Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Preventing Chemical And Biological Attacks: Enhanced Threats Requiring Enhanced Solutions, Alex Elliot Ottoni-Belval

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Chemical weapons (CW) and biological weapons (BW) are becoming more dangerous for experts to employ and more accessible to amateurs. Despite CW and BW attacks throughout history that killed and maimed millions of people, the international community has failed to establish meaningful consequences to prevent them. Agreements such as the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention vow to eliminate and reduce the effects of CWs and BWs but lack respected response precedents and capabilities. The limited and inconsistent enforcement has inadvertently allowed CWs and BWs to become plausible weapons, especially to gain asymmetric advantages, while modern developments exasperate …

From The Battlefield To The Asylum: The Social Construction Of Disability In Italy, 1900 - 1950, Brandie Crisp Robb

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The Italian social construction of disability reflects a complex interplay between social, religious, political, and religious influences present during the first half of the twentieth century. While Western European and American disability discourse remained similar, those influences unique to Italy resulted in the formation of two distinct disability discourses during the early twentieth century: that of the heroic physically disabled veteran who sacrificed everything for the good of Italy, and the eugenically unfit Italian associated with dependency and uselessness. By combining a theoretical framework that includes critical disability theory with historical methodology, the following thesis demonstrates how the emerging disability …

Threshold: Stories & Graphic Memoir, Emily Kay Lewandowski

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Threshold: Stories & Graphic Memoir, a collection of fiction and graphic memoir, explores the in-between stages of loss and grief. Both the fiction and graphic memoir pieces utilize the technique of the “narrative echo,” coined by John Gardner, to stylistically explore and interrogate these stages of in-betweenness. The final piece in this collection, “I Hope You Find Me On Mars,” is a queer expansion of Octavia Butler’s trilogy Lilith’s Brood. Each piece uses unique voice and styling to contribute to the larger literary community by interrogating manifestations of identity, queerness, and grief.

What I Was And Who I Am, And Before And After, Molly K. Del Rossi

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This thesis begins with a critical introduction which analyzes varying forms—such as the inverted sonnet—the schools of confessional and post-confessional poetry—and how they differ—and inspiration used for my creative work in poetry. I claim to be a poet who writes primarily based on personal memories. I chronicle my initial encounters with poetry as a teenager through the lens of confessionalism, as demonstrated by Eavan Boland and Anne Sexton. To exhibit my gained knowledge, I reference poetic theorists such as Richard Hugo, Charles Olson, Adrienne Rich, Mary Ruefle, and Gertrude Stein when analyzing which theories and dialogues influence my poetic style. …

Bridging The Gap: Fostering Emotional Expression Through Teaching Strategies In The Middle School Choral Classroom, Jacob Brown

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This study investigates the impact of teacher-elicited expression strategies (i.e. emotionally evocative metaphor, technical elements through modeling, body of the conductor, understanding the emotional content) on the emotional expressivity of my middle school choral students. Using a mixed-method approach, data was collected through surveys of students' self-evaluations of the expression strategies, and their overall value of expression before and after learning processes that emphasized emotional expressivity. I found that each teacher-elicited expression strategies impacted student expressivity positively. Concrete strategies (i.e., body of the conductor and technical elements through modeling) were highly effective, particularly in my beginner and intermediate choirs, while …

Exploring Power Dynamics In Ghana Through Ceramic Sculpture, Collins Yaw Antwi

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The works in this thesis explore the implications of power dynamics such as inequality, power struggle, and oppression within Ghana’s society. I abstract specific elements such as coins, and especially cowry shells which honors Ghana’s past through their use as a source of currency in the colonial era and further serves as a metaphor that represents power. Platters and bowls from different cultures serve as a container for these dynamic symbols of power. By incorporating these elements in my sculptures, I bring attention to the struggle and challenges Ghanaians have experienced over the years. In other ways, I find it …

Ordinary Signs, Practical Magic, Erin Patricia Tyler

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Ordinary Signs, Practical Magic outlines my personal wrestling with belief – in art, in spiritual intervention, in self, and in the quiet forces that guide us through the world. Using the frameworks of ordinary signs – tactile and visual cues that ground and orient me and practical magic – what I define as human intervention and the act of creation – this work examines how attention, care, and materiality shape my understanding of meaning and connection. Through visual data collection –photography, assemblage, collage, drawing, painting and found objects – alongside poetic writing and personal narrative, my thesis navigates the tension …

Building Rhythmic Independence In Beginning Band Students, Caroline Williams

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to design and implement a unit of instruction based upon three common approaches to teaching rhythm in the beginning band setting and to examine their effect on the rhythmic understanding, confidence, and independence of students in my sixth grade beginning band class. Students received instruction that was traditionally-based, aurally-based, and movement-based for one week each, respectively. An analysis of my teaching was provided by the notes I took that detailed what my students and I did throughout the study. Through my instruction, my students were able to increase their interactions with rhythm. Students were …

Mental Heath Experiences Of Transracial Adoptees Of The Global Majority (Black, Indigenous, And People Of Color - Bipoc)., Phebe Brako

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study explores the lived experiences of transracial adoptees of the global majority (BIPOC), focusing on their bicultural identity integration and its impact on mental health. During semi-structured interviews, nine participants shared their stories of navigating cultural and racial dynamics as adoptees in predominantly White adoptive families and communities. The findings revealed six core themes: (1) the Quest for Bicultural Identity Formation, (2) Cultural Integration and Adaptation, (3) Navigating Racial and Cultural Tensions, (4) the Role of Family in Cultural Integration, (5) the Importance of Community and Support Systems, and (6) Mental Health and Therapeutic Experiences, addressing …

Co-Becoming Our Way From Ecocide To The Pluriverse, Jupong Lin Ph.D.

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Coloniality/modernity is dying. Rising temperatures over land and sea, the extreme weather of the past decade, rising sea levels, arctic ice loss, and mass extinction are just a few indicators that the world has moved far beyond climate change to climate catastrophe. My arts-informed research takes the view that climate catastrophe, perhaps more accurately described as “collective trauma,” is part of the prevailing story and worldview of modernity, defined by patterns of domination, conquest, extractivism, and capitalism. East Asian and Indigenous worldviews share an emphasis on relationality with the world of nonhuman beings and animist traditions that do not …

การดำเนินทำนองระนาดเอกเพลงหน้าพาทย์ประกอบพิธีไหว้ครูดนตรีไทยของครูศักดิ์ชัย ลัดดาอ่อน, ธิติวุฒิ โกมุทรัตนานนท์

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

วิทยานิพนธ์เรื่องการดำเนินทำนองระนาดเอกเพลงหน้าพาทย์ประกอบพิธีไหว้ครูดนตรีไทยของครูศักดิ์ชัย ลัดดาอ่อน มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อศึกษามูลบทที่เกี่ยวข้องและการดำเนินทำนองระนาดเอกเพลงหน้าพาทย์ไหว้ครูของครูศักดิ์ชัย ลัดดาอ่อน ผลการวิจัยพบว่าการบรรเลงเพลงหน้าพาทย์ ระนาดเอกมีบทบาทสำคัญคือต้องดำเนินกลอน คุณสมบัติผู้บรรเลงต้องมีปฏิภาณไหวพริบ มีความรับผิดชอบสูง มีทักษะการบรรเลงที่ดี และเข้าใจหลักการบรรเลงประกอบไปด้วยกลอน เสียง แนว และรัวท้าย การดำเนินทำนองของครูศักดิ์ชัย ลัดดาอ่อน แบ่งได้ 3 ส่วนคือ ดำเนินกลอน ตีสับ และตีตามทำนองหลัก การตีตามทำนองหลักใช้ตอนขึ้นต้น ลงจบ และแทรกระหว่างเพลง ในทำนองเน้นดำเนินกลอนโดยยึดทางเสียงและลูกตกตามทำนองหลัก พบการใช้กลอน 7 รูปแบบ กลอนอัตลักษณ์คือ กลอนสับเสียง กรณีทำนองซ้ำปรับกลอนให้ต่าง ช่วงท้ายใช้กลอนเรียบง่าย กลวิธีพิเศษส่วนใหญ่ใช้ตามทำนองหลัก พบมากที่สุดคือ สะบัด สะเดาะ การตีสับใช้ย้ำทำนองและรักษาสำนวนเพลง รัวท้ายแต่ละเที่ยวมีความแตกต่างและเพิ่มความซับซ้อนตามลำดับ รัวพิเศษมีความเรียบง่าย รัวลาเดียวมีความสัมพันธ์ของกลุ่มทำนอง พบการใช้กลวิธี 14 รูปแบบ กลวิธีที่พบทุกรัว เช่น สะบัดแยกมือ ขยี้นอนวัน รัวลูกเดียว กลวิธีที่ครูศักดิ์ชัยถนัดที่สุดคือ การตีแยกมือผสมกลวิธีอื่นเป็นกลุ่มเรียก “ลูกนกกระจอก”

Apoyo En Comunidad: A Proposed Manual For Latinx And Hispanic Support Groups, Yadira Diaz Romero

Psychology Doctoral Specialization Projects

Navigating college life can be difficult; add to that the complications of navigating different cultures and it creates a chasm for young adults to overcome. This is true for many Latinx college students who often attend colleges where few resources exist to offer support in navigating these social and cultural issues in their everyday life. Additionally, while group therapy is championed as a treatment modality for many, few groups exist that target Latinx communities, especially Latinx college students. This project aims to highlight these social and cultural issues faced by Latinx individuals and provide clinicians with a treatment manual to …

The Boondocks, Winston Broiles

Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest

Honorable mention in the 2025 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

A controversial and over-the-top parody of the racist character trope, "The Story of Jimmy Rebel" became the only episode of the television show "The Boondocks" excluded in a 2020 streaming run.

The War On Degenerate Art, Nathan Persson

Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest

Honorable mention in the 2025 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

A dark historical tale about the modernist and avant-garde painters and sculptors whose art was attacked and derided in the Nazi Party's 1937 Degenerate Art Exhibition

To And From Guantanamo Bay, Naomy Cardoso Perez

Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest

Research prize winner in the 2025 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

A man's art becomes his only tether to the real world during his unlawful detention at Guantanamo Bay. When he is offered the opportunity to exhibit his work for a small nonprofit gallery, the Department of Defense forbids the artwork from leaving the compound.

Carpetas. | 1. Vuelo Blanco, Heciel Nieves-Bonilla

Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest

Honorable mention in the 2025 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

Set in a time when Puerto Rican nationalist sentiments were strongly suppressed and an FBI surveillance program known locally as "Carpetas" was carried out on the island, the children of censored and imprisoned artists, musicians, and poets navigate their restricted personal and communal identity.

Of Kings And Queens, Alyssa Hwee

Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest

Artistry prize winner in the 2025 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

Set against the backdrop of the Stonewall riots, this comic book cover highlights the role of drag kings and queens at the forefront of political activism and community organizing.

The Red Scare, Ingo Taylor

Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest

Grand prize winner in the 2025 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

The Masked Moth, scourge of supervillains and protector of artists from censorship, battles his greatest foe yet—The Red Scare, who emits a scream so terrifying it sends people into a paranoid, anti-Communist frenzy.

Blacklisted. Hollywood 1950, Ana Gonzalez

Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest

Storytelling prize winner in the 2025 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

A successful screenwriter is falsely accused of being a Communist sympathizer and must endure suffocating censorship, surveillance and the struggle to preserve both his creativity and his freedom.

Consumptive Femininity: (De)Constructions Of Gender And Colonization In Korean Diaspora Literature, Jack Kelly

Honors Program Theses

This paper explores how two authors with Korean heritage use similar metaphors to write about the same historical traumas. I engage close readings of two novels—Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko and Yu Miri’s The End of August—to interrogate how each author uses images of food/food preparation as well as images of sexual encounters to draw links between exploited bodies and exploited land. Ultimately, I find that the differences in these two authors’ approaches reflect their distance from modern centers of empire. This reminds us of the importance of having a diverse literary and historical canon that centers on authors who have …

Social Determinants Of Health And Aging In Africa: Structural Inequality, Vulnerability, And The Future Of Care, Aremu Umor Lukman, Sunkanmi Folorunsho, Abdulrauf Olaitan Taofeeq

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Population aging is accelerating across Africa yet remains underrepresented in research, policy, and public health planning. This review critically examines how social determinants shape aging experiences across the continent, focusing on health, care systems, and structural inequalities. While traditional African societies have historically valued older adults, modernization, migration, and economic hardship have eroded support systems, leaving many to face old age with limited resources. Older Africans, particularly women and rural residents, contend with lifelong disadvantages including low education, informal labor, poverty, and gendered caregiving roles that contribute to poor health and social vulnerability. Health systems remain poorly equipped to address …

Public Projection | What Is Public?, Kameron Neal, Movement Lab

Course Materials

No abstract provided.

Public Projection | Intervention, Kameron Neal, Movement Lab

Course Materials

No abstract provided.

The Lotus At Dawn: Rethinking Climate Resilience In An Archipelago, Marie Franchesca M. Borras

English Faculty Publications

Super Typhoon Rai, locally called Odette, hit the Philippines on December 16, 2021, devastating General Luna, a municipality in Surigao del Norte. Due to this natural disaster, this study—originally written as a pre-pandemic autoethnographic account via flâneuserie—endeavors to understand how the mobility of city dwellers contributes to the anthropogenic climate by exploring the ethics of care. Additionally, it seeks to posit inquiries on what it means to be climate-resilient in an archipelagic country such as the Philippines. Beyond economic methodologies, it is pivotal to examine issues of care that deal with our relationship with nature by understanding how, for example, …

Catherine The Great's Impact On Noblewomen: A Study Of Enlightened Femininity During The Russian Enlightenment, Mikaela Phillips

All Master's Theses

Catherine the Great (r. 1762-1796) changed Russia’s social and cultural life, allowing women to use traditional forms of female networks to record their ideas of enlightened femininity. By emphasizing selfless motherhood, Orthodox piety, and responsible morality, female memoirists recorded how the Russian Enlightenment influenced their roles within their families, communities, and court. Eighteenth-century Russian historiography has investigated Catherine’s Enlightenment reforms extensively, particularly her ability to harness masculine and feminine portrayals of her rule to fulfill her ambitions. This thesis focuses on four female memoirists that were impacted by Catherine’s reforms and the rhetoric of enlightened femininity that was introduced into …

Fangs And Phantasms: Vampire Fiction's Role In Shaping Victorian Gender And Sexual Ideals, Michele White

All Master's Theses

This thesis examines how Christabel (1816), Carmilla (1872), and Dracula (1897), three quintessential texts in the vampire literary genre, speak to the Victorian proliferation of sexual and gender discourses. These texts use the metaphor of the vampire to contradict and sustain 19th-century regulatory dialogues encompassing sexuality, gender, and desire. By investigating these vampire narratives by means of theories of sexuality and gender enumerated in Michel Foucault's The History of Sexuality and Judith Butler's Gender Trouble, such as the ideas of “biopower” and “gender performativity,” I contend that these works do more than simply reproduce contemporary outlooks. Instead, these Gothic …

Las Pintas Interview Project 2025, Beth Gulley, Luz Alvarez, Vallerie Rogers, Gabrielle Rock, Danielle Mullins, Nina Mcnay, Jayda Diaz, Audrey Weaver, Haisie Halperin, Rita Terrones, George Newham, Esmeralda Monroy

The Las Pintas Collection

In May of 2025, after a five-year hiatus, Johnson County Community College (JCCC) resumed sending students to Las Pintas, Mexico. Traditionally, JCCC sent student from Nursing, Dental Hygiene, and Solar Energy to practice their acquired skills and serve the community at Centro Integral Comunitario (CIC). This latest trip, though, was for Spanish language students to enhance their cultural competency, language practice, and learn about opportunities to study away.

This collection contains stories from eight former JCCC Study Abroad trip members, five people who live and work in Las Pintas, and the ten current JCCC students who traveled to Las Pintas …

Counter Dots, Barbara Cutlak Soares, Special Collections, Fleet Library

12th Baker & Whitehill Student Artists' Book Contest 2026

Entry for the 12th Baker & Whitehill Student Artists' Book Contest. Opening reception and award ceremony Wednesday, February 25, 2026 at 6:30pm, Fleet Library, 1st Floor Main Reading Room. Juror: Gabrielle Reed. Counter-Dots is an interactive book that explores playfulness and tactility through the design of letters. Each letter and number is composed on a 21 × 21 grid of perforated holes that matches the same module of a spiral-binding puncher. The holes create a layering effect, allowing the letters to relate to one another. The book can be completely unbound from the spiral, allowing for an open-ended …

Memoire, Lucie Kusner, Special Collections, Fleet Library

12th Baker & Whitehill Student Artists' Book Contest 2026

Entry for the 12th Baker & Whitehill Student Artists' Book Contest. Opening reception and award ceremony Wednesday, February 25, 2026 at 6:30pm, Fleet Library, 1st Floor Main Reading Room. Juror: Gabrielle Reed.

Voyager, Stephanie Van Riet, Special Collections, Fleet Library

12th Baker & Whitehill Student Artists' Book Contest 2026

GRAND PURCHASE PRIZE | $500 Entry for the 12th Baker & Whitehill Student Artists' Book Contest. Opening reception and award ceremony Wednesday, February 25, 2026 at 6:30pm, Fleet Library, 1st Floor Main Reading Room. Juror: Gabrielle Reed.