Digital Commons Network^™

Hozier, Tiktok, And Sapphic Rhetoric, Sophia Marie Kovalcik

English Theses & Dissertations

Through the process of social circulation and critical imagination, Sappho’s poetry, which maintains rhetoric that women, nature, and love are related to ritual and feminine divinity, intersects with queer digital rhetoric. Via discussion of feminist spirituality rhetoric, Marie Cartier’s lesbian theology, and rhetorical and literary analysis of Sappho’s lyrical fragments, I explore her Ancient Greek mythological, cultural aesthetics. I then connect sapphic rhetoric to two contemporary artifacts that represent or influence contemporary feminist, digital, and queer identities: the lyrics of the Irish musician Andrew Hozier-Byrne, known as Hozier and TikTok comment sections surrounding Hozier’s music and concert clips.

It's A Mean, Mean World: Social Media And Mean World Syndrome, Samantha Kemp

University Honors Theses

Born from cultivation theory, which suggests that media has a profound effect on viewers' perceptions of the world around them, Mean World Syndrome is a psychosocial phenomenon that describes increased levels of fear, anxiety, and pessimism, as well as an overall perception of the world as "meaner" than it actually is, as a result of heavy viewership of violence-related mass media. Mean World Syndrome has primarily been associated with television consumption, but a major societal shift towards consumption of social media instead of television over the last two decades necessitates investigation into how social media affects its users. Through an …

Men, Women, And Italians: The Masquerade Of Narrative And Identity In Richardson's Sir Charles Grandison, Ruth A. Holmes

English Theses & Dissertations

The chaotic masquerades that proliferated during the British long eighteenth century punctuated the period’s preoccupation with order and categorization. The identity categories that the masquerade disrupted, the novel reinforced, or perhaps even created. It was in the middle of this period, in the political center of Britain, that Samuel Richardson published his third and final novel, The History of Sir Charles Grandison (1753), a novel which centers England and was also centered by England, a national treasure entangled in literary and cultural history. Tracing the nexus of gender and nationalism in Grandison then becomes important given the novel’s active entanglement …

Catholicism Online: How The Church Is Communicating In The Visual Field, Alexandra Barfield

Honors Theses

ABSTRACT

Given the rise and importance of social media in the last two decades, religious institutions, especially the Roman Catholic Church, have an important place online to fulfill their mission and belief of spreading the Gospel message. Communicating this message on social media and with contemporary marketing practices is an opportunity and a challenge for churches, Catholics, and apostolates alike. In this study, I analyze a variety of Catholic-related Instagram accounts and interview individuals involved in Church management and content creation. This primary research is prefaced with secondary research exploring the status of the Catholic Church in the United States, …

Ruben Fm And Its Involvement In Socio-Economic Challenges Of Mukuru Kwa Ruben Slums Of Nairobi, Henix Obuchunju

Theses & Dissertations

vii ABSTRACT Slums are a reflection of underdeveloped and marginalisation. It is so yet the traditional watchdog genre of journalism and the commercial press are both as old as the slums themselves. Past studies show that community radios are struggling with feedback. As such they are yet to assess their value to the world. This study sought to assess the impact of the Mukuru kwa Ruben-based Ruben FM in addressing the socio- economic needs of its listeners; and whether it is advancing the tenets of Solutions Journalism practice. That is; coverage of solutions rather than the problems. The study relied …

Portrayals Of Family Resilience In Webcomics During The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Thematic Analysis, Claire Catherine Heaney

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

Families and couples were challenged with stresses unlike any other as individuals faced adversities from lockdowns, as well as fears derived from the coronavirus. During the pandemic, trends of webcomics became more popular, particularly comics that depicted characters in romantic relationships dealing with “the new normal.” In this project, I suggest that social media webcomics incorporated topics of coping. The purpose of this study was to examine webcomics that documented daily life situations during lockdowns and stress-buffering skills found in couples’ interactions when dealing with concerns. Utilizing Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis, 585 romantic relationship webcomics posted from March …

Yet It Was Good Of You To Share In My Troubles: An Autoethnographic Study Of A Mother-Daughter Relationship Experienced Through A Wounded Body, Kathleen Smith

Masters Theses, 2020-current

This thesis is an embodied autoethnography that examines my experiences of accepting and coming-to-terms with my relationship with my mother through my chronic illness. Utilizing creative vignettes and short personal stories, throughout this autoethnographic thesis project I shine light to my lived experiences as a daughter in a Catholic household, diagnosed with chronic illness in adulthood. I use narrative theorizing to understand how the stories I tell in this thesis create meaning in my relationship with my mother. Through personal narratives I explore themes of autonomy and connection within a mother-daughter relationship, illness narratives and illness as a turning point, …

The International Perception Of The Irish Republican Army And Chechen Insurgency, Henry Forteith

International and Global Studies Undergraduate Honors Theses

This purpose of this project is to examine how the labels used to describe the Irish Republican Army and Chechen insurgency changed after certain acts of violence. This paper begins by describing the history of imperial subjugation of Ireland and Chechnya, as well as examining the similarities between the actions and motivations of the IRA and Chechen insurgency. Then, to study the change in language to describe these groups, two searches were conducted into the New York Times and International Newsstream databases. The first search examined articles about the IRA and Chechen insurgency published between 1998 and 2009, while the …

It Takes Two To Tango : Understanding The Processes That Lead To Simultaneous Changes In Tropical Cyclone Intensity And Size And Communicating The Associated Hazards To Emergency Managers, Emily A. Paltz

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The severity of tropical cyclone (TC) hazards is modulated by both TC intensity and size. More intense TCs produce stronger storm surges and increase wind damage. Larger TCs potentially impact more people, increase the duration of TC hazards, produce stronger storm surges and increase the amount of rainfall and flooding. Thus, accurately forecasting both TC intensity and size and effectively communicating those forecasts are critical to properly preparing communities for TC impacts. Forecast accuracy can be improved by enhancing our understanding about the processes that cause changes in TC intensity and size. This research divides the Extended Best Track dataset …

Wild And Wonderful: How Both A Local And National Newspaper Framed West Virginia Leading Up To The 2016 Election, Emily Grace Martin

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

During the 2016 Presidential election, journalists from all over the country flocked to West Virginia to try to understand the draw to then-candidate Donald Trump. There is a well-documented history of outsiders flooding the state and its surrounding Appalachian states to attempt to make sense of the current political situation, all while operating off of stereotypes and preconceived notions about the people of the Mountain State. This study aims to determine how stereotyping and the concept of framing or othering — when in-groups create out-groups — were used by a local West Virginia paper, as well as a national newspaper …

Rape Culture: Tools Of Oppression, William Wehrs

History Honors Papers

My project deals with rape culture and the tools of oppression. It looks at the history of rape culture from biblical times to the present. It then examines how schools indoctrinate people to participate in rape culture. It then moves to a backlash towards feminism from the 1970s to the present. The paper then connects said backlash to Men’s Activist Websites. Finally, my paper examines rape culture in the Media, such as the James Bond films or the video game, Super Seducer.

Mississippi In Technicolor: Portraits Of Strength, Devna Bose

Honors Theses

This thesis is a collection of my articles that have been published over four years at The Daily Mississippian, the university’s student newspaper. In these articles, I explore the many facets of the queer community in Oxford and Mississippi. These stories allow a glimpse into the modern queer community of Mississippi and examine the issues that often affect them. It is not an academic paper — it is merely an examination of the people and places that contribute to the Mississippi LGBTQ+ community. It includes stories about social issues, intersectionality, and legislature in relation to the queer population of this …

A Matter Of Life And Def: Poetic Knowledge And The Organic Intellectuals In Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry, Anthony Blacksher

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation unpacks the poetry, performances, and the production of Def Poetry Jam to explore how a performative art embodied and confronted racial discourses, including stereotypes and also, addressed the racism, patriotism, and imperialist discourses that circulated after 9/11. Def Poetry Jam contributes to the intellectual capacity of spoken word and performance poetry, and poets as intellectuals, where poets produce and disseminate knowledge, ideas, and data, in the form of narratives, that contribute to critical consciousness. The effectiveness of the series lay in the consistent blurring of entertainment, knowledge, anti-capitalism, and capitalism. This research demonstrates how Def Poetry Jam provided …

How Far Have We Come? A Comparison Of Jamaican Representations In Cool Runnings And Luke Cage, Israel Cariche Ramsay

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Representation of minority groups in popular media has been the cause of many debates in recent years. There has been outcry against the lack of diverse representations, and the kind of representation of minority groups. When powerful media organizations are representing minority groups, imperialism and post colonialism become part of the conversation. To look at the representation of minorities, I examined the representation of Jamaicans in two popular texts. The first is Cool Runnings, a 1993 film, and the second is season two of Luke Cage, a Netflix series released in 2018. In both of these instances, Jamaicans and Jamaican …

Rights, Recognition, And Changing Borders: Latin American Activism In Post-Brexit Britain, Stephanie Aragao Medden

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores the advocacy work and political activism of Latin American social movement organizations based in the United Kingdom. I examine how activists working in Britain as it prepares to exit the European Union, make sense of their collective agendas, strategize to achieve their goals, and evaluate the outcomes of their advocacy efforts. In doing so, this project provides insights into the ways that identity movements are negotiated and performed during periods of increased political and public hostility toward their constituents and agendas. I illuminate the relationship between identity movements, immigration discourses, politics, and policy implementation and explore how …

Broadening The Focus: Women's Voices In The New Journalism, Mary C. Wacker

Master's Theses (2009 -)

The New Journalism Movement chronicled a decade of social turbulence in America by breaking the rules of traditional journalism and embracing narrative elements in the writing and publication of literary nonfiction. The magazine publishing industry was controlled by men, and the history of this transitional time in journalism has been chronicled by men, neglecting to recognize the significant contributions of women working in their midst. This study shines a light on the historical narrative that defines our understanding of the significance and key contributors to the New Journalism Movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. To better understand the …

Fake News, Political Narrative, & Social Media: A Structuration Approach, Adam M. Housh

Capstone Collection

This research aims to unveil a connection between fake news distribution, readership demand, and social media networks, in this case, Facebook. In this research, fake news is defined as “content that is deliberately false and published on websites that mimic traditional news websites (Johnson and Kelling 2017, p3)”. It is argued that fake news content is not produced at random, but is tailored to particular political demographics and narratives. Exposure to such media not only validates ideological positions, it polarizes political beliefs. Furthermore, Facebook not only acts as an effective distribution medium, but allows individual users to skip structural filters …

Marketing Strategy Of School Of Professional Studies In China, Jiahui Liu, Jing Wang, Shuo An, Wengxing Wang, Yiwei Wang

School of Professional Studies

Chinese students are the most visible international presence at many universities across the United States, and the number continues to grow. Since 2010, The number of graduate students studying abroad has entered the period in which the increase has been declining. Under the circumstance of the weak global economy and high cost of education, the administration needs to attract the attention of Chinese students. In the process of competing for applicants, how to develop marketing strategies to attract students’ eyeballs has become an important means of trying to increase school income through Chinese students. The marketing strategy mentioned in this …

The Failure Of News Media Agenda-Setting On Cannabis, Amanda Cranston

Journalism

This study uses the agenda-setting theory (McCombs & Shaw, 1972, p. 176) to examine the various aspects of cannabis coverage in the news media and how news media have presented cannabis and the numerous debates over cannabis uses. Cannabis has been a focus of U.S. news media since the 19th century and has been historically misrepresented in national and local news media. More recently, the U.S. has seen a great shift in the public’s attitude towards cannabis. With more and more states legalizing medical and even recreational use, news media are surging to meet the demands of its publics, even …

Livestrong Or Lie Hard: A Pentadic Analysis Of Deception And Reputation Management In 'The Armstrong Lie', Harper D. Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

Kenneth Burke's pentadic analysis has been a staple within the context of rhetorical criticism since the early days of critical communication studies. Throughout the years it has evolved from a heavy text criticism to application to film and documentary. The Armstrong Lie is another documentary that highlights the controversial actions of former seven-time Tour de France champion, Lance Armstrong. This film provides an opportunity in which the pentadic analysis can be applied in order to really dissect the message that is being told. Through application of the pentadic analysis to The Armstrong Lie it is possible to identify the true …

Hate Speech On The Internet: Crime Or Free Speech?, Grace Udoh-Oshin

Undergraduate Honors College Theses 2016-

The Internet has a lot of positive features. It gives users fast access to information, allows for communication with others who might otherwise be out of reach, and much more; however, the Internet allows for a lot of negativity as well. There has been an increase in hate based activity on social media, and the anonymity and flexibility afforded by the Internet has made harassment and expressions of hate easy, thus making it much harder to implement traditional law enforcement. This paper gives a history of hate speech in America, and examines the difficulties of regulating hate speech on the …

Family Group Conference Experiences From The Perspective Of Volunteer Facilitators, Rebecca Ann Saunders

MSU Graduate Theses

This study examined the experiences of volunteer Family Group Conference (FGC) facilitators for the purpose of understanding how they experience and manage their role in the FGC process. By focusing on the benefits and challenges of volunteer FGC facilitators, this research adds a new perspective to the limited literature on FGC facilitators. Semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 11 volunteer Family Group Conference facilitators in order to create a deeper understanding of these volunteers' experiences. The Ecosystems Perspective and Uncertainty Reduction Theory created a framework for understanding the complex role of the FGC facilitator and allowed for a more detailed …

The Power Of A Secret: Secret Societies And The Easter Rising, Sierra M. Harlan

Senior Theses

The Irish Republican Brotherhood (I.R.B.) and the Irish Volunteer Force (I.V.F.) altered Irish Nationalist tactics from Parliamentary supported Home Rule to a republican movement for Irish Independence. The actions of these secret societies between 1900 and 1916, during the Irish Revolutionary period,[1] are the reason that Ireland gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1922. The change from political negotiations by the ineffective Irish Parliamentary Party to the republican movement would never have happened without the Easter Rising of 1916. The centennial anniversary of this Easter Rising makes The Power of a Secret: Ireland’s Secret Societies and the Easter …

The Impact Of French Camp Academy On Child Abuse And Neglect, Ji Hoon Heo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Within the last few decades, child abuse and neglect has not improved in the United States. Government services provides facilities and licensed families for abused and neglected children, but children often do not adjust due to negative past experiences. However, there are other non-governmental programs that help counter child abuse and neglect. This research focuses on one student attending French Camp Academy, a Christian-based boarding school in central Mississippi, in order to shed light on possible ways to stop the vicious cycle that children go through. When children receive the acknowledgment and support from a parental figure, they are more …

Memory In The Fingers: An Exploration Of Knitting Through The Lens Of Modern Knitters' Lives, Sinclair Rishel

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the history of knitting through the lens of modern knitters' lives. Information about the history of knitting was gathered from various printed and online sources. A series of interviews were conducted with knitters of different ages, experience levels, professions, and socioeconomic circles. Among these were beginning knitters, casual knitters, semi-professional knitters, professional knitters, and a knitting celebrity. The interviewees were asked about their knitting lives, including personal history, motives, preferences, and habits. Using the research and the interviews to inform each other, the researcher compiled a report on each subject which included their responses and the historical …

Ginger Masculinities, Donica O'Malley

Masters Theses

This paper explores white American masculinity within the “ginger” phenomenon. To guide this study, I asked: How is racism conceptualized and understood within popular culture, as seen through discussions of whether or not gingerism constitutes racism? How do commenters respond or interact when their understandings of racism or explanations for gingerism are challenged by other commenters? And finally, what does the creation of and prejudice against/making fun of a “hyperwhite” masculine identity at this social/historical moment suggest about the current stability of the dominant white masculine identity? Through discourse analysis of online comments, I explored discussions of race, gender, and …

Ideology, The Counterculture, And The Avant Garde: Positioning The Filmmaker And The Spectator In Four Films Of Late-1960s America, Mary Bronstein Cantoral

College of Communication Master of Arts Theses

Kenneth Anger’s Invocation of My Demon Brother (1969), Emile de Antonio’s In the Year of the Pig (1968), Jonas Mekas’s Diaries, Notes, and Sketches: Also Known as Walden (1969) and Haskell Wexler’s Medium Cool (1969) constitute historical artifacts as well as discursive interventions intended to shape a vision of the nation. Therein emerged varying imbrications of ideology and the volatility of the era, along with palpable disharmony that scholars have identified between the youth movement’s cultural and political camps.¹ In each case, the film’s avant-garde status did not, in and of itself, confer liberatory ideology. While all but Medium …

The Rise And Fall Of The Friends Of Irish Freedom: How America Shaped Irish American Nationalism In The Twentieth Century, Shanon Delia Douglass

Honors Theses

The Friends of Irish Freedom were an Irish American nationalist organization that consisted of prominent leaders and members from other nationalist groups that also attracted more moderate Irish Americans. This thesis focuses exclusively on the leaders and activities of the Friends between 1916 and 1921. During these years, membership both skyrocketed and plummeted within a matter of months. Contributing to both their rise and fall was American public sentiment, the onset and conclusion of WWI, and interactions with nationalist leaders in Ireland. My Thesis shows how despite their seemingly radical nationalist activities and beliefs, it was the gradual Americanization of …

The Implementation Of Communication Theories To Assist In Resolving Perennial International Conflicts, Kelly Witkop

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.

Italians In The Delta: The Evolution Of An Unusual Immigration, Camille Elise Mullins

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the extraordinary immigration of Italians to the Delta from when they first came in 1895 to modern day. This project updates the Delta Italians' status within the modern era and explores their rise from lowly tenant farmers to some of the largest farm owners in the Delta. In particular, it looks at the Italians through the prism of discrimination, farming and fascinating personalities who have attempted to preserve its history. By using live interviews and journalistic story telling techniques, I hope to give people a flavor of what the early settlers were like and how their culture …