Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Global Englishes: Variations Of A Single Language In All English Classrooms, Amanda Leigh Faulkenberry

Masters Theses

This study was conducted in order to develop a procedure for creating a globally recognized curriculum for teaching students and teachers about global variations of English. The study first sought to discover attitudes towards global variations of English of speakers in each of Kachru’s three-circles model of World Englishes. Once there was an understanding of the negative attitudes that exist towards variations that fall within all three circles, the next goal was to determine what was being done to change this negative attitude. This meant analyzing curriculum and studies to determine how students and teachers are being educated on the …

Emily Dickinson, The Tyrant, And The Daemon: A Critique Of Societal Oppression, And The Significance Of Artistic Truth, Debra Kue

Masters Theses

This thesis argues that art, for Dickinson, was an alternative system of salvation which her society could not provide her. Unwilling to surrender herself to the mold of her society, the institutional practice of Christianity and gender expectations, Dickinson chose to take ownership of her life through art, which allowed her to develop a personal language to combat the oppressive forces of the world around her. As a conscious “revolutionist of the word” Dickinson embarked on a path of self-discovery that enabled her to conduct a life in self-imposed exile as a means to emancipate herself from the constraints of …

The Quest Of Love: A Liturgical Reading Of The Pilgrim's Progress, Matthew Charles Fox

Masters Theses

John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress has been enjoyed for its imaginative story by a wide variety of readers since its publication in 1678, but criticism has long treated Bunyan’s imaginative story-telling as separate from and at odds with his Puritanism. If this were the case and expositing theological doctrine was Bunyan’s main purpose, then why would he write a fiction? Using James K. A. Smith idea of “liturgical pedagogy” from his Cultural Liturgies series, this thesis argues that Bunyan’s story does more than vividly convey theological doctrine to the reader’s mind; rather, it captures the imagination of the reader’s heart, …

Kofifi/Covfefe: How The Costumes Of "Sophiatown" Bring 1950s South Africa To Western Massachusetts In 2020, Emma Hollows

Masters Theses

This thesis paper reflects upon the costume design process taken by Emma Hollows to produce a realist production of the Junction Avenue Theatre Company’s musical Sophiatown at the Augusta Savage Gallery at the University of Massachusetts in May 2020. Sophiatown follows a household forcibly removed from their homes by the Native Resettlement Act of 1954 amid apartheid in South Africa. The paper discusses her attempts as a costume designer to strike a balance between replicating history and making artistic changes for theatre, while always striving to create believable characters.

Boethian Variations: Musical Thought In Sir Orfeo, Troilus And Criseyde, And Robert Henryson’S Orpheus And Eurydice, Joshua T. Parks

Masters Theses

This study approaches three poems from the late medieval British Isles—the Middle English Breton lay Sir Orfeo, Geoffrey Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde, and Robert Henryson’s Orpheus and Eurydice—through the lens of medieval music theory. The most important authority for medieval music theorists was the late antique philosopher Boethius, who held to a Neoplatonic philosophy of music that valued reason, theory, and contemplation of the music of the spheres. Later medieval theorists cited Boethius extensively while also adapting his thought to suit their own purposes. In particular, the early fourteenth-century French theorist Johannes de Grocheio, influenced by Aristotle, departed …

English As A Lingua Franca: Improving Technical Writing And Communication Methods For International Audiences, Lauren Alyssa Serrani

Masters Theses

This thesis centers on the role of English as a lingua franca in global communication, particularly as it pertains to technical written communication. Over the 20th century, English emerged as the primary language used in global communication. As a result, efforts have been made to standardize the language and teach this standardized English in schools and writing programs around the world. Standard American and British English are dominant in academic and professional fields, which inhibits both native and nonnative language learners from reaching their full potential. This project focuses on the most prominent language acquisition methodologies - Standard English, translingualism, …

Originality, Decorum, And Fantastic Sight In Dostoevsky's The Idiot, Richard A. Decker

Masters Theses

Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “fantastic realism” penetrates reality’s surface to reveal what he refers to as the “moral center” of reality and, in the process, transfigures readers. In Dostoevsky’s The Idiot, the novel’s main protagonist, Prince Lev Nikolaevich Myshkin, embodies this fantastic realism. This process provides Myshkin with a “fantastic sight” that allows him to see past the immorality of the manners—or “feigned decorum”—of Russian society as represented in the novel. In so doing, Myshkin serves his peers as a “Nouwenian minister,” classifying him as a “wounded healer” archetype as presented in Henri J. M. Nouwen’s The Wounded Healer. This …

The Storying Of Colombian Writing Centers, Jennifer Erin Pretzer

Masters Theses

Using the results from a study conducted on Colombian writing centers, this thesis applies principles from narrative theory to posit a grand narrative for Colombian writing center professionals. The study was modeled on one Jackie Grutsch McKinney used to examine US writing center professionals’ descriptions of their work, and the thesis includes a comparison with her results. Respondents were asked to answer seven questions, two of which were multiple choice and five of which were short answer. The questions asked respondents to describe their tutoring staff composition, their center’s operations, writing centers in general, and ways their center resembles and …

The Need For Christian Authors In Mainstream Fiction, Ashley Renea Starnes

Masters Theses

Fiction is an effective and underutilized tool in Christian circles to implicitly illustrate Christian ideas and values to readers of other worldviews. By adopting the writing approach of authors like J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, Christian writers can enter into the broad discussion of philosophy, morality, and theology going on in popular fiction.

Innocent No More: How Child Vampires Challenge The Social Narrative Of Childhood, Ashley Quinn

Masters Theses

The inclusion of children within Gothic and horror fiction has always been regarded as untoward because children are vulnerable to misrepresentation. However, excluding children from transgressive genres eliminates a space where childhood can be critically analyzed. Fortunately, authors such as Stephen King, Anne Rice, and John Ajvide Lindqvist break the taboo through the inclusion of children in vampiric narratives. These narratives encourage readers to question the social narrative of childhood within the context of vampire stories. Through an examination of ‘Salem’s Lot (King, 1975), “Popsy” (King, 1987), Interview with the Vampire (Rice, 1976), and Let the Right One In (Lindqvist, …

“Is [He] A Man? If So, Is He Mad? And If Not, Is He A Devil?”: The Influence Of Culture Versus Experience On The Brontë Sisters’ Perception Of Mental Illness, Catrina May Mehltretter

Masters Theses

Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë each presented a different perspective on mental illness within their novels. The primary reason for this difference in perspective can be found in their different responses to their brother Branwell’s poor mental state. As Branwell’s health deteriorated mentally and physically, his sisters ended up becoming his primary caregivers, giving them a unique insight into mental illness that would have been unusual for the time period, given the tendency to send any mentally ill family members away to asylums. Still, this shared experience impacted each of the sisters differently, likely due to the different relationship each …

"Members One Of Another": Heteroglossic Utterances As Critiques Of Injustice In Charles Dickens’S Bleak House, Cale Baker

Masters Theses

Charles Dickens often dealt with societal injustice within his work, and he often used the different languages—the language of the poor, the rich, the religious, the political—of various social strata to expose the disparity between the high and the low social classes. Within Bleak House, Dickens inserts different voices common to Victorian London through his third-person narrator to highlight the upper class oppression of the poor. To see Dickens’s insertion of these different voices, I use Mikhail Bakhtin’s work on heteroglossia and dialogism as a framework for understanding how Dickens inserts these different voices to specifically expose injustice. Additionally, I …

Translingualism: Breaking The Language Policies And Politics In Composition Pedagogy And Protecting Cultural Identities Of International Students, Md Fahad Hossain

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the debates and conversations relating to a translingual pedagogical approach that helps preserve the cultural and ethnic identities of international students who take college composition courses in universities across the United States of America. Since domination of English in teaching, learning, and research in the United States of America is prevalent, this thesis explores much talked pedagogical approach – a translingual approach – in college composition that intends to protect the cultural and ethnic identities of international students studying in universities across the country. The translingual orientation in composition pedagogy is constantly adding new conversations to teaching …

The Cast Of A Giant's Shadow, Angela Kay Steineman

Masters Theses

Adapting fairy tales and folklore has been an ongoing endeavor by storytellers and artists since the very first story was repeated. The evidence can be seen in the many versions of fairy tales like those of the sleeping beauty, from Giambattista Basile’s “Sun, Moon, and Talia” to Walt Disney’s Maleficent. However, unlike their European counterparts, adaptations of American tales outside of children’s literature are not as ubiquitous. My writing rectifies this by adding to the resurging interest as seen in recent retellings like Matt Bell’s Appleseed: The Monstrous Birth (2019).

In an effort to reframe the American tall tale …

"There Is Nothing Else Like It": The Innovative Personality Of Lowney Turner Handy, Nathan Crews

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.