Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Rise And Fall Of Gilmore Girls' Feminist Legacy, Mckenna Ahlgren

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the feminist legacy that the television series Gilmore Girls (2000-2007, 2016) built during its original airtime and how its later revival diminished that legacy. Gilmore Girls’ main characters are three generations of women within the Gilmore family, providing a unique opportunity to analyze their feminist identities and characterizations relative to different iterations of feminism. This paper examines how the youngest Gilmore, Rory, is influenced by her mother’s and grandmother’s embodiments of feminism. Their expressions of femininity and sexuality, their approaches to motherhood, and their behaviors in their romantic relationships throughout the series correlate with the predominate feminism …

Black Lives Matter: An Analysis Of Social-Political Activism In Social Media, Ivy Lutz

Honors Theses

Using the contexts of institutionalized racism, ideological dogmatism, and oppression of people of color, this paper will argue the following hypothesis in regards to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and social media activism. People who post on social media about social-political issues have positive relationships with boycotting, protesting, or attending political meetings outside of the online sphere. However, this positive relationship does not correlate to a positive relationship or engagement in regards to their feelings on BLM movement, discrimination of blacks, and police treatment of blacks. If this is the case, then the data for social media postings will …

Fanfiction As A Form With Merit, Alyssandra Holmes

Honors Theses

Fanfiction is a form of writing with a vast wealth of merits, and it should be respected as a unique and valuable literary genre. I have read a number of scholarly articles written regarding fanfiction, analyzed certain works and my own experiences within the fan community, and considered original media in order to construct my defense of fanfiction's value as a literary form. Fanfiction has an unfortunately poor reputation, given the unique advantages it provides to authors. Fanfiction is an egalitarian learning tool, with a thriving community and a significant impact upon the individuals engaging with fanfiction creation. Fanfiction is …

The Earliest Surviving Version Of Charles Chesnutt's "Rena Walden," The Short Story That Became "The House Behind The Cedars", Dominic Yarabe

Honors Theses

My research project presents an edited version, with an introduction, of the earliest surviving version of “Rena Walden,” the short story that ultimately became the novel The House Behind the Cedars. The novel is a passing story in which a light-skinned, mixed race girl enters white society to live life as a white woman. Interestingly, however, the short story on which the novel was based began as a fiction with no white characters whatsoever. As the manuscript of this story is often difficult to read because of hard-to-decipher handwritten revisions, I had to create my own editorial policy to …

Duality In Carnivàle: An Exploration Of Light And Dark, Nathan Hittle

Honors Theses

This paper explores themes of duality, subversion and humanity through a critical analysis of the first season of HBO’s Carnivàle. Production elements like costuming and lighting serve as key points of examination, as does the show’s writing through representation of various religious beliefs and faith in mystical, mythological forces, inspired by real-world ideologies yet unique to the world of Carnivàle. The three categories of costuming, lighting and religion demonstrate Carnivàle’s obsession with visual storytelling, apt for story told in a visual medium.

The analysis offered throughout this paper relies on an understanding of themes and motifs common …

From Rain’S A-Gonna Fall To Bricks In The Wall: A Comparative Analysis Of Humanity’S Core Themes In The Music Of Bob Dylan And Pink Floyd, Alec Williams

Honors Theses

The 1960s were turbulent times of musical creation and revolution. From Motown to Dinkytown, the world suddenly became filled with blooms of creativity that stemmed from the freshly planted roots rock ‘n’ roll. Artists that garnered infamy in this flourishing era, including household names like Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, and Janis Joplin, would become immortalized in music and pop culture. However, few stand out as pinnacle lyrical and musical influences, devout to the art of perpetual creation and development of the global music scene. Of those artists, Bob Dylan and Pink Floyd have contributed immensely to the synthesis of genres …

Studiohub: Streamlining Communication In Private Music Studios, Joseph Klinck

Honors Theses

At the start of the project, I asked the question “what technology is available to horn players today?” Through an independent study in Spring 2017, I surveyed websites, blogs, YouTube channels, computer software, and mobile apps, reviewing and rating each one, and discussing their strengths and weaknesses.

From this project, I determined that one key piece of technology missing in the music world was some way to unify and streamline the activities of private music teachers and their students. Through my own experiences, and through talking with other music students, I determined three objectives for this streamlining technology: assign and …

Free Medical Clinics In America, Amanda Golden

Honors Theses

The issue of healthcare in the United States of America continues to be a hot-button issue for millions of Americans and the politicians representing them in Washington D.C. The cost of healthcare continues to rise, population size within the country is continuously increasing, and the number of individuals lacking access to quality healthcare grows more and more everyday.

In this environment, understanding the role of free clinics in a community and how these clinics are maintained is becoming increasingly important. In this paper, I will outline the history of free clinics, who runs them and why. I will then provide …

Parallels Of Morality: Wilde And Nietzsche’S Challenge To Social Obligation, Amzie A. Dunekacke

Honors Theses

This thesis explores Irish author Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray in relation to a selection of texts by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. To demonstrate the similarities between Wilde and Nietzsche’s challenges to European morality, this work considers these themes, which are present in the ideologies of both Wilde and Nietzsche: the body and sensual pleasure, social construction, and the hypocrisy of altruism. Both radical thinkers castigate Platonic notions of the body as ignoble and weak, and they mock European propriety’s shyness of the body. In addition, Wilde and Nietzsche offer similar criticisms of social laws, adopting a …

A Reason To Daydream, Corinne Schipull

Honors Theses

Sexism in American culture comes as no surprise. In 2017, the film industry saw an increasing number of powerful men within its ranks exposed and exiled for allegations of sexually predatory behavior. Many see this purging as a sign of changing times, but this view is optimistic: the tides of change ebb in and out, and this problem far exceeds the movie industry. Well before the onslaught of articles on the likes of Harvey Weinstein, my classmates and I resolved to craft our senior thesis film with a crew made up entirely of women: we simply saw the pool of …

Preliminary Analysis Of Hieroglyph And Iconography Placement On Freestanding Monuments At Copán, Honduras, Elizabeth Koenen

Honors Theses

This paper analyzes the placement of hieroglyphs and iconography on freestanding monuments at the ancient Maya site of Copán, Honduras. Preliminary spatial analysis using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) highlight two potentially important findings. First, stelae in the main civic-ceremonial precinct (Principal Group), while erected in the most centralized and public location in the city, are not always placed to allow for public viewing of their fronts. Second, differences may exist in the number of logographic and syllabic glyphs used on a object depending on the type of object and its location. Further research and data collection are needed in order …

“Marie” And “An Unusual Recourse”: English Translations Of German Early Romantic Stories, Meghan Leadabrand

Honors Theses

This project consists of English translations of two German early Romantic stories, “Marie” (1798) by Sophie Mereau and “Seltner Ausweg” (1823) by Luise Brachmann, as well as an introductory discussion of the authors, their significance in the Jena Circle of Romantic writers, and the translation process. The introduction incorporates research on both Mereau and Brachmann and German early Romanticism, as well as some research on translation theory. Overall, the project aims to make “Marie” and “Seltner Ausweg,” which have not previously been translated, available to an English-speaking audience and to highlight the work of two little known Romantic women writers. …

This Book Is Valuable: An Anthology Of Essays On Design And The Perception Of Value In Luxury Fashion Objects, Carlos Velasco

Honors Theses

This Book is Valuable seeks to analyze how different concepts related to design and culture have influenced the apparent and perceived value of luxury fashion objects. This question is explored in different contexts to provide clarity and observation to the contemporary construction of value through systems of design.

This thesis is an anthology of three essays. The first essay is about immaterial capitalism, a system of knowledge, skill and imagination based capital. The second essay is about the strategy of artification, using fine art as a way to link systems of value together. It is also about how luxury conglomerates …

Music Education For Mental Health: Creating A Participatory Music After School Program, Nicole A. Shively

Honors Theses

This thesis project, titled “Music Education for Mental Health: Creating a Participatory Music After School Program,” consists of a research paper and curriculum guide for the creation of a nonprofit after school program that will use music education to help youth with depression and anxiety. This program provides participatory music experiences to students in a supportive, cathartic environment. The paper details the research behind the psychological benefits of music, the activities that would be done with the students, and why there is a need for this program in current society. The curriculum guide consists of the addressed national music education …

The Reality Of Escape In Fantasy, Abbigail Mazour

Honors Theses

This paper seeks to examine the instances of escape experienced by the characters in popular fantasy novels such as The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter and looks at how this escape teaches its audiences lessons about the real world and philosophical truths. It answers the question of whether or not fantasy is escape and why, accepting fantasy as escapist, this genre—and escape itself—is valuable to its audiences. The method for completing this project was a close analysis of the primary texts The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter along with the research and writing done by Tolkien …

Czech Immigrants In Nebraska: A Question Of Identity And Assimilation, Katharine Meegan

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the dynamics of cultural and social assimilation through the experiences of Czech immigrants into Nebraska. The Czechs' long struggle to maintain their ethnic identity has shaped their experiences with assimilation. After a review of assimilation theory, I conclude that the Czech experience with assimilation follows a “straight-line” assimilation model, a progression of assimilation that is complete by the third generation. Their relatively small size, settlement in rural areas, and a strong desire to maintain ethnic identity, as reflected in the formation of Czech language benevolent associations, gymnastic societies, and Czech language newspapers, led to “social” and “structural” …

Walt Whitman: The Man Behind The Words, Sara Duke

Honors Theses

Walt Whitman is often considered to be one of the greatest American poets. His ways of writing were unconventional, inappropriate to a degree (according to Victorian standards), yet they intrigued readers not only of the New World, but also those of the Old World. But his writing was not the only thing he was known for. The “Good Gray Poet” was also known for being gentle and warm-hearted, with a striking face and piercing blue eyes. He was welcoming to his neighbors, visitors, and passers-by on the street.

This thesis seeks to understand the man behind Leaves of Grass. …