Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Nationwide Practices And Perspectives On Early Literacy Activities In Daycare, Analaura Amador

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Muzzle For The Lamb: A Novel, Scott Beggs

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Soft Infrastructure In Developing Sustainable Volunteer-Based Healthcare For Transient Migrants In The El Paso-Ciudad Juárez Border Region, Daniel Avitia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

No abstract provided.

On Hannah Arendt's Study Of Constitutionalism In The Aftermath Of Totalitarianism: A Philosophical Search For The Principle To Secure The Foundations Of Modern Politics, Joseph De Leon Flores

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Hannah Arendt faces the grotesque appearance of totalitarianism, and with bravery goes on the offensive, herself armed with contemporary philosophical tools of analysis, to do battle in the field of existential-phenomenology against this modern monster. Totalitarianism, birthed from the seeds of lawless action, claims to be the most lawful mode of human existence. The monstrous existence of totalitarianism demonstrates a crisis in the very foundations of modern manâ??s political mode of being. In order to find a solution to this modern political crisis Arendt closely studies the experience of constitution writing at the moment the men of action are about …

Iron Curtains: A Novel Of Germany, 1989, John G. Dodson

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

A work of fiction. A story of Love, Treachery, and Freedom on the East German border in 1989. Iron Curtains is a story of four individuals in East and West Germany brought together by an espionage investigation and the revolution in East Germany which led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and Iron Curtain on November 9, 1989. Their stories ultimately intersect as the year passes and culminate in an escape through a tunnel underneath the East German border. There are four main characters and several secondary characters who help drive the story forward by their interaction with the …

Assessing Urban Tree Coverage Along The U.S.-Mexico Border: A Gis Analysis Of Paso Del Norte, Melanie Escobar

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In recent years, researchers have extensively studied the spatial distribution of social demographics and urban tree canopy (UTC) in urban cities, but very few, to this date, address U.S.-Mexico border cities. To date, there is no research that assesses the distribution of urban tree canopy (UTC) in the city of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, along the U.S.- Mexico border. Leveraging advanced mapping techniques and GIS tools, the study performs comparisons between countries (Juárez vs. El Paso urbanized areas and intra-country (within each country). It compares land cover classifications, assesses variations in UTC distribution across census tracts and …

The Lack Of Representation Of Mexican Women In Films, Lizbeth Garcia Gonzalez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Representation in film lacks the meaningful exposure of Mexican women, the lack of roles available tend to rely on the stereotypes of Mexicans therefore excluding room for Mexican women to be represented authentically. In this paper I discuss the lack of representation that Mexican women have in films, identifying that in roles of superheroes, especially women of color do not compare to the many white superhero films. To discuss representation of Mexicans in film, I used The Perfect Game (2009) and McFarland, USA (2015), films that share meaningful representation of Mexicans. While also using examples of representation in superhero films …

Cultivating Honor: How Indigenous Students Harness Resilience And Cultural Wealth To Thrive At A Borderlands University, Lourdes Garcia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative study sheds light on students' lived experiences regarding Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) at Borderlands University (BU), a Hispanic-serving institution on the U.S.-Mexico border where First Peoples lived for thousands of years. This study supports Indigenous students whose dismal national college graduation rates must be addressed. It recognizes studentsâ?? cultural wealth and richness (Yosso, 2005) and is grounded by the Peoplehood Matrix (Holm, 2003; Tachine, Cabrera, and Yellow Bird, 2017). This study was consistent with previous studies revealing that prioritizing student support raises equity and improves the overall academic experiences for all students in higher education (Tachine …

A Writer In Writing, Stephanie Lamas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

As a writer and individual, I speak between many roles, presenting myself as “I” but also “her”. Inevitably, there is a gap between “who I am” and “who I am made out to be” that I am not always in control of. Similarly, there is a disparity in intention versus interpretation in writing. Since we don’t exist in a vacuum, I must account for these gaps, acknowledging my individuality while adapting to changing circumstances and needs. As an individual with several disadvantages and particularities, however, my sense of self is unstable and uncertain, reflecting the instability and uncertainty in my …

Working In The Shadows: The Impact Of Wage Theft Among Undocumented Workers In El Paso, Texas, Christe Cherie Lattimore-Staple

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The documentary film titled "Working in the Shadows: The Impact of Wage Theft Among Undocumented Workers in El Paso, Texas" sheds light on the pervasive issue of wage theft experienced by undocumented workers in the region. Through personal testimonies, interviews with workers, legal experts, and government officials, the film delves into the challenges faced by undocumented workers who are vulnerable to exploitation due to their legal status.Undocumented workers in El Paso face a host of challenges, including unpaid wages, unsafe working conditions, and fear of retaliation if they assert their rights. The film highlights the critical role of community organizations, …

My Little Poetic/Prose Book Of Words, Sayings, And Stories In Broken Spanish And A Little Bit Of German / Mi Libro Chiquito De Poã©Tica / Prosa De Palabras, Dichos, Y Historias Español Fracturado Y Un Poquetito Alemán, Sharon Ann Lucero

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I would like to thank Jonathan Taylor and Sarah Thompson for the wonderful job they did in providing me with feedback. I took into consideration all their comments. Their comments aligned with Dr. Powers, and I really took a deeper look into my Spanish/English translations on whether I should have them or not. I found a happy medium for all of it. I also went back and looked at the rest of the class’s comments and made sure that I did not miss any of the details that were pointed out to me the first time …

Our Author Is Crazy, Zani A. Meaders

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis delves into the realm of young adult (YA) fantasy literature, exploring how its meta-narrative elements, fast-paced story beats, and relatable characters can facilitate the acquisition of healthy coping mechanisms among its readers. In the preface, I discuss the importance of providing YA audiences with narratives that not only entertain but also serve as tools for navigating the complexities of adolescence. Drawing upon psychological theories and literary analysis, I argue that meta-awareness in YA fantasy can offer readers a unique perspective on their own struggles and encourage them to develop resilience and coping skills.

The accompanying YA Fantasy story …

Investigating The Production And Perception Of Lexical Stress In English As A Second Language: A Cue-Weighting Approach, Natalia Irene Minjarez Oppenheimer

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Cue-Weighting Transfer Hypothesis states that (a) listeners weight acoustic cues according to how informative they are in signaling a lexical contrast in their L1, and (b) that listeners transfer their cue weightings from the L1 to the L2, using those cues that are important in the L1 to perceive lexical stress in the L2 (Tremblay et al., 2021). Most of the Spanish-English bilinguals in our region are highly proficient in both languages, but differ in their language dominance spectrums. That is, they can handle both languages with ease, but are usually more dominant in one of them. Because of …

Distant Suns: Eva Peng Part I, Daniel Monzingo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Distant Suns: Eva Peng Part I is the first part of a novel-in-progress. Eva Peng Part I covers the first half of one of four nested stories. It was written with a critical preface in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing.

Building Positive Gender Expressions Among Mexican-American College Students, Nezahualcóyotl Paniagua-Jiménez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis explores the need for college programs to nurture and support positive gender expressions among Mexican-American college students. It does so through a historical and cultural analysis of gender identities and expressions within the Mexican community and how they impact the lives of Mexican-American college students. Additionally, it offers an exploration of potential practices and programs that support the development of positive identity and gender expressions, with a lens of intersectionality, to ensure students are allowed to critically explore and develop gender identities that move away from domination/subservience power structures and that are founded on their unique cultural background.

Examining School-Age Children's Use Of Rare Words In Expository Discourse: Applications Of Computerized Analysis, Serena Jae Pedroza

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In the school-age years, children use varied discourse styles to convey information. In addition to conversational and narrative discourse, they learn to use expository discourse to explain complex topics. Previous studies have found that compared to conversation, expository discourse samples are generally more syntactically complex (Lundine et al., 2018; Nippold et al., 2005). In addition, the vocabulary used in expository discourse may be more advanced than that in other discourse types. One way to explore vocabulary use in discourse is to measure the rarity of words within samples of discourse. The purpose of this study was to compare typically developing …

Deal With A Dead Man, Afton Reed

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Value of Fantasy in Exploring Intangibles

Often, a story is sparked because of asking the question, “what if?” which is what happened to create the hydra that is Deal with a Dead Man. Two percolating ideas happened to coincide, and eventually crashed together. Early on, it began when I was introduced to the Russian fairytale of Koschei the Deathless and his fear of death, but inability to enjoy life. Over the past year, my family experienced several deaths, one tragically early, and another of ripe old age. My fascination with the fairytale grew as I watched myself and family …

"Inwombed" Expressions Of Anxiety: Myhth, Humor, And The Absurd, Jonathan Taylor

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Abstract poetry collection.

The Daughters Of La Malinche: A Heideggerian Analysis Of The Pazian Archetypal Masks Portrayed In Art, At-Ziry Aileen Torres

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In this thesis, I present a Heideggerian phenomenological analysis of the Pazian archetypal masks present in The Labyrinth of Solitude, such as El Macho, La Llorona, La Mala Mujer, La Chingada, and La Malinche, and how these masks are represented and depicted by women in art. I analyze the authentic or inauthentic identity and conditions expressed by Mexican women in art through a mimetic lens and extend that analysis to gendered concerns that have emerged in the past fifty or so years in Mexico and the U.S. Mexico border. Such issues include the pervasive machismo culture and the alarming increase …

Conjuring The Moon, Ariella Berkowitz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Conjuring The Moon wrestles with the question of why we as women still submit to norms created by men who can't possibly understand our reality. Why should we support ideologies that claim to represent us while actively working against us? Why should we conform to a system that positions us as inessential Other? The speaker of this book aspires to liberate herself from such burdens. Conjuring the Moon encapsulates one woman's search for the feminine divine within herself, her religion, and her environment; but as empowering as this search may be, it remains inextricably connected to her social and historical …

A Million Little Griefs, Justine Hayes

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

A Million Little Griefs is a poetry collection that explores themes of time, place and identity through personal experiences and observations of a young mother living cross-culturally in Malawi, Africa. The book is divided into the three sections, Embrace, Ground, and Release (EGR,) which create a cyclical trajectory that serves as a guide for walking through transitions and new experiences.

Coffee Black & Melancholy Bright, Lisha Elizabeth Mccurry

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

A hybrid memoir encompassing a collection of personal essays and poetry that tells a story of depression, grief, and family intersecting in a journey through destruction and healing.

Illuminations, Kristina Michelle Thoman

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Abstract: Illumination is the multi-general story of a Jewish family, and their oral traditions. The story will trace the family from just before the biblical exodus, through the holocaust, and follow them to modern day America. The family will face antisemitism at each place in history along the way, losing a child to the pharaoh's cruel decree to slay the male children of the Hebrew slaves, narrowly escaping a death camp in the holocaust, and finally facing growing anti-Jewish hate in America. In the last act of the story, the family will be faced with the question, if you are …

Tess Of The D'Urbervilles -- A Pure Survivor An Analysis Of Thomas Hardy, Victorian Women, & Modern Media, Jesse C. Marin

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Context is vital to understanding the circumstances and the society that produced Thomas Hardy’s novel. As such, I will be reviewing the era through canonically established authors, the literary trope that would condemn women and firmly entrench itself in England’s national identity, and political movements guided by the law of Victorian England. This will showcase the hurdles of basic women’s rights that would continue throughout the reign of Queen Victoria, as well as the dangers that would be faced in the public and domestic spheres, endangering a woman’s very life. When tied together W.T. Stead’s expose in the Pall Mall …

The Talk, Anthony J. Mungin

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The premise for this thesis is â??the talkâ?? that Black mothers are having to have with their sons about making it out of risky police encounters alive. In the aftermath of the highly-contested 2014 death of Michael Brown, a slew of other African-American fatalities ensued, such as Dante Parker, Tamir Rice, Tony Robinson, Eric Harris, Walter Scott, Philando Castile, Antwon Rose II, John Crawford III, Daunte Wright et al. -- so numerous that listing them in totality is virtually impossible. These atrocities drew immense criticism over the racism of law enforcement in police departments across America and spurred public reform …

A Qualitative Case Study In Esl Education: Navigating Sexual Identities And Queerness In Language Learning On The Us-Mexico Border, Majd Sarah

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study is to explore the language learning experiences of community college students who self-identify as LGBTQ+ and study English as a Second Language (ESL) on the U.S.-Mexico border. In order to understand the relationship between ESL language learning and the identities of community college LGBTQ+ students on the US Mexico border, data was collected using semi-structured life-history interviews of three participants. This examination was framed in the theory of social identity and the theory of performativity. Findings were analyzed using a discourse analysis approach that highlights the meaning making of student experiences and their …

The Homecoming Game, Olivia Dorothy Daras

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Homecoming Game follows 16-year-old Ellie as she discovers that growing up is a lot more difficult than she thought it would be. To her horror, high school has become less about getting good grades and more about your popularity status — or so that’s what her best friend tells her. The growing pains of being a teenager and dealing with a not-so-perfect home life culminate when something utterly insane happens: she’s asked to the Homecoming Dance by someone other than the guy she’s been kind of dating. With her social life and personal life in flux, Ellie has to …

Comparative Study Of Supervised Classification Techniques With A Modified Knn Algorithm, Noah Owusu

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The goal of classification is to develop a model that can be used to accurately assign new observations to labeled classes based on the patterns learned from the training data. K-nearest Neighbors algorithm (KNN) is a popular and widely used algorithm for classification, however, its performance can be adversely affected by the presence of outliers in a dataset. In this study we have modified this existing KNN algorithm that can alleviate the effect of outliers in a dataset, thereby improving the performance of the KNN algorithm. We compared the performances of the Modified KNN method and the Existing KNN algorithm …

I Lie Awake, Pauline Juliet Ku

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Maggie Kim is a Korean American girl coming of age in Chicago and San Jose before moving to Pasadena, CA to study Biology at Caltech. Her struggles with her own sexuality, immediate family, growing up in an abusive church, traumatic memories and hallucinations and delusions make for a riveting read that validates her personal experience through trauma, stigma, and mental illness in the first-person point of view.

Incesante, Claudia Viridiana Flores Ramirez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

PREFACIO CRÃ?TICO

Manuscrito

Incesante, es un proyecto que a lo largo de tres años pasó de ser un concepto a un manuscrito. La idea surgió a finales de febrero de 2020, justo antes de que la variante SARS-Cov-2, mejor conocida como COVID-19, pusiera al mundo en pausa. El 9 de febrero de ese año, el caso de feminicidio de la joven Ingrid Escamilla Vargas, conmocionó a México debido a la brutalidad de su asesinato. Ingrid de 25 años al momento de su muerte, no solo fue asesinada a manos de su pareja sentimental, sino que fue desollada y destazada con …