Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Volunteers In America: How Volunteerism And American Civil Society Shape Our Museums, Sarah C. Crocker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the intersection of volunteerism, museum studies, and American civil society, using these frameworks to examine volunteer motivations within two Denver area art museums. Additionally, there is much current scholarship that focuses on the relationship between museums and community, yet does not often address the role of museum volunteerism within such a context. This thesis therefore also examines the intersection of community and museum volunteerism, presenting a starting point for future researches to continue studying museum volunteerism within the context of civic engagement. This thesis finds that, while the ideology of American civil society plays a role in …

Transmission: Premium Television Characters Outside Of The Gender Binary, Daniel L. Ketchum

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Five fictional characters have emerged on the U.S. premium-pay-cable channels that blur the traditional male-or-female gender divide. The basics of queer theory (sex, gender, orientation, and transgender) and critical/cultural studies (encoding, decoding, and reading a text) are explained as a basis for the analysis of the characters, which seeks to answer the research question: does the premium-pay-cable television format offer truly empathetic non-binary transgender characters that challenge the dominant American ideologies about gender identity and expression? If so, how? If not, why not?

Shane McCutcheon from Showtime’s lesbian melodrama The L Word (2004- 2010), Lafayette Reynolds from HBO’s supernatural drama-comedy …

Toying With Americanization: The Impact Of Corporate Paternalism On Immigrant Children In Early 20th Century Colorado Coal Mining Communities, Jamie Devine

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

During the early 20^th century coal miners' lives in Southern Colorado were fraught with violence and hardships. Many immigrant men brought their families to remote areas to live in company towns and work in coal mines. The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company (CF&I) attempted to assimilate these ethnically diverse immigrants into American society. One method was to impart American values onto the children living in these company towns. CF&I purchased American toys for the children during Christmas and created kindergartens for the children to attend with the intent of imparting American values. In contrast, the parents of these children …

Interrogating Music-Historical Narratives Through Ralph Vaughan Williams's Five Mystical Songs, Marilyn L. Brock

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although Ralph Vaughan Williams has remained an influential and well-liked composer throughout most decades since his death, the amount and specificity of scholarly writing about his work has been meager, and only during recent decades has it increased. One reason that Vaughan Williams has consistently been ignored is his use of "Romantic" harmonies during the twentieth century. This style complicates periodization of his work. By exploring other facets of his work and using alternative methods -- such as studies of the music's relationship to sociocultural movements, English music history, and history of genre -- for understanding his music, a greater …

The Narrators And Narratees Of Kazuo Ishiguro, Katherine E. Harrell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My thesis examines the narratees of three novels by Kazuo Ishiguro: An Artist of the Floating World, The Remains of the Day, and Never Let Me Go. In each novel, a first person narrator directs his or her story toward an unidentified narratee. Through their narration, the narrators reveal who they imagine their narratees to be and why they are telling their stories to these particular types of people. In relating their narratives, Ono, Stevens, and Kathy H., the respective narrators, each reveal a secret they have sought to hide from the other characters in the novel, …

Puritanism And American Exceptionalism: A Genealogy Of Their Impact On Native Americans 1620–1864, Jeremiah Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work traces the influence that a strand of Protestant Christianity had upon the idea of American Exceptionalism and its effect on the treatment of Native Americans. From Puritans to the Founding Fathers, to expansion into the west, this paper investigates instances where Indians have been forced to assimilate, removed from their homelands or exterminated outright in massacres. It specifically looks at the removal of the Cherokees, the Navajo Long Walk, the Pequot War, the Gnadenhutten Massacre, The Battle at Blue Water Creek and the Sand Creek Massacre

Carl Jung And Yehuda Halevi: Imagination, Symbols And The Loss Of The Sacred, Jeff Robinson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this project, we offered an examination of the work of Yehuda Halevi and Carl Jung. The thesis for this project is that these two thinkers offer very similar perspectives on a number of ideas, central of which is the dichotomy between the use primacy of the intellect and the imaginative faculty of man. While other researchers in passing with one another frequently mention these two thinkers, a full examination of their works has not been offered before. This project will offer a unique exploration of the works of Jung and Halevi.

While the examination of the dichotomy between the …

Representing Race Responsibly: A Case Study Of The Social Responsibility Paradigm In Colorado Museums, Angela Rueda

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although museums have moved towards more reflexive practice, misrepresentation continues to be a concern. How then can museums successfully represent racial and ethnic groups that have historically been marginalized or misrepresented? In this thesis I argue that with greater integration of the social responsibility paradigm--which argues that museums can be agents of social change-- museums may be able to improve representation. During the summer of 2013, I conducted field research that explored how the social responsibility paradigm was or was not being enacted at The History Colorado Center and Museo de las Americas. This thesis offers a critical analysis of …

Toward A More Hospitable Conception Of Race & The Political: The Play Of Difference & Economy In A Politic Of Disruption, Zachary Thomas Settle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The body of this thesis is framed around Carl Schmitt's articulation of the political as the distinction between friend and enemy; more importantly, though, it revolves around opposition as the necessary foundation of the political. Making use of Derrida and

Agamben, this particular argument critiques/radicalizes Schmitt's notion.

After establishing the necessary limits and boundaries at play in the binary opposite embedded within Schmitt's understanding of the political, this essay aims to level a certain generative critique of Schmitt's definition. A certain appropriation of Agamben's homo sacer reveals that the presence of those bound up in the fate of the state …

Japanese American Cultural Identity: The Role Of Wwii, Internment, And The 3/11 Disaster In Japan, Carrie L. Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research explores the nature of Japanese American cultural identity through an examination of the historical contexts of WWII, internment, and the 3/11 disasters in Japan. Interview data was analyzed using both interpretive and critical paradigms. I then utilized the Communication Theory of Identity (CTI), the corresponding concept of identity gaps, and critical-cultural hybridity. It was found that Japanese Americans construct, enact, and relate to their identities in markedly different ways despite belonging to the same cultural group. In turn, I am proposing further revision to CTI's communal frame to exemplify the shared and contested elements of a collective. This …

Covered In Dust: Coming Of Age In A Gazebo Factory, Jason A. Ney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Covered in Dust: Coming of Age in a Gazebo Factory is a memoir that chronicles the three summers I spent working in the factories at Chestnut Hill Gazebos. The memoir focuses on three narrative strands: the day-to-day life of a factory worker, the struggles within and eventual breakdown of my relationship with my girlfriend, and how my job at Chestnut Hill helped me critique my fundamentalist Christian roots by forcing me into a deeper understanding of my faith and its relationship to the world outside the confines of my upbringing. The critical afterword uses essays by Leona Toker and other …

Resource Sovereignty: The Indigenous Value Of Mount Rainier Within Activities Of Traditional Resource Harvesting, Samantha Joan Nemecek

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Nisqually, Puyallup, Muckleshoot, Cowlitz, and Yakama Indian Tribes historically utilized the plant resources of Mount Rainier until the National Park Service established Mount Rainier National Park in 1899. Since 1992 there have been formal, written requests by these Tribes to revitalize the harvest of these culturally significant plant resources in their original collection location. Through archival analysis, participant observation, and interviews with Indigenous consultants, I investigated the impetus for these requests and furthermore the role of Mount Rainier in tribally relevant plant harvesting. Data indicates a lack of plant resource monitoring in the United States Forest Service has resulted …

Bitches Unleashed: Women In Rio's Funk Movement, Performances Of Heterosexual Femininity, And Possibilities Of Resistance, Raquel Moreira

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Rio de Janeiro's funk movement is one of Brazil's most important contemporary cultural and musical expressions. Emerged in the 1970s, Rio's funk was consolidated in the favelas during the 1980s, establishing an ambiguous and tense relationship with local government and media: at times, being legitimized as a cultural form, but also being frequently criminalized. The music is a hybrid combination of diverse Afro rhythms and a heavy bass line, and it is performed in aggressive ways, as well as with mockery and sensuality. Women in Rio's funk, the funkeiras, joined the movement in the late 1990s performing about sex, relationships, …

Language And Museums: Supporting Alaska Native Languages Through Collaborative Networking, Heather J. Mcclain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the ever-increasing risk of language loss and possible extinction of the world's Indigenous languages, museums are quickly becoming active supporters and valuable resources for communities engaged in revitalization initiatives. Although working with language material is inherently difficult for museums because of their traditionally object based nature, it is imperative for museums to focus on the documentation and preservation of language as intangible cultural heritage (ICH) because of the vital connection between language and culture. This thesis examines how museums in Alaska, particularly the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center, Alaska Office, are supporting Alaska Native language and cultural revitalization through collaborative …

Rethinking Levanna Ceramics: A Tenth Century Short Term Occupation Site In Central New York, Christina T. Rogers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The analysis of ceramics located inside of a proto-longhouse at Levanna, an early 10th century site overlooking Cayuga Lake in Central New York have found the established typologies of the area to be less rigid and contain much more variability than would be expected. Levanna appears to be a short-term occupation site (ca. 30 years) containing a variety of ceramics. In past studies Levanna had been deemed an "Owasco" era (900-1400 A.D.) site by early and some recent archaeologists, yet the analysis of features and ceramics found during the 2008 and 2009 excavations help deconstruct the idea or concept of …