Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Measuring Racial Competence In Athletic Academic Support Staffs, Aquasia Thornhill

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Critical Race Theory, a theoretical framework that has been gaining much recognition in sport literature, is a useful and beneficial tool in discussing race and racism. To better understand the context in which academic support staff appreciate the functionality and significance of race, the present study measures the racial competence of athletic academic support staffs. This research study explores the need to integrate a model such as Critical Race Theory that promotes “racial competency” among academic support staffs working closely with student-athletes of color, and measures Color-Blind Racial Attitudes that may have effects on the types of interactions individuals are …

The Net Of Nostalgia: Class, Culture, And Political Alienation And Nostalgia In Contemporary Latino And South Asian American Literature, Farzana Akhter

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Generally thought of as a yearning for recent past, or homesickness, nostalgia is seen as a sentiment that impairs living in the present. And in case of immigrants, nostalgia is thought of as a debilitating form of escapism and an inability to adapt to change and mobility. In this dissertation, contesting against the prevalent concept, I argue that immigrant nostalgia is neither a colored memory (Dyson 117) nor a romance with one’s own fantasy (Boym xiii); rather, immigrant nostalgia has a socio-economic and political underpinning. By exploring the various nuances of immigrant experience delineated in the literary works of South …

Wayward Women, Macho Men: Linguistic Construction Of Gender Binaries In Yxta Maya Murray's Locas And Denise Chavez's Loving Pedro Infante, Stephanie Tangman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Language labels and defines in order to enhance meaning and communication, but through these labels and definitions speakers are also conditioned to associate certain connotations with words and, therefore, their referents. While often harmless, linguistic conditioning can at times create unsavory associations with these referents. One of these instances occurs in gendered labels and conceptions of male and female bodies and purpose. Both Yxta Maya Murray’s Locas and Denise Chavez’s Loving Pedro Infante can be read through a lens that applies linguistic conditioning with gender theory in order to examine the reinterpretation of female archetypes in the Chicana imagination. It …

Exploring Winery Operation As A Diversification Option For Native American Tribal Enterprises, Randi M. Combs

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to examine the perceptions of tribal members regarding the strengths, challenges, and opportunities presented by tribal winery operation. Specifically, issues of business diversification, marketing, perceived barriers to success, potential benefits to the tribe, and the role of agriculture in the preservation of tribal heritage were considered. A modified mixed-methods exploratory sequential research model was used to collect and organize data in two phases. Phase 1 quantitative data was used to inform the development of a Phase 2 qualitative interview protocol. Phase 1 found a significant relationship between a higher income level and a lower …

Beyond Coattails: Explaining John Paul Hammerschmidt's Victory In 1966, Jesse Ray Sims

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the campaign issues, demographic factors, and voting trends that helped Republican John Paul Hammerschmidt defeat incumbent Democratic congressman James W. Trimble in Arkansas’s third congressional district in 1966. Much of the historiography addressing this election largely neglects the historic significance of Hammerschmidt’s successful campaign and the factors contributing to his victory. Instead, historians primarily write about the election of Republican Winthrop Rockefeller to the governor’s office that year.

This thesis pieces together several theories on how Hammerschmidt defeated Trimble, including the effect of Winthrop Rockefeller’s coattails, the demographic changes taking place in the Ozarks beginning in the …

Indigenous Resistance: Settler-Colonialism, Nation Building, And Colonial Patriarchy, Megan E. Vallowe

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

“Indigenous Resistance: Settler-Colonialism, Nation Building, and Colonial Patriarchy,” interrogates the Western Hemisphere’s spatial construction by settler-states, Indigenous nations, and activists groups. In this project, I assert that Indigenous/Settler contact zones are significantly more convoluted than current scholarship’s use of contact zones in that the distinctions between Indigenous actors and settler-colonial ones are often blurred. These hybrid contact zones sometimes contain negative outcomes for all participants and often include undercurrents of insidious power dynamics within and across settler-states and Indigenous peoples alike. Using critical cartographic theory and deconstruction methods, this project first illustrates how empires ascribed a racialized patriarchy onto the …

The Black Maternal And Cultural Healing In Twentieth Century Black Women's Fiction, Paula Wingard White

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This work examines representations of maternal relationships between black women in five contemporary novels: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Sula by Toni Morrison, The Salt Eaters by Toni Cade Bambara, The Color Purple by Alice Walker and Louisiana by Erna Brodber. Rather than situating the origins of black feminist literary studies during the Black Women’s Literary Renaissance of the 1970s and 1980s, I argue that Hurston’s work shapes contemporary black feminist literary studies. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Nanny provides a mothering archetype that inspires a dominant theme and practice—the black maternal, within contemporary black …

"The Caribbean Imaginary In Southern Women's Literature", Christy Delaine Davis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

“The Caribbean Imaginary in Southern Women’s Literature” examines the U.S. South’s often contradictory approaches to viewing the Caribbean. While the image of the U.S. South has long been constructed by imagined fantasies, the southern authors in this project often thrust their own images onto the Caribbean imaginary. Throughout this project, I argue that over the past seventy years, the imperialist bent towards the Caribbean manifests in a variety of forms: media manipulation, patronage, fantasies, and nostalgia. At times, the Caribbean is seen as an imagined utopia full of potential, however this construction often erases the historical renderings of economic and …

Determinism And The Role Of Moral Responsibility, Justin Edward Edens

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In order to solve the apparent incompatibility between moral responsibility and determinism, it is necessary to understand moral responsibility in terms of the function it plays within moral systems, which is highly similar to the role played by laws within judicial systems. By showing that a conception of moral responsibility based upon desert is metaphysically untenable, a function-based conception will be showed to be much more likely. Furthermore, by considering why the desert-based conception has proven so resilient, insight into the moral responsibility/determinism debate may be possible. Lastly, this paper considers whether the problems with this conception can be solved, …

Examining The Phenomenon Of Dropping Out Of High School Through The Perspectives And Experiences Of The African American Male, John L. Colbert

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

We expect all students to achieve and succeed in school, yet current data shows that 23.6% of African American students in Arkansas drop out of school (Bailey & Dziko, 2008). The African American male high school dropouts are much higher than the number of male dropouts from other ethnic groups. As the researcher reviewed the current data about African American dropouts, it was the impetus behind this study. Although many have discussed and written about African American male dropouts in educational forums, essays, short stories, dissertations, and even movies, few have captured the experiences of the African American males in …

Restoration: An Oratorio Based On Ezra And Nehemiah, Joshua Bland

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In beginning a project of this scope, I first spent months considering the genre in which I wanted to work. Once I committed to an Oratorio, more months were spent reading and finding the story I needed to tell and the orchestral medium through which to tell it. Thus began Restoration, an oratorio based on the story of Ezra and Nehemiah. I came to this story for several reasons: first, though comprising a unique moment in Old Testament history, it has not been told through music. More importantly, I believed that the themes of this story were ones that needed …

These Wants, Mark Belair

Westview

No abstract provided.

Music Reviews, Volume 73, No. 5, Kathleen Roland-Silverstein

Voice - All Scholarship

Contains reviews of Marietta’s Lied, “Gluck, das ist mir verblieb,” aus der Oper, Die tote Stadt, op. 12.; Complete Songs for Solo Voice and Piano. Part 1: Individual Songs; Part 2: Songs from Collections; 21st Century Musical Theatre: 50 Songs from Shows Since 2000; Contemporary Theatre Songs: Songs from the 21st Century; Theatre and Cabaret Comedy Songs: 33 Songs

How To Edit Controversial Texts, Nicholas M. Shea

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

In a time where political tensions are at an all-time high, this paper examines the role of editors when faced with potentially controversial works—whether it’s a manuscript with a few minor offensive elements or a manuscript with an overarching provocative theme. The responsibilities of developmental editors and copyeditors are evaluated to find a common interest, prior to delving into the intricacies of editing a polemical text. Topics include: What constitutes a controversial work, and who decides? How do the roles of developmental editors and copyeditors relate to audience? How can editors remain neutral? How can editors use their neutral positioning …

Mennonite Cos Under The Russian Tsars (1787-1917), Lawrence Klippenstein

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The story of Russian Mennonite conscientious objectors (hereafter COs) is probably not well-known. It is a very important story because it explains in large part how it is that we now are Canadians and not Russians, why we live where we do, and why this “objecting” feature is still a facet of our lives today. Without the events of that story, none of us would be here in Altona, Manitoba, Canada, this evening, and in all likelihood, not be what makes us tick.

(This essay is a slightly revised talk given to the Altona History Seekers at Garden on Tenth …

Review Of Dirksen's "Religionsfreiheit In Ungarn. Verfassungspolitik Und -Wirklichkeit Am Beispiel Kleiner Religionsgemeinschaften In Ungarn 1845–1945 Unter Besonderer Berücksichtigung Der Horthy-Zeit" [Freedom Of Religion In Hungary: Constitutional Politics And Reality For Small Churches In Hungary Between 1845-1945, With Special Focus On The Horthy Era], András Máté-Tóth, Péter Tóth

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Review of Dirksen, Annegret. Religionsfreiheit in Ungarn. Verfassungspolitik und -wirklichkeit am Beispiel Kleiner Religionsgemeinschaften in Ungarn 1845–1945 Unter Besonderer Berücksichtigung der Horthy-Zeit. [Freedom of Religion in Hungary: Constitutional Politics and Reality for Small Churches in Hungary between 1845-1945, with Special Focus on the Horthy Era]. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2016. 690pp.

Cavalry To Campfires: The Politics Of Preservation In Frontier Historical Park, Jeremy Michael Gill

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Located on the bank of Big Creek in the Smoky Hills Region of the Great Plains is a small wooded park that contains a unique history. Today, the park is split into two sections, one being Frontier Park and the other being the Fort Hays State Historic Site that administers four original buildings from the active years of Fort Hays. Visitors from all states in the Union and many countries pass through Hays to visit the park. Whether to step back in time and experience life of the nineteenth century frontier or to absorb the quiet serenity of the state …

Banned, Black, And Barnstorming: How Traveling Black Teams In The Great Depression Changed Kansas, Maxwell Kutilek

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

In the 1870s and early 1880s, almost seventy African American men played for white owned ball clubs. By 1890, White owners reached an unwritten agreement to prevent African Americans from playing with white baseball players. Not until April 15, 1947, when Jackie Robinson took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers did a black baseball player play professionally with white players. It took the general manager of the Dodgers, Branch Ricky, almost a decade to get Robinson in a big league uniform. This meant for nearly sixty years, African Americans had to play separately. Before the creation of the Negro National …

Politics, Technology, And Libertarianism, Thomas J. Perry

Honors Projects

In recent years, technology has started to play a major role in the U.S. political climate. Specifically, it has created a platform for outside groups, such as libertarians, to have their voices heard. This brought forward an important research question: How has technology helped or hindered the ability of individually focused libertarians to organize for collective action? Through the exploration of previous research, two major findings are discovered: 1) technology and the growth of individualism in politics are intertwined and 2) technology and individualism both have ties to libertarianism. The implications of libertarianism are analyzed further through the study of …

Media Erotics & Adaptation: A Comparative Textual Analysis Of Carmilla, Rebecca Wait

Honors Projects

This project is concerned with understanding the different ways in which Carmilla (1872), a gothic novella, and it’s 2014 web series adaptation differently approach the same basic narrative, especially with regards to their respective representations of individuals who identify as sexual and gender minorities. One of the major functions of importance in this study was to understand the temporality and cultural conditions, which lead to the perceived need for a postmodern adaptation of a pre-modernist text. Through textual analysis, the author compared J. Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla (1872) to Jordan Hall's adaptation (2014). In this analysis, significant differences existed between …

I. In The Time Of The Others : A Novel ; Ii. Out Of East Pakistan : Postcolonial Colony Bangladesh As A Case Study Of Postcolonial State And Postcolonial Nation-State From East Pakistan To Independence Through The Liberation War Of 1971 : A Critical Analysis., Nadeem Zaman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a combined creative and critical project consisting a novel and a theoretical component. The novel entitled In the Time of the Others is a fictional account set during the true event of the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. Using the war as a backdrop, the novel tells the story of one man trying to manage his family, marriage, and financial situation by returning to an inheritance he never claimed. The journey brings him from his home in southern East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) to the capital city Dhaka, to the home of his maternal uncle and aunt under …

From Damsel In Distress To Active Agent : Female Agency In Children's And Young Adult Fiction., Megan Sarah Mcdonough

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes the different ways in which female characters in children’s and young adult fiction can claim agency. Using adaptation theory, feminist theory, and theories of agency and autonomy, this project examines how portrayals of female protagonists have changed to accept a multiplicity of strong females, and why we need these different kinds of characters within our culture. Working with the definition of agency as the choices one makes and the subsequent actions she takes, this dissertation examines how female characters from paradigm shifting texts claim agency. Each chapter uses a specific feminist lens to explore literary texts and …

Don't Go Unless You Mean It : A Novel With Critical Afterword : Heteronormative Masculine Performance In Contemporary Fictions Of The Rural American South., Nathan N. Gower

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of a full-length novel for an adult audience as well as a substantial critical afterword to elucidate and complicate germane thematic concerns of the creative artifact. The novel, leaning on the rich traditions and many genre conventions of fictions of the American south, tells the story of an unlikely underground coal miner in Blue Banks, a fictional southern town set in the caverns and rolling hills of the western Kentucky coal fields. The narrative follows its fish-out-of-water protagonist, Cody Culver, a fledgling academic who thought he had escaped his fate as a third-generation coal miner when he …

New Genres And New Challenges : Five Interdisciplinary Case Studies Of Master's Student Writers., Meghan Lynne Hancock

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the area of graduate writing research, Rhetoric and Composition scholarship has focused mainly on students of English and their experiences as novice writing teachers, or on students who are nearing the end of their graduate experience and are in the writing stage of their culminating projects, like dissertations. Few case studies in Rhetoric and Composition have been conducted on graduate student writers, particularly graduate students from multiple disciplines. This dissertation sets out to address this gap in conducting five interdisciplinary case studies of new master’s student writers as they navigate their first semester of graduate school and learn how …

Hard To See Through The Smoke : Remembering The 1912 Hillsville, Virginia Courthouse Shootout., Travis A. Rountree

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines rhetorical rememberings of the 1912 Hillsville, Virginia courthouse shootout. It begins with an overview of the historical event, then through four chapters focuses on different rememberings that take up the event. Using Burke’s terministic screens, the study presents several lenses through which to view these rememberings. Chapter One presents the national and local newspaper constructions of the shootout in three terministic screens: the violent mountaineer, the gangster, and the uncolonized other. These three screens predate what is now the hillbilly image of the mountaineer. Chapter Two analyzes performative actions of the shootout. The ballads about the event …

The Military Meets The University : Mapping Issues Of Literacy Sponsorship Across Military And Academic Settings., Ashley Ludewig

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is grounded in scholarship on communities of practice and literacy sponsorship and aims to contribute to a growing body of research about the literacy practices of student veterans. Rather than focusing on the impact of trauma or service-related injuries, this study demonstrates the influence that a military learning environment can have on a veteran’s subsequent experiences with college writing. Chapter 1 includes a brief history of the military’s impact on higher education and an overview of the existing scholarship on student veterans’ academic writing. I also review scholarship on communities of practice in literacy studies and literacy sponsorship …

Finding Exuberance For The Role Shelby In Baltimore., Danielle Smart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis documents my discovery of exuberance as the key to a successful performance and reveals the challenges I faced in developing a character whose major actions in the play fall into the category of masking (i.e. hiding, avoiding, dodging). I define exuberance and discuss how I came to understand that sustaining exuberance requires a great deal of technical expertise specifically in acting, movement and voice in order to accommodate the demands of the character. I contend that exuberance also requires commitment and nurturing of the actor’s personal artistic vision. This thesis will discuss some of the difficulties I faced …

Aspirations Into Action : Navigating Structures For Community Engagement At The University Of Louisville., Megan Faver Hartline

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes the affordances of university structures based on how they value and support community engagement, focusing on common issues for community-engaged scholars. In this case study of the University of Louisville as an institution developing stronger structures for community engagement, I show that current efforts represent important starting points for how institutions support engagement, but I argue that they, and scholarly discussion about them, need to be deepened to meet the needs of engaged scholars. Toward that end, utilizing an institutional critique methodology informed by scholarship in institutional ethnography, I combine analysis of university policies and documents with …

Building The Bastard : Confidence Through Preparation In Shakespeare's King Lear., Shaleen Tarun Cholera

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is to chart my discovery that confidence is essential to an actor’s craft. This thesis focuses on my performance as Edmund in King Lear, as well as my production the previous summer playing Hussein in Ayad Akhtar’s Disgraced. I draw from a variety of sources, such as meditation and formal acting exercises, to achieve confidence. Most importantly, I distill my missteps as an actor for a better understanding of what hinders confidence when building a role for performance.

Genesis : For Orchestra., Zachary Dwight Lowery

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Genesis is a two-movement work for full orchestra that depicts the Creation and Flood story. These two stories are an inverse of each other, one of beginnings, and the other of endings. The idea of creation is portrayed musically through the stacking and building of various motives presented throughout the piece to create a musical "world". Those motives and ideas are then scattered, distorted, and further fragmented to show the utter destruction of creation. Ultimately this piece is about the power and grace of God, and His plan through it all.