Digital Commons Network^™

Introduction, Lindsay Diehl

WLU Press Books

This is the introductory chapter of Reading With My Grandmother: Chinese Canadian Literature, History, and Family by Lindsay Diehl.

Reading With My Grandmother is an analysis of a range of Chinese Canadian literature that deepens the scholarly engagement by using elements of the author’s family’s story—her grandmother’s letters and photographs.

This engagement allows the author to simultaneously illustrate and participate in the varied ways Chinese Canadian literature has been imagined and produced in Canada in the last thirty-five years, examining texts such as Fred Wah’s biotext Diamond Grill (1996), Judy Fong Bates’ memoir The Year of Finding Memory (2010), and …

Cognition Is Not Content: A Structural Account Of Processing Conditions, Griselda Poe

Publications and Research

Human cognition has been described in terms of content. This description becomes insufficient once artificial systems make output observable apart from subject attribution, intention, and relational context. Under this contrast condition, what becomes visible is a layered structure in which output, reconstruction, evaluation, and termination do not necessarily coincide. The same input may register as complete under one processing condition while remaining unresolved under another. This separability means that content-based description does not merely omit an additional variable: it can mislocate a processing difference as a difference in meaning, personality, intention, ability, or attitude. This is not a proposal for …

Musical Affinities Between Ann Southam's Glass Houses And Canadian Fiddle Tunes With Performance Considerations For Glass Houses No. 5, Evangelia Nikolaidou

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Ann Southam stands as one of Canada’s foremost minimalist composers. Her fifteen-piece piano set Glass Houses, composed in 1981 and revised in 2009, reflects the joyful, dance-like energy of Canadian fiddle music that inspired it. While Glass Houses has frequently been discussed within the context of minimalist composition, less attention has been given to the ways in which the work resonates with Canadian fiddle traditions. This document draws on existing scholarship on Métis, French-Canadian, Newfoundland, Anglo-Canadian, and Scottish fiddle traditions to trace and clarify structural, rhythmic, and textural affinities between Canadian fiddle tunes and Glass Houses. Focusing on …

Forget-Me-Not: Facilitating Social Vibrancy In Spaces Designed For Alzheimer's Disease, Torilyn Mossner

Honors Theses

The objective of this capstone project is to create a foundation for vibrant community interactions and connections that support those living with Alzheimer’s disease, their loved ones, and the broader members of the community through interior design. This work is relevant because Alzheimer’s disease affects 1 in 9 people over the age of sixty-five worldwide. Without a cure, as people continue to age, there is going to be a constant need for development of care. Additionally, design should go a step further than healthy living and begin to prioritize creating a vibrant life and community integration for those living with …

Female Genital Cutting In American Foreign Policy – Proposal For Harm Reduction, Charlotte Racine

Bates College Journal of Political Studies

Female Genital Cutting/Mutilation (FGC/M) has gained international attention as an issue of human rights and violence against women and girls. The United States, as a leading world power, has openly opposed its practice and actively condemns it in communities and countries of the Global South, yet it fails to oppose or condemn as staunchly identical procedures within its borders. The simultaneous condemnation of FGC when it occurs in “undeveloped” countries and acceptance of American procedures like cosmetic genital modification surgeries, male circumcision, and “corrective” surgeries on intersex infants produces a narrative of cultural superiority and imperialism that harms the international …

Constitutionalization Of The Right To Vote: The Necessity For Democracy, Hanmo Yang

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

The Civic Debate Consortium is an intercollegiate debate conference dedicated to serving as a “hub of inspiration, innovation, education and civic engagement” (Civic Debate Consortium, n.d.) through productive dialogue. The Social Justice Debates are one of the consortium's competitive series, focused on discussing the distribution of wealth and resources in U.S. society. For the 2025-2026 debate season, debaters researched for or against the motion: “The United States should Constitutionalize the Right to Vote.” First affirmative speeches begin by defining the terms of the round, listing contentions to the argument, and then providing analysis to support the contentions. This paper serves …

Solarvale: Exploring Australian Ecology And Culture Through Serious Game Design, Ping-I (Adam) Ho, Elliot Birch

Imaginings: creative practice and inquiry

This research examines how a serious game (Gee, 2007): Solarvale: Tale of the Sun Root (Birch et al., 2024), developed by students from SAE University College addresses the importance of ecological conservation and cultural awareness specifically in relation to the Australian landscape. While some Australian serious games, such as Catchment Detox (2008), Paperbark (2018), and Bleached Az (2019) engage with similar themes, few titles integrate storytelling with interactive ecological environments and cultural awareness in a way that encourages players to reflect on their own role and actions—which is the central focus of Solarvale. Drawing on the concepts from serious …

There’S No Place Like Home: A Wizard Of Oz Inspired Self-Portrait, Lana Webster

Imaginings: creative practice and inquiry

This project examines how lived experience shapes creative practice through a digital self-portrait inspired by The Wizard of Oz. Rather than positioning identity as subject matter alone, the work investigates how personal history informs visual decision-making, including posture, composition, colour, and symbolic environment. Using a creative practice research approach supported by autoethnographic reflection, the illustrated artefact and written exegesis operate as interconnected modes of inquiry. The project demonstrates how illustration can hold responsibility, emotional weight, and uncertainty without forcing resolution. It frames creative practice as a way of generating understanding, grounded in lived experience yet shaped through the viewer’s own …

The Colour Of Becoming, Monique Mazza

Imaginings: creative practice and inquiry

The Colour of Becoming explores the relationship between identity and creative practice through two experimental watercolour portraits. Positioned between the freedom of artistic expression and the conformity of professional life, the work visualises an internal tension between authenticity and expectation. Drawing from theories of identity (Hall, 1990), écriture féminine (Cixous, 1976), and semiotics (Barthes, 1972), the research examines how symbolic visual language can represent fractured or evolving selves. Through contrasting palettes, gestures, and acts of erasure, the paintings reveal how selfhood is not fixed but continually negotiated within social frameworks. This exegesis places painting as both method and mirror, a …

Solarvale: Exploring Australian Ecology And Culture Through Serious Game Design, Ping-I (Adam) Ho, Elliot Birch

Staff Scholarship - Australia & Dubai

This research examines how a serious game: Solarvale: Tale of the Sun Root (Birch et al., 2024), developed by students from SAE University College addresses the importance of ecological conservation and cultural awareness specifically in relation to the Australian landscape. While some Australian serious games, such as Catchment Detox (2008), Paperbark (2018), and Bleached Az (2019) engage with similar themes, few titles integrate storytelling with interactive ecological environments and cultural awareness in a way that encourages players to reflect on their own role and actions—which is the central focus of Solarvale. Drawing on the concepts from serious game (Gee, 2007), …

An Alignment Of Absences: The Medicalization Of Death And Its Implications On Archaeological Methodology, Makayla J. Bowman

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Absence describes something that is "expected, wanted, or looked for [but] is not present or does not exist," (Merriam-Webster Dictionary 2026). The archaeological discipline interacts with absence in many profound ways, largely in its study of the past dead. This paper focuses on the ways in which the medicalization of death has influenced, limited, and misaligned archaeological methodology, and how the result of those methodologies produces archaeological analysis that is absent of or misrepresents our understanding of life, personhood, and our position within a greater, interconnected biosphere. Thus, I present an anthropological critique of the ways in which death and …

Local Angst To National Fear: New Media And The Spread Of Xenophobia, Bryce Weber

Honors Projects

This paper examines the evolution of xenophobia in the United States, arguing that its core themes of fear of outsiders, economic anxiety, and threats to national identity have remained consistent. However, the mechanisms of its spread have transformed alongside developments in media. The paper uses a qualitative historical methodology supported by quantitative data to trace anti-immigrant sentiment. It examines anti-immigrant attitudes toward Irish immigrants in the 19^th century, and reactions to undocumented immigrants in the late 20^th and early 21^st century. The paper focuses on key case studies, including California’s Proposition 187 and Arizona’s SB 1070, to …

Foundations Of Art: Materials, Methods, And Meaning, Elizabeth Mellott

Art OERs

This course provides an introduction to the tools, materials, and processes used across a wide range of artistic media. The focus is on understanding how different materials shape the way art is created and experienced. Attention is given not only to what artists make, but also to why particular media are chosen to communicate specific ideas, emotions, or perspectives. The physical qualities of materials, the methods used, and the cultural meanings attached to them all influence artistic decision-making.

The course surveys several major categories of artistic media. Pigment-based practices include painting, drawing, and printmaking, where color and mark-making form the …

Radio As War: An Exploration Of Kalamazoo Black Radio In The Vietnam War Era, Amelia Koch

Honors Theses

Kalamazoo, Michigan’s black history runs deep. This thesis aims to trace that black history, and situate it within the realm of black radio as a cultural phenomenon. Rising to its provenance in the mid-1960s, black radio has been, and continues to be, a rallying point for African American communities across the U.S., particularly in Chicago and Detroit. Kalamazoo, a halfway point between these two major cities, has a lack of such stations. Exploring the lack of black radio in Kalamazoo during the 1950s through 70s, this work presents a connection between the existence of black programming and the experience of …

Luja Volume 6: Issue 1 (Full Volume)

Laurier Undergraduate Journal of the Arts

No abstract provided.

Americana Marketing Campaign, Shaela O'Keefe

Undergraduate Theses

Americana World Community Center has served as a beacon of hope and justice within the Louisville, Kentucky community for over 30 years. The nonprofit organization provides “holistic services to Louisville's refugee, immigrant and underserved population to build strong and healthy families, create a safe and supportive community and help every individual realize their potential” (Americana, 2024). Americana creates opportunities for families to thrive through “education, family support, youth achievement, and career & financial development” (Americana, 2024). To further Americana’s mission and assist immigrant families, the organization is currently undergoing the process of gathering narratives of Americana’s impact on their staff, …

Reimagining Musical Improvisation Through Poetic Inspiration: A Creative Practice Investigation, Sean Foran

Imaginings: creative practice and inquiry

This article explores creative practice as research through an innovative approach to musical improvisation and recording that challenges traditional boundaries between music and literature. Working with experienced improvising musicians, this study investigates how poetic texts serve as inspiration and catalysts for new creative processes and musical outcomes. Using a practice-based research framework, the project positions poetry as both creative stimulus and constraint, resulting in a suite of short recorded works. The collaboration with a poet prompts a reconsideration of process, recording, and audience experience, with the final release presenting instrumental music alongside printed poetry, but without spoken narration. The findings …

Velocity: The Shimmer As Methodology, Lola Montgomery

Imaginings: creative practice and inquiry

This article articulates a new methodology, named ‘shimmer’. Shimmer is an embodied, intuitive, temporally irregular, and affectively attuned methodology for creative-practice research. Grounded in feminist philosophy, phenomenology, autotheory, and Csikszentmihalyi’s theory of flow, shimmer names the state in which corporeal knowing precedes cognition and generates theoretical insight. Drawing from lived episodes of illness, performance, lineage-work, and practice-led research, I argue that shimmer functions as an onto-epistemological mode of inquiry: a somatic process that moves between the imaginary, symbolic, and real to produce conceptual clarity with velocity. Against the masculinised tempo of academic grind, shimmer proposes a cyclical feminist temporality of …

The Ambiguity Of Truth: Exploring Inductive Reasoning And Pedagogy In Creative Practice Through Critical Reflection, Stephen O'Connell

Imaginings: creative practice and inquiry

The creative process inherently utilises critical thinking, reflective practice and problem-solving skills, but students can struggle with the mental effort required to engage in critical thinking. This paper examines this phenomenon through a critical reflection as a case study, utilising the Integrated reflective cycle method to engage both in reflective practice and theory. Through the reflection on in-class experiences, errors in the students’ inductive reasoning and a tendency for them to shortcut mental challenges with experiential heuristics were identified, with students appearing to seek cognitive ease over critical metacognition. This paper then proposes utilising an inductive reasoning-led pedagogy, with a …

Using Multiple Means Of Representation To Enhance Higher Education Student Learning, Cathy Stephens

Imaginings: creative practice and inquiry

Today’s students enter higher education from diverse backgrounds with differing educational pathways. Universal design for learning recognises that learners are not homogenous and suggests ways of improving engagement, understanding and agency for heterogeneous learners by including varied resource formats and instructional approaches, or multiple means of representation. While institutional imperatives often call for consistency of approaches and pre-designed content formats, this small pilot study asks if the implementation of varied resources and activities can enhance student comprehension and understanding of project requirements in a creative course. This small-scale study surveyed students on the perceived value of a variety of resources, …

Echoes Of Memories Erased: A Reflection On Underscoring Between The Fractures, Nat Texler

Imaginings: creative practice and inquiry

This paper covers a reflective account of creating the underscore for the 2025 production of Between the Fractures, performed at the Butterfly Club in Melbourne, Australia. While the process of creating a mise-en-scéne  for a two hander within a small theatre space involves multilayered praxis of aesthetic inferences (Pavis, 2003) this paper aims to provide an insider’s account into some of the creative processes that resulted in the original underscore. Drawing on an eclectic fusion of practice as research methodology, specifically Linda Candy’s reflection practice variants (Candy, 2021), the research provides insight into the decisions, references (musical and otherwise), …

Foreign Language Experience Effects On L2-Accented Speech Attitudes In College Students, Jordan L. Ellington

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study is to test whether knowledge of a second language in college students can affect perceptions and prejudices towards speakers with foreign accents. The testing was completed through both implicit and explicit attitudinal measures in regard to recorded audio stimuli. The explicit attitudinal testing was performed through participant self reporting of attitudes. Participants were presented with first (L1) or second (L2) language accented English samples and then rated that speaker in terms of various characteristics or traits that represented the speaker's solidarity and status. The implicit testing was performed in an Auditory Implicit Associations Test on …

Lindenwood Offensive Lineman Earns Nfl Minicamp Invite, Truman Griessel

Lindenlink (2012- )

No abstract provided.

Design For Future Discourse: Creating The Speculative Design-Inspired Exhibition Modulation: Rewiring The Self, Ryan Bridgforth

Honors College Theses

Humans have long combined speculation and design. Early examples like General Motors’ Futurama at the 1939 World’s Fair introduced Americans to the idea of expressways and invited them to imagine possible futures. While intriguing, this mix of design and future thinking stood to benefit corporations overall, which is where speculative design comes in. Pioneered by design duo Dunne & Raby, speculative design uses design not as a way to engineer solutions to difficult problems, but “as means to explore the cultural and technological potentials of design, effectively blurring material and conceptual boundaries” (Mitrović et al. 2021, 175). Designing objects or …

Writing As A Process Of Inquiry In Autoethnography For Meaning-Making: Reflections And Some Points For Consideration, Niroj Dahal

The Qualitative Report

This article explores writing as a process of inquiry and meaning-making in the autoethnographic tradition, offering reflections on the recursive, emergent, and dialogical/dialectical nature of writing, along with some points for consideration. Drawing on perspectives from qualitative research and narrative inquiry (Riessman, 2008), I argue that autoethnographic writing serves as a method of inquiry and/or discovery, generating ontological, epistemological, and axiological-driven cultural meaning that functions as a site of reflection, interrogation, and re-storying of lived experiences. This recursive, often messy, and reflexive act allows researchers to excavate, analyze, and interpret their lived experiences. Rather than viewing writing as a final-stage …

Review: The Poetics Of Science: Marx’S Literary Style By Ludovico Silva, Thomas A. Laughlin

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

Cultural Negotiations In Revisionist Mythmaking: Comparative Reading Of Bahram Beyzaei And Mary Zimmerman, Sepehr Karimi Mr., Bahee Hadaegh

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

 Although more than fifty years have passed since feminist scholars pioneered revisionist mythmaking, drama remains underexplored in this field despite its unique potential for cultural and social reinterpretation. This study offers a comparative analysis of revisionist mythmaking in Iranian and American drama, specifically examining Bahram Beyzaei’s play, One Thousand and First Night alongside Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses as examples. This research aims to establish general principles for revisionist mythmaking within drama, spotlighting the complexities that emerge in transnational contexts. It explores how Beyzaei and Zimmerman negotiate cultural narratives and try to reshape traditional stories and reflect contemporary issues, emphasizing gender dynamics …

Christian Motifs In Forough Farrokhzad’S Works: A Comparison With T.S. Eliot’S Poetry, Mona Monsefi

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Forough Farrokhzad’s (1934–1967) film The House is Black (1962) is a visual poem set in a leprosarium in Iran. Farrokhzad was a prominent modernist poet who merged poetry with contemporary art forms, primarily cinema. In this film, she employed a camera to express her poetic vision, highlighting her signature style that prioritizes unique imagery. This emphasis on visual and literary images is often intertwined with themes such as religion. Notably, Farrokhzad recomposed verses from the Old Testament, infusing them with her poetic language to enrich the film’s narrative. This article explores her unique, Western-influenced interpretation of Christian motifs in …

Vision And “Sur-Vision”: Intermediality And Alterity In The Frames Of Abbas Kiarostami, Marjan Mohammadi

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Abbas Kiarostami’s cinema, often compared to Italian neorealism, oscillates between documentation and fiction. Kiarostami’s worlds, replete with a complex network of incomplete and self-reflexive frames, create a new site for perception, reflection, and intervention. This paper studies the intermedial aspect of Kiarostami’s cinema in “The Koker Trilogy” (1987; 1992; 1994), Close-Up (1990), and “Taste of Cherry” (1997). It explores how these moving images are shaped by the specific context of Iranian cinema and how they turn to reshape it. First, it examines Kiarostami’s framing techniques, which expand Iranian cinema and its engagement with Western visual conventions. …

Willy Loman’S Desperate Affair Challenges The Iranian Censorship: Asghar Farhadi’S The Salesman, Adineh Khojastehpour

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

This study examines resistance in cross-cultural adaptations, focusing on Asghar Farhadi's The Salesman (2016), an adaptation of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman (1949). This research investigates how Farhadi's rewriting of Miller's play within post-revolutionary Iran engages in a dialogue with the Islamic Republic and its dominant discourses. It explores how this adaptation addresses Iran's social, cultural, and ideological complexities by reframing Miller's narrative of 1950s societal change and the failure of the American Dream within the context of post-revolutionary Iran. This analysis uses Bakhtin's concept of the chronotope to reveal how The Salesman uses Miller's unique concept of a …