The following collection of short stories explores the notion of being caught between two worlds, of straddling physical, emotional, linguistic and metaphorical borders. I have chosen these characters in order to give voice to those who are often voiceless. The collection has been divided in two parts in order to challenge ideas of what is "real." I argue that the emotional truth of a story is paramount, and this reality can sometimes be best achieved through unconventional means.

Lightless Mornings: A Fine Legacy represents a personal interrogation and historical account of my great-great -great grandfather, W.D. McCurdy’s use of forced labor in his coalmines and cotton plantations in the Black Belt region of Alabama during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Through personal research including interviews with other descendents of McCurdy, as well as scholarly research about the practice of convict leasing in Alabama, I explore dynamics of inheritance, economics, power, privilege, race, class, geography, history, family, and identity.

After the Snow: The Oakland County Child Murders and the Search for the Killer is a work of nonfiction that recounts the murders of four children who lived in the suburbs of Oakland County, Michigan and the subsequent search for their murderer, the Oakland County Child Killer. The first of the four murders occurred in February 1976 and the last in March 1977. This thesis chronicles the unsolved case and the police investigation that began in 1976 and seems close to a successful conclusion in the spring of 2009. Over the course of the last two-and-a-half years, I have conducted lengthy interviews with Cathy King, the sister of one of the victims, and researched primary sources, the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News, as well as other materials. My research also includes the use of Cathy King’s private and confidential correspondences with people involved in this case.

Through the gossip and rumors in a small town in Minnesota, the townspeople discuss and react to the Levison family's claimed perfection.

This study is a predictive model to ascertain whether various factors such as income, educational attainment, and ethnic background could predict the on students participating in TRIO programs at the University of New Orleans. President Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration identified low-income and first-generation students as the most under-served population needing attention as well as those most “at-risk.” Educational Talent Search programs were founded in 1965 as outreach programs to provide services and activities to the “at-risk” population to promote high school retention and graduation rates. The University of New Orleans has three Educational Talent Search programs serving Jefferson, Orleans, and St. Tammany Parishes. The demographic data from 1770 participants were collected and a study conducted to determine whether there would be a correlation among the following factors: (1.) ethnic background, (2.) income, (3.) educational attainment, and (4.) geography.

The goal of this thesis was to take a character from concept to creation and animation. A variety of skills in 2D and 3D computer graphics were used in order to design and build the character for a 3D space. The character was taken from flat concept to 3D model, and then rigged with a skeleton in the 3D program Maya so that the character could be animated. The focus of the animation is a walk cycle.

This dissertation surveys the legal and ethical implications of the journey of artworks from Africa to Europe and the United States, beginning with events of the nineteenth century and continuing to the present. It addresses the laws regarding works of art from undeveloped countries, with focus on sub-Saharan Africa. The laws offer insight into what cultural value has been assigned to African art, and the changing laws and ethical norms reflect how African art has been perceived at different times. This work also discusses to what extent the unique aspects of African art should affect laws protecting the cultural property of sub-Saharan African countries. The dissertation focuses especially on Nigeria, the home of the Kingdom of Benin. It also addresses the legal issues of art from Mali, Cameroon, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It shows when, where, and how the legal issues for sub-Saharan art are similar to, or different from, the legal issues for other regions. Three spheres of academic endeavor were pursued in producing this work: African art history, ethics, and legal studies. From the combination of these areas emerges a narrative with a broad variety of events and people. Although the story is told chronologically, it is based on a set of legal and ethical issues. The common issues fall into four categories: plunder and illegal import/export; ethical collection and display; authenticity and forgery; and ownership and copyright. African artworks found their way to the West in the nineteenth century. There they were considered "savage fetishes" and put in ethnographic museums. In the twentieth century, Western artists such as Picasso were inspired by the aesthetics of African art, and private collectors began acquiring it. Now the world's major art museums display African art. Since World War II, important international conferences have established an increasing level of protection for cultural property, and thus for African art. International conventions have not prevented illicit art traffic, however. The story of the Afo-A-Kom's return to Cameroon in 1975 illustrates the diverging interests of collectors, museums, the public, and the source country. Forgery has been an increasing problem for African art throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century, fed by the high prices that authentic works receive in auction and at galleries. In 1991, for example, Sotheby's sold a forged terra-cotta ram from Mali for more than a quarter of a million dollars. Today's attitudes and laws concerning African art reflect a complex interplay of historical events and legal changes over time. From the nineteenth century to current times, some progress has been made. Key issues remain from colonial times, however. Despite a growing body of international and national legislation to protect cultural property, African art is still seen by some as a commodity that can be stolen, illegally exported and imported, forged, destroyed or censored.

This thesis, which studies the effect Loïe Fuller had on artists at the turn of the 20th century, redefines her role in art and society. An American dancer born in 1862, Fuller is often hailed as one of the forefathers of modern dance and a technological engineer, but she is too rarely shown in control of how the audience perceived her. This work gives an overview of Art Nouveau and the Universal Exposition of 1900 in Paris in which she performed. It closely examines her impact on painters, illustrators, and lithographers: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Will Bradley, and Jules Cheret. It also studies her influence on sculptors: Raoul Larche, Agathon Léonard, and Pierre Roche; architect Henri Sauvage, and writer Stéphane Mallarmé. In this work, Fuller is not solely presented as the physical embodiment of Art Nouveau but as an active shaper of artistic movements of her time. It portrays her as active rather than passive.

While focusing on high fashion and architecture, this thesis explores an aesthetic transition between the early 20th century’s “modern” style and the later 20th century style of “deconstruction.” We believe the style of “deconstruction” revolutionized visual metaphors for modern gender identity through the manipulation and experimentation of surfaces. These metaphors were accomplished through transformation relationships between surface, structure, and ornament. This study exclusively uses examples from women’s fashion and building façades for its analysis

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