In relation to other Hispanic populations in Philadelphia (e.g. Puerto Rican, Dominican, etc.), the Mexican community reflects a more recent wave of immigration in the city that began in the early 90s. Since its initial establishment, the community has continued to grow and to integrate into the greater Philadelphian society. In comparison to other areas of the United States that have received immigrant groups predominantly from northern Mexico, Philadelphia has been the destination for a significant proportion of immigrants from the state of Puebla. Although those from Puebla represent a substantial portion of the Mexican immigrant population, the city has become home to other groups of Mexican origin, two of which will form part of this study: those from the capital, Mexico City, and those from the east coast, Veracruz. Diverging from common sociolinguistic practices, this dissertation focuses solely on the speech of male immigrants due to a significant larger population of Mexican men who have migrated to Philadelphia. Utilizing social factors such as length of residence in Philadelphia, age, level of education, and region of origin, this study examines the phonological behavior in the speech of 30 male speakers from Mexico City, Puebla and Veracruz. Specifically, the phonological features included are the /s/, /n/, and /r/ in final word position, as well as /e/ and /o/ in final syllables. Using Rbrul, this study analyzes correlations between the above social factors, specific linguistic factors, and variation in the above variables including their maintained and reduced forms. The results from the multivariate analysis not only shed light on the linguistic behavior of each group, but also allow comparisons between the linguistic practices of speakers from each region. Having identified the general tendencies of consonant maintenance in the central regions of Mexico, and their reduction in the coast, as well as vocalic weakening in the center, and maintenance in the coast, this study confirms the continuation of these patterns in Mexican speech after residence in Philadelphia for multiple years. Recognizing the prestige associated with the Mexico City variety as well as the prevalence of central Mexican speakers in Philadelphia, this study analyzes the impact of language change through contact between speakers from the coastal region (Veracruz) and those from the interior (Mexico City and Puebla). Specifically, this project utilizes results from the multivariate analysis to determine if findings reflect a shift form the coastal variety to the more standard, central varieties typically associated with linguistic prestige in Mexico. The dissertation concludes that, despite contact over time, Mexican immigrants are conserving characteristic linguistic features of their local regional varieties. These observations are revealing of how Mexican immigrants are renegotiating notions of linguistic capital and identity after having emigrated from their home country to reside elsewhere. / Spanish

The Library Company of Philadelphia, founded in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin and his Junto, served as the impetus for society libraries across colonial America. While inspiring ubiquitous learning, the Library Company also reinforced the English language in linguistically diverse Philadelphia. Furthermore, the Company emblematically displayed ownership of a new land and developed an idealized concept of what it meant to be a Pennsylvanian society through their cabinet of curiosities—all while cultivating the organization's reputation within the colonial press. The Library Company, therefore, utilized language and material/visual culture to navigate individual and community identity in a decidedly unstructured atmosphere—the period shortly before the complete onset of American nationalism. The process of "becoming American," the development of an identity tied to a specific location that emphases class mobility and self creation while also differentiating itself from other societies, is enumerated through the study of these linguistic and cultural manipulations. / Master of Arts

The prominent division in early America between the established eastern populations and communities in the West is evident when viewed through the lens of eighteenth-century Philadelphia newspapers, which themselves employed an East-West paradigm to interpret four events: the Paxton Boys Incident, Regulator Rebellion, Shays's Rebellion, and Constitutional Convention. Through the choices of what words to use to describe these clashes, through oversights, omissions, and misrepresentations, and sometimes through more direct tactics, Philadelphia newspapermen revealed a persistent cultural bias against and rivalry with western communities. This study illustrates how pervasive this contrast between East and West was in the minds of easterners; how central a feature of early American culture they considered it to be.

Both academics and the makers of public policy have for a long time been interested in the study of urban politics, but the subject needs to be integrated with the process of urban growth and development. Too frequently, the urban polity is analyzed as an arena which passively reflects or mechanically responds to more fundamental changes in the urban social structure. In this work, case studies of political reform in Philadelphia at two periods, 1800 to 1854 and 1890 to 1915, develop a number of hypotheses about how the urban polity plays an influential role in shaping the process of urban growth and change. Both case studies begin with computer-assisted analyses of changes in the socio-economic and spatial structures of urban society. Such changes are often considered to be fundamental causes of urban political reform either because they altered political elites' interests in municipal government or because they created enormous new demands on existing municipal works and services. The studies show, however, that social structural changes cannot by themselves explain the course of urban political development in the city of Philadelphia. Concentrating primarily on the formulation and implementation of municipal public works, the studies show that in both periods, the course of political reform was often shaped by two things: the 'private' or selfish interests of political actors, and the fragmented financial, administrative and party structures of the urban polity. More important, the studies show how self-interested political activities, in a polity in which authority was highly fragmented, often had consequences which were far reaching in their impact on the structure and experience of urban life. Indeed, the first case study shows how urban politics shaped the process of social group formation in the industrializing city. The second case study shows how the structure and conduct of urban politics determined social groups' political power in the city. The conclusion then demonstrates how the case studies support a number of hypotheses about the relationship between urban politics and urban society which may be applied generally to analyses of the process of urban growth and change.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Delaware, 2008. / Principal faculty advisor: Bernard L. Herman, Dept. of Art History. Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

My dissertation, "Covering Suburbia: Newspapers, Suburbanization, and Social Change in the Postwar Philadelphia Region, 1945-1982," uses the Philadelphia metropolitan area as a representative case study of the ways in which suburban daily newspapers influenced suburbanites' attitudes and actions during the post-World War II era. It argues that the demographic and economic changes that swept through the United States during the second half of the twentieth century made it nearly impossible for urban daily newspapers to maintain their hegemony over local news and made possible the rise of numerous profitable and competitive suburban dailies. More importantly, the dissertation argues that, serving as suburbanites' preferred source for local news during the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, enabled the suburban newspapers to directly influence the social, cultural, and physical development of the suburbs. Their emergence also altered the manner in which urban newspapers covered the news and played an instrumental role in the demise of several of the nation's most prominent evening papers during the 1970s and early 1980s, including Philadelphia's Evening Bulletin. This dissertation contributes to the growing body of innovative scholarly studies examining the development of America's suburbs during the post-World War II era; works which have placed suburbanites at the center of national debates regarding public housing, integration, and urban sprawl, but, to this point, have ignored the central role that suburban newspapers played in influencing how people who had only recently moved to the rapidly growing suburbs understood and reacted to these issues through their coverage of local events. In its totality, my dissertation provides a counter to the prevailing scholarly emphasis on the mass media's power and argues that local suburban newspapers played a primary role in shaping suburbanites' ideals, attitudes, and actions during the postwar era. / History

The film "Brokeback Mountain" was released in December of 2005 into mainstream theaters and to general audiences. Director Ang Lee, screenwriters Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry, and actors Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal made this film in which the storyline revolves around two men falling in love and how this forbidden love would affect the rest of their lives. The shock of having a film with two men kissing and having sex in the theaters seemed to have struck a nerve with many viewers. Some were very positive, hailing the film as a new step in mainstream films to show a queer relationship, others were negative, criticizing the film even at times condemning what was shown on the screen. The impact of the film made debate and conversations about queer content available to a public forum, in this case newspapers from around the country.

Thesis (B.A.)--Haverford College, Dept. of Anthropology, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of this research was to identify the composition of soils on firefighter turnout gear from the Philadelphia Fire Department and to determine which soils contain hazardous materials. The objective of the research was to identify the composition of soils remaining on the firefighter turnout gear to enable the industry to design an effective cleaning procedure for removal of soils. A pilot study was conducted on hoods from the Philadelphia fire department to evaluate the test methods that would be used to identify the composition of soils. Soils that had been identified from previous studies were targeted in the analysis of the extraction of the samples removed from the hoods. Samples were removed from areas of the coats and pants where dermal absorption is reported as high areas of skin absorption, including areas in the neck, armpit, crotch and wrist locations.