Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Mom's Money: A Dark Comedy, Buddy Ketelle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will recount the making of the feature film Mom’s Money which I produced, edited, wrote and directed. My influences on the story and visual style of the film will be discussed as well as my prior work and the way those combined forces drew me to make this film. Breaking this into the three stages of filmmaking- Production, Pre-Production and Post Production- I will explore the film from its conception to its completion. The collaborative nature of filmmaking and the way the particular collaborators I had on this film gave me an advantage (while still providing an occasional …

A Tale Of Two Dogs Fine Art Exhibit, Jeff Harris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this paper is a formal examination of the fine art exhibit titled A Tale of Two Dogs by Jeffrey A. Harris as a partial fulfillment of requirements for a Master of Fine Arts degree from Stephen F. Austin State University.

By examining the multiple established points of view within his artwork, the author questions these establishments and asks if this approach leads to a relevant way of seeing. Using expanded polystyrene foam as a sculpture medium, a series of artworks created during the MFA research process are conceptually analyzed to explore the value of maintaining a multiplicity …

Ripple Effects: The Transformation Of Sfasu Women's Social Clubs To National Sororities, Lea Brannon Clark

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Shortly after Stephen F. Austin Teachers College (SFA) opened in 1923, students began organizing social clubs. By the late 1920s, women formed the Amities and Pine Burrs to develop friendships and a sense of belonging. The Fideles and Sigma Gammas arrived on campus in the late 1940s as more women began attending SFA. Dr. Ralph W. Steen’s appointment as president brought significant changes to SFA and inadvertently to the social groups.

Responsible for adding more classrooms and dormitories, expanding course work and faculty, the new president also influenced the campus population by attempting to bring in students from metropolitan areas. …

Ptolemaic Elephants In Iii Maccabees And The Social Stratification Of The Kingdom Of Kush, Leslie Dean Sam Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Trade helped to catapult early societies from hunter gatherers – living in small communities of friends and family – to living in sprawling urban environments of ideas and exchange. Socialization and the exchange of ideas – and war—molded our modern times into what it is now. Ancient Nubia found itself in a conundrum that would test their resolve. Ptolemaic-ran Egypt was at their border, forcing themselves in as conquerors, unapologetic towards the millennia old culture that contributed much to their society. With a truce made between the Greeks and Meroe, trade was inevitably was enacted between the two power houses, …

A Rhetoric And Philosophy Of Interprofessional Healthcare Education: Communication Ethics In Action, Matthew Corr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Healthcare professionals belong to a moral community. Caring for patients is a community act carried out by healthcare professionals working in teams within complex political and organizational systems. This teamwork is crucial to quality patient outcomes; however, incivility threatens to derail necessary and effective collaboration towards the common organizational good. Necessarily, interprofessional healthcare education is becoming a required element for pre-health professionals. Currently, schools are using competency-based approaches to interprofessional education to teach ethics/values, roles/responsibilities. communication, and teamwork. For reasons explicated throughout this dissertation, the categorizing of these particular elements as competencies is problematic and cultivated within a positivistic and …

An Exploration Of The Context And Ecclesiastical Investigations Of The Virgin's Reported Appearance In Knock, Ireland In 1879, Erin Meikle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

On August 21, 1879, the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, St. John the Evangelist, and the Lamb of God reportedly appeared in Knock, Ireland. Ecclesiastical authorities of the Roman Catholic Church investigated this reported apparition in 1879 and again in 1936. The first chapter of this paper explores the processes by which the Church investigates alleged apparitions and considers different models for conceptualizing the Church. The second chapter unpacks the context of two nineteenth century French apparitions. The third chapter explores the Knock apparition and the immediate historical context surrounding the apparition. The analyses in the first two chapters serve …

Spiritual Struggle And Gregory Of Nyssa’S Theory Of Perpetual Ascent: An Orthodox Christian Virtue Ethic, Stephen M. Meawad

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project utilizes virtue ethics as an especially suitable lens by which to develop an Orthodox Christian ethical model generally. At the same time, virtue ethics carries with it some complexities that are in turn mitigated by the particulars of this Orthodox model—spiritual struggle and perpetual progress, or epektasis. Spiritual struggle in this project, which ultimately shifts the emphasis from virtue’s acquisition to its pursuit, is defined as the exertion of effort in all conceivable dimensions—physical, emotional, psychological, intellectual, and spiritual—with intent to attain a semblance of, knowledge of, and intimacy with Jesus Christ in community, for God …

A Praxis Of Oral Homiletics: Preaching From The Heart, Weiwen Tu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Christian preaching has been a central and significant custom to the practitioners of biblically confessional and creedal communities in worship, evangelization, and discipleship. Yet modern preachers confront two challenges presented by the New Homiletic and the media environment. Undue favor toward narrative-based form, audience-oriented eventfulness at the expense of biblical authority, and shifting media that alter the preacher’s identity and incapacitate the preacher’s orality have led to a dissonant handling of form and content and thus a profound decline in the quality of the Christian pulpit.

This project grows out of an attempt to integrate an Augustinian hermeneutic and homiletic, …

Precision Medicine And It's Ethical And Social Implications: Public Health And Gobal Persepctives, Evangel Sarwar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ever since President Obama's launch of the Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI) in 2015, precision medicine (PM) has been anticipated as the new paradigm for healthcare with the capacity to “empower patients, researchers, and providers to work together toward the development of individualized care,” through research, technologies, and policies (President Obama, 2015). Precision Medicine (PM), in the form of genomics, offers unprecedented promise of providing new tools for improving health and reducing the burden of diseases, not just for the U.S. - but also globally. According to World Health Organization, genomics research and precision medicine will play a major part in …

When Humanity Meets Technology: Contemplating Neil Postman's Critique Of Advertising, Yingwen Wang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project aims to contemplate Postman’s critique of advertising and offer insights to understand Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) in today’s mediated environment. As an essential component of IMC, the history of advertising demonstrates and documents that the medium of communication has an extensive influence on IMC practices. The concern about how communication media affect human perception, understanding, and behavior, resides within the central claim of the study of media ecology. Thus, this project investigates IMC through the lens of Postman’s media ecology perspectives, and argues that Postman’s prescient ideas provide both hope and constructive insights. Moreover, Postman’s thermostatic perspective, rooted …

Unpresentable Members: The Theology And Radical Phenomenology Of The Sexual Flesh, Justin Pearl

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Unpresentable Members begins with a wager: that a proper account of the flesh and its sexual character may not only prove philosophically fertile within its own limited domain, but may also provide insight into the theological question of the proper role and place of gender and sexual difference within communities, particularly Christian religious communities. In this regard, this dissertation has two distinct goals: one phenomenological and one theological. Phenomenologically, it offers an account of the manifestation of concrete sexual determinations not only as they objectively appear across the “body-object” (Körper, le corps) but with equal importance as …

"Within The Hollow Crown": Performing Kingship In Richard Ii And Henry Iv Part One, Angeline Morris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines the parallels and connections between Richard II and Prince Hal in Shakespeare’sRichard II and 1 Henry IV and what the results would be if the characters were cross-cast, or played by the same actor onstage, in performance. Criticism on the plays has often addressed the parallels between the two characters, but as of yet no one has examined ways to show this in performance. This paper acts as a form of critical introduction for a proposed combined performance text of both Richard II and 1 Henry IV, arguing that the textual parallels between the two …

The Ethics Of Occultic Communication: An Invocation Of Joshua Gunn And Sissela Bok, James Thomas Begley Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Occultic rhetoric, according to Joshua Gunn, is a genre of discourse concerned with the study and practice of secret communications. The strategic sharing of secret messages involves a host of methods and conventions designed for the selective disclosure of hidden knowledge, thus controlling the boundaries of (and accessibility to power between) insider and outsider groups. Occultic rhetoric has its uses in everyday encounters, but the abuse of such manipulative strategies, especially by those in the academy and other positions of power and trust, calls for an ethical response. This dissertation submits occultic rhetoric to moral investigation by incorporating the works …

Black Body Memory: A Philosophy Of The Talk, Autumn Redcross

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project offers the term Black body memory to point toward the threatened existential disposition of Black people in society today. Moreover, Black body memory points to the narrative paradigm of a shared experience. While popular conceptions theorize race as a social construction, the lived reality of Black people is frequently imbued by racialization and racism. Black body memory emerges from the intersection of the Black body articulated by Franz Fanon, Charles Johnson, and George Yancy, among others, and body memory, as described by Edward Casey and Thomas Fuchs. Black body memory is a culturally-laden and sedimented lived reality. The …

Reshaping The Theology And Praxis Of Inculturation Through Interreligious Dialogue Between The Catholic Church And African Traditional Religion In Igboland, Nigeria, Cajetan Anyanwu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Prior to the advent of Christianity in Igboland, the people practiced Igbo Traditional Religion. They believed in a Supreme Being (Chukwu/Chineke) who has other smaller deities as messengers including Ala/Ani the most powerful deity on earth. They revered their ancestors, who, they believe, still relate to and communicate with the living. Thus, the concept of God as ultimate reality is a dynamic existential aspect of Igbo world-view. Categorically speaking, it was short-sighted for the European missionaries to claim that Igbo people had no knowledge of God or lacked religion before the introduction of Christianity in Igboland in the …

"Prejudice": The Impact On Dialogic Communication Ethics, Cyril Latzoo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work seeks to elaborate upon the contributions of dialogic communication ethics to a rhetorical understanding of prejudice. The aim is to address the problematic nature of ethical rhetoric apropos of dialogic communication, arguing that there are contending views in the community of memory, and that prejudice is an integral aspect of dialogic communication ethics. Drawing upon Arnett’s concept of dialogic ethics, I argue that there is need for a “dialogic turn” towards the notion of prejudice in the postmodern era. I begin by looking at Chesebro (1969), Arnett (1987), Johannesen (2001), and Arnett, Arneson and Bell (2006) to advance …

The Postman Always Rings Twice: Neil Postman's Views On Education Are Relevant Again In The 21st Century Classroom, Jennifer Spiegel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The public education system in America has long been criticized for its inability to prepare students for success as adults. While some engage in a narrative of blame, others ask what can be done to solve this problem. This dissertation examines a narrative crisis in the 21^stcentury classroom through the lens of Neil Postman, a 20^thcentury media ecologist whose fears about television may finally be realized with the advent of the personal digital device and its impact on the educational sphere. First the past narratives that guided the American school system will be traced from colonial …

Theology Of Arcavatara And The Eucharist: A Comparative Study, James Adeoye

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The diversity in the world today is undeniable and quite imposing. The claim to uniqueness and universality of faith in each religious system cannot be sustained without factoring the implications and impacts of this claim on the well-being of humanity and reality hermeneutics. The postmodern world favors pluralism and encourages mutual respect for particular opinion, praxis, faith, theology and all forms of epistemology as they exist in the individual culture, religion and society. With this in mind, this work is a comparative analysis of the notion of avatars in Vaishnavism, a religious sect in Hinduism and the concept of the …

Fanfiction Reviews And Academic Literacy: Potential Impacts And Implications, Regina Weiler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study is meant to elucidate how fanfiction-related activities can incorporate many types of critical review, to call attention to what has been overlooked as significant forms of learning, and to understand and take advantage of the opportunities fanfiction's unconventional writing affords in lieu of more deliberate learning environments. This thesis was undertaken due to the significant gap in work done by aca-fan — a portmanteau of academic and fan— scholars who have strong links to the fanfiction community and culture. The aspects explored are the technical writing skills and techniques demonstrated in fanfiction reviews, the influence of the nontraditional …

Fatal Attraction : Intimate Partner Violence Among Black Lgbtq Relationships., Amberli A. Seay

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Social workers play a pivotal role in intervening in instances of intimate partner violence. It is imperative that social work intervention education is relevant, competent and inclusive. In this study, a content analysis is conducted on the true-crime documentary series, Fatal Attraction. Fatal Attraction targets Black audiences and sheds light on Black victim-survivors and perpetrators of intimate partner violence (IPV). The documentaries in this series act as a resource to understanding representation and treatment of Black LGBTQ. The following research questions are explored and discussed: 1. To what degree are Black LGBTQ victims and perpetrators of IPV represented in media? …

The Actor’S Rhythm, Internal Beat., Lashondra Cherell Hood

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a conversational document that will examine the manifestation of the auditory(hearing) and motor(physical motion) cortex of the cerebrum and how this connection influences character physicality in theatre. In this thesis, The Mountaintop, written by Katori Hall, is used as a gateway to conduct research on music and rhythm as it affects the body and creating physical character choices. By reflecting on personal musical exploration,that of my peers, and students, its concluded that this method can be used for all stages of character building and performance experiences. The various backgrounds of the subjects — students and peers — …

This To Which We've Come., Holly Tabor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This collection of works explores the linkages between moments, the connective thread that accumulates over time to create for each of us a unique present. The title, “This to Which We’ve Come,” attempts to convey that each moment is a point of arrival colored by the smallest of temporal fibers, our most interior histories that stretch and bend and fold back onto themselves when the present forces us into action, or inaction. Through these characters and their stories, I attempt to examine that moment of arrival. A secondary thread explored in this collection is the idea that humans are still …

Trauma Narratives In Mental Health Interpreting : A Qualitative Study., Miranda Hale

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Interpreting Studies has seen an increase in research in mental health, but many questions have yet to be explored. This study seeks to contribute to the literature by considering how interpreters render trauma narratives that clients share in counseling sessions. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with two interpreters who have experience in the mental health setting and one counselor who has worked extensively with interpreters. A thematic analysis of these interviews contributes to a better understanding of the interpreted interactions in this setting, with key points highlighting aspects of the setting itself, the work environment, and interpreters’ trauma awareness. It also …

"Gentlemen With Brains" : The Use Of Historical Figures In The Development Of The Character Of Hortensio In An Adaptation Of William Shakespeare's The Taming Of The Shrew., Terry Tocantins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 2018, I played Hortensio in a production of The Taming of the Shrew that took place among the businessmen in the America of 1963. This thesis centers on the strategies and tactics I employed in the portrayal of Hortensio, a moneyed, middle aged, single man who impersonates a music tutor to seduce the much younger Bianca. In my research I investigated the archetype of the advertising executive of the era. The world views of these men upheld the post-war conception of American exceptionalism, and in their occupations were adept at manipulation free of the fear of consequences. Hortensio is …

Liminal Aesthetics : Perspectives On Harmony And Timbre In The Music Of Olivier Messiaen, Tristan Murail, And Kaija Saariaho., Jackson Harmeyer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Harmony and timbre have traditionally been viewed as separate parameters by music scholars and treated as such by composers. Once timbre had been understood scientifically, however, as arising from a fundamental frequency and its overtones sounding at different amplitudes, it became desirable to replicate this structure in music. The composers associated with spectral music, a movement which first emerged in Paris in the 1970s, have enthusiastically explored this closer relationship between harmony and timbre, blurring the distinctions that once existed between these concepts. This thesis examines this new liminal relationship between harmony and timbre, asking how their closer unity has …

Hearing The Voices Of The Deserters: Activist Critical Making In Electronic Literature, Laura Okkema

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Critical making is an approach to scholarship which combines discursive methods with creative practices. The concept has recently gained traction in the digital humanities, where scholars are looking for ways of integrating making into their research in ways that are inclusive and empowering to marginalized populations. This dissertation explores how digital humanists can engage critical making as a form of activism in electronic literature, specifically in the interactive fiction platform Twine. The author analyzes the making process of her own activist Twine game The Deserters and embeds the project within digital humanities discourses on activism and social justice, hypertext, electronic …

Measuring Player Perceptions Of Freedom And Control In Modded And Unmodded Versions Of Bethesda's Skyrim: A Qualitative Play Study, Mark Kretzschmar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This interdisciplinary dissertation explores perceptions of control in modded and unmodded versions of Bethesda's sandbox video game Skyrim. Sandbox games are known for greater choice options that suggest greater perceptions of control for gamers. Sandbox games also generally encourage the use of user-generated creations called modifications (mods) that users can download to personalize their games. While we need philosophy to understand and define control as a concept, we also need psychology to understand how users perceive control in media studies. At present, qualitative academic research that measures gamer perceptions of control is non-existent as is research on how users articulate …

Changing The Channel: A Study Of Agenda, Immersion And Social Commentary In Art, Nicholas Kalemba

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the concepts and ideas that pervade my body of work in painting. These concepts include immersion and scale, interactions in space, harmony and disunity, flat and dimensional space and perhaps most importantly, ambiguity. I intentionally use these formal devices to create immersive environments that appear as a familiar but skewed version of reality. By forcing together disparate languages of visual representation into the theoretical space of a painting, I strive to expose some of the humor and decay of our social institutions. In using the format of collage, my paintings have the opportunity to incorporate a wide …

Expanding And Shedding The Self: Processing Selfdom Through Painting, Theresa Lucey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The absurd perpetual struggle, although entirely without hope of resolution, is the key to life's meaning, or perhaps, meaninglessness. The artist must work to live and live to work and find their place in an absurd world. Find joy in the questioning act of art making, make no attempt to escape the meaninglessness through pacifism, and face the chaos with awareness. I employ self-portraiture as a means to dig deeply into my experience and response to living. Self-portraiture morphs along with my experiences and keeps a record of my thought patterns. My body of work is the harvest of my …

The Suburban Nightmare: A Study Of Atmosphere, Mood And Emotion, Ericka Sobrack

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis body of work, I focus on the implied human presence through the lack of actual human figures. I believe there is more to say in a landscape with the absence of the figure, allowing the dialogue to be read and interpreted by a larger audience. I am particularly satisfied with White Knuckles, shown in figure 3, because I collide reason with imagination, thus contradicting the context and interpretation of the subject matter. In White Knuckles, I deal with formal elements such as composition, atmosphere, lightness and darkness as well as nuances of color. I have also considered …