For my project, I delve into the relationships of Victor and the Monster as well as the relationships Victor shares with other characters that were underdeveloped within the original novel by Mary Shelley in the novel Franeknstein. I examine their relationships in two components. The first through my own interpretation of Victor and the Monster’s relationship within a creative writing piece that extends the novel as if Victor had lived rather than died in the arctic in order to explore the possibilities of a more complex set of relationships between Victor and the Monster than simply creator-creation. My writing focuses on the development of their relationship once all they have left is each other. The second part of my project focuses on an analytical component. I analyze and cite the reasoning for my creative take on Victor and the Monster as well as their relationship within the novel and Mary Shelley’s intentions.

As political campaigning becomes increasingly digital and data-driven, data privacy has become a question of democratic governance. Yet, Congress has yet to pass a comprehensive federal data privacy law and even the strongest subnational data privacy laws exempt political campaigns from regulation. <br/><br/>This thesis examines how data privacy laws impact data-driven and digital political campaigning. Specifically, it investigates what information is incorporated into the political data ecosystem, how data privacy laws regulate the collection of this data, and how actors in the political data ecosystem respond to these laws. It examines both sector-specific federal law and subnational data protection regulation through a case study of California. This research suggests that although the California Consumer Privacy Act and California Privacy Rights Act are landmark steps in American data protection, subnational data privacy law remains inhibited by the federal market-based approach.

Disinformation has long been a tactic used by the Russian government to achieve its goals. Today, Vladimir Putin aims to achieve several things: weaken the United States’ strength on the world stage, relieve Western sanctions on himself and his inner circle, and reassert dominant influence over Russia’s near abroad (the Baltics, Ukraine, etc.). This research analyzed disinformation in English, Spanish, and Russian; noting the dominant narratives and geopolitical goals Russia hoped to achieve by destabilizing democracy in each country/region.

The thesis analyzes the apathetic youth turnout myth and researches to see if voter suppression can explain the reason behind low youth turnout. This thesis is a study done with Arizona State University students to assess their level of voter turnout, their levels of political engagement, and if they have experienced voter suppression. Respondents were also asked about the support given by ASU in terms of helping with the voting process. Results indicate that Arizona State students have high levels of political engagement, and that 1 in 5 ASU students have experienced voter suppression. Furthermore, ASU students on a whole are uncertain about the role ASU should play in supporting students with the voting process.

The 1980 Winter Olympic semi-final hockey game between the United States and Soviet Union changed the history of sporting events. The outcome took everyone by surprise, and it reinvigorated patriotism in the United States. It was and forever will be known as a miracle. The hockey game has only grown in popularity due to movies, books, and articles reminiscing on one of the greatest sports upsets in history. The United States-Russia rivalry has been a strong one since the very beginning of sports. The United States has always tried to keep up with the Russian talent, but in 1980 they took the Soviets by surprise, at height of the cold war. Not only were they rivals in sports, but enemies at a profound political level. Over the years, the tensions between the two countries have diminished, but recently they have increased again. Although these tensions continue to rise, these countries are able to battle for the top seed through sports. This has been shown throughout the years with one of the main competitions being the 1980 Winter Olympics semi-final hockey game.

The American government does not come without its fair share of problems, though it will often utilize different forms of propaganda in order to distract from those problems. This thesis sought to expose the Peace Corps as one of the most overlooked, but successful, forms of America’s propaganda. Research questions created for this study are as follows: What were the driving forces behind the Peace Corps’ creation? What are the qualifications necessary for a host country to partner with the Peace Corps, and what relevant assistance did the Peace Corps provide for these host countries? Using sources that retold the Peace Corps’ history, spoke on hegemony, and imperialism, as well as statements from Peace Corps volunteers, the study conducted over months answered the questions above. Results revealed that the Peace Corps ultimately provided more benefit for the United States than the host countries and is a modern-day example of America’s soft-power imperialism.

This podcast highlights the voices of organizers and activists across the nation. Representatives from various organizations and individual activists provide their experiences in working within reproductive health activist spaces. By listening to their stories and expertise, the hope is for listeners to center Reproductive Justice as a point of view. The goal is to encourage the audience to join an organization, support their local organizations, or at the very least, learn about resources provided to them by local and national organizations.

The purpose of this study was to identify the different contributors and predictors related to athlete burnout. Athlete burnout consists of emotional and physical exhaustion, reduced sense of accomplishments and sport devaluation. Moreover, motivation type, athletic identity, and being a student athlete can affect athlete burnout. Participants of this study were female, Division I soccer student-athletes located in Tempe, Arizona [n=22]. Athlete burnout was assessed with the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ). Motivation type was assessed with the Behavioral Regulation in Sport Questionnaire (BRSQ). Athletic identity was assessed with the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS). Student burnout was assessed with the Maslach Burnout Inventory - Student Survey (MBI-SS). All of the questionnaires were answered based on a Likert scale. Pearson correlations were used to find relationships between the different variables and athlete burnout. The results showed that 50% of the participants were burnt out at the end of their competitive season. Correlations were shown between the ABQ and its subscales: reduced accomplishment (r=0.6101, p<0.05), physical and mental exhaustion (r=0.8170, p<0.05), and devaluation (r=0.8697, p<0.05). Furthermore, the ABQ was also negatively correlated with general intrinsic motivation (r=-0.4943, p<0.05) and intrinsic motivation to know (r=-0.4865, p<0.05). The results from this study should be used for further research that focuses on education and prevention of athlete burnout in female soccer players.

Religion and gender are two contemporary, heavily influential social identity markers that the media engages with. In India, Bollywood simultaneously interacts with religious and gender identity by producing many movies on Hindu-Muslim inter-religious romantic relationships in the twenty-first century. Bollywood’s Hindu-Muslim romance movies are stories with a central focus on a romantic relationship in which one lover is Hindu and the second is Muslim. The masculinity and femininity of the Hindu and Muslim characters are not accidental; it is meticulously articulated in every movie. This thesis explores two sets of patterns in the movies: themes in love stories and gender identity across the protagonists. It is important to note that representation of religious identity in Bollywood is highly debated with a special emphasis on Muslim identity since they are a religious minority and the political "Other". This thesis acknowledges that the presence of Muslims in Bollywood is complicated and not black and white, but it focuses on the representation of Muslims that is connected romantically with Hindus.