Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Freedom Indivisible: Gays And Lesbians In The African American Civil Rights Movement, Jared E. Leighton

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This work documents the role of sixty gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals in the African American civil rights movement in the pre-Stonewall era. It examines the extent of their involvement from the grassroots to the highest echelons of leadership. Because many lesbians and gays were not out during their time in the movement, and in some cases had not yet identified as lesbian or gay, this work also analyzes how the civil rights movement, and in a number of cases women’s liberation, contributed to their identity formation and coming out. This work also contributes to our understanding of opposition to …

“In Counterfeit Passion”: Cross-Dressing, Transgression, And Fraud In Shakespeare And Middleton, Anastasia S. Bierman

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis examines the way women cross-dressing as men functions as a crime in Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker’s The Roaring Girl and William Shakespeare’s As You Like It and Twelfth Night. While many modern scholars have discussed cross-dressing in these plays, many look to the end of the plays as the foundation for their analysis rather than the play as a whole. Because of this oversight, scholars deem the characters in the plays not transgressive, when, in fact, cross-dressing is transgressive. They ignore the way cross-dressing is often presented in writing in the Renaissance, i.e. as a type …

Symphony No. 1 For Double Wind Orchestra, Amanda Mccullough

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, Student Creative Work, and Performances

This piece represents the splitting of the mind as well as the irrational and often violent thoughts that compete against each other in order to blur the line between the real and the imaginary. The piece culminates in the third movement into a sort of psychotic break and ends in the disquieting limbo between life and death represented by the solo piano.

This symphony also explores the sonic possibilities of creating a stereo effect by splitting the wind ensemble into two separate ensembles. This includes the resolution of dissonances on one side by the opposite side, the continuation of melodic …

Costume Design For Agravio, Julie Douglass

Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film: Theses, Student Research, and Creative Work

This thesis presents the costume design, research, and execution process for Valor, Agravio y mujer by Ana Caro, adaptation to Agravio by Ian Borden, based on an original translation by Amy Williamsen. The play was performed in the Howell Theatre of the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in October 2012. Agravio was directed by Ian Borden, with Costume Design by Julie Douglass, Scenic Design by Joshua Rajaee, Lighting Design by Aja Michelle Jackson, Properties by David Tousley, and Technical Direction by Erica King.

Advisor: Janice Stauffer

Technical Direction Of Paragon Springs, Christine Ann Donaghy

Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film: Theses, Student Research, and Creative Work

My thesis show, Paragon Springs, is a play based on An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen. My first reading of the show leads me to hope that this undertaking will be profitable for all concerned. Paragon Springs, like the Ibsen play on which it is based, takes place in more than one location. This will contribute to my chances of having a set that might be a little more complicated and challenging than a basic unit set. My first concern was staging the show in the Studio and knowing we would have a smaller budget than …

Agravio: A Technical Direction Project, Erica Gwen King

Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film: Theses, Student Research, and Creative Work

Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL) opened the Fall 2012 season in the Howell Theatre on October 04, 2012 with Agravio. My thesis project was the technical direction of Agravio. As the technical director, I took the designer’s ideas and made them a reality on stage. My responsibilities included organization, construction drawings, ordering supplies, problem solving, supervising build and the budgeting of time, people and money. In the course of this thesis I will discuss the process I took to assure the set would be built on time and under budget, …

Meet Them Where They Gather: An Analysis Of Nasa’S Communications Approach For The 21st Century, Amanda D. Stein

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

Since the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been tasked with not only governing the United States’ space activities, but also sharing those efforts and subsequent findings with the American public. When President Barack Obama issued the Open Government Directive in 2009, NASA was well positioned to meet the objectives. Today, the administration has built one of the most successful web-based information-sharing presences by government agency, largely by tailoring communications efforts to reach the public on popular social media platforms. This paper will explore how NASA has utilized two-way symmetrical communications …

Midwestern Mythologies, Adam Lee Hubrig

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This collection of poems works toward unpacking the complications of moving from one geographical center to another. Its poems aim to work out changing and strained relationships, expectations and environments.

Advisor: Kwame Dawes

Causal Explanation Of Human Behavior In The Social Sciences, Maria R. Zavada

Department of Philosophy: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The social sciences have something to offer our understanding of human behavior. However, the social sciences have been subjected to a great deal of criticism, both internally and externally. Cultural anthropology provides a microcosm of the problems within the social sciences and serves as an apt case study. There are many problems with the social sciences, some as fundamental as whether or not the social sciences are indeed sciences, and others that address specific issues with goals, methods, and data collection.

Using anthropology as a case study, I articulate the connection between the methodological problems in anthropology and the philosophical …

Sing Solo Pirate: Songs In The Key Of Arrr! A Literature Guide For The Singer And Vocal Pedagogue, Michael S. Tully

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, Student Creative Work, and Performances

Pirates have always been mysterious figures. They came out of nowhere, attacked their victims, plundered their goods, and vanished. Reason tells us that pirates were no more than common criminals, but over the centuries, history has come to portray them as romantic and even heroic figures. This stereotype of piracy has long been a fascination of authors, poets, and composers, and it is evident in our cultural landscape.

This document examines an area of pirate literature that has been neglected, if ever discussed: the published pirate song for solo voice and piano accompaniment. Over the past two centuries many such …

Symbolic Capital And The Performativity Of Authorship: The Construction And Commodification Of The Nineteenth-Century Authorial Celebrity, Whitney Helms

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Victorian and Antebellum writers were the first literary figures to construct and perform their authorship within the sphere of celebrity. Unlike their Romantic predecessors who endured fame as an unexpected consequence of their popularity, the Victorians and their contemporaries understood celebrity as a condition of authorship. This dissertation takes as its subject the origins and development of symbolic power for authors as it was expressed in the trappings of celebrity and mass culture and argues that authorship became no longer strictly a profession of writing, but rather a performative endeavor that could be presented through diverse commercial markets. Investigating the …

A Relationship Of Parts, Jacob Francois

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

Through their actions these sculptures allude to our own bodies. The viewer having never seen such an object, its components take on names: lungs, mouth, appendages, or ribs. Our perception of the object shifts to somewhere between what we are and what it is. This shift in perception allows the viewers to project self upon these sculptures. It is not the physical likeness that we identify with, but their actions. Unlike mechanical tools, these objects serve no purpose. If they were accomplishing a task they would only be machines. The function only serves their existence.

The pumps and valves of …

Effect Of Racial Socialization And Racial Identity In Adolescent African American Males On Academic Achievement, Rasheema Pitt

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study examined possible influences of racial socialization and racial identity in minority’s academic achievement. Qualitative data sources (in-depth, personal interviews, focus groups, and a survey) were collected from 10 minority students and 8 administrators. In addition, a quantitative survey was used to supplement qualitative data. The researcher established her own set of questions for the interviews and focus groups. The pre-established measures used were the Does Your School Have High Expectations for All Students survey and the School Climate survey.

Thematic and theoretical analyses procedures were used to identify emerging themes and patterns, with particular attention to what minority …

Death Became Them: The Defeminization Of The American Death Culture, 1609–1899, Briony D. Zlomke

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Focusing specifically on the years 1609 to 1899 in the United States, this thesis examines how middle-class women initially controlled the economy of preparing the dead in pre-industrialized America and lost their positions as death transitioned from a community-based event to an occurrence from which one could profit. In this new economy, men dominated the capitalist-driven funeral parlors and undertaker services. The changing ideology about white middle-class women’s proper places in society and the displacement of women in the “death trade” with the advent of the funeral director exacerbated this decline of a once female-defined practice. These changes dramatically altered …

Community, Power, And Memory In Díaz Ordaz's Mexico: The 1968 Lynching In San Miguel Canoa, Puebla, Kevin M. Chrisman

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

On September 14th, 1968, approximately 1,000 enraged inhabitants wielding assorted makeshift weapons formed a lynch mob that brutally murdered four people and injured three others in San Miguel Canoa, Mexico. According to the generally accepted account, Canoa’s inhabitants feared that recently-arrived Universidad Autónoma de Puebla employees, in town on a weekend mountain-climbing expedition, were in actuality communist agitators threatening the town’s social order. The lynching in Canoa received limited press coverage and was subsequently overshadowed by the much larger government orchestrated Tlatelolco massacre that occurred in Mexico City, on October 2, 1968. While Tlatelolco remains an important historic event from …

Path - Loss, Gregory S. Cook

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

The term “path loss” could be considered somewhat idiomatic – it refers at once to a very specific technical definition and an easily relatable conceptualization, but perhaps its most immediate read is one of defeat, literally “a path, lost.” I find this beautifully problematic. In its original end as a term in radio-engineering, it’s used to describe the attenuation of a signal through physical space on its way to a receiver – that is, “path loss” describes some kind of thin-ness of intensity, the parts of something snagged along the way; parts caught in bedrock, lost in soil, or tangled …

Yolanda Barco's Impact On The Cable Television Industry, Piper L. Peteet-Kilgore

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

The purpose of this thesis was to take a detailed look into the life of cable television pioneer Yolanda Barco and demonstrate that her achievements in cable telecommunications have directly impacted the success of the cable telecommunications industry.

The daughter of cable television pioneer George Barco, Yolanda Barco worked alongside her father advocating for the rights of cable television during the early years of the industry. Following a biographical story framework, this research follows a timeline of her career discussing her family life, education, how she became involved in the cable television industry, achievements in cable television and the lasting …

When The World Went Quiet, Megan E. Mcleay

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

The basis of my work is a consciousness of the presence of the soul and the choices that compose our reality. I use light to illuminate space and manipulate human emotion. The landscapes are mirror images of my mind, dreams both light and dark, of beauty and brutality, the expression of my invisible world. My practice uses destructive drawing actions to produce creation and suggest emotional trials. My images represent this deeper bond when all emotions are felt and experienced together. The figures are not saints, but are meant to generate the idea of divinity within the restraints of the …

A Chant From The Great Plains: An Analysis And Rationale For A Critical Edition, Raul G. Barcenes

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, Student Creative Work, and Performances

This document explores A Chant from the Great Plains by Carl Busch. As the winner of American bandmaster Edwin Franko Goldman’s composition contest in 1919, this work helped launch the tradition of commissioning upon which the repertoire of the modern concert band medium relies. Inexplicably, Busch’s piece fell into obscurity and has become so rare that the primary researcher on Carl Busch, Dr. Donald Lowe, was not able to view any of the music while compiling his research with the exception of citations and articles. This document provides a rationale for the revival of the work in both scholarship and …

Costume Design For Paragon Springs, Bethany D. Skinner

Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film: Theses, Student Research, and Creative Work

This thesis describes the research and costume design and production processes for the play, Paragon Springs by Steven Dietz (1958- ), performed in the Studio Theatre on November 8-9, 11, 14-16, 18, 2012, at the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film at the University of Nebraska. Paragon Springs was directed by Carrie Lee Patterson. Bethany Skinner was costume designer; David Tousley was scenic designer; Michael Fortcamp was lighting designer; Alma Cerretta served as props master, and Christine Donaghy provided technical direction. Dietz’s play, which premiered in April of 2000, is based on the play An Enemy of the People …

Baye Fadioul Niang: A Brief Biography Of An Ebeniste In Senegal, Katie Jo Niang

Interior Design Program: Student Creative Activity

Baye Fadioul Niang described himself as a traditional European designer of wood furniture, doors, and trim. In 1945, at age 22, Fadioul began designing furniture as an apprentice in the state labor department of Kaolack. He settled in Dakar, where Fadioul not only designed and constructed furniture, but was a popular informal educator in the business. His furniture shop became a center for education in Menuserie and Ebenisterie, which is the art of furniture making. In 2005 Fadioul retired from furniture making because of deteriorating eyesight. Includes photos taken in February 2013 in Dakar, Senegal.

Violin Concerto #1, Matthew J. Holman

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, Student Creative Work, and Performances

This piece is a violin concerto modeled after, but not explicitly quoting melodic material of, several pieces of music by composers Bear McCreary, and Martin O’Donnell. The first and third movements of my piece were each modeled after two of Bear McCreary’s pieces from the soundtrack to Battlestar Galactica Season 2 – Allegro, and Prelude to War, respectively. The second movement of my piece was modeled after Martin O’Donnell’s piece Ashes, from the soundtrack to Halo: Reach.

Although I model my piece on the formal structures and, occasionally, the chord progressions of McCreary’s and O’Donnell’s pieces, …

Threshold, Alexandria Knipe

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

My decisions in the studio are tied to my experiences outside of the studio, intertwining the complex relationship of memory and sentience. Each work precariously balances between softness and rigidity, vessel and sculpture, monumentality and intimacy. These tensions transform the familiar into the enigmatic and are an integral part of my philosophical approach to making.

Soft curves and billowing planes are punctuated by the structure of defined edges, hard angles, and areas of dark shadows. This duality suggests two worlds, one of feeling, intuition, sensuality, and dreams, the other of intellect, reason, structure, form, rhythm, and geometry.

By contradicting the …

"In Family Way": Guarding Indigenous Women’S Children In Washington Territory, Katrina Jagodinsky

Department of History: Faculty Publications

The cases discussed here represent very few of the guardianship arrangements that characterized intergenerational and interracial households in territorial Washington, yet the patterns they illustrate correspond with other evidence that allows historians to track the distribution of Indian and mixed- race children in the Puget Sound region. Th e 1880 federal census schedules for counties bordering the Puget Sound reveals the informal guardianship of Native women’s children in ninetytwo households. Among these extralegal arrangements were forty- two households headed by white men, some single like Ed Boggess and others married to white women like Phoebe Judson, who classified the indigenous …

U.S. History And Beyond, Thomas Borstlemann

Department of History: Faculty Publications

Nearly all readers who have persisted to this point in our roundtable discussion understand the depth of commitment required to write serious book-length history and recognize that most of us are nonetheless likely to reach very small audiences. Such disjuncture between effort and result suggests something about historians— doggedness, perhaps, or other less positive qualities that many of those with whom we live might offer up in an honest moment (mulishness, obsessiveness, irrelevance). Indeed, we seem to be almost the last scholarly discipline that writes mostly books. But this disjuncture also helps explain the scale of my gratitude for receiving …

Blanket Statements, Issue 111, Spring 2013

Blanket Statements: News Publication of the American Quilt Study Group

Blanket Statements, Issue 111, Spring 2013

Review Of Getting Causes From Powers By Stephen Mumford And Rani Lill Anjum, Jennifer Mckitrick

Department of Philosophy: Faculty Publications

Some philosophers have suggested that having powers in one’s ontology has the advantage of providing resources for an account of causation (see Cartwright 1999; Harré 1970; Mill 1843; Whitehead 1929). But what would a theory of causation look like if we assume that powers are real? In Getting Causes from Powers, Mumford and Anjum make what is perhaps the first sustained attempt to answer that question. The basic idea is that, if there are powers, understood as property-like entities that have manifestations which can be merely possible, then causation is a matter of powers manifesting. According to the authors, …

Half True - All Real, Matthew G. Blache

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

I love making things up.

I am a fabricator of moments: a storyteller who relies on construction rather than incantation. As a child, making was labor, holding ladders, watching, and helping carry heavy equipment. It was a requirement, a rite. Making was also playful - stacking something on top of something to make something. That something could be anything. There was, I learned, a satisfaction in bringing an object into the world. It was a marker of my existence.

“Half True-All Real" is a convergence of my compulsion to make things and my desire to give form to my …

Your Turn, Samuel J. Berner

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

I pursue art that makes physical contact with the viewer, art that needs to be touched and changed by its surroundings and inhabitants. Relational Aesthetics are integral to my conceptual approach. I value the life my work takes on through the viewer, stemming from the object. A temporal grouping of participants, their reaction and effect, complete the work. Interactions take a democratic approach, giving every viewer a chance, to promote dialogue through shared experience.

My work challenges the notions of art and the relation of preciousness and object. Through participation I hope the viewer asks: What is art? What is …

The Ambiguous Graveyard: Religious Sympathy And Erotic Desire In Sir John Everett Millais's The Vale Of Rest, Greg W. Spangler

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

The Vale of Rest, 1859, despite or because of its oddities—two nuns digging a grave—was in its own day understood as a touchstone for Sir John Everett Millais and his career. Its critical reception in 1859 was hostile, with charges of “ugliness,” but by 1897, it was hanging in the Tate museum. Scholars and biographers have accordingly seen it as a turning point in Millais’s abandonment of Pre-Raphaelite realism for a more aestheticized and bourgeois style. The subject of nuns has led other scholars to investigate Millais’s sympathies with the Oxford Movement, the midcentury effort to reform the Anglican …