Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Electromagnetic Field Analysis, Materials Characterization, And Advanced Modeling Of Modern Guitar Pickups, Luis Alonso Villarreal

Theses and Dissertations

This Thesis establishes the foundations of modern guitar pickup theory, enhancing current pickup design by an increase in voltage output, reduction of DC resistance, and a reduction of production costs. This research investigates factors that have received insufficient attention, such as the performance of different magnetic materials, magnet geometry, bobbin geometry, metal effects, etc. An equation to calculate the output of guitar pickups is developed. Additionally, this work constructs a modern pickup using the techniques developed in this thesis incorporating theory and advanced modeling techniques to simulate changes in performance and interactions with different magnetic materials and geometries. The new …

Rhythmic Ritual: Hand Papermaking As A Transformative Process, Keatan Mckeever

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an exploration of the transformative processes of hand papermaking, both personally and materially, through various artworks situated between two- and three-dimensional forms. The conceptual motivations supporting my practice are informed by intuition, locally sourced materials, human connection, material structure, and low-tech approaches to the papermaking process. In the first portion of this thesis, I discuss how I chose paper as my artistic medium, and the transformational process of hand papermaking through a historical lens. The second half follows the experimentation and limitations that informed my practice, the content of my work regarding material and structural qualities, and …

Mano De Obra: Exploring Processes And Materiality In Artwork, Karla Gabriela De La Fuente

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis paper examines the theoretical derivatives and artistic influences that drive the artist’s ongoing series of works exploring the human experience of the working class in the border region of South Texas and beyond. Through the use of found objects, organic regional materials, adopted and adapted processes; the artist creates artwork that teeters on a tightrope between sweet, subtle naivety, and sudden, robust spoonfuls of truth. The artwork has an emphasis on the materiality, and the parallel between the “Mano de Obra” of the artist at work and that of the working class of our communities.

The Quiet And Other Fantastical Tales, Emily Nicole Cerda

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis briefly discusses the genres and subgenres of speculative fiction—focusing on fantasy, horror, and science fiction—and is primarily a short story collection that also includes a few novel chapters. The critical introduction delves into the present and overly complex subgenre categorization methods, how and why new subgenres are created, and provides simple definitions for the main genres of speculative fiction and fantasy subgenres.

The subgenres that will be discussed through either a short story, novel chapter(s), or definition include, but are not limited to: fairytales, portal fantasy, paranormal romance, dark fantasy, historical fantasy, magical realism, epic fantasy, mythic fiction, …

The Wackiness Of Wacky World, Michael Dan Mccormick

Theses and Dissertations

This critical introduction takes a closer look at the situations presented in my manuscript “Wacky World” and offer insight on the actions seen from the main character. This insight is meant to clear confusion as to whether or not the character can be viewed as a heroic figure and explore his personality to draw conclusions. “Wacky World”, a full-length play, tells the story of a man with an obsession with a defunct theme park and the deranged actions that he takes in order to prevent its demolition.

I explore the topic on whether or not sympathy …

Competencies Of Modern Musician Entrepreneurs: The Role Of Digitalization In The Music Industry, Richard A. Rodriguez

Theses and Dissertations

The culture creation industries are undergoing a period of accelerated digitization, globalization, and democratization. The 21st century music industry is bustling with lowered barriers to entry, increased knowledge sharing, and direct to consumer models which have resulted in a gold rush of entrepreneurial opportunities for musicians and increased competition to music firms and superstars. The music industry has been subject to innovative disruption providing valuable insight on the nuances of this paradigm shift for music entrepreneurs and scholars alike. Specifically, I explore competency factors in artist’s journey from musicians to entrepreneurs with successful self-managed careers. Employing Lazear’s Theory of Balanced …

Breaking Bridges: A Latina's Role In Familismo And Higher Education, Desiree Trejo

Theses and Dissertations

This research and collective experiences have been recorded to bring together an autoethnography that demonstrates my personal experiences of being the eldest daughter in a Latino family and how these experiences situate within a social context. The primary purpose of this autoethnography is to provide insight on Latino culture expectations placed upon first born daughters. My own experiences connect to my research covering Latino culture and gender expectations to further understand social meanings and understandings of this culture. This autoethnography presents qualitive research that allows me to self-reflect and apply these findings to my personal experiences within my family to …

The First Peoples Of The Lower Rio Grande Valley Of Texas And Northern Mexico: An Interdisciplinary Approach To Defining The Paleoindian Period, Starr Elena Hein

Theses and Dissertations

The archaeological record of the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas and northern Mexico is poorly understood. There are few excavated sites at which Paleoindian cultural materials have been found, and in these cases the context is uncertain. In order to better understand the Paleoindian period, projectile points that reside in private collections are documented, and the time period they are assigned to, based on absolute dating from surrounding regions, is used to cross-date local materials. This is limited by the lack of named typology for Upper Paleolithic materials in the Americas. Clovis is well represented in the Lower Rio …

A Girl And Her Knife: A Feature-Length Screenplay, Alyssa C. Sandoval

Theses and Dissertations

A Girl and Her Knife is a dramatic screenplay written to promote inclusivity and empowerment of U.S. Chicanas in mainstream Hollywood. Once her grandmother dies, the protagonist, Luisa Fregoso, learns about her family’s history through her grandmother’s journal entries. Luisa’s grandmother, Ana, ensured Luisa became successful as an independent woman who understood she didn’t need love from a man. Luisa learned self-autonomy and self-liberation at a young age, but always struggled with love. Ultimately, her deceased grandmother continues to guide Luisa, but in a dangerous and dark way. The screenplay defies Hollywood’s traditional gender and cultural standards through distinctly written …

South Texas Elegy: Life During A Global Pandemic, Brianna Bullion

Theses and Dissertations

South Texas Elegy: Life During a Global Pandemic highlights the narrator’s experience with loss and grief during the coronavirus pandemic, which started in early 2020. This piece is written from the perspective of a narrator living in the Rio Grande Valley, which is in the southmost region of Texas.

This memoir contains thirteen chapters, which discuss deaths of close friends and family members, periods of waiting which occurred in between deaths and updates on the coronavirus, and the narrator’s reflection at the end of the piece. This memoir is a tribute to lost loved ones and an account of an …

Pronombres De La Tercera Persona Del Zapoteco De Macuiltianguis [Third Person Pronouns In Macuiltianguis Zapotec], Paula Margarita Foreman

Theses and Dissertations

As attested in Marlett (2010), the Zapotec languages of Oaxaca, Mexico, exhibit great variation within their pronominal systems. Based on my knowledge as a native speaker, I present a description of third-person pronouns in the Zapotec from the town of San Pablo Macuiltianguis (MacZ) (ISO 639-3 [zaa]) (Eberhard, Simons, & Fennig 2023), part of the Sierra de Juárez Juárez within the Sierra Norte branch of Zapotec (Smith Stark 2007). MacZ has four categories of third person pronouns (which can be called formal, general, child, and animal). The child and animal pronouns are generally optional, used to emphasize affection. The choice …

“Screen Riders” An Exploration Of Breaking Away From The Norms Of Cinematic Storytelling, Jake Alexander Escamilla

Theses and Dissertations

Throughout my time in college, I would always hear people discussing how originality is dead and that everything has been done before. Though I do believe there is some air of truth to these statements, I hold tight to the idea that originality is not truly gone. My belief is that the entertainment industry is so set on playing it safe, they do not wish to break away and explore new ideas which have never been done before. I believe that if more creatives were given the freedom to try new combinations and had more fun doing what they love, …

Irreverent Womanhood: The Healing Of Intergenerational And Cultural Trauma In The Chicanx And Latinx Sonic Poetry Of Amalia Ortiz And Melissa Lozada-Oliva, Yasmine A. Gomez

Theses and Dissertations

The connections between nontraditional forms of literature and spiritual activism lie within the resistive practices of Chicanx Feminism. This thesis argues that cultural healing and social change is dependent upon the recognition of trauma as a step towards enacting social justice. Additionally, this thesis focuses on the figure of Coyolxauhqui and indigenous motherhood to reveal procedures for change. Through the theory of trauma, this thesis examines the nontraditional Chicanx/Latinx poetry of Amalia Ortiz’s sonic rock opera, Cancíon, Cannibal, Cabaret, & Other Songs and Melissa Lozada-Oliva’s novel in verse, Dreaming of You.

My investigation into the breaking of gendered …

The Processing Of /Ɪ/-/I/ And /Ɑ/-/Æ/ Contrasts In Spanish-English Bilingualism, Elizabeth M. Garza

Theses and Dissertations

The following study utilizes an experimental paradigm known as the Sequence Recall Task (Dupoux et al., 2001) to examine the processing of the English vowel contrasts /ɪ/-/i/ and /ɑ/-/æ/ among Spanish-English bilinguals. Using dominance scores calculated from the Bilingual Language Profile (Birdsong et al., 2011), this study examines the processing of these contrasts relative to a control contrast /u/-/ɛ/ as well as how the processing of these contrasts is modulated by participants’ English dominance. A total of 24 Spanish-English bilingual speakers participated in a Sequence Recall Task that targeted the processing of these three contrasts. The results indicate that participants …

From “Cowardice” To “Shellshock”: The Definition And Treatment Of Mental Health In The United States Marine Corps During The Age Of The Great War, Itzel Marquez

Theses and Dissertations

The aim of my master’s thesis is to study how the United States’ Marine Corps recognized, defined, and treated mental health issues during the Great War and how this translated into the treatment of Marines by their peers and commanding officers. Similar to other countries that fought in the Great War, also referred to as World War I, the United States witnessed intense discussions about the psychological effects of war. The question of whether and how modern warfare affected troops’ mental health was addressed by all branches of the United States’ military. Yet, the issue of mental health in the …

A Thin Line Or Intimations Of Violence, Saul A. Rodriguez

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is meant to be an honest discussion about the state of literature from the perspective of a student. Each chapter deals with a different aspect of writing, whether it be putting pen to paper, garnering sufficient experience to achieve verisimilitude, or dealing with critique. Interspersed between the essays are fiction vignettes.

The nonfiction aspects of this body of work are inspired by the voices of philosophers and traditional essayists alike: people such as Fyodor Dostoevsky, T.S. Eliot, Aristotle, D.H. Lawrence, Henry Adams, and Ralph Ellison. The topic of liminality regarding culture and migration is also addressed, mainly through …

Symphony No. 1, Isaac Rodriguez

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis contains an original multi-movement work for orchestra. The music score is preceded by a theoretical analysis that examines the construction of the work including the expansion of various motives and themes, the use of variations, palindromes, and one example of axis of symmetry. It is hoped that this symphony, within a historical context, will find its way into the modern concert repertoire of the twenty-first century.

The Witch In The Woods: An Exploration Of Female Representation In Mexican American And Japanese Folklore, Sydni D. Salinas

Theses and Dissertations

An exploration of female archetypes that examines their display and representation in Mexican American and Japanese folklore. The study ties the two cultures together for the purpose of juxtaposing an older and younger culture utilizing folklore in similar ways of control over women’s narratives. It examines how a patriarchal culture’s folklore provides punishments through the medium of storytelling for transgressive or deviant women. When women act outside of their preferred archetypes or behavior in folklore, they are met with severe narrative consequences. The archetypes discussed in this thesis, “La Virgen Armada and the Final Girl,” “The Bride,” “The Sacrilegious …

Generational Gap: Tales From A Vaquero Fracasado, Shawn Michael Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations

Mexican American culture holds a strong grasp in the roots of South Texas. The proud Latino heritage is at the forefront of The Valley’s metaphorical cover page. Naturally, with such strong cultural influence comes adaptions of antiqued ways of living and the morality of a dying generation which is slowly losing their stronghold on the throats of the youth. The elders are used to a specific, and sometimes socially problematic, lifestyle that includes machismo, patriarchal sovereignty, and gender based roles that are fitting to a specific generational expectation.

This collection of writing aims to highlight the differences between the old …

No Middle Ground: Demagogic Rhetorical Practices At The Truth And Courage Bus Stop In Harlingen, Tx, Kymberly O. Morquecho

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the rhetorical and discursive strategies embraced by conservative politicians and their supporters on the campaign trail. Using Dr. Patricia Roberts-Miller’s definition of demagogic cultures coupled with the five markers, or tendencies, of these cultures, I explore how the speakers at the October 22, 2022 Truth and Courage PAC campaign rally in Harlingen, TX deployed these tactics to galvanize voters to vote for TX-34 Republican candidate Mayra Flores. Through a combination of descriptive and rhetorical analysis, I demonstrate how these presenters engage in demagogic and anti-democratic rhetorical moves to an audience of Hispanics. Lastly, I outline how these …

Abort Mission: An Audio Drama, Maribel Salome Sanchez

Theses and Dissertations

The culmination of the audio drama and its critical introduction focuses on the current political climate regarding abortion rights, media manipulation, and governmental control as well as Latinx representation in art and media. The script follows two sisters on their mission to create an undetected, underground abortion service in a quickly evolving American dystopia.

Inspired by multiple works of both screenplays, audio dramas, and novels, my work is meant to inspire radical change to minorities in a world where hope is quickly fading.

The Persistence Of Racist Violence In The Rio Grande Valley, 1921-1927, Vincent A. Larralde

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the conditions that led to the violence orchestrated by Texas Rangers during La Matanza, and how after the Porvenir Massacre of 1918, state reform initiatives resulted in an investigation of the Texas Rangers in 1919. As a result, they were reduced in force and capability, and modern-day scholars imply violence associated with La Matanza ceased in the Valley after that.

However, this thesis argues that racist violence did not disappear but continued in the 1920s. Posses continued the administration of racist violence and lynching against ethnic Mexicans. Therefore, this thesis examines one case in Cameron County in …

Intensa: Writings In English And Spanish From A Feminist Immigrant, Nubia Sarahi Reyna Melendez

Theses and Dissertations

INTENSA: WRITINGS IN ENGLISH AND SPANISH FROM A MEXICAN FEMINIST is a bilingual work written in hybrid literature. The writings, in both English and Spanish, are free prose poetry and tell the story of its narrator through a feminist and immigrant point of view coming from a overwhelmingly majority catholic country, religion that does not view men and women as equals. The thesis details the narrator's life through a feminist point of view as well as her relationship with her mother, her personal relationships, what it means to be an immigrant and what it is like for her, and many …

Growing Up Butchona On The Texas-Mexico Border A Marimacha Memoir, Julietta Rivera

Theses and Dissertations

Growing Up Butchona on the Border is a queer, Latina memoir that takes place on the Texas-Mexico border. This thesis is a journey in words and pictures that spans throughout an immigration crisis, a worldwide pandemic and the fallout that follows a world-wide lockdown; eventually leading down the rocky road to self-discovery. The thesis opens with a fictional account of Torita Torcida, a seven-year-old Honduran immigrant that makes her way across the Texas-Mexico border with her mother only to be ripped away from her when the truck they were smuggled in is seized by border patrol. Images and words come …

The Politics Of Sexual Assault On The Theatrical Stage: How Theatre For Social Change Challenges Systems Of Oppression, Gerry Rodriguez

Theses and Dissertations

The critical introduction analyzes how theatre has been used as a tool to directly address politics and influence social change. Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed has been of particular importance and influence in contemporary theatre which directly mirrors the failures of society by representing the people who are most affected. The purpose of theatre for social change is to accurately represent oppression within communities and inspire audiences to play an active role in finding solutions for these oppressive systems once they leave the comfort of the theatre. The critical introduction is followed by the full-length play, Victim Does Not …

Como Lo Recuerdo: A Remembrance Of Mexican Folk Songs From Our Residents’ Hearts, Arturo Treviño Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

Educators today face the challenge of finding either the individual in the community or the community in the individual. This study applies Jeff Titon's idea on communities as musical ecosystems to explore the sustainability of John A. Lomax's April 1939 Southern Collection field recordings, examining how and where these musical works exist in Brownsville, Texas today and investigating the meanings of these Mexican folk songs to Rio Grande Valley community members. In this work, I put the Lomax song collection in greater cultural, historical, and musical context, and argue that the songs can assist Rio Grande Valley individuals in both …

Recuerdos De Mi Niñez, Noel Barsenas

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis contains an original work for orchestra that features programmatic elements and musical gestures referencing previous generations of composers as well as other influential relatives of the author that are then recombined into a personal style. The document also contains commentary about the piece’s personal, historic, and cultural contexts, as well as a theoretical analysis addressing the form, structure, and harmonic content of the work.

Monsters & Men, Christopher Ernest Garcia

Theses and Dissertations

Monsters & Men is a collection of poetry and illustrations that explores the complex emotions associated with masculinity, grief, and personal development. I achieve this by heavily reflecting on my relationship with my late father and using this medium as an outlet to express my trauma in a healthy manner. How we perceive ourselves as men, and what is possible, is not reflected enough in society and I aim to be a proponent in stimulating the conversation revolving around men’s mental health. Men and the patriarchy impose themselves on others to the point where we need to address the unethical …

Dismembering Monstrous Metaphors In Latinx Speculative Fiction, Danielle Garcia-Karr

Theses and Dissertations

U.S. public discourse and popular media are rife with monstrous metaphors of Latinxs. This thesis argues that these gothic monstrous metaphors construct an affective economy of fear, which results in material violence and the devastation of Latinx lives. I further argue that to intervene within this affective economy, Latinx authors write speculative fiction, employing critical race methodologies, to negotiate monstrosity in relation to citizenship. In other words, speculative Latinx authors disidentify with monsters and enact epistemic disobedience, problematizing the known and naturalized and delinking Latinx people from monstrous metaphors to interrupt cycles of fear and violence. In exploring this metaphoric …

Mosaico De Fantasía: A Collection Of Microrrelatos And Short Stories, Jennifer Gutierrez

Theses and Dissertations

Art is subjective, as is the art of writing. Creating a piece of writing out of a fleeting thought is truly the most frightening yet fulfilling feeling there is for a writer. Entire universes with their own unique worlds, aesthetic verses littered with imagery to paint an intricate mental picture; each representing a brief scenario that my mind decided to fabricate out of nothingness. Though not everyone will love my work, my goal is to reach someone that might. Even if it’s just one person. I want them to read my work and think “This is pretty cool.” My …