ETDs

This collection includes most of the ASU Theses and Dissertations from 2011 to present. ASU Theses and Dissertations are available in downloadable PDF format; however, a small percentage of items are under embargo. Information about the dissertations/theses includes degree information, committee members, an abstract, supporting data or media.

In addition to the electronic theses found in the ASU Digital Repository, ASU Theses and Dissertations can be found in the ASU Library Catalog.

Dissertations and Theses granted by Arizona State University are archived and made available through a joint effort of the ASU Graduate College and the ASU Libraries. For more information or questions about this collection contact or visit the Digital Repository ETD Library Guide or contact the ASU Graduate College at gradformat@asu.edu.

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Cognition, perception, and justification

Description
There is ample evidence from psychology and cognitive science that a person's beliefs, memories, expectations, concepts, and desires can influence how that person perceives the world. In other words, the way an object looks (the color, size, shape, etc.) to a person can vary according to his or her beliefs,…

There is ample evidence from psychology and cognitive science that a person's beliefs, memories, expectations, concepts, and desires can influence how that person perceives the world. In other words, the way an object looks (the color, size, shape, etc.) to a person can vary according to his or her beliefs, memories, desires, and so on. But a person is principally justified in his or her beliefs about the world by how things look to that person. So, if how things look to a person justifies that person's beliefs about the world, and that person's prior beliefs, memories, and desires influence how things look, then his or her prior beliefs, memories, and desires influence the justification for his or her beliefs about the world. This influence creates several significant philosophical problems. In this dissertation, I introduce and attempt to solve these problems by constructing a theory of justification in which a person's beliefs about the world are justified if and only if his or her prior beliefs, memories, and desires constitute a coherent worldview.
ContributorsCrutchfield, Parker (Author) / Reynolds, Steven (Thesis advisor) / Cohen, Stewart (Committee member) / Kobes, Bernard (Committee member) / Kriegel, Uriah (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
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Magic and Divination in Jamaica's Freedom Struggle, 1728-1824

Description
Magic, divination, and obeah appear in some form in almost all of Jamaica’s near-continuous revolts from the time the British took the island in 1655 to the decades following the abolition of slavery in 1834. Although discussions of African diasporic spiritual systems were very much alive in the early modern…

Magic, divination, and obeah appear in some form in almost all of Jamaica’s near-continuous revolts from the time the British took the island in 1655 to the decades following the abolition of slavery in 1834. Although discussions of African diasporic spiritual systems were very much alive in the early modern centuries, the forms that emerged in early colonial Jamaica have received little scholarly treatment. This study is an attempt to inject culture into the story of African resistance to slavery and colonialism in Jamaica by reconceptualizing three major rebellions as cultural rather than military histories and by highlighting the role of magic and divination in the genesis of these freedom struggles. The First Maroon War, Tacky’s Revolt, and the 1823 Boxing Day Conspiracy illuminate a clear system of supernatural understanding that came to include a definite link to political resistance and rebellion. These understandings were recognized by enslaved or formerly enslaved Africans as well as the British in Jamaica and abroad. Some work must be done to delineate what European settlers were responding to as the idea of obeah—and how it was related to European ideas about witchcraft and illicit magic—from the ideas held among African peoples. This is especially significant following Tacky’s Revolt, when the first anti-obeah laws in the Caribbean made obeah an explicitly political action. Europeans were clearly wrapped up in the politics of obeah to a degree that did not concern Africans. However, Africans also used obeah as a crucial form of political resistance. Thus, these three cases allow both British and African ideas about obeah to be traced over a century to reinject a cultural history of African-derived spirituality into an otherwise political narrative.
ContributorsBussey, Max (Author) / Barnes, Andrew (Thesis advisor) / Alexander, Leslie (Committee member) / Usman, Aribidesi (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021