Digital Commons Network^™

Money Moves: An Analysis Of Chinese Foreign Direct Investment In Europe, Susan Soh

Honors Theses

In recent years, China has begun engaging in outward foreign direct investment (FDI). There is a significant amount of literature dedicated to understanding China’s FDI in developing nations. However, very little research has been conducted over Chinese FDI in advanced economies. As a result of this gap in existing literature, the question arises, what explains Chinese FDI in Europe?

As FDI is a transaction to which both the donor and recipient countries must agree, this thesis has a dual focus. One chapter of the thesis analyzes the effects of and motivations for Chinese FDI on European nations. In this chapter, …

In Defense Of The General: George Washington’S Aides-De-Camp And Their Campaign To Protect The Commander-In-Chief, Chloe Pellegrin

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Overlooked Diplomacy: A Look Into Missed Diplomatic Efforts In The Pacific Theater Of World War Ii, Maxwell Melanson

Honors Theses

This thesis examines possible diplomatic solutions that may have ceased United States-Japanese conflict throughout the late 1930s and 40s. The first chapter analyzes the declaration of the policy of unconditional surrender, and what this policy entailed. Despite Roosevelt claiming that the idea just came to him, it was a carefully developed policy, and was chosen to be enacted for a multitude of reasons. After the Casablanca conference in January 1943, unconditional surrender became a unifying policy and a politically smart policy in Roosevelt's favor. The second chapter then analyzes the tensions rising between Japan and the United States through the …

From Patrons To Landlords: The Transformation Of Class Relations In Zanzibar Through Wakf Reform, Isabel Spafford

Honors Theses

This study examines the role of wakf reforms in reshaping class relationships in Zanzibar during the British protectorate. Prior to the establishment of the British protectorate in Zanzibar, wakf dedications maintained patron-client relationships between the landowning class and poor clients that were established during the time of slavery but continued after abolition. I argue that wakf dedications were essential to continuing these relationships, and therefore British wakf reforms were necessary to achieve British colonial goals of dissolving patron-client relationships and establishing a capitalist system based on wage labor and ground rent. I analyze the relationship of the British colonial class, …

Russia's Agenda For Ukraine: An Examination Of Putin's Media Propaganda Narratives, Gillian Grace Littleton

Honors Theses

This thesis explores Russian discourse about Ukraine as reflected in Russian popular media since 2014’s Euromaidan Revolution. The thesis provides an overview of Russia’s historic denial of Ukrainian statehood and it argues: Russian historians and politicians have seen Ukraine as a “little-brother” nation to Russia, with a shared Slavic heritage, and that any attempts by Ukrainians to separate themselves from Russia are Western influence movements. The thesis examines three types of mass media in order to demonstrate the interaction between history, politics and popular culture. Chapter 1 explores the public speeches of key Russian political figures including Vladimir Putin himself, …

Preservation And Public History In Mound Bayou, Mississippi, Walker Bray

Honors Theses

This paper is an exploration of the history of Mound Bayou, Mississippi, an all Black community in the Mississippi Delta formed by freedmen in the wake of Reconstruction. This paper also discusses the ways in which Mound Bayou citizens are working to preserve their history and make it known to a wider audience. In particular, this work discusses the recently opened Mound Bayou Museum of African American Culture and History and related efforts to restore and preserve historic structures in Mound Bayou. In addition, this work also seeks to explore ways in which the University of Mississippi can effectively supplement …

An Analysis Of The Tanzanian Public Response To Tanzanian Leadership During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Savannah Pipkin

Honors Theses

This thesis discusses the similarities and differences in Tanzanian COVID-19 policies implemented by the late President John Pombe Magufuli and his successor, President Samia Suluhu Hassan. It also analyzes the responses of Tanzanian citizens to these different policies as expressed in the media. The conclusions that were made in this thesis are based on qualitative analysis of articles published in Tanzanian-based newspapers during specific time periods surrounding significant policy changes during each presidency. The situation of COVID-19 policies in Tanzania is unique due to the differences in the COVID-19 policies implemented in comparison to those implemented by other countries and …

Mercy Otis Warren’S Marcia(S) And Cornelia(S): A Case Study In Women’S Internalization Of Classicism In Early America, Brittany Ellis

Honors Theses

The connection between people in early America and classicism is a field of study that has been heavily documented, although it has remained a very male-focused field with little research done about how women in early America formed a relationship with antiquity. This thesis reveals that elite white women had a deep emotional and intellectual attachment with mothers and matrons from ancient Greece and Rome as a basis for expressing political thoughts and identity; classicism formed a common language that many women could relate to each other before, during, and after the American Revolution. This assessment is achieved through a …

Of Spies And Assassins, Haddon Smead

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the possibility of a connection between the Shinobi of Japan and the Order of Assassins from the Middle East. There is evidence that these two secret societies of antiquity are related and that there might have been some level of interaction and/or connection between them. The aligning methodologies, the geopolitical circumstances, the transmission of culture, and the other organizations resembling these two groups establish a frightening level of similarity between them and support the existence of a historical connection. It is hoped that additional study will be undertaken with regards to this subject, and the author of …

Maybe The Real Prize Was The Connections They Built Along The Way: A Legal Analysis Of The Role Of Privateering In The Creation Of The Trans-Imperial Greater Caribbean, Daniel Hall

Honors Theses

While study of the eighteenth-century Caribbean has traditionally focused on the stark separation between the European empires of the region, this thesis seeks to reveal privateering’s role as an important force in creating what has come to be referred to as the trans-imperial or trans-national Caribbean. This will be based in an analysis of the legal structure of British privateering as a means of both drawing attention to the practice’s intrinsically legalistic nature as well as highlighting the fact that this regional creation was a result of colonists working within imperial guidelines as much as it was an act of …

Lost Memories, Lost Colonies, Emma C. Smith

Honors Theses

The Roanoke Colony was the first English colony in America. The colonists were abandonded by the Governor shortly after the colony was established. In public memory, the fate of the colony is highly debated and has since become an American founding myth. As a result of the contested fate, the story of Roanoke has since become a blank slate upon which other legends can evolve. These legends become a window for historians into the insecurities of those who created them. This paper discusses why the English wanted to establish a colony, the popularization of Pocahontas, the history of marriages between …

Problematic Advocacy And Victorian Public Health In Gatherings From Graveyards By Dr. George A. Walker, Olivia Ladner

Honors Theses

This thesis focuses on the problematic advocacy of Dr. George A. Walker in his public health pamphlet, Gatherings from Graveyards. In his work, Walker calls for the removal of urban cemeteries from within London and other cities in Great Britain due to concerns about public health safety. He cites miasmatic theory as the reason for the spread of disease from rotting corpses and unkept cemeteries in the British metropolis. Though he blames Parliament for the state of urban cemeteries, he continuously cites poor communities and neighborhoods as the sole sources of disease and does not conduct investigations into the …

A Cold War On The Dark Knight: Batman And American Culture 1939-1975, Angelica Cantrell

Honors Theses

In 1930, Batman fought the prevailing fears of urban America. With the addition of Robin in 1940, the comics changed to appeal to children and continued to follow the cultural trends of America during World War II and into the Cold War. Fear and paranoia during the Cold War influenced American culture and domestic policy. Anticommunism was ingrained in American social structure and initiated efforts at social containment in the 1950s. American culture shifted to emphasize morality and domesticity, and many Americans actively sought to protect traditional Christian values in their society.

Among the rising concerns, Americans became increasingly worried …

"Freedmen Not Freemen": The Freedmen's Bureau And Black Land Ownership In Arkansas, Eric Johnson

Honors Theses

When slavery ended at the close of the Civil War, there was no universal answer for where former slaves were to live. The type and quality of freedom Black Southerners would experience during Reconstruction would be largely determined by where they lived. Many freedpeople and Republicans desired for widespread Black land ownership across the South. “Forty acres and a mule” was a common phrase that spread throughout the South and represented the hope that the United States government would ensure that all former slaves would be given land to own and live on. The Freedmen’s Bureau, which was created under …

Moctezuma And The Emergence Of Sixteenth-Century New Spain’S Historical Dialogue., Charlie Tabor

Honors Theses

In August 1521, Hernan Cortés entered the city of Tenochtitlan, declared it conquered, and announced the creation of the new colonial territory New Spain. Over the course of the subsequent sixteenth century Spain would rapidly expand its influence across the American continents.

Spanish colonialism in the Americas is historically distinct for a rapid process of globalization which linked previously isolated European and indigenous societies. Analysis of chronicles documenting the Conquest of Mexico written in the later half of the 1500’s reveal that colonialism corresponded to new ways of thinking informed by, but also distinct from, Aztec and Spanish world views. …

Noble Pagans And Satanic Saracens: Literary Portrayals Of Islam In Medieval Italy And Iberia., John Spencer Jones

Honors Theses

The medieval Christian world is generally associated with a kind of religious zealotry that would seem to preclude the development of nuanced understandings of the religious Other. The heightened interreligious contact in regions such as Iberia and the Italian Peninsula, however, made room for relationships with members of other faiths that resulted in more developed ideas about these other creeds. This honors thesis examines the portrayal of Islam in the Christian literature of medieval Italy and Iberia, dating from the late 11th century to the middle of the 14th century. It categorizes a few types of the literary “use” of …

A Walk Through Western Michigan University's History, Melissa Paduk

Honors Theses

This thesis project examines the history of Western Michigan University’s East Campus and its expansion during the 20^th and 21^st centuries. The project is made up of a digital walking tour on the website Clio and a research paper. The walking tour was created on Clio.com and consists of photographs and textual information about twenty buildings and sites that played a significant role in the development and the transformation of the Western State Normal School. The tour can be accessed at the following link: https://theclio.com/tour/2169. The research paper serves as a supporting resource that works in partnership …

Narratives Of The Black Mother In The U.S.: Exploring The Black Maternalist Framework In Black Activism, Anna Biesecker-Mast

Honors Theses

My historical research seeks to reveal how exactly White European notions of Blackness, womanhood, and motherhood (and the intersections of all three) were inscribed onto the lived experiences of enslaved women and mothers from the early Atlantic period through the antebellum era. What emerges from a critical analysis of archival omissions are Black women’s voices and experiences—who demonstrate over and over that they resisted and are resisting. I will demonstrate how other people’s rhetorical use of Black motherhood constructs and shapes the lived experience of these women and creates a tension between the ‘ideal’ Black mother and those that don’t …

“Understanding Russian And Soviet National Identity Through Soviet War Literature”, Mackenzie A. Jones

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Six Signatures: A Snapshot Of Local Black Political Participation During Reconstruction In East Baton Rouge, Ethan Lauvray

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Gone With The Wedding: The Historical Evolution Of Southern Plantation Weddings And Subsequent Cultural Implications, Madeline May Holmes

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The Jewish Organizations Fighting Fascism In The United States, Maya Leibold

Honors Theses

Recent years have shown a rising trend in fascist and antisemitic actions and attitudes in the United States. In response to this trend, communities have organized into various nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) committed to mobilizing people to combat fascism and antisemitism as they see it. An analysis of these organizations’ methods and varying degrees of success will offer a blueprint for future action against fascism. Due to their historical connection to this type of mobilization against fascism, this research will be focused on Jewish-led and organized NGOs. NGOs are often the first to call attention to actions by groups and states …

Tracing Stigma: The Evolution Of The Tattoo In The Middle Ages, Isabella Fusillo

Honors Theses

In the Western world, tattooing began as a mechanism for marking slaves and prisoners in Ancient Greece and Rome. As a result of changes in religion and philosophy, the period between 1100 and 1600 CE set the stage for the tattoo to transform from something that was forcibly done to represent a communal identity into an individual expression of self. This project traces the use and meaning of tattooing from the ancient world into the 1600’s.

A Woman’S Place Is In The Church: Understanding The Perspective Of Women In The Protestant Reformation, Sarah Katherine Mccallum

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

“The Lord Is The Maker Of Them All” Black Membership In White Baptist Churches In Antebellum Louisiana, Alison Foster

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The Woman Behind The Whitney, Breanna Epp

Honors Theses

Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney was the founder of the Whitney Museum of American Art, as well as a prominent sculptor and patron to artists in the early 1900s. Her art collection was the largest of American art at the time, and she led the nation into an appreciation of its own native art. Native in this context specifically means any art that was made in America, not strictly art made by the indigenous people of the Americas. Tackling her entire life, from growing up in the Vanderbilt family to her death, I provide an overview of her interactions with the art …

Starvation Diets: The History And Moral Implications Of Prolonging The Lives Of Juvenile Diabetics Before The Discovery Of Insulin, Olivia Thompson

Honors Theses

This study explores the state of diabetology before Frederick Banting’s discovery of insulin in 1921, when juvenile diabetes was a terminal diagnosis. The widespread misunderstanding of the disease at the hands of physicians and scientists culminated in improper treatments and erroneous anatomical literature about diabetes until the age of discovery in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. More extensively, I examine the controversial work of 20th-century physician Frederick Madison Allen, who attempted to prolong the lives of juvenile diabetics by subjecting them to a rigid starvation diet by way of experimental trials lasting from 1915 to 1922. This diet …

Keep Calm And Carry On: Uncovering The True Blitz Spirit, Lauren Niedergeses

Honors Theses

First shown by Britain’s civilian population during the Blitz, this Blitz Spirit is widely understood today as a heroic display of courage, cheerfulness, unity, and the ability to “keep calm and carry on” in the face of danger and discomfort. Drawing from radio broadcasts, photographs, propaganda posters and films, and the wartime morale reports of Mass-Observation, I seek to uncover the true Blitz Spirit and how it became an integral – if somewhat mythicized – element of Britain’s modern identity. First, I explore the emergence of the Blitz Spirit during World War II, identifying gaps between reality and propagandistic myth. …

Anti-Pornography Feminism, Kinktok, And Consent: What We Can Learn From The Sex Wars And Leather/Sadomasochistic History, Nic Cloyd

Honors Theses

Sex education and LGBTQA+ history have long been censored and removed from curriculums across the United States. As this information has disappeared from our education systems, important values like consent and boundary setting have become increasingly obsolete despite the modern body autonomy movement. Leather and SM culture, which began post-WWII and reached their peak in the 1970s during the sexual liberation, have become increasingly important as their ethical and moral codes have been lost over time to the HIV/AIDs epidemic and censorship from second and third wave feminsism. Two prominent movements, anti-pornography and sex-work exclusionary radical feminism, have worked to …

The Impact Of Women On The Life And Legacy Of Mark Antony, Lauren E. Yaple

Honors Theses

Throughout the life of Mark Antony, the women he became involved with had a large impact on his political career, life, and legacy. These women, such as Fulvia and Cleopatra, used Antony as a means to achieve their own political, economic, and personal goals and were able to gain power in a very anti-feminist society through their relationships with and manipulations of him, affecting the career of Antony in many ways including his politics and his actions as a military commander, as showcased by the examination of primary sources from the late Roman Republic and early Roman empire periods. This …