Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Who Are We?: Exploring American Identities, Nolan Weil

World Languages and Cultures Faculty Publications

Framed as a question—Who Are We?—the book focuses on telling the stories of a handful of ethnic/national/racial groups that contributed significantly to the formation of the United States. In particular, the book revolves around the social, economic, legal, and historical contradictions that have confronted and continue to confront the American attempt to construct a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-racial democracy, including a consideration of the forces arrayed against the American experiment. While the book does not tackle head-on the immediate cultural and political rifts currently on display in the United States today, it does take a hard look at many …

Becoming “Living Matter”: Alive Things In Octavia Butler’S Xenogenesis Series, Zackary Gregory

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This project seeks to explore the ways Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis trilogy complicates humans' understandings of subjectivity and human exceptionalism by challenging the concept of Otherness. Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis series focuses on adaptability and acceptance of the nonhuman Other by depicting a forced encounter between humans and an alien species called the Oankali. Characters within the series grapple with a dynamic understanding of themselves, having to renegotiate the concept of the Other as they deal with intelligent nonhuman Beings and animate objects. Further, characters in the series are coerced into accepting the transformation of humanity into something other than human as …

Sacred Earth: The Role Of The Natural Divine Within Wendell Berry's "Manifesto", T. Greyson Gurley Ma

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Kentuckian writer and poet, Wendell Berry, is often associated with environmental literature and advocacy. However, often overlooked, much of Berry’s work is inherently religious in nature, specifically Christian. Berry’s poetry expresses many of his personal beliefs regarding life, spirituality, religion, interconnection, stewardship, and agriculture. In particular, Berry often uses characters to communicate these aforementioned personal ideas. This practice can be seen through his utilization of the character of the Mad Farmer within a great deal of his poetry, including poetry dedicated to the Mad Farmer himself. Although this character expresses many of the same beliefs as Berry, he is not …

Paranormal Investigators: Exploring A Positive Social Construct Through Paranormal Belief And Investigations, Meagan E. Oltman

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This thesis is a case study providing a more detailed look into how a local paranormal investigation team forms a community that cultivates social benefits beyond proving the supernatural’s existence. Folklore provides a path to understanding supernatural beliefs and fears, furthering the understanding of paranormal communities and any advantages of being a part of or receiving help from paranormal investigators and investigations. The paranormal or the supernatural defies standard explanation. For example, ghosts and UFOs, at times, are not explained away with traditional scientific theories and hypotheses. Paranormal investigators, also called paranormal researchers, choose to study the paranormal phenomena considered …

Belief, Unbelief, And Rebelief In Santa Claus: A Theory Of Cyclical Belief Or A Belief Cycle An Introduction, Steven G. Merrell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Every single person, no matter who they are; what they look or sound like; where they are or come from in space and time; their sex, gender, and/or orientation; their age or maturity; their culture; and/or their background, has one or multiple belief(s) and/or belief system(s) of some kind. Such belief may be temporary, transient, fleeting, or long lasting. It/they may be superficial or deeply rooted. It/they may be (considered) or seem rational or irrational. It/they may be encouraged or discouraged, romanticized or pathologized. It/they may be conscious, subconscious, or unconscious; or, such belief(s) may exist somewhere in between. It/they …

Personal Identity And The Influence Of Outlaw Folklore, William "Bacon" Nivison

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Folklore being a relatively new science there is still debate going on about what Folklore actually is. Most of what one reads is relative to who the “folk” are, where the “lore” comes from and how it is inspired. This thesis looks at folkore from a viewpoint which observes folklore from the other direction. Not how do the folk create the lore, rather how does the lore create the folk?

Folklore is well shown to be a product, or at least an abstract of one’s personal identity, but, is it not also a tool used by the individual in the …

“Racist, Sexist, Profane, And Violent”: Reinterpreting Wwe’S Portrayals Of Samoans Across Generations, John Honey

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This paper examines the shifting portrayals of Pacific Islanders in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) across three generations. As both a popular and historically racially problematic venue, WWE’s politically incorrect programming has played an underappreciated and under examined role in representing the USA. Although many different groups have been portrayed by gross stereotypes in WWE, this paper uses the family of Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson—the Samoan Dynasty—as a case study. The WWE originally presented Pacific Islanders using the most offensive stereotypes, and the first two generations of the Samoan Dynasty had to “play Indian” or cosign onto gross representations of their …

Straight Men Come Out: Queer Eye And The Path To A More Mindful Masculinity, Eli M. Roush

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

My thesis explores the culture surrounding the 2018 reboot of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy in relation to contemporary arguments in masculinity studies about the costs of hegemonic masculinity, performance, and identity. This paper examines how Queer Eye carefully creates space where heteronormative men can safely express emotional vulnerability and embody a more functional masculinity that expands beyond the bounds of hegemonic performance. The bulk of the analysis involves close readings of specific episodes and scenes from Queer Eye that introduce and examine the strategies the Fab Five use to redefine their subject's engagement with masculinity, explore the effectiveness …

The Sacred Circle: Ostension In Native American Hoop Dancing, Emma George

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This thesis examines the role of the semiotic concept ostension in folk dance, specifically in Native American hoop dance. Although the discipline of folklore is well-versed in ostension, folk dance has not been examined through this lens. I argue that dance is a form of ostension, of demonstrating a narrative, and this is especially apparent within Native American hoop dancing. I begin with a brief history of Native Americans in North America before discussing the origins of powwows, intertribal culture, and hoop dance. I then look at both the sacred nature and material culture of the modern hoop dance before …

Metal Storytellers: Reflections Of War Culture In Silverplate B-29 Nose Art From The 509th Composite Group, Terri Wesemann

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Most people are familiar with the Enola Gay—the B-29 that dropped Little Boy, the first atomic bomb, over the city of Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. Less known are the fifteen Silverplate B-29 airplanes that trained for the mission, that were named and later adorned with nose art. However, in recorded history, the atomic mission overshadowed the occupational folklore of this group. Because the abundance of planes were scrapped in the decade after World War II and most WWII veterans have passed on, all that remains of their occupational folklore are photographs, oral and written histories, some books, …

Shall I Sing You A Ghost Story: The Nature And Purpose Of Ghost Songs In Maritime Communities Of Northern New England And Atlantic Canada, Richard A. Blake

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This paper will be discussing the nature of maritime ghost stories put forth in musical narrative. There are two questions that I will be endeavoring to answer. 1) What kinds of changes can occur to a ghost story when it is put into a song and 2) How would the understanding of a folksong’s story change when it crosses boundaries from one place to another? More specifically it will discuss those changes when crossing provincial or national boundaries. The investigation into these questions will involve the use of several written and audio sources. The written sources include titles like the …

Licentious Legends: A Folklore Podcast, Alexandra L. Haynes

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Licentious Legends was created out of a need to both understand and educate about sexual contemporary legends; not just what they are and what defines them, but the effect that they have on those who experience them. The purpose of this podcast is not to shame, but to take what has been found and educate about the joys and dangers of these legends. These legends range from the everyday (such as "The Hook"), to legends about a young man killing himself with a plunger. In an effort to gather as many examples as they could, Faye interviewed several of their …

"There Should Be No Tolerance For Intolerance": Internal Antagonism In Online Fan Communities, Michelle W. Jones

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis focuses on exploring cases of internal antagonism in fan communities, with a specific focus on the Steven Universe (2013 -) and Undertale (2015) communities present on Tumblr and Twitter. Internal antagonism is a phenomenon that occurs when a community targets a member within itself instead of outside itself, often as a way to mediate and regulate the community and reinforce its values. This thesis considers three case studies of internal antagonism with both physical and digital implications in order to better understand the role it plays in shaping and sustaining online fan communities as well as mediating the …

In Search Of America: One Barbershop At A Time, Keith M. Buswell

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Barbershops are a mainstay of the American tradition and have served as an anchor to main streets across the country. They have a colorful history and play an important role as community gathering places for men and boys. Before our society became more mobile, a boy may have grown up in the same barbershop, in the same barber chair, getting his hair cut by the same barber, from his years as a toddler, a teenager, and into his young adulthood. Many old school barbers have cut the hair of multiple generations, grandfathers, fathers, and sons, while standing in the same …

Home To Harlan: African American Miners' Children Celebration Of Homecoming, Jessica L. Cushenberry

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

For decades, Harlan County has been studied for its unique characteristics—coal, class, power, and segregation, which have allowed many fields to understand the deeply rooted history of the region. It has become increasingly clear that Harlan County is unlike many other mining regions in the Appalachian area. Harlan County mines developed “model towns” with schools, hospitals, stores and housing for their workers, thus, drawing in migrant workers, native Appalachians, and immigrants. Among these people were African Americans.

African American coal miners’ have been heavily discussed in literature, especially in West Virginia and Alabama. This work focuses on African American mining …

Self-Reliance, Social Welfare, And Sacred Landscapes: Mormon Agricultural Spaces And Their Paradoxical Sense Of Place, Anthony Ross Garner

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

What is the sense of place of Mormon agricultural landscapes? That is to say, what makes an LDS Church-owned welfare farm or a Mormon family garden meaningful to those who interact with it? In formulating a partial answer to this question, this thesis demonstrates how religious ideals of self-reliance and social welfare explicitly define Mormon agricultural landscapes, providing a sacred sense of their purpose to those who work and benefit from them. However, these sacred landscapes are complicated by developments of industrial agricultural equipment, corporate institutions, and urban demographics, which tend to isolate people from each other and the land …

"Full On Toy Story": Exploring The Belief In Object Sentience In Western Culture, Amelia Mathews-Pett

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis considers, from a folklorist’s perspective, the people in Western society who believe that everyday objects have feelings. It establishes these people as a cohesive group for study, referred to as “people to experience the belief in object sentience,” then analyzes their personal accounts of the experience to find both commonalities and differences. From this analysis and discussion of folkloristic perspectives on belief, the main argument is established: people in this group have generally been marginalized and could benefit from a more careful consideration of their beliefs.

Suspense Radio Series, Gothic Literature, And The American Family, Kelly Kirkham

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

My plan B thesis argues that the Suspense radio series, which aired from 1942-1963, served as a cathartic release for Americans during the Golden Age of Radio; the program accomplished catharsis by borrowing characteristics originating in 19th century gothic literature: sound effects, domestic space as setting, and the uncanny. The evidence I use in my argument includes radio show recordings, magazines, and published works from prominent radio scholars to analyze the effects of the Suspense program, specifically the 1960 season. Scholarly works include books and articles from Neil Verma, author of Theater of the Mind and assistant professor in Radio/Television/Film …

Constraints Of Haunted Heritage Tourism In Logan, Utah, Kylie Schroeder

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

It has become common in Salem, Savannah, New Orleans, Edinburg, or Gettysburg, to witness groups of people being led through the darkened streets as part of a ghost tour or haunted history walk. An altered form of commercialized legend tripping, these companies offer guided tours, feature spooky stories, and often showcase local history. However, the trend of haunted heritage tourism, especially in the form of ghost walks and haunted history tours, has spread beyond places with national or international reputations for hauntings and is now growing in small towns whose stories are rarely shared beyond the local populace.

This thesis …

Allowing The Untellable To Visit: Investigating Digital Folklore, Ptsd And Stigma, Geneva Harline

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In the introduction of 2012 issue of The Journal of Folklore Research, Diane Goldstein and Amy Shuman issue a “call to arms for folklorists … to concentrate on the vernacular experience of the stigmatized.” (Goldstein and Shuman, 2012:116). Drawing on this call to arms, this thesis investigates how Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is portrayed in social media through memes and captioned images. I argue that the genres of memes and captioned images in digital folklore work to help mitigate the stigma of PTSD because the veneer of anonymity in the digital world allows people with PTSD to be willing …

From Eden To Dystopia: An Ecocritical Examination Of Emergent Mythologies In Early Los Angeles Literary Texts, Jaquelin Pelzer

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In From Eden to Dystopia: An Ecocritical Examination of Emergent Mythologies in Early Los Angeles Literary Texts, ecocriticism and critical regionalism were utilized alongside other American Studies practices to analyze nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century depictions of nature in Los Angeles. Specifically, these tools were applied to travel guides and narratives of the 1870s and 1880s, the turn-of-the-century magazine The Land of Sunshine, Upton Sinclair’s Oil! (1926) and Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep (1939), and other non-fiction publications of the 1920s and ’30s to track an evolving narrative of Los Angeles as a paradise and later as a place perched …

The Past That Was Differs Little From The Past That Was Not: Pictographs And Petroglyphs In Cormac Mccarthys Blood Meridian Or The Evening Redness In The West, Cami Ann Dilg

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This literary analysis expands the scholarly canon concerning Cormac McCarthy’s regional writing by identifying the purpose of pictographs and petroglyphs in Blood Meridian or the Evening Redness in the West (1985). Not only do pictographs and petroglyphs tie the narrative to place, but they create a commentary regarding the erasure of Native American histories in the United States. These images record Native American memory and presence in the landscape, and by referencing them, McCarthy confronts concepts of exposure and shame, which facilitates conversations concerning Native American genocide. A close analysis of character interaction with and scene placement of these images …

Mormons And Youtube, Ryan Reeder

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

As the internet’s second-most trafficked site, behind only Google in both the United States and globally, and with 600,000 hours of content uploaded and one billion hours viewed daily by more than one billion monthly users, YouTube’s reach and scope is vast. Growing out of a need to better facilitate the production and distribution of online video, YouTube was able to become dominant through a combination of factors including the implementation of innovative features, an ability to capitalize on popular videos hosted on its site, and good timing in managing to become a key component of the social media revolution. …

It's Good Business: Regulation Models In The 1911 Closure Of Butte Montanas Red Light District, Anne Marie Johnson

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This work examines the regulation of prostitution in Butte, Montana during the 1910-1911. Butte, in particular, stands out in terms of researching how the regulation of prostitution worked to support the economic structure of a mining town in the American West because it offered a different response to Progressive Era regulation of red light districts during the early twentieth century. While there was an attempt to implement the eradication model of regulation sweeping the rest of the nation, Butte rejected this model in favor of tolerating prostitution's involvement in its mining culture and economic structure. Examining the social and economic …

The Same Ten People (Stps) Of Rockville: Volunteerism, Preservation, And Sense Of Community In Small-Town Southern Utah, Tori Edwards

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis examines the central role that volunteerism plays in creating a strong sense of sense of place and community within the town of Rockville, Utah, located 4.7 miles from Zion National Park. Rockville has no commercial businesses within its boundaries and relies heavily upon the volunteer efforts of its residents to carry out the majority of civil services within the town. Drawing from interviews of the STP’s (a group of Rockville residents who volunteer on a regular basis), this thesis highlights how the act of volunteerism helps residents feel membership within their community. This thesis also looks at how …

Anatomy Of A Rupture: Identity Maintenance In The 1844 Latter-Day Saint Reform Sect, Robert M. Call

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Joseph Smith, the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, managed dissent throughout his prophetic career. Most of the earliest dissenters came and went with little lasting impact on Mormonism—the church maintained a coherent structure despite attempted disjuncture. However, when Smith was assassinated in June 1844 (just fourteen years after he established the church), the Mormon community ruptured. Claimants to Smith’s ecclesiastical office competed for church-wide leadership. Brigham Young led thousands westward to the Rocky Mountains, but thousands of Mormons rejected Young and his version of Mormonism. This crisis over succession sparked the growth of schisms in …

Masculinities And Christian Metal: A Critical Analysis Of August Burns Red Lyrics, Brian W. Bowler

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The purpose of this thesis is to examine and analyze the lyrics of a Christian metal band through the lens of men and masculinities. Heavy metal music is known for its controversial and transgressive elements in its music, lyrics, and image. Through their transgressive performances, metal musicians challenge power structures informed by hegemonic masculinity. Christian metal musicians perform what Moberg calls a "double-controversy" or a double-challenge to hegemonic masculinity, as they transgress the traditions and hegemonic masculinity of the metal scene.

While many metal bands write lyrics about social issues, it is not typical for a Christian metal band to …

Assimilationist Language In Cherokee Women's Petitions: A Political Call To Reclaim Traditional Cherokee Culture, Jillian Moore Bennion

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Twenty-one years before the forced-removal of Cherokee people from their native lands east of the Mississippi, Cherokee people fought peacefully to maintain ownership of Cherokee-owned lands and attempted to preserve, at least in part, traditional Cherokee culture. Through the drafting of petitions, specifically written between 1817-19, Cherokee women pushed back against pressure to assimilate to Anglo-American culture and to cede Cherokee land to the United States Government. The five petitions that are present in this analysis were drafted in response to an ongoing Cherokee- United States land crisis.

This article looks at petitions written by female Cherokee and male Cherokee …

Understanding The Mormon War Of 1838, Tabitha Merkley

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

For my thesis I decided to do a literature review about the 1838 Mormon War in Missouri. The Mormons started settling in Missouri in 1831 because Joseph Smith told his followers that Jackson County was set aside as the place where they would establish Zion. Almost right away there were conflicts between the Missourians and the Mormons. The Missourians were suspicious of the Mormons and their beliefs because the Mormons had told Missourians that God was going to take the land away from the Missourians and give the land to the Mormons. As a result of these suspicions, the Mormons …

Rhetoric In Mormon Female Healing Rituals During The Nineteenth Century, Carrie Ann King Johnson

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Using the minutes of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo, journals and diaries kept by early Mormon women, and letters written about healing blessings, this thesis looks at how nineteenth-century Mormon women used rhetoric in healing rituals to build community, claim power, and comfort one another thorough illness, death, and birth. Claudia L. Bushman points out that “Mormon women were much like other American women of their day, but their allegiance to the faith led them in some new directions.” Instead of retreating to acceptable standards of femininity, Mormon women claimed and used godly power and authority.

The women who …