Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Folie Et Stratégies D'Évasion Dans Les Romans Postcoloniaux Au Maghreb (Maroc-Algérie) Et À L'Île Maurice, Fouzilla Saady

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

My dissertation " Folie et stratégies d'évasion dans les romans postcoloniaux au Maghreb (Maroc-Algérie) et à l'Île Maurice." argues that madness is a universal theme in the postcolonial context by Maghrebian and Mauritian women authors such as Nadia Chafik, Leïla Marouane, Nina Bouraoui, Ananda Devi, Nathacha Appanah, Marie-Thérèse Humbert. We include Tahar Ben Jelloun, Patrick Chamoiseau and Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio because of their approach to gender, feminine and masculine.

This research is not a question of making a psychoanalytic study of madness, but of a literary analysis of this theme in the texts of our corpus. We focus on …

The "Missing Audience": A Query Into The Future Of The Orchestra And The Potential Benefits Of Bringing Live Classical Music To The Community Through Informal Performances, Natalie Wei-Ting Chang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I discuss the traditional organizational model adopted by symphony orchestras in the United States as non-profit arts organizations that are struggling to maintain solvency within the current philanthropic, political, and digital contexts. As part of the discussion, I conduct field research within the local area of the city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in providing demonstrations of live and informal classical performance in various businesses and institutions while collecting data via surveys from willing adult participants (ages 18 and above) of all demographics, specifically lower income areas. The survey analysis gives important insights into public perception of symphony …

Producing "Fabulous": Commodification And Ethnicity In Hair Braiding Salons, Sylviane Ngandu-Kalenga Greensword

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Black women wearing fabulous braids are a striking feature of the Afro-diasporic cultural landscape. However, the braiders and salon owners who enable this aesthetic engineering are seldom acknowledged. This dissertation investigates the experience and role of Caribbean and West and Central African women in the hair braiding industry, a rapidly growing business in the U.S. I address the complexity of these women’s multiple social roles and the multiple consciousness (King, 1988) associated with their demographic characteristics (color, ethnicity, gender, nationality, and immigrant status). The commonalities between the braiders and their mostly African American customers contrast vividly with their perception of …

A Performer's Guide To Iosif Andriasov's "Concertino For Trumpet", Andrew K. Gerbitz

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Iosif Andriasov’s Concertino for Trumpet is an excellent candidate for study and assimilation into the standard trumpet repertoire. A significant composer of Armenian descent from the former Soviet Union, Andriasov wrote his Concerto for Trumpet in 1960 and dedicated it to Yuri Usov. Timofei Dokshizer performed it on an album released in 1978 under the Melodya label. After immigrating to the United States in 1979, the composer revised the work and retitled it as Concertino for Trumpet in 1995. IMMA Publishing Company in New York made the revised work commercially available in 2001. This paper is presented to increase awareness …

Francolouisianais In The 21st Century: Redrawing Identity Lines In A Community Experiencing Language Shift, Marguerite L. Perkins

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The francophonie of south Louisiana today is characterized by a great deal of diversity - in terms of ethnicity, language practices, cultural practices, geography, and experience. The academic literature does not always reflect this diversity, however. Some ethnic groups are overshadowed by others in academic study, and the lines between them are often uncritically blurred. Discussions of language shift are regularly mired in assumptions of individuals’ complete linguistic and cultural assimilation based solely on their native use of English.

In this dissertation, I seek to problematize traditional accounts of assimilation and collective ethnic identity by highlighting the ways in which …

Precarious Democracy: "It Can't Happen Here" As The Federal Theatre's Site Of Mass Resistance, Macy Donyce Jones

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The scholarly consensus of the Federal Theatre Project (FTP) is that it was a massive undertaking set to employ theatre professionals during the Great Depression. That undertaking resulted in vibrant, relevant theatre that helped to build a theatre audience across the nation. Outside of the overview-style scholarship, specialized studies have delved into the FTP as a community-building enterprise, a site of racial/ethnic study, and an essential new play creator.

My scholarship fills a hole that previous FTP scholarship has left open. The FTP was a political machine engaged in producing pro-American propaganda. That aspect of production has been largely left …

Northern Music Culture In Antebellum New Orleans, Warren Keith Kimball

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In the three decades before the Civil War, immigrants from the Northern United States flooded into New Orleans in search of new economic opportunities. These newcomers brought to the Southern city many elements of Northern life, such as Protestant churches, English-language newspapers, public schools, and distinct political views. They also brought with them musical practices specific to that region: Protestant church music, amateur choral societies, instrumental concerts, music publication, and English-language opera all flourished from the late 1830s until the late 1850s. This dissertation situates the musical practices of New Orleans during the decades preceding the Civil War within the …

A Performer's Guide To Joelle Wallach's A Revisitation Of Myth, Lauren Brown

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this document is to serve as a performance guide to Joelle Wallach’s A Revisitation of Myth, a song cycle containing four songs scored for viola, piano and medium voice. Discussed within this guide will be important characteristics found in the songs, overview and analysis of each song, as well as performance recommendations. According to Wallach, this cycle has never been successfully performed to completion. This document will include biographical information about the composer, Joelle Wallach, as well as commentary about the four poets, Luann Keener, Muriel Rukeyser, Denise Levertov, and Delmore Schwartz, whose texts are set in …

Disease, Bread, Efficiency: Rhetorics Of Victorian Education Reform, Vicki Jean Davis

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Disease, Bread, Efficiency: Rhetorics of Victorian Education Reform arose from my observation that, historically speaking, Anglo-American schools have always been “in crisis.” I argue that the crisis of the “failing school” is a rhetorical problem rather than an economic problem as most scholarship suggests. Much like the cultural myth of “the One True Love,” education reform debates tend to position the school as an institution that can rescue the nation from all perceived social ills. Not only is this unrealistic, the patterns of language are inconsistent as ideas about the purpose of school are translated into policy. This causes further …

Joshua: Symphonic Suite No. 2 And James Aikman, The Violin Concerto, And The Principle Of Limited Economy, Chad Edward Hughes

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The objective of this dissertation is to present an original work that represents this writer’s perspective as a composer and to examine the work, Violin Concerto No.1, by American composer and educator, James Aikman. The first component of this dissertation is this writer’s composition Joshua: Symphonic Suite No. 2. This work, which portrays the Old Testament Bible story of Joshua, son of Nun, is a neo-tonal ballet, which features the violin extensively. The ballet is divided into four movements, each of which corresponds to a segment of Joshua’s story, including “Joshua and Caleb,” “Rahab and the Spies,” “The River Jordan,” …

"In The School, Not Of The School": Co-Performing Critical Literacies With English Amped, Anna Catherine West

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the possibilities and limitations of “amplifying” critical literacy practices within an urban high school English and creative writing class. This action research project defamiliarized English education and created conditions for participants to imagine and perform alternative possibilities by bringing together critical research, community involvement, creative writing and performance in an extended class with high school, university, and community-based collaborators. Participants were high school juniors, partnering teachers, university-based student teachers, and community members who collaborated to form the English Amped program in the 2014-2015 academic year. Ethnographic methods were used to collect data …

Viking Nobility In Anglo-Saxon England: The Expansion Of Royal Authority Through The Use Of Scandinavian Accommodation And Integration, Lauren Marie Doughty

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This project seeks to understand the transformative period in Anglo-Saxon England between the ninth to eleventh centuries. During these centuries, Anglo-Saxon kings extended their royal power through the manipulation of Scandinavian ethnicity by using the mechanisms of accommodation, integration and appeasement as well as the incorporation of female royal power. Anglo-Saxon kings such as Alfred the Great, Æthelræd the Unræd, and Cnut were challenged by various hindrances from expressing their full royal authority, including the rise of an independent nobility, economic difficulties and invasions. Despite intrinsic limitations on their rule, kings such as Alfred, Æthelræd and Cnut sought to expand …

The Machine Gun Hand: Robots, Performance, And American Ideology In The Twentieth Century, Benjamin Michael Phelan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Twentieth-century Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser argued in his famous essay “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses” that capitalism reproduces itself by interpellating individuals as subjects. For Althusser, the subject has a dual definition: a person who imagines him or herself to be a free subject who then “chooses” capitalism, and a person who, once they have “chosen” capitalism, gives up their free will to the Subject (Law, God, Authority, the State). This dual definition of the subject mirrors the dual definition of “robot.” A robot is both a mechanical being that moves on its own and a person who acts in …

A Vast Injustice: The Public Debate And Legislative Battle Over Compulsory Eugenic Sterilization In Louisiana, 1924 -- 1932, Adelaide Hair Barr

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

From 1924 to 1932, Louisiana lawmakers considered five bills that would have granted superintendents of state institutions and some private hospitals the authority to forcibly sterilize their patients. Based on similar legislation passed in thirty-six other states, the bills cited eugenics as evidence that stripping these patients of their ability to reproduce would prevent the conditions such as feeblemindedness from passing on to the next generation. Although none of the bills passed both houses of the Louisiana legislature, a couple of them came dangerously close to becoming law. The debate among legislators, professionals, and social reformers provides a greater understanding …

"Leave All That You Have, That You May Take All:" What Hugo Distler's Totentanz Reveals About His Life And Music, Alison Elizabeth Allerton

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Hugo Distler (1908-1942) has been described as the most important composer of Protestant Church music in Germany in the early twentieth century—a remarkable epithet given that he was a professional church musician and composer for only about twelve years before his life was abruptly ended with his suicide in 1942. Though he is more well-known in Germany, in the United States public perception of Distler is often limited to two basic “facts:” (1) he is a neo-Baroque composer whose works emulate Heinrich Schütz, and (2) his suicide was an act of resistance against the hated National Socialist regime. This study …

Convergent Styles: A Study Of Dave Brubeck's Points On Jazz, Ethan Loyd Rogers

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The music of Dave Brubeck encompasses diverse classical and jazz styles from around the world. Due to the eclectic nature of Brubeck’s music and the difficulty in categorizing his style, little has been written about his compositions. This document will aid musicians in better understanding his suite Points on Jazz, a work for classical piano.

The first chapter examines the development of Brubeck’s style from his early childhood years until 1958, the year he composed Points on Jazz. The second chapter details the background of this piece and some of its influences, including Dziekuje, the piece upon which Points on …

The Rhetoric Of Hospitality: Conditions Of Death In America, Margaret Anne Callahan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Right of Hospitality: Conditions of Death in America calls Western biomedicine’s approach to death into question. Death unifies all human experiences and is always possible, despite the human tendency to deny its existence and, instead, orient the self towards a futurity that is always out of reach. This project investigates the structures influencing how death in America occurs, and traces the roots of Western culture’s rejection of death to the execution by hemlock of Socrates’ immortalized in the Phaedo. Western biomedicine’s institutionalization of medicine requires that both patients and doctors enter into imbalanced hospitable relationships, and these pressures, along …

An Elusive Peace: The Foreign Policy Challenges Of The Clinton Administration In A Post-Cold War World, Jennifer Perrett Galiouras

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT In modern US history, the 1990s are often regarded as “The Decade of Peace and Prosperity.” Though the liberalization of markets and a technology boom fueled American prosperity, expectations of post-Cold War peace remained elusive. The purpose of this study is to observe how in the moment when the US became the world’s superpower, it also began to retreat from a position of active leadership. Elected in 1992, President Bill Clinton looked towards the United Nations as the answer to keeping peace around the globe. His administration’s policies of democratic enlargement and aggressive multilateralism aimed to combine the spread …

Concerto For Cello And Orchestra And A Comparative Study Of The Pedagogical Methods Of Nadia Boulanger And Dr. Dinos Constantinides, Harold Curtuss Mims

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The first part of this dissertation is an original music composition for orchestra entitled, Concerto for Cello and Orchestra. In studying the life of pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim (November 15, 1942-), I discovered a recording of his beautiful and gifted wife Jacqueline Mary Du Pré, (January 26, 1945 – October 19, 1987) performing Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85. This experience was the beginning of a love triangle between Elgar, Barenboim, and Du Pré. An attraction to Jacqueline goes deeper than just the music and the cello. Her career was not long due to multiple sclerosis …

Consumer Acceptance Of Licensed Brand Extensions: An Analysis Of Key Success Factors For Extending Into Fashion Categories, Langchao Zhang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Brand extension and lifestyle branding have been the most commonly used marketing strategies. Unlike other consumer goods, fashion products, or other lifestyle products contains strong meaning of the user’s identity, thus, once done well, the parent non-fashion brands could benefit from not only the profit generated by the extension, but also creating a closer and stronger relationship with customers. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to examine how fashion product attributes affect consumers’ behavioral intention towards the fashion extension, to examine how perceived fit and brand extension authenticity affect consumers behavioral intention towards the fashion extensions, to explore the …

Symphony No. 1 And The Development Of New Techniques In Contemporary Music Composition, Eric Lacy

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The initial part of this dissertation is a symphony. Symphony No. 1 consists of three movements. Each movement begins with a monumental gesture designed to make a bold and unforgettable statement. Within each movement, there is an interesting array of harmonic and rhythmic schemes. In Symphony No. 1, the diametrically opposed concepts of “simple” and “complex” are featured prominently. These concepts are contrasted thematically, rhythmically, and harmonically. The next part of this dissertation establishes the existence of certain obstacles facing contemporary composers and the benefits of developing new techniques in composition. The music of György Ligeti and Arvo Pärt are …

Bach's Goldberg Variations: Suggestions For Redistributing The Notes Between The Hands To Facilitate Performance On The Modern Piano, Kia Hadipour

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In Goldberg Variations, Bach has written overlapping voices originally intended for bi manual harpsichord. However, playing the piece on the modern piano causes the hands to collide in those segments,creating a technical challenge that remains unresolved in available editions. In this thesis, I propose a method to reduce the hands’ overlap by re-distributing the notes between them. This solution also improves readability of the score by obviating the need for a clef change at each voice cross. I further use a few examples in the piano repertoire to examine how hand and finger re distribution may facilitate performance. As an …

Aleksander Peçi Before And After The Iron Curtain, Elida Dakoli

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract This research describes the life, compositional style and works of one of the most well-known Albanian composers, Aleksander Peçi, focusing on how the political climate affected his life and his art. Several of Peçi’s techniques are examined, including Carousel structure, Cartesian Production, Kabaoisos, and Polygravité. Albanian iso-polyphony and its influence on Peçi’s work are discussed. The research was done in hopes of reaching a better understanding of the effects Communism and the subsequent period of freedom have had on Albanian music.

Eduardo Gamboa's Life, Music, And Inspiration. Understanding The Influence Of Folk Music On His Work "Transparencias:" An Analysis, Performance Guide, And Violin Transcription, Perla Del Rocio Fernandez Lopez

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the life and music of Mexican living composer Eduardo Gamboa. This study intends to fill a void on the research of Gamboa. This document provides detailed biographical information, information about the influences on his music, and an edition of Transparencias for violin. The first chapter provides a broad biography of the composer including his musical formation, folk experience, and a complete catalog of his works. The second chapter is an introduction about Transparencias and contains the point of view of the composer and of the flutist Tadeu Coelho, to whom Gamboa dedicated …

Ghost Rags By William Bolcom: A Descriptive Analysis And Performance Guide, Vera Zholondz

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This document is intended to contribute to the ongoing study of William Bolcom’s work by focusing on the Three Ghost Rags. The main purposes of this study and the accompanying public lecture-recital are threefold: 1) to provide a background on William Bolcom’s compositional style and his role in the revival of interest in ragtime, 2) to provide a specific descriptive analysis of the Three Ghost Rags and 3) to provide a detailed discussion of the pianistic challenges and requirements found in the Three Ghost Rags. These are offered as a practical guide for the performer who wishes to attain an …

The Viola In The Twenty-First Century: A Sound Recording And Performance Guide Of Peter Dayton’S "Fantasy For Viola And Piano," Christopher Hallum’S "A Day In Monroe County," And Christopher Lowry’S "Milestone Miniatures For Solo Viola" And "Suite For Viola And Piano", Christopher Daniel Lowry

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The standard repertoire of the viola is quite small when compared to that of the rest of the string family; the instrument came of age in the twentieth century, which brought about the first important virtuosos and compositions for the instrument. In the twenty-first century, the repertoire of the viola continues to grow, and the author, being both a violist and composer, feels it is important to continue contributing quality music to the instrument, both through his own compositions and through working with other living composers. The purpose of this research was to record a full-length CD of new works …

Colombian Composer Adolfo Mejia, Four Works For Small Ensembles, Alvaro Jose Angulo Julio

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The present document is a requirement for the Doctoral of Musical Arts degree at Louisiana State University. First, I will present the biography of the Composer Adolfo Mejía, ordered in five different cities where his career was developed. Later, I will describe some aspects of Colombian traditions. I do this with the intention to better understand the composer and some of the pieces entitled with indigenous dance and rhythmic names from different parts of the country. There will be an emphasis on two regions out of six, those more closely related to Mejía’s life. In the same way, I will …

Remembering In Spite Of All: The Construction Of Collective Memory Of State Terrorism In Mexico, Argentina, And Chile, Telba Espinoza-Contreras

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation seeks to contribute to the understanding of the formation of collective memory of State violence in Argentina, Chile, and Mexico. By comparing these three cases, I pursue to discern how citizens can challenge the silence and amnesia that the groups in power want to impose on society after a period of State terrorism. In order to examine the process of formation of collective memory, this dissertation highlights two important figures from which citizens have been able to build counter-hegemonic narratives, that is, los exiliados and los desaparecidos. I will highlight how they become lenses through which citizens can …

Televising The American Nightmare: The Twilight Zone And Postwar Social Criticism, David Brokaw

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone (1959-1964) emerged during a period of American history which has since become something of myth, legend, and lore. Popularly portrayed as a kind of golden age when middle class aspirations were within reach, suburban housing affordable, and the nuclear family perfectly contented, postwar America was more accurately characterized by profound cognitive dissonances. At a time when the Cold War was understood to be first and foremost a battle of ideas, psychological marketing promoted many different facets of the American Dream. While market researchers plumbed the depths of American minds and explored their subconscious desires and insecurities …

Two-Part Invention For Vibraphone By David Stock: An Analysis And Performance Guide, Gustavo Henrique Miranda

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Two-Part Invention (2014) is David Stock’s only work for solo vibraphone. Although Stock has a vast amount of solo and chamber works for percussion instruments, his music is not well known in the percussion community. The primary goal of this document is to serve as a gateway to his percussion music. This document is intended to explore his music through an analysis that highlights the main features of his compositional process. It also explores the technical and musical demands within Two-Part Invention. My research starts with a short bio on David Stock, highlighting the main accomplishments of his career as …