Dao Gives Birth To Lots Of Killing: Violence In The Daoist Tradition, 2024 University of Nebraska at Omaha
Dao Gives Birth To Lots Of Killing: Violence In The Daoist Tradition, Micah Dunwoody
Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects
Violence in Daoism takes on political and/or cosmological significance. The earliest texts, including Daodejing, argue for defensive war that must be conducted appropriately by rulers. Myths and rituals that developed later in the tradition portray gods and spirits subduing demons. The latter are either killed or enlisted into the armies of the gods. Rituals include the role of humans, particularly Daoist priests/ritual specialists who call upon the gods to fight demons who inflict maladies upon people. This paper also examines the role of martial arts and physical violence. Martial arts are often imbued with religious hues in Daoism, as …
Curriculum Response To An Evolving Society: An Analysis Of Family And Consumer Sciences Education At Murray State University From 1928 To 2023, 2024 Murray State University
Curriculum Response To An Evolving Society: An Analysis Of Family And Consumer Sciences Education At Murray State University From 1928 To 2023, Lauren Ervin
Honors College Theses
This research aims to identify and explore the changes in the family and consumer sciences (FCS) education program at Murray State University from 1928, when the major was first offered, until 2023. The following questions were answered:
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What are the notable changes in Murray State University's FCS education program, involving curriculum, from 1928 to 2023?
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What are the notable themes, topics, and changes to the overarching FCS field from 1928 to 2023?
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How have the events in society and the FCS field influenced the FCS Education program at Murray State University?
The researcher noted the changes in the Murray State …
Gender Performance In “Cult” Conversion Narratives: The Twelve Tribes, 2024 University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Gender Performance In “Cult” Conversion Narratives: The Twelve Tribes, Navah Chestnut
Honors Theses
While many scholars have attempted to understand the unique contours of the definition of “cult,” there are still rampant disagreements across different disciplines and scholarly persuasions about the way that a “cult” functions differently than other organizations. In this essay, I aim to clarify how the function of a “cult” is contingent upon a set of rhetorical strategies used by the group to systematically remove agency from group members. One of those rhetorical strategies is compelling individuals to perform according to strict heteronormative gender enactments. To understand how this strategy works, I will turn to four spiritually metanoic narratives published …
Pillars Of Youth Drug Abuse Prevention: Parents, Police, And Project Dare (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), 2024 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Pillars Of Youth Drug Abuse Prevention: Parents, Police, And Project Dare (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), Jonathon Stuever
Theses and Dissertations
In 1983 Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officials teamed with Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) health curriculum specialist, Dr. Ruth Rich, to redesign an anti-tobacco curriculum, Project Self-Management and Resistance Training (SMART), into Project Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE). In the first four years of Project DARE, local, state, and, federal government branches endorsed the program as an efficient tool in the local and national fight against youth drug abuse. Early program evaluations, conducted by the Evaluation and Training Institute (ETI), demonstrated DARE’s ability to change attitudes of students, school faculty, and parents concerning social tolerance of underage drug …
Researching & Designing Marketing Materials For Rachel Messer & Connor Dale, 2024 Bridgewater College
Researching & Designing Marketing Materials For Rachel Messer & Connor Dale, Isabelle Bauer
Honors Projects
Isabelle Bauer’s Honors Project, “Researching and Designing Marketing Materials for Rachel Messer and Connor Dale” is split into two components. First, the research paper titled "The American West as a Cultural Phenomenon" explores the fascination with the American West and its integration into various aspects of American culture, particularly in music, film, and art. The essay discusses the historical significance of the West and its transformation into a cultural obsession. Focusing on the resurgence of Western aesthetics in modern country music, the project’s second component involves the creation of marketing materials for country artists Rachel Messer and Connor Dale.
The …
What Is This Place: Encountering The Body Of Christ In Prison And Church Through Sacrament And Ritual Musicking, 2024 Southern Methodist University
What Is This Place: Encountering The Body Of Christ In Prison And Church Through Sacrament And Ritual Musicking, Bryan Black
Doctor of Pastoral Music Projects and Theses
Churches in the United States have faced institutional decline due in part to an unprecedented half-century of intense cultural shift and digital acceleration. Many leaders responded to this disorientation with technical fixes that have exacerbated divisiveness rather than addressing the underlying crisis of alienation and loneliness. Driven by fear of decline, communities of faith have forsaken their alterity of purpose and become lost in the marketplace as a “purveyor of religious goods and services” (George Hunsberger). This thesis considers the imagery of Huub Oosterhuis’s hymn “What Is This Place?” in theological dialogue with the Voices of Hope—a choir of female …
Reaping What We Sow: The Implications And Outcomes Of Mississippi House Bill 1125, The “Regulate Experimental Adolescent Procedures (Reap)” Act, 2024 The University of Southern Mississippi
Reaping What We Sow: The Implications And Outcomes Of Mississippi House Bill 1125, The “Regulate Experimental Adolescent Procedures (Reap)” Act, Kerigan Brewer
Honors Theses
Mississippi House Bill 1125 (MS HB1125), also known as the “Regulate Experimental Adolescent Procedures (REAP) Act,” was signed into law by Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves in early 2023 (REAP Act, 2023). It is one of multiple policies passed into law that limit the rights of transgender people. This thesis aims to clarify the history of the trans community, dispel myths around gender-affirming health care and the trans identity, and discuss the current state of anti-trans laws and transgender rights. Using a policy analysis framework by DiNitto (2011), MS HB1125 is analyzed on points like its social and economic costs, the …
Supporting Text And Data Analysis Across Campus From The Academic Library, 2024 Ithaka
Supporting Text And Data Analysis Across Campus From The Academic Library, Amy Kirchhoff, Hejin Shin Phd
Digital Initiatives Symposium
The ability to comprehend and communicate with text-based data is essential to future success in academics and employment, as evidenced in a recent survey from Bloomberg Research Services which shows that nearly 97% of survey respondents now use data analytics in their companies and 58% consider data and text mining a business analytics tool (https://www.sas.com/content/dam/SAS/bp_de/doc/studie/ba-st-the-current-state-of-business-analytics-2317022.pdf). This has fueled a substantial growth in text analysis research (involving the use of technology to analyze un- and semi-structured text data for valuable insights, trends, and patterns) across disciplines and a corresponding demand on academic libraries to support text analysis pedagogy and text analysis …
“87% Missing”: Preserving Video Game History In A Canadian Copyright Context, 2024 University of Toronto, Mississauga
“87% Missing”: Preserving Video Game History In A Canadian Copyright Context, Amelia Clarkson, Magnus Berg
Digital Initiatives Symposium
In 2020, the University of Toronto Mississauga campus library acquired the largest collection of video games in Canada from prolific collector Syd Bolton, whose vision was for it to not only be preserved but also playable and publicly accessible. Over the past three years, the collections team has been processing the collection to facilitate access onsite, and in 2024 aims to begin the next step of digitally preserving the collection. In the summer of 2023, the Video Game History Foundation and the Software Preservation Network co-authored a report on the dire state of availability of classic games, with the goal …
Welcoming The Stranger: Abrahamic Hospitality And Its Contemporary Implications, 2024 Fordham University
Welcoming The Stranger: Abrahamic Hospitality And Its Contemporary Implications, Ori N. Soltes, Rachel Stern, Endy Moraes
Religion
Embracing hospitality and inclusion in Abrahamic traditions
One of the signal moments in the narrative of the biblical Abraham is his insistent and enthusiastic reception of three strangers, a starting point of inspiration for all three Abrahamic traditions as they evolve and develop the details of their respective teachings. On the one hand, welcoming the stranger by remembering “that you were strangers in the land of Egypt” is enjoined upon the ancient Israelites, and on the other, oppressing the stranger is condemned by their prophets throughout the Hebrew Bible.
These sentiments are repeated in the New Testament and the Qur’an …
An Exploration Of Horror In Franz Kafka’S "The Metamorphosis", 2024 St. Mary's University
An Exploration Of Horror In Franz Kafka’S "The Metamorphosis", Christa M. Neumann
Honors Program Theses and Research Projects
Readers often identify Gregor’s vermin body as the only horrific element in Franz Kafka’s “The
Metamorphosis.” But what about the walls that he lives in? This study will deemphasize the horror of Kafka’s creature and offer new themes to consider. The following collects scholarship around Kafka’s time to understand how he used the domestic space to create horror. It includes studies on Gothic literature and Freud’s term “unheimlich” from his essay “The Uncanny.” The findings bring light to a type of horror often overlooked – the horror in the liminal, the “in- between” state of being. This space belongs to …
The Place Of Nuclear Weapons In Russian Identity: An Ontological Security Analysis, 2024 Old Dominion University
The Place Of Nuclear Weapons In Russian Identity: An Ontological Security Analysis, Peter Ernest Yeager
Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations
On May 9, 2008, Russia’s Victory Day, four 14-wheeled MAZ-7917s drove through Red Square carrying Topol intercontinental ballistic missiles. This was the first time nuclear weapons had been paraded through Moscow since before the end of the Cold War. The previous August, Russia had resumed nuclear-capable bomber patrols, and in January, 2007, President Putin acknowledged Russia had begun to build new nuclear weapons. These remarkable events were met with little acknowledgement in the West, as if they were completely normal. Instead, they represented a major evolution in the bilateral relationship between the United States and Russia. Sixteen years of fitful …
Evermore And Evermore: A Discussion Of Spiritual Fulfillment As Found In Stoppard And Kerouac, 2024 Taylor University
Evermore And Evermore: A Discussion Of Spiritual Fulfillment As Found In Stoppard And Kerouac, Duncan Soughan
English Senior Capstone
Mankind has often struggled with the question of who am I? What am I if the institutions speaking into my life cease to adequately represent me? Nietzsche tackled this question and came to the conclusion that man should turn to his desire to fulfill that lack of direction. Tom Stoppard in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead as well as Jack Kerouac in his novel, On the Road, interact with Nietzsche’s proposals in fascinating ways with Stoppard’s work essentially proving Nietzsche’s point, and Kerouac clarifying that yes, outside the self should not be the sole input for direction but it …
“Personal, Relational, And Extraordinary”: Learning From The Spiritual Language Of Gen Z, 2024 Loyola Marymount University
“Personal, Relational, And Extraordinary”: Learning From The Spiritual Language Of Gen Z, Gabrielle Poma
LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations
This paper explores the crucial role of language in understanding the spiritual lives of young people today, commonly known as “Gen Z.”
Though significant disaffiliation rates among young people often cause alarm within faith communities, this paper argues that listening carefully to the language of young people provides a more nuanced, in-depth picture that statistics on religious affiliation do not capture, which is critical in developing effective pastoral care for young adults.
This paper opens with a sociocultural approach to Gen Z, drawing upon generational analysis and sociological data to demonstrate how different types of research yield varied results in …
Spring 2024, 2024 CSUSB
Spring 2024, Jeremy Murray
History Department Master of Arts Program Newsletter
No abstract provided.
To Do Or Not To Do: Anne Elliot And Edith Hope’S Evolving Perceptions Of Marriage In Persuasion And Hotel Du Lac, 2024 Taylor University
To Do Or Not To Do: Anne Elliot And Edith Hope’S Evolving Perceptions Of Marriage In Persuasion And Hotel Du Lac, Jillian Cook
English Senior Capstone
While Anita Brookner might deny a connection between her characters and those of Jane Austen, placing Brookner’s Hotel du Lac and Austen’s Persuasion in conversation with one another reveals how similarly their protagonists are shaped. Edith Hope and Anne Elliot are both characters who make choices based on a high opinion of love that has been cultivated through the various interactions they have with the single, married, and widowed people in their lives. This paper seeks to investigate these relationships to understand why the two women respond so differently to the marriage proposals they receive at the end of their …
“Don’T Stop Believin’”: Dante’S And Christian’S Journey To Heaven, 2024 Taylor University
“Don’T Stop Believin’”: Dante’S And Christian’S Journey To Heaven, Austin Cochrane
English Senior Capstone
Dante's "Divine Comedy" and John Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress" both encounter a protagonist who is journeying with the goal of reaching heaven in mind. During this journey, they are each met with and guided by various characters. In my paper, I focus on Virgil and Beatrice in "The Divine Comedy", and Evangelist and Hopeful in "The Pilgrim's Progress." Along with these guides, the geography that Dante and Christian each encounter is symbolic of a maturation of faith, as well as many Catholic and Protestant themes that Dante and Bunyan practiced.
Reputation And Reality: Revelations Of Monstrosity In Frankenstein And Six Of Crows, 2024 Taylor University
Reputation And Reality: Revelations Of Monstrosity In Frankenstein And Six Of Crows, Jordyn Fortuna
English Senior Capstone
The main characters in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows reveal the potential within everyone for Monstrosity. This disregard for humanity can stem from many things, but it can also be prevented through community and sympathy. Monstrosity is often misconstrued due to a false perception guided by a sighted bias. In reality, however, characters’ humanity can be shown to the reader through a greater insight into their traumas and intentions. This paper highlights the idea that reputation cannot be trusted, but instead but be further examined to reveal the Monster within.
The Light And The Nothing: Escapism In Ready Player One And Confessions Of An English Opium-Eater, 2024 Taylor University
The Light And The Nothing: Escapism In Ready Player One And Confessions Of An English Opium-Eater, Katherine Bodkin
English Senior Capstone
In their novels Ready Player One and Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, Ernest Cline and Thomas De Quincey shed light on the individual and societal desire to escape pain and suffering. The drastically different time periods of these two stories show that addiction and avoidance have been plaguing humans for centuries. These characters’ unhealthy use of escapism serves as a warning to readers about the dangers of identifying oneself within a false reality. Ultimately, both characters exemplify that placing one’s agency within a false reality renders one completely powerless. When one accepts their inability to change their undesirable pasts …
"Big Medicine, Strong Magic": Sacrament And Sacrilege In Till We Have Faces And The Wind In The Willows, 2024 Taylor University
"Big Medicine, Strong Magic": Sacrament And Sacrilege In Till We Have Faces And The Wind In The Willows, Kayla Kovacs
English Senior Capstone
Magic abounds as the fantastical and ordinary collide in C.S. Lewis’s final work of fiction, Till We Have Faces, and Kenneth Grahame’s children’s classic, The Wind in the Willows. As these authors weave worlds of profound, yet wonderfully simple beauty, they tell stories that point towards the deep intersectionality between seen reality and myth. This paper aims to show the permeability of the veil separating these realms through the concept of sacrament. While sacrament is seen as a kind of gate through which characters may pass to taste and see with new senses, it is contrasted throughout with …