Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Science And Nature In The Medieval Ecological Imagination, Jessica Rezunyk

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the intersections between nature and culture in medieval literature and art with particular focus on Geoffrey Chaucer’s House of Fame, the thirteenth-century French Bible Moralisée (Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek Codex Vindobonensis 2554), and William Langland’s Piers Plowman. Current academic paradigms tend to place the study of nature firmly within the sciences and the study of culture firmly within the humanities, creating a gap between the fields that effectively isolates their respective methodologies and vocabularies from one another. This dissertation seeks to bridge that gap between the sciences and the humanities by approaching medieval literature through the lens of …

Brewing Identity: The Tavern’S Imprint On The American Revolution, Cailin Edgar

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

This thesis examines the role of the tavern in late eighteenth-century America and the many ways in which they helped support, sustain, and determine the outcome of the movement toward Independence. Taking the argument one step further, the paper focuses on the intersection of tavern culture and print materials to underscore the multidimensionality of this public discursive space as a platform for print to come to life, exposing a more wide-reaching population of the colonists to the same material, and thus cultivating in the process a common intellectual experience between otherwise-detached New World neighbors. This study is located primarily in …

Mons Maiorum: Roman Aristocracy And The Palatine Hill's Appropriated Memory, Charles T. Rainville Iii

History & Classics Undergraduate Theses

Mons Maiorum arguest against the all-to-common a line of thinking among some scholars of ancient Rome: that house exchange of “ancient families surviving in genetic and property continuity [is] not characteristic of Rome.” This belief relies fundamentally on evidence from Roman authors after the proscriptions of the first century BC, when long-established aristocratic families had been removed from the landscape of the Palatine, and Roman memory. It is thus short sighted not to consider the depth of myths, physical monuments, and Roman customs as evidence for a close association of generations of Romans living in family property with a special …

“$300 Or Your Life”: Recruitment And The Draft In The Civil War, Melissa Traub

Honors Scholar Theses

One of the most challenging tasks of a nation at war is turning its average citizens into soldiers. While volunteers flooded to the war front in thousands in the beginning of the Civil War, recruitment slowly dwindled as the war dragged on. Eventually, the North was forced to pass the Enrollment Act of 1863, the first national draft in United States history. Every able bodied man between the ages of twenty and forty-five was subject to the draft. For an already unstable nation, the national draft did little to help the divides that split the country. The policies of substitution …

Europe’S Refugee Crisis: Assessing The Factors Preventing A Coordinated Eu Response, Ali Albassam

Master's Theses

In order to escape increasing political violence in the Middle East and Africa, many refugees are fleeing by sea to seek asylum in Europe. As a result, Europe has witnessed the highest influx of refugees since World War Two. European Union member states have scrambled for a solution, seemingly unable to form a collective response. The reemergence of nationalism amid the arrival of thousands of refugees not only clouds Europe’s moral compass, but also weakens the EU and its founding principles. In an effort to contribute to the protection of refugees and the EU and its values, this thesis aims …

Preface To Ssl 41, Patrick G. Scott, Anthony Jarrells

Studies in Scottish Literature

Reports the international readership of the journal and discusses the ways in which the journal, with a primary focus on Scottish literary studies, nonetheless recognizes that Scottish literature is of current political significance and interest.

Introduction: Cultural Nationalism In Scottish Literary Studies: The View From Elsewhere, Anthony Jarrells

Studies in Scottish Literature

Introduces the issues and contributors to this post-Referendum SSL symposium, on non-Scottish perspectives on Scottish cultural nationalism, which includes discussions of teaching Scottish literature in Italy, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States, together with a response from a senior Scottish scholar, notes the interest elsewhere in contemporary Scottish writing, and suggests that the effect of the debates surrounding the Referendum, and the involvement of many writers in it, will have a continuing effect on the future of Scottish literary studies.

Changing Times: A Post-Indyref View From Italy, Carla Sassi

Studies in Scottish Literature

Discusses the responses of Italian university students to the Scottish Referendum of 2014, briefly surveys the history and recent development of Scottish literary studies in Italian universities, and comments on teaching the novels of Walter Scott to Italian readers.

Scottish Writers, American Students: A View From Virginia, David E. Latane

Studies in Scottish Literature

Discusses cultural (and statistical) similarities and differences between Scotland and Virginia, and explores how these affect the response and interest of university students to studying Scottish literature, especially contemporary literature, and to a summer course taught in Glasgow.

Wee Malkies Abroad: Scottish Literature Seen From The United Arab Emirates, Manfred Malzahn

Studies in Scottish Literature

Discusses the recent Scottish Referendum in relation to concepts of national identity in the United Arab Emirates and explores the ways in which Scottish authors and literary works can be of interest to students in UAE, drawing also on previous experience teaching in Tunisia, stressing the interest of shorter, contemporary Scottish texts, but noting also the continuing resonance of a few older Scottish texts, including works of R. L. Stevenson.

Assimilation, Hybridity, And Identity: A Visitor During Indyref, Evan Gottlieb

Studies in Scottish Literature

Recounts the experience of growing up as a Jewish kid among Scottish-Canadians and of being in Scotland during the Referendum in 2014, expressing admiration for the level and character of informed debate among voters.

'Singing Of Psalms Of Which I Could Never Get Enough': Labouring Class Religion And Poetry In The Cambuslang Revival Of 1741, Elspeth Jajdelska

Studies in Scottish Literature

Describes and discusses the nature and uses of poetry by Scottish labouring-class participants in the revival at Cambuslang, near Glasgow, in 1741, drawing on the manuscript account of the revival collected by the parish minister, William McCulloch; setting the poems in the context of recent scholarly reconsideration of 17th and 18th century Scottish religious culture; relating the poems to the Scottish use of metrical psalms in kirk services and domestic devotions; and commenting in detail on poems by Alexander Bilsland and George Tassie, and a report on religious poetry reading by Ann Wylie.

Ossianic Telegraphy: Bardic Networks And Imperial Relays, Eric Gidal

Studies in Scottish Literature

Relates James Macpherson's Fragments of Ancient Poetry (1760) and other Ossianic poems to evolving Scottish networks of commerce and communication, especially commercial telegraphy and the postal system, and posits associations also with comments in Adam Smith's Lectures on Jurisprudence and Theory of Moral Sentiments, to suggest that Macpherson's remediation of oral poetry asserted ideas of authorial identity and readership as "relays" in a new imperial network.

Burns's Politics 'In Another View': Late 1792/Early 1793, Robert P. Irvine

Studies in Scottish Literature

Presents a reconsideration of Burns's political views in 1792-1793, examining in detail the original performance context of his poem "The Rights of Woman," in the Dumfries Theatre in November 1792, and the political context of his song "Why should na poor people mow," as first sent in letters to Robert Cleghorn in December 1792 and to Robert Graham of Fintry in January 1793, arguing that such "political" poems might be read less in terms of French or metropolitan revolutionary politics than in terms of major cultural and social changes in the Scottish community and networks to which Burns belonged.

Radical Attribution: Robert Burns And 'The Liberty Tree', Corey E. Andrews

Studies in Scottish Literature

Discusses the political symbolism of liberty trees in the American and French revolutions, and in Scotland in Burns's period, as background to reconsidering the song "The Liberty Tree," first printed among Burns's work by Robert Chambers in 1838, the authorship of which has remained a subject for debate among Burnsians; examines the song closely in terms of phrasing to argue that it is unlikely to be by Burns; and draws a distinction between attributing the song to Burns and its evident reliance on his iconic standing both in his own time and among later Scottish radicals.

Sir Walter Scott's The Monastery And The Representation Of Religious Belief, Chad T. May

Studies in Scottish Literature

Examines Sir Walter Scott's novel The Monastery, written while he was also working on his better-known medieval novel Ivanhoe, and discusses its representation of the historical religious transition of Scotland from a Catholic to a Protestant country; focuses especially on Scott's treatment of the supernatural, in the figure of the White Lady, and argues that Scott uses her to allow representation of a personal religious experience or religious vision that otherwise fitted uneasily with his generally secular project for historical representation in fiction; and concludes by briefly sketching the significance of this atypical, transitional novel for understanding religious …

John Stuart Blackie's Altavona: A Late Victorian Reaction To The Highland Clearances, Brooke Mclaughlin Mitchell

Studies in Scottish Literature

Reviews the career of John Stuart Blackie (1809-1895), poet, professor successively of humanity in Aberdeen and of Greek in Edinburgh, and a tireless advocate for the Scottish Highlands and Celtic culture; sketches his growing criticism of Highland landlords and the eviction of crofters from Scottish estates, in relation to more recent perspectives; and discusses his successive literary treatments of the Clearances in his "Highland Sonnets," his long poem "The Highlander's Lament," and, most fully, in his 'novel' or mixed-genre prose work Altavona: Fact and Fiction from My Life in the Highlands (1882), commenting also on Blackie's revisions to the book …

John Byrne's The Slab Boys: Technicolored Hell-Hole In A Town Called Malice, William Donaldson

Studies in Scottish Literature

Presents a detailed discussion and appreciation of the Slab Boys tetralogy, a sequence of four plays by the Scottish playwright and painter John Byrne, beginning with The Slab Boys (1978), focused on a group of apprentices in the color-mixing room of a Paisley carpet-factory in the 1950s, and then tracing the divergence of their lives through three later plays, The Loveliest Night of the Year (1979, later titled Cuttin' A Rug), Still Life (1982), and Nova Scotia (2008); examines Byrne's characterization, "excoriatingly destructive wit," and "rambunctiously demotic language"; analyzes the tetralogy's continuing major themes of the relation between art …

Back To The Future: Remembering The 1707 Act Of Union In The 2014 Referendum Campaign, Leith Davis

Studies in Scottish Literature

Discusses the political rhetoric , imagery, and arguments, used in the debates over the 1707 Act of Union between Scotland and England, and traces their reuse in the debates that preceded the Scottish Referendum on independence in September 2014, depicting the 1707 act, not as an historical inevitability, but as "an anomalous success" after a century of earlier attempts at an incorporating union and as "a site of contestation long after its ratification."

'I Am Not Writing Anything Just Now': A Letter From Walter Scott To Sarah Smith, February 13, 1814, John T. Knox

Studies in Scottish Literature

Describes and reproduces a letter written by Sir Walter Scott to the actress Sarah Smith (later Mrs Bartley), in February 1814, in which he tells her shortly before the anonymous publication of his novel Waverley that "I am not writing anything just now"; discusses Scott's interest in Smith's career, his brief comments on the dramatist Joanna Baillie, and the extent to which Smith was in his confidence about his writing.

Notes On Contributors To Vol. 41

Studies in Scottish Literature

Brief biographical entries on the 25 scholars who have contributed to this volume.

The Very Stones Would Cry Out: A Study Of The Gospel Of Christ In Luke 19:37-40, James Gardner

Senior Theses

My senior thesis project is a Sunday School series to be used for the high school ministry at Shandon Baptist Church. I've been an intern for the Shandon youth ministry for a year and a half, including the current semester, and have been involved in the ministry in some other capacity for nearly six years. Through my experiences with the youth ministry there, it has become my desire to pursue vocational ministry myself, and this project has become a great practical way for me to do research and learn what it will be like to be a youth pastor and …

Sephardi And Mizrahi Jews In America, Saba Soomekh

The Jewish Role in American Life: An Annual Review

Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews in America includes academics, artists, writers, and civic and religious leaders who contributed chapters focusing on the Sephardi and Mizrahi experience in America. Topics will address language, literature, art, diaspora identity, and civic and political engagement.

When discussing identity in America, one contributor will review and explore the distinct philosophy and culture of classic Sephardic Judaism, and how that philosophy and culture represents a viable option for American Jews who seek a rich and meaningful medium through which to balance Jewish tradition and modernity. Another chapter will provide a historical perspective of Sephardi/Ashkenazi Diasporic tensions. Additionally, …

Betting On Empire: A Socio-Cultural History Of Gambling In Late-Qing China, En Li

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation uses the practice and licensing of gambling, especially the lotteries, to investigate social, intellectual, and geo-political changes in the transitional period of late-Qing China. This research begins with a study of a civil service examination scandal in 1885. A highly organized lottery scheme, where money was bet on surnames that would pass the state’s official selection examinations, spurred manipulation of the examination results. Based on current sources and agreeing with resent studies on public institutions in late-imperial China, I conclude that, the lottery contributed to a more inclusive public by providing people with simultaneous experiences across time and …

Postmodernism And Budhism: A Postmodern Woman In A Modernizing Land, Ruthanne Joy Wenger Hughes

Senior Theses

Religion and postmodernism are two paradigms that guide my experience of life. Although it is not necessarily intuitive, these two paradigms do intersect and inform each other, shaping the way I engage with the world. With this understanding, I spent the Spring 2015 semester in the Kingdom of Bhutan and examined my time through a postmodern lens, writing a travel blog at www.bhutanbricolage.weebly.com that mediates my experiences there and my thoughts about Buddhism and postmodernism.

Are We Prepared For The Future? A Case Study On The Education Of Journalists, Victoria Black

Senior Theses

Throughout my college experience at the University of South Carolina as a journalism major, I heard about one thing for four years – senior semester. Senior semester for journalism majors is a set number of classes the student must take his or her senior year, either the last or second to last semester before graduation. It includes four specific classes on reporting, producing, writing and web management. But there is a catch. The four classes do not meet for specific class periods. Students in senior semester meet Monday through Friday from 8:45am to 6:00pm, producing a 4:00pm newscast every day. …

The Bullies On The Block: What's Killing Secondhand Bookstores?, Kristen Stedman

Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works

Reading is idolized in our society. Being a book-lover is a trait that many, including myself, share. Yet, all over the world, independent bookstores are dying due to the rise of Amazon, the pressure of gentrification, and the prevalence of supermarket bookstores. Independent bookstores are of immense cultural significance to us as close-knit, welcoming communities of concentrated creativity, emphasizing the need to be concerned over their diminishing numbers. The factors causing their plight are researched through scholarly sources and then further explored through variety of interviews- with the shop owner, with people who choose to frequent independent bookstores, and with …

Letter From The Editor

Liberty Theological Review

Letter from the Editor

A Critical Analysis Of Neural Buddhism's Explanation Of Moral Transformation, Jeffrey R. Dickson

Liberty Theological Review

As non-theistic arguments for morality become increasingly sophisticated and complex, they are harder to criticize without first admiring their skillful design and near-artistry. One such argument involves a relatively new innovation that is the child of naturalism and eastern philosophy—Neural Buddhism. Like two world-renowned designers collaborating on a new garment, Naturalism and Buddhism have come together in this distinct program to offer something inventive, especially in its explanation of moral transformation. However, this critical analysis will ultimately reveal that Neural Buddhism’s explanation of moral transformation is incapable of providing good answers to several compelling criticisms.

Unique History, Unique Opportunity: Evangelicalism In Austria Since 1945, John D. Doss M.Div.

Liberty Theological Review

The article deals with the history of evangelicalism in Austria, a subject on which there is hardly any scholarly research. In focus is the development of the newly recognized baptist, charismatic, mainline evangelical, mennonite and pentecostal denominations since 1945. The role of immigration in the growth of evangelicalism is examined, especially during two periods: the decade after WWII (1945-55) as well as the massive immigration from Eastern Europe (particularly from Romania) after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. The article also presents examples of indigenous church movements among the Austrian people themselves, especially during the 1970's and 1980's. …