Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Glimpses Of World War Ii In Denmark: Memory And History In Frayn's Copenhagen And Sibbern's Resistance Scrapbook, Adriana Pinegar

Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between history and memory is long and complex. While some theorists argue that they are at odds with one another, this thesis explores the necessary relationship between the two. Using Michael Frayn's 1998 play, Copenhagen, and the scrapbook of a Danish police officer and resistance fighter during World War II, the author posits the central role of uncertainty in the negotiation of individual memory and history. The position of the observer or witness to history affects the way the past is remembered and recorded. Individual witnesses, even and perhaps especially where they stray from the accepted historical narrative, …

Critiquing The Critic: A Case For Journalistic Criticism In The Theatre, Tara Nicole Haas

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis suggests that journalistic theatre criticism is a necessary and vital aspect of the theatre, promoting a healthy theatre community and culture. A healthy theatre community is supported by critics and artists alike, and is one where citizens are excited about the theatre, desiring to participate and engage with it often. It is one where artists and spectators listen, respect, and trust one another, being open to opinions and suggestions that may enhance and improve the theatre community. A healthy theatre community strives to provide theatre that may be multi-faceted in purpose, but allows for opportunities to challenge, uncover, …

The Infectious Monster: Borders And Contagion In Yeti And Lágrimas En La Lluvia, Kiersty Lemon

Theses and Dissertations

Monsters are disruptive characters, who cross boundaries and blend categories. They come in various kinds: Non-human monsters, such as Dracula, created-by-human monsters like Frankenstein, human monsters like Hitler, and more-than-human monsters such as the X-men. These monsters can either be dangerous or helpful to humanity. Dangerous monsters appear as infectious, viral forces, while helpful monsters are inoculative forces for positive change. In either case, they penetrate the borders set up between normatively separate categories. Critics and authors have long realized the connection between heroes and monsters, often portraying them as necessary to one another, as two sides of a single …

Sobredosis (De)Generacional: Fracaso En El Cuento "Pelando A Rocío" De Alberto Fuguet, Paula Antonieta Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

La temprana obra de Alberto Fuguet (Chile, 1964-) presenta las múltiples facetas de los adolescentes y adultos jóvenes chilenos. Entre las muchas realidades expuestas, el fracaso social es, quizás, uno de los más representados, ya que se exterioriza repetidamente en las experiencias de los personajes y las páginas de las obras están impregnadas con una sensación de pérdida y vacío. Esta tesis se centra en la colección de cuentos Sobredosis (1990) de Alberto Fuguet, con especial énfasis en el cuento "Pelando a Rocío." Este análisis literario estudia como el texto despliega el fracaso social experimentado por la generación chilena de …

Including The Arts In The Generalist Classroom, Camille Hone

Theses and Dissertations

Including the Arts in the Generalist Classroom is an integrated arts curriculum within a 6th grade classroom in Eagle Mountain Utah. This project describes the process of putting an art curriculum into an elementary 6th grade where there is no art specialist and no means of getting one. This project focuses on four lessons that have been written using the 6th grade Science and Social Studies Utah Core. Each lesson is written to ensure that a teacher and/or a parent volunteer can give instruction without any prior knowledge of content and/or technique in art.The Appendices describe the curriculum and more …

Stephen Fuller: Jamaican Planter, British Ambassador, Closet Abolitionist, Garrett Nagaishi, Dr. Matthew Mason

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The 1780s witnessed the rise of abolitionism within the British Empire. In its Two Reports…from the Committee of the Honourable House of Assembly of Jamaica (1788), the Jamaican government, which greatly profited from slavery and the slave trade, responded to claims made against its treatment of slaves. The report attempted to demonstrate by logic and eyewitness testimony that slavery was valuable and consistent with moral principles. Shortly thereafter, Jamaica’s ambassador to British Parliament, Stephen Fuller, published Notes on the Two Reports from the Committee of the Honourable House of Assembly of Jamaica (1789). This tract, which did not contain Fuller’s …

Recontextualizing Chekhov Through The Graphic Novel, Matisse Hales, Dr. Mark Purves

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Brief: The purpose of our project was to create a graphic novel comprised of the short stories of Russian author Anton Chekhov.

Great literature often inspires interpretation, but interpretation often fails to shed meaningful light upon an original work. Our goal in embarking upon the task of illustrating twelve of Anton Chekhov’s short stories was to not only recontextualize Chekhov’s literary world, but to build upon the artistic nuances planted within his prose.

Obrajes, Andean Workers, And The Spanish Elite: Hegemony And Hierarchy In Peru’S Late-Colonial Era, Taylor Cozzens, Dr. Jeffrey Shumway

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Obrajes were textile shops in early Latin America. From the mid-1500s onward, Spanish colonists in Mexico and Peru established obrajes to produce fabrics for local societies. Labor for these shops was often coerced. My research focused on the Peruvian obrajes of the late-colonial era (roughly 1770 to 1820), wherein Andean communities were required to provide tributary laborers. I specifically looked at the changing relationship between the Andean workers and the Spanish elite.

Dionysus In Spain: The New Divinity In Unamuno’S San Manuel Bueno, Mártir, David Delbar, Roger Macfarlane

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Few characters are as enigmatic as the protagonist of Miguel de Unamuno’s San Manuel Bueno, mártir, and many scholars have attempted to discern the motivations of the saintly Catholic priest who does not believe in an afterlife. Because of the overt biblical allusions in the text and the personal struggles of the author with the Catholic faith, many approach the novella and its protagonist with a Christian interpretation, ignoring Unamuno’s extensive classical background. While Unamuno clearly modeled don Manuel as a Christ figure, he also embedded Dionysian characteristics that have thus far been unexamined in academic treatises of the …

Video Games – That Happen To Be Educational, Kyle Bryant, Dr. Jarom Mcdonald, Dr. Derek Hansen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Researchers like James Gee, culturists such as Henry Jenkins, and educators such as BYU’s own Derek Hansen and Jonathan Ostenson agree that video games can be a powerful educational tool; capturing both the users attention and imagination, something that the educational system is struggling to gain even one. Sir Ken Robinson points out in his 2014 TED talk “Changing Educational Paradigms” that to children, school is very dull compared to the exciting world of technology available at their fingertips.

Including Religion In Gender: Lds Men’S Experiences In Masculinity-Making, Ashley Brocious, Dr. Leslee Thorne-Murphy

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Studies in masculinity have grown significantly in the last decades as conversations concerning gender have become more conscious of the meanings and constructions of gender in men’s experiences. Masculinity studies at its core questions the assumption that men have already achieved gender equality. Rather than blanketing all men into categories of privilege, patriarchy, or even neutrality, it seeks to give more nuance to men’s experiences and the transactional nature of their masculinity in the world around them. Latter-day Saint feminists have considered differences between men’s and women’s experiences and voices an important topic. The importance of women’s narratives as a …

Gestes French-English Translation: Senegalese Women’S Property Rights Research, Charlotte Coleman, Dr. Daryl Lee

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The recently released a book called Sex and World Peace addresses the way treatment of women and women’s political security vitally affects all levels of security and social health in society. The book states, “It is time to put the situation of women in the nations of the world as one of the foremost issues facing the international community today.” This translation of the research done on Senegalese women’s property rights for the non-French speaking audience contributes to accomplishing that aspiration in order to inspire further worldwide rectifying action.

Making A Case For Mark Twain’S A Horse’S Tale: Twain’S Use Of Templates And Myths As His Highest Moralism, Sara Guggisberg, Dr. Frank Christianson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Most of Mark Twain’s novels, full of sharp wit and relevant social commentary, suggest his strong ability to read people and create characters that endure through decades, while still concealing his own opinion on society beneath layers of sardonic criticism or feigned admiration. But A Horse’s Tale—an odd little novel about an orphan girl, her favorite horse named Soldier Boy (a gift from Buffalo Bill), and the bloody murder of both at the horns of a tortured bull—does not fit Twain’s typical formula. At first glance, this novel is full of earnest superlatives rendered trite, an uneven narrative arc, …

Beyond Käthe Kollwitz: A Bibliography Of German-Speaking Women Artists, Aloe Corry, Dr. Rob Mcfarland

Journal of Undergraduate Research

If you Google the name of the German artist Käthe Kollwitz, you will find every bit as much information as you would find about Frieda Kahlo or Georgia O’Keefe. But if you attempt to move beyond a major figure like Kollwitz, the resources become scarce. As Margaret Rennolds (1987) has argued, women artists have traditionally been excluded from the canon of visual arts, with artists like Kollwitz and O’Keefe serving as notable exceptions. Yes, there are lists of women artists on Wikipedia and on the websites of various German, Swiss and Austrian museums, but even the Frauenmuseum (Museum of Women) …

Elisa Von Der Recke: Volume I Of The Complete Collected Works, Anna Katharina, Michelle James

Journal of Undergraduate Research

For several years, researchers on the BYU Sophie Project have been working to compile The Critically Annotated Collected Works of Elisa von der Recke. The aim of this project was the make Recke’s writings more accessible and readable to users across the world, since most of these texts are currently very difficult to access. The texts have been transcribed from the original and exhaustively proofread to ensure an accurate reproduction. The goal of my ORCA project was to complete both the annotations and bibliographic data for Volume I, as these are the final tasks to accomplish in order to …

More Than A Feeling: The Transmission Of Affect And Group Identity, Lauren Fine, Brian Jackson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

We’ve all experienced moments where we walk in and feel the tension in the room. Even before our minds can process what’s happening, we start to mirror the emotions of the people we’re around. Instances like this, where the emotion (or affect) one person is feeling subconsciously triggers a similar affect in someone else, are possible through what neuroscientists refer to as the transmission of affect. The physiological shift that influences the receiver’s emotions is triggered through visual, auditory, and olfactory cues (pheromones).

Portraits Of An Immigrant Population: A Look Into The Life Of Mexican Migrant Workers In Florida, Jenna Carson, Patrick Madden

Journal of Undergraduate Research

I wrote creative non-fiction essays about my experiences with Mexican migrant workers living in Florida. Originally, I planned to focus primarily on their stories of survival in order to increase awareness among U.S. citizens; I wanted readers to understand many of the complications of illegal immigration, and therefore, better understand the Mexican “Other.” Surprisingly, I focused more on my own experiences with migrant workers and how my life has been changed by them (rather than simply record their life stories). I realized that my own experiences and meditations could foster compassion, understanding, and tolerance.

Turn Of The Century Sweden And The Ecological Imaginarytopic Modeling Ecological Thought In Swedish Nature Texts, Benjamin Holt, Dane Christensen, Dr. Christopher Oscarson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The roots of ecology in Scandinavia begin with the botanist Linnaeus in the 18th century, who developed the notion of the economy of nature. Throughout the 19th century, proto-ecologists carried the movement that would eventually be recognized as a legitimate and viable science, studying the interaction between organisms and their environment. Leading up to the turn of the century, the climate in Scandinavia was ripe for organizations to emerge such as the Svenska Turistföreningen (Swedish Tourist Society) and the Svenska Naturskyddsföreningen (Swedish Nature Protection Society), both of which are committed to improving and preserving nature in Sweden.

Ida Pfeiffer: The Annotated Travels Of Ida Pfeiffer, Alexander Smith, Dr. Rob Mcfarland

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Before beginning this project I was aware of the vast variety of literature available in both English and German language. Having been fortunate enough to work with Dr. McFarland already on the Sophie Project, an undertaking of the Department of German and Russian here at BYU. However, I was aware that much of the existing travel literature from Ida Pfeiffer had not been collected— additionally, the original Fraktur script made it difficult for less-experienced German speakers to read and understand. In this project, I opted to transcribe and annotate the travels of Ida Pfeiffer in the United States. Being a …

A Digital Epigraphic Database: Partnership With Duke Collaboratory For Classics Computing, Nozomu Okuda, Dr. Roger Macfarlane

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Digital epigraphic databases can be of interest to scholars who study the past. Epigraphy — a word which combines the two Greek roots epi-, meaning “above” or “on,” and graphe, meaning “writing” — is the study of inscriptions. Among the epigraphic publications are commemorations, dedications, proclamations, and even general information, all of which were engraved upon more or less permanent media. Thus, those messages from the past continue to convey information in the present, thereby making epigraphy an important aid to scholarship of the past. Despite the longevity of inscriptions, their media may be too large, fragile, or …

Big Humanities, Big Data: Genre Analysis Of Eighteenth-Century British Poetry, Brittany Strobelt, Kylan Rice

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The continual digitalization of society has not only permeated research in the Humanities, but is constantly revealing just how crucial it is to the Humanities’ future. Whereas research in the Humanities is normally limited to a very narrow dataset, digital humanities tools allow for macroanalitic research—research that can analyze vast amounts of texts all at once. The database produced by our project can do just that. Because scholars’ such as Ted Underwood, Matthew Jockers, Franco Moretti, and others at the Stanford Literary Lab have focused extensively on macroanalysis of novels, we envisioned and designed a project focused specifically on poetry—a …

The College Writing Experience For At-Risk High School Students, Caroline Howard, Dawan Coombs

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Recently, studies have been conducted to measure the effects of mentored writing experiences on people struggling with low self-efficacy. Some studies intervene in high security prisons, where people with low self-perception reside. Writing has proven to help restore a sense of dignity in prison inmates because of its expressive nature. When people are encouraged and praised for their writing by mentors, especially when the writing is personal, they begin to have an increased sense of self-efficacy. Other studies have been conducted in middle schools, seeking to intervene with struggling writers before they get to high school. These studies are done …

“Womenomics:” Translating Women’S Property Rights For A Global Audience, Taylor Madsen, Dr. Daryl Lee

Journal of Undergraduate Research

With the belief that we could make the world better by improving the quality of life for women, our team of three student translators and one expert mentor undertook the challenge to translate and publish the results of two years of gender studies research conducted in Senegal. Although the research was incredibly localized to a generally overlooked country, the patterns existing within Senegal reflect well those seen in many other underdeveloped countries. Thus, we hoped to provide increased knowledge for important decision-makers in the political, academic, and economic sector.

Translation From French To English Of A Women’S Rights Study By A Senegal Research Group, Danielle Stanford, Daryl Lee

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The goal of this project was to make an academic study on women’s property rights in Senegal accessible to a non-French speaking audience. The study was conducted by a university research group on gender issues (GESTES) at the Université Gaston Berger, Saint Louis, Senegal. I worked as part of a team of three translators, rendering it from French into English. GESTES (in English: “Gender and Society Research and Study Group”) is coordinated by Dr. Fatou Diop Sall, a professor at the Université Gaston Berger. Dr Sall’s group study on property rights of women, published in a limited number of copies …

Comparison Of Language Gains Across Classroom, Foreign Language Housing, And Study Abroad Environments, Kari Tanner, Dr. Jeffrey Turley

Journal of Undergraduate Research

When it comes to learning a foreign language, study abroad contexts have generally been assumed to produce the best results. However, with rising program costs it becomes necessary to evaluate alternate options as well. The three main language learning contexts are classroom, foreign language housing (domestic immersion) and study abroad. While many studies have analyzed language gains in these settings independently of each other, little research has actually compared the gains across these three environments. I chose to conduct this research with learners of Italian, so I started by finding participants in each of the three contexts. The classroom learners …

A New Approach To Museum Exhibits, Allison Rietz, Kerry Soper

Journal of Undergraduate Research

This project deals with museum exhibits, the primary cultural product used to justify a museum’s existence; they are also the face of the museum that the public sees. However, because museums are a mix of visual and literary aspects, the point of an exhibit can often get lost in an attempt to include a “Wow Factor”, which may not even relate to the exhibit. And if the exhibits do not appeal to visitors or are confusing, fewer people will come to visit, making it necessary for exhibits to be clear for their audience.

Problems With Mission Literature And Imagination: German Mission Literature, 1885-1918, Eric Smith, Cindy Brewer

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century mission literature differs from most colonial texts, due to the missionaries’ treatment and focus upon the “native” population. Yet, most literary critics believe that Catholic and Protestant mission literature—particularly texts in African and Polynesian island missions—share the same roots and literary forbearers as colonial literature during the time period of 1860-1939. Colonial literature holds the ideas of nationalism, imperialism, white superiority, social Darwinism, and justification for taking land. Thus, most literary critics view mission literature as products of Colonialist writers. Despite the negative reception, all missionaries were not solely focused on conquering and destroying the native …

Unter Den Heiden: Exploring The Motives Behind The Demonization Of African Natives In Colonial German Missionary Literature, Kristen Jacobsen, Cindy Brewer

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Although the German colonial period only lasted for a relatively brief time, from the late nineteenth century through the beginning of the twentieth century, this period spawned a large body of fiction written by missionaries. Many missions had serial newsletters, in which were published fictional stories intended to promote interest in conversion efforts and garner financial support. Many of these stories were specifically directed to children. Many of these same stories also contain native characters who are cruel, savage, and, in some instances, satanic. This presents a common contradiction found in missionary literature: how do missionaries promote saving the “lost …

The Failure Of A Latin American Bestseller: Researching The Reception Of João Guimarães Rosa In The United States, Andrew Kelly Nelson, James Krause

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Of all Latin American authors, the works of João Guimarães Rosa present some of the greatest difficulties for translators. He experienced laudable critical success throughout Latin American and Europe, but–for reasons that are under investigation–received a tepid reception in the United States. This project was developed to examine the extent to which the translation and editorial processes played in this poor reception by the US readership by examining the extensive communication that the author maintained with the translator of his work. Such correspondence is unique in that it documents the collaborative translation process between the author and his English-language translator, …

Exploration Of Russian Harp Repertoire, Eliza Weed, Dr. David Day

Journal of Undergraduate Research

I was given an ORCA Grant to research the Russian Harp Repertoire. The grant allowed me to travel to Switzerland for a two-week intensive of workshops, lectures, performances and master classes with Russian harp masters Irina Zingg and Milda Agazarian. While I was at this intensive I not only learned an extraordinary amount about the subject of Russian Harp Repertoire, but also was able to study Russian technique and the pedagogy thereof. My time in Switzerland has already paid dividends in my prowess as a musician and I am confident and excited to share what I have learned with my …