Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Filmmaking As A Practice In Critical Theory, Cora M. Lay

Masters Theses

This multi-part project pulls together all my fields of research under the umbrella of my ultimate interest– agriculture and its future. The film portion focuses on regional and seasonal agriculture in Southern Germany near Lake Constance. It focuses on several families who do small-scale agricultural production utilizing various methods but ultimately touches on our current disconnect from our food systems and nature. The written portion found in this document focuses on filmmaking as a practice in critical theory, a tool to visualize what written theory cannot. Filming happened over a three-week period in Summer 2021for the portion shot in Germany. …

Nelly Arcan, Langage De La Honte, Jordon B. Mcconnell

Foreign Languages & Literatures ETDs

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the role that shame plays as a subversive tool in the works of Québécoise author Nelly Arcan. Dealing with themes such as sexuality, gender, suicide, and resentment, Arcan’s works deal with that which can be deemed “shameful,” and she deliberately speaks the unspeakable. First in constructing an understanding in how a shame-based vocabulary is employed throughout her works, we then study how this shame subverts expectations and adds weight to political questions relevant to the widespread use of electronic media. How does intentionally occupying a role that is shamed within society function …

Old High German And Gothic Breaking: A Comparative Study, Olivia C. Paglia

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is intended to be a comparative study of Old High German and Gothic breaking. The process of breaking is unique in both Old High German and Gothic compared to the other Germanic languages in that it does not result in diphthongization, but rather the raising and lowering of accented vowels. The intent is to integrate research detailing the process of breaking in Old High German and Gothic in order to better understand how it may be related in both languages. The issue of the Gothic digraphs and the debate over their phonemic values will also be explored, namely …

Leveraging Data Analytics To Study The Impacts Of State Budget Cuts On Public Higher Education Institutions In The United States, Praveen Kumar Guraja

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Public higher education in the United States (US) is funded through two primary forms: one is through state higher education appropriation funds, and the other is student financial aid that is directly given to students. Increasing postsecondary full-time equivalent (FTE) enrollment and graduation rate are becoming a crucial economic priority in the US. However, only a limited study is available about whether state investment in higher education and increasing tuition charges can impact FTE student enrollment (FTEE) and graduation rate (GR) at 4-year public universities in the US. A systematic literature review was conducted for the present research to comprehend …

Transient Constellations: Adorno, Benjamin, And The Actuality Of Idealism, Jeremy Arnott

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation examines the thought of Theodor W. Adorno and Walter Benjamin in critical constellation with German Idealism, specifically G.W.F. Hegel and F.W.J. Schelling. I explore how Adorno and Benjamin deconstruct and refashion Idealist notions, while also providing the post-Idealist theoretical armature to read Idealism in speculative directions. Through this mosaic, I pose questions regarding the actuality of philosophy, considering how thought might open itself towards a fuller spectrum of experience, while nonetheless remaining systematic, creating new (inter)disciplinary models of philosophy which tarry with the para-philosophical domains of art and nature. In the first part of this project, I provide …

The Faustian Deal: What Is Good And Evil?, Jaclyn Elmquist

English Honors Theses

How is the “deal with the devil” is portrayed in contemporary films? This essay compares how the original Faustian deal informs modern-day portrayals. Thus, I examine how devils were first represented in early works such as The Faustbuch, Mary of Nijmegen, and Goethe’s Faustus. These depictions and their historical context provide the basis for my research. I compare these works to the films, Rosemary’s Baby, Wall Street, and Sweet Smell of Sucess. In the mentioned films, the main characters make deals with a devil or demon for wealth, success, or fame. I explore how the Faustian character of each film …

„Kopfschmerzen, Familiensorgen": Urszenen-Konfigurationen, Psychotherapie-Parodie Und Sublimierungspraktiken In Kafkas "Proceß", Anna Lynn Dolman

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The thesis presents a re-reading of Kafka's novel "The Trial" against the background of Kafka's negotiation of Freudian psychoanalysis. Rather than merely employing the Freudian framework as a hermeneutic tool, the thesis argues that Kafka constructs his novel along the lines of psychoanalytic theories while simultaneously attempting to deconstruct them and question the effectiveness of the so-called talking cure by means of ironically subverting a therapeutic configuration. The starting point of the thesis centers on an oftentimes overlooked scene at the very beginning of the novel, arguing that the voyeuristic old couple across the street from K. demonstrate that the …

Riding The Bahn, Reading Berlin: Berlin In Transit(Ion) From Reichshauptstadt To Weltstadt (1871-1930), Mikael Olsson Berggren

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Riding the Bahn, Reading Berlin: Berlin in Transit(ion) from Reichshauptstadt to Weltstadt (1871-1930) is a study of the relationship between Berlin’s public transit network and representations of the city in literature and film. The ride within the confines of the city differs from journeys with the national railway, and the passenger’s encounter with urban space diverges from the perambulating flâneur. Although Berlin’s intra-urban transit system relied on horse-drawn carriages and busses until the construction of the Stadtbahn in the 1880s, the number of passengers commuting and traveling in and around Berlin grew exponentially each year between the 1870s to the …

In The Face Of Death The Photographic Reevaluation Of The Death Mask During The Weimar Republic, Maresa Carney

Theses and Dissertations

During the Weimar Republic three books that shared the morbid subject of death masks, were published in short intervals and immediately enjoyed enormous popularity. The three publications Das Ewige Antlitz , Totenmasken, and Das Letzte Gesicht serve as an underpinning of the cultural and philosophical investigation of death mask photography

Historical Accuracy In German Lyric Diction: A Study In Era-Appropriate Pronunciation Of German In Classical Literature, Annie S. Chapman

Recital Papers

In the performance of classical music, great pains are taken to retain the original practices produced by each era. A string quartet might tune their strings differently to produce an authentic Baroque sound, or a soprano might study to find a correct form of ornamentation for a Classical-era aria. As scholars' knowledge of musicology deepens, musicians have greater opportunity to improve authenticity in performance and give modem audiences a glimpse into the past. It is the intent of this culminating paper to take this idea of historical accuracy and apply it to a field in which it has been neglected: …

Spring Awakening: A Midwest Children's Tragedy, Lena Nighswander

Honors Projects

Spring Awakening: A Midwest Children's Tragedy is a new play that takes up the issues of adaptation, translation, and temporality in regards to Frank Wedekind's Frühlingserwachen, a play infamous in its revelry in controversy and unflinching nature in the face of social issues many would prefer to ignore. Several modern adaptations of the original text exist, but none have utilized the 2020s as a setting nor have they used the fertile landscape of the American midwest as a background.

This play, set in Toledo, OH, leans into the Wedekindian tradition of cutting social criticism and controversy in its exploration of …

A New South Tyrol: The Multilingual, Multicultural Society, Alec Lee Parry

Theses and Dissertations

Identity formation is a reoccurring theme in an increasingly global world. Monolingualism and monoculturalism is no longer a possible in a global world. Like greater society, should contemporary literature not also argue for a multilingual, multicultural society? South Tyrol, a province that experienced Nazism and Fascism, control by both Mussolini and Hitler, pitted ethnic German and ethnic Italian speakers against one another. Today, since the founding of Schengen Europe eradicated border controls between Austria and Italy in 1997. South Tyrol is officially trilingual, with German, Italian, and Ladin1 being the official languages, and in recent years, has taken in a …

The Methods Of Oppression Of Women In 1800s Germany Vs. Today, Amina Taher

Senior Theses and Projects

Women have faced many injustices, pain, and struggles over time. This thesis focuses on the methods by which women were oppressed in 1800s Germany vs. today. At first, I use a number of popular fairytales, novels, and scholarly articles/books to discuss the role of women in German society in the 1800s. Furthermore, I talk about the different methods used to oppress and abuse women in modern times, mainly focusing on the role of social media as a tool of oppression. Finally, I emphasize and debate the similarities and differences between the different oppression forms over time.

Werwolf, Weswolfs, Wemwolf, Wenwolf: Gender, Morality, And Transformation In Annette Von Droste-Hülshoff’S “Der Loup Garou” (1860), Hasol Yu

University Honors Theses

Werewolves have long populated Western culture, forming a particularly close relationship with Germany through their impact on fairy tales, psychology, and literature, with works such as Steppenwolf (Hermann Hesse, 1927) and Der Wehrwolf (Hermann Löns, 1910) eventually becoming international bestsellers.

Less widely recognized, however, is Annette von Droste-Hülshoff's "Der Loup Garou" published in 1860 in the collection, Letzte Gaben. This nine-stanza poem depicts a tale of a savage beast with white fur and twisted eyes that is told to the mischievous children Pierrot and Caton in hopes that it keeps them pious and obedient on a cold night. At first …

A Bird’S Eye View: Large-Scale Tonal Structures In Robert Schumann’S Four Song Cycles (Op. 42, 24, 39, And 48), Peter Kramer

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Some of Robert Schumann’s most notable works are his Lieder for solo voice and piano accompaniment. Schumann's Lieder are considered some of the best compositions in this genre, engendering various interpretations by performers and exciting vigorous debate among musicologists and theorists. Robert Schumann’s early music was almost entirely composed for the piano alone; it wasn’t until 1840 that he started to compose almost exclusively Lieder and song cycles inspired by his predecessors Beethoven and Schubert. This was a prolific year for Schumann compositionally, in part due to his marriage to Clara Schumann who was one of Europe’s most preeminent piano …

Franz Xaver Von Schönwerth's Customs And Tales Of The Upper Palatinate, Vol. 2, Chapter 5: The Animals Of The House: A Translation, Valentyna Standik

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Franz Xaver von Schönwerth (1801-1886) was a German civil servant who collected the folk beliefs of his native Upper Palatinate region in Bavaria, Germany. This project is an original English translation of Schönwerth's primary work, Customs and Legends of the Upper Palatinate (1857-1859), preceded by a summary of the author's life, the reception of his work, and its relevance in the modern day.

The Other Side Of Silence: The Productive Limits Of Human Awareness And The Novel, Aven Elaina Williams

Senior Projects Spring 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.

Unraveling Paradise: Colonialism And Disguise In German Language Literature, Brigita Kant

Honors Projects

For centuries, the Pacific Islands have been disguised by Europeans through the trope of “island paradise." Despite Europe’s role in bringing colonization and racial oppression to Oceania, the dominant narrative has been that Pacific Islanders lead simple lives, untouched from the complicated aspects of the “modern world.” This narrative has enabled White outsiders to fantasize about the Pacific Islands as a place for personal denial of Western social conventions, simultaneously allowing White European men to fetishize and possess Pacific Island culture and identity. My honors project will closely examine three fictional German language texts- Haimotochare (1819), Der Papalagi (1920) …

Transforming The Humane: Human/Animal Relationships In Marlen Haushofer’S Die Wand And Franz Kafka’S Die Verwandlung, Joosep R. Vorno

Honors Projects

In this project, I investigate Franz Kafka’s Die Verwandlung (1915) and Marlen Haushofer’s Die Wand (1963) through a magic realist interpretive strategy. I identify how, as a result of a mysterious opening premise, the two texts accomplish a human/animal transformation in the protagonists. While the transformations differ in several aspects, even at times being direct opposites, the way in which the characters navigate their new nonhuman selves poses many important questions about care and humaneness, the human condition, and social and familial structures. By drawing on discussions of magic realism – from its roots in Weimar German art criticism, its …

Greenpeace In Germany And The U.S.: A Case Study In Non-Profit Web Design, Maximilian J. Weirauch

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis draws on Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimensions model, connects it to basic principles of web design, and applies it to a website analysis of the global non-profit organization Greenpeace. This case study of cultural dimensions in web design utilizes Hofstede’s framework from 1974 throughout all its chapters and focuses on the cultural differences between Germany and the U.S. My hypothesis that successful marketing materials such as websites must communicate differently with their U.S.-American and German audiences is partially borne out. But it is important to note that Hofstede’s cultural dimensions model cannot fully account for certain intercultural dimensions of …

Aus Deutschland Nach Westen: Eine Analyse Der Westen-Abenteuerliteratur Von Friedrich Gerstäcker, Ruby Hoffman

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the construction of masculinity and its role in the construction of the image of America in two books by Friedrich Gerstäcker (Flußpiraten des Mississipi and Streif- und Jagdzüge durch die Vereinigten Staaten Nord-Amerikas). The portrayal of men in these books reflects a largely traditional and hegemonic masculinity, but it contains a number of nuances that complicate that model. With particular attention to the interaction of this masculinity and nature in the American backwoods, a particular image of a successful, real, American man becomes visible. This thesis analyzes how Gerstäcker’s outsider (German)—but immersed—perspective produces a familiar …

Ilse Weber And Alma Rosé: Women Artists Fighting For Survival In The Shoah, Shaunessy F. Renker

Senior Projects Spring 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College