Arts and Humanities Commons^™

“How Far Do These Roots Go Down”: An Exploration Of Latinx And Latina Fans On Representation In Disney's Encanto, Noemi Nunez

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

In this dissertation, I examine how Latinx and Latina audiences engaged with and interpreted Disney’s 2021 Encanto, an animated film celebrated for its representation of Colombian and broader Latinx culture. While scholarship on Latinx representation in media has expanded, less attention has been given to how Latinx audiences themselves respond to narratives that are meant to represent them, particularly within fan studies. Focusing on both a broader Latinx fan community and first-generation Latinas in the United States, this project explores how audiences negotiate representation and recognition using Encanto as a media text that centered a Latinx story. Drawing from …

Lucha Libre: Legends Of The Mask, Anthony J. Aguilar

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Lucha libre, also known as Mexican wrestling, is a cultural phenomenon whose history dates to 1933. Every wrestling match pits flamboyantly costumed and masked wrestlers (luchadores), classified as either the good guys (técnicos) or the bad guys (rudos), against each other in choreographed and dramatized battles. Although lucha libre is often seen as campy or “low brow” due to its exaggerated, theatrical style, this perception overlooks the deeper cultural significance and narrative potential inherent in the form. This thesis will explore the cultural evolution of lucha libre as a highly interactive themed ride attraction. By integrating guest participation through custom …

Un Lugar A Donde No Puedo Volver: Perteneciendo En La Distancia, Alberto J. Alonso

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

“A Place I Cannot Return To: Distance and Belonging” investigates how home is not limited to a fixed place, but instead a reconstruction sustained through memory and longing, which focuses on personal experiences of being away from Puerto Rico. I contribute to this broader dialogue by offering a deeply personal perspective shaped by the complexities of cultural belonging. Through photography, collage, and painting, my art practice reconstructs fragmented visual narratives of lived experience to explore homesickness, nostalgia, and displacement, examining how personal and shared histories become anchors to what continually slips away. Although I can physically return to Puerto Rico, …

Passenger Pigeons, Dodos, Neanderthals, Jordan Alexander

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Passenger Pigeons, Dodos, Neanderthals is a short story collection rooted in Afrofuturism and Southern literature. Passenger Pigeons centers the experiences of queer Black American women in various settings, from Mars to rural Florida. The title story of the collection follows Teri, a human on Mars, attempting to integrate into a society of Martians who exoticize and tokenize her. In this story, I use science fiction as a vehicle to confront the microaggressions and overt racism people of color often experience in professional environments. “Rather Be the Devil,” is a fabulist story detailing the character Man’s journey to find his missing …

Masculine Devotion And Moral Decay: The Paradox Of Chivalry In Malory's Le Morte Darthur, Julia Annunziato

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This thesis investigates how, within Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte Darthur, the concept of chivalry as a literary construct is misunderstood and misrepresented by the knights who attempt to uphold it. Through a close reading of Le Morte, this paper concludes that Malory presents chivalry not as a coherent moral code, but as a paradoxical system that both promotes and undermines the values it claims to uphold. While chivalry is typically meant to emphasize honor, loyalty, and spiritual devotion, Malory’s narrative reveals how these ideals are compromised by structures of masculine competition, performative identity, homosocial desire, and corrupted …

In The Walls, Taylor S. Arnold

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

In the Walls is a collection of short and flash fiction that uses gothic and speculative elements to explore isolation, identity, gender roles, and experiences of women, including pressures of conformity and the persistent draw of the domestic. In “Poltergeist,” a scorned ghost discovers her supernatural abilities when her husband brings home a new woman. “Home For Sale,” an experimental story structured as a Zillow listing, contains the tale of a housewife’s psychological unravelling amid paranormal encounters in her family’s new home. The titular story, “In the Walls,” focuses on a woman who attempts to conform to a homemaker role …

Rhetoric Of Opportunity: An Analysis Of Gullah Geechee Histories Through The Lens Of Counterstory, Xaria Arthur

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Counterstory as a method/ology has been used in a variety of disciplines to share experiences of individuals and communities whose voices have been historically silenced or suppressed. Utilizing this methodological framework, my study shares the stories of six Gullah Geechee descendants with ancestral roots in the unincorporated community of Nesmith in Williamsburg County, SC. Treating these minoritized and individual stories as experiential knowledge, I trace the counterstories as topoi to introduce and develop the theoretical concept that I call the rhetoric of opportunity, which refers to memories or stories that have come to motivate individuals toward or away from …

Reclaiming The Self: A Visual Narrative Of A Process Of Individuation Through Artistic Practice, Stacie Becker

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Reclaiming the Self: A Visual Narrative of a Process of Individuation Through Artistic Practice features a multidisciplinary practice that uses visual narrative, metaphor, and symbolism to reconcile the complex intersections of internal and external identity-shaping experiences, informed by lived experience as a woman. Working across painting, mixed media, printmaking, book arts, sculpture, and restorative medical tattooing, the artist dissects the tension between internal identity and external expectations, addressing themes of gender roles, relationships, trauma, and agency. Various artistic methods serve not only as a process but also as a parallel for reclaiming, healing, and restoring an authentic, unashamed sense of …

Establishing And Testing Experiential Critical Theory (Ect), Dolores M. Batten Mrs.

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

There is a current gap in academia which has been largely overlooked in both pedagogy and assessment: the value of personal experience as key evidence of interpretation and meaning-making correlation. Aside from narrative writing, most current methods of literary analysis writing do not place a high value on personal experience beyond the inclusion of brief anecdotes. Yet experience is the major pathway by which an individual forms their worldview, which then informs the ways in which they interpret the world—and by extension, text. This dissertation both establishes and examines the use of Experiential Critical Theory (ECT) in pedagogical application for …

It's All The Same, Lauren A. Bedevia

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

It’s All the Same is a collection of short stories that center around lesbian characters. The stories explore themes such as ambition, morality, karma, mental health, exploitation, and relationships. The collection opens with “Forget Her Inc.,” a short story that juggles an ensemble cast of lesbians and examines whether memory eraser therapy is an ethical practice for treating a broken heart. “It’s All the Same,” the titular story, uses lyricism to present the parallels between two women in terms of family dynamics, interests, and attachment styles; the story explores a loving friendship between a lesbian and a straight woman.

“Fun …

Reframing “Southern Justice”: Public History And The Cultural Legacy Of The Civil War In Orlando, Sarah M. Boye

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Civil War memory has shaped historical consciousness throughout the American South, sometimes in surprising and unexpected ways. An unusual example of this phenomenon can be found in Orlando, Florida. Unlike in other Southern cities, in Orlando, Civil War memory did not grow out of wartime experience. Instead, it developed decades later during the post-Reconstruction period as generations removed from the war itself constructed their own understanding of the war’s history and its meaning. As the city grew, Greenwood Cemetery became a key site where Civil War remembrance functioned in Orlando. Women’s organizations played a major role in shaping Civil War …

Making Art For The Love Of The Game, Alissa Beth Burch

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

“Making Art for the Love of the Game” interweaves visual aesthetics from video games and associated online fan community practices with self-portraiture to reflect and process personal past medical trauma, a developmental period in online interactive environments, and showcases self-expressive fan content which joins an underrepresented and emerging sub-culture to contemporary art. Working through an interdisciplinary studio practice, combining printmaking, found-sticker collage, and painting refracts digital aesthetics found in online communities. I intentionally juxtaposed these physical modes of making with digital subjects to examine these subjects’ merit as artistic mediums.  It reflects a contemporary mode of art making, and acts …

The Place Between Places, Harrison Burke

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

The Place Between Places is a collection of essays centered on belonging. Focusing on the composition of city streets, theme parks, and hidden pockets of wonder, belonging is explored as the product of place and culture. The perspective of the collection shifts between reflection and active exploration, using present moment journeys as catalysts to unravel the past. In every new discovery there is a ghost, past and present journeys fighting for their place in the constructed narrative called “self.”

The collection primarily makes use of braided essays and nonlinear storytelling. “Animal” blends together three night walks through New York, Seoul, …

Taming Wildfires, Bianca Dagostino

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Taming Wildfires is a novella immersed in the mind of a young woman named Lilla with intense, undiagnosed mental illness attempting to reenter society after losing the crutch of her long-term partner. The novella engages with the intersection of queerness, mental illness, interracial relationships, and the society of recent past (2023-2024), and deals with themes of isolation, loss, self-image, and emotional healing. Readers are invited fully into Lilla’s mind as she navigates a long-term friendship strained by proximity and a new romance marred by omission. These relationships are overcast by her loss, her skewed reality, and her conflicting desires to …

Entre Dos Mundos: A First-Generation Cuban American's Journey Through Identity And Memory, Alessandra M. Gonzalez

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

ENTRE DOS MUNDOS (translated as “between two worlds”) explores the complexities of growing up as the eldest daughter in a Cuban American immigrant family and the tensions of navigating life between cultures. Set in Miami, the collection blends lyrical and prose poetry to examine cultural identity, diaspora, intergenerational memory, and the emotional landscape of young adulthood. Through personal narrative and historical context, ENTRE DOS MUNDOS traces the speaker’s coming-of-age amid the inherited stories of her family’s escape from Cuba and the lingering effects of displacement. The section “Yo” focuses on the psychological challenges of adolescence and early adulthood, reflecting on …

Reflection In Still Waters: Generative Ai's Production Of Language, Jonathan D. Hawks

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Language is a conceptual process of meaning-making as well as a social construction as defined by Saussure, Bakhtin, and Lacan. Large Language Models (LLMs) engage with neither process and instead present language as a finished and consumable product which undermines its fundamental aspects. The difference between representing language through probability and its structural components instead of its more inherent qualities is not a pointless distinction. This paper utilizes Narcissus as a central metaphor to show how people misread the outputs of LLMs as language which imparts to those reflected words meaning on par with our own conceptualizations of reality. People …

Specters, Fred Lambert

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Specters is a collection of interconnected short fiction that explores the lives of various characters affected by the Iraq War. Touching upon themes of mortality, dehumanization, guilt, and the trauma inflicted by senseless violence, the stories in this collection aim to blur the line between the concrete and the phantasmagoric. The titular story follows a young Marine whose grip on reality is called into question during the Second Battle of Fallujah. In “Demons,” a recruit undergoing the chaotic and brutal grind of Parris Island begins to wonder if his drill instructors are possessed. “Kill Bodies” chronicles the repeated killing of …

The Revelations, Lily Mckenna

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

The Revelations is a self-actualization in the form of a poetry collection. The speaker’s realization that reality is relative arrives through a Title IX case against an abusive boyfriend and former bandmate. Poems such as “Complainant / Respondent” use rigid legal structures to investigate the fluidity of truth and perception and how they can be manipulated. With her band on hiatus and the case propelling her into a new world, the speaker starts running DIY shows alongside a cast of characters with a shared love of music. She interrogates their realities in the character studies “On The Relative Reality Of…,” …

Enhancing The Immersive Experience Through The Diversification Of Operational Costuming, Emma Nevitt

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This thesis will be a comparative creative project that analyzes current operational wardrobe options within immersive lands, utilizing case studies and applied research, a neutral proposed immersive land will be created with operational costuming options that provides variety to the operational wardrobe that will enhance the immersive guest experience by creating a more compelling environment through wardrobe diversity. This will be achieved through a kit-of-parts approach where staffing will have a small variety of tops, bottoms, headwear, outerwear, and accessories to create a unique look to their own wardrobe while providing narrative insight. Each piece will be designed specifically for …

Come And See: Exploring Complex Dynamics And Abjection Through A Southern Gothic Family Portrait, Lenee N. Peterson

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

“COME AND SEE: Exploring Abject Theory Through a Southern Gothic Family Portrait” examines the artist’s complex familial upbringing through the visual and narrative traditions of Southern Gothic art. Drawing upon abject theory and the cultural references of folk horror and Southern Gothicism, this thesis positions the family portrait where intimacy, trauma, and cultural inheritance collide. The project argues that direct confrontation with abjection can foster recognition, shared experience, and the possibility of collective healing. Grounded in practice-based research, this work functions as a critical and creative response to familial strain shaped by scarcity, social oppression, and emotional precarity. Through a …

Teoría Y Creatividad. La Literatura Como Herramienta Educativa En El Aprendizaje Moderno De Textos Clásicos En El Idioma Español, Isabel D. Simon

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

In the following master’s thesis, literature is studied as an educational tool in the modern learning of classical texts in the Spanish language from both theoretical and creative perspectives. The theoretical framework to be used is based on the hermeneutic theory of Jean Grondin. The study is divided into three chapters, each focusing on a different literary piece. First, the medieval period is examined through Poema de Mio Cid (Cantar de Mio Cid) of anonymous authorship. In the second chapter, the Golden Age is analyzed through Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes. In the closing …

The Middle Space: Redefining Collaborative Directing In Adaptive American Collegiate Theatre, Tyler J. Simons

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This thesis examines collaborative directing as an adaptive, relational practice that exists between rigid hierarchical authorship and fully collectivized creation. Challenging dominant binaries in directing discourse that frame leadership as either singular or egalitarian, this study argues for a “middle space” in which authority, authorship, and responsibility are continually negotiated in response to institutional structures, pedagogical contexts, and interpersonal dynamics. Directing is framed not as a fixed methodology or ideological position, but as a responsive practice shaped by context. Grounded in a practice-as-research (PaR) methodology, the thesis analyzes four productions: Rhinoceros (Theatre UCF, 2024), The Tricks of Scapin (Freedom High …

Reconciling Discretion With The Rule Of Law: A Rawlsian Analysis Of Civil Disobedience By State Actors In Liberal-Democratic Schemes, Reid Devoge

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This dissertation starts from the position that the stability of liberal-democratic political schemes relies on its citizens mutually accepting a basic conception of political justice. While these conceptions of justice may vary, most incorporate the inter-connected concepts of autonomy, liberty, liberalism, and the rule of law. Within this conception of a liberal democracy, a potentially destabilizing issue arises when a legislatively passed law is put into effect, but a portion of the citizens perceive it as unjust. If legitimate (i.e., lawful) actions do not sufficiently resolve the concern, civil disobedience (i.e., disobeying the law) is a potential recourse, but this …

Mapping Historical Neighborhoods With Geospatial Viewshed Buffers, James B. Townsend

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The concept of neighborhood has been long studied with little agreement beyond the notion that neighborhoods are somewhat self-contained areas within a wider urban environment. Despite the lack of a finite definition, there is wide agreement of the importance of studying population dynamics at the neighborhood scale. Many attempts have been made to spatially define, measure, and quantify contemporary neighborhoods, but less attention has been given to methods to spatially define historical neighborhoods. In this paper, we utilize a historical spatial data infrastructure for the city of London, Ontario to develop a viewshed methodology that recognizes that ‘neighborhood’ is unique …

Digital Technology And Women’S Health In Nigeria: A Feminist Sts Walkthrough Analysis Of Mdoc Digital Health, Edith Michael Ogbodo

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This thesis critically examines how a Nigerian digital health platform, mDoc, represents and constructs women’s health. Drawing on Feminist Science and Technology Studies (STS) and Light et al.’s (2018) walkthrough method, the study interrogates the values, assumptions, and power relations embedded in mDoc’s design, language, and governance structures. The analysis reveals that mDoc, despite positioning itself as an equitable solution to Nigeria’s health crisis, reproduces and depoliticizes the structural inequalities it claims to address. Through its neoliberal emphasis on self-care, the individualization of structurally produced suffering, and the datafication of women’s bodies, the platform encodes gendered, colonial, and class-based assumptions …

Longitudinal Associations And Interactions Of Adolescent Religious Deidentification And Parental Sanctification On Parent-Adolescent Relationships, Justin Hendricks, Sam A. Hardy, Michael A. Goodman, Emily De Schweintiz Taylor

Faculty Publications

In many religious families, shared religious identity is a strong source of intergenerational solidarity. However, when adolescents deidentify from their family faith, normative parent-adolescent conflict, which heightens in mid-adolescence and normally subsides in late-adolescence, may intensify and damage parent-adolescent social cohesion. Many religious parents view parenting relationships as sanctified, which typically leads to adaptive parenting, but in the context of deidentification may lead to greater distress. To understand how adolescent religious deidentification influences parentadolescent relationships, we examined the longitudinal associations and interactions of adolescent children’s religious deidentification and parental sanctification on parent-child religious conflict and parental warmth (N = 1,391 …

Developmental Themes Associated With Religious Activity After Early Return From A Latter-Day Saint Mission, Samuel E. Hancock, Sam A. Hardy, Michael Goodman, Camron Angell, Jenae M. Nelson

Faculty Publications

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, qualified young men are expected (and young women are given the option) to complete extended missionary service during the transition to adulthood. Some youth end their missionary service short of the anticipated duration, which is associated with markedly lower rates of religious activity post-return. This study is a qualitative inquiry into the developmental themes associated with early returned missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who chose to remain active (be consistently involved with the church), sampling from areas with high rates of Latter-day Saint activity, where stigmatization …

The Paradox Of Matriliny: Cultural Authority And The Political Marginalization Of Women In Meghalaya, Kasturi Bharadwaj

Journal of International Women's Studies

The global discourse on gender equality gained momentum after the 1975 United Nations World Conference on Women. It continued through a series of international initiatives and culminated in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which emphasized women’s rights and their participation in political, social, and economic life. Despite these normative commitments at the international level, women’s political participation and representation within administrative and decision-making structures continue to be uneven, limited, and structurally constrained across many societies. In this context, the study investigates the political participation and representation of women in Meghalaya, a tribal state in Northeast India characterized by …

Faculty Fellowships: River Dolphins In Bangladesh., Daniel Gonzalez-Socoloske

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Modern Research Tools Supporting Science At Andrews University, Peter Lyons, Henry Navarro

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.