Dorothy Allison's Two or Three Things I Know for Sure, Mary Karr's The Liars' Club, and Barbara Robinette Moss's Change Me into Zeus's Daughter are memoirs published in the 1990s of girlhoods in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This dissertation uses and expands upon the approaches of the multi-disciplinary Girls' Studies in analyzing how these memoirists theorize their own girlhoods. Each memoirist represents her experience in a culture that attempts to marginalize, silence, and define her. An application of the foundational work on girlhood in developmental psychology provides for an analysis of each memoirist's depiction of girlhood as a time of authentic insight and developing agency. Referencing feminist literary criticism allows for an interpretation of how the girls at the center of these works develop agency through growing awareness of the circumstances of their marginalization. And a semiotic literary interpretation adds to the analysis of these works as creative autobiogra phical writing in affording a close reading of how the memoirists portray younger selves learning to read the signs and texts of a culture and becoming aware of their status as girls in working-class families. Each memoirist uses a dual vocal presentation as both the adult memoirist and a younger self give shape to the narrative. Each memoirist represents a distinct southern space intersecting with specifics of the era to form a cultural moment. Social Construction Theory makes available a basis for considering how the memoirists narrate their increasing understanding of race and gender within these specific contexts as well as their resistive voicing of these insights. / Through a Cultural Studies focus this dissertation examines how each memoirist represents a younger self's negotiations with cultural products of the era that work to construct girlhood. Adding to this unpacking of how the memoirists study their own girlhoods, the tools of Postco for an analysis of how the memoirists theorize their own girlhoods in ways that parallel these approaches. This dissertation adds to the evolving field of Girls' Studies in using contemporary theoretical frameworks to interpret how girlhood is constructed, represented, and negotiated with in these memoirs. / by Regina Dilgen. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Mastering the physical aspect of piano technique has long been a topic of great interest and importance to pianists. This is borne out in the numerous pedagogical approaches on the topic of piano technique. Despite the many contributions from pedagogues and scholars in developing an understanding of piano technique, many conflicting approaches often cause more confusion than clarity. After reviewing the literature on pedagogical approaches to piano technique, this study determined that problematic language might lie at the root of the confusion. Core concepts identified in the review of literature as recurring areas of misunderstanding were tension, relaxation, co-contraction, arm weight, and hand and finger shape. The purpose of this study is to seek where issues of language exist in contemporary piano pedagogical approaches and to show how these problems may contribute to the systemic confusion in piano technique. To do this, the language that is used to describe and define the core concepts identified in the review of literature is analyzed in five modern pedagogical approaches. Five authors who have developed approaches that reflect current trends in piano technique have been selected for this study: Barbara Lister-Sink; Dorothy Taubman; Thomas Mark; Fred Karpoff; and Alan Fraser. The first step of this study entails collecting data from each of the five pedagogical approaches. The data is then analyzed for consistency and accuracy. Problems in language that contribute to the inconsistencies and inaccuracies are examined and illustrated with material from the data collection. This study concludes by identifying the main sources of confusion in the use of language: inconsistent and inaccurate use of terms; wavering between scientific, common, and invented language; challenges in describing opposing qualities that come from tension and relaxation; and failing to discern between the individual subjective experience and the mechanics of movement. By recognizing where the problems in language exist, this study represents an important first step for the pedagogical community to reach a common understanding of the language used to describe the physical aspect of piano technique.

Commercial fisheries on the West Coast are traditionally managed under large-scale management and conservation plans implemented by state and federal agencies. This scale of management can present obstacles for fishing communities. This thesis examines emerging cases of attempts to define and implement sustainable management of commercial fisheries under a community-based co-management model. In Port Orford, Sitka, San Diego and Santa Barbara, preliminary community-based co-management models are enabling fishing communities to pursue social sustainability through preserving access, participating in local science, and direct marketing for fish products. These communities are actively reshaping traditional models of conceptualizing and managing common-pool resources like fisheries.

Mastering the physical aspect of piano technique has long been a topic of great interest and importance to pianists. This is borne out in the numerous pedagogical approaches on the topic of piano technique. Despite the many contributions from pedagogues and scholars in developing an understanding of piano technique, many conflicting approaches often cause more confusion than clarity. After reviewing the literature on pedagogical approaches to piano technique, this study determined that problematic language might lie at the root of the confusion. Core concepts identified in the review of literature as recurring areas of misunderstanding were tension, relaxation, co-contraction, arm weight, and hand and finger shape. The purpose of this study is to seek where issues of language exist in contemporary piano pedagogical approaches and to show how these problems may contribute to the systemic confusion in piano technique. To do this, the language that is used to describe and define the core concepts identified in the review of literature is analyzed in five modern pedagogical approaches. Five authors who have developed approaches that reflect current trends in piano technique have been selected for this study: Barbara Lister-Sink; Dorothy Taubman; Thomas Mark; Fred Karpoff; and Alan Fraser. The first step of this study entails collecting data from each of the five pedagogical approaches. The data is then analyzed for consistency and accuracy. Problems in language that contribute to the inconsistencies and inaccuracies are examined and illustrated with material from the data collection. This study concludes by identifying the main sources of confusion in the use of language: inconsistent and inaccurate use of terms; wavering between scientific, common, and invented language; challenges in describing opposing qualities that come from tension and relaxation; and failing to discern between the individual subjective experience and the mechanics of movement. By recognizing where the problems in language exist, this study represents an important first step for the pedagogical community to reach a common understanding of the language used to describe the physical aspect of piano technique.

Analyzing novels by Sheri Reynolds, Lee Smith, Barbara Kingsolver, Alice Walker, Gloria Naylor, and Sue Monk Kidd, I argue that these authors challenge religious structures by dramatizing the struggle between love and resentment that brings many women to the point of crisis but also inspires imaginative and generative processes of appropriation and revision, emphasizing not destination but process. Employing first-person narration in coming-of-age stories, Smith, Reynolds, and Kingsolver highlight the various narratives that govern the experiences of children born into religious cultures, including narratives of sexual development, gender identity, and religious conversion, to portray the difficulty of articulating female experience within the limited lexicon of Christian fundamentalism. As they mature into adulthood, the girl characters in these novels break from tradition to develop new consciousness by altering and adapting religious language, understood as open and malleable rather than authoritative and fixed. Smith, Kidd, and Naylor incorporate the Virgin Mary and divine maternal figures from non-Christian traditions to restore the mother-daughter relationship that is eclipsed by the Father and Son in Christian tradition. Identifying the female body as a site of spiritual knowledge, these authors present a metaphorical return to the womb that empowers their characters to embrace divine maternal love that transgresses the masculine symbolic order, displacing (but not necessarily destroying) the authority of God the Father and His human representatives. Reynolds and Walker portray physical pain, central to the Christian image of crucifixion, as destroying the ability of women to speak, denying them subjectivity. Through transgressive sexual relationships infused with religious significance, these authors disrupt the Christian moral paradigm by presenting bodily pleasure as an alternative to the Christian valorization of sacrifice. The replacement of pain with pleasure inspires imaginative work that makes private spirituality shareable through artistic creation. The novels I study present themes that also concern Christian and non-Christian feminist theologians: the development of feminine images of the divine, emphasis on immanence over transcendence, the apprehension of the divine in nature, and the necessity of challenging the reification of religious images and dualisms that undermine female subjectivity. I show the reciprocal relationship between fiction and theology, as theologians treat women's literature as sacred texts and fiction writers give life to abstract religious concepts through narrative.

Mastering the physical aspect of piano technique has long been a topic of great interest and importance to pianists. This is borne out in the numerous pedagogical approaches on the topic of piano technique. Despite the many contributions from pedagogues and scholars in developing an understanding of piano technique, many conflicting approaches often cause more confusion than clarity. After reviewing the literature on pedagogical approaches to piano technique, this study determined that problematic language might lie at the root of the confusion. Core concepts identified in the review of literature as recurring areas of misunderstanding were tension, relaxation, co-contraction, arm weight, and hand and finger shape. The purpose of this study is to seek where issues of language exist in contemporary piano pedagogical approaches and to show how these problems may contribute to the systemic confusion in piano technique. To do this, the language that is used to describe and define the core concepts identified in the review of literature is analyzed in five modern pedagogical approaches. Five authors who have developed approaches that reflect current trends in piano technique have been selected for this study: Barbara Lister-Sink; Dorothy Taubman; Thomas Mark; Fred Karpoff; and Alan Fraser. The first step of this study entails collecting data from each of the five pedagogical approaches. The data is then analyzed for consistency and accuracy. Problems in language that contribute to the inconsistencies and inaccuracies are examined and illustrated with material from the data collection. This study concludes by identifying the main sources of confusion in the use of language: inconsistent and inaccurate use of terms; wavering between scientific, common, and invented language; challenges in describing opposing qualities that come from tension and relaxation; and failing to discern between the individual subjective experience and the mechanics of movement. By recognizing where the problems in language exist, this study represents an important first step for the pedagogical community to reach a common understanding of the language used to describe the physical aspect of piano technique.

Zugl.: Osnabrück, Univ., Diss., 2008

A educação é um tema geralmente considerado periférico à teoria moral de Kant. A presente pesquisa pretende apontar para a possibilidade não usual de uma leitura da filosofia moral kantiana, a partir das contribuições de Barbara Herman. Defende-se que é possível adotar a perspectiva da formação moral do agente concreto como uma maneira de compreender uma importante conexão entre os conceitos de moralidade, autonomia e educação. O primeiro passo é observar que a discussão em torno do valor do motivo do dever não compromete Kant com uma filosofia moral rigorista, absolutamente formal e abstrata. Após, avança-se na compreensão de sua filosofia que se afasta de uma deontologia, colocando em evidência como a racionalidade é considerada um valor, quando é trazida a discussão sobre o papel da opacidade motivacional. Em seguida, o assunto é como se dá o juízo e deliberação moral a partir da distinção entre os campos teórico e prático e os conceitos, utilizados por Herman, de Regras de Saliência Moral e Presunções Deliberativas. O passo seguinte á a autonomia do agente concreto, ocasião para tratar da necessária distinção entre a autonomia como uma propriedade essencial dos agentes racionais e a sua realização empírica, mais ou menos efetiva. Esse assunto remete ao tema de como se dá a educação moral em Kant, o que revela ser a autonomia empírica um feito realizável segundo certas condições, o que requer treinamento dentro do contexto social do agente. Conclui-se que se faz necessário observar a teoria kantiana de uma perspectiva mais ampla para compreender o significado de sua filosofia como comprometida com prática moral e não apenas como uma reflexão desinteressada sobre seus fundamentos. / Education is a subject generally considered peripheral to Kant's moral theory. This research aims to point to the possibility of an unusual reading of Kantian moral philosophy, based on the contributions of Barbara Herman. It is argued that it is possible to adopt the perspective of the formation of the moral agent as a concrete way to understand the important connection between the concepts of morality, autonomy and education. The first step is to observe that the discussion around the value of the motive of dutie does not compromise Kant with a rigorist, absolutely formal and abstract moral philosophy. After, we advance in the understanding of his philosophy that moves it away from a deontology, highlighting how rationality is considered as a value, when it is brought to discussion the role of motivational opacity. Then, the issue is how judgment and moral deliberation work, based on the distinction between theoretical and practical fields and concepts used by Herman, Rules of Moral Salience and Deliberative Presumptions. The next step will be the autonomy of the concrete agent, which is the occasion to address the necessary distinction between autonomy as an essential property of rational agents and their empirical more or less effective realization. This refers to the subject of how come such moral education takes place in Kant, which reveals empirical autonomy be an achievement possible under certain conditions, which requires training within the social context of the agent. We conclude that it is necessary to observe the Kantian theory of a broader perspective to understand the meaning of his philosophy as committed to moral practice and not just as a disinterested reflection on their groundings.

In this dissertation I attempt an evaluation of Barbara Pym as a feminist writer. I study the central protagonists in Pym's twelve novels in the context of British society in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. I have drawn on feminist critical paradigms in my reading of Pym's novels in order to highlight my insights into her women characters. Chapter One examines Pym 's use of comedy and subversion in relation to her main protagonists. Chapter Two explores the 'Excellent Woman' figure in Pym's fiction and the issue of spinsterhood. Chapter Three scrutinises Pym's use of satire and tragedy in relation to her heroines. Chapter Four investigates the emergence of the 'fallen' and 'formidable' women figures in Pym's novels, and analyses the ageing spinster figure. My conclusion is that Barbara Pym is a humanist feminist of some importance, who succeeds in illuminating her heroines' struggles against patriarchy in the context of a changing British society. / English Studies / M.A. (English)

A educação é um tema geralmente considerado periférico à teoria moral de Kant. A presente pesquisa pretende apontar para a possibilidade não usual de uma leitura da filosofia moral kantiana, a partir das contribuições de Barbara Herman. Defende-se que é possível adotar a perspectiva da formação moral do agente concreto como uma maneira de compreender uma importante conexão entre os conceitos de moralidade, autonomia e educação. O primeiro passo é observar que a discussão em torno do valor do motivo do dever não compromete Kant com uma filosofia moral rigorista, absolutamente formal e abstrata. Após, avança-se na compreensão de sua filosofia que se afasta de uma deontologia, colocando em evidência como a racionalidade é considerada um valor, quando é trazida a discussão sobre o papel da opacidade motivacional. Em seguida, o assunto é como se dá o juízo e deliberação moral a partir da distinção entre os campos teórico e prático e os conceitos, utilizados por Herman, de Regras de Saliência Moral e Presunções Deliberativas. O passo seguinte á a autonomia do agente concreto, ocasião para tratar da necessária distinção entre a autonomia como uma propriedade essencial dos agentes racionais e a sua realização empírica, mais ou menos efetiva. Esse assunto remete ao tema de como se dá a educação moral em Kant, o que revela ser a autonomia empírica um feito realizável segundo certas condições, o que requer treinamento dentro do contexto social do agente. Conclui-se que se faz necessário observar a teoria kantiana de uma perspectiva mais ampla para compreender o significado de sua filosofia como comprometida com prática moral e não apenas como uma reflexão desinteressada sobre seus fundamentos. / Education is a subject generally considered peripheral to Kant's moral theory. This research aims to point to the possibility of an unusual reading of Kantian moral philosophy, based on the contributions of Barbara Herman. It is argued that it is possible to adopt the perspective of the formation of the moral agent as a concrete way to understand the important connection between the concepts of morality, autonomy and education. The first step is to observe that the discussion around the value of the motive of dutie does not compromise Kant with a rigorist, absolutely formal and abstract moral philosophy. After, we advance in the understanding of his philosophy that moves it away from a deontology, highlighting how rationality is considered as a value, when it is brought to discussion the role of motivational opacity. Then, the issue is how judgment and moral deliberation work, based on the distinction between theoretical and practical fields and concepts used by Herman, Rules of Moral Salience and Deliberative Presumptions. The next step will be the autonomy of the concrete agent, which is the occasion to address the necessary distinction between autonomy as an essential property of rational agents and their empirical more or less effective realization. This refers to the subject of how come such moral education takes place in Kant, which reveals empirical autonomy be an achievement possible under certain conditions, which requires training within the social context of the agent. We conclude that it is necessary to observe the Kantian theory of a broader perspective to understand the meaning of his philosophy as committed to moral practice and not just as a disinterested reflection on their groundings.