Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Gibbon's Guides: The Scholarly Reception Of Ammianus Marcellinus And Procopius Of Caesarea After The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, Sarah J. Murtaugh

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis explores the influence of Edward Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire on modern scholarship about two ancient Roman historians, Ammianus Marcellinus and Procopius of Caesarea. It reveals that Gibbon's way of thinking about these historians, whom he referred to as his "guides," continues to shape scholarly discourse about them.

From Profane To Divine: The Hegemonic Appropriation Of Pagan Imagery Into Eastern Christian Hymnody, Jordan Lippert

Scripps Senior Theses

Spanning the first seven centuries of Christianity, this paper explores how Eastern Christian and Byzantine hymn chant was developed alongside pagan and Jewish worship traditions around the Near East. Comparison of hymns by Christian composers such as St. Romanos the Melodist and pagan poetry reveals many similarities in the types of metaphorical imagery used in both religious expressions. Common in Christian hymn texts, well-known metaphors, like the “Light of God,” are juxtaposed with pagan mythological gods, such as Apollo and Helios. This paper attempts to explain how and why Christians appropriated and adopted ancient pagan imagery into the burgeoning musical …

'I Am Rooted, But I Flow': Virginia Woolf And 20th Century Thought, Emily Lauren Hanna

Scripps Senior Theses

My thesis is about Virginia Woolf’s novels, Mrs. Dalloway, The Waves, and To the Lighthouse. I examine these novels in relation to the theories of Henri Bergson, William James, and Sigmund Freud, and the groundwork of Modernism. I relate Woolf's use of water imagery and stream of consciousness technique to Bergson’s theory of “la durée,” or psychological, subjective time, James’ “stream of consciousness” theory in psychology, and Freud’s theory of the “oceanic” feeling of religious experience.

Spelling Gratitude: An Aesthetic Exploration, Lily Anna Burgess

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis is founded in the positive psychological theory of gratitude, the experience of thankfulness and its benefits on both the individual and the community. My explorations via personal journaling, careful reflection, and engaging in craft, led me to cultivate a new definition for gratitude: present moment awareness. Using sheer fabric and the meditative act of embroidering, the language of gratitude was relearned and cultivated. My piece aims to incite further explorations in thanks.

Politique De La Traduction: Le Sous-Titrage De Références Liées À La Culture, Rebecca J. Marion

Scripps Senior Theses

Cette analyse examine la problématique du sous-titrage des références liées à la culture (RLC). On s’intéresse à une question fondamentale : Comment le sous-titrage des RLC oriente-t-il un film vers la culture cible et quelles sont les conséquences possibles de cette orientation? Dans le premier chapitre, je vais faire une étude de l’histoire de la traduction du cinéma. En analysant comment les distributeurs et les exploitants ont abordé la traduction audiovisuelle, je vais exposer l’influence importante des motivations nationalistes sur le développement des processus de traduction. Le deuxième chapitre traite des contraintes posées par le sous-titrage des références liées à …

Women And Video Games: Pigeonholing The Past, Allison Perry

Scripps Senior Theses

Academic work dealing with the overlap between video games and female representation is limited in both volume and proper research. Most texts agree on three supposed flaws with video games: they alienate female participants, there are no games for female players, and female players cannot relate to female characters. This thesis sheds light on these points, not only citing specific counter-examples, but also showing how many of these issues reflect on a larger societal problems.

Beyond The Color Line: Asian American Representations In The Media, Emily Wo

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis examines the stereotypical ideology of Asian Americans that persists in mainstream contemporary television and argues that these representations manifest themselves in viewers’ minds. It also illustrates the shifting paradigm within the media from producer-created to consumer-created content through social media demonstrated by the Jeremy Lin phenomenon. Lastly, this thesis argues that it takes alternate channels to convey race in an accurate way using Asian American independent media as a source of positive representation.

Fracturando La Idea De Tabú: El Cine Español Abre Nuevos Medios De Discusión, Emily Watterberg

Scripps Senior Theses

En cada sociedad hay temas que son tratados como temas prohibidos. Muchas veces estos temas están prohibidos porque muchas personas se sienten incómodas hablando sobre ellos porque ya existe una opinión popular y parece imposible cambiarla. Estos temas son temas tabú. Cada sociedad tiene temas tabú y España no es una excepción. España, por parte de su historia y parte por el hecho que es una sociedad, tiene muchos temas que son tabú.

Conversion Theory Through The Cognitive Science Of Religion Lense In A Christian-Muslim Context, Jennifer A. Garcia

Scripps Senior Theses

The Cognitive Science of Religion (CSR) in recent years is beginning to become more popular. This project evolves around the development of the field as well as critiques of the field. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of CSR, it lends an interesting way to understand religion as well as religious experiences. One of those religious experiences, conversion, is examined and explored through the use of conversion narratives from western women who were formally Christian but converted to Islam. Many themes arise out of this research that paves the way for trying to understand religious experiences. Overall, the project focuses on …

Mme. De Pompadour: Self Promotion And Social Performance Through Architecture And The Decorative Arts, Kelly Elizabeth Boyd

Scripps Senior Theses

The structure of this thesis relies on the physical locations of Mme. de Pompadour. Although the chapters are roughly chronological, beginning with her arrival at Versailles in 1745 and ending with her death in 1764, this work makes no attempt to comprehensively chronicle the entirety of her involvement in the decorative arts. Rather, it focuses on several specific aspects of her patronage, with the goal of illuminating her social position and public image, and how she worked to control the two. Chapter One deals with the first rooms Mme. de Pompadour inhabited, from 1745-1750. These upper apartments characterize her early …

From Subways To The Pop Shop: Display Space In The Work Of Keith Haring, Leah Pauline Rappaport

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the relationship between Haring's artwork and its display as it influences the viewer's perception and interpretation.

The Legal And Social Repercussions Of The Media On The Sleepy Lagoon Trial And The Zoot Suit Riots, Lori Romero

Scripps Senior Theses

People v. Zamora was a case that was decided on January 12, 1943, which led to the conviction and sentencing of five defendants guilty of assault, nine guilty of second degree murder, and three of first degree murder. This equals a total of seventeen convictions for the murder of one man, out of twenty two who were arrested. Along with those convictions, five women were arrested and, due mainly to their refusal to cooperate were sent to a woman’s reformatory (Barajas, 36). Yet there emerged many different problems that were relevant in this trial, which were brought about by both …

La Réconciliation De La Tradition Et De La Modernité Dans L’Adaptation Cinématographique Contemporaine Du Conte De Fées En France Et En Allemagne, Mirabelle Korn

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis examines the adaptation of fairy tales in ten recent French and German films. It looks specifically at narrative structures, representations of magic, portrayals of childhood, and manifestations of good and evil. This thesis asks how and why contemporary French and German filmmakers choose, consciously or not, to update some of the central motifs of fairy tales for a modern audience and what attitudes toward the reconciliation of tradition and modernity those choices express.

Mothers, Sons, And The Gothic Family In Brown, Poe, And Wharton, Elizabeth Lain Lyon

Scripps Senior Theses

Within Gothic literature, the mother is frequently missing. In Charles Brockden Brown’s Edgar Huntly, Edgar Allan Poe’s “Morella,” “Ligeia,” and “Eleonora,” and Edith Wharton’s “Bewitched,” men are left without parents, and they attempt to recuperate a mother-figure. To do so, the men in these texts psychologically project the role of their mother onto other women. Wives, sisters, and daughters all have the potential to become mothers to these men. This is a catastrophe for the women involved, for male perception fails to distinguish females as autonomous, unique beings. By conflating roles in the family structure, men destroy women and …

The Vision Of Reality As A Paradox: Salvador Dali's Creative Process From 1927 To 1939, Stefanie Saperstein

Scripps Senior Theses

From 1927 through 1939, Salvador Dalí went through an arduous artistic pursuit to visualize his perspective on reality. Dalí’s inter-connected visual and verbal process lasted for over a decade, during which he went from confronting reality to accepting that the world is an irrational paradox. This study asserts that his investigation took him from the fragmented images of cinema to the metamorphic shapes of the ‘soft and hard’ and ultimately to a series of multiple images, which envisioned his paranoid-critical method. In his 1930 article “The Rotting Donkey,” Dalí wrote, “I believe that the moment is near when, through …

The Unraveling Of Shakespeare's Othello, Corey M. Jay

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis analyzes one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies from the perspective of its costumes, and chronicles the start-to-finish process of the costume design for the April 2012 production of Othello held at Pomona College. Incorporating the Pre-Raphaelite art movement with high fashion’s late Alexander McQueen, this thesis brings to light Othello’s predominant themes of race and honesty by means of luxurious textiles and distinct silhouettes.

From The Attic To The Cosmos: Myth In The Art Of Anselm Kiefer 1973-2007, Isabel L. Roth

Scripps Senior Theses

Anselm Kiefer was born in Germany, 1945—the year of Adolf Hitler’s suicide, and subsequently, the end of World War II. His own beginnings were shrouded by a national “repression” of history. This repression was at odds with Kiefer’s needs to establish his own origin. For this reason, the spirituality in his earlier work is often overshadowed by its subject—Nazi Germany. This thesis will look back on Kiefer’s work through the lens of mythology in an effort to re-evaluate his earlier art within the context of his works since 1990. From the 1970s to the present, Kiefer has drawn from mythology …

An Examination Of Oxidative Passivated Surfaces On 19th Century Colt Revolver Barrels, Mckenzie Allison Floyd

Scripps Senior Theses

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to examine a series of six revolver barrels manufactured by the Colt Patent Arms Manufacturing Company between 1853 and 1863. SEM micrographs revealed a vast range of surface morphologies among the corroded samples. XRD diffraction patterns showed varying levels of magnetite on the blackened samples, but hematite could not be identified. EDS was used to map elemental distribution and quantify elemental abundances on the gun surfaces; further investigation using this technique may reveal more definitive information on whether some elements present were deposited during patination.

Power And Relationships In The Plays Of Neil Labute: Directing And Performing In Some Girl(S), Mary Peyton Griffith

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis explores the major works of Neil LaBute's career as a playwright and screenwriter, including the criticism he has received on theatrical and literary levels. The themes most prevalent in the thesis are the use of power and manipulation in the relationships between LaBute's characters and the ongoing maturation of his characters that coincides with the maturation of his work. The second section of the thesis follows the production, directing, and acting in LaBute's play Some Girl(s).

Electromyography (Emg) Biofeedback Training In Music Performance: Preventing And Reducing Musculoskeletal Pain In Musicians, Carolyn Yarbrough

Scripps Senior Theses

Musicians are a high-risk occupational group for musculoskeletal disorders. Often manifesting in muscle tension, pain and paresthesia, musculoskeletal disorders can drastically affect comfort, mentality and endurance while performing. This study sought to examine the effects of electromyography (EMG) biofeedback training in reducing musculoskeletal symptoms in music performance. The subjects were university-level violinists and cellists. Over a period of 2-4 weeks, all participants underwent EMG biofeedback training while performing their instrument using audio feedback. No significant results were found, but patterns of decreased muscle tension and increased performance comfort and endurance were observed.

La Guerra Civil Española: Un Estudio De La Literatura Como Un Mecanismo De Recuperar La Memoria Colectiva, Lindsay R. Delp

Scripps Senior Theses

Esta tesis es una exploración de la literatura como un mecanismo de recuperar la memoria colectiva de España después de la Guerra Civil. Los textos de Duelo en El Paraíso por Juan Goytisolo, El cuarto de atrás por Carmen Martín Gaite, Soldados de Salamina de Javier Cercas, y Los girasoles ciegos de Alberto Méndez se utilizan como ejemplos de la literatura de la posguerra que se tratan del tema de la memoria como parte faltante de la sociedad de hoy. El análisis de estos cuatro textos muestra las maneras diferentes en que la literatura puede servir como manera de ganar …

The Sacred State: Religion, Politics And The Jerusalem Temple, Rebecca M. King

Scripps Senior Theses

I will begin at the beginning, the original construction of the Temple by Solomon and will examine the political nature the Temple achieved even before the first stone was placed. From there the Temple goes through a phase of destruction, rebuilding and destruction again. Each of these phases has political undertones that are important to understand in light of the religious ones. Jewish identity comes into question and the Temple becomes a tool by which to gain legitimacy in the political realm. However, once the Temple is destroyed a second time Jews have to accommodate themselves to a reality in …

Unbreakable Glass Slippers: Hegemony In Ella Enchanted, Tori Shereen Mirsadjadi

Scripps Senior Theses

The way Gail Carson Levine’s Ella Enchanted simultaneously conforms to its late-20^th-century American standards and rebels against its Cinderella origins is analyzed in this thesis. As an analysis of a piece of literature written for children, the thesis works to defend the notion that playful literature produces a serious dialogue with its readers, and that young female readers are a particularly apropos group for the dialogue about hegemony that Ella Enchanted allows.

The Hegemony Of English In South African Education, Kelsey E. Figone

Scripps Senior Theses

The South African Constitution recognizes 11 official languages and protects an individual’s right to use their mother-tongue freely. Despite this recognition, the majority of South African schools use English as the language of learning and teaching (LOLT). Learning in English is a struggle for many students who speak indigenous African languages, rather than English, as a mother-tongue, and the educational system is failing its students. This perpetuates inequality between different South African communities in a way that has roots in the divisions of South Africa’s past. An examination of the power of language and South Africa’s experience with colonialism and …

La Valorisation De La Maternité En France Contemporaine Et Ses Conséquences, Margaret P. Matlock

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis is an analysis of the effects of pronatalist policies and social pressure to have children on the role of women in society. Written in French.

Alexandria And The Construction Of Urban Experience, Sara L. Bacon

Scripps Senior Theses

Early Ptolemaic Alexandria provides a unique perspective on cultural interactions during the Hellenistic Period. With this idea in mind, I have tracked the cultural affiliation of the city from its foundation through the early years of the Ptolemaic dynasty. In order to do this, both literary and archaeological evidence, including various foundation myths for the city, the poetry of Theocritus and Herodas, papyrological evidence as well as the city plan and archaeological remains of the Serapeum, were analyzed. Using this evidence, this thesis attempts to describe the cultural state of the ancient city and the surrounding area in its early …

Body Language: Representations Of Dis/Ability In Life Writing And Improvisational Dance, Jenna N. Tico

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis looks into autobiographical representations of disability and illness in life writing, a flexible form of creative nonfiction, and Contact Improvisation, a postmodern dance form, to argue how the structure of representation must incorporate the physical and emotional/intellectual in order to convey the necessary overlap between the mind and body.

Chapter One looks at Plaintext, by Nancy Mairs, to analyze the way her sporadic writing style mirrors the unpredictability of her multiple sclerosis. Chapter Two focuses on Autobiography of a Face, by Lucy Grealy, and examines how the irregularity of the author's face--and the various roles that she takes …

Une Éthique De La Modestie Dans Les Essais De Montaigne (Towards A Modest Ethics In Montaigne's Essays), Catherine Parker Sweatt

Scripps Senior Theses

La plupart des lectures contemporaines des Essais ignore la pensée morale de Montaigne. Ici, je maintiens que Montaigne épouse ‘une éthique de la modestie’ en même temps qu’il rejette toute éthique normative. En particulier, je cherche à aborder comment Montaigne suggère que nous connaissons la vertu et agissons si deux individus ne partagent pas le même perspective et on ne peut pas être le même sujet éthique deux fois. Je vais commencer par discuter la position épistémique de Montaigne par rapport aux universels pour illustrer comment Montaigne met en question l’universalité des lois éthiques et un bien connu a priori …

Can't Be Tamed: A Feminist Analysis Of Apocrypha And Other Scripture, Catherine Alison Ballard

Scripps Senior Theses

This paper is my own unique feminist analysis of certain apocryphal texts. Though the texts I use have common themes, they are divided into what I consider the three most societally important aspects of an ancient woman’s identity: virgin, mother, and whore. The Acts of Thecla and The Acts of Xanthippe and Polyxena deal with virginity. II Maccabees, The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas, and select chapters of Augustine’s Confessions represent motherhood. Finally, the hagiographies Life of Pelagia and Life of Mary navigate through the mire of sexualities that deviate from norms.

The Gesamtkunstwerk Of A Reunifying Metropolis: Berlin’S Kunsthaus Tacheles, Emma Camille Scheidt

Scripps Senior Theses

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the city of Berlin was faced with the challenge to reunify in both political and cultural realms. Berlin is noted throughout history as a metropolis that is characterized by flux; the Post-Wende [Post-Wall] era is another remarkable transitional phase in Berlin’s history. During this era, the city was extremely porous and susceptible to cultural forces that could easily define the city’s malleable future. This essay discusses such forces and events that were planned by the city government, as well as an organic grassroots force that was especially significant in the cultural reunification. This …