Thesis (D. Min.)--New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 2002. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 131-137).

This treatise focuses on four classical guitarist-composers who found their “American voices” and played key roles in the creation of a distinctive sound in contemporary American classical guitar music: Andrew York (b. 1958), Benjamin Verdery (b. 1955), Bryan Johanson (b. 1951), and David Leisner (b. 1953). Their work illuminates the quintessentially “American” guitar vocabulary that has become a common vernacular in American classical musical culture. These American guitarist-composers stand out in their generation for several reasons. First, each has found an instantly recognizable voice in performance and composition by forging meaningful bonds between the popular musical idioms of his American cultural background and the classical tradition. Second, each is recognized as a prolific composer in what this treatise dubs the “American classical guitar vernacular.” Third, their music represents the broad spectrum of stylistic approaches to this vernacular. Leisner and Johanson are closer to the art music (classical) end, while York and Verdery provide a more direct link to popular styles. Fourth, their personal success stories have legitimized the American classical guitar vernacular in classical composition and encouraged the development of similar styles within the broader international classical guitar community. The purpose of this study is two-fold. First, it examines the process by which American guitarists “find an American voice” within a chosen stylistic dialect. Second, it defines the specific musical vocabulary -- technical, interpretive, and aesthetic -- of the American guitar vernacular and studies the way it is integrated within the parameters of the classical style. To do so, it examines the lives and works of players who were among the first to embark on such a process within their professional community, setting their artistic perspectives within the broader context of American guitar culture. In a broader sense, this study explores how our relationships, collaborations, and perspectives as players both reflect the American experience and shape our national sound on the guitar. / text

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A decline in the number of wars, genocides and human rights abuses over the past decade? The Human Security Report 2005 uncovers surprising trends in global conflict.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2000.

Individuals who are highly identified with a sport team have a strong psychological connection with the team (Wann et al., 2001). Sport team identification can be beneficial to communities and individuals. It provides entertainment, helps form group affiliation, and improves self-esteem. Because team identification is important to people, they notice environmental cues related to the team. Individuals are more likely to attend to a stimulus that is liked or one that is familiar. When an individual has accessible attitudes toward an object, he or she is more likely to attend to and notice the object (Roskos-Ewoldsen & Fazio, 1992). The current study examined the relationship between sport team identification and attention. Participants (n = 31) were presented with 64 displays of college team logos, which were shown in sequential order. While viewing the displays, participants’ eye movements were monitored by the SR Research Eyelink II, an eye-tracking recording system. The participants then completed a questionnaire designed to determine their level of team identification with an indicated team. Higher scores on the questionnaire indicated a higher level of identification. The first hypothesis under study states that highly identified UK fans detect the UK logo faster than the UT logo when each logo appears without the other, whereas low identified UK fans detect both the UK and UT logos equally quickly when each logo appears without the other. A mixed-model ANOVA was conducted to examine the impact of set type on total time to identify the target. The ANOVA yielded no main effects or interactions. The second hypothesis under study states that highly identified UK fans detect the UT logo more slowly when the UK logo is present than the low identified UK fans. A mixed-model ANOVA was conducted to examine how distractible the UK logo was when detecting the UT logo. The ANOVA yielded no main effects or interactions.

This thesis examines Andrew Lang’s Fairy Book series (1889-1910) as a material and cultural commodity, thereby re-evaluating neglected or overlooked aspects of its significance as a printed collection of fairy tales. First, it defines the publishing context for fairy-tale collections printed in Britain prior to the publication of The Blue Fairy Book in 1889. As such, Chapter One addresses pervasive claims that Lang’s series systematically revived a waning interest in fairy tales. The chapter first offers context for Lang’s series by providing a bibliographic history of the classic fairy tales – most of which are included in The Blue Fairy Book – in English from 1691 to 1889. It then focuses specifically on the decade of the 1880s to examine types of fairy-tale collections that were available in print prior to the series’ first volume and suggests that the fairy tale as a publishing phenomenon was more prominent in the late nineteenth century than has been assumed. Chapter Two seeks to establish how the diverse literary, cultural, and intellectual course of Lang’s career made him particularly suitable to edit a collection of fairy tales. His academic interests in literature as well as his ongoing study of fairy tales influenced his editorial strategies for The Blue Fairy Book, which then provided a model for the remainder of the series. Chapter Three examines the phenomenon of the “literary series” through an exploration of paratextual elements, such as Longmans’ production, branding, and marketing strategies as well as Henry J. Ford’s book illustrations and designs. The seasonal context in which the books were published provides a further framework for situating Lang’s series within the history of publishing fairy tales in Britain. Chapter Four considers the series’ printings and sales numbers, along with themes that are present throughout the published reception of the series. While Longmans capitalizes on Lang’s name in their branding strategies, in the popular press Lang’s name became synonymous with fairy-tale narratives. Furthermore, the series’ immediate reception challenges more recent scholarly positions regarding the very significant group of translators who contributed towards the series. Finally, Chapter Five recognizes the colonial context of the period and positions interest in fairy tales within the wider nineteenth-century phenomenon of collecting objects and narratives from across the Empire. It further demonstrates how narratives of race and colonialism influenced both text and illustration in the Fairy Books. The conclusion consists of a brief overview of Fairy Book editions that have been produced from 1910 to the present. Not only did the series achieve immediate popularity during its initial publication, but it has also remained in print for over a century. Through an exploration of the series as a material, publishing phenomenon, and by attending closely to presentational devices, this thesis re-examines the cultural significance of Lang’s Fairy Books.

Over the past four or so decades, a number of social transformations—including in particular the dramatic expansion of the tertiary education sector—have impacted significantly on the role and status of the intellectual in contemporary life. While the authority of the intellectual was once based on a claim to universality, the openly professionalised nature of contemporary intellectual life has thoroughly problematised such claims. Accordingly, the broadly representative role that so-called “public” intellectuals were once said to have played has increasingly been challenged by more “specific” models of intellectual practice, models that have emerged in particular out of new fields of knowledge such as cultural studies. While cultural conservatives have argued that this challenge marks the declining status of the intellectual in contemporary society, the emergence of a variety of “new” intellectual models linked to specific social and institutional formations suggests that, far from declining, concerns over the status and responsibility of the intellectual are ongoing. / This thesis examines the complex relations between contemporary intellectual practices and social and cultural location. Focusing in particular on the field of cultural studies, I examine the careers and biographies of four intellectuals. In my introductory chapter I review the major theories of intellectual practice circulating within cultural studies and conclude that a new, more “located” approach to understanding intellectual practice is required. Putting this new approach to work, the first part of my thesis examines the personal and intellectual biography of the black British intellectual Stuart Hall and—using the trope of “diaspora”—positions him in relation to the field of British cultural studies. In part two I focus on the largely academically-situated intellectual practices of Lawrence Grossberg and Andrew Ross, two prominent American-based cultural studies practitioners. Taking them as exemplars of American cultural studies, a highly academicised and disciplined field, I place into question the common assumption that the institutionally-located intellectual lacks critical autonomy. In part three, I discuss the life and career of the Australian intellectual, Meaghan Morris, focusing on the transnational and trans-institutional genealogy of both Morris and the Sydney-based strand of cultural studies with which she is associated. Finally, I conclude the thesis with a brief postscript reiterating my argument for the increasing importance of a “comparative cosmopolitan” model of intellectualism—that is, an approach to intellectuals that is able to engage with both broad-based and transnational concerns while, at the same time, also acknowledging their responsibilities as a geographically and socially-situated group.