http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/topic// Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Mon, 17 Aug 2026 13:22:23 -0400 Mon, 17 Aug 2026 13:22:23 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1964/the-perennial-perversion-idolatrous-self-worship-in-brave-new-world By Adam H. Post - This literary analysis compares the spiritual landscape of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World against his nonfiction work, The Perennial Philosophy. In Brave New World, Huxley’s World State appears spiritually promising. It embeds self-transcendence and interconnectedness into its social order, minimizing the individual self in favor of a collective identity. These themes are highly suggestive of the Perennial Philosophy, a framework championed by Huxley through which individuals can eclipse their separate selves and spiritually actualize. However, the Brave New World does not eclipse... Mon, 20 Feb 2023 09:14 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1964/the-perennial-perversion-idolatrous-self-worship-in-brave-new-world http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1959/occupation-and-the-road-not-traveled-in-habibi-rasak-kharban-2011 By Alya Osman - In adapting the twelfth-century story Layla and Majnun, Susan Youssef’s 2011 film Habibi Rasak Kharban re-imagines the Arabic folk tale in the context of Israeli occupation of Palestine, wherein the significance of journeys arises primarily from those not taken. Placing Youssef's film in conversation with Nizami's original poem (composed in 1118), this article examines Youssef's representation of literal and figurative journeys, focusing on the role of nature, mobility, stigma,notions of displacement and encounters with the ‘Other,’ and. Subsequently, I argue... Mon, 19 Sep 2022 02:51 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1959/occupation-and-the-road-not-traveled-in-habibi-rasak-kharban-2011 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1958/the-relationship-between-gender-and-trauma-in-donna-tartts-the-goldfinch By Katie K. Strubel - The Goldfinch (2013) by Donna Tartt is a novel that explores the conditions of grief and escalating lengths characters will go to survive the traumas and mysteries of life. This story of guilt and loss—intermixed with love and longing—is far detached from the traditional coming-of-age trope. I argue that one of the most tantalizing aspects found in this piece of literary fiction is the fascinating and sometimes questionable relationship between main characters, Theodore Decker and Boris Pavlikovsky. Reading this novel through a queer/gender studies lens and the use of a dialogic journal... Mon, 19 Sep 2022 02:37 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1958/the-relationship-between-gender-and-trauma-in-donna-tartts-the-goldfinch http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1956/change-blindness-the-influence-of-positive-mood-on-change-detection-in-visual-scenes By Emily Wang - Change blindness is the finding that people often fail to notice substantial changes between different views of a visual scene. The current study investigated the effect of mood states on people’s ability to detect changes, by comparing participants’ performance on a motion picture change blindness task, after a positive or neutral mood induction. The results found that participants in the positive mood condition had no advantage over the neutral mood condition in the number of unusual changes they detected. This null finding was found for both intentional and incidental encoding.... Tue, 07 Jun 2022 08:37 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1956/change-blindness-the-influence-of-positive-mood-on-change-detection-in-visual-scenes http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1955/look-me-in-the-eyes-witkacys-portrait-gaze-as-a-critique-and-anticipation-of-culture-industry By Natalia Stanusch - This paper analyzes the construction of ‘portrait gaze’ as a visual device that orients, manipulates, and challenges the gaze of the viewer of Witkacy’s portraits. Witkacy (1885-1939), often compared to Marcel Duchamp, was one of the most controversial and complex figures of 20th-century Polish art. This paper focuses on one of the least explored and convoluted phases of Witkacy’s career, especially in international literature, namely the portraiture he made starting in 1925. In that year, Witkacy set up the S. I. Witkiewicz Portrait Firm, where he whimsically took on the... Fri, 06 May 2022 10:38 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1955/look-me-in-the-eyes-witkacys-portrait-gaze-as-a-critique-and-anticipation-of-culture-industry http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1945/the-relationship-between-stress-coping-strategies-and-problem-solving-skills-among-college-students By Brittany Draper - The study investigated stress, coping strategies, and problem-solving skills among college students. A total of 202 university students completed this study. The purpose of this study was to address gaps in the existing literature regarding stress, coping strategies, and problem-solving skills in college students. To date, no research in this topic area had been conducted with this sample of college students in this region of the United States. This study helped to advance the field of psychology because new knowledge was contributed about the relationship between college students' stress, coping... Fri, 11 Mar 2022 02:30 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1945/the-relationship-between-stress-coping-strategies-and-problem-solving-skills-among-college-students http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1944/love-and-imperialism-reading-whitmans-leaves-of-grass-through-edward-carpenter-and-maurice-bucke By William R. Fuller - This paper explores the complexity of Whitman’s nationalism and, with reference to Leaves of Grass (1856), examines the apparent paradox between Whitman’s poetry of love and recognition and his imperialistic impulses. This paper draws upon the work of Edward and Carpenter and Maurice Bucke to frame Whitman’s nationalism within its historical-intellectual context. Ideas of evolution and cosmic consciousness intertwine with concepts of national and human destiny to give Whitman’s nationalism its distinct form, irreducible to modern definitions of nationalism, yet relevant... Fri, 11 Mar 2022 02:17 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1944/love-and-imperialism-reading-whitmans-leaves-of-grass-through-edward-carpenter-and-maurice-bucke http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1942/imperial-mughal-literature-a-rich-source-of-scientific-information By Abhijit M. Bal - India was ruled by the Timurid-Mughal dynasty from 1526 to 1857. This period is mainly recognised for its art and architecture. The Timurid-Mughals also promoted knowledge and scholarship. Two of the Mughal emperors, Babur and Jahangir, wrote their memoirs. Babur’s daughter, Gulbadan Begum, composed the biography of her brother, Humayun. The imperial literature contains rich information. In this essay, I have highlighted the scientific information contained in the manuscripts. These include details of natural calamities, description of the natural world, astronomical sciences, medical sciences... Fri, 25 Feb 2022 10:57 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1942/imperial-mughal-literature-a-rich-source-of-scientific-information http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1940/the-evolution-of-third-party-doctrine-analysis-how-the-supreme-courts-current-analytical-framework-limits-the-scope-of-the-third-party-doctrine By Peter C. - The Fourth Amendment protects the “right of people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures…” Fundamentally, the Fourth Amendment places constitutional limits on law enforcement’s power to conduct a search or a seizure. However, the Supreme Court has recognized certain exceptions to this general constitutional requirement. The most controversial and expansive exception is the Third-Party Doctrine, which states: once information is relinquished to a third party, its original owner loses any expectation of privacy... Fri, 25 Feb 2022 09:30 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1940/the-evolution-of-third-party-doctrine-analysis-how-the-supreme-courts-current-analytical-framework-limits-the-scope-of-the-third-party-doctrine http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1933/going-in-circles-temporal-mobility-and-migrant-agency-in-hamids-exit-west By Meghana L. Maddali - Escaping from your past is hopeless. However, under circular time, running from anything is completely useless––no matter what it is, it will always catch up to you. While Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West mainly depicts a world where well-defined geographical boundaries are replaced by magical portals, where any nation seems accessible to any migrant, the novel’s world is still grounded in circular time. So no matter how far a migrant travels, the past casts an oppressive shadow over them. In this essay, I demonstrate how Hamid offers his novel’s characters a means of survival... Fri, 14 Jan 2022 10:22 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1933/going-in-circles-temporal-mobility-and-migrant-agency-in-hamids-exit-west http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1929/understanding-the-2016-republican-primary-substantive-versus-strategic-voting-behavior By Max Gonzalez Saez-Diez - Was the selection of Donald Trump in the 2016 Republican Primary a strategic or a substantive choice? Donald Trump defied many predictions when he won the GOP’s presidential nomination despite his initial ‘underdog’ standing and controversial record. However, there is a limited understanding of the interplay between assessments on Trump’s electoral power versus policy and ideological preferences in voters’ decision-making. Scholars have long argued that “viability” considerations strongly affect voters’ choice in primary elections, where substantive... Mon, 03 Jan 2022 11:44 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1929/understanding-the-2016-republican-primary-substantive-versus-strategic-voting-behavior http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1927/deconstructing-social-classification-and-mobility-the-hindu-varna-system-platos-magnificent-myth-and-the-british-caste-system By Aadi C. Krishna - This research elucidates the striking parallelism between the Hindu Varna System and Plato's Magnificent Myth through an unorthodox view of their class-based classification, social mobility, and meritocracy while arguing that these stem from the Arguments from Division of Labor and Biological Determinism. Furthermore, it establishes that the Caste System introduced in India by the British in the 18th Century fundamentally differs from the systems followed in ancient India and Athens and investigates the fundamental forces and the motivations behind its implementation. Lastly, the paper conducts... Fri, 10 Dec 2021 02:49 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1927/deconstructing-social-classification-and-mobility-the-hindu-varna-system-platos-magnificent-myth-and-the-british-caste-system http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1921/vindication-for-tin-foil-hats-an-analysis-of-unethical-cold-war-experiments-and-their-enduring-consequences By Michael D. Opheim - While the Cold War is popularly regarded as a war of ideological conflict, to consider it solely as such does the long-winded tension a great disservice. In actuality, the Cold War manifested itself in numerous areas of life, including the various scientific fields of the Contemporary Era. Accordingly, scientific research became nothing more than a competition to both the United States and Soviet governments, influencing both to hastily expend their resources on progressing their respective understandings of science. In their hasty pursuit of scientific superiority, however, recent investigations... Wed, 10 Nov 2021 09:11 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1921/vindication-for-tin-foil-hats-an-analysis-of-unethical-cold-war-experiments-and-their-enduring-consequences http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1919/how-religiosity-shapes-satisfaction-with-democracy-a-mediterranean-case-study By Julien Argoud - More and more countries are democratic, but at the same time, the number of people dissatisfied with it has constantly been increasing during the last two decades. Nevertheless, studying people’s “satisfaction with democracy” has been heavily debated in Comparative Politics. However, using this variable does make sense as it is possible to observe significant correlations between strong dissatisfaction with democracy and democratic backsliding globally. We argue in this paper that religiosity is a crucial factor to understand this phenomenon. Research has nonetheless come to... Tue, 26 Oct 2021 10:58 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1919/how-religiosity-shapes-satisfaction-with-democracy-a-mediterranean-case-study http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1916/cancer-epidemiology-in-romani-americans-a-review-of-the-current-literature By Naszrin Arani - Romanies are one of history’s most misunderstood ethnic populations. Since medieval times, they have faced slavery, forced assimilation, sterilization, genocide, and other forms of ethnic cleansing. Their cultural and historical persecution has led to adverse health outcomes. Studies on health inequality among Romanies have been conducted in the past, as well as fragmented research on their genetic predisposition to disease; however, there is a gap in available information regarding precancerous health risks, especially at the upstream, social end of the spectrum. Thus, their oppression... Thu, 14 Oct 2021 06:45 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1916/cancer-epidemiology-in-romani-americans-a-review-of-the-current-literature http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1911/the-legacy-of-american-transcendentalism-in-contemporary-literature-from-thoreau-to-krakauer By Perla Kantarjian - American Transcendentalism (1836-1860), despite having an amorphous and transient lifespan, holds strong importance in American history: religious, philosophical, and literary. Not only did this movement approach societal and spiritual life with new and radical perceptions concerning a variety of matters, but the tenets it preached still strike a certain chord within all who study them. Leaders of this compelling movement, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Margaret Fuller, who are all prominent names in American literary history, called for a “transcendence” from... Mon, 27 Sep 2021 08:21 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1911/the-legacy-of-american-transcendentalism-in-contemporary-literature-from-thoreau-to-krakauer http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1907/through-thick-and-thin-understanding-democracy-and-its-consequences-in-the-united-states By Zak Schneider - One of the key ways to measure and analyze the performance of such expansive countries such as the United States is to look at their institutions and corresponding values. This paper offers a framework of thin democracy, the institutions, norms, and end goals that are broadly accepted by Americans in order to wage political conflict through peaceful means. And thick democracy, or a more complex sense of civic understanding that permeates at the mass level. Then, this work delves into the American case study of democratic erosion, looking through the lens of both thin and thick democratic elements... Fri, 17 Sep 2021 09:20 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1907/through-thick-and-thin-understanding-democracy-and-its-consequences-in-the-united-states http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1899/longevity-blue-zone-centenarians-an-expository-paper By Christopher M. Green - Areas of the world found to harbor the people with exceptional lifespans are known as a Longevity Blue Zone (LBZ). LBZ’s are areas around the world that have an unusual concentration of centenarians. This paper investigates the link between lifestyle wellness and the lack of institutional long-term care among centenarians living in LBZ’s. There is limited information on the relationship between health and structured health care in these zones of the world. The ability to assess if there is a requirement for institutional services in these zones has the power to resolve current gaps... Tue, 11 May 2021 02:19 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1899/longevity-blue-zone-centenarians-an-expository-paper http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1896/ethnography-folklore-afanasev-and-russian-self-identity By Margaret R. Devlin - While the history of ethnography in Russia dates back to the Kievan Rus era, modern ethnographic production in Russia developed in the 17th century and expanded during the late 18th and early 19th centuries as interest in folktales and in the lives and natures of Russian peasants exploded amongst the Russian elite. This paper briefly explores the history of Russian ethnography before examining the Russian concepts of narod (народ, the people) and narodnost (народность, the Russian soul). This work examines the folklore collections of Alexander Afanasev and his process of editing... Thu, 08 Apr 2021 03:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1896/ethnography-folklore-afanasev-and-russian-self-identity http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1895/revenant-narratives-and-the-representation-of-demonic-lovers-in-english-gothic-ballads By Maggie E. Sadler - The Demon-Lover functions as a significant motif in English Gothic ballad tradition, which scholar Hugh Shields articulates as a “supernatural intrusion into a narrative which is of this world” (Shields p. 107). While this intrusion implies the violent and problematic sexual dynamics of the Demon-Lover Motif, Shields’s statement also speaks to how writers in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries capitalized on the popularity of Gothic conventions such as horror and the grotesque supernatural to imperfectly resurrect the declining literary traditions of folklore and... Tue, 06 Apr 2021 10:35 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1895/revenant-narratives-and-the-representation-of-demonic-lovers-in-english-gothic-ballads http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1894/the-growing-popularity-of-the-radical-right-comparing-institutional-societal-and-historical-explanations-in-the-united-states-and-france By Zak Schneider - Following the enlightenment era, a new incarnation of politics created a uniquely democratic, liberal, egalitarian structure of government in Western democracies. In recent years, there has been an erosion of these qualities in favor of alternate ideologies such as Right-Wing Populism. Fundamentally, what is the appeal of these ideologies that are diametrically opposed to liberal democracy? I argue that multiple factors are catalyzing the growth of this Right-Wing Populism worldwide. Firstly, the structural weaknesses in democratic governance itself. Secondly, contemporary societal conditions... Mon, 05 Apr 2021 03:10 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1894/the-growing-popularity-of-the-radical-right-comparing-institutional-societal-and-historical-explanations-in-the-united-states-and-france http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1890/foreignness-and-freedom-in-the-plays-of-christopher-marlowe By Abigail Slater - Few writers and dramatists have managed to inspire a persona that is as interesting as that of Christopher Marlowe. Born in Canterbury in the mid-16th century, Marlowe rose to prominence in the theatre community of London through his exceptional plays. Much of his work tackled taboo topics with little regard for political correctness, utilizing characters who explored these themes with unique perspectives previously unseen. Marlowe’s own life was riddled with rumors of espionage and social deviance. These rumors met their final fate at a tavern, where Marlowe saw his bloody end (Meyers,... Tue, 16 Mar 2021 02:51 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1890/foreignness-and-freedom-in-the-plays-of-christopher-marlowe http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1885/the-modern-american-family-in-amcs-the-walking-dead By Kasandra J. DiSessa - AMC's The Walking Dead (TWD) has maintained a dedicated viewership since its premiere in 2010 and serves as a well-known example of zombie media in today’s culture. The zombie genre has long been recognized for its subversive potential, but is often critiqued for failing to subvert certain institutions, such as the heterosexual, nuclear family. TWD has been critiqued in previous scholarship for sharing this failure. However, analysis of more recent seasons of TWD shows that the show has steadily increased its representation of different family types, and this increase of non-heterosexual... Wed, 10 Mar 2021 08:13 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1885/the-modern-american-family-in-amcs-the-walking-dead http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1883/the-fleeting-nature-of-techno-horror-kairos-failure-to-appeal-to-gen-z By Wooju Chong - Techno-horror is a sub-genre of horror defined by the use of science or technology as the source of horror, and often, this genre is used to critique modern technology. However, due to the intertwined nature between techno-horror and contemporary technology, when that technology becomes obsolete, so does the horror presented in the film. In this paper, first, I will separate the relative concepts of “horrifying,” where a film’s horror exists solely in the world of the narrative, and “terrifying,” where a film’s horror can extend beyond the film and into the... Wed, 03 Mar 2021 04:35 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1883/the-fleeting-nature-of-techno-horror-kairos-failure-to-appeal-to-gen-z http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1882/penelope-helen-and-the-ancient-greek-spectrum-of-femininity-observations-of-womanhood-in-the-homeric-epics By Jenn Beardsley - Although most Ancient Greek literature focused on male characters, a literary analysis of Homeric poetry reveals an inquisition of femininity, motherhood, and what it meant to be a woman in Ancient Greece. Throughout the epic The Iliad and its sequel The Odyssey, the Homeric poets created a spectrum of ideal versus unideal femininity, with notorious Helen on one end and faithful Penelope on the other. Dissection of each epic unveils an exploration into this spectrum of femininity through the use of motifs, or the repetition of a theme throughout a narrative. Specifically, the poets utilized the... Fri, 26 Feb 2021 02:40 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1882/penelope-helen-and-the-ancient-greek-spectrum-of-femininity-observations-of-womanhood-in-the-homeric-epics http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1881/death-in-john-keats-ode-to-a-nightingale-and-the-eve-of-st-agnes By Anne R. Hill - This paper explores Keats’ depiction of death in “Ode to a Nightingale” and “The Eve of St. Agnes.” “Ode to a Nightingale” juxtaposes two types of death. The first kind of death is a drowsy union with nature which allows the speaker to merge with the world around him. The speaker embraces this metaphorical death because he is terrified of literal death and its ugliness. Literal death is not a unifying force, but an isolating reality that wrecks the speaker’s unity with the nightingale and imprisons him in his “sole self.” While readers... Thu, 25 Feb 2021 08:55 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1881/death-in-john-keats-ode-to-a-nightingale-and-the-eve-of-st-agnes http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1877/inglorious-basterds-a-satirical-criticism-of-wwii-cinema-and-the-myth-of-the-american-war-hero By Nadine Hussein - This article explores the way in which Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds challenges the myth of the American hero and criticizes the glorification of war cinema by satirizing the viewer directly. The particular focus is on the subtly with which Tarantino creates a network of parallels and analogical relations which dissolve the distinction between hero and villain. This article also argues that Tarantino effectively manipulates the audience into confronting the self-aggrandization of the American collective memory of WWII and exposes the ease at which the viewer is propagandized. Tarantino... Tue, 16 Feb 2021 04:53 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1877/inglorious-basterds-a-satirical-criticism-of-wwii-cinema-and-the-myth-of-the-american-war-hero http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1874/cross-cultural-differences-in-memory-beliefs-and-mental-schemas By Zachary Hendricks - Although it is self-evident that one’s memories are often fleeting, a large amount of empirical research has been done within the field of cognitive psychology supporting the notion that one of the mind’s most extensive faults is its faculty for memory. Our memory system is, in a sense, defined through its shortcomings. It cannot store an unlimited amount of information, and because of this limitation, evolved to remember only what it deems relevant to the moment. Two questions necessarily follow this fact: what exactly makes something worth remembering, and how much of that thing... Wed, 10 Feb 2021 02:55 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1874/cross-cultural-differences-in-memory-beliefs-and-mental-schemas http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1868/stereotypes-in-bollywood-cinema-does-article-15-reinforce-the-dalit-narrative By Khushi Gupta - The vacuum created by the absence of any response or resistance from the Dalit characters elaborate that the oppressed themselves cannot speak and thus are spoken for. Having denied Dalits their voice, the non- Dalits have become a self-appointed spokesperson of the Dalits throughout history. Such depiction in Bollywood have resulted in the misrepresentation and misappropriation of Dalits experiences. The continuous stereotypical representation as submissive, dark-skinned, shabby and under-confident individuals continue in the films. There is a repeated portrayal of men and women being outcasted... Tue, 26 Jan 2021 11:54 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1868/stereotypes-in-bollywood-cinema-does-article-15-reinforce-the-dalit-narrative http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1867/edgar-allan-poe-and-race-analyzing-the-absent-negro-trope-in-gothic-literature By Jennifer Celeste - Edgar Allan Poe is known for writing about a wide variety of controversial topics, such as death, murder, and addiction. However, one topic that his work tends to avoid is race and/or racism. Instead, he often chooses to include marginalized groups of people in tertiary roles, intentionally or unintentionally utilizing stereotypes associated with each marginalized subject to enhance or reveal insights on many of the more overt themes included in his literature. This paper will analyze Pompey, a side character in Poe’s “How to Write a Blackwood Article” in order to assess how... Fri, 22 Jan 2021 09:21 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1867/edgar-allan-poe-and-race-analyzing-the-absent-negro-trope-in-gothic-literature