Digital Commons Network^™

Cover, Owen Isachsen

.RAW Journal of Art and Design

No abstract provided.

Full Issue, Michaela Velleno, Zoé Shaikh

.RAW Journal of Art and Design

No abstract provided.

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 …

Melodizing Modern Power: Giacomo Puccini And The Demands Of Thematic Development, Claire Kelly

Music Honors Projects

This paper examines Italian composer Giacomo Puccini’s processes of thematic development in three operas, La Bohème (1896), Tosca (1900), and Il Tabarro (1918). Puccini’s thematic development has been a point of contention for many musicologists and critics. Critics of his own time found his thematic development style to be inconsistent; some regarded his melodies as fragmented and lacking cohesion. Since then, biographers and critics such as Michele Girardi, Mosco Carner, and Alexandra Wilson have reiterated and re-examined these claims. Taken together, my three case studies conclude that Puccini’s multivalent style of thematic development is meant to depict the various effects …

Unsustainable Stories: Agricultural Knowledge On The Great Plains, 1880-1934, Philomena Shuffelton-Sobe

History Honors Projects

This thesis explores stories about how people farmed and learned about farming on the Great Plains from 1880-1920 through three inter-connected narratives: the Allotment system, agricultural education programs at federal Indian Boarding Schools, and the rapid rise and fall of the Dry Farming movement. These systems were built on stories about how people should live with and on the land that promoted unsustainable, destructive ways of farming and knowledge production. This scholarship places Assimilation Era agricultural education for Native and non-Native farmers within the context of the increasing reliance on systems and science and the institutionalization of agricultural knowledge.

``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, …

Beyond Better Conditions: Seaweed Farming And The Number Of Sentient Animals In Aquaculture, Shrilaxmi Patil, Matthew Unerman, Wasseem Emam

Animal Sentience

Oldfield & Bonano (2024) (O&B) document how far  fish welfare research lags behind welfare research in other animals. We share O&B’s feelings-based concept of welfare and agree that aquaculture seeded this field; but research volume has not scaled with animal numbers: Welfare attention per farmed fish or decapod remains negligible. Along the lines of preceding commentaries (Maia 2024, Mather 2024), we treat farmed aquatic animals as individuals rather than tonnage. We then raise a point so far absent from the commentary on O&B so far: reducing the number of sentient animals entering intensive systems. Coastal seaweed farming, which cultivates non-sentient …

Whose Jesus? Which Christlikeness? On The Prospects Of Protestant Spiritual Formation, James K.A. Smith

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

This article recounts the author’s path into the Protestant Spiritual Formation Movement (PSFM) as both a scholar and practitioner. The article then considers current challenges for Protestant Spiritual Formation, including environmental factors (political assimilation, pervasive distraction, and the couplet of anti-intellectualism and disinformation) and institutional challenges (the individualism of much of North American Protestantism and fragile educational networks). Given these contemporary challenges, the article proposes a strategic emphasis for the future of the PSFM: to articulate the criteria for Christian maturity (“Christlikeness”).

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, …

Community Problems Need Community Solutions: Feminist Collaboration Across Campuses To Create Transformative Outcomes Through Community Engaged Learning, Elizabeth Wilhoit Larson, Jasmine R. Linabary, Ziyu Long, Kylie J. Johnson

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

This study presents a multi-institutional engaged pedagogy project responding to college food insecurity that involved partnerships among students, instructors, and campus food pantries from three U.S. universities. Through analysis of pre- and post-class surveys, class assignments, and instructor and community partner reflections, we argue that our feminist collaborative approach resulted in transformative outcomes in three areas: (a) heads, as the collaboration enabled critical understandings of food insecurity and how to combat it; (b) hearts, as the collaboration fostered a culture of care and (re)ignited shared passion in doing change work, and (c) hands, as the collaboration inspired actions to address …

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 …

Pushing Forward: The Dialectical Experiences Of Apida Psychologists In Predominantly White Counseling Settings, Shaun A. Fossett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Asian Pacific Islander Desi Americans (APIDAs) are the fastest growing racial group in the United States, yet they remain significantly underrepresented in the field of psychology and notably absent from research examining the professional experiences of racial and ethnic minority clinicians. Existing scholarship has documented the prevalence of racialized organizational structures, microaggressions, and the enduring “model minority” stereotype that both obscures and exacerbates APIDA challenges in professional environments. However, no known published studies have investigated the non–client-facing experiences of APIDA psychologists working in predominantly White counseling settings. The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) study was to explore how …

Well-Being Beyond The Binary In Perinatal Healthcare: An Application Of Reproductive Justice, Orphea D. Wright

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Gender diverse birthing individuals face several systemic barriers to accessing affirming and empowering perinatal healthcare. The present study utilizes the term gender diverse and the abbreviation TGE to describe those who self-identify as broadly non-cisgender, an umbrella term for people whose gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth. Gender identities that may be included in this definition include transgender/trans, gender expansive, non-binary, gender fluid, gender nonconforming, gender variant, gender queer/queer, and/or agender. Gender diverse individuals face unique barriers in perinatal healthcare due to the pervasiveness of cisnormativity in perinatal healthcare spaces. Research has documented the harm caused to …

Clinical Considerations For Black Student Athlete Development, Jahnia Margarita Green

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Black student athletes exemplify the complexity of navigating intersecting identities at pivotal points in their development. They are also more likely to make premature commitments to their athletic identity and in turn suffer from psychological distress during times of transition (Beamon, 2012). The focus on Black collegiate athletes is informed by persistent mental health challenges associated with higher levels of competition or transitions (e.g., injury or retirement) within collegiate athletics (Brewer & Petitpas, 2017; Menke & Germany, 2019). This paper aims to develop culturally informed clinical considerations through the analysis of the Black student athlete experience and structural aspects of …

And There Was Battle In Heaven: Angels, Demons And Depictions Of Good And Evil In The Avesta And 1 Enoch, Christopher Brent Ghan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Zoroastrian texts of the Avesta and the Second Temple era apocalyptic text of 1 Enoch represent two of the world’s most enduring and influential articulations of the concepts of good and evil forces in monotheistic religious contexts. This dissertation applies Bruce Lincoln’s theory of weak comparison to compare the depictions of good and evil intermediate beings – angels, fallen angels and Nephilim in 1 Enoch and yazatas and daevas in the Avesta – to explore how both of these corpuses use these beings to address questions of evil while maintaining their monotheistic natures, and to define and explore their …

"Compromise With Lawlessness": The Relationship Between Lynching And The Death Penalty In Arkansas, 1895-1925, Michael Lynch

The Ozark Historical Review

“Compromise with Lawlessness”: The Relationship between Lynching and the Death Penalty in Arkansas, 1895–1925 examines the complex relationship between extralegal lynching and state-sanctioned capital punishment in Arkansas during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. While existing scholarship often characterizes the decline of lynching and expansion of capital punishment as a straightforward substitution, this article argues that the Arkansas experience was more dynamic, with lynching and legal execution functioning as competing and sometimes complementary mechanisms for satisfying demands for racialized justice and social control. Through an examination of the 1898 lynching of Bud Hayden in Texarkana and the 1901 execution …

Earthly Alienization And Galactic Othering: How Star Wars Holistically Reimagines American History And Constructs A Pipeline To Christian-Imperial Humanitarianism, Taylor Valci

Effervescence: Yale Divinity School's Student Journal of Religion

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, the future of religion looks remarkably familiar. This essay argues that Star Wars offers a holistic reimagining of American racial formation in a speculative interstellar setting, translating historical practices of othering and alienization into the galaxy’s social and religious order. Across the Skywalker Saga (1977–2019), the Jedi Order functions as a galactic priesthood whose moral universalism authorizes intervention, governance, and salvation across the cosmos. Drawing on American religious history, critical race theory, migration studies, humanitarianism, and imperial studies, I show how alien species, racialized language, colorblind representation, and sacred bloodlines …

Theologians, Political Influencers, Organizers, Founding Mothers, White Feminists: Evangelicalism Recast As Revolution, Through The Life Works Of Hannah More And Phyllis Schlafly, Taylor Valci

Effervescence: Yale Divinity School's Student Journal of Religion

Nearly two hundred years and an ocean apart, Hannah More and Phyllis Schlafly occupied the same impossible set of roles: theologians, political influencers, organizers, founding mothers, and white feminists. What they shared most deeply, however, was evangelicalism. This essay argues that their life works require evangelicalism to be recast not as a stable denominational throughline, but as a reactionary religious revolution: a recurring form of conservative Christian mobilization that emerges when national security and Christian order are perceived as threatened by secularization, women’s expanding public authority, revolution, or global disorder. Read comparatively, More and Schlafly reveal how evangelical women turned …

Extraordinary Senses And Dreamscapes In Medieval Japanese Ōjōden Narratives: Reading Yoshishige No Yasutane’S Nihon Ōjōgokuraku-Ki, Qingxuan Wang

Effervescence: Yale Divinity School's Student Journal of Religion

This paper examines the affective and multi-sensorial narratives in Yoshishige no Yasutane’s Nihon Ōjōgokuraku-ki, the foundational collection of medieval Japanese Pure Land Buddhist rebirth tales (ōjōden). Composed at the threshold of a dark age in which Buddhist salvation through ordinary practice was believed to be impossible, the collection spoke directly to a faith community haunted by worldly suffering and their own spiritual inadequacy. Engaging with sensory studies and narratology, this paper challenges the binary divide between doctrinal expositions and didactic narratives in the study of Buddhism. Rather than treating the Nihon Ōjōgokuraku-ki as secondary supplements to scholar-monks’ …

Non-Native English-Speaking Teachers Of Writing, Native-Speaker Ideologies, And Feedback Uptake In First-Year Composition, Mustapha Bannerman

Rhetoric and Composition PhD papers

Research on non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) and writing feedback has rarely examined how students’ perceptions of multilingual instructors shape feedback uptake. This critical literature review synthesizes scholarship from composition studies, second language writing, translingualism, and NNEST research to examine this relationship in first-year composition. The review argues that native-speaker ideologies may shape perceptions of instructor credibility in ways that could influence students’ willingness to trust and apply feedback during revision. It identifies a significant gap in existing scholarship and calls for empirical research and pedagogical practices that promote linguistic justice, multilingualism, and equitable writing instruction in higher education.

Béla Király’S Tall Tale That Led To His Decoration As “Righteous” In Yad Vashem, Peter Pastor

Department of History Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

In May 1993, General Béla Király was decorated Righteous among the Nations in Yad Vashem for protecting the lives of a Jewish labor company in the winter of 1943–1944 in the rear of the front in Proskurov, Ukraine. His recognition was based on false testimonies by veteran labor servicemen who were unaware that, during the winter of 1944–1945, Király, then a high-ranking official in the fascist Arrow Cross Ministry of Defense in Kőszeg, failed to respond to the suffering of 5,000 Jewish labor servicemen, of whom 2,500 died.

Comparing Student-Centered And Traditional Approaches In Mandatory Middle School Music, Charmian Cavanagh

Masters Theses

The purpose of this applied research study is to examine the effectiveness of a traditional theory-based music curriculum compared with an alternative, practice-centered curriculum on the motivation, engagement, and learning outcomes of middle school students enrolled in mandatory general music classes at an inner-city school in Camden, New Jersey. Theory instruction has long served as a foundation of music education; however, many students in required general music settings demonstrate low engagement and limited long-term connection to musical study. Research will explore whether a curriculum that prioritizes creativity, cultural relevance, and active music-making better supports student interest and achievement. Findings will …

Past The Watchful Dragons: How C. S. Lewis’S Fiction Humanizes The Analytical Framework Of The Problem Of Pain, Charlotte L. Hambrick

Masters Theses

C. S. Lewis was one of the 20th century’s greatest Christian apologists. Writing across multiple genres—from academic literary criticism to lay sermons, and from philosophical and theological analysis to several kinds of fiction—his impact on Christian thought remains profound. This thesis analyzes Lewis’s approach to the intellectual problem of evil in The Problem of Pain and demonstrates how he makes those starkly cold, prickly concepts more warm, human, and relatable in several of his works of fiction. It will first consider Lewis’s personal history with death, abuse, war, and grief, showing how his lived experiences with pain shaped his thinking …

Co-Dominion: The Changing Nature Of The Adamic Covenant In An Age Of Artificial Intelligence, Corey Hastings

Masters Theses

Theologians and religious bodies attest to the rising influence of artificial intelligence (AI) in governments, the economy, and the lives of the people of God. Through the covenant with Adam, God gave humans the blessing of dominion and capabilities unique to creation to till the earth. Today, humans retain the image of God but AI increasingly displaces human functions with coordinated agency. Using Hebrew language exegesis of passages from Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus, this study compares capabilities gifted to humans with the scope of current and near future AI models. It incorporates direct artifact analysis of a large-language model as …

A Biblical Understanding Of Discipleship As A Pedagogy For The Fear Of The Lord, Desirae Jeffreys

Masters Theses

The fear of the Lord is a significant topic found throughout scripture, yet it is a concept that lacks recognition in our culture, and even in some churches today. The reality is that there is confusion about how to define the fear of the Lord and, thereby, confusion about how to teach the fear of the Lord. This thesis provides a biblical understanding of the fear of the Lord as described in Proverbs 1–9. The fear of God is evaluated through the lens of instruction throughout these chapters, providing a basis of understanding for the complexity of the definition of …

Forbear That Wicked Cant: Malthusian ‘Zero Sum’ Theory, Eugenics, And World Population Control, Aidan Grogan

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation traces the history of an idea: the “zero-sum” theory of human nature and humanity’s relationship with the natural world that lies at the core of the Malthusian worldview. Grounded in the belief that life is a ruthless struggle over scarce resources and that human beings are destined to reproduce beyond the earth’s “carrying capacity,” Malthusianism provided the key intellectual foundations for Darwin’s theory of evolution, which later informed the rise of eugenics. Although eugenics lost much of its scientific legitimacy and moral authority after the Holocaust and the Nuremberg Trials, many American eugenicists and eugenics organizations remained committed …

The Incarnational And Christological Link Of The Servant In Isaiah 52:13–53:12 And Philippians 2:5–11, Heather Green

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

There is much written about the Suffering Servant passage in Isaiah and the Christ Hymn in Philippians. This dissertation examines the incarnational and Christological relationship between the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 52:13–53:12 and the Christ Hymn of Philippians 2:5–11. The common themes in both passages are incarnation, humiliation, obedient suffering, substitutionary atonement, exaltation, and divine vindication. This study also evaluates major scholarly interpretations regarding the identity of the Servant in Isaiah and the extent to which Paul intentionally appropriates Isaianic servant imagery in Philippians 2. While acknowledging the influence of Isaiah 45:23 on Philippians 2:9–11, this dissertation argues that Isaiah …

Sovereign Borders: John’S Deuteronomic Framework For Israel And The Nations In The Apokalypsis, Kevin W. Mullen

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation concludes that John’s imagery of Israel and the nations in the Apokalypsis is distinctly shaped by his interpretation and incorporation of Deuteronomic theology. It employs a canonical and intertextual approach to inductively argue that Deuteronomy presents three pillars, or roles, for biblical nationhood: (1) objects of and instruments for divine judgment, (2) custodians to restrain evil, and (3) revelations of God’s sovereignty. These three Deuteronomic pillars establish the foundation for biblical nationhood and are expressed by John throughout his Apokalypsis. Moreover, this dissertation concludes that John’s imagery for the nations is due to his reliance upon the Deuteronomic …

Restoring Trust And Relational Depth In The Philadelphia Seventh-Day Adventist Church Through Structural Family Therapy Interventions, Laundale Leopold Munroe

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This Doctor of Ministry action research project addressed the challenge of unclear relational and leadership boundaries associated with reduced trust, emotional comfort, and healthy communication within the Philadelphia Seventh-day Adventist Church in Bronx, New York. The purpose of this project was to implement and evaluate an eight-week Structural Family Therapy-informed intervention designed to strengthen trust, emotional comfort, leadership clarity, relational boundaries, and healthy communication among church members. The goals were to increase participants’ awareness of congregational relational patterns, encourage healthier interpersonal interactions, and cultivate practices that support sustained relational health. A mixed-methods action research design was employed with eighteen adult …

A Natural Fit: Reconceptualizing The Work Of Oregon's Silent Era Sister Exhibitors, Karen Caverly-Molineaux

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Inspired by the quadrupling of women theater owners in Census reports between 1910 and 1920, this dissertation focuses on women theater owners in the state of Oregon and brings their experiences of theater ownership to the forefront for historical inquiry. The 1920 Census reported nineteen women theater owners for Oregon, yet the research here only found eighteen. Of the eighteen found, only two women’s Census records indicate them as theater owners – meaning this dissertation’s study found more than the Census accounted for. However at the same time, many have yet to be located. Scholarship claims women’s work as happening …