Other Arts and Humanities Commons^™

How Do They See Us?: Unhcr's Representations Of Syrian Refugees In “Every Second Counts” Campaign, Marah Khalid

Theses and Dissertations

Representation is not just an opinion; it is the recreation of realities, facts, and stories that encourage receivers, who are readers and viewers, to build perceptions of a certain topic, objects, events, and human beings. Studying the representation of refugees in the media, UN agencies, and International organizations' press releases, videos, and images has been the main focus for many scholars for decades. However, little is known about refugees' perspectives on visuals produced by UN agencies. This research tries to add to the few studies concerning the captured human object, refugees, perspective using Hall’s encoding/decoding model (Hall, 1997) to analyze …

It’S Disco, Baby: Queer Possibilities And Conservative Outrage, Lottie Bromham

University Honors Theses

From 1974 to 1979, disco music was a cultural phenomenon, gracing radio airways and dance clubs across the United States. Just as disco music reached peak popularity, growing disapproval from rock fans and other Americans who saw the genre and scene as overly lavish, too effeminate, and too racially inclusive, forced disco out of American mainstream favor. This paper proposes a viewpoint that contextualizes disco culture as integral to the lives of queer people in New York City, analyzes the prejudices that accompanied the anti-disco movement, and situates the mainstream death of disco as an early cultural consequence of America’s …

Framing Teacher Migration: An Analysis Of Jamaican Media Coverage From 2016–2023, Denise Wiley

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The emigration of teachers from Jamaica has attracted significant media coverage highlighting an increase in resignations and vacancies in many classrooms. This paper analyzes media framing on the topic, and how such framing might preclude the exploration of policy alternatives to address the issue. Methods A qualitative content analysis was conducted on articles published between August 1, 2016, and September 30, 2023. Relevant articles were retrieved from the Gleaner digital archive. Using a survey instrument of 13 questions, a total of 78 articles were analyzed for coding. Results Four frames emerged from the analysis: crisis – urgent attention is required …

Feldenkrais And Music Informed Listening: A Neurophenomenological Perspective On Autism, Arona Primalani

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Phenomenologists identify the subjective body and its felt-senses as the basis for human development and consciousness, including mental health. Several mental health disorders, when viewed from a phenomenological perspective, share common symptomology related to varying extents of fractured selves, which in turn hinders dynamic interaction between individuals, their actions, and their relationships with their social and material worlds. Autism is one such condition. Hence, I created an intervention to investigate how listening, which foster subjective and intersubjective experiences, lies at the heart of somatic and arts-based interventions. This thesis, first, begins with a summary of the presenting symptoms observed in …

Queerform/Ing, Matthew Solon-Lee Weimer

Art Theses and Dissertations

My artwork is situated within and around vessels and the Queer Homoerotic World and explores sexuality as a Demisexual within them. This is accomplished through the two processes of my creation, Minivague and Queerform/ing: balancing sexual tension and explicit expression, while subverting traditional norms and stereotypes with queerness to distance oneself from stereotypical Gay Art. Altering/emphasizing makes the artwork more romantic, lighter, whimsical, softer, and tender than the figure/s and the situations actually are. The process is also emphasizing what one sees or wants to be seen. The Pink Boy becomes a celebration of intimacy of any form. I discuss …

The Only Labourer Left: Resituating The Nonhuman Animal In The Language Of Labour And The History Of Philosophy, Mina Rosefield

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation is an investigation of the ontological position of the nonhuman animal within the Marxist tradition and as it concerns both the language of value production and the slaughterhouse. The premise of my study is an engagement with Marx’s oeuvre and influences, as well those who respond to his work. Within this context, I propose that the nonhuman animal’s ontological position—as it concerns labour, language, and intellect—is subject to a gesture of erasure which marks their being as performing the action of interest in the absence of the possibility to claim either determination, or fluency of capability. This paradoxical …

Investigating Language Ideologies And Attitudes Towards Dubbing Disney Movies Into Arabic, Nouran T. Soliman

Theses and Dissertations

This research delves into the analysis of online discussions surrounding the dubbing of Disney movies into two Arabic varieties: Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (ECA). The objective is to uncover the language ideologies and attitudes taken by Disney fans online. Dubbing Disney movies into these two varieties has sparked numerous debates on social media, particularly on Facebook. The study employed stance-taking to analyze the metalinguistic comments made by Facebook users about the use of these two Arabic varieties in the context of Disney. A Verbal Guise Technique (VGT) experiment was conducted on Disney excerpts to complement the …

The Nature Of Albanian Nasal-Stop Sequences: Phonetic, Phonological, Sociolinguistic & Historical Behavior, Patrick A. Gehringer

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

The Albanian language is relatively unique among the Indo-European languages with its word initial nasal-stop sequences. Despite broad characterizations, the phonetic, phonological, and sociolinguistic properties of these sequences have not been analyzed with the same rigor as languages with similar sequences. I employ phonetic, perceptual dialectological and historical methods to examine not only how these clusters are employed by speakers in today’s Albanian linguistic landscape, but also to the historical mechanisms and timing of the development of these clusters and their variants within Albanian. With a combined spectral and aerodynamic analysis, I have identified that these clusters are phonemically composed …

Let The Music Play:Using Community Engagement To Develop A New Sustainable Audience, Leslie D. Wilcher

Student Capstone Projects

Abstract

The Symphony is a dying breed of live music. The lack of classical music education and interest has left barriers to the symphony. Around the country, nonprofit symphonies are adapting to build a sustainable audience. So, how do we stop the closures of the orchestras? How does the Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra engage the community through programming and events to accommodate a new sustainable audience for the Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra (KSO)? My research will show that new audience members are waiting to be introduced to the symphony.

This research shows that community engagement is the key to bringing a sustainable …

The Perpetual Hell Of Your Own Undoing., Emery Tackett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Perpetual Hell of Your Own Undoing is a musical dramatic work for a chamber ensemble and two voices. In it, two souls trapped in the afterlife must struggle to regain their memories through dreams in order to figure out where they are and why they’ve been brought there. Over time, as their memories are regained, they learn that they were in fact lovers. However, by the end the realization that one of the pair killed the other threatens to tear the two apart. This musical dramatic work deals with themes of death, memory, and forgiveness. It utilizes both classical …

The Visual Culture Of Niagara Falls: From Kitsch To Keepsake, Sonya M. De Lazzer

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation uses the visual history of Niagara Falls to argue that iconic touristic landscapes promising Sublime moments can benefit from embracing their often-eclectic mixture of images, experiences, artefacts, and small-scaled private collectors and collections. This study takes up two distinct areas of Niagara’s visual history; how the site is depicted and copied, and how the site is collected and memorialized. The natural site, charted through attractions, themed environments, souvenirs and amateur home collections, is an apparatus that generates everlasting spectacle. Niagara’s current attractions connect the earliest physical encounters of the site with contemporary experiences along tourist corridors, bridging the …

Moments Of Meeting: 'Intersubjective Encounters' And ‘Emancipatory’ Experiences Of Individuals With (Intellectual) Disabilities In Inclusive Musical Contexts, Caroline Blumer

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The purpose of this study was to explore an intersubjective framework to better understand the relational aspects of two inclusive musical programs in London, ON. I focused on mutual recognition moments, called moments of meeting (MoM), researching how they are formed and manifested while music is shared, created, or experienced within these two environments. Approaching such programs as potentially intersubjective spaces, this study investigated the impact of MoM and intersubjective experiences on the participation of individuals with Intellectual Disabilities (ID) in music making as well as on their perceptions of themselves as subjects. Equally significant, this study looked at emerging …

Afl Students’ Perception Of Using Mnemonics As A Strategy To Enhance Their Vocabulary Acquisition And Retention, Elsayed Elsisi

Theses and Dissertations

Research in the field of language teaching and learning reveals that mnemonics is one of the most effective language learning strategies for vocabulary. Researchers like Rasiban, et al. (2019); Levin (1993); Zulfa (2019); Kayaaltu (2018) suggest that using mnemonics to learn new vocabulary has a positive effect on vocabulary retention and retrieval. Research also shows however that students’ perceptions may encourage or inhibit the usage of any learning strategy depending on their perceptions of its effectiveness. Hence the importance of detecting learner perception about any learning or teaching device. Despite the above there is limited research about students’ perceptions about …

Witnessing Conspiracy Theories: Developing An Intersectional Approach To Conspiracy Theory Research, David Guignion

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation proposes an intersectional approach to conspiracy theory research that engages conspiracy theories and conspiracy theorists by considering their proximity and affiliations with hegemonic power structures. Against challenges to conspiracy theories based on their lack of empirical legitimacy (Rosenblum and Muirhead 2019) and building on arguments that propound their status as “subjugated knowledges” (Bratich 2008), this dissertation argues that conspiracy theories can be vectors of anti-oppressive resistance against systemic forces that disenfranchise racial, gender, and class minorities. Conspiracy theories are not a homogenous phenomenon; they are particular instances of potentially generative suspicion against powerful forces. The dissertation deploys Kelly …

Love On The Spectrum: Djuna Barnes’S Case Against Categorization In Nightwood, Kaitlyn A. Alford

Masters Theses

Djuna Barnes’s Nightwood is a challenging and beautiful text that continues to confound readers almost 100 years after its original publication. Though the text is often read as a “lesbian” novel, I consider the possibilities available when we read this text instead with a more open queerness in mind. By looking at the novel’s treatment of image, time, history, gender, sexuality, and identity, a new way of reading is revealed which rejects moves of taxonomization and categorization. This thesis explores how Barnes challenges dominant modes of representation and understanding, not to be a simple contrarian, but to present a new …

By All Memes, I Want To Learn Arabic: Teachers’ And Students’ Perceptions Of Using Memes In Afl Classrooms, Amani Batran

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

As educational technology advances, teachers nowadays tend to incorporate technology into their classroom practices to enhance students’ learning and achieve better outcomes. Memes, which are pictures with texts and sometimes movements circulated mostly among social media users, are a powerful tool to reach learning goals in a fun and engaging way. Researchers explored memes’ effectiveness in various disciplines, yet the field of teaching Arabic as a foreign language (AFL) lacks investigation in this area. Therefore, this study aims to examine teachers’ and students’ perspectives on the use of memes in the classroom. This research also explores the disparities in …

The Queer Comedy Boom: The History Of Lgbtq+ Stand-Up Comedy, Marcelle Karp

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Stand-up comedy has long been a straight comic’s domain. In the last decade or so, there’s been a seismic shift in that paradigm as more openly queer comics have taken their spot on the stage. This emergence has created a queer comedy boom, where queer comics are centered. There has been scant documentation on the history of queer stand-up comedy; this project does just that. It tracks the historical presence of queer stand-up comedians in the spaces these comics occupy—the stage—from the early 1900s to the current moment of the queer stand-up comedy boom, a comedic goldmine of counterhegemonic content. …

Flores, Rigoberto Flores

Masters Theses

My name is Rigoberto Flores and I was born in Guerrero, Mexico. The work I make involves politics, immigration, cartel violence and religious themes. I’m interested in presenting these challenging and difficult concepts, to have them remain in the public consciousness. The work I produce involve charcoal drawings, textiles, print, and painting. The work I create is intended to address inconstancies in established ideas, usually involving government violence. Throughout history art has been used to promote institutional propaganda. I am searching to do the same, but to oppose those structures.

The Impact Of The Tobacco-Free Policy On The Auc New Cairo Campus, Fatimah Badawy

Theses and Dissertations

In 2019, the American University in Cairo (AUC) conducted a research study on campus attitudes towards tobacco use and smoking behaviors within their community, in light of the then newly enforced tobacco-free policy. They found most campus members in support of the policy, with higher rates of disapproval from the smoking community. In 2021, this research aimed to follow-up on changes in attitudes towards the policy as well was smoking behaviors. It hypothesized that over time, levels of support to the policy would increase, smoking habits would be positively impacted and that positive health behaviors would correlate with policy support. …

Dance/Movement Therapy Used As An Intervention To Heal Racial Trauma Within The Black Community: A Literature Review, Jennifer Noboise

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The history of dance within the black community has served an important role while living through a racist and discriminatory society. Dance has been used to express anger, grief, and joy during hardships and moments of rejoicing from the black experience. African American people have endured years of trauma and abuse from oppressive systems. Research has been conducted to demonstrate that dance/movement therapy has been effective in treating those who have experienced a form of trauma since the trauma is stored in the body. Examining trauma symptoms such as anxiety, depression, and substance use, the research found these symptoms diminished …

Digitizing The American West: Analyzing Rhetoric In Red Dead Redemption 2, Amalia Mcevoy

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

High-budget, long-form storytelling games offer dozens of hours of content for audiences to explore and learn from. Although far different from sitting and reading a book, there is a distinct connection to be made between how literature is experienced and how audiences can experience a narrative-heavy video game. Based on this connection, there are bridges to be built between video games and literature, understanding how one field can benefit from the other as well as how one field can be informed by the other. An analysis of the video game Red Dead Redemption 2 using reader response theory can illustrate …

Prescribing Music To Forensic Settings: A Literature Review, Sydney A. Bouchard

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Though prison is inherently musical, evidence-based forensic music therapy is rather understudied. This thesis critically reviews musical experiences in forensic environments and synthesizes its intersection with inmates' psychological distress. Additionally, the literature explores how forensic music therapy can act as a health and social resource for the incarcerated and their communities. Engaging in this work is vital because healthier correctional systems mean healthier communities (Hopwood, 2021). This review synthesizes relevant literature to inform better practices in music therapy, counseling, and healthcare and seeks to popularize discussion around an otherwise unpopular population, incarcerated folx. Emerging themes include (1) incarceration breeds negative …

Woven Together: Women Creating Stories Through Textiles, Jamie Eason

Self-Determined Majors Final Projects

A series of textile art pieces exploring the relationship between women, textiles, and storytelling.

Economic Impact Assessment Of Nature-Based Coastal Resilience Solutions In Charleston. Estimating Local Economic Effects With Algorithm-Based Supporting Tool., Oksana Veselkova

All Theses

Coastal cities are at the forefront of the risks induced by climate change. Local communities are adversely affected, but the essential cultural assets and economies are also at risk of damage or destruction. In the efforts to limit hazard risk exposure, local governments are increasingly planning for long-term flood protection. One prospective flood risk mitigation measure is living shorelines or nature-based adaptation. The coastal ecosystems, such as beaches, wetlands, barrier islands, oyster reefs, and salt marshes, deliver multiple benefits to communities, including recreation, natural resources, freshwater, and carbon sequestration. Moreover, when combined with structural solutions, they can effectively reduce water …

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 …

Espacio, Edgar Perez Peña, Edgar Perez Peña

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Edgar Perez Peña (He, Him, His) is a Queer, Chicanx contemporary figurative painter, who lives and works in the Los Angeles County. A native of Los Angeles, California, his paintings, and assemblages are a strong combination of process, materials, and content that displays his fascination on how physical/psychological space (from where he resides), reflects on the Queer Brown body and its comfort/discomfort in relation to public and private space.

Peña looks at his artistic practice as an opportunity to explore the human condition from the Queer and Brown perspective as well the beginning of healing through the meditative process of …

Experiences Of Post-Master's Arts Based Supervision With Art Therapists Of Color, Madoka Urhausen

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This study explored experiences of art therapists of color who underwent post-master’s arts-based supervision (ABS) to obtain an art therapy credential. ABS emphasizes creation of clinical insight and knowledge through not only reviewing and evaluating client’s art and art processes but also having supervisees to engage in their own artmaking in response to their clinical work. The sample was chosen for their intersectional identities that added a layer of complexity to their identity formation. This qualitative phenomenological study employed Culturally Responsive Focus Group (CRFG) with Arts-based Research (ABR) methodology to explore two questions: (1) What are the experiences of …

Stand-Up Comedy Visualized, Berna Yenidogan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Stand-up comedy has become an increasingly popular form of comedy in the recent years and comedians reach audiences beyond the halls they are performing through streaming services, podcasts and social media. While comedic performances are typically judged by how 'funny' they are, which could be proxied by the frequency and intensity of laughs through the performance, comedians also explore untapped social issues and provoke conversation, especially in this age where interaction with artists goes beyond their act. It is easy to see commonalities in the topics addressed in comedians’ work such as relationships, race and politics.This project provides an interactive …

Dance In Art, Michaela S. Lantrip

Visual Studies | Senior Theses

Dance in art can be seen in paintings created by artists such as Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Pierre Auguste-Renoir (1841-1919), Henri Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901), William Blake (1757-1827), John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), and Henri Matisse (1869-1954). Edgar Degas was a French Impressionist artist who was known for his work of arts featuring ballerinas. Pierre Auguste-Renoir was also a French Impressionist artist like Degas, but he was more so known for his real-life scenario paintings. Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, a French artist was known for his Art Nouveau and Post-Impressionist style. Toulouse-Lautrec illustrated some posters and paintings on Moulin Rouge. William Blake was an English poet, …

Teaching Justice Through Literature: How Higher Education Informs Ethics And Identity, Kami Mittlestadt

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

This thesis argues that literature is a valuable tool in examining issues of justice, and teaching ethics through literature is a way to build critical thinking skills and awareness of the world. In this thesis, I examine research and teaching methods that have already been studied and implemented in the teaching of ethics and justice in companionship with literature, and use these resources to propose my own syllabus for a community college class on Ethics in Reading. The syllabus is broken into 7 units: an overview of justice in literature, five specific justice issues (race, feminism, queer studies, eco-criticism, and …