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Closing The Loop In Sustainable Fashion: Recycling Textile Waste And Its Environmental, Social, And Consumer Impacts, Anthony Amotoe-Bondzie

Sustainability Program Posters and Papers

Fast fashion has intensified textile waste, emissions, and social inequities across global supply chains. This study examines sustainable fashion frameworks and the role of textile recycling in advancing circularity. It employes a qualitative integrative literature review synthesizing interdisciplinary research on waste streams, recycling technologies, policy instruments, and consumer behavior. However, advanced recycling technologies offer environmental benefits but remain limited in scale. Nonetheless, rising consumption offsets efficiency gains, while economic and behavioral barriers hinder systemic change. Technological innovation alone is insufficient; circular design, regulatory enforcement, and reduced overproduction are essential for sustainable transformation.

“Which Side Are You On?”: The Historical Creation And Political Implications Of An Appalachian White Other, Zoe Davin

History Honors Papers

No abstract provided.

Reflections Of A Queer Latvia: How The Past Has Shaped Contemporary Activism, Gray Ruffer

Slavic Studies Honors Papers

This thesis aims to create a transhistorical map of queer Riga through the tolerance, treatment, and activist moments in Latvia from the early twentieth century to 2025, with special focus on the divided legal and social attitudes toward LGBT identities in different pockets of Riga. By tracing the role the Russo-Soviet occupations on Latvian soil from 1914-1991 had on the structure of governmental organizations, the treatment of the Latvian language and culture, and the social atmosphere in the capital of Riga, this thesis establishes a Latvian national historical memory through memory narratives that focus themselves in authentic Latvian traditionality, as …

He Rengao Super-Consciousness Imagery, A Global Touring Exhibition, Jun Dong

MA Projects

Focusing squarely on He Rengao’s long-developed visual philosophy, this exhibition will take the form of a solo presentation introducing Super-Consciousness Imagery to New York audiences. As one of China’s most established contemporary artists, He has spent decades refining a highly introspective and philosophically grounded painterly language. This exhibition aims to situate his mature body of work within an international conversation, foregrounding painting as a site where civilizational imagination, spiritual inquiry, and aesthetic experimentation converge. The exhibition title, Super-Consciousness Imagery, encapsulates two key elements central to He’s artistic practice; it refers to the expanded state of awareness the artist seeks to …

Caribbean Sensibility, Olivia A. Davis

MA Projects

The Caribbean is a region with a complex history, from the displacement of Indigenous communities to the forced migrations of the transatlantic slave trade and the arrival of indentured laborers from Asia. This has produced a region where questions of identity and belonging remain constant. Caribbean Sensibility explores how artists form the Caribbean and its diasporas navigate these complexities, transforming histories of displacement into creative expression. The exhibition draws on Trinidadian scholar Patricia Mohammed’s concept of a “Caribbean sensibility,” an emotional and aesthetic orientation based in hybridity. It is “the dissonance between a seemingly imported religion and our homegrown private …

Imagining The Inuit: Myth, Market, And The Making Of The Contemporary Inuit Sculpture Canon, Kristen Sara Davidson-Schwartz

MA Theses

This thesis explores how qallunaat institutions used sculpture to shape and define Inuit life. I argue that contemporary Inuit sculpture, as conceived of by outsiders to support Inuit economic enfranchisement and modernization, became a vessel through which qallunaat institutions circulated ideas about Inuit culture and Arctic lands. Although purported to reflect the voice of Inuit, the meanings attached to Inuit sculpture rarely reflected Inuit intention and consistently aligned to qallunaat priorities: a performance of primitive, ancient, and authentic Inuit life; a gesture of indigenous gratitude and cheerful participation in state-designed development programs; or a masterful expression of the formal concerns …

Constructing Minimalism: Canon Formation, Exclusion, And The Afterlives Of An Aesthetic, Lucy Ewert

MA Theses

Academics, critics, curators, and artists alike have perpetually struggled to agree on a coherent definition of Minimalism since its inception. Who is included in the historical canon, what its defining characteristics are, and the movement's legacy have long since been contested. This thesis will explore the origins of Minimalism, tracing its emergence from movements such as Abstract Expressionism, and discuss the early values that shaped its perception through a handful of fundamental voices. The study will also survey three of Minimalism’s modernist predecessors, questioning the extent of influence these movements may have had.  Understanding the origins of Minimalism will set …

The Postmodern Frontier: Richard Prince And The Neoliberal Spectacle Of The American Dream, Taïs Khassanova

MA Theses

This thesis examines the oeuvre of Richard Prince’s as a sustained allegory of contemporary American visual culture, beginning with his Cowboys series as the point of origin from which his later appropriations, including Girlfriends, Spiritual America, and New Portraits, unfold. Through the recursive gesture of appropriation, Prince’s Cowboys expose the myth of rugged independence as a corporate fiction, revealing how the frontier ethos was redeployed under the Reagan presidency to naturalize neoliberal ideology. Building on this premise, the thesis traces how such logic extends throughout Prince’s subsequent body of work, as his Girlfriends refigure the cowboy’s masculine autonomy as the …

The Flavor Of Marketing: How Food Is Revolutionizing Luxury Brand Communication, Aloisa Ruf

MA Theses

This thesis explores how food operates as a cultural, psychological, and strategic instrument within the global luxury industry. Drawing from art history, marketing theory, and sensory studies, it traces how societies across Europe, the Middle East, China, Japan, Russia, and the United States have long used food to express hierarchy, belonging, and emotion—from the banquets of seventeenth-century Versailles to the branded cafes and collaboration of the 2010s and 2020s. Through a comparative and interpretive methodology, the research connects historical visual traditions with contemporary brand strategies, examining case studies such as Gucci Osteria, Louis Vuitton’s Desert Iftar, Dior Café, Loewe’s “Tomato” …

Global Art: An Economic Exploration Of The Factors Driving Sensible Gallery Expansion, James Mclennan

MA Theses

The goal of this thesis is to develop a practical and defensible decision tool to guide art gallery expansion. Focusing on four cities – New York, Hong Kong, London, and Doha – the thesis translates heterogeneous considerations into a matrix that scores each of the cities according to eight factors: Market & Demand; Regulation & Tax; Logistics & Shipping; Labor & Immigration; Legal Entity & Finance; Brand, PR & Audience; Competition & Benchmarking; and Risk. Sub-factors are scored and averaged to provide results on how each city scores against each other. The output is a ranked set of city recommendations …

Does Blue-Chip Art Genuinely Provide Diversification And Risk Mitigation Once Illiquidity, Transaction Frictions, And Survivorship Bias Are Explicitly Incorporated Into Performance Analysis, Or Is The “Safe Haven” Label Fundamentally Misleading?, Radhika Vissanji

MA Theses

Blue-chip art is widely presented as a safe haven and portfolio diversifier, particularly during periods of financial market uncertainty. This perception is reinforced by art price indices and industry reports that emphasise long-term appreciation, relatively low volatility, and weak correlation with traditional financial assets. Despite the growing prominence of these claims in advisory and institutional discourse, there remains limited agreement on whether such properties persist once the structural characteristics of the art market are fully taken into account. This thesis evaluates whether blue-chip art genuinely delivers diversification and risk-mitigation benefits under realistic market conditions. Focusing on three structural factors, illiquidity, …

M+, Beyond A Museum?: The Making Of A New Cultural Paradigm In Hong Kong, Grace Law

MA Theses

This thesis, titled M+, Beyond a Museum? The Making of a New Cultural Paradigm in Hong Kong, is a critical inquiry into whether M+ is a traditional museum or an institution that redefines Hong Kong’s cultural landscape. The study examines the operational and financial challenges encountered by the Museum in the backdrop of its distinguished architecture, meticulous programming, and advanced digital technology. By tracing the Museum’s development through its core exhibitions and international collaborations, this thesis demonstrates how M+ has evolved into a key art institution within the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD), and elevated its positioning in the cultural …

Epilogue: Spirits, Spiritualism Spirituality In Shakers At The Center: Manifesting Spirits & Spectacles In Nineteenth-Century America, Douglas L. Winiarski

Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Epilogue to Shakers at the Center: Manifesting Spirits & Spectacles in Nineteenth-Century America

"Exploring the theological, social, and cultural dimensions of one of America’s most ambitious prophetic movements 

The Shakers’ Era of Manifestations ranks among the most astounding events in American religious history. During the 1840s, members of the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing embarked on an audacious project of receiving visions, revelations, and other manifestations from the spirit world and convincing both themselves and the world’s people of their reality. Gifted Shakers known as “instruments” surrendered their bodies to possessing spirits and celestial beings who, in …

Going Through The Motions At The Shaker Feast Grounds, Douglas L. Winiarski

Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Sally Bushnell rose unusually early on the Sabbath morning of June 4, 1843. A seasoned Believer of over two decades, Bushnell served as eldress of the gathering, or novitiate, order of the South Family in Canaan, a satellite community of the largest Shaker village at New Lebanon, New York. Although she had participated in all the dramatic events of the Era of Manifestations, she understood this day to be particularly special. The young Believers over whom Bushnell presided had been granted a privilege to visit the Holy Mount, the outdoor feast ground located on a high knob in the Berkshire …

Language, Literature, And Culture Newsletter, Twelfth Edition (January 2026), Language, Literature, And Culture Department, Clark University

Language, Literature, and Culture

The twelfth issue of the Language, Literature, and Culture department newsletter, which went out in January 2026. The Language, Literature, and Culture department newsletter aims to "share stories, news, ideas, achievements, and important information about and within our academic department that can be helpful to the campus community at large".

Looking Towards The Past And Future With Waiata: Māori Historical Traditions In Ka Eke Ki Wairaka, Nuala Reynolds

The Criterion

No abstract provided.

The Ruination Of A Creator By His Own Hand: Doctor Faustus’ Self-Distance From Godliness And Unimaginative Sloth, Amanda Sopchockchai

The Criterion

No abstract provided.

Comparative Analysis Of Youth Religiosity In Kazakhstan And Poland: Navigating Faith In Modern Societies, Arailym Zhanabayeva, Myrzakhmet Juzei, Nagima Baitenova, Zhanna Zhurgenbayeva

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This paper explores the complex relationship between religion and youth culture, focusing on Kazakhstan and Poland. Kazakhstan, with its ethnic diversity and dominant Islamic faith, is navigating a post-Soviet search for identity and renewed interest in traditional spiritual practices. Poland, deeply rooted in Catholicism, is experiencing secular trends and global influences that are reshaping youth religious engagement. The research aims to enrich discussions on youth religiosity and the evolving interplay between spiritual belief and modern life across different political and cultural contexts. The primary objective of this study is to examine the evolution of modern Kazakh society's approach to religion, …

Racial Capitalism And Black Maritime Geography In 19th Century Portland, Maine, Jeremy Harrison

Honors Theses

Portland, Maine, is located on the rocky shores of the Atlantic Ocean and has served as home to a diverse population that has benefited from the economic and social aspects of the shipping and trading industry. This port city in one of the northernmost regions of the United States was one of the last stops for ships carrying goods before reaching the city centers of the Americas and Europe. As a result, during the late 18th and early to mid-19th centuries, skilled and unskilled Black laborers from somewhat fringe regions within the Atlantic migrated to Portland in search of not …

Brewing Resilience: Cooperatives, Micro-Mills, And The Quest For Survival In Costa Rica's Changing Coffee Landscape, Leila N. Iredell

Honors Theses

This thesis examines how different organizational models in Costa Rica's coffee sector shape producers’ ability to capture value, build resilience, and sustain rural livelihoods in a rapidly changing global market. In comparing traditional cooperatives and new micro-mills, I examine specifically how control over the value chain, access to markets, and social infrastructure differ across models and what these differences mean for the farmers who depend on them. This project analyzes how the collapse of international price agreements and decades of market volatility drove producers toward new strategies, from independent processing and direct trade to coffee tourism. Costa Rica stands as …

Blood And Belonging: Remembering Massacres Of The American West In The Twentieth Century, Mountain Meadows And Sand Creek, Kenzie Burns

Honors Theses

The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries marked a turning point in mainstream America’s sense of national identity. A wave of nostalgia for the American Frontier enshrined the region’s idealized nineteenth-century past as myth. A key part of the story is romanticized violence—often depicted through cultural imagery of cowboys, gunfights, and battles with American Indians. This project seeks to understand more about how violence is represented in the cultural memory of the American Western past. Within the past twenty years, scholars of the American West have begun to incorporate the study of memory into their scholarship, frequently with how cultural …

Meiji And Myth: The Emperor, Totemic Principles, And Unity, Ella Jean H. Fernandez

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the complex relationship between religion and state during the Meiji era (1868-1912). Specifically, how central governmental and religious figures craft a sense of unity and national identity. The primary research question of this study is: How did the Meiji Emperor’s development as a totem unite the people and grant credibility to the Meiji era (1868-1912)? A totem in this context is a functioning symbol that is both representative and sacred. This study was conducted through the analysis of primary source documents, Imperial shrine activity, and historical context sources. Through analysis of these …

One, And Other, One Another, Another (Again): A Historical And Embodied, Kinetic And Theoretical Investigation Of Otherization, Emily Brankman

Dance Department Honors Papers

This thesis investigates otherization and its use as a tool for power through theoretical, historical, and movement based investigations. Over the course of this academic year, I worked with a group of Connecticut College dancers in weekly rehearsals to build choreography and to hold discussions. This took place alongside external, independent research into thinkers and artists from Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Martha Graham, theories by historians such as Edward Said, and both historical and current events. These elements were not approached sequentially, but simultaneously, with the intention that each element influence and inform the others. I reference this variety of topics …

Songs Of The Sea: Reading The Archival Waters Of Afrodiasporic Literary Worlds, Charlee Thacker

Senior Honors and Award-Winning Theses

No abstract provided.

Former Des Filles Philosophes: L’Oeuvre De Jeanne-Marie Leprince De Beaumont, Au Croisement Entre Tradition Féminine Et Lumières, Emma Rioux

Senior Honors and Award-Winning Theses

No abstract provided.

What Are Men Doing To Prevent Gender-Based Violence? Challenges And Resistance To Traditional Masculinities In Costa Rica, Fiorella Masís Aguilar

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Achieving gender equality and reducing violence, especially violence against women, requires men's involvement. This research focuses on understanding the actions and strategies that Costa Rican men who challenge traditional masculinities use to question or resist hegemonic traditional masculinities. Furthermore, it explores what factors influenced the development of these actions and how the participants understand that hegemonic masculinities and their actions to change them are related to gender-based violence. According to Planning Department of the Judiciary of Costa Rica, four out of five perpetrators of violent crimes are men, and eight out of ten victims are women. Using semi-structured interviews with …

Speculating Queer Dystopia: Tentacle’S Uninhabitable Now, Isabella Otimia Sanchez

Student Papers (English)

This project positions Rita Indiana’s speculative novel Tentacle as a critical site for examining queer temporalities. Its embodied system of time travel literalizes the frameworks of “temporal drag” and “queer futurity” proposed by Elizabeth Freeman and José Esteban Muñoz, demonstrating the material consequences of time on the queer body. Further, my argument is staked in disrupting the myth of a progressive future, tracing how oppressive structures do not resolve over time but rather complicate. This framing can be observed both textually and metatextually, lending to Jack Halberstam’s concept of “queer failure.”   Overall, I suggest that Indiana’s queer dystopia offers a …

The Ocean Is Not A Machine: A Feminist Media Analysis Of Oceanographic Models, Simulations, And Futures, Clarissa Chevalier

Study of Women, Gender, & Sexuality: Faculty Publications

This article examines how scientific and artistic representations and technologies shape ocean futures. Dominant Western oceanography frequently engages mechanistic metaphors that conceptualize the ocean as a machine, pump, or carbon sponge. This way of visualizing the ocean, guided by the logics of control and quantification, shapes contemporary remote sensing, modeling, and prediction technologies. Alternative approaches to oceanographic representation, including Indigenous, anticolonial, Black feminist, and artistic approaches, offer critical counterweights to destabilize the authority granted to mechanistic oceanographic representations. Ocean simulations and scale models are infrastructures through which ocean futures are rendered and presented in multidimensional space. Through a comparative media …

Helena María Viramontes’ Under The Feet Of Jesus And Sandra Cisneros’ The House On Mango Street: An Exploratory Analysis Of Female Friendship In The Chicana Feminist Bildungsroman, Patrice Donnelly

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This exploratory analysis examines female friendships presented in two mid-twentieth century Chicana feminist Bildungsroman, each between a Chicana protagonist and a female friend as foil. One friendship in Under the Feet of Jesus, by Helena María Viramontes, is interracial; the other, in The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros, is Chicana. Both friendships interrogate the boundaries within mainstream feminism, particularly its monolithic views and complicity with power. Each friendship offers a Chicana feminist perspective centering family and cultural community. The theoretical foundation includes classical and contemporary understandings of Bildungsroman as literary form, Toni Morrison’s American Africanism, …

Breaking Barriers: A Ministry Approach To Understanding And Addressing The Needs Of Somali Immigrants In The Twin Cities, Yared K. Woldemariam

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the relational dynamics and ministry barriers between Somali immigrant communities and Christian churches in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, with the aim of identifying practical and theological strategies for cultivating trust-based engagement. Grounded in diaspora missiology and the biblical model of hospitality in the Book of Acts, the research explores how historical experiences, cultural perceptions, and communication patterns shape present-day interactions.
A qualitative-dominant mixed-methods design was employed, consisting of twenty-one semi-structured interviews with church leaders and Somali community leaders, supported by questionnaire data to identify comparative trends. Inductive thematic analysis revealed that relationship history, language interpretation, institutional …