Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 1968. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [192]-197). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

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The primary intent of this thesis is to examine foster care services. An attempt has been made to study, from a dual perspective, the relevance of discharge and the relevance of foster care services for Black children and the Black community. Juvenile boys are increasingly exhibiting behavioral problems such that the family is having to look outside of the nuclear and extended units for supportive alternatives. While the intent of the thesis is to examine discharge and Black children in foster care, the major concern is the institutionalization of Black males and the impact this syndrome is having on the Black community. After beginning with a brief history of foster care and a selected review of the literature, the thesis focuses on the central topic: the study of a sample discharge group from a foster care institutional residence program in New York City. The main source of information was the agency's population information forms. The separation experience was chosen as a focus of study for two reasons. First of all, the discharge experience can be a traumatic and confusing episode to adolescents who have developed a psychodynamic profile that makes them dependent on institutional living. Secondly, this examination will begin to draw attention to the effect the foster care experience has on their future development and the impact the system has on the Black community. It is therefore imperative to begin on examination of what happens to adolescent Black males when they leave foster placement.

The purpose of this study is to bring to the forefront the importance of black humor in the lives of African-Americans. The cultural roots of black humor began in Africa and were transported to America where Africans were forced to live as an enslaved people. Humor is a defining factor which contributed to the survival of blacks living in an oppressed state. Black people continue to live in survival mode and the researcher evaluates how black humor is a significant component to overcoming a life of adversity. All genres of literature evolve from one generation to the next. The genre of black humor is no different. This study will disclose how the dynamics of black humor evolve from the days of the enslaved entertaining the plantation masters, to the era of minstrelsy, and into the twentieth century with the rise of black comedy. Each period of black humor will demonstrate the profound effect humor has in the lives of black people.

This thesis offers a comprehensive examination of the intellectual contributions of John Glover Jackson, an African American historian. Jackson, similiar to many other African American scholars, is self trained in the field of African history. This self training is a crucial element in this presentation for it is an attempt to present the autodidact's efforts and contributions as valid. This attempt reviews the archeological, anthropological, and cultural evidence presented by Jackson relating to his interpretations of man, God, and civilization. The methodology utilized in this research consists mainly of examining secondary data. Primary materials include interviews, video recordings, and recorded lectures. Critiques of the scholarly content of these materials are included in the assessment of Jackson's work. Iconographic, linguistic and ethnological evidence will be presented as interpreted by Jackson. The findings demonstrate that Jackson's contributions were virtually ignored. The reasons for this disregard are several. The dissenting nature of his presentation, his atheist reasoning and his lack of diplomacy contributed to his neglect. The results of this study carry wide reaching implications in the different fields of historical research. An Important finding, for example, is that formal university training is not an absolute prerequisite in the writing of history. Of greater significance is the evidence presented and the integrity of the historian's scholarship. The autodidact and the formally trained scholar have much to offer historiography. Neither can be ignored if honest scholastic advancements is intended. This exploring of the contributions of the self taught scholar, John G. Jackson, attempts to support such a conclusion.

This study examines the use of Kongo cosmology as a theory of reading African-American literature. By analyzing the philosophical modes and belief systems of the Bakongo people, a general view of their cosmos is constructed and establishes the Kongo cosmogram used as the basis of this study. The community, crossroads, elders, and circularity of life all prove to be crucial elements in the Kongo cosmogram. These elements all have respective roles in the operation of the Kongo cosmogram as a literary theory. As the focus shifts from Africa to America, a study of how the Kongo cosmogram is disrupted by the Maafa and reconstructed in America via plantation existence is necessary to establish the history and function of the cosmogram in America. Finally, the Kongo cosmogram is applied as a literary theory, using Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun" and James Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain. These texts manifest the elements of the Kongo cosmogram and demonstrate its applicability as a literary theory.

This study explores the relationship of the Outlyer/Maroon tradition and historical reality to the form and content of Michelle Cliffs novels Abeng and No Telephone to Heaven in order to demonstrate how a literary theory of Outlyerism derives from distinct aspects and phenomena of Outlyer/Maroon culture and tradition. The social, political, and military strategies used by Outlyers can be roughly grouped into eight categories: 1. Conjuring 2. Camouflage 3. Creolization 4. Rapid movements from one area to another 5. Military Ambush 6. Primacy of Elders 7. Primacy of Rituals 8. Use of communciative instruments in a network of military signification. While the Outlyers used these strategies as forms of resistance in an historical space to combat European hegemony and cultural imperialism, Cliff employs and manipulates them, figuratively, in the literary space towards the same end, such that these strategies become literary and historical tropes in her contouring of the form and content of her novels and give heightened import to the notion of creative resistance. The creation of a literary theory of Outlyerism was designed so that critics might reconfigure the ways in which black resistance and nation building are theorized and discussed. Situating Cliff's texts within the Outlyerist vein takes care, then, not to use theories of marginalization to center the very hegemonic systems which work to oppress minority groups.

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This paper gives an account of a study regarding virtual communities, and tries to answer the question of which aspects that contribute towards the growth and success of a community. The purpose of the study has been twofold: to survey and identify factors that are important for the success of a virtual community; and to investigate whether there are differences in the views of success factors between leaders and members in a virtual community. The study is based upon a theoretical framework which gives a definition of the term virtual community, and how experts suggest these congregations are built. In the study is also included an extensive case study of two virtual communities. Finally, a discussion is made regarding the results of the study, and it is concluded that factors such as purpose, policies, trust, feedback and leaders are heavily contributing towards the success of virtual communities.