Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Small Reveal: The Identity Of Beethoven’S Brutus Bust, Scott Messing

The Beethoven Journal

Currently displayed in the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn is a bust labeled “Luc. Brutus,” referring to Lucius Junius Brutus, the Roman republic’s first consul. Beethoven’s purported ownership of this porcelain figure is not beyond question, following its first mention by Anton Schindler in the third edition (1860) of his Beethoven biography. Its prior history, however, is unknown. Even so, scholars have invoked it, owing to this ancient official’s extreme means to preserve the republic: he condemned his two sons to death for conspiring to overthrow the regime. Writers have linked this remarkable act of rescuing the state from the threat of …

Beethoven, Caspar Peucer’S Commentarius, And Enchanted Nature, Nicholas Chong

The Beethoven Journal

The posthumous inventory of Beethoven’s library includes a late Renaissance treatise by Caspar Peucer (1525–1602) entitled Commentarius de præcipuis generibus divinationum (Commentary on the main types of divination). Peucer’s text is concerned mainly with methods of predicting the future through such practices as magic, astrology, and the reading of oracles. Neither Peucer nor his treatise is mentioned in any other source associated with Beethoven. The composer also had a limited knowledge of Latin and his copy of Peucer’s text was more than two centuries old.

Previous scholarship has not explored Beethoven’s ownership of this book in any detail, except to …

The Performer As Stylistic Free Agent: A Historically Inspired Approach To Interpreting Manuel De Falla’S Homenaje, Yiannis Efstathopoulos, Maarten Stragier, Kristin Van Den Buys

Soundboard Scholar

Manuel de Falla’s Homenaje pour “Le Tombeau de Claude Debussy” presents a complex identity knot that reflects Debussyan Alhambrism back onto its inspiration, drawing from both classical and folk traditions. This is the first research project to approach that knot from the perspective of historically inspired performance. It identifies a fascinating counterpart to its complexity in the stylistically hybrid guitar practices that were common at the time Falla composed his miniature masterpiece. The authors therefore propose that a historically inspired performer of Homenaje can act as a stylistic free agent, traversing the continuum of styles that gave birth to Falla’s …

Muscle Shoals: A Plan For The Use Of The United States Properties On The Tennessee Power By Private Industry For Of "The Manufacture Of Fertilizers And Other Useful Products", Muscle Shoals Commission, United States Government Printing Office, Washington: 1931

Documents

A plan created by the Muscle Shoals commission for instituting a series of fertilizer production operations in the Tennessee Valley area. In addition to written analysis, the document contains multiple images, illustrations, charts, graphs, and maps of the area to illustrate the reasoning of the plan.

Although the plan was never fully brought to fruition, it represents a crucial piece of agricultural and infrastructural history in the Shoals, Alabama alongside existent history on the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and the development of the nitrate plants.

Brigade Orders-Huntsville (6---1814) From John Coffee, Brig. General Of Tennessee Volunteer, John Coffee

Letters and Manuscripts

Transcription and brigade orders from Brigadier General John Coffee to the West Tennessee and Madison County Mounted Volunteers delivered from Huntsville, Alabama instructing them in a line of march that crossed the Tennessee River.

Brigade Orders-Huntsville (Dec. 7th, 1813) John Coffee, Brig. General Of Cavalry & Mounted Riflemen, John Coffee

Letters and Manuscripts

Transcript and brigade orders from Brigadier General John Coffee delivered from Huntsville, Alabama during illness in which he encourages the volunteer cavalry to continue with the hopes of an eventual honorable discharge from service.

Multiple Insights Into Affective Sentience, Jon Mallatt, Todd E. Feinberg

Animal Sentience

We discuss some of the many valuable insights into affective sentience from Birch’s The Edge of Sentience, such as its eight criteria for determining which entities have sentience (e.g., emotions) and its insights into the difficulty of testing whether an Artificial Intelligence system has attained sentience. We add our own perspectives on why the eight criteria are valid, on the difficulty of using behavioral trade-offs to determine whether an animal has sentience, and why evolutionary theory says consciousness is not an epiphenomenon.

2026-2027 Master Class - Michelle Cann (Piano), Michelle Cann, Aidan Quintana, Ziling Wang, Ian Lewis

Master Classes

No abstract provided.

From Dante’S Inferno To California: Visualizing The Marginalized In Sandow Birk’S Social Critique, Lorenzo N. Williams

Spectra Undergraduate Research Journal

This research explores the intersection of medieval literature and contemporary visual art, focusing specifically on Sandow Birk’s reinterpretation of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. By examining Birk’s illustrated adaptations of Inferno and Purgatorio, this paper analyzes how he translates and visually reimagines Dante’s moral and spiritual journey as a modern critique of California’s social crises, particularly those affecting unhoused populations. It investigates Birk’s recontextualization of Dante’s allegory in relation to the urban decay of Los Angeles and San Francisco. Ultimately, this study aims to reveal how Birk’s visual narrative bridges historical understandings of religious and social issues with contemporary experiences of …

Mashin’ Up Stratified Blackness: Unpacking The Communal Responsibility Of Black International/Immigrant Academics To Black American Academics, Candice Peters, Abigail Smith

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

Our duoethnographic inquiry, grounded in Intersectionality, addresses the following questions: How do intersectionality and internationalization complicate Black diasporic dynamics within the United States? What communal responsibilities do Black international/immigrant people hold toward Black American people within the U.S. academy? Through critical engagement with three previously published poems, we foreground the communal responsibility that arises at the hands of internationalization and unpack the intertwined realities of anti-Blackness, racialized hierarchies, and diasporic dynamics. Our findings unmask three themes: (1) evolving understandings of race across transnational contexts, (2) Black intraracial stratification, and (3) taking up responsibility. We conclude by urging a (re)commitment to …

A Narrative-Driven, Socratic Instructional Framework For Teaching Adversarial Cognition In Cybersecurity, Joshua K. Goossen

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

The Socratic method has demonstrated, in studies across law, medicine, and nursing, that dialectic structured questioning improves expert reasoning. Cybersecurity currently teaches tools and techniques but lacks Socratic dialogic leaving graduates underprepared for novel scenarios requiring cross-domain reasoning. Because law, medicine and nursing cultivate similar reasoning as security there is principled reason to expect reasoning benefits could transfer to security students. This paper argues that the correspondence warrants investigation. Investigation requires a named, teachable reasoning target analogous to clinical reasoning and we specify that target as adversarial cognition, a framework integrating adversary features, system architecture, implementation logic, governance structure, human …

Stepping Toward The Edge, Rony Hirschhorn, Niccolò Negro, Liad Mudrik

Animal Sentience

The Edge of Sentience asks us to shift from asking whether an entity is sentient to whether it is a sentience candidate. Candidacy then motivates a debate about proportionate precautions, which Birch argues should be settled by citizens’ panels. This raises the question of what citizens bring to such a debate: what they attribute to entities, how they treat those entities, and how these vary depending on both the attributor and the entity in question. We report survey findings bearing on each question and ask what follows for the composition of the panels entrusted with these judgments.

Instalasi Sebagai Ruang Traumatis: Estetika Partisipatoris Dan Pengalaman Fenomenologis Dalam Karya Jompet Kuswidananto, Muhammad Majid Amanulloh Kusmadi, A. Syaifuddin Rohman

Journal of Language, Literature, and Arts

This study examines Jompet Kuswidananto’s installation artworks as spaces that represent traumatic memory through bodily engagement and audience participation. The study employs a descriptive qualitative approach informed by Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology and Claire Bishop’s perspective on participatory aesthetics. Data were collected through interviews with the artist and participants and through document analysis. The analysis focuses on two works, On Paradise #2 and Subterranean Thunder #1, selected for their relevance to traumatic memory, aesthetic experience, and audience participation. The findings show that both works construct experiences through relationships among objects, space, sound, light, and the audience’s body. Merleau-Ponty’s perspective demonstrates …

Pola Pengembangan Gerak Tari Banyuwangi Dalam Tari Sasanjung Karya Ragiel Alfan Di Sanggar Tari Kuwung Wetan, Banyuwangi, Anandhita Dwi Aristanti, Robby Hidajat

Journal of Language, Literature, and Arts

This study describes the development of Banyuwangi dance movements and the elements of posture, movement, rhythm, and tempo in Sasanjung, a dance choreographed by Ragiel Alfan at Kuwung Wetan Dance Studio in Banyuwangi Regency. A descriptive qualitative approach was employed. Data were collected through observation, documentation, and interviews with five informants: the choreographer, a dancer, the studio owner, a musician, and a local cultural expert. Data analysis involved data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing and verification. Credibility was examined through triangulation across sources and data collection techniques. The findings indicate that Sasanjung draws primarily on Gandrung dance through the …

Analisis Musikal Aransemen Lagu Basanan Oleh Grup Jazz Patrol Kawitan Banyuwangi, Khalif Ardiansyah, Tutut Pristiati, Yurina Gusanti

Journal of Language, Literature, and Arts

Basanan is a musical repertoire from Banyuwangi associated with the oral traditions of the Using community. This study aims to analyze the musical arrangement of Basanan performed by Jazz Patrol Kawitan Banyuwangi, focusing on melody, harmony, rhythm, structure, dynamics, and instrumentation. A qualitative descriptive-analytical approach was employed, using audiovisual performance recordings, musical transcriptions, interview data, and relevant literature. The analysis involved repeated observations, identification of musical elements, and interpretation of their relationships within the arrangement. The findings indicate that the arrangement employs pitch material associated with B-flat major, with an emphasis on G in certain melodic passages. Its harmonic treatment …

Profit Distribution Mechanisms For Investment Accounts In Malaysian Islamic Banks: An Analytical Study In Light Of Shariah And Accounting Standards, Fares Djafri, Ashraf Md Hashim, Zeynelabidin Hayat

Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Islamic Economics

This study examines the profit distribution mechanisms for investment accounts in Malaysian Islamic banks. It analyzes the Shariah and accounting foundations that govern the relationship between the bank and investment account holders. The study identifies a set of fairness parameters rooted in Islamic legal principles and Islamic accounting standards, most notably: the requirement to predefine profit-sharing ratios, adherence to the Shariah rules of loss-bearing in mudarabah, full transparency and disclosure, proportional profit allocation based on investment amount and duration, and the governance rules relating to the use of the Profit Equalization Reserve (PER) and Investment Risk Reserve (IRR) to ensure …

Diversifying The Investment Assets Of Waqf Institutions, Sakhr Abdullah Alasmari

Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Islamic Economics

The study aimed at researching the technical and economic factors that contribute to the formation of a good diversification of investments of waqf institutions, and finding a unified model for specific ratios for the distribution of waqf investment asset classes, or identifying factors that prevent this. The descriptive approach and the comparative analytical approach have been used to track and analyze the main concepts of the study topic and show the relationship between them, with the inclusion of a comparison of waqf investment funds in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, based on annual reports published in the Saudi Capital Market …

The Impact Of Digital Transformation On The Performance Of Islamic Banks In The Gulf Cooperation Council Countries, Roukia Bouhider, Assma Guerfi

Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Islamic Economics

This research aims to examine the relationship between digital transformation and the performance of 25 Islamic banks in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries over the 2015-2023 period using the Panel-ARDL model and relying on the descriptive approach. The main independent variable is the Digital Transformation Index, in addition to the cost-toincome ratio, the total asset, the deposit-to-asset ratio, the real GDP, and the inflation rate. Return on equity (ROE) is the main performance measure. The study concludes that digital transformation in Islamic banks in the GCC countries is in its early stages, but it is increasing following the Corona pandemic …

Financing Under The Income Share Agreement (Isa) Model: Towards A Shariah-Compliant Formula For Financing University Education, Asma Bint Mohammed Al-Amari

Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Islamic Economics

This study examines financing under the Income Share Agreement (ISA) model as a contemporary financing instrument and seeks to introduce it as a new model at the local level. It aims to enable beneficiaries to access education in return for consideration linked to their future income. The study seeks to develop a Shariah-compliant structure by identifying its jurisprudential characterization and Shariah parameters and analyzing its contractual elements. The study concludes that the subject matter of the contract is the educational benefit rather than the transfer of ownership of money, which distinguishes it from a loan and other forms of financing …

Enabling Smart Waqf Investment Sukuk Through Blockchain Technology For Resource Sustainability And Return Development, Siham Rahmani, Mohamed Djafar Henni

Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Islamic Economics

This study aims to examine smart waqf investment sukuk as one of the contemporary applications of Islamic financial engineering, based on the integration of waqf objectives, Sharia-compliant investment structures, and modern digital technologies. It seeks to highlight the potential of employing blockchain technology in developing their institutional and operational digital infrastructure. The study also aims to propose a smart waqf investment sukuk model based on the Murabaha to the Purchase orderer structure, identifying its components, the roles of its stakeholders, and the mechanisms for managing the rights and operations associated with it. The study adopts a descriptive-analytical approach to establish …

Islamic Finance And Money Creation: SharīʿAh Issues And A Reform Proposal, Abdullah Al-Sulami, Ayman Saleh

Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Islamic Economics

This study highlights a fundamental problem confronting Islamic banking, namely the dominance of debt-based contracts, such as Murābaḥah and Tawarruq, at the expense of genuine partnership-based contracts, particularly Mushārakah and Muḍārabah. This dominance has, in turn, given rise to persistent criticism concerning the Shariah legitimacy of Islamic banking products. The study proceeds from the premise that this departure from the objectives (maqāṣid) of Islamic economics is not merely a technical or managerial choice, but rather an inevitable consequence of Islamic banks operating within a fractional reserve banking system and their inherent involvement in the mechanism of …

Briefly Noted: Terry Pratchett By Andy Sawyer, Janet Croft

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Review of Terry Pratchett by Andy Sawyer, Writers and Their Work Series.

Tolkien’S Glee: A Reading Of The Songs In The Hobbit And The Lord Of The Rings By John R. Holmes, Glenn R. Gray

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

This is a review of "Tolkien's Glee: A Reading of the Songs in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings" by John R. Holmes.

A Diasporic Mythography: Myth, Legend And Memory In The Literature Of The Indian Diaspora By P.M. Biswas, G. Connor Salter

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Scholarship continues to explore how postcolonial Indian authors use speculative fiction to explore their country's identity, but book-length studies on the diasporic Indian experience are hard to find. Poet, novelist and scholar Pooja Mittal Biswas examines noted fantasy books by four acclaimed Indian authors born during the first two generations of the Republic of India: Salman Rushdie, Shashi Tharoor, Suniti Namjoshi, and Vikram Chandra. Each author offers a different vision of Indianness, drawing on their complicated experiences as Indians living outside their country of origin, shaped by and responding to colonialism's past, offering different views of how diasporic Indians should …

Tolkien And The Mystery Of Literary Creation By Guiseppe Pezzini, Katherine Sas

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

This article reviews Tolkien and the Mystery of Literary Creation by Giuseppe Pezzini, a study of J.R.R. Tolkien’s creative process in which Pezzini argues for a remarkably consistent and comprehensive (if quirky) theory of literary creation as embodied in Tolkien’s legendarium.

Science And Religion In The Imagination Of C.S. Lewis: The Quest For The Best Mental Model Of The Universe By Alister E. Mcgrath, Martina Juričková

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

This is a book review of Science and Religion in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis: The Quest for the Best Mental Model of the Universe by Alister E. McGrath

The Mismeasure Of Orcs: A Critical Reassessment Of Tolkien’S Demonized Creatures By Robert T. Tally Jr., Gerry Canavan

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

This is a book review of Robert Tally's The Mismeasure of Orcs: A Critical Reassessment of Tolkien’s Demonized Creatures.

Between Interpretation And Imagination: C.S. Lewis And The Bible By Leslie Baynes, Katherine Cooper Wyma

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

No abstract provided.

The Gospel Of Gollum By Ivano Sassanelli, Gabriela Clarke

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

This review evaluates Ivano Sassanelli’s exploration of what Gollum represents and whether he is a personification of the biblical claim that where one’s heart is, there also will their treasure be. As current scholarship focuses on secondary The Lord of the Rings characters, from Galadriel to Tom Bombadil, this book provides fascinating insights regarding perhaps the most anomalous figure in the canon.

Sassanelli brings together a unique body of international scholarship, especially works from his native Italy, and discusses several niche topics relating to Gollum, such as the character’s grandmother, film portrayal, and Italian-dubbed voice. Comparative reading between early editions …

From Soldier To Storyteller: Essays On World War Veterans Who Became Famous Children’S Authors, Edited By Kathleen Broome Williams And Hal H. Friedman, Kris Swank

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Book review of From Soldier to Storyteller: Essays on World War Veterans Who Became Famous Children’s Authors, edited by Kathleen Broome Williams and Hal M. Friedman. Foreword by Michael S. Neiberg. McFarland, 2024.