Ideals, Aesthetics, and Practices of Professionalization in the Tokyo Jazz Scene

In the early twenty-first century, jazz has a history in Japan of approximately 100 years. In contemporary Tokyo, Japanese musicians demonstrate their right to access jazz performance through a variety of musical and extra-musical techniques. Those accepted as fully professional and authentic artists, or puro, gain a special status among their peers, setting them apart from their amateur and part-time counterparts. Drawing on three months of participant-observation in the Tokyo jazz scene, I examine this status of puro, its variable definition, the techniques used by musicians to establish themselves as credible jazz performers, and some obstacles to achieving this status. I claim two things: first, aspiring puro musicians establish themselves within a jazz tradition through musical references to African American identity and a rhetoric of jazz as universal music. Second, I claim that universalism as a core aesthetic creates additional obstacles to puro status for certain musicians in the Tokyo scene.

BLACK SURVIVAL POLITICS: ORGANIZED MOBILIZATION STRATEGIES IN AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITIES TO END THE HIV/AIDS EPIDEMIC

The purpose of this study is to examine organizational patterns of African American activism in response the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Given their political, economic, and social disenfranchisement, African Americans have historically developed protest and survival strategies to respond to the devaluation of their lives, health, and well-being. While Black protest strategies are typically regarded as oppositional and transformative, Black survival strategies have generally been conceptualized as accepting inequality. In the case of HIV/AIDS, African American religious and non-religious organizations were less likely to deploy protest strategies to ensure the survival and well-being of groups most at risk for HIV/AIDS—such as African American gay men and substance abusers. This study employs a multiple qualitative case study analysis of four African American organizations that were among the early mobilizers to respond to HIV/AIDS in Washington D.C. These organizations include two secular or community-based organizations and two Black churches or faith-based organizations. Given the association of HIV/AIDS with sexual sin and social deviance, I postulated that Black community-based organizations would be more responsive to the HIV/AIDS-related needs and interests of African Americans than their religious counterparts. More specifically, I expected that Black churches would be more conservative (i.e. maintain paternalistic heteronormative sexual standards) than the community-based organizations. Yet findings indicate that the Black churches in this study were more similar than different than the community-based organizations in their strategic responses to HIV/AIDS. Both the community-based organizations and Black churches drew upon three main strategies in ways that politicalize the struggle for Black survival—or what I regard as Black survival politics. First, Black survival strategies for HIV/AIDS include coalition building at the intersection of multiple systems of inequality, as well as on the levels of identity and community. Second, Black survival politics include altering aspects of religious norms and practices related to sex and sexuality. Third, Black survival politics relies on the resources of the government to provide HIV/AIDS related programs and initiatives that are, in large part, based on the gains made from collective action.

Jiao Tong: A Grounded Theory of Chinese International Students' Transition to American Tertiary Education

University students are more globally mobile than ever before, increasingly receiving education outside of their home countries. One significant student exchange pattern is between China and the United States; Chinese students are the largest population of international students in the U.S. (Institute of International Education, 2014). Differences between Chinese and American culture in turn influence higher education praxis in both countries, and students are enculturated into the expectations and practices of their home countries. This implies significant changes for students who must navigate cultural differences, academic expectations, and social norms during the process of transition to a system of higher education outside their home country. Despite the trends in students’ global mobility and implications for international students’ transitions, scholarship about international students does not examine students’ experiences with the transition process to a new country and system of higher education. Related models were developed with American organizations and individuals, making it unlikely that they would be culturally transferable to Chinese international students’ transitions. This study used qualitative methods to deepen the understanding of Chinese international students’ transition processes. Grounded theory methods were used to invite the narratives of 18 Chinese international students at a large public American university, analyze the data, and build a theory that reflects Chinese international students’ experiences transitioning to American university life. Findings of the study show that Chinese international students experience a complex process of transition to study in the United States. Students’ pre-departure experiences, including previous exposure to American culture, family expectations, and language preparation, informed their transition. Upon arrival, students navigate resource seeking to fulfill their practical, emotional, social, intellectual, and ideological needs. As students experienced various positive and discouraging events, they developed responses to the pivotal moments. These behaviors formed patterns in which students sought familiarity or challenge subsequent to certain events. The findings and resulting theory provide a framework through which to better understand the experiences of Chinese international students in the context of American higher education.

Integrative genomic, epigenetic and metabolomic characterization of beef from grass-fed Angus steers

Beef constitutes a main component of the American diet and still represent the principal source of protein in many parts of the world. Currently, the meat market is experiencing an important transformation; consumers are increasingly switching from consuming traditional beef to grass-fed beef. People recognized products obtained from grass-fed animals as more natural and healthy. However, the true variations between these two production systems regarding various aspects remain unclear. This dissertation provides information from closely genetically related animals, in order to decrease confounding factors, to explain several confused divergences between grain-fed and grass-fed beef. First, we examined the growth curve, important economic traits and quality carcass characteristics over four consecutive years in grain-fed and grass-fed animals, generating valuable information for management decisions and economic evaluation for grass-fed cattle operations. Second, we performed the first integrated transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis in grass-fed beef, detecting alterations in glucose metabolism, divergences in free fatty acids and carnitine conjugated lipid levels, and altered β-oxidation. Results suggest that grass finished beef could possibly benefit consumer health from having lower total fat content and better lipid profile than grain-fed beef. Regarding animal welfare, grass-fed animals may experience less stress than grain-fed individuals as well. Finally, we contrasted the genome-wide DNA methylation of grass-fed beef against grain-fed beef using the methyl-CpG binding domain sequencing (MBD-Seq) method, identifying 60 differentially methylated regions (DMRs). Most of DMRs were located inside or upstream of genes and displayed increased levels of methylation in grass-fed individuals, implying a global DNA methylation increment in this group. Interestingly, chromosome 14, which has been associated with large effects on ADG, marbling, back fat, ribeye area and hot carcass weight in beef cattle, allocated the largest number of DMRs (12/60). The pathway analysis identified skeletal and muscular system as the preeminent physiological system and function, and recognized carbohydrates metabolism, lipid metabolism and tissue morphology among the highest ranked networks. Therefore, although we recognize some limitations and assume that additional examination is still required, this project provides the first integrative genomic, epigenetic and metabolomics characterization of beef produced under grass-fed regimen.

Racism as a determinant of health: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Despite a growing body of epidemiological evidence in recent years documenting the health impacts of racism, the cumulative evidence base has yet to be synthesized in a comprehensive meta-analysis focused specifically on racism as a determinant of health. This meta-analysis reviewed the literature focusing on the relationship between reported racism and mental and physical health outcomes. Data from 293 studies reported in 333 articles published between 1983 and 2013, and conducted predominately in the U.S., were analysed using random effects models and mean weighted effect sizes. Racism was associated with poorer mental health (negative mental health: r = -.23, 95% CI [-.24,-.21], k = 227; positive mental health: r = -.13, 95% CI [-.16,-.10], k = 113), including depression, anxiety, psychological stress and various other outcomes. Racism was also associated with poorer general health (r = -.13 (95% CI [-.18,-.09], k = 30), and poorer physical health (r = -.09, 95% CI [-.12,-.06], k = 50). Moderation effects were found for some outcomes with regard to study and exposure characteristics. Effect sizes of racism on mental health were stronger in cross-sectional compared with longitudinal data and in non-representative samples compared with representative samples. Age, sex, birthplace and education level did not moderate the effects of racism on health. Ethnicity significantly moderated the effect of racism on negative mental health and physical health: the association between racism and negative mental health was significantly stronger for Asian American and Latino(a) American participants compared with African American participants, and the association between racism and physical health was significantly stronger for Latino(a) American participants compared with African American participants. Protocol PROSPERO registration number: CRD42013005464.

Proverbs and cultural consonance

The proverbs that are known and used in a given language bysome group of interest provide insight into the values, perceptions andexperiences of the users. These aspects of collective knowledge contribute to a cultural model that is specific to the group in question. Increasingly, gaps in cultural consonance, the extent to which actual experience conforms to the expectations formed by a person’s cultural model, are observed to contribute to wellbeing, psychological and physical health. This article considers the ways in which proverbs contribute to cultural models and how models generated in this way can serve as a baseline for the study of cultural consonance. Examples are provided from American English and Malay, which serve as a comparison with each other as well as with new cultural models disseminated by the media.

From Mill Gates to Magic City: U.S. Steel and Welfare Capitalism in Gary, Indiana, 1906-1930

Gary, Indiana is a city with indelible ties to industrial paternalism. Founded in 1906 by United States Steel Corporation to house workers of the trust’s showpiece mill, the emergence of this model company town was both the culmination of lessons learned from its predecessors’ mistakes and innovative corporate planning. U.S. Steel’s Progressive Era adaptation of welfare capitalism characterized the young city through a combination of direct community involvement and laissez-faire social control. This thesis examines the reactionary implementation of paternalist policies in Gary between 1906 and 1930 through the purviews of three elements under corporate influence: housing, education, and social welfare. Each category demonstrates how both the corporation and citizenry affected and adapted Gary’s physical and cultural landscape, public perceptions, and community identity. Parallel to the popular narrative throughout is that of Gary’s African-American community, and the controversial circumstances of this population’s segregated development.

A Critique of the Representation of Violence in American Literature:

The purpose of this thesis was to draw new insights on Thomas Berger’s classic American novel, Little Big Man, and his representation of fictional violence that is a substantial aspect of any text on the Indian Wars and “Custer’s Last Stand”. History’s major world wars led to shifts in the political climate and a noted change in the way that violence was represented in the arts. Historical, fictional, and cinematic treatments of “Custer’s Last Stand” and violence were each considered in relation to the text. Berger's version of the famed story is a revision of history that shows the protagonist as a dual-member of two violent societies. The thesis concluded that Berger’s updated American legends and unique “white renegade” character led to a representation of violence that spoke to the current state of affairs in 1964 when the world was becoming much more hostile and chaotic place.

Natural Disasters and Comparative State-Formation and Nation-Building: Earthquakes in Argentina and Chile (1822-1939)

Natural disasters in Argentina and Chile played a significant role in the state-formation and nation-building process (1822-1939). This dissertation explores state and society responses to earthquakes by studying public and private relief efforts reconstruction plans, crime and disorder, religious interpretations of catastrophes, national and transnational cultures of disaster, science and technology, and popular politics. Although Argentina and Chile share a political border and geological boundary, the two countries provide contrasting examples of state formation. Most disaster relief and reconstruction efforts emanated from the centralized Chilean state in Santiago. In Argentina, provincial officials made the majority of decisions in a catastrophe’s aftermath. Patriotic citizens raised money and collected clothing for survivors that helped to weave divergent regions together into a nation. The shared experience of earthquakes in all regions of Chile created a national disaster culture. Similarly, common disaster experiences, reciprocal relief efforts, and aid commissions linked Chileans with Western Argentine societies and generated a transnational disaster culture. Political leaders viewed reconstruction as opportunities to implement their visions for the nation on the urban landscape. These rebuilding projects threatened existing social hierarchies and often failed to come to fruition. Rebuilding brought new technologies from Europe to the Southern Cone. New building materials and systems, however, had to be adapted to the South American economic and natural environment. In a catastrophe’s aftermath, newspapers projected images of disorder and the authorities feared lawlessness and social unrest. Judicial and criminal records, however, show that crime often decreased after a disaster. Finally, nineteenth-century earthquakes heightened antagonism and conflict between the Catholic Church and the state. Conservative clergy asserted that disasters were divine punishments for the state’s anti-clerical measures and later railed against scientific explanations of earthquakes.

Blessed are the Peacemakers: Transnational Alliance, Protective Accompaniment and the Presbyterian Church of Colombia

The purpose of this thesis was to explore how Christian networks enable strategies of transnational alliance, whereby groups in different nations strive to strengthen one another’s leverage and credibility in order to resolve conflicts and elaborate new possibilities. This research does so by analyzing the case of the Presbyterian Church of Colombia (IPC). The project examines the historical development of the IPC from the initial missionary period of the 1850s until the present. Specifically, the purpose of the study was to consider how the historical struggle to articulate autonomy and equality vis-à-vis the U.S. Presbyterians (PCUSA) and paternalist models of ecclesial relations has affected recent political strategies pursued by the IPC. Despite the paternalism of the early missionary model, changing conceptions of social transformation during the 60s contributed to a shift in relations. Over time the IPC and PCUSA negotiated relationships in which groups both acknowledge a problematic history and insist upon an ethnic of partnership and respect. Today, PCUSA groups, in concert with the IPC, collaborate on a range of transnational political strategies aimed at strengthening the IPC’s leverage in local struggles for justice and peace. A review of this case suggests that long-established Christian networks may have an advantage over other civil society groups such as NGOs in facilitating strategies of transnational alliance. Although civil society organizations often have better access to important resources needed for international advocacy initiatives, Christian networks, such as the one established between the IPC and U.S. Presbyterian communities, rely on a history of negotiating power-disparity in order to elaborate relationships based on listening and partnership. Such findings prove important not only to how we conceptualize transnational alliance but also to the ways that we think about the history and future of Christian networks.

Puerto Ricans in the Empire: Tobacco Growers and U.S. Colonialism

This flyer promotes the event "Puerto Ricans in the Empire: Tobacco Growers and U.S. Colonialism", a book presentation by Author Teresita A. Levy. The book focuses on the relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States in the tobacco-leaf market. Teresita Levy is an associate professor of Latin American and Puerto Rican studies at Lehman College, City University of New York, and the associate director of the Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies at the Graduate Center. This event was held on August 24, 2015 at the Florida International University, Modesto A Maidique Campus, DM 445.

Post-Revolutionary Post-Modernism: Central American Detective Fiction by the Turn of the 21st Century

Contemporary Central American fiction has become a vital project of revision of the tragic events and the social conditions in the recent history of the countries from which they emerge. The literary projects of Sergio Ramirez (Nicaragua), Dante Liano (Guatemala), Horacio Castellanos Moya (El Salvador), and Ramon Fonseca Mora (Panama), are representative of the latest trends in Central American narrative. These trends conform to a new literary paradigm that consists of an amalgam of styles and discourses, which combine the testimonial, the historical, and the political with the mystery and suspense of noir thrillers. Contemporary Central American noir narrative depicts the persistent war against social injustice, violence, criminal activities, as well as the new technological advances and economic challenges of the post-war neo-liberal order that still prevails throughout the region. Drawing on postmodernism theory proposed by Ihab Hassan, Linda Hutcheon and Brian MacHale, I argued that the new Central American literary paradigm exemplified by Sergio Ramirez’s El cielo llora por mí, Dante Liano’s El hombre de Montserrat, Horacio Castellanos Moya’s El arma en el hombre and La diabla en el espejo, and Ramon Fonseca Mora’s El desenterrador, are highly structured novels that display the characteristic marks of postmodern cultural expression through their ambivalence, which results from the coexistence of multiple styles and conflicting ideologies and narrative trends. The novels analyzed in this dissertation make use of a noir sensitivity in which corruption, decay and disillusionment are at their core to portray the events that shaped the modern history of the countries from which they emerge. The revolutionary armed struggle, the state of terror imposed by military regimes and the fight against drug trafficking and organized crime, are among the major themes of these contemporary works of fiction, which I have categorized as perfect examples of the post-revolutionary post-modernism Central American detective fiction at the turn of the 21st century.

Hell-vetica

Helvetica (connotes Swiss typeface) has been used the most widely from street signs to government campaign posters since 1957. Helvetica represents a great leap forward for modernity: clean, sans-serif, optimistic. However in history, there was a movement against Helvetica among American artists and designers since David Carson and Paula Scher indicted Helvetica as the cause of Vietnam war. Paradoxically, we celebrated its 50th birthday in 2007. Helvetica’s message it this: “you are going to get to your destination on time; your plan will not crash; your money is safe in our vault; we will not break the package; the paperwork has been filled in; everything is going to be OK” (Finlo Rohrer, Helvetica At 50, BBC News Magazine 9 May 2007). The artwork, Hell-vetica describes its characteristic of double agent for modernism and postmodernism in this contemporary era by combination of a stylised graphical form of a heart shape in red and a typographical manipulation - Hell-vetica.

An investigation of a process for environmental banking appropriate to Queensland

This thesis examines the advanced North American environmental mitigation schemes for their applicability to Queensland. Compensatory wetland mitigation banking, in particular, is concerned with in-perpetuity management and protection - the basic concerns of the Queensland public about its unique environment. The process has actively engaged the North American market and become a thriving industry that (for the most part) effectively designs, creates and builds (or enhances) environmental habitat. A methodology was designed to undertake a comprehensive review of the history, evolution and concepts of the North American wetland mitigation banking system - before and after the implementation of a significant new compensatory wetland mitigation banking regulation in 2008. The Delphi technique was then used to determine the principles and working components of wetland mitigation banking. Results were then applied to formulate a questionnaire to review Australian marketbased instruments (including offsetting policies) against these North American principles. Following this, two case studies established guiding principles for implementation based on two components of the North American wetland mitigation banking program. The subsequent outcomes confirmed that environmental banking is a workable concept in North America and that it is worth applying in Queensland. The majority of offsetting policies in Australia have adopted some principles of the North American mitigation programs. Examination reveals that however, they fail to provide adequate incentives for private landowners to participate because the essential trading mechanisms are not employed. Much can thus be learnt from the North American situation - where private enterprise has devised appropriate free market concepts. The consequent environmental banking process (as adapted from the North American programs) should be implemented in Queensland. It can then focus here on engaging the private sector, where the majority of naturally productive lands are managed.

Eschewing the fat: strong production but Neil LaBute below his best : a review

AWARD-WINNING American play and screen writer Neil LaBute is known for producing character-driven dramas that concentrate on the darker side of human nature and desire. In Fat Pig, LaBute picks up on a familiar theme: the way a perverse social preference for physical perfection affects human relationships. It is a topic LaBute has tackled before in The Shape of Things, a compelling play in which a beautiful young woman's efforts to help her new boyfriend pursue a program of self-improvement are eventually revealed to be part of a bizarre human experiment for her master-of-fine-arts degree.