Sewanee DSpace Repository

DSpace is a digital service that collects, preserves, and distributes digital material. Repositories are important tools for preserving an organization's legacy; they facilitate digital preservation and scholarly communication.

Recent Submissions

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    Spatial Heterogeneity of Zooplankton and AquaBOT Water Quality Measurements on Lake Geneserath, Beaver Island, Michigan
    (University of the South, 2025-05-30) Moore, Laura Ann
    Understanding the spatial heterogeneity of zooplankton is important for identifying patterns in freshwater ecosystems and assessing ecosystem function and management. Lake Geneserath, Beaver Island, Michigan is an inland freshwater lake that is irregularly shaped and has become increasingly eutrophic, especially since the mid 20th century. Previous studies show correlations between zooplankton spatial heterogeneity and water quality measurements, but there exists a gap in the knowledge of how these patterns manifest in an irregularly-shaped lake that is undergoing eutrophication such as Lake Geneserath. New technologies such as the AquaBOT aquatic drone from Oak Ridge National Laboratory can provide insights on water quality in freshwater ecosystems. I collected zooplankton samples (n = 45) and AquaBOT measurements (n = 1933) simultaneously from Lake Geneserath. I divided sampling between the four main regions of the lake: the narrow, developed North Arm; the undeveloped East Shore; the developed West shore; and the developed South End. I found that zooplankton abundance was significantly higher in the narrow North Arm of the lake compared to the other regions. Rotifer diversity was negatively correlated with photosynthetically active radiation. The variability of zooplankton and water quality revealed that the narrow North Arm of the lake is different from every other region in Lake Geneserath, representing a novel ecological observation where higher zooplankton abundance, lower dissolved oxygen, lower conductivity, and higher turbidity occurred specifically within a narrow, protected section of an irregularly-shaped lake.
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    Episcopal Preaching in the Jazz Tradition: Improvisational Pedagogies
    (University of the South, 2025) Walker, Skip
    This Doctor of Ministry Project explores the dynamic intersection of Episcopal preaching and the jazz tradition, proposing improvisational pedagogy as both a lens and a methodology for homiletic formation. Drawing from the theological, cultural, and aesthetic frameworks of jazz, particularly its practices of imitation, assimilation and innovation, this study argues that preaching in the Episcopal Church can be revitalized through an embrace of improvisational principles. Through theological reflection, and Comparative analysis, the project examines how improvisation functions as a spiritual and pedagogical act that deepens the preacher's responsiveness to scripture, congregation, and the Holy Spirit. By engaging voices from homiletics, jazz studies, Black ecclesial traditions, and Episcopal liturgy, this work constructs a model of preaching formation that affirms embodiment, contextual awareness, and creative freedom. Ultimately, this project contends that improvisational pedagogies not only enrich Episcopal preaching but also contribute to the wider homiletical discourse by offering a model of proclamation that is adaptive, relational, and rooted in the transformative potential of sacred performance.
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    The Sewanee Purple
    (University of the South, 2025-04-30)
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    To Be Conquered or Conformed: The Racial Construction of the Qing Dynasty and Meiji Japan in the Western Mind Mid-Nineteenth to Early Twentieth Century
    (University of the South, 2025-04-25) Brown, Grace
    During the mid-late nineteenth century Western constructions of the Chinese and Japanese races were based upon the country’s willingness to conform to Western epistemology. The Qing dynasty in China, through the Self-Strengthening Movement, sought to forge a hybrid path to modernity that combined Western and Chinese practices while resisting foreign intervention. The Qing’s unwillingness to conform to Euro-American norms led them to be constructed through a lens of Oriental despotism which dismissed them as stagnant and uncivilized in the Western mind. In contrast, the modernization of Japan during the Meiji Restoration (1868) and its subsequent confirmation to Western epistemology allowed it to be constructed through a paternalistic lens as a civilized nation capable of progress in Western discourse. However, in the early twentieth century the rising military power of Japan signaled a threat to the race-based epistemology of the West and the hegemony of white Western powers; thus the Japanese were constructed as the ‘modern despot’ in Western discourse.
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    Butterfly Dinner Party
    (University of the South, 2024-07-31) Sydne Kitoto Seals, I.
    Creative writing thesis for the school of letters. This includes a lot of play with form, tenses, and big ideas ("you" taking care of your elderly self/ Men with too much money/ ask your MIL permission to remarry/ life in hindsight/ retelling of the first woman/ and a portrait of family and personal experiences).