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Articles 1 - 30 of 199
Full-Text Articles in American Studies
“The Right Of Black Folk To Love And Enjoy”: Black Romanticism, Pleasure, And Poetics, 1900-1920, John D. Hadlock
“The Right Of Black Folk To Love And Enjoy”: Black Romanticism, Pleasure, And Poetics, 1900-1920, John D. Hadlock
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This dissertation explores poetry written at the turn of the twentieth century in order to closely examine what I call the “Black Romantic” impulse of the Harlem and New Negro Renaissances. I argue that Black American poets turned to a Romantic notion of the poet as cultural representative and of poetry as a radical celebration of beauty that disavowed and disputed social ills, namely racist ideologies in America, while simultaneously demanding the right of Black pleasure-taking. However, I also contend that Black American poets of various backgrounds and identities used different poetic, rhetorical, and artistic strategies to elevate the status …
"Driving Circles Around The Holler:" Liminality And The Grotesque In Donald Ray Pollock's Knockemstiff, Celia A. Ranniger
"Driving Circles Around The Holler:" Liminality And The Grotesque In Donald Ray Pollock's Knockemstiff, Celia A. Ranniger
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Donald Ray Pollock’s 2008 short story cycle, Knockemstiff, is a regionalist work of grotesque Grit Lit featuring characters from a small, rural holler community in southern Ohio. This work examines the form, narratives, and characters through close reading, illuminating the layers of different liminalities present in the cycle. These liminalities include narrative liminality of the form of the short story cycle, the social and economic liminal spaces inhabited by the characters, and the ways that the text comments on the liminal nature of storytelling itself. This thesis will argue that the geography of the cycle’s setting coupled with the subject …
My Achilles Years., Ash William Bittner
My Achilles Years., Ash William Bittner
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This dissertation is a historically and rhetorically grounded creative project exploring the traumas of war. This project is divided into three broad chapters, each using a different (and relevant) approach to cover the content contained within that chapter. The first chapter relies on that historical grounding, exploring the history of PTSD as it is currently understood, before exploring ancient Greek poetry and theater and both the historical and military contexts for each, before finally discussing modern warfare and the “Forever War” of the American War on Terror that lasted for nineteen years. With the historical grounding set, it moves into …
The Lived Experiences Of Navajo Nurses During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Stephnie Ann Leeson
The Lived Experiences Of Navajo Nurses During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Stephnie Ann Leeson
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
When COVID-19 was diagnosed on the Navajo Nation, the impact on the people and the healthcare system was not understood. For almost three years, Navajo healthcare workers battled what was known to the Navajo as Dikos Nitsaaígíí Náhást’éíts’áadah, translated as The Big Cough. The Navajo Nation President, Jonathan Nez, referred to it as a Monster, as did many people in the Navajo Nation. Navajo nurses on the frontlines battled the monster daily as they saw friends and relatives succumb to the insidious disease. Much has been written about nurses off the reservations working on the frontline during the pandemic. However, …
The Islamic Orient In Antebellum America: The Influence Of Edgar Allan Poe In Contemporary Arabic Literature, Sohaib Alkamal
The Islamic Orient In Antebellum America: The Influence Of Edgar Allan Poe In Contemporary Arabic Literature, Sohaib Alkamal
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This dissertation posits a comprehensive overview of the debate about Orientalism, particularly early American depictions of the Islamic Orient. The study investigates the antebellum American portrayal of the Islamic Orient, focusing on Edgar Allan Poe’s Orientalist readings. While Said’s Orientalism concentrates heavily on aspects of power in West-East relations throughout history, this study expands on several aspects of Said’s book. This study provides a new approach to exploring the field of Orientalism by giving a voice to Arabic sources that are absent in Said’s Orientalism and rarely known to Western audiences. Such sources are medieval Islamic sources, which include phantasies …
Not Just A Good Ole Boys Club: Studying The Personal, Performance, And Professional Roles Of Women In Bluegrass, Lydia Hamby
Not Just A Good Ole Boys Club: Studying The Personal, Performance, And Professional Roles Of Women In Bluegrass, Lydia Hamby
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This study investigates gender disparities in professional bluegrass music. Through a mixed methods approach, combining quantitative data from festival lineups and qualitative interviews with six professional female bluegrass musicians, this research provides a comprehensive view of gender dynamics in the industry. The quantitative analysis of eight major festivals in the Appalachian region reveals that women comprise on 8.87% of performers on average, indicating systemic exclusion. Qualitative data from interviews and participant observations at Blue Highway Fest explores the social and institutional practices that sustain these disparities, revealing roles such as the “singer girl” sex appeal, manager, and token female. This …
From Slaveship To Championship: Pan-Africanism, The Black Atlantic, And Reframing The Rumble In The Jungle., Garret S. Mccorkle
From Slaveship To Championship: Pan-Africanism, The Black Atlantic, And Reframing The Rumble In The Jungle., Garret S. Mccorkle
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The “Rumble in the Jungle” is often remembered as Muhammad Ali’s triumphant return to boxing glory, yet its deeper historical and cultural context remains understudied. This thesis reframes the 1974 heavyweight championship in Zaire as a global spectacle shaped by Pan-Africanism and Paul Gilroy’s theory of the Black Atlantic. More than a fight, it was a performance of Black identity, unity, and cultural return. However, this work argues that these themes—though deeply meaningful to many—were also strategically deployed by figures like Don King and Mobutu Sese Seko for promotional and financial gain. Through an analysis of marketing materials, fighter personas, …
Sacred Connections In Cartoonish Places: Exploring The Implications Of Teotl In Avatar: The Last Airbender (2008), Makenzie P. Morrison
Sacred Connections In Cartoonish Places: Exploring The Implications Of Teotl In Avatar: The Last Airbender (2008), Makenzie P. Morrison
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Taking Avatar: The Last Airbender (2008) seriously, Sacred Connections in Cartoonish Places explores the animated children’s series and how it is understood through the monistic Nahua (Aztec) concept of teotl. Relying on James Maffie’s text Aztec Philosophy: Understanding a World in Motion (2014), this thesis determines that Avatar: The Last Airbender benefits from monistic analysis. This analysis results in a breakdown of the show into four body chapters. These chapters respectively explore Aang’s role as a monistic representative, the differences between the physical and spirit worlds presented in the show, the kind of relationships that appear in the series, and …
A Pragmatic Legacy: Charles Wilson’S Politics And The Battle For His Archival Heritage, Jordan Coleman
A Pragmatic Legacy: Charles Wilson’S Politics And The Battle For His Archival Heritage, Jordan Coleman
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Congressman Charlie Wilson served Texas and the United States with distinction throughout his political career, leaving a profound impact on East Texas and the global stage. Known for his progressive policies in the Texas Legislature and his influential role in U.S. foreign policy during his tenure in Congress, Wilson’s pragmatic political career and legacy is preserved in the Charlie Wilson Congressional Papers collection at the East Texas Research Center (ETRC). Despite its historical significance, the collection faced decades of delayed processing, disorganization, and neglect of archival best practices. This public history thesis confronts these challenges by detailing the efforts to …
It's Funny When You Think About It: Formal Complexity And Emotional Engagement In Twentieth Century American Humor, Noel Stanger
It's Funny When You Think About It: Formal Complexity And Emotional Engagement In Twentieth Century American Humor, Noel Stanger
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
It is generally accepted by scholars of humor that humor requires an observer to take on a perspective of “critical distance” – or a perspective through which the observer can be critical of the target of humor. Consequently, work in the field is dominated by an assumption – whether implicit or explicit - that humor (and, especially, twentieth century American humor) necessitates that the observer disengages emotionally from the target of humor. In this project, I challenge this assumption and argue that humor has the potential to be extremely emotionally engaging. Focusing on written humor and building on both classic …
A Qualitative Study Of The Career Experiences Of Asian And Asian American Female Administrators In U.S. Higher Education, Yunru Shen
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This qualitative phenomenological study explored the experiences of Asian and Asian American women administrators’ career paths in U.S. higher education. The research fills a gap in the literature regarding the careers of Asian and Asian American women administrators. The recruitment process was completed between May 13 and July 9, 2024. Recruitment emails were sent to 25 potentially qualified participants, including a network of 17 people made up of mentors, professors, and colleagues, as well as eight professional associations and LinkedIn. The participants were six Asian and Asian American biologically female administrators at U.S. colleges and universities. These participants currently hold …
On Salvation And Genre: Fast Sermons In Seventeenth-Century New England, Daniel Patrick Mcgee
On Salvation And Genre: Fast Sermons In Seventeenth-Century New England, Daniel Patrick Mcgee
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The fast sermon is an important and overlooked genre in the literary history of colonial New England, one which complicates theories about American puritanism underwritten by the imprecise narrative construct of the jeremiad. This thesis will argue that preachers used fast sermons to shape their communities, respond to major events, and provide competing interpretations of Congregationalist doctrine throughout the seventeenth century. Borrowing from the methodologies of new formalist criticism and Louis Althusser’s theory of material ideology, it will examine common themes, motifs, and rhetorical demands in John Wheelwright’s 1637 Fast Sermon, Thomas Shepard’s 1645 Wine for Gospel Wantons, …
Settler Colonialism And Refusal Through Indigenous Eyes, Charlie Amáyá Scott
Settler Colonialism And Refusal Through Indigenous Eyes, Charlie Amáyá Scott
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The educational system within the united states has benefited and continues to benefit from the structures and systems of settler colonialism. Yet, despite such colonizing goals of displacement, removal, and genocide, Indigenous Peoples are still here. This critical Indigenous qualitative research study sought to understand descriptions and interpretations of settler colonialism from the perspectives of Indigenous undergraduate students and how they have, refused settler colonialism while navigating their undergraduate journeys. Indigenous ways of knowing and ways of being were centered and cited in a manner that made this dissertation more than just a research study; it became a home where …
Place And Placelessness: An Ecocritical Approach Towards The Mountain Imagery In Country Music, Siyuan Ma
Place And Placelessness: An Ecocritical Approach Towards The Mountain Imagery In Country Music, Siyuan Ma
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Drawing upon cultural geographer Yi-Fu Tuan’s frame of place and placelessness, this ecocritical project explores how the mountain landscapes serve to construct regional, national, cultural, spiritual, religious, even racialized identities in various human societies. Using the U.S. country music as a primary example, I argue that what country music fundamentally draws from the imagery of the Appalachian Mountains is not the Anglo-Saxon ballad music or pastoral lifestyle of/from the mountains, but the powerful sense of place and placelessness (arguably only) the mountainous scenes are capable to provoke. This exploration serves to illuminate the commonalties between humanities of different cultures and …
The Superhero Gothic: The Montrous Hero To The Heroic Monster In The Twentieth Century., John Darowski
The Superhero Gothic: The Montrous Hero To The Heroic Monster In The Twentieth Century., John Darowski
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The influence of Gothic literature and its adaptations on the superhero genre has been profound. Both genres have an ideological project of the restoration of normalcy and order after disruption and disorder, thereby reinforcing cultural norms. However, their themes and methodologies are diametrically opposed. The Gothic is an exploration of the negative aesthetics of terror and horror, which reveal human weaknesses. The superhero is a power fantasy that celebrates justice and morality. A synthesis of the two creates a paradox: the monstrous hero—a Hoppen stand hero who takes on the attributes of a monster—who evolves into the heroic monster—a monster …
"Live Free, Read Hard:" Mass-Market Westerns, Mainstream Readers, And The Far Right, 1970-1999, Indigo Recker
"Live Free, Read Hard:" Mass-Market Westerns, Mainstream Readers, And The Far Right, 1970-1999, Indigo Recker
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This dissertation analyzes mass-produced western novels and their readers from the years 1970 to 1999. At the end of the twentieth century, when mass market western novels were sold at a rate indicating consistent readerships, the US was seeing a rise in far-right politics with events like the 1992 Ruby Ridge standoff, the 1993 WACO siege, and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. This readership, and these political movements, are the focus of this dissertation, exploring how readers situated themselves into political discourse, how political meanings embedded in mass-market fiction aligned with racial, class, gender, and regional identities in contemporary US …
Tell The Bees That Transcendentalism Is Lost: The Search For The Lost Transcendental Space In The Bee Poetry Of Emily Dickinson And Sylvia Plath, Adyson M. Ross
Tell The Bees That Transcendentalism Is Lost: The Search For The Lost Transcendental Space In The Bee Poetry Of Emily Dickinson And Sylvia Plath, Adyson M. Ross
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s bee poem, “The Humble-Bee,” expresses the nineteenth-century transcendentalist philosophy of finding wholeness and oneness in nature while Sylvia Plath’s twentieth-century bee poems function as a response to Plath’s feelings of alienation and repression, indicating that transcendental peace is lost in the postmodern era. Emerson’s poem indicates the spiritual fulfilment found through observing bees and highlights the harmony between humans and nature, but women of the nineteenth century find difficulty achieving this same level of freedom; Emily Dickinson reclaims the language of transcendentalism in her bee poetry to explore a world otherwise denied to her. The effects of …
Mankind Is Machine: A Monstrous Posthuman Reading Of Philip K. Dick’S Selected Works, Gabriel Davis
Mankind Is Machine: A Monstrous Posthuman Reading Of Philip K. Dick’S Selected Works, Gabriel Davis
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The works of Philip K. Dick act as an ideal template for readers to explore what it means to be human in a technologically dominated world. Dick’s emphasis on the usage of androids and artificial intelligence as literary monsters allows for a posthuman reading of the traditional literary monster, notably in how their uncanny nature and behavior helps reveal the synthetic tendencies of humanity. In Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, “Imposter,” and “I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon,” each narrative incorporates artificial intelligence and androids acting as others to reveal the machine-like qualities of Dick’s human characters. This …
The Well-Tempered Android: Philosophical Posthumanism In Science Fiction Cinema., Cody Gault
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 …
The Landscape Does Not Care It Is A Landscape: A Utopian Pessimist Journey In Kentucky., Shachaf Polakow
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 …
K-5 Elementary Alternative Program: A Case Study, William E. Scheuer Iv
K-5 Elementary Alternative Program: A Case Study, William E. Scheuer Iv
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The purpose of this case study was to examine how the K-5 elementary alternative program All Students Can Thrive (ASCT) used student-centered learning practices to influence the whole child. There is a lack of research on K-5 elementary alternative programs, such as ASCT, and specifically those that integrate student-centered learning practices to influence the whole child. Literature does not contain universally accepted interventions that are effective in the elementary alternative setting to help students return to the mainstream classroom setting better prepared to display appropriate behaviors when a student is removed from a mainstream classroom setting due to disruptive behaviors. …
Rendering Documentary Portraiture: An Interrogation Of Archival Discourse Through A Critical Exploration Of Nineteenth Century Stage Actress Charlotte Cushman’S Material Memory, Skyler Sunday
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Visual depictions of nineteenth century stage actress Charlotte Cushman, such as photographs, engravings, and painted portraits assist researchers in re-envisioning her both as an actress and as a person, but what do her remaining archival possessions further reveal to researchers about her memory? How do different objects operate as portraits that allow the researcher to tap into and remember specific moments and memory? How does the effort to preserve memory take different forms? This project argues that, when viewing the archive through its stored objects, our collective notion of portraiture can be expanded and used to interrogate existing methods of …
Isocrates's Place In Postmodern Advertising, Christopher Barkley
Isocrates's Place In Postmodern Advertising, Christopher Barkley
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This study in communication and rhetoric seeks to ascertain constructive applications for distinct advertising practices by examining Isocrates’s work and place in postmodern advertising. The focus uses 5 principles known to Isocrates which are: 1) commonwealths of households, 2) integration of reputation, elegance, substance and style, 3) education and public discourse, 4) phronesis and praxis, and 5) truth and verisimilitude. These 5 principles can form a constructive and practical advertising approach. This study is important. It examines Isocrates through the lens of advertising and extends the research done about him by leading Isocrates scholars who have looked primarily at his …
A Cleave Within The Piney Woods: Nacogdoches, Stephen F. Austin State University And How Racial Integration Divided The Town And Gown, Caitlin Hornback
A Cleave Within The Piney Woods: Nacogdoches, Stephen F. Austin State University And How Racial Integration Divided The Town And Gown, Caitlin Hornback
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Stephen F. Austin State University was once the pride and joy of the city of Nacogdoches, Texas. When the Texas State Legislature began to look for a location for their new state normal school, the people of the East Texas town fought to have it built there and the Stephen F. Austin Teacher’s College opened its doors in September 1923 to a proud community. Through the trials and tribulations of early twentieth century events, the school managed to stay afloat and grow in numbers. Dr. Ralph W. Steen became the president of the college in 1958 and he oversaw a …
The Glass Coffin: Gothic Adaptations And The Formation Of Sexual Subjectivity., Colton T. Wilson
The Glass Coffin: Gothic Adaptations And The Formation Of Sexual Subjectivity., Colton T. Wilson
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
It is now an almost foregone conclusion that classic depictions of vampirism resonate with contemporary queer audiences. A sympathetic response to the monster’s persecution is often the key factor in these arguments, yet little attention is paid to the textual details that prompt such a process of identification. This study posits that the iconography used to establish a connection between monstrosity and non-normative sexuality has its origins in Victorian Gothic fiction, whose descriptions of vampirism were assimilated into the discourse of the fin-de-siècle medical field known as sexology. Theories that defined homosexuality as an illness with physical and psychological symptoms …
“It Is Not Enough To Be In One Cage With One Self”: The Poetic Subject, Incarceration, And Envisioning Abolition, Emily Price
“It Is Not Enough To Be In One Cage With One Self”: The Poetic Subject, Incarceration, And Envisioning Abolition, Emily Price
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The Beat poet Bob Kaufman was in many ways nearly destroyed by the state. Forcible electroshock therapy, repeated targeting by police, repeated brutalization by police, and frequent homelessness all threatened to snuff him out, but Kaufman refused to give in. He remained a political beacon of hope for his community throughout his life, asking those around him to envision a world where he could be free. Through his poems, through the poems of Etheridge Knight and Jimmy Santiago Baca, and through contemporary visions of abolition from Angela Davis and community organizers that become ever more relevant as the prison system …
Experiences Of Chinese American Psychology Trainees In Multicultural Education, Helen Weng-Ian Chao
Experiences Of Chinese American Psychology Trainees In Multicultural Education, Helen Weng-Ian Chao
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Although research has established that students of color have unique experiences in their multicultural training, few studies have examined the experiences and needs of specific subgroups of students of color. This study examined Chinese American psychology trainees’ experiences in multicultural education. Qualitative data was collected from individual semi-structured interviews with Chinese American doctoral students (N = 6). Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to understand participants’ perceptions of their experiences in multicultural courses. Data analysis resulted in four themes: the (1) burden of being minoritized, (2) Chinese American identity inflection points, being (3) sidelined by whiteness, and (4) …
“I, Too, Am An Occupied Territory”: Border Crossings And Personal Sovereignty In Three Novels By Dominican American Women, Leia M. Lynn
“I, Too, Am An Occupied Territory”: Border Crossings And Personal Sovereignty In Three Novels By Dominican American Women, Leia M. Lynn
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Border crossing(s) and personal sovereignty are intimately and complexly connected in novels by and about Dominican American women. Through readings of In the Name of Salomé by Julia Alvarez, Dominicana by Angie Cruz, and The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo, I argue that patriarchal forms of authority remove female autonomy by trespassing on personal boundaries, and that the renegotiation of that power is achieved through formations of community, especially with other women, through nonheteronormative relationships that are present inside and extend outside the text. The interplay of patriarchal authority, violence, and alienation on the four protagonists is examined at length, …
Movies That Sell: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Product Placements In Marvel Movies, Andrew Nii Okai Okai
Movies That Sell: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Product Placements In Marvel Movies, Andrew Nii Okai Okai
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The advancement of digital entertainment media has given audiences the ability to skip ads that do not interest them. Consequently, brands face the challenge of creating ads that can compel audiences and finding media outlets that can effectively reach target audiences. Brands today use product placements to promote their products because movie audiences are generally attentive to ads when they are incorporated in a movie’s narrative. Marvel Cinematic Universe is a globally recognized entertainment franchise that uses product placements strategically to promote brands in their movies and TV shows. In this study, I conduct rhetorical analyses of select product placements …
Recommended Reading: Book List Books And Middlebrow Tastemaking, Cheryl Read
Recommended Reading: Book List Books And Middlebrow Tastemaking, Cheryl Read
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The term “middlebrow” has historically been hurled as a pejorative to signify cultural objects and consumers of them which are watered down, inauthentic, and invested in quick social gain. I argue that the literary middlebrow can be better understood if its definition expands to include a mode of reading characterized by being mediated by cultural arbiters and purposeful in that literature functions as an instrument for self-improvement. In this dissertation, I use book list books, lists of recommended reading published as standalone books themselves, to trace the history of a middlebrow mode of reading from the late nineteenth century to …