Religious histories have always appropriated pre-existing symbol systems of religion into newer forms, often with the goal in mind to acculturate a population into a new cultural setting to reach a desired status quo of society. The problem with acculturation theory is that it is filled with teleological and quantitative...
In this thesis, I conduct an analysis of paradigmatic background assumptions deployed in engineering decision-making processes, in order to understand how these assumptions, operating tacitly and in tension with each other, contribute to decisions that are ethically less effective and less substantial than they would otherwise be. I do so...
Asynthesis & Act is a significant intervention into the discourse of the sublime. Through a deep investigation of the critical metaphysics of Immanuel Kant, the first chapter of this thesis puts forth the claim that the sublime is a radical experience that occasions a possibility for the individual to commit...
In an effort to supplement the recently completed NOAA fishing community profiles, three coastal Oregon communities were chosen as sites for a collaborative project designed to produce long-form profiles. In order to provide a representation of the coast Newport, Port Orford, and Garibali, Oregon were included based on community size,...
This thesis is arranged in three chapters which explore Wharton’s representations of nature in three novels: The House of Mirth (1905), The Fruit of the Tree (1907), and The Custom of the County (1913). This thesis contends that Wharton’s novels reveal changes in the interplay between representations of nature and...
This ethnography looks at the processes a rural Oregon community is undergoing as some members attempt to re-animate the community by creating a community center after the loss of its school and market, two vital services that provided venues for social interaction and engagement.
The methodology for this research includes...
Development in China over the last thirty years has emphasized infrastructural and economic advancement. Despite enormous gains in living standards in the industrialized eastern provinces, much of China's interior and western provinces remain relatively underdeveloped. Populated mostly by ethnic minorities, the southwest province of Yunnan (meaning south of the clouds)...
This thesis is an exploration of how male trickster figures operate in the Gothic fiction of 20th century American female authors. Specifically, I look at the short stories “The Daemon Lover” by Shirley Jackson, “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor, and “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by...
This thesis is a study of the changes in the cultural definition of the American Dream. I have chosen to use Superman comics, from 1938 to the present day, as litmus tests for how we have societally interpreted our ideas of “success” and the “American Way.” This work is primarily...
This thesis is an exploration of Catch-22 (1961) and Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), two early documents of American postmodern literature. In particular, this thesis attempts to present the critical discussions surrounding each novel as parallel to the broader theoretical discussions surrounding the concept of postmodernism. My contention is that, in both of...