American Studies Commons^™

Speculations On Structures Once Near The Site Of Lemon Hall, Terry L. Meyers

Arts & Sciences Articles

"One of the most intriguing views of Williamsburg in antebellum days depicts a series of large and small structures along Jamestown Road, roughly between where Barrett Hall and Lemon Hall stand today.

Made between 1859 and 1862 by James Austin Graham (1814/15-1878), the panorama presents Williamsburg as viewed roughly from where the law school is today and sweeps along the entire southern edge of town, from the Capitol on the east to, on the west, about the site of the College’s Lemon Hall..."

"I Feel Your Pain": Service-Learning Programs And The Liberal Narrative Of Empathy, Molly Shilo

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Over the past several decades, service-learning programs have proliferated at colleges and universities, gaining broad support for their incorporation of critical reflection, academic learning, and volunteer work. The stated objective of these programs is transformation, both for students personally and for the communities with which they engage in terms of resources and justice. Through a case study of Fordham University's Global Outreach program, though, I demonstrate that, by positing the emotion empathy as the most productive mechanism through which to radically transform oneself and set off a ripple of social change, university administrators and educators avoid actual structural transformation and …

Mother Of Dragons: White Feminist Imperialism In Hbo's Game Of Thrones, Abigail Kahler

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

In 2019, Game of Thrones aired its final episode, The Iron Throne. This episode enjoyed enormous viewership, and culminated in the death of Daenerys Targaryen, a fan favorite, whose storyline saw her conquer diverse cultures and declare rulership over the continents of Essos and Westeros. Her character is unique for being one of the most famous female protagonists in the fantasy genre, as well as a builder of empires. As evidenced by the hundreds of children named both ‘Khaleesi’ and ‘Daenerys’ after her, she was a hero to many. However, much of her storyline was occupied with the subjugation of …

On Joe And The Burial Place(S) Of The Enslaved At William & Mary, Terry L. Meyers

Arts & Sciences Articles

"It is possible that in the 17th or 18th century W&M opened a burial ground on its 330 acre campus and that it buried there those it enslaved over some 172 years. We have no documentation of that, although we have several references to the College’s providing coffins.1 Since those record no further expenses such as transport to the grave or digging the grave, I presume there would have been no such expenses--other of our enslaved would undertake such tasks as part of their job..."

Beyond The Podium: A Critical Analysis Of Three Online Learning Tools, Julia Kott

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Paying attention to the ways digital tools mediate the pedagogic encounter is to attend to the inherently emotional process of teaching and learning. This thesis investigates the implications of bringing eLearning tools into the online classroom with reference to bell hooks’ and Paulo Freire’s work on radical pedagogy and Aimi Hamraie’s notion of the “normate template” to investigate three eLearning tools called “Proctorio,” “FlipGrid,” and “Panopto”.

The Association For The Preservation Of Virginia Antiquities And The Weaponization Of Nostalgia In The Service Of White Identity, Sachi Carlson

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

This thesis addresses the practice of historic preservation, situating preservation and tourism as substantial arms of the Lost Cause movement in the late nineteenth-century. Through this case study of the Association of the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (APVA), I illustrate how, in the aftermath of the Civil War, southern historic preservation efforts were primarily acts of self-preservation. The APVA exemplifies how identity can be created and maintained through the very performance of it – by securing of a stage on which to do so. Heralding a specific brand of tradition, the APVA reached for the more distant grandeur of colonial …

For Children Of The Sun Who Deserved Better When Pickaninnies Were Not Enough: The Celebration Of Childhood Within The Brownies' Book, Felicia Bowins

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

In this thesis, I analyze how The Brownies' Book projected the ideals of the New Negro Movement by positioning Black children as crucial to the period's creation of a new Negro identity. My analysis begins by exploring various examples of racist imagery of the period and how the periodical subverted those negative representations of Black children and Black life. In my examination of The Brownies' Book's representation of Blackness, I discuss the minstrel tradition and the racist popular cultural imagery of the 1920s. By analyzing the positive representations of Blackness within The Brownies' Book, my study shows how the editors …