This study analyzes the news texts of Typhoon Morakot, applying news discourse analysis and post-colonial concepts to discuss the specific types of aboriginal representation in the media, and the media also shape some specific discourse for aboriginal people. After analyzing the news texts, it shows that mainstream media represent aboriginal as the negative other, while alternative media represent them as the subjects who can acclaim their own rights. These two different discourses imply that there are some complex power relations behind the news texts, the mainstream media reinforce the power from central government and the charity organization. They build a strong and powerful discourse to rationalize their dominance over aboriginals, which excludes aboriginals¡¦ opinions from the public policy. However, this study also shows there is an alternative direction of power; alternative media try to subvert the mainstream discourse. They point out the central government is the trouble maker, aboriginals shouldn¡¦t be scapegoats. Hence, we can find that aboriginals are on the way to establish their own subjects.

The importance of digital information collections is growing. Collections are typically represented with text-only, in a linear list format, which turns out to be a weak representation for cognition. We learned this from empirical research in cognitive psychology, and by conducting a study to develop an understanding of current practices and resulting breakdowns in human experiences of building and utilizing collections. Because of limited human attention and memory, participants had trouble finding specific elements in their collections, resulting in low levels of collection utilization. To address these issues, this research develops new collection representations for visual cognition. First, we present the image+text surrogate, a concise representation for a document, or portion thereof, which is easy to understand and think about. An information extraction algorithm is developed to automatically transform a document into a small set of image+text surrogates. After refinement, the average accuracy performance of the algorithm was 90%. Then, we introduce the composition space to represent collections, which helps people connect elements visually in a spatial format. To ensure diverse information from multiple sources to be presented evenly in the composition space, we developed a new control structure, the ResultDis- tributor. A user study has demonstrated that the participants were able to browse more diverse information using the ResultDistributor-enhanced composition space. Participants also found it easier and more entertaining to browse information in this representation. This research is applicable to represent the information resources in contexts such as search engines or digital libraries. The better representation will enhance the cognitive efficacy and enjoyment of people’s everyday tasks of information searching, browsing, collecting, and discovering.

Few debates spark as much interest as the controversy over how to increase access to higher education, particularly for racial minority groups. Despite the knowledge accumulated on the benefits of diversity, the higher education community knows very little about the determinants of minority student enrollment, or what universities can do to affect minority student representation. This dissertation seeks to investigate the factors that affect variance in minority student enrollment levels at public universities, with particular attention devoted to the political environment. This analysis of the relationship between political institutions and public universities draws on a number of subliteratures in public administration and political science, including theories of political control, descriptive representation, and public management. As one of the first major studies of the politics of higher education, the analysis draws on untapped data that allow for better tests of many of these theories. These data include measures of university enrollments, drawn from the Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Dataset and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, data on political institutions, including racial representation, and interviews of university administrators. The quantitative analysis uses a combination of methods, including ordinary least squares, hierarchical linear modeling, and descriptive statistics. Using a framework of governance to link these subliteratures together allows for progress toward more general theories about the relationship between political institutions and bureaucracy. Substantively, this analysis also adds to our understanding of what factors affect minority enrollments. Chapter V uncovers the redistributive effect of the Hopwood case and California’s Proposition 209, and chapter VI builds on this finding, by testing for the effect of minority representation in state legislatures. Chapter VII then takes a closer look at the Texas system, investigating the effect of the Grutter decisions on enrollments, particularly at the flagship institutions. Overall, findings point to the importance of university-specific characteristics -- such as the institution’s level of selectivity and the values held by the university -- in moderating the influence of political institutions, particularly of court cases and state-level interventions, on minority student enrollment levels.

Students need to build on their own understanding when problem solving. Mathematics reform is moving away from skill and drill types of activities and encouraging students to develop their own approaches to problem solving. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics emphasizes the importance of representation by including it as a process standard in Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (2000) as a means for students to develop mathematically powerful conceptualization. Students use representation to make sense of and communicate mathematical concepts. This study considers the way fourth grade students view and solve division problems and whether problem type affected the choice of strategy. This study also looked at factors that affect students' score performance. Students in extant classrooms were observed in their regular mathematics instructional settings. Data were collected and quantified from pretests and posttests using questions formatted like students see on the state assessment. The results indicate that students moved from pre-algorithmic strategies to algorithmic strategies between pretest and posttest administration. The results also indicate that problem type did not predict students' choice of strategy and did not have an affect on the students' ability to arrive at a correct solution to the problem. This study found that the students' choice of strategy did play a significant role in their quest for correct solutions. The implication is that when students are able to make sense of the problem and choose an appropriate strategy, they are able to successfully solve division problems.

"Ouvrages à consulter": p. (220).

This thesis explores through practice how the process of devising a theatrical performance might affect the constitution of dis/ability identity, centrally engaging with the theories of postmodern feminist, Judith Butler. Initially, the study concentrates on the current trends in disability theory and presents a rationale for the comparative analysis of feminism(s) with disability theory and the disability movement. It pays particular attention to postmodern feminism(s)’ critique of the exclusionary nature of oppositional identity politics. It assesses the opportunities for theorising identity formation opened up by the critical thinking of Butler and the contribution this might make to emerging disability theory. Two types of theatrical intervention are discussed as centrally informing the practical element of this thesis: the first, contemporary disability performance and its creative engagement with access and the second, previous attempts to apply Butler’s provocations to theatrical practice. This thesis investigates how the integration of disability theory and Butlerian theory was achieved through three practical devised performance projects with community groups of disabled participants. The first, BluYesBlu, was a pilot project undertaken with a group of learning disabled devisers/performers. Methodological and ethical issues arising from the practice are considered. The subsequent projects were This is My Life, again with learning disabled participants, and Natural Woman?, with a group of physically disabled collaborators. All three projects incorporated the collection of audience responses and their analysis. This thesis discusses how dis/ability identity was reformulated as an effect of production and reception. As the challenges, issues and the critical thinking that emerged from each project were very dissimilar, this thesis argues that utilising Butler provides a route through ‘difficulty’ to a more open, flexible and inclusive formulation of dis/ability identity than was previously available. Furthermore, the embodying of Butler’s theories in this critical practice validates her theories as politically and ethically effective.

This thesis discusses the interconnection of 'performance' and 'improvisation', which, despite its long and established history, has always proved difficult to definitively pin down. My research question presupposes that 'performance' and 'improvisation' are neither completely separate nor completely interchangeable. I focus on the area where 'performance' and 'improvisation' overlap each other, which I call 'performance improvisation'. The thesis seeks to answer the question, 'What can I induce from materials focussed around the individual "creativities" that might serve to construct a prototypical explanation to define "performance improvisation"? '. The main chapters interpret and analyse materials written and published between the beginning of the twentieth century and the 1990s with particular emphasis on the so-called 'theatre' and 'dance' in North America. The concluding chapter proposes oppositional features of 'performance' and 'improvisation', stating that 'performance improvisation' is a dynamic intertwinement of those features, which manifests in each individual 'creativity'. The conclusion offers a benchmark for future attempts at defining 'performance improvisation'. A brief overview of the commedia dell'arte in Chapter 1 introduces the main chapters. Chapter 2 looks at the correlation of human body and mind. In Chapter 3, I discuss body and mind negotiating with and deviating from traditions and conventions. The scope of the discussion expands in Chapter 4, which considers the idea, or the concept, of 'performance' and 'improvisation' as seen by individuals. Chapter 5 looks at the audience's point of view in relation to the performer's point of view. The argument in those chapters is tested in Chapter 6 against case study materials that discuss highly experimental practices. Chapter 7 concludes the thesis, in which I answer the research question by way of proposing eight pairs of oppositional features that characterise 'performance' and 'improvisation'.

This thesis charts the brief history of the theatre studios run in England between 1935 and 1965 by Michel Saint-Denis (1897-1971) and Michael Chekhov (1891- 1955). They were the London Theatre Studio (1936-1939), run by Saint-Denis; The Chekhov Theatre Studio at Dartington Hall (1936-1938); The Old Vic Theatre School (1947-1952), initially part of the proposed Old Vic Theatre Centre, whose directors were Michel Saint-Denis, George Devine and Glen Byam Shaw; and the RSC Studio (1962- 1965), run by Saint-Denis. All of these studios were dedicated to combining training and experimentation in the development of ensemble companies and were therefore liminal spaces combining elements of a theatre and a theatre school. An introductory section briefly situates the practice of theatre studios in the context of wider narratives of work, craftsmanship and artistry in the period and traces their development from the Moscow Art Theatre Studio of 1905, as well as sketching some significant parallels between Saint-Denis and Chekhov. The first two sections of the thesis then explore the period from 1936 until 1952, looking first at Chekhov’s and then at Saint-Denis’ studios, placing them in the context of the traditions of training and exploration from which they emerged, and examining their practice and their legacies. The final section of the thesis explores the direct impact of their practice on the Post War British Theatre, focusing particularly on the Royal Shakespeare Company whose Studio was run by Saint-Denis, and where Paul Rogers (one of Chekhov’s students) was a leading actor. A short concluding section applies the principles of Chekhov’s and Saint- Denis’ work to the practice of training and experimentation in 2012 and looks to the future, to ask whether the studios whose work is explored in the main body of the thesis have a role to play in the future development of the art of the theatre.

Arabic theatrical identity has been the subject of much research and debate. This thesis focuses on the Syrian playwright Sadallah Wannous (1941-1997) and his search for both a Syrian, and more broadly, an Arabic theatrical identity in the twentieth century. It approaches Wannous’s body of work from a chronological point of view. Starting with his early work in the 1960’s and the 1970’s, to his latest work in the 1990’s the thesis considers Wannous’s search for an Arabic theatrical identity in his Manifestos for A New Arabic Theatre (1970), his ‘Theatre of Politicisation,’ and the ways in which Wannous’s work was influenced by Arabic theatre pioneers such as Al Qabbani (1836-1902), Al Naqqash (1817-1855), Sannu' (1839-1912) and later, Idris (1927-1991) and Al-Hakim (1898 – 1987). This thesis focuses on Wannous’s use of traditional oral performances such as storytelling in a western, Brechtian style to achieve his ‘theatre.’ It considers the ways in which the Brechtian-inspired playwright believed in the role of theatre as a force of change in society, particularly as it related to the problematic of the democratic process and civic engagement in post-colonial Syria. Towards this aim, Wannous paid special attention to audience reception, inasmuch as he felt that it represented a microcosm of society at large. Given a particular combination of political, social and economic influences, my thesis will trace how and why Wannous’s hybrid dramaturgy fell short of being able to provoke audiences into considered or even impulsive reactions. In addition, my thesis outlines the socio-political circumstances that faced the Middle East, and specifically, Syria i.e., the war against Israel. It focuses on how Wannous felt the need to write and, having reconsidered his ideology, reappeared in the 1990’s (after being diagnosed with cancer) to produce work that was stylistically changed by his addition of more mature characters and more in-depth stories. Each phase of his work is accompanied by a detailed analytical study of pertinent examples of his plays.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the aesthetic structure and components of W.G. Sebald’s novel Austerlitz and to show their reciprocal relationship to ethical forms of remembrance for the present and the future. The goal of this project is to explain how fiction may be utilized as a means of meaningful engagement with points of traumatic memory for the purpose of maintaining viable connections to the past across time. The first chapter deals explicitly with the novel’s overall structure and its relation to philosophical forms of thought that facilitate a practical connection to the past through fiction. The next chapter examines the use of refracted or indirect narration as an aesthetic component of this process. The final chapter constitutes an investigation of photography as a structure in this aesthetic that lends itself to the overall obliqueness I see as necessary to the ethics of representation embodied in Austerlitz. / Graduate / 0311