Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Rhetoric Of Mom Blogs: A Study Of Mothering Made Public, Madeline Yonker

Writing Program – Dissertations

This dissertation examines the phenomenon of mom blogs to determine their handling of conventional motherhood and the rhetorical nature of their discourse. Unlike other prior studies of blogs and specifically of mom blogs, the dissertation examines both the blog entries themselves and the many comments such entries generate from readers.

In addition, it seeks to determine the values and rhetorical practices of any community that might be established through such blog commenting. To accomplish these aims, the dissertation focuses on the entries and comments from three particular blogs chosen to represent the network of mom bloggers.

The commonplaces or ideals …

Lesbians And Their Mothers: A Taiwanese Experience, Meng-Ning Wang

Marriage and Family Therapy - Dissertations

Many studies, both in the United States and in Taiwan, have explored how the coming-out experience influenced LGBT individuals and their families, and some studies have also addressed how their familial relationships have been shaped because of the experience. As a Taiwanese who has studied family therapy in the United States, my personal experience as well as research and professional interest brought me to conduct this qualitative study focusing on the experience of coming out in mother-daughter relationships in Taiwan. Nine dyads of mothers and daughters were interviewed and provided their retrospective accounts of their experience of disclosure and how …

The Body Machinic: Technology, Labor, And Mechanized Bodies In Victorian Culture, Jessica Kuskey

English - Dissertations

While recent scholarship focuses on the fluidity or dissolution of the boundary between body and machine, "The Body Machinic" historicizes the emergence of the categories of "human" and "mechanical" labor. Beginning with nineteenth-century debates about the mechanized labor process, these categories became defined in opposition to each other, providing the ideological foundation for a dichotomy that continues to structure thinking about our relation to technology. These perspectives are polarized into technophobic fears of dehumanization and machines "taking over," or technological determinist celebrations of new technologies as improvements to human life, offering the tempting promise of maximizing human efficiency. "The Body …

Pagkababae At Pagkalalake (Femininity And Masculinity): Developing A Filipino Gender Trait Inventory And Predicting Self-Esteem And Sexism, Vivienne Velez Valledor-Lukey

Child and Family Studies - Dissertations

This study focused on the construction of a gender trait inventory from a Filipino perspective, guided by social constructionist, symbolic interactionist, and feminist theories. Traits that were identified as being typical of Filipino men and women were grouped into positive (i.e., socially desirable) and negative (i.e., socially undesirable) subscales. Development and validity testing were conducted using data from 296 Filipino university students. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to develop the subscales of the instrument. The Filipino femininity subscale included positive traits such as being caring and supportive and negative traits such as being timid or keeping things to one's …

Managing The Divine Jurisdiction: Sacred Space And The Limits Of Law On The Temple Mount (1917-1948), Robert W. Nicholson

History - Theses

This paper probes the history of the Temple Mount complex during the British Mandate for Palestine. Approaching this sacred space from three different perspectives--British, Arab, and Jewish--the paper examines how people and events surrounding the site contributed to the evolution of Palestine after World War I. Ultimately, I argue that Britain's non-policy on the Temple Mount undermined the Mandate project and ultimately contributed to the rise of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Fearful of angering Muslims in Palestine and around the world, the British handed control of the space to an indigenous Arab-Muslim administration. This policy of "affirmative deference" allowed certain Muslim …

Paper Towns: Sense Of Place In Industrial, Small-Town New England, 1869-1927, David William Deacon

History - Dissertations

After the Civil War, new technologies and business structures transformed the American economy and society. One area that has received much attention in the antebellum period but much less after the Civil War, is small town New England. In the late 1860s, the introduction of wood pulp paper technology transformed formerly small market and manufacturing communities into centers of heavy industry. This dissertation is a study of this transformation. It focuses on three communities: Bellows Falls, Vermont, Franklin, New Hampshire, and Turners Falls, Massachusetts.

This study examines four broad areas: the historical background of the towns, and townspeople's awareness of …

Ideology, Truthmaking And Fundamentality, Anthony Robert James Fisher

Philosophy - Dissertations

In chapter 1 I outline two conceptions of ideology: ideological pessimism and ideological realism. Ideological pessimism is the view that ideological inquiry has dim prospects insofar as ideology is tied to meaning. Ideological realism is the view that there is a fact of the matter about which ideology is taken as primitive when attempting to describe reality correctly. I respond to an argument on behalf of ideological pessimism, develop ideological realism, and then defend it against an objection that attempts to derive the unpalatable consequence that a main dispute in the metaphysics of properties is verbal.

In chapter 2 I …

Thank You For Being A Friend: Women's Self-Disclosures And Social Support On Facebook, Emily A. Dolan

Media Studies - Theses

This study focused on women's self-disclosures on Facebook and how they functioned to both gain and give support on the site. After employing 17 textual analyses of participants' Facebook pages and 17 in-depth interviews, a variety of themes emerged in regards to how and why women give and seek support on the site, the types of information disclosed, and the benefits of self-disclosing to gain support on the site. More specifically, results indicate that gender role expectations, which for women include exhibiting behaviors that convey warmth, kindness and politeness, play a large role in giving and receiving support on the …

Terra Nova, An Experiment In Creating Cult Televison For A Mass Audience, Laura Osur

Media Studies - Theses

When it aired in Fall 2011 on Fox, Terra Nova was an experiment in creating a cult television program that appealed to a mass audience. This thesis is a case study of that experiment. I conclude that the show failed because of its attempts to maintain the sophistication, complexity and innovative nature of the cult genre while simultaneously employing an overly simplistic narrative structure that resembles that of mass audience programming. Terra Nova was unique in its transmedia approach to marketing and storytelling, its advanced special effects, and its dystopian speculative fiction premise. Terra Nova's narrative, on the other hand, …

History And Memory In Gettysburg, Jeffrey M. Parrotte

Media Studies - Theses

Media productions have often turned to history as a source for a narrative. Wars have been refought, kingdoms have risen and fallen, and significant moments have been replicated for documentaries, films, television shows, radio productions, and other live mediums. These presentations give audiences access to moments in history that might have otherwise been forgotten. With this access, research suggests audiences will actually learn from the presentations available. This study focuses on the types of information available in a historical film.

The study is a textual analysis the 1993 film Gettysburg, one of the most well-known and best remembered films about …

Moral Luck, Patrick A. Beach

Philosophy - Dissertations

The problem of moral luck arises because of an apparent conflict between the luck that humans face, the pervasiveness of moral considerations in our lives, and the idea that moral responsibility requires a level of control that luck robs them of. The claim is that we cannot be governed by luck and be morally responsible. The notions of luck and moral responsibility are developed, and several solutions to the problem of moral luck are discussed and rejected. Finally, a solution is offered that dissolves the problem. In particular, the luck that affects an agent's moral standing comes from the choices …

Political Emotions: Toward A Fresh Perspective On Collective Emotion In Composition Work, Ingrid Jonna Gilfus

Writing Program – Dissertations

This dissertation examines theories of emotion in politically contentious discourse in order to better understand the implications for teachers and students in composition classrooms where critical pedagogical practices lead to contentious political work. I suggest that partly as a result of the social and political turn in composition studies, the expectation for disrupting the normative political values and beliefs of students has become part of the curriculum in many writing classrooms. Yet teachers and students charged with such learning goals may be largely unaware of and unprepared for the role emotion might play in this teaching and learning situation. I …

Food For Thought: Sustainability, Community-Engaged Teaching And Research, And Critical Food Literacy, Dianna Winslow

Writing Program – Dissertations

Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation. Marion Nestle's Food Politics. Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. The films Food, Inc. and The Future of Food. Debates over the industrialized food and farming system currently circulating in nonfiction books, documentaries, and public forums have immediacy for college students--and for anyone who eats. Food for Thought: Sustainability, Community-Engaged Teaching and Critical Food Literacy argues that fostering the development of critical food literacy is necessary for college students to have a voice in current and future public conversations on food politics and environmental sustainability, and the social …

The Immanent Body: A Thematic Study Of The Logic Of Immanence In Christology, Philosophy And Aesthetics, Francis J. Sanzaro Iii

Religion - Dissertations

This dissertation is comprised of two sections: 1) "The Immanent Body in Late Antiquity": an analysis of late ancient christology, Stoicism and philosophy; 2) "The Extended Body: Aesthetics": depictions of monastic bodies in late medieval, Renaissance and contemporary art.

I. The thesis of this dissertation can be stated as follows: the conditions under which immanence is thinkable in relation to bodies are found in conceptual personae. Contemporary philosopher Gilles Deleuze's concept of conceptual personae, developed in conjunction with French theorist Felix Guattari, helps navigate the complex relationship between bodies and ontology developed by these three ancient thinkers. In order to …

An Essay On The Ontology Of Reasons, Jeremy Anon Dickinson

Philosophy - Dissertations

I argue that many recent anti-psychologistic accounts of agential reasons are unsatisfactory. I also argue that psychologistic accounts are false. Then I develop and defend an anti-psychologistic, propositionalist theory of reasons whereby agential reasons are propositions. I also develop a corresponding anti-psychologistic account of reason-explanation that is able to help resolve some of the more difficult problems for theories of anti-psychologism. Next, I argue for a Russellian theory of propositionalism. Finally, I argue against teleological theories of reasons.

"Carneys Point" - A Short Film, Alexander Parkin

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Carneys Point is a fifteen minute short film shot on 16mm film that tells the story of a woman's life, fractured into three facets each representing an important crossroad of a single life: the disenchanting prelude to the coming of age, the anxiety of motherhood, and the mental decay of old age.

The film is divided into three vignettes, which overlap to paint a multi-layered portrait of a woman, a trilogy of the human spirit, heart, and mind.

One is the story of a little girl who is obsessed with flight and dreams of escape. Though she has the naïve …

Journey: Students' Perspectives On Studying Abroad, Rachel Tjornehoj

Honors Capstone Projects - All

How can I share my entire study abroad experience in a short article? With all of the photos, stories, challenges, new experiences, comparisons and travels from a year abroad, it can’t be done. In a series of short articles, however, it is possible to catch a glimpse of all of the opportunities available when one decides to study abroad. For “Journey” magazine, I compiled stories from a variety of students’ study abroad experiences to show the diverse opportunities and possibilities available through study abroad. As more and more students study abroad and travel to new countries, the range of possibilities …

Lightning In A Bottle: A History Of The Syracuse Writing Program, 1986-1996, Laura J. Davies

Writing Program – Dissertations

Lightning in a Bottle: A History of the Syracuse Writing Program, 1986-1996, is directed by Louise Wetherbee Phelps and Collin Gifford Brooke. This historical study of the Syracuse Writing Program's administrative structures for contingent faculty focuses on professional development and evaluation systems for the Writing Program's part-time writing instructors. The study draws on archival methodology, using saved administrative documents from the Syracuse Writing Program and retrospective interviews of past members of the Syracuse University Writing Program. This history is influenced and contextualized through scholarship on contingent faculty labor, writing program administration, and the establishment of stand-alone writing programs. The goal …

An Inspired Romance: An Exploration Of The Lives And Work Of Artists Alfred Stieglitz And Georgia O’Keeffe, Dana Janell Lindsay

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Statement Question: How did the evolution of the artists’ relationship affect their individual work?

• With an emphasis the couple’s public and private persona, and its development over time.

The work begins with a brief biography of both artists, Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O’Keeffe; providing an overview of their childhoods, education, and work, during the development of Modernism in the first half of the twentieth century. The work emphasizes the process by which Stieglitz facilitated the transition from pictorialism to modernism, his development of the period’s ideal female artist, and the opening of his famed avant-garde galleries. The work will also …

Mouth's Cradle Presents: Wisdom Teeth, Kevin Hegedus

Honors Capstone Projects - All

[See attached document for abstract]

The Accused, Nathan Damon Hopper

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Exonerations are increasing, largely thanks to the advent of DNA evidence, which several prisoners’ rights advocacy groups, like the Innocence Project, have used to prove the innocence of the convicted. But returning home after spending years imprisoned for a wrongful conviction brings with it several types of challenges: psychological, financial, and simply personal.

Roy Brown, the main subject of this story (though there are several other important characters) is an incredibly intricate man. Before his 25-to-life sentence for the murder of a county social worker, he’d faced several other convictions for a slew of misbehavings and a general disregard for …

Designing And Producing Citrine: A Reflective Essay On Designing A Fashion Collection And My Personal Fashion Philosophy, Samantha E. Davis

Honors Capstone Projects - All

After four months of extensive creative research and material sourcing, a 6-piece spring/summer ready-to-wear fashion collection came into creation to celebrate the modern woman. Bold, graphic, versatile, and feminine describe both the collection and the woman of today who balances discipline and a vivacious passion for life and humanity. All-natural textile fibers of silk, cotton, and various laser cut leathers were utilized to create the collection of day-to-evening wear constructed by Samantha Davis.

- Inter - An Examination Of Potential, John Cardone

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Nothing exists that we cannot perceive, nothing is ours that we have not made, and nothing has meaning that we have not given. In order to foster a more active participation in the collaborative act of creation in which mankind engages every day, we must engage in art practices that are completely dependent on interaction and investment. The value of artwork is not derived from its original material but from the energy invested in it and the significance that it gathers from each hand through which it passes. None of us exists in vacuum; instead, all creation relies on collaboration …

Hue Magazine, Sadé Khadijah Muhammed

Honors Capstone Projects - All

HUE magazine is a print title dedicated toward the uplift and synergy of women of color in America. At present, there is no publication that makes a conscious effort to not single out women of color in specific ethnic groups, but instead to talk to all of them simultaneously.

At its core, HUE’s target audience is first generation women of color between the ages of 18-25. It is a lifestyle magazine with stories in fashion, beauty, love, culture, health, entrepreneurship, and more. The goal is for the magazine to appeal to the girl in us all who loves fashion and …

Connecting The Peaces: Working To Make The World A Better Place – The Encompass Journey Of Understanding, Alison Sara Kurtzman

Honors Capstone Projects - All

On October 12, 2002, the Indonesian island of Bali experienced the worst terrorist attack in the country’s history. 202 people were killed when a bomb was detonated outside of a nightclub in the tourist city of Kuta. Among those killed was Daniel Braden, a young British man who was in Bali for a rugby tournament. Daniel’s parents believed that the attack happened because the majority of people in the nightclub were white and therefore viewed as “the enemy.” They believed that if young people had the opportunity to meet and speak with people different from themselves a lot of terrorist …

Whisper Out Loud: Forbidden Topics In China, Meng Shui

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Whisper Out Loud, Forbidden Topics in China, is an exhibit of art works based on forbidden topics in China mostly around 2010 and 2011. The exhibited collection consisted of two paintings, three sculptures and two installations. The reflective essay talks about the creation of each piece, the stories and meanings behind them, as well as the inspiration, organization and impact of the show as a whole, including images and documentations of the art works.

Medusa Magazine, Hannah Kristin Warren

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Medusa Magazine is a student-run campus publication, co-founded by the author of this project and Samantha Lifson, a 2011 graduate of Syracuse University. The idea for the magazine came together over the summer and fall of 2009, with Medusa gaining official status as a Recognized Student Organization in the spring of 2010. The first issue was printed in April of 2010, and we have published two issues per semester since.

The process of Medusa’s creation involved the drafting of our constitution as a student organization, numerous meetings with Bethany Piraino, our consultant within the Office of Student Activities, to ensure …

Reimagining The Visual Communications Of The Westcott Community Center, Kathryn Jean Marren

Honors Capstone Projects - All

I sought to redesign and reimagine the visual materials produced by the Westcott Community Center, a nonprofit organization that serves the local Westcott area as well as the entire metropolitan Syracuse area. The Westcott Community Center is a venue for classes, dramatic performances, celebrations, community meetings, and more.

The Westcott Community Center has many diverse programs and events and is truly an asset to the community. I wanted to update their materials to convey a sense of cohesiveness as well as a more sophisticated and organized design aesthetic. I redesigned the Center’s logo and volunteer application, created a stationery system, …

The Royal Monastery Of Tsuklakhang – A Buddhist Jewel, Katharine Louise James

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Originating in India, Buddhism has spread throughout the world, eventually developing into two main branches known as Theravada and Mayahana. Within these two branches, Buddhism has further diversified its teachings with the establishment of numerous schools, each promoting their own sutras with different approaches to enlightenment. One such sect is Tibetan Buddhism, which has disseminated beyond the political boundaries of Tibet, promoting its teachings in parts of India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Sikkim. Sikkimese monastic structures evolved from and within the practice of Tibetan Buddhism, while simultaneously incorporating the indigenous living cultures of the Sikkimese local people. The royal monastery of …

Penance: A Novel, Rachel Anne Weiser

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Penance is a fictional novel written both as an Honors Capstone project and as a work that will be further revised and eventually submitted for professional publication.

The novel is set in modern day, in the fictional southern city of Avington. Avington, like the rest of the world, is home to a group of terrifying creatures called the nephilim, a name derived from Hebrew, meaning “the fallen.” The nephilim are humans who once died and were reborn as undead creatures; because of their insatiable thirst for human life energy, they are considered demons with the faces of men. Despite the …