Browsing by Subject "Mythology"
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Item Another kind of truth : a study of self-mythology in popular music(2013-05) Moench, Michael Creighton; Slawek, Stephen; Carson, Charles D.The connection between music and the formation of identity has been extensively explored in Ethnomusicology, as has the connection between music and the articulation of personal truth and knowledge. One peculiar artifact in the history of American popular music that raises many questions about both identity and truth is the interaction between musical performance and personal mythology. Many musicians have actively cultivated a mythic self--‐conception, while still others have gone to the lengths of creating an entire new name and history for themselves in their performances and recordings. My interest in this essay is to explore the production, transmission and modification of mythemes and mythology in conjunction with the production of musical sounds and other aspects of performative artistry. In particular I am examining the careers of Sun Ra, Jimi Hendrix, Sly & The Family Stone, Parliament--‐ Funkadelic and Prince in order to explore how and why these musicians created a coherent mythology in their art, or contributed to mythic, archetypal conceptions of themselves in the press and popular culture. Rather than analyzing the musical and visual productions of these artists as expressions contingent on the narrative or ideological intentions of their respective “myths”, or taking the reverse course of treating alter--‐egos and personal myths as superficial trappings of show business that coexists with the true essence of their art (e.g. the music itself) I am examining the recursive interaction between sound, image, and storytelling. Drawing on concepts from scholars of myth like Claude Levi--‐Strauss, Joseph Campbell and Bruce Lincoln, as well as scholars of Black Music history such as Paul Gilroy and Guthrie Ramsey, I intend to demonstrate that in art as in life, mythology is a vital part of how we perceive our world and ourselves. Furthermore, these examples illustrate that art is often a holistic experience where elements of sound, vision, and story are interdependent and can seldom if ever be truly separated.Item The appeal of Asklepios and the politics of healing in the Greco-Roman world(2003-05) Wickkiser, Bronwen Lara, 1969-; Dean-Jones, LesleyThe cult of the Greek healing god Asklepios was one of the most popular cults in all of antiquity. Over the course of a millennium beginning in the 5th c. BC, sanctuaries of Asklepios spanned the Greco-Roman world and attracted countless individuals in search of cures. Scholars have long studied the cult in accordance with dichotomies like rational vs. irrational and public vs. private. These dichotomies are not only misleading when applied to Asklepios-cult, pitting it against “rational” Greek medicine and placing it beyond the political interests of the state, but have driven the cult into interpretive gridlock. Consequently, fundamental questions about the cult’s development remain unanswered. This study begins by exploring why the cult only arose in the 5th c. BC despite the fact that Asklepios had been known as a healer since Homer. Adducing evidence from the Hippocratic corpus, I argue that developments in Greek medicine were critical to the rise of the cult in the 5th c. BC. As Greek medicine began to define itself as a techne and to delimit its boundaries by specifying the kinds of illnesses that it could and could not treat, it generated a void in healing. The god Asklepios, whose mythology portrayed him as a trained physician, was ideal for filling the void left by mortal medicine. Since translocal factors alone fail to explain the spread of Asklepioscult, this study next examines local factors that motivated Athens and Rome, two of antiquity’s best-documented cities, to import Asklepios. Analysis of the placement of the cult within both the topography of Athens and the Athenian civic calendar, indicates that Athens’ immediate motivation for importing Asklepios in 420 BC was not plague (as many have argued) but imperial ambitions in the context of the Peloponnesian War. Similarly, examination of ancient sources for the cult’s importation to Rome, as well as of the topography of the area surrounding Aesculapius’ sanctuary there, demonstrates that Rome imported Aesculapius ca. 291 BC not because of a literal plague, but in response to a metaphorical plague manifest in the Samnite Wars, Demetrios Poliorketes, and the patricianplebeian struggle.Item Between mountains and butterflies : searching for mythology in theatre making(2010-05) Brown, Marie Sevier; Douglas, Lucien; Dietz, Steven; Dorn, Franchelle; Kanoff, ScottAn in depth reflection of the development of my approach to directing theatre as seen through the production processes of co-creating and directing The Psyche Project, directing Our Town by Thornton Wilder, and the journey of becoming a wife and a mother.Item Biblical and mythological allusions in the literature taught in Texas high schools(Texas Tech University, 1936-06) Lewis, Roxie SibleyNot availableItem C.S. Lewis' treatment of traditional and created mythology in the science fiction trilogy(Texas Tech University, 1964-08) Honey, DianeNot availableItem Creation of Chimera Through the Usage of an Inspirational System(2013-04-23) Parish, Brandi NicoleMy thesis involves studying the nature of chimera through history and how certain aspects of chimeras represent specific features of dualities in human nature. The research was reflected in a series of sketches, where one sketch was finalized into a fully realized 3D model. To aid in this goal, I created a system that will randomly generate chimera based on different characteristics. This system was created using Max 5, and was programmed to place images with alphas on top of each other to create unique chimeras. The variables within this system are derived from the research on chimeras depicted in art and mythology throughout history, and will be used as an inspirational tool to help generate unique combinations of chimeras that may not otherwise have been imagined.Item Myth, preference, and processing(Texas Tech University, 1998-05) Brant, LindaThe objective of this investigation was to explore the cognitive representation, aesthetic appreciation, and on-line processing of the hero motif in short stories. The overall goals were to determine if participants had a schema for the hero motif, and to examine the effects of variations in episode content and sequence on preference ratings, recall of story ideas, and reading rate for specific sentences. These goals were pursued in one pilot study, and two experiments. Results from the pilot study indicated that undergraduate students had a schema for the hero motif, and that they were able to predict events in typical hero stories with high levels of accuracy and confidence. Results from Experiments 1 and 2 indicated that variations in episode content and sequence had virtually no effect on preference ratings. However, these variations did influence recall of story information. The most memorable hero stories contained (1)episodes that were presented in a logical, temporal sequence, (2) typical beginning episodes, and (3) typical middle episodes. In contrast, story endings were best remembered if they contained atypical information. In both Experiments 1 and 2, a positive correlation emerged between ratings of story preference and ratings of empathy with the main character. Implications for the field of empirical aesthetics were discussed.Item Pathways of transmission: investigating the influence of Chinese kiln god worship and mythology on kiln god concepts and rituals as observed by American ceramists(Texas Tech University, 2003-08) Geiger-Ho, Martie JDesigned to be an inquiry into both the past and living traditions and mythology of Chinese kiln god worship, this study investigates the manner by which these folk traditions and means of worship have been viewed and worked into discourse by Western historians and ceramists in the United States. Furthermore, by examining this research from the assumption that Western discourse on Chinese kiln gods has been recorded with a bias known as Orientalism that presents a biased view of the Far East this study endeavors to present new insights into the possible motivations for why American potters would appropriate and engage in various aspects of Chinese kiln god worship. This study discusses issues concerning the control of Chinese cultural material by Western scholars, through research gathered from discourse, interviews, and my own ethnographic field observations of Chinese kiln god practices. Collectively the outcome of this research has yielded a study of Chinese kiln gods with a strong focus on the history of the kiln god deity Feng Huo Hsien, or Genius of the Fire-Blast who is still worshiped in Jingdezhen, China today. The legend of how Feng Huo Hsien lived his life as T'ung Bun, a Jingdezhen potter, and then earned his immortal namesake through the incredible act of sacrificing his body and soul in the fire of the kiln, is a tale that is central to the religious beliefs and practices of the ceramists of Jingdezhen. Additionally, I believe that the presence of the myth of Feng Huo Hsien in American literature has also influenced the development of kiln god rituals among studio potters in the United States.Item Plato's Menexenus and Athenian ideology ca. 479-380 B.C.(2015-05) Cogbill, Aaron Parker; Hubbard, Thomas K.; Perlman, PaulaAthenian funeral oratory of the fourth century preserves what were in the fifth century competing oral traditions about the city's past that would have been promoted by different politicians, including Cimon and Pericles. Herodotus and Thucydides give evidence as to the content of the distinct traditions. Sometime between 430 and 392, all the claims were unified. In the Menexenus, Plato exhorts Athens' literate aristocracy to transform the unified tradition into a considered ideology.Item Plato's mythological project in the Timaeus(2011-05) Zawislanski, Andrew Peter; White, Stephen A. (Stephen Augustus); Mourelatos, Alexander P.In the Timaeus Plato sets forth his cosmological system, and near the beginning of the dialogue he carefully qualifies his claims by saying that his account of the cosmos is not absolutely true, but only no less likely than any other account. Rather than being an offhand remark, this statement is key to understanding Plato's aim in constructing his cosmological myth. Plato's epistemological position prevents him from making strong assertions about physical objects and phenomena, but does allow him to make assertions of truth in morality and metaphysics. Thus while the Timaeus is ostensibly an account of the physical universe, for Plato its true value is in using the physical universe as a mythological symbol for moral and metaphysical truth. Plato's account is no less likely than those of other ancient cosmologists because multiple accounts can fit with the observed phenomena. However, his account, while no more likely, is superior to those of others in that it avoids impiety and, by qualifying its claims about the physical universe, is not threatened by future observations.Item Speech, art and community : the 'logos nexus' in Ovid(2009-05) Natoli, Bartolo; Galinsky, Karl, 1942-; Ebbeler, JenniferThis paper examines the role of the ability to speak in Ovid's construction of identity within the Metamorphoses . As various scholars have recognized, metamorphosis in Ovid is closely connected with the issue of identity. An important aspect of identity in Metamorphoses is the linguistic ability of its characters. Ovid's manipulation of his characters' linguistic ability and, in particular, of their loss of speech adds meaning to what it is to be metamorphosed in Ovid's chef d'oeurve . Throughout the work, Ovid consistently portrays the metamorphosized human characters as changed due to their lack of linguistic ability. Since the ability was seen as an aspect strictly reserved for humans, the loss of such ability led to the dehumanization, or metamorphosis, of the character. In the stories of Lycaon, Acteon, Philomela, Echo, Io, et al., Ovid takes each characters ability to speak from them as they mutate into their changed shape. The mens of each is intact; however, they are unable to speak and, thus, are unable to communicate with humanity. This lack of connection to humanity results in the loss of the ability to express identity or, in fact, to have identity. To explore the role of speech loss in construction of identity, this paper analyzes Ovid's depiction of humans metamorphosed through the lens of modern socio-linguistic theory. The theory of performative utterance first introduced by J.L. Austin and then refined by many other scholars, most notably John Searle, provides an interestingly fresh prism through which to examine Ovid's construction of identity. In addition, if one includes the literary-philosophical ideas of the 20th century scholar Walter Benjamin into the mix, the picture is refined further. To these scholars, if one could not speak, one could not be. Words are not a simple means by which one can communicate. Instead, they form the ability to do within a society, thereby describing one's ability to become a part of humanity. By stripping the metamorphosed of their ability to be and, consequently, the ability to do something human, Ovid removes their human identity. Moreover, by looking at such narrative technique through the kaleidoscope of Benjamin, Austin, and Searle, this paper hopes to open doors to the discussion of how Ovid saw his own identity. As a poet, the power of speech was paramount to him and because of such speech, Ovid could be spoken of amongst humanity (ore legar populi), a concept later picked up by Martial (3.95,7 and 8.3,7). Could this power have led Ovid to see a heightened identity for himself as well, a melior pars that might possibly give him precedence over the rest of mankind, or possibly over Augustus himself? Or, in the words of 18th century German poet Heinrich Heine, "Don't belittle the poets, they can flash and thunder, they are more fierce than the bolt of Jove, which, after all, they created for him."Item The adaptation and function of myth in a Neopagan congregation(Texas Tech University, 2004-08) Burton, Judd HPractitioners of Neopaganism utilize a large number of myths in their religious beliefs and practices. They embrace the remnants of ancient polytheism. The Abilene Pagan Alliance is representative of this adoption of mythology. Members adapt myths in specific ways and, hence, the myths serve functions within the body of the Abilene Pagan Alliance. Myths have both psychological and social significance to the members of this congregation of Neopagans. With such individual and collective importance, myths have great usefulness to the members, and are open to a broad range of imaginative and illuminating interpretations by the people who revere them.Item To walk with giants: a collection of short fiction and poetry(2009-05-15) Valdez, Reynaldo AlexanderMy thesis is a collection of my own original poetry and short fiction written as a kind of response to Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself." Instead of having Whitman continue to represent me through his poem, I wish to represent myself through my own poetry. I attempted to create a new kind of fiction and poetry from the perspective of a Hispanic who has less of a tie to Mexico or the homeland and more of the cultural influences of the United States. Instead of focusing on differences between myself and the dominant culture, I attempted to discuss in chapter II my philosophy concerning subjects such as; war, religion, time and space, and society. In chapter III, I tried to reconcile various cultural mythologies as the United States does not have a single shared mythology. And in chapter IV I gave my own predictions of the future based on personal observation. My twofold goal of this collection was to one, demonstrate that Hispanic writers are capable of more than lamenting their shared past. And two, to challenge the notion that anything besides a disenfranchisement narrative is "inauthentic" and renders me a poor writer of Hispanic literature. I believe it is up to the reader to decide whether I have accomplished these goals.