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My thesis examines the “New Sincerity,” a recent movement in contemporary fiction, which relies upon and reclaims the ethical concept of sincerity. Rather than accept sincerity at face value, however, I outline a historical trajectory of the concept in order to understand the reasons for its decline and the current attempts to resituate it. Contrasting sincerity with its ancient Grecian root of parrhēsia, I argue that sincerity has been historically mobilized as a mechanism of oppression. Since the traditional conception of sincerity was founded upon the depth model of subjectivity, certain individuals were denied the possibility of professing sincerity; rather, their outward appearances marked them a priori as being deceitful, hypocritical and insincere. Despite the recent theoretical decline of the depth model of subjectivity, I claim that the model has persisted in an afterlife that continues to govern who is given the license and freedom to speak. As such, sincerity has had a significant role in how marginalized subjects, who are often denigrated for being overly emotional, have been categorized as insincere and sentimental. For this reason, my thesis rejects the alleged return of sincerity in favor of a reconceptualization of it. Drawing from the “performative turn,” I claim that sincerity must be continually at risk for it to draw its affective potential. If sincerity with intention is insincere, sincerity is an impossible event that cannot be claimed in advance. Rather, we must bind ourselves to the truth similar to the parrhēsiates of Ancient Greek and take care to question the other. In doing so, sincerity becomes a truth-telling based on actions instead of judgments. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

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The purpose of this study was to analyze local law enforcement's counter-terrorism capabilities as it relates to the varying size of United States local law enforcement agencies. Data for the study came from a study entitled "Impact of Terrorism on State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies and Criminal Justice Systems in the United States, 2004". Statistical analysis revealed that there are large disparities in the allocation of resources to intelligence gathering, analyzing, and sharing between smaller local law enforcement agencies and their larger counterparts. Furthermore, smaller agencies are not interacting with federal agencies in a manner consistent with the interactions between larger agencies and federal authorities. However, the study did reveal officers in smaller local law enforcement agencies have undertaken the duties of homeland security on a level commensurate with those in larger local law enforcement agencies.

The purpose of this study was to explore perceptions of mental health among police officers and correctional officers within rural Appalachia. The main goal of this research was to better understand how the occupational demands of working in the criminal justice field can impact one’s mental health over time. Several research questions were explored, including the prevalence of various mental health problems, associated stressors, the structure of support among officers, and the perceptions of mental health treatment services. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with 21 police and correctional officers located in rural Appalachia. Results provided a better understanding of the mental health of rural officers as well as the associated stressors and protective factors. Findings also further explored the perceptions and utilization of the available treatment services.

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