Vassar College Digital Library

Vassar Scholarship

Vassar Scholarship, the institutional repository formerly known as Digital Window, reflects the research and scholarly output of the Vassar College community.  It provides access to a variety of collections, including senior theses and projects across a wide range of disciplines.

Black Women on the White Screen: How American Popular Culture affects the Visuality of the Black Female Body

Publication Date
2014-January-01
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Department or Program
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Abstract

In the past, poignant controlling images and stereotypes have run prevalent in the American historical framework. However, these tropes are routinely challenged by black feminists and black entertainers in contemporary popular culture. This thesis will garner a comprehensive analysis of...

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Cosmopolitans and locals among rural emergency service volunteers

Publication Date
1994-January-01
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Department or Program
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Abstract

In rural regions, trained volunteer firefighters and medics provide emergency services, often with considerable personal risk and without financial reward. However, these Volunteers exhibit two different latent orientations: firefighters are more localistic in their outlook than medical volunteers. These latent...

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Craft in Modernity

Publication Date
2015-January-01
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Department or Program
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Since the industrial revolution, the craftsman has occupied an increasingly precarious position in society. The once obvious and natural role of craft is threatened. Craft production sits in uneasy tension with forces of modernity, practicality, industry, economy, and reproduction. These...

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In search of belonging: first generation, low-income students navigating financial, bureaucratic, and academic experiences at Vassar

Publication Date
2017-September-01
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Department or Program
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A qualitative report on the experiences of first-generation, low income students at Vassar College. This report is the culmination of the Transitions Research Project.

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Scripting (In)security: Cartographic Violence and Performances of Securitization in the Western Sahara

Publication Date
2014-January-01
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Authors
Department or Program
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Throughout the forty-year conflict over the Western Sahara, the United States has supported Morocco's occupation of the disputed territory. This overall policy has remained relatively consistent over time, yet constantly subjected to contestation. The debates over policy and various modes...

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Testing biological hypotheses with embodied robots: adaptations, accidents, and by-products in the evolution of vertebrates

Publication Date
2014-November-12
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Document Type
Abstract

Evolutionary robotics allows biologists to test hypotheses about extinct animals. In our case, we modeled some of the first vertebrates, jawless fishes, in order to study the evolution of the trait after which vertebrates are named: vertebrae. …

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The sexual division of leadership in volunteer emergency medical squads

Publication Date
1992-August-01
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Department or Program
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Abstract

This article reports on theoretical and empirical research that explored the hypothesis that there is a sexual division of leadership in volunteer emergency medical service (EMS) squads. This hypothesis was tested against survey data obtained from 216 current members of...

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Unproductive expenditure in manufacturing

Publication Date
1990-August-01
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Department or Program
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Abstract

A behavioral model is developed to explain the magnitude of surplus and the division of surplus into unproductive and profit for oligopoly firms in the manufacturing sector of advanced capitalist economies. Particular attention is focused upon the determinants of interfirm...

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Volunteer emergency squads and their communities: A demographic comparison

Publication Date
1992-December-01
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Department or Program
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Abstract

This research compares the personal, household, and professional characteristics volunteer emergency medical service (EMS) providers in Ulster County, NY with those of the general population of this rural upstate county, using a survey instrument implemented by the author in conjunction...

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Volunteers and their communities: A comparative analysis of volunteer firefighters

Publication Date
1992-August-01
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Department or Program
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Abstract

This article explores the multifaceted relationship between volunteer fire companies and their communities by examining a broad range of socioeconomic characteristics of volunteer fire fighters and general residents in rural New York State. The two data sets are generated by...

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Work without wages: The motivation for volunteer labor

Publication Date
1991-December-01
Document Type
Department or Program
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Abstract

This is a theoretical and empirical exploration into the motivation of volunteer firefighters. After a brief discussion of methodology, the activities in which these volunteers engage are described and a theoretical model of volunteer motivation is presented. The central hypothesis...

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