Cultural History Commons^™

Super Bowl Liii, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The Super Bowl LIII (that is 53 for non-Romans) is almost here as we come to the end of Super Bowl Week. The amount of nonsense, madness, consumption, and hot events is now approaching infinity. As a public service to the nation, I have worked my way through the websites of media and the NFL, so you would not have to do so, searching for the most insignificant materials available that illuminate the essence of the Super Bowl.

Brrap Brrap Pew Pew: Representations Of Abortion In Adult Animated Television Comedy, Erika A. Byrnison

All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis documents and analyzes representation of abortion in American adult animated comedy, charging that it is under-examined and significant because representation on television in other genres has traditionally been absent or misleading. It covers theories on how pop culture communicates social norms, and posits that greater truthful representation of abortion in popular culture may be effective in reducing prevalent abortion stigma in the U.S. amongst the young by normalizing and more accurately representing the procedure. It reviews why our culture should be concerned about reducing abortion stigma in the U.S. It also identifies the “taboo ratings paradox ...

Odds And Odds, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

As 2018 gave way to 2019, Sportsworld passed through a deluge of meaningless bowl games, a scattering of interesting bowl games, and this season’s push toward the Super Bowl. The highlights of these days and weeks are now part of the record. As significant as these events are for some sports fans, there were other less significant and insignificant developments that may have been overlooked.

An Economic Interpretation Of Rhode Island’S 1788 Referendum On The Constitution, Ruth Wallis Herndon, John E. Murray

History Faculty Publications

In their 1788 popular referendum, Rhode Island voters overwhelmingly rejected ratification of the Federal Constitution: 92 percent against and 8 percent for adoption. The town-by-town voter lists, correlated with tax and estate records, show that "yea" voters were significantly wealthier than “nay” voters. Available data also indicates that "yea" wealth was concentrated in personal estate rather than real estate. Both these findings support Charles Beard's original economic interpretation of the Constitution. Our detailed data provides new evidence about town-level voters, supplementing the usual data Beard’s supporters and critics have used from state ratifying conventions and the Philadelphia constitutional ...

La Culture Française Du Moyen Âge Au Xxe Siècle, Marilyn Kidd Dr.

Faculty Publications

Une analyse de la culture française à partir des stéréotypes du peuple français et une étude historique à partir du moyen âge jusqu'à l'époque moderne qui tente de fournir une explication des origines de ces stéréotypes. Pour chaque siècle il y a une analyse de l'histoire, de l'art, de la musique, de la philosophie et de la littérature. A la fin de chaque chapitre il y a des suggestions de matériaux et d'activités à utiliser dans l'enseignement aux étudiants au niveau universitaire.

[Mis-]Managing Fisheries On The West Coast Of Ireland In The Nineteenth Century, John B. Roney

History Faculty Publications

This study focuses on the cultural heritage of artisan coastal fishing in the west of Ireland in the 19th century. The town and port of Dingle, County Kerry, offers an important case study on the progress of local development and changing British policies. While there was clearly an abundance of fish, the poverty and the lack of capital for improvements in ports, vessels, gear, education, and transportation, left the fishing industry underdeveloped until well after the 1890s. In addition, a growing rift developed between the traditional farmer-fishermen and the new middle-class capitalist companies. After several royal commissions examined the fishing ...

Uncovering Alice Bag: An Alternative Punk History, Emily Macune

Scripps Senior Theses

The intention of this thesis is to provide an alternative counter-narrative to the mainstream histories of punk that center white men. By focusing on the contributions of fem queer and POC punks, I aim to legitimize punk music as a form of resistance against systems of oppression that are oppositional to the commodified forms of mainstream punk. Using Alice Bag, as my central case study as a fem queer punk that is often left out of punk historical narratives, I contextualize her work through feminist, queer, and media studies lenses to bridge the gap between academia and forgotten personal experience.

Entwined Threads Of Red And Black: The Hidden History Of Indigenous Enslavement In Louisiana, 1699-1824, Leila K. Blackbird

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Contrary to nationalist teleologies, the enslavement of Native Americans was not a small and isolated practice in the territories that now comprise the United States. This thesis is a case study of its history in Louisiana from European contact through the Early American Period, utilizing French Superior Council and Spanish judicial records, Louisiana Supreme Court case files, statistical analysis of slave records, and the synthesis and reinterpretation of existing scholarship. This paper primarily argues that it was through anti-Blackness and anti-Indigeneity and with the utilization of socially constructed racial designations that “Indianness” was controlled and exploited, and that Native Americans ...

The Spirit Is Willing, But The Flesh Is Weak: Contemporary Pan-Africanism And The Challenges To A United States Of Africa, Adesola Adeyemo

Master's Theses

Establishing a ‘United States of Africa’ to the average individual is deemed as a mythical idea in contemporary Africa, irrespective of the popularity of this idea several years ago. Today, the idea is idealized as overambitious – considering the balkanized state of the continent post-colonialization. Because of this, attempts made since then have favored enforcing regional integration over continental integration. Undeniably, this idea would not have come into being if it wasn’t for the concept of Pan-Africanism - which has for long guided the political and socio-economic policies created on the continent. The goal of this research is to explore the ...

An Exploratory Study Of Acculturation Experiences Of Graduate Student Immigrants At The University Of San Francisco, Courtney Lamar

Master's Theses

This study explores the shared challenges during the acculturation process of graduate student immigrants pursuing higher education in the United States. 13 graduate student immigrants at the University of San Francisco discuss their experiences of cultural adjustment into U.S. culture. Through qualitative interviews and thematic analysis, this study seeks to understand the acculturation experiences of graduate student immigrants in the San Francisco Bay Area of the United States. This analysis is based on the individual-level experience examining attitudes and acculturation strategies in the dominant society. Analysis, possibly policy implication for institutions of higher education, and possible directions for future ...

Deconstructing “Jack”: How Jack The Ripper Became More Fiction Than Fact, Erin Thompson

Augsburg Honors Review

Serial killers have become as much a part of popular culture as athletes and celebrities in the modern age. However, no killer in history remains as identifiable in today’s culture as Jack the Ripper. His name appears in over one hundred books, films, and television shows despite the fact that the murders he committed and the subsequent investigations remain relatively unclear. Regardless, for over a century scholars and historians alike have attempted to understand and unmask Jack the Ripper. While the identity of this elusive killer remains unknown, the stories that Jack the Ripper inspired have led to the ...

The Toxicity Of Otherness, Justin Malone

English Department: Traveling American Modernism (ENG 366, Fall 2018)

This article discusses the dangerous philosophical principle of Othering, wherein a group of people are ostracized for being different from the majority. While categorization of information is a fundamental aspect of how the brain works, the categorization of people homogenizes their complexities. In doing so, a group is seen as a single entity, rather than individuals, which strips them of their humanity. After a group has been Othered, society will inevitably invoke some method of forced displacement upon them. Additionally, the article emphasizes the importance of affected individuals telling the stories of their experiences with oppression from Othering. Sharing one ...

The Toxicity Of Otherness, Justin Malone

English Department: Traveling American Modernism Posters (ENG 366, Fall 2018)

This poster is a brief overview of my research on the dangerous philosophical principle of Othering, wherein a group of people are ostracized for being different from the majority. While categorization of information is a fundamental aspect of how the brain works, the categorization of people homogenizes their complexities. In doing so, a group is seen as a single entity, rather than individuals, which strips them of their humanity. After a group has been Othered, society will inevitably invoke some method of forced displacement upon them. Additionally, the article this poster summarizes puts emphasis on the importance of affected individuals ...

Popular Terroir: Bande Dessinée As Pastoral Ecocritism?, Margaret C. Flinn

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

This article analyses a corpus of French comic books (including series and one-shots) published since 2010 that share a thematic focus on agriculture. I argue that this mini-explosion in French comics publishing that crosses various generic and reading public boundaries can be viewed as a contemporary iteration of the pastoral. This ever-expanding body of texts is guided by ecocritical preoccupations, through their engagement with terroir. Because of the cultural connotations of terroir in modern and contemporary France, these comics are situated at the intersection of environmentally progressive and culturally conservative discourses.

Annotations On - A New Voyage To Georgia. By A Young Gentleman. (1734), John Benjamin Burroughs

HCAC Research

An account of a “young gentleman” from London, England describing his travels in the colonies of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. These annotated excerpts focus on his time in South Carolina, particularly in the region of the Waccamaw River, and give us an early description of the area that is now Horry (oh-ree) County, South Carolina from the viewpoint of an Englishman in 1734.

Guest Editor's Introduction, John Lowe

The Southern Quarterly

One of the consequences of situating the U. S. as part of the circumCaribbean is that it creates an opportunity to examine important subjects—such as slavery, agricultural production, trade patterns, immigration, diaspora, travel writing and tourism—through a more comprehensive lens. Numerous slave owners had plantations in both the lower South and on the islands. Maroon culture created by runaways were common across the circumCaribbean, be they in lowland swamps or mountain retreats. Runaways also found refuge with Native Americans, leading to intermarriage and cultural exchange. Transnational studies are beginning to clear away artificial barriers separating the peoples and ...

Societal Rebirth: The Importance Of Spirituality, Lauren Rothstein

English Department: Traveling American Modernism (ENG 366, Fall 2018)

This article offers an exploration of what the social consequences are when modernity strips away religious-human relationships to the land. The two texts Black Elk Speaks and Grapes of Wrath both include moments of anonymous forces imposing systematic modernization on society. Particularly, I try to understand the controversial subject of societal rebirths, traditionally defined through employment and steady food source availability. This paper proposes an approach to societal rebirths that emphasizes the importance of spiritual connection to the land through a critical analysis of Bakhtin's theory of Chronotope and Leopold's theory of Land Ethic. On the issue of ...

Echoes Of War: The Great War’S Impact On Literature, Samuel R. Williams

The Great Lakes Journal of Undergraduate History

This paper examines the works produced by: Erich Maria Remarque, Ernest Hemingway, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien, specifically to show how their writings recorded and translated the experiences of soldiers during World War I, and their struggle to assimilate into civilian society afterward. By examining authors and novels from varying geographic and national background, common themes of bitterness, trauma, and disillusionment are found in men that fought on both sides of the conflict. Literature’s reflection of these scars appears in the lived experiences woven into the writings by the authors, and the reactions of the wider ...

A Critical Exploration Of Costume Design Possibilities In Tolkien’S Legendarium, M. Grace Costello

Apparel Merchandising and Product Development Undergraduate Honors Theses

Tolkien’s Legendarium has in many ways codified modern fantasy. Illustrations and film adaptations of it have had far-reaching consequences on popular culture, building an 80-year tradition of visual depictions of Tolkienesque fantasy. Particularly, Elven characters are usually depicted wearing costume inspired by Victorian notions of Western medieval costume. In this paper I seek to approach the design of original costume for the Ñoldor from a different perspective, free from the established traditions of other designers’ and illustrators’ work.

The preliminary research focuses on searching the source materials of the Silmarillion and select texts from the Histories of Middle Earth ...

Col. Francis Nash's Revolutionary War Encampment On Little River Neck, Horry County, South Carolina, John Benjamin Burroughs

HCAC Research

This article gives details about the encampment of Revolutionary War troops, commanded by Col. Francis Nash, on Little River Neck in December 1776. It contains excerpts from the account of Hugh McDonald. Little River Neck is private property located in the northeastern corner of Horry County, South Carolina.