Digital Commons Network^™

Cuny In The News: A History Of Reporting On The Humanities At The City University Of New York, Jacqueline R. Cahill

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project compiles newspaper articles concerning humanities at the City University of New York, placing them on a timeline to establish patterns and changes within media reporting and public perception. The archival research of this project explores four distinct eras, grouped around major events in the history of the university: 1961-1971, for the founding of the university and open admissions struggle; 1980-1990, for the response to the ‘70s fiscal crisis and introduction of the Board of Trustees; 2000-2010 for the post-open admissions era and the centralization of CUNY; and 2020-present, for COVID and a new fight for racial equity. Examining …

Beyond Country: Southern Language And Identity In North Mississippi, Meredith Hilliard

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is about the language of the US South and the identities of the people who inhabit it. Its purpose is twofold: (1) to explain, on micro- and macro-levels, the processes of enregisterment (Agha 2003) of Southern US English, drawing conclusions about the phenomenon of enregisterment more generally; and (2) to articulate the relationship of Southern redneck identity to this process of enregisterment. It uses a mixed-methods approach that relies primarily on a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) methodology, adopting a stancetaking approach (Du Bois 2007) and an enregisterment approach to language and identity, with some quantitative elements, to analyze …

Vital Signs: Tibetan In The Linguistic Landscape Of Jackson Heights, Olivia Mignone

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation critically examines neoliberal discourses of diversity surrounding the neighborhood of Jackson Heights in Queens, New York through a study of Tibetan in the linguistic landscape (LL). Neoliberal discourses of diversity view linguistic and cultural pluralism through a consumerist lens, centering the market value of minoritized languages and cultures and how they can be leveraged for economic benefit. Focusing on an exploration of Tibetan (in)visibility and hybridity in public spaces, this study contributes a view of diversity that is grounded in lived experiences and reflected in the linguistic and cultural exchanges of the Tibetan refugee population with other groups …

The Reimagined Past: Investigating Generational Trauma Through Visual Semiotics And Visual Autoethnography Of Recreated Family Photographs, Josephine A. Barnett

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Family photographs, and particularly the curation of family photo albums, serve as a source of data, providing researchers with the opportunity to illustrate the role of the visual in reproducing certain social norms and ideals by dictating the depiction or representation of specific types of families and experiences. Arguably, what is left outside the frame of a photograph is more revealing about familial norms, memory, and narrative than what is deliberately captured within it (Hirsch, 1997a; Kuhn, 2002a). In other words, the hegemony and standardization of family photos shed light on the need for an alternative visual narrative that depicts …

Individual, Social, And Environmental Factors Associated With Patterns Of Parasitic Infection In Capuchin Monkeys (Cebus Imitator), Megan C. Henriquez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Parasites, and the infectious diseases they carry, are thought to have significantly impacted our evolutionary trajectory for millennia. Exploring how parasites are acquired and transmitted by their hosts in wild, natural populations is integral to understanding how similar processes may have shaped host-parasite co-evolutionary relationships over time. However, parasitological studies in humans and in non-human primates have produced inconsistent results, highlighting the dynamic, nuanced, and unique relationships individual parasites have with their hosts. These relationships are largely regulated by variation in factors at host, social, and environmental levels. Characteristics unique to the host (e.g., age and sex), factors pertaining to …

Decoding The Plant Metabolome: A Metabolomics Approach To Guereza (Colobus Guereza) Feeding Ecology In Kibale National Park, Uganda, Emma Grace Thurau

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Plant metabolites, an elusive and diverse group of plant chemicals, represent a complex chemical interplay between plants and herbivores. Plants contain essential nutrients necessary for herbivore survival, yet herbivore consumption results in negative fitness consequences to a plant. This relationship has triggered a coevolutionary arms race in which plants have evolved chemical defenses to prevent herbivore consumption and herbivores, in response, have evolved their own counter-adaptations. This arms race has led to the diverse numbers of herbivores and plants observed today; therefore, these plant metabolites act as a signature of evolution through their influence on herbivore adaptations. Plant metabolites are …

Issues Of Religious Dominance: The Temple Mount/Haram Al-Sharif And The Western Wall At The Center Of Islam, Judaism, And Failing British Mandatory Responses (1917-1931), Kyra Young

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper explores how religious space and symbolism became central to Arab and Jewish nationalist identities in Mandatory Palestine, focusing on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif and the Western Wall during the transition from Ottoman to British rule. It argues that the collapse of Ottoman sovereignty, alongside British support for a Jewish national home, transformed Islamic institutions into arenas for political expression. Muslim notables, particularly the Husayni family, strategically engaged with British colonial notions of “tradition” to reassert influence, exemplified by the politicization of the Nebi Musa festival. At the same time, Zionism—both political secular and religious—began to attach renewed …

Power Asymmetry Dynamics: Assessing Interdependence In France-Cameroon Relations Through Economic And Security Cooperation (2000–2024), Chick Edmond

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

This paper examines the dynamics of power asymmetry in the interdependent relationship between Cameroon and France from 2000 – 2024 with a focus on security and economic cooperation. The main research question asks: To what extent has power asymmetry reinforced or mitigated the interdependent relationship between Cameroon and France within the realm of economic and security cooperation? Based on the hypothesis that increased interdependence between these two states during this period has strengthened existing power disparity. The paper examines how such dynamics have restrained Cameroon’s autonomy and its capacity to pursue policy goals.

The theoretical framework combines dependency theory, postcolonial …

The Stream Of Life, Yitao Yuan

Masters Theses

The repetitive engagement with technological objects erases the depth of emotion by creating habits that bypass embodied and erotic pleasures and lead to a de-sexualized form of technology fetishism. The stimuli produced by machines that humans engage with are not able to convey the strength of intimacy between humans. Such virtual stimuli as the words and images produced and mediated through modern machines continuously shape conscious perception. This thesis book is split into two sections: a theoretical text and a series of images and explanations about my installation practice and process. They both seek to investigate the intersection of human …

The Navel Of The Dream, Ella C. Baum

Masters Theses

The images in The Navel of the Dream evoke a state of groundlessness. In this body of work, photographs act as thresholds between what is seen and what is felt, between daydreams and nightmares, and memories and myths. The camera is used as a means to engage with feelings of loss, and reenact the mythos of childhood, as well as the deep waters of the subconscious.

Created in Southern Sweden between 2022 and 2025, these photographs investigate the fallow winter landscape, the liminal space of deep, dark Scandinavian nights and the transformative qualities of ice, snow and …

The Sound Of Music: Why Do Humans Find Enrichment In Music While Non-Human Primates Do Not?, Sonetta Im Ty

Honors Projects

Music has been observed as an effective enrichment for captive animals across multiple species. However, studies have shown that it is ineffective for promoting welfare in non-human primates (Suborder Haplorhini). These findings were unexpected, given the evolutionary roots shared between humans and non-human primates. This paper addresses several possibilities for this observation, including differences in ear anatomy, brain structure, and music perception between humans and non-human primates.

Faith In Conflict: The Role Of Religion In Conflict And Peacebuilding Among Minority Christian Communities In Ukraine And Palestine, Julia Lats

Honors Projects

Religion has long influenced both the escalation of conflicts and efforts toward peace. The wars in Ukraine and Palestine are deeply rooted in historical narratives, national identities, and religious influences. While the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is often framed in terms of Jewish-Muslim tensions and the issue of politicization of religion and tensions within the Orthodox Church frame the Ukrainian-Russian War, these dominant narratives often overlook the role of minority religious groups. This paper examines the contributions of Protestant Christian groups in these regions, exploring how their beliefs and practices influence their actions, identity formation, interactions with others, and approaches to conflict …

Naming People, Making Bodies: Reflections On Tukano Onomastics, Geraldo Andrello

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

This article discusses the topic of names and naming among Amerindian peoples, in particular among Tukano speakers on the Uaupés River, northwestern Amazon. After reviewing the analytical contrast between endonyms and exonyms (i.e., internal transmission of names taken from ancestors versus the capture of names from extra-human sources), I explore endonymic systems through an examination of differences between the Jê and Tukano, considered to be exemplary cases of this naming regime. The Tukano case, explored in more depth towards the end of the article, provides elements that indicate an articulation between both regimes as well as a complex dynamic between …

Gentes Y Maneras De Hablar En El Río Apaporis (Colombia): El Caso De Yauna, Tanimuca Y Letuama, Ana María Ospina-Bozzi, Joan Sebastián Gutiérrez Rodríguez

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

El artículo ofrece una perspectiva histórica y lingüística sobre las relaciones entre las lenguas y pueblos conocidos como Yauna, Tanimuca y Letuama, enfocándose en el origen y significado de estos glosónimos y etnónimos. Hacemos un recorrido por el conocimiento académico sobre ellos y lo enriquecemos con el relato indígena de su historia sociolingüística, sus autodenominaciones y las denominaciones externas. Así, el artículo contribuye al desarrollo de una aproximación históricamente informada sobre los marcos de interpretación y categorización que se han consolidado para la comprensión académica del área cultural y lingüística del Noroeste Amazónico (o Gran Vaupés). Del mismo modo, ofrecemos …

Relatos Corporales Con Ajustes Epistémicos De Cuando Un Cuerpo Humano Se Transformaba En Bufeo En El Río Napo, Nehemías Pino

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

Es inusual ver a un ser humano transformándose en delfín y mucho menos lo es el tener una conversación con este en el proceso. Este texto explora el momento de una transformación corporal en la Amazonía peruana desde una experiencia etnográfica en la que divergentes aproximaciones ontológicas contribuyeron a definir un espacio en un bosque de naturalezas múltiples. Mi reflexión se construye alrededor de una tímida, silenciosa y no menos común pregunta de si algunas transformaciones corporales u otras experiencias sensoriales durante labores etnográficas son reales o no. Sin pretender un ejercicio analítico sobre el cuerpo en el bosque …

Do Myths Ever Die? Social-Cultural Changes And Mythical Transformations In Indigenous Amazonia: A Dialogue With Peter Gow, Aparecida M. N. Vilaça

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

This is the first Peter Gow Memorial Lecture, given at the University of St Andrews in February 2024. Based on the analysis of different versions of Wari’ myths (Rondônia, Brazil) collected over forty years, the paper has two central objectives. The first is to engage with Peter Gow’s analysis of the mythical transformations resulting from the historical changes experienced by the Piro/Yine Indigenous people of Peru. The second is to discuss Lévi-Strauss’s suggestion that a myth can “die” after successive transformations, exhausting itself, taking the form of romantic tale or legendary tradition.

An X-Ray Of Mẽbêngôkre Houses In Terms Of Matrimonial Alliance, Vanessa R. Lea, Leandro Mahalem De Lima

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

This article examines the matrimonial implications of the Houses, or matrihouses, of the Mẽtyktire subgroup of the Mẽbêngôkre (Kayapó-Jê) with the assistance of Puck (Program for the Use and Computation of Kinship Data) and Pajek software. In accordance with the greater legibility of graphics, statistical results have been converted into graphics whenever possible. The analysis is based on a revised version of a dataset spanning the years 1978 to 1982 and published on the site Kinsources. What began as a village census later morphed into genealogies, which served as the basis for the digital dataset. The matrihouses …

Ser Nhande’I Va’E, Da Concepção Aos Primeiros Passos: Uma Abordagem Etnográfica Sobre A Permanência, O Movimento E A Palavra, Maria Inês Ladeira

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

O evento do nascimento, assim como os ritos de passagem, são temas recorrentes na literatura etnográfica, com destaque aos resguardos, condutas e preceitos. Neste artigo, ao versar sobre o ato de nascer, refiro-me a alguns princípios referenciados na cosmologia guarani, na qual esse acontecimento é também um marcador – marco espaço/temporal – dos lugares habitados – isto é, ação de territorialização. Determinadas condutas pré e pós-parto são fundamentais para os Guarani Mbya e os Ava Guarani se socializarem com os demais viventes nas matas/terras que conformam seu território (Yvyrupa). A partir desse prisma, ressalto algumas propriedades e combinações …

Enactive Narrativities: Rubber-Times Historicity And Indigenous Media In Peruvian Amazonia, Gabriel Torrealba Alfonzo

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

This article analyzes the intersection between historicity and politics expressed in Kukama media-making practices. It examines the political and enactive dimensions involved in the Indigenous mediatization of rubber-era narratives in Peruvian Amazonia. I focus on the case of Radio Ucamara, a Kukama radio station from the Peruvian town of Nauta, and the ways in which they confront private and state powers through the production of digital and non-digital media. I specifically analyze Indigenous media-makers’ instrumentalizations of rubber-times narrativity by virtue of aesthetic mastery. Radio Ucamara media relies on a polyphonic strategy that encapsulates both narrative and meta-narrative discourses aimed to …

Outras Antropologias E Seus Desafios Cosmopolíticos: Reflexividades Indígenas, João Paulo Barreto

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

Este texto é resultado “Dueto”/keynote com Tânia Stolze Lima do Congresso da Salsa em Letícia, intitulado: “Outras antropologias e os seus desafios cosmopolíticos”, proferida no dia 29 de novembro de 2023, onde propõe uma reflexão sobre os desafios enfrentados pelos estudantes indígenas no campo da Antropologia, especialmente no contexto universitário de pós-graduação. Como também discute os limites e tensões entre o pensamento indígena e a lógica ocidental acadêmica, marcada pela pretensão de universalidade e pela classificação redutora dos conhecimentos dos povos indígenas. Coloca-se em pauta a desconstrução dos corpos e pensamentos que os indígenas são submetidos ao adentrar na universidade, …

Baniwa Speculative Kinship, João Vianna

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

This article discusses the dynamics of Indigenous kinship in the Amazon, based on the autobiographical narrative of Mr. Júlio Cardoso, a ninety-year-old man of the Baniwa people. From his account, I develop an ethnographic discussion on the Baniwa, speakers of an Arawak language and inhabitants of the Upper Rio Negro, with a particular focus on the relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. Júlio’s life is highlighted due to his extended period living with patrões from the regional aviamento system between the 1950s and 1970s. One of Júlio’s most recurrent formulations regarding these non-Indigenous bosses is that they were “as if” …

Problematizing A Hegemonic English: An Assessment Of Language Use And Diversity In A Nation Of Immigrant Communities, Charlotte Choat

Honors Projects

The increasing development of language diglossia between global English and local languages around the world raises questions of how the American linguistic character will react. In a culture defined by its lack of ethnolinguistic definition, can language localization occur? A study of language development in America requires a historical assessment of language contact, discourse, and dominance. The present state of American English is not the natural result or authentic representation of America’s population, but the outcome of language restrictionism and resource disparity enforced on many ethnolinguistic groups throughout American history. In the modern era of intensified immigration, ethnolinguistic diversity is …

Sociology: Culture, Marcia Morrison

Open Educational Resources

This work examine culture. It begins by examining the foundations of culture to include norms, values, language, symbols and knowledge. In looking at each, it breaks down the implication of each to the development of ourselves as well as the person in the environment. It moves on to look at contexts of culture such as dominant cultures juxtapose to competing cultural systems, and how the various elements of culture can serve to either promote or minimize the various cultural constructs within society.

Anita’S Plight: Challenging Low Expectations For A Black Girl In A Montreal High School, Lerona Dana Lewis Dr.

The Qualitative Report

In this paper, I examine how a Black adolescent girl in a Montreal high school contests low teacher expectations that resulted in her being directed to a vocational program (Formation à un métier semi-spécialisé, FMS) in her high school. The FMS program prepares children for entry-level careers, defined in the Quebec curriculum as semi-skilled jobs. I (re)present her account in the form of a narrative found poem that explores how the use of found poetry as a heuristic device improves understanding of the school practices impacting the student’s placement in the FMS program. The found poem offers a critical reading …

Ib-Adat, Anum Naseer

Masters Theses

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The Red Thread: Objects As Medium, Hsin-Ning Alin Yang

Masters Theses

There are moments when people hesitate to speak their emotions or needs
—whether it’s love that feels too shy to articulate, needs that risk sounding too forceful, or feelings too vague to verbalize. By shifting the priority of emotion and communication factor ahead of pure functionality, this thesis posits that objects can serve as an alternative medium of communication.

This thesis begins by examining the root causes of communication difficulties and the coping strategies people use, ultimately identifying five situations in which objects can effectively substitute for verbal interaction. Building on these categories, the thesis explores how an object’s features, …

The Power Of Storytelling: Creatively Facilitating Conceptual Change In The Classroom, Mackenzie S. Rose, Marcus Johnson

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

Conceptual knowledge encompasses understanding the interrelationships among multiple pieces of information. Misconceptions of these interrelationships illustrate the need for effective educational strategies to facilitate conceptual change, with the goal of facilitating changes in learner understanding to appropriate, accurate, and complete concepts. Strategies, such as refutation texts, have proven effective in addressing science misconceptions, yet there is a prominent gap in research on conceptual change in nonscience subjects and the use of storytelling to facilitate such change. Storytelling, presented in a range of educational subjects, invites learners to engage in social discourses and problem-solving exercises. Prompted by classroom storytelling practices, creativity, …

Upward Mobility Of First-Generation Low-Income Dartmouth Students, Robin T. Frye

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

The most promising way for young people to achieve upward mobility, which at the most basic level means making more money than their parents, is to attend the best college possible. From its inception, Dartmouth College has been an institution set up to educate the children of the wealthiest and most powerful families. Over the last few decades, more and more promising students have come from families whose parents and grandparents did not attend college. When First-Generation Low-Income (FGLI) students arrive at Dartmouth, they encounter an institution set up for wealthy students. I aimed to discover how well Dartmouth supports …

Archaeological, Pxrf, And Gis Analyses At The Trestle Bridge Site (8ja186), Northwest Florida, Victoria Marie Freitas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Trestle Bridge Site (8JA186), located on an eroding riverbank of the upper Apalachicola River in northwest Florida, represents a significant multi-component precontact site with occupations that date from the Early Woodland (~800 B.C.–A.D. 300) and the Fort Walton periods (A.D. 1000-1500). Previous research has broadly classified the site based on ceramic and lithic assemblages, but a detailed investigation into pottery production and environmental changes over time at the site remains unexplored in the understudied Apalachicola valley region. There also appears to be over a thousand-year gap in occupation at the site, as no Middle or Late Woodland ceramic or …

No. 41: Crisis, Pandemic Precarity And Food Insecurity Among Migrant Households During The Covid-19 Pandemic In Quito, Ecuador, Mercedes Eguiguren, Taymi Milán, Cheryl Martens

Migration and Food Security (MiFOOD) Network

This study examines the food insecurity experiences of Venezuelan migrants in Quito, Ecuador, within the broader context of the Venezuelan crisis, regional migration responses, and the structural precarity migrants face. Moving beyond the dominant “migration crisis” narrative, this paper adopts a crisis-living framework to analyze how protracted instability and pandemic precarity shape migrants’ experiences. Based on a 2023 survey of migrants and refugees who lived in Quito throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the findings reveal that food insecurity is a persistent challenge, disproportionately affecting female-led and extended households. Key factors influencing food insecurity include job instability and deteriorating employment conditions, limited …