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.

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 …

The Quality Of Mercy, Kerry Mcnamara

English Theses & Dissertations

The Quality of Mercy is a hybrid of memoir and reportage, the story of a daughter’s love and her father’s journey through his vocation to the Catholic Church, his entry in the priesthood and his years of missionary work. Not many people discover in their teenage years that their father had been a celibate Catholic priest. Not many have the opportunity to trace their father’s story through diaries, interviews, and recollections. The Quality of Mercy is both a window into the world and a mirror into the soul, a daughter’s attempt to tell her father’s unique tale.

Exploring The Relationship Between Media Influence And Policy Output: A State Comparative Study, Stephanie Savas Joannou Menefee

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Through the years, various forms of media have become political institutions able to influence the public policy agenda. Analyzing policy helps to promote a better understanding of how the policy process works, how problems appear on the political agenda, and why governments choose to act or not to act on particular policy problems. This research utilizes Baumgartner and Jones’s (1993) Theory of Punctuated Equilibrium (PET) to examine the ways in which media attention influenced public policy on marijuana in the states of Kentucky, Massachusetts, and Vermont between 1996 and 2016.

Using qualitative research methods, the researcher conducted an exploratory, comparative …

The Otherworlds Of Men, Aaron Morris

English Theses & Dissertations

The Otherworlds of Men is a collection of short stories that draws equally from the traditions of speculative science fiction dystopias and western noir. The stories often have a plot grounded in gritty realism, similar to the stories of Annie Proulx, Daniel Woodrell, Cormac McCarthy, and Jim Harrison; however, the main character typically is typically injured by a psychic wound that leads to a speculative, otherworldly occurrence. The characters experience time travel, out of body experiences, wormholes to other worlds, spaceflight, distortions of relativistic physics, and, in one case, a character is haunted by Geronimo’s ghost. The characters experience these …

Interweaving Visual Language Of The Spiritual And The Secular: Goya, Spanish Spiritualism, And The Sublime, Stirling Cushman Goulart

Institute for the Humanities Theses

This thesis explores how Francisco Goya adapted traditional methods of representing religious subjects to create a modern visual language that addressed contemporary themes while maintaining continuity with the past and Spanish identity. The methods used to investigate this topic center on primary and secondary literary sources along with visual comparisons and analysis of selected works. Through this method, it is established that Goya formed a modern innovation of traditional religious style in order to confront and discuss secular and current social issues.

Well This Was Unexpected: Stories From My Life, Barbara Middlebrook

English Theses & Dissertations

A creative nonfiction thesis consisting of essays or stories drawn from my life.

Croatia Joins Europe, Nikola Kovač

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

On 1 July 2013 the Republic of Croatia will officially become the 28th member of the European Union. History of Croatia has always kept it on the brink of Europe. The case study of this enlargement examines the relations between Cr9atia and the European Union since Croatia became independent in 1991. This relation is divided into two eras, one of mutual distancing and the other of mutual rapprochement. The thesis aims to identify the dimensions of Croatian road to the EU membership which differ it from other accessions. Now, in the eve of enlargement both Croatia and the European Union …

Richmond Iron: Tredegar's Role In Southern Industry During The Civil War And Reconstruction, Lisa Hilleary

History Theses & Dissertations

The American South contained few iron industries in the decades before the Civil War. Not until the Civil War did southern states produce significant quantities of vital industrial products, such as iron. Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Virginia, was a rare exception. Under the ownership of Joseph R. Anderson, the company established a national reputation for quality products. Prior to the war, Tredegar did business with northerners and with the Federal government. During the war, Tredegar became one of the main weapons suppliers to the Confederate military. Since this iron company physically and economically survived the war, Anderson regained many …

Effect Of A Mindfulness Intervention On Community College Students' Writing Apprehension And Writing Performance, Megan E. Britt

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

This experimental study used a quantitative data collection strategy to examine whether a mindfulness intervention, a three-minute breathing exercise marked by focused attention on the sensations of breath, would affect writing anxiety and writing performance measures. The researcher compared Daly-Miller Writing Apprehension surveys and narrative writing samples from 277 students enrolled in a freshman composition course at a southeastern community college, half of whom practiced the mindful-breathing technique at class onset.

Quantitative results revealed students in the mindful-breathing group experienced a statistically significant decrease in writing apprehension and mechanical error scores from pre- to post-measures when compared to controls. No …

The Bound "Giddy Multitude": Runaway Indentured Servants Convicts And Slaves In Colonial Virginia, Nicole K. Dressler

History Theses & Dissertations

This thesis explores the social, political, and cultural significance of escaped indentured servants, convict servants, and slaves in colonial Virginia. By analyzing judicial records, letters, diaries, independent documents, and particularly, runaway advertisements, researchers can develop a clearer understanding of bondsmen's activities and identities while gaining valuable insight into the relationship between masters and laborers. As a key group of defiant laborers, runaway servants and slaves engaged in powerful acts of resistance that exposed the precarious nature of the colony's social order and added to planters' worries over labor management and colonial affairs, facilitating Virginia elite's participation in the movement for …

The Relationship Between Valuing Diversity And Implicit Racial Bias: A Construct Validation Study, Rebekka Althouse Gordon

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Two studies examined the construct validity of valuing diversity in relation to both explicit and implicit racial bias. In the first study, participants completed three measures: the Miville-Guzman Universality-Diversity Scale to measure valuing diversity; the Implicit Association Test to assess implicit racial bias; and the Symbolic Racism 2000 Scale to assess explicit racial bias. Results indicated there was a significant relationship between the valuing diversity and implicit racial bias measures as well as between the valuing diversity and explicit racial bias measures. The explicit and implicit racial bias measures accounted for unique variance in the valuing diversity construct. There was …

The Sharper Image: Bringing Irish Nationalist Identity Into Focus, 1880-1923, Meghan M. Ferriter

History Theses & Dissertations

From 1880 to 1923, Irish nationalists created and sustained an independent cultural identity shaped by external and internal forces. British political cartoons reveal key external cultural perceptions of the Irish, while Irish nationalist writings endorse internal concepts of character and project political aims. Irish nationalists present an uninterrupted internal identity in pursuit of autonomy. Images published in Punch, or the London Charivari, provide external factors of identity that evolve from exaggerated threat to trivial concern while the nationalist political demands they represent escalate.

Identity is the product of complex interaction and compromise between external and internal definitions. Individuals …

Institutionalized Discrimination And Sectarianism In Northern Ireland, Darlene E. Hall

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this research and subsequent thesis is to explore the issue of institutionalized discrimination, sectarian and political harassment, and victimization in the North of Ireland.

Understanding the situation in the North of Ireland will contribute to an understanding of how minority groups experience oppression and domination from the power elite groups. Extralegal, improper, or unwarranted force by police and security force members receives special attention. Conflict theorists such as Bailey (1996), Skolnick and Fyfe (1993), Quinney (1970) and Chambliss (1994) are reviewed regarding the misuse of force by police. A review of literature reveals that discrimination and sectarian …

Three Essays On European Union Advances Toward A Single Currency And Its Implications For Business And Investors, Charlotte Anne Bond

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

The first chapter examines the changes in various European currencies' exchange rates through the time period 1980 through 1997. Specifically, we are interested to determine if there is any affect to the volatility of these exchange rates and specific events related to the advancement of European Unification. In order to move to a single currency it is imperative that the separate currencies become less volatile to facilitate the move to a single currency. In this study, we examine whether this is the case and discuss which currencies appear to display this behavior. It is observed that of the 14 currencies …

Group Therapy: A Play, Eleanor L. Earl

Institute for the Humanities Theses

Group Therapy is a modem drama set in Portsmouth, Virginia, a small Naval town which is part of a larger area called Hampton Roads. Hampton Roads is best known for its Naval shipyards, Naval bases, and historic landmarks. The year is 1994.

The play focuses on interpersonal communication in a setting that serves as a surrogate family. In the play, seven men and women from varied walks of life come together and share their most intimate joys and sorrows in group therapy. Together, with the assistance of a dedicated psychologist, they struggle to confront and overcome depression and anxiety.

The Implementation Of The Reagan Administration's Counterterrorist Policy, Howard Lawrence Steinberg

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This thesis investigates the implementation of President Ronald Reagan's active counterterrorist policy. The paper attempts to determine why the stated policy of "swift and effective retribution" was not carried out. This paper concentrates on the discrepancies between the numerous statements advocating retaliation made by Reagan and his top officials and the failure of these officials to administer the necessary orders for such retaliatory policies. This research indicated numerous causes, although the primary cause is attributed to the divergent opinions of the reticent Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and the more retributive views of the two successive Secretaries of State, Alexander …

Television And The Integration Of Europe In The Era Of Satellite Communications, John Erick Roos

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The role television played in the integration of Europe through 1987 is examined in an analysis focusing on historical trends, integration theory, and the effect of satellite technology on the political environment in Europe. Television remained under the jurisdiction of national governments since its inception, satellite communications challenged the system of national control of television and changed television's role in Europe by introducing a revolutionary new delivery system. Integration theorists are cited to define the integration process and provide a foundation for a study of television's impact on European integration. Television policies in each nation are examined to document their …

General John Henry Winder's Administration Of Martial Law In Richmond, 1862-1864, John Michael Cobb

History Theses & Dissertations

General John Henry Winder enforced martial law in the Confederate capital in Richmond from the winter of 1862 .to the spring of 1864. Winder's Richmond was plagued with lawlessness, disloyalty, and espionage. He was an experienced and capable commander who enforced his summary orders diligently. But Winder's regime only succeeded in managing the city for brief periods. The complex problems he confronted probably were insurmountable; by the end of his administration Richmond remained in turmoil. Several factors were responsible for this: numerous people were willing to risk prison to participate in the lucrative liquor trade, the basis for much of …

Emancipation & Renewal: English Catholicism In The Nineteenth Century, Cheryl E. Yielding

History Theses & Dissertations

English Catholics faced great difficulties and divisions in the nineteenth century. The chief problems were obtaining civil rights and the right to provide their children with a religious education, prejudice, the restoration of the hierarchy for more efficient government, and the split between Ultramontanes and Liberals. The influx of Irish added to these problems.

This thesis is concerned only with the English Catholics and those Irish Catholics living in England. The "Irish Question" is not dealt with, as the Irish Catholics had different problems and needs than their English brethren. The major emphasis is the prejudice encountered by English Catholics …

The Irish Land Question 1848-1870, Sara A. Coski

History Theses & Dissertations

This is a study of the Irish Land Question and the evolution of British policy aimed at solving it. In 1848 Parliament proposed legislation strictly in keeping with current ideas of laissez-faire, yet by 1870 they passed an act which totally reversed this policy.

This change in British policy was due to the combination of two forces. First the progressive ideas of Liberal Prime Minister, William E. Gladstone, and second, the violent Fenian atrocities that made the British more receptive to radical ideas. The Irish Land Act of 1870 represented a turning point in British policy toward Ireland as …

Northerners In The Reconstruction Of Hampton, Virginia, 1865-1870, Gladys A. Blair

History Theses & Dissertations

The 1870 census for Hampton, Virginia indicated that out of the 8,303 total population, 176 were foreign born and 672 came from states other than Virginia. A logical explanation for the presence of the large number of northerners is that they were carpetbaggers who had come South after the war to take advantage of the prostrate southerners. This paper analyzes the Yankee population in Hampton, Virginia in the period following the Civil War. It discusses the origins of the northerners, their reasons for coming to Hampton, their occupations, the Hampton political situation, and the impact the northerners made on the …

Civil Rights In Northern Ireland, John F. Callan

History Theses & Dissertations

Abstract unavailable.

Father Coughlin: The Progenitor Of Social Reform In The Catholic Church, Robert J. Galvin

History Theses & Dissertations

Abstract unavailable.

The Impact Of The Immigration Act Of 1924 On American-Japanese Relations, Mazika E. Anthony

History Theses & Dissertations

The abrogation of the Gentlemen's Agreement. and the manner in which it was achieved deeply hurt Japanese pride, which had reached new proportions in the 20th century. The American action was interpreted as a deliberate affront to a friendly nation, and upset the traditional amity which had characterized American-Japanese relations since the opening of Japan by 'Commodore Mathew C. Perry. It is the aim of this paper to show the extent of anti-Japanese agitation in the United States, the impact of the Immigration Act of 1924 on American-Japanese relations, and its relationship to the conflict which developed between the two …

Slavery And The Presbyterian Church Before The Civil War, Bernie S. Bass

History Theses & Dissertations

Abstract unavailable.

Norfolk And Anglo-American Relations, 1805-1815, William Frey Carson

History Theses & Dissertations

Abstract unavailable.