Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Chapter 4: The Grid Patterns In The Vestments And Headdresses Of Female Statuary From The Classic Period Cultures Of Central Veracruz, Chantal D. Huckert

Precious Pattern: The Dotted-Diamond Motif in Indigenous American Textiles, Explorations in Mesoamerica, the American Southwest, and the Andes

This chapter focuses on grid designs appearing on female clothing in Late Postclassic Nahua sources, in Maya sources, and on the Late Classic figurines of Central Veracruz. This study examines cross-hatched lattice patterns based on repetitions of rhombus and quincunx motifs associated with the sentient Mesoamerican Earth complex. The attached catalog presents a clear reference to these motifs and their variants, while the rest of the chapter is divided into two sections and addresses the general cross-hatched lattice pattern and the associated motifs. The first section discusses the all-over grid design, dotted or not, on the clothing of Mexican highland …

Chapter 5: The “Dotted-Grid” And “Dotted-Diamond” Motifs On Skirts: Fertility And Power During The Epiclassic And Early Postclassic Periods In Central And Western Mesoamerica (600 To 1200 Ce), Juliette Testard

Precious Pattern: The Dotted-Diamond Motif in Indigenous American Textiles, Explorations in Mesoamerica, the American Southwest, and the Andes

Discusses gender, apparel, and attributes with respect to the Epiclassic shift in politics and ideology, the grid, hatched, and rhomboidal patterns in central Mexican imagery during the Epiclassic, and the dotted-grid and dotted-diamond motifs on female figurines during the Epiclassic and Early Postclassic Periods.

Chapter 7: Symmetries Of Cloth And Corn In The Ancient Americas: Pattern Generation, Botany, And The Maize Matrix In Mexico And Peru, Lois Martin

Precious Pattern: The Dotted-Diamond Motif in Indigenous American Textiles, Explorations in Mesoamerica, the American Southwest, and the Andes

Discusses pattern generation, botany, and the maize matrix in Mexico and Peru.

“A Couple Days In The Life Of What It’S Like In Washington Heights:” The Representation Of Latine Immigrants In Lin-Manuel Miranda’S In The Heights, Natalie M. Bowen

Undergraduate Research Posters

The United States of America is a nation built by and made up of immigrants, being home to one-fifth of all migrants across the world. Anti-immigrant prejudice and xenophobia have long defined the American people and national policy, but the target demographic is constantly changing to reflect current narratives and fears. In recent years, Latine immigrants have been a prominent topic of concern in American politics. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s 2021 movie musical In The Heights aims to celebrate the existence of immigrants in Washington Heights, a neighborhood in New York City. Using peer-reviewed scholarly sources and movie reviews, this comprehensive literature …

Table Of Contents

The Griot - Southern Conference on African American Studies, Inc.

No abstract provided.

Editor's Pen, Ronald E. Goodwin

The Griot - Southern Conference on African American Studies, Inc.

No abstract provided.

“The World Is Yours”: Blackplanet.Com And The Black Birth Of The Social Media Age, Malachi D. Crawford, W. Denae Muhammad Murphy, Bequita Pegram

The Griot - Southern Conference on African American Studies, Inc.

This article examines the rise of BlackPlanet.com as a foundational force in the birth of the Social Media Age. Launched in 1999 by Omar Wasow, BlackPlanet quickly became the largest and most influential online social networking platform for African Americans, challenging assumptions about the so-called “digital divide.” Despite limited household internet access among Black communities, the site experienced extraordinary growth, reaching nearly 13 million users by 2004 (see user growth data in Table 1)

Crawford et al . Through customizable personal pages, forums, messaging, and community-building tools, BlackPlanet pioneered participatory digital culture before the rise of MySpace and Facebook. The …

Book Reviews, Mea Boykins, Kimberly F. Monroe, Denzel Oliver, Latif A. Tarik

The Griot - Southern Conference on African American Studies, Inc.

No abstract provided.

“Twist But Don’T Break:” Constellating Past And Present Barriers In Black Queer Multimodal Publishing That Shift Text Into Subtext; Addressing Acceptance Into Queer Creative Communities And The Void Of Black Voices Within, Kae Ann Dennert-Frederick

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

What does it look like to reframe our understanding of intersectional work? Looking at multimodality I will walk through the multiple frameworks by asking how Black Queer publishing of Young Adult fiction uses visuals to describe what cannot be said and what choices are made to show community structure and language, while also having to adapt for publication standards. I have researched this by looking into examples of Queer publishing (any representation of queerness in a form of publishing—in the text and sometimes in the authors' identity), as well as authors’ use of visuals to say what cannot be said …

Philosophically Aligned, Operationally Fractured: Duty-Of-Care In Nagpra Practice, Meghan Ensign

All Master's Theses

This research aims to explore the implementation of the Duty of Care [43 CFR Part 10.1(d)] within the 2024 revision of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) rules and regulations. While NAGPRA was designed to facilitate repatriation, ambiguities and institutional resistance have hindered compliance, necessitating regulatory updates. The 2024 revision added duty-of-care language intended to improve repatriation outcomes and reinforce Tribal sovereignty. Duty of care requires institutions to consult and collaborate with Tribes on curation policies and practices, and to obtain informed consent before allowing research on, exhibiting, or providing access to cultural items or human remains. …

Indigenous Land Seizure & Environmental Injustice: Impacts Of Settler Colonialism, Lydia Moorman

Journal of Earth and Life Science

The fields of conservation and environmentalism prioritize ecosystem health, yet both emerged from western frameworks that displaced and criminalized Indigenous land stewardship. The idealization of “pristine wilderness” narratives served to justify the removal of Indigenous peoples from their homelands and erased millennia of sustainable land stewardship that had maintained ecological balance long before western conservation existed. These narratives not only misrepresented Indigenous relationship with land but also constructed a false dichotomy between humans and nature that positioned Indigenous presence as a threat rather than a source of ecological knowledge. Simultaneously, anthropogenic expansion; such as pipelines, mining, railroads, and other extractive …

Entrepreneuring Otherwise: Reimagining Value In Art Business At Ɛdan, The Ano Institute Of Arts And Knowledge, And Nubuke Wa, Chantel Thompson

MA in Art Business Dissertations

This dissertation examines how three Ghanaian women-led art institutions practise what this study terms “entrepreneuring otherwise”: a feminist and decolonial mode of enterprise grounded in care, community, and epistemic sovereignty. Focussing on Ɛdan, ANO Institute of Arts and Knowledge, and Nubuke Wa, the research investigates how they navigate their environments, illustrating the strategies used to respond to both the rich cultural histories of Ghana and the systemic conditions shaped by limited state support, fragmented cultural policy, and predominantly informal economies, which ultimately create fertile ground for reimagining and innovation.

Situated within feminist epistemologies and decolonial thought, the study applies the …

"When I Think Of The Public Library, I Think Of White": Black Families Counter-Narratives Of Library Irrelevance And Community Repair, Amber Matthews

STEMPS Faculty Publications

While public libraries espouse equitable access, few studies examine Black community disengagement. Drawing on Critical Race Theory and the theme "Information in Repair," this paper analyzes semi-structured interviews with seven Black parents of youth aged 13-24 in London, Ontario. Findings reveal that their lack of library engagement stems not from access barriers but from libraries functioning as racialized spaces irrelevant to Black lived experiences in Canada. Where libraries fall short, Black-led organizations perform continuous, invisible reparative labour through culturally responsive programming and trusted information networks. Meaningful repair requires confronting institutional whiteness, redistributing resources to Black-led organizations, and sustaining authentic relationship-building …

Understanding The Impact Of Psychosocial Barriers On Colorectal Cancer Knowledge In Emerging Black Men, Chelsey Mcgill, Maria D. Thomson, Caroline Kuno, Emmanuel Taylor, Kimberly Lawrence, Alison J. Patev, Arnethea L. Sutton, Ruth Nyagaka, Oxana Palesh, Larry D. Keen Ii

Research and Infrastructure Service Enterprise (RISE) Faculty Publications

In the United States, Colorectal Cancer (CRC) is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers and the third leading cause of death among non-Hispanic African American/Black (henceforth Black) men. Inadequate CRC knowledge leads to missing early warning signs, delaying prevention and increasing risk. Emerging adulthood (18-25) is a key period for building healthy behaviors and addressing barriers to CRC knowledge in addition to understanding attitudes and practices to CRC screening. Psychosocial barriers - including social support, medical mistrust, and perceived racial discrimination - contribute to the lack of CRC knowledge among older Black men, yet emerging adult Black men remain …

Faik Tagirov And Tatar Constructivism: The Making Of A New Tatar Book, Miriam Akhmetshin

Scripps Senior Theses

Working in the style of constructivism, Faik Tagirov primarily designed book covers for Tatar agitational literature in the 1920s. Studying at VKhUTEMAS and working for numerous publishing houses, Tagirov participated in several domestic and international exhibitions with well-known artists like Aleksandr Rodchenko and El Lissitzky. Tagirov utilized photomontage, geometricism, and unique typographical designs to create potent materials for a Tatar population. Current scholarship fails to adequately acknowledge the diverse influences impacting the work of non-Russian artists such as Tagirov. Using visual and iconographic analysis, I argue for an approach that recognizes Tagirov's work as syncretic in nature, utilizing both indigenous …

Still Life As A Photographer: Visual And Mnemonic References To Photography In Yasuo Kuniyoshi’S 1944 Broken Objects And Room 110, Tara A. Attanasio

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis examines Yasuo Kuniyoshi (1889-1953) and his still life paintings titled Broken Objects and Room 110 as modes of implicit portraiture, self-declaration, and self-reclamation. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, government authorities deemed Kuniyoshi an “enemy alien” and confiscated his photographic equipment. Painted two years following his camera’s confiscation, Broken Objects and Room 110 contain references that recall Kuniyoshi’s prewar photographic practice and visualize his response to the loss of his camera. I foreground my analysis with Kuniyoshi’s Self-Portrait as a Photographer from 1924 and his photography from the 1930s to detail his metacritical relationship …

More Than Meets The Eye: Operation Blue Star & Us-India’S Deadly Exchange, Jannat Verma

Scripps Senior Theses

Operation Blue Star is often memorialized as an independent action carried out by India's Congress Party. While such an understanding is not entirely historically inaccurate, it fails to account for the role played by US influence in the operation. An examination of CIA files and America's involvement in the subcontinent during the Cold War calls for a re-interpretation of Operation Blue Star, not as a solo campaign, but rather as a product of counterinsurgent and deadly exchange between the US and India.

Recipes And Resources: Food As A Decolonial Tool For The 1.5 Generation, Reyna Guadalupe Silva Carrillo

Scripps Senior Theses

Food is more than just nourishment for the 1.5-generation, people who come to the United States as children and now navigate between cultures; it is a language of memory, resistance, and survival across borders. This project raises an important question: how do 1.5-generation students navigate identity, belonging, and survival through food, and how can a zine serve as a medium for sharing community knowledge? My project argues that food is an important way 1.5-generation students use language to remember, resist, and survive across borders. Using pláticas, an informal conversation-based approach, this project focuses on the experience of 1.5-generation students at …

Madman's Drum, Lynd Ward

Zea E-Books Collection

Lynd Ward (1905–1985) was born in Chicago and studied at Columbia Teachers College in New York City and at the National Academy of Graphic Arts and Bookmaking in Leipzig, Germany. He began working as a book illustrator in 1927, and in 1929 published this first “wordless novel,” Gods’ Man. He eventually published five more such works, as well as illustrations for more than 100 other books, plus drawings, lithographs, watercolors, and children’s stories.

Madman’s Drum is his second wordless novel. It tells a dark story about a slaver who murders an African and steals his drum, which seems to …

A Transnational Feast Of Our Lady Of Guadalupe: Globalization, Identity, And Collective Memory In Dodge City, Kansas, David A. Solis-Enriquez

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

This work examines the transnational connections of Dodge City’s Mexican immigrants and their celebration of the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe and how their cross-border activity were parts of larger systems like globalization, identity, and collective memory. With migration into Southwestern Kansas and the Oklahoma panhandle increasing intensely in the 1980s, because of the economic opportunities that the livestock and meat manufacturing industries offered, Dodge City’s Mexican population reached unprecedented heights. These migration waves mark the starting point of this thesis.

The incoming Mexican population flooded the city’s Catholic facilities, which prompted the community and the local diocese …

Beyond Judicial Intent: The Agency Of The Defense Counsel In Ozawa’S And Thind’S Supreme Court Cases, Bret K. Luchs

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

This thesis seeks to examine how specific legal strategies by the defense counsel in Ozawa v. United States, 260 U.S. 178 (1922), and United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, 261 U.S. 204 (1923), compelled the Supreme Court of the United States into a reactive and contradictory position. A re-examination of Ozawa and Thind delves deeper into the legal briefs and arguments made by Takao Ozawa and Bhagat Singh Thind, alongside their legal teams. These briefs, opinions of the court, past lower court cases, and personal statements by Ozawa and Thind demonstrate how they did not surrender to the confines of …

Intersectional Dynamics Of Race And Gender: Voting Behavior And The 2024 U.S. Presidential Election, Daniella Basdeo

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Presidential elections do more than choose a leader; they give us an inside look at how identity shapes voters’ choices. The 2024 election made this especially clear. Looking at Kamala Harris, who represents multiple underrepresented identities, we see a candidate who is not only a woman and a person of color, but specifically a woman of color running at the national level. This election is the first time we see several minority identities in a candidate in a presidential race, and what makes this unique is that, at the national level, it is much harder for candidates to be fully …

Clyde On A Cloud: Black Mass-Media Activism In 1950s Orlando, Nathan M. Pelz

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Clyde Sanders is fondly remembered by those who were fortunate enough to tune their radio dial to WLOF during the 1950s or WOKB in the ‘60s. His show played the coolest tunes for teenagers who, for the first time, could carry with them music in their pockets. Sanders served as more than a radio DJ, however. Being Black in Orlando in the midcentury was complex and often dangerous. Careful not to explicitly engage with topics of civil rights, Sanders quietly advocated toward racial justice, helped to coordinate meetings, and advance racial harmony with his show which, though intended for Black …

Performing Brazilian Identity: The Cultural Politics Of Carmen Miranda, Nicole M. Pineiro Serrano

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This honors undergraduate thesis examines how Carmen Miranda’s performances shaped Brazilian national identity in both Brazilian cinema and Hollywood in the mid-twentieth century. Through film analysis, historical research, and cultural theory, the study examines Miranda’s public persona and the symbolic significance of the Baiana costume, with respect to Brazil’s Estado Novo regime, and Hollywood’s own depictions of Latin America. Overall, it argues that Miranda’s image functioned as a site of cultural negotiation, where Brazilian cultural expression met Hollywood’s exoticizing portrayals, but the encounter did not always stay as a fixed stereotype. The study also examines the tensions between authenticity, commodification, …

An Indigenous Sovereign Approach: Developmental Strategies And Guidelines For The Berger-Patawomeck Preserve Trail Network, Lauren N. Usher

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

This planning document serves the Patawomeck Tribe's cultural, environmental, and sovereign needs by providing research and recommendations to sustainably steward ancestral lands through integrated Indigenous and Western practices. The plan adapts sustainable design strategies to guide trail maintenance and activities within the Berger-Patawomeck Preserve, examining Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) alongside Western practices. A decolonized, sovereign lens guided the mixed research methods drawing on legal, regulatory, planning, and ethical frameworks to strengthen tribal health, education, and sovereignty. The research explores local ecology, Indigenous culture, and implementational strategies. The ecological findings document the Preserve's sensitive resources, including the Coastal Piedmont transition zone, …

The Jamaica That Dreams: A Normative Application Of Developmental Theory, Tamoy Pitt

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines Jamaica’s persistent underdevelopment through Martha Nussbaum's normative application of the capabilities approach as per her conception in Creating Capabilities. Through this approach, the paper will argue that Jamaica’s underdevelopment is a result of the failure of its domestic institutions to provide all citizens with the substantive freedoms and capabilities necessary to live lives of dignity. Originally detailed by Amartya Sen in his book Development as Freedom, the capabilities approach posits freedom as both the means and ends to development while rejecting contemporary approaches to development such as GDP, Utilitarianism, or Rawlsian resource-based approaches as insufficient frameworks for …

Pesos For Pesos And No One Feels At Home: Gentrification And Displacement In Mexico City, Sophia L. Castellanos

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis investigates how gentrification and displacement have affected Mexico City, providing historical context and reasoning behind current policies for digital nomads and tourists. It examines policies enacted in similar cities such as Barcelona, Amsterdam, and Venice, which face challenges from increased tourism and short-term rentals like Airbnb. The thesis also reviews these regulations, highlighting their successes and limitations, and offers recommendations for integrating some of these strategies into Mexico City’s 2024 Tourism Law. Additionally, it explores public innovation strategies that could promote collaborations between the government and communities rather than complete government control. Finally, the paper discusses the challenges …

Family, Stability, Mentors & Money: Student Definitions Of Success, Arturo Caldera

CMC Senior Theses

This research takes a deep dive into the factors shaping marginalized communities’ educational experiences, particularly for low-income Latino students from migrant backgrounds navigating public schooling spaces. Across sixteen qualitative interviews, participant narratives reveal how a systemic lack of resources at the institutional, interpersonal, and structural levels undermines the quality of support students receive and shapes their academic trajectories. Grounded in student-centered practices and informed by scholarship in multicultural education, Chicanx/Latinx studies, feminism, and psychology, this study contributes to ongoing efforts to move beyond deficit-based frameworks and instead recognize the cultural wealth, knowledge, and resilience students bring from their homes and …

Back Burner, Olga Jocelyn Shute

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

As a first-generation Mexican American, I look for alternative sources of inspiration through spiritual practices and postcolonial artwork that predate American modern/contemporary art. People of color in the US are categorized by words like Latin X, first, second, or third generation, Mexican American, and so on. In searching for my own identity, I question the verbiage that places constrictions over my body, soul, and life experiences. Compared to its pre-declaration of the lands, the United States' 250-year history is rather short. Looking at a portion of my cultural heritage, I associate dogs, jewelry, and maize with tradition, power, and spiritual …

Racial Concepts, Dei, And Social Equity, Yan Lei

A with Honors Projects

DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) often deviates from the original goal of “equality of opportunity.” By institutionalizing identity labels and the protection of “vulnerability,” it reduces individuals to group identities, transforms historical injustices into contemporary obligations, and solidifies fragility. This not only fails to achieve genuine fairness but also weakens individual agency, distorts incentive mechanisms, and damages society’s long-term resilience, efficiency, and trust.