Digital Commons Network^™

Peeking Out: A Textual Analysis Of Heteronormative Images In Prime-Time Television, D. Renee Smith

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation traces lesbian portrayals on network television from the 1960s through the 1990s. A focus on episodic dramas and situation comedies reveals a concise representation of the mediated lesbian image. Building on existing research on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender images on television, this work focuses exclusively on the lesbian image broadcast free of charge over the air during prime-time on commercial networks in the United States. Using a postmodern feminist framework, this textual analysis examines the images and texts portraying lesbian characters in episodic dramas and situation comedies. Furthermore, applying a semiotic lens to the analysis dissects the …

“The Youngest Of The Great American Family”: The Creation Of A Franco-American Culture In Early Louisiana, Cinnamon Brown

Doctoral Dissertations

On April 30, 1803, the Jefferson administration purchased French Louisiana. Initially American lawmakers rejoiced at the prospect of American domination of the Mississippi River. Yet within a few short months this optimism was replaced with uncertainty and alarm as lawmakers faced the task of incorporating Lower Louisiana into the Union. As Americans tackled the many unintended consequences of the Louisiana Purchase, Louisianans also had to confront the ramifications of the landmark acquisition and the encroachment of a new American government in their lives. From 1803 to 1815, American lawmakers and Louisianans embarked on a parallel journey to incorporate Lower Louisiana …

Critical Distance: The Postcolonial Novel And The Dilemma Of Exile, David S. Morgan

Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I argue that Edward Said‘s theory of exile offers a stronger version of human agency than do other postcolonial theories of identity which rely on poststructural theory, and therefore, his theory of exile provides a useful model for postcolonial criticism. His theory of exile animates almost all of his work from his earliest literary criticism to his later theoretical texts. By ―exile,‖ Said refers to the experience of peoples displaced from their homes for political reasons and to the experience of intellectual homelessness that a critic must have in order to be free of the constraints of …

Through The Looking Glass: Der Spiegel’S Presentation Of America’S Image In The Iraq War, William Bradley Hinton

Masters Theses

Der Spiegel, the weekly German news magazine, offered extensive coverage of the beginnings of the Iraq War. The magazine blended historical fact and cinematic and historical comparisons to present its decidedly negative view of the conflict. The twofold purpose of this thesis is to illuminate the German attitudes towards the war and the American culture from which it sprang and to explore some of the comparisons and metaphors and the visuals used to communicate this viewpoint. The intent is to examine the gap between the abstract position the magazine expresses and the wider scope of meaning created by the …

Sound Scenes: Performativity, Politics, And Capital In New Music Ensembles, John Robison Pippen

Masters Theses

This thesis examines classical music as a cultural practice and centers on my ethnographies of three musical ensembles in the United States: Alarm Will Sound, eighth blackbird, and Yarn/Wire. Each group is a non-profit performing arts organization formed by conservatory-trained members and each performs and promotes new classical music, or "new music" as it is commonly called. I draw also on my own experience performing and interacting in new music communities.

From these mixed domains, I demonstrate new music ensembles as dynamic and complex entities in which individuals negotiate between the elitist conventions of classical music and populist ideals. In …

Ida Von Hahn-Hahn Und Isabelle Eberhardt. Ausbruch Aus Restriktionen – Auf Der Suche Nach Sich Selbst, Anja Katharina Seiler

Masters Theses

The following thesis compares the travelogue Orientalische Briefe by the German author Ida von Hahn-Hahn with the travel journals Mes Journaliers by the French author Isabelle Eberhardt, in the context of how each woman represents herself as a female traveler and author. The comparative study analyzes whether both authors in these texts deal with the issue of breaking out of social and cultural restrictions while traveling to the ‘Orient’. The overall question of my thesis concerns what kind of filters did they use to speak about the ‘cultural other’.

The personal backgrounds of Ida von Hahn-Hahn and Isabelle Eberhardt differ …

"We’Ll All Shout Together In That Morning": Iconicity And Sacred Harp Singing On Sand Mountain, Alabama, Jonathon Murray Smith

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the cultural context of Sacred Harp singing on Sand Mountain, Alabama. Using Stephen Feld’s concept of “iconicity of style,” I demonstrate that Sacred Harp singing is more than just a form of music, but an overarching aesthetic that ties together multiple forms of cultural expression and social interaction. Sacred Harp singing occurs in many different contexts on Sand Mountain, ranging from church services, to organized singings, to impromptu social events. Its presence in all these realms connects the sacred and the secular, bridging diverse aspects of Sand Mountain culture.

As I investigate the place of Sacred Harp …

Ammianus And Constantius: The Portrayal Of A Tyrant In The Res Gestae, Sean Robert Williams

Masters Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate that the late Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus used his portrayal of the emperor Constantius II (r. 337-361) as a response to Christian polemic against the pagan emperor Julian (r. 361-363). It argues that, based on the similarities between Ammianus’ account of Constantius and some Christian polemical accounts of Julian, the Res Gestae should be seen as part of the broader discourse between Christians and pagans that began after the death of Valens at Adrianople in 378. By examining the narrative similarities Ammianus shares with several of his prominent Christian contemporaries—notably Gregory of …

A Study Of The Social And Political Implication Of Friedrich Schlegel’S ‘Comedy Of Freude’, Manjit Singh Bhatti

Masters Theses

Generally speaking, scholarship in the field of Germanistik has taken an interest in Friedrich Schlegel’s early publication, “Vom aesthetischen Werte der griechischen Komoedie” (1794), either because of its perceived influence on German Romantic Comedy [(Catholy 1982), (Kluge 1980), (Holl 1923), (Japp 1999)], or else because of its relevance as an example of Schlegel's still inchoate aesthetic philosophy [(Dierkes 1980), (Behrens 1984), (Schanze 1966), (Michel 1982), (Dannenberg 1993), (Mennemeier 1971)]. As a theory of comedy in its own right, Schlegel’s essay has garnered little attention, in part because of its supposed inapplicability to comedic praxis and at times utopian implications, in …

Somehow A Word Must Be Found: William Carlos Williams, The Legacies Of Duchamp, And The Troping Of The Found, Brian L. Gempp

Doctoral Dissertations

Since the publication of J. Hillis Miller’s seminal chapter on William Carlos Williams in Poets of Reality (1965), there has been a uniform trend among critics to read the poet’s early experiments in relation to Marcel Duchamp. Miller situates Williams’s poetics within a range of avant-garde neologisms thought to challenge the autonomy of the bourgeois art object. Williams’s poetry rethinks the function and form of language and it is this self-reflexivity, and Miller’s deferral to the ready-made, that provides the foundation for this study. Inspired by a Dadaist-revival that reached its peak in the years leading up to the poet’s …

Anti-Judaic Religious Polemic And Apocalyptic Thought In The Disputation Of Majorca And Its Later Manuscript Tradition, Geoffrey Kyle Martin

Masters Theses

In this study, I first examine the Disputation of Majorca (1286) and analyze how its Christian disputant, Inghetto Contardo, blended apocalyptic thought and anti-Judaic discourse. Although other studies, most notably Ora Limor’s critical edition, have touched upon the nature of Inghetto’s arguments, none have discussed his clear implementation of intertwined anti-Judaic religious polemic and apocalyptic thought in a satisfactory manner. I place Inghetto in an apocalyptic milieu of the later thirteenth century that especially emphasizes the imminence of the Last Days. In effect, Inghetto’s employment of St. Jerome’s Daniel exegesis is perfectly suited to 1286, when Jews are most likely …

Physician As Military Officer: Conflicts In Professional Duties, Kevin Michael Bond

Doctoral Dissertations

A “moral dilemma” is a situation in which there is more than one obligatory course of action, but to act on one choice means to not act upon the others. Moral dilemma arises when an action, or inaction, results in “wrongness” because other morally correct obligations are rendered unattainable. Sometimes prolonged exposure to moral dilemma leads to a phenomenon known as “moral distress.” Moral distress is a negative feeling or state that is experienced when a person makes moral judgments about a situation in which he or she is involved, but, due to one or more constraints, does not act …

Twentieth Century Changes In The Climate Response Of Yellow Pines In Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee, U.S.A., Christine Patricia Biermann

Masters Theses

Previous dendroclimatological research has shown that tree growth is primarily a function of temperature and precipitation. At mid-latitude temperate forest sites, trees have been found to be mainly moisture-sensitive rather than temperature-sensitive. Researchers at the 2007 North American Dendroecological Fieldweek were surprised to find a winter temperature signal in a shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata) chronology from Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee. Building on this finding, I evaluated yellow pine climate-tree growth relationships at five sites on the western end of Great Smoky Mountains National Park using correlation, response function, moving correlation, and wavelet analyses. Winter mean minimum …

Gefangen Im Eigenen Ich: Ein Psychoanalytischer Vergleich Von E.T.A. Hoffmanns Der Sandmann Und Der Goldne Topf, Katharina Borgmann

Masters Theses

This thesis is a comparative study of two major works by the German author E.T.A. Hoffmann, Der Sandmann (1818) and Der goldne Topf (1819). Der Sandmann has been analyzed under the filter of psychoanalysis by Freud himself. The goal of this thesis was to analyze whether a psychoanalytical approach can be extended to other works by Hoffmann, showing the same underlying structures even though the content seems to differ widely between the two works at first glance. Der goldne Topf is the text that I chose to compare to Der Sandmann, as both texts tell the story of a …

The "Ruins Of The Future": Counter-Narratives To Terrorism In The 9/11 Literature Of Don Delillo, Jonathan Safran Foer, And Ian Mcewan, Matthew Francis Carlini

Masters Theses

In the days after 9/11, Don DeLillo asserted that the narrative of the future ended in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, and "it is left to us to create the counter-narrative" (34). In this thesis project, I illustrate how Jonathan Safran Foer and Ian McEwan take up DeLillo‘s call to construct a counter-narrative to empty futurism and the backwards-oriented narrative of terrorism. Through my comparative analysis of Cosmopolis and Falling Man in Chapter One, I illustrate how DeLillo argues for the renewed importance of the place of memory in the world following the attacks of 9/11. Cosmopolis’ world …

Pop Meets Satire. Über Pop-Satire In Den Usa Und Deutschland., Moritz Konrad Kevin Keller

Masters Theses

This thesis defines a kind of satire that wasn’t dealt with before in depth: “Pop-Satire”. This form of satire uses the stylistic elements of pop for satiric purposes. That means that Pop-Satire uses phenomena and elements of everyday culture and popular culture in a satiric way. The analysis of “Pop-Satire” begins in “Pop-Literatur,” then proceeds to satire magazines and finally TV shows are analyzed. The analysis in different media also follows a comparative approach, contrasting American and German literary texts, magazines, and finally TV shows in order to highlight similarities and differences in both cultures. The examined works are Bret …

Friendship In Die Rote Zora Und Ihre Bande And Peter Pan, Roswitha-Maria Moldovi

Masters Theses

Children's books often show recurring themes. One such theme is friendship. My thesis is a comparatistic work between the German book Die rote Zora und ihre Bande by Kurt Held and the English book Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie, as those books have recently been turned into movies recently advertising the theme of friendship. I compare these two books for parallel friendship constellations. This research reveals two types of friendships: cross-sex friendships and same-sex friendships. In both books cross-sex friendships can be seen within a group, 'Zoras Bande' and Wendy and the Lost Boys. I analyze these friendship constellations according …

The Pi Beta Phi Settlement School: Progressive Reform In Gatlinburg, Tennessee, 1910-1965, Shirley Marie Robinson

Masters Theses

During the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, reformers, intellectuals and travel writers drew the attention of the American public to Southern Appalachia. Although the region had previously not been viewed as distinct from other parts of the rural South, a mythology about mountain deviance emerged after the Civil War. Commentators identified mountaineers as aberrant based on exaggerated accounts of violence, poverty and ignorance. As the urban middle class became identified as the core of American society, efforts to “Americanize” other groups brought organizations such as the Pi Beta Phi into the Mountain South.

Founded in 1867 at …

Captive To The American Woods: Sarah Wakefield And Cultural Mediation, Sophia Betsworth Hunt

Masters Theses

The life and narrative of Sarah Wakefield, an Anglo migrant who spent six weeks as a captive of the Santee Dakotas during the US-Dakota Conflict, show one woman's experience navigating the changing racial dynamics of the nineteenth-century Minnesota frontier. Using recent conceptualizations of “the frontier” as either a middle ground or woods, this thesis reconsiders Wakefield as a prisoner, not of Indians or her own conscience but of her region‟s ossifying racial divisions. Wakefield's initial attempts at intercultural communication, which included feeding starving Dakotas who knocked on her door, were consistent with Anglo notions about womanhood and Indian-white relations. But …

"I Can't Be Punished Anymore": Exploring Incapacity And Carceral Formations In Samuel Beckett's Endgame, Happy Days, Play, Not I, And Catastrophe, Victoria Helen Swanson

Masters Theses

While there has been a great deal of scholarship and a variety of approaches to analysis of the works of Samuel Beckett, there has been surprisingly little excavation of the carceral, restrictive, and debilitating formations vital to the structure of his plays. For example, the carcerality prevalent throughout While there has been a great deal of scholarship and a variety of approaches to analysis of the works of Samuel Beckett, there has been surprisingly little excavation of the carceral, restrictive, and debilitating formations vital to the structure of his plays. For example, the carcerality prevalent throughout Endgame informs the dramatic …

Sightings Of The Mormon Sacroscape: Mormonism As A Test Case For Thomas Tweed‟S Theory Of Religion., Sean Soren Deitrick

Masters Theses

This work explores Thomas Tweed‟s theory of religion as presented in Crossing and Dwelling, taking up the author‟s challenge to demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses in his theoretical model by applying it to new cases. Mormonism is ideal as a case study in this context because of the visibility of Mormon mass migrations in the Nineteenth Century, the global significance of Mormonism in the Twentieth Century, and the distinctively spatial theology of Joseph Smith. The paper proceeds by (1) outlining Tweed‟s theory of religion, (2) applying a Tweedian “itinerary” to Mormon spatial practices, and (3) reflecting on critical themes …

Pedagogy For Millennials: Using New Literacies And New Media To Teach Old Texts, Keli Woodard Weed

Masters Theses

When teaching the rhetorical situation, English teachers often emphasize the importance of ―knowing one‘s audience.‖ As we move into a new century, it is important that these teachers consider their own advice. This project aims a critical lens at millennials – those tech-savvy, multi-tasking students who were born after 1994 – and aims to equip teachers with the skills, tools, and confidence needed to step out of the routine of skill-and-drill pedagogy in the language arts classroom and into the interactive, multi-modal world of 21st-century education. The project begins with an analysis of demographic information on millennial students that is …

“To Be True To Ourselves”: Freedpeople, School Building, And Community Politics In Appalachian Tennessee, 1865-1870, Albin James Kowalewski

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the ways communities of ex-slaves and free blacks in Appalachian Tennessee mobilized to build schools in the five years after the Civil War. Historians have long asserted that black schools were central institutions in the movement by Southern blacks to create an autonomous culture following the Civil War. And scholars have traditionally used the creation of cultural institutions (such as schools) to demonstrate the collective efforts by freedpeople in their pursuit of common aspirations. But the question remains what the school-building process can tell historians about how freedpeople understood themselves and their communities within local, regional, state, …

A Disordered Domesticity: Constructions Of Masculinity In The Dramatic Works Of John Gay, Jeremy Brandon Wear

Masters Theses

This thesis examines how John Gay portrays constructions of masculinity in domestic spaces—the households, estates, and royal courts—of three plays: Three Hours After Marriage,Polly, and Achilles. Gay illuminates how constructions of masculinity are ultimately linked to an emergent sex/gender system based upon shifting ideas of masculine authority and patriarchal right in the eighteenth century. Ultimately, Gay‟s drama reveals the concept of a “natural” sex to be little more than a cultural construction. He criticizes the often artificial nature of masculinity, and posits that a masculine gender identity becomes linked to power over the supposedly “natural,” feminine …

Hybridity And Postcoloniality: Formal, Social, And Historical Innovations In Salman Rushdie’S Midnight’S Children, Sarah Habib Bounse

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Why Not Rule The World? Nietzsche, The Ubermensch, And Contemporary Superheroes., Dylan Fort Meggs

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.