Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Manifesting Magic: Occultism And Feminism In The Art Of Leonora Carrington And Remedios Varo, Margaret Dirschl

MA Theses

The artworks of Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo are replete with
/="/">symbolism and evocations of the occult, formulating bodies of work that are charged with magic and mysticism. When studied within the context of their male contemporaries of the Surrealist group, it becomes apparent that this use of the occult operates as a compelling and historically based feminist strategy. Immediately stemming from the occult revival of the previous century and the issues for females presented by Surrealism, the foundations of this idea originate much earlier in the pagan traditions of antiquity and the witch hunts of the 15th through …

Collecting An Empire: Stolen Heritage Of Indigenous Australians, Kyla Moore

MA Theses

Exploring the importance of the protection and preservation of Australian Aboriginal
cultural heritage, this thesis seeks to examine a need for change in the way
governments approach cultural heritage repatriation from a legal and ethical
perspective. By analyzing binding and non-binding laws of the United Kingdom and
Australia, this paper suggests the need for the improvement of legal frameworks and legislation currently in place regarding cultural heritage repatriation. It also identifies challenges Indigenous communities face in the quest to reclaim control over their cultural heritage, history, and identity. Examining contrasting case studies of repatriation, the impact legislation has on the …

The Study Of Reciprocal Impact Between Dehua And European Porcelain: An Analysis Of The Influence On Porcelain Making Skills, Shapes, And Decoration Styles, Xuening Hu

MA Theses

The present study investigates the reciprocal impact between the Dehua porcelain and European porcelain, and possible aesthetics in monochrome by exploring the history and significance of Dehua porcelain in relation to its connection with European porcelain. The article discusses the origins and evolution of Dehua porcelain, including its characteristics, kilns, and exportation to other parts of the world, particularly Europe. It also analyzes the influence of Dehua porcelain on the creation and development of European porcelain, from the Rouen, to Meissen, S.Cloud, and Chelsea company and Sèvres company porcelain. The article also
examines the impact of European merchants on the …

Linguistically Diverse Writers And The Shaping Of A Scholarly Ethos: Rhetorical Listening As A Strategy In Composition Pedagogy, Ashlynn T. Rader

West Chester University Master’s Theses

This thesis project advocates for a more inclusive approach to writing instruction, challenging traditional pedagogical practices that have historically excluded marginalized groups from fully participating in academic discourse. This project highlights the ways that Aristotelian interpretations of ethos continue to inform and shape contemporary writing pedagogy, despite their potential outdatedness in the context of the 21st-century composition classroom. By examining the Conference of College Composition and Communication's policy resolution entitled Students' Right to Their Own Language, this project recognizes the presence of linguistically diverse writers and their historical, ongoing struggle for academic legitimacy. Furthermore, this project proposes rhetorical listening …

Tales By Hearthlight, Ronald Pizzini

West Chester University Master’s Theses

The following pages are a collection of short stories that fit together to tell the story of a world in peril and a manic wizard doing his best. My ultimate goal is to publish my first novel, and while these stories should work independently of each other, they will also serve as the foundation for a much longer work.

N.C. Wyeth, Howard Pyle, And The American Imagination: Medieval Myth In 19th- And 20th- Century Children’S Literature, Alyssa Kowalick

West Chester University Master’s Theses

This thesis attempts to elucidate how the illustrated images and text of the medieval myths of King Arthur and Robin Hood were translated from an English national epic to an American classic and used, I argue, to construct a new American identity. My analysis looks at both the written word and illustrated images in Howard Pyle’s The Story of King Arthur and His Knights and The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, as well as The Boy’s King Arthur written by Sidney Lanier and illustrated by N.C. Wyeth, and Robin Hood written by Paul Creswick and illustrated by N.C. Wyeth. …

Arendt And Christianity: On Love And The World, Logan Andrew Daly

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Hannah Arendt criticized the Christian faith for what she saw as an inherent wordlessness or ascetic attitude. She believed this focus on the afterlife was an afront to her political philosophy and kept people from participating in the public sphere. This thesis is a selective exploration of Arendt’s criticisms against the Christian faith and aims to show that there is a way of reconciling the respective belief systems, allowing an Arendtian to benefit from Christian ideas and a Christian to improve themselves with the assistance of Arendtian concepts. The project is split into two chapters. Each chapter focuses on a …

Plurality And Epistemic Injustice: A Neo-Arendtian Reading Of Miranda Fricker's Epistemic Injustice, David Casciola

West Chester University Master’s Theses

In this thesis I bring the philosophies of Hannah Arendt and Miranda Fricker into conversation. Specifically, I argue that through Fricker’s concept of epistemic injustice (EI) we are able to see more clearly the importance of testimony—lexis as an aspect of Action for Arendt—in Arendt’s socio-political framework. Arendt divides the world into the Private, Social, and Public as separate realms of human activity (Labor, Work, and Action respectively); it is in the Public where we are able to appear and express our plurality. According to Arendt this is the only space where equality must be ensured. However, in using …

A Line In The Sand: The Acceptance Of Changes To Folk Traditions Observed In The Activities Of Folksong Collector, Creative Participant, Performer, And Festival Organizer Bascom Lamar Lunsford (1882-1973), Zachary R. Ray

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Bascom Lamar Lunsford (1882-1973) was a folksong collector, performer, recording artist, festival organizer. Lunsford was at once a mountaineer (a member of the Appalachian culture he collected from) and a college educated outsider. This duality complicates analysis of his views and activities, which exist along a continuum from efforts at near-exactness (preserving folksong repertory and performance practices as exactly as possible) to creative participation (actively making changes to folksong style or repertoire). Lunsford’s views often contradicted other folksong collectors, American and European, during the early 20th century. This includes his apparent assertion that folksong is a living tradition – it …

The King And The Chariot, Krista Antenucci

West Chester University Master’s Theses

The King and The Chariot is at its heart, a compilation of all that inspires me in music. From hymn tunes, declamatory fanfares, gentle chorales, and somber laments. For this reason, I chose to write this piece for wind ensemble, since much of the music I’m inspired by is written for that idiom. Most of the piece is based around the hymn, A Mighty Fortress is our God. The hymn itself is primarily presented in a minor mode and in fragments, somewhat reflecting my own personal struggles with Christian spirituality and faith. While most arrangements of A Mighty Fortress are …

Capturing And Scaffolding The Complexities Of Self-Regulation During Game-Based Learning, Daryn Dever

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Game-based learning environments (GBLEs) can offer students with engaging interactive instructional materials while also providing a research platform to investigate the dynamics and intricacies of effective self-regulated learning (SRL). Past research has indicated learners are often unable to monitor and regulate their cognitive and metacognitive processes within GBLEs accurately and effectively on their own due mostly to the open-ended nature of these environments. The future design and development of GBLEs and embedded scaffolds, therefore, require a better understanding of the discrepancies between the affordances of GBLEs and the required use of SRL. Specifically, how to incorporate interdisciplinary theories and concepts …

Cultural Movement(S) And Counternarratives: The Rhetorics Of Native Womxn Runners, Kim Martinez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This analysis demonstrates the complex ways that Native womxn runners mobilize the rhetoric they create around and through their running activity to challenge settler colonial, heteropatriarchal ideologies in favor of Indigenous lifeways; build upon cultural practices that include running and a wider spectrum of gender roles to enact more inclusive, modern Native identities; and lead intersectional advocacy efforts that center Native communities. Utilizing a Cultural Rhetorics, Indigenous Feminist, and Decolonial framework that recognizes Native womxn as experts in their own lived experiences, I have gathered Native womxn runners' counternarratives from virtual spaces/social media to learn from their cultural, rhetorical (oral, …

The Assemblage Of The Rings: Reading Lord Of The Rings Through The Philosophy Of Gilles Deleuze And Félix Guattari, Kieran Leeds

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings is a monument to literary achievement; a world built so completely that other literature, both canonical and not, attempts in vain to match its grandeur. Likewise, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's body of philosophy is conspicuous not only for its thematic variation across books but also the profundity of its concepts. Given this, it is shocking then that the critical apparatuses of Deleuze and Guattari have not been used to explore Tolkien's novels, given the innate symmetry between the two bodies of work. While ample research has been carried out regarding each separately, there …

Miss-Adventures: Fantasy And Friendship In The Context Of Animation, Nathaniel Shrage

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Friendship is not always magical, as the protagonists learn in "The Miss-Adventures of Molly & Sage." In this buddy-comedy set in a magical fantasy world, the titular characters are two teenage girls who go on epic quests and cause mischief. Many aspects of the story went through changes during the production of this hand-drawn animated short film. However, the main characters and their chaotic friendship remained consistent throughout the animation process. While developing this film, I noticed that my peers responded positively when I referenced my Ashkenazi Jewish heritage in various story elements. The film's artistic style was heavily inspired …

An Investigation On The Procedural Rhetoric Of Curated Difficulty, Ismael Benjelloun

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The discussion of difficulty exists as a prominent topic within the realm of play. In terms of accessibility, the difficulty associated with any form of play becomes rather crucial. In video games, difficulty can both enhance the immersion and interactions between a player and the game; however, difficulty can also act as a barrier to entrance and "gatekeep" experiences from individuals with disabilities. Developers utilize difficulty as a tool to deliver different forms of narratives and rhetoric to their audience. The field of Ludic Rhetoric observes and studies how rhetoric can be implemented and facilitated within contexts of play and …

Inkling: An Exploration Of Visual Effects As A Character, Joshua Cooper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Inkling is an animated short film about a creature made of ink falling into a cycle of anxiety. This film explores the use of visual effects in character design. Inspiration for this film was drawn from Absurdist essays and stories and used abstract imagery and cinematic devices to manipulate the audience into feeling the character's anxiety. This thesis briefly examines the foundation of methods pioneered by visual effect artists. To produce this short film, critical decisions in software and animation were made to streamline the process to allow more time to focus on creating a method for the visual effect …

With Silk, Sage, And Bones: Confronting Death And Dying Through Nature And Ritualistic Healing, Brittney Fucheck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This thesis examines my fears of death and dying. Through my studio art practice, which includes observational representation, ceremonial and ritualistic performance, and installation, I seek to confront my own difficulty in accepting death's emotional weight. My motivation stems from my attachment to my mother's mortality and her relationship with dying animals. In researching cultural customs relating to death, I was inspired to explore non-archival materials and ritualistic processes reflecting my understanding of our bodies' temporal nature. This includes swaddling, etching, using materials such as branches, animal bones, copper, shells, and pine needles, and encasing materials in wax. My points …

"Does This Make Sense?": The Effect Of Congruent Guise In Regional Accent On Grammatical Acceptability Judgments, Nour Kayali

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

This study seeks to unite sociophonetic speech perception and syntax research by presenting participants with congruent or incongruent social expectations during a structural grammaticality judgement task. Participants completed a between-subjects matched guise survey with place-based grammatical structures spoken in either a congruent place-based, local accent or a nonlocal accent. Place-based structures are consistently rated more acceptable in the local accent than the nonlocal. These results suggest that judgment of grammaticality results from an interplay of sociocultural expectations with accent and sentence structure. Judgement of structural grammaticality is not independent of social expectation.

Diversity, Equity, & Exclusion: Examining Jewish Identity & Antisemitism As Missing Pieces Of Dei And Ethnic Studies Education, Katie Meitchik

Pitzer Senior Theses

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is a theory and practice that focuses on systemic structures, inequities, and social change by examining concepts such as race, gender, class, sexuality, ethnicity, ability, and religion. Incorporating DEI initiatives into learning spaces can lead to a deeper sense of self, stronger coalition building, increased civic engagement, and a sense of healing, resistance, and belonging. Although a nationwide criteria for using DEI practices in education has not yet been implemented as a key component to public school teaching, there are programs emerging with the intent to utilize the theory. This has led to a movement …

Cultivating Carrots, Community, And Health-Conscious Children: Investigating The Effects Of Community Garden Implementation On Nutrition Attitudes Of Elementary Students In The Los Angeles Unified School District, Hannah Michele Tiedemann

Scripps Senior Theses

Growing up in an urban food desert can significantly affect children's development, health, and well-being (Jencks et al., 1990; Leventhal et al., 2000). Compared to their more affluent peers, youth living in low-socioeconomic urban neighborhoods are at greater risk of experiencing poor-quality diets, food insecurity, unhealthy body weights, and mental health problems (Duncan et al., 1997; Sampson et al., 1997). Moreover, children living in food-insecure households are more likely to consume calorically dense diets high in trans fat and added sugar, putting them at risk for poor health, childhood obesity, and chronic, diet-related diseases as adults (Nielsen et al., 2002). …

My Physical-Digital Self: Exploring The Detrimental Effects Of The Metaverse On Relationship & Identity Development, Sophia De Castro

CMC Senior Theses

The metaverse, which is the next iteration of the internet--an immersive, virtual world--poses a threat to the essential human need for healthy relationship and identity development. Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, the effects of isolation and virtual socialization led many to prefer physical experiences, despite society’s overall dependency on and connectedness to the internet and technological devices. Framed by Maslow’s hierarchy of human psychological needs, Turkle’s analysis of the human relationship to earlier forms of virtual reality, and Foucault’s principles of caring for and knowing the self, this paper argues that the metaverse will be detrimental towards developing participant’s …

Indigenous Storytelling As Decolonial Praxis, Ceremony And At Colby, Georgia Goodman

Honors Theses

This thesis seeks to amplify Indigenous lifeways, diplomacies, sciences, diplomatic relations, and the power of storytelling. This is not a piece analyzing Indigenous culture. Rather, this thesis returns the gaze to the settler colonial state, specifically its storytelling ideologies, to show that systemic practices of inequity in storytelling can be disrupted and decolonized through a recentering of Indigenous ideologies. For example, reciprocity with lands and animals, reflection on positionality and decentering colonial understandings of time and place.

Petroleum And The Politics Of Decolonization In Indonesia: A Study Of Economic Development And Nationalism, Jan P. Wenger

Honors Theses

This study examines Indonesia’s reliance and independence on foreign direct investment (FDI) and multinational corporations (MNCs) in the oil and gas sector. Analyzing historical, economic, and political primary and secondary sources and conducting qualitative interviews, the research explores the friction between economic development aspirations and nationalist sentiments. The study reveals that the current ambiguity surrounding FDI and MNC policies in Indonesia’s oil and gas sector can be traced back to the country’s economic decolonization and demonstrates that Indonesia’s economic policies towards these factors shifted in the aftermath of political change. Since gaining independence, Indonesia has strived to balance the pursuit …

Pluralistic Ethical Personalism, Qifan Hu

Honors Theses

In the thesis, I sketch out a general outline for a pluralistic, personalist theory of ethics. This theory intends to capture the phenomenon that our life experience is saturated with ethical and other kinds of values; and it also emphasizes the idea that each ethical agent, or human being, has a unique ethical project that is understandable in light of various ethical values.

From Schleswig To Anschluss: The Plebiscites And Referendums Of Interwar Germany, Matthew J. Rocha

Honors Theses

This paper aims to bridge the gap between the plebiscites following the First World War and the referendums of the Third Reich. To this point, the literatures on these sets of votes have remained completely separate. No scholars have considered the NSDAP’s votes in the context of the postwar votes. By comparing and contrasting these groups of plebiscites for the first time, this paper will shed light on the democratic backsliding of interwar Germany.

This paper argues that when planning their referendums, the leaders of the Third Reich had the immediate postwar plebiscites in mind and were, in some cases, …

Geology, Uranium, And Apartheid: South Africa’S Nuclear Program And The International Politics Of The Cold War, Andy Rightmire

Honors Theses

This paper examines the history of mining and uranium and its importance in South Africa’s nuclear history. It begins with the development of minable mineral deposits in South Africa through geologic processes and ends with the South African signing of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The paper explores the intermittent period between creating the Atomic Energy Board and developing South Africa’s energy program through assistance from the United States and France. As the apartheid government brought sanctions to South Africa, the government began considering nuclear weapons through a different lens to project power. South Africa slid towards isolation under sanctions from …

Merchants Of Blood And Gunpowder: The English Arms Trade In West Africa, Jaime K. Schneider

Honors Theses

The period between 1500 and 1650 saw the development of a transoceanic trade network, multiple European colonial empires in the Americas, and rapid developments in firearms technology. Combined, these factors laid the groundwork for two interrelated phenomena, the transatlantic slave trade, and the emergence of a global trade in arms. Examining the documents of the Royal African Company and assembling a broad selection of secondary sources, this paper seeks to contribute to the ongoing debate over the role of slavery in the development of modern capitalism. This paper argues that the transatlantic slave trade was vital for the development of …

Map, Census, Museum: Imagining The Malaysian Nation-State And The Malay Identity, Jackson Rockett

Honors Theses

Using historian Benedict Anderson's framework from his seminal text Imagined Communities of examining nation-building and identity construction through colonial artifacts, this thesis turns to maps, censuses, and museums to better understand the colonial and post-colonial imagining of the country that is now known as Malaysia. Reconciling with regional histories that predate the nation-state and defy the contemporary boundaries of territoriality, this thesis largely seeks to elucidate the contestation between colonially-imposed ideas of spatiality, categorization, and the reproduction of history with the modern Malaysian nation-state and the conflation of ethnicity with nationalism from which much of this contestation is derived from.

Jewish Presence In The Venetian Empire: A Challenge To Venetian Mythology, Avery Rosensweig

Honors Theses

This paper attempts to explain the significance of Jewish presence in the Venetian Empire in the context of the myth of Venice. Jews were officially permitted to settle in Venice in 1516, but their connection with the Venetian Empire goes further back. Jews were important for the success of the Venetian Empire, particularly from the sixteenth century onward. The permanent settlement of the Jews in Venice directly impacted the very ideology of the Venetian Empire.

Although the phrase "myth of Venice" was developed by twentieth-century historians, Venetians perpetuated the myth and wove its ideals into the foundation of the Venetian …

A Close Analysis Into The Portrayal Of Female Protagonists Through The Lens Of Gendered Authorship: Specifically Looking Into The Works Of Jane Austen, Frances Burney, John Cleland, And Samuel Richardson, Isabella G. Beyloune

Honors Theses

I explore the difference in gendered authorship in 18th century English literature. Choosing to focus on authors such as Jane Austen, Frances Burney, John Cleland, and Samuel Richardson, I aim to see if gender of the author matters in giving a realistic portrayal of eighteenth century British female protagonists, and if there actually is a difference depending on that gender (male or female, specifically). To do this, I perform case study comparisons. All chapters include a close textual analysis of the authors’ use of dialogue and narrative style for depicting their characters. Chapter 1 focuses on the comparison between Austen’s …