Survival of a Perverse Nation: Sexuality and Kinship in Post-Soviet Armenia

Survival of a Perverse Nation traces the ways in which contemporary Armenian anxieties are congealing into the figure of the “homosexual.” As in other post-Soviet republics, homosexuality has increasingly become defined as the crisis of the times, and is understood by many as a destructive force linked to European encroachment. In Armenia, a growing right-wing nationalist movement since 2012 has been targeting LGBT and feminist activists. I suggest that this movement has arisen out of Armenia’s concerns regarding proper social and biological reproduction in the face of high rates of emigration of especially men in search of work. Many in the country blame this emigration on a post-Soviet oligarchy, with close ties to the government. This oligarchy, having quickly and massively privatized and liquidated industry and land during the war over the region of Nagorno-Karabagh (1990-1994) with Azerbaijan, created widespread un(der)employment. A national narrative attributing the nation’s survival of the 1915 Genocide and dispersion of its populations to strong morality preserved by institutions such as the Church and the family has now, in the post-Soviet era, ruptured into one of moral “perversion.” This dissertation is based on 15 months of ethnographic research, during which I participated in the work of two local non-governmental organizations: Public Information and Need for Knowledge, an LGBT rights organization and Women’s Resource Center, a feminist organization. I also conducted interviews with 150 households across Yerevan, the capital city, and did in-depth interviews with other activists, right-wing nationalists and journalists. Through psychoanalytic frameworks, as well as studies of kinship, I show how sovereignty – the longed for dream for Armenians over the last century – is felt to have failed because of the moral corruption of the illegitimate figures that fill Armenian seats of authority. I, thus, examine the ways in which a missing father of the household is discursively linked to the lack of strong leadership by a corrupt government, producing a prevalent feeling of moral disintegration that nationalists displace onto the “homosexual.”

Punctuated evolution and transitional hybrid network in an ancestral cell cycle of fungi

© Medina et al.Although cell cycle control is an ancient, conserved, and essential process, some core animal and fungal cell cycle regulators share no more sequence identity than non-homologous proteins. Here, we show that evolution along the fungal lineage was punctuated by the early acquisition and entrainment of the SBF transcription factor through horizontal gene transfer. Cell cycle evolution in the fungal ancestor then proceeded through a hybrid network containing both SBF and its ancestral animal counterpart E2F, which is still maintained in many basal fungi. We hypothesize that a virally-derived SBF may have initially hijacked cell cycle control by activating transcription via the cis-regulatory elements targeted by the ancestral cell cycle regulator E2F, much like extant viral oncogenes. Consistent with this hypothesis, we show that SBF can regulate promoters with E2F binding sites in budding yeast.

Assessment of the Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Functional Connectivity in Resting-State BOLD fMRI

Recent research into resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has shown that the brain is very active during rest. This thesis work utilizes blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signals to investigate the spatial and temporal functional network information found within resting-state data, and aims to investigate the feasibility of extracting functional connectivity networks using different methods as well as the dynamic variability within some of the methods. Furthermore, this work looks into producing valid networks using a sparsely-sampled sub-set of the original data.

In this work we utilize four main methods: independent component analysis (ICA), principal component analysis (PCA), correlation, and a point-processing technique. Each method comes with unique assumptions, as well as strengths and limitations into exploring how the resting state components interact in space and time.

Correlation is perhaps the simplest technique. Using this technique, resting-state patterns can be identified based on how similar the time profile is to a seed region’s time profile. However, this method requires a seed region and can only identify one resting state network at a time. This simple correlation technique is able to reproduce the resting state network using subject data from one subject’s scan session as well as with 16 subjects.

Independent component analysis, the second technique, has established software programs that can be used to implement this technique. ICA can extract multiple components from a data set in a single analysis. The disadvantage is that the resting state networks it produces are all independent of each other, making the assumption that the spatial pattern of functional connectivity is the same across all the time points. ICA is successfully able to reproduce resting state connectivity patterns for both one subject and a 16 subject concatenated data set.

Using principal component analysis, the dimensionality of the data is compressed to find the directions in which the variance of the data is most significant. This method utilizes the same basic matrix math as ICA with a few important differences that will be outlined later in this text. Using this method, sometimes different functional connectivity patterns are identifiable but with a large amount of noise and variability.

To begin to investigate the dynamics of the functional connectivity, the correlation technique is used to compare the first and second halves of a scan session. Minor differences are discernable between the correlation results of the scan session halves. Further, a sliding window technique is implemented to study the correlation coefficients through different sizes of correlation windows throughout time. From this technique it is apparent that the correlation level with the seed region is not static throughout the scan length.

The last method introduced, a point processing method, is one of the more novel techniques because it does not require analysis of the continuous time points. Here, network information is extracted based on brief occurrences of high or low amplitude signals within a seed region. Because point processing utilizes less time points from the data, the statistical power of the results is lower. There are also larger variations in DMN patterns between subjects. In addition to boosted computational efficiency, the benefit of using a point-process method is that the patterns produced for different seed regions do not have to be independent of one another.

This work compares four unique methods of identifying functional connectivity patterns. ICA is a technique that is currently used by many scientists studying functional connectivity patterns. The PCA technique is not optimal for the level of noise and the distribution of the data sets. The correlation technique is simple and obtains good results, however a seed region is needed and the method assumes that the DMN regions is correlated throughout the entire scan. Looking at the more dynamic aspects of correlation changing patterns of correlation were evident. The last point-processing method produces a promising results of identifying functional connectivity networks using only low and high amplitude BOLD signals.

Virgin Territory: Theology, Purity, and the Rise of the Global Sex Trade

Sex sells. A lot. But who exactly is on the market?

What kinds of bodies are calibrated for traffic and consumption, and how exactly do they get there? When it comes to “sex” trafficking—which comprises a minority percentage of human trafficking, yet dominates the moral imagination as an “especially heinous” crime—the rise in predominantly white, evangelical Christian American interest in the trafficked subject galvanizes an ethical outrage that rarely observes critiques of race, ethnicity, sexuality or class as conditions of possibility. Though a nuanced mandate to fight trafficking is all but cemented in the contemporary American political and moral conscience, Virgin Territory accounts for the ways Christian ideas of purity annex both gender and sexuality inside the legacies of racialized colonial encounter, and foreground the market expansion of the global sex trade as it exists today.

In Part I, I argue that the narratives of virginity tied to Mary’s body simultaneously foregrounded the gendered, sexed Other as sparked disdain for the religious Other, for the Jewish body and for Mary’s Jewish identity. Through this analysis I explore the connections of racial identity to the Christian theological elision of Jewish election. I demonstrate how the questions of sexual ethics materialized at the site of the Virgin Mary, and align the moral attachments of sex and purity in the production of whiteness. These machinations, tied to the emerging European identity of empire, irrupt horrifically into the narrative ontology of dark flesh in Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

In Part II, I highlight the function of these narratives inside of the moments of colonial encounter, demonstrating how the logics of purity and virginity were directly applied to manage dark female flesh. I map the visual iconography of the Black Madonna first through a Dutch painting entitled The Rape of the Negress. I read this image through the social theological imagination instantiating the idea of the reprobate body and white imperial gaze. This analysis foregrounds a theological reading of Sarah Baartman, the “Hottentot Venus,” as the center of a complex sex trafficking investigation, outlining the genealogy of race, as well as the ideologies of the racial, ethnic and national Other, as mitigating factors in the conditions of possibility of a global sex trade. By restoring these narratives and their theological undertones, I reiterate the ways Christian thought is imbricated in the global sex trade, and propose theological strategies for rethinking humanitarian responses to sex trafficking.

Factors Impacting Grandparent and Grand Child Communication Across Sex- Related Topics in Kenya

Background: Although many studies have investigated sexual communication between parents and children in Kenya, none have focused singularly on grandparent and grandchild communication when grandparents are primary caregivers. Further, few studies have asked about specific topics related to sex, instead asking generally about “sex related topics” or focusing on HIV/AIDS. This research aims to investigate communication on ten specific sex- related topics between grandparents who are primary caregivers and their grandchildren. The primary research aim was to identify facilitators and barriers to grandparent-grandchild communication associated with frequency of communication. A secondary exploratory question was whether frequency of communication and youth satisfaction with communication were associated with youth’s desire for more communication in the future. Methods: The study was conducted in urban and peri-urban central Kenya. A convenience sample of 193 grandparents and 166 twelve to fifteen year old grandchildren were identified by community health workers. A cross sectional survey assessed nine potential barriers or facilitators to communication (e.g., frequency of communication, perceived grandparent knowledge, grandparent sense of responsibility to communication on a given topic) on ten specified sex- related topics (e.g., peer pressure on sex topics, romantic relationships, condoms). Bivariate and multivariable analyses identified significant associations between communication variables and the outcomes of interest. Results: Bivariate regression showed that higher grandchild age, grandchild gender, higher perceived grandparent knowledge, higher perceived grandparent comfort, higher grandparent-reported sense of responsibility, higher grandparent-reported belief that child should be aware of a given topic before initiating in sex, and higher youth’s own comfort during communication, were significantly associated with higher levels of communication frequency. In the multivariable model, higher grandchild age, gender, higher comfort during communication, and higher perceived grandparent knowledge remained significantly associated with higher levels communication frequency. For the secondary research question, higher communication frequency and higher levels of youth satisfaction were both significantly associated with higher levels of youth desire for more communication in bivariate regression, and higher levels of youth’s satisfaction with communication remained significantly associated with higher levels of youth’s desire for more in the adjusted analysis. Conclusions: This study found that several potential barriers and facilitators of communication are associated with both frequency of and youth’s desire for more communication. The association between grandchild age, gender and perceived grandparent knowledge and frequency of communication is similar to findings from other studies that have examined sex-related communication between parent primary caregivers and children. This finding has important implications for understanding grandparent and grandchild communication, and communication on specific topics in a population from Kenya. The positive association between youth satisfaction of and desire for more communication has important education policy and intervention implications, suggesting that if youth are satisfied with the communication with their caregivers, they may want to learn more.

The Perspectives of Gay, Bisexual, and Queer Adolescent Males with Parent-Child Sex Communication

Problem: Gay, bisexual, and queer (GBQ) adolescent males are disproportionately affected by negative sexual health outcomes compared to their heterosexual counterparts. Their sex education needs are not sufficiently addressed in the home and the larger ecological systems. The omission of their sex education needs at a time when they are forming a sexual identity during adolescence compels GBQ males to seek information in unsupervised settings. Evidence-based interventions aimed at ensuring positive sexual health outcomes through sex communication cannot be carried out with these youth as research on how parents and GBQ males discuss sex in the home has been largely uninvestigated.

Methods: This naturalistic qualitative study focused on the interpretive reports of 15- to 20-year-old GBQ males’ discussions about sex-related topics with their parents. From a purposive sample of 30 male adolescents who self-identified as GBQ, participants who could recall at least one conversation about sex with their parents were recruited for one-time interviews and card sorts. This strategy revealed, using Bronfenbrenners’ Bioecological Theory, their perceptions about sex communication in the context of their reciprocal relationship and the ecological systems that GBQ males and their parents navigate.

Results: Parents received poor ratings as sex educators, were generally viewed as not confident in their communication approach, and lacked knowledge about issues pertinent to GBQ sons. Nevertheless, participants viewed parents as their preferred source of sex information and recognized multiple functions of sex communication. The value placed by GBQ youth on sex communication underscores their desire to ensure an uninterrupted parent-child relationship in spite of their GBQ sexual orientation. For GBQ children, inclusive sex communication is a proxy for parental acceptance.

Results show that the timing, prompts, teaching aids, and setting of sex communication for this population are similar to what has been reported with heterosexual samples. However, most GBQ sons rarely had inclusive guidance about sex and sexuality that matched their attraction, behavior, and identities. Furthermore, the assumption of heterosexuality resulted in the early awareness of being different from their peers which led them to covertly search for sex information. The combination of assumed heterosexuality and their early reliance on themselves for applicable information is a missed parental opportunity to positively impact the health of GBQ sons. More importantly, due to the powerful reach of new media, there is a critical period of maximum receptiveness that has been identified which makes inclusive sex communication paramount in the pre-sexual stage for this population. Our findings also indicate that there are plenty of opportunities for systemic improvements to meet this population’s sexual education needs.