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- Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
- Status: Published
In this study I hope to begin evaluating contemporary young adult literature that focuses on the bereavement of adolescents to see if the novels portray psychologically proven productive coping methods. I hope to initiate a conversation around how complicated bereavement is depicted within young adult literature that will establish a body of research that can be expanded into a further exploration into the young adult literature market. Within my study, I will conduct a psychological literature review on young adult complicated grief and coping mechanisms. Then I will create an instrument of analysis, a rubric/model to evaluate the fidelity of novels based on the research within the literature review. Finally, I will evaluate the depiction of productive adolescent grief coping mechanisms in the recently published novel All My Rage by Saaba Tahir based upon my literary model. Finally, I will write my own short story based upon my research and findings in analyzing the model, seeking to represent methods not seen in the literature or not discussed within research.
Many studies indicate a positive relationship between fundamentalism and sexual and racial prejudice. Many of these studies use the Religious Fundamentalism Scale (RFS), the Attitudes Towards Homosexuals Scale (ATHS) and the Manitoba Scale. However, there appears to be overlap between RFS and both ATHS and the Manitoba Scale, unaddressed by the literature. This study looked at possible overlaps between RFS and ATHS and between RFS and the Manitoba Scale that could inflate the correlation statistic of fundamentalism and sexual and racial prejudice. The Intratextual Fundamentalism Scale (IFS), a study without authoritarian or apparent prejudice-overlapping items, was also tested for overlap. Results showed two-factor structures—namely fundamentalism and prejudice—with only two items loading to the opposite factor. However, there were many near-zero item loadings. The discussion suggests ways to change these items to increase factor loadings and to change overall measures construct validity. The correlations between fundamentalism and sexual prejudice were not significant before modifying the measures and were small and negative after modifying (modifying measures means removing all crossloaded and near-zero loaded items). The modified fundamentalism and sexual prejudice measures correlations do not follow the literature. This may be due to the sample including sexual orientation minorities and a majority of atheist, agnostic, or ‘nothing in particular’ affiliations. The correlations between fundamentalism and racial prejudice were medium and positive before modifying and were small and positive after modifying. This falls in line with the literature of small and medium positive correlation statistics.
The FS in music was used in a variety of ways throughout the 20th century, primarily focusing on durations and overall structure in its use. Examples of this are found in Béla Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celeste (1936), Allegro barbaro (1911), Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Klavierstück IX (1955), and Luigi Nono’s il canto sospeso (1955). These works are analyzed in detail within my research, and I found every example to have a natural feel to them even if its use of the FS is carefully planned out by the composer. Bartók’s works are the least precise of my examples but perhaps the most natural ones. This imprecision in composition may be considered a more natural use of the FS in music, since nature is not always perfect either. However, in works such as Stockhausen’s, the structure is meticulously formatted in such that the precision is masked by a cycle as to appear more natural.
The conclusion of my research was a commissioned work for my instrument, the viola. I provided my research to composer Jacob Miller Smith, a DMA Music Composition student at ASU, and together we built the framework for the piece he wrote for me. We utilized the life cycle of the Black-Eyed Susan, a flower that uses the FS in its number of petals. The life cycle of a flower is in seven parts, so the piece was written to have seven separate sections in a palindrome within an overall ABA’ format. To utilize the FS, Smith used Fibonacci number durations for rests between notes, note/gesture groupings, and a mapping of 12358 as the set (01247). I worked with Smith during the process to make sure that the piece was technically suitable for my capabilities and the instrument, and I premiered the work in my defense.
The Fibonacci Series and Golden Mean in music provides a natural feel to the music it is present in, even if it is carefully planned out by the composer. More work is still to be done to develop the FS’s use in music, but the examples presented in this project lay down a framework for it to take a natural place in music composition.