Arts and Humanities Commons^™

From Margins To Museums: Tracing The Evolution Of Representation For Contemporary African Artists In The United States, Victoria Mouraux Durand-Ruel

Master's Theses

This thesis examines the impact of the Black Lives Matter movement on the art community in the United States and the evolution of representation for Contemporary African artists. By analyzing the careers and artistic contributions of Omar Ba, Toyin Ojih Odutola, and Njideka Akunyili Crosby, the study explores the concept of artistic agency according to which African artists have more control over the production and distribution of their works.

The research begins with a comprehensive literature review, investigating the historical contexts that have shaped the art landscape, including the impact of colonization, decolonization, and globalization. The study reveals how these …

Confidence In The Classroom: A Guide For Teaching Dance To Exceptional Learners, Brianna Janae Denmark

Master's Theses

This study focuses on highlighting the need for proper training for dance educators faced with teaching classes that include students with exceptional needs. Few dance classes will openly welcome or properly accommodate exceptional learners, which means that these learners are presented with minimal opportunities to participate in this extracurricular activity that promotes self-expression and socialization with their peers. Wanting to create more opportunities for exceptional learners to participate in dance, the researcher sought to find a solution that could be applied to multiple programs or organizations. The researcher realized that teaching exceptional learners can be viewed as daunting or uncomfortable …

Braiding Hearts/Corazones: The Healing Of Intergenerational Stories, Nicole A. Buchanan, Glendy V. Alvarez

Master's Theses

This field project incorporates the practice of fluid desire into the context of migration educational spaces within spaces such as the University of San Francisco Migration Studies Program (MIMS) and nonprofit organization Ayudando Latinos A Soñar (ALAS). Our research objective is to explore the importance of educational spaces for communities who are impacted by migration and how these spaces may allow these communities to be authentically themselves and embody fluid desire. We articulate fluid desire as a practice and state of being that encompasses complementary work from various scholars who focus on one or more components: (1) desire-centered; (2) advocacy …

I’Ll Be Goldenrod And You’Ll Be Aster: The Case For Revolutionizing Western Methods Of Teaching Using Indigenous Ontologies, Joanna Logerfo

Master's Theses

An interesting facet of living as a human in the 21st century is contending with the end of the world. It’s been imagined in a thousand ways over the past twenty years. Will it be zombies? Aliens? An AI revolution? Or will it perhaps be something more mundane, more “down-to-Earth”? The floods, the droughts, the famines, and all the rest of the cataclysmic global events that occur every year have taken center stage in the world-ending debate, parading under a name as threatening and expansive as the Boogeyman: climate change. A recent article from NPR covered the United Nations’ 2022 …

Finding The Middle Zone; Redefining Spirituality Through Contemporary American Literature, Mickey Mcpoland

Master's Theses

In this essay, I investigate the intersection of post-postmodern literature and postsecular thought. I examine Jonathan Franzen’s novel Crossroads (2022) as a means to examine a religious conception of goodness and how goodness becomes rooted in what we worship. I also look to Infinite Jest and “Good People” by David Foster Wallace. The latter illuminates the conflict between traditional forms of worship and contemporary calls to worship one’s own desires, which results in stagnation, frigidity, and indecisiveness. Characters follow their internal compass, which leads them only further away from a sense of stability. Franzen’s work shows what replaces traditional religious …