Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Thank You For Your Service, Dwayne Vega

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis offers an intimate exploration of my experiences as a soldier during two deployments to Iraq, describing everyday realities of military life. Rather than glorifying the battlefield with warrior myths, I focus on the emotional toll, survival, and the complex relationships among soldiers. My narrative traces the gradual development of PTSD and my eventual reliance on drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism. Through this personal lens, the thesis seeks to challenge common misconceptions about the soldier's life, offering a raw and authentic portrayal of service, trauma, and the lasting effects it had on my life.

Señoritas On And Off The Silver Screen: How Chicana Women Organized For Equality And Challenged The Cultural Prison Of Sexualized Media Representations In The First Half Of The Twentieth-Century, Rossandra Paloma Martinez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This research is personal for me due to lived experience and day-to-day situations where I have felt the pressures of unattainable beauty standards and society’s fluid definition of beauty and femininity surrounding Chicana, Latinas, Mexican, and Mexican-American women. What inspired me to pursue these issues and topics was the work of Dr. Vicki Lynn Ruiz in her book From Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth-Century America. This research focuses on rival and contested images of Chicana, Mexican, Mexican-American and Latina labor advocates and activists from the early twentieth as opposed to sexualized and eroticized packaged caricatures that Hollywood …

Soldiers In The Sideshows: The 409th Infantry Regiment In World War Ii, Nicholas Garrett

Master's Theses

In the European Theater of World War II certain battlefields or campaigns such as Operation Overlord, Operation Market Garden, and the Battle of the Bulge are core aspects of American memory. However, the men of the 409^th Infantry Regiment of the 103^rd Infantry Division do not fall into this image. This unit fought as part of the U.S. Seventh Army across eastern France through the Vosges Mountains, defended against the German Operation Nordwind and broke through the Siegfried Line into southeastern Germany. Though the 409^th represents a small portion of the men of the 103^rd, …

Beyond The Box: Delivering A New Look To Ohayo Korea, Beatrice Diaz

Graphic Communication

Ohayo Korea, a newly established business in South Korea, specializes in providing buying, packing, consolidation, and forwarding services for international customers seeking exclusive South Korean products or bulk shipments for business purposes. Despite offering valuable services, The business faces significant challenges in establishing visibility and trust in the marketplace. Currently, the business relies primarily on word-of-mouth and minimal social media presence, which restricts its reach and credibility among potential customers. In a highly competitive market, these constraints hinder Ohayo Korea’s ability to stand out and communicate its unique offerings effectively.

To address these challenges, a cohesive brand identity that resonates …

Breaking The Curse: Rebranding The Sacramento Kings, Colby Sundeen

Graphic Communication

The Sacramento Kings basketball team has a terrible reputation throughout the National Basketball Association (NBA) and has suffered a massive loss in their revenue and audience because of it. Even though they are the oldest team in the NBA and are based in the capital of California, which is the largest market in the world for basketball, they are consistently overshadowed by all of the other teams in California as well as most of the other teams in the NBA. This stems from their brand reputation which has slowly and consistently declined since the early 2000’s. Brand reputation is one …

Asian American Reproductive Rhetorics: A Rhetorical Analysis Of "The Farm" By Joanne Ramos, Mckinlee Armstrong

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Rhetorical scholars have long analyzed the idea of choice in the context of reproductive rights and have concluded that individual choice does not override the systematic barriers women of color face in accessing reproductive healthcare. Most Asian American rhetorical artifacts that have reached this same conclusion are case studies. I propose that analyzing Asian American fiction, specifically The Farm by Joanne Ramos, is just as necessary because fiction demonstrates the barriers that might exist in the future and how to prevent them from happening. The framework I use to analyze this text is the Asian American rhetorical concept of restiveness, …

Storytelling Through Usu's 10-Minute Play Festival, Sarah Anne Polizzotto

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The 10-Minute Play Festival served as the culminating experience of my undergraduate education, combining my skills in stage management, directing, dramaturgy, and arts administration. The project aimed to create an accessible, student-led theatrical event that celebrated inclusion, storytelling, and collaboration. This portfolio highlights both the creative and administrative aspects of my work, showcasing the planning, research, and execution necessary to bring the festival to life. As the festival’s student organizer, I handled administrative tasks such as securing performance rights, designing promotional materials, and coordinating rehearsals. Drawing from dramaturgical research, I developed a vision for my directed play, Three Drunk Poets …

Navigating The Anglo-Irish Landscape: Imaginative Geographies In Bram Stoker And Elizabeth Bowen's Novels, Natalie Pearson

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

There has been great work done by scholars of Anglo-Irish Gothic tradition to assess the place of classic fictional characters within that tradition. Could a character’s identity contain an Irish dimension? Could they be, perhaps, an allegorical embodiment of the Anglo-Irish Protestant Ascendancy or native Irish peasantry? All excellent questions; however, this present study looks to explore a different perspective by considering “place” itself across four Anglo-Irish Gothic novels: that of Bram Stoker’s The Snake’s Pass (1890) and Dracula (1897) and Elizabeth Bowen’s The Last September (1929) and Bowen’s Court (1942). I seek to highlight the physical landscape in each …

Joseph Moxon: Fueled By Science, Extinguished By Class. How A Forgotten Middle-Classed Early Modern English Puritan Printer Mathematician And Globe-Maker Helped Forge The Scientific Revolution And Democratize Knowledge Among The Trades, Kenneth L. Macro Jr.

Master's Theses

Joseph Moxon, raised within the trades, elevated into the middle-class, was an inducted Fellow of the Royal Society, Hydrographer to the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, Printer, Author, Translator, Maker of Globes and of Spheres, Maker of Maps and of Mathematical Instruments, Engraver, and Entrepreneur. Moxon was the quintessential Renaissance Man. A tradesman living in a time of great scientific intrigue and discovery, Moxon, acknowledged by few mid-seventeenth century historians, rightfully contributed his scientific discoveries—in the forms of tutorials and manuals written for the common man—as a testimony to all printers who have helped in the progression of the Scientific Revolution. …

Communication In War: How Harper's Weekly Reported On Andersonville From 1864 To 1865, Pamela Budinger

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The unifying theme of this thesis is human communication in war, specifically the American Civil War. History can be seen as studies of past communications and the actions that preceded and followed such communications. Scholars of the Civil War era are limited with regard to their source material compared to scholars that might be studying the twentieth century, or today. Today’s historians can tap a plethora of media that hold traces of human communication: videotape, television, tape recordings, letters, and other forms of written communication. Not all of these are available to scholars studying the Civil War. This thesis adopts …

Victory Gardens: Helping On The Home Front, A Curriculum Outreach Project, Kelly Hoomes

Master's Theses

The Victory Garden: Helping on the Homefront traveling trunk outreach project links past, present, and future by introducing students to the historical significance of World War II victory gardens and emphasizing the continued relevance today. Partnering with Kennesaw State University’s Museum of History and Holocaust Education (MHHE), the traveling trunk focuses on a fifth-grade audience, aligning with Georgia Standards of Excellence for Social Studies, Health, and Science. The traveling trunk designed as a “museum-in-a-box" includes primary sources, artifacts, and a practical gardening activity that fosters critical thinking and analysis. By encouraging an understanding of the past and the connections to …

Emerging Agency In Border Communities During Pandemics, William Ordeman

All Dissertations

“Emerging Agency in Border Communities During Pandemics” uncovers the complex natural and social histories of two Texas border counties, El Paso and Hidalgo, to explain how these counties became highly susceptible to the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. This work argues that humans engaging with natural resources throughout history created a rhetoric of exploitation and social hierarchy along the Texas/Mexico border. Rhetoric from Spanish and Anglo colonists coupled with environmental phenomena across time displaced Latinx/e bodies living in these counties into precarious communities called colonias, and the presence of these colonias made each county highly susceptible to disease outbreak. I …

A Performance Guide To Lisabeth-Claude Jacquet De La Guerre’S Cantate Fran Oise: Semel, Cho Hee Hwang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study explores one of the French cantatas, Semel , composed by lisabeth-Claude Jacquet de La Guerre (1665–1729) to provide an analysis of her sophisticated text painting and a performance guide for singers. The cantata genre originated in Italy and by the early-eighteenth century, it flourished in France as well: approximately eight hundred French cantatas were composed between 1700 and 1730. lisabeth-Claude Jacquet de La Guerre was among the French composers who adopted the genre, along with Jean-Baptiste Morin (1677–1745), Nicholas Bernier (1664–1734), Fran ois Couperin (1668–1733), and Louis-Nicolas Cl rambault (1676–1749). In 1715, Jacquet de La Guerre published the …

The Impact Of Father-Daughter Relationships On Dating And Relationship Behaviors For African American Women: A Qualitative Analysis, Neeah A. Lofton

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study examines how African American father-daughter relationships can impact their dating and relationship behaviors. This highlights an important role African American fathers play in shaping their daughter’s development and expectations within romantic relationships. The purpose of this qualitative (grounded theory) study was created to unravel the unique dynamics that shapes African American women's views on intimacy, self worth and relationships expectations. The research seeks to fill existing gaps in literature, moving beyond the notion of African American father presence to explore the emotional context that influences their daughter’s romantic lives. The research question for this study is for African …

Leadership Emergence And Factors Preventing Emergence Of Elders In The Churches Of Christ In The Ledzokuku Municipal Assembly, Francis Brown

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the persistent absence of formally appointed elders in five Churches of Christ within Teshie in the Ledzokuku municipal assembly, Ghana, despite these congregations’ existence for over two decades. The research seeks to critically examine the factors contributing to the inability of long-serving leaders to align with biblical qualifications. Utilizing a case study methodology, the research examines leadership emergence within the congregations, exploring the discrepancy between tenure and adherence to scriptural standards, and emphasizing the causes and implications for leadership effectiveness and spiritual integrity that facilitate or obstruct the ordination of elders. The study employs a qualitative research …

Authenticity And Genre In Old-Time Music: 1958-1965, Lara Ressler-Horst

Masters Theses, 2020-current

From 1961-1965, in response to the growing commercial success of the Folk Revival, a small group of New York City-based folk musicians and folklorists began promoting what they viewed as a more ‘authentic’ version of folk music. Calling themselves the “Friends of Old Time Music (FOTM),”[1] these musicians and folklorists put together a series of 14 concerts between 1961 and 1965 to promote ‘traditional musicians’. The decision by this small group of musicians and folklorists to use the genre name ‘old-time’ rather than ‘folk’ in their concert series was a direct engagement with and response to Folk Revival era …

Antillia, Kelsie Ogden

English Undergraduate Honors Theses

History, Mythology, and Fantasy are all considered to hold different ideas surrounding truth. More often than not, it is harder to draw this line than one might think. Through this thesis, an argument is made surrounding the legendary island Antillia and where this mythical island falls into more categories than one. Through the carefully crafted journal writings of the Viking, Ragnar, and the wondrous diary entries of Medieval widow, Ivette, the search for this island comes to a head. What waits upon this island, however, is a cure to the very essence of these two characters and others like them– …

Treaty Wars And Executive Unilateralism: With A Case Study Of The Korean War, Jack James Warner

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the expansion of presidential power during the Cold War through the lens of International Treaty Organizations (ITOs), using the Korean War as a case study. ITOs enabled US presidents, beginning with Truman, to engage in military conflicts devoid of the traditionally required congressional approval, thereby transforming the nature of American diplomacy and elevating executive authority. By leveraging US obligations to the United Nations treaty, Truman set a precedent for unilateral military action under the aegis of international peacekeeping. Politicians attempted to restrict the president's authority to wage war in Korea, culminating in the introduction of the Bricker …

Urban Japanese, Rural American: How Regionality Shaped Nisei Girlhood In Prewar America, Lauren Reiko Yanase

University Honors Theses

This thesis explores Nisei girls' racial and cultural identity formation in the American West before their forced removal to the World War II Japanese American mass incarceration camps. Japanese American history has long been dominated by male narratives, from labor histories of the 1880's first-generation Issei to the American patriotism of the 1930's second-generation Nisei. Japanese American women are generally considered through generational categories, promulgating a linear story of American progress. I argue that regionality is the main factor that shaped Nisei girls' self-identity, employing transcribed interviews with Nisei women born 1924-1929 as primary sources to write narrative histories differentiated …

A Girls Guide To Study Abroad, Emily Childress

Human Development and Family Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis, titled "A Girl’s Guide to Study Abroad," explores the multifaceted experiences of female students in international study programs through an autoethnographic lens. The research draws on my personal experiences during a semester abroad with the American Institute for Foreign Study (AIFS) in Italy. To document and analyze the diverse challenges, adaptations, and growth I encountered, I utilized the Diarium app to capture daily notes encompassing personal reflections, logistical hurdles, and emotional insights. These reflections were subsequently analyzed through thematic analysis using the Braun and Clarke method in NVivo 12 software to identify emergent themes categorized as positive, challenging, …

Lilac Divinity: The Socio-Religious Transformation Of The Capetian Monarchy, Michael Earth Anderson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study considers an alternative explanation for the ascendancy of the Capetian monarchy during the High Middle Ages. Through a broad consideration of notable kings across a large time period, I argue that the kings of France knowingly participated in a process of spiritual and cultural embellishment that traditional, comparative models have failed to properly assess. The paper begins with a short introduction and is followed by a consideration of how the Middle Ages have been framed historiographically. The next section offers a historiographical overview of feudalism to contextualize persistent issues in the field. The remaining sections consist largely of …

The Role Of Dynastic Marriage In The Reigns Of Mary I And Elizabeth I Of England, Regan Vann

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My project will cover the role gender and dynastic marriage played in the reigns of Mary I of England Elizabeth I of England, and the differences they caused in their reigns compared to a reign of a male monarch. The historical question I am exploring is how Mary and Elizabeth’s gender impacted their reign by means of dynastic marriage. Marriage was important for the English royals as the prospect of marrying foreign royal created opportunities for alliances with other realms. Royal marriages were often arranged by the monarch, usually a king, for his children, especially his female children. Mary and …

First Latter-Day Saint Women Baptized In Europe And Oceania: Ann Cottam Dawson (1785-1849) And Terii (Ca. 1800-Ca. 1860), Robyn Shahan Spears

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a study in the backgrounds, Latter-day Saint conversions, and ministries of two early nineteenth-century women: Ann Cottam Dawson in Lancashire, England and a woman known simply as Terii on the island of Tubuai in the Austral Islands (now French Polynesia). Because these two women did not leave behind diaries, this study relies upon evidence such as missionary diaries, newspapers, church records, vital records, genealogical records, sermons, and even a mutiny narrative. The discussion is organized in three parts: Dawson’s biography, Terii’s biography, and a comparison of the two. Both women fed and housed the missionaries, performed women’s …

Jeremiah And Falsehood, Ernesto A Guajardo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis proposes that falsehood within Jeremiah is the culminating socio- theological development of a string of habitual and willful degradations done to Judah’s agency by its collective religious and public parties. Jeremiah’s inherent historical context being imbedded within the ancient Near East, and his intentional cross-comparison of Judah’s prophets with that of Samaria, calls for a reconsideration of Jeremiah’s standard reading to one that includes non-Israelite divination, prophecy, and ideas on the divine presence. Judah’s prophets and priests are specifically mentioned repeatedly throughout the text as being the encouragers of and sustainers of Judah’s idolatry, immoral behavior, false prophecy, …

Recognition Or Refusal? Marginalized Identity Development In Passing And The Color Purple, Lee M. Kassay

Theses & Honors Papers

The novels Passing by Nella Larsen and The Color Purple by Alice Walker both involve identity development in their black queer female protagonists, but previous scholarship has rarely discussed the works in tandem. Thus, I merge the discussion around these two works by analyzing them through the concept of G.W.F. Hegel's master-slave dialectic. Assessing how both protagonists participate in their relationships with their female love interests versus their male husbands shows the importance of mutual recognition in the development of identity.

Capturing Creativity: An Exploration Of The Positive Impact Of Art Integration In Elementary Education, Christina Zander

Theses and Dissertations

My thesis focuses on the necessity of including art in education and the positive impact integrating art has on students mentally and academically. Over the past 2 years, I have seen the major impact integrating art has on students and how essential it is to keep creativity in the classroom. My research explains how incorporating art helps increase both student engagement and retention of concepts. I have also studied how integrating art with mindfulness can help students develop essential SEL skills including emotion management. My research expands on how utilizing art allows individuals and students to better cope with challenges …

Beyond Surrealism: The Developing Keyboard Style Of André Souris, Melanie T. Mallard

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

André Souris (1899-1970) is perhaps best known as a musical contributor to the Belgian surrealist group founded by Paul Nougé, but he assumed many roles throughout his life, including composer, writer, director, and promoter of modern music. His various interests influenced the style of his compositions, which remain largely unpublished and have received little scholarly attention beyond researchers of surrealism. Through this survey of many of Souris’ works for keyboard, I attempt to lay the groundwork for further discussion about Souris’ musical contributions not only through the lens of surrealism but also throughout his compositional career. This descriptive analysis of …

That's Life, John Menechino

Master's Projects

This capstone project is a collection of poetry, meant to showcase all of what I have learned about developing a strong writing collection during my time in the MAPW program. The collection covers a myriad of topics, but many of them detail the mundane things in life and the small joys they have. Some poems also detail heavy mental thoughts, and encourage self-reflection and deep thinking.

“It’S Essential We Learn How To Grow For Ourselves”: The Legacies Of Black Gardening In Racialized Food Systems., Funmi Odumosu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I aim to investigate the impact of food racism on Black communities, with a specific focus on the importance of gardening in combatting food apartheid and fostering holistic connections to nature and community in school-aged children. Inequitable access to major retail supermarkets and unequal distribution of healthy food options are intentionally occurring patterns in the food spaces of predominately Black communities. These food system inequities exacerbate a lack of consumption and potential consequences on the health and well-being of children of color particularly during critical physical and cognitive developmental periods.

Many solutions to these inequities entail implementing …

Informative Recital, Avery Molnar

Honors Theses

We must keep discovering pieces by underrepresented composers. For example, playing pieces by underrepresented composers in music classes at public schools is important. If the students do not see their identities represented in the curriculum, it is more difficult to picture themselves in a potential career. Students must see themselves being represented in their curriculum to expand the student’s full potential later in life. A hidden curriculum is something not in the curriculum. If something is not part of a curriculum, students will start to conclude that the subject does not matter and is not worthy of learning whether it …