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Essays Of Culture Economics: The Economic Consequences Of Cultural Change, Javier Gonzalez

Economics Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation contributes to the field of Cultural Economics by exploring the relationship between cultural transmission and economic outcomes. Across three distinct essays, this research investigates how mass media narratives shape economic preferences and labor decisions, and conversely, how economic fundamentals drive the evolution of cultural markers like language.   The first two chapters focus on the cultural and economic impact of television in Latin America, utilizing a novel dataset of telenovelas aired between 1960 and 2024. Chapter 1 extends the analysis of media influence to labor economics, studying the effect of televised female empowerment on female labor market outcomes. By …

Staging Technological Change: Media Ecology, Cultural Memory, And Fantasy Theme Analysis In The Tesla Cybertruck Unveiling, John Rodgers

Communication Theses

This thesis examines contemporary product launches as communicative events, arguing that they help shape how technological change is publicly interpreted and remembered. Drawing on media ecology and cultural memory, and using Fantasy Theme Analysis as the primary method, the study analyzes Tesla’s 2019 Cybertruck unveiling as a case of symbolic meaning-making at the moment of introduction and in its immediate circulation. The analysis identifies four dominant fantasy themes that organize the launch’s symbolic world and cohere into a rhetorical vision presenting Tesla as a disruptive actor introducing a resilient technology for an already arriving future. It then traces how that …

Chalmers Library Research Award Winner 2026, Cooper Bertschi

Chalmers Library Research Award

No abstract provided.

Clic Newsletter - Spring 2026, Tracy Lai, Widad Sofia Coriat, Isabelle Han, Sofia Tavera, Sabrina Yang, Sofia Flores

CLIC Newsletter

Page 1: Accent & Identity: Why Do We Sound the Way We Do

Page 3: Why Education Looks Different Everywhere

Page 4: Things Americans Say That Confused Me at First

Page 5: Red Braised Pork Recipe

Page 6: Things I Wish People Knew About My Culture

Page 8: From Strangers to Friends: Building Community Through Culture

Page 9: Lost in Translation: Emoji Edition

Page 10: Architecture of Home: How City Changes Based on Its Buildings

Page 12: Valentina’s Study Abroad Journey

Page 14: Prima Italian Steakhouse Restaurant Review

Page 15: Things Only International and Multilingual Students Understand

Page 17: Restaurant …

Otterbein Aegis Spring 2026, Otterbein Aegis

Aegis: The Otterbein Humanities Journal

Contents:

Editors' Introduction; Editorial Board Members

Essays:

"Conveying the Dream-Sensation: On the Prescient Modernism of Heart of Darkness"; "On Momentary Freedom: David Lynch's The Elephant Man"; "Reading Together Alone: Hermeneutics at the Limit in Night"; Samuel Barber's Excursions for Solo Piano"; "The Indigenous Experience of Cultural Genocide Through Art"; "'Your Laura Disappeared': The Fragmentation of Self in David Lynch's Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and Lost Highway".

Reviews:

"Detroit: Become Human"; "Everything is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection"; "Grey Dog"; "Mahmoud Darwish: Palestine's Poet and the Other as the Beloved"; "The Tragedy of Heterosexuality"; "The …

Missional Shepherds: Exploring Development Opportunities For Shepherd Teams In Alaskan Churches Of Christ, Jeff Smith

Harding School of Theology Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

The Last Boat: How American And Polish Domestic And Foreign Policies Shaped The Polish Jewish Emigration Experience, 1933–1939, Jesse Spadaccini

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

The interwar period from 1918 to 1939 saw Poland and the United States contend with major international and domestic questions regarding Jewish emigration. In a matter of twenty years, Polish policy developed from protecting its Jewish minority to actively persecuting it in political, economic, and social spheres with radical antisemitism. In the United States, immigration was limited post-1924 because of a nationality-based quota system introduced by the Immigration Act of 1924. Despite diplomats arguing for increased numbers, American officials’ position remained strong on limiting immigration, continuing unchanged as an understanding of Polish-Jewish plight became clear in the 1930s. The Polish …

The State Of Youth Ministry In Asian American Churches Today, Eunice Hong, Jinna Si Lo Jin

Great Commission Research Journal

Despite growing concern about youth disengagement from Christianity and the Christian church (Pew Research Center, 2025), strategies specifically tailored to engage Asian American youth remain under-researched. Drawing from interviews with 16 senior pastors and youth leaders across North America, this paper presents key findings on current ministry practices, with implications of emerging approaches to foster deeper youth engagement in Asian American church contexts.

Discussion From Andrea Smith's Book, Conquest: Sexual Violence And American Indian Genocide, Alexis M. Auman

Student Publications

Discussion from Andrea Smith's book, Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide

Giovanni Da Legnano’S Reception Of Thomas Of Ireland’S Manipulus Florum (1306) In The Prohemium To The Somnium, Chris L. Nighman

History Faculty Publications

This article demonstrates the reception of the influential florilegium Manipulus florum in Giovanni da Legnano’s Somnium, a discovery that has major implications for future scholarship on not only this text, but all of this author’s surviving works. It also reports some very unusual, probably unique, contextual evidence for his reception of the Manipulus.

Resonant Cracks In The Music Curriculum: Integrating Social And Emotional Learning In The Secondary Music Classroom, Margaret E. Lerch

Education Doctorate Dissertations

Music education has long been recognized as a subject that encourages student learning beyond the walls of the music classroom. While elementary music programs often foster language development and social awareness, secondary music instruction tends to emphasize performance skills and technical development. The explicit secondary orchestra curriculum for this middle school includes only instrument skill-development standards and learning-target descriptions. In this fourth-marking-period sixth-grade orchestra class, coursework—including students’ journal reflections, classroom dialogue, and comparison soundscape projects—operated intentionally “within the cracks” of the formal curriculum to create opportunities for the students to express and engage with emotions, identity, belonging, empathy, perspective-taking, and …

Reconstructing A Legacy: Zygmunt Lakociński, The Polish Research Institute’S Archive, And The Women Behind It, Alanna Gallo

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

Abstract: In 1945, Polish historian Zygmunt Lakociński embarked on a project to “document the truth against all myths.” Following the arrival of 7,300 Polish former prisoners, 6,000 of them women, to Sweden after liberation, Lakociński created the Polish Research Institute Archive (PIZ). The result was a collection of over 500 highly detailed and corroborated witness testimonies of Nazi war crimes at the Ravensbrück concentration camp. From its interview procedures and methodology to the composition of its staff, the Polish Research Institute Archive was utterly unconventional for its time. Aside from its scope, much of the archive’s importance lies in its …

A Phenomenology On The Possibility Of Freedom, Grounded In The Lifeworld, Sheldon T. White

Theses and Dissertations from DePaul University

The work here is aimed at three primary goals. The first is largely exegetical and focuses on explicating Edmund Husserl’s phenomenological analysis of the intentional process which constitutes our empathic experience of other people. This is relevant because phenomenology’s capacity to examine intersubjectivity depends on the validity of the pairing association put forth by Husserl in section 51 of the Cartesian Meditations. I accomplish this by analyzing not only the sections in the Cartesian Meditations where Husserl makes his case, but also by engaging with his previous works, upon which his analysis of the pairing association depends. The second goal …

Who Then Can Be Saved? A Discussion Of Views Within The Christian Tradition Concerning The Salvation Of The Non-Christian, Logan A. Davis

Honors Theses

This thesis argues that, contrary to popular conception, the Christian Tradition is not strictly exclusivist in its understanding of salvation or in its assessment of the fate of the non-Christian but rather displays a rich diversity of views. Both the Christian Tradition and the Christian scriptures are characterized by a certain ambiguity on this issue; although a definitive answer may exist, it is not easily identifiable. Given this ambiguity, the study presents a representative spectrum of theological positions within the Christian Tradition and analyzes their respective treatments of the salvation of the non-Christian. In doing so, it seeks to provide …

Do Not Sit Or Quit: From Marginalized To Mobilized In The Third Stage Of Life: A Theological And Pastoral Response To The Rebirth Of Purpose, Dignity, And Calling Among Aging Believers, Brent M. Nordan

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

This project examines how senior citizens can rediscover purpose, productivity, and spiritual vitality in the third stage of life through intentional pastoral engagement and church-based ministry models. The study addresses the growing demographic of aging adults who often face social marginalization and spiritual neglect within local congregations. Using a qualitative research approach, this project incorporates biblical and theological reflection, case study analysis, and ministry fieldwork conducted within an active church context. Grounded in the biblical doctrine of the imago Dei, the research affirms that senior adults retain divine purpose and value regardless of age. Key passages of Scripture form the …

How The Economic Mindset Impedes The Faithful Practice Of The Missional Call A Case Study Of The Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus Global Mission Endeavors, Wondimu M. Game

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Wondimu M. Game, “How the Economic Mindset Impedes the Faithful Practice of the Missional Call: A Case Study of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus Global Mission Endeavors,” PhD Dissertation, Concordia Seminary, 2026, 278 pp.

This study examines the theological and missiological foundations of the indigenous church in light of the Venn–Anderson three-self principles of self-governance, self-support, and self-propagation. While these principles have shaped Protestant mission practice, their application has often become structural and economic rather than ecclesial and theological, In some contexts, this has contributed to patterns of financial dependency and weakened local initiative due to an impoverished economic …

The Transparent Crypt: Temporal Stratification, Materiality, And The Affective Archive In Jenny Erpenbeck’S "Kairos", Mallory Wooldridge

Comparative Literature M.A. Essays

For Germany, the process of reckoning with the past is not a new one. Termed Vergangenheitsbewältigung in the post-war period and envisioned as a project extending beyond the academy into public consciousness, “dealing with the past” was first envisioned in response to the Nazi regime and its horrors. While already a disjointed project in the Nazi context, the question of how reunified Germany reckons with the former German Democratic Republic’s past remains unresolved.

In her 2021 novel Kairos, Jenny Erpenbeck proposes a different model of historical consciousness. Drawing on Theodor Adorno’s post-war theory of working through the past ( …

Wood Lands: Forest As Site Of National Memory In Germany And Italy, Clarissa Melendez

Comparative Literature M.A. Essays

Arguing that the rich symbolic associations of trees become a medium to synthesize shared identity during a country’s formative moments, this paper theorizes the image of the forest as a site of national memory. By tracking representations of the natural landscape during nation-building to representations that attempt to recover and reclaim dignity postwar, this paper lays bare the potential of the national symbol to transform as history progresses. The paper’s author reads three genres–fairy tales, a novel, and a work of public art–from three authors–the Brothers Grimm, Italo Calvino, and Joseph Beuys–across time to interrogate the role of the forest …

Spanglish: Un Viaje Al Pasado Observado Por El Presente, Nyleen Benavides, Raquel Christopherson, Rose Jouini, Kennedy Kuchta

Posters - 2026

Since its founding in 1852, St. Mary’s University has evolved from a small institution into a diverse and inclusive community that has worked to overcome discriminatory barriers. Originally founded to serve Mexican students in underserved communities, the university has reflected San Antonio’s Cultural diversity since its earliest years. Its founder, Reverend John Marie Odin, envisioned supporting a “melting pot” of cultures within the city (Flores, 2019). While the university has grown significantly in enrollment, Hispanic culture and traditions have remained a central part of its identity. Today, with over two thousand students enrolled, St. Mary’s University continues to not only …

The Eye: A Science-Fiction Screenplay Examining Space-Time, Meteorology, And Human Connection, Ella K. Lukowiak

Senior Theses

This thesis explores the nature of time, meteorology, and human interconnection to the universe through the lens of a science-fiction screenplay. The creative project spans a three-act, detailed outline, and a screenplay draft of Act I. It is based upon extensive scientific research regarding hurricane development, the inner workings of organizations such as the National Weather Service, Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, and the space-time continuum. I will delve into the various factors that shaped my science-fiction premise, including pivotal films such as Christopher Nolan’s INTERSTELLAR (2014) and Denis Villeneuve’s ARRIVAL (2016). Both of these filmmakers integrated complex science-fiction concepts into …

Hitler Must Be Killed: A Wwii Case Study, Jeffrey Byford, Presley Shilling, Alisha Milam

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

Social studies education during the 1960s experienced an educational renaissance known as the new social studies movement. Over 50 projects were funded by the National Science Foundation or private corporations to interject a student-centered curriculum into K-12 classrooms during this period. Nearly 60 years later, can student-centered decision-making activities be used in an era of high-stakes testing and planned curriculum? This article attempts to rekindle students' interest in decision-making and discussion by exploring elements in Moral Reasoning: The Value of Life from the Harvard Social Studies Project (HSSP). The activity called "Hitler Must Be Killed" helped students bring the content …

What It Means To Be Latino: Exploring Identity Among U.S.-Born Gen Z Youth, Santiago Reyes, Alessandra Noli Peschiera, Melany Sarcevic, Tatiana Garcia, Leen Tlanepantla

AMTP Proceedings 2026

This study explores how U.S.-born Hispanics and Latinos define their identity within a rapidly growing and increasingly diverse demographic group. As the Hispanic population expands, traditional labels such as Hispanic and Latino often fall short of capturing the community’s cultural, linguistic, and generational complexity. With most growth now coming from U.S.-born generations, identity is shaped by a blend of American influences and heritage traditions, making it more fluid and context-dependent. Guided by Social Identity Theory and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, this research uses focus groups with Gen Z participants to examine how they describe themselves, what characteristics they associate with being …

Structural Silence: When Ai Infrastructure Fails Speakers Of Underrepresented Languages, Avijit Roy, Proma Roy

Publications and Research

Artificial intelligence tools for education and language support are increasingly framed as scalable responses to access gaps in under-resourced communities. Yet the infrastructure underlying these tools—training corpora, tokenization schemes, evaluation benchmarks, and deployment architectures—encodes a set of assumptions that systematically disadvantages speakers of underrepresented languages before a single model is trained. This paper examines those assumptions through the lens of Bengali, one of the world’s most widely spoken languages with roughly 285 million speakers (Ethnologue, 2025; International Communication and Leadership School, 2026), and the structural barriers that emerge when attempting to build AI-assisted educational tools for Bengali-speaking learners in low-connectivity …

The War Poetry Map Project: Exploring The Physical And Emotional Geography Of Conflict, Colin D. Halloran

English Theses & Dissertations

There can be no question that war is shaped by and has shaped cultures, and yet as an object of study it is rarely looked at from a cultural studies perspective. It is the great epics of war that form the cornerstones of Western literary tradition. It is the impact of war that gave rise to fields like trauma and memory studies. It is the propaganda produced, the hijacking of cultural industries, that help perpetuate wars. The War Poetry Map Project and accompanying written dissertation seek to move beyond historical and political contexts and view war as a cultural object. …

Back Yard Lingo: Language As Cultural Identity In American Circus, Aíne Norris

English Theses & Dissertations

This project is an exploration of the deeply insider language of American circus and identifies meaningful patterns and connections between language, identity, and community. Drawing upon the theoretical lenses of cultural studies and community of practice, the study offers a thorough examination of how circus people use insider language for business, performance, and community purposes that enhance belonging, share knowledge, gatekeep, and protect their group identity.

The research employs a mixed-methods, scaffolded design that integrates both qualitative and quantitative data approaches, examining the cultural importance of circus language as written and spoken by the insider community. The design begins with …

“Recollecting The Told Story”: Storytelling, Activism, And The Black Maternal Health Emergency, Lamaya C. Williams

English Theses & Dissertations

Storytelling is a foundational component of Black knowledge creation and transmission. This dissertation centers Black women’s stories of birth and mothering—drawing on both primary source birth stories and fictional narratives—to examine the United States’ Black Maternal Health Emergency (BMHE). The BMHE is a complex and urgent issue wherein structural racism, medical bias, and intersecting social determinants disproportionately endanger the health of Black mothers. As such, Black mothers in the United States are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related condition compared to their white counterparts.

This study examines the birth stories of women who survived the BMHE and …

Gregor Samsa’S Pagkagimata (Awakening) In Bikol: A Becoming-Minor In Translation, Victor John M. Loquias

Akda: The Asian Journal of Literature, Culture, Performance

Kristian Cordero’s translation of Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis instantiates what the philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari call minor literature. Preferring the Bikol term Pagkagimata—the literal event of Gregor Sama’s becoming-animal in the novel as title of the translation and the utilization of the Rinconada Bikol language for the transformed Samsa—Cordero has typified a perspective of translation that challenges the popular view of fluent translation from the source text to the target language. Exemplifying the concept of becoming-minor of Deleuze and Guattari and deploying Lawrence Venuti’s notion of the “remainder,” An Pagkagimata ni Gregor Samsa exhibits a deterritorialization of Bikol …

Narratives Of Dis-Ease: A Genre Study Of Pathography, Sylvelyn Jo A. Almanzor

Akda: The Asian Journal of Literature, Culture, Performance

This essay establishes pathography as a distinct genre of creative nonfiction, tracing the development, form, and cultural significance of this body of literature. I have broadly defined it as narratives on personal experiences of Gabriel Marcel's "dis-ease"—covering and critiquing the human understanding and experience of sickness, pain, and grief—which has evolved from autobiographical narratives and life-writing of patients and medical professionals to a recognized form of creative nonfiction. This study will analyze the genre's structure, themes, and rhetorical strategies with consideration to cultural significance and how it negotiates the human understanding of suffering, healing, and societal attitudes toward existence and …

Temporalities Of Translation In Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed, Rumi Coller-Takahashi

Living in Languages

Ursula K. Le Guin’s 1974 novel, The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia features two fictional worlds, Urras and Anarres, with distinct political structures and languages. Anarres is created by the revolutionaries who departed capitalistic Urras to create a new anarchist community, and its language was invented so as to have no word for “property” or “class.” However, the artificial distinction in the languages do not hold up the binary of possession and non-possession in these worlds, as the word “possession” permeates interpersonal relationships even on Anarres. To replace the binary approach of the revolution, the novel proposes an alternative mode of …

Translation As Divination: Translating Naomi Sím’S Emerald Orchid Love Letter, Will Buckingham

Living in Languages

Naomi Sím’s Taiwanese (Tâi-gí) language short story, "Emerald Orchid Love Letter" (Chhùi-Lân ê Chêng-Phoe 翠蘭ê情批) engages deeply with the questions of politics, language and religion in contemporary Taiwan. The plot of the story pivots around the central question of what language the gods speak. In the story, the narrator—caught between Taiwanese, Mandarin and English languages—finds a strange growth on her inside lip. The cure turns out to involve the sea goddess Má-chó͘, and a renewed commitment on the part of the narrator to the Taiwanese language. In this paper, I read the process of translating Sím’s story from Taiwanese to …