Graduate Liberal Studies

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10161/9149

The capstone requirement of the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies degree in the Graduate Liberal Studies Program is the Master’s Project. Drawing on the skills and knowledge acquired from coursework, each student designs – in consultation with a supervising professor – an independent project that is personally and academically meaningful. The Master’s Project, which includes but is not limited to written analysis, may involve academic research, applied research or creative work. This collection was created in 2014, and capstone projects completed before that time are not hosted in DukeSpace.

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Brynhild's Multifaceted Identity Across Different Legendary Texts
(2026-05) Luo, Mingxi
This project examines the multifaceted identity of Brynhild in The Poetic Edda, The Saga of the Volsungs and the Chinese version of Edda, focusing on how different mythological texts construct her as an exceptional valkyrie and how such representations reveal the paradoxical nature of her power. It asks how Brynhild’s identity as both a semi-divine warrior and a royal woman is shaped across different narratives, and how these depictions illuminate the tragic tension between her self-determination and patriarchal constraints. Close reading and comparative literary analysis are employed to examine Brynhild’s complex identity and power. Sheldon Pollock’s three-dimensional philological framework and Linda Hutcheon’s theory of adaptation further facilitate the interpretation of texts from multiple cultural and temporal perspectives. Translation practice helps understand how The Poetic Edda is rendered across different linguistic contexts. The project shows that Brynhild’s tragic fate is shaped by her dual identity as both a courageous, semi-divine valkyrie and a beautiful woman of noble status. Different texts construct these aspects in distinct ways, thereby enriching her characterization. Her destructive actions are not merely acts of revenge but manifestations of her warlike power, driven by rage at deception, the violation of binding oaths, and the failure of self-determination within a coerced marriage. While the patriarchal order functions as a decisive force in shaping her tragedy, Brynhild nevertheless resists within these structural constraints.
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Intersectional Medical Mistrust: Addressing Knowledge Gaps in Healthcare Research
(2025) Matengula, Okoma Atani
This thesis explores quantitative research on medical mistrust and the minority patient-provider relationship in the United States. As a result of historical medical abuses against Black bodies, Black communities within the U.S. have lost trust in healthcare institutions and medical providers. These abuses such as the Tuskegee study and Norplant regulations have had a major negative impact on the patient-provider relationship between minority communities and healthcare professionals. Some research has employed quantitative ethnographic research methods in order to understand the culture within medical institutions. Overall, research into this relationship has shown a correlation between racism, adverse health outcomes, and minority experiences with healthcare providers but has failed to identify the key contributing factors to modern day minority mistrust in healthcare institutions. I suggest applying an intersectional lens to ethnographic medical research on minority populations, specifically minority pregnant individuals to fully understand the role of care institutions in perpetuating maternal health disparities and their impact on the relationship between patients and providers. The paper aims to clearly identify the relationship between obstetric racism and negative health outcomes for minority pregnant individuals by addressing the culture of care within healthcare spaces. This thesis first reviews and analyzes the literature on medical mistrust and healthcare disparities. Then this paper discusses medical ethnography, its uses, methods, and the subsequent gaps in the literature on medical mistrust. Chapter Three discusses research recommendations on how to fill the gaps in literature using longitudinal intersectional ethnographic methods in medical research. Chapter Four discusses the limitations of longitudinal ethnographic research methods. Chapter Five discusses the future of medical institutions and medical research.
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The Berlin Crisis: Protestant Debates over the Church’s Mission, 1974-1975
(2026-04-15) Rittgers, Alec
This essay seeks to contribute to the growing body of literature that addresses the rapid period of change in post-World War II Christianity. The long Sixties presented a crisis for churches in the Western World. To say that this crisis looked the same in each region it touched would be a mistake. It took many different forms, including the Federal Republic of Germany. Protestants wrestled with the question of whether their faith convictions necessitated political engagement and responsibility. This question became especially pertinent in West Berlin due to the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg’s encounter with left-wing terrorism. The encounter caused tremendous upheaval in West Berlin including an increase in the number of church departures by members of the laity. By taking the shape of a microhistory, this essay draws on speeches, letters, newspaper articles, and public statements to show how Protestants in West Berlin in late 1974 through mid-1975 understood the extent to which their church should engage in the political realm. It demonstrates how progressive Protestants tended to favor direct engagement in the political realm, while conservative Protestants saw this as a misinterpretation of the church’s mission, opting for a more passive posture. The contention is that by asking a big question in a small place, we see irreconcilable visions of political engagement within the Evangelical Church in Germany.
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Reinventing Care: Nursing Assistants' Embodied Resistance Working in Public Hospitals in China
(2025-12-25) Cheng, Yueqi
For my master’s thesis, I studied third-party patient-care nursing assistants – usually middle-aged, undereducated, female migrants – and their managers. I was inspired to study them because when my grandmother was battling the complications of Parkinson’s Disease, we hired a nursing assistant for her. To write an ethnography, I conducted a three-month fieldwork in two surgical wards in two public hospitals in Changsha, Hunan, where I am from. The title of my thesis is Reinventing Care: Nursing Assistants’ Embodied Resistance Working in Public Hospitals in Changsha, Hunan, in which I narrate the ways nursing assistants resist the bodily regulation of the nursing care industry embedded in public medical institutions. As the Chinese society continues to age, families have no choice but to outsource care to nursing assistants. Since the implementation of the state policy "Hospital Non-Accompanied Nursing Care Service Trial Program" in April 2025, the nursing care industry within public medical institutions has been regulating and supervising nursing assistants more intensively than before the policy. I argue in my thesis that, to respond to institutional control, nursing assistants utilize embodied ways of resistance. In Chapters 2 and 3, I ethnographically depicted the different forms of resistance, including disrupting existing social and spatial orders, uttering dissonances, practicing autonomy, crafting alternative strategies, and forging solidarity with other marginal workers, that nursing assistants embody to confront and resist gazes and exploitation while engaging in physically and emotionally demanding care work.
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Heartbeat State: Abortion Restrictions and the Maternal Health Crisis in Post-Dobbs South Carolina
(2026-05-13) Wilson, Madison
In 2023, just over a year after the Dobbs decision, South Carolina enacted a six-week abortion ban, effectively eliminating abortion access before most people know they are pregnant. This research investigates how such restrictive abortion legislation directly undermines maternal health outcomes and drives preventable increases in maternal mortality, particularly among Black women and low-income communities in South Carolina who already face severe obstetric disparities. Drawing on the Abortion Care Today audio archive, existing literature, maternal mortality data, and state and federal policy analysis, this research examines abortion not as a political abstraction, but as essential urgent healthcare. When abortion is banned, healthcare isn’t the only thing to disappear—patients do: to complications, to delays, to bans. The findings are clear. Abortion bans and their “exceptions” strip women of medically necessary care, force continuation of dangerous pregnancies, disregard bodily autonomy, delay treatment for miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy, and drive physicians out of states where clinical judgment has been criminalized. Documented deterioration in female health outcomes fall hardest on women and girls capable of pregnancy. Alongside the academic analysis, a community health booklet was developed to bring these findings to reproductive age South Carolinians, translating research into accessible, actionable knowledge for the communities most affected by these laws. This project concludes that abortion restrictions are not peripheral to maternal health—they are a direct assault on it. The evidence is clear: women are suffering at the hands of dismantled infrastructure meant to protect. Abortion is not an exception to healthcare, but a foundational component of it and South Carolinians are paying the price.
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Food, Power, and the Political Economy of Care in the West Virginia Mine Wars, 1912-1921
(2026) Ballejos, Lauren
This thesis explores the West Virginia Mine Wars (1912–1921) through the lens of food, care, and social reproduction, centering the experiences of women whose labor sustained both families and resistance. Traditional historiography on the Mine Wars foregrounds male miners, labor issues, and episodic violence, and leaves details of women’s contributions on the periphery. Drawing on oral histories, archival collections, trial records, newspapers, and photographs, I analyze both the presence of women’s voices and the silences of the historical record, situating their work within frameworks of necropolitics, feminist theories of care, and Appalachian labor and environmental history. I argue that coal companies weaponized food and reproductive labor to control communities, while women simultaneously utilized these practices within kinship networks that enabled both survival and a sustained resistance. By examining care as both exploited and revolutionary labor, this project expands the understanding of the Mine Wars beyond strikes and armed confrontations to include everyday practices of care. Ultimately, it demonstrates how kitchens, gardens, and domestic work functioned as political sites, revealing the centrality of care labor to labor history in Appalachia.
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Farmers’ Markets as Community Gathering Places: Evidence from the Literature
(2025-04) Baucom, Grace
In this academic analysis, I provide a dedicated review of farmers’ markets as community gathering spaces, investigating the features, variables, and mechanisms by which farmers’ markets build social capital, strengthen social networks, and function as “third places” (Lasch, 1991; Oldenburg, 1989). I posit that it is by creating physical, curated focal points for public life, rooted in symbolically rich, socially embedded commerce and primed for values embodiment and social interaction, that farmers’ markets become individually and collectively salient community gathering places. Farmers’ markets are more than where food is bought and sold: they are keystone community assets where identities are actively constructed, transactions are based in satisfactions of regard, and “community” is an action. I take three foundational building blocks of the market – the place itself, the people, and the products sold – and examine each in turn, providing evidence from the literature to demonstrate how each component contributes to the “place ballet” of the market environment as a community gathering place (Francis & Griffith, 2011, p. 262; Seamon & Nordin, 1980). Taken together, I argue, it is the curated environment, socially salient atmosphere, and socially embedded commerce that make the farmers’ market a rich site of community gathering and public life.
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Pathways to Teaching African American Studies: Preparation for Effective Teaching of the Advanced Placement Curriculum
(2025-06-23) Bingaman, Asia
For most of the nation AP African American Studies, offered through College Board, is the first time a standardized curriculum of Black History is being offered at the high school level, let alone as an interdisciplinary course of advanced study. In preparing to implement the AP curriculum, schools need to consider what structures are necessary for sustaining a Black Studies course. I examine teacher and school-based preparation and attempt to offer a framework for rolling out the new curriculum at any high school. Proper planning and implementation for AP African American Studies is crucial to ensure its survival and success. Using the Participatory Action Research (PAR) model, I recruit and utilize the lived experience and knowledge base of participant researchers who currently teach it. I center my research and analysis around five core considerations: teacher demographics and education; textbook alignment; pacing and planning; student demographics; and state legislation and standards. I should note that, based on the considerations outlined, each state, school district, and school will create curriculum plans that will look different, based on the communal demographics, political environment, and cultural context of that system. No two curriculum plans will be identical, and few will be similar. Participant researchers' insights revolved around themes of culturally relevant pedagogy, Black historical consciousness, and critical race consciousness. Participant researchers also looked at how these themes applied to their individual teaching practices. More broadly, this study should act as a model to be replicated in Black history curriculum studies and educator professional development.
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I Know Propaganda When I See it: A discussion of American War Cinema from 1970 to the Present
(2025-04-14) Strickland, Michael
The events of September 11, 2001 deeply impacted society in countless ways. One of these impacts was the shift in how cinema depicted war. This thesis demonstrates how American War Cinema has evolved over the last 60 years, increasing its focus on the deterrence of war and recruitment of new soldiers. By conducting research, analysis, and writing, this thesis uses primary source monographs like Nomadology and Manufacturing Consent, and films like Apocalypse Now and War Dogs, alongside secondary sources such as scholarly articles, film reviews, and literature reviews, to answer the question: Was American War Cinema changed by the Global War on Terror (GWOT) or the American War Machine?
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“Anti-?” Creative Documentary Photography and “Green” Short Film Production Introductory
(2025-06-16) Shi, Susen
These two projects began as a documentary exploration of the aromantic spectrum, driven by a desire to understand and amplify aromantic perspectives and to refine the filmmaker’s approach to scriptwriting. Through conversations with individuals who identify along the aromantic spectrum, the filmmaker gathered personal narratives and transformed them into a series of creative photographs. Inspired by real experiences, these images offer visual representations of the complexities surrounding romantic attraction, relationships, and identity. This process not only deepened the filmmaker’s understanding of aromantic lives but also fostered meaningful connections, underscoring the role of documentary work in revealing personal and often unspoken truths. Building on these insights, the project evolved into a short narrative film that blends personal reflection with fictional storytelling. Inspired by the filmmaker’s experiences and the accounts gathered during the documentary phase, the film follows two queers navigating friendship and connection. The production involved extensive script development, pre-production planning, and a collaborative filming process with a cast and crew. Post-production presented new challenges in translating the screenplay’s nuances into visual storytelling, requiring creative editing solutions. Ultimately, the film serves as a personal tribute and a broader exploration of self-discovery, representation, and the emotional complexities of human relationships.
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Football: An Instrument in French Identity Politics and Colonial Legacy
(2025-06-15) Moore, Zachary
The goal of this project is to highlight how the French football team is representative of identity politics in France. The idea of what it means to be French is controversial and heavily debated, as France has a very complex colonial history leading to a mixed-race/mixed-ethnic society. Post World War II anti-racist legislation demonstrates that a majority of France’s racial problems stem from an extreme commitment to color-blindness and late and unfocused laws that allow for loopholes regarding discrimination. Analysis of decolonial literature shows that France’s colonial history used soccer/football as a colonizing method, which in turn led to the manifestation of intersectional French hyphenated identities to be present within its own social structure and specifically in its own national team. Players such as Zinedine Zidane and Lilian Thuram demonstrate the complexity of playing for the former colonial superpower of France by vocalizing their identities as French but also other while continuing to wear the tri-color badge. Racism and xenophobia directed towards the national team highlight how France still has a long way to go in recognizing the entirety of its colonial history and complicate the idea of what it means to be French. As France incorporates more players of various ethnic and sometimes national origin into its national team, the acknowledgement of hyphenated identities within its borders becomes even more critical, for their soccer team on the world’s biggest stage should be representative of France’s diverse society.
Access status: Open Access ,
The Storied Environment of Bennett Place
(2025-06-12) Porter, Kalamakaleimahoehoe
The story of Bennett Place is much more complicated than a moment in time when two generals signed a treaty, and this story is embedded in the Bennett Place environment. The narrative is both human and environmental, and so the methods used in the project matched that approach. Sources include both measurements of shortleaf pines and species observations, including both a list of tree species in the woods at Bennett Place compiled as a part of the project and interwoven images and observations of other species from iNaturalist. Other sources include historic census data, newspapers, maps, and other documents. All of these sources are interwoven into a narrative that spans the 19th century agricultural history of the site through the construction of relevant local land use changes, such as the construction of transportation networks and the changing paths of local creeks. Some of these key moments and themes match the growth patterns of shortleaf and loblolly pines on the site, and through this project, some shortleaf pines were identified as witness trees. Bennett Place may be composed of only a singular environment, but there are many intersecting narratives embedded within it. This study of this storied environment matters, not only because it can be used to improve environmental interpretation at Bennett Place, but also because it offers a specific example of regional environmental themes embedded in a specific place.
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Coal Mining Mothers: The Cruel Science of Reproductive Health Research in the Coalfields, 1970-1995
(2025-05-10) Post, Samantha
This thesis explores the process of producing knowledge about women’s reproductive health in the coalfields of Appalachia. In this study, I bring together the history of science, the environment, and reproduction to show how scientific knowledge about rare, contested health conditions such as pregnancy in coal miners is simultaneously essential and nearly impossible to produce. In three chapters, I trace histories of the Coal Employment Project, an organization of women coal miners, and the coal mining pregnancies they experienced at work. I draw on feminist STS methods of embodied knowledge production and environmental history methods of narrative storytelling by centering women’s stories and arguing for their potential to expand public health knowledge. Through my analysis of an uncompleted research study on pregnant coal miners, this research shows how the perceived incompatibility of qualitative information with quantitative epidemiological data prevents scientists and regulatory institutions from better understanding rare health conditions. I call this process “cruel science,” as it results in an absence of knowledge, unmet needs, and possible health consequences.
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From Punishment to Treatment: Addressing Mental Illnesses to Reduce Recidivism
(2025-04-18) Higgins, Grace
This paper explores the correlations between mental illness and recidivism. It analyzes the systemic barriers that prevent individuals with mental health issues from receiving required care within the criminal justice system. It examines the prevalence of mental illness among incarcerated populations and the inadequate correctional facilities’ ability to address needs. This paper highlights how punitive approaches to crime, lack of mental health care, and insufficient treatment plans contribute to the cycle of recidivism. This paper discusses research that underscores the importance of community-based mental health services, diversion programs, and policy reforms that emphasize treatment over incarceration. Additionally, the study evaluates successful interventions that have effectively reduced recidivism rates and improved outcomes for individuals with mental illness reintegrating into society. Findings in this paper suggest that a shift toward a more rehabilitative approach is essential for breaking the cycle of recidivism for individuals with mental illness. Recommendations include increasing funding for mental health programs, expanding mental health care within correctional facilities, and bridging the gaps between healthcare providers and the healthcare system. Addressing these systemic gaps could improve rehabilitation efforts and reduce recidivism rates, leading to a more effective criminal justice system.
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Marketing Virtual Queerness in China: Navigating Representation and Reception in Otome Game Culture through Narukami Arashi
(2025-05-10) Zhao, Xike
This thesis explores the queer representation and reception of the fictional character and virtual idol, Narukami Arashi, in the Japanese Otome game Ensemble Stars! produced from 2015. Arashi challenges conventional gender norms in East Asia Otome games through his distinctive non-binary identity and “Big Sister” persona. However, despite his compelling narrative potential and representation of gender diversity, Arashi’s popularity remains comparatively low. This thesis argues that he occupies a contradictory space within the fan community—appreciated but rarely chosen as a fan favorite or “oshi”—reflecting broader tensions among audience expectations, heteronormative frameworks, and the capitalist production of Otome games in East Asia. Using interdisciplinary methodologies from game studies, media studies, and cultural studies, this thesis investigates Arashi’s character through his narrative arcs, character design, and interactions with players and other game characters to explore the reason for his low popularity. Additionally, it analyzes fan reception using measurable indicators such as merchandise sales, fan-generated content, and discussions across online platforms. By comparing Arashi with similar queer characters in other interactive media, the thesis highlights how his “Big Sister” persona both enriches and constrains his character. By situating Narukami Arashi at the intersection of queer identity, virtual idol culture, and market dynamics, this thesis contributes to broader discussions on gender diversity, and queer representation in East Asia’s evolving landscape of the Otome game industry.
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Weaving the Tapestry of Lost Connections: The Power of Family History
(2025-05-19) Tyson, Quiana
This paper examines the historical trajectory of my maternal grandfather’s family as they migrated from Bridgetown, Barbados, to Colón, Panama, ultimately attaining American citizenship and establishing residence in Brooklyn, New York. Presented as a microhistory, it employs historical documentation to construct a narrative that reflects a forgotten family history and cultural affiliation.
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The Human-Nature Connection: A Multi-Disciplinary Exploration
(2024-12-20) Jones, Michelle Louise
Over the course of modern history, as the industrialized world has become increasingly driven by economic growth and technological advancement, humans have lost sight of their interconnection with the natural world. As a result, human-induced destruction of the environment has led to conditions that threaten human existence itself. This project is an exploration into the complex relationship between humans and nature, in the form of a literature review of the vast body of work on this topic. It will discuss concepts such as biophilia and ecopsychology, and will identify linkages between nature connectedness, human health and well-being, and tendencies toward environmental actions such as recycling and volunteering. This project also highlights themes from the literature at the intersection of the human-nature connection and the social and environmental justice movements. Readers will learn about the Indigenous concept of ecological kinship and the roles that diversity, love, and the arts can play in repairing the connection between humans and nature. The project will describe the work of various prominent scholars, activists, and organizations involved in human-nature connection research, discourse, and practice. The author intersperses artistic and creative written interludes throughout the project, reflecting her personal engagement with the natural world from a multi-disciplinary experiential framework.
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The Tragedy of Vortigern
(2024-11-11) Smith, Benjamin
Traditionally, the understanding of the history of Britain in Late Antiquity and into the Early Medieval period—a period which saw significant socio-political change in the island following the departure of the Roman Empire and the subsequent collapse in central authority and which also saw the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons—is composed of few facts but many theories. There are no surviving textual witnesses to this period. The closest, the 6th century De Excidio, has been built upon subsequently in the 8th century Historia Ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum and the 9th century Historia Brittonum, to form a literary tradition which has greatly influenced the view of the period and colors it with figures of history and legend, such as Vortigern. This project approaches this literary tradition to understand what a close reading of these narratives can teach us about the ways that authors of the past engage with history and legend in order to make sense of their own present. This project begins by providing historical background for the texts, and then analyzing them in reverse-chronological order, and then reaching conclusions on relationship of history and legend in early medieval British literature. The second half of the project offers a creative piece which was inspired by the texts and influenced by my analysis on them.
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The State of Local Newspaper Companies in North Carolina: Diminishing the Odds of Communities Becoming News Deserts
(2024-03-29) Weaver, Kerria
This project answers the question of how local newspaper companies in North Carolina are diminishing the odds that news deserts exist in their community. To narrow down my research, this project focuses on two specific factors that most newspaper companies rely on: funding and readership. This project presents its findings through a documentary in which three newspaper companies are interviewed and asked a set of questions about their company. Scholarly sources provided statistical data on the state of newspaper companies in North Carolina and the chances of a news desert in a specific area. My major findings from this project are, first, that readership is key to making sure a newspaper company stays afloat. Many people support companies that present real, accurate, and trustworthy journalism. Even though funding plays an important role as well, it is support from the community that keeps the newspaper industry going. Second, through interviews with news company executives, I found their biggest concerns deal with funding. Whether it is making sure that staff is taken care of or covering any extra expenses, many companies pay close attention to ensuring that they have enough funds to cover all expenses.
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What is American Philosophy? Rorty, Emerson, and the Philosophy of Redescription
(2024-12-08) Pikarsky, Chase
Stanley Cavell once questioned whether or not America has ever expressed itself philosophically. The unresolved problem of America’s distinct philosophical expression jeopardizes its authenticity and leaves its values under pressure from Europe's deep history. However, through a reacquaintance with America’s most influential intellectual of the early 19th century, Ralph Waldo Emerson, America gains a chance to reestablish its philosophical expression. To make this reacquaintance with Emerson easier and to add modern relevance, I use Richard Rorty’s concept of redescription as a framework to interpret Emerson’s philosophy. I specifically examine Emerson’s idealism, anti-foundationalism, and ethic of creation. These aspects of Emerson’s philosophy align closely with Rorty’s redescriptive approach, which prioritizes reimagining intellectual paradigms to foster moral and social progress. I first start by interpreting Emerson as a philosopher, challenging conventional interpretations of him as only a writer or poet. Next, I define Rorty’s concept of redescription. Finally, I end by synthesizing Emerson’s philosophy and redescription, while responding to potential objections. Ultimately, I propose using Rorty’s concept of redescription as a framework for interpreting American philosophy. By reimagining Emerson through Rorty’s lens, we can reacquaint ourselves with America’s philosophical expression and assert a distinctive intellectual identity for the nation.

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