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58th International Congress On Medieval Studies, Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University

International Congress on Medieval Studies Archive

The printed program of the 58th International Congress on Medieval Studies (May 11–13, 2023), together with the Corrigenda.

“Beauty And The Beast” And The Representation Of The Female: How Fairy Tales Reinforce And Influence Our Current Understanding Of Gender Roles, Elizabeth N. Tran

English (MA) Theses

This thesis aims to contribute to the scholarship on young adult speculative fiction and its pivotal role in subverting the rigid gender roles that have been reinforced since the ancient world of fairy tales. To do so, I will explore Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont’s “Beauty and the Beast” through the lens of various feminist literary theories and overlapping discourses in gender studies. I intend to analyze and critique the ways in which this classic fairy tale has influenced the representation of the female as “Beauty” and the male as “Beast” in contemporary texts, especially in the YA speculative fiction genre. …

“Everything And Nothing”: Exhibiting Irishness At The Chicago World Fair Of 1893, Jessica Bocinski

English (MA) Theses

This project employs a cultural studies approach to investigate the overlapping productions of Irish identity at the Irish Villages of the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. Conceptualized and designed by two British philanthropists and businesswomen, the Irish Villages presented an Irishness shaped by Ireland’s long history of colonial rule. For Irish Americans living in the United States during the late nineteenth century, the Irish Villages offered a particularly well-suited opportunity to present an identity that would facilitate their acceptance into American society. Rather than challenging or negating the colonial representations of Irishness that existed at places like the Chicago World’s …

Lgbtq+ In A Rural Kentucky Town, Caroline A. Kinsman

Honors Theses

This interview series aims to understand the perspectives of LGBTQ+ community members in relation to local government in a small rural town in Kentucky. The purpose is to ascertain the correlation between the LGBTQ+ community's level of feeling accepted and the efforts and attitudes of non-LGBTQ+ officials. In total, six LGBTQ+ individuals were interviewed, and two elected government officials. Themes found within the interview series include reputation, safety, mental health, urgent change, blindness, and lack of responsibility.

The Lived Experience Of Registered Nurses And Registered Midwives In St. Kitts And Nevis, Raiden Alexandra Gaul

Dissertations

At the beginning of the 20th century, St. Kitts and Nevis had one of the highest infant mortality rates in the Caribbean. However, unlike some Caribbean nations with similar historical and socioeconomic factors that continue to suffer from significant health disparities, St. Kitts and Nevis implemented strategic health reforms that have led to dramatic improvements in maternal and neonatal health outcomes. One of the strategic reforms designed to address these poor health outcomes was to mandate that all registered nurses in St. Kitts and Nevis pursue certification in the post-basic midwifery program. The purpose of this study was to examine …

Clay Nanotube Drug Carrier With Enhanced Membrane/Skin Permeability, Mahdi Saleh

Doctoral Dissertations

Halloysite nanoclay is a natural material which is interesting for biomedical applications. Its unique physiochemical structure that forms the tubular shape originates from rolled sheets of aluminosilicate 15-20 times, such that alumina is inside and silica on the outside of the nanotubes, thus defining inner positive and outer negative charges. The dimensions of these tubules vary from 500-1,000 nm in length, external diameter 50-60nm, and inner lumen 12-15nm. Halloysites are biocompatible, cheap, and available in large quantities which suggests that these tubules can be used as effective nanocarriers. In this work, we exploited halloysite as a “nano-torpedo” for targeted drug …

Is Artificial Intelligence (Ai) In Recruitment Getting Better?, Usra Asghar Qureshi

2023 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

In recent years, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the recruitment process has seen a significant increase, with many companies relying on third-party vendors to streamline their efforts. While AI has numerous advantages such as improving efficiency, reducing costs, and identifying the most qualified candidates, there are concerns about algorithmic bias and unfair treatment. Possible causes of these issues include insufficient training, improper technology use, and inadequate parameter specifications. The study examines the sentiment surrounding AI hiring over the last decade and determines whether advancements in technology and a better understanding of AI have made it mature enough to …

Soluble Epoxide Hydrolase Inhibition: A Novel Therapeutic Strategy For Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease., Jeffrey Warner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Introduction Alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) is a common chronic liver disease and healthcare burden, and a spectrum of pathologies ranging from steatosis to steatohepatitis, fibrosis, and alcohol-associated hepatitis (AH). Despite its prevalence, there are limited effective therapeutic options for the treatment of ALD/AH. Previous evidence suggested that inhibition of soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH), a lipid metabolism enzyme which degrades beneficial metabolites of dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids, may be a beneficial strategy. The central hypothesis of the current dissertation is that sEH inhibition will ameliorate alcohol-associated liver injury and inflammation in mouse models of ALD. Methods To determine the efficacy of …

Author(Iz)Ing Literacy: A Rhetorical/Historical Analysis Of Literacy For College Readiness In Kentucky From Kera To The Common Core (And Beyond)., Susannah Kilbourne

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation traces the economy of documents representing literacy for college readiness through an analysis of the interplay of literacy theory, literacy policy, and policy documentation. Specifically, this dissertation examines how college-level literacy is defined in Kentucky through a network of related documents. With Latour’s Actor-Network Theory serving as a theoretical frame, this dissertation tracks not only the vast and interconnected system of compositions operating as articulations of college-level literacy but also the presence (or absence) of rhetoric and composition’s compositions within the network of relations defining literacy for college readiness. This dissertation is divided into five chapters. Chapter One …

Still Got The Blues - No Time But Here, No Place But Now: Geographies Of Art & Activism In The Work Of Clyde Woods., Jake Mace

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The fight against displacement and dispossession in the increasingly inequitable process of reterritorialization is arguably the most pressing struggle of the modern city – and it is articulated through cultural production as much as through political debate and economic development. Yet research that is at the nexus of critical, urban, and cultural studies and which explores the resistant potential of countercultural production rather than the hegemonic impact of mainstream cultural production is underdeveloped. Clyde Woods’s blues epistemology offers a guide to reading cultural production of marginalized groups as maps of meaning that offer alternative visions of the past, the present, …

Through Her Eyes: Learning And Teaching About Racism Through "To Kill A Mockingbird" And "The Bluest Eye", Sloane Larsen

English Honors Theses

This thesis argues that Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye and Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird both merit a place in te United States’ secondary education systems by using use them in the classroom to encourage students to recognize and challenge their biases, perspectives, and choices. One of the many complex questions this thesis addresses is the efficacy of teaching students about racism using such novels. Teaching these novels through Critical Race Theory could help create a new generation of students who are more likely to address and challenge their biases and privilege. At the same time, this approach requires …

Coastal Frontiers: The Littoral Borderland In Alta California And The Spanish Pacific World, Chantra Vanna Potts

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation explores the intricate relationship between Spanish exploration, the economy of the Pacific World, and their impact on colonization in Alta California during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It offers a new perspective on the history of the region by situating it within the context of the Eastern Pacific Basin and littoral borderlands, highlighting the transregional and global processes that shaped social and economic exchanges among Spanish colonists, Indigenous people, European and Anglo-American merchants, and diverse groups of sailors on the northern frontier of New Spain. Using the theoretical framework of mental mapping, or the subjective mental representation …

The Patriarchy Becomes That Girl: Tiktok And The Mediatization Of Hegemonic Femininity, Irene Molinar

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

With the advancement of digital and social media come innovative forms of self-expression and creativity. This M.A. thesis manuscript studies how content creators on the fast-growing social media platform, TikTok, arrange aesthetics, trends, and discourse to promote self-care through hegemonic beauty and wellness standards while empowering themselves through postfeminist sensibilities. Much like early beauty standards set by social media applications such as Instagram, TikTok (along with its algorithm and users) is (re)defining femininity by asking women to look at reexamine their appearance and mentalities to better themselves internally for the sake of self-improvement. Trends such as That Girl illustrate lifestyles …

Women In Educational Leadership: An Embodied Narrative Inquiry, Pauline Avis

Dissertations

To meaningfully capture the lived experiences of women educational leaders working in American public schools, this study utilized the qualitative traditional research design and employed an embodied narrative inquiry to explore the primary research question: How do women educational leaders story their gendered experience of employment in the workplace? The purpose of this study was to describe and explore how female educational leaders in American public schools perceive the impact that gender identity construction has had on their ability to pursue successfully, attain, and retain educational leadership roles. Through a feminist semiotics theoretical lens, this study offers an examination of …

The Erasure Of Rural West Texas Voices In Higher Education Institutions An Autoethnographic Study Of Minoritized Students Of West Texas In Their Journey To Obtain Success In Higher Education Institutions, David Whaley-Weems Sr

All Dissertations

I was once told there is a person in the world who has locked within his or her mind the framework for the cure for cancer or even the ability to create an energy model that will revolutionize how society consumes natural resources. Now imagine if I told you I have seen that person alive and well working as an oil well driller on a rig in Mentone, Texas. The first question most people would ask is, “Why is the person drilling in the middle of nowhere Texas instead of impacting the world by way of displaying his or her …

Association Between Socioeconomic And Behavioral Characteristics With Urinary Neonicotinoid Levels In The United States, 2015-2016, Komi Nomessi Akliku

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Neonicotinoids are a class of pesticides developed in the 1980s and widely used in agriculture and households. They are sources of health damage in mammals, as identified in experimental studies in rats. The health effects identified were acetamiprid: memory dysfunction, respiratory failure, and digestive troubles; imidacloprid: liver and brain cell necrosis through Nitric Oxide formation: Thiacloprid induces an increase of cytokine proinflammation and causes cell division disturbance and genotoxicity; thiamethoxam is incriminated in reproductive system toxicity and cardiotoxicity; clothianidin is found to be associated with fertility troubles affecting spermatozoids’ motility. They have been said to be associated with thyroid cancer …

The Audrey Hepburn Image: Stardom, Gendered Authorship, And Creative Agency, Livi Edmonson

Film and Media Studies (MA) Theses

Female stardom was an essential component to the star system and film industry in Hollywood’s Golden Age. During the postwar era, one of the most influential female stars was Academy award winning actress, Audrey Hepburn. Hepburn’s emergence in the industry, as well as her branding as a “postwar Cinderella,” was representative of the emerging intersection between fashion and film. The association of Hepburn’s stardom with the two mediums --- especially to that of haute couture --- was solidified through her association with French couturier and close friend, Hubert de Givenchy. However, Hepburn’s agency becomes subverted in scholarship and popular culture …

A Mixed Methods Study On Urban Educators’ Feelings Of Preparedness To Implement Practices That Impact Social And Emotional Learning In A Mid-Pandemic Environment, Emily Dittmer

Dissertations

The purpose of the mixed methods study was to evaluate urban educators’ perceptions of their preparedness to implement social and emotional learning strategies in their classrooms/workspaces as well as to understand what the educators’ experiences were as their students returned to a five day a week school schedule after a year and a half of disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those involved in the study included educators from four K-8 public charter schools located in an urban Midwestern environment. Quantitative data was obtained through the administration of two identical surveys that were completed by volunteer participants at two different …

A Punkhouse In The Deep South: The Oral History Of 309, Stephen Michaels

The Southeastern Librarian

Aaron Cometbus & Scott Satterwhite Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2021 ISBN: 9780813068527 154 p. $19.95 (Pbk)

Transforming The Volunteer Experience In The Social Service Sector, Dalvin Sidhu, Weng Lin Ng, Thilanga Dilum Wewalaarachchi

Lien Centre for Social Innovation: Research

Transforming the Volunteer Experience in the Social Service Sector is the first analysis report of its kind that focuses on investigating and enhancing volunteerism in Singapore. Through the perspectives of volunteers and volunteer managers via surveys and in-depth interviews, this report reveals a framework depicting five key features that contribute towards a quality volunteering experience. The study also makes recommendations on the actionable steps and strategies that Social Service Agencies can adopt to engage their volunteers more strategically, so that they can play a more significant role in delivering enhanced quality services to service users.

Do We Belong? Promoting A Sense Of Belonging In Lgbtq Youth Through Artistic Community Engagement: A Literature Review, Patricia Moran

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This literature review examines the potential of collaborative art making as a tool to foster a sense of belonging in today’s gender and sexual minority youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ). Living with a unique layer of minority stress, LGBTQ youth are at high risk for developing mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation due to ostracization and rejection from their families and communities. By reviewing the implementation of collaborative art making to bring together other marginalized groups across cultural backgrounds as well as the use of art making with LGBTQ youth …

What Are You Crying For?: Renegotiating White Masculine Hegemony Through Melodramatic Excess In The 1990s Films Of Tom Hanks, Bryce Thompson

Film and Media Studies (MA) Theses

This thesis studies the emergence of a renegotiated masculinity in the 1990s predicated on the expression and containment of anxieties around White masculinity and an appropriation of the melodramatic mode. By establishing a historical and theoretical foundation from which to understand and analyze this unique cultural moment, this thesis demonstrates how such a renegotiation acted in tandem with a larger reactionary project. This foundation includes a critical review of the “crisis of masculinity” of the 1990s defined in Sally Robinson’s (2000) work; an engagement with the nature, reproduction, and self-preservation of hegemony, as explored through traditional theorists like Raymond Williams …

Failure Facing Pedagogy In First-Year Rhetoric And Composition Classrooms, Karuna Minh Hin

English (MA) Theses

Failure in academia is commonly defined as not succeeding, missing the mark, or receiving a “below average grade or score” (Inoue 333). However, this perception of failure works to instill a fear in students that may last through their academic journey. Throughout a student’s academic journey, they are taught to operate within the binary of success and failure. “According to self-worth theory, in school, where one’s worth is largely measured by one’s ability to achieve, self-perceptions of incompetence can trigger feelings of shame and humiliation" (De Castella, Byrne and Covington 862). Teachers have attempted to address this problem throughout first-year …

The Meaning Of The Mask: Darth Vader On The Screen And The Page, Brenna Renfroe

Honors Theses

Masks can be found throughout popular culture, and their roots trace back through history. Whether on the screen, the page of a comic book, the stage, or in the halls of a Comic-Con, masked faces are intriguing. Among the numerous masked faces that populate our imagination, few are as iconic and instantly recognizable as Darth Vader from Star Wars. Despite his popularity, most of the research devoted to masked characters has been interested in why heroes such as Batman wear masks. There is little research on why a tragic hero turned villain does so, since the connotation of masks seems …

Creator As Audience: Mixtape Albums As An Expression Of Life And Memory, Sadie Montague

Honors Theses

Music is a foundation of our popular culture. With music’s distribution far and wide, songs, lyrics, and melodies can be familiar to people from all backgrounds, connecting us through a shared cultural experience. Songs can also be deeply personal and take on sentimental meaning, taking us back to specific moments, feelings, or times in our own lives. Since the 1940s, when album art was invented, graphic design and music have been inseparable, informing individuals’ personal and cultural identity. In recent decades, digital technology has disembodied the human experience, including our consumption of music and design. In response to this dematerialization, …

Serious Play: Campus Humor In Precarious Times, Kevin Howley

Communication & Theatre Faculty Publications

The article explores the use of campus humor as a crisis intervention approach in higher education as of 2023. Topics discussed include the production of campus humor as a subversive form of play within the corporatized university, and three case studies of humorous media that examine discrete but highly intertextual forms of mediated humor to address campus crises before and during the pandemic. Also noted are these studies' transmedia adaptation to the university in crisis.

Place-Based Pedagogies In Post-Secondary Science Education: A Scoping Literature Review, Megan Swain

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

How do we connect students to a class and how do educational professionals create those connections? What makes an educational experience memorable? How do we cultivate students who are passionate and engaged? These are all important questions in educational fields and ones that have increasing importance in a world of growing virtual education. This thesis aims to look deeper into one method, place-based education that attempts to answer some of these questions.

Place-based education (PBE) is a pedagogy that utilizes the local physical environment and community as an educational tool. Educators focus lessons on places, people, and things surrounding their …

A Holy Land Guidebook: Cultivating Spiritual Disciplines For Pilgrimages, Johnnie L. Birks

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

A small group of research participants and I assembled for this phenomenally enriching project intervention to create a proprietary branded guidebook for Miracle Loaves And Fishes World Hunger Ministry, Incorporated, and its subsidiary, Anointed Royal Tours, to be used for pilgrimages to the Holy Land. These pilgrimages will create sustainable funding for the ministry to support universal efforts to eliminate global hunger while simultaneously attempting to equip believers with a transformative and/or restorative walk in Christlikeness for the sake of creation, humanity, and eternal life in God’s Kingdom. The path of Christlikeness is to be transformed (Rom 12:2 NRSV), as …

Heurodis's Body: Reading "Sir Orfeo" With Three Significant Losses, Grace J. Bromage

The Criterion

No abstract provided.

Autoethnography As Self-Portrait: An Autoethnographic Analysis Of Trauma-Sensemaking Through Art, Kally Werning

All Theses

This project thesis is centered around coping with early onset childhood trauma through an autoethnography of narrative and art creation. The goal of this project is to understand more deeply how the art making process synthesizes or disrupts trauma sense-making through the introspective lens of the artist as scholar. The project consists of an interactive art exhibit and this written scholarly analysis of the creation and display of this exhibit. This includes an introduction to my life as a trauma survivor and Greek-American woman, informed by communication scholarship and other relevant fields regarding narrative theory, Greek history, religious and trauma …