Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Tailoring The Stereotype Of Asian Femininity: Nancy Kwan, The Qipao, And 1960s Hollywood, Jing Yang

Film and Media Studies (MA) Theses

This article asks the following questions: First, whether or not Kwan, and her qipaos, created new stereotypes of Asian women, or whether they, in fact, customarily represented within restricted versions of Asian femininity already available within mainstream, dominant Western culture of early 1960s Hollywood films. That is, this article seeks to investigate why Kwan, and her qipaos, in fact, became so culturally productive at that moment of historical time. Second, this article further seeks to explore the ways in which the qipao continued to enable Nancy Kwan to represent to mainstream Western, Hollywood-based audiences, uniquely, greatly, or importantly different versions …

History In The Social Studies Classroom: Developing Historical Literacy And Skills Through Inquiry Lessons, Nancy J. Thatcher

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

This Plan B project has created a series of inquiry-based lesson plans and activities for World History classrooms that emphasize historical literacy and disciplinary thinking. Rather than producing a traditional research thesis, this project emphasizes applied historical scholarship by translating historical and professional methodology into three classroom ready instructional lesson plans that are aligned with the Utah Core Standards for Social Studies. The project reflects the History MA’s emphasis on disciplinary rigor while addressing the practical needs of public history and education with pedagogical best practices. This project responds to ongoing challenges in World History education, including constrained instructional time, …

Bringing Women Into Focus: Adapting Traditional Lesson Standards To Incorporate Women In U.S. History, Emma M. Wilson

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

This thesis Plan-B project is creating women centered lesson plans for middle and high school social studies curriculum. As a result of male dominance in education the standards, practices, and curriculum have largely focused on a male-dominant narrative. This project works to remedy this imbalance by taking standards directly from the State and adapting lesson plans to highlight historical women actors as the focus, while still aligning with core outcomes. The current male-centered approach to the broader social studies curriculum does not account for the wide array of viewpoints experienced for those living in the United States. Re-envisioning lessons to …

The Legend Of The Bear Lake Monster, Melissa Anderson Asay

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

The Bear Lake Monster is a legend that has persisted for centuries. This monster is rooted in Shoshone oral traditions and hold the potential to be based off of fossils found in the Shoshone territory. This living legend was later amplified by Mormon settlers. One settler in particular, Joseph C. Rich, played a significant role in shaping its narrative. Though he eventually admitted to fabricating sightings to encourage settlement, belief in the creature remains alive today. The serpent’s presence in local lore has undeniably influenced the Bear Lake region, shaping both its identity and tourism industry. This legend serves as …

Tales, Traditions, And Tides: The Little Logan River And Its Role In Cache Valley's History, Culture, And Conservation, Emily A. Kovacic

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

The Little Logan River (LLR) plays a vital role in the cultural, historical, and ecological landscape of Cache Valley, Utah. Amid growing concerns raised by the Logan River Watershed Project (LRWP), which threatens to alter the river’s environment, this project seeks to understand the significance of the LLR as a cultural and recreational asset through collected oral histories. Building on folkloric perspectives of place-based storytelling, this thesis introduces the idea of vivus locum, or “that place which is alive,” through the example of the LLR to the study of folkloristics. The concept of vivus locum emphasizes the importance of …

Historical Inquiry-Based Lessons In World History Classrooms: Creating Opportunities For Historical Thinking, Melinda Thatcher Lofland

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

This Plan B project creates inquiry-based lessons that help students investigate the global tapestry of World History with its vast threads of transregional connections and diverse cultures that color our contemporary world and help prepare them to participate as global citizens. This project uses primary and secondary sources to create evidence-based lesson plans that will help history teachers provide opportunities for students to practice historical inquiry skills in Utah’s world history classrooms. These plans employ current scholarship and best teaching practices while following national and state standards for World History. In addition, these lessons were developed using inquiry-based historical thinking …

The Rending Of The Temple Curtain In The Gospel Of Luke: Its Relocation And Implications, Kim Kai Chan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The rending of the temple curtain at Jesus’s death is recorded in all three Synoptic Gospels, yet Luke relocates the event from after to before Jesus’s death, creating interpretive challenges. While Mark connects the curtain’s tearing to the rending of the heavens at Jesus’s baptism through the verb σχίζω, this study argues that Luke reframes the tearing motif by linking the curtain’s rending to the tearing of the new garment in the parables of Luke 5:36–39, likewise employing σχίζω.

On the one hand, these parables in Luke 5 represent Jesus’s reasoning with his critics that to resist him and his …

Egyptian Suite: Compositional Reflections, Jeremy Fisher Jacobus

Master's Theses

Egyptian Suite is an original composition for concert wind ensemble that takes example and inspiration from what others believe was Ancient Egyptian music, with some of today’s examples of Egyptian music. This work is divided into four movements: The Nile, The Pharaoh’s Festival, The Pyramids, The Grand Coronation, with each movement representing personal interpretation of each idea with the instrumentation, and the changes in texture, color and rhythm. With each movement of the Egyptian suite, I evaluated instruments being used as additional colors and textures, used more non-conventional key signatures modulations and time signature changes, and utilized a diverse and …

Land And Language At St. Joseph’S Indian Industrial School And Beyond, Ciera R. Tucker

All NMU Master's Theses

This thesis analyzes the impacts of the Indian boarding school era on Menominee people through using St. Joseph’s Indian Industrial School in Keshena, Wisconsin, as a focal point of study. Through analyzing the social and political contexts of the school, oral texts from St. Joseph’s survivors, and contemporary popular culture texts, this thesis examines the intergenerational impacts of the boarding school era on Menominee people and Indigenous people in general. I employ Indigenous methodologies from Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (Anishinaabe), Kathleen Absolon (Anishinaabe), and Shawn Wilson (Cree) to ground my approach to research and engagement with survivor testimonies. Further, I draw …

The History Of Poro College From 1902-1965, Chajuana V. Trawick Ferguson

Dissertations

This study investigates the development, operation, decline, and historical erasure of Poro College, the first multimillion‑dollar, minority‑owned higher education institution and vertical beauty‑culture enterprise, founded by Annie Turnbo Malone in St. Louis, Missouri. Drawing on Poro College documents, Black newspaper archives, National Trust for Historic Preservation records, and interviews with individuals knowledgeable about the institution, the research addresses four central questions: how Poro College was developed; its impact on students, employees, and the surrounding community; its relevance for current and future minority women educators and entrepreneurs; and the factors that contributed to its closure and eventual demolition. Evidence from the …

Measuring Administrative Hiring Confidence Of Music Teachers In The Context Of Shallow Hiring Pools, Aaron M. Strum

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify and measure the confidence of K-12 administrators in hiring music faculty. This study also aimed to analyze administrators’ perspectives and confidence in key stages of the hiring process, including defining job expectations, posting, advertising, interviewing, and selecting highly specialized music teachers in K-12 settings. Confidence of K-12 administrators can be gauged through their understanding of how well an applicant aligns with the specific needs of the school’s program. Three research questions guided this investigation: (1a) How confident are K-12 administrators in their understanding of music teaching pedagogy when interviewing music teacher candidates …

A Trombone Studio Teacher's Guide To Non-Injury-Related Embouchure Changes, Austin A. Handley

Dissertations

This dissertation is a pedagogical guide for trombone studio teachers who will lead students through embouchure changes. These changes and adjustments are normal in brass pedagogy, but there is limited literature that addresses how teachers should identify the need for change, initiate the process, and support students through it. There are a growing number of resources available about embouchure injury and dysfunction, rehabilitation, and long-term prevention. This leaves a gap for teachers who are trying to help students using an inefficient embouchure setup.

The purpose of this study is to provide a practical resource for teachers by examining the experiences …

Las Otras Rosas: Mexican American Women Workers And World War Ii, Talisa Flores

War, Diplomacy, and Society (MA) Theses

The image of Rosie the Riveter has become one of the most enduring symbols of patriotism, women's empowerment, and gender equality in the United States. Yet this iconic representation has obscured the experiences of many women whose wartime labor remains marginalized in both public memory and historical scholarship, particularly Mexican American defense workers. This thesis reexamines the history of Rosie the Riveter by centering the voices of Mexican American women employed in wartime industries during the Second World War. While the war undoubtedly shaped their lives, this study argues that the conventional Rosie narrative, one that portrays wartime employment as …

Before Urgent Fury: U.S. Foreign Policy Toward Grenada During The Ford And Carter Administrations, Nicholas Jake Durell

War, Diplomacy, and Society (MA) Theses

When the United States pulled out of Vietnam in 1973, it experienced a military and psychological defeat unlike any in its modern history. Following President Richard Nixon’s resignation from the Watergate scandal, Gerald Ford, the House Minority Leader who had become Vice President, now assumed the presidency of a deeply fractured nation. As the Cold War persisted, Washington struggled to reassert its superpower status globally while desperately avoiding further foreign entanglements. Consequently, the Ford administration adopted a cautiously detached approach to foreign policy, a strategy vividly illustrated by its posture toward the Eastern Caribbean. This calculated ambivalence, continued by the …

From Margins To Center: Los Deslenguados In The Borderlands, Brissa S. Porras Villalobos

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Borderland literature is a subgenre that often includes narratives of migration, tribulations, identity development, and resilience. It foregrounds the collaboration of vulnerability, isolation, connection, and power, showing that hybridity is a source of cultural energy. Acknowledging the borderland and its culture is crucial because it challenges stereotypes, validates marginalized voices, and celebrates heritage in all its complexity. By centering these experiences, borderland literature affirms the potential of living between cultures, prioritizing the recognition of the in-between, valuing and celebrating the space where identities are continually reshaped, histories are reclaimed, and resilience is nurtured rather than neglected. Using Gloria Anzaldúa's theory …

"Dark And Loathsome": The Construction And Persistence Of Racial Theology In The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints, Margaret Phillips

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints banned Black men from holding the priesthood until 1978, a policy many mistake for the whole of the faith's engagement with race. This thesis argues that the priesthood ban was only a symptom of a far deeper theology of race, one built into Mormonism's broader theology from its founding. Two intertwined beliefs anchor this theology: the default whiteness of the human body and soul, and twin curse narratives that mark Black and Indigenous peoples alike as bearers of a divine curse— dark skin read as the visible penalty for their ancestors' sin. …

Genocide As Patriotic Duty: The Outcomes Of Ultranationalism And Dehumanization From World War Ii Genocide Orchestrators, Corie R. Blais

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The thesis provides a contribution to the field of history how nationalism

often transforms individuals during wartime to become dehumanizing

ultranationalists through patriotism and its connection to genocide.  Also, it gives

insight into the many ways that genocide orchestrators during World War II,

relied on propaganda of racism, religion, and “othering” in order to justify their

incentives to expand territories and dehumanize victims through medical

experimentations and sexual violence.  While research materials in the context of

Nazi Germany were ample, one challenge in my research was finding

documentations on Stalin’s People Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD)

police unit which carried …

The Kings Are Dead. Long Live The Kings: The Legacy Of Roman Kingship In The Republican And Imperial Periods, Dylan Hillebrand

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

From Romulus through Tarquinius Superbus, Rome’s kings occupied a major place within the collective cultural imagination of the ancient polity long after the office was abolished. For generations, no accusation was as odious as “king” and the entire period was seen as a cautionary tale. While the legacy of the kings remained an essential part of Roman identity, how the people related to that legacy changed eventually resulting in a restoration of kingship. A complete picture of the establishment-rejection-restoration cycle becomes clear through examination of the works of Roman (and Greek) historians. Central questions which guide this study: Why were …

Confronting Founding Injustices: Reconstructive Constitutional Adjudication And Constitutional Legitimacy In Postcolonial States, Mutasim Abuzeid

International Studies (MA) Theses

Why do some postcolonial constitutions achieve higher constitutional legitimacy than others? Across the Global South, constitutions have proliferated while legitimacy remains uneven and contested. Existing scholarship explains variation in constitutional legitimacy in postcolonial states through three dominant paradigms. Institutionalist theories equate legitimacy with procedural design and endurance, presuming that stable institutions generate compliance and, over time, diffuse support. Transformative constitutionalism locates legitimacy in social justice, emphasizing judicial doctrines such as proportionality and reasonableness to advance equality and material inclusion. Transitional justice approaches, by contrast, locate moral repair largely outside constitutional law—through truth commissions, reparations, and memory projects—often leaving the constitutional …

The Female Gothic And Marianne Dashwood: The Gothic Heroine Of Sense And Sensibility, Samantha Cottle

English (MA) Theses

In the late eighteenth-century, the rise of the English Gothic novel propelled an extension referred to as the Female Gothic. Through the complexity of the English Gothic genre, writers—particularly women writers—explore the intersectionality of gender, class, natural horrors, and race, creating a space where the heroines of these Gothic novels exist beyond the confinement of the domestic sphere. The Female Gothic was a way for these women writers to acknowledge the natural horrors that plagued the experiences of being a woman—it addressed the oppression of a patriarchal society in which the subversion of the female body was perceived as an …

Jison Jiei: Offensive Realism And Imperial Japan's Spiral Toward Regional Hegemony, John William Dodd

War, Diplomacy, and Society (MA) Theses

This thesis examines Imperial Japan’s march from the Mukden Incident of 1931 to the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 through the lens of offensive realism. It asks to what extent Japan’s prewar grand strategy can be understood as a bid for regional hegemony, and what that interpretation reveals about the relationship between power politics, international law, and future great-power crises. Rather than treating Japanese expansion as irrational madness or reducing it only to ideology or militarism, this thesis argues that Japanese leaders acted according to a recognizable strategic logic.

Proceeding from theory to historical analysis, this project first situates …

Religious Practice And Attitudes Toward Immigration And Racial Justice In America, Amya Douglas

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

This study aims to understand how Christians’ knowledge of Scripture and involvement in the church have an impact on their social-political views, specifically, racial justice and immigration. By using the survey responses from the 6th wave of the Baylor Religion Survey, more frequent church attendance and reading Scripture were correlated with a greater recognition of racism in terms of being against white supremacy and white nationalism, supporting racial justice when asked about racial gaps, and possessing greater support for immigrants. This study highlights the distinction between religious affiliation and religious practice, and it suggests that certain policy sentiments can be …

Examining Transcultural Approaches In Art Education: Transversality, Identity Formation, And Intercultural Understanding, Alexandra Grace Parsons

Master's Theses

Art education is often treated as marginal within formal schooling, valued as enrichment rather than recognized as a vital contributor to students' intellectual, cultural, and emotional development. Funding and policy decisions made by state and local bodies produce significant regional disparities in access to art education across the United States. This thesis examines how transcultural approaches to art education can respond to increasingly diverse, post-migrant school communities. Using a comparative qualitative case study design, the study analyzes program structures, partnership models, and pedagogical practices at Birmingham Arts School in the United Kingdom alongside schools within Fulton County and Atlanta Public …

From Hesitation To Creation: Bookmaking, Language, And The Development Of Student Confidence In The Arts And Crafts, Kayla Rich

Theses and Dissertations

Many secondary students enter art classrooms believing that artistic ability is an innate talent rather than a skill that can be developed, often resulting in low confidence, perfectionist tendencies, and a reluctance to take creative risks. This action research study investigated how participation in a crafts-focused bookmaking curriculum affected students' engagement, divergent creativity, artmaking, and mindset in relation to success, failure, and creative risk-taking. Drawing on research in growth mindset, guided mastery, craft education, and artists' books, I designed and implemented a scaffolded curriculum that progressed from structured bookbinding techniques and process-based exploration to conceptually driven artists' books. The study …

From Osbcurity To The Stage: A Stylistic And Pedagogical Exploration Of The Four Concert Etudes By Mikhail Bukinik, Luis Bernardo Castro

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This research examines Mikhail Bukinik’s 4 Konzertetüden (concert etudes) for solo cello through both a stylistic performance and pedagogical approach. Despite Bukinik’s historical presence as a cellist and composer, these specific works have fallen into obscurity and remain largely absent from the standard pedagogical and performance canon. The research has two primary objectives. The first is to reintroduce these works to the modern repertoire, focusing on dissemination and performance practice. This involves a stylistic analysis of the four etudes, culminating in a recorded live performance during the lecture recital and the creation of a professional studio recording to serve as …

Improving Post-Rehabilitation Discharge Outcomes Through A Care Coordination Bundle, Cavene Facey

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Hospital readmissions remain a significant quality and patient safety concern across the United States, particularly among patients transitioning from rehabilitation settings to home or community-based care. Ineffective care transitions, fragmented communication, inconsistent discharge planning, and inadequate follow-up contribute to preventable hospital readmissions, increased healthcare costs, and poorer patient outcomes. Evidence consistently demonstrates that structured transitional care interventions and standardized care coordination processes improve continuity of care while reducing readmissions and enhancing patient satisfaction The purpose of this Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project was to develop an evidence-based Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) designed to improve post-rehabilitation discharge outcomes through implementation …

The Student Performer's Guide To Creating A Consortium, Jaycee Swan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Among advanced musicians who advocate for increasing diversity in classically oriented repertoire, music commissioning is a common practice. Funding a composer to write original music, however, seems out of reach for student musicians or those without the financial means and know-how. A more affordable and therefore accessible alternative to the stand-alone commission is the consortium-based commission for new music. In this lecture portion of a “lecture-recital with written document,” I (a) document my experience in spearheading a new music consortium and, from that experience, (b) present a guide for facilitating a new music consortium.

The project was the impetus for …

Identity, Needs, And Conflict Online: Understanding Cultural Fragmentation In The Black Diaspora, Imhile Omosede Dora Akpata

Dissertations and Theses

This study examines how identity formation, intra-diaspora tensions, and social media interactions contribute to fragmentation within the Black diaspora. While existing scholarship, including work by Godfried Asante and Elizabeth Chacoko has emphasized the fluid and socially constructed nature of Black identity, less attention has been given to how these processes operate in practice across diverse diasporic groups and how they are intensified in digital environments. This research addresses this gap by analyzing how individuals negotiate Black identity, how tensions emerge within the diaspora, and how social media shapes and amplifies these dynamics.

Drawing on Social Identity Theory developed by Henri …

On Food, Politics, And The Power Of Representation In The American History Museum, Mason A. Bright

Museum Studies Theses

This study explores the political implications of foodways-related interpretation at American history institutions, situating it within current partisan discourse. Using an “Anthropology of Museums” framework, I place literature from the fields of food history, human geography, and museum studies in conversation with interviews with three curatorial professionals from the National Museum of American History, the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, and the New Mexico History Museum. I understand the ways these professionals navigate politically engaged interpretation through the lens of ethnographic refusal, a phenomenon drawn from the anthropology subfield of resistance studies. I argue that the connections between food …

West Coast Workshop To Southwest Institute, Hannah Marie Cerne

Art & Art History ETDs

This thesis considers Tamarind Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico (originally established as Tamarind Lithography Workshop in Los Angeles, CA), and its contributions to collaborative printmaking. Originally founded in 1960 by June Wayne with Clinton Adams and Garo Antreasian, Tamarind Lithography Workshop (the precursor to Tamarind Institute) revitalized lithography through structured collaboration between artists and master printers, alongside rigorous training programs. This thesis provides an institutional history of the workshop during its relocation to the University of New Mexico, highlighting its transformation into a university-based institute that integrated education and professional production. Using social and labor-based methodologies, this study analyzes how …