Interdisciplinary Arts and Media Commons^™

Investigating The Relationship Between Noun Classes And Plant Folk Taxonomy In Chasu Language Of Kilimanjaro Region In Tanzania, Peter Rabson Mziray

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The current study investigates the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu (G 22). The study focuses on two objectives: the first objective is to describe the plant folk taxonomy in Chasu and the second objective is to determine the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu. Data were collected from rural villages in Same and Mwanga districts by using free listing, field interviews (jungle-walk-and-identify), and written texts containing Chasu plant names. The findings reveal that Chasu folk taxonomy reflects different ethnobotanical categories; including a unique beginner which is mmea/mimea ‘plant(s)’, and three life …

"Breaking Barriers: First-Gen Experiences", Julian Melendez Miranda

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

Journey to college as a first-generation student, navigating challenges and self-doubt.

First Gen Voices, Jesus Arias

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

Looking back at my first semester, I’ve made some truly fond memories. Starting off with an amazing group of people in the program and going on our retreat helped me find a community I could rely on. This community has remained by my side, even during challenging times, and for that, I’ll always be grateful. Whether it was tackling escape rooms or being part of First Year Seminar, the first-gen community has shown itself to be incredibly strong and tightly connected.

The First Generation, Alberto Martinez

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

My poem basically describes how I feel as a first-generation student is. Many of us including myself, felt as if we were alone, not knowing if we have someone by our side, but through our experience, we do share a common ground. First to go is a place where we all can share that and is a place where we do not have to be alone but have the support of those around us who can relate to how we feel.

Roots, Aolanni Jimenez-Gonzalez

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

This poem closely focuses on my experience and acceptance of my first-generation identity. Language is a symbol of my heritage from my family and how I carry hope and resilience as I navigate my everyday life. I want to depict my journey through language and how it serves as a powerful source to communicate with my loved ones and others. While appreciating the roots and strength of my family and striving to live out my dreams and be the first of many to come.

Balance, Alondra Hernandez

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

Through the poem, I wanted to explain my journey as a First Gen student who was struggling to balance school and work. I also wanted to represent the many students who are facing the same fight everyday. My hope was to show encouragement and motivation to keep going.Making sure to remind yourself to live each day knowing you're doing your best.

First Doubts, Carla Bueno

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

As first-gen students, we often struggle with the identity and responsibility of being the firsts to navigate through the unknown. With this, doubts of our ability to succeed come naturally and these can be consuming. My advice is to not be afraid of using resources available and asking questions as these are the first steps into finding our way in institutions not built for us.

Dreams To Reality, Annette Gomez

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

Beneath the shade of the trees, I reflect on the weight of my family’s dreams and the determination it takes to pursue a degree. The clear blue skies and open spaces remind me that possibilities are just as boundless, even when the roads feel steep. Here, amidst the peace and beauty I find the strength to strive as a First-Generation Latina student.

A New Beginning, Jefferson Ramos

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

The purpose of my reflection is to demonstrate to other individuals, especially first-generation students, my experience with the college process, along with the obstacles I faced, the doubts, and everything that comes along with being the first person in your family to attend a higher education institution in the United States. In my reflection, I describe the process that I experienced, from the very beginning of high school to the start of my college journey. To finalize my reflection, I leave the reader with three important tips I have learned along the journey: being resilient, not being afraid of new …

My Experience, Gabby Flores

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

This essay reflects personal experiences starting college and navigating new environments that are new to me.

Deceiving Angels Ii, Alejandra Rodriguez

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

I share a dream with my family. The dream of graduating from college, getting a good job, and living a better life. A life where we won’t be financially tied down. I am now attending Loyola Marymount University and pursuing a degree in Animation. I’m the first in my family to pursue a degree in Film & Television, and even though I can’t help the thoughts that I should be doing something more “impactful,” I know that it’s my passion and that it is the combined efforts of my family and those who have helped me, that led me here. …

Trailblazin, Zahir Pineda

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

My "trailblazin" collage is just a collage of me and my brother as we grew up. It was just us two for the majority of our childhood and we were always pushed to make the most of our education here in the US. Growing up I always relied on him, and he made sure to be there to guide me and help me learn from his mistakes. Fast forward to now and we're both at LMU together, and the same way he trailblazed the path for me, I hope to do for my two younger siblings. It symbolizes what has …

Introduction

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

No abstract provided.

Family Dynamics In Everything, Everywhere, All At Once, Isabell Lachinpour

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

This paper was originally a submission for my general psychology final. The prompt for it was to analyze any topic covered in class and connect to any form of fictional media. I chose to study the social psychology behind the relationships of immigrant parents and their children, connecting it to the movie Everything, Everywhere, All At Once by Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan. I especially picked this movie because of how connected I felt to the characters in the movie as I have gone through some of the same experiences they have and know many immigrant children that have felt …

Generative Ai (Genai) For Co-Creating User Personas, Douglas Strahler

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

Integrating Generative AI into communication courses can really enhance the development of user personas, making the process smoother and encouraging critical insights into audience analysis. This G.I.F.T.S. presentation shows how tools like ChatGPT can support students in developing user personas while encouraging creativity and efficiency for the students. Students will be creating two personas, one human-created and one that is AI-generated, followed by conducting a comparative analysis of similarities, differences, and any potential biases. The activity underlines basic competencies in the development of user personas and ethical considerations that prepare students for the responsible use of AI with a full …

The Uses Of Dramaturgical Research In Cinematic Storytelling, Asset Design, And Adaptation In Animation, Delaney L. Walker

All Theses

“The Black Hair” is a creative project that explores the convergence of cinematic adaptation, dramaturgical research, and animation design in retelling a traditional Japanese short folktale from the Heian Era. Rooted in the practice of theatrical dramaturgy, this thesis advocates for a research-driven creative pipeline by developing a culturally respectful and historically grounded approach to developing cinematic storyboards. By thoroughly examining the chronicles of history and the sociocultural context, the project seeks to foster deeper cultural appreciation while reintroducing a lesser-known narrative to modern audiences through a visual medium. The project draws stylistic and narrative inspiration from iconic Japanese filmmakers …

The Idea Of Ethiopia: Heritage Tourism In The Land Of Origins, Hosaena T. Tilahun

Geography Undergraduate Senior Theses

Hosaena Tilahun's "The Idea of Ethiopia" explores how heritage tourism in Addis Ababa cultivates Ethiopian patriotism and exceptionalism. Through an in-depth, close reading of the National Museum of Ethiopia, Unity Park, and the Oromo Cultural Center, supplemented by observations at the Red Terror Memorial Museum and Dergue Prison, Tilahun examines how heritage sites shape the political memory of national resistance, revolution, and Black internationalist thought. Tilahun discovers omissions of Menelik II's role in the Red Sea Slave network, encountering museum and archival silences about the internal conquest of peoples peripheral to the northern Abyssinian empire. As these heritage site renovations …

Arts-Based Sustainability: From New York To Malawi, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Recognizing that libraries serve multiple constituencies and subject areas, this chapter documents and advocates for development of transdisciplinary arts-based research (ABR) and culture-related projects linked to environmental challenges. Libraries contribute collections and spaces, as well as the research of library and information scientists. Libraries are currently among invisible contributors to sustainability planning and services. The chapter will link this invisibility to the value of what visual arts refer to as negative space elements in subjects ranging from traditional ecological knowledge to environmental science. Library collections, projects, and research contribute to education for sustainable development (ESD) as required to achieve the …

Field Journal: The Excluded Middle, Carrie E. Kouts

Masters Theses

What does it look like to engage with organisms and landscapes at the periphery of anthropocentric value structures? How does one break the internalized myth that the “built” environment is excluded from the natural world? When does a hyper-mobile and hyper-commodified society confront the exponential crisis of animal death? Within this series of journal entries, field notes, collection observations, weird prose, and sensory musings, one will find questions on the nature of being human and the complex narratives of care we encounter in a world shared with more-than-humans. Each handwritten vignette and photograph from daily life weaves a non-linear and …

Transplant Transplant(Ed) Transplant(Ing), So Jung Yoon

Masters Theses

Boundaries shape our lives and identities. The tangible presence of boundaries becomes a medium for engaging with the world—such as who occupies a space and how, or what tools are deemed valid in a design process. These boundaries aren’t always visible; they’re embedded in systems, habits, and assumptions that shape how we move, create, and are recognized. They extend far beyond fixed geographies and the specific positions we occupy within them.

Transplanting is the process by which things are moved or move across boundaries in hopes of being planted, finding a place to stay. Though it can be a search …

For The Time Beings, Tori Hong

Masters Theses

For the Time Beings is a socially engaged installation and artist book exploring the material consequences and future possibilities of sociocultural time theories. Time, in the West, is typically associated with Newtonian linearity, while in the East, time theory relies on Buddhist principles. These epistemologies reinforce hierarchical and patriarchal structures. Centered on Indigenous Asian and Asian American perspectives, For the Time Beings challenges dominant ideologies of existing in time and space.

For nearly a year, I’ve burned handwritten prayers on new and full moons. The ashes of these prayers are incorporated into reverential drawings of chosen ancestors, made with charcoal …

The Dialectic Of Airless Space, Ophelia Arc

Masters Theses

The Dialectic of Airless Space is a cumulative, cross-disciplinary research project that explores ‘airless space’ as a somatic and psychological condition shaped by institutional environments. Unfolding over time through five interrelated books, the project weaves together writing, ephemera, textile sculpture, and drawing to archive the invisible architectures of bodily and mental experience.

Grief As Slip: (How Little I Show) An Exploration In Clay, When Words Are Not Enough, Michelle A. Smith

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Grief as Slip (how little I show) implies that even as we acknowledge our mortality and the fleeting nature of life, we still only reveal a fraction of our true selves or our deeper realities. The ceramic artwork in this exhibition carries and conveys a journey through the present and remembered emotions of the artists’ personal narrative. By juxtaposing the tactile nature of clay with the ethereal quality of human experience, Smith contemplates the profound interplay between material transformation and emotional resilience. The exhibition’s intent is to translate the essence of complex emotional states into abstracted forms so they can …

The Kinship Of Creatives, Saba Saif Ur Rehman

MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture

This research essay contends that artists and creative individuals must recognize their agency in shaping societal narratives, particularly during times of technological and political upheaval. The essay draws on the insights and contributions of visionaries like Walter Benjamin, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Tomm Moore to emphasize the power of imagination and creativity in addressing real-world issues. It argues that previous technological advances have often reinforced hierarchical and oppressive systems, benefitting a select few while neglecting the masses. As we enter the fourth Industrial Revolution, this essay calls the artists to reclaim their tools from being co-opted for exclusionary and …

Collage As A Facilitator Of Connection And Belonging: An Application Of Art Therapy With Sgm Clients, Noa L. Shems

Expressive Therapies Theses

This research explored themes of connection and belonging in SGM clients in individual art therapy sessions through the medium of collage. An arts-based research method was developed utilizing the medium of collage in session with clients, followed with reflective response collages and journaling to analyze the data observed. Across 5 art therapy sessions, clients engaging in collage facilitated deeper therapeutic rapport and safety, enhanced a sense of connection with the self, and helped to process barriers and desires around clients’ close relationships.

Raised Spirits The Visceral Journey Of Black Generational Female Trauma And The Transcendent Healing Power Of Spiritual Dance, Wendy Ann Powell

Theses and Dissertations

Black female bodies have endured sustained trauma globally since the transatlantic slave trade, and it continues into 2025. The collective consciousness has carried the generational burden and mobilized it within the womb. Powell uses this intergenerational knowledge to frame the basis for spiritual dance practices as a healing praxis.

Pedro Aceves Mfa Thesis, Pedro M. Aceves

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

My Work is about looking at Cruising through a queer decolonial lens. Using multiple mediums such as photo, glass, Augmented reality, and film, I explore these queer histories and aesthetics through not just an anthropological approach but also an artistic epistemological approach weaving together narratives of prehispanic and modern queer Latinidad.

Ivy Leaves, Volume 100, Anderson University - South Carolina

Ivy Leaves

The 2025 edition of the Anderson University journal of art and literature, Ivy Leaves.

The names of the known editors for this issue of Ivy Leaves were Jaylee Koon, Jenna Martin, Rachel Riddle, Milena Ulrich, Emma Brightman, Corinne Lowe, Torie Johnson, Anna Leigh Avant, Darcy Hseih, Kaylie Sheriff, Claudia Sarmiento, LIly Gregory, Ethan Wright, Elise Frauenholtz, KJ Lian, Ellie Gramm, Iley Gramm, Kenzi Miller, Ellie Ruperto, Miriam Cabrera-Santana, Ashlee Keller, Mateo De Los Cobos, Jacob Enzor, Claire Nunes, Abby McDonald, Heidi Dillow, Derek Updegraff and Tim Speaker.

David B. Smith Chats With Monday 1.0, David B. Smith

Publications and Research

This document is an edited archival transcript of extended conversations between David B. Smith and an AI persona (“Monday 1.0,” GPT‑4o based) conducted in Spring 2025, prepared as a foundational primary source for subsequent scholarly and creative work. It records the emergence and testing of concepts related to human–AI collaboration (including “Balanced Blended Space”), as well as applied explorations in areas such as generative AI, quantum computing and music, virtual orchestras, multimodal performance, pedagogy, and the rhetoric of “pushback” in conversational systems. It also contains an extended section in which Monday and DB Smith co-curate a set of student research …

Interactive Pathways: Designing Accessible Museum Experiences, Bryce M. Christian

Senior Theses

This research examines the educational strategies employed by the Columbia Museum of Art in addition to similar institutions to explore how museums can optimize their educational impact on K–12 students by applying human-centered design strategies that prioritize accessibility, engagement, and real user needs. Many museums struggle to fully serve K–12 students due to physical, financial, and perceptual barriers. While digital platforms have expanded reach in some institutions, others prioritize in-person experiences and community engagement. This research uses artificial intelligence tools such as supervised data to accelerate and enhance the analytical process. The study evaluates these approaches through the lens of …