Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Acquisition Of Variation In Future Time Expression By High School Student Learners Of Spanish In Upstate New York, Erika E. Clarkin

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The present dissertation sets out to investigate the acquisition of variation in future-time expression by English speakers L2 learners of Spanish in a high school setting. I explore the variable use of the morphological future, the periphrastic future, and the present indicative to express the future time in Spanish by the participants. A total of 2,282 tokens were collected at three different times during the school year. The participants were attending year six of Spanish instruction. The study takes into consideration previously published research on the use of future markers by native speakers and by non-native speakers. The present study …

Interactions Between Jefferson County Iroquoian Women And Men As Explored Through Social Network Analysis Of Pottery And Pipe Decorative Motif Traits, Jessica L. Vavrasek

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Pottery and pipe decorative motifs are generally thought to change across time, space, and group affiliation. While pipes and pottery have been extensively study using various methods, they have only recently been studied in present-day New York, southern Ontario, and Quebec (Northern Iroquoia) using social network analysis. Analyses to date have primarily focused on Pan-Iroquoian networks rather than on regions within Northern Iroquoia. To better understand the Jefferson County Iroquoians living in and around present-day Jefferson County, New York, social network analysis methods have begun to be utilized to analyze pottery and pipe decorative motifs to elucidate village interactions within …

Los Aleluyas: A Socio-Cultural History Of The Apostolic Movement In The Rio Grande Valley, Mauro Sierra Iii

Theses and Dissertations

The history of the Apostolic Assembly of the Faith in Christ Jesus, Inc. of the Rio Grande Valley is one that is unknown by many people. As a matter of fact, even many members of this movement do not know their own history, because it is not something that they are taught to appreciate. The purpose of this thesis is to inform, not only the members of the Apostolic Assembly of their history, but to teach non-members and historians interested in the Rio Grande Valley region the intertwined history of Apostolicos with that of the region and part of the …

Retratos De Las Criollas: Fashioning An Identity In Eighteenth-Century Bourbon New Spain And Peru, Daniel F. Ymbong

Theses and Dissertations

This master's thesis will examine the iconographies of elite Creole women in Bourbon eighteenth-century New Spain and Peru. This paper is a comparative study of the colonial regal portraits of elite Creole women with emphasis on preferences in: dress, hair, and accessories.

Much of the pictorial format is informed by European styles and decorum, that is the Spanish and Italian Renaissance in materiality. The prevailing silhouettes dictated by the French Bourbons are adapted, but strategically morphed an identity for the colonial elites, as there were different preferences for colors, accessories, and hair.

Music, Dance, And Tourism In Los Cabos, Mexico, Melanie E. Davis

Theses and Dissertations

For a thriving music and dance scene to flourish in tourist destinations, certain factors for performers must be present including economic stability, a baseline level of patronage, resilience to seasonal tourist fluctuations, and adaptation to demographic changes over time. In the Los Cabos arts community, local aesthetics are transformed and embodied by work of performers whose activities are multicultural and multilingual. Over the past fifty years, Los Cabos was transformed from a sleepy fishing village into a major international destination. The island-inspired arts scene includes live performances featuring cultural representations from other lands besides Mexico. Grounded in the humanities, I …

Art Of Katharsis: A Study Of Creating Abstract Expressionist Art In The Quest For Emotional Release And Healing, Maria Fatima Lai

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis paper discusses the art seen in the exhibition, Katharsis, is a body of work inspired in the quest to validate suppressed emotions pulling from personal experiences of grief and abandonment. The methodology behind the work explores the artistic process that enables the transformation of pain and grief. The research is guided by understanding the artist’s process through therapeutic methods found in abstract expressionism. Art produced in pain, allowed a process of healing and honest forgiveness. The vicious cycle of feeling trapped in the idea of letting go when you have not allowed yourself to understand, threatens the …

Healing And Resistance Through Humor: A Literary And Cultural Analysis Of Chicana And Latina Cultural Production, Victoria E. Valdez

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes elements of humor used by Chicana cultural producers (poets, performance artists, stand up comediennes) to subvert negative stereotypes of Chicanas. Chicana humorists have challenged harmful images of Mexican American women through poetry, prose, performances, and stand-up comedy. While Américo Paredes created a scholarly foundation for the study of Chicano humor, it is evident that Chicanos and members of dominant society mock Chicanas with their brand of humor. I argue writers like Michele Serros and Lorna Dee Cervantes resist dichotomous Chicana imagery and instead create and add to Chicana representation with humor. This thesis examines performance artist Maria …

The Witch, The Blonde, And The Cultural "Other": Applying Cluster Criticism To Grimm And Disney Princess Stories, Valerie F. Garza

Theses and Dissertations

The Brothers Grimm and the Walt Disney Company have produced popular fairy tales for large audiences. In this work, cluster criticism—a rhetorical criticism that involves identifying key terms and charting word clusters around those terms—is applied to four Grimm fairy tales and four Disney princess films. This study aims to reveal the worldview of the rhetors and explore how values present in Grimm tales manifest in contemporary Disney films. Disney princess films in this study have been categorized as “White/European” and “Non-White/Cultural ‘Other.’” Because film is a form of non-discursive rhetoric, an adaptation of cluster criticism designed for film was …

Lunatics And Idiots: Treatment Of The Mentally Ill And Mentally Disabled Population In The Rio Grande Valley, 1860-1962, Emily Gray

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the conditions the mentally ill and mentally disabled population in the Rio Grande Valley faced during the era of the asylum in the United States, from 1860 until 1962. The treatment options for the citizens of the Rio Grande Valley are compared with the treatment of the mentally ill in the nation as a whole, as well as in the state of Texas. The Rio Grande Valley has been geographically distant from large population centers, and the state of Texas neglected to place any state-funded health care centers in the region until the 1960's. The Rio Grande …

Samuel Adams And John Hancock: The Relationship That Determined The Formation Of America, Bruce D. Griffiths

Theses and Dissertations

This paper argues that the relationship between Samuel Adams and John Hancock and their cooperation played critical/pivotal roles, especially in garnering New England support for the beginning of the American Revolution as well as the ratification of the Constitution.

Hocicona, Contestona, Repelona: Breaking The Silence Through Testimonio A Collection Of Prose And Poetry, Valerie Ann Leal Cerda

Theses and Dissertations

Testimonio of a first generation Mexican American navigating a duel identity, and examining the clash of two cultures and languages through personal experiences in a collection of prose and poetry.

Place And Displacement: The Unsettling Connection Of Women, Property, And The Law In British Novels Of The Long Nineteenth Century, Claudia J. Martin

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

This study examines how British novels produced during the long nineteenth century, the period from 1750 to 1919, represent thetenuous connection of women to property and place. A paradox of the era was that while women tended to be relegated to theconfines of the domestic realm as daughters, sisters, wives, or widows, it was also a home that they could not or did not own, and in which their continued residence was dependent upon the largesse of others, making them vulnerable to displacement. Thedichotomy between home and homelessness creates the dynamic tension that drives many plots of the long nineteenth …

The Origins And Development Of John F. Kennedy And Lyndon B. Johnson's Perceptions Of American Foreign Policy Toward East Asia, Juan C. Razo Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

The administrations of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson focused extensively on foreign affairs in East Asia related to China, Laos, and Vietnam. Examining the development of their respective perceptions proved instrumental in comprehending their approaches to the geopolitics of the region. The overall structure of this thesis includes an analysis of their tenure in Congress, a breakdown of the first-half of Kennedy’s presidency, an emphasis on the transition period between Kennedy and Johnson, an examination of Johnson’s presidency, and concluding with a detailed comparison of their foreign policy toward East Asia. Their differing perceptions to the regional geopolitics …

The Smuggler Journals: Transgressing And Policing The Border In The Rio Grande Valley, Lupe Alberto Flores

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis summarizes recent human smuggling scholarship and provides ethnographic insights into migrant smuggling in a border zone that is my home. Through exploring my own experiences and observations of smuggling and militarized border policing, and those of other interlocutors in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, I advance nuanced understandings of the symbiotic processes of irregular migration and of the people who brokerage a great deal of these journeys across militarized borders. I analyze fieldnotes that highlight the quotidian realms in which gender and power play out when irregular migration takes place and argue that acts of border …

Building A History: A Case Study Of Manufactured History In Texas, Gregg L. Carter

Theses and Dissertations

Building a History is a case study that seeks to examine Texas mytho-history, and the subsequent historical memory it engenders, from the perspective of Nationalism. Specifically, this paper addresses two periods in Texas’ historical past—beginning with the period of Anglo colonialization of Texas and the subsequent rebellion against Mexican authority, (1820–1836), and transitioning to the progressive era, (1890–1936).

This thesis demonstrates that during progressive era, Anglo-Texans began manufacturing an alternative historical narrative that blended Judeo-Christian and Puritan mytho-symbolism with Euro-centric notions of socio-political and ethnic superiority. This process of manufacturing and legitimizing historical myth in Texas reveals a characteristic similarity …

Hablando De Negocios: Three Rio Grande Valley Businesses During The Great Depression, 1929-1939, Karla A. Lira

Theses and Dissertations

The Rio Grande Valley is in the South most tip of Texas and borders Northern Mexico, it includes Willacy, Cameron, Hidalgo, and Starr Counties. Scholars have focused on gender, agriculture, and labor of the area. However, historians have failed to research the region through a business perspective during the Great Depression. This thesis then seeks to analyze ways in which the Great Depression affected the Rio Grande Valley through the research of two stores and one business in the area: The Manuel Guerra Store, Edelstein’s furniture store, and John Shary’s land selling business. Its objective will fill an existing gap …

Forgot My Tribe: Meditations On Hip Hop And La Frontera, Arnulfo Daniel Segovia

Theses and Dissertations

This study of my life untangles threads of influence which have brought me to my present state of being. I utilize autohistoria-teoria to reflect on the processes of learning and schooling in my life, and weigh them against processes of unlearning and deschooling which I explore through hip hop ways of being – all of which are rooted in my life’s process of coming to love the Rio Grande Valley. This effort is to find solid ground to stand upon as I set off from an academic journey into civilian life with a central concern: At the individual level, how …

Elevating My Chicana Feminist Consciousness Through The United States' First Female Show Mariachi, Monica A. Fogelquist

Theses and Dissertations

Mariachi Reyna de Los Ángeles is widely recognized as the premier all-female mariachi in the world. In my thesis, I examine the gendered implications of a female group directed by a man and their relation to Mexican and Mexican American gender ideologies. Many of the ideas on gender roles traditionally inculcated in previous generations of Mexican and Mexican Americans are still manifest in the ways in which the group functions. Through my personal testimony as a former member, and accounts by other past and present members of Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles, I argue that Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles …

Phoenix Ink: Psychodynamic Motivations For Tattoo Attainment By Survivors Of Trauma, December Renee Maxwell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Tattoos adorn people from all over the world and date back as far as the Stone Age. Tattoos adorn people from all over the world and motivations for tattoo attainment have been studied recently. Still, there remains limited research on the potential therapeutic properties of tattoo attainment, particularly for survivors of sexual trauma. The purpose of this study was to investigate the experience of the tattoo process for survivors of sexual trauma and their motivations for tattoo attainment. This qualitative exploratory study interviewed both survivors of sexual trauma (N=10) and tattoo artists (N=7) to gain a wider perspective on the …

Remote Sensing Insights Into Storage Capacities Among Plains Village Horticulturalists, Adam Wiewel

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Maize was a fundamental component of the diet and economy of Middle Missouri Plains Village groups, sedentary farmers with settlements along the Missouri River during the last millennia. More than a century of study has contributed to our understanding of agricultural production among these peoples, but little effort has been made to consider temporal variation in production. Such an understanding is crucial to examining changes that occurred before and after the arrival of colonists and their trade goods in the seventeenth century. Plains archaeologists have suggested that the storage capacity of Middle Missouri villages increased during the sixteenth through the …

Cultural Reimagining And Literary Voice: Southeastern Tribal Women Negotiate Cultural, Social, And Political Identity Through Literature, Linda Sue Shaffer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines literature written by women who identify with Native tribes that originally inhabited, and in some cases continue to inhabit, the southeastern area of what is now known as the United States. The analysis presented in each chapter applies tribally specific methods used for creating knowledge within the particular discourse community being represented through literature. The project also employs the perspectives of Native literary scholars to consider the ways in which the roles and lives of Native women have been influenced by Euro-American values and to analyze the ways in which these female authors engage literature as a …

Statements In Stone: The Politics Of Architecture In Charlemagne's Aachen, Mary Katherine Tipton

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Statements in Stone is an intersectional and preliminary study of the architecture and Social aspects of the palatine complex of Aachen Germany during the reign of Charlemagne approximately spanning from the 790s to 814CE. The interplay between built space and its Social uses inform the larger Social understandings and interpretations of power and authority. Court poetry written by contemporaries and courtiers of Charlemagne allow readers to glimpse the court as it moved through and interacted with the built environment. Architectural precedents inform the connotations associated with the spaces of Aachen, while spatial theory will provide a framework for understanding the …

Refusing To Be Dispossessed: African American Land Retention In The Us South From Reconstruction To World War Ii, Camille Goldmon

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

African Americans in the South were tied to the land during slavery and after emancipation. Many felt that land ownership was the key to freedom. For decades, black farmers strove for land ownership, in many cases falling prey to sharecropping and tenancy agreements in the meantime. Despite this drive toward independent farming, however, since 1920, there has been a steady decline in the number of black farm owners. This trend is especially prevalent in the Southern United States. The black farm owners who persevered through periods of economic, social, and political turmoil were able to, for varying reasons, navigate those …

Exploring Winery Operation As A Diversification Option For Native American Tribal Enterprises, Randi M. Combs

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to examine the perceptions of tribal members regarding the strengths, challenges, and opportunities presented by tribal winery operation. Specifically, issues of business diversification, marketing, perceived barriers to success, potential benefits to the tribe, and the role of agriculture in the preservation of tribal heritage were considered. A modified mixed-methods exploratory sequential research model was used to collect and organize data in two phases. Phase 1 quantitative data was used to inform the development of a Phase 2 qualitative interview protocol. Phase 1 found a significant relationship between a higher income level and a lower …

The Net Of Nostalgia: Class, Culture, And Political Alienation And Nostalgia In Contemporary Latino And South Asian American Literature, Farzana Akhter

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Generally thought of as a yearning for recent past, or homesickness, nostalgia is seen as a sentiment that impairs living in the present. And in case of immigrants, nostalgia is thought of as a debilitating form of escapism and an inability to adapt to change and mobility. In this dissertation, contesting against the prevalent concept, I argue that immigrant nostalgia is neither a colored memory (Dyson 117) nor a romance with one’s own fantasy (Boym xiii); rather, immigrant nostalgia has a socio-economic and political underpinning. By exploring the various nuances of immigrant experience delineated in the literary works of South …

The Gloria E. Anzaldúa Journey: Path To Conocimiento A Testimonio Of Queer Heroics, Veronica Solis

Theses and Dissertations

As an auto-historia testimonio, I approach my work from my experience with performance poetry where I used my personal experiences to express the continuum of gender through poetry. I also draw from Gloria Anzaldúa’s “path of conocimiento” as a framework for my narrative stories as queer rites of passage.

Through Northern Eyes: Robert E. Lee And The Northern Press, Steven D. Sheller

Theses and Dissertations

Most historians would agree that it is an anomaly in history how Robert E. Lee became an American icon. General Lee was the commander of a rebel army that was trying to split the country he had once loyally served into two. Even after being defeated at the Battle of Appomattox, instead of Lee suffering the normal fate of all failed revolutionaries, he was pardoned and allowed to continue to live in his native Virginia. Over a short amount of time after General Lee’s death he was elevated from rebel to hero. The origins of this can be traced back …

Reclaiming The Dark: Defining Darkness As Feminist Agency Within The Garden Of Eden, "Never Marry A Mexican," And Selected Social Media Platforms, Teresa Hernandez

Theses and Dissertations

My thesis explores Ernest Hemingway’s The Garden of Eden (1986), Sandra Cisneros’ “Never Marry a Mexican” (1991), and the social media platforms of Tomi Lahren, The Root, and Xicanisma on Facebook and Instagram . In my exploration of these texts and platforms, I define darkness within its multiple definitions primarily via the theme of destruction, sexuality, and/or a literal racial, physical darkness. Furthermore, in this project I challenged the traditionally pejorative analysis of darkness within American literature and provided a chronological presentation of the transformative function darkness imparts on these two texts and selected social media platforms. Ultimately, reclaiming …

How To Live: Growing Up As A Brown Gay Boy In A Conservative, Traditional And Christian Homophobic Family, Felipe Vasquez

Theses and Dissertations

How to Live: Growing Up as a Brown Gay Boy in a Conservative, Traditional Christian and Homophobic Family chronicles the life of one brown, gay boy as he navigated culture, racism, religion and traditional family values growing up. Felipe Vasquez, the boy, narrator and author, analyzes events in his life which guided his choices and left lasting impressions. In the chapters hereby presented, he deals with being gay in a machismo culture, being Latino in the 80s, 90s and present day United States and dealing with mental health in a culture that tends to misunderstand mental illness.

Modern Palestinian Filmmaking In A Global World, Sarah Frances Hudson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation employs a comprehensive approach to analyze the cinematic accent of feature length, fictional Palestinian cinema and offers concrete criteria to define the genre of Palestinian fictional film that go beyond traditional, nation-centered approaches to defining films. Employing Arjun Appardurai’s concepts of financescapes, technoscapes, mediascapes, ethnoscapes, and ideoscapes, I analyze the filmic accent of six Palestinian filmmakers: Michel Khleifi, Rashid Masharawi, Ali Nassar, Elia Suleiman, Hany Abu Assad, and Annemarie Jacir. After a detailed examination of each filmmaker’s body of work, I examine the trends that occur across the genre that have the greatest impact on the Palestinian filmic …