A science fiction (“sf”) fan is an individual whose interest in this literary genre has extended past reading into involvement in such things as local science fiction clubs, fan magazines (“fanzines”), and sf conventions (“cons”). Science fiction fandom is the loosely-structured, geographically-dispersed organization of these fans. Drawing on both written sources and field interviews with eight informants, the history, composition and structure of sf fandom is examined from a folkloristic viewpoint. The forms of folklore which serve to bind the individual fan to the larger social entity of fandom are detailed. Despite its literary orientation, fandom is primarily a social organization. The primary motivation of individuals for becoming involved in fandom proves to be a desire to communicate and meet with others who share interests. Through participation in fandom, the individual fan may gain social acceptance, peer recognition, opportunities for self-expression and creativity and aid in becoming a professional creator of science fiction. Fanzines provide the geographically-dispersed body of fandom with a mass of indirect communication. These magazines – written, illustrated, edited and published by fans on a non-profit basis – provide their readers with information and commentary on both science fiction and fandom. Participation in this communication network is shown to fulfill individual psychological needs, with the amount of fulfillment achieved being related to the amount of participation. The sf conventions provide an arena in which fans may directly interact with each other. The relationship of these conventions to the local groups which sponsor them is explored and the organization, membership and financing of such events are discussed. The formal and informal behaviors found at cons are described and compared with activities at South American religious fiestas and academic conventions. The concepts of convention as a period of license and as a form of folk festival are discussed. The linkages between the fans and the professional creators of science fiction – many of whom once were fans – are examined. The relationships and contrasts between sf fandom and groups such as Star Trek fans and mystery fans are presented. Filksinging – the singing of songs with a science-fictional theme – is discussed and texts of three songs are presented in an Appendix. A Glossary of the esoteric terminology, acronyms and neologisms of fandom is provided.

Este trabalho foi concebido como proposta de investigação sociológica da trajetória intelectual do poeta João Cabral de Melo Neto, nascido em Pernambuco em 1920. O objetivo foi analisar a inserção de Cabral no jogo literário brasileiro, a partir de suas primeiras publicações, sua recepção pela crítica literária e a relação dialética entre dizer-se e ser dito poeta. Trata-se de longo e complexo processo social, revelador da dinâmica e das regras da vida literária brasileira, marcada por características históricas muito peculiares, vinculadas à formação da sociedade brasileira. Nesse sentido, o conceito de trajetória permite pensar a respeito dos laços entre vida social, biografia, obra e crítica literária. Vale destacar o fato de que João Cabral foi funcionário público, em períodos marcados por autoritarismo e perseguições ideológicas. Além do mais, seu posicionamento em relação ao regionalismo, liderado por Gilberto Freyre, constitui aspecto decisivo para a compreensão sociológica de sua obra. / This work has been conceived as sociological research about intellectual trajectory of João Cabral de Melo Neto, poet who was born at Pernambuco, in 1920. The aim was to analyze Cabrals insertion in Brazilian literary play, for their first publications, their literary critique reception and dialectical relation between saying himself poet and being said poet. It is about a long and complex social process that reveals Brazilian literary life and her dynamics, marked by very peculiar historical characteristics tied to Brazilian society formation. Thus the concept of trajectory allows thinking about social life, biography, literary works, critique and their connections. It is important to say that João Cabral was public officer during authoritarian periods, marked by ideological persecutions. Moreover his opinions about Gilberto Freyres regionalism are decisive aspect to understand sociologically his work.

O objetivo desta pesquisa foi verificar a potência das Licenciaturas em Música em ressocializar o indivíduo em sua formação musical. Propôs-se a verificação de como esta instância socializadora sanciona a composição do habitus e a construção identitária de jovens professores de música. O estudo abrangeu todas as instituições com o curso de Licenciatura em Música na modalidade presencial no Estado do Paraná, região sul do Brasil. A pesquisa contou com cento e sessenta indivíduos investigados na primeira fase (2015), os quais eram estudantes das séries finais do curso; e destes, dezessete indivíduos foram selecionados para uma entrevista em profundidade, concretizada na segunda fase do estudo (2017). A primeira etapa analítica recebeu um tratamento quantitativo, privilegiando a análise descritiva, seguida da Análise de Correspondências Múltiplas (ACM) e da Análise de Clusters. Esta abordagem visou realizar um mapeamento do gosto cultural dos sujeitos da pesquisa revelando diferentes perfis de gostos e práticas. A segunda etapa analítica teve um processamento de caráter qualitativo, e permitiu encontrar pluralidades de formas de socialização no mundo contemporâneo, que promoveram a construção de identidades com disposições híbridas de habitus, forjadas a partir de diversas matrizes de cultura e em interações humanas significativas. As trajetórias de vida foram marcadas pela presença da música, em situações permeadas de afetos, que colaboraram para a construção de uma linguagem na área. Essa linguagem foi sendo aprimorada a cada fase da vida, num tempo vivido, à medida que os acontecimentos permitiram condições de possibilidades. As Licenciaturas em Música do Paraná foram capazes de promover uma percepção mais crítica e reflexiva acerca do universo musical, o que implicou na manutenção, transformação e ruptura de gostos e práticas. Verificou-se também, que essas socializações universitárias corroboraram na construção de identidades profissionais docentes na área da música. Desta forma, a presente tese contribui com os estudos sociológicos que buscam demonstrar a dualidade de forças entre estruturas e agentes, entre as realidades materiais e as subjetividades. / The objective of this research was to verify the power of the university graduate of Music Education of the State of Paraná (Southern Brazil) in resocialization the musical education of the individuals. It was proposed to analyse how this instance of socialization participated in the composition of habitus of the agents and to construction of identities of young music teachers. The study covered all the institutions with the Bachelor in Music in the State of Paraná, southern region of Brazil. First, a questionnaire was administered to a 160 participants, who were completing their bachelor\'s degree. Then a sub-sample of seventeen participants was selected to do a depth interview. To define profiles of musical tastes and practices, a Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) was performed, suited by a Clusters Analysis to define types of participants, according their profiles. The qualitative approach of the research allowed to identify pluralities of forms of socialization in the contemporary world, which promoted the construction of identities with hybrid dispositions of habitus, it was minted for many different instances of socialization and in significant human interactions. The life trajectories were stamped by the presence of the music, in situations permeated by affections that collaborated to the construction of a language in the area. This language was being upgraded every stage of life, in a lived time, as the realities promoted conditions of possibilities. The Bachelors in Music in the State of Paraná were able to foment a more critical and reflexive perception about the musical universe, which implied in the maintenance, transformation and rupture of tastes and practices. It was also verified that these university socializations corroborated in the construction of professional identities in the area of music. In this way, the present thesis contribute with the sociological studies that search to demonstrate that the structure and agency as complementary forces.

Este trabalho foi concebido como proposta de investigação sociológica da trajetória intelectual do poeta João Cabral de Melo Neto, nascido em Pernambuco em 1920. O objetivo foi analisar a inserção de Cabral no jogo literário brasileiro, a partir de suas primeiras publicações, sua recepção pela crítica literária e a relação dialética entre dizer-se e ser dito poeta. Trata-se de longo e complexo processo social, revelador da dinâmica e das regras da vida literária brasileira, marcada por características históricas muito peculiares, vinculadas à formação da sociedade brasileira. Nesse sentido, o conceito de trajetória permite pensar a respeito dos laços entre vida social, biografia, obra e crítica literária. Vale destacar o fato de que João Cabral foi funcionário público, em períodos marcados por autoritarismo e perseguições ideológicas. Além do mais, seu posicionamento em relação ao regionalismo, liderado por Gilberto Freyre, constitui aspecto decisivo para a compreensão sociológica de sua obra. / This work has been conceived as sociological research about intellectual trajectory of João Cabral de Melo Neto, poet who was born at Pernambuco, in 1920. The aim was to analyze Cabrals insertion in Brazilian literary play, for their first publications, their literary critique reception and dialectical relation between saying himself poet and being said poet. It is about a long and complex social process that reveals Brazilian literary life and her dynamics, marked by very peculiar historical characteristics tied to Brazilian society formation. Thus the concept of trajectory allows thinking about social life, biography, literary works, critique and their connections. It is important to say that João Cabral was public officer during authoritarian periods, marked by ideological persecutions. Moreover his opinions about Gilberto Freyres regionalism are decisive aspect to understand sociologically his work.

Propõe-se neste trabalho analisar as elaborações culturais relativas à política externa estadunidense no seriado televisivo Jornada nas Estrelas: Nova Geração em sua primeira temporada (1987-1988), produzido em um momento de mudanças históricas em que um discurso político de nova ordem mundial estava sendo gestado. Expectativas do fim da Guerra Fria trariam consigo, como evento simbólico, a necessidade de uma nova elaboração simbólica das relações entre Estados Unidos e o mundo. Assim, esta pesquisa buscou discernir na série as características de uma estrutura discursiva diferente dos discursos de guerra e paz mais típicos do período de Guerra Fria na ficção científica. Articulando-se, na série, com os temas da ajuda humanitária e da não interferência, articulação ambígua aqui denominada de militarismo benfazejo, o discurso do seriado antecede um debate que se intensifica na década de 1990 sobre a aceitação ou não do princípio de interferência em outros Estados por via das causas humanitárias. Na tentativa de acompanhar a dispersão do discurso de guerra e paz no campo discursivo, procurou-se ampliar a análise para as articulações discursivas de guerra e paz em ramos discursivos não ficcionais, mantendo como foco o discurso do seriado, na análise minuciosa de sua construção e da forma como este articulou valores pertinentes ao seu discurso de guerra e paz. Buscou-se nas narrativas das imagens o que se evidenciou como a formulação de um novo objeto simbólico para a política externa estadunidense daquele momento. / This work analyzes cultural elaborations relative to American international affairs in the first season of the television series Star Trek: the Next Generation (1987-1988). That moment of historical changes saw the dawn of a new world order discourse. Expectations of a nearing end to the Cold War brought forth the need of new symbolic elaborations concerning the relations between the United States and the rest of the world. Thus, this research aimed to pinpoint the features of a new war and peace discursive structure, differing, comparatively, from the war and peace discourses proper to Cold War culture. Preceding the intense 1990s debate about the admission of the principle of intervention in other states on humanitarian grounds, the series associates its war and peace discourse with themes of humanitarianism and non-interference in an ambiguous symbolic articulation here denominated benevolent militarism. In an attempt to follow its dispersion in the discursive field that permeates fictional and non-fictional discursivities, the discursive articulation of war and peace was, at least in part, observed in other fictional and non-fictional constructs. Yet, the main focus was kept on the series: a detailed analysis of its symbolic, imagerial and narrative construction was carried out, leading to the investigation of the ways in which the series articulated values pertaining to its war and peace discourse. This work addresses what seems to be partaking in the beginnings of the formulation of a new symbolic object of the American international affairs at the time.

Propõe-se neste trabalho analisar as elaborações culturais relativas à política externa estadunidense no seriado televisivo Jornada nas Estrelas: Nova Geração em sua primeira temporada (1987-1988), produzido em um momento de mudanças históricas em que um discurso político de nova ordem mundial estava sendo gestado. Expectativas do fim da Guerra Fria trariam consigo, como evento simbólico, a necessidade de uma nova elaboração simbólica das relações entre Estados Unidos e o mundo. Assim, esta pesquisa buscou discernir na série as características de uma estrutura discursiva diferente dos discursos de guerra e paz mais típicos do período de Guerra Fria na ficção científica. Articulando-se, na série, com os temas da ajuda humanitária e da não interferência, articulação ambígua aqui denominada de militarismo benfazejo, o discurso do seriado antecede um debate que se intensifica na década de 1990 sobre a aceitação ou não do princípio de interferência em outros Estados por via das causas humanitárias. Na tentativa de acompanhar a dispersão do discurso de guerra e paz no campo discursivo, procurou-se ampliar a análise para as articulações discursivas de guerra e paz em ramos discursivos não ficcionais, mantendo como foco o discurso do seriado, na análise minuciosa de sua construção e da forma como este articulou valores pertinentes ao seu discurso de guerra e paz. Buscou-se nas narrativas das imagens o que se evidenciou como a formulação de um novo objeto simbólico para a política externa estadunidense daquele momento. / This work analyzes cultural elaborations relative to American international affairs in the first season of the television series Star Trek: the Next Generation (1987-1988). That moment of historical changes saw the dawn of a new world order discourse. Expectations of a nearing end to the Cold War brought forth the need of new symbolic elaborations concerning the relations between the United States and the rest of the world. Thus, this research aimed to pinpoint the features of a new war and peace discursive structure, differing, comparatively, from the war and peace discourses proper to Cold War culture. Preceding the intense 1990s debate about the admission of the principle of intervention in other states on humanitarian grounds, the series associates its war and peace discourse with themes of humanitarianism and non-interference in an ambiguous symbolic articulation here denominated benevolent militarism. In an attempt to follow its dispersion in the discursive field that permeates fictional and non-fictional discursivities, the discursive articulation of war and peace was, at least in part, observed in other fictional and non-fictional constructs. Yet, the main focus was kept on the series: a detailed analysis of its symbolic, imagerial and narrative construction was carried out, leading to the investigation of the ways in which the series articulated values pertaining to its war and peace discourse. This work addresses what seems to be partaking in the beginnings of the formulation of a new symbolic object of the American international affairs at the time.

This study explores what oral history interviews with my mother reveal about the familial and community dynamics that influenced Finnish-American children growing up on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula between 1930 and 1950. Close to four hours of oral history interviews were conducted with Viola Nixon, who is second and third-generation Finnish-American on her father’s and mother’s sides, respectively. After conducting a narrative analysis of the interviews, five themes emerged as significant to community function: family, language, education, work and church. I grouped some of these themes together to create three stories informed by materials drawn from the interviews, a cookbook, and my personal experience. These stories were written for oral performance. The stories provide audiences the opportunity to learn about and feel empathy for America’s immigrants, as well as to explore their own immigrant roots. Opportunities for further studies exist to explore the immigrant experience on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Using ten sermons from five prominent and politically active evangelical megachurch pastors taken from the 2016 presidential campaign season, this case study utilizes frame analysis to understand the political relevance of modern evangelical sermonizing. An inductive frame analysis allows the concept of a collective action frame to be observed as a process and for patterns to emerge from the source text. Within these sermons, ministers offer self-identifying evangelicals a vocabulary with which to understand and describe their own identity. In this context, the Bible is a powerful cultural symbol that represents an allegiance to traditions that are framed as the bedrock of American exceptionalism. The boundaries that are drawn and vociferously maintained in this sample emphasize exclusion over inclusion, especially in terms of salvation and righteousness, which can emotionally motivate action. In an election year, this sample demonstrates how evangelical identity is mobilized as an electoral force.

This dissertation project seeks to address the sociological processes, dynamics, and mechanisms inflecting how and why U.S. society reproduces a sexually dimorphic, binary gender structure. The project builds upon the work of sociologists of gender on the doing gender framework, intersectional feminist approaches to identity formation, and hegemonic masculinity and relational theories of gender. In a 2012 article in Social Science and Medicine presenting contemporary concepts in gender theory to the health-oriented readers of the journal, R. W. Connell argues that much public policy on gender and health relies on categorical understandings of gender that are now inadequate. Connell contends that poststructuralist theories highlighting the performativity of gender improve on the assumption of a categorical binary typical in public policy, but they ignore the insights of sociological theories emphasizing gender as a structure comprising emotional and material constraints of the complex inter-relations among social institutions in which performances of gender are embedded. According to Connell, it is the task of social scientists to uncover “the processes by which social worlds are brought into being through time – the ontoformativity, not just the performativity, of gender.” This project explores the ontoformativity of gender in consideration of Patricia Hill Collins’ concept of the four domains of power. According to Collins, matrices of domination are intersecting and interlocking axes of oppression including but not limited to race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, nation, age, ability, place, and religion that reproduce social inequalities through their interoperation in the cultural, interpersonal, structural, and disciplinary domains of power. West and Zimmerman contrast gender as an axis in the matrix of oppression with site-specific roles, arguing that gender is a master status that is omnirelevant to all situations such that a person is assessed in terms of their competences in performing activities as a man or a woman. The doing gender approach has been accused of theorizing gender as an immutably monolithic social inequality. This project seeks to explicate the dynamics of gender ideology by probing its weaknesses in the interpersonal and cultural domains of power. As Collins and coauthor Sirma Bilge posit, for people oppressed along axes of gender, race/ethnicity, class, age, place, ability, and other binaries that constrain their actions in the structural and disciplinary domains of power, “the music, dance, poetry, and art of the cultural domain of power and personal politics of the interpersonal domain grow in significance.” Each of the three components of the dissertation project addresses a facet of mechanisms and processes of the interpersonal and cultural domains of power in (re)producing the binary gender structure in U.S. society. Paper #1, titled, “Integrating Black Feminist Thought into Canonical Social Change Theory,” explicates how people in marginalized social locations mount definitional challenges to their received classifications in the cultural domain of power by rejecting the consciousness of the oppressor and wielding rearticulated collective identity-based standpoints as contextually attuned technologies of power to recast historical narratives. Paper #2, with teenaged co-researcher Emma Draper, titled “Ordering Gender: Interactional Accountability and the Social Accomplishment of Gender Among Adolescents in the U.S. South,” maps how youth theorize interactional accountability processes to binary gender expectations in the interlocking social institutions of medicine, the family, schools, and peer social networks. Paper #3 is a book proposal comprising an introductory chapter. The book will tell the story of how young feminist arts-activists challenge the binary gender structure through resistance in the cultural and interpersonal domains.

This dissertation explores gender codes within the intersection of two American pop culture staples, video games and rock music, by conducting a feminist analysis of two video games (Rock Band and Rocksmith). Both video games and rock music have had their share of feminist academic critique: Musicologists point out how lack of canonical inclusion, gendered attitudes towards instruments, and messages from supporting media create an unwelcome environment for women to pursue a rock music career. Game studies scholars have examined similar attitudes, including a lack of women represented in both the video games and the studios that create them. Through a mix of creator and player interviews, participant observation, content analysis, and autoethnography, I look at the intersection of these two literatures (the rock music video game) to see how gender is hard-coded into the game, and what opportunities, if any, exist for subversion of societal and industry gender norms. Through not just looking at the game as text, I present a more “thick description” of a video game that takes into account the creators of the games, the players that play them, and a researcher that occupies multiple identities within the space. I argue that, in an effort to replicate an authentic rock musician experience in a video game, Rock Band and Rocksmith often replicate a lot of these gendered messages. The games’ text and set list emphasize a male-centric rock music canon. Rocksmith’s original whiskey-soaked visual design and marketing skew heavily towards an older male demographic. However, resistances to these codes exist in both the players who defy expectations by showing up to perform and compete, as well as the creators who actively work to make these games more inclusive via changes to future games as well as inclusive hiring practices, marketing, and music sourcing (with varying degrees of success).