Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Babel Fish: Court Interpreters In America (1790-1921), John Alcalde

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examines court interpretation and English language fluency in US law from the Revolution to the Progressive Era. From its inception, the United States has operated with an Anglophone legal system that presumes English fluency embedded in a society that has contained an ever-evolving population of non-English speakers. Using legal records from cases with non-English speakers, I study how court interpretation evolved over the course of the long nineteenth century. The major themes that emerge from my research tell the story of how the American legal system discovered interpreters as the tool for communication with non-English speakers in the …

Fruits Of Our Labor: Exploring The Impacts Of A Nonprofit Seed Bank On Indigenous Communities In The Southwestern United States, Rachel Mary Davis

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis explores the ways that the nonprofit Native Seeds/SEARCH, of Tucson, Arizona interfaces with Indigenous communities and the local seed and food systems in the Southwest United States. The thesis argues that Native seed and food sovereignty have different meanings for different Indigenous people, and that nonprofits working with Indigenous communities need to consider input from them when deciding how to catalogue, regenerate and sustain healthy grow outs for the future, especially in the light of climate change and drought.

What Mother Meant: Maternal Competence, Medical Authority, And Memory In The Case Of Mary Bickerdyke (1820-1910), Megan Marie Vangorder

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Mary Ann Bickerdyke, a poor widowed mother from Galesburg, Illinois, cared for sick and wounded soldiers across the Western theater throughout the course of the American Civil War. As a result of her efforts, authors and historians lauded her accomplishments. Her success as a Civil War nurse and Sanitary Commission agent has been the subject of several biographies and young adult books that idealize the role of women during the war. These portrayals suggest that Mary Bickerdyke provided an example of determined professionalism during the war years.

Those histories, however, do not tell the whole story. Mary Bickerdyke’s professional journey …