Baltimore is one of the most notable examples of a city that has revitalized and improved its downtown core to become a world-class destination. In the 1950s, Baltimore faced a slate of problems similar to many other cities across the country: a declining manufacturing and industrial base, increasing rates of suburbanization and sprawl, and the advent of the superhighway. Downtowns large and small were losing businesses, residents, and investments to the hinterlands at an alarming pace. Planners attempts to intervene, while sincere, generated short term gains but produced deleterious consequences over the long term. The foresight of Baltimore’s population and it's elected officials allowed the city to take a different path than that of other post-industrial cities whose fortunes continued to decline well into the 1970s and 80s. Turning an eye towards their natural surroundings, Baltimoreans transformed their harbor front into a front yard, turned their Central Business District into a vibrant, mixed-use 24 hour neighborhood, and emphasized the charms and historic value that had been notoriously undervalued and unappreciated for many decades. Today, Downtown Baltimore is the crown jewel of the region, with a growing residential base, ample services and attractions, and host to more than 22 million visitors annually. In addition to looking at the specific elements that made Downtown Baltimore’s turnaround a reality, this paper will delve into strategies and procedures that other cities and communities can utilize in order to revive and reinvigorate their downtown districts. Each community faces its own unique set of demographics, trends, and future challenges. It must be stressed that the intention of this paper is not to imply a one size fits all solution to planning issues, but that certain measures, when appropriately tailored to a local setting can have beneficial outcomes. Urban downtowns in particular require a distinct approach due to their function as a regional focus for jobs, energy, and infrastructure. The success or failure of a city's core can have geographically far-reaching implications, and this paper will examine the strategies and mechanisms that promote a healthy, viable downtown that can serve as a positive anchor for a city and a metropolitan region. / text

No description available.

This master’s thesis presents language community information, a descriptive grammatical sketch and analysis of structures in maqlaqsyals (Klamath-Modoc), a severely endangered isolate language traditionally spoken in present-day southern Oregon and northern California. The basis for this thesis is data from descriptive grammars from Gatschet (1890) and Barker (1964) as well as further linguistic and academic literature surrounding maqlaqsyals. This thesis is important because there is limited literature on maqlaqsyals that is accessible to the language community and this thesis fills the literature gap. This thesis is an example in practice of linguistic sovereignty. This thesis provides accessible linguistic resources written by an Indigenous community member asserting local control. Additionally, this thesis is crucial because children are on longer learning maqlaqsyals as a first language. Second language speakers must become more knowledgeable of language structure in order to converse with other speakers, setting a future environment in which children can be taught maqlaqsyals as a first language.

The figure of the Wandering Jew in British Gothic literature has been generally regarded as a static and romantic Everyman who signifies religious punishment, remorse, and alienation. In that it fails to consider the fact that the legend of the Wandering Jew signalled a noteworthy historical shift from theological to racial anti-Semitism, this reading has overlooked the significance of this figure's specific ethno-religious aspect and its relation to the figure of the vampire. It has hindered, consequently, the recognition of the Wandering Jew's relevance to the "Jewish Question," a vital issue in the construction of British national identity. In this dissertation, I chronicle the "spectropoetics" of Gothic literature---how the spectres, of Jewish difference and Jewish assimilation haunt the British Gothic novel. I trace this "spectropoetics" through medieval anti-Semitism, and consider its significance in addressing anxieties about the Crypto-Jew and the Cabala's role in secret societies during two major historic events concurrent with the period of classic Gothic literature---the Spanish Inquisition, a narrative element featured in many Gothic works, and the French Revolution, a cataclysmic event to which many Gothic works responded. In the light of this complex of concerns, I examine the role of the Wandering Jew in five Gothic works---Matthew G. Lewis's The Monk (1795), William Godwin's St. Leon (1799), Charles Robert Maturin's Melmoth the Wanderer (1820), Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla" (1872), and Brain Stoker's Dracula (1897). In my conclusion, I delineate the vampiric Wandering Jew's "eternal" role in addressing nationalist concerns by examining his symbolic preeminence in Nazi Germany.

From the seventeenth century, North America has experienced a succession of powerful and nationally significant revivals. Such movements of the Spirit emanated from the seed of a reformed tradition that was maintained by the Pilgrim Fathers, Scots and Irish hesbyterians, Dutch Reformed and German Lutherans. For example, this heritage was foundational to the First Great Awakening, which produced a remarkable turn in favour of the Christian faith among the colonies during 1730-1750. Furthermore, following the American War of Independence this reformed heritage became the ground for promoting the Second Great Awakening, another movement of the Spirit that continued for a period of over twenty years. However in the 1820-30's, this heritage was seriously confronted by a different form of revivalism. During this decade, new theologicaVphilosophical thinking, together with an updated method of evangelism, began to upset an accepted and traditional understanding of revival and revivalism. Existing friendships or loyalties between pro-revivalists were tried and tested and their eventual division over the issues meant that two alternative or separate views of revivals became common. The traditionalists tended to emphasize the sovereignty of God in revival, whilst the innovators appealed more to the use of human means in promoting 'outpourings of the Spirit.' This thesis will attempt to answer a central question: Can the church promote a revival? Is revival only, or always, directly attributable to God's sovereignty? Does God operate outside the employment of human agency in revival? If not, then at what level, to what degree, or by what means, does or can the church actively participate in the process of revivals? These questions will be considered £roman overview of American revivalism during 1730-1860. This thesis will aim to present a case, based on biblical exegesis and historical illustration. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Church and Dogma History))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, in association with Greenwich School of Theology, U.K., 2005.

From the seventeenth century, North America has experienced a succession of powerful and nationally significant revivals. Such movements of the Spirit emanated from the seed of a reformed tradition that was maintained by the Pilgrim Fathers, Scots and Irish hesbyterians, Dutch Reformed and German Lutherans. For example, this heritage was foundational to the First Great Awakening, which produced a remarkable turn in favour of the Christian faith among the colonies during 1730-1750. Furthermore, following the American War of Independence this reformed heritage became the ground for promoting the Second Great Awakening, another movement of the Spirit that continued for a period of over twenty years. However in the 1820-30's, this heritage was seriously confronted by a different form of revivalism. During this decade, new theologicaVphilosophical thinking, together with an updated method of evangelism, began to upset an accepted and traditional understanding of revival and revivalism. Existing friendships or loyalties between pro-revivalists were tried and tested and their eventual division over the issues meant that two alternative or separate views of revivals became common. The traditionalists tended to emphasize the sovereignty of God in revival, whilst the innovators appealed more to the use of human means in promoting 'outpourings of the Spirit.' This thesis will attempt to answer a central question: Can the church promote a revival? Is revival only, or always, directly attributable to God's sovereignty? Does God operate outside the employment of human agency in revival? If not, then at what level, to what degree, or by what means, does or can the church actively participate in the process of revivals? These questions will be considered £roman overview of American revivalism during 1730-1860. This thesis will aim to present a case, based on biblical exegesis and historical illustration. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Church and Dogma History))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, in association with Greenwich School of Theology, U.K., 2005.

This thesis provides a critique of the gaze in Gothic novels and French melodramas between 1790 and 1825. After situating itself historically in relation to the eighteenth century's prioritization of vision, the thesis then progresses in chapters two to seven to textual examinations of visual critiques provided by Gothic novelists. It examines the following authors: Sophia Lee; Ann Radcliffe; Matthew Lewis; the Marquis de Sade; Charles Maturin; James Hogg, and William Godwin. The thesis contends that these Gothic novelists demonstrate the function of the gaze in its most violent and reductive light. In the novels examined, the thesis posits that vision is used as a tool of power, rather than one of education and enlightenment. An examination is made of the imprisoning function of the gaze with reference to psychoanalytical essays on the gaze written by Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan. These essays help to promote the theory that the Gothic novels studied all portray some form of transgressive gazing: the punishment for this lies in the characters' temporary transition into some form of inanimate image. Whether this be a portrait, a statue, or a dramatic tableau, the transition is indicative of the regressive gaze to the past that the characters have been using. The eighth and final chapter of the thesis turns the focus from Gothic novels to French melodramas. This is done to represent the failure of French melodramatists to regulate the visual responses of their audiences. By examining their critical projects, and the results of them, the thesis concludes by demonstrating the practice, and failure, of the gaze.

In this dissertation I will discuss some of the issues involved in maintenance of Aboriginal languages in Australia. Chapter 1 places the movement in a historical context, establishing why there is an interest in maintaining Aboriginal languages in the 1980s. In chapter 2 I ask what language maintenance actually is. Both 'language' and 'maintenance' need to be defined, and in doing so I suggest that we need something other than a structuralist notion of language. I distinguish two uses of the term 'language maintenance': (a) the activity of a group of speakers, usually described by linguists in terms of causes of maintenance, numbers of speakers over generations and so on; and (b) maintenance as an interventional practice, the approach that is favoured in this work. I also distinguish between maintenance of indigenous languages and maintenance of immigrant languages in the Australian context. / In chapter 3 I assess some arguments for language maintenance, and suggest that the strongest argument is based on social justice, with more commonly expressed arguments (e.g. that language is part of identity, that it is part of the national resources) often lacking firm ground, or else being potentially damaging. For example, if a language is equated with identity, then on what grounds do people still identify themselves with their heritage if they do not still speak that language? / Chapter 4 discusses some models that have been used for language maintenance, using the term now to include language resurrection, revival, renewal and language continuation. Following these models I discuss some of the causes for language shift, suggesting that an understanding of the causes may allow us to devise more appropriate interventional strategies, some of which are discussed in chapter 4.3. / Practical examples of the models and strategies of chapter 4 are included in a broader study of Aboriginal language maintenance in Western Australia in chapter 5. A brief historical sketch shows that little has been done by the colonial and state authorities to encourage the use of indigenous languages. The best examples of programmes aimed at maintaining the use of Aboriginal languages are in the community schools, and in the homelands movement, both examples relying on local community direction and involvement.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on April 16, 2009) Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.