The Birds That Embrace Both Illusions: An Intersemiotic Translation Of All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace By Richard Brautigan, Veronika Yadukha

Comparative Literature M.A. Essays

This essay analyzes the influence of various worldviews on Richard Brautigan's poetry, which form his particular language. A combination of Zen Buddhism, Japanese aesthetics, American poetic tradition, and echoes of the philosophy of absurdism are some of the core themes that serve as mechanisms for Brautigan's poems.

For each chapter of the book All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace, I make an intersemiotic translation transposing Brautigan's poems into ceramic tea bowls. By combining different art forms and translating from an abstract symbolic art – poetry – to a form of applied art that is much more physically …

Was Jesus Christ Born A Jew Or Not? Luther And Protestant Anti-Judaism In Nazi Germany, Darian Sullivan

All Theses

Martin Luther’s role as the founder of German Protestantism placed him in a position where he was the hero for two opposing factions that formed within the German Evangelical Church in the wake of the Nazi party’s rise to power in 1933. The two factions were the pro-Nazi German Christians and the anti-Nazi Confessing Church. The two sides appealed to different aspects of Luther’s theology to defend their beliefs. Martin Luther’s theology, particularly his anti-Judaic beliefs was a crucial issue for the divided Protestant Church. Luther’s writings are crucial for determining how influential he was for both groups.

An Investigation Of How Lighting And Rendering Technology Affects Filmmaking Relative To Arnold’S Transition To A Gpu-Based Path-Tracer, Mohammad Saffar

All Theses

Computer Graphic (CGI) technology enables artists to explore a broad spectrum of

approaches and styles, from photorealistic to abstract, expanding the boundaries of traditional aesthetic choices.

Recent years have witnessed of 3D-CGI production shift towards greater physical fidelity driven by technological developments as well as consumer demand for realistic visuals; this trend can be found across various creative fields like film, video games, and virtual reality experiences with high-quality textures, lighting, rendering, and physics simulations providing enhanced levels of immersion for users.

Arnold is one of the famous rendering engines assisting artists to be more creative while producing photorealistic images. …

Procedural City Generation With Combined Architectures For Real-Time Visualization, Griffin Poyck

All Theses

The work and research of this paper sought to build upon traditional city generation and simulation in creating a tool that both realistically simulates cities and their prominent features and also creates aesthetic and artistically rich cities using assets that combine several contemporary or near contemporary architectural styles. The major city features simulated are the surrounding terrain, road networks, individual buildings, and building placement. The tools used to both create and integrate these features were created in Houdini with Unreal Engine 5 as the intended final destination. This research was influenced by the city, town, and road networking of Ghost …

Economic Impact Assessment Of Nature-Based Coastal Resilience Solutions In Charleston. Estimating Local Economic Effects With Algorithm-Based Supporting Tool., Oksana Veselkova

All Theses

Coastal cities are at the forefront of the risks induced by climate change. Local communities are adversely affected, but the essential cultural assets and economies are also at risk of damage or destruction. In the efforts to limit hazard risk exposure, local governments are increasingly planning for long-term flood protection. One prospective flood risk mitigation measure is living shorelines or nature-based adaptation. The coastal ecosystems, such as beaches, wetlands, barrier islands, oyster reefs, and salt marshes, deliver multiple benefits to communities, including recreation, natural resources, freshwater, and carbon sequestration. Moreover, when combined with structural solutions, they can effectively reduce water …

Improving Sign Recognition With Phonology, Lee Kezar, Jesse Thomason, Zed Sevcikova Sehyr

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

We use insights from research on American Sign Language (ASL) phonology to train models for isolated sign language recognition (ISLR), a step towards automatic sign language understanding. Our key insight is to explicitly recognize the role of phonology in sign production to achieve more accurate ISLR than existing work which does not consider sign language phonology. We train ISLR models that take in pose estimations of a signer producing a single sign to predict not only the sign but additionally its phonological characteristics, such as the handshape. These auxiliary predictions lead to a nearly 9% absolute gain in sign recognition …

Pronombres De La Tercera Persona Del Zapoteco De Macuiltianguis [Third Person Pronouns In Macuiltianguis Zapotec], Paula Margarita Foreman

Theses and Dissertations

As attested in Marlett (2010), the Zapotec languages of Oaxaca, Mexico, exhibit great variation within their pronominal systems. Based on my knowledge as a native speaker, I present a description of third-person pronouns in the Zapotec from the town of San Pablo Macuiltianguis (MacZ) (ISO 639-3 [zaa]) (Eberhard, Simons, & Fennig 2023), part of the Sierra de Juárez Juárez within the Sierra Norte branch of Zapotec (Smith Stark 2007). MacZ has four categories of third person pronouns (which can be called formal, general, child, and animal). The child and animal pronouns are generally optional, used to emphasize affection. The choice …

From “Cowardice” To “Shellshock”: The Definition And Treatment Of Mental Health In The United States Marine Corps During The Age Of The Great War, Itzel Marquez

Theses and Dissertations

The aim of my master’s thesis is to study how the United States’ Marine Corps recognized, defined, and treated mental health issues during the Great War and how this translated into the treatment of Marines by their peers and commanding officers. Similar to other countries that fought in the Great War, also referred to as World War I, the United States witnessed intense discussions about the psychological effects of war. The question of whether and how modern warfare affected troops’ mental health was addressed by all branches of the United States’ military. Yet, the issue of mental health in the …

Artistic, Artworld, And Aesthetic Disobedience, Adam Burgos, Sheila Lintott

Faculty Journal Articles

Jonathan Neufeld proposes a concept of aesthetic disobedience that parallels the political concept of civil disobedience articulated by John Rawls in A Theory of Justice. The artistic transgressions he calls aesthetic disobedience are distinctive in being public and deliberative in their aim to bring about specific changes in accepted artworld norms. We argue that Neufeld has offered us valuable insight into the dynamic and potent nature of art and the artworld; however, we contend that Neufeld errs by constraining aesthetic disobedience to the artworld. Through a reconsideration of the parallel between aesthetic and civil disobedience, we illustrate how aesthetic disobedience …

Forgotten Spirits: Enslaved And Free Black Contributions To Bourbon And Reshaping Public Memory., Kevin Bradley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bourbon distilling is a multi-billion-dollar industry that draws hundreds of thousands of tourists to Kentucky each year. However, the industry usually overlooks or ignores the historic and ongoing contributions of African Americans. This thesis offers distilleries methods for incorporating into their public tours the often-difficult history of free and enslaved Black participation in the bourdon industry. Change requires cooperation between corporate leaders, public historians, and relevant stakeholders to forge new narratives and retrain tour guides. Based on primary and secondary research, in-person visits to distilleries, and interviews with public historians, this thesis explores free and enslaved African American contributions to …

Author(Iz)Ing Literacy: A Rhetorical/Historical Analysis Of Literacy For College Readiness In Kentucky From Kera To The Common Core (And Beyond)., Susannah Kilbourne

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation traces the economy of documents representing literacy for college readiness through an analysis of the interplay of literacy theory, literacy policy, and policy documentation. Specifically, this dissertation examines how college-level literacy is defined in Kentucky through a network of related documents. With Latour’s Actor-Network Theory serving as a theoretical frame, this dissertation tracks not only the vast and interconnected system of compositions operating as articulations of college-level literacy but also the presence (or absence) of rhetoric and composition’s compositions within the network of relations defining literacy for college readiness. This dissertation is divided into five chapters. Chapter One …

Paragons Of Art And Nature In Eighteenth-Century British Aesthetic Theory., Eduard Ghita

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the interaction of nature and art as objects of aesthetic appreciation in eighteenth-century Britain, with special emphasis on the aesthetic theories of Anthony Ashley-Cooper-3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, Joseph Addison, and William Gilpin. Despite its openness to explore principles of aesthetics and concepts, such as beauty and sublimity, that were common to both nature and art, modern aesthetic theory framed the relation of art to nature hierarchically, an aspect captured by the term ‘paragon’. In this dissertation I trace a movement away from theories in which the superiority of nature to art was recognized (chapter 2 on Shaftesbury’s …

The Conceptual Compression Of Space And Time As Intimated In The Depiction Of The Horse In China, Circa 1250 Bce-Ce 400., Robert Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the horse in ancient China, from before its domestication in the 13th century BCE to the fourth century CE. The revolutionary utilization of the mounted horse influenced contemporary concepts of time and space. The topics include the history of equid domestication in Eurasia, horse-drawn vehicles and riding, the introduction of the horse-drawn chariot from Shang China to its decline in Eastern Zhou; the rise of cavalry in China in the fourth century BCE; and the administrative, martial, symbolic and religious roles given the horse up to the Han dynasty; the early Chinese world view as dictated by …

The Well-Tempered Android: Philosophical Posthumanism In Science Fiction Cinema., Cody Gault

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines philosophical posthumanism as a means for critical analysis of the interaction between humans and nonhuman androids in select science fiction cinematic universes. The interaction is analyzed through several facets, notably the interactions between humans and nonhuman androids, particularly as interactions between the human and nonhuman are often sites of violence. Chapter one is an introduction. Chapter two describes the development of philosophical posthumanism from humanism, also including an analysis of philosophical posthumanism, and how it can be used as a critical lens. Chapter three begins an analysis of science fiction cinema by examining the Blade Runner films …

Regeneration: Restorative Theatre Practice In Theatre Education., Sarah Elston

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Regeneration: Restorative Theatre Practice in Theatre Education aims to harness the holistic benefits of theatre as a discipline and create an intentional restorative practice for performers. This thesis serves as a proposal; an attempt to prioritize restorative and self-care practices within the theatre industry, specifically pre-professional training programs. This proposal takes the form of a curriculum that builds upon the current model of theatre training (Voice, Movement, Acting) with the addition of Regeneration. Regeneration provides theatre artists with specific areas of study to offer the psychosocial support a theatre artist may need during their pre-professional training. This thesis will discuss …

The Landscape Does Not Care It Is A Landscape: A Utopian Pessimist Journey In Kentucky., Shachaf Polakow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

These thesis and exhibition, invite the viewers to travel through different places in Central and Eastern Kentucky. The region’s landscape, like many other American landscapes, is often known to the public through the settler colonial lens—a lens that ignores Indigenous peoples’ history in the region. The work in the exhibition is a response to landscape art's history and its complicity with American settler colonialism- art that was recruited to create a new identity for the settlers and for the country from the beginning of the American Colonial Project. Landscape art was a crucial part of this effort, presenting the land …

To Hell With 'That' Religion: Malcolm X And An Africana Critical Theory Of Religion., Jimmy Butts

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Using Malcolm X as a fulcrum, this dissertation explores the possibility of resolving the apparent tension between religion and revolution in a Pan-African context. While the first chapter defines the terms “revolution” and “religion,” it also introduces readers to the conceptualization of religion as incompatible with revolution, and it presents Africana Critical Theory as the methodological tool used to guide how the author analyzed the possibility of rectifying that problem. The second chapter delineates the literature that has sought to address the potentially problematic relationship between religion and revolution. The author concludes that the Marxist tradition was too Eurocentric and …

Someone, Stop Her! The Musical (The Gallery Show): The Thesis Document., Hannah Dewitt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis document accompanies a body of work that is radically vulnerable, personally political, and emotionally complex. Through my work, I challenge myself and my audience to sit with discomfort and create an environment suitable to generate a nuanced appreciation of pain that approaches its acceptance through humor, confessionalism, and the subversion of tropes against themselves as an act of counter-mimicry. This document situates my work within art-historical context with a primary focus on performance art and applies insight from each artwork referenced to further analyze and defend my own work. Additionally, I use texts relating to Camp sensibility, binary …

Second Nature: Impressions Of Place., Trish Korte

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For my art practice, I grow and forage my art materials for eco printing, a direct contact printing method that reveals leaf shapes and hidden imagery through heat and pressure. I take specific cues from surrounding materials, objects, and environments. Tree systems and compelling textures of fungus are interpreted through ceramic and fiber. With an ongoing collaboration of natural materials and eco printing processes, my art speaks symbolically and metaphorically through imagery and materials. This thesis and accompanying exhibition present an examination of current work in context with an ongoing investigation of natural materials and eco printing.

Spirits In My Studio., Katelyn Gabbard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The exhibition “Spirits in My Studio” unveils the inventories of elements in human relationships and connections through collecting and transforming remnants left behind—admiration of an object combined with a presentation format that creates an immersive three-dimensional field to traverse. An acknowledgment and celebration of entropy, the exchange in human experiences elevates the process to both content and medium. Moreover, it creates active entanglements with genuine physical relationships with the artist, the making, and the audience.

Working For Yourself: A Guide For Performers With Learning Difference., Sa'id "Nxttime" Kelly

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Working For Yourself a Guide For Performers with Learning Differences is a combination of advice and tips that are intended to help performers especially those living with learning differences. The thesis helps performers find ways to work with their true selves on stage as well as in preparation for a role. There is no final result to this process, just multiple ways to be more confident with the choice you’ll make while performing and preparing for a role.

An Unfaithful Feminist : Neoliberal Feminism, Identity, And Postmodernism In Jenny Offill’S Dept. Of Speculation, Anne Bobis

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Jenny Offill’s novel Dept of Speculation explores the life of a female college professor who looks back on her marriage after her husband has an affair. Events are told through brief fragments. Much of the critical discourse surrounding the novel is concerned with its fragmentary form or postfeminism. In this essay, I assert that Dept. of Speculation is a reaction to neoliberal feminism because of the narrator’s multiple challenges throughout the novel. Some vocal figures within neoliberal feminism assume a woman can balance upward mobility in a career and life as a mother. The ability to maintain this work-life balance …

A Conductor’S Study And Resource Guide Of Four Band And Chamber Wind Compositions, Juana Caballero Casas

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Graduate Choral Conducting Recital, Brock Willard

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

This graduate thesis consists of a choral conducting recital performed by members of Chorale and recruited community singers, and accompanying program notes. Repertoire included on the recital was selected according to the music or texts’ proximity to conflicts throughout history. Composers represented on the program include Thomas Tomkins, Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, Heinrich Schütz, Stephen Foster, Shawn Kirchner, Ethan McGrath, Kim André Arnesen, Brock Willard, Z. Randall Stroope, Craig Courtney, Austin Hunt, Frank Ticheli, and Fredrik Sixten. The program notes for each composition will consist of biographical information, music analysis, performance considerations, and other relevant information

I Come Creeping: Remembering The Battle Of Blair Mountain In Graphic Narrative, Ellie James

Senior Honors Theses

Between August 24 and September 4 of 1921, approximately 10,000 West Virginia coal miners marched to Blair Mountain in Logan County in a militant stand for their right to unionize. Despite its status as the largest labor uprising in United States history, few know or understand the impact of the Battle of Blair Mountain today, even within the borders of West Virginia. This creative project aims to contribute to ongoing efforts to memorialize this period of the West Virginia Mine Wars through the creation of a 10-page comic, titled I Come Creeping, which depicts and is informed by the …

Successes And Failures Of War And The Shifting Landscape: An Analysis Of The Dynamic Relationship Between The Elements Of The Clausewitzian Trinity, Hannah Crosby

Senior Honors Theses

In his writing On War, Carl von Clausewitz explained the nonlinear nature of war and the inevitable chaos that occurs during times of conflict. Fundamental to his theory of war is the Clausewitzian Trinity, comprised of three elements: the people, the military, and the government. In the text, he emphasized the intrinsic relationship of these variables, observing that political objectives are the original motives for war. As such, the inherent values of the people will have a direct impact on the success of any war. In an examination of various military conflicts since the time of World War II, …

The Theory Of Shot Composition Applied To Various Genres Of Film, Elizabeth Scott

Senior Honors Theses

I am fascinated by the composition of shots in movies, specifically as it applies to the various different genres. However, there seems to be a lack of research into this particular area of the theory of composition. In that case, I am planning to research the history and theory of shot composition as it applies to films throughout the history of film and into modern times. This will be supplemented by my own experience in the Fall of 2022 where I will be a Director of Photography for four individual films of varying genres as well as by a film …

The Bible In Full Color: A High School Bible Study On The Inductive Bible Study Method, Margaret Gregory

Senior Honors Theses

Modern Christianity is saturated with Bible studies for students. However, a crucial skill the Christian student needs to learn – how to study the Bible independently – is a topic difficult to find in contemporary youth Bible study curricula. While there is a wealth of biblically sound, helpful Bible studies that students can benefit from, it is essential that students do not remain dependent on these resources. One goal for youth ministry leaders is that their students graduate high school with the knowledge and tools they need to interpret the Scriptures for themselves correctly. The creative thesis will be an …

Ethnomusicological Research And Local Songwriting In Local Churches In Sarawak, Malaysia, Qianxi Lim

Senior Honors Theses

Ethnomusicology is a relatively new field of study. Its value is seen as Christian worldwide employ the principles of ethnomusicology to encourage the local church to use their musical gifts and styles to worship God. Many indigenous people groups in Malaysia are being overlooked and treated unjustly. The local Christian Church in Malaysia is responsible for reaching the local population with biblical truth and hope. Although Christians in Malaysia are a minority, Christianity is a major religion in Sarawak, Malaysia. This disparity is reflected in more ethnomusicological research conducted in Sarawak than West Malaysia. Local pastors and musicians in Sarawak …

Tejiendo Imágenes. Homenaje A Victòria Solanilla Demestre, Catalina Simmonds Caldas , Editora, Marina Valls I García , Editora

Zea E-Books Collection

A collection of 35 essays in honor of the retirement of Prof. Victòria Solanilla Demestre, a renowned and respected scholar of the pre-Columbian culture and iconography of the Americas.

SUMARIO — Miquel-Àngel Sànchez i Fèrriz: El porqué de este homenaje a la Dra. Victòria Solanilla Demestre • Catalina Simmonds Caldas: Un pensamiento sin fronteras • Luz Adriana Alzate Gallego: «A lomo de piedra»: rescatando una gran colección lítica • Denise Y. Arnold: Los textiles andinos teñidos por amarras, el motivo del punto en el rombo y su patrón de difusión: Felinos, serpientes y el cultivo del maíz en un mundo …