Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Second International Marxism And The Finnish Revolution, Luke Brodersen

University Honors Theses

This paper will consider the Finnish revolution of 1917-1918 as it was understood by Second International Marxists--not because these Marxists were right, but because the revolution was led by Marxists of a socialist party formed in the Second International. By dint of the constraints of time, of resources, and of a language barrier, this paper cannot be an exhaustive historical account of the activities of the Finnish socialists, nor a comprehensive explanation of Marxism, nor would it assume to provide a proper 'Marxist' analysis of this history. Of the two 20th century English language histories of this revolution--the work of …

A Native American Perspective On Navigating The Academic World With Resilience And Honoring The Wisdom Of Native Elders, Shani Renee Johnson

Dissertations and Theses

The graduation percentage among Native American students has consistently remained at a discouraging 50 %, both in the past and at present. This study employed a narrative inquiry approach to investigate the low graduation rates among Native American students, from the perspective of a Native American educator and mother. This study examined the historical trauma and colonization experienced by Native Americans and how it has affected Native American families and communities, resulting in low rates of graduation among Native students. In addition, this study examined factors contributing to resilience by acknowledging Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and Indigenous Ways of Knowing …

Acquisition Of Spatial And Temporal VTe-Kuru By Learners Of Japanese At A University In The U.S., Ayumi Naraoka

Dissertations and Theses

This study examined to what extent Japanese as Foreign Language (JFL) learners have mastered the grammatical pattern for the verb gerund + kuru ("come"), which is referred to as Vte-kuru henceforth. There are two types of Vte-kuru: (1) the spatial Vte-kuru, meaning "to do [something] and come back," and (2) the temporal Vte- kuru, meaning "begin to." It is assumed that learners did not use Vte-kuru often, even though they should have learned two uses of Vte-kuru by the end of their 200-level Japanese class. To find out to what extent …

Speech & Language Services: Examining The Experiences Of Deaf / Hard Of Hearing People, Milayna N. Barker

University Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to examine the experiences of Deaf and Hard of Hearing (HoH) adults and parents of Deaf/HoH children related to speech and language services, and their recommendations for service providers. Historically, professionals have focused on the development of speech and aural/oral skills of Deaf and HoH people. As such, when working with families of newly-identified children with hearing loss, hearing professionals may be ill-equipped to provide culturally-responsive, fully inclusive information and education regarding communication options and opportunities.

Method: This study used a qualitative research design to examine participant experiences related to speech and language services …

Exhibiting The Museum: Interrogating Spaces Of Institutional Knowledge Production Through Interactive Print Design, Malcolm Church

University Honors Theses

This thesis explores the role of museums as active agents in the production of cultural and historical knowledge, focusing on the ethical implications of exhibition design and institutional practices. By examining the history of museums from ancient Greece to the modern era, with a focus on the Modern era, the research highlights how these institutions have perpetuated Eurocentric narratives and colonial ideologies through the collection and display of artifacts. Through interviews, participant observations, and historical analysis, this study uncovers the often-hidden decisions behind exhibition design and their impact on public perception. The culmination of this research is an interactive print …

Flattening Morrison's Beloved: The Limits Of Psychoanalysis In Literary Criticism, A Literature Review, Isaac Vanhook

University Honors Theses

Toni Morrison's Beloved was first published in 1987 and has amassed a wide range of scholarship throughout the years; with some literary scholars using psychoanalysis to suggest a reading of Beloved. Because of the volume of scholarship and Beloved's plot--dealing with a mother who represses the memory of killing her daughter, Beloved--I found it to be perfect for the scope of this project. This literature review focuses on the sometimes reductive qualities of psychoanalyzing Beloved (such as the Freudian universal psychoanalytic subject, and the 'drawbacks' of object relations theory), while also discussing some revelatory qualities via the same …

The Construction Of Character And Authenticity On Rupaul's Drag Race, Carli Pickett

University Honors Theses

One of the most common instructions delivered to the drag queens competing on RuPaul's Drag Race is to show their "true self." At first glance, RuPaul's Drag Race foregrounds authenticity and individuality, but it does so through a constructed lens that shapes its contestants into characters. While storylines and characterizations on the show are necessarily informed by the queen's actions, they are heavily shaped by editing.

In this essay, I will be exploring the ways in which authenticity manifests itself throughout several seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race. Each episode of Season Seven, Eight and Nine was watched with special …

Cards With Class: Formalizing A Simplified Collectible Card Game, Dan Ha

University Honors Theses

Collectible card games (CCGs) have been a wildly popular game genre since the release of Wizards of the Coast's Magic: The Gathering. These games revolve around their thousands of cards and the hundreds of thousands of interactions they can create with their many effects. For designers, it is an incredibly demanding task to ensure that every single card works properly and that each card's text unambiguously conveys its intended behavior in all cases. The task only grows more difficult over time as the number of cards in the game grows and card effects become more complex or experimental. If the …

Trial By Rat Infestation, Elias Lunsford

University Honors Theses

Wanna make a rat movie?! From Ashton Livingston handing me his script in class to a week of December night shoots, his vision for a 1980s-inspired horror comedy called Rat Problem was a joy of a challenge for me to take on as his cinematographer. Watching reference films, renting and borrowing equipment, and managing the crew all culminated in creating this film's unique vintage-inspired ultra-wide and high-contrast aesthetic. The process of making this film, from equipment technicalities to creative problem-solving, forged my values as a creative collaborator. I learned to always protect the essence of the film as campy and …

Applying Decolonizing Theories And Methodologies In Archaeology To Two Collaborative Cultural Resource Management Projects, Cydney K. Lanthier

Dissertations and Theses

Decolonizing theories and methods were employed during two separate graduate research projects. The methods of the initial project were informed by political ecology, the landscape-level historical ecology theory, Tribal sovereignty, traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), Indigenous archaeology, and community based participatory research (CBPR). The initial project was based entirely on CBPR and purposed to gain National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) nomination as a Traditional Cultural Property (TCP) over a portion of the traditional landscape. This project was cancelled before completion. However, several methods involved in CBPR were employed before then. The second project took on more of the historical ecology …

Mindspace: The Creation And Curation Of An Interactive Art Exhibition On Nostalgia, Memory And Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Emma Wallace

University Honors Theses

MINDSPACE is an autobiographical art exhibition aimed at raising awareness about Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD) through a collection of multimedia artworks. The exhibition combines sculpture, video projection, and multimedia installations alongside a compilation of creative writing to immerse viewers in the intricate emotional landscape of C-PTSD. Through a series of installations and carefully curated video and audio, visitors are invited to explore the internal world of an artist affected by C-PTSD and learn how this impacts the artist's life in various ways.

PTSD itself was only formally recognized as a discrete diagnostic category in the 1980s, and as of …

Native American And First-Nations Canadian And Physical Pfas Accumulations: A Literature Review, Laurel Liebeseller

University Honors Theses

Native communities' exposure to anthropogenic Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS: "Forever Chemicals") are not demographically or geographically evenly distributed. Those who live near or on contaminated land or water are the most likely to accumulate dangerous amounts of PFAS that may have serious health consequences (Tribal PFAS Working Group 2021). Areas that tend to be most contaminated include landfills, airports, and military bases. Often Black, Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) and low-income communities are placed near these "sacrificial zones" due to historic and current policies that segregate and marginalize people and families to polluted lands creating great environmental injustices (Dixie). …

You, Me, And The Unknown: A Creative Exploration Into The Emotions We Feel About What We Don't Understand, Lena Hall

University Honors Theses

I've always found the concept of fear and anxiety to be incredibly fascinating. As someone who grew up with extreme anxiety, I always wanted to rationalize it and figure out exactly why I felt that way. Anxiety is the inherent fear of the unknown and I wanted to know more about why we fear what we don't understand, or in other cases, why we love it. I conducted a research project on our perceptions of the unknown that resulted in an experimental page layout print publication where I shared the participant's views on the unknown through a visual storytelling medium.

Talking Yourself Up: Multimodal Conversation Analysis Of Status In An Improvised Setting, Aubrey Lewarne

University Honors Theses

A single-case analysis looked at two individuals performing a scripted exercise during an Applied Improvisational workshop. The analysis examined how performers modify their linguistic and embodied actions in order to perform an assigned status role. The analysis was undertaken to better understand how social status can be constructed in everyday talk-in-interaction. I first outlined the three major theoretical frames that are relevant to the analysis: Applied Improvisation as a pedagogical approach, the use of Conversation Analysis (CA) for the analysis of language in educational contexts, and the concept of status from a sociological perspective. I then present a single-case study, …

Exploring Gender In Classical Music Through Coded Weaving, Laura Helgeson

University Honors Theses

This paper explores the concept and creation of the thesis artwork Mozart-Symphony No. 1. This work is a woven tapestry that uses a method of translation that converts sheet music into textile. This paper first explores historical examples of textiles being used to encode or archive information and then compares the contrasting historical gender dynamics of classical music and textile arts. Finally, it then breaks down the translation key used to create the final work. By exploring these concepts, this thesis artwork aims to demonstrate how the act of encoding classical composition into woven tapestry demonstrates textiles' ability to be …

Tea Leaves And Other Stories: Expressing Themes Of Change And Loss Through The Magical Realist Style, Olivia Geist

University Honors Theses

"Tea Leaves and Other Stories" is a collection of "tiny" (1 - 2 page) film scripts and one longer, seven page script that study how themes of change and loss can be expressed through the magical realist style. Inspired by Isabel Allende's essay, "The Short Story", these scripts are both a study of magical realism in film as well as a reflection on the author's process as a writer and the themes present within her work.

The Realm That I Am: An Interdisciplinary Memoir On Identity And Healing, Maria Rowen Flores

University Honors Theses

This thesis is an interdisciplinary exploration into identity, self, and meaning-making. Engaging queer studies, Chicano/a Studies, narrative therapy, creative nonfiction, and visual arts, this project is both a collage and self-portrait in two parts. Part one uses the ideas of philosophers Gloria Anzaldúa, María Lugones, Jack Halberstam, and Judith Butler to explore identity formation in the author’s family and social contexts. Part two follows the experience of having C-PTSD and uses memoir and creative writing to explore the narrative therapeutic mode. Both sections explore themes of identity, social isolation, relationships, failure, mental illness, trauma, and addiction. The work is underscored …

Edward's New Welsh: The Foundations Of English Colonialism, 1282-1343, Joshua Lembke

University Honors Theses

This thesis, Edward’s New Welsh: The Foundations of English Colonialism, 1282-1343, examines the tumultuous period following the English conquest of the last independent Welsh kingdom, focusing on the English Crown's efforts under King Edward I to integrate Wales administratively and culturally. By reevaluating the appropriation of the Prince of Wales title, the study highlights the creation of a 'New Welsh' identity aligned with English interests. Key legal acts, such as the Statute of Rhuddlan and the establishment of English-style boroughs and castles, are analyzed to reveal the Crown's strategic embedding of English governance and suppression of native Welsh resistance. …

The Pursuit Of Productivity: A Marxist Analysis Of How Frederick Winslow Taylor And Dr. W. Irving Clark Revolutionized The American Factory During The Early Twentieth Century, Stephen Hood

University Honors Theses

In 1911, two events occurred that laid the framework for a revolution in factory management; Frederick Winslow Taylor published his famous work The Principles of Scientific Management; and The Norton Emery Company hired W. Irving Clark to open a first-of-its-kind medical facility. Clark's work should be understood as an extension of the scientific management that Taylor championed during the turn of the twentieth century. The factory served as a laboratory for men like Clark and Taylor to create new methods for increasing productivity while attempting to overcome contradictions inherent to the capitalist mode of production. By utilizing the work …

Sex Toys In The City: Pleasure, Profit, And Sex-Positive Cultures In Portland, Abigail Jobe

University Honors Theses

Since the development of sex stores, the product appeal has been directed toward cisgender men and excluded minority groups including women and queer people, creating an experience exclusive to the male gaze. With this, products sold at early sex stores often did not appeal to these minority populations and it was often uncomfortable for women to shop in traditional stores. However, in the 1970s, feminists began to create sex stores directed toward women and they in turn became hubs for information. Through my research process, which included ethnographic work both in Portland and online, I have considered the past challenges …

Abusive Abbots And Malevolent Monks: Monasteries And Violence In The Early Anglo-Norman Period, Timothy B. Smart Jr.

University Honors Theses

This investigation examines the conduct of abbots and monasteries from 1066 to 1087 in the context of violence and monasteries. It analyzes monastic chronicles and Anglo-Norman histories. The two historiographical lineages that emerge: the Norman Conquest and religious warfare. After the initial conquest in 1066, four native abbots offer insight into a range of local monastic behaviors during the early years of Norman rule. The Normans, in their combat against rebellious monasteries, developed procedures to remove local abbots in 1070. This connection between rebellions and monasteries drove the militarization of monasteries by both the Normans and the Anglo-Saxons. The militarization …

The Mounted Warrior: An Investigation Into An Unpublished Coptic Textile Featuring Equestrian Imagery, Elizabeth Hines

University Honors Theses

The warrior on horseback visual motif has existed for millenia. Such equestrian imagery was widely distributed in the visual arts and material culture, including that of textiles. This scholarly exploration centers on an unpublished Coptic Egyptian textile fragment portraying a warrior atop a horse in motion, presenting an analysis of its symbolic significance and potential cultural functions. Through an intricate examination of the artifact and comparative study with contemporaneous first millennium CE eastern Mediterranean material culture, this extraordinary equestrian motif and its implications for understanding ancient visual narratives is realized. By situating the textile fragment within its historical and cultural …

"Crush The Monster": Homosexuality And Moral Panic In 1950s Idaho, Ian Hadrick

University Honors Theses

On October 31, 1955, three men were arrested and accused of performing homosexual acts in the quiet, suburban community of Boise, Idaho. The arrests set off a sweeping investigation of Boise's "widespread homosexual underground" that made national news and resulted in more than one thousand police interrogations and the conviction of fifteen homosexual Boiseans. Though Boise's moral panic and the ensuing investigation are among the largest of the sex panics of the 1950s, the city's 1955 homosexuality scandal has attracted relatively little scholarly attention. An in-depth analysis of the social, economic, and political forces that combined to produce hysteria in …

Comparing Erwartung And Die Glückliche Hand Through The Female Gaze, Angela Tinio

University Honors Theses

During the early 20^th century, the rise of psychoanalysis impacted society by offering a revolutionary approach to the mind. This rise occurred due to the work of the work of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), who believed many mental disorders were rooted in the subconscious. Psychoanalysis revolutionized how we approach the brain and offered a new perspective on patient treatment. Artists in the early 20^th century also explored and insisted on new ways to view society through art. Schoenberg and Freud were both pioneers in their field of work, and Freud even inspired Schoenberg's early atonal music. Freud may have …

It's Disco, Baby: Queer Possibilities And Conservative Outrage, Lottie Bromham

University Honors Theses

From 1974 to 1979, disco music was a cultural phenomenon, gracing radio airways and dance clubs across the United States. Just as disco music reached peak popularity, growing disapproval from rock fans and other Americans who saw the genre and scene as overly lavish, too effeminate, and too racially inclusive, forced disco out of American mainstream favor. This paper proposes a viewpoint that contextualizes disco culture as integral to the lives of queer people in New York City, analyzes the prejudices that accompanied the anti-disco movement, and situates the mainstream death of disco as an early cultural consequence of America's …

Human Or Machine: The Effects Of Centering Productivity On User Psyche Through Digital Management/Tracking Tools, Pema Thangzur

University Honors Theses

This paper examines the growing toxic culture of centering productivity and efficiency in the growth of Big Data-incentivized digital management/tracking tools. In response to the development of personal notetaking tools, mood tracker apps, habit tracking, and other personal data tracking programs, discourse from data scientists, interactive designers, archivists, and technology academics have critiqued how well-meaning the larger tech industry is by providing these tools. However, the current discourse on developing potential solutions to this issue remains understudied as the growth of said tools are fairly new. This paper proposes that digital interfaces employ approaches with users' personal data that center …

Zombies From Cultural Origin To Contemporary Uses, Conor Davenport

University Honors Theses

This piece explores the evolution of the Western cinematic zombie, from its spawning to its reappropriation and echoes that are seen throughout the current landscapes of cinema today. It presents the axiom of the genre with White Zombie (1932) and how it has evolved into the contemporary creature we know and love today. The paper examines a throughline from cultural origin and how this has developed and becomes a critical lens for widely spread bureaucratic systems currently in place.

Our Body-Minds Are Not Apologies: How Systemic Oppression, Beauty Standards & Desirability Politics Impact The Body-Image & Sex Lives Of Trans & Non-Binary People With Physical (Dis)Abilities, Elm Mack

University Honors Theses

Due to the ableism, whiteness, and cisgender-heteropatriarchy in the US, people who are marked by racial, physical, neuro, and gendered differences are stereotypically considered to be less desirable. By applying a perspective informed by Disability Studies, Trans Studies, and Queer of Color Theory (including scholars like Eli Clare, Robert McRuer, Sonya Renee Taylor, Audre Lorde, Sami Schalk, Chris Finley, and Alicia Cox), I investigate how societal norms, beauty standards, and systemic oppression have disproportionately impacted the body-images and sex lives of trans and non-binary people with physical (dis)abilities. This thesis aims to shed light on the variety of ways in …

'To Surpass Convention' (2024): An Analysis Of Conventional Fantasy And How My Story Can Go Beyond, Aj Odom

University Honors Theses

Something that I struggle with when engaged in creative writing, just as every other writer has struggled with the same issue, is how my stories differ from those written before. It's difficult to create something that is entirely new, because, as artists, we always fall back on what we know has worked in the past. This uncertainty of unique creativity is what my thesis stems from. I am in the process of writing a fantasy script, but I struggle with originality. I can't help but compare my fantasy story to the fantasy stories of the past. I want to be …

Feeling Otherwise: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study Of Queer And Trans Youth Of Color Who Create And Embody Fursonas, Hazel Ali Zaman

Dissertations and Theses

Queer and trans youth of color are often the target of surveillance, bullying, discrimination, and abuse. However, in an attempt to navigate such violent and discriminatory circumstances, the queer and trans youth of color in this dissertation found refuge in furry art and performances, both online and offline, where they were able to express themselves freely and thus acquire a sense of belonging among others with similar experiences. In this dissertation, "a furry" is used to refer to an individual who self-identifies as one who has an affinity for anthropomorphic animal characters. A common practice among furries is creating a …