Digital Commons Network^™

The History And Legacy Of The Monterey Jazz Festival, Ana Mendez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Monterey Jazz Festival holds a strong legacy in the world of jazz. Nestled in the Monterey Bay area, the festival's musical lineups entertain locals and travelers from around the world each year. Topics that are discussed within this paper are the inception of the festival, Monterey before the festival, Monterey Jazz Festival co-founders, Jimmy Lyons and Ralph Gleason, major works of art debuts at the festival including The Real Ambassadors, the international influence at the festival, the educational endeavors of the Monterey Jazz Education Team, and the 2025 rebranding of "Monterey Jazz".

Desert Ghost, Jessica Downs

All Theses

This thesis explores the relationship between landscape, memory, and the body through handmade paper installations inspired by the deserts of southwestern Utah. Drawing from personal experience of place and the loss of a childhood home, the work considers how environments are internalized and persist as shifting, sensory impressions rather than fixed geographies. The desert becomes a generative site for examining presence, transformation, and the passage of time, both geologic and personal.

I use handmade paper and installation to translate my experience of place into physical form. Paper serves as both material and metaphor; its fibers, textures, and muted tones emulate …

Somatic Healing And Social Choreography For Peacebuilding: Since When Did Efforts For World Peace Become A Cheesey Notion . . . ? . . . A Public Space Performance Ritual, Reese Johanson

Senior Honors Theses

Somatic practice in performance can transform culture, politics, and society. Dismantling social systems that spread systemic trauma can be achieved by repatterning our social choreography, replacing old systems with mutual aid and community support.

This paper touches upon a decade of personal and communal somatic practice and research. I experienced and witnessed a universal struggle between humans and the oppressive forces embedded in societal norms and was driven to restructure these norms in honor of self and the world through art. The “Since when…?” project culminated in 7 research laboratories where participants engaged in open and guided forms of somatic …

Unpacking American Reception Of Glocalized Non-English Content In The Netflix Era, Sur Govindarajan

Dissertations

The swift growth of streaming services has revolutionized the worldwide distribution of media, making it possible for non-English and non-English-adjacent content to reach American consumers on a never-before-seen scale, which is sometimes perceived as an indication of increasing cultural tolerance. However, while a lot is known about what audiences see, far less is known about how they really understand and assess these stories. There is a fundamental vacuum in our understanding of audience reception as a lived, meaning-making process because previous research has mostly focused on consumption patterns. In order to close that gap, this study examines how American audiences …

Redefining The Mother Wound: Marianism, The Church, And Communal Mothering In Las Madres: Latinas In The Heartland Who Led Their Family To Success, Maria R. Loya-Pérez

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis reconsiders the restrictive role assigned to Mexican mothers that is perpetuated by the Church and Marianism, and how those restrictions are liberated by communal mothering. In examining how a Mexican mother is expected to act based on cultural expectations, I analyze the stories of three real mothers from the familial autobiography Las Madres: Latinas in the Heartland Who Led Their Family to Success. I analyze three mothers, the matriarch Candelaria, her daughter Rafaela, and her daughter Irene to better understand how the Church and Marianism has restricted them based on the experiences of Candelaria. These restrictions when placed …

Good Life Automobility: Cultural/Rhetorical Resistance And Persistence Of Us Car Hegemony, Trinity O. Thompson

Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This project takes the car as a historical signifier of a rhetorical racialization process that enables a hypermobile white, masculine, neoliberal identity that pervades conceptions of mobility in the West. I locate these overlapping social formations under a cultural logic of good life automobility (GLA) that positions cars, a quintessential form of private property, as a motivator for a contemporary “good life” citizenship identity that cultivates neoliberal subjectivities of free movement and market consumption in contempt of socialized and racialized public transit futures. The introduction chapter elaborates on the boundaries of GLA while also contextualizing the two analysis chapters through …

Understanding Roma Oppression In Europe Through Humantarian Forensic Analysis, Christal L. Quinn

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

This thesis examines the marginalization of Roma people in Europe, and how humanitarian forensic practices may help Roma communities in their quest for justice and recognition. The study draws exclusively on secondary information to examine the social, political, and legal issues affecting the Roma communities, who have endured centuries of institutional discrimination, marginalization, and violence. This thesis identifies ways in which systematic oppression continues to limit Roma communities’ access to education, housing, healthcare, and legal protection through a review of relevant literature and applicable theoretical frameworks. The study also examines the relevance of forensic science, particularly its humanitarian applications, in …

The Harvey Pittel Saxophone Quartet: Its History And Legacy In American Saxophone Quartet Performance, James M. Lawhn

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, Student Creative Work, and Performances

The saxophone quartet has emerged as a legitimate chamber ensemble in the United States through the sustained efforts of a small number of pioneering professional groups. Despite the central role these ensembles have played in shaping repertoire, performance standards, and public perception, their histories have often gone undocumented. Among the most influential of these groups is the Harvey Pittel Saxophone Quartet, an ensemble that maintained an unusually active national and international touring career for nearly four decades and helped establish the saxophone quartet as a viable professional model.

This document addresses a significant gap in the scholarly literature by presenting …

Subzero: Original Music For Piano And Live Electronics, Frank Newton

Honors College Theses

Subzero is a set of three compositions for piano and live electronics inspired by themes of nature and human perception. The term “live electronics” in a musical context refers to the use of technology to generate or trigger sounds in real time during a performance. These pieces were written specifically for use with a computer music program I designed using Max/MSP to respond to and accompany the performer. Subzero combines acoustic and synthesized sounds to examine three subjects of the natural world and how we, as humans, react to them. The compositional process of the set was informed in part …

An Invasion Of The Intimate Sphere: The Manipulation Of Libido Under Totalitarian Regimes, Elyssa Lucero

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This paper examines the temporal nature of libidinal control in the totalitarian systems represented in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Arguing that the most enduring forms of domination operate through the reorganization of desire, the essay explores how regimes intervene in familial, romantic, and social attachments to redirect affective energy towards the state. Orwell depicts a primitive, reactive phase of control in which attachments are violently ruptured, whereas Huxley imagines an advanced system that operates through preemption, never allowing attachments to form. Drawing on Freud’s theory of redirected libido, Berlant’s theory of Cruel Optimism, Marxist …

Navigating Faith And Sexuality: Christian Pastors' Experiences In Providing Pastoral Care For Lgbtq+ Youth, Keith I. Raymond

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Within the Christian context, religion and sexuality are often cultural factors that shape the identity development of LGBTQ+ youth, with congregational stance (affirming, tolerant, non–affirming) and individual religiosity/spirituality serving as protective or risk factors (Crockett et al., 2018; Raedel et al., 2020; Yarhouse & Sadusky, 2021). Christian pastors’ theology, relational ministry approach, and pastoral skills influence how they engage with and care for queer youth, yet the professional ties between pastors and LGBTQ+ youth remain underrepresented in counseling literature. Guided by queer theory, this qualitative case study examined how Christian pastors understand and navigate pastoral care for LGBTQ+ youth within …

Toni Morrison's New World Black Woman: Refuting, Deconstructing, And Redefining Black Women's Identity, Victoria L. Bell

Master's Theses

Abstract

Through critical analysis of media: literary works, performance, and television, this thesis explores the prejudices, silencing, dehumanizing, sexualization, and marginalization of Black women, their bodies, identity, and trauma inflicted by White-authored texts, specifically the American canon. I analyze the works of Black women authors, scholars, and activists, who counter the false representation of the patriarchy. Their literary works refute, deconstruct, and redefine the canon’s distorted, racial and gendered stereotypes, later to be named controlling images.  While narrating the Black woman’s authentic self, experience, body, and womanhood they reclaim space, authenticity, and agency.

In my research and analysis, the central …

Media Portrayal Of High-Profile Female Victims Of Sexual Harassment, Chinenye Nwaneri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This rhetorical study investigated how the Nigerian media portray high-profile female victims of sexual harassment. The research was undertaken in response to concerns that media narratives often reinforce gender stereotypes and influence public perceptions of victims. Focusing on the sexual harassment allegations made by senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan against Senate president Godswill Akpabio, the study analyzed newspaper coverage from Daily Trust and Vanguard between February and December 2025. Using Critical Discourse Analysis within the framework of Feminist Media Theory, the research examined how language and framing shaped the representation of the female accuser. The findings reveal that media coverage constructed the …

Will The Demons Follow (And Other Stories), Eberechi Onyekachi Mcbride

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Will The Demons Follow (and Other Stories) is a collection of interconnected short stories that examines memory, trauma, migration, and womanhood across Nigerian and diasporic spaces. Set in both Nigeria and the United States, the stories move between villages, cities, and immigrant communities, presenting characters whose lives are shaped by cultural expectations, spiritual beliefs, family authority, and personal longing. Through multiple narrative voices, the collection considers how the past continues to shape the present. Characters struggle with family conflict, religious pressure, sexual violence, and the psychological burdens carried across borders. In the title story, “Will The Demons Follow?”, the narrator …

Across The Pond And Veil: Spiritualists, Female Mediums, And Ghosts In The Nineteenth-Century United States And Britain, Allison Tucker

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how women mediums in the late nineteenth-century United States and Britain shaped Spiritualism and interpreted their respective social landscapes. Spiritualist mediums claimed the ability to communicate with spirits in the spirit world. These conversations with ghosts allowed mediums to speak on recent events, traverse social boundaries, and assume positions of authority. Drawing on trance writings, spirit-authored books, newspaper articles, and the performances of women mediums, this study compares the development and practices of Spiritualism in both countries. This thesis argues that proximity to violence significantly shaped Spiritualism during its formative years. The Civil War placed Americans in …

Proud To Be Lao: Examining Lao American Identity Through Transnational Music And Performance, Zechary Phouthavong

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For some time, Lao popular music has not received the same global recognition as other genres emerging out of Asia, such as K-Pop and Bollywood. In recent years, however, Lao-pop artists like Thinlamphone and Zamio P have broken onto the global stage, with music that showcases a unique blend of traditional Lao instrumentation with hip-hop, pop, and R&B styles. This emerging trend is particularly poignant for Lao Americans, as Lao-pop allows for Lao Americans to negotiate their experiences of being both Lao and American, further signifying its importance to constructing identity. This thesis explores the unique process of Lao Americans …

The Las Cruces International Mariachi Conference: Breaking Down Constructed Borderlands, Melissa Rios

Music ETDs

Despite its significant contribution to the educational mariachi movement in the United States, the history of the Las Cruces International Mariachi Conference (LCIMC), established in 1994, remains largely absent from existing scholarship. This study offers a historical account of mariachi music in Las Cruces and the development of the LCIMC, establishing a foundation for future research on mariachi music in the Mesilla Valley. Distinct from other mariachi conferences that emerged at the turn of the 21st century, the LCIMC was shaped by its location in a border city in New Mexico. Conceptualizing both physical borders and metaphorical border spaces as …

I Wrote Myself Awake: A Personal Encounter With A/R/Tography, Michelle Geipel

Theses

This project and its accompanying short story function as visual and narrative representations of a/r/tography, demonstrating how creative practice can be used to explore and construct personal meaning through writing and art-making. The co-written story exists alongside the altered book as evidence of how the creative process not only engages the brain through neuroplasticity, but also supports meaning-making and the formation or discovery of identity. Through the integration of life writing, visual art, and reflective inquiry, this work illustrates how understanding can emerge from within the act of creation itself.

Reclaiming Suppressed Symbols: Yoruba Iconography And Nuyorican Identity In The Art Of Nitza Tufiño, Ariana Williams

Theses

This thesis examines the work of Afro-Puerto Rican artist Nitza Tufiño through Yoruba iconography, diasporic memory, and gendered Nuyorican identity. Grounded within the cultural and political context of the Nuyorican Movement of the 1960s and 1970s and, this study argues that Tufiño’s visual practice reframes suppressed African spiritual symbols through a woman-centered perspective, positioning Black femininity and spiritual labor as sites of resistance to colonial erasure and racial marginalization. Drawing upon Yoruba-derived cosmologies, Santería, and processes of visual syncretism, Tufiño integrates African, Indigenous Taíno, and Caribbean traditions to articulate a gendered visual language rooted in care, ritual, and collective memory. …

Leveraging Generative Artificial Intelligence To Launch An Independent Game Studio, Douglas Evans

Theses

This project report examines how Generative Artificial Intelligence (Generative AI) can be integrated into the early formation and operations of an independent/indie game studio. Using a qualitative, practice-based single-case study approach, the project focused on Boar’s Head Studio, LLC. A human-in-the-loop approach was maintained with Generative AI used to support company formation, ideation, planning, documentation, analysis, coding assistance, marketing preparation, and community-building preparation

The report concludes that Generative AI can serve as a meaningful system integrated into the studio pipeline when used with structured, repeatable, human-in-the-loop processes. The project contributes a practical, case-based framework that may be useful to other …

User-Centered Design For Public Financial Services: A Federal Student Loan Management App Case Study, Carmen River Christopher

Theses

Researchers have studied several facets of federal student loans, such as the impacts it has on borrowers’ finances, mentality, and life goals, plus the history of the federal student system and potential changes. There has been little research conducted on how borrowers make decisions regarding repayment, including choosing plans, navigating the repayment system, and understanding the long term implications of their choices. Since this research largely does not exist, there are few tools and resources to help guide borrowers as they manage the large, complex, and dynamic landscape that is navigating the federal loan system and repaying their debt. I …

Anastasis: Slow Fashion, Barbara Bultman

Theses

This thesis explores how slow fashion principles contribute to the longevity and cultural significance of iconic garments. Using qualitative research methods, including historical analysis, literature review, and practice-based design research, this project analyzes and recreates six iconic garments: the little black dress, trench coat, wrap dress, shift dress, wide-leg trouser, and women’s suit. The research investigates couture-level construction techniques, sustainable materials, and timeless silhouettes, demonstrating how these strategies can extend garment lifespan and foster emotional attachment between consumers and clothing. Ultimately, the research concludes that slow fashion provides a practical framework for creating durable, meaningful garments that support both environmental …

An Introduction To World Art History: Course Curriculum, Skyler M. Bancroft

Theses

Art history as a field has inherent biases that are primarily rooted in Western traditions. A majority of the content which students are exposed to focuses on regions such as Europe and the Americas, with less focus on Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. The purpose of this thesis project is to develop a secondary school curriculum that approaches art history from a world perspective to foster students’ sense of cultural awareness and empathy, as well as the development of skills such as critical thinking and visual literacy. Students will leave this course with a greater understanding of art from various …

Staging Collapse: Anita Berber’S Cocaine And Morphium As Disability Aesthetic Performance, Blair Summers

Theses

This thesis examines Anita Berber’s performances Cocaine and Morphium within the cultural climate of Weimar Germany, where the body became closely tied to ideals of health, productivity, and national renewal. Through the framework of disability aesthetics as defined by Tobin Siebers, this study argues that Berber transforms addiction, collapse, and bodily decay into a visual and affective language of artistic and political critique. Rather than present the body as disciplined or morally ideal, Berber stages instability, excess, and death through gesture, costume, set design, and music. In doing so, she reimagines the stigmatized female body as a site of agency …

Analyzing Comparisons Of Seascapes By Caspar David Friedrich And Fitz Henry Lane Through A Digital Gallery Show, Adrianna Murphy

Theses

This project focuses on a comparative digital exhibition and analysis between Caspar David Friedrich and Fitz Henry Lane’s seascape artwork. Both artists have not been shown together in a gallery; thus this research into common themes in their works reveals a new perspective on early- to mid-19th-century seascape art. This perspective shows how their different geographies and historical contexts converge through the shared visual language of contemplation, morality, and reflecting in the mystery of life through nature. The project aims to create a digital gallery that showcases an ideal layout and a comparison of the artists, with curated works that …

Integrating Embodied Expertise Into Dress History Academia Through Practice-Led Actualistic Recreations: A New Methodology And Test Thereof, Rowan Paramour

Theses

This thesis examines the usage of practice-led methodology for historic dress recreation projects and how to implement and objectively analyze the findings from such research in an academically rigorous fashion. In section one, I examine the distinction between different types of recreation practices, the establishment of embodied practice within historic dress research, address concerns centering practice-led methodology, and develop a methodology for practice-led historic dress recreation projects and rubric for assessment of that methodology. In section two, I fully test the methodology and rubric by utilizing it in my own recreation and present this process using the methodology’s proposed deliverables …

Use And Awareness Of Online Resources In University Libraries, Rudraksha Gouridevi

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study of the use and awareness of online resources in university libraries. The study used a survey to collect primary data. A questionnaire was used to collect primary data from library users (undergraduate, postgraduate students, and research scholars) in selected university libraries, both public and Deemed University libraries, in Andhra Pradesh. The study covered four university libraries. Out of the total number of students and research scholars (25266) from the four universities. In this study, only 10 percent of the respondents were selected as the survey sample. The study indicated that the highest rate of users are accessing the …

The Everlasting Bite Of The Colonizer In Contemporary Vampire Narratives, Emily Hatchett

All Theses

In the 1897 novel Dracula, Bram Stoker opens the vampire's coffin, unleashing the monstrous figure meant to terrify and control the inhabitants of late Victorian England. Following the vampire's journey from Transylvania to England, Stoker traces its desire to gain entrance into society through the British country house. Nevertheless, the vampire transforms as it makes its next journey to America. Leaving behind its haunting presence and adopting a loving, romantic personality that has rooted itself in our contemporary literature. It's also through this journey that the vampire is drawn to the lingering effects of colonization and is led to …

Redefining The Teenager: Liminality And The Dystopian Young Adult Heroine Who Overthrows The Government To Save The Child And Preserve Innocence, Ashtyn Zavala

All Theses

The teen girl figure has swept young adult dystopian fiction from 2008 onward, continuously overthrowing governments and acting outside of her socially defined roles. This stock character became a cornerstone in most YA fiction during its time, leading to this thesis’s investigation of its necessitation: why must a teenage girl save her country’s people from an oppressive government and why can none of the other children or adults do this saving? This thesis attends to Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games (2008-2025) and Tahereh Mafi’s Shatter Me (2011-2021) to examine the conditions and subsequent formula that give rise to this teen …

Commodified Suffering: True Crime Podcasting, Gendered Violence, And The Culture Of Apathy”, Alaysia Lewis

All Theses

This study examines the linguistic patterns of true crime podcast hosts, as well as what potential impacts these language choices have on audiences. Through an analysis of literature regarding true crime media, listener motivations, and the effects of true crime media consumption on listeners, themes of apathy and desensitization, female pain as entertainment, and commodification of harm against women were found. This serves as a case study of the popular true crime podcast Crime Junkie, observing the language patterns used by the hosts before and after their involvement in a controversy that included accusations of plagiarism, commodification, and unethical journalistic …