Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Images Of Women In Refugee Drama: Eve Ensler’S Necessary Targets And Ellen Mclaughlin’S The Trojan Women, Kaitlyn Tossie

Theses and Dissertations

In the past ten years, a critique of the conceptualization of refugees in Western mass media has emerged as a developing discourse in response to post-20th century genocides. Photographs in mass media of wailing refugees began to appear in the early 1990s when reports of the Bosnian genocide appeared in the United States. These images, and the stereotypes that surround them, contribute to the universal depiction of refugees as weak. Though the way in which theatre comments on this conceptualization of refugees has largely been ignored, theatre has a unique ability to comment on, reflect, and create a culture that …

Over The Ropes: Boundary Play In Professional Wrestling, Ethan Ingram

Theses and Dissertations

Within the anthropology of performance, scholars have traditionally considered theater, spectacle, sport, and ritual performances in terms of the discrete boundaries of space and time that separate these events from daily life and in terms of the disparate roles that demarcate performers from audience members. Professional wrestling, a popular performance genre in the American Midwest, exhibits features that challenge these boundaries through the collaborative construction of the event by performers and audience members. Audience interaction is an essential part of wrestling performances, characterized by routine and contextually understood behaviors that performers can process as evaluative feedback. Moreover, during wrestling matches, …

Enabling Pain, Enabling Insight: Opening Up Possibilities For Chronic Pain In Disability Rhetoric And Rhetoric And Composition, Hilary Selznick

Theses and Dissertations

In the dissertation “Enabling Pain, Enabling Insight: Opening up Possibilities for Chronic Pain in Disability Rhetoric and Rhetoric and Composition,” Hilary Selznick argues that pain is rhetorical, accessible, and communicable to those without the lived experience of chronic pain. Additionally, she argues for the necessity of considering chronic pain as a disability and not merely as a symptom of a disability. In order to make these arguments possible, Selznick crafts a political-relational-rhetorical methodology that challenges restrictive models of disability and theoretical and commonplace assumptions that pain is resistant to language. Specifically, Selznick’s methodology, which combines disability scholar and activist Alison …

Considering The Body: Sexual Agency And Material Selfhood In Alex As Well, Karlie Rodriguez

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I examine the tensions between intersex embodiment and trans* identity, intersex children and their parents, and the intimacies that come out of these relationships – which, I argue, are ultimately queer. Using queer, trans*, and intersex theory, as well as feminist new materialisms, I highlight the ways in which the imbrications of the material and the symbolic are presented in Alyssa Brugman’s contemporary Young Adult novel, Alex as Well. The goal of this analysis is to encourage a separation from binary thinking and explore the possibility of nonbinary identifications in literature – more specifically, literature with intersex …

Canvases Of Representation: Addressing The Cultural Politics Of Black Male Superhero Identity In Graphic Narratives, Danielle L. Cochran

Theses and Dissertations

Canvases of Representation: Addressing the Cultural Politics of Black Male Superheroes Identity in Graphic Narratives is an analytical literary mixtape dedicated to Black male superheroes Black Panther, Luke Cage, and Black Lightning. Cochran draws out how superheroes play a role in the socio-political, identity, and cultural representations Black identity. The work argues that what is not just the symbolic/cultural destruction of the Black image in popular culture but how such representations provide a template for how the Black body is actively managed, controlled, surveilled, and contained in the material world. Examining these figures through the blended genres of Afrofuturism, film, …

Believing Mary Karr, Stephanie Rae Guedet

Theses and Dissertations

Believing Mary Karr examines how belief, represented in the memoirs of Mary Karr, works in our contemporary moment. This examination is supported by the argument that our identities and the stories we tell about them are always constructions of belief, and that these beliefs are ultimately relational, enacted in the intersubjective relationship between writers and readers of autobiography. This dissertation provides the fields of both rhetoric and life writing studies not only an awareness of how ideas about belief—how beliefs about belief—have already shaped our scholarly imagination but also the possibilities a rhetoric of belief can offer to future conversations …

( Re ) Claiming History And Visibility Through Rhetorical Sovereignty: The Power Of Diné Rhetorics In The Works Of Laura Tohe, Jessica Marie Safran Hoover

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the intricate intersections of code switching, trickster discourse and rhetorical sovereignty in the scholarship of Diné author Laura Tohe, as Tohe operationalizes survivance and alliance in complex ways, ways that “actuate a presence” in the face of ongoing attempts to render American Indian peoples absent from American rhetorical, literary, and geographic landscapes. Existing research in American Indian literatures and rhetorics often focus on the need for reclaiming rhetorical sovereignty. Yet, little work has been done to emphasize connections between the use of code switching, translation, and trickster discourse in order to give visibility to past and contemporary …

The Snozzle Factory, Jeremy Michael Lampe

Theses and Dissertations

The "Snozzle Factory" is a sculptural installation that includes glass, clay, metal, wood and cast paper. It is a representation of an imaginary factory that produces objects that are to be determined by the viewer. The portrayal of time, decay and movement are the primary goals of this installation. It is my attempt to transport the viewer to a different world.

The Third Coast, Catherine Jane Davis

Theses and Dissertations

The Third Coast is a photographic exploration of the vernacular landscape of the US Gulf Coast. Stretching some 1,600 miles from the mouth of the Rio Grande in Texas to the Florida Everglades, America's southernmost shore is vast and complex. The region is a patchwork of both the natural and built environments, a tangled combination of history and geography, culture and ecology that reflects an intimate and ever-evolving relationship between man, land and sea. The Gulf Coast resists tidy hierarchies or easy classification. Rather, the rhythms of the region comprise its own syntax, a way in which seemingly dissimilar locations …

Sunday Dinner, George Dominic Barreca

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Archeology often evaluates social class through the symbolism and refinement of ceramic pottery. Recording undecorated and decorated vessels placed within a spectrum, determines a social economy through the Ceramic Value Index. Austere, robust earthenware is usually considered peasantry or lower class whereas fine, opulent porcelain is categorized under the vessels of aristocracy or affluence. I am interested in utilizing this historical method to consider use, decoration, and value through the lens of the contemporary working class.

In my work, I employ simple molds and hand-building techniques to define a process that relates to the “economy of means” found within …

Seeking The Invisible, Alexis Bragg

Theses and Dissertations

Seeking The Invisible is a photography portrait series which explores the internal context of those suffering from invisible illness. This body of work examines the interior worlds of those often stigmatized as “outsiders,” and those who seek to be acknowledged beyond their illness. When one is told of another’s physical malady with no visible indicators of a problem, skepticism or outright disbelief is an unfortunately likely response. By asking my subjects “What would a portrait of your life look like?” I sought to observe the interior world of this subset and empower my subjects as something more than their illness.

Good Game Well Played: An Esports Documentary, Gabriella Clare Devia-Allen

Theses and Dissertations

This film explores the operations and cultural practices of the esports community with an emphasis on Twitch as the dominant community platform. Explored sub-communities include Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Duelyst, and League of Legends. A focus on Duelyst allows us to explore the characteristics of an accessible esports culture while also referencing League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive offers an objective look at two of the industry’s most developed esports scenes. This documentary tracks the production of broadcast content, the lifestyles of professional players, and the narratives of the industry’s most involved employees. In doing so, the research draws conclusions …

Does All The Excitement Really End At Marriage? An Assessment Of Same-Sex Marriage Legislation And Lgbt Activism, Kelsie Diaz

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the legalization of same-sex marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships with LGBT political participation and activism. There has long been a debate between several groups of LGBT activists on what the legalization of same-sex marriage will do to LGBT activism. Will achieving same-sex marriage ultimately hinder the movement or will it open new realms of possibility for change? This study aims to survey the arguments offered by a few prevalent sides of the same-sex marriage debate, then provide empirical information as support for one of those claims. This study …

What Am I Doing Again?, Megan Coonelly

Theses and Dissertations

My work explores notions of habits, chaos and distractions; present within my painting practice. Each painting I make begins with a routine that symbolizes the daily experiences of my life. My paintings reflect the constant thought stream of my mind. They reveal the constant of societal and cultural past and present; buried as deep in our minds as a prayer or hymn ready to burst out at any moment. By referencing and exploring pop culture and pop art, I engage in a critique of commodity and commercialism. My paintings respond to cultural conditions of the digital age.

Five Miles Outside Town: A Play With Music, Luke John Mcloughlin

Theses and Dissertations

Months ago, I wanted to write something like an opera or a musical for my thesis. This is not quite what happened. Instead, I have written a play with music; that is, there are four solo songs interspersed within the drama. While there are parts of it that I would like to change, the present work (the pages following this abstract, the title page, the copyright page, the committee page, the acknowledgments page, and the table of contents) represents what I was able to put together within the restrictions of the academic schedule.

The following are descriptions of various facets …

She Wanted It? : Examining Young Adult Literature And Its Portrayals Of Rape Culture, Katy Lewis

Theses and Dissertations

At a time when discussions about rape culture appear throughout social media and the news, our ability to consider how literature addresses these social issues is critical. The recent work of scholars discussing rape culture emphasizes the crucial need to consider what many understand (though many also continue to dismiss or diminish) as a serious social issue. While these cultural critiques are worthwhile, my focus shifts these critiques from general (American) culture or society to a particular expression of culture: the young adult novel. In this thesis, I examine how this cultural discourse surrounding rape culture and its related myths …

The Byline Of Europe: An Examination Of Foreign Correspondents' Reporting From 1930 To 1941, Kerry J. Garvey

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on two of the largest foreign correspondents’ networks the one of the Chicago Tribune and New York Times- in prewar Europe and especially in Germany, thus providing a wider perspective on the foreign correspondents’ role in news reporting and, more importantly, how their reporting appeared in the published newspaper. It provides a new, broader perspective on how foreign news reporting portrayed European events to the American public. It describes the correspondents’ role in publishing articles over three time periods- 1930 to 1933, 1933-1939, and 1939 to 1941. Reporting and consequently the published paper depended on the correspondents’ …

I Am My Own Escape, Ross Thomason

Theses and Dissertations

I Am My Own Escape is a one-act chamber opera with three characters, scored for soprano, tenor, and baritone voices respectively. The orchestra consists of flute, B flat clarinet, piano, violin, and violoncello, commonly known as the Pierrot ensemble. This work was written for fellow colleagues and students from Illinois State University, premiered on May 5, 2017.

Leitmotifs are employed in this work – the characters each have unique vocal melodies, orchestral gestures, pitch collections, and/or rhythmic motives assigned to them (see figures below for examples). Contemporary or extended techniques such as scratch tones in the strings and harmonics in …

On My Grind: Freestyle Rap Practices In Experimental Creative Writing And Composition Pedagogy, Evan Nave

Theses and Dissertations

My work is always necessarily two-headed. Double-voiced. Call-and-response at once. Paranoid self-talk as dichotomous monologue to move the crowd. Part of this has to do with the deep cuts and scratches in my mind. Recorded and remixed across DNA double helixes. Structurally split. Generationally divided. A style and family history built on breaking down.

Evidence of how ill I am.

And then there’s the matter of skin. The material concerns of cultural cross-fertilization. Itching to plant seeds where the grass is always greener. Color collaborations and appropriations. Writing white/out with black art ink. Distinctions dangerously hidden behind backbeats or shamelessly …

Body Composition: Reading, Writing, And Resisting Weight Loss Autobiography As Biopolitical Pedagogy, Katherine Ann Browne

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I argue that autobiographical narratives of body size function as lifestyle guides based on an interpretation of obesity as an undesirable bodily condition. These narratives are anchored by the “weight loss success story” narrative trope, which represents the result of extreme weight loss processes synthesized as “Before and After.” This dissertation serves the dual purpose of historicizing weight loss autobiography in the United States from the late 19th century to present, and arguing that these texts have been taken up as instructional guides for living, or biopedagogical tools. After outlining my methodology in the first chapter, the …

The Effects Of Text-To-Speech On Reading Comprehension Of Students With Learning Disabilities, Mary Cece Young

Theses and Dissertations

In this study, I implemented the use of technology to investigate the effectiveness of text-to-speech (TTS) on the reading comprehension of students with learning disabilities (LD). In a freshman self-contained classroom, I used the classroom-based text and TTS on four participants during a 48-min English class period for 16 weeks. An A-B-A-B withdrawal design evaluated the effectiveness of TTS on reading comprehension, the dependent variable, measured through accuracy of participants’ responses to reading comprehension questions from curriculum-based measures (CBMs). Following intervention, I assessed maintenance of the effect of TTS on reading comprehension for 4 weeks. Additionally, I measured participants’ perspectives …