Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Racial Capitalism In Colson Whitehead’S The Underground Railroad, Daniel Paul Marx

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

In this thesis I examine how Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad attempts to denounce a system of racial capitalism, but the various tactics used to achieve this are often clouded in an inadvertent participation in this system regardless. I contend that this participation is indicative of a particular reading’s predominance in our current American social context that nevertheless reinforces the racial capitalism the novel attempts to denounce. This inescapable reading is explored in the sections devoted to the various states the protagonist Cora travels to on her journey toward supposed freedom from bondage, as each state represents various iterations of …

"The Moonlit Path": Reading Marie Howe In Early Motherhood, Alice Hodgkins Courtright

Yale Divinity School Theses

No abstract provided.

The Changing Role Of The Judiciary In Antebellum New York State, Joanne Elizabeth Barker

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Abstract From its first constitution adopted in 1777 in the midst of the Revolutionary War to the constitution adopted in 1846, New York State’s elected officials argued about the structure and role of the judiciary in state government and its application of the rule of law. Two constitutional conventions held in 1821 and in 1846 each produced a constitution that substantially reorganized the state judiciary. The delegates to these conventions debated what roles of the courts, the judges, and the legal profession and the rules of law that they applied would be appropriate to a republican form of government. These …

Bleeding Green, White, And Red: The Relationship Between Separation And Assimilation, Trends In Italian American Political Radicalism, 1927-1969, Andrew V. Nicolella

History Honors Program

This thesis explores the experiences of Italian American political radicals from 1927 to 1969, a time when Italians moved from the shadows and into the mainstream of American society. Through an analysis of the lives and actions of Italian American political radicals, I argue that these individuals included in this study utilized their sense if Italian heritage to varying extents in shaping the character of their radicalism. This thesis focuses on historical contexts that shaped their political radicalism. The individuals addressed actively engaged in political movements, participated in the labor force, ran for public office, and fought to protect their …

Acquitted By Reason Of Paroxysmal Insanity? Science And Gender In The Nineteenth-Century Murder Trial Of Mary Harris, Emmalee Morgan

History Honors Program

The acquittal of Mary Harris in 1865 demonstrates the culmination of new social and scientific ideologies through the strategy of her defense counsel and the utilization of expert medical witnesses. While at the same time, the prosecutorial strategy embodied the opinions of gender and insanity that were being phased out.

The aim of this project is to demonstrate the overlap and reciprocal influence of science, law, and society, with narratives of gender acting as consistent undertones in these three realms. The trial and acquittal seem to fall in line with the idea that the insanity plea is a sham — …

In A Pickle: African Americans Struggles With Racism And Progress In Mount Olive, North Carolina, 1930-1955, Devin Lamb

History Honors Program

This paper examines the experiences of African Americans living in Mount Olive, North Carolina during the 20th century. Life in Mount Olive afforded African Americans a multitude of opportunities such as economic, educational, and access to healthcare. Though African Americans' situation in Mount Olive was better than Black people living in other locations throughout North Carolina, an exodus still occurred in the latter half of the 20th century. I argue African Americans stayed in Mount Olive because of the stability and economic opportunities provided to them by staying post-great migration, but that the persistence of racism and segregation made living …

Civil War Journalism: Two Rough Drafts Of One History, Brianna Collora

History Honors Program

This paper addresses journalism in the Civil War by analyzing both Northern and Southern reporting. The severity of censorship changed throughout the duration of the war, with it less harsh in the Union by the end. Southern officials did not censor as much, both because their resources were scarcer, and their officials were more opposed to the use of censorship. While past historians have argued that the decrease in Northern censorship is because the Union began to have the upper hand in the war, I argue that the decrease in Union censorship was not only because the Union was now …

Legend Of Freedom: Rethinking The Role Of Robert The Bruce In Shaping The Scottish Identity, Deina Carbonara

History Honors Program

This paper explores the link between King Robert the Bruce and the evolution of the Scottish nation in the early fourteenth century. While many Scottish people today, and in the centuries since his life, believed that Bruce was the primary driving force of a consolidation of the Scottish nation and its independence, this paper will show that Bruce was only able to succeed to his position as monarch and to gain recognition of Scotland as a sovereign kingdom due to the actions of earlier peoples. Specifically, I examine the foundations of Christianity within Scotland and how the Church’s insistence to …

Rafael Trujillo Is Not Dead: The Role Of The Memory Of The 1937 Massacre In Reshaping Anti-Haitianism And Education In The Dominican Republic, Galilea Estrella Rosario

History Honors Program

In 1937, dictator Rafael Trujillo ordered the massacre of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent along the border dividing Dominican Republic and Haiti. This killing of over 20,000 people was informed by an ideology known as anti-Haitianism, which formed under the guise of Trujillo’s “Dominicanization” policy. After Trujillo’s death, his allies created a political dynasty that has helped to shift this anti-Haitian sentiment from a state sponsored ideology to a social norm that has prevailed to the present. This anti-Haitian sentiment is used to control and abuse immigrant Haitian sugar workers. It made thousands of people stateless as of 2013. …

Comedy, Contagion, And Confinement In Bo Burnham’S Inside, Zoe Barclay

English

Bo Burnham’s Inside was filmed by the former YouTube star, stand-up comedian, and director entirely alone in his guest house during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and released on Netflix. The comedy special is a mixture of skits, songs, and monologues loosely stitched together that question the role of comedy, provide a critique of the current socio-cultural moment, and give the viewer a glimpse into Burnham’s mind. Inside and The Inside Outtakes both engage with the themes associated with outbreak narratives and explore current social questions regarding privilege, accountability, consumption, and capitalism. Like other works of comedy, Inside takes …

Petro Pasts And Solar Futures: An Exploration Of Critical, Creative, And Activist Solarpunk Discourse, Emma Gilliam '23

Honor Scholar Theses

While some scholars in the subject of environmentalism may be familiar with the genre of petrofiction, the emerging genre of solarpunk is much less well-known by both academics and average readers alike. It occupies many of the same spaces as petrofiction, as a genre that grapples with modern society’s relationship to energy sources of oil and renewables. However, solarpunk differs from petrofiction in the fact that it goes beyond just a literary genre, reaching out into the worlds of art and activism simultaneously. Not only is the term ‘solarpunk’ used to refer to works of art and literature, but it …

Globalizing Sikhism: Modern-Day Representation Of Sikhs, Rubina Cheema '23

Honor Scholar Theses

With a following of more than thirty million individuals, Sikhism is the world’s fifth-largest religion. Despite this fact, the lack of awareness, understanding, and knowledge of what and who constructs Sikhism is globally provident through negative stereotypes perpetuated through a variety of media representations. This lack of understanding is further perpetuated by the lack of modern-day representation of Sikhs, especially within the Western world. This research will identify the modern-day representation of Sikhs through an analytical lens, with a focus on their status as a model minority within and outside India, and their representation in Western media and society. While …

Resilience In Girlhood: An Analysis Of The Social Determinants Of Anxiety Disorders For Adolescent Girls, Maggie Sullivan '23

Honor Scholar Theses

Anxiety disorders affect twice as many women as men and often begin in adolescence or young adulthood, which is a unique period of accelerated development and identity formation. Evidence points to social determinants of health (SDH) such as adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), socioeconomic status (SES), education, social media, and resilience that lead to this discrepancy. Girlhood is a distinct adolescence because girls face the effects of more ACEs, self-objectification, internalization of academic stress, and predisposition to low SES. This thesis summarizes research on the social determinants of anxiety for adolescent girls, utilizing a socio-ecological model and feminist research methods to …

Power, Pleasure, And Privilege: Defining Depauw’S Hookup Culture And Its Mental Health Implications, Reanna Stiehler '23

Honor Scholar Theses

Hookup culture is not primarily about sex, pleasure, connection, or freedom. Hookup culture is about power—how power is used, distributed, and desired. Previous work in hookup culture discusses a discourse of desire; however, the root and nature of this desire are unclear. I posit that hookup culture, as it currently exists, is strongly related to rape culture. In this thesis, I will explicate my anecdotal, qualitative, and quantitative evidence supporting this hypothesis.

The Bard’S Precursors To Psychology: Exposing Dark Sides Of Human Nature, Rebecca Parsons '23

Honor Scholar Theses

No abstract provided.

An Ideal Monarch: The Piety, Masculinity, And Kingship Of King Louis Ix Of France, Tell Joyner

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

King Louis IX of France, who ruled from 1226 to 1270, is widely considered to have been one of the greatest European kings of the Middle Ages. His rule was long remembered as an ideal period of good government and prosperity, and future kings sought and were expected to emulate him for centuries. Historians have often discussed the key role that the king’s pious exercise of his kingship played in his reign. In particular, historians have discussed the role that his belief in the twin missions of saving his subjects and making France into a Christian kingdom played in his …

An Exhibition Of Women's United States Air Force Uniforms, Michelle Robinson

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

The new Women in the Air Force exhibit under development at the Hill Aerospace Museum, located at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is long overdue. The exhibit is set to replace the existing display in order to more accurately and comprehensively represent women’s continuing legacy of service to our nation. The uniforms in the Hill Aerospace Museum collection constitute the focal point of the new exhibit. Material culture methodologies form the foundation of this exhibit work; seeking to provide greater understanding of women’s military experience and history through the analysis of their uniforms. This approach therefore utilizes uniforms, the museum’s …

It Happened Here: The Civil Rights Movement In Utah, Jace Jones

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

This plan B project is a series of lesson plans focusing on the Civil Rights Movement in Utah. These lessons are designed to give students a broad understanding of the Civil Rights Movement as well as the tools and knowledge to understand how the Civil Rights Movement manifested in Utah. To fulfill this goal these lesson plans focus on local and lesser-known history. This will allow students to gain an understanding of how the movement operated in Utah and how it relates to their own lives.

These lessons use the Stanford: Reading Like a Historian framework by the Stanford History …

Wanderer, Andrew Mcallister

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

These photos are the result of having pursued an MFA during the COVID pandemic. I chose a mode of photography that would keep me away from people and I focused on what I could capture “on the road.” These 30 photos explore visual tropes related to movement, thresholds, barriers, and symbolic encounters. They capture moments of joy and contemplation. Each photo works individually, but I have edited and arranged them in the gallery to create something between a narrative and a non-narrative that approximates the experience of what traveling to capture them was like, both on foot and in motion, …

In Search Of Effective Second Language Arabic Vocabulary Teaching Strategies: Theory And Implementation, Asmaa Yazidi Alaoui

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

This portfolio is the outcome of the author’s studies in the Masters of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program at Utah State University (USU) as well as her experience as a graduate instructor of Arabic at the same university.

This work has two main parts. The first comprises the three major components that present the author’s perspectives as a teacher, such as professional environment, teaching philosophy statement and the teaching observation.

The second part demonstrated the author’s research interest that aligned with her teaching perspective as an Arabic teacher. It was a position paper that called for Arabic vocabulary teaching strategies …

The Day Before The Day, Marlaina Lutz

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

The reason any particular moment has the potential to change the course of your life is because of the accumulation of meaningful moments that happened in between. The in between is where care happens. It’s where acts of kindness are done without witnesses and where vulnerability is met with an unconditional reception. It’s where trust is built and where our darkest and brightest parts become exposed. Can you remember what you did the day before you decided someone was your best friend? Or what you did the day before you spoke to a parent for the last time? What about …

The Intermountain West Lgbtq+ Oral History Project: The Folklorization Of Queer Theory, John Priegnitz

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

Following the passing of a friend who witnessed firsthand the transformation of Salt Lake City’s Queer community from the 1950s to 2020, I created the Intermountain West LGBTQ+ Oral History Project to document the queer experience within the Intermountain West. Since beginning the project in 2020, I have documented several diverse stories that intersect class, race, sexuality, gender, faith, and politics. By documenting the queer experience, a marginalized community will have their voices heard and preserved for the enlightenment of future generations. This presentation provides an overview of my project and its preliminary findings.

Tea Time With The Devil, Hamish Jackson

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

Tea time with the Devil

Tea Time with the Devil began with the hypothesis that I could create a diverse palette of glazes from one local material. I chose to base my experiments on a granite from Devil’s Playground in western Utah. I collected its rocks, hauled them back to USU and crushed them into powder. Each glaze contains at least 50% of the Devil’s granite. This palette resulted from much trial and error — mostly error. Between 2020 and 2023, I ran thousands of glaze tests to formulate and hone these surfaces.

Why this place and material?

The wild …

“Henrietta And Harriet:” Considering The Marginalized Best Friend In Burney’S Cecilia And Austen’S Emma, Elena Goodenberger

English (MA) Theses

Although much has been said about the authorial relationship between Frances Burney and Jane Austen generally, there is a gap in scholarship discussing Austen’s Emma in context with the Burney’s Cecilia. This paper argues that there are notable threads—heiresses with absent or inadequate father figures, charity-case best friends, and rushed endings—connecting Emma and Cecilia. Tracing these threads allows us to examine the possible influence of Burney’s writing on Austen and also calls attention to the author’s different approaches to female agency and minor character space. To accomplish this task, I look at the narrative space given to minor …

The Domestic Worker In Latinx Fiction: The Discursive Formation Of Latinidad, Constance Von Igel De Mello

English (MA) Theses

The figure of the domestic worker in Latinx and Latin American fiction is a prominent character, permeating multiple genres and geographic locations. Post-colonial and feminist engagement with literature begs us to engage with the racialized and gendered constraints of this character in order to understand the borders of latinidad as based on the exclusion of certain bodies, predominantly black ones. Using the domestic worker characters from Julia Alvarez’s How the García Girls Lost Their Accents (1991) and Edwidge Danticat’s The Farming of Bones (1998), and underscoring their historical and socio-political background of Hispaniola, we can understand the embodied context of …

Decolonizing Chinese Literary And Cultural Studies In “World Literature”: Decolonial Translation And Magical-Traumatic Realism In Can Xue, Deanna Ren

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This study takes a genealogical and historicized approach to Mandarin-to-English translations, including my own, of Can Xue through neoliberal discourses of “world literature.” I ground these Anglophone discourses in the legacies of Sinology, area studies and post-Cold War historiography. Arguing for the necessity of a decolonial translation practice in Mandarin-to-English translation, I propose magical-traumatic realism (an intersection of magical realism and traumatic realism) as an alternative lens with which to contextualize, decolonize and re-embody Can Xue’s works in both source and “world” contexts.

Oceans Of Literature - The Little Mermaid, Makena Metz

English (MA) Theses

Mermaid stories have existed for millennia, stemming back to the ancient cultures of the world. Influenced by the mythos established in books like The Iliad, sirens and mermaids were a part of European culture for centuries. The mermaid as chimera monster that represented the duality of danger and seduction was subverted in 1837, when Hans Christian Andersen wrote the seminal fairy tale “The Little Mermaid.” In our present day, we can find that this short story has created a canon of “mermaid” literature, especially in the fantasy canon, and has majorly impacted our pop culture and digital spheres. By tracing …

Failure Facing Pedagogy In First-Year Rhetoric And Composition Classrooms, Karuna Minh Hin

English (MA) Theses

Failure in academia is commonly defined as not succeeding, missing the mark, or receiving a “below average grade or score” (Inoue 333). However, this perception of failure works to instill a fear in students that may last through their academic journey. Throughout a student’s academic journey, they are taught to operate within the binary of success and failure. “According to self-worth theory, in school, where one’s worth is largely measured by one’s ability to achieve, self-perceptions of incompetence can trigger feelings of shame and humiliation" (De Castella, Byrne and Covington 862). Teachers have attempted to address this problem throughout first-year …

Humanization Of The Refugee As The Modern Subject In Mohsin Hamid’S Exit West, Ani Gazazyan

English (MA) Theses

This thesis discusses the central concern of the global refugee crisis through the fictional novel Exit West by Mohsin Hamid. The novel tells the story of two protagonists who are portrayed as the modern subject that Hamid comes to humanize, which reflects on current society’s representation of the refugee as dehumanized or “the Other.” Hamid takes his readers on a journey that represents his characters as normal everyday humans that are forced into the process of refugeehood and displacement. Throughout this thesis, I discuss what makes the novel so unique in representing the modern-day refugee. In the first section titled …

Teller Family Collection, 1949-2001, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

Finding Aids

A collection of science fiction books and magazines.

The Stephen and Nikki Patrick Teller Collection includes over 1600 science fiction novels, mostly mass-market paperbacks, mostly from the 1940s into the 1990s. These have been cataloged and are housed in the Special Collections & University Archives. A listing of these titles can be found by searching “KFPH Teller” in our online catalog. There is also a collection of science fiction magazines, from the 1940s into the 2000s. See below for a listing of these titles within the boxes they are stored. These can also be viewed in the Special Collections & …