Arts and Humanities Commons^™

What Jesus Didn’T Do: The Discipled Pursuit Of Less, Greg Mckeown

BYU Studies

The soft, muted lighting reflected off wooden pews in a local church building, casting a glow on the faces of leaders gathered for a stake meeting. Among those on the stand was the young bishop of the Sixth-Seventh Ward in the Temple View Stake. Tall, with a commanding presence, he was known for his dedication, but tonight, he felt restless. He had promised to visit an older ward member in the hospital right after this stake meeting was over. As the meeting progressed, he felt a strong impression to leave the meeting and rush to the hospital. The feeling became …

Parental Influence On Adolescent Perfectionism, Jenet Erickson, Olivia Forsberg, Mckenna Schmidt

BYU Studies

I (primary author) will never forget a poignant moment in the mother’s lounge at church when our first child was about nine months old. Two other mothers with younger babies were in the lounge at the same time, and we talked as our babies nursed, then played. As I watched the two younger children crawl around, I became acutely aware that our daughter, who had not yet started to crawl, was clearly behind these other children. A panicky feeling overtook me as I wrestled with what it meant to me that these children appeared to be ahead of mine. I …

Response To Grant Wacker, Richard Lyman Bushman

BYU Studies

As so often happens when Latter-day Saint historians discuss Joseph Smith with their non-LDS compatriots, Grant Wacker wants to welcome Joseph Smith into the company of American prophets, while I insist that Smith is bizarre, strange, and other. Wacker sees Smith as a recognizable figure on the American religious landscape; I see him as an outlander notably because he presented himself initially as a translator. I admit it had never occurred to me to think of Pentecostal speakers in tongues as translators, but of course they were. It seemed a natural connection to Wacker, who is deeply conversant in Pentecostal …

Ward Choir, John Alba Cutler

BYU Studies

We brought no gold to make an offering, no goat, no lamb, no blood on the lintel— only voices.

Like A Fiery Meteor: The Life Of Joseph F. Smith By Stephen C. Taysom, Matthew B. Christensen

BYU Studies

Like a Fiery Meteor: The Life of Joseph F. Smith by Stephen C. Taysom dives into the extraordinary life of Joseph F. Smith, the sixth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Taysom expertly navigates the complexities of Smith’s life, offering readers a comprehensive and insightful biography of this important Church leader.

Empty Spaces, Jolyn Brown

BYU Studies

Sometimes my children slept in his place.

Review: A Word In Season: Isaiah’S Reception In The Book Of Mormon By Joseph M. Spencer, Joshua M. Sears

BYU Studies

This groundbreaking study by Joseph Spencer, who teaches in Religious Education at Brigham Young University, invites both Latter-day Saints and those outside our faith to consider what the Book of Mormon has to say about the relevancy of prophecy and scripture in our modern world.

Appendix

BYU Studies

All unique analyses in the articles “Perfectionism Across Adolescence,” “Parental Influence on Adolescent Perfectionism,” “Perfectionism’s Influence on Adolescent Mental Health,” and “Religion and Perfectionism” were conducted by Justin Dyer. Details of the data collection and analysis are contained in this appendix. All code and detailed outputs are available from Justin Dyer upon request.

Love Is A Law, Not A Reward, Adam S. Miller

BYU Studies

1. Love is the substance of God’s law. As Paul puts it: “If there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself ” (Rom. 13:9). Or, as Jesus summarizes the law: “On these two commandments”—love of God and love of neighbor—“hang all the law and the prophets” (Matt. 22:40). What’s more, this love can’t be treated as a special reward. “Ye have heard that it hath been said,” Jesus acknowledges, “thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies” (Matt. 5:43–44). …

Who Holds The Keys?, Daniel C. Peterson

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

While, for understandable reasons, Protestant Christendom tends to downplay the question, the more ancient Christian churches have historically placed considerable weight on what is often termed “apostolic succession.” The Catholic church, for instance, strongly affirms the “primacy of Peter” and the status of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, as ancient Peter’s lineal successor. Curiously, perhaps, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, although it was founded on the American frontier in the early nineteenth century, takes a view of the matter that crucially resembles the Catholic viewpoint more than it does a western Protestant one. But the Latter-day …

Suicidality Among Black Women: Considering Resiliency Within The Historic And Societal Context Of Risk, Samantha J. North

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Suicide is a global health challenge that has been historically understudied among Black women. The interpersonal-psychological theory of suicidality (IPTS) is a primary theory examined in suicidality; however, the three factors within the theory (lack of belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, and capability to die) focus on the individual. The purpose of the current study was to examine these factors in an expanded context of the historical and societal impact of oppression. A mixed methods Qualtrics study was administered to Black women who voluntarily completed the survey anonymously. Quantitatively, the study found significant differences between the impact of the IPTS factors on …

Assembling Hyperpop: Genre Formation On Wikipedia, Eliot Bates, Sophie Delphis, Romulo Moraes, Julia Santoli

Publications and Research

In this article, we analyze how a music genre is reciprocally defined online, through the crowdsourced ‘facts’ of Wikipedia. What are the traditional implicit and explicit exclusionary practices in this sort of genre formation? And how can internet-specific sociabilities create new exclusionary practices in the process of defining music? By analyzing the edit history of Wikipedia’s ‘hyperpop’ page, we locate ongoing debates, controversies, and contestations that point to shaping forces around online genre formation. These potentially have a huge impact on how hyperpop is understood both inside and outside of the music community. In locating the most active editors of …

Reflections On Williamson On Logic And Validity, Graham Priest

Publications and Research

Over many years now, Tim Williamson and I have engaged in debates over fundamental issues concerning logic. On some things, we have disagreed strongly; on others, we have agreed.

God Poezii 2024, Victor Fet

Biological Sciences Faculty Research

Fet, V. (ed.). God poezii 2024 [Year of Poetry 2024]. Kyiv: Drukarskii dvir Oleha Fedorova. 2024. 620 p.

The third volume of the *Year of Poetry* annual has once again brought together over 100 authors from various countries. “We all speak and write in Russian—a language disgraced by the invaders... Only the word that remains untainted will outlive both the current disgrace and this utter hell.” (Anatoly Liberman). We are proud that this anthology is being published in Kyiv for the third time. No matter what we write about, the hearts and verses of those who cannot remain silent—from every …

Sovereignty, International Law, And The Princely States Of Colonial South Asia By Priyasha Saksena (Oxford University Press 2023), Aryan Tulsyan, Prabhash Ranjan

National Law School Journal

Sovereignty, International Law, and the Princely States of Colonial South Asia by Priyasha Saksena is a significant academic intervention into understanding South Asia. The author maps how the various actors—the princely states, the British Crown, the East India Company (the company), and the anti-colonial nationalists—used international law, especially the vernacular of sovereignty, to advance their arguments and achieve their goals during the colonial struggle.

Rethinking The Inclusionary Potential Of Religious Institutions: The Case Of Gurdwaras In Singapore, Siew Ying Shee, Orlando Woods

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Whilst Singapore’s Sikh community is relatively small, it is also heterogeneous. Its diversity reflects differences in ancestral and socio-economic backgrounds. As spaces of worship that regularly bring together the Sikh community in space and time, Sikh temples—gurdwaras––are often conceived as important places through which a shared sense of religiously-defined community is reproduced. Yet, as much as religion can provide a bridge that integrates people of different ethnic, racial, national, and linguistic groups into a single faith community, so too can it act as a buttress through which differences and divisions are enforced within the community. We argue that whilst gurdwaras …

Disasters And History: The Vulnerability And Resilience Of Past Societies By Bas Van Bavel, Et Al, Fiona Williamson

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Disaster history is an emerging field that offers tantalizing possibilities for disaster studies broadly conceived. Like many subdisciplines of history, such as environmental history, the focus on disaster as a subject of historical inquiry grew out of contemporary real-world concerns, specifically the rise of interest from sociologists, geographers, and developmental studies experts in understanding the relationship of natural hazards with socioeconomic development and rebuilding out of disaster in the Cold War. Enter the age of the Anthropocene—many of these concerns have coalesced around the possibility of new and more frequent climate change–induced hazards. Under such conditions, the authors of this …

Multiethnic Elites And The Management Of Tropical Heat In Colonial Malaya, Circa 1870s-1930s, Claire Lowrie, Nicole Tarulevicz, Fiona Williamson, Charmaine H. Lam

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This article considers the responses of multiethnic urban elites to living with tropical heat in colonial Malaya by analysing attitudes towards the meteorological study of temperature, commercial cold storage and hill stations. A transcolonial and transimperial approach is used to illustrate that interest in managing and monitoring temperature was slower to develop in Malaya compared with other tropical colonies. The article also considers how access to methods of ameliorating heat was shaped by colonial hierarchies based on ideas of race and class.

“I Know What Nothing Means”: Nostalgia, Hope, And The Postmodern Search For The Sublime, Kathryn L. Donati

Theses and Dissertations

Amid simultaneous crises of self, nation, digital citizenship, global health, climate change, and socio-political polarization, to name but a few of the catastrophes that seem to define life in the global West in the twenty-first century, where do we find hope? Do we find it at all? Is there any hope to be found? These are the questions that serve as the genesis for this undertaking in which I locate the origin of these crises far before the events of the 2016 and 2020 elections, far before even the panic of Y2K. I begin my examination of hope in contemporary …

Shinners, Alexis E. Mabry

Theses and Dissertations

Shinners is a project that aims to examine the position of women in subcultures and capture conversations of women in subcultural sports. Within feminism, sociological constructs, campy horror, and personal experience I am manifesting the physical and mental obstacles faced in the subcultural sport of Bicycle Motocross (BMX) through photography, painting, collage, video, and sculpture. I interpret images posted to social media of injuries obtained while riding BMX as forms of empowerment, bodily gore as extreme evidence of participation, performative violence, valorizing the understanding of both the physical and psychological pain of failure, and the use of failure as a …

Doctors And Saints: Preparing Albert Camus’S The Plague To Address The Dangers Of Christian Nationalism, Christopher J. Williams

Theses and Dissertations

My project is focused on identifying and responding to Christian nationalism in United States politics by utilizing Albert Camus’s novel The Plague. The Plague found heightened popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic and its lasting legacy points to what should be long-term prominence in the public eye. With its popularity and anti-fascist content, The Plague is an appropriate text to utilize for addressing America’s Christian nationalism. My paper functions with a foundation on the work of Kenneth Burke, particularly his focus on literature’s utility as equipment for living.

I use my project to suggest that The Plague is not in an …

Points Of Contact, Giancarlo Venturini

Theses and Dissertations

The work in Points of Contact arises from engaging love as it relates to distance, desire, and longing. This paper will analyze my painting practice and its evolution from the explicit to implicit. Specifically I am going to talk about my utilization of landscape painting to consider another way of expressing sexuality and queerness. I will explain how objects and landscapes are conduits for feelings that can intrinsically hold allegorical representations. This show is about searching through vast spaces to find points of connection in the natural world. I will talk about portals and the varied degrees of accessible windows …

Preexisting Conditionings: Painting, Gaming And Narrative Play, Pia Bakala

Theses and Dissertations

My work incorporates play, fantasy, and self-actualization through painting, sculpture, and video. In this essay, I will explore the ways in which my studio practice intersects with topics across fields of visual arts and in conjunction their theoretical frameworks. I will discuss the culminating body of work, tentatively titled Preexisting Conditionings, that my academic experience at VCU has fostered and trace its development across specific precursive works, as well as the cultural and intellectual touchstones influencing its creative impetus. In Preexisting Conditionings, I work primarily use oil painting, creating mostly representational figurative tableaus that correspond to narratives and characters I’m …

Associations Between Childhood Trauma And Tobacco Dependence Among Latine Adults: Testing The Protective Effects Of Compassion For Self And Others, Camila Tirado

Theses and Dissertations

Tobacco dependence has posed a significant public health challenge in the United States and disproportionately affects Latine adults' risk of developing a variety of adverse health conditions. Childhood trauma is a recognized risk factor for dependence, overall health, and mental health concerns. Still, the influence of compassion for self or compassion for others in this context remains unclear. This cross-sectional study investigated the moderating effects of self-compassion and compassion for others on the relationship between childhood trauma and cigarette dependence among Latine adults. Data was collected through questionnaires assessing childhood trauma, self-compassion, cultural values and factors, compassion for others, and …

Exploring The Experiences Of Refugee Youth In Public Schools: An Ethical Phenomenological Inquiry, Hilary T. Stim

Theses and Dissertations

The study outlined in this dissertation focuses on the intersection between refugee youth between the ages of 13-18 and the United States public school, specifically the manner in which refugee youth experience institutionalized education. It utilizes ethical phenomenology as a means to amplify the voices of refugee students and to centralize the students' experiences, thoughts, and ideas related to education The study was framed by one research question that is addressed to the participants: “What is it like being a student in a public school?” Seven students took part in the study. Collaborative dialogues took place with the participants across …

Expect: A Speculative Documentary Filmed In Vr Utilizing The Role-Playing Method To Explore Disabilities And Ableism In Science Fiction, Leilei Xia

Theses and Dissertations

Expect is a speculative documentary filmed in Virtual Reality (VR) that features Chinese actors with disabilities to explore, challenge and reimagine the conventional ableist Sci-Fi tropes and the transhumanistic tendency to “fix” or eradicate disabilities through technological enhancement. I invited people with disabilities who are interested in Sci-Fi to do a Role-Playing with me in Virtual Reality (VR), in which they imagine themselves to be living in a future civilization, an alien planet, or an alternate universe. The participants came up with their own fictional characters and built their own world views. I interacted with them by asking questions and …

Beyond The Veil: Hijabi Superheroes And The Power Of Representation, Moom Thahinah Ms

Theses and Dissertations

As a Hijabi woman, I am often misrepresented by stereotypical narratives in Western media that obscure my individuality and agency. My thesis addresses the misrepresentation of Hijabi women, challenges audience perceptions, and empowers Hijabi women to confront these narratives.

Informed by design and media discourse, I developed a narrative and a Hijabi superhero character appropriating tropes of Western comic books. The resulting research combines two outcomes: a print-based narrative and a transformative garment. Print media is used to address the lack of Hijabi representation in Western comics while showcasing the character’s ability to combat discrimination. Derived from the comic format, …

Inspiring A Ripple: A Case For Evidence-Based, Biophilic Design For Affordable Housing, Chelcey A. Dunham

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

RELEVANCE

Currently in the US, 4 million families in need of affordable housing are not housed in affordable units and are spending 30-50% of their monthly income toward rent (Aurand, 2023.) Due to this shortage of affordable housing and the trajectory of its growth, advocacy groups and policy makers are making a push to fund more affordable housing projects. What if the designs of these projects were informed in such a way that individual and community mental health and wellness could be addressed in addition to meeting the demand for affordable, safe shelter? In this way, the return on …

In Shame I Will Find Paradise, Taehee Whang

Theses and Dissertations

As a Korean American non-binary digital artist and designer, my recent explorations have focused on using voice as a medium to articulate nuanced feelings of displacement and the intricate relationships between language, identity, and expression. This journey expands beyond my personal experiences with gender dysphoria, delving into the lives of non-binary and transgender individuals undergoing gender-affirming voice therapy. Through my thesis research, I have developed interactive multimedia installations inspired by dialogues with individuals such as Umico Niwa, who traveled to Korea for voice feminization surgery, and Jeong Yoon Lee from Hyperlink Press, a four-year participant in Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). …

Sense Make Before Book, Bradley Sinanan

Theses and Dissertations

“Sense Make Before Book” is an Indo-Caribbean turn of phrase which refers to common sense being more important than book smarts. My sister sent me a post the other day on Instagram of an Trinidadian woman using this phrase, saying it was one of Indo-Caribbean origin. I was interested and asked my mom about it. My mom says that when she was younger my grandpa said it often around their house in Princes Town, Trinidad and Tobago. This adage feels charged thinking about the history of indenture and its effects on the Indo-Caribbean diaspora.

The written word of archival history …