The Precarity Of Images: Sci-Fi Worldbuilding And Its Uses In Agitprop,
2022
Washington University in St. Louis
The Precarity Of Images: Sci-Fi Worldbuilding And Its Uses In Agitprop, Noah Jodice
MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture
“The Precarity of Images” examines how theories of worldbuilding common to the science fiction genre are applied to the making of agitational propaganda for liberation movements. In doing so, it questions how both explicit and implicit political images—posters, games, comics, illustrations, social media posts—either light a pathway for making a more just world or limit our ability to imagine alternate futures.
Following the ethos of Steven Jackson’s essay “Rethinking Repair,” the paper takes the “breakdown, erosion, and decay” of images as a starting point. Images change meaning over time as our cultural connections to them shift. Strategies ...
Because Potato,
2022
Washington University in St. Louis
Because Potato, Candice Evers
MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture
This thesis project explores the phenomenological qualities of the internet; asking, since the internet is difficult to grasp, what other modes of investigation might we have available? Using an investigative framework set forth by Jack Halberstam, this thesis declines to come to knowledge solely through understanding the formal, the structural, the highly visible and mainstream. The literature that I have gathered provides a range of modes for interrogating the simultaneously central and inconsequential subject of my thesis itself: the potato. Juxtaposing the physical, political and material conditions of the potato the internet’s least academic mode of knowing: the meme ...
From Necessity To Novelty: Historic Trades In Colonial Williamsburg,
2022
William & Mary
From Necessity To Novelty: Historic Trades In Colonial Williamsburg, Cecelia Rose Eure
Undergraduate Honors Theses
Colonial Williamsburg is a living history museum in Virginia that hosts a large program interpreting and preserving eighteenth-century craft methods. Using ethnographic research methods, this paper evaluates the value of the historic trades program as a means of preserving otherwise lost skills, producing knowledge, and engaging the public in history. I argue that historic trades interpretation connects with audiences more than traditional exhibits, particularly highlighting specialized interpretation, on-the-job discoveries, representation of identity groups, and the ability to utilize online video platforms. Additionally, I address the divide between modern consumption and production, and how visitors can find historic trades that were ...
Paper Sons And Chosen Families: Blurry Archives And Non-Biological Kinship In The Chong Family Album,
2022
Yale University
Paper Sons And Chosen Families: Blurry Archives And Non-Biological Kinship In The Chong Family Album, Sam Battles
Kaplan Senior Essay Prize for Use of Library Special Collections
In the face of Chinese exclusion and Victorian-era morality, this project presents a family photo album as a counter-narrative to racialized and gendered immigration policies. The photo album is from the Chong family who were part of a Chinese American community living in San Francisco around 1915. The paper follows the fluctuating and non-chronological layout of the album and the uncertainties within to analyze Chinese Americans family formations in the context of state control of Asian migrants, including hyper-policing and surveillance around immigration status, queerness, and class. The Chong family album demonstrates how Chinese Americans employed flexible definitions of family ...
"Shakedown Street: The Grateful Dead And The Commodification Of Hippie Culture",
2022
Georgia Southern University
"Shakedown Street: The Grateful Dead And The Commodification Of Hippie Culture", Zachary A. Graham
Honors College Theses
The Grateful Dead were one of the most successful and enduring bands to come out of the original hippie counterculture of the late 1960’s. Beginning as a small, experimental blues-rock group with no desire to pursue commercial success, fame and fortune nonetheless found the Dead over the course of their three decades on the road. Through constant touring, a consistent level of apathy towards business and making money, and with the help of arguably the most dedicated fanbase in music history, the Grateful Dead became more than just a band, they were the face of a new cultural phenomenon ...
Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery (Sewing) Society: Handcraft As A Metaphorical Tool For The Abolitionist Cause,
2022
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery (Sewing) Society: Handcraft As A Metaphorical Tool For The Abolitionist Cause, Hinda Mandell
Journal of Feminist Scholarship
In 1851, in Rochester, New York, a group of six women banded together as the founding members of an anti-slavery group in order to support the work of the abolitionist Frederick Douglass. They called themselves the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery (Sewing) Society, although they dropped “Sewing” from the group’s name in 1855. Yet the fact that “Sewing” was included in the original name of this reformist group indicates the foundational role of craft not only as a guiding activity but also central as an activist mechanism to abolish the institution of slavery. They were the benefactors of Frederick Douglass, himself ...
Snapshots Of A Fictional Past: Photographic Nostalgia In The Early 20th Century Art Novel.,
2022
VCU Student
Snapshots Of A Fictional Past: Photographic Nostalgia In The Early 20th Century Art Novel., Harry A. Jones Iv
Theses and Dissertations
In this dissertation I argue that the proliferation of a mass codependent relationship with nostalgia in the twentieth century shares a parallel history with the widespread adoption of the reproducible image being used by collective audiences as a supplement for natural memory, or what Proust names “voluntary memory.” This conflict between nostalgia-hungry consumers and artists inspired groups such as Alfred Stieglitz’s Photo-Secessionists and artistically minded authors like Henry James, who employed increasingly complex photographic and literary practices to resist the images’ tendency to debase the aesthetic quality of their own work. Authors such as Marcel Proust and William Faulkner ...
Nomadland: The New Frontiers Of The American Dream At The Periphery Of The Market,
2021
University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
Nomadland: The New Frontiers Of The American Dream At The Periphery Of The Market, Aleksandrina Atanasova, Giana Eckhardt
Markets, Globalization & Development Review
This Dialogue contribution is based around the film Nomadland, which won five Oscars, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actress. Nomadland, a captivating ode to resisting market logics of accumulation, delivers a gripping image of what life looks like in the absence of possessions. Navigating between the extremes of lack and social displacement, and community and newfound ability to live life with little, the nomads find ways to live in the face of despair and disenchantment. Nomadland is a critique of the death of the American dream while at the same time a story of solidarity amongst the dispossessed.
Below-Deck: The Specialist Sailor In World War Ii,
2021
Chapman University
Below-Deck: The Specialist Sailor In World War Ii, Gregory Falcon
War and Society (MA) Theses
U.S. Navy ships were made up of many unexpected jobs during World War II. Traditional war histories say little about sailors who rarely saw direct combat below active war decks but instead worked skilled jobs. Specialized sailors were often unseen as they worked below the waterline as, for example, electrician’s mates and boiler room firemen. These jobs were pivotal to keeping the ship running and allowed men to make use of their valuable time in the navy. This thesis argues that, although evolving naval culture led men to enter for various reasons, many entered to enhance their future ...
"Rainbow Is The Way To Go" Sign,
2021
University of Southern Maine
"Rainbow Is The Way To Go" Sign, Betsy Parsons
Betsy Parsons Collection
Sign created by Betsy Parsons for demonstration or march. Text reads: "Rainbow is the Way to Go!"
Multicolored marker on white posterboard.
"Thou Shalt Not Eat Clams" Sign,
2021
University of Southern Maine
"Thou Shalt Not Eat Clams" Sign, Betsy Parsons
Betsy Parsons Collection
Sign created by Betsy Parsons for demonstration or march. Text reads: "Guess What... The Bible Also Says: 'Thou Shalt Not Eat Clams' )do you eat clams, Mr. Phelps?) What Now?
Black marker on white psterboard.
The "Mr. Phelps" referenced in the text is likely Fred Phelps (1929-2014), former pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church.
"We Are A Land Of Many Colors" Sign,
2021
University of Southern Maine
"We Are A Land Of Many Colors" Sign, Betsy Parsons
Betsy Parsons Collection
Sign created by Betsy Parsons for demonstration or march. Text reads: "We Are A Land of Many Colors America the Beautiful"
Multicolored marker on white background. Rainbow details.
Gsta "Crest" Poster,
2021
University of Southern Maine
Gsta "Crest" Poster, Betsy Parsons
Betsy Parsons Collection
Poster created by Betsy Parsons for conference, workshop, or training. Poster feature a drawing of a crest divided into four quadrants, with each listing goals, positive affirmations, and well-known public figures.
Multicolored marker on posterboard.
"Never Be Ashamed Of Love" Poster,
2021
University of Southern Maine
"Never Be Ashamed Of Love" Poster, Betsy Parsons
Betsy Parsons Collection
Poster created by Betsy Parsons for demonstration or march. Text reads: "Never Be Ashamed of Love".
Black and multicolored marker on white posterboard.
"Proud Lesbian Teacher" Sign,
2021
University of Southern Maine
"Proud Lesbian Teacher" Sign, Betsy Parsons
Betsy Parsons Collection
Sign carried by Betsy Parsons for a march or demonstration. Text reads: "Proud Lesbian Teacher 30 (x29) Years ~Portland Public Schools~.
Hand-painted, purple, red, and blue paint (likely acrylic or tempera) on white poster board.
:Anti-Gay Discrimination Is Illegal..." Sign,
2021
University of Southern Maine
:Anti-Gay Discrimination Is Illegal..." Sign, Betsy Parsons
Betsy Parsons Collection
Sign created by Betsy Parsons for protest or march. Text reads "Anti-Gay Discrimination is Illegal in Maine Schools and Universities".
Handpainted. Blue and red paint, likely acrylic or tempera on white poster board.
"Trans Gay-Straight Alliance..." Sign,
2021
University of Southern Maine
"Trans Gay-Straight Alliance..." Sign, Betsy Parsons
Betsy Parsons Collection
Sign created by Betsy Parsons for march or demonstration. Text reads: "Trans Gay-Straight Alliances: Youth Leading for Equality".
Red and black text with a rainbow in the background. Acrylic or tempera on posterboard.
"Proud Glbt Students + Teachers" Sign,
2021
University of Southern Maine
"Proud Glbt Students + Teachers" Sign, Betsy Parsons
Betsy Parsons Collection
Sign created by Betsy Parsons for demonstration or march. Text reads: "Proud GLBT Students and Teachers".
Black text with rainbow-colored hand prints. Acrylic or tempera on posterboars. GLSEN bumper sticker.
"Equality" Sign,
2021
University of Southern Maine
"Equality" Sign, Betsy Parsons
Betsy Parsons Collection
Sign created by Betsy Parsons for demonstration or march.
Text reads "EQUALITY"
Black text on red posterboard.
"Free To Learn..." Sign,
2021
University of Southern Maine
"Free To Learn..." Sign, Betsy Parsons
Betsy Parsons Collection
Sign created by Betsy Parsons for demonstration or march. Text reads: "Free to Learn Teach LEad".
Green, red, purple, and black text on white background with a rainbow. Acrylic or tempera on poster board.