Digital Commons Network^™

Where Are The Criminologists?: The Persistent Absence Of The Field In Genocide Research, Grace Allbaugh, Susan A. Woollen, Jacqueline L. Schneider, Joanne Savage

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

The rallying cry of “Never Again” was heard worldwide after the Nazis’ annihilation of Jews and other victims were discovered after WWII. The global community promised that the crime of genocide would be prevented and signatory parties of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide (December 9, 1948) would do everything in their power to prevent another Holocaust from occurring. Unfortunately the “crime of all crimes” remains an almost permanent fixture in international news while signatory parties remain reluctant to call the ongoing conditions genocide. The field of genocide studies is built upon an interdisciplinary field …

Book Review: Genocide Culture: Cultural Habitus, Ethnic Engineering And Religious Doxa, Michael M. Gunter

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Are We Too Invested In Sports?, Joshua E. Hollinger

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"What would it look like to rein in and re-orient our love of sports, such that it becomes part of our worship of the one true God?"

Posting about a balanced perspective on sports from In All Things, an online hub that offers insight into maintaining and faithful and orthodox Reformed Christian worldview while fearlessly engaging in every aspect of contemporary life – until all is made new.

Are We Too Invested in Sports?

Indian Cosmology And Archaeoastronomy Of The Khmer Stone Temples In Sakon Nakhon-Thailand, Duangden Boonpok

International Review of Humanities Studies

This article is multidisciplinary study of cosmology, archaeology and astronomy of the Khmer stone temples in Sakon Nakhon. The study investigates of the temple’s architectural structure and environmental geography which related to the astronomical knowledge. The result of study found that the plan and structure of temples is influenced by the concept of Indian cosmology which has Mount Meru as the central axis. Buildings is signified as mountain or heaven with high and multi-layered base. The main building is symbolically important as the origin of power for the whole temple. The objects and positions are the transforming of cosmology concept …

Symbols And Power Discourses In Three Shadow Puppet Performances Of The Murwakala Play, Ayuk Latifah, Darmoko Darmoko

International Review of Humanities Studies

This study analyzes the symbols and discourses of power in three Purwa shadow puppet performances of the Murwakala play, styles of Surakarta, Yogyakarta, and Banyumas. The Murwakala play, centered on themes of purification and the transformation of power, contains a rich narrative for analyzing power dynamics through the interactions between characters such as Batara Kala (a form of destructive power), Batara Wisnu (a form of constructive power), and Batara Guru (a form of cosmic order). Using a qualitative approach, this research integrates Geertz's theory of cultural symbolism and Foucault's discourse of power to analyze how power is represented and negotiated …

Soft Power: Brics Cultural Diplomacy And The Rebalancing Of Global Narratives, Brice Tseen Fu Lee, Kotchaphop Kornphetcharat, Juan Pablo Sims

International Review of Humanities Studies

BRICS has broadened its agenda beyond finance to cultivate soft power through coordinated cultural diplomacy. Examining official statements, press releases, and scholarly commentary on the bloc’s flagship film, sports, and ministerial initiatives, this article shows that cooperation is advancing from one-off spectacles toward structured, recurring institutions. Findings indicate two simultaneous dynamics: outwardly, BRICS venues amplify Global-South perspectives that diversify international cultural flows; inwardly, member states use the same platforms to signal national prestige, revealing persistent status competition. The result is an early but uneven cultural architecture—one that counters Euro-Atlantic narrative dominance yet has not crystallized into a fully coherent BRICS …

College Football Or Abortion Education? An Examination Of The University Of Arizona’S 1974 Stadium Bonds Bill, Emma Masterson

History ETDs

In 1974 the University of Arizona renovated their football stadium through a bonds bill passed by the state legislature. The renovations allowed the university to increase the stadium’s capacity by 17,000 seats. While in the state house, an Arizona Congressman attached a rider to the bonds bill banning the university’s medical school from performing abortions in most circumstances, effectively barring the university from teaching the medical students how to perform the procedure as well. This thesis seeks to position the University of Arizona football stadium renovations and abortion ban within the larger histories of American higher education and Arizona. This …

Hearing The Call: The Need For An Evangelical Theology Of 'Intentional Christian Community' And Consecrated Life At Taylor University In The 21st Century, Hank Voss

Presentations

Taylor University's Life Together Covenant calls the university "a covenant community of Christians . . . intentionally joining together for academic progress, personal development, and spiritual growth." This paper presented at the 2025 Intentional Christian Communities Explorer's Gathering argues for a theological understanding of Taylor University's intentional Christian community as a consecrated Christian sodality with a specific second-order commitment, a community rule, symbolic vestiture, leadership structures, and a specific charism for the larger church.

Battle Cry To “Do The Research”: Vulnerability To Qanon, Alt Media, And Low News Media Literacy, Kaye D. Sweetser, Kalyca Lynn Becktel

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This survey (N = 579) investigated news media literacy among those likely to believe in the conspiracy theories of QAnon. Vulnerability to belief in QAnon conspiracies was predicted by a media diet of alternative media such as 4chan and SnapChat. Those vulnerable to QAnon conspiracy theories had lower news media literacy scores than those who appeared to be resistant to QAnon theories, and rated themselves with lower need for cognition and higher cynicism. Vulnerability to QAnon was predicted by a belief in other specific conspiracy theories, low value of news media literacy, less understanding of the news business, belief …

Trans* Educators In Early Childhood Through Secondary (Pk-12) Schools: An Exhaustive Literature Review, Chris Cyan Divens

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

This literature review provides documentation and analysis for 22 years of empirical, English-language research on trans* educators in early childhood through secondary (PK-12) education. A total of 87 publications from six different continents provide a basis for researchers and policymakers interested in better understanding this historically marginalized population. Findings include a diverse array of methodological and theoretical approaches as well as several meta-level findings concerning the varied circumstances of trans* educators. There is a need for additional research to address persistent gaps as well as for sweeping policy change and collective action to improve the unacceptable conditions of trans* educators.

In A Flash: A Study Of Flash Fiction’S Ability To Create Complete And Meaningful Stories, Morgan A. Lomax

Masters Theses

In In a Flash: A Study of Flash Fiction’s Ability to Create Complete and Meaningful Stories, I seek to prove that despite flash fiction’s extreme brevity, this relatively new sub-genre of fiction is capable of producing fully delineated stories with powerful messages, especially messages that align with a Christian worldview. To do this, I first examine the various definitions and complex history of flash fiction. Then, through the critical literary lenses of formalism, structuralism, and reader response theory, I analyze the different ways flash fiction uses the following eight narrative elements to create stories within specific examples of flash fiction: …

Exploring The Bidirectional Relationship Between Attachment Styles And Spiritual Practices In Protestant Christians: A Qualitative Study, Emily Lauren Pritt

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative study explores the bidirectional relationship between spirituality and attachment among Protestant Christians—a topic with limited empirical focus. Grounded in attachment theory and theological insights, prior research often treats attachment as a static predictor of spiritual development, with little attention to how spiritual engagement may reshape attachment. This study addresses the gap by examining how these relational domains mutually inform each other and affect psychological well-being within a Christian context. The purpose was to explore if adult attachment styles and spiritual practices influence emotional health, relational security, and overall well-being among active Protestant Christians. Twenty-two adults actively engaged in …

Investigating The Need For A Contemporary Bachelor Of Music In Music Education Degree At Trevecca Nazarene University And Union University, Thomas Paul Goddard

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Despite the traditional music education curriculum being valuable to music education majors, it fails to provide contemporary approaches and relevant content within a modern musical society. Students graduate from Trevecca Nazarene University’s (TNU) School of Music (SoM) and Union University’s (UU) Department of Music (DoM) and enter the music education field without sufficient guidance. This study examined the perspectives of music education professionals from interviews and the Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES). Guided by Gordon’s music learning theory, this multimethod study identifies experiences from music educators that create a comprehensive undergraduate music education curriculum. In addition to the traditional …

Peaceably If We Can, Forcibly If We Must”: The Scots Irish And Early American Politics, Kacey Mae King Huffaker

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The saga of the Scots Irish is a story of generational movement. They moved from a barren existence in the Scottish Lowlands to the plantations of Ulster in Northern Ireland. They moved from economic, religious, and political oppression in Northern Ireland to the American colonies seeking land and opportunity. When they arrived in the American colonies, they found land and opportunity on the frontier. Life on the frontier pushed them to the periphery of society. Living on the fringes of society isolated them from the political and economic centers of colonial life. Vulnerable and disregarded, Scots Irish settlers refused to …

Race And Nation In Three Canonic Texts Of Puerto Rican Literature: Luis Palés Matos’S Tom-Tom Of Kinky Hair And Black Things, José Luis González’S La Llegada, And Edgardo Rodríguez Juliá’S Cortijo’S Wake, Luis R. Galanes

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In this essay we propose a critical reading of three politically-charged canonic texts of Puerto Rican literature that uphold and vindicate an African heritage for Puerto Rican culture, highlighting their role in moving discussions about blackness at the center stage of debates about national identity and culture, and assessing their contribution to the emergence and development of an Afro-Puerto Rican identity and literature. These texts are: Luis Palés Matos’s Tom-Tom of Kinky Hair and Black Things, José Luis González’s La llegada; and Edgardo Rodríguez Juliá’s Cortijo’s Wake. Moreover, a debate about the racial background of the authors …

Dispositions And Dispossessions: Interwar Left-Wing Literary Writing In Vienna And Zagreb, Ivana Perica

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article Dispositions and Dispossessions: Interwar Left-wing Literary Writing in Vienna and Zagreb, Ivana Perica examines how political fiction in Vienna and Zagreb during the interwar period reflected competing narratives of emancipation and liberation. She argues that while both cities engaged with left-wing political thought, their literary scenes diverged significantly due to differing socio-political contexts. The article juxtaposes the Austro-Marxist cultural project of Red Vienna, which sought to reconcile class divisions through socialist cultural policies, with the more fragmented leftist movements in Zagreb, where political fiction often expressed disillusionment with the failure of revolutionary change. Through a …

Haunting Pasts, Cancelled Futures: Polish And Argentinian Experiences Of Postdependency, Ewa Kobyłecka-Piwońska

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

The aim of this article is to compare Polish and Argentinian experience of democratic transitions of the 1980s and 1990s. Establishing new political and economic orders in both countries did not entail a change in their citizens’ post-dependent mentality. In the first part of the paper, a connection is drawn between Polish and Argentinian collective memories in line with the methodology of transcultural memory studies (Erll, Rothberg). The post-dependent condition is articulated twofold: through the remembrance of the disappearance (of the Jews, the victims of the Argentina’s state terrorism, the indigenous peoples), and through the confusion in grasping the sense …

When Culture Becomes Law: Mayan Heritage And The New Constitutional Recognition Of Collective Rights In Mexico, José Israel Herrera, Victor Manuel Colli Ek

Journal of Maya Heritage

Abstract. The constitutional reform of September 30, 2024 to article 2 marks a substantive change in the recognition of indigenous peoples as subjects of public law, with their own patrimony, valid normative systems and express right to conserve, protect and develop their cultural, material and immaterial heritage. This article analyzes the legal implications of this reform in the context of the Maya people, especially with regard to collective intellectual property, the right to prior consultation and the constitutional recognition of bioculturality. A critical reading of the new normative framework is proposed, with emphasis on its transformative potential for the territorial …

False Starts & Finish Lines: Youth Sports, Coaching, & The Crisis Of The American Dream, John S. Lammert Jr

Master's Theses

False Starts & Finish Lines: Youth Sports, Coaching, & the Crisis of the American Dream examines how the American youth sports system reflects, reproduces, and at times resists the evolving contradictions of the American Dream. Drawing on a comparative analysis of institutional documents from public high schools, travel clubs, and recreational leagues, this thesis interrogates how youth sports have shifted from inclusive spaces of play and character-building to stratified marketplaces governed by the Athletic Industrial Complex (AIC). It argues that rising costs, performance pressures, and privatized structures have transformed access to sport—and, by extension, to the Dream itself—into a function …

For Us, By Us: A Digital Ethnographic Exploration Of Black Podcasts, Intimacy, & Sexual Pleasure, Dominique C. Dillard

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Sociological literature written about Black folks interprets their sexual behavior as unhealthy, risky, and non-normative. Black people are seldom acknowledged as humans, so it is not surprising to discover a discourse that does not portray them as sexual subjects. Studies examining Black sexual subjectivity through white and colorblind ideologies dominate the discussion, reproducing racist discourse historically ascribed to Black bodies. Guided by Audre Lorde’s concept of erotic as power, I document an alternative epistemology about Black sexuality. I argue the construction of Black sexuality must focus on sexual selfhood to grasp how this population conceptualizes and makes sense of their …

Let Us Break Bread Together: A Historical Analysis Of African American Chefs’ Influence On American Gastronomy, Danielle S. King

Capstone Collection

This Capstone project examines the historical impact of African American chefs on American gastronomy, highlighting their substantial contributions to the nation's culinary heritage from 1619 to 2024. By employing Jessica B. Harris's book High on the Hog as a foundation, the research identifies a critical gap in existing study abroad programs: the Black diaspora within the United States. The proposed four-week educational program aims to immerse participants in African American culinary heritage across four culturally rich cities: Charleston, South Carolina; New Orleans, Louisiana; Chicago, Illinois, and Oakland, California. With a community cultural wealth framework, the program integrates historical research, hands-on …

Ethnicizing Europe: Hate And Violence After Versailles, Éva Kovács, Raul Cârstocea, Gábor Egry

Central European Studies

Ethnicizing Europe focuses on the dynamics of interethnic violence in Europe between the two world wars. The new international system that was enshrined by the Versailles peace treaties after World War I did not bring stability to East-Central Europe. Rather, it resulted in a host of conditions like self-determination, international oversight, revolutionary political ideas, and democratic processes, which eventually gave new meaning to already established conflicts, as well as igniting new conflicts in the region. This book opens with a discussion of the theoretical scholarship on ethnicity before proceeding to specific case studies investigating the different ways in which ethnicity …

Everyday Life In The U.S.: An Intersectional Approach To A North Korean Refugee Woman’S Identities, And Experiences, Lyounghee Kim

Communication ETDs

This dissertation examines everyday experiences of a North Korean refugee woman in the U.S., centering her narratives as sites of critique, resistance, and meaning-making. Grounded in Critical Refugee Studies, Asian American Studies, and Critical Intercultural Communication and framed by intersectionality, it explores how interlocking structures of power shape and are shaped by her life. Rather than focusing solely on trauma or assimilation, this study highlights her digital storytelling, faith, and mutual aid practices as acts of survival, dignity, and moral agency. Using a qualitative, narrative inquiry approach grounded in critical reflexivity, it thematically analyzes her stories to reveal how she …

Ghost Highway: De-Touring Albuquerque's Route 66, Madison A. Garay

Art & Art History ETDs

Route 66 was a U.S. Numbered Highway stretching from Chicago, IL to Santa Monica, CA, rising to fame through music and popular culture. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, Route 66 has a troublesome twin life as Central Avenue, a highly politicized space where bodies are contested. In this thesis, the function of public arts and architecture of Albuquerque’s main street thoroughfare, Central Avenue, will be analyzed as visual devices of U.S. Highway 66, or known in popular culture as “Route 66.” I employ a critical Derridean framework through Mark Fisher’s theorization of hauntology and Gerald Vizenor (White Earth Ojibwe)’s theory of …

The Intersection Between Child Marriage And Climate Change: An Example Of Malawi, Musu Bakoto Sawo

Journal of African Policy Studies

Child marriage affects 39,000 girls daily, totaling 650 million women married before age eighteen globally. While driven by poverty, tradition, and limited education, climate change is emerging as a significant new factor, particularly in developing nations such as Malawi, where 42% of girls marry before age eighteen. An estimated 1.5 million girls in Malawi are at risk due to climate-exacerbated food insecurity and displacement. This paper, using feminist theories of intersectionality, postcolonial feminism, and feminist political ecology, examines the complex link between climate change and child marriage in Malawi. It critiques existing international, regional, and domestic policies, highlighting their inadequacy …

African Feminist Theories And The Gendered Dimensions Of Climate Change In Africa, Manase Kudzai Chiweshe

Journal of African Policy Studies

This paper analyzes how African feminist theories can provide nuanced insights into the gendered dimensions of climate change across the continent. African feminist theories provide essential insights into the everyday lived experiences of women within African spaces, allowing for a contextual analysis of the impacts of climate change. There has also been a growing recognition of the need to identify the gender-differentiated impacts of climate change. The main argument is not only that climate change will be experienced by men and women differently but also that the impacts will hurt women more severely. Yet this theorization must employ theoretical lenses …

Technology And The Sustainable Implementation Of The African Continental Free Trade Area (Afcfta) Through Women’S Integration, Philip Ademola Olayoku

Journal of African Policy Studies

The desire for economic prosperity on the African continent led to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), in line with the vision of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), when it proposed the creation of an African Economic Community (AEC) by 2028. However, sustainable economic development will remain a mirage without inclusivity where no one is left behind, in line with the African Union’s Agenda 2063. This study explores the challenge of restricting women to economic margins in trade agreements under the AfCFTA and how this would undermine its implementation. It subsequently contends that women are integral to Africa’s …

Cover And Front Matter, Journal Of African Policy Studies

Journal of African Policy Studies

Cover, journal information, and table of contents

Questioning In Contested Spaces And Cultural Currents In Popular Culture And Pedagogy: Book Bans, Music, Horror And Poetry, Anna Cohenmiller

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

Questioning in contested spaces and cultural currents in popular culture and pedagogy: Book bans, music, horror and poetry

How do the texts we encounter affect, and reflect, the cultures in which we live? How about the educational spaces and the communities we inhabit? How might we engage with popular culture texts to better understand today, and create more inclusive futures?

On Writing Backwards: Historical Fiction And The Reshaping Of The American Canon By Alexander Manshel, Pieter Vermeulen

Criticism

Review of Writing Backwards: Historical Fiction and the Reshaping of the American Canon by Alexander Manshel. New York: Columbia University Press, 2024. Pp. 352. $140.00 hardcover; $35.00 paperback.