Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The American Lowrider As A Form Of Art, Chad Johnson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper argues that lowriders, a style of heavily customized vehicle deeply rooted in Chicano culture, ought to be recognized as a legitimate American art form. After establishing the historical and cultural background of lowriders, this paper identifies a cluster of essential aesthetic features which define lowriders, such as lowered suspension, custom wheels, elaborate paintwork, and opulent interiors. Several paradigmatic lowriders exhibiting these features are then examined against the background of various philosophical definitions of art. The analysis demonstrates that lowriders with their elaborate body modifications and paintwork do align with the essentialist views such as Clive Bell’s formalism and …

Sonic Subversion: An Intersectional Analysis Of South African Punk, 1976-Present, Amber Lenser

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The 1970s in South Africa were plagued by systematic racial segregation, widespread political violence, and fervent censorship under the apartheid regime. Political tensions were rising precipitously in the final years of the decade, stoked by the brutal police response to the Soweto Uprising (1976) and the murder of Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko (1977). It was amidst this atmosphere of profound oppression and increasing political unrest that punk made its South African debut. Apartheid South Africa served as a fertile breeding ground for punk’s inherent culture of defiance and anti-authoritarianism. Remarkably, punk has demonstrated the power to transcend sociodemographic boundaries …

Excerpt Scenes From Twin Lilies Of Tirg, Sal Tindell

Honors Theses

Excerpts of Twin Lilies of Tirg: is a craft paper and three novel scenes. The craft paper focuses on the elements and structure of dialogue and how it is present in three scenes that follow the three elements in a novel: the ground situation, the conflict, and complication. The novel Twin Lilies of Tirg is a fantasy fiction that focuses on King Sebestian as he navigates running his kingdom while being blackmailed by another King.

Public Memory Of World War Ii In Japan, Jeneva Grace Midgett

Honors Theses

Public memory often fails to encompass varied perspectives on past events, representing exclusively the collective understanding of one group or nation. Most nations shape history through personalized narratives, which remember their own motivations in conflicts, neglect their harms done against others, or memorialize past harms and traumas for reasons such as collective identity, nationalism, or guilt. However, while public memory is similarly controlled from nation to nation, various scholarship has illuminated changes within Japanese World War II education, and many scholars have discussed its potential impact to Japanese World War II public memory. To fully analyze Japanese public memory and …

Divergent Paths Of Homosexuality: Clive And Alec In E.M. Forster's Maurice, Samantha J. Dean

Honors Theses

E. M. Forster’s Maurice is a paramount text in queer literary circles, though it is highly under analyzed and discussed. This thesis analyzes E. M. Forster's Maurice and takes the focus away from the main protagonist, Maurice, and instead focuses on an in-depth analysis of the two main love interests of the novel, Clive and Alec, and how they represent two paths of homosexuality, Clive representing social visibility and homosexual repression and Alec representing social invisibility and homosexual freedom, through a close reading of the text, with the help of theory from Foucault. It begins with an introduction to the …

Fashion Cents: The Struggle For Power In Consumerist America, 1860-1940, Bailey M. Brown

Honors Theses

As urban migration expanded throughout the First and Second Industrial Revolutions, a greater number of women entered the workforce. Predetermined hours for working meant that women now had predetermined hours for leisure, something that was hard to come by in the traditional female roles within the sphere of domesticity. As a result, women began to dominate spaces outside of the domestic sphere, such as department stores, as both workers and consumers. Female consumerism, then, necessitated the rise of the advertising industry, subsequently playing a major role in the creation of power struggles between sellers and female consumers. The female consumers' …

Dialectal Variations Of Food Terms In The Spanish-Speaking World And Their Causes, Dylan Muccino

Honors Theses

This study explores the dialectal variations of food-related terms across the Spanish-speaking world, emphasizing their multilingual etymological origins. Using etymological dictionaries and sociolinguistic sources, the study categorizes food-related lexical variants into five main root language groups: Arabic/Afro-Asiatic/European, Pre-Columbian Caribbean, Mesoamerican, South American, and unknown or unique origins. The findings represent the persistence of Indigenous influence, the impact of Arabic on Peninsular Spanish, the development of Spanish from Latin, and the role of analogy and adaptation in naming unfamiliar items, illustrating the dynamic and complex relationship between language, culture, and history.

Christianity And Environmental Stewardship: Locating A New Christian Environmental Ethic In Response To The Climate Crisis, Claire E. Sims

Honors Theses

In Lynn White Jr.’s essay, “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis,” White argues that Christianity has heavily influenced society’s view of the environment. Rhetoric from Genesis has led people to believe that God intends, and even commands, that humans have dominion over the earth. This narrative provides justification for the abuse of the environment at large, abuse that has been compacted over time to create the climate crisis that we are currently experiencing. Though White’s argument lacks some nuance and somewhat exaggerates Christianity’s role in the environmental crisis, I believe his thesis to be true: Christianity does have a …

Resilience As A Coming-Of-Age Model In Young Adult Literature, Maggie R. Turbyfield

Honors Theses

I argue that resilience should be recognized as a coming-of-age model because it offers support and empowerment while being inclusive to all comings of age. I have identified three types of resilience and analyzed them in three novels: non-guardian resilience in Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor and Park, peer resilience in Matthew Hubbard’s The Last Boyfriends Rules for Revenge, and creative resilience in Isabel Quintero Gabi, A Girl in Pieces.

Naturam Expellas Furca, Tamen Usque Recurret: Theorizing Approaches To Nature In Antiquity, Ca. 800 Bce 450 Ce, William K. Edwards

Honors Theses

Ancient thinkers reflected on nature and engaged with their abstractions in accordance with many different conceptual frameworks. These frameworks were numerous and diverse, characterized by varying interpretations of nature. Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, and early Christians each adopted approaches to nature; these approaches, conceptual and abstract, were in some ways similar, but also distinct. By analyzing the relevant primary sources, this thesis will investigate the similarities, differences, and interplay between these ancient theoretical frameworks. This thesis will investigate philosophical, theological, historical, ecological, and cultural perspectives on nature. An analysis of these ideas, being aware of their historical contexts, will allow us …

Boxed In: Prose Poetry And Transgender Poetics, Lee Hooker

Honors Theses

Though lived experience is essential to every poet's work, transgender poetry especially must be filtered through the poet's "diet." The manifestation of this experience often results in cross-genre works, such as the prose poem. This thesis consists of a craft essay, in which contemporary queer poets and their genre-bending works are examined, and a creative portion, which emphasizes transgender experience and the prose poem.

An Exploration Of Irish Celtic & Early Germanic Brooches And Their Cultural Functions, Lisa Michele Medlen Mueller

Theses

During the early medieval period in the British Isles, jewelry objects, in particular brooches, served many functions, while simultaneously expressing differing social hierarchies and distinctions. The following analysis investigates the forms, materials, iconography, and symbolism present in brooches created by Irish Celtic and early Germanic peoples from the 7th to the 9th centuries CE, also termed Insular artworks. Additionally, this research examines the performative aspects of early medieval brooches in the British Isles, exploring their social roles as mediators between wearer and viewer. By analyzing specific examples such as the 'Tara' Brooch, Kingston Brooch, Londesborough Brooch, and Strickland Brooch, this …

Beatrice Wanjiku: A Portrait Of Human Vulnerability, Suzanne R. Vuoncino

Theses

Abstract artist Beatrice Wanjiku uses an anatomical composition to illustrate a sense of vulnerability, an element of human identity, in relation to one’s social environment. Going beyond the skin, Untitled excavates the mental and emotional aspects of the human condition and gives expression to experience. By observing her figural composition, examining the foundation of identity theory, and interpreting her use of abstraction, I will describe how Untitled speaks to a message of connectivity through a portrait of human vulnerability. This thesis argues that one’s environment affects the individual and exemplifies how vulnerability is seen as a pervasive aspect of human …

Trembling At The Threshold: Zurbarán's Saints And The Crisis Of Masculine Virtue, Andrew T. Epsilantis

Theses

No abstract provided.

Sound Canvas: A Tool To Create Personalized And Immersive Soundscapes, Faizan Kazani

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

Sound Canvas is a digital application developed to provide sound as a creative outlet, engaging, immersing, and making you feel good about the creative process. A few of the main objectives of this project include maximizing the potential of using sensory stimuli, particularly the sense of hearing, to witness growth in creative thinking and our overall subjective well-being. The tool aims to provide users with an interactive experience that uses sound as a trigger and focal point to increase involvement in the creative process. The outcome of this creative engagement will be a personalized soundscape that a user can resonate …

Coalitional Belonging As Praxis: First-Year Writing And Student Community Creation In The Post-Dei University., Kendyl C. Harmeling

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation began as a study into how students interpret and engage language and actions from their institutions of higher education which allege to be supporting and supportive of universally diverse, equitable, and inclusive campus community belonging. Occurring within a locally and globally turbid context of exponential and variable challenges to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts by institutions of power – like those of higher and public education – this dissertation seeks to understand how, within and without institutional support for DEI, students self-sponsor and community-sponsor their ways of knowing and being to claim space for their belonging on campus. …

I'M Still Eating Crayons., Eisey Eisenhardt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

im still eating crayons serves as a reflection on past events experienced in trying conditions after many years of rumination. The title itself is derived from my childhood inclination towards physically experiencing color and texture via chewing on crayons. An inclination that I still experience today; a wish to chew on what captivates me and break it down over time within, so that I may discover a deeper connection with those objects, ideas, and concepts. Not all made discoveries were victories, nor do they place my conscious in a better position than it was at the height of my past …

Healthcare Access And Agency In Material Culture: A Specialized Analysis Of Pharmaceutical Artifacts From Louisville’S West End., Sara Marian (Deurell) Ignacio

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The American Victorian Period of the 1870s to 1920s was a time of significant transitions in medicine. In Louisville, Kentucky, this period saw an influx of Black healthcare professionals and the founding of Louisville National Medical College, the state’s first medical school open to people of color. A number of these professionals lived and/or practiced in the Beecher Terrace study area, which was excavated between 2017 and 2020. Patent medicine brands and archival records were examined qualitatively in order to understand neighborhood and case study household health concerns and consumer choice. Statistical analyses of the medicine bottles recovered during the …

Wide Screen With Critical Essay "Translating A Poetry Of Cinema"., James L. Richie Iv

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation combines the creative task of translating Víctor Cabrera’s poetry collection WIDE SCREEN (2009) from Spanish into English with a critical study that analyzes the volume to highlight the uniqueness of his writing, the importance of translating such a work for an Anglophone audience, and the challenges that occur in translating this complex collection. Moreover, Cabrera’s writing engages with a variety of cultural works in ways that challenge preconceived notions of language, culture, and medium. The poetry in WIDE SCREEN draws inspiration from the films of American filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, while frequently putting these films into dialogue with works …

Tel Jezreel's Medieval Crusader Cemetery: A Case Study In Contemporary Burial Practices And Necroviolence Against Infants And Children., Autumn Koehling

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The 1990s excavation of the archaeological site of Tel Jezreel in the modern nation state of Israel yielded the remains of fifty infants and children, associated with the contemporary Medieval Crusader Church. The Church, built by Knight’s Templar from the Frankish Kingdom served the occupants of Tel Jezreel from the 11^th to the 13^th century and introduced Western Christian burial practices to the local Syriac-Palestinian Christian inhabitants. Burial practices from the surrounding region of the Levant and beyond, into Crusader European cultures, show different forms of burial treatment for infants and children that can be used to understand …

Movement On The Ladder: The Lesbian Avant-Garde In America., Sarah Melloy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project examines the role of the periodical magazine in artistic production of avant-garde ideology, focusing on the ability of print as a medium to distribute poetry, art, literature and discourse of the avant-garde in an underground manner. More specifically, it places the earliest American lesbian periodical, The Ladder, in conversation with the surrealist magazine, Minotaure and the New York Dadaist magazine, Blind Man in order to examine the overlaps in how each publication functioned within their respective movements. I use this positioning to argue that The Ladder is as worthy of scholarly attention as the Surrealist and Dadaist …

Influence Of Neo-Colonial Relationships On The Gender Norms Of The Pacific Islands, Katelynn N. Nicholas

International and Global Studies Undergraduate Honors Theses

The intersection between domestic violence and formerly colonized countries has long drawn the attention of scholars and researchers. Many of the Pacific Islands are known for their low Human Development Index scores. Because of their treatment of women, they also often have very low Gender Development Index scores. The understanding that there will be no receipts after the exchange of a human being, usually a child, has encouraged British men to seek out sex work in Thailand. Arguably domestic violence and colonization fully overlap in the sexual objectification of ethnic groups in Oceania and the woman there who fall into …

“Mimicking Straights”: The Legacy Of Conservatism In Homophile Activism, 1950-60s, Brock Manasseri

History Undergraduate Honors Theses

In this thesis I explore historical misconceptions about the homophile movement that was active during the sixties and 1950s. Scholarly narratives have borrowed Gay Liberation’s perspective that narrowly defined homophiles as conservative, respectable, and tied to gendered roles. This representation only reflects the ideas of leadership, rather than the membership. Homophiles were a highly diverse group of people, both intellectually and demographically. Assumptions about their politics and practices began in straight society but did come to be repeated by their critics. In truth, homophiles included radicals and conservatives and their publications served as the stage on which to debate the …

Remembering The Stasi On The Screen: Historical Film Analysis Of The East German Ministry For State Security, William H. Herzfeld

History Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to assess how the history and identity of the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (Ministry for State Security, Stasi) has been internalized by the German people through film media. Germans endured significant trauma and cultural manipulation at the hands of the Stasi and the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (Socialist Unity Party, SED) that is personified in many ways. The trauma that the Stasi inflicted sits heavily on the reflective interpretations of the DDR, complicating retrospection on life in the DDR and its positive elements. The Stasi have come to represent the essential negativity of life in …

Anna On The Go, Emma Burgess

Honors Theses

28-year-old Anna McCarthy, better known by her Instagram alias @Annaonthego, appears to have it all: the perfect man, flawless style, the job of her dreams, and a spot at the top of New York City’s cutthroat social ladder. With so much to flaunt, one would expect Anna to pounce at the opportunity to attend her ten year high school class reunion. Instead, the event’s invitation forces her to confront the fact that she may not be able to bury her dark past from her multitude of followers, and herself, forever.

Please note: This thesis is permanently restricted and not available.

Bringing A Ghost Story To Life: Actualizing A Production Of The Woman In Black, Benjamin Cudmore

Honors Theses

Working with the support of faculty mentors Maja E. White and Johann Stegmeir, Benjamin Cudmore helped develop THTR 312: Production and Collaboration to foster a collaborative environment where students could design a production of "The Woman in Black" and allow for student actors to be involved in the creative process from the beginning to the end. Benjamin worked as the Director, Makeup Artist, and headed publicity.

Les Femmes Dans Le Monde Médical, Emma Kane

Honors Theses

Cet essai est une investigation du rôle de femmes dans le monde médical avec les anecdotes de femmes des années 1800 a aujourd'hui. On affirme que les femmes avaient été traitées comme des objets de recherche et formation au lieu de patientes et égales. En outre, malgré le progrès de femmes dans le monde médical, elles ne reçoivent toujours pas la même estime que leur homologues homme.

This thesis explores the role of women in the world of medicine through female narratives from the 1800s to present. The essay argues that women have been objectified for research and education purposes …

Transcendental Blooms: Margaret Fuller And The Radical Language Of Flowers, Jenna Mcclain

Honors Theses

Situated between the literary periods of American Romanticism and Transcendentalism, Margaret Fuller’s writings vary in their topic and medium, offering a unique fusion of literary style as well as a refined yet radical social perspective. Fuller’s work frequently employs flowers as tools for communication rather than as mere symbols, with flowers acting as transmitters of Fuller’s philosophical message in her many sketches and poems. In “The Magnolia of Lake Pontchartrain,” one of her most famous prose sketches, Fuller explores flowers in a nuanced way that exemplifies how floral representations function more like characters than objects in her work. While scholars …

American Girl(Hood): Gender Performance, Tween Media, And Social Media Content, Mary Carol Dassau

Honors Theses

The American Girl brand of eighteen-inch dolls presents narratives of young girls throughout historical and contemporary settings, as well as manufacturing a line of dolls designed to look “just like you.” Despite the company’s commitment to female empowerment, these narratives still fall into certain tropes of societal expectations for women and are not inclusive of all girls’ experiences. Young American Girl fans and teen collectors on YouTube then take these narratives to create their own original video content, often in stop-motion animated format. These animations typically consist of original stories and characters, which both reinforce the narratives presented by the …

Letters From The Periphery: L.E. Faulkner’S Crusade Against Communism, Cameron Melendez

Honors Theses

This thesis explores L.E. Faulkner’s political activism. Faulkner, a railroad executive from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, launched a number of anti-communist crusades throughout the 1940s and 1950s. Utilizing his personal correspondence, political articles, and newspapers, this thesis argues that anti-communist networks were influential and powerful tools used by Faulkner and other local activists to shape the national discourse around anti-communism. Faulkner created an interconnected web of anti-communists that linked protestant fundamentalism, capitalist advocacy, racial politics, and Americanism. His 1943–1944 civic education campaigns with Rotary International and Kiwanis International and his 1954 opposition to the World Council of Churches serve as case studies …