1,720,967 research outputs found
"Not exactly what I dreamed" : decolonization and re-orientation of the American dream in the novels of Junot Díaz
No full textThe Dominican Republic has a long history of oppression and colonization beginning with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, and arguably ending with the assassination of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo in 1961. Though the systematic colonization has ostensibly come to an end for the Dominican Republic, the social trauma is still present and manifests itself in the cultural tendencies and behaviors of the island's inhabitants, as well as its immigrants. This essay serves to document one of the many traumas of the Dominican Republic's history of colonial violence. Dominican-American author and immigrant Junot Diaz moved his country's writings from the margin of the American literary canon to the center with his 2007 novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2008. This novel is the middle book in a series of three, the most recent of which, This Is How You Lose Her (2012) represents a marked shift in focus and representation from that of the first book, a collection of short stories entitled Drown (1996). Drown can be said to document the various economic factors that affect the lives of Dominican immigrants and their decisions to immigrate to the United States. Yet, his most recent two books emphasize the characters' searches for romantic love against their own Dominican histories of oppression and violence. I understand and interpret Diaz's thematic shift to be a renouncement of the traditionally accepted and economically predicated American dream, and a reorientation of that dream toward an aspiration centered on what Diaz terms "decolonial love."
Thus, this essay will illuminate the particulars of Diaz's devaluation of an economically predicated national dream, and his re-orientation away from such a dream toward one based on a distinctly decolonized affective love. I will first examine the history of colonial oppression that characterizes the Dominican Republic, which will necessarily involve Diaz's protagonists Oscar and Yunior and the ways in which their own personal histories of colonization and oppression are specifically manifested and influence their relationships, and, ultimately, their search for decolonial love. Then, the final portion of this essay will examine the economic struggles of Dominican immigrants in contrast with Diaz's emphasis in his books on romantic love. I will discuss how decolonial love specifically frees characters like Yunior and Oscar from the colonial structures of hyper-masculinity and sexual domination in ways that economic outcomes cannot. As well, I will briefly discuss how Diaz might suggest Yunior and Oscar purge themselves of these colonial structures through writing as testimony.Thesis (B.?)Honors Colleg
The eithics of dart anesthesia on captive mammals
No full textDart anesthesia is an important medical procedure that has its necessary uses in field research.
Despite its usefulness in the field, the ethical basis for using it on captive animals should be
explored due to the detrimental effects that could potentially occur from the procedure. This
paper will explore the uses of dart anesthesia and the potentially harmful effects that come from
administering medicine with this method. It will also give alternative options to the use of this
type of chemical immobilization and the benefits of using these options. The paper will conclude
with an overall analysis to provide the best possible understanding of the current administration
of anesthesia of wild mammals in captive environments.B. ?Honors Colleg
Colorism: a history an its long-lasting effects
No full textColorism is a globalized preference for pale skin. It is a prejudice that is rooted in racism, colonization, and classism. This idea plagues the Latinx, Black, and Asian communities. Each community has different roots of colorism, but there are some similarities between the communities. BIPOC children growing up with darker skin face discrimination and isolation. Their elders tell them to their lighter-skinned peers. This treatment can lead to self-hate and lower self-esteem in a child, which can have long-lasting effects on the psyche. I use the research in this paper to write a children's book about a young girl learning to love her skin.Thesis (B.?)Honors Colleg
Do or (die)t: how diet culture harms women
No full textDieting, a long-held standard for successful weight loss, health maintenance, and beauty
attainment, is a potentially harmful practice that not only hints at a societal requirement of a
certain body type in order to fit into American culture. While diets affect millions of people
across the United States, women are especially targeted due to years of gender norms that expect
women to look a certain way in order to be considered attractive. Movies, television, social
media, and culture reinforce the idea that fat bodies are bad and there is one perfect body type
that everyone must pursue. The body positive movement has helped to bridge gaps between
culture and plus sized people, but still has progress to make in unconditional acceptance of all
people and bodies. This thesis examines dieting in the context of American culture, and how the
practice is used to control women and their bodies. Although the body positivity movement has
potential to challenge these standards, there is still an overarching ideal of a favorable body
shape and size. In conclusion, increased diversity is an effective solution, albeit difficult to
achieve. This diversity, in order to be effective, must be in more than just body type, and must
include categories of race and ability level as well.Thesis (B.?)Honors Colleg
Recording live : the shadows of resistance in Tyehimba Jess's Olio
No full textAccess to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only.Access to abstract permanently restricted to Ball State community only.Department of Englis
CEIAB in the performing arts
No full textThe performing arts are an industry where strategic communication goals are to sell tickets or
“put butts in seats,” and those messages worked from organizations to audiences for thousands of
years. But the performing arts, along with our world, are shifting to recognize that many
marginalized groups have lacked adequate access to the arts and to performances, which leads to
the question: How do we communicate our inclusivity and accessibility efforts to audiences in a
way that is meaningful and useful? These issues have existed far longer than many arts
institutions care to admit, but it is crucial that the arts, specifically the performing arts, make
strides to be more inclusive and accessible, and communicate how they are inclusive and
accessible, or risk the death of culture and many forms of artistry.B. ?Honors Colleg
Unlocking the creator economy: community, creativity, and publishing on Web3
No full textSince the invention of the printing press, writers have struggled to find a way to meaningfully monetize their creative works. The modern traditional publishing industry attempted to solve this problem, but did so only partially, creating an industry that is built with an incredible amount of gatekeeping. As such, alternative solutions have long been searched for, with the most successful of these attempts being self-publishing in the era of digital publishing era. This too, however, was an imperfect solution. Due to the highly centralized nature of the self and independent publishing ecosystems, the space remains far from equitable. This thesis aims to propose yet another alternative solution: abandoning the current system entirely in favor of a new system built on the back of web3 and blockchain technology that has powered the ongoing cryptocurrency revolution in the financial world.Thesis (B.?)Honors Colleg
Strategies for retirement planning
No full textThe creative project, “Strategies for Retirement Planning” is in the form of a website that aims to
inform viewers of the different types of retirement plans available to them and the strategies to
maximize each individual plan. The goal of my creative project was to create a project that
would be beneficial to both me in my education and to the future viewers of this website. As a
finance major, I selected the topic of retirement planning. The area of retirement planning was
one that I am interested in and wanted to enrich my education in. It is also an area where many
individuals have an insufficient background and do not know the different plans available to
them and how to maximize their contributions to generate more wealth in the future. The website
breaks down several of the most popular retirement plans, including a Roth IRA, Traditional
IRA, Roth 401(k), Traditional 401(k), and a 403(b) Plan. Additionally, this platform provides
some of the most recommended strategies for maximizing contributions to the different types of
plans, as well as strategies to avoid. This website was designed with a goal of educating its
viewers in the area of retirement planning.B. ?Honors Colleg
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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