Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Dramaturgical Concerns): Re-Centering Dramaturgy And Comedy As Feminist Tools For Social Change, Shaila Schmidt

Masters Theses

Titled as a play on Mindy Kaling’s 2011 book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), this thesis highlights the obstacles women, the genre of comedy, and dramaturgs face in order to be taken seriously in the arts. Using the work of Mindy Kaling, I explore how she uses comedy as a means of defying the expectations put upon her as an Indian American woman in order to provide context for the ways in which the marginal statuses of women of color and comedy overlap.

In an effort to demonstrate the ways in which comedy can be …

“Este Diablo De Vieja”: Revealing The Conversa Voice In Celestina, Morgan B. Mccullough

Masters Theses

Due to the extraordinary socio-religious situation of the Inquisition’s aggressive attempt at unification looming over late Medieval Spain, the existence of a converso influence in Fernando de Rojas’ masterpiece, Celestina, is rarely up for debate. However, the way in which this influence manifests itself in Rojas’ only known work remains open for discussion among scholars of the work. Despite critics who struggle to view Celestina as an expression of converso literature, arguments have been made to establish the likelihood of converso status for Pleberio, Calisto, and Melibea, but have yet to look profoundly to Celestina’s own origins. Thanks to …

Inclusion And Exclusion Of Gender, Social Class, Race And Ability In Elementary German Textbooks, Emmalie Keenan

Masters Theses

Elementary German language textbooks today lack diverse representations of gender, social class, race, and ability. This thesis argues that the exclusion of those categories of diversity impedes the objectives of the communicative learning approach for students in first-year German courses. It examines research on diversity in textbooks with a focus on the concept of the “third space”, and shows how these findings apply to German students. An analysis of chapters from three German textbooks published between 2018 and 2020: Netzwerk neu A1, Impuls Deutsch 1, and Grenzenlos Deutsch provides specific examples of how images, texts, dialogs, grammar, and vocabulary exercises …

Cinema "Turns": Catalan Creative Documentary, Celia Sainz Delgado

Masters Theses

This thesis focuses on four women-directed films as a way to illustrate some characteristics shared by the new Catalan creative documentary: El cielo gira ( The Sky Turns, dir. Mercedes Álvarez, 2004), Nedar (Swim, dir. Carla Subirana, 2008), La plaga (The Plague, dir. Neus Ballús, 2013), and Penèlope (Penelope, dir. Eva Vila, 2018). My aim is to highlight their alternative cinematographic strategies, which stray from the hegemonic discourses of documentary filmmaking. In so doing, I analyze these films from three different angles: the relationship between the filmmaker and the material world; the alternative modalities …

Shopping For Vibrators With My Abuela… #Space #Representation And #Latinidad In @Janethevirgin, Maria Guarino

Masters Theses

Jane the Virgin debuted on the CW in 2014 at a time when anti-immigrant, particularly anti-Mexican and anti-Latinx, sentiment in the U.S. felt very prevalent. This TV show was the latest to offer representations of Latin@s at the forefront and advanced a distinct political stance on immigration by calling for #immigrationreform. The series has not only been a ratings hit amongst the Latinx community, but has garnered wide acclaim from other races, ethnicities, and gender identities across the United States. This thesis explores the representation of the character of Alba (Ivonne Coll), through an investigation of the various physical and …

Shaking The Ceiling: First Leadership Role Attainment For Collegiate Women, Elizabeth J. Siecinski

Masters Theses

Using qualitative research methodology, factors and barriers influence leadership role attainment for collegiate women were explored and examined. The study used semi-structured interviews with four participants to look at factors influencing leadership attainment and why women decide to lead. The researcher identified factor before and after college that impacted a women’s decisions to lead, and her ability to attain a role. Challenges and barriers that women face in their leadership role attainment were also found. Overall, the research found that due to barriers and challenges women struggle to lead authentically, and that they see leadership as way to contribute to …

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 …

How Thick Is The Stained-Glass Ceiling?: An Exploration Of Heteronormativity In Religious Circles, Hannah Rae Smothers

Masters Theses

The 2012 National Congregations Study found that only 11.4% of the total clergy in the United States were women (ARDA 2012). As the congregation size grows, that number declines further, with data indicating only 3.4% of congregations with 1,000 or more members have a female leader. The number of women religious leaders increased by less than one percent between 1998 and 2012. These statistics work well to outline a phenomenon for female religious leaders, their inability to break the stained-glass ceiling. Many religious groups in the United States allow women to become ordained leaders. However, some of the largest religious …