Digital Commons Network^™

Analogous, Catherine G. Mcdonald

Recital Papers

The recording process and traditional fiddle could be perceived as unrelated; however, the evolution of both in many ways could also be considered analogous. Correspondingly, the culminating recording of this project arranged, recorded, and produced tunes that emulated the evolution of the traditional fiddle and its recorded medium. This process included historically accurate arrangements, instrumentation, performance technique, and locations for recording. The double-sided album compared the usage of analog and digital recording and production methods based on the appropriate era for each composition. The “A” side of this project was recorded entirely with analog recording methods. The musical works for …

Volume Cxlii, Number 20, April 28, 2023, Lawrence University

The Lawrentian

No abstract provided.

Bollywood As A Site Of Resistance: Women And Agency In Indian Popular Culture, Sheetal Yadav, Smita Jha

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article evaluates the contemporary Indian redefinition of gender norms, subjectivity, and practices by analyzing Bollywood films as a major influence upon its global audiences. This study explores how Indian cinema redefines women’s status and promotes gender-neutral entertainment by harnessing the powerful energies of current movements such as #MeToo. The article closely examines the textual and conceptual features of current women-focused movies like Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga (2019), Thappad (2020), and Paglait (2021). This examination focuses on key insights from popular Bollywood actresses’ critical feminist roles to understand their assertions of women’s power, agency, and equality. Additionally, …

Beautiful, Sexy, And Happy Celebrities: Perfect Mothers Or Instamoms, Ebru Güzel

Journal of International Women's Studies

The development of information technologies and the Internet has created an enormous economy. In line with this digital transformation, cultural change has come about. Global companies create new trends focused on vanity and pleasure in social media that follow the patriarchal capitalist ideology. Motherhood has also been included in this process, and “perfect motherhood,” as an extension to new generation motherhood, has been popularized on social media. Perfect motherhood requires mothers who are responsible for looking after children and the home to also be successful in their professional and personal lives while looking beautiful, young, chic, sexy, and fit. Recently …

Masculinist Constructions Of Nationalism In India: Gender, Body Politics, And Hindi Cinema, Nupur Ray

Journal of International Women's Studies

Nationalism is an evocative concept with multiple philosophies around its meanings, purposes and contentions. Symbols, imagery, and spectacle play an important role in cultural expressions of nationalism that sustain an emotional response. The paper argues that imaginative constructs of nationalism in India are primarily constructed around women’s bodily metaphors, sexual norms, and their maternal roles in families. Popular culture, particularly cinema, tends to reinforce power hierarchies in which women symbolizing the nation are in need of protection by men or the state as a masculine authority. Hindi cinema has been an integral part of the socio-cultural lives of people in …

Converging Crises And The Cost Of Exclusion: Unveiling The Invisible Women Of Sri Lanka’S Economy, Lihini Ratwatte

Journal of International Women's Studies

In Sri Lanka, women’s labor force participation has never exceeded 35% in over three decades. As of 2022, the country was ranked 110 out of 146 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index. The gaps in women’s participation in the formal economy alongside women’s limited political empowerment are two leading causes for the country to be lagging in such global gender equality indicators. At a large cost to the economy, the existence of archaic gender norms that promulgate women’s unpaid care work often exclude women from the formal labor force. This paper dissects the socio-economic and socio-political factors …

Review Of How To Pray: Reflections And Essays, David N. Beckmann

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Review of: C. S. Lewis, How To Pray: Reflections and Essays (New York: HarperOne, 2018). 157 pages. $22.99. ISBN 9780062847133.

Review Of Flora Of Moddle-Earth: Plants Of J.R.R. Tolkein's Legendarium, Dominic J. Nardi Jr.

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Review of: Walter S. Judd and Graham A. Judd, Flora of Middle-Earth: Plants of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Legendarium (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017). 424 pages. $43.95. ISBN 9780190276317.

Nature Or Natures Or Natural Laws? Some Comments On C.S. Lewis's Use Of The Concept Of Nature In Miracles, A Preliminary Study, Thomas Storck

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Now, although Lewis, of course, did not think that nature was a closed system inaccessible to any action from outside it, and in fact, his entire book was written to argue the opposite point of view, I hope to show that this continual usage of nature as “total system” prejudices the argument against miracles, at least subconsciously, by suggesting that nature is a closed system, or at least a system which ordinarily is blocked to outside entry or interference. Thus, David Hume’s unfortunately classic definition— “A miracle is a violation of the laws of nature . . .”6—is premised on …

"The Packed Reality Of Heaven": C.S. Lewis's Imaginative Re-Education Of The Modern Pilgrim, Monika B. Hilder

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

How to think of Heaven then, which Lewis says “is, by definition, outside our experience,” when the fact is that “all intelligible descriptions must be of things within our experience” is a question that Lewis took seriously, especially since the scriptural imagery “[a]t first sight . . . chill[ed], rather than awake[ned], [his] desire.” He asked how a “typical modern” like himself might interpret the heavenly concept of glory. The first idea of fame suggested to him hellish competition; the second idea of brightness suggested the “ridiculous” image of becoming “a kind of living electric light bulb.” Indeed, he contends …

"Raised By Implication": C.S. Lewis's Studies In Words And Historical And Moral Judgment, Philip Irving Mitchell

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

C. S. Lewis wrote Studies in Words "to help students understand the lexical and historical meaning of certain common words, in effect, to assist “a more accurate reading of old books.” His choice of words, with their classical, European, and British contexts, is reflective of Lewis’s vocation as a professor of English literature. However, the chosen words also contain moral meanings. While the primary purpose of Studies is to train the reader in making conceptual distinctions, it also provides a kind of training in interpretive and historical responsibility that runs parallel with Lewis’s view of the natural moral law. The …

Dordt Gets High Marks In Accreditation, Lydia Marcus

The Voice

No abstract provided.

Review Imagining Mars: A Literary History, Sanford Schwartz

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Review of Robert Crossley, Imagining Mars: A Literary History (Middletown, CT:, 2011). xx + 353 pages. $40.00. ISBN: 978-0-8195–6927–1

Part Of The Team: Effecting Change And Sharing Power In Healthcare Settings, Jessica Stanier, Rachel Purtell, Dave Thomas, William Murray

Patient Experience Journal

In 2019, we, as a group of patients and researchers, were invited to rethink how the executive board received and responded to patient stories at a specific NHS hospital trust in the UK. Through an iterative series of meetings, we were able to co-identify common concerns and together develop a distinctive narrative framework for effecting change by sharing patient experiences. This narrative framework is designed to help patients position themselves as ‘part of their healthcare team,’ emphasising roles and responsibilities between patients and health practitioners to compare ideals with reality in patient experiences. While the project was promising, several factors …

The Chanticleer, 2023-04-27, Coastal Carolina University

The Chanticleer Student Newspaper

The editorially independent student produced weekly newspaper of Coastal Carolina University.

Mixed Speak: Towards A Re-Poetics Of Race And Self, Celina Mizuki Ohga Samuelson

Media and Cultural Studies Honors Projects

This paper tells the stories of mixed-race Japanese people. I engage in a re-poetics, positing storytelling as an essential tool into complicating our understandings of race and self. I examine the relationship between language and race, exploring how subjects existing within a space of mixedness navigate identity-formation and racial belonging. Operating under a socio-constructivist lens, I begin with a brief re-telling of the history of race in Japan, re-framing mythologies of race throughout literature, legislation, and into national and colonial projects. While popular discourse alleges Japan was and is a country of racial homogeneity, I argue that this falsifies colonial …

An “Other” Experience Of Videogames: Analyzing The Connections Between Videogames And The Lived Experience Of Chronic Pain, Gracie Straznickas

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

In this dissertation I argue for the connections between the lived experience of chronic pain and videogames, exploring what interacts with and influences them. To answer this, I draw on cripistemology as I engage in autoethnography, close-reading and close-gameplay, restorying, mixed methods design, formal interviews, surveys, and inductive coding. I further argue for pushing back against the unhelpful binaries that define the “human” and a false idea of “universal” experience or ability, instead pointing to the intersectionality that better reflects the biopolitics of disability, including both debility and capacity. I engage with these methods in three specific projects that consider …

A Return To The Roots: Mysticism And Psychodrama For Traumatized Populations: A Literature Review, Hyde Nichols

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This paper is a literature review on the spiritual roots of psychodrama and how this can be utilized for traumatized populations. To support this hypothesis, I reviewed research done on post- traumatic stress disorder, spirituality and mysticism, as well as how psychodrama has been utilized for traumatized populations. J.L. Moreno’s original writings on psychodrama and its components and philosophy are utilized to situate mysticism and spirituality within the psychodramatic paradigm. All terms listed above are defined using research done within the United States, although Moreno began his career in Austria. To end the paper I discussed the importance of staying …

Understanding Authoritarianism, Fascism, Far-Right Politics, And Anti-Democratic Processes, Paul Viafranco

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

In this portfolio, Paul Viafranco seeks to understand the rise of Authoritarianism, Fascism, Far-Right Politics, and Anti-Democratic Processes, by delving into Executive Order 9066, Marine Le Pen’s use of medievalism, Donald Trump’s discourse, and the various factors that contribute to the need for seeking asylum or refugee status.

A Call For Planetary Kinship: The Development Of New Forms Of Subjectivity In Jeff Vandermeer's Annihilation, Jennifer Kinne

Masters Theses

This thesis joins a vibrant conversation on the importance of storytelling in an age of climate change through an analysis of Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation, a strange and prophetic novel whose environments and characters are confronted with significant ecological devastation and transformation. It explores the ways in which VanderMeer opens liminal spaces between the human and nonhuman through his usage of the New Weird genre, uncanny and abcanny imagery, and monstrous characters.

In my first chapter, I will explore the emerging world of New Weird fiction and argue that this genre is uniquely suited to addressing climate change, namely because of …

Breaking The Academic Lockstep: Dr. Samuel Clark And The Birth Of Honors Education At Western Michigan University, Tashfia Raisa

Honors Theses

The Lee Honors College at Western Michigan University has grown so rapidly over the past few decades that one may overlook its humble beginnings. The first Director of the Honors College, Dr. Samuel Clark, contributed greatly to the establishment of the college and the development of the curriculum. This thesis, which examines the origin of honors programming nationally and at Western Michigan University, will allow future researchers and administrators to better appreciate today’s honors program at Western Michigan University in light of its past.

Impact Of Culturally Tailored Shared Medical Appointments On Diabetes Self-Care Ability And Knowledge In African Americans, Adrienne L. Reddick, Deborah C. Gray

Ellmer School of Nursing Faculty Publications

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) continues to disproportionately affect African Americans, significantly impacting morbidity and mortality. Research suggests that addressing barriers that stem from socioeconomic circumstances, systemic inequalities, biological factors, and cultural factors may positively influence biometric indicators of health and diabetes control. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate a diabetes shared medical appointment (SMA) model program that has been culturally tailored to address the unique social determinants of health barriers faced by an inner city African American population in Norfolk, Virginia. Methods: A pilot study using a within-group pretest–posttest design was conducted. Information was collected …

A Double Edged Blade: Contrasting Theories Of Dissection Within 16th Century Italy, Sarah Zdebski

Young Historians Conference

Up until the Middle Ages, dissection was largely nonexistent. Gory and unsettling to the modern eye, physicians and anatomists alike agreed that animal dissections and comparative anatomies were more than sufficient to map out the human body. When academic dissections did begin to occur with regularity, they were rigid and formal in nature, relying on inaccurate anatomical texts written over a millennia ago by the Greek physician Galen. Dissection was a visual exercise, conducted primarily in Italian universities to provide a gory illustration for the medical student. The established format for dissection at the beginning of the 16^th century …

Institutionalizing Femininity: A History Of Medical Malpractice And Oppression Of Women Through 19th Century American Mental Asylums, Ciara E. Pruett

Young Historians Conference

“Institutionalizing Femininity” explores the origins of the medicalization of gender norms in 19th century mental asylums. This paper examines the connections between rampant medical malpractice in 19th century American mental asylums, and how these abuses were a symptom of the patriarchy in the medical community acting to oppress the female psyche. One of the major issues this paper examines is the indistinguishability between psychiatry and gynecology in this time period. Gynecologists created the notion that women’s reproductive organs made them insane, by arguing that issues in the uterus or reproductive organs, or simply possessing female reproductive organs could cause insanity. …

Exuvia, Andie Tursi

Bryant Literary Review

No abstract provided.

Veiled Victorian Vampires: What Literary Antagonists Reveal About Societal Fears Of 19th Century England, Jenna Harford

Honors Theses

In my thesis paper I look at three primary texts, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, and Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray to analyze their main antagonists through a vampiric lens. I explain how the characters of Bertha Mason, Miss Havisham, and Dorian Gray are all written with veiled vampiric traits that revolve around themes of sexuality, secrecy and seclusion, and unbridled physical and emotional violence. Although none of these texts is obviously a “vampire novel”, the authors lean into vampire tropes including eerie physical description, doubled relationships, and other vampire lore that can be best …

The Rise In Anti-Asian Racism And Xenophobia In The Time Of Covid-19, Mitchell Alan Kaplan

Journal of Hate Studies

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a detrimental impact on the health of the American people and those abroad, the social consequences stemming from the spread of the virus have become an international crisis whose effects reach far beyond the medical issues associated with the disease. Racial and xenophobic propaganda about the illness promoted on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter and at campaign rallies by former President Trump has spurred a dramatic increase in anti-immigrant sentiments toward Asian Americans. The polarizing effects of the Administration’s anti-Asian rhetoric have become a battle cry that has given renewed …

Decolonial Queer Poetic, Aparajita Dutta

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Queer bodies, produced by poetry, conjure dissident bodies who exist as citizens within the scope of the nation. In this analysis, I take into consideration Indian queer poetry, from both India and the diaspora, because bodies produced through this poetry reveal intersectional identities of queerness like race, and caste, that will help us understand how non-normative bodies exist along with other forms of marginalized identities like caste and race. In absence of academic scholarship on Indian queer poetry’s connection to the construction of nationhood, I aim to survey Indian queer poetry from mainland India and the Northern American diaspora, and …

Sending Gratitude, Amanda Kukunis

Honors Projects

Mindfulness practices involving gratitude have been shown to improve mental and physical health. Making short lists of people, things, and experiences that one is grateful for is a helpful habit for decreasing anxiety. Sending Gratitudeis an expansion of these lists guided by the research question:

In what ways does reflecting on past experiences where I was grateful that someone decreased my past anxiety help reduce current anxieties?

How can these experiences be shared with others in a way that will encourage them to practice gratitude?

The final installation imitated a greeting card wall and encouraged viewers to take a …

Displacement And Replacement: The Political History Of David Duke, Patrick Buchanan, And Racial Resentment, Dylan Weir

Journal of Hate Studies

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, David Duke and Patrick Buchanan drew on long-running discourses about White replacement and displacement in their political campaigns. Duke, former leader of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, used White displacement fears to earn elected office in the Louisiana state legislature. He then ran for governor, senator, and president, but was thwarted in these campaigns partly thanks to Black voters. Duke’s presidential ambitions were also undercut by the journalist and television personality Patrick Buchanan, who coopted Duke’s message to seize his base. Despite trying several times, however, Buchanan was also unable to …