Digital Commons Network^™

Migrant Mobility Across Necropolitical Territories Of Violence: Los Zetas/Cartel Del Noreste, Alondra Danixa Gonzalez

Senior Theses

This thesis examines migrant mobility across northeastern Mexico as a process shaped by organized crime and necropolitical violence, with a focus on the evolution of Los Zetas and their successor, Cartel del Noreste [CDN]. Based on Achille Mbembe's concept of necropolitics, along with Sayak Valencia's theory of gore capitalism and Melissa W. Wright's notion of disposable bodies, this paper identifies cartel-controlled border regions as necropolitical spaces where migrants are exposed to death and exploitation. Using a qualitative, testimony-based methodology, this paper incorporates three first-person family narratives of border crossing alongside documented cases of mass violence in Tamaulipas and Coahuila, including …

Imperial Continuities Beneath A Post-Colonial Pretense: Uncovering The Economic Foundations And Covert Objectives Of Operation Ajax, Fatimah Waqas

Senior Theses

Economic self-determination, that is, the right of a state to protect its national resources and direct its own growth, remains a topic of contention and struggle for numerous countries in the Global South. These nations’ attempts at advancing their economic self-determination are often exploited and sabotaged by industrial Western powers, notably the United States, which frequently employs covert operations and media propaganda to disguise its economic and imperial pursuits in developing, resource-rich nations. The case of Iran during the early 1950s is especially exemplary, as the nationalization of oil under Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh presented a direct conflict with U.S. …

Sayyid Qutb: Political Philosophy And The Global Decline Of Jihadist Legitimacy, Jorge A. Ferrara

Senior Theses

Historically and culturally, the meaning behind political philosophies has been misappropriated to serve new ideological aims, and understanding how contexts have changed is essential to contemporary debates surrounding militant jihadist ideology. Sayyid Qutb, a political philosopher in Egypt during the mid-twentieth century, whose political philosophy, which sought moral, spiritual, and societal reform in Egypt under Gamal ‘Abd-Nasser’s regime, has been classified as the philosopher of Islamic terror. In this thesis, I argue that Sayyid Qutb’s political philosophy has been misappropriated into a politicized and militant jihad ideology through successive reinterpretations by militant jihadist leaders, and that this misappropriation is evidence …

Kenyan Foreign Policy In The Multipolar World, Maryclaire Mcadams

Senior Theses

In April 2025, in a speech to university students in Beijing, China, Kenyan President William Ruto announced, “Ladies and gentlemen, Kenya and China are not merely trade partners. We are co-architects of a new world order.” The speech was a bold departure from Ruto’s announcement just a year earlier that Kenya would officially achieve Major Non-NATO Ally status with the United States. The stark contrast in public statements from Kenya’s president within just a few months signals a shift in the international order. A system that once compelled states like Kenya to bandwagon with the United States now allows them …

A De-Dollarizing World: How Sanctions Catalyze De-Dollarizing Efforts In Russia And China, Karina S. Amaach

Senior Theses

For nearly a century, the United States has occupied the title as the world’s leading superpower nation. Such power has granted the US great economic responsibility, particularly highlighting the dollar’s dominant role as the international reserve and trade currency. However, the rise of competing powers– most notably China and Russia– have posed great threats to this continued economic dominance of the United States. This thesis examines how U.S. economic sanctions– often described as America’s greatest financial tool– have inadvertently motivated de-dollarization efforts led by these two nations. Drawing on interdisciplinary scholarship in foreign affairs, international political economy, and intergovernmental financial …

The Rejection Of Ostpolitik: Was Germany’S Pragmatic Special Relationship With Russia A Missed Opportunity For European Stability?, Sebastian Friedrich Orth

Senior Theses

Although the German government under Chancellors Gerhard Schroeder and Angela Merkel had success in improving relations with Russia in the 2000s through mutually beneficial trade initiatives, the leaders’ plans were foiled by the persistent pressure from the United States to support NATO expansion. In revisiting this period, one can discern the beginning of a phase of Germany’s attempts to take a more active role in European leadership, which has been fraught with difficulties due to the country’s own postwar traditions of restraint and promotion of peace. Twenty-five years later, as negotiations to end the war in Ukraine are ongoing, the …

Narrating Conflict And Producing Identity: The Institutional Roots Of Youth Division In Kosovo And Serbia, Adelina Makovic

Senior Theses

This thesis examines how education and media shape the ethnic and national identities of postwar youth in Kosovo and Serbia, and how these identities influence the narratives these youth form of the war and of each other. Although born after the war, youth in both countries inherit divergent narratives of the war through school, traditional media, and social media. Using a qualitative, multi-source methodology, this thesis conducts a comparative analysis of textbooks, reporting and regional survey data on institutional trust. The findings reveal that textbooks in Kosovo and Serbia present accounts of the war that are ethnically biased and selective, …

Beyond Authorization: United Nations Institutional Reform And Humanitarian Intervention, Basma Laassel

Senior Theses

The United Nations’ failures to prevent mass atrocities in Rwanda (1994), Srebrenica (1995), and Syria (2011) have sparked persistent calls for institutional reforms to overcome P5 veto gridlock and bureaucratic paralysis. This thesis asks the question: “what United Nations reforms could realistically enhance the UN’s ability to effectively intervene in cases of humanitarian crises?” To answer this question, this thesis employs rigorous counterfactual analysis to test whether three specific institutional reforms would have realistically prevented these humanitarian catastrophes: (1) providing the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) with limited binding authority under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, (2) the UN …

A Study Of Lifestyle Migration In Buenos, Aires Argentina, Sofia Inés Repetto

Senior Theses

Migration is a worldwide phenomenon driven largely by economic, political and social factors. A migrant’s personal aspirations and capabilities play a large role on his/her decision to migration. In my thesis, I aimed to find how the aforementioned fit into lifestyle migration, particularly in lifestyle migration to Argentina. In order to do this, I compared current lifestyle migration to Buenos Aires to the waves of immigration that the nation received during the Age of Mass Migration and in the post-World War II era. I also compared lifestyle migration to the immigration from other Global South nations to Argentina. In this …

From Body Positivity To Body Power: How Music Therapy And Body Liberation Intersect To Address Body Oppression In The Therapeutic Space–A Literature Review, Katherine M. Perkoski

Expressive Therapies Theses

With the rise of overt fascism, anti–fat bias, anti–intellectualism, anti–multiculturalism, anti–diversity, equity, and inclusion, and the persistence of white, capitalist, cisheteropatriarchy narratives around bodies, music therapists need to recognize how client and therapist bodies show up in practice. In this critical literature review, bodies will be sociopolitically and culturally contextualized, and the intersections of music therapy, body liberation, and body power will be discussed. Music therapists need to address the body oppression faced by sociopolitical identities such as race, gender, disability, age, body size, sexuality, neurodiversity, class, ethnicity, nationality, housing status, and immigration status. The music therapy field needs to …

Thoughts From The Pit: Can Raving Change The World? A Literature Review Exploring Rave Culture As Expressive Arts Healing, Marissa Rose Renella

Expressive Therapies Theses

This literature review examines the structural and philosophical commonalities between expressive arts therapy (EXA) and rave culture. Drawing on scholarship from anthropology, cultural studies, health sciences, transpersonal psychology, neuroscience, and expressive arts therapy, this review identifies five core principles shared between the two fields: transformational experiences, multimodality, entrainment and flow, containment and ritual, and community and social action values. Across each principle, the literature reveals not surface-level similarity but deep convergence — two fields that have, independently and through different lineages, arrived at the same understanding of what human beings need in order to heal, grow, and connect. To the …

But Did You Die? An Exploration Of How Humor Can Influence Grief And The Grieving Process: A Literature Review, Sophia Manzi

Expressive Therapies Theses

This literature review examines the power of humor as a defense mechanism amidst death loss grief. The intersection of grief, humor, and expressive arts therapy is under-researched, despite the natural overlap. This work connects concepts of humor with core principles of expressive arts therapy and highlights areas for further research. It contextualizes grief within common Western world frameworks such as the five stages of grief, the dual processing model, and defense mechanisms. Humor presents a nuanced coping skill that has many functions within grief. It can be contradictory in nature, as it can be utilized to resist and combat feelings …

How Can Dramatic Play Address Masking In Autistic Adolescents?: A Literature Review, Victoria Sebastian

Expressive Therapies Theses

This literature review investigated the current research available on autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in adolescents aged 13-18, and the prevalence of masking within this population. It examines the impact current interventions and social standards have on the stigma that leads to masking behaviors, and the significant effects this has on adolescents' mental health. This study uses an integrative review, as described by Torraco (2016), to draw on empirical studies, systematic reviews, and theoretical frameworks. Connecting the growing research in the dramatic play- one of the drama therapy core processes- with the current therapeutic frameworks. From this research, dramatic play was …

Cultivating Compassion To Support Stabilization: A Practice-Based Group Model For An Inpatient Psychiatric Trauma Unit, Sarah E. Condon

Expressive Therapies Theses

In inpatient psychiatric settings, treatment is typically oriented toward short-term stabilization rather than trauma processing. This thesis explores how self-compassion and expressive arts therapy may support stabilization for individuals with complex trauma histories, highlighting the role of self-criticism and shame as key mechanisms underlying trauma-related distress. This thesis presents the development of a multi-group therapy model implemented on a 21-bed inpatient trauma and dissociative disorders unit. The model pairs psychoeducational, compassion-oriented groups, grounded in mindful self-compassion (MSC) and compassion focused therapy (CFT), with subsequent expressive arts therapy (EXAT) groups with the intention of cohesively integrating and deepening these themes through …

Attachment Under Threat: Parental Cancer, Child Development, And Dance/Movement Therapy As An Embodied Intervention—A Literature Review, Victoria E. Groves

Expressive Therapies Theses

Parental cancer is a significant family-based stressor that can disrupt children’s attachment security and emotional regulation. This literature review examines how parental cancer can interfere with parent-child attachment processes and explores dance/movement therapy (DMT) as a potential intervention. Literature from attachment theory, psycho-oncology, trauma research, somatic psychotherapy, and DMT is synthesized into a cohesive conceptual framework linking caregiving disruption, neurobiological stress responses, and embodied patterns of regulation in children. Findings suggest that parental cancer is associated with increased attachment insecurity through changes in caregiver availability, emotional attunement, and children’s perceived attachment security. These disruptions contribute to the internalization of chronic …

Re-Painting Motherhood: A Community-Based Expressive Arts Project Exploring Motherhood’S Myths, Realities, And Hopes Through A Narrative Therapy Lens, Lauren Grignaffini-Morris

Expressive Therapies Theses

This thesis examines how socially constructed ideals of motherhood shape maternal identity, distress, and isolation, and explores the potential of addressing these experiences through a community-based expressive arts project. Drawing on motherhood studies, expressive arts therapy, and narrative therapy, the project highlights the potential benefits of utilizing expressive arts in a community setting to ease the tension between romanticized cultural narratives and the lived realities of mothers. Conducted with a support group for mothers in rural Vermont, the project used visual art, movement, creative writing, and collaborative mixed-media painting to examine problem-saturated motherhood stories, connect through embodied experience, and explore …

Grief Journeys: A Literature Review On Integrating Expressive Arts And Play In Grief Therapy, Joanna Marcus

Expressive Therapies Theses

This literature review explores the use of expressive arts therapy and play therapy in therapeutic spaces for grieving children. The author seeks to investigate how elements of expressive arts therapy and play therapy might be integrated to offer more effective support. Research was conducted using search engines to gather literature about historical and contemporary bereavement theories, play therapy, and expressive arts therapy, with a focus on children’s experiences. Two primary insights gleaned from this review are that the cognitive understanding of death is multifaceted and changes as children mature, and that children grieve in ways unique to their developmental stages. …

Memory Parties: Celebration As A Community Mental Health Intervention In Dementia Care, Alexis Ask

Expressive Therapies Theses

This thesis examines the relationship between memory, celebration, and collective experience, and proposes Memory Parties as a community mental health intervention for individuals with dementia, their families, and broader communities. Using a qualitative integrative literature review, this thesis synthesizes interdisciplinary research from dementia care, trauma studies, neurobiology, dance/movement therapy (DMT), cultural practices of ritual and celebration, and social psychology. The primary aim is to reconsider memory as an embodied, relational, and collective process rather than solely an individual cognitive function. Findings suggest that as cognitive and narrative memory change, individuals retain the capacity for emotional expression, relational engagement, and participation …

Dance Movement Therapy Enhances Experiential Master Play In Child Centered Play Therapy: Literature Review, Fallon M. Walsh

Expressive Therapies Theses

This literature review examines the use of Dance movement therapy to enhance trauma processing during Experiential mastery play in Child centered play therapy. The purpose of this review is to evaluate existing research on trauma in adolescents, Dance movement therapy, and Child centered play therapy to understand the support and effectiveness of combining these interventions. The paper discussed research on the following topics: Adverse childhood experiences, Dance movement therapy, Child centered play therapy, Experiential mastery play, and kinesthetic empathy. As this is a growing topic, the discussion section explores the overlap of Dance movement therapy and Child centered play therapy, …

Taking Center Stage: Centering The Caregivers Of Individuals With Neurodevelopmental Disorders In Their Support: A Literature Review, Jessica Dahl-Colaw

Expressive Therapies Theses

This literature review examines the relationship between the needs and challenges that caregivers of individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders experience and the formal supports available to this population. Drawing upon literature from the fields of mental health, occupational therapy, speech language-pathology, public health, intellectual disabilities and developmental disabilities research, and the expressive therapies, this review explores the gap in care for this vulnerable population. Through the exploration of a foundational drama therapy theory, role theory, and other elements key to drama therapy work, this review highlights the potential for drama therapy interventions to provide support for caregivers in areas such as …

The Yoga Of Play: Regulation, Embodiment, And Transformation In Drama Therapy And Yogic Practice, Lauren Flynn

Expressive Therapies Theses

This literature review explores how drama therapy and yoga function as systems of regulation that support psychological and, potentially, spiritual transformation. Using the window of tolerance as a unifying framework, the review examines how regulation enables the integration of emotional and physiological experience. Neurobiological research demonstrates that trauma disrupts regulatory capacity through alterations in brain function and arousal systems. Yoga is presented as an embodied practice integrating breath, movement, and meditation to support autonomic regulation and stress reduction. Drama therapy is examined as a relational modality that utilizes play, aesthetic distance, and symbolic enactment to facilitate emotional processing and integration. …

Shattering The Glass: Playmaking As A Therapeutic Intervention For Siblings Of Chronically Ill Children, To Counteract The ‘Glass Child’ Phenomenon: A Literature Review, Sarah Z. Ritter

Expressive Therapies Theses

This literature review investigates how a drama therapy-informed playmaking intervention process may support the healthy siblings (HS) of chronically ill children in processing and expressing their complex emotions. A review of the literature indicates that the HS often experience significant emotional and psychosocial impacts, including anxiety, sadness, anger, guilt, and feelings of neglect and isolation as their parent’s attention becomes focused on the ill child. Research emphasizes that a sibling's illness disrupts family roles, routines, and attachment dynamics and often positions siblings in caregiver roles, and distances them from their peers, where their needs are unintentionally minimized.

Expressive and narrative-based …

Implementing A Coatt Inspired Process To Support Adolescents And Young Adults With Neurodevelopmental Disorders In Transition: Development Of A Method, Andromeda Faber

Expressive Therapies Theses

This capstone thesis project explored the use of a Coactive Therapeutic Theatre (CoATT) inspired process with folks who have neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) as they transitioned out of the high level of care at their therapeutic school into a lower level of care in college and the workforce. CoATT is a recovery-based model that is time bound as the step between a higher level of care and a lower level of care. This project culminated in a CoATT inspired transition-based process to meet the needs of the neurodiverse population. Themes that were identified from this method included joy, resilience, taboo, tolerating …

Exploring Expressive Arts Journaling For Older Adults In A Psychiatric Hospital Using Mindfulness, Self-Compassion And Open Studio, Lesley Rodriguez

Expressive Therapies Theses

This thesis presents the findings of an expressive arts therapy group intervention for adults in a geriatric unit of a psychiatric hospital in the greater Boston area.  The twice weekly, 6-week intervention aimed to explore the central question of what occurs when a method of expressive arts journaling is introduced to older adults for symptom management of anxiety and mood disorders during their hospital stay. Through arts-based research and participant feedback, this capstone thesis charts the group experiences. The MOSS Visual Journaling model is named after its domains; Mindfulness, Open-studio, Story-telling, and Self-compassion. Themes generated through thematic analysis of the …

Dance/Movement Therapy As A Person-Centered Treatment For Alzheimer’S Disease And Dementia Through Physical, Social, And Sensory Elements: A Literature Review, Margaret Carson Thatcher

Expressive Therapies Theses

This thesis explores the use of dance/movement therapy as treatment for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. The literature review covers dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, current and emerging approaches to treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, dance/movement therapy, and dance/movement therapy for individuals with dementia. The theme of dance/movement therapy as a person- centered treatment for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia is explored. The efficacy and outcomes of dance/movement therapy with the population are examined. Key components of dance/movement therapy with this population emerged. These elements, social, physical, and sensory, are described and connected to person-centered outcomes for treatment. Applications for treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and …

Between Cultures: An Expressive Arts Community Engagement Project On Identity, Belonging, And Cultural Transition Among International Students, Shilpa Ivaturi

Expressive Therapies Theses

International students navigating cultural transition often experience disruptions not only in social adjustment but also in their sense of identity, belonging, and meaning-making. Grounded in expressive arts therapy, cross-cultural psychology, and mythopoetic frameworks of transformation, this thesis explores how creative processes can support international students in reflecting on and integrating their evolving identities during periods of cultural transition. A four-hour trauma-informed expressive arts workshop, structured around the Hero’s Journey arc of departure, initiation, and return, was facilitated across two sessions at a university in the northeastern United States. Seven international students from diverse cultural backgrounds engaged in multimodal practices including …

From Regulation To Meaning-Making: An Integrative Literature Review Of Sensory Integration And Drama Therapy In Neurodiversity-Affirming Practice, Kerry Richmond

Expressive Therapies Theses

This integrative literature review examines the relationship between drama therapy core processes and sensory integration theory in supporting adolescents with neurodevelopmental differences. Existing literature indicates that sensory integration interventions support regulation and functional engagement, while drama therapy processes—embodiment, role, dramatic projection, and engagement with dramatic reality—facilitate relational interaction and expressive capacity. Grounded in neurodiversity, sensory integration, and drama therapy frameworks, this review situates sensory processing as a key component of regulation, social participation, and emotional development.

An integrative review methodology was used to synthesize interdisciplinary literature from occupational therapy, psychology, and drama therapy. Peer-reviewed sources were systematically identified, reviewed in …

Embodied Identity In Dementia: Art Therapy As A Pathway To Selfhood, Sarah E. Southwick

Expressive Therapies Theses

Older adults living with dementia have often been erroneously perceived as inhabiting a singular lived experience marked by degeneration in cognitive functioning and considerable losses in self-identity. There is substantial literature to suggest that multisensory stimulation and art therapy are well-positioned as conduits for self-expression. However, a gap exists related to artistic media and how they may be implemented and tailored for people with dementia. This capstone explores the paradigm of selfhood as a subjective essence of being that may be accessed through creative expression and sensory engagement. Arts-based directives were implemented through a person-centered expressive arts therapy framework. Two …

Ecodramatherapy To Support Recovery From Religious And Spiritual Trauma, Ashton Eleazer

Expressive Therapies Theses

Religious and spiritual (R/S) trauma is an often unrecognized form of complex trauma that results from religious beliefs, practices, or experiences that fracture survivors’ connection to the self, the body, meaning, safety, and community. An estimated 27-33% of U.S. adults are affected (Slade et al., 2023). R/S trauma shares features with complex PTSD and Developmental Trauma Disorder, but also includes moral injury, existential questioning, communal, and embodied shame. This literature review examines the potential of ecodramatherapy, a combined approach of drama therapy and ecotherapy, to support reconnection and recovery in survivors of R/S trauma. A targeted review of peer-reviewed literature …

Exploring The Potential For Meaning-Making In Expressive Art Therapies Interventions In Treatment Of Complicated Grief For Gun Homicide Survivors: A Literature Review, Ash Landrein

Expressive Therapies Theses

Research shows that the violent nature of homicide and the extreme lethality of firearms in conflict lead to increased psychological impairment for survivors and communities affected. Black and Latinx communities are disproportionately affected by gun violence, yet are historically underresearched and underserved. Social constraints and systemic negligence complicate and stigmatize the bereavement process. This literature review examined culturally relevant grief practices, theories and components of meaning-making (MM) post-loss, and Expressive arts interventions for facilitating meaning, safety, and reconnection for survivors, through an intersection of race, ethnicity, gender, and age. Cumulative research shows that MM can help individuals experiencing complicated grief …