Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Music And Race In The American West, William Steven Schneider

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis explores the complexities of race relations in the nineteenth century American West. The groups considered here are African Americans, Anglo Americans, Chinese, Mexican Americans, and Native Americans. In recent decades historians of the West have begun to tell the narratives of racial minorities. This study adopts the aims of these scholars through a new lens--music. Ultimately, this thesis argues that historians can use music, both individual songs and broader conceptions about music, to understand the complex and contradictory race relations of the nineteenth century west.

Proceeding thematically, the first chapter explores the ways Anglo Americans used music to …

War For The Planet Of The Apes (Movie Review), Joshua Matthews

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"This movie asks us to side with the apes, to root against the human army that they face, and to feel elated at the prospect of a planet full of sentient apes, without sentient humans."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­a review of the movie War for the Planet of the Apes from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

http://inallthings.org/war-for-the-planet-of-the-apes/

Girl Crush: Liminal Identities And Lesbian Love In Children's Cartoons, Madison Bradley

Media and Communication Studies Summer Fellows

A textual analysis of the cartoon Steven Universe, this project takes a semiotic approach to explore anti-essentialist messages of gender identity. I argue that within the mainstream media, the cartoon expresses prosocial messages about gender by representing nonbinary characters and gender fluid themes. Using children’s media studies, queer studies, and reception studies, I investigate how the show portrays liminal identities. In particular, I focus on how lesbian existence and gender fluidity are simultaneously normalized and othered through the text’s visuals and dialogue. Critically analyzing the ways in which the media represents queerness as ‘too adult,’ this study reveals that children’s …

Trepidation: A Film Project On Cultural Trauma, Courtney A. Duchene

Media and Communication Studies Summer Fellows

A trailer and a screenplay for a docudrama film that examines cultural trauma in relation to police shootings and the 2016 election.

Young Entrepreneurship In Philadelphia, Mario J. Heitman

Art and Art History Summer Fellows

A contemporary case study in starting a small business in Philadelphia. The paper focuses on my experiences as an artist and centers on a pop-up exhibition held July 15^th 2017.

Mujeres En Movimiento: La Representación De La Migración Femenina En Los Cuentos De Cristina Pacheco, Nadia Villafuerte Y Rosario Sanmiguel, Sonia A. Rodríguez Hicks

Spanish and Portuguese ETDs

MUJERES EN MOVIMIENTO: LA REPRESENTACIÓN DE LA MIGRACIÓN FEMENINA EN LOS CUENTOS DE CRISTINA PACHECO, NADIA VILLAFUERTE Y ROSARIO SANMIGUEL

by

Sonia A. Rodríguez Hicks

B.A., Tourism Planning, Universidad Hispano-Mexicana, 1986

M.A., Spanish, University of Wyoming, 2002

Ph. D. Spanish, University of New Mexico, 2017

ABSTRACT

This dissertation focuses on the representation of migrant women in recent Mexican narrative through the examination of three short story collections, El oro del desierto (2005) by Cristina Pacheco, Barcos en Houston (2005) by Nadia Villafuerte and Bajo el Puente (1998) by Rosario Sanmiguel.

During most of the twentieth century, Mexican literary representations of …

Functionalism And Artificial Intelligence, Kevin Connor

Episteme

The Chinese Room argument shows that the Turing test functions only by syntax, thereby revealing that the notion of meaning is not properly accounted for by the test. Thus, Searle is convincing in his refutation of the Turing test for strong artificial intelligence. Yet, while the mind is not like a program running on certain hardware, the brain is. But thinking, Searle’s real interest, is not simply running the appropriate program! Therefore, rather than providing a solution to the Mind-Body problem, Searle’s conclusion about AI begs the question about what causes semantics. Searle’s logic goes awry somewhere, and, for this …

The Ghost In The Machine: A Defense Of The Possibility Of Artificial Intelligence, Matthew Carlson

Episteme

The Chinese Room argument shows that the Turing test functions only by syntax, thereby revealing that the notion of meaning is not properly accounted for by the test. Thus, Searle is convincing in his refutation of the Turing test for strong artificial intelligence. Yet, while the mind is not like a program running on certain hardware, the brain is. But thinking, Searle’s real interest, is not simply running the appropriate program! Therefore, rather than providing a solution to the Mind-Body problem, Searle’s conclusion about AI begs the question about what causes semantics. Searle’s logic goes awry somewhere, and, for this …

Afraid Of The Dark: Nagel And Rationalizing The Fear Of Death, Jennifer Lunsford

Episteme

What should be said about the Thomas Nagel/O. H. Green interpretation of why people fear death? Since Nagel focuses only on the non-state of death (ignoring the state of dying), he concludes that it is the deprivation of life that people fear. Green, who shares with Nagel similar organizing thoughts, argues that a fear of loss of life is equivalent to the fear of death, since people really fear not living (any) longer. But this paper’s author sees more logic to Nagel’s position. But is Nagel correct? Has Nagel’s article on death wrongly brushed aside the legitimately rational idea that …

Kant's Proof Of A Universal Principle Of Causality: A Transcendental Idealist's Reply To Hume, Reza Mahmoodshahi

Episteme

In the Second Analogy of the Critique of Pure Reason, is Kant directly responding to Hume? The author argues that he must be, otherwise his arguments about succession and irreversibility (the house and the ship) fall victim to P. F. Strawson’s “non sequitur” criticism. Kant believes that our experience of successive objective events presupposes the application of the causal category, obviously a crucial part of Kant’s notion of the understanding. So long as we keep in mind that Kant depends strongly on his underlying doctrine of transcendental idealism, the author grants Lewis White Beck’s defense of Kant, in alluding to …

Investigating Female Indigenous Leadership In Latin America, Roseangela G. Hartford

Spanish Summer Fellows

This project investigates gender constructs and the complex assigned gender roles in settings of female indigenous leadership in Latin America. It examines two distinct indigenous communities, including the BriBri society in Yorkín, Costa Rica and the Maya peoples in Santa Anita, Guatemala that demonstrate the circumstantial spectrum in which women can obtain leadership roles and what actors directly influence this process. Each case study explores the fluidity of gender identities in which concepts of masculinity often guide female empowerment and liberation. With Costa Rica abolishing their military in 1948 and Guatemala experiencing a 36-year civil war (1960-1996) and a major …

Theater For Social Justice: Sexual Violence Prevention Programming For College Campuses, Jessica Childs

Theater Summer Fellows

My research investigates intersections of theater for social justice, the college campus sexual assault epidemic, and programs for sexual assault prevention. Using this research as a foundation, I have created a proposal for Ursinus College’s sexual assault prevention program. This proposal is informed by the 2011 “Dear Colleague Letter” on sexual violence, the White House “It’s On Us” campaign, and successful theater-based sexual violence prevention programs. My proposal focuses on the definition of consent, bystander intervention, healthy relationships, relationship abuse, sexual expression, and safer sex practices. The proposal demonstrates the ways in which student-written monologues and short scenes in combination …

Beyond Strunk & White: Using Comics To Teach Students To Write Analytically, Lisa Smith

Humanities and Teacher Education Division Faculty Scholarship

This paper presents my approach to teaching analytical writing in a first-year composition class using Matt Fraction and David Aja's Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon, providing practical, constructive advice on how to use comics to improve students' analytical writing skills. Assignment sheet included at end.

The Nature Of God & Predestination In John Davenant's Dissertatio De Praedestinatione Et Reprobatione, Jonathan Roberts

Theses

This paper is an exposition and defense of John Davenant's critique of the lapsarian understanding of the ordering of God's decrees. I evaluate Davenant's use of theology proper in his critique of said debate and contend that if Davenant is correct about divine simplicity and divine immutability, his critique of lapsarianism is successful.

Animal Rights And Incredulous Stares, Bob Fischer

Between the Species

I propose an analogy between the thesis that animals have rights and David Lewis's commitment to modal realism. I argue that just as Lewis received incredulous stares that seem to justify rejecting his metaphysical hypothesis, so the thesis that animals have rights can be reasonably rejected. I consider the prospect challenging the considered beliefs on which that rejection depends, and ultimately offer a pessimistic conclusion.

Meeting Her, Liz Moss

Staff Work

"I wonder if we would take more time to notice God’s presence if the crazy, unknowns would be filled with peace and assurance."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­a mother's difficult decision from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

http://inallthings.org/meeting-her-2/

Standing Committee Meeting Minutes, 1963-2009, Faculty Senate.

University Archives Finding Aids

No abstract provided.

Center For Art & Theater News, Georgia Southern University

Center for Art & Theater (Archived)

• Georgia Southern presents digital media artist Jeffrey Moser Aug. 14 – Sept. 15

A Fractured Family And Its Heirs: Seljuq Power And The “Sunni Revival” In The Middle East, 1000-1200 Ce, Elijah Sloat

History Summer Fellows

The Seljuq Turks were a group of nomadic warriors who converted to Sunni Islam by the end of the tenth century. Over the course of the next half century the Seljuqs conquered the majority of what we now call the Middle East. One Seljuq dynasty in particular, known to historians as the Great Seljuqs, positioned themselves as the dominant political power in the region as well as champions of Sunni Islam. Scholars refer to this period of Seljuq control as the “Sunni Revival” and debate heavily whether Seljuq political and religious practices were the cause of this “Revival,” as well …

Faith And Allegiance, Benjamin J. Lappenga

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"I’d like to devote attention to some ways these books address biblical and theological topics that animated the Reformation debates and continue to garner interest today."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­two book reviews from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

http://inallthings.org/faith-and-allegiance/

Behavior And Other Minds: A Response To Functionalists, Michael Lockhart

Episteme

Functionalism’s metaphysics is wrongly thought to answer the epistemological question of the existence of the other’s mentality. Contra Elliot Reed, the practical utility of being able to solve the problem of other minds does not make functionalism the best theory of mind, nor does it actually solve the problem of other minds. Reed’s circular argument implicitly relies on abstract behaviorism and the need to solve the problem of other minds. What must come first, however, is a correct ontology of the mind. Functionalism struggles with intentionality, disregards qualia, and, according to Searle’s excellent thought experiments, is incompatible with what we …

Religious Experience, Pluralistic Knowledge And William James, Brittany G. Trice

Episteme

This article explores the qualities and nature of the “religious” or mystical experience according to James and pragmatic philosophy in general. The author initially provides an overview of James’ philosophy of religion, which includes his pragmatic commitments, understanding of experience, and emphasis on cognitive relations. Then there arises a question: How can I know that others have mystical experience, too? James’s push to make the mystical experience scientific misjudges the utility of his quasi-chaos idea, which can be shown to support inter-subjective knowledge and position religion within what the author deems “pluralistic knowledge.” In the end, Rorty and Bruce Wilshire …

What Is 'Natural' About Natural Science: Philosophical Naturalism In The Evolution Debate, Hya P. Winham

Episteme

Creationist Phillip E. Johnson argues that evolution theory is a product of a bias toward naturalistic explanation—a materialist philosophical ideology that encroaches on empirical science. This position even got some support from philosopher Michael Ruse. But the fact is science must include a base level of presupposition; the creationist, while supplying her own, mistakenly thinks that science can operate without such an explanatory guide. This paper defends naturalism in science, thereby rejecting the concerns and arguments of neo-creationists. In this effort, the author argues why naturalism is important to science, uses Dewey to explain why anti-naturalism leads to careless science, …

Desertification And Metaphysics In Nietzsche And Abbey, David Allen Chenault

Episteme

The truth is neither simply culture derived from nature, nor nature from culture. Can we (qua humans) merge with nature and still maintain our self-intelligibility? –This is the question that the anti-anti-naturalist concentrates on. The author looks at Nietzsche’s critique of metaphysics, which posits a new metaphysics that requires us to enter the violent, heartless desert that is the paradoxical dual immanence of nature. The paper looks at the desert in the Genealogy’s discussion of the ascetic ideal, and how it relates to Edward Abbey’s isolation and book Desert Solitaire. Importantly, the similarities in-part stem from their similar post-modern sensibility. …

A Defense Of Scientific Phenomenalism From The Perspective Of Contemporary Physics, John Lee

Episteme

Contrary to believing in scientific realism, the author provides a defense of scientific phenomenalism, which holds that only things that we can perceive can be counted as things that exist. The author agrees with W. T. Stace, who holds that science does not explain but merely describes and predicts. Such an understanding suggests that scientists go beyond their bounds when they support the existence of certain theoretical (non-observable) entities—things like quarks and warped spacetime. When such “things” are just mathematical constructs, it becomes easier to comprehend the nature of light, the Higgs mechanism, the electro and magnetic fields, and even …

Warrant, Proper Function, And The Great Pumpkin Objection, Joseph Curtis Miller

Episteme

Because it eschews classical foundationalism and coherence theory, one must wonder about the reliability of Plantinga’s radical account of knowledge of God’s existence. How does his appeal to proper basicality and epistemic warrant fair against Keith Lehrer’s objections? The answer: not very well. The author gives an analysis of Plantinga’s proper functionality concept, his grounds for warranted belief, and his anticipated response to what he calls the Great Pumpkin Objection. Next, the author presents Lehrer’s two counterexamples, Mr. Truetemp and Ms. Prejudice, and supports Lehrer’s claims that they show that proper functionality is neither a sufficient nor necessary condition for …

Causality, Emergentism, And Mentality, Robert Hemm Jr.

Episteme

The author here combines the insights of John Dupré and Jaeqwon Kim to supply a new answer to the big conundrum in the philosophy of mind: the mind/body problem. He begins with an overview of Dupré’s take on the classic modern take of causality and determinism, concluding that if Dupré is right and probabilistic catastrophism is true, this theory of probability has important consequences for the mind/body problem. Specifically, probabilistic catastrophism can address the question forced by Kim’s emergentism: how do irreducible mental properties interact with the closed causal nexus of the physical world? The paper concludes by considering what …

Functionalism, Qualia, And Other Minds, Elliot Reed

Episteme

We can solve the problem of other minds by reference to behavior only if we conceive of consciousness in functional terms. Folk psychology, though incomplete, supplies us with mental categories that are useful for prediction and explanation and thus can become functional categories. We need psychology and linguistics to work together to create a substantial body of research. The author spends a great deal of time responding to an objecting interlocutor, out of which comes supplemental details such as a discussion of functional equivalence; a response to the reductio ad absurdum complaint against the liberal intentional stance; an argument about …

Anaphoric Deflationism: Truth And Reference, Lauren Hartzell

Episteme

As a reaction to Dorothy Grover and Robert Brandom, this paper examines semantic concerns about intralinguistic relationships and functions. The author supports Brandom’s interpretation of Grover and argues that the prosentential theory of truth must accept the pronominal theory of reference in order to maintain an anaphoric account of truth. The author uses Brandom’s logic to brand Grover an anaphoric deflationist—whether she intended to be one or not. But Brandom’s appeal to reference only begins the project of extending Grover. What other anaphoric mechanisms still need to be identified, the author asks? How do we account for notions of substantive …

The Hyperphilosophy Of Extraordinary Communication, Theresa Thuline

Episteme

By rejecting orthodoxy, systemization, and objectivity, metaphor allows us to express the extraordinary, contradictory, and paradoxical. Kierkegaard’s Postscript provides a good entry into the concept of metaphor, because it demonstrates the dialectical concepts that give rise to the usefulness of figurative language tools like metaphor and its sidekick, irony. Ricœur extends and elaborates on Kierkegaard’s dialectical philosophy. Together, contrary to Marie I. George’s thoughts on the suitability of metaphors in philosophy, these thinkers speak of the necessarily indirect linguistic means to communicate divine passion and to avoid the pitfalls of standard social meaning-expression. The author concludes by appreciating Pastor Robert …