Undergraduate Theses

ABSTRACT: Angkor Wat is widely recognized as the largest existing religious monument and temple complex in the world, its sprawling city stretching over 100 miles of rainforest. Despite facing years of war and centuries of abandonment in its isolated position in the Cambodian jungle, Angkor remains a mystifying and vital civilization, influenced by a multitude of cultures, religions, and ideologies throughout history. This thesis aims to investigate the cultural heritage significance of Angkor Wat and the ways in which it has been shaped by various beliefs over time, ultimately earning its place as a site of global anthropological importance. In guiding this study, how has Angkor Wat been influenced by different systems and ideologies over time, and how, though this, has it has gained transcultural importance? Angkor Wat is an indispensable monument, emphasizing that preservation on a global scale is necessary. Through an analysis of Angkor’s art and architecture, this paper will demonstrate its religious and spiritual significance as important to global cultural heritage. The feats expressed in Angkor Wat reflect the Khmer empire's connections to various beliefs and cosmological systems that influenced its construction, situating Angkor Wat as a symbol of cultural heritage, worthy of protection on a global scale. It is important to recognize Angkor Wat's transcultural significance– though originally built to represent a specific Hindu belief system, it has evolved over time to demonstrate a much wider anthropological and cultural importance. By using a combination of secondary scholarly articles and primary source journals from historical explorers, I aim to prove Angkor Wat's global cultural heritage value. It is generally agreed that the complex needs to be preserved, but each piece of literature argues for one specific framework, lacking connection between different cultures. Overall, this paper will provide a comprehensive understanding of Angkor Wat's cultural heritage from a broader, interconnected perspective.

ABSTRACT: The investigation of this thesis deals with the way in which Graeco-Roman authors conceptualized women non-conforming to their stereotypes, in terms of gender norms and social identity roles. Specifically, the research aims at understanding if the notions defined by these non-stereotypical instances ultimately reinforced or challenged the Classical assumptions. In order to do so, the study firstly defines in detail notions of gender, gender roles, social identity and identity roles. Then, it analyzes the literary examples of non-conforming women, that is, the characters of the Amazons and the witches, as attested by various ancient sources used to in this thesis, together with the secondary sources referring to the ancient texts. The thesis demonstrates that the lifestyle and the ideals of neither the Amazons nor the witches were integrated into the Classical everyday life, because they could not be accepted. Specifically, the Amazons represented foreign values of gender equality, attributed to populations which were considered as less civilized from the Graeco-Roman perspective. On the other hand, the witches were completely contrary to what the Greek and Roman societies supported in terms of roles that women could take on, to the point that witches disrupted basic values, like maternal care and respect of marriage. Again, however, the witches were outcasts of these civilizations, impersonating another type of outsiders. Hence, in general, Greek and Roman authors conceptualized non-conforming women as too different and distant from the everyday reality to allow for the comprehension of these original notions and for their integration in Classical culture.

ABSTRACT: Edward Weston, one of the most profound modernist photographers of the 20th century, is celebrated for his abstract compositions. While the public’s perception of Weston has become synonymous with natural phenomena, for most of his career, Weston devotes himself to figurative exploration. This thesis asks: is it possible to trace and reassess Weston’s nude studies through contemporary art historical parameters? Chapter one is a literature review outlining the issues from various scholars’ assessment of Weston’s approach to capturing the female nude, which focuses mainly on the photographer’s work after 1927. Unfortunately, these studies fail to recognize the significance of the photographer’s work in Mexico between 1923 and 1926, which contain different avenues of exploration. This thesis aims to uncover how the photographer’s approach relates to other profound modernists by building off existing formal parameters from construction and drawing. The following two chapters will review Weston’s primary artistic references throughout his Mexican period and how they contribute to the photographer’s compositional structure. The final chapter assesses how Weston’s aesthetic changes after exposure to Diego Rivera and other Mexican Muralists.

ABSTRACT: We have stories of witches with an unquenchable thirst for youth. We are fascinated by television shows about a child coming of age and overcoming hardship. We are lured into fitness routines that promise to make us look younger. We shut away older adults into homes and refuse to acknowledge that we will all end up there someday. We are raised with myths of searching for the fountain of youth and drowning in a pond because of the beauty of our reflection. We are obsessed with youth. We are obsessed with beauty. Youth and beauty have a chokehold on everything we hold dear. With every turn we make in the modern day, we are confronted with images of what is considered beautiful and persistently cajoled into thinking that remaining youthful is the only way to obtain this beauty. The connection between the two permeates the depths of our culture. I will use this thesis to highlight the moral implications of these connections to show that humanity has not only created an everlasting relationship between the two but has escalated them to a problematic fetishization of both youth and beauty.