Theses and Dissertations from UMD
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
Browse
4 results
Search Results
Item INTEGRATED EDIBLE LANDSCAPES: CELEBRATING MULTICULTURALISM AT BROOKSIDE GARDENS(2024) Dirmeyer, Brandt; Ellis, Christopher; Plant Science and Landscape Architecture (PSLA); Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Cultural diversity is an integral part of twenty-first century societies. The planet is interconnected now more than ever. The effects of climate change are forcing people to leave their homes in search of better living conditions. When people immigrate to a new place, they take with them their experiences, their traditions, and their identities, including their preferred foods, but the raw ingredients that one is accustomed to may be difficult to access. One way in which public spaces can help individuals adapt to their new environment is by making a place feel familiar through integrated edible landscape designs. By growing culturally relevant edible plants in a public space, the feeling of being at home can be cultivated while at the same time increasing the availability of culturally relevant crops to foreign born persons dealing with food insecurity.Item MULTICULTURAL POLITICS AND NATIONAL BOUNDARY MAKING IN KOREA: Mapping the intersectional dimensions of nation, gender, class, and ethnicity in state policy and practice(2019) Yu, Sojin; Marsh, Kris; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation examines the conception and implementation of state multicultural policy to analyze how migrants are received and incorporated within South Korea, a newly emergent migrant receiving country in Asia. To this end, I conducted ethnographic research at two Centers established to enact governmental multicultural policy, focusing on the separate accounts and experiences of ground-level policy practitioners (Koreans) and targeted recipients (migrants) in relation to the policy implementation and its ‘real world’ effects. The results show the varied and conflicting perspectives of those involved, and how they are informed by the intersecting social constructs of nation, ethnicity, gender, family, and class. These intersectional workings and effects also contribute to the unequal social relations between Koreans and migrants, especially in shaping a particular national form of ‘racism’ against migrants, and helping to maintain the previously unchallenged formation of national identity in Korea. Three thematically arranged analysis chapters discuss specifically how these social processes serve to form and naturalize social hierarchies and powers in Korea, with each chapter examining a specific intersectional circumstance: The intersection of gender inequality and nationalism; the intersection of class and nation(ality); and, the emphasis of joint Korean nationality and ethnicity in the multicultural policy. Each chapter illustrates the predominance of nationalism, as the critical mechanism and rationale behind Korea’s contested multicultural politics, and the central axis to connect with other dimensions of power including gender, class, and ethnicity. The combined research outcomes reveal the complex ways in which the inter-group relations and hierarchies are organized, through the state policy, bureaucratic practice and individual agency.Item IN THE NAME OF CULTURE: THE POLITICS OF CELEBRATION IN THE MULTICULTURAL CIVIL SPHERE(2018) Richer, Zach; Fisher, Dana R; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)A common barrier to the civic integration of immigrant and minority groups is the suite of symbolic classifications that structure everyday relations in diverse societies and set standards for inclusion and exclusion in shared public spaces. Although the regulatory norms governing the civil sphere are increasingly understood to be constituent elements of social power, they are not frequently seen as targets of collective action. As they are held in private attitudes and expressed spontaneously in everyday conduct, these forms of symbolic power do not easily lend themselves to political solutions. What form might a contestation of symbolic exclusion take? This dissertation examines the strategy of celebratory civics pursued through an annual series of 23 free public cultural festivals organized throughout the year by ethnic community organizations in partnership with the city of Seattle. Participating groups ii describe the dominant civil sphere as a place where opportunities for public deliberation about ethnic minority issues are scarce and ineffective, while confrontational protests antagonize potential allies and produce negative associations with minority cultural groups. They are skeptical that traditional civic action targeting policymakers is adequate to addressing discriminatory practices where they are most intimately felt, in the everyday conduct of social life in diverse societies. Through positive emotional appeals directed towards unfamiliar audiences unlikely to engage with them in everyday life, festivals aim to establish “common ground” on which to displace ethnic and racial stereotypes and make viable alternative ways of affirming civic belonging. Based on interviews with ethnic community organizations, their municipal sponsors, and festival visitors, surveys demonstrating the audience profile and expectations for the event, and a year of ethnographic observation at planning meetings and public festivals, this dissertation explores the promise and limitations of a form of civic engagement that takes up positive emotions as both a tactic and the target of its efforts. I demonstrate that this style of collective action seeks to supply members of the dominant culture with the familiarity required not to see ethnic identity as a threat or a curiosity, such that ethnic minorities can feel comfortable conducting themselves in public spaces on other days of the year. This desire defines a multicultural civil sphere that cannot be secured through rights alone, but only through the erasure of symbolic boundaries preventing the viability of diverse cultural practices and different ways of asserting belonging in public space.Item A Celebration of Cultural Heritages(2007-05-21) Sawh, Rawle Dovendra; DuPuy, Karl F.G.; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The City of Brampton, Ontario is one of Canada's fastest growing and most diverse communities. Today, 40% of Brampton's population is comprised of emigrates from foreign countries. These diverse communities must co-exist if a truly multi-cultural society is to be achieved. This thesis is "committed to the preservation, development and celebration of the cultural heritages of the diverse ethnic communities of Brampton." 'Carabram,' an annual Multi-Cultural Festival, has long been a Brampton tradition. However, currently Carabram has neither a permanent infrastructure nor a central location for its celebration. This thesis promotes that there be a unifying place for this celebration of diversity. Visitors will gain a better understanding of cultural differences and learn to appreciate these differences. It is a place where various cultures can co-exist and a place where cultural individualism is encouraged. Its main objective is to create an exhibition arena that celebrates Brampton's diversity.