Digital Commons Network^™

The Importance Of International Exchange In A Time Of Worldwide Economic And Political Crisis And Change, David Anshen

Literatures and Cultural Studies Faculty Publications

This paper argues that international scholarly and cultural exchange has become especially vital in the context of intensifying global economic, political, ecological, and social crises. Drawing on Marxist theory, contemporary political realities in the United States and South Asia, and examples from world literature, the article examines how global capitalism both deepens human suffering and creates new possibilities for solidarity and resistance. Through reflections on immigration, political violence, ecological collapse, and the marginalization of the humanities, the paper highlights the role of international dialogue- facilitated by digital technologies and cross-cultural engagement- as a necessary counterforce to dehumanization and fragmentation. Literary …

A Word From The Writing Team (February 2026), Pam Walter, Mfa, Laura Deloretta, Phd

A Word From the Writing Team (Newsletter)

No abstract provided.

Voices In Transit: Intersectionality, Silence, And Political Engagement In Ride-Sharing, Soran Tarkhani

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

Abstract This study examines Uber as a digitally governed “third space” for political discourse. Based on 4,716 ride observations from Louisville–Southern Indiana—3,676 collected in 2023–2024 and 1,040 in 2025—it uses a mixed-methods design combining multinomial logistic regression and qualitative observation. Political conversations are defined as discussions of parties, elections, policies, or major social issues. Results show that White and male passengers were most likely to initiate such talk, while African American and female riders often remained silent, consistent with Noelle-Neumann’s spiral of silence. African American women faced the strongest intersectional constraints. Women and LGBTQ passengers leaned liberal, while men displayed …

The Religious Groups Of Mecca And Medina In The Sixth And Seventh Centuries Ce, Ilkka Linstedt

Abdou Filali-Ansary Occasional Paper Series

Ancient and modern urban centres have been important loci for encounters between individuals of different identities. In this article, I present Mecca and Medina as multi-religious towns in the pre-Islamic and early Islamic periods of the sixth and seventh centuries ce. Mecca was a very small town, but the Kaaba shrine there served as a regional pilgrimage site that drew people from different faith communities. Medina was a larger settlement with a significant Jewish population. Jews, Christians and others (‘pagans’) lived in both towns. Some of these ‘others’ had also adopted some of the basic ideas of monotheism, although they …

Best Served Cold: Operation Coldstore 1963 And The Reasons For The Singapore Government’S Decision, Jiansheng Zhang

Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History

Operation Coldstore, launched in 1963 by Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and resulting in the arrest of 113 Singaporean left-wing figures, cemented the People’s Action Party’s dominance in Singaporean politics—a position it holds to this day. Given its political and symbolic significance, Operation Coldstore remains one of the most hotly contested episodes in Singaporean historiography. Drawing on a wide range of primary sources, including declassified British documents, newspapers, and political memoirs, this essay evaluates competing interpretations and argues that the Singapore government’s principal motivation was to satisfy Tunku Abdul Rahman of Malaya and secure Singapore’s merger with Malaya. By emphasizing …

Imagined Nations: Ireland, Palestine, And The Politics Of Anti-Colonial Memory, Grace P. Wingerter

Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History

This paper covers the life and career of notable IRA operative Brendan “the Dark” Hughes and how his thoughts on the “Armed Struggle” or “Cause” changed over time. Brendan Hughes was forced to frequently deal with violent and heavy handed discrimination from Protestants, which led to him joining the Paramilitary movements as a result of frustration and misplaced youthful vigor. Brendan played a major role in the Troubles through his planning of prolific violent attacks such as the Four Square Laundry attack, Bloody Friday, and the H Block blanket protest and subsequent hunger strike in the Maze Prison. Brendan’s disconnect …

Jurgen Comics Contest Comic Book And Artwork - 2026, Minuet Curry

Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest

Digital cover art created by student editor Minuet Curry for the 2026 Jurgen Comics Contest comic book celebrating the contest winners. Winners' artwork was included in the print edition of this booklet. This cover art features Jurgen racing through time to thwart the influence of Sir Cen, the censor. Jurgen represents the contest's connection to James Branch Cabell's once-banned book Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice.

The 2026 Jurgen Comics Contest invited VCU students to create the cover artwork for an imagined comic book focused on an historical incident of art censorship.

Supplemental promotional materials presented here include a view …

The Hays Code, Nikki Disalvo

Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest

Honorable mention in the 2026 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

Dodie grows up absorbing and accepting movies' villainous representations of homosexuality and her family's denunciations until she becomes an unrecognizable monster, wandering cold streets at night.

Pachuco, Jana Simmons

Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest

Honorable mention in the 2026 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

In the summer of 1943, baggy zoot suits are all the rage for young brown and black adults in Los Angeles. On their way home, Aurora and Joaquin are chased by an angry group of military men seeking to attack them.

Heavy Metal Defenders, Sophie Nave

Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest

Honorable mention in the 2026 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

In the wake of the 1985 PMRC/U.S. Senate hearings in which Dee Snider, Frank Zappa, and John Denver testify, a young demon comes to earth to try to spread panic through her heavy metal band.

Under Literature's Light, Devin Smith

Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest

Research prize winner in the 2026 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

As Steven Pico fights for the books that shaped him in his most formative years, he starts to unravel what it means to be human and to understand art and its impacts.

Skin, Keegan Mason

Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest

Storytelling prize winner in the 2026 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

Martin Murn is the victim of a freak accident which grants him superpowers. As America's first Black superhero, he ventures into the world to do good, only to be faced with the harsh reality of Jim Crow and segregation. Newspapers demonize him, “heroes” criticize him and the public hates him. All of it makes you want to just crawl out of your......skin.

A Classroom Game Of Cat And Maus, Zora Weir-Gertzog

Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest

Artistry prize winner in the 2026 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

An authoritarian cat soldier marches through a generic American classroom, destroying books deemed unfit. Mouse children sit at their desks, witnesses to the act; some watch in fear or confusion, while others remain disengaged.

Tom Lehrer Discovers Australia (And Vice Versa), Johnny Eusoof

Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest

Grand prize winner in the 2026 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

An Australian government official sends police to satirist Tom Lehrer's live show in Adelaide. Lehrer bangs away at his concert piano as a pack of officers rush toward him.

Week 6: “I Believe In The Holy Spirit...”, Calvin University

Campus Ministries Resources

No abstract provided.

Week 8: “I Believe In...The Forgiveness Of Sins, The Resurrection Of The Body, And The Life Everlasting. Amen”, Calvin University

Campus Ministries Resources

No abstract provided.

Week 3: “...In Jesus Christ, His Only Son, Our Lord, Who Was Conceived By The Holy Spirit And Born Of The Virgin Mary”, Calvin University

Campus Ministries Resources

No abstract provided.

Week 2: “…In God, The Father Almighty, Creator Of Heaven And Earth.”, Calvin University

Campus Ministries Resources

No abstract provided.

Week 5: “The Third Day He Rose Again From The Dead. He Ascended To Heaven And Is Seated At The Right Hand Of God The Father Almighty. From There He Will Come To Judge The Living And The Dead”, Calvin University

Campus Ministries Resources

No abstract provided.

The Rhetorical Agency Of Student-Parents: Assembling, Archiving, And Naming Practices And Interpretations That Transform Worlds, Dhipinder Walia

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is an interdisciplinary project that uses interview data collected from six student-parents attending Bronx Community College during 2024 to 2025. Using rhetorical and critical discourse analysis, this dissertation argues student-parents enact their rhetorical agency to transform their college experience. Specifically, student-parents use their rhetorical agency to interpret time and place in a way that centers their own wellbeing as well as the wellbeing of their children. This dissertation focuses on interpretations and ordinary practices that reimagine what time and place can look and feel like on a college campus. Additionally, student-parents enact their rhetorical agency through ordinary practices …

Revolutionary Governance, Culture, And The Party-State In Postcolonial Guinea: Political Thought And Practice Under Ahmed Sékou Touré, M. Sekani Corbie

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis reexamines the political thought of Ahmed Sékou Touré by taking seriously the theoretical ambition of the Guinean revolution. Rather than treating Touré as either a failed democrat or a mere ideologue, the study reads his writings and political interventions as a sustained attempt to resolve a core postcolonial problem: how to construct collective power and mass participation in societies fractured by colonial rule, economic dependency, and weak institutional capacity.

Through close readings of Touré’s major texts and the ideological materials of the Parti Démocratique de Guinée, the thesis reconstructs his theory of the Party-State as a distinctive …

Week 1: “I Believe...”, Calvin University

Campus Ministries Resources

No abstract provided.

Chamber Music For Strings In Rational Intonation: Performance Practice And Analysis, Marina Kifferstein

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the early 21^st century, the field of contemporary music has experienced an explosion of interest in rational intonation. This ratio-derived tuning system, often referred to as “just intonation,” has become established as a widespread movement that is still on the rise. It is of increasing importance for composers, performers, historians, and theorists who specialize in contemporary music to be knowledgeable about the growing body of repertoire in this area and its performance practice.

This dissertation examines current and recent trends in rational intonation through the lens of chamber music for strings. It includes perspectives on performance practice gleaned …

Conspicuous Technique: Black Avant-Garde Poetry And The Politics Of Aesthetics, Ryan Gato

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study is comprised of two essays on the politics of aesthetics in postwar American black experimental poetry. Within the domain of contemporary poetry scholarship, this study serves three distinct yet interrelated purposes: 1.) to intervene within ongoing debates about the relation—or purported lack thereof—between black artistic practices and those of the historic and American avant-gardes by emphasizing the politics of aesthetics; 2.) to offer a critique of the usage of the discourses of postmodernism and of black aesthetics in the field by elucidating the historicity of their conceptual frameworks; and 3.) to provide an alternative to contemporary scholarship’s narrow …

The Radical Political Possibilities Of Asexuality And Aromanticism, Kirty Singh

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study explores the radical political potential of Asexuality and Aromanticism within queer theory, emphasizing their roles in destabilizing normative constructs of sexuality and romantic relationships. Employing mixed methods, including literature review, digital ethnography of online communities, and analysis of graphic narratives, the research examines how these identities challenge systemic systems such as compulsory sexuality, amatonormativity, and racialized discourses. Findings reveal that Asexual and Aromantic communities utilize flexible definitions and taxonomies to assert their identities, disrupt hegemonic gender and sexual norms, and foster coalitional politics that advocate for systemic change. The study underscores the importance of recognizing Asexuality and Aromanticism …

The Constant Cause Of Friction: Maud Mosher And Gendered Authority In The Indian Service And At Ellis Island, Ella Morton

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis focuses on the federal career of Maud Mosher, who, from 1893 to 1907, worked as an Indian Service boarding-school teacher, then a matron at Ellis Island. By analyzing Mosher’s extensive, complaint-driven correspondence and personnel files, as well as an unpublished memoir, I claim that her grievances represent a rare form of agency available to women in maternalist roles at Progressive Era federal agencies. Though Mosher’s superiors branded her complaints trivial, the substance of them reveals gendered hypocrisy and institutional contradictions inside two federal institutions dealing with racialized populations.

In both the Indian Service and the Immigration Service, Mosher …

Fbi National Stolen Art File: Lost Artifacts And Missing Data, Allison N. Arnold

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This data exploration project studies the FBI’s National Stolen Art File (NSAF). The NSAF is a repository for information on stolen artistic and cultural objects. By design, the objects in the NSAF should have distinguishing features and some monetary value, with a present minimum of $5,000 USD. As a public awareness tool, the objects in the NSAF should have a reasonable chance of being identified and potentially restituted in the future.

Using object data taken from the NSAF on August 25, 2024, my data exploration work includes a narrative of the data preparation process and a series of data visualizations. …

No Tech For Apartheid Memory: Oral Histories Of Google Worker Organizing, Zelda Montes

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The NOTA Google NYC Digital Memory Archive is a digital memory project centering the worker narrative in tech labor struggles in the wake of the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. Rooted in my dual experiences as a Google Software Engineer and a No Tech for Apartheid organizer, this capstone project, initially created in 2024, seeks to combat the silencing around the nature of labor organizing through expanding upon the existing archive to incorporate oral history testimonies of NOTA organizers (notechforapartheidmemory.com/interviews). After conducting 4 oral history interviews with former Google workers currently based in NYC, the videos were …

Regional Geography And Tuning Systems Of Traditional Georgian Folk Music, Alex Kutubidze

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The project focuses on the traditional folk music of Georgia, mapping the geographical distribution of singing traditions across the country’s historical regions. Because vocal traditions and stylistic features of Georgian folk music vary significantly across historical regions, the project highlights these differences for the audience, which might be interested in learning Georgian folk music, seeking a basic understanding of its structure, or planning to visit the country for cultural or educational purposes related to folk music.  In addition, this work examines the tonal organization of Georgian traditional music, drawing on recent ethnomusicological research. It engages with ongoing scholarly discussions regarding …

Culture And Its Discontents: Versions Of Matthew Arnold From The 1860s To The 1980s, Jarrett Moran

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Between the 1860s and the 1980s, the concept of culture articulated by Matthew Arnold provided a widespread and persistent language for making claims about who was ready for inclusion in British politics and identity and who was not yet ready or even incapable of being included. Scholarship on Arnoldian culture has often focused on presenting just one version of Arnold, whether as a cultural elitist, a progenitor of literary studies, or proponent of “doing away with classes.” This dissertation instead shows that Arnold’s concept of culture was so pervasive and persistent because he could be appropriated and redefined by people …