Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The American Allies: The Impact Of The Oneida Involvement In The American Revolution, Ashlen M. Clark

MAD-RUSH Undergraduate Research Conference

The American Revolution extended its grasp far past the white men who started it, forcing Natives across the colonies to become involved. Soon after the beginning of the Revolution the Iroquois Six Nations of New York were drawn into the conflict and forced to choose between the Americans, the British, or attempts at neutrality. After the war the Iroquois Six Nations emerged divided, broken, and severely less powerful than when they entered the strife. This paper examines the impact of the American Revolution on this Iroquoian division, specifically focusing on the Oneida Indian Tribe and the effects of their alliance …

Politics Of Identity And Oppression In Rhys’S Voyage In The Dark, Ellen Michelle Stringer

MAD-RUSH Undergraduate Research Conference

In this essay, “Politics of Identity and Oppression in Rhys’s Voyage in the Dark” I aim to explore the ways in which identity and the idea of the constructed ‘self’ are both created and continuously transformed by one’s experiences and memories. I argue that the protagonist of Rhys’s novel’s identity is ultimately shaped by her racialized experiences of growing up in the West Indies. In my discussion I analyze the color metaphors Rhys utilizes and the impact they have upon readers’ unconscious perceptions about race, ultimately aiming to deconstruct the commonly assumed/utilized dichotomy between white/black. I use these notions of …

The Islamic State Of Iraq And The Levant (Isil): Combatting The Challenge Of Post-Modern Islamic Terrorism, Colin M. Bowie

MAD-RUSH Undergraduate Research Conference

Author: Colin Bowie

Academic Major(s): International Affairs and Justice Studies

Institution: James Madison University

Presentation Title: The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL): Combatting the Challenge of Postmodern Islamic Terrorism

Abstract: This 38-page white paper examines the causes behind the terrorist group ISIL and ultimately recommends a comprehensive policy to destroy the group and eliminate chances of its revival. The author reviews the history of Al Qaeda in Iraq and the unraveling of Syria during its civil conflict. ISIL’s rise, tactics and its manifestation as a group that actively holds territory is discussed. A literature review then analyzes …

Reaching Reality: Realistic Portrayals Of Racism, Paige Evans

MAD-RUSH Undergraduate Research Conference

This paper argues that genre is essential to the accurate depiction of racism. By focusing on three landmark texts—Richard Wright’s Native Son, Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, and Percival Everett’s Erasure—an overview of the most powerful genres in this discussion is given. The first, Realism, is defined by its determination to show physical reality. The next, Surrealism, is associated with cognitive reality. Poststructuralism, the last genre included, is described as using the cognitive effects of Surrealism to actively commentate and critique the physical realities of Realism. It is this interaction that marks Poststructuralism as the genre best suited …

Understanding The Motivations Of Freedom Summer Freedom School Teachers, Courtney Selle

Undergraduate Research Conference

Significant movements require serious motivations from those involved. During the Civil Rights Movement, those involved in Freedom Summer of 1964 risked their lives and comfort to advance the Movement. Freedom Summer Freedom School teachers had unique motivations; some motivations were shared amongst the teachers, while others were individual. Although it is difficult to fully understand the motivations of Freedom School teachers, this paper identifies three overarching motivations that were shared amongst the teachers: an understanding that African Americans in the South were denied equality in education, the belief that the curriculum of Freedom Schools would address this educational inequality, and …

14th Annual Undergraduate Student Symposium, Farquhar Honors College

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The Undergraduate Student Symposium, sponsored by the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences, presents student projects through presentations, papers, and poster displays. The event serves as a “showcase” demonstrating the outstanding scholarship of undergraduate students at NSU. The symposium is open to undergraduate students from all disciplines. Projects cover areas of student scholarship ranging from the experimental and the applied to the computational, theoretical, artistic, and literary. They are taken from class assignments and independent projects. The projects do not have to be complete; presentations can represent any stage in the concept’s evolution, from proposal and literature review to fully …

Labor Of Love: Childbirth And Midwives In Ancient Rome, Laura Lines

Undergraduate Research Conference

In modern American society, midwives are relatively uncommon since most mothers choose the medical model of childbirth which places importance on physicians and medicine to assist childbirth. Recent medical advances contributed to the medicalization of childbirth, but how were children born in historical eras without medical technology? A focus on Ancient Rome provides one of the earliest example of medicine in childbirth. Ancient texts written during the Roman Empire demonstrate an interest in women's reproductive health as seen through Soranus' Gynecology and Pliny the Elder's Historia Naturalis. These two scientific texts offer different accounts of childbirth which guides my research. …

“Against The Ebony Of Her Skin”: The Impact Of Harlem Renaissance Blues Culture And Literature On The Development Of Womanism, Maia Y. Rodriguez

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

This paper will investigate the ways in which the music and writers spurred by the explosion of African American culture that was the Harlem Renaissance were responsible for propagating the rhetoric and fresh representations of African American womanhood that would later be incorporated into the theoretical framework of black feminism championed by critics like bell hooks and brought into fruition as the recognizable school of womanism by Alice Walker. I will argue, using the literature of “proto-feminist” Harlem Renaissance writers Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston as well as the literature of womanist writers like Walker, that without the Harlem …

Beyond Pow! Wam! Stan Lee's Hand In Revolutionizing Comic Books, Kathrine Kuhlmann

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

After World War II, comic books spiraled downward in need of a true hero. Their low literary value left them with a very limited audience because adults found them too simplistic. The hero that finally brought comics out of their slump was seventeen-year-old Stanley Martin Lieber, president of Marvel and creator of famous Marvel characters. Lee, inspired in part by his wife and his desire to be a novelist, created a new form of influential literature that dared to branch out from the elementary writing that was previously used for comics, bringing comics back into a positive light. In this …

Drowning In Sacrifice: Maggie Tulliver’S Role In George Eliot’S The Mill On The Floss, Kami E. Bates

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Upon examining the personal rejection and eventual demise of Maggie Tulliver, the protagonist of The Mill on the Floss, it becomes evident that her death is a sacrifice through which she demonstrates the morality of George Eliot’s religion of humanity. Maggie is a headstrong, intelligent, and memorable character who does not fit into her community and ultimately drowns in a flood while attempting to save her loved ones. The story begs the question: why must such an endearing main character perish? One possibility is that her character flaws make her downfall inevitable. The high-class and hypocritical members of the …

Imagination And Reality: Landscape And The Folk Culture Of Joseon Dynasty Korea, Matthew Finley

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

The Five Peaks Screen of Korea’s Joseon dynasty (1392-1910) is one of the most iconic works of its time. Nevertheless, the remarkable visual impact and cultural significance of the Five Peaks Screen evades systematic scholarly study, partly because of its generic classification as folk art. In this paper, I will resituate the Five Peaks Screen in the artistic tradition of East Asian landscape painting. When considered in the context of literati painting traditions and relevant popular landscapes, it becomes clear that the design of the Five Peaks Screen coheres to traditional aesthetics to emphasize the ability of artwork to inform …

An American’S Paris: Tourism And The American Consumer, 1947-1961, Margaret Nervig

Annual Graduate Student Symposium

In 1947, a group of twenty-two farmers from the state of Iowa traveled to Europe for a month-long trip around the continent’s top destinations. Their primary mission, as outlined in Life Magazine, was to investigate European farming practices, particularly agricultural methods and food needs in the postwar period.The article included photos of the Iowans visiting French farms and speaking with farmers but also included a full-page photo of the Iowans at a Parisian nightclub, complete with scantily clad women. Despite their agriculturally-based intentions, these Midwestern farmers could not resist a taste of Parisian culture.

This type of imagery is only …

Rock Against Reagan: Punk Rock, Politics, And The 1984 Presidential Election, Jonathan Kyle Williams

Annual Graduate Student Symposium

Punk Rock was more than just a style of music, but instead a cultural and political movement. During the 1984 Presidential Election punks from across the U.S. gathered at "Rock Against Reagan" concerts to demonstrate their opposition to not just the president but also the ideology of the New Right.

L’Appropriation Du Mythe Dans La Construction Post Coloniale A Travers L’Heritage Du Griot De Dani Kouyate, Amina Saidou

South East Coastal Conference on Languages & Literatures (SECCLL)

Autour des années 1980, la littérature et le cinéma francophones de l’Afrique subsaharienne sont voués à une fonction esthétique et thématique qui les induit à recourir au patrimoine des valeurs traditionnelles afin de trouver les ressources et la vision propres à résoudre certaines préoccupations du moment. Dans bien des cas, cela implique le recours au mythe, à la légende ou encore au merveilleux, en vue d’exprimer les aspirations les plus profondes voire le mode d’être d’un peuple que les vicissitudes de l’histoire ont placé face un certain nombre de tourments. C’est dans une telle perspective que s’inscrit clairement le film …

La Parole Traditionnelle Dans Le Pagne Noir De Bernard Dadié Ou Le Passage De L’Oralité À La Scripturalité Du Conte, Koffi P. Amanoua

South East Coastal Conference on Languages & Literatures (SECCLL)

Le conte fait partie des éléments caractéristiques de toute société fondée sur le discours oral. Il a été, par le passé un outil de préservation des us et coutumes en Afrique et ailleurs et un canal puissant pour communiquer des valeurs et enseigner des vérités. Avec les légendes, les mythes, les chansons, les proverbes, les devinettes et les comptines, le conte peut être assimilé à la parole traditionnelle, celle des anciens. Cela transparait dans le recueil de contes Le pagne noir dans lequel Bernard Dadié, rapporte à l’écrit la parole traditionnelle de façon à respecter l’esprit du conte. De ce …

Force-Bonte : Un Oubli Volontaire Non Justifie, Myrlene Bruno

South East Coastal Conference on Languages & Literatures (SECCLL)

Batouala de René Maran et Force-Bonté de Bakary Diallo sont deux romans écrits par des auteurs noirs pendant les années ’20, la décennie précédant la naissance de la Négritude. Parus à une époque où les auteurs francophones hors de l’Europe étaient extrêmement rares, ces deux textes précurseurs auraient dû marquer leur période. Ce fut le cas pour Batouala qui gagna le prix Goncourt en 1921, l’année même de sa parution. Il ne faut pas non plus oublier qu’il a été embrassé par les champions de la Négritude, un mouvement qui se donnait pour but de rehausser les cultures et les …

La Metaphore Du Devoilement Dans Les Enfants Du Nouveau Monde D’Assia Djebar, Amina Saidou

South East Coastal Conference on Languages & Literatures (SECCLL)

La société algérienne pendant et après la guerre de révolution a subi des changements significatifs et de divers ordres. Les Enfants du nouveau monde d’Assia Djebar en est une très forte illustration. La tradition socioculturelle algérienne recommande à la femme algérienne le port du voile. En faisant ressortir la thématique du voile dans la tradition maghrébine, Djebar montre à travers son roman la façon dont la situation s’applique à la femme algérienne. Aussi, une métaphore du voile et du dévoilement ressort de sa description du rapport de pouvoirs entre la femme et l’homme; entre la femme et le pouvoir sociopolitique …

Jane Austen's Heroines--And Some Others, Neda H. Jeny

South East Coastal Conference on Languages & Literatures (SECCLL)

Jane Austen’s Heroines--and Some Others

Jane Austen is the earliest English novelist whose novels are still widely read today; in fact, they are becoming more popular all the time.

Of course, there are good reasons for this popularity. Apart from Austen’s creation of unforgettable characters, and her exquisite irony and sense of humor, there is one other thing I’d like to discuss today: her heroines could be called, in a sense, brilliant (and often unorthodox) adaptations of universally recognized types. For example, Elizabeth Bennet is so remarkable a character because she is, at the same time, a sort of Cinderella …

Crossing Borders: From Indifference To Empathy, Stimulating A Humanist Perspective On The Issue Of Illegal Immigration Through Film, Pedro J. Lopes

South East Coastal Conference on Languages & Literatures (SECCLL)

Smuggled is the latest of a vast repertoire of films focusing on the issue of the illegal border crossing between Mexico and the United States.

Directed by Ramon Hamilton and released in 2012, Smuggled tells the story of Miguel, a 9-year-old boy, and his mother as they attempt to illegally cross the border into the United States hidden in a compartment underneath a tour bus.

That same year, the well-known Mexican actor Gael García Bernal produces a documentary titled Who is Dayani Cristal?, in which he himself retraces the steps and circumstances that led to the disappearing of this …

X To Expression, Louis Philip Delaura

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Art allows for the exploration of human life in a visual form. Over the summer I explored, through art, ideas regarding opposites and how they are more alike than we assume them to be. The purpose of this project was to reveal to the viewer that what we may think of as complete opposites actually achieve the same thing. The secondary purpose of this project was to explore these ideas in a non-representational form. I wanted to take this idea and present it through abstract art. I would observe two things that people seemed to think were opposites. I would …

Wayward Sons: Modern Mythology In Supernatural, Alison Siggard

BYU English Symposium

Throughout human history, there have been myths that reflect societal ideals. This trend continues in the modern age in a new medium, that of television and movies. Though the way the stories are told may be different, the archetypes and motifs can still be seen in these new myths. In this paper, I analyze the motifs and archetypes used in the television show Supernatural to explore how ancient mythological aspects, including those of the hero's journey, monsters, and death and resurrection, are used and changed for a modern audience. Though classic archetypes are present, this paper also argues that they …

There's A Moral Here: Emerging Ethics In The Things They Carried, Jordan Wright

BYU English Symposium

In this paper, I argue against the mentality that all Vietnam War veterans were irreparably damaged by their time in service. My primary text, The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, is very critical of the war and seems to agree with this mentality. However, I am intrigued by the underlying theme of race in the novel. Kiowa, a Native American character, suffers discrimination from his fellow soldiers. However, with further reading it becomes clear that Kiowa is loved and respected by the men, and that their experiences in the field have helped them transcend racial barriers. By researching everything …

Eve Transcending Demeaned: The Construct Of Female Gender In Paradise Lost, Jillie L. Orth

BYU English Symposium

A contradiction exists in John Milton’s Paradise Lost of Eve being simultaneously demeaned and esteemed. My paper focuses on these contradictions and explores the way in which Eve transcends the demeaned by analyzing the role of the female gender throughout the poem, epitomized by both Eve and female-gendered nonhuman entities: the Earth, the Garden of Eden, Reason, and Sin. This paper also delves into scenes of the poem that may at first seem oppressive for Eve, but that are actually complementary to the role of Eve and the female gender. This analysis serves to then uphold Eve as a representation …

The Modern Walden, Jeffrey G. Wray

BYU English Symposium

“Men have become tools of their tools.” Henry David Thoreau had no idea how much his declaration of the mid 19^th century would become a prophecy of the 21^st. As I entered my newly rented apartment to find a completely Wi-Fi free zone this past semester, I realized just how proud Thoreau would be. This would be my “modern-day Walden.” More out of irony than academic intrigue, I was motivated to read Thoreau’s Walden as I lived my very own. But as I read on, I realized I was part of the transcendentalist movement, just two centuries …

Complacency And Convergence: “Everything That Rises Must Converge", Alex Malouf

BYU English Symposium

Critics, such as Patricia Maida, have described Flannery O’Connor’s “Everything That Rises Must Converge,” as a depiction of mankind’s defects shown through Julian’s fallacies. However, this explanation is far too simplistic. Although her presumption of Julian’s imperfection is most certainly correct, Maida has neglected to ask an important question: what is the barrier that prevents Julian from facing his inadequacies and advancing beyond such a flawed state? “Everything That Rises Must Converge” does far more than merely comment on human imperfection in a fictional setting. Rather, it details the hindering effect of self-image as a roadblock to potential change as …

A Revolutionary Act: Investigating The Draw Of Dystopia In Young Adult Literature, Rachel L. Pullan

BYU English Symposium

The Dystopian genre of the mid-18^th century, with underpinnings of Communism, Nazism, and totalitarianism, was one thing. The Hunger Games is quite another. Or is it? The recent upsurge in dystopia in the younger demographic is undeniable—but why is it so popular with teenagers? George Orwell wrote that “telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” Dystopia's unique brand of “telling the truth”—with its basis in real sociopolitical issues and its development of believable young adult protagonists—is in fact what makes this genre so appealing to a younger readership. Young adult dystopia generally and The Hunger Games specifically defy assumptions …

Calamus: Homoeroticism Or Brotherly Love?, Scott Hill

BYU English Symposium

Walt Whitman was gay. That was one of the first things I heard when I picked up Leaves of Grass and began my study of Whitman. While it wasn’t readily apparent in all of his works, there were some large contenders to back up the assertion, namely his Calamus poems. After I read Calamus I finally understood all of the talk about Whitman’s sexuality because some definitely seemed homoerotic. However, upon further study, I began to change my mind. The more I read over Calamus the less I saw these poems as some big “coming out” for Whitman, and the …

The Treachery Of The Persistence Of Memory: An Analysis Of The Manipulative Narrator Of Edgar Allan Poe's "Ligeia", Chelsea Lee

BYU English Symposium

By taking a narrator-centric approach to Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “Ligeia,” I analyze the story through the motif of memory and highlight the ways the narrator manipulates his memories to serve his dark desires. Concluding that the resuscitated Ligeia at the end of the narrative is merely a projection, and the Ligeia we are presented with throughout the narrative does not exist outside of the narrator’s memory. I argue that the narrator uses his manipulations of memory to set himself up as the god of his narrative, which reconciles the events of the story with the Glanvill epigraph that …

Persuasion And Sexuality, Emily Sullivan

BYU English Symposium

The sexual transformation of the protagonist, Anne Elliot, in Austen's Persuasion shows a self-confidence and independence uncommon during the Regency era. This article studies the sources and factors of this change and why the change is so revolutionary.

Subversion And Containment In Adrienne Rich’S “Aunt Jennifer’S Tigers”, Samuel G. Turner

BYU English Symposium

This paper explores Stephen Greenblatt's theory of subversion and containment in the poem "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" by Adrienne Rich. Critics such as Claire Keyes and Cheri Langdell have identified patterns of subversion in Rich's early poetry, but have largely ignored patterns of containment by masculinst powers. I explore subversion and containment in the metrical structure and themes of the poem.