These three studies use two waves of the National Survey of Families and Households to investigate the influence of parents’ religious commitment and involvement on children’s internalizing and externalizing problems over time. In addition, the analyses will examine of different forms of family instability and parenting practices mediates this relationship. Furthermore, does parental religiosity moderate the relationship between instability and children’s mental health problems? The first study shows that children whose parents are both religiously unaffiliated, exhibit elevated internalizing problems compared to children from mixed-faith households. Evangelical Protestant affiliation moderated the relationship between parents’ frequent arguments and internalizing problems. In addition, children whose mothers are more theologically conservative than the fathers show elevated levels of internalizing problems. In addition, theological dissimilarity (mothers more conservative) plays a moderating role between frequent arguments and internalizing problems. The second study shows that children from religiously homogamous households, exhibit lower than average externalizing problems. In addition, fathers’ religious involvement protects their children from externalizing problems, even when accounting for various forms of family instability and parenting practices. Furthermore, children whose mothers are more theologically conservative than fathers, show elevated levels of some externalizing problems. Structural equation modeling analyses show that parents’ socioeconomic status is related to parental religious dissimilarity, parental divorce and parental praise of children. When mothers are more theologically conservative than fathers, these couples are at higher likelihood of frequent parental arguments. As a consequence, their children are at an elevated likelihood of difficulty concentrating, internalizing problems, and externalizing problems. Frequency of parental arguments is also positively related to divorce. If high conflict marriages end, children are at a reduced likelihood of externalizing problems. Implications and directions for future research are discussed. / text

Brutalist architecture, popularized in Britain in the late 1950s and heralded as a progressive form of Modernism in the United States until the 1970s, now presents a conundrum to preservationists as it ages. Once critically acclaimed, many Brutalist buildings have lost their appeal over time. The unpolished materials have proven unpopular with many who live and work in these structures, and key examples of the style are now facing demolition. Though “Brutalism” has become a nebulous architectural designation in the preservation community, this paper focuses on a specific subset of late Modernist architecture that primarily utilizes unfinished concrete to promote the philosophy of material truth and unapologetic permanence. While artistry of form and overall functionality affect preservation of Brutalist buildings in the United States, an important factor in the decision to demolish is often overlooked: the interplay of public opinion with critical acclaim, both in the past and within current architectural climates. This project examines the Brutalist approach to architecture and chronicles the shifts in critical and public perspective of several key case studies, focusing on university structures (the Yale Art and Architecture Building, Harry Ransom Center, and the University of Texas School of Nursing), theaters (Morris Mechanic Theater and Alley Theater), and civic buildings (Orange County Government Center, Boston City Hall, and Prentice Women’s Hospital). Understanding how and why shifts in opinion took place is critical in making informed preservation decisions about Brutalist architecture. / text

The following report is an in depth, step-by-step analysis of the processes and experiments undertaken during the creation of the thesis film, "Lofty," written, directed, photographed, scored, and edited by Patrick William Smith. From inception to mastering the finished film, this report serves to highlight the filmmaker's rationale behind attempts at various experimental methods of pre-production, production, and post-production on the film. / text

"Storied Voices in Native American Texts: Harry Robinson, Thomas King, James Welch and Leslie Marmon Silko" approaches Native American literatures from within an interdisciplinary framework that complicates traditional notions o f literary "origins" and canon. It situates the discussion of Native literatures in a Native American context, suggesting that contemporary Native American writing has its roots in Native oral storytelling traditions. Each of these authors draws on specific stories and histories from his or her Native culture. They also draw on European elements and contexts because these are now part o f Native American experience. I suggest that Native oral tradition is already inherently novelistic, and the stories that lie behind contemporary Native American writing explicitly connect past and present as aspects o f current Native reality. Contemporary Native American writers are continuing an on-going and vital storytelling tradition through written forms. A comparison of the texts o f a traditional Native storyteller, Robinson, with the highly literate novels of King, Welch and Silko, shows how orally told stories connect with the process o f writing. Robinson's storytelling suggests how these stories "theorize" the world as he experiences it; the Native American novel continues to theorize Native experience in contemporary times. Native writers use culturally specific stories to express an on-going Native history. Their novels require readers to examine their assumptions about who is telling whose story, and the traditional distinctions made between fact and fiction, history and story. King's Green Grass. Running Water takes stories from Western European literary traditions and Judeao-Christian mythology and presents them as part of a Native creation story. Welch's novel Fools Crow re-writes a particular episode from history, the Marias River Massacre, from a Blackfeet perspective. Silko's Almanac of the Dead recreates the Mayan creation story o f the Popol Vuh in the context o f twentiethcentury American culture. Each of these authors maintains the dialogic fluidity of oral storytelling performance in written forms and suggests that stories not only reflect the world, but that they create it in the way that Robinson understands storytelling as a form of theory.

This dissertation argues that in the heyday of radio, religious-radio preachers sought to use their programs to counter the secularization of American culture. Ultimately, however, their programs contributed to secularization by accelerating changes already evident in both the conservative and liberal streams of American Christianity. To reach a vast American audience, radio preachers transformed their sectarian messages into a religion more suitable to the masses, thereby altering the very religion it aimed to preserve. This was one of the unintended consequences of American religious radio. Chapter 2 argues that Harry Emerson Fosdick's ministry contributed to a movement away from Protestant orthodoxy. Radio played an important role in Fosdick's successful effort to blaze a new theological trail for the modern era. Chapter 3 shows that Aimee Semple McPherson's experiential religion had an ecumenical appeal that reached areas across the world. As one of the most celebrated Christian figures of the early twentieth century, McPherson's ministry helped make the American church more accepting of important aspects of secularization. Chapter 4 argues that Walter Maier's ministry encouraged millions of people to believe in a simple orthodoxy. The message he broadcast eschewed Lutheran particulars for the bold proclamation of the basic convictions shared by Christian fundamentalists generally. Chapter 5 argues that Charles Fuller's ministry contributed to the transformation of American religion by defining it primarily in terms of evangelism. His success uncovered a particular mood in America: one tired of the militant fundamentalism of the early decades of the century but not ready to abandon the fundamentals of the faith for theological liberalism. Chapter 6 considers religious radio against the backdrop of the emergence of television as the dominant communication medium in America and draws out implications for religion in the modern age of the Internet. To make religion accessible to large and diverse audiences, radio preachers accommodated their messages in ways suited to the medium of radio. Although religious-radio preachers set forth to advance the influence of religion in American society, their choice to limit theological substance ironically promoted the secularization of the American church.

Analysing the repeated debates within American conservatism over the place of Abraham Lincoln within American history.

On April 11, 1951, President Harry S. Truman dismissed General Douglas MacArthur as Commander of United Nations forces in Korea. Since the dismissal, contemporaries of the Truman-MacArthur era and historians have tried to make sense of Truman's momentous decision to relieve one of America's greatest military heroes. While a great number of studies have devoted attention to the controversy, few if any have placed the Truman-MacArthur conflict within the context of the unprecedented militarization of American foreign policy that took place during the early cold war. This study departs from the traditional "blame-casting" that has dominated Truman-MacArthur scholarship in the past and concludes that General MacArthur was a casualty who was dismissed because he failed to grasp the global nature of the post-World War II American foreign policy agenda.Chapter One analyzes the literature dealing with the Truman-Macarthur controversy and illustrates why historical scholarship has failed to grasp the larger forces at work in American foreign policy while MacArthur was UN Commander in Korea. Chapter Two traces the tumultuous events of the controversy from the outbreak of war in Korea to MacArthur's April 11 dismissal. Finally, Chapter Three analyzes the Senate hearings that followed MacArthur's dismissal, illustrates the importance of the Joint Chiefs of Staff's testimony, and explores the broader, global issues the Truman Administration faced in transforming its foreign policy while General MacArthur failed to grasp the nature of this transformation. / Department of History

This thesis examines the traditions of textual interaction that impact the forms of reading engaged in with fanfiction. This thesis continues by exploring how self-insertion fanfiction functions as a medium through which authors express their reading of the text primary through the emotional impact of the text through wish fulfillment, and the interaction of their cultural moment and the text. Furthermore, it argues that self-insertion fanfiction is a mode of literary critique in which the author acknowledges the effect of a mediated world on their perception of self and reality. Through this recognition of a constructed self, the author rejects the attractiveness of objective analysis, allowing them to critique the work from their subject position influenced by the text.

The dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur on April 11, 1951, from all of his commands by President Truman furnished the impetus for this survey of editorial opinion and reaction. The newspaper editorial opinion represents five major daily newspapers with broad geographic coverage of the State of Indiana, plus a wide range of political reaction to the topic. The editorial opinion is also representative ofea diverse socio-economic base.Of the five newspapers, the Evansville Courier was one of two that retained a consistently rational outlook toward the American scene during the Truman-MacArthur conflict. It took the position early that the Korean War should not be expanded, that the chance of an expanding war with China was to be avoided. The Courier expressed its dissatisfaction with the Truman foreign policy record, including the loss of China. It supported executive privilege and roundly attacked MacArthur.The Fort Wayne News Sentinel was very conservative, expertly vindictive, and at times somewhat irrational in its editorial opinion. At other times, its tenor was completely opposite. After fighting had been stabilized at the 38th parallel, it advised moving no further north,thus supporting limitation of the war. The News Sentinel supported MacArthur to the hilt and generally, deplored American negotiations and her "cringing" under Russian communism.The Gary Post Tribune's record in regard to the Truman Administration was that it had failed in its Far Eastern foreign policy and that the policy was unclear. It called MacArthur's dismissal unfortunate, but added that the move was supported in the interest of preserving civilian supremacy and the western alliances. Early in the Senate hearings, it applauded the conduct of those proceedings but as they ground on, pleaded for their end. Imploring its readers to rational thinking, the Post Tribune insisted "Cold Reason Must Rule" and deplored the fact that it felt that negotiation was becoming synonymous with appeasement.The Indianapolis Star's production of editorial opinion was prolific, in comparison to the other newspapers. The Star maintained a consistent conservative Republican approach to all issues. The Truman Administration was condemned for loss of the World War II "Pacific victory," for appeasement and defeatism, and for the formulation and execution of its Far Eastern foreign policy. Russia was seen as the real enemy of America, and early in the Korean War, military limitations were supported but later those same limitations were attacked vigorously. The concept of limiting the war was said to encourage further aggression. The Star advocated the protection of executive privilege, and as the Senate hearings progressed, informed its readers that no new information could be gained from the testimony.Of the five newspapers, the Palladium Item was the most reactionary and irrational. Although, at times, emotionalism and an occasional case of irrationality overcame the News Sentinel and Star, the Palladium Item made a steady diet of those "entrees." In describing the toll of American lives in the Korean War, the paper revealed its nature in the editorial, the "Truman Meat Grinder." Allies were seen as worthless and Truman as a "puppet" of England. The paper insisted that Truman's "hatchet-men" were trying to smear the General's character, because he was a "champion" against "traitorous" elements in America.The editorial reaction of the five papers was conservative and condemned the Truman Administration foreign policy, especially in the Far East. The Evansville Courier and the Gary Post Tribune presented well thought-out opinions based on a rational approach to the frustrations of Americans in the Korean War and adherence to the concept of limited war. The Republican newspapers, the Indianapolis Star, the Fort Wayne News Sentinel, and the Richmond Palladium Item, adhered to the Republican condemnation of the Truman Administration.

By way of five microhistories focusing on the lives of Cecelia Davies Sylvester, Hannah Director, Leon Koerner, Harry Adaskin, and Nathan Nemetz, this study examines various modes of integration for Jews within particular periods of British Columbian (BC) history. Each microhistory explores the boundaries that were crossed and fostered by Jews whose careers and social contributions led them outside the confines of the established Jewish community. These Jews represent the vanguard of Jewish integration for each era to which they contributed.