Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Addams’S Methodologies Of Writing, Thinking, And Activism, Marilyn Fischer

Books and Book Chapters by University of Dayton Faculty

To understand Addams’s texts, readers need to attend both to her evolutionary methodologies and to her interpretive strategies. Addams was an evolutionary scientist and sociologist in the days before natural selection became merged with genetics and before sociology adopted a stance of positivistic objectivity. Like other intellectuals at the nineteenth century’s turn, Addams addressed contemporary social problems by locating them within their evolutionary histories and proposing ways of moving society toward healthy equilibrium. She used specific social theories as tools, selecting the ones best suited for each given social problem. Evolutionary theorizing served as foundation and framing for her writings. …

Reflections On Charlene's Influence, Marilyn Fischer

Books and Book Chapters by University of Dayton Faculty

A contemporary appraisal of the breadth, significance, and legacy of the work of Charlene Haddock Seigfried, this book brings together writings focused on pragmatist feminism/feminist pragmatism, contemporary pragmatism, William James and the reconstruction of philosophy, education and American philosophy in the 21st century.

Charlene Haddock Seigfried is a looming figure in American thought and feminist theory who coined the phrase 'pragmatist feminist' which has become an increasingly important concept in contemporary philosophy. Seigfried argues that pragmatism and its rich history is a natural ally for feminism and that the creative combination of these two traditions can pave the way for …

Africa’S Tepid Response To Ukraine War Highlights Shortcomings Of U.S. Diplomacy, Julius A. Amin

History Faculty Publications

Three years ago, at the Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi, Russian President Vladimir Putin promised African leaders that Russo-African relations would be based on respect of territorial and national sovereignty. After the summit, both sides signed military and other agreements, something that would be beneficial to Russia in the future.

A case in point has been Africa’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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 …

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.

As War Rages, Some Ukrainians Look To Mary For Protection – Continuing A Long Christian Tradition, Kayla Harris

Marian Library Faculty Publications

Ukrainian clergy demonstrating against the war in their country have appeared in media coverage carefully holding an image of the Virgin Mary, her outstretched hands lifting up the edges of a cloak. These pictures depict a particular religious icon known as the “Pokrova” in which Mary’s veil – a “pokrova,” or “cover,” in Ukrainian – is a sign of protection.

Africans And African-Americans Would Honour Martin Luther King By Rekindling Their Bonds, Julius A. Amin

History Faculty Publications

During an official visit to Washington DC in 1962, Cameroon’s founding President Ahmadou Ahidjo informed President John F. Kennedy of his displeasure over anti-black racism in the US. Ahidjo met and praised the leadership of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the oldest African American civil rights organisation, for its willingness to unite with Africa “in a world-wide movement to fight against the evils of racial discrimination, injustice, racial prejudices, and hatred”.

He later wrote, "Each time a black man [and woman] is humiliated anywhere in the world, all Negroes the world over are hurt." President …

At The Same Time African Women And Mothers Resisted: Dialectical Constructions Of Race And Gender In The Black Atlantic And Early Colonies Of The New World, Anna L. Biesecker-Mast

Joyce Durham Essay Contest in Women's and Gender Studies

We find the rough beginning of this story in the dynamic and contingent scene of the early Atlantic. I say contingent because it is these early complex transatlantic (political and cultural) encounters that fundamentally shaped and shape the trajectory of modernity. At the heart of this development of modernity are constructions of race and gender. And given the contingency of history, it must be noted that, if responses to these encounters had been different, perhaps we would be living with a different modernity—maybe one with different or less harmful notions of race and gender difference.

Understanding how these conceptualizations came …

Protofeminist Freedom To Choose Colonialism, Josie Forsthoff

Joyce Durham Essay Contest in Women's and Gender Studies

Intersectionality has been a legal and socio-cultural term since 1998 thanks to Kimberlé Crenshaw who put a name to the particular phenomenon of oppression. Her naming of culminating and connected marginalizations also provides an approach to address them. Nevertheless, feminisms that neglect intersectionality persist. The individualist feminist who prioritizes personal choice as the ultimate act of autonomy rarely evaluates the intersections of identity, even their own. Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre presents a protofeminist protagonist whose choices to advance her own freedom often contradict the freedom of those who live and labor outside of white and Western society. She is free …

Theories In The Flesh: Latina Feminist Philosophy Approaches To Identity, Sofia Garcia

Joyce Durham Essay Contest in Women's and Gender Studies

The idea of identity is thoroughly debated by a plethora of philosophers, and it is also a subject that non-scholars question and battle within themselves as well. For those in marginalized communities, whether they are Hispanic, African American, LGBTQ, identity is extremely complex and comes with extreme political, socio-economic, and physiological implications as well. In our current climate these identity questions play out in discussions over critical race theory, immigration policies like DACA, and so many other grave issues. Latinx philosophers take conversations about identity seriously and ask questions such as what is Latina identity really? Is Latina mestiza identity …

Equality, Non-Interference, And Sovereignty: President Ahmadou Ahidjo And The Making Of Cameroon-U.S. Relations, Julius A. Amin

History Faculty Publications

Scholars often dismiss the importance of local archives in the reconstruction of postcolonial African history, stating that they are superficial, unorganized, and unreliable. Amin challenges that notion and argues that those archives are central to the study of African diplomatic history. Based on extensive and previously unused documents, he argues that Cameroon’s Ahmadou Ahidjo leveraged his U.S. policy to develop his country and protect its sovereignty while maintaining a firm grip on power. This reappraisal of Ahidjo’s actions engages debates about the contours of U.S.-African foreign policy and the challenges new nations face as they navigate external relations.

An Entire Generation Of Americans Has No Idea How Easy Air Travel Used To Be, Janet R. Bednarek

History Faculty Publications

As someone who has studied the history of airports in the United States – and someone old enough to remember air travel before 9/11 – I find it striking, on the one hand, how reluctant the federal government, the airlines, and airports were to adopt early security measures.

On the other hand, it’s been jarring to watch how abruptly the sprawling Transportation Security Agency system was created – and how quickly American air travelers came to accept those security measures as both normal and seemingly permanent features of all U.S. airports.

The Veins That Lighten Dearth: Documenting Hidden Collections In Rural California, Jillian M. Ewalt

Marian Library Faculty Publications

This case study discusses an archival consulting project to document and preserve hidden collections in rural northern California. The paper provides an overview of the collecting institution (the Mother Lode Land Trust), the collections and their historical context, and the consulting process. The author highlights processing strategies to improve preservation and description while developing a post-custodial approach to managing collections in a rural, community-based archives setting.

Construction Of A Man Nationalism, Identity, Vercingetorix And The Gauls, Martin B. Mckew

Honors Theses

This paper intends to explore the past representations of Vercingetorix and the Gauls as defined by Julius Caesar and connect them to significant French events throughout the long nineteenth and twentieth centuries in order to establish a link between the Gauls, French nationalism, and French identity.

Coming To Terms With Legacies Of The Vietnam War, Paul Morrow, Shelley Inglis, University Of Dayton. Human Rights Center

Reports and Promotional Materials

This report is the result of a symposium convened by the University of Dayton Human Rights Center in October 2020. For their contributions to that symposium we thank the following speakers: Allison Varzally, Selika Ducksworth-Lawton, Yen Le Espiritu, Tom Grace, David Cortright, Cynthia Enloe, David Kieran, Patrick Hagopian, Scott Laderman, Andrew Bacevich, Chuck Searcy, Dang Quang Toan, Colleen Murphy, Katherine Gallagher, John Goines III, Ben Schrader, Susan Hammond, Bich-Ngoc Turner, and Tim Rieser. Heather Bowser, Đạt Duthịnh, Garett Reppenhagen, and Mike Boehm enriched the symposium by discussing experiences of advocacy around war legacies; we are particularly thankful for the chance …

Cameroon's Biya Is Africa's Oldest President: Assessing His 38 Years In Power, Julius A. Amin

History Faculty Publications

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya celebrated his 88th birthday recently, making him the oldest president in Africa. He has been in power for 38 years. Birthday celebrations held across the country were met with protest by the opposition, demanding that he step down. So, how has he acquitted himself in office, and what has been his legacy for Cameroon?

How Some People Can End Up Living At Airports For Months – Even Years – At A Time, Janet R. Bednarek

History Faculty Publications

In January, local authorities arrested a 36-year-old man named Aditya Singh after he had spent three months living at Chicago’s O'Hare International Airport. Since October, he had been staying in the secure side of the airport, relying on the kindness of strangers to buy him food, sleeping in the terminals and using the many bathroom facilities. It wasn’t until an airport employee asked to see his ID that the jig was up.

Singh, however, is far from the first to pull off an extended stay. After more than two decades studying the history of airports, I’ve come across stories about …

President Paul Biya And Cameroon’S Anglophone Crisis: A Catalog Of Miscalculations, Julius A. Amin

History Faculty Publications

The historical literature on Cameroon’s Anglophone Crisis traces its origin to the failure to implement the Foumban Constitutional Agreement. The current study adds a new perspective: Based on extensive field work in Cameroon and a variety of primary and secondary sources, this paper argues that Cameroon’s Anglophone Crisis, which began in October 2016, degenerated into violence because of a catalogue of miscalculations made by President Paul Biya’s regime. It also argues that the crisis has had a devastating impact on the way of life in the Anglophone region. This paper concludes with recommendations on what needs to be done to …

Blog: Our Neighborhood History: Rogge Street, Bridget Garnai, Heidi Gauder

Roesch Library Faculty Publications

What was life like in the neighborhoods surrounding the University of Dayton campus before students began living in the houses? This question is what we wanted students to imagine and answer when we created an AVIATE opportunity this semester. Beginning with houses at Wyoming and Brown streets and working south, students are researching house addresses from 1920, looking up the residents, and then pinning that information to a Google MyMap.

‘The Considerable Number Of Students’: A Response To W.E.B. Du Bois, Heidi Gauder, Caroline Waldron

Roesch Library Faculty Publications

The letter is brief, dated June 13, 1930, and clearly a reply to an inquiry. It is a total of four numbered paragraphs. What makes it interesting is the letter’s recipient and its explanation about the number of African American students at the University of Dayton in 1930.

In replying to W.E.B. Du Bois, editor of The Crisis, Brother Joseph Muench, S.M., notes that Jessie V. Hathcock is the only African American student at the University of Dayton, that she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in education less than a week prior, and that her academic record was “very …

Cameroon’S Relations Toward Nigeria: A Foreign Policy Of Pragmatism, Julius A. Amin

History Faculty Publications

Existing literature argues that the tactics of Cameroon foreign policy have been conservative, weak and timid. This study refutes that perspective. Based on extensive and previously unused primary sources obtained from Cameroon’s Ministry of External Relations and from the nation’s archives in Buea and Yaoundé, this study argues that Cameroon’s foreign policy was neither timid nor makeshift. Its strategy was one of pragmatism. By examining the nation’s policy toward Nigeria in the reunification of Cameroon, the Nigerian civil war, the Bakassi Peninsula crisis and Boko Haram, the study maintains that, while the nation’s policy was cautious, its leaders focused on …

Mary, Queen Of Style: Documenting Catholic Modest Fashion In Special Collections, Jillian M. Ewalt

Marian Library Faculty Presentations

In postwar America, Catholic teenage girls found themselves at the center of a debate. Everyone, it seemed, had a different opinion about what kind of clothing they should wear. Two modest fashion movements emerged that aimed to solve this problem. Supply the Demand for the Supply (SDS) was a lay initiative founded by teenage girls in the Midwest that quickly spread into a national Catholic youth movement. Meanwhile, the Marilyke Crusade, orchestrated by parish priest Father Bernard Kunkel and the Purity Crusade of Mary Immaculate, promulgated and sold modest clothing based on a particular brand of fear-mongering, Fatima-centric Marian devotion. …

Organized Collective Burial In The Port Cities Of Roman Italy, Dorian Borbonus

Books and Book Chapters by University of Dayton Faculty

Italian port cities were characterized by a high degree of connectivity that created unique social conditions and a distinctive funerary culture. My paper posits that human migration led to collective organization and, closely related, organized collective burial. There are two categories of evidence for this sort of burial: epigraphic sources attest that associations (collegia) maintained communal burial sites and funerary monuments with large capacities would be suitable for such a burial community. Even though epigraphic and architectural evidence usually do not overlap, the two types of evidence can be analyzed separately. One of the main questions relates to the external …

India’S Plan To Identify ‘Illegal Immigrants’ Could Get Some Muslims Declared ‘Foreign’, Haimanti Roy

History Faculty Publications

The Indian government will soon ask its 870 million voting-age citizens for documentation that they are legal citizens with ancestral ties to India.

On Nov. 20, Indian Home Minister Amit Shah announced a plan to expand the National Registry of Citizens, a four-year documentation effort that recently concluded in India’s northeastern state of Assam, to the entire country. Shah claims that the effort will help identify illegal immigrants in a “nondiscriminatory” fashion.

The news was met with some dismay. After Assam finished tallying its 30.5 million people in August, about 1.9 million were declared “foreign.” Some were Bangladeshi immigrants living …

Review: 'Holy Humanitarians: American Evangelicals And Global Aid', William Vance Trollinger

History Faculty Publications

As I write, the city of Dayton is digging out from the devastating impact of fifteen tornadoes – four of which carried winds of 150-200 mph -- that struck the city and its environs on Memorial Day night. The American Red Cross (ARC) is spearheading community relief efforts, which, on the face of it, is no great surprise. But in Holy Humanitarians Heather Curtis makes clear that not only did the ARC (founded in 1881) not enjoy benevolence presumption in the first few decades of its existence, its fiercest competitor was the evangelical periodical, the Christian Herald.

In this …

Fundamentalism Turns 100, A Landmark For The Christian Right, William Vance Trollinger

History Faculty Publications

These days, the term “fundamentalism” is often associated with a militant form of Islam.

But the original fundamentalist movement was actually Christian. And it was born in the United States a century ago this year.

Protestant fundamentalism is still very much alive. And, as Susan Trollinger and I discuss in our 2016 book, it has fueled today’s culture war over gender, sexual orientation, science and American religious identity.

Review: 'Notre Dame Vs. The Klan: How The Fighting Irish Defied The Kkk,' By Todd Tucker, William Vance Trollinger

History Faculty Publications

Todd Tucker’s book is an easy and enjoyable read. And the author has a great story to tell, about the three days in May 1924 when Notre Dame students clashed with members of the Ku Klux Klan on the streets of South Bend. Notre Dame alumni will particularly enjoy it, as Tucker (a 1990 graduate) has written what is in effect a love letter to his alma mater, replete with details about the author’s experience as a student (as well as additional autobiographical information).

The Laggard Leader: A Historiography Of The Origins Of Wage And Income Inequality In The United States, 1973-84, Nathan Sikora

Honors Theses

Since 1973, wage and income inequality has increased dramatically in the United States. Workers who entered the labor market after the 1970s did not experience the same level of economic security as workers in the 1950s and 1960s during the “Golden Age of Capitalism.” Jobs paid relatively lower wages, there was less opportunity for collective bargaining, and fewer jobs offered healthcare coverage and pensions. When earnings increased after 1973, the gains disproportionately accrued to the top earners of the income distribution while workers at the bottom experienced stagnant and declining real incomes. What economic factors during the 1970s created a …

‘Do You Know Who You Are?’, Amanda Black

Roesch Library Staff Publications

As I reflect on Black History Month and how it has shaped and continues to shape American history, I’m struck with the importance of students getting to know their past. As they read about and witness injustices throughout the world, students have awakened to the realization that a fuller understanding the history of their own country can provide more detailed context for their own experiences. This type of research can not only provide a sense of identity, but also equip them with knowledge and perspective as they work to dismantle systems of inequality.