Digital Commons Network^™

“A More Perfect World”: Posthumanism And Technological Integration In A Memory Called Empire, Garrett R. Johnson

Masters Theses

This thesis considers the relationship of technology to the human through a posthumanist lens, questioning what will become of the human an increasingly more-than-human world through an examination of the novel A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine. Through an examination of the imago device from the novel, the thesis evaluates the human experience of memory and the influence of empire. The thesis advances four key concepts: 1. The collapsed divide between the human and the technic through memory and imagination; 2. Technology’s development and use; 3. The user that is integrated with the technic; and 4. The poisonous influence …

How Do International Students In A University In The United States Relate Their Cultural Identity To Fashion Trends, Kharen Alejandra Martinez Murcia

Masters Theses

International students who move to the United States must endure the challenge of adapting to a new culture. Understanding different aspects of how the adaptation process works is essential to create better avenues to connect with these students as they go through the acculturation process. This research focuses on how international students communicate their cultural identity through clothing choices. This study followed a qualitative method through in-depth interviews with ten participants from eight countries. Participants answered questions regarding motivation, cultural adaptation, clothing adaptation, and cultural identity and expression. Findings show that participants consider clothing communicates something about themselves and their …

Change Through Learning: Observing The Need And Benefits Of A Multicultural Music Education Through Applying Coursework About The Korean And Korean American Musical Diaspora, Austin Eamnarangkool

Masters Theses

Music education is often synonymous with Western Music education, or more specifically, Classical music education. Music theory and analysis surrounding the styles of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven have been central to the pedagogy of a collegiate musical background, while expertise in Carnatic, Gamelan, or African drumming—to name a few—is seen as nonessential. This research project aims to uncover the reasons why (higher) music education is so narrowly focused and provides the skeletal framework for a practical method to begin constructing diverse, holistic curricula. While the overarching goal is to diversify music education in all cultures, the project focuses on the …

Fine Arts And Missions: A Pragmatic Application And Implications, Monica L. Parson

Masters Theses

Missionaries must raise finances and general awareness of their mission work within the evangelical community. In their attempt to do this, missionaries rarely collaborate with fine artists in their efforts to inform the pastorate and congregants of their missions’ objectives and needs. In this study, a thematic review of relevant literature is combined with an Intrinsic Case Study of several artists, including the Erin— DVD, made by Daniel E. Greene N.A. during his lifetime. Daniel E. Greene, N.A., was one of the world’s foremost painters. An analysis of Mr. Greene’s applicable methodologies for oil painting was investigated. His methodology was …

Ordination And Licensing Of Ministers Within The Assemblies Of God: Doctrinal Conflict, Railroads, And Relationships, Kent Landon Butler

Masters Theses

Since the Protestant Reformation, ordination within Protestant and evangelical movements has been a largely underemphasized field of study. Some historians have overlooked it entirely, while others have failed to grasp its overall significance to Christian belief, practice, and history. Studies on revivalism are prolific, but in-depth analyses of ordination practices within revivalism and specific revivalist denominations have been lacking. This study defends Robert Mapes Anderson’s thesis that cooperation, consolidation, and controversies in the Assemblies of God between 1914 and 1916 were due to the political struggle between two rival leadership groups. By comparing ministerial lists, mapping ministers’ location information, and …

The Design Of Consequences, Yuqi Tang

Masters Theses

Young professionals entering the architecture industry face an imminent and abrupt realization of the disparity between their academic training and the reality of what a career in practice entails.

The architectural industry has long been susceptible to criticism for unpaid internships and overtime. The issue stems from an ambiguity of architectural practice as neither a service or an outcome product, isolating the perception of our work from constructors, lawyers, doctors and even artists, and making it difficult for design labor to be commodified, or for the value of design labor to be asserted, consolidated and fiscalized1. This thesis aims to …

To Melt, Huanzhe Hu

Masters Theses

This thesis focuses on the need for a reevaluation of the relationship between humans and nature in the face of the current ecological crisis. The author argues that the dominant anthropocentric orientation, which sees nature as a resource to be exploited for human benefit, has led to over extraction and resource abuse, disrupting the balance of ecosystems. Instead, the author suggests adopting an ethical framework based on mutual understanding and appreciation, breaking the "hunter's gaze" and fostering empathy for non-human life forms. This thesis also explores the potential for new forms of communication and engagement with nature, such as through …

I, Others, World - A Glass Circuit, Ariel Aravot

Masters Theses

In the summer of 2022, I had an epiphany about what an art-work is in its most expansive form: a circuit, activated by art creation, between self and others, and between them to wider worlds, and back to the self. ‘A GLASS CIRCUIT’ is the tale of my ongoing exploration of myself as a glass artist, the conscious discovery of my path, which is both consistent and incessantly changing. My works are the stepping stones that sustain my creative process as a glass blower and at the same time introduce experimentality, new questions, and new research topics.

The circuit is …

Postindustrial Playbook++, Maxwell Fertik

Masters Theses

There is no such thing as an undisrupted ecosystem. Every inch of the planet is impacted by industrial development and its chemical legacy has mutated the soil and water. As a response, this thesis is designed to promote abundant over extractive resources and visualize a post-industrial reality. It consists of a series of objects, writing and design research on the relationship of industry and ecosystem.

In many ways it is a playbook++, laying out possible strategies or “plays’’ for making do with what exists around us amid collapse.

Japanese knotweed (Reynoutria japonica)(ي'ڑ*), a plant that grows in the most degraded …

Orchestration Of Experience, Jingyi Shen

Masters Theses

The sensory experience shaped by the landscape unconsciously influences people’s emotional and mental states. Contemporary urban landscape designers prioritized the functionality of the landscape, sometimes ignoring the spiritual impact of the atmosphere created by imperceptible environmental sonic factors. Orchestration of Experience explores the connections between sound and vision in shaping people’s sensory experience of the landscape. Drawing from soundscape ecology, environmental psychology, and dynamic visualization, this study demonstrates how they are closely intertwined. Motivated by the idea that white noise can unconsciously affect people’s mental health by Michael Rutter, we question how physical and sound landscapes shape each other, how …

Water Relations, Understanding Our Relationship To Water: Through Research, Diagrams, And Glass, Tian Li

Masters Theses

As I observe the different ways human civilization interacts with water, I reflect on how I have interacted with it personally, in Califronia and Hawai’i. I also learn about the largest water-controlling infrastructure in China and its effects on the land and people. In Providence, I notice the infrastructure around the canal that keeps the water in. This relationship to water is unique to a post-colonial world where water is a commodity in which we spectate. What relationships did people have with water before we polluted the waters and created all this concrete infrastructure around it?

Through listening to Lorén …

Beyond Burial - Transforming Death: A New Ritual Of Farewell And The Ecological Return Of The Body To Nature, Chang Xie

Masters Theses

Burial and funeral culture have been shaped by human self-awareness and reflect an anthropocentric worldview. The modern funeral industry's multi-billion-dollar enterprise is based on the principle of protecting, sanitizing, and beautifying the corpse to promote the idea of human exceptionalism. However, this practice overlooks the natural process of decay and the potential beauty in returning the body to the earth, with which the body shares the same chemical basis as the earth itself. Modern science has provided Eco-friendly green burial methods, such as soil modification, ice burial, and water burial, making it suitable to contribute to natural ecology using human …

Overlooked Modi Vivendi, Natalia Silva

Masters Theses

Traditional gender roles, performance of heterosexuality, marriage, parenthood, and a large variety of other societal expectations manifest themselves in the domestic realm, both intangibly and spatially. The design of domestic spaces has historically catered towards heteronormative living stereotypes, marginalizing people whose way of living challenges the norm. Even in the present day, designers with non-user clients — developers, investors, real estate firms, etc. — will design with heteronormative households in mind. The rise in feminist and LGBTQ+ rights movements has allowed for non-heteronormative modi vivendi (ways of living) to be more vocally and visibly present in the sociopolitical and cultural …

From Vault To Platform （Democratizing Museums Through The Lens Of The Metaverse））, Zhaoyang Cui

Masters Theses

The modern history of art viewing moves from private collections to public museums, and the modern museum arises with an intention to encourage a broad range of visitors. However, if we look at the reality of museum access, especially in the digital era, when the methods of attaining knowledge and information have grown ever stronger, it is easy to notice the single-direction circuit of information in the operation of museums from curators to the public, which seems outdated in the times of social media, AI and metaverse. Even if a broad range of visitors enter the museum, the information they …

Reintroducing Hemp (Rongony) In The Material Palette Of Madagascar: A Study On The Potential Of Hemp Clay Components And Its Impact On Social And Ecological Communities., Henintsoa Thierry Andrianambinina

Masters Theses

When mentioning the word hemp, especially in the local language of Madagascar, the literal translation does not set it apart from marijuana, as they are both called “rongony” - creating the stigma around hemp as the negative stereotype of marijuana. However, the material has been used by the ancestors of Madagascar, as well as across cultures, in its fibrous form to produce fabrication like textile goods and packaging. During colonization, the prohibition of hemp intensified, and since then, any activity related to either of these plants is prohibited and will end in severe punitive measures. This thesis explores the strengths …

Watering The Soul: Reintroduction Of Water To The Urban Space, Danfei Zhang

Masters Theses

Water and humans have a primordial connection which is more than fundamental survival requirement. Throughout human history, water has been a spiritual archetype by which people perceive and imagine the world. As a reflection of this, water is broadly featured in human material culture and plays a primary role in all religions and cultures.

Well-composed water features are capable for human’s spiritual and physical happiness and wellness. However, water that can benefit human well-being is absent from the vulnerable communities and populations that need it most, which is further exacerbated by the global water crisis.

This thesis proposes the reintroduction …

Citizens Of The English Language: Sociolinguistic Perspectives On Postcolonial India, Prateek Shankar

Masters Theses

This paper introduces the concept of "extralingual citizenship," which I define as an expansion of translingualism to include the ethnoracial logic of the nation-state and demonstrates the entanglement of language, governance, and education in the policing of knowledge infrastructures and discursive practices. I am interested in the codification of postcolonial disparity into the teaching, social performance, and material assessment of English language users, and the infrastructural disqualification of World Englishes (and their amalgams) in favor of a standardized English. I frame extralingualism as a kind of citizenship, shifting the focus of English pedagogy/practice from the syntactical/etymological concerns of language …

Moving Narration: A Journey Through History, Yincheng Zhu

Masters Theses

The Central Pacific, as the first transcontinental railroad, is a remarkable achievement in the history of the United States. However, the story of what happened during its construction, including the struggles of the first generation of immigrants from China who built the tracks, and the resistance of native Americans to cede their lands, is largely forgotten. The California Zephyr, as a long-trip train that currently runs on the Central Pacific tracks, is not only a means of transportation but should also tell the history of survival and resistance embodied by the landscape it moves through and tracks it travels over. …

Reconcile Liminality, Zefeng Wang

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the concept of liminal space as a metaphor for the current transition to the digital era. We are not fully prepared for what the future holds. Fears and worries surrounding rapid development are amplified by the potential for social problems. However, by examining human development in history, we can gain insight into our current situation and start a discussion about where we are headed. The objective of this proposal is to create a space that eases concerns about the arrival of the new digital age. This is particularly relevant to Japan, which is now at a digital …

Coast To Coast, Zeyuan Ren

Masters Theses

This essay contains four bodies of work created during my graduate studies, all of which take place on either the West or East coasts, incorporating performance, photography, and video. In the first half of the paper, I examine how the theme of “displacement” is established in my initial works, and highlight the significance of the state of “being displaced” in my process of imaging and (re)understanding the ocean.

At the core of the thesis, I investigate the wave-piloting of Marshall Islanders and a particular cartographic model, the “stick chart,” which is a mnemonic device embedded with the voyager's somatic memories, …

Landscape De/Re-Construction Through Art, Manuel Gonzalez

Masters Theses

Contemporary landscape architecture practice and education primarily focus on ecological and technical interventions. The climate crisis we find ourselves in demands scientifically informed decisions and well-engineered execution of projects, but, more importantly, creativity and innovation.

The fine arts, which were once integral and foundational to design, are today largely unappreciated and appropriated. The spiritual power of Art, Aesthetics, and Beauty, explored at length through art history and theory, are often viewed as indulgent or secondary to execution. The gap between Art & Design has widened. As a result, designers face challenges in fostering in individuals the kind of care and …

City As Cemetery, Siqiao Zhao

Masters Theses

The traditional funeral service industry has enormous environmental and financial costs. In contrast, green burial, and Natural Organic Reduction (NOR), accelerate the human body’s degradation and reduce toxic substances in the land, assuming responsibility for our burden on the earth. They provide a gateway between us and the processes of nature and ask us to set aside self-consciousness to accept our oneness with the universe. By gifting our bodies back to the earth, where decomposition enriches soils and nurtures the growth of other life forms, we honor those who have transitioned to another state by continuing the cycle of renewal. …

Luminous Eating, Ayesha Mohyuddin

Masters Theses

My work strives to reorient my gaze away from outward definitions of identity toward the complexities and nuances of experiencing the intersections of identity that comprise me and the space of home where I felt most extended. I do not want to essentialize the identifiers of Muslim, Bengali, and Tennessean, nor do I want to neglect the role memory and nostalgia play in shaping home as a place of expansion and ease. Food, cooking, and eating ground both nostalgia and identity in something physical. Through the sense of taste, I reorient myself to the inseparability of experience that cannot be …

Song Text And Song Structure: With An Emphasis On Oral/Aural Tradition, Hannah Joy Petrick

Masters Theses

This study highlights the different aspects of song texts and song structures while also establishing the impacts of an oral/aural tradition. Emphasis was placed on the relationship between linguistics and music, and how one may alter the teaching/learning process of new song materials for students (especially young adolescents). Song texts and song structures were also looked at in relation to culture, and how culture is affected by oral/aural tradition. Specifically, the outcomes of students learning song texts in their native language/tongue versus songs of a different culture was explored. The differences and commonalities of learning music in various styles were …

In Response To Civil Unrest: An Analysis Of Compositional Techniques As Used By Contemporary Composers For Flute, Stephanie Marie Strait

Masters Theses

The purpose of this applied research study was to identify a selection of works for flute that were composed in response to circumstances of civil unrest to discover how the composers utilized the flute as a medium for expression, and to study the compositional techniques used to communicate with the performer. These techniques were explored and demonstrated in a lecture recital. Gaining insight and understanding of the compositional process as it relates to the composers’ experiences aids the performer in offering a convincing and informed rendering of these pieces. It also contributes to the body of literature regarding composition methodology, …

The Music Of Democratic Kampuchea: Revolution Songs As Public Pedagogy, Anissa Jade Lesh

Masters Theses

The Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) which ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 utilized a variety of methods to ensure control over the country and its people. Among these methods were the creation and dissemination of revolutionary songs which extolled the virtues of the CPK, instilled fear, and provided explicit instructions on how to serve the Ângka (the organization). While scholars unanimously recognize the use of music as public pedagogy during the regime, there are very few works which explore the songs, their lyrics, or how the music itself reflected their intended sociopolitical purpose. Through the transcription, translation, and analysis …

Cross-Cultural Travel: A Study Of How International Travel At A Young Age Impacts Communication Skills As An Adult, Allison Grace Clark

Masters Theses

The purpose of the study “Cross-cultural Travel: A Study of How International Travel at a Young Age Impacts Communication Skills as an Adult'' was to gather the perception of the weight of impact that traveling to foreign countries throughout childhood carries upon the individual later in life. This qualitative research approach focused on individuals who have spent extended periods of time in foreign cultures around the globe and with the inhabitants thereof, and assessed through interviews how past intercultural experiences through childhood contribute to effective engagement and communication throughout adulthood. This research provides insight for the audience in terms of …

Natural Christology: The Necessity Of Christ By Analysis Of Natural Religion, Jared Anthony Smith

Masters Theses

The hero’s journey [or the monomyth] and the perennial philosophy are two conceptions of human experience that popularize a single old idea: a common human plight recurs across time through humanity’s socio-cultural variety. The monomyth highlights this through narrative modes; the perennial philosophy does this through religious modes. Both distillations have garnered a Christian counterattack, being thought to dangerously depart from the gospel in their essence as they nonetheless borrow its language and timbre. Yet, their incorporation of the gospel ventures beyond appropriation. Supposing these secular notions esteem the recurrent human journey with any alacrity, a careful apologetic discerns and …

Impressionist Composition Techniques In Modern Percussion Literature, David Scott Strait

Masters Theses

The purpose of this lecture recital was to explore the substantive contributions of impressionist composition techniques in contemporary percussion literature. Research was conducted by means of harmonic, rhythmic, and melodic analysis of contemporary works for solo marimba, marimba and electronics, and snare drum and electronics, as well as background research on composers of those works. Percussion composers Russell Wharton, Ivan Trevino, and Ian T. Jones utilize modern technology in their compositions as well as compositional techniques stemming from the Impressionist movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In Impressionist composition, musical elements such as texture, non-pulsatic rhythm, and …

Resurrecting Olympus, Jordan Ashley Miller

Masters Theses

The objective of this creative project was to reintroduce Greek mythology to the public, adapting the ancient tales to appeal to an ever-evolving world. In order to do the myths justice, it was important to examine adaptations and interpretations over the centuries to determine the philosophical trajectory of mythology. My studies unearthed a diverse portfolio of academic perspectives ranging from the likes of the more formal philosopher Thomas Bullfinch of the 1900s, to the modern, comedy-infused commentator Stephen Fry. Each voice revealed something new to consider. Synthesizing these varying positions into a holistic narrative, I set out to pen a …