Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Engendering Epic: Heroism As Constructed Masculinity In The Epics Of Gilgamesh And Beowulf, Rachael Scott Poe

Honors Theses

When considering epic heroes like Gilgamesh and Beowulf, it is readily apparent that they are products of patriarchal societies, and, consequently, masculinity is an inherent consideration when defining heroism. Gender is not a neutral aspect of the human experience, nor is it uniform across socio-cultural boundaries; rather, individual cultures determine the range of appropriate and desirable behavior for each gender. Thus, the concept of gender is central to every human being, and especially to the epic heroes Gilgamesh and Beowulf whose masculine achievements shape the course of their tales. Though these heroes come from extremely different times and places, there …

Solicitation Of Identity In Cien Años De Soledad, Marinda J. Cauley

Honors Theses

In this thesis I intend to analyze Gabriel García Márquez’ canonical, magical realist novel, Cien años de soledad (1967), which is the fictional (and historical) account of several generations of the Buendía family in their town of Macondo. Cien años de soledad made its debut in 1967 at the height of the Latin American “Boom Era” of literature (1960-1970). This novel, García Márquez’ most commercially successful work, has elicited much response in the form of articles and books of literary critique. Due to its complex and repetitive nature, many critics have traditionally sought to uncover possible allegorical and/or symbolic meanings …

"Liberat[Ing] Mankind From Such An Odious Scourge": The Genocide Convention And The Continued Failure To Prevent Or Halt Genocide In The Twenty-First Century, Kelly Maddox

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Since it came into force in 1951, the United Nations’ Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, a document created with the explicit purpose of "liberat[ing] mankind from such an odious scourge," has largely failed to deliver on the promises it enshrined. The twentieth century bore witness to an increasing frequency of genocides, a pattern which is continuing into the twenty-first century with the outbreak of arguably genocidal violence in Darfur in 2003, and more recently, the Central African Republic (CAR) in 2014. This article analyses the failure of the Genocide Convention by exploring its deficiencies …

Exploring Successful Women's Ministry Employment: A Comparative Case Study Of Two Churches In Virginia, Melissa Small

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The following qualitative case study explored the phenomenon of successful implementation of a fulltime women's ministry staff position in Southern Baptist churches to provide foundational research for a best practices guide for successful implementation of women's ministers in churches. For the research, successful implementation of women's ministry staff was generally defined as fulltime staff position devoted specifically to women's ministry in a church. The use of interviews and focus groups provided information from the church leaders and women who were directly involved in the phenomenon. The setting took place in two Southern Baptist churches, located in the state of Virginia, …

Inner-City Evangelism: A Model For Reaching Gangs For Christ, Eric Ladell Boone

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This thesis will focus on the crimes and violence that have corrupted and invaded the world, in a life-threatening, devastating, and unprecedented way. Criminal gangs have made their presence in communities all around the world, which has resulted in mental corruption and spiritual and physical destruction. Regardless of how gang members are looked upon and viewed by society due to their daily ungodly activities, the author will address the importance of the church becoming dedicated to reach gangs with the gospel, which holds the power to transform the life of whoever hears it regardless of their past or present. The …

Addressing The Needs Of Chinese International Students: A Guidebook To Bgsu, Jane Powell

Honors Projects

This project is intended to address the needs of Chinese international students in the U.S, specifically those studying at Bowling Green State University. The principle goal is to create a guidebook to student life at BGSU, focusing of academic success, lifestyle adjustment, and connections to domestic students. This guidebook utilizes both academic research, as well as individual student input. Furthermore, much of the guidebook’s content is in both English and Chinese, allowing for greater comprehension of the information.

In addition, this project includes an accompanying essay in order to better analyze the concepts of the academic research. This essay compares …

Thriving, Not Just Surviving, On Food Stamps, Sam L. Mccaughey

Senior Honors Projects

Food insecurity has been a persistent element in the history of the United States. Efforts to address the problem - and the larger issue of poverty - have been wide-ranging, but the debate about how best to respond to hunger has often centered on the relative roles of government and charity. Often that debate has led to hybrid solutions that combine government sponsored welfare such as food stamps and community-based food relief programs such as food banks. Yet, even such complementary approaches leave many people’s needs unmet, and there remains a significant population, both across the country and in Rhode …

Walking Alone At Night, Amanda L. Grattan

Senior Honors Projects

One in four women face sexual abuse before the age of eighteen. One in five women are survivors of rape. With college campus rape allegations coming forward and being reported in mainstream and social media, the conversation about sexual assault and rape is extremely relevant and college students are taking a stand.

Emma Sulkowicz, a senior at Colombia University, took a firm stand when she developed a performance piece where she carried around the dorm room mattress, which she was raped on. Her story made it’s way to the mainstream media, including the cover of …

Cultivating The Practice Of Missional Hospitality For Small Groups At West Houston Church Of Christ, Kevin Stewart

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This doctor of ministry thesis presents the results of a project in which I led a team to develop a plan to cultivate the practice of missional hospitality for small groups at West Houston Church of Christ. I used missional theology as a framework to give shape to the practice of hospitality. The project team met for nine weeks in the fall of 2014. The team practiced lectio divina focused on Luke 10, participated in theological reflection on missional hospitality, and fulfilled assignments to practice missional hospitality. These activities helped form the group spiritually and informed the development of a …

Evaluating An Oral Draft Of Luke 8:4-15 In Uduk, Jeremy N. Harrison

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This doctor of ministry thesis presents the findings of a project in which I led a group of immigrants from South Sudan through the process of generating and evaluating an oral draft of Luke 8:4-15 in Uduk. The aim of this project was to provide a substantive field test of an oral translation methodology conducted among immigrants living in the United States who speak a language that lacks a translation of the entire Bible. The project involved facilitating basic translation training and conducting an oral drafting process with a team of three Uduk speakers. This project also involved evaluating the …

Application Of Heritage Tourism Development Frameworks To Jenkins County, Georgia, Shelby R. Herrin

Honors College Theses

With the decline of traditional agriculture and extraction industries, many small towns in the Southeast US are facing challenges of economic decline and looking for alternative development trajectories. The city of Millen in Jenkins County, Georgia is one of such small towns. With the discovery of a large Civil War heritage resource, Millen’s administration became interested in developing the town’s tourism potential. However, the community possesses neither the resources nor knowledge to develop and promote this potential. In this project, the combination of Gunn’s functioning tourism system model as a conceptual framework and Jamal and Getz’s three-step collaborative community tourism …

Prometheus And Promethean Theology In The Thought Of Thomas Merton, Patrick Cousins

Theses - ALL

Abstract

The Trappist monk Thomas Merton is best remembered for his spiritual autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain and many other books on prayer and contemplation. His later writings, however, reveal a deep concern about the relationship between God and human freedom. Merton was particularly worried that obedience to God, traditionally understood as a central virtue, not constitute a form of authoritarianism that stripped humanity of the capacity for authenticity. Hence, he used the figure of Prometheus, long a symbol of rebellion against God, to challenge authoritarian theism and iconoclastic anti-theistic humanism. In the process, he deconstructed his own God-image away …

The Artist, The Workhorse: Labor In The Sculpture Of Anna Hyatt Huntington, Brooke Baerman

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Anna Hyatt Huntington (1876-1973) was an American sculptor of animals who founded the nation’s first sculpture garden, Brookgreen Gardens, in 1932. Hyatt Huntington, whose personal papers are housed at Syracuse University, is an important yet understudied artist. Focusing on Hyatt Huntington’s sculptures in Brookgreen Gardens and on the gardens themselves, which also included a zoo, this paper will examine themes of labor in the artist’s oeuvre.

Hyatt Huntington placed an emphasis on hard work as she fought to distinguish herself as a sculptor in a male-dominated field. The products of her labor often venerate the work of animals, from bulls …

Gustave Doré: The Magic Illustrations Of Charles Perrault’S Contes De Fées, Stephanie Breed

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Gustave Doré: artist, creator, dreamer. In 1862, Doré illustrated “Les Contes de Perrault,” an anthology of fairy tales by Charles Perrault including familiar stories like Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, and Puss in Boots. Doré’s intricate engravings accompanying each story include picturesque landscapes, expansive forests, and grand cathedrals. In his time, Doré did not feel appreciated or understood by his contemporaries in France and he therefore reverted to the spaces of his childhood for inspiration. Returning to the multi-layered landscapes of the forest and the Gothic cathedral, he re-discovered the sublime and grotesque, enfolding them in …

Contesting Victorian Beliefs: The Unintended Effects Of Victorian Novels, Christina Barquin

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Victorian society reproduced polarized gender roles known as the ideology of the separate spheres in order to confine the authority of women. However, as the Victorian Era progressed social norms were gradually contested, and the consequences of the assertion of female authority led to reform. In reinterpreting the Victorian women’s movement, I will interpret the effects of the writers of the late nineteenth century who argued explicitly against proposed changes in the traditional position of middle-class women. I will most closely examine how the late Victorian novels, A Marriage Below Zero by Alan Dale and The Revolt of Man by …

Exposing Narrative Ideologies Of Victimhood In Emma Donaghue’S Room And Gillian Flynn’S Gone Girl, Meredith Jeffers

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Stories about abducted women and murdered wives are sadly common on cable and network news programs, from Nancy Grace to Dateline. These at the center of Emma Donaghue’s Room (2010) and Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl (2012). These contemporary novels manipulate the narrative conventions of popular true-crime stories to expose the

In the each chapter, I examine the interesting narrative perspectives of Room and Gone Girl to understand the ways that these novels deconstruct mass media narratives of violence to reveal ideas about gender. In Room, Donaghue dislocates the narration by narrating the novel not from the perspective of …

The Fourth Crusade: How Internal Dynamics And Leadership Transitions Could Have Led To Its Diversion And Ultimate Failure, Tyler G. Grable

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The Fourth Crusade, a war called to recapture Jerusalem, ended in disaster for the Christian city of Constantinople and the city of Jerusalem remained untouched by the crusading host. The fact that a war called to protect Christians in the Middle East and to recapture the city of Jerusalem for God resulted in the sacking of one of the largest Christian cities has led to much scholarly investigation into what exactly caused this to transpire. For the better part of a millennium scholars have sought answers to significant questions and have produced a variety of explanations for why the crusade …

From Maus To Magneto: Exploring Holocaust Representation In Comic Books And Graphic Novels, Rachel Elizabeth Mandel

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The following Capstone project documents my research into the topic of Holocaust representation in comic books and graphic novels. Comics are an oft-overlooked medium in academic circles, so there is a distinct lack of scholarly works examining comics outside the fields of pop culture studies or comics art studies. As a result, outside of works like Art Spiegelman’s Maus, the phenomenon of Holocaust representation in comics is relatively uncategorized and unexamined. It was my intention in this project to demonstrate that comics are a legitimate medium for depicting and analyzing the Holocaust both as a historical event and through …

An Exploration Of The Societal Impact Of Neuroethics In Scientific And General Communities, Katelyn Marie Edel

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Neuroethics serves as a roadmap for maneuvering the difficult and often personal concerns that arise concurrently with advancements in neuroscience. It is important to consider these issues at present and to take a proactive, rather than reactive, approach towards assuaging fears and hesitations related to the quickening applications of neuroscience into the non-scientific community. This Capstone explores recent suggestions made by prominent scholars in the neuroethics field related to the integration of neuroscience into society. Three cogent issues in neuroscience are discussed, with a focus on the possible effects that neuroscientific advancements have on society. Using a framework of human …

Revision Of United States Drug Law, Alexander Fernandez

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

In this essay I will lay out two distinct but associated arguments that will show that United States drug policy on is both in principle and in practice unjustifiable. I will be focusing specifically on marijuana cocaine and heroin. While there are many controlled substances in the DEA schedules, I take it that showing current policy to be unjustifiable for these three substances will be sufficient to show that the policy of total prohibition and harsh punishment is wrong. The first section will normatively analyze the current policies of prohibition and punishment for use and sale of illicit substances. I …

Character Surfacing And Feathering For Ufo, Sarah R. Runge

All Theses

This thesis focuses on the methods used to create the look of the unusual flying ostrich in UFO, a short, stylized film about an earthbound bird with his head in the clouds. That this aspiring aviator is not an ordinary ostrich is visibly indicated by his unusual markings, reflecting his unusual mindset that allows him to achieve the impossible. The techniques used to accomplish the final appearance of the unusual ostrich will be explored in this thesis, with a particular focus on the methods used to create and style the feathers, and the techniques used to hand paint the assorted …

Making The South New, Keeping The South "Southern": Bob Jones, Fundamentalism, And The New South, Anderson R. Rouse

All Theses

The New South, the period of southern history, lasting from the end of Reconstruction to the end of World War II was defined by urbanization and industrialization. Protestantism influenced the development of the New South by instilling working discipline in the southern labor force. Protestantism encouraged workers to embrace earthly vocations as divine callings, sanctifying even the most mundane activities. Protestant ministers became allies with industrialists and boosters in the process of creating the New South.

The career of Bob Jones, a fundamentalist Methodist evangelist from Alabama, demonstrates the close connection between industrialization and religion. Jones believed that success was …

Finite Perceptions, Hilary Erin Siber

All Theses

I perceive that our world is ever-changing. I believe that as humans, we are not static creatures, but complex beings living in a complex, beautiful and broken world. External factors influence and engage our self-construction. Cerebral and emotional components operate in conjunction with the physical aspects of our humanity. Unmet expectations surface. Unforeseen conflicts arise. Life is not as we think we see it. One small shift in a vantage point can easily undo the very ground underneath our feet, fragmenting our own history of understanding. And while these fragments pierce us deeply, they are the pieces used to reconstitute …

Intersectionality In Jane Eyre And Its Adaptations, Laurel Loh

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

During the almost 170 years since Jane Eyre was published, there have been numerous adaptations in many different mediums and genres, such as plays, films, musicals, graphic novels, spin-off novels, and parodies. The novel has been read in many different critical traditions: liberal humanist, historicist, feminist, and postcolonial approaches dealing with topics such as the problem of female authorship and consciousness. In addition, it has been read in terms of an ideological struggle based on race, class, and gender; xenophobia and imperialism; female labor politics; and genre issues, to just name a few. As literary critics have explored numerous themes …

Into The Fold: Deleuze, Desire, And Art, Madeline Wells

Undergraduate Theses—Unrestricted

The purpose of this essay is to understand how I, as a visual artist, understand and utilize the fold. I will trace the many ways in which a fold functions, oscillating between my own practice and those of other contemporary artists, including Orlan and Shana Moulton. From twentieth century baroque to spiritual cleansing, theatrical staging to suggestive metonymy, the fold invites the desire to transform—for something more than what the everyday offers. Through photography, video, or sculpture, we have the ability to express an expanded, more accurate understanding of the real and the virtual, the human and the nonhuman. For …

In-Betweeness On Stage, Qiyuan Liu

Undergraduate Theses—Unrestricted

It all started with the question of “where are you from”. Coming from China and making art in America, I have been confused by people’s question about where am I from and, more importantly, where I identify myself belong. By using installation as the main format, I created works with strong theatrical quality to restage and reenact my social and cultural experiences that finally led to my understanding of the “in-betweeness” of myself: I reside in neither of the two cultures but rather moving back and forth between them. I carry influences from both sides with me and present them …

The Representation Of Non-Traditional Bodies, Elizabeth J. Perkins

Undergraduate Theses—Unrestricted

My work largely addresses the close-minded Western ideals of the human body, particularly those related to females. Stemming from struggles with my own sense of security, I strive to create accessible works of art that both challenge and expand these ideals by representing figural imagery beyond such social constraints. Though my works may seem to serve the purpose of mockery at first, the urgency of the issues portrayed becomes apparent as the pieces are studied more carefully. I explore how exposure, vulnerability, grotesqueness, and intimacy within my work serve as a means to expand our cultural ideals for the human …

Word Muscles, Jimena O. Gracia

Undergraduate Theses—Unrestricted

Through video performance, I question whether the tangible expressive significance of written language is not just in the record of it, but in the experience of writing as well. The ability to contract and relax is a property of the muscles in bodies as well as in language. In response to this idea of the contractile nature of the body, I link writing to dancing by pairing the record of one with the process of the other. In doing so, I set up a parallel between the malleable nature of the body – which allows for the proximity between graceful …

Shameless, Madison Marilyn Becker

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Madison Becker MFA Creative Project

Effective Effects, Lyn Kristi Smylie

Music Undergraduate Honors Theses

For my thesis project, I decided to give a recital containing music that featured a variety of extended techniques. In order to give a performance appreciated by audiences, I needed to examine how to best introduce music with extended techniques to audiences.