Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Friends In Fiction: Bonding With Fictional Characters Introduced Through Fictional Narrative Positively Affects And Interplays With The Psychology And Social Behaviors Of Adults To Influence Engagement, Vishnupriya Alavala

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

Just as people can form relationships with each other, they can befriend and interact with characters. As broadening media outlets continue to introduce fictional characters, it is vital to understand the effects relationships with characters, referred to as parasocial phenomena, have on individuals. In turn, this will offer a new perspective on the effects of engaging with fiction. Bonding with fictional characters introduced through television or print narratives affects and interplays with the psychology and social behaviors of adults. Most studies support the positive effects of parasocial phenomena in terms of personality, mindset, and social skills. Other studies state that …

A Short On Time Short Story Contest: Inspiring Creativity In The Library, Alexandra Boris

UT Libraries Faculty: Other Publications and Presentations

This chapter is a case study on the impact of a NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) a short story writing event and contest in an academic library setting. National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, is an international event which takes place in the month of November. During NaNoWriMo Participants from around the world attempt to write 50,000 words in 30 days with the end product being a first rough draft of a novel. Many famous authors even participate in this challenge such as Erin Morgenstern, author of The Night Circus, and Sara Gruen, author of Water for Elephants.

This chapter …

The Many Moving Parts Behind Brandon Sanderson’S Record-Breaking Kickstarter Campaign, Kathi Inman Berens

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

The creation and fulfillment of Sanderson’s Kickstarter relies on a crack team managing massive amounts of data as well as all aspects of production. Sanderson had been running a multi-million-dollar, mid-sized publishing company well before his March 1, 2022 Kickstarter shot north of $28 million in two weeks, making it the biggest campaign—for now—in Kickstarter history.

The Secret History: The Statistics And Sociology Behind Fiction, Sam Wick

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Advised by Dr. Sara Vega, Sam used Donna Tartt's 'The Secret History' as an entry point for exploration into the statistical accuracy of fiction. Using NHANES data from the 2017-18 survey cycle, Sam sought to investigate the real-world health outcomes of individuals from the same demographic as the protagonist, and analyze the trends that emerged.

Animal-Human Vocabulary Builder, Domenick Acocella, Rene Cordero

Open Educational Resources

The assignment helps students individually build a usable, expanding vocabulary of terms and concepts, enabling each to further contribute to the ongoing, evolving written, oral, and visual conversations centered on the use of and thought about animals for food, clothing, work, entertainment, experimentation, imagery, and companionship.

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Lanza Tu Pelo”: Storytelling In A Transcultural, Translanguaging Dialogic Exchange, Erin E. Flynn

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this study, we examined story circles to understand how the small‐group activity supports and shapes the storytelling of young students in multicultural, multilingual preschool classrooms. Through a representative example, we show how language development unfolds in the context of a transcultural and translanguaging dialogic exchange of stories. We describe features of increasing linguistic complexity present in students’ storytelling as they established affinity‐affirming connections over ideas, shared ways of languaging, and shared ways of storytelling. By examining changes in one student’s storytelling in the context of a mixed‐language story circle group, we offer insights into both language development and features …

Many Miles Away: A Cautionary Tale, Charles H. Smith

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Reporter Kerry Phillips is in for the surprise of her life: her television station has been contacted on a matter so important that 'scarcely anything could be of greater interest,' and she has been asked to follow up on the story. Little does she know just how interesting her job is about to get!

Fictions Of Sexuality, Emelyn Schaeffer

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

I conducted a Creative Independent Study Project and wrote two short stories that include themes of women’s sexual desire/pleasure, sexual debuts, masturbation, discoveries, and understandings of one’s sexuality. Because women receive so many messages about keeping their chastity and so few about pursuing the pleasures sex can provide, the opportunities to promote the exploration of women’s sexual desire cannot be missed. To write my stories and answer my research question, I read and watched a variety of both academic and creative materials. I wanted to do this work because these are the stories I needed in high school when I …

Cuentos Cortos Sobre Terrorismo De Estado En Argentina: Lecturas, Análisis Y Usos / Short Stories About Argentina’S State Terrorism: Readings, Analysis And Uses, Shannon Anderson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Esta investigación estudia los cuentos cortos relacionados con el tema del terrorismo de estado que pasó desde 1976 hasta 1983 en Argentina. A través de 8 cuentos cortos de diferentes décadas en y después de la dictadura cívico-militar (desde 1976 hasta 2019) y autores diversos/as femeninas y masculinos, examino las maneras en que este genero de la literatura muestra los contextos históricos, sociales y políticos del tiempo de la publicación de cada cuento. También, incorporo las perspectivas de personas involucradas en el estudio y la promoción de la literatura de este tema a través de entrevistas personales que examinan el …

Tourism And Nationalism In America, Derick J. Knox

English Department: Traveling American Modernism (ENG 366, Fall 2018)

Travel has been regarded as not only a vacation but also a learning experience and for many Americans a process of familiarizing oneself with the history of their country. Technological advancements introduced means of mobility that allowed people to indulge in America’s culture and history. The 20th Century was a turbulent era accompanied by industrialization and an increase in nationalism. Tourist marketing had strategically mapped routes to showcase the highest points in American culture while ignoring some controversial narratives. Once travel became mediated by tourism in the 20th century it lost some elements of freedom and adventure, instead becoming the …

If He Can Do It, Why Can’T I?: Women’S Struggles Into Early Automobility, Emily Schlegel

English Department: Traveling American Modernism (ENG 366, Fall 2018)

No abstract provided.

Building Eden, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Ralph Deigh is the most famous vernacular American architect you've never heard of. After a military career spanning two wars and struggles with homelessness and PTSD, he is invited to design an entirely new rural community for the 21st century. Twin disasters (fire and flood) in Dare County, West Virginia, set up the circumstances for him to join with Rosemary Mueller and the wealthy Ohio-based Mueller Foundation and a mysterious group of local Dare County residents led by Adam Sennett, County Clerk of Dare County. Together, they design and build the new town of Eden, West Virginia.

The whole story …

Dialogues On Voluntary Action And New Commons, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This volume contains a suite of seven one-act plays originating in political and civic themes, voluntary action and new commons, and associated with the 2012 President election.

The Presentation Of Postmodern Sexuality In Short Fiction, Allie J. Kapus

Senior Honors Theses

Shifting norms in twentieth century western society, coupled with emerging postmodern thought in the 1960s, radically changed the ways in which people viewed sexuality, gender roles, and the institutions of marriage and the family. The literature of the postmodern era, namely short fiction, also reflects such ideological shifts. Literature is a powerful communicator of the human condition as well as a crucial means for reflecting the customs, beliefs, and norms of a society at the time of its writing. Such evolving differences as were occurring in the realm of sexuality came to be represented in postmodern literature. This thesis aims …

How To Be The Perfect Asian Wife!, Sophia Hill

Art and Art History Honors Projects

“How to be the Perfect Asian Wife” critiques exploitative power systems that assault female bodies of color in intersectional ways. This work explores strategies of healing and resistance through inserting one’s own narrative of flourishing rather than surviving, while reflecting violent realities. Three large drawings mimic pervasive advertisement language and presentation reflecting the oppressive strategies used to contain women of color. Created with charcoal, watercolor, and ink, these 'advertisements' contrast with an interactive rice bag filled with comics of my everyday experiences. These documentations compel viewers to reflect on their own participation in systems of power.

My Interview With Akan, Uwem Akpanikat

Writing Across the Curriculum

Editor’s Note: This Newsletter interview is a fictional story written by Uwem Akpanikat, a senior majoring in Theology and Religious Studies. Inspired by the film “Dear White People,” which was shown to the students in his Human Rights course, the piece aims to explore the intersection of race, free speech, higher education, media, and religion, in light of the critical and ethical thinking that is central to the Catholic intellectual tradition.

Helen Oyeyemi And Border Identities: Contesting Western Representations Of Immigrants Through Transnational Literature, Susanna L. Mills

Student Publications

Oyeyemi is a Nigerian-British writer whose writing, like other immigrant authors', participates in a dialogue about and contestation of essentialized immigrant and ethnic identities that are a result of global and local processes. Her writing produces counter-narratives in which immigrant identities are multiple, conflicting, intersectional, and most of all self-represented. This paper explores readings of Oyeyemi accompanied by the following: an examination of globalization and flows of migration; the connections of national epistemologies through media to processes like migration: how literary canon has excluded transnational fiction from the mainstream, thereby decreasing the ability of multi-ethnic and im/migrant writers to represent …

Bibliography For Interstices 2018: Beyond Human: Emotion And Ai, Kristin Laughtin-Dunker

Library Displays and Bibliographies

An annotated list of materials in the Leatherby Libraries to accompany the Interstices 2018: Beyond Human: Emotion and AI event held at Chapman University in February 2018. The event featured Lisa Joy, co-creator and executive producer of HBO’s Emmy winning hit series Westworld, Jon Gratch, Director for Virtual Human Research at the University of Southern California’s (USC) Institute for Creative Technologies and Caroline Bainbridge, a Professor of Psychoanalysis and Culture in the Department of Media, Culture and Language at the University of Roehampton London. The Leatherby Libraries also hosted two book club discussions of The Positronic …

Bibliography For Victorian England Holiday Display, Kristin Laughtin-Dunker

Library Displays and Bibliographies

A bibliography of materials in the Leatherby Libraries related to the celebration of winter holidays in Victorian England, with a particular focus on the works of Charles Dickens.

See Me Shine: Developing Character Through Books For Children Ages 3-6, Shelley Oakley, Rachel Schwedt, Janice Delong

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Selecting books for the preschooler and beginning reader that engage the young audience and yet teach values that parents and educators desire is an elusive task. This first volume of the See Me Shine series offers reading recommendations focusing on distinct character traits such as caring, courage, responsibility and more for ages 3 to 6. Each character trait offers 20+ book recommendations, as read-aloud or independent reading, and each recommendation includes a description of each title, critique, awards, list of related subjects, and the distinct character themes demonstrated in the text. Whether your role is one of parent, grandparent, guardian, …

Time Travel, Labour History, And The Null Curriculum: New Design Knowledge For Mobile Augmented Reality History Games, Owen Gottlieb

Articles

This paper presents a case study drawn from design-based research (DBR) on a mobile, place-based augmented reality history game. Using DBR methods, the game was developed by the author as a history learning intervention for fifth to seventh graders. The game is built upon historical narratives of disenfranchised populations that are seldom taught, those typically relegated to the 'null curriculum'. These narratives include the stories of women immigrant labour leaders in the early twentieth century, more than a decade before suffrage. The project understands the purpose of history education as the preparation of informed citizens. In paying particular attention to …

Behind Valencia: A Contemporary Play, Emily Charbonneau

Honors Projects in English and Cultural Studies

SYNOPSIS The purpose of this play is to highlight the length that modern females go to in order to maintain a desired appearance, especially across social media. These desired appearances are influenced by the glamorous and unrealistic looks and physiques that are prevalent in the media. Essentially, the primary goal of these characters is to attract the attention of their male counterparts because of the gender roles society promotes. This shallow lifestyle can be completely consuming for impressionable, young females.

Write What You Know: The Process Of Writing A Young Adult Novella, Grace Morgan

Honors Projects in English and Cultural Studies

One tragedy, two lives changed forever. This novella follows the paths of two characters coping with the death of loved ones. It examines the themes of grief, friendship, family, self-discovery and inner strength. Specifically, how these things manifest and change after experiencing extreme loss. The dual narrative compares and contrasts the varying ways people react to grief. This project on creative writing followed the writing process from brainstorming to final draft.

Washington Irving And The Not-So-American Myth, Haydn Jeffers

English Class Publications

Washington Irving has often been revered as the father of American literature, and, more specifically, the father of the American myth. He was one of the first American writers to make a real living off his writing, and as such was considered to be America’s personal declarer of independence within the literary world. Having been viewed as so undoubtedly American in his writings, one might find interest in the fact that Irving drew very heavily on European sources in his inexplicable creation of this nation’s fiction, as it appears “he was not all that at ‘home’ with American life” (“Background: …

Ouachita To Host Andy Davidson In Fiction Reading Sept. 29, Brooke Zimny, Ouachita News Bureau

Press Releases

Ouachita Baptist University’s Department of Language and Literature will host author Andy Davidson in a reading of his debut novel, In the Valley of the Sun, on Thursday, Sept. 29. The reading, which is free and open to the public, will be held at 7 p.m. in Hickingbotham Hall’s Young Auditorium on Ouachita’s campus.

The Preservation Of Identity: A Narrative Examination Of National Parks In Kentucky, Abigail Ponder

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

National parks are symbols of national identity. They tell the history of places—personal legacies and natural phenomena. My Capstone Experience/Thesis (CE/T) project for the Honors College at WKU features two stories that fuse fiction and non-fiction conventions to share the experiences of national parks in Kentucky. Currently, the National Park Service is celebrating its centennial anniversary at parks across the nation. First established in 1916 by President Woodrow Wilson, the national parks have become symbols of the quintessential American experience: serving as memorials to nature, to history, and to culture. As such, these stories that take place at Mammoth Cave …

"In The Land Of Tomorrow": Representations Of The New Woman In The Pre-Suffrage Era, Natalie B. O'Neal

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This digital anthology explores feminism in selected short fiction by women writers from the 1911 run of the popular women’s magazines Woman’s Home Companion, Ladies’ Home Journal, and The Farmer’s Wife. This fiction furthered the women’s rights movement by allowing women to imagine a world similar to their own with a heroine who voiced their desires and enacted change. Rather than the more experimental, inaccessible literature of avant garde high modernist writers consumed by the upper class, popular fiction reached a wider, middle class audience and was more effective at producing a progressive zeitgeist following the stilted Victorian …

Leading Through Reading In Contemporary Young Adult Fantasy By Philip Pullman And Terry Pratchett, Elisabeth Rose Gruner

English Faculty Publications

There’s a popular bumper sticker in some areas that reads: “God said it, I believe it, that settles it.” It is sometimes paired with another one: “Bibles that are falling apart usually belong to people that aren’t.” The two combine to suggest an approach to reading and religion that are at the core of my argument in this chapter: they suggest that religious reading is fundamentally anti-interpretive; that reading the Bible or other religious texts provides direct access to truth. In the young adult texts I discuss in this essay, however, the opposite is the case: while texts (of many …

Through A Glass Darkly: Defining Love In A Nation Of Tolerance, Jonathan T. Hogue

Senior Honors Theses

This paper features an original one-act drama Through a Glass Darkly and analyzes its constructs and themes. The play, written in the contemporary style, depicts the tension between homosexuals and Christians in American culture through emphasizing the contrasting interpretations of love between both communities. It tells the story of Ben, a young gay man struggling to find fulfillment, whose new-found friendship with a Christian named Adam causes him to reevaluate his understanding of love. The play explores the variations of love in an attempt to not only answer what love truly means, but rather what form of love carries the …

Finding Aid To The Collection Of James Brendan Connolly Materials, James Brendan Connolly, Colby College Special Collections

Finding Aids

The Connolly Collection contains the writings and personal library of James Brendan Connolly (1868-1957). The collection includes Connolly's reminiscences, newspaper articles, and galley and page proofs as well as scrapbook clippings. There are also notebooks containing holograph notes on schooners and the navy, letters from Connolly's personal correspondence, and books from Connolly's personal library. James Brendan Connolly (1868-1957) was an Irish-American author of sea-related stories, novels, and nonfiction such as The Book of the Gloucester Fishermen. Born in South Boston, he attended Harvard and was a medal-winning athlete in the first modern Olympics, held in Athens in 1896. He …