Digital Commons Network^™

The Mighty C: A Fractal Model For Modern Creativity, Joe Todaro

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

The persistent ambiguity surrounding the definition of creativity has hindered its advancement across academic, educational, and professional settings. In response, this paper proposes an updated framework—The Mighty C—which defines creativity as the intrinsic human activity of generating meaningful, novel, and useful outcomes through deliberate process. This model addresses critical gaps in conventional definitions, particularly the frequent omission of meaningfulness, intentionality, and the uniquely human nature of creativity. It further emphasizes the recursive nature of these aspects across different levels of creative activity, represented through the structure of fractals. Drawing from scholarly models such as Rhodes’ 4Ps and Kaufman and Beghetto’s …

“Cry Harder!”: How Parents Traffic Their Children Through Forced Child Begging And Child Labor, Abigail K. Bellocchio

Sociology and Criminology Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis examines the complex intersection of socioeconomic and cultural factors influencing forced child begging, a form of human trafficking, across different global regions. Through comprehensive literature analysis and examination of data from the Global K-anonymized Dataset from Counter-Trafficking Data Collaborative (2021), this research reveals a critical gap in human trafficking discourse: the absence of a unified definition and understanding of forced child begging. Despite affecting millions of children worldwide, forced child begging remains fragmented in academic literature, scattered across disciplines including child welfare, anthropology, and media studies rather than being centrally addressed in anti-trafficking frameworks. The research identifies that …

Domestic Challenges, Cultural Factors Driving Ecuador's Authoritarianism Acceleration, Benjamin F. Berlin

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Using the Cultural Topography (CTops) methodology, this paper provides insight to US policymakers into the cultural factors, combined with current domestic challenges, that are driving Ecuadorians toward authoritarianism. The CTops methodology requires practitioners to conduct primary research on a specific group, which is the population of Ecuador in this paper. To conduct this research, cultural texts and artifacts such as newspaper articles, monuments honoring national heroes, websites and blog posts, and many others were analyzed. Secondary research and an evaluation of current operational realities were also used to inform this paper. Once considered an “Island of Peace,” Ecuador is in …

“Gang, We Have A Mystery On Our Hands!”: A Folkloristic Approach To Conspiracy Thinking In Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, Sydney K. Brooks

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

In this thesis I examined how the 2010 children’s television show Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated both utilizes and critiques conspiracy, embedded within its mystery-solving structure. Through a close analysis of the members of the gang—Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby-Doo—I broke down their individual behaviors, interactions, and contributions to conspiratorial belief. I then transitioned into a case study of the episode “Where Stalks the Scarebear,” showcasing its connection to larger real-world conspiracy narratives, particularly those related to corporate and environmental cover-ups. Finally, I examined the show as a complete narrative, reflecting on its complex, serial exploration of conspiracy through the framework …

Tuning Out The Dark: Music As A Defense And Folk Solution, Melanie Kimball

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Music across cultures and throughout history is a tool for engaging with the supernatural. It shares similarities with apotropaic magic. Through research and ethnographic fieldwork, I argued that even in modern times, individuals use music as an apotropaic remedy for fear and negative emotions. These remedies reflect strategies identified by Jeannie Thomas, including companionship, magical substance, neutralization, and displacement. Modern apotropaic music regulates emotions, re-establishes personal relationships, creates safe environments, and provides a means of control.

Contributors used music to combat various negative feelings, selecting genres that matched their emotional needs. In the absence of family and friends, music reaffirmed …

“Souls Cannot Rest In Contested Places”: An Ethnographic Case Study And Archeological Environmental Assessment Of The North Shore Cemeteries., Henrietta K. Ransdell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an ethnographic case study and archeological-environmental assessment of the North Shore Cemeteries to derive condition commentary and care recommendations for the landscape, cultural resources, descendant community, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Framed by theories of space-place culture, dispossession, and public lands co-management, this multi-methods, interdisciplinary thesis combines historical context, environmental conditions, archeological documentation, participant observations, and ethnographic interviewing of NPS and community affiliates to derive applied strategies for cemetery repair, operational efficacy, and this specific, public lands “co-management” relationship. With data from 12 interviews, eight participant observations, and six condition assessment surveys, it’s argued that perceptions …

Forging Resilient Futures: The Role Of Community Organizations In Addressing Environmental Injustices Faced By Immigrants Along The Wasatch Front, Utah, Nowrin Fatema

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Utah’s Wasatch Front is an urban area with a growing population that faces looming environmental challenges, such as the desiccation of the Great Salt Lake, worsening air quality, water scarcity, and the impacts of urban sprawl. If not prevented, the lake’s desiccation or other environmental challenges could result in dangerous air pollution, biodiversity loss, and disruptions to local economies. Immigrant populations may be uniquely vulnerable to these environmental changes because of economic, social, and political marginalization. For example, 50% of Salt Lake City’s foreign-born residents live on the City’s westside—the area on the frontline of the lake’s toxic dust. My …

Black Women Under The White Gaze: Resistance From Enslavement To Incarceration And Reentry., Barbie C. Parker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Black women in the United States who are currently incarcerated or have previously served time in prison have a particular need for protection as they move through the criminal “injustice” system because they frequently act as the primary caregivers for their families. Consequently, Black female convicts have historically had to create their social networks inside and outside carceral spaces as a form of resistance to white supremacist ideologies and as a site of protection. By highlighting Black women’s history of enslavement and incarceration, the different forms of resistance, and centering their narratives, we can paint a more complex picture of …

Navigating Nagpra: Respecting The Indigenous Ancestors, Anjuli Latchmansingh, William Kennedy

Transformations: Presentation Slides

In this presentation we explain the importance of NAGPRA federal legislation and its critical importance regarding how institutions of research and learning interact with Indigenous peoples and their cultures in the United States. We then describe, in narrative format, the initial investigation process that is required, in accordance with NAGPRA law, if an institution possesses anything that may potentially be considered sacred to Indigenous ancestors. We will outline what we learned through this experience, and demonstrate how institutions of research and learning can use this legislation to acknowledge the past and ongoing offenses against local Indigenous populations, and strengthen relations …

Living Heritage Along The Ganges: Building Resilient Communities In Varanasi And Kolkata, India, Ritu G. Deshmukh

Full-Text Theses & Dissertations

This doctoral research proposes an integrative theoretical framework for understanding and managing living heritage in riverine contexts, specifically focusing on the historic cities of Varanasi and Kolkata along the Ganges River in India. The study develops a new paradigm for living heritage conservation that embraces the fluid, dynamic nature of cultural landscapes through what the author terms the “Adaptive Fluid Living Heritage Continuum” (A.F.L.H.C).

Traditional approaches to heritage management often treat cultural landscapes and living heritage as static entities requiring preservation rather than living systems capable of adaptation. This research challenges this perspective by examining how communities along the Ganges …

Foodways As Agentive Response To Disaster In Colonial New Orleans: The French Quarter Fires Of 1788 And 1794, Helen V. Bouzon

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Disasters have plagued the City of New Orleans since its foundation in 1718. This year marks the twentieth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Most locals have personal memories of Hurricane Katrina or have friends and family who experienced the storm. The effects of Hurricane Katrina were far-reaching and often life-changing. However, Hurricane Katrina is not the only major disaster to have left an indelible mark on the landscape and culture of New Orleans. Two fires in the eighteenth century destroyed significant portions of the colony and left approximately seventy percent of the population homeless. And yet, we know very little about …

Earth As Archive: An Interdisciplinary Approach To Possibility And Understanding, Alissa Petrizzo

Honors College Theses

This thesis takes the reader on a journey through the process of literary analysis to uncover new considerations of our past, present, and future. Living in the climate crisis, we are in dire need of the humanistic presence within solution-making conversations. I introduce scholarly voices from anthropologists, environmental scientists, and novelists before diving into Pitchaya Sudbanthad's novel Bangkok Wakes to Rain. While you hear my voice throughout the journey, I exist more so as a tour guide, helping you along the way to new possibilities of understanding. We dig up and analyze evidence of the Earth as an archive …

From Farm Town To National Acclaim: Carmel, In As A Showcase Of New Urbanist Design And The “Holistic” Growth Machine, Owen James Beute

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Carmel, Indiana has been an anomaly in terms of entire transformation of a city's design and identity over the span of the last thirty years. This research aims to situate Carmel's development process into the urban planning theories of New Urbanism and the "growth machine" thesis, as well as telling Carmel's development story as a narrative of key events. Research focuses on the dynamic between the key aspects of New Urbanism - sustainability, livability, and human-scale growth - and the "growth machine" thesis which frames urban growth as a detrimental process focused on generating wealth solely for the decision makers, …

Medusa: The Monster, Myth, And Feminist Icon, Olivia Joanne Sarjent

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

The myth of Medusa is one that has been around since 7c BCE through the writings of authors such as Hesiod and Ovid. While originally a monstrous villain of antiquity in the 21st century Medusa has become an icon of feminism, very different to how she was once portrayed. Through classic art to film and TV, Medusa has integrated herself into the modern pop culture spotlight. Medusa started out in myth as a creature of horror that would bring the demise of men and this theme was carried out in medieval art with pieces like Medusa by Caravaggio, Perseus with …

‘Dark Grandmothers,’ The Art Of The Individual Over The Craft Of The Collectives: A Case Study Of Klaas Rommelaere And His Madams, Rachel L. Burner

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

An examination of Belgian artist Klaas Rommelaere with a focus on his internationally renowned embroidered sculpture series, Dark Uncles (2020). Despite his role as the artist and the public face of the craft-based collaborative project, Rommelaere’s physical involvement is minimal when compared to “the madams,” the true executors of Rommelaere’s labor-intensive craftwork. This raises critical questions about authorship and reception in contemporary art, particularly the institutional reliance on the individual artist as a figurehead to promote collective craftsmanship. By analyzing Dark Uncles through a post-structural feminist lens and considering the liminality of craft production under capitalism, the paper highlights the …

The “Deviant” Dead: (De)Constructing Personhood In Mycenaean Mortuary Landscapes, Aidan J. Gregg

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Despite increasing standardization in mortuary practice during the Mycenaean palatial period, there remains a significant degree of variation in burials. This project seeks to elucidate the reasons for the wide variability in the Mycenaean mortuary program with theories of anthropological personhood as a guiding framework. I focus on the palatial period, from LHIII A2 - LHIIIB2 (1410-1190) because of the pervasiveness of Mycenaean culture throughout the Aegean, but especially in Greece’s northeastern Peloponnese, during that time. I use mortuary data from 12 cemeteries in the Argolid and Korinthia to trace trends in burial practice, in the hope of establishing a …

Nahua Wrap-Skirt From Acatlán, Guerrero, Mexico, Brianda Gonzalez

Department of Anthropology

This piece discusses the techniques used to create an embroidered Nahua wrap-skirt, specifically from Acatlán, Guerrero, Mexico, and the function that is typically attributed to it. In addition to discussing the function and technique, this piece also discusses three main contextual points about the textile, including the role of gender, labor/ class/economy, and globalization. The goal of this piece is to provide researchers with a better understanding of not only the technical process behind creating this skirt, but also to provide an overview of different points that are relevant to the skirt's function and its journey through both time, and …

Young People’S Perceptions Of Harm From Accessing Online Sexual Content, Despina Chronaki, Debra Dudek, Giselle Woodley

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Harm—and the ways in which it is interpreted, negotiated, discussed, and unpacked by adolescents themselves—is a key term in almost all debates about young people’s experiences with online pornography. This essay situates the topic of this special issue—adolescents’ perceptions of harm from accessing online sexual content—within a broader context of the discourses and practices that inform research in this field. We show how discourses of harm and risk circulate around the figure of the innocent child in need of protection and argue for more nuanced understandings of and research about childhood that take into account the lived experiences and perspectives …

American Girl(Hood): Gender Performance, Tween Media, And Social Media Content, Mary Carol Dassau

Honors Theses

The American Girl brand of eighteen-inch dolls presents narratives of young girls throughout historical and contemporary settings, as well as manufacturing a line of dolls designed to look “just like you.” Despite the company’s commitment to female empowerment, these narratives still fall into certain tropes of societal expectations for women and are not inclusive of all girls’ experiences. Young American Girl fans and teen collectors on YouTube then take these narratives to create their own original video content, often in stop-motion animated format. These animations typically consist of original stories and characters, which both reinforce the narratives presented by the …

Becoming Sephardic: Historical Consciousness And Emergent Ethnoreligious Identification In New Mexico, Sarah Leiter

Anthropology ETDs

In recent years, an increasing number of Hispanic Catholic New Mexicans have discovered that they descend from Iberian Jewish victims of the Spanish Inquisition. For some, this new information has prompted them to identify as Jewish in various ways. However, many have faced considerable difficulty in gaining recognition of their newfound ethnoreligious ancestry among family members, normative Jewish communities, and the Spanish and Portuguese governments that offered reparative citizenship to Sephardic (Iberian Jewish) descendants. In this ethnographic context, this dissertation explores how shifting understandings of religious identity and ancestral pasts affect identification practices in the present. Drawing on theoretical analyses …

Quality Considerations In The Pedestrian Realm: Dead Space Intervention And Prevention, Alycia Ramage

Masters in Architecture Program: Theses

What if every space deemed “unadmirable” was reimagined as a stage for community life? Efforts to find solutions to this question prompted a more complex question: how can new construction promote interaction between architecture and the pedestrian realm?

This thesis is conducted in three main parts: 1) understanding dead space, 2) reinventing dead spaces in existing conditions, and 3) creating a design handbook that works to minimize dead spaces in new design.

Using Lincoln, Nebraska as a case study, part one begins with observation- looking for spaces that could be deemed unadmirable by a pedestrian. Utilizing research and observation, the …

Querying The Ecological Sublime: Colonial Aesthetics, Anticolonial Thought, And The ‘Double Fracture’, Tacuma Peters

Publications and Research

This article examines the ecological sublime in its relationship to the history of colonial aesthetics, anticolonial thought, and contemporary colonialism. It argues that, while Edmund Burke utilized the sublime in support of colonialism (including settler colonialism) in North America and colonial slavery, Samson Occom and Ottobah Cugoano developed versions of the sublime to contest British colonialism in the Americas. The history of this aesthetic contestation has not been represented in scholarship on the ecological sublime, which, this article shows, has a vexed relationship with historical and contemporary colonialism. The article argues that the ecological sublime exhibits the “double fracture” of …

Political Nonverbal Dynamics: An Analysis Of Smiles In Contentious Political Events, Megan Zingerman

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study analyzes smiles during the 2024 U.S. Presidential Debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, revealing how nonverbal cues act as emotional signals and social tools. Findings indicate Harris displayed a significantly higher percentage of smiles than Trump. Limitations include potential human error in coding and influences of facial cosmetic procedures. The analysis underscores the importance of nonverbal communication in political settings and suggests future research on specific types of smiles, such as fear smiles, which are less understood in the context of political interactions.

A Qualitative Analysis Of Graffiti Inscriptions At Ecclesiastical Sites In The South Carolina Lowcountry, Hannah Truman

All Theses

The study of graffiti has become a multi-disciplinary study. Historical and modern forms of graffiti offer a unique perspective on the connection people have with religious sites over the span of three hundred years. Within South Carolina, the establishment of twenty-five churches throughout the Lowcountry from 1706 to 1775 offers an understanding of people’s connection to spaces from the beginning of South Carolina’s establishment to the present day. Their beliefs are reflected throughout the space of the building as congregations have left their imprint.

In order to understand the relationship of people to the site over time, various methods were …

Environmental Concern And Its Relationship To Community Attachment And Satisfaction In Southern West Virginia, Terence Asitibasi

All Theses

Extractive industries, especially coal, in the Appalachia region, have contributed to severe environmental challenges. Over the past years, residents in these areas faced increased health risks and damage to natural landscapes, impacting on how connected they are attached to their communities and overall satisfaction with their quality of life. Previous studies have examined these issues but with a focus on amenity-rich rural west, low amenities, urban-suburban, tourist-dependent and Great Lakes regions; this study looks at southern West Virginia, a coal-dependent region. And as such fills that gap by exploring how environmental concerns - combined with a longstanding reliance on coal …

How Do You Ask Questions? A Thematic And Discursive Analysis Of Question-Asking In Stranger Conversations, Nicholas Elliott

Dissertations

This study used a mixed-methods approach to explore how questions are used in casual conversations between strangers. While conversation has long been studied by linguists, sociologists, anthropologists, and psychologists, a methodological divide persists: conversation analysis versus experimental approaches. Despite extensive research, the rules guiding question-asking in conversation remain unclear. This study integrates both conversation analysis and experimental literature to investigate the role of questions in interactions with strangers. The research began with a quantitative content analysis of questions drawn from a set of recorded conversations known wholly as the Candor Dataset, informed by Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory, which suggests …

Comparing Urban And Rural Mississippi Residents’ Health Literacy Of Sexually Transmitted Infections, Leah Tucker

Honors Theses

Health literacy is an individual’s ability to understand medical information to make decisions regarding their health, and it has become an important topic of discussion in the medical field. This is because people with low health literacy are more likely to be in poor health. There have been several programs aimed at improving health literacy across the US, but health literacy varies geographically. Typically, urban areas have higher health literacy rates than rural areas since rural areas have less access to health resources and health care. Almost 80% of Mississippi’s counties are considered rural, and Mississippi has some of the …

Making Tabby, Making Place: Examining A Gullah Geechee Wattle And Tabby Daub Dwelling Through Thin Section Analysis, Jacob E. Hamill

Graduate Masters Theses

Tabby is a building material made from lime, sand, oyster shell, and water that is geographically associated with the Sea Islands of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. This material was used from the early 18^th century to end of the American Civil War to construct all-manner of buildings in the Sea Islands region. Enslaved African descendant communities constructed wattle and tabby daub dwellings within plantation landscapes, and these settlements are interpreted as spaces where enslaved people exercised greater spatial autonomy.

This thesis analyzes the remains of a wattle and tabby daub structure located on what was once Old Fort …

Documenting The Effects Of Laboratory Sorting In Zooarchaeology: Lessons Learned From The Cixwicn Project, Kristine M. Bovy, Virginia L. Butler, Michael A. Etnier, Sarah K. Campbell

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Zooarchaeologists routinely analyze assemblages that were initially sorted into major animal type (birds, mammals, fish, invertebrates) by students or lab technicians with varied backgrounds in zooarchaeology. Sorting errors are probably made in this initial phase, which can affect taxonomic representation and understanding of human–animal relationships. Recent study of the immense faunal assemblage (over 1 million NSP [Number of Specimens]) from Čḯxwicən (45CA523), a 2,700-year-old Lower Elwha Klallam village located on the coast of Washington (USA), allows us to systematically analyze trends in sorting errors. For example, 22.6% of the bird bones included in our sample were initially missorted into other …

A Bishnoi Woman’S Odhani: Gendered Labor, Environmental Ethics, And Textile Traditions In Rajasthan, Nidhi Patel

Department of Anthropology

This report examines an embroidered odhani (woman’s shawl) attributed to a Bishnoi artisan from Rajasthan, India. The odhani is housed in the May Weber Ethnographic Study Collection at Loyola University Chicago. Close analysis of technique and contextual evidence is used to reattribute the textile, which was originally mislabeled and situates it within the contexts of gendered labor and environmental ethics within the Bishnoi community. Utilizing the frameworks of materialist and eco-spiritual feminism, the report argues that the odhani functions as a site of ecological resistance, cultural transmission, and women’s embodied knowledge, as well as a garment.