Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Interplay Of Religion And Stagecraft: Orthodox Christianity And Islam In Russian Foreign Policy, Samet Okan, Askar Akimkhanov, Karlygash Borbassova, Rysgul Ospanova

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Religious factors have increasingly been acknowledged as significant components in the field of international relations, with scholars emphasizing the evolving paradigms involving religion and the rise of faith-based diplomacy. In the context of Russia, the intricate interplay between the state and both Christianity and Islam is particularly pertinent, given the nation’s multifaceted religious landscape. This paper explores the influence of religious elements in shaping the foreign policy of the Russian Federation. More specifically, it clarify the roles of the Russian Orthodox Church and Islam as pivotal components in the formation of Russia’s foreign policy strategies. Additionally, this study provides insights …

From The History Of The Arrival Of The True Cross In Georgia, Giorgi Sosiashvili, Aleksandre Mgebrishvili Prof. Dr.

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article explores the complex historical and theological narratives surrounding the arrival of the True Cross—the Life-Giving Wood—in Georgia, as preserved in medieval Georgian chronicles and ecclesiastical writings. Drawing upon primary sources such as the Conversion of Kartli, the chronicles of Leonti Mroveli, Nikoloz Gulaberidze, and Arsen Ikaltoeli, as well as later accounts by Prince Teimuraz, Niko Dadiani, and Platon Ioseliani, the study reconstructs the multi-layered tradition of how fragments of the Holy Cross were brought from Byzantium to Kartli during the reign of King Mirian. According to these sources, Emperor Constantine the Great and Queen Helena dispatched to Georgia …

Preservation Of Architectural-Religious Heritage In Modern Ukraine, Olga Gold, Maksym Vasalatiy, Olga Dobrodum

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article examines answers to a number of pressing questions regarding the preservation of architectural heritage in the modern world: what philosophical views underlie the preservation of world heritage; and what is unique about the protection of religious architectural heritage. The architectural philosophy of religious buildings represents a complex of original concepts, both material and spiritual. The hypothesis consists of constructing an algorithm and mechanism for protecting cultural heritage from the perspective of the philosophy of architecture in post-war Ukraine. The preservation of historical and cultural heritage sites is one of the most complex areas of activity in the fields …

Moral Quandaries In Extremis: The Last Thing By Leopold Lahola, Madeline Vadkerty

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

A review of Leopold Lahola, The Last Thing. Translated by Julia and Peter Sherwood. Prague, Karolinum Press, 2025. 217 pages, paperback, ISBN 978-80-246-6041.7

Religious And Cultural Dimension Of The "Ringing Cedars Of Russia" Movement In The Context Of Hybrid Warfare, Oleksandr Lukyanenko, Vitaly Dmytrenko, Vita Dmytrenko

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article is devoted to a comprehensive religious analysis of the neo-religious movement “The Ringing Cedars of Russia,” based on the works of Vladimir Megre and the image of the prophetess Anastasia. The study covers the ideological and doctrinal foundations of the movement, its socio-cultural practices, the functioning of tribal settlements, as well as mechanisms of influence on individual and collective consciousness. Particular attention is paid to the concepts of “Vedrussia”, the sacralization of “Russian space” and the mythologization of Russia’s calling to revive the “primitive civilization of harmony.” The analysis shows that the movement, while declaring ecological and humanistic …

The Ukrainian Model Of Religiosity: Between Jurisdiction Conflict And Reconciliation Practices, Tetiana Havryliuk, Yuriy Chornomorets, Svitlana Shkil, Larysa Vladychenko

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article offers a philosophical and religious studies analysis of the dual role of religion in contemporary Ukrainian society as both a resource of reconciliation and a potential factor of polarization. Particular attention is paid to the Ukrainian context where the examples of interfaith dialogue, humanitarian cooperation among Churches, and the activities of military chaplains are analyzed, with special emphasis on the “Sophia Brotherhood” as a model of intra-Orthodox reconciliation. The study demonstrates that religion in Ukraine serves as a factor of moral support, national unity, and spiritual resistance during wartime, while simultaneously remaining an arena of jurisdictional and identity …

Game-Based Learning For Asynchronous Ai Literacy Course: Approach To Improve Students' Cognitive, Behavioural, Affective, And Ethical Learning Of Ai, Jinhee Kim, Guang Yang, Wing Sha Chan, Xi Lin, Yukyeong Song

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Educators in higher education face persistent challenges in scaling AI literacy across disciplines and helping novice learners understand abstract AI concepts. Although research on game-based learning (GBL) reports mixed outcomes, few studies have examined its large-scale use in mandatory, asynchronous AI literacy courses for diverse undergraduate populations. Addressing this gap, this study investigates a scalable GBL-based AI literacy course delivered to 4898 first-year undergraduates across disciplines. Using a mixed-methods design with 311 valid pre- and post-survey responses and 20 interviews, the study evaluates students' cognitive, behavioural, affective, and ethical learning of AI. Quantitative results show significant improvements in overall AI …

Animalistic Emotion: Rylie Hazelton, Rylie Anne Hazelton

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Having sprouted alongside the plants and animals of the Great Plains region, my work is

driven by my passion and appreciation for the natural world around me. I have had a lifelong interest in the intricacies of the cycle of life, the reliability of the food chain, and the

symbolic meaning that each living thing has. I define my work as expressive naturalism, meaning that while I recreate the animals in my work to a realistic and recognizable quality, I am using their symbolism to create a space to tell a story of my own life experience. The figures in …

Fragments & Formations, Charles D. Schluckebier

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

My work begins with an idea, but is driven by curiosity as it develops, often arriving somewhere different than initially planned. I maintain control over the direction while allowing decisions to shift in response to what emerges. Creating artwork becomes a space where ideas are not illustrated by worked through – physically and mentally at the same time. I approach making as problem-solving, where each sculpture functions as a puzzle resolved through construction. I push materials beyond their intended function, forcing them into new conditions where form emerges through resistance, constraint, and play. Material behavior informs the outcome but does …

Defend The Fort: Indigenous History, Remembrance, And Memorialization In Ellis County, Kansas, Sarah Keiss

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

This thesis provides an in-depth look into the Indigenous history of the area that would later become Western Kansas and Ellis County. Analyzing the history of the area from before European colonization to the Native American resistance against American expansion in the 1860s, this thesis illustrates the complex and layered history of the area. Even prior to European settler presence in the area, the native tribes felt the effects of European settlement and trade around them, leading to drastic changes in geographic distribution and access to new resources, particularly horses. Over the course of the nineteenth century, white settlement completely …

Forces Of Movement: How Changing Perceptions Of Slavery And Freedom Affected Black Lives In The Mason-Dixon Borderland, 1861-1872, Rachael B. Nicholas

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The Mason-Dixon Line, first surveyed between 1763 and 1767, became the symbolic “dividing line” between free and slave states in antebellum America. This perception of the Mason-Dixon Line allowed a larger borderland to grow around it: the Mason-Dixon Borderland, which consisted of northern Maryland, Washington, D.C., southern Pennsylvania, northern Virginia, and the Shenandoah Valley (western Virginia and the eastern panhandle of West Virginia).

Americans used slavery and freedom as referents to make decisions about survival, military policy, politics, and freedom-seeking during the Civil War. Those decisions had consequences for their movement across the Mason-Dixon Borderland, causing it to change as …

So There I Was, Jesse Marie Baggett

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This written thesis provides a description and analysis of my thesis exhibition, So There I Was, which presents a body of ceramic sculptures and paintings that explore themes of adventure, travel, and shared experiences. The work reimagines personal experiences through a cast of animal characters, with a rabbit acting as a stand-in for myself. These narratives are inspired by events from my own life and are transformed into imaginative scenes that emphasize playfulness, wonder, and storytelling.

The sculptures combine toy-like animal figures, pull carts, and miniature architectural structures to create playful environments that resemble playsets or staged scenes where …

Among The Remnants, Jade-Lynn B. Lewis Vance

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This written thesis serves as supporting documentation and research for my Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibition, Among the Remnants, at West Virginia University. This dissertation will explain how my artistic vision, influences, research, and thesis exhibition fits into larger art and cultural contexts. Drawing from art history and theory, my work explores memory, touch, and fragmentation. My fascination with artifacts and the stories they hold inspires my research and drives me to create personal connections within my own art. The figurative sculptures serve as a vessel for recalling impactful experiences and embodying personal perception and these interactions. The …

Borrowed Mantles: Neoclassicism, Theology, And The Construction Of Authority In Phillis Wheatley-Peters, Zoe N. Lament

Honors Theses

This thesis examines how Phillis Wheatley-Peters established literary and intellectual authority within an eighteenth-century world that questioned both her authorship and her intellectual capability as an enslaved Black woman. Rather than focusing on the external validation provided by the prefatory materials to Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773), this study argues that Wheatley-Peters constructs authority through the poetry itself. Specifically, it explores how her use of neoclassical poetic conventions alongside Christian theological language functions to establish credibility and strengthen her moral and intellectual arguments.

Through close readings of poems including "On Being Brought from Africa to America" and …

Engaging Elementary Music Students Through Multisensory Teaching In A Kodály-Inspired Classroom, Chelsea Taylor

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Multisensory teaching is an instructional approach that is increasingly implemented in general education classrooms. Although it has been widely studied in special education settings and in the teaching of reading skills, it has not been extensively examined within music education. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of multisensory instruction on student engagement, comprehension, and retention of concepts in my elementary music classroom. Through Kodály-inspired lessons that challenged students to audiate pitches while kinesthetically building a pentatonic scale, notate music on textured surfaces, and play games that incorporated simultaneous sensory input, these lessons intentionally integrated visual, auditory, …

Increasing Hpv Vaccination Among Early Adolescents Using A Game-Based Digital Intervention: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Angela Chia-Chen Chen, Lihong Ou, Elizabeth Reifsnider, Kimberly Arcoleo, Ashish Amresh, Michael Todd

Ellmer School of Nursing Faculty Publications

Background/Objectives: Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination coverage among adolescents remains below public health targets despite strong evidence of vaccine effectiveness in preventing HPV-related cancers. Digital interventions (e.g., serious games) may improve HPV vaccine uptake, but evidence for effects on vaccination behavior remains limited. Methods: This secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial evaluated a co-designed, game-based digital intervention to increase HPV vaccine initiation among unvaccinated youth aged 11-14 years and their parents. The sample included 64 parent-adolescent dyads (33 intervention and 31 usual care dyads). The primary outcome was HPV vaccine initiation at 2-month follow-up. Results: A significantly greater proportion of …

Post-Boom(Er) Maximalism In The Americas: Valeria Luiselli's “Lost Children Archive”, Antonio Barrenechea

English & Linguistics Articles

This article poses an alternative non-Anglophone starting point for twenty-first century maximalism through the Latin American Boom and “la novela total” that is its crowning achievement. Among such works are Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) and Carlos Fuentes’s Terra Nostra (1975). The term’s 1960s conception by Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa predates Thomas Pynchon as figurehead for maximalist theorizing within First World academic environments that control the conversation. Furthermore, I examine Mexican author Valeria Luiselli’s Lost Children Archive (2019) as a case of post-Boom(er) maximalism that differs from the big novels of the Latin American luminaries. …

News Media Sentiment Toward Chinese Ai: A Comparative Analysis With Belt And Road Initiative Involvement And Public Opinion On China, Asya Vaisberg

Pomona Senior Theses

This study evaluates different countries' news media’s sentiment towards Chinese AI, between May 2023 and May 2024, by using Microsoft Azure NLP Sentiment Analysis. The results are then compared with the country’s public opinion on China and its involvement in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). For this study 12 countries have been selected which are USA, Australia, Pakistan, Peru, Russia, Romania, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Philippines, Brazil, and Egypt. For each one, GNews Application Programming Interface (API), which has access to more than 60,000 global news sources, was used to aggregate relevant news articles based on queried keywords. The collected …

Place-Branding In The Japanese Agricultural Industry: A Discourse Analysis Of National, Prefectural, Municipal, And Producer Perspectives, Miyu L. Owada

Pomona Senior Theses

This essay is a case study of place-based agricultural branding in Japan, particularly in the sub-urban context of Mitaka City, Tokyo. Shifting the focus from rural revitalization models typically studied in this field, this study brings sub-urban landscapes into the conversation. Although existing studies assume a top-down policy is implemented for agricultural branding in Japan, the study assesses to what extent this structure holds true for the Mitaka context, comparing narratives across four tiers: the national Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF), the prefectural Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG), the municipal Mitaka City and Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JA) Tokyo Musashi …

An Ideological Target Through The Archaeological Archive: The Islamic State’S Destruction Of Palmyra And Its Impact On Local Syrian Identity, Tristen A. Leone

Pomona Senior Theses

This paper investigates how Palmyra's multicultural archaeological archive incited ISIS's destruction of the site during the Syrian Civil War through an analysis of sepulchral and religious architectural structures and onomastic practices. In contributing the cultural heritage scholarship, this paper places the motives of Islamic extremist groups in conversation with intellectual discourse around the multicultural identities of the Ancient Near East during the Roman Imperial Period. Further, through anthropological methodological frameworks and the photographic archive of excavation efforts at Palmyra, I aim to center modern local communities' experiences of living on and near an archaeological site like Palmyra. In consulting modern …

Art Heals Chicago: Murals On The South Side Of Xicágo, Brenda Rodriguez

Pomona Senior Theses

Mural making as a collective art form is a tool for healing, resistance, and cultural pride in Black and Brown communities. With my focus being on Mexican American communities on the South Side of Chicago, specifically Pilsen. I make ties to indigenous motifs and the history of Mexican Muralism to show how it has evolved and how murals in the 1960s and 70s were used for healing from violence and the revolution. Murals that include images that reference the Mesoamerican past and preconquest life are a powerful way of reclaiming one’s identity and asserting one's indigeneity in the present and …

Lake As Body: Ecofeminism And Animacy At The Great Salt Lake, Shae Barber

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Water shapes cultural, social, and ecological systems. Yet, dominant economic, political, and academic frameworks often treat water as a backdrop or passive resource, ignoring it as an active participant in meaning-making and relationship-building. Viewing water as “nonliving” obscures how it participates in and co-creates relationships, limiting understanding about impacts of and responses to climate change and environmental degradation.

This thesis takes a mixed-methods and participatory approach including semi-structured interview, photovoice, and participatory mapping to examine relational practices between environmental advocates and the Great Salt Lake, a desiccating saline lake in Utah, U.S. As the lake continues to decline, dominant Western …

A Psychogeography Of The Lower Colorado River Basin, Arren L. Kimbel-Sannit

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Dried-up canals. Superheated strip malls. Proliferating data centers. Infinite appetite for growth despite its apparent circumstances. Arizona may well be the state of the American future. This multi-genre series of essays from Arren Kimbel-Sannit offers a personal, political-economic and ecological critique of growth and accumulation in Arizona — from the perspective of someone who grew up in its suburban expanses, reported on its politics, and long sought to clarify his relationship with home.

(R)Evolutionary Cultural Literacy: Pauli Murray’S Boundary-Crossing Tripartite Pedagogy, Lorise Ann Diamond

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Civil rights lawyer, poet, activist, questioning, and Episcopal priest Pauli Murray spent seven decades generating legal doctrine, autobiography, poetry, and institutional redesign across some of the most hostile yet fecund terrain American public life produced. Scholarship across rhetoric and writing studies, cultural studies, Black feminism, and critical pedagogy has theorized literacy, movement, and commons-making as separate concerns. What the field of cultural literacy lacks is a framework that holds those concerns together, reads them through a focused body of texts, and translates them into a transferable pedagogy applicable across academic, civic, and institutional settings. This dissertation argues that cultural literacy …

Shaping Shakespeare: How American Shakespeare Festivals Adapt Shakespeare’S Texts In The Twenty-First Century, Paul Jacques

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Shakespeare’s continued importance in American festival settings stems from adaptive and collaborative processes. In this study, adaptation refers to any reinterpretation of Shakespeare's works for contemporary contexts, while collaboration refers to the combined creative efforts among artists and institutions. These processes, including reinterpretation, modernization, and partnership, propel performance and underpin Shakespeare festivals. Such festivals play a central role, balancing cultural prestige with institutional sustainability by prioritizing long-term viability and financial health. At the same time, festivals respond to local audiences' beliefs and interests. Instead of presenting static versions, these institutions continually interpret, revise, and adapt the canon, the authoritative collection …

Revisiting The Rural Folk Devil: Rural 'Othering' And The Connections Between Media Stereotypes And Rural Issues, Brooke Baker, Ida L. Oesteraas, Stephen T. Young, Elizabeth Monk-Turner

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The current study is a discourse analysis investigating anti-idyllic cinematic representations, specifically in the horror genre, of rural people, places, and cultures. Findings reveal that anti-idyllic images and discourses are prominent within recently released horror films, which rely heavily on framing rural people as the deviant “other.” Special attention is given to the cultural work of these stereotypical depictions and the associated social harms for rural communities. Specifically, we argue that (1) corporations, particularly film companies, contribute to social harm in rural areas by disseminating negative and anti-idyllic representations; (2) these portrayals have tangible and detrimental effects on both people …

Lgbtq People's Experiences With Crime, Victimization, And The Criminal Legal System, Vanessa R. Panfil

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The ebb and flow of social control efforts aimed at LGBTQ people necessitate a thorough investigation into their experiences. This review of the literature is organized around four key themes that characterize LGBTQ people's experiences with crime, criminalization, victimization, and the criminal legal system—including police, courts, and carceral facilities. LGBTQ people experience excessive rates of arrest and incarceration and have higher rates of victimization, which illustrate disproportionality. Their experiences differ from those of their cisgender and heterosexual counterparts and are conditioned by age, race, class, gender, and sexual orientation, illustrating intersectionality. The two primary, interrelated mechanisms driving LGBTQ criminalization and …

"When I Think Of The Public Library, I Think Of White": Black Families Counter-Narratives Of Library Irrelevance And Community Repair, Amber Matthews

STEMPS Faculty Publications

While public libraries espouse equitable access, few studies examine Black community disengagement. Drawing on Critical Race Theory and the theme "Information in Repair," this paper analyzes semi-structured interviews with seven Black parents of youth aged 13-24 in London, Ontario. Findings reveal that their lack of library engagement stems not from access barriers but from libraries functioning as racialized spaces irrelevant to Black lived experiences in Canada. Where libraries fall short, Black-led organizations perform continuous, invisible reparative labour through culturally responsive programming and trusted information networks. Meaningful repair requires confronting institutional whiteness, redistributing resources to Black-led organizations, and sustaining authentic relationship-building …

Understanding The Impact Of Psychosocial Barriers On Colorectal Cancer Knowledge In Emerging Black Men, Chelsey Mcgill, Maria D. Thomson, Caroline Kuno, Emmanuel Taylor, Kimberly Lawrence, Alison J. Patev, Arnethea L. Sutton, Ruth Nyagaka, Oxana Palesh, Larry D. Keen Ii

Research and Infrastructure Service Enterprise (RISE) Faculty Publications

In the United States, Colorectal Cancer (CRC) is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers and the third leading cause of death among non-Hispanic African American/Black (henceforth Black) men. Inadequate CRC knowledge leads to missing early warning signs, delaying prevention and increasing risk. Emerging adulthood (18-25) is a key period for building healthy behaviors and addressing barriers to CRC knowledge in addition to understanding attitudes and practices to CRC screening. Psychosocial barriers - including social support, medical mistrust, and perceived racial discrimination - contribute to the lack of CRC knowledge among older Black men, yet emerging adult Black men remain …

The Diasporic Cookbook As Chronotope. [Review Of The Book Kitchens Of Hope: Immigrants Share Stories Of Resilience And Recipes From Home, By I. S. Svitak, C. J. Eaton, And I. S. Dean (Eds)], Marcella Prokop

English Faculty Publications

[Introduction] Edited by Linda S. Svitak and Christin Jaye Eaton, with Lee Svitak Dean, and published by the University of Minnesota Press, Kitchens of Hope: Immigrants Share Stories of Resilience and Recipes from Home (2025) fits neatly into the popular genre network of cookbooks that blend essay with recipe, mixing memoir with meals perfected over generations. But this book doesn't simply share the legacy of Liberian rice bread or summer beat soup. It explores the migration of these dishes and their cooks, contextualizing stories of displacement and development. Because of the breadth of this book, Mikhail Bakhtin might describe this …