“Hell Is Only A Word. The Reality Is Much, Much Worse”: Black Holes As Fantasy Gateways To Hell,
2023
Southwestern Oklahoma State University
“Hell Is Only A Word. The Reality Is Much, Much Worse”: Black Holes As Fantasy Gateways To Hell, Kristine Larsen
Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)
Black holes are frequently described as the scariest objects in the universe, even by the normally staid scientists who study them. Like the warning on the gate of Hell in Dante’s Inferno, any (hu)man or matter that dares to cross the event horizon abandons all hope before literally being ripped to shreds by the object’s extreme tidal forces. As the heart of the beast is approached, the laws of physics break down, time loses its simple everyday meaning, and mathematical madness reigns supreme. It is no wonder that Hollywood has repeatedly adopted the black hole as more than merely …
Hell On Earth In Garth Nix’S Old Kingdom,
2023
Southwestern Oklahoma State University
Hell On Earth In Garth Nix’S Old Kingdom, John Rosegrant
Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)
I explore psychological meanings embedded in the Old Kingdom. Its River of Death is a hell impinging on life: Like Dante’s Inferno it has nine sectors; the dead take hideous Boschian forms; and helped by necromancers wielding “free magic” they often return to life. On this metaphor Nix builds the insight that desiring to live deeply and joyously risks turning hellish if early life was loveless. Necromancers and Free Magic are battled by Abhorsens and others wielding “Charter magic,” Free Magic transformed by symbols. Immersion in the Charter gives a joyous experience of connection to all life. Symbolization must …
Those Queer Devils: Queercoding Villains, Devils, And Demons In Mythopoeic Film And Media,
2023
Southwestern Oklahoma State University
Those Queer Devils: Queercoding Villains, Devils, And Demons In Mythopoeic Film And Media, Grace Moone
Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)
In the early years of Hollywood’s Golden Age, The Hays Code functioned as a rigid morality code designed to shape the norms of Western culture. Its far-reaching impacts remain visible even decades after its enforcement was no longer required. In this talk, we will explore one of the most pervasive elements of the code’s legacy: the prohibition against showing LGBTQ characters in a positive light, and the resulting phenomenon of “queer-coding” characters. The practice of portraying LGBT+ characters through a lens of villainy and stereotype to adhere to the Hays Code requirement that queerness be punished and depicted as undesirable …
Animated Dancing To Hell And Back: Disney’S Fantasia,
2023
Southwestern Oklahoma State University
Animated Dancing To Hell And Back: Disney’S Fantasia, Matthew Elfenbein
Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)
Imaginative images of Heaven and Hell capture the sociocultural engagement with Walt Disney’s Fantasia (1940), which demonstrates animated dancing bodies to represent the descent and passage of the hero’s journey. This journey is presented with many different forms of conflict and images that become unique through the qualities of the animated screendance. This form of dance on film is accentuated by the visualization of imaginative bodies, a conflict between knowledge and curiosity, and the spectacle of layering images on top of symbolic meanings to emphasize the power of identification with the audience. The spectators of this film are engaged with …
From Hell (Or Not): Representations Of Merlin And His Origins In The Comics,
2023
Southwestern Oklahoma State University
From Hell (Or Not): Representations Of Merlin And His Origins In The Comics, Michael A. Torregrossa
Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)
The Arthurian figure of Merlin has a long literary history, but he never seems able to shake off the effects of his parentage. In medieval tradition, Merlin is sired by inhuman powers: first a seemingly benign dæmon and then a decidedly wicked demon. This preternatural aspect to his conception grants Merlin the skills and powers he uses to support the realm, yet it also taints him as someone potentially dangerous. Although Merlin’s background cannot be changed, creative artists often choose to ignore or alter his origins, especially when retelling his story for mass audiences. In contrast, other creators, usually those …
Denethor’S Descent Into Hell,
2023
Southwestern Oklahoma State University
Denethor’S Descent Into Hell, Craig Boyd
Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)
One character in Tolkien’s Legendarium stands out as one of the more morally sad and complicated individuals: Denethor, the Steward of Gondor. Although he tries to defend the kingdom he cares for, his own significant moral weaknesses subvert even the best of his intentions. His despair, provoked by the death of his favorite son—and the apparent death of his other son—sends him into a spiral of self-destructive harm from which there is no return. What accounts for this are three factors. First, his self-imposed isolation from others cuts him off from the necessary fellowship that could sustain his character; his …
Feasting At The Threshold: Transubstantiation, Queer Desire, And Homonationalism In Diane Duane’S The Tale Of The Five,
2023
Southwestern Oklahoma State University
Feasting At The Threshold: Transubstantiation, Queer Desire, And Homonationalism In Diane Duane’S The Tale Of The Five, Taylor Driggers
Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)
Diane Duane’s ongoing pulp fantasy series The Tale of the Five (1979- ) is set in a world marked by constant bodily transgressions and surprises, where a human and dragon can occupy the same body and become lovers and a one-night stand can bring one face-to-face with God. This essay will argue that Duane’s series articulates eroticism in a manner comparable to Linn Marie Tonstad’s (2016) queer re-visioning of transubstantiation and bodily and spiritual transformation through the Eucharist. Acts of eating and drinking serve to highlight how characters’ pansexual, polyamorous relations with each other and the love of the Goddess …
The Underworld As The Heroine’S Journey Home: Marvel, Xena, And Mythic Reimaginings,
2023
Southwestern Oklahoma State University
The Underworld As The Heroine’S Journey Home: Marvel, Xena, And Mythic Reimaginings, Valerie Estelle Frankel
Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)
Hell is traditionally a place of torment, where the young heroine, like Persephone or Eurydice, is kidnapped by the patriarchy, leaving others to rescue her. The last few decades, however, have offered a model closer to Sumerian Inanna, in which the heroine is enlightened by hell or even conquers it. Angela, Queen of Hel: Journey to the Funderworld by Marguerite Bennett (2016) gives its heroine this path. Winning back her beloved, Angela, sister of Thor and Loki, becomes queen of the underworld but then prefers to bring Sera back to earth in a flip on Eurydice. The Xena episode “Fallen …
Infernal Landscape In Jacob’S Ladder (1990) In Light Of Carl G. Jung’S Theory Of Individuation,
2023
Southwestern Oklahoma State University
Infernal Landscape In Jacob’S Ladder (1990) In Light Of Carl G. Jung’S Theory Of Individuation, Fryderyk Kwiatkowski
Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)
Carl G. Jung’s conception of the human psyche as an inner realm that gives access to profound, numinous experiences inspired many artists and popular culture authors to portray heaven and hell as symbolic expressions of the opposite forces within the human psyche rather than cosmological or supernatural regions. In my paper, I will concentrate on how the Hollywood film Jacob’s Ladder (1990) directed by Adrian Lyne, by portraying the main character’s descent into a deathbed vision depicted as hellish reality, reflects Jung’s theory of individuation, a process of self-realization that aims at reconciling various elements of the psyche and achieving …
Hell On His Mind: Dean Winchester’S Journey To Hell And Back,
2023
Southwestern Oklahoma State University
Hell On His Mind: Dean Winchester’S Journey To Hell And Back, Anna Caterino
Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)
Season three of Supernatural (2005-2020) closes with a shot of Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) in Hell. The place has no discernible features and resembles neither the long waiting line nor the gothic castle of later seasons. The few elements that do characterize it, however, make it look like a brain, the labyrinth of ropes reminiscent of neurons. This association introduces Hell as a place that exists first and foremost in Dean’s dead. The lack of establishing shots and the abstract terms used to discuss Hell, damnation, and Dean’s experience further support this claim, working in its favor. After all, the …
The Righteousness Of The Damned In Jeffrey Konvitz’S The Sentinel,
2023
Southwestern Oklahoma State University
The Righteousness Of The Damned In Jeffrey Konvitz’S The Sentinel, Raymond G. Falgui
Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)
The paper will examine the nature of the damned in Jeffrey Konvitz’s 1970s pulp horror novel The Sentinel by using a framework utilized by C.S. Lewis in The Great Divorce, wherein damnation involves a species of spiritual blindness that masquerades as righteousness and shields the damned (for a time) from an awareness of their ultimate condition. Specifically, the paper will provide a character analysis of the co-protagonist Michael, arguably one of Konvitz’s more complex literary creations, and the role he plays in briefly elevating a generic genre-contrived plot into the realm of true spiritual horror. While making such a …
Welcome And Announcements,
2023
Southwestern Oklahoma State University
Welcome And Announcements, Mythsoc Stewards
Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)
Welcome and Announcements
Join us for a screening of the Welcome and Announcements video, and have a cup of coffee before we get started!
Opening Up Research On The Teaching Of Reading By Looking Beyond Us Borders: What We Might Learn From Early Literacy Instruction In China,
2023
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Opening Up Research On The Teaching Of Reading By Looking Beyond Us Borders: What We Might Learn From Early Literacy Instruction In China, Danling Fu, Xiaodi Zhou
Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications
This article discusses early literacy instruction in China, including the impact of biliteracy education on Chinese society. This presentation is based on interviews with over two dozen scholars of Chinese literacy instruction, as well as primary early grades language arts classroom teachers from four different regions across China. The purpose of this examination of literacy education in China is to open our views of literacy instruction beyond US borders, especially in those countries with different language/literacy systems. Because of the rapid increase of emergent bilingual students in our schools, we need to gain a better understanding of literacy and biliteracy …
Language And The Mind: How Language Shapes Our Thinking,
2023
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Language And The Mind: How Language Shapes Our Thinking, Xiaodi Zhou
Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications
This paper analyzes languages and their connections to thinking and culture using an autoethnographic lens. This autoethnography utilized personal examples and those from the author’s students’ compositions as evidence of the link between languages and cultures. Both named languages and dialects of those languages are contemplated for the basis of how their traits influence perceptions. A neuroscientific rationale is also made between human languages and human cultures. The link between culture and language, including dialects, is made, positioning the act of translanguaging as real time dialogue between cultures. Finally, classroom implications are presented with actual student writing and multimodal performances …
Destins De Femmes: French Women Writers, 1750-1850,
2023
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Destins De Femmes: French Women Writers, 1750-1850, John C. Isbell
Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications
Destins de femmes is the first comprehensive overview of French women writers during the turbulent period of 1750-1850. John Isbell provides an essential collection that illuminates the impact women writers had on French literature and politics during a time marked by three revolutions, the influx of Romantic art, and rapid technological change. Each of the book’s thirty chapters introduces a prominent work by a different female author writing in French during the period, from Germaine de Staël to George Sand, from the admired salon libertine Marie du Deffand to Flora Tristan, tireless campaigner for socialism and women’s rights. Isbell draws …
Hacia La Construcción De Una ‘Ciudadanía Casera’ En Ilegal: Reflexiones De Un Inmigrante Indocumentado (2019), De José Ángel Navejas,
2023
Loyola University Chicago
Hacia La Construcción De Una ‘Ciudadanía Casera’ En Ilegal: Reflexiones De Un Inmigrante Indocumentado (2019), De José Ángel Navejas, Gabriela Buitrón Vera
Modern Languages and Literatures: Faculty Publications and Other Works
En este trabajo examino el memoir Ilegal: Reflexiones de un inmigrante indocumentado (2019), de José Ángel Navejas. A raíz de una lectura de este texto, exploro las formas en que el narrador describe cómo los inmigrantes mexicanos indocumentados crean espacios de alianza y pertenencia en Estados Unidos. Para eso, parto del concepto de ‘ciudadanía casera’ de Mitchell (2020), quien apunta a que el ‘pertenecer’ no depende de la inclusión cívica o el reconocimiento estatal, sino que es una noción que se construye por medio de las prácticas comunitarias informales. Por ende, sugiero que en Ilegal son espacios de ‘ciudadanía casera’ …
Designing Anchor Points,
2023
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Designing Anchor Points, Andrew Hollinger
Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications
Writing programs that offer a range of instructional modalities (such as online synchronous, online asynchronous, face-to-face [F2F], and hybrid) can find it difficult to maintain programmatic identity and instructional or course comparability across modalities. Part of the difficulty is that each delivery modality has specific material and pedagogical requirements for success. That is, an online asynchronous course must look, feel, and act differently than the F2F iteration of the course—which also means the online version cannot be simply the digital version of the F2F course. How, then, does a writing program develop and maintain itself as a “program” amidst so …
“Make A Reasonable Effort”: Translation Policy For Texas State Websites,
2023
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
“Make A Reasonable Effort”: Translation Policy For Texas State Websites, Gabriel Gonzalez Nunez, Nazaret Fresno
Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications
Language plays a key role in democracy. In fact, the role of language in democratic societies is so crucial that scholars have addressed it thoroughly through different lenses, ranging from law to language policy. This article, in turn, seeks to add to the scholarship on democracy and language rights by considering the role of translation policy in the development of linguistically inclusive public web pages. To that end, the study considers the State of Texas's translation policy as it relates to its online presence. Specifically, it approaches translation policy by looking at translation management, translation practice, and translation beliefs as …
Citizens Of The English Language: Sociolinguistic Perspectives On Postcolonial India,
2023
Rhode Island School of Design
Citizens Of The English Language: Sociolinguistic Perspectives On Postcolonial India, Prateek Shankar
Masters Theses
This paper introduces the concept of "extralingual citizenship," which I define as an expansion of translingualism to include the ethnoracial logic of the nation-state and demonstrates the entanglement of language, governance, and education in the policing of knowledge infrastructures and discursive practices. I am interested in the codification of postcolonial disparity into the teaching, social performance, and material assessment of English language users, and the infrastructural disqualification of World Englishes (and their amalgams) in favor of a standardized English. I frame extralingualism as a kind of citizenship, shifting the focus of English pedagogy/practice from the syntactical/etymological concerns of language …
French 203: Grammar & Conversation: A Faculty-Led Inquiry Into Reflective & Scholarly Teaching Benchmark Portfolio,
2023
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
French 203: Grammar & Conversation: A Faculty-Led Inquiry Into Reflective & Scholarly Teaching Benchmark Portfolio, Erica Schauer
UNL Faculty Course Portfolios
The following Benchmark Portfolio is the product of a full reassessment of FRENCH 203: CONVERSATION & GRAMMAR, an intermediate-level grammar course that serves as a prerequisite for students pursuing a major or a minor in French at UNL. Previously, French 203 had been a review course that covered the essential grammar structures discussed in 101, 102, 201 and 202 and invited students to practice these structures orally with peers in class. This new iteration of the course, however, seeks to broaden the reach of student comprehension of French as a functional tool of communication by requiring students to understand and …
