Arts and Humanities Commons^™

An Investigation Into Lgbtq+ Programming And Climate At A Midwest Master’S Comprehensive University, Evan M. Bonello

Honors Projects

An investigation exploring how a mid-sized Midwest master's comprehensive university promotes programming and DEI efforts toward queer students on campus. Student engagement within these areas and the needs of queer students are explored through survey responses.

An Analysis Of University Students’ Self-Labeling And Perception Of Feminism, Emilie Seibert

Honors Projects

This project investigates students’ perceptions of feminism, whether or not they identify as feminist, and how closely their ideals align with basic feminist ideals. There is currently no research that investigates self-labeling as a feminist among the current generation of college students in the United States. Despite the immense benefits to holding a feminist identification, it is estimated that only about 21% of the United States population identifies as feminist (Swirsky & Angelone, 2014, p. 230). Understanding the perspectives of current students is important as they have the potential to become activists and impact the future of the feminist movement. …

Shaping The Mind Through Music- A Family Challenge Of The 21st Century, Elisa H. Meyer

Honors Projects

This research provides reasoning for the importance of music education in America's schools. Music education is an integral ingredient in the cognitive development of the child- benefiting long term functions such as speech and language skills, memory, creativity, critical thinking, and general intelligence. Music allows a child to develop into their whole selves, encouraging the growth of their fullest potential. Various educational philosophies, such as the Rudolf Steiner philosophy and the Suzuki method describe the significance of this and outline substancial ways in which this integration is made possible. These philosophies are defined and discussed within this paper. Finally, insight …

Systematic Review Of The Association Between Cultural Competence And The Quality Of Care Provided By Health Personnel, Amanda Skipworth

Honors Projects

The purpose of this research project is to determine if a relationship exists between cultural competence and the quality of care administered by health care professionals. Challenges with providing care begin to arise when cultural barriers limit the provider’s ability to provide adequate care. In the past, many professionals have struggled with how to approach patients from diverse backgrounds and this discomfort continues to grow. With minority populations in the United States rapidly growing, it is largely beneficial for these professionals to understand and be aware of the varying cultures seeking medical care. To address the research question, a systematic …

In The Devil's Shadow: Sacred Agency, Cosmic Struggle, And The Cultural-Religious Clashes That Shaped Colonial New England, 1620-1693, Mark Laskey

Honors Projects

The diabolic portrayal of resident native populations featured prominently in the seventeenth-century colonial Separatist and Puritan worldview, with the Algonquian peoples cast as a corrupted race in the service of the Devil; a means by which God challenged religious complacency or chastised collective sin; and, in times of spiritual crisis and despair, a mortal threat to the "rule of saints" in the region. This study focuses on the real-world impact of the nonconforming Reformed Anglo-Protestant belief system and the resulting cultural-religious clashes that shaped New England's early colonial period.

Between The Axe And The Anvil: Internal Reconstructions Of Modern Subjectivity In Alfred DöBlin's Berlin, Alexanderplatz, Zachary Lopez

Honors Projects

Berlin, Alexanderplatz holds a unique place in literary history; for despite being considered one of the major Gro√üstadt‚Äîor big city‚Äînovels of the modernist period, it has largely been forgotten. Between the Axe and the Anvil: Internal (Re)constructions of Modern Subjectivity in Berlin, Alexanderplatz is an essay that grapples with the problem of subjectivity within the city‚Äîa problem that is peculiarly similar to the novel‚Äôs, as both seem to have been lost amidst the buildings and crowds of Weimar Berlin. By reading the text as a dialectic between the social pressures of modernization and the spatiality of the city, Berlin, Alexanderplatz …

Old Industries, Old Conflicts: The Significance Of American Epic Novels, Arturo Alcazar

Honors Projects

This essay focuses on three American epic novels: Moby-Dick by Herman Melville, Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, and Underworld by Don DeLillo. More specifically, the essay examines the themes of ambiguity, redemption, good and evil, isolation, and violence as they are depicted in these three novels and what they indicate about America and its people and society.

To Read Or Not To Read: Navigating Young Adult Literature In The Classroom In The Age Of Trigger Warnings And Banned Books, Ashley Sell

Honors Projects

Most public school libraries or English classrooms celebrate Banned Books Week during the school year, featuring dozens of Young Adult novels that have been challenged or banned in public schools across the country. However, books aimed towards young readers are typically not optimized for educational use in the classroom. In this project, I will explore the benefits of using Young Adult literature in the classroom, while also investigating the obstacles that one might face in order to do so, i.e. censorship, sensitive subject matter. I also want to summarize and respond to an argument for the retainment of classic literature …

Folklore Of The Shenandoah Valley, Heather Good

Honors Projects

The Shenandoah Valley of Virginia has a long and storied history, which has resulted in the development of a rich folklore unique to the area. Stories and traditions have been passed down through generations, often by family and community members but also through the few texts that have been written on the subject. As a writer and local of the area, this cultural tradition has played a significant role in helping me to discover my own voice through looking at the voices that came before me.

This project will fist focus on two significant periods in the history of the …

Blending The Gender Binary: The Machismo-Marianismo Dyad As A Coping Mechanism, Emma Garcia

Honors Projects

This paper aims to elucidate the dyadic concepts of machismo and marianismo in Latinx culture, especially Chicano culture. Though most people have an understanding of what it is for someone, especially a man, to “be macho,” the concept of machismo is elusive. Marianismo is lesser known, but to the extent that it is understood, it’s understood as reinforcing the oppressive properties traditionally associated with machismo. Following Audre Lorde’s analysis of the erotic, my analysis of machismo and marianismo will reveal that while these concepts include misogynist subcultures, they also offer empowering modes of being in a racist society that any …

"I Did Not Plant The Seeds Too Deeply": Intergenerational Trauma And Shame In Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye And Edwidge Danticat's Breath, Eyes, Memory, Grace Ann Kimmell

Honors Projects

When trauma‚Äôs genesis is in societal racism or the patriarchal power structure, it can leach its way into our intimate family relationships. Those damaged relationships can in turn create a profound loss or division within the self, as Freud explains in ‚ÄúMourning and Melancholia.‚Äù The trauma victim has lost what a parent or family should be and the security that comes with feeling accepted and loved. If trauma begins with systemic racism and sexism and gets passed down intergenerationally, what is its effect on a black female child‚Äôs identity? Is this trauma survivable? What is necessary to recover? My thesis …

An Investigation Of Form And Function In Greek Pottery, Kyra L. Garabedian

Honors Projects

This work investigates the relationship between form and function in Greek Pottery. Vessels are recreated in different ways that experiment with tipping the scales between form and function.

Mad Men, Troubled Mothers, And Scarred Children: Representations Of Traumatic Parent-Child Relationships In Mad Men, Katarina Dulude

Honors Projects

The television series Mad Men is fraught with traumatic parent-child relationships. The thesis examines three central characters from the Draper family--Don, Betty, and Sally--and their various defense mechanisms. Through the use of psychoanalytic and trauma theory, it determines why certain characters succeed in confronting and recovering from their trauma while others do not.

Hidden Voices, Alexandra Sydney Ashe

Honors Projects

A series of short stories told from the perspective of various animals, each with its own unique voice. All share the similar theme of animals pondering their place in the natural world that they inhabit alongside their human counterparts.

Fair Trade: The Successes And Failures As Seen Through The Sustainable Development Goals, P. Alison Macbeth

Honors Projects

In this paper I seek to understand fair trade as a social movement and the relationship of fair trade to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals created by the United Nations. I look at the history of the fair trade movement in the context of alternative trade organizations and the sustainability movement during the precipitous rise and stature of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the 1990s. I analyze the growth and scalability of fair trade in the U.S. since 2015 through three of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 1: Ending Poverty; SDG 5: Gender Equality; and SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and …

An Analysis Of The Relationship Between Catholic And Secular Music Throughout The Ages, Rosalie Gagnon

Honors Projects

This study analyzes the progression of sacred Catholic music and secular music over the ages, beginning with the Renaissance and ending with the current times, post Second Vatican Council. The mutual effects of these two genres of music on each other over this time period are analyzed and compared.

Microhabitats In An Urban Greenspace: Function In The Beauty, Kalie Schultz

Honors Projects

This project combines science with art, with a focus on microhabitats in a unique natural space in an urban area. It is set in the Highlands Nature Preserve and the mediums used are photography and digital illustration. The goal of the project is to bring the viewer in from a wide, landscape perspective into a more close and detailed perspective of the multiple microhabitats that exist in the nature preserve. It shows how beauty can be hiding in plain sight for anyone to see if they look close enough. It also aims to show how the beauty is not just …

Finding Mostly Air: Poems, Sidra Elvey

Honors Projects

This project is a self-produced poetry chapbook. It explores themes of connection, art, dreams, and self-reflection.

Maritime Culture: The History, The Music, And Confronting The Gender Divide / One And The Same, Edward Isaiah Hopper

Honors Projects

This Honors Project examines the presence and results of the gender divide in maritime culture through a research paper focusing on maritime history in the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, as well as a song cycle, "One and the Same" for Mezzo-Soprano and Orchestra utilizing a popular belief of the time regarding women and superstition to construct a narrative. This paper analyzes historical sources and sea shanties to observe how women have been represented in maritime history and culture

The Destructive Draw Of Historical Determinism, Jared Russell

Honors Projects

Historical determinism can be understood as the idea that future events are predestined, usually by an esoteric or economic force. This is accompanied by the belief that there is a certain group of enlightened people that know what this future outcome will be. These people are also often convinced that it is their duty to help bring about this historical synthesis. While there are different iterations of historical determinism that can be critiqued, this paper will be focusing on some of the most influential. Specifically, the connection between a historical determinism as imagined by Hegel which was then adapted into …