Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
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Description
Did He Kill the Mockingbird? is a play I wrote, which explores the effects of being on the Autism Spectrum plays in Arthur Radley’s life. Arthur Radley is a very misunderstood member of Maycomb County, who is constantly seen as a lesser member of society in Maycomb County.
Did He Kill the Mockingbird? provides an alternate ending to To Kill a Mockingbird. In the original play, the townspeople never discovered that Arthur Radley killed Bob Ewell. In Did He Kill the Mockingbird? a townsperson overhears Atticus Finch and Heck Tate discussing Bob Ewell's death. This leads the townsperson to tell others in Maycomb County of the events that had unfolded the night Bob Ewell died.
As the play progresses, we explore how ignorance, willful and not, change the daily lives and actions of individuals who have mental illnesses and disabilities such as Autism. The townspeople may not see a problem with the way they treat Arthur Radley, as he is just a man who they believe stabbed his mother. However, in reality, they are causing more harm by encouraging and perpetuating rumors about Arthur Radley. In turn, the rumors enhance the stigma that plagues Arthur Radley.
Jean Louise Finch is the main character in Did he Kill the Mockingbird? Jean supports Arthur Radley, and is able to see the good in him although the rest of the townspeople continue to believe he is a bad person.
I hope that my version of this alternative ending to original play brings to light the changes that we need to make as a society to encourage the acceptance of all people. As a society, we need to treat all people, whether disabled or not, as equals. Rather than perpetuating stereotypes, we need to encourage everyone to work hard and reach for their goals whatever they may be.
Did He Kill the Mockingbird? provides an alternate ending to To Kill a Mockingbird. In the original play, the townspeople never discovered that Arthur Radley killed Bob Ewell. In Did He Kill the Mockingbird? a townsperson overhears Atticus Finch and Heck Tate discussing Bob Ewell's death. This leads the townsperson to tell others in Maycomb County of the events that had unfolded the night Bob Ewell died.
As the play progresses, we explore how ignorance, willful and not, change the daily lives and actions of individuals who have mental illnesses and disabilities such as Autism. The townspeople may not see a problem with the way they treat Arthur Radley, as he is just a man who they believe stabbed his mother. However, in reality, they are causing more harm by encouraging and perpetuating rumors about Arthur Radley. In turn, the rumors enhance the stigma that plagues Arthur Radley.
Jean Louise Finch is the main character in Did he Kill the Mockingbird? Jean supports Arthur Radley, and is able to see the good in him although the rest of the townspeople continue to believe he is a bad person.
I hope that my version of this alternative ending to original play brings to light the changes that we need to make as a society to encourage the acceptance of all people. As a society, we need to treat all people, whether disabled or not, as equals. Rather than perpetuating stereotypes, we need to encourage everyone to work hard and reach for their goals whatever they may be.
ContributorsTravieso, Alejandra (Author) / Fette, Donald (Thesis director) / Hoyt, Heather (Committee member) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
This Cannot Be Forest Bathing is a collection of poems that deals with how we see ourselves in the greater picture. Reflecting on one’s experiences and trying to project the future is challenging for a young person, and these poems are my way of accepting that life, and the future, are both ever-changing. The practice of “forest bathing,” known as shinrin-yoku in Japan, means to ‘take in the forest.’ This form of meditation and self-cleansing is associated with a form of therapy. Shinrin-yoku utilizes techniques or treatments that focus on bettering physical and mental health through nature. During a “forest bath,” the participant is able to relax through being outside; in calmness, one is able to think clearly. For my collection, I wanted to emphasize this self-reflection as a dark meditation instead of a stereotypically peaceful endeavor. The title is a manifestation of disbelief, as I realized ‘I am with nature, in a moment of rest, and should be enjoying myself, but I am lost and feel trapped instead of being found. I still think about who I am as an individual, my anxieties, and of the future.’ As I am usually inspired by nature, all of my works were written either in connection to, or physically within the outside world. I find closure and relief through writing, and I hope that my poetry connects people together in our dark moments, reminding the reader that they are not alone. In youth, we are lost but never alone, even in the most tumultuous of times.
ContributorsNino, Alexa Sophia (Author) / Ball, Sally (Thesis director) / Erin, Noehre (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-12
Description
This grammar describes the inner workings of the language of the Fwonnel Peninsula, known in its English translations as Fwonnel, Arojaunzan, or, most succinctly, Arojun. Contained within this 288-page paper are sections dedicated to Phonology, Phonetics, Morphology, Syntax, Example Texts, and various other elements of the world that I have created. Arojun is a moderately analytic language that features a Verb-Object-Subject word order, a pronoun-tense auxiliary system, and two orthography systems with historic significance. Connected to the language and included within this paper are sections on original Calendar Systems, Music Theory and Notation, Naming Traditions, Geography of the Fwonnel Peninsula, Religions, Two Dictionaries, a collection of common phrases important to learning the language and interacting with the people, and an in-depth look at the full political and linguistic history of the Fwonnel Peninsula. The Sample Text section includes several lines of interlinear glosses translating popular scenes from television shows from English(or Japanese) into Arojun, videos of which were posted to my YouTube Channel, Agma Schwa, over the course of the past year. This language, and in essence, the entirety of the fictional nation of El Fwonk Casanosia, has been building up to this point since 2007, when I was only seven years old. I may have needed to occasionally bend over backwards to make the less logical, yet emotionally significant, parts of this language and history reach a point of satisfactory suspension of disbelief, but I believe that it turned out wonderfully. Either way, this project took a great deal of effort, by far the largest project that I have worked on in my life.
ContributorsCole, Robert Joseph (Author) / Van Gelderen, Elly (Thesis director) / Pruitt, Kathryn (Committee member) / Bjork, Robert (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor, Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
This work of creative nonfiction explores the life of the writer's great-grandmother, Madge Richardson, and her sister Annie Richardson Johnson, as daughters of polygamist families and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the religious colony of Colonia Díaz, Chihuahua, Mexico. The piece depicts several highs and lows in the late 19th to early 20th century pioneer town, with an emphasis on the mass exodus and devastation that occurred during the Mexican Revolution.
ContributorsGadberry, Emily (Author) / Ison, Tara (Thesis director) / Irish, Jennifer (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
The way the public perceives law enforcement influences how communities function. Identifying how individuals develop their perceptions of law enforcement is critically important. Mainly, their experiences with officers determine how perceptions of law enforcement are developed. Analyzing perceptions of law enforcement can help people understand relationships that officers have with community members and determine the type of impact that officers have on certain populations such as the youth. This study examines youth perceptions of law enforcement. The youths’ perception of police is an important perception to analyze. It is important because their perceptions have the power to create change or influence other people their age. It has been seen that the youth “create meaningful institutional change in their communities”. The research and findings on perceptions of law enforcement are important because they could help explain whether there is a correlation between crime rates in the community and perceptions of law enforcement from community members. It can also help identify how much the youth population is willing to rely on law enforcement and whether they trust and respect them. The youth are exposed to factors in their community that can influence certain attitudes and perspectives. In this research, a study from Elementary schools in Compton, CA is analyzed to identify youth perceptions of law enforcement. The research questions addressed are: Is there any correlation between crime rates in the community and perceptions of law enforcement? Can a program implemented into schools improve youth perceptions of law enforcement? How much are the youth willing to rely on law enforcement?
ContributorsRodriguez Villarreal, Elizabeth (Author) / Fine, Adam (Thesis director) / Trinkner, Rick (Committee member) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor, Contributor) / School of Social Work (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
In the event of a climate disaster, everything changes, but the places we’ve romanticized as a frontier will become new to us once again. New Sonoran is, in essence, an American story on a global problem. It draws on American pioneer/Old West/cowboy culture, the lasting effects of climate change denial, and the individualism that pervades American culture. I want to use this project to underscore the actual isolation of individualism, as well as create a new story that speaks to a problematic but evocative cultural history while accessing an uncertain future. For this project, I drew from a varied palette of media: comics, video games, and the pervasive cultural malaise that surrounds my current generation.
The work is based in anxieties, but its media influences are a strong indicator of tone and concept. At the very least, they helped me articulate why I wanted to work on a graphic novel on a post-climate change Sonoran. This desert that I’ve grown used to will change irrevocably, but it will be a new frontier to explore while the old will become a loss to mourn. This cycle of change is something I want to highlight in my work: we can worry, mourn, and fear, but there’s going to be something new.
New Sonoran is a graphic novel based upon the journey of Sage, a cartographer and anthropologist who travels the desert, annotating maps and studying a desert irrevocably affected by global climate change. As she catalogues the changes and losses in this new landscape, she learns how residents have adapted, and how people may still relate to the land.
The work is based in anxieties, but its media influences are a strong indicator of tone and concept. At the very least, they helped me articulate why I wanted to work on a graphic novel on a post-climate change Sonoran. This desert that I’ve grown used to will change irrevocably, but it will be a new frontier to explore while the old will become a loss to mourn. This cycle of change is something I want to highlight in my work: we can worry, mourn, and fear, but there’s going to be something new.
New Sonoran is a graphic novel based upon the journey of Sage, a cartographer and anthropologist who travels the desert, annotating maps and studying a desert irrevocably affected by global climate change. As she catalogues the changes and losses in this new landscape, she learns how residents have adapted, and how people may still relate to the land.
ContributorsBarbee, Amelia Bernadette (Author) / Soares, Rebecca (Thesis director) / Schmidt, Peter (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Personal experiences with body image dysmorphia and an eating disorder necessitated that I do a thorough investigation into why they happened and why I felt this way about my body. For this project, not only was I motivated by my own struggles, but I noticed that these experiences were shared among my family, my friends, and my fellow peers in the dance community. We had been struggling since childhood. I began to realize that these behaviors and thought patterns were manifestations of apology, an apology that women have been learning, living, and spreading since our beginnings. Why do women apologize? How does this apology affect how we view, treat, and navigate our bodies in space? In what ways can dance be the mechanism by which we remove apology and individually and collectively find joy, freedom, and liberation? Not only was I interested in understanding the ‘why’, but I was deeply interested in finding a solution. Research for this thesis came from written materials, stories that the dancers and I shared, and choreographic research in the body. The final goal was to create a community-based performance of dance, spoken word, and storytelling that demonstrated the findings from each of those questions and catalyzed a conversation about how we can liberate ourselves. We used rehearsals to explore our own experiences within apology and shame, while also exploring how the ways in which we practice being unapologetic in the dance space can translate to how we move through the world on a daily basis.
Through a deep analysis and application of Sonya Renee Taylor’s book The Body Is Not An Apology, I discovered that apology is learned. We learn how to apologize through body shame, the media, family/generational trauma, and government/law/policy. This apology is embodied through gestures, movement patterns, and postures, such as bowing the head, hunching the shoulders, and walking around others. Apology causes us to view our bodies as things to be manipulated, discarded, and embarrassed by. After recognizing why we apologize and how it affects our bodies, we can then begin to think of how to remove it. Because the body the site of the problem, it is also the site of the solution. Dance gives us an opportunity to deeply learn our bodies, to cultivate their power, and to heal from their traumas. By being together in community as women, we are able to feel seen and supported as we work through uncharted territory of being free from apology in these bodies. By dancing in ways that allow us to take up space, to be free, to be unapologetic, we use dance as a practice for life. Through transforming ourselves, we begin to transform the world and rewrite the narrative of how we exist in and move through our bodies as women.
Through a deep analysis and application of Sonya Renee Taylor’s book The Body Is Not An Apology, I discovered that apology is learned. We learn how to apologize through body shame, the media, family/generational trauma, and government/law/policy. This apology is embodied through gestures, movement patterns, and postures, such as bowing the head, hunching the shoulders, and walking around others. Apology causes us to view our bodies as things to be manipulated, discarded, and embarrassed by. After recognizing why we apologize and how it affects our bodies, we can then begin to think of how to remove it. Because the body the site of the problem, it is also the site of the solution. Dance gives us an opportunity to deeply learn our bodies, to cultivate their power, and to heal from their traumas. By being together in community as women, we are able to feel seen and supported as we work through uncharted territory of being free from apology in these bodies. By dancing in ways that allow us to take up space, to be free, to be unapologetic, we use dance as a practice for life. Through transforming ourselves, we begin to transform the world and rewrite the narrative of how we exist in and move through our bodies as women.
ContributorsWaller, Marguerite Lilith (Author) / Fitzgerald, Mary (Thesis director) / Britt, Melissa (Committee member) / Lerman, Liz (Committee member) / Dean, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (Contributor) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor, Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
“The Difference Between Paper Cuts & Exit Wounds” is a multidisciplinary body of work consisting of a manuscript, a short film, and a set of photographs. As digital culture expands, there are increasing possibilities for cross-genre work within the literary canon. The adaptation of visual mediums alongside the written word supports different levels of reader, and viewer, engagement. This visual and written manuscript permits the audience to experience the project at varying levels of intensity. “The Difference Between Paper Cuts & Exit Wounds” explores the self through fragmented lenses. The poems alone work with white space and experimental forms to create new shapes, new considerations, and new wonders. When put in conversation with the visual art, a poem becomes even more layered—providing alternate entrances to the subject matter. This manuscript is invested in the framing of concerns, of questions, and of thematic obsessions. Through the integration of multiple mediums, the poetic self and the agency of the speaker become multifaceted, apart from the written word alone. With the project’s film component, the curation of vignettes encourages a resistance of a linear narrative. Multiple clips are put on top of one another, with varying levels of opacity, creating multi-layered exposures within a second long clip. This represents the same fragmentation and deconstruction of a linear narrative that is prominent in the written manuscript. The work investigates memory as it distorts desire, frequently returning to how the body holds psychological and emotional trauma. With hybrid approaches to the subject matter, the manuscript illustrates the potential for intimacy to be soft and tender while simultaneously abrasive, triggering, and painful. It allows space for uncertainties, for co-existing conditions. By fracturing the expected forms of both standard poetic lexicon, and standard video narratives, “The Difference Between Paper Cuts & Exit Wounds” complicates the tendency for audiences to dissect art in hopes of reaching a single, definite interpretation. Instead, the body of work builds new spaces for engagement and inquiry.
ContributorsGoettl, Maxana Quinn (Author) / Ball, Sally (Thesis director) / Diaz, Natalie (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
This thesis project had three key components. First, we performed an extensive literature review of different types of feminist theories to better understand the scope of their definitions. We also reviewed several articles that examined how women, especially Latinas, seek to understand and negotiate their identity as feminists. Second, we conducted qualitative interviews with Latina college women in which they shared their college experiences, their thoughts on feminism, and how they believe the cultural values they were brought up with play a role in both. Finally, we developed a 12-minute documentary film containing excerpts from participants’ interviews that reflected a number of core themes. We invited participants to view the documentary and contribute to a post-film conversation with interested faculty members and students. The interactive post-film conversation served as a reflection and expansion of the themes in the film and challenged those that participated to explore avenues of resolution through family and communication.
The motivation for this project came from a place of reflection for what it means to be a feminist and Latina and how to navigate the values of both without compromising one over the other. After personally contemplating the meanings and process without coming to a concrete understanding, we were prompted to branch out and engage other Latina college students in a conversation about what it means for them, what unique challenges they may be facing, and how they may be seeking to answer questions surrounding their identity.
The motivation for this project came from a place of reflection for what it means to be a feminist and Latina and how to navigate the values of both without compromising one over the other. After personally contemplating the meanings and process without coming to a concrete understanding, we were prompted to branch out and engage other Latina college students in a conversation about what it means for them, what unique challenges they may be facing, and how they may be seeking to answer questions surrounding their identity.
ContributorsAlvarado, Ismail G. (Co-author) / Alejandro, Nathalie (Co-author) / Hall, Deborah (Thesis director) / Villegas-Silva, Claudia (Committee member) / School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05