Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Music As A Tool For Ecstatic Space Design, Pranav Amin

Masters Theses

Music and architecture share a sacred bond across cultures. Their histories intertwine and together, they shape ritualistic, religious, and popular practices. As one of the few remaining avenues of universal transcendental experiences that have been so integral to humans, music’s ability to create ecstatic spaces is ever more necessary for the modern human. This thesis uses spatial, artificial intelligence, visual, and aural tools—while engaging in a dialogue between rationalist architecture and shamanic conceptions of spaces—to create an ecstatic space that seeks to reimagine the union of music and architecture. It reveals new ways in which this union can be experienced …

Insights Into Chinese Second Language Acquisition: The Relationship Between Glossing And Vocabulary Recall In Reading, Steven S. Devellis

Masters Theses

Reading enhancement strategies are an important tool utilized by foreign language teachers. One of the most common types of during-reading assistance is the marginal gloss, which provides first language (L1) translations of selected foreign language (L2) terms in the margins of a text.

Glossing is an inherently individual approach to reading. It is predominantly motivation-driven, and provides as much assistance to the learner as he or she is willing to use it. Studies to this point have been largely inconsistent in regards to the exact usefulness of glossing, analyzing many variables such as the size, scope, and type of gloss, …

A New Language: Apophatic Discourse In John Donne's "Devotions", Jessica M. Farris

Masters Theses

Not much ink has been spilled over John Donne’s relationship to negative, or apophatic, theology. A few scholars have written about apophatic discourse in Donne’s poetry and sermons, but, in general, the subject continues to be overlooked. This thesis seeks to (re)start the conversation by shedding light on Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, a text which has yet to be linked to the negative tradition despite its clear engagement in apophatic discourse. Indeed, throughout Devotions, Donne wields several apophatic strategies when speaking of God including via negativa, predicates of action, linguistic regress, paradox, and a consistent reliance upon metaphorical …

"Kore Saa (コレサア)": Visual Representations Of Dialogue In Edo Popular Fiction, Lauren Gatewood

Masters Theses

During Japan’s Edo period (1600-1868), popular literature began to take on a variety of physical formats and develop into various genres. Because many authors of this period were familiar with and producing creative works in a number of these genres, there was much crossover of content, format, and style. Authors were experimenting and playing with different ways to represent and give information about their characters through devices such as the dialogue they wrote, the illustrations included in the works, asides in the images, and many more. In this thesis, I explore the myriad ways authors of Edo period popular fiction …

The Evolution Of Chinese Supermarkets In North America: An Alternative Approach To Chinese Supermarket Design, Ruoxin Lin

Masters Theses

This thesis begins by investigating the evolution of traditional Chinese markets to Chinese supermarkets in North America. By charting the trends of these structures in shop floor layouts and site approaches, a hybridized architecture is uncovered. Then, through the design of a contemporary Chinese supermarket in Philadelphia, PA, the thesis demonstrates how values of identity and cultural awareness can be brought into dialogue with architectural trends.

Cut Out Of Place: The Geography And Legacy Of Otto Ege's Broken Books, Melanie R. Meadors

Masters Theses

Otto Ege cut apart hundreds of medieval manuscripts during the first half of the twentieth century, claiming to do so to provide wider access to them. His destruction resulted in the loss of provenance, material history, and context of these manuscripts. Moreover, he made mistakes when identifying and dating the manuscript leaves he cut, and the loss of the bindings and front matter of the manuscripts makes it difficult to correct these. Much of the research concerning Ege focuses on his identity as a biblioclast, yet even scholars who denounce his book-cutting admit he allowed for places and people to …

Voices Against An Era: Alternative Voices, Cultural Heroics, And The Impact Of He Yong And Zhang Chu On Chinese Rock Music, Peter J. Moncur

Masters Theses

The music of He Yong and Zhang Chu, two of the Three Heroes of Magic Stone, has played an integral part in the development of Chinese rock. Often relegated to footnotes in the music’s history, this thesis aims to prove their cultural and musical significance during the late-eighties and early-nineties of China’s Reform and Opening period. The term “voices against an era” was chosen to define He Yong and Zhang Chu’s role as rock musicians with alternative voices during this historical period, with an investigation of the term’s role in creating an alternate dialogue. To do this, I first define …

Feeling Uneasy On Easy Street: Decoloniality, Mental Health, And Social Culture Within A University Department Of Music, Ucee-Uchenna L. Nwachukwu

Masters Theses

As a graduate student in a university music department, I have devoted a lot of time to working in associated yet also disparate realms: as a performer, a Teacher's Assistant, and a student. During this time, I have also begun conducting research examining the music department’s social culture. I have observed my colleagues– meaning my fellow graduate students–sacrificing their mental health, physical health, and emotional wellbeing in order to meet ambiguous expectations that I will argue are often rooted in the coloniality of Western Art Music. I have observed and experienced conversations that neglect to acknowledge the ways in which …

"Voices In My Head:" Representations Of Mental Illness In Contemporary American Musical Theater, Mckay Perry

Masters Theses

In the years since 2010, themes of mental illness on the musical theater stage have increased dramatically, most notably with the Broadway premiere of Dear Evan Hansen in 2016, which quickly became a popular and critical success, winning six Tony Awards the following season. Despite scope and reach of the modern American musical, relatively little musicological scholarship has explored this area, and of that literature, even less has examined contemporary musicals. In this thesis, I will begin to fill this gap in the literature through the application of emerging critical musicological lenses to modern musical theater, both on and off …

Spaces Between Exploring Ma As A Literary Theory, Codi C. Reynolds

Masters Theses

This thesis is an attempt to understand the concept of ma 間 as it appears traditionally in Japan and how it may be applied to literature as an analytical framework. Ma is most simply defined as an empty space, but has a long history of artistic connotations in various fields, such as architecture, music, and poetry, that may theoretically be applied to literature as well. First, I look at the historical and theoretical background of the concept of ma as it exists in the visual, musical, and literary arts. I consider how ma was first used when it was developed …

Love On The Spectrum: Djuna Barnes’S Case Against Categorization In Nightwood, Kaitlyn A. Alford

Masters Theses

Djuna Barnes’s Nightwood is a challenging and beautiful text that continues to confound readers almost 100 years after its original publication. Though the text is often read as a “lesbian” novel, I consider the possibilities available when we read this text instead with a more open queerness in mind. By looking at the novel’s treatment of image, time, history, gender, sexuality, and identity, a new way of reading is revealed which rejects moves of taxonomization and categorization. This thesis explores how Barnes challenges dominant modes of representation and understanding, not to be a simple contrarian, but to present a new …

Urbanization On The Landscape Of The Old City: An Archaeological Investigation Of Site 40kn223 In Knoxville, Tennessee, Garrett B. Wamack

Masters Theses

In this thesis, I examine the effects of urbanization on the landscape and the people who lived upon it at archaeological site 40KN223 within the Old City in Knoxville, Tennessee. This landscape analysis focuses particularly on the decades from 1850 to 1920 during the birth and growth of the Old City. Amid the rising tides of commercialization, industrialization, and the flood-prone waters of First Creek, residents established a working-class neighborhood on the fringe of a substantial African American community. I examine this neighborhood and the transformation of its immediate landscape to understand how urbanization impacted its transformation, to learn who …

Bluegrass: A Voicing, Cade Botts

Masters Theses

In 2010, Fred Bartenstein’s detailed the voice stackings found in bluegrass in his article “Bluegrass Voicings.” [1]This paper will go beyond this discussion of the arrangement of voices to an examination of the harmonic voicing styles found in bluegrass music. Stamps-Braxter’s 1937 arrangement of “Farther Along”[2] and transcriptions of recordings by bluegrass legends Bill Monroe, Stanley Brothers, Reno & Smiley, the Osborne Brothers, Dolly Parton, and the Grascals will be used as a case study to look at multiple chord voicings. Based on the analyses of these transcriptions, a list of “voice leading conventions” for bluegrass compositions will …

The Internet Isn’T Forever: Early Internet Fan Archives, Their Stewards, Lifespans, And The Political Nature Of The Deaths Of Their Queer Communities, Grey D. Mangan

Masters Theses

The concept of a “forever Internet” has been pervasive in the modern digital age, but the degradation of fan archives from the late 1990s and 2000s seems to tell a different story; as such, we find ourselves in the midst of a Digital Dark Age and we are losing independent digital fan archives quickly- what is happening and how can we save this digital cultural memory, particularly queer cultural memory? To lose these fan archives is to lose valuable insight into the lives and communities of the individuals who interacted in these spaces. By utilizing the lenses of play, theft, …

When “A Haircut Is Not Just A Haircut”: The Embodied Deconversions Of Former Pentecostal And Holiness Women, Casey Renee Kellogg

Masters Theses

Women of Pentecostal and Holiness belief traditions are known for embodying their faith through a set of dress standards which prevent women from cutting their hair, prohibit any form of pants, jewelry, or makeup, and require they adopt various forms of “modest” attire. While there has been significant scholarship on the social and personal significance of women’s religious dress among church members, there is little to no information about how former Pentecostal and Holiness women perceive these dress standards. Furthermore, while scholars have explored the concept of deconversion, specifically as told through narrative from a more general vantage point, there …

A Game Of Hazard, Per Chance: Reading Dice Games And Predestined Action In Troilus And Criseyde And Troilus And Cressida, Emma O. Corbin

Masters Theses

This thesis examines the references to the dice game Hazard in Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde and the Folio version of Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida as means to expand the understanding of Troilus’s ability to act as an agent of change within his predetermined story. Utilizing Johan Huizinga’s Homo Ludens as the foundation for game and play, this work focuses on Hazard as a game of chance present in both works. As a dice game that relies entirely on chance, Hazard is a game and a place of moral and religious anxiety as demonstrated through a survey of dice-based divination and …

Fortune, Fate, And Free Will: Chaucer’S Encounters With Providence, Ciara Jane Turula

Masters Theses

It’s easy to assume that the world is innately unstable as Chaucer seems to do in the short poems “Truth”, “Lak of Stedfastnesse”, “The Forger Age” and “Gentilesse”, and yet we are called to wonder with the Black Knight in The Book of the Duchess how any divine authority could let this be the case. As Lady Philosophy informs readers in Boece, the world is not really Fortune’s chaotic kingdom of unreliability. Instead, the Earth and all that happens within it has already been laid out in the plan of Providence, which unravels regardless of whether individuals are aware …

The Borgia Reexamined: A New Look At The Borgia Family And The Influence Of Adoptions Within The Family, Nicholas Ryan Mason

Masters Theses

The Borgia’s were a powerful family that garnered a great deal of their influence through the Catholic Church during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. The height of the Borgia was between 1492 and 1503, when Rodrigo Borgia was elected Pope Alexander VI. Throughout history they have been known for the rumors of murder, incest, greed, and corruption that have surrounded the family ever since they first came to power. An examination of the family may not only lead to a different perspective of the family but may also lead to a deeper understanding of how one's enemies may …

Alanda Macmaster & The Realm Of The Faes, Allana Lynn Walker

Masters Theses

Though there are exceptions to this rule, today’s bestselling Young Adult (YA) fantasy novels tend to be riddled with gratuitous sex and violence—material far too mature for developing minds. While this kind of content is hardly new to adult fiction, it has, over the last few years, crept steadily and insidiously into books for younger readers. Reading today’s fiction, one would think these were essential elements of a good story. The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of The Rings clearly prove otherwise. Through The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien demonstrated …

Developing And Enhancing Believable Characterization In Fiction, Hollie Boyd Nelson

Masters Theses

Developing and enhancing characterization in fiction is key to gaining a readership as well as perfecting the craft of writing. Through foundational information, relatability, and context within the work, a writer can create new and intricate ways to enrich their story. This then sets them apart from others in their field.

Exploring Fiction Writer’S Approaches To Plot Outlining During The Planning Stage Of The Writing Process, Paul A. Wilson Jr.

Masters Theses

This thesis is about one person’s discovery and growth as a writer of creative fiction that spans decades. It specifically explores and analyzes how professional authors approach plot outlining during the planning stages of the writing process. Some professional authors prepare plot outlines prior to writing their first draft, while others do not. Over the course of the author’s writing life, experimenting with both methods has been instructive to the development of a personal approach to plot outlining. The Artist statement provides background on the author. Next, the Critical Paper examines and analyzes plot outlining and plot structure. Plot structure …

The Misadventures Of Expectations, Laura Elizabeth Solano

Masters Theses

The following research and manuscript discusses the art of using characterization and storytelling to teach younger generations. If used effectively, characterization has the power to transport a reader into the story’s world. The manuscript that follows is the first attempt at a story about friendship, loyalty, and self-actualization. Against all odds, a young man leaves his country to uncover the truth about his family’s demise and reported treason. As he ventures forward, he meets all kinds of people and learns the value of true friendship.

The Heroine’S Journey In Hollywood, Melika Zayehmoureh

Masters Theses

This thesis examines Joseph Campbell’s theory of the hero’s journey as it pertains to the heroine, especially in Hollywood. It refutes Campbell’s mythological premise that only men can experience the hero’s journey thereby being labeled as heroes because of the actions they performed to reach maturity. This thesis demonstrates that although women reach maturity through the natural means of biology, as described by Campbell, they can still make change occur because they have a mind and a will to act as well. Stories of women such as Ninveh from the screenplay Journey to Freedom, Katniss from The Hunger Games (2012) …

Auditory Development In Beginner Elementary Strings Classes, Lydia Y. Cooley

Masters Theses

Integrating auditory and visual learning is vital in instrumental music instruction. There is an order of precedence that guides the teaching sequence to raise students who can hear and read the music they play. In order to teach students to think musically while reading notation important auditory preparation needs to take place. It should not occur via passive listening but via active music-making. This practice-based method creates experiential knowledge of music which can then lead to a conceptual understanding of musical symbols. Such practical engagement produces positive long-term effects on the depth of skill and the emotional state of the …

A Word Fitly Spoken Is Like Apples Of Gold In Settings Of Silver: Removing The Veil From Inspirational Historical Fiction, Laura Louise Milcarzyk

Masters Theses

This thesis is about the importance of inspirational historical fiction writers to pen literary works that are more reflective of the diverse Kingdom of God on earth and the trials and tribulations the diverse community of followers of Christ endure in this life. The thesis also defines three literary techniques that will, if applied correctly, help lead a writer in creating novels that bring God, His love, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ to life. The artistic statement explains how the novel originated and its process, as well as the novel’s literary and biblical significance. The critical paper is the …

Apologetics And Popular Culture Phenomena: A Critique Of Ted Turnau's Method Concerning Anime, Matthew Hunter Hamilton

Masters Theses

Limited work has been performed in the field of Christian apologetics and popular culture, much less the intersection between anime and Christian apologetics. One scholar who has attempted to broach this gap has been Ted Turnau, who has developed a five-step diagnostic method for apologetically engaging popular culture phenomena. However, his method contains key flaws. Using the work of Thomas Lamarre, a scholar in the field of anime studies, a central contention will be made: that the material and technology of anime have processes that affect how viewers inhabit and orient themselves in the world, which in turn influences their …

The Interplay Between Language And Culture In J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth, Mackenzie Wangberg

Masters Theses

The construction of detailed languages was a lifelong passion of J.R.R. Tolkien. While creating the world of Middle-earth, he assigned different languages to the various cultures which inhabit this fantasy landscape. He carefully matched languages and cultures to try to elicit particular responses from his audience. It is well known that J.R.R. Tolkien wanted certain languages of Middle-earth to sound beautiful and others to sound ugly. Research so far, however, has not answered why the specific phonemes, or sounds, which Tolkien chose for these languages might cause the specific reactions he intended. I have used Tolkien’s influences to explain why …

Cruisin' The Coast: A Practice In Passionate Observation, Laura Jean Keriazakos

Masters Theses

The term Passionate Observation is presented as an ability that improves creative writing. It requires a writer to absorb details, noticed or perceived, with intense imagination and reasoning. I present a three-pronged case for acceptance and development of this skill for writing mystery fiction. Examined in this paper are the literary talents of Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, along with the supposition both authors were passionate observers. Moreover, through the lens of education, I connect visual literacy, kinesthetic research, and passionate observation. Then, I show the philosophical correlation between observation in science and passionate observation in creative writing. …

Thesis Proposal And Manuscript, Peter Muer

Masters Theses

The aim of this thesis paper is to illustrate a key topic in the study of fictional literature within the context of envisioning, researching, planning, and writing a literary paper and fictional literary novel. In this, a thesis will be argued that literary themes are the most important literary element in fiction works (poems, stories, plays, novellas, novels…) and will be a core part of the serious manuscript (fictional novel; The Mulberry Tree) written by this writer (Peter Muer). In addition, a sound view of great writers and great literature will be presented, as well as a look at literary …

Music Literacy And Worship Theology For Volunteer Choir And Worship Teams, Timothy Ray Marsden

Masters Theses

When building a worship team and a worship-leading choir, worship pastors seek gifted volunteers within their congregations to add to the numbers of their groups. Assessing team members' music literacy and theology of worship often comes later in the process, if at all. This project aims to determine the essentials of music literacy for a volunteer choir or worship team member. It will create a curriculum for developing those skills further through weekly rehearsals. The project will also seek to define a theology of worship for the First United Methodist Church of Red Oak, Iowa, and a plan to study …