Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Early Guitar In The New World: Its Route From Seville To Santo Domingo, Puerto Rico, And Cubagua (1497–1550), Richard T. Pinnell

Soundboard Scholar

Pinnell discusses the history of guitar in the New World. The third voyage of Christopher Columbus was not only the first of the Columbian voyages to reach South America along the Venezuelan coastline; it was also the first that explicitly included musical instruments and trained musicians. "Their Catholic Majesties" (Los Reyes Católicos), so designated by Pope Alexander VI upon their defeat of the Moors, had already been quite disappointed with the lack of stability and growth in the grim encampments established by Columbus, so this time they proposed a unique list of professions and skills among the passengers to ensure …

Los Romeros: Royal Family Of The Spanish Guitar By Walter Aaron Clark, Richard Long

Soundboard Scholar

A review of Los Romeros: Royal Family of the Spanish Guitar by Walter Aaron Clark.

Corbetta: La Guitarre Royalle (Elias), Ellwood Colahan

Soundboard Scholar

A review of Corbetta: La Guitarre Royalle, album by Elias, Izhar.

Bergson’S Philosophy Of Self-Overcoming, Messay Kebede

Books and Book Chapters by University of Dayton Faculty

This book proposes a new reading of Bergsonism based on the admission that time, conceived as duration, stretches instead of passes. This swelling time is full and so excludes the negative. Yet, swelling requires some resistance, but such that it is more of a stimulant than a contrariety. The notion of élan vital fulfills this requirement: it states the immanence of life to matter, thereby deriving the swelling from an internal effort and allowing its conceptualization as self-overcoming. With self-overcoming as the inner dynamics of reality, Bergson dismisses all forms of dualism and reductionist monism because both the absence of …

From Fallibility To Fragility: How The Theory Of Narrative Transformed The Notion Of Character Of Fallible Man, Pol Vandevelde

Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Grace At The End Of Life: Rethinking Ordinary And Extraordinary Means In A Global Context, Conor M. Kelly

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Catholic Social Ethics And Public Health: Searching For A Liberating Bioethics, Alexandre Andrade Martins

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

This article argues that the option for the poor offers an ethical imperative to analyze bioethical issues that are not restricted to the traditional discussion on the use of medical technology and the health professional-patient relationship. The author presents a bioethics in a liberationist key that integrates Catholic social teaching into healthcare issues and ethical challenges to promote justice through a public system based on the right to healthcare. This essay be­gins by examining the option for the poor, presented by Catholic social teaching, and how it relates to healthcare. Then, it analyses data and studies showing the relationship between …

The Leftist Political Parties In Light Of Simone Weil's Criticism: The Workers' Party Case, Alexandre A. Martins

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

Given the socio-political context of Latin American countries and their leftist and center-leftist parties that had governed some countries since the beginning of the 2000’s, this essay will present Simone Weil’s anthropology of a rooted people towards social justice guided by a spirituality of supernatural justice. This anthropology supports her criticism of political parties that this essay will use to examine the Brazilian context and its Workers’ Party that gov­erned the country for over thirteen years and ended its tenure after a process of impeachment. Although Simone Weil seems to be pessimistic as to whether multiparty or monoparty political systems …

John’S Gospel And The Ethics Of Freedom And Love, Alexandre A. Martins

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Youtube’S Terms Of Service: Posthumanism, Algorithms, And Professional Writing, Sarah Bresnahan

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis aims to examine YouTube’s Terms of Service as it applies to content creators (known as YouTubers) who use the platform as a means of financial gain and how YouTube’s demonetization policy via an algorithm is negatively affecting them. I conducted a case study featuring one creator, Michelle Guido, and attempted to determine why some of her content is demonetized when it fulfills YouTube’s content standards for monetization. This study is meant as an examination through the lens of Dr. N. Katherine Hayles’s theory of posthumanism as stated in her book, How We Became Posthuman, and will offer insight …

From Tony Soprano To Donald Trump: Situating The Rhetoric Of The 2016 Trump Presidential Campaign In The Antihero Genre, Harry Bodell

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

In the wake of Donald Trump’s stunning victory over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, scholars and political pundits alike were left scrambling to understand what had occurred. While there is no single explanation for this unexpected turn of events, the present study argues that an overlooked and central aspect of Trump’s appeal was foreshadowed by the increased prominence of antihero protagonists in American media, particularly exemplified by the recent “Golden Age” of television wherein television series like The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Mad Men and Dexter found critical and popular success by building compelling narratives around morally flawed …

Visual Rhetoric In Comics: The Rhetoric Of Sexual Assault In The Wake Of Mattress Girl, Brianna Marie Burke

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the visual rhetoric of sexual assault through the unique medium of web-based comics composed by noncommercial artists. The focus was on features compiled from Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics and Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen’s Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design, as well as one related to representation of those involved in sexual assault: abusers and survivors, art style, act and gaze, size of frame and social distance, horizontal angle, and vertical angle.

This examination reveals four things about the rhetoric of sexual assault and consent in these comics. First, the comics are used as documentary-like, …

"Bachelor Buttons": Feminist And Womanist Essays And Poems, Billy E. Clem Jr.

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

In this critical and creative dissertation, I sketch a brief study of selected multicultural hybrid texts in contemporary US Anglophone literary studies; discuss their implications for reading, writing, and teaching; and present my own hybrid text.

Second-wave feminist and womanist theories and practices opened literary and cultural studies to new and exciting ideas and methods for reading, teaching, and writing both canonical and non-canonical Anglophone texts. One genre emerging anew by these theories, practices, and practitioners is the literary hybrid text, a multi-genre form composed of a variety of prose genres, poetry, drama, and/or visual imagery. Hybrid texts ask readers …

Dekalb, Illinois, Muslim Women’S Agency Negotiating And Re-Affirming Their Muslim Identity, Sinta Febrina

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Post 9/11 American Muslim women are stereotyped as victims of their patriarchal religion and as perpetrators of terror. These conditions led to the discrimination of American Muslim women which requires them to continuously strategize and negotiate their identity. This thesis examined DeKalb, Illinois Muslim women’s agency to strategize and negotiate their identity in lager American society. In this study, fifteen Muslim women from three different categories were interviewed: American-born citizens, naturalized citizens, and immigrants. This study found that Muslim women’s various backgrounds (country of origin, education, socio-economic status, and immigration status) affected their strategy and agency to negotiate and re-affirm …

The Downfall Of Colonial And Dark Romantic Masculinity In The Witch: A New England Folktale, David Miles Harrington

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis discusses the film The Witch (2015), directed by Robert Eggers, specifically, the character of William and his failures as a Puritan man. Puritan masculinity is a surprisingly understudied area of American literature and, to enter into the field, I use William and The Witch as a portal into various historical and literary interpretations of seventeenth-century Puritan maleness. The project takes a palimpsestic approach to these layers of influence on Eggers’s film. From Hawthorne’s Reverend Hooper in “The Minister’s Black Veil” and Young Goodman Brown in “Young Goodman Brown” to real-world Puritans Roger Williams and Samuel Sewall. This thesis …

Slavery's Soldiers: Armed Resistance In The Anglo-Atlantic, 1676-1823, Justin Iverson

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Enslaved people resisted Atlantic chattel bondage in violent ways since the development of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. They also served as soldiers for White owners in various conflicts that also furthered White interests. Scholars of slavery and resistance in the Atlantic world have long held the belief that enslaved people in early America and the United States did not resist the Atlantic chattel system in the same ways or as frequently as other bond people in the Caribbean or Latin America. Moreover, enslaved soldiers are often portrayed as loyal subjects who fought in war and armed conflict to advance imperial …

Wellness In Asexual-Identified Individuals: The Impact Of Social Support And Microaggressions, Elisa Marie Woodruff

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

One hundred sixty asexual identified individuals living in the United States were recruited from asexual online communities. The participants completed a comprehensive survey consisting of Zimet et al.’s 1988 Multidimensional Scale of Social Support, Foster’s 2017 Asexual Microaggression Scale, and the Five Factor Wellness Inventory Adult Version Revised (FFWEL-A2) developed by Myers and Sweeney in 2014, as well as 15-item demographic items. Regression models were used to assess relationships among the factors.

Social support was found to have a significant positive impact on participant wellness, supporting previous social science research. Microaggressions were not found to have a negative impact on …

The Roadmap To Liberalization: Myanmar's Transition From Military To Civilian Rule, Nicole Amanda Loring

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

How did Myanmar’s military embrace liberalization more during 2011-2015 than in the 1988-2002 period? Myanmar has long been treated as an outlying case by studies on democratization, liberalization, and transitions from authoritarian regimes due to its longstanding military regime. Protests in 1988 led to pressure on the regime to hold elections in 1990, leading to an electoral victory for the opposition party the National League for Democracy (NLD), but the results were ultimately overturned, and Myanmar’s military regime persisted. The period of 2011-2015 showed marked similarities with the earlier 1988-2002 period, including protests and pressure for democratic elections. Despite the …

Contesting Consent: Consent, Sexual Scripts, And Gendered Power, Julia Kristine Metz

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Within the past decade, the United States has seen an upsurge of affirmative consent policies being introduced or passed within the legislation of state governments and universities (Laker and Boas 2015). However, in a moment when the President of the US has been recorded saying “Grab ‘em by the pussy,” two Supreme Court justices have been accused of sexual misconduct, and a Secretary of Education has rolled back Title IX policies that had made progress in curbing sexual violence in schools, the meaning of sexual consent is now being contested more than ever. However, there have only been a handful …

The Hero Never Leaves The Tavern: Complicating Narrative In Dungeons & Dragons, Christopher Nelson

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis aims to explore how Dungeons & Dragons complicates storytelling elements such as the role of narrator and audience and the structure of the hero’s journey. Using the Game Trailers Archive’s Tabletop Adventures series as a case study, I analyze over 50 hours of gameplay along with studying Dungeons & Dragons’s history and what influenced its creation and narrative style. This study is meant as an examination of the role of audience and narrator in Dungeons & Dragons and the game’s narrative elements using the lenses of Wayne Booth’s theories on the narrator as stated in his book The …

Why We Turn The Page: A Literary Theory Of Dynamic Structuralism, Justin J. J. Ness

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This study claims that every narrative text intrinsically possesses a structure of fixed relationships among its interest components. The progress of literary structuralism gave more attention to the static nature of what a narrative is than it did to the dynamic nature of how it operates. This study seeks to build on the work of those few theorists who have addressed this general oversight and to contribute a more comprehensive framework through which literary critics may better chart the distinct tensions that a narrative text cultivates as it proactively produces interest to motivate a reader’s continued investment therein. This study …

Examining Political Discourse On A Crafting Website, Laura Steibel O'Brien

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Websites dedicated to leisure pursuits are often used to connect with others over a shared interest. Some allow and encourage participants to engage in discussion. This project examined the ways that one crafting website, Ravelry, attempts to maintain civil discourse among its users, as opposed to the sometimes hostile and aggressive interactions found on other sites. The study looked at its discussion moderation practices as its users discussed politics and then analyzed how this related to community norms and practices of civil public discourse. Discourse analysis of words, phrases, and interactions within representative discussion threads suggest that while Ravelry’s guidelines …

Exceptionalism And Transatlanticism In Early American Literature (1760-1860) And Classic Hollywood Cinema (1930-1960), John M. Price

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation explores the seemingly contradictory characteristics of two distinct art forms in two distinct eras. When exploring the period 1760 to 1860, scholars of transatlanticism argue that the literature of Great Britain and the young United States are of one unified cultural identity, and yet this period is also one in which American writers sought to establish a unique national voice. To understand this dichotomy, this dissertation examines the parallels between Early American Literature, or EAL, and classic Hollywood cinema (1930-1960). This exercise in intertextuality demonstrates how both mediums in both periods absorbed influences from other countries and other …

A Child Shall Lead Them: Exploring Discourses Of Efficacy And Climate Change As They Appear In Children's Animated Film, Jason Derry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent climate change discourse has tended to presume scientific knowledge and rational argumentation as the principle factor in convincing peoples and publics toward climate action. However, scholarship across numerous fields reveals myriad other contributing factors in how people think about and respond to this environmental crisis, which leans predominately toward silence and apathy. Alongside this, children are often centered as inheriting a calamity, yet find themselves largely disempowered. From out of this rhetorical milieu I interject by way of a multidisciplinary grounding to examine the predominate framings of efficacy in the context of children, climate change, and environmental discourse. To …

Support From Above The Glass Ceiling: Narratives Of Women As University Student Leaders, Rebecca Schwartz

Masters Theses

Using qualitative methodology. the researcher examined motivations, social support networks, and challenges college women face in student leadership positions. Four semi-structured interviews were conducted at a midsized university in the Midwest with college women in various positions of organizational leadership. The researcher identified motivational factors for women to apply for leadership positions as well as described the social support network that exists for college women in positions of leadership. Challenges college women face in achieving higher leadership positions were also identified. Lastly, recommendations were made for student affairs professionals and women in leadership based on the research findings.

The Supply Sergeant, Jack Frazer

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

A modern soldier reminisces about his favorite uncle, a career Army supply sergeant and ne'er-do-well.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

Blue Star 773, Jack Frazer

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

A Vietnam chopper pilot tracks his time in the service with the fate of his former ride, helicopter Blue Star 773.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

Skyline, Charles Williamson

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

In Afghanistan, a convoy runs into trouble on the road back from Kabul airport. A violent yet humorous take on combat.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

Dear Tommy, David Aldridge

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

A veteran helps the son of an old friend process the loss of his friend and fellow soldier in combat through a series of emails.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience …

Chi Hai, David Aldridge

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

A soldier in Vietnam protects two young North Vietnamese nurses from assault by his fellow soldiers before sending them to a POW center.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.