Digital Commons Network^™

Lost In Chaos: The Battle Between Selfcare And Motherhood, Sarah Shahzad

MS Marketing Research Projects/Theses

Motherhood in collectivist societies such as Pakistan is deeply intertwined with caregiving, leaving limited space for women’s self-care or personal well-being. This study explores how young Pakistani mothers negotiate self-care within competing expectations of maternal sacrifice, cultural morality, and structural constraints. Guided by the Institutional Logics Perspective (ILP), it examines how familial norms, religious values, and market forces collectively shape women’s self-care practices, framing self-care not as an autonomous act but as a negotiated process embedded within social and institutional boundaries. This study adopts an interpretive phenomenological approach to explore how Pakistani mothers experience and negotiate self-care within cultural and …

The Marginalization Of African Americans In Educational Institutions Through Race And Language, Aneika Robinson

Undercurrents: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Composition

Aneika is a sophomore and an undecided major who lives in Springfield, MA. She came to the United States from Jamaica when she was three years old. In this paper, Aneika wanted to address some of the subtle ways that “institutional racism is found within the foundations of schools in the United States.” She says that this essay “became something that was very special to me because it addressed a social issue that I am very passionate about. I care for equality of all people of color, as I believe that the color of a person’s skin should not determine …

Book Review: The History And Politics Of Star Wars: Death Stars And Democracy, Petra Hendrickson

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

Book Review: The History and Politics of Star Wars: Death Stars and Democracy

Advancing A Familial Understanding Of International Students, Prof-Collins Ifeonu Dr

Critical Internationalization Studies Review

No abstract provided.

Vibe Diggers: The Sampling Of Brazilian Music In Hip-Hop, Romulo De Carvalho Moraes Barbosa

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation investigates the trend of musical borrowings of 1970s MPB (música popular brasileira) by contemporary American hip-hop producers, especially in terms of what they have called a “Brazilian vibe.” A lot has been said about sampling already from legal, sociological, and historical points of view, but less has been said about its aesthetic procedures, and even less about the wider implications of a tendency for using transnational sources. In the case of MPB, hip-hop artists seem to understand the music they sample through an often vague, intuitive representation, which fuses qualities of those recordings with an intersubjective mood, a …

Dancing In Circles: Bon Dance As Performance Of The Past, Travis Robb Kim

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This capstone project traces the contours of the Japanese folk dance tradition of Bon Dance in Hawaiʻi through the nuances of public scholarship, diaspora, and racial capitalism by producing an original play which aims to perform the knowledge and praxis which the performance ritual puts forward. Treating Bon Dance as muse, the original play examines the necessity of turning to the past in order to disrupt a future made inevitable by oppressive systems; a fiction that comments on and critiques the predictive and generative technologies that have embedded themselves into society at large. Through intertwining conversations that explore prophecy and …

Ukrainian Theology, War, And Human Transformation: Reflections On The International Conference ‘Transfiguration: Tradition And Eschatology, Vladyslav Fulmes

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

On June 11, 2026, the Volyn Orthodox Theological Academy (Lutsk, Ukraine) hosted the international theological conference “Transfiguration: Tradition and Eschatology”, bringing together scholars, clergy, philosophers, chaplains, psychologists, and researchers from several countries. This report examines the conference’s principal theological and interdisciplinary themes, including deification, eschatology, ecclesiology, ecological responsibility, pastoral care, military and medical chaplaincy, digital technologies, and the Church’s response to war and post-war reconstruction.

Alignments Of Orthodoxy In Moldova And The Axiocontext Of Russia’S War Against Ukraine, Oleksandr Brodestkyi

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

A comprehensive analysis of the dominant trends shaping the contemporary religious situation in the Republic of Moldova, with particular attention to the geopolitical foundations and ramifications of the activities of religious hierarchs. The author examines the state of Orthodoxy in Moldova, to which the overwhelming majority of the country’s citizens belong. Particular attention is paid to its division between two alternative jurisdictional identities: one within the Romanian Orthodox Church and the other within the Russian Orthodox Church. The article draws on a substantial body of relevant statistical, sociological, and factual evidence. The author subjects a wide range of recent ecclesiastical …

American Arms: A Soldier's Perspective, Steve Prochniak

Undercurrents: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Composition

Steve is a political science major from Andover, Massachusetts. Steve’s experience in the military had given him an understanding of the practical aspects of the weapons he was trained to use, but his essay came out of a desire to understand the societal impacts of these weapons. Writing this essay both helped Steve develop a better understanding of this complicated issue, and helped him find his passion in exploring “issues and topics that face my community.” In addition to exploring these complex issues, Steve enjoys science fiction, exploration, and just hanging around in the city of Boston.

Participatory Culture Fandom Nctzen: Studi Kualitatif Interaksi Penggemar Dalam Akun X (Twitter) “Hijau Bersama Indonesia” Pada Aksi Demo Agustus 2025, Fania D. Anjani, Nayla L. Augusty, Kayla Marsyanda, Dian K. Sari

Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya

This study examines participatory culture and fan activism practices within the NCTzen fandom community through the X (Twitter) account “Hijau Bersama Indonesia” during the August 2025 Demonstration. This study stems from the growing phenomenon of fandoms that are no longer limited to entertainment consumption, but also play a role as social actors in responding to environmental and humanitarian issues in the digital space. This research uses a qualitative approach with a virtual ethnography (netnography) method. Data was collected through online observation, in-depth interviews with actively involved fans, and digital documentation in the form of posts and interactions on the X …

Transmutation Of Psychological Phenomena (Academic Burnout And Fomo) Into Cyanotype Art Creation, Zulfan Ali Mujtaba, Adi Kuntoro

Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya

The pressure of hustle culture and the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) in the digital era have triggered an escalation of academic burnout among students, demanding alternative psychological recovery interventions beyond verbal clinical approaches. This research aims to explore the creation of alternative Cyanotype photography as a medium for catharsis and resistance against toxic productivity. Utilizing a Practice-Based Research methodology with an autoethnographic approach, data were extracted from the researcher's subjective experiences and transmuted into a visual artifact titled "Metamorfosis yang Lelah". The cultural studies approach and wabi-sabi aesthetics are specifically applied to analyze visual elements in the Prussian Blue …

Fashion, Lifestyle, And Symbolic Capital: Identity And Resistance In Eka Kurniawan’S Beauty Is A Wound, Dewi Meyrasyawati, Cysakaren Diva Pratiwi, Nisar Ul-Haq

Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya

This study examines how fashion culture and lifestyle, understood as modes of self presentation, social performance, and everyday practice, operate as tools of identity construction and resistance in Eka Kurniawan’s Beauty Is a Wound. The objective is to reveal how beauty, personal choices, and public perception function as symbolic capital in negotiating gendered power relations, class hierarchies, and political constraints. Using close textual analysis, the research explores how female characters, particularly Dewi Ayu, mobilize appearance, behavior, and life decisions to challenge dominant ideologies and redefine their roles in society. The findings show that fashion culture in the novel extends beyond …

Going The Distance: How The Disney Renaissance Illustrated The Social And Cultural Changes In America During The 1990s, Deborah A. Bates

Graduate Masters Theses

The cultural and social history of America in the 90s is examined in this thesis by looking at the Disney Renaissance, a period of ten films made by the Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS). This thesis illustrates how the animators were able to seamlessly incorporate important societal trends of the 90s into their films, portraying a changing world within their films. As they were creating a new style of the animated movie musical, they were creating works that connected to the audiences watching in new ways, by putting up a reflection of society within their films. The way that the …

Universalism And Exclusion: Immigrants Through The Lens Of French Law And Media, George Mikhael Taliak, Abellia Anggi Wardani

Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya

This research examines France’s Immigration Law LOI n°2024-42 du 26 janvier 2024 and its representation in three mainstream media outlets across the ideological spectrum: Le Figaro (right), CCFD-Terre Solidaire (left), and France Info (center). Using Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough, 1995) and Maurice Halbwachs’s theory of collective memory, the study explores how legal and media discourses construct symbolic and administrative boundaries of national citizenship. Findings reveal that integration is framed not as civic inclusion, but as the internalization of a singular national identity and memory. Media reinforce this framework through divergent but convergent discursive strategies. At the macro level, the law …

Timbangan Buku: Doing Visual Ethnography Fourth Edition (Sarah Pink 2021), Muhammad Nur Salim

Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya

This book review examines the fourth edition of Sarah Pink’s canonical work, Doing Visual Ethnography, which pioneers a methodological paradigm shift towards collaborative visual ethnography. The book deconstructs the positivistic assumption that positions the camera merely as an objective recording instrument, offering instead a framework of reflexivity wherein participants are elevated as co-producers of knowledge within the complexities of the contemporary digital ecology. This review critically evaluates Pink’s methodological contributions by highlighting ethical negotiations and the risks of extractive objectification in fieldwork. Furthermore, the review contextualizes the relevance of Pink’s approach specifically for the discipline of Cultural Studies, positioning …

Material Transformation And Cultural Aesthetics In Javanese Keris Pamor: A Perspective On Sustainable Art, Kuntadi Wasi Darmojo, Iwan Budi Santoso, Ippei Suzuki

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

This study investigates the transformation of discarded motorcycle shock absorber material into an alternative material for producing pamor in traditional Javanese keris craftsmanship from the interdisciplinary perspectives of material culture, visual aesthetics, and sustainable craft practice. A practice-based research approach combined with descriptive qualitative methods was employed through material exploration, traditional forging experiments, pamor formation, keris production, visual observation, and cultural interpretation. The findings demonstrate that discarded motorcycle shock absorber material can be incorporated into the traditional forging process to produce stable, layered pamor patterns. The resulting pamor exhibited black, dark gray, and dull silvery-white tones, a layered surface structure, …

A Visual Analysis Of The Color Variety In Pekalongan Hand-Drawn Batik From 1910 To 2015, Christophera Ratnasari Lucius, Yanuar Ramadhan, Ahmad Fuad

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

UNESCO has recognized Indonesian Batik's variety of designs and colors as an intangible cultural asset. Pekalongan batik, which is categorized as batik pesisir and is distinguished by its varied and expressive color combination, is one prominent example. Cultural acculturation influenced by China, Japan, India, and the Netherlands has created its visual identity. In order to create a culture-based color reference, this study will map the color variations of sixty hand-drawn Pekalongan batik pieces created between 1910 and 2015. Contemporary batik from current workshops and museum collections are among the research subjects. Digital photography was used for visual documentation, and Adobe …

‘Passing’ The Baton Of Trauma: Queer Failure Of The Women’S Sport Policy Working Group’S Anti-Trans ‘Position’, Meredith M. Bagley, Mary Anne Taylor, Sarah F. Price

Publications and Research

Engaging in critical rhetorical theory and methodology, we interrogate the contemporary landscape of anti-trans backlash in women’s sport. Specifically, we read the ‘TERF wars’ (Pearce et al.) across critiques of biofeminism (Pape) and whiteness (Fischer) while drawing upon critical social science research into trauma-bonding, bullying, and the structural impacts of gender verification policies. Our analysis focuses on the Women’s Sports Policy Working Group (WSPWG), offering a trauma-informed reading of the WSPWG’s ‘Position’ statement to illuminate how lesbian female athletes who were previously slandered for failing to meet femininity norms in sport are unable to overcome that trauma to recognize and …

Paragliding The Cliff Edge: Introducing Open Mic Studies. A Creative Response To Navigating The Post-18 Landscape For Young Adults With Send., James Tarling, Charlie Robinson, Nick Hall, Sammy Shepherd

Plymouth Interdisciplinary Education Open Journal

This conceptual article investigates novel ways of thinking about Open Mic Nights (OMN) – performance spaces understood as free, community arts and performance opportunities where the members of the public are welcome to perform music, poetry and comedy in front of an audience. For the purposes of this article, music-related OMN that take place in pubs or community centres are discussed.

The article is intended to be a primer for OMN studies that offers new and emerging trailheads for future research and discussion. Its central focus is how OMN may benefit the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) community with …

``I Don't.. I Don't Remember The Answer'': A Psycholinguistics Study Of Language Processing Impairment Caused By Traumatic Brain Injury In Film ``The Vow'' (2012), Fathiya Rosyada, Emy Sudarwati, Lee Huan Yik, Putrie Rahayuningtyas

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

There is substantial evidence of an association between traumatic brain injury (TBI) and language difficulties, particularly those related to cognitive impairment. Addressing an underexplored narrative perspective, this study examines the interaction between memory and language in the representation of cognitive-communication disorder (CCD) following TBI in the film The Vow (2012). Using a qualitative approach informed by Clinical Discourse Analysis (CDA), the study analyzes selected dialogues to identify post-traumatic cognitive-communication difficulties reflected in language comprehension and production. The findings reveal a dissociation between relatively preserved linguistic competence and impaired communicative performance. In language comprehension, this dissociation is reflected in pragmatic misinterpretation, …

Speaking In Color: Code-Meshing Against Standard Language Ideology In The Public Speaking Classroom, Darrion A. Walker

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

Public speaking courses do more than teach presentation skills; they also teach students which voices count as credible. In Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs), instructional norms tied to standard language ideology position standardized English as the unmarked benchmark of professional communication. For students who speak African American Language (AAL) or other culturally informed language varieties, this creates a double bind: conform linguistically or risk being penalized for rhetorical authenticity. This reflective essay identifies the double bind as an underexamined problem in communication pedagogy and suggests that code-meshing—the intentional blending of multiple language varieties within a single communicative act—offers a more equitable, …

Decolonizing Communication Pedagogy: Toward An Afro-Rhetorical Framework, Lionnell Smith

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

This essay introduces Afro-rhetorical pedagogy as a decolonial framework for communication pedagogy. Building on Adam Key’s 2022 call for an Applied Africana Studies framework for public speaking pedagogy, this essay conceptualizes Afro-rhetorical pedagogy grounded in Afrocentric thought and African communication theory. Through a close reading of Molefi Kete Asante’s 2011 address on African curriculum, this essay establishes three foundational principles for Afro-rhetorical pedagogy: (a) epistemological agency, (b) decolonized knowledge production, and (c) institutional reconstruction. This pedagogical framework addresses communication education’s reproduction of white cultural hegemony by promoting African-centered principles, practices, and precepts that reposition communication pedagogy as a more liberatory …

Assessing The Feasibility Of An Online Gaming Ministry And Developing An Action Plan To Train Apologists For Outreach., Alexander R. Mooney

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this research project is to assess the feasibility of an online gaming ministry and to develop an action plan to train apologists for outreach. This study is necessary due to several key developments over the last few years, including the growth of social media and digital platforms, the rise of content creation on platforms like YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, and X, the COVID-19 pandemic, which increased the need for digital ministry, and the overall growth of Gen Z in religion and faith. Because of these points, the need for developing digital ministry and online gaming ministry has grown. …

Grace, Reciprocity Norms, Adverse Life Events, Religious Struggle, Salience Of Religion, Relationship To God As Modifiers, Calvin Jay Slot

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine whether adverse life events, reciprocity norms, relationship to God, salience of religion, religious struggle and/or grace moderate the frequency of church attendance-physical health relationship or if the psychospiritual variables interact with adverse life events (ALE). 1,000 participants were recruited through Prolific to produce a sample representative of the United States population. An additional 20 participants were recruited through pastors of three churches in Illinois. Multiple linear regression revealed relationship to God, religious struggle, reciprocity norms, and ALE were moderators. Additionally, religious struggle and negative reciprocity norms interacted with adverse life events, …

Keepers, Surfmen, Wives, And Daughters: A Gender And Kinship Study Of The United States Life-Saving Service In North Carolina, 1874-1915, Tammy M. Woodward

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The Outer Banks of North Carolina is both a beautiful and dangerous place. Its region is filled with descendants of the Keepers and Surfmen who once manned the lifesaving stations that the federal government built along America’s coastlines. It is also home to one of the most dangerous stretches of American coastline known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic. The United States Life-Saving Service, established in 1871, was a government solution to the growing public outcry over the staggering number of deaths by shipwreck during the nineteenth century. While the Life-Saving Service has fostered a small but detailed historiography, its …

The Bambisanani Partnership: A Global Initiative Activating Faith And Sport, David Geldart, Matt Hoven

Journal of Catholic Education

The Bambisanani Partnership: A Global Initiative Activating Faith and Sport Partnership is a United Kingdom-based charity that originated as a sports-based partnership between St. Mary’s Catholic High School in the UK, and Mnyakanya High School in rural KwaZulu- Natal (KZN), South Africa, in 2006. Inspired by papal teaching about sport, this article explores the ways in which this particular program has been successful in providing opportunities to live out the Catholic faith through sports participation. The partnership, which remains based at St. Mary’s School and is run entirely by volunteers, operates in the Nkandla region of South Africa, which is …

Measure By Measure: Reflections On Building A Quiz Map For Critical Caribbean Digital Pedagogy, Ra Bacchus, Medardo G. Rosario, Alexander S. Butler

archipelagos: a journal of Caribbean digital praxis

This article reflects on the web development of a digital quiz map designed to help students critically engage with the representation of the Caribbean in digital space. Emerging from workshops organized by Visiones del Caribe—a digital humanities initiative using digitized maps and archives to teach Caribbean history, culture, and cartography—this tool responds to students’ inquiries about the region’s spatial boundaries. The quiz invites students to select on a map those countries and territories they consider part of the Caribbean, prompting reflection on the diversity of perspectives shaping Caribbean identity. Drawing from the discourse of critical cartography and digital pedagogy, we …

Refusing Artificial Coherence: Christopher Tolkien's Philology And His Editorial Practice On His Father’S Legendarium, Nicholas Birns

Journal of Tolkien Research

This paper was given at The Christopher Tolkien Centenary Conference sponsored by the Tolkien Society, held online on 23/24 November 2024.  The paper was given on Zoom on November 24, 2024.

This paper argues that Christopher Tolkien’s 1950s philological essay “The Battle of the Goths and the Huns” anticipates the editorial principles that later governed his presentation of his father, J. R. R. Tolkien’s legendarium. Analyzing Christopher’s treatment of early medieval legend alongside his handling of the Celeborn and Galadriel materials, the essay argues that he consistently resisted imposing artificial coherence on fragmentary evidence. Whether confronting speculative Gothic history, or …

Roots That Refuse To Die: Narratives Of Displacement And Solidarity In Palestinian And Chicanx Feminist Traditions, R. H., Lea Colchado-Joaquín

Gatherings

Amidst the recent passing of Senate Bill 17 and increasing restrictions on academic freedom, and efforts to shut down encampments, political tensions have been on the rise at Texas university campuses. As women of color scholars learning to navigate these challenges, we are committed to fostering safe pedagogical spaces that honor minoritized students’ voices. This paper examines interpretations of solidarity narratives between Chicanx and Palestinian feminist authors through a decolonial feminist lens and employs an autoethnographic methodological approach such as autohistoria-teoría to highlight parallels between the authors' lived realities. Authors begin this conversation by using their own narratives of resistance …

The Chameleon Experience: Queer Identity, Mental Health, And Transformation, Cameron Penny

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

In this autoethnographic piece, I examine the correlation between queer identity and mental health through reflective analysis of my own experiences within a Western socio-cultural setting. I expand external perspectives on the queer experience by highlighting the normalization of queer prejudice and its adverse impact on self-image. I share how the religious praxis of Catholicism enforces binary conformity by promoting dichotomous thinking that simultaneously constricts queer expression and subjugates implicit biases. In tandem, I utilize autoethnography as my medium because it provides a unique outlet to raise awareness for chronically stigmatized identities by centering marginalized voices (Atay, 2011; Chavez, 2013). …