Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Patriarchal Framework Of Extreme Religious Cult Communities And The Post-Exit Affect On Families, Pamala M. Schievelbein

Masters Theses

The Lies We Keep is a screenplay about Pinnacle, a patriarchal cult community that employs mind control and narcotics to subjugate the women in the community. They follow a false religious doctrine and community framework that were created during the Victorian era when the Mormons migrated west and ended their culture of polygamy to avoid prosecution. This thesis brings to light the many facets of extreme religious cults and their daily lives within a controlling framework including specific gender roles, abuse, manipulation, and inequality. Government intervention and Freedom of Religion are also discussed in parallel to the Branch Davidians in …

A Muzzle For The Lamb: A Novel, Scott Beggs

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The 22nd Annual Masquerade, Isabella Royster

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

A blasphemous, queer, and occasionally obsessive coming of age through poetry and photography. This book is the labor of love of four years in college, compiled and designed for your reading pleasure.

Other People, Jenny Hughes

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Other People is a collection of creative nonfiction essays that delves into themes of discovering personal identity through interpersonal relationships, isolation, and the importance of being seen and heard in a distracted and distant world. These essays explore what it means to be part of a community, and how we all struggle to find a balance between our responsibilities to other people and our responsibilities to ourselves. Individual works within this collection touch on themes of childhood, parenthood, romantic relationships, family, mental health, and death. These stories follow the author’s journey from being silent and set apart throughout childhood, across …

Aviary, Madelyn Willa Oprica

Senior Projects Spring 2024

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.

A Word Fitly Spoken Is Like Apples Of Gold In Settings Of Silver: Removing The Veil From Inspirational Historical Fiction, Laura Louise Milcarzyk

Masters Theses

This thesis is about the importance of inspirational historical fiction writers to pen literary works that are more reflective of the diverse Kingdom of God on earth and the trials and tribulations the diverse community of followers of Christ endure in this life. The thesis also defines three literary techniques that will, if applied correctly, help lead a writer in creating novels that bring God, His love, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ to life. The artistic statement explains how the novel originated and its process, as well as the novel’s literary and biblical significance. The critical paper is the …

The Prism, Darrah Melita Ellis

Graduate Thesis Collection

"The Prism" is a magical-girl-themed fantasy light novel series about four best friends who finally graduated junior high school. Miya, Teresa, Liana, and Destiny are anxious to start their new high school lives (for better or worse) in their rough, monotone, and corrupt urban town of Quaint Village. Their plans are interrupted, however, by the opening of a brand new private school. Then, for the first time ever, all four girls end up in the same program. They're ready to make great memories together and spend much more time with each other.

Unbeknownst to them, their new school is nothing …

House Of Grief, Megan Eralie

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This collection of essays examines how I house the grief for the losses of my religion and my grandfather. My first essay, “Body of Feathers,” looks at my body as a house of shame and how I transformed my body into something that could be mine instead. It explores a series of moments from my life where I felt disconnected from my body, usually because of rules or expectations set by someone other than me. In the essay, I move from feeling like I had no control of my body, to taking back control and experiencing my body as mine …

Environmentalism: Flint Michigan Water Crisis, Zamzam Mohammed

Religion: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

This essay examines the public health hazard of Flint Michigan that affected tens of thousands of individuals predominately Black and African Americans. This event was not only systematic, but it portrayed a sense of racial bias and environmental injustice. Not only were Flint residents getting sick due to the unhealthy supply of water source but they were silenced. Unfortunately Black and African Americans felt undermined and oppressed. The underdevelopment and unethical abandonment of the city portrays how much power and authority the city officials possess. Their disregard for the health hazard proves that they care more about monetary gain than …

The Kin-Ship, Zheng Moham Wang

Comparative Woman

This is a group of two English poems the author composed separately in 2019 and 2021 about the imaginary scenes of his grandpa and mother from a Iu-Mien family of Southeast Asia and Southwestern China. The group was submitted to the upcoming Kinship volume of the Comparative Woman journal of Louisiana State University.

Kept Things, Caroline J. Tuss

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

The things that occupy our lives tell human stories. They often go beyond literal interpretation, leaving space for places, people, desires, dreams, and ideologies to be signified and examined. Personal history is a well-traveled source of inspiration, and it provides significant, meaningful symbols for the concepts I’m engaging with in my newest collection. My project, titled Kept Things, is a collection of three nonfiction pieces examining why and how things are kept, lost, and discarded, whether we have a choice in the matter or not. The significance of symbols to identity and memory acts as a through-line between each …

Nick Vujicic - The Man Who Was A Force Of Power, Bhargavi Madhu

be Still

Nick Vujicic is an inspirational speaker who was born on December 1982. He was born with out arms and legs, a rare disorder called Phocomelia. After enduring many childhood difficulties, Nick refused to give up finding refuge in religion. He became a motivational speaker and spreads the word of god through his works.

Religion, Reason And Reconciliation In Louise Gluck’S The Wild Iris, Vincent Sergiacomi

Capstone Showcase

In a world where reason is king, what is the role of faith? Louise Gluck does not claim to have an answer, but she does explore the question. The Wild Iris gives us a god who is utterly convinced of the singular appeal of faith, countered by a worshipper who finds their rational worldview too reasonable to abandon. Yet over the course of the text, neither is able to demonstrate the singular primacy of their point, both arguments leaving their arguers unsatisfied in one way or another. This paper will explore the debate between the human and divine speakers of …

God Damn, Robi Mahan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

God Damn is a poetic collection that delves into the complex relationship between a daughter and her father, who has recently suffered from a stroke. As her father grapples with Aphasia, a neurological disorder which has rendered him with a uniquely limited vocabulary, the author must confront her beliefs about life, death, and the great beyond. The collection recounts the authors childhood with her father, an outspoken atheist from a small town, and how the ideals he has taught her influence the way she navigates life with a man who has lost his ability to speak.

Fostering Ethical Engagement Across Religious Difference In The Context Of Rhetorical Education, Michael-John Depalma

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

At a moment in which religious diversity is ever-increasing in the United States and more than three-quarters of the world’s population identifies with a religious tradition, it is important for writing teachers to consider how to best cultivate writers who are equipped to build identifications across religious difference. This essay traces my efforts to engage this exigence in my advanced undergraduate writing course at Baylor University entitled Religious Rhetorics and Spiritual Writing (RRSW). In what follows, I outline my pedagogical goals, course design, and approach to teaching RRSW. I then share the results of a qualitative pilot study that used …

Mother/God, Sarah Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My collection, Mother/God, attempts to look at my own growing up and how it has affected my beliefs and self in the presence, while also looking at the choices my mother made in raising me. The central thread throughout the collection is my relationship with my mother and the love that's endured those hardships. It explores my mother's past up until the hardest parts of motherhood in section one, The Mother. Then, section two titled The Daughter focuses on my own rebellion of how I was raised and an exploration of existentialism that was, in a lot of ways, …

A Mormon Missionary's Guide To Conversion Therapy Addiction Recovery, Shaun Anderson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This collection of essays explores my experience as a gay Mormon missionary, when I studied the Mormon Church's Addiction Recovery Program in an attempt to alter my sexuality. The initial four essays take place during the two years that I lived in Southern California as a Mormon missionary from 2011-2013. They present the text of the LDS Family Services Addiction Recovery Program workbook, with my own thoughts, experiences, and stories driven into the margins. Through these four essays, I demonstrate the hope, anguish, and longing of a gay man who desperately wants to live the model of a righteous Mormon …

Eyesore, Laura Bender

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

A chaplain bears witness to the cost of war.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

West West West, Michael Blackmon

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.

The Divine Double Voice: How Female Christian Rhetors Found Rhetorical Agency Through The Voice Of God, Cara Ryfun

Master of Arts in Professional Writing Capstones

This piece discusses the ways in which three specific Christian female rhetors--Teresa de Avila, Frances Willard, and Maria W. Stewart--utilized the voice of God through biblical scriptures and divine revelations in order to empower themselves. Through the voice of God, these women found agency for their own beliefs and messages, and utilized a variety of rhetorical maneuvers in order to share their messages and quietly subvert patriarchal constructs within the church. These women found agency for their feminist messages within their Christian patriarchal constructs, and they set precedents for Christian feminist rhetors to follow.

Earth: "Un-Human Me", Hakim Mohandas Amani Williams

Peace and Justice Studies Faculty Publications

He took a rib from your side and made others.

So you considered Others your children, forever.

He told you to go forth and produce and multiply so you made capitalism.

He told you to go forth and conquer and pillage and mark your name and plant your flag where-ever you wanted.

So now the moon is yours. Jupiter, beware! [excerpt]

New Bruises, Katelyn Aquilo

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The following manuscript is a collection of poetry based on experiences. Religious hypocrisy and abuse thread throughout the collection with both first hand experiences and fictional ones. It is divided into three parts: the hometown, the bodily abuse, and then, finally, the religion.

The Practice Of Secularism In Religious Cencorship In Turkish Film (1939-1990), Aditama Aditama, Nadira Bella Rachmanti, Siti Rohmah Soekarba

International Review of Humanities Studies

This paper analyzes a film as one of the media with the ability to convey certain messages to the public. Films can reflect the social and cultural conditions of society, thereby they can be used to spread the current ideas, views, and ideologies of a country. Films in Turkey are part of a culture that has developed rapidly and has become an entertainment for the people. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk reformed and turned Turkey into a new country with the ideology of secularism, controlling religious institutions and expressions. This journal article aims to describe the implementation of Turkish secular ideology in …

Tangled, Shannon Marie Ashley

MSU Graduate Theses

This thesis is a collection of poems. Much of my poetry is influenced by ideas of identity, particularly religious and sexual identity, and the ways identity affects relationships. As someone raised in a Catholic church from birth, religion has had a major impact on my life and perspective. I am no longer practicing but still consistently find myself considering the morals of the Church in my actions in a positive way. Catholicism will also always affect my relationship with my mother, who is still practicing. Much of my current poetry concerns my relationship with my mother, especially regarding religion and …

Saxophone, Robert Waldruff

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

A former marine’s poem of life, God, and jazz.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

Food Transitions: How Food Symbolizes Another Chapter, Josiah Peralta

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Through critical self-analysis of my life, I intend to answer the question, “How does food help us transition from one chapter of our life to another?” My purpose is to provide a personal viewpoint about related topics associated with food, like class, origin of food, religion or lack of, culture and tradition, obesity, food choice, and love. Through this viewpoint, I will demonstrate how food associations can encapsulate our past, memories, and identity in a way that moves us from the past to the present, and, hopefully, the future.

Capstone theme: Food, Ethics, and Politics

The Neon Gods We Made, Max Funk

Honors Projects

The Neon Gods We Made is a collection of 3 plays and 21 poems. In this collection I explore the concept of religion as an ideology, or as a body of knowledge that has some specific function in society as a whole—while I focus primarily on culture of the United States, there are broader trends in the use of ideology that are applicable to other countries/cultures as well. With this project, I am primarily interested in the links between organized religion, personal spirituality, and the influence of culture on both the more formal and informal aspects of one’s spirituality. Primarily, …

Healthy Living And Other Electives, Lamar Giles

English Theses & Dissertations

Healthy Living and Other Electives is an excerpt of a young adult novel that follows a sixteen-year-old boy, Del Rainey, as he pursues a romantic relationship with a member of his church’s Purity Pledge class. In addition to romance, Del also seeks a better understanding of manhood through interactions with his peers and father. Along the way, we discover how messily intertwined the church, school system, and lives of teenagers are in Del’s small Virginia town. The novel examines themes of religion, bureaucracy, and toxic masculinity.

Design-Based Research Mobile Gaming For Learning Jewish History, Tikkun Olam, And Civics, Owen Gottlieb

Articles

How can Design-Based Research (DBR) be used in the study of video games, religious literacy, and learning? DBR uses a variety of pragmatically selected mixed methods approaches to design learning interventions. Researchers, working with educators and learners, design and co-design learning artifacts and environments. They analyze those artifacts and environments as they are used by educators and learners, and then iterate based on mixed methods data analysis. DBR is suited for any "rich contextualized setting in which people have agency." (Hoadley 2013) such as formal or informal learning environments.

The case covered in this chapter is a mobile Augmented Reality …

The White Church: A Young Adult Novel, Jenna Kaye Fox

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

I'm not going to lie; I still have nightmares. One moment Robert was kissing me, and the next he looked at [his wife] Shirley in the eyes and pulled the trigger. I saw the white church, the willow tree, and Shirley's grave. I heard Robert whisper, ‘devour’ against my hearing aid. It was all my fault. I blamed myself over and over.... Kate writes this wrenching confession in her diary. Her experiences with her pedophilic confirmation teacher had been haunting her until she finally gathered courage to fill blank pages with her thoughts and emotions. The young adult, epistolary novel …