Arts and Humanities Commons^™

A View From Within: Timbre As An Analytical Tool In Contemporary Viola Music, Ash Mach

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Timbre is an elusive musical parameter that musicians, physicists, and cognitive scientists have been grappling with for centuries. While timbre can roughly be defined as an auditory attribute that distinguishes one tone color from another, this definition does not capture the complexities of sound and our perceptions thereof. Research on timbre has flourished since the 20th century, however, timbre studies has largely gone unnoticed within the viola community. This study, “A View from Within,” helps close the gap between timbre studies and viola repertoire scholarship by presenting analyses of three pieces from the 20th and 21st centuries through a timbre …

Representing The Mixed Plate: Involving Descendant Communities And Kānaka Maoli In Hawai’I Plantation Museums, Amanda Ku’Ualohalanileimakamae Lane

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the ways that the involvement of diverse stakeholders at Hawai’i plantation museums affects representations of Hawai’i’s plantation history. Plantations in Hawai’i had a direct colonizing effect on Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians), displacing them from their lands, replacing them with immigrant laborers, and putting into motion the chain of events that led to Hawai’i’s annexation in 1898. The current-day population in Hawai’i continues to reflect these significant changes in the society and culture of the islands. Hawai’i’s plantation museums traverse topics of labor, immigration, indentured servitude, and colonization. Simultaneously, these museums advance stories of perseverance, celebration, and multiculturalism. …

Bolting The Landscape: An Ethnography Of Yosemite As A Significant Climbing Destination, Vanessa Taylor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Yosemite Valley is a transformative landscape that helps to shape climbers’ identities and fosters a unique sense of community, which continually reinforces its status as a renowned and evolving climbing destination. The historical influence of Yosemite Valley on rock climbing began in the 1950s and has since defined itself as a prominent destination for climbers worldwide. This ethnographic research analyzes how climbers forge a meaningful connection with the Valley by forming a deep sense of place that intertwines with their personal identities as climbers and investigates the intricate relationship between climbers’ identities and the Yosemite landscape. This research also explores …

Likeness In Utopia: Situation And Metaphor From Thomas More To Edward Bellamy, Sage Rachmiel Bard Gilbert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As a literary genre, utopia is notably didactic. It seeks to teach desire and to educate hope. As such, utopia provides a unique site to examine the way metaphor and imagination enable one to be convinced, and the way those same elements facilitate misunderstanding. Following the theorization of Ernst Bloch, the goal of critiquing these literary utopias is not to reject hope but, rather, to educate our own daydreams, to learn and move forward. These chapters examine didacticism and the development of colonial metonymy in Thomas More’s Utopia, the way metaphor operates through time in Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward: …

Encounter-Oriented Subjectivity In Levinas And Barth: Conditioned Freedom In Resistance To Ethnonationalism, Michael Laminack

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines philosophical and political subjectivity, or how an individual knows the world and relates to society, through a comparative analysis of the phenomenologist Emmanuel Levinas and the Christian theologian Karl Barth. Levinas and Barth share a deep structure of “encounter-oriented subjectivity,” meaning subjectivity oriented by encounter with the Other that calls into question the subject’s freedom and, in this same moment, calls the subject to concrete response. Encounter-oriented subjectivity is critical of the “unconditioned freedom” that orients liberal subjectivity and offers an alternative sense of a “passively conditioned” freedom, or a freedom always already called into question by …

Reevaluating The God-Human Relationship Through The Psychological Origin Of Sin: A Comparative Theology Of Schleiermacher And Kierkegaard On The Doctrine Of Sin, Brandon Tsark

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In his The Concept of Anxiety, Kierkegaard’s decision to have Haufniensis acknowledge Schleiermacher’s contribution to the doctrine of sin continues to raise questions regarding Schleiermacher’s influence on Kierkegaard’s intellectual development. These questions also serve to underscore the general need to locate Kierkegaard properly within the larger context of religious and theological studies in the nineteenth century. Our project here seeks to address these questions with a comparative theology of Schleiermacher and Kierkegaard on the Christian doctrine of sin. I argue that Kierkegaard is right to credit Schleiermacher as a source of inspiration in The Concept of Anxiety because of …

Material Culture In The Mediterranean: An Exploration And Examination Of Anti-Judaic And Antisemitic Spanish Medieval Cultural History, Madison Elizabeth Tarleton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Author Gavin Langmuir produced two monographs during his career, both published in 1990. Across both texts, one a proper monograph and one a compilation of essays, he offers a bifurcation of anti-Judaism and antisemitism. These texts illuminate his definitions of the terms and his differentiations on the basis of reason and rationality. Using the bones of these theories, I propose a different kind of bifurcation of these terms as it relates to Mediterranean (medieval) material culture using a cultural historical lens. By applying Gavin Langmuir's theoretical model of nonrational anti-Judaism and irrational antisemitism to material culture, I argue that visual …

Social Sanguinity: Communal Ties And The Pursuit Of Political Power In Saga Age Iceland, Sam Fearnside

History Theses

Prior to the Norwegian annexation, Icelandic society lacked a government with an executive branch. As a result their legal system evolved in a highly privatized fashion in which individuals and their families were expected to self-advocate in order to assert and defend their rights and interests. Icelandic law also privatized the prosecution of criminals and enforcement of legal verdicts. Such a legal system required individual Icelanders to forge and maintain an array of social connections in order to protect themselves from both legal actions brought against them and the violent feuds that resulted due to the system’s short comings.

This …

Is There Really Anything Wrong With That? An Aristotelian Analysis Of Duty, Luke J. Mcgrath

Honors College Theses

In the iconic Seinfeld series finale, Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer find themselves in a peculiar legal predicament when they mock a crime rather than intervene to help the victim. The show’s commitment to portraying reality, even in its finale, vividly demonstrates the potential consequences of a society lacking the legal obligation to aid others. This comical incident raises a thought-provoking question about the legitimacy of duty-to-act laws in the United States. This thesis examines the application of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics to the concept of duty-to-act laws and argues for the necessity and benefits of such laws in promoting a …

Rooted In Meaning: Plant Iconography On Nasca Polychrome Ceramics, Amanda G. Lange

Theses

This thesis explores the Nasca use of plant iconography as part of their polychrome ceramics produced at the end of the Early Horizon around 100 BCE to those produced in the beginning and middle of the Early Intermediate Period circa 1to 450 CE. During this time the religious site of Cahuachi was in use as a pilgrimage center as well as the production center of polychrome pottery. The Nasca created their colorful ceramics here to distribute to visiting pilgrims during times of festival or ritual. The culture’s iconography has been studied extensively, most of which focuses on the forms of …

Shōjo, Kawaii, And Yōkai Iconographies In Chiho Aoshima's Strawberry Fields And How They Relate To Contemporary Gender Dynamics In Japan, Neo Sim Yee

Theses

This paper analyzes the shōjo, kawaii, and yōkai iconographies in Chiho Aoshima’s digital painting Strawberry Fields and examines how they relate to contemporary gender dynamics and anxieties in Japan. The painting bears the artist’s distinctive, characteristic style, which includes elements that are childlike and monstrous, cute and dark. The work, rich in layered context, simultaneously reminisces about the innocence and freedom of adolescence, and critiques the prominent the unequal, rigid, and highly restrictive gender roles dictated by the Japanese patriarchal system. The distinct two halves of Strawberry Fields depict the dichotomous vision of Japanese women—innocent and girly versus defiant and …

Pseudo-Dionysius’S Response To Neoplatonism: An Exploration Of Pseudo-Dionysius’ Historical Context And His Source Utilization In “The Mystical Theology”, Mhanna Joseph Kallas

Theses

This research delves into the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, particularly his blending of Neoplatonic ideas with Christian theology in his work "The Mystical Theology." Pseudo-Dionysius, a significant figure in Christian mysticism, draws upon a diverse array of sources to articulate his theological vision. An in-depth analysis of "The Mystical Theology" and its foundational texts reveals Pseudo-Dionysius's aim to align Neoplatonic apophatic strategies with Christian thought, suggesting that the essence of many Neoplatonic theological concepts is either inherent in or can be extrapolated from Christian doctrine. By shedding light on Pseudo-Dionysius's strategic selection and adaptation of various sources, this study …

Mothers In Law: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Mothers In Law School, Sarah M. Jordon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mothers are an increasing student population in higher education but an extensively under-researched population. While research examining motherhood is limited, the dearth of studies examining motherhood in higher education is especially limited, with even less available in the legal field and the institutions that provide legal education. This study examined how mothers in law school made meaning of their experiences utilizing a postmodernist epistemological framework, postmodernism and performance as a theoretical framework, and critical discourse analysis as a methodology. Data collection took place over the 2022-2023 academic year. Eight mothers participated in this qualitative study representing a range of ability …

Seeking Sisterhood: An Exploratory Qualitative Inquiry Into The Sorority Rejection Experiences Of Black Women, Jasmine Michelle Pulce

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In response to a call to fill the gap left by previous studies on collegiate sorority rejection, this study explored the meaning Black women ascribe to experiences of rejection from historically Black sororities. Using Black feminist thought and sista circle methodology, this study introduced narratives from five Black women who came together to comprise a collective standpoint. To better understand this phenomenon, study participants completed individual interviews, two Sista Circles, and one reflection survey. Three main findings were the interconnectedness of Black Greek-letter organizations and Black subcommunities at predominantly white institutions, the nonlinear nature of the Black sorority rejection experience, …

Divergence: Toward A Neurodivergent Latinx Liberative Social Ethic, Rudolph P. Reyes Ii

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A significant problem facing neurodivergent Latinxs is the invisibility of their marginalization and oppression. Neurodivergent Latinxs are invisible in dominant society and theological discourse. While neurodivergence and disability are not synonymous, the failure to recognize the marginalization of disability contributes to neurodivergent invisibility. Disability is depoliticized when disability is conceived as an issue of individual embodiment rather than a social issue of acceptance, accessibility, and equality. Neurodivergent Latinxs are erased, and the physical, epistemic, and institutional violence against them go unnamed.

This research project uses the hermeneutical circle for ethics in formulating praxis in combating the oppression of neurodivergent Latinxs. …

The Bible And Normative Experiences Of Queer Marriage In The United States: The Interconnected Influences Of Scripture, Law, And Queer Context, Ross H. Potter Jr.

Theses

This thesis explores the relational influences between scripture, law, and queer context as they drive understandings of queer marriage norms in the United States. Emphasis is placed on the role that particular scriptures play in teasing out meaning from the various lived experiences of queer communities over the last century. These lived experiences, in turn, have influenced both approaches to scriptural interpretation and religious and legal norms surrounding the acceptance of queer people and their marriages within society. By utilizing queer biblical interpretation in dialogue with these influential biblical passages and legal and social norms that have developed in the …

The Politics Of Preservation: Stewarding Artifacts In Archives, Kollynn Hendry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Kay Bailey Hutchison served Texas and the United States in many capacities during her political career. She vastly impacted Texas, as well as Nacogdoches, Texas in particular, through her time serving as a member of the Texas House of Representatives and as a United States Senator. In 2012, she donated her massive collection of gifts and memorabilia to the East Texas Research Center, a regional archive at Stephen F. Austin State University. The university honored her donation by creating a room to display the collection and interpret her influence on East Texas. Due to a rushed timeline, administrative interference, and …

Mixed-Method Study Of Relationship Satisfaction Among African American Males With Or Without History Of Childhood Sexual Abuse, Sandra Webster Brown

Dissertations

Relationship satisfaction among African American males is an important and feasible topic and underrepresented among scholarly literature. The purpose of this study was to explore relationship satisfaction and experiences among African American males who may be impacted by history of childhood sexual abuse. The study was guided by the theoretical frameworks of family systems theory. Using a concurrent mixed-methods triangulation design, the researcher collected data quantitatively and qualitatively from an online survey. Data were collected from 43 African American males recruited from Black organizations in the United States. The qualitative data collected by written narratives from the men were used …

Parameterizing The Spillage Left Behind: Datafication, Machine Learning Algorithms, And The Question Of Ecological Agency, Courtney Rosenthal

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

With “datafication” practices becoming more common in digital ecologies, humans have become increasingly reliant on emerging technologies and other actors that can store, comprehend, and analyze information. This thesis offers a proposed model of mediative agency to address the importance of interrogating how non-human actors interpret and make meaning from data. Mediative agents contribute to the disbursement of rhetoric, as well as our understanding of information, by granting visibility and assigning value to data. These processes effectively play a role in shaping reality through agents’ parameterization of data broadly, allowing non-human actors to take on a complex agency that can …

An Empowerment Evaluation Of Colorado Mountain College’S Mountain Scholars Program Via Latino Alumni Aspirational Goals And Outcomes, Laura Anne Bruch

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative inquiry evaluated Colorado Mountain College’s (CMC) in-house Mountain Scholars Program (MSP) via semi-structured interviews with five of its Latino alumni. This study’s assets-based social justice/transformative philosophical framework included David Fetterman’s methodological empowerment evaluation and Tara Yosso’s conceptual community cultural wealth (CCW) theory. This dissertation in practice examined the gap in literature with regards to an in-house student support services program evaluation that partners with the community and focuses on Latinos’ aspirations and aspirational outcomes. I wanted to be a worthy witness to the student demographic group at CMC, as well as at most American postsecondary institutions, considered the …

Exploring College Experiences Of Muslim Students At Four-Year Institutions In Colorado: A Narrative Inquiry, Kamal Gamada Ararso

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the last two decades, Colorado's number of Muslim Americans (citizens and permanent residents) has substantially increased (Bowen, 2009a; Bowen, 2009b; Mohamed, 2021; Roberts, 2022). This increase is reflected in the growing number of Islamic community centers, emerging Islamic schools, mosques, grocery stores, Muslim cuisines, and the diversity of students in the post-secondary education system (Roberts, 2022). Although centralized data about Muslim college students are hard to find, their presence within the higher education system is well-known. Still, in Colorado, Muslims' religious, racial, cultural, and gendered experiences within the higher education system remained unexplored in the research. Therefore, this exploratory …

Navigating Complexity Of Serving Displaced Communities: A Study Of Yemeni Community-Based Organizations In Egypt, Alya Mohammed Al-Mahdi

Theses and Dissertations

Forced displacement is a global crisis that poses challenges for nations like Egypt. Despite international NGO support, escalating displaced individuals have overwhelmed existing capacities. Refugee Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) have emerged as a natural response from the communities themselves to bridge the gap between the state and NGOs and the refugee community. However, CBOs in Egypt face challenges that impact their operation and continuity. Through qualitative research, this study aims to explore the experience of the Yemeni CBOs. Through interviews with seven people from six CBOs conducted through field visits and online calls, this research uncovers the dynamics of Yemeni CBOs …

Reading Rent: Interracial Relationships And Racial Hierarchies, Susanna A. Perez-Field

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In examining the musical Rent by Jonathan Larson (1995) and its film adaptation by Chris Columbus (2005), most scholarly work and analyses have focused on the work’s identity as a queer text. I assert that elements of this musical have been overlooked for its depth of racial and class hierarchies. Utilizing sociological theory and interracial relationships, I will examine characters and musical numbers to explore diversity and class positioning.

I will explore Rent for themes of racial, gender, and sexual identities and how they are presented through the friendships and romantic relationships of the eight principal characters (alphabetically): Angel, Benny, …

Becoming Avian: Amazonian Featherworks From The John P. O’Neill Collection, Madeline R. Blanchard

LSU Master's Theses

In 1998 ornithologist John P. O’Neill donated an ethnographic collection of 434 objects he was gifted from researcher Charles Fugler or purchased from persons in Pucallpa, Peru, during his time there studying Amazonian birds. I evaluate 18 feathered objects. According to O’Neill, the cultures responsible for the items are the Cashinahua, Aguaruna, Achual, and Arawak. Eighteen of these items are beautifully crafted arrangements of feathered clothing and objects. The collection includes five headdresses, five bouquets, a hat, a necklace, three tassels, a backrack, a scarf, and a hair tie.

The objects and the seventeen species of bird used are active …

Nikolai Medtner And The Beethoven Tradition In Performance And Pedagogy, Jamie E. Gurt

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The compositions of Nikolai Medtner (1880-1951) have received increasing attention in both performance and scholarship. This monograph explores the influence of the Beethoven tradition in Medtner’s piano sonatas with a focus on performance and pedagogy. An examination of Medtner’s biography contextualizes Medtner’s training in composition and performance, as well as philosophical and personal influences. Next, the study examines Medtner’s writings on Beethoven as well as current scholarship on the piano sonatas of the two composers, observing influences in overall formal and stylistic characteristics. Exploring performance and pedagogy, the study considers examples from Medtner’s recordings of his Sonata Tragica, Op. …

“We Need To Figure Out Who We Are”: Reframing Manhood In An Online Discussion Forum, Tomas Sanjuan Jr.

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I explore the potential of online communities in negotiating alternative forms of “doing” masculinity. I focus on the /r/bropill which is hosted on Reddit – home to thousands of active discussion forums called subreddits. I argue that the members of /r/bropill subreddit are attempting to redefine what it means to live your life not only as a man but as a “good man.” Using a purposive sample, I analyzed 24 discussions which totaled 1325 posts (n = 1325). I conducted a qualitative textual analysis of the original posts and comments inspired by grounded theory. My findings reveal …

Differences In Mental Wellbeing Factors Amongst College Students By Intersections Of Race/Ethnicity And Sexual Orientation/Gender, Hannah N. Schlichte

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this study was to examine our understanding regarding the intersection of both racial/ethnic and sexual/gender minority identities and its impact on the mental health of college students. A secondary data analysis of the Wake Forest University Wellbeing Assessment was utilized. The total number of participants was comprised of 528 students from a large research university in the Southeastern United States. For this study, new categories representing the intersection of race/ethnicity (White, Black, Hispanic etc.) and sexual orientation/gender (LGBTQ, heterosexual, cisgender etc.) were created: double majority, single minority race/ethnicity, single minority sexual orientation/gender, and double minority. One-way ANOVA …

Online News Portrayal During The Covid-19 Health Crisis And Journalism's Role In Misinformation In The U.S., Michou Ducilon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a wealth of new information regarding the virus's origin and treatment. Regrettably, the vast amount of online information has resulted in the proliferation of misinformation, as the World Health Organization reported. To investigate whether journalists may have contributed to this problem, a qualitative analysis was conducted on 15 news articles from top-tier media outlets. Using NVivo software, the articles were analyzed to identify linguistic words and visuals that fell into coding categories based on Behrendt's (2008) contextual analysis for evaluating text. Each article was then coded again to identify common themes. During this process, new …

Foodways Of The Florida Frontier: Zooarchaeological Analysis Of Gamble Plantation Historic State Park (8ma100), Mary S. Maisel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Gamble Plantation sits on the banks of the Manatee River in Ellenton Florida and has been home to many different occupants since its construction in 1844. Archaeological research at the site has recovered material culture spanning the entire occupation of the estate. One of the most universal aspects of life that these many residents shared is that they all prepared, consumed, and disposed of food and food waste in the same midden on the property. This thesis analyzes the faunal remains recovered from the 2017 and 2018 excavations of Gamble Plantation to identify remains down to a species level, …

The Sun Shines On Us, Too: Bobby Smith And Tampa's Early Lgbtq Community, Connor G. Lasseter

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Bobby Smith (1923-2008) was a Tampa Bay butch lesbian, photographer, and earlyLGBTQ Florida figure, together with his partner of nearly fifty years, Katherine “Kay” Thompson (1923-2009). Coming of age as the Second World War provided women and girls with a certain level of independence, Smith easily found comfort presenting in a masculine, butch fashion outside of certain spheres such as school, and quickly dropped any remaining femininity once he left it. Throughout his life, in the workplace, at social gatherings, and at home, he maintained a masculine presentation for his entire life. As a photographer, Smith documented numerous photographs of …