Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes both ASU Theses and Dissertations, submitted by graduate students, and the Barrett, Honors College theses submitted by undergraduate students.
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Description
"French Vanilla" is a collection of written narratives drawn from lived experiences which serve as the vehicle storytelling that I use to examine larger themes related to the intersections of race and gender. Themes include: binaries, legitimacy, intersectionality, biracial identity development (border identity construction), whiteness, shame, and crisis. While the narratives are situated within theoretical discourse, the narratives present a representation of the lived experience. These pieces engage members of my family as well as a number of figures, including Rachel Dolezal, President Barack Obama, Alicia Keys, and a stranger on a tram in an airport. My relationship with these people present the grounds for an interrogation of identity. This project asks the question: How does one negotiate biracial identity with herself and others through narrative performance? It engages theories, such as critical race theory, black feminist theory, and standpoint theory, which informed my understanding of the discourse of race and contextualized my commentary on race. These theories present a framework within which to situate my understanding and analysis of race through lived experience. Narrative performance, the formal methodology for this work, provides a structure for the performance itself: the ultimate end product. Note: This work of creative scholarship is rooted in collaboration between three female artist-scholars: Carly Bates, Raji Ganesan, and Allyson Yoder. Working from a common intersectional, feminist framework, we served as artistic co-directors of each other's solo pieces and co-producers of Negotiations, in which we share these pieces in relationship to each other. Thus, Negotiations is not a showcase of three individual works, but rather a conversation among three voices. As collaborators, we have been uncompromising in the pursuit of our own unique inquiries and voices, and each of our works of creative scholarship stand alone. However, we believe that all of the parts are best understood in relationship to each other and to the whole. For this reason, we have chosen to cross-reference our thesis documents: French Vanilla: An Exploration of Biracial Identity Through Narrative Performance by Carly Bates; Deep roots, shared fruits: Emergent creative process and the ecology of solo performance through "Dress in Something Plain and Dark" by Allyson Yoder; and Bhairavi: A Performance-Investigation of Belonging and Dis-Belonging in Diaspora Communities by Raji Ganesan.
ContributorsBates, Carly Christopher (Author) / Davis, Olga Idriss (Thesis director) / de la Garza, Sarah Amira (Committee member) / Dove-Viebahn, Aviva (Committee member) / School of Music (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Victor Hugo crafted a relationship with architecture that demonstrated his nuanced experience of the "harmony" of historical monuments, as exemplified in the novel Notre-Dame de Paris. In the first chapter, I will introduce the largest aspect of Notre-Dame de Paris' contradictory nature: its role as both historian and revolutionary. The Gothic's rise to prominence is traceable in Notre-Dame, and Hugo presented the edifice as proof of France's enduring cultural significance. Notre-Dame was just as influential in its revolutionary capacity: Hugo believed that the cathedral acted as an invigorating force to the medieval public and was a vital component of revolutions that took place in the sixteenth century. The second chapter deals with the juxtaposition between the cathedral's identity as a victim of human society and as a figure who engages in its own strategic defense. Hugo categorized several kinds of damage inflicted upon Notre-Dame, with the severity of each category depending upon its source: time, revolution, and shifting taste, which was by far the most egregious. Notre-Dame proves itself to be a formidable opponent in the novel, however, by confronting a violent mob with blows of its own; it also demonstrates the ability to psychically wound its enemies through the infernal hallucinations of Claude Frollo. The final contradiction explored in the third chapter is the nature of the cathedral's spirit. In the novel, Hugo personifies Notre-Dame, giving the structure individual relationships with human characters and the ability to nurture and influence Quasimodo in particular. The bell ringer is presented to the reader as a man reared by a cathedral, and Hugo's exploration of the particulars of their relationship composes a significant part of this chapter. Quasimodo experiences Notre-Dame as an ageless, self-perpetuating universe, and Hugo's juxtaposition of this relationship with that of Frollo emphasizes the author's reverent attitude towards the edifice and its ultimate transcendence of the culture that created it.
ContributorsHeidinger, Sedona Lee (Author) / Codell, Julie (Thesis director) / Dove-Viebahn, Aviva (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Art (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Several different queer feminist zines, along with the author's experiences in queer feminist zine making, are examined using the lens of J. Jack Halberstam's The Queer Art of Failure. Particular attention is paid to zines' unique composition from a variety of unexpected sources, and their subsequent ability to act as counterhegemonic documents. Queer feminist zine makers' critical engagement with the concept of community is also discussed.
ContributorsPruett, Jessica Lynn (Author) / Switzer, Heather (Thesis director) / Dove-Viebahn, Aviva (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
This project focuses on the experiences of families that are affected by young motherhood. United by this defining event, each of these families involved in the project come from diverse backgrounds and have faced obstacles unique to their own history. Since late 2013, they shared with me the struggles and rewards that followed a decision made early in the mother's life. Through an exhibition of photography, audio, video, and text, I aimed to communicate these stories to expand the dialogue surrounding teen pregnancy
ContributorsMollindo, Amanda Leann (Author) / Schneider, Betsy (Thesis director) / Dove-Viebahn, Aviva (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Art (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
This analysis aimed to understand how and why certain representations of fraternity and sorority life are consistently used in media texts. Throughout this thesis I analyzed various media including films, a television series, a documentary, and coverage of a news story and found that fraternity and sorority representations reinforce different social issues. Additionally, this thesis discusses how fraternities and sororities are framed in the media texts as institutions which force members to abide by larger societal norms and gender roles. Stigmas and social issues surrounding fraternity and sorority life including hazing, violence, and toxic masculinity, femininity and feminism, diversity and racism, and partying, power and misogyny are the focus of many of the media used in this study. This thesis analyzed how media use these topics to generalize representations of fraternity and sorority life members and to perpetuate normalized gender roles and dominant narratives about race and sexuality.
ContributorsLockhart, Christine (Author) / Himberg, Julia (Thesis director) / Dove-Viebahn, Aviva (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
How do you convey what’s interesting and important to you as an artist in a digital world of constantly shifting attentions? For many young creatives, the answer is original characters, or OCs. An OC is a character that an artist creates for personal enjoyment, whether based on an already existing story or world, or completely from their own imagination.
As creations made for purely personal interests, OCs are an excellent elevator pitch to talk one creative to another, opening up opportunities for connection in a world where communication is at our fingertips but personal connection is increasingly harder to make. OCs encourage meaningful interaction by offering themselves as muses, avatars, and story pieces, and so much more, where artists can have their characters interact with other creatives through many different avenues such as art-making, table top games, or word of mouth.
In this thesis, I explore the worlds and aesthetics of many creators and their original characters through qualitative research and collaborative art-making. I begin with a short survey of my creative peers, asking general questions about their characters and thoughts on OCs, then move to sketching characters from various creators. I focus my research to a group of seven core creators and their characters, whom I interview and work closely with in order to create a series of seven final paintings of their original characters.
As creations made for purely personal interests, OCs are an excellent elevator pitch to talk one creative to another, opening up opportunities for connection in a world where communication is at our fingertips but personal connection is increasingly harder to make. OCs encourage meaningful interaction by offering themselves as muses, avatars, and story pieces, and so much more, where artists can have their characters interact with other creatives through many different avenues such as art-making, table top games, or word of mouth.
In this thesis, I explore the worlds and aesthetics of many creators and their original characters through qualitative research and collaborative art-making. I begin with a short survey of my creative peers, asking general questions about their characters and thoughts on OCs, then move to sketching characters from various creators. I focus my research to a group of seven core creators and their characters, whom I interview and work closely with in order to create a series of seven final paintings of their original characters.
ContributorsCote, Jacqueline (Author) / Button, Melissa M (Thesis director) / Dove-Viebahn, Aviva (Committee member) / School of Art (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Liminality is a story yet to be told in broad scale entertainment. While a story about a boy who sees ghosts may be a recurring theme in Hollywood, (Sixth Sense, anyone?), queerness, particularly asexuality, is practically non-existent, and narratives that feature the coming of age of a queer adolescent in a positive manner are even less present. Queerness, it seems, is more of a myth than ghosts and the supernatural to most media creators. This project seeks to combat this lack of representation. Liminality is a creative project working to normalize lesser known and underrepresented queer identities into mainstream media through the conceptualization of animated and comic web series. By doing so, this project demonstrates that entertainment can be used as a means of promoting acceptance and understanding of these identities. Our aim with this project is to develop an intriguing long-form story with realistic, relatable characters that exhibits the sociological themes we want to address. We intend this story to be an animated series that entices viewers of all ages, by which we mean that the story explores complex themes that would typically be limited to an older audience, yet are presented in a way that is still accessible to a younger audience. In the process of this project, we have drawn up concept art and storyboards, written character biographies and scripts, created sets and characters using 2D and 3D animation software, and begun setting up the infrastructure for the studio, Studio Skald, with which we may create this series.
ContributorsRandall, Phoebe Airika (Author) / Hansen, Elizabeth (Co-author) / Miller, April (Thesis director) / Dove-Viebahn, Aviva (Committee member) / Hannan, Peter (Committee member) / School of Arts, Media and Engineering (Contributor) / School of Art (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
Horizon is a young adult dystopian fiction piece that addresses issues of gender and LGBTQIA+ identity. In the story, the world has been divided into two separate societies: earth, inhabited by females, and a platform in the sky, inhabited by males. This physical division is the result of a war between the two groups. Ever since this war, there has been limited communication between the two societies, and the members of each society have animosity for those who are of a different sex or gender. The plot follows two main characters, Andrea and Susumu, as they come to understand the corruption of their societies and attempt to cross the gender divide. They are joined on their journey by other characters of varied gender and LGBTQIA+ identities, each of them unable to fit into their society's parameters of appropriate gendered behavior. This creative project looks critically at the ways in which members of different genders can become alienated from each other through societal pressure. It also analyzes how LGBTQIA+ identity may factor into the gendering of an individual, explores how people can be ostracized because of their identity, and critiques the gender binary. The second component of this creative project is a detailed reflection on the creative writing process. It outlines the steps of creating Horizon, from brainstorming through writing and editing. An explanation of the purpose the project and a discussion of writing challenges and future goals is included. The reflection also puts Horizon in context with other LGBTQIA+ media and dystopian novels and explains some of the most crucial decisions that were made in the creation of this story.
ContributorsPerry, Samantha Lynn (Author) / Himberg, Julia (Thesis director) / Dove-Viebahn, Aviva (Committee member) / Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (Contributor) / College of Public Service and Community Solutions (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
DescriptionA TV adaptation of the classic book The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, set-in modern-day Los Angeles with a Latinx based cast. The project includes a 45-page script, episode descriptions for the first season, and a page with brief descriptions of the characters.
ContributorsFlores, Czarina (Author) / Bradley, Christoper (Thesis director) / Dove-Viebahn, Aviva (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2024-05
ContributorsFlores, Czarina (Author) / Bradley, Christoper (Thesis director) / Dove-Viebahn, Aviva (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2024-05