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“The Light Of Certain Belief” – Orthodoxy Versus Innovation According To Abū Ḥāmid Al-Ghazālī’S Al-Risāla Al-Qudsiyyah, Thomas Robinson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the question of Islamic orthodoxy in the thought of Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī, with particular attention to his Risāla al-Qudsiyya and its place within his wider intellectual and reformative project. It begins by exploring concepts of orthodoxy and heterodoxy across the Christian and Islamic traditions, arguing that orthodoxy emerges through processes of interpretation, doctrinal conflict, boundary formation, and communal consensus. Islamic orthodoxy is understood as the historically consolidated mainstream of belief rooted in the Qurʾān, the Sunnah, the authority of the early community, and the scholarly tradition.

The central argument of the thesis is that al-Ghazālī conceives of …

Between The Lens And The Gaze: Reflections Of Femininity In Film, Noureen Sakr

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the male gaze’s construction of femininity through the use of glass and reflective surfaces, particularly mirrors, windows, glasses, and cameras in film. Reflections and depictions of women are recurring motifs in cinema, often symbolizing dynamics of perception and power. This thesis mobilizes related psychoanalytic and feminist conceptions to examine and compare the recurring visual motifs in the following films: Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train (1951) and Rear Window (1954), Paul Verhoeven’s Basic Instinct (1992), & Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan (2010). This thesis employs a qualitative, interdisciplinary methodology that integrates psychoanalytic theory, feminist film theory, literary criticism …

Sufism At The Service Of Ḥadīth Commentary: Re-Framing Al-Kalābādhī'S Baḥr Al-FawāʾId In Fourth-Tenth Century Transoxiana, Fadhil Yunus Alsagoff

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines Abū Bakr al-Kalābādhī’s (d. 380/990) understudied ḥadīth commentary, the Baḥr al-fawāʾid al-mashhūr bi-maʿānī al-akhbār. The first Anglophone study of the text as a whole, this thesis situates itself within the emergent literature on ḥadīth commentaries and challenges the prevailing scholarly tendency to reduce Sufi-authored commentarial texts to the ishārī method of interpretation and to treat them solely as repositories of Sufi themes. This thesis argues that, contrary to current perceptions of the text as primarily a work of Sufism, the Baḥr al-fawaʾid is first and foremost a work of ḥadīth commentary, its main intent being to …

Adjudicating Technology Facilitated Violence Against Women In Egypt: Between The Text And The Application, Eman E. Zidan

Theses and Dissertations

Technology-facilitated violence against women (TFVAW) has surged on digital platforms, leading to a sharp rise in victimization rates among girls and women globally. Egypt’s pioneering cybercrime legislation, though comprehensive, remains gender-neutral and inadequate in judicial application. Community perceptions reveal systemic gaps that erode public trust and fuel demands for specialized protections. This study analyzes Egyptian judicial responses to TFVAW cases through comparative jurisprudence with jurisdictions that feature gender-specific norms. Findings demonstrate that textual provisions alone fail to arrest this escalating phenomenon, underscoring the need for integrated reforms: tailored legislation, heightened awareness campaigns, and collaborative education on rights, duties, and societal …

Art As Activism: Emotional Expression And Collective Empowerment Among Muslim Participants Creating Protest Posters, Menhal Sheikh

Art Therapy | Master's Theses

Muslim Americans are among the most underserved populations in mental health care in the United States. In the wake of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, many Muslim Americans have experienced intensified psychological distress, including anxiety, grief, and a heightened sense of helplessness, while continuing to show up in the streets in protest. This mixed-methods study examined whether the collective process of protest poster-making leads to emotional expression among Muslim American participants. Eleven Muslim American participants across two groups in the San Francisco Bay Area completed a pre and post Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) to measure changes in affect, …

Arithmetic And Necessity: A Quasi-Concrete Modal Structuralist Account, Benjamin Faltesek

Mathematics, Philosophy and Physics (D.Sc.) Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the necessity of arithmetic by distinguishing two tasks that are often run together: the derivation task, which seeks to prove that mathematical truths are necessary, and the characterization task, which asks what kind of necessity arithmetic has and what grounds it. Setting the former aside for now, I focus on the latter, arguing that an adequate explanation of arithmetical necessity requires two sources: logical necessity and the necessary possibility that the right kind of structure exists. The second source makes mathematical modality distinctively mathematical, and the dissertation’s positive contribution emerges chiefly in that area. I survey and …

Lost In Chaos: The Battle Between Selfcare And Motherhood, Sarah Shahzad

MS Marketing Research Projects/Theses

Motherhood in collectivist societies such as Pakistan is deeply intertwined with caregiving, leaving limited space for women’s self-care or personal well-being. This study explores how young Pakistani mothers negotiate self-care within competing expectations of maternal sacrifice, cultural morality, and structural constraints. Guided by the Institutional Logics Perspective (ILP), it examines how familial norms, religious values, and market forces collectively shape women’s self-care practices, framing self-care not as an autonomous act but as a negotiated process embedded within social and institutional boundaries. This study adopts an interpretive phenomenological approach to explore how Pakistani mothers experience and negotiate self-care within cultural and …

Idiosyncratic Serialists: The Guitar After Tonality, Alex Tripp

Soundboard Scholar

A review of A Twelve-Tone Repertory for Guitar: Julian Bream and the British Serialists, 1956–1983, by Oliver Chandler.

Animus And Heightened Scrutiny: A Way Out Of The ‘Dead End’, Steve Sanders

Texas A&M Law Review

Laws or government actions that are grounded in animus rather than proper public purposes violate the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection. This principle arises from four canonical cases decided by the Supreme Court between 1973 and 2013. These cases remain good law. Yet in the past decade the Roberts Court has given scant attention to the animus doctrine, and lower courts appear to be in a muddle about how to use it. As a result, the animus doctrine has reached what one prominent scholar calls a “dead end.” The animus cases are often described as exhibiting a more skeptical, more …

Paradoxes Of Customary Land Formalization: A Comparative Study Of Papua New Guinea And Indonesia From A Political Anthropology Perspective, Adi Prasetijo

Antropologi Indonesia

This article studies the dynamics of customary land ownership in Papua New Guinea (PNG), where approximately 97 percent of land is collectively held by clans. Drawing on insights from political anthropology—particularly normative pluralism (Griffiths, 1986; von Benda-Beckmann, 2006), Polanyi's double movement (Filer, 2014), along with cosmological perspectives on land and identity (Weiner & Glaskin, 2007; Ingold, 2021), it analyzes how government efforts to formalize customary land through the Land Act 1996 and the Incorporated Land Groups (ILG) Act 2009 generate three principal paradoxes: (1) protection versus exclusion, (2) recognition versus commodification, and (3) negotiation versus rigidity. The study blends an …

"From An Activist Spirit And History": An Examination Of Midwest Professors Who Teach Gender Studies In The Current Political Climate, Mena Faber

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

Gender studies is an interdisciplinary field spanning higher education institutions globally. Yet the experiences of scholars within specific regional contexts remain understudied. This study examines the lived personal and pedagogical experiences of gender studies and gender communication scholars in the Midwest. Using a qualitative approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore participants’ experiences, perceived pressures, and responses to the current political and academic climate. Interview questions focused on the challenges scholars face as well as the communicative practices they adopt in response to shifting attitudes toward gender studies. This research seeks to contribute to a deeper understanding of how scholars …

Volume Cxlvi, Number 5, October 23, 2026, Lawrence University

The Lawrentian

No abstract provided.

Character-Value Internalization Through Tembe Nggoli Motifs And Weaving Practices In The Mbojo Weaving Community Of Wawo District, Indonesia, Imamatul Islamyah, Meisar Ashari, Irsan Kadir

Bahasa dan Seni: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, Seni, dan Pengajarannya

Traditional weaving constitutes an important part of Indonesia's cultural heritage, yet its role in character-value learning remains underexplored. This study examines how character values are interpreted, experienced, and reinforced through Tembe Nggoli motifs and weaving practices within the Mbojo weaving community of Wawo District, Indonesia. Using a qualitative mini-ethnographic design, data were collected from four participants through semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and documentation and analyzed using Braun and Clarke's six-phase thematic analysis. The findings indicate that character-related values are encountered through three interrelated dimensions: visual symbolism, embodied weaving practices, and community participation. Within the observed setting, participants associated these dimensions …

El Presidente, Su Relación Con México Y Los Inmigrantes, Rocío Carranza Brito, Berenice Darwich

CUNY Mexican Studies Institute

No abstract provided.

From “Build The Wall” To “Mass Deportations” In Contemporary U.S. Political Discourse, Anthony Salazar Vazquez

CUNY Mexican Studies Institute

No abstract provided.

The Life Of A Showgirl As A Cultural Artifact: What's Hidden By The Lipstick And Lace?, Crystal F. Haryanto

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

This paper develops a collage-based framework to holistically assess Taylor Swift’s highly anticipated first release after the Eras Tour concluded. The Life of a Showgirl, with sparkling promotional materials leading up to its October 2025 drop and polarizing critical reception following it, represents an entertainer’s lifestyle while still concealing what was alluded to behind the Eras Tour curtain. Rather than engage in a direct response to Showgirl, I critically evaluate positive and negative commentary from listeners regarding the album, and I thematically analyze lyrical concepts throughout Swift’s discography to contextualize Showgirl within the arc of her work. I …

(Re)Membering The Work Of Septima Clark Amid The Gift Of Chaos, Terrance J. Lewis, Alex Chisholm, Kristen E. Duncan

Occasional Paper Series

The current state of American society and the future of its democracy have caused many Americans to develop feelings of hopelessness, especially pertaining to education. In the spirit of Sankofa and using Dillard’s (2021) Spirit of Our Work, we (re)member the work of Septima Clark to seek what can be learned and applied during this period of societal unease and educational uncertainty. By (re)membering Septima Clark, we provide recommendations for thought practice that formal K-12 and community educators might consider as we navigate educational spaces amid an open and direct period of intellectual warfare.

Freedom Is Taught Here: Freedom Schools And The Radical Tradition Of Intergenerational Community Learning In Black Education, Trayc D. Freeman, Wintre F. Johnson, Tiffany D. Meadows, Christine Onyinyechi-Uju Emuka, Naila A. Smith

Occasional Paper Series

The Black American community has always understood the power of literacy and education, and the importance of Black self-sufficiency to attain these. The establishment of Freedom Schools during the 1964 Freedom Summer in Mississippi is an actualization of that understanding. Since 1995, the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) has carried on the work and legacy, with Freedom Schools still taking place all over the United States. For two summers, we, researchers from the University of Virginia, have had the opportunity to partner with a CDF Freedom School as part of a mixed-method research study. This essay serves as a reflection and …

From Linguistic Domination To Counter-Power: The Weaponisation And Reappropriation Of Language In Shakespeare's Drama, Md. Abu Bakkar

Journal of Language, Literature, and Arts

Studies of language and power in Shakespeare usually treat colonial, psychological, political, and familial domination as separate problems belonging to separate plays. This article asks what happens when the target of linguistic domination takes up, repeats, or withholds the discourse through which domination is exercised. It proposes linguistic counter-power as a comparative analytical concept: a change in who can define, command, or be believed within the dramatic world that outlasts and exceeds the speaker’s own act of resistance. The concept is distinguished from discursive resistance, linguistic agency, counter-discourse, and resignification, and is operationalised through three tests: uptake, durability, and structural …

Lessons From Media Narratives About Displaced Students In Higher Education, Lisa Ruth Brunner

Critical Internationalization Studies Review

No abstract provided.

“I’M A Biracial Person Who Looks White In A Black Man’S Rap Game”: Exploring Expressions Of Multiracialized Masculine Vulnerability In Logic’S “Everybody”, Matthew Oware

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

The field of Black vulnerability studies includes analyses of Black men rap artists’ sexual debut, romantic relationships, mental stress, self-medication, and suicidal thoughts. I expand this analysis to Black-white mixed-race men who express emotional vulnerability regarding their racial identities. Using a case study of the song “Everybody” by Logic—a Black and white, mixed-race man—I find that Logic expresses joy and pride in his Black and biracial identity. Similarly, I observe that he expresses anger and frustration toward those who question, dismiss, or degrade his Black and biracial identities, a pattern paralleled in research on multiracial individuals. By analyzing his radio …

Safeguarding Childhood: A Comprehensive Review Of Child Abuse In Pakistan, Zohra Asad, Khadija Khaja

Journal for Social Work Scholar-Practitioners

Child abuse is a phenomenon that has affected children from every country, culture, or socio-economic class. Children who are abused or neglected may be more likely to repeat the cycle of violence by entering violent relationships as teens and adults, or with some abusing their children. This paper aims to explore child abuse in Pakistan, the incidence of child abuse, and ways to address it. This academic article seeks to investigate and examine the patterns of child abuse in Pakistan. This report offers insights into the prevalence, types, risk factors, and effects of child abuse in Pakistan by reviewing the …

The American Ethic: Happy 250th Anniversary!, Matt Walker

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

The American Ethic: Two hundred fifty years ago, In 1776, the American colonies faced a pivotal decision: whether to remain under British rule or to assert their independence. The Founding Fathers chose to separate from Great Britain and proceeded to clearly articulate both their justification for independence and the fundamental principles of liberty and justice upon which the new nation would be built. The Declaration of Independence, drafted primarily by Thomas Jefferson, was far more than a proclamation of political separation, it also presented the framework for a novel rights-based ethical system which made the extraordinary claim of universal individual …

Baseball’S Anti-Trust Exemption And Major League Baseball Labor Relations In The 20th Century, Shawn M. Smith

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

Baseball, being America's pastime and the most popular sport in the professional ranks from the 1870s onward for at least another century beyond that, gives us a lens wherethrough we may see so much about American culture, economics and society during this time period. This work looks at baseball’s unique economic position throughout the 20th century and how it changed over the course of time. Baseball had an exclusive arrangement unavailable to other industries in that it had an anti-trust exemption, which was based on the 1922 Supreme Court decision in  Federal Baseball Club of Baltimore v. National League. …

The Declaration Of Sentiments: A Womanist Perspective, Emmalee Layton

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

This paper examines the Declaration of Sentiments, an influential document in the creation of the early feminist movement, through a womanist lens. This paper aims to address whether the formulation of the Declaration of Sentiments had Black women’s liberation in mind, and how feminist movements must approach misogyny and racialization as co-constitutive in order to create liberatory strategies for Black women. This paper examines specific grievances that are outlined within the Declaration of Sentiments which are then put into historical context to signal whether the Declaration of Sentiments addresses the nuances of misogynoir and effectively strategizes for Black women’s liberation …

No New Lessons: The Impact Of World War 2 On The American Fire Service, Brady L. Hutchison

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

Large loss of life fires occurred with terrifying regularity in 1940s America. While overseas, the nation’s military waged a war on tyranny and oppression abroad, at home, the country faced an enemy every bit as deadly. Tradition in the fire service has held the notion that the 1940s saw so many deadly fires due to the nation being at war. The war, it is believed, drained fire departments of manpower, dramatically increased the call volume for departments, and led departments to cut or suspend fire inspections owing to lack of manpower. With that, the consensus is that fire codes in …

The Many Lives Of Benjamin Franklin: A Historiographical Examination Of America’S First Self-Made Man, Michael W. Cunningham

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

This paper explores how Benjamin Franklin's historiography has changed over time. It argues that Franklin has been reinterpreted throughout American history and that these reinterpretations say just as much about America as they do about Franklin. Instead of taking a chronological approach to Franklin's life, this study explores how historians have thought about Franklin over time, starting with eighteenth-century writers and ending with historians writing in the twenty-first century. The life of Franklin has been used to exemplify upward mobility, middle-class virtues, and republican success stories, but has more recently been the subject of revisionist scholarship focused on slavery and …

Occupational Therapy Student Perceptions Of Sexuality And Intimacy Education: A Cross-Sectional Study, Jennifer H. Barnett, Amanda K. Giles

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Sexuality and intimacy are meaningful activities within the scope of occupational therapy (OT), encompassing valued roles and occupations that contribute significantly to a person’s health, well-being, and identity. Despite acknowledgement of their importance, many occupational therapists overlook these areas during routine assessment and intervention because of feelings of insufficient knowledge, comfort, and confidence. This study used a cross-sectional design to electronically survey 149 occupational therapy doctoral (OTD) students across their first, second, or third year of education to determine their perceptions of sexuality and intimacy education. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and qualitative data were analyzed via codebook …

Art Inquiries, Vol. 21, Oct. 15, 2026 - Full Issue, Kris K. Belden-Adams

Art Inquiries

No abstract provided.

Illuminating Perspectives Through Critical Visual Literacy, Wanju Huang, Filipa Machado Rodrigues, Lee Okan, Catalina Huilcapi-Collantes, Ellen Corrigan, Peter Klubek

Purdue University Press Books

Illuminating Perspectives Through Critical Visual Literacy exemplifies the initiatives put forth by the International Visual Literacy Association (IVLA), a diverse community of professionals dedicated to enhancing people’s understanding of how to interpret visual stimuli and engage with their visual surroundings. Featuring peer-reviewed essays that encourage ongoing dialogue among diverse groups, this book intends to spark new insights into everything from the arts and sciences to business and instructional technology. A key strength of IVLA is its variety of scholarly conferences and publications that encourage thought-provoking interaction between practitioners and theorists. Illuminating Perspectives Through Critical Visual Literacy showcases insightful works that …