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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- Creators: Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies
- Creators: Department of English
Description
The Mu’tazila were a group of early Islamic rationalists whose primary philosophical project was to reconcile God’s perfectly just nature, as well as the existence of a judgment day, with human free will. Drawing on Greek logical precepts, the Mu’tazila rejected the idea that human actions were caused solely by God, thereby affirming that humans have at least some degree of originative power. In this thesis, I will present a logical analysis of the Mu’tazila’s rejection of determinism, as well as their position on human-originated action, primarily using Qadi Abd al-Jabbar’s Book of the Five Principles as my source text. I will then present some of the primary views in contemporary free will discourse and compare these views to those of the Mu’tazila. The aim of my thesis is to present a logically rigorous picture of free will under Mu’tazilism, as well as to highlight the relevance of Mu’tazilism within contemporary discussions of free will.
ContributorsGeorge, Allison (Author) / Botham, Thad (Thesis director) / Watson, Jeffrey (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Historians periodize the ancient past in order to better facilitate its study. From period to period, the ideas, figures and discussions that define as distinct become trapped within the walls that historians have artificially imposed. However, history is not nearly so clean, and that which we have selected to define each period may be carried forward beyond their period or retrojected into a past period. This thesis will explore how ideas and concepts travel backward and forward in time, through construction of memory and through cultural hybridity and intertextuality, by casting the royal ideology of the Hasmoneans as seen in I and II Maccabees in light of the legacy and memory of the Achaemenid Persian Dynasty. The first two chapters discuss the development of Achaemenid Royal Ideology, beginning with the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus II and his adoption of the ancient Near Eastern “Restorer of Order” literary paradigm to restructure the past for political legitimacy, and continues to the rise to power of Darius I, who in many ways built off of the Restorer of Order paradigm but innovated in establishing a new, more equal relationship between the divine and the royal receiver of the divine mandate to rule. The second two chapters begin with a discussion of II Maccabees and its use of the Restorer of Order paradigm, but goes more into detail on how it constructs an “idyllic past” that not only connects the Maccabees to mythic biblical figures but also reconstructs the Persian past of the Jewish people that mirrors and legitimizes Hasmonean royal ideology in sacred time, and ends with a discussion of how the innovations of Darius might have shaped the eventual conflict between the Hasmonean dynasty and their opponents over the correct responsibilities of the High Priest in Jerusalem.
ContributorsDanesh, Hal Tzvi (Author) / Langille, Timothy (Thesis director) / Mirguet, Francoise (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor, Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Music both created and consumed by Soviet soldiers during the war in Afghanistan provides an insight into their opinions and criticisms of the war. Music allowed soldiers to vent, to give voice to their experiences, as well as to rationalize their participation in the conflict, enabling them to inject their personal opinions and perceptions of the war into memorable and poetic forms. Through analyzing the Soviet songs about the of Afghan war, we can create a chronological timeline charting the development of resentment and disillusionment among Soviet soldiers: the initial patriotic songs borrowed from prior conflicts soon declined in popularity, replaced with mournful songs reflecting soldiers’ nostalgia for home and fear of death in their daily lives. Their lyrics reveal feelings of anxiety, disenfranchisement and abandonment, all resulting from the Soviet state’s ineffective handling of the war. In addition to songs produced by soldiers themselves, bands within Soviet borders such as Kino also wrote songs about the conflict, using their star power to draw attention to the conflict in their own fashion. By tracking both the creation and spread of these songs about the Soviet-Afghan war (referred to in this essay as either the “Soviet-Afghan War” or, more simply, the “Afghan War” as it is known in Russian), we can find vital, overlooked expressions of if not protest then discontent - among the many bubbling to the surface during the last decade of the USSR. This thesis therefore presents a chronological analysis of representative songs from the Soviet-Afghan war that also takes their popularity and methods of propagation -- the material technologies that allowed for this music to be spread -- into account, plotted alongside the major turning points of the war. It uncovers an otherwise forgotten form of discourse between soldiers about both the war itself, as well as the Soviet government, exploring the political implications of the war’s musical memorialization.
ContributorsBellard, Alex (Author) / Schmelz, Peter (Thesis director) / Stoff, Laurie (Thesis director, Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Genocide studies have traditionally focused on the perpetrator’s intent to eradicate a particular identity-based group, using the Holocaust as their model and point of comparison. Although some aspects of the Holocaust were undoubtedly unique, recent scholars have sought to challenge the notion that it was a singular phenomenon. Instead, they draw attention to a recurring pattern of genocidal events throughout history by shifting the focus from intent to structure. One particular branch of scholars seeks to connect the ideology and tactics of imperialism with certain genocidal events. These anti-imperialist genocide scholars concede that their model cannot account for all genocides, but still claim that it creates meaningful connections between genocides committed by Western colonialist powers and those that have occurred in a neoimperialist world order shaped according to Western interests. The latter includes genocides in postcolonial states, which these scholars believe were shaped by the scars of their colonial past, as well as genocides in which imperial hegemons assisted local perpetrators. Imperialist and former colonial powers have contributed meaningfully to all of these kinds of genocides, yet their contributions have largely been ignored due to their own influence on the creation of the current international order. Incorporating the anti-imperialist perspective into the core doctrine of genocide studies may lead to breakthroughs in areas of related policy and practice, such as prevention and accountability.
ContributorsParker, Ashleigh Mae (Author) / Thies, Cameron (Thesis director) / Sivak, Henry (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
About one in ten refugees from the American Revolution was African-descended, and unlike many white Loyalists fleeing war in the thirteen mainland North American colonies, black Loyalists were people without a country. Most were fleeing slavery in Virginia or the Carolinas, yet not fully able to claim to be British subjects, despite many heeding the call to join British forces. Among the 40,000 Loyalists who departed, around 3,500 black Loyalists evacuated from the newly founded United States between the years of 1776 and 1785. I hope to evaluate the movement patterns and thought process behind this particular group with what choices they ultimately had after the war using Dunmore’s Proclamation as a means to freedom. These black Loyalists faced the difficult decision in choosing what identity they would side with once they left. These former slaves ultimately had to choose between becoming forced migrants with the losing side of the war or staying with the winning side of the war as people bound by chains. Although there were a multitude of fascinating tales that could be told through the lens of these black Loyalists, one particular family caught my eye within my research. This story is the journey of the Fortune family who chose to run away from American slavery to migrate to Nova Scotia. Their story will grant me access to analyze the extreme discrimination families met as they fled, the contempt the new colonies felt against them, as well as the evolution of their societal roles as some of these immigrants integrated into their new country and became accepted as respected individuals. Furthermore, their tale aided me in understanding what caused some emigrant black Loyalists to stay in Nova Scotia despite the hardships they faced as outsiders who were unwelcome from the perspective of native white Nova Scotians.
ContributorsNanez-Krause, Michael L (Author) / Schermerhorn, Calvin J. (Thesis director) / Barnes, Andrew (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
As of 2019, 30 US states have adopted abortion-specific informed consent laws that require state health departments to develop and disseminate written informational materials to patients seeking an abortion. Abortion is the only medical procedure for which states dictate the content of informed consent counseling. State abortion counseling materials have been criticized for containing inaccurate and misleading information, but overall, informed consent laws for abortion do not often receive national attention. The objective of this project was to determine the importance of informed consent laws to achieving the larger goal of dismantling the right to abortion. I found that informed consent counseling materials in most states contain a full timeline of fetal development, along with information about the risks of abortion, the risks of childbirth, and alternatives to abortion. In addition, informed consent laws for abortion are based on model legislation called the “Women’s Right to Know Act” developed by Americans United for Life (AUL). AUL calls itself the legal architect of the pro-life movement and works to pass laws at the state level that incrementally restrict abortion access so that it gradually becomes more difficult to exercise the right to abortion established by Roe v. Wade. The “Women’s Right to Know Act” is part of a larger package of model legislation called the “Women’s Protection Project,” a cluster of laws that place restrictions on abortion providers, purportedly to protect women, but actually to decrease abortion access. “Women’s Right to Know” counseling laws do not directly deny access to abortion, but they do reinforce key ideas important to the anti-abortion movement, like the concept of fetal personhood, distrust in medical professionals, the belief that pregnant people cannot be fully autonomous individuals, and the belief that abortion is not an ordinary medical procedure and requires special government oversight. “Women’s Right to Know” laws use the language of informed consent and the purported goal of protecting women to legitimize those ideas, and in doing so, they significantly undermine the right to abortion. The threat to abortion rights posed by laws like the “Women’s Right to Know” laws indicates the need to reevaluate and strengthen our ethical defense of the right to abortion.
ContributorsVenkatraman, Richa (Author) / Maienschein, Jane (Thesis director) / Brian, Jennifer (Thesis director) / Abboud, Carolina (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
I will demonstrate through analysis that the effectiveness of music in social movements relies in large part on two unique elements: authenticity and collective action. I will then argue that these elements are antithetic to the actual conditions of music production as the 21st century progresses in America. While this paper does not explore the possible effectiveness of movements without music, I emphasize the well documented ((Futrell, et. al. (2006), (Roy, 2010), (Dyck, 2017)) link between music and social movements, and conclude that this relationship between music and social movements is in danger.
ContributorsCochlin, Fallon Julia (Author) / Fette, Don (Thesis director) / Lauderdale, Pat (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Buildings and monuments serve as a communal declaration of identity and as the physical landscape upon which memories are inscribed. Through its ability to concrete identity and capacity to reconstruct the narratives of the past, public spaces and places have the structure of memory and serve as a fundamental aspect of cultural memory from which groups derive their identities. Beyond the social function of communal spaces, as a spatial claim architecture is a political expression of the territorial imperatives of the state. Consequently, both the political and social significance of physical spaces/places lead to the direct targeting of buildings, landscapes, and recognizable monuments in the processes of war.
As evidenced by the 1991-5 War in Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia, culturally-relevant and internationally recognizable symbols of culture, like Stari Most in Bosnia and the Old Town of Dubrovnik, were destroyed with the purpose of manipulating the physical memories of the communities, thereby directly affecting the cultural identities of the communities residing there. As it stands, scholarship on the subject of memory in post-war areas has failed to consider the effects of space/place on memory, consequently failing to provide a viable theoretical framework to explain the interplay of space/place, memory, and identity. This paper is an effort to connect the current scholarship on memory, its function and effects on identity, with the realities of the physical environment in Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia and their function of imposed confrontation, and thus recollection, of the War. The purpose of my thesis is to put city landscapes (private, uncrated memories) and museum narratives (public, curated memories) in communication to demonstrate how influential a factor space/place is in determining collective memory in a Balkan context. Cultural memory is at once incredibly vulnerable to reconstruction and massively determinate of group identity, thereby necessitating a deeper understanding of its determinant factors and the present uses of such factors.
As evidenced by the 1991-5 War in Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia, culturally-relevant and internationally recognizable symbols of culture, like Stari Most in Bosnia and the Old Town of Dubrovnik, were destroyed with the purpose of manipulating the physical memories of the communities, thereby directly affecting the cultural identities of the communities residing there. As it stands, scholarship on the subject of memory in post-war areas has failed to consider the effects of space/place on memory, consequently failing to provide a viable theoretical framework to explain the interplay of space/place, memory, and identity. This paper is an effort to connect the current scholarship on memory, its function and effects on identity, with the realities of the physical environment in Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia and their function of imposed confrontation, and thus recollection, of the War. The purpose of my thesis is to put city landscapes (private, uncrated memories) and museum narratives (public, curated memories) in communication to demonstrate how influential a factor space/place is in determining collective memory in a Balkan context. Cultural memory is at once incredibly vulnerable to reconstruction and massively determinate of group identity, thereby necessitating a deeper understanding of its determinant factors and the present uses of such factors.
ContributorsStull, Madeline Helene (Author) / Niebuhr, Robert (Thesis director) / Carrese, Susan (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor, Contributor) / School of Civic & Economic Thought and Leadership (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
As one of the root causes of chronic hunger, it is well-established that food insecurity adversely affects health and economic outcomes of those afflicted (Carmichael et al. 2007; Seligman et al. 2009; Huang, Matta Oshima, and Kim, 2010; Pan et al. 2012; Martinez et al. 2018). More than eleven percent of Americans, uncertain about where their next meal will come from, experienced some degree of food insecurity in 2018 (Coleman-Jensen, 2019). Programs like SNAP and WIC have not only proven to be effective in providing food for households, but they can serve as an example for other countries that struggle to help citizens meet their dietary needs (Gundersen, 2019). non-government entities like food banks and food pantries have played an increasingly important role in addressing food insecurity. While there is a perception that food banks and pantries are only emergency resources, evidence suggests that many individuals regularly rely on private hunger relief organizations for food (Paynter et al., 2011; Kicinski, 2012). Food banks play a crucially important role in distributing food and are uniquely positioned to alleviate hunger. However, these private organizations have been shown, compared to public food assistance programs, to be less effective at specifically addressing the issue of food insecurity (Bazerghi et al., 2016; Loopstra & Tarasuk, 2012; Ratcliffe & McKernan, 2010; Metallinos-Katsaras et al., 2010). Existing research has largely focused on the characteristics of food pantry clients generally, without exploring the socio-economic and experiential variation within this group (Towers, 2009; Kicinski, 2012; Gundersen el al., 2017). This study fills a gap in the literature by examining the characteristics of food pantry users, and how they compare to those not using food pantries but still face food insecurity, using nationally representative survey data. Additionally, I explore whether food pantries and public food assistance programs might be “bundled” together. I focus on gradients of economic vulnerability by examining households who participate in public food assistance programs, are SNAP-eligible but not participating, as well as households who bundle both private and public food assistance to meet their food needs. With this thesis, I hope to contribute this research by providing behavioral insights into understanding the role that food banks play in mitigating challenges associated with food insecurity among US households.
ContributorsLongo, John David (Author) / Chenarides, Lauren (Thesis director) / Richards, Timothy (Committee member) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
This thesis seeks to understand how the film Legally Blonde has portrayed the interaction between femininity and women. Specifically, this paper will consider how feminism—defined through the context of the era and Legally Blonde—has empowered women to enter male-dominated professional workspaces—specifically in consideration of the legal profession. The feminism presented in Legally Blonde can be characterized through Elle Wood’s simultaneous displays of intelligence and focus on typical feminine interests: such as marriage, cosmetics, and the like (Marsh, 2005; Lucia, 2005; Hoffman-Longtin & Feldner, 2016). The “third-wave” feminist era surrounding Legally Blonde promotes the duality of women in expressing femininity and holding agentic capability (Dole, 2008). This thesis uses the film’s definition of feminism to consider the changes in women entering the legal profession, the identity of women who connect to the film, and the media’s responses and portrayal of the film. Legally Blonde defines feminism by presenting women as both intelligent and typically feminine—challenging the typical gender role of women in society with her expression of capability and seriousness. While the film elucidates a definition of feminism based on femininity and female agency, some women may not fit into this definition based on the lack of consideration of intersectionality in the film. While the film underlines a changing shift in acceptance of women’s expression of femininity, the film’s message may not apply to all women. Yet, Elle Woods remains a role model for many women to attend law school and her impact is emphasized in popular culture even today.
ContributorsBoucher, Nicole S (Author) / Ingram-Waters, Mary (Thesis director) / Szeli, Eva (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05