An Exploration of Representations of Race and Ethnicity in Three Transitional Series for Young Children

This thesis seeks to explore the related research literature surrounding representations and portrayals of protagonists of various multicultural backgrounds in series or transitional books. As teachers, it is essential to acknowledge the lack of multicultural characters in children\u27s literature among elementary classroom bookshelves and learn how to incorporate literature featuring strong main characters of varying races and ethnicities so that children can see role models who mirror their own contexts. Prior studies, such as Gangi (2008) and Green and Hopenwasser (2017) have examined the deficiency of multicultural literature in the classroom, particularly among transitional stories, which shows the importance of exploring this topic. Furthermore, Green and Hopenwasser (2017) emphasize the importance of equal representation of transitional books with characters of diverse ethnicities, as they act as mirrors and windows for students to reflect upon themselves. These studies argue that to prevent the whitewashing of literature for primary grades, teachers should be cautious while choosing series or transitional books. I conducted an equity audit on three series or transitional books from different time periods, commonly found among elementary classroom libraries to explore ethnic and racial representations of protagonists to the actual demographics of the third-grade student population. Administering this equity audit also determined that popular series or transitional books are advantageous to include in classroom libraries when protagonists are portrayed as non-stereotypical experiencing real-life situations. The findings of this equity audit have the potential for educators to improve their methods choosing literature with characters of diverse races and ethnicities and improve methods of integrating multicultural literature into lessons

Selling, yet still social: The continuing rhetorical importance of a consociational personhood among the self-employed in eastern Germany

This thesis, conducted as part of a project which aims to investigate sociality and rhetoric culture theory, does so by considering the rhetorics of personhood among the self-employed in Halle an der Saale, eastern Germany, based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork among businesspersons, advisors and officials. Sociality and rhetoric culture theory suggests that it is the persuasive action of humans which effects the continuous and inventive cultural change which our evolved interactive and intersubjective abilities permits. In a region which has seen particularly intense and often negative social, political and economic change towards late capitalism as it moved from a state socialism – where the egalitarian ‘socialist personality’ was fostered alongside a vehement criticism of capitalist individualism – I investigate the rhetorical strategies the self-employed use to describe themselves, their lives and businesses as they take up this most ‘individualistic’ practice as well as those employed by government and parts of the media who encourage it. Based on participant observation, interview data and media analyses, I argue that despite tacit approval of capitalism by the self-employed, the necessity to engage in it brought about by current circumstances is rhetorically tempered by the evocation of the increased sense of solidarity and consociality eastern Germans have been long noted to claim they possess in comparison to their western co-citizens. I also suggest that highlighting these aspects, and indeed being so, offers a distinct advantage to eastern businesspersons in an increasingly competitive and precarious world of encroaching neoliberal work practices. After a thorough introduction to sociality and rhetorical culture theory, and a consideration of research methods and ethical and reflective issues, in Chapter 3 I introduce my fieldsite and its particular context. I show how aspects of GDR rhetoric regarding work and society still abound in Halle, both in the built landscape and in publications. Chapter 4 features a media analysis of how Germans are encouraged to change to become ‘mini-corporations’ and in it, and in Chapter 5, through participation at courses, and interviews, how acceptance of this is tempered by eastern German focus on consociality, and on the importance of the person. In Chapter 6, based on participation in product promotion I show how success follows focussing on these aspects by these precarious ‘new self-employed’. In Chapter 7, I detail how through the use of promotional ‘mass-gifts’, they create sociality by evoking GDR-era social networks of sharing and consumption. Before a final conclusion, Chapter 8 shows how Halle itself uses people to market itself. I demonstrate how the city authorities, as well as the self-employed, use ‘famous son’ G. F. Handel, but also the self-employed themselves, in order to combat Halle’s negative personification as the post-industrial, socio-economically deprived ‘Grey Diva’

Transsexualism and identity: processes of female to male transition

This thesis reports an interview-based study of thirty female-to-male (FtM) transsexual individuals. These participants were divided into three groups of ten according to their transitional status: 'pre-transitional', 'transitional and 'post-transitional. Interviews were carried out utilising an extensive semi-structured interview schedule and were recorded. Tapes together with field notes from each interview were that transcribed. The thirty transcripts were then subjected to a detailed review and analysis. A range of issues were identified in relation to the notion of FtM transsexual identity as this was experienced through the processes of FtM transition. The conclusions drawn identified a number of substantive areas of insight into the FtM transsexual condition, each of which have implications for an understanding of: coping with a threatened identity; passing; trust; factors relating to and effects of disclosure following these individuals' decision to embark cm transition; issues pertaining to transition, and attitudes of the medical profession toward transsexualism, among others. Some policy issues were also identified indicating scope for interentive measures geared at facilitating the life circumstances and transsitional passage of FtM transsexual people