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Scruples Before Religion: Muslim Waraʿ Of The Formative Period, Omar Laaroussi

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis studies the conceptual history of waraʿ and its role as a normative paradigm existing in the formative centuries of the Islamic world. To do so, I consider the Hellenic concepts that ground Near Eastern understandings of virtue and piety before the rise of Islam. This, I then use to contextualise a focused discussion on the textual history of waraʿ before moving on to discuss its properties in a ascetic social-world through the analysis of those very texts. I attempt to place those properties in conversation with modern philosophers’ work on disciplinary regimes and their impacts upon the self. …

Ruptures: A Village Child’S Diary In Colonial Algeria, Abderrahmane Azzi

Journal of Amazigh Studies

NA

Composing Playgrounds, Rebecca Suju Abraham

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

This thesis explores music composition as the design of “playgrounds”: structured systems that invite participation, interaction, and the emergence of shared musical experience. Drawing on a background in engineering and a practice rooted in improvisation and community, I investigate how compositional authority can be exercised through the creation of constraints instead of fixed outcomes. These systems are structured enough to support coordination and open enough to allow for play and collective agency. The work is situated within practice-based research and engages qualitative methods to reflect on a series of projects developed over the course of my MFA in Sonic Practice. …

A Poet Bears Witness: An Interview With M. L. Williams On The Function Of Literary Studies In Troubled Times, Leah Toth, M. L. Williams

Critical Humanities

Dr. M. L. (Marty) Williams is a poet and professor of literature at Valdosta State University, a comprehensive university in south-central Georgia. He is the author of Game (What Books Press 2021), Other Medicines (Redbone Chapbooks 2008) and co-editor of How Much Earth: The Fresno Poets (Roundhouse Press 2001). The focus of the interview that follows is the future of literary studies in the modern neo-liberal university, a daunting topic in 2026, in the face of what many administrators refer to as the "right-sizing" of literature programs nationwide in both the U.S. and the U.K. Anybody paying attention to the …

Human Wisdom And Artificial Intelligence: Role Of Liberal Arts Education In A Neoliberal World, Purna Chandra Bhusal

Critical Humanities

Neoliberalism is an economic and political ideology that originated in the 1930s and 40s, gained momentum in the late 70s and 80s, and peaked in the 90s and 2000s. Since its inception, neoliberalism has promoted a free-market economy with minimal state intervention, granting individuals the freedom to compete and succeed. Since the last quarter of the twentieth century, the neoliberal system has invested in, incorporated, and promoted Artificial Intelligence (AI), valuing an AI-enhanced corporate ethos. As a result, the success of higher education is generally measured by the quantity of technologically sound, market-ready, AI-trained human capital it produces for industry. …

Enhancing Access And Social Mobility: Metro State University's Liberal Arts Mission In Action, Kristen Lillvis, Kate Ries

Critical Humanities

This article examines how a liberal arts framework has guided Metropolitan State University’s responses to political, financial, and social pressures on higher education. Drawing on the university’s history as an access-oriented, urban institution, the authors present two case studies—the North Star Promise scholarship and emergency grant funding—to demonstrate how mission-driven investments in students’ basic needs advance social mobility and strengthen institutional sustainability. The authors argue that prioritizing student supports, including those available through short-term or contingent opportunities, yields long-term benefits for learners, their communities, and the university.

Submitted: April 13, 2026

Accepted: May 21, 2026

Literature Carries Philosophy’S Open Secret: On Derrida’S Reading Of Romeo And Juliet, Rajesh Sampath

Critical Humanities

This paper attempts a close reading of Derrida’s texts, particularly with a focus on his brief but significant reading of Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet in “Aphorism Countertime” (originally published in French in 1986). We compare this short work with his more sustained engagement with the philosophy of death in Aporias (1993), which itself is an attempted critique of Heidegger’s Being and Time (1927); the latter is, arguably, the most influential work of twentieth-century continental European philosophy, particularly on issues of time, death, and authentic life. The paper tries to show that a fruitful engagement between philosophy and …

Defending The Humanities: Introduction To The Special Issue On “Why The Humanities Matter”, Megan Hutchinson

Critical Humanities

Introduction to the Special Issue

Defending the Humanities: “why the Humanities Matter”

Sediment: A Magical Realist Road Novel, Nicolas Victor Rago

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

This magical realist novel follows G and Louie, two strangers, as they road trip west to east across the continental United States. As they travel, they drift through time, exploring historical and personal pasts through surreal atmospheric prose.

Interrogating Settler Narratives Of Erasure In The Schatz Tree Farm Archives, Sangeeta Sarkar

IdeaFest: Interdisciplinary Journal of Creative Works and Research from Cal Poly Humboldt

In 1987, L. W. Schatz donated a 385-acre parcel of land to Cal Poly Humboldt to be used as an experimental station, outdoor classroom, and demonstration area for forestry educators and students. Previous student research and other institutional narratives have extensively documented the history of this land from a settler perspective. However, this documentation contains few mentions of the Indigenous history of the landscape. Through literature review and archival research, this paper critically analyzes settler colonial narratives around the Schatz Tree Farm and the ways in which they contribute to Indigenous erasure. The predominant forms of narrative erasure in settler …

She Believed She Could, So She Did: A Lifecycle Approach To Understanding Leadership And Self-Efficacy Development In Women Astronauts, Savanah Faith Sellars Bray

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines how women leaders develop and sustain self-efficacy, and develop as leaders, throughout their lives. Although decades of research document the barriers women face navigating leadership journeys, including the challenges described in the Women’s Leadership Labyrinth of prejudice, discrimination, and childcare issues, existing literature offers limited insight into how women actively build belief in their capacity to lead and accomplish their goals. Further, research consistently shows that women report lower leadership self-efficacy than men, even with comparable experience, yet the developmental processes that shape this gap, beginning in childhood, remain underexplored. Guided by self-efficacy research and its four …

Defying Impossibility: Critical Qualitative Reorientations To Black Lgbtqia+ Sense Of Belonging, Olivia H. Hunte

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Belonging is a human need central to survival and can be cultivated within all spheres of life. Social environments are vital for experiencing a sense of belonging. In some social environments, Black LGBTQIA+ people encounter greater impediments to their daily lives with consequences for survival, including threatening their belonging needs. Within the United States, systems of oppression create and inform conditions within social environments that can potentially thwart pathways to belonging for Black LGBTQIA+ people. Thus, fulfillment of belonging needs for Black LGBTQIA+ people is one of nuance, pain, resilience, hope, harm, trauma, resistance, and healing; scant research is available …

"Il-Lingwa Tal-Kċina": The Advocacy For The Maltese Language, 1930s–1940s, Elisabeth Fiorini

Lawrence University Honors Projects

In this project I investigate the understudied history of Malta and the Maltese language, focusing on the period of the Second World War. Going through newspaper archives and survivors’ accounts, I untangle the complex cultural shifts occurring in the British Colony of Malta, specifically with language. I argue that it was the intense bombing campaign of Fascist Italy––and later Nazi Germany––that led to the Maltese people to finally reject the Italian language and embrace their indigenous language along with British influences. This paper goes into the complex political and colonial history, looking at the British led breakdown of the diglossic …

“What Was Man Created For?”: Socialist Visions Of The Future In William Morris's News From Nowhere And Andrey Platonov’S Chevengur, Jasper Digennaro-Willcox

Lawrence University Honors Projects

This paper aims to expand on the various theories of socialist utopianism first put forward by Hegel and Marx, and later expanded by Frederic Jameson, through a comparative analysis of William Morris’s News from Nowhere (1890) and Andrey Platonov’s Chevengur (1928). While Morris presents a coherent and optimistic vision of a post-capitalist society, where labor, art, and daily life are harmoniously integrated, Platonov’s destabilizes this vision, depicting a fragmented and ambiguous utopia shaped by revolutionary upheaval and competing philosophical influences. These two polarities of what the utopian novel can look like have both been underappreciated and misunderstood for very different …

Performance Arteries: From The Street To The Salon, Zoella Lin

Comparative Literature Undergraduate Senior Theses

This thesis concerns itself with navigating what it means to build community during a time of uncertainty. Specifically, it is an analysis of Charles Baudelaire’s poetry in Les Fleurs du mal and Spleen de Paris alongside his figure of the flâneur as a way to understand the aporia of the modern world (modernity) as a way to inform how instances of connection can occur. The first chapter suggests that a close reading of Baudelaire's poetry gives us insight into what it means to live in this present moment by looking at how Baudelaire’s poet-flâneur navigated the rapidly changing world of …

The Influence Of Gustav Holst's The Planets On The Music Of John Williams, Kara Lewis

Senior Honors Theses

Throughout his six-decade career in film music, John Williams has achieved incredible success. Yet, one of the most prominent criticisms of Williams’ work is that it borrows heavily from classical repertoire. It is common to read that Williams stole from composers such as Gustav Holst. This paper examines in what aspects and to what extent the music of Williams takes inspiration specifically from Holst’s The Planets. Overall style and specific excerpts will be compared to demonstrate that, while the two share some characteristics, there is not an overall sameness of style. It shall also be demonstrated that certain excerpts …

"Everyone Leaves Me Behind”: How Harmful Tropes In Fiction Impact Autistic Women, Sara E. Allard

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

Until now, females with ASD have been ignored by healthcare professionals, policymakers, and the general public. The unique presentation of autistic women and girls is now in the cultural spotlight within not just the advocacy and scientific community, but also the arts. Female autistic characters are getting increased representation across literature and television, yet their narratives are still often stuck in the past. Most authors and screenwriters have yet to understand the specific struggles that female autistics face compared to their male counterparts, relying on the outdated, reductive perceptions that have plagued them for decades.

This article outlines three harmful …

The Unexpected Gift: Using Hip-Hop And Autoethnographic Methods To Challenge The “Symbolic Death” Discourse Of A Child’S Autism Diagnosis, Adam Ellis

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

This article explores the social construction of autism through an autoethnographic account of parenting an autistic child in Canada. Drawing on Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s grief model, neurodiversity scholarship, and post-traumatic growth theory, the paper examines how parents may experience grief, uncertainty, and the collapse of imagined futures following an autism diagnosis, while also arguing that much of this distress is produced by ableist and deficit-oriented social systems rather than autism itself. Using arts-based research, including a rap song and music video, the article explores: (1) what it is like to receive an autism diagnosis as a parent; (2) the grieving process …

Techwork: Developing And Validating A Reflective Tool For Impact-Aware Design, Sihui Wu, Marirena Kladeftira, Kim Helmersen, Gudela Grote

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Most assessments of technology impact occur only after its deployment, limiting the ability to address unintended social, cultural, and organizational effects. This paper introduces TechWork, a prospective and reflective tool for evaluating emerging technologies within existing work systems. Grounded in reflective practice tradition, socio-technical systems theory, and contemporary work design research, TechWork guides interdisciplinary teams through structured prompts and impact mappings to examine how their own design choices influence autonomy, skills, collaboration, and job demands. The tool was tested through design-education workshops in an architectural studio, applied to vernacular construction practices where embodied expertise and cultural knowledge are central to …

User-Centered Dread: A Lovecraftian Critique Of Design, Lewis Urquhart, Emma Lawrie

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper offers a speculative critique of contemporary design practice through the lens of Lovecraftian horror by critically interrogating assumptions embedded in user-centered design theory. Drawing on the oeuvre of 'weird fiction' author H.P. Lovecraft’s cosmically pessimistic mythologies, this paper explores three thematic dimensions - control, user unknowability, alien materiality - to reveal the limitations of human-centred design paradigms. Utlising examples from literature, film, and everyday experience, this critique demonstrates how design’s aspirational narratives, centered on mastery, empathy, and progress, are increasingly inadequate in addressing the complexities of a more-than-human world. The concept of 'user-centered dread' emerges as a central …

Designing Safer School Routes In Busan, South Korea: Living Lab Approach To Child-Centered Traffic Safety, Yong-Ki Lee

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Urban traffic environments in Busan, South Korea, often remain poorly adapted to the needs of children, despite infrastructure-based safety measures. This paper reports on a Living Lab project for co-creating safer school commuting environments through participatory service design. Researchers, elementary school students, parents, residents, and local authorities collaboratively identified critical issues, generated design ideas, and evaluated context-specific interventions. This paper synthesizes the Living Lab as both a methodological framework and a civic learning ecosystem by tracing how stakeholders’ perceptions, roles, and capacities evolved through iterative co-design, mapping, and prototyping activities. The findings highlight the potential of Living Labs to bridge …

Value Co-Creation, Co-Displacement, And Co-Destruction In Design: Bridging Value And Values In Human-Data Interaction, Boyeun Lee, Ella Tallyn, Ramprabu Thangaraj, Chris Elsden, Chris Speed

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Data has emerged as a fundamental driver of value creation within design processes, shaping economic, ethical, and environmental outcomes across societies and socio-technical systems. Existing scholarship often frames value in binary terms of co-creation and co-destruction, overlooking the systemic complexities introduced by interconnected, data-intensive systems. This paper introduces the novel concept of value co-displacement to capture how alternative forms of value emerge and displace others within human–data interaction. Drawing on four design research case studies, we investigate how value and values are co-created, co-displaced, and co-destroyed across interconnected, data-intensive systems. We develop a framework that conceptualises the dynamic interplay of …

Emerging Hybrid Human-Genai Workflows To Optimise Human Ideation, Sketching And Design, Mauricio Novoa Munoz, Juan Antonio Islas Munoz, Alejandro Lozano Robledo

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This article presents findings on the reciprocal relationship between industrial design education and the industry it prepares graduates for. Particularly considering the growing impact of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) on ideation, sketching, design methodologies, and productivity. To inform this research, industry professionals currently integrating GenAI into their practice were consulted to establish benchmarks and highlight critical areas for updated pedagogical approaches and digital transformation, thereby ensuring that design learning and productivity workflows remain relevant. The study arises from an awareness of current workforce shifts that are anticipated to become more pronounced soon. Rapid technological advancements are driving significant cultural and …

Exploring Common Understandings And Bodily Experiences Of Vulnerability In Design Researchers In Sensitive Contexts, Bhakti Moghe, Roberta Antognini, Sofie Dideriksen, Zhuochao Peng, Francesca Toso, Maarten Houben

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Design researchers are increasingly being exposed to stressors while empathizing with their participants such as feeling emotionally charged, leading them to feeling vulnerable. Currently, there is a lack of clear consensus on how this vulnerability arises and manifests, hindering both individual and collective awareness and support. To address this gap, we conducted an empirical investigation into the vulnerability of design researchers. We conducted exploratory workshops with PhD students working in the field of design research in sensitive settings. The workshops consisted of three approaches to understand researcher vulnerability: (1) Reflecting on individual and collective vulnerability, (2) Exploring embodied experiences, and …

The Memory Loom: Reweaving Curatorial Power Relations With Source Communities In Virtual Reality Cultural Heritage Exhibitions, Ning Zhao, Ziqiang He, Shijie Ming, Haopeng Yuan, Furui Sun, Ke Jiang

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper examines how to redistribute curatorial power in VR heritage exhibitions by designing actionable governance mechanisms. We conceptualize VR heritage exhibitions as political curatorial infrastructures rather than neutral storytelling media. We employ a two-stage RtD framework: first building a baseline VR stage, then embedding two mechanisms: Parallel Weave (narrative authorship) and Asynchronous Governance Lock (publishing/veto rights). With N=32 participants, analysis reveals four tensions: (1) community narratives increased affective engagement and epistemic recognition, yet (2) parallel inclusion also risked narrative segregation; (3) a visible veto established accountable workflows, but (4) this power redistribution also transferred sociopolitical risk onto community representatives, …

The Influence Of Generative Ai On Design Students' Confidence And Self-Efficacy: A Case Study Of Logotype Design, Yamile Guzman-Saleh, Juan-Carlos Rojas, Johana Gisela Hernandez-Martinez, Manuel Contero

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This study examines the influence of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) on design students’ self-efficacy and perceived confidence during a logotype creation task. Through an exploratory pre–post experimental protocol, 35 undergraduate design students generated manual sketches and subsequently refined them using a GenAI tool. The results show that, while GenAI effectively transformed manual sketches into more elaborate visual representations, its impact on students’ perceived creative mastery remained moderate. Self-efficacy and confidence levels showed no significant differences after the intervention, although slight improvements were observed in aspects related to imagination, collaboration, and willingness to face challenging situations. Students assessed the utility, novelty, …

Interiority As A Pedagogical Approach In Interior Design Studio Education, Selin Aktan Abraham, Fulya Özbey

DRS Biennial Conference Series

As the central platform of design education, interior design studios function as dynamic learning environments that advance creativity and sensitivity to the social and spatial dimensions of design. Although the experiential qualities of space are conceptually acknowledged within studio pedagogy, the notion of ‘interiority’ remains unstudied compared to the emphasis placed on technical requirements. This paper positions interiority as a critical yet underexplored component of interior design pedagogy. Through a literature mapping and thematic synthesis, this paper defines five core dimensions of interiority as (1) spatial, (2) sensory, (3) affective, (4) identity-related, and (5) temporal, then correlates these dimensions in …

Measuring Service-Related Subjective Wellbeing In Paediatric Oncology, Valentina Marques Da Rosa, Priscila Goergen Brust-Renck, Flavio Sanson Fogliatto, Leandro Miletto Tonetto

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Children’s hospitalisation affects more than physical health; it shapes children’s subjective wellbeing (SWB). Yet design researchers rarely systematically capture SWB. This study introduces the Subjective Wellbeing Questionnaire for Hospitalised Children (SWBQ-HC), a tool that measures children’s perceptions of themselves, hospital services, and spaces. Developed by combining validated psychological scales with service- and space-specific items, the tool was piloted with 19 paediatric patients (aged 4–13) and 35 parents. Factor analysis revealed four dimensions: Positive and Negative Feelings about Self, and Feelings about Hospital Services and Spaces. The results highlight the interplay between relational and environmental factors in shaping SWB and reveal …

Motivation And Reflective Processes In Service-Learning Design Projects: Insights From A Visual Communication Design Studio, Alejandra Poblete Pérez, Emilio J. Castro-Navarro, Alfredo Mora Briones, Pilar Del Real Westphal, Marcela Cabello Mora

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This study examines structured self-reflection as a formative assessment tool within a Visual Communication Design Studio incorporating the service-learning (S-L) methodology, analysing motivational dynamics experienced by twenty undergraduate students. Using Thematic Analysis of 420 weekly responses, the study draws on Self-Determination Theory (SDT) to map reflections on strengths, weaknesses, and intentions against needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The analysis revealed a consistent pattern: strengths centred on competence and relatedness, while weaknesses highlighted motivational tensions and emotional blockages regarding self-regulation and project management. The dominant dynamic was the interplay between autonomy and relatedness, with “teamwork” emerging as the most recurrent …

“Why Do All The Schools Look The Same?” Exploring Children’S Spatial Design Preferences Through Generative Ai In India, Chinmay Pade, Charu Monga

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Artificial Intelligence is increasingly embedded in creative and spatial design processes, transforming how ideas are visualized and interpreted. This study examines how generative AI tools influence children’s imagination and articulation of spatial design preferences for schools in India. In a context where school environments are often standardized and children’s perspectives remain marginalized, participatory workshops with primary-school students engaged them in describing, writing, and generating AI-assisted images to express their visions for school spaces. The process revealed both the potential and the limits of AI-driven visualization. While AI expanded imagination and made ideas instantly visible, it also reproduced globalized aesthetics detached …