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Arts and Humanities Commons

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Social and Behavioral Sciences

Western Kentucky University

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Series

2016

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Come On In, The Writing's Fine: Preserving Voice And Generating Enthusiasm In My English 100 Syllabus, Elisa Leah Berry Oct 2016

Come On In, The Writing's Fine: Preserving Voice And Generating Enthusiasm In My English 100 Syllabus, Elisa Leah Berry

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This thesis explores the potential for creating a composition syllabus that presents a model of good writing, is an enthusiastic invitation to the discipline, and provides a clear roadmap to success, not only for the course, but also for the students’ college career. This is especially useful for an increasingly diverse student community that arrives to college with a varying knowledge of the academic institution, with its specialized language and systems. The project explores the existing research on syllabus crafting, uses current composition studies and a survey of English 100 students to interrogate the rhetorical situation of the author’s own …


The Past Is Open To The Future: Lithuanian Folk Pottery 1861 - Present, Anthony E. Stellaccio Jul 2016

The Past Is Open To The Future: Lithuanian Folk Pottery 1861 - Present, Anthony E. Stellaccio

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In 2011, following several years of in-country research, I published a book on Lithuanian folk pottery. I enrolled in the Folk Studies master’s program at Western Kentucky University (WKU) in 2014, well after my research and book had been completed. In the present study, I use my newly acquired knowledge of folklore In my previous work to revisit Lithuanian folk pottery.

In my previous work, I had sought to create a picture of “authentic” Lithuanian folk pottery that was confined to the narrow temporal borders of 1861-1918. Here I deconstruct conventional ideas about authenticity, as well as culture and heritage, …


Isis & Eschatology: Apocalyptic Motivations Behind The Formation And Development Of The Islamic State, Matthew Henry Musselwhite Apr 2016

Isis & Eschatology: Apocalyptic Motivations Behind The Formation And Development Of The Islamic State, Matthew Henry Musselwhite

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The goal of this thesis was to analysis the Islamic State’s apocalyptic nature by studying both classic Islamic eschatology and the Islamic State’s online magazine Dabiq. In order to conduct this research, I separated my thesis into two separate angles of approach. The first angle (chapters one & two) exclusively looked at Islamic eschatology, classic apocalyptic texts, shifts in how literature was written over time, and on examples of modern messianic revolutions occurring. In this way, I attempted to emphasize how extra-Qur’anic texts have played a large part in providing details for what Islamic eschatology entails. I also looked at …


A Soviet Parade Of Horribles: Conservatism In Glasnost-Era Discourses On Sex, 1987-1991, Svetlana Yuriyevna Ter-Grigoryan Apr 2016

A Soviet Parade Of Horribles: Conservatism In Glasnost-Era Discourses On Sex, 1987-1991, Svetlana Yuriyevna Ter-Grigoryan

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Between 1987 and 1991, Soviet filmmakers and journalists utilized Gorbachev’s glasnost reform policy to depict or discuss sexuality in cinema and the popular press. I argue that Soviet film and popular press discourses on sex in this period reveal a continuity of conservative sexual mores, which were interwoven with social and moral conservatism regarding the centerpiece of Soviet society, the Soviet family. Furthermore, these discourses take on a fundamentally misogynistic tone, in that women are tasked with defending sexual purity, and thus familial integrity, while simultaneously being cast as those most susceptible to the power of sexual enticement. Thus, the …