Welcome back listeners: locating nostalgia, domesticity and shared listening practices in contemporary horror podcasting

[No abstract given

IDENTITY AND TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION IN AN EFL CONTEXT: A STUDY OF EGYPTIAN TEACHERS AND ADULT LEARNERS

Globalization and the advent of technology have compelled many Egyptians to master the English language to participate in an increasingly competitive knowledge-centered global economy. Therefore, the demand for English language classes has been increasing in Egypt in recent years. However, English language classes alone may not guarantee that learners become technologically competent to master 21st century skills. Therefore, one purpose of this qualitative case study is to examine how Egyptian EFL teachers and Egyptian EFL adult learners utilize technology and digital resources in teaching and learning English to promote autonomous learning and 21st century skills. The study also explores the participants’ attitudes towards technology integration in the classroom and the growing importance of digital and multimodal literacies. Because the English language has played an important role in the Egyptian culture since the 1950s, its mastery is part and parcel of their identity formation as Egyptians and users of the language. Being aware of this role, the study explores how the participants perceive the English language in Egypt and how they construct their identities as English language speakers. Because there is a connection between language and technological practices (Warschauer, 2002), the study also investigates how the participants perceive themselves as users of technology to teach or learn English. Participants are 4 EFL Egyptian teachers and 3 EFL adult Egyptian learners. The study was conducted in an adult language center in Alexandria, Egypt. Data was collected through semi structured interviews and field notes. Findings indicate that social media sites and visual tech are the most common technological practices among teachers and learners. The use of the English language was indexical for power and prestige and had significant implications for how the participants constructed their identities as users of English and technology. Advisor: Loukia Sarrou

Ageing Queer Embodiment, Audiences, and Empathy: “Intimate Karaoke” and The Material Conditions of Uterine Concert Hall

My research-creation dissertation asks how performance-based practices impact, affect, and intersect with a gendered, middle-ageing, queer body, how that body provokes, enacts, and personifies, and ultimately how the body is at stake in cisheteropatriarchy. I address representational and material concerns about identity and the status of the queer middle-ageing female body; intersubjective and performative concerns with materiality, practice, and collaboration; audience reception and participation; and my embodied method of performance as research. I do this by examining how I use my body in the sound-based, interactive performance installation Uterine Concert Hall (UCH). I track the development of UCH through its multiple iterations, and the knowledge that was generated through hands-on research and performance, knowledge which would not have been possible through non-practice-based methods. I examine how I use my body within this work as a representational concept and as a material object and observe the effects of particular representational strategies on the audience. I also consider age as it factors into modes of representation as well as how age contributes to the work’s aesthetic production. My thesis addresses a lack of critical engagement with what middle-ageing female bodies mean, how they are represented, and how they are valued in performance art studies and mainstream pop culture. I put UCH in conversation with other artists who use performance-based methods and explicit body practices in their artwork. The goal of this research is to study explicit body performance-based practices and artworks against the backdrop of normative mainstream culture, where the value of female bodies to seduce and reproduce is predicated on youthfulness. Research-creation methodologies that were developed in this dissertation include: “intimate karaoke” as a method of achieving empathy between audience members and between audiences and myself as performer; queer sociality as an affective method of engagement and embodiment to circulate intimacies, vulnerabilities, and empathies through consent; and performative strategies to de-centre essentialist renderings of gender and expectations of what people with uteri are to do under cisheteropatriarchy. How I developed a methodology to perform and stage my body in this work relies on my performance-based experience, which I address throughout my dissertation

Still Dreaming of You: Selena\u27s Discourse with and Continuing Impact on American Musical Culture

Selena Quintanilla Perez continues to circulate in popular culture, including MAC cosmetic lines, a Netflix series, and podcasts. As a result, her cultural influence continues to be passed on and shared with future generations. This thesis focuses on three aspects of Selena and Selena y Los Dinos: Selena’s music, Selena’s performance aesthetic, and Selena’s fandom today. Chapter 1 focuses on Selena y Los Dinos’ American musical influences, particularly studying the songs “Enamorada de ti,” “Missing my Baby,” and “Fotos y Recuerdos” and the presence of American genres of new jack swing, R&B, and rock within them. Chapter 2 focuses on Selena’s crossover album Dreaming of You. Within this chapter Selena’s self-presentation is studied and categorized as representing two parts: Selena’s “personaje” or performance character and Selena’s “persona” or personal presentation. The songs “I Could Fall in Love” and “Dreaming of You” are studied to identify how a Mexican American Latina was marketed to a non-Latinx American musical market. Through musical analysis and reception study, these songs reveal that Selena was marketed as a stereotypical “Latin lover” to non-Latinx American audiences. Chapter 3 explores Selena’s digital fandom and the use of digital fan labor to preserve Selena’s legacy in popular culture. Through ethnographic study, four creators of Selena tribute social media accounts are interviewed to explore the world of Selena’s internet. Selena’s fans utilize digital fan labor both as “worker” and “entrepreneur,” as Selena is no longer alive to continue her career. Selena’s fandom allows for fans to showcase both sides of Selena’s self-presentation as well as participate in Selena’s commercialization, including circulating information regarding Selena’s memorabilia through fan meeting events, Selena tribute Facebook pages, group chats, and vlogs. Her legacy lives on through her family and her fans, who continue to advocate for Selena to be remembered not because of her music, or her beauty, but because of who she was

Empowering Change to Shape Tomorrow: An Integrated Marketing Communications Plan for the Building Wealth Initiative

We are witnessing a renaissance — one where organizations are expected to be a community with a valued culture. With the rise of this wave, incorporating integrated marketing communications (IMC) into organizations is more vital than ever. This project uses the public relations theory of relationship management, and the marketing model of AIDAR (attention, interest, desire, action, retention) to craft a professional IMC plan for the Building Wealth Initiative (BWI), an Inland Empire nonprofit organization specializing in financial literacy and services. The project uses focus groups and secondary research through informal online observations to gain the essential understanding for creating the IMC plan. The expected outcomes of this project’s implementation include raising community awareness and engagement for BWI. Though this plan is made for BWI, its outline and content can be used by any person or organization to create an IMC plan of their own

The Increasing Value of Motion Graphics for Companies and Their Public Image

The object of this thesis was to gather information about the emerging trend for companies having videos for promotional purposes. The different areas of motion graphics, which are used for creating a video promotion, were analyzed and the required steps to reach the customers were investigated. The theoretical section explores the advantages for companies of having a promotional video and at the same time demonstrates the customer centered creation of a video piece. It also states reviews from professionals in the field about their perception of the future of motion graphics and more importantly their experience of video promotions for companies. The results suggest that the trend is going more and more in the direction of moving image for advertising, and a promotional video for a company is becoming inevitable in terms of staying up to date with the market. The findings indicate that the future will contain more motion graphics in many forms, but especially infographics and 3D Projection Mapping are on the way forward, applied for promoting companies and showcasing the companies products

Songs of Survival: Men in 21st Century Popular Music

Songs of Survival: Men in 21st Century Popular Music gathers together 60 essays dealing with a significant selection of male artists and their songs. The aim is to consider what men are saying through their careers, self-presentation, lyrics and videos about masculinity