Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Be: Fall/Winter 2023–2024 Issue, Be: A Journal Of Black Experimental And Interdisciplinary Work

Publications and Research

Our fall/winter issue explores, with a cool and objective eye, memory and history; it may give you some necessary de ja vu, as we think of family, books, and films we want to preserve. This is our interview/review issue, and we’ve spoken to people or reviewed work that seems necessary for building better futures. Our interview with Amos White argues for the preservation of life-giving and life-affirming trees. We’ve also included reviews of heart-opening books — Tara Christina’s “More than a Drop” and Caron Knauer’s “American Slavery on Film” — that reinforce the significance of familial and collective memory. And …

Romancing The University: Bipoc Scholars In Romance Novels In The 1980s And Now, Jayashree Kamble

Publications and Research

English-language mass-market romance novels written by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) writers and starring BIPOC protagonists are a small but important group. This article is a comparative analysis of how recent representations of diversity in this sub-set of the genre, specifically the character of the Black academic and the language of racial justice, compare with the first group of BIPOC novels that were published in 1984 (Sandra Kitt’s Adam and Eva and All Good Things as well as Barbara Stephens’s A Toast to Love). In Adrianna Herrera’s American Love Story (2019), Katrina Jackson’s Office Hours (2020), and …

With Or Without The Table, We Gather: Reinforcing Innate Resiliencies In The African American Family, Jessica L. Stevens-Eddy

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This quantitative study aims to determine whether food-sharing (gathering to eat) can be considered a suitable medium to facilitate increased cohesion within African American families. This study focuses on informal food-sharing as an extension of formal meal-sharing. Previous research links consistent formal meal-sharing to positive and secure identity development, better familial attachment, and improved family cohesion. These practices leave a lasting, detrimental impact on the African American family model. Additional barriers to some African American family meal-sharing practices include working extended and atypical work hours, food insecurity, and poor familial communication. There is a lack of research concerning the impact …

The Graveyard Of Empires, Sadaf Folad

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

No abstract provided.

Transfer Pathways: Ensuring Transfer Student Success, Jonathan Vega Martinez, Fabián Torres-Ardila, Lorna Rivera, Michelle Sunday

Gastón Institute Publications

This report reflects the partnership between the University of Massachusetts Boston’s Gastón Institute and Bunker Hill Community College’s Center for Equity and Cultural Wealth to build cultural inclusivity in curricular and co-curricular practices with the diverse student bodies served by both postsecondary institutions.

The partnership was created with the aim to develop activities and create data, including data sharing and joint data collection, to explore and create common research questions that will help close diversity gaps across the two institutions. This report is part of a study that seeks to improve the partners’ understanding of student transfer pathways between these …

Home In The Dawnland: Sense Of Place And Eco-Cultural Relations In The Penobscot River Valley, Kate Kemper

Honors College

In a world where a deep disconnect between humans and nature is commonplace, this thesis is motivated by a personal interest in reconnecting with the more-than-human world. The purpose of this project is to explore my own sense of place and lived experience on the land we’ve called Maine and the Dawnland, and to strengthen my relationship to this land through a co-creative artistic practice. It draws on the historic context of the land, as it has been stewarded by Penobscot people, to investigate existing human-land relationships in the area, and attempts to honor Indigenous perspectives. The praxis for the …

Carlisle Indian Boarding School's Role In The Unconstitutional Relationship Between Organized Christianity And The U.S. Federal Government, Kayleigh Hogg

Honors College

The Carlisle Indian Boarding School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania was the first large Indian boarding school to open in the United States. Carlisle was founded by Richard Henry Pratt and opened in 1879. Carlisle was the first of hundreds of Indian boarding schools that operated throughout the United States and served as the model for many of the schools that followed it. The school was military-run and federally funded until its closure in 1918. The purpose of Carlisle and the rest of the boarding schools was to culturally assimilate American Indians and do so by forcibly removing them from their families. …

Maine Monsters: How Indigenous And Non-Indigenous People Perceive Environmental Monstrosity, Cheyenne Hebert

Honors College

Wilderness is a creation of the human mind. Wilderness reflects our desires, fears, and truest selves—therefore within it we often find monsters. The application of monstrosity to the natural world is an act of projection and an accumulation of the cultural and historical influences that shape the perceiver. It’s often a reflection of religion—e.g. European gods associated with agriculture, while their monsters and demons roam the woods—and varies across peoples. This thesis seeks to understand how people create and assign monstrosity from their own mind to the environment around them, and in turn how they perceive it. Specifically, it explores …

Religious Self-Identity And Racism, Alexandria Morgan

Honors College

This project is a replication of a study by Johnson, Rowatt, and LaBouff (2010) that subliminally primed American Christian participants to think about Christianity subconsciously and found increased prejudice towards Black Americans. This study is often cited to support the claim that “thinking about religion makes people more prejudiced,” despite not having been replicated effectively. Replicability is crucial to make appropriate claims. We replicated the original study with updated explicit priming methods as well as updated racial prejudice scales with a recruited national sample of 500 white American Christians through Prolific.ac. Participants were randomly assigned to a priming condition, where …

Music Of The Divine: Interweaving Threads Connecting Contemporary Chant-Based Piano Repertoire, Jeremy D. Duck

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

The purpose of this document is to prove chant remains an important source of inspiration among living composers, and, despite the number of piano works already incorporating chant, composers today are still finding unique ways to include chant in their music. To achieve this objective, representative works have been selected for research and analysis for four of the major chant traditions. Connor Chee’s The Navajo Piano, Victoria Bond’s Illuminations on Byzantine Chant, and Hayes Biggs’ E.M. am Flügel: Poem-Étude for Piano Solo, though the chants from which they are inspired are diverse in concept and style, they …

The Role Of Leaders In Implementing Effective Leadership Strategies Towards The Educational Barriers Of Us-Based Refugee Students: A Qualitative Case Study Of Congolese Refugee Students, Faustin Busane

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This qualitative research study explored the experiences of three families of refugee school students, two school officials (a Superintendent and a Principal), three teachers, and one humanitarian agent all living in a Southeastern U.S. city. The results of the study revealed that the language barrier is the main academic challenge that refugee students encounter when they enroll in U.S. schools. The study also found that educators conceptualize their responsibilities toward refugee children by emphasizing the importance of high-quality teaching, and establishing through establishing strong relationships between parents, school officials, and exercising patience in the process. This study poses important implications …

Will Calhoun Interview, Mark Naison

Oral Histories

Summary by Eliza Anderson.

Will Calhoun is a Grammy award-winning drummer, producer, songwriter, and Bronx native.

He was born in Brooklyn but moved to the Northeast Bronx with his parents shortly after. He attended Lutheran schools as a kid in an Italian neighborhood, where he recalls having to run away from men with bats getting to and from school before switching to Evander Childs for high school. At Evander, he encountered Drummer’s Collective and Horacee Arnold, who introduced him to musicians like Elvin Jones and took him to jazz clubs in the city.

Calhoun’s first introduction to music came from …

"I Call It Hunting": Centuries Of Violence Against Native American Women, Antonia Felix

Educational Leadership Department Publications

Native American and Pacific Islander women are missing and murdered at an alarming and relentless rate. The history of violence against this population starts with European contact in the fifteenth century and continues to this day with Native women suffering the highest rate of sexual assault per capita in the nation. This panel presentation held in observance of the International Day of Eliminating Violence Against Women concludes with a recognition of Native American resilience and actions all Americans can take to help reduce these crimes.

Will Calhoun Interview, Mark Naison

Oral Histories

Summary by Eliza Anderson.

Will Calhoun is a Grammy award-winning drummer, producer, songwriter, and Bronx native.

He was born in Brooklyn but moved to the Northeast Bronx with his parents shortly after. He attended Lutheran schools as a kid in an Italian neighborhood, where he recalls having to run away from men with bats getting to and from school before switching to Evander Childs for high school. At Evander, he encountered Drummer’s Collective and Horacee Arnold, who introduced him to musicians like Elvin Jones and took him to jazz clubs in the city.

Calhoun’s first introduction to music came from …

Helen Diane Foster Interview, Mark Naison

Oral Histories

Summarized by Alan C. Ventura

In this extensive interview, Helen Diane Foster talks about her upbringing across different areas of the Bronx, her relationship with her father, Reverend T. Wendell Foster—the first black elected official to serve the Bronx—and her time spent on the city council, in turn becoming the first black woman elected to that position within Bronx County. Listen in as she and Dr. Mark Naison relive this monumental time in Bronx history, which most notably involved Foster’s attempts to stop the seizure of Macombs Dam Park for Yankee Stadium.

Twelve Wallace Myths, Charles H. Smith

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Alfred Russel Wallace’s (1823-1913) bicentennial year is a good time to take stock. In this presentation I discuss twelve Wallace-related issues that I feel have been poorly taken up. These range from the biological to the biographical, including subjects such as social criticism, human evolution, autobiographical memory, natural selection, national affinities, spiritualism, and wokeism.

Handwritten Receipt For Cash, April 17, V. L. Stallworth

Real Estate Correspondence 1925-1937

Document: Handwritten receipt for cash received: Cash to R.H. Walker $50.00. Written on Empire State Insurance Company note paper.

Handwritten Receipt For Cash, April 18, Maude Richardson

Real Estate Correspondence 1925-1937

Document: Handwritten receipt for cash: Cash to R.H. Walker $75.00

Ethical Data Considerations For Engaging In Reparative Archival Practice, Jamie Rogers, Rhia Rae

Works of the FIU Libraries

Archival textually-rich materials--such as warranty deeds, mortgages, legal documents, and letter correspondence--can provide valuable historical insights, and if transcribed and analyzed, can produce data points in the form of unstructured text, tabular data, and geospatial assets. This presentation will provide an overview of the process Florida International University librarians went through to turn the papers of Dana A. Dorsey, Miami's first Black Millionaire, into data. Their work is guided by the concept of "collections as data" as a form of reparative archival practice, enabling the elevation of marginalized individuals' histories. The goal of reparative archival practice is to create a …

Rogers, Hazard & Thames- Dr. & Mrs. Thos. H. B. Walker, No Date Given, Elmer E. Hazard

Real Estate Correspondence 1925-1937

Correspondence: Letter from Elmer E. Hazard, Rogers, Hazard & Thames, Attorneys at Law, Jacksonville, Florida, to Dr. and Mrs. Thomas H.B. Walker, Jacksonville, Florida, regarding money due on mortgage

Author Not Stated- Mr. Jacob Goodman, No Date Given, Unknown

Real Estate Correspondence 1925-1937

Correspondence: Letter to Jacob Goodman, Real Estate and Insurance, New York City, New York regarding property management for 254 West 131st Street, New York, New York. Typed on Holmes Funeral Director Mrs. R. Holmes Walker letterhead, not signed.

Rosie Holmes Walker- Mr. Jacob Goodman, No Date Given, Rosa G. Holmes Walker

Real Estate Correspondence 1925-1937

Correspondence and Deed: Partial letter to Jacob Goodman regarding the management of properties owned by Rosa G. Holmes Walker in New York City, New York. Includes deed to property 254 131st Street, New York, New York. "J. Goodman - 67 W. 125 St." handwritten on the front. Stamped on top of deed: November 23, 1925. Circa 1925

Rosie Holmes Walker- Mr. Jacob Goodman, No Date Given, Rosa G. Holmes Walker

Real Estate Correspondence 1925-1937

Correspondence: Partial handwritten letter from Rosie Holmes Walker, written on Thomas H.B. Walker, D.D. letterhead, Mr. Jacob Goodman regarding property management; Deeds for two different addresses mentioned: 245 West 131st St. and 122nd St. (New York, New York).

Transcription, Closing Statement Sale 254 West 131st St, Unknown

Real Estate Correspondence 1925-1937

Transcription: Transcription of deteriorated partial list of prices and charges to be paid by buyer and seller, for property 254 West 131st St (New York, New York). Original not available. No date given.

Property Listings, N.Y.C., Edward C. Brown

Real Estate Correspondence 1925-1937

Documents: Property listings for three properties in New York City.

Property Listings, New York City, Louis W. George

Real Estate Correspondence 1925-1937

Documents: Property listings for three properties in New York City.

Envelope, Holmes Funeral Directors- Atty W. H. Jeter, No Date Given, Holmes Funeral Directors

Real Estate Correspondence 1925-1937

Correspondence: Envelope, top left corner (return address): Holmes Funeral Directors 621 W. State Street Jacksonville, FLA. Addressed to: Atty. W.H. Jeter, Atlantic National Bk.Bl., City (Jacksonville).

Note To Mr. Jacob Goodman, Unknown

Real Estate Correspondence 1925-1937

Correspondence: To Jacob Goodman. "Mr. Jacob Goodman. Dear sir- I hope I am not [annoying] you by asking you. Will you please send me a check for March Rent. I [know] it was an over [sight] is why you haven't send it. Thanking you in advance. I bef to remain very truly [illegible]"

List, Handwritten Note, Unknown

Real Estate Correspondence 1925-1937

Note: Handwritten list of names and monetary amounts. Includes a list of expenses. Written on the back of Holmes-Walker letterhead. Circa 1932-1933. No date given.

An Exploration Of Complementary And Alternative Medicine Usage Within The Vietnamese Community In Lincoln, Nebraska, Helen Duong

Honors Theses

Lincoln, Nebraska is home to over 5,000 Vietnamese refugees and immigrants, many of whom practice complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) as a result of healing traditions passed down through family members. This thesis explores the use of CAM among the Vietnamese population of Lincoln. The study employs an analysis of the literature on CAM among Vietnamese populations and thematic analysis of interviews conducted with members of the Vietnamese community of Lincoln, NE. Interviews explore perceptions of healthcare quality and access within this community as well as investigate the link between CAM and allopathic (Western) medicine. Findings suggest that certain CAM …