Arts and Humanities Commons^™

A History Of The Deutsche Sommerschule Am Pazifik, Sequoia J. Oar

University Honors Theses

The number of post-secondary German immersion programs in the United States has decreased from eleven to three since their heyday in the 1960s and the 1970s. The remaining three include: the German Immersion Program at Middlebury Language Schools (est. 1915), the Deutsche Sommerschule am Pazifik (est. 1958), and the Deutsche Sommerschule von New Mexico (est. 1975). These programs provide post-secondary students with immersive German-learning experiences for undergraduate and graduate credit during a summer session each year. Of these schools, the Deutsche Sommerschule am Pazifik stands alone in not having an accessible written history available to the public, which this thesis …

Applying Decolonizing Theories And Methodologies In Archaeology To Two Collaborative Cultural Resource Management Projects, Cydney K. Lanthier

Dissertations and Theses

Decolonizing theories and methods were employed during two separate graduate research projects. The methods of the initial project were informed by political ecology, the landscape-level historical ecology theory, Tribal sovereignty, traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), Indigenous archaeology, and community based participatory research (CBPR). The initial project was based entirely on CBPR and purposed to gain National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) nomination as a Traditional Cultural Property (TCP) over a portion of the traditional landscape. This project was cancelled before completion. However, several methods involved in CBPR were employed before then. The second project took on more of the historical ecology …

Fleeing Towards Healing: How Cam Can Heal Refugee Communities, Sarah B. Shaalan

Master's Theses

Alternative methods of healing can be found across the globe and are used by all kinds of people including refugees. This thesis will explore the potential benefits of Complementary and Alternative Medicine otherwise known as “CAM” as a supplementary strategy for helping refugees to deal with stress, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other harmful effects sustained on their journey and lives as displaced peoples. I will do so by first situating my project in the literature on Eurocentrism in healing practices and the emergence of CAM as an alternative. Then, using extensive primary and secondary sources, supplemented by an …

Anxious Futures: Capital, Nation And Advertising In Beirut, Lebanon, Caitlin Alais Callahan

Theses and Dissertations

Contemporary billboard advertising in Beirut fuels anxiety in Beirut’s citizens. In a city suffering from daily uncertainties caused by a devastating financial collapse in 2019, and mourning victims of the worst non-nuclear explosion to ever occur in the Port of Beirut in 2020, Beirutis are also faced with advertising which constantly reinforces uneasiness. Visual advertisements market visas to leave the country, purchasing second passports and money counting machines, forming quotidian reminders of the current state of the country. Using interviews and visual ethnographic material collected during the summer of 2023, this thesis discusses how billboards help to foster dialogue around …

Harmony Or Discord? The Intersection Of Religious Beliefs And International Mindedness, Ranjan Kumar Lima

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

A fundamental concept of the International Baccalaureate (IB) educational philosophy is international mindedness. International mindedness refers to being, thinking, and acting with openness to the world and an understanding of the interconnectedness of oneself with others. Despite extensive research on religious beliefs and international mindedness separately, there remains a dearth of studies exploring their intersection, especially among the International Baccalaureate (IB) teachers in their early professional years. This study examines how the religious beliefs of early adult and early-career International Baccalaureate (IB) teachers influence their perceptions and manifestations of international mindedness. This study utilizes phenomenological research strategies. It involves eight …

Crafting Lives: Experiences Of Ethiopian Refugees In Cairo, Nayrose S. Abd El-Megid

Theses and Dissertations

There has been an ongoing influx of refugees for years driven by political instability, famine, and prolonged conflicts in the region, leading many individuals to seek sanctuary in other countries. Egypt has become a host country for many years, whether for settlement or transit, for various populations from different nationalities hoping to find refuge. However, amidst this influx, Ethiopian refugees often find themselves overlooked or usually associated on the sidelines with other African nationalities; their stories and struggles are marginalized in broader narratives of displacement. The experience of Ethiopians is heterogeneous and multidimensional in terms of their intersectional identities of …

Wayward Utopias: Time In Wilde And Goethe, Kafi Moghrabi Mr

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I study the dialectical relation between the Utopian imagination and a reality perceived in every way as antagonistic to hope. In the first chapter, I present Ernst Bloch’s Utopian vision, as presented in The Principle of Hope, which offers an exposition of the author’s Romantic Marxism. The second chapter engages Oscar Wilde’s only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, demonstrating how a life devoted to self-gratification only results in the constant deferral of Utopian longing, and how, undone, Dorian’s demise opens up Utopian possibilities as anticipated by Bloch. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s version of the …

Which Tools Can Aid The Management Of Intangible Cultural Heritage In Community Based Heritage Organizations In Cairo? A Case Study Of Shubra’S Archive, Mienke Zwemstra

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis provides a comprehensive overview of cultural heritage management in Cairo, focusing particularly on intangible heritage and the potential benefits of digital tools in this field. It highlights the marginalization of community-based organizations in the broader narrative of heritage management in Cairo, along with the limited alignment and collaboration between local, national and international heritage institutions. Drawing from ethnographic research conducted at the Shubra’s Archive (SARD), this study identifies the challenges faced by such organizations, including the reliance on volunteers and international funding for mission implementation. It emphasizes the importance of strategic planning and collaboration with municipal and national …

Mindspace: The Creation And Curation Of An Interactive Art Exhibition On Nostalgia, Memory And Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Emma Wallace

University Honors Theses

MINDSPACE is an autobiographical art exhibition aimed at raising awareness about Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD) through a collection of multimedia artworks. The exhibition combines sculpture, video projection, and multimedia installations alongside a compilation of creative writing to immerse viewers in the intricate emotional landscape of C-PTSD. Through a series of installations and carefully curated video and audio, visitors are invited to explore the internal world of an artist affected by C-PTSD and learn how this impacts the artist's life in various ways.

PTSD itself was only formally recognized as a discrete diagnostic category in the 1980s, and as of …

How Do They See Us?: Unhcr's Representations Of Syrian Refugees In “Every Second Counts” Campaign, Marah Khalid

Theses and Dissertations

Representation is not just an opinion; it is the recreation of realities, facts, and stories that encourage receivers, who are readers and viewers, to build perceptions of a certain topic, objects, events, and human beings. Studying the representation of refugees in the media, UN agencies, and International organizations' press releases, videos, and images has been the main focus for many scholars for decades. However, little is known about refugees' perspectives on visuals produced by UN agencies. This research tries to add to the few studies concerning the captured human object, refugees, perspective using Hall’s encoding/decoding model (Hall, 1997) to analyze …

The Robot On The Hill, James Ryan

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

“The Robot on the Hill” is a rogue-like autobattler that procedurally models the state of the individual in the information age. The game abruptly transitions between diverse framings - a hill, a bedroom, a pond, a chessboard, the void - in order to highlight the disjointedness that is present in the informationalizing of self and reality. It dialogues with Byung Chul Han and Heidegger to portray what Han describes as a ‘narrative crisis’ in modernity and the devaluation of experience. When the value of experience diminishes and disintegrates, “all that is left is bare life, a kind of survival.” …

Geotransformación And Overcoming Underdevelopment In Socialist Cuba, Danny Meza Keane

Comparative Literature M.A. Essays

The term geotransformación, coined and theorized by Cuban geographer and revolutionary Antonio Núñez Jiménez in his 1968 book Geotransformación de Cuba, is an analytic frame which emphasizes the interconnectedness of social and natural transformation. As such, geotransformación functions as a conceptual weapon against not only theories of geographic determinism attempting to depoliticize history, but also grand historical narratives which center the human by overstating its independence from the forces of nature. Taking geotransformación as a conceptual compass for a return to the Cuban Revolution’s decisive early years, I engage in close readings of primary texts including geographic treatises, legal documents, …

And I Become Her, Alhanouf Almaghrabi

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

This thesis is a novel written in the first-person point of view with two characters, Jamila and Bella. The two protagonists are identical twins who got separated at birth. The novel addresses cultural effects and explores the role of upbringing in shaping the twins' identities. Jamila is raised by her father in Saudi Arabia while Bella is raised by her mother in the United States. The storyline starts when the two sisters meet in Atlanta, Georgia, 18 years after the separation. Jamila studies business administration at Georgia Tech while Bella studies creative writing at SCAD. Each one of them get …

Riding Shotgun: Authenticity And Discovery, James Washington Jr

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

The truth hurts.” So, my family said to me from my earliest comprehension. The poet’s fundamental ethic requires a commitment to authenticity, at the intersection of myriad creative possibilities. How to write poems about family, friends, and life experiences, mine included, through honest interrogation? Fortunately, empathy and truth are not mutually exclusive. When I began my thesis, my poems written during MALS enrollment were scattered, print and electronic. I could have saved myself plenty of time had I been a good curator. So said, there was an upside to gathering the strays. I was afforded the benefit of thematic discovery …

Native American And First-Nations Canadian And Physical Pfas Accumulations: A Literature Review, Laurel Liebeseller

University Honors Theses

Native communities' exposure to anthropogenic Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS: "Forever Chemicals") are not demographically or geographically evenly distributed. Those who live near or on contaminated land or water are the most likely to accumulate dangerous amounts of PFAS that may have serious health consequences (Tribal PFAS Working Group 2021). Areas that tend to be most contaminated include landfills, airports, and military bases. Often Black, Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) and low-income communities are placed near these "sacrificial zones" due to historic and current policies that segregate and marginalize people and families to polluted lands creating great environmental injustices (Dixie). …

Reaping In The Dark, Rae Perez

Honors Projects

This project, reaping in the dark, aims to answer the question ‘How do we live in a world where we were never meant to survive?’ Surrounded by heinous war and deathmaking, violent vulnerabilities, and demands that our own bodies must be contributions in the machinations of killing and exploitation, I found myself simultaneously isolated by the devastation, and empowered by solidarity and care networks and coalitions being formed in real time. In particular, I take part in and document my grief and grieving, love and loving in response to the new cycles of escalating violence in Gaza, the …

Challenging The Master Narrative Of Holocaust Victimhood: Examining The Holocaust Through A Gendered Lens, Annabella Blowers

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Women are severely unrepresented in the master narrative that has come to define what it means to be a Holocaust victim. Although men and women were subjected to different forms of victimization, women’s unique experiences of suffering have been marginalized and subsumed within the male-dominated master narrative. Examining the Holocaust through a gendered lens challenges this existing narrative of Holocaust victimhood. Conducting a gender analysis of the Holocaust is essential to fully incorporate women’s experiences into Holocaust history and the grossly inadequate narrative society uses to define Holocaust victimhood.

An analysis of fifty Holocaust fiction novels revealed that literature’s depiction …

What The Eye Doesn't See: The Power Of Non-Ocularcentric Engagement In Museum Learning, Sophie J. Houghton

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Museums are unique spaces of teaching and learning. Museum exhibits transcend the constraints of classroom learning by leveraging visitors’ curiosity and allowing for increased learning autonomy. However, this learning often comes solely through visual interaction, due to museums’ role in preservation and protection of their collection. Though visual-based learning is common in museums and in Western education at large, multisensory elements cement learning autonomy and prompt visitors to learn through play. These principles are exemplified through children’s’ museums, science museums, and museum adaptations for blind and low-vision visitors. Through multisensory adaptations, traditional museums can transform their impact on visitors. This …

Me And Ms Jones - The Androgyny Of Black Women, Lethokuhle Msimang

Comparative Literature M.A. Essays

Despite the progression of contemporary discourses around gender, the African woman's body remains in a categorical conundrum shaped by post-colonial legacies. This paper explores how prevailing notions of femininity and its intrinsic relationship to delicateness, exclude black women from the female category. Given the significance gender plays in participation in the occident, black women's preclusion from the female category can result in what may appear on the surface as a posturing of whiteness, but which, on further interrogation, reflects a performance of fragility. On the other extreme is the embrace of androgyny as both an internalization and a way to …

Composing Pedagogically-Informed Choral Literature For Adolescent Males, Rachel Olson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The “missing males” phenomenon, the disparity between males and females enrolled in choral ensembles in junior high and high school settings, has long been a concern among music educators (Koza, 1993). This gap in choral enrollment is often attributed to challenges associated with the male changing voice, prescribed gender roles, and a lack of suitable repertoire (Ayres, 2020, Lucas, 2011; Hawkins, 2015). The decline of male choral singers poses significant obstacles to fostering balanced and inclusive choral communities. Through an extensive review of existing literature and pedagogical insights from choral experts, this paper reviews the physiological changes associated with voice …

You, Me, And The Unknown: A Creative Exploration Into The Emotions We Feel About What We Don't Understand, Lena Hall

University Honors Theses

I've always found the concept of fear and anxiety to be incredibly fascinating. As someone who grew up with extreme anxiety, I always wanted to rationalize it and figure out exactly why I felt that way. Anxiety is the inherent fear of the unknown and I wanted to know more about why we fear what we don't understand, or in other cases, why we love it. I conducted a research project on our perceptions of the unknown that resulted in an experimental page layout print publication where I shared the participant's views on the unknown through a visual storytelling medium.

The Institutionalization Of Jazz Pedagogy As Observed In The Greater Salt Lake Area Of Utah, Jens Watts

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Although traditionally an oral art form, the learning and teaching of jazz music has undergone a shift towards institutionalization and formalization in the last fifty years, principally in the form of method books and the presence of jazz in educational institutions. This study documents this trend by a comparison of jazz pedagogy experienced by and used by professional musicians in Utah with that which is recorded in Paul Berliner’s Thinking in Jazz. The informality of education for Berliner’s interlocutors contrasts starkly with the institutionalized education of most of the participants in this study.

Harvey Wilson Goodwin: A World-Class Performer, Kristen Miller

Theses and Dissertations

The life of Harvey Wilson Goodwin as a female impersonator, known as Harvey Lee, during the 1900s helps to establish a connection for fellow members of the LGBTQIA+ community. His resilience to continue performing in the face of life struggles is an ode to the ever-continuous challenges the community faces throughout time. As such, a digital exhibit has been created in honor of celebrating and remembering the life and times of Harvey Wilson Goodwin, more properly known as a world-class performer during his time. Ultimately, this ensures that his memory continues to live on as a means of connecting the …

Shifting Forms: Queer Placemaking Amidst Neoliberalism In New York City Through Art, Colin J. Donnelly

Geography Undergraduate Senior Theses

This project explicates how queer people produce space for themselves through art in New York City amidst the prevalent neoliberal frameworks that have existed since the 1980s. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with queer artists and nonprofit workers, participant observation in art spaces, and close reading of art compiled through archival work, I explore sites of presentation (places in which art is displayed) and modes of presentation (how specific artists decide to present their art). I analyze museums and nonprofit spaces, and engage with queer artists that create what I consider to be site-specific art. I zoom in on spatial art …

Processing The Kaay Collection: Reeling In The Am Era, Dora L. Bradley

Theses and Dissertations

The KAAY Collection of reel-to-reel tapes was received at the Central Arkansas Library System at the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies and stored in the archives temporarily before being sent for digitization. The collection was not fully processed. This project was to include organizing and labeling the materials before cataloging descriptive information about each reel-to-reel tape. Further plans included digitizing and collecting metadata from each reel, as well as creating finding aides for the materials before they could be stored in the archive. Though a deed of gift was signed awarding ownership of the collection to the archive, interviews and …

Loving 바리데기: A Traveler's Guide To Anthologizing The 여성 시인, Tiffany Hyunkyung Chang

Comparative Literature Undergraduate Senior Theses

This thesis retells the folktale of the Korean shaman goddess 바리데기’s (Paridegi) as my journey through Korean literature. It follows Korean feminist poet Kim Hyesoon’s typology of the three deaths that 바리데기must experience to become a shamanic goddess and mediator with Death. I map these three deaths (the Death of Losing Your Name, the Death of Diaspora, and the Death of Immortal Crossings) onto the three stages of my development as a second-generation Korean American literary scholar, translator, and artist. Through connecting my personal journeys with the disciplinary concerns facing comparative literature, Asian American studies, Asian area studies, and Korean …

From History To Memory: Comparative Discourse Of Proust's Le Temps Retrouvé And Michelet's Histoire De La Révolution Française, Jose F. Lopez Cochachi

Comparative Literature Undergraduate Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

Machines Of The Absurd: Leveraging Generative Ai For Creativity, Humor, And Playfulness, Tyler Sanders

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

Machines of The Absurd is a collection of four projects exploring how generative AI can be leveraged for creativity, humor and playfulness.

1. neverOS — A node-based visual playground for interacting with large language models.

2. Other Calc — An iOS app with a calculator interface, where players can “calculate” text instead of numbers.

3. What Must Burn — An experiment where players type in text that can be dragged into a campfire to produce contextually appropriate sound effects.

4. Jazz vs Waffles — A turn-based comedy game, where players battle anything they type in.

Together, these projects make the …

Korean Newspapers And The “Irish Problem”: Japanese Censorship In Colonial Korea, 1920-1930, Jaehyun Kim

Student Work

Jaehyun Kim’s thesis, “Korean Newspapers and the ‘Irish Problem’: Japanese Censorship in Colonial Korea, 1920-1930,” touches upon a subject that scholars of colonial Korea have given insufficient attention to. Kim asks why there featured so many colonial Korean run newspaper articles on the Irish Independent movement in the 1920s and 1930s when the Japanese colonial government actively censored Korean newspapers. Indeed, in the wake of the March First Independent Movement, the colonial authorities shifted its harsh military rule to a more conciliatory cultural policy, allowing Koreans to vent their nationalistic sentiments within the confines of state control. However, the level …

The One-And-A-Half Chinas’ Problem: Taiwan And The Origins Of Peaceful Reunification, 1978–1988, Lucas Miner

Student Work

Lucas Miner’s thesis, “The One-and-a-Half Chinas’ Problem, Taiwan and the Origins of Peaceful Reunification, 1978–1988,” deals with attempts by the Chinese Communist Party and the Guomindang to achieve unification between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan during the early phase of China’s reform era. The thesis seeks to update our interpretation of Cross-Strait relations by exploring the origins of peaceful reunification, tracing its early evolution from 1978 to 1985. Primary sources from both sides of the strait—especially from the rich repository at the Academia Historica in Taipei—allows Miner to construct a nuanced and significant narrative that uniquely incorporates …