Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Creating Better Musicians Through Musicality: A Guide To Building An Instructional Unit, Shelby Leo

Theses

This project provides an in depth focus on how to strengthen an ensemble's approach to musicality through lesson plans, assessments, and activities. The primary focus group of this project is high school aged performance based classes including band and choir. The aim of the project is to provide a music educator with a detailed curriculum to teach musicality that is adjustable to any size ensemble and any score. Furthermore, this project is not a study but instead an explanation to the approach of developing the curriculum unit. The project consists of a four unit curriculum with two to three lessons …

Women’S Influence In Cerén’S Architecture: Weaving Patterns In Classic Maya Art, Nicole Rosalia Lazo

Theses

This study aims to disclose how Classic Maya commoners utilized weaving patterns in small village architecture to highlight female power and status in the highlands of Mesoamerica. There are two primary goals for this project: first, to demonstrate how the weaving patterns in Maya highlands architecture stood as a symbol for female authority; second, to add equity and diversity to the field of art history by studying the Maya with a feminist lens, which is typically an underrepresented culture and gender in comparison to other civilizations, such as those from Europe and the United States. Furthermore, the Classic Maya farming …

The Heroic Parallels Of Hercules And Lorenzo De Medici, Michael Putorti

Theses

During the late fifteenth century, a painting was displayed in the Palazzo Medici, home to one of Florence’s most influential families. The painting was commissioned by Lorenzo de’ Medici from one of his favorite artists, Antonio Pollaiuolo. The painting, entitled Hercules and Deianira, portrays a scene from the Herculean myth. The composition depicts the hero Hercules, who can be seen aiming an arrow at the centaur Nessus, who is carrying of Hercules’ new bride, Deianira. Throughout his life, Lorenzo admired the mythological hero and would often acquire compositions depicting him as a way of representing his own heroic qualities. However, …

Cult Of Propaganda: Monastic Dominance As Displayed In Canterbury Cathedral's Saintly Iconography, Jon Talvin Breazeale

Theses

This thesis examines the iconography in the windows of the Early English saints Dunstan and Alphege as depicted in England’s Canterbury Cathedral. In the windows of St. Dunstan, one can see how the saint saves the monarchs from the flames of hell. It also shows what can happen to those that would question or challenge the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The windows of St. Alphege show a dedicated man of the church ready to give his life to help save the town’s people from an unruly group of invaders. These windows were added to the eastern arm of …

Black Male Educators Matter: Modeling And Expectations In K-12 Settings, Denelle Wallace, Linda Bol, Kendra Hall, Erin Cousins

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

In light of the teacher shortage and increased emphasis on diversifying the educator workforce, the recruitment and retention of Black male educators is critical. The researchers focused on how these educators perceive their impact as role models and what others expect from them in K-12 contexts. The researchers administered questionnaires (N=38) and conducted interviews (N=11). Most educators considered themselves to be positive role models, especially for Black students. Expectations about their responsibilities as disciplinarians were positive unless imposed by race or at the expense of perceived academic skills. They needed to prove themselves with respect to academic qualifications. Interpersonal relationships …

Reconsidering Scales And The Binary In Forensic Anthropology: A Critical Analysis Of Morphoscopic Data Utilized In Sex Estimation Standards., Bailey N. Watson

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

This research explores sex estimation standards used in forensic anthropology in an effort to further the conversation about forensic anthropology's binary-focused language and methods. Discussions regarding sex estimation methodology are important in light of gender variance in the general population. Presently, there is minimal published research on the identification of gender non-conforming individuals in forensic anthropology.

Two researchers individually assigned scores to features associated with sexual dimorphism in the os coxae according to existing methods for 253 individuals, equally represented by self- reported males and females. These data were statistically analyzed for correlation and overlap between features.

Results mainly point …

Linguistic And Cultural Training For Immigration Attorneys Representing Undocumented Oaxacan Immigrants In The United States., Alexis Faith Ecarma

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

The roles of second language acquisition and cultural competence in the training of attorneys have been explored by legal scholars and law professors. Some suggest that such training ought to be administered to law students as a component of their law school curricula. Others argue that, in an increasingly globalized legal field, “experiential learning” is essential for developing linguistically-proficient and culturally-competent lawyers. Despite the growing presence of undocumented Oaxacan immigrants in the U.S., scholars have yet to investigate the linguistic and cultural training of U.S. immigration attorneys who represent these immigrants in legal contexts. The following research fills this gap …

The Unarticulated Unseen: Britt Bennett’S “The Vanishing Half” And Her Intent On Revealing The Unseen In The Tradition Of Racial Passing, Caroline Maas Rue

All Theses

Throughout the trajectory of passing literature, there have been varying projections of racial identity as it is intertwined with choice and power. Despite the many commonalities between the archetypal passing novel, the differences in the way that passing is demarcated in various novels is indicative of the racial climate out of which it came. This paper considers Britt Bennett’s 2020 novel, The Vanishing Half, as a socio-political artifact of an allegedly post-racial era. In considering Bennett’s novel as a reflection of post-raciality, a comparative study incorporating Nella Larsen’s Passing, Douglas Sirk’s Adaptation of Imitation of Life, and Danzy …

Popular Music And History: An Interconnected Narrative, Gwendolin Bresnan

Honors Capstones

Music plays such an important role in life, and perhaps it plays an even bigger role in the context of greater society, inspiring real change. Or, do contemporary events influence music trends and not the other way around? To research this question, I will begin by looking at the history and music trends of two countries – the United States and Germany – as case studies. I will first examine peer-reviewed research detailing how history influences music and vice versa, along with research explaining how people interact with music and their listening trends during times of societal change. Then, I …

An Analysis Of And Guide To Tamora Pierce’S Protector Of The Small Quartet As Compared To The Established Young Adult Fantasy Canon, Emma Marie Gilbert

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Tamora Pierce’s work has been cited by many Young Adult fantasy authors as a major influence in recent years. Despite this, her work remains relatively obscure among librarians and readers of Young Adult literature. This paper examined one of Pierce’s Young Adult fantasy series, Protector of the Small, by comparing the series to existing works of Young Adult fantasy literature commonly accepted as classic or canonical literature. Among the comparative works were titles authored by C. S. Lewis, J. K. Rowling, and Philip Pullman. Comparison was character-focused, with emphasis on the representation of parents, other sympathetic adults, peers, and …

American Fears: H.P. Lovecraft And The Paranoid Style, Bailey Marvel

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Why is H.P. Lovecraft still relevant? That is the one the questions put forward by this thesis. Lovecraft is known for his creation of Lovecraftian horror, also known as cosmic horror. However, his bigoted view on race and class muddies this legacy. What this thesis seeks to explore is how Lovecraft’s work demonstrates the fears and anxieties central to the America psyche. The paranoid style can be found in American discourse throughout history but it can also be found in the works of Lovecraft himself. Lovecraft was a prejudiced and paranoid man, and his prejudices and paranoia are a major …

Doomscrolling: How Science Journalism Can Fight Climate Despair, Rachel Gow

Student Theses 2015-Present

This thesis explores how the compulsive consumption of negative climate news leads to passivity and what science journalists can do to galvanize rather than traumatize readers. While journalists must alert the public of the climate crisis’ severity, they should avoid creating a too-late-to-help narrative. This thesis attempts to find a balance in the tones of intensity and optimism in environmental communications. The first chapter establishes climate change as human-caused before exploring the history of climate communications and its contributions to eco-anxiety. The second chapter looks at the use of emotional pleas in climate change reporting as found in fake climate …

Proceed With Caution: Safety, Peace, And Collective Responsibility, Rebecca Potts

Honors College Theses

Throughout my childhood, my parents often took me out into nature to go hiking, camping, and just explore. Now when I am in nature, I am reminded of my childhood and reflect on the memories of safety and comfort that I experienced, but through the lens of the person that I am today. As I have learned about and engaged with people in my community, I realized that their experiences and views of being outdoors and in the environments that I grew up feeling comfortable in are much different than mine. These different experiences are based on factors such as …

The Contradiction Of The Welfare Dictatorship: The Stasi’S Role In Preserving And Undermining East German Human Rights, Mallory Wooldridge

Honors College Theses

Constructed four years after WWII in a kind of pendulum swing response to the Third Reich, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was an experiment in socialism. Under the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (The Socialist Unity Party of Germany, SED) no East German was to go hungry, unemployment would be eradicated, housing guaranteed, women treated as equals, and human rights interwoven into the fabric of this socialist society. However, SED socialism in practice did not conform to this original vision and would eventually represent the disillusionment with the socialist project as a whole.

This project seeks to understand human rights in the …

Narrating Madness: Building Narratives Against Privileged Identity, Kristin Santa Maria

All Dissertations

This dissertation examines how competing narratives related to madness and mental health can provide insight into the inconsistencies of preconceived biases that tie into privilege and power. These biases relate to identities associated with race, gender, class, and embodiment. By exploring madness narratives, we can see how madness often becomes a quality used to isolate and “other” people that act against typical societal and cultural norms. Works of fiction and nonfiction that pertain to madness narratives can either be used to perpetuate stereotypes of normalcy or as a vehicle to allow for a more open and frank discussion of madness …

My Body Is A Question Mark Lit From Within, Lisa Marie Schrad

Graduate Thesis Collection

In her MFA thesis “My Body Is a Question Mark Lit from Within,” Lisa Marie Schrad explores through poetry the body and its different appetites—hunger for justice, for healing, for God, for home, for wonder. Along the way, the poems also make clear that the path toward fullness and satisfaction must inevitably pass through a deep, brave commitment to knowing the full truth about ourselves. When a light shines out from inside the body, what shortcomings are exposed? What goodness is revealed? And how do we live in the world responsibly, kindly, from the space in-between our questions and their …

A Word From The Writing Team (May 2022), Pam Walter, Mfa, Liz Declan, Ma, Mfa

A Word From the Writing Team (Newsletter)

This issue includes:

• News from the OPWPC
• Quick Tip
• Reminder

Examining Difference In Social Perceptions Between Women Using Hormonal Contraceptives And Naturally Cycling Women, Caroline B. Johnson

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

The term “stress” refers to a person’s psychological and physiological response to the demands and pressures of the world around them (Farlex, 2021). Past research has shown that stress can have negative side effects on a person’s well-being (Aneshensel et al., 1991; Wunsch et al., 2017; Michie, 2002). Although people experience stress, some people perceive more stress than others. Perceptions are important because the way one understands certain conditions can elicit distinct emotional and physiological responses (Kemeny, 2003). An important factor that has not received a lot of attention is women’s use of hormonal contraceptives. In the United States, 24.4% …

The Effects Of Hormonal Contraceptive Use On Perceptions Of Social Stress In Women, Ashton Jones

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Hormonal contraceptives are widely used due to their efficiency in preventing pregnancy. Although women are often informed of the physical effects of hormonal contraceptives, there is little emphasis on mental effects, such as increased rates of depression and changes in social perception. The current study examined perceptions of social stress among women before beginning hormonal contraceptives, and two months after using hormonal contraceptives. I hypothesized that women would experience increased social stress after beginning hormonal contraceptives, compared to a control group of women who were also assessed twice. Results did not support this hypothesis; there was no difference in interpersonal …

The Need For Specialized Substance Abuse Treatment For Gay Men In The United States, Sarah Nance

Health, Human Performance and Recreation Undergraduate Honors Theses

Substance misuse and abuse is a global public health issue that affects sexual minority populations at a higher rate than the heterosexual population. Many popular gay socialization strategies include gay bars and chemsex, or sexualized drug use, in which substance use is common in both. The Minority Stress Model provides an explanation as to how stigma embedded in a society and within a person can act as a stressor and manifest into a substance abuse disorder. This stigma acts for many as a barrier to seeking healthcare out of fear of discrimination, causing many to hide their identity when seeking …

Representation Of Women & Bbia Composers In The Teaching Music Through Performance In Band Series, Alicia M. Turnquist

Honors Thesis

One problem seen in music education curriculum today is the underrepresentation of Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian (BBIA), and female composers in the band ensemble repertoire. Throughout history, these composers have been excluded in the curriculum causing an overrepresentation of white non-Hispanic male composers. Some music education organizations are beginning to address this issue but, few, if any, have addressed the problem in the band classroom setting. This project examined the repertoires selected in the first ten volumes of the Teaching Music through Performance in Band series to examine how representative the composers included in the series were to the K-12 …

To Build A Hero: Douglas Macarthur And The War That Wasn’T, Ian Garrett Morris

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This thesis argues that Douglas MacArthur, General of the Army and Commander in Chief of Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific Area during the Second World War, and those acting under his purview, did knowingly and deliberately engage in a campaign of misinformation – during and after the war – with the intention of enhancing his reputation. The goal of this campaign was twofold: He would secure enough popular support to make him politically unassailable at the time and he would protect his legacy for posterity. Unlike previous surveys, which fail to hold MacArthur accountable for the deep and pervasive …

Laughter, Mahrukh Aamir

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Set in Boise, “Laughter,” is centered on a gullible anti-heroine and an aspiring writer, who is infatuated with a poet.

The novel is about relationships with parents, friends, strangers, complete strangers. An inquiry into what it means to live an authentic life; and what to make of “other” people in fiction: people in books, films, songs.

It’s about blurriness: funniness and sadness; creepiness and devotedness; fiction and reality.

I Used To Weave Crowns: A Novel, Natanya Biskar

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This novel-in-progress explores the nature of memory, grief, and the complexities of coming of age. Through the voice of the narrator, Ada Strunsky, who is by turns both prickly and tender, we are drawn into the world of San Francisco at the end of the 19th century, a time of social and economic upheaval, when monopolists made fortunes and oyster thieves roamed the Bay. Through an associative structure, the novel seeks to capture the feeling of memory, which is often non-linear, more impressionistic than logical. As Ada seeks to untangle her complicity in crimes both literal and emotional, she takes …

The Kiss Turns: A Play On Aural Manor, Meredith Higgins

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The Kiss Turns: A Play on Aural Manor is a poetic work that explores the nature of being and selfhood as they are expressed and modulated through the hearing, speaking, and writing of language. The Manor and surrounding Grounds here are presented as a fluid junk-mosaic: colorful, clamoring, thing-filled, magical, and on the move. Seven characters reside on the Manor’s property and live out their respective longings and loves, apprehending horror, tragedy, abundance, and the possibility of play through accepting and collaborating with the unknown depths of being.

Arguing For The Philosophy Of Political Science, Robert Herold

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

While there are many working scientists who engage in things like theory building and empirical testing, there has also been a group of scientists who sought to better understand the philosophy behind science. This philosophical study of science as a project is referred to as the philosophy of science and there are different sub-fields for each of the natural and social sciences, except for political science. This lack of an explicit sub-field dedicated to reflecting on our philosophy of science, i.e., our beliefs, values, methods, etc., has caused this knowledge to become tacit within our community. Because the knowledge of …

Horsonnets, Shriram Sivaramakrishnan

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

‘Horsonnets’ was conceived and written between September 2019 and December 2021. As the name suggests, the collection is centered around horses, as objects of desire, metaphor, tropes. The collection is structured into four sections: ‘the way a horse frames blueness’, ‘to nurse a hurt’, ‘horsonnets’ and ‘landscape with horns’. Together, they all address different kinds of pain (horses became emblematic of that): bodily (‘the way a horse frames blueness’), historical (‘to nurse a hurt’), cultural (‘horsonnets’), and spiritual (‘landscape with horns’).

Tap Dance As A Nonverbal Language For Autism Spectrum Disorder, J Sydney Rhane Burtis

Honors College Theses

Through elements of sound and movement, tap dance employs rhythm as a universal language for nonverbal communication through the medium of music. Through three distinct but related elements, (a literature review, an artist’s statement, and a performance piece), this thesis will explore tap dance as a form of nonverbal language. For individuals with autism spectrum disorder, tap dance may help to achieve further attunement with themselves and the outside world. Due to autistic people’s impaired communicative, interactional, and skilled abilities, experiencing the relationships formed through tap dance may facilitate improvement. The literature review begins with a brief definition of nonverbal …

Digital Memories: An Exploration Of Learning To Create Art In The Digital Age, Emily Keegan-Wolf

Honors College Theses

Artist Statement

My work explores the relationship between physical and digital mediums. I aim to create digital images that looks as if they could be a traditional media. I am interested in how the two forms relate to one another and how digital manipulation affects physical artwork. I shoot and develop the black and white photographs used in this work: I am interested in the way that black and white is not just black and white, but many in-between shades as well.

To a digital element, I create glitch gifs from my images and use augmented reality to display these …

The Death Of Print Magazines In Fashion: The Fight To Stay Relevant During The Digital Era And A Look At The Future Of Fashion Print Magazines, Mary Shannon Donnelly

Honors College Theses

We have found ourselves in a digital era. For the past ten years, the public’s Internet usage per day has skyrocketed across all age groups, which in turn, has had an effect on the print industry (e.g. books, magazines, newspapers). As technology has progressed, many have turned to online magazines and journals to receive their fashion news. Given this rapid advance in digital technology, in my honors thesis, I plan to focus on the effect of digital media on print, specifically in the context of fashion magazines. Specifically, I will explore the history of the fashion magazine, its efforts to …