Digital Commons Network^™

Macau Noir: Criminal Brotherhoods, Casino Capitalism, And The Case Of The Post-Socialist Chinese Consumer, Tim Simpson

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

Facebook Killed The Reunion Star: How Facebook Is Changing Who We Are And What We Do, Sara Ridenour

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

All The Rage: Digital Bodies And Deadly Play In The Age Of The Suicide Bomber, Carolyn Guertin

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

The Claustropolitan Society: A Critical Perspective On The Impact Of Digital Technologies And The Lockdown Imaginary, Tara Brabazon, Stefan Lawrence

Fast Capitalism

The imperative of this article is to develop the trope of the ‘lockdown imaginary.’ To enact this project, a diverse array of theories and theorist are summoned, including the tropes and trajectories from Jean Baudrillard, Benedict Anderson, and Steve Redhead. This – seemingly – odd intellectual combination is both timely and appropriate. It is necessary – as with the Matryoshka Dolls – to commence with a theorization of hyperreality, then we crack open the concept to reveal theories of the imagined and imagining, concluding with the smallest and most brutalizing theoretical Dolls: claustropolitanism and foreclosure. From here, a (post) pandemic …

Ulama And Vision 2030: Saudi Arabia Government's Strategies To Navigate A Successful Economic Reform, Nashiha Ulya, Hamdan Basyar

Global: Jurnal Politik Internasional

Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 seeks to diversify its oil-dependent economy, but scepticism persists due to past reform failures, particularly in fiscal policy and labour markets. Ulama, as key figures in the Saudi "social contract," play a vital role in legitimising government policies, especially on social and religious matters. However, reforms promoting private sector growth and social liberalisation have raised concerns among conservative ulama over potential threats to Islamic values. To address this, the government under Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) employs a strategy of separating economic and religious narratives while using a "carrot and stick" approach to manage ulama opposition. This …

Illusions Of Fairness And Sacrifice, Brady Schwertfeger

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The American West is a shifting landscape. An incongruous expanse of isolation and urbanity, wilderness and extraction, wealth and welfare, clear water and fire. Fifteen years ago, I moved to my mother’s ancestral homeland of Montana, and have been here ever since. Before that, I was born and raised in Texas, both the West and the South (and often something else entirely), depending on who you ask. My experiences in this region have shaped me indelibly, and have inspired this collection of essays built around culture, politics, and justice in the West. “Pinedale, Wyoming” considers the musician as itinerant wanderer …

The Ones Who Watched: Technology, Proxy Warfare, And The Testing Ground Hypothesis, Sean J. Oliver

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Great powers need laboratories for war. This thesis argues that great powers find these laboratories in proxy forces. Proxy warfare is not just a tool for strategic influence. It is a machine for experimentation. This study posits a central testing-ground hypothesis. It contends that great powers deliberately use surrogates to vet emerging technologies, doctrines, and mobilization schemes under the pressure of real combat. The analytical methodology is historical. It traces patterns from the ancient world's proxy forces and the innovations of the Crusades to the Cold War and the digital age. The thesis examines enduring patterns, including the tension between …

Access To Water And Sanitation - Joni Full Issue December 2025, Erica Jensen, Angie Holzer

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

No abstract provided.

Performance As Political Resistance: Looking At Theatrical Approaches To Advocacy/Public Policy Through The Lens Of The Aids Crisis, Abby Campion

Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Dear Belvedere, Rabbya Naseer

International Dialogue

In this powerful open letter—originally delivered as a video message—artist Rabbya Naseer explains her decision to cancel her 2025 solo exhibition at Belvedere 21 after the museum refused to allow her proposed works addressing Palestine, colonialism, and contemporary violence. Framed as both personal testimony and institutional critique, the letter meditates on the ethics of waiting, perseverance (sabr), and the responsibility of artists amid geopolitical crisis. Naseer recounts months of stalled communication and escalating curatorial restrictions that ultimately rendered any engagement with the Israel–Palestine conflict “not possible.” Rejecting the museum’s demands for neutrality, depoliticization, and the substitution of existing …

Evaluating The Impact Of Policy In Theatre: The Influence Of Public & Political Policy On The Theatrical World, John Q. Rhodes

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In the second half of the twentieth century, there is distinct evidence to exhibit a direct correlation between daily occurrences and in matters of public policy. This paper serves to analyze the impact of U.S. public policy on theatrical practices. To provide a detailed and targeted analysis of the exponential impact public policy had upon the theatrical industry, this examination will look at theatre beginning in 1961 and will extend towards the current administration of President Donald Trump and is organized in ten-year segments. Each decade will be generalized for its direct or indirect changes that occurred within the period …

Earth’S Orbital Prison: Codifying Customary Law To Prevent Environmental Catastrophe In Space, Jacob Cook

Space and Defense

This article argues that the accelerating proliferation of space debris in low Earth orbit (LEO) poses an existential threat to the sustainability of the orbital environment—one comparable in strategic gravity to nuclear deterrence during the Cold War. Drawing on liberal internationalist theory and the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), the paper asserts that deliberate satellite destruction through anti-satellite (ASAT) testing and negligent debris generation risk triggering a self-sustaining cascade of collisions known as the Kessler Syndrome. Existing treaties, including the Outer Space Treaty and the Artemis Accords, lack enforceable mechanisms to prevent such catastrophic harm. To fill this …

Investigating The Relationship Between Noun Classes And Plant Folk Taxonomy In Chasu Language Of Kilimanjaro Region In Tanzania, Peter Rabson Mziray

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The current study investigates the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu (G 22). The study focuses on two objectives: the first objective is to describe the plant folk taxonomy in Chasu and the second objective is to determine the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu. Data were collected from rural villages in Same and Mwanga districts by using free listing, field interviews (jungle-walk-and-identify), and written texts containing Chasu plant names. The findings reveal that Chasu folk taxonomy reflects different ethnobotanical categories; including a unique beginner which is mmea/mimea ‘plant(s)’, and three life …

How Civil Society Organizations Build Resilience In The Face Of Financial And Political Pressures: Lessons From Czechia, Hungary, And Bulgaria, Merrill Sovner

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

How are some civil society organizations (CSOs) able to pivot and innovate in the face of political hostility and funding withdrawal, while others shrink or become inactive? It posits that it’s not just the external environment, funding, or degree of political pressure, but attributes intrinsic to each CSO that narrows the range of possible responses. It is based on sample of CSOs in Czechia, Hungary and Bulgaria that faced political pressures and funding withdrawal between 2010 and 2019. CSOs responded in three ways: reduced staff and expenditures, replaced lost funding while operating in a similar way, or reframed their work, …

Review Of: The Mistake: A New Play About Hiroshima, Rosemarie Pace Ed.D.

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Enhancing Peacebuilding For Integral Human Development: Caritas Good Practices And Lessons Learnt, - Caritas Internationalis

The Journal of Social Encounters

Today’s geopolitical context, with big powers choosing bilateralism over multilateralism, is fostering a proliferation of conflicts and violence throughout the globe. The Caritas Confederation has been working actively for peacebuilding for decades, especially since the Rwanda genocide in 1994. Indeed, there is a growing consensus within the Confederation supporting the urgent need to enhance peacebuilding efforts globally. This document explores best practices and lessons learnt, with a strategic focus on the importance of involving women in peacebuilding. Each best practice is illustrated by one or two projects implemented by Caritas Member Organisations.

The Origins Of The Pax Christi International Movement: The Pax Christi In Regno Christi Crusade, François Mabille

The Journal of Social Encounters

The Pax Christi movement was created in 1944 by a French laywoman. Its original name was "crusade of prayers for the conversion of Germany", the term crusade referring to a very specific political and religious imagination, marked in particular by the intransigent Catholicism of the beginning of the 20th century and by a specious analysis of the origins of the Nazism. This article, resulting from a thesis devoted to the history of the movement from 1944 to 1983, reviews the genesis of Pax Christi, and its evolution during the first 5 years of its existence, from a "crusade of prayers" …

The Fragrance Muse: Musk As A Symbolic Tapestry In Classical Persian Poetry, Akbar Shirini, Shen Xudong, Zhao Dan

Comparative Civilizations Review

This paper explores the symbolic representation of musk in classical Persian poetry, uncovering its role as a multifaceted emblem of Iranian cultural identity and human experience. Drawing on a qualitative analysis of primary texts from the Ganjoor archive and secondary sources, the study traces musk’s historical significance across China, Iran, and Islamic world. In China, musk is prized for its rarity, medicinal properties, and metaphysical roles; in Iran, it intertwines with mythology, Zoroastrian cosmology, and trade; in Islamic contexts, it holds commercial and therapeutic value, cherished by figures like Mohammad. Within Persian poetry, musk transcends its material origins, symbolizing blackness …

E. Assignment Four: Scopes Trial History Lesson & Class Activities, Frankie Nicole Weaver

Frankie Nicole Weaver, Comparative Twentieth Century South African and United States Civil Rights and Voting Rights Histories

Build on introductory context and engage with themes tied to the 1925 Scopes trial, particularly highlighting public discourse and civic engagement in culture and politics, TN law and state judicial proceedings, science and technology, religion and Christianity in the US, notions of evolution and human evolution, public education, journalism and media, national politics or political ideologies, and US Constitutional liberties of speech, press, and religion.

F. Assignment Five: Scopes Trial Creative Assignment, Frankie Nicole Weaver

Frankie Nicole Weaver, Comparative Twentieth Century South African and United States Civil Rights and Voting Rights Histories

This creative assignment encourages students to reflect on independent exploration, class group learning, discussions, and to use research to think critically and to present their ideas in a 5-6-page essay. Students will also think like educators and create 8-10 PowerPoint slides.

D. Assignment Three: Scopes Trial Introductory Assigned Activities: Learning From Tennessee’S Scopes Trial 100 Years Later, Frankie Nicole Weaver

Frankie Nicole Weaver, Comparative Twentieth Century South African and United States Civil Rights and Voting Rights Histories

This assignment encourages students to engage actively with scaffolded pre-learning necessary for the Scopes Trial unit. Students are introduced to the history of the 1925 Scopes Trial and the folk history connected to Inherit the Wind, in its various forms.

Subsidiarity In The Shadow Of Sovereignty, Loren King

Political Science Faculty Publications

Subsidiarity frustrates. It admits of clear articulation as an ideal (‘vest authority as close as feasible to those most affected’) but then invites conflicting interpretations and elaborations. As a workable principle, subsidiarity seems to founder exactly when we need it: when we ask what, precisely, that principle regulates. As a regulative moral precept, subsidiarity promises a politics sensitive to diverse needs and responsive to local knowledge, yet in practice any implementation of the ideal pulls us back toward an authoritative center to regulate disputes and coordinate all of this local wisdom. I love subsidiarity for these frustrations and ambiguities. In …

Same But Different: The Survivability Of Arctic-Based Russian Second-Strike Capability, July Decarpentrie

Space and Defense

This article analyzes the survivability of Russia’s second-strike capability in the Arctic through the lens of classical nuclear deterrence theory. Despite heavy commitments in Ukraine, Moscow continues to modernize its Northern Fleet and reinforce bastion defenses, underscoring the Arctic’s role as the cornerstone of its retaliatory deterrent. While these strategies mirror Cold War practices, they face unprecedented challenges from NATO expansion, multipolar competition, and advances in anti-submarine detection technologies. The study concludes that safeguarding Russia’s second-strike capability not only shapes regional security dynamics but also has broader implications for global strategic stability.

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Defending The Golden Fleece: A Study Of Disruption And Resilience In The Movement To Defund Public Libraries In Louisiana, Ciel Lane Quebedeaux

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In this moment of societal change and institutional capture, public educational institutions have become sites of contention where national ideological and political debates are carried out in local school and library board meetings across the country. In Louisiana, the creation and expansion of a statewide conservative organization has led to the defunding of public libraries sparked by accusations of grooming and inappropriate programming. In response, local library defenders have created another statewide organization to share information and organizing strategies to combat disinformation campaigns propagated by conservative organizers at local and state levels. This qualitative study includes in-depth interviews with library …

Living Heritage, Resilience And Ethically Informed Infrastructures In Malawi, Martha B. Lerski, Frank Puluputu Mwale

Publications and Research

Rooted in a rural community’s needs, this paper explores how historically, and ethically informed infrastructures can support community engagement towards identification, documentation, and dissemination of local, traditional, and indigenous knowledge relating to climate change. The paper examines climate adaptation and sustainability issues through the lenses of community organizing and Library & Information Science best practices. It draws on a growing body of literature identifying a role for expanded epistemological and subject discipline perspectives. While the impacts of climate on material culture are increasingly recognized, intangible, and biocultural heritage have not received as much attention. Living heritage traditions and knowledge systems …

America First: Make Nato Great Again, Matthew Thomas Becker

Faculty and Student Publications

This guest editorial appeared in multiple venues:

1. The Clarion Ledger (online: 7/8/2025, print: 7/13/2025)
2. The Commercial Dispatch (6/26/2025)
3. Hattiesburg American (7/8/2025)
4. Magnolia Tribune (7/1/2025)
5. USA Today (7/8/2025)
6. Press Reader (7/13/2025)

A Tragedy Of Incommensurability: Indigenous Rights And The Limits Of Human Rights Law, Zeina Ali

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the tragedy of incommensurability between indigenous rights and international human rights law. Despite the emergence of frameworks like the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), indigenous calls for sovereignty remain fundamentally unintelligible within a liberal order structured to preserve settler-state legitimacy. Tracing the historical and theoretical evolution of indigenous advocacy, this study critiques the strategic shift from demands for self-determination to claims of cultural rights. It argues that this shift offers no real alternative: self-determination and cultural rights are functionally equivalent, as both are ultimately filtered through legal and political frameworks that cannot …

Cultural Ecologies And Local Policies: A Comparative Analysis, Alexis M. Gonzalez

University Honors Theses

In recent years, the role of arts and culture in economic development, community outreach, and local government has become focused on as a field of study. However, this is a new field of academic study, and there have not been many systematic comparative analyses of the role of arts and culture at the local level. Indeed, there is limited information at the state and federal level as well. Historically undervalued and underrepresented, yet with a streak of elitism involved, arts and culture is now being looked at as a major economic driver and social connector by policymakers at all levels …

Does Shakespeare Have A Death Wish?, Alyssa Marie Cordero

COD Library Student Research and Award Symposium

During their reign, both King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I were ruthless in persecuting and executing those who publicly and privately challenged their legitimacy - such opposition was seen not only as treason to the British monarchy but as defiance of the divine will of God. Violence, bloodshed, and cruelty were a norm and custom in Tudor England. Although he began his career catering to the audiences' bloodthirsty appetite, William Shakespeare wrote his later plays exploring the human psyche, the gendered experiences of women, and subtle political criticisms. With the looming threat of tyranny in Julius Caesar to the …

Anglophone Cameroon In Search Of Identity: Obstacles And Prospects, Tangie Nsoh Fonchingong

Journal of African Policy Studies

The former British Southern Cameroons opted in a UN organised plebiscite in 1961 to unify with La Republique du Cameroun to form a federation of two states that were said to be on a footing of equality. But contrary to declarations and expectations, the federation was not one of equal states. It was instead a veiled preparatory stage for the total assimilation of the Southern Cameroons into the highly centralised La Republique du Cameroun francophone unitary state. Through a number of assimilation stages, the Southern Cameroons has lost its autonomy to La Republique du Cameroun, its people marginalised, institutions destroyed, …