Other Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Radical Black Drama-As-Theory: The Black Feminist Dramatic On The Protracted Event-Horizon, Jaye Austin Williams

Faculty Journal Articles

In this essay, I elaborate my present project, grounded in what I call drama theory, the critical theoretical dimensions of dramatic writing, and address the deeply troubling intramural tensions across Black Studies, between those who read blackness, and black cultural production, through largely futurist, celebratory lenses; and those who apply a structural analysis to blackness as the site against, upon, and through which the world coheres its soci(et)al apparatuses and machinations. I situate myself within the latter constellation, and sample here two plays by Suzan-Lori Parks to demonstrate how I translate the analyses of antiblack violence by black feminist …

Ex Libris, Fall 2018, West Virginia University. Library.

Ex Libris: The WVU Libraries Magazine

WATER: A Cross-Disciplinary Exhibit Exploring the Signifi cance, Power and Play of Life’s Criti cal Resource

Mexican Lawlessness: Genocide And Massacre In Julián Herbert’S La Casa Del Dolor Ajeno, Rebecca Janzen

Faculty Publications

This article examines Julián Herbert’s La casa del dolor ajeno: crónica de un pequeño genocidio en La Laguna (2015), which deals with a massacre of 300 Chinese people in Torreón, Mexico, in 1911. This crónica in novelized form weaves together the history of Chinese immigration to Mexico with contemporary violence and the author’s own experiences of research and writing. I bring Herbert’s imaginative interpretation of the past into conversation with the Mexican Constitution and penal codes that were in force during the massacre, and at the time Herbert was writing. I compare his treatment of the initial reports to late …

Critical Terms In Caribbean And Latin American Thought: Historical And Institutional Trajectories., Rebecca Janzen

Faculty Publications

Through a collection of critical essays, this work explores twelve keywords central in Latin American and Caribbean Studies: indigenismo, Americanism, colonialism, criollismo, race, transculturation, modernity, nation, gender, sexuality, testimonio, and popular culture. The central question motivating this work is how to think—epistemologically and pedagogically—about Latin American and Caribbean Studies as fields that have had different historical and institutional trajectories across the Caribbean, Latin America, and the United States.

The "A" Word: Women's Abortion Experiences In Georgia, Kendra J. Cooper

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Abortion is a common medical procedure, with twenty-one percent of all American pregnancies ending in induced abortion in 2011. Literature shows that abortion is highly stigmatized in the United States and even more so in the American South. The contentious discourse surrounding the moral and ethical viewpoints, “right” versus “wrong,” often overpowers women’s lived experiences. Although abortion has been studied extensively across multiple disciplines, literature on women’s lived experiences is limited. Previous research has focused on women in the Midwest, West, and Northeastern regions of the United States but the South has not been a significant focus of study. The …

Forum Magazine, Spring 2018

Forum Magazine

No abstract provided.

Forum Magazine, Summer 2018

Forum Magazine

No abstract provided.

A Phenomenological, Arts-Based Study Of Art Therapists’ Self-Reflective Practice, Laurie Ponsford-Hill

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This phenomenological, arts-based study examined the experiences of 15 art therapists using five-minute, full-bodied self-portraiture with 55 minutes of self-reflective journaling once a week for four weeks at the end of each work week. The therapists determined the location for this practice. Subsequently, the four artworks, as a serial, were explored with each participant in a one-hour telephone or Skype interview to understand their lived experience through art, and its signs, and symbols. This process enabled the therapists to act as witness to their respective self/selves, deepening their insights and connections about self. The transcribed audio-taped interviews were manually coded …

Under The Influence: An Interdisciplinary Approach To Psychedelics, Jody Roun

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

The following research will outline the effects of psychedelics from an interdisciplinary approach, which is to say that I will explore the neuroscience behind psychedelic drugs and how it relates to creativity, as a primary focus, while examining the role of additional points included along the way. The goal of this research, is to gain a deeper understanding of psychedelics and truly decipher what it means to be under the influence, as the most important goal of this human existence is to achieve understanding. The aforementioned is a point that great minds like Albert Einstein and Humphry Osmond impressed on …

Disarming “Nature” As A Weapon: A Queer Ecosemiotic Reimagining Of Futurity And Environmental Ethics Through Memoir, Sam Lauer

Master’s Theses

In this thesis, I posit that the need for an active, conscious, and radical queering of ecocriticism as a literary and cultural theory has arisen in light of the postmodern problematization of “nature” and the “natural,” along with the queerness of society, culture, and science. The way we understand “nature” (in life and in texts), whether of physical environments, inherent selfhood, or normalcy, begs to be appropriately informed by discourses and realities of queerness in order for both social and environmental healing to take place. I have analyzed three works of queer creative nonfiction—memoirs—to illuminate the ways in which the …

The First But Hopefully Not The Last: How The Last Of Us Redefines The Survival Horror Video Game Genre, Joseph T. Gonzales

Senior Independent Study Theses

For this study, I applied generic criticism, which looks at how a text subverts and adheres to patterns and formats in its respective genre, to analyze how The Last of Us redefined the survival horror video game genre through its narrative. Although some tropes are present in the game and are necessary to stay tonally consistent to the genre, I argued that much of the focus of the game is shifted from the typical situational horror of the monsters and violence to the overall narrative, effective dialogue, strategic use of cinematic elements, and character development throughout the course of the …

Laminated Paint, Travis R. Austin

Theses and Dissertations

Though we may not perceive it, we are surrounded by material-in-flux. Inert materials degrade and the events that comprise our natural and social environments causally thread into a duration that unifies us in our incomprehension. Sounds reveal ever-present vibrations of the landscape: expressions of the flexuous ground on which we stand.

The Futures Of Comparative Literature Envisioned By Chinese Comparatists, Sheng Meng

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In their article "The Futures of Comparative Literature Envisioned by Chinese Compara­tists" Sheng Meng and Yue Chen discuss the future of Comparative Literature from the perspective of Chinese comparatists. They argue that in response to the latest rhetoric around the crisis and death of Comparative Literature as a discipline, Chinese comparatists have fallen into four major repre­sentative groups. While the first one advocates restoring of international literary relations study of the French School, the second and the third camp see the future of the discipline lying in both the turn to translation and world literature respectively. However, the most ambitious …

Selected Bibliography For The Study Of The "Death" Of The Discipline Of Comparative Literature, Peina Zhuang

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

The Significance Of The Variation Theory In Cross-Cultural Communication, Yi Wan

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "The Significance of the Variation Theory in Cross-Cultural Communication" Yi Wan analyzes some problems that East-West Comparative Literature, as a discipline, has encountered and discusses the significance of the development of the Variation Theory, proposed by Shunqing Cao. The author aims to explore two important points of this new platform, namely, heterogeneity and variation, and compares this new perspective to the French School, which is based on "influences" and the American School which is based on "analogies." By investigating the variations of literary texts or theories during the course of cross-civilization communication from the perspectives of imagology …

On Vinyl: Revival & Survival, Thom Leavy

Capstones

As a record collector and journalist, I take stock of what they mean to me while searching to better understand the “Vinyl Revival” of the past decade. I meet and pick at people who’ve worked with the medium at its height, its demise, and today. We talk about what digitization has done and will do to music, and what vinyl means to them.

https://readymag.com/u29439050/onvinyl/

Tropes Trump Politics, Aaron Berkowitz

Capstones

This critical essay examines the use of tropes and themes in modern comic books and how they are used to protest President Donald Trump’s policies, actions and supporters. It begins with a detailed history of tropes used in comic books and how some of the first superhero comic book writers created these tropes in order to protest the social injustices of their times. It shifts to the first trope, the “compromised hero” where a hero is turned evil. It is used in “Secret Empire,” a book where Captain America turns evil and takes over the presidency. His rise to power …

Teenagers Who Have Been Diagnosed With Cancer Are Fighting For A Better Future, Rocio Enriquez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Jacob’s Heart Children’s Cancer Support Services is a non-profit organization that “exists to support and improve the quality of life for children with cancer and supports their families in the challenges they face” (“jacobheart.org,” 2017). Kirchhoff (2010) points out, “Young adult survivors of childhood cancer have been reported to be six times more likely than a healthy sibling to report health-related unemployment and almost twice as likely to be unemployed but seeking work.”Together, Jacob’s Heart Children’s Cancer Support Services would like to introduce a service that would help our teens flourish in life, by helping them to develop life coping …

Transnational Uses Of Mafia Imagery In Zadie Smith’S White Teeth, Andrea Ciribuco

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "Transnational Uses of Mafia Imagery in Zadie Smith's White Teeth" Andrea Ciribuco discusses the literary representation of multiculturalism in Zadie Smith's first novel, White Teeth (2000). The novel focuses on multicultural encounters in Great Britain in the second half of the twentieth century. This article focuses on one site for these encounters: the character of Millat Iqbal, who joins a gang of teenagers and subsequently a radical Islamic group in his problematic search for identity and belonging. This search is characterized by Millat's tendency to define himself by reference to well-known pop-cultural Mafia figures, whom he …

Black Australia ‘Writes Back’ To The Literary Traditions Of Empire, Danica Čerče

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

I In her article "Black Australia 'Writes Back' to the Literary Traditions of Empire" Danica Čerče discusses the verse of Australian Indigenous authors Romaine Moreton and Alf Taylor, notable for the overt objection to the institutional and historical processes. These have enabled and maintained the dominant position of those identified as white on the one hand, and the concomitant political, economic, and cultural subordination of Indigenous Australians on the other. Focused on strategies and poetic devices used by the two poets to engage non-Indigenous readers in the experience of their writing, the article examines how the rhetoric of their critique …

Introduction To The Ethics Of Physical Embodiment, Linda M. Johnston

Siegel Institute Ethics Research Scholars

Introduction to the Ethics of Physical Embodiment

Graphic Activism: Lesbian Archival Library Display, Shawn(Ta) Smith-Cruz

Publications and Research

This chapter outlines the implementation of Graphic Activism, an exhibition of archival material from the Lesbian Herstory Archives, the oldest and largest lesbian archive in the world, located inside the display cases of the Graduate Center library of the City University of New York. The two-semester-long display stems from an institutional need to showcase material inside of the main library display cases, and the interest of including visual representations of Women's Studies material from the collection as well as those which represent the collection. The chapter discusses collaborative relationships outside of the academic institution, pointing to select challenges when …

From The Womb To The Tree; Child-Rearing Practices And Beliefs Among The Toraja Of Sulawesi, Toke Hoppenbrouwers, Stanislaus Sandarupa, Aurora Donzelli

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

This article documents beliefs about pregnancy, birth, infant, and maternal health and infant death in Toraja, Sulawesi. We interviewed 42 mothers of babies between one week and six months old, a dozen traditional and contemporary midwives, the ritual specialist to minaa Tato' Dena', a physician and two traditional healers. We performed a cursory examination of the extent to which mothers and health professionals still adhere to the beliefs of to dolo (the ancestors or the people from before). Examples of rejected beliefs are that intercourse adversely affects breast milk and that it should await the end of the recommended two-year …

The Sling And The Blowgun As Combat Weapons In Pre-Islamic Java; Notes On Old Javanese Terms "GaṇḌI" And "Tulup", Jiří Jákl

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

Two Old Javanese terms, ga i and tulup, are discussed in detail. While the term tulup appears to be unproblematic, ga i has previously been identified with a score of weapons, including bow, club, war hammer, and sling. I argue that the original meaning of this enigmatic term is 'projectile, pellet', while its second, derived meaning refers in most cases to 'sling', and, occasionally, to 'blowgun'. Both weapons are represented in the Old Javanese textual record as the weapons associated with predatory warfare, and with the forces of adharma. I have tentatively suggested that this configuration reflects the pre-modern reality …

Reconstruction Of An Indigenous Community's Belief In Dragon; Research On Prehistoric Batu Naga Site In Kuningan, West Java, Ali Akbar

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

Archaeological remains can be used as data to reconstruct the culture of the past. At the top of Mount Tilu, Kuningan, stands a menhir decorated with reliefs. The indigenous community which once cared for this site has long vanished. This paper is the result of a research applying archaeological method and semiotic interpretation to reconstruct the life of this long-dead indigenous community. The reliefs on the menhir tell of the beliefs of this ancient which venerated the dragon. They considered this creature as the beginning of life on the earth. This dragon is different from its counterparts known in other …

Frightened By The Eagle; Recording Songs And Music From The Island Of Siberut, Mentawai Islands, Gerard A. Persoon, Reimar Schefold

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

Singing is the most important element of the traditional music culture on Siberut, the largest of the Mentawai Islands (West Sumatra, Indonesia). There are various types of songs on the island. Some of them are related to the world of spirits and ancestors. These are mainly sung by shamans during healing ceremonies and rituals. Other songs are made up by men and women during their daily activities, when they are fishing out at sea or when they take a rest from collecting forest products. Various animals (birds, primates, reptiles) or natural forces (wind, thunder) provide inspiration for lyrics and melodies, …

Mabedda Bola Ritual In South Sulawesi; The Relationship Between Handprints In Traditional House And Hand Stencils In Prehistoric Caves, R. Cecep Eka Permana, Ingrid H.E. Pojoh, Karina Arifin

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

Mabedda Bola is a ritual which has been handed down from the ancestors of the Bugis - Makassarese people in South Sulawesi. At the ceremony which is called menre bola baru, held as part of the ritual inauguration of a new house, the Mabedda Bola, handprints are made on the poles and walls of the new house. In the region in which this custom is still honoured, hand stencils on the walls of the prehistoric caves have also been found. This article examines the significance of handprints in the Mabedda Bola ritual which might possibly be related to the hand …

Documentation Of Palu'e; Storytelling And Folklore, Stefan Danerek

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

This paper presents Palu'e storytelling on the basis of the on-going work with the Palu'e audio collection, created in the context of language/oral traditions documentation. The main aim is to show that the collection is a research resource for the humanities by discussing and comparing items which are referenced and accessible in the Kaipuleohone Ethnographic Archive. While the contents of the collection are showcased for this specific presentation, the intention is directed towards the body of digital humanities collections. The problems of what genres should be included, definitions, method of analysis, are discussed and put to the test. Recordings initially …

Nouns And Pronouns In Central Lembata Lamaholot (Austronesian, Indonesia), Hanna Fricke

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

In the past, linguists focused their studies on the description of the varieties of Lamaholot spoken in coastal communities. This article introduces Central Lembata Lamaholot, a Lamaholot variety spoken in the central mountains on the island of Lembata in the Indonesian province Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT), which possesses features in the nominal and pronominal domains not found in other varieties of Lamaholot described so far. Alienable nouns in Central Lembata have morphological plural and specificity marking, and one sub-set of the alienable nouns has two alternating forms which are functionally different. Furthermore, free and bound pronouns in Central Lembata Lamaholot …

The Development Of Choreography In Indonesia; A Study Of Contemporary Dance Work In Jakarta Art Centre Taman Ismail Marzuki 1968-1987, R.Aj. Siti Nurchaerani Kusumastuti

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

No abstract provided.