Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Innovation For The Air: A Brief History Of Worldwide Aviation, Lauren Plumley

Honors Theses

The purpose of this report is to present a brief but comprehensive overview of the variety of innovations related to aviation, and to discuss their impact on scientific progress over the course of human history. Relevant discoveries from the fields of physics and aerodynamics, and the numerous technologies built based upon these discoveries, are discussed over a period ranging from ancient times to the twenty-first century. The scope of this report is an overview of the development of powered and unpowered aircraft, including lighter-than-air, heavier-than-air, and aerospace technologies. Aviation developments were generally not limited to one specific country or person, …

Geology, Uranium, And Apartheid: South Africa’S Nuclear Program And The International Politics Of The Cold War, Andy Rightmire

Honors Theses

This paper examines the history of mining and uranium and its importance in South Africa’s nuclear history. It begins with the development of minable mineral deposits in South Africa through geologic processes and ends with the South African signing of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The paper explores the intermittent period between creating the Atomic Energy Board and developing South Africa’s energy program through assistance from the United States and France. As the apartheid government brought sanctions to South Africa, the government began considering nuclear weapons through a different lens to project power. South Africa slid towards isolation under sanctions from …

Preservation And Public History In Mound Bayou, Mississippi, Walker Bray

Honors Theses

This paper is an exploration of the history of Mound Bayou, Mississippi, an all Black community in the Mississippi Delta formed by freedmen in the wake of Reconstruction. This paper also discusses the ways in which Mound Bayou citizens are working to preserve their history and make it known to a wider audience. In particular, this work discusses the recently opened Mound Bayou Museum of African American Culture and History and related efforts to restore and preserve historic structures in Mound Bayou. In addition, this work also seeks to explore ways in which the University of Mississippi can effectively supplement …

Starvation Diets: The History And Moral Implications Of Prolonging The Lives Of Juvenile Diabetics Before The Discovery Of Insulin, Olivia Thompson

Honors Theses

This study explores the state of diabetology before Frederick Banting’s discovery of insulin in 1921, when juvenile diabetes was a terminal diagnosis. The widespread misunderstanding of the disease at the hands of physicians and scientists culminated in improper treatments and erroneous anatomical literature about diabetes until the age of discovery in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. More extensively, I examine the controversial work of 20th-century physician Frederick Madison Allen, who attempted to prolong the lives of juvenile diabetics by subjecting them to a rigid starvation diet by way of experimental trials lasting from 1915 to 1922. This diet …

Understanding The Role Of Race In American Medicine, Fariel C. A. Lamountain

Honors Theses

Long running inequity in health care and outcomes in the United States stem from failure to acknowledge the underlying role of the Transatlantic slave trade as it manifests in all facets of American society and commerce. This paper focuses specifically on the American medical system and its foundations to understand the precursors to generational trends in lack of access to healthcare and poor health for Black communities. This paper uses a three-pronged approach to understand the racist cycle of inequity, highlighting the history and origins of racism in American medicine, personal accounts and statistical evidence of inequity, and community and …

Divine Or Demonic? A Social Approach To Epilepsy From Greco-Roman Antiquity To The Early Middle Ages, James Nicholas Sumrall

Honors Theses

This thesis seeks to evaluate how epilepsy was defined, perceived and understood in ancient Greece and Rome, as well as how these ideas were adapted and changed during the early centuries of Christianity. To this end, the thesis is divided into six parts. The Introduction briefly explains epilepsy and discusses how the social approach method can be applied to the disease. Chapter I introduces the Hippocratic understanding of epilepsy and outlines the Greco-Roman religious concepts of pollution and purification, which frequently informed ancient perceptions of epilepsy. The first chapter also analyzes the general relationship between disability, disease and divine selection …

The Woman's Role In Human Reproduction And Generation According To Ancient Greek And Roman Philosophers, Olivia Miller

Honors Theses

From the Greek archaic period to the end of the Roman Empire, theories of reproduction and inheritance developed as new philosophers and medical practitioners tackled fundamental issues of generation and sex. Without tools to help them see the complex chemical and cellular processes of the body, ancient thinkers relied on their own observations and commonly-held beliefs about sex and gender to understand the human body. Until the Roman Empire, dissections and similar forms of clinical study were strictly taboo, with the result that the Greek philosophers could not conduct close investigations into human anatomy. Instead, they relied on their own …

The “Humanitarian Mystique:” Tracing The Rhetoric And Politics Of Aid In Southeast Asia From The Age Of The Civilizing Mission To The Present, Elizabeth M. Holland

Honors Theses

In contemporary Western popular culture, humanitarian action often serves as the ultimate expression of altruism, compassion, and moral obligation. This research historicizes humanitarianism to understand the assumptions that underlie its affective appeal. Oversimplified narratives of aid work frequently fail to acknowledge the historical and geopolitical context in which this work occurs. I argue that humanitarianism, as both a discursive tool and code of practice, makes visible some legacies of the ‘civilizing mission’ – the ideology used to justify colonialism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. An exercise in comparative history, this research consists of three spatially and temporally …

"They Shall Be A Kosmos:" Alexander Von Humboldt And The Ecopoetics Of Walt Whitman, Benjamin Theyerl

Honors Theses

Places the naturalist Alexander Von Humboldt's proto-ecological ideas in conversation with Walt Whitman's poetry to show how the poet developed an ecopoetics in conversation with the natural sciences of his time, with specific attention to Von Humboldt's theory of the "kosmos" - by which Whitman's poetic persona self-identified. These recognitions are combined with how Whitman's idealized version of the American poet as a “kosmos” creates a political ecology in Whitman’s work, placing his ecopoetics into environmental discourses that resonate from their origin in the nineteenth century to our present ecological moment today.

A Historical Analysis Of Non-Normative Embodiment Through The Lens Of Frankenstein’S Creature, Ashley H. Hobson

Honors Theses

A trend to historicize the field of Disability Studies has emerged in recent years. However, little research has been done to place different societies and generations in conversation with one another. This thesis will utilize various adaptations of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in order to explore shifting anxieties concerning non-normative embodiment through the vessel of the Creature. I examine the Creature’s changing physical form next to scientific and medical literature of the period to explore connotations of disability and otherness within that society. I consider the manifestation of anxieties towards non-normative embodiment through Mary Shelley’s 1831 Frankenstein, James Whale’s 1931 …

Aphasia & Stutter Therapy: An Ailment Not To Be Treated, Janae Nieto

Honors Theses

This work demonstrates the history of two common speech and communication disorders: aphasia and stuttering. Once considered incurable diseases, these conditions have since generated rich rehabilitation practices and accompanying schools of thought. The first part of the thesis takes up adult aphasia, excluding cases involving speech and communication disorders due to other mental illnesses. The second half of this project conveys the history of stuttering. The majority of the modern cases analyzed in this thesis focus on developmental stuttering in children; although, different forms of stuttering are embedded in the progression of the therapy history. Each chapter includes a section …

Algorithmic Surveillance: A Hidden Danger In Recognizing Faces, Lydia F. Venditti, Jim Fleming, Kara Kugelmeyer

Honors Theses

The goal of this thesis is to present the current status and awareness of facial recognition technology and their use as part of video surveillance systems. Specifically, I intend to help readers develop a greater understanding of how facial recognition systems contain algorithms that perpetuate bias in their matching and recognition of faces. Current research demonstrates that algorithms differentially recognize faces from different races and genders. As a technology with substantive impacts for use and abuse, more scrutiny of facial recognition technology is necessary. This paper will also help readers understand the dangers of facial recognition as a biometric technology …

A Reciprocal Reaction: The Ussr Chemical Weapons Program And Its Influence On Soviet Society Through Three Civilian Groups, Yun Zhang

Honors Theses

Since its first mass application in 1915, chemical weapons (CW) have tolled thousands of lives both on and off the battle field. The USSR, despite its weak industrial basis and a late-starter in the field of chemical weaponry, held the largest stockpile of CW by the conclusion of the twentieth century. While the military and political implications of the USSR CW stockpiles have been relatively well-studied, its domestic and internal effect also deserve thorough investigations. Through diaries, letters, and memoirs of the USSR civilians who had suffered from, worked for, and/or supported the CW program, this research looked into the …

Doctors Without Orders: American Reactions To The Influenza Pandemic Of 1918-1919, James Watson

Honors Theses

This project focuses on the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 in specific reference to America and the chief organizations that responded to the pandemic. In this paper, two organizations are discussed in great detail: the American Red Cross and the United States Military. The purpose of this paper is to explain how American organizations responded to the pandemic as well as illuminating how their relationship was altered by war and previous interactions. By discussing how these two groups reacted to the pandemic, and ultimately each other, this paper sheds light on how America as a whole survived the pandemic as well …

The German Rocket Jet And The Nuclear Programs Of World War Ii, Max Lutze

Honors Theses

German military technology in World War II was among the best of the major warring powers and in many cases it was the groundwork for postwar innovations that permanently changed global warfare. Three of the most important projects undertaken, which were not only German initiatives and therefore perhaps among the most valuable programs for both the major Axis and Allied nations, include the rocket, jet, and nuclear programs. In Germany, each of these technologies was given different levels of attention and met with varying degrees of success in their development and application. By the end of the war, both rockets …

Sealing Practices: Impressions Of The Past And Their Contemporary Significance, Lana Grace Rose

Honors Theses

If you take a walk around London's Bloomsbury Park, you will come upon a bronze stature of Charles James Fox. Fox was the Secretary of State in Britain three times in the later part of the 18th century. He fought for a stronger Parliament that would support the constitution and introduced the bill that became the Slave Trade Act, abolishing slavery in the British Empire. The persona of Fox memorialized in the statue is a testimony to his years of service to Britain. A curious curator from the British Museum came upon the statue one day and noticed something strange. …

Forecasting The Future: The Early United States Weather Bureau, Robert T. Canning

Honors Theses

The national weather service of the United States came into being in 1870 for the practical utility of the American people. The interaction between weather, agriculture, and commerce provided the impetus for the inception of the service. Many historians put forward the notion of an obdurate weather bureau, a scientific backwater with no interest in modernization until after World War II. I disagree with this popular historiography and instead offer a history of the weather bureau’s attempts to institute the latest meteorological practices that takes into consideration the burdens and obligations of the bureau, as well as the historical context. …

The Lunar Society Of Birmingham And The Practice Of Science In 18th Century Great Britain, Scott H. Zurawel

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the scientific and technological advancements facilitated by members of the Lunar Society of Birmingham in eighteenth-century Britain. The study relies on a number of primary sources, which range from the regular correspondence of its members to their various published scientific works. The secondary sources used for this project range from comprehensive books about the society as a whole to sources concentrating on particular members. The Lunar Society comprised only fourteen members throughout its existence, but for the purposes of this study, three of them were analyzed: Joseph Priestley, James Watt and William Withering. These three individuals played …

Radio's Influence On Music From 1919 To 1926, Aaron Hawley

Honors Theses

Advances in technology have dramatically changed the lives of Americans throughout the twentieth century. Many of these advancements have become commonplace. For instance, the words "airplane," "computer," "radio," and "television" were not common a hundred years ago. Today, even small children know the definitions of these words. In addition, as new technologies develop, methods of accomplishing tasks change. These changes are then incorporated into our normal way of life. This gradual development causes many people to fail to consider the true implications of the technology on their way of life. Aspects of American's lives that used to be considered luxuries …

The Evolution Of Western And Eastern Medicines: A Merging Of Opposites, Elizabeth Pratt Berry

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of Success And Failure: The Manhattan Project And German Nuclear Research During The Third Reich, Jon Tate Self

Honors Theses

Without doubt, the years since World War II have seen a new player on the international scene. Not a person, yet to many, it personifies man's inhumanity to man. Neither is it a nation, yet it wields more power than the most powerful empire or state. Nor is it good or evil in and of itself, but like all fruit of knowledge, it defers to man in its use. The new player is the atom by virtue of its awesome explosive power.

The atom did not burst onto the scene in our context until 1939. That year saw the discovery …

The Harpsichord, Gay Gladden

Honors Theses

One of the most fascinating keyboard instruments which precedes the pianoforte is the harpsichord. The harpsichord played a primary role in eighteenth century music. It assumed a position similar to that of the concert grand piano during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Yet, today the harpsichord is not considered an obsolete instrument. It has undergone an unprecedented revival during the present century, and the harpsichord presently enjoys a unique popularity.

A Short Summary Of The History Of The Flute, Juanita Nicholson

Honors Theses

The birth of the woodwinds as we know them today came in the time of Lully with the invention of the oboe in France. The woodwinds developed mainly as a means of producing a variety of contrasting tone colors. The four main woodwinds--flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon--produce four very different sounds, yet blend perfectly well.

In the early days of the orchestra the woodwind section consisted of a pair of oboes, usually playing a melody in thirds. Sometimes the performers would lay down their oboes and play flutes or recorders. Later two bassoonists were added, mainly to provide an independent bass …

A History Of Brass Instruments, Mary Beth Mangrum

Honors Theses

The wind instruments--instruments in which the sound results from vibrations of a column of air produced either mechanically or by the human breath--are usually divided into the woodwinds and the brasses. The brasses include the French horn, cornet, trumpet, tuba, and trombone, all of which, except the last, are fixed-tone instruments, producing only one sound at a time and not able to play in perfect tune.

Musical instruments were not "invented." They developed slowly and comparatively late. They developed from stamping feet and slapping hands. A prehistoric forerunner of ancient brass instruments was the hollow stick without a mouthpiece, used …

A History Of The Bassoon, Marilyn Rauch

Honors Theses

The earliest ancestor of the bassoon was the bass pommer, bombard, or bass shawm. The instrument was long and perfectly straight with a metal crook fitted in the small end.

In the early part of the sixteenth century, Canon Alfranio was making instruments called phagotum, in which a long tube was bent back on itself several times. This idea, when applied to the bombard, produced the curtal--the direct ancestor of the bassoon. The phagotum itself was no relation to the bassoon, it being a form of bagpipe, but in it, Afranio was responsible for the idea used in bassoon construction. …