Scientia Et Humanitas: a Journal of Student Research
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Scientia et Humanitas: A Journal of Student Research Volume 5 2015 The publications of the University Honors College are made possible, in part, by a generous gift from Paul W. Martin Jr. with thanks to all donors to the Honors College and especially to the following fellow Honors graduates, Janet Badgley, Taylor Barnes, Philip Bowles, Carolynne Briggs, Thomas Coombes, Katie Crytzer, Eddith Dashiell, Michael Gigandet, Hannah Green, Mark Hall, Mark Hampton, Raiko Henderson, Susan Henry, Debra Hopkins, Janet Hudson, Megan Imboden, Julie Ivie, Jennifer Jordan-Henley, Leeann Love, Katie Miller, Dyanne Mogan, Linda Norton, Cindy Porter, Amanda Roche, Tara Rust, Rebecca Stapleton, Roy Turrentine, Michael Upchurch, and Anna Yacovone, who by their donations to the Honors College have continued to make exceptional education possible. Submission guidelines Original unpublished undergraduate and graduate research from the natural and social sciences and from the humanities is now being accepted for the 2016 issue of Scientia et Humanitas from MTSU students and recent graduates either by themselves or in conjunction with a faculty mentor. Articles should have approximately 10 to 30 typed, double-spaced pages and may include revisions of papers presented for classes, conferences, Scholars Week, the Social Science Symposium, or Honors theses. Papers should include a brief abstract of no more than 250 words stating the purpose, methods, results, and conclusion. Student Editorial Staff Clint Bryan: Editor in Chief Morgan Hanson: Managing Editor Reviewers Rachel Donegan Staff Advisory Board Katherine Estes Philip E. Phillips Arlo Hall Marsha L. Powers Chelsea Harmon John R. Vile Jacquelyn Hayek Margaret Johnson Faculty Reviewers Joseph Mosqueda Kaylene Gebert - Speech and Theatre Nausheen Qureshi Philip E. Phillips - English Aaron Shapiro Robert Sieg - Biology Dennis Wise Xiaowei Shi - Communication Courtney Wright John R. Vile - Political Science Journal Formatting Morgan Hanson email: [email protected] capone.mtsu.edu/scientia Preface An undertaking on the order of a peer- and faculty-reviewed journal always results from a team effort.Scientia et Humanitas, the academic journal of student research at Middle Tennessee State University, is no exception. A team of student authors, peer reviewers, copyeditors, and administrators collaborated to produce the volume you hold in your hands. We are proud of this collective effort not only because it represents some of the finest scholarship MTSU students have produced in academic year 2014-2015. This edition of Scientia only came together because each person contributed her/his diligent work toward a combined periodical that we can be especially pleased to present to the faculty and student body of this institution. Our student writers have achieved an important distinction as published authors in a journal that follows the same rigorous process as other more notable journals in the various disciplines: calls for papers, submissions, peer review, revision, faculty review, copyediting, awards, layout, and eventual publication. This year, our staff tried hard to include academic fields heretofore underrepresented in the journal, hence the variety of articles, ranging from Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy to Carl Jung to Tay-Sachs disease. Each of the individual author’s names accompanies her/his essay. We salute these scholars for their outstanding writing. Two essays have merited special mention as winners of the Dean’s Distinguished Essay designation. Joseph Meyer’s excellent essay “Ethnic Conflict in the Former Soviet Union: Ethnic Demography and Its Influence on Conflict Behavior” is excerpted from a longer piece he wrote as an undergraduate student. His level of sophisticated analysis shows tremendous scholarly acumen. I am honored to present my light-hearted piece “‘Oh, Terrible, Windy Words’: Witty Wordplay in Jonson’s Poetaster,” in which I attempt to add “linguist” to the many distinctions earned by English playwright Ben Jonson. The team who deserves the most credit for this journal is our staff. Their work soliciting submissions, reading essays, responding with cogent comments, and poring over sentences for grammatical accuracy is nothing short of exemplary. This year’sScientia staff includes the following hard-working individuals: Arlo Hall, Katherine Estes, Aaron Shapiro, Dennis Wise, Margaret Johnson, Rachel Donegan, Jacquelyn Hayek, Joseph Mosqueda, Chelsea Harmon, Courtney Wright, and Nausheen Qureshi. A team of administrative staff leads this journal. Dr. Philip E. Phillips, associate dean of the Honors College and professor of English, gives estimable oversight to Scientia, ably assisted by Marsha Powers, coordinator of special projects and publications for the Honors College. The faculty reviewers for this volume include Dr. Vile, Dr. Phillips, Dr. Sieg, Dr. Gebert, and Dr. Shi. We wish to thank them for their meticulous reading of these submissions. Finally, I would like to thank personally our managing editor, Morgan Hanson. She has kept this journal on schedule, communicating with authors and reviewers consistently throughout the process. As well, she is responsible for designing the look of the journal’s pages. She is a spirited, enthusiastic colleague and friend. I have thoroughly enjoyed serving on the Scientia staff for the past two years. As I look back on my time in graduate school at Middle Tennessee State University, many fond memories are attached to this journal. With the present team in place, the future of Scientia et Humanitas looks very promising. Warm regards, Clint Bryan Editor in chief Table of Contents Ethnic Conflict in the Former Soviet Union: Ethnic Demography and Its Influence on Conflict Behavior Joseph Meyer ..................................................................................................................................... 1 “Oh, Terrible, Windy Words”: Witty Wordplay in Jonson’s Poetaster Clint Bryan ...................................................................................................................................... 21 Moving Forward, Falling Back, or Staying Put: An Examination of Change and Transformation in Early Modern Drama Jacquelyn Hayek .............................................................................................................................. 35 New Approaches to Correcting Metabolic Errors in Tay-Sachs Katherine Stefanski ......................................................................................................................... 43 Still Misunderstanding the Oedipus Tyrannos Luke Howard Judkins ..................................................................................................................... 53 A Collision of Influences: Rationalizing the Use of Religious Images in The New England Primer’s Pictorial Alphabet Rachel Donegan .............................................................................................................................. 61 C. G. Jung and the Inheritance of Immanence: Traces of Spinozistic, Nietzschean, and Freudian Influence in Analytical Psychology Christopher Myers .......................................................................................................................... 69 Saving Sarah Fricker: Accurately Representing the Realities of the Coleridges’ Marriage Cori Mathis ..................................................................................................................................... 79 Psychometric Analysis of the Elementary Experience Scale and Its Predictability of Elementary Literacy Rachel Peay Cornett and Jwa K. Kim .............................................................................................. 91 Ethnic Conflict in the Former Soviet Union: Ethnic Demography and Its Influence on Conflict Behavior Ethnic Conflict in the Former Soviet Union: Ethnic Demography and Its Influence on Conflict Behavior Joseph Meyer Deans’ Distinguished Essay Award undergraduate recipient Abstract With the end of the Cold War, conflict in the international system increasingly manifested within states rather than among them. The collapse of the Soviet Union led to the creation of 15 independent states, many with diminished state power and simmering inter-ethnic tensions. Scholarly research in the post-Cold War era has focused on the determinants of ethnic conflict, including ethnic demography. In this study, I examine the relationship among three measures of ethnic demography—ethnic fractionalization, polarization, and dominance—and conflict behavior in states of the former Soviet Union. Results illustrated a negative relationship between fractionalization and polarization and conflict behavior, representing a break from traditional theory regarding demographics and ethnic conflict. As such, I advocate a constructivist approach to ethnic conflict, focusing on the fluid nature of ethnic identity. As ethnic identity changes over time, it may exacerbate or mitigate the chances of ethnic conflict, regardless of what demographic indicators may be present. This demonstrates a need to expand our understanding of how identities and narratives change over time. Author’s Note: This version of the essay is excerpted from a longer version, condensed to meet the page-length requirements of Scientia et Humanitas. A case study was eliminated to suit this journal’s needs. Middle Tennessee State University 1 Scientia et Humanitas: A Journal of Student Research I. Introduction he fall of the Union of Soviet Socialist