Arts and Humanities Commons^™

An Analysis Of Hip-Hop Theatre: From Roots To Performance, Jessica Dee Bocade

Honors Theses

Hip Hop theatre has the potential to be an extremely useful art form with the ability to bring younger audiences back to the realm of live theatre. However, several challenges have prevented it from becoming such a powerful influence in the theatrical world. These problems continue to stifle the potential power of hip-hop theatre to reach a greater audience, as well as the ability to be seen in the theatrical world as a legitimate, effective, and stable genre of theatre - not just a "fad."

Misalliance Scenic Design, Joseph W. Shoup

Honors Theses

As scenic designer for George Bernard Shaw's Misalliance, put on by the WMU department of theatre, I feel ready to graduate. I have gained deeper insight into the design process, and through a large quantity of research, preparation, and hard work, have accomplished a set that I can be proud of. I have also been awakened to a fashion of architecture that has become my favorite style.

Traces, Paulette Guerin

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Articulating Silence In The Postcolonial Indian Novel, Kaelin O'Connell

Honors Theses

Whatever is worth seeing or hearing in India can be expressed in writing. As soon as everything of importance is expressed in writing, a man who is duly qualified may obtain more knowledge of India in one year, in his closet in England, than he could obtain during the course of the longest life, by the use of his eyes and ears in India.

-James Mill, The History of British India, 1817.

This quotation, from the first philosophical history of India, posits the common British colonial notion that language, specifically the written word, might capture all that is "worth …

Complicating "Female Suicide Bombers" : Violence, Agency And Gender In The Rhetoric Of Shahida, Chelsea Rock

Honors Theses

Since 2002, popular Western news media has become fixated with the "advent" of the Palestinian female suicide bomber when a woman named Wafa Idris detonated herself on a busy Jaffa Road in Israel. Questions about gender, domesticity, violence, subjectivity, and technology arise as researchers, journalists and others confront culturally conceived notions about women and their roles in both Islamic and Western societies. Proposing a broader concept of violence that is cognizant of women's violent histories and struggles over agency, this essay suggests that analyses of women and violence are incomplete without critically thinking about the "female suicide bomber"--or shahida--within their …

Social Hierarchy In Leaderless Groups, Angie B. White

Honors Theses

The idea of social rank-ordering (indicative of status. dominance. or potential leadership capacity) was first extensively researched by Robert F. Bales in the early I 950's. Bales shaped group communication around the principle that groups inevitably evolve into unequal power structures and develop a hierarchy of participation and status (Bales et. al, 1951 ). This hierarchy is evident in many different areas of life, such as social interactions, socio-economic status, and task-related rank, and the idea of dominance is established early on in life. From 1961, when Gellert observed dyads of 4- to 6- year-old children and found that a …

Courting Disaster : Women, Romance, And Novels In Eighteenth And Nineteenth Century Britain, Beth J. Massie

Honors Theses

Society always fears that something is corrupting its youth and therefore dooming the future. In the late eighteenth century, British High Society believed that the sentimental and overly dramatic courtship novel was adversely affecting the actions of marriageable young women. In response to these fears, women writers of the early nineteenth century produced literature designed to guide young women safely and happily through the steps of courtship and marriage. The impact of British society's changing views on courtship and marriage combined with the fears raised by the courtship novel in the minds of older society transformed the courtship novel of …

The Mrs. Browns Of Modernism, Kathleen O'Donnell

Honors Theses

I begin with this literary critical parable because I am interested in arguments about and attempts to define what modernism was. I situate the following project after the fall of the modernist canon, in a literary critical context in which it remains doubtful that modernisms could be modernism again. As a response to that situation, I propose a way of defining modernism that may do justice to the complexity and variety of modernist texts, while seeking also to recognize that which they had in common. Although what follows might be called an analysis of literary form, it is not a …

Literary Love Making In Nicholas Sparks Novels: Finding The Balance Between The Writer’S Life And The Writer’S Work In Bestselling Romantic Literature, Ryan Spanich

Honors Theses

For almost a decade now Nicholas Sparks has been writing love stories. Not only has he been publishing his stories, but they have received high acclaim in each of their installments. Several of his novels have been made into major motion pictures and increased his popularity quite significantly. His status as a successful romantic fiction writer is undeniable, but the question is, why? What is it about Nicholas Sparks that makes his novels so engaging, and personally, what do I need to do as an aspiring novelist to try and acquire the same literary status? Sparks’s novels reach readers at …

The Story Of A Picture Book: A Process Analysis, Christy Evans

Honors Theses

Creating a successful picture book is neither an easy nor simple process. The illustrations must-harmonize with the text, move the reader smoothly through a story, and be, as Burningham puts it, "verdant." To achieve this, an author/illustrator must be prepared for constant revision. In my story The Fantastic Transformation of Frog the main character experiences some bizarre changes, but reverts to his normal state in the end. Through my process of creating a picture book, my story also went through numerous changes, but, unlike the main character's changes, these changes were not reversed. They led to other changes.

John Coltrane: Jazz Improvisation, Performance, And Transcription, Garry J. Bertholf

Honors Theses

John William Coltrane (1926-1967) was a prominent African-American jazz saxophonist and prolific composer. The evolution of his mature career seems, from my perspective, to fall roughly into the following periods: (1) “Vertical” (ca.1955-59), (2) “Modal” (ca.1960-63) and (3) “Avant-garde” (ca. 1964-67). During this entire 12-year interlude, the artist was moving in several different directions.

Unfortunately, his working band was not well documented. However, a recording of this group in concert at Carnegie Hall in 1957 was discovered and issued in 2005 by Blue Note Records. The Blue Note compilation is the first and only full-length high-quality recording of the group. …

Exploring Opportunity In America: Immigrant Entrepreneurship And Rags To Riches Success, Anna Erdheim

Honors Theses

The United States is, indeed, a land of vast opportunity. A diverse group of individuals continually benefit from the prospects provided by this inherently free nation. Although some constraints in America have prevented people from realizing their ultimate potentials, this nation offers immense possibilities overall to progress socially, economically, and culturally. America allows for people of all socioeconomic, religious, racial, and ethnic backgrounds to take full advantage of the various opportunities offered by this mainly egalitarian land. I will demonstrate how various people have emerged from disadvantaged circumstances to succeed in the United States. In America, the majority of successful …

League Of Their Own: The Competition For Jewish-American Identity In The Novels Of Philip Roth, Rebeccah Amendola

Honors Theses

In his insightful and sometimes troubled contemporary writings, Philip Roth demonstrates a nuanced understanding of how the development of Jewish-American identity is a painful and often hilariously paradoxical journey of discovery as Jewish traditions intersect (and often collide) with the American ideal of vertical advancement. Since the successful fulfillment of the American Dream requires some measure of assimilation into the majority American culture known as Americanization, Roth's Jewish-American characters are continually and precariously ill-balanced between retaining and abandoning their Jewish heritage in favor of a new American identity. Thus, if Americanization necessitates Anglo-conformity and the abandonment of immigrant mores, the …

A Tale Of Two Brighids, Erin Shirl

Honors Theses

Every year on the seventeenth of March, the world goes wild. Saint Patrick's Day has arrived, and even those who are not descended from the Irish earn an honorary place in the Irish fold. For one twenty-four hour period, everyone who wants to be can be Irish Catholic-- even Protestants. Saint Patrick and the day named for him have become symbols of Ireland and Irish culture to such an extent that sometimes it seems there is little about Ireland that does not relate to Patrick, the shamrock, or the color green. But long before this slave-turned-missionary set foot on the …

The Beaten Path: A Cartographical And Historical Study Of The Southwest Trail In Clark County, Arkansas, Clinton R. Pumphrey

Honors Theses

A road, taken on its own merit, may seem of little importance or significance in a history rich with riveting events and fascinating people. The monotony of travel is much more likely to prompt the question "are we there yet?" than one about a road's historical relevance. Most travelers simply do not have any interest in a road itself, but rather the points of interest that it serves to connect. Yet in the rush to move from place to place, people easily forget that the passage a road makes possible and the traffic it carries make the road just as …

The Travel Imagination And The Hybrid Reality In The Wake Of Colonialism, James Mclaughlin

Honors Theses

The “traveling imagination,” is of paramount importance to both western and postcolonial travelers. Since both groups create “travel imaginations” by extensive reading, the nature of the books that inform them must directly affect their travels. A westerner, for example, who reads only colonial-era accounts has the “travel imagination” of a different generation. If all perspectives were represented equally in libraries, the “travel imagination” of a given person would be entirely his/her own. But usually the “traveler’s imagination” is biased by prevailing opinion. Libraries are not democracies, and sometimes extensive reading only indoctrinates the reader with the biases of the canon. …

Modernist Success In A Postmodern Failure: Jackson Pollock And Abstract Expressionism, The Avant-Garde And The Ascension Of Late Capitalism, Art After 1945, Russell Gullette

Honors Theses

It is hard to imagine the magnitude of the events at the end of World War II. The thought produced in the face of a myriad of deaths is almost unfeasible sixty years after the fact, but the energy was integral to the changing social landscape. Because of the country's prominence in and fortitude after the war, the U.S. was left responsible for reshaping and rejuvenating the international landscape that was destroyed by the years of brutal fighting and vile contestation. The American establishment was granted a major opportunity to establish itself amongst the global leaders. Such a grand responsibility …

The Impact Of Gender-Linked Tasks On Female And Male Leaders, Ashley Pyle

Honors Theses

Because gender inequalities still exist, research is needed to better understand the differences in leadership perceptions and preference between genders. This research examines the role of gender, sex role orientation, and gender-linked tasks in shaping leadership efficacy, perceived preference, and leadership persistence. It was predicted that men and women will have higher levels of leadership efficacy, perceive themselves as better leaders, have a stronger desire to attain leadership roles in the future and be more likely to persist in the leadership role for the gender congruent task than the gender incongruent task. I also predicted that sex role orientation will …

How Should Physicians Be Motivated To Fulfill Social Obligations?, Jackie Knupp

Honors Theses

Health is instrumental to the ability of individuals to fulfill their potential. The societal systems designed to nurture health are thereby particularly important both for the flourishing of the individual and that of society, for a society flourishes to the extent that each of its individual members flourishes. The medical professionals who strive to preserve good health in their communities through these systems are integral to the maintenance of a thriving society. They are the individuals most directly responsible for the quality of health care available to community members. It is their medical prowess and critical thinking skills that determine …

Kichi Mondai (The Military Base Problem) : A Study Of How American Bases In Okinawa Are Presented To The American People, Mark Carney

Honors Theses

Media representations play a role in how one perceives a particular space. The American media presented the American military bases in Okinawa during the period of American civil administration (1945-1972) as necessary and beneficial for the Okinawan people . Because the media linked the bases and the United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands (USCAR) as dependent upon one another, the media considered the benefits brought to Okinawa by the existence ofUSCAR a result of the bases as well. Despite Okinawan resistance to both USCAR and the military bases, the press presented the Okinawan people as actually wanting the …

American Travelers In Palestine : Origins Of Holy Land Discourse In Nineteeth-Century America, Matthew R. Scutari

Honors Theses

Throughout the nineteenth century, American writers, journalists, explorers, and pilgrims traveled to the region then known as Palestine, publishing travel narratives upon their return to the U.S. Such narratives were wildly popular during this period, and the accounts of these travelers quickly made their way into the nation's collective consciousness. From personal libraries to Sunday school classrooms, their depictions of the Holy Land, which reflected a uniquely American biblical tradition, ultimately painted a picture of Palestine that closely conformed to popular preconceptions of what the Holy Land ought to be, stubbornly resisting contradiction and reinforcing stereotypes already held by many …

Courting Disaster : Women, Romance, And Novels In Eighteenth And Nineteenth Century Britain, Beth J. Massie

Honors Theses

Society always fears that something is corrupting its youth and therefore dooming the future. In the late eighteenth century, British High Society believed that the sentimental and overly dramatic courtship novel was adversely affecting the actions of marriageable young women. In response to these fears, women writers of the early nineteenth century produced literature designed to guide young women safely and happily through the steps of courtship and marriage. The impact of British society's changing views on courtship and marriage combined with the fears raised by the courtship novel in the minds of older society transformed the courtship novel of …

Pilgrimage Of Dignity : Pope John Paul Ii's June 1979 Visit To Poland, Przemyslaw P. Polaski

Honors Theses

Pope John Paul II's first visit to Poland took place in June of 1979. The pilgrimage was arguably one of the most important trips of his pontificate. Within a matter of days the Pope was able to transform Polish society, inspire hope, and ignite a sense of collective dignity. Through a series of rhetorically powerful speeches the pilgrim awakened the oppressed nation and questioned the foundations of Communist authority to rule. Talking about the inalienable rights of man, the Pope stirred up a longing for freedom that matured with the birth of the Solidarity Movement in 1980. His epical journey …