Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Desertion And Discontent In The East German Border Police, 1948-1959, Rose Shafer

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The East German Border Police (Deutsche Grenzpolizei) was the organization responsible for patrolling the borders of the German Democratic Republic from its creation in 1946 until its transformation into the Border Troops of the GDR (Grenztruppen der DDR) and reorganization as part of the National People's Army (Nationale Volksarmee) in 1961. The organization had the dual task of preventing "Republikflucht," the illegal migration of East German citizens to West Germany, and acting as the first line of defense in the case of an attack from West German forces. The ruling Sociality Unity Party of Germany ( …

“Due To The Tender And Close Relationship”: The Italian Inquisition’S Investigations Of Jews And Christians In The Sixteenth Century, Jacob Schapiro

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis looks at the Italian Inquisition’s treatment of Jews and those suspected of being Jews and thus sits at the intersection of two different historical subfields: Jewish studies and Inquisition studies. Each subfield is broad but overlaps with the other. I analyze six Inquisition cases—four from Venice and two from Florence—and recount the original accusations, before delving into the likely circumstances of the people involved, based on witness testimony. By looking at these cases, I show how blurred religious identity could be, as people adopted the guise of one faith and then another, depending on the time and place. …

“The History Of Our History”: The Preservation And Development Of The College Of William & Mary’S Wren Building As An Historic Site, Katie Moniz

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Wren Building has been the core of the College of William & Mary for as long as it has operated. The history of the building is inseparable from that of the College. The traditions, politics, relationships, and events that make up the history of William & Mary have played out within the walls of the Wren Building—the tangible testimony of the College that has existed since the seventeenth century. For the William & Mary community, to understand the history of the Wren Building is also to understand its own identity. As such, examining the evolution of the conceptualization, preservation, …

Shaping Western Views Of Homosexuality In 20th Century Europe Through Community, Sarah Palluconi

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis will discuss a community of transnational sexual reformers and their influence on public and private views of homosexuality between the 1890s to the 1930s. This community of sexual reformers had ties to the World League for Sexual Reform (WLSR), an international organization that operated from 1928 to 1935. The WLSR discussed birth control, sexual education, prostitution, venereal disease, and, of course, homosexuality in terms of the law and society. By analyzing the few leading figures who studied homosexuality and sexology at the beginning of the 20^th century, I have found that the correspondence and discussion of homosexuality …

Theology And Revolution?: Negotiating Heritage In Gerhard Brendler’S Biography Of Martin Luther, Terence Flannery

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The historiography on Martin Luther in the German Democratic Republic was a complex and fluid process of heritage building with direct influence on how the state positioned itself [TB1] in relation to the church. Martin Luther is a monumental figure in German history and has figured prominently in the construction of German national identity. When the GDR sought to build a socialist society after the Second World War, many existing aspects of Lutheran identity in the areas that now made up the GDR, had to be renegotiated due to their direct conflict with socialist principles. The East German state sidelined …

Autumn In New York: Gotham And The Decline Of The New Deal Order (1967-1975), Lisle Jamieson

Political Science Senior Theses

In 1975, the city of New York looked out on the precipice of fiscal collapse. Years of borrowing, a fleeting tax base, deindustrialization, and the thinning of federal investment streams left the city short-changed and vulnerable, reliant on banks with waning interest in funding New York’s robust network of social services. [1] The conversations, contestations, and political resolutions that followed would reshape and remake the politics of a city that had, for four decades, represented a beacon of “social democracy.” [2] New York ultimately surrendered its commitment to urban liberalism and embraced a neoliberal politics of austerity, mirroring shifts taking …

Little Cricket On The Hearth: The Quiet Feminism Of _Little Women_, Caroline Anderson Klein

Honors Theses

Since the advent of the cult of domesticity, the stakes for female characters in domestic literature have been notoriously high. There was no room for flaws, rebellious decisions, and certainly no room for mistakes—whether of the woman’s own accord, or simply as collateral damage of a male character’s immorality. In this shallowly Calvinist domain, women were never more than one broken guardrail away from social ruin or death. In writing Little Women, Louisa May Alcott breaks these molds through unflinching kindness to her female characters from childhood to adulthood, even unto death. Alcott achieves this quietly feminist feat by …

From Silence To Interpretation: West Lawn Cemetery In Johnson, Tennessee And The Case For Cemeteries As Public History Sites, Julia Underkoffler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The preservation needs and historical significance located within West Lawn Cemetery in Johnson City, Tennessee, a historically African American Cemetery, show the potential cemeteries have as an impactful public history site. Similar to sites like historic houses, museums, and battlefields; cemeteries offer another insight into the past through interpretation and preservation. A cemetery's ethical and practical uses as a public history site can pose complex challenges. This thesis aims to provide a compelling argument for cemeteries as repositories of irreplaceable history, providing a space for their spot in the field of public history. Although little scholarly literature is given on …

Vice President Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller And The Death Of Liberal Republicanism, Anthony Sterba

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller once stood as one of the most prominent figures in the Republican Party, standing as a champion of liberal Republicanism. But from the heights that he achieved with his ascension to the vice presidency, he fell from grace, not being re-nominated for the post alongside President Gerald Ford in 1976. This thesis seeks to explain why this occurred. In explaining this, Rockefeller's previous primary campaigns, vice presidential actions, and ideology are all explored to show the conservative opposition that rallied itself against him. In light of this, Ronald Reagan's challenge of Gerald Ford in 1976 for the …

“They Can’T Just Stamp Out This Faith”: Cold War Anti-Communism And International Evangelism At The Appalachian Preaching Mission, Braden Lay

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Appalachian Preaching Missions (1955-1981) occurred annually in Northeast Tennessee, with their predecessor, the Bristol Preaching Mission, dating back to at least 1949. Local churches, primarily Protestant, organized and convened these annual ecumenical gatherings. Nationally known clergy and laypeople from various denominations spoke, with up to several thousand congregants attending each mission. These individuals provided sermons and speeches on spiritual, domestic, and international issues. Among the most consistently repeated sermon themes was Christianity’s spiritual conflict with atheistic communism. This work addresses the missions’ origins and how the speakers spoke on international Christian missions in decolonized or developing nations as threatened …

Community, Race, And National Socialism: The Evolution Of The Ideology Of Volksgemeinschaft, 1807-1945, Robert B. Anderson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Historiography of the National Socialist Volksgemeinschaft, or people’s community, has traditionally been divided between historians surmising its construction under the Third Reich as a genuine undertaking meant to uplift German society, and those who view the project as a propaganda effort which assisted the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in retaining legitimacy. Utilizing the plethora of works written on the topic, and a handful of primary sources from pre-Nazified Germany, NSDAP officials, and average citizens alike, this work will demonstrate that, as early as 1807, German philosophers, statesmen, and eventually a large majority of the population yearned for the national unity …

From Tidewater To Tennessee: The Structuring Influences Of Virginia Schemata In The Settlement Of East Tennessee, Slade Nakoff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For over two hundred years, historians have debated the historical importance of early Tennessee migrants in shaping the state’s history. These discussions center around North Carolina's impact compared to Virginia's. By shifting discourse to the retention of migrant mentalities, the overwhelming influence of Virginia emerges through the continuity of privilege and commodification schemata. This study employs an interdisciplinary methodological approach combining schema theory, memory studies, and material culture analysis to outline the retention of mentalities from Tidewater, Virginia, to East Tennessee during the early settlement period. By utilizing the case study of John Carter of Watauga (1728-1781), the research illustrates …

Houses Built For Gods: Articulations Of Urban Hokora In Kyoto, Steele Engelmann

Anthropology Undergraduate Honors Theses

Amidst the urban landscape of Kyoto, Japan, there are thousands of hokora, small neighborhood shrines. This study uses social theories of pilgrimage and space to examine the articulation of hokora, community, and personal desire. As sites of local pilgrimage, hokora form networks of communal, but also individual, aspirations across the urban spiritual landscape of the city. This thesis argues that communities are connected to the larger social structures of Kyoto through hokora. As such, neighborhoods are reproduced and displayed through their hokora’s entanglements with the urban, social, and religious landscapes of Kyoto. Therefore, this study deploys an ethnographic approach to …

“Bad Taste, Bad Hygiene, And Bad Morals:” Dress Reform Movements And Women’S Fight For Greater Independence During The Late 1800s., Emily Cahill

Honors Theses

The Victorian Age is debated as a time of brilliant growth, beauty, and prosperity for people living in England. While this era is described as a glory age for England, it was also an age of great inequality. There were significant advancements in learning and new societal freedom, like the widespread availability of education and abundance of jobs. However, freedom was not experienced equally by everyone in the public. One of the main things women sought to change was freedom in their wardrobe. It was nearly impossible to progress in society under the rigid restrictions women’s clothes put on them. …

Pompeiian Mill-Bakeries: Spatial Organization And Social Interaction, Madeleine Rubin

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis examines bread production and the daily lives of those who worked in mill-bakeries during the first century CE. Bread was the staple food across the ancient Mediterranean; however, there is little textual evidence about those who produced the bread that fed the Roman Empire. The most significant body of evidence relating to the lives of mill-bakers is the archaeological remains of mill-bakeries from the city of Pompeii, preserved by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE. This thesis analyzes the spatial organization of bread production within these mill-bakeries and applies the methodologies of spatial syntax – a …

“Singular And Beautiful City”: Nineteenth Century English Travel Literature And Venice, John Sheehan

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Joseph Mallord William Turner was one of England’s most noteworthy artists in the early nineteenth century. Turner’s works, which included both domestic and foreign views, are known for expressing light and atmosphere in a unique way unlike other artists of the time. Turner took liberties with the topographic arrangements of the cities and landscapes that he painted, which again differed from many of the artists who preceded him. His foreign works were especially well received by critics and buyers alike in England. In 1815, many English artists including Turner set out for the newly reopened continent, with the intent of …

美学、文学、白花文、和製漢語: The Allure Of Japanese Loanwords And Its Effects On Modernization In China And Japan, Justice Tyner

Senior Theses and Projects

For both China and Japan, the late 19th century and early 20th century can be characterized as a chaotic period of death and rebirth. Faced with the choices of “modernize or go bust,” the Meiji oligarchs and Qing empire scrambled to solidify a unique national identity amidst the waves of Western influence. However, both nations faced one major problem. As intellectuals rushed to adapt to Western political systems, educational systems, and philosophies, they realized both languages lacked the words to discuss the Western concepts they yearned to put into practice. Therefore, the distinguished Genro of the Meiji restoration pondered: “How …

Dionysus The Barbarian, Deven Salisbury

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This thesis analyzes the changes in the way the Greeks depicted foreigners and Dionysus, the god of wine, over a period of approximately four hundred years in their art and literature. It argues that ways in which the god and foreigners (also known as "barbarians") are closely linked and that the changes made to Dionysus' character are closely analogous to those they made to the characterization of the barbarian.

Black Liberation Theology In The Civil Rights Movement: Contextualizing The Works Of James H. Cone, Ella Cox

Honors Theses

In recent years, the need for racial reconciliation within the American Church has become increasingly apparent. In order to move toward justice and promote diversity, however, White Americans must first develop a greater understanding of the Black struggle for equality and equity, which has been largely shaped by liberation theology. James H. Cone, known as the Founder of Black Liberation Theology, has authored many books on this topic, but his works lack the understanding and attention they merit in predominantly White circles. This thesis seeks to shed light on the importance of liberation theology to the Black American experience by …

Georgia Ghosts: History, Folklore, And The Roots Of The Southern Gothic, Katherine M. Mcdowell

Master's Projects

There is something quintessentially human about ghost stories, yet particular regions tend to be more powerfully associated with haunted folktales than others. One of the regions is the southeastern United States. In fact, these oral traditions appear to have influenced the area's best-known literary subgenre: the Southern Gothic.

Why is the South considered haunted? Are there particular qualities in historical events that make them more likely to engender ghost stories? What makes the South's folkloric spirits so powerful that they appear even in modern literature? Most of all, what connects the region's history and folklore with the Southern Gothic? By …

Writing, Performance, Resistance: Examining Feminist Ideology And Theory In Theatre Since The Second Wave, Olivia Cross

Theater Honors Papers

This project seeks to identify and analyze how feminist theatre is informed by theory and activism in its resistance against white, heteronormative, and patriarchal hegemony offstage through onstage representation. By identifying three consistent themes of gender & sexuality, race, and trauma and the methods used to effectively convey them to an audience, feminist theatre displays how advocacy takes unique forms to uproot the status quo. Furthermore, this research highlights how theatre is a viable and rich outlet for feminist intellectual history, displaying its versatility as a frame of analysis.

Weihnachten In Industrialized America: Christmas And The Making Of German-American Identity In Philadelphia, 1880-1920, Chloe Hanrahan

History Honors Theses

Christmas in the United States has been heavily influenced by immigrant communities. German-immigrants specifically have had a major impact on Christmas in America, as they brought with them an extensive history with Christmas and its motifs, emotions, and traditions. Christmastime in America at the turn of the 20th century, reveals a larger story of German immigration, assimilation, and also resistance to the loss of cultural markers. The first section of the thesis examines the history of Christmas in “Germany,” followed by a section focused on the emotional ties German Americans and Germans have with Christmas. The thesis next demonstrates how …

Rex And Root: An Original Documentary, Chase Hartsell

Honors Theses

Two iconic voices. Four decades on the air. Hundreds of games. One unforgettable friendship.

"Rex and Root" details the broadcasting partnership of the Ouachita Football Network's Rex Nelson and Dr. Jeff Root: best friends who grew up together on the same street in the small college town of Arkadelphia, Arkansas.

This film was completed as part of a thesis project for the Carl Goodson Honors Program at Ouachita Baptist University.

First Comes Love, Then Comes Disparage: How The Production Code Impacted Women’S Roles In Romantic Comedies, Emma Hoback

Honors Projects

Through the analysis of twelve films, I looked to see how the creation and dissolving of the Motion Picture Production Code impacted women’s representation on screen. I looked at six films from the pre-Code era of film (1930-1934) and six films from the newly defined post-Code period (1968-1972). In this paper, I break down the Production Code itself and conduct genre research. The romantic comedy sub-genre was selected for this project. The romantic comedy creates a space for women to have leading roles and have comedy make fun of or reinforce gendered stereotypes. This paper looks at how women went …

The Legal Culpability Of Emperor Hirohito In The Outbreak Of The Second Sino-Japanese War, Joseph Castellano

Honors Projects

An analysis of the legal culpability of Emperor Hirohito in the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War based on primary source evidence. Combines an examination of primary and secondary sources to demonstrate that Emperor Hirohito was legally responsible for his role in the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Two Worlds And In Between: Becoming Goth In The Virtual Spaces Of Tiktok, Marlie Unger

Honors Projects

This research explores how the initiation processes of goth subculture have changed with the introduction and implementation of social media. Using a textual analysis of social media content from TikTok, this research identifies themes present in the virtual community that provide greater insight about how someone becomes goth and the factors which influence the transformation. I highlight the importance of subcultural capital in its creation of a social hierarchy and the goth status of members which fall under the categories of "elder goth," "seasoned goth," and "baby bat." Furthermore, this research examines how commodification, education, and gatekeeping influence the lines …

The Author And Apartheid: Building Pro-Blackness At Bgsu Through James Baldwin And The Anti-Apartheid Movement, Noah C. Fitch

Honors Projects

The stories of anti-apartheid and James Baldwin at BGSU provides a basis for a building of pro-Blackness in the on-campus community. Through the contextualization and narrative building through a historical sociological framework, these two events show the extent of activism in the 1970s and 1980s rather than the traditional narrative that is discussed. By expanding that narrative, it also expands the narrative surrounding the history not just of BGSU, but the way universities frame their own histories. Additionally, these events take place in the era when the transition from looking at Civil Rights to Human Rights is more prevalent and …

The Reproductive Politics Of Maiolica: Birth, Abortion, And Gendered Authority During The Italian Renaissance, Rose Brookhart

Honors Projects

In the aftermath of several plagues that decimated the population of the Italian peninsula since 1348, men and women from all socioeconomic backgrounds safeguarded their individual corporeal health and collective societal well-being through a variety of routines and rituals, which were prescribed but at the same time extremely personalized. This increased attention in personal and civic health promoted new trends in both literal and material consumption during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Purgative drugs and medicines were a common facet of medicine during the Italian Renaissance and were ingested regularly to alleviate commonplace bodily discomforts in addition to more serious …

A Cryptid For Catholics And Communists: The Asuang As An Apparatus For Socio-Political Control In The History Of The Philippines, Alexandra Eckhart

Honors Projects

This essay explores the utilization of folklore beliefs in psychological warfare through a comparative analysis of General Edward Geary Lansdale's tactics during the Hukbalahap insurgency at the beginning of the Cold War and the historical exploitation of the asuang myth by Spanish Catholic missionaries in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. While both instances involved leveraging local superstitions to influence behavior, their motivations and approaches diverged significantly. Unlike the missionaries, Lansdale's actions stemmed from a strategic imperative to combat communism rather than a sense of racial superiority or religious domination. Drawing parallels between Lansdale's methods and centuries-old patterns of oppression, this …

Under The Sun: Songs From Ecclesiastes, Emma Kay Smith

Honors Theses

Historically, artists in all spaces have gleaned inspiration from the text of the Bible in order to communicate meaningful stories. The book of Ecclesiastes is particularly rich in its images and themes, and it warrants profound creative contemplation. This project documents the process of crafting 1960s-style folk songs based on this often confounding and ever-beautiful text. This process included close, meditative listening to the works of great songwriters from the 1960s folk era such as Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen and culminated in the live recording of four folk songs, compiled in the demo-EP Under the Sun: Songs from Ecclesiastes. …