Digital Commons Network^™

Shape, Space And Typeface: Mapping Black Subjectivity Through Caribbean Aesthetics, Samantha Stephens

Master’s Theses

The Caribbean is frequently imagined and aestheticized by the image of the basin, which limits the way the region is confined in geographic and historic terms. By conceptualizing the poets as mapmakers, the collections by Kei Miller, Olive Senior, and M. NourbeSe Phillip reference the container of the basin but remediate it in poetic terms. The movement towards a distinctive lack of containment illustrates the dynamic literary and geographical operations of the Caribbean, linking typography and topography. Reading with a new lens, including digital resources that re-spatialize these poems, demonstrates the complexities that characterize the formation of these texts and …

Roald Dahl And The Construction Of Childhood: Writing The Child As Other, Madeline Spivey

The Oswald Review: An International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Criticism in the Discipline of English

No abstract provided.

Defoe’S Robinson Crusoe: “Maps,” Natural Law, And The Enemy, Ala Alryyes

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Syncretic Immersion: Tolkien’S Languages As History, Artifacts, And Meta-Narratives, Stewart Raymond Zdrojowy

Online Theses and Dissertations

J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth has been dissected and researched by philologists, medievalists, and literary theorists for decades. Though his work with languages (both historical and invented) has garnered attention over the past few decades, few scholars have looked at his languages in terms of their rhetorical functions within the narrative (as history), with the narrative (as artifacts), and without (as cultural participation). Mark Wolf’s theories on immersion is applied to Tolkien’s legendarium and illuminates his works as uniquely fixated in several modes of immersion at once. Narrative immersion is utilized to understand Tolkien’s works as a furthering of cultural values, languages, …

A Socioeconomic Analysis Of Francophone And Anglophone West Africa, Jackson Gagne

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project seeks to examine and analyze the socioeconomic performances of four West-African countries; two from Francophone (French-speaking) West Africa and two from Anglophone (English-speaking) West Africa. It will tackle questions such as:

• What is the current socioeconomic condition of countries in this region?
• Which country is most suitable for investment?
• Is there a marked difference between the Francophone and Anglophone countries of West Africa?

And many more.

Speculative Satire In Twentieth-Century Utopia And Dystopia, Benjamin Craig Parker

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This study integrates the literature and correspondence of such Inklings authors as C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien into the arc of Commonwealth utopian and dystopian literature of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Because utopian authors such as Samuel Butler, William Morris, and H. G. Wells employ the utopian form pioneered by Thomas More but largely abandon More’s Augustinian Catholic view of human nature, their works frequently fail to address the impediments to justice and equity that More satirically addresses in Utopia. Thus, the speculative fiction of later Augustinian Christian authors such as Lewis and Tolkien complements …

This, My Breath, Suzette Louise Mack

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This, My Breath, is a creative collection of memories gathered along the seasons in my life-mostly from my formative years. The stories highlight the patient, unconditional love my parents shared, and the way it has influenced me throughout my life. The stories are about life, love, loss, a yearning to belong, and a longing to be both interdependent and independent.

In my family of origin, it was the simple rhythms established through daily life and the honoring of traditions that inspired the deepest meaning, purpose, and hope. The seasons of the year brought my family alive with a flow of …

The Digital Literacy Practices Of Transfronterizx Esol College Students: Los De Esol, Laura E. Mendoza

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation aims to contribute knowledge to the literature about ESOL students' digital literacy practices related to educational purposes. I studied the varied digital literacy practices the students used as mediating tools to perform their university activities (e.g., crossing to come to school, communicate with classmates/instructors about assignments, completing assignments). This study takes place on the U.S. side of the borderland area of El Paso, Texas-Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. The participants were 43 transfronterizx ESOL college students, who were young adults between 18-25 years of age enrolled in the ESOL program at Sun University. I draw on ethnographic and netnographic …

Imagined Communities: The Individual And The Nation In Aw's Map Of The Invisible World And Rushdie's Midnight's Children, Yu Chia Chang

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This thesis focuses on the relationship between the individual and the nation in Tash Aw’s Map of the Invisible Worldand Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children. Incorporated Benedict Anderson’s theory of “imagined communities” into the reading of both of the novels, this thesis discusses the limitation of nationalism and the imagination of individuals, aiming to show that it is the diversity of a nation that turns the stagnant imagined communities into fluid imagining communities.

Holy Estrangement: The Poetics Of Estrangement In John Donne's Divine Poems And Sermons, Anton Bergstrom

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation examines literary estrangement, that is the act and effect of making the familiar strange in a literary work, in the religious poems and sermons of the poet-preacher John Donne (1572–1631). My study uncovers and explores what Donne "estranges," how he achieves this, and for what purpose, as well as the practices and modes of thinking that shaped his poetics. In Donne's religious verse and prose, making the familiar and traditional tropes, images, doctrines, and events of Christianity strange forms active readers and revitalizes those elements, imbuing them with newfound interest, significance, and affective power.

My study offers a …

Flora Annie Steel: The Walter Scott Of The Punjab?, Juliet Shields

Studies in Scottish Literature

Suggests that Flora Ann Steel Steel’s late Victorian historical novels about India, usually discussed in terms of gender, race, or postcolonial criticism, are more usefully compared to Walter Scott than to Rudyard Kipling, arguing that Steel's novels, like Scott’s about Scotland, formalize an understanding of historical change that derives from the Scottish Enlightenment.

Knowledge Networks: Contested Geographies In The History Of Mary Prince, Leah M. Thomas

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

The History of Mary Prince, a West-Indian Slave, Related by Herself (1831) is the first published woman’s slave narrative. In her History, Prince describes horrendous physical violence to which she and other enslaved peoples of African descent are subjected as well as the corresponding psychological and sexual abuse they endure. While Prince “speaks” the sexual abuse to some extent, how she knows what she knows goes unspoken. She expresses her knowledge of reading and writing and, at times, of the law, but she does not explain how she obtains this knowledge or knows what she knows. Her optimism to …

The Importance Of The Physical: Lucille Clifton's Poetry About Bodies, Kaitlin Hoelzer

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

No abstract provided.

Motherhood And The Periodical Press: The Myth And The Medium, Susan A. Malcom

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In this study, I utilize close readings of the periodically published works of three women writers – Kate Chopin, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and Elia Peattie –through the lenses of historical/biographical, affective, and biosocial theories. Examining these works against the backdrop of America’s mythologized mother exposes the social ubiquity of the myth and the realities of motherhood nineteenth-century women experienced.

Chapter one examines the mythological nature of American motherhood as it evolved from a politically and socially nuanced Republican Mother and the role of American periodicals as a medium of perpetuating that myth. Historically, American motherhood was an extended function …

The Gendering Of Death Personifications In Literary Modernism: The Femme Fatale Symbol From Baudelaire To Barnes, Amanda Mcnally

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The time of modernity, defined here as 1850-1940, contributed to massive changes in the representation of the feminine in literature. Societal paradigm shifts due to industrialism, advances in science, psychology, and a newfound push for gender equality brought transformation to the Western World. As a result of this, male frustrations revived the ancient trope of the femme fatale, but the modern woman—already hungry for agency, tired of maligned representation in heinous portrayals of skeletons, sirens, and beasts—saw a symbol begging for redemption rather than the intended insult. Women of the nineteenth century infused texture to a two-dimensional accusation that argued …

Contributors To Ssl 45.1

Studies in Scottish Literature

No abstract provided.

Revisiting Missions: Decolonizing Public Memories In California, Brenda M. Helmbrecht

English

Living in California seems to require interaction with the state’s twenty-one historic Spanish missions, either by visiting them as a tourist, driving by a mission in one’s neighborhood, or learning about them as a schoolchild. While the missions ostensibly celebrate California’s history, many promote an anachronistic and dishonest re-telling of history that elides the devastating impact of the missions on Native communities (both historically and today). The missions operate as largely uncontested tourist attractions that promote self-serving collective memories about California’s founding narrative. Rhetorical analysis, I argue, can lead to a more honest engagement with the “hard truths” of their …

Na’Hjening’E’S Rivers Indigenous Maps, Diplomacy, And The Writing Of Ioway Space, Frank Kelderman

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

This essay examines an indigenous map (1837) of the Missouri and Mississippi river valleys, which offers an alternative to the territorial mappings of US empire in the era of Indian removal. The map was presented by the Ioway delegate Na’hjeNing’e during an intertribal treaty council in Washington in 1837 and depicts the Ioway Nation’s historical occupation of large areas in the Mississippi River Valley. Although the American treaty commissioners ultimately dismissed the map's historical argument and the Ioway's claims, its visual presentation of rivers and indigenous migrations routes marked an alternative to US territorial mappings of Indian country. Understanding the …

Poem No. 122, November 2019, Huntsville Literary Association (Huntsvile, Ala.)

POEM

The Huntsville Literary Association was founded in 1967 to provide a community for writers, readers, and artists through workshops, readings, and educational programs. One of their key contributions is the literary magazine titled POEM which showcases original writings from both established and emerging writers. This issue features poems from various writers.

“Donning The Skins”: The Problem Of Shapeshifting In The Saga Of The Volsungs, David Mudrak

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

“Fafnir became so ill-natured that he set out for the wilds and allowed no one to enjoy the treasure but himself. He has since become the most evil serpent and lies now upon his hoard” (Byock 59). Regin, recounting the tale of his brother’s transformation to Sigurd, describes an act of shapeshifting, a magical transformation of one’s body. While many scholars of Icelandic sagas focus their attention on the family sagas because of the clear message they provide for the Icelandic society, the magical elements of the mythical sagas also offer insight into the cultural workings of that people. In …

Blowing The Morte: The Rites Of Manhood In William Rayner's Stag Boy, Christophe Van Eecke

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

William Rayner’s young adult novel Stag Boy (1972) is often discussed in surveys of children’s literature as a classic title, but it has received little probing critical attention. This article argues that the novel uses its narrative of a boy’s psychic association with a giant stag as an allegory for the transition from boyhood into manhood. In a detailed close reading of the novel, and following the model of the love chase of medieval romance, it is shown how the author borrows key elements from folklore (the shaming ritual of the stag hunt), myth (Herne the Hunter), and quest romances …

An Unexpected Poet: The Creative Works Of Dr. Robert E. Havard, Sarah B. O'Dell

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Despite the incredible wealth of Inklings scholarship, little critical attention has been paid to the lesser-known members of the circle, including physician and writer Robert E. Havard (1901—1985). Dr. Havard has been noted as a “skilled and prolific writer” (Glyer 12) who was “well-read and keenly interested in the processes of literature and in theology” (Sayer 151). Yet, Inklings scholarship has long been limited to his appendix to Lewis’s The Problem of Pain and several memoirs on fellow Inklings. When asked regarding his own writing during a 1984 interview with Lyle W. Dorsett, Havard remarked that “I have never written …

Cal Poly Frankenreads: An All-Day Public Reading Of Mary Shelly’S Frankenstein, Robert E. Kennedy Library

Creative Works

Celebrating the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, the Cal Poly English Department and Kennedy Library organized a series of interdisciplinary events including FrankenReads, an all-day public reading of the novel. Spanning twelve hours, members of the Cal Poly community from all colleges participated in the celebration by volunteering to read portions of Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.

This catalog is based on the celebration of events “FrankenFall” which took place on October 31, 2018 at the Robert E. Kennedy Library.

A Rumour Of Adventure: An Inkling Story, By Kees M. Paling. Reviewed By Ryder W. Miller., Ryder M. Miller

Mythprint Book Reviews

Mythprint is the quarterly bulletin of the Mythopoeic Society, a nonprofit educational organization devoted to the study, discussion, and enjoyment of myth and fantasy literature, especially the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Charles Williams. To promote these interests, the Society publishes three magazines, maintains a World Wide Web site, and sponsors the annual Mythopoeic Conference and awards for fiction and scholarship, as well as local discussion groups.

Disaster Documentation: The Impact Of Oregon’S Evolving Damage Assessment Methodology For Emergency Declarations, Henry Covey

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

This experience report focuses on the impact of Oregon’s evolving methodology for documenting and publishing data and information about damage from natural disasters and other emergencies. In tracing public damage assessment genre sets through organizational levels and user groups, the report (a) outlines the current processes by which data and information are generated and transferred and (b) connects the potential future damage assessment methodology to a larger paradigm shift in the state’s broader data-sharing approach.

Ellipsis In Iraqi Arabic: An Analysis Of Gapping, Sluicing, And Stripping, Saja Albuarabi

Purdue Linguistics, Literature, and Second Language Studies Conference

The purpose of this paper is to explore the syntax of ellipsis in Iraqi Arabic. The paper sheds light on three types of ellipsis in Arabic and English, namely: sluicing, gapping, and stripping and puts each of them in a comparison between Iraqi Arabic and English languages in addition to Arabic dialects. To the best of my knowledge, these elliptical structures have not been studied in Iraqi Arabic before. Therefore, this study offers the first description of these phenomena from a generative standpoint. The paper argues that the three types of ellipsis mentioned above can be the result of Phonological …

Developing Communicative Competence By Implementing Project Based-Learning In Esp Classes, Hayotkhon Shernazarova Teacher Of Western European Languages Department

Philology Matters

Higher education plays an important role indeveloping communicative skills of ESP learners. ESP is oriented towards mastering the skills for professional communication. However, most of the students find themselves incompetent in the course of their work. The article discusses the benefits of using a project work to history students to improve their speaking skills as well as professional communication. The topicality of the articleis determined by the fact that the projects proposed have not been actively introduced into curriculum designed for history students.
The article is aimed at analyzing the problems the teachers face in teaching process. It proposessix methods …

Architectural Rhetoric In Shakespeare And Spenser, Jennifer C. Vaught

Research in Medieval and Early Modern Culture

Jennifer C. Vaught illustrates how architectural rhetoric in Shakespeare and Spenser provides a bridge between the human body and mind and the nonhuman world of stone and timber. The recurring figure of the body as a besieged castle in Shakespeare’s drama and Spenser’s allegory reveals that their works are mutually based on medieval architectural allegories exemplified by the morality play The Castle of Perseverance. Intertextual and analogous connections between the generically hybrid works of Shakespeare and Spenser demonstrate how they conceived of individuals not in isolation from the physical environment but in profound relation to it. This book approaches …

Harlem And Abroad: Notes To An International 'Renaissance', Joshua I. Cohen

Publications and Research

Like other intractable figures of the Harlem Renaissance, the movement’s visual artists sometimes exceeded their expected parameters, and thus their anticipated representativeness of a locality. Their images, in other words, did not automatically disclose Harlem-bound or even US-bound concerns. Now familiar through continual reproduction in exhibition catalogues, scholarly monographs and literary compendia, certain artworks from the period – such as Archibald J. Motley’s Blues (1929; Figure 1) and Aaron Douglas’s Congo (c. 1928; Figure 2) – subverted any definition of the Harlem Renaissance that would hinge on a narrowly delimited urban geography or national imaginary. Motley, who painted ‘Blues’ during …

Through The Mouth: An Essay On Appetite And Ecocide, Iemanja Brown

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is an exploration of mourning and resilient joy in the midst of ecocide. Resisting the pervasive classification of the human as inherently destructive, I look to appetite as an aesthetic procedure that includes a material desire for intimacy with the more-than-human. My study considers the intersections of aesthetic production (primarily twentieth-century poetry and visual art), climate science, geology, cultural studies, theory within the contemporary nonhuman turn, and Alfred North Whitehead’s philosophy of organism. I employ an interdisciplinary approach, which helps me explore the various ways that literal and figurative appetite can be a way of sensing and exploring …