Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The First Battle For Scottish Independence: The Battle Of Dunnichen, A.D. 685., Julie Fox Parsons

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study is an examination of the historiography of the ancient-medieval texts that record events related to the Northumbrian and the Pictish royal houses in the seventh century. The Picts, the Scots and the Celtic Britons fell into subjugation under the control of the expansionist Northumbrian kings and remained there for most of the seventh century. Northumbrian expansion was halted by Bridei, king of the picts, when he put down the advancing Northumbrian forces of king Ecgfrith at the Battle of Dunnichen, also known as Nechtansmere, in the year A.D. 685. The outcome of the battle not only stopped Northumbrian …

Dead Bones Dancing: The Taki Onqoy, Archaism, And Crisis In Sixteenth Century Peru., Sσndra Lee Allen Henson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 1532, a group of Spanish conquistadores defeated the armies of the Inca Empire and moved from plundering the treasure of the region to establishing an imperial reign based on the encomienda system. The increasing demand for native labor and material goods forced fragmentation and restructuring of indigenous communities. The failure of evangelization efforts by the Spanish, the breakdown of their early bureaucratic apparatus, and the threat of the Neo-Inca State in exile generated a crisis among the Spanish in the 1560s. Concomitantly, indigenous Andeans experienced psychological and spiritual pressures found an outlet in a millenarian movement known as Taki …

An Investigation Into The Current Status Of The Paradigm Shift In Technical Writing Textbook Pedagogy., Terre D.M. Byrd

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to determine whether a paradigm shift is occurring or has occurred in technical writing textbooks since 1994. This study will further the work of Jerold J. Jeansonne, who chronicled the paradigm shift in technical writing textbooks from 1900 to 1994. Using product and process orientation guidelines, this thesis will examine several technical writing textbooks produced after 1994. The findings will then be calculated to determine the present status of the paradigm shift.

The thesis will also propose that the technical writing paradigm shift mirrors the paradigm shift in academic writing textbooks. To make this …

Merry-Go-Round., Lydia Allois Carter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Merry-Go-Round is a realistic adolescent novella that looks at true problems young adults can face.

The protagonist, Amy, is ten-year-old girl who meets a boy, Ben, of the same age at the hotel where her mother works. Amy and Ben become fast friends. Amy's mother is involved in an abusive relationship and Ben's mother is dying of cancer. Through the relationship formed between the children, they learn how to survive by sharing their difficulties and working them out.

The realistic, troublesome situations faced by the main characters of Merry-Go-Round will help readers graduate smoothly on the next level of reading.

"So Strangely Misrepresented”: Rethinking John Bell Hood And The Fight For Civil War Memory, Brian Craig Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the role of memory in the American Civil War. More importantly, it discusses the relationship between history and memory and the role that historians play in carving out that relationship. It looks at how historians and the collective memory shaped the reputation of John Bell Hood, a Confederate Civil War officer, who experienced both the glory of victory and the agony of failure. I have reexamined Hood through historiography, a wide base of memories found in newspapers, memoirs and the writings of the Southern Historical Society, as well as archival materials from across Tennessee, Georgia and Pennsylvania. …

"In Death Thy Life Is Found": An Examination Of The Forgotten Poetry Of Margaret Fuller., Staci E. Lewis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite the recent scholarship that has been performed on Margaret Fuller, very little has focused on the varied body of poetry she composed during her brief life. By dividing her poetic works into three categories – those written to an early “lover,” those focusing on the theme of androgyny, and those written during her “mature period” of 1844 – one is better able to follow Fuller on the emotional and intellectual journey that served as the foundation for all of her writings. In addition, the study of Fuller’s poetry provides a clearer understanding of how this erudite woman transcended gender …

"Love Is Lak De Sea": Figurative Language In Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God., Kalina Saraiva De Lima

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The principal objective of this paper is to investigate the use of Hurston’s figurative language in the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. Metaphors, symbolism, and personification have always been present in the African American language. Hurston uses the richness of figurative language to depict the African American experience in the United States during the first half of the twentieth century. Figurative language is observed in various instances in the novel, such as when the author places special importance on the porch and the “lies” told there. Other significant examples of figurative language include the kiss and the bloom. Hurston …

Completing The Circle: A Study Of The Archetypal Male And Female In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter., Kathy H. Hallenbeck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne and the archetypal images therein. The Scarlet Letter is discussed extensively with references made to The Blithedale Romance. Characters in the following short stories are referred to: “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Birthmark.” An overall analysis of feminine repression in both male and female characters is explored. Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Pearl are the subjects of lengthy discussion. Journeys, both inward and outward are explored in the characters. The context is nineteenth-century culture of which Hawthorne is a product. The characters in The Scarlet Letter search for a complete …

Congregational Singing: An Attitudinal Survey Of Two Southern Protestant Churches., Randall G. Bennett Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

When public schools began teaching music in the 19th century, the church took a secondary role in the education of the church parishioner. The purpose of this study was to examine congregational attitudes about singing before and after an experimental treatment. Two different Churches participated in "hymn of the month" programs, but different approaches were used at each church. The congregation of Erwin Presbyterian Church learned a new hymn through repetition, while the congregation of First Baptist Church learned a new hymn through congregational practice. Surveys using a Likert-type scale were administered at each church prior to and at the …

American Immigration Policies And Public Opinion On European Jews From 1933 To 1945., Wesley P. Greear

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines the role and scope of the American public’s opinion on European Jews in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Significant attention is placed on several aspects of American politics and public perceptions at this time. The ideas that developed from the Great Depression through World War II on refugees and immigrants are closely scrutinized.

The approach to this study focuses on sources from renowned Holocaust scholars including Raul Hilberg, David S. Wyman, Martin Gilbert, Henry Feingold, Hadley Cantril, Robert Divine, and Deborah E. Lipstadt to name a select few of the authors referenced. Several newspapers and journals such as …

Pseudo-Democracy In America, 1945-1960: Anticommunism Versus The Social Issues Of African Americans And Women., Fashion S. Bowers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

During the period 1945 - 1960, the United States developed an intense fervor of anticommunism and strove to prevent the spread of communism to other nations, particularly the Indochina region. As a result, the government ignored or responded inadequately to key social events at home affecting both women and African Americans. This thesis will explore the extent of the active involvement in Indochina to prevent the spread of communism and the effects of that involvement on major social issues at home concerning African Americans and women. The United States had numerous opportunities to discontinue its involvement in Indochina, but it …

Echoes Of The Lost Cause : Civil War Reverberations In Mississippi From 1865 To 2001, Sally Leigh Mcwhite

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Scholars of the Lost Cause have tended to end their examinations of the Confederate commemorative movement before the 1920s. Citing a variety of indicators that range from veterans' mortality rates to national reconciliation, these historians have assumed that the Lost Cause became increasingly irrelevant in southern society. Yet, veterans organizations and their auxiliaries put a great deal of energy into constructing an historical interpretation that would vindicate their actions to future generations. This dissertation therefore extends the examination of the Lost Cause movement throughout the twentieth century. Limiting the geographical scope of the research to a state study of Mississippi …

Electronic Books: An Overview Of The First Two Generations., Todd O. Doman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The electronic text reading device, or e-book, is an idea that has reached the implementation stage. Technology has only recently made possible the production of a device to challenge the printed book’s dominance as the media for information transmission. These microprocessor-based devices are attempts to exceed the limitations of printed texts while retaining their strengths. Two generations of these devices, and the companies that created them, have reached the marketplace.

This thesis provides a short history of electronic text readers and gives an overview of the first and second generations. The issues that will affect the adoption of the e-book …

Laurel, Mississippi: A Historical Perspective., David Stanton Key

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Laurel, Mississippi, exemplifies the new southern development that occurred in the years following Reconstruction. Coinciding with continental rail building and the depletion of northern timber resources, Laurel emerged as one of Mississippi's great industrial centers. Laurel's survival after the early twentieth century timber boom predicated itself on the diversification of its industry coupled with the continued growth of its infrastructure. Although Laurel's industrial ascension is not unique in the annals of southern history, its duality regarding northern capitalistic impulses and southern labor and material serves as a successful industrial model in the era of "cut out and get out" sawmill …

Weaving Accessibility And Art In Marilou Awiakta's Selu: Seeking The Corn-Mother's Wisdom., James David Basinger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In Selu: Seeking the Corn-MotherÆs Wisdom, Awiakta enlists the reader to participate on the path to knowing Selu, Corn-Mother to us all. In particular, the book provides a reader with a text that blends ancient Cherokee teachings of the oral tale of Selu with contemporary Western, Appalachian-American thought and experience. Awiakta adopts and adapts Selu in order to capture and express the essence of the tale within a contemporary American aesthetic.

Though Awiakta's approach is didactic, it rises above mere teaching to achieve an aesthetic characterized by accessibility, simultaneity, and liminality. She purposely combines stories, poems, teachings, histories, and cultural …

Eliza Haywood's Feigning Femmes Fatale: Desirous And Deceptive Women In "Fantomina," Love In Excess, And The History Of Miss Betsy Thoughtless., Emily Kathryn Booth

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Within the pages of Eliza Haywood's novels, masquerade is often used by female characters as a means by which to gain control or power. More specifically, Haywood's female characters often misrepresent themselves as a means by which to achieve sexual power and even to obtain sexual gratification.

Haywood also explores the theme of women's uses of deception and even disguise as methods by which to skirt the confines of a male dominated society and as modes devoted to escaping the boundaries they inflict upon themselves in trying to maintain their virtue.

Remembering The Forgotten Genocide: Armenia In The First World War., Dana Renee Smythe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Ottoman Empire was in serious decline by the late nineteenth century. Years of misrule, war, and oppression of its various nationalities had virtually driven the Turks from Europe, leaving the weakened Empire on the verge of collapse. By the 1870s the Armenians were the most troubling group, having gained international sympathy at the Congress of Berlin. As a result, violence against the Armenians had escalated dramatically by the turn of the century. They felt, however, that their fortune had changed when the liberal Young Turks seized power from the Sultan in 1908. Unfortunately, the Young Turks had a much …

God In The Darkness: Mysticism And Paradox In The Poetry Of George Herbert And Henry Vaughan., Elizabeth Anne Acker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While aspects of mysticism appear in the poetry of both George Herbert and Henry Vaughan, the general consensus among critics has acknowledged the mysticism of Vaughan while ignoring its roots in Herbert's writings. Among the leading authorities on the poetry of Herbert, there has been a general tendency to dismiss, ignore, or explain away mystical elements. A study of representative works by prominent critics to ascertain their positions on this issue reveals not only what can be known for certain about Herbert's theology, but also the interpretations that have been offered for his most famous poems. While these interpretations are …

Fight The Power: Protest, Showdown And Civil Rights Activity In Three Southern Cities, 1960-1965., Kyle Thomas Scanlan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes the significant events of the Civil Rights Movement from 1960 to 1965, examining the campaigns of Albany, Georgia in 1962, Birmingham, Alabama in 1963, and Selma, Alabama in 1965. In the wake of the freedom rides of 1960-61, Martin Luther King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference was looking for a way to dramatically reveal the racial injustice of the South. Stumbling into a campaign in Albany, SCLC found thr right method in the use of nonviolent direct action. While Albany was a failure, it was this campaign that led to the campaigns of Birmingham and Selma which led …

Discovery Through Numeric Strata: A Balance Of Form And Aesthetics., Marc Ian Sonenberg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is in support of my Master of Fine Arts exhibition in the Carroll Reece Museum at East Tennessee State University. It describes a body of work that strives for a balance of form and aesthetics. Chapter 1 charts how I refined my personal stylistic qualities. Chapter 2 gives a brief overview of the history of ceramics techique. Chapter 3 discusses the surface treatment and construction of the pieces in the show. Chapter 4 presents each piece in chronological order.

Figurative Sculpture In Paper Clay., Valarie G. Lyle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The artist discusses her Master of Fine Arts exhibition at East Tennessee State University, Carroll Reece Museum, Johnson City, Tennessee, March 9 - 17, 2001. The exhibition marked her return to organic, gestural work. Works are figurative, ceramic, sculpture, made of paper clay, ranging from 8-inch, wall mounted, bas-relief to life sized, full round figures. Most are slab constructed, unglazed or lightly glazed with soda wash.

Topics discussed: the artist's development, including the influences of Stephen De Staebler, in his treatment of the individual in mass culture, and of Mary Frank, in psychological content and in the use of negative …

Oscar Wilde: Constructing The Self, Elisabeth Erin Pankl

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines Oscar Wilde's construction of the self. Three major aspects of Wildean literary work serve as handles for this thesis examination. They are the Wildean interpretation of theoria, Wilde's literary technique and philosophical assertion of masks and poses and Wilde's favor of the social dandy.

In addition to these three aspects, this thesis utilizes four of Wilde's works as primary sources. These are The Pictureo f Dorian Gray, The Importance of Being Earnest, "The Decay of Lying," and "The Critic as Artist."

Like most current critiques of Wilde, this thesis relies on many of the reading strategies of …

Isaac Bashevis Singer: Speak English, Think Yiddish-- Adaptation Versus Assimilation., Susan L. Gardberg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Critics use the words "vanished culture" to describe Isaac Bashevis Singer's work for Polish Jewry had been destroyed. However, Singer's characters survive the travails of anti-Semitism and resettle in America. This study explores Singer's Polish Jews to determine whether they assimilate into their new culture; or maintain their strong Jewish traditions and adapt to the freedoms of America.

Singer's life is analyzed, including the people and places that have influenced his work. Two of Singer's works are examined in this thesis. Chapters Three and Four explicate an allegorical short story, "The Little Shoemakers." Singer writes a fairytale view of a …

Historical Linguistic Analysis Of Traditional English Christmas Carols., Tami Lynn Baker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Through the process of historical linguistics it is possible to determine approximate dates of authorship and meaning that establish the conventions of a particular genre. To accomplish such a study, elements of phonology, morphology, and syntax are compared and the results create a field of descriptors representative of a style of writing of a period.

By using the method on eight well-known Christmas carols, four were determined to have been written prior to the dates previously speculated, possibly originating in the Middle Ages. The remaining four were written based on the conventions set by the earlier medieval carols.

The "Jaded Traveller": John Jasper's Failed Psychic Quest In Charles Dickens's The Mystery Of Edwin Drood., Linda Poland Pridgen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a Jungian study of John Jasper, the central character in Charles Dickens's The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Jasper fails to achieve psychological wholeness because he suffers from what Carl G. Jung calls dissociation of consciousness, a malady that prevents Jasper from entering the process of individuation--a process of self-discovery. Jasper's boredom, self-alienation, hypocrisy, and secret double life impede his search for self.

Faced with projections of his anima and shadow self, Jasper has many opportunities for psychological and spiritual growth. But rather than integrate the aspects of his personality that each of the anima and shadow …

A Comparative Analysis Of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle And Emile Zola's Germinal., Mouhamedoul Amine Niang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study attempts to demonstrate that Upton Sinclair's The Jungle was modeled upon Emile Zola's Germinal. A comparative analysis of their novels is the method by which the latter statement is substantiated. A close reading of these works unveils their overlappings in terms of characterization, theme and narrative. Following the introduction, the second chapter focuses on both authors' character constructions with the purpose of tracing the modeling process. The third chapter is a discussion of their similar thematic issues. The penultimate chapter deals with the identical formats of the writers' plots. Authorial differences are also considered in this work, but …

"'Tis Hard To Dance With One Shoe": The Failure Of The Fathers In Walker's The Color Purple And Mccourt's Angela's Ashes., Gwendolyn Nicole Hale

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In his story, “The Commitments,” Roddy Doyle identifies the Irish as "the blacks of Europe" (148). This sentiment typifies the oppression of the two cultures. The overwhelmingly oppressive society of the two aforementioned groups creates an atmosphere of failure, particularly for the fathers, who, for the most part, are supposed to be the heads of their families. Through Alice Walker’s The Color Purple and Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes, the reader discovers the effects of these failures of the fathers due to tyrannical societies that impose dominance over such groups as the African-Americans and the Irish. The main characters, Celie and …

The End Of Camelot: An Examination Of The Presidency Of John F. Kennedy In 1963., Christina Paige Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis addresses events and issues that occurred in 1963, how President Kennedy responded to them, and what followed after Kennedy's assassination. This thesis was created by using books published about Kennedy, articles from magazines, documents, telegrams, speeches, and Internet sources. What has been disclosed is that many of the legends attributed to Kennedy simply are not true. In examining this thesis, the reader will understand what Kennedy's political interests were and the impact of his Presidency on future generations.

Women At The Loom: Handweaving In Washington County, Tennessee, 1840-1860., Ann Cameron Macrae

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the evidence for handweaving in antebellum Washington County, Tennessee. The author examines probate inventories, wills, store ledgers, and census and tax materials to determine the identities of the weavers, the equipment and raw materials available to them, and the kinds of textiles that women wove. The author discusses the reasons many women continued to weave cloth at home although commercially woven textiles were available in local stores.

The author concludes that many of Washington County's antebellum weavers wove as a contribution to the country goods the family bartered at the local store. Others may have been responding …

Teaching The Arts Through The Appalachian Culture: A Proposal For A High-School Class., Valerie Renee Pitts

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Because of a demonstrable need, there should be a course for the study of Appalachian art in the high school curriculum. This study is a proposal for the study of traditional Appalachian art and its importance to the promotion and preservation of the arts and crafts in the Appalachian region.

This course consists of background information on selected traditional Appalachian art, contact and interaction with local artists and craftspeople, and student hands-on experience in the art forms considered. Detailed unit and lesson plans are included in the following areas: Spinning and Weaving, Dyeing, Basketry, Quilting, Pottery, Woodcarving, Blacksmithing, Vernacular Architecture, …