<p> This dissertation research is a comprehensive study of Asian Americans' socioeconomic achievements. It aims to measure changes of Asian Americans' socioeconomic achievements between 2005 and 2015, to examine the glass ceiling facing Asian Americans, and to evaluate the impacts of the Great Recession and concentration on occupational attainments of Asian Americans. </p><p> Using American Community Survey data, I attempt to answer the following questions. First, how did the patterns of Asian Americans' socioeconomic achievements changed over a decade between 2005 and 2015? Second, how thick and persistent is the glass ceiling faced by Asian immigrants and U.S.-born Asians? Third, did Asian Americans benefit from geographical and industrial concentration? Fourth, what was the impacts of the Great Recession on Asian Americans? </p><p> The potential contributions of this study are as follows. First and foremost, it provides substantiate empirical findings on glass ceiling facing Asian Americans. Moreover, it clarifies the effects of industrial and geographical concentration on each of the major Asian American groups. It examines how glass ceiling facing Asian Americans being strengthened during the Great Recession. In addition to the theoretical contributions, it also improves research methods through applying synthetic cohort analysis on the study of glass ceiling. </p><p>

<p> The South China Sea has long been a region of competition and tension. In the Spratly Islands alone, Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam maintain disputing claims to the region&rsquo;s land features and surrounding maritime territories. Some argue that ongoing negotiations between China and the Philippines toward joint explorations of one of these disputed regions could be the key to promoting greater cooperation amongst the other claimants. These arguments, however, do not consider other elements of the international system that drive states to compete. Looking specifically at China, the Philippines, and the United States, this thesis analyzes joint explorations within the framework of motivational realism to understand the interaction of relevant historical elements, state objectives, and state estimations of one another&rsquo;s power, offense-defense balance, and motives&mdash;greedy or security-seeking. The thesis then examines the specific case of joint explorations to understand historical, domestic, and international legal components restricting the pathways within which the two states could reach an agreement. Finally, this thesis concludes that, due to domestic constraints, international legal developments, state objectives, and the way in which China, the Philippines, and the United States assess one another&rsquo;s motives, the South China Sea will likely remain a region of long-term competition and tension.</p><p>

<p> The Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011, known colloquially by the shorthand "3.11," claimed at least 16,000 lives and caused extreme damage to landscape and property, also triggering one of the most serious nuclear crises in history. These events were of great social, economic, cultural, and political consequence and are therefore in need of study from multiple perspectives. Sociologist Jeffrey C. Alexander, as a leading theorist of the model of cultural trauma, sees the work of "trauma drama" as crucial to the collective creation and negotiation of claims toward large-scale trauma. My dissertation seeks to investigate Alexander's insight more thoroughly. This dissertation seeks not only to broaden the field of view of collective trauma studies with a new case study, but to deepen the understanding of how performance functions as a part of the collective trauma creation process. To that end, this dissertation has a topical organization that analyzes space, time, and the body as nodes of intersection between post-3.11 anxiety sites and aspects of stage and film performance. Closely reading film and stage plays while examining the specific formal mechanisms by which they manipulate space, time, and the body in the aftermath of disaster, I argue that stage and film performances are especially powerful means through which to stake and (re)negotiate claims regarding trauma, particularly in response to the specifics of the 3.11 disaster. Inspired by the socially contextualized approach to performance studies pioneered by Richard Schechner and Victor Turner, this dissertation accesses a wide array of cultural and theoretical sources, including the spatial theory of Henri Lefebvre, the temporal Deleuzian scholarship of D.N. Rodowick, and Erin Manning's theory on the political impact of touch, alongside trauma theory and a multiplicity of readings on the significance of 3.11.</p><p>

<p> Little is known about the vegetation, forests, useful plants and their patterns of use at the gradients of climate, geography and culture in Baitadi and Darchula districts, far western Nepal. The interactions among plants-people-places were analyzed using data from phyto-sociological studies, community interviews, and literature. Ecological sampling, participant observation, semistructured interviews, and informal discussions were held between February and September 2017. We compared plant collection, use and management of two culturally distinct groups (Baitadi and Darchula), who inhabit different physiographic regions, yet share the same ecological landscape, environmental resources and livelihood challenges. We hypothesized that the salient (visible, apparent and accessible) plants and places are likely to be more frequently foraged than the non-salient ones. We also hypothesized that the elderly, native and traditional healers living in rural and remote physiographic conditions possess more diverse and detailed knowledge of plant use and conservation than young, non-native and non-healer people. A total of 18 forest types including eight from the study districts showed that the study area is rich in forests and plants. A total of 975 plant species including 82 new species records and 23 new use reports to Baitadi and Darchula districts were recorded. There were 305 (31%) useful plant species including 122 useful reported in the present study. The people of study area showed a large repertoire of knowledge that helps them execute different strategies of plant use suited to their environment and geography. The knowledge of plant use follows a pattern according to ecological conditions (availability) as well as the cultural significance (transhumance, settlement) of the landscape. However, the latter prevails. Predominate foraging by the agro-pastoral communities from the remote undisturbed forests for quality products and medicines in Darchula district was divergent from the collections from ruderal areas in Baitadi district by generalist collectors for ritual purposes. The extensive usage of plants for socio-economic reasons, livelihood and rituals indicates that the plants and culture are inseparable. Conservation measures with acknowledgement of human, cultural, geographical and environmental variables, are therefore encouraged for sustainable management of the natural resources and traditional knowledge of the Baitadi and Darchula districts. </p><p>

<p> Community-based organizations (CBOs) represent an important segment of public services vital to the stability of invisible communities that otherwise remain vulnerable. Drawing from over three years of ethnographic fieldwork in a CBO in Santa Ana, California, I undertake an extensive case-study that examines their survival in a hostile funding environment by means of understanding their development, organizational learning and adaptation, social capital and networking and use of innovative sustainability strategies. The struggles this CBO encountered in their pursuit of sustainability speak to their unique aspects of service provision and community development making them an indispensable support structure for low-income immigrant and refugee communities.</p><p> I argue that their story of success reveals key principles, tenets and preliminary takeaways that may be useful toward improving the sustainability of organizational frameworks within other CBOs. Additionally, I explore how this CBO struggles to defend its vision of social change against existing conditions within the market environment that impact their success.</p><p> With growing interest toward scholarly work in this field, I emphasize the need to approach organizational fieldwork analytically as we engage with and try to understand the complicated social worlds of CBOs. The applied portion of this project resulted in the creation of promotional materials that may be useful toward fund development and historical preservation. </p><p>

abstract: ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the history of the early medieval city Ye 鄴 and its place in the literary tradition. Ye was the powerbase of the warlord Cao Cao 曹操 (155–220) and the birthplace of the Jian’an 建安 literature. It was also the capital city of the Later Zhao 後趙 (319–349), the Former Yan 前燕 (337–370), the Eastern Wei 東魏 (534–550), and the Northern Qi 北齊 (550–577). Through a contextualized close reading of a variety of literary and historical texts, including poems, prose, scholar notes, and local gazetteers, this study shows how Ye, destroyed in 580, continued to live on in various forms of representation and material remains, and continued to evolve as an imagined space that held multiple interpretations. The interpretations are represented in works that treat the heroic enterprise of Cao Cao in founding the city, the double-sided poems that collapsed celebration and themes of carpé diem in the Jian'an era, and in tropes of sorrow and lamentation on the glories, or ruins, of the city that had passed its life in a brilliant flash, and then was lost to time and text. Ye’s most iconic structure, the Bronze Bird Terrace, developed a distinct terrace-scape, a nearly mythical space where poets tangled with questions of sorrow, consciousness after death, and lamentation for women forced to serve their lord long after his demise. The last material vestiges of the city, its tiles which were shaped into inkstones, created a discourse in the Song and Yuan periods of heavy censure of Cao Cao's exercise of power and his supposed eventual failure of ambition and retreat to concern over meaningless material possessions. Over the years, these representations have seen in Ye a fertile ground, either experienced or imagined, where questions about political rise and fall and about the meaning of human life could be raised and partially answered. This dissertation looks closely at the ambivalent attitudes of writers through the ages about, and at their sometimes ambiguous representation of, the status and meaning of that ancient city. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation East Asian Languages and Civilizations 2016

abstract: Social equity research in public administration (PA) investigates different ways in which the practices of government intersect with the lives of socially marginalized individuals. However, due to limited direct engagement with marginalized groups; a predominant focus on formal state policies and institutions; and a lack of context-specific analyses of marginalization, there remain significant limitations in the existing PA research on social equity. To address these theoretical gaps, this dissertation focuses on the Khawaja Sira of Pakistan – a marginalized group culturally defined as neither men nor women – to empirically investigate the multiple intersections between government and life on margins of the state. Specifically, this dissertation explores research questions related to legal and self-identity of the Khawaja Sira, impact of their changed legal status, their informal institutional experiences, and their interaction with front-line government workers through an interpretive research methodology. The research design consisted of a ten-month long person-centered ethnography in Lahore, Pakistan during which in-depth person-centered interviews were conducted with 50 Khawaja Sira. I also conducted semi-structured interviews with 19 frontline workers from National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), social welfare department, and a local NGO and a group interview with 12 frontline workers of police. I coded the data collected from the fieldwork using qualitative thematic content analysis in MAXQDA. I then analyzed the main themes from the data using multiple theoretical perspectives to develop my findings. My analysis shows that the legal identity of the Khawaja Sira, as conceived by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, has limited relevance and benefits for the Khawaja Sira most of whom instead choose to register as men. The analysis of administrator-citizen interactions reveals that the Khawaja Sira are exposed to hyper-surveillance, moral policing and higher administrative burden during these interactions. These interactions are also strongly mediated by formal public policy, social discourses about gender identity and informal institutions. I discuss the implications of my analysis that can contribute to a more inclusive society for the Khawaja Sira. In doing so, my research makes important contributions to research on administrative burden, everyday citizenship, and social equity in public administration. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Public Administration 2016

abstract: This dissertation uncovers the contemporary impressions of Song cities represented in Song narratives and their accounts of the interplay between people and urban environments. It links these narratives to urban and societal changes in Hangzhou 杭州 (Lin’an 臨安) during the Song dynasty, cross-referencing both literary creations and historical accounts through a close reading of the surviving corpus of Song narratives, in order to shed light on the cultural landscape and social milieu of Hangzhou. By identifying, reconstructing, and interpreting urban changes throughout the “pre-modernization” transition as well as their embodiments in the narratives, the dissertation links changes to the physical world with the development of Song narratives. In revealing the emerging connection between historical and literary spaces, the dissertation concludes that the transitions of Song cities and urban culture drove these narrative writings during the Song dynasty. Meanwhile, the ideologies and urban culture reflected in these accounts could only have emerged alongside the appearance of a consumption society in Hangzhou. Aiming to expand our understanding of the literary value of Song narratives, the dissertation therefore also considers historical references and concurrent writings in other genres. By elucidating the social, spatial, and historical meanings embedded in a variety of Song narrative accounts, this study details how the Song literary narrative corpus interprets the urban landscapes of the period’s capital city through the private experiences of Song authors. Using a transdisciplinary methodology, it situates the texts within the cultural milieu of Song society and further reveals the connections of these narratives to the transformative process of urbanization in Song society. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Asian Languages and Civilizations 2017

<p> There is a large body of research that suggests the concept of a professional learning community (PLC) can promote improved student learning by increasing collective teacher capacity to meet the diverse learning needs of students (Reeves, 2016; Battersby &amp; Verdi, 2013; Marzano &amp; DuFour, 2011; Fullan 2010, Senge, 2006; Morrissey, 2000; Hord, 1997). Many schools have implemented PLCs around the world. Despite the well-documented benefits of PLCs, there is inconsistency to the extent with which PLCs are implemented within schools and districts. The purpose of this study was to (a) understand how the elementary division at Progressive Academy of Southeast Asia (PASA), an independent private school, has implemented PLCs; (b) learn about promising practices utilized by high performing PLCs to promote teacher collaboration and high productivity; and (c) understand barriers confronted by PLCs during the PLC process. A qualitative research design was used to understand the implementation process through focus group discussions. Focus group discussions were conducted with all grade levels, kindergarten to grade 5 in the elementary division. Ten themes emerged from the study (1) an alignment of belief in the mission and vision and purpose of PLCs by faculty and administration, (2) the elementary school has implemented systems and structures to support the PLC process, (3) there is a collaborative culture for the PLC process, (4) collective responsibility for student learning is still at its infancy stage, (5) PLCs are results oriented and have clearly established SMART goals that align with the elementary school&rsquo;s strategic plan, (6) instructional assistants are a strong system of support for learning for students, (7) trust is a key to high performing PLCs, (8) there is a low level of trust in some PLCs, (9) there is a transient faculty, and (10) there are an overwhelming number of initiatives that require the time of PLCs at the school.</p><p>

<p> This dissertation is a case study of the Islamic Republic of Iran&rsquo;s approach to soft power with a focus on Iran&rsquo;s use of soft power in Afghanistan. This dissertation is unique as it a delves into the diverse conceptual prescriptions on soft power, especially from a non-Western perspective. Studies of soft power in the current International Relations discipline ignore the implicit widespread liberal democratic bias in the current understanding of the concept. This dissertation argues that there are certain ontological assumptions lying deep within the soft power model first proposed by Joseph Nye (1990) that make it difficult to use as a model for studying non-Western states. This stems from Nye&rsquo;s consideration that sources of attraction, essential in wielding soft power, as universal and equivalent to Western liberal values. Nye does not consider how the sources of attraction that he identifies are biased towards a Western notion of values, culture, policies and institutions. This has led to a disregard of the use of soft power by non-Western states. Thus, the aim of this study is to address the western-centric limitation of Nye&rsquo;s concept by offering a reconceptualization that can be applied in studying the soft power of states that do not necessarily adhere to the same universal norms. </p><p> By applying Laclau and Mouffe&rsquo;s discourse analysis framework, this dissertation examines Iran&rsquo;s soft power strategy in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2017, in order to enhance its influence. Iran&rsquo;s soft power application relies on what that the author calls &lsquo;affinity&rsquo;, whereby audience-oriented and localized resources of attraction are identified in the target population and are subsequently discursively cultivated. Attraction build through the &lsquo;affinity&rsquo; process is different than Western states&rsquo; use of attraction and application of soft power. </p><p> This dissertation highlights how Iran has created an affinity node centered on a &lsquo;<i>sense of brotherhood</i>&rsquo; with its Afghanistan audience. It also shows that the strength of this narrative is in Iran&rsquo;s ability to create an emotional connection that is embedded in commonalities between the two countries&rsquo; in terms of culture, historical legacy, and common language. The analysis presented shows the affinity node of brotherhood appears in over 20 speeches and statements targeted at the Afghan population by the Iranian supreme leader and successive Iranian presidents in recent decades. The notion of brotherhood provides Iran the emotional linkage, the affinity node, to connect with its Afghan audience. </p><p> The affinity that Iran establishes with Afghanistan allows Iran to articulate its foreign policy objectives by showing how Iranian influence benefits the Afghan population and appeals to existing Afghan values. In addition, this dissertation finds that Iran devotes considerable resources to the development of these discourses in Afghanistan through the various institutions that in charge of Iran&rsquo;s public diplomacy activities. The focus of these activities is mainly in the realm of culture, education, and language, leveraging the common ties between Iran and their Afghan audience. </p><p> Lastly, the findings of this study indicate that Iran&rsquo;s approach to soft power is strategically calculated. Iran makes explicit use of soft power that is different from the original notion of soft power as it was formulated by Nye. Iran&rsquo;s actions show that sources of attraction do not have to be universal, attraction is contextual in its appeal, based on each target audience and can be constructed through discourses. Thus, as Laclau and Mouffe (1985) would say, Iran&rsquo;s articulation of an antagonistic discourse challenges the hegemonic discourses that are associated with the Western evaluation of soft power.</p><p>