Visual Studies Commons^™

Defamiliarizied Gender In The Works Of Hayao Miyazaki, Jolie Finley

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Defamiliarized Gender in the Works of Miyazaki Hayao argues that the films of Hayao Miyazaki portray unconventionally strong female protagonists through a process called defamiliarization. Defamiliarization is a literary technique that transforms familiar qualities to ones that seem strange and new to the audience. Miyazaki borrows from and rejects elements of Japanese culture to create characters and settings that evoke the defamiliarization of gender in the films Spirited Away and Kiki’s Delivery Service. Examples of this in Miyazaki’s works include allusions to historical figures of the opposite gender in his own characters and presenting fantastical creatures of Japanese folklore …

Stitched Past, Sawyer Smith

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

“Stitched Past” tells the stories of vulnerable women in Lima, Peru. Despite the emotional and physical impacts of poverty, the women seek mentorship, education, and job security through Krochet Kids International. Krochet Kids, a U.S.-based non-profit organization, offers women in Peru and Uganda the opportunity to create knitwear to be sold online. In addition to gaining a new job and skill, the women receive counseling, affordable childcare, and supportive community. Krochet Kids approaches empowerment from a holistic perspective. The mentors encourage growth in five categories: financial, intellectual, physical, social, and psychological. This model of personal development ensures that the women …

Multimedia Reporting: Creating Unique Content That Spans Multiple Platforms, Joshua Carl Holland

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

With the continued ease of access to the internet, it has become a vital medium to distribute news and sports information. This study documents the process of starting from a relatively absent online product to developing daily web content. Trial and error of different original content ideas for online as well as experimentations with translating broadcast content into a web product are coupled with interviews from professionals to create a framework of how to go about establishing an internet presence in an age of instant news. The case is generally focused on sports media due to the nature of my …

Gather, Katie M. Meek

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Food is both basic and multifaceted. It nourishes satisfies, levels, defines and gathers us. Food unifies and brings people together as part of the human experience. When people embrace food and make it their own, it can shape and define their lives in big ways.

Food can cultivate a lifestyle, preserve cultural identity, foster a small business, nurture relationships and serve a community.

This project is a documentation of five different groups of people that experience food in uniquely different ways. Through photo essays and written stories I strive to capture what how food brings people together in specific ways …

Seeing The Sacred, Emily Potter

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Seeing the Sacred is a multidisciplinary arts project exploring the purposes of sacred art and its relationship with community identity. The project highlights three common purposes of sacred art: to represent a worldview, to express identities as members of a community, and to connect with something bigger than ourselves. This Capstone Experience/Thesis Project developed through an intersection of three primary interests: visual art, community engagement, and religious studies. This project includes an overview of the CE/T’s origins and evolution, a written analysis of research goals and experiences, a review of relevant literature, a series of related artwork, and a collaborative …

Launching And Maintaining A Wedding Photography Business, Shelley D. Owens

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

With the popularity of the wedding industry in America perpetuated by social media, blogs, and other networking sites, thousands of self-employed photographers have set out to make a living documenting the most important day of some people’s lives. Digital photography appeals to many for its convenience, but having a camera does not make one a professional photographer. What separates the hobbyists from the professionals is the development of skills and creative vision and the proper legal and business licensing to make a profit off of their wedding photography. Shelley Owens provides her own experiences as a professional wedding photographer as …

Jesus, I Trust In You: St. Thomas Aquinas' Jubilee, John A. Sohl

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The concept of “Life Reporting” is a completely new idea, at least in terms of how I have experienced it. In today’s world of blogs and social networking, it is essential for broadcast journalists to embrace their own lives in the same world of professional and ethical reporting. As I describe my experience of St. Thomas Aquinas’ Jubilee, I have no choice but to provide the context and build-up of this intense passion toward my overarching point. Working through all the communities of which I have been a part, from attending St. Luke Catholic Church all the way to the …

A Clean Slate: Tablet Publishing For College Yearbooks, Samaul J. Oldenburg

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Universities are a training ground for the people who will go on to revitalize and reinvent the industries that they enter. Journalism is one of many industries rapidly changing with the pace of technology growth and is susceptible to influence from young, energetic professionals as they leave school. That influence is especially needed on forays into digital publishing, especially publishing on iPads and other tablet computers.

Student publications on university campuses are a key part of preparing students for that responsibility. By exploring readership habits, effective multimedia use, and successes and failures of other digital publications, students can learn to …