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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
Women In Gaming: A Study Of Female Players’ Experiences In Online Fps Games, M Allison Mcdaniel
Women In Gaming: A Study Of Female Players’ Experiences In Online Fps Games, M Allison Mcdaniel
Honors Theses
Existing literature has long been divided over whether the gaming world fosters violence and misogyny or provides a space for people to explore diverse identities. Not enough is known about how women experience videogames, especially the hypermasculine environment of first-person shooter (FPS) games. Competition, violence, and war, are dominant features of these games. The following thesis explores what harassment and discrimination women playing FPS games face, how they respond, and in what ways they find games to be empowering. A survey was distributed online to an international sample of 141 female FPS gamers. This research finds that women who play …
The Smiling, The Sick, The Suffereing: Snapshots Of Syrian Displacement, Karlee Anna Bergendorff
The Smiling, The Sick, The Suffereing: Snapshots Of Syrian Displacement, Karlee Anna Bergendorff
Honors Theses
Photographic images of Syrian refugees - smiling, sick, or suffering - on the news and in the ads of human rights organizations have been employed to mobilize governments, armies, or businesses. These images are effective in mobilizing various forms of support or intervention because they have a strong emotional impact on the mass public. The emotionally driven connection between spectator and refugee, however, raises some troubling questions about whose interests the images serve, and how they are used for various efforts. Is it possible to depict the suffering of Syrian refugees without violating their dignity, agency, and autonomy? I argue …
Uncharted Territory: Critical Social Artistic Practices In The 21st Century, Kyra M. Detone
Uncharted Territory: Critical Social Artistic Practices In The 21st Century, Kyra M. Detone
Honors Theses
Since the early 1990s, the American art world has witnessed the rise of critical social artistic practices that are largely collaborative projects driven by participatory experiences between artists and community. With its roots in the activist, protest, and public art movements beginning in the late 60s, socially engaged art steps out of traditional viewing spaces like the museum and directly confronts society’s object-based and monetary understanding of art. Driven by process and dependent on coalition building, creative problem solving, and public service rather than profit, socially engaged critical practice is complex and demands a new vocabulary through which to critique …
Constructing A Narrative Of Irish Republicanism 1913 - 1921, Christopher Graff
Constructing A Narrative Of Irish Republicanism 1913 - 1921, Christopher Graff
Honors Theses
The Easter Rising of 1916 and subsequent Anglo-Irish War were two seminal events in contemporary Irish history, and are especially pertinent as the 100th anniversary of the Rising approaches this year. In this thesis, I examine the underlying causes of the Easter Rising, specifically the growing influence of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and an increase in Irish Nationalism. I then trace the planning, preparation, and execution of the Easter Rising, which was not a popular uprising, but rather an armed insurrection led by a small group of militarized radicals. I also analyze the political, social, and economic consequences of the …
Democracy And Citzenship: A Counterintuitive Relationship Examined Through Ancient Athens And The Contemporary Crisis, Shivangi Mehta
Democracy And Citzenship: A Counterintuitive Relationship Examined Through Ancient Athens And The Contemporary Crisis, Shivangi Mehta
Honors Theses
Ancient Athens is often valued for being the birthplace of democracy, a form of government that is often believed to be “by the people, for the people.” With democracy came the emergence of citizenship. In ancient Athens, citizenship was created to outline the political community by defining who belonged to the community and who was excluded from it. Through time, as countries have been claiming they are becoming more democratic, more restrictions have been imposed. These restrictions have created boundaries, thus excluding individuals from citizenship status causing them to lose their rights and abilities, specifically in areas such as political …
Love Shouldn't Hurt: Akrasia As An Explanation For The Perpetration Of Domestic Violence, Elizabeth Murad
Love Shouldn't Hurt: Akrasia As An Explanation For The Perpetration Of Domestic Violence, Elizabeth Murad
Honors Theses
Domestic Violence (DV) is a prominent issue that affects people of all demographics, and can be defined as the perpetration of psychological, emotional, physical, or sexual abuse against (typically) an inferior other. A dear friend, Alex, lost her life at the hands of her boyfriend of almost two years, and I still struggle to understand how one could do such an atrocious thing to a loved one? The Perpetrator, Clayton, claimed that he “just snapped” when he “killed [his] girlfriend.” It is from this case, and more specifically the statement: “I just snapped,” that I have based my research; I …
Baby Cribs In Prison Cells: Assessing Opinions About Prison Nursery Programs By Humanizing Incarcerated Mothers, Erin Ostheimer
Baby Cribs In Prison Cells: Assessing Opinions About Prison Nursery Programs By Humanizing Incarcerated Mothers, Erin Ostheimer
Honors Theses
Through my research, I analyzed prison nursery programs in the United States. Prison nurseries are programs that exist in nine states that allow mothers who are pregnant when they are incarcerated to keep their infants with them in prison for a finite amount of time. Previous scholarship on the topic has shown that prison nurseries are effective in reducing rates of recidivism and fostering a bond between mother and infant. My research explored the question of why these programs are so rare given their success. I assessed Union College student and professor attitudes about maternal incarceration to better understand how …
Remember The Holocaust And The Killing Fields: A Comparative Study, Ilan Levine
Remember The Holocaust And The Killing Fields: A Comparative Study, Ilan Levine
Honors Theses
Why is the Holocaust almost universally remembered as the most horrific event in the modern age while the Cambodian genocide is hardly remembered both in and outside of Cambodia? Do the two events share similar aspects despite their differences, and what implication does that have on a wider understanding of both genocides? This thesis explores these questions by examining how the Holocaust and Cambodian genocide (killing fields) have been remembered over time. Examining both shows the respective roads of memorialization that each have taken and reveals where the two catastrophes share major aspects: notably, the tactics used by the perpetrators, …
Voices Trapped Within The Portrait: Annetje Kool Pieter Vanderlyn And The Expectations Regarding Gender In Public And Private Spheres In A Burgeoning Nation, Abigail Hollander
Voices Trapped Within The Portrait: Annetje Kool Pieter Vanderlyn And The Expectations Regarding Gender In Public And Private Spheres In A Burgeoning Nation, Abigail Hollander
Honors Theses
The main subjects of this study, Pieter Vanderlyn, the attributed artist of “A Portrait of Annetje Kool” (c.1740), and Annetje Kool, the sitter, both had subversive identities relative to the sociocultural expectations of New Netherland, a Hudson River Valley based settlement. The oil portrait on canvas depicts a young woman in an elaborate dress with lace and gilt embellishments. To understand this portrait’s historical context, this thesis examines how male and female voices functioned on the margins of the moral boundaries that shaped expectations of gender appropriate thought and action during the colonial, revolutionary, and post-revolutionary eras in New York …
An Interdisciplinary Approach To Domestic Violence In The Legal System: The Importance Of Victim Advocates, Joanna Chalifoux
An Interdisciplinary Approach To Domestic Violence In The Legal System: The Importance Of Victim Advocates, Joanna Chalifoux
Honors Theses
Domestic violence is an aspect of the legal system where there typically is a lack of communication among the institutions involved. Therefore, the benefit of an interdisciplinary approach to domestic violence in the legal system is assessed by emphasizing the importance of the presence of victim advocates in the courtroom. In this dissertation, the issue will be evaluated through a feminist point of view— with the belief that domestic violence is a gendered phenomenon in which the majority of the perpetrators are male and the victims are female. In order to research this, several judges, lawyers, and victim advocates who …
El Paralelismo Entre Los Cambios Demograficos Y Los Medios Sociales Y Su Impacto En El Activismo En America Latina, Ashley Beccia
El Paralelismo Entre Los Cambios Demograficos Y Los Medios Sociales Y Su Impacto En El Activismo En America Latina, Ashley Beccia
Honors Theses
En la segunda mitad del siglo XX, los avances sociales, especialmente en los ámbitos tecnológicos y médicos, cambiaron la manera en que viven los seres humanos. Los sectores demográficos empezaron a experimentar grandes transformaciones debido a la reducción de la tasa de mortalidad infantil y el crecimiento de la expectativa de vida (Saad 240). Como consecuencia, ha emergido una nueva época de vida, que se llama la edad de adulta emergente, que es caracterizada por la exploración y construcción de la identidad y creencias personales (Smith y Snell 6). Las nuevas estructuras sociales alrededor del mundo han requerido que los …
Las Madres De Plaza De Mayo Y Los Medios Sociales: La No Desaparicion De Los Desaparecidos, Matthew Christal
Las Madres De Plaza De Mayo Y Los Medios Sociales: La No Desaparicion De Los Desaparecidos, Matthew Christal
Honors Theses
El diccionario Merriam Webster define "desaparecer" de varias maneras: dejar de ser visible: pasar fuera de vista: dejar de existir: morir o desaparecer por completo: perderse: ir a un lugar que no se conoce. En el caso de las Madres de Plaza de Mayo, estas definiciones son referencias a sus hijos e hijas que desaparecieron durante la guerra sucia. Normalmente, cuando pensamos en periodos de historia muy oscuros, pensamos en eventos como el holocausto. La guerra sucia fue el “holocausto” para los argentinos entre 1976 hasta 1983. Las madres de los desaparecidos han sido la razón por qué las memorias …
Japanese Neet And Freeter: A Representation Of The Relationship Between Social Changes And Youth's Employment Pattern, Linh Hoang
Honors Theses
My paper attempts to analyze the existence of NEET (No Employment, Education or Training – ニート) and Freeter (Freelancing part-time worker - フリーター), two common groups of young unemployed people and irregular workers in Japan. Throughout the study, the relationship between Japanese social changes, modernization process and Japanese NEETs and Freeters is thoroughly examined. The first social change related to the establishment of these two groups is the transformation of employment system. The combination of a seniority-based system and performance-based system as well as their contrasts has increased the competitiveness in the job seeking war while eliminating some of the …
The Price Of Democracy: Hong Kong's Identity Crisis In The Umbrella Revolution, Jen Keung
The Price Of Democracy: Hong Kong's Identity Crisis In The Umbrella Revolution, Jen Keung
Honors Theses
Most past research on the democratization of Hong Kong has been generally concerned about on the ramifications of institutional power dynamics, and aimed to inform an audience whose primary interests were in China. Accordingly, understandings of the culture and society of Hong Kong becomes limited, as they serve to support an argument for or against Chinese regional despotism. From public media coverage to scholarship articles, very little attention has been paid to the transformations of Hong Kong at the individual level. In a society that has been through constant social, economic and political transformations in the past decades, Hong Kong …
German And The European Migrant Crisis: An Exploration Of German National Identity, Sarah Pollack
German And The European Migrant Crisis: An Exploration Of German National Identity, Sarah Pollack
Honors Theses
Since 2014, conflicts in North Africa and the Middle East have brought large inflows of asylum-seekers streaming into Europe. Germany has not only accepted the greatest number of these asylum-seekers, but it has additionally pushed for other European Union member states to accept more asylum-seekers as well, thereby earning an international reputation as a leading proponent of human rights in the European Union. While images of German citizens crowding train stations in Munich and other cities to welcome refugees have dominated news cycles, there is an increasing anti-immigration sentiment in Germany, which at its most extreme has manifested itself in …
Voter Identification Laws: In The Name Of Reform Or Suppression?, Melissa Rodriguez
Voter Identification Laws: In The Name Of Reform Or Suppression?, Melissa Rodriguez
Honors Theses
Voter identification laws have been at the center of controversy in political discourse for some time now. Proponents of voter identification laws claim that they are necessary in order to curb public opinion regarding voter identity fraud. Even if there were no evidence of fraud in the system, they would still be necessary to protect the integrity of the system. Opponents counter back that due to the lack of evidence of voter identity fraud, these requirements are a part of partisan politics in which the right wing is attempting to disenfranchise groups that tend to vote democratic. These attempts are …
Culture Of Conflict: Watching The End Of The 1960s American Counterculture Through Documentaries About Rock Music, Matt Steinberg
Culture Of Conflict: Watching The End Of The 1960s American Counterculture Through Documentaries About Rock Music, Matt Steinberg
Honors Theses
The 1960’s was a complicated time in American History. The decade started with Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” and concluded on “The End” by The Doors. The explosion of a youth counterculture is captured and preserved on film; a medium that was rapidly becoming more mobile, personal, and artistic. The expansion of the documentary field coincided with a unique cultural blossoming centered around rock music and the results of these films leave us with an audiovisual history of extraordinary moments in time. This thesis closely examines the development and issues of performance or rock documentaries to better understand the violent demise …
The Philadelphia Catto: Bridging The Racial Gap In The City Of Brotherly Love, Rachel Wyman
The Philadelphia Catto: Bridging The Racial Gap In The City Of Brotherly Love, Rachel Wyman
Honors Theses
This thesis seeks to examine African American activist Octavius Valentine Catto's social and civic contributions to the African American community in Philadelphia and the nation during the Reconstruction era. Catto's militancy, courage, and devotion to the black cause, as a result of major religious and secular revolutionary ideology, offers an alternative view of the black experience in the North which was overshadowed by the myriad of research on Reconstruction in the South. Octavius Catto is part of a long tradition of black activists who led a wave of antislavery reform rooted in the secular political ideology of the American Revolution, …
The Internet, Prostitution, And Rape: Can Taking Prostitution “Indoors” Mitigate Social Harms?, Maryssa Brogis
The Internet, Prostitution, And Rape: Can Taking Prostitution “Indoors” Mitigate Social Harms?, Maryssa Brogis
Honors Theses
Prostitution is often debated as an illegal activity that causes individual and social harms. This study uses feminist theories on prostitution in conjunction with econometric tools to find if prostitution can actually reduce social harms such as rape. Prostitution is a highly debated subject within feminist literature, as some believe prostitution is considered legitimate work, while others view prostitution as extremely harmful toward women and an act that perpetuates female submission. This econometric study adds to the feminist debate on prostitution by implementing the internet’s role in expanding the indoor market as a potential causal factor in the relationship between …
The Endless Long Hot Summer: A Study Of Urban Riots And The Kerner Report, Taylor Anderson
The Endless Long Hot Summer: A Study Of Urban Riots And The Kerner Report, Taylor Anderson
Honors Theses
This thesis examines the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders’ (Kerner Commission) investigation from 1967 to 1968 of the urban violence that occurred throughout the late 1960s in the United States. The study focuses on the process by which the Kerner Commission’s research and investigation became the conclusions and recommendations found in the Final Report they produced. For purposes of analysis, three sections of the commission’s research and findings were examined—the relationships between urban violence and racism, the police and minorities, and the press and urban violence. The commission’s methodology was a combination of investigative fieldwork that included interviews and …
Les Refugies De La Mer: L'Histoire La Sociologie Le Cinema Et La Litterature Des Immigres Vietnamiens Apres La Guerre Du Vietnam(1978-1995), Kathryn Dowling
Les Refugies De La Mer: L'Histoire La Sociologie Le Cinema Et La Litterature Des Immigres Vietnamiens Apres La Guerre Du Vietnam(1978-1995), Kathryn Dowling
Honors Theses
In the years following the Vietnamese War, more than one million refugees left Vietnam. Many of these immigrants arrived in France, diversifying an already well-established Vietnamese community. These immigrants have a unique history, social identity, and cultural contributions. Yet, Vietnamese immigrants in France are an understudied group. The current research examined the history, sociology, and cultural contributions of Vietnamese immigrants in France.
A Microcosm Of The American Public Education Crisis Surrounding Race And Income, Janey Fine
A Microcosm Of The American Public Education Crisis Surrounding Race And Income, Janey Fine
Honors Theses
This thesis studies the effects that race and socio-economic status have on a student’s academic achievement in the American public education system. It compares the experiences of students from Schenectady, New York, a low-income, minority-populated small city, and neighboring Niskayuna, a predominately white, affluent community, by looking at graduation rates, school budgets and resources, teacher salaries, household income, and rates of poverty. Despite the annual budgets and student expenditures being similar amongst the two districts, the rates of poverty and racial disparities are dramatic. Therefore, this research exposes how there are countless variables outside of the school itself that impact …
A Comparative Analysis Of Mixed Race Marriage In Fiji And The United States, Rachel Kung
A Comparative Analysis Of Mixed Race Marriage In Fiji And The United States, Rachel Kung
Honors Theses
In Fiji it is imperative to belong to group, particularly a racial/ethnic group because of a history of ethnic pluralism under British colonialism. Making connections and forming relationships is all determined by one’s racial/ethnic group. Due to this, belonging to two groups, especially if those two distinct races do not get along, such as indigenous Fijians and Indo‐Fijians, it becomes increasingly difficult to create a system of social networks. Fijians also tend to define ethnicity in terms of behavior rather than simply looking at one’s biology. If one cannot speak the native language of that particular race, he or she …
A Lineage Of Black Feminist Art, Kiana Miller
A Lineage Of Black Feminist Art, Kiana Miller
Honors Theses
This Black Feminist Art thesis project displays Black lives with full representational impact and it allows a space for agency to be shown. Through an empirical literature review, original poetry and artwork this thesis expresses dimensions of Black feminist/womanist voices. The purpose of this thesis is putting real images of Black lives out into the world in order to have a positive impact, giving young girls an artistic role model that looks like them, and the ability to read a book with images and stories of lives that may resemble theirs, lastly sharing a social commentary as well as a …
A 3d Modeling Perspective: The Juxtaposition Between Nature And Technology, Caroline Grace Brustowicz
A 3d Modeling Perspective: The Juxtaposition Between Nature And Technology, Caroline Grace Brustowicz
Honors Theses
For my senior thesis I explore the juxtaposition between nature and technology. There is beauty in the ubiquitous contrast and coexistence between these two entities, which we encounter on a daily basis. My work has been inspired by Ernst Haeckel, a German biologist, naturalist, and artist from the early 1900’s. His artwork includes over 100 detailed drawings, prints, and multi-colored illustrations of animals and sea creatures with a focus on representing the intricate details found in nature. I’ve emulated this attention to detail within nature by modeling (using Cinema 4D software and 3D printing with a MakerBot printer) sculptures that …
Film Portrayals Of People With Disabilities Post 2000, Hailey Walker
Film Portrayals Of People With Disabilities Post 2000, Hailey Walker
Honors Theses
Film portrayals of people with disabilities have had a significant, but perhaps unnoticed, role in shaping the general public views of individuals with disabilities. Research has documented the impact of films on creating and perpetuating misconceptions of a variety of disabilities and disability groups. Numerous stereotypes are portrayed in films depicting the lives of people with disabilities, which lead to barriers that keep people with disabilities in marginalized roles. Much research has been conducted on films produced prior to the year 2000. These studies have identified the themes and stereotypes portrayed that have been harmful to the lives and empowerment …