Divided into two parts, this dissertation aims to be a reflection on the creative process in visual arts, based on the testimony of the creator/artist. The image of the Virgin Mary as a source of plastic work and theoretical research is seen here from the perspective of miscegenation in the search for understanding the source imagery. The first part, "Birth of the Virgin Mary" is the establishment of the work process and construction of the Virgin Mary and, of personal memory as the trigger that motivated the development of the works. The second part, "Memory of the Virgin Mary" meets the concept of mestizaje, and lies in the use of the Virgin Mary as the appearance of erratic memory that constantly is regarded to the social. There is a meeting of mestizo ways of doing works that is always immersed in an "intertwining" of countless possible interpretations. / Dividida em duas partes, a presente dissertação se propõe a ser uma reflexão sobre o processo criativo em artes visuais, partindo do testemunho do criador/ artista. A imagem da Virgem Maria, como fonte de trabalho plástico e pesquisa teórica, é encarada aqui pelo viés da mestiçagem, na busca por entender essa fonte imagética. A primeira parte Nascimento da Virgem Maria trata da instauração e do processo de trabalho e construção dessa Virgem Maria bem como da memória pessoal como o gatilho que dispara as motivações da elaboração das obras. A segunda Memória da Virgem Maria vai ao encontro do conceito de mestiçagem e recai no uso da imagem da Virgem Maria, como aspecto de memória errática que regressa constantemente ao social. Um encontro mestiço de um fazer/ obra que sempre está imerso entre entres , incontáveis, de possibilidades interpretativas.

This thesis examines the place of the Virgin Mary in the intellectual culture of Benedictine and Cistercian monasticism in medieval England, between c. 1050 and c. 1200. Drawing high profile thinkers, including Anselm of Canterbury (d. 1109), into dialogue with lesser known figures, it reveals the richness of monastic contributions to Marian doctrine and devotion, in many cases for the first time. The shape of the analysis is provided by five key 'moments' from Mary's life, unfolded consecutively across six chapters. Chapters 1 and 2, on Mary's conception, reveal a confident and pioneering monastic culture which drove the evolution of an obscure Anglo-Saxon feast into a theological doctrine, despite fierce opposition at home and abroad. Chapter 3 explains how Mary's virginity was adopted as a blueprint for the monastic life by Ælred of Rievaulx (d. 1167) and Baldwin of Forde (d. 1190), both of whom were inspired by its fruitfulness in the Incarnation of Christ. Chapter 4 brings to light the contributions made to exegesis of the Song of Songs as a poem about Mary's humility by the mysterious Honorius Augustodunensis (d. 1140) and John of Forde (d. 1214). Chapter 5, on the divine maternity, demonstrates how English monastic theologians gave new life to understanding of Mary as Theotokos ('God-bearer') by drawing out its significance for their own spiritual maternity as leaders of religious communities. Chapter 6 shows how Mary was believed to have entered into the pain of the Crucifixion through her own spiritual martyrdom, and how monks sought to share the experience with her by a communion of charity. These and other insights offer a compelling glimpse into the culture of English monasticism between the demise of the Anglo-Saxons and the advent of the friars. Inspired by a desire to understand and ultimately to know Mary, Benedictine and Cistercian monks produced theological and spiritual works which were imaginative, often intimate and occasionally pioneering. Most of all, they were profoundly pastoral, composed in the belief that Mary could inspire and support those who had embarked upon the monastic via perfectionis.

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The Universalis Ecclesiae of 1508 authorized Spanish colonization of the Americas in return for the conversion of native populations to Christianity. From its inception therefore, the Mexican nation lived an alliance between Church and State. This alliance promoted the transfer of Castilian Catholicism to American shores. Catholic practices, specifically the ex-voto tradition, visualize this intermingling of religion and politics. The ex-voto is a devotional painting that expresses gratitude to a religious figure for his/her intervention in a moment of peril. It is commissioned by the devotee as a means of direct communication to the divine. This project analyzes 40 Mexican ex-votos for their reflection of political issues in Mexico. I assert that the Mexican ex-votos engage discussions of social politics. To support this argument, visualizations of socio-political discourses such as the Virgin of Guadalupe as a national religious symbol, police action and economic disparity were examined.

This study consists of an analysis of the artwork Conversazioni, by the artist Oliviero Rainaldi. It is a monumental bronze sculpture  situated in Rome, Italy, portraying the pope John Paul II. The initiative for the monument honouring the late pope was taken for the official celebrations of his beatification in 2011. This contemporary artwork is executed in a stylized form with very few details. The study aims to put in evidence the multiple layers of meaning which can be found, in opposition to the visible simplicity of its shape. The major narrative context emerges through an in- depth investigation of possible interpretations. This pope had a well known devotion to the Virgin Mary, a character strongly connected with the concept of mercy, being mercifulness a characteristics of Cristian faith. The artist has expressed this concept by focalizing on the opened cloak of the pope referring to the Virgin of Mercy, a Marian model of medieval origin. Furthermore it is possible to find and interpret other biblical quotations.  The theoretical framework consists in the one built around the art historian Erwin Panofsky’s iconographical three-step method. Referring to Panofsky this study could best be classified as an iconological analysis since  the intrinsic meanings of  rather vague and complicated  symbolisms have been sought. The method has consisted in field studies of the sculpture and its context as well as literature studies in order to create a background for major comprehension of the subject. An interview with the author of the artefact has also been made.  The work became immediately heavily critiziced in mass media both because of its supposedly unflattering shape and the  lack of resemblance with the portrayed person. The debate came to the point where the artist agreed to modify it. The study contains opinions from both people and institutions collected from  italian newspaper articles written after the unveiling of the statue.  An attempt has been done to try to better understand the negative reception it received. The answers can only be suppositions. Nevertheless, some valid hypothesis can be formulated: contemporary artworks easily seem out of context in Rome since they are quite unfrequent; The pope’s statue is out of context twice, being one of its kind in a profane and in modern history anticlerical environment; the iconography is not easily readable for an average beholder, a circumstance that could contribute to the initial low grade of comprehension;  The statue doesn’t live up to people’s expectations of likeness; John Paul II  is not immediately recognizable which is experienced by the viewer as disturbing as it is dealing with an homage to a famous person. It seems though, that the appreciation of it, after overcoming the initial disappointment, generally has grown. A plausible theory is that the sculpture Conversazioni however, manage to visualize universally valid religious concepts such as mercifulness and protection, a welcoming gesture readable and perceptible to everyone.

The prevalence of obesity among Afro-Caribbean women living in the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) is a health care issue that can have detrimental effects on society. To reverse the spread of this disease, factors contributing to its prevalence must be understood so that they can be addressed. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine Afro-Caribbean women's perception of the female body size preferred by Afro-Caribbean men and the influence of that perception on the women's weight control behaviors of diet and physical activity. The reasoned action approach was the basis for the theoretical foundation. The research problem was addressed through the use of a convenience sample (n=183) using an original, validated online survey that included demographic and behavioral information, images of the female Pulvers silhouettes, and information related to diet and physical activity levels. For diet, with the addition of the covariates of income (p=.02) and education level (p=.01), women's perception of the female body size that men preferred was not significant in predicting women's weight control behaviors. For physical activity the perceived body size preferences as indicated by silhouettes 2-3 and 4, were significant predictors of using physical activity for weight control. However, this association was lost with the addition of covariate education level (p=.01). This study may contribute to social change by providing health care professionals and policy makers with a better understanding of factors that influence the weight control behaviors of Afro-Caribbean women in the USVI. The results of this study inform current literature and justify the need for further research on the topic.

As historicist as it is materialist, my dissertation both reads the fictional queens portrayed in romance against the fraught positioning of historical queens such as Isabella of France, Anne of Bohemia and Margaret of Anjou, and traces the ambivalent function in late medieval English society of objects including the sacring-bell, the Lollard bible and the royal sword. Merging the traditionally historicist field queenship studies with typically postmodern fields like thing theory and sound theory, I investigate how queens in late medieval romances coopt, queer and reconfigure material objects of masculine power. Each chapter examines a literary queen typically dismissed by subject-oriented ontologies as insubstantial. Analyzing romances that include Richard Coer de Lyon, Chaucer's Man of Law's Tale, Malory's Morte D'Arthur and the Marian romance of "The Child Slain by Jews" from the Vernon Manuscript, I argue for the overlooked significance of literary queens as figures whose circulation illuminates the construction of medieval masculinities. Through contact with charged material objects that are pivotal to romance plots, queens query patriarchal materials, exposing their underlying "thingness" and malleability. Whether tracking the disturbing afterlife of a church bell used to exorcise the hero's queen mother in Richard Coer de Lyon, or analyzing links between the "Britoun book" that rescues Chaucer's Custance and Anne of Bohemia's vernacular books, my chapters tell a new story about the foreign queens of late medieval English romances by showing how they blur boundaries between male and female, subject and object, West and East, priest and parish, Christian and Jew, orthodox and heterodox, mother and child.

A decline in high school dropout rates of students with learning disabilities (SWLDs) has been reported in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI). Of the2 school districts in the USVI, St. STT/STJ and STX, the researcher examined high school experiences of SWLDs who dropped out and did not attain a high school diploma in STX. Utilizing the conceptual framework of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, participants' personal high school experiences were examined in an effort to understand factors leading to their choice to drop out. The researcher interviewed 12 participants who were drop out SWLDs, ages 18 years and older. Interview data were coded and analyzed for common themes. Member checking and peer debriefing were utilized to achieve credibility and trustworthiness. Data analysis resulted in the identification of patterns, or themes, relative to participants' STX high school experiences which contributed to their decisions to drop out. The themes included, peer, family and teacher lack of support, ridicule, peer pressure and behavior problems. Most of the participants had not reached Maslow's highest need for self-actualization. Maslow purported that if needs are not being fulfilled in homes, then they can be fulfilled in schools where a positive school culture is apparent. In this case, students with learning disabilities needed to feel there was value in their education and obtaining a high school diploma. The results of this research might contribute to positive social change by identifying SWLDs' need requirements to attain a high school diploma and provide high school administrators with valuable information to enhance school learning environments for SWLDs and increase high school SWLD graduation rates.

This dissertation reveals significant aspects of the use and understanding of prints in seventeenth-century Sicily by exploring their function in the realm of sacred images. It centers on three of the most substantial printmaking ventures carried out in Palermo and Messina: Ottavio Gaetani's Icons of Mary (Palermo, 1663), Placido Samperi's Iconology of the Virgin (Messina, 1644), and Giordano Cascini's St. Rosalia (Palermo, 1651). All three books treat religious subjects and feature intaglio prints claiming to reproduce the sacred images – paintings, sculptures, and mosaics – that constitute a crucial element of each narrative. The project examines the production of these works and the subsequent textual and visual responses made on the island and at farther distances. The three chapters treat each book both as a collection of prints and as an exchange between text and image that renders those prints as evidence for the value and flexibility of images. The first chapter focuses on Gaetani’s collection of icons of the Virgin from through the island and the utilization of prints as effective surrogates for those miraculous images. In the second chapter, the lines between devotional and art historical value are questioned in Samperi’s illustrated collection of paintings and sculptures depicting the Virgin. The third chapter unfolds the strategies by which prints were presented as evidence of a cult’s material history and continued to inform St. Rosalia’s legitimacy. In doing so, the chapters reveal a range of possible understandings of the relationship between prints and their sources, as well as active manipulations of that relationship to a range of ends. The dissertation identifies a Sicilian approach to generating historical, political, and sacred narratives that was inventive in both depending on and incorporating the reproduction of images in print.

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