Arts and Humanities Commons^™

An Unlikely Alliance : The Generals Who Won The American Revolution, Patrick Michael Elgin

Master's Theses

Seventy-seven men were asked to serve as Generals during the Revolutionary War by the Continental Congress. These men came from such disparate backgrounds that it may seem surprising that they could unite in such a dangerous venture as a rebellion against Great Britain. This thesis explores the military history of the Revolutionary War through the framework of these seventy-seven men by providing biographical sketches of each and drawing from these sketches to create a list of factors which affected their service in the war. Specifically, the thesis focuses on where these men came from, how they earned a livelihood, and …

Putting On The Armor Of The Lord : The Role Of Virginia Methodists During The Civil War, Margaret Diane Turman Kidd

Master's Theses

This thesis covers the involvement and influence of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South in Virginia during the Civil War. Because the Methodists were the largest religious denomination in the South at the onset of the war, the Church was in a position to offer support and to shape the opinions of the Confederate people. Using sermons, religious tracts, newspapers, and letters, this study demonstrates that the majority of the Church supported the Confederacy and its aims. It begins with a brief overview of Methodism in the United States and the Schism of 1844 and then explores the interaction of the …

Incarceration : A Rising Population Dilemma, Lessie Smith Jr.

Master's Theses

The nation's incarceration growth continues to soar, having negative economic and societal effects. This research explores continued growth causes and possible answers to prevent, intervene, and slow down incarceration. Hampton Roads institutions' offenders and professional staff were surveyed. The survey focuses on preventive and intervention programs and their effectiveness, sociological and economical factors leading to imprisonment, and statistics supporting incarceration growth. The research goal is to validate program contents and components factoring into imprisonment. The study of others and information generated through this study are used to determine program needs and current effectiveness. This study explores reasons offenders frequent the …

Music, The Non-Governmental Actor Changing Political Policy: Have We Failed The Power Of Music?, Alex Hershey

Senior Honors Projects

Music, the Non-Governmental Actor Changing Political Policy: Have We Failed the Power of Music? People learn that making music as well as listening to it frees them from the toil and tedium of a life dominated by the privileged and the powerful. Music means trouble for those who would own and control it as they perpetuate injustice and suffering. – Mat Callahan It is believed that the pen is mightier than the sword, but is the guitar playing vocalist, a beatnik, mightier than the M-16 machinegun and an American political oligarchy? To find the answer to this question we must …

From Script To Stage: A Costume Designer’S Perspective, Laura M. Gifford

Senior Honors Projects

In the process of designing the costumes for a show, it is important to understand the psyche of each of the characters. The completion of thorough research can give valuable insight into the characters, as well as details of the setting of the play. A designer then takes this information, in the form of photographs, journals, period documents, and modern analysis and combines it to achieve a unified vision of the play’s environment. They must then work with the director and other designers to present this vision to the audience. This semester, I had the opportunity to explore this process …

The Power Of Ridicule: An Analysis Of Satire, Megan Leboeuf

Senior Honors Projects

Satire is an art form that has existed throughout recorded history. Examples of satirical work exist from long before the genre had even been defined, and this powerful tool for social critique is alive and well today, perhaps even more prevalent than ever. The use of absurdity and often humor to demonstrate the problems with a particular human behavior, vice, or social issue makes satire engaging and persuasive in a way that a direct statement of the facts is not. These qualities make satire the perfect tool for advocating social and political change in times of unrest. In recent years, …

“These Would Have Been All My Friends” : Families Of Birth, Families Of Choice, And Personal Autonomy In Mansfield Park, Emma, And Persuasion, Tavya Jackson

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The six completed novels of Jane Austen all fall into the category of courtship novels, which focus on the heroines’ experiences as she meets, becomes acquainted with, and eventually marries the “right” man. Yet in Austen’s three later novels, Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1815), and Persuasion (1818), the three heroines engage in more than a quest for the most suitable husband. In each of these novels, the female characters appear to be employed in a search for a suitable family, which can only be obtained through marriage.

The quest for family that manifests itself in these novels is closely related …

Steeltown Roots : Duality, Detachment, And The Search For Identity In Postwar Pittsburgh Literature, Genna Elizabeth Knight

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

While the city is a common topic in American literature, if you were to Google “Pittsburgh literature,” chances are, rather than finding a list of stories about the Steel City, you would be linked to the Carnegie Library or the University of Pittsburgh. Inspired by its lack of attention, I have directed my efforts toward making a case for Pittsburgh’s modest yet significant role in American literature, particularly during its “postwar” period. The “postwar” sequence of events that occur between the city’s industrial prime following World War II and its transformation into an academic and cultural center for medicine and …

Class Indifference - A Divided Nation : Finding Common Ground Through American Pragmatism And Democratic Principles In The Composition Classroom, Stacey L. Morrison

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Social class plays a significant but often silent part in American politics, lives, and education. As the events of Hurricane Katrina clearly illustrate, the poor and working class often suffer discrimination that leaves them completely powerless. Their position in life shapes not only how they are seen and treated, but also how they see their world. Their cultures differ markedly from middle and upper class cultures, further alienating them from possible greater personal achievement in a system that champions middle-class values. Education, being a microcosm of our society, mirrors our class conflicts, often failing to teach working-class students in an …

Collectionner Et Narrer : Deux Exemples Littéraires Chez Marguerite De Navarre Et Françoise De Graffigny, Diane E. Peyser

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This project analyzes how the act of storytelling, which is comparable to collecting, bears upon the structure of narrative. The connection between the narrative voice of women, their points of view, and how they obtain the power of their voices will be explored in this thesis on the basis of L ’Heptaméron by Marguerite de Navarre and Lettres d ’une Péruvienne by Françoise de Graffigny.

Chapter 1 introduces a theory that the act of collecting is also a way of telling stories. This analysis will introduce how Marguerite de Navarre and Françoise de Graffigny utilize this method to tell their …

Byron's Manfred And Shelley's Alastor : Narcissism And The Search For An Ideal, Charles Markham Townsend

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

No abstract provided.

“You May Explore Yourself Freely" : Gender And The Fantastic In Jeanette Winterson And Angela Carter, Elissa Cording

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Angela Carter and Jeanette Winterson’s novels contain magical moments in which reality is questioned and a reader suspends disbelief in the fantastic. While we know that a living heart cannot be kept in ajar and a woman cannot be born with wings, we are meant to accept these moments as possible. The use of fantastical elements in The Passion, Sexing the Cherry and Nights at the Circus supports Winterson and Carter’s unique portrayals of gender. The blending of fantasy and reality allows for the exploration of non-traditional gender roles because as these authors rewrite genre they are also rethinking gender. …

Death O F A Hero : Iconography Of The Emotional Transformation Of Achilles On South Italian Vases Of C. Fourth Century Bce, Selma Amzi

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

No abstract provided.

Visions Fugitives: Insights Into Prokofiev's Compositional Vision, Steven Edward Moellering

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, Student Creative Work, and Performances

In his autobiographical notes, Sergei Prokofiev detailed “five lines” along which his early work had developed. This analysis concerned works composed until his graduation from the St. Petersburg Conservatoire in 1914. The five lines are termed: classical, modern, toccata, lyrical and grotesque. The analysis portion of this document will incorporate these five lines. Furthermore, I will concurrently analyze the Visions Fugitives using my own list of 10 characteristics as a foundation. The 10 characteristics are: (1) dissipating endings - or, endings that do not end emphatically, (2) sharp dynamic contrasts, (3) disjunct melody, (4) chromatic melody and free counterpoint, (5) …

Another "Scandalous Woman": Edna O’Brien, Irish Feminism And Her Gébler Men, Jeffrey P. Griffin

Honors Scholar Theses

Irish novelist Edna O’Brien suffered a tumultuous early reception; her first six novels were banned in Ireland, and critics complained that her writing was sensational and gratuitous. Yet by the time Ireland’s economic boom arrived on the island, many contemporary critics suddenly applaud the novelist’s writing. Is this significant change in critical reception based on O’Brien’s development as an author? Or was O’Brien writing stories that were ahead of her time and are only now accepted by contemporary critics? My paper considers the writing and critical reception of Edna O’Brien by placing her life and career alongside three waves of …

The Task Of Being Content: Expatriate Wives In Beijing, Emotional Work And Patriarchal Bargain, Daniella Arieli

Journal of International Women's Studies

Based upon an ethnographic study of western expatriate (expat) wives in Beijing, this paper describes these women’s ‘patriarchal bargain’ and the emotional labor it involves. Relocation entails pressures to support the husbands’ careers in various ways, interruption of their working and social life, and increased economic and social dependency. At the same time, however, it also allows them to enjoy leisure and prestige, and to conduct a privileged life style. This bargain demands an emotional labor on the women’s part: an ongoing effort to feel good with their life in Beijing. The study focuses on the strategies the women use …

Male Gender Roles And Sexuality: Implications For University Girls’ Hiv/Aids Awareness In A Nigerian University, S. O. Momoh, Chinedum Godson Asagwara, Ugiomoh Maria Meriamu

Journal of International Women's Studies

This study was conducted to examine the implications of male gender roles and sexuality for University girls’ HIV/AIDS awareness. Information was elicited from 2399 randomly selected undergraduate students, from the nine faculties of the University of Lagos, Nigeria. Results indicate moderate levels of HIV/AIDS awareness and that of the hypothesis testing showed a no significant difference at p> 0.05, as a result of male gender roles. The paper draws the conclusion that the prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS was on the increase, and that University undergraduate girls are more vulnerable because of high risks of sexual behaviour for monetary gains. The …

Book Review: Black Women In The Ivory Tower, 1850-1954. An Intellectual History, Kathleen Sterling

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Black Women in the Ivory Tower, 1850-1954. An Intellectual History by Stephanie Y. Evans

Book Review: Cut Loose: (Mostly) Older Women Talk About The End Of (Mostly) Long-Term Relationships, Barbara R. Bergmann

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Cut Loose: (Mostly) Older Women Talk About the End of (Mostly) Long-Term Relationships, edited by Nan Bauer-Maglin

Book Review: Pomegranate Hearts, Emily Regan Wills

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Pomegranate Hearts by Rouhi Shafii

Book Review: Daughters Of Kerala: 25 Short Stories By Award-Winning Authors, Marie Varghese

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Daughters of Kerala: 25 Short Stories by Award-Winning Authors, translated by Achamma C. Chandersekaran

Book Review: Sex Trafficking: The Global Market In Women And Children, Moshoula Capous Desyllas

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Sex trafficking: The global market in women and children by Kathryn Farr

Book Review: Betty Ford: Candor And Courage In The White House, Jessica Burstrem

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Betty Ford: Candor and Courage in the White House by John Robert Greene

Book Review: The Capacity To Care: Gender And Ethical Subjectivity, Maureen P. Hogan

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of The Capacity to Care: Gender and Ethical Subjectivity by Wendy Hollway

La Mondialisation Qui Menace L’Identité Française Et Ses Relations Avec Le Commerce, Kelly Mcbrien

Senior Honors Projects

Globalization is an integral part of our society today: economically, socially and politically. Some may see Globalization as the world coming together through the ease and speed of capital, goods, services, ideas, information, and technology across our “shrinking” borders. Others may hold a more negative view of Globalization, and may see it as simply growing conflicts between nations and cultures. One of the central problems of globalization is the fear of homogenization or Americanization. Many cultures see globalization as cultural uniformity. As Benedict Anderson has said, “one man’s imagined community is another mans political prison.” This quote can help to …

Perpetuality In Print: Musing Nature In Sylvia Plath’S The Bell Jar, Kacey Silvia

Senior Honors Projects

I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another …

Lasser Voir: Experimental Film Revealing The Dichotomy Of The Mind, Valerie Kitchin

Senior Honors Projects

Lasser voir is a French term meaning to show; to allow to be seen. The film is meant to interpret the internal genesis from dual perspectives. Absolute Good and absolute Evil coexist fighting each other eternally. The challenge is to create a vision of the form of good and the form of evil, thus showing the interior and exterior struggle between the two. Good and Evil appear as the same individual: each opposing one another in ethereal battle through the channel of artistic interpretation. The concept originates from the writhing movement within the mind. It cannot live without Good, but …

Motherhood And The Political Project Of Queer Indian Cinema, Bryce J. Renninger

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Motherhood & the Political Project of Queer Indian Cinema is a thesis that works to understand the variety of ways the films of queer Indian cinema use the figure of the mother. The Indian mother has a long history at the fore of the Indian imagination. Popular narratives and public culture within India have a history of focusing on the mother as a key site of Indian tradition. Narratives and cultures of all religious traditions in India have consistently focused on the mother as a central character and agent of change. Queer Indian cinema, of the diaspora and made from …

More Than Pictures: The Emotional Journey Of Mussorgsky’S “Pictures At An Exhibition”, Meredith Laing

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

A piece of music is so much more than notes on a page. It embodies the historical context in which it was written, the feelings or events which inspired the composer to write it, the message the composer wishes to convey, the way a performer chooses to interpret it, and the impact it has on the audience. Since we know that different performances of one particular piece are often compared to each other as being higher or lower in technical and musical quality, it is clear that not every performance is the same, and that the differences that exist can …

Danto’S Embodied Meanings: Artworks As Morphemes, Alexander Douglas Coon

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Abstract not Included