This project is a critical analysis of the works of 6 American war veterans and how they demonstrate trauma in their narratives. The texts covered here are Philip Red Eagle’s Red Earth (2007), John A. Williams’ Captain Blackman (1972), Roy Scranton’s War Porn (2016), Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried (1990), Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), and Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 (1961).

As online media, including social media platforms, become the primary and go-to resource for traditional communication, news and the spread of information is more present and accessible to consumers than ever before. This research focuses on analyzing Twitter data on the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian War to understand the significance of social media during this period in comparison to previous conflicts. The significance of social media and political conflict will be examined through Twitter user analysis and sentiment analysis. This case study will conduct sentiment analysis on a random sample of tweets from a given dataset, followed by user analysis and classification methods. The data will explore the implications for understanding public opinion on the conflict, the strengths and limitations of Twitter as a data source, and the next steps for future research. Highlighting the implications of the research findings will allow consumers and political stakeholders to make more informed decisions in the future.

This project examines war and community development in Avatar the Last Airbender. In the fictional world of the Avatar, I investigate the development of environmental, social, political, and human capital given the circumstance of war. I find that in the fictional world of the Avatar, and in the real world, the relationship between war and community development is complex and nuanced. The circumstance of war undermines the development of certain community assets. However, despite the deficiencies that war can aggravate, the ability of the human spirit to persist is often the catalyst for transformative change that begins the road to recovery and peace.