Doctoral Theses

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Open Access
The significance of corporeal factors and choreographic rhythms in Jamaican popular music between 1957--1981 (Ska, Rocksteady, Reggae), with an historical and critical survey of all relevant literature dealing with Jamaican folk, religious and popular musics and dance
(York University, 2007) McCarthy, Leonard Joseph
Most studies of Jamaican Popular Music (JPM)--Ska, Rocksteady, Reggae--only discuss sonic structures as isolated phenomena, with little consideration of correlationships between JPM sonic patterns and those of indigenous Jamaican Folk and Religious Music (JFRM). Most also pay insufficient attention to the role of corporeality in the characteristics, development and performance practices of Jamaican music. This study is in two parts. (1) An historical and critical survey of all relevant literature dealing with JPM and JFRM which examines the applicability of this work to this study's thesis, with new concepts and theories introduced where appropriate. A compendium structure organizes information by historical influences, genre, musicological characteristics, movement orientations and theoretical concerns, with comprehensive citations for each subsection. (2) Part Two consists of original musicological and movement analysis of 878 video performances by 299 JPM and JFRM artists. This research identifies particular couplings of sound and movement patterns, which Agawu (2003) calls choreographic rhythms (CRs). From these findings, this study's thesis emerges in four main points: (1) JPM and JFRM performers share similar, uniquely Jamaican CRs, which appear to account for the idiosyncratic rhythmic feel of most Jamaican music. (2) Jamaican CRs are rooted in neo-African musical traditions, which are themselves rooted in West and Central African musics.(3) Jamaican musical traditions are transmitted/acquired primarily via mimesis. (4) Enactivist research 1 about music perception/cognition and cultural environments explains how growing up in particular cultures develops CRs which shape the musical understanding and performance practices of people within cultural communities. This research explains why people have difficulty perceiving and executing foreign CRs because they intuitively utilize their own indigenous CRs instead. By integrating the material surveyed in Part One with the findings in Part Two, it is concluded that proper understanding Jamaican music requires consideration of corporeal, sonic and other cultural factors as gestalt unities. It follows that this approach could benefit the study of any music. The final chapter features a concordance of topics and themes examined in the entire study which functions as an index. 1 Enactivism is a branch of cognitive science which has emerged since the early 1990s.
Open Access
Multiple acts of birding: the Education, ethics and ontology of bird watching in Ontario
(2010-12-08T02:56:06Z) Watson, Gavan Peter Longley
While bird watching has captured the attention of those interested in fostering an experiential connection to the more-than-human, research conducted to date often assumes birding to be a heterogeneous act. As an example of free-choice learning, this work positions birding as a kind of environmental education, thus opening this popular activity to analysis missing from the literature thus far. Rather than a singular act, this investigation sees birding as a multiple, ontological object. As a result, the practices of field birding, backyard birding and bird rescue were studied with the goal of describing the relationship between practices and birders’ perspectives of and relationships with wild birds. Influenced by actor-network theory, a method assemblage was developed using multiple sources of data, including: semi-structured interviews analysed using a modified grounded theory approach; field journals analysed with a naturalist autoethnography lens; and photographs analysed using a spatially and personally contextualized approach. This research shows that birding often starts with a curious person observing a bird’s presence and then trying to identify the species. While awareness and knowledge of natural phenomena can assist in the identification of a bird, when the observation of an individual becomes a record of a species the act of identification marks a reductive moment between birders and birds. Ornithology, technology and birding are deeply intertwined. Yet, their influence on practice often goes unrecognized. In the emergent move to digital objects in birding, images, rather than birds, risk becoming the epistemological object. The influence of place on the construction of birds’ visibility and value is investigated. As a result of the lens of home place, birds in the backyard are rendered differently than in the field, with some included in backyard birder’s social sphere. Bird rescuers enact yet another relationship with birds, one where care is the primary concern and a focus on identification to species falls to the periphery. Ultimately, as a counter to instrumental and anthropocentric constructions of nature fostered by certain enactments of birding, reflexive birding is offered as an example of practice, which promises to foster awareness of birders’ connections to the deeply material lives of birds.
Open Access
Mesoscale Boundaries and Storm Development in Southwestern Ontario During Elbow 2001
(2012-10) Alexander, Lisa Susan; Taylor, Peter
The Effects of Lake Breezes on Weather (ELBOW) 2001 project was conducted in Southwestern Ontario, during summer 2001. Project goals included: understanding how lake breezes interact with one another, other mesoscale boundaries and synoptic fronts, understanding how lake breezes affect storm development, and helping to improve regional forecasts by transferring findings to forecasters. Radar, Satellite, Mesonet and Integrated (considering all data sets) analyses were each used to identify the mesoscale boundaries that occurred during the study period. A contingency table approach, for lake breeze occurrence, was used to evaluate each of the analyses against a Final 'Truth' Set. Findings showed that the Integrated analysis performed the best. Advantages and drawbacks of each analysis became apparent. Evaluation of the analyses was also done by studying the in land penetration distances of the lake breeze fronts. This revealed that most the analyses had good correlation to the Final 'Truth' Set. The Mesonet analysis was the least accurate for pinpointing lake breeze fronts, due to lack of information between surface stations. The boundary analysis showed that lake breeze fronts, originating from one or more of the surrounding lakes, occurred in the study area on 73 out of 86 days, or 85% of the days (for 1800 UTC). Exeter radar data (CAPPI and MAXR) were run through URP cell identification and tracking algorithms. The locations of storm cells, when they reached a 40 dBZ level, were measured relative to the closest boundary. Considering study days without warm front influence, 70.4% of the 40 dBZ CAPPI cell initiations and 68.5% of the 40 dBZ MAXR cell initiations occurred at a distance of 20 km or less from a boundary. Cell distribution plots were created to show the locations of the 40 dBZ cell initiations in front or behind a specified boundary type or boundary classification. Nowcasting techniques considering cumulus cloud development and Lifted Index values in the 'lifting zone' of the boundary, the convergence strength and updraft orientation along the boundary, and the boundary relative cell speed, were utilized in case studies. Reasons for the development, or the lack thereof, became apparent in cases presented.

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