Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Talking To The Eyes: Paradoxes Of Ineffability And Effusivity In Mark-Making, Theodore Xavier Berg

Theses - ALL

Redefining mark-making as an active form of material signification has helped me understand my experience of the paradox of ineffability. This experience is as accurately described by the term effusivity as it is by ineffability, because it is not a matter of what cannot be expressed, but rather of what cannot not be expressed; of the experience that inescapably accompanies expression and signification. As our material means of expression and signification evolve digitally, the consequences of their contradictions become more discernible.

Avicenna On Non-Rational Voluntary Motion, Hamed Shirmohammadi

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation investigates Avicenna’s theory of non-rational voluntary motion. Avicenna’s most significant innovation in this domain is his theory of the internal senses, and in particular, his account of the estimative faculty (wahm) and its proper objects, the intentions (ma'nā). Intentions are non-sensible features of perceived particulars—such as the hostility of a wolf—that carry evaluative significance for the perceiving animal. This dissertation argues that understanding the nature of intentions is the key to explaining how a non-rational animal can pursue goals through relatively complex courses of action. Avicenna recognizes two ways in which intentions are acquired: through instinct and through …

Hands On: An Exploration Of Techne Via Everyday Embodied Practices, Molly Mcconnell

Dissertations - ALL

In the field of Rhetoric, Composition, and Writing Studies (RCWS), techne has been a longstanding focus of the field, notably as it pertains to our understanding and practice of rhetoric and how we teach writing and rhetorical practices. Some scholars have focused on techne as it is taught in the writing classroom; others have focused on how rhetoric is understood and applied in the classics. My research builds on previous work by considering techne in connection to embodied practices. I argue that discussions of techne have thus far focused on individual learning, especially in relation to composition and rhetoric. In …

Everything Waits In The Dark: The Silence Had A Pulse And It Was Mine, Sophia Hashemi

Theses - ALL

Sophia Hashemi’s work examines collage and screenprinting as methods for navigating uncertainty, memory, and the shifting architecture of the self. Her practice engages making as a negotiation between control and surrender, where meaning emerges through attention to instability rather than resolution. Drawing from Dada photomontage, German Expressionism, and film noir, alongside frameworks such as Legacy Russell’s Glitch Feminism and Michel Foucault’s Power/Knowledge, she explores disruption as a psychological and structural strategy in works that move between visibility and concealment, past and present, intuition and construction. Hashemi positions art-making as a cyclical practice where fragmentation reconstructs memory and multiplies the self …

Apparatus Of Relief: On Sustained Exhaustion, Jiayue Yu

Theses - ALL

This thesis examines how contemporary capitalism manages a shared condition of exhaustion—the accumulation of stress, alienation, and mental fatigue—by offering calibrated forms of relief that leave its underlying causes intact. Approaching exhaustion as a collective and structurally produced condition, I make photographs that trace how it is softened and normalized within the spaces we inhabit and move through in our daily lives. Central to the project are what I describe as “apparatuses of relief”: infrastructural features embedded in public and semi-public spaces that are designed to regulate affect and soothe nerves. Operating beneath the surface, these elements promise momentary relief …

Cooperating Music Teachers And The Edtpa: Negotiating The Demands Of Mentoring Student Teachers In The Face Of A State Mandated Performance-Based Assessment, Deborah Alane Cunningham

Dissertations - ALL

This qualitative case study examined how cooperating music teachers navigated mentoring student teachers during implementation of the Educative Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA), a state-mandated performance-based assessment required for initial teacher certification in New York State from 2014–2022. Initial data analysis suggested utilizing Roegman and Kolman’s (2019) cascading, colliding, and mediating framework to better understand the experiences of the participants, fifteen cooperating music teachers who hosted student teachers from a large private university in the Northeastern United States. Participants represented diverse contexts (elementary through secondary, instrumental, vocal, and general music) with an average of twenty years of experience. Data were collected …

“The Fluid Archive” Innovating The Past, Protecting The Future (Virtual Reality And Cultural Preservation), Umar Bashir

Theses - ALL

ABSTRACT This thesis repositions cultural preservation as an experiential and interpretive practice rather than a purely documentary one. Centered on selected Mughal-era monuments of the Walled City of Lahore—structures increasingly affected by environmental decay and urban transformation—it investigates how the sensory and atmospheric dimensions of heritage can persist beyond material deterioration. Rather than reconstructing these sites through strict architectural fidelity, the project proposes The Fluid Archive, an immersive Virtual Reality (VR) environment that prioritizes embodied experience, spatial perception, and memory-driven reconstruction. Acknowledging that history is a constructed narration of the past, the project engages digital technologies as active agents in …

In Memoriam: Madhav Gadgil, Editorial Board

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Book Review--Luke Kemp’S Goliath’S Curse: The History And Future Of Societal Collapse (2025). Ny: Alfred A. Knopf.

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Disability: An Autopathography, Isabell A. Collins

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Editorial 12(1), May 2026, Matthew R. Jamnik

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Artist Interview: Sarah Crooks, Sarah Crooks

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Developmental Ecological Psychology Meets Organicist Biology: The Example Of The Ecological Self, Catherine Read

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

In this paper we outline an ecological-organicist theoretical framework to understand human development. The ecological approach to development (Developmental Ecological Psychology, DEP) places the organism at the center and has a mutualist theoretical framework with an epistemic foundation in direct perception. While research in this tradition has paid much attention to specific developmental questions at a young age (such as perceptual learning, affordances, and action coordination), less effort has gone into the discussion of theoretical issues of overall development at the level of organism-environment mutuality. Meanwhile in biology, a new emphasis on the organism as an explanatory concept and level …

Relevance Of Mario Perniola’S Philosophy Of Transit (Transiting) To Ecopsychological Modi, George Conesa

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

Mario Perniola’s construct of transit is here examined with an eye toward its implications to ecopsychological discourse and practices that include psychological and philosophical notions of authentic “mobility” and active exploration during person-natural spaces affiliations. As in most qualitatively revealing ideas of “relations,” authentic “mobility” and active exploration include instances of confrontation, disorientation, fusion, confusion, biomechanical insights, animalization, totemism, disgust, etc. As a means to sharpen our focus, the insights of writer Enea Bianchi on Perniola’s writing are very useful and will be referred to, in particular, while reimagining our perception of space as “a deep world made of …

Co-Constituted Mandala-Making In Nature: A Trauma-Sensitive Field Protocol For Investigating Attention, Regulation, And Relational Orientation Toward Place, Merve Kurt

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

This article presents a theoretically grounded field protocol for mandala-making in natural settings using only already-fallen materials and intentional dissolution. The mandala is treated as an anthropogenic cultural form whose structural features, including radial organisation around a centre, bounded containment, and provisional totality, are shown to be analytically consequential for the process-level shifts the protocol seeks to foreground. Drawing on posthumanism, new materialism, Buddhist psychology, and ecopsychology, the article conceptualises this process as co-constituted mandala-making, a descriptive term for a field in which human attention and choice operate alongside material and ecological constraints and affordances, without attributing volition to nonhuman …

Ije Table Of Contents 12(1), May 2026, Editorial Board

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

American Letters--John Burroughs Excerpts From Chapter I: The Art Of Seeing Things In Leaf And Tendril (1908)

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

American Letters--Mary Hunter Austin: Excerpts From The Trail Book (1918)

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Poem--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "Kéramos" (1844)

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Fighting Like A Girl: The Trauma, Power, And Resistance Of Heroines In Young Adult Fantasy, Sara L. Chappell

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

This thesis examines the evolution of female rage in young adult fantasy literature, focusing primarily on Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass series while drawing comparisons to other contemporary heroines. It argues that female rage is not a sign of instability but a politically meaningful response to trauma and systemic oppression. Using trauma theory, affect theory, and narrative identity theory, this project traces how Aelin Ashryver Galathynius’s rage develops from a physiological survival response into protective care, political resistance, and ultimately reclaimed agency. Early in the series, her anger emerges as dissociation and emotional shutdown shaped by trauma and institutional …

Confederate Women In The Field Of Nursing And Their Impact On Southern Women’S Roles In Society, Laura Leigh L. Prater

Theses

During the Civil War, Confederate women had the opportunity to go to work as nurses. The majority of these women had never been allowed to take on roles beyond the domestic sphere in antebellum society.  Despite most of these women having limited medical training, they developed an expertise in nursing, extraordinary organization skills and gained respect for their achievements.  Their achievements proved that women were able to do far more than many in the South believed prior to the war.  This paper will show how the demands of war opened doors of greater opportunity for women in the South for …

Care, Control, And The Racial Regulation Of Black Women’S Reproduction In American Medicine, Rheya K. Wilk

Honors Thesis

Black women in the United States continue to experience disproportionately high rates of maternal mortality, negative reproductive healthcare experiences, and documented disparities in medical treatment. From slavery through the twenty-first century, American medicine has repeatedly positioned Black women’s reproduction as a site of regulation, rather than care, making medical mistrust among Black women a rational response to a long history of institutional conflict embedded in American medicine. Drawing on medical history and bioethical analysis, this thesis traces reproductive abuse across distinct, yet connected, eras. Beginning with antebellum gynecological experimentation on enslaved women, it demonstrates how racialized assumptions about pain and …

"This Poor Man Cried": Moving The West Metro Church Of Christ From Transactional To Incarnational Benevolence Among The Homeless Community In Hiram, Georgia, Richard E. Gray

Harding School of Theology Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Becoming A "Still Point Of Grace": Identifying Obstacles Faced By Catholic Elementary School Teachers In Meeting The Needs Of Students With Generalized Anxiety In The Classroom, Kerry Smigielski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the midst of a mental health crisis in the United States, teachers in the Diocese of Cityville need to be equipped to serve elementary students who experience anxiety within an authentic Catholic context. The purpose of this study is to begin improvement research on classroom supports for students with generalized anxiety in the Diocese of Cityville elementary schools. Journey lines and a focus group discussion were conducted within a causal systems analysis to respond to the central research question: “What obstacles do Catholic elementary school teachers in the Diocese of Cityville face in meeting the needs of students with …

Destruction As Devotion: Warfare As Worship And Liturgy In Joshua 1–8, Ethan James Highfill

Harding School of Theology Dissertations and Theses

This paper explores the nature of divine and human violence in the Book of Joshua and its relation to ritual and liturgy. I argue in this paper that the violence that readers encounter in the Book of Joshua makes more sense as a subcategory or product of ritual. I point out that the emphasis on violence in Joshua is misplaced if the elements of ritual and worship, which are prevalent throughout the work are not given proper attention. I contend that the חֵרֶם commands in Deuteronomy and Joshua serve the specific functions of removing Canaanite identity from the land of …

The Reception History Of Isaiah's “New Heavens And New Earth”: Isaiah 65:17–25 In Jewish And Early Christian Thought, Preston S. Nichols

Harding School of Theology Dissertations and Theses

The study examines Isaiah’s vision of “a new heavens and a new earth” (Isa 65:17). Isaiah’s vision is often understood as either wholly symbolic or purely futuristic; however, this study contends that the vision is both historically inaugurated in the post-exilic community and eschatologically consummated in the renewal of creation. Through textual analysis of the biblical text, it demonstrates that the restoration taking place in Jerusalem functions as the initial realization of YHWH’s broader cosmic purposes.

This study further traces the reception of Isaiah 65:17–25 in early Jewish and Christian literature, including 1 Enoch 91:16; Jubilees 1:29; Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum …

A Phenomenological Examination Of Principal Leadership Practices In Arkansas High-Performing Middle And High Schools, Zondria R. Campbell

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

This qualitative phenomenological study examined the leadership practices of Arkansas secondary school principals in schools that received an “A” rating outlined by the state’s grading system for schools. Grounded in the instructional and distributed leadership theory, this study sought to explore principals’ lived experiences and the strategies that influenced high levels of student achievement.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight principals that met the criteria to participate in the study. Interviews were held virtually, and the discussions were recorded and transcribed for analysis. This approach allowed the researcher to identify patterns and key themes across participants through thematic coding.

The …

Issues Of Justice Since Batson V. Kentucky: The Ethical Implications Of Peremptory Strikes In Jury Selection, Andrew M. Nichols

Honors Theses

The usage of peremptory strikes in jury selection have led to several issues over the course of American history. Since their inception in English Common Law, their ethically questionable use has led the United States Supreme Court to rule on them repeatedly, most notable in 1986’s decision Batson v. Kentucky. This case allowed attorneys to challenge the opposing counsel if they suspected that jurors may have been removed from the venire due to their race and reinstate them if such discrimination was present. This thesis argues that this decision has not corrected the ethical issues that I identify, namely …

Art In An Apocalypse: Aids, Activism, And Abolition In Work Of Essex Hemphill And Alternative Video Production, Sydney E. Guntharp

Honors Theses

This thesis is an exploration of Black, POC, feminist, and queer art in the late twentieth century, examining both the AIDS crisis and the increasing privatization of the prison industrial complex as key factors in the development of Essex Hemphill’s poetic, expressive works and the filmmaking activism of various videotape collectives. Through employing the lens of critical prison studies, this work seeks to understand how Black and POC art emerged as a site of political resistance to a carceral state as well as the broader social punishment doctrine that influenced the public health response to AIDS in the United States. …

From Sacred Harp To Byzantine Chant: Inculturation And Formation Of Orthodox Communion In Alaska, Ava Ortwein

Honors Theses

This thesis will explore how Eastern Orthodoxy has been embraced by some native Appalachians, which has led to a convergence of musical trends as a regional phenomenon. It argues that parts of Appalachia are embracing Orthodoxy, especially as noted through converging musical structures. Through an examination of countries which have accepted Orthodoxy, I emphasize inhabitants’ agency and free acceptance of the Eastern Church, especially through convergence of musical traditions. I also analyze lived experience in Sacred Music within this Appalachian Orthodox Context rather than formal music theory. The research incorporates a diverse range of scholars including ethnomusicologists, historians, Orthodox theologians, …