Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This study is a hermeneutic phenomenology of transgenderism as it is valued and appreciated by adults who self-identify along the transgender spectrum. As a population-at-risk due to a social environment reliant on a dualistic notion of gender, transgender people are of particular concern to social workers, who are charged with identifying and building on client strengths. Yet the preponderance of the academic literature has reinforced a negative, problematic, or even pathological view of transgenderism. The literature also has tended to focus narrowly on transsexualism, leaving a gap in our knowledge of other forms of transgenderism. The present study—grounded primarily in the philosophy and methodology of Heideggerian phenomenology, but also drawing on Gadamerian hermeneutics—sought to understand the lived experience of transgenderism as it is appreciated by a range of transgender adults. A purposive sample of fifteen self-identified transgender adults who reported appreciating being transgender was recruited using snowball sampling across three Midwestern states. Each participated in an individual, open-ended interview designed to tap their lived experience with transgenderism as a valued aspect of life. Transcribed interview data were analyzed using Heideggerian hermeneutic phenomenological processes as suggested by various researchers in nursing, social work, and other disciplines. The results of this study suggest that intimate connections (with one’s self, with others, and with a larger purpose) constitute the essence of the lived experience of appreciating one’s transgenderism. These findings help prepare social workers to recognize the strengths of the transgender population and to engage in culturally competent practice. In addition, this research offers new knowledge for improving social work curricular content on transgenderism and for justifying trans-inclusive social policies. The study also contributes to the overall research literature on transgenderism and qualitative methods.

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Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Without a public arena, the women’s abolitionist movement employed traditional women’s activities in conjunction with writing for publication as their rhetorical force. Female antislavery societies incorporated a range of tactics including sewing clothing for escaped slaves, organizing fund-raising bazaars, and petitioning politicians. As with societies of men, women elected recording secretaries, submitted reports and addresses for newspaper publication, and some groups even developed tracts for public distribution. Denied the right to speak publicly, female antislavery societies used organizational documentation not only as a device to record their activities but also as a persuasive tool to shape public opinion. Many of the female antislavery societies communicated through the antislavery press. Local, regional, and national papers published constitutions, resolutions, reports, and addresses of women’s organizations. The Henry County Female Anti-Slavery Society (HCFASS) maintained vigorous publication activities. During their eight-year existence, from 1841 to 1849, the Free Labor Advocate, a regional antislavery newspaper, published HCFASS resolutions and addresses almost every year. In addition to Indiana periodicals, HCFASS leaders sent publication requests to national newspapers. Although scholars have profiled several New England societies, the characteristics of individual societies in the Midwest remain slim. Since the HCFASS achieved the most prolific publication record of any female society in Indiana it provides a strong case study for female antislavery rhetoric in the Midwest.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Precipitation trends and their driving mechanisms are examined over a variety of spatial and temporal scales using a multi-proxy, decadally-resolved sediment record from Martin Lake that spans the last 2300 years. This unique archive from a northern Indiana kettle lake documents significant climate variability during the last 2 millennia and shows that the Midwest has experienced a wide range of precipitation regimes in the late Holocene. Three independent proxies (i.e., oxygen and carbon isotopes of authigenic carbonate and %lithics) record variations in synoptic, in-lake and watershed processes related to hydroclimate forcing, respectively. Together, these proxies reveal enhanced summer conditions, with a long period of water column stratification and enhanced summer rainfall from 450 to 1200 CE, a period of time that includes the so-called Medieval Climate Anomaly (950-1300 CE). During the Little Ice Age, from 1260 to 1800 CE, the three proxy records all indicate drought, with decreased summer rainfall and storm events along with decreased lake stratification. The Martin Lake multi-proxy record tracks other Midwest climate records that record water table levels and is out-of-phase with hydroclimate records of warm season precipitation from the High Plains and western United States. This reveals a potential warm season precipitation dipole between the Midwest and western United States that accounts for the spatial pattern of late Holocene drought variability (i.e., when the Midwest is dry, the High Plains and the western United States are wet, and vice versa). The spatiotemporal patterns of late Holocene North American droughts are consistent with hydroclimate anomalies associated with mean state changes in the Pacific North American teleconnection (PNA). Close associations between late Holocene North American hydroclimate and records of Northern Hemisphere temperatures and the Pacific Ocean-atmosphere system suggests a mechanistic linkage between these components of the global climate system that is in line with observational data and climate models. Based on our results, predominantly –PNA conditions and enhanced Midwestern summer precipitation events are likely to result from continued warming of the climate system. In the western United States, current drought conditions could represent the new mean hydroclimate state.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Advocacy, in the form of direct service, is a critical type of intervention to help intimate partner or domestic violence survivors. Little is known the best practices for social workers and other helping professionals to assist survivors of domestic violence who present for services at shelters, non-residential outreach, and legal settings. This dissertation reviews relevant research related to domestic violence direct services, which is also called advocacy. The study also outlines a brief overview of the history, theory, and paradigms of thought related to the movement to end intimate partner violence. The research project used the grounded theory method to conduct and analyze semi-structured, in-depth interviews with advocates at domestic violence agency to answer the research question: What constructs and practices inform the delivery of direct services to survivors of domestic violence from shelter and non-residential service advocates? A total of 22 women working primarily with domestic violence survivors in shelters and non-residential agencies participated in the dissertation study. Participants came from one Midwestern and one Southwestern state. The interviewees had a range 1-20 years of experience in the field of domestic violence advocacy. Eighteen of 22 participants had experienced some sort of intimate violence in their lifetime. Several important findings emerged. Advocates typically enter the field because of personal motivations. The empowerment and strengths-based perspective are important to the delivery of advocacy services, as is belief in hope. Advocates typically endorse a survivor centered approach to their work. Data analysis revealed a concurrent process of advocacy that occurs within advocates and between advocates and survivors. This parallel process is marked in the earlier state of assessing and grounding; in the middle stage of establishing and affirming; and the ending stages of hoping and reflecting. These findings suggest the importance of personal experiences, hope, and reflection in the delivery of advocacy services. Community collaboration and support are essential to maintaining services that are aimed at the individual needs of survivors. More research is needed about the perceptions of services among survivors of domestic violence.

The phonological comparisons between English and CJK vowels and consonants were provided for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (CJK) singers with an effective means to sing English songs with proper diction. The phonological approach – describing the specific position of articulators – is a useful pedagogical tool for CJK singers. However, if voice teachers, whether they have taught CJK students or not, could share their strategies, it might help future CJK students and their voice teachers as well. Through the survey, which was conducted between April 2013 to May 2013 with members of the Great Lakes Region of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), the following research question was conducted: “What are the perceptions of voice teachers regarding English pronunciation difficulties among native Chinese, Japanese, and Korean students?” This is a convenience sample, but there is no significant difference from the other NATS regions among teachers. I do not believe that I would have received different results from other regions of voice teachers. In order to find solutions, not only should teachers be able to perceive the difficulties, but they also should be able to suggest training methods based on phonological analysis. I compared these two sources of strategies among speech pathologists and voice teachers. The survey results showed that the voice teachers in the Great Lake Region of NATS have considerable perceptions regarding the difficulties of the CJK students. Their teaching strategies focus on demonstrating the correct placement and shape of the articulators in various ways. With these strategies, if they add more specific exercises, which are found in the appendices of this dissertation, it would save time and enable CJK singers to have better enunciation. / School of Music

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This study examined the roles of commitment and attributions in uninvolved partner responses to imagined sexual infidelity. Undergraduate students (N = 298) in dating relationships participated in a hypothetical sexual infidelity scenario in which they imagined their romantic partner engaged in sexual intercourse with someone else. Measured-variable path analysis was used to evaluate the predictive ability of commitment and attributions on negative emotional responses and predicted relationship continuation. The hypothesized conceptual model demonstrated poor fit to sample data. Through exploratory model building, an alternative model was generated that demonstrated good fit to sample data. A subset of commitment, investment, predicted negative affect. In addition, attributions predicted predictions of relationship continuation. Negative emotional responses were highly endorsed on a validated measure for emotional responses, the PANAS-X (Watson & Clark, 1994). Further, study findings highlight the importance of the use of a compliance check in assessing successful participant completion of imagined infidelity scenario. Unique study contributions include directions for further conceptual model development for this area of research as well as support for the use of compliance checks and careful selection of infidelity scenario.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This thesis looks at the role that public history, expressed through civic pride and public memory, and military history have played in shaping the history of Vincennes, Indiana, from the battle fought by George Rogers Clark to the memorial named after him and finally with the four United States Navy ships named Vincennes.