Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Iuno… Saevissima: Patriarchy, Divinity, And Villainy In Imperial Roman Epic, Nolan Michael Cicci

Honors Theses

Juno is a Roman deity with a significant amount of scholarship around her impact on Roman literature and Roman social life. Her divine department is as the protector of motherhood, banks, family order, marriage, and women in general. Many Roman temples still exist that immortalize her. However, there is another aspect to her character that is at odds to her portrayal in day-to-day Roman life, mainly her portrayal in the Roman epics of Virgil's Aeneid and Silius Italicus' Punica. Virgil (fl. ~26. B.C.) and Silius Italicus (b. ~26 A.D.) wrote, respectively, examples of epic literature, both which detail the myths …

Standing On The Front Porch Of To Kill A Mockingbird, Anna Mclain

Honors Theses

This thesis is an examination of the front porch in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. After providing background on the practical functions of the front porch in the South, I argue that this space serves as a synthesis between perception and reality in Lee’s novel. My thesis is divided into three sections that each explore different characters on the front porch: Boo Radley, Southern women, and Scout. Analyzing specific scenes with these characters on the front porch, I consider how the space exposes various tensions in the novel and highlights Lee’s larger themes.

Take A Hike: A Documentary Following First Time Hikers, Katherine Hopper

Honors Theses

There is a substantial body of research showing that spending time exercising in nature can improve college students' mental health. Mental illness diagnoses are on the rise, and yet many students don't seek time outside. This documentary seeks to bridge the gap between research and people's lifestyles and habits. The documentary features five first time hikers on a four mile hike. The purpose of the documentary is to show viewers the benefits of exercising outdoors. The documentary was filmed over the course of two months, with each participant hiking individually. The hope is that this documentary will encourage others to …

Contemplative Constructions, Katharine Greenwell

Honors Theses

This text serves as a backdrop written in support of a body of paintings. The series of paintings revolve around the relationship between mechanical and human reproduction in mapping. The text challenges the Benjaminian notion that an artwork contains one unique aura and replication of the artwork damages the aura. It argues that by displacing surrounding references from the original map, the symbols made by the cartographers hand can be seen as aesthetic marks through an unlearning of their original purpose as a tool. Using the Jakobsonian axis of selection and axis of combination I remove and gain a sense …

Rewriting Women: The Narratives Of Angela Carter And Kathy Acker, Marcella Rea

Honors Theses

This paper outlines the significance of contemporary readings of feminist writers Angela Carter and Kathy Acker and traces the genres and theories they utilize: magic realism, pastiche strategy, and postmodern feminism. Through their employment of these aesthetic and expressive strategies, they position themselves kairotically as writers conscious of the context from which they are writing in. This paper explores Acker and Carter’s adherence to the arguments of postmodern feminism through their navigation of feminine identity, sexuality, and their critiques of patriarchy and capitalism. For this paper’s argument that contemporary audiences should continue to read Acker and Carter, the evidence drawn …

Here (Toma): Translations Between Me And My Mother, Seth Courtad

Honors Theses

The lyric mode can be thought of as the engine of a piece, what drives its thinking and structure forward. Memoir writing most often refers to writing based on an author's own memories. For these two reasons, I've labeled my Honors thesis a lyric memoir. The memoir consists of poems, translated into Spanish by my mother, dual essays in which I share the page with another writer, and "after" essays which consider a wide variety of topics on identity, death, religion, and language. Critically, what makes the memoir lyric is its lack of direct narrative, instead relying on the layering, …

Sylvia Plath’S Fig Tree: Discourse Formation And The Production And Consumption Of Women’S Identity, Jane E. Dodge

Honors Theses

Investigating the formation of women's identities within Sylvia Plath's work, this paper seeks to understand the position of women within society during Plath's lifetime and in the wake of her death. Comparing genres of both public, private, and semi-public writing, I hinge my argument on Plath's famous fig tree passage to understand three distinct feminine identities and the inherent consumption and production that accompanies women's identity formation.

Logical Sense In The Skeptical Self-Refutation Problem: Sextus Empiricus’ Logos And Pathos, Stacy E. Cunningham

Honors Theses

The self-refutation problem is an all too familiar objection to all varieties of skeptical arguments, in fact, it is as old as skepticism itself. My analyses will first focus on the arguments and objections to ancient Pyrrhonian skepticism. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy describes the goal of Pyrrhonian skepticism as “suspension of judgment as a way of achieving calm (ataraxia) in the face of seemingly intractable disagreement.” The position involves a series of arguments, or, “modes”, for evaluating claims in such a way that the evidence for and against accepting a claim are equally balanced, leaving the inquirer with no …

Booktok: The Cultural Phenomenon Introducing A Stagnated Industry To A New Generation, Daley Culberson

Honors Theses

BookTok, a creator-driven subset of TikTok that promotes and discusses books, gained popularity in 2020. Its emergence has significantly altered the book industry, allowing once-unknown authors to transform into bestselling novelists with the click of a button. Modern romance, fantasy, and young adult novels are typically favored on BookTok. These novels are vastly different from the books in the traditional literary canon, challenging conventional ideals regarding what types of literature could be considered canonical. Additionally, BookTok is primarily driven by younger users, allowing many teenagers and young adults to rediscover the joy found through reading and writing. This research project …

Blithe Spirit: An Inside Look At The Scenic Design Process, Abigail Gracey

Honors Theses

By engaging in the theatrical scenic design research process and documenting it thoroughly, this thesis seeks to explain how theatre designers go about creating a production from start to finish.

Nonduality And Identity: An Exploration Of Form, Genre, And Perspective, Hannah Ritter

Honors Theses

This thesis utilizes hybrid forms of poetry and prose to examine questions of nonduality, perspective, and identity, simultaneously testing the boundaries of genre and form as a whole. The opening craft essay offers a more specific analysis of form and genre, particularly those of poetry / prose and fiction / nonfiction, while the creative writing demonstrates how such differentia are relevant to the art of creative writing.

“Bad Taste, Bad Hygiene, And Bad Morals:” Dress Reform Movements And Women’S Fight For Greater Independence During The Late 1800s., Emily Cahill

Honors Theses

The Victorian Age is debated as a time of brilliant growth, beauty, and prosperity for people living in England. While this era is described as a glory age for England, it was also an age of great inequality. There were significant advancements in learning and new societal freedom, like the widespread availability of education and abundance of jobs. However, freedom was not experienced equally by everyone in the public. One of the main things women sought to change was freedom in their wardrobe. It was nearly impossible to progress in society under the rigid restrictions women’s clothes put on them. …

Beloved Other: (Re)Creating Theories Of Language, Time, And Embodiment For Queer Liberations, Salem Murray

Honors Theses

Through Beloved Other, I offer a story of difference retold. A reimagination of the harsh drape of embodied difference as defined by White hegemony. Through Part I, I will lay out the theoretical foundations for my process of (re)telling. Beginning with intersectionality, difference is (re)defined as a site of potential energy, then further clarified through the lens of Queer Phenomenology by Sara Ahmed. In this section I will use my theory to disidentify difference, relying on the work of Jose Esteban Muñoz, to reveal the life-saving impulse toward connection between individuals, and the potential energy between bodies that can help …

Applied Art Thinking Workshop, Anne Brisson

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

ABSTRACT OF PROJECT

Applied Art Thinking Workshop

This is an action research project, testing my hypothesis that art thinking techniques can be used to develop creative-thinking skills. I implemented two workshops to test my idea of using art, and in this case drawing, to help people develop creative-thinking skills. The first workshop was virtual, intended as a pilot to resolve any process issues. The second workshop was in-person as a part of the CREA Conference in Italy.

Prior to discussing the outcomes and key learnings of the workshops I spend a big portion of this paper explaining the three key …

The Phygital Design Process: Using Emerging Technologies To Create A Phygital Fashion Brand Rooted In Nostalgia, Madeline M. Mcdaniel

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This Master's Project is a comprehensive exploration of the intersection of digital fashion design, nostalgia, and sustainable practices. Its primary objective is to create 'project CYBERBAE,' a phygital fashion collection that draws inspiration from early 2000s video game characters, trends, and aesthetics. The project utilizes advanced digital tools like Clo3D to demonstrate a comprehensive digital fashion design process that emphasizes inclusivity and sustainability. It also pioneers the development of a 3D virtual world, providing users with an immersive environment to interact with and experience digital fashion. This virtual space serves as a platform for a community of fashion, technology, and …

Repatriation In The Modern Museum World: Practical Problems Surrounding Decolonization Of Collections, Rachel M. Sudbeck

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Museums are home to many artifacts that allow us to learn about and understand people from around the world. However, many artifacts kept in Western (primarily North American and European) museums have origins steeped in colonial ideas of cultural superiority and collections acquired through ethically questionable means. Many institutions have been working to decolonize their collections by evaluating their objects' cultural origins and repatriating some pieces when possible. By repatriating (returning) objects of cultural patrimony as specified by laws such as the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), museums uphold their ethical duties and improve the quality of …

Lived Experiences, Migration Journey, Religiosity, And Spirituality Depicted In Drawings By Latino Children And Youth Crossing The U.S. Mexican Border: A Qualitative Study., Doroty Magalhaes Sato

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Widespread violence forces thousands of Central American children to endure a hazardous journey toward the U.S. Border seeking refuge. In the Latino community, faith serves as a social movement of resistance against oppression, playing a vital role in migration. There is a paucity of research documenting this experience and children's overall journey. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the lived experience of crossing international borders, religiosity, and spirituality depicted in Latino children's drawings used as coping methods to endure the journey toward the U.S. southern border. This investigation employed Art-based approaches to give voices to children's experiences by analyzing 63 …

That Limbless Sign The Thesis Document., Donna R. Charging

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Native American Art resists all attempts by non-Natives to define, restrain, and replicate it. THAT LIMBLESS SIGN is a concrete substantiation of this quality of resistance through the scope of language. Native Art indicates a continuity, not of tradition, but of people. In THAT LIMBLESS SIGN, Native people become signs; that is, inimitable cipher devices of the real, living members of tribes who remain in the United States of America. Language is one of the last refuges of Native existence because it represents the point of power where Native realities cannot be transcribed into a superficial, indelible system such as …

Fingerprinting Cinematic Soundtracks: Examining Identity In Film Music Through Gender And Temporality., Sarah Elizabeth Moser

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the soundtracks of six Hollywood films and their treatments of two factors of cinematic identity – gender and temporality. Six case studies are used throughout the thesis using an original analytic system I designate as Fingerprinting, which examines film using a five-tier, intersecting system on both the macro and micro level. The gender chapter analyzes Weird Science (1985) and Pretty Woman (1990) in order to demonstrate the utility of the cinematic soundtrack in constructing new frameworks of gender expression within fictional media. The temporality chapter uses four case studies - Easy Rider (1969), Eddie and the Cruisers …

Examination Of Solutrean Lithic Technology At The Vale Boi Site, Southwestern Portugal., Jordan Durham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

During the Last Glacial Maximum (27 – 19 ka), much of northern Europe became uninhabitable as icesheets expanded causing populations to withdraw into refugia around south-central Europe. Southwestern Iberia served as an ecological refuge for hunter-gatherer populations due to favorable climate and resource availability. Solutrean (25 -19 ka) techno-complex represented shifts in human adaptations and new social configurations in Iberia. Lithic analysis of 1380 artifacts from Solutrean, Layer 3 Terrace, at the Vale Boi site (southwestern Portugal) permitted insights into hunter-gatherer cultural adaptations reflected in technological behavior. Major conclusions are: (a) Solutrean techno-complex at Vale Boi utilized expedient tool production …

Gender Equality Threatened: A Digital Communication Analysis Of Spanish Right-Wing Political Parties, Daisy Rehbock

International and Global Studies Undergraduate Honors Theses

Spanish right-wing political parties have become incredibly active on social media within the last decade, especially with the creation of the ultra-right wing party Vox, which now has the most followers of any Spanish political party across all social media platforms. The usage of social media by right-wing political parties is a populistic approach that allows politicians to connect directly to their voter base instead of utilizing more ‘elitist’ forms of media. This paper is focused on analyzing the rhetoric of two right-wing Spanish political parties, Vox and Partido Popular, in order to gauge their stances and impacts on gender …

The Purepecha And Food Sovereignty, Andrea Abarca

International and Global Studies Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis will focus on the food sovereignty of the Purepecha of Michoacan. I will explore their culture and how their relationship with food shapes them. I will look into the effects of neoliberalism, and how it puts the food sovereignty of the Purepecha in danger. With this, I will compare the resistance to this issue with another indigenous community and see how these uprisings bring hope to restoring their sovereignty.

Breaking Down The “Heritage Not Hate” Movement’S Origin, Usage, And Effect On Race Relations In The Post Civil War Era, Laith Kewan

History Undergraduate Honors Theses

When the Confederacy first formed, its governmental symbolism and ideology mirrored that of the northern United States. The two Constitutions were incredibly similar – minus the South’s adjustments to further enhance the rights of states and slaveowners – with the Confederate government installing a Legislative Branch, an Executive Branch, and a Judicial Branch. In addition to this Constitutional similarity, the Confederacy also created a flag that looked similar to the United States’ that Confederate troops had trouble differentiating the two in combat. Following a chaotic Battle of Bull Run in July of 1861, General Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard pushed for the …

Imperfect Mobility: Analyzing The Waffen Ss As A Means Of Social Mobility In Nazi Germany, Jacob O'Bannon

History Undergraduate Honors Theses

The military arm of the Nazi party, the Waffen SS, is an intense point of study by military historians. The Waffen SS are a well-documented force and are unique in their dual role as both a military and political elite. That dual role deserves analysis to better understand the dynamics of Nazi Germany and the evolution of its war machine. In this evolution the Waffen SS greatly expanded and as a result recruitment and volunteer numbers rose. The goal of this thesis is to examine how the Waffen SS who were known for their brutality could attract so many people …

The Black Press And Late Imperial Russia, Benjamin Pierce

History Undergraduate Honors Theses

For centuries, western observers had looked to Russia and seen a place fundamentally different from their home countries. In their accounts, Russia was distinctly oppressive, a state characterized by tyranny, barbarism, and Mongolian influence. But these accounts were faulty. They were written by merchants, diplomats, and explorers, wealthy white men who had never experienced the kind of repression they witnessed in Russia. When Black Americans looked to Russia, however, they saw a place fundamentally similar to the United States. Both countries were large, multiethnic empires driven by territorial acquisition and fueled by forced labor. By tracing the coverage of Russia …

Eng101 Research Essay Using Oral History As A Primary Source, Jayashree Kamble

Open Educational Resources

This assignment was included as the research essay component in an introductory composition course. The topic was the impact of AI on their desired career or profession. Students were required to find four sources: a primary source with whom they conducted an oral history, and three secondary sources; one from social media, one from a reliable but not peer-reviewed source, and one peer-reviewed scholarly source. They had to submit the oral history transcript and incorporate data from it into the essay. At the end of the semester, they also had an option to do a dramatic reading of the oral …

Guns Over Kids: How Florida Lawmakers Trade Child Human Rights For Financial Gain, Brynn Rose Baker

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

In 2023, school shooters killed or injured 249 individuals across 346 school shootings. These school shootings typically spark temporary outrage and public calls for action. In response, the National Rifle Association (NRA) weaponizes mental health, isolating these violent crimes and barring effective and popular gun control measures. The NRA has infiltrated American politics and become a powerful lobbying force, primarily through their support of pro-Second Amendment candidates via donations and campaigning on their behalf. After the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Florida, a group of survivors created the activist group, March For Our Lives (MFOL), which encourages …

Actualizing Unwritten Operatic Conventions: Oral Transmission And The Work-Concept, Jessie Miller

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Controversy around the actualization of unwritten conventions in operatic performance has become an inescapable reality over the course of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The “work-concept”, the term coined by Lydia Goehr, is the strongly held conception in Western music that pieces of music are concrete and immutable, and therefore should not be changed. It is because of this concept that performance controversy exists; a performance that is not viewed to have represented an opera “correctly” is responsible for infringing on the central governing tenet of Western art music performance. I seek to prove that the diametrically opposed ideas of …

Greta Gerwig And The Chick Flick Revival, Syndey Walker Neis

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

The "chick-flick" is derived from decades of movies known as "woman's film". It's evolution is most obvious in the creation of female-centric movies that place a primary focus on platonic and familial relationships, such as the "Female-Friendship Film". This subgenre was wildly successful until it became co-opted by the Romantic Comedy during the late-90s and early-00s and ultimately transformed into the "Chick-Flick" we are most familiar with today. Gerwig's three films re-establish the "Chick-Flick" as a film that de-centers romantic relationships in favor of developing the female protagonists in terms of individuals and through their platonic and familial relationships. My …

Reconstructing Roman Corinthian Identity, Sophia Loeta Graham

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

This project focuses on the ways that social and cultural identity are projected through material culture in Roman-occupied Greece, specifically in the Corinthia region. Using anthropological and archaeological theories on identity, systems, and creolization, I develop an interpretive framework for understanding how Roman Corinthians used material culture to project their identities in a mortuary context. This project is inspired in part by pre-existing research on the fluidity of cultural identity in Roman-occupied Greece but is designed to fill a gap in that scholarship that does not inspect the ways that identity can be displayed in a mortuary context. I use …