Digital Commons Network^™

"Dark And Loathsome": The Construction And Persistence Of Racial Theology In The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints, Margaret Phillips

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints banned Black men from holding the priesthood until 1978, a policy many mistake for the whole of the faith's engagement with race. This thesis argues that the priesthood ban was only a symptom of a far deeper theology of race, one built into Mormonism's broader theology from its founding. Two intertwined beliefs anchor this theology: the default whiteness of the human body and soul, and twin curse narratives that mark Black and Indigenous peoples alike as bearers of a divine curse— dark skin read as the visible penalty for their ancestors' sin. …

A Qualitative Study Of Gratitude Practice Among Won Buddhist Older Adults And Implications For Gerontological Social Work, Sungsim Lee

Dissertations

Although gratitude has been widely studied in social science, existing scholarship has largely relied on Western worldviews and quantitative research frameworks, limiting understanding of lived gratitude experiences within diverse spiritual and cultural contexts, including Eastern spiritual traditions. In Won Buddhism, originating in South Korea, gratitude holds a central place in spiritual life and is understood as an essential practice. This qualitative study explores the views of Won Buddhist older adult practitioners regarding their experiences, benefits, and challenges of engaging in spiritually grounded gratitude practice. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 practitioners aged 65 and older from English-speaking Won Buddhist communities. …

The Politics Of Recognition: Charismatic Authority And The Restoration Of Male Purpose, Gabriel A. Brigham

Sociology Undergraduate Senior Theses

This thesis examines how three prominent charismatic figures, Donald Trump, Andrew Tate, and Jordan Peterson, convert experiences of epistemic dislocation into ideological belonging among a specific subset of men experiencing status anxiety, social isolation, and institutional distrust. Drawing on social identity theory, epistemic injustice theory, affect control theory, and Weberian charismatic authority, the study develops a theoretical model called the Epistemic Pathway to Digital Belonging, which describes radicalization-adjacent persuasion as a sequential process of epistemic and emotional repair. Through this framework, perceived identity threat produces interpretive instability and negative self-sentiments, instability produces recoil from mainstream discursive spaces, recoil produces an …

Goddess In A Trash Can: Religious Ritual Disposal In New York City Public Parks, Zoe Oro-Hahn

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Practitioners of Afro-Caribbean religions, including Santería, Vodou, Espiritismo, and Las 21 Divisiones, utilize the New York City Public Parks system to hold rituals, connect with spirits and ancestors, and dispose of religious remains leftover from trabajos (workings) and brujería (witchcraft). Utilizing photos from Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, my thesis considers the religious, political, social, and practical rationale behind this phenomenon, explores the rituals occurring, and provides policy suggestions that balance religious needs of practitioners with the safety and wellbeing of New York City’s parks.

Symbolists Beyond The Magic: Appropriation In The Art Of Elihu Vedder And Gustave Moreau, Rebecca B. Shalliker

Art & Art History ETDs

This thesis examines the paintings of Elihu Vedder and Gustave Moreau as examples of how the late nineteenth-century Symbolist movement drew on Eastern regions as aesthetic sources for representing the spiritual. Considering the iconographic and conceptual overlap with the Spiritualist movement, it explores how these groups contributed to constructing an image of the “East” as inherently mystical. While existing scholarship analyzes the Symbolist movement’s engagement with psychoanalytical concepts such as the subconscious and dream state, the role of cultural appropriation in shaping the Symbolist aesthetic has been largely overlooked.

The depiction of Eastern iconography as fantastical will be explored through …

The Seeds Of Empire: Endogenous Influences On The Politics Of Bakumatsu And Meiji Era Japan (1853-1912), Benedict M.D. Talley

History ETDs

In this thesis, I argue the roots of Japanese nationalism, exceptionalism, and imperialism long preceded renewed contact with the West following American Commodore Matthew Perry’s historic 1853 expedition. Rather, late Edo Period (1603-1868) and Meiji Era (1868-1912) intellectuals and political figures looked to and were inspired by endogenous forces, ideologies, and intellectual movements of the Edo Period. Through a synthesis of secondary scholarship and analysis of Bakufu and Meiji Era figures’ writing, I seek to uncover the endogenous influences and de-emphasize western influence on the development of late nineteenth and early twentieth century Japanese nationalism and imperialism.

The Emperor Julian As The Lynchpin Of Ammianus Marcellinus’ Histories, Sebastian Peavy

Theses & ETDs

Ammianus Marcellinus prized Julian as his hero in his histories. This paper explores this fact through intratextual analysis. It explores the depiction of the emperors and usurpers Constantius II, Gallus, Valentinian I, Valens, Procopius, Silvanus, and Barbatio through the lens of Julian as the central point of comparison. The paper explores Julian’s own depiction in Ammianus, including his domestic policy, his foreign policy, and the rebellion that elevated him to being emperor. The paper explores domestic and foreign policy for Constantius, Valentinian, Valens, and draws parallels between these elements in their reigns and that of Julian as depicted in Ammianus’ …

Shadowrunning The Human: Harebrained Schemes' Shadowrun Series And Transhumanism, Alexander P. Orelup

English Theses & Dissertations

I argue that Harebrained Schemes’ video game series Shadowrun critiques transhumanism in three distinct yet related ways: in terms of religion, political control, and identity capitalism. In doing so, Shadowrun attempts to counter claims that video games are an inherently transhumanist medium and provides an opportunity for players to resist a potential transhuman future. This further elucidates the trends and perceptions of transhumanism within American culture around the time period. I utilize a variety of methodologies in my argument, ranging from cultural studies, narratology, ludology, and close reading in order to grasp all of the audio-visual and gameplay elements that …

Selling The Spell: The Commodification Of Feminist Witchcraft, Noël Subrina Sucese

Dissertations

"Selling the Spell" argues that Feminist Witches, or Crafters, navigated a fraught relationship with consumer culture, at once resisting commodification, embracing it, and reshaping it in ways that carried spiritual, political, and economic consequences. Drawing on oral histories, archival and digital sources, this dissertation traces the evolution of American Feminist Witchcraft and related Pagan traditions from the 1960s through the early 2000s. It situates the Craft at the intersection of feminism, counterculture, and capitalism, showing how spiritual practices that emphasized female embodiment and communal ritual became entangled with publishing, festivals, consumer goods, and the Internet. The dissertation contributes to four …

White Horse Village: A Northern Utah Ufo Narrative, Melissa Petersen

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

In the early 1960's a group of UFO believers, called Christ Brotherhood Inc., established themselves in Smithfield Canyon, UT and called their commune White Horse Village. A main house was built where the leader of the group lived and two or three smaller cabins were erected for the believers. Without running water they used an outhouse among them and built a small church where they would meet for lectures. Their beliefs centered around the popular movement of New Age spirituality of the time, which included scientific explanations for Christian beliefs including a belief in benevolent aliens as modern angels. Their …

The Social Psychology Of Group Dynamics In Cults: Exploring The Influence Of Leadership And Organizational Structure In The Heaven’S Gate Cult, Mellanie L N Douglas

Honors Theses

Social Psychology of Group Dynamics in Cults: Exploring the Influence of Leadership and Organizational Structure in the Heaven’s Gate Cult Mellanie Douglas Dr. Kristen Campbell, Department of Psychology

Cults are extreme religious or political groups that rely on social and psychological influence to attract followers and maintain loyalty to a charismatic leader. Heaven's Gate is recognized as a historic new age religious and science fiction cult. It was founded in the 1970s by Marshall Herff Applewhite and Bonnie Lou Nettles during the counterculture movement and ended in 1997 with a mass suicide of 39 members. Accounts from within and regarding …

Imágenes De Silencio, Compromiso, Persecución Y Tortura: La Teología De La Liberación Y Su Encrucijada Con Las Dictaduras Del Cono Sur Desde Una Representación Cinematográfica, Marcial Martínez

Spanish and Portuguese ETDs

This dissertation examines the interaction between liberation theology and the

dictatorships of the Southern Cone from the 1960s to the 1980s through cinematic

representation. Filmmakers from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay

depict the political upheavals of the time, including the rise of leftist movements,

military regimes, and the influence of liberation theology, a progressive religious

ideology advocating for the oppressed. The study focuses on what is defined here

as the "cinematic canon of liberation theology," a body of films and documentaries

that legitimize, contest, or obscure ideologies tied to this movement vis-à-vis the

dictatorships. These films contest the silence …

The Mujahedeen E-Khalq Of Iran (Mek): Agents Of Democratic Revolution Or Cultic Oppression?, Molly Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on the People’s Mujahideen of Iran (MEK), an Iranian oppositional group that has engaged in a decades-long effort to depose the Iranian government. The goal of this thesis has three parts. First, it examines if the MEK should be classified as a new religious movement/cult. It also addresses the implications of such status given the MEK’s claims that it functions as a democratic entity and that it can be trusted to govern Iran in democratic fashion. Secondly, it examines if Iranian disinformation has influenced the MEK’s reputation. Thirdly, it analyses how the MEK has been able to …

“Every Mother A Missionary”?: The Vlogs Of Mormon Mothers, Celia Golden

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) places high expectations on mothers because their role in the church is to rear children into godly adults. When their lives are made public through social media, Mormon mothers online avoid religious expectations by withholding information about their Mormon faith and scarcely showing their husbands on-camera. Mormon husbands are expected to be the providers for the family, but as demonstrated through mothers’ vlogs on Instagram, husbands’ erasure allows for mothers to market their expertise to others as a paid product to earn their own revenue. Through descriptive coding, this study …

Emotional Health As A Preventive Measure To Reduce Abuse In Evangelical Ministries, Tammie Jean Haveman

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study addressed the relationship between emotional health and abuse in Evangelical ministry contexts in the United States. A mixed-methods design explored how the emotional health of leaders contributed to organizational dynamics within ecclesiastical and nonprofit ministry settings. The theological review examined Pauline epistles, emphasizing emotion’s role in leadership and the biblical expectation that Christian leaders exhibit Spirit-led, Christlike character and emotional maturity. A conceptual heuristic was developed to interpret Pauline teachings on emotionally unhealthy dispositions such as selfishness, domineering tendencies, and irascibility. While not labeled as abuse in Paul’s context, these traits correspond to emotional patterns that often underlie …

Defending The Security Of The Mind: A Mail Survey Of Thought-Reform Literacy In South Dakota, Dustin Rozario Steinhagen

Masters Theses & Doctoral Dissertations

Thought reform – also known as brainwashing or psychological manipulation – is a profound threat to the security of the human mind. This complex form of social engineering is associated with terrorist movements, domestic abuse, destructive cults, and many other forms of totalitarianism present in society (Stein, 2017). Thought reform can result in various harms that range in severity depending on each person’s individual experience (Lalich & Tobias, 2006; Stein, 2017). The work of security and privacy professionals inherently concerns psychological manipulation – thought reform often occurs over the internet (Hassan & Shah, 2019), most data breaches occur due to …

Traditional Roots Of The Shamans' Brew And Its Adoption By New-Age Groups, Jonathan Jimenez

Senior Theses

New Age Americans' growing fetishization of exotic cultural practices—places the powerful entheogenic-life altering drug "Ayahuasca" into their cultural context of Eclectic Amalgams, lending itself as a catalyst for shifting perceptions and understandings of conventional thought. "Eclectic Amalgams" refers to the blend or combination of various elements from different spiritual, religious, or cultural traditions. In New Age practices, there is often an eclectic approach where diverse sources are amalgamated to form a personalized spiritual path or practice. This work explores the growing awareness and practice of Ayahuasca usage in the developed world. The term "Ayahuasca" is used to name the ceremonial …

Initiated Reading: Occult Hermeneutics In Helena Blavatsky's Isis Unveiled, Diana Brown

Dissertations - ALL

In this dissertation, I argue that Theosophical Society co-founder Helena Petrovna Blavatsky’s first major work, Isis Unveiled (1877), describes an occult hermeneutic of myth based on the privileging of intuition, theorized especially in Neoplatonic terms, and premised on a tripartite spirit-soul-body constitution of the human being. Her hermeneutic also privileges initiation, construed as experiential gnosis often produced by ritual, and she opposes both intuition and initiation to reason and empiricism. Theorizing global myths as allegories revealing elements of a universal religion, or secret doctrine, traceable to India, she brings together an esotericism premised on a combination of Indian religion and …

Bedeviled Beauty: My Journey Through White American Theater Institutions, J'Aila C. Price

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Game console: Oculus Quest

World: American Theater Institutions

Player: Minority

Place: United States

Level: “Ain’t no way.”

This thesis explores the contrast between the Westernized philosophies ingrained in my education and my identity as a Black female artist. It sheds light on the difficulties of pursuing higher education in the arts and the gaps that arise from limited exposure to culturally diverse Black resources, revealing the systemic issues in Western performance education. The paper also discusses the insights gained from my journey as a Black female artist, focusing on my thesis performance of Blood at the Root, which is …

Gender Performance In “Cult” Conversion Narratives: The Twelve Tribes, Navah Chestnut

Honors Theses

While many scholars have attempted to understand the unique contours of the definition of “cult,” there are still rampant disagreements across different disciplines and scholarly persuasions about the way that a “cult” functions differently than other organizations. In this essay, I aim to clarify how the function of a “cult” is contingent upon a set of rhetorical strategies used by the group to systematically remove agency from group members. One of those rhetorical strategies is compelling individuals to perform according to strict heteronormative gender enactments. To understand how this strategy works, I will turn to four spiritually metanoic narratives published …

Reviving “Cult”: A Qualitative Analysis Of A Female-Led Cultic Sect, Olivia Summers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research analyzes the Word of Faith Fellowship (WOF), a female-led Evangelical church that social scientists have not yet studied. My thesis explores how a female leader operates within a patriarchal space and why WOF owns a Holocaust Museum. I conducted content analysis of the church and museum websites, Google reviews, and visited the museum in person. My research highlights the limitations of current taxonomies of religion in sociology. I address this oversight, argue for the re-introduction of “cult” as an analytical term, and propose a rubric for cult identification. I suggest that WOF is a sectarian cult with similar …

Salafi Reformist Fatwas And The Challenge To Traditionalism In Egypt And Arabia, 1895 – 1930, Samuel Scurry

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Studies of the Islamic intellectual movement commonly known as Salafism have long focused either on the modernist reformers in Egypt and Syria in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, or on the far more austere and sometimes militant iterations of Salafism from the mid-twentieth century to the present day, often associated with Wahhabism. A handful of scholars have examined the links between the two and the transition from the earlier to the later Salafis, however many works which impacted the evolution of Salafism at the dawn of the twentieth century have been neglected, especially those which do not align …

‘Making Of A Woman Minister’ Rev. Annis Ford Eastman And Elmira, New York, Mary Lemak

ALL - Honors Theses

This paper explores the life and career of one of the United States’ first female ministers, Rev. Annis Ford Eastman (1852-1910). Remembered today as being the author of Mark Twain’s eulogy and as the mother of American writer Max Eastman and co-author of the Equal Rights Amendment Crystal Eastman, the Reverend Eastman had a career that was exceptional in its own right. Reverend Eastman was ordained when it was practically unheard of for a woman to preach. Not only was she ordained but she was invited to speak at national conferences and was frequently published in religious and civic journals. …

“Drink The Kool-Aid, She Said ”: Female Villiany And Agency In Peoples Temple, Courtney Paige Smith

Theses and Dissertations

The responsibility for several hundred people drinking the Kool-Aid in Jonestown, Guyana, has typically been solely attributed to Jim Jones, the co-founder of the Peoples Temple movement. However, recent documentaries have shifted this representation to focus on all involved in the Peoples Temple. In this thesis, I use rhetorical analyses tactics through a critical feminist lens to examine the agency and villainy present in these mediated depictions of women in Peoples Temple. Mediated texts of the Peoples Temple included the 2018 Hulu documentary Jonestown: The Women Behind the Massacre, the 2018 AMC docuseries Jonestown: Terror in the Jungle, In Defense …

Death, Dreaming, And Diaspora: Achieving Orientation Through Afro-Spirituality, Liz Johnston, Jaime Elizabeth Johnston

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Enslavement, colonization, and the systems that uphold racial injustice were and still are a series of new, unfathomable, and challenging experiences that prompt individuals within the diaspora to seek orientation. How does a human cope with centuries of attempts at the systematic destruction of their humanity, culture, and identity? How can they reclaim that identity, especially when so much of it seems lost? I address these questions by utilizing texts from the expansive body of work regarding ethnographic-historical-religious studies on Afro-spiritual practices to better analyze instances in literature in the ongoing practice of diasporic orientation. In this project, I argue …

That's The Way Of The World: A Study Of Performance And Ritual Within The Peoples Temple And Jonestown, Julia Cole

Theses & ETDs

No abstract provided.

‘Making Of A Woman Minister’ Rev. Annis Ford Eastman And Elmira, New York, Mary Lemak

History Honors Program

This paper explores the life and career of one of the United States’ first female ministers, Rev. Annis Ford Eastman (1852-1910). Remembered today as being the author of Mark Twain’s eulogy and as the mother of American writer Max Eastman and co-author of the Equal Rights Amendment Crystal Eastman, the Reverend Eastman had a career that was exceptional in its own right. Reverend Eastman was ordained when it was practically unheard of for a woman to preach. Not only was she ordained but she was invited to speak at national conferences and was frequently published in religious and civic journals. …

From The Pews To The Ballot Box: How Religion Shapes Voting Behavior In Ghana., Maxwell Afriyie Nimako

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation explores how religion shapes voting behavior in emerging democracies, focusing on the case of Ghana. Using the Afrobarometer survey, the first stage of the analysis shows that Pentecostals are not statistically different from Roman Catholics in terms of voting for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential candidates in 2007-2008 and 2013-2014. However, in 2016-2017, Pentecostal voters seem to have behaved differently from Roman Catholic voters. The dissertation subsequently explores why this variation in voting patterns emerged. This dissertation argues that explicit religious appeals made by presidential candidates and explicit religious appeals made by Pentecostal leaders for presidential candidates …

Exodus: The Cost Of Leaving High-Control Religion And Life After Breaking Free, Hannah-Kathryn Valles

Capstones

There are many names for those who leave their faith community—apostate, heretic, dissenter. While there is no singular path to parting with one’s religious beliefs, the experience can be fraught and intensely painful. For those in high-control religious environments, the price of leaving is even steeper.

When identity, social connections, finances, and family structures are dependent on conforming to strict religious and ideological norms, the decision to leave can have far-reaching consequences. For those who do make the bold decision to leave, it’s hardly the end of the road. In many ways, leaving is just the first step toward finding …

Meditations On Modern America: The Ambiguous Worldview Of Transcendental Meditation, 1967-1979, Grant William Wong

Theses and Dissertations

Transcendental Meditation [TM], a form of silent mantra meditation pioneered by the Indian holy man Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1957, took the United States by storm as over two million Americans learned its meditative technique between 1968 and 1978. At once a spiritual movement and a lifestyle, TM was a countercultural movement that went mainstream. I argue that TM was appealing because of its ambiguity and consequent malleability, as its teachings and practice came to reflect the aspirations and anxieties of its followers. By tracing their varying interpretations of the practice across periodicals, movement literature, memoirs, and contemporary scholarship, I …