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We Are All Mestiz(Ç)Os: An Exploration And Deconstruction Of The Myth Of Mestizaje/Mestiçagem In Mexico And Brazil, Michelle Garcia

CMC Senior Theses

Different from the United States, racial-mixing was permissible in Latin America throughout its history. Furthermore, race-mixing has been cemented into the national identities of LatAm states through Mestizaje, thus painting these states as racial democracies. This thesis examines the construction and maintenance of Mestizaje as a myth and sign for racial democracies as well as the racial disconnect created within those in “Mestizo” nations. This thesis contributes to existing literature by utilizing Mexico and Brazil due to their different socio-historical contexts. They will serve as case studies to evaluate the mechanisms that allow this myth to persevere. First, I will …

Fermented Resistance: The Role Of Kimchi In Preserving Korean Identity Through Colonialism And Modernization, Francis M. Ferreira

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis began with a simple observation during my year abroad in Seoul: kimchi was everywhere. It appeared at every table, in every household, and soon, in every question I had about Korean identity. What started as a personal curiosity evolved into a deep historical inquiry into how this single dish — made of fermented cabbage, radish, and spices — came to represent the soul of a nation. This thesis traces kimchi’s journey from a humble survival food in agrarian Korea to a symbol of resistance during Japanese colonization, a tool for reclaiming identity after liberation, and ultimately, a globally …

Invisible No More: Looking And Listening Locally To Build Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Resilience, Anjali Thakore

CMC Senior Theses

The ubiquity of sexual violence, with its devastating physical and psychological consequences, has rendered conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) one of the most effective and enduring “invisible crimes” of war. Despite receiving growing attention across academic, political, and activist circles, wartime sexual violence remains pervasive in contemporary conflict zones. Against the backdrop of these frequent and recurring violations, this thesis explores the dissonance between high-level rhetorical commitments to preventing and punishing CRSV and on-the-ground realities. What soon emerges is a troubling pattern in which gendered violence—and women’s lived experiences more generally—while increasingly visible in theory, remains marginalised in practice. By investigating …

Leadership And Management In Action Program (L-Map) Supplement: Case Studies For Humanities And Social Sciences, Giovanna Bonadonna Ph.D., Kevin Kadowaki Ph.D., A. Patricia Mendoza Ph.D., Matthew Thompson Ph.D., Shirl Yang Ph.D.

Office of Postdoctoral Affairs

The Leadership and Management in Action Program (L-MAP) Workbook and Facilitator Guide are authored by Erin Heckler, Ph.D., Jessica A. Hutchins, Ph.D., Molly Grisham, M.A., and Elizabeth Luckman, Ph.D., M.B.A. The L-MAP Project was supported by a Burroughs Wellcome Fund (BWF) Career Guidance for Trainees grant to Washington University in St. Louis, 2019-2021 (co-principal investigators: Erin Heckler, Ph.D., and Jessica Hutchins, Ph.D.).

This Supplement does not (nor does it intend to) replace the L-MAP curriculum. The case studies in this document are designed to accompany the theory in the L-MAP curriculum applying it to discipline-specific situations in the humanities and …

Metaphoric Sense Developments In The Names Of Places Of Worship In Contemporary American English, John G. Newman, Sylwester Łodej

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications

This paper offers an account of the metaphorical extension of the names of religious houses of worship such as temple, church, mosque, and synagogue in contemporary American English, reflecting processes of linguistic secularization. Using data from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), the study investigates how the meanings of religious terms enter into secular domains, signalling shifts in societal perceptions of religious experience. The findings show that temple and church frequently undergo metaphorization, appearing in phrases like temple of learning and church of football, where non-religious modifiers drive semantic extension. These terms increasingly denote secular places characterized by human …

Te Kaitiakitanga O Ngā Tūpuna: Restructuring Repatriation And Globalizing Decolonial Indigeneity, Kailee A. Hall

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Preserving cultural heritage through repatriation has admittedly worked against Indigenous communities because museums have maintained a system of control over their belongings and have fractured their trust in partnerships. Repatriation is the process by which Indigenous belongings, land, and people are returned, and must be decolonized into a system of support within museums’ institutional structures. The aim of this thesis is to analyze how the institutional mechanisms for repatriation are ineffective and offer a new framework to be globalized and accessible. While decolonial theories and methods act as a lens, Māori educationalist Graham Hingangaroa Smith’s Kaupapa Māori is a theoretical …

Mansiones: A New Look At Mansio Archaeology In Light Of San Miceli And Household Archaeology, Christopher Randall Chadwick

Dissertations

Problem

The identification of mansiones in the archaeological record has proven difficult, if not impossible. One factor contributing to the problem has been focusing on typological and descriptive studies in order to identify the functional characteristics of mansiones. Another has been the lack of any explicit method and theory for interpreting the functional characteristics of the archaeological data related to mansiones. Both of these factors have been observed in the recent excavations at San Miceli.

Method

Due to the functional nature of mansiones, there is a need to reevaluate current paradigms for interpreting the archaeological data related to mansiones. One …

Statement From The Indiana Academy Of The Social Sciences And Board Of Directors

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Why Do Rituals Work? A Dual-Pathway Account Of Perceived Efficacy, James Houran, Brian Laythe, Todd L. Vanpool, Damien J. Houran, Christine S. Vanpool

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

Human ritual practices—including devotional prayer, contemplative meditation, and magical invocations—are widespread and often experienced as efficacious. We introduce the Dual-Pathway Ritual Efficacy (DPRE) model, a major theory-driven synthesis integrating ritual competence, placebo research, embodied cognition, and attributional bias to explain how rituals generate immediate affective relief and sustain longer-term efficacy beliefs. DPRE advances parsimony by collapsing overlapping accounts into two pathways and adding temporal resolution through “anticipation–enactment–reflection” dynamics. The affective-procedural pathway emphasizes predictability, embodied rhythms, and emotional regulation, while the cognitive-confirmation pathway highlights expectancies that orient attention, memory, and attribution. By incorporating empirical literatures on apophenia, flow, and luck, DPRE …

States Of Consciousness Are Central To A Transpersonal Critique Of Contemporary Psychology (Editor's Introduction), Glenn Hartelius

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

The framework used by contemporary science is infused with the particularly Western philosophy out of which it emerged. These implicit assumptions in turn shape the lens through which psychological phenomena are studied, with the result that experiences and human capabilities not favored by Western societies are marginalized by its psychology. Efforts to constructively critique these limitations as unscientific bias are regularly rebuffed as challenges to science itself, complicating efforts at correcting this limitation. Early work by Charles Tart articulated the process by which such a paradigm, once established, becomes immune to further questioning.

Integral And Transpersonal Education, Heidi Fraser Hageman

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

N/A

Peak Teaching: Exploring And Fostering Sacred Experiences In University Classrooms, Charles Burack

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Supporting the spiritual growth of college and university students with diverse backgrounds and orientations is both important and challenging. It is important not only because spirituality is a crucial dimension of human life but also because the majority of students at both private and public schools want their teachers to address spiritual issues in the classroom. A powerful way to address spirituality is to explore and foster sacred experiences in university classrooms. Sacred experiences include religious, spiritual, mystical, transcendent, numinous, and peak experiences as well as many other nonordinary experiences. The author offers guidance to educators on how to: 1) …

Ian Stevenson’S Rabih Elawar At 60: Past-Life Memory And Identity Formation Across The Lifespan, James G. Matlock, Khattar Hatoum, Carole Louie

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

Developmental psychology and psychiatry have not considered the effect the conviction that one has lived before as another person has on identity formation, yet past-life memories (PLMs) clearly can impact self-image and personality. Children and adults with PLMs are readily found in societies with reincarnation beliefs, such as the Druze of Lebanon, Israel, Syria, and Jordan. This report concerns the impact of PLMs on the personality development of a Lebanese Druze man, Rabih Elawar, whose childhood claims to have been a distant relative, Chowki Asaad Sabra Elawar, were studied by Ian Stevenson between 1969 and 1978. At 58–60 years in …

The Massai People And Wealth: A Stewardship Of Totality, Youssry Guirguis

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

The concept of wealth among the Massai people differs significantly from the traditional understanding in contemporary societies. To the Massai people wealth is not measured by money as commonly perceived by people today, but rather exhibits itself by land, social status, and livestock. This article examines a few terms used by the Massai people to define the idea of wealth in order to comprehend their unique cultural dimensions. Terms that are related to wealth will be investigated, such as “land” (enkop), “red God” (enkai Nanyokie), “black God” (enkai Narok), “cattle” (inkishu), “goats and sheep,” “wealth” (emali), and “dowry” (Inkishu/ Olpisiai). …

From Consumers Of Mission To Contributors To Mission, Silvano Barbosa

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

Seventh-day Adventists in many parts of the Global South have been able to plant self-governing, self-sustaining, and self-propagating churches. One of the immediate results of this successful missionary and evangelistic work has been an explosive growth in membership and financial resources. More importantly, they have given evidence of intense passion, growing qualifications, and remarkable capabilities for international missions. For this reason, leaders of the church in those regions should continuously work on expanding their mission-sending structure to allow young people, professionals, and pastors to fulfill the cross-cultural missionary call the Holy Spirit places on their hearts.

The Horrors Of History: Gender, Folklore, And Puritanism In Robert Eggers’ The Witch, Trinity Stuckey

Undergraduate Scholarship

This paper examines Robert Eggers' 2015 folk horror film The Witch as a legitimate form of historical interpretation that illuminates the intersection of gender, folklore, and religious belief in 1630s colonial New England. Through analysis of primary sources including Cotton Mather's Memorable Providences, Samuel Willard's possession accounts, and Salem witch trial records, this study demonstrates how Eggers' meticulous attention to historical detail creates a narrative that captures the psychological and sociocultural dimensions of Puritan experience. The paper argues that by taking seriously the theological worldview of its subjects rather than dismissing supernatural elements as superstition, The Witch achieves a …

Art As Witness: Carrying Christian Iconographies In The Works Of Henry Ossawa Tanner During The Gilded Age To Contemporary Autobiographical Testimonial Art, Ziona King

Pomona Senior Theses

Culminated in a solo exhibition of three works titled the prodigal daughter and The Great High Priest, Baptism, and The Lord of Hosts, this research explores the implications of the Christian methodologies and iconographies in the works of Henry Ossawa Tanner to influence testimonial artwork containing personal Christian iconographies of water baptism, spiritual encounter in everyday life, the lion of Judah, bowls, and more interpretive motifs.

The Heart Of The University: Student Clubs And The American Colonization Of The Pacific, Eli Arnold

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Students have travelled across the Pacific Ocean to study at the University of Montana for over a century, and the contributions of these students deserve to be studied. This thesis explores the educational and community building roles that the historic International Club and Filipino Club, as well as the contemporary Pacific Islanders Club fulfilled. Students from the Philippines and Hawaiʻi provide clear examples of the potential for college campuses to be gathering places for broader community. This thesis is also a study of the global phenomenon of colonialism as seen from Filipino and Native Hawaiian students who travelled to Missoula …

Codec-M: The Multi-Lingual Manosphere Subcorpus Of The Corpus Of Digital Extremism And Conspiracies, Rachel Mccullough, Daniel Drylie, Mindl Barta, Cass Dykeman, Daniel Smith

English Faculty Publications

In 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General warned the public of the current “loneliness epidemic” and its potential consequences on physical and mental health. One possible consequence of this epidemic is the growth of a movement defined by loneliness and isolation: the incel (“involuntary celibate”) movement. This warning presents a worrying glimpse at the future, as the incel movement, along with other parts of the manosphere, is one that espouses violently misogynist rhetoric which is intrinsically linked to right-wing extremism. While linguistic studies have been conducted on the speech of incels and other constituent movements of the manosphere, few of these …

From Urban Space To Everyday Place : Appropriation Of Public Leisure Areas In Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Marcos Guimarães (Guimaraes)

Journal of Urban Culture Research

The dramatic changes occurred in the organization of cities reverberate in the very individual and interpersonal levels of spatial relationships. This essay approaches the public space by transposing fundamental concepts identified among the urban cultural system to the everyday experience of particular places. This transposition gives an insight into the comprehension of the built environment by exploring links between scales. The referential frame adopted is the set of discourses by Soja (2000) on the post-metropolis. The study cases, two contrasted leisure areas situated in the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte, are potential spots for the cultural and spatial appropriation of …

Examining The Social And Cultural Implications Of Philippine Folk Dance To College Of Arts And Sciences (Cas) Students In One State University In The Philippines, John Michael D. Aquino

Journal of Urban Culture Research

The researcher aims to examine the social and cultural implications of Philippine Folk Dance to students in particular to their perceptions, attitudes, and how it affects the identity of the Filipinos. This study employed a phenomenological research design and purposive sampling in choosing the participant based on the given criteria. Semi-structured interviews was utilized and employed validated interview guide from the field expert and pilot testing. Thematic analysis was used in analyzing the data. The results revealed that the perception of the students profound admiration for the meaning, purpose, and beauty of traditional dances. Also emphasized are the value of …

Memory And Pride Through Photographic Collage Arts : The Art Within - Collage Me Proud, Pornrak Chowvanayotin, Ithinath Tantivitittapong

Journal of Urban Culture Research

This article presents The Art Within - Collage Me Proud, an inclusive art initiative in Thailand involving undergraduate art students and persons with Down syndrome. Originating from photographic documentation of traditional Thai performance, the project developed into a participatory collage-making process that encouraged self-expression, co-creation, and shared memory. Through visual storytelling, participants selected meaningful photographs and transformed them into personal artworks with support from students and parents. Findings reveal consistently positive outcomes: participants reported pride, joy, and confidence; caregivers observed improved social interaction and wellbeing; and students demonstrated enhanced empathy, communication, and critical awareness of art’s role in society. Data …

Local Material Practice As A Collective Spatial System In A Craft Neighborhood, Resza Riskiyanto, Yandi Andri Yatmo, Paramita Atmodiwirjo

Journal of Urban Culture Research

This article demonstrates how spatial production occurs within local material practices as socially and spatially structured phenomenon. Discourses in local material practice often emphasized the repetitive production processes as cultural expressions; however, the spatial dimension of these practices remains under-explored. Understanding how space is produced and utilized in the process of making 'gerabah' as one of the original Indonesian pottery crafts in Yogyakarta provides new insight into the ecological, social, and technological systems that sustain local communities. This research is important to bridge the knowledge between cultural production studies and spatial analysis within the context of local craft industries. The …

Yaoi Lesbians: Media, Identity, And Desire, Olivia Marquardt

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

Media consumption reflects aspects of identity while also assisting in identity formation (Koller, 2008; Zemmels, 2012; Wu, 2006). This thesis examines the phenomenon of lesbians who engage with men-loving-men (MLM) media. The practice seems odd due to the contrast of lesbians desiring women for their social, platonic, romantic, and sexual relationships, but this thesis finds that repeated consumption of media that display men and their desires can index lesbianism. This practice helps lesbians construct their identities through three processes of indexicality: indexical disjuncture, indexical bleaching, and indexical denial (Barrett & Hall, 2024). Through a discourse analysis of five semi-constructed interviews …

Cognate Facilitation And Processing In English-Speaking Learners Of German, Kaitlin L. Young

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

Within the field of second language acquisition, research finds that increased exposure to input results in improved proficiency, especially when those activities are challenging yet manageable for the language learner’s current level. Because of this, listening exercises and speech processing are considered integral to language acquisition, even leading to recommendations of frequent, authentic use of the target language (TL). Instructors’ TL authenticity is, however, sometimes stunted by the demand for comprehensible input and facilitation of classroom activities; they make use of simpler syntax, stronger enunciation, and more cognates (words sharing origins, meanings, and form across languages) than in casual speech. …

Cultivating Hegemony: Cultural Engineering And The Art Of Power Maintenance In Military Movies, Samuel Lockridge

Theses and Dissertations--Arts Administration

This research explores how the United States military’s assistance to film productions can be better classified and understood as a form of cultural policy. There is a significant gap in the existing cultural policy research concerning interventions into the arts and culture by the military aimed at influencing the thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes of the population. The degree to which the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) long partnership with the film industry should even be considered “cultural policy” remains an open, and largely unexamined question. This dissertation presents an exploratory multiple case study of two films which received DoD production …

Women In Orientalist Paintings: The Different Symbols Women Represented In Orientalist Paintings In The Late Nineteenth And Early Twentieth Century, Malak Ahmed

The Undergraduate Research Journal

Art is one tool that indirectly affects people’s thoughts and perceptions. Orientalist painting is a type of art that reflects some of the mistaken stereotypes the West has about Oriental societies, such as inferiority, hypersexuality, and objectification of women. Understanding the artistic symbols and elements of representation defining women’s roles in Oriental societies in such paintings is one way to take further steps towards eradicating stereotypes about Oriental women. Research to date has mainly focused on the sexual representations of women in Orientalist paintings, and no due care has been given to the different symbols that the paintings include. This …

If I Can’T Dance It’S Not My Revolution: Rhythms Of Resistance, Christina Zogopoulou

CMC Senior Theses

This paper examines dance not as a strategic tool for persuasion or visibility, but as an inherently meaningful political practice that shapes how protest is experienced, sustained, and lived by participants. Drawing on global dance-protests, from feminist protests in India to anti-ICE protests in the United States, it demonstrates that dance emerges across conditions of celebration and mourning, safety and repression, and hope and despair.

The paper advances a conceptual framework organized around three interrelated themes: energy, body politics, and community. Grounded in interdisciplinary theory from social movement studies, dance studies, feminist and Black radical thought, and supported by qualitative …

Graduate Portfolio, Cody Miller

Graduate Research Papers

No abstract provided.

You Must Really Love Your Mother, Eliet Lee Williamson-Diaz

Scripps Senior Theses

My thesis, You Must Really Love Your Mother, is a documentary that explores the relationship between my mother and grandmother living together on my grandmother’s factory pig farm in rural North Carolina. I was motivated to create this project to document and memorialize a unique chapter in my mom’s life—leaving her career and community in New York City to spend invaluable time with her mother. This documentary takes place a year after both my mom’s step-mom and biological mom were in the ICU at the same time. My mom’s step-mom, Carol, passed away, while her biological mom, Judy, survived …