Humanities

Presenter: Taylor Connor, Dixie State University, English

Presenter: Tyson Fullmer, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, English

Presenter: Megan Orr, College of Humanities, Art History

Presenter: Samuel Mann, College of Humanities, Department of World Languages and Cultures

Presenter: Spencer Soule, Dixie State University, English

Presenter: Kealy Whidden, College of Humanities & Social Sciences, English

Presenter: Mary McFadden, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, English

Presenter: Andrea Uehling, College of Social and Behavioral Science, Anthropology

Presenter: Saya Zeleznik, College of Humanities, English

Presenter: Heather Graham, School for Cultural and Social Transformation, Gender Studies

Presenter: Aubrey Dickens, College of Humanities, English

Presenter: Carter Ottley, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Political Science and Journalism

Presenter: Aubrey Dickens, BYU College of Humanities, English

Presenter: Kaitlin Hoelzer, College of Humanities, English

Presenter: Megan Orr, College of Humanities, Art History

Blake, Deanna (Utah Valley University)
Faculty Advisor: McPherson, Kate (Utah Valley University, Honors Program); Hunt, John (Utah Valley University, History); Snedegar, Keith (Utah Valley University, History)

On December 30, 1460 Richard of York, father of both Edward IV and Richard III, fought and died at the battle of Wakefield alongside his son, Edmond Earl of Rutland. Accounts of the time then say he was pulled of his horse and beheaded. The Lancastrians then put his head on a spike with a paper crown on top. They placed it where everyone could see then handed his body over to be buried at Pontefract. His son, Edward IV, took the throne soon after. Several years into his reign, in the year 1475, Edward IV had his father and brother's remains moved to the Church of St. Mary and All Saints in Furthering. It is known that the event, full of ceremonies and processions, was an important political move. The ceremony was elaborate.

The court Edward IV had around him at the time was full of tension. His marriage to Elisabeth Woodville drove a wedge between him and his mentor, Richard duke of Warwick. This would soon turn his brother George duke of Clarence, who wanted power for himself, to ally with Warwick. Edward IV was attempting to show unity between the queen and Warwick at the time of the reburial, even having them walk next to each other holding hands during the procession to the church.

The shaky political ground at the time put much into question. Edward IV took the throne from Henry VI. Many would see this as seizing power taken for the York's after the forced abdication of Richard II. Others saw it as a usurpation. There were other varying thoughts on the matter. In the end, Edward's legitimacy as king was in question. He did what he could to codify the idea of his reign.

The reburial of his father, Richard of York, was one of the many ways he did this. His end goal was to make his father into a king in his death. The event was extravagant. Many attended. Edward IV gave his father such an elaborate funeral possession it could be seen as one of the greatest events of Edward IV reign when it comes to peaceful affairs. He and his affinity said Henry VI was a usurper, Richard of York was the rightful king, therefore Edward was the rightful heir, as opposed to Edward of Westminster. Giving the man a funeral and burial fit for a king would help the people to believe it as well.

Richard's burial was given with all the deference of a king. Edward drew on other monarchies and the duchy of burgundy for inspiration for the event. The event began with a procession that started on the 24th of July. The Duke was dressed in elaborate garbs and coved with a cloth made from gold material with an ermine furred mantle, as a king would be. Candles were lite under the hearse alongside a silver angel wearing a gold crown to represent Richard of York's right to be king. The procession of lords led by the youngest of his sons, Richard Duke of Gloucester, later Richard iii, traveled from Pontefract to Fotheringhgay on 29th. Along the way, the people flocked to watch from all over the country. When they reached Fotheringhay members of the colleges joined the

Presenter: Paul Guajardo, College of the Family, Home and Social Sciences, History

Presenter: Christian Heftel, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Integrated Studies

Presenter: Austin Skousen, Woodbury School of Business, Philosophy

Presenter: Alexandra Carlile, College of Humanities, Department of Comparative Arts and Letters

Presenter: Santiago Blanco, College of Humanities, Spanish

Kolton Pierson, Southern Utah University

Benjamin Passey, Brigham Young University

Alejandra Portolés Colás, Southern Utah University

Elizabeth Obray; Kristin Wilson-Grimes; Sennai Habtes, Southern Utah University

Brayden Jackman, Southern Utah University An analysis is made which seeks to identify the ways in which authors utilize symbols in their writing to convey specific messages. Particularly, it discusses how these messages and the use of symbols may vary and why. Two theatrical works are identified as the basis of this study. The first is entitled El si de las ni̱as and is written by Leandro MoratÌ_n. The second is Don Juan Tenorio and was written by JosÌ© Zorrilla. Both of these authors are Spanish and the two works were written within a few decades of each other. However, these authors pertain to different cultural and literary movements. Leandro MoratÌ_n, is a neoclassical author, while JosÌ© Zorrilla, is a romantic author. Due to the nature of the material used and the field of study, the paper is written in Spanish. It first gives a brief overview of the cultural ideas that were circulating at the time that both of the previously mentioned authors were actively writing. It later identifies key characteristics in literature of their respective movements, giving examples of how they are used within the text. It then identifies the use of specific symbols, light and darkness, within each of the two works, and discusses how the authorå«s use of them impacts the message that they are conveying. The conclusion is then made that the placement of symbols within the context of a story is key. Symbols evoke emotions, which can subtly emphasize key points that the author tries to make while simultaneously helping the audience to better connect with them.

Heidi Herrera, Brigham Young University Remarkable in both subject and execution, Los Desastres de la Guerra (Disasters of War) is exceptional in Goya’s oeuvre and in artistic representations of wartime rape. Filled with scenes illustrating the consequences and violence of war, Goya offers an insightful yet ambiguous commentary, particularly in the plates in which rape is presented as a first-hand account; plate 9, No quieren—“They don’t want it”—, plate 10, Tampoco—“Nor do these”— and plate 11, Ni por ésas—“Nor those.” Indicting the French soldiers for the rape of women during the French occupation, the Disasters of War offers offering a brutal and deceptively truthful view on the inevitable and horrible consequences which war and looting wage on women, transforming both viewer and artist into witnesses of the gruesome scenes, implicating both as detached, though unwitting, participants in the sexual violence enacted against these women; the artist in his creation of these rapes and the viewers in their reception of the images. By making the viewer a first-hand witness to these rape scenes, Goya accomplishes greater empathy for the women than other artistic portrayals of rape, however, he also unintentionally sheds a spotlight on the callousness of the viewer, and by extension, the artist himself. Both created and publicly received my men, the scenes of sexual violence shown in plates 9-11 display and discuss the rape of women as a means to an end in which the lives and suffering of these women, fictional or real, are periphery to what acts of sexual violence say about the men who wage war. Although art historians and critics today may consider the beauty of the plate’s compositions, is it at all possible for scenes which portray violence against women, as in the Disasters of War, to be considered beautiful? I would like to address how these images were received when The Disasters of War was released in 1863, considering the plate’s reception by contemporaneous art critics such Enrique Mélida within the context of how rape was understood in the nineteenth century. By comparing They don’t want it, Nor do these, and Nor those to portrayals of rape by Goya and other nineteenth-century artists, in addition to portrayals of rape by female artists, I hope to clarify where Goya’s rape scenes reside on a spectrum of artistic representations of rape, ranging from exploitative to empathetic.

Kolton Pierson, Southern Utah University My research paper deals with the author Jose de Larra in Spain during the Romantic Period. The author is relevant to this period, because of the critiques he makes about the Spanish society and their ways of living. Specifically my research analyzes Larra’s critiques about Spain’s limiting traditions, how Spain rejects new and innovative ideas, and about how Spain has no desire to progress. I also would like to research how Larra’s personal life influenced in his works. Larra lived in France for a large part of his life, and thus had many new ideas that he wanted to bring to Spain. However, the majority of those living in Spain at the time, rejected his ideas, because of their traditions. The primary sources to conduct this research are going to be two of Larra’s most famous works namely, “Vuelva usted ma̱ana” y “El dÌ_a de difuntos de 1836.” In addition, I will use scholarly journals and book chapters relevant to my project. This presentation will be conducted in Spanish, because this is a project completed for one of my upper-level Spanish courses. The purpose of this research is to demonstrate that the vital force of writers differed from that of the general Spanish society during the Romantic Period. In this period, Spain was in a heated contradiction while trying to decide if it was better to open up to the innovative ideas of Europe, especially France and England, or to enclose itself in its own traditions. This research is significant to the literary field, because it shows how many intelligent thinkers of the time had ideas that could really benefit the general public, but out of fear, tradition, or some other motives, the ideas were rejected and forgotten.

A majority of the population in North America endorses religious/spiritual beliefs, with the highest levels of endorsement occurring among ethnic minority groups. Despite this important cultural trend, previous psychological research looking at religion and psychological well-being has been focused on White (European American) populations. There is a growing need to further understand the psychological effects of religiosity among minority groups. Given that ethnic minorities are also at an elevated risk of suffering from mental illness, it is in the best interest of both patients and providers to note any factors that may serve as therapeutic support. The purpose of this meta-analysis is to assess the relationship between religious or spiritual beliefs and psychological well-being. We also hypothesized that a number of moderating factors will be revealed through our data analysis. Through our intensive literature review we extracted data from 120 research studies which reported 42,972 individuals’ psychological well-being as a function of their self-reported religiosity/spirituality. Inclusion criteria were studies from 1980 to 2008 that reported correlational data on constructs of religiosity (religious activities and spiritual beliefs) with constructs of mental health, conducted in North America, with populations that self-identified as being racial, ethnic, or cultural minorities. Retrieved studies were coded twice and verified for accuracy. The modal study involved cross-sectional (correlational) data obtained by convenience sampling from community samples of middle-aged adults. All age groups except children were adequately represented in the literature. Notably, most studies (78%) reported African American participants. On average, across all types of measures of well-being, the random effects weighted correlation with participant religiosity/spirituality was .14 (se = .01, 95% CI = .12 to .16, p < .0001). These results show low to moderate correlations between religion/spirituality and mental health among ethnic minority groups. The range of correlations was from -.11 to .55. These associations held up across racial groups. The association was stronger among older populations and samples with greater percentages of female participants. Mental health professionals need to consider client beliefs when providing treatment. Research may need to further assess the degree to which religion and spirituality affect positive psychological functions rather than distress. Likewise, the nature of psychopathology may be such that it alters the very construct of religion that we were attempting to assess. Formulating an empirical basis for these relationships constitutes a major step forward in the implementation of validated spiritually adapted interventions in mental health care for ethnic minorities.

Kylan Rutherford, Brigham Young University

Alexis Taylor, Southern Utah University

Jensen Roper, Brigham Young University

Rod Dutra, Brigham Young University

Morrigan DeVito, Southern Utah University

Josee Hildebrandt, Dixie State University

Claralyn Burt, Brigham Young University

Taylor Ball, Brigham Young University

Stanley Siebersma, Weber State University

Anna Nielsen, Brigham Young University

Davis Agle, Brigham Young University In this paper, I propose that the British goals in releasing Egypt from protectorate status and granting them independence was less due to goodwill and constitution, but financial and strategic reasons. The goal the British had in mind was to preserve their access to the Suez Canal, and the major financial revenue it produced, while minimizing both risk of rebellion from the ruling populace (such as was seen with Ireland) and allowing the Egyptian government to exercise self-rule, which would further lower expenses as they would no longer need to keep as many troops stationed to maintain order and control. The negotiations and design of the Egyptian Government were largely conducted by the chosen committee of Egyptian Officials with input and direction from the British Government, whose hand in their design was largely to ensure good relationships between Egypt and the British Empire, and that the British retained largely exclusive rights to resources. Inevitably, the discrepancies between the British Empire’s goals and the resulting government caused the constitution to be replaced only 7 years later.

Amanda Salgado, Weber State University Humanities In 1983, Rigoberta Menchu, the first indigenous Mayan-Quiche Nobel Peace Prize recipient, shared the terror and the abuse that she and millions of other indigenous people in Guatemala were experiencing during the country’s 36-year Internal Armed Conflict. In her book Me llamo Rigoberta Menchu y así me nació la conciencia, she discusses how the indigenous population was frequently viewed and treated as inferior by the Ladinos (those of mixed indigenous and European heritage), and was therefore subjected to a great deal of discrimination, which was reflective of the legacy of the country’s colonial past. The purpose of this research was to examine within a Postcolonial framework, if postcolonial structures were still in force in Guatemala, and if and how they continued to affect the indigenous population, particularly Mayan women living in rural areas. Methodology included analysis of newspaper articles, journals and documents, as well as a two-week field experience, talking to Mayan women. The result shows that while the political situation of Guatemala has improved since the time of the publication of Menchu’s book, many of the conditions and practices that promote discrimination against the indigenous population have continued and are still visible today, reflective of a Postcolonial society that values European descendants more than their neighbors. For instance, the educational system now takes into account indigenous languages, and Mayan spirituality is not persecuted, a first since the Spanish Conquest. Nevertheless, indigenous women continue to experience a triple discrimination because based on their sex, social status, and ethnicity. The goal of this research is to promote greater awareness of these issues.

Natasha Mickelson, Brigham Young University Humanities Young adult contemporary realistic fiction is a genre which attempts to portray real life. Young adult readers of these novels should be able to find themselves in the characters and relate to their backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives on life. While many young adult novels deal with controversial topics such as sexuality, drug use, physical abuse, suicide, and other difficult subjects in an attempt to be realistic, one aspect of life still largely considered a literary “taboo” is religion.Through examining studies done and looking at a sample of novels in the young adult contemporary realistic fiction genre I found that most of these books mention nothing about the religious beliefs or backgrounds of their characters. In the few novels which do bring up religion, Christian beliefs and characters are more common than minority religions. However, those novels depicting Christian characters are more likely to show them in a negative light. These novels frequently portray religious characters (especially leaders) as bigoted, fanatical, or gullible. Often the main adolescent character is trying to break free from cultish groups, and their eventual loss of faith is celebrated. Since contemporary realistic fiction attempts to portray the real world and real teenagers, I researched recent studies surveying American teenagers’ views on and involvement with religion. The results of these studies show that most teenagers identify with and willingly participate in religious groups and practices. In my research I found that this disparity between real life and realistic YA fiction exists due to the aversion of writers and publishers to possible censorship issues and alienating potential readership. However, scholars agree that both the lack of religion and the negative religious stereotypes in these novels can leave teenage readers incorrectly feeling as though their beliefs in or questions about God and religion are uncommon or wrong.

Thomas Aguila, University of Utah Humanities “A Tide Just West” is a book arts project that conceptually adopts the theories of Hélène Cixous– and to an extent Julia Kristeva and Luce Irigaray– and concerns itself with investigating narratological schemas, as the book experimentally utilizes photographic imagery (alongside the text) to constitute a story of écriture féminine. Ecriture féminine, translated from French as “woman’s writing,” is a type of writing characterized by its tendency to subvert the narrative conventions and the pragmatism within books, poetry, language, and the genres in between. Hélène Cixous used this conceptual term in her 1975 essay, “The Laugh of Medusa,” and considered the difficulty of definitively putting into words such a category: “It is impossible to define a feminine practice of writing, and that impossibility will remain, for this practice can never be theorized, enclosed, coded.” In this project, écriture féminine takes form– and subverts form– through the book’s incorporation of photographic images. The narrative’s images act as areas that are not reliant on words but visual experiences that contradict, unify, and break apart the text alongside it. Such visual components allow new narratives to form. Instead of illustrations, the visual images act as indefinite, experiential moments for the reader to expand upon (to pass through), as the reader’s literal relationship to the characters, scenarios, and overall thematics of the book turns more toward conflicting, potent, and vague contradictions. The images fracture and destabilize the logocentrism of the book, destabilizing that expectation and faith upon the written word; they act as an in-definitude to the text, the narrative, the body, and the metaphors between the three.

Latrisa Garcia, Dixie State University Humanities Statistics show that in 2013, the US population was 313.9 million people, while the number of active cell phone subscriptions was 345.2 million, which translates to 110% of the US population having active cell phones. As more people connect to the world through cell phones they become less aware of the physical world which surrounds them, known as Inattentional Blindness. This paper asks the question: Does the increased use of cell phones impair college students’ perceptions about the actual amounts of crime that occurs on campus, and if so are students under or over estimating the amounts of crime? It is hypothesized that the majority of students will under estimate the amount of crime that occurs on a college campus because of their reduced awareness of the real world. This study uses a convenience sample acquired through a web based survey conducted on a college campus of approximately 10,000 students in the southwest region of the United States. Study results will be finalized in the coming weeks. Early results suggest that cell phone use and inattentional blindness may not be as prevalent on campus as originally hypothesized.

Kelsey Jetter, Dixie State University Humanities Thousands of advertising messages that are created by the media bombard the general public on a daily basis. An aspect of media that is seldom recognized is how sexuality is represented. The fight for sexual equality has been progressing over the last few years, the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans*, and Queer) community has been fighting for equality in marriage, housing, and employment—successfully utilizing many forms of media such as news networking and social media. Though successful, the community’s fight fails to recognize bisexuality as its own form of sexuality. Bisexuality is misinterpreted, misunderstood, and discriminated against in heteronormative and homosexual media—bisexuality’s representation is skewed and perpetrates the myths that are assumed about bisexuality. Some of the myths including that bisexual people are confused, unnatural, and promiscuous. Through the analysis of how bisexuality is both negatively and positively reflected in media such as the music by Frank Ocean, the television show Doctor Who, and the political figure Kyrsten Sinema, this piece finds how the media represents bisexuality, people who identify as bisexual, and how it is reported to the public.

Andy Mickelson, Brigham Young University Humanities The infancy narrative in the Gospel of Luke is one of the most popular passages of Christian scripture: the story of Jesus’ birth has been recited and depicted in Christmas celebrations for centuries. Yet modern readers are far removed in time, language, and culture from the first-century world in which Luke was composed. Because of this distance, our traditional understanding of this text may differ from what Luke intended to convey. One particular misunderstanding of the text centers on an ambiguous Greek term used in Luke 2:7. Most English translations of this verse state that Mary, after delivering Jesus, “laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” However, the term translated as “inn” in this passage—κατάλυμα—had a wide variety of meanings in Hellenistic Greek. Even within Luke itself the term is translated differently: the “upper room” in which Jesus shares his last meal with his disciples is, in Greek, a κατάλυμα (Luke 22:11). Properly understanding κατάλυμα profoundly impacts how we read Luke’s infancy narrative: were Mary and Joseph turned away from a crowded inn on the eve of her delivery? Or does a nuanced translation of κατάλυμα change the circumstances of Jesus’ birth?This paper philologically examines how κατάλυμα is used by other Hellenistic Greek authors: Xenophon, Polybius, Diodorus Siculus, and others. Their writings created the literary milieu in which the Gospel of Luke was composed; their use of this term may have influenced Luke as he crafted his account. Based on this philological context, κατάλυμα here most likely means “guest room,” and infers that Joseph and Mary were staying with another family (possibly relatives) in Bethlehem. This reading, though nontraditional, brings us closer to approaching the text as Luke’s original audience would have understood it.

Ashley Smith, Brigham Young University Humanities The author argues that attitudes towards cross-caste marriage in Visakhapatnam, India are changing due to women who have attained a degree in higher education. Attitudes towards cross-caste marriage in India have always brought about turmoil for families whose children decided to marry someone outside of their caste. While cross-caste marriages are now legally allowed in India, it is still so socially taboo that even those that do participate in cross-caste marriage do not like to tell others that they are part of a cross- caste marriage. But times are continuing to change. The author’s research in Visakhapatnam, India concerning cross-caste marriages, and marriages in general, have brought to light data that may show that attitudes towards cross-caste marriage are changing in the light of higher education. Those interviewed by the author who were willing to talk about their own cross-caste marriage, or their son’s or daughter’s cross-caste marriage, have stated that or made mention to the fact that those who were well-educated were more willing to participate in cross-caste marriage as well as speak of being in a cross-caste marriage. It’s how people speak of it though that makes the author’s research interesting. They speak of their cross- caste marriage through education. It was either their mothers or themselves that mentioned that they have had higher education, usually at a university that the attitudes they grew up with about cross-caste marriage are softened.

Matthew Halverson, University of Utah Humanities Adults learning second languages typically exhibit a great deal of difficulty discriminating the sounds of the new language. For example, the English R and L sounds (as in ‘lead’ vs. ‘read’) are difficult for native speakers of Japanese to discriminate because there is no such sound contrast in Japanese. Despite these difficulties, some research indicates that there are cognitive benefits of being bilingual. For example, Bialystock et al. (2003) found that bilingual children performed more accurately on tasks testing phonological awareness (a measure of sound-related skills) in English when compared to monolingual English speakers. Antoniou, Best, and Tyler (2013) found that Greek-English bilinguals were better at discriminating contrastive word-initial consonants in the language Ma’di than English monolinguals—but that they performed worse than Greek monolinguals. We thus see that the apparent bilingual advantage may be confounded with the particular language backgrounds of participants in these studies. The present study attempts to tease apart the contributions of language background and bilingualism. Spanish-English bilinguals were compared to English monolinguals in their ability to discriminate Thai sounds. The predictions were that if Spanish-English bilinguals performed better than English monolinguals, it would indicate that bilingualism was responsible for the advantage. On the other hand, if there was not a significant difference or the Spanish-English bilinguals performed worse than English monolinguals, the results could be attributed to language background. We found that there was not a significant difference between how the Spanish- English bilinguals performed compared to English speakers. We note that the study, however, is limited due to a lack of a Spanish monolingual group, thus we were unable account for a possible effect of language background.

Jacob Oscarson, Dixie State University Humanities In 1971 the New York Times printed sections of a classified Department of Defense report known at the Pentagon Papers. The papers were a detailed history of the Vietnam War from its very beginning in the 1940s when Ho Chi Minh and the Vietminh were officially considered US Allies against Japan. One phenomenon that the papers reveal quite clearly is that while President Roosevelt was dedicated to a policy of support for national liberation movements, that others within his administration did not hold the same view. This is clearly portrayed in the discrepancy between internal documents of the US Secretary of State in August, 1940 that are in clear contradiction to the Atlantic Charter that President Roosevelt promoted one year later. Throughout the history of the Vietnam War, such discrepancies between internal views and public statements were quite common. In the final days of President Johnson’s administration, he had Daniel Ellsberg collect a detailed report on all aspects of the conflict in order to shape a better policy. When the Nixon administration ignored Ellsberg’s expertise, he leaked partial elements of the documents to the New York Times. In the last decade, the US Government has now released the full details of the report for the general public. This paper will discuss the beginnings of the war during the Roosevelt and Truman administrations in regards to new information provided in the complete Pentagon Papers report.

Jordan Kerns, Dixie State University Humanities In my creative compilation, I explore four different classifications of the word blood in four flash non-fiction pieces. I utilize the writing technique of compression, so none of my stories exceed 400 words. Flash pieces give information to the reader through the techniques of inference and understatement. Throughout my stories, I show readers my relationships with other people, my thoughts about myself, and my opinions about certain possessions through the use of flash methods and with an underlying theme of blood. The first story, “Cremation,” illustrates my relationship with my brother through a cryptic conversation we had about death—its tie to the theme being our blood relation. The next piece, “Blood Lines,” describes a pair of sweatpants I stole from my father with subtle clues that hint at the bad blood left between him and my mother and my mother and me. The third flash, “Blood and Frosting,” is a second-person narrative about the process the narrator takes to make red velvet cupcakes for her friends and family. The last work, “Syrup and Sky,” is another descriptive paragraph about a picture I drew in high school of a poorly-drawn wolverine covered in the blood of his kill. I aim to connect with my readers through these simple moments of life, make them feel either happy or sad or anything in-between, and make them see the beauty and complexity in mundane things.