Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Love Letter, Amy S. Duval Ms

Theses and Dissertations

I applied to graduate school to reconnect with and better understand my studio practice, acquire language, and to disrupt my known ways of making. Generally speaking, I see my practice as being about being seen, and unseen, and the pain and pleasure of being perceived. I’ve learned about my ways of being in the studio. I’ve come closer to speaking honestly about my relationship with my materials, processes, tools, how I value my own labor, and how this informs my work. I am grateful for the cascade of small epiphanies that came and left me while I worked in my …

Mementos, Zixuan Guo

Theses and Dissertations

Relevance:

Personal Relevance: This project merges my passion for film photography and modern technology, aiming to create a design that bridges traditional and modern practices.

Local Relevance: Richmond’s rich historical context provides an ideal setting to illystrate that traditional arts like analog photography can be preserved while integrating modern digital technology.

Global Relevance: Globally, there is an increasing trend toward combining traditional and modern design approaches, particularly in architecture and interior design. Synthesizing analog and digital means is used to meet the balance between materiality and modern technology (Rose, 2014; Pelizzari & Scrivano, 2011). Designers balance tactile materials like wood …

Ramat Bet Shemesh, Khirbat El-Qut, A-10028, Vitaliy Starman

Favissa: Past Archaeological Excavation Reports

During March–April 2025, a salvage excavation was conducted at Khirbat el-Qut in Ramat Bet Shemesh (Permit No. A-10028; map ref. 198640–975/622479–723). The excavation was carried out approximately 1 km southeast of Tel Yarmuth, within the agricultural hinterland of Horbat Bet Natif (for background and references, see Storchan 2022). The work was initiated following the exposure of cisterns during development operations in Neighborhood Hey (E) of Ramat Bet Shemesh. The excavation, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and funded by the Ministry of Construction and Housing, was directed by V. Sterman, with the assistance of N. Nehama (administration), N. …

(2025) On The Meaning Of Education Holding Hands With Philosophy: A Conversation Along A Walk To Pão De Açúcar, Maughn Rollins Gregory, Walter Omar Kohan

Collected Papers of Maughn Rollins Gregory

This text presents a conversation between two long time philosophical and educational friends reflecting on the field of philosophical education and childhood. The discussion began as a part of a shared experience of an intensive teacher education workshop held at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It covers themes including teacher education; philosophy as inquiry and a way of life; methodological issues on philosophical inquiry with children; educational and philosophical time; philosophy for children; questioning, reasonableness; colonisation and counter-colonisation. The conversation affirms the philosophical and educational force of beginning. The conversation ends with a coda after the two …

Adopting America’S Future Citizens: The Children’S Bureau And The Plight Of East Asian War Orphans, 1950-1969, Caroline Chen

Harvey M. Applebaum ’59 Award

This essay considers the role of the Children’s Bureau in the transnational adoptions of East Asian war orphans from 1950-1969. World War II and other Cold War conflicts left hundreds of thousands of children in Japan, Hong Kong, and Korea orphaned and displaced. This essay argues that the Children’s Bureau played an important role in the transnational adoptions of East Asian war orphans. The Bureau was the only federal agency involved in these adoptions explicitly devoted to child welfare. Cold War geopolitics imbued the Bureau’s approach. Through transnational adoptions, the agency simultaneously responded to Cold War pressures to help children …

A Phenomenological Approach To Addiction, Zollie Foss

Honors Theses

This paper proposes a phenomenological investigation of addiction, with the goal of describing how it is experienced from within, as an embodied and existential phenomenon. I begin by establishing a conceptual framework—drawn from the works of existential phenomenologists Heidegger, Sartre, and Merleau-Ponty—outlining the key structures of everyday experience such as being-in-the-world, freedom, embodiment, bad faith, and sedimentation. I then turn to a description of the lived experience of addiction by drawing on various first-person addiction memoirs, showing how the aforementioned existential structures are experienced in active addiction and how pathways to sobriety reflect and are experienced as targeting these structures. …

From War To Walls: U.S. Intervention And The Rise Of Carceral Society In El Salvador, Xochitl Granados

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the historical and contemporary impact of US foreign policy on El Salvador’s security landscape. El Salvador’s gang crisis, largely driven by the deportation of gang members from the US in the 1990s, is rooted in a complex history shaped by US intervention during the Salvadoran civil war, which intensified political, social, and economic inequalities. These inequalities, along with the rise of international gangs such as La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and 18th Street, have contributed to El Salvador’s ongoing security challenges. This thesis demonstrates how US involvement in the Salvadoran civil war indirectly fueled the growth of gang …

Reading Nietzsche As A Tool For Feminist Politics, Juliana I. Fedorko

Honors Theses

My Honors Thesis in Political Science builds upon the scholarly tradition of reading beyond Friedrich Nietzsche’s explicit discussions of women, which are oftentimes blatantly misogynistic. As a philosopher typically included in the Western existentialist canon, Nietzsche’s ethics of self-transcendence is relevant to one of the vital feminist objectives: individual autonomy. His commentary in Beyond Good and Evil, The Gay Science, On the Genealogy of Morals, and The Use and Abuse of History for Life prescribe ways of being that disrupt traditional moral systems and their accompanying social conditioning. If we examine patriarchy as one of these value …

Integral But Forgotten: Metics In Ancient Athens, Morgan Haros

Honors Theses

Every civilization has contained foreign residents, and Ancient Athens was no exception. In Classical Athens (489-323 BCE), these foreign residents and freed slaves were known as metics. The “metic” label came from the tax they had to pay: the metoikion, or metic tax. While foreign resident status most likely existed throughout city-states across Greece, Athens is the location best documented. Many of these documents come from wills and court cases, giving glimpses of the daily life of Athens’ non-citizen residents. Metics commonly worked as craftsmen, bankers, and people of commerce. Those working class metics helped supplement the Athenian labor force, …

A Phenomenological Approach To Addiction, Zollie Foss

Honors Theses

This paper proposes a phenomenological investigation of addiction, with the goal of describing how it is experienced from within, as an embodied and existential phenomenon. I begin by establishing a conceptual framework—drawn from the works of existential phenomenologists Heidegger, Sartre, and Merleau-Ponty—outlining the key structures of everyday experience such as being-in-the-world, freedom, embodiment, bad faith, and sedimentation. I then turn to a description of the lived experience of addiction by drawing on various first-person addiction memoirs, showing how the aforementioned existential structures are experienced in active addiction and how pathways to sobriety reflect and are experienced as targeting these structures. …

Breaking The Boundaries Of The Binary: Non-Normative Gender Expression And Rebellion In 19th-Century Literature, Anna Marie Wingard

Honors Theses

This thesis explores non-normative expressions of gender in three nineteenth-century novels: Valperga (1823) by Mary Shelley, The Hermaphrodite (c. 1846) by Julia Ward Howe, and The Awakening (1999) by Kate Chopin. Each novel’s protagonist displays gender expression that rejects nineteenth-century British and American ideals and is consequently exiled from society and faces death. The project diagrams trajectories of gender expression and identity by tracing adherence, failure, and consequences to illustrate how non-normative gender expression directly leads to social exclusion and death. The findings of this literary analysis suggest that nineteenth-century understandings of gender were rigidly policed and the novel served …

When Surveillance Silences: Contextual Integrity And The Erosion Of Protest Rights, Jacob Detrinidad

CMC Senior Theses

Government intrusion into our private lives is a standard part of modern democratic life, but how much intrusion should we accept? In the tension between government surveillance and security, many believe security to be a more important value and thus justify greater surveillance at the expense of informational privacy. However, at what point is this intrusion indefensible. This thesis explores the tensions between privacy and security through John Rawls’s theory of justice and Helen Nissenbaum’s theory of privacy as contextual integrity and applies them to issues of public surveillance and the suppression of political protest. I argue that in the …

Project Tackle 12 Years Of Cia And Taiwanese Joint Reconnaissance Overflights, Maximilian Digiovanni

Honors Theses and Capstones

Project TACKLE was a joint collaborative project between the CIA and the Taiwanese government to facilitate U-2 spy plane missions flown by Taiwanese pilots over China. These missions, conducted from 1962 to 1974, provide critical insights regarding the US and Taiwan’s fluctuating relationship during this period. TACKLE missions played a crucial role in informing policymakers on a variety of subjects, such as the progress of China’s rapidly evolving nuclear weapons program. This paper situates the TACKLE missions within the broader political context of their time to highlight the constant prioritization challenge that plagued the program.

James Baldwin’S Connecticut Decade, 1954-1963, Andrew Lopez

Information Services Staff Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

“We Understand Each Other, Then”: Binaries At Play In The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Christopher P. Jolivette

Endeavors: Mississippi State Undergraduate Research Journal

As the United States grappled with the fallout of the September 11th terrorist attacks, another, subtler conundrum was arising. As Mohsin Hamid writes in The Reluctant Fundamentalist, a chasm of difference arose between the First World and the Third. In Derridian terms, the United States grew to center itself, forming its own complete national identity that defied the Third World's cultural realm. In his writing, Hamid viciously attacks this deepening realm of cultural difference by taking aim at the violent domineering and heteronormative American culture whose imposition in the Middle East served to severe any ties between the two cultures. …

Shakespeare’S Portia: A Feminist Icon But Figure Of Hierarchy, Rowan G. Feasel

Endeavors: Mississippi State Undergraduate Research Journal

In Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, Portia achieves a level of agency that few Shakespearean women do with her wealth and wit despite having to conform to her father’s wishes for her marriage with the casket test. Through dressing as a man during Antonio’s trial, Portia even assumes a physical appearance that reflects her skill in gaining influence and gives her more power over the men. Because of her ability to assert control in her home and the courtroom, literary critics often present Portia as a feminist icon. However, Portia restricts other characters like the Prince of Morocco and …

Traveling Jack: Tracing Settler Identity Through Appalachian Folklore, Madelynn R. Green

Endeavors: Mississippi State Undergraduate Research Journal

Archaeology and Folklore have long had a tense relationship, but in an era of archaeology focusing more and more on the current and descendant communities it is imperative for archaeologists to begin engage folklore traditions in their work. By engaging archaeology and folkloric methods both fields can benefit. In the case of this study, I have used the "Traveling Jack" story, a common folk tale with English, Scottish, Irish, and Appalachian versions that involves a young man using his wits to overcome a series of challenges to achieve various happy endings, to trace Scottish and Irish settlement and reinvention in …

Nothing Short Of Superheroic: A Quantitative Study Of Lifetime Exposure To Superhero Comic Book Media As A Predictor Of Attitudes Towards Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion, Michael Nguyen

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Leadership Studies

This dissertation examined the relationship between lifetime exposure to superhero comic book media and attitudes toward diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Drawing on theories of identity formation—transitional objects, parasocial relationships, and cultivation theory—it investigated whether engagement with superhero narratives predicted DEI attitudes. Using quantitative methods, data from 499 U.S. adults were collected via Qualtrics. Two instruments were used: the Lifetime Superhero Comic Book Media Exposure Scale (LSES) and the Intolerant Schema Measure (ISM), which assessed prejudice across race, gender, sexuality, class, age, and religion. Multiple linear regression revealed that superhero media exposure significantly predicted ISM scores (B = 0.118, …

Exploring Help-Seeking Experiences And Barriers Of Ethnic And Racially Marginalized Individuals With Ocd In The United States, Nayara Aparecida Da Costa Silva Beall

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This qualitative study explored the help-seeking experiences and barriers of ethnic and racially marginalized individuals with OCD living in the United States through a sociocultural model of OCD. Participants included eight adults who self-identified as members of a racial or ethnic marginalized group and with an OCD diagnosis. Individual interviews were conducted to gain an in-depth understanding of participants’ experiences and data was analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. Five themes emerged from the analysis: (1) OCD Emergence, (2) Barriers to Getting Help with OCD, (3) Desire for Help, (4) Ongoing Challenges with OCD, and (5) The Importance of Finding …

Intersectional Opportunities For Drama Therapy And Counseling, Erica Craig-Mann

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this study was to explore the intersectional possibilities between the fields of drama therapy and mental health counseling through the lens of transformative learning theory. Specifically, the research sought to understand the lived experiences of professionals trained in both disciplines to identify how these fields might mutually inform, strengthen, and enhance one another through collaboration and/or dual training. Data were collected through a qualitative online survey and analyzed using thematic analysis. Five themes emerged: (a) Theoretical and Practical Overlaps and Distinctions; (b) Drama Therapy-Informed Counseling: Embodiment, Creativity, and Experiential Practice; (c) Counseling-Informed Drama Therapy: Frameworks for Practice, …

The “Problem Of Motherhood”: Early Soviet Maternity Policy And Reality, 1917 - 1936, Danielle M. Hegarty

All Master's Theses

After the October Revolution of 1917, the new Bolshevik regime sought to reshape the lives of women to fit the new socialist future. In line with Marxist thought, they attempted to draw mothers out of the home and into the public sphere. Through legal reforms and social services, the Communist Party worked to relieve mothers of the double burden which tied women between work and the home. This research focuses on the various methods used by the Bolsheviks in their attempt to reform motherhood in the decade after the revolution. Most importantly, it helps to uncover the impact it had …

Los Estudios Latinoamericanos Ante El Renacimiento Psicodélico, Alberto Ribas-Casasayas

Modern Languages & Literature

The chapter analyzes erasures and appropriations that the discourse of the psychedelic renaissance arising in the Global North imposes on long-standing practices in indigenous societies and countercultural environments. It also suggests ways in which a critical Humanities can, from a Latin American perspective, offer more inclusive understandings of the psychedelic experience.

Unmasking The Nexus Of Race, Ethnicity, And Health: An Intersectional Analysis Of The Epistemology Of Race In Medicine, Medical Curricula, And Health Disparities, Antoinette Leonard-Jean Charles

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The persistent health disparities faced by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in the United States are deeply rooted in systemic racism embedded within medical education and clinical practice. Historical acceptance of racial supremacy in the United States has shaped both the foundations and continued practices of medical education, leading to entrenched biases that affect healthcare delivery and patient outcomes. This dissertation critically examines the intersection of race, education, and health by analyzing how historical and contemporary understandings of race and ethnicity shape medical curricula, healthcare practices, and patient care. Through the integration of Critical Race Theory (CRT), Social …

“We Aren’T Dying Yet, But We’Re On The Hospital Bed.” An Analysis Of Scottish Culture And Desire For Independence, Emma Walker

Honors Papers and Posters

Scottish culture has long often been associated with barbaric clans and whiskey; however, there is much more to this culture than meets the eye. After centuries of oppression and pushback on expressing cultural aspects of Scottish identity post the Union of the Crowns in 1603, Scotland has now emerged as a leader in re-establishing its culture and protecting it as well. This paper will aim to analyze how Scotland's cultural pride over time has changed and how this uptick in pride has also led to a political movement for independence. I argue that the aftermath of the Battle of Culloden, …

Topics Of Historical Memory In The Pr Activities Of Religious Organizations In Present-Day Ukraine, Vadym Sluysar, Yuliia Kondratiuk, Iryna Vitiuk, Oleksandr Mosienko

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article analyzes the role of religious organizations in Ukraine in shaping and preserving historical memory in the context of their PR activities. The article examines the contribution of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), the Roman Catholic Church (RCC), Protestant denominations, and Muslim organizations to the popularization of objective historical narratives. Through participation in memorial events, restoration of monuments, organization of scientific conferences, exhibitions, lectures, and publication of historical materials, religious organizations contribute to the formation of national and civic identity. Particular attention is paid to the coverage of tragic events such as the Holodomor, the deportation of Crimean …

Oil And Wine: A Christian Reflection On The Sacred Oath, Faith Abraham

be Still

This essay explores the intersection of medicine, faith, and the deeper calling to heal. Reflecting on experiences at the Christian Community Health Fellowship (CCHF) Conference, it examines the weight of the physician’s oath—not just as a professional obligation, but as a sacred commitment to justice, dignity, and human connection.

(2025) Curriculum Vitae Of David Kennedy, David Kennedy

Collected Papers of David Kennedy

No abstract provided.

How Much Antisemitism Is There In The United States? Incidences Vs. Impacts, Ira Sheskin

FIU Law Review

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) (www.adl.org), founded in 1913, is one of the nation's premier civil rights organizations and was formed to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all. Every year since 1979, the ADL has published an Audit of Antisemitic Incidents in the US (https://www.adl.org/resources/report/audit-antisemitic-incidents-2023). The Audit receives significant publicity and is important in communicating the problem of serious antisemitic incidents and the year-to-year increases in such incidents. But, based on surveys of American Jews, the Audit underestimates the extent to which American Jews are being impacted by antisemitism. Survey data …

Guide To The Department Of Religious Studies Records, University Of San Diego Department Of Religious Studies

University Records

These records contain correspondence, reports, and meeting minutes pertaining to the Department of Religious Studies in the early 1970s. The majority of these records pertain to discussions about the Catholicity of the merging USD College for Men and College for Women and general education requirements in religion.

Finding Aids are tools used to aid research by describing the materials in a collection. University Records Finding Aids include historical and/or biographical information along with a description of the collection and a folder listing of the content.

To view this collection please email University Archives and Special Collections staff at [email protected].

The Rescue Of Wahutedew’Á And The Epistemological Reforestation: An Analysis Of Time In A Terra Dos Mil Povos, By Kaká Werá Jecupé, Ivo Cruz

The Coastal Review

It is estimated that in 1500, the year the Portuguese arrived in America, there was a population of 2,431,000 inhabitants, according to historian John Hemming (1978), who occupied the lands that we now know as Brazil. These peoples had their own culture whose cosmology was destroyed and erased over time by a violent process of colonization. Even though entire groups were decimated, much of their influence is still alive in Brazilian culture. This influence can be found in vocabulary, cuisine, and even religious practices. With the aim of rescuing ancestral narratives and knowledge of various native peoples, Kaká Werá Jecupé …