Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Embodied Cognition In The Music Theory And Aural Skills Classrooms, Leslie Thompson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Applying concepts of embodied cognition positively impacts pedagogy in the theory and aural skills classrooms. This thesis defines a holistic view of the student and identifies how classroom instruction from that perspective can benefit student learning as well as overall well-being. The opening chapters provide a brief scientific background and connect concepts of embodied cognition with specific music theory and aural skills examples from an interview. A select survey of the music theory pedagogy literature also illustrates principles of embodied cognition. Based on this background, the final chapter presents new sample lesson plans and discusses how to adapt to student …

Before The Storm: Youth Hockey In North Carolina Ahead Of The Nhl’S Arrival, Sarai Sharei Dai

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis looks at the development of youth hockey in North Carolina before the coming of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes in 1997. Although the American South with its warm weather and lack of snow or ice seemed inhospitable to such a wintry sport, ice hockey found a niche in Charlotte, the Piedmont Triad, and the Research Triangle in the mid- to late- 20^th century through a combination of minor professional teams, local boosters, and northern transplants who all worked together to organize youth and amateur hockey associations as well as advocate for accessible ice rink facilities in …

Approaches To Teaching Music Counting To Piano Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Sunghun Kim

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to interview five internationally and nationally recognized professionals currently teaching piano to students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and to explore their approaches to teaching music counting to students with ASD. The interview questionnaire contained 5 sections. Sections 1, 2, and 3 focused on teacher experience and training, studio demographics, and educational curriculum. Sections 4 and 5 of the questionnaire focused on pedagogical practices in teaching music counting to piano students with autism spectrum disorder, including questions regarding pedagogical approaches in teaching meter, rhythm, and steady pulse. Section 6 emphasized pedagogical practices to teach …

Race And Technology In Southern Literature, Civil War To Civil Rights, Kaitlyn Elizabeth Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation considers the intersection of technology and race in the literature of the American South from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Though narratives about technology in American literature often promise democracy, equality, improvement, and progress, the role of technology in southern literature is more complex and ambivalent. Literature from and about the South from the Civil War to the civil rights era, by Black and white southern authors like Charles Chesnutt, Zora Neale Hurston, William Faulkner, and Eudora Welty reveals technology’s ability to uphold and naturalize southern white supremacy, but also to subvert it. Southern literature traces a pattern …

Alexa, Should I Trust You? A Theory Of Trustworthiness For Artificial Intelligence, Elizabeth K. Stewart

Theses and Dissertations

As people turn to AI driven technologies for help with everything from meal planning to choosing a mate, it is increasingly important for individuals to gauge the trustworthiness of available technologies. However, most philosophical theories of trustworthiness focus on interpersonal trust and are inappropriate for non-agents. What, then, does it mean for non-agents such as AI driven technologies to be trustworthy? I distinguish two different forms of trustworthiness: naive trustworthiness and robust trustworthiness. An agent is naively trustworthy to the extent that it would be likely to meet the truster’s expectations with respect to a given domain. An agent is …

Restoring Paradise Through Providence: The Emergence Of The Serendipitous Hero In The Hunger Games, Alexandra Elizabeth Oberempt

Theses and Dissertations

Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games enhanced the popularity of post-apocalyptic, young adult literature written between 2004 and 2014 (a genre I call millennial dystopia). A government that sends its people to war, spies on them, and sacrifices the sanctity of the community for personal profit while the powerful and wealthy watch from a secure distance is an anxiety addressed in this fiction. The hero of millennial dystopias satiates the suffering that emerges from this angst.

Through her story, Katniss is pushed to her destiny on a path that leads her to become the hero of The Hunger Games trilogy. In …

Sex (Work) And The City: Sex Work In Columbia, South Carolina, 1860-1880, Presley Mckalyn Ramey

Theses and Dissertations

Nineteenth-century sex work in the American south has long been neglected in sex work historiography. Formerly Confederate states have red-light districts rich in history, and stories of the South waiting to be told. The city of Columbia has great significance as the capital of the first southern state to secede from the Union, and this thesis acts as a local history of the city’s red-light district. Utilizing city ordinances, court cases, census records, city directories, probate records, and wills, the lives of Columbia’s sex workers and how they interacted with the growing city around them are brought to the forefront. …

Mining For Progress: Copper, Conflict, And Corporate Social Responsibility, Fritz Culp

Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation examines how transnational mega-mines efface non-Western ways of knowing and being from the Andes. A growing branch of research is questioning the socio-environmental impacts of mining and the influence of regulatory institutions. Despite remarkable scholarship on the ongoing environmentalism of modern-mining, little critical attention has been given to the industry’s pivot to ‘sustainable’ development and its objectives that remain epistemologically centered on the West. My project addresses these gaps by examining Las Bambas—a large-scale copper mine located in South-Central Peru—and its contrasting objectives that emphasize both environmental ‘conservation’ and the ‘modernization’ of non-Western spaces. Building upon the critical …

Interrogating Rosa Montero’S Transition To Consensus: The Literary Interview As Lieu De Mémoire, Adrienne D. Banko

Theses and Dissertations

Looking from our 21st century viewpoint, the collection of interviews España para ti…para siempre (1976) and Cinco años de País (1982) can be seen as artifacts of the Spanish Transition to democracy and should be regarded as collections of “places of memory.” Many scholars chronicling the Transition and its impacts have positioned Rosa Montero as a prominent feminist writer of the period. However, her journalistic writing demonstrates her mediatic role as linchpin between the social and political transitions interwoven into the foundation of Spain’s democratic emergence from Francoism. These works were published at a particular moment of consensus in …

American Fury: Catholic Responses To Spanish Anticlericalism (1936-1939), Paul Sanders Linker Jr.

Senior Theses

This thesis examines the roles, ideologies, attitudes, and arguments of American Catholics in debates over the Spanish Civil War from 1936-1939. Although the war only lasted between these years, these debates carried over into WWII as Spain’s neutrality came into question. Specifically, the focus is on how American Catholics grappled with historically unprecedented Spanish anticlericalism, the direct murder of roughly 7000 Catholic clergy and persecution of many more by Spanish Republicans, and why this anticlericalism drove most Catholics into a form of unapologetic pro-Francoism. This research is conducted by careful analysis of both mainstream and Catholic newspapers/journals. Mainstream pro-Republican press …

Drawn In: An Exploration Of The Graphic Narrative, Celia Casciani

Senior Theses

This thesis project aims to explore ordinary stories told through the graphic narrative. The goal is to understand what intrigues us about ordinary stories and what is gained through the use of comics form to tell these stories. The project portion of the thesis consists of a website showcasing comics based on narratives told by students at the University of South Carolina. The research portion uses existing literature, as well as reflections from the creation of the project, to answer the above questions. In the end, I found that we are drawn to ordinary stories through the process of identification, …

Mixtape Assignment, Apryl Berney

Assignment Prompts

Context: I designed several assignments to accompany the March 1st symposium “Listen Differently: Black Feminism, Music, and Popular Culture.” One assignment is a Mixtape assignment. It encourages students to apply Dr. Tricia Rose’s analysis of sexual politics from her seminal work Black Noise to popular songs from the last 5 to 10 years. The assignment should help students investigate how songs by women of color, especially Black women, changed since the mid-1990s when Dr. Rose’s critique of hip hop was first published.

Concept Album, Apryl Berney

Assignment Prompts

Context: I designed several assignments to accompany the March 1st symposium “Listen Differently: Black Feminism, Music, and Popular Culture.” My first assignment is a Concept Album – it allows students to be creative yet also analyze and interpret the musical catalogs and existing work of women of color in popular music. My hope with this assignment is that by studying the music of women of color, students will better understand Dr. Tricia Rose’s analysis in her book Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop.

Inclusion Initiative Composition, Thomas Langan

Assignment Prompts

You will compose a short piece that is inspired by your vision of a more inclusive and just future, or illuminates a path that will lead there. This will be a multi-track, multi-instrument composition using MIDI, synthesis, audio, and sampling using the DAW of your choosing. The composition must use processing and effects and be mixed for balance, stereo spread, and depth. Projects must include source material, original synth patches, sampler instruments, and originally recorded audio tracks.

Social Justice And Racial Equity And Animals, Todd Levasseur

Assignment Prompts

No abstract provided.

Nourishing The Extra-Ordinary Minister, Amante Pulido

LMU Theses and Dissertations

The lay minister of the Eucharist often is a generous volunteer of his or her time, and who is gladly accepted and commissioned by the parish. But the call to ministry comes from two main sources: a “call” from an interior desire to serve sometimes in any capacity but mostly to serve specifically in a particular ministry like the Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist; another is a “call” from the pulpit when ministries launch appeals for membership among the laity for the different ministries that are wanting of membership, mainly for volunteers. After signing up there would then be the …

Persian Squares, Natasha Sabour

LMU Theses and Dissertations

After moving to Los Angeles, California, polar opposite sisters Sahar and Roxana struggle to find jobs, husbands, and their Persian identity. Here’s hoping they can find the 405!

The Rink, Noura Alavi

LMU Theses and Dissertations

When two elite, female figure skaters are both at a crossroads with their skating performance, they decide to form a same-sex skating pair for a chance to save their careers.

Electric Eden, Victoria De La Concha

LMU Theses and Dissertations

(Pilot, One-Hour Drama, YA, Sci-Fi) A rebellious physics student investigating her twin’s disappearance invents time travel only to strand herself in the blood-stained amusement parks of 1907 Coney Island with a killer on the loose.

Dulce, Christopher Espinal

LMU Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Accompaniment In Times Of Suffering: Liberating Images Of God, Carmen Ramos Carmona

LMU Theses and Dissertations

Atonement theologies of salvation are problematic for suffering victims, which calls for a change in how we imagine God and view salvation today. A distorted image of God and God's salvation deprives those in distress of finding consolation, healing, and agency through their faith. I apply a feminist critical hermeneutic of liberation that reveals that the application of CDH can accommodate violence and other forms of evil against the marginalized, women, and the natural world. It is necessary to find metaphors for God that can offer spiritual sustenance to those who suffer and reimagine an alternate idea of God's salvation. …

Lamentations For Liberation: A Theological Analysis Of The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill, Sophia Gilmour

LMU Theses and Dissertations

While exploring the history of liberation theology themes appearing in Black musician’s work (in Dr. Daniel Smith-Christopher’s class Bible and the Blues), it came to my attention that there are many more contemporary artists whose work also touches on these themes, such as Lauryn Hill. My thesis argues with the help of Black and Womanist scholars that the naming of one’s reality through musical lamentations is a healing act. Further, musical lamentation is an act to carry forth communities and provide them with healing because the act of acknowledging and lamenting the suffering of a marginalized community is liberating in …

The Church Of Leila, Nikki Haririan

LMU Theses and Dissertations

After attempting suicide and speaking with God, a disaster of a woman sets out to start her own religion, all while moving back in with her parents.

A Trauma-Informed And Consent-Based Approach To Directing Undergraduate Student Actors: The Development And Execution Of Thea 351: Performance Practicum – The Revolutionists, Amanda Hallman

LMU Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Destruction Is A Must-See: Coastal Heritage Site Erosion And Public Perception Of Climate Change, Haley Borowy

Senior Theses

Archaeological sites in South Carolina are vanishing. As sea level rise, and therefore coastal erosion, worsen, more sites will disappear. The questions of how erosion at these sites is measured and how the public perceives the effects of climate change have been studied separately, but not together. Here, the intersection of these is discussed, alongside how sites are portrayed affects how the public perceives them, and therefore their importance. Studies on measuring coastal erosion, local news reports, government documents, and public perception of coastal management and sea level rise illuminate how people eventually decide what is worth saving.

Rolando Hinojosa - From Belken County And Beyond, Manuel F. Medrano, Teresa Cadena

History Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Growing Up Water, Dominique Barbee

Theses and Dissertations

“Growing Up Water” is a full-length manuscript consisting of one long poem in two parts. Louisiana is one of the most verdant naturally fertile states in the U.S. The state loses a football field of land almost every one-hundred minutes. This is largely due to climate change, oil drilling in the gulf, the cutting of canals, the waste poured in to the Mississippi river by the chemical plants that line this area (known as “Cancer Alley”), the onslaught of invasive species, the list goes on. Furthermore, due to global warming, “big” hurricanes are only becoming stronger and more frequent. Any …

Fireweed, Robert Kopfensteiner

Theses and Dissertations

Fireweed is a novel following a family in the North American fur trade of the 1830’s. The son of a mixed race parentage and only surviving child of a natural disaster, the protagonist, titled only as the boy, must navigate the complex relationships his father has established between independent trappers, the burgeoning United States military, and the Anishinaabe peoples. The father’s dealings have culminated in the loss of the mysterious iron safe he possesses, which houses what each interested party desires, as well as a truth the boy fears the most.

The novel examines time and the American identity through …

Metaphors Of Memory: Complexity And The Fourth Canon, Amber Lee

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines four main sites of memory scholarship (bodily memory, historical and historiographical memory, material memory, and digital memory), arguing that at each site, memory is treated in ways which are inconsistent with most current scholarly understandings of how it operates. Each chapter focuses on one of the major sites of memory scholarship, demonstrating how particular uses of keywords at that site undercut its own attempt to address memory’s complexity. In the process, I lay the groundwork for alternative conceptions of memory in that site that offer new avenues for memory research.

Lost In Translation: The Largely Unknown Life And Contributions Of Johann Joachim Quantz, Kayla Ann Low

Theses and Dissertations

This study aims to determine the flutist and pedagogue Johann Joachim Quantz’s place in the flute’s standard repertoire. I contend there are three main causes for Quantz’s exclusion from the standard repertoire suitable for public performance. 1) Quantz’s legacy has been anachronistically recorded thus affecting our understanding of Quantz and why his music is not in the standard repertoire. Among other factors, Quantz’s autobiography was not published in English until 1951. 2) Quantz’s position as the private teacher of Frederick the Great not only determined, but also stifled his output. 3) Finally, I argue the evolution of the silver flute …