Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Letters From The Communications Zone: Lt. Edwin Best In The Second World War., Jeremy Eugene Cobb

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The subject of this paper is the experiences and observations of Lt. Edwin Best of the 618th Ordnance Ammunition Company from 1943 until 1946. This includes time in the United States, England and France.

The primary sources for this paper include letters home from Lt. Best and an oral history transcript. Secondary sources have been used to place Lt. Best into the overall context of the war.

He made keen observations regarding the level of training before D-Day, comparisons of life in England and the US, from the "communications zone" in Normandy, as a temporary Judge Advocate General officer, and …

American Reeducation Of German Pows, 1943-1946., Pamela Croley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The United States held almost 500,000 enemy combatants within her borders during World War II. Out of those 500,000 men, 380,000 were from Nazi Germany. Nazi POWs were confined to camps built near small rural towns in almost every state. It was not something that was well known to the American public. Even less known was the American Military's effort, through reeducation, to introduce Hitler's soldiers to a new political ideology-democracy. This thesis will explore how the reeducation program was formed; examine the people, both German and American, who participated in it, and make a determination on whether or not …

The Internal Odyssey Of Identity: James Baldwin, Go Tell It On The Mountain, And History., Brent Nelson Lamons

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates how James Baldwin thought about history and treats his first novel as an important document in extricating his construct of the past. A close reading of the work reveals that it is an examination rather than a symptom of two powerful forces that dominate Baldwin's psychology, his father and his history.

James Baldwin felt the individual interpretation of one's experience is just as important as the experience itself. The novel is an informative exposition of how people interpret their experience and how that interpretation affects their psychology. Through Go Tell It on the Mountain Baldwin recreates the …

Designed For The Good Of All: The Flushing Remonstrance And Religious Freedom In America., Tabetha Garman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

On December 27, 1657, the men of Flushing, Long Island, signed a letter of protest addressed to the Governor-Director of New Netherlands. Though the law of the colony demanded otherwise, the men of Vlissengen pledged to accept all persons into their township, regardless of their religious persuasion. Their letter, called the Flushing Remonstrance, not only defied the laws of one of the most powerful, religious governors of the colonial age, it articulated a concept of religious freedom that extended beyond the principles of any other contemporary document.

Given its unique place in early American colonial history, why have historians not …

Separation Of Church And State: A Diffusion Of Reason And Religion., Patricia Annettee Greenlee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The evolution of America's religious liberty was birthed by a separate church and state. As America strides into the twenty first century the origin of separation of church and state continues to be a heated topic of debate. Conservatives argue that America's version of separation of church and state was birthed by principles of Christian liberty. Liberals reject this idea maintaining that the evolution of a separate church and state in America was based on enlightened thinking that demanded rational men should have religious liberty. The best way to achieve this was by erecting a wall of separation between church …

The Life And Public Career Of Robert F. Kennedy., Daryl Anthony Carter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There have been many notable politicians in the United States during the twentieth century. Some, like Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, were known for their swagger and appeal to the common man. Others, like Bill Clinton and Franklin Roosevelt, were known for their charisma and intelligence. However, one in particular was known for caring, compassion, strength, and determination. Robert Francis Kennedy lived in interesting times, surrounded by large egos and near mythical figures. But Kennedy was arguably one of the most important figures of the last fifty years. The ideas and ideals that he espoused still resonate nearly forty years …

Shedding Light Upon The Shadows: An Examination Of The Use Of Voice As Resistance And Reclamation Of The Black Woman From Enslavement To Freedom., Courtney Erin Brooks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My research examines the enslaved black woman's reclamation of self through the use of voice and resistance from enslavement into freedom. I argue that the enslaved black woman's voice was one that grew stronger and louder, in an effort to have her story heard, through her attempts of reclamation of self and transition from slave to a free woman. I begin with an introduction to the purpose of my research. Chapter one describes my approach to my research. Chapter two describes the conditions of slavery for black women. Chapter three describes enslaved black women's mechanisms of resistance. Chapter four examinations …

Samuel Taylor Coleridge And Opium., Donald John Marotta

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Coleridge's usual use of opium was through laudanum, a mixture of opium and alcohol. This thesis presents the history of and criticism regarding the poet's use of laudanum and the physical and emotional consequences the drug held for him and his writing career.

Reviving The Subject: A Feminist Argument For Mimesis In Literature., Messina Lyle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For centuries we have taken for granted Aristotle's assertion that fiction must encourage emotional identification by representing life realistically. With the development of a more pluralistic society, Postmodernist writiers have come to question that assumption. Having repudiated our ancestor's notions of identity, these writers create stories whose sole purpose is to comment on other stories. However, as some feminist critics have shown us, we must each have an identity in order to have the collaborative society that is the Postmodernist's goal. Therefore, the notion that a story must make a sensory impression on us and stand on its own as …

The History Of The Development Of The Department Of Technology At East Tennessee State University (1911-2002)., Vincent Edward Banks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to produce a written account of the history of the development of the Department of Technology at East Tennessee State University, from 1911 to 2002. Information about the department's history was gathered from various sources and was then organized into a manuscript format. Throughout the document, emphasis remained on four main topic areas; significant name changes, academic/curriculum modifications, faculty changes, and other notable changes/events. This research was unique since in the department's ninety-plus years of existence, no consolidated, written account of its history had ever been created.

"Don't Believe The Hype": The Construction And Export Of African American Images In Hip-Hop Culture., John Ike Sewell Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines recurring motifs and personas in hip-hop.

Interviews with influential hip-hop scholars, writers and music industry personnel were conducted and analyzed using qualitative methods. Interview subjects were selected based on their insider knowledge as music critics, hip-hop scholars, ethnomusicologists, publicists, and music industry positions.

The vast majority of constructed imagery in hip-hop is based on a single persona, the gangsta. This qualitative analysis reveals why gangsta personas and motifs have become the de facto imagery of hip-hop. Gangsta imagery is repeatedly presented because it sells, it is the most readily-available role, and because of music industry pressures.

This …

Figurative Sculpture And Social Commentary., Marty Clinton Henley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis supports the Master of Arts exhibition entitled "Figurative Sculpture and Social Commentary" at the Slocumb Gallery located on the campus of East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee, from April 10 - April 14, 2006. This is an exploration of human form in sculpture and the use of representational human form to make comments about society.

The Narrative Lens: Understanding Eudora Welty's Fiction Through Her Photography., Brandon Clarke Ballentine

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Eudora Welty's brief photographic career offers valuable insight into the development of her literary voice. She discovers many of the distinguishing characters of her fiction during the 1930s while traveling through Mississippi writing articles for the Works Progress Administration and taking pictures of the people and places she encountered. Analyzing the connections between her first collection of photographs, One Time, One Place: Mississippi during the Depression: A Snapshot Album, and her first collection of short stories, A Curtain of Green, and Other Stories, reveals the writer's sympathetic attitude towards her characters, the prominence of place in her fiction, and her …

Dynamic Force, Motion, And Life In Digital Design., James Michael Livingston

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this paper is to explore specific works that I have created as it relates to digital art and design. My works include abstract, organic objects that exist within surrealistic environments. First, I explain the dynamics of the imagery that has emerged from my career in broadcast television, my coursework in the Department of Art and Design at East Tennessee State University, and the works of fantasy, surreal, and abstract artists. In conclusion, the images discussed impose an idea of abstraction and surrealism with a sense of force, motion, life, and dynamic action.

Articulation As An Act Of Futility: A Deconstructive Exploration Of Textual Articulation As It Functions Within A First-Person Narrative Structure., Wilson Wright Onstott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The inability of language to convey complete meaning and truth is a central point of address for much post-structuralist literary theory and criticism. When these theories are applied to a first-person narrative structure, whether it is a work of fiction or non-fiction, certain specific incongruities arise. When a narrative seeks to recall certain events, a presupposed reexamination takes place as the narrative unfolds text comes into being. If a narractice is contructed in this way then the intent of the text then is to convey comprehensive meanings or truths of those cataloged experiences. According Deconstructive Theory, it is language's inherent …

Double The Novels, Half The Recognition: Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Contribution To The Evolution Of The Victorian Novel., Lori Elizabeth Baker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Why do we read what we read? Janice Radway examines works that were not popular in an author's time period, but now are affecting the construction of the canon. In her own words, Radway seeks to "establish [popular literature] as something other than a watered-down version of a more authentic high culture [and] to present the middlebrow positively as a culture with its own particular substance and intellectual coherence" (208). Mary Elizabeth Braddon's novels were considered "middlebrow" and were very popular in Victorian England. Along with this facet, her heroines were considered controversial because they were not portrayed as what …

From Transcendentalism To Progressivism: The Making Of An American Reformer, Abby Morton Diaz (1821-1904)., Ann B. Cro

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Author and activist Abby Morton Diaz (1821-1904) was a member of the Brook Farm Transcendental community from 1842 until it folded in 1847. Although critics have long recognized that Brook Farm played a role in Diaz's intellectual preparation, they have not attempted to demonstrate its influence through a study of her writings.

In this study I will examine in detail two of Diaz's novels and two long essays, with passing references to other works, that reveal how the utopian socialism practiced at Brook Farm influenced Diaz as a writer and reformer. In all her writings Diaz emphasized the importance of …

The Development Of Apophatic Theology From The Pre-Socratics To The Early Christian Fathers., Kevin Teed Millsaps

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It is apparent that what is characterized as Christian Apophatic Theology has been poorly related to its antecedents existing in Greco-Roman philosophy. This study proposed the following research hypothesis: Greco-Roman philosophy exerted a structural and terminological influence upon Christian apophatic theology.

To prove or disprove this hypothesis, apophatic terminology and textual structures in Greco-Roman philosophical texts were compared to classic Christian apophatic texts, primarily from the Apostolic and Cappadocian Fathers. Throughout this process, Michael Sells' clasic definition of apophatic language, consisting of the apearance of the metaphor of emanation, dis-ontological language, and dialectical language of immanence and transcendence, was used …

The Unknown Struggle : A Comparative Analysis Of Women In The Black Power Movement., Elizabeth Michele Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis comparatively analyzes the experiences and roles of women in the United States and Caribbean Black Power Movements. Using the Black Panther Party and Trinidadian National Joint Action Committee as case studies, the researcher isolates similarities and differences among women in these two regions of the African Diaspora. Black Feminist and Caribbean Feminist theoretical perspectives aide in understanding how the interlocking social forces of race, class, and gender impacted women participating in the Black Nationalist movement of the late 1960's and early 1970's.

Implicit Response : Instructor Values And Social Class In The Literacy Narrative Assignment., Kara Poe Alexander

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation examines instructor responses to a popular personal writing assignment, the literacy narrative. Previous studies have shown this assignment to be popular with instructors because of the reflection it is thought to generate; however, nobody has yet looked at what instructors really mean by reflection. This study investigates what features of student texts instructors recognize as reflection. I collected literacy narratives and demographic questionnaires from students and surveys, assignments, think-alouds, and follow-up interviews from instructors. Personal writing, and the literacy narrative assignment in particular, can best be taught by highlighting the rhetorical capabilities of this genre. The results of …

“Daddy, Tell Me Another Story:” The Drive-By Truckers, Southern History, And Popular Culture, Ellie Campbell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work describes the connections that the Drive-By Truckers make between Southern history, popular culture, and their vision of Southern identity through an examination of lyrics from six of their albums.

Bloodlines, Pamela Toner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

"Bloodlines" is a collection of personal essays that focus on the process of remembering, imagining, and reflecting on the past through the lens of a perpetually shifting present. They consider situations ranging from mental and physical illnesses, from cancer to alcohol addiction, to career changes, to the often dysfunctional and displaced family ties that distance and adulthood have not severed. In "Searching," I write the narrative of the ongoing search for my birthmother, and how the search complicates the relationship with my adoptive mother, who always feared she’d lose me. Similarly, "Of Flesh and Blood" recounts and negotiates how hereditary …

Silence, Absence, And Mystery In Linda Hogan's Mean Spirit, Solar Storms, And Power, Kathryn Erickson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In Mean Spirit, Solar Storms, and Power, Linda Hogan uses the devices of silence, absence, and mystery to articulate the oppression and marginalization of Native Americans. Specifically, because of the environmental crises that produce conflict in each novel, the project benefits from ecocriticism, ecofeminism, and ecopsychology. Also, because of various interpretations that open up when silence is examined, theories of deconstruction strengthen the thesis. Ultimately, Hogan's characters move from silence as a form of tyranny to silence as a form of reconnection with tribal ways. As the characters discover pathways to native traditions, they also discover spiritual connections with the …

A Chorus Line: Does It Abide By Rules Established By Actors' Equity Association For The Audition Process?, Mark Hardin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

I have been cast as "Bobby" in A Chorus Line at Orlando Broadway Dinner Theatre in Orlando. I will use this opportunity as my thesis role. As part of my thesis defense, I will combine an analysis of the character of "Bobby" in A Chorus Line with an assessment of Actors' Equity Association's audition policies from 1970 to the present, and investigate whether the audition held in the show abides by the policies established by AEA for Broadway calls. "Bobby" has an interesting arc of development as he actually gives the director what he (the director) does not want, yet …

Anton Chekhov:The Characterization And Interpretationof A Historical Figure For The Stage, Alan Gallant

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will explore the execution of the monograph role of "Anton Chekhov" in the original one-act play, An Evening with Anton Chekhov. The play script, rehearsal and public performances of the piece are all self- generated by the candidate, with the proper assistance of the thesis committee. This written thesis serves as the completion of the thesis project, and includes analysis of several key areas of the development of the script and thesis role. This document includes the original script with endnotes and a structural analysis. Social and historical background of the character, Anton Chekhov, a real person, is …

The Evolution Of French Identity: A Study Of The Huguenots In Colonial South Carolina, 1680-1740, Nancy Maurer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the changes that occurred in the French identity of Huguenot immigrants to colonial Carolina. In their pursuit of prosperity and religious toleration, the Huguenots' identity evolved from one of French religious refugees to that of white South Carolinians. How and why this evolution occurred is the focus of this study. Upon arriving in the colony in the 1680s and 1690s, the Huguenots' identity was based on several common factors: their French language, their Calvinist religion, and their French heritage. As the immigrant group began to build their new lives in Carolina, these identifying factors began to disappear. …

The Resurrection Of Everyman, David Knoell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In March of 2005 I was a cast member in Mad Cow Theatre's production of the Morality drama Everyman. This classic tale on the condition of human dying is regarding as one of the greatest dramas of the Medieval period and is one of the first plays in the English language to be put into print. This thesis is an actor's journey into the history of Medieval theatre, the challenges of producing Everyman for a contemporary audience, and the techniques of acting implemented in the creation of allegorical characters. Medieval drama, like Everyman, is still relevant in today's world because …

Religious And Secular Responses To Nazism: Coordinated And Singular Acts Of Opposition, Kathryn Sullivan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My intention in conducting this research endeavor is to satisfy the requirements of earning a Master of Art degree in the Department of History at the University of Central Florida. My research aim has been to examine literature written from the 1930's through 2006 which chronicles the lives of Jewish and Gentile German men, women, and children living under Nazism during the years 1933-1945. I was particularly interested and hopeful in discovering the various ways in which young German females were affected by the introduction and spread of Nazi ideology. My main goal was to sort through the features of …

Analyzing The Effects Of Single-Sourcing Methodologies On The Role Of The Technical Communicator, Jeremy Boehl

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis discusses the specific effects of single sourcing methodologies on the role of the technical communicator, his or her job responsibilities, qualifications, collaboration with coworkers, employee and employer expectations, and the effects on career progression. The methodologies discussed included all types of single sourcing methods for technical documentation (such as XML-based), advanced and non-advanced Content Management Systems (CMS), and Digital Asset Management (DAM) systems. Other topics explored are an overview of single sourcing for technical documentation, a comparison of the "craftsman model" to the current trend of single sourcing and structured content, specific effects on technical communicators such as …

Black Cats, Berlin, Broadway And Beyond: The Genre Of Cabaret, Deborah Tedrick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Music and Theatre have always captivated me. As a child, my parents would take me to live performances and cinematic shows and I would sit rapt, watching the theatrical events and emotional moments unfold before my eyes. Movie musicals and live shows that combined music and theatre were my favorite, especially theatrical banter and improvisation or sketch comedy. Some of my favorite youthful memories were my annual family summer trips to Las Vegas to visit my grandparents for six weeks. As a youngster, I got to experience the "old school" Las Vegas, replete with extravaganza, spectacle, cabaret, circus, lounge and …