Over the past few years, White Americans have been exposed to moments of "racial reckonings" –where America was forced to realize racial injustice—often caused by police killings of Black Americans. The summer of 2020 sparked various discussions about White allies and their role in racial justice. Previous scholarship has explored White racial awakenings, also referred to as turning points, when White allies transition into allyship; however, little is known about how these narratives affect White allies' definitions and practices of White allyship. By interviewing self-identifying White allies in college, I examine types of turning point narratives and how they correspond to understandings of ally definitions and practices. I argue that experiencing turning points led White allies to similar definitions and practices of White allyship depending on whether these points occurred in routine or non-routine White experiences. Turning points that arise from typical White experiences (exposure to diversity and education) led White allies to common allyship failures and complicity with racialized structures. Alternatively, turning points resulting from uncommon White experiences (exposure to protests and diverse families) led allies to definitions and practices representing non-complicity with racialized structures. / Master of Science / Over the past few years, White Americans have been exposed to moments of race related dialogues, often caused by police killings of Black Americans. The summer of 2020 sparked various discussions about White allies and their role in racial justice. Previous scholarship has explored White racial awakenings, also referred to as turning points, when White allies transition into allyship; however, little is known about how these narratives affect White allies' definitions and practice of White allyship. By interviewing self-identifying White allies in college, I examine types of turning points and how they correspond ally definitions and practices. I argue that experiencing turning points led White allies to similar definitions and practices of White allyship depending on whether these points occurred in routine or non-routine White experiences. Turning points that arise from typical White experiences (exposure to diversity and education) led White allies to common allyship failures. Alternatively, turning points resulting from uncommon White experiences (exposure to protests and diverse families) led allies to beneficial definitions and practices of allyship.

Working from Charland's (1987) description of constitutive rhetoric, this thesis is concerned what the popular zombie apocalypse television series The Walking Dead (TWD) has to say regarding survival behavior in a post-apocalyptic world. TWD's plot focuses primarily on the relationships between survivor characters situated among the crumbling remains of society and humanity. An attempt is made to show how TWD (1) establishes a common ideology among its characters, and therefore (2) constitutes its characters as a primary audience through an ideology of inhumanity by three narrative ideological effects. In doing so, the study aims to advance understanding of constitutive rhetoric in a temporal sense and also to emphasize that popular culture artifacts suggest viewers as secondary audiences and implied auditors tied to ideologies. The results of this analysis suggest the new order of a post-apocalyptic world binds survivors into a collective and transhistorical subject. These characters are tied to their past before the apocalypse and also become relatively relatable for viewers. / Master of Arts

Starting with my own travel experiences, and with the help of poets, Elizabeth Bishop, Jorie Graham, and Emily Dickinson, I create a theory of displacement, called Vertigo. Vertigo is not only a sense of falling, but a sense of detachment from reality that I felt traversing through different cultures, languages, and worlds for the first time. Vertigo is a liminal, transformative space that allows an individual to experience the created nature of their own worldview and culture. This is also a physical experience, as Bishop, Graham, and Dickinson give evidence to in their poetry, as the individual experiences a heightened sense of their physical bodies. This work acknowledges the privileged position of the traveler, and reveals that often the observations we make in this privileged position can be moves of colonization. Poetry is one way to both acknowledge these moves, and to also show what we can learn from these moments when we continue to question and explore. Additionally, poetry, as a medium of mindful reflection, allows for a language that is capable of handling the physical knowledge of the body; the mental mapping of the cultural and personal realities of the individual; and also the geographic and political landscapes that surround an individual or population, simultaneously. With this understanding, the theoretical framework for displacement, bodies, and place, which Bishop, Graham, and Dickinson give us, is the foundation for exploring how poetry can provide knowledge for more 'scientific' writing, such as, cultural geography or cognitive science. / Master of Arts

Narratives are fundamental to our understanding of the world, and they are pervasive in all activities that involve representing events in time. Narrative analysis has a series of applications in computational journalism, intelligence analysis, and misinformation modeling. In particular, narratives are a key element of the sensemaking process of analysts. In this work, we propose a narrative model and visualization method to aid analysts with this process. In particular, we propose the narrative maps framework—an event-based representation that uses a directed acyclic graph to represent the narrative structure—and a series of empirically defined design guidelines for map construction obtained from a user study. Furthermore, our narrative extraction pipeline is based on maximizing coherence—modeled as a function of surface text similarity and topical similarity—subject to coverage—modeled through topical clusters—and structural constraints through the use of linear programming optimization. For the purposes of our evaluation, we focus on the news narrative domain and showcase the capabilities of our model through several case studies and user evaluations. Moreover, we augment the narrative maps framework with interactive AI techniques—using semantic interaction and explainable AI—to create an interactive narrative model that is capable of learning from user interactions to customize the narrative model based on the user's needs and providing explanations for each core component of the narrative model. Throughout this process, we propose a general framework for interactive AI that can handle similar models to narrative maps—that is, models that mix continuous low-level representations (e.g., dimensionality reduction) with more abstract high-level discrete structures (e.g., graphs). Finally, we evaluate our proposed framework through an insight-based user study. In particular, we perform a quantitative and qualitative assessment of the behavior of users and explore their cognitive strategies, including how they use the explainable AI and semantic interaction capabilities of our system. Our evaluation shows that our proposed interactive AI framework for narrative maps is capable of aiding users in finding more insights from data when compared to the baseline. / Doctor of Philosophy / Narratives are essential to how we understand the world. They help us make sense of events that happen over time. This research focuses on developing a method to assist people, like journalists and analysts, in understanding complex information. To do this, we introduce a new approach called narrative maps. This model allows us to extract and visualize stories from text data. To improve our model, we use interactive artificial intelligence techniques. These techniques allow our model to learn from user feedback and be customized to fit different needs. We also use these methods to explain how the model works, so users can understand it better. We evaluate our approach by studying how users interact with it when doing a task with news stories. We consider how useful the system is in helping users gain insights. Our results show that our method aids users in finding important insights compared to traditional methods.

[ES] A pesar del creciente desarrollo de estudios sobre personas transgénero en campos particulares desde principios de la década de 1990, solo en la última década se ha experimentado un crecimiento explosivo de la visibilidad de personas transgénero en la cultura popular de Occidente. La rapidez del progreso, en comparación con los movimientos sociales anteriores, se debe en gran parte a la ubicuidad de las tecnologías de comunicación en línea y digitales. El acceso a dichos medios también ha brindado oportunidades de producción y publicación para los artistas, especialmente aquellos que se identifican con demográficos marginados, excluidos o previamente ignorados, como la comunidad transgénero. Dada la relación situacional entre estas tecnologías y los artistas trans, esta investigación pregunta cómo y qué utiliza, produce o publica un artista trans como yo, como parte de una práctica creativa multimedia, y postula que existen características compartidas que existen entre muchas experiencias transexuales y experiencias postmedia. Para responder a estas preguntas de investigación, este texto despliega y combina voces subjetivas y críticas dentro de un modelo exegético conectivo. Analizo los nuevos conocimientos representados por el trabajo y los procesos de la práctica creativa relacionada a través del desarrollo y la aplicación de conceptos existentes de fenomenología transgénero. Y, en última instancia, la propia misión de este texto se presenta como una acción autoetnográfica y una declaración política de la experiencia vivida. / [CA] Malgrat el creixent desenvolupament d'estudis sobre persones transgènere a àmbits particulars, des de principi de la dècada de 1990, sols a l'última dècada s'ha experimentat un creixement explosiu de la visibilitat de persones transgènere a la cultura popular d'occident. La rapidesa del progrés, en comparació amb els moviments socials anteriors, és deguda en gran part a la ubiqüitat de les tecnologies de comunicació en línia i digitals. L'accés als susdits mitjans també ha brindat oportunitats de producció i publicacions per als artistes, especialment aquells que s'identifiquen amb demografies marginals, exclosos o prèviament ignorats, com la comunitat transgènere. Donada la relació situacional entre aquestes tecnologies i els artistes trans, aquesta investigació pregunta com i què utilitza, produeix o publica un artista trans com jo, com part d'una pràctica creativa multimedia i postula que existeixen característiques compartides entre nombroses experiències transexuals i postmedia. Pera respondre aquestes qüestions d'investigació, aquest text desenvolupa i combina veus subjectives i crítiques dintre d'un model exegètic connectiu. Analitze els nous coneixements representats pel treball i els processos de la pràctica creativa relacionada mijantçant el desenvolupament i l'aplicació de conceptes existents de fenomenologia transgènere. I, en última instància, la pròpia missió d'aquest text es presenta com una acció autoetnogràfica i una declaració política de l'experiència viscuda. / [EN] Despite an increasing development of transgender studies within particular fields since the early 1990's, it has only been in the last decade or so that an explosive growth of transgender visibility has been experienced in popular culture in the West. The rapidity of progress, compared to previous social movements, is due in large part to the ubiquity of online and digital communication technologies. Access to such media has also provided production and publishing opportunities for artists, especially those identifying with marginalized, ostracized or previously overlooked demographics like the transgender community. Given the situational relationship between these technologies and trans artists, this research asks how and what a trans artist such as myself utilizes, produces or publishes as part of a multimedia creative practice, and posits that there are shared characteristics that exist between many transgender and postmedia experiences. In order to answer these research questions, this text deploys and blends both subjective and critical voices within a connective exegetical model. I analyse the new knowledge represented by the work and processes of the related creative practice through the further development and application of extant concepts of transgender phenomenology. And, ultimately, the very undertaking of this text itself is presented as an autoethnographic action and a political statement of lived experience. / Koss, KB. (2020). Transgender Identities in Postmedia Audiovisual Narratives [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/140555

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-11-05T12:59:08Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Annye Cristiny Tessaro.pdf: 2558658 bytes, checksum: 6ae482af1522ccf49fba1f5b8ed87511 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-05T12:59:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Annye Cristiny Tessaro.pdf: 2558658 bytes, checksum: 6ae482af1522ccf49fba1f5b8ed87511 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-09-12 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Humanity has always used narratives to communicate. Over the years, theorists have realized that there was a common basic structure and formulation in the narratives that allowed stories to perpetuate and adapt in order to form new stories. The contributions of Aristotle, Vladimir Propp and Jung, based on the observation of a varied corpus of tales and fables, enabled the scholar Joseph Campbell to elaborate a narrative structure called “Hero’s Journey”, an elliptical and evolutionary cycle in which the central axis is the hero (and also its variations, such as the anti-hero). This structure is widely used in the construction of contemporary narratives which paved the way for writers such as Vogler and Mckee allowing them to propose it’s adaptation centered on the protagonist-hero for literature and cinema. From the 1970s, with the evolution towards an interactive possibility, the entertainment industry began to incorporate, although modestly, the narrative as a possibility to improve the immersion in games using, most of the time, the Writer’s Journey (structure adapted by Vogler) as a parameter for the construction of narratives in games. However, it is essential to realize that games have specific peculiarities, besides a high content of interaction differing from other media and, therefore, its structure can not be conceived in the same way as it was proposed by Vogler, requiring an adaptation which addresses such particularities. In addition, usually professionals who engage in storytelling for games are screenwriters (which does not seem to be the most appropriate because the art of narrative goes beyond the script), or are writers (who mostly lack specific knowledge and qualification in the games area). Considering what was stated above, we argue for the adoption of a Narrative Designer (term created in 2006 by Game Designer Stephen Dinehart) to designate this professional whose knowledge involves multiple skills – such as programming, art and writing – combining the areas of Narratology, Ludology, and Game Design. Thus, the purpose of this thesis is to investigate conventional narrative structures and how they are presented in games, which are the elements and tools that can help the narrative designer in the creative process / A humanidade sempre se utilizou de narrativas para se comunicar. Ao longo dos anos, os teóricos perceberam haver nas narrativas uma estrutura e uma formulação básica comum que propiciava que as histórias se perpetuassem e se adaptassem formando novas histórias. As contribuições de Aristóteles, Vladimir Propp e Jung, fundamentadas com base na observação de um corpus variado de contos e de fábulas, possibilitaram ao estudioso Joseph Campbell elaborar uma estrutura narrativa denominada “Jornada do Herói”, um ciclo elíptico e evolutivo no qual o eixo central é o herói (e também suas variações, tal como o anti-herói). Essa estrutura é amplamente utilizada na construção de narrativas contemporâneas e abriu o caminho para que roteiristas como Vogler e Mckee propusessem sua adaptação centrada no protagonista-herói para a literatura e o cinema, Com a evolução das possibilidades interativas, a indústria de entretenimento passou a incorporar, a partir da década de 1970, ainda que modestamente, a narrativa como possibilidade de refinar a imersão nos games utilizando, na maioria das vezes, a Jornada do Escritor (estrutura adaptada por Vogler) como parâmetro para construção das narrativas em games. No entanto, é essencial que se perceba que os games possuem particularidades específicas, além de um alto teor de interação diferenciando-se das outras mídias e, portanto, sua estrutura não pode ser concebida da mesma forma como foi proposto por Vogler, requerendo uma adaptação que contemple tais particularidades. Além disso, geralmente os profissionais que se dedicam à arte narrativa para games ou são roteiristas (que não parece ser o mais adequado, pois a arte narrativa vai além do roteiro), ou são escritores (que em sua maioria não possuem conhecimento e qualificações específicas na área de games). Diante do exposto, defende-se a adoção de Designer de Narrativas (termo criado, em 2006, pelo Game Designer Stephen Dinehart) para designar esse profissional cujo conhecimento envolve múltiplas habilidades – como programação, arte e escrita – combinando as áreas da narratologia, da ludologia e do Game Design. Sendo assim, a proposta desta tese é investigar as estruturas narrativas convencionais e como elas se apresentam nos games, quais são os elementos e as ferramentas que podem auxiliar o designer de narrativas no processo criativo

This research explores the relationships between visual and written narratives, as well as the quality of engagement in art and writing processes. The study focuses on the work of second grade students in the art education classroom at a small rural elementary school. Data collection included: direct observation of the students, teacher notes, rubrics, student surveys, and student projects. The aim was to collect information on the ways in which students prefer to create and share their narratives. Results show that by providing students with choices in their learning, they are more engaged in the narrative process. It also demonstrates that by providing a variety of narrative methods, particularly the inclusion of image making, students will produce stories that are richer, more elaborate, and engaging.

This analysis of the professional wrestling genre attempts to understand the complex reading practices employed by wrestling’s fan community. I argue that wrestling fans consume these texts in the context of both the official narratives of media producers and the meta-narratives that exist independently of the official texts. In addition, I argue that wrestling fans display characteristics normally reserved for traditional media producers, collaborating with those producers over the direction of the official narratives. This process of collaboration is indicative of the blurring of the boundaries between textual producers and consumers and necessitates a theoretical conception of the audience that accounts for these unique fan practices. I have called this audience conception the productive audience model.

La rigidesa de la teoria econòmica, especialment en l'assumpció de la racionalitat dels agents econòmics i en el tractament objectiu de la informació ha dificultat encabir l'emprenedor en els seus models. La tesi aprofundeix en l'estudi de l'aprenentatge emprenedor com a mitjà per a superar aquest problema. A partir de la informació obtinguda mitjançant l'observació directa, les entrevistes en profunditat i l'examen de documents, es descriuen 3 casos que permeten analitzar com els emprenedors donen sentit a les seves accions i utilitzen les narratives i la retòrica. Els resultats ens mostren diferents tipologies d'emprenedors, vocacionals i oportunistes en la fase prèvia a la constitució de la societat i aventurers i creadors en la posterior. Els vocacionals entenen la creació d'una empresa pròpia com un projecte vital. Els oportunistes actuen perquè creuen que una determinada idea de negoci representa una oportunitat que cal aprofitar. Els aventurers posen èmfasi en l'empresa com a font d'experiències i reptes i els creadors viuen l'empresa com una creació personal. Pel que fa a les narratives, en tots els casos observats els emprenedors relaten una narrativa èpica del seu procés, en el que van superant els diferents reptes. Utilitzen dos tipus fonamentals de micro-narratives: les motivacionals, en les que realcen aquells valors que donen sentit a les seves accions i les d'assoliment, en les que destaquen els valors que consideren fonamentals per a que funcioni la seva empresa. També s'observa com utilitzen la retòrica per a persuadir i persuadir-se a ells mateixos i que no prenen decisions racionals, sinó que a partir d'una intuïció heurística van configurant una idea plausible - molts cops en forma de narrativa - construïda a partir d'arguments que els porta a prendre decisions raonables. Els arguments d'ethos i per exemples són les principals fonts que els persuadeixen que cal realitzar una acció, mentre que els arguments de logos resulten decisius per a descartar-la. Els resultats ens permeten destacar el rol persuasiu dels emprenedors, tant en la seva activitat quotidiana com en la seva funció social i econòmica. La idea d'un emprenedor persuasiu permet comprendre millor el seu comportament, ofereix eines per a millorar la seva tasca, reforça la idea del llenguatge i especialment dels arguments com a creadors de valor econòmic i facilita encabir l'emprenedor en la teoria econòmica. / La rigidez de la teoría económica, especialmente en su asunción de la racionalidad de los agentes económicos i en el trato objetivo de la información han dificultado introducir el emprendedor en sus modelos. La tesis profundiza en el estudio del aprendizaje emprendedor como medio para superar éste problema. A partir de la información obtenida a través de la observación directa, las entrevistas en profundidad i el examen de documentos, se describen 3 casos para analizar como los emprendedores dan sentido a sus acciones y utilizan las narrativas y la retórica. Los resultados nos muestran diferentes topologías de emprendedores, vocacionales y oportunistas en la fase previa a la constitución de la sociedad y aventureros y creadores en la posterior. Los vocacionales entienden la creación de una empresa propia como un proyecto vital. Los oportunistas actúan porque creen que una determinada idea de negocio representa una oportunidad que hay que aprovechar. Los aventureros ponen énfasis en la empresa como fuente de experiencias y retos, y los creadores viven la empresa como una creación personal. En referencia a las narrativas, en todos los casos observados, los emprendedores relatan una narrativa épica de su proceso, en el que van superando los distintos retos. Utilizan dos tipos de micro-narrativas: las motivacionales, en las que subrayan los valores que dan sentido a sus acciones y las de logro, en las que destacan los valores que consideran fundamentales para el buen funcionamiento de su empresa. También se observa como utilizan la retórica para persuadir y persuadirse a si mismos y que no toman decisiones racionales, si no que a partir de una intuición heurística van configurando una idea plausible - muchas veces en forma de narrativa - construida a partir de argumentos que les lleva a tomar decisiones razonables. Los argumentos de ethos y por ejemplos son las principales fuentes que los persuaden para que realicen una determinada acción, mientras que los de logos resultan decisivos para descartarlas. Los resultados nos permiten destacar el rol persuasivo del emprendedor, tanto en su actividad cuotidiana como en su función social y económica. La idea de un emprendedor persuasivo permite comprender mejor su comportamiento, ofrece herramientas para mejorar sus labores, refuerza la idea del lenguaje y especialmente de los argumentos como creadores de valor económico y facilita incorporar el emprendedor en la teoría económica. / Stiffness of economic theory, when it assumes economic agents' rationality and objective information, has obstructed to fit entrepreneurs in its models. This thesis extends the study of entrepreneurial learning as a way to solve the indicated problems. It describes three case studies built on gathered information from direct observation, deep-interviews and documents examination. They allow us to analyze how entrepreneurs give meaning to their actions and how they use narratives and rhetoric. Results show different typologies of entrepreneurs, vocational and opportunists in the stage prior to the creation of the company and adventurers and creators in the subsequent one. Vocational entrepreneurs understand the creation of a company as a vital project. Opportunists try to take profit of what they believe is a good idea. The adventurers emphasize the idea of the company as a source of experiences and challenges, while creators conceive it as a personal creation. Referring to narratives, in all the observed cases, respondents expounded an epic narrative of their process, where they overcome challenges. They use two kinds of micro-narratives: motivational narratives, where they highlight values let them give sense to their actions and achievement narratives, where they emphasize values that consider essential for the proper performance of their company. We also observe that entrepreneurs use rhetoric to convince others and persuade themselves. They do not take rational decisions, but starting form a heuristic intuition, they build with arguments a plausible idea - usually in a narrative way - that leads them to take reasonable decisions. Ethos and arguments by examples usually convince them to act in a certain way, while they generally use logos arguments to refuse some action. Results allow us to highlight the persuasive role of entrepreneurs, both in their daily activity and in their social and economic function. The idea of a persuasive entrepreneur brings us a better understanding of their behavior, offers us tools to improve their performance, enhances the idea of language and arguments as economic value creators and facilitates to fit entrepreneurs in the economic theory.

Thesis (M.A.)--Youngstown State University, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-125).