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Title: Garden and Museum: History and Paradigm.
Creator: Esposito, Susan F., Weingarden, LaurenS., Wager, Walter W., Martinez, Maricarmen, Thompson-Wylder, Viki, Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Michel Foucault's structures of knowledge define meaning in history. In the museum, meaning is made through the material evidence of people and their environment. This study examines how Foucault's classification paradigm established in The Order of Things: An Archaelogy of Knowledge assigns meaning and order in two historical and one contemporary museum. Foucault's Renaissance episteme is analyzed in the Palazzo Medici, his Classical episteme is examined through the Studio Aldrovandi, and...
Show moreMichel Foucault's structures of knowledge define meaning in history. In the museum, meaning is made through the material evidence of people and their environment. This study examines how Foucault's classification paradigm established in The Order of Things: An Archaelogy of Knowledge assigns meaning and order in two historical and one contemporary museum. Foucault's Renaissance episteme is analyzed in the Palazzo Medici, his Classical episteme is examined through the Studio Aldrovandi, and Foucault's Modern episteme is analyzed in the Walker Art Center. Specific attention is given to the gardens attached to each museum. This study will help individuals interested in museums to more fully realize the shifts and ruptures in the construction of knowledge in the museum from the fifteenth to the modern era.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0514
Format: Thesis

Title: Stamps from Italian Red-Gloss Pottery from San Venanzo (2000-2003): A Catalogue and A Context.
Creator: Preissler, Linnaea A., Grummond, Nancy T. de, Pfaff, Christopher A., Pullen, Daniel J., Department of Classics, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The purpose of this thesis is to catalogue and analyze the stamps on Italian red-gloss pottery discovered at San Venanzo, Italy (locality Poggio delle Civitelle) during the 2000 to 2003 seasons. When viewed within the greater context of Italian red-gloss pottery as a class of artifact, the pieces allow one to form some initial hypotheses about the site as a whole. The catalogue of pottery stamps contains twenty-two pieces of ceramic. Most pieces are quite small and all comprise only parts of...
Show moreThe purpose of this thesis is to catalogue and analyze the stamps on Italian red-gloss pottery discovered at San Venanzo, Italy (locality Poggio delle Civitelle) during the 2000 to 2003 seasons. When viewed within the greater context of Italian red-gloss pottery as a class of artifact, the pieces allow one to form some initial hypotheses about the site as a whole. The catalogue of pottery stamps contains twenty-two pieces of ceramic. Most pieces are quite small and all comprise only parts of larger vessels. Many of the stamps are partially broken and/or worn. All of the pieces have suffered some degree of surface damage. Discussions of the site and a brief history of Italian red-gloss pottery are presented first, in order to put the San Venanzo finds into their proper context. It is appropriate to include aspects of nomenclature, manufacture, value, classification, and red-gloss pottery outside of Italy in the latter section. The catalogue groups together stamps that originated from the same regions of Italy, as well as those which cannot be identified due to illegibility. Within these groups, stamps from the same workshop are placed next to each other to facilitate comparison. The catalogue also provides a description of the appearance of each piece, a concordance of stamp and form types (when possible), and attribution to a known Italian red-gloss pottery workshop (when possible). The examination of the pieces of stamped Italian red-gloss pottery from San Venanzo suggests several ideas about the site. First, the settlement had enough trade with the outside world to be able to acquire a significant amount (at least twenty-two pieces) of non-local, non-utilitarian pottery, esteemed around the Roman Empire for its aesthetic value. Second, the settlement imported its red-gloss pottery primarily from two identified areas, Arezzo, the most famous Italian red-gloss production center, and Scoppieto, a very small, nearby production center. Third, based on the finds to date, only stamps from the 1st century AD have yet been identified at the site, although Italian and provincial red-gloss continued to be produced into the 4th century AD. Whether this indicates a shift in trade or is the result of changes in manufacturing spheres is difficult to ascertain.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0430
Format: Thesis

Title: Figural and Discursive Depictions of the Other in the Travels of Sir John Mandeville.
Creator: Andyshak, Sarah Catherine, Emmerson, Richard K., Gerson, Paula, Leitch, Stephanie, Department of Art History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The "Travels of Sir John Mandeville," a narrative account written by the self-proclaimed knight of St. Albans, was one of the most popular books of the Middle Ages, translated into every major European language by 1400 and surviving in 250 manuscripts today. Originally appearing circa 1356-1366 in French or Anglo-Norman, the Travels records Mandeville's journey from England to the Holy Land, then on to the East. As he moves East, Mandeville encounters various peoples and cultures. He records...
Show moreThe "Travels of Sir John Mandeville," a narrative account written by the self-proclaimed knight of St. Albans, was one of the most popular books of the Middle Ages, translated into every major European language by 1400 and surviving in 250 manuscripts today. Originally appearing circa 1356-1366 in French or Anglo-Norman, the Travels records Mandeville's journey from England to the Holy Land, then on to the East. As he moves East, Mandeville encounters various peoples and cultures. He records his experiences among non-Christian peoples and various "monstrous races," such as the one-legged Sciapods and dog-headed Cynocephales, and makes observations about these peoples and their ways of life. Mandeville's descriptions and observations about these "monstrous races" open a window into the way in which the medieval Englishman thought about himself and the "Other"––Christians who lived in different lands, as well as non-Christian peoples. This thesis examines the interplay of the discursive and figural elements of two illustrated manuscripts in the British Library, Royal 17. C. xxxviii and Harley 3954, that contain Mandeville's Travels. By analyzing how the artists of these manuscripts interpreted Mandeville's text, I show how visual images of the monstrous races contributed to the English conception of the Other.
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Date Issued: 2009
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0214
Format: Thesis

Title: Sacraments, Sacrifice, and Ritual: High Church Mysticism in the Letters of Jane Ellen Harrison and Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion.
Creator: Armstrong, Margaret M., Faulk, Barry, Cairns, Francis, Laughlin, Karen, Warren, Nancy B., Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: A gap exists in the biographical scholarship on Jane Ellen Harrison's own personal religious beliefs that has affected how her work on ancient religion has been interpreted. Front and center in the discussion of Harrison's religious beliefs has been her disdain of the Evangelical upbringing administered by her stepmother; this hatred of Evangelicalism has been interpreted as proof of her antagonism against all Victorian religion with no attention paid to the intricacies of Victorian...
Show moreA gap exists in the biographical scholarship on Jane Ellen Harrison's own personal religious beliefs that has affected how her work on ancient religion has been interpreted. Front and center in the discussion of Harrison's religious beliefs has been her disdain of the Evangelical upbringing administered by her stepmother; this hatred of Evangelicalism has been interpreted as proof of her antagonism against all Victorian religion with no attention paid to the intricacies of Victorian Anglicanism. Harrison herself helped to muddy the waters. For instance, she often paradoxically referred to herself as a "religious atheist" and joined societies with names such as the Heretic Society. For all her bluster, however, allusions to the Anglican Church and it symbols and sacraments appear in her letters throughout her life. This bluster and the emphasis on Evangelicalism have made researching her religious background appear to be a futile undertaking. A close reading of Harrison's letters and work, however, reveals that as a young girl in Yorkshire she discovered her own brand of religion far removed from that of her evangelical stepmother—a religion that made her intensely aware of ritual and the religious impulse. In fact, Hope Mirrlees the companion of her latter years, called Harrison's religion a "very wild brand." In short, around the age of 17 Harrison became a High Church ritualist replete with all the "papist" paraphernalia so feared by evangelicals like her stepmother. Harrison's letters, her autobiography Reminiscences of a Student's Life, and Mirrlees' notes combine to help piece together a puzzle about an undetected aspect of her life–the High Church Movement that swept through Mid-Victorian England, and became synonymous with what was called Anglican "ritualism." There is a simple reason why this aspect of Harrison's life has never been interrogated: Harrison's deliberate silence on her ritualistic roots was part and parcel of her religious dogma and has misdirected the scholarship, which resulted in a misinterpretation of the her work.
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Date Issued: 2007
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0235
Format: Thesis

Title: The Dysphoric Style in Contemporary American Independent Cinema.
Creator: Simmons, David C., Laughlin, Karen L., Cooper, Mark Garrett, Auzenne, Valliere Richard, Cloonan, William J., Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This dissertation argues that contemporary American independent cinema needs to be theorized in a new way. Film criticism has traditionally defined independent film in one of two ways: financing (which, as we see by George Lucas' independently financed _Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith_ [2005], is not an adequate approach) or anti-Hollywood content (which is problematic because it only explains what this cinema is not, rather than what it is). Instead, I argue that contemporary...
Show moreThis dissertation argues that contemporary American independent cinema needs to be theorized in a new way. Film criticism has traditionally defined independent film in one of two ways: financing (which, as we see by George Lucas' independently financed _Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith_ [2005], is not an adequate approach) or anti-Hollywood content (which is problematic because it only explains what this cinema is not, rather than what it is). Instead, I argue that contemporary American independent cinema is best defined in terms of style. This style may best be described as dysphoric (a state of anxiety or restlessness specifically constructed for the spectator). Building from David Bordwell's analysis of film form, I show how the dysphoric style structures the aspects of 1) narrative causality; 2) temporal relations; and 3) spatial relations. Such a style arises from and conveys the nihilistic themes that characterize contemporary American independent cinema. Chapter 1 examines narrative, arguing that the dysphoric style constructs narratives with loose causality, ambiguity, unresolved gaps, an open ending, and passive characters devoid of clear goals. Looking closely at the film Pi (Darren Aronofsky, 1998), I explicate how its narrative is distinct from a film with similar themes, but which arises from a completely different group style, A Beautiful Mind (Ron Howard, 2001). Comparing and contrasting the pair of films in this and subsequent chapters allows for greater illumination of the distinct nature of the dysphoric style. I also provide additional examples of independent films in this and the following chapters to substantiate my argument. Chapter 2 examines the realm of temporality, arguing that Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2001) constructs time in a way that heightens ambiguity and leaves unresolved narrative gaps, something quite different than Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994) which I show to be a mainstream film, despite its reputation. Chapter 3 looks at space, while providing a critique of Bordwell's account using more recent scholarship. I argue that dysphoric space is fragmented, unstable, unclear, metaphoric, and subjective. Here SLC Punk (James Merendino, 1998) is revealed as being spatially dysphoric, while Mallrats (Kevin Smith, 1995), a film often considered independent, is really only performing the same old classical maneuvers. Chapter 4 describes the evolution of the dysphoric style, presenting a case about how it morphed from the existential styles of film noir and European Art Cinema of the 1960s. I also demonstrate how the dysphoric style in turn influences its own neighboring contemporary cinemas. This dissertation provides a new way to conceptualize, theorize, and discuss the phenomenon I am calling contemporary American independent cinema. It enables a more nuanced understanding of its films. It provides an opportunity to notice how contemporary American independent cinema intersects, informs, is distinguished from, and is influenced by other cinemas. Most importantly, it allows us to understand U.S. culture in a more complex manner by seeing how this cinema not only reflects nihilism, but produces it.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0329
Format: Thesis

Title: Ashley Street Blues: Racial Uplift and the Commodification of Vernacular Performance in Lavilla, Florida, 1896-1916.
Creator: Smith, Peter Dunbaugh, Jr., William “Rip" Lhamon, Young, Marilyn, Cloonan, William, Bakan, Michael, Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This study is a cultural history. It traces the interconnected narratives of the entertainment communities that flourished during the early years of the twentieth century in LaVilla, one of Jacksonville, Florida's African-American neighborhoods. Vaudeville houses, theatrical stock companies, touring tent shows, and honky-tonk theaters comprised this dynamic local scene, providing important venues for the exchange of newly emergent performance practices and ideologies. Individuals and...
Show moreThis study is a cultural history. It traces the interconnected narratives of the entertainment communities that flourished during the early years of the twentieth century in LaVilla, one of Jacksonville, Florida's African-American neighborhoods. Vaudeville houses, theatrical stock companies, touring tent shows, and honky-tonk theaters comprised this dynamic local scene, providing important venues for the exchange of newly emergent performance practices and ideologies. Individuals and institutions with ties to LaVilla have made significant contributions to African-American vernacular culture. Composers and musicians like John Rosamond Johnson and Eugene Francis Mikell; touring companies such as Patrick Chappelle's Rabbit's Foot Minstrels and Eph Williams' Silas Greene from New Orleans Company; and vaudeville houses, such as Frank Crowd's Globe Theater, are included among them. Nationally recognized figures, including Billy Kersands, "Ma" Rainey, and "Jelly Roll" Morton worked for a significant amount of time on LaVilla's stages. Although this period is characterized by the implementation of legally enforced segregation and progressively encroaching "Jim Crow" laws, it also represents black entertainment's final chapter before innovations in communication technologies necessitated entirely new economic strategies. Performing for segregated black audiences on stages owned by black businessmen, entertainers began to explore new and distinctively African-American styles and themes, including new forms of music, such as jazz and the blues.
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Date Issued: 2006
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0356
Format: Thesis

Title: Educational Facilities: Discipline, Surveillance and Democracy.
Creator: Attia, Mohammed E., Navarro, Ricardo, Ohazama, Tock, Pable, Jill, Department of Interior Design, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Learning is a continuous process of information that occurs in every day life. The school building is not the only environment in which learning takes place, but it is a place of learning, where space is designed to host special learning activities. Historically speaking, school design has been based on a subject specific classroom. A subject specific classroom would accommodate for designated periods during the school day, one teacher, and a group of students. This subject specific classroom...
Show moreLearning is a continuous process of information that occurs in every day life. The school building is not the only environment in which learning takes place, but it is a place of learning, where space is designed to host special learning activities. Historically speaking, school design has been based on a subject specific classroom. A subject specific classroom would accommodate for designated periods during the school day, one teacher, and a group of students. This subject specific classroom planning strategy has been used to develop many existing school facilities. Immediately after the First World War, educational theory picked up on distilling concepts, which emphasize the importance of freedom rather than restraint, stressing the primacy of emotions over and above intellect. The research project aims to reach through an informed decision making process built on the accumulated base of knowledge and research in the fields of education and the science of learning; a design proposal that would be complementary to the educational philosophy practiced within the educational facility. This study is concerned with a research model that would revolve around the needs of the local community, developing a cooperative role between the university and the local community. The study provides an overview on the historical development of the appearance of the modern day classroom, and the educational theories that influenced change throughout that development. Furthermore the study's focus is on project TEAMS (Technology Enhancing Achievement in Middle School) a middle school instructional program founded in 1990 at Florida State University with Dr. Sally Butzin and Dr. Bob Reiser and Fairview middle school, one of the prototypes for the TEAMS educational philosophy. Built in 1970, the school was designed in the open concept model. Finally, in 2005 permanent walls transformed the school in to an enclosed classroom system. This phenomenon, which Fairview middle school went through over a period of three decades, is unique in its nature due to correlation between the changing instructional policies and the spatial morphology of the school. For that reason, the school provides a good study model for the topic of this research. The project explores how the implementation of the TEAMS educational theory could influence the architectural design of Fairview middle school educational facility. Interviews with the school community as well as the founders of the educational program created a dialog that is crucial to the design proposal. Modern theories of learning science, such as Howard Gardner's multiple intelligence theory, brain based learning theory, and adolescents learning science theories are explained and reflected on to derive design recommendations for learning environments and middle school design. This approach creates of smaller learning communities by way of dividing the school to four equal quadrants, each with a courtyard, play ground and utilities. The four sub schools are organized around a central courtyard and connected through a visually continuous corridor in an effort to provide environmental support to adolescents. The design proposes a contrast of open, semi enclosed and enclosed areas in a spatially interesting composition to better support and enhance brain activities according to brain based learning research creating visually interesting environments, providing safe and easy access, and creating patterns that would enhance brain activities and give construct to the content of the subject matter. The design incorporates the TEAMS Philosophy due to the positive effect on the physical interior environment of the school. The design implications derived from the TEAMS philosophy lead to smaller learning environment within the school as subunits or communities within the school environment. Furthermore, the proposed design achieved a better student per classroom ratio, and reduced the required square footage. This new proposal gives appearance to new open areas for congregation and play.
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Date Issued: 2006
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0254
Format: Thesis

Title: Hemingway and Hitchcock: An Examination of the Aesthetic Modernity.
Creator: Austad, Jonathan A., Fenstermaker, John, Jolles, Adam, McElrath, Joseph, Martinez, Maricarmen, Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This dissertation examines the aesthetic vision common to Ernest Hemingway and Alfred Hitchcock as they present the modern world. Both artists explore themes of decadence, moving away from their Victorian upbringings as they experience the twentieth century. Past values associated with religious, social, and political institutions fail to explain the random pain and violence of the modern world. These institutions need to be critically examined to find new values, associating their works to...
Show moreThis dissertation examines the aesthetic vision common to Ernest Hemingway and Alfred Hitchcock as they present the modern world. Both artists explore themes of decadence, moving away from their Victorian upbringings as they experience the twentieth century. Past values associated with religious, social, and political institutions fail to explain the random pain and violence of the modern world. These institutions need to be critically examined to find new values, associating their works to the principles of the avant-garde. This interdisciplinary study of literature and film concludes that Hemingway and Hitchcock, two masters of their respective art forms, shared artistic themes and techniques in their search to define modernity, detailing how traditional ideals clash with contemporary experience to create moods stressing deterioration, decadence, and degradation.
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Date Issued: 2008
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0259
Format: Thesis

Title: Games of Idealized Courtship and Seduction in the Paintings of Antoine Watteau and Jean-Honoré Fragonard and in Laclos' Novel, Dangerous Liaisons.
Creator: Robinson, Barbara C., Cloonan, William, Sapolsky, Barry S., Fleming, Raymond, Gontarski, Stanley E., Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Although courtship is frequently referred to as a game because it is understood to have rules that follow a particular sequence when the individuals in a couple are getting to know each other, no one has argued that it is really two very different games. This dissertation examines two versions of the game of courtship. In the first version, called the game of idealized courtship, the players follow certain pre-determined rules thus ensuring that the game is fair and equal. It is also mutually...
Show moreAlthough courtship is frequently referred to as a game because it is understood to have rules that follow a particular sequence when the individuals in a couple are getting to know each other, no one has argued that it is really two very different games. This dissertation examines two versions of the game of courtship. In the first version, called the game of idealized courtship, the players follow certain pre-determined rules thus ensuring that the game is fair and equal. It is also mutually consensual and each player has the right of refusal to continue the game at any point. The second version is called the game of seduction. This game is one in which one player corrupts the rules of idealized courtship through the use of deceit and secrecy to trick the other player into having a sexual relationship. This game must consist of a seducer and a victim who play using very different rules. As a result, this game cannot be fair or equal. Consent and the right of refusal are subverted because the seducer is willing to lie to win the game. One way in which these games can be seen is through an examination of these themes in paintings and literature. Selected paintings of Antoine Watteau and Jean-Honoré Fragonard along with Choderlos de Laclos' novel, Dangerous Liaisons, were chosen to illustrate these concepts because they successfully show the games of idealized courtship and seduction. As three of the most important examples in painting and literature found in 18th century society, these works reflect the enlightened view of the individual particularly with regard to a psychological emphasis on love and sexual relationships. The works of scholars in the disciplines of verbal and non-verbal communication, art history and the theory of games and play create the theoretical basis for the dissertation. Research for this dissertation focuses on three key rules of idealized courtship. These rules involve a combination of the principles of play and the definition of games, the inclusion of signs and symbols that represent love, and the communication cues that demonstrate consensual courting behavior. Once these rules are identified, it is then shown how the game of seduction breaks all of them.
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Date Issued: 2009
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0295
Format: Thesis

Title: The State of Evidence-Based Design in Healthcare Interior Design Practice: A Study of Perceptions, Use, and Motivation.
Creator: Phares, Emily G., Pable, Jill, Ransdell, Marlo, Butler, David, Department of Interior Design, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This study addresses the design strategy known as evidence-based design (EBD), and seeks to discover the current state of EBD use and perceptions of United States and Canadian healthcare interior design practitioners. The study also addresses the motivations of healthcare interior designers to use EBD, as motivations may lead to further understanding of EBD's staying power as a strategy. Several emergent points of this nationwide survey of healthcare interior designers provide support for the...
Show moreThis study addresses the design strategy known as evidence-based design (EBD), and seeks to discover the current state of EBD use and perceptions of United States and Canadian healthcare interior design practitioners. The study also addresses the motivations of healthcare interior designers to use EBD, as motivations may lead to further understanding of EBD's staying power as a strategy. Several emergent points of this nationwide survey of healthcare interior designers provide support for the findings of other EBD surveys administered to other related populations. These points include: â¢ Most responding healthcare interior designers engage with evidence-based design at an elementary level as determined by analysis using Hamilton's levels of EBD use (2009). â¢ Acceptable sources for evidence used to make design decisions vary, and some designers described that previous applied design practice experience (normative theory) is a valid source. â¢ EBD often assists practitioners in reaching a design decision, and most practitioners do not feel that EBD stifles their creativity. This study found that there is generally a high level of interest in EBD. Most practitioners understand the basic underlying principle of EBD (using credible research to reach the best possible design solution). The majority of designers reported that they used EBD for 50% or less of their design decisions on any given healthcare project. Further, designers mostly use EBD within the schematic design and design development stages of the design process. Designers' motivations for EBD use are both extrinsic and intrinsic in nature, and the majority of the participating designers believe that using EBD will improve their projects and also help sell their design solutions. Generally, results seem to confirm that EBD is likely in the early stages of making its mark on healthcare interior design. EBD has yet to reach widespread consensus in meaning and application, yet holds promise to provide enhanced validation to design processes.
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Date Issued: 2011
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0292
Format: Thesis

Title: Dance as a Project of the Early Modern Avant-Garde.
Creator: Drake-Boyt, Elizabeth M., Gonzalez, Anita, Young, Tricia, Fleming, Ray, Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This investigation presents an analysis of three expressive dance works created between 1900 and 1920 as projects of the Early Modern avant-garde. The dances chosen were Incense (1906) by Ruth St. Denis, Gnossienne (1919) by Ted Shawn, and L'Après-Midi d'un Faune by Vaslav Nijinsky. While Shawn and St. Denis were American dance artists at the forefront of modern dance development, Nijinsky presented both a European cultural and ballet tradition response to the avant-garde. These dances were...
Show moreThis investigation presents an analysis of three expressive dance works created between 1900 and 1920 as projects of the Early Modern avant-garde. The dances chosen were Incense (1906) by Ruth St. Denis, Gnossienne (1919) by Ted Shawn, and L'Après-Midi d'un Faune by Vaslav Nijinsky. While Shawn and St. Denis were American dance artists at the forefront of modern dance development, Nijinsky presented both a European cultural and ballet tradition response to the avant-garde. These dances were chosen from the standpoint of their similarities. All three are short, emotionally intense, and referent to internal conditions significant to the artist-creator. Each dance centrally features the artist-creator as the intermediary between the work and the audiences and addresses avant-garde concerns in Early Modernism. And these dances were formed as self-contained modular units capable of packaging and marketing in context with both popular entertainments and serious concert art works. Five issues engaged in the avant-garde response to Modernism are delineated for the purposes of this study. These issues are exoticism, spiritualism, distortions of time and space, naturalism, and responses to technological advances. Each of the three dances is discussed in relation to these issues, bringing them into theoretical discussion with other mediums. This scope of analysis facilitates discussion of dance as a culturally expressive behavior, and the close relationships between European and American developments in decorative design (Art Nouveau and Art Deco). The treatment of the definition of Modernism permits comparison of the similarities and differences among a wide range of avant-garde expressions and clarifies the dynamics of exchange between popular and serious performing art venues.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0677
Format: Thesis

Title: Identifying the Critical Aspects of the Built Environment for Effective Art Education in Institutions of Higher Education.
Creator: Abdul-Hafeez, Nezar Selah, McRorie, Sally, Moore, Mary Ann, Rosal, Marcia, Ohazama, Tock, Department of Art, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This study was designed to use quantitative and qualitative methods for two research purposes. The first purpose was to identify the critical aspects of the built environment in selected art education classrooms at Florida State University. The second purpose was to examine the use of such facilities by teachers and students under the current conditions of the built environment in these selected art education classrooms. Three research questions were established to guide this study. These...
Show moreThis study was designed to use quantitative and qualitative methods for two research purposes. The first purpose was to identify the critical aspects of the built environment in selected art education classrooms at Florida State University. The second purpose was to examine the use of such facilities by teachers and students under the current conditions of the built environment in these selected art education classrooms. Three research questions were established to guide this study. These questions were: (1) What are the critical aspects of the built environment of selected art education classrooms in institutions of higher education? (2) How do students and their teachers perceive the different aspects of the built environment of selected art education classrooms? (3) How do teachers and students use the space under the current conditions of the built environment of selected art education classrooms? Three research methodologies were designed to achieve the defined purposes of this study and to answer the previous questions. A survey questionnaire, which concentrated on the perceptions of students and teachers regarding the aspects of the built environment, was used to answer the first two questions. An observational study was conducted to investigate the teachers. and students. use of space under current conditions of the two selected classrooms. Finally, interviews were conducted with four participants in order to obtain in-depth information regarding the use of students and teachers of the spaces. The target population of this study was all full-time faculty members, graduate students, and undergraduate students in institutions of higher education within the state of Florida. A convenience sample of 112 individuals was used in this study. The sample included eleven teachers, 66 graduate students, and 35 undergraduate students in the department of Art Education at Florida State University. The researcher concluded that the current status of the physical aspects of two selected art education classrooms was fair. Of the sixteen identified aspects, less than half were found to be critical. The lack of adequate technology was found to be a significant factor in both classrooms but was not necessarily a critical aspect according to the study.s findings. The outcome of the study indicated that students perceived the impact of the overall environmental conditions in both classrooms more positively than their teachers. All teachers were dissatisfied with both classrooms under study, although their perceptions of which of the two rooms had the most critical aspects was the reverse of the judgment of the students. The majority of the subjects used various senses to help them make a judgment about their perceptions, as the data were gathered directly in the rooms under question. Additionally, subjects may have relied on their past experiences with the spaces in shaping their responses. However, it was beyond the scope of this study to investigate the latter issue. The researcher also concluded that the role of teachers in planning the physical environment of a classroom cannot be ignored, and concluded that they should be professionally trained to do so. Regardless of the question of funds, improvement of certain aspects of a physical environment cannot be well done without the involvement of teachers. Further, such conditions would remain unchanged unless both teachers and students established a strong cooperation as the two classrooms were shared among many teachers and students of different levels. Accordingly, a further conclusion was that all students preparing to become teachers should be prepared in methods of improving art classroom environments. Finally, this study strongly emphasized the importance of providing accessible facilities for differently disabled students in art education classrooms.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0040
Format: Thesis

Title: A Psycholinguistic Investigation of Grammatical Class in Second Language Lexical Processing.
Creator: Campbell, Alicia, Sunderman, Gretchen, Kaschak, Michael, Leeser, Michael, Reglero, Lara, Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This dissertation examines a previously under-researched factor in second language (L2) lexical processing, namely, grammatical class. Although a wealth of research using monolingual and brain-damaged participants suggests that this variable is active in lexical processing, little research has examined this factor with L2 learners. The goal of this dissertation is to investigate the relative contributions of grammatical class and semantic factors in L2 lexical processing and the nature of the...
Show moreThis dissertation examines a previously under-researched factor in second language (L2) lexical processing, namely, grammatical class. Although a wealth of research using monolingual and brain-damaged participants suggests that this variable is active in lexical processing, little research has examined this factor with L2 learners. The goal of this dissertation is to investigate the relative contributions of grammatical class and semantic factors in L2 lexical processing and the nature of the relationship between these two variables throughout development. Accordingly, a series of psycholinguistic experiments were conducted with native speakers of English at different stages of L2 proficiency in Spanish. The specific goal was to put grammatical class and semantic similarity in direct competition to clarify the relationship between these two variables during comprehension and production. In addition to the two comprehension and one production experimental tasks, the participants performed various proficiency measures, in order to thoroughly examine developmental differences in various domains. The results suggest that L2 learners do utilize grammatical class in L2 lexical processing and that this variable can interact with semantic similarity to affect performance. Implications for models of bilingual lexical processing are presented with respect to the inclusion of grammatical class and developmental differences.
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Date Issued: 2010
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0098
Format: Thesis

Title: Examining Art Education in Boys' Middle Schools in Saudi Arabia in Riyadh.
Creator: Alheezan, Abdullah A., Villeneuve, Pat, Garretson, Peter, Anderson, Tom, Hart, Thomas, Department of Art Education, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The purpose of the study is to examine art education in boys' middle schools in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. The study specifically investigated characteristics of art education teachers, teaching methods and guidelines, school attitudes toward art education, evaluation, and the ways to develop teaching art education. Participants in this study were 273 Saudi art education teachers in boys' middle schools in Riyadh. Since population is small, all middle school art education teachers...
Show moreThe purpose of the study is to examine art education in boys' middle schools in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. The study specifically investigated characteristics of art education teachers, teaching methods and guidelines, school attitudes toward art education, evaluation, and the ways to develop teaching art education. Participants in this study were 273 Saudi art education teachers in boys' middle schools in Riyadh. Since population is small, all middle school art education teachers were selected instead of a representative sample to ensure the maximum preciseness of the result. The return rate of the questionnaires was more than half of those distributed (74.35%). From the total 273 questionnaires the author received 203 responses. The findings showed the following: (a) more than half of the respondents (54.2%) have been teaching art education for twelve years or more and more than two third of them (80.8%) hold a bachelor's degree. (b) Almost one hundred percent of art educators in Saudi hold some type of degree. (c) The (33.5%) of art education teachers think that the students do not benefit from such major. (d) The study discovered that about one-third of the respondents (31%) planned their teaching syllabus in advance. (e) ) The study discovered that (83.7%) of the respondents never organized a major method of teaching art education, namely visiting art galleries and exhibitions. (f ) More than 92% of their school administrators think art education courses are not important. (g) The majority of art teachers believe that their students (96%) did not appreciate their art courses because of the lack of basic materials, art education supplies, and limited time for art class. For improving and to be implemented successfully in art education in Saudi middle school, a number of changes must occur. These recommendations can be summarized as follows: (a) Art education planners should consider designing a specified curriculum guide to teach art education classes at the middle schools. Textbooks, teachers' guides, and supplementary teaching material must be developed and made available to art teachers. (b) Special attention should be given to the process of training and selecting art education teachers. (c ) The ministry should take into consideration applying the community-based art education theory in Saudi schools. (d) Students of art education should be evaluated by the same grade system applied to other courses. This policy can make students believe in the importance of art education. (e) There is a need for organizing art exhibitions and galleries, which can encourage students and schools to compete among themselves and display the talents of their students in order to enhance the level of teaching art education.
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Date Issued: 2009
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0166
Format: Thesis

Title: Promotion of Visual Perceptual Development Through Therapeutic Art Education.
Creator: Andreas, Cynthia Barbara, Rosal, Marcia, Mazza, Nicholas, Gussak, David, Orr, Penelope, Department of Art Education, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The purpose of this research study was to investigate the use of an art therapy intevention program designed to improve perceptual experiencing of children with delays in visual perceptual development Seventy-four children, from first grade classes, were screened in this 56-week study at a public elementary school. Troeger's Art Skill Sheet (TASS) was the pretest instrument used for assessment, and identified 14 children who were experiencing delays in visual perceptual development. These...
Show moreThe purpose of this research study was to investigate the use of an art therapy intevention program designed to improve perceptual experiencing of children with delays in visual perceptual development Seventy-four children, from first grade classes, were screened in this 56-week study at a public elementary school. Troeger's Art Skill Sheet (TASS) was the pretest instrument used for assessment, and identified 14 children who were experiencing delays in visual perceptual development. These children were invited to participate in the Visual Perceptual Therapeutic Art Program (VPTAP), designed to promote age-appropriate visual perceptual development. At the end of the 20-week program, a posttest (TASS) was administered. A comparison of the pretest and posttest results indicated improvement in art skills and visual perceptual experiencing, with statistical significance in all skill areas. Quantitative and qualitative data provided evidence that there was improvement in the art skills for participants of this research study, and might indicate that a therapeutic art program can contribute to age-appropriate perceptual experiencing for children with visual perceptual development delays.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0205
Format: Thesis

Title: Reasons for the Dark to Be Afraid.
Creator: Ruiz, Daniel, Department of English
Abstract/Description: The poems and translations in this thesis explore the "three strong voices" that poet Federico García Lorca believes the artist should heed: "the voice of death, with all its foreboding, the voice of love and the voice of art." The sequence of these poems is meant to reflect the poetic speaker's interactions with these voices. Three of the four sections are named after iconic paintings by Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso, and the poems in each of these sections indirectly reflect the concepts...
Show moreThe poems and translations in this thesis explore the "three strong voices" that poet Federico García Lorca believes the artist should heed: "the voice of death, with all its foreboding, the voice of love and the voice of art." The sequence of these poems is meant to reflect the poetic speaker's interactions with these voices. Three of the four sections are named after iconic paintings by Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso, and the poems in each of these sections indirectly reflect the concepts these works present in an attempt to create a dialogue between the written and visual arts. The two works by Dali are The Persistence of Memory and The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory, and the development from the former, which is the second section, to the latter, which is the fourth, is supposed to suggest the interaction between a poet and his or her influences as they work to develop their own unique style, playing at the binary between originality and influence. The title section of the collection is an exploration into the search for truth and originality within this binary—the "irreconcilable feud" between a young artist and a poetic tradition that began thousands of years ago.
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Date Issued: 2014
Identifier: FSU_migr_uhm-0332
Format: Thesis

Title: The Effect of Gender on One Day-Old Infants' Behavior and Heart Rate Responses to Music Decibel Level.
Creator: Dureau, Stephanie J., Gregory, Dianne, Madsen, Clifford, College of Music, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The purpose of this study was to examine gender differences among full term infants' responses to music played at a range of decibel levels. These responses were measured by physiological data (heart rate) and behavioral data (behavior state score). All subjects (N = 36) were healthy, 24 – 48 hours old, and had passed a hearing screening at the time of testing. Heart rate and behavior state were recorded as male (n = 18) and female (n = 18) subjects listened to alternating 3 minute periods of...
Show moreThe purpose of this study was to examine gender differences among full term infants' responses to music played at a range of decibel levels. These responses were measured by physiological data (heart rate) and behavioral data (behavior state score). All subjects (N = 36) were healthy, 24 – 48 hours old, and had passed a hearing screening at the time of testing. Heart rate and behavior state were recorded as male (n = 18) and female (n = 18) subjects listened to alternating 3 minute periods of silence and music for 21 minutes. The music – an excerpt of an instrumental lullaby –was presented via small speakers placed on either side of each subject's head and played at three different loudness levels: 55 – 60 dB, 65 – 70 dB, and 75 – 80 dB. Heart rate was measured using a pulse oximeter with a Y-sensor attached to each subject's great toe, and behavior state was measured using a scale adapted from the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (Brazelton & Nugent, 1995). A two-way analysis of variance with repeated measures computed for both order and gender found no significant difference in heart rate or behavior state during the three loudness levels. Possible reasons for this difference include enjoyment of the music regardless of intensity or physical inability to discriminate between the different levels.
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Date Issued: 2003
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0626
Format: Thesis

Title: American Dance Marathons, 1928-1934 and the Social Drama and Ritual Process.
Creator: Dunlop, Chelsea Rae, Sommer, Sally R., Young, Tricia H., Perpener, John O., School of Dance, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Americans first experienced and embraced dance marathons in 1923, after which these events quickly gained popularity. But the dance marathon that burst upon the scene as yet another fad in keeping with the ebullient nature of the 1920s was dissimilar in form and intent from the dance marathon as it would evolve during the depression years of the 1930s. Within a decade, dance marathons were quickly transformed into a combination of contest and entertainment, replete with spectacle, humor,...
Show moreAmericans first experienced and embraced dance marathons in 1923, after which these events quickly gained popularity. But the dance marathon that burst upon the scene as yet another fad in keeping with the ebullient nature of the 1920s was dissimilar in form and intent from the dance marathon as it would evolve during the depression years of the 1930s. Within a decade, dance marathons were quickly transformed into a combination of contest and entertainment, replete with spectacle, humor, horror, romance suspense, and drama. By applying Victor Turner's rites of passage and social drama theories to these contests, the dance marathon circuit is revealed to have been a society within, and to a great degree separate from, the larger American society. This viewpoint serves to demonstrate why and how the marathon developed as it did. The specific social drama that developed within the marathon was a smaller reflection of the nation's larger Meta drama – establishing the micro within the macro of society. Viewed from this perspective – as a secondary or alternate society – social drama is confirmed to be the main utility in its development.
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Date Issued: 2006
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0629
Format: Thesis

Title: A Bed and Breakfast Design Accomodating the Traveling Preferences of the Retired Baby Boomers.
Creator: Pickett, Mandy, Waxman, Lisa, Wiedegreen, Eric, Pable, Jill, Department of Interior Design, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This study addressed the traveling preferences possessed by the retired baby boomer generation. This demographic is looking for authenticity, historical richness, and comfort in a lodging space. Many retired baby boomers are also seeking accessible and sustainable lodging accommodations. For the purposes of this study, an existing architecturally significant house located in Apalachicola, Florida was selected to be renovated into a bed and breakfast to accommodate the lodging desires and...
Show moreThis study addressed the traveling preferences possessed by the retired baby boomer generation. This demographic is looking for authenticity, historical richness, and comfort in a lodging space. Many retired baby boomers are also seeking accessible and sustainable lodging accommodations. For the purposes of this study, an existing architecturally significant house located in Apalachicola, Florida was selected to be renovated into a bed and breakfast to accommodate the lodging desires and needs of the retired baby boomers. The bed and breakfast offered a historical rich environment that was made accessible and eco-friendly. Materials selected for the interior of the bed and breakfast were derived from the Art Nouveau time period which honored the particular style of design when the house was built in 1908. Existing hardwood flooring, window treatments, stained glass windows, fireplaces, and chandeliers remained in the house to maintain the historical value of the house. The bed and breakfast has the ability to offer an eco-friendly environment by providing sustainable furniture, lighting, and materials.
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Date Issued: 2007
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0890
Format: Thesis

Title: In God's Presence: Conquering Addiction Through Dance.
Creator: Delancy, Elizabeth, Perpener, John O., Jumonville, Neil, Cloonan, William, Fichter, Nancy Smith, Young, Tricia Henry, Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities, Florida State...
Show moreDelancy, Elizabeth, Perpener, John O., Jumonville, Neil, Cloonan, William, Fichter, Nancy Smith, Young, Tricia Henry, Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities, Florida State University
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Abstract/Description: The purpose of this paper is to provide an historical examination of founder/director Alexia Jones' use of Christian-based dance as a treatment for substance addiction through the Beracha Dance Institute. This study analyzes how Jones' integrative process intuitively drew on the similar techniques and methodologies of clinical dance therapy and those of faith-based dance ministries. Jones' work combined the transformative and restorative properties of both of these applications of dance. In...
Show moreThe purpose of this paper is to provide an historical examination of founder/director Alexia Jones' use of Christian-based dance as a treatment for substance addiction through the Beracha Dance Institute. This study analyzes how Jones' integrative process intuitively drew on the similar techniques and methodologies of clinical dance therapy and those of faith-based dance ministries. Jones' work combined the transformative and restorative properties of both of these applications of dance. In addition, Jones' work, and the sources it drew on, echo the healing dance rituals that have been used in traditional societies throughout the ages. Consequently, an historical analysis of her work necessitates looking at the foundations of, and analogies between, the clinically therapeutic application of dance and the spiritually therapeutic application of dance, as well as their historical precedents.
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Date Issued: 2007
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0779
Format: Thesis

Title: Weaving, Writing, and Women: A Case Study of Etruscan Sigla on Loom Weights.
Creator: Phelps, Cassidy, Classics - Archaeology
Abstract/Description: No thorough, systematic study of Etruscan sigla, non-verbal marks of communication incised, painted or imprinted on artifacts throughout the Mediterranean, has been conducted to date. This thesis examines sigla found on a particular artifact, loom weights, from four sites in Etruria in an effort to interpret these marks. After establishing the cultural, social, and economic importance of weaving to the women responsible for it, as well as the economy as a whole, it is suggested that the women...
Show moreNo thorough, systematic study of Etruscan sigla, non-verbal marks of communication incised, painted or imprinted on artifacts throughout the Mediterranean, has been conducted to date. This thesis examines sigla found on a particular artifact, loom weights, from four sites in Etruria in an effort to interpret these marks. After establishing the cultural, social, and economic importance of weaving to the women responsible for it, as well as the economy as a whole, it is suggested that the women themselves were responsible for making the loom weights and then marking them with sigla as symbols of ownership. While the sigla themselves have a variety of meanings and likely have multiple functions, they appear to share this usage in the context of textile tools.
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Date Issued: 2012
Identifier: FSU_migr_uhm-0066
Format: Thesis

Title: A Modern Henry V.
Creator: Risk, Mary, Theater
Abstract/Description: The ultimate goal of theatre is to achieve a true communication with an audience. The potential to meet this goal lies in remembering that theatre should be truthful, relatable, and engaging to a contemporary audience, despite the age or setting of the play. By choosing a Shakespearean history play, and producing an all-female, contemporary edition of Henry V, I endeavored to create theatre to which a modern audience could connect. The following paper outlines the steps I took towards...
Show moreThe ultimate goal of theatre is to achieve a true communication with an audience. The potential to meet this goal lies in remembering that theatre should be truthful, relatable, and engaging to a contemporary audience, despite the age or setting of the play. By choosing a Shakespearean history play, and producing an all-female, contemporary edition of Henry V, I endeavored to create theatre to which a modern audience could connect. The following paper outlines the steps I took towards accomplishing that goal and my specific reasons for taking those steps. Analysis of the feedback from the final performances of the show on February 24, 25 and 26, 2012 in the Annex 117, in conjunction with my other research, allows me to assess my success in meeting my goal.
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Date Issued: 2012
Identifier: FSU_migr_uhm-0060
Format: Thesis

Title: The Development of Labor Camp Literature: A Cultural Analysis of the House of the Dead and the Gulag Archipelago.
Creator: Peterson, Lauren, Program in Russian and East European Studies
Abstract/Description: This thesis examines the changing conditions between Russian labor camps from the Tsarist to Soviet regime. Shifts in labor condtions, quality of life and role of relationships within labor camps are illustrated through critical analysis of The House of the Dead by Fyodor Dostoevsky and The Gulag Archieplago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. In the scope of this thesis, descriptions in The House of the Dead epitimize Tsarist rule up to 1917 and descriptions in The Gulag Archipelago span the Soviet...
Show moreThis thesis examines the changing conditions between Russian labor camps from the Tsarist to Soviet regime. Shifts in labor condtions, quality of life and role of relationships within labor camps are illustrated through critical analysis of The House of the Dead by Fyodor Dostoevsky and The Gulag Archieplago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. In the scope of this thesis, descriptions in The House of the Dead epitimize Tsarist rule up to 1917 and descriptions in The Gulag Archipelago span the Soviet Era from 1918-1956. This thesis includes the literary significance and cultural impact of each novel as a foundation for discussion of the political and social consequences of labor camps in Russia during Tsarist and Soviet rule.
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Date Issued: 2012
Identifier: FSU_migr_uhm-0067
Format: Thesis

Title: Sexual Slander in the Attic Orators: A Survey of the Speeches of Lysias and Aeschines.
Creator: Juras, Alexandra, Department of Classics
Abstract/Description: The purpose of this thesis is to explore the use of sexual insults and slander as a means of character defamation in the speeches of the Attic orators Lysias and Aeschines. I intend to investigate in what ways these authors utilized sexual insults and slander, what sorts of sexual insults were used, how they compare to each other, and what they reveal to us about sexuality, culture, and morality in fifth and fourth century BCE Athens.
Date Issued: 2014
Identifier: FSU_migr_uhm-0320
Format: Thesis

Title: "But where is his voice?: " The Debate of Pope Pius XII's Silence During the Holocaust.
Creator: Whitman, Kayleigh, Department of History
Abstract/Description: For the past sixty years the question of whether or not Pope Pius XII did all that he could to help the victims of the Holocaust has plagued the reputation and memory of his papacy. As the Vatican and Pope Francis continue proceedings towards the canonization of Pius, the question of what judgment can be placed against the pope becomes ever more pressing. My project examines the path that the debate has taken over the past six decades through the work of both the critics and defenders of His...
Show moreFor the past sixty years the question of whether or not Pope Pius XII did all that he could to help the victims of the Holocaust has plagued the reputation and memory of his papacy. As the Vatican and Pope Francis continue proceedings towards the canonization of Pius, the question of what judgment can be placed against the pope becomes ever more pressing. My project examines the path that the debate has taken over the past six decades through the work of both the critics and defenders of His Holiness. While this thesis does not deliver a verdict against Pius, it does address the important question of how the contemporary reader can understand what has been written and the evolution of the charges that have been placed against him. In this paper Rolf Hochhuth serves as the leading example for the critics and Father Robert Graham S.J. serves as his defense counterpart. Beginning with these two men and their arguments, I examine the charges and responses of both the defenders and the critics during the controversial years of the 1960s and 1990s. Through this study I have found that though the Vatican's records remain sealed limiting the pool of information for researchers, the debate has continued to thrive because of the difference in perception of the two sides. The critics place their emphasis on the moral responsibility of the pope and the defenders focus their arguments on the political responsibility and implications of the pope's actions during this uncertain time.
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Date Issued: 2014
Identifier: FSU_migr_uhm-0346
Format: Thesis

Title: The Search for Sophistication: Using "Sinatra Suite" to Support New Choreography.
Creator: Reinert, Murphy, Dance
Abstract/Description: I became interested in American choreographer Twyla Tharp's Sinatra Suite (featuring dancers Mikhail Baryshnikov and Elaine Kudo) when I watched a recorded performance of it while in high school. The piece is a mix of ballet and ballroom, while showing an amorous vignette between the two dancers. Throughout the years, this dance has resonated with me, especially because of Tharp's suave presentation. Specifically, Tharp infused sophisticated glamour into romantic turmoil all of which...
Show moreI became interested in American choreographer Twyla Tharp's Sinatra Suite (featuring dancers Mikhail Baryshnikov and Elaine Kudo) when I watched a recorded performance of it while in high school. The piece is a mix of ballet and ballroom, while showing an amorous vignette between the two dancers. Throughout the years, this dance has resonated with me, especially because of Tharp's suave presentation. Specifically, Tharp infused sophisticated glamour into romantic turmoil all of which resonated on stage to the popular music of Frank Sinatra. Returning to this inspiration for my Honors in the Major thesis project, I choreographed my own work that is influenced by the arc of a intimate relationship and are danced to mainstream, lyrical music. This project incorporates historical, contextual research into choreographic sketching, thereby moving beyond Tharp's work to form my own conclusions about personal relationships in today's society. Many student choreographers do not attempt to make a dance grounded in pop culture because of an unspoken stigma that popular dances are not "art." Situating my choreography in investigative research will uncover ways that I can in fact create a sound choreographic work while still speaking to my generation, a group that has grown up in an age of pop culture identity. Currently, there are many outlets for dance to reach modern audiences, especially on television. My project hopes to draw from the popularity of these televised phenomena and transform it into an artistic, theatrical experience that is both culturally relevant and easily approachable.
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Date Issued: 2012
Identifier: FSU_migr_uhm-0062
Format: Thesis

Title: Dead Elements.
Creator: White, Barrett, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This thesis, an interdisciplinary project entitled DEAD ELEMENTS, seeks to explore the complex relationship between performance and text. Seven common literary elements were selected and then interpreted both in a performative action and a written work. The work engages the traditions of both performance art and conceptual writing, blurring the distinction between physical body and textual body. Ultimately, DEAD ELEMENTS serves as a critique of academic literature, a reification of...
Show moreThis thesis, an interdisciplinary project entitled DEAD ELEMENTS, seeks to explore the complex relationship between performance and text. Seven common literary elements were selected and then interpreted both in a performative action and a written work. The work engages the traditions of both performance art and conceptual writing, blurring the distinction between physical body and textual body. Ultimately, DEAD ELEMENTS serves as a critique of academic literature, a reification of abstractions, a meditation on the body, and an engagement with my own idiosyncratic artistic practice.
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Date Issued: 2014
Identifier: FSU_migr_uhm-0370
Format: Thesis

Title: Female Aristeiai and Women in Masculine Roles in Epic Literature.
Creator: Chasteen, Bethany, Department of Classics
Abstract/Description: This honors thesis will aim to address the less-studied topic of female aristeia and women in masculine roles in ancient epic to establish examples of women breaching concepts that divided ancient society. It will also examine aristeia as a tool used by an author to foreshadow the success or failure of a character in battle in Homer's Iliad, Vergil's Aeneid and in Quintus Smyrnaeus' Fall of Troy. There is an exploration of German scholar Tilman Krischer's model which tracks the process that a...
Show moreThis honors thesis will aim to address the less-studied topic of female aristeia and women in masculine roles in ancient epic to establish examples of women breaching concepts that divided ancient society. It will also examine aristeia as a tool used by an author to foreshadow the success or failure of a character in battle in Homer's Iliad, Vergil's Aeneid and in Quintus Smyrnaeus' Fall of Troy. There is an exploration of German scholar Tilman Krischer's model which tracks the process that a hero undergoes in his aristeia as well as how his model fits other masculine Greek heroes in the Iliad. An analysis of some works by J.G. Howie on Krischer's work is included. Aristeiai for Hera in book 14 of the Iliad and Dido in book 4 of the Aeneid are proposed, following the model by Krischer. Comparison of the Amazonian warrior Penthesileia to the Greek hero Achilles is performed and an analysis of her role as a warrior in Quintus of Smyrna's Fall of Troy.
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Date Issued: 2013
Identifier: FSU_migr_uhm-0187
Format: Thesis

Title: Fights of Funny People: How the Wodehouse/Milne Literary Feud Changed Their Writing and Legacies.
Creator: Lockaby, Curtis D., Department of English
Abstract/Description: A.A. Milne and P.G. Wodehouse are two of the most famous English writers and humorists of their time, with Milne being known for the creation of Winnie the Pooh and Wodehouse celebrated for his Wooster and Jeeves novels. Not only that, these two literary giants were contemporaries and friendly adversaries for the majority of their careers. That is why it is so interesting when, with the development of World War Two, a brutal feud erupted between them. My essay will examine the literary and...
Show moreA.A. Milne and P.G. Wodehouse are two of the most famous English writers and humorists of their time, with Milne being known for the creation of Winnie the Pooh and Wodehouse celebrated for his Wooster and Jeeves novels. Not only that, these two literary giants were contemporaries and friendly adversaries for the majority of their careers. That is why it is so interesting when, with the development of World War Two, a brutal feud erupted between them. My essay will examine the literary and personal feud between A.A. Milne and P.G. Wodehouse, detailing its origins, outcomes, and how it manifested itself in their written work. First the paper will outline Milne and Wodehouse's work prior to the war and touch on their collaborations to display their status as friendly competitors. Then it will describe the events leading up to and the immediate results of the infamous Berlin broadcast, including Milne's response which kicked off the feud. Next we shall outline the post-war lives of both authors and highlight their relevant literary output, all of which was influenced by their feud. And finally the works will be (the tone, style and subject matter) examined. While a good deal of this may seem biographical, it is necessary to provide background for the literary argument. The main focus in the paper will be the effects seen in the post-war writings and the exact impact that these texts have had on their writer's legacies and the literary world.
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Date Issued: 2014
Identifier: FSU_migr_uhm-0468
Format: Thesis

Title: The Art of Adaptation Through the Analysis of Stanley Kubrick Films.
Creator: Sonenreich, Brooke Nicole, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This thesis examines Stanley Kubrick's novel-to-film adaptations and uses the auteur's strategies in the creative portion of the thesis: a full length, adapted screenplay. The study analyzes original texts, screenplays, films, and associating film theory of five Kubrick adaptations (Lolita, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and Eyes Wide Shut). Since this is a creative project, it is split up into an explanative research preface and a full length, adapted screenplay. The...
Show moreThis thesis examines Stanley Kubrick's novel-to-film adaptations and uses the auteur's strategies in the creative portion of the thesis: a full length, adapted screenplay. The study analyzes original texts, screenplays, films, and associating film theory of five Kubrick adaptations (Lolita, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and Eyes Wide Shut). Since this is a creative project, it is split up into an explanative research preface and a full length, adapted screenplay. The screenplay is an adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's short story "The Split Second." The preface component provides details on what Kubrick strategies were and were not used during the adapting process.
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Date Issued: 2013
Identifier: FSU_migr_uhm-0467
Format: Thesis

Title: Dead Elements.
Creator: White, Barrett, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This thesis, an interdisciplinary project entitled DEAD ELEMENTS, seeks to explore the complex relationship between performance and text. Seven common literary elements were selected and then interpreted both in a performative action and a written work. The work engages the traditions of both performance art and conceptual writing, blurring the distinction between physical body and textual body. Ultimately, DEAD ELEMENTS serves as a critique of academic literature, a reification of...
Show moreThis thesis, an interdisciplinary project entitled DEAD ELEMENTS, seeks to explore the complex relationship between performance and text. Seven common literary elements were selected and then interpreted both in a performative action and a written work. The work engages the traditions of both performance art and conceptual writing, blurring the distinction between physical body and textual body. Ultimately, DEAD ELEMENTS serves as a critique of academic literature, a reification of abstractions, a meditation on the body, and an engagement with my own idiosyncratic artistic practice.
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Date Issued: 2014
Identifier: FSU_migr_uhm-0466
Format: Thesis

Title: Weeping Warriors: Heroic Tears of Grief in Homer.
Creator: Crum, Aubrey, Department of Classics
Abstract/Description: This thesis seeks to analyze the socio-familial roles described in Odyssey 8.581-886 (kinsman, son-in-law, father-in-law, companion, brother) and how the Homeric heroes grieved for these specific people. This thesis also compares these grief reactions and analyzes for whom tears of grief would be appropriate. These reactions will then be used as guidelines to analyze the main grief story of the Iliad, Achilles' grief over the death of Patroclus.
Date Issued: 2015
Identifier: FSU_migr_uhm-0497
Format: Thesis

Title: Landscape and Identity in the Work of Albert Huie, Edna Manley and Osmond Watson.
Creator: Assam, Alexis, Department of Art History
Abstract/Description: My aim in this paper is to investigate this history of Jamaican through the lens of twentieth-century Jamaican art from the theoretical perspectives of cultural landscape and identity studies, specifically by focusing on the work of Albert Huie and his contemporaries. I examine the formal and stylistic qualities of these artists' works and speculate on how they operated within their cultural milieu, specifically as agents in the production of discourses about Jamaica. My project poses two...
Show moreMy aim in this paper is to investigate this history of Jamaican through the lens of twentieth-century Jamaican art from the theoretical perspectives of cultural landscape and identity studies, specifically by focusing on the work of Albert Huie and his contemporaries. I examine the formal and stylistic qualities of these artists' works and speculate on how they operated within their cultural milieu, specifically as agents in the production of discourses about Jamaica. My project poses two main questions: first, what do these works say about Jamaican art in terms of the representation of race in Jamaican society? Second, what is the state of Jamaican art history and how can a more sophisticated examination of these artists and their work through landscape and identity studies constructively contribute to the historiography? These artists broke through cultural and ideological barriers in an attempt to transcend colonized thought and bring forth ideas that served to decolonize the Jamaican people and promote Black Nationalism. My analysis of Jamaican art from the 1930's through the 1970's has brought Osmond Watson into the discussion of Jamaican art history in relation to two of its most well-known artists Edna Manley and Albert Huie in the discussion of the decolonization of Jamaican art. These artists helped to ideologically rework the island's cultural landscape away from the British perception and control of the colonial landscape; into a national landscape of an independent-minded Jamaica and Manley, Huie, and Watson change the way Afro-Jamaicans are represented in the art of the island.
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Date Issued: 2015
Identifier: FSU_migr_uhm-0573
Format: Thesis

Title: 100 Cups for a 100 Lives.
Creator: Frankenfield, Ivy E., Department of Art
Date Issued: 2015
Identifier: FSU_migr_uhm-0570
Format: Thesis

Title: In Full Color and Twice Removed: Experiments and Studies in Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black.
Creator: Lucien, Abigail
Abstract/Description: This paper gives a detailed account of the experiments and studies on full color printing that took place within the course of a year by an undergraduate printmaker at the Florida State University.
Date Issued: 2014
Identifier: FSU_migr_uhm-0395
Format: Thesis

Title: Authority's Advocate: Samuel Parker, Religion, and Politics in Restoration England.
Creator: Jewell, Jason, Strait, Paul, Kite-Powell, Jeffrey, Golden, Leon, Darst, David, Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Samuel Parker (1640-1688) was one of Restoration England's most significant religious controversialists, the writer of numerous pamphlets and books dealing with subjects on which learned opinion was completely polarized. His works attracted both praise and condemnation from many of England's most prominent figures, and there is little doubt that he helped frame the terms of debate on several religious issues. At the peak of his career, just before his death, he was both bishop of Oxford and...
Show moreSamuel Parker (1640-1688) was one of Restoration England's most significant religious controversialists, the writer of numerous pamphlets and books dealing with subjects on which learned opinion was completely polarized. His works attracted both praise and condemnation from many of England's most prominent figures, and there is little doubt that he helped frame the terms of debate on several religious issues. At the peak of his career, just before his death, he was both bishop of Oxford and president of Magdalen College, Oxford; his appointment to the latter post by King James II occasioned one of the most important episodes in the struggle between that monarch and the Church of England. Parker died about nine months prior to his royal patron's overthrow in the Revolution of 1688. This dissertation offers an interpretation of the career and writings of Samuel Parker. It concludes that Parker placed the concept of legitimate authority at the center of his political and social philosophy. Parker's concern was rooted in the desire, so prevalent among elites in the early modern period and particularly in Britain after the Interregnum, for a practical policy of ensuring social stability. Over a period of nearly twenty years, he developed a well-thought-out yet almost deceptively simple theoretical model of authority based on scripture, natural law, and historical precedent. This dissertation provides a detailed analysis of that model as found in Parker's writings. It also treats subordinate themes in Parker's works, such as the moralist concept of grace and the use of history as a polemical tool. In so doing, it offers a corrective to contemporary scholarship which frequently views Parker as a superficial thinker and timeserver in the Church of England.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-3520
Format: Thesis

Title: The Shelf Life of DBAE: Art Teacher Retention of Discipline-Based Art Education Strategies in the Classroom.
Creator: Christiansen, Ann Tippetts, Anderson, Tom, Olsen, Stanford, Villeneuve, Pat, Davenport, Melanie, Department of Art Education, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This research is primarily a phenomenological qualitative study of how art teachers who were trained in the approach continue to use Discipline-Based Art Education. The study assessed how the graduates of the formerly-DBAE-focused art education program at Florida State University currently use that paradigm as the focus of their art programs. The selected art teachers were interviewed, which was the primary research strategy for this study. The teachers who were interviewed were selected from...
Show moreThis research is primarily a phenomenological qualitative study of how art teachers who were trained in the approach continue to use Discipline-Based Art Education. The study assessed how the graduates of the formerly-DBAE-focused art education program at Florida State University currently use that paradigm as the focus of their art programs. The selected art teachers were interviewed, which was the primary research strategy for this study. The teachers who were interviewed were selected from the results of a survey that was the supporting strategy. During the twentieth century, art teacher preparation changed periodically to meet the challenges inherent in growth in the field (Day, 1997; Dobbs, 1992). It has been acknowledged that DBAE, or Discipline-Based Art Education, is a theoretical approach rather than a curriculum (Day, 1991). As a result, the DBAE approach has been revised and redesigned to suit teachers, resources, and school and classroom circumstances. By the beginning of the twenty first century discipline-based art education had become ingrained in art teacher preparation, but since that time, there has been a shift away from DBAE as the dominant art education paradigm being taught in teacher education programs in higher education. This is the case even though practicing teachers continue to use it as the dominant model. With that understanding, it would be of value to know how that approach is still utilized. Since the FSU Art Education Department revised its teacher education training program in the early years of the twenty first century, the Department's approach to teaching art in schools has changed in response to the context in which students learn art and teachers teach it, to the globalization of information, to the relative ease with which one can access information about differing cultures and ideas, as well as to the changing nature of art (Anderson, 2006; Anderson & Milbrandt, 2005; Stokrocki, 2004). Currently within the North American art education community, there is no single approach to art education, although the tenets of DBAE remain foundational with branches growing in different directions as new notions of what should be included in art curricula emerge.
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Date Issued: 2007
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-3622
Format: Thesis

Title: Symbology of Interior Design: A Preliminary Typological Study of the Theories of Christopher Day.
Creator: Clark, Lindsay Anne, Pable, Jill, Munton, Peter, Waxman, Lisa, Department of Interior Design, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This study addresses the unconscious manifestations of symbols in the interior environment. The aim of the study is to inform and assist interior design practitioners through the production of a preliminary exploration of a specific set of theories by architect and theorist Christopher Day. The method employs content analysis to develop a typology for the classification of theories. It then deconstructs and interprets the results using the elements and principles of design. As a result, the...
Show moreThis study addresses the unconscious manifestations of symbols in the interior environment. The aim of the study is to inform and assist interior design practitioners through the production of a preliminary exploration of a specific set of theories by architect and theorist Christopher Day. The method employs content analysis to develop a typology for the classification of theories. It then deconstructs and interprets the results using the elements and principles of design. As a result, the study generates a series of conceptual design sketches accompanied by descriptive narratives. Specifically, the typology includes three classes that are explored within the context of this study: 1. Threshold: A Sense of Entry 2. Territory and Boundaries 3. Mystery and the Journey of Discovery Day and other contemporary theorists have provided a foundation of literature supporting the psychological meaning of the built environment in both inner wellness and the development of identity through these three classes. It is the opinion of this author that while these concepts are valuable to interior designers, they lack sufficient explanatory examples. Thus, they are less likely to be adopted by interior design practitioners. Additional examples of interior-specific applications could be of use to the interior design community. Therefore, it is the purpose of this study to take a preliminary step in applying these abstract concepts to the practical solutions of interior design. This exploration yields useful results for practitioners and educators. A framework of understanding is developed through the creation of a typology rubric with keyword guide for a variety of authors. A summary tool used in the methodology is developed into a typology worksheet for possible use in teaching and practice. Most significantly, this study takes a preliminary step, through interpretation and illustration, toward the implementation of these theories in interior design practice.
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Date Issued: 2008
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-3594
Format: Thesis

Title: Frog Kings: Cultural Variants of a Fairy Tale.
Creator: Clavijo, Ann-Kathrin, Ruppert, Peter, Adolph, Winnifred, Maier-Katkin, Birgit, Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This is a study of the cultural variants of the Grimm's brothers famous tale Der Frosch Konig. I will examine five stories, beginning with the Cajun tale The Frog and the Princess, then continue with the Balinese version, The Frg Prince, the Krean The Toad and the Bridegroom, the Scandinavian the Enchanted Toad, ad lastly the Russian tale, The Frog Priness. I will compare and contrast each story to the Grimm's version, and then speculate as to the reasons behind each variation. With the use...
Show moreThis is a study of the cultural variants of the Grimm's brothers famous tale Der Frosch Konig. I will examine five stories, beginning with the Cajun tale The Frog and the Princess, then continue with the Balinese version, The Frg Prince, the Krean The Toad and the Bridegroom, the Scandinavian the Enchanted Toad, ad lastly the Russian tale, The Frog Priness. I will compare and contrast each story to the Grimm's version, and then speculate as to the reasons behind each variation. With the use of charts I will organize the changes as well as focus on a list which will help organize each cultural variation. Hopefully, upon reading this thesis one will realize how beautiful and colorful the world is, joined together by different cultures which proudly add their own values and traditions to each tale.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-3589
Format: Thesis

Title: What African American Male Adolescents Say About Music Videos with Implications for Art Education.
Creator: Clinton, Zerric, Anderson, Tom, Teasley, Martell, Villeneuve, Pat, Gussak, Dave, Department of Art Education, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of music videos on African-American males. Minimal research exists in this area and the results are mixed. Hurt (2006) found that society has become desensitized to the sexism, misogyny and the sexual objectification of women in hip hop culture and noted that music videos are part of the problem. This impact is controlled by the catch, pull, and hold mechanisms (Vernallis, 1998). Straw (1988) extended this view by purporting that music...
Show moreThe purpose of this study was to determine the effect of music videos on African-American males. Minimal research exists in this area and the results are mixed. Hurt (2006) found that society has become desensitized to the sexism, misogyny and the sexual objectification of women in hip hop culture and noted that music videos are part of the problem. This impact is controlled by the catch, pull, and hold mechanisms (Vernallis, 1998). Straw (1988) extended this view by purporting that music videos perpetuate certain images or lifestyles. Kinder (1984) inserted that repeated exposure to these images or lifestyles within a short period of time establishes connections in the brain circuitry. This strengthens associations to such a point that when the spectator hears the same song on the radio or in another context in which the visuals are absent, the presence of the music retrieves these images from memory, accompanied by a desire to see them again. In contrast, Sternheimer (2003) asserted that the media is just an easy target which people use to cover up other reasons for the ills of today's youth. Jones (2002) had a positive view of the media saying that make-believe settings help adolescents deal with their anxieties and fears. This study was conducted with a group of ninth through twelfth grade students in a rural southern Georgia town. The sample population was 30 adolescent African American males in the local high school. The students completed a pre-survey, a final survey, critiqued a music video and participated in a focus group discussion. The pre-survey elicited demographic information about the students' ages, ways of dress and their attitudes on music artists and their music videos. Following the pre-survey each participant critiqued their favorite music video using the Anderson and Milbrandt (2005) critique model. A focus group was conducted next, in which participants candidly talked about what they see and learn from music videos. The participants completed a final survey to end the study. There were three major findings. 1. Most participants are not critically analyzing the visual culture of music videos. They appear to be socialized into acting out what they have viewed in their communities. 2. The students are influenced by their favorite music artists' style of dress and the behavior of their favorite artists. 3. If given a chance to create their own music videos, most students agreed that they would use the same elements that they see in their favorite music videos. The evidence shows that it is important for educators, particularly art educators to develop and implement ways for adolescents to gain experience in critically analyzing their environment, which in their words includes the visual culture that pervades popular music videos. Therefore, art educators have to be instrumental in assisting adolescents in assessing their social environments. Duncum (2006) argued for this by stating that visual culture art education has a social purpose, which is to develop critical thinkers and doers who can make responsible decisions and choices in society.
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Date Issued: 2010
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-3577
Format: Thesis

Title: Mothers and Sons in Hispanic Short Fiction by Women: A Quarter Century of Erotic, Destructive Maternal Love.
Creator: Colón, Jennifer A., Cappuccio, Brenda L., Sapolsky, Barry S., Poey, Delia, Boutin, Aimée, Cloonan, William, Rehder, Ernest, Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics,...
Show moreColón, Jennifer A., Cappuccio, Brenda L., Sapolsky, Barry S., Poey, Delia, Boutin, Aimée, Cloonan, William, Rehder, Ernest, Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics, Florida State University
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Abstract/Description: During the last quarter century, the traditional division of works in Spanish into Peninsular versus Latin American has become obsolete. In a global literary market, increasing attention should be paid to themes or tendencies within genres. These short stories - "Omar, amor" by Cristina Fernández Cubas, "Viaje" by Luisa Valenzuela, "Ayer" by Herminia Paz, "Historia de amor" by Cristina Peri Rossi, "Piel adentro" by Griselda de López, "Yokasta" by Liliana Heker, "Yocasta" by Alejandra Basualto...
Show moreDuring the last quarter century, the traditional division of works in Spanish into Peninsular versus Latin American has become obsolete. In a global literary market, increasing attention should be paid to themes or tendencies within genres. These short stories - "Omar, amor" by Cristina Fernández Cubas, "Viaje" by Luisa Valenzuela, "Ayer" by Herminia Paz, "Historia de amor" by Cristina Peri Rossi, "Piel adentro" by Griselda de López, "Yokasta" by Liliana Heker, "Yocasta" by Alejandra Basualto, and "Yocasta confiesa" by Ángelina Muñiz-Huberman - are published between 1982 and 2000 and address the mother-son relationship in mythical contexts from the unique perspective of the mother, thus reversing the tendency to view them from the perspective of the emerging masculine identities. Drawing on the feminist and psychoanalytic theories of Julia Kristeva, Adrienne Rich, Nancy Chodorow, Melanie Klein, and Donald Winnicott, this eclectic approach shows the role of the mother as it relates to rearing a son. It recognizes that the female's development as an individual continues to unfold as she experiences the stages of motherhood which culminate not in the physical separation at birth, but in the emotional separation of the child as he enters adulthood and is reborn as a separate and distinct entity from the mother. Her role as the mirror has ended. The mother desires to maintain her mirror status with her son and struggles with the greatest incest taboo: that between mother and son. If he fails to comply with his innate matricidal drive, described by Kristeva, the dutiful mother kills him so that he may be reborn as an individual. Thus the mother witnesses and even provokes a cycle of birth-death-rebirth in her son. This study explores the mother-son theme as written by both well-known and lesser-known women authors from a variety of countries. In fact, the chapters are organized by mythical theme rather than geographical origins of the authors. Chapter One is "Kali, the Mother Goddess," Chapter Two is "Echo, Voice of Narcissus," and Chapter Three is "Yocasta, Mother of Oedipus." The chapters expose the previously ignored mother's perspective of the son.
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Date Issued: 2003
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-3496
Format: Thesis

Title: Twentieth-Century Western Scholarly, Artistic, and Journalistic Perspectives on the Middle East: Bernard Lewis, David Douglas Duncan, and Sandra MacKey.
Creator: Bilir, Defne, Crook, Eugene, Johnson, David, Poey, Delia, Vitkus, Daniel, Hanley, Will, Leushuis, Reinier, Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This dissertation examines twentieth century Western scholarly, artistic, and journalistic perspectives on the Middle East. The Middle East has been a constant topic of research in academia throughout the centuries, in which Orientalism is one of the leading enterprises, studying and presenting the region though theoretical frameworks and influential ideologies. As Edward W. Said noted in Orientalism (1978), the common trend in this discipline is to show the purported binary, dichotomizing of...
Show moreThis dissertation examines twentieth century Western scholarly, artistic, and journalistic perspectives on the Middle East. The Middle East has been a constant topic of research in academia throughout the centuries, in which Orientalism is one of the leading enterprises, studying and presenting the region though theoretical frameworks and influential ideologies. As Edward W. Said noted in Orientalism (1978), the common trend in this discipline is to show the purported binary, dichotomizing of the Islamic East and the Christian West, which is discernable through visual art forms and various literatures projecting the Eastern world as often exotic and dangerous. With its Eurocentric perspective, Orientalism's influence is evident in several other fields, perhaps most notably in media practices seen through assorted biased reportings. The callous evaluations and assessments of the Middle East are perpetuated in the productions of many scholars, correspondents, and photographers since the early post-WWII, when the area studies began taking on a new direction, renewed while changing hands from Britain to the U.S., where ideology and decision making have met. This dissertation focuses on three expert communicators, and investigates how the modern Middle East is presented in their works--the academic treatments of Bernard Lewis, the photojournalism of David Douglas Duncan, and the journalism of Sandra Mackey. Their contributions have been critical and, in a very real sense, have created the Western view of the Middle East, making them worthy subjects of close scrutinization. Examination of their conceptualizations of the region and their perspectives on Islam delineates how Middle East has been perceived, to what extent their position in presenting the situation on the ground have contributed to the world shaping decisions of the policy makers, which have often rested more on myth and nostalgia than the facts, and how they have served to influence the shaping of knowledge about the East in the West, particularly in the U.S.
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Date Issued: 2012
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-5514
Format: Thesis

Title: Appropriations from the 19th Century and the Topic of Death in Modern Gothic Narratives: Edward Gorey, Walt Disney, and Tim Burton.
Creator: Bailey, Katherine R., Fenstermaker, John, Cloonan, William, Weingarden, Lauren, Walker, Eric, Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This study investigates the presence of some anachronistic "forms of woe" in 20th and 21st-century Gothic narratives, their roots in the 19th century and particularly in the Victorian Celebration of Death, and their function as part of an evolving symbolic language in a branch of Gothic characterized by its approach to death through a dynamic tension between unease and humor. In particular, this last tension -- a psychological dance between the grim and the absurd, between a strong emotion...
Show moreThis study investigates the presence of some anachronistic "forms of woe" in 20th and 21st-century Gothic narratives, their roots in the 19th century and particularly in the Victorian Celebration of Death, and their function as part of an evolving symbolic language in a branch of Gothic characterized by its approach to death through a dynamic tension between unease and humor. In particular, this last tension -- a psychological dance between the grim and the absurd, between a strong emotion and its release, between incorporation of an unbearable reality and deflection of it -- allows contemporary American audiences in what has been termed a "death-denying" culture to approach and normalize death. The study incorporates a comparison between the cultural space allotted to death and mourning in the Victoria era and in 20th-century America, discussion of the suitability of the Gothic genre for a modern approach to the subject of death, and analysis of the work of Edward Gorey, Tim Burton, and the Haunted Mansion ride as examples of a particular subgenre of Gothic.
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Date Issued: 2012
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-5496
Format: Thesis

Title: Vortex to Virus, Myth to Meme: The Literary Evolution of Nihilism and Chaos in Modernism and Postmodernism.
Creator: Varela, Julio A. (Julio Armando), Gontarski, S. E., Lhamon, W. T., Cloonan, William, Pietralunga, Mark, Fernandez, Roberto, Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities, Florida...
Show moreVarela, Julio A. (Julio Armando), Gontarski, S. E., Lhamon, W. T., Cloonan, William, Pietralunga, Mark, Fernandez, Roberto, Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities, Florida State University
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Abstract/Description: The emergence of nihilism and chaos in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries offers us a case study in how memes work. Memes are bundles of cultural information that display viral properties, sowing the seeds of reality in the individual minds that make up a culture, sub-culture, or counterculture. In the case of nihilism and chaos, the ongoing epistemological and ontological revolution initiated by the likes of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, the collapse of myth as a totalizing source of...
Show moreThe emergence of nihilism and chaos in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries offers us a case study in how memes work. Memes are bundles of cultural information that display viral properties, sowing the seeds of reality in the individual minds that make up a culture, sub-culture, or counterculture. In the case of nihilism and chaos, the ongoing epistemological and ontological revolution initiated by the likes of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, the collapse of myth as a totalizing source of meaning, and the transition from a Newtonian, deterministic worldview to a quantum-relativistic, chaotic worldview transformed the Western cultural landscape, paving the way for the "viral" spread of nihilism and chaos to different intellectual and cultural strata. The matrix model used in this dissertation provides a fruitful way of approaching cultural dynamics and morphogenesis in general, and the evolution of nihilism and chaos in particular. According to the model, culture evolves when memes (viral bundles of cultural information) flow from the sociocultural matrix (the evolving aggregate of paradigms and epistemes that define a culture) to individual agents (authors and subjects, in this case). Authors and subjects function according to the chaotic model of the self described in chapter one, which defines the self as a radically intersubjective entity that evolves through feedback, renormalization, and "locking in" to a battery of attractor symbols in cognitive phase space. These agents assimilate the memetic material, modify and recombine it with other memes, and incorporate the memetic innovations in the work of art/cultural artifact. The work of art/cultural artifact flows back into the sociocultural matrix and changes it, adding the novel memetic material to the body of cultural codes that make up the matrix. James Joyce's Ulysses, Samuel Beckett's Three Novels, and Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow serve as focal points in this study because each work represents a critical juncture in the memetic evolution of nihilism and chaos during the modernist and postmodernist periods. Joyce's novel embodies the "lapidary" modernist aspiration to create the great work of art which serves as an antidote to the turbulence and anomie of the early twentieth century. Beckett's work occupies that liminal space where late modernism and early postmodernism meet; his preoccupations in Three Novels focus on the insurmountable problems posed by language in representing the subject and the futility of our epistemological quest to understand the self amidst the "spray of phenomena" that surrounds us. Pynchon's sprawling Gravity's Rainbow captures that historical moment in time (the end of World War II) when the modernist impulse toward totalizing systems of order and meaning is eclipsed by the postmodern embrace of chaos and semiotic free play. When we discuss 1904 Dublin, the haunting abode of "The Unnamable," and Pynchon's "Zone," we examine three distinct matrices in which modern and postmodern subjects struggle to find meaning in a topsy-turvy world where the totalizing rationality of the Enlightenment and the redemptive power of classical and Judeo-Christian myth have failed. Lacking a firm epistemological-ontological-moral foundation to serve as an intellectual immune system, modernist and postmodernist subjects prove vulnerable to the encroachment of nihilism and chaos as cultural contagia that mold and shape the evolution of a distinctive stream of consciousness.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-4584
Format: Thesis

Title: The Roots of America's "War on Terror: " a War That Never Ends.
Creator: Ringstad, Håkon, Herrera, Robinson A., Uzendoski, Michael, Aviña, Alexander, Dilling, Janet, Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Based on primary and secondary sources that include declassified documents and eyewitness accounts, and using a theoretical approach informed by the works of Slavoj iek and Hannah Arendt, this thesis represents a profound examination of how the U.S. fights alleged terror. I argue that U.S. anticommunism strategies have metamorphosed into practices that characterize the so-called "War on Terror." I delineate U.S. counterterrorism tactics and strategies developed in Algeria to the Americas, to...
Show moreBased on primary and secondary sources that include declassified documents and eyewitness accounts, and using a theoretical approach informed by the works of Slavoj iek and Hannah Arendt, this thesis represents a profound examination of how the U.S. fights alleged terror. I argue that U.S. anticommunism strategies have metamorphosed into practices that characterize the so-called "War on Terror." I delineate U.S. counterterrorism tactics and strategies developed in Algeria to the Americas, to Vietnam and ultimately to the post-9/11 era. The thesis traces the dark side of policies developed during President George G. Bush counterterrorism efforts to President Barack Obama's secret wars in distant lands, one set of strategies and tactics violently, but seamlessly exceeding the other. I argue that the U.S., acting as an unrestrained empire, conducts an endless "War on Terror" that not only incites hate and anger around the world but that also provides an effective disguise to a systematic erosion of domestic civil liberties.
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Date Issued: 2012
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-5423
Format: Thesis

Title: Sustainable Design as Second Nature: Incorporating Sustainability into the Interior Design Curriculum.
Creator: Crane, Tommy J., Waxman, Lisa K., Wiedegreen, Eric, Butler, David, Pable, Jill, Department of Interior Design, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The world is witnessing negative environmental changes at an alarming rate. These changes are due in part to humankind's consumption practices, which have led to environmental degradation. Although this problem comes from many sources, one of the large contributors to waste and pollution is the building and construction industry. As part of this industry, the field of interior design can play a part in contributing to the quality of the built and natural environments through the use of...
Show moreThe world is witnessing negative environmental changes at an alarming rate. These changes are due in part to humankind's consumption practices, which have led to environmental degradation. Although this problem comes from many sources, one of the large contributors to waste and pollution is the building and construction industry. As part of this industry, the field of interior design can play a part in contributing to the quality of the built and natural environments through the use of sustainable design principles. Sustainable design minimizes environmental impact by using methods, products and processes that are respectful to the earth's life cycles, reflects a collaborative interaction between people and the earth, and conserves natural resources for current and future generations (Van Der Ryn & Cowan, 1996). Interior designers are members of an industry that is demanding that they be knowledgeable about sustainable design practices. Many interior design programs in colleges and universities have stepped up to the task of teaching sustainable design as part of the interior design curriculum. However, to successfully teach sustainable practices, design educators must be knowledgeable of the subject matter so they may create meaningful curricula and teach effectively. This study addressed the current status of sustainability within interior design education and presented a model for effectively incorporating it into the curriculum. To further that goal, this study explored the history of sustainability, reviewed its current influence upon the built environment, reviewed current sustainability practices, and evaluated current sustainability educational trends. The methodology included a survey and interviews. The survey was sent to five hundred and sixty-eight members of the Interior Design Educators Council. One hundred and thirty-one members returned the survey. In addition to the survey data, 11 experts in sustainable design education were interviewed to learn more about their effective teaching techniques. The study has revealed that all survey respondents' interior design program incorporated sustainability into their curricula. The educators cover energy efficiency; renewable resources; reduce, reuse, and recycling of materials; life-cycle analyses of materials and methods; along with other sustainability topics. The educators are highly motivated in teaching their students about sustainable design. However, the data revealed that educators are struggling with the placement of sustainable design within interior design programs. Educators, some with limited knowledge on the subject, face the challenge of incorporating sustainability into an already filled curriculum. These educators have struggled with acquiring adequate resources, and must utilize the internet for up-to-date information. Yet, these educators have proven that sustainability can be successfully incorporated into an interior design curriculum. This study allowed the researcher to analyze the current methods and opinions about teaching sustainability in interior design. The data was then utilized to develop a curriculum framework for educators. This framework incorporated sustainability throughout the curriculum and also provided a stand-alone course as an elective to cover current sustainability standards.
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Date Issued: 2008
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-3195
Format: Thesis

Title: The Political Face of Late Roman Empresses: Christian Symbols on Coins from the Late Fourth and Early Fifth Centuries.
Creator: Langa, Lesley A., Gerson, Paula, Jones, Lynn, Stone, David, Department of Art History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This thesis examines the issues of gender roles and political influence of Roman empresses in the late fourth and early fifth centuries. Three Late Antique empresses-Flaccilla (r. 383-386 CE), Eudoxia (r.400-404 CE), and Galla Placidia (r.421-450 CE)-sought to affirm their political roles as Augustae, Christians, and dynasts through issuing coinage. In this thesis, coins are the primary medium of political expression, through elements such as the inscriptions of titles on the obverse and...
Show moreThis thesis examines the issues of gender roles and political influence of Roman empresses in the late fourth and early fifth centuries. Three Late Antique empresses-Flaccilla (r. 383-386 CE), Eudoxia (r.400-404 CE), and Galla Placidia (r.421-450 CE)-sought to affirm their political roles as Augustae, Christians, and dynasts through issuing coinage. In this thesis, coins are the primary medium of political expression, through elements such as the inscriptions of titles on the obverse and pictorial personifications and descriptive inscriptions on the reverse. Reverse images, such as the personification of Victory and the laurel wreath of victory, communicated the messages of dynastic continuity and religious legitimacy for these Late Antique empresses. Both messages came to the fore as avenues through which the Theodosian emperors and empresses could establish themselves as political and religious heirs to the Constantinian dynasty. The imagery on the coins issued during the reigns of Flaccilla, Eudoxia, and Galla Placidia reflected the efforts of these Theodosian empresses to assert their ownership of a political identity that was linked with one another and linked with the first recorded Christian Roman empress, Helena. I argue in this thesis that, regardless of whether Helena was Christian, Eusebius' textual account of her provided Late Antique empresses with a model of expected behavior for a Christian empress. Helena's coins also provided a pictorial representation of a Roman consort later used by the Theodosian empresses. The reverse imagery of Helena's coins, though secular, reappeared on the coins of Late Antique empresses. In order to establish their influence over religion in the Eastern and Western empires, Flaccilla, Eudoxia, and Galla Placidia combined the imagery from Helena's coins with Christian symbols employed in the reverse imagery of coins of emperors from the Constantinian and post-Constantinian years. The secular imagery on Helena's coins was refashioned by the Theodosian empresses to include the Chi-Rho or cross, and thereby expressed the potency of religious and dynastic legitimacy for the Theodosian empresses. This thesis presents a study of the propagandistic meaning of the imagery in order to discover what relationships existed between pagan and Christian imagery, the offices of the Augustus and Augusta, and the Eastern and Western empires in the Late Antique period
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Date Issued: 2006
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-3289
Format: Thesis

Title: A Critical Analysis of the 34th Street Wall, Gainesville, Florida.
Creator: Lane, Lilly Katherine, Anderson, Tom L., Peterson, Gary W., Gussak, Dave, Orr, Penelope, Department of Art Education, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This study focuses on understanding the meaning and significance gleaned from a twenty six month examination of the murals on The 34th Street Wall, Gainesville, Florida, in its local and the larger general context. The Feldman method (1994) of critical analysis was used to interpret the murals. The supporting investigation included defining the local multicultural structure and a review of the historiography of those origins. The earliest examples of murals were the animals, hunting scenes,...
Show moreThis study focuses on understanding the meaning and significance gleaned from a twenty six month examination of the murals on The 34th Street Wall, Gainesville, Florida, in its local and the larger general context. The Feldman method (1994) of critical analysis was used to interpret the murals. The supporting investigation included defining the local multicultural structure and a review of the historiography of those origins. The earliest examples of murals were the animals, hunting scenes, fertility symbols, and mystical realms of religion on the walls of caves and the surfaces of Paleolithic rocks (Dissanayke, 1992). The art of the ancient world was inseparable from religion and without it would probably have found little inspiration. These images represented a need not only to exist within our environments, but to impose ourselves indelibly into them. The society in which we live was here before us; it will be here after we are gone. The small intimate groups within which we function are but a part of the larger society of human beings; the world is the landscape. Important to our understanding of current multicultural American murals and their contexts, and in particular The 34th Street Wall murals, is the knowledge of murals throughout the world. Rapid global communications expose us to a myriad of images, symbols, and ideas. Air travel and computers have changed the world. Being in closer contact gives us the opportunity for the exchange of ideas, some which may be understood at varying levels within the parameters of our knowledge, within our own culture and experience. The murals on the walls and the caves of Australia, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas may contain underlying concepts and images we may use to help us understand The 34th Street Wall.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-3298
Format: Thesis

Title: The Career Decision Making Experiences of College Students in the Visual Arts.
Creator: Cooley, Jill A. (Jill Allison), Sampson, James P., Padavic, Irene, Peterson, Gary W., Reardon, Robert C., Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems, Florida...
Show moreCooley, Jill A. (Jill Allison), Sampson, James P., Padavic, Irene, Peterson, Gary W., Reardon, Robert C., Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems, Florida State University
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Abstract/Description: Over the past several decades, job opportunities in the arts have decreased, while the number of college students pursuing majors in the arts has increased. In addition to the difficulty artists' face, college students encounter major developmental changes which impact their career decisions. While much research has been dedicated to college student development and career decision making, little is known about these elements as they relate to college students who major in the arts. The...
Show moreOver the past several decades, job opportunities in the arts have decreased, while the number of college students pursuing majors in the arts has increased. In addition to the difficulty artists' face, college students encounter major developmental changes which impact their career decisions. While much research has been dedicated to college student development and career decision making, little is known about these elements as they relate to college students who major in the arts. The discrepancy between the number of jobs in the arts, and the number of college students pursuing the arts, has important implications for career services. The lack of information about college students in the arts can hinder career development professionals' ability to provide the most relevant services to these students. The present study focuses on college students in the visual arts. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore and gain a deeper understanding of the career decision making experiences of college students who pursue a major in the visual arts. The phenomenological perspective provided a framework for data collection and analysis. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight participants who were pursuing college majors in the visual arts. At the time of the interviews four participants were entering the major and four were preparing to graduate. These two groups were selected in order to gain understanding about the perspective of students at different points in their college experience. Through data analysis, nine common themes were identified and grouped according specific experiences, difficulties and challenges, and perceived benefits associated with their career decision making. The nine themes are: 1) Childhood artistic/creative development; 2) Teachers and mentors; 3) Being part of a creative community; 4) Considering a career path without art; 5) Parental influence; 6) Support/resources; 7) Congruence with identity; 8) Motivated by challenges; and 9) Making a contribution. The common experience expressed by participants was that their decision to pursue a major and career in the visual arts was challenging, but also very rewarding. This study provides important information about the career decision making experiences and needs of college students in the visual arts. Additionally, differences between students entering the major and those preparing to graduate provide information about their experience at different stages of their development. The findings of this study have implications for future research, and the design and implementation of career services for college students in the visual arts.
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Date Issued: 2007
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-3416
Format: Thesis

Title: Empire, Terror, and Human Rights: Political and Intellectual Discourses in France and the United States since "9/11".
Creator: Kemp, Matthew A. (Matthew Alva), Hargreaves, Alec G., Garretson, Peter, Stoltzfus, Nathan, Cloonan, William, Boutin, Aimée, Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics,...
Show moreKemp, Matthew A. (Matthew Alva), Hargreaves, Alec G., Garretson, Peter, Stoltzfus, Nathan, Cloonan, William, Boutin, Aimée, Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics, Florida State University
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Abstract/Description: In this dissertation, I compare the discourses of key political and intellectual actors in France and in the United States, in order to better understand the ways in which they have articulated major global issues since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. I situate my investigation against three main themes - empire, terror(ism), and human rights - which have gained heightened prominence and coalesced in new ways since the attacks. Through its interdisciplinary and comparative...
Show moreIn this dissertation, I compare the discourses of key political and intellectual actors in France and in the United States, in order to better understand the ways in which they have articulated major global issues since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. I situate my investigation against three main themes - empire, terror(ism), and human rights - which have gained heightened prominence and coalesced in new ways since the attacks. Through its interdisciplinary and comparative framework, this dissertation explores the nature of "empire" in a globalized world and the increasing prominence of a human rights agenda in considering issues relating to both empire and terrorism. Specifically, the two case studies presented in the dissertation examine areas of similarity and contrast in the post-September 11 discourses of 1) Presidents Bush and Chirac, and 2) French and American intellectuals. Through my analysis both of the language, and of the arguments which emerge in the pronouncements of these important actors, I aim to elucidate the manner in which the themes of empire, terrorism, and human rights have been debated in France and America since the September 11 attacks and in the light of subsequent international developments, most notably the Iraq War. In doing so, this dissertation aims to contribute to our understanding of present-day Franco-American relations, and the key role played by language in constructing collective perceptions of some of the most important issues in contemporary history and politics.
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Date Issued: 2006
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-3210
Format: Thesis

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