The Role of Indicators in Promoting Gender Equality Through the Millennium and Sustainable Development Goals

With the global rise of evidence-based policy, indicators have become an increasingly important part of governance. Indicators are statistics that represent social experiences, turning complex norms into simplified representations. Although seemingly objective, indicators reflect the values and beliefs of the actors who create them. An indicator’s normative underpinnings have significant consequences for social governance and policy because of an indicator’s power to shape understanding. This multi-manuscript dissertation analyzes the impact of governance by indicators as seen in the Millennium and Sustainable Development Goals (MDGs and SDGs), two major United Nations initiatives in the field of global social governance. The focus is on the goals for gender equality, MDG 3 and SDG 5. The dissertation shows how gender indicators can be used as strategic frames for advancing gender equality. My work takes a feminist and pro-quantitative approach, showing how these two approaches can and do work together. Paper #1 presents indicators as ‘actants’, or non-human actors, that act as a method of communication. The paper argues that they can be contested but that effective contestation and change depend on engaging with, rather than simply dismissing, numerical language. When spaces of contestation open up during transitional periods, as happened during the move from the MDGs to the SDGs, engaging with the language of numbers and indicators helps actors gain an audience. Paper #2 explores a feminist critique of measurement and knowledge production in the MDGs and SDGs, based on UN Women’s engagement. In so doing, the paper shows the value of engaging with indicator-driven agendas as a successful feminist strategy. In recognizing the value of quantification and data-driven evidence in policy, this paper also speaks to the tension between feminist critique of quantitative knowledge production and the feminist approach’s welcoming of multiple ways of knowing. Paper #3 assesses the possibilities and challenges of evaluating the MDGs using official MDG data, comparing pre- and post-treatment results. It shows how statistical constraints in the form of availability, quality, and predictive ability create roadblocks for MDG evaluation, despite the fact that the Goals were set up with measurability and accountability in mind. The paper argues for greater consideration of the framing effects of indicators, as they shape understanding of a problem and potential solutions. While MDG indicators were designed for measurement, the way they frame issues may have more important implications for empirical evaluation

Moderators of Positive and Negative Spillover

Two studies explored individual difference moderators of spillover. Positive spillover occurs when one prosocial behavior leads to an increase in subsequent prosocial behavior, whereas negative spillover or moral licensing occurs when one prosocial behavior leads to a decrease in prosocial behaviors. The moderators of interest were internal motivation, external motivation, and preference for consistency. It was predicted that those who exhibit high external motivation would demonstrate negative spillover, those who exhibit internal motivation would demonstrate positive spillover, and those with high preference for consistency would demonstrate positive spillover. Although these moderation predictions were not supported, Study 1 replicated previous work demonstrating moral licensing, or negative spillover. Participants who completed an initial non-prejudiced act later donated less money to a charity supporting racial equality than participants in the neutral control condition. The results of Study 2 demonstrated positive spillover. Participants who completed an initial pro-environmental act were more likely to help a local environmental organization compared to those who completed a neutral initial task. Future research is needed to understand the cause of the differing results, including measuring potential mediators in future studies

The Role of Indicators in Promoting Gender Equality Through the Millennium and Sustainable Development Goals

With the global rise of evidence-based policy, indicators have become an increasingly important part of governance. Indicators are statistics that represent social experiences, turning complex norms into simplified representations. Although seemingly objective, indicators reflect the values and beliefs of the actors who create them. An indicator’s normative underpinnings have significant consequences for social governance and policy because of an indicator’s power to shape understanding. This multi-manuscript dissertation analyzes the impact of governance by indicators as seen in the Millennium and Sustainable Development Goals (MDGs and SDGs), two major United Nations initiatives in the field of global social governance. The focus is on the goals for gender equality, MDG 3 and SDG 5. The dissertation shows how gender indicators can be used as strategic frames for advancing gender equality. My work takes a feminist and pro-quantitative approach, showing how these two approaches can and do work together. Paper #1 presents indicators as ‘actants’, or non-human actors, that act as a method of communication. The paper argues that they can be contested but that effective contestation and change depend on engaging with, rather than simply dismissing, numerical language. When spaces of contestation open up during transitional periods, as happened during the move from the MDGs to the SDGs, engaging with the language of numbers and indicators helps actors gain an audience. Paper #2 explores a feminist critique of measurement and knowledge production in the MDGs and SDGs, based on UN Women’s engagement. In so doing, the paper shows the value of engaging with indicator-driven agendas as a successful feminist strategy. In recognizing the value of quantification and data-driven evidence in policy, this paper also speaks to the tension between feminist critique of quantitative knowledge production and the feminist approach’s welcoming of multiple ways of knowing. Paper #3 assesses the possibilities and challenges of evaluating the MDGs using official MDG data, comparing pre- and post-treatment results. It shows how statistical constraints in the form of availability, quality, and predictive ability create roadblocks for MDG evaluation, despite the fact that the Goals were set up with measurability and accountability in mind. The paper argues for greater consideration of the framing effects of indicators, as they shape understanding of a problem and potential solutions. While MDG indicators were designed for measurement, the way they frame issues may have more important implications for empirical evaluation

Individual Adaptation: Performance in a Changing Context

This study examined the relationship between individual differences (Cognitive Ability, Conscientiousness, Openness to Experience) and the ability to maintain performance on a changing task. Participants included 69 college students at a southeastern university. Participants were trained to operate the Distributed Dynamic Decision Making (DDD), a computer-based simulation. All analyses were conducted at the individual level. Results indicated that Cognitive Ability predicts performance across varying levels of workload on the DDD task. The results further indicate a significant interaction between Cognitive Ability and Conscientiousness. The hypothesized relationship between performance and Openness to Experience, however, was not supported. The practical implications, limitations and directions for future research are discussed

Conceptual Metaphor Usage In Glenn Youngkin’s 2021 Gubernatorial Campaign

In “Conceptual Metaphor in Everyday Language,” Lakoff and Johnson suggest that conceptual metaphors pervade everyday language and produce the reality of our world. Conceptual metaphors act similarly within the occupational register of political campaigns in that they both support and construct a set of beliefs that become the reality of politicians, political parties, and constituents. In this language research, the conceptual metaphors employed by Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin during his 2021 gubernatorial campaign were identified, analyzed, and categorized. The corpus of this research consists of two gubernatorial debates, three campaign speeches, and one television interview. An example of conceptual metaphor usage by Youngkin, is his use of POLICY IS WEAPON as in (1): “I\u27m gonna protect the right to work and Terry McAuliffe is gonna get rid of it and it\u27s gonna be the death blow for Virginia.” (Youngkin, 2021) Results show POLITICS IS WAR and its subset of systematic conceptual metaphors is employed by Youngkin to perform face-threatening acts against his opponent. Additional evidence supports the claim that conceptual metaphor usage as a persuasive device in campaign register relies heavily on both a systematicity of metaphorical concepts and cultural coherence. Lastly, Youngkin’s use of metaphors to discuss the economy, suggests an intentional shift in register from a financial occupational register to a situational register. This shift represents a cognizance of discontinuity between his cultural common ground and his audience, meaning that this specific usage of conceptual metaphors is employed with the primary motivation of expanding audience comprehension

Reader\u27s Guide: A Foray into Violence, Trauma and Masculinity in In Our Time

Modernism has been called “a reaction to the carnage and disillusionment of the First World War and a search for a new mode of art that would rescue civilization from its state of crisis after the war” (Lewis, 109) Hemingway attempts this rescue by re-thinking aspects of the novel that were taken for granted in earlier periods, just as the conventions of modern life were taken for granted pre-WWI. Furthermore, his work tries to rectify the dissonance between a pre and post-war self through the exploration of social conventions relating to violence, trauma and masculinity

A Study of Novel Magnesium Isotope Tracers in Geological, Paleoceanographic and Biogeochemical Systems

This thesis explores Mg isotopes as tracers in geological and biological systems. Chapters 2 and 3 investigate Mg isotopes as tracers of fluid flow during dolomitization. The studied carbonate is the variably dolomitized Late Ordovician Red River Formation in the Williston Basin. Three types of dolomite are described (burrow, matrix, saddle) with all three yielding identical d26Mg values at the hand-sample scale, indicating that the dolomite formed from the same fluid, or was overprinted by successive dolomitizing events. A broader study was undertaken to determine whether large dolomite bodies might preserve gradients in d26Mg values at the basin-scale. Because dolomite preferentially sequesters light isotopes of Mg during its formation, the dolomitizing fluid (and product dolomite) should become progressively enriched in heavy isotopes in the direction of fluid flow. The studied dolomite body is the interconnected network of Thalassinoides burrows in the ‘C’ member carbonate of the Red River, where it is found that d26Mg values increase radially away from the center of the Williston Basin. As such, dolomitizing fluids must have originated in the deep center of the basin, using the burrows to flow up toward the basin margins. This interpretation is strengthened by decreasingly radiogenic 87Sr/86Sr ratios in the direction of fluid flow. While the timing of dolomitization is unknown, the formation of overpressurized fluids in the deep center of the basin could have been triggered by a late Paleozoic thermal event, and/or the far-field tectonic effects of the Antler Orogeny, which caused crustal fluids to ascend upwards into the bottom of the Williston Basin through a system of down-to-the-basement vertical faults, which still exist in the basin center today. Chapter 4 presents a technique for determining original limestone d26Mg values in marine carbonates with trace dolomite. The study section is a carbonate platform in Nevada recording the Late Ordovician (Hirnantian) glaciation event. The d26Mg value for limestone deposited during the sea-level lowstand, and bracketing highstands, is calculated from a graphical mixing technique using chemostratigraphic data. Carbonate deposited during the lowstand has the highest d26Mg value, consistent with precipitation of primary aragonite during the Hirnantian glaciation in a tropical-shelf setting, while limestone deposited before and after the glaciation yields lower d26Mg values, consistent with precipitation of calcite. While diagenetic effects on d26Mg values in carbonate sediment are difficult to predict, a negative shift in d44/40Ca, a positive shift in d13C, and the highest Sr/Ca ratios in the study section, strengthen the case for aragonite deposition during the sea-level lowstand. This result is significant in that the studied carbonates formed in the midst of a ‘calcite sea’, which identifies a period of seawater composition favoring abiotic precipitation of calcite, rather than aragonite, in shallow marine settings. This study emphasizes the problem of misinterpreting stratigraphic trends in Mg, Ca, and C isotope profiles as genuine reflections of global-scale changes in the geochemical cycling of these elements. Chapter 5 examines Mg-cycling in the ‘critical zone’ with the aim of deciphering whether or not first-order streams exhibit plant-fractionated Mg isotope signatures. This has implications for the d26Mg value of the weathering flux to the oceans, which is a component of the ocean Mg-cycle. There is no evidence in a studied sugar maple stand for Mg isotope fractionation associated with uptake from soil solutions into mature trees and seedlings. There is, however, large within-tree fractionation between tissues. While sugar maple in the field exhibit no uptake related fractionation effects, seedlings grown in the laboratory yield contrasting results, exhibiting higher d26Mg values than the nutrient source. The difference is attributed to the absence of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in the artificial soils in which the seedlings were grown in the laboratory. It is speculated that these fungi are important vectors in the uptake of Mg into tree fine roots in natural settings, and that the fungi do not fractionate Mg isotopes. It is also found that d26Mg values and Mg/Ca ratios of soil solutions and stream water, and acid leaches of the C horizon mineral soil are identical to each other, and to the aboveground vegetation as well, indicating that plant-recycled fluxes of Mg and Ca, filtering down through the soil profile from the surface, appear to completely overwhelm the much smaller annualized input fluxes of these elements from atmospheric deposition and soil mineral weathering

Unusually High Body Mass in Virginia Meadow Voles

We used monthly capture-mark-recapture information to determine growth rates and life spans for 2 populations of meadow voles studied for 28 and 29 months in eastern Virginia in order to learn whether the exceptionally large body masses of some voles were due to rapid growth, long lives, or both. On 1 study grid, 64 males (19%) and 43 nonpregnant females (11%) were ≥70 g, with the largest male being 89 g. Mostly positive growth rates (averaging 1.1-3.9 g/month) were recorded, even in autumn and winter months, times when meadow voles are losing mass in northern populations, where most studies of body growth have been conducted. Periods of low mean body mass were associated with low population density more than high body mass was associated with high population density. Patterns of body mass dynamics were related more to season than to density in our populations. We concluded that the large body masses we observed in some voles were due more to long field lives than to unusually high rates of body growth

Combating Mass Incarceration Through Communication

The United States has the largest prison population in the world, with over two million incarcerated prisoners. One of the contributing factors to these skyrocketing rates was the War on Drugs which began in the early 1970s in the U.S. The issue of mass incarceration is complicated due to its deep-seated roots that have been embedded in society for centuries. The process of actively changing or reforming the broken social justice and mass incarceration systems begins with educating citizens about these issues, which will, in turn, garner the support needed to enact change. Since technology has become the staple of modern society, it is essential to use technology as a resource to connect and educate the masses. Presently, many people prefer to listen to podcasts or audible books instead of reading a physical copy of a book. Podcasts are a great educational and compatible resource for all generations and age groups. Art can take on many different mediums, including the media arts which is an art form that utilizes audio to address a specific audience or purpose. Especially as the media becomes more prominent in modern society, podcasting has and will continue to serve as an educational tool and artistic discipline. One that can communicate pressing issues such as mass incarceration to a variety of platforms and audiences. A podcast can convey the same level of emotion and power that a typical painting or sculpture can, rather in a technological form. According to Ethan Cramer-Flood, author of the article, ‘Global Podcast Listener Forecast 2021-2025’, it is explained that, “The US leads the world in podcast listenership across every category. In 2021, 117.8 million people in the country will be monthly podcast listeners, representing 40.0% of all internet users. Nigel Poor is one of the first individuals to host podcasts that cover topics such as mass incarceration and the prison system, paving the way for more podcasts of this kind. These statistics and individuals have played significant roles in the creation of our podcast, which is centered around mass incarceration and the prison and social justice systems. Thus, the ‘Behind Bars’ podcast was born. This conversational-style podcast addresses serious issues such as mass incarceration, inequality, racism, and the death penalty, among other topics. These issues, which have long been swept under the rug, will reach new generations, in a modern way. Each episode will include an interview with an individual that is knowledgeable or experienced in the areas of criminal justice, incarceration, and art. The first episode of this podcast series showcases an interview with Lucian E. Dervan, a certified criminal justice attorney that currently serves as a law professor at Belmont University. These interviews support the topics of the podcast and contribute to the overall conversation of bringing change and awareness to mass incarceration. Our future episodes will focus on issues such as the school-to-prison pipeline and how we can prevent students from being subjected to arrest. Therefore, our goal is to educate the greater Belmont and Nashville communities about the adverse effects of mass incarceration through communication and education via an accessible and efficient podcasting platform