Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Through The Looking Glass : Diversity Through The Eyes Of A Dress Form, Amara Copeland

LSU Master's Theses

This article aims to look into educational institutions and how they address diversity using curatorial displays. Does fashion and costume curation add to the seclusion of luxury? Looking into this correlation, this study aims to answer these next couple of questions. How does museum curation add to fashion social norms? Is it a subconscious or conscious decision when deciding on a mannequin or dress form? How do museum and fashion curations add to the exclusion of minorities in the world of luxury? What is costume luxury, and who do we say can obtain it?

This research aims to understand the …

The Semantics Of Quedar And Quedarse When Used With Adjectives Or Participles To Express A State, Charlotte Joy Peterson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on quedar and quedarse in Spanish when used with adjectives or participles to express a state. There are four main verbs of becoming in Spanish, namely hacerse, volverse, ponerse, and quedar(se), but quedar(se) is the only verb of becoming that can be used both intransitively and pronominally to express a state. This thesis seeks to understand the relationship between adjectives and participles when used in conjunction with quedar intransitively or pronominally, and how the semantics may change based on which form is preferred. There are two largely supported claims in the literature as to when one form …

Navigating Light And Darkness: The Intersection Of Space, Faith And The Psyche In Ana Plácido’S Luz Coada Por Ferros, Alondra V. Ramirez Herrera

Theses and Dissertations

Ana Plácido (1831-1895) was a Portuguese writer whose literary contributions remain largely overshadowed by her infamous trial for adultery and her relationship with Camilo Castelo Branco. Despite societal constraints on female authorship in the nineteenth century, Plácido used literature as a means of self-expression, autonomy, and intellectual freedom. This thesis employs spatial theory to analyze her collection of texts Luz Coada por Ferros (1863), written during her imprisonment, to explore the interplay between physical confinement and artistic freedom. By examining the symbolic and psychological dimensions of space in her work, this study highlights how Plácido navigated themes of female agency, …

Aliases And Archetypes: A Spy's Dilemma In Tomás Nevinson, Silke Mckay Schnebly

Theses and Dissertations

Tomás Nevinson is the last novel by Javier Marías. The themes of betrayal, deceit, and doubt that are apparent in his other works continue here as well. The meandering and philosophical narration guides the reader through Tomás' quest for self-discovery. This article uses literary onomastics (the study of names, their meanings and origins) to peel back the layers of the various characters in order to reveal the archetypes they represent. Through analyzing the names in Tomás Nevinson, the reader may come to recognize the archetypes associated with the novel's characters while also recognizing how Tomás interacts with archetypal others in …

Inside The Mad Mind: Medical Ethics In 19th Century Fiction, Danielle Dentremont

College Honors Program

The professionalization of medicine in mid-to-late 19th century America and Britain corresponded with heightened critical scrutiny of the ethics of doctor-patient relationships in contemporary fiction. With ethics frameworks of the century focused primarily on good fellowship between practitioners, it was difficult to charge practitioners with bad ethics. Yet, the broader debates of vivisection and women’s rights brought to light power imbalances between men and women that novelists began to suggest were present in medicine as well. Wilkie Collins’ Heart and Science weighs in on the danger of the doctor-scientist encroaching on women’s rights with the suggestion that women will be …

Mythology Of Autism: Pop Culture, Rhetoric, And Vaccines, Makenzi Strate

Theses and Dissertations

Myths are stories told to provide an explanation for the unknown, reflect cultural beliefs of populations that hold them, and lack scientific evidence to support these stories. Some myths, such as the myth that vaccines cause autism, are harmful toward the groups that they target. Popularized in 1998 with the publication of the Wakefield study, the myth that vaccines cause autism continues to spread and thrive today. To understand the widespread nature and detriments of belief in harmful myths such as this, I implement mythology rhetoric to examine how celebrity Jenny McCarthy utilizes elements of myth to persuade others to …

Teaching Information Synthesis In First-Year Writing: A Replication And Extension Study, Rachel M. Terry

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the challenges and strategies associated with teaching information synthesis to first-year college students. Synthesis, a higher-order cognitive skill described as "knowledge-transforming," is critical for academic success and informed engagement in an information-saturated society. However, many students enter college with underdeveloped foundational reading and writing skills, compounded by declining literacy rates and the prevalence of fragmented digital content consumption. This study builds on prior research in composition, education, and information literacy to address three key questions: (1) How do students understand synthesis? (2) What strategies do students employ when attempting to synthesize information? (3) What instructional implications arise …

Language Choice And Russian Course Enrollment Among University Students, Emma Calderwood

Theses and Dissertations

University Russian enrollments have been steadily declining in the United States since 2009 (MLA, 2023). No research has been done to examine student motivation for studying Russian since long before the 2022 increase in conflict between Russia and Ukraine. This study surveys two groups of students at the university level: students enrolled in BYU 101-level language classes, and students enrolled in Russian classes at six universities in the United States. The findings report that the most common reasons students choose to take university Russian classes is because they have a general interest in the language, they want to travel to …

"Nunsense" Promptbook, Peyton H. Mccarthy

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Peyton Helene McCarthy's promptbook submission for her Senior Project in stage management (SM): SMing UMW Theatre's fall 2024 production of "Nunsense" by Dan Goggin

NOTE: SM documentation templates and formatting included in Peyton's promptbook were directly provided and/or inspired by Brandon Prendergast's professional paperwork and intellectual property.

A Special Little Guy, Amelia Emory

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Amelia Emory’s Senior Project for UMW Theatre’s production of Matilda the Musical.

The Translucent Fortress: Improving The Design Of Rural Domestic Violence Shelters, Owen Baker Phillips

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Domestic violence is a nationwide social plague that effects millions of women each year and has increased in severity since Covid-19 (2020-2022). In the state of Georgia, 37.4% of women report experiencing some sort of physical violence by an intimate partner (NCADV, 2020). Severity and frequency of domestic violence increases drastically if the victim is living in a rural location. Qualitative studies conducted in Iowa, North Carolina, and Virginia all report that on average, women living in rural areas report 150% more domestic violence experiences at a higher severity than their urban counterparts and must travel on average 300% further …

Reclaiming Identity: Miné Okubo's Self-Portraiture And Authorship In Citizen 13660, Caroline E. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I argue that Miné Okubo's repeated self-portraiture in Citizen 13660 asserts her authority of the soul author of the text, forcing her reader to acknowledge the perspective in which the story is being told. Through the images of herself, she makes clear the fact that the story is filtered through her personal experience, rather than the widely accepted understanding that the novel is a universal story. While the written account strives for a sense of objectivity, the images of Okubo, especially when analyzed through the context of her contemporaries, including comics and photographers, shows how her work …

Spanish Education: Teaching Philosophy Learned From Best Practice And Student And Teacher Engagement., Olivia Anderson

Honors Theses

This honors thesis investigates best practices for teaching Spanish in K–12 settings by conducting qualitative interviews with Spanish teachers at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. The study focuses on identifying effective strategies and classroom activities that promote student engagement and language proficiency while examining how teachers continue to develop professionally. Conscious of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages’ (ACTFL) Five C’s—Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities—the research highlights communication as the central pillar of language learning. Through detailed classroom examples, such as “Mapa del Martes,” student-created cooking videos, and Kagan Strategies, the thesis illustrates how …

"The Things I Hate": Romans 7 And The Construction Of Self, Nicole Francis

Theses and Dissertations

The construction of the self has been a central topic of discussion throughout Graeco-Roman history and continues to shape modern theoretical debate. This paper situates Paul’s construction of self in Romans 7 within these ongoing conversations, engaging both ancient and modern perspectives. While many scholars have written books on the topic of the Hellenistic and Roman constructions of self that include thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Seneca, Epictetus, and others, none of these extant works have explored Paul’s contribution to this discourse. Acknowledging the historical interests and the academic conversations about the historical Paul, this paper seeks to add …

"The Truth Of Our Historic Encounter": Curating Networks Of The Past In Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad, Holden O. D'Evegnee

Theses and Dissertations

What unites the critical response to Colson Whitehead's 2016 novel The Underground Railroad is universal interest in the text's attitude towards historical truth. I contend that critics fixate so much on the issue of truth that they miss how the novel offers an alternative to historic truth in the form of an aesthetic encounter. During her employment as a "living exhibit" in North Carolina's Museum of Natural Wonders, protagonist Cora despairs at the apparent absence of truth. Despite the overt manipulation of history to justify white imperialism in the museum, Cora experiences a transcendent moment of refuge when she works …

Indigenous Women In Southeastern War Culture, Kyra Jordan Franks

Student Theses and Dissertations

Native American history has become more present in modern day curriculums, both in secondary schools and in higher education; however, not all aspects of native society nor all participants are studied equally. Native American women in particular are often overlooked, their actions misinterpreted, and are overall difficult to find in their own history, especially when it comes to their participation in warfare. Historians frequently leave Native women out of their own history, citing the absence of women in historical records as justification; however, just because something is difficult to find does not mean that it is not there. There are …

Habitually "Ant-Eyeing": The Life And Work Of Billy Joe Tatum, Lauren Adams Willette

Student Theses and Dissertations

Billy Joe Tatum was a naturalist, author, and educator who grew up in Missouri and Arkansas during the 20th century. She is often compared to Euell Gibbons; her book titled Billy Joe Tatum’s Wild Foods Field Guide and Cookbook was the first of its kind to offer gourmet-style recipes for wild and foraged foods. She wrote many different columns for the Ozarks Mountaineer magazine which was distributed not only in the region but around the United States and internationally. Billy Joe was the first herbalist or “yarb doctor” at the Ozark Folk Center State Park, where she oversaw the first …

Birds Don't Fly Here, Sarah Mcraney

Honors Theses

Birds Don’t Fly Here is a novella that follows Elora Maevry. She spent her life feeling like an outsider in her own home. She felt like her Nanny was her only true family, but when her Nanny passes away, Elora is forced to confront her family issues while struggling with grief. Elora is forced to make a decision. She can keep flying away or finally face the truth that has caged her. This story includes themes like grief, mental health issues, abandonment, love, and the complications of relationships.

Nietzschean Expressivism, Cameron Jackson

Theses

What is Nietzsche’s metaethical stance? Does he even have one? We can, I argue, reconstruct an interesting metaethical view from his writings. Rather than focusing narrowly on his claims about moral judgement, I explore Nietzsche’s philosophical psychology broadly in order to argue that he is best interpreted as holding an emotivist type of expressivism. The function of moral judgement lies within its affective and action-guiding nature, and its communal role of coordinating our evaluative attitudes with one another.

The Impact Of Mindfulness-Based Journaling On Psychological Well-Being, Jonah Guthrie

Honors Projects

This study investigated the effects of mindfulness-based journaling compared to free-form journaling on perceived stress, emotion regulation, and mindfulness in undergraduate students. Participants (N = 43) were randomly assigned to either a mindfulness-based journaling group or a free-form journaling group. Both groups journaled daily for two weeks and completed pre- and post-intervention assessments using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), and Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ).

A series of 2 × 2 mixed-design repeated measures ANOVAs revealed a significant main effect of time for perceived stress, F(1, 7) = 28.38, p = .003, …

“En Clave” Tania León And Roberto Sierra: Autochthonous Music Of Cuba And Puerto Rico, Contemporary Music Composition And The ‘Puente’ In Between, Omar A. Ramirez

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This document is in two parts. The first examines selected works of Latin-American composers Tania León and Roberto Sierra. Both composers cite their cultural background as a force that shapes their artistic expression. Many of their works are titled in Spanish, with compositions referencing their homelands in subject and narrative, and incorporate the autochthonous music(s) of Cuba and Puerto Rico. Elements of these afrodiasporic musical traditions can be found in their works: Alegre, Batá, Stride, (León), Loiza, and Concerto for Viola (Sierra), each examined here.

Autochthonous musical elements are highlighted in score excerpts and described using …

Asunder: A Variety Show By Ash Lehning, Ashley Lehning

Honors Capstones

For my honors capstone project, I performed a variety show. Through the performance, I wanted to showcase who I am as a performer and as a person. For many years, I have been passionate about dancing, singing, writing poetry, and playing music. I also really enjoy joking around and having fun. So, instead of trying to decide on just one or a few of these skills to showcase, I combined all of these into a variety show with 26 different acts (one for each letter of the alphabet). This project challenged my creativity in that I had to come up …

Composition Portfolio, Carlos Alberto Arellano Martinez

Music ETDs

To fulfill the requirements of the UNM Master Theory-Composition Program, this thesis portfolio includes the following pieces:

Eco IV, for oboe, Bb clarinet, alto saxophone, bass clarinet, and bassoon. This piece explores my concept of meta-instrument, which combines two or more

instruments to create a new one. In Eco IV I explored proportional notation, impulses, attacks, elision in gestures, pitch order, transitions, and noise. The piece was

performed by Splinter Reeds at the 2023 John Donald Robb Composer´s Symposium. With this work, I fulfill the requirement of a work using orchestra, chamber

orchestra, or wind ensemble.

Quotations, for flute, alto …

The Things We Lose And Other Haunted Stories, Michaela Arnice Reed

Fiction MFA Theses

Inspired by Southern Gothic fiction and speculative short fiction, the stories in "The Things We Lose and Other Haunted Stories" explore the realms of otherness, loss, and family relationships. Though not always supernatural, each story contains a ghostly element which haunts the characters, pushing them out of their comfort zones so they may confront and grow from the fears and phenomena which threaten to break them.

I Am Guillotine, Nathanael Joseph Williams

Fiction MFA Theses

63 years after the Mad War, an exchange of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, a twelve-year old girl wakes up on a train. She has no memory of where she comes from or who she was before the train, but when it stops, there is no doubt that she is now a slave. Brought to the town of Bludgeonburg in chains, she is sold off, along with a boy named Mohawk, to a man named Aabrax as a pit slave. The odd are firmly against Aabrax, and Gilly is not expected to survive, but by a stroke of luck, she …

Human Passion In The City And The Jungle: Translating Horacio Quiroga’S “Dieta De Amor,” “El Simún,” And “Polea Loca”, Washington C. Pearce

Theses and Dissertations

Horacio Quiroga, Uruguayan-Argentine writer who is often considered analogous to Edgar Allan Poe, is notable for his contributions to the development of South American Modernismo and his status as a precursor to the Latin American "Boom" period. My project presents a translation of three previously untranslated short stories: "Dieta de Amor," "El Simún," and "Polea Loca." As a preface to these translations I articulate my translation theory and give examples of that theory in practice. I draw upon Jorge Luis Borges, Lawrence Venuti, and Friedrich Schleiermacher as translation scholars who have influenced my work.

"Peace [That] Could Only Be Amazement, Too": Narrativizing Wonder And Strangeness In Marilynne Robinson's Lila, Tricia Cope

Theses and Dissertations

Set against the backdrop of the mid-twentieth century American Midwest, Marilynne Robinson's Lila is a profound story of loss and redemption told through the perspective of a young woman who emerges from a childhood of trauma and neglect and begins a new life in the quiet town of Gilead, Iowa. This paper examines the novel as a narrative meditation on the theological and ontological dimensions of wonder. While its fragmented structure and bleak subject matter have led some critics to interpret the novel as emotionally fractured or pessimistic, I argue that its recursive form and narrative disorientation are deliberate formal …

Learning Stations As A Dialogical Teaching Strategy In English Language Arts, Kaylee Smedley

Theses and Dissertations

Researchers and teachers advocating for dialogical teaching in secondary English language arts classrooms value dialogical strategies because they offer flexible approaches to comprehension and learning (Wilkinson & Son, 2011). While research on dialogic pedagogy recognizes strategies that privilege student talk, connect reading and writing to students' life experiences, and value multiple perspectives as beneficial, research about learning stations--where students rotate through a series of learning activities in small, collaborative groups (Aydogmus & Senturk, 2019)--and their role in fostering dialogical learning remains limited. This article explores how learning stations supported the application of dialogical principles through an inquiry-based literature unit and …

Wordsworth's Literary Signposts: Writings On Epitaphs And Tourism, 1807-1835, Matthew W. Rudy

Theses and Dissertations

This paper explores the intersection of epitaphic language and tourism in the works of William Wordsworth from 1807-1835. Compared to his earlier, more literal epitaphs, works such as "Yarrow Unvisited" (1807) and "Elegiac Stanzas" (1807) demonstrate a shift towards broader epitaphic language that foregrounds the ability of epitaphic texts to invite the reader to pause and make their own connection with the inscribed site. With the publication of "Essay upon Epitaphs" (1810) he further established his theory on the ideal epitaph as text capable of anticipating and connecting anonymous readers to the site and subject, whether inscribed on a headstone …

Reading "Particularized Worlds": Apocalypse, The Postsecular, And Postcritique In Toni Morrison's A Mercy, Eli Phillips

Theses and Dissertations

Toni Morrison’s 2008 novel A Mercy uses the concepts of world and apocalypse to explore a tension between individual perception (what Morrison calls “particularized worlds”) and larger social systems. In so doing, A Mercy reveals the nuanced networks of relationships that define worlds of belief and culture. By exploring its treatment of worlds and apocalypse and its attitudes toward the characters who experience them, this paper argues that Morisson’s work demonstrates a novel and timely readerly disposition, one that provides a more ethical approach to reading literature within the postcritical and postsecular landscape.