American Studies Commons^™

Folklore And Region In Actual Play Podcasting: An Interview With Clint And Griffin Mcelroy, Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth

Art Faculty Publications

The article focuses on the rise of "actual play" podcasts like The Adventure Zone, which use tabletop roleplaying games as a medium for storytelling. Topics include the show's engagement with Appalachian folklore, the emotional depth of its narrative themes such as memory and loss, and its representation of West Virginia's cultural landscape.

Introduction: Beyond Hollow Materialism, Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth, Zada Komara

Art Faculty Publications

This introduction to the special issue, “Transformative Approaches to Materiality in Appalachian Studies,” provides theoretical background and examples that demonstrate applications of new material culture and materiality theory to key Appalachian studies themes. It offers new directions for the study of material entanglement in social relationships by reviewing the history of material culture studies in the Appalachian context, fundamental theoretical propositions emerging from the “material turn” in social theory, and examples drawn from ethnographic and archaeological research into the patterns of use of material culture in the timber country of West Virginia and coalfields of eastern Kentucky. Finally, this introduction …

Area Of Effect The History And Effects Of Linguistic Choices Made In The Final Fantasy Franchise, Camille Mcdermott

Theses and Dissertations

The Final Fantasy franchise, a seminal role-playing game (RPG) series, has captivated a global audience since its inception in 1987. This thesis, titled "Area of Effect: The History and Effects of Linguistic Choices Made in the Final Fantasy Franchise," explores the intricate use of language that has shaped the series' identity and influenced its worldwide fanbase. The linguistic landscape of Final Fantasy is as diverse and dynamic as its fantastical worlds, evolving from simple text boxes to fully voiced narratives. This study examines the historical context and evolving linguistic choices throughout the series, highlighting how these decisions enrich the gaming …

Digital Zines As Mental And Sexual Health Communication Tools For Latina Teens: Format And Content Acceptability And Initial Findings, Jenn M. Lilly, D'Andrah Almanzar, Susan R. Pace, Dante D. Bryant

Social Service Faculty Publications

Recognizing the potential of digital zines (defined as selfpublished,

online publications combining artwork and

text) as culturally tailored health communication tools,

this article examines the acceptability and impacts of two

digital zines about mental and sexual health created by

Latina young people for Latina teens as a health communication

strategy. We conducted an anonymous online

survey completed by Latina teens who read the zines (32

for sexual health and 33 for mental health). Data analysis

aimed to explore, summarize, and interpret the collected

data using an artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced

approach. Survey participants found the zine format and

content acceptable and …

Islamic Themes In Us Hip-Hop Culture, Anders Ackfeldt

Music & Performance in Muslim Contexts

Explores how Islam is produced in American hip-hop culture by both Muslims and non-Muslims

Islam has been a part of hip-hop culture since it sprang from New York’s street culture in the 1970s. Today hip-hop has evolved into a global artform with a diversity of Muslim Islamic discourses expressed. Using tools from the field of social semiotics, this book examines how Islamic themes feature in US hip-hop culture, maintaining a particular awareness that both Muslims as well as non-Muslims participate in their production.

Anders Ackfeldt analyses a collection of lyrics, sounds and images to show how Islamic themes are featured …

The Paradox Of Value, David Enrique Guarnizo

Theses and Dissertations

The present thesis project examines how, in the United States, and especially in the state of Virginia, archetypes of "wealth," "value," and "identity" have been constructed in relation to land and territory. This analysis explores the tension between the inherent value of life on the land and the economic value that can be derived from it. This tension is exemplified by a theory known as the "paradox of value", also referred to as the "paradox of water and diamonds", which was developed by the renowned Scottish economist and philosopher, Adam Smith. This theoretical framework serves as a fundamental axis for …

The Dirt Underneath My Fingernails: The American Pastoral And 21st-Century Food System Reform, Annabella Isaacson

Scripps Senior Theses

The following is an amalgamation of my experiences personally and vested interests academically, and is meant to be read as just that. As a thesis that combines Environmental Analysis and Writing & Rhetoric degrees, this project challenges traditional academic forms by integrating creative nonfiction and poetry with academic writing and analysis. This thesis attempts to fuse the academic and personal essay into one cohesive piece. The inconclusive nature of the narratives and explorations that follow are intended to represent my process in grappling with the histories and significance of American pastoral literature through the ways in which this genre has …

Woke-Lahoma: Anti-Trans Ideology On The Frontlines, Sarah H. Fogel

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

The past decade (2015-2025) of American politics has been marked by a sharp rise in anti-trans politics. Indeed, during this period, anti-trans rhetoric and legislation have become central to American conservative politics more broadly. As the Republican party under Donald Trump works daily to remake the federal government in its image, studying the recent past of Republican-controlled states like Oklahoma offers a window into the future of anti-trans politics at the national scale. This thesis uses a mix of discourse analysis of anti-trans media and participant observation at 2SLGBTQ+ Pride events to analyze the ideological underpinnings of the present-day anti-trans …

Nothing Short Of Superheroic: A Quantitative Study Of Lifetime Exposure To Superhero Comic Book Media As A Predictor Of Attitudes Towards Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion, Michael Nguyen

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Leadership Studies

This dissertation examined the relationship between lifetime exposure to superhero comic book media and attitudes toward diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Drawing on theories of identity formation—transitional objects, parasocial relationships, and cultivation theory—it investigated whether engagement with superhero narratives predicted DEI attitudes. Using quantitative methods, data from 499 U.S. adults were collected via Qualtrics. Two instruments were used: the Lifetime Superhero Comic Book Media Exposure Scale (LSES) and the Intolerant Schema Measure (ISM), which assessed prejudice across race, gender, sexuality, class, age, and religion. Multiple linear regression revealed that superhero media exposure significantly predicted ISM scores (B = 0.118, …

Cluster Conversation: (Re)Writing Our Histories, (Re)Building Feminist Worlds: Working Toward Hope In The Archives, Ruth Osorio, Lamaya Williams, Megan Mcintyre

English Faculty Publications

[Introduction] "Hope is not like a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. [...] Hope is an ax you break down doors with in an emergency." - Rebecca Solnit

In 2018, Cheryl Glenn wrote, "The work of feminist rhetorical historiography is far from done; in fact, it has just begun-and it is anchored in hope." Following Glenn, we explore hope in this cluster as a methodological imperative in the archives. Informed by theorists Paulo Freire, bell hooks, Rebecca Solnit, and Cornel West, the writers in this Cluster Conversation envision hope as a radical orientation toward …

They Never Saw It Coming: Frames Of Intimate Partner Homicide On Crime Science Investigation (Csi), Tracy Sohoni, Julie Snell, Elizabeth Harden

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Purpose

While portrayals of intimate partner homicide (IPH) in news media have been extensively studied, research on depictions of IPH in television crime dramas has been largely absent despite the fact that crime-dramas have a wide audience and have been shown to have a significant influence on viewers' social attitudes.

Methods

We conduct a thematic content analysis of portrayals of intimate partner homicide across four seasons of the crime-drama Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) and compare these depictions to research on common warning signs and patterns of IPH.

Results

Similar to research on news media, CSI depicts IPH in ways that …

Operation Dumbo Drop: Cultural Memory, And Representations Of The Vietnam War In The 1990s, Sylvie Kromer

Scripps Senior Theses

In 1995, the film Operation Dumbo Drop was released by Walt Disney Pictures. This film, based on a true story of elephants being airlifted across Vietnam in 1968 by the American military, holds a unique position as a rare family-friendly comedy about the Vietnam War. As a reflection of 1990s-era cultural memory of the Vietnam War, the film rehistoricizes and sanitizes the war, following a similar trend in other pieces of media from the same era. Operation Dumbo Drop must be seen in this context and as a product of the moment in which it was made. In taking a …

Love Is Dead In The Restless West: Hippies, Manson, And California Culture, 1966-1970, Rebecca Allen

Scripps Senior Theses

Though an extreme aberration from most of the hippie counterculture of the 1960s, Charles Manson’s ultimately murderous cult arguably represents something particular about American culture in the late sixties, in which youthful hostility towards the status quo sometimes grew radical, and in the case of the Manson Family cult, extremely violent. By the mid-sixties, more and more young people began to feel alienated by a culture they felt no longer embodied their larger aspirations, and as a result, were drawn to the emerging counterculture that embraced alternative lifestyles that frequently clashed with the traditional sensibilities of their parents’ generation. After …

Occupied Lands, Occupied Histories: Activist-Historians And The Red Power Movement, Elena Rose Paz Thompson

History - Master of Arts in Teaching

I. Synthesis Essay.............................4

II. Primary Document Collection......25

III. Textbook Critique........................37

IV. New Textbook Writing.................42

Cold War Karl Mundt: The Utility Of Anticommunism During The Eightieth Congress, Wattier Zachary

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines South Dakota House Representative Karl Mundt during the Eightieth Congress and his role in helping to build a movement and consensus over domestic and international communism. I argue that not only did Mundt help facilitate the Second Red Scare that allowed for the “McCarthyism” of the 1950s to thrive, but Mundt also aided in selling a combative diplomacy towards the USSR which intensified relations into a Cold War. As a ranking member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Mundt advocated for the use of soft power, education, information, and propaganda to sell his idealized Americanism to …

Is Sex Necessary? Or Why You Feel The Way You Do, James Thurber, E. B. White

Zea E-Books Collection

Contents: The Nature of the American Male : A Study of Pedestalism • How to Tell Love From Passion • A Discussion of Feminine Types • The Sexual Revolution : Being a Rather Complete Survey of the Entire Sexual Scene • The Lilies-and-Bluebird Delusion • What Should Children Tell Parents? • Claustrophobia, or What Every Young Wife Should Know • Frigidity in Men • Answers to Hard Questions • Glossary

The year was 1929, the height of the Roaring Twenties and the eve of the Crash and Great Depression. A “Sexual Revolution” was in progress, and two writers from The …

Hidden Wounds And Secret Scars: The Post-World War Ii Western As A Cinema Of Trauma, Maggie Sue Scanlan

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

In this project, I consider the post-WWII Western film as a site that represents and navigates war traumatized American masculinity. Through a discussion of the significance of the Western as a national myth that speaks directly to American masculinity and nation-building through individual violence, I situate the genre as an ideal vehicle to reframe war traumatized masculinity and analyze seven Westerns through a threefold analysis: metaphoric (a cinema of trauma), psychoanalytic (the traumatic gaze), and therapeutic (recovery and reintegration). In Chapter One, I track anxieties and preoccupations signaling the cultural concern with war trauma in genres more routinely associated with …

Mirrors Of The Reel: Black Women's Identity In American Cinema (2009-2024), Melanie-Penny Harrison

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study investigates whether white supremacy structures, embodied in Hollywood’s predominantly white leadership, drive negative portrayals of Black women in 31 mainstream American films from 2009 to 2024. Employing a mixed-methods approach—quantitative content analysis, qualitative content analysis (QCA), and narrative methodology—I code portrayals for racism, patriarchy, heterosexism, colorism, and internalized racism, classifying them as progressive (e.g., empowered roles), regressive (e.g., subservient stereotypes), or hybrid. Guided by Critical Race Theory and intersectionality, the analysis examines narrative structures, character agency, symbolism, and dialogue to uncover intersectional patterns (e.g., race, gender, class) across three periods: 2009–2013, 2014–2018, and 2019–2024. Across these periods, cultural …

A Story Of Oppression A Psychological And Creative Approach, Juan R. Morillo

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The aim of this project is to survey the manner in which oppression is expressed in selected works of literature. It is a topic that not only am I familiar with through my studies of literature and psychology, but one that I, as well as every Venezuelan expatriate has witnessed and felt for their country. The project focuses on social and political oppression, using the current Venezuelan crisis as a focal point, and selected literary sources as a framework. I will analyze dystopian classics such as George Orwell's 1984 and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, as well as Margaret Atwood’s The …

Symbols Of Sovereignty And How They Speak To Us: Reading Contemporary Wampum Artwork In New York State Museums, Marie Peterson

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Contemporary Haudenosaunee artworks in exhibit spaces across New York State are bringing cultural information and counter-historical narratives to the public that they might not encounter otherwise. Artwork that includes wampum depictions or materials has heuristic qualities that can engage viewers with Haudenosaunee ways of knowing and relating. Wampum heuristics and Haudenosaunee scholarship are employed to interrogate how wampum materials were collected, categorized, and researched by the New York State Museum during the salvage anthropology era. The narratives embedded in wampum artworks are traced from this salvage era history, throughout the century between the salvage era that began at the end …

Y’All Means All: Pro-Choice Abortion Activism In West Texas Post-Dobbs, Hannah S. Noblewolf

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

In the spring of 2021, a six-week abortion ban passed by popular vote in the city of Westerburg, Texas. It had a civil enforcement mechanism, allowing someone to collect a reward of $2,000 if they successfully sued someone they reported for “aiding and abetting” abortion. The ban, called the Westerburg Sanctuary City ordinance, was referred to as “bounty hunting.” When the ban passed it became the template for the state-level Texas Heartbeat Act, which provides a greater financial reward for a successful civil suit, with a minimum of $10,000 plus legal fees. In the face of this ban, pro-choice activists …

Embracing The Both/And: Learning From The Lived Experiences Of White Facilitators Of Racial Equity Workshops, Alicia M. Wargo

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study focuses on the lived experiences of seasoned White facilitators of racial equity workshops to understand how they navigate the complexity of occupying a White racial identity while working to challenge the belief systems of white supremacy ingrained in themselves and others. Through applying Critical Race Theory as a framework to grounded theory methodology, this study examined whiteness as a sensitizing concept in micro, meso, and macro levels of analysis, situating this dissertation in the theoretical exploration of the multifaceted and pervasive nature of whiteness. Much of the research on racial equity work examines White participants in nascent stages …

The Vietnam War And The Regional Context, Wen-Qing Ngoei

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This chapter traces Southeast Asia’s overall pro-U.S. trajectory from before and through the American war in Vietnam, a process in which the region’s anticommunist nationalists collaborated with the United States and Britain to gain, and remain in, power. Between the late 1940s through the early 1960s, indigenous anticommunist elites in Thailand and the Philippines rose to political dominance with U.S. assistance; in Malaya and Singapore they did so with British support. The United States and Britain, with their Malayan and Singaporean allies, would influence developments within Indonesia that precipitated the Indonesian Army’s rightwing coup of 1965, a transformative event that …

Volume 11, Issue 3, Critical Currents And Pedagogical Shifts In Popular Culture And Pedagogy, Journal Dialogue

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

Volume 11, Issue 3 of Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy: On Confronting Identity and Global Challenges through Popular Culture and Pedagogy.

Escaping The Pedagogical Cabin In The Woods, Tony Kemerly, Davis Ritenour

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

The American educational system, because of its seemingly innocuous yet ubiquitous nature, has become, to borrow a term from Roland Barthes, naturalized. By being naturalized, it has become a system that has somehow slipped beneath the radar of the American populace and operates on an autopilot of sorts that allows it to employ practices that don’t necessarily have the best interests of its constituents at heart. Murray Rothbard (1979) argued that compulsory schooling is not guided by altruism, but rather a desire to coerce the population into a mold that is desired by those possessing power in society. This need …

Building Transferable Skills In An Interdisciplinary Science And Science Fiction Capstone Course, John D. Carrell, Robert G. Weiner, Alexandria Prather

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

College graduates are entering an ever-competitive workforce. Interdisciplinary course experiences are critical for developing analytical abilities and learning and these courses can provide valuable skills that will aid students beyond the classroom. These transferable skills include communication, teamwork, analytical and critical thinking, and creativity. To provide a unique learning experience and, through it, the development of transferable skills, the Honors College at Texas Tech University created an upper-level Capstone course titled “Superheroes, Super Villains, AI, Time Travel, and Film in Science and Popular Culture.” The class is an interdisciplinary look at science and science fiction taught by an engineering faculty …

Leaps And Bounds In Popular Culture And Pedagogy Dialogue: A Note From The Editor In Chief And Associate Editor, Anna Cohenmiller, Karina Vado

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Self-Sacrifice And Civilization: American Everyday Heroism And The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission In The Progressive Era, Simon Wendt

Heroism Science

This article examines the multi-layered meanings of civilian heroism around 1900. It argues that the Progressive Era was an important transition period in the history of heroism in the United States, during which definitions of what was regarded as heroic multiplied and no longer revolved solely around military valor or political leadership. Especially everyday heroes received unprecedented media attention. They were seen by many as evidence of the continuing progress of American civilization, which appeared to allow for a peaceful coexistence of individual self-interest and social consciousness. The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, established in 1904, contributed much to such interpretations …

Re-Indigenizing And Collaboratively Tending Urban Greenspaces, Divinity Nnenne Adewale

University Honors Theses

This work details the active process of land tending with the intention of re-Indigenization in the Pacific Northwest at several Portland sites; The Native American Student Community Center, PSU Oak Savanna, and the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. Land tending is an intuitive process, one rooted in love and respect for life of all forms as well as becoming the perpetual student; land tending is not a skill to be mastered, only practiced. Unlike environmental management, tending cannot be done separate from the earth, in a classroom or otherwise. Connections are what tending is built on top of: the foundation; effort …

Modern Agricultural Servitude: The Modern Farm Worker Experience In The Salinas Valley, Jesus E. Tavarez

Chicana and Chicano Studies ETDs

The prevailing narrative in Chicanx studies focuses on the historical labor activism of the United Farm Workers (UFW) in the 1960s and ‘70s. I am particularly interested in examining the contemporary campesino experience in the Salinas Valley by discussing the history behind Mexican cheap labor, low wages, exploitive work conditions with inadequate healthcare, agrochemical exposure, and historical consciousness of farm workers. I will argue that farm workers are in dire need of a migratory reform as an approach to improve the working conditions of farm workers throughout California. This research aims to shed light on how the multi-billion-dollar agribusiness industry …