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Here’S To Screaming And Healing: An Exploration Of Women’S Intergenerational Experienced Trauma Through Performance, Bellah Noelle Crawford

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis contains a glimpse into the inner workings of my process as an actor in approaching the role of Hecuba in The Trojan Women, the application of process in performance, script analysis, and the relevancy of the play’s thematic content as it relates to my artistry, womanhood, and our modern world. Additionally, I will offer insight into the creation of my one person show – Mr. Sandman. I will discuss the inspiration that curated the play, how it finds societal relevancy, and the performative aspect of cultivating a solo theatrical piece. It includes the lineage between both productions and …

Collaboration And Betrayal: Pius Xi And A Changing World, Nathan B. Higgins

Honors Scholar Theses

From the negotiations over the 1929 Lateran Accords to the start of World War II in 1939, the Holy See delicately navigated a turbulent diplomatic period. In the preceding century, the Catholic Church saw much of its temporal power decline as European states became more secular, and the pope lost the Papal States during the Risorgimento. Amid the decline in station, the rise of atheistic communism in Russia, Mexico, and Spain posed an existential to the Church, which Pope Pius XI would challenge during his pontificate. To confront this threat, he would work alongside Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany …

Just Roll With It: Literacy And Community Building In Hobby Board Gaming, Mackenzie C. Allen

English Undergraduate Honors Theses

With the rise in popularity of hobby board gaming in the last 25 years, their usefulness to studying adult engagement in literacy has emerged as a new avenue of exploration. Although there has been a large amount of research into how board games can be designed and played with learning in mind, the study of recreational board games in the context of literacy and community is lacking. This thesis explored the means through which board games played in recreational settings act as tools of literacy. Through direct gameplay of 36 games across 6 months, qualitative data was gathered in pursuit …

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. …

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 …

Ai And The Ethos Of Education: Reflections On Human Learning Past And Present, Melanie Trotochaud

Yale Divinity School Theses

This thesis reflects on contemporary issues of “Artificial Intelligence” (AI), while also bringing into conversation 12th century Christian mystic and polymath Hildegard Von Bingen and 18th century Humanist philosopher Giambattista Vico. Hildegard’s and Vico’s contexts philosophically and historically share similarities to our present moment: reassessing our humanity and learning in times of technological, economic, and social shifts. Holding up their writing to various conversations about our contemporary world helps illuminate the present. Key aspects of the discussion include what constitutes tools or technologies, the agency we have in choosing to use or not to use them, and how we make …

Things Montaigne Got Right About Medicine, Stewart Justman

Global Humanities and Religions Faculty Publications

In an article in Perspectives in Biology and Medicine a few years ago, I documented a number of Montaigne’s insights into medicine that have held up over time.  Not everyone was convinced.  Therefore I here augmented my case, adducing several other Montaignean insights and adding some particulars to one or two that were mentioned in the original article.

An Alternative To Armageddon: O.P. Weyland And The Development Of Tactical Air Power, Paul Wells

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Theorists and advocates of air power argued that aircraft, not ground forces, would become the dominant platform for victory in war. They promoted the concept of strategic bombing, using aircraft to bypass ground forces and directly attack a nation's industrial capacity to wage war, hoping to ensure quick victory and avoid a repeat of the prolonged slaughter in the trenches of WWI. In 1947, led by advocates of strategic bombing, the United States Air Force (USAF) became an independent and equal branch of the U.S. military. The USAF developed the Strategic Air Command (SAC) to meet the requirements of the …

Utilizing 3d Scanning Workflows For Interdisciplinary Applications: Processing, Optimizing, And Deployment Of Digital Models, Dakota J. Garrett

Master of Fine Arts in Digital Media Culminating Experience

This study explores the development of 3D scanning workflows focused on transforming raw scan data into high-quality, application-ready digital models. While scanning technologies have advanced significantly, the processes required for cleaning, reconstructing, and optimizing data remain complex and underrepresented. Through a series of applied case studies, this research examines geometry processing, AI-assisted texture enhancement, small artifact scanning workflows, and the integration of LiDAR with 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS). Each project emphasizes the decisions, challenges, and techniques used to move from raw capture to final output, highlighting the importance of adapting workflows based on object scale, material properties, and intended use. …

Misusing Mariátegui: The Strategic Use Of José Carlos Mariátegui By Peru’S Sendero Luminoso, Shaylee Luedders

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Peruvian Communist Party - Sendero Luminoso (SL) was a violent communist guerrilla group that was active in Peru in the 1980s and early 1990s. SL’s guiding ideology was “Gonzalo Thought,” named for the Party’s leader, Abimael Guzmán, who was known to his followers as Presidente Gonzalo. Greatly inspired by Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, Gonzalo Thought also drew heavily from the work of José Carlos Mariátegui, an early 20th-century socialist Peruvian intellectual. One of Mariategui’s key ideas held that the Inca Empire was communist and that living Indigenous Peruvians retained this pre-modern “communist spirit.” For him, this meant that authentic Peruvian institutions and …

“We Have Not Failed Our Country In The Past; We Shall Not Fail Her In The Future.”: The Army National Guard In Peace And War During The Interwar Period And World War Ii, Bearington C. Curtis

Dissertations

This dissertation explores one of the most fundamental questions in the War & Society field of American history: how the American people organize for war and how the citizenry has negotiated with themselves and their government to formulate a compromise that is culturally acceptable and militarily practical. Addressing such an elemental yet sweeping question of how a society organizes for war necessitates engagement with a broad swath of historiography, including institutional history, traditional and new military history, cultural assumptions of race and masculinity, politics, and civil-military relations. By taking a holistic approach, the various interests that shaped American military policy …

Living Doll: Puppetry, Performance, And The Art Of Greer Lankton, Madison Lee

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis argues that puppetry is the animating logic of Greer Lankton's practice. Drawing on archival evidence—including letters, planners, and drawings—it recovers an engagement with puppetry spanning childhood through her final years, and applies puppet theory to argue that Lankton understood selfhood as something made, not given.

“One Object Yields Both Grief And Joy”: Death In Elizabeth Cary’S The Tragedy Of Mariam (1613), Valeria Suprunova

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis argues that the dialog between early ancient Roman and early modern English traditions of death and dying helps illuminate the complex relationship between tyranny and death in Elizabeth Cary’s The Tragedy of Mariam (1613) and that death is an inextricable and dynamic element of the text.

They Returned Fighting: World War I, Disillusionment, And The Remaking Of African-American Political Life In New York City, Michael Frank

Theses and Dissertations

They Returned Fighting examines how Black New Yorkers used World War I service, wartime activism, and postwar protest to press claims to citizenship and democracy, even as racial violence, discrimination, and contested public memory exposed the limits of that belonging in New York City and the United States.

A Special Place In Hell: The Iconography Of Judgment In Twelfth-Century Sculpture And Manuscript Illumination, Nina Piper

Theses and Dissertations

While art historians have focused on the meaning of individual scenes of the Last Judgment and collections of “monstrous” images, this thesis considers images of Hell and its inhabitants as a single subject. It investigates the space of Hell itself and the beings most closely associated with it—whether or not they are depicted within the space of Hell—to identify iconographical consistencies across those images. In addition, this thesis draws upon material evidence from the medieval world to interpret images of Hell, the Devil, demons, and the damned in new ways, identifying connections between the imagery and what artists and other …

Fantasies Of Just Torture: On Violent Efforts To Navigate The Intolerable, Tonya Sims

Philosophy Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis examines why torture, despite being among the clearest objects of moral revulsion available to us, remains imaginable as a serious moral possibility. I begin by refining the concept of torture through an examination of the United Nations Convention Against Torture, while arguing that insufficient attention has been paid to what I take to be its paradigmatic form, namely sadistic torture. Against definitions that treat torture primarily in instrumental terms, I argue that torture is best understood as the intentional infliction of extreme pain upon an unwilling person in order to dominate or otherwise manipulate their autonomy. Drawing on …

American Industry And Soviet Blood: U.S.-U.S.S.R. Collaborations During The Interwar And Wartime Years, Evan Banaszewski

History

This project will examine the connections between American corporations and the Soviet state from the late 1920’s through WWII. In particular, this project will focus on ventures undertaken by said corporations towards the modernization of Soviet industrial might, including, but not limited to, Ford-built automotive plants, Albert Kahn-designed factories, and General Electric-built hydroelectric grids. These ventures not only helped the Soviets transform a historically agricultural society into an industrial one but also enabled the rapid conversion of peacetime infrastructure into hubs of wartime production. The project then situates these private indirect contributions alongside the direct aid provided by the American …

Girlhood, Interrupted: An Intersectional Feminist History Of Decolonizing And Reclaiming Womanhood, Ayden Kelly

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

In the past few decades, social and political discourse surrounding womanhood and who is considered a "real" woman has led to the execration of transgender women. This work will explore how recent discourse and rhetoric surrounding who is and who is not a “real woman” can be traced to nineteenth century notions of “true womanhood” that excluded women of color. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with westward expansion, settler colonialism, residential schools, slavery, and post-emancipation serving as backdrops, this work will also analyze how ideologies of womanhood have interrupted and suppressed women of color throughout Western American …

Alternative, Ashlynn M. Stroud

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

A series of illustrations, sculptures and comic book issues designed to introduce a series of stories and characters that represent the history and members of a fictional mythology depicting the cultural social group often referred to as the “alternative” community. Alternative takes place in a world that combines high fantasy and science fiction with elements of pop culture and music. This world uses iconography of the various genres of the alternative subculture and music, metal, post-punk, and the evolving scene of the underground with varying visuals from both gothic and industrial time periods. Viewers are encouraged to read and follow …

Advertising The Noble Savage: Blackfeet Exploitation And Erasure Through Glacier National Park, The Great Northern Railway, And The Bureau Of Indian Affairs From 1900-1920, Edward D'Angelo

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Blackfeet Native Americans have lived in and around Glacier National Park and their current reservation boundaries for thousands of years. They previously lived a nomadic lifestyle, but were forced onto a reservation by the American government in the nineteenth century. At the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, the Blackfeet sold more land to the federal government at the same time the Great Northern Railway was building its railroad through the Rocky Mountains. In order to increase travel demands on its railway in the area, the Great Northern Railway lobbied the federal government …

The Reframing Of An Ancient Tragedy Within A Contemporary Context, Samuel Ofosu Danquah

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines, explores, and explains the costume design process for a contemporary production of The Trojan Women by Euripides performed at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. The production concentrates on the play’s violent upheaval and its relationship between historic, present, and future significance. The Trojan Women by Euripides is recognized as a leading anti-war tragedy inspired by the Melian Massacre, which occurred circa 415-416 BCE. The Melian Massacre was a war between Sparta and Athens that occurred on the eastern mainland of Greece. The Trojan Women presents a distinctive challenge, visually depicting the immediate consequences of a city’s downfall …

Rewriting The Boer ‘Slim’: Alice Stopford Green’S Reports On St. Helena’S Prisoner Of War Camp And Her Impact On British Views Of Boer Prisoners, Natasja A. Swanson

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Alice Stopford Green (1847 – 1929) was a prominent Irish historian and politician, known for her role as a political activist in the Irish Home Rule movement. Her lesser-known legacy is her investigative journalism on prisoner conditions in British prisoner of war camps during the Second Boer War (1899 – 1902). Her reports on Boer conditions in the Deadwood Prisoner of War Camp on the island of St. Helena reflected maltreatment and institutional abuse by the British Government. These discoveries supported the minority English opposition that thought that England was overstepping the rules of civilized warfare. Green was primarily concerned …

Where Were Women?: Women In The United States Intelligence Organizations From The Office Of Strategic Services To The Central Intelligence Agency, Madison Harris

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

United States intelligence historians have largely neglected the importance of women’s intelligence labor as well as the centralized intelligence organizations that existed from World War II to the early years of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) – including the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), Strategic Service Unit (SSU), and Central Intelligence Group (CIG). While assumptions about women in intelligence work during this period are usually drawn from stereotypical portrayals in popular media, such as books and movies, this thesis utilized statistical data and other agency sources to build a broader understanding of women’s actual labor.

This thesis demonstrates that women …

Nation-Building On Pillars Of Fascism: How Italian Fascist Ideals Have Remained Alive In Eritrean Identity Through The Asmaran Urban Landscape, Caspian Green

Young Historians Conference

Roughly a third of Eritrea’s time as an Italian colony was spent under fascist rule, during which the Italian colonists dramatically changed the Asmaran urban environment, as well as its relationship with the rest of the Eritrean colony, to reflect fascist principles. After the fall of the Italian colonial empire, Eritrean political leaders sought to use the physical landscape to justify their claims to sovereignty, reapplying those pre-existing fascist principles to Eritrean nationalism. By examining Italian-Asmaran buildings, roads, and legal structures in their contexts, common threads between past fascist beliefs and the modern Eritrean military state emerge, offering a better …

Revolutionary Resistance In Denmark: The Impact Of Grundtvigism On The Danish Resistance To Nazi Occupation, Holland Burd

Young Historians Conference

This paper examines the impact of nineteenth century philosopher and theologian Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig on the Danish resistance during World War II. Born in 1783, Grundtvig established a framework that paved the way for Danish national pride, setting the stage for a united resistance effort against Nazi occupation in October of 1943. His beliefs inspired movement towards the common good and allowed the Danes to reconnect with their cultural identity. Nazi Germany invaded Denmark in 1940, initially preserving an image of peace through a model protectorate. However, the image of peace was destroyed in 1943 after Nazi Germany ordered …

Heavenly Righteousness: How Religion Facilitated The Rise Of The Order Of The Knights Templar, Morgan M. Henderson

Young Historians Conference

The Order of the Knights of the Temple of Solomon, commonly known as the Knights Templar, was a critical organization in the Christian occupation of the Holy Land during the 11th to 14th centuries. This paper explores how the Templars’ relationship with the papacy and the Catholic Church enabled the order to amass its power. Through its doctrine, papal grants, and founding council, the Templars structured their order to be a military force used to attack the Muslim infidel. Religion was the unique element that enabled the Knights Templar to become the most significant military order of their time, greatly …

A Battle Of Will And Wisdom: Polar Opposites In The Polar Extremes Of The Viking World, Lily C. Manne

Young Historians Conference

This paper explores the connection between the polar climate of Viking-age Scandinavia and the success of the Vikings through examining the dual nature of their culture brought about by their environment. The Scandinavian peninsula is known for its harsh, variable climate full of cold winters and unpredictable harvests that turned into long summers and melting fjords. Outside of shaping survival strategies and material culture, this polar environment seeped into the fundamental cultural values the Vikings exhibited, creating the foundation for a society that understood the value of destruction and violence as well as creation and craftsmanship. Using Norse mythology as …

36th Annual Young Historians Conference Program, Portland State University History Department, Portland State University Challenge Program

Young Historians Conference

This is the 2026 Young Historians Conference schedule and abstracts.

Rex Gothorum, Patres Conscripti, Et Senes Barbarorum: Balancing Monarchical And Aristocratic Power In The Ostrogothic Kingdom, Max Deloach

Honors Theses

The fourth and fifth-century migrations of “barbarian” peoples from beyond the Roman frontier to the heart of the Empire exacerbated an already unparalleled crisis of self in Roman society. With the settlement of these “barbarians” in the West, the facade of Roman dominion over its own territory and institutions had crumbled. In Italy, the Roman Senate, along with the Catholic Church and the Eastern Roman Emperor, became essential to the peninsula’s “barbarian” kings. At the same time, post-Roman monarchs were obliged to patronize their own nobility—the elite military class. This work evaluates the trilateral negotiation of power between post-Roman monarchs, …

Human Dignity In The Foundational Political Documents Of The United States, Kalista Roades

Honors Theses

Human dignity is integral to modern discussions of human rights and liberties, but this connection can be found stretching back through history to the early developments of human rights. This paper begins with modern philosophical definitions of human dignity, especially from Rosen and Kateb. Rosen discusses four “strands” of dignity- Intrinsic Dignity, Status Dignity, Manner Dignity, and Respect Dignity. This paper then uses that framework to find human dignity implicit within the founding documents of the United States including the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, as well as “Common Sense” and the Magna Carta to …