Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Une Politique Laïque: L’Utilisation De La Laïcité Dans Les Discours Politiques Français, Zachary Holmes

Honors Theses

La politique française est fortement liée avec la laïcité, comme on peut voir avec son utilisation dans les discours des politiciens. Elle a la capacité d’unifier les gens sous un idéal commun, mais elle peut aussi faire des divisions dans la société. Donc, il faut considérer comment on veut traiter l’idée en France. Il est impossible de dire comment elle va faire partie du futur, mais il est clair que, pour le moment, elle est un outil important pour les politiciens qui veulent avancer leurs programmes différents. Il est probable qu’elle continuerait à être une idée puissante dans les prochaines …

Nous Sommes Tous Des « Djadjas » : La Question De L’Identité Dans La Musique Française Et Francophone Au 21^E Siècle, Molly Earle

Honors Theses

Le titre de mon travail fait référence à une chanson qui représente les thèmes de la race,1 du genre, de la transculturalité et de la collaboration musicale : « Djadja », une chanson écrite par la chanteuse franco-malienne Aya Nakamura qui a eu beaucoup de succès en 2018 et puis en 2020 avec le remix en duo avec Maluma, un chanteur colombien. Comme d’autres chansons de Nakamura, « Djadja » utilise des sons africains et urbains, mais l’ajout d’influences latino-américaines a aidé la chanson à toucher une plus grande partie du monde (Nakamura et Maluma). Par exemple, cette chanson est …

Suggestions For Early Career Community-Engaged Scholars, Sylvia Gale, Patricia Herrera, Maia K. Linask, Nicole Maurantonio, Derek Miller, Lynn Pelco

Other Publications

This document was written specifically, though not exclusively, for early career faculty members doing (or would like to be doing) faculty work in collaboration with off-campus community partners. The document may also be helpful to faculty members at other career stages who are beginning to undertake community-engaged work and administrators seeking to support their faculty. This is the information we wish we had at the start of our careers. We, the five co-authors of this paper, are tenured community-engaged faculty members and seasoned higher education administrators specializing in civic and community-engaged academic practices. Based on our literature review and collective …

Myth, Fiction And Politics In The Age Of Antiheroes: A Case Study Of Donald Trump, Igor Prusa, Matthew Brummer

Heroism Science

In this article, we demonstrate that the antihero archetype informs our understanding of Trump in important ways, including his rise to and fall from power. We introduce an analytical framework for analyzing Trump’s antiheroic traits based on his social positioning, individual motivation, and personal charisma. We argue that Trump is fascinating because he is powerful, amoral, and charismatic, and suggest that the American public was primed for Trumpism through a zeitgeist hospitable to antihero worship. That is, Trump’s dogged popularity with nearly half of the American public was foretold by decades of pop-cultural obsession with, and adulation for, the antihero.

Noble Pagans And Satanic Saracens: Literary Portrayals Of Islam In Medieval Italy And Iberia., John Spencer Jones

Honors Theses

The medieval Christian world is generally associated with a kind of religious zealotry that would seem to preclude the development of nuanced understandings of the religious Other. The heightened interreligious contact in regions such as Iberia and the Italian Peninsula, however, made room for relationships with members of other faiths that resulted in more developed ideas about these other creeds. This honors thesis examines the portrayal of Islam in the Christian literature of medieval Italy and Iberia, dating from the late 11th century to the middle of the 14th century. It categorizes a few types of the literary “use” of …

There Goes My Antihero: How Wendy Byrde Broke Bad, Melissa Vosen Callens

Heroism Science

Despite the increase of male antiheroes in popular culture, the number of female antiheroes is sparse, particularly when female characters are romantically involved with male antiheroes. There are several reasons for this disparity, partially which can be explained by affective disposition theory. First, female characters are rarely given agency and adequate backstories. Second, in order for female characters to be antiheroes, they typically must challenge gender role stereotypes, especially as they pertain to motherhood. Finally, they are often treated poorly by other characters in the series. All of these reasons have a profound effect on how audiences perceive female characters …

Consensus, Convergence, And Covid-19: The Ethical Role Of Religious Reasons In Leaders’ Response To Covid-19, Marilie Coetsee

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Focusing on current efforts to persuade the public to comply with COVID-19 best practices, this essay examines what role appeals to religious reasons should (or should not) play in leaders’ attempts to secure followers’ acceptance of group policies in contexts of religious and moral pluralism. While appeals to followers’ religious commitments can be helpful in promoting desirable public health outcomes, they also raise moral concerns when made in the contexts of secular institutions with religiously diverse participants. In these contexts, leaders who appeal to religious reasons as bases of justification for imposing COVID policies may seem to fail to show …

Conjugal Relation: The Shakers'question For Frontier Kentucky, Peter Hawes

James W. Jackson Award for Excellence in Library Research in the Social Sciences

At its heart, this is a case fraught with pain and loss that is not unique to this particular period in frontier Kentucky. Although the presence of the Shakers, and a community’s reaction to them, imbue this case with meaning historically, this divorce also speaks to unchanging questions about the nature of conjugal relation in the face of an uncertain eternity. This is a case that reveals something about broader anti-Shakerism, but it also demonstrates that for many, the broader contexts of religious change and budding institutions were not perceptible factors in their experience of life on the frontier. With …

Curb Your Heroism: How Larry David, An Old, Bald Misanthrope, Won The Hearts Of Millions, Scott T. Allison, James K. Beggan, Olivia Efthimiou

Heroism Science

For eleven television seasons, viewers of the series Curb Your Enthusiasm have been witness to a main character in Larry David who paradoxically displays attributes that are both endearing and revolting. This article offers an analysis of Larry David’s character with the goal of ascertaining his heroic nature, specifically focusing on whether he best meets the scientific criteria for a hero or for an antihero. Drawing from the literature of heroism science, we examine a large body of evidence from episodes of the series supporting arguments for both heroism and antiheroism in Larry’s character. Consistent with definitions of heroism, Larry …

[Introduction To] Religion And The Medieval And Early Modern Global Marketplace, Scott Oldenburg, Kristin M.S. Bezio

Bookshelf

Religion and the Medieval and Early Modern Global Marketplace brings together scholars from a variety of disciplines to examine the intersection, conflict, and confluence of religion and the market before 1700.

Each chapter analyzes the unique interplay of faith and economy in a different locale: Syria, Ethiopia, France, Iceland, India, Peru, and beyond. In ten case studies, specialists of archaeology, art history, social and economic history, religious studies, and critical theory address issues of secularization, tolerance, colonialism, and race with a fresh focus. They chart the tensions between religious and economic thought in specific locales or texts, the complex ways …

Equity In Program Evaluation: Equity As A Measure In Program Evaluation, Marco S. Thomas

School of Professional and Continuing Studies Nonprofit Studies Capstone Projects

Changes to equity and inclusion mean, not only including, but also valuing, and sharing power with, community members and stakeholders of various backgrounds. In addition to race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender identity, physical and mental abilities, as well as where they intersect, should be represented throughout the entire evaluation process. Countless surveys make assumptions about communities without knowing the culture of the community. This study explores where equity does and does not exist, in the process of creating and conducting the evaluations that are used to measure the successful execution of nonprofit programs. The inclusion of program participants and …

“It’S My Metier”: The Failed Hero In Chinatown, Ann C. Hall

Heroism Science

Roman Polanski’s Chinatown (1974) presents one of film’s most memorable failed heroes, Jake Giddes. Because of its grim ending, critics tend to conclude that it is an existential noir or a reflection on Polanski’s life and times, his escape from the Holocaust as a child, the death of his wife Sharon Tate, or political events such as Watergate and Vietnam. By examining the film as through the genre of tragedy, Giddes becomes a tragic, not failed, hero, a character who can show us how to suffer nobly.

Operación Araña: Reflections On How A Performative Intervention In Buenos Aires’S Subway System Can Help Rethink Feminist Activism, Mariela Méndez

Latin American, Latino and Iberian Studies Faculty Publications

On July 31, 2018, Buenos Aires’s subway system was overtaken by a public intervention under the name “Operación Araña,” co-organized by Ni Una Menos - a feminist social movement focused on gender violence -, the Campaign for the Right to Legal, Safe, and Free Abortion, unionized metro workers, and more than seventy organizations, with the overall intention of affirming women’s autonomy and calling attention to several social issues with direct impact on their lives. This study weaves a series of reflections on some of the specific features of the Operación Araña intervention that can shed light on how and why …

The University Of Richmond: Leadership During Crisis, Gabby Beneducci, Josie Bossidy, Ben Castellano, Lexi Cobbs, Phoebe Cook, Westen Doran, Caroline Dzenitis, Taylor Fine, Evie Hanson, Sophia Hartman, Maha Hassan, Katelyn Inkman, Grace Jamin, Matt Kalady, Mimi Laws, Regan Mccrossan, David Nadwodny, Kathryn Reda, Savon Smith, Brian Taylor, Arden Tierney, Lauranett L. Lee

Student Publications

Throughout history, we have experienced numerous points of difficulty, tension, and conflict. Although they vary widely in their cause, context, and intensity, these points in history are considered times of crisis. How humans have reacted to these events and moments having created influential turning points in human history. This presentation explores various crises in American history, and the role of leaders and leadership during these times. This presentation looks at these crises, past and present, from the perspective of the collegiate institution, specifically, the University of Richmond.

William James's Use Of Temperaments And Types, David E. Leary

Psychology Faculty Publications

What did William James mean when he claimed that the history of philosophy is “to a great extent” a “clash of human temperaments”? Did this mean that philosophers, in his estimation, are bound to represent one or the other type, or orientation, associated with various generalized philosophical positions? Did it mean that philosophers were necessarily, in his terminology, either “tender-minded” or “tough-minded”? And if philosophical arguments are, in fact, expressions of physiological factors, through what means do these factors achieve expression? What, in sum, did James mean to imply when he invoked the concept of “temperament” and used the related …

Of Love And Exploitation, Karina Elizabeth Vázquez

Latin American, Latino and Iberian Studies Faculty Publications

As Roma’s main character, Cleo symbolizes the simultaneous feminization and racialization of domestic service.

[Introduction To] On Agamben, Arendt, Christianity, And The Dark Arts Of Civilization, Peter I. Kaufman

Bookshelf

Many progressives have found passages in Augustine's work that suggest he entertained hopes for meaningful political melioration in his time. They also propose that his “political theology” could be an especially valuable resource for “an ethics of democratic citizenship” or for “hopeful citizenship” in our times. Peter Kaufman argues that Augustine's “political theology” offers a compelling, radical alternative to progressive politics. He chronicles Augustine's experiments with alternative polities, and pairs Augustine's criticisms of political culture with those of Giorgio Agamben and Hannah Arendt.

This book argues that the perspectives of pilgrims (Augustine), refugees (Agamben), and pariahs (Arendt) are better staging …

“Smile For Me, Sweetie!”: An Analysis Of Contemporary Gender Based Violence And Discrimination In The Bahamas, Jennifer Munnings

Honors Theses

Women in the Bahamas face various forms of pervasive sexist discrimination and high rates of gender-based violence. However, recent governmental initiatives aimed at addressing gender inequality have not proven effective. The narrow focus on individual reforms like anti-crime measures to curb structural violence highlights a lack of understanding of gender inequality as embedded within social institutions. To interrogate the institutionalized nature of gender inequality in the Bahamas, the present study draws on in-depth interviews with seven Bahamian women’s rights activists to explore the social, cultural, and political explanations for the persistence of gender-based violence and discrimination. Three major themes emerged …

Learning To Check Yourself: Improving Civic Engagement Through Duties, Better Voting Practices, And Combatting Group Loyalty, Katherine Brumund

Honors Theses

This project examines civic engagement. It is divided into three chapters: apathy, voting, and group loyalties. I derive two duties, a duty to care and a duty to reason well, that serve as a framework for community engagement aimed at facilitating moral progress. In the second section the main topic is voting. I argue for strategies to vote well. The third section of this project then focuses on group loyalties. This project uses two duties to frame how to engage with others, proposes a better way to participate civically, and ways to avoid pitfalls associated with group membership.

[Introduction To] Rap On Trial: Race, Lyrics, And Guilt In America, Erik Nielson, Andrea L. Dennis, Killer Mike

Bookshelf

A groundbreaking exposé about the alarming use of rap lyrics as criminal evidence to convict and incarcerate young men of color

“If you believe that I’m a cop killer, you believe David Bowie is an astronaut.” —Rapper Ice-T, on the persona he adopted in the song “Cop Killer”

Should Johnny Cash have been charged with murder after he sang, “I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die”? Few would seriously subscribe to this notion of justice. Yet in 2001, a rapper named Mac whose music had gained national recognition was convicted of manslaughter after the prosecutor quoted …

Book Review: No Greater Love: How My Family Survived The Genocide In Rwanda, Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann

Heroism Science

Tharcisse Seminega is an ethnic Tutsi who survived the 1994 Rwandan genocide, along with his wife and all five of his children. His book, No Greater Love: How My Family Survived the Genocide in Rwanda, is his memoir of growing up in Rwanda and surviving the genocide. The book also contains shorter memoirs by his wife and some of his children, some short pieces by some of his rescuers, a selection of documentary evidence, and a timeline of the genocide. The heroes who helped the Seminega family were conditioned to rescue others before the genocide occurred. As the rescuers’ …

Generalized Self-Efficacy Of Youth In The New Territories: A Community Survey Conducted By A Hong Kong Ngo, Robert W. Spires, Eric Howington, Jay Rojewski

School of Professional and Continuing Studies Faculty Publications

Youth are both key participants in debate and a central theme in the discourse on social issues in Hong Kong. Youth are often problematized in the contemporary media and political discussion as lacking in the work ethic, confidence and social skills necessary to be successful. Hong Kong youth are framed as pathologically shy, anti-social, lazy and entitled and these characteristics are used to present an image of Hong Kong youth as having individual characteristics that lead to their challenges in the job market and their characteristics as political rogues. This study approaches the characterization of Hong Kong youth with an …

Thinking About Digital Archives: One Tool At A Time, Jeannine Keefer, Greta Bahnemann

Art and Art History Faculty Publications

This lesson plan introduces digital archives to an audience of students, faculty, and cultural heritage professionals through a locally-adaptable lesson kit that includes glossaries, links to sources, individual lessons, and a sample archive.

Heroic Consciousness, Scott T. Allison

Heroism Science

This article describes heroic consciousness – how heroes perceive, experience, and think about the world. I describe the transformation of consciousness from its pre-heroic state to its heroic state. Pre-heroic consciousness is characterized by nescient and maladaptive thinking, dualism, separation, mono-rationality, and a naïve sense of empowerment. Heroic consciousness is exemplified by nondualism, unity, transrationality, and the wisdom of tempered empowerment. Heroic consciousness is achieved via three routes: (1) traversing the hero’s journey, (2) effective use of specific spiritual practices, and/or (3) participation in hero training programs. I discuss the implications of heroic consciousness for individual and global well-being.

For Whose Greater Good? The Case Of Hero-Making: Girch And Darius, Gražina Kristina Sviderskyte

Heroism Science

This article reviews an investigation into the case of Stanley Girch (aka Girėnas) and Stephen William Darius as (multi)transfigured and transforming heroes and seeks to examine a two-fold assumption that has emerged in heroism science, namely that people create heroes mostly for the better and that learning from the past can help assess which heroes are needed. We argue that it may be beneficial to shift the focus of the analysis and follow the reverse course of a hero’s journey, tracing the impact, evolution and origin of the heroic status ascribed to the historical figures, whether individual or collective. Presuming …

Book Review: Unlikely Heroes: The Place Of Holocaust Rescuers In Research And Teaching, Stephanie Fagin-Jones

Heroism Science

Representing the first in a new series, Contemporary Holocaust Studies, from the University of Nebraska Press, this valuable book is the result of a collection of papers presented at the Sommerhauser Symposium on Holocaust Education in April 2017 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. This biennial symposia, generously supported by third-generation survivor siblings Peter Sommerhauser and Eileen Sommerhauser-Putter, along with The University of Nebraska, focuses on the integration of research and teaching of Holocaust scholarship. The editors thus seek to address an urgent need to bring past and present academic knowledge on the subject of Holocaust rescue into the classroom …

Posthuman Heroes, Joanna Pascoe

Heroism Science

This article explores whether narrative texts may help learners grapple with what it means to be human or indeed posthuman in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous (VUCA) world inclusive of biotechnology and developing artificial intelligence (AI). Narratives with a posthuman hero may provide access to a post-anthropocentric view described by Braidotti (2016) as life-force egalitarianism inclusive of all human, non-human, geo, cross-species, and transversal alliances. Definitions are broad – narrative includes novels, film, television series, visual art; hero is beyond gender, accessible and encompassing all with life force; posthumanism refers to popular culture and critical theory, with links to transhumanism. …

Self-Realization And Validity Surplus In Proactive Heroism, Bryan Smyth

Heroism Science

This article provides a brief outline of an approach to understanding proactive (or social) heroism in embodied terms, taking this as essential to supporting the idea of ‘the banality of heroism’. I first present an analysis of heroic action in general that shows it as involving self-realization through nonselfsacrificial existential necessity, and then show how in cases of reactive heroic action this necessity is best understood in predispositional embodied terms, such that the agent may be said to quite literally incarnate certain generally accepted norms of the intersubjective ethical context. I then briefly sketch out how this same kind of …

Prosocialization: Lessons Learned From The Upbringing Of Holocaust Heroes, Stephanie Fagin-Jones

Heroism Science

Research on factors associated with heroic rescue during the Holocaust suggest that the parenting and upbringing of the rescuer was significant (Ganz, 1993; Oliner & Oliner, 1988). The research suggests that heroic altruism during the Holocaust was but a natural extension of the rescuers’ integrated moral identities reflecting deep-seated instincts, predispositions, and habitual patterns established in early upbringing according to moral parenting practices, that when acted upon conferred the deepest feelings of meaning, life satisfaction, and sustained well-being across the life-span. This paper explores the implications of these and other findings from the research on heroism during the Holocaust, specifically, …

Ethnography In Student-Owned Spaces: Using Whiteboards To Explore Learning Communities And Student Success, Anna Sandelli, Sojourna J. Cunningham

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

“Student success” and the “user experience” are terms that have gained prominence in conversations around the ways in which academic libraries support and engage with their student populations. Ethnographic methods provide a unique opportunity to incorporate student voices into these conversations. This study reports on a longitudinal ethnographic study conducted at two academic libraries in the United States. Through a semi-structured participatory approach using whiteboards, the researchers garnered more than 2,000 responses. By coding that qualitative data, the researchers were able to examine student usage of library spaces, how students create informal learning communities within these spaces, and how students …