Masters Degrees Certified SUNY

2008 Reader. Alexander Flamini. "A Semiotic Approach to the Study of Bodybuilding: The Importance of Male Body Image and its Indications of Male Masculinity in Contemporary Western Society."

Abstract:
In order to better understand American society's attitude toward male body image, this paper utilizes a semiotic approach. Drawing upon social semiotics as an analytical framework, it examines the articulation of the modern "male body image ideal" in the United States. The current ideal popularly conveyed is one of a lean, muscular physique. The role of the bodybuilding subculture is analyzed alongside types of media discourse (magazines, such as Men's Health and Muscle and Fitness, and various types of advertisements), which highlight the ideals being disseminated. Furthermore, a study is presented of the dialogue about masculinity and the increasingly pervasive and frequently unrealistic ideal of male body image presented in society at large today. I find that, through the various signifiers discussed, the prevailing ideal propagated is the muscular mesomorph.

2007 Advisor. Karen K. Gibson. "Text and Context: Rethinking John Dos Passos, Post-Revolutionary Soviet Filmmakers, and the Modern Novel."

Abstract:
Critics have written about American modernist John Dos Passos and the ways he adapted and adopted modernist philosophies and techniques, including those of Soviet filmmakers Dziga Vertov and Sergei Eisenstein, in fashioning his own narrative methods. In disussing U.S.A., most critics point to the ways in which the documentary elements—the Camera Eyes, Biographies, and Newsreels—form the historical and sociological context for the fictional characters that appear and disappear in the three novels; readers often argue that these elements tend to interrupt and interfere with the narrative flow of the stories. Critics further assert that Dos Passos did nothing new because many of the techniques he uses in the four types of text were first developed by other modernists, and often used by them for greater effect.

I suggest , however, that we reverse this line of thought and regard the fictional characters as providing context and texture for the documentary elements. Like Vertov, Dos Passos created documentary montages in which the narrative fragments achieve meaning as cultural artifacts, rather than playing a primary role as stories that develop meaningful character, plot, or setting. Like Eisenstein, Dos Passos devised densely-packed texts that allowed him to cross-cut between the fragments, ultimately creating a comprehensive portrait of an era (the first three decades of the 20th century), which both documents and critiques on several levels. Regarding the trilogy from this perspective foregrounds aspects of the trilogy that anticipated some of the more radical forms of later 20th-century writing, including hypertext, and gives a new critical focus to the novels.

2006 Reader. Alyssa Wood. "Ceremonies, Land and Storytelling: The Key to Identity in Native American Authors N. Scott Momaday and Leslie Marmon Silko."

2005 Advisor. Mary Pennock. "A Semiotic Analysis of West African Drum Language: A 'New' Model."

Abstract
Critics have spent considerable energy commenting on the various "drum languages" of West Africa. Their analyses generally fall into two categories: transcriptions of rhythmic sequences and descriptions of the ethnographic circumstances of these "languages." While these studies offer invaluable insights into the drumming and its cultural context, they do not draw us any closer to an understanding of the drumming as a language, specifically as a language that is used to communicate messages to its audience. To understand how drumming communicates, the different modes of drumming must be defined. J.H. Kwabena Nketia specifies these modes: the signal mode of drumming communicates directly by means of a sound to give warning or command, the speech mode of drumming imitates African tonal language, and all forms of drumming that implicate movement are included in the dance mode of drumming (Drumming 17). Inherent in each mode of drumming, or system of drumming, is an attempt to communicate. Music, like language, is a system of sounds. But merely studying the system doesn't provide enough information to understand music as communication.

Jean-Jacques Nattiez, known for his pioneering work in music semiotics, devised the tripartition theory to encompass the relationships among the producer, the text (music, either audible or transcribed), and the receiver. His tripartition theory moves us closer to a theory of music as communication. The tripartition model is comprised of three levels: the trace (or neutral level), the poietic process, and the esthesic process. The basis for this process of communication, in part, can be applied to West African drum language; however, a point of contention can be found in Nattiez's subsequent assumptions. "The esthesic process and the poietic process do not necessarily correspond" (Nattiez 17). With West African drum language, however, direct communication occurs between the "producer" (the poietic process) and the "receiver" (esthesic process). A revision of the tripartition is necessary as the master drummer (one who plays the drum rhythms) has every intention of communicating with his listeners; hence, the esthesic process and the poietic process do correspond. The tripartition, as is, represents important elements of music, yet does not reflect its communicative potential. A modification of the tripartition model addresses the problem of determining communicative acts between the "producer" and "receiver."

This revision creates significant implications. The "receiver," as the term implies, receives messages, i.e., engaged in the process of communication with the producer via the "trace." Communication occurs on two levels: literal, the "words" in the "trace," and non-literal or implied messages, those communicative codes understood only by a person of that speech community. Consequently, analysis at the neutral level ("trace") cannot be conducted as an isolated component of the communicative process but rather given consideration in direct relation to the intention of the "producer" and its effect on the "receiver." In other words, the "receiver" (listener) does receive the literal and implied messages that the "producer" (master drummer) intended to communicate. Clearly, there is a need and a demand for a theory that explicates the communicative function of not only West African drum language but music in general. No one theory can fully encompass how West African drum language communicates; however, the new model need not be discounted. Perhaps with a number of lenses through which to view the drum language, a larger and more comprehensive picture will gradually take shape.

2005 Reader. Heather Wenzel. "Metaphors of Femininity in the Old Testament and Troilus and Criseyde as Related to Foucault's Theory of Linguistic Determinism."

Abstract
Some of the most powerful tropes are figures of speech that both mirror and influence the way a culture understands the world. Some of the most formative gender tropes are contained in the Old Testament, particularly in the form of a variety of spatial metaphors. Thousands of years after the compilation of the Old Testament, in one of Chaucer's seminal works, Troilus and Criseyde, we can see similar spatial metaphors at work. Chaucer's work includes spatial metaphors that illustrate one of the most interesting dichotomies, the oppositions of inside and outside, and how they are related to the constructions of female and male. Foucault has mentioned the powerful and long lasting nature of tropes in many of his texts. He reminds us that it is often the tropes that we don't notice that have the most impact; we don't recognize them because they are so prevalent that they have become, as Foucault states, "transparent". These "unnoticed" tropes, nevertheless, often lead us to unknowingly conceive of things in certain patterns and not others. Thus, tropes allow speakers to structure their thoughts. But although these patterns enable the reader to make sense of the world, they also push the reader to conceive of things in particular arrangements and not others. It is oftern writers who shine a light on these unnoticed tropes, who pull them up to the surface, and, so, allow all of us to become aware of their influence. Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde provides a strong example of the persistence of Old Testament spatial metaphors that relate to gender.

2004 Advisor. Amanda Von Hoffmann. "Margaret Atwood's Exploration of Genre Conventions in The Blind Assassin."

Abstract
The thesis of this paper is that in The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood uses a variety of formal cues that direct the reader's expectations to demonstrate the ethical choices writers make when representing experiences. Atwood provides formal cues that announce memoir, journalism, the novella, and science fiction, and this paper examines the conflicting purposes underlying these formal cues, showing how they shape and often limit experience. Each kind of narrative is outlined separately, and then the interactions among the narratives are discussed.

Biographer Natalie Cooke claims that three main themes reoccur in Atwood's works: "false memory, duplicity, and the power of truth-telling" (323). This paper argues that The Blind Assassin marks a natural continuation of these themes, particularly of "the power relations of truth-telling," and explains how Atwood provides formal cues that announce different kinds of to further these themes.

Additionally, this paper introduces two major concerns that have emerged for Atwood over the course of her literary career: the relationships between writer, reader, and text; and how the writer's choice of formal cues that direct the reader's expectations relates to ethics. There are four main ethical issues that arise in The Blind Assassin. One issue that Atwood presents is claiming ownership of a story, addressing who has the right to tell, and how an author asserts this right. Accompanying this issue is the issue of revealing secrets versus maintaining loyalty; in other words, what should an author show to the public, and what should she leave unwritten out of respect for her family and friends? Atwood also confronts the ethical issue of "selling out," demonstrating how a writer alters her views for monetary purposes. In this novel, she also shows how socioeconomic standing determines whose voice gets heard.

The kinds of formal cues that Atwood uses are different narrators, distances between narrator and reader, and language. For example, the first-person memoirist relates experience more personally than the third-person narrator of the novella, and the authors of the science fiction narratives use allegorical language that contrasts with the journalists' "factual" and authoritative language.

This paper shows that Atwood unites the memoir, novella, science fiction, and newspaper articles through the symbols of blindness and the "left hand." These symbols are also implemented to further her themes of "duplicity" and "the power relations of truth-telling."

In The Blind Assassin, initially, Atwood creates the illusion of a multi-vocal text. However, as the novel progresses, the reader learns that most of the narratives are told by one person, Atwood's character "Iris Chase Griffen." Ultimately, Atwood creates then exposes this illusion to show how experience and "truth" are altered, depending on the form the writer chooses to use.

2003 Reader. Louise Tyo. "It's All in a Joke: A Rhetorical Analysis of Kate Clinton's Stand-up Comedy Routine."

Abstract
Humor as rhetoric is examined in this rhetorical analysis of stand-up comedian Kate Clinton's communicative act. To understand Clinton's language and motives, the analysis focuses on Clinton's recorded audio and written work spanning her twenty-year career as a humorist. Kenneth Burke's dramatistic approach is applied in this analysis; however, it is extended by incorporating insights from various post-Burkeian feminist theorists Karen Foss, Sonja Foss, Cindy Griffin, and Celeste Michelle Condit. Burke's approach is useful in considering dualism (either/or), but the feminist extensions allow us to consider multiplicity (both...and). Using this approach, my analysis shows how Clinton, the rhetor, works. This examination not only deals with Burkeian concepts such as identification and division, but also with post-modern feminist concepts such as solidarity and community. Clinton is viewed as taking a pro-activist stand that empowers her own identity group as she continues to work for social change.

2002 Reader. Kang, Moon-Seok. "On Peter Shaffer's The Royal Hunt of the Sun."

Abstract
One of the most extended and spectacular movements in the history of civilization has been that which we commonly refer to as the Expedition of Europe. The discovery of the New World by Europeans brings colonialism into our history. Usually, colonialism is explained by the colonizer's dominion over the land and the resources of the colonized. Colonialism also means to bring resources to the mother country for the colonizer's own good. For this economic reason, many European countries competitively strove to get colonies. However, even though colonialism made possible for the colonizer to accumulate wealth, it was, on the other hand, a tragic event for the colonized because colonialism necessarily accompanied exploitation of the natives under the name of the enlightenment and conversion to Christianity.

Peter Shaffer is a dramatist who is interested in various aspects of how dominating social norms constrict individuals or nonconformists. In his major works, Shaffer usually points out the superficial life of the conformist and also focuses on the passion of the nonconformist. In this process, Shaffer ardently wishes that our society can admit "the difference." He wants to make a world in which people do not unreasonably discriminate between individuals because of difference but get along together harmoniously.

Shaffer's concern about the individual expands into national relationships in The Royal Hunt of the Sun which dramatizes how the natives were treated by Europeans because the natives were different in culture, race, and religion. However, as we expect, Shaffer does not follow the ideology of colonialism. He not only describes the cruelty of the colonial thought but also even sets up a reversed situation between the colonizer, Pizarro, and the colonized, Atahuallpa. When Pizarro and Atahuallpa meet first, they represent just the colonizer and the colonized. While their relationship is developing, however, Pizarro is more and more absorbed in Atahuallpa. It is not meaningful to distinguish the colonized and the colonizer any more since they have mutually understood.

We can realize from this play that we need an open mind to accept the difference. It is said that history is recurrent. But I strongly believe that history is developed continuously. In order not to develop our history like a representation of colonialism, we need to learn from our history and try to mutually understand the others.

2002 Reader. Karen Wilson. "Rape in Rural America: A Pentadic Analysis of the Casablanca Rape Case."

Abstract
Rape is often conceived as a feminine crime. Women are raped. Men are not. This paper focuses on one incident of rape and employs Kenneth Burke's dramatist theory to discuss the legal and social ramifications of a crime that is often judged more in the court of common opinion than in a court of law. Focusing on the 1991 rape of an upstate New York woman, this paper proffers that it is a combination of scene and agency that determine whether or not a man can rape a woman and walk away, unpunished.

2001 Reader, Cindy Ross. "The Rhetoric and Politics of Profiles in American Literature: Anna Julia Cooper and A Voice From the South."

Abstract
The closing of the 19^th century brought a cycle of interlocking oppressions for the African American female stemming from racism, classism, and male chauvinism.These struggles and challenges for the African American female essayist have extended into the 21^st century.Anna Julia Cooper, a profound African American essayist, remains a neglected figure in American literature to this day.Scholars and critics alike have labeled Cooper a feminist, but a more fitting term for her altruistic adumbrations is that of 'womanist.' Cooper possessed the ability to synthesize her surroundings and effectively articulate her findings in well-organized speeches and essays.Although she articulates the American experience from a black female perspective using pithy details, her essays are not part of the American literature canon and, therefore, not a part of mainstream the American literature curriculum in most American colleges and universities.Part of this is due to the canonization process and the dominance of group aesthetics.Cooper's essays meet all established criteria and guidelines for inclusion in the canon as outlined by Western critical thinkers and philosophers; however, her work remains largely ignored because of the politics of canon formation and the rhetoric of profiles in American literature.

2000 Reader, Deborah J. McGill."Between the Words" [on Maurice Kenny's "Dug-Out"].

1999 Advisor, Nabuo Kadono. "True Love and Beautiful Death in Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima."

1997 Reader, Donna Sturge. "Balance and Power in Glasgow's Barren Ground and Virginia."

2007 Adam Bulizak. ""Defining Magic Realism." Department & College Honors Programs.

2004 Megan Caley. "Women Writers Writing About Women during the 1940s in the United States and Britain and How World War II Affected Their Lives." College Honors Program.

Masters Degrees Certified SUNY—Potsdam

& Honors Theses Supervised