Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Arts and Humanities Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Theses and Dissertations

Discipline
Institution
Keyword
Publication Year
File Type

Articles 4741 - 4770 of 6866

Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

An Evaluation Of Electronic Annotated Readers For First Graders In Chinese Dual Immersion To Improve Reading Comprehension And Character Recognition, James H. Cloe Jr. Dec 2012

An Evaluation Of Electronic Annotated Readers For First Graders In Chinese Dual Immersion To Improve Reading Comprehension And Character Recognition, James H. Cloe Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

This study is an evaluation of online annotated readers developed for first grade students enrolled in Chinese immersion. The electronic readers were created to provide additional input to immersion students, who had little time in class for Chinese character reinforcement. The students accessed online readers from their homes and took assessments before and after each reader to test for improved character comprehension. In addition, students were divided into treatment and control groups. The treatment group had annotated electronic readers with audio and games. Conversely, the control group did not have annotations but audio was included. Results demonstrate a significant difference …


The Effect Of The Semantic Depth Of Spanish Verbs On Processing Demands Of Filler-Gap Relationships In Noun Clauses, Ashlee Marie Jessen Dec 2012

The Effect Of The Semantic Depth Of Spanish Verbs On Processing Demands Of Filler-Gap Relationships In Noun Clauses, Ashlee Marie Jessen

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the relationship between syntax and semantics in an effort to provide evidence against a strict theory of the Autonomy of Syntax. The evidence was provided by an acceptability survey given to 20 native, adult Mexicans who ranked both declarative and wh-questions which manifested a filler-gap relationship where the gap was located in an embedded noun clause. The main verbs were controlled for semantic depth by being ranked within verbal categories according to external evidence of markedness or semantic depth. The primary hypothesis was that semantically deeper verbs would add to the already increased strain on working memory …


"The River Duddon" And William Wordsworth's Evolving Poetics Of Collection, Shannon Melee Stimpson Dec 2012

"The River Duddon" And William Wordsworth's Evolving Poetics Of Collection, Shannon Melee Stimpson

Theses and Dissertations

Despite its impact in generating a more positive reception toward Wordsworth's work among his contemporaries, The River Duddon volume has received comparatively little critical attention in recent scholarship. On some level, this is unsurprising given the relative unpopularity of Wordsworth's later work among modern readers, but I believe that the relative shortage of critical scholarship on The River Duddon is due, at least in part, to a symptomatic failure to read the volume in its entirety. This essay takes up the challenge of following Wordsworth's directive to read The River Duddon volume as a unified whole. While I cannot account …


Linguistics Improvements And Correlates In A Japanese Study Abroad Program, Geoffrey Scott Biesinger Dec 2012

Linguistics Improvements And Correlates In A Japanese Study Abroad Program, Geoffrey Scott Biesinger

Theses and Dissertations

Study abroad (SA) is typically thought to provide an excellent opportunity for second language acquisition, particularly through exposure to and application of the target language within the target culture. However, actual language gains vary greatly among SA participants and some may gain very little (Freed, 1995a). The purpose of the current study is to determine some specific linguistic gains made by 28 second language learners of Japanese studying for two semesters in Japan, and to determine possible correlates with these gains. Specifically, it addresses whether or not these SA students improve their grammatical proficiency, lexical proficiency, narrative ability, fluency, and …


Designing Pre-Tests For An Intermediate-Level University Spanish Course, Carl D. Gutke Dec 2012

Designing Pre-Tests For An Intermediate-Level University Spanish Course, Carl D. Gutke

Theses and Dissertations

Testing, at times, can be a complicated matter. It takes a lot of time, precision and trial and error to adequately create a valid and reliable test. When creating a test, we should be aware of the impact that it is going to have on our teaching and whether it will be positive or negative. The goal of this project was to create four good intermediate Spanish diagnostic pre-tests that could be taken at the Brigham Young University Humanities Computer Testing Laboratory. The purpose of these pre-tests was to ascertain the grammatical strengths and weaknesses of our Fall Semester 2012 …


Feminism And The New Woman In The Gilbert & Sullivan Operas, Heather Dawn Zurcher Dec 2012

Feminism And The New Woman In The Gilbert & Sullivan Operas, Heather Dawn Zurcher

Theses and Dissertations

The operas by playwright W. S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan have been considered some of the most popular and successful pieces of musical theatre in the English language. While their joint creative output neared perfection, Gilbert and Sullivan's working relationship was fraught with conflict. The two men's opposing personalities led them to favor disparate styles and work towards different goals. However, the ability to balance contrasting tones, such as sarcasm and sympathy, resulted in their overwhelming success. I analyze this "winning formula" by looking at the influence of feminism, especially the "New Woman" literary movement, on the works of …


Schumann's Op. 25: Finding The Narrative Within, Renee Danielle Gaarder Dec 2012

Schumann's Op. 25: Finding The Narrative Within, Renee Danielle Gaarder

Theses and Dissertations

Many of the song cycles written by Schumann have been studied over the years and it is well known that his most prolific time of song production was the year 1840. Myrthen, Op. 25, has been studied less than some of his other cycles because it calls into question the modern view of the song cycle and for this reason is difficult to classify. What is most difficult about the classification of Op. 25 is that there is no immediately apparent narrative. In addition, the musical relationships which exist are usually considered to be of little consequence. What scholars …


Lo Grotesco Y La Identidad Nacional En Huasipungo Y El Chulla Romero Y Flores De Jorge Icaza, Ernesto Raul Gonzalez Dec 2012

Lo Grotesco Y La Identidad Nacional En Huasipungo Y El Chulla Romero Y Flores De Jorge Icaza, Ernesto Raul Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations

Este estudio busca analizar lo grotesco y su relación con la identidad nacional en las dos novelas más importantes de Jorge Icaza: Huasipungo (1934) y El Chulla Romero y Flores (1958). Estas obras exploran los temas de la animalización y la máscara social dentro del contexto de la sociedad ecuatoriana de la primera mitad del siglo XX para denunciar el abuso de los indígenas y el trauma del mestizo por tener sangre indígena. Estos dos conceptos se conectan con la noción de la construcción de una verdadera identidad nacional a través del indigenismo y el reconocimiento de la ascendencia nativa.


Interpreting The War Anew: An Appraisal Of Richmond’S Civil War Centennial Commemoration, Brandon Butterworth Dec 2012

Interpreting The War Anew: An Appraisal Of Richmond’S Civil War Centennial Commemoration, Brandon Butterworth

Theses and Dissertations

In existence from 1959 to 1965, the Richmond Civil War Centennial Committee was formed for the purpose of planning and executing Richmond’s Civil War centennial commemoration. In this thesis, the author will examine the history of the Richmond Civil War Centennial Committee (RCWCC) and its efforts to develop a new historical narrative of Richmond and the Civil War. This paper will assess Richmond’s previous attempts to commemorate the Civil War and will argue that the RCWCC contributed to the advancement of Richmond’s Civil War narrative by de-emphasizing past Confederate celebration attempts led by heritage groups and advancing a “reconciliation” narrative. …


Centers Of Cultural Gravity: Cultural Translation In Nublares, William Foster Carr Dec 2012

Centers Of Cultural Gravity: Cultural Translation In Nublares, William Foster Carr

Theses and Dissertations

In the novel Nublares, Antonio Pérez Henares presents a caveman who typifies the modern, fragmented subject. The protagonist, Ojo Largo, a hybrid child of various cultures, crosses the boundaries between those cultures and negotiates the in-between space as a cultural translator. The concept of the fragmented, hybrid self reflects modern cognitive science. Daniel Dennett's Multiple Drafts model of consciousness presents a fragmented self characterized by "disaggregated agency," a subject consisting of the center of gravity between disparate mental processes and accumulated "narratives." Taking this model as point of departure, this thesis finds a consensus between three novels of prehistory, …


Art Criticism, Scholarly Interpretation, And Curatorial Intent: A Reassessment Of The 1998 Jackson Pollock Retrospective At The Museum Of Modern Art, Andrea Alvarez Dec 2012

Art Criticism, Scholarly Interpretation, And Curatorial Intent: A Reassessment Of The 1998 Jackson Pollock Retrospective At The Museum Of Modern Art, Andrea Alvarez

Theses and Dissertations

In 1998, the Museum of Modern Art held a retrospective exhibition of artworks by Jackson Pollock. Curators Kirk Varnedoe and Pepe Karmel worked in an art historical context that had been significantly shaped by the early critical writings by Clement Greenberg and Harold Rosenberg. The curators’ stated intention for the exhibition installation was to provide “a fresh chance for new generations of artists to come to terms with a legendary figure” and to enable “the broader public to reassess a quintessentially American artist in light of three decades of new scholarship,” without “ hewing to any particular critical dogma.” Despite …


Participatory Methods In Sociolinguistic Sign Language Survey: A Case Study In El Salvador, Julia Ciupek-Reed Dec 2012

Participatory Methods In Sociolinguistic Sign Language Survey: A Case Study In El Salvador, Julia Ciupek-Reed

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes a three-week sociolinguistic survey of El Salvador's Deaf community that was carried out in June and July 2009. The survey utilized various traditional tools that have been used in previous sign language surveys, as well as some new tools derived from participatory research methodology. Results from the various tools were analyzed to form conclusions about the language community and its goals for language development. El Salvador's Deaf community uses Salvadoran Sign Language (LESSA) most commonly, but various subgroups also use American Sign Language (ASL), and Costa Rican Sign Language (LESCO), as well as switching between language varieties …


Examining Middle School String Students' Sight Reading Processes, Natalie J. Deen Dec 2012

Examining Middle School String Students' Sight Reading Processes, Natalie J. Deen

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to document, analyze the strategies and techniques being used, and explore the feelings and perceptions often sixth-grade string students while individually sight-reading over the course of 11 weeks. The students were presented with a five lesson unit on sight-reading that focused on different musical elements and presented the students with strategies and techniques to be used as a class and during individual tests. Each student took the Watkins-Famum Performance Test, form A as a pretest and posttest to the unit. Between lessons, each student took an individual sight-reading test which reflected the musical element …


Performing Taboo: The Creation Of An Aesthetic Through The Exploration Of Censorship In Theatre And The Challenges Of Directing Killer Joe, David Todd Zimmerman Nov 2012

Performing Taboo: The Creation Of An Aesthetic Through The Exploration Of Censorship In Theatre And The Challenges Of Directing Killer Joe, David Todd Zimmerman

Theses and Dissertations

This document explores the performance of taboo on the stage. The exploration is focused around the establishment of my personal aesthetic, which was developed through my studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. Starting with my first trip to Broadway, my journey goes through the class work that I did at VCU and the two plays that I did on the Shafer Street Alliance Laboratory Theatre stage: my performance and use of latex costumes in Funnyhouse of a Negro, and my direction and the troubles with producing Killer Joe. The exploration concludes with a look at the theatre in parts of Virginia …


Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach's Ohne Liebe: A Translation And Commentary, Steven L. Peris Nov 2012

Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach's Ohne Liebe: A Translation And Commentary, Steven L. Peris

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores a short drama of Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, Without Love. It provides not only a complete English translation of the work, but also an interpretative introduction. By first examining the life of Ebner-Eschenbach, I am able to provide insight to the origins of the play. Because Ebner-Eschenbach faced so much opposition in her drama writing career this one act play becomes more relevant. It contains similar themes to her other works such as: gender roles, the role of the aristocracy, and love in marriage. Without Love examines the role of love in marriage by providing the reader …


Building The New Rome: Charles Cameron As The Architect Of Catherine The Great's New Eternal City, Inna A. Bell Nov 2012

Building The New Rome: Charles Cameron As The Architect Of Catherine The Great's New Eternal City, Inna A. Bell

Theses and Dissertations

Catherine the Great, The Empress of Russia, considered herself to be an enlightened ruler. Like many enlightened minds of the eighteenth century, she was fascinated with classical antiquity, especially with ancient Rome. In 1779, she invited a Scottish architect named Charles Cameron to complete a series of building projects for her that would create a "second Rome" in Tsarskoye Selo and in Pavlovsk, Russia. Cameron, an expert on classical antiquity because of his studies of the Roman ruins and the publication of his book, The Baths of the Romans, had a special interest in and a dedication to classical …


Uwspółcześnienie: The Contemporization Of Polish Education, Politics, And Society In The Enlightenment Period, Holly Dzwilefsky Nov 2012

Uwspółcześnienie: The Contemporization Of Polish Education, Politics, And Society In The Enlightenment Period, Holly Dzwilefsky

Theses and Dissertations

UWSPÓŁCZEŚNIENIE: THE CONTEMPORIZATION OF POLISH EDUCATION, POLITICS, AND SOCIETY IN THE ENLIGHTENMENT PERIOD examines the contemporization of educational, governmental, and societal structures that occurred in eighteenth-century Poland. Italian educational models and English governmental models influenced the development of Poland’s structures since the fourteenth century. The introduction and pervasiveness of Sarmatism in szlachta culture during the fifteenth century created the foundation for the szlachta democracy. Continued interference from neighboring rulers coupled with the erosion of educational standards inside Poland contributed to the szlachta’s susceptibility to corruption, which resulted in non-functioning government. Following the Partition of 1772, the Poles employed the assistance …


Haunting The Imagination: The Haunted House As A Figure Of Dark Space In American Culture, Amanda Bingham Solomon Nov 2012

Haunting The Imagination: The Haunted House As A Figure Of Dark Space In American Culture, Amanda Bingham Solomon

Theses and Dissertations

In contemporary America the haunted house appears regularly as a figure in literature, film, and tourism. The increasing popularity of the haunted house is in direct correlation with the disintegration of the home as a refuge from the harsh elements of the world. The mass media populates society with dark images and subjects, portraying America as a dark place to live. Americans create fictional narratives of terror and violence as a means of coping with their own modern horrors. Their horrors are psychologically displaced within these narratives. The haunted house is therefore a manifestation of contemporary anxieties surrounding the dissolution …


‘Some Can’T Be That Simple’: Flannery O’Connor’S Debt To French Symbolism, Evan Howell Nov 2012

‘Some Can’T Be That Simple’: Flannery O’Connor’S Debt To French Symbolism, Evan Howell

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I trace the influence of French Symbolist poetry on the works of Flannery O’Connor. Many of O’Connor’s influences are well-known and documented, including Catholicism, the South, modern fiction, and her battle with lupus. However, I argue that Symbolism, via its influence on Modernist literature, is another major influence. In particular, I focus on several aspects of O’Connor’s writing: the recurrence of the same symbol across multiple works, the central location of symbols in several stories, the use of private symbols of the author’s invention, and use of symbol, rather than language, to convey transcendence. Aided by the …


Spanish, Nahua, And Maya Narratives On The 1585 Relación Geográfica Map Of Santiago Atitlán, Kaitlan Smith Nov 2012

Spanish, Nahua, And Maya Narratives On The 1585 Relación Geográfica Map Of Santiago Atitlán, Kaitlan Smith

Theses and Dissertations

The 1585 Relación Geográfica Map of Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala gives scholars a rare glimpse of sixteenth- century southern Guatemala. The map displays the use of Spanish, Nahua, and Maya perspectives. The coexistence of indigenous Nahua versus Spanish or European iconographies and narratives is a theme constantly explored in the studies of the Relaciones Geográficas maps. However, the opposition of two different indigenous narratives and iconographies, as well as Spanish, is not. This project examines the convergences and conflicts among these narratives and iconographies as evidenced on the map and in the accompanying text. The individual discussion of each narrative is …


Between Floors: The Ups And Downs Of Mediated Narrative, Melinda White Nov 2012

Between Floors: The Ups And Downs Of Mediated Narrative, Melinda White

Theses and Dissertations

“Between Floors: The Ups and Downs of Mediated Narrative” and the accompanying creative remediation project, “Between Floors: Love and Other Blood Related Diseases,” meld theory and practice of print with electronic literature and installation art. I argue that as the medium changes, the narrative is transformed. The narrative can be reconstructed and pieced together as the reader or viewer becomes increasingly involved, even embodied within the work. This embodiment is what Nathaniel Stern calls “Moving and thinking and feeling” (1) and can result in a more direct emotional experience. The form, structure, and medium (sjužet) rely on authorial intention, yet …


Eastern Shore Stories: Technology, Place, And Local Culture, Patricia Bloxom Oct 2012

Eastern Shore Stories: Technology, Place, And Local Culture, Patricia Bloxom

Theses and Dissertations

The Eastern Shore of Virginia is a narrow peninsula separating the Chesapeake Bay from the Atlantic Ocean. Residents of the rural counties of Accomack and Northampton County share a strong sense of cultural identity based on geography, rooted in a distinct communal sense of place reinforced by an agricultural lifestyle. Storytelling around dinner tables and on front porches at dusk, speeches at high school graduations, family recipes talked through in a grandmother’s kitchen – it is through oral language that Eastern Shore people have primarily shared the knowledge that sustains their sense of communal identity. Oral knowledge of farming techniques …


The Unclothed Body In Francisco Goya's The Disasters Of War, Elizabeth Sanderford Oct 2012

The Unclothed Body In Francisco Goya's The Disasters Of War, Elizabeth Sanderford

Theses and Dissertations

Francisco Goya (1746-1828) created a series of prints entitled The Disasters of War (1810-1820) (Los Desastres de la Guerra) depicting the Napoleonic Wars in Spain, the famine that subsequently occurred in Madrid, and symbolic representations similar to his print series Los Caprichos (1797-1799). This thesis will consider Goya’s use of the unclothed human body in his series of prints The Disasters of War. This thesis will place these representations within the contexts of other works produced by Goya that portray the unclothed figures, as well as within the Spanish artistic tradition of Goya’s time. Through this investigation, I will situate …


A Tiffany Window In The Virginia Museum Of Fine Arts And The Patronage Of The Saunders Family Of Richmond, Joshua Kline Sep 2012

A Tiffany Window In The Virginia Museum Of Fine Arts And The Patronage Of The Saunders Family Of Richmond, Joshua Kline

Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this research is to present an important but forgotten Tiffany interior, that of All Saints Episcopal Church, and focuses on the source for the Saunders memorial window, Christ Resurrection. After portraying the Saunders Family and the context of the window and church interior as an important part of Richmond’s history, this thesis sets up a number of inquiries regarding Christ Resurrection. What are the literary sources; what are the formal sources, from the Renaissance to the late nineteenth century; and what is the meaning of the composition? This thesis utilizes an art historical method of archival, connoisseurial, …


Book Of Mormon Atonement Doctrine Examined In Context Of Atonement Theology In The Environment Of Its Publication, David Scott Wetzel Aug 2012

Book Of Mormon Atonement Doctrine Examined In Context Of Atonement Theology In The Environment Of Its Publication, David Scott Wetzel

Theses and Dissertations

Alexander Campbell, a contemporary of Joseph Smith, was the first to publish a critique of the Book of Mormon after actually having read it. Among other allegations, he arraigned that Joseph Smith wrote the book to resolve, with a voice of prophecy, theological issues contemporary to its publication. This study undertakes to examine Campbell's charge with regard to atonement doctrine. To assess the statement, this study first identifies the controversies about atonement doctrine in the years prior to the publication of the Book of Mormon, in the Northeastern region of the United States. It then compares the teachings inherent to …


I Am Error, Nathan Altice Aug 2012

I Am Error, Nathan Altice

Theses and Dissertations

I Am Error is a platform study of the Nintendo Family Computer (or Famicom), a videogame console first released in Japan in July 1983 and later exported to the rest of the world as the Nintendo Entertainment System (or NES). The book investigates the underlying computational architecture of the console and its effects on the creative works (e.g. videogames) produced for the platform. I Am Error advances the concept of platform as a shifting configuration of hardware and software that extends even beyond its ‘native’ material construction. The book provides a deep technical understanding of how the platform was programmed …


The “Man Walks Outside Time Now”: Verbal Representations Of Photographic Images In The Poems Of Larry Levis, Lauren Miner Jul 2012

The “Man Walks Outside Time Now”: Verbal Representations Of Photographic Images In The Poems Of Larry Levis, Lauren Miner

Theses and Dissertations

The poet Larry Levis often employed ekphrasis as an elegiac device—particularly with his verbal descriptions of photographic images—to explore human suffering and reconcile feelings of loss. Through the ekphrastic mode, Levis could juxtapose otherwise disparate images, manipulating their temporal and spatial relationships, to achieve what he conceived an authentic portrait of the human experience. The poet, through his verbal descriptions of photographic images, does not try to evade the pain or joy of being human; instead, he confronts his grief directly and, in so doing, transcends that suffering to better understand himself and his own human position. This thesis analyzes …


White, Black, And Blue: The Battle Over Black Police, Professionalization, And Police Brutality In Birmingham, Alabama, 1963-1979, Bryan Kessler Jul 2012

White, Black, And Blue: The Battle Over Black Police, Professionalization, And Police Brutality In Birmingham, Alabama, 1963-1979, Bryan Kessler

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the municipal politics and race relations in Birmingham, Alabama, from October 1963 to November 1979. While Birmingham is a centerpiece of the traditional Civil Rights Movement for its staging of the Bull Connor and Martin Luther King, Jr., confrontation in 1963, there has been little examination of the continuing struggles between the black and white communities in the years after the media spotlight. Of particular concern are the battles between the black community, white power structure, and the city’s police department over black policemen, professionalization and modernization, and police brutality. The changing role and tactics of black …


Aspects Of Compositional Process In Luciano Berio's Circles, Charles Hamilton Stratford Jul 2012

Aspects Of Compositional Process In Luciano Berio's Circles, Charles Hamilton Stratford

Theses and Dissertations

Luciano Berio (1925-2003) was one of the most innovative composers of vocal music in the European avant-garde. His composition for female voice, Circles (1960), marks an important stage in his collaboration with his wife, singer Cathy Berberian (1925-1983). Berio was attracted to Berberian's exceptional talents as a performer, and their work together created new avenues of expression for the solo voice, as Berio explored the relationship between music and language. Drawing upon archival documents, this thesis is a study of the materials and methods that make Circles one of Berio's pivotal works for voice. My interpretation of these sources engages …


The Anatomy Of Expression: Explorations On The Intersection Of Acting And The Alexander Technique, Kelley Schoger Jul 2012

The Anatomy Of Expression: Explorations On The Intersection Of Acting And The Alexander Technique, Kelley Schoger

Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this paper is to illuminate how the principles of the Alexander Technique and the role of bodily systems can serve as a foundational support for actor training. Inclusion of the Alexander Technique in the acting curriculum proves to be an effective tool for bridging the gap between kinesthetic learning and its application to beginning acting training. Starting with the nervous system, the operating principles of the Alexander Technique are discussed through research and personal insights. Next, in light of how self-discovery plays a key role in the first year of actor training, the idea of release in …