Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Collateral Damage From A Legacy Of Silence: Redefining Sexual Violence In The American Civil War, 1861-1865, Chandra K. Waller

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation examines the often-overlooked issue of sexual violence during the American Civil War, challenging the myth of Victorian restraint and the romanticized notion of the "gentleman soldier." While traditional Civil War historiography has focused on military strategy, politics, and elite actors, this study foregrounds the experiences of civilian women, particularly enslaved and marginalized women, who were subjected to sexual violence at the hands of soldiers. Drawing on court-martial records, personal letters and diaries, newspaper accounts, and military documents, the paper argues that sexual violence was not an aberration but a systemic and strategic aspect of wartime conduct.

It also …

Makt, Sex, Och Kön: St. Birgitta And Medieval Swedish Politics, Carl Andrew Lund

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Birgitta Birgersdotter (1302/3 – 1373) was a Swedish noblewoman who began reporting repeated heavenly visions beginning shortly after her widowhood in 1344, although tradition came to believe that she had had earlier visions as well. Her visions had a strong religious component. However, they also gave admonishment and advice to powerful leaders throughout medieval Europe, notably Sweden’s king, Magnus IV Eriksson, and his queen consort, Blanche of Namur. Another important motif of the visions was an insistence of the papacy returning to Rome from Avignon. Birgitta was not always taken seriously due to her gender. However, the privilege obtained from …

Derek Andre "Db" Burns

African American Funeral Programs

Mr_Derek_Andre_Burns.pdf - Funeral program for Derek Burns

South Carolina And The Blue Ridge Rail Road, 1852 To 1873: Dreams Of Linking The South And West, Steve E. Gibson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

While the 1850s were productive and railroading did innovate with the initial adoption of steel, the embrace of the telegraph, the use of coal as a fuel, and the opening of generally long railroads, particularly in South Carolina, the railroads themselves generally remained conservative (almost timid) in their business models and strategic thinking. This was especially true in the South. Northern railroads recognized the need to connect major cities, connect seaports with crop productive hinterlands, and generally understood that railroad mobility, mixed economic development, and prosperity were intertwined and mutually reinforcing with the prosperity of both the railroad and the …

The War Powers Resolution: A Failed Check On Executive Power And A Contributor To U.S. Military Expansion, Melissa A. Cavaliere

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Governmental policies, such as the War Powers Resolution (WPR) of 1973, are comprehensive legislative measures designed to address recurring issues through thorough analysis rather than hasty responses. The WPR emerged from a need to balance power between the executive and legislative branches, particularly in the wake of the Vietnam War. Passed over President Nixon's veto, the WPR mandates that the president consults Congress before deploying U.S. armed forces into situations involving imminent hostilities, requiring this consultation within 48 hours of military action. If troops are deployed, their involvement can last 60 days, extendable to 90 days, unless Congress either approves …

Territorial Scars: The Legacy Of The Eugenics Movement In Puerto Rico, Audra Desiree Edwards

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The United States-Puerto Rico relationship was strongly impacted by the eugenics movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The groundwork for the paternalistic relationship that the United States imposed on the island was set by the Spanish colonization. Once the United States gained the territory in 1898, many assumed that it would progress to statehood through the same process as former U.S. territories. However, the impact of the eugenics concerns over race, population density, and undesirable genetics had affected U.S. imperialism. The lack of white migration to the island, in combination with the perceived undesirable and overly dense …

Living Art: The Arabian Horse Industry Boom And Bust, 1970-1990, Jill R. Wright

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The Arabian horse world in the 1980’s was characterized by high prices followed by an unprecedented fall of the market. The Arabian horse industry was a boom and bust cycle, much like the Dutch Tulipmania of the 1630’s. Many breeders reveled in the status of owning an Arabian and prospered in this inflated market. They could make a quick profit buying a horse and reselling it a short time later, as the prices quickly rose. High prices, which were the boom, turned out to be the issue. The horses, referred to by many as living art, were not a good …

Selected Artificial Intelligence Provisions In U.S. Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

The 2025 Fiscal Year National Defense Authorization Act contains multiple provisions relating to artificial intelligence (AI). These congressionally mandated provisions direct various sections of the Department of Defense (DOD) and individual U.S. armed service branches to execute congressional intent for AI policymaking. Examples of such intent include identifying and planning DOD's AI workforce, demonstrating AI biotechnology applications for national security, improving the human usability of AI systems, and establishing an AI security center. This presentation will note that reports on these initiatives must be prepared for relevant congressional oversight committees, and, in many cases, are in many cases, publicly released …

Oral History Interview With Fairolyn Livingston, Fairolyn Livingston, Wenxian Zhang

Oral Histories

Fairolyn H. Livingston ’83 is known as the “institutional memory of Winter Park’s west side,” where she was born and raised by what she lovingly refers to as a village. She earned her bachelor’s degree in humanities from Rollins’ Hamilton Holt School, is a retired human service specialist with the State of Florida, and has been associated with the Heritage Center since it opened in 2007, becoming its chief historian in 2014. In 1997, Livingston received the Rhea Marsh and Dorothy Lockhart Smith Research Grant—awarded annually by Rollins’ Olin Library in partnership with the Winter Park Public Library—to support research …

The Unicorn And Christ – Metamorphosis And Symbology, Luis Mendonça De Carvalho, Francisca Maria Fernandes, Maria Fátima Nunes, Ana Maria Costa, Paula Nozes, Ana Paula Figueira

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

The unicorn is a legendary chimaera that, for centuries, has been present in the mindset of Euro-Mediterranean cultures. Although its morphological description changed, tradition identifies it as an animal like a horse, albeit smaller and with a spiralling horn on its head pointing forward. The unicorn has been known since Antiquity, with references by authors such as Ctesias and Pliny. However, its relevance for medieval Europeans began with the Biblical references to this animal in several Old Testament verses. These verses gave legitimacy to the unicorn, and it was accepted as a tangible animal. During the Middle Ages and early …

Surviving The Void: Identity Threats And The Plague Of Violence In Rawi Hage’S De Niro’S Game, Yasmine Nabil M. A. Ahmed Dr

Computer Science

Abstract In the postcolonial era, many third-world countries, instead of enjoying prosperity, were driven into longterm civil wars and political unrest. Among the Arab countries which were plagued by a prolonged social conflict is Lebanon where the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990) lasted nearly 15 years, devastating the social fabric of the country. Among the novelists who capture this critical period in the history of Lebanon is the Lebanese-Canadian author Rawi Hage. Characterized by his nihilist and apocalyptic tone, Rawi Hage portrays, in his De Niro’s Game (2006), the chaos of war and its impact on personal and national identities. Through …

Nigerian Democratization And Internal Party Contest For Leadership, Salihu Moh. Lukman

Journal of African Policy Studies

It was the American journalist and political commentator, Fareed Zakaria, in the book The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad, who argued that democratization everywhere is shifting power downward. According to him, the process of democratization goes far beyond politics and result in hierarchies, “breaking down, closed systems, are opening up, and pressures from the masses are now the primary engine of social change. Democracy has gone far from being a form of government to a way of life.” The role of political parties all over the world in facilitating the shift of power to the people …

Modern Peace Keeping In Africa: Lessons From Nigeria, Solomon Hailu

Journal of African Policy Studies

Different approaches to conflict resolution and peacekeeping in African failed states have taken the centre stage of this analysis. These approaches are based not merely on theory or doctrine but on the self-perceived interests of the stakeholders in peacekeeping inside Africa. The Western powers have repeatedly expressed the view that they will not commit their armed forces to resolve African conflicts. The West’s desire to place responsibility on African states, rather than sharing it, will not bring peace in Africa. The reason is that Africans are not ready to shoulder such heavy responsibility without direct Western military involvement in African …

Sars And The Nigerian Youth: Odors From A Decaying System, Toyin Falola

Journal of African Policy Studies

Nigeria is home to a thriving contradiction. Here is a country that celebrates its aspirations to greatness—economic success, food security, accountable governance, territorial integrity, internal security, and improved living standards—sabotaging its young and vibrant population. A pseudo-welfarist democracy, Nigeria's young vibrant 'human capital'—the potentially productive portion of its population—must contend with gross insufficiencies, maladministration, corruption, and intimidation in state-owned and administered facilities. In public infrastructure—stable electricity, good roads, and clean drinking water—and public institutions—schools, hospitals, government agencies, and the security outfits—lies a deep and spreading rot; an insufficiency, inefficiency, and inconsistency that constantly mocks any such aspirations to lofty heights. …

The Influence Of (Post-) Colonial Language Policies On Local Languages In Cameroon: An Acquisition Planning Perspective, Alain Flaubert Takam

Journal of African Policy Studies

This paper examines language policy and planning in favour of minority languages during the colonial era and immediately after. It is based on the observation that local languages in Cameroon do not seem to have the ethnolinguistic vitality necessary for their long-term survival. The situation of these languages begs the following question: Did the promotion strategies of national languages in colonial Cameroon pave the way for language attrition that is observable today or is it the language policy choice of the political authorities in independent Cameroon that has caused this language issue? This paper, which falls within the general framework …

Front Matter, Volume 26, Issue 1, Institute On African Affairs

Journal of African Policy Studies

No abstract provided.

The Political Economy Of Pension Reforms: An Analysis Of Policy Design And Practice In Ghana, Michael Kpessa-Whyte

Journal of African Policy Studies

There is a gradual move away in African pension policy from the hitherto predominantly pay-as-you-go social insurance schemes to new social security policies that prioritize private pension. But in African economies where capital market is underdeveloped and private sector is generally fragile, the shift to private pensions has implications for income security of the elderly. This study examines the design and practice of three-tier pension scheme with dual private pillars introduced a little over a decade ago. While discussing the various categories of private pension schemes that operate under the three-tier pension plan, it echoes the view that, the design …

The Plague Of ‘Ghost Workers’: Interrogating Payroll Fraud And Executive-Bureaucratic Conspiracy In Nigeria, Mike Omilusi

Journal of African Policy Studies

Like all forms of corruption, ghost workers present a serious drain on state funds. The Nigerian government has tens of thousands of forged or imaginary names on its payroll. These people inhabit the ranks of Nigeria’s “ghost workers,” who receive pensions from the government without ever working a day. This essay examines the impact of ghost workers on the public wage bill and generally, high cost of governance in Nigeria. It interrogates the renewed efforts of governments at all levels in probing this pattern of fraud, particularly in a period of economic recession. It is submitted in this essay that …

Big Data As Potential Tool For Success In Developing Countries, Jean-Claude Pedjeu, Aurore J. Kamssu, Jeffrey S. Siepke-Sambo

Journal of African Policy Studies

Big data and the computer technology to analyze it are said to be one of the top 10 revolutions in the coming decade. While the developed world is making strides in the use of big data for decision making purposes, the Low-income countries (LIC) or poor countries and some medium-income countries (MIC) or developing countries are lacking behind in their collection and use of digital data to aid decision making. This is especially the case with many businesses and government agencies that have the potential to benefit in their policy designs and implementations from big data. The purpose of this …

Accounting For The Decline Of Service Delivery In Urban Local Authorities: A Survey Of Zimbabwean Cities And Towns, Wenceslaus Mudyanadzo, Makomborero Y. Nzwatu

Journal of African Policy Studies

This paper presents a review of several factors which account for the decline of service delivery in urban local authorities within Zimbabwe. The study utilised desk research methodology to explore and analyse relevant data which was in government legislation, ministerial statements, public and private media articles, books and journals to come up with the totality of the environment relating directly or indirectly to the decline of service delivery in local authorities (LAs). The evidence cited is based on findings from identified urban local authorities which include Harare, Chitungwiza, Gweru, Mutare, Masvingo and Bulawayo City Councils. Themes surrounding the interference in …

Reinventing E-Governance Policy In Local Governments In Southern Nigeria, Robert A. Dibie, Maryam O. Quadri

Journal of African Policy Studies

This paper examines the extent to which electronic governance policy has contributed to more efficient service delivery in local governments in southern Nigeria. It also explores how e-governance practices has improved the relationship between citizens and local governments in southern Nigeria. It argues that despite the appropriation of funds for the purchase of computers and other electronic equipment in many local governments in the past three decades, the delivery of services in almost all the local governments under study has not improved. The paper uses data derived from questionnaire survey administered to local government staff in southern Nigeria. Two thousand …

Front Matter, Volume 25, Number 1, Institute On African Policy Studies

Journal of African Policy Studies

No abstract provided.

Giving Oral Histories New Life Through Community Archiving Collaborations, Marianne Swierenga, Amy Bocko

University Libraries Faculty & Staff Presentations

Oral Histories conducted by the Kalamazoo Valley Museum have found a new life through a collaborative partnership with WMU Libraries. Recorded on VHS in 1995, oral histories from Jewish resort owners in South Haven, Michigan, were digitized, described, and published openly in ScholarWorks, WMU’s institutional repository. This poster describes how the collaboration began, the workflow between institutions, and the resulting final product.

Becoming A Beloved Community: A Restorative Reckoning For A Radical Conversion To Transform Discourse In Higher Education, Latasha Tomay Varlack-Butler

Dissertations

This dissertation critically examines the misappropriation of Restorative Justice Discourse (RJD) within three predominantly white institutions (PWIs), analyzing 59 institutional documents through Critical Discourse Analysis, Relational Critical Discourse Analysis, and Rhetorical Criticism (Fairclough, 1995; Vaandering, 2021; van Dijk, 2008). Tribal Colleges and Universities and South African institutions have emerged as exemplars of authentic RJD, countering co-optation within PWIs. The findings demonstrate that RJD as applied in PWIs is framed in ways that attenuate its transformative potential, perpetuating color-evasiveness (Bonilla-Silva, 2017) and obscuring the intersectional experiences of Black, Indigenous, and disabled communities (Crenshaw, 1991; Million, 2009).

Grounded in decolonial praxis (Smith, …

Beyond Borders: The Lubomirski Dürers And The Global Debate On The Ethics Of Art Restitution, Gabriela Bloch

Senior Theses

Despite the validity of national heritage claims and the legal principles governing ownership, the most ethical resolution to the restitution of the Lubomirski Dürers lies in a global collectivist approach. By prioritizing accessibility to the largest possible audience while acknowledging historical injustices, universal museums can serve as platforms for education and cultural exchange. This approach not only mitigates the exclusivity inherent in nationalist or legalistic solution, but also advances a shared human heritage that fosters global understanding and reconciliation.

France’S Exclusion Politics: Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric And Political Capital (1972-2002), Alicia Strader

Senior Theses

This thesis explores the politics of exclusion in France, focusing on how immigrants have been marginalized due to politicians' strategic use of anti-immigrant rhetoric. The study examines the rise of Jean-Marie Le Pen, and the increasing political capital gained through his xenophobic platform, highlighting the pivotal moment when other politicians began to adopt similar tactics to secure their own electoral success. By examining secondary sources and magazine articles from 1972 to 2002, this research investigates how the politicization of immigration issues contributed to the marginalization of immigrant communities in France. It argues that the exploitation of anti-immigrant sentiment, particularly after …

Respectability, Code-Switching, And Expression: Examining The Experience Of Black Expressive Arts Therapists Through A Sociolinguistic Lens, Darrien Bush

Expressive Therapies Theses

This literature review explores how the linguistic phenomenon of code-switching can be applied to expressive arts and expressive arts therapy to describe the experience of Black expressive therapists. The review outlines the evolution of the term, reasons why individuals switch codes, and how this affects their experience. The understanding of code-switching is then examined in expressive arts and the expressive arts therapy field. A history and understanding of code-switching in Black communities is also explored, connecting Black experiences of code-switching and expressive arts therapy programs. A discussion suggests that culturally relevant practices are implicitly discouraged due to dominant expectations. Future …

"To Hold For Themselves, Their Children, And Their Heirs": The Saga Of Mexicano Settlement In The Lower Estancia Valley, 1800-1925, Javier E. Sanchez

History ETDs

This dissertation focuses on the mexicano settlement experience in central New Mexico’s lower Estancia Valley, where local settlers co-opted the settlement strategies and traditions of three successive political regimes and experienced a net gain in land ownership over the course of the Long 19^th Century. It invokes four major themes: settlement, culture, economics, and parentela (kinship). Regarding settlement, it explores the mechanics of mexicano frontier settlement traditions and illuminates how deeply rooted concepts such as presura, an ancient method of settling embattled frontier zones through seizure, occupancy, and utilization by the settlers themselves, are reflected in settlement patterns …

Imperial Fabrication Of Ethnic Cleansing: Czarist Through Soviet Russian Practices And Policies Responsibility In The Ethnic Cleansing Of Georgians In Abkhazia., George Kane

Senior Theses

This thesis explores the direct correlation and connection between Goergia’s struggles against Russian imperialism and the ethnic cleansing of Georgians from Abkhazia that resulted from the 1990s Georgian-Abkhaz Conflict. After examining the historical and cultural ties of the Abkhaz as one of the many Georgian nationalities, this thesis examines the concerted effort by Czarist and Soviet Russia to separate the two identities in order to further imperial ambitions in the Caucasus region. This targeted separation over decades, along with direct Russian military support during the conflict, would then result in an ethnic cleansing taking place perpetrated by the Abkhaz against …

“Stories That Are Silenced For Way Too Long” Silence On Sexual Violence During The Holocaust And The Importance Of Accurate Depiction Of It, Adele Blokh

Senior Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to explore and analyze the depiction of sexual violence during the Holocaust in scholarly research literature. Until recently, the topic of sexual violence during the Holocaust has been underrepresented or even silenced altogether. Although the Holocaust has been widely studied, due to the immense trauma and the stigmatization of sexual violence as a social taboo, sexual violence during the Holocaust has not been widely discussed, leaving a gap - sexual violence - in our collective memory of the Holocaust. This paper seeks to identify gaps in the representation of sexual violence in existing scholarship, …