Thesis (Ph. D.)--Washington State University, May 2010. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on June 17, 2010). "Department of English." Includes bibliographical references (p. 135-139).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Comparative Literature, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Jul 6, 2010). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-10, Section: A, page: 3842. Adviser: Joan Hawkins.

<p> The sexualization of girls is an ongoing issue that has garnered much attention in recent years, with one contributing factor, media, becoming an ever-increasing part of children&rsquo;s lives. This study explored four questions: How do mothers and teachers perceive the media&rsquo;s influence on young girls&rsquo; identity development? To what extent do these caregivers engage young girls in analyzing media messages? What observed behaviors of 4-year old girls indicate media&rsquo;s influence? and What are caregivers interpretations and responses to these behaviors? Analyzing the perceptions of mothers and female teachers of 4-year old girls contributes to a better understanding of how girls are influenced, both by caregivers&rsquo; actions and by media consumed. </p><p> Twelve mothers and female early childhood teachers from three South Florida preschools were interviewed to better understand how girls are influenced by media, and to gain a more holistic perspective of the potential impact of media on young girls&rsquo; behaviors and their emerging understanding of what it means to be a girl today. The findings indicate that mothers and female teachers perceive media to be influential in the lives of girls, both in terms of general child development and young girls&rsquo; gender identity development. The participants are observing behaviors in their 4-year old girls that indicate media&rsquo;s influence; these behaviors include sexualized dancing, attitude and language changes, and requests for sexualized clothing and beauty products. Although these mothers and teachers do not yet help girls analyze media messages, they do, however, engage in significant guidance as they interpret and respond to the observed behaviors. These findings reflect a need for media literacy education for parents and teachers, as well as comprehensive sexualization awareness and prevention education for children, parents, and teachers.</p><p>

<p> After the bloody Tiananmen crackdown in 1989, the legitimacy of the Communist Party of China (CCP) suffered a devastating blow among the overseas Chinese (OC). The CCP responded to the challenge by implementing transnational outreach policy in the OC community, which includes substantial efforts to increase the Party&rsquo;s influence in the overseas Chinese-language media (OCLM). By conducting a qualitative analysis of the evolution of the CCP's OC policy, this thesis finds that the Party has made tremendous progress in achieving the policy&rsquo;s strategic goals: modernization and transnational legitimacy. The CCP&rsquo;s increased influence in the OCLM has made crucial contributions to the Party's success in restoring transnational legitimacy in the OC community. This thesis finds that the China News Service (CNS), China's second-largest news agency operating under the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, plays a major role in the CCP's attempt to influence the OCLM and centralize the production of Chinese-language news.</p>

Abstract not available.

This article considers the impact of new technologies on the adolescent experience of live, literary theatre. Drawing together the work of theorists in literacies, new technologies and audience studies, together with brain research, and the results of a focus group of four secondary students who have seen four plays at Canada's National Arts Centre, it examines the consequences of young people's immersion in digital culture and the new mindset that often results. The expectation of instant access to data, inter-connectivity, stimulation and control can make it difficult for adolescents to decode the metaphorical aspects of a theatrical performance. The article concludes that language arts and dramatic arts educators have a key role in teaching students how to decode---and therefore enjoy and appreciate---a play. Keywords: theatre, new technologies, new literacies, school audiences, youth audiences, discourse, space, audience studies

While media have fast become an integral part of young children's daily lives, much remains unknown about how early media use may be influencing learning and development. The current study examined the relations between the amount of time young children spend viewing children's media, character familiarity, and their emerging gender knowledge. References to young children's media use in this report are referring to their viewing of children's shows on television and/or on DVDs. Television/ DVDs remain the predominant way most families view children's shows on a regular basis (Rideout, 2011). In the first phase of the study, parents responded to a survey on children's home media use and familiarity with animated characters. Surveys were distributed through 25 participating child care centers in Massachusetts. Parent survey responses helped determine the media-use measures for the study and the range of characters included in the testing phase with children, between 21 and 43 months (N =169). In phase two, children's character familiarity and gender knowledge of characters, people, and objects were examined through a series of four picture-identification tasks presented on a touchscreen computer monitor. The study revealed that young children are processing gender-based information from the characters they frequently see in children's media. Children with high levels of character familiarity significantly outperformed those with low levels on the gender knowledge of people and characters tasks. Results also found character familiarity to be predictive of children's gender knowledge. Although girls' and boys' overall familiarity with characters was comparable, girls (n = 84) were significantly more familiar with female and other-sex characters than boys. Boys (n = 85) were significantly more familiar with same-sex characters than girls. Another major finding revealed that children's media viewing did not directly contribute to their gender knowledge. However, media viewing was significantly related to and predictive of character familiarity. Together, the main findings provide new information revealing that young children's nascent ability to identify the sexes is mediated by their familiarity with the animated characters they see on screen. The results also reveal the significant contribution of media-based factors in children's gender-knowledge acquisition.

Yesterday We Were Girls is a body of work which includes photographs selected from family albums and current images I create based in and around my childhood and adolescent memories. The photographs are accompanied by porcelain recreations of precious girlhood treasures, handwritten poetic prose, and an installation which also includes found furniture and a large open book form. Focused on my lived experience of the tension between intimacy and distance, acceptance and rejection, as well as the hidden and that which is laid bare, this body of work is an exploration of identity, female life cycles, family history, and mother – daughter relationships. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (MFA)--Florida Atlantic University, 2021. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

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