Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Barriers And Bridges: Exploring Factors That Shape Mental Health Service Utilization In Rural America, Margaret Wiwuga

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Despite disproportionately higher suicide mortality rates and comparable prevalence of mental illness across urban and rural communities in the United States, rural populations across the nation experience significantly lower access to and utilization of mental health services, naturally leading to worse comprehensive outcomes. This literature review examines multifaceted factors shaping mental health service use in rural America, taking note of both barrier and enabling factors that impede or enable these unique populations’ willingness and ability to access and use mental health services. Ten articles published prior to September 9, 2025, were selected from the James Madison University Libraries’ Psychology and …

Local And Indigenous Knowledge, Innovation, And Sustainable Development: Creating Sustainable Futures Amidst Crisis Conditions At The Community Level, Carlos Andrés Arias

Dissertations and Theses

In 1987, the Brundtland Commission's Our Common Future (1987) made clear the need to reject longstanding development processes and focus on sustainable development. The Commission stressed that actual sustainable development integrates three elements: social development, economic development, and environmental protection. Though developed nations have achieved economic growth through conventional and extractive development practices, these practices have intensified natural disasters driven by climate change, increased food insecurity, and deepened poverty. This has acutely impacted Indigenous and local communities, many of whom face crisis conditions, such as war, terrorism, civil disorder, and their aftermath. Even so, many of these communities successfully implement …

Care As Method: Sound, Duration, Relation In Contemporary Art Practice, Violet L. White

MFA in Visual Art

Abstract Care as Method: Sound, Duration, and Multispecies Relation in Contemporary Art Practice

This thesis proposes care as a method of artmaking, not a subject, theme, or aesthetic position, but the actual structural logic through which a body of work is built, sustained, and understood. Working at the intersection of ecological art practice and relational aesthetics, it asks what happens when the encounter at the center of the work is not between two people but between species, infrastructures, and histories of use and what obligations that encounter generates.

The argument is developed through six interconnected works: installations, sound compositions, sculptures, …

Treatment Of Different Non-State Actors In Detention: A Legal, Moral, And National Security Analysis, Alison P. Raedel

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

This thesis analyzes state behavior regarding the treatment of non-state actors through three major frameworks: international law, ethical theory, and national security. Two cases are compared: the treatment of al-Qaeda detainees by the United States after the attacks of September 11th, 2001, and the treatment of the Angolan liberation movements by the Portuguese during the Angolan War of Independence. These cases were chosen to assess how the three frameworks apply across different non-state actors, which include terrorist organizations and liberation movements. International law provides a baseline for rights and protections, but it is often selectively interpreted. Just war theory gives …

From The Editor In Chief, C. Anthony Pfaff

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Welcome to the Summer 2026 issue of Parameters, which consists of two In Focus special commentaries, three forums (Indo-Pacific, Strategy, and Historical Studies) and the Strategic Competition Corner.

Turning Tactical Victories Into Strategic Success: Counterinsurgency In The Irish Civil War, 1922–23, Gareth Prendergast, John A. Nagl

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

The fundamentals the Irish National Army used in the Irish Civil War (1922–23) are a model for the successful application of a classic counterinsurgency which, if understood earlier, could have made a difference in the United States’ most recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Irish Civil War has not been examined in-depth through the lens of modern counterinsurgency doctrine. This article draws on military history and recent counterinsurgency doctrines to provide US policymakers and military practitioners practical guidance for how counterinsurgent forces can foster trust and use appropriate tactics that lead to strategic success.

Parameters, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

A New Security Framework For Nato’S Eastern Flank, Matthew J. Kukla, Anna Batta

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article argues for a NATO-EU–led security strategy to achieve long-term deterrence in Ukraine after the end of the Russia-Ukraine War. Unlike existing analyses, this article straddles the strategic level of deterrence, outlining an operational road map. Its historical example of the Iraq War shows that long-term security requires the development of plans before a conflict ends, long-term commitments, and multilateral—not unilateral—security efforts. The proposed solution provides strategic planners and policymakers with a low-risk, high-reward approach that leverages burden sharing through a multinational framework.

Rethinking Power: E. H. Carr’S Enduring Lessons For Modern Strategists, Brian J. Hasse

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article argues E. H. Carr’s classic conception of power provides enduring lessons for national security, but these lessons are easily lost in application. Unlike much of the existing literature, this article emphasizes how modern conceptions of power convey an illusion of balance, while the national security bureaucracy constrains the effective synchronization of power. The analysis leverages both historical and contemporary case studies to identify what a balanced conception of power looks like in practice, with the hope of informing US national security strategy and policy in today’s complex security environment.

Geopolitical Chessboard: How Vietnam Shapes American-Chinese Competition, Kiet H. Lê, Hiep X. Trần

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Vietnam’s geostrategic position—bordering China and commanding key South China Sea maritime routes—makes it a pivotal actor in shaping great-power competition in Southeast Asia. This article argues that the United States should support Vietnam’s neutrality and strategic autonomy as a means of countering Chinese influence. Unlike prior studies that portray regional states as passive players, this analysis highlights Vietnam’s active role in influencing regional dynamics. Through comparative analysis with the Philippines, using historical case studies, geographic assessments, and policy reviews, the article offers practical insights for military and policy practitioners on how geography shapes alliance formation and strategic competition.

Key Themes In Sino-American History, David J. Lorenzo, Ian Murphy

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article examines how historical narratives shape the messaging of the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Republic of China, particularly regarding Sino-American relations. It identifies three key historical themes—trade, discriminatory policies, and Taiwan—that are frequently invoked in China’s statements and information campaigns. By contextualizing these themes, the article argues that military and national security professionals need a deeper understanding of Sino-American history to interpret China’s messaging correctly and counter its influence effectively. The article advocates for the integration of Sino-American historical content into professional military education curricula to enhance strategic awareness and policy formulation.

How Is Going To War Like Buying A Car?: The Bargaining Model Of War, Richard R. Johnson

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

The bargaining model of war, a popular, yet complex international relations theory, emphasizes how nations communicate signals regarding military strength, resolve to fight, and foreign policy goals. Since the military plays a major role in communicating these signals, its leaders should understand this theory, despite its complexities. This article explains the model and its components through the used car sale bargaining process and supplements the analogy with real-world examples of international events. This article will help military and foreign policy professionals easily grasp the concepts of the model.

The Applicability Of Artificial Intelligence In Tour Guiding: Perspective Of Sustainable Service Innovation In Tourism With Technology, Chiranjib Kumar Choudhary Phd, Aditi Choudhary

International Journal of Tour Guiding and Visitor Attraction Research

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly transforming various sectors of the tourism, travel, and hospitality industry. Among these, the role of tourist guides remains crucial, as they act as cultural ambassadors representing destinations and nations. The primary objective of this study is to explore the applications of AI in developing intelligent audio-visual tour guides and assistive devices that enhance tourists’ real-time experiences at heritage sites, tourist attractions, and places of archaeological significance. The research adopts a qualitative approach, utilising secondary data gathered from academic literature, printed and electronic resources, online databases, and expert opinions from tourism professionals. The collected data were …

Landscapes Of Home And Maps Of The Heart: Using Art To Understand The Meaning Of Home For First And Second Generation Immigrants In Worcester Massachusetts, Sophie Sundaram

Fenwick Scholar Program

Landscapes of Home and Maps of the Heart: Using Art to Understand the Meaning of Home for First and Second Generation Immigrants in Worcester Massachusetts explores how individuals with histories of migration understand and experience “home,” and how those understandings can be translated into visual form through portraiture. Developed through conversations with Worcester community members, the project combines studio practice with methodological approaches drawn from sociological and anthropological fieldwork, including participant interviews, relational research practices, and community-based engagement.

Grounded in Worcester, a city shaped by multiple waves of migration and cultural diversity, the project investigates how senses of home are …

“Una Vita In Maschera”: Exploring Modern-Day Venetian Carnival Through Photographs, Amy Hecht

Honors College Theses

This project aimed to explore the historical and cultural significance of Carnival in Venice, the festival preceding Lent that is characterized by a temporary breakdown of the social order. The main elements of Carnival include mask-wearing, elaborate costumes, and artistic showcases, especially theater and street performances. In particular, the 16th-century practice of commedia dell’arte is revived during the Carnival, featuring iconic masked characters and humorous storylines. In the current global political climate, where people are more divided than ever, Carnival is an escape from the drags of everyday life. Masses of tourists visit Venice during Carnival to experience the unique …

Ramen: A History Of The Globally Loved Delicacy, Abigail Hendricksen

COD Library Student Research and Award Symposium

This project examines the history of ramen, tracing its development from Chinese noodle traditions to its adaptation in Japan and its global spread through industrialization and postwar change. It highlights how migration, war, and globalization shaped ramen into a widely consumed food and a symbol of cultural exchange and adaptation.

Faculty Sponsor:  Professor Maria Ritzema

Shimmer Methodology: May 2026 Cultural Studies Association Of Australasia, Lola Montgomery

Staff Scholarship - Australia & Dubai

This webinar presents an overview of the contemporary state of creative-practice research and autotheory before introducing Shimmer, an emerging methodological framework developed through creative practice, postgraduate supervision, and reflective inquiry. The presentation argues that while creative-practice research has successfully established creative work as a legitimate form of knowledge production, and autotheory has legitimised lived experience as theoretical material, both traditions leave relatively under-theorised the embodied moment through which insight first emerges.

The significance of the work lies in its contribution to ongoing debates around embodiment, affect, intuition, and knowledge production within creative-practice research. Shimmer proposes a language for understanding …

Is Health Deserved? Personal Autonomy, Framing, Ethical Intimidation, And The Politicization Of Healthcare In The United States V. Japan, Ava C. Azucenas

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Is health deserved? Is your health owed to you? What does this mean, and whose responsibility is it? I argue that American culture’s use of  personal autonomy, “framing”, and ethical intimidation has stunted the improvement of both political and legal structures. This is evident in the politicization of the ‘for-profit’ healthcare system in the United States. American policymakers frequently weaponize moral foundations in order to coerce voters into supporting or opposing certain healthcare policies derived from the principle that some people are more "deserving" of health than others. This calculated “framing” of health concepts has deeply politicized such an ethical …

In Memoriam: Madhav Gadgil, Editorial Board

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Book Review--Luke Kemp’S Goliath’S Curse: The History And Future Of Societal Collapse (2025). Ny: Alfred A. Knopf.

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Disability: An Autopathography, Isabell A. Collins

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Editorial 12(1), May 2026, Matthew R. Jamnik

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Artist Interview: Sarah Crooks, Sarah Crooks

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Developmental Ecological Psychology Meets Organicist Biology: The Example Of The Ecological Self, Catherine Read

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

In this paper we outline an ecological-organicist theoretical framework to understand human development. The ecological approach to development (Developmental Ecological Psychology, DEP) places the organism at the center and has a mutualist theoretical framework with an epistemic foundation in direct perception. While research in this tradition has paid much attention to specific developmental questions at a young age (such as perceptual learning, affordances, and action coordination), less effort has gone into the discussion of theoretical issues of overall development at the level of organism-environment mutuality. Meanwhile in biology, a new emphasis on the organism as an explanatory concept and level …

Relevance Of Mario Perniola’S Philosophy Of Transit (Transiting) To Ecopsychological Modi, George Conesa

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

Mario Perniola’s construct of transit is here examined with an eye toward its implications to ecopsychological discourse and practices that include psychological and philosophical notions of authentic “mobility” and active exploration during person-natural spaces affiliations. As in most qualitatively revealing ideas of “relations,” authentic “mobility” and active exploration include instances of confrontation, disorientation, fusion, confusion, biomechanical insights, animalization, totemism, disgust, etc. As a means to sharpen our focus, the insights of writer Enea Bianchi on Perniola’s writing are very useful and will be referred to, in particular, while reimagining our perception of space as “a deep world made of …

Co-Constituted Mandala-Making In Nature: A Trauma-Sensitive Field Protocol For Investigating Attention, Regulation, And Relational Orientation Toward Place, Merve Kurt

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

This article presents a theoretically grounded field protocol for mandala-making in natural settings using only already-fallen materials and intentional dissolution. The mandala is treated as an anthropogenic cultural form whose structural features, including radial organisation around a centre, bounded containment, and provisional totality, are shown to be analytically consequential for the process-level shifts the protocol seeks to foreground. Drawing on posthumanism, new materialism, Buddhist psychology, and ecopsychology, the article conceptualises this process as co-constituted mandala-making, a descriptive term for a field in which human attention and choice operate alongside material and ecological constraints and affordances, without attributing volition to nonhuman …

Ije Table Of Contents 12(1), May 2026, Editorial Board

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

American Letters--John Burroughs Excerpts From Chapter I: The Art Of Seeing Things In Leaf And Tendril (1908)

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

American Letters--Mary Hunter Austin: Excerpts From The Trail Book (1918)

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Poem--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "Kéramos" (1844)

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.