Digital Commons Network^™

Researching A New Religious Phenomenon Of The Central Asia: Digital Sufism, Bekzhan A. Azhimov, Nurlan Kairbekov, Jolaman Bulan, Tussipkhan Imammadi

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This study examines the emergence of digital Sufism as a modern spiritual phenomenon. It investigates the participation of Sufi groups on social media, the themes conveyed in their online sermons, and the ways their digital strategies compare with other Islamic organizations. The article further explores how Sufi orders navigate virtual environments, questioning whether they reveal elements of esoteric knowledge in these spaces. The notion of digital Sufism is presented as a lens for understanding how Sufi traditions integrate modern technology to widen the influence and relevance of their teachings. The research highlights how Sufism has adjusted to the challenges of …

Interplay Of Religion And Stagecraft: Orthodox Christianity And Islam In Russian Foreign Policy, Samet Okan, Askar Akimkhanov, Karlygash Borbassova, Rysgul Ospanova

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Religious factors have increasingly been acknowledged as significant components in the field of international relations, with scholars emphasizing the evolving paradigms involving religion and the rise of faith-based diplomacy. In the context of Russia, the intricate interplay between the state and both Christianity and Islam is particularly pertinent, given the nation’s multifaceted religious landscape. This paper explores the influence of religious elements in shaping the foreign policy of the Russian Federation. More specifically, it clarify the roles of the Russian Orthodox Church and Islam as pivotal components in the formation of Russia’s foreign policy strategies. Additionally, this study provides insights …

From The History Of The Arrival Of The True Cross In Georgia, Giorgi Sosiashvili, Aleksandre Mgebrishvili Prof. Dr.

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article explores the complex historical and theological narratives surrounding the arrival of the True Cross—the Life-Giving Wood—in Georgia, as preserved in medieval Georgian chronicles and ecclesiastical writings. Drawing upon primary sources such as the Conversion of Kartli, the chronicles of Leonti Mroveli, Nikoloz Gulaberidze, and Arsen Ikaltoeli, as well as later accounts by Prince Teimuraz, Niko Dadiani, and Platon Ioseliani, the study reconstructs the multi-layered tradition of how fragments of the Holy Cross were brought from Byzantium to Kartli during the reign of King Mirian. According to these sources, Emperor Constantine the Great and Queen Helena dispatched to Georgia …

Religious Conversion From Islam To Christianity In Kazakhstan, Kalmahan Yerzhan, Didar Mamyrbayev, Yelaman Karibekuly

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The phenomenon of religious conversion constitutes a significant topic of inquiry within the realms of social and psychological research in contemporary society. This article investigates the experiences of Muslims in Kazakhstan who have transitioned to Christianity, specifically within the Baptist denomination. The study employed a qualitative approach and was executed through semi-structured interviews with participants. The primary objective of the interview was to ascertain how familial upbringing, emotional experiences, as well as social and psychological factors, influence the conversion process. The findings indicated that the act of changing one's religion is frequently correlated with an individual's personal spiritual quest, existential …

The Ukrainian Model Of Religiosity: Between Jurisdiction Conflict And Reconciliation Practices, Tetiana Havryliuk, Yuriy Chornomorets, Svitlana Shkil, Larysa Vladychenko

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article offers a philosophical and religious studies analysis of the dual role of religion in contemporary Ukrainian society as both a resource of reconciliation and a potential factor of polarization. Particular attention is paid to the Ukrainian context where the examples of interfaith dialogue, humanitarian cooperation among Churches, and the activities of military chaplains are analyzed, with special emphasis on the “Sophia Brotherhood” as a model of intra-Orthodox reconciliation. The study demonstrates that religion in Ukraine serves as a factor of moral support, national unity, and spiritual resistance during wartime, while simultaneously remaining an arena of jurisdictional and identity …

The Loss Of Symbolic Imagination And The Decline Of Christian Practice: A Blondelian Perspective, Cathal Doherty

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

The contemporary decline in Christian church-going and sacramental participation is due in part to the legacy of the Enlightenment, which valorizes the life of the mind over actual practice, a distortion due to a conceptualism of human action, widespread in Western thought, that sees in human action the mere execution of ideas. From here, it is a short step to the willful blindness that restricts our action to the execution of exclusively human ideas and concepts, to the exclusion of the divine, quietly repudiating the claims of orthodox Christian revelation that the divine intention is symbolically realized for us in …

A Critical Toponymy Of Humboldt County: Ethics And Tensions Within Efforts To Change Place Names, Serenity Aleta Wood

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This project explores how Humboldt regional placenames enact toponymic silencing and how Indigenous activists challenge colonial names and geographies, advancing un-settled interpretations that position language revitalization/regeneration as a means of revitalizing relationships with the land. Mobilizing Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy’s concept of (re)naming, I analyze two case studies, the Baduwa’t documentary and the Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation’s film A'-t'i Xwee-ghayt-nish: Still, We Live On, as well as three additional artistic works: Sarah Biscarra Dilley’s every pattern needs a passage, Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe’s Thunder Song, and Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s painting, State Names. In tandem with film and poetry analysis, I survey local …

“Twist But Don’T Break:” Constellating Past And Present Barriers In Black Queer Multimodal Publishing That Shift Text Into Subtext; Addressing Acceptance Into Queer Creative Communities And The Void Of Black Voices Within, Kae Ann Dennert-Frederick

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

What does it look like to reframe our understanding of intersectional work? Looking at multimodality I will walk through the multiple frameworks by asking how Black Queer publishing of Young Adult fiction uses visuals to describe what cannot be said and what choices are made to show community structure and language, while also having to adapt for publication standards. I have researched this by looking into examples of Queer publishing (any representation of queerness in a form of publishing—in the text and sometimes in the authors' identity), as well as authors’ use of visuals to say what cannot be said …

Modernism’S Wild Child: The Interplay Of Modernist And Children’S Literature, Rachel Riffel

All Master's Theses

Within literary criticism, American and British modernism are often characterized by the disillusioned writers and creators who established an elitist literary community during the early 20^th century. This period is also distinguished by the Harlem Renaissance highlighting Black art, culture, and writing. Gertrude Stein, T. S. Eliot, Langston Hughes and Arna Bontemps are well-known for contributing core texts to modernism and the Harlem Renaissance that expressed existential themes and developed experimental techniques. What many readers don’t know, however, is that these authors and many other contemporaries wrote stories and poetry for children. In this thesis, I explore the children’s …

Beyond The Headlines : Investigating Media Framing Of Malaysian Human Trafficking In Southeast Asia During Covid-19, Muhammad Asim Imran, Kah Choon Ng, Cheng Kin Meng

Journal of Urban Culture Research

This study presents a comprehensive analysis of human trafficking involving Malaysians in Southeast Asia, with a particular focus on Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar. Employing a systematic review approach based on the PRISMA methodology, the study examines 63 news records from The Star, covering the period from March to September 2022. The findings reveal a notable increase in media coverage during this time, signaling heightened awareness of Malaysian human trafficking issues. The COVID-19 pandemic emerges as a critical factor exacerbating vulnerabilities and contributing to a surge in trafficking incidents. Malaysians were identified as victims of forced labor in diverse industries, including …

Reflections On Linear B, (Part 15): Sign 81 In Linear A And The Egyptian Four-Headed Ram God, Gerald Leonard Cohen

Arts, Languages and Philosophy Faculty Research & Creative Works

This article makes several tentative suggestions, including:

1. Linear A sign 81 (antecedent of Linear B81) may be an abbreviated image (two heads) of the four-headed Egyptian ram god Banebdjedet, with the horizontal line designating his horns shifted downward to the middle of the character.

2. A few other Linear A characters (e.g., sign 305) may represent slight alterations of sign A81.

3. Linear A82 includes two sets of three short horizontal lines. Those might signify brightness, and in the case of Banebdjedet the brightness would be his wisdom.

(2026) Maughn Rollins Gregory Curriculum Vitae (Short Version), Maughn Rollins Gregory

Collected Papers of Maughn Rollins Gregory

No abstract provided.

(2026) Desegregating The Community Of Inquiry In Philosophy For / With Children: A Dialogue On Racism, Maughn Rollins Gregory, Darren Chetty

Collected Papers of Maughn Rollins Gregory

This dialogical article examines persistent challenges in engaging racism, colonialism, and white supremacy within the theory and practice of Philosophy for/with Children (P4/wC). Framed as a mutual interview between two long-standing colleagues, the dialogue revisits formative encounters in the P4/wC community and situates them within broader intellectual traditions, including American pragmatism, deliberative democracy, and Africana philosophy. Drawing on personal experience, archival material, and critical scholarship, the authors interrogate the metaphilosophical assumptions underpinning the “community of inquiry,” particularly its commitments to reasonableness, consensus, and democratic dialogue. Concepts such as the “gated community of inquiry,” white ignorance, nonideal theory, and insurrectionist ethics …

(2026) Three Traditions Of Philosophical Dialogue, Maughn Rollins Gregory

Collected Papers of Maughn Rollins Gregory

This chapter distinguishes and interrelates three major traditions of philosophical dialogue: inquiry, political, and contemplative. Inquiry dialogue, exemplified by the “community of philosophical inquiry,” emphasizes collaborative reasoning aimed at forming the most reasonable judgments about contested concepts. Political dialogue, exemplified by the story circle, shifts the focus toward democratic transformation, highlighting how discourse is shaped by power, ideology, and the need for emancipatory critique and action. Contemplative dialogue, exemplified by lectio divina, foregrounds self-awareness, ethical disposition, and attentive presence as conditions for meaningful exchange. Across these traditions, dialogue is presented as a normative practice that simultaneously cultivates the self and …

Un-Determining The Overdetermined Body: Anorexia Nervosa And Selfhood In What I Lost By Alexandra Ballard, Maddalena (Maddy) R. Grieco

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the intersection between young adult fiction and anorexia nervosa through the lens of Alexandra Ballard’s 2017 novel, What I Lost. The fictional space of the novel interacts with the larger trends of American culture and society, forming a connection between the external world and the protagonist’s personal experience with anorexia nervosa. Specifically, this thesis explores three external forces–the fashion industry, the transmission of generational ideals and habits, and the institutional recovery center–that are mapped onto the site of the female body, resulting in the expression of anorexia nervosa. The following chapters detail each external influence, respectively, …

Unchanging Gospel Message, Changing Context: Contextualization Strategies In The Lukan Paul, Irenaeus, And Athanasius, Joy Axelsson

MA in Religion Theses

This thesis examines how early Christian leaders strategically contextualized the gospel within the diverse sociohistorical contexts of the Roman Empire while maintaining theological consistency. Using a comparative synchronic methodology adapted from Michael Gorman, it analyzes five primary texts spanning the first through fourth centuries: the Lukan Paul’s missionary speeches in Acts (Pisidian Antioch, Lystra, and Athens), Irenaeus’s On the Apostolic Preaching, and Athanasius’s On the Incarnation. Each text is analyzed within its literary, historical, and cultural context to identify patterns of strategic constants and variables in gospel presentation. The analysis shows that central gospel elements, such as Christology, monotheism, …

Iceberg Ethos: Credibility And Hemingway In Predictive Legal Writing, Brad Desnoyer

Faculty Works

In predictive legal writing, credibility is not inferred from conclusions alone. It is constructed sentence by sentence. Analytic correctness is necessary, but it is not sufficient. Supervising attorneys read prose as evidence of intellectual control, treating disciplined style as proof of substantive mastery. Yet legal writing scholarship has largely framed clarity as a matter of pedagogy or professionalism rather than as a structural theory of ethos.

This article reframes predictive writing as institutional rhetoric. Within the hierarchical environment of law practice, cognitive fluency governs professional trust: writing that is easy to process yet disciplined in reasoning reads as competence. Drawing …

The Heretical Church: A Comparative Analysis Between The Gospel Of Thomas And The Gospel Of John, Isabella R. Moore

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uses a comparative analysis between the allegedly “heretical” Gospel of Thomas and its canonical counterpart, the Gospel of John, to conduct a critique of the contemporary Catholic Church. This analysis and critique also utilize evaluations of medieval and modern definitions of heresy within a religious context, as well as a comparison between bishop dissent of these “secret” or “gnostic” gospels in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries and papal dissent in the 21st century. After conducting the comparative analysis between the two gospels, I posit that the Church’s charge of heresy toward the Gospel of Thomas is an …

A Hero’S Horizon Of Mirrors: Dovette, Deve, Dovrà, William James Kerrane

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines James Joyce’s Ulysses as a modern transformation of the Ulysses myth through the philosophical framework of Ernst Cassirer’s theory of symbolic forms and W.B. Stanford’s historical study of the Ulysses tradition. While Stanford demonstrates how the figure of Ulysses has been continually reinterpreted across literary history—from Homer’s cunning hero to Dante’s transgressive explorer and the restless modern figures of the nineteenth century— this study argues that Joyce’s Ulysses represents a uniquely philosophical adaptation of the myth in which heroic identity becomes a function of symbolic consciousness rather than physical action. Drawing on Cassirer’s philosophy, which defines myth, …

The Impact Of Music Education On Language Acquisition Of English Language Learners, Andrew David Frey-Gould

Theses and Dissertations

Schools continue to face increasing accountability pressures to improve English language proficiency outcomes for English Language Learners (ELLs), while access to arts education, particularly music, has declined in many districts. This study examines whether music education can serve as an effective and equitable support for language development among elementary ELL students. The purpose of this causal-comparative study was to determine whether participation in ensemble-based music programs (i.e., band, orchestra, and chorus) is associated with greater gains in English language proficiency than participation in compulsory general music instruction. This study is grounded in Krashen’s Second Language Acquisition theory and Patel’s resource-sharing …

Fragmented Minds And Fractured Selves: A Cognitive Stylistic Analysis Of Mental Disturbance In Leaves Of Narcissus, Sarah M. Fayed, Amany M. El-Shazly, Fatma Ismail Dr.

Computer Science

What readers encounter in literature directly affects their views and impressions of the world. Hence, it is essential to acknowledge this effect and analyze it to understand how readers identify and pass judgment about significant issues. One important issue to investigate is the depiction of mental disturbance in modern fiction. The present work reconceptualizes the depiction of mental disturbance in Arabic fiction through an analysis of Somaya Ramadan’s Leaves of Narcissus. To this effect, Leaves of Narcissus (Awraq al-narjis) the depiction of mental disturbance is examined. The stylistic devices Ramadan uses, such as schema alterations to convey the content are …

La Mode Comme Arme À Double Tranchant : Construction Et Déconstruction De L’Indochine Coloniale, Sasha Hanson

Honors Theses

Cette thèse explore la façon dont la mode façonnait le pouvoir, l’identité et la résistance dans l’Indochine française à travers trois oeuvres littéraires : Un barrage contre le Pacifique (1950) de Marguerite Duras, Métisse blanche (1989) de Kim Lefèvre et The Book of Salt (2003) de Monique Truong. En appuyant sur les théories postcoloniales de Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Frantz Fanon et Homi K. Bhabha, j’argumente que la mode et les vêtements font plus que révéler les hiérarchies coloniales de race, classe et genre ; ils les renforcent activement. Alors que dans son récit, Duras expose les inégalités socio-économiques à l'intérieur …

Adverse Childhood Experiences (Aces) In Immigrants, Maria Fana Mejia Bsc

Student Research Design & Innovation Symposium

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are severe or chronic stressors before age 18, including domestic violence, neglect, abuse, financial hardship, and parental separation (Loria & Caughy, 2018).

Research on ACEs in immigrants is limited, despite Latinx immigrant children being the fastest-growing child population in the U.S.

Mission Refocus: A Strategic Realignment Of The Seventh-Day Adventist Worldwide Mission Effort In The Context Of The Three Mission Refocus Windows, Erton Kohler

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The Seventh-day Adventist Church emerged as a worldwide missionary movement committed to proclaiming the everlasting gospel to every nation, tribe, language, and people. Throughout much of its history, the Church demonstrated a strong commitment to cross-cultural mission and the establishment of an Adventist presence in territories with low or no access to the gospel message. However, as the Church expanded globally in membership, institutions, organizational structures, and administrative responsibilities, a gradual shift in mission priorities occurred. Increasing attention to institutional maintenance and regional demands often reduced emphasis on frontline mission territories and populations with no or low Adventist presence. …

From Policy To Practice: Strengthening Black Intellectual Engagement In Psu’S Resr Curriculum, Chantell Wesley

Anthós

This article examines how Portland State University’s Race, Ethnicity, and Social Justice (RESR) requirement, while framed as an institutional commitment to equity and inclusion, can inadvertently reproduce White Language Supremacy within Black Studies classrooms. The central question guiding this analysis is how general education equity mandates shape the pedagogical and linguistic conditions of discipline-specific courses, particularly when those courses are positioned as service spaces for non-majors. I argue that RESR implementation often shifts instructional emphasis toward students less familiar with Black intellectual traditions, thereby displacing disciplinary rigor and marginalizing Black students’ intellectual labor.

Methodologically, this study draws on autoethnographic reflection …

Journeying Together: A Coaching Framework Empowering Voice And Transforming Teams, Kari Michele Kinard

Doctor of Leadership

To be seen, heard, and to have a voice are deeply human desires, regardless of where one finds oneself in the world. In the culturally and ethnically diverse Saharan nation, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania (RIM), the capital, Nouakchott, serves as a central hub shaped by a strong Islamic identity, historical hierarchies, and long-standing foreign involvement in development efforts. These dynamics create both meaningful opportunities and real challenges for leadership practices across sectors.

Development efforts in RIM have long sought to strengthen communities through education, healthcare, and economic initiatives. While these efforts are well-intentioned, sustaining impact has remained a persistent …

Structuring The Musical Year: Dance, Topic, And Semiosis In Eighteenth-Century Calendar Music, Braden Shaw

Theses and Dissertations--Music

In this thesis, I apply a multifaceted analytical approach to examine a niche category of music called calendar music. In chapter one, I discuss Gregor Joseph Werner’s composition, the New and Very Curious Musical Calendar, and specifically address the minuets found within this work. Werner composes irregular measure groupings in his binary minuets and did so to represent the number of hours in day and night. This irregularity of measure groupings might superficially suggest that Werner’s pieces are stylized minuets only, unintended to accompany physical dancing and far removed from any actual choreographic influence of embodied performance. Werner, …

Seriosa And The Song Recital Tradition: Reframing The Antologi Musik Klasik Indonesia: Seri I—Vokal Dan Piano (Seriosa), Pharel Silaban

Theses and Dissertations--Music

This project traces the changing life of seriosa, later known as Indonesian art song, from its colonial emergence in the 1930s–1950s to its post-independence expansion and institutional contraction in the 1960s–1980s, and contemporary reframing since the early 2000s. It argues that the genre functioned as a vocal infrastructure that coordinated training, repertoire production, radio broadcast circulation, and public audibility. The study further shows that when the influence of Radio Republik Indonesia weakened, the fragility of this infrastructure became visible. Efforts to sustain the genre by figures such as Rose Pandanwangi, Pranawengrum Katamsi, Catharina Wiriadinata Leimena, and Aning Katamsi appeared …

A Method For Beginners Volume 1: The Intersection Of The Yaqui Tribe And Guitar Pedagogy, Daniel Preciado Arreola

Theses and Dissertations--Music

This dissertation is divided into four chapters. The first is an introduction explaining the project; the second describes the Yaqui Tribe's background, significance, and musical traditions, primarily based on three sources: the thesis Sones de Pascola by Cristian Salvador Islas Miranda, the biographical book El Viaje de Mechabili by Daniel Librado Luna, and the album Juya Ánia. The third chapter details the methodological framework and development process used to construct the guitar method presented in Chapter 4. This fourth chapter consists of the first volume of an ongoing multi-volume guitar method—authored by me—focused largely on the melodies from the aforementioned …

Form As Threshold: The Ontology Of Musical Discourse In Preludio, Fugue And Saturnal, Angel Gomez Ramos

Theses and Dissertations--Music

This study analyzes the formal organization and musical discourse of Preludio, Fugue and Saturnal through a relational and process-oriented framework. It defines form as an emergent condition resulting from the interaction of musical parameters rather than as a predetermined structural model. The analysis focuses on the behavior of pitch organization, rhythmic structure, harmonic stratification, and motivic processes.

The compositional system is examined as a network of differential relations in which musical elements acquire identity through contrast and contextual function. Harmonic and temporal stratification are treated as primary structural mechanisms, alongside the use of non-teleological organization. Motivic material is characterized by …