I argue that to understand the gender dynamics of New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina, and the storm's aftermath, one must interrogate the cultural conflation of the black female body and the city's legacy to explore what it means and how it situates real black women in social, cultural, and physical landscapes. Using a hybrid theoretical framework informed by Black feminist theory, ecocriticism, critical race feminism, and post-positivist realism, I explore the connections between New Orleans' cultural and historical discourses that gender the city as feminine, more specifically as a black woman or Jezebel, with narratives of real black females to illustrate the impact that dominant discourses have on people's lives. I ground this work in Black feminism, specifically Hortense Spillers's and Patricia Hill Collins's works that center the black female body to garner a fuller understanding of social systems, Kimberlé Crenshaw's concept of intersectionality, and Evelyn Hammonds's call for a reclamation of the body to interrogate the ideologies that inscribe black women. In addition, I argue that black women should reclaim New Orleans' metaphorical black body and interrogate this history to move forward in rebuilding the city. As an ecocritic and feminist, I understand the tension involved with reading a city as feminine and arguing for this reclamation, as this echoes colonial and imperialist discourses of conquering land and bodies, but I negotiate these tensions by specifically examining the discourse itself to expose the sexist and racist ideologies at work. / Master of Arts

Thesis (M.S.)--Miami University, Dept. of Family Studies and Social Work, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 35-39).

Thesis (M.S.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Psychology. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Speech Communication, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 84-95).

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Communication, 2009. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-77).

Bare-root, container, and root production method (RPM™) seedlings of two oak species (Nuttall (Quercus texana Buckley), cherrybark (Q. pagoda Ell.)) were planted on lands damaged by Hurricane Katrina in southern Mississippi to compare the height growth, groundline diameter growth and survival of the different planting stocks. Tree shelters were applied to half of the bare-root seedlings to determine their effect on the height and groundline diameter growth and survival of the seedlings. RPM seedlings exhibited significantly greater height and groundline diameter growth than bare-root or container seedlings after one growing season. Bare-root seedlings exhibited significantly greater height and groundline diameter growth than container seedlings. Tree shelters significantly increased height growth of bare-root seedlings; however, sheltered bare-root seedlings exhibited significantly less groundline diameter growth than non-sheltered seedlings. Cherrybark oak exhibited greater height growth than Nuttall oak, while Nuttall oak exhibited greater groundline diameter growth than cherrybark across all planting stocks.

March 11, 2011 Earthquake in Japan and 2005 Hurricane Katrina both caused significant destruction and were both viewed as examples of government failures in natural disaster management. One year after the disasters, both countries enacted several policy reforms in response to their failures. However, while in the U.S, the central government's emergency power was strengthened, the DPJ (Democratic Party of Japan)'s government carried out reforms to strengthen the local governments. On the other hand, the other prominent political party in Japan, the LDP (Liberal Democratic Party), argued for more centralized power. How did these parties take different lessons from the natural disasters? This paper will first analyze the factors that led to government failures in the disaster relief period, and then evaluate the most influential factors that led to the policy reforms. Eventually, we would be able to figure out the exact factors that led the U.S, the DPJ and the LDP to their conclusions.

The creative nonfiction essays and poetry in this collection explore family survival during the hardest of times--when the desire to give up is at its greatest--as told from the perspective of a woman who is a daughter, sister, wife, mother, and grandmother. These are not stories of defeat. Nor are they merely explorations of death and dying. They are cleebrations of living, of surviving, of loving and being loved against all odds.

Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005. Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) and Student Registered Nurse Anesthetists (SRNAs) were impacted by the storm. CRNAs were required to be on duty during the storm and SRNAs’ education was disrupted by the storm. This dissertation is a compilation of three papers that represent the initial exploratory research into the impact of natural disasters on CRNAs and future CRNAs. The first article was a focused ethnography utilizing focus groups and described the shared experiences of CRNAs who were on duty in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina and the psychosocial impact the storm had on them. Ten CRNAs participated in focus groups that were audio-recorded, transcribed and analyzed. Six major themes emerged from the study and represented how the CRNAs appraised and coped with the stressful events surrounding Hurricane Katrina. The psychosocial impact of Hurricane Katrina on the CRNAs resulted in short-term sleep disturbances and a temporary increase in alcohol consumption. The second article was also a focused ethnography that utilized focus groups to describe the shared experiences of SRNAs whose senior year was disrupted by Hurricane Katrina and the psychosocial impact the storm had on them. Ten former SRNAs participated in focus groups that were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed. Three major themes emerged from the study and represented how the SRNAs appraised and coped with the stressful events surrounding Hurricane Katrina. The psychosocial impact of Hurricane Katrina on the SRNAs resulted in temporary increased alcohol consumption and anxiety. The third article discussed the results of an observational study regarding the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the outcome of the Self-Evaluation Exam (SEE) taken by senior-level students in the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Nurse Anesthesia Program. A convenience sample consisted of 174 former students. Regression analysis revealed the relationship between the overall percentile score of the SEE and the year the test was taken (prior to or after Hurricane Katrina) while adjusting for potential confounding variables. The findings suggest that Hurricane Katrina did not have an impact on the outcome of the SEE taken by these individuals.