Whether it be more recent public tragedies or more distant death related events, sites and gatherings associated with death and disaster present an opportunity to explore the social phenomenon described as "dark tourism". To study this social phenomenon, the current literature on dark tourism widely acknowledges that a multi-disciplinary approach is required and that much work remains to be done to fully appreciate the phenomenon. This thesis draws upon the sociology of death to consider the dark tourism experience as part of a society's death system, and it draws upon a dynamic theory of ritual interaction from the sociology of emotions to consider the dark tourism visitor experience as a ritual performance. The thesis proposes that the visitor experience at some dark tourism sites may be usefully analyzed within the frameworks of inquiry proposed by Kastenbaum's (2001) death system concept together with a dynamic theory of emotion and ritual interactions proposed by Durkheim (1995) and Collins (2004). Specifically, this thesis proposes that where visitors have emotional "experiences of involvement" with the death event which is represented at the site, they may focus their attention and emotion on site components to engage in ritual interactions, which produce a momentarily shared new (emotional) reality that, in turn, may generate feelings of "solidarity" and "positive emotional energy" as an outcome of the visitor experience. These new realities and outcomes may serve to mediate the death event for visitors and to strengthen the social order. At present, there is very little theoretical work, and much less empirical research, to support this approach within the existing dark tourism literature. This thesis attempts to address part of the gap in dark tourism knowledge and in the study of this phenomenon by the sociology of death. These theories are considered in the light of research conducted in a single qualitative case study at the 9/11 Memorial site in New York City. Interviews, observations and diarizing were carried out to identify the motivations, interpretations and experiences of 32 visitors, (including guides and volunteers) at the site. Most visitors to the 9/11 Memorial site had prior emotional connections or "experiences of involvement" of some type with the death event. Many visitors expressed that their motivation to visit the site was based on a sense of "obligation" or "duty" and reported interpretations of the visitor experience that are consistent with taking part in what Durkheim described as a piacular rite. Visitors focused their emotions and interacted with components of the site in such a way that four of the critical functions of the death system were identified in operation. Most visitors reported that through their visitor interactions they (a) found the site to be a (sacred) place of actual or symbolic disposition of the dead; (b) received social support or consolidation; (c) interpreted the site in a way that made sense of the death event; and (d) took away from the site some form of moral or social guidance. These interactions were observed to have created a form of collective effervescence that made visitors' feel that they were part of something larger, a feeling that represented a shared new (emotional) reality. In turn, visitors reported that the visitor experience at the site created increased feelings of solidarity and calm or confidence or energy - or what Collins describes as emotional energy - in their personal and collective lives. The thesis concludes that the role of dark tourism as a mediating institution between the living and the death event may sometimes extend beyond the mediation of death anxiety and the purchase of ontological security as proposed by Stone (2012). Through the ritual performance of dark tourism, a mediation of, by and through emotions takes place, the result of which is that the individual and collective self of visitors may be relieved from the negative emotions aroused by the death event and begin to feel a new sense of solidarity and emotional energy. Indeed, the death event itself may be transformed from something evil into something that is sacred; from something that brought death and chaos, into something that strengthens social order.

Pearl Harbor and 9/11 have been compared together since the 9/11 attacks. This thesis analyzes the two from the viewpoints of the politicians, the media, and finally the effects on culture. Sources were gathered from newspapers, books, journal articles, government resources, and internet web sites. Pearl Harbor and 9/11 are similar on the surface, but upon looking into further circumstances, dissimilarities are found between the two events. With sixty years between the two events the outcome and delayed reactions are different, but the initial response is similar.

abstract: Scholars argue that masculinity and war are united because masculinity is best observed through male-dominated arenas, such as the military. Moreover, film can serve as a medium to not only establish what is socially acceptable, but play an active role in the creation of one’s identity. Filmmakers past and present have employed the motif of masculinity in their war films, which put it at the center of the social structure and creates an overall acceptable cultural ideology. These filmmakers have established the overall rules, themes, and methods used as part of the war film genre. These rules, themes, and methods served well for pre-1970 American war cinema, when women were not allowed in the military as soldiers. However, as of 2003, female soldiers have grown to comprise twenty percent of the active soldiers and officers in the military. Studies on masculinity construction are well documented in World War II, Vietnam, and Gulf War-era combat films; however, little has been studied on post-9/11 American war films involving the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Using literature on masculinity constructs, both inside and outside of film, as well as social construction theory, identity theory, genre theory, and auteur theory, this dissertation textually examines masculinity construction in six post-9/11 American war films. This dissertation finds that the contemporary war genre continues to construct masculinity similar to past eras of war film. Comradery, the warrior image, not showing emotion, having a violent demeanor, and the demonization of women and cowardice were all prevalent in one or more of the films analyzed in this study. However, there were many nontraditional masculine ideals that were implemented, such as women being present and taking an active role as soldiers, as well as women being portrayed in the warrior image. The films analyzed demonstrate that the war film genre is still depicting and therefore socially constructing masculinity in a way that was prevalent in pre-1970 war films. However, the genre is evolving and nontraditional masculinity constructs are starting to present themselves. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Journalism and Mass Communication 2019

This paper aims to explore and discuss the points found in published research articles addressing posttraumatic stress disorder in children following the Bosnian Genocide, the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and Hurricane Katrina. The articles vary in their emphasis, methods, and conclusions, but all focus in one way or another on how the occurrence of war, terrorism, and natural disaster have resulted in posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in youth. Intervention following traumatic events, however, rarely focus on treating mental health needs, and instead, focus on resolving any primary needs of vulnerable populations. The recommended treatment strategies for PTSD in youth require high quality mental health care and great accessibility for victims of trauma. Considering the high prevalence of PTSD in children following traumatic experiences, treatment of PTSD symptoms is necessary to ensure that youth can fully function in their daily lives without a constant reminder of the trauma they experienced.

Asylum seekers in the U.S. have faced a plethora of impediments leading to some of them abandoning their applications, which may deny them their rights under the United Nations convention on refugees. Despite the abundance of literature on the plight of these persons, no study has examined the lived experiences of asylum seekers in the U.S. from the time they apply for asylum to the time their applications are adjudicated. Using Benet's polarities of democracy as the theoretical framework, the purpose of this single participant narrative study was to explore these experiences in order to provide policy makers with a better understanding of the impacts of US Asylum policies on the rights of asylum seekers. The study's single participant was an attorney from the Congo who sought and received asylum in the U.S. Thematic analysis was applied to her responses using hand coding. Cultural challenges were identified as the dominant negative theme in the asylum-seeking process. These cultural challenges generated fear in the face of survival issues such as joblessness, poor housing, hunger, and lack of health care. These interrelated sub-themes, analyzed through the lens of the polarities of democracy, suggest that policy makers might improve the asylum-seeking process by using the theory to better understand the impacts that the process has on the rights of asylum seekers. This may allow policy makers to develop strategies to maximize the positive aspects of the polarities of democracy pairs while minimizing the negative aspects, particularly for the pairs of freedom and authority, justice and due process, and diversity and equality.

This dissertation examines a cycle of Hollywood films that spans over a decade, and which engages with and privileges a historical and geopolitical framework to address America's encounters and confrontations with the Middle East. At one level, these films map the 9/11 terrorist attacks onto various sites and histories that signify a contentious relationship between the Middle East and the United States (including Islamic fundamentalism, the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the Arab-Israeli conflict, or the struggle over oil). In doing so they incorporate and absorb elements from other media (the Internet, television, journalism) to augment and authorize film's signifying capacities. At another level, and in tension with this dispersal, these post-9/11 films regulate and manage these histories through the generic and narrative mechanisms of the action, conspiracy or combat film. If these films privilege a discourse of investigation and expertise that postulates scientific neutrality, and even a technologized view of the Middle East, they alternately mobilize trauma and victimization discourse to delineate, prioritize and redeem the American male body. In addition, the construction of the Middle East in post-9/11 Hollywood cinema in terms of space (vis-à-vis the emphasis on cartography, geography, and surveillance technologies) and time (real time, instantaneity, pastness), plays a central role in the strategies and practices that have contributed to the production of knowledge about the region since 9/11. Focusing primarily on post-9/11 American intelligence and military narratives, this study explores what is at stake in the cinematic struggle to accommodate, but ultimately, recast history in light of U.S.-Middle East relations.

This thesis looks at the missiological implications of church planting in global cities. Chapter 1 introduces the main argument for this thesis: that all evangelism strategies should hold church planting as the end goal and that the most strategic places to implement these strategies are our global cities as evidenced by what has happened in New York City. The chapter will begin with a look at the significant movement that has happened in Manhattan over a twenty year period (1990- 2010) with the evangelical population of the city growing from less than one percent evangelical to now more than three percent. An introduction to the definition of global cities will segue into a look at the imperative for church planting initiatives in these cities. Chapter 2 will offer a deeper study of the characteristics of a global city and the missiological significance of such cities. It will explore world urbanization in light of the fact that over 50 percent of the world now lives in cities. The strategic nature of the cities will be analyzed given the influence that global cities have on the culture of the rest of the world. Finally, New York City will be shown as a global city and its significance on the missiological landscape will be highlighted. Chapter 3 provides a history of some of the major New York City church planting initiatives. Specifically, it will review the church planting history of Concerts of Prayer and the Church Multiplication Alliance, Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church and Jim Cymbala and The Brooklyn Tabernacle. Lastly this chapter will reveal methodologies used by other prominent ministries to reach the city context. Chapter 4 will look at implications learned from New York City on how a global city church planting strategy could impact the Southern Baptist Convention. A look at the history of SBC church planting in New York City will be looked at with special attention being paid to the effectiveness of these strategies. Chapter 5 will conclude this thesis with a look at the lessons learned during this research process. It will also look at three areas of further study that are needed. This work contends that the priority of all missions strategies should be a focused approach on global city church planting. This will prove to be an effective use of people and financial resources that ultimately has an impact on the whole world.

11 settembre 2001: il World Trade Center, luogo “sicuro e inaccessibile” come la nazione di cui faceva parte, crolla insieme alle certezze del popolo americano. Ci sono state conseguenze nel cinema? Il titolo di questo progetto di ricerca, 9/11: la 25ª ora del cinema americano, già rappresenta una convinzione: il cinema americano dopo l’11 settembre è entrato in una nuova fase. Partendo da un'analisi delle pellicole direttamente coinvolte nella messa in scena degli attentati, il progetto si articola in due macro-sezioni: la prima impostata come una diretta sull’ “evento”; la seconda inerente al periodo successivo all’accaduto. Il cardine della prima è l'analisi del concetto di “ri-narrazione ossessiva” in quei film che lavorano per allegorie e simbologie dell’11 settembre. La focalizzazione della seconda, invece, sono i “nuovi modelli delle catastrofi interiori” in epoca post-11 settembre e l’analisi delle modalità di rappresentazione dei cambiamenti degli stati d’animo e delle incertezze da parte del cinema americano. In particolare, verrà dato ampio spazio alla teoria del trauma, quale sezione fondante. Al termine, una conclusione che ambisce a tirare le fila di una ricerca a cui non si può mettere la parola “fine”, ma che è, al contrario e necessariamente, in continuo divenire. / September, 11th 2001: the World Trade Center, a “safe and inaccessible” place as the Country it belongs to, collapses together with the American people’s certainties. Did this event bring any consequences in cinematography? The title of this research: “9/11: the 25th hour of American cinema” states a firm belief: American cinematography has entered a new phase after September 11th. Starting from analyzing the movies directly involved in representing the attacks, the project develops through two marco-sections: the first one set as “live on the event”; the second one referring to the period that came after it. The key-point of the first section is the concept of “obsessive re-narrating” in those movies showing allegories and symbologies of September 11th. The focus of the second one, on the other hand, consists of the “new models of interior catastrophes” in the post-September 11th era and of analyzing the ways American cinematography represents uncertainty and changes in the people’s state of mind. In particular, the trauma theory will be widely treated as a ground section. In the end, a conclusion that aims at summarizing a research that cannot lead to an ultimate “end”, but which is on the contrary, and necessarily, in continuous evolution.

Sammanfattning: We shall bring them to justice – En diskursanalys av USAs självbild efter terrorattacken den 11 september 2001 Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur USAs självbild ser ut efter terrorattacken den 11 september 2001. Detta intresse har uppkommit eftersom jag anser att man för att förstå hur internationella makter agerar måste förstå hur de minsta beståndsdelarna – individer – agerar. Det verkar finnas en kunskapslucka inom detta specifika område vilket har föranlett att den tidigare forskning som presenteras är av samhällsvetenskaplig natur. För att uppnå syftet för uppsatsen samt att besvara de frågeställningar som ställts har Howard Beckers teorier om avvikande beteende samt Erving Goffmans teoretiserande om stigma och förväntad identitet använts som teoretiska verktyg. För att ytterligare berika uppsatsens ramverk har en diskursanalytisk ansats uppställts med tillhörande teori och metodologiska verktyg. För att undersöka just de stereotyper och förväntningar som blev en konsekvens av attacken har det empiriska materialet utgjort av ledare från New York Times och Washington Times från veckan efter attacken. Tidsspannet för urvalet är strategiskt utvalt för att just få en överblick över de förväntningar som residerar i diskursen snarare än de åsikter som uppkommer efter att man fastställt förövarnas identitet. Detta ramverka har föranlett en indelning i tre nivåer 1.) den diskursiva – terror; 2.) den sociala – Krig och den amerikanska rättfärdigheten vs. Hatet mot frihet och Fiendens avsaknad av medmänsklighet: 3.) den individuella – Godhet och den fria världens försvarare vs. Ondska, Araber/muslimer och Mänsklighetens fiender.

The tragedy and aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks are reflected in American apocalyptic horror films that have been produced since 2001. Because the attacks have occurred only within the past ten years, not much research has been conducted on the effects the attacks have had on the narrative and technological aspects of apocalyptic horror. A survey of American apocalyptic horror will include a brief synopsis of the films, commentary on dominant visual allusions to the 9/11 attacks, and discussion of how the attacks have thematically influenced the genre. The resulting study shows that the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, have shaped American apocalyptic horror cinema as shown through imagery, characters, and thematic focus of the genre.