Browsing by Subject "21st century"
Now showing 1 - 10 of 10
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item Austin housing and the critical workforce(2011-05) Connor, Patrick Thayer; Kahn, Terry D.; Cahoon, JosephThis professional report is a study of urban housing market forces, housing opportunities of the critical workforce population, Austin’s housing market and an analysis of the apartment market in Austin between 2000 and 2010. The report analyzes the supply and demand of property, its influence on the costs of development and how cities intervene into the market to create housing opportunities for the critical workforce. The income levels of the critical workforce in Austin are related to the current market conditions of the apartment market.Item Biketivists, hipsters, and spandex queens : bicycle politics and cultural critique in Austin(2011-05) Ronald, Kirsten Marie; Davis, Janet M.; Engelhardt, ElizabethThis paper uses an interdisciplinary, multiperspectival approach to analyze biketivism and various anticapitalist biketivist projects in Austin, Texas, in the hopes that a “glocalized” exploration of past and current biketivist struggles can help locate potential sites for political agency in ways that more placeless rhetorical studies cannot. Because the form and content of present-day bike politics in Austin are heavily dependent on biketivism’s historically tense articulations with capitalism, a historical analysis of biketivism as an outgrowth of Progressive Era and Appropriate Technology narratives reveals its crystallization around issues of technological, spatial, and social politics. Three case studies then apply this framework to different sites within the Austin bike community: the sales rhetoric of pro-custom bike shops, the debates over installing a Bike Boulevard in downtown Austin, and the missions and forms of several bike-related cultural organizations. Together, these perspectives on Austin’s bike community indicate that the incorporation (and sometimes outright co-optation) of biketivists’ technological and spatial demands and practices into mainstream culture may fragment the movement into physical and social agendas, but this fragmentation does not necessarily silence biketivism’s more radical social politics. At least in Austin, co-optation of biketivism may paradoxically be helping biketivists meet their goal of bringing (pedal) power to the people.Item From the countryside and city to the edges and interstices : places and spaces of the quotidien in contemporary French film and literature(2013-05) Jones, Claire Catherine; Wettlaufer, AlexandraThis dissertation examines the use of the quotidien (the everyday) in contemporary French film and literature to understand its relationship with notions of place and space. Defined as the paradoxical process of how one repeatedly constructs each day "anew" on a routine basis, the quotidien in the texts of my analysis is not static, but rather a means for articulating changes in French communities and ways of life, while further reflecting ongoing changes to attitudes, politics, and identity. I advance current readings of the quotidien by viewing it as both descriptive, a recurring manifestation of change, as well as transformative, able to effect change. I argue that, in these depictions, the quotidien effectively erodes traditional spatial categories to create and reveal new and less stable versions. Specifically, places lose their real and symbolic sway to indeterminate spaces in which meaning is uncertain, in flux, or non-existent. My dissertation is novel for its interest in tracing the quotidien across spatial categories, so that its chapters move from the more "stable" categories of the rural and the urban to those in more obvious flux, edges and interstices. Chapter 1 studies the depicted quotidiens of rural France in Agnès Varda's film, Les Glaneurs et la glaneuse (2000), and Raymond Depardon and Claudine Nougare's film series, Profils paysans (2000-2008). Chapter 2 investigates the quotidiens of urban centers in Cédric Klapisch's film, Chacun cherche son chat (1996), Patrick Modiano's novel, Dora Bruder (1997), and Laurent Cantet's film, Entre les murs (2008). Chapter 3 examines everyday France at the periphery of Paris in Gérard Gavarry's novel, Hop là! Un deux trois (2001). The Conclusion addresses the emergence of a new space, the interstitial, in which its dwellers float, move, or exist between places on a daily basis, such as a commute to work. I analyze Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas's short film, Loin du 16ème (2006), Abdellatif Kechiche's film, La Graine et le mulet (2007), and Alain-Paul Mallard's film, L'Origine de la tendresse (1999). These mini-ethnographies of French society reveal a France grappling with issues related to globalization, shifting populations, the relative newness of the European Union, and consequently, identity. Who is French, and where does "authentic France" lie?Item A lack of power(2011-05) Sánchez, Alejandro, 1979-; Goodman, Mark, 1946-; Reynolds, AnnThis graduate report, more than a formal description of the artistic developments I have gradually acknowledged, is a personal and perhaps arbitrary recollection of ideas that might help the reader–and me–understand the nature of the gestures that have evidently influenced the work I have produced in the past two years. These words belong to an inevitable act of introspection that seeks to validate some of the questions that have directed my artistic investigation throughout this time. I believe my work derives from two different and yet relevant positions: on one hand, the need to find meaning out of brutal events that have indisputably marked the course of history, specially in Colombia–my home country–where victims appear to loose their voices in a context ruled by indifference and apathy; and, on the other, the desire to understand what controls the reception of violent imagery as we depend on how social location, collective identification and political affiliation dictate the way we perceive the world. Each project mentioned in this report is a result of studying obsessively the political kidnappings that have been taking place in Colombia in the past twenty years, as a response to an allegedly abuse of power induced by the government against Las FARC, one of the most powerful guerrilla groups in Latin America. However each one is far from being a true document of real events and on the contrary, each one emerges as a naïve interpretation, possibly an illustration, of an ambiguous conflict that has no reasonable explanation but being a natural product of a conservative warfare–which in fact is no less than a reading made by a distant and passive witness like myself.Item Media cold warriors of Operation Pedro Pan : examining the impact of U.S. Cold War rhetoric on contemporary U.S. foreign policy towards Cuba(2011-05) Vail, Meghan Elizabeth; Arroyo-Martínez, Jossianna"Media cold warriors of Operation Pedro Pan" is a case study in which I examine the impact of 1960s Cold War rhetoric on contemporary U.S.-Cuba policy. In my report, I contextualize the 1960s covert U.S. endeavor Operation Pedro Pan and draw parallels between the media portrayals of Pedro Pan children from the 60s and the discourse utilized by adult Pedro Panes today to market their immigration experience to contemporary voters and younger generations of Cuban Americans. Operation Pedro Pan was intended to undermine the Castro Government and accomplish democracy in 1960s Cuba. I argue, however, that because of the contemporary publicity surrounding Pedro Panes and their use of the same Cold War rhetoric to characterize their immigration experiences, the children of Operation Pedro Pan will ultimately prevent the same achievement of democracy in Cuba that the covert endeavor purported to accomplish in the 1960s.Item A quantitative analysis of the role of referentiality and DOM in modern Peninsular Spanish(2011-05) Abing, Jesse Lee; Nishida, Chiyo; Hensey, FrederickDifferential Object Marking (henceforth, DOM) in Spanish involves the use of the object marker a to overtly mark certain direct objects (Juan conoce a la mamá de Pedro.). The literature on this phenomenon is extensive. Previous typological/functionalist work (e.g. Aissen 2003, Croft 2003, von Heusinger and Kaiser 2007) has characterized the likelihood of DOM in terms of properties of the direct object including animacy, definiteness and specificity. According to recent grammatical variationist work on Mexican Spanish (Lizarraga Navarro and Mora-Bustos 2010), these two factors are the most highly correlated with overt DOM in Spanish. While some empirical studies corroborate portions of these findings (e.g. von Heusinger 2008), none have provided a complete quantified analysis of the entire set of features as discussed in terms of the Referentiality Scale (von Heusinger 2008) including specificity and non-argumentals for Modern European Spanish. This empirically-based corpus study investigates the distribution of DOM in the 20th and 21st Century European Spanish focusing on the features comprising the scales of animacy and referentiality. The results obtained in this study provide evidence that the referential features like specificity and definiteness are indeed significant factors that condition DOM along with verb type. This study also sheds light on the validity of the claim made in diachronic work for the systematic spread of DOM (e.g. Melis 1995, Laca 2006, von Heusinger and Kaiser 2010).Item The right to be free from offense : the development of hate speech laws in the European Union, UK, Canada, and Sweden(2011-05) Kyckelhahn, Tracey; Young, Michael P.; Sjoberg, Gideon; Ekland-Olson, Sheldon; Kelly, William R.; Smith, Steven K.With the increasing population heterogeneity and rising tensions in Western nations, the governments of those nations have sought ways to manage conflict between different groups. This often comes in the form of laws criminalizing certain speech, and numerous Western nations have passed bills strengthening sanctions against hate speech or adding previously unprotected groups. However, when the European Union attempted to pass strict hate speech legislation, many EU member states disagreed with its provisions and, due to the structure of the EU, managed to substantially change the resulting legislation. This study examines how proponents and opponents of hate speech legislative change frame the issue and the role the EU.Item A source of new information? the market effects of corporate testimony in congressional hearings (2000-2005)(2011-05) Thomas, Herschel Fred; Jones, Bryan D.; Theriault, Sean M.; Roberts, Brian E.Given that Congressional hearings are established legislative and political information generating tools for committee members engaging in oversight, fact finding, and agenda setting, I examine whether or not hearings provide information to actors outside of government. More specifically, does testimony by corporate representatives provide new information to the stock market about the future profitability of certain firms? In this paper, I utilize a new dataset collected by Workman and Shafran (2009) that includes 3,300 witnesses (and their affiliations) who testified in business regulation hearings between 2000 and 2005. I identify 99 publicly traded firms with representatives testifying in 117 hearings, and utilize event study methodology to estimate the effects of testimony events on the daily stock returns of corresponding firms. I find that, even with the ‘expectedness’ of Congressional hearings, such events negatively impact stock returns both generally as well as with greater magnitude under certain conditions. This event effect is largest for politically sensitive firms and for hearings held in the Senate. When selecting a portfolio of firms that combines all significant conditions, I determine that the ‘upper bound’ of the effect is one-half a standard deviation in daily returns (or a change of -1.6% in prices). Congressional hearings with corporate testimony do, in fact, generate information for external actors.Item A summer wildfire : how the greatest debut in baseball history peaked and dwindled over the course of three months(2011-05) Reynolds, Colin Thomas; Dahlby, Tracy; Minutaglio, Bill; Sheinin, DaveThe narrative itself is an ageless one, a fundamental Shakespearean tragedy in its progression. A young man is deemed invaluable and exalted by the public. The hero is cast into the spotlight and bestowed with insurmountable expectations. But the acclamations and pressures are burdensome and the invented savior fails to fulfill the prospects once imagined by the public. He is cast aside, disregarded as a symbol of failure or one deserving of pity. It’s the quintessential tragedy of a fallen hero. The protagonist of this report is Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg, who enjoyed a phenomenal rookie season before it ended abruptly due to a severe elbow injury. But from a broader perspective, this report considers the current state of baseball in American society. The immense anticipation of Strasburg’s debut in early June of 2010 was unprecedented and his success sparked the public’s interest. But the 21-year-old failed to seize our adoration and his injury left many disappointed and disengaged. During a time when the casual baseball fan was disinterested and even the devoted felt disenchanted, Strasburg provided a brief reprieve from the controversies and allegations. Americans could connect with their beleaguered National Pastime once more. Although Strasburg is the driving force, his role as “savior” could have been bestowed upon anyone. Nothing about his personality or looks or charisma garnered him such high esteem, but just his uncanny ability to throw a baseball. On the surface he is just a young prodigy in a long line of highly touted successes and failures – and he certainly won’t be the last. In essence, the star alone does not compose the story, but rather it’s the ideology surrounding him. Lastly, Strasburg’s narrative is still unfinished. As in any tragic tale comes the hope of redemption. This unknown conclusion is fitting for a baseball narrative where every year begins afresh and endless possibilities emerge. As essayist Alexander Pope once noted, “Hope springs eternal in the human breast.” The same is true in baseball.Item Visual music : an ethnography of an experimental art in Los Angeles(2010-05) Cardoso, Leonardo de; Erlmann, Veit; Seeman, SoniaThis report focuses on social networks surrounding visual music, a sub-field of audiovisual experimental art in which hearing and seeing intersect, often through the music-oriented manipulation of abstract imagery and audio-visual synchronization. The discussion evolves from my fieldwork in Los Angeles, where I interacted with artists, archivists, publishers, institutions, software developers, and scholars. Taking into account Howard Becker's notion of art world, Pierre Bourdieu's ideas of cultural and economic capitals, and Bruno Latour's actor-network theory, I try to understand how these groups have been trying to establish visual music-networks. Although elements of visual music have been present in various media and artistic trends (color organs, abstract films, VJing-DJing, etc.), the field's history and premises are still little known, in part because the very term 'visual music' is a contested one. Due to its entertainment/cultural industries, Los Angeles is a place where multiple processes of high tech differentiation coexist; since the 1930s the city's technocultural environment (from film production to academic programs on computer animation) has lured artists interested in visual music. Not surprisingly, the city holds the only two institutions directly related to visual music in the country. I navigate through this field by considering some intersections between science, art, and technology.