Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Color Shift: A Graphic Design Process Book Exploring How Color And Motion Influence Emotional Perception And Brand Connection In Affordable Women's Fashion Jewelry, Elizabeth Voight

Theses

This study examines how manipulating color and motion within a single brand identity system influences consumer emotional response and brand consistency. Using a fictional modern jewelry brand, Quanta & Co., the research isolates color as the primary variable by applying nine distinct mid-range color palettes to identical layouts, logos, and structures across both print and digital touchpoints. These collateral assets include jewelry packaging, vehicle wraps, digital advertisements, and an animated logo. A quantitative survey was executed to capture real-time audience impressions regarding brand traits, perceived quality, and the overall alignment of each color variation with the brand's identity.

The findings …

“Retalhos De Mim Costurados Por Nós” (A Patchwork Of Me, Stitched Together By Us), Marjorye Graves

MFA in Dance Theses

This document represents the culmination of my thesis project "Retalhos de Mim Costurados por Nós" (A Patchwork of Me, Stitched Together by Us), a choreographic project integrating scholarly perspectives from Dance and Social Justice, Phenomenology, and Somatics courses. Employing both dance film and solo live performance, the research interrogates the complexities of identity within the overlapping contexts of immigration, domestic violence, and motherhood. Through an embodied praxis, the project addresses the intersection of adversity and resilience, highlighting the transformative potential of community, cultural inheritance, and spirituality in my healing process.

Ethos: A Computational Framework For Material Culture Research, Chelsea L. Grafe

Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Museum catalog records make large collections searchable, but they do not always preserve the reasoning behind the claims they contain. A record may present a quilt's identity as settled while leaving the reasoning behind that claim invisible, making it difficult for later researchers to check, question, or reuse. This project asks whether museum catalog data can be analyzed in a way that keeps each analytical claim connected to the evidence that supports it. To test this question, the project applies a material-first computational framework named Ethos. Ethos formalizes an object-centered inquiry sequence in which material dependencies establish where analysis begins …

The Role Of Complexity In Structural Transfer: A Corpus Study From Turkish And Bulgarian, Sarah Joy Russell

Theses and Dissertations

This study the explores the need to examine the increasingly varied methods of quantifying morphological complexity in regards to their ability to influence structural borrowing across languages, with particular attention to the distinction between enumerative complexity (enumeration of all of the morphemes and distinctions in a system) and integrative complexity (entropy-based calculation of the class distinctions of the system). While existing models in contact linguistics often assume that structurally simpler languages are more likely to serve as sources of grammatical transfer, such accounts typically rely on enumerative measures of complexity alone and do not fully account for the role of …

Spirals Of Light: A Healing Journey Through Somatics, Dance, And Pedagogy, Jessica Batha

MFA in Dance Theses

This thesis investigates dance as an embodied practice of healing, attunement, and belonging through phenomenology, somatics, and environmental engagement. Grounded in Sondra Fraleigh’s eco-phenomenological framework, the research weaves personal narrative, artistic inquiry, and interdisciplinary scholarship to examine how thresholds of birth, injury, and recovery shape sensory orientation across the lifespan. Drawing from lived experiences as a dancer, mother, educator, and researcher, the study explores tone, breath, light, and movement as formative forces in identity and resilience. Central to the inquiry is a knee injury and subsequent surgical recovery, which catalyzed a somatic practice aligned with circadian rhythms, sunrise ritual, and …

Machine (Un/Re) Learning, Jordan Shadley

MFA in Dance Theses

This thesis document is an exploration of the interaction between live performance art and digital content creation such as Generative A.I. In this work, I draw from several courses I completed during my time in Saint Mary’s College of California MFA in Dance and Creative Practice program, including Dance and Social Justice, Phenomenology, Somatic Movement Seminar and Dance and Performance Studies. Each offers a throughline of my scholarly explorations and embodied research into the spheres of adapting and challenging how concert dance spaces respond to digital information and creation. I utilized live movement collaboration and distorted videography through Generative A.I. …

D-Entangled, Macy Yu

MFA in Dance Theses

This thesis investigates the choreographic, somatic, and cultural significance hair holds in dance through identity and belonging. Hair is more than merely a visual or aesthetic marker, it is a lived, identity-bearing, and sensory archive of the body. To say that hair is merely just for aesthetics in lifestyles and in dance is not acknowledging its full impact. Hair functions as both a cultural and sensory archive as well as embodied resistance and a site of identity. I identify as a multi-ethnic woman, dancer, educator, and choreographer. This paper analyzes hair through the examination of four different methodologies including a …

Kinesthesis: A Choreographic Study Of The Somatic Effect Of Fascial Intervention, Mira Larsen

MFA in Dance Theses

This master’s thesis was a choreographic study that experimented with the somatic effects of fascial intervention practices, culminating in a final performance in June of 2026 at the LeFevre Theatre at Saint Mary’s College of California. Each chapter of this document investigates the topic of fascial awareness supported through somatic practice and its effect on creating impactful emotional and physical connections in ballet choreography and pedagogy. This document offers the conceptual framework for the choreographic process of the thesis project, titled Kinesthesis. Through the lenses of phenomenology, somatics, social justice, and performance studies, the research goal involved the utilization of …

Colonization To Commodification To Codification: The Salimpour Method, Suhaila Salimpour

MFA in Dance Theses

This thesis examines how colonization and commodification have shaped the codification of belly dance though the Salimpour Method. Codification here refers to the process of naming, categorizing, and organizing of movement into a teachable system. While codification inevitably transforms tradition, it also serves as a method of preservation. As the inheritor of the Salimpour lineage, I trace how my mother, Jamila Salimpour, first codified belly dance and how I built on her work to create a comprehensive pedagogical system that situates belly dance within artistic and academic contexts. This study argues that the Salimpour Method is a strategy of preserving, …

“A Beautiful Mess: Rebirthing Through Earth, Dance, And The Divine”, Mikayla Douglas

MFA in Dance Theses

A Beautiful Mess: Rebirthing Through Earth, Dance, and the Divine by Mikayla Douglas is a culmination of research, creative practice, and lived experience that was developed during her time at Saint Mary’s College of California in the MFA Dance Program. This thesis investigates the shared dialogue between eco-somatics, eco-phenomenology, motherhood, nature, and the BIPOC birthing body. Through the use of outdoor somatic practices, personal reflection and stories, Mikayla Douglas explores how nature can serve as a site of healing, embodiment, and reclamation for Black and Brown birthing bodies. The research of this thesis work is grounded heavily in both scholarly …

Under Open Skies: Black, Queer, And Ascending, Skyler Zakaar

MFA in Dance Theses

This thesis explores personal healing and community building through dance, rooted in my lived experience as a Black Queer man in America. Stemming from research in Phenomenology, Critical Dance Pedagogy, and Dance & Social Justice, I interrogate the impact of white supremacy and systemic racism both within and beyond the queer community. My choreographic process centers intersectionality and collective agency, seeking to resist the fragmentation of identity and to affirm the wholeness of self. Through performance and comprehensive study, my intentions are to foster empathy, connection, and belonging, while advocating for equity and transformation within dance and broader cultural discourse. …

Lived Experiences Involving Body Dysmorphia In African American Women Who Actively Use Social Media, Janee Martin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Yardie Epistemologies: Queer Survival, Respectability, And Political Economy In Contemporary Jamaica, Nicole Hylton

Theses - ALL

This thesis examines how queer Jamaicans navigate, survive, and theorize life within a social order structured by colonial legacies, racialized class hierarchy, nationalist masculinity, Christian moral authority, and neoliberal austerity. Drawing on qualitative, narrative-centered research conducted between 2012 and 2014, with consistent return visits in subsequent years, the study employs grounded theory, critical ethnography, and Black feminist political economy to analyze how sexual citizenship is unevenly distributed across lines of color, class, gender expression, and access to resources. Participants include LGBTQ individuals, activists, academics, state actors, and community members whose narratives are treated not as illustrative data but as sites …

How Esl/Efl Textbooks Are Created: A Description Of The Publishing Processes For Elt Coursebooks, Timothy P. Arnold

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to describe the current ELT textbook publishing processes and evaluate a descriptive model of the publishing processes. While criticisms of ELT textbooks abound (Akbari, 2008; Bell & Gower, 2011; Jordan & Gray, 2019; Tomlinson & Masuhara, 2008; Long, 2016; etc.), little previous research has focused on describing the ELT textbook publishing. This is despite most criticisms appearing to focus on aspects of ELT textbooks that come about during the publishing processes. The work of Littlejohn (1992), McGrath (2013), and Yildiz and Harwood (2023) are exceptions to this. To provide additional descriptive information on the …

Impure Evidentialism: Essays On The Sources & Structure Of Doxastic Normativity, Felipe Oliveira

Dissertations - ALL

The four papers of my dissertation provide a new defense of Impure Evidentialism. The combination of evidentialism about normative reasons for belief with pragmatic encroachment (i.e. impurism) about epistemic justification is a familiar and intuitive view. However, many of the combo view’s finer points, unique advantages, and objections have not been addressed. My dissertation fills this gap by offering a new defense and in-depth look of what I take to be the most plausible version of the combo view. My version of Impure Evidentialism offers an improved and comprehensive account of the norms that govern our beliefs, explains why these …

Neural Processing Of Japanese And Korean Phonological Items In Romanized Versus Native Writing Systems, Kyle Thayne Chipman

Theses and Dissertations

Romanization is a common, yet sometimes controversial, tool used to make Korean and Japanese more accessible to beginning learners, but its effects on orthographic processing and phoneme discrimination ability are not well understood. The participants consisted of 34 university students (21 female, 13 male; mean age = 20.97) enrolled in 100- and 200-level Korean and Japanese courses at Brigham Young University. Using a quasi-experimental, counterbalanced design, participants completed phonological judgement tasks in three orthographies per language while accuracy, reaction time, and cortical activation were measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS); post-task surveys contextualized learner responses. Orthography significantly affected accuracy in …

Tomboys In Dystopia: An Analysis Of Gendered Traits In Ya Dystopian Literature, Bethany H. Jenkins

English Theses, Dissertations, and Student Creative Activity

This thesis explores the world of young adult dystopian literature. Katniss (Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games), Tris (Veronica Roth’s Divergent) and Tierney (Kim Liggett’s The Grace Year) are all tomboy protagonists living in a dystopian society. Apart from the expected challenges of living in a dystopia, being a tomboy means facing conflicts that are a result of their gender non-conformity. Drawing heavily from the Bem Sex-Role Inventory, each protagonist is analyzed within the context of their own story to identify feminine and masculine traits that they express. These traits’ impact on the events of the story is …

Grit, Self-Assessment, And Second Language Proficiency: A Large-Scale Examination Using Data From The Language Ability Self-Evaluation Resource, Andrew T. Skoy

Theses and Dissertations

Grit has been defined as being "perseverance and passion for long-term goals" (Duckworth et al., 2007). Research has tied grit to success in the discipline of second language acquisition (SLA), where researchers have adapted Duckworth's general grit self-assessment instrument to capture measurements of grit within second language learners (Teimouri et al., 2022). Such a scale appears on the Language Ability Self-Evaluation Resource (LASER), a standardized language proficiency test developed by researcher at Brigham Young University. With the aim of replicating the studies that were done to validate the design of the LASER, responses to the grit-measuring section of the test …

Marble Bodies: Sculpture, Gender, Race, And Nineteenth-Century U.S. Literature, Madeline Olley

Dissertations - ALL

Marble Bodies reads across both literary texts and sculptures to ask how sculptural logic operates across forms to reveal what sculptors and sculpture offer the field of nineteenth-century U.S. literary studies—formally, theoretically, and methodologically. It argues that sculpture functions not merely as subject matter within nineteenth-century American literature but as an interpretive framework that reveals how bodies are objectified, valued, and assigned cultural meaning. With attention to the formal and material properties of sculpture—stillness, smoothness, and duration—and to the questions of ideality, valuation, and preservation that sculpture generates, this dissertation shows how nineteenth-century writers and artists found in those properties …

The 1920s And The Distortion Of Democracy: The Fourteenth Census, The Fight Over Reapportionment, And Its Consequences, William L. Paine

Department of History

Following the 1920 decennial census the United States Congress, for the first and only time in its history, failed to pass a reapportionment bill to redistribute representation in the House of Representative in a timely manner. Congress would debate and delay reapportionment for nearly a decade before finally passing the Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929, which provided for the next reapportionment after the 1930 census as well as for all future censuses. There were many factors that helped perpetuate the debate over reapportionment in the 1920s, some of which were unique to the decade and some of which weren’t. The …

"Your Problem Is Not At All An Uncommon One": Visibility, Black Men, And Sexual Orientation In The Anti-Apartheid And Civil Rights Movements, Wren Addison Weddell

Dissertations and Theses

The South African Anti-Apartheid Movement and the American Civil Rights Movement are two of the most well-known examples of racial liberation movements, but there are few scholarly works that offer comparisons between the two. Furthermore, the experiences of people who fall outside the bounds of heteronormative society are often overlooked in historical research on both movements. Despite the dearth in research, there are several key factors that are revealed when comparing the lives of Black non-heterosexual men among the activists for both of these movements, including the role of the global community, unique local cultures, and how the state polices …

Receiving Isaac Again: Joy And Return To The Finite In Fear And Trembling, Jeffrey M. Matheson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis argues that joy is a constitutive but underexamined feature of faith in Søren Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling. While the text is often interpreted through sacrifice, silence, dread, paradox, and the teleological suspension of the ethical, these categories do not exhaust Johannes de Silentio’s account of Abraham. By foregrounding Abraham’s joy, this thesis shows that faith is not merely the willingness to surrender the finite, but the capacity to receive the finite again after it has been given up. Isaac is not only Abraham’s beloved son, but the child of promise, the visible form of God’s covenant, and the …

Influence Of Timed Repeated Readings On Grade 2 French Immersion Students' Reading Fluency And Comprehension, Kathryn Rosie Baldwin

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effects of Timed Repeated Reading (TRR) on reading fluency, comprehension, and reading attitudes among second grade students in a French Dual Language Immersion (DLI) program in Utah. Forty-one students from two pre-existing classroom groups participated over 11 weeks, with one class receiving TRR and the other serving as a control. Fluency was measured in correct words per minute (CWPM), comprehension through cloze tests, and attitudes using a seven-item affective survey with a four-point visual scale. A mixed between-within subjects ANOVA analysed pre- and post-test data across four intervals. Results showed significant fluency gains over time for …

Heritage As Performative Sovereignty: Situated Agency And Environmental (In)Equity In The Arkansas Delta, Faisal Mohammed

Student Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the materiality of heritage as a proactive and strategic resource for ensuring survival and reshaping justice in rural places. Set in Phillips County, in the Arkansas Delta, a region where environmental neglect and economic marginalization are visibly apparent in the landscape, this research interrogates how a community responds to environmental crises in a contested landscape using locally driven, art-based initiatives. By centering the Water Story Project in Phillips County, funded by One Nation One Project, a national art-based initiative, I explore a ‘thin institutional ecology’ where the scarcity of regulatory oversight and intermediary civic support has …

Bringing Clarity To Tutors' Work: Designing An Effective Writing Center Staff Handbook, Maria Bunting

ETDs from 2020-2029

Writing center literature often focuses on the documents used to justify a center’s role in the larger institution while largely ignoring internal documents that aid in training. By also answering Babcock & Thonus (2012) and Driscoll & Perdue (2014)’s call for more replicable, aggregable, and data-based (RAD) research in writing centers, this study addresses this literature gap by conducting a qualitative study about a newly-implemented handbook at a public R1 university. The author first includes a description of the collaborative document creation process before describing the empirical methods used to assess the handbook’s effectiveness. The findings illustrate how effective handbooks …

Darkstar: A Memoir In Essays, Sophie Hawke Isham

ETDs from 2020-2029

Darkstar: A Memoir in Essays is an essay collection that follows the last four years of my life. These essays vary in length, format, and material. The themes these essays tackle range from heavy subjects like deteriorating mental health from bipolar disorder and grief over the loss of pets and family members, to lighter subjects such as gender expression and identity, and the love surrounding me from friends, family, and relationships. While each essay can stand alone, they are more fleshed out and connected in the context and structure of this thesis. This body of work explores the various ways …

The Guardian Order, Jennifer Jayden Foster

ETDs from 2020-2029

The Guardian Order is a young adult fantasy novel set in the sacred land of Enyimel, a sanctuary sustained by magic and ancestral guardianship. The narrative follows siblings Kairos and Verena Sepher as they confront both an ecological catastrophe and a deeply personal rupture within their family. When a blight corrupts the land and destabilizes its magic, they are forced into a reluctant alliance to save their people. However, the external crisis mirrors an internal one: a lifetime of unequal parental expectations has shaped them into ideological opposites. Kairos embraces the heroic destiny prepared for him, while Verena resists a …

Nazi Propaganda In The United States Prior To American Entry Into The Second World War, Trenton Alexander Bowen

ETDs from 2020-2029

This thesis examines the multifaceted nature of Nazi propaganda in the United States during the interwar years. I argue that these publications were not just a parade of familiar cliches about Jews or the wisdom of American neutrality. Rather, they and the organizations that disseminated them presented a jumbled patchwork of lies, hypocritical claims, contradictions, and distortions. In other words, I argue that Nazi propaganda was so dangerous in the United States because it relied on mixed and confusing messaging, and in turn, on the ignorance of Americans about the nature of the “new Germany.”

Beyond Commemoration To Reparations: A Media Representation Analysis Of The Elaine Massacre Of 1919, Oyeronke Oyindamola Afolabi

Student Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the evolving public memory of the Elaine Massacre of 1919 through a critical analysis of media representation, commemorative practices, and descendant-led advocacy. Situating the massacre within the broader history of racial violence in the United States, the study argues that its significance extends beyond the events of 1919 to include the long-term processes of historical silencing, narrative distortion, and contested remembrance that have shaped its afterlife. Drawing on interdisciplinary frameworks from memory studies, critical heritage studies, and media discourse analysis, the research employs a qualitative thematic analysis of contemporary media publications from 2018 to 2024. Guided by …

Don't Force Me To Explain: Rethinking Access Outside Of Compulsory Transparency, Rhea Ienni

Dissertations

My dissertation is concerned with better understanding the barriers disabled people encounter while attempting to procure access both at the institutional level, and in their everyday lives. Within disability and accessibility literature, there are many discourses on what disability is and what access means. However, there are few people who explore the harmful consequences of disabled people being forced to “prove” they are disabled to an ableist world to get their basic needs met, and my dissertation intervenes in this gap. Within current US policy, if a disabled person requires access support at the institutional level, they must provide medical …