present-day racial and gender oppression
THE IMPACT OF THE GLOBAL GAG RULE ON COLLABORATION AMONG FOREIGN NGOS IN REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
No full textThe Global Gag Rule, originally titled the Mexico City Policy, makes foreign NGOs ineligible to receive USAID funding if they provide abortion procedures, advocate for less restrictive abortion policies within their own country, bring up abortion as a viable option to their patients, or collaborate with organizations that do any of those activities. Under its most recent iteration the policy places those conditions on approximately $12 billion in foreign aid funding, leaving millions of women without access to health care services. Collaboration is often used to improve the quality of health care, but health care providers have stated that the Global Gag Rule leads to decreases in collaboration among foreign NGOs. This study seeks to better understand the impact the Global Gag Rule has on collaboration between foreign NGOs. I attempt to do so by analyzing survey data from representatives of foreign NGOs regarding their organizations’ collaborative practices. I then use semi-structured interviews with representatives of foreign NGOs to better understand existing collaborative practices and limitations. My findings are limited by small sample sizes, but there is some evidence to suggest that the Global Gag Rule has negative impacts on women’s health and NGO collaboration outside the U.S
Breaking Earth: A Musical Adaptation of N.K. Jemisin’s Groundbreaking Novel, The Fifth Season, as a Video Game Soundtrack.
No full textFor my thesis I have created a portfolio of music adapting N.K. Jemisin’s Hugo Award winning novel, The Fifth Season. I introduce my compositional work through a ludomusicological approach to musical worldbuilding and composition informed by postcolonial theory, trauma theory, and narratology. My main goals in this writing are to showcase the incredible literature of N.K. Jemisin, an author of speculative fiction who shifted a field too often centered on white male power fantasies forward within her work which makes space for postcolonial theories, queer characters and relationships, and the trauma of marginalization. I also aim to elucidate my compositional choices and reasons for adapting this novel into a video game soundtrack. In service to that goal, I highlight why video games offer unique opportunities for engagement with music and narratives that deconstruct systems of oppression
AN ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO SOME OF THE NEUROSCIENCE OF POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER
No full textMost beings who live on earth will at some point experience stress that is potentially traumatic. Some humans will experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)’s persistent impacts on their neural functioning which may disrupt aspects of their cognitive, physical, and social abilities. This work explores some of what the field of neuroscience currently understands about the systems and processes that underlie the development, symptomatology, and theories of healing of post-traumatic stress disorder. Chapter one is centered around how the sensory system informs the stress response, and introduces key brain regions - namely the amygdala, prefrontal cortex, hippocampus - and concepts such as neurotransmission. The second chapter defines trauma, touches on factors that influence propensity toward post-traumatic stress, and describes the neurobiology underlying PTSD symptoms. Pharmaceutical and plant-based treatments, various therapy styles, coping mechanisms, and active stress-cycle interventions are discussed through a neuroscientific lens in the third and final chapter. The author’s original illustrations are incorporated throughout the work, with the hopes to bring a greater level of accessibility to the diverse community impacted by the complex and influential field of trauma research
METABOLOMIC ANALYSIS OF HONEY BEE (Apis mellifera L.) RESPONSE TO GLYPHOSATE EXPOSURE
No full textGlyphosate (GLY) is among the world’s most commonly used herbicides in agriculture and weed control. In the past decade, research has come forth suggesting that agrochemical use could have unintended consequences for non-target organisms, such as the honey bee (Apis mellifera), earth’s most prominent insect pollinator. The present study tested whether oral exposure to a environmentally realistic concentration (7.12 mg/L) of GLY affects the regulation of honey bee metabolites in a laboratory setting. I performed an experiment in which honey bees were fed sugar solution containing GLY over the course of ten days, with a control group receiving pure sucrose solution. At days 2, 5, and 10, bees were euthanized and their hemolymph was collected for 1H NMR analysis. I found that several metabolites, mainly belonging to the essential amino acid group, were notably downregulated in bees treated with GLY on days 2 and 10. The results of this study demonstrate that sublethal concentrations of GLY have an adverse effect on the regulation of essential metabolites related to honey bee development and fitness
GROUP DELIVERY IOS APP
No full textThis thesis project is an iOS mobile application for group grocery delivery orders. The goal of this application is to take advantage of grouping the orders based on the customers location in order to reduce the delivering fees. The minimal viable product (MVP) that was developed includes two screens. The first screen allows the user to pick a grocery store and monitor the progress of the group order. The second screen is to shop from the chosen store and see a real time change in the group order progress. A user testing was dones on the MVP to test the app features usability and evaluate its value to the user. There is a business analysis for the application idea to discuss the factors that affects what makes the application profitable
BROKE DOWN AND BROKE: VIEWS FROM THE PASSENGER SEAT OF A CHEVY G20
No full textBroke Down and Broke narrates a sporadic West bound road trip through a series of landscape paintings that foreground the wild and absurd ways humans and nature interact. As a concept, the road trip is a continuation of romantic sentiments concerning nature that were popularized by 19th-century American landscape painting. The representation of humans in the landscape was carefully staged to align with a rhetoric of nation building anchored in American exceptionalism, resulting in distilled visions of nature that continue to influence modern values. Broke Down and Broke subverts landscape traditions and highlights the absurd, resulting in a distinct representation of the ways humans and nature interact in sometimes hazardous, and sometimes foolish, but always delightful ways
UNILINEAL EVOLUTION ON DISPLAY: THREE CASE STUDIES ON BRITISH MUSEUM DISPLAY
No full textThe British Museum has displayed a majority of non-British artifacts since its inception in 1753. This thesis explores the messages implied in the way the British Museum displayed non-European artifacts in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Specifically, this thesis argues that the British Museum\u27s display of artifacts from non- European cultures reflected the theory of unilineal evolution. This argument is expanded on through three case studies on the display of three specific non-European collections in the museum: the Benin Bronzes, the Amaravati Marbles, and the Rosetta Stone. Through the use of British Museum guide books and newspaper articles from The Illustrated London News, this thesis reconstructs the past display of the three collections. Additionally, the display of each collection is viewed within the contexts of the different opinions about non-European civilizations that were present among multiple groups of Britons in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This thesis therefore aims to recognize part of the imperialistic and problematic foundations of the British Museum