Master of Arts, Miami University, 2017, History

This thesis focuses on discourses about feminine beauty in relation to mexicanidad in Mexico City during the 1950s. The research keeps in mind the ideological change Mexico experienced during this period of time, which transformed from highly nationalist to embracing an expanding consumerist society. First, this research briefly examines the evolution of Mexico's beauty ideals since colonialism. Then, this investigation analyzes various works that artists like muralist and Contemporaneos created in the post-revolutionary period to demonstrate how artists expressed mexicanidad through the depictions of women's complete bodies. This thesis argues that the strengthening of Mexico as a consumerist society drastically transformed mexicanidad. By examining articles, beauty columns, beauty advice, and advertisements published by magazines and newspapers, this thesis illustrates how representations of the female body not only became fragmented but also absent of ethnic and racial diversity, ultimately favoring an international form of beauty that championed a European aesthetic. This research will end with a succinct analysis of indigenous beauty as a way of shedding light to different forms of beauty while also identifying problems in these depictions.

Committee: Elena Jackson-Albarran (Committee Chair); Stephen Norris (Committee Member); Andrew Offenburger (Committee Member) Subjects: Art History; History; Latin American Studies; Womens Studies

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2023, Arts and Sciences: Sociology

I investigate how Black women perform and negotiate their identities through their beauty work and beauty politics. Black beauty aesthetics like Afro-textured hair and Black fashion styles are subjugated in the hegemonic beauty order that prioritizes white and Western beauty ideologies. The primary goal of this project is to understand how Black women use beauty, broadly, as a tool to help them traverse a society that names them as subaltern based upon the intersections of their identities. In so doing, I also extend our understanding of Black beauty work more generally by exploring how participants complicate, align with, and resist dominant beauty logics. Using interviews and photo-elicitation, I learn about beauty moments that shape how Black women make sense of their embodied experiences, unpack the gaze(s) to which they do beauty, explore how they define Black beauty, and highlight the significance of their beauty journeys. In chapter four, I explore how Black beauty both acknowledges and subverts Eurocentric beauty ideals by incorporating queerness and political resistance into a Black beauty praxis. Chapter five analyzes the participants' reveal a relational beauty politic and gaze to which they perform that is centered on love and the erotic. Through affirmations and beauty intimacies between loved ones, they find themselves unapologetically celebrated through beauty work. In chapter six, participants articulate transitional points of beauty agency across their life course and demonstrate callbacks to early beauty girlhood moments in their adult beauty practices. Ultimately, I present Black women's beauty politics as defined by them but also influenced by the different intersections of their identities. By revealing how Black women work on, present, negotiate, and celebrate their bodies on their own terms, we can imagine Black lives mattering so deeply that we see Black as truly beautiful.

Committee: Annulla Linders Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Stephanie Sadre-Orafai Ph.D. (Committee Member); Afiya Mbilishaka Ph.D. (Committee Member); Anima Adjepong Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Sociology

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2021, Journalism (Communication)

This paper aims to find similarities and differences in the portrayal of female characters in seven Disney's original films and their modern remakes. With the help of qualitative film analysis, the researcher takes a closer look at five scenes per movie to filter out crucial information on whether portrayals have changed throughout the years and if so, how these changes manifest. The analysis pays particular attention to the external appearance of the female characters, their behavior and personality, their relationship with others, and their role in society. In addition to the pure analysis of the portrayal, the main message of the films is examined for differences and similarities, to determine which values and norms are transported and how these have developed over time, if this is the case. The analysis finds that some films have been adapted to modern times, showing female characters more active and independent, and not make it all about men. Nevertheless, it also becomes clear that the perfection of actors' looks is still very present, and even if external beauty is no longer as much of a theme in remakes as it is in most of the originals, one can find almost no optical flaws in the characters' appearances.

Committee: Hans Meyer (Advisor); Kelly Ferguson (Committee Member); Rosanna Planer (Committee Member) Subjects: Film Studies; Gender

Master of Arts (M.A.), University of Dayton, 2014, English

Salome: Reviving the Dark Lady is a rationale for an impending interdisciplinary reimagining of the literary Dark Lady for the early twenty-first century. The work comprises of poetry, dance, and film. This thesis recounts the history of beauty in the Early Modern Period and discusses the historical context of the Dark Lady to provide a frame for the journey of marginalized archetype into the twenty-first century. The choreopoem itself is built upon Salome, the character from Elizabeth Cary's1613 closet drama "The Tragedy of Mariam Fair Queen of Jewry." The choreopoem contains transliterated soliloquies of the princess interspersed through original poems and prose inspired by works of spoken-word artist Andrea Gibson, twentieth-century Afro-Scandinavian author Nella Larsen, and various literary and cultural critics.

Committee: Albino Carrillo (Advisor) Subjects: African American Studies; American Literature; Bible; British and Irish Literature; Comparative Literature; Cultural Anthropology; Dance; European Studies; Experiments; Folklore; Gender; Language Arts; Literature; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Modern History; Religion; Scandinavian Studies; Theater; Womens Studies

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2013, Arts and Sciences: Sociology

Toddlers & Tiaras is a reality-based television show on cable, highlighting the methods, goals and socialization of gender roles in childhood beauty pageants. My study selected a portion of episodes to code on a scene-by-scene basis, utilizing a coding system created through literature and previous viewing of the show. Codes included: "Sexuality", "Presentation of Self", "Consumption", "Culture of Pageantry","Parenthood", "Achievement" and "Child Work". Of these codes, only "Presentation of Self", "Parenthood" and "Achievement" data was utilized for this research. With the goal of ";concerted cultivation" parents of the contestants put their children into pageantry for education, fun and bonding. However, what is produced is a high-anxiety, high-stress and high-pressure system focused on the contestant's presentation of self as a standardized and feminized woman. Through competition for total victory over all others, contestants must present themselves as the most beautiful of all, objectifying themselves and separating their appearance from their personality and individuality.

Committee: Erynn Casanova Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Annulla Linders Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Sociology

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2024, Arts and Sciences: Philosophy

In this dissertation, I examine how ethical and aesthetic considerations interact and should interact. This, I believe, can usefully be tackled contextually, i.e., on a case-bycase basis. I attempt to demonstrate the worthwhileness of this approach by using it to throw light on the value and disvalue of beautification and adornment, and on the interaction of ethics and aesthetics in disturbing art. Upshots that emerge from my discussion will be that social background conditions often influence the meanings, in addition to the actual and likely consequences, of aesthetic practices; different aesthetic domains afford different types of interactions between ethics and aesthetics; and it is, pace some philosophers of art, valuable to examine diachronic and indirect interactions between ethics and aesthetics.

Committee: Vanessa Carbonell Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Eduardo Martinez Ph.D. (Committee Member); Peter Langland Hassan Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, English

Social Mediated Latinas: Creating and Contouring Digital Latina Looks in the Twenty-First Century documents how new forms of Latina celebrity, media viewership, and cultural critique emerged in the twenty-first century with the onset of entertainment streaming platforms, online subcultures, and the social media influencer industry on the internet. Latinas with internet access used their social media presence to create original content and to participate in conversations related to media representation's impacts on Latina identity in the United States. They utilize the participatory affordances of various digital platforms—such as hashtags, direct messaging, and video editor studios—to post to their personal social media accounts and interact with other users' content online. In doing so, Latinas act as cultural producers whose online activity builds on existing mass media depictions of Latinas while simultaneously interrogating the star marketing strategies, beauty standards, and stereotyped narratives that U.S. legacy media industries have projected onto them. This project uses a combined approach of content, reception, production, and star persona analysis to examine the social media posts related to Latina representation that are produced, viewed, and responded to by U.S.-based Latina cultural producers on the internet. I recognize the 2010s to be the decade when many Latinas utilized the media production and social networking capabilities of sites like YouTube and TikTok to transform themselves into what I define as Social Mediated Latinas: creators of digital content who, in their self-reflexive posts and public discourse, emphasize their ethnoracial identity as an integral part of how they make, view, and critique Latina representation. I survey how three types of Social Mediated Latinas—Internet celebrities, traditional celebrities, and comics creators—foreground their ethnoracial identity on the internet in ways that complicate the legacies of Latina star (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Frederick Aldama (Committee Co-Chair); Jian Chen (Committee Co-Chair); Paloma Martinez-Cruz (Committee Member); Guisela Latorre (Committee Member) Subjects: Ethnic Studies; Film Studies; Gender Studies; Hispanic American Studies; Hispanic Americans; Literature; Mass Media; Web Studies; Womens Studies

MARCH, University of Cincinnati, 2023, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Architecture

The action of creating as a form of beauty is often overlooked; architecture has become a machine for commoditized shells. This faddish reality rarely concerns itself with accepting the sacredness that wrought it, to begin with, but instead yearns towards that which is so-called ‘progress'. Architecture, creating, has become a product, not an offering. To address this ever-transient predicament, this thesis will beseech one of the oldest spiritual practices: the Stations of the Cross, to bridge a gap. Within the scope of Christendom, praying or walking the Stations of the Cross is frequently considered a penitential exercise in remembrance of Christ's Crucifixion. Yet, herein this solemn practice lies a hidden communion between the sanctity of space and the creative virtue of the creature. The sacrificial nature of creating allows architecture to stretch itself toward the highest good. This thesis will investigate how the oblation of this art directly springs from the sacrificial journey of the Stations of the Cross, exploring through a Thomistic-Apostolic lens how Christ's Passion fundamentally imbues meaning into the process of architecture, transfiguring the foundation of what Beauty truly is. Through a series of case studies and artistic abstractions, the investigation will dare to relay the history, relevance, and implications of the Stations today. The physical project, a new mode of experiencing the Stations, will be a series of votive chapels within St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery. The goal will be to make the Passion story visible and legible through the built environment and form. By means of St. Thomas Aquinas' Four Aspects of Beauty: actuality, proportion, radiance, and wholeness, a redefining of the commonly abbreviated quality of beauty will situate the universal Truths found within the Stations inside of the genre of architecture. The aim will be, in its essence, to form a consecration: a melding between the prongs of architecture, beauty, and the Passio (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Elizabeth Riorden M.Arch. (Committee Member); Michael McInturf M.Arch. (Committee Chair) Subjects: Architecture

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2023, Musicology

From 1989-1999, Walt Disney Animation Studios experienced a period of industrial growth and a return to the artistic ideology of their "Golden Age," resulting in the "Disney Renaissance." The films that comprise this Renaissance represent not only a diverse body of musical works that dominated the cultural landscape of their time, but would soon influence the trajectory of the Broadway musical and popular culture in decades to follow. The theatrically informed compositional ethos of songwriting team Howard Ashman and Alan Menken brought new life to the Disney animated musical, and through their work, would bring about the era of the Disney musical on stage. With the beginning of Disney's Broadway productions in the 1990s and the company's subsequent expansion throughout Times Square through the renovation of and residence in the New Amsterdam Theatre, the impact of Disney's animated musicals ripples throughout popular culture today, bolstered by the company's adaptation strategies and nostalgia-based marketing. In this dissertation, I argue that Howard Ashman and Alan Menken's scores to The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), and Aladdin (1992) established a new model for the Disney animated musical, defined by musical theatre conventions, and created a distinct sonic identity upon which the company still relies. Chapter One focuses on The Little Mermaid, arguing that Ariel's (speaking and singing) voice represents not only her agency within the arc of the story, but would come to symbolize the new artistic aims of the Disney Renaissance. Chapter Two examines Aladdin's transformation beginning with its Broadway-informed conception, through its filmic realization, and eventually to its Broadway manifestation, centering sexuality, musical orientalism, theatrical influence, and US anxieties about the Middle East in the 1990s. The final chapter centers on Beauty and the Beast and Disney's move into Times Square, analyzing the film's theatrical aspira (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Daniel Goldmark (Advisor); Robert Spadoni (Committee Member); Georgia Cowart (Committee Member); Susan McClary (Committee Member) Subjects: Film Studies; Motion Pictures; Music; Theater History

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, 2022, English

This thesis explores the prevalence of disability in Charlotte Bronte's Villette and how conceptions of race, gender, wellness, and physical appearance within Victorian England influence the novel's conceptions of disability. Several authors such as Bronte took to literature to attempt to depict and understand what constitutes disability and how disability determines individuals' perceived social status and value. Relying on Lennard Davis's theory of disability/impairment—that impairment relates to the actual loss of a biological function while disability relates to society's unwillingness to accommodate this loss—this thesis suggests that the disabled identity is socially constructed, and that the hierarchies of race, gender, wellness, and physical appearance helped produce how the Victorians understood disability. Villette has created a divide between disability studies scholars, as some are convinced that Bronte creates an ableist narrative in the novel, while others suggest that she represents disabled characters as integral and accepted parts of society. By exploring four main bodily dichotomies shown in the novel, including the English vs. the foreign body, the pretty vs the plain body, the reproductive vs. the working body, and the healthy vs. the ill body, I suggest that Villette both affirms and denies the worth of the social hierarchies that create disability. Observing the ambiguity in Villette allows for a greater understanding of the construction of “normality” within texts, and the subjective, evolving nature of the norm of the human body.

Committee: Linda Zionkowski (Advisor) Subjects: Literature; Mental Health; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Psychology; Womens Studies

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2022, Art History (Fine Arts)

Physiognomy is the pseudoscientific study of the causal relationship between a person's exterior body and their inner character. Physiognomy was largely accepted in Victorian society and had a tremendous impact on both the arts and sciences of the period. One of the areas we can see evidence of this is in illustration, particularly in the way good and evil characters are designed. The fairy tale illustrator Arthur Rackham shows this strong contrast in the way that his characters are portrayed. His protagonists are serene and idealized, incorporating beauty standards of the Victorian Era. His villains are grotesque, often with animalistic features which make each creature seem like an evolutionary missing link. By incorporating principles of physiognomy, Arthur Rackham used a visual shorthand to identify which characters were good and evil in fairy tale illustrations.

Committee: Samuel Dodd (Committee Member); Jennie Klein (Committee Chair); Charles Buchanan (Committee Member) Subjects: Aesthetics; Anatomy and Physiology; Art Criticism; Art Education; Art History; British and Irish Literature; Criminology; European History; Evolution and Development; Fine Arts; History; Science History; Womens Studies

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2021, Art History (Fine Arts)

Throughout the Italian Renaissance, women were largely defined by their relationship to men and generally fell into three main categories: wife, mother, and object of desire. The main focus of this thesis is to analyze how ideal female attributes differ in Florentine portraiture as a woman's specific social identity changes between wife, mother, and object of desire. This thesis seeks to explore how the ideal woman is portrayed in the different social archetypes of wife, mother, and object of desire, and what characteristics are unique to a woman's assigned social and familial roles. It is a cross-sectional analysis of ideal women across society as their beauty standards, moral obligations, and social expectations change depending on their defined “purpose.” In the display culture of Renaissance Florence, the appearance and conduct of women were under constant scrutiny, as women were viewed as extensions of their family's honor and good name. The expectations set for women were often contradictory, therefore making it impossible for one, singular version of the ideal woman to exist or be represented in portraiture. As this thesis explores, the ideal attributes associated with the role of wife varied greatly in comparison to the ideal attributes associated with mothers, or the ideal woman as she existed as an object of male desire. The ideal characteristics associated with the wife were propriety, chastity, and modesty, while the ideal characteristics for the mother were fertility and strength. Finally, the ideal attributes associated with the ideal woman as an object of desire were focused on ideal physical beauty and a warm and intimate character.

Committee: Jennie Klein (Advisor); Charles Buchanan (Committee Member); Marion Lee (Committee Member) Subjects: Art History; Gender Studies

Master of Arts, University of Toledo, 0, Psychology - Experimental

Adkins and Norman (2016) measured participant aesthetic preference of snowflakes as a function of snowflake complexity. Their findings suggested a linear relationship between complexity and aesthetic preference, contrary to some previous literature (Berlyne, 1968). However, the study did not include snowflakes with real inner details intact to compare results between silhouette and real snowflakes. We replicated their study and included a second set of stimuli consisting of the original snowflake photographs from which the silhouettes were generated, as well as several individual difference measures. The results indicate that when inner detail is included with the snowflakes, aesthetic preference forms a curvilinear, inverted U shaped relationship with complexity. Additionally, linear regression analyses suggest a significant positive association between Need for Cognition and complexity in both silhouette and inner detail conditions. These results show that the relationship between snowflake complexity and aesthetic preference is contingent upon unexplored factors. In a second study, participants were shown the snowflake stimuli sequentially, making judgments of subjective complexity, interestingness, and pleasingness for each snowflake. The results indicated that inner detail snowflakes were perceived as significantly more complex than silhouette snowflakes. Quadratic regression analyses found a significant curvilinear relationship between objective and subjective complexity ratings in both snowflake conditions. While objective complexity retained some effect in the inner detail condition, the results suggest a need for a more generalizable technique for measuring the complexity of snowflakes.

Committee: Stephen Christman PhD. (Committee Chair); John Jasper PhD. (Committee Member); Andrew Geers PhD. (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

MA, Kent State University, 2021, College of the Arts / School of Art

Ever since the 16th century, the character of Lucrezia Borgia has captivated and titillated the imagination of countless artists, novelists, and playwriters. Daughter of Pope Alexander VI and later Duchess of Ferrara, she is known in popular culture for being a personification of beauty, seductiveness, and unlimited ambition. This thesis journeys through literary and painted representations of Lucrezia Borgia from the 16th to the 21st century, exploring each portrait as means to exert control over Lucrezia's femininity. If the portraits dating from within her lifetime are examined as the means to idealize her figure and present it as an exemplary model of female propriety and respectability, nineteenth-century productions turn her into an ambiguous character. As her body becomes the site of a conflagration between beauty and vice, love and ambition, Lucrezia is turned into a mythological character employed as a moral cautionary tale. Victor Hugo's play Lucrece Borgia, Pre-Raphaelite paintings, and 20th-century cinematic examples are then used to discuss the appropriation and exploitation of Lucrezia for political and economic objectives first, and consumeristic purposes later. Lastly, the commission of a glass case to display a relic of her hair is analyzed for the first time as the ultimate step in this transformation of Lucrezia from a historical figure to a secular saint of femininity and sexuality. Employing theoretical frameworks drawn from contemporary feminist theory, this thesis ultimately proposes a reading of Lucrezia as a case-study to access to gain access to a wider range of issues concerning female representation.

Committee: Gustav Medicus (Advisor); Shana Klein (Committee Co-Chair) Subjects: Art History

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2020, Leadership and Change

Whether it is claiming a radical self-love for one's body or dissatisfaction of one's body, the experiences of African American women and their bodies cannot be divergent from the sociocultural contexts in which they live. Seeking to reveal how gender, race, and sexual orientation impact the lived experiences of African American women and their bodies, this study will bring attention to and provide a more nuanced understanding of the historical and sociocultural ramifications of the Black female body. Historically, inadequate attention has been given to an intersectional approach to understanding the experiences of the Black female body. It is understood that Black women are a marginalized population. This marginalization is rooted in race, gender, age, sexual orientation, and class. What influence do these interlocking oppressive forces have on the way African American women live and view their bodies? Utilizing a participatory research model, participants chronicled their experiences with their bodies in pictures and words through interviews, narratives, and photographs. Addressing body image from an intersectional approach, this research adds to existing literature and gives womanist breadth and depth to this discussion of body experience framed within the sociocultural context. The women, “sisters,” in this study shared stories of liberation, healing and resistance challenging assumptions of Black womanhood. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA: Antioch University Repository and Archive, http://aura.antioch.edu/ and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu/

Committee: Philomena Essed PhD (Committee Chair); Elizabeth Holloway PhD (Committee Member); Jameta Barlow PhD, MPH (Committee Member) Subjects: African Americans; Black Studies; Gender Studies

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2020, American Culture Studies

Hair straightening and the usage of hair extensions, particularly chemical relaxing and `Brazilian' weaves are common and, in many cases, preferable over natural Afro-textured hair among African women in both the continent and the diaspora. The practice, which has been extensively studied from the African American perspective, is largely explained as (1) a result of internalized racism and self-hate and (2) simply stylization, versatility, and choice. However, even though diasporic and continental Africans share similar hairstyling practices, their historical and cultural situations are not the same. This study looks at Ghanaian women's hair culture from a whiteness-decentered approach. The goal of the study was to research African women's hair norms from continental African women's perspective and find out whether their hair culture could be explained as a result of internalized racism and self-hate or stylization. The study interviewed thirty women. It asks why do they relax their hair and wear hair extensions: whether they are pursuing `white beauty', or they have other reasons why they alter their hair. It found out that Ghanaian women do not relax their hair and wear hair extensions as a result of `mental slavery,' and they do not hate their hair, or perceive white women's appearance iconic. It also found that hairstyling among Ghanaian women is not simply for stylization; there are specific reasons why they relax their hair and wear weaves. These reasons include the attachment of privileges and benefits to straight hair and stereotypes and consequences to coily hair in Ghanaian society. Contrary to earlier studies that explain African women's negative relationship with their hair as a result of colonialism and Euro-American influence on the continent, the study found out that negative attitudes displayed toward hairstyles like (dread)locks in many African societies stem from pre-colonial traditional cultural norms.

Committee: Timothy Messer-Kruse PhD (Advisor); Apollos Nwauwa PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; African History; African Literature; African Studies; American Studies; Black History; Black Studies; Cultural Anthropology; Ethnic Studies; Gender; Gender Studies; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, English

In recent years, American television has produced a seemingly endless stream of reimaginings (remakes, reboots, continuations). This dissertation focuses on reimaginings in which elements of characters' identities – such as race, gender, and sexuality – have been changed from what they were in the initial iterations. I analyze the impact (or lack thereof) that such changes have on production, narratives, and reception. The four reimaginings chosen for this project (Sci-Fi's Battlestar Galactica, The CW's Beauty and the Beast, Disney Channel's Girl Meets World, and Netflix's One Day at a Time) take a variety of approaches to handling the identity changes, often spurred by network and genre expectations. These series are sometimes discussed as progressive symbols, but I argue that they're typically little more than a sleight of hand. The changes obfuscate underlying desires to attain acclaim for improving the state of televisual representation while simultaneously avoiding moving past the basic level of visual change. This allows for the continued propagation of undesirable tropes and stereotypes. Central to my argument is an interrogation of current tensions that exist related to televisual representation, specifically between calls for increased inclusion in media and pervasive notions of postfemininity and postraciality. This conflict often manifests in casting practices that have complicated relationships with both narratives and audiences.

Committee: Sean O'Sullivan (Committee Chair); Robyn Warhol (Committee Member); Jared Gardner (Committee Member) Subjects: Mass Media

Master of Arts, University of Akron, 2019, Communication

The overarching purpose of this study is to mobilize Black feminism in order to deconstruct how She's Gotta Have It's story line paradoxically challenges and/or reinforces misogynistic and stereotypical understandings of Black women. Continuing to analyze and critique the portrayals of women of color in the media is vital because shows and films starring African-American actors and actresses are very popular amongst Black viewers (Abrams, 2012). These negative depictions of Black women in media continue to affect the way Black people, as well as American society, values, identifies and idealizes Black women in general (Francois, 2012). This study begins with a review of literature of concepts and theories regarding the representation of Black women in the media. By approaching these issues with a feminist perspective, this thesis explores the societal constructions of Black women's experiences and sexualities in a White male dominated culture. Through a comparative analysis of the evolution between the 1986 film She's Gotta Have It and the 2017 Netflix series She's Gotta Have It, this study assesses the representation of women of color in the Black community. Lastly, it examines the public delivery of images and messages that challenge and/or reinforce the prevailing stereotypes of African American women in film and television.

Committee: Mary Triece PhD (Advisor); Kathleen Clark PhD (Committee Member); Kathleen Endres PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; Communication; Film Studies; Mass Media; Rhetoric

Master of Arts, University of Akron, 2018, Communication

Guided by co-cultural theory and the theory of social construction of reality, this research aims to understand how Muslim women living in the West, specifically as a culturally underrepresented group in the United States, use and engage social media in order to shape, form, and negotiate their identities with others, online and in the real world. As the theory of social construction of reality suggests, individuals go through various stages of socialization, having parents and family mainly shaping their primary internalizations and externalizations of the world, and as they mature and form their personalities and identities, going through the secondary internalization and externalization processes. In doing so, co-cultural theory suggests that as members of a cultural group, Muslim women living in a secular Western society, have three communication strategies that they can use to communicate with those outside the co-cultural group. The findings of this study suggest that Muslim women only use two of the three communication strategies, nonassertive and assertive, in order to reach one of three preferred outcomes: separate, accommodate, and assimilate. The data show the ways that Muslim women enact the two communication strategies and their reasoning for doing so. In order to understand the women's identities and their formations, using the qualitative method of research, the study thoroughly interviewed 10 Muslim women who frequently use social media while living in the United States. The participants were a diverse group of Muslim women who come from an array of backgrounds in order to obtain answers from all different groups of Muslims. Subsequent to the coding and analysis for the interviews, six major themes emerged about the women's co-culturally socialized realities: (1) modesty and Hijab in context: when, where, who, (2) uniting with other Muslims globally, (3) complex identities: proud unique, and sometimes insecure, (4) racism, colorism, and prejudice a (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Kathleen Clark Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Mary Triece Ph.D. (Committee Member); Heather Walter Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication

Master of Arts in Catholic Studies, Mount St. Mary's Seminary & School of Theology, 2018, School of Theology

The aesthetic theory of Plotinus and St. Augustine have much in common in their understanding of the beautiful. The pagan mysticism of Plotinus and his reliance on the Platonic tradition allowed him to develop an ascensional aesthetic theory. Plotinus' theory maintains the objectivity of beauty alongside other transcendental properties of being. The soul, first understanding the lower beauties of the sensible world, ascends to higher beauties such as the virtues, noble conduct, and the soul, and finally to the Supreme Beauty of the One. Beauty on Earth is a reflection of the Beauty of the One. Augustine's aesthetics is also ascensional, and there is clear evidence of the inspiration he received from Plotinus. Objective beauty is again defended here. Augustine's thought on beauty encourages the soul to ascend from the sensible things of the world—which are not evil or unworthy of attention—towards intelligible beauty and finally to God. The dynamic is very similar to Plotinus, but what makes the essential difference in this system is the Incarnation and Augustine's faith. He equates Beauty with God and as such the Son of Man is also Absolute Beauty. This difference in the aesthetic theory of Augustine allows one to actually reach the Beauty for which all men long. This difference in Augustine's philosophy of beauty should be given the notice it is due by the Church today. The importance of beauty in a world of ugliness is more urgent for the modern world than in times past. Catholics should recognize the essential role beauty plays in encouraging the mind's ascent to God.

Committee: David J. Endres Ph.D. (Advisor) Subjects: Aesthetics; Philosophy