Digital Commons Network^™

Intimate, Jason Brewer

CGU MFA Theses

I’ve used the paint as a substitute for myself to engage viewers to identify their interpretations and similar experience with emotional and mental states. Using texture and movement with the strokes of paint that mimics gestures of, and colors associate with, the mental states in order to present a visual sensory of emotions and psychological states; like the gravity of being in a depressed state, the itchiness and blood red feelings of frustration, the emptiness of being alone, the encroaching pressure of stress, and the weightless haze of confusion. The paintings become an intimate bridge between individuals and a sense …

Tenacity, Order & Disorder, Lucy Manalo

CGU MFA Theses

My work is about empowerment. The idea of using metal comes from my past experience as a welder/machinist in the Air Force. Metal is a tough medium and I believe it conveys the themes of strength and tenacity through it’s materiality.

Rhythms Of Light, Jessica R. Csanky

CGU MFA Theses

My works are visual expressions of a true love for movement, rhythm, and saturated color. In making art, I present lived experiences that are rendered abstract. These formal representations originate from an energetic space or sensory association and express a connection to places I have been, whether physically or emotionally.

Integral to my practice is the uninhibited exploration of materials and tools. I am committed to deepening my understanding of what paint can do when combined with drawing and installation techniques.

My compositions address architecture, landscape, memory, as well as psychological and physical spaces that we move through during our …

Still Spring Was Spring, Qianqian Yang

CGU MFA Theses

The works came out of an exploration of looking, time and place. A strange tension always occurred to me every time I returned home. For a month, I resumed my early morning schedule in high school on a daily basis. The route between school and home constructs most of my memories in the city. The practice of repeating the old routine is my way of trying to understand my relationship with this place, to probe into the separation and intimacy that constantly contradict within me. What has kept you away and brought you back, why, I ask myself. Relying on …

Hail Mother, Sydney Walters

CGU MFA Theses

My work disrupts two kinds of power: gender roles in religious practices, and the perceived power of a ritual object. Constructions of gender and power are thrown onto a stage and cast in a sincere parody that ultimately liberates underrepresented people to perform with agency.

My larger-than-life figures examine who holds power in religious institutions. The figures challenge the intelligibility of their identity because she/they are dressed in religious regalia. In Western Catholicism, maleness is the pre-requisite for priesthood. These church leaders are distinguished by wielding specific religious regalia: i.e. the Ring of the Fisherman, Episcopal gloves, and globus crucigur. …

What If Anything Still Meant Something, Andrea Munive

CGU MFA Theses

My drawings are active reflections of my surroundings and their intrinsic relationship to the ideal and banal. My surroundings have encompassed my memories and present, revealing a sense of slow time and peripheral consciousness.

What If Anything Still Meant Something is about this duality of care and disregard- an eternal mental state it seems.

Forest For The Trees, Anthony Prud'homme

CGU MFA Theses

These paintings show life’s swarming energy coalescing into form. They are propositions to make space for connection.

Capacity, Rachel Baydian

CGU MFA Theses

This Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition by Rachel Baydian is an installation of ceramic sculptures that function as a stand-in for the human body, touching on relationship, interconnectivity, and imperfection. Using abstracted forms that derive from the earth, these art objects are sculpted to mimic nature and its processes. The work highlights our human connection to nature as integrative and vital. Through experience and tactility, there is more of an awareness of space and heightened senses. The work taps into the awe and seduction of the mystery of nature through seemingly ordinary elements of the physical world.

Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea: An Analysis Of The Consequences Of 20th Century American Imperialism And Nuclear Testing Upon The Marshall Islands And Its Inhabitants, Michelle Hahn

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This thesis could not have been accomplished without the support of my family, friends, and peers who have cheered me on the entire way throughout my tenure as a master’s student at Claremont Graduate University (CGU). I would especially like to thank my mother who has had the patience of a saint throughout this journey. At my lowest moments, she reminded me of my strengths as a scholar and encouraged me to keep going, even when I thought this thesis would fall apart. I love you very much, thank you for always being my cheerleader. This project has undergone several …

A Failure Of Policy: How U.S. Leaders Neglected To Shape, Lead, And Leverage Intelligence Concerning Japan During The Interwar Period, 1918-1941, Sean-Patrick Lane

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation explores the perspective and performance of U.S. intelligence professionals and the intelligence organizations in which they served concerning Japan during the interwar period, the timespan ranging approximately from the conclusion of World War I in November 1918 through the entry of the United States into World War II in December 1941. Research for this dissertation focused predominantly on official and other primary documents, including U.S. intelligence reports and memoranda; intercepted, decrypted, and translated Japanese cablegrams; personal letters by and concerning U.S. intelligence professionals; and other primary source materials related to intelligence professionals and services available via the U.S. …

Stakes-Sensitive Testimonial Injustice: Prejudicial Thresholds For Belief In Testimony Of Sexual Assault, Grace Kelleher

CMC Senior Theses

In this thesis, I expand on Miranda Fricker’s account of epistemic injustice by advancing an additional model of testimonial injustice. This model, called stakes-sensitive testimonial injustice posits that an individual may incur an epistemic harm when his or her testimony is measured against a threshold for belief that has been unjustly influenced due to prejudiced stakes considerations on the part of the hearer. In particular, I focus on our society’s tendency to hold the statements of women who testify about their experiences of sexual assault to high thresholds for belief and posit that this tendency stems from a biased understanding …

Killing Within Communities: What Causes Collective Violence, How We Remember It, And Why It Matters, Laleh Ahmad

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis seeks to understand motivations for collective violence beyond the traditional explanations of ethnic hatred or racism. Often, historical scholarship focuses on ethnic hatred and racism, and elaborates on the processes by which those notions and hatreds came to be. Scholarship in the political science realm often gets past the hatred hypothesis but does not explore historical myths and legacy formation as they contribute to past and current violence. This thesis employs a case study approach to understand collective violence that is global and takes multiple cultures and religions into account. The case studies were chosen thematically, and each …

Trickle Down Nationalism: Interactions Between Liberal Nationalism And Colonialism In The Raj And Nigeria, Aaryaman Sheoran

CMC Senior Theses

The combination of nationalism and colonialism has remained understudied in academia, despite the important interaction between the two phenomena. European ideas bled over into their colonial empires and began to fill the power vacuum created by colonial enterprises. This study analyzes the impact of British colonialism on the development of national identity in British India and Nigeria.

British influences included large scale economic disruption, cultural reform through ‘westernizing’ the population and abolishing local customs, and creating a new set of institutions to replace traditional power centers. Inevitably, these factors created a nationalist surge across both the Raj and Nigeria, as …

Why Does Aristotle Make So Much Sense? A Philosophical Analysis Of Aristotle, Kant, And Mill’S Moral Theories, Will Sileo

CMC Senior Theses

Throughout my experience as a student of philosophy these past four years, the philosophy that has interested me the most has been that which gives us something to take back to daily life or the ‘real world’ with us. As a result, I've been strongly drawn to ethics and pulled into the debate between the three main schools of ethics — virtue ethics, deontology, and consequentialism, with a strong affinity for virtue ethics, especially the ideas of Aristotle.

The question that I am exploring in this paper is if there is something unique about Aristotle’s virtue ethics compared to the …

Suffrage Over Suffering: How Disenfranchisement Erodes The Legitimacy Of Democratic Punishment, Kendall Hollimon

CMC Senior Theses

In this thesis I analyze both retributive and consequentialist justifications for punishment to understand the foundation for disenfranchisement as punishment. I then argue that although some of these justifications can condone disenfranchisement, the practice of disenfranchising criminals damages the democratic process, thus delegitimizing the punishments that societies democratically decide to impose.

Effects Of Sleep Deprivation And The Link To Alzheimer’S Disease In Night Shift Workers, Aracelia Aldrete

CMC Senior Theses

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a degenerative neurologic disorder that is often defined by beta-amyloid (Aβ) plaques. These Aβ plaques are formed from protein pieces that are incorrectly cleaved from an amyloid precursor protein (APP). These protein segments, cleaved from APP, are toxic due to increased “stickiness”. They cling together to create protofibrils that eventually mature into neuronal plaques. Aβ plaques lead to neuronal cell death causing classic AD symptoms: memory loss, a decline in speech and motor control, and personality changes. One connection between high Aβ plaques levels and AD is chronic sleep loss or disruption. Night shift workers, even …

Visible Hands: The Earl Of Lauderdale's Political Economy In The History Of Economic Thought, Michael Alvis

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis examines the political economy of James Maitland, 8th Earl of Lauderdale (1759-1839), a Scottish peer. Using Lauderdale's notes on Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, his 1804 book An Inquiry into the Nature and Origins of Public Wealth, and his debate with Henry Brougham in the Edinburgh Review, the thesis argues that Lauderdale pushed the field of political economy in a direction more focused on public welfare and anticipated problems that would later be tackled by the marginal utility theorists of the late 19th century.

A Different Look At California’S Commission Of Immigration And Housing In The Early Twentieth Century, Alfonso Casares

Pomona Senior Theses

The Commission of Immigration and Housing (CCIH) was created in the summer of 1913. This essay argues that the need California’s progressive felt to protect and improve Mexican immigrants during the early twentieth century shadowed the expression of agency by Mexican immigrants alongside working-class and non-white immigrants. The commission’s engagement with Mexican immigrants in efforts to “Americanize” them furthered ideas that rejected immigrants from full political participation. Through arguments about improving ‘the standard of living’ and the conditions in labor camp throughout the state, the commission balanced serving immigrant needs while staying away from interfering with California’s agricultural wage-labor system. …

Idealism In Spinoza’S Metaphysics, Epistemology, And Ethics: A Friendly And Judicious Revision To The Active/Passive Distinction As Solution To Spinoza’S Attribute And Parallelism Problems, Sean Butler

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Spinoza’s doctrine of parallelism admits of certain observed inconsistencies that have long troubled Spinoza scholars. The scholarship over the last one hundred and thirty years or so has offered three dominant interpretations of Spinoza’s metaphysics as a result of the deficiencies with the doctrine of parallelism. These are 1) the subjective/objective distinction according to which the attribute of thought is understood as subjective and the attribute of extension is understood as objective, 2) materialism according to which the attribute of thought is claimed to depend on the attribute of extension, and 3) idealism according to which the attribute of extension …

A Sermon Writ In High Heaven: Astrology And Interpretation In Moby-Dick, Amanda Gallop

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis explores Herman Melville's use of astrology in Moby-Dick in relation to the novel's stance on meaning-making and interpretation. It analyzes Ishmael and Ahab's respective methods of interpretation established in the first half of the novel, then explores Stubb's use of astrology in "The Doubloon" chapter. I propose that Stubb's astrological soliloquy poses a potential solution to the conflict between Ishmael and Ahab's diametrically opposed methods, thus offering an avenue into a new understanding of the novel's epistemological project.

Assuming We Cause The World To End, Emma Ambler

Scripps Senior Theses

Four short stories about women dealing with apocalypse in its various forms.

Urban Renewal Or Urban Legend? Re-Historicizing Human-River Relationships Disrupted By Displacement Before And Now In Los Angeles, Jamie Sophia Helberg

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis speaks to how historical and on-going colonization of the river has consistently traumatized the relationship disadvantaged communities have had with the Los Angeles River. By historicizing those relationships, I argue that current use of human-centered market-based strategies to revitalize the river only furthers serial displacement of disadvantaged communities and will not adequately achieve sustainability. Using Frogtown as a case study, I also explore methods of resiliency to “green gentrification," an agent of neocolonialism along the river. In studying the placemaking practices implemented in Frogtown, I problematize notions of gentrification as “natural” and "necessary" for river revitalization. Elements of …

Passe Pas: Rethinking The Passport, Miriam E. Bankier

Scripps Senior Theses

Filled with national symbols, stamps and basic identifying information, a passport can obscure the humanity behind the individual passport holder, inverting it from a symbol of citizenship and belonging to one of marginalization and xenophobia. In today’s political climate, the meaning of art has become intersected with politics and the law. Using the very tools and some processes of passport production, i.e. mixed media and printmaking techniques, my work responds to and disrupts the bureaucracy and impersonal settings involving passports and identification documents. I draw from my own experiences and privilege as having Austrian, Italian, and American citizenship, as well …

Changing Perceptions Of The Carceral Space Through Photography: The Tehachapi Project By Jr, Alexi Butts

Scripps Senior Theses

“Can art change the world?”

In his global art practice, French artist JR transforms overlooked communities into valued canvases. With an approach rooted in collaboration, JR’s large-scale public photographic installations integrate the built environment into a visual experience of human life.

In October, 2019, JR and his team entered the maximum security prison in Tehachapi, California to embark on a new collaborative project: “Tehachapi.” This paper explores the impact of “Tehachapi” as it extends beyond the physical photograph wheat-pasted on the floor of the prison’s courtyard to touch on issues of humanity, power and accessibility. Created as a collage of …

Foster Rhodes Jackson And The Visual Conquest Of The West, Eve Kaufman

Scripps Senior Theses

Colonizers settled the Los Angeles and the Southern California region in part by using Modernism’s visual rhetoric and propagandic implications during the time of suburban sprawl. Suburban sprawl refers to the mass single family home development which took place from the 1920^[1]s until now but peaked from the 1970s to the 1990s. Los Angeles sprawl grew particularly in the 1950^[2]s as soldiers returned from WWII. It was a way for middle class white families to accrue generational wealth and follow through on the American Dream^[3].

The primary result however disenfranchised already marginalized groups. This …

The Trauma Of Dishonor: Exploring The Ramifications Of Dishonor In Classical And Modern Society, Tamara Wachsman

Scripps Senior Theses

Exploratory in nature, this thesis investigated whether dishonor can be categorized as traumatic. With a foundation of existing research in trauma and honor, primary source analyses were conducted on classical texts, and a psychological study was conducted with participants living in the United States. The main primary source analyses were based on case studies, centering on Achilles, an ancient Greek hero, and Dido, an ancient Roman queen, who both experienced severe dishonor. Specifically, the narratives of Achilles and Queen Dido served as portrayals of dishonor in the form of a male hero who has his honor seized, and a woman …

The Women Of The Bauhaus Weaving Workshop: Anni Albers' And Gunta Stölzl's Impact, Sophia Silane

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis discusses two female weavers, Gunta Stölzl and Anni Albers, and their critical works from 1920-1935 that shaped Bauhaus weaving and the artistic significance of the medium. Over the course of three chapters, the thesis discusses Stölzl's shift from pictorial to material interests, Albers' themes of mass production and industry, and the women's post Bauhaus years which involved Stölzl blending work and art and Albers expanding the capabilities and fine art presence of textile.

The Living Community Challenge: An Uncase Study In Biophilic Master Planning, Jordan Grimaldi

Pomona Senior Theses

In a world that is quickly urbanizing with a climate that is rapidly changing, the International Living Future Institute’s (ILFI) Living Community Challenge (LCC) offers a whimsical yet highly relevant model for sustainable development—creating cities that are as connected and beautiful as forests. As no certified Living Community exists yet, this thesis serves as an “uncase study” of North Rainier, a neighborhood in Seattle that has registered for the Challenge. In an effort to assess the LCC’s perceived effectiveness as a model for sustainable development, this thesis first summarizes nearly 400 centuries of U.S. developmental history to give greater context …

Empire And Ruins In Nineteenth-Century Egypt, Adin Becker

Pomona Senior Theses

Modern Egypt began as a site for academic exploration and exploitation. Its tremendous archeological riches, indisputable centrality within the world of Islam, and complex multifaceted cultural makeup have piqued the interests of academics worldwide. For centuries, scholars have fantasized about “what lay beyond the water,” a land where they knew “colossal relics of the oldest-known human civilization were concentrated along the Nile in crumbling piles between two vast, usurping deserts, amidst a modern population that professed faith in Islam.”1 Absent material motives, however, Egypt long remained a land of mystery for the West, ripe for discovery and exploration. Egypt’s obscurity …

"May We Be Buried Alive Together": Towards An Intersectional Feminist True Crime Praxis, Alexandra White

Pomona Senior Theses

Most mainstream true crime narratives revolve around a corpse. It is usually the body of a woman. The body is most often white. Not always, but in the cultural imaginary, she is blonde. She comes from a good family. She was a sweet girl. What happened to her? While this question haunts the general public, it also animates true crime communities as the victim becomes a symbol of innocence, a site of spectacular violence, and evidence of the incomprehensible extreme of human behavior. The question brings (primarily) white, cis women true crime fans together in the name of fascination, fear, …