Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Musical Affinities Between Ann Southam's Glass Houses And Canadian Fiddle Tunes With Performance Considerations For Glass Houses No. 5, Evangelia Nikolaidou

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Ann Southam stands as one of Canada’s foremost minimalist composers. Her fifteen-piece piano set Glass Houses, composed in 1981 and revised in 2009, reflects the joyful, dance-like energy of Canadian fiddle music that inspired it. While Glass Houses has frequently been discussed within the context of minimalist composition, less attention has been given to the ways in which the work resonates with Canadian fiddle traditions. This document draws on existing scholarship on Métis, French-Canadian, Newfoundland, Anglo-Canadian, and Scottish fiddle traditions to trace and clarify structural, rhythmic, and textural affinities between Canadian fiddle tunes and Glass Houses. Focusing on …

Forget-Me-Not: Facilitating Social Vibrancy In Spaces Designed For Alzheimer's Disease, Torilyn Mossner

Honors Theses

The objective of this capstone project is to create a foundation for vibrant community interactions and connections that support those living with Alzheimer’s disease, their loved ones, and the broader members of the community through interior design. This work is relevant because Alzheimer’s disease affects 1 in 9 people over the age of sixty-five worldwide. Without a cure, as people continue to age, there is going to be a constant need for development of care. Additionally, design should go a step further than healthy living and begin to prioritize creating a vibrant life and community integration for those living with …

Any One & Every One, Sarah V. Dumitrascu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

With a predictable job, a rent-stabilized apartment, and stellar dental insurance, still, Ever E. Whan does not like her office job any more than she did on day one. Nothing about it suits her—not the work, the hours, the team, not the break-room coffee machine. She thinks of quitting every day, but something she can’t name, but feels overwhelmingly, keeps her there. While she fantasizes about her grand resignation, she isn’t moved to act until a tragedy occurs on the job.

Hoping to do just about anything else, Ever isn’t quite prepared for the offer she’s given: to work as …

Karme Qatif: A Villa From The Second Temple Period In The Judean Shephelah / כרמי קטיף: וילה משלהי ימי בית שני בשפלת יהודה, Daniel Varga, Yigal Israel

Qadum: Journal of Excavation Reports from Israel

Three seasons of salvage excavations conducted at Karme Qatif uncovered a villa from the Second Temple period. The villa comprised four wings: a central courtyard; a western residential wing; an eastern wing containing a bathhouse; and a northern wing, which probably included the entrance to the villa. Finds from the building include a few locally made pottery vessels attributed to the Roman period, along with ceramic pipes used to convey water to the bathhouse. Several hiding complexes, soft limestone vessels, coins from the time of the Bar Kokhba Revolt and a miqveh uncovered in the vicinity of the villa may …

Female Genital Cutting In American Foreign Policy – Proposal For Harm Reduction, Charlotte Racine

Bates College Journal of Political Studies

Female Genital Cutting/Mutilation (FGC/M) has gained international attention as an issue of human rights and violence against women and girls. The United States, as a leading world power, has openly opposed its practice and actively condemns it in communities and countries of the Global South, yet it fails to oppose or condemn as staunchly identical procedures within its borders. The simultaneous condemnation of FGC when it occurs in “undeveloped” countries and acceptance of American procedures like cosmetic genital modification surgeries, male circumcision, and “corrective” surgeries on intersex infants produces a narrative of cultural superiority and imperialism that harms the international …

Constitutionalization Of The Right To Vote: The Necessity For Democracy, Hanmo Yang

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

The Civic Debate Consortium is an intercollegiate debate conference dedicated to serving as a “hub of inspiration, innovation, education and civic engagement” (Civic Debate Consortium, n.d.) through productive dialogue. The Social Justice Debates are one of the consortium's competitive series, focused on discussing the distribution of wealth and resources in U.S. society. For the 2025-2026 debate season, debaters researched for or against the motion: “The United States should Constitutionalize the Right to Vote.” First affirmative speeches begin by defining the terms of the round, listing contentions to the argument, and then providing analysis to support the contentions. This paper serves …

Solarvale: Exploring Australian Ecology And Culture Through Serious Game Design, Ping-I (Adam) Ho, Elliot Birch

Imaginings: creative practice and inquiry

This research examines how a serious game (Gee, 2007): Solarvale: Tale of the Sun Root (Birch et al., 2024), developed by students from SAE University College addresses the importance of ecological conservation and cultural awareness specifically in relation to the Australian landscape. While some Australian serious games, such as Catchment Detox (2008), Paperbark (2018), and Bleached Az (2019) engage with similar themes, few titles integrate storytelling with interactive ecological environments and cultural awareness in a way that encourages players to reflect on their own role and actions—which is the central focus of Solarvale. Drawing on the concepts from serious …

Throw Away The Script: Improvise Or Become Irrelevant, Matt Dyet

Imaginings: creative practice and inquiry

Drawing on a decade of experience as a games producer, Matt Dyet explores why the games industry’s fear of failure has led it to prioritise rigid scripts over the vital, messy joy of improvisation. Much like a comedian who suffers on stage by ignoring the room to read from a joke book, game developers often cling to "safe" plans long after the audience has moved on. By contrasting the rapid demise of Concord (a videogame built on a half-decade-old playbook) with the success of Borderlands (a videogame saved by a daring, last-minute artistic pivot) Matt argues that strategic plans are …

There’S No Place Like Home: A Wizard Of Oz Inspired Self-Portrait, Lana Webster

Imaginings: creative practice and inquiry

This project examines how lived experience shapes creative practice through a digital self-portrait inspired by The Wizard of Oz. Rather than positioning identity as subject matter alone, the work investigates how personal history informs visual decision-making, including posture, composition, colour, and symbolic environment. Using a creative practice research approach supported by autoethnographic reflection, the illustrated artefact and written exegesis operate as interconnected modes of inquiry. The project demonstrates how illustration can hold responsibility, emotional weight, and uncertainty without forcing resolution. It frames creative practice as a way of generating understanding, grounded in lived experience yet shaped through the viewer’s own …

The Colour Of Becoming, Monique Mazza

Imaginings: creative practice and inquiry

The Colour of Becoming explores the relationship between identity and creative practice through two experimental watercolour portraits. Positioned between the freedom of artistic expression and the conformity of professional life, the work visualises an internal tension between authenticity and expectation. Drawing from theories of identity (Hall, 1990), écriture féminine (Cixous, 1976), and semiotics (Barthes, 1972), the research examines how symbolic visual language can represent fractured or evolving selves. Through contrasting palettes, gestures, and acts of erasure, the paintings reveal how selfhood is not fixed but continually negotiated within social frameworks. This exegesis places painting as both method and mirror, a …

Solarvale: Exploring Australian Ecology And Culture Through Serious Game Design, Ping-I (Adam) Ho, Elliot Birch

Staff Scholarship - Australia & Dubai

This research examines how a serious game: Solarvale: Tale of the Sun Root (Birch et al., 2024), developed by students from SAE University College addresses the importance of ecological conservation and cultural awareness specifically in relation to the Australian landscape. While some Australian serious games, such as Catchment Detox (2008), Paperbark (2018), and Bleached Az (2019) engage with similar themes, few titles integrate storytelling with interactive ecological environments and cultural awareness in a way that encourages players to reflect on their own role and actions—which is the central focus of Solarvale. Drawing on the concepts from serious game (Gee, 2007), …

An Alignment Of Absences: The Medicalization Of Death And Its Implications On Archaeological Methodology, Makayla J. Bowman

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Absence describes something that is "expected, wanted, or looked for [but] is not present or does not exist," (Merriam-Webster Dictionary 2026). The archaeological discipline interacts with absence in many profound ways, largely in its study of the past dead. This paper focuses on the ways in which the medicalization of death has influenced, limited, and misaligned archaeological methodology, and how the result of those methodologies produces archaeological analysis that is absent of or misrepresents our understanding of life, personhood, and our position within a greater, interconnected biosphere. Thus, I present an anthropological critique of the ways in which death and …

Interview No. 1842, Esperanza Quintana Martinez

Combined Interviews

Esperanza Martinez was born in 1935, in Las Cruses New Mexico and grew up in Chihuahua and El Paso. Esperanza was 90 years old at the time of the interview, as she reflects on how much the world has changed. Esperanza’s life was hard and sad but it is her family relationships that give her fulfillment in life. The relationship that she had with her husband (Jose Martinez) was one that she felt shortchanged in, and now that he has been dead for a few years she finds that it is important to voice her emotions. An important detail to …

Final Report For Clas 485 Capstone Vōx Antīqua, Aaron Moreno

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

This report summarizes and details the process of creating the capstone project Vōx Antīqua, a Greek and Latin pronunciation web course. The site layout, methodology, and creative process are all covered with detailed endnotes, followed by a complete bibliography of all primary and secondary sources consulted. This Digital Humanities resource contains hundreds of audio files covering Greek (in Classical Attic and Post-Classical) and Latin pronunciation, along with sixteen examples of Greek and Latin literature with full audio and original translations. Introduction to syllabification, accentuation, and prosody in both languages is also included.

Learning English Through American Culture, Chun Yu (Jimmy) Chen

Language Study as a Gateway to the Humanities

No abstract provided.

Local Angst To National Fear: New Media And The Spread Of Xenophobia, Bryce Weber

Honors Projects

This paper examines the evolution of xenophobia in the United States, arguing that its core themes of fear of outsiders, economic anxiety, and threats to national identity have remained consistent. However, the mechanisms of its spread have transformed alongside developments in media. The paper uses a qualitative historical methodology supported by quantitative data to trace anti-immigrant sentiment. It examines anti-immigrant attitudes toward Irish immigrants in the 19^th century, and reactions to undocumented immigrants in the late 20^th and early 21^st century. The paper focuses on key case studies, including California’s Proposition 187 and Arizona’s SB 1070, to …

The Brethren In China: Cross-Cultural Relationships Within An Imperial Structure, Sebastian S. Kochall

History and Political Science Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

No Limits: Exploring The Limitless Possibilities Of Creativity Within Extreme Limitations, Ashley Hanson

Imaginings: creative practice and inquiry

This essay examines the exponential evolution of digital music production technology, from the MIDI and sampling revolution of the 1980’s, to the contemporary DAWs, virtual instruments and AI-driven tools that have democratised creativity within the modern discipline. However, it also explores how an abundance of cost-effective tools introduces psychological challenges that inhibit creative potential. It critiques "choice overload," where a multitude of options induce decision paralysis, homogenise outputs and stifle innovation. Countering this, the essay advocates for self-imposed constraints as a catalyst for focused ingenuity and flow states, exemplified by legendary musicians such as Fatboy Slim and David Byrne. Objectives …

Foundations Of Art: Materials, Methods, And Meaning, Elizabeth Mellott

Art OERs

This course provides an introduction to the tools, materials, and processes used across a wide range of artistic media. The focus is on understanding how different materials shape the way art is created and experienced. Attention is given not only to what artists make, but also to why particular media are chosen to communicate specific ideas, emotions, or perspectives. The physical qualities of materials, the methods used, and the cultural meanings attached to them all influence artistic decision-making.

The course surveys several major categories of artistic media. Pigment-based practices include painting, drawing, and printmaking, where color and mark-making form the …

Aiko J. Ayala Ríos Senior Piano Recital, Andrews University

Student Degree Recitals 2025-2026

Aiko J. Ayala Ríos presents her Senior Piano Recital Ex Umbra in Lux, featuring works by J.S. Bach, F. Liszt, W. A. Mozart, and S. Prokofiev.

Aiko J. Ayala Ríos is a student of Dr. Chi Yong Yun.

Radio As War: An Exploration Of Kalamazoo Black Radio In The Vietnam War Era, Amelia Koch

Honors Theses

Kalamazoo, Michigan’s black history runs deep. This thesis aims to trace that black history, and situate it within the realm of black radio as a cultural phenomenon. Rising to its provenance in the mid-1960s, black radio has been, and continues to be, a rallying point for African American communities across the U.S., particularly in Chicago and Detroit. Kalamazoo, a halfway point between these two major cities, has a lack of such stations. Exploring the lack of black radio in Kalamazoo during the 1950s through 70s, this work presents a connection between the existence of black programming and the experience of …

The Life Of Richard Henderson Rivers, Nell Peerson

Documents

This article is on the president of LaGrange College and Florence Wesleyan University, Dr. Richard Henderson Rivers. This "paper" was completed as an assignment for Research in the History of Southern Education in 1933.

Fostering Creativity With Three Shapes: Triangle, Square And Circle, Adrian Bruch

Imaginings: creative practice and inquiry

An account of devising a simple creative exercise for drawing and animation that imposed a set limit of shapes (three) and the success that arose from restricting the options for students. The basic shapes (triangle, square and circle) have stimulated creativity in both students and the author and it has also influenced their teaching and animation practice.

"Principle Before Party": Samuel "Golden Rule" Jones And The 1899 Ohio Gubernatorial Election, Connor Hand

Honors Projects

As partisan loyalty declined and resentment grew against American social, political, and economic conditions at the end of the nineteenth century, political reformers saw an opportunity to spread their ideals for a better society. Most reformers opted against running for office, and those who did often used standard or newly formed political parties. Mayor of Toledo and progressive businessman Samuel Jones differed from the standard reformer by seeking office while embracing a non-partisan ideology. By analyzing Jones’ writings, the partisan response to his movement, and contextualizing him amongst reformers, this essay explores how Jones stood out from the standard political …

Secluded Strategies: Engaging Uncertainty To Empower Creative Decisions, Chris Lambert

Imaginings: creative practice and inquiry

This paper investigates the role of ambiguity as a source of inspiration and creative agency. Ambiguity is presented not as a limitation, but as a medium through which artists explore, experiment, and generate meaning. Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies, a deck of cryptic prompts designed to provoke reflection and disrupt habitual thinking, illustrates how indeterminate instructions can stimulate the imagination without prescribing outcomes. Building on this principle, the study introduces Secluded Strategies, a personalised deck of Eno-inspired prompts derived from his artistic statements and reflections. Each card serves as an invitation for interpretive engagement, encouraging artists to make active …

Luja Volume 6: Issue 1 (Full Volume)

Laurier Undergraduate Journal of the Arts

No abstract provided.

We Are Not What We Think: Solipsism & The Concept Of Mind, Michael Marcoux

Student Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I argue that the persuasiveness of solipsism—understood as skepticism of the existence of anything or anyone outside of one’s own private mental life—rests not on its intrinsic argumentative force, but on the degree of commitment to a certain philosophical dogma. I use the problem of solipsism to tease out this dogma, which I dub the Primacy of Privacy. It is characterized by the conviction that in dealing with what there is and what we know, the mental, be it construed in terms of perceptions or thoughts, is the only certain datum from which most if not all …

No Limits: Exploring The Limitless Possibilities Of Creativity Within Extreme Limitations, Ashley J. Hanson Mr

Staff Scholarship - Australia & Dubai

This essay examines the exponential evolution of digital music production technology, from the MIDI and sampling revolution of the 1980’s, to the contemporary DAWs, virtual instruments and AI-driven tools that have democratised creativity within the modern discipline. However, it also explores how an abundance of cost-effective tools introduces psychological challenges that inhibit creative potential. It critiques "choice overload," where a multitude of options induce decision paralysis, homogenise outputs and stifle innovation. Countering this, the essay advocates for self-imposed constraints as a catalyst for focused ingenuity and flow states, exemplified by legendary musicians such as Fatboy Slim and David Byrne. Objectives …

Americana Marketing Campaign, Shaela O'Keefe

Undergraduate Theses

Americana World Community Center has served as a beacon of hope and justice within the Louisville, Kentucky community for over 30 years. The nonprofit organization provides “holistic services to Louisville's refugee, immigrant and underserved population to build strong and healthy families, create a safe and supportive community and help every individual realize their potential” (Americana, 2024). Americana creates opportunities for families to thrive through “education, family support, youth achievement, and career & financial development” (Americana, 2024). To further Americana’s mission and assist immigrant families, the organization is currently undergoing the process of gathering narratives of Americana’s impact on their staff, …

Islam And Acculturation: The Presence Of Shamanism And Indigenous Ritual Practice In The Post-Conversion Ilkhanate,, Miranda H. Lenihan

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Devin Deweese's book Islamization and Native Religion in the Golden Horde: Baba Tükles and Conversion to Islam is a keystone work in the study of post-Mongol invasions Central Asia. He explores how Shamanism, the indigenous religion of Mongol tribes, remained culturally relevant in the Golden Horde following the widespread conversion to Islam in hagiographical narratives.

This study investigates the presence of indigenous Shamanic traditions within the post-conversion Ilkhanate and how Deweese's argument for the Golden Horde applies to other Mongol successor states.  Following the widespread adoption of Islam, formerly polytheistic Mongol and Turkic tribes did not abandon their native culture; …