abstract: The Burning Man Festival, a free-spirited yet highly sophisticated social experiment celebrating "radical self expression and radical self reliance" is well-known for its large-scale and highly interactive public art installations. For twenty-five years, Burners (as festival participants are called) have been creating and displaying amazing works of art for the annual event, which currently takes place in Nevada's Black Rock Desert. In the desert, Burners build a temporary city, appropriate the open space to serve as their "tabula rasa" or "blank canvas," and unleash their creative potential in the name of "active participation" and social civility. In the process, they produce public art on a scale unprecedented in United States history. This dissertation, a visual and narrative ethnography, explores the layers of aesthetic and social meanings Burners associate with public art. Told in narrative form, this project utilizes "in situ" field notes, photographic field notes, rhetorical analyses of art installations, thematic analysis of Burner storytelling, and writing as a method of inquiry as means for investigating and understanding more fully the ways Burners create, display, and consume public art. Findings for this project indicate Burners value public art beyond its material presentation. Preparing for, building, celebrating, and experiencing aesthetic transformation through the engagement of public art all are viewed as valuable"art" experiences at Burning Man. Working in tandem, these experiences also produce profound feelings of connection and collaboration in the community, suggesting Burning Man's methods for producing public art could serve as model to follow, or points for reflection, for other groups wishing to use public art and other forms of material expression to bring their members closer together. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Communication 2010

abstract: While numerous studies have examined the nature of masculinity, scholars seldom seek to determine the meaning of manhood or to explore which types of individuals are culturally permitted to call themselves men. One scholarly approach suggests that the meaning of a cultural category can best be illuminated through examining marginalized examples within that category. Based on this assumption, this project illuminates cultural understandings of manhood in the United States by examining the experience of men within two marginalized categories--gay and transsexual--who have often found themselves fighting for the right to call themselves men at a time when hegemonic assumptions about manhood have required that one had been designated male at birth, claims a heterosexual orientation, and exhibits characteristics that are stereotypically masculine. For gay men who were born male, social marginalization could result from one's gay orientation as well as from a perceived lack of masculine traits. For some transsexual gay men, all three of the traditional markers of manhood may be absent or deemed insufficient. This scenario calls into question what it is that all men have in common if the concept of manhood is to be associated with any stable definition. Within rhetorical analysis, the concept of textual fragmentation suggests that a rhetorical critic performs an analysis of a text by examining dense textual fragments; the critic's audience members then produce what they perceive to be a finished discourse in their own minds. Along these lines, this project illuminates the concept of manhood by examining dense textual fragments found within mass media representations and personal narratives, and concludes that one's manhood is determined based on the degree to which one identifies with others who call themselves men. Therefore, manhood can best be framed, not as a specific identity with a stable definition, but as a body of intersecting identifications specific to a particular cultural location and time period. As such, it is linked to cultural systems of power and oppression, illustrating that the claim to manhood as an identity is a rhetorical act that is not free from controversy. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Communication 2012

An emerging body of research on signaling theory applies evolutionary psychology to explain the purpose of a signaler's use of a luxury brand. However, in response to visible signals displayed by an unknown woman's use of a luxury brand, the male receivers' decoding (perceptions) and reactions (counter-signals) on the signals are ignored in previous research. This research has the overarching objective of filling this research gap through the lens of evolutionary psychology. Through a series of experiments, it was found that an unknown woman using a luxury (vs. non-luxury) brand results in men believing that she is more likely to be in a committed relationship. Also, there is a moderating effect of an unknown woman's overall physical attractiveness on the effect of her use of a luxury (vs. non-luxury) brand on men's intentions to attract her; and men's attracting intentions mediate the moderating effect of an unknown woman's overall physical attractiveness on the effect of her use of a luxury (vs. non-luxury) brand on men's intentions to display material resources or physical fitness. These research findings not only offer theoretical contributions to signaling theory, but also generate managerial implications and future research directions.

This dissertation analyzes the Matthean “Son of Man” sayings, paying particular attention to their function in the development of conflict and in the anticipation of conflict resolution. The major premise is that the Son of Man is described in Mt as being at the center of the formative conflict that both forced the split between “this generation” of unbelieving Jews and the Matthean community and initiated the community’s Gentile-inclusive mission. According to Matthew, the Son of Man is not engaged in aimless conflict; he confronts and destroys his enemies for the sake of promoting his universal reign and establishing his Church, i.e., the “sons of the kingdom” (13.38), among the nations (cf. OG Dan 7.14; 24.14; 28.18-20). It is his authority over the kingdom of God, given subsequent to and consequent to the judgment of God against “this generation” in 70 CE, that enables the global mission of the disciples, provides the raison d’être for their mission, and assures the Christian community that the Son of Man will return at the eschaton to bring a final end to conflict. A corollary question that will be investigated is what Jesus’ idiomatic self-designation meant to Matthew and his community. The first chapter observes that despite the enormous literary footprint of the “Son of Man” debate, their is a notable lack of adequate studies concerning the Matthean “Son of Man” concept. What literature exists is surveyed, common trends in the debate are analyzed, and a statement of the thesis is provided. Based on the successes and failures of previous studies, it is suggested in the second chapter that the most promising method by which to examine the Matthean “Son of Man” concept is composition-critical and narrative-sensitive. This provides a rational for examining the Matthean “Son of Man” sayings in relation to the gospel’s structure and plot, both of which are shown to have been shaped by the theme of conflict. Finally, interpretive issues such as synoptic relationships, composition date, authorship, provenance, and the status of Matthew’s community are discussed. Chapters Three and Four examine the “Son of Man” sayings in Matthew 8-13 and 16-26 respectively to determine how each saying contributes to the evolving Matthean “Son of Man” concept and the unfolding conflict between Jesus and his “sons” and Satan and his “sons” (cf. 13.37-39). It is shown that the “Son of Man” sayings are not a heterogeneous mixture of “earthly,” “suffering,” and “future” statements that simply concern the life and ministry of Jesus. Matthean redaction has woven the “Son of Man” sayings into a grand tapestry of meaning, sewn into the conflict that precipitated the split of the Matthean community from “this wicked and adulterous generation.” It is shown that the advancement of conflict is matched by the resolution of conflict. This resolution occurs in two stages. According to Matthew, God began to resolve the conflict with “this generation” in 70 CE, whence he destroyed Jerusalem and bestowed upon the Son of Man universal dominion and an everlasting kingdom. The Son of Man’s empowerment enables him to preside over the Eschatological Assize, consequently fulfilling the predictions of end-times reprisal given to “this generation” (cf. 11.20-24; 12.39-42) and bringing a permanent end to conflict. Chapter Five examines the allusion to Old Greek Dan 7.13-14 in 28.18-20 and its connection to the commissioning of the disciples. It is suggested that “all authority in heaven and on earth” is not obtained through a supposed proleptic experience of the Parousia in Jesus’ resurrection or death, or simply by means of his son-ship to the Father. Rather, the Son of Man’s universal sovereignty, by which the Matthean community is empowered to “make disciples of all nations,” was received from the Ancient of Days after the Temple’s ruination in 70 CE. That is, the exaltation of the Son of Man, which is physically signaled by the destruction of Herod’s Temple, initiated and provided justification for the Matthean community’s schism from “this generation” and their mission to the Gentiles. Additionally, the divine empowerment of the Son of Man grounded the community’s eschatological hope for conflict resolution. This chapter ends with a discussion of how this theory impacts one’s understanding of Matthean christology, missiology, and salvation-history. The final chapter summarizes the preceding evidence, details the contributions of this dissertation, and concludes that for Matthew “Son of Man” is more than a mere signal word for speech about Jesus’ death, resurrection, and exaltation. “Son of Man” is a self-designation employed by Jesus that Matthew has interpreted as a title referring to Jesus’ office as the exalted human-like figure of Old Greek Dan 7. Like the enigmatic “man” of Daniel’s night-vision, the Son of Man is the representative of the elect who remains with his community “until the end of the age” (28.20).

This master thesis deals with theodicy and evil in this world created by good God. The aim of this thesis is to introduce, present and compare different perspectives on God, evil and theodicy. These are based on selected authors, who dealt with these issues, and their publications such as the book of Job in the Old Testament, Theodicy by G. W. Leibniz, Theodicy by C. Tresmontant, and Drama of ages by the prophetess Ellen G. White. The thesis is divided into six main chapters. The first chapter focuses on terminology; the following four chapters deal with the mentioned authors analyzing their works and views on God, evil and theodicy. The sixth chapter focuses on a comparison to evaluate the findings and learn in which aspects they agree or disagree with each other regarding the views on God, evil and theodicy.

This Master Thesis called Sedící muž (Sitting Man) consists of two parts: theoretical and practical. Theoretical part deals with the color from the various points of view from aspects of art and aesthetics, physics and optics and of physiology and psychology. The aim of the Practical part is to make a set of paintings depicting a sitting man by using different painting techniques, and by using the knowledge gained from the theoretical part. The main source of inspiration for the creation of the paintings is selected artists who have dealt with figural motif.

Chapter 9, interpreted in terms of its macro-micro structure, fits into the overall literary and theological framework of the Book of Signs. The controversy between Jesus and the Jewish leaders depicted in chapters 7-10 is taken up by Chapter 9 in a particular manner. This study employs the socio-rhetorical perspective to critically investigate the notion of discipleship. It differs from previous studies as they were undertaken from the historical, socio-scientific and narrative perspectives, and Robbins' sociorhetorical methodology is applied to the Chapter 9 in order to dissect the notion of discipleship as a theological problem. In Chapter 9, the blind man emerges as the paradigm of the disciple as he exemplifies the principle of John 8.12. The `Jews', concerned with their need both for self-definition and the survival of Judaism, attempt to contain the growth of Christianity. The conflict is conceived as a `conflict between darkness and light' and the healed man emerges as a hero of the community. His triumph over darkness contrasts him with the Pharisees who misguidedly follow the way of darkness and reject God's self-revelation. To summarize, by applying for the first time a multidimensional and comprehensive approach to John 9, three important characteristics of discipleship in the Fourth Gospel emerge: (1) it is not just simple enthusiasm and zeal, but rather a firm commitment, and strong and courageous determination to bear witness based upon an experience of the divine. Disciples are required to maintain their readiness for struggles, even death, for the sake of their faith; (2) discipleship is conceived as redefining the believer's covenant relationship with God which takes place through Jesus' identity and work. Therefore, the notion of `disciples of Moses' is no longer defensible; (3) discipleship is nothing less than a `discipleship into light' since it implies a duty to plead everywhere and always the cause of the Light in the sphere of darkness and in the world dominated by many kinds of ideologies (religious, cultural, political, etc.). The disciple must be prepared to be marginalized, not only by the dominant society, but also by his/her own family and familiar world. / NEW TESTAMENT / DTH (NEW TESTAMENT)

O tema da dissertação é a noção de “Homem Novo” no discurso educacional angolano. Trata-se de uma análise discursiva sobre documentos da Educação em Angola, em especial sobre a LBSE – Lei de Bases do Sistema de Educação 13/01 – e documentos relacionados. O foco do trabalho está na trama complexa de discursos que prometem e mesmo produzem um sujeito da educação, aqui tratado como “homem novo”, no interior do currículo. O Homem Novo é apresentado como o sujeito sobre o qual recaem as ideias de desenvolvimento, transformação e futuro. Desenvolve-se este estudo a partir de vários autores angolanos (ANDRÉ, 2004; PINTO, 2013; GONÇALVES, 2001) que tratam do tema, relativo ao processo de formação do homem novo, assim como autores estrangeiros (FOUCAULT, 1997; HALL, 1992) que pensam a respeito da constituição do sujeito, de modo geral. A pesquisa está ancorada no pensamento foucaultiano para compreender como o perfil e as características do sujeito desejado pela LBSE se constituem, juntamente com o documento curricular do Ensino Primário, de forma a sustentar o aparecimento do homem novo, por meio dos discursos econômicos, culturais e da alfabetização como verdade. A pesquisa empírica fundamenta-se na análise documental dos materiais que permitem percorrer os desdobramentos da LBSE. Ademais, o processo que constitui o homem novo na proposta curricular do sistema educativo, se trama nas práticas discursivas sobre cultura, alfabetização e econômia. / The theme of this dissertation is the notion of “New Man” in the Angolan educational discourse. This is a discursive analysis on documents of Education in Angola, in particular, on the LBSE (in Portuguese) ‒ Basic Education System Law 13/01 ‒ and related documents. The focus of the dissertation lies in the complex web of discourses that promise and even produce a subject of education, here treated as a “new man” within the curriculum. The New Man is presented as the subject on which the ideas of development, transformation and future fall. This study is based on a number of Angolan authors (ANDRÉ, 2004; PINTO, 2013; GONÇALVES, 2001), who deal with the issue of the formation of the new man, as well as foreign authors (FOUCAULT, 1997; HALL, 1992), who think about the constitution of the subject, in general. The research is anchored in Foucauldian thinking to understand how the profile and characteristics of the individual desired by the LBSE, together with the curricular document of Primary Education, are constituted in order to sustain the appearance of the new man through the economic, cultural and literacy discourses as truth. The empirical research is based on the documentary analysis of the materials that allow to follow the unfolding of the LBSE. In addition, the process that constitutes the new man in the curricular proposal of the educational system, is plotted in the discursive practices on culture, literacy and economy.

Esta dissertação versa sobre a comunicação. Para tanto, partimos da consideração do fenômeno da comunicação no campo da linguística, através dos aportes de Ferdinand de Saussure, Émile Benveniste e Roman Jakobson. No entanto, como tal fenômeno extrapola o terreno da linguística, buscou-se as contribuições de Bronislaw Malinowski, no campo da antropologia, e de Dany-Robert Dufour, de Adriana Cavarero e de Giorgio Agamben, no campo da filosofia. Esse percurso, que parte da pergunta sobre o lugar da comunicação nos estudos sobre a língua, acaba por colocar foco no lugar da comunicação na vida do homem, homem enquanto produtor e efeito de sentidos. / This dissertation aims at talking about communication. In order to do this, we started by considering the communication phenomenon within the field of linguistics, reading Ferdinand de Saussure, Émile Benveniste and Roman Jakobson. Nevertheless, as this phenomenon surpasses the field of linguistics, we have searched for the contributions of Bronislaw Malinowski, in the anthropological field, and Dany-Robert Dufour, Adriana Cavarero, and Giorgio Agamben, in the field of philosophy. This course, which originates from the question about the place communication has in the studies of language, ends up focusing on the place communication has in our lives, the lives of men as producer and effect of senses.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:26:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2007-12-05Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:13:45Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 melo_cs_me_assis.pdf: 772808 bytes, checksum: 15be4de8b0251cbc544b635c498cb712 (MD5) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / O caipira desde os idos do século XIX foi amplamente representado sob formas diversas nas artes. Neste trabalho apresentaremos as representações da personagem caipira presentes num variado número de textos teatrais encenados na cidade de São Paulo, no período compreendido grosso modo pela Primeira República. Ingênuo, incivilizado, portador de uma linguagem diferenciada, são algumas das características dessa personagem; porém, a sua faceta de espertalhão, embromador, também se faz presente. Muitas vezes, é desse modo contraditório que o caipira aparece nessa produção teatral, como também eram contraditórios os desejos dos autores que o compunham. Seja na roça, no sertão ou na cidade o caipira traz à tona os impasses e dilemas de parte da elite letrada brasileira num período de construção da identidade nacional da jovem República. Analisaremos também, sumariamente, como algumas peças teatrais que trazem o caipira em suas tramas foram caracterizadas sob a designação de “teatro regionalista” em importantes obras da historiografia teatral brasileira. / The backwoods man since the end of nineteenth century was widely explored under a lot of ways in the arts. In this work, we will present the representations of backwoods man character in the great number of dramatic texts have played in São Paulo city, during the period between 1900 and 1930. Ingenuous, uncivilized, owner of a different speech, are some of characteristics of this character; however, the backwoods man was too smart and clever. Many times, this contradictory way was utilized to present these character, moreover, were contradictories the desires of their writers. As much in the roça or sertão, as in the city the backwoods man brought to the present the doubts and dilemmas of part of intellectual Brazilian elite during the period of identification construction in 1910’s and 1920’s. We will analyses, also, suminly up, lilke some plays which brought the backwoods man in scene, were classified under the designation of “regionalista” in important works of the brazilian theatrical historiography.