The first fifty years of Romain Rolland’s life were spent in inconspicuous and almost solitary labors. From then on this name became a storm center of European discussion The significance of his life’s work becomes plain only when it is contemplated as a whole. It was slowly produced, for it had to encounter great dangers; it was a gradual revelation, tardily consummated. The foundations of this splendid structure were deeply dug in the firm ground of knowledge, and were laid upon the hidden masonry of years spent in isolation. Owing to the strength of its foundations, to the solidity of its moral energy, was Rolland’s thought able to stand unshaken throughout the war storms that have been ravaging Europe. The monument he had built stands firm “above the battle,” above the medley of opinions, a pillar of strength towards which all free spirits cna turn for consolation amid the tumult of the world.

After the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991, Bosnia and Herzegovina erupted into ethnic conflict and ultimately genocide. Nearly 100,000 people, mainly Bosniaks, died in the Bosnian War. Two decades later, the violence has ended but the conflict is still present in Bosnia; the societal segregation of the 1995 Dayton Accords, intended only as an immediate solution to the violence, still stands. Population and language distribution are evidence of this segregation. Bosnia’s two entities are home to two different ethnic majorities: Serbs in the Republika Srpska and Bosniaks in the Federation of BiH. In an environment so sensitive that the government recently feared that merely releasing statistics on ethnic populations might cause violence, the languages that represent these populations are important indicators of social presence and power. In order to evaluate the presence of the Serbian and Bosnian languages, as well as the English language, in Bosnia, signage on the main streets in the country’s capitals were photographed in great detail. It was hypothesized that linguistic majority would match ethnic majority on both main streets, and that English would appear frequently in advertisements. The number of photographs in which each language appeared was tallied up in order to determine how often the languages are typically used. Analyses of these results demonstrated that the English language is the second-most ubiquitous on both streets, after Bosnian, and the comparatively small presence of the Serbian language on both streets indicated that the linguistic environment in Bosnia is not conducive to peace and reconciliation.

In reformation London, the shift of the governed religion enabled laymen to recognize individuality in their faith, to read scripture in the vernacular, and to exercise their faith outside of mass. Therefore, the overall perception of personal piety took a turn from being exercised communally to becoming something reflective of the individual. Analyzing gender dynamics, language, religious orders, and theology reveal this transition and help gain a holistic understanding of transitioning perceptions of piety. This thesis contributes to the rich historiographical conversation in understanding Reformation studies. By adopting elements from top-down and bottom-up approaches, this thesis further develops on the understanding of perceptions of religious piety in reformation London.

The Islamic minority in France today is experiencing adversity as the government of France passed legislation stating that all facial coverings will be henceforth illegal, restricting or prohibiting religious symbols in various public spaces. Some Islamic women feel as though this is a pointed attack on women of the Muslim faith for their choice to wear traditional clothing which covers the face and body. There have been outcries that this is a human rights violation and restriction of religious rights. This project is an examination of the effects of France’s “burqa ban” and restrictions on religious symbols on both Islamic men and women who live in France. The goal of this project is to speak directly to those affected by this legislation and to understand the perspective and opinions of French Muslims. Records such as documented personal testimonies, legal archives, and transcriptions of in-person interviews are utilized to study the perspective of this minority in response to the controversial legislation. Neglecting to pursue an understanding of another culture and belief system will only yield disharmony among groups, and this research aims to avoid this phenomenon. In collecting the data, I set a goal to have and later discuss a better understanding of this issue and the people affected by it.

Ce mémoire analyse l’histoire et le développement des relations franco-africaines du colonialisme au XXIe siècle. Je montre comment, à chaque étape de ces relations, que ce soit pendant le colonialisme, la décolonisation, la Françafrique ou "l'amitié" de Macron, l'objectif de l'État français n'a pas changé : préserver l'Afrique comme le pré carré de la France. Je soutiens qu'au XXIe siècle, alors que le continent africain se mondialise de plus en plus, l'État français cherche désespérément à renforcer ses liens avec ses anciennes colonies, notamment par l'éducation, la langue et la culture. Bien qu'Emmanuel Macron déclare que la Françafrique est terminée, sa stratégie visant à faire appel à la jeunesse africaine fait écho à la tactique de la « mission civilisatrice » du colonialisme français. Je soutiens donc que des questions concernant l'héritage colonial français, et leur impact sur l’identité africaine, restent essentielles même au XXIe siècle.

In this mixed methods study, I explore the reasons for the low level of women in elected office in Europe. I analyze the impact of three structural factors (number of years since women's suffrage was enacted, type of electoral system, and presence of legal gender quotas) and three attitudinal factors (level of gender equality, percentage of female professionals, and level of religiosity) on the percentage of women in national legislatures in each of the European countries. Specifically, I pose the following research question: Which structural and/or attitudinal factors are more influential for women's political representation in European countries? In order to answer this question, I begin by performing ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analyses of the variables. My Europe-wide and Western Europe regression results indicate that there is a statistically significant positive relationship between the favorability of a country's electoral system to the election of women and the level of women's political representation in that country. Proportional representation electoral systems are particularly beneficial to female candidates. In addition, unlike previous scholars who focus on the dominant religion, I apply the concept of religiosity (the importance of religion to a country's citizens) to women's political representation. I find a statistically significant negative relationship between the level of religiosity in a country and the level of women's political representation in that country. Countries in which citizens are particularly religious tend to be conservative and less likely to encourage the election of women. However, none of the variables are statistically significant in the regression analysis of Eastern Europe, which indicates the need to take regional factors into consideration. In the second part of the study, I examine four case studies (Sweden, Ireland, Hungary, and Macedonia). The case studies permit in-depth analyses of the individual countries, and show the manner in which structural and attitudinal factors interact in a particular country context. In the case of Macedonia, structural factors have mitigated the effects of negative attitudinal factors. In most of the case studies, however, a combination of structural (electoral system and gender quotas) and attitudinal factors (gender equality and religiosity) affect the level of women's political representation in the country. Ultimately, the case studies demonstrate how the country-specific context impacts the election of women to parliament.

In certain Germanic languages, there is a group of verbs called preterite-present verbs that are often viewed as irregular, but in fact behave very predictably. They exhibit a morphological phenomenon called deponency, often in conjunction with another morphological phenomenon called heteroclisis. I examine the preterite-present verbs of three different languages: Old Norse, Modern Icelandic, and Modern German. Initially, I approach them from a historical perspective and then seek to reconcile their morphology with the modern perspective. A criteria is established for a canonical preterite-present verb, and then using a lexical programming language called DATR, I create code that generates the appropriate paradigms while also illustrating the morphological relationships between verb tenses and inflection classes, among other things. DATR is a programming language used specifically for language models.

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Immersion and narration opportunities, whether linear or not, provided by the medium of interactive digital games offer a wide variety of ways to immerse players in the world in front of them on the screen and to engage users’ interaction with information presented. This thesis documents a new interactive digital narrative game and presents an analysis of its genre and narrative mythological frames. The introduction paragraph opens on the importance of the chosen topic and its relevance to the wider media and general public. I review theoretical and fictional works - studied for this thesis and explain the importance of every source, as well as main theories and ideas that have served as current fundamentals of this thesis’ end project - a video game, such as to why it is specifically important to not only showcase historical aspects in media, but also folk, mythological, and ethnic traditions to properly represent the culture, backing it up with established theoretical guidelines of designing a proper interactive digital narrative. The methodology section presents an explanation for the time frames chosen and research methods applied and discussed over with the thesis chair. The proposal concludes with possible application of the video game in different areas outside of entertainment purposes, such as educational or cultural research areas, for example.