Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Margarita As Supernatural Woman: Bulgakov's Subversion Of The Superfluous Man In The Master And Margarita, Jana Marie Domanico

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The paper explores the shifting definitions of the superfluous man through Russian history through the 19th century up until the Soviet era. The paper then examines Mikhail Bulgakov's subversion of the character trope in The Master and Margarita through his creation of Margarita, the supernatural woman. The author critiques Bulgakov's character Margarita through a feminist lens and then proceeds to examine work from Russian female writers who are historically undervalued. By comparing The Master and Margarita to the work of Teffi and Tatyana Tolstaya, the author hopes to reveal that in their use of Russian folklore and magical realism, the …

Amoral Antagonists: Interrogating The Myth Of The West In Cormac Mccarthy's Fiction, John Thomas Arthur

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The history of the American West, of conquering the frontier, forms the very backbone of national identity in the United States. Cormac McCarthy's southwestern works probe the Western mythic: Blood Meridian, No Country for Old Men, and his screenplay The Counselor offer an alternative to the romantic, antiseptic Western American tradition, exposing the necessary complexity of a realm that cannot be encapsulated in the binary dualism that has so long defined it.

The amoral nature of Cormac McCarthy's antagonists demonstrates that the story of expansion is more complex than is/has been typically understood, both by scholars and the …

Advancing Sylvia Wynter's Reimagination Of The Human And Counter-Poetics: A Critique Of Contemporary Western Science Discourse In Cosmos—A Spacetime Odyssey, With Host Neil Degrasse Tyson, Claire E. Slattery-Quintanilla

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the entanglements of "modernity/coloniality," Western conceptualizations of time and space, and questions of the "human" as they are situated in contemporary Western science discourse and thought. Through a textual analysis of the 2014 science television documentary series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey presented by famous black astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, I argue Tyson refuses to discuss race as it relates to Western science on three levels in Cosmos: the racialized logic inherent in Western science, the sociohistorical relationship between European colonial racial subjugation and the emergence of contemporary Western science, and Tyson's experience as a black man …

Women's Hit Cheating Songs: Country Music And Feminist Change In American Society, 1962-2015, Madeline Rachel Morrow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines songs about cheating performed by women in country music that appeared on year-end country songs charts in Billboard magazine from 1962 through 2015. The study of a total of fifty qualifying songs included a focus on their lyrical and musical content, the performers' personae and careers, and the way the particular outside factors of feminism and changing gender relations in American society may have influenced them. These songs do not show a purely linear progression of or emphasis on social change, in spite of country music's pride in conveying the truth about the lives of its songwriters, …

Selfhood, Historical Consciousness, And The State In International Relations Theory, Edinson Oquendo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work seeks to examine the role of the state in international relations. While international relations treat states as institutions endowed with agency, they lack any means of explaining how the state can gain agency, autonomy, and rationality.

My dissertation seeks to reorient the theoretical assumptions of international relations in two ways. I develop a theory of the of the state that seeks to explain the mechanisms by which individuals are able to form collective social institutions and to endow them with authority and agency. I examine the relationship of the individuals to collective bodies such as states that can …

Doing Good In Guatemala: Perceptions Of Voluntourism In San Juan Comalapa, Samantha Grace Hagan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an exploration of host community perceptions of volunteer tourism in the context of a small community in the highlands of Guatemala called San Juan Comalapa. Voluntourism acts as a bridge between development aid and traditional tourism and therefore voluntourism organizations should act as both roles in the community. In this research I found that voluntourism organizations, particularly one organization called Long Way Home, can lean more towards one role than another in the eyes of members of the host community. Based on these findings I recommend that these organizations embrace these dual roles and engage the community …

"Maybe Jesus Was Suicidal Too": A Qualitative Inquiry Into Religion And Spirituality In Suicide Attempts, Elizabeth Ryan Hall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Among the current trends in suicidology that hold promise for suicide prevention are a focus on new areas for empirical exploration and the employment of creative methodologies to ascertain these phenomena. One such area is religion, along with its more enigmatic counterpart, spirituality. Suicidological research has long demonstrated that people who are religiously involved tend to be more protected from suicide than those who are not, yet it has been less attentive to the conditions under which religion or spirituality fails to inhibit suicidality. In the decades since Durkheim's renowned 1897 study, the majority of the related research has taken …

"Revolution In Religious Language": The Relevance Of Julia Kristeva's Theory Of 'Signifiance' For Theology, Timothy O. Inman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation applies Julia Kristeva's theory of revolution in the practice of signifiance to religious discourse. In particular, it argues that the salient features of signifiance are present and active in religious speech as well as poetic language, the subject of Kristeva's doctoral thesis Revolution in Poetic Language. Signifiance describes the process in which meaning is produced in linguistic utterance, and its intentional practice is subversive not only in terms of language but culture in general.

A Raucous Entertainment: Melodrama, Race, And The Search For Moral Legibility In Nineteenth-Century America, Sarah M. Olivier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Gathering together episodes from American theater history, my dissertation focuses on the destabilizing identities and paradoxical resolutions of so-called "Indian" and slavery plays to address nineteenth-century melodrama's fundamental engagement with race. Melodrama is a spectacular form that uses iconic images to move audiences to feel powerful emotions and to assign moral legibility to societal problems. Given the significant role of territorial expansion and chattel slavery in US history, race has always presented Americans with crucial moral dilemmas. Melodrama has long provided a dominant mode of representation for addressing such dilemmas that hinges upon racially inflected conceptions of good and evil. …

"The Sudden Thrill Of That Change": Framing George Eliot's Social Vision, Cyrus Seaberry Frost

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although scholarly commentary of the last decade has engaged more intensively than ever with the content of George Eliot's ideas concerning nineteenth-century British culture, the devices and techniques Eliot employs in the transmission of those ideas remain less explored. Consequently, room exists for a study as attentive to the formal characteristics of Eliot's messages as recent scholars have been to the content of those messages. This dissertation seeks to elucidate the ways in which specific formal techniques that characterize Eliot's fictional work evince her engagement with the thinking of social theorists, particularly Ludwig Feuerbach. The project contends that Eliot internalizes …

Catholic Literary Theory: The Conditional Existentialism Of Four Protagonists And Their Creators, Jacob Patrick Pride

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

According to Catholic literary theory, the novelist, like the Divine Mystery to a certain extent, creates her characters freely and free with the possibility and probability that they may speak against their creator and even finally rebel. This dissertation reflects upon the relative infiniteness of four literary authors - Flannery O'Connor, Mary McCarthy, Walker Percy, and Cormac McCarthy. In the three novels and one imaginative memoir considered in particular, these authors create their existentialist protagonists, who in their turn reflect the conditional existentialism of their creators. This dissertation, thus, seeks to resurrect, with modern sensibilities, the pre-renaissance and renaissance commonplace …

Ancestral Queerness: Normativity And Deviance In The Abraham And Sarah Narratives, Gil Rosenberg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Interpreters of the Abraham and Sarah narratives in Gen 11-21 often focus on the importance of the line of inheritance, through a particular biological child. While they also note the many irregularities in Abraham and Sarah's familial relationships and activities, there has been no sustained attention to the combination of deviance and normativity that characterizes these narratives. I argue that, due to their particular combinations of normativity and deviance, Abraham and Sarah are Queer, where Queer is a general, cross-cultural category which includes but is not limited to contemporary forms of queerness (e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, etc.).

Using …

The Dynamics Of Community Museums And Their Communities: Museo De Las Americas' Spanish Happy Hour Fostering Social Inclusion For The Latino And Denver Metro Area Communities, Maritza Hernandez-Bravo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many museums are now aspiring to collaborate and engage with Latino communities and the community as a whole. Due to Museo de las Americas status as a community museum, I predicted that I would find a collaborative effort already occurring between the institution and their community, which can aid in creating a sense of social inclusion by being committed to including diverse voices by having clarity of purpose that makes sense both within the context of the community and the institution itself. I used staff, volunteer and visitor interviews and observations of the program to evaluate the degree of collaboration …

Catholic Girls All Grown Up: A Practical Theological Exploration Of Sexuality Formation In Young Adult Women, Emily Susanne Kahm

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Roman Catholic Church promotes exacting norms about the sexual behavior expected of Catholics, but prior qualitative and quantitative studies have shown a mixed effect on the decisions made by young adult Catholics, especially women. This qualitative study interviewed young adult women who were raised Catholic and sought to determine both what they were taught about sex and sexuality while growing up Catholic and how they think those teachings affected their lives and decision-making as young adults. Analysis of their responses indicated an anxious climate in their childhood educational experiences where adults were hesitant to answer questions or engage in …

Aztec Human Sacrifice As Entertainment? The Physio-Psycho-Social Rewards Of Aztec Sacrificial Celebrations, Linda Jane Hansen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Human sacrifice in the sixteenth-century Aztec Empire, as recorded by Spanish chroniclers, was conducted on a large scale and was usually the climactic ritual act culminating elaborate multi-day festivals. Scholars have advanced a wide range of theories explaining the underlying motivations and purposes of these abundant and regulated ritual massacres. Recent scholarship on human sacrifice in ancient Mexico has observed far more complexity, nuance, and fluidity in the nature of these rituals than earlier mono-causal explanations. Several recent examinations have concentrated their analysis on the use of sacred space, architecture, movement, and embodiment in these festivals. As an extension of …

Shapeshifting And Sexuality: A Critical Autoethnography Of A Selkie, Sophie Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Shapeshifting lore has provided a rich and evocative way to explore human experiences across many different cultures. This author utilizes the mythology of selkies to unpack the perspective of a white queer woman who is dealing with issues of racial privilege, heteronormativity, and patriarchal oppression. Utilizing performative writing and autoethnographic method, the author creates an argument for the integration of intersectional practices within the work of queer theorists, as well as for resistance against assimilation.

En Boca Cerrada No Entran Moscas. Flies Don't Enter Closed Mouths: A Grounded Theory Study Of Latinas' Testimonios Of Child Sexual Abuse Disclosure, Nivea Castaneda

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite countless studies demonstrating a high prevalence of child sexual abuse (CSA) and low rates of disclosure in the Latinx community, research exploring Latinx CSA disclosure is scant in family communication studies. This study explores how Latinas choose to disclose and/or conceal their experience(s) of CSA as well as explores the Latinx cultural constructs that impact disclosure. Using the Indigenous methodology of testimonio, grounded theory, and communication privacy management theory as a sensitizing theory, the study examined six Latinas' testimonios collected in one-on-one interviews. In an effort to stay true to testimonio, the overarching themes are presented through …

The Spaces Between Us: A Queer<=>Intersectional Analysis Of The Narratives Of Black Gay International Students, Bryan S. Hubain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The experiences of international students along the lines of race and ethnicity, sexuality, gender, and nationality are virtually unknown. This study utilizes experience-centered narrative inquiry to explore the experiences of Black gay international students, and how they are racialized and sexualized in American higher education. Using a Queer and Intersectional framework, this study highlighted power structures and processes that continue to marginalize Black gay international students in the U.S. and in their home countries. Their narratives reflected significant moments or events that were important to them and how they understand their identities and realities. This study provides a strong foundation …

Central Sacrifice And The Sacrificial Other: A Thematic Comparison Of Anti-Judaic And Anti-Semitic Artwork Emerging In Germany, Madison Elizabeth Tarleton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study finds solace in image(s) more so than in written text(s) and the religious understanding of anti-Judaic and anti-Semitic distinction, rather than a historian's perspective. By utilizing both a religious and artistic lens, the images become the text from which the scholar(s) will study. Focusing exclusively on German image(s) and artwork, this study will span up to eight centuries, twelfth to nineteenth. A contemporary look at Medieval and later images will not explain the thoughts of those who originally saw them, but the images will raise their own set of emotions, understanding, and historical lineage, giving credence and validity …

Identifying French Compositional Styles: Subtlety Through Familiarity, Brandon Kinsey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this study, I examine two French berceuses for violin and piano to identify common compositional traits, specifically subtlety and familiarity in rhythm and harmony. Both Fauré's Berceuse (1878-9) and Ravel's Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Fauré (1922) are representative of small form pieces written by French composers; in addition, the relationship of the two works is particularly striking as Fauré was Ravel's teacher. The similarities of genre and instrumentation, coupled with 40 years of separation provides a unique setting to examine aspects of French compositional practices over time. The introduction of my thesis outlines aspects of diversity …

Magical And Mysterious Resonances: Structural Principles In E. T. A. Hoffmann's Kreisler Works And Robert Schumann's Kreisleriana, Alison Elizabeth Redman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Robert Schumann's Kreisleriana, Op. 16 (1838), borrows its title from E. T. A. Hoffmann's set of essays concerning his literary alter ego, Johannes Kreisler. The character of Kreisler is most prominently featured in two of Hoffmann's works: the Kreisleriana essays (1814-1815) and his final novel, The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr (1820-1822). This thesis explores the influence of E. T. A. Hoffmann on Schumann's Kreisleriana, focusing on how structural principles derived from Hoffmann's Kreisler works--duality, creating and blurring boundaries, fragmentation and irresolution, and circularity--are at work in Schumann's composition. While others have treated the relationship between …

“A Door Left Open”: Tracing Shakespeare’S Influence In Richard Wagner’S Der Ring Des Nibelungen, Lindsay Elizabeth Bachman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the Gesamtkunstwerk, the “total work of art,” German opera composer Richard Wagner sought the perfect artistic synthesis of music and dramatic theater. Crucial to this vision was the idea that music and drama should be equally well constructed. However, while a considerable amount of Wagner scholarship has focused on the music Wagner composed, less has explored his methods for creating complex and psychologically rich characters. Richard Wagner the librettist spent considerable time and effort reading and studying the works of William Shakespeare, as evidenced by his wife’s journals, the contents of his library at Bayreuth, and his personal …

Honor, Shame, And Redemption: Explicating The American Evangelical Right's Moral Worldview Regarding Same-Sex Marriage And Abortion, Jeffrey B. Satterwhite

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the rise of the New Religious Right in American politics, same-sex marriage and abortion emerged as the seminal political issues in a burgeoning culture wars narrative. While previous literature in the sociology of religion and political science fields has examined conservative evangelical political mobilization around these issues, this literature has not adequately considered the primacy of theology in determining these critical political commitments of the evangelical right. This dissertation utilizes aspects of James Wellman's concept of moral worldview, Ann Swidler's ideas on the cultural toolkit, and Christian Smith's subcultural identity theory to explore the formation of conservative …

We Call It Pulling A Thread: Deconstructing Femininity At The Molly Brown House Museum, Emily J. Starck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite making up around half of the global population, women are consistently underrepresented in museums. Where women's experiences are present in exhibitions and programming, they are often misrepresented within an entrenched heteronormative and patriarchal framework. Through this thesis, I show how Denver's Molly Brown House Museum works to upset traditional narratives through their dynamic interpretation of the life of their namesake, Margaret Tobin Brown. Using new museology, feminist anthropology, and performance theory, I analyze data from staff interviews and tour participant observation to explore how the museum deconstructs popular understandings of historical femininity. Through visitor surveys, I measure the extent …

The Negotiation Of Racial, Ethnic, And Religious Identification In American Heathenry, Thad Nathan Horrell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an investigation of religious, ethnic, and racial identification in the social "field" of Heathenry. Heathenry is a reconstructionist religious movement attempting to reconnect with or revive the pre-Christian traditions of the Germanic tribes of northern Europe. Often articulated as an "ethnic religion," Heathenry has also been frequently tied to white supremacist violence and hate crimes. Applying Anthony Wallace's model of revitalization movements, I attempt to make sense of what it is contemporary Heathens are trying to accomplish in today's society: What is it Heathens are trying to revitalize?

As a field of contestation over common-sense meanings …

Resilience And Struggle: Exploring The Experiences Of Undocumented College Students Through Chicana Feminist Theory And Dialogical Performance, Sergio Fernando Juarez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In an increasingly hostile political and social climate undocumented students in the United States continue to struggle to find space for themselves within universities. This research project undertakes a goal of illuminating how undocumented students make sense of their experiences on university campuses despite facing difficult climates at their respective universities. A goal of this project is to better understand how the experiences of undocumented students are shaped in contrast to institutional policies. Universities with inclusive excellence policies, a new iteration of multicultural diversity policies, intended to create practices that make college campuses more inclusive spaces.

The perspectives of undocumented …

A Conviction Of Texts Not Seen: Perceiving Exodus As The Generative Text Of Hebrews, Scott Ronald Moore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Book of Hebrews has increasingly come to be regarded as a remarkable example of Jewish-Christian scriptural exegesis and biblical intertextuality. Scholars routinely apply terms associated with ancient Jewish exegesis to Hebrews, including "midrash," "gezerah shewa," "qal wahomer," and "synagogue homily." One problem, however, is that most analyses in which Christian views of scripture are operative tend to overlook key elements of Jewish concepts of scripture, particularly with regard to the significance of the Pentateuch. The Pentateuch, or Torah, forms the nucleus of the Scriptures from a Jewish perspective, the first and most important division of …

Governmentality/Animacy/Mythology: A Biopolitical And Rhetorical Mosaic Of Hiv Stigma In A Time Of Prep-Aration, Brendan Geoffrey Aaron Hughes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since 1981, roughly 35 million people have died from the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), the end stages of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), and an estimated 39 million are living with HIV today. While various factors such as poverty, lack of education, and poor access to treatment and healthcare compound the epidemic across the world, the endemic in the industrialized west faces specific communication-based challenges to slowing the spread of HIV. Now classified as a "chronic manageable condition", an HIV diagnosis is no longer the death sentence of the early outbreak in the 1980's. A major factor in the …

Interpreting American Indian Cultural Heritage: Visitor's Educational Experience At Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site, Kara Lynn Underwood

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The following research and analysis explore the various methods in which American Indian heritage is interpreted at Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site in Colorado Springs, CO. Attention was given to the distinctive ways this space acts as an educational institution that displays and interprets Colorado's cultural heritage through object-centered learning and participatory education. The goal for this research was to discuss ahistorical biases that have existed in museums for centuries, while encouraging dialogue and discourse about the appropriate methods for interpreting American Indian cultural heritage. Through the presentation and examination of visitors' educational experiences using observations, questionnaires, and informal interviews …

The Responsible Project, Shannon N. Jackson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this thesis is to create a public relations campaign consisting of a series of promotional videos filmed specifically for Patagonia, the outdoors sportswear company, emphasizing their corporate social responsibility for viewing on their social media and web-based platforms. The commercials will feature three Colorado non-profit organizations tied to Patagonia through Patagonia's Growing Grassroots Grant program.