Arts and Humanities Commons^™

"Why Don't I Talk To A Therapist?": Motivations And Reflections Of Female-Identifying Chinese Immigrants Seeking Psychotherapy For Depression, Qiuyi Wei

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of Chinese immigrants and temporary residents struggling with depressive symptoms and their process of seeking and accepting psychotherapy support. The study aimed to describe the factors that motivated participants to enter therapy for depression while also addressing their internal concerns about treatment. Nine female-identified Chinese immigrant adults with such experiences were recruited. Participants’ perceptions of their depressive symptoms and the factors contributing to their decision to seek professional therapy were explored through in-depth, semi-structured qualitative interviews conducted in Mandarin. The interview transcripts were analyzed in Mandarin using interpretative phenomenological analysis, through which four …

Orogenesis, Timothy Ryan Butcher

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis and accompanying exhibition explore the translation of panenhenic mystical experience and the collaboration with Appalachian natural spaces into abstracted landscape images. This work aims to “map” a sensation of fundamental unity and gesture toward the ineffable by utilizing found-object stamp printing, and automatic mark-making. Inspired by practical mystic traditions and contemporary landscape painting, this body of work, entitled Orogenesis, combines intricate, abstracted ink landscape drawings and photographs to create images suggestive of the mystical patterns in the process.

The Kinship Power Of Women In Old English Literature, Emily L. Carter

All Master's Theses

This thesis examines several Old English texts to understand how power is portrayed in literature relating to women and their positions as wives, mothers, and daughters. Looking at women characters in Beowulf, Elene, “The Wife’s Lament,” Juliana, and Judith through a New Historicist lens, this thesis attempts to better understand the cultural and social expectations for women in power in Anglo-Saxon England, c. 1000. These women are portrayed as socially intelligent and politically active figures in their communities. The most exemplary women in these texts, this thesis argues, are those who are able to draw upon the …

Philosophically Aligned, Operationally Fractured: Duty-Of-Care In Nagpra Practice, Meghan Ensign

All Master's Theses

This research aims to explore the implementation of the Duty of Care [43 CFR Part 10.1(d)] within the 2024 revision of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) rules and regulations. While NAGPRA was designed to facilitate repatriation, ambiguities and institutional resistance have hindered compliance, necessitating regulatory updates. The 2024 revision added duty-of-care language intended to improve repatriation outcomes and reinforce Tribal sovereignty. Duty of care requires institutions to consult and collaborate with Tribes on curation policies and practices, and to obtain informed consent before allowing research on, exhibiting, or providing access to cultural items or human remains. …

Artistic Merit In The Wind Band Repertoire: A Critical Analysis Of Jarod Hall’S “Golden Horizons”, Eric Mills

All Master's Theses

The wind band repertoire has long been subject to rigorous scrutiny regarding its artistic legitimacy, and scholars have invested considerable effort in developing frameworks through which that legitimacy can be assessed. The most enduring of these is Acton Ostling's ten criteria of serious artistic merit, formulated in 1978 and tested across nearly half a century of subsequent scholarship. This thesis argues that JaRod Hall's Golden Horizons (2024) satisfies those criteria, through a close analysis of a single contemporary work, and what it reveals about the framework's continued analytical utility.

The methodology combines a review of the scholarship surrounding Ostling's framework, …

Adolescent Girls’ Experiences Of Digital Dating Abuse Through Social Media: A Scoping Review, Kiara E. Rodriguez

Social Work Theses

Teen dating violence (TDV) is a prevalent adverse childhood experience with lasting psychological and behavioral consequences. As adolescents increasingly engage with social media, with 95% of teens aged 13-17 reporting using it, digital spaces have become a significant context in which dating abuse can occur. Digital dating abuse (DDA) refers to patterns of abusive behaviors that are directed toward a dating partner through digital technologies, including social media and mobile phones. Despite the growing role of social media in adolescent relationships, research on how adolescent girls experience DDA in these contexts remains limited. The central question for this scoping review …

Why Does The U.S. Still Practice The Death Penalty? An Application Of Waltz's Three Images, Anika Tracy

University Honors Program Senior Projects

The United States is the only Western democracy that still practices the death penalty, and legal scholars, domestic politics scholars, and comparativists have written extensively about American capital punishment. In this thesis, I will synthesize this scholarship to present a multifaceted explanation for America’s uniquely continued use of the death penalty through Kenneth Waltz’s three “images” or levels of analysis. While Waltz’s three levels of analysis is an established theory in the field of international relations (IR), the utilization of IR theory for an analysis of American capital punishment is particularly enriching because death penalty abolition is a norm in …

Post-Secular Revitalization Of Religion: Ukranian Experience Of Social Initiatives By Churches As A Moral Alternative To The Russian "Theology" Of War, Iryna Horokholinska, Sviatoslav Vaskul, Oleksandr Brodetskyi, Andriy Kvik

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article examines the processes of religious revitalization in Ukrainian society under wartime conditions and their institutional manifestations. It explores how religious institutions engage with the public sphere and their role in the ethically oriented transformation of suffering, turning individual trauma into socially constructive practice. The study draws on innovations in the activities of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, other Christian denominations, as well as Muslim and Jewish communities in Ukraine. It presents the Ukrainian model of religious revitalization as a social practice shaped by institutional autonomy and interfaith coordination. Particular attention is given to …

On The Chekist Front: Little-Known Pages Of The Life Of Ivan Voronaev (Agent "Nepliuev"), Founder Of Soviet Pentecostalism, Oleksandr Korotaiev

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The figure of Ivan Voronaev (1885-1937), founder of the Soviet Pentecostal movement, occupies a contested place in the history of Eastern European Protestantism. Confessional narratives portray him as an “apostle of the Slavs” and martyr of faith, while Soviet anti-sectarian literature depicted him as a “bourgeois agent” and conduit of foreign influence. Despite their opposition, both approaches largely ignore the Chekist dimension of Voronaev’s biography–his systematic interaction with the Soviet security services and his role in their operational activities as a covert agent.

This article reconstructs previously marginalized episodes of Voronaev’s life on the basis of operational, investigative, and reporting …

Frontmatter (Volume 46, Issue 2), Paul B. Mojzes

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Domestic Violence Prevention Through Offender-Side Interventions, Eva Kohn

Gender, Sexuality, and Intersectionality Studies Honors Papers

No abstract provided.

Climate, Energy, Economy: Interconnected Perspectives From Politics, Business, And The Public, Isabella Harper Heinzen

Theses and Dissertations

When considering the economic and social costs and benefits of a global, intergenerational, and environmental issue, rigid analysis often falls short. The topics discussed in this thesis aim to address the complex moral, economic, and political concerns regarding climate change to provide a holistic view of the issue and the role humans play. The first section on the scientific consensus addresses concerns regarding the existence and severity of climate change, finding where the responsibility lies for humans. The second section analyzes the energy context in modern society to understand the call for a transition from oil and gas to renewable …

The Heretical Church: A Comparative Analysis Between The Gospel Of Thomas And The Gospel Of John, Isabella R. Moore

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uses a comparative analysis between the allegedly “heretical” Gospel of Thomas and its canonical counterpart, the Gospel of John, to conduct a critique of the contemporary Catholic Church. This analysis and critique also utilize evaluations of medieval and modern definitions of heresy within a religious context, as well as a comparison between bishop dissent of these “secret” or “gnostic” gospels in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries and papal dissent in the 21st century. After conducting the comparative analysis between the two gospels, I posit that the Church’s charge of heresy toward the Gospel of Thomas is an …

A Hero’S Horizon Of Mirrors: Dovette, Deve, Dovrà, William James Kerrane

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines James Joyce’s Ulysses as a modern transformation of the Ulysses myth through the philosophical framework of Ernst Cassirer’s theory of symbolic forms and W.B. Stanford’s historical study of the Ulysses tradition. While Stanford demonstrates how the figure of Ulysses has been continually reinterpreted across literary history—from Homer’s cunning hero to Dante’s transgressive explorer and the restless modern figures of the nineteenth century— this study argues that Joyce’s Ulysses represents a uniquely philosophical adaptation of the myth in which heroic identity becomes a function of symbolic consciousness rather than physical action. Drawing on Cassirer’s philosophy, which defines myth, …

The Impact Of Music Education On Language Acquisition Of English Language Learners, Andrew David Frey-Gould

Theses and Dissertations

Schools continue to face increasing accountability pressures to improve English language proficiency outcomes for English Language Learners (ELLs), while access to arts education, particularly music, has declined in many districts. This study examines whether music education can serve as an effective and equitable support for language development among elementary ELL students. The purpose of this causal-comparative study was to determine whether participation in ensemble-based music programs (i.e., band, orchestra, and chorus) is associated with greater gains in English language proficiency than participation in compulsory general music instruction. This study is grounded in Krashen’s Second Language Acquisition theory and Patel’s resource-sharing …

Indigenous Land Seizure & Environmental Injustice: Impacts Of Settler Colonialism, Lydia Moorman

Journal of Earth and Life Science

The fields of conservation and environmentalism prioritize ecosystem health, yet both emerged from western frameworks that displaced and criminalized Indigenous land stewardship. The idealization of “pristine wilderness” narratives served to justify the removal of Indigenous peoples from their homelands and erased millennia of sustainable land stewardship that had maintained ecological balance long before western conservation existed. These narratives not only misrepresented Indigenous relationship with land but also constructed a false dichotomy between humans and nature that positioned Indigenous presence as a threat rather than a source of ecological knowledge. Simultaneously, anthropogenic expansion; such as pipelines, mining, railroads, and other extractive …

Visual Semiotics And Cultural Hybridity In Orión, El Atlante: Negotiating Global Comic Codes And Mexican Identity, Jaime Cruz-Ortiz

The Coastal Review

This article examines the 1980s Mexican comic series Orión, el Atlante through the lens of visual semiotics and cultural hybridity, drawing on Roland Barthes’s theory of polysemy and Néstor García Canclini’s concept of hybridization. While Mexican historietas have long been understudied, Orión offers a compelling case for understanding how Latin American comics negotiate global superhero tropes and local cultural imaginaries. The analysis foregrounds the historieta’s layered visual codes and narrative strategies, revealing how its retrofuturistic Atlantis blends Greco-Roman aesthetics, advanced technology, and indigenous symbolism to construct a mythic space that evokes both precolonial grandeur and modern aspiration. Orión’s characterization—rooted …

Lights And Shadows - 2026, University Of North Alabama

Lights and Shadows

Art and Literature Magazine

Fragmented Minds And Fractured Selves: A Cognitive Stylistic Analysis Of Mental Disturbance In Leaves Of Narcissus, Sarah M. Fayed, Amany M. El-Shazly, Fatma Ismail Dr.

Computer Science

What readers encounter in literature directly affects their views and impressions of the world. Hence, it is essential to acknowledge this effect and analyze it to understand how readers identify and pass judgment about significant issues. One important issue to investigate is the depiction of mental disturbance in modern fiction. The present work reconceptualizes the depiction of mental disturbance in Arabic fiction through an analysis of Somaya Ramadan’s Leaves of Narcissus. To this effect, Leaves of Narcissus (Awraq al-narjis) the depiction of mental disturbance is examined. The stylistic devices Ramadan uses, such as schema alterations to convey the content are …

Resisting Empire, Promoting Peace: Churches Confront The ‘Russian World’ Ideology Conference Statement, Katharina Kunter

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

From 1-3 December 2025, about 90 church leaders and representatives of churches, national councils of churches, ecumenical partners, and scholars gathered in Helsinki, Finland, for the conference, organised by the Conference of European Churches (CEC) in collaboration with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and the Orthodox Church of Finland.

The statement underscores that Russia’s war against Ukraine—fuelled by the ‘Russian World’ ideology—is a military, political, and humanitarian assault that threatens both the lives of millions and the democratic foundations of Europe.

Cultural Roots Of Eating: A Comparative Analysis Of Organic Discourse And Marketing Practices In China And The United States, Zubin (Jane) Guo

Honors Theses

This thesis examines how cultural frameworks influence the development of the organic food market and shape individual attitudes towards the label “organic” in the U.S. and China. While the popularity of organic food has increased in recent years, cognitive and behavioral reactions toward the label “organic” have differed across societies. In the U.S., healthy eating discourse aligns closely with the individualistic culture and atomistic cognitive style, highlighting the importance of salient elements such as specific nutrients or chemical use. In contrast, Chinese healthy eating discourse is based on balance and harmony, which is directly related to traditional Chinese culture of …

La Mode Comme Arme À Double Tranchant : Construction Et Déconstruction De L’Indochine Coloniale, Sasha Hanson

Honors Theses

Cette thèse explore la façon dont la mode façonnait le pouvoir, l’identité et la résistance dans l’Indochine française à travers trois oeuvres littéraires : Un barrage contre le Pacifique (1950) de Marguerite Duras, Métisse blanche (1989) de Kim Lefèvre et The Book of Salt (2003) de Monique Truong. En appuyant sur les théories postcoloniales de Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Frantz Fanon et Homi K. Bhabha, j’argumente que la mode et les vêtements font plus que révéler les hiérarchies coloniales de race, classe et genre ; ils les renforcent activement. Alors que dans son récit, Duras expose les inégalités socio-économiques à l'intérieur …

Spear, Perilous Times, And The Bright Sword: Radical Reinventions Of The Arthurian Legend In 2020s Literature, Brigid Flanagan

Honors Theses

The story of King Arthur has been told time and time again, emerging most recently as a major literary fascination for fantasy writers. The huge body of Arthurian literature published in the 20th century has been well-documented. Raymond H. Thompson’s The Return From Avalon surveys nearly two hundred works published from 1882 to 1983, noting trends and common themes that emerge over this collection. Several more scholars have examined modern Arthurian literature within a smaller scope, including Shiloh Carroll who looks into certain trends across both 20th and 21st century texts. Particular works have been the focus of closer analysis, …

The Great Divide: The Relationship Between Perceived Immorality And The Work Of Artists, Caelyn R. Anderson

Psychology | Senior Theses

The psychological response one has when viewing art depends heavily on contextual understanding. More specifically, when a viewer learns negative biographical information about perceived immorality of an artist, it can negatively affect their relationship with that artist's work (Kaube et al., 2023). The sample was made up of 134 participants randomly assigned to one of two groups exposed to either positive or negative information about the artist Paul Gauguin. After viewing information, participants were shown three different paintings, before being asked to respond to an intentionality scale, and two art reception scales. An independent samples t-test showed that there is …

Tainted Love: Examining Romantic Obsession And Relational Tragedy In Modern Art, Caelyn R. Anderson

Visual Studies | Senior Theses

Many viewers are drawn to the period of modern art, as so many unique artistic movements arose under its umbrella. From Cubism to Expressionism, the freedom with which artists experimented with personal styles during this time period resulted in the creation of many remarkable works. This artistic freedom often extended into the social lives of artists, as many of them adopted unconventional bohemian lifestyles. The four couples discussed in this essay: Unica Zürn and Hans Bellmer, Francis Bacon and George Dyer, Oskar Kokoschka and Alma Mahler, and Jeanne Hubertene and Amedeo Modigliani, all had relationships that were fraught and strange, …

Taking Up Space: A Love Letter To Healing, Heartbreak, And Hairspray, Hailee Amerson

Honors Program Theses

An Honors Thesis disguised as a one-woman show, "Taking Up Space: A Love Letter to Healing, Heartbreak, and Hairspray" is a cabaret revue-style performance. Through original monologues, and songs from the musical theatre canon, this cabaret takes audiences through where plus-size women fit (or do not fit) in the theatre industry. The piece takes a sociological perspective, beginning with the history of beauty and health standards, while asking audiences to confront their own views on what it means to be "fat". Interspersed through the show is my own story of growing up fat in an industry where thin is “in”, …

The Hollow Parent: A Philosophical Capabilities-Based Care Ethics Critique Of The U.S. Foster Care System, Lindsey E. Scanlan

Honors Program Theses

This thesis argues that the U.S. foster care system systematically undermines transition-age youth by failing to secure the capabilities required for genuine independence and a life of basic human dignity, particularly through aging-out policies that terminate support before these capabilities are fully developed. Using Martha Nussbaum’s capabilities approach as a normative foundation, it integrates classical American pragmatism (Jane Addams, John Dewey) and Maurice Hamington's contemporary care ethics to construct a context-sensitive framework for evaluating and reforming foster care. Pragmatism grounds normative assessment in lived experience and institutional context, while care ethics provides a relational account of moral practice structured around …

Res Publica Recondita: Augustan Authors’ Use Of Archaic Heroes As Exempla For The Golden Age, Katherine Anna Hamner

Honors Program Theses

Following decades of civil war and moral collapse in the Late Republic, Augustus sought to legitimate his principate through a sweeping cultural program proclaiming the arrival of a new Golden Age. This thesis examines how the authors Livy and Virgil contributed a literary dimension to that program by retelling Rome's archaic past. Livy curates the Roman kings as exempla of entrepreneurial virtue and civic self-determination, while Virgil's Aeneid grounds proto-Roman identity in pietas and coalition-building across ethnic boundaries. Both works, independent of direct state commission, answered the moral demands of the Augustan moment and affirmed that civilizational renewal requires a …

Las Pintas Inverview Project 2026, Beth Gulley, Luzma Alvarez, Lacey Andrews, Damien Duncan, Mariah Garman, Brenda Lofton, Alyssa Roland, Hero Sanner, Asja Thompson, Athena Gonzalez, Lee Martin, Samantha Miller, Lucy Sas

The Las Pintas Collection

Acknowledgements

Dear Reader,

This collection is the result of JCCC students’ efforts to reflect on the college’s decades long relationship with Centro Integral Comunitario (CIC) in Las Pintas, Mexico. Before they left on the trip, each student interviewed someone from JCCC who had traveled with the college to Las Pintas in the past. The first section of this book includes what students learned from their pre-departure interviews.

In the second part of this book, students wrote about what they learned from interviewing people who they met in Las Pintas. While these interviews were conducted in Spanish, the students wrote their …

Juguete, Lilianet Brintrup Hertling

Fiction and Poetry

Lilianet Brintrup Hertling es una poeta de sólida trayectoria y conocida capacidad expresiva. Es también una viajera empecinada, oriunda del sur de Chile que vive ahora en la otra punta del continente, y científica curiosa y sensible. Todo ello se entrelaza delicadamente en su próximo libro Juguete, donde viajamos con los juguetes, sus juguetes, por geografías, por ontologías y muy especialmente por capas de tiempo que marcan, a través de la memoria, el pasaje de la niñez a la adultez, o quizás a la inversa: una visita a la infancia desde el ahora adulto. Los lectores, ubicados también en este …