Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Analyzing The Enduring White Reception Of Raisin In The Sun: Defining And Reexamining The “Universal” Label, Kayla J. Baur

Student Theses

Hansberry’s intent to centralize the Black American family while simultaneously addressing divisive topics of race and gender positioned Raisin as a prescient, continuously relevant work that is open for interpretation for years to come. With this intent in mind, critics acclaimed Raisin and hailed it as a universal play for every theatergoer to enjoy. However, this enduring sentiment of Raisin as “universal” is a construct created by the predominantly-white theater industry. This perceived universality is dependent on the audience’s ability to find entertainment value in the story, even if the idea of only deriving amusement from the story undermines Hansberry’s …

Benumbed Compulsion, Philip E. Stern

Student Theses

Benumbed Compulsion is a musical representation of the intense emotions that we live with and become used to carrying. Though we become desensitized to these feelings, they may pour out of us either subtly or explosively. The tidal dynamics and back-and-forth motion between the two dominating harmonies express the emotions we feel compelled to experience but often become numb to their effect.

Publishing Inequality In Lgbtqia+ Research In Psychology: A Content Analysis, Mackenzie L. Fingerhut

Student Theses

Despite the American Psychiatric Association’s removal of homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1973 and ego-dystonic homosexuality in 1987, nonheteronormative sexual orientations remain stigmatized and underrepresented in scientific literature. To estimate the prevalence of LGBTQIA+ topics in popular psychological research, the author queried more than 20,000 articles from 1987 to 2022 in the two most cited journals in each of four major domains (cognitive, clinical, developmental and social). In addition, the author randomly queried 20% of all empirical articles published from 1987 to 2021 in the top eight empirical journals to understand how often sexuality …

Transgender And Gender Nonconforming Individuals And Intimate Partner Violence Resources In Lgbtq+ Organizations, Claire Herr

Student Theses

A meta-analysis reporting on the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization of transgender populations found transgender people were two to three times more likely to experience IPV than cisgender people (Peitzmeier et al., 2020). The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) (2012) found transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) people, particularly transgender women and transgender Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), were more likely to be threatened and harassed by their abusive partners than cisgender people. TGNC people may be at a high risk of IPV due to the lack of services designed for TGNC victims of IPV. Once …

Exploring Friendships In J.R.R. Tolkien’S Novels And Adaptations: A Study In Social Media, Fandoms, And Variations, Ashley D. Anderson

Student Theses

J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy and their adaptations all reveal the importance of friendship and fandom. Utilizing theorists Walter Benjamin and Henry Jenkins the friendship theme is seen in the various stylistic elements in the films and novels; additionally, a look into the fandom presence on social media, their knowledge, and merchandise reveals why the stories have continued to interest audiences over many generations.

Reproduction: The Ultimate Enemy Of Racial Passing In Harlem Renaissance Literature, Veronica Kordmany

Student Theses

"In this essay, I examine three texts that consider the repercussions of passing for Black Americans. Nella Larsen’s Passing (1929) serves as a namesake for this general idea, as two light-skinned African American women represent the divisionary approach to racial passing. In George S. Schuyler’s Black No More (1931) we see a passing Black man’s virility being tested as he enters an ‘alternate universe’, in which a scientific invention grants him full access to the wondrous white world he’d always dreamed of entering. Finally, in the middle of this textual spectrum is Angelina W. Grimké’s 1919 short story, “The Closing …

Exposing The Governmental Amnesia Of The Human Rights Violations That Occurred In The Magdalene Laundries, Sarah G. Gallagher

Student Theses

Throughout history, Ireland is not regarded as a champion in the area of human rights discourse, but in recent years it has found itself present in it. Pre-secularized Ireland violated human and women’s rights in institutions such as the Magdalene Laundries. Within these institutions, girls and women were subjected to various types of abuse (e.g., sexual, physical, emotional, and mental). After their time in the Laundries, they faced a life of silence and shame due to the stigma of being incarcerated in a Laundry. Due to the stigma, survivors were unable to discuss their experiences in the Laundries as they …

Roots And Branches: Mimetic Reconstruction Of Women's History Through Nature In Post-Colonial Literature, Jessica D'Albero

Student Theses

Composed similarly to a mini book, this unconventionally structured thesis centralizes on how contemporary female authors, particularly Aurora Levins Morales and Yaa Gyasi, can rebuild gaps in undocumented women’s history through a fusion of nature within post-colonial fiction. A severe lack of preservation exists regarding women’s historical records due to centuries of facing oppression and dual colonization within domestic and public spheres. As a result, women’s memories have become misdirected. These memory gaps can be mimetically refurbished through fictional reconstruction to reimagine simulated pieces to the puzzle of women’s past. The paper divides into two sections, discussing first the idea …

The Second-Person Point Of View In Three Contemporary Latino Short Stories, Rocio L. Uchofen

Student Theses

ABSTRACT

The Second-Person Point of View in Three Contemporary Latino Short Stories

By

Rocio L. Uchofen

Advisor: Professor Alyson Bardsley

The “you” discourse is dynamic, it generates an interaction, it implies a dialogue between narrator and reader. The investigations about the use of the second person in the narrative discourse generally go beyond English language frontiers, the discussion has not finished and narratological investigations have more texts to analyze as fiction in second-person narration is not an unusual occurrence in contemporary literature. The analysis of three short stories written by Latino writers Daniel Alarcon, Junot Diaz and Sandra Cisneros intends …

“We Talk, I Believe, All Day Long”: Forms Of Communication In Charlotte Brontë’S Jane Eyre, Kara Vacalopoulos

Student Theses

Jane Eyre is a successful coming of age narrative where the title character’s development can be tracked through the way she communicates with other people. Dialogue and conversations constantly change as Jane herself changes and grows. This paper analyzes the different modes of communication that Jane experiences with the characters in the novel. As she gets older, Jane establishes her voice and seeks out a perfect conversational partner – someone who she could bear her soul to and have meaningful conversations with. This paper argues Rochester as Jane’s perfect conversational partner, even if he is not a perfect person. In …

Danger: Wolf Crossing! Meantone Tuning And Froberger’S Keyboard Music, Stephen T. Ai

Student Theses

This thesis is an exploration of how tuning practices can influence compositional practice, focusing on the way temperament can provide new insights to a close reading of keyboard music by Johann Jakob Froberger (1616–67), a transitional figure between a predominantly meantone-oriented musical environment of the 17th century and the well temperament of the 18th century. Many scholars have pointed to Froberger’s characteristic chromaticism and experimentation with novel keys as indicative of his desire to compose beyond the restrictions of meantone tuning and towards well temperament. In an effort to move away from this oft-cited teleological narrative from unequal to equal, …

Chorale And Collapse: An Analysis Of Mahler's Sixth Symphony, Benjamin G. Schweitzer

Student Theses

Gustav Mahler's Sixth Symphony in A minor, commonly known as the "Tragic," has become one of the Austrian symphonist's most celebrated works. This monumental symphony's direct and powerful expression have assured its place in the concert hall and its labyrinthine structure and wealth of intricate detail have made it an object of fascination for countless analysts and commentators through to the present day. My analysis of the symphony works up from the smallest elements of its harmonic progression and harmony to large-scale issues of tonality and form. In the process, I reveal the connections that bind all of the symphony's …

Dancing With The Devil: Carnival And The True Witch Of The Witch Of Edmonton, James B. Barone

Student Theses

The most obvious carnivalesque aspects in Dekker, Ford and Rowley’s The Witch of Edmonton—the Morris dancers and their leader Cuddy Banks, and the shapeshifting demon Dog—have received the bulk of scholarly attention. However, very little has been written about the cagey, pregnant servant girl Winifred, who as I argue in this thesis more fully embodies Carnival’s aspects of rebirth and renewal. Winifred endures the play’s turmoil by inventing and reinventing herself. Her powers of creation are antithetical to the downfalls of the play’s two main characters—Frank Thorney and Elizabeth Sawyer, the play’s eponymous witch—as well as the mischief created by …

The Ideal Elizabethan Marriage (Or Naught): How Fletcher’S Comedy, The Tamer Tamed Serves As A Sequel, Homage And Riposte To Shakespeare’S The Taming Of The Shrew, Katherine Brillante

Student Theses

In this thesis, I take my cue from Emma Smith, who observes that John Fletcher’s The Woman’s Prize, or The Tamer Tamed is “a sequel, an homage, and a riposte to Shakespeare’s own Taming of the Shrew” (xii). While demonstrating Smith’s point, I also explore the ideology of marriage in Renaissance England, considering what it means to be a rebellious woman with respect to that institution. While, as Ann Jennalie Cook observes, “a play is not an exact replica of the customs of the time” (83), these two plays nevertheless illuminate the ways in which marriage customs during this …

From Green Pastures To Scorched Earth: German Environmentalism And Ecology, C. 1800s-1945, Santiago G. Lozada

Student Theses

Nature Conservation in Germany from The Second German Empire until Nazi Germany

Sacred Music In Colonial Era Hispaniola: The Evangelization Of The Taino People, Tito J. Gutierrez

Student Theses

During the 15th-18th centuries, the major European religious orders; the Franciscans, Dominicans, Jesuits, and Jeronymites, journeyed to the newly colonized American territories in an attempt to convert the multitudes of natives peoples living there. Along with prayer books, crucifixes, and religious images, these missionaries brought sacred European music to American shores in an attempt to attract the native people to the Catholic faith.The use of music as a tool for conversion of native people in places such as Mexico, South America, California, and the South West United States, have been well researched and documented. However, the research of the spiritual …

Gender Based Violence In India: An Analysis Of National Level Data For Theory, Research And Prevention, Dhanya Babu

Student Theses

Gender based violence is a human rights violation, both the causes and impacts of which crosses personal, societal and cultural boundaries. Various initiatives to address the problem of gender-based violence have resulted in many countries attempting to quantify the extent of such crimes. The purpose of this present study is to examine nature and extent of GBV in India for prevention policy actions. The National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) of India publishes a consolidated list of reported crime happenings in the country every year. Recognizing gendered aspect of certain crimes, the NCRB maintains a separate chapter on incidences of crimes …

Sadness In Brooklyn: The American Housing Act Of 1949 And The Brooklyn Dodgers Move To Los Angeles, Patrick Spranger

Student Theses

No abstract provided.

Population Movement And State Building: A Case Study Of Migratory Policies In Italy, Julia Pagnamenta

Student Theses

The current study examines Italian laws and policies around migratory movements since Italy first became a modern nation state in 1861 up until April 2019, when the research was concluded. This paper is a case study of Italian migratory policies. It first looks at the way Italy’s early efforts at nation building coincided with the mass emigration of its citizens, informing its policies on emigration and colonial expansion. The study then analyzes the way in which Italy developed a policy response to the growing immigrant and refugee population in the late 1980s following geo-political transformations in Europe. The evolution of …

The Anarchist Classroom: A Test Of Libertarian Education And Human Nature At The Modern School In New York And New Jersey, 1911-1953, Eric G. Anderson

Student Theses

A study of anarchist education at the beginning of the twentieth century questions common perceptions of anarchists as solely bomb-throwing radicals and reveals that they cared deeply about children and the future of humankind. Inspired by the martyrdom of Francisco Ferrer, Spanish anarchist and founder of anarchist schools in Barcelona, anarchists worldwide applied their radical principles to the creation of “Modern Schools.” In these schools, anarchists attempted to blend Enlightenment ideals of freedom with politically revolutionary goals. The Modern School movement reached its zenith in the decade following Ferrer’s 1909 execution by the Spanish government for sedition, but declined by …

The Veterans' Lethal Memory Of Battle: The Turmoil Of Moral Injury, Nouf Arige

Student Theses

After the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, returning veterans battle a severe form of moral trauma that is recently recognized by psychologists and analysts as “moral injury”. This moral and psychological wound has a deep impact on these veterans who return home emotionally wrecked, changed and in need for urgent care, emotional support and medical intervention. The term “moral injury” has social, emotional and psychological effects on returning veterans, and it has its distinct qualities from PTSD. Despite the mediocre academic debate about the existence of the term or its prevalence among veterans, enough evidence has been provided to elicit the …

Ethics And Bias In Machine Learning: A Technical Study Of What Makes Us “Good”, Ashley Nicole Shadowen

Student Theses

The topic of machine ethics is growing in recognition and energy, but bias in machine learning algorithms outpaces it to date. Bias is a complicated term with good and bad connotations in the field of algorithmic prediction making. Especially in circumstances with legal and ethical consequences, we must study the results of these machines to ensure fairness. This paper attempts to address ethics at the algorithmic level of autonomous machines. There is no one solution to solving machine bias, it depends on the context of the given system and the most reasonable way to avoid biased decisions while maintaining the …

The Divinity Of Crime: How Spirituality Can Strengthen The Resilience Of Criminal Organizations, David R. Vegvari

Student Theses

This thesis conducts a systematic analysis of open source data that discusses ideational factors of resilience in criminal organizations. It does this by looking at the role of spirituality – referred to as an individual’s moral or ethical codes influenced by cultural, ethnic, and religious values – and its effects on an organization’s durability, impenetrability, and adaptability. To understand spirituality as a factor of resilience in criminal organizations, it is delineated into four Dimensions of Spiritual Influence (DoSI). They are (1) trust, (2) spiritual neutralization, (3) strategic arenas, and (4) the logistical use of spiritual institutions. In order to analyze …

How The Willowbrook Consent Decree Has Influenced Contemporary Advocacy Of Individuals With Disabilities, Kristen S. Addessi

Student Theses

The existence of the Willowbrook State School was a culmination, of over a one-hundred-year history of Western society’s attempts to provide adequate care, and treatment for individuals with disabilities. The residents housed there, suffered violations of their human and civil rights in various forms of severe abuse, neglect, and violence. Following a three-year legal battle in 1975, as a result of the travesties that occurred, the legal doctrine known as the Willowbrook Consent Decree was written. The Consent Decree was implemented to ensure that the residents’ human and civil rights are met and protected. The Willowbrook State School and the …