Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Military Chaplains’ Provision Of Psychological Assistance To Soldiers In Ukraine, Artem Makovskyi

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article presents the results of a theoretical analysis of and the author's personal practical experience with the work of military chaplains in providing psychological assistance to Ukrainian servicemen. Researchers in the field of psychology of religion have identified a number of functions of religion,--namely communicative, regulatory, integrating, ideological and compensatory--on which the pastoral activity of a military chaplain can be analyzed in their provision of psychological assistance to combatants. A comparison of the tasks facing military psychologists and military chaplains is carried out based on legal documents. Emphasis is placed on those moments where they can functionally complement each …

"War In Ukraine: Religious, Geopolitical And Cultural Dimensions Of Value-Worldview Clashes At The Beginning Of The 21st Century": International Theological Conference, Vladyslav Fulmes

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

On June 15, 2023 Volyn Orthodox Theological Academy (Lutsk, Ukraine) held an international theological conference “WAR in UKRAINE: Religious, Geopolitical and Cultural Dimensions of Value-worldview Clashes at the Beginning of the 21st century”. Brief information about this international scientific conference is given.

Frontmatter (Volume 43, Issue 7), Paul B. Mojzes

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

"The War Factor" In The History Of The Late Protestantism In Ukrainian Lands Via The Policy Of The Russian Autocracy, Roman Sitarchuk

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article explores the impact of war on the movements of late Protestantism on the territory of Ukraine. The study is based on the three largest Protestant denominations in Ukraine: Baptists, Pentecostals, and Adventists. Due to the refusal of the Protestants to do military service and fight with weapons, the Russian autocracy suppressed and created difficult conditions for believers of the Protestant denominations on the territory of Ukraine. Before the First World War, the refusal of Protestants to engage gave the state an argument for why the Protestants were not reliable members of society. This study uses as a basis …

Analysis Of Letters From Representatives Of Religious Bible Student Groups (Badaczy Pisma Świętego) In Poland During The Nazi Occupation, Roman Orlovskii, Denys Shpak

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The founder and leader of the International Bible Students movement was Charles Taze Russell (1852–1916), an eminent religious figure, the first president of the Watch Tower Society. After his death, the denomination he created split into a number of communities: Jehovah's Witnesses, as well as various groups of Bible Students who refused to recognize the authority of the Watch Tower Society under the rule of subsequent presidents. The followers of these groups, who recognized only the works of Charles Taze Russell, lived in different countries of the world, including in Poland. There are practically no scientific works devoted to the …

Information War In The Religious Sphere In The Context Of The "Battle" For The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, Bogdan Synchak, Yurii Yelisovenko, Svitlana Romanchuk

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The study examines the issue of non-religious activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) in the context of its involvement in the information war within the sphere of religion. It is based on a significant precedent for Ukrainian Orthodoxy concerning the expiration and non-extension of the contract by the Ministry of Culture with the UOC-MP for operation on the premises of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, the architectural complex of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. Certain prerequisites for depriving the UOC-MP of the right to use the premises of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra are presented and analyzed. Separate photographs …

Indestructability In The Fight Against Evil: The Theological View On The Russian-Ukrainian War, Hnat Mierienkov

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article shows that the fight against evil, namely Russian aggression against the Ukrainian people, creates a unique concept of “indestructibility.” The appearance of the term “invincibility” in the theological world, as a rule, is associated with the side of goodness and freedom. The Russian Federation has shown in the 21st century aggression unprecedented in its scale, including the desire to appropriate foreign territory, the bombing of peaceful territories and civilians, the distortion of faith, religion, and ideology to achieve goals by military means, etc. As a result, in the theological world of Ukraine, this phenomenon was called “evil.” That …

Sacralization Of The Image Of The Armed Forces Of Ukraine, Petro Kotliarov, Mariia Ovchar

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article offers a multifaceted analysis of the phenomenon of the sacralization of the image of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), aimed at an in-depth understanding of the influence of the Armed Forces on society and national consciousness in the context of the Russian- Ukrainian war. Sacralization implies the inoculation/infusion of holiness, of a religious or supernatural nature, into institutions or symbols, and in this context, it is studied how this process affects the perception and support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Ukrainian society. The article analyzes the role of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during military …

Brief Observation Of The General Trajectory Of Western Media Coverage Of The Religious Situation In Ukraine, Petro Livak, Daniil Palij

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article attempts to analyze the general trajectory of Western media coverage of the religious environment in Ukraine. Recently, the religious situation in Ukraine has become one of the strategic issues of national security, since it is relevant and important in the light of not only the religious, but also the political context of Ukraine. The study examines the journalistic activity of Western publications about the religious transformations of Ukraine from 2019 to 2023. This encompasses the intensity of the rapid confessional changes in Ukraine, the style of the journalistic text under study, the intensity of their media representation, and …

The Position Of Ukrainian Protestants Regarding The War In Ukraine: Rebuttal Of False Accusations Of Eurasianism, Valentyna Kuryliak

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article analyzes the position of Ukrainian Protestants in relation to the issue of the war between Russia and Ukraine. The position of Professor Pavlo Pavlenko was taken as a basis, who, in most of his publications, claims that the Protestants of Ukraine are pro-Russian, pro-Eurasian, and take a position that is contrary to the national interests of Ukraine. It is proven by the example of the analysis of publications and statements of Ukrainian Protestants that the protection of the national interests of Ukraine after 2014 has become part of their religious culture. The article shows on the example of …

Hagia Sophia, Religious Freedom, And The Destruction Of The Christian Cultural Heritage In Turkey, Ina Merdjanova

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

A lot has happened in the last 10 years in Turkey. The Gezi Park protests in the summer of 2013 started as a peaceful citizens’ demonstration against the government’s plans to demolish a park in Istanbul city center in order to open space for the building of an Ottoman-themed mall and a new mosque, and after disproportionate police violence, turned into a mass movement against an increasingly authoritarian rule. The 2015 break-up of the Kurdish-Turkish peace process botched hopes for ending the 40-year conflict in the country’s Southeast. The failed coup in 2016 lead to ferocious crackdown on oppositional politicians, …

Sacred Architecture And Interreligious Dialogue In The Concept Of The “Russian World”, Oleksandr Lukyanenko

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article continues a series of studies illustrating the formation of the idea of the “Russian world” in the religious discourse of Orthodox Russia. The main attention is paid to ideological stamps used by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow during sermons and public speeches. The study summarizes the idea of the exclusivity of the Russian spiritual path in contrast to the West, which supports the annexation geopolitical policy of Vladimir Putin. The article provides examples of falsification of historical facts in the religious and political spheres in order to create a powerful propaganda background in the conditions of the Russian-Ukrainian war. …

Strategy And Tactics Of Soviet Security Bodies In The Fight Against Religion And Religious Communities On The Territory Of Ukraine, Olha Shakurova, Oksana Vysoven, Yuriy Figurnyi, Natalia Varodi

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article analyzes the strategy and tactics of state security agencies in the fight against religion and religious Protestant communities on the territory of Soviet Ukraine. It was revealed that the communist totalitarian system, in order to maintain its dominant position in society and master fully the consciousness of its population and influence its spiritual life (strategic task), shortly after the end of the Second World War, in 1946 in the system of the newly formed Ministry of State Security of the Soviet Union of the Socialist Republics and its republican departments created new special operational departments endowed with extraordinary …

Snail With The Right Heart (2021) By Maria Popova, Maughn Rollins Gregory

Picture Books

When a London scientist found a garden snail whose shell that spiraled left to right—opposite from others of its species—he sent it to the University of Nottingham for study. The snail’s internal organs were also arranged on the opposite side from other snails, including a heart on the right side of its body—a one-in-a-million condition known as situs inversus, which also occurs in humans. In explaining the snail’s story in terms of genetic evolution and biological reproduction, The Snail with the Right Heart also raises philosophical questions about the role of genetics, education, and personal choice in determining who …

Dead Bird (1965/2016) By Margaret Wise Brown, Peter Shea

Picture Books

Children come upon a bird that has just died. It is still warm. They bury it, sing a song they have made up, and plant flowers. They visit the grave every day to put fresh flowers on it and to sing to the bird, until they forget. Margaret Wise Brown’s The Dead Bird is a story about how a new ritual happens, spontaneously, out of a shared experience of grief, expressing a shared reverence for one kind of life. The children are thinking, in a way: they are keeping something in mind for a long time, in a beautiful form. …

Mis Dos Pueblos Fronterizos / My Two Border Towns (2021) By David Bowles, Amy Reed-Sandoval

Picture Books

When children talk about migration and displacement, they generally speak and inquire about people. Why are some people forced to leave their homes—or why was I forced to leave my home? Why won’t other countries let them in—or why won’t other countries let my family and me in? What does it feel like to live in a shelter, or in a refugee camp, or on a bridge between two countries—or why must my family live this way, while others do not? This picture book shows how philosophical questions about migration can be inspired by, and embedded in, communities and characters …

Women's Marital Roles In Classical Athens: Male Understanding And Portrayal In Aeschylus' Agamemnon And Euripides' Medea, Elena Graf, Mary Boyes

Undergraduate Research Posters

Abstract

The Classical Period of Athens (500-336 BCE) was an era of sociocultural growth and stability for the ancient Greeks, renowned for its development of tragic theatre. While Classical Athens nurtured the public sociocultural success of male citizens, women adopted a submissive role, confined to their marital responsibilities. Women were forbidden from directly taking part in politics, philosophy, and above all, the theatrical scene of Athens. Due to these societal perceptions of traditional gender roles, the literature of the Classical Period was heavily influenced by a male bias. This study investigates the connections between women’s role in Classical Athenian society …

The Collaboration Between Art And Botany, Hee So, Sierra Beecher

Undergraduate Research Posters

Using past research from my work study with Dr. Beecher where a team of students focused on quantitative and diagnostic anatomies of salt marsh and beach grasses on the Atlantic coasts, I used the research collected and created vector-based diagrams that were easily readable for Biology students at VCU. These illustrations were used in a manuscript we have been preparing, which has been accepted by the “Castanea” scientific journal. During the research fellowship, I was able to design a poster that portrayed the benefits of collaboration between art and botany, and Dr. Beecher presented the poster at the ASPB conference …

(Re)Mediating History In Canadian Auto/Biographic Long Poems Since 1970, Heather Olaveson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Responding to current topics of national debate around cultural appropriation, authenticity of voice and identity, historical commemoration, and foundational systems of social injustice, this dissertation takes as its launching point the question of how we are implicated in each other's histories. It examines the politics of rewriting history in Canadian auto/biographic long poems from 1970 to the present, reconsidering historiography as it intersects with life writing, gender, race, and the performance of voice. What narratives are reimagined about the lives of Canadian historical figures, how are such stories articulated, and who is permitted to perform the telling? As a whole, …

The Flight Attendants Of Academia: Liminality, Emotional Labor, And Feminization In Graduate Student Writing Program Administrators, Laura Vidal Chiesa

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Writing Program Administration (WPA) is an interdisciplinary field that addresses the management and development of writing programs in educational institutions. WPA entails writing instruction pedagogy, curriculum design, assessment, and faculty development pertaining to the teaching of writing. Graduate students in Humanities and English-based programs typically fill this position which can offer a career trajectory. However, the position is often experienced as demanding, unrewarding and does not deliver on the career-enhancing experience it seems to promise. Historically, this is unsurprising given that the position has been a subordinated role occupied by women in composition. And yet, the troubles besetting contemporary graduate …

Has Bollywood Lost The Plot? Analyzing The Influence Of Item Songs On Rape Culture In India, Donna Susan Mathew

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

An item song is a provocative musical song and dance sequence that appears in Bollywood films that have little to no connection to the film’s plot, performed by an item girl for the male gaze. Contemporary Bollywood item songs have become highly contested social and political texts in the discourse surrounding rape culture in India. This research explores the socio-cultural context of rape culture in India and examines what makes item songs a popular and acceptable form of entertainment in a patriarchal, conservative society where sexualized violence against women is a major cause for concern.

The study also addresses the …

The Demands Of Displacement, The Micro-Aggressions Of Multiculturalism: Performing An Idea Of "Indianness" In Singapore, Orlando Woods, Lily Kong

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This paper explores the ways in which state-defined discourses of multiculturalism can unintentionally create a framework through which micro-aggressions are enacted against those interpreted as "other". These definitions cascade down from the state to majority and then minority ethno-national groups, who leverage positions of relative dominance to establish the terms of acceptance and integration into society. By negotiating these terms, ethnicity becomes a performative construct through which difference is asserted and reified. We illustrate these ideas through an empirical analysis of Singapore's minority Indian community, and how Singaporean Indians perform an idea of "Indianness" in response to their Singaporean Chinese …

Algorithm's Cradle: Commemorating Al-Khwarizmi In The Soviet History Of Mathematics And Cold War Computer Science, Ksenia Tatarchenko

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This chapter investigates the origin narratives and commemoration practices that came hand in hand with the growing cultural authority of the algorithm after World War II, culminating in celebrations in honor of the 1,200th anniversary of the medieval scholar Abu MODIFIER LETTER LEFT HALF RINGAdallah Muhammad Ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi. I first show how al-Khwarizmi's legacy was claimed by Soviet historians of mathematics aiming to construct a history inspired by dialectical materialism, a goal that eventually led to arguments about the distinct, algorithmic character of mathematics in the East. Next, I study how these ideas were appropriated by the international community …

You're Gonna Lose That Girl, Wilmont True

Screenwriting and Film Studies Theses (MA/MFA)

In the feature screenplay, You're Gonna Lose That Girl, by Bill True, fifty-something Jason Kite blames his failed life on getting dumped twenty-five years ago during a slow-dance cover of the iconic Beatles song. Then Paul McCartney, who is actually a wizard of space and time, shows up and sends Jason back in time to the fateful weekend to play wingman to his younger self in order to stop the breakup from happening and, in the process, fix Jason’s life.

African American Youth-Identity, Invisible Powers & Hypnotic Blaxploitation-Themed Film Tropes: From Superfly & Drug Culture To Black Panther & Wakanda, Daniel Mitchell

Screenwriting and Film Studies Theses (MA/MFA)

This thesis project explores the most influential effect of the blaxploitation era. It is during a time shortly after the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, where black youth are still enduring identity issues. The point of departure for central discussion of this work revolves around the mesmerizing Hollywood blaxploitation film, Superfly. It arrived on the big screen in 1972. The hit movie and its soundtrack seemingly hypnotized countless young African American youth in urban areas to become drug dealers and users. This coincided with Nixon’s War on Drugs collusion with government agencies, and the secret COINTELPRO operation. They …

Slaughterville, Kristjan Kay

Screenwriting and Film Studies Theses (MA/MFA)

Jim Reaper has it made. He's one of the best employees at Afterlife Incorporated and has gotten his work down pat. But when he's given a new employee to mentor he finds his secret is at risk: Jim pretends to be mortal in the small town of Slaughterville, Oklahoma, and has a mortal wife!

How Racial Trauma Manifests In Black Women From Direct And Indirect Encounters With Police Brutality, Ashley Turner

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This phenomenological study explored Black women’s lived experiences with racial trauma stemming from direct and indirect encounters with police brutality. A total of nine participants living in Washington state participated in this study. They identified as Black, ciswomen, fluent in English, and at least 21-years-old. In-depth, semi-structured, qualitative interviews were conducted to explore participants’ experiences with police. Transcripts were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The results consisted of the following five themes: (a) forms of police encounters, (b) influence of identity, (c) perceived reason for police brutality, (d) emotions stemming from police brutality, and (e) tactics to survive police interactions. …

"The Power To Heal And Cure": Adaptations Of Western Therapy By American Indian And Alaska Native Therapists, Calleaghn B. Kinnamon

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The legacy of colonialism has created a modern-day reality where Indigenous populations of the United States (US) experience mental, physical, and emotional distress at disproportionately higher rates than other cultural groups in the country. Increased distress translates to an increased need for supportive services. Because the field of Western Psychology is based in colonialistic EuroWestern worldviews which positions that worldview as superior, Indigenous clients and communities have often experienced further harm in their encounters with mental health services. In recent decades, there has been increasing attention to adapting research, training, academic and clinical work in ways that are culturally appropriate …

Justice Breyer And The Establishment Clause: Notes On "Appeasement," "Legal Judgment," And "Divisiveness", Richard W. Garnett

Journal Articles

Stephen G. Breyer served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States for nearly three decades. And yet, during his long career and notwithstanding his wide-ranging interests, he never authored a majority opinion resolving a dispute about the meaning of that Amendment’s Establishment Clause. Nevertheless, Justice Breyer’s writings and record regarding the no-establishment rule are distinctive in at least three ways.

First, there is the fact that he did not vote uniformly with his more secularist colleagues in divided Establishment Clause cases. That is, he often resisted the stricter applications of the no-establishment rule endorsed by …

Women's Empowerment Through Strength Sports—And Its Limits, Alison Clark Efford

History Faculty Research and Publications

This historical case study demonstrates that the purpose of a program of strength training affects whether it will empower women. The Turnverein or Turners was a German American organization that combined physical training, ethnic pride, and civic engagement. From the 1880s to the 1920s, it was at the forefront of promoting women’s exercise in the United States, including strength training with weighted clubs, dumbbells, and apparatuses. Woman Turners seized on physical training to challenge patriarchal power structures. They found joy in exertion, achievement, and comradery, while contesting the notion that to be feminine meant to be weak. Yet male Turners …