Browsing by Subject "Phenomenology"
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Item A critique of Cohen's relational theory of color(2007-05) Myers, Rachel; Hazlett, Allan; Averill, Edward Wilson; Poppa, Francesca DiJonathan Cohen's relational theory of color defines color as a relation between an object, a subject and the viewing conditions. His theory overcomes color-physicalism's anthropocentric conclusion that only some human visual systems have veridical color vision. According to relationalism, (almost) all perception is veridical. But relationalism faces two intractable problems. First, our visual experience presents a tomato as being intrinsically red rather than "red for me in these conditions." Unless relationalism can explain how our phenomenology of sensuous color experience fits into the causal structure of the world, it cannot fit color into the causal process, though at the least color must cause our sensuous experience of color. Secondly, in defining the relationship between an object's being red and looking red to an observer, relationalism specifies only that "If x looks green to S in C, x is green for S in C." Relationalism must therefore provide an independent account of what it is for an object to look green. Without an independent account it fails to pick out the specific mental events meant by "looks green." Because there are no illusions in relationalism, it's also true that "If x is green for S in, then x looks green to S in C." But this produces a regress problem. In light of these two problems, relationalism cannot be the correct account of color.Item A multi-functional center in the city of Lubbock, Texas(Texas Tech University, 1988-12) Mohamad, AminuddinNoneItem A Phenomenological Exploration of Novice Texas English/Language Arts Teachers' Experiences with Media Literacy(2012-10-19) Huie, Allison MartinThis mixed method study employs a phenomenological methodology to explore the experiences of novice secondary Texas English/Language Arts (E/LA) teachers' who integrated media literacy curriculum within their content area during the 2010-2011 school year. Data relating to the phenomenon was collected through Likert-type survey items and an in-depth three-interview protocol. The key findings in this study highlight the complex relationships that affect novice secondary Texas E/LA teachers' development of curriculum and pedagogy in the context of media literacy education. Participants' backgrounds were found to influence their beliefs and attitudes related to media literacy, which in turn, influenced the way they integrated media literacy curricula. Despite a commonly held belief in the value of media literacy education and intent to integrate media literacy in the E/LA curriculum, participants' confidence in their ability to teach students media literacy skills declined over time. Data suggest that this decrease is attributable to environmental factors such as access to technology resources and the culture and climate of the schools in which the participants teach. The study also finds that participants were insufficiently prepared to teach media literacy in the E/LA classroom and that both participants' teacher preparation program and school districts bear the burden for this deficiency. The findings of this study have specific implications for current educational practice. Schools of education and school districts are appropriately positioned to provide needed, but currently deficient, support to novice E/LA teachers with regard to media literacy integration in the content area. Such support could consist of formal coursework and/or mediated discussion in professional learning communities regarding: media literacy in the standards; technology skills and integration; pedagogical content knowledge related to media literacy education; sources for media literacy self-study and independent professional development; and teaching media literacy skills in technologically under-resourced or hostile environments.Item Absentee landowners near a military installation in Texas: Use, motivation, and emotional tie to their land(2012-12) Danker, Amber P.; Irlbeck, Erica; Murphrey, Theresa; Baker, Matt; Dooley, KimberlyThe purpose of this dissertation was to examine the motivation of absentee landowners located around a military installation in Texas to maintain their land in agriculture. Urban encroachment around military installations has become problematic, primarily as a result of many years of incompatible development due to the transfer of lands from agricultural use to urban use. Maintaining the land in agriculture increases military training capabilities, thus increasing military readiness both stateside and abroad. Absentee landowners are of particular interest, since their detachment from the land could be perceived as a disinterest in what occurs there. The determination of landowner motivations may allow programs to be developed which can appeal to the landowners’ motivations and allow the landowners to maintain their land in agriculture. Four research questions sought to identify landowner motivation. The research questions targeted current land use, the phenomena motivating absentee landowners to maintain their land in agriculture, change in land use over time, and whether a landowner’s emotional tie to the land affects land management decisions. Both the intrinsic motivation of family and the extrinsic motivation of money were identified as general motivating factors, and 15 specific motivating factors were identified within the four overarching themes. Recommendations were made based on applicability of the research to the Army, cooperative extension, legislators and government agencies, financial planners, tax appraisal offices, and estate planners.Item Agent of touch and transformation : a pilgrimage token of Saint Symeon the Younger in the Menil collection(2011-05) Steiner, Shannon P.; Peers, Glenn; Papalexandrou, AmyWhen considering early Byzantine pilgrimage tokens, questions of touch and tactility arise almost instantly. Tokens lack cords or mountings, and so touch is implicit in such objects. Even gazing at them was a form of touching for the pilgrim. Hagiographies tell of pilgrims crowding to holy sites with the express intent to access sanctity through touch. Touch then, whether visual or manual, mediated the desire for connection between a pilgrim, a site, and a body. This requires an examination of a token’s touch as well as a pilgrim’s. In my thesis, I focus on a surviving token of the stylite saint Symeon the Younger, housed in the Menil Collection. This particular token bears iconography associated with physically and spiritually transformative events. Images of veneration, baptism, and healing appear together on the token’s obverse, while a human handprint on its reverse demands a multifaceted discussion of the implications of touching this object. I propose that in a pilgrim’s interaction with this token both object and viewer had agency. The token encapsulates a comprehensive pilgrimage experience. As a contact relic, the token makes present the saint’s body. Representation of baptism and the token’s backwards inscription enact sphragis – a figurative and literal stamping that pilgrims frequently described. I call attention to the experiential, memorial, and physical impressions made on the lives of early Byzantine pilgrims through the simultaneous touching of both viewer and object.Item Apposition, displacement : an ethics of abstraction in postwar American fiction(2013-05) Heard, Frederick Coye; Kevorkian, Martin, 1968-The decades following two world wars, the European Holocaust and the threat of nuclear annihilation presented American authors with an occupational dilemma: catastrophic histories call out for recognition, but any representation of them risks adding violence to violence by falsifying the account or conflating historical acts of violence with their artificial doubles. This project reimagines the political aesthetics of postmodern American fiction through two major interventions. First, I identify an aesthetic structure of apposition--a parallel relationship between abstract works of art and the everyday world that I take from William Carlos Williams--that allows me to productively resolve a tension in the aesthetics of Hannah Arendt: because representation takes mimesis as a particular end, Arendt disqualifies representational art from politics, which she defines as open-ended action between human beings and not as end-centered state-craft. At the same time, Arendt claims that art is a product of thought, the cognitive activity she associates with political action over and against fabrication. My heterodox reading of Arendt shows that appositional narratives, like political actors, perform their own self-disclosure, beginning the open-ended chain of actions and reactions that Arendt identifies as the substantial form of politics and ethics. Second, I use my revision of Arendt to demonstrate that appositional narratives act politically through the very same metafictional tropes that critics often label as escapist or solipsistic. Rather than copy historical experience, appositional narratives reject illusionary representation and present themselves as actors, inciting their readers to respond with pluralistic, provisional judgment. Taking Vladimir Nabokov, Philip Roth and Toni Morrison--three central but rarely-juxtaposed postmodern novelists--as case studies, I show that we cannot properly assess the political implications of postmodern fiction without understanding the specific mechanisms of narrative apposition. Appositional works stand temporarily and self-consciously in the place of the world, displacing it in the experience of their readers. This narrative strategy provides a political alternative for novelists facing the ethical crises of postmodernity. Appositional narratives displace their readers' settled beliefs and press them to exercise their human capacity for judgment. They embrace their responsibility for the world by refusing to represent it.Item Between the secular and the sacred : emotive responses at the Byzantine Fresco Chapel Museum(2012-05) Morgan, Andrea Marie; Mayer, Melinda M.; Bolin, Paul E.The focus of this research study was to determine the nature of the experiences visitors have at The Byzantine Fresco Chapel Museum in Houston, Texas. In order to discover these experiences visitors have in the space I conducted a phenomenological research study by interviewing eleven people at the Chapel and asking them to recount their experiences inside the space. Phenomenology enables the collection of rich description of the visitors’ experiences. To gather the data I used the methodology of narrative inquiry in an effort to accurately depict the participants’ stories about their experiences. The narratives I collected at the Chapel demonstrated that the space is one that provides an evocative learning experience rather than one that is informative. I found that there were a range of experiences in the space that related to the previous experiences or knowledge that visitors brought with them to the Chapel. The motivations for this study came from my own experience with the space before I started my graduate studies. However, during the course of this study it became clear that there is a lack of knowledge about visitors’ responses to The Byzantine Fresco Chapel Museum. The results of this study benefit the field of museum education by making a case for recognizing spaces that provide opportunities for evocative learning, rather than viewing them as purely informative.Item Caucasian parents' experiences of adopting african-american/biracial children: a phenomenological exploration(Texas Tech University, 2008-05) Miller, Bobbi Jean; Wampler, Karen S.; Ivey, David C.; Kimball, Thomas G.; McGovern, Thomas F.The transracial adoption of African-American and biracial children has been the subject of much criticism and debate. Many of the criticisms levied against transracial adoption rest upon concerns about Caucasian parents’ motives in adopting these children and their ability to parent minority children effectively (Hollingsworth, 1999). Despite these concerns, little research has been conducted that explored the motives and experiences of parents who had chosen to adopt African-American or biracial children. The small body of literature that explored the experience from the parents’ perspective is largely outdated (e.g., Falk, 1970; Feigelman & Silverman, 1983), defined transracial more heterogeneously (e.g., Dore, 1995; Flores de Kistler, 1995), or did not focus on the experiences of couples (e.g., Moosnick, 2001). Given the many changes in adoption policy and overall societal views that have taken place since this past research was conducted, as well as the particular challenges these children face in the adoption system, more current exploration of the topic was warranted. This study used a phenomenological methodology in an attempt to gain a deeper understanding of a complex experience that has been the subject of much debate. The sample consisted of 6 heterosexual, Caucasian married couples (12 participants) who had adopted an African-American or biracial child. Participants had adopted a 2 year old or younger child within the past 5 years. A total of four interviews were conducted with each participant (2 couple interviews and 2 individual interviews). Participants were asked to describe the process of adopting their child and what it was like to become a father/mother through transracial adoption. Five categories emerged from their experiences, including: (1) making the decision to adopt transracially, (2) my child is African-American/biracial and a member of our family, (3) we are tuned into your perception of us, (4) the impact of transracial adoption on our lives, and (5) reflecting on our experience. In addition, themes that emerged as part of these categories are reported and discussed. Results were situated within the existing literature and the clinical, research, and policy implications, as well as limitations of the current study were discussed.Item Experience, Adoption, and Technology: Exploring the Phenomenological Experiences of Faculty Involved in Online Teaching at One School of Public Health(2012-07-16) Kidd, Terry T.This phenomenological study explored the experiences of public health faculty, who developed and taught online courses, at one particular school of public health from 2006 to 2009. The goal was to explore and document the experiences of faculty involved with this phenomenon. A criterion sample was used to identify and select participants. Five public health faculty participated in the study. Data were analyzed in two ways. Written narratives, observational field notes, and artifact data were analyzed using the inducted grounded analysis technique. Interview data were analyzed using the phenomenological data analysis method, Stevic-Colazzi Keen Method. Findings revealed that the experiences of public health faculty, who develop and teach online courses were similar to those in other subjects and were described as difficult, daunting, painful, and time consuming, leaving the public health faculty feeling frustrated and exhausted. While negative feelings described the experience pertaining to the development of online courses, the experience in the teaching phase was seen as positive, enjoyable, joyful, refreshing, and fun. These experiences were found to be contingent upon instructional and organizational support, availability and quality of resources and faculty development and training. Three overarching themes emerged from the study in relation to the experience. These themes included the rhetoric of fear, transformation, and support. The rhetoric of fear described the participants? sense of being afraid or apprehensive toward developing and teaching online courses. Transformation described the transition participants made as they emerged as online instructors. Support described the structures needed to engage in the activities of developing and teaching online courses. The study also revealed five types of barriers to developing and teaching online courses at this particular school of public health. These barriers included psychological, organizational, technical, instructional, and time barriers. Benefits for developing and teaching online courses were identified. They included availability for students, access and penetration into global markets, instructional innovation, design innovation, and new methods of instructional delivery. This study provides data that can be used by institutions and faculty as they design and implement social, political, and technical infrastructures to support the activities of online teaching.Item Golden wings, flowers and other magical things: a phenomenological concept of criticism and a musical play(Texas Tech University, 1983-12) McCluskey, MarieNot availableItem Half-drawn arrows of meaning : a phenomenological approach to ambiguity and semantics in the Urdu Ghazal(2011-05) Kirk, Gwendolyn Sarah; Keating, Elizabeth Lillian; Stewart, Kathleen C.In this paper I explore the role of ambiguity in the creation of meaning in the Urdu ghazal. Ghazal, the predominant genre of Urdu poetry, consists of a series of thematically unrelated yet metrically and prosodically related couplets, each densely packed with multiple and complex meanings. Ambiguity, both lexical and grammatical, is a key technique in the poetics of this genre. Here I not only analyze the different ways ambiguity manifests itself but also the way it has historically been and continues to be mobilized by poets and practitioners of the genre to further imbue each couplet with culture-specific, socially relevant meanings. Breaking with previous approaches to Urdu poetry and poetics, I examine ambiguity in the ghazal with reference to theoretical traditions in linguistic anthropology of ethnopoetics, performance and verbal art, and ethnographic examination of poetic praxis. Finally, addressing various phenomenologies of language, I propose a phenomenological turn in the study of this poetry in order to better theorize processes of meaning creation on both an individual and wider ethnographic level.Item Heritage revisited : an examination of the built environment's historiography, preservation, and meaning(2012-05) Vit-Suzan, Ilan; Long, Christopher (Christopher Alan), 1957-; Holleran, MichaelThe aim of this work is to understand how certain public buildings play an essential role in the evolution of cultural identity over time. Its main approach distinguishes the denotation of tangible heritage from the connotation of its intangible counterpart. These terms are not understood through semiotics, but, through phenomenology. In other words, meaning is not transmitted by an object; it is adjudicated by a subject. In this sense, the phenomenological experience of such buildings is divided in two: perception brings forth an initial denotation of some universal validity; while memories and dreams engender connotations that are rooted in specific spatiotemporal conditions. In this model, denotation stems from the tangible aspects of heritage, while connotation grows from its intangible dimension. To examine the interaction of these components over time, three case studies are surveyed: Rome's Pantheon, Teotihuacan's Sun Pyramid, and Granada's Alhambra. Their examination begins with an analysis of their basic, primordial denotation, as "centers of power." This type of analysis is followed by a condensed history, which identifies the physical transformations that each building experienced over time. Lastly, a series of context companions present a horizon of expectations, from which multiple users at a given time may have received inspiration to elaborate different connotations of meaning. These sections are portrayed as "glimpses" of intellectual history and literary criticism. Their approach is mostly driven by Wilhelm Dilthey's theory of worldviews and Hans Robert Jauss's reception theory. Each case study suggests a different characterization of an overall historical outcome, associated with the cultural evolution of specific groups: the Pantheon reflects some sense of continuity, for Western Civilization; the Sun Pyramid conveys an overwhelming sense of loss, for Mesoamerica; and Alhambra displays a pervasive sense of exclusion, for al-Andalus. The spirit behind these characterizations strives to understand the modalities in which heritage and cultural identity are shaped by the passage of time. Its goal is to increase our awareness about the fragility of the intangible heritage, when it is separated from its tangible substrate.Item Higher precision mass measurement via the boundary of many-body phase space(2013-12) White, Craig Ian; Kilic, CanWe introduce a new method of mass measurement for particles in decay chains. The method relies upon performing a likelihood analysis on the phase space of the decay in its full dimensionality in a Lorentz-invariant formulation. This method is applicable for any decay chain, but we demonstrate it specifically in the case of a four-body final state decay in which one of the final particles is invisible. We directly compare our method to the edge and endpoint method and show that our new method can achieve higher precision with limited statistics.Item The impact of elementary school teachers’ beliefs about classroom management on intervention implementation decisions(2015-12) Terrell, Clarissa Lestee; Stark, Kevin Douglas; Carter, JenniferThere is a gap in the research about teacher beliefs as it pertains to how these beliefs guide teachers’ intervention decisions, particularly decisions about classroom management. The proposed study is interested in understanding and exploring how teacher beliefs impact classroom management implementation decisions. While classroom management interventions are used across grade levels, behavior management is a primary concern during the elementary school years. Therefore, the proposed study will be conducted with elementary school teachers. In order to more keenly examine this teaching experience, the proposed study will use a phenomenological approach to discern whether there are overarching themes in how teachers think about classroom management, plan and implement classroom management interventions, adjust to changes in the classroom environment, and represent their beliefs about classroom management in their classroom activities. This information will be obtained through the use of qualitative methods such as semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and two lived experience descriptions.Item Intuitive decision making in small rural schools: a phenomenological study(Texas Tech University, 2007-05) Windom, Vivian J.This study examined how small school superintendents dealt with decision making on a regular basis. The methods used by these individuals, whether of their own device or through the use of models, were discussed and observed. The study included the types of decision maker style each participant possessed, an overview of decision making models, and a discussion of phenomenological methodology as a tool for use in viewing and discussing decision making practices. Whether the administrator used experience, intuition, or a standard model discussed in current literature was uncovered through this qualitative method. Phenomenology methodology applied the process of interviewing and unbiased observing to discover themes, apply reflection, and analyze the results. Results were reported in a rich thick, qualitative format.Item The lived experience of nonpsychiatric hospitalization for persons with severe mental illness(2013-05) Zolnierek, Cynthia Diamond; Volker, Deborah L.People with severe mental illness experience medical comorbidities to a greater extent than the general population. When hospitalized in general hospital settings, they experience poorer outcomes and are experienced as difficult by nurses. An understanding of the experience of hospitalization from the patient's perspective is important to improving care and outcomes for this population. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experience of nonpsychiatric hospitalization for persons with severe mental illness. Heideggarian phenomenology provided the philosophical underpinning and informed the methodology employed. Participants were recruited through mental health providers. Ten individuals with severe mental illness participated in minimally structured interviews and described their experience of hospitalization on a medical-surgical unit. Data, including transcribed interviews and field notes, were analyzed within the hermeneutic tradition as described by Cohen et al. (2000). The lived experience of nonpsychiatric hospitalization was expressed in four themes: taking care of me (subthemes: being cared for, not being cared for), it's my life, on my toes (subthemes: needing an advocate, managing my mental health), and being a good patient. Care providers' comportment, perception of the patient's illness, attentiveness, responsiveness, and personalized caring behaviors characterized the participant experience of being cared for or not being cared for. It's my life reflected participants' desire to be informed and involved so they could contribute to their recovery. Participants felt the need to be on my toes in order to look out for and advocate for themselves. The need to be on my toes extended to the management of a chronic illness while hospitalized for an unrelated acute condition. The final theme reflected the perceived patient role obligation to be a "good patient". Findings were consistent with the literature regarding experiences of hospitalization from the perspective of persons without mental illness. Identified themes emphasize the critical importance of the nurse-patient relationship to the patient experience. There are significant implications for how nurses come to know their patients in medical-surgical settings so that they can effectively personalize care. Reflective practices may empower nurses to solicit assistance and support to improve caring practicesItem The lived experience of tuberculosis treatment for Mexican Americans living on the US-Mexico border(2013-05) Zuniga, Julie Ann; García, Alexandra Anne, 1964-This study produced a rich description of the lived experiences of tuberculosis (TB) treatment among Mexican Americans with TB living in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) of Texas. This phenomenological study was guided by Merleau-Ponty's philosophical framework, particularly his theories on mind-body influence, fabric of relationships, importance of culture, and equilibrium. A purposeful sample was recruited through TB clinics in four south Texas border counties: Hidalgo, Cameron, Starr, and Willacy, which make up the LRGV. Interviews from 18 participants were conducted in the participants' preferred language and analyzed. There were five women and 13 men. The majority of interviews (n=16) were conducted in Spanish. Five themes were discovered: a) being observed taking pills everyday b) signs and symptoms, c) importance of family, d) stigma; and e) border living. Stigma has four subconcepts: masks, interactions with others, internalization of stigma, and actions to limit exposure to stigma. The overarching theme was a struggle to find a balance during treatment between being exposed to stigma and isolation from social support. Recommendations have been made in regard to education, practice, and research, and health policy.Item Living between on and off(line): A phenomenological study of technological disparity(2007-12) Kinane, Ryan D.; Heuman, Amy N.; Punyanunt-Carter, Narissa M.; Hughes, Patrick C.Communication technologies have become pervasive markers of humanity's need for mobility and independence. The emergence of new communication technologies has served to disrupt modern notions of communication, interaction, and community. Even though communication technologies have been embraced by most individuals as positive mediums for human communication the opportunity for access and fluency is still a socially contested reality. By incorporating phenomenology as humanistic praxis, critical communication theory, and the voices of 16 co-researchers the current project offers an interpretive/critical perspective as to the lived communicative experiences of individuals shaped by issues of technological disparity. Emergent themes of (a) living in technological "darkness," (b) "old school" talk vs. new school talk, (c) technology as sociopolitical "dictator," (d) "challenging" intersections of technological disparity, and (e) technology as "connected" communication all help to define technology as a pervasive communicative structure. Understanding technology as communicative pattern, code, and language helps bring meaning to the lives of co-researchers impacted by the daily sociopolitical(techno) framework that structurally and interactionally renders individuals mute.