Digital Commons Network^™

Peeking Out: A Textual Analysis Of Heteronormative Images In Prime-Time Television, D. Renee Smith

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation traces lesbian portrayals on network television from the 1960s through the 1990s. A focus on episodic dramas and situation comedies reveals a concise representation of the mediated lesbian image. Building on existing research on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender images on television, this work focuses exclusively on the lesbian image broadcast free of charge over the air during prime-time on commercial networks in the United States. Using a postmodern feminist framework, this textual analysis examines the images and texts portraying lesbian characters in episodic dramas and situation comedies. Furthermore, applying a semiotic lens to the analysis dissects the …

“The Youngest Of The Great American Family”: The Creation Of A Franco-American Culture In Early Louisiana, Cinnamon Brown

Doctoral Dissertations

On April 30, 1803, the Jefferson administration purchased French Louisiana. Initially American lawmakers rejoiced at the prospect of American domination of the Mississippi River. Yet within a few short months this optimism was replaced with uncertainty and alarm as lawmakers faced the task of incorporating Lower Louisiana into the Union. As Americans tackled the many unintended consequences of the Louisiana Purchase, Louisianans also had to confront the ramifications of the landmark acquisition and the encroachment of a new American government in their lives. From 1803 to 1815, American lawmakers and Louisianans embarked on a parallel journey to incorporate Lower Louisiana …

Critical Distance: The Postcolonial Novel And The Dilemma Of Exile, David S. Morgan

Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I argue that Edward Said‘s theory of exile offers a stronger version of human agency than do other postcolonial theories of identity which rely on poststructural theory, and therefore, his theory of exile provides a useful model for postcolonial criticism. His theory of exile animates almost all of his work from his earliest literary criticism to his later theoretical texts. By ―exile,‖ Said refers to the experience of peoples displaced from their homes for political reasons and to the experience of intellectual homelessness that a critic must have in order to be free of the constraints of …

Somehow A Word Must Be Found: William Carlos Williams, The Legacies Of Duchamp, And The Troping Of The Found, Brian L. Gempp

Doctoral Dissertations

Since the publication of J. Hillis Miller’s seminal chapter on William Carlos Williams in Poets of Reality (1965), there has been a uniform trend among critics to read the poet’s early experiments in relation to Marcel Duchamp. Miller situates Williams’s poetics within a range of avant-garde neologisms thought to challenge the autonomy of the bourgeois art object. Williams’s poetry rethinks the function and form of language and it is this self-reflexivity, and Miller’s deferral to the ready-made, that provides the foundation for this study. Inspired by a Dadaist-revival that reached its peak in the years leading up to the poet’s …

A Study Of The Social And Political Implication Of Friedrich Schlegel’S ‘Comedy Of Freude’, Manjit Singh Bhatti

Masters Theses

Generally speaking, scholarship in the field of Germanistik has taken an interest in Friedrich Schlegel’s early publication, “Vom aesthetischen Werte der griechischen Komoedie” (1794), either because of its perceived influence on German Romantic Comedy [(Catholy 1982), (Kluge 1980), (Holl 1923), (Japp 1999)], or else because of its relevance as an example of Schlegel's still inchoate aesthetic philosophy [(Dierkes 1980), (Behrens 1984), (Schanze 1966), (Michel 1982), (Dannenberg 1993), (Mennemeier 1971)]. As a theory of comedy in its own right, Schlegel’s essay has garnered little attention, in part because of its supposed inapplicability to comedic praxis and at times utopian implications, in …

Sound Scenes: Performativity, Politics, And Capital In New Music Ensembles, John Robison Pippen

Masters Theses

This thesis examines classical music as a cultural practice and centers on my ethnographies of three musical ensembles in the United States: Alarm Will Sound, eighth blackbird, and Yarn/Wire. Each group is a non-profit performing arts organization formed by conservatory-trained members and each performs and promotes new classical music, or "new music" as it is commonly called. I draw also on my own experience performing and interacting in new music communities.

From these mixed domains, I demonstrate new music ensembles as dynamic and complex entities in which individuals negotiate between the elitist conventions of classical music and populist ideals. In …

"We’Ll All Shout Together In That Morning": Iconicity And Sacred Harp Singing On Sand Mountain, Alabama, Jonathon Murray Smith

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the cultural context of Sacred Harp singing on Sand Mountain, Alabama. Using Stephen Feld’s concept of “iconicity of style,” I demonstrate that Sacred Harp singing is more than just a form of music, but an overarching aesthetic that ties together multiple forms of cultural expression and social interaction. Sacred Harp singing occurs in many different contexts on Sand Mountain, ranging from church services, to organized singings, to impromptu social events. Its presence in all these realms connects the sacred and the secular, bridging diverse aspects of Sand Mountain culture.

As I investigate the place of Sacred Harp …

Physician As Military Officer: Conflicts In Professional Duties, Kevin Michael Bond

Doctoral Dissertations

A “moral dilemma” is a situation in which there is more than one obligatory course of action, but to act on one choice means to not act upon the others. Moral dilemma arises when an action, or inaction, results in “wrongness” because other morally correct obligations are rendered unattainable. Sometimes prolonged exposure to moral dilemma leads to a phenomenon known as “moral distress.” Moral distress is a negative feeling or state that is experienced when a person makes moral judgments about a situation in which he or she is involved, but, due to one or more constraints, does not act …

Twentieth Century Changes In The Climate Response Of Yellow Pines In Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee, U.S.A., Christine Patricia Biermann

Masters Theses

Previous dendroclimatological research has shown that tree growth is primarily a function of temperature and precipitation. At mid-latitude temperate forest sites, trees have been found to be mainly moisture-sensitive rather than temperature-sensitive. Researchers at the 2007 North American Dendroecological Fieldweek were surprised to find a winter temperature signal in a shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata) chronology from Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee. Building on this finding, I evaluated yellow pine climate-tree growth relationships at five sites on the western end of Great Smoky Mountains National Park using correlation, response function, moving correlation, and wavelet analyses. Winter mean minimum …

Sightings Of The Mormon Sacroscape: Mormonism As A Test Case For Thomas Tweed‟S Theory Of Religion., Sean Soren Deitrick

Masters Theses

This work explores Thomas Tweed‟s theory of religion as presented in Crossing and Dwelling, taking up the author‟s challenge to demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses in his theoretical model by applying it to new cases. Mormonism is ideal as a case study in this context because of the visibility of Mormon mass migrations in the Nineteenth Century, the global significance of Mormonism in the Twentieth Century, and the distinctively spatial theology of Joseph Smith. The paper proceeds by (1) outlining Tweed‟s theory of religion, (2) applying a Tweedian “itinerary” to Mormon spatial practices, and (3) reflecting on critical themes …

Pedagogy For Millennials: Using New Literacies And New Media To Teach Old Texts, Keli Woodard Weed

Masters Theses

When teaching the rhetorical situation, English teachers often emphasize the importance of ―knowing one‘s audience.‖ As we move into a new century, it is important that these teachers consider their own advice. This project aims a critical lens at millennials – those tech-savvy, multi-tasking students who were born after 1994 – and aims to equip teachers with the skills, tools, and confidence needed to step out of the routine of skill-and-drill pedagogy in the language arts classroom and into the interactive, multi-modal world of 21st-century education. The project begins with an analysis of demographic information on millennial students that is …

Why Not Rule The World? Nietzsche, The Ubermensch, And Contemporary Superheroes., Dylan Fort Meggs

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.