Arts and Humanities Commons^™

“I Hope They Fire Me:” Black Teachers In The Fight For Equal Education, 1910-1970, Candace Cunningham

Theses and Dissertations

Despite a growing body of research on African American schoolteachers and their role in the civil rights movement, as well as increased interest in South Carolina’s civil rights movement, few historians have uncovered the contributions black schoolteachers made to the South Carolina movement. Additionally, while many histories have highlighted how integral the NAACP was to the civil rights movement, few have revealed the deliberate relationship they built with black teachers associations. This dissertation uses the NAACP papers, political manuscript collections, oral histories, newspaper and magazine articles, and court documents to address this gap in the historiography. Chapter 1 discusses the …

Everyone You’Ll Never Meet, Jonathan Dunn

Theses and Dissertations

Everyone You’ll Never Meet is a multi-perspective mystery set in the fictional southern town of Ransom, South Carolina. It follows a young woman whose boyfriend disappears, a failed megachurch pastor at personal and professional crossroads, and a young father coming to grips with the shape of his life in light of a chance encounter with a murder victim.

“Be Of Knightly Countenance”: Masculine Violence And Managing Affect In Late Medieval Alliterative Poetry And Batman: Under The Red Hood, Lisa D. Camp

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is concerned with the legacy of cultural representations of masculine violence as it manifests in late medieval alliterative poetry and contemporary superhero comics, and the ways in which those manifestations are inflected by a particular set of images, motifs, and cultural underpinnings which transcend sociohistorical boundaries and that illuminate the ways culture sanctions certain forms of masculine violence. To understand how, as Patricia Ingham suggests in Sovereign Fantasies: Arthurian Romance and the Making of Britain, imagination infuses history towards particular “regime[s] of truth,” I argue that late fourteenth century Arthurian alliterative poetry and contemporary superhero comics instruct a …

Examining Professional Music Teacher Identity: A Mixed Methods Approach With Stringed Instrument Teachers, Elizabeth A. Reed

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perception of professional music teacher identity (PMTI) among stringed instrument teachers who are alumni of the University of South Carolina String Project (USCSP) preservice teacher education program. Using a fixed mixed method design, I first surveyed all USCSP alumni from the past 20 years using the PMTI Questionnaire. For the qualitative portion of the study, the researcher interviewed three USCSP alumnae in their post-second stage of teaching (year 11–20). All USCSP alumni identified, rated, and ranked their expertise in subject matter, didactical, and pedagogical aspects. USCSP post-second stage alumnae also identified …

Guided Music Play Between 2-Year-Old Children And A Music Play Facilitator: A Case Study, Kathleen Kaye Arrasmith

Theses and Dissertations

With the intention of increasing social music interaction understanding, the purpose of this study was to investigate guided music play between 2-year-old children and a music play facilitator. The guiding research questions were (a) What play behaviors and roles emerged when the 2-year-old children and I, a music play facilitator, engaged in guided music play? (b) What music emerged when the 2-year-old children and I, a music play facilitator, engaged in guided music play? I purposefully sampled six 2-year-old participants and their two classroom teachers and a music play assistant as passive participant observers, as well as an early childhood …

Epistemological Issues In Quality Of Life Measurement And Their Implications, Laura M. Cupples

Theses and Dissertations

This project explores the epistemology of quality of life measurement. Quality of life measures face a dual epistemic burden both to serve as data for the evidence-based medicine movement and to give patients a greater voice (McClimans 2017). Much time, effort, and money has been invested in these measures over the last 50 years, and yet their theoretical foundations remain weak. It is not clear whether these instruments succeed in measuring what they purport to measure, or what precisely is meant by “quality of life” (Hunt 1997). The epistemic challenges faced in quality of life measurement are not wholly unique. …

A Theoretical And Stylistic Analysis Of Paul Ben-Haim’S Five Pieces For Piano, Op. 34 And Piano Sonata, Op. 49, Rachel Bletstein

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to provide a theoretical and stylistic analysis of Paul Ben-Haim’s Five Pieces for Piano, Op. 34 and Piano Sonata, Op. 49. The study consists of an analysis of form, meter, rhythm, harmony, melody, keyboard usage, and stylistic elements.

The study helps to educate musicians about Ben-Haim’s music and conveys how the works are representative of compositional practices that combine Middle Eastern and Western elements. This study also introduces two major works of Ben-Haim’s, including Five Pieces for Piano, Op. 34, and Piano Sonata, Op. 49. This study promotes one of the most significant Israeli …

Unlocking Piranesi’S Imaginary Prisons, Helen B. K. Marodin

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis aims to elucidate points that remain problematic in the scholarship of the imaginary prisons and to position Carceri d’Invenzione embedded in Piranesi’s evolving line of works. My focus was on Piranesi’s intellectual aspirations for the illustrations and the way in which they reflect Piranesi’s theoretical and philosophical inclinations. I was interested in finding a proper correlation between the illustrations of imaginary prisons and the artist’s intellectual development with the objective to provide the work with a coherent view in tandem with Piranesi’s modus operandi. I associated the imagery of the imaginary prisons and Piranesi’s references to specific places …

The Popular Education Question In Antebellum South Carolina, 1800-1860, Brian A. Robinson

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation reviews the struggle for popular education in Antebellum South Carolina. It contends that the failure of popular education in South Carolina was not a foregone conclusion nor was it mistake by school administration or state leaders, but instead, the failure to provide education for the white majority was the result of an intended goal. This project concludes that South Carolina remained without a system of public schools for the majority of citizens because those who opposed general education firmly believed popular education held the seeds of revolution while ignorance the better tool to perpetuate the status quo.

Chapter …

Black Men, Red Coats: The Carolina Corps, Race, And Society In The Revolutionary British Atlantic, Gary Sellick

Theses and Dissertations

The Carolina Corps were both a product and driver of British military zeal during the Age of Revolution. Created in South Carolina in the final years of the American Revolutionary War, the unit was the only black fighting force that survived the conflict on the British side. Evacuated at the end of the conflict as free men, the Carolina Corps straddled the boundaries of military–civil society in the highly racialized eighteenth century British Caribbean. Although former slaves, the men of the Corps were nonetheless crucial to the defense of the region. This gave the men opportunities and legal standing that …

Garagecraft: Tinkering In The American Garage, Katherine Erica Mcfadden

Theses and Dissertations

The American garage, whether in the home or larger, communal ventures, has been a site of technological crafting for a variety of people across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The garage has been a space in which to both reaffirm the status quo of masculinity, and to discover feminist modes of self sufficiency. It has provided a place to play, experiment, commercialize technology, while also providing a space to create new identities and communal standards. What we make and how we make it is, in the end, more about crafting ourselves than crafting objects.

The Lost Ones: The Cold War State, Child Welfare Systems, And The Battles Over The Rosenberg Children, Megan Bennett

Theses and Dissertations

The conspiracy case against Julius and Ethel Rosenberg was a formative event in the early stages of the Cold War, but it also set their two sons adrift in a domestic climate which emphasized domestic order but feared communists and those connected to communists within their midst. Michael and Robert Rosenberg’s lives remained in various states of instability from their mother’s arrest in August 1950 until they were adopted by Anne and Abel Meeropol in 1958. The placement of the Rosenberg children with the Meeropols came only after years of upheaval and family strife in which the notoriety of the …

A Complete History Of Rico Reeds, Neal Postma

Theses and Dissertations

Rico is a household name among saxophonists and clarinetists around the world. Since the company’s inception, they have moved from importing several hundred reeds for Frank di Michele to sell to his friends to being among the largest manufacturers in the industry. This document traces the history of the company from its inception in 1928 to the date of its purchase by J. D’Addario & Co. in 2004. Through interviews, document reviews, and data gathering, this document explores the history of the company, the owners and managers, the products, and the events that led to D’Addario’s acquisition.

“As The Occasion Demands”: Constraint-Based Practice In Rhetoric And Composition, Erica Kerstin Fischer

Theses and Dissertations

In their 2010 Composition Studies article, Laurie Gries and Collin Brooke observe, “constrained writing has been underappreciated” in the composition classroom (21). Taking seriously the potential value of constraints in pedagogical practice, this project executes a cross-disciplinary examination (drawing from design theory, experimental poetry, literary theory, composition, and rhetorical theory) of the various occurrences of, and approaches to, constraints and their influences on the ways we think and write. This investigation reveals that constraints create the conditions under which students can become productively defamiliarized to their thinking and writing habits, encouraging them to encounter alternatives otherwise left unnoticed.

I suggest …

Translating Slavery As Told To My Daughter, Victoria L.A. Carvelli

Theses and Dissertations

I am translating an excerpt of the work L’esclavage raconté à ma fille, by the French Guianese politician Christiane Taubira. A former Minister of Justice of France, Taubira is famous for her legislative work in recognizing slavery as a crime against humanity and instituting national educational efforts on the subject. The book is an exposition of the history of slavery, set in a storytelling, question-and-answer style, which has the merit of bringing a conversational and accessible aspect to a difficult topic.

I chose this work at the recommendation of one of my professors, and when I was unable to find …

Bodies In Play: Female Athleticism In Nineteenth-Century Literature, Jillian Weber

Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation explores depictions of athletic female characters in nineteenth-century American literature. I argue that there is a rich literary tradition of athletic women, whose origin I date to the 1840s, that has not been explored. To date, scholars have considered athletic women in literature anomalies, a case of a gender-bending female found in a single text, but not part of a longer genealogy of this character type. By examining athletic women over a period of decades and across several genres of American literature we see how this character type has been shaped by authors and culture alike. I illustrate …

Parents’ Observations Of Their Young Children’S Music Behaviors During Music Classes After Completing The Children’S Music Behavior Inventory, Julia Beck

Theses and Dissertations

With the intent of understanding perceptions of early childhood music development, the purpose of this research was to examine parents’ observations of their young children during music classes after completing the Children’s Music Behavior Inventory (Valerio & Reynolds, 2015). My guiding research question was: How do knowledge of CMBI and viewing informal music class video recordings influence parents’ perceptions and understanding of their three-year-old children’s music behaviors and development during a two-month period?

Participants included five parents of three-year-old children in the 3B classroom at Bright Horizons, a preschool located in Columbia, South Carolina. During the data collection process, I …

1 Hour Ghost Visit, Charles Elizabeth Martin

Theses and Dissertations

1 Hour Ghost Visit is a collection of poems that engages with loss, as well as what can grow in the face of that loss. In “Dancing on My Own,” the poet describes being alone on a dance floor: “when the drop comes I become/a glowstick rain/downpouring fire/sprinkler bursting/with glitter/the corpse I’m/growing towards--/what will bloom in our ribcages will be deadly—” and this hunger for determination, for construction in the face of destruction, grows into a roar by the concluding poem’s call for collective celebration in the face of the end of the world.

The poems collectively sing together; they …

Twisting Reality For A Cause: American Mythology, Early Surrealism, And Audience Empowerment In The Works Of George Lippard, Joseph Samuel Hall

Theses and Dissertations

This article examines Philadelphia writer George Lippard's often-overlooked usage of literary conventions more typical outside of the genre he is most famous for, socialreform city fiction. In particular, the article focuses on Lippard’s vision of an American mythology, proto-surrealistic imagery, and demands for audience response and interaction. Various works are analyzed, most prominently: stories from Washington and His Generals, The Rose of the Wissahikon, Adonai: The Pilgrim of Eternity, and The Killers. The article concludes that Lippard values the artfulness of historical romance over presenting historical fact, recognizing the ability of the romance to instigate a greater collective response in …

The Influence Of Mindful Movement On Elementary Students’ Music Listening Enjoyment And Comprehension, Jean Louise Boiteau

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of mindful movement on elementary students’ listening comprehension and enjoyment. Participants (N = 40) were third-grade music students who participated in an ABAB within-subjects research design. During baseline phases, participants listened to one of four musical selections. During treatment phases, participants completed a mindful movement activity while listening to the musical selections. After each baseline or treatment experience, participants rated how much they enjoyed the musical recording, answered a free-response question justifying why they chose that enjoyment rating, and completed a listening comprehension test. Although there was a slight increase …

If This Be Sin: Gladys Bentley And The Performance Of Identity, Moira Mahoney Church

Theses and Dissertations

Known for her improvisational risqué lyrics and tailored white tuxedo, Gladys Bentley was one of the most notorious figures of the 1930s. Situated in the pansy and lesbian craze of the 1920s and 30s, Bentley’s career was part of a broader trend that favored gender-queer performers due to their exotic appeal. Despite being more transgressive than most, Bentley has ultimately faded from society’s collective memory.

Solo Violin Works Influenced By Romanian Lăutari Music, Essena Liah Setaro

Theses and Dissertations

In Romania, professional Roma (Gypsy) musicians called lăutari developed a colorful and unique musical tradition. This study explores the music of the lăutari and its influence on five works for unaccompanied violin: George Enescu’s recently discovered Airs dans le genre Roumain (1926) and “Le Ménétrier” from his Impressions d’enfance (1940), Eugène Ysaÿe’s Sonata No. 3 “Ballade” (1923), Helen Bowater’s Lautari (2003), and Roxanna Panufnik’s new composition Hora Bessarabia (2016).

Drawing from written sources, audio and video recordings, and transcriptions, this study first investigates the history, influences, and unique characteristics of the lăutari tradition and approach to violin playing. After discussing …

Writing With Risk: Dangerous Discourses And Event-Based Pedagogies, Ben Harley

Theses and Dissertations

“Writing with Risk: Dangerous Discourses and Event-Based Pedagogies,” responds to the pedagogical work of scholars such as Susan Wells, Nancy Welch, and Linda Flower by arguing that the risks associated with public writing pedagogies stem from the transformative nature of the rhetorical event that implicates and rearticulates actors through co-production, subverting their assumed autonomy. I argue that each of the three primary vantages of publics scholarship is particularly vulnerable to a certain type of risk aligned to a specific element of the rhetorical situation: idealist scholarship to unintended consequences in which the meaning of the text transforms, activist scholarship to …

The Kingma System Flute: Redesigning The Nineteenth-Century Flute For The Twenty-First Century, Diane Elise Kessel

Theses and Dissertations

This project investigates the development and reception of the Kingma System flute, designed by Dutch flutemaker Eva Kingma. For some time now, flutists have been honing creative techniques to provide imperfect approximations of what composers have specified, but the Kingma mechanism achieves the exact effects desired with ease. Through her close work with composers and performers, Eva Kingma was able to create a mechanism that is comfortable to play, versatile in performance, and beautifully suited for contemporary repertoire. The Kingma flute is an invaluable tool for performers and an exciting new voice for composers, offering unprecedented musical possibilities and yet …

The Ghosts Of Lucy Snowe: Queer Temporality In Villette, Lauren Schuldt

Theses and Dissertations

Though Lucy Snowe has been read as an agent of queer nonconformity and as a master of ambiguity, queer interpretations of Charlotte Brontë’s Villette have remained relatively scarce and limited in scope. This essay examines Lucy Snow’s unique model of queer experience that manifests not only in moments of openly subversive gender performance, homoerotic desire, or sexual identity, but also as an oppositional mode of organizing and articulating her life in terms of time. Using the temporally queer metaphor of the ghost, this essay explores Lucy’s resistance to frameworks of time which structure life narratives through logics of heterosexual development …

Milkfish, Emylisa Warrick

Theses and Dissertations

Milkfish is a collection of poems that explores familial and generational trauma in a Filipino-American family. Primarily written in first person narrative, it gives voice to a Filipina-American who has experienced controlling behavior, verbal abuse, silencing, and colorist attitudes and behaviors from her father and mother. The collection seeks to understand why the speaker’s parents raised her this way by investigating how the parents were raised in the Philippines. These poems were constructed with the help of interviews between the author and her parents. Additionally, it explores the patriarchal structure of Filipino families and shines a light on “women’s work,” …

A Conductor’S Guide To Camille Saint-Saëns’S Messe De Requiem Op. 54, Thomas R. Matrone

Theses and Dissertations

Described as the French Mendelssohn, Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) was acclaimed as the epitome of French genius. He played a unique role in transforming French musical taste from grand opera to the classical symphony and led the charge as the first composer to blend resources of French folk song and music from the Arab world into the classical tradition. However, many of Saint-Saëns’s choral works have been lost in obscurity. One such composition has emerged, the Messe de Requiem. The Messe de Requiem represents Saint-Saëns’s deep integrity and commitment to composition through traditional form and style. This study evaluates the composer’s …

Black Power And Neighborhood Organizing In Minneapolis, Minnesota: The Way Community Center, 1966-1971, Sarah Jayne Paulsen

Theses and Dissertations

The Way Opportunities Unlimited, Inc. was a non-­‐profit community center that operated from 1966—1984 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Inspired by the national black power movement that arose in the 1960s, this community center led a local movement for African American equality. This thesis investigates The Way as a unique example of how black power ideology was implemented at the local level, in a city with a statistically small black population, presenting a northern urban context often overlooked by historians. The Way offered a space where aspiring young black musicians could perform, including Prince.

Re-Evaluating “Authenticity” In Holocaust Literature – Memory And Trauma In Recent Holocaust Fiction, Christos Giantsidis

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis provides a structural and para-textual analysis of recent Holocaust fiction. Challenging the assumption of the superiority of “authentic” representations of the psychological effects of this historic event, I will highlight the cultural and pedagogical effects of fictionalized accounts of the Holocaust. A short analysis of the terms “memory,” “trauma,” and “history” as understood in the research field of Holocaust studies, will be substantial in debunking the failures of memory as perfect ways to recreate historical “truths.” Theories about trauma and memory by scholars such as Cathy Caruth and Dominick LaCapra will serve as reference points in the validation …