Graduate Theses & Dissertations

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Childhood diet and feeding practices at Apollonia
This study analyses deciduous dental pathology and stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes to investigate the relationship between dietary composition, feeding practices, and oral health in a subadult skeletal sample from the Greek colonial site of Apollonia Pontica, Bulgaria (5th to 3rd century BC). Stable isotope analysis of 74 bone collagen samples indicates that weaning began between the ages of 6 months and 1 year, and was complete by the age of 4. The stable isotope data are consistent with a diet of primarily terrestrial C3 resources. The deciduous dentitions of 85 individuals aged between 8.5 months and 10.5 years were examined for evidence of a number of pathological conditions. The presence of dental caries, calculus, occlusal tooth wear and an abscess indicate that foods introduced early in life affected the oral health of these individuals. Overall, the deciduous dental data correlate well with the stable isotope data and ancient textual sources regarding infant and childhood dietary composition and feeding practices. Author Keywords: breastfeeding, deciduous dentition, dental pathology, stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes, weaning
Sustainable Development
While there is an emerging body of literature on the role and effectiveness of community-based research (CBR) in addressing the needs of local communities, few studies have explored its promise in areas lacking established collaborative models. The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential of CBR to meet the sustainable community development needs of the primarily urban Durham Region in Southern Ontario. Semi-structured interviews with twenty sustainability-focused community members from the academic, municipal, private and non-profit sectors were conducted using Glaser and Strauss' grounded theory to develop a working hypothesis that was analyzed with the aid of the qualitative data software program ATLAS.ti. The results reveal that while the region's academic and community groups have little time to initiate formal community-campus collaborations, the additional manpower and expertise that a well-structured CBR model provides could significantly assist local organizations complete unfinished projects and undertake new initiatives. Author Keywords: Community-based research, Community-campus collaboration, Cooperative education, Durham Region, Experiential education, Sustainable development
ARROWS before AGRICULTURE? A FUNCTIONAL STUDY of NATUFIAN and NEOLITHIC GROOVED STONES
Grooved stones first appear in the Southern Levant with the development of the Natufian culture (~15,000 - 12,000 BP). These tools come in a variety of shapes and sizes; however, they share in common the presence of an intentionally manufactured groove. This thesis focuses on a few types of grooved stones, specifically, those which are often considered to be straighteners for arrow-shafts. If this interpretation is correct, then these tools represent the only clear evidence of the bow and arrow prior to the Neolithic (~12,000 - 6,500 BP), which has implications for our understanding of changing hunting strategies in the millennia leading up to the origins of agriculture. Using an experimental and use-wear approach, I analyse a sample of grooved stones from three Natufian and Neolithic sites in Northern Israel, the results of which generally support the arrow-shaft straightener interpretation. Furthermore, by placing grooved stones in their broader technological context, it becomes apparent that they represent progression and diversification of long-range projectile weapons, which likely existed even earlier in time Author Keywords: grooved stones, Natufian, Neolithic, PPNB, use-wear analysis
Class Struggle and Solidarity in Neo-Liberal Times
The lengthy and raucous 1986 Gainers meatpacking plant strike in Edmonton, Alberta was one of the most important events in recent Alberta labour history. In the midst of the economic crisis of the 1980s and the rise of neo-liberal ideas, the strike marked a backlash by both the labour movement and ordinary citizens against attacks on workers and unions. Characterized by widely covered picket line violence, repressive police and court actions, and government unresponsiveness, the strike generated massive solidarity within and beyond the labour movement. This solidarity originated in a rejection of the neo-liberal new reality of Alberta typified by high unemployment, anti-union laws and practices, and lack of government welfare support, and it generated a provincial change the law campaign, national boycott, and rising class consciousness. The working class mobilization during the Gainers strike was a watershed for the Alberta labour movement. Author Keywords: Alberta Federation of Labour, Gainers strike, neo-liberalism, solidarity, working class
Elite Canadian Print Media Construction of the Cuban Revolution, 1956-1962
This study examines the elite national print media reaction to, and coverage of, the Cuban Revolution, between 1956 and 1962. It finds that media, equally alienated by both Fidel Castro and the United States, progressively pursued an independent narrative predicated on an homage to Cuban sovereignty. Specifically, media uniformly adopted veteran New York Times' reporter Herbert L. Matthews' conflation between Cuban postcolonial independence and the Revolution following his exclusive interview with Fidel Castro in February 1957. Media maintained it until 1962 as it remained the only consistent, defensible theme amid Castro's apparent failure to meet expectations and the United States' cautious indifference to a revolution in kind and abject disregard for Cuban sovereignty. Research is based on an exhaustive review of eleven carefully selected elite broadsheets and three national magazines. Overall, this study offers an important counterpoint to the broader body of Canada-Cuba-U.S. postwar historiography that almost exclusively addresses foreign policy. Author Keywords: Canada-Cuba-U.S. relations, Canadian print media, Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, Herbert L. Matthews, journalism
Stop Making Sense
ABSTRACT There is a growing number of juvenile novels and picture books that mean to educate the reader about synaesthesia. The synaesthete in these texts for young readers desires to be a social agent, yet sh/e also considers synaesthesia to be a healing power and a deeply personal psychedelic form of escapism; I argue that the synaesthete in these texts `uses' their synaesthesia to dissipate emotional trauma caused by pubescent uncertainty and social isolation. In this thesis, I propose that YA and Children's texts that feature synaesthesia generally reinforce the discursive constraints of normative perception, and they also promulgate the assumption that synaesthesia is an extraordinary form of cognition instead of a legitimate subject position. Author Keywords: Authenticity, Liminality, Repesentation, Synaesthesia, Synesthesia, Zizek
Maintaining Balance in Times of Change
Abstract Maintaining Balance in Times of Change: An Investigation into the Contemporary Self-Regulatory Dynamics that Operate in and around First Nations Traditional Healing Systems The evolution of health regulation processes in Canada has focused on the development of standards of practice premised upon the principle of `do no harm' and the approval of these by government regulatory agencies. This thesis examines three emerging communities of practice that bring traditional indigenous knowledge and indigenous healers forward into health care and their approaches to regulation. The results indicate that surrounding contexts of meaning influence understandings about self-regulation and that these understandings are dynamic because contemporary practices of First Nations traditional healing can occur in different contexts. The study cautions that unless we remain close to these `healer centred' contexts, there is no guarantee that the self-regulatory value systems stemming from modern Western medical communities of practice will not be applied by default or that the emerging `integrative' models of self-regulation developed between governments and First Nations will continue to reflect First Nations' understanding of self-regulation. Author Keywords: health and wellness, indigenous, self-determination, self-regulation, traditional healing
Tabanidae and Culicidae in the Northern Boreal Region of Ontario
I studied the abundance, distribution and diversity of horse fly and deer fly species (Diptera: Tabanidae) and mosquito species (Diptera: Culicidae) in the boreal forest region of northern Ontario in 2011 and 2012. I collected 19 mosquito species, including one species new for Ontario, Aedes pullatus (Coquillett). I documented 11 northern and one southern range extension. I also collected a total of 30 species of horse and deer flies, including one new species of horse fly for Ontario, Hybomitra osburni (Hine). Results were inconsistent with a hypothesis of colonization of dipteran species from west to east. I examined the trapping biases of Malaise and sweep sampling for horse and deer flies and found that Malaise traps collected fewer individuals than sweep netting (850 versus 1318) but more species (28 versus 22). Consequently, I determined that surveys of diversity benefit from the use of multiple trapping methods. I also examined how blood-feeding (anautogeny) requirements affect the distribution patterns of Tabanidae. Ultimately, there are likely multiple factors that affect the expression of anautogeny in Tabanidae. Author Keywords: Autogeny, Culicidae, Diversity, Hudson Bay Lowlands, Northern Ontario, Tabanidae
Control, Surveillance and Subjective Commodification on Facebook
This thesis is a theoretical study of Facebook's surveillance project. It begins by taking one of the predominant organizational forms of modern surveillance, Foucaultian panopticism, and examining the ways in which its form, along with Foucault's broader model of the disciplinary society, is realized, remixed and extended by Facebook's virtual form. Following this evaluation, the remainder of the thesis proposes a model to augment this panoptical analysis. The first part of this model uses Deleuze and Guattari's philosophy of the rhizome to explain the structural design and advantages of Facebook's network, while the second part deploys Zygmunt Bauman and David Lyon's concept of "liquid surveillance" as a means to explain how Facebook fosters seductive conditions of self-surveillance. The thesis concludes that older forms of control, new forms of seduction and the utility of advanced technologies are responsible in tandem for the undeniably widespread success of Facebook's surveillance project. Author Keywords: Bauman, Deleuze, Facebook, Foucault, post-panopticism, surveillance
THE ETHICS OF BEING-WITH
ABSTRACT The Ethics of Being-With: Exploring Ethics in Heidegger's Being and Time Adam Rejak Martin Heidegger is perhaps best known for his work Being and Time, in which he tries to re-discover what he deems to be a forgotten question; the meaning of being. However, what many have missed in this work is the ethical potential it presents, particularly through his notion of Mitsein. This thesis will discuss how the history of philosophy has misunderstood the question of intersubjectivity. Throughout the history of philosophy, there has been a tendency to focus on detachment of the subject, rather than an engaged existence. Heidegger overcomes this by introducing the concept of Mitsein and allowing us to think of being-with one another as something which is integral to our very being, rather than something which comes to us through detached reflection. The consequences of this re-interpretation are significant for ethics because our starting point is always-already with others, rather than isolated and alone. Author Keywords: Being-with, Ethics, Heidegger, Intersubjectivity, Mitsein
Archaeology of Vagabondage
My research examines the figure of the 'vagabond' as a case study to illustrate how 'modern' perception of the 'vagabond' has depleted the diversities in its 'pre-modern' counterparts. It argues that the paranoia towards the 'vagabond' was inherited from the west out of the colonial contact leading to the birth of the nation-state and its liaison with 'instrumental rationality' during the high noon of advanced industrial capitalism, while (quasi-religious) itinerancy, on the contrary, had always been tolerated in 'pre-modern' India. The problems I am addressing are: What is the line of thread that separates the 'traveler' from the 'vagabond', the 'explorer' from the 'wanderer'? How do we then politically account for the historic 'ruptures' in the vagabond having been tolerated in the ancient 'Indic' thought [cf. Manusmriti, Arthshastra], encouraged in early Buddhist discourse [cf. Samannaphala Sutta], revered as the 'holy Other' in the Middle Ages [cf. Bhakti-Sufi literature], and eventually marginalized in the 'modern'? While considering issues of cultural differences, my thesis points to how the epistemic shifts from the classical to the medieval, from the medieval to the modern radically alter the value system immanent in the figure of the 'vagabond'. The research argues that the cultural baggage that the expression 'vagabond' is generally associated with, is a product of a specific western/utilitarian value system, which is a distinct 'cultural' category of the 'modern' west that had no resonance in 'pre- modern' India, and hence cannot be necessarily universalizable. The project works in a number of registers: historical, archival, cultural, philosophical and representational, involves analysis of literary, filmic texts, also legislative documents, and is genuinely interdisciplinary in nature. As of discourse analysis, the project studies the politics of cultural representations both of and by 'vagabonds'. Author Keywords: 1943 Bengal Famine, Homelessness, India, Vagabond, Vagrancy, Vagrancy Act
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CONDUCTIVITY AT LaAlO3/SrTiO3 INTERFACES
Experiments have observed a two-dimensional electron gas at the interface of two insulating oxides: strontium titanate (SrTiO3) and lanthanum aluminate (LaAlO3). These interfaces exhibit metallic, superconducting, and magnetic behaviours, which are strongly affected by impurities. Motivated by experiments, we introduce a simple model in which impurities lie at the interface. We treat the LaAlO3 as an insulator and model the SrTiO3 film. By solving a set of self-consistent Hartree equations for the charge density, we obtain the band structure of the SrTiO3 film. We then study the relative contributions made by the occupied bands to the two-dimensional conductivity of the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface. We find that the fractional conductivity of each band depends on several parameters: the mass anisotropy, the filling, and the impurity potential. Author Keywords: conductivity, impurities, insulating oxides, Two-dimensional electron gases

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Graduate student theses produced at Trent University. You may also browse theses and dissertations by year, program, or author.

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