Personified Preaching: Black Feminist Sermonic Practice In Literature And Music

What does it mean when African-American culture and black rhetoric are gendered in preacherly performance discourse? This dissertation is an interdisciplinary analysis of the presence of black women preachers in both twentieth and twenty-first century African-American literature, music, and religion. Though scholarship in African-American literary and cultural studies has examined the importance of voice in black women’s cultural production, the cultural figure of the black woman preacher in literature, music, and the pulpit remains unstudied as a focus of current scholarship. Building upon the work that has been done by scholars in sound studies, this dissertation uses music to make an interdisciplinary intervention among the intersections of African-American literary criticism, music, and religious studies. Using the sermon as a literary genre, this project seeks to undertake a close examination of the black woman preacher in all three realms of discursive practice as a way of troubling the static boundary separating the sacred and the secular, sanctified and sacreligious. By looking at the exegetical, eschatological, and pedagogical elements of black feminist sermonic practice, I investigate how performance of the sermon is personified through the black woman preacher’s emphasis on musicality, expressivity, thematic relevance, and improvisatory phrasing. By formulating a methodology that seeks to think critically about how black feminist sermonic practice occurs in the intersections of black feminism/womanism and oral performativity in both sermon and song, I work to help readers think differently about how the sermonic space empowers the black woman preacherly figure to utilize the sermon to speak on issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality. Black feminist sermonic practice looks at the heteroglossic functions of black women preachers in literature and music in order to show how they use their sermons to create a “chromatic” space that amalgamates both sermon and song. Further, this dissertation proves black feminist sermonic practice seeks to foreground notions of value, transformation, healing, and communal empowerment

New Spaces: Safeguarding Students from Violence and Hate

Full report of the HEFCE Catalyst funded projectSexual assault, harassment, violence and hate crime on university campuses is a prevalent and pressing concern. A recent Universities UK taskforce report recommended that urgent action in this area is needed. Universities are significant sites for implementing a joined-up approach and tackling these issues. As a campus of Changemakers, students, inter-disciplinary researchers, professional and support staff at The University of Northampton decided to take action to address these significant and important issues, in particular within the context of a major campus move to a town centre location. As one of only 60 institutions across the country to be awarded funding from HEFCE’s Catalyst fund, this ‘New Spaces: Safeguarding Students from Violence and Hate’ cross collaborative project aimed to create vital partnerships in tackling sexual violence and hate crime on campus. The aims of the project were to evaluate existing policies and develop a student-led collaborative approach to identify what currently happens when disclosures are made; staff and student perceptions, knowledge and experiences within the campus transition; as well as providing recommendations for new institutional policies, strategies and recommendations to support students in reporting harassment, sexual abuse, sexual violence and hate crime. This project also contributes to HEFCE’s wider work in creating guidelines and recommendations for HEIs for addressing these issues. A survey of the published literature, as well as an evaluation of existing processes and policies at The University of Northampton were carried out within this project. Data collection involved 2 Staff and 2 student focus groups, as well as 11 interviews with members of the university management team. These were conducted to discuss staff and student experiences, what support was in place for disclosures and recommendations for future practice within the transition to the new campus. One of the student focus groups utilised photo-elicitation methods to allow students to visually conceptualise and create a new, safe campus space. Recommendations are provided for understanding the prevalence of these issues within a campus context; tackle normative beliefs which may influence how they are perceived; increasing knowledge and awareness of sexual violence and hate crime; implementing mechanisms for disclosure and reporting; addressing issues related to security measures and procedures; enhancing partnership working within the local community. These recommendations have local impact and are being used to inform institutional policies and procedures at The University. Project findings are also being implemented into HEFCE’s wider work and national action around these issues. Internationally, the dissemination of these findings is contributing to the limited research in this area

Parenthood in Academia: What Happens When There Is No Policy?

In 2001 the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) declared that “the development and implementation of institutional policies that enable the healthy integration of work responsibilities with family life in academe requires renewed attention.” In the current study, we explore the perceptions and experiences of faculty at a university system that does not have formal work/family policies. Our findings demonstrate that with no formal policy, academic and professional faculty are left confused (and often misguided) about what options are available for parental leave

Die Lebensqualität der Patienten und die Besitzer-Compliance in der Kleintier-Radioonkologie

Gegenstand und Ziel: Seit 2011 gibt es eine veterinärmedizinische Strahlentherapieeinrichtung in der Universität München. Die Lebensqualität der Patienten und die Zufriedenheit der Patientenbesitzer wurden mittels Fragebogen evaluiert. Material und Methoden: Allen 91 Kleintierbesitzern, die seit April 2011 in der Medizinischen Kleintierklinik München vorstellig waren und sich für eine primäre oder adjuvante Strahlentherapie entschieden hatten, wurde ein Fragebogen zugesandt. Ergebnisse: 68 Besitzer (74,7%) sandten den Fragebogen zurück. Bei 60,3% (n = 41) kam es nach Einschätzungen der Besitzer zu einer Verbesserung der Lebensqualität ihrer Tiere nach Behandlung. 19,1% beschreiben eine Verschlechterung der Lebensqualität. 88,2% würden sich erneut für Strahlentherapie entscheiden. Schlussfolgerung: Die Verbesserung der Lebensqualität steht in Zusammenhang mit einer hohen Besitzerzufriedenheit von 83,8% (p = 0,003) und einer positiven Einstellung gegenüber Bestrahlung (p = 0,027). Klinische Relevanz: Trotz des intensiven Kosten- und Zeitaufwands in der Kleintier-Radioonkologie haben die Tierbesitzer eine positive Einstellung zur Strahlentherapie.Objective: Since 2011 external radiation therapy for small animals is available at the University of Munich. Assessment of quality of life of their pets and contentment of the owner was evaluated by use of a questionnaire. Material and methods: The questionnaire was sent to owners of all pets (n = 91) who had undergone primary or adjuvant radiotherapy at the clinic of small animal medicine, university of Munich since April 2011. Results: 68 (74.7%) owners responded. Quality of life improved in 41 cases (60.3%) after treatment. In only 19.1% a decline in quality of life in their pets was described. 88.2% would have decided for radiation therapy again. Conclusion: Improvement of quality of life is related to high satisfaction (83.8%) of the owners (p = 0.003) and a positive attitude towards radiotherapy (p = 0.027). Clinical Relevance: Analyses showed that for these owners treatment was a worthwhile therapy despite spending much time and money

Die Lebensqualität der Patienten und die Besitzer-Compliance in der Kleintier-Radioonkologie

Gegenstand und Ziel: Seit 2011 gibt es eine veterinärmedizinische Strahlentherapieeinrichtung in der Universität München. Die Lebensqualität der Patienten und die Zufriedenheit der Patientenbesitzer wurden mittels Fragebogen evaluiert. Material und Methoden: Allen 91 Kleintierbesitzern, die seit April 2011 in der Medizinischen Kleintierklinik München vorstellig waren und sich für eine primäre oder adjuvante Strahlentherapie entschieden hatten, wurde ein Fragebogen zugesandt. Ergebnisse: 68 Besitzer (74,7%) sandten den Fragebogen zurück. Bei 60,3% (n = 41) kam es nach Einschätzungen der Besitzer zu einer Verbesserung der Lebensqualität ihrer Tiere nach Behandlung. 19,1% beschreiben eine Verschlechterung der Lebensqualität. 88,2% würden sich erneut für Strahlentherapie entscheiden. Schlussfolgerung: Die Verbesserung der Lebensqualität steht in Zusammenhang mit einer hohen Besitzerzufriedenheit von 83,8% (p = 0,003) und einer positiven Einstellung gegenüber Bestrahlung (p = 0,027). Klinische Relevanz: Trotz des intensiven Kosten- und Zeitaufwands in der Kleintier-Radioonkologie haben die Tierbesitzer eine positive Einstellung zur Strahlentherapie.Objective: Since 2011 external radiation therapy for small animals is available at the University of Munich. Assessment of quality of life of their pets and contentment of the owner was evaluated by use of a questionnaire. Material and methods: The questionnaire was sent to owners of all pets (n = 91) who had undergone primary or adjuvant radiotherapy at the clinic of small animal medicine, university of Munich since April 2011. Results: 68 (74.7%) owners responded. Quality of life improved in 41 cases (60.3%) after treatment. In only 19.1% a decline in quality of life in their pets was described. 88.2% would have decided for radiation therapy again. Conclusion: Improvement of quality of life is related to high satisfaction (83.8%) of the owners (p = 0.003) and a positive attitude towards radiotherapy (p = 0.027). Clinical Relevance: Analyses showed that for these owners treatment was a worthwhile therapy despite spending much time and money

Low-Dose Prednisone or Methylprednisolone in Treating Patients With​ Newly Diagnosed Acute GVHD​

Graft Versus Host Disease affects less than 20,000 cases per year and our project aims to give those who experience this terrible disease a better outcome and more manageable pain. The clinical trial that this data is collected from analyzes low-dose prednisone versus the standard dose and how that affects both morbidity and progression of the disease to Stage III-IV. This clinical trial has many clinical implications as it shows that reducing the dosage of commonly used treatment methods can sometimes have positive effects even though it is the standard to use a certain dose. This clinical trial found that when reducing the dose of the steroid from 1.0 mg/kg to .5mg/kg the progression rates in the patients participating was nearly half (13% compared to 6%). We made clinical recommendations for this new treatment for different clinical settings based on this information which allowed us to utilize all of the education we have received thus far and apply it to clinical situations. We have learned how to better differentiate treatment options based on the current condition and environment of patients. We have also learned how to communicate our recommendations through presenting detailed histories of a disease, mechanisms of actions of medications or treatments, and by providing an in-depth analysis of clinical trial data to an audience that will provide recommendations of treatment based on our presentation.https://stars.library.ucf.edu/hip-2023fall/1042/thumbnail.jp