Defining 'Speech': Subtraction, Addition, and Division

In free speech theory ‘speech’ has to be defined as a special term of art. I argue that much free speech discourse comes with a tacit commitment to a ‘Subtractive Approach’ to defining speech. As an initial default, all communicative acts are assumed to qualify as speech, before exceptions are made to ‘subtract’ those acts that don’t warrant the special legal protections owed to ‘speech’. I examine how different versions of the Subtractive Approach operate, and criticise them in terms of their ability to yield a substantive definition of speech which covers all and only those forms of communicative action that – so our arguments for free speech indicate – really do merit special legal protection. In exploring alternative definitional approaches, I argue that what ultimately compromises definitional adequacy in this arena is a theoretical commitment to the significance of a single unified class of privileged communicative acts. I then propose an approach to free speech theory that eschews this theoretical commitment

Gender, Risk, and Leadership

Daily human interactions are likely to bear the weight of society’s gendered expectations. Gender stereotypes (i.e., descriptive beliefs) manifested through such gendered expectations, garnered throughout history across cultures, define ideal male and female characteristics and dictate how exemplary men and women should behave. Gender roles are the sum of these stereotypes. Agentic (e.g., competitive, aggressive) characteristics are commonly considered typical male traits, whereas communal (e.g., warm, kind) characteristics are associated with the female. Without even consciously knowing, human minds learn how to view members of society based on these gendered traits, even though people usually have a mix of both agentic and communal characteristics regardless of their gender (e.g., Hyde, 2005; Larsen & Seidman, 1986). What happens when women do not comply with these deep-rooted gendered beliefs? The three essays comprising this doctoral dissertation explore women’s deviations from these shared expectations. Women are seen as defying societal expectations by acting agentic, such as taking risks and being in a top leadership position. Drawing upon behavioral economics, management, and applied psychology literature, this dissertation investigates women who do not fit into stereotypes

Performing Identities of the Auditory-Verbal Deaf Students in the Classrooms: A Teacher\u27s Performative Memoir

My dissertation, that incorporated performative storytelling and dance, is a memoir reflecting over fifty years of my lived experiences related to deafness as a multidimensional illustration that spans from my experience as a young child with a family member affected by Usher’s Syndrome; as an educational sign language interpreter; as a teacher of the deaf (TOD); and as an early intervention auditory-verbal therapist. Theoretically, my dissertation builds upon critical pedagogy (e.g., Baglieri & Shapiro, 2012; Freire, 1970/2009; McLaren & Crawford, 1998) and disability studies (e.g., Davis, 2002; Goodley, 2011; Siebers, 2008; Kitchens, 1998). The physical disability of deafness continues to be viewed with a rejection of personal identities and instructional methodologies that reflect academic abilities for diverse learners. With a new perspective on brain-based science along with advances in technology (cochlear implants), disabilities studies and critical pedagogy empower AVT deaf students to become agents of change. Methodologically, I crafted a performative memoir, drawing upon the works of memoir (e.g., Berube, 1992; Karr, 2016; Zinsser, 1998) and artistic and performative aspects of dance and storytelling (e.g., Barone & Eisner, 2012; Pink, 2012), to engage the audience through auditory and visual deliveries to develop empathetic understanding towards AVT deaf students. Memoir transgresses traditional research inquiries to create space to tell silenced narratives of AVT deaf students and liberates academic writing solely relying on words. Six observations have emerged from the study: The AVT approach, with technology and early intervention, creates opportunities for AVT deaf students to be liberated. A performative memoir is more compatible with the ways AVT deaf students express themselves. The different ways Deaf and AVT students interconnect with the hearing world disrupt the stereotypes of AVT deaf students and challenge the deafness of the hearing world. Place and space for AVT deaf students, which are docile-bodied (Foucault, 1977) by abled-bodied societies, are embodied in a third space (Soja, 1996). Performative memoir transgresses traditional research inquiries to create space to tell silenced narratives of AVT deaf. Recognizing funds of knowledge (Gonzalez, Moll, & Amanti, 2005) helps develop a culturally responsive curriculum that creates equal opportunities for AVT students (Siddle-Walker, 1996)

An appraisal of support services to students with disabilities: the case of Walter Sisulu University

The provision of effective support services in an efficient manner is a critical part of any university’s role to ensure that students with disabilities achieve academic outcomes. In South Africa universities are categorized into three types, namely traditional universities (offer theoretically-oriented degrees); universities of technology (offer vocational-oriented diplomas and degrees) and comprehensive universities (offer a combination of the other two). With their constitutional and policy framework obligations, universities are responsible for accommodating students with all types of disabilities. Pertaining to the awareness of social disparities, the quality of support services to students with disabilities still remains a concern. From various platforms it is evident that quality of support services to students with disabilities in South African universities is poor and in some instances crucial support devices do not exist at all. The pressures being felt by universities from external forces and the problems encountered in the extent of quality of support services has created the need for an appraisal. The purpose of this study, then, is to investigate and describe the quality of the support services provided to students with disabilities in a university context

Speaking Music: A Historical Study of Edwin Gordon\u27s Music Learning Theory

Music Learning Theory, conceived, researched, and developed by Dr. Edwin Elias Gordan, has been on the periphery of music education for decades and is the only extant comprehensive theoretical framework that fully addresses the development of music literacy from early childhood through maturity. The concurrent research gap suggests that a Fordist approach may exist throughout music education – one that insists upon behavioral goals, direct instruction, and educational, artistic, and ideological exclusivity. This historical study elucidates Gordan’s work in order to understand the stages and processes that are like spokes of a wheel between his idea of audiation at the core and Music Learning Theory on the outer rim. Conclusions bring Gordon’s concepts within Music Learning Theory to the fore to address this potential gap in practice and exclusion in music education by revealing the theory’s usefulness in explaining how learning occurs while guiding instruction individual student project. The information gleaned is practical and displays Music Learning Theory as a possibility for all forms of music education but particularly for instrumental instruction. It represents possibilities in music instruction beyond those associated with traditional teaching and application of musical concepts and skills

Text, History, and Tradition: What the Seventh Amendment Can Teach Us About the Second

In District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. City of Chicago, the Supreme Court made seemingly irreconcilable demands on lower courts: evaluate Second Amendment claims through history, avoid balancing, and retain as much regulation as possible. To date, lower courts have been unable to devise a test that satisfies all three of these conditions. Worse, the emerging default candidate, intermediate scrutiny, is a test that many jurists and scholars consider exceedingly manipulable.This Article argues that courts could look to the Supreme Court’s Seventh Amendment jurisprudence, and in particular the Seventh Amendment’s “historical test,” to help them devise a test for the Second. The historical test relies primarily on analogical reasoning from text, history, and tradition to determine the constitutionality of any given practice or regulation. Yet the historical test is supple enough to respond to the demands of a twenty-first-century judicial system. As such, it provides valuable insights, but also its own set of problems, for those judges and scholars struggling to implement the right to keep and bear arms

A Meta-Analytic Review of Cooperative Learning Practices in Higher Education: A Human Communication Perspective

The phrase cooperative learning refers to a pedagogical learning and teaching technique in use in schools from kindergarten through higher education. The technique involves the structuring of an active classroom environment with students working in groups to discover, solve, and at its basic, provide a framework for dialogue and conversation. Cooperative learning is grounded in the development of a theory of social interdependence (Morton Deutsch) which states that individuals, working in groups, can in most cases provide for greater productivity and ideas than individuals working alone. The development of cooperative learning was greatly expanded in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s with the invention of specific group learning techniques led by researchers David and Robert Johnson (Learning Together), Elliot Aronson (Jigsaw), and Robert Slavin (STAD). These researchers established guidelines (rules) and taxonomies that provided a basis for research in the area of cooperative learning. At the center of all of these techniques is an element of human communication, most often through the oral/aural communication channel, where group learning and discovery takes place. Cooperative learning and collaborative learning techniques differ in the amount and implementation of teaching guidelines required in the methodology. This study (a metaanalysis) weaves through more than 14-hundred published pieces of literature in a variety of disciplines, narrowing it down to 19 published articles which investigate (through experiments) the effectiveness through learning outcomes of cooperative learning in higher education (college and university level). With studies including more than 2-thousand student-participants in the research, data indicates no significant difference between those classrooms utilizing a cooperative learning format, and those using a traditional lecture/discussion format (d =0.05, 95%, C1:-05 to .14, p\u3e.05, k = 21, N = 2,052). Though there is no statistical difference between the two teaching techniques, researchers do offer a list of positive classroom observations/variables, which provides a launching point for future research into the use of cooperative learning techniques in higher education

Reviving Craft in a Context of Design: Physical Practice in a Digital Culture

In the pursuit of speed and efficiency, contemporary visual communication eradicates the essence of the individual in favour of certainty. Mass production and the rational thought processes that steer Western Culture have caused much of the human relationship with the physical world to deteriorate. This graphic design research employs craft processes and theories of the discipline to explore the irregularities engendered by the human hand. It does so by merging production methods involving both analogue and digital operations. The unique vagaries of handcraft inform aesthetic experience by enriching communication culture with the haptic qualities of the individual. By combining strategies of risk and certainty, handcraft procedures complement the work of mechanical production and serves as a potential cultural instrument. Together these production methods culminate in a richer means of communication that reveals an ontological relationship between form and representation, one which affirms and counters the alienation of a modern world

Strange Fruit: Black Female Body Politics in Contemporary American Culture

The African American Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 60s was an organized effort by and for Black American populations to receive equal treatment by law. Its legacy has much reason to be celebrated: not only for its accomplishments and successes in unifying the Black community but also in bringing issues of segregation, violence, and racial discrimination to the forefront of the public’s attention. The decade was a pivotal point in contemporary race relations, and served as an apex in attempts to bridge America’s past and what America is striving to become. Today however, the social and political climate surrounding the Black community still leaves much to be acknowledged, developed, and understood. Over five decades later, many voices still speak loudly of racism, discrimination, violence, marginalization, and colorism that is still institutionally and systemically played out interracially. Simultaneously, much of it is also perpetuated intraracially, between members of the same race. Due to this turbulent, rich, and complex history many social issues that are specific to the Black female community also leave much to be understood. The roots of these nuanced matters frequently lie within communities in which true intimacy and accessibility are often out of reach or inaccessible to those external to them, due to the oppressive structures under which they exist. The aim and importance of this work lies in the need for these conversations and exchanges to be furthered. A greater understanding of the Black experience as politically informed will aid in ending continued segregation and marginalization. It is my aim to gain a deeper understanding some of the social phenomena that result in contemporary forms of colorism, or discrimination with favor given towards the fair-skinned that was and is practiced both interracially and intraracially; racial passing as the involuntary or voluntary ability to pass as white, as well as in the hair politics of the Black experience. Developed through a Black feminist lens, this body of work considers the embodied experience(s) of the Black female as ‘Other’ in the United States and the gains and losses that derive from these experiences. It has been created through an interdisciplinary research-based creative practice, explored at the intersection(s) of performance, installation, and social practice and draws on methodologies found in the Humanities, Social Sciences, Gender Studies, and Design Thinking. With a background in digital video production, photography, illustration, and theatre I draw on process and materials from these disciplines, while finding inspiration in popular culture, her/history, and personal narratives. This work reflects and builds upon a rich, pre-existing body of creative work found throughout art history, allowing the space to explore and engage these topics while drawing exciting and significant parallels between United States history, Capitalism, and contemporary race relations