Arts and Humanities Commons^™

“Sir, We Have The Honour Most Respectfully To Submit Our Humble Petition”: Voices In Ink And The Politics Of Petitions In Colonial Igboland, Nigeria, 1892-1960, Bright Chiazam Alozie

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

With limited access to the traditional sources that historians typically use to document their work, it has become necessary to find new ways to explore the voices of local peoples who have been historically “denied a voice.” One way is through the study of petitions. Indeed, scholars of history have sparingly used petitions in some way while few have made systematic use of them. Even so, historians of colonial Africa have largely overlooked petitions in their studies, despite the important role that these sources played in negotiating African-European relations. This dissertation revolves around the hundreds of selected petitions, dubbed “voices …

Advancing The Spatial Turn In History Through Deep Mapping: Ghost Maps, Neogeography, And Frederick Jackson Turner, Jessica L. Mathai

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The permeation of the spatial turn into the humanities, and in particular history, has both imbued scholarship and opened up new areas for research. This dissertation examines the conceptual and theoretical implications of advancing the spatial turn in history and evaluating existing approaches such as Historical GIS and ghost mapping as a foundation for deep mapping. The resulting deep map developed in this study utilizes Neogeography and web technology in the form of JavaScript Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to develop a prototype that overcomes many of the limitations that occur when simultaneously integrating multiple sources of data and software functionality, …

The Memorization, Preparation, And Performance Of Piano Music: Cognitive Foundations And Current Neuro-Music Research, Amy M. Simpson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Memorization of piano music for performance has often been shrouded in mystery. A body of neuro-music research has emerged, mostly in the last twenty years, that addresses how musicians perceive, learn, and memorize music, and how these processes operate in music performance. This paper is a compendium of current research on music perception, learning, memorization, and performance, specifically focused on piano music and piano performance. It is intended to benefit both pianists (performers, teachers, students), and neuro-music researchers.

This research explains the operation of human memory systems and, from this platform, addresses aspects of music memorization such as multi-modal approaches …

"A Splendid Investment": Black Colonization And America's Pacific Empire, 1898-1904, Jolie Colette Scribner

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

“Beychella:” Beyoncé’S Homecoming To A Futuristic Queer Utopian, Jolie V. Brownell

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

Beyoncé’s 2018 Coachella performance and 2019 Homecoming film set the stage for a radical Black queer reimagining. Yet, how can Beyoncé—who is straight—be located within a queer critique? In this paper, I argue that through a radical and political expansion of queer, the creative deployment of dis/identification, and the unapologetic expression of the erotic, Beyoncé performs an embodiment of queer of color critique. These creative gestures within “Beychella” invite viewers into a queer futuristic utopian and provide new creative modes to politically inhabit, resist, and reimagine interlocking systems of oppression.

Keywords: Beyoncé, queer, dis/identification, erotic, QoCC, …

The Medicalisation Of Gender Nonconformity Through Language: A Keywords Analysis, Angelo Cosma Galluzzo

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

Language is an important part of the way gender nonconformity is legislated and medicalised. In 2012, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) changed the nomenclature of the ‘gender identity disorder’ (GID) to ‘gender dysphoria in the ‘Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) to reduce the social stigma attached to transgender identities. While the recognition of gender nonconformity by the medical authorities has led to some beneficial consequences, scholars have shown that the language of pathology has narrowed the definitions of gender nonconformity and has created social stigma. I use the web pages of five major health providers of English-speaking …

Bass Is My Religion: Syncretic Spirituality And Navigating The Potential For Misappropriation Among Participants In Electronic Dance Music Culture, Daniel Backfish-White

Graduate Thesis Collection

At electronic dance music events in the United States, artists and attendees tend to appropriate religious and spiritual sounds, images, and dress, especially from India but also from elsewhere, to varying degrees. This project explicates the effects of adopting religious symbology, ethos, and atmosphere in the music and culture of EDM, specifically in bass music culture. It argues that although individual participants may adopt aspects of religious traditions in ways they perceive as authentic, the potential for misappropriation still exists. In other words, EDM culture creates opportunities for misappropriation that individual participants navigate in order to construct their own individual …

Madrona: A Micro-Geography Of The 1960s And 1970s, Brett B. Bodemer

Library Scholarship

Drawing on personal memory, detailed mapping, and archival research, this memoir explores the lived experience of growing up in Seattle’s Madrona neighborhood in the 1960s and early 1970s. A neighborhood historically characterized as both integrated and segregated, this book grapples directly with the truth of both statements. The author’s childhood was spent on a street where neighbors across the street were nearly all White, while neighbors astride the alley behind were nearly all Black. The lines of friendship and community interaction, however, were not so neatly defined, and changed markedly over time.

To avoid a mere rehearsal of well-entrenched memories, …

Asia Pacific Perspectives Vol. 17 No. 1, 2021, University Of San Francisco

Asia Pacific Perspectives

Contents:

Editor's Introduction by Melissa S. Dale

We are pleased to announce the publication of the latest issue of Asia Pacific Perspectives (vol. 17, no. 1). This issue showcases the resilience and creativity of scholars doing research and writing about the Asia Pacific during the COVID-19 pandemic.

These scholars, like others in the humanities and social sciences, have not only found ways to continue their scholarship during these trying times but to even re-image how to go about doing research moving forward.

From Sanitation to Soybeans: Kitchen Hygiene and Nutritional Nationalism in Republican China, 1911-1945 by Sarah Xia Yu

This …

From Sanitation To Soybeans: Kitchen Hygiene And Nutritional Nationalism In Republican China, 1911–1945, Sarah Xia Yu

Asia Pacific Perspectives

This article investigates evolving expectations for Chinese individuals to clean, cook, eat, and nourish in their private kitchens, and how certain diseases became urgent touchstones for the change in public health priorities. Reformists promoted personal responsibility and popular interest in kitchen and dietary hygiene, which increased as Chinese audiences became exposed to globally- circulating ideas of sanitation and nutrition in individual homes. Furthermore, this occurred in tandem with increased institutionalized government developments for improved infrastructure. This article also highlights Chinese participation in the transnational dietary science movement of the early twentieth century, as reformists developed methods for beriberi and tuberculosis …

Book Review: Kingdom Of The Sick: A History Of Leprosy And Japan, Kristin Roebuck

Asia Pacific Perspectives

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Global Medicine In China: A Diasporic History, Carlos B. Broggi

Asia Pacific Perspectives

No abstract provided.

Is It Possible To Think Of A “Chinese Pacific” In The Making? Decolonizing Anthropology In The Asia-Pacific Region, Rodolfo Maggio

Asia Pacific Perspectives

The travel restrictions implemented to limit the spread of the COVID19 pandemic prevent fieldworkers from collecting ethnographic data in the Pacific. The possibility of collecting first-hand data about indigenous perspectives on the recent growth of the Chinese presence and influence is therefore limited too. Despite the critical need for this kind of data, the situation provides an opportunity for a concerted reflection on the conceptual tools scholars deploy to study China in the Pacific. A decolonial methodology seems necessary to prevent the superimposition of preconceived ideas upon indigenous views that, at the moment, can only be accessed in journalistic and …

Doctors, Miners, And Black Lung: A Transatlantic Comparison Of Organized Medicine's Role In The Fight For Black Lung Recognition In West Virginia And Wales, Mollie M. Cecil Md

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Black lung disease is a crippling occupational lung disease experienced by coal miners throughout the world. However, this disease was not always recognized by the medical profession and required significant efforts on the part of miners’ unions to force mainstream recognition. The historiography on the subject is limited, especially with respect to the relationship between organized medicine and organized labor. This work further explores this relationship, particularly how this relationship differed between the parties in Wales and in West Virginia. In doing so, it portrays a more detailed picture of the fight for black lung recognition as well as highlights …

Bravery In The Delicate: An Actor's Exploration Of Thea Elvsted In Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, Mary Catherine Goff

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This purpose of this document is twofold: to examine the process of character creation over the course of my experiences performing the role of Thea Elvsted in West Virginia University’s spring 2020 production of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, and to define Thea’s dramatic significance to Hedda Gabler as a whole. The following text will provide a detailed look at the research I collected in the interest of building a cohesive view of the world of the play. Additionally, it will describe the various techniques I employed throughout the rehearsal and performance process of the production, with specific attention paid to …

Jerome Franke’S “Architectural Practice” Exercises For Mendelssohn’S Violin Concerto In E Minor, Op. 62 And Lalo’S Symphonie Espagnole In D Minor, Op. 21, Yaniv Gutman

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Since their original publications, Otakar Ševčík’s Analytical Studies & Exercises books have been used as practical guides to practicing standard violin repertoire. Jerome Franke (1948-2019) was Assistant Concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra for approximately twenty-five years, Concertmaster of the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra and the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra, string advisor for the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Fox Valley Youth Symphony Orchestra, founder of the Cedarburg Chamber Ensemble and a founding member of Quartet Dubuffet, violin instructor at Wisconsin Lutheran College and conductor of the school’s “Chamber Strings'' orchestra, and a crossover musician and recording artist. Franke, who …

[K], [G] And [ʔ] In Amman: Social Associations And Identity Perception In Young Rural [Fallahin] Palestinian Speech, Shahd Abu Nahel

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Built after several immigration waves, Amman developed its own dialect. Previous studies investigated the stylistic and social reallocation process (Britain & Trudgill, 2005) that happened to some major phonemes. The three phonemes [k], [ʔ] and [g] are dialectal reflexes of the Arabic modern standard uvular phoneme [q], and they correlate with social aspects like gender, identity and social class. This study has two parts the first investigates the distribution of the phonemes of the first generation of rural Palestinians hypothesizing that they will follow the generalizations found in Al-Wer (2011). The second part is a large-scale questionnaire targeting the social …

An Analysis Of Amy Beach's Variations On Balkan Themes, Op. 60, Yiwen Zhang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This research paper provides an analysis of Variations on Balkan Themes, Op. 60, one of Amy Beach’s most significant solo piano works. Variations on Balkan Themes exists in four different versions: the 1906 original solo piano version, a 1936 revised solo piano version, a 1942 two-piano version and fragments of an orchestral version. This paper is focused on Beach’s 1906 original solo piano work. The analysis includes descriptions of the character of each variation, the structure, the pianistic figures and selected harmonic analysis as well as information comparing the four different versions. Beach’s biographical information, historical background of the …

Gendered Use Of Language In Facebook Status Updates Among Jordanian And American Youths: A Sociopragmatic Study, Ashraf Wenas Al Sad

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The study examines the types of speech acts of Facebook status updates that are posted by Jordanian and American youth. The participants were from Yarmouk University which is located in northern Jordan and from West Virginia University which is located in the US. The data was elicited from 50 American males, 50 American females, 50 Jordanian males, and 50 Jordanian females. Searle’s taxonomy was used to do the content analysis of the data. Searle’s taxonomy and additional speech acts were found: directive, expressive, assertive, God’s invocation, humor, and quotation. The findings of the study indicate that the religious and cultural …

The Three Piano Sonatas By José De Almeida Penalva, Heron Alvim Moreira

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This research project discusses the three piano sonatas by José de Almeida Penalva (1924-2002), a priest and composer from the southern region of Brazil, who lived most of his life in the city of Curitiba, in Paraná state.

Along with overall information about the composer’s life and general output, the reader will find brief discussions of Penalva’s keyboard works, along with comprehensive formal analyses of his three piano sonatas.

Sonata no. 1 (1970, chronologically the second to be written) appears in one large movement that reveals two distinct sections. Its language is atonal and its first section displays sonata-allegro form. …

Foreigner, Cancan Huang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This written thesis serves as supporting documentation for Foreigner, my MFA Thesis Exhibition. This exhibition reflects my experience as a foreigner, a solitary Chinese man living in the United States. Through embodying my personal experience, my paintings question the relationship between individuals and society.

The exhibition is composed of a series of paintings that visualize my personal story as a foreigner living in an incompatible and unacquainted culture. By displaying imagery of myself and my family in frozen moments, the paintings draw viewers into a discussion about personal identity, life philosophy, and culture collision. The exhibition and this thesis expand …

Mau Mau’S Moral War: The Sacralization Of Kenya’S Anticolonial Struggle, 1952–1956, Henry Muoki Mbunga

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation is a study of the ethical and religious history of the Mau Mau War in Kenya, 1952–1956. It breaks with a historiographical tradition that reduces Mau Mau’s ritual activities to stage props and backdrops on the historical stage. The project investigates two central questions: (1) why did Mau Mau members invent a variety of rituals during the anticolonial struggle in Kenya? and (2) how did the ethical and religious convictions of Mau Mau members shape their military campaign? Using rare archival sources and the oral histories and published memoirs of Mau Mau War veterans, this study argues that …

The Well-Made Man: An Exploration Of George Tesman In Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, Ryan Ernst

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Hedda Gabler is one of the best-known works of Realism theatre, and the character, Hedda, is a showcase of dynamic and challenging work; but her husband, George Tesman, rarely, if ever, is showcased. Here I explain why George’s character deserves more attention and actually makes for a better protagonist than Hedda. Textual analysis shows the absence of the play’s parental figures and a rubber band metaphor illustrates how all the characters are con-nected to each other. The misconceptions and subtext concerning George: a social filtering mechanism, perception of character, George’s selflessness, how he is made fun of, the heart compared …

“‘The Negro Had Been Run Over Long Enough By White Men, And It Was Time They Defend Themselves’: African-American Mutinies And The Long Emancipation, 1861-1974”, Scott F. Thompson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation analyzes racially motivated mutinies by black military servicemen from the Civil War to the Vietnam War. Resistance against white supremacy in the armed forces illustrates the commitment of generations of African Americans to a vision of freedom centered on bodily, familial, and socioeconomic autonomy. These mutinies thereby warrant the reframing of emancipation as a centuries’-long process rather than a single event confined to the 1860s. Subscribing to martial masculinity, black servicemen believed acting forcefully, and risking their lives or well-being as a result, offered the best path to earning their human rights. African-American sailors enjoyed the opportunities offered …

Selected Principles Of Practicing For Security In Performance, Hsing-Yi Tsai

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This research focuses on extending the imagination for the purposes of activating our brain to strengthen memorization of music for a stronger and more secure performance. This research explores the concept of self-awareness in the sense of having a conversation with ourselves in order to understand the primary reasons we pianists spend hours in the practice room. I introduce selected strategies for learning pieces through a meticulous process of memorization which impacts not only new pieces, but also the resurrecting of old repertoire. Along with including the concept of the Memory Palace, I explore different methods of memorizing music to …

In/Visible, Raymond Thompson Jr

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

My MFA thesis and supporting exhibition focus on challenging the United States’ photographic archive that often left out African-American people. The work, through the use of appropriation and alternative photographic processes, disrupts America’s historical visual archive and notions that surround the white gaze. Through the unsettling of this visual space, new speculative narratives can be created to help imagine new futures. This work is the beginning of a process of mourning histories I have never known and reclaiming a place for myself and my family in the American landscape that is free of racial trauma.

Technical Direction Process For King Lear, Ashley Noel Hungerford

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis is my account as the Technical Director of King Lear filmed at West Virginia University, College of Creative Arts, School of Theatre & Dance in collaboration with West Virginia Public Broadcasting. This production took place during the COVID-19 pandemic from September 2020 – March 2021. This document will take you through budgeting, drafting, build, load in, filming, and strike processes, including how COVID-19 affected these processes. This thesis is supported by images, schedules, drafting, and paperwork.

#Canceled: Positionality And Authenticity In Country Music’S Cancel Culture, Gabriella Saporito

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

From its beginning in film and television and its early adoption by Black Twitter, cancel culture has become a phenomenon in the era of social media. Marked by the popular hashtags #cancel, #canceled, #[InsertNameHere]isOverParty, and #Surviving[InsertNameHere], cancel culture is a practice which involves publicly denouncing and/or shaming a person or company when they do something that is considered offensive or objectionable. It saw a resurgence in the era of #MeToo that has not slowed down in an age dominated by social media presidents and global pandemics. Cancel culture has also seen a recent re-adoption by the political right, which begs …

Artistic Expression, Permanence And Change In A F*Cked Up World: Coping With The "Sounds Of Silence", Brianna L. Pruitt

Honors Program Theses

I believe my role as an artist is to process the world around me and articulate my analysis in visual forms that are aesthetically interesting. My proposed project will manifest as sculptures, painting, performance, sound, video and installation art combined to create a visual representation of my mind and emotions in the present. The central element of this work, which happens to be my car “Kevin,” will set the stage for three humanoid sculptures to be displayed. Each figurative sculpture represents a different type of motion: permanence, change, and coping. I will be creating performances with the sculptures separately where …

Art By Intention And Art By Appropriation: "Authenticity," Western Encounters, And Ethics Of Collection And Display Of African Art, Katelyn Nicole Brockmeyer

Honors Program Theses

This research project surveys the overlap of Western notions of authenticity, encounters with Africa, and the ethics of collecting and displaying of African art objects. First, I define the issues surrounding definitions of authenticity; second, I lay out the historical background of Western interaction with West Africa and modern demand for African art objects; third I discuss the issues authenticity and corresponding ethics of display; finally, I explain how this information applies to two objects from the UNI Museum collection. In this thesis, I address the ways the categories of “authentic,” “fake,” and replica are intertwined in the history of …