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The conception of British West Indian societies as structured into a hierarchy based on skin color is firmly embedded in the scholarly literature and the popular mind, as is the assumption that the free colored became the "brown middle class." Using a wide variety of archival documents, as well as a series of family histories, this study argues that these assumptions both misinterpret the relation between class and skin color, and obscure the changing nature and membership of each class. It traces the emergence of two middle classes in Antigua, the first of which developed after emancipation in 1834 and lasted until the mid-1890s, and the second of which developed in the late nineteenth century and lasted until the arrival of the U.S. armed forces to build a base in 1940. Part 1, "Sugar and Empire," discusses the political economy of sugar and the planter class that controlled it as both developed from colonization until the late 1890s. It outlines the problems of sugar production and labor control, which culminated in a major economic, political, and social crisis in the mid-1890s, and describes the negotiations that led to the arrival of outside capital to take control of the sugar industry. Part 2, "The Class Called Coloured, 1834-1900," begins with a discussion of the free colored in Antigua and then uses a sample of families to trace the emergence and decline of the "first" middle class, which had its roots in the free colored population. Part 3, "Arrivance, 1900-1940," turns to an analysis of the "second" middle class, tracing a sample of families from their roots in the nineteenth century to their ascent into the middle class in the beginning of the twentieth. It describes their education, their economic and occupational roles, their politics, and their social life. It ends with a discussion of the demise of this class, by-passed by the working-class-led trade unions and disoriented by the social upheaval caused by the arrival of the American armed forces.

No description available.

 The relationship between Internet technology and human beings has been the main focus in the realm of Internet study. Those studies, generally speaking, either paid attention to the political, economical and social influences of the burgeoning Internet technology on human society, or focusing on the changing of human behavior, attitudes and psychological conditions in the Internet technological environment. Lacking of considering the core nature of Internet technology, most of studies, though proposed many insightful arguments, cannot explain why and in what way the Internet has such great influences on human beings. Since the Internet technology constructed the cyberspace, its relationship with human beings has been undoubtedly influenced by the inherent nature of the Internet. Examining the intrinsic nature and the bias of Internet technology, this study proposes the concept of cyber-micropower to describe the power relationships in the Internet field, and explores the origins of cyber-micropower. By investigating the formation and operational mechanism of the three kinds of cyber-micropower – information micropower, context micropower and subject micropower, this study provides a new analytical framework to the Internet study as well as understanding various cyberspace phenomena. The qualitative methods, especially critical literature research, online participant observation, and oral history are adopted to make thick description of various online phenomena, get empirical online data and develop the key concept of cyber-micropower. Particularly, the formation of information micropower is examined through the phenomenon of online free. Based on the analysis of online virtual identity, the formation process of context micropower and subject micropower can be developed. Then, the operational mechanism of cyber-micropower was mainly investigated through human flesh searching phenomenon. Briefly, this study argues that the bias of Internet technology is liquidity. As the core features of the Internet, both digitalization and networking of information directly reflect the widespread requiring for liquidity. This liquid Internet plays the role by empowering cyber subjects. Cyber-micropower, then, is the liquid networking relations among cyber subjects. During online interactions and the Internet use, cyber subjects always tend to make surveillance and self-surveillance, restriction and self-restriction, group participating and other ways, through which cyber subjects adapted to the new liquid cyber contexts and relations, as well as positioning their own locations in the liquid network. This new liquid disciplinary model in the “many watch the many” kind of cyberspace is the operational mechanism of cyber-micropower. Accordingly, disciplined cyber subjects and cyber conditions are like numerous panopticons superimposed together. Then, this study further argues that with the development of Internet technology, the liquid may be faster, and a larger scale of digitalization and intensive networking will follow. Such trends, though may liberate human beings initially, will go beyond humans’ ultimate state in the end. The liquid nature of information restricts cyber subjects’ ability of self-reflexive and understanding. And the liquid cyberspace may promote multiple and unstable virtual identities. As a result, cyber subjects’ cyber-micropower will become more fragile and sensitive. And the human nature may also be networked and liquefied gradually. Yet, when human beings become numerous nodes in the liquid network, not only their traditional ethics and morality are in the danger of reversing, but also the meaning of humans’ existence may be challenged. / published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

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published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Comparative Asian Studies / Master / Master of Arts

This thesis investigates the cultural and social production of AIDS in popular discourse, particularly film and mass media, and offers a critical consideration of the ways in which the proliferation and dispersion of these discourses function in our current episteme to rearticulate and reinscribe traditional value systems of sexuality, familialism, and nationalism. Taking the lead of the work of Michel Foucault on the body in various historical regimes, the author here will posit a theoretical analysis of the "discursive formation" of AIDS, how the body of AIDS is put into discourse, to provide a matrix for establishing the various disciplinary and regulatory apparatuses structuring the epidemic--that is, the affirmation of certain kinds of pleasures and bodies and the strategic circumvention of other pleasures and bodies. Under what the author refers to as the cultural logic of dis-ease, the investigations that follow will be animated by the central question: Whose pleasure and/or power is served by these representations and discourses of the body of AIDS in popular cultural practices?

The purpose of this dissertation is to show that socio-economic development can be better understood through an interdisciplinary approach.From the writings on socio-economic development and related disciplines., background information and theories are gleaned to provide the bases for the development of the concept of tri-dimensional technology (called residuals in economic theories of development). As the major focus in this study, tri-dimensional technology is divided into three major components: human, social and material. This concept, in addition to capital and labor, is shown to be the basis of productive potential in a society and as a crucial factor in explaining the socio-economic progress of a nation.In order to explore tri-dimensional technology, social psychology was chosen as the most relevant discipline since it concerns itself with individual as well as society. Within the three components of tri-dimensional technology, the human aspect is given priority and the social behaviorist model of man as a general model will be developed. References tech to explainthe rapid socio-economic development of Japan are made to relevant theories and literature to identify the social and material aspects of tri-dimensional technology.The concept of tri-dimensional technology is applied with emphasis on Meiji Restoration era. The implications of the Japanese experience for developing countries is suggested. Reference to the ethical analysis of tri-dimensional technology is also made.

This thesis presents a multi-sited and multi-scalar ethnography of the processes and practices through which producers attempt to designate food as heritage. Grounded in cultural geography, it adopts a cultural economy approach to addressing concerns within agro-food studies by joining in conversation notions of heritage, place-making and time. By underlining the intrinsic relation between articulations of time and constructions of place, this thesis further maps the alternative geographies of food. It engages with three overarching questions, drawing on research conducted within two heritage-based food initiatives in Mexico and Scotland, both linked to the Slow Food movement. These produce, respectively, a traditional sweet called pinole and 'real' bread. The thesis asks: what objectives are pursued through the heritagisation of food whereby various actors strategically coin foods as heritage? How is time articulated in the discourse of heritage food, and how do heritage food networks and producers understand time as a component of food quality? Finally, what senses of place emerge from the various uses of time as a quality in global, translocal and local heritage food discourses? This thesis explores Slow Food's heritage qualification scheme and the ensuing commodification of heritage food, as well as translocal networks, and practices of 'slow' production. Through empirical engagements it argues that the qualification of heritage foods is multifunctional and that various articulations of time enable small-scale producers to engage with a plethora of socio-economic and political issues. Numerous and at times conflicting constructions of place surface from the discourses woven around these two heritage products and problematise identity formation and narratives of the past linked to producers and communities. This thesis concludes that the constructions of place associated with heritage foods depend not only upon the authority and circumstances of actors articulating a heritage discourse, but also on the scale of the dissemination of that discourse, and on the notions and understandings of time associated with heritage and place.

This dissertation aims to explore the relationship between social support and social and psychological wellbeing in the adult population of sexual and gender minorities, or Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) adults. We apply Antonucci’s (1987) Convoy Model of Social Relations as a lens through which to conceptualize social support across four dimensions: structure, function, quality, and closeness. Chapter One contains an introduction to the LGBT adult population; a description of the Convoy Model of Social Relations and of technology used to exchange social support; and an outline of the specific aims addressed in this dissertation. Chapter Two is an integrative review of literature about social support networks of LGBT older adults age 50 years and older. Chapter Three is a study designed to investigate relationships between LGBT identity, social support characteristics, the use of online social communication, and psychological and social wellbeing. Chapter Four is a qualitative descriptive study that explores LGBT older adults’ attitudes, perceptions, and uses of technology for social connectedness and support during COVID-19. Chapter Five contains a synthesis of all findings in this dissertation; a discussion of the results as they relate to the Convoy Model of Social Relations; and implications for clinical interventions and future research.