Digital Commons Network^™

“A Constant Surveillance”: The New York State Police And The Student Peace Movement, 1965-1973, Seth Kershner

Masters Theses

Historians recognize that there was an increase in political repression in the United States during the Vietnam War era. While a number of accounts portray the Federal Bureau of Investigation as the primary driver of repression for many groups and individuals during the 1960s and 1970s, particularly those on the left, historians typically overlook the role played by local and state law enforcement in political intelligence-gathering. This thesis seeks to advance the study of one aspect of this much larger topic by looking at New York State Police surveillance of the Vietnam-era student peace movement. Drawing extensively on State Police …

Treating The Revolution: Health Care And Solidarity In El Salvador And Nicaragua In The 1980s, Brittany Mcwilliams

Masters Theses

Health care played an important role in the revolutions of El Salvador and Nicaragua. Both the Sandinistas and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) prioritized popular health throughout the 1980s. Clinics and hospitals served as sites of revolution that drew healthcare solidarity activists from the United States. These health internationalists worked to build community-level networks that relied upon trained medical volunteers. In both El Salvador and Nicaragua, women comprised a bulk of the community health workers. These women chose to interact with revolution by building on radical promises of universal healthcare access. Healthcare solidarity activists trained community volunteers and …

Data On Fossil Fuel Divestment Commitments Through March 2018, Tyler Hansen, Robert Pollin

Data and Datasets

This dataset includes information on fossil fuel divestment commitments that took place as part of the fossil fuel divestment movement through Mar. 23, 2018. The dataset includes the following variables: name of organization, type of organization, home country of organization, type of divestment commitment, date of divestment commitment, and total assets under management of the organization committing to divest. Divestment commitment data was shared with the authors by 350.org. The authors verified and made corrections to two subsets of the data: organizations with assets under management of at least $1 billion which committed to fully divesting from all fossil fuels, …

I Speak As One In Doubt, Margaret Hazel Wilson

Masters Theses

A written thesis to accompany the M.F.A. Exhibition I Speak as One in Doubt. Blending epistolary format and visionary narrative, the artist addresses her complex relationship to her Catholic upbringing.

Adoption Contracts And Deals As Plan B Parenthood, Martha M. Ertman

Rudd Adoption Research Program Annual Conferences

Officially, law bans adoption contracts as baby-selling. But law professor Martha Ertman shows that people routinely enter entirely legal adoption contracts. Moreover, those contracts, and the mini-contracts that she calls “deals” help birth and adoptive families tailor the agreements to their situation. Blending memoir and law, Ertman integrates small group exercises with law and history of American adoption agreements, arguing that a contractual framework treats types of adoption as variations of family form, Plan B options when circumstances block the most common -- Plan A -- form of parenthood.

Scua Annual Report 2018, Special Collections And University Archives

University Libraries Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

Transgressive Acts: Adapting Applied Theatre Techniques For A Transgender Community, Theo F. Lefevre

Masters Theses

This MFA Thesis traces my work as a joker (a la Theatre of the Oppressed) and facilitator through a three-year-long project with a trans applied theatre troupe. The troupe explored several techniques, including Image Theatre, Playback Theatre, storytelling exercises, and somatic movement. In three semester-long workshops, the troupe focused work around three sets of techniques. In the first workshop, the troupe explored the community-based interview process of Undesirable Elements, as designed by Ping Chong in collaboration with Talvin Wilks and Sara Zatz. These techniques were interrogated using queer and trans temporalities. In the second unit, the troupe practiced Augusto …

From Planning To Passing: The Amherst, Massachusetts Plastic Bag Ban, Kevin J. Hollerbach

Student Showcase

This case study will detail the background and influences for a plastic bag ban in the town of Amherst, outline the steps taken from planning to passage, and address roadblocks and missteps that may be avoided with the implementation of future bans. It is my hope that this document will not only serve as a guide, but also an inspiration for additional local action in Massachusetts and across the country. No matter what the national political climate or attitude towards environmental issues, local action is always possible, and change is usually easier than you think. Think globally, act locally!

Kent State: Death And Dissent In The Long Sixties, Thomas M. Grace

Kent State: Death and Dissent in the Sixties

On May 4, 1970, National Guard troops opened fire on unarmed antiwar protesters at Kent State University in Ohio, killing four students and wounding nine others, including the author of this book. The shootings shocked the American public and triggered a nationwide wave of campus strikes and protests. To many at the time, Kent State seemed an unlikely site for the bloodiest confrontation in a decade of campus unrest—a sprawling public university in the American heartland, far from the coastal epicenters of political and social change.

Yet, as Thomas M. Grace shows, the events of May 4 were not some …

“Nantucket Women”: Public Authority And Education In The Eighteenth Century Nantucket Quaker Women’S Meeting And The Foundation For Female Activism, Jeffrey D. Kovach

Doctoral Dissertations

“NANTUCKET WOMEN”: PUBLIC AUTHORITY AND EDUCATION IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY NANTUCKET QUAKER WOMEN’S MEETING AND THE FOUNDATION FOR FEMALE ACTIVISM MAY 2015 JEFFREY D. KOVACH, B.A., FRANKLIN AND MARSHALL COLLEGE M.A., WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Barry J. Levy The women’s monthly meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, on Nantucket in the eighteenth century regulated the private lives of its members, particularly matters of marriage and sexuality. This regulation inhibited the behavior of female Friends, but it also served to create a culture of education and public authority for the island’s …

Improving Anti-Racist Education For Multiracial Students, Eric Hamako

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores how anti-racist education might be improved, so that it more effectively teaches Multiracial students about racism. A brief history of anti-racist education and a theory of monoracism – the systematic oppression of Multiracial people – provide context for the study. Anti-racist education in communities and colleges has supported U.S. social movements for racial justice. However, most anti-racist education programs are not designed by or for students who identify with two or more races. Nor have such programs generally sought to address Multiraciality or monoracism. Since the 1980s, Multiraciality has become more salient in popular U.S. racial discourses. …

Henry Thoreau's Debt To Society: A Micro Literary History, Laura J. Dwiggins

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This thesis examines Henry David Thoreau’s relationships with New England-based authors, publishers, and natural scientists, and their influences on his composition and professional development. The study highlights Thoreau’s collaboration with figures such as John Thoreau, Jr., William Ellery Channing II, Horace Greeley, and a number of correspondents and natural scientists. The study contends that Thoreau was a sociable and professionally competent author who relied not only on other major Transcendentalists, but on members from an array of intellectual communities at all stages of his career.

Building Empathic Consciousness Toward Our Biosphere, Lawson R. Wulsin Jr

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Given humankind’s ability to dramatically affect the natural systems that support life on our planet, what is the designer’s role in building empathic consciousness towards our biosphere?

Our consciousness is the gestalt effect of what we know, feel, and believe. The built environment is both illustrator and shaper of this shared consciousness. Our attitude toward the biosphere is a product of the ways the industrial revolution shaped our landscape, economy, social organization, governance, art, and design. This thesis uses a site in Holyoke, Massachusetts (160 Middle Water St.), to test theories about how spaces change the way we think, feel, …

Movements Of Diverse Inquiries As Critical Teaching Practices Among Charros, Tlacuaches And Mapaches, Stephen T. Sadlier

Open Access Dissertations

This year-long participant observation qualitative case study draws together five social practices of mid-career elementary school educators in the Mexican southeastern state of Oaxaca: a protest march, a roadblock, the use of humor, a school-based book fair and alternate uses of time and space in school. The title terms of charros, tlacuaches and mapaches represent some of the diverse sites of friction where teachers interact. Additionally, movements of diverse inquiries is derived from the definition Michel Foucault gives to "critical" which leads to the primary guiding question: how have Oaxacan teachers engaged in critical pedagogical practices? The study finds that …

Passenger Rail And Development In Small Cities, Towns, And Rural Areas: 21st Century Transit In Holyoke, Massachusetts, W. Scott Laidlaw

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The intent of this thesis is to explore the design challenges and opportunities presented by the reintroduction of passenger rail to a small economically challenged New England city. Central to my thesis is that the advent of more efficient transportation options is not, in itself, enough: the infrastructure built to support those options must provide users with a comfortable, safe, and welcoming experience. The architecture of the rail station is critical in influencing that behavior and moving our society toward greater energy efficiency.

Holyoke is a small mill city in western Massachusetts whose fortunes peaked in the early twentieth century …

Eugenothenics: The Literary Connection Between Domesticity And Eugenics, Caleb J. True

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This is an analysis of the connection between the domestic science and eugenics. While it is made clear by historians such as Megan Elias and Kathy Cooke that there is ample connection between eugenics and euthenics, there has not been as comprehensive an analysis of the direct connections between domestic science and eugenics. Close examination of literature from the domestic science movement reveals the shared goals of domestic science and eugenics. The domestic science movement was also a necessary precursor to the euthenics movement, not simply a “re-envisioning” of home economics by Ellen Richards. When Richards died, her euthenic ideals …

Scar'd Times: Maine's Prisoners' Rights Movement, 1971-1976, Daniel S. Chard

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

In late 1972, prisoners and ex-convicts in Maine formed Statewide Correctional Alliance for Reform (SCAR), a radical prisoners' rights organization that provoked a thoroughgoing public discussion on the function of prisons in Maine and in American society that lasted for about two years. Working for prison reform through legislation, litigation, and community organizing, SCAR influenced a Maine public unusually receptive to new approaches to criminal justice due to the impact of nationwide prison rebellions and the widely publicized massacre of forty-three prisoners and guards in New York’s Attica State Prison on September 13, 1971. As SCAR members, frustrated by the …

Seeking Shakers: Two Centuries Of Visitors To Shaker Villages, Brian L. Bixby

Open Access Dissertations

The dissertation analyzes the history of tourism at Shaker communities from their foundation to the present. Tourism is presented as an interaction between the host Shakers and the visitors. The culture, expectations, and activities of both parties affect their relationship to each other. Historically, tourists and other visitors have gradually dominated the relationship, shifting from hostility based on religion to acceptance based on a romantic view of the Shakers. This relationship has spilled over into related cultural phenomena, notably fiction and antique collecting. Overall, the analysis extends contemporary tourism theory and integrates Shaker history with the broader course of American …

Becoming Free In The Cotton South – By Susan Eva O'Donovan, Manisha Sinha

Manisha Sinha

No abstract provided.

Clean Energy Connections - Conference Program & Notebook, Loren Walker

Clean Energy Connections

Approximately 600 people attended the First Annual Clean Energy Connections Conference and Opportunity Fair on Saturday November 22 at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Massachusetts. The event was produced by the UMass Amherst Office of Research Liaison and Development.

Can The States Increase Religious Freedom If They Try? : Judicial And Legislative Effects On Religious Actor Success In The State Courts., David Claborn

Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014

No abstract provided.

Chapter 1: Neighbors And Strangers

Inside Greenwich Village: A New York City Neighborhood, 1898 - 1918

No abstract provided.

Chapter 2: For Their Mutual Benefit

Inside Greenwich Village: A New York City Neighborhood, 1898 - 1918

No abstract provided.

A Mission To A Mad County :: Black Determination, White Resistance And Educational Crisis In Prince Edward County, Virginia/, Jill L. Ogline

Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014

No abstract provided.

The Caning Of Charles Sumner: Slavery, Race, And Ideology In The Age Of The Civil War, M Sinha

Afro-American Studies Faculty Publication Series

Analyzes the discussion of slavery, race, and ideology inspired by the caning of antislavery Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts in the Senate chamber on May 22, 1856, by South Carolinian Congressman Preston Smith Brooks. Reaction of Brooks to Sumner's 'The Crime of Kansas' speech; Fundamental political divide over racial slavery in the U.S. revealed by the reactions to Brooks' assault on Sumner; Emergence of Sumner as one of the foremost voices of emancipation and black rights in the national political arena; Event's revelation of how the concepts of freedom, democracy, and citizenship were not static but constantly contested.

"Thinking Globally" : Political Movements On The Left In Massachusetts., Robert E. Surbrug

Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014

No abstract provided.

The Liberal Impulse In American Schooling : Three Historical Case Studies., James. Nehring

Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014

No abstract provided.

Confronting Our Enlightenment Apprehensions : Morally Informed Action And Our Capacity For Progress In America., Stephen Terhune Smith

Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014

No abstract provided.

A Social History Of Protestantism In Colombia : 1930-2000., David W. Hamblin

Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014

No abstract provided.

The Ripple Effect Of A Sexual Orientation Hate Crime :: The Psychological Impact Of The Murder Of Matthew Shepard On Non-Heterosexual People., Monique Noelle

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

No abstract provided.