College of Arts & Humanities
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/1611
The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations.
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Item Moving Milk: Public Health, Milk Transportation, and Modal Choices in Baltimore, 1840-1940(2018) McDonald, James Dixon; Zeller, Thomas; History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This thesis studies the factors leading to the modal shift from rail to road in Baltimore’s farm to city milk transportation in the 1920s. It draws on histories of transportation, public health, food, and business to maintain that progressive public health regulation, driven by calls for reform of the milk supply, created an oligopoly for which trucks better suited vertical integration goals. This research highlights the relevance of public health policy to the study of transportation regulation and modal competition. Secondarily, this thesis establishes railroads as a primary actor in the 19th century rise in urban milk consumption.Item Forum Theatre as Theatre for Development in East Africa(2017) Warheit, Emily Jane; Frederik, Laurie; Theatre; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Theatre for development (TfD) includes a variety of performance practices that aim to communicate or foster dialogue in a development context. Forum Theatre, developed by Brazilian Director Augusto Boal as part of his Theatre of the Oppressed movement has become one of the most widely used forms in TfD. This dissertation looks at the use of Forum Theatre specifically in public health-focused programs funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Uganda and Kenya. The appeal of Forum Theatre for addressing development issues stems from its participatory nature, particularly as it aligns with current trends towards community involvement in development. However, power imbalances inherent in foreign-funded projects, public health communication theories modeled after advertising, and the realities of life- and livelihood-threatening conditions on the ground all work against the liberatory potential of the form. The focus of Forum Theatre is on identifying and combatting oppression; in developing communities, what oppressions can theatre projects initiated from the top down by USAID actually address in practice? This study is a multi-sited exploration of the organizations and individuals involved in the funding, planning, and executing of two forum theatre projects promoting global public health goals. Through interviews of stakeholders and organization publications including training manuals and project reports, I examine how the organizations involved implement, evaluate, and justify the effectiveness of the use of theatre in their work. Despite the popularity of theatre for development in Sub-Saharan Africa, many development professionals, particularly in the US, have limited knowledge of how to use theatre in their programs. This study has the potential to improve the understanding of the use of Forum Theatre for both development professionals and theatre artists, allowing for more effective application. It will also place theatre for development in its context in the complicated web of the development industry, illuminating how TfD projects are planned and funded for an audience of theatre scholars and practitioners.Item Health, Multiculturalism and Social Integration(2013) Na, Ling; Hample, Dale; Communication; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This project was inspired by Durkheim's (1897, 1951) pioneering theory of social integration and its health benefits, as well as relatively more contemporary work on contact hypothesis by Allport (1951) and intercultural communication theory by Kim (2001). Durkheim proposed that the underlying cause of suicide was lack of social integration. More recent research also suggested that social integration had health benefits, such as reduced mortality and morbidity, better mental health and wellbeing. What is often missing from this picture is the role of network homophily and possible psychological pathways in the relationship between social integration and health. This study explored social integration, health outcomes, and psychological wellbeing of different groups in Canada using the Canadian General Social Survey 2008, tested the potential predictors of ethnic homophily with multilevel modeling and regression analysis based on Allport's contact hypothesis, examined how ethnic homophily and racial diversity in the neighborhood affected individuals psychologically, and how social integration affected health outcomes (physical health, mental health, and psychological wellbeing) via psychological pathways (personal control, sense of belonging and generalized trust) for each group of Canadians using structural equation modeling. The study found that visible minority immigrants were least socially integrated, and their health outcomes remained at a comparable level as the native-born whites. The Aboriginal Peoples reported poorest physical health, mental health, and psychological wellbeing and lowest level of income and education achievement. They were however integrated at a comparable level as the native-born Whites. Compared to visible minorities, whether they were immigrants or not, Aboriginal Peoples had more ethnically and linguistically homophilous social networks. Living in diverse neighborhoods decreased the sense of belonging felt by the native-born Whites, whereas having less homophilous networks increased the generalized trust of white immigrant and increased the sense of belonging felt by visible minority immigrants. The study also showed social integration had positive impacts on health outcomes across five groups, even though not all effects were significant. When a total effect of a social integration variable on a health outcome variable was significant, it was very likely to be mediated by a psychological pathway. Limitations of the study were discussed as well as its theoretical and policy implications.Item Dirty Bodies: Filth and Marginal Characters in Asian American Literature(2008-06-01) Dokko, Misun; Chuh, Kandice; English Language and Literature; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation's examination of Asianness and impurity through a close reading of Asian American literary works has illuminated a trajectory of what I see as a "Yellow Peril" discourse that registers in and shapes U.S.-based health and hygiene discourses. Understanding the racialization of public health in light of minor character analysis has facilitated my reflection on the ideologies and practices of progress and marginalization here. I have intended each chapter to take seriously the function of profoundly abject figures, as symbolized by their narrative minority and dirtiness, in animating class and plot advancement. Thus, the identification of "dirty bodies" and the study of both their historical significance and narratological functions constitute crucial threads that stitch together the chapters of the dissertation. Analyzing impurity and minor characters vis-à-vis Asian American literature offers more than an opportunity for historical commentary and exegeses of plot dynamics. Indeed, a close reading of dirty bodies invites a reassessment of civil rights-based ideologies of success. This represents a second connective thread that weaves my chapters together. Though I question such success when it allows for the subjugation of others, I recognize its practical value, particularly in my last chapter. The aim throughout this project has been not to nominate one formula of ethical responsibility over another but instead has been to consider various attempts at ethical recognition of marginal subjects. Literary, or idealized, attempts at such recognition remind us that no single mode of resistance is adequate to the task of redressing material inequities, and that perhaps the only ethical approach to which we ought hold fast is one that insists on critical acknowledgement of such imperfections. By situating the principal literary texts of the dissertation within Asian American studies' debates, I mean also to contribute to the field's current interests in understanding its pasts, presents, and the possibilities for its futures. Specifically, my chapters build on and analyze efforts: to incorporate the field's peripheral groups into the dominant field imaginary; to contend with the under-examined enthusiasm for "resistance"; to forge historical and theoretical grounds for field coherence; and to engage critique of modern plot dynamics.