Digital Commons Network^™

Ideological Relationships With The Cult Of Isis From Ptolemaic Alexandria To Imperial Rome, Sabrina N. Gutierrez

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Through the incorporation of primary source material and prior scholarship this study looks at the Serapeums, Isiac temples and coinage of Hellenistic Alexandria and Imperial Rome. This study seeks to provide, through close analysis and comparison, a more precise picture of the Isaic ideology of the Greco-Roman governing powers of Egypt. I focus on the capital cities of Alexandria and Rome to analyze the message of Isis to their respective inhabitants. Coinage and popular iconography (such as Isis Pelagia) are incorporated into the overall understanding of Isiac uses as coinage serves as a form of ancient propaganda. The amalgamation of …

Spilling The Tea: A Comparative Analysis Of Development In Ex-British Colonies, Niamh L. Harrop

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The British Empire was the largest empire the world has ever seen, and as such, has significantly impacted many of the countries it formerly held as colonies. Imposing a Western style of governance would change the political operations of a nation and would fundamentally shift power dynamics within the country. Through a review of the existing literature on the subject, this thesis examines the effects that British imperial rule had on four different countries in both their social and economic development in the post-colonial era. Overall, the results indicate that Britain failed to set their colonies up for long-term development …

The Pardon Paradigm: The Presidential Pardons Of Donald J. Trump, Hlynur Saemundsson

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The presidential pardon power is an oft-overlooked political institution that seems to be perceived as being innocuous and irrelevant to larger political concerns. This research examines the pardons issued by President Donald J. Trump in an effort to evaluate whether they align with constitutional expectations regarding the use of this unrestricted presidential power. Dr. Jeffrey Crouch, a leading scholar on the subject, has demonstrated that the pardon power was intended to be used as a disinterested act of grace or an act in the public interest. A close survey of President Trump’s use of this power shows that many of …

Vergissmeinnicht: An Inderdisciplinary Study Of Holocaust Trauma Literature, Medical Experimentation Discourse, And Narratives Of Denial, Tiffany Sidders

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The use of Holocaust literature within education starts with Anne Frank and ends with Elie Wiesel's Night; however, the need for a more comprehensive understanding of the Holocaust starts with utilizing the literature to discuss the horrific events. The theories of trauma and affect are relatively new to Holocaust literature studies, which brings a lack of sources to the overall subject. Although there is a lack of sources, understanding trauma, denial, and affect relies on analyzing the written language. This thesis's significance is to detail the importance of Holocaust literature within education and to comprehend the effects denial has …

The Fall Of Sir Thomas Wolsey: The Contingent Circumstances And Events That Led To His Demise, Jeremy M. Rodriguez

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis attempts to describe the contingent events that led to the downfall of Lord High Chancellor Thomas Wolsey in England. Using the British History Online website and Hall's Chronicles, I read all the letters and papers under Henry VIII between the years of 1527 and 1529. While the popular belief is that it was from Wolsey's incapability to get the annulment Henry VIII wanted from his first wife, there are other arguments that attempt to steer away from that popular viewpoint. While I do follow the popular belief, in my research I found that the common belief of the …

Northerners' Perspectives On American Emancipation And The End Of Russian Serfdom, Mariana S. Kellis

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis explores the various perspectives that Northern Americans had on Russian serfdom and its emancipation. This era was significant to both Russia and the United States because each country experienced tremendous reforms including the abolitions of their unfree labor institutions. Generally, Northern Americans viewed serfdom as a milder form of forced labor and suspected that it would be eradicated soon. Abolitionists used rumors of Russian emancipation to advocate for the end of American slavery. Diminishing the realities of serfdom in the American media was a way for abolitionists to condemn the brutality of American slavery by comparison. After the …

Catherine The Great And Her Empire In British And American Newspapers, Arlen B. Cordero

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This paper explores portrayals of Catherinian Russia in British and American periodicals during her reign, between 1762 and 1796. Catherine II had an incredibly eventful reign as she enacted important domestic reforms, engaged in two major wars with the Ottoman Empire, executed three partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and created the League of Armed Neutrality, among other accomplishments. Britain and America equally experienced momentous change during this period, most notably with the American War for Independence. This paper examines how British and American periodicals reacted to the significant events of Catherine's reign using published materials such as news reports, opinion …

Australian And New Zealand Army Corps (Anzacs) In World War One: The Making Of National Identity And Erasure Of Women And People Of Color, Simran Pawar

Honors Undergraduate Theses

My work seeks to understand the origins of national identity as it pertains to the Anzacs of Australia and New Zealand, their service at the Battle of Gallipoli, and its use in the establishment of a white, male creation myth in both nations following the end of World War One. I furthermore plan to examine how this Anzac myth excluded and even erased the place of marginalized communities in the birth of Australia and New Zealand as modern nations. In other words, my thesis explores both the insiders and the outsiders of the Anzac myth. My cutting-edge research aims to …

Pestilence And Poverty: The Great Influenza Pandemic And Underdevelopment In The New South, 1918-1919, Andrew Kishuni

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study examines the "Spanish" influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 in the U.S. South, using case-studies of Jacksonville, Savannah, New Orleans, and Nashville to sculpt a "Southern flu" more identical to the Global South and the developing world than the rest of the U.S. I examine poverty and political and economic paralysis in the years between the end of Reconstruction and 1918, and the poor results of political indifference on public health and disease control. I also analyze the social and institutional racism against persons of color that defined high infectious disease mortality in Southern cities.

I argue that Southerners faced …

La Mano E Il Braccio: Comparing Italian Immigrant Communities In Louisiana And Florida, 1880-1914, Keith Richards

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Italian immigration patterns to Louisiana and Tampa, FL have received a good deal of scholarly attention as two separate phenomena, but they are better understood as informing one another in the evolution of southern thought in regard to Italian immigrants. Italians were the second largest non-black minority group behind Mexicans to be lynched, and in understanding the circumstances surrounding those acts of extrajudicial violence, a pattern is apparent. Lynchings of Italians in Louisiana emerged out of fear of the Black Hand (La Mano Nera), and the Mafia, whereas the sole incident of an Italian being lynched in Tampa occurred as …

The Eyes And Ears Of The Nation: America's First Spy Ring, Eric Topolewski

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the early and smaller espionage tactics during the American Revolution and compare them to the established Culper Ring. George Washington, the American general and later president, and Benjamin Tallmadge, the Director of Military Intelligence during the war, looked for a way to revolutionize espionage at the time. Prior to the Culper Ring, espionage was done on a small scale. Single spies were the most common form of espionage. Washington and Tallmadge knew they needed something new and worked to create something that would last and become sustainable. They were able to create …

The Underlying Effects Of Religion In Puerto Rico, Claudia A. Chardon

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The intent of this thesis is to explore the role religion has played in the Puerto Rican society. Growing up in this culture entails a deep and implicit connection with the religious world. Religious values, beliefs, and attitudes are firmly entrenched and amplified through the family, culture, and schools. Because it is so deeply entrenched, it is difficult to find a place to leverage a critique of its impact. Thus, in order to understand the societal matters and challenges the island faces, an in-depth study that explores the beliefs, attitudes, and behavior of Puerto Ricans is necessary.

The Osi And The Nazis: America's Struggle To Expel Nazi War Criminals And Their Allies Decades After The Second World War, Evan S. Murray

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis examines the history of the Office of Special Investigations' campaign to identify, denaturalize, and deport Nazis and Nazi collaborators. By analyzing documents from the work of the Office's predecessor, the Special Litigations Unit, in 1977, up to and including the case of George Lindert in 1995, this research aims to provide an understanding of the Office's origins, methods, and motivations. This work was done through the consultation of court records, internal memos, letters, an official government report on the Office's activities, other literature written on this topic, and interviews conducted by the author with two former members of …

Music And The Presidency: How Campaign Songs Sold The Image Of Presidential Candidates, Gary M. Bogers

Honors Undergraduate Theses

In this thesis, I will discuss the importance of campaign songs and how they were used throughout three distinctly different U.S. presidential elections: the 1960 campaign of Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy against Vice President Richard Milhouse Nixon, the 1984 reelection campaign of President Ronald Wilson Reagan against Vice President Walter Frederick Mondale, and the 2008 campaign of Senator Barack Hussein Obama against Senator John Sidney McCain. In doing so, there will be an analysis of how music was used to sell the image of these presidential candidates through both its juxtaposition with other forms of mass media (television advertisements, radio, …

Farm Women As Producers & Consumers In The 20th Century U.S. South, Joseph J. Kaminski

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The intent of this thesis is to examine white, rural women of the South who were directly affected by home demonstration between 1920 - 1950 and to discuss their roles as producers and consumers in the expanding market economy. Home demonstration, a three-tiered bureaucratic agency that provided domestic education and production techniques to Southern women, played a major role in guiding women toward the expanding market economy. Agents often had to temper their programs in order to compromise with the women they served to accommodate rural restrictions on capital, capability, and confidence. By integrating rural women into a more modernized, …

"Worse Than Guards:" Ordinary Criminals And Political Prisoners In The Gulag (1918-1950), Elizabeth T. Klements

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This paper explores the volatile relationship between the political prisoners and the common criminals in the Soviet GULAG. Lenin's theories on crime and punishment shaped the early Soviet penal system; he implemented policies which favored the common criminals and repressed the political prisoners. He deemed that the criminals, as "social allies" of the working class, were more likely to become good Soviet citizens than the political prisoners, considered "counterrevolutionaries" and "enemies of the state." In the decade after the Bolshevik revolution, the prison administration empowered the criminals in the GULAG by giving them access to the life-saving jobs and goods …

The Americanization Of The Holocaust: Reconsidered Through Judaic Studies, Brie Green-Rebackoff

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This article explores how the Americanization of the Holocaust is in part responsible for the paradigm that the mention of the Holocaust is vital for a Jewish writer of postwar fiction to be taken seriously. In keeping with the need for people to find meaning in catastrophe, to derive humanity from inhumanity and order out of chaos, Jewish literature's apparent 'success' or international reach often depends on reflecting on the Holocaust as an empowering movement that pushed survivors and other Jews to feel a sense of unity and inclusiveness. By using the Holocaust to generate interest in audiences as opposed …

Exploring The Portrayals Of Modern First Ladies In Children's Picturebook Biographies, Kaitlin N. Elmore

Honors Undergraduate Theses

No study to date has been uncovered in regard to the presence of First Ladies in children's biographies. However, related prior studies, such as a study on the effect of gender in scientific children's biographies (Owens, 2009) have stated that the portrayal of women in children's biographies has evolved over time. Therefore, I wondered how First ladies were portrayed in children's books, specifically biographies, for elementary aged students. Therefore, this study examined a collection of picturebook biographies written for children about First Ladies in order to explore how First Ladies are portrayed. For the purpose of this study, I chose …

Trends In Grave Marker Attributes In Greenwood Cemetery: Orlando, Florida, Erin K. Martin

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Grave markers represent a significant amount of highly important information related to the cultural patterns of a society, as well as how these patterns have changed over time. Although, cemetery studies are popular in other regions of the United States, few studies regarding grave marker attributes have been conducted in Florida. The purpose of this research was to analyze and interpret temporal and demographic changes in grave marker attributes in Greenwood Cemetery in Orlando, Florida. Another aspect of this research focused on the possible correlation between the age and inferred sex of the deceased individual in relation to the type …

Apoikia In The Black Sea: The History Of Heraclea Pontica, Sinope, And Tios In The Archaic And Classical Periods, Austin M. Wojkiewicz

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study examines the influence of local and dominant Network Systems on the socio- economic development of the southern Black Sea colonies: Heraclea Pontica, Sinope, and Tios during the Archaic and Classical Period. I argue that archeological and literary evidence indicate that local (populations such as the Mariandynoi, Syrians, Caucones, Paphlagonians, and Tibarenians) and dominant external (including: Miletus, Megara/Boeotia, Athens, and Persia) socio-economic Network systems developed and shaped these three colonies, and helped explain their role in the overarching Black Sea Network.

This study is divided into three chapters. Chapter one starts with the history and historiography of Greek colonization. …

A Method For Determining Damage Within Historic Cemeteries: A First Step For Digital Heritage, Justin E. Malcolm

Honors Undergraduate Theses

While it is true that historic cemeteries are places that contain a wealth of knowledge about the history of a community they are sometimes not well maintained. The information within can be lost as grave-markers are damaged either by natural causes or human interaction. In larger cemeteries preserving these significant places can sometimes be difficult due to a number of different factors. Therefore focusing preservation efforts on specific locations where damage is more likely to occur is crucial to ensure that the monuments that are the most at risk are preserved. One possible way of accomplishing this is through the …

The Evolving Emancipator: An Analysis Of Abraham Lincoln And The Progression And Development Of His Emancipationist Impulse, Sharon N. Rodriguez

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This research looks at the narrative of Abraham Lincoln as the Great Emancipator versus the Evolving Emancipator. The goal of this thesis is to contribute to the narrative of the Evolving Emancipator and show an imperfect man who achieved this action after trials and tribulations.This has been achieved by examining letters and other primary sources to fully understand the scope of Lincoln’s sentiments regarding slavery. My research shows a man who acknowledged slavery because it was sanctioned by the law. He recognized the rights of slave owners, both to retain their slaves and to have fugitive slaves returned, as they …

Florida's Workers Compensation Law: The Pendulum Swings, Ursula Hirsch

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The intent of this paper is to discuss how the recent court rulings on the current workers compensation statutes will impact the rules to Florida’s workers compensation laws.

Workers Compensation system is a social justice system that protects both the employer and employee. Employees that are injured while in the course and scope of their employment give up the right to sue, making workers compensation an exclusive remedy. In exchange for giving up that right, the injured worker receives statutory benefits in a no-fault system.

This paper covers the legislative changes over the years that have impacted the constitutionality of …

Panorama Of Popular Haitian Music And Folklore, Jean Wilner S. St Jean

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Haitian music has been influenced by the people who lived on the island from the native before the Columbus discovered Haiti to the United States occupation. This country is rich in culture which has impacted by the Creole identity. The overview of the different kind of Haitian music by categories and subcategories from the beginning to now. The government, the religion, the social class, and population play an important role in the popularity and acceptance of certain music.

The Rhetoric Of Transgression: Reconstructing Female Authority Through Wu Zetian's Legacy, Rachael Rothstein-Safra

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study examines representations of Wu Zetian in the biographical tradition of the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries, as well as within the subsequent vernacular literature of the Ming and Qing periods. I analyze the traditional use and construction of female stereotypes (and female-oriented flaws and vices) in the rhetoric of official histories and fictional narratives and their application to representations of Wu Zetian. I argue that authors, anxious of discord engendered and caused by women occupying positions of political authority, sought to delegitimize Wu Zetian’s reign and subsequently cultivated a “rhetoric of female transgression.” I further argue that the …

Examining The Efficacy Of French Asylum Policies And Refugee Integration Effects, Roberto Cordero

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This Thesis investigates the French asylum seeker legal framework and refugee integration effects based on evidence in government data, non-governmental organizations, and external sources. Specifically, the policies of the protected rights of asylum seekers from history to modern day in relation to its efficiency and respect to human rights. Despite the development of past models through reforms, some shortcomings and discrepancies still exist that adversely affect asylum rights and responsibility sharing among EU nations. A potential system that benefits the applicant in addition to the host country is possible by implementing a model that takes into consideration asylum preferences, socioeconomics, …

To Catch A Terrorist: The Improper Use Of Profiling In U.S. Post-9/11 Counterterrorism, Kamillia Crawford

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The attacks of September 11, 2001 (9/11) caused thousands of deaths, national and global panic, and immediate action by the federal government to protect the borders of the United States of America (USA) from terrorism. In response to these attacks, the United States (U.S.) government enacted laws for law enforcement agencies to protect against terrorist activities. Law enforcement agencies are effective in combating terrorism, but their measures contain a major flaw - the improper use of race in profiling to address national security and public safety concerns. Racial profiling is an ineffective measure for preventing terrorism. There are solutions to …

The Social Impact Of The Hundred Years War On The Societies Of England And France, Kody E. Whittington

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The Hundred Years War was a series of conflicts from 1337 to 1453 waged between the House of Plantagenet of England and the House of Valois of France. This thesis will analyze the affect that the Hundred Years War had on the societies of both England and France, and in doing so will show that the war was a catalyst for bringing England and France out of what is recognized as the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance and Early Modern Period. The thesis will do this by looking at three sections of English and French society: the royalty and …

The History Of Inequality In Education And The Question Of Equality Versus Adequacy, Diana Carol Dominguez

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Although the U.S. Constitution espouses equality, it clearly is not practiced in all aspects of life with education being a significant outlier. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote about inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These two theories are related to education through educational adequacy and equality. Sufficientarianism, or educational adequacy, says that what is important is that everyone has “good enough” educational opportunities, but not the same ones. Egalitarianism, or educational equality, says that there is an intrinsic value in having the same educational opportunities and only having good enough opportunities misses something …

Gendered Virtue: A Study Of Its Meaning And Evolution In Early Modern France, Mariela Saad

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Virtue in early modern France was a broad concept considered by clergymen, philosophers, and moralists as an instrument for measuring and implementing human ethics. This unprecedented research seeks to track the development of the notion of virtue from a gendered and dichotomous notion to a unique and undivided term. The word virtue is constantly present in French texts such as manuels de conduite1 , since the medieval period. Thus, it can be regarded as one of the most significant concepts defining genders in Western civilization. However, it is difficult for modern readers to grasp the complexity of the debate unless …