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This research study explored the culturally responsive school leadership (CRSL) development of a cohort of doctoral students immersed in a Leadership in Schooling program. In this study, a phenomenological qualitative research approach was utilized to capture the essence of each practitioner-leader's personal story as well as to identify and better understand the perceptions and common experiences among the practitioner-leaders who participated in the research. The hypothesis was that Cape University's efforts to design and redesign their Leadership in Schooling doctoral program could improve the CRSL development of their practitioner-leaders to become better equipped to serve students from marginalized communities. Prior research indicates that institutions of higher education should provide courses and curriculum that prepare their students to be culturally relevant educators (Ladson-Billings, 1995) and that CRSL are more primed to meet the schooling needs of students from communities experiencing marginalization (Khalifa et al., 2016). The significance of this study is that it can support the advancement of education doctoral program design, particularly for programs who seek CRSL as a desired outcome. It also emphasizes the importance of measuring CRSL growth, offers suggestions as to how such growth can be measured, and provides considerations of program components that may be created or restructured to better cultivate their students' CRSL development. After analyzing data from a survey, individual interviews, a focus group interview, and participant-selected artifacts, the following major findings were identified: 1) to varying degrees, every doctoral student in this study experienced an increase in their CRSL development in the areas of awareness and knowledge, beliefs and importance, and/or skills and practices and attributed a portion of their growth to the program, and 2) the program's creation and provision of small group chats served as brave spaces for organic intercultural learning where honest sharing, active listening, critical reflection, and CRSL development took place. Other salient findings included that: 1) students' reported the most CRSL growth in their first semester because they engaged in the courses that had the heaviest focus on advancing the underlying principles of cultural competence, 2) students believed their dissertations-in-practice explicitly addressed equity and social justice issues and were meaningful examples of their CRSL growth, and 3) completion of course readings that highlighted equity and social justice issues served to ground students' CRSL development in research. Ultimately, measuring doctoral students' CRSL growth and identifying which program components were most positively influencing CRSL growth, were critical to the shaping and reshaping of the program's design. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Virtual simulation has become prevalent in healthcare education. Much evidence proves that virtual simulation is an effective training tool for nursing training in western countries. However, its application in Hong Kong nursing education is still developing. The insufficiency of knowledge impedes the development of virtual simulation in Hong Kong nursing education. This study aims to explore the new nurse graduates' experience with virtual simulation learning and how they make sense of this experience. Kolb's experiential learning model offers nursing education a valuable framework for understanding the virtual simulation learning process. Eight graduate nurses were recruited via snowball sampling and shared their stories in an individual online interview. The part-time nurse learners highly valued virtual simulation learning in their registered nursing program. The findings were categorized under three themes and thirteen sub-themes. The significance of active participation and reflection during virtual simulation learning has been emphasized by every participant. In addition, the learners showed devotion to nursing and enthusiasm for strengthening their clinical competency via virtual simulation practice. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

In this qualitative study using participatory action research (PAR), educators explored how to understand and implement culturally and linguistically responsive pedagogy (CLRP) and joyful learning strategies to support Chinese ELLs. In PAR project and study over 18 months, we focused on building teacher capacity in working with Chinese ELLs in math instruction to elevate joyful learning. As we engaged in professional learning, I worked with a Co-Practitioner researcher (CPR) group, conducted PDSA (Plan, Do, Study, Act) cycles of inquiry, and supported teachers to select and implement CLRP joyful learning teacher practices for Chinese ELLs. I collected and analyzed data from the field notes, observations, post-observation conversations, and reflective memos. We co-developed an evidence-based observation tool for joyful learning practices. As a result of the study, we gained more insight for educators on how to improve equitable joyful learning experiences and better support Chinese ELLs. First, creating a sense of belonging and gracious space through coaching and peer relationships was a critical step in our ability to cultivate teacher capacity. Teachers transferred their sense of belonging and learning in a gracious space to cultivating relational trust with and among students in a safe and welcoming classroom environment. Secondly, joyful learning strategies and CLRP practices included more opportunities for peer dialogue and choice; teachers promoted student agency for independent learning. As a result, teachers and leaders in schools and districts can benefit from our tools and study findings. The processes we used for professional learning are transferable to multiple contexts. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

This qualitative interview study examines challenges college students may experience in extracurricular dialogues on contested sociopolitical issues. It also discusses approaches that students claim support them through the challenges of contested issues dialogues. This study found that college students encountered challenges including difficulty expressing disagreement, tensions related to their identities and group representation, and difficulty building trust and openness with peers in dialogue. Despite these difficulties, students also developed skills and capacities to bridge differences, to build community within dialogue, as well as to learn about themselves, others and sociopolitical issues. Through participants' accounts on how they perceive and negotiate these challenges, the study is intended to portray in-depth student perspectives about this critical aspect of peer dialogues on sociopolitical issues. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

The qualitative case study examines the experiences of both mentors and school staff in the East Bay Asian Youth Center (EBAYC) located within the Sacramento region. Participants total nine mentors from EBAYC and three high school staff. The researcher conducted semi-structured interviews to gather rich and robust experiences from EBAYC mentors and school staff and used EBAYC's documents to obtain qualitative field data for analysis. Results provide insights on how EBAYC's, a non-profit organization, program services influence at-risk Hmong youths in three urban high schools to persist and graduate. Data were transcribed and analyzed. An inductive approach was used to identify common phrases and ideas. The content analysis allowed for codes to be assigned and themed for analysis. Results from the study indicate EBAYC services influence at-risk Hmong youths in high instances to work harder in school and reconsider the trajectory of education pathways. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

For decades, the majority of educational research has been preoccupied with understanding as a "product"--as various "learning achievements" and "subject mastery" to be measured and subsequently represented as statistics or test scores. This preoccupation is also observed in the field of second language education, whose attention has focused on how the outcome of language acquisition can be improved at a curriculum or activity level. However, what is equally important, and yet largely underexplored, is understanding as a "process": how understanding is achieved and facilitated in and through classroom interaction. To fill this research gap, this study respecifies understanding as a social and interactional phenomenon and investigates how it is enabled, managed, and restored in the adult ESL classroom in situ. Data comprise 27 hours of video- and audio-taped classroom interaction collected from two research sites serving adult ESL learners: an academic ESL program and a community-based ESL program located on the East Coast of the United States. Participants were two experienced teachers with over two decades of teaching experiences and 20 students with low to intermediate English proficiency. Data were analyzed within the conversation analytic framework. Findings include three teacher practices concerning understanding-in-interaction. First, teachers can facilitate students' understanding of grammatical errors by an embodied repair practice that I called "finger syntax." By counting syntactic elements on fingers on display, the teacher can scaffold learners' understanding of the location of the error, the nature of the error, and even the method of repair. Finger syntax can be deployed to initiate learner self-repair or demonstrate other-corrections. Second, teachers can answer students' language-related questions by doing more than answering or doing approximate answering. In attending to both the what and the why, doing more than answering helps learners develop a principled understanding of a grammatical item. Doing approximate answering, on the other hand, is shown to be less responsive to students' understanding troubles. In the absence of an agreement of what an ambiguous question actually asks, the teacher's response deviates from students' learning concerns to varying degrees. Lastly, teachers can respond to trouble-laden learner contributions that result in a (potential) breach of intersubjectivity in a stepwise fashion. Specifically, their displays of understanding can be leveraged as a springboard for form-focused work, enabling a stepwise entry into linguistic feedback carefully aligned to meaning that a learner has struggled to articulate. Findings thus contribute to research on repair and corrections, on responses to learner questions, and on understanding-in-interaction in the context of the language classroom. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

The purposes of this project are to: (1) develop an ethnographic video case (EVC) CD-ROM of three Chinese teachers teaching the Chinese language in secondary school classrooms in China according to a thinking-skill model developed by Dr. Lin Chongde called "Five Traits of Thinking"; (2) obtain formative data for fixing the improving the CD-ROM, and (3) find out the feelings of the users toward this new method of instruction. It is an exploration of an alternative or supplementary method for professional development of teachers in China using computer technology. The report includes background information, a detailed description of the EVC CD-ROM, and an evaluation of 10 Chinese teachers' attitudes toward the final product. Appendices include: a sample of notes taken during a focus group session; sample of notes taken during an interview with one participant; sample of notes taken while observing one particular participant; self report (in Chinese); and original schedule for the project. (Contains 50 references.) (Author/AEF)

This action research study explores how strategic conversations and Retrospective Miscue Analysis (RMA) influences beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions about reading, as well as reading proficiencies and strategies of my "readers in trouble." Creating a Reading Detective Club (Goodman, D. 1999) in my own classroom provided opportunities for readers to discover reading as a meaning construction process and revalue themselves as strategic readers. The Reading Detective Club interrupted and altered the students' strategies and perceptions of themselves from struggling readers in need of intervention to young meaning makers developing proficiency. The Reading Detective Club sessions engaged four third grade students in 30 small group sessions exploring the reading process in a series of cases designed to develop an awareness of the meaning, language, and graphic "clues" in a text, and effective "strategies" for meaning making. My intention was to determine how the Reading Detective Club experience might influence readers' beliefs, reading proficiency, and reading strategies. A modified Burke Reading Interview (Y. Goodman, Watson, & Burke, 2005) was used to gain insights into changes in readers' perceptive about reading and the reading process. The interviews were repeated in the middle and end of the academic year with the Reading Detectives. The Reading Miscue Inventory (RMI) In-depth Procedure was used pre and post of the study, to evaluate growth within readers' proficiency and meaning making strategies. The RMI profiles indicate that the Reading Detectives increased their proficiency and use of effective strategies. Scores in meaning construction increased in readers' use of predicting and correcting strategies in three of four readers. Interviews indicated that readers viewed reading as a meaning construction process as they traded their initial "sounding it out" and word attack skills for a more meaning focused strategies. Through the responses from the post modified BRI, the students shared many effective strategies that focus on meaning construction. My findings indicate the Reading Detectives revalue themselves as effective readers, building agency, and confidence. As the Reading Detectives solved the various cases, they collaboratively explored the process of reading and in essence, they discovered the effective strategies they used intuitively to construct meaning from the text. The literacy engagements opened the avenue for the Reading Detectives to discuss explicitly the effective strategies and clues proficient readers use to construct meaning. Through strategy lessons within the Reading Detective Club, the Reading Detectives were able to describe reading as a meaning making process as they demonstrated the many strategies proficient readers used within their readers' profiles. The strategy lessons within the Reading Detective Club transformed these readers into linguists and shifted their view of reading from a word attack approach to a meaning construction process as the data collected pre and post study demonstrates growth in proficiency and use of effective strategies. As Amanda states, "I liked the Reading Detective Club because I learned a lot of stuff in it. I learned that reading is not just to get all the words right. Reading is for meaning, and reading is to get the meaning of the story.". [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

This thesis explores how predictions about upcoming language inputs are computed during real-time language comprehension. Previous research has demonstrated humans' ability to use rich contextual information to compute linguistic prediction during real-time language comprehension, and it has been widely assumed that contextual information can impact linguistic prediction as soon as it arises in the input. This thesis questions this key assumption and explores how linguistic predictions develop in real-time. I provide event-related potential (ERP) and reading eye-movement (EM) evidence from studies in Mandarin Chinese and English that even prominent and unambiguous information about preverbal arguments' structural roles cannot immediately impact comprehenders' verb prediction. I demonstrate that the N400, an ERP response that is modulated by a word's predictability, becomes sensitive to argument role-reversals only when the time interval for prediction is widened. Further, I provide initial evidence that different sources of contextual information, namely, information about preverbal arguments' lexical identity vs. their structural roles, may impact linguistic prediction on different time scales. I put forth a research framework that aims to characterize the mental computations underlying linguistic prediction along a temporal dimension. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

The purpose of this study was to determine the metaphors used by students to describe mathematical problem solving. This study focused on identifying how students interpret and perceive mathematical problem solving via conceptual metaphors (Lakoff and Johnson, 2003). These perceptions and interpretations were coded and analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively in search for a coherent structure embedded in the student's experiences with problem solving. The participants for this study were 14 students of honors geometry and both honors geometry teachers at a suburban high school in Ohio. The students were interviewed for 10-30 minutes after completing one of three honors geometry common assessments agreed upon by both teachers. Students were interviewed more than once independent of prior interviews if appropriate to the interview criteria. A total of 22 independent student interviews were collected. Both teachers were interviewed before grading each assessment, totaling 6 teacher interviews. The design of the study revolved around Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) of semi-structured interviews. Specifically, IPA was applied through Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) to identify the metaphors students used in solving mathematics problems. CMT coded participants' language by interpreting the conceptual metaphor involved. A conceptual metaphor is a mapping from a target domain to a source domain. This research qualitatively identified and verified the source domains associated with the target domain of problem solving. The frequency and popularity of each source domain was tallied for numerical analyses. A quantitative analysis verified the significance of the source domains and identified correlations between these domains. Data collection and analysis were validated internally via correlations with the student's score and T-tests variance between teachers. The results confirmed that the metaphors used by students were not random or isolated, but coherent. A set of coherent metaphors were identified, which verified the existence of a conceptual metaphorical system for mathematical problem solving. A coherent conceptual metaphorical system is valuable in the teacher's classroom. CMT analysis educates teachers in being more receptive to the language of students. CMT analysis and the results of this study can educate teachers on how to listen for student understanding. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Tightening fiscal budgets and the growing emphasis on accountability has created a need to assess the value that programmatic accreditation provides. For degrees in engineering, ABET is the only organization recognized in the U.S. responsible for the programmatic accreditation. This research examines the costs and benefits of ABET accreditation to baccalaureate engineering programs in 4-year degree granting institutions. Engineering department heads, or a designee, completed an online survey containing Likert items, open-ended questions, and multiple-choice questions that addressed the costs and benefits of ABET accreditation. The greatest benefits in pursuing accreditation are the recognition and prestige programs receive and the increased career opportunities for graduates. The greatest costs are time, resources (human capital), and effort due to an over cumbersome process and ambiguous expectations. These factors likely cause programs to perceive the cost of ABET accreditation to slightly exceed the benefits. This research will further discuss the implications of the findings and propose areas for future research. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

This qualitative action research study examined teachers' perceptions of leadership, research-based practices, and experience. I investigated how these three factors influenced the culture and change process at one suburban high school in order to better understand the context and to ultimately use the knowledge gained to improve the culture and change process at the school. I interviewed five teachers and also collected data from various artifacts. The findings were used to open up dialogue with administration in the desire to bridge the current rift between teachers and administration. The findings indicate that the teachers want to participate in decision making, should be exposed to research early on in their undergraduate programs, should conduct their own action research studies, value their colleagues' experiences as well as the teaching experience of the administrators, and that open communication about the purpose of a new change might increase the acceptance of the change. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

An increasing number of higher education learners are using online learning. The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine non-traditional learners' perceptions and experiences of online learning at a public Historically Black College or University (HBCU). This study examined learners' interactivity with peers, teachers, administrators, content and technology and student support. Six non-traditional African American women were interviewed on their perceptions of their online learning experiences. Freire's Liberation Pedagogy and Critical Race Theory as the theoretical frameworks were utilized to situate participants' voices and perceptions of online learning in a wider social, economic, and political context. Elicited themes were extracted via constant comparative method and the use of NVivo. The participants had studied in the traditional classrooms at two or more higher education institutions. Students chose to study at HBCUs as their institutions because they could identify with peers and secured financial assistance. Students indicated they had the freedom at the selected HBCU to express themselves, and their cultural/racial identity in the online environment. This freedom enabled learners to reflect, restructure their knowledge, collaborate and contribute different voices. Peers contributed to their learning. There was also evidence of social presence and cultural connection to HBCUs. Discussion boards were spaces where learners engaged with one another. Participants also indicated that administrative services that students encountered prior to entering the classes were poor. Completion of studies did not bring in immediate economic benefits for participants though had the potential for economic benefits. Overall, students indicated that online learning provided more access and degree completion opportunities at an HBCU. All the non-traditional African American female participants at the public HBCU secured financial aid to study. This exploratory study could be considered a basis for additional investigation. Future research is suggested for a larger pool of African American online students of different genders from HBCUs to continue to study their interactivity with content and degree completion. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Recent state and federal policy initiatives have led to the development of a multitude of statistics intended to measure school performance. Of these, statistics constructed from student test scores number among both the most widely-used and most controversial. In many cases, researchers and policymakers alike are not fully aware of the ways in which these statistics may lead to unjustified inferences regarding school effectiveness. A substantial amount of recent research has attempted to remedy this, although much remains unknown. This thesis seeks to contribute to these research efforts via three papers, each examining how a commonly-employed accountability statistic may be influenced by factors unrelated to student proficiency or school effectiveness. The first paper demonstrates how the discrete nature of test scores leads to biased estimates of changes in the percentage of “proficient” students between any two given years and examines estimators that provide better recovery of this parameter. The second paper makes use of a state-wide natural experiment to show that a change in testing program, from paper-and-pencil to computer-adaptive, may cause apparent changes in achievement gaps even when relative student proficiencies have remained constant. The third paper examines “growth-based” accountability metrics based on vertically-scaled assessments, showing that certain types of metrics based on gain scores can be modeled via nonlinear transformations of the underlying vertical scale. It then makes use of this result to investigate the potential magnitude of impacts of such transformations on growth-based school accountability ratings.

Over the past two decades, genes and pathways have been discovered that can prolong lifespan and delay the onset of age-related diseases. The vast majority of these longevity genes were discovered in screens conducted in lower organisms such as yeast and worms. Given that similar large-scale genetic screens in mammals would be cost prohibitive, it is likely that many mammalian longevity genes remain to be discovered. One way to circumvent this issue is to conduct the screen in mammalian cells and instead use cellular phenotypes that correlate with lifespan extension as a read-out. Mitochondrial dysfunction has been observed in aging and implicated in many age-related diseases. Conversely, calorie restriction, a dietary regimen found to extend lifespan and delay the onset of age-related diseases, is associated with maintained or increased mitochondrial function. Thus, increased mitochondrial content and function is a candidate phenotype for a cell-based screen for mammalian lifespan-regulating genes. We have performed a genetic screen of 15,483 human genes for open reading frames (ORFs) that modulate mitochondrial function. A total of 76 ORFs were found and validated to be positive regulators of mitochondrial mass while 18 were negative regulators. The gene products of these ORFs include secreted factors, transcription factors and a variety of predicted polypeptides with unknown function. One of the hits identified from the screen was GLTSCR2 (glioma tumor suppressor candidate region gene 2), a nucleolar protein that has been found to be involved in apoptosis and the cell cycle. GLTSCR2 was discovered as a positive regulator of mitochondrial mass and its overexpression was found to increase cellular respiration. This upregulation of respiration was found to be mediated by Myc, connecting role of GLTSCR2 in oxidative metabolism discovered in this study to its previously reported role in the cell cycle. Another hit identified from the screen was Cpne2 (copine 2), a member of the Copine family of proteins. Members of the Copine family are calcium-dependent phospholipid binding proteins and although discovered over a decade ago, the cellular role of Cpne2 remains unknown. Cpne2 was found as a negative regulator of mitochondria and its depletion was found to increase mitochondrial mass and function. This increase in mitochondria was not due to an increase in the transcriptional program of mitochondrial biogenesis or a defect in depolarization-induced mitophagy, suggesting the involvement of another independent pathway. Collectively, this study describes the discovery and characterization of novel mitochondrial regulators, some of which may be longevity genes and may provide a better understanding of the aging process., Biological Sciences in Public Health

Over the past twenty-five years, condensed matter physics has been developing materials with novel electronic characteristics for a wide range of future applications. Two research directions have shown particular promise: topological insulators, and high temperature copper based superconductors (cuprates). Topological insulators are a newly discovered class of materials that can be manipulated for spintronic or quantum computing devices. However there is a poor spectroscopic understanding of the current topological insulators and emerging topological insulator candidates. In cuprate superconductors, the challenge lies in raising the superconducting transition temperature to temperatures accessible in non-laboratory settings. This effort has been hampered by a poor understanding of the superconducting mechanism and its relationship with a mysterious pseudogap phase. In this thesis, I will describe experiments conducted on topological insulators and cuprate superconductors using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy, which provide nanoscale spectroscopic information in these materials., Physics

This dissertation uses the experiences of Arab Islamist fighters in the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) to rethink prevailing notions of world order. These actors are frequently glossed as “foreign fighters”: rootless, unaccountable extremists attempting to impose rigid forms of Islam on local “moderate” Muslim populations, be it in BiH, Afghanistan, Chechnya, or other sites of conflict with non-Muslim powers. By illuminating some of the many diasporic and imperial circuits linking BiH with other parts of the world, this dissertation provides a richer historical and sociological context in which transnational activist movements no longer seem so aberrational. This study argues that the mobilization to join the “jihad” alongside Bosnian Muslims can be usefully understood as a universalist project: an attempt to incarnate a worldwide Muslim community (umma) theoretically open to all of humanity, in which activists struggle through the experience of racial, cultural, and doctrinal difference vis-à-vis Bosnian and other Muslims. This approach opens up two broad avenues of inquiry. First, it allows an analysis of how Muslims of different backgrounds interacted in contexts of fighting, intermarriage, and doctrinal disputation. Second, it helps analytically situate the jihad in relation to other forms of armed intervention also acting in the name of humanity, most importantly UN peacekeeping and the U.S.-led “Global War on Terror.” This study is based on approximately 12 months of fieldwork in BiH between 2006 and 2012, mostly in Sarajevo, Zenica, Tuzla, and Bugojno. Open-ended life-history interviews were conducted in Arabic and English with Arab residents of BiH and their Bosnian comrades, kin, and critics. Additional interviews took place in Yemen, France, and Egypt. The study also draws extensively on archival materials culled from various sources, including Bosnian army and intelligence documents gathered by the UN war crimes tribunal, U.S. State Department cables disclosed by Wikileaks, and extensive printed and online materials by participants in and supporters of the jihad written in Arabic, the language formerly known as Serbo-Croatian, and Urdu.

This dissertation explores the intersection of literary and economic imaginaries through an examination of the market as both theme and structure in late imperial drama. Theater played a crucial role in helping late imperial subjects make sense of the sweeping transformations that defined China’s so-called silver century (1550–1650), a period of tremendous social volatility in which the intensification of the commercial economy that began in the Song was increasingly and acutely felt throughout the lower Yangzi region. The rapid expansion of mercantile capital, the integration of local economies into global trade networks, and the frequent fluctuations in the availability of currency had far-reaching implications for all aspects of late imperial society. While historians have exhaustively documented the flows of silver and coin, the fiscal mismanagement of the court, and the tax riots that convulsed the lower Yangzi region, less attention has been paid to the multifarious ways in which the commercialization of everyday life was experienced and understood. At the core of my study are a group of playwrights active in mid-seventeenth century Suzhou whose plays map the moral and affective terrains of an increasingly commercialized society. Although these plays were widely read and performed throughout the Qing, they have been largely neglected in modern scholarship, due in part to their unconventional subject matter. In examining the work of the Suzhou playwrights, I am particularly concerned with how the imaginary world of the play self-consciously engages with the material conditions of its own performance. Looking at these plays not just as texts but also as performances that happened within private halls, in temples, and on pleasure boats reveals the ways in which the stage was a site for the performance of commerce itself—both in the dramatization of buying and selling and in the buying and selling of this dramatization of buying and selling. It was precisely through these nested performances in which virtually every strata of society was implicated as producers and consumers that the abstractions of commerce were made legible and the imagination of new loci of power outside the state was made possible. This dissertation asks not only how money, merchants, and commerce were represented on stage, but also how drama itself—its material history, its performance contexts, its conventions and language—informed understandings of money, merchants, and commerce., East Asian Languages and Civilizations

Early twentieth-century Chinese literary critics create a model of literary development that highlights leading genres for each dynasty. For the Ming and the Qing dynasties, these are drama and fiction. This model relegates other genres of the period, especially poetry and lyric, to a second-class status, and accounts for their less visibility in scholarly research until today. The aim of my dissertation is not to reverse the hierarchy of genres, but to break the boundaries of genres, examining the ways in which the aesthetic sensibility connected to drama and fiction is transposed to other genres and renews their conventions. The cross-genre approach used in my dissertation is supported by an overview of the literary scene of the period, when literati took up diverse roles from scholar-officials to professional dramatists, novelists, and painters, when the boundaries between "high" and "low" genres became more fluid and literati wrote across elite and popular genres, and when illustrations of printed plays and fiction, thanks to the rise of print culture, circulated widely and inspired the literati's cross-media imagination. Social practices of Ming and Qing literati, such as going to the theater, reading and writing commentary on drama and fiction, appreciating illustrations of printed plays and fiction, or listening to story-telling, translated into an awareness of the commensurability of life and theater (theatrum mundi), bringing role play, playfulness, staging, and fictional time and space to the reading and writing of other genres, creating textual and aesthetic hybridity in these latter genres. I use the term theatrical/fictional lyricism to refer to the ways in which drama and fiction, commentary on drama and fiction, and illustrations to drama and fiction change the conventions of reading and writing poetry and prose in terms of rhetoric and theme. The term also draws attention to the textual and aesthetic hybridity in these genres. Theatrical/fictional lyricism is a new form of lyricism, in which role play gives a twist to the genuine poetic voice, the records of real events gives way to self-conscious fictionality, and normal time and space merges with staged, illusory time and space., East Asian Languages and Civilizations