Digital Commons Network^™

Today’S Christianity: Are We In The Mirror Universe? A Comparison Of Petrine Christianity And The Gospel Of Mary Via The Heroine’S Journey, Blythe A. Collier

Mythcon

What if there was an alternative to Joseph Campbell’s so-called ‘Monomyth’? What if we could dodge yet another rehash of the tired old trope of an oversimplified, Eurocentric ‘Hero’s Journey’? The monomyth is often considered the sine qua non of archetypal modern Western literature. We can easily pick out some of its described elements within both J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Silmarillion, and in C. S. Lewis’ Narnia series—as well as within Petrine Christianity, which is the mythic structural basis of both the contemporary bible, and also the fabled worlds of Tolkien and Lewis.

But …

Mythopoeic Awards Finalists Discussion, David Lenander, Grace Moone

Mythcon

General Discussion of the Finalists for the 2026 Mythopoeic Awards. We expect some committee members to offer their opinions and experiences and invite others to share their reactions to the books! Discussion of the awards process and suggestions for the future are also in order. Find out how to become involved for next year. What books did we miss?

Fangorn Forest As A Rerouting To The Ecological Contemplative In The Two Towers, Nicholas Birns

Mythcon

In The Two Towers, Fangorn Forest initially appears as an uncanny diversion when Merry and Pippin flee into its shadowy depths to escape Saruman’s Uruk-hai. Their encounter with Treebeard awakens the Ents, providing unexpected and devastating flow to the power of Saruman the White. Far from actually being scary or horrifying, though, the forest is actually the gateway to two very important qualities in The Lord of the Rings: a sense of deep psychology, of caring for the land so much that sentient being has become actually bound up with natural entities, and of contemplation, as Treebeard Who …

Continuing Christopher Tolkien’S Work In A Digital Age, James K. Tauber

Journal of Tolkien Research

Christopher Tolkien’s 12-volume History of Middle-earth is a remarkable achievement, yet Christopher repeatedly acknowledged how difficult the material was to present in print form and that “that there was no really satisfactory solution”.  This paper contends that a printed book is not scholarship but just one way of presenting its results. It explores how digital philology can overcome some of the limitations of print, giving examples from the Digital Tolkien Project. It shows how structural markup, version alignment, parallel reading environments, and other approaches can make relationships between drafts and published texts clearer. Importantly, these methods do not replace Christopher’s …

Mixed Messages, Moms, Nuns, And Missionaries: Women In Christian Higher Education In Canada, Ellen Duffield

Consensus

Addressing institutional gender disparities in theological education, this study employs Participatory Action Research at a Canadian seminary to foster culture-shaping change. Anchored in a relational Trinitarian theology, the paper presents a model for institutional transformation focused on Kenotic Community, Connected Learning, and Collaborative Leadership to create environments where women and men thrive.

An Infinite Number Of Roads Diverged In A Wood: Robert Heinlein’S Maximalist Road Trip In The Number Of The Beast, Patrick Julian

Mythcon

Robert Heinlein, Grand Master of Speculative Fiction, was born in Butler, MO (one hour north of Route 66), raised in Kansas City, and lived much of his early adult life in Los Angeles, the westernmost terminus of Route 66. Given this proximity to the Mother Road, it’s no surprise that Heinlein spent a considerable portion of his career writing about various versions of the Road Trip, whether it was taken via foot, horse-drawn carriage, automobile or spaceship. The Roads Must Roll, his 3rd published short story (1940), name checks Route 66, while many of his early works of juvenile …

How To Use Your Mythsoc Membership Online, Megan B. Abrahamson, Alicia Fox-Lenz, Sean Marlow, Grace Moone

Mythcon

Panelists Grace Moone, Sean Marlow, and Alicia Fox-Lenz will give a tutorial on the new Mythopoeic Society membership platform. Now up and running and attached to our website, the new Membershipworks platform allows you to view your membership, getting us off a 30-year-old spreadsheet and into the 21st century! Bring your computer, phone or tablet as the Stewards showcase the uses of the platform and help you with any login issues.

Shared Trauma, Shared Drama: Faërian Drama In Russian Doll And Elsewhere, Janet Croft

Mythcon

In his seminal essay “On Fairy-stories” (1939), J.R.R. Tolkien introduces the concept of Faërian drama: experiences with a “realism and immediacy beyond the compass of any human mechanism,” where the viewer feels he is “bodily inside [a] Secondary World” but instead is “in a dream that some other mind is weaving.” This framing structure is used, though not called by this name, in many other texts. In a series of four previously published essays, I have attempted to explore and codify this concept. Picking up a theme hinted at but not explored in my previous papers, what happens when the …

Can Machines Testify? Llms And The Boundaries Of Testimonial Epistemology, Michael J. Cummins

Philosophy Summer Fellows

As Large Language Models and AI chatbots become increasingly prevalent, pressing questions are raised about whether beliefs formed through LLM interactions carry the same epistemic weight as beliefs formed through human testimony. How we answer this question depends on whether LLMs can function as testifiers, a role which is typically assumed to require a human or human-like agent. This assumption has gone largely unexamined, yet its consequences are significant: if LLM outputs cannot constitute testimony, then the justificatory tools of testimonial epistemology are unavailable to any beliefs formed through LLM interaction. This paper challenges that assumption. It first argues that …

Words Of War: The Rhetorical Weapons Of Folklore After October 7, Steve Siporin

Jewish Folklore and Ethnology

The chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” became well known after the beginning of the Israel-Hamas War (October 7, 2023) due to its widespread use at anti-Israel demonstrations and on news broadcasts, social media, and YouTube videos. A retort that mocked the inability of demonstrators who espoused the slogan to answer the questions “Which river? Which sea?” also circulated widely. Noncombatants on the domestic front relied on these two items of folklore (among others), a chant and a retort, to support their aims and satisfy their emotions. This essay traces the origins of each of …

Jewish Women’S Folk Memory Of Argentine Schooldays, 1900–1955, Jacqueline Laznow

Jewish Folklore and Ethnology

This essay explores the folkloric formation of Jewish-Argentine female identity through schoolyard experiences and domestic resistance in the first half of the twentieth century. Drawing on interviews with women who later made aliyah, the study analyzes these accounts as personal experience narratives, arguing that painful memories of antisemitism and “otherness” are cognitively restructured through folk processes into a symbolic frame for communal interpretation. These narratives function as “legend discourse,” sparking commentary and intergenerational transmission, and serve as mechanisms for reconstructing daily life within a dominant Christian culture. They reveal a “hyphenated” Jewish-Argentine identity reimagined from the perspective of the narrators’ …

Folk Narratives Of “The Wandering Jew” (Atu 777) In Latvian Folklore, Svetlana Pogodina

Jewish Folklore and Ethnology

This essay reports field-collected texts of “The Wandering Jew” (ATU 777) recorded in the twentieth century in Latvia to determine if they are distinctive within the global tradition of the folk narrative. The Archives of Latvian Folklore (Latviešu folkloras krātuve) collection contains versions of the narrative recorded in the 1920s and 1930s. These texts have not previously been published in English translation. An interpretation is made that the narratives borrow elements from Jewish stereotypes that exist in a local folklore tradition. Comparing the Latvian material to the European and Slavic versions of the story of the Eternal Jew, a major …

Mapping Media Literacy Assessment: A Systematic Review To Connect The Dots, Lara Azar, Casey Frechette, Hafsa Zia, Joy Amulya

Journal of Media Literacy Education

The goal of this study was to address persistent challenges in assessing media literacy by reviewing assessments developed between 2011 and 2020. We combined landscape analysis, research synthesis, and grounded theory to select assessments, identify key attributes, iteratively code, analyze, and create an integrated synthesis of approaches to media literacy assessments. The analysis classified media literacy constructs by learning dimension (knowledge, skills, attitudes, behaviors) and participation mode (consumption, engagement, creation). The results showed that while most assessments focused on consumption-oriented constructs, engagement- and creation-oriented constructs were also included. Assessments primarily served three research purposes: evaluating media literacy levels in populations, …

Fact-Checking In The University: The Experience Of The ‘Verificatón Electoral’ As A Model Of Teaching Innovation, Irene Larraz, Samuel Toledano, Jordi Rodríguez-Virgili, Félix Arias Robles, Ángeles Durán, Marta Pérez-Escolar, Rocío Zamora Medina, Rubén Ramos Antón, Óscar Espíritusanto Nicolás, Miguel Ángel Esteban Navarro, Marcos Bermejo Gil

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This article analyzes the experience of Verificatón, a teaching innovation project based on a live fact-checking hackathon aimed at identifying and combating disinformation in the electoral context. The initiative, developed by the fact-checking media outlet Newtral in collaboration with nine Spanish universities, brought together a hundred journalism students. The results show that this experience facilitates the adoption of the fact-checking methodology in the students' professional practice and contributes to overcoming the competency gap in university journalism education. The case study validates this training proposal, which, framed within an electoral scenario, reinforces students’ learning of the role of critical thinking in …

Eschatological Echoes: Reading The Bible And The Harry Potter Series, Athira Mohan Dr

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

Death has been a major topic in children’s and adolescent literature , which has invited scholarly discourse over different ages. While death was very commonly featured in the puritanical texts of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it was also deemed to be a subject too sensitive for the genre of children’s literature in the early twentieth century(Aries 1975), due to a combination of factors such as lowered child mortality rate and heightened concern for childhood as a special social category. However, contemporary children’s and adolescent literature focuses on death as an important part of human life, and invites discussions on …

``Is That What It Means?'' Performative Storytelling In Early Childhood Education: Meaning-Making Through Interaction, Fathia Anggriani Pradina, Untung Yuwono, Bernadette Kushartanti

Bahasa dan Seni: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, Seni, dan Pengajarannya

Early childhood education is inextricably linked to the role of adults in every aspect of its process. In addition to formal classroom learning, storytelling with a storyteller is another activity that involves adults. The dialogic interaction between storyteller and children fosters the creation of meaning. This study examines how storytelling, as an interactional practice, can dynamically construct meaning together between storyteller and children. Sixty-one kindergarten children participated in this study during a one and half hour storytelling activity. The qualitative and interactional approach used in this study focused on moment-to-moment exchanges during the naturally occurring storytelling event. The findings indicate …

From The Forests With Hopes Of Paradise: Malay Muslims In The Victorian Imagination In Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim, M Irfan Zamzami, Rifka Pratama

Journal of Language, Literature, and Arts

This article examines how Lord Jim constructs and reconfigures Muslim identities within the discourse of British imperialism. While previous scholarship has explored the novel’s colonial politics, less attention has been paid to how its representations of Malay Muslims reveal the instability of Orientalist categories. Using Edward Said’s concept of Orientalism and Homi Bhabha’s theory of colonial ambivalence, the study applies close textual analysis of two key narrative moments: the omniscient narrator’s description of the Muslim pilgrims aboard the Patna and the depiction of Malay Muslims in Patusan. The analysis demonstrates that the Patna pilgrims are initially represented through familiar Orientalist …

Stylometric And Formal Patterns In The Scholarly Impact Of Scientific Literature, Joshua Ange, Eric Godat, Rajani Sudan

SMU Journal of Undergraduate Research

Scientific communication is typically tied to promoting public engagement and interest in science, increasing scientific literacy, and playing an essential role in policymaking. The success of public communication of scientific findings is largely associated with secondary characteristics of research (e.g. the style of writing and presentation), rather than the primary content or research quality. But it is unclear to what extent the success of scientific literature intended for working scientists is influenced by those same secondary characteristics. Does the writing style of scientific articles impact their success in academic spheres? In this study, we explore the stylometric and formal characteristics …

Southern History Remixed: Conversation With Dr. Michael Bertrand1 On His Book, Southern History Remixed, (Gainesville, Fl: University Press Of Florida, 2024), 322 Pp., Sheri Bartlett Browne

Global Africa: Journal of African and African Diaspora Studies

No abstract provided.

Language And Culture: Exploring The Links Between Africans And African Americans, Joash J. Gambarage

Global Africa: Journal of African and African Diaspora Studies

Due to the generational distance between contemporary African Americans and the earliest generations of enslaved Africans, the deep cultural connection between these two groups has not been sufficiently explored. Moreover, much of the existing literature on African culture in the Americas primarily focuses on retentions related to religion, music, food, and language, often missing other critical aspects of cultural continuity within the African diaspora, such as African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and Niger-Congo linguistic ties, naming practices, and African epistemologies. This exclusion limits our understanding of how the historical movement of Africans and the persistence of African cultural legacies, have …

Situating Everybody Hates Chris (Ehc): The Appeal Of The Show, Elizabeth Johnson, Donald Culverson

Global Africa: Journal of African and African Diaspora Studies

"Everybody Hates Chris" (EHC) achieved critical success by employing comedy to address significant social issues, distinguishing itself in early-2000s television. Unlike earlier and contemporary series such as "Moesha," "The Hughleys," and "The Cosby Show," EHC offered a nuanced portrayal of Black family life, engaging an audience often overlooked or misrepresented by mainstream media. This article examines shifts in the television industry from the late 1990s to the early 2000s that facilitated EHC's innovative approach. The series departed from traditional family sitcoms, functioning not merely as entertainment but as a social commentary on the complexities of the family as a societal …

“No Hen Should Herald The Dawn Lest Misfortune Follow”: Gender, History, And Power Sima Guang’S Comprehensive Mirror, Zoe Ngan

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

It was not a particularly notable occasion when Emperor Gaozong 高宗 of the Tang dynasty (AD 618–907) established Wu Zetian 武則天 as a mid-ranked concubine in 654. Emperors, throughout Chinese history, were polygamous rulers who acquired no shortage of concubines per the Rites of Zhou 周禮, an ancient ritual text which proposed that rulers obtain 121 wives and consorts. Wu’s nomination signified the unpredictability of imperial favour and almost certainly did not turn heads when her appointment occurred.

“I, Too, Want To Be Free”: Women And The Birth Control Movement In Utah, 1914–1940, Evelyn Wilcox

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Like many other women, I too, want to be free,” explained a 33-year- old Utah woman in a 1925 letter to Margaret Sanger, a prominent leader in the birth control movement. This woman, whose name is unknown, was married to a 78-year- old man with whom, she thought, “in her ignorance,” that she would never have any children—she was proven wrong. With six children under the age of eight at the time and wanting to prevent having more, this woman’s predicament reflects Sanger’s mission to inform everyday women of birth control so they could make their own reproductive choices. After …

Rationed Victory: A Study Of American Civilian Rationing In World War Ii, Alex Moulder

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

In any conflict or competition it is often said that the winner is “fueled to victory.” This could come as a result of training, diet, stamina, support from others, or sheer willpower. Even small variations in any of these elements can have significant consequences and affect outcomes. The same can be said about civilians during wartime, especially during the largest conflict of the twentieth century, World War II. The war cemented the United States as a global power, thanks in part to its massive economy, technologies, and industries, which helped to overcome the war of attrition against the Axis powers. …

Getting Tolkien Right: Middle-Earth In The National Review, Craig Franson

Journal of Tolkien Research

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings entered Anglo-American popular consciousness as an emblem of 1960s, leftist youth culture, but the novel slowly gained currency across the political right. In the U.S., conservative intellectuals published book notes and articles on Tolkien’s writing in their movement’s leading journals, gradually habituating their readers to seeing the once-obscure English fantasist as a canonical writer for American conservatism. The most prominent of these journals was William F. Buckley’s National Review, which recurrently promoted Tolkien’s writing and offered a distinctly partisan interpretation of his texts. This paper offers a partial outline of the conservative …

Building Legal Dwelling: An Existential Analysis Of The Phenomenon Of Law, Thomas Gambino

Graduate Student Research Symposium

This paper explores the necessity of law for the existence of Dasein in the thinking of Martin Heidegger. It begins by analyzing our everyday experience of the phenomenon of law, concluding that the being of law reveals itself to us, at different times, as present-at-hand and ready-to-hand. From this realization, it grounds the being of law in the being of Dasein, describing law essentially as Dasein’s own existence, projected into the world and shown back to it as a seemingly independent phenomenon. Finally, it characterizes this projection as an act of building and concludes that Dasein dwells in the law …

Creating Dynamic Protagonists: An Examination Of Character Development Within Book To Film Adaptations, Matthew Chisholm

Masters Theses

The following thesis proposal seeks to provide the process, reasoning, and vision for my thesis project, “Between the Tracks”. This project both begins and ends with character. What began as an experiment into character creation, has become both a critical analysis of character development techniques, and a creative work where I use the findings from this analysis to create a character-driven screenplay.

First, my artist’s statement will begin by describing my vision and inspiration for this project. I will then delve into my writing process in regards to both the critical paper and the creative piece of the project. I …

Constructing Authority: Narrative Craft And The Making Of Meaning In Creative Nonfiction, Lindsay Erin Hickman

Masters Theses

What is this world without stories? Without truth and the sharing of knowledge for those that come after us? As a Christian, I see the Bible as the most influential narrative in my life and imagination. The Bible is filled with facts, lists and information we can verify, but that does not make it any less creative. How can one read the Bible and not see God’s creativity not only in creation, but in every word? Psalms 139: 13-15 states, “For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I …

Is Genuine Redemption Possible Through A Counterfeit Christ?, Tams M. Mullins

Masters Theses

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), commonly referred to as Mormons, consider themselves Christians without equivocation. Evangelical Christianity has, however, challenged this claim since the inception of the Latter-day Saints. The Latter-day Saints purport to be Christian in doctrine and practice and claim a Christian identity centered around their acceptance of the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. While the Latter-day Saints ascribe to a high Christology, confess Jesus as Lord, and regard Him as their Redeemer, the Jesus of the Latter-day Saints’ literature bears little resemblance to the Jesus of evangelical Christianity. …

Elementary Music Educators And The Mcclosky Technique, Shannon Day

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Despite years of private vocal instruction and coursework on the singing voice, many music educators have not continued their vocal study beyond their former institutional requirements, nor have they received training in the proper use and care of the speaking voice, which has led to the development of vocal disorders and complaints of poor vocal health. This study examines the varying levels of vocal health among elementary music educators as they undergo vocal health exercises using the McClosky Technique. The McClosky Technique offers a distinctive approach to vocal health that emphasizes the release of muscular tension within the voice. The …